I cared very little into whose hands I fell--I meant to fight my way.

Despite of Covey, too, the report got abroad, that I was hard to whip; that I was guilty of kicking back; that though generally a good tempered Negro, I sometimes "_got the devil in me_." These sayings were rife in Talbot county, and they distinguished me among my servile brethren.

Slaves, generally, will fight each other, and die at each other's hands; but there are few who are not held in awe by a white man.

Trained from the cradle up, to think and{194} feel that their masters are superior, and invested with a sort of sacredness, there are few who can outgrow or rise above the control which that sentiment exercises.

I had now got free from it, and the thing was known.