We walked awhile longer till it started getting dark.  There was another shack on the edge of the woods but we couldn't see the front porch.  So we didn't know if it was a safe house or not.  Momma told me to stay there in the edge of the woods and she would walk around to the front and look to see if there was a quilt on the porch.  It felt like I was there for hours after she left me.  It was getting cold and dark outside.  I heard some people talking but I didn't dare move to see if I could see who they were. 

         After a while Momma came back and said it was a safe house but there was a Slave Hunter that just rode up.  He was talking to the man that lived there.  He was looking for 2 slaves, a woman and a little girl.  I was scared.  Momma said it couldn't be us because we still had 3 days left on our pass from the master.  We still stayed there in the edge of the woods till we saw him ride away.

         When he was gone Momma said it would be ok to go to the house now.  The man that lived there was still on his porch when we walked up.  He saw us come out of the woods and motioned for us to hurry up.  As soon as we walked in the door he lifted up a rug and there was a door in the floor.  It was just a real small door but there was a ladder we had to go down.  He told us to stay there and he would be back in a little while to talk to us.  It was real dark and cold down there.  We were real quiet and we heard a knock on the door.  The man opened the door and it was the Slave Hunter back again.  But this time he had a group of men with him.  The man that lived there told his wife to bring them some food and they all sat around the table to eat.   It felt like we were down there for hours and the food smelt so good.  Me and Momma were starving.  

         We could hear the men talking about the slaves they were looking for.  One man said, "If they were my slaves they would never make it back to my plantation.  I would beat them before they ever stepped foot on my land.  Then I would bring their bodies back and hang them from the tree in my yard so the rest could see them.  No good slave would ever run off again!"  Me and Momma were real glad we didn't belong to that man.  After a few hours we heard them all get up and leave.  The man waited a little while then opened the door back up for us to come up.

         The lady brought us some food and water.  The man said his name was Jacob and his wife's name was Mary.  They were real nice to us.  Jacob said they had been helping slaves for nearly 10 years now.  They didn't believe anyone should be considered property to any man.    I liked Jacob a lot!  He fixed me up a blanket on the floor by the fire place after we ate.  He said him and Momma needed to talk and I needed my rest.  I laid there listening to them for a while but I just couldn't keep my eyes open very long.  I felt so safe and warm there.  I never felt that way anywhere before.  

         When I woke up Momma was lying beside me.  She looked so peaceful.   She needed the rest as much as I did.  Jacob was sitting at the table drinking some coffee.  He seen me stirrin' and ask me if I was ready for some flapjacks.  I said yes sir, I would love some.  He smiled real big and motioned for me to come to the table.  Them were the best flapjacks I'd ever eaten'.   He asks me how old I was and if I was taken good care of my momma.  I told him I was 16 and that me and momma were taken good care of each other.  He said I was a good daughter for my momma.  He could tell that by listening to momma talking about me.   I could tell by talking to Jacob that he was a real good man.  He didn't talk to me like a little kid like most adults did.  He told me that 16 years old was an adult.  Most women around there were married at 16 and raising families.  I never even thought about a family of my own before.  It has been just me and momma so long that's all we worried about. 

         Jacob told me that we were fixin to come up on a big river.  That's where the state line was, we was fixin to cross over in to Indiana.  He said there was a bridge that went over the river but it was watched pretty closely.  He said he told momma about it last night.  There was a way we could get across safely but we had to be very careful.  There was a man that lived in a little shack at the edge of the river.  He had a boat that he took slaves across the river in.  He was concerned because it just being us two women he didn't know if he trusted the man that well.   Jacob said most runaway slaves are either just men or families.  Not too many with just a mom and her daughter.   He said if momma agreed to stay there for a few days he would send word to the man to let him know we were coming.  Jacob said by doing that the man would know that others knew about us and wouldn't harm us in anyway.   The thought of staying there for a few days didn't hurt my feelings.  I liked Jacob and Mary.  They were so nice to us.     

         Momma slept most of the day away.  She must have felt safe too and needed more rest than she thought.  I talked to her when she woke up about staying there a few days.  She didn't like the thought of staying anywhere for too long.  I told her it made sense to me and besides Jacob and Mary was real nice.  They would hide us if the slave hunters came back.  After a long time she finally agreed.  Jacob said he would send word out to that man.

         Later that evening we were sitting around the fire place talking and we heard some horses ride up.  Jacob told us to hurry up and go down that door again.    He went outside on the porch to talk to the men.   After a few minutes they came inside.  We was real scared when the door opened up and we looked up and seen a bunch of men looking down at us.  Jacob said it was alright to come on up.  There was a big man with a white beard that went way down his belly.  Jacob said his name was Thomas and he was the man that was gonna help us get across the river.   Thomas and his men helped with the Underground Railroad too.  Thomas said he was real good friends with Moses.  I didn't know who Moses was and he said that's what they called Harriet Tubman.  She sounded like a wonderful women to us.   We hoped someday we would meet her ourselves.  Thomas told us many stories about her.  He also told us that the new president was going to end slavery.  There was fixin to be a war.  The north was going to fight the south to end slavery.   That all sounded real good to me and momma but it also scared us.  If there was war then more slaves would get killed we thought. 

         After talking to Thomas and he told us that we had to stay there at Jacob's house for 3 days.  He said right now there was a lot of movement on the river and we had to wait till the right time to cross.  Some men from the north were heading south and they were having some trouble crossing the river.  Men from the south were not letting them cross without a fight.  He said that in three days the army should be across and then it would be a good time for us to travel.  Jacob told Thomas he would bring us to his shack on the third night around midnight.  They agreed and so did Momma.  I just smiled and listened.

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