I told him, “In Anne Arundel County, Maryland.”
“Is there such a county in Maryland?” he asked.
“There is,” I answered.
He took down a map, examined it, and said, “You are right.”
I then told him the name of the farm, and my master’s name. Further questions bearing upon the country towns near, the nearest river, etc., followed, all of which I answered to his satisfaction.
“How does it happen,” he then asked, “that you lived in Pennsylvania so long, and no person knew you were a fugitive from labor?”
“I do not get other people to keep my secrets, sir,” I replied. “My brother and family only knew that I had been a slave.”
He then assured me that I would not, in his opinion, have to go back. Many coming in at this time on business, I was told to call again at three o’clock, which I did. The person in the office, a clerk, told me to take no further trouble about it, until that day four weeks. “But you are as free a man as I am,” said he. When I told the news to Pinckney and Johnson, they were greatly relieved in mind.
I ate breakfast with the greatest relish, got a letter written to a friend in Chester County for my wife, and set about arrangements to settle at or near Toronto.
We tried hard to get work, but the task was difficult. I think three weeks elapsed before we got work that could be called work. Sometimes we would secure a small job, worth two or three shillings, and sometimes a smaller one, worth not more than one shilling; and these not oftener than once or twice in a week. We became greatly discouraged; and, to add to my misery, I was constantly hearing some alarming report about my wife and children. Sometimes they had carried her back into slavery,—sometimes the children, and sometimes the entire party. Then there would come a contradiction. I was soon so completely worn down by my fears for them, that I thought my heart would break. To add to my disquietude, no answer came to my letters, although I went to the office regularly every day. At last I got a letter with the glad news that my wife and children were safe, and would be sent to Canada. I told the person reading for me to stop, and tell them to send her “right now,”—I could not wait to hear the rest of the letter.