clothes or his money, asserting that it was his duty to take him
back to his parents in Tennessee. David would gladly have fled from
him, and embarked without money and without clothes; but the wagoner
watched him so closely that escape was impossible.

David was greatly down-hearted at this disappointment, and watched
eagerly for an opportunity to obtain deliverance from his bondage.
But Myers was a burly teamster who swung a very heavy wagon-whip,
threatening the boy with a heavy punishment if he should make any
attempt to run away.

After a few days, Myers loaded his team for Tennessee, and with his
reluctant boy set out on his long journey. David was exceedingly
restless. He now hated the man who was so tyranically domineering
over him. He had no desire to return to his home, and he dreaded the
hickory stick with which he feared his brutal father would assail
him. One dark night, an hour or two before the morning, David
carefully took his little bundle of clothes, and creeping
noiselessly from the cabin, rushed forward as rapidly as his nimble
feet could carry him. He soon felt quite easy in reference to his
escape. He knew that the wagoner slept soundly, and that two hours
at least must elapse before he would open his eyes. He then would
not know with certainty in what direction the boy had fled. He could
not safely leave his horses and wagon alone in the wilderness, to
pursue him; and even should he unharness one of the horses and
gallop forward in search of the fugitive, David, by keeping a
vigilant watch, would see him in the distance and could easily
plunge into the thickets of the forest, and thus elude pursuit.

He had run along five or six miles, when just as the sun was rising