The steamboats were under regulations equally stringent.

All the great turnpikes, leading northward, were beset with kidnappers, a class of men who watched the newspapers for advertisements for runaway slaves, making their living by the accursed reward of slave hunting.
My discontent grew upon me, and I was on the look-out for means of escape.

With money, I could easily have managed the matter, and, therefore, I hit upon the plan of soliciting the privilege of hiring my time.

It is quite common, in Baltimore, to allow slaves this privilege, and it is the practice, also, in New Orleans.

A slave who is considered trustworthy, can, by paying his master a definite sum regularly, at the end of each week, dispose of his time as he likes.