Sara was ‘helping’ me. I had never been this big before and I was beginning to wonder if all the teasing about my size might actually have some validity. XXX We have encountered new peoples and we had largely left each other alone. I started to rise and he put his hand out to pull me up. It had become a true settlement, the population increasing with larger numbers of runaway slaves and young being brought into their lives. We had found a deep valley between two mountain ranges. I smiled at the thought; I have never seen the sea, but my father had spoken of it, always with wonder and awe in his voice. We had worked hard all day making the camp a little more permanent over time, but it was still a camp.
