Later that evening, Mr. Shelby tells his wife that he has sold Tom and little Harry. Mrs. Shelby is horrified; he has promised Tom his freedom, and she has assured Eliza her child is safe. Shelby admits that Haley held a mortgage on their property and that he was forced to choose between selling those two and selling everything, including all their slaves. Mrs. Shelby says she always knew slavery was evil; now she dreads having to tell Eliza.
But Eliza has overheard. She packs what she can and leaves the house, carrying her child and few possessions. She goes first to warn Tom and Chloe, and Chloe urges her husband to run away, too, but Tom refuses, saying Eliza is right to go but he has no choice except to fulfill his master’s bargain. Tom looks at his sleeping children and weeps. Eliza asks them to tell her husband what she has done and that she will try to make it to Canada.
The next morning, Eliza is found missing. Haley arrives and the other slaves lose no time in telling him Eliza and the boy are gone; Haley is persuaded, with some difficulty, that Shelby was not an accomplice in their leaving and that he will assist in a search for them. Shelby delegates two slaves, Sam and Andy, to join Haley in searching. Sam, perceiving that Mrs. Shelby is not eager that they find the fugitives, manages to delay the search.
In Chapter VII, Eliza dreads leaving her home but prays for the strength to succeed. She carries the child all night along the main road toward the Ohio River. At daylight she hopes they will be taken for white travelers and will be safe unless someone recognizes them. She buys a meal at a farmhouse, where the white woman is not suspicious. Near sunset Eliza rents a room to wait for a boatman who will take them across the Ohio, for the river is jammed with ice and the ferry will not run.
Meanwhile Chloe and other servants delay Haley’s search even longer, and Chloe comments upon the trader’s chances for salvation (which she sees as slim). Several children agree, but Tom tells them they ought to pray for the man. Shelby calls for Tom and informs him that he has been sold; Tom reduces his former master to tears with the reminder that they have been together since Shelby was an infant. Mrs. Shelby tries to get Haley to promise that he will resell Tom to her husband in a year.
The search begins, on horseback. Sam maneuvers Haley into taking the wrong road, and they lose several more hours. When they finally reach the village where Eliza is staying, it is almost dusk. Sam spots Eliza at a window and makes a diversion that gives her time to wake Harry and run out the inn door toward the river. Haley sees her and gives chase, but Eliza jumps onto a huge floating chunk of ice. Carrying the boy, she leaps from cake to cake of ice as her pursuers watch in horror and amazement. She reaches the Ohio side and is helped onto shore by a Kentucky farmer who recognizes her but has no desire to return her to Shelby. He directs her to a house where she can get help. Seeing all this, Sam and Andy leave Haley and head for home.
