In Chapter 9, 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.
