a colored man had lived whose house had been one of her stations
of the under-ground, or unseen railroad. They reached the house,
and leaving her party huddled together in the middle of the
street, in a pouring rain, Harriet went to the door, and gave the
peculiar rap which was her customary signal to her friends. There
was not the usual ready response, and she was obliged to repeat
the signal several times. At length a window was raised, and the
head of a _white man_ appeared, with the gruff question, "Who are
you?" and "What do you want?" Harriet asked after her friend, and
was told that he had been obliged to leave for "harboring
niggers."

Here was an unforeseen trouble; day was breaking, and daylight was
the enemy of the hunted and flying fugitives. Their faithful
leader stood one moment in the street, and in that moment she had
flashed a message quicker than that of the telegraph to her unseen
Protector, and the answer came as quickly; in a suggestion to her
of an almost forgotten place of refuge. Outside of the town there
was a little island in a swamp, where the grass grew tall and
rank, and where no human being could be suspected of seeking a
hiding place. To this spot she conducted her party; she waded the
swamp, carrying in a basket two well-drugged babies (these were a
pair of little twins, whom I have since seen well grown young
women), and the rest of the company following. She ordered them to
lie down in the tall, wet grass, and here she prayed again, and
waited for deliverance. The poor creatures were all cold, and wet,
and hungry, and Harriet did not dare to leave them to get
supplies; for no doubt the man at whose house she had knocked, had
given the alarm in the town; and officers might be on the watch
for them. They were truly in a wretched condition, but Harriet's