“You can’t go down to them docks, Miss Eugenie! That place ain’t safe for big men with pistols!” Arthur spoke forcefully. It was an order, not a request.
Genie withdrew the pistol from her pocket. “I have a pistol, and thanks to you I know how to use it.”
“One of them well-fed wharf rats could take that from you before you could fire it. You cannot go down there!” There was no deference in his voice but there was a hint of fear. Arthur had issued an order that was also a plea. “It would be better—and safer—if Mr. MacKaye went. A white man can learn things from other white men that we can’t.”
He was right and Genie knew it. “But he’ll have to go tomorrow, Arthur. If I write to him tonight will you make certain he gets it?”
“I’ll take it to him myself, Miss Eugenie,” Arthur said, heading for the back door.
“Thank you for letting me know, Arthur. As helpless as I feel, I’d rather know than not know.”
“I’m real sorry, Miss Eugenie. But we’ll find out where that boat is. And them men, too.”
✴ ✴ ✴
Genie heard the neighing horse outside the following morning, and she opened the door to find Arthur on horseback, a light dusting of snow covering him. She gave him the letter she’d written to Ezra, thanked him, urged him to be careful, closed the door, and walked briskly to work. She expected that the turn in the weather would mean a heavy volume of business and she was correct: She and Adelaide were occupied from the moment they unlocked the door until well past time for the midday meal. Genie was glad because it meant there had been no time for thinking and wondering and worrying.
The people that she was thinking, wondering and worrying about had those same thoughts on their minds, but the weather was the cause. Not wanting to be snowed in again, Cornelius Eubanks, who had announced at dinner that he’d be leaving because his job had transferred him, announced at breakfast that he’d leave immediately to visit his family for Christmas before assuming his new posting. And Henry Carson said that he, too, would leave that day for warmer weather to the south, while Josiah Jones was going further north, to New England, where he would remain with his newly widowed sister who now was alone—all decisions which made Abby and Maggie relieved and happy.
They wouldn’t have to look after boarders for a while and therefore could enjoy each other for the Christmas holiday. Neither of them considered Ezra a boarder or a guest and while they didn’t know if he planned to be away for the holiday, they would be pleased if he remained. At least Abby and Eli would. Maggie would be at Genie’s with Elizabeth and Jack, and Genie would be here with Abby, Ezra, Eli and Donald.
Breakfast was ending when Eli ran to answer a knock at the scullery door to find a snow-covered Arthur, who thrust an envelope at him with whispered instructions to give it to Mr. MacKaye, “quick-like. I’ll be in the stable.”
Eli hurried back to the dining room with the letter and leaned in to whisper to Ezra, who had recognized the writing. He stood quickly, excused himself, and was on his way to his suite while reading the letter. He turned and headed quickly back to the kitchen where he grabbed Donald, who’d been enjoying breakfast with Maggie and Eli, and the two of them hurried out in the thickening snow to where Arthur waited in the stable. Ezra read Genie’s letter to Donald then asked Arthur to tell all that he knew. “We’ll dress for the docks and take Genie’s cart,” Ezra said.
“I’ll get it ready and y’all can follow me,” Arthur said.
They dressed in record time. Ezra stopped in the kitchen to apologize for rushing away. “I don’t know what time I’ll return so you need not worry about a meal for Donald and me,” he said. Then he looked at Maggie. “I don’t know how bad the weather will get so perhaps you’d like for me to pick up Elizabeth and bring her here?”
Maggie hugged him tightly and whispered that she’d saved some chicken fricassee for him, and he left, determined to find out where Jack Juniper was.
CHAPTER NINE
Every piece of information that Ezra and Donald could gather suggested that Jack Juniper and two other men had escaped the packet ship Rosemary in the ship’s dinghy at least a week ago, in the middle of a storm with fifteen- to twenty-foot seas and devil winds. The general consensus was that they could not have survived. But Donald had heard enough speculation to the contrary to give him and Ezra hope.
