by Mikki Sadil
“I know, but we’ve got to try. I think I’ve got an idea. What if…” He stopped as sounds came from the other side of the door. He sat down quickly in one of the rockers.
Missus Andrews brought in a tray with slices of bread and ham, some cheese, a bowl of cold cooked carrots, and four hardboiled eggs. She set it on the table and left the room without speaking. Bess, Jesse, and Ben looked at each other.
Jesse grumbled, “Is this our supper? Why she bring it so early? We gonna get sumptin’ later on like usual?”
“Let’s just eat, Jesse. We’ll talk after she gets the dishes.”
When she came back, Ben said, “Missus Andrews, we’ve been here twenty-eight days now. That seems a mighty long time to stay in one place. When do you think we might be going on?”
She looked up, obviously surprised. “Why are you keeping track of the days?”
Ben didn’t answer her question. “I’m just wondering, does it usually take so long to…uh…get from one place to another?”
She looked down. “Ah, well, everything has to be just right. We have…uh… arrangements to make. Be patient, it will happen in time.”
She hurried out and slammed the door. Ben waited until he heard the faint sounds of the linens hitting the shelves before he turned to Jesse. “Okay, we’ve got to figure a way out of here. Jesse, do you reckon you could reach that skylight? And get it open?”
Jesse stared up at it. “Well, maybe if I stand on that table, I might could reach it. I don’t know…it some high.”
“Bess, help me move the table over to Jesse. We’ve got to pick it up, we can’t drag it ’cause they might hear it downstairs.”
He and Bess moved the table to where Jesse was standing, but even when he stood up on it, he couldn’t reach the handle that unlocked the skylight. He looked down at Ben.
“Reach me up Josiah. I kin put him on my shoulders and he be able to reach it.”
In a few minutes more, Josiah had turned the handle and the skylight was open. But he was only able to climb into the attic by standing on his father’s shoulders. There seemed to be no way for the adults to get into the attic.
Bess’s eyes filled with tears. “Ben, what we gonna do?”
Ben said softly, “Bess, don’t cry, please. Let me think on this for a minute.” He looked around the room again, and his eyes lit up.
He walked over to the chairs that had flanked the table. “Jesse, if we put one of these on top of the table, reckon you could reach the opening?”
Jesse nodded. “We try it, Ben.”
Ben and Bess lifted the sturdier of the two rockers and lifted it onto the table. They held it tightly to keep it from rocking, and Jesse climbed into the chair and reached up. His fingers missed the opening by about six inches.
Jesse groaned. Ben heard the frustration in his voice.
“I got it!” Bess rushed over to the beds. She pulled quilts and blankets from them and folded each one into a square. Ben continued to hold the chair steady, and watched her with growing excitement. When Bess had a big stack of folded bed coverings, she brought them over to the table.
“Jesse, we puts the quilts in the bottom and it help raise you up.”
But the quilts sank when Jesse stepped on them, so he still missed the opening by a few inches. He looked down at Bess and Ben, fear written all over his face.
Ben snapped his fingers. “How can I be so dumb? Jesse, step down so Bess can take the quilts off.”
He went over to the armoire and picked up an armload of the biggest books. He piled them on the rocker and told Jesse to step back up.
This time, Jesse easily reached the opening of the skylight and pulled himself up into the attic. He laid flat out on the floor and put his arms out to Bess. “Hurry, Bess.”
But even with the added height, Bess missed Jesse’s outstretched hands.
While Jesse cursed under his breath, Bess looked at Ben with despair on her face.
“Bess, get down. Come help me.”
Ben pulled the other rocker over to the table and set the pile of books on the bottom of the second rocket. He and Bess lifted it up and maneuvered it on top of the first one.
The two chairs wobbled much more than the one had. Bess was shaking when Ben helped her back on the table. “Ben, how you gonna hold them two chairs so’s I don’t fall off?”
“Don’t worry, Bess, I can hold them.”
She stepped up carefully, reached for Jesse’s hands, and he swung her up beside him. Bess looked down at Ben. “How you gonna do this, Ben, with no ones to hold the chairs for you?”
