Clotel

After the arrest of slaves who had not been killed during Nat Turner’s revolt, only one—Horatio’s slave George—had not been put to death. George, whose father was also a statesman, was light-skinned enough to “often [be] taken for a free white person” (189). His execution is delayed by the fact that, when the courthouse had been on fire a few weeks earlier, he had bravely entered the building to retrieve important papers; however, despite a passionate speech in which he compares Nat Turner’s revolt with the American Revolution, ultimately he is sentenced to be hanged in ten days’ time.

George is frequently visited in his prison cell by Mary, with whom he has had a romantic relationship. Mary pleads with him to switch clothes with her so he can escape. At first he refuses, but at her promise that she will not be hurt, he relents. They switch clothes, and George escapes to head for Canada, leaving Mary inside the cell.

George steals a fisherman’s boat to cross the Ohio River. Once in Ohio, still in Mary’s dress, he is pursued by two slave catchers and takes refuge in the barn of a Quaker farmer who manages to delay the pursuers by demanding a permit from an officer before they search his barn.