Page:Robert Carter- his life and work. 1807-1889 (IA robertcarterhis00coch).pdf/143

Rh be off. The programme was fully carried out, the slave sprang off and dashed through the crowd at the landing, and the boat veered off to rectify the captain’s unfortunate blunder. The master came up to the captain in a towering passion, “Do you see what you have done? Your stupidity has allowed my servant to escape.” “You did not take me into your confidence. How did I know you had a servant on board? If you had only told me, I might have had him put in irons.” The slave-owner had to swallow his wrath, and in a few minutes the whistle of the train was heard on its way to Canada, bearing with it one man who felt that he had a right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

One day a nice-looking colored man, a clergyman, came into the store begging money for his church, and entered into conversation with Mr. Carter, and told him his history. He had been a slave in Kentucky; his master was a very hard man, drinking and gambling. The slave was very fleet of foot, and had won prizes for his master at the races. He married a young girl on a neighboring plantation, and then, being filled with fear lest he should be sold away from her, he went to her master, who was a very benevolent man, and begged him to buy him, that he might be with his wife. The planter bought him, made him his coachman, gave him a comfortable little cabin, and for a while he was perfectly happy. But one day he was driving out his master and a friend, and overheard a conversation in which the master said that he was sick of the plantation life, and had serious thoughts of selling out and going North to live. The slave’s heart sank within him. He had had one bad master, and did not want another.