Ben dare not stay very long at a time in his wife's cabin, as a strict
watch was constantly kept, that the runaway might be apprehended.
Bidding his wife farewell, Ben hastened back to one of a number of his
hiding-places, there to stay through the day, unless routed out by the
blood-hounds. He was fortunate, however, in the help of God, for his
safety, and the efforts of the hounds and the hounds' followers were
futile.

Finally, Wilson gave up chasing Ben with blood-hounds, and resolved to
try a better and more human method. He bought Ben's wife and left her
with Strucker, with instructions to send her and Ben to his plantation
if Ben was willing for the arrangement. Ben soon got word of how matters
stood with reference to himself, and concluded if he could live with his
wife on the same plantation that it was the very best he could do, so he
acceded to the wishes of Wilson, and was sent with his wife to Wilson.

The happiness of this couple was unbounded when they found they could
once more live together as God intended they should, and the poor wife
in her great gratitude cried, "God is on our side!" Ben replied that he
had told her on one occasion that God was on their side, and that "the
darkest hour was just before day."

The usual expression used by the blacks when a runaway returned to his
master was that he "had come out of the woods;" that is, he had left his
hiding place in the woods and returned to the plantation to work.

When I heard that uncle Ben had come out of the woods, and was coming to
live on our plantation, my joy knew no bounds. On the day when he was
expected to arrive I got permission to go out on the road some distance
and meet them. Early in the morning I caught a horse and started. Every