by Mikki Sadil
The sun came out, and the forest began to warm up. Josiah was restless. His leg hurt, and he couldn’t keep still. After a while, Ben whispered, “Josiah, let’s play a game. See that log over there? A big, fat lizard keeps climbing around on it. He’s watching that grasshopper. Let’s see if he grabs him, and maybe we can count how many grasshoppers he gets before he goes away. Okay?”
The game was enough to take Josiah’s mind off his leg, and for an hour, the two boys watched the lizard stalk and capture his prey. The warmth of the sun finally caught up to Josiah, who yawned.
“Ben, I mostly tired now. Maybe I take a nap, okay?”
“Sure, that’s okay. Maybe I will, too.”
* * *
When Ben woke up, the light was fading and the forest was dark and gloomy again. The wind carried the chill of ice and snow from across the river. Ben buttoned his coat and tightened the muffler around his neck. He cautioned the others to do the same before they became chilled. When Josiah complained about being hungry, Bess gave everyone a small chunk of the cornbread and a slice of ham.
“That’s all for now. We still got a little of the cornbread and ham and some apples and fruitcake, too, but we best be keepin’ it for when we cross the river. We don’t know what be on the other side, or how long afore we gets some more to eat.”
Jesse grumbled, “What for we waitin’, Ben? We gots to go so that man still be there to takes us ’cross the river. We go now, no use waitin’ longer, it’s dark enuff.”
“Jesse, no, we’re not going yet. Please be quiet and just stay still for a while longer. The soldiers might hear us and come to investigate.”
“Them soldiers too busy walkin’ up and down to come after us. I gonna go now, see no use in this waitin’.” Jesse stood and started to walk away when Bess grabbed his arm.
“You sit, Jesse, you sit! You gonna get us all catched and sent back. Ben knows what he doin’, but you don’t. Now you sits yourself down ’til Ben says we go.”
Jesse’s face screwed up into a snarl. Even Josiah shrank back. He turned to Ben with his fists clenched, and Ben felt a wave of fear sweep over him once again.
“You best be gettin’ us safe to that river, boy, or you never see home again.” He threw himself down on the ground and turned away from his wife and son.
Bess shook her head. “I’m sorry, Ben. Jesse is mostly a good man, but he be some scared now. He mostly mad at hisself, ’cause he say we should be dependin’ on him to get us to freedom, instead of you. He’s not mad at you, he just act that way.”
“Jesse couldn’t have gotten you away, Bess. He didn’t know about the barn and the tunnel, and that’s the only reason we escaped. He shouldn’t be mad at himself. And he has lots of time in the future for you and Josiah to depend on him.”
She nodded. “I knows that, and so do Jesse. He just don’t know how to put things when he talks.” She went over and sat down next to Jesse.
They settled down to wait. Josiah pointed several times to small, bright eyes peering at them from the cover of downed limbs as the nocturnal animals came out of their daytime hiding.
The forest came alive as a fox yipped in the distance, and somewhere overhead, a night owl hooted and swooped away from its nest. Small animals rustled in the underbrush, a coyote sang, and occasionally, a tiny scream signaled the death of a small animal in the jaws of a predator. A breeze rippled through the trees, bringing a fresh coolness to dispense the daytime humidity. Still, Ben refused to move out.
He crept to the edge of the forest and watched the fort. When most of the lamps within were extinguished, and only those on the parapets were lit, he moved back to his friends.
“Okay, we should go now, but we have to be fast and quiet. The moon’s up, which means the soldiers could see us if they’re looking. But there’s only one soldier on the parapet now, so I think it’s the best time. I’ll go first, and Bess next. Jesse, you best carry Josiah since he can’t run fast. Be sure to follow exactly where I go.”
They waited at the edge of the forest. The lone soldier was pacing slowly back and forth from one end of the parapet to the other. When he reached the far end, Ben whispered quickly, “I’m going now. Wait until he’s at the same place, then come one at a time.”
