e interest as she left her moorings. Away she went before
the free breeze. Already she seemed beyond the spot at which the
captain agreed to lay to, and still she flew along. My heart sank
within me; so near deliverance, and again to have my hopes blasted,
again to be cast on my own resources. I felt that they had been making
a mock of my misery. The sun had sunk to rest, and the purple and gold
of the west were fading away into gray. Suddenly, however, as I gazed
with weary heart the vessel swung round into the wind, the sails
flapped, and she stood motionless. A moment more, and a boat was
lowered from her stern, and with steady stroke made for the point at
which I stood. I felt that my hour of release had come. On she came,
and in ten minutes she rode up handsomely on the beach. My black
friend and two sailors jumped out, and we started on at once for my
wife and children. To my horror, they were gone from the place where I
left them. Overpowered with fear, I supposed they had been found and
carried off. There was no time to lose, and the men told me I would
have to go alone. Just at the point of despair, however, I stumbled on
one of the children. My wife it seemed, alarmed at my long absence,
had given up all for lost, and supposed I had fallen into the hands of
the enemy. When she heard my voice, mingled with those of the others,
she thought my captors were leading me back to make me discover my
family, and in the extremity of her terror she had tried to hide
herself. I had hard work to satisfy her. Our long habits of
concealment and anxiety had rendered her suspicious of every one; and
her agitation was so great that for a time she was incapable of
understanding what I said, and went on in a sort of paroxysm of
distress and fear. This, however, was soon over, and the kindness of
my companions did much to facilitate the matter."--Father Henson's
Story of his own Life, p. 121.

[5] Henson, "_Uncle Tom's Story of his Life_," p. 162.

[6] Years thereafter when taking dinner with a distinguished gentleman
in London the thought of enjoying such privileges while his only
brother was in slavery dawned suddenly and impressed itself so
forcefully upon him that he immediately arose from the table, unable
to eat. He soon returned to America and at once proceeded to devise
means to free his brother. Mr. William Chaplain, of New York, had
repeatedly urged him to flee by way of the underground railroad, but
he was so demorali