“I can do it. First, I need to get something.”
Ben walked over to the armoire and pulled out the jackets the Quaker family had given them. He picked up a sweater for each of them from the pile of older clothes, hoping the biggest one would fit Jesse, put it all in the center of a quilt and tied the four corners together.
“Here, Jesse, catch this.” He threw the bundle up to Jesse and then took the top rocker off the table and placed it quietly on the floor. He added a few more books to the pile in the bottom of the remaining rocker and climbed onto the table. The chair began rocking even before he stepped up onto it, and for a moment, he panicked. He took a deep breath, stretched as far as he could, touched Jesse’s hands, and in the next moment, all four were sitting on the floor of the attic.
Ben looked around the attic. The windows that let light into the hidden room below were small. Ben wondered if Jesse, as big as he was, could get through one of them. The immediate problem was how to get them open, as they were merely ornamental. He picked out the one that seemed to be a bit wider than the others.
“We’ve got to break the glass.”
Jesse wrapped one of the jackets around his hand. He motioned to the others to move away. The first hit was too gentle and the glass didn’t even crackle. He frowned and gave it a strong wallop. This time it broke, with tiny pieces flying everywhere. He stopped, and they all held their breath. No sounds came from below in the house. Ben began carefully removing the shards from the window frame, and in a few minutes, the opening was clear.
Ben cautiously stuck his head out of the window and looked around. The roof sloped slightly, but they could stand on it without falling. He stretched out a little farther and saw that they were too high up to jump to the ground without breaking a bone.
He glanced back. “Stay quiet. I’m going to climb out onto the roof and see if I can find us a way down.”
Out on the roof, Ben looked over at the fields and ground surrounding the house, but no one was in sight. He moved cautiously to the far side of the house, where a large oak tree hovered above the roof. The limbs were bare and strong, and held firm when he put his weight on them. This tree was the only way for them to get down to the ground.
The mid-afternoon sun was bright, so they would be in full sight of anyone who might be watching. A large cornfield not far from the house and a dark forest beyond it provided cover for their escape, if they could reach it without being seen.
The air was crisp and cold, which suggested that it must be sometime in November, yet part of the cornfield was still not harvested. That part looked tall enough to hide even Jesse, but the rest of it had been cut down to the ground.
He returned to the broken window and climbed back into the attic.
“Okay, I found a way for us to get down. We have to climb down a tree, so it’s lucky we have the shoes the Quakers gave us. We need to put on the sweaters and jackets both, ’cause the wind’s come up and it’s cold outside. Even smells like rain.”
Everyone hurried to dress warmly and in a few moments, they were ready to move.
“I’ll go first. Bess, you hand Josiah out to me, then you and Jesse.”
Bess hung back, and Ben could see the fear in her face.
“It be bright day outside. People can see us.”
“Bess, I know you’re scared, and so am I, but we can’t stay here and be caught. I didn’t see anybody aroun
d when I was out there. It’s the only way, and we’ve got to go now.”
Ben picked up the quilt he had wrapped the jackets in, and placed it in the window frame to protect them from any tiny shards of glass that might remain. He climbed out, and in a few moments, he, Josiah, and Bess were huddled together on the roof. The problem was Jesse. He stuck his head out of the window and got one arm out. But his shoulders were too wide, and he couldn’t get the other one out. He wiggled around but it was useless, the other shoulder was not going to come out. In despair, he looked at Bess and Ben. Tears ran down his face.
“You go now. Take Bess and my boy, get them to de river. I stay here, go back with hunters.”
Bess began to cry.
“No, we’re not leaving you behind, Jesse. Get back inside, and see if you can find something to break out one side of the frame. All you need is a couple of inches. Go on, we’re not going to leave without you,” Ben declared.
Jesse disappeared from sight. Minutes passed, each more agonizing that the last. Jesse found an old fireplace iron, and used it to break out the frame. He worked quickly, but each smash of the iron against the wood sounded to Ben like a drum roll. In a few minutes, he managed to twist his big body out of the window and onto the roof.
