Summary

Chapter 23 is titled, "The Word." Two days after Henry's encounter with the Coachman, an elderly black woman named Becky came to the farm where Henry and Cook were staying. She said the Coachman sent her, and she was selling brooms. She offered them to Cook, who didn't know how to respond. Cook went to make coffee while Henry talked to the woman. She chided him for going around causing danger to himself and others with his loose talk, especially pointing out that the Coachman's wife wasn't trustworthy. Henry told her he'd already been told all this by the Coachman. He avowed no knowledge about the Underground Railroad, which she called "the gospel train," and wasn't a runaway. He again told her he'd been sent forward to "hive the bees" by John Brown. She wondered why the great John Brown would send...