Page:The Under-Ground Railroad.djvu/122

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102

her child she came to the Ohio River, it being frozen over though melting very rapidly. The water from the melted snow and ice on the mountains above was six inches deep on its surface—the ice cracking both up and down the river, trembling on the rippling waves of the fast descending waters like a leaf on the bough of some lofty oak dancing in the breeze. On the bank of that river she was at a stand-still, asking God to help her with her child, looking behind for the approach of her pursuers. Beneath the breaking ice was a watery grave; on the other side was a free land. She entered on the icy bridge with a beating heart and cautious steps. With the increasing weight of her body a large white crack, extending before her, threatening to let her through into the water; she leaped in an opposite direction, exclaiming "Lord, save me!" A similar crack would meet her there. Again leaping from point to point, accompanying each gigantic effort with a prayer, she reached the current of the river, where the water runs the fastest, the ice is thinnest, there buried in a solid mass for roods around, seeming to let her down into the very centre of the river; here her efforts were divinely invigorated, the strong arm of Omnipotence was beneath her; she reached the shore, one hand pressing her child to her bosom, the other clinging to the steep bank. It