Bess gave him a hug, but Ben worried about the noise Jesse had made breaking the frame. He motioned for everyone to be quiet, as he listened for sounds to indicate the Andrews’ had heard them and were coming to find them. There was no sound from the house. He glanced around, but no one was in sight. He looked up at the sky and groaned inwardly.
Heavy rain clouds were already beginning to cluster. Ben shook his head. He knew the rain would keep their scent from the dogs, but even with their heavy clothing, it and the cold were going to be bad for them. They had to find some kind of shelter soon.
He kept those thoughts to himself and reached back for the quilt. He pulled it away from the window and folded it up.
He saw Jesse looking at him. Ben nodded upward toward the sky and whispered, “I reckon we might need this by nightfall.”
When they got to the overhanging tree, Jesse reached out and grabbed a limb to see if it would hold his weight. Before he could swing himself into the branches, a shout from below froze everyone into statues.
“Mama, look! Up there on the roof, there’s a colored man trying to climb a tree. Why’s he doing that, huh, Mama, why?”
A little girl from a neighboring farmhouse was standing in the middle of the dirt road, pointing at the Andrews’ roof. Her shrill little voice caught the attention of field workers, as well as several of the farm women. The child’s mother caught her up in her arms, quieted her, and then stared silently up at the roof.
An anguished cry from Bess brought Ben out of his stupor. “Ben, what we gonna do now?”
Ben nodded to Jesse. “Go on, get down the tree as quickly as you can. Then run for the cornfield. We’ll be as close behind as we can.”
Jesse started to argue but at the look on Ben’s face, he turned around, slid into the top branches of the tree, and began working his way down. As soon as he dropped to the ground, he ran for the cornfield.
Ben pushed Bess forward. “Go now, and I’ll send Josiah after you. You have to be there to catch him, then get to the cornfield and find Jesse. I’ll be right behind you. Don’t stop and don’t look back. This is our only chance, so don’t worry about those people down there, just go. Now!”
The next few minutes were so tense and silent that Ben felt he could not breathe. Bess’s skirts kept getting caught on small, thin branches, and as she yanked them loose, Ben could see the fear and frustration on her face. Before she had even touched the ground, he picked Josiah up and set him into the tree.
“Go, Josiah, go, your mama’s waiting for you.”
The little boy had never climbed a tree before, and he struggled to get from limb to limb. His bad leg wouldn’t cooperate, and at times, Josiah had to physically move his leg with both hands to get it past a heavy branch. He didn’t complain but Ben could see the pain on his face. It took him much longer to get down than it had his mother, and Ben could see the women gathered in the street, pointing upward and talking. He wondered when they would go for their menfolk, who would no doubt come after them with guns, just for the reward.
Ben was sweating heavily by the time Josiah finally made it to the ground. Bess picked him up and sprinted toward the cornfield as fast as she could. She didn’t look back. He hesitated for a moment, wondering if he gave himself up to the group below, if Jesse and Bess could make it to freedom alone. He shook his head and started down the tree. I’m not giving up and I’m not leaving them alone. If they get caught, I’ll be there with them. He dropped to the ground and started running without giving a second thought to whoever was in the group down the street.
Every second, he feared he would hear or feel a gun shot, but there was no sound other than his feet hitting the hard ground. The cornfield was farther away than he had thought, and now he could see a wide creek separating it from the road. Ahead, Jesse, Bess, and Josiah had just started across the bridge covering the creek when they stopped abruptly. The rapid tat-a-tat of horses’ hooves thundered through the air as a carriage rounded a bend far ahead. It seemed the Andrews had returned.
Chapter Fifteen
Ben raced across the road and caught up to Jesse and Bess. “Quick, get under the bridge. We’ll be out of sight. Hurry!”
The wild grasses covering the ground were wet and slick. The fugitives slipped and slid down the bank until they were all huddled together under the bridge. The horses and carriage clattered across, sending dust raining down on them. Ben expected to hear it stop in front of the Andrews’ house, but the carriage continued down the road. When it was out of sight, they climbed back up, ran across the bridge, and into the cornfield.
