Page:Sketchesinhistory00pett.pdf/165

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UNDERGROUND RAILROAD.
159

became excited, and tried in his mute way to induce her to turn back, though he seemed to be determined to go with her wherever she might go.

It would be interesting to follow this heroic girl through her long, lonely journey through Alabama, Tennessee, and Kentucky to the Ohio River, sometimes camping in woods and swamps in the daytime, and traveling by the north star in the night, occasionally finding a resting place in a negro’s cabin, hungry, weary and footsore. With no companion but her faithful dog, with no thought of turning back or of stopping short of freedom, she went on for three long months. She was often in great danger of being arrested and sent back, but, sometimes by the aid of her faithful escort, Prince, sometimes aided by negroes, and once or twice by kindhearted white women, she eluded her pursuers and arrived safely in Ohio, having been once captured and escaped again in Kentucky. Some of her adventures are worthy of notice, one or two of which I will relate.

She was near the mountain passes in Kentucky, having been traveling nearly eleven weeks, and was already near the Southern terminus of the U. G. R. R., when, driven by hunger, she went into a house in a lonely place, hoping to find it occupied by negroes, but was disappointed in finding a white woman. She noticed a singular expression in the woman’s countenance when Prince followed her into the house, but was too hungry and tired to think much of it. She asked for food, and the woman gave her something to eat, which she divided with Prince. The woman noticed her shoes, and said to her, “Your shoes are worn out,” and stepping into another room she said, “come in here and see if these will fit you. If you can wear them I’ll give them to you.” She went in, and as Prince was following her, the woman shut the door against him, locked the door, and put the