He bent over, trying to make his shadow as small as possible, and raced to the wall of the fort. In a couple of minutes, Bess joined him, followed by Jesse and Josiah. They huddled tightly together and Ben knew they were all barely breathing. Even though the fort wall was at least thirty feet high, if the soldier looked down, he could see them. He continued his pacing without interruption.
Pressed against the wall, they moved single file toward the end of the fort. Here and there, small patches of snow crunched under their feet and they stopped for fear of being heard. The soldier marched on, thankfully oblivious to their presence.
The wall angled out to the left, toward the river. Closest to them was a huge wooden gate that opened for wagons and soldiers returning on horseback. Now there were two soldiers walking their duty line on the parapet above the gate.
Ben looked out beyond the fort. The bright moon cast light that shimmered on water far down the road. Boats, beached for the winter, were illuminated as they lay against the white sand. A few were still in the water, tied to slips near the riverbank.
Between the end of the fort’s walls and the beach, the area was wide open. Off to the right, at the edge of the forest, only a few trees here and there leaned across the sand far enough to cast even small shadows. This was the dangerous part, running in the open to the limited safety of the beached boats. It was more than a half mile of open ground, easily seen by the soldiers if they chose to look in that direction.
He turned to the others and whispered, “Look, see where those boats are? That’s where the man is going to be.”
He looked around at the beach before them and the edge of the forest a short distance away.
“No matter how we do this, we can be seen if the soldiers start looking down this way. I reckon the best way is to get to the edge of the forest over there.” He pointed to where the sand trickled back into the woods. “Those big trees that lean out over the sand are the only shadows we have, and we’re still going to be in the open between them. But that’s the best chance we have. Let’s go.”
Single file, they ran silently from the protection of the fort wall out into the open and toward the edge of the forest. They had just reached the shadowy edge of the first few trees when Jesse, who was carrying Josiah, slipped on a thin patch of icy ground and fell. Josiah cried out as he rolled away before Jesse could grab him. He hit a rock and lay still.
Immediately, a shot rang out, and a voice yelled, “Stop! Who goes there?”
Chapter Twenty
Jesse lay perfectly still while Bess and Ben dropped quickly to the ground. A short distance away, Josiah was sprawled motionless.
Again the voice yelled, “Who goes there? Answer me if ye care for yer life!”
Immediately, another voice responded, raised to be heard over the wind. “Aw, ain’t nothing there, Campbell. Just a dumb bird or something. Get back to yer post.”
“Naw, I heard something and it weren’t no dang bird. It’s over there by them trees. Gimme a lantern, I’m going out to see what’s what.”
A minute later, the gate opened, and a soldier walked out with a lantern in one hand and a rifle in the other. He walked a few feet away from the gate, swinging the lantern high. Its light cast a bright yellow glow as he walked toward where Josiah lay.
Ben’s heart was in his throat and he could barely breathe. Was it all going to end this way? A stupid stumble and his three friends would be returned to slavery, Josiah would be sold, and Ben might end up in prison.
He raised up on his elbows just enough to look around. Some large pebbles lay a few feet in front of him. He scooted one hand forward to grab them, but they were still out of reach. He would have to inch his way forward. The soldier moved slowly toward the
tree shadows where Josiah lay, swinging his lantern back and forth. Each time, the yellow light barely missed the boy’s prone body.
From the fort came another rough voice. “Campbell, come on now, git back up here. Tweren’t nothing but one o’them nighttime critters. We hear ’em alls the time.”
Campbell turned slightly away from where Josiah and the others lay and started swinging his lantern toward the wall of the fort. “Dagnabit, I’m gonna shoot me something tonight, I done knowed it.” He was muttering to himself, but the words came across the cold air to Ben as a death knell.
Ben knew this was his one chance. He flung his arms out in front of him and began to crawl toward the rocks. Light from the lantern swung toward him, and he froze, his hands outstretched. His fingers touched the pebbles, and he could feel that each one was about the size of a large egg. He started to inch his way backward, but again the lantern swung in his direction. He froze a second time and prayed his racing heart wasn’t beating loudly enough for the soldier to hear. He moved his head a fraction and saw the outline of Josiah’s body, lying flat out on the ground. He wasn’t moving. Ben hoped he wasn’t unconscious.
