272 AUDUBON 



and father failed him under this dire calamity. For a while 

 he pined in sorrow under his new master; but having 

 marked down in his memory the names of the different 

 persons who had purchased each dear portion of his family, 

 he feigned illness, if indeed, he whose affections had been 

 so grievously blasted could be said to feign it, refrained 

 from food for several days, and was little regarded by the 

 overseer, who felt himself disappointed in what he had 

 considered a bargain. 



On a stormy night, when the elements raged with all 

 the fury of a hurricane, the poor negro made his escape, 

 and being well acquainted with all the neighboring 

 swamps, at once made directly for the cane-brake in the 

 centre of which I found his camp. A few nights after- 

 wards he gained the abode of his wife, and the very next 

 after their meeting, he led her away. The children, one 

 after another, he succeeded in stealing, until at last the 

 whole of the objects of his love were under his care. 



To provide for five individuals was no easy task in those 

 wilds, which after the first notice was given of the wonder- 

 ful disappearance of this extraordinary family, were daily 

 ransacked by armed planters. Necessity, it is said, will 

 bring the Wolf from the forest. The Runaway seems to 

 have well understood the maxim, for under the cover of 

 night he approached his first master's plantation, where he 

 had ever been treated with the greatest kindness. The 

 house-servants knew him too well not to aid him to the 

 best of their power, and at the approach of each morning 

 he returned to his camp with an ample supply of provisions. 

 One day, while in search of wild fruits, he found a Bear dead 

 before the muzzle of a gun that had been set for the pur- 

 pose. Both articles he carried to his home. His friends 

 at the plantation managed to supply him with some am- 

 munition, and on damp and cloudy days he first ventured 

 to hunt around his camp. Possessed of courage and 

 activity, he gradually became more careless, and rambled 