Donald had made a nuisance of himself in and around the shipping office, posing as the brother of a passenger on the Rosemary unwilling to accept the fact that the ship had docked in a place called Charleston, South Carolina—a place he’d never heard of—and that his sister was obligated to get herself to Philadelphia however she could. It was when he was prowling the docks and boat slips, asking how he could bring someone to Philadelphia from Charleston, that he heard men talking about how good a sailor Jack Juniper was and that if anyone could bring the dinghy to shore, it would be him.
The question was, where would or could he come ashore in a dinghy? Where would the storm have blown the small boat? Ezra and Donald both had taken ocean voyages from their native Scotland to America, but neither man was well versed in the ways of the sea. Since Donald by now was well-known as the brother of a passenger blown off course, it was left to Ezra to find out where the dinghy might have washed ashore. He had made some decent contacts while looking for Edward Cortlandt. He hoped he’d be remembered. He also hoped he had sufficient funds to properly show his appreciation. Seamen and dockworkers didn’t do favors.
✴ ✴ ✴
“Maggie gave us too much money,” Adelaide said as Genie completed the alterations to the dresses Maggie had selected for Elizabeth. Maggie’s own dresses were ready and Genie was about to begin on the items for Jack, tasks she didn’t expect to take very long as she was only opening and then tightening seams in three pairs of trousers, and shortening the sleeves in three shirts. She wanted to have everything ready by the end of the day because she was hopeful that Ezra and Donald would find Jack.
“I’m sure she’ll visit us again and we can have her choose something to make up the difference,” Genie said, then added, “or more likely, knowing Maggie, she’ll have us apply her surplus to someone in the opposite circumstance.”
“You really think a lot of her, don’t you?” Adelaide asked.
“Yes, I do,” Genie answered as she folded and packed Maggie’s purchases, which she would take to her own house so they would be there for the Juniper family when they arrived. And as if she could read Genie’s thoughts, Adelaide said what she had been thinking but had not expressed: “But do you know her well enough to leave her in your home?”
“I know her well enough that I don’t wish that she and her family should have to live in a rooming house.”
“But you don’t know her husband at all—”
“Enough, Adelaide, please. I’ve extended the offer and it has been accepted. There is nothing further to discuss.”
“And a very kind and generous offer it is,” Adelaide said, “and I admire you for it.”
Genie had stopped listening to Adelaide and was thinking of Maggie and Abby, Ezra and Donald, feeling helpless because she was doing nothing to help find Jack. Of course, she knew there was nothing she could do but that didn’t stop her from wishing there was. The bell over the front door jingled. That and the sound of Adelaide’s voice returned her to reality.
They were busy for the next couple of hours during which the weather put on a varied display: It snowed heavily and the wind howled for a brief but furious fifteen minutes. Then the snow stopped and the sun shone so brightly it could have been a spring day. Except for the temperature: It was frigid. But it was still and quiet, which everybody preferred to heavy, blowing snow and the threat of a paralyzing blizzard. Then, after an hour or so of clear, sunny calm, the sky darkened and a light snow began falling. It was a slow fall of tiny flakes that would take hours to accumulate but accumulate it would, if it lasted long enough. Such snow, however, carried no threat and no one was worrie
d.
No one but Ezra and Donald, who learned where Jack and his mates might have made landfall—if they had survived. There were coves all along the rocky shoreline where the land eventually led to farms and homesteads that were only reached by roads and lanes that were not in Philadelphia City proper. Instead, they were out in the countryside, an area totally unfamiliar to Ezra and Donald and which most likely would be rendered impassable by a heavy snowfall. Then there was the fact that there were but a few hours of daylight left.
“We don’t know if that’s where Jack Juniper is, or even if he survived,” Ezra said to William and Arthur. They hadn’t known where else to turn for help, and they’d believed—correctly—that if anyone could or would help it would be these two men.
“I know where you mean,” William said thoughtfully, “and those farmers along there are Amish and Quakers. If Jack and the other men washed up on their land, they’d be taken care of.”
“Might we go looking?” Donald asked.
Arthur nodded. “But not today. Those roads out there is not a place you want to be lost, especially at night.”