Crash! A loud bang sounded from the wall where Campbell had been. Ben heard him curse as the soldier on the wall yelled down at him.
“Campbell, you idjit, what in tarnation are you doing?”
The soldier started toward Josiah again. “Aw, ’tweren’t nothing. I seen one o’them night critters an’ I swung my rifle butt at him. Missed, but he run off, anyway.”
At that moment, Ben threw the largest pebble as far to the left of where the four lay as he could. It hit the wall with a clink! before it bounced back into the sand. The soldier jerked in surprise as Ben threw another one farther to the left. Two more pebbles hit near the wall of the fort as Campbell spun around again. The forest came alive with the loud screeches and calls of the nocturnal birds and animals whose normal routine was disturbed by the commotion coming from the fort. A large owl flew out of a nearby tree and swooped down toward the soldier. He ducked and cursed loudly.
The pebbles were gone. If the noise didn’t convince the soldier that he had heard nothing but an animal, all was lost. He swung his lantern at the owl, who vanished into the protection of the forest, turned, and started toward Josiah again. Ben started to get up with his hands in the air.
“Campbell, git yoreself back to yer post. Sarge is on his way, and if you ain’t back where you belong, you gonna end up in the stockade agin.” The same rough voice shouted.
Campbell stopped, and swung the lantern high and wide one final time, its sheath of light missing Josiah by no more than a hair. He mumbled loudly, “Heckfire, I knowed it’s no danged critter.” He walked back through the gate, and it rumbled to a close. For a few minutes, the loud heckling continued back and forth between the two soldiers.
A third voice shouted “’Tention!” and then all was quiet.
Ben lay still for a minute, letting his heart rate slow and getting his breath back again. Jesse crawled over to Josiah, picked him up, and slung him over his back. Bent almost double, Jesse raced for the protection of a small section of ground completely covered in shadows. Bess followed him, as did Ben. They sat unmoving and in silence for a few minutes, until they could breathe without gasping. Josiah leaned against Jesse, frightened but unhurt.
Bess whispered, “Ben, you think them soldiers come out here again?”
“I don’t reckon so, not with their sergeant coming to check up on them. Look, we’ve still got a ways to go to get to the boats. The trees are moving with the wind, so those shadows on the beach aren’t going to stay still. We best get going. Look way down there.” Ben pointed down the beach. “I can just barely see a big shadow on the sand. I don’t know how far it is, but let’s meet up there. Jesse, you and Josiah go first.”
Jesse said, “What happen if them soldiers see us? What we do then?”
Ben shrugged. “Start running, Jesse, as fast as you can. Don’t look back. If they see us, we’ve got nothing to lose, so head for the boats.”
Josiah spoke for the first time. “Papa, I walk now, too. You don’t hafta carry me.”
Jesse stood up and held out his hand. “Okay, boy, we go together. We gotta walk fast, okay?”
“Yeh, Papa, I walk fast.” Josiah looked over at his mother. “It be okay, Mama, Papa and me, we get to shadows, then you come, okay?” He grinned at her, took his father’s hand, and they left the safety of the shadows.
Bess looked at Ben. “Ben, that were you making all that racket, weren’t it? So that solder wouldn’t get to Josiah?”
He nodded. “I promised to get you to freedom. You’re almost there, and you could get to the man who’s going to take you across the river without me. I wasn’t going to let the soldiers get Josiah and you and Jesse. Come on, Bess, it’s your turn, get walking.”
He waited until Bess was a tiny figure in the distance before he followed. When he reached the others, he said, “The wind’s picking up and the trees are blowing real hard, so these shadows are going to start moving. We might as well cross over to the beach now and get to the water’s edge. We’ll follow it until we get to the boats where the man is supposed to meet us. We’ve come this far without the soldiers seeing us, so maybe luck is with us. Let’s go.”
Bess touched Ben on the arm. “Wait, Ben. Luck don’t have nothin’ to do with it. ’Tis God’s will we be this far. I reckon now we pray it’s His will to get to them boats.”