At the edge of the field, Ben looked back at the house. There was no one in the street, and in fact, no one in sight at all. He didn’t know if that meant the women had gone about their business, or if they were all in their homes telling the menfolk about slaves escaping from a rooftop. No matter what might be true, they had to keep going.
The uncut portion of the cornfield was not as high as Ben thought, and Josiah was the only one hidden by the corn stalks. The others walked bent over until the green stalks gave way to the dry fields left behind by harvesting. Before they were out into the open, Ben stopped.
“Let’s rest for a minute, then we’ll make a run for the forest.”
By now, it was getting on toward sundown. It was the normal time for the Andrews’ Andrews’ to feed the stock and to bring up their supper. Ben thought it strange that no one was around. A shadow moved, and he looked up at the clouds gathering. Rain was coming.
“I can’t see anyone. The forest is straight ahead. I reckon we ought to try for it.”
Jesse hesitated. “Ben, that lil’ child what yelled at me. Her momma come outta the house and she see me in the tree. What ’bout that?”
“I don’t know for sure. But if those women had told their menfolk about us climbing down the tree and running, they would have been after us by now. We just need to get into the forest as quick as we can.”
Bess grabbed Josiah by the hand and the four started running. They crashed through the dry stalks, ignoring the noise made by the dry remnants of harvested corn that crunched loudly beneath their feet. Open ground spread out before them once they left the cornfield, but it soon gave way to the forest. Ben charged through the densely packed trees, jumping over downed logs and brushing thin, sharp branches out of his face. He stumbled, caught his foot in some tangled vines, and went down hard. Jesse helped pull the vines off.
“Now what we do? We still losted, and now we gots those other mens to watch out for, same as for hunters. We gonna stay in this here forest forever?” Jesse snarled.
Ben shook his head. He was sick of questions he had no answers for, and he was still somewhat afraid of the big man. He rubbed his aching ank
le. “I don’t know, Jesse. I’m doing the best I can, but if you’ve got a better idea, let’s hear it.”
Jesse shook his head and mumbled, “No, I not gots a better idea, but I’se tired of being losted.”
“Well, so am I. I’m doing my best.” Ben stood and flinched. His ankle was worse than he thought. He started to walk. “Come on, we need to move back into the woods…”
Horses pounding up the road, men shouting, and gunfire interrupted him. The hunters had returned.
“Get down, quick!” Ben dropped to the ground and almost cried out when his ankle turned beneath him.
“Andrews! Andrews, get yo’self out here and bring them slaves with you. Now, you hear me?”
The hoarse voice of Phineas was unmistakable as it rang through the air. Doors slammed, dishes and furniture crashed, men shouted and cursed as the gang realized the slaves were gone, as were both of the Andrews. Raucous laughter and more gunshots rent the air, and it sounded as if they were destroying whatever they could in the house as retaliation for the money that had just slipped through their dirty fingers.
At last, the only sounds drifting through the air were that of horses’ hooves fading in the distance as the gang gave up on their destructive play.
Ben stood very carefully and leaned over to help Josiah up. “I bet they won’t like what they find when they come back. It sounded like Phineas and his gang was wrecking the house.”
“Phineas and his gang? Ben, how come you know those hunters?” Bess’s eyes were wide with anxiety.
“Aw, Phineas and his friends aren’t really hunters. They’re just a gang of cutthroats out to kill slaves and then claim the rewards, if they can. Grammy knows Phineas, and he chased us one day when we were going into town.” He buttoned his jacket and settled his muffler around his neck.
Jesse asked, “Why you reckon they did that, Ben? Tearin’ up that house thataway?” He sounded more pleased than curious.
“Well, I reckon they were mighty riled up because everybody was gone. They probably thought Mister Andrews had turned us in so he wouldn’t have to share the reward. Come on, we need to get away from here. That gang of thugs is pretty bad. Phineas told Grammy one time that he’d just as soon shoot a slave as capture one. I don’t think they’ll come back, but we don’t want to wait and find out.”