Helm was
married to his widow, and brought her and her servants in great triumph
to his house, giving her the charge of it. His own servants were
discharged, and hers took their places.
All went on pleasantly for a while; then the slaves began to grow sullen
and discontented; and two of them ran away. Capt. Helm started a man named
Morrison, a Scotchman, in pursuit, who hunted them ten days, and then
returned without any tidings of the absconding slaves. They made good
their escape and were never heard from afterwards, by those whose interest
suffered by the loss.
I was one afternoon at a neighbor's house in the village, when I was
suddenly taken so violently ill with pain in my head and side, that I had
to be carried home. When we arrived there, I was allowed a pallet of straw
to lie on, which was better than nothing. Day after day, my disease
increased in violence, and my master employed a physician to attend me
through my illness, which brought me very low indeed. I was constantly
burning with fever, and so thirsty that I knew not what I would have given
for a draught of cold water, which was denied me by the physician's
direction. I daily grew weaker until I was reduced to helplessness, and
was little else than "skin and bones." I really thought my time had come
to die; and when I had strength to talk, I tried to arrange the few little
business affairs I had, and give my father direction concerning them.
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