Mekollaan's eyes narrowed as he looked at Won. "You are to stay with her. If there is trouble, I want her far from here. Do you hear my words?"
Won tried to keep a straight face. Why did he think she had come? Of course she was going to remain at her side! "Yes, great chief-to-be," she responded. "I guard her with my life."
Mekollaan spun around without another word. He knew the two of them were laughing, but he ignored them and returned to the group of braves sitting cross-legged on the ground. How was a man to save face with a pair like that? He laughed to himself, shaking his head. Tipaakke was going to have his hands full with his white woman. He could see that coming. Of course things would have to be resolved between them first. The Fox would have to make his final decision, because once they left for the Ohio, they would never be returning. He would have to take her for his wife, or leave her behind.
Katelyn and Won laid aside their things and joined the circle of men. The plan was simple. Tonight, under the cover of darkness, the braves would go into Annapolis and locate where Fox was being held. Then they would find a place where someone could stand watch day and night. They would watch and listen, follow the jailors' routines and then figure out