We were,{215} at times, remarkably buoyant, singing hymns and making joyous exclamations, almost as triumphant in their tone as if we reached a land of freedom and safety.

A keen observer might have detected in our repeated singing of _O Canaan, sweet Canaan, I am bound for the land of Canaan,_ something more than a hope of reaching heaven.

We meant to reach the _north_--and the north was our Canaan.
_I thought I heard them say, There were lions in the way, I don't expect to Star Much longer here._ _Run to Jesus--shun the danger-- I don't expect to stay Much longer here_.
was a favorite air, and had a double meaning.

In the lips of some, it meant the expectation of a speedy summons to a world of spirits; but, in the lips of _our_ company, it simply meant, a speedy pilgrimage toward a free state, and deliverance from all the evils and dangers of slavery.
I had succeeded in winning to my (what slaveholders would call wicked) scheme, a company of five young men, the very flower of the neighborhood, each one of whom would have commanded one thousand dollars in the home market.

At New Orleans, they would have brought fifteen hundred dollars a piece, and, perhaps, more.