" "No," said the man,
"that was not it; he thought you had taken French leave, for parts
unknown. I never saw a fellow so badly scared about losing his slave
in my life. Now," continued the guard, "let me give you a little
friendly advice. When you get to Philadelphia, run away and leave that
cripple, and have your liberty." "No, sir," I indifferently replied,
"I can't promise to do that." "Why not?" said the conductor, evidently
much surprised; "don't you want your liberty?" "Yes, sir," I replied;
"but I shall never run away from such a good master as I have at
present."

* I may state here that every man slave is called boy till he is very
old, then the more respectable slaveholders call him uncle. The women
are all girls till they are aged, then they are called aunts. This is
the reason why Mrs. Stowe calls her characters Uncle Tom, Aunt Chloe,
Uncle Tiff, &c.

One of the men said to the guard, "Let him alone; I guess he will open
his eyes when he gets to Philadelphia, and see things in another
light." After giving me a good deal of information, which I afterwards
found to be very useful, they left me alone.

I also met with a coloured gentleman on this train, who recommended me
to a boarding-house that was kept by an abolitionist, where he thought
I would be quite safe, if I wished to run away from my master. I
thanked him kindly, but of course did not let him know who we were.
Late at night, or rather early in the morning, I heard a fearful
whistling of the steam-engine; so I opened the window and looked out,
and saw a large number of flickering lights in the distance, and heard
a passenger in the next carriage--who also had his head out of the
window--say to his companion, "Wake up, old horse, we are at
Philadelphia!"

The sight of those lights and that announcement made me feel almost as
happy as Bunyan's Christian must have felt when he first caught sight
of the cross. I, like him, felt that the straps that bound the heavy
burden to my back began to pop, and the load to roll off. I also
looked, and looked again, for it appeared very wonderful to me how the
mere sight of our first city of refuge should have all at once made my
hitherto sad and heavy heart become so light and happy. As the train
speeded on, I rejoiced and thanked God with all my heart and soul for
his great kindness and tender mercy, in watching over us, and bringing
us safely through.

As soon as the train had reached