The heart of no fox or deer, with hungry hounds on his trail, in full chase, could have beaten more anxiously or noisily than did mine, from the time I left Baltimore till I reached Philadelphia.
Douglass uses a vivid animalistic comparison to convey the overwhelming anxiety and terror he experienced throughout his escape from slavery.
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The father might be a white man, glorying in the purity of his Anglo-Saxon blood, and his child ranked with the blackest slaves.
But we are not here to applaud manly courage, save as it has been displayed in a noble cause.
The anti-slavery platform had performed its work, and my voice was no longer needed.