Aware of his high spirit and determination, Clotelle was in constant fear lest some difficulty might arise between her lover and his master.
One day Mr.Wilson, being somewhat out of temper and irritated at what he was pleased to call Jerome's insolence, ordered him to follow him to the barn to be flogged.

The young slave obeyed his master, but those who saw him at the moment felt that he would not submit to be whipped.
"No, sir," replied Jerome, as his master told him to take off his coat: "I will serve you, Master Wilson, I will labor for you day and night, if you demand it, but I will not be whipped." This was too much for a white man to stand from a negro, and the preacher seized his slave by the throat, intending to choke him.

But for once he found his match.

Jerome knocked him down, and then escaped through the back-yard to the street, and from thence to the woods.
Recovering somewhat from the effect of his fall, the parson regained his feet and started in pursuit of the fugitive.

Finding, however, that the slave was beyond his reach, he at once resolved to put the dogs on his track.