They joined hands, and Bess whispered a short prayer. “Praise be to the Lord, He done got us this far to freedom, please Lord, get us all the way. Amen.”
Ben and the slaves ran without looking back. At last, the water lapped at their feet.
“Look, you can see the boats down there. It’s a long ways but we’ve got to make it.” Ben took a moment to look back at the fort but all was quiet.
The frightening experience with the soldier and Josiah seemed to have sapped all their physical strength. The sand was deep and damp, and it pulled at each footstep as though it were a living creature trying to suck them down into its depths. They moved slowly now, sluggishly putting one foot in front of the other. Josiah was visibly panting, and all of them were breathing hard. Ben knew none of them had the strength left to run should the soldiers see them.
After what seemed an eternity, they reached the boats. Some were beached, others tied up in the water, but all cast shallow shadows on the bright white sand as the clouds played hide and seek with the moon.
A raspy whisper came out of the darkness. “Hello, Ben?”
They stopped immediately. Ben answered, “Who’s asking?”
“If you be Ben McKenna, I be a friend. If you be anyone else, I be gone.”
“Yes, I’m Ben McKenna.”
A figure rose from behind a nearby boat, and a tall, heavyset man came toward them with his hand out. “Ben McKenna, I’m Oliver Webster. I be the one going to get your slave friends ’cross the Ohio River. Let’s see now, you be Bess and Jesse, and this here little man must be Josiah. Am I right?” He smiled a wide, snaggle-toothed smile, which somehow put Ben at ease right away.
“Yes, you’re right. How are you going to take them across?” Ben was beginning to feel something he couldn’t put a name to.
Oliver pointed to one of the bigger boats tied to a slip close to the beach. “There, that beauty’s mine. She’s big and sea-worthy, and she’ll take us across with no trouble. Come along now, we’ve no time to waste.”
As they followed him down to the boat a deep sadness welled up in his chest. The journey was over. His friends would soon be across the river and into the free state of Ohio. He stopped and put his hand on Jesse’s sleeve.
“Look, I…uh, I guess this is where I have to leave you. I truly thought about coming with you, you know, getting a job, maybe going to school…”
He heard Bess gasp. He smiled, but with tears in his eyes. “No, Bess, I’m not coming. I need to get home, to face up t
o Pa for what I’ve done. I’m not a kid any more, and if I can’t make peace with Pa, I reckon that’s the way it’ll have to be. But I miss home and Ma and Grammy. I guess even the boys. I’ve got to try to make this right…I don’t know, maybe I can’t. Knowing Pa, he’s not going to forgive me easily. At least I can try.”
Bess went to him and hugged him with all her strength. “You be a good boy, Ben. Your Ma and Grammy be proud of you, and your Pa…well, maybe he see the right of what you done. Jesse and Josiah and me, we love you, Ben, and we never forget you.”
He sighed and hugged her back. “I’m purely going to miss you all. You’re my friends, and you’ll always be.”
Jesse laid a big hand on Ben’s shoulder. “I be thankin’ you, Ben. You a good man. I never forget you. I be sorry for what I say while back, and them other times, too. Don’t mean it none.”
Ben held out his hand to Jesse. “I know that, Jesse, I know you were just afraid for your family. Now you’re free, all of you. I’m glad for that. You…”
Josiah interrupted by putting his arms around Ben’s waist. Tears rolled down his cheeks. “Ben, I don’t see you no more? But you my friend, my only friend. Who be my friend now, Ben?”
“Aw, Josiah, you’re going to have lots of friends now, when you get to your new home, and I bet you’ll even be going to school! I’ll always be your friend, and maybe someday, I can come to see you. You be a good boy, you hear?” Ben hugged the young boy tightly and coughed to ease the tightness in his throat.
He gave Bess another hug. “When you get settled, you let me know where you are, okay? Send a message to Grammy, and no one else will know but her and me.”
She nodded, took Josiah by the hand, and turned toward the river.
Four figures walked into the water, and three of them got into the boat to begin their trip across the Ohio River. Oliver shook Ben’s hand.