400 



her master so completely, that he declared himself 

 ready to let me have the child at a fair price, as 

 well as the mother, if she ever should be found ; 

 and her friends having conveyed this assurance to 

 her, she thought proper to emerge from her hid- 

 ing-place, and the bargain was arranged finally. 

 The titles, however, were not yet made out, and 

 as the time of my departure for Hordley was 

 arrived, these were ordered to be got ready against 

 my return, when the negroes were to be delivered 

 over to me, and Nicholas was to be set free. In 

 the meanwhile, the child was sent by her mistress 

 (a free mulatto) to hide some stolen ducks upon a 

 distant property, and on her return blabbed out 

 the errand: in consequence the mistress was com- 

 mitted to prison for theft ; and no sooner was she 

 released, than she revenged herself upon the poor 

 girl by giving her thirty lashes with the cattle- 

 whip, inflicted with all the severity of vindictive 

 malice. This treatment of a child of such tendei 

 years reduced her to such a state, as made the 

 magistrates think it right to send her for protection 

 to the workhouse, until the conduct of the mistress 

 should have been enquired into. In the mean- 

 while, as the result of the enquiry might be the 

 setting the girl at liberty, the joint title for hei 

 and her mother could not be made out, and thus 

 poor Nicholas's manumission was at a stand-still 

 again. The magistrates at length decided, that 

 although the chastisement had been severe, yet 



