The fact was, we cared but little where we went, so we went
together. Our greatest concern was about separation. We dreaded that
more than any thing this side of death. We found the evidence against us
to be the testimony of one person; our master would not tell who it
was; but we came to a unanimous decision among ourselves as to who
their informant was. We were sent off to the jail at Easton. When we got
there, we were delivered up to the sheriff, Mr. Joseph Graham, and by
him placed in jail. Henry, John, and myself, were placed in one room
together--Charles, and Henry Bailey, in another. Their object in
separating us was to hinder concert.
We had been in jail scarcely twenty minutes, when a swarm of slave
traders, and agents for slave traders, flocked into jail to look at us,
and to ascertain if we were for sale. Such a set of beings I never saw
before! I felt myself surrounded by so many fiends from perdition. A
band of pirates never looked more like their father, the devil. They
laughed and grinned over us, saying, "Ah, my boys! we have got you,
haven't we?" And after taunting us in various ways, they one by one
went into an examination of us, with intent to ascertain our value.
They would impudently ask us if we would not like to have them for our
masters. We would make them no answer, and leave them to find out as
best they could. Then they would curse and swear at us, telling us that
they could take the devil out of us in a very little while, if we were
only in their hands.
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