Clemens reiterates his advice that Solomon maintains a low profile, denying his ability to read and write. They are led to the hold, crammed with other human cargo. Under cover of darkness, they are pulled from their cell, chained and transported to a riverboat. She tries to keep a brave face while understanding the forthcoming tragedy. Soon a mother (Eliza) and daughter are brought to the pen to join a previously captured son. He discusses his situation with Clemens, an apparently educated slave who advises him on the dire nature of their situation. Solomon is mercilessly beaten and eventually sent into a slave pen with others. Despite his protests of being a free man, he has no papers. Their departure ends the flashback, and we rejoin Solomon in the cell where he is told that he is a runaway Georgia slave. Brown urges Hamilton that time is short, and they need to be done with it. In a series of flashbacks, we see his “friends” carry him up to his hotel room, excusing his drunken stupor to other patrons. Suddenly, Solomon awakes in a dank cell, chained to the floor. They share wine and one of them watches closely as Solomon drains his glass. His patrons plunk down a bag of coins in excess of their promised sum. We next see the trio at a restaurant in DC. They promise him an outrageous sum to accompany them to Washington DC and promise his return before his wife gets back. Later that afternoon, he encounters a friend who introduces him to two travelers (Brown and Hamilton) claiming to work with a circus-like show. The following morning he sees them off in a carriage. He playfully expresses jealousy at being deprived of her cooking. Later that night, after settling the children in their beds, he talks with his wife, who will shortly take the children with her as she works as a cook. He plays the violin exquisitely and is much in demand as a performer in his home of Saratoga. We see snippets of Solomon’s life as a free man.
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