“If they’re out there and one of those farmers found them, they’re safe,” William said. “We can set out at first light tomorrow.”
“But if it snows all night—” Ezra began.
“We’ll take the horses,” Arthur said.
“And if someone is hurt and needs a cart, we’ll come back for him,” William said. Then he took a close look at Ezra. “And you look to be in need of a meal and a bed.”
Ezra had to admit to being in a great deal of pain after the day’s exertion. What he wouldn’t give for one of Eli’s horse liniment massages! “We’ll spend the night at one of the places on the dock.”
“You’ll sleep here in the stable where you’ll be dry and warm, and that’ll be after a meal at Joe Joseph’s place. And don’t argue, Ezra,” William said. “This is a most wonderful thing you and Donald are doing for Maggie Juniper.”
“The way that she and Eli cared for me—I’d sail to South Carolina for Jack Juniper if I had to!”
Donald added, “She feeds me at her table like she’s known me all my life.”
“I promised Maggie I’d take Elizabeth to her,” Ezra said. “I have Genie’s cart—”
“Eugenia can take her,” William said in his quiet way that brooked no argument. “That way she’ll have her cart with her.”
“Is it safe for her and the girl alone?” Ezra asked.
William nodded. “If they go now. You go get Elizabeth and I’ll fetch Eugenia.”
✴ ✴ ✴
The joy that erupted when the snow-covered Genie and Elizabeth entered the kitchen could have been surpassed only if Jack Juniper had been with them. The absence of any guests to feed meant that Abby had joined Maggie and Eli at the kitchen table for a meal of sweet potatoes, greens and fresh baked bread with butter and jam—only Eli among them eating the latter.
Hugs and kisses and Elizabeth hopping from one foot to the other, interspersed with shouts and cheers of joy, lasted for a while. Maggie held her daughter so tightly that the girl yelped as all the air was squeezed out of her. Eli and Maggie gave their seats at the table to Genie and Elizabeth. While Maggie prepared plates for the newcomers, Eli went out to stable the horse and cart. Elizabeth chattered the entire time—about school and what she was learning there, about school friends and teachers, and at length about Ezra MacKaye. Genie, who initially had attempted to converse with the girl during the snowy ride, gave up and resigned herself to listening, as Abby was doing now. Genie cleared the dishes from the table while Abby served tea and cake, and Elizabeth chattered. Finally, Maggie put a stop to it, either because she realized that Genie and Abby were feeling overwhelmed or she herself was.
“Enough talking, Elizabeth.”
“But Mama—”
“No buts, Elizabeth. Finish your food so we can get you ready for bed.”
“No, not bed! Not yet, Mama!”
“Yes, bed, Elizabeth, and we can go now if you don’t wish to finish eating.”
Elizabeth hurriedly began to eat. She spread jam on her bread as Eli had, but without the butter. She drank her tea without sugar but lots of milk. She seemed finally to have calmed her excitement and, in doing so, seemed to become a bit drowsy, as if agreeing that going to bed was a good idea.
Then Eli returned, recharging the energy in the room, and it was well over an hour before calm returned. A whispered conversation between Genie and Eli resulted in two decisions: He would spend the night in the carriage house, and Genie and her revolver would sleep on the sofa in the parlor. Eli filled and lit the grates in Maggie’s and Abby’s suites and the one in the parlor before he exited the scullery door to cross the yard to the carriage house. He carried a lantern so that Genie could watch his progress, and she didn’t lock the scullery door until she saw the carriage house illuminated. Genie then checked to be certain that all of the outside doors and windows were shuttered and locked. Abby had brought blankets and linens to the parlor and was waiting for her there.
‘I’m so glad you’re here.”
“As am I,” Genie said, taking her hand.
“I need to ask you this but I won’t be upset if you can’t answer: Where are Ezra and Donald?”
Genie hesitated only long enough to ensure that Maggie was safely upstairs before answering. She told Abby everything she had discussed with Ezra, Donald, William and Arthur—and Abby’s fear matched her own: Maggie!
