You might shoot half a dozen men and get off scot free, but if you were caught aiding a runaway to escape, there is no saying what might come of it." After taking leave of the captain, Vincent recrossed the river and rode home.

He had friends whose fathers' estates bordered some on the James and others on the York River, and all of these had pleasure boats.

It was obviously better to go down the York River, and thence round to the mouth of the James at Fortress Monroe, as the traffic on the York was comparatively small, and it was improbable that he would be noticed either going down or returning.

He had at first thought of hiring a fishing boat from some of the free negroes who made their living on the river.

But he finally decided against this; for the fact of the boat being absent so long would attract its owner's attention, and in case any suspicion arose that the fugitive had escaped by water, the hiring of a boat by one who had already befriended the slave and its absence for so long a time, would be almost certain to cause suspicion to be directed toward him.