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Taking
passage
on
the
first
steamer
that
arrived
,
he
pursued
his
journey
up
Red
River
,
a
sluggish
,
winding
stream
,
flowing
through
a
vast
region
of
primitive
forests
and
impenetrable
swamps
,
almost
wholly
destitute
of
inhabitants
.
About
nine
o'clock
in
the
forenoon
,
January
1st
,
1853
,
he
left
the
steamboat
at
Marksville
,
and
proceeded
directly
to
Marksville
Court
House
,
a
small
village
four
miles
in
the
interior
.
From
the
fact
that
the
letter
to
Messrs.
Parker
and
Perry
was
post-marked
at
Marksville
,
it
was
supposed
by
him
that
I
was
in
that
place
or
its
immediate
vicinity
.
On
reaching
this
town
,
he
at
once
laid
his
business
before
the
Hon.
John
P.
Waddill
,
a
legal
gentleman
of
distinction
,
and
a
man
of
fine
genius
and
most
noble
impulses
.
After
reading
the
letters
and
documents
presented
him
,
and
listening
to
a
representation
of
the
circumstances
under
which
I
had
been
carried
away
into
captivity
,
Mr.
Waddill
at
once
proffered
his
services
,
and
entered
into
the
affair
with
great
zeal
and
earnestness
.
He
,
in
common
with
others
of
like
elevated
character
,
looked
upon
the
kidnapper
with
abhorrence
.
The
title
of
his
fellow
parishioners
and
clients
to
the
property
which
constituted
the
larger
proportion
of
their
wealth
,
not
only
depended
upon
the
good
faith
in
which
slave
sales
were
transacted
,
but
he
was
a
man
in
whose
honorable
heart
emotions
of
indignation
were
aroused
by
such
an
instance
of
injustice
.
Marksville
,
although
occupying
a
prominent
position
,
and
standing
out
in
impressive
italics
on
the
map
of
Louisiana
,
is
,
in
fact
,
but
a
small
and
insignificant
hamlet
.
Aside
from
the
tavern
,
kept
by
a
jolly
and
generous
boniface
,
the
court
house
,
inhabited
by
lawless
cows
and
swine
in
the
seasons
of
vacation
,
and
a
high
gallows
,
with
its
dissevered
rope
dangling
in
the
air
,
there
is
little
to
attract
the
attention
of
the
stranger
.
Solomon
Northup
was
a
name
Mr.
Waddill
had
never
heard
,
but
he
was
confident
that
if
there
was
a
slave
bearing
that
appellation
in
Marksville
or
vicinity
,
his
black
boy
Tom
would
know
him
.
Tom
was
accordingly
called
,
but
in
all
his
extensive
circle
of
acquaintances
there
was
no
such
personage
.
The
letter
to
Parker
and
Perry
was
dated
at
Bayou
Bœuf
.
At
this
place
,
therefore
,
the
conclusion
was
,
I
must
be
sought
.
But
here
a
difficulty
suggested
itself
,
of
a
very
grave
character
indeed
.
Bayou
Bœuf
,
at
its
nearest
point
,
was
twenty-three
miles
distant
,
and
was
the
name
applied
to
the
section
of
country
extending
between
fifty
and
a
hundred
miles
,
on
both
sides
of
that
stream
.
Thousands
and
thousands
of
slaves
resided
upon
its
shores
,
the
remarkable
richness
and
fertility
of
the
soil
having
attracted
thither
a
great
number
of
planters
.
The
information
in
the
letter
was
so
vague
and
indefinite
as
to
render
it
difficult
to
conclude
upon
any
specific
course
of
proceeding
.
It
was
finally
determined
,
however
,
as
the
only
plan
that
presented
any
prospect
of
success
,
that
Northup
and
the
brother
of
Waddill
,
a
student
in
the
office
of
the
latter
,
should
repair
to
the
Bayou
,
and
traveling
up
one
side
and
down
the
other
its
whole
length
,
inquire
at
each
plantation
for
me
.
Mr.
Waddill
tendered
the
use
of
his
carriage
,
and
it
was
definitely
arranged
that
they
should
start
upon
the
excursion
early
Monday
morning
.
It
will
be
seen
at
once
that
this
course
,
in
all
probability
,
would
have
resulted
unsuccessfully
.
It
would
have
been
impossible
for
them
to
have
gone
into
the
fields
and
examine
all
the
gangs
at
work
.
They
were
not
aware
that
I
was
known
only
as
Platt
;
and
had
they
inquired
of
Epps
himself
,
he
would
have
stated
truly
that
he
knew
nothing
of
Solomon
Northup
.
The
arrangement
being
adopted
,
however
,
there
was
nothing
further
to
be
done
until
Sunday
had
elapsed
.
The
conversation
between
Messrs.
Northup
and
Waddill
,
in
the
course
of
the
afternoon
,
turned
upon
New-York
politics
.
"
I
can
scarcely
comprehend
the
nice
distinctions
and
shades
of
political
parties
in
your
State
,
"
observed
Mr.
Waddill
.
"
I
read
of
soft-shells
and
hard-shells
,
hunkers
and
barnburners
,
woolly-heads
and
silver-grays
,
and
am
unable
to
understand
the
precise
difference
between
them
.
Pray
,
what
is
it
?
"
