Washington Black's bounty notice is discovered in Norfolk when Titch shows him a posted reward circular identifying him as an escaped enslaved boy and offering one thousand pounds for his capture, dead or alive. The revelation changes Washington’s flight from a precarious escape into a high-stakes pursuit: the notice names his appearance, describes Titch, and makes the reward a lure to anyone willing to hunt them.

Discovery and contents

After Titch has left him waiting on a Norfolk street while he makes inquiries, he later produces a tattered paper that had been mounted in a postal office. He had not wanted Washington to see it, and reads it to him from the page. The circular identifies Washington under the name George Washington Black, describes him as a short enslaved boy for life whose face bears burns, and lists the clothes he was wearing. It warns that he may be travelling with a tall white abolitionist with green eyes and black hair, and promises one thousand pounds to whoever secures him for the issuer, dead or alive.

The notice is signed by John Francis Willard, acting agent for Erasmus Wilde, and gives Faith Plantation in Barbados as its origin. Its details make the pursuit more than a general threat: it marks Washington’s body and clothing for recognition, while the description of his white companion puts Titch at risk of being identified as someone aiding a fugitive. Washington stares at the paper in shock; the sum is beyond what he can imagine.

How the threat is explained

Titch identifies Willard as a self-described righter of grievances. He recalls that Willard had attended formal dinners hosted by Erasmus soon after the brothers arrived in Barbados, and describes him as a cultivated, soft-spoken former plantation bookkeeper who later hired himself out as a cross-border bounty hunter. Willard had spoken of tracking people over great distances, including enslaved people who had escaped an island, and of working beyond the jurisdiction of any nation. Titch had already understood that Willard had done terrible things, but the notice makes his role in Washington’s danger immediate and personal.

Titch also interprets the notice as a means for Erasmus to reach him through Washington. He tells Washington that his brother does not actually believe Washington responsible for the crime attributed to him; the accusation is a way to get at Titch. That explanation does not reassure Washington. He asks whether Titch can take him to England, where he hopes he might be safer, and whether Titch could simply pay the reward. Titch answers that a thief-taker pursuing a bounty will not be stopped by the law, and that paying Willard would not end the pursuit: he could take the money and continue hunting for another reward. Titch also says he lacks access to the family purse, since he is the second-born son with only a small living.

Consequences and wider significance

The circular reveals the practical force of Washington’s fugitive status. Norfolk may be a place where he and Titch can leave their ship, but arrival in American waters does not make Washington safe; Titch’s earlier warning that freedom means different things to different people is borne out by a document that treats the boy as property to be recovered. The bounty converts that claim into a public incentive, extending the danger beyond Erasmus and Willard to anyone attracted by the money.

The threat continues to shape Washington’s later life. In Nova Scotia, he remains afraid that Willard’s agents or other kidnappers might seize him and return him to slavery; he grows watchful and solitary after an attack by a local man whom he fears might be connected to the hunt. Years later, Willard recognizes him in the street by the scar that the notice had made a mark of identification. He tells Washington that he searched for him for years, lost business and standing after failing to find him, and regarded that failure as defeat. The Norfolk discovery thus begins a pursuit whose effects persist long after Washington has escaped the immediate reach of the plantation.

Narrative significance

The scene turns a document into a mechanism of plot: a printed description joins Washington’s visible scars to a network of money, ownership, and pursuit. Its precise details make the threat legible, while the reward’s scale makes clear why simple flight or payment cannot settle it. The notice also exposes the gap between nominal freedom and actual protection: Washington may travel beyond Barbados, yet the claim that he is property can still follow him across borders and enlist strangers in his capture.