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Show 238 Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. but I had presence of mind to think that it probal)ly referred to something tho captain had told hin1 ; so I thanked him, and said I hoped we shonlJ have plea ·ant weather. \Vhcn I entered the vessel the captain can1c forward to meet 1nc. Tic 'vas an elderly 1nan, 'vith a plea ·ant countenance. lie sho·wcd 1nc to a little box of a cabin ' whore sat n1y friend Fanny. She 'tal' ted as if she had seen a spectre. She gazed on 1nc in utter astonjslunent ' and c:x:clailnccl, " Linda, can t.hi · be yon ? or i it your ghost?" \Vhcn we ·were lock ell in each other's ann:, my ovcr,vrought feelings coulcl no longer be rc trained. 1fy sobs reached tho cars of the captain, ·who ca1nc and very kindly rc1nindccl u , that for his safety, as well as our own, it would Lc prudent for us not to attract any attention. lie said that when there 'vas a sail in ·i<rht ' he \Vi hod u to keep below; but at other time·, he had no objection to onr being on deck. lie as urcd u ·that he "roulcl keep a good lookout, and if we acted prudently, he thought we should be in no danger. IIo had r epro ·on ted us as wo1ncn goi11g to 1ncct our husbauds in W c thanked hin1, and pro1nised to obs rvc carefully all the directions he gave us. Fanny and I now talked by o·.lrsclYcs, low and quietly, in our little cabin. Rhc told 1nc of the sufferings she had gone through in 1naking her escape, and of her terror· \Vhilo . ·he was concealed in her mother's house. Above all, she dwelt on the agony of separation from all her children on that dreadful auction day. She could scarcely credit n1c, when I tolcl her of the place \vherc I hacl passed nearly seven years. " W c have the sa1ne sorrows," said I. " No,'' replied she, "you are Northward Bound. going to sec your children ·oon, and thoro is 110 hope that I shall ever even hear frotn 1ninc." Tho vc. ·el \VU' ·oon unucr vray, L>ut we lnaclc ·low progrc · ·. The ·wind 'va · a<rain.t lL. I houlu not have cared for thi ·, if \VC had been out of sicrh t of the town ; but until there were 1nilos of wator.b~twccn us and our enctnies, \VC \vcrc filled with con ·tan t appro~ hcnsions that the constable \vould con1c on board. Neither coul<l I feel quite at case with tho captain and his 1ncu. I \vas an entire stranger to that cia ·s of 1 cople, and I had hcarcl that sailor were rough, anu so1nctin1cs cruel. \V c 'vere so completely in their power that if they 'YCl'C bad lnen, our situation would. lJ~ drea<lful. N O'N that the captain wa · paid for our passago, 1night he not be ten1ptccl to 1nako 1noro money by giving u · up to those 'vho clai1ned us as property'? I was naturally of a confiding dispo ·iLion, but ·lavery had 1nadc 1nc su:picious of cYcry body. Fanny clid not share n1y di 'tru t of the captain or his 1non. .-.he ·aid she was afraid at fir t, but she had boon on board three days while the vcs cl lay in the dock, and nobody hacl betrayed her, or treated her othcrwi ·c than kindly. The captain soon ca1nc to ad vi e us to go on deck for fro h air. IIis friendly and rc pectful n1anncr, COlnbincd 'vith ]-,anny's tc 'ti1nony, reassured n10, anu we went with hitn. lie placed us in a comfortable scat, and occasionally entered into conversation. lie told us he was a Southerner by birth, and had spent tho greater part of his life in the Slave States, and that he had recently lost a brother \Yho traded in slaves. " But," said he, '~it is a pitiable and degrading business, antl I always felt ashatucd to acknowledge n1y hrothcr in con~ |