is mood before, and her gentle system of ethics seemed to bend like
a reed in the surges of such passions.'

The end of this is, that George absconds, and is followed by his wife
and child, for she had overheard the bargain as to her transfer, and
was resolved to gain her liberty or die in the attempt. She leaves the
house stealthily at night, with her boy in her arms, hurries over
fields, through swamps and forests, and actually arrives at the Ohio
without hinderance. 'Her first glance was at the river, which lay,
like Jordan, between her and the Canaan of liberty on the other side.
It was now early spring, and the river was swollen and turbulent;
great cakes of floating ice were swinging heavily to and fro in the
turbid waters. Owing to the peculiar form of the shore on the Kentucky
side, the land bending far out into the water, the ice had been lodged
and detained in great quantities, and the narrow channel which swept
round the bend was full of ice, piled one cake over another, thus
forming a temporary barrier to the descending ice, which lodged, and
formed a great undulating raft, filling up the whole river, and
extending almost to the Kentucky shore. Eliza stood for a moment
contemplating this unfavourable aspect of things, which she saw at
once must prevent the usual ferry-boat from running, and then turned
into a small public-house on the bank, to make a few inquiries.' While
resting here, Haley, her infuriated pursuer, who had tracked her,
arrived at the ferry, guided, not very willingly, by two slaves, Sam
and Andy. Eliza caught a glimpse of the trader, and, frantic with
terror, rushed forth. 'A thousand lives seemed to be concentrated in
that one moment to Eliza. Her room opened by a side-door to the river.
She caught her child, and sprang down the steps towards it. The trader
caught a full glimpse of her, just as she was disappearing down the
bank; and throwing himself from his horse, and calling loudly on Sam
and Andy, he was after her like a hound after a deer. In that dizzy
moment her feet to her scarce seemed to touch the ground, and a moment
brought her to the water's edge. Right on behind they came; and,
nerved with strength such as God gives only to the desperate, with one
wild cry and flying leap she vaulted sheer over the turbid current by
the shore on to the raft of ice beyond. It was a desperate
leap--impossible to anything but madness and despair; and Haley, Sam,
and Andy, instinctively cried out