“Who is the other man I saw here?”
“Oh, he’s another like myself. There were three of us, but one was drowned by falling overboard from the sloop.”
“Well, but my good fellow, how shall I get to James Town?”
“I’m sure I can’t tell; but my idea is that you will never get there unless mistress chooses.”
“Why, surely she won’t detain me by force?”
“Won’t she?—you don’t know her. Why she’d stop an army,” replied the man. “I don’t think that she will let you go—I don’t know; but that’s my opinion. She wants another hand.”
“What, do you mean to say that she’ll make me work?”
“I mean to say that, according to the laws of the settlement, she has a right to detain you. Any person found roving here, who cannot give a satisfactory account of himself, may be detained till something is heard about him; for he may be a runaway convict, or a runaway apprentice, which is much the same, after all. Now, she may say that your account of yourself is not satisfactory, and therefore she detained you; and if you won’t work, she won’t give you to eat; so there you are.”
“Well, we will see if she is able.”
“Able! If you mean strong enough, why she’d take you up with one hand; and she is as resolute and severe as she is strong. I had rather have to deal with three men, and that’s the truth.”