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CHAPTER XXXI
THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD
Sandusky was the most important station and terminus of one branch
of the underground railroad. That thisf city was so regarded by the
nation at large is shown among other things by the fact that Mrs.
Harriet Beccher Stowe in "Uncle Tom's Cabin" piloted the escaping
slaves by the underground railway to Sandusky Avhence they
took the boat for Canada. In chapter 37, occurs the following: As
Tom had informed them that their party would be looked for in Sandusky,
it was thought prudent to divide them. Jim, with his old mother,
was forwarded separately; and a night or two after George and Eliza,
with their child, AA'ere driven privately into Sandusky, and lodged beneath
a hospitable roof, preparatory to taking their last passage on the lake."
# # # # # # # # # # # #
The disguises the party had assumed Avere in accordance with the
hints of Tom Loker. Mrs. Smyth, a respectable Avoman. from the settlement
in Canada, Avhether they were fleeing, bei,ng fortunate about
crossing the lake to return thither, had consented to .appear as the aunt
of little Harry; and, in order to attach him to her, he had been allowed
to remain, the two last days, under her sole charge; and an extra amount
of petting, joined to an indefinite amount of seed-cakes and candy, had
cemented a very close attachment on the part of the young gentleman.
The hack drove to the Avharf. The two young men, as they appeared,
Avalked up the plank into the boat, Eliza gallantly giving her arm to
Mrs. Smyth, and George attending to their baggage.
George was standing at the captain's office, settling for his party,
Avhen he overheard two men talking by his side.
"IVe Avatched every one that came on board," said one, "and I knoAv
they 're not on this boat.''
The voice Avas that of the clerk of the boat. The speaker whom he
addressed Avas our sometime friend, Marks, who, wij^ that valuable
perseverance whieh characterized him, had come on to Sandusky, seeking
AVhom he might devour. *
It Avas a superb day. The blue waves of Lake Erie danced, rippling
and sparkling, in the sunlight. A fresh breeze blew from the, shore, and
the lordly boat ploughed her Avay right gallantly onward.
The underground railroad, so called, was the outgrowth of the concerted
action of people friendly to the slaves, and who were willing for
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