"For," said she, "Missus, de water never came above my chin; when
we thought surely we were all going under, it became shallower and
shallower, and we came out safe on the odder side." Then there was
another stream to cross, which was also passed in safety. They
found afterward that a few rods ahead of them the advertisement of
these escaping fugitives was posted up, and the officers,
forewarned of their coming, were waiting for them. But though the
Lord thus marvelously protected her from capture, she did not
always escape the consequences of exposure like this. It was in
March that this passage of the streams was effected, and the
weather was raw and cold; Harriet traveled a long distance in her
wet clothing, and was afterward very ill for a long time with a
very severe cold. I have often heard her tell this story; but some
of the incidents, particularly that of her illness, were not
mentioned by herself, but were written me by friend Garrett.

I hardly know how to approach the subject of the spiritual
experiences of my sable heroine. They seem so to enter into the
realm of the supernatural, that I can hardly wonder that those who
never knew her are ready to throw discredit upon the story.
Ridicule has been cast upon the whole tale of her adventures by
the advocates of human slavery; and perhaps by those who would
tell with awe-struck countenance some tale of ghostly visitation,
or spiritual manifestation, at a dimly lighted "_seance_."

Had I not known so well her deeply religious character, and her
conscientious veracity, and had I not since the war, and when she
was an inmate of my own house, seen such remarkable instances of
what seemed to be her direct intercourse with heaven, I should not