“And if they have no success with the farmers along the coast roads, then what?”
“Ezra said he’ll go to Charleston if necessary, and if the worst has happened, he’ll buy Jack back.”
“Then we must hope and pray that Jack and his mates survived in their dinghy,” Abby said resignedly.
“Of course, we must,” Genie agreed.
“Though I can’t imagine how,” Abby said, fear in her voice. “I still recall the Atlantic crossing with my parents when we left England. We encountered a storm and the wind and waves tossed the ship about as if it were a child’s toy—and it was a huge oceangoing vessel! My mother was sick for weeks afterward and I wasn’t much better—and we were on land in Philadelphia!”
“You must remember that Jack is a seafarer with many years of experience.”
“Yes. Yes, I must keep that in mind,” Abby said.
“They will send word tomorrow as soon as they know something whether good or bad,” Genie said. “So, let us imagine giving Maggie good news and imagine her happiness.”
“At least she has Elizabeth to keep her occupied.”
“And a good job she does!” Genie exclaimed, and they both enjoyed a light, though brief, moment.
“Will you be all right down here?”
“I’ll be quite all right.”
“I so quickly came to feel safe with Ezra down here and Donald in the carriage house. I don’t miss the other men—the boarders—but I do miss Ezra and Donald. I won’t sleep with you down here alone.”
“I’ll likely not sleep much, either, and I’m quite accustomed to being alone.” Genie walked with Abby to the stairs. “Take the lamp. The upstairs hallway is in darkness.”
“Thank you for being here, Genie.”
“There’s no place I’d rather be,” Genie said, stepping into the circle of Abby’s arms. “I’ll watch until you’re upstairs.” And she did until the darkness absorbed the flicker of the lamp. She then lay on the sofa, wrapped in the linens and blankets. Her final thoughts before drifting into a restless sleep were how pained she would feel if Ezra and Donald needed to travel south to locate Jack and she could not be there to help—because under no circumstance would she voluntarily travel south.
The other side of that painful thought was that such a journey would be a fool’s errand because if Jack and his mates remained on a ship that docked in a southern port, they already would be slaves by the time Ezra and Donald arrived and nothing they said or did could or would ch
ange that. Please let them be on some farmer’s land here in Pennsylvania was her last conscious thought before sleep.
And those were the first thoughts of William and Arthur as they left the city of Philadelphia in the snowy dawn for the farmland that followed the banks of the Schuylkill River. Unlike the white men, they didn’t need to try to imagine the fate of the Black seamen if they landed in Charleston. They knew exactly what would befall them. Arthur led the way on horseback. Ezra rode beside him and William and Donald followed in a horse-drawn cart large enough to transport three men if that proved necessary. As grateful as William and Arthur were for the effort to locate Jack Juniper and return him to his wife, and as amazed as they were that white men would put forth such effort to benefit a Colored family, they would not, for any reason, go south. Though they had known him but a short time they had come to like and trust Donald Bruce. If he was inclined to believe those who said that Jack Juniper had the skill to steer a dinghy to shore in a storm, then they were inclined to accept Donald’s belief as good enough reason for this morning’s search.
Overnight snow had been light and sporadic so roads, streets and lanes in the city were passable. Such was not the case in the countryside where the rutted lanes were filled with snow, making it impossible to do more than inch forward cautiously. Since no one had traveled the road before them there were no tracks or trails to follow. Ezra rode to the front door of each house they passed and made inquiries. Only once was he gone long enough to raise hope among his companions, hope that quickly became excitement as they saw the farmer of the house hurriedly pull on boots, coat and hat and climb up behind Ezra.
“This is Amos Yoder,” Ezra called out when he and his passenger were close enough for conversation. “He is accompanying us because the farmer who rescued Jack doesn’t speak English.”
It took a moment for the words to resonate, and when they did, there was a great cheer and William, who was closest to Donald, hugged him and thanked him. “Where is he? We may be able to get the man home in time for dinner with his wife!”
Two Wings to Fly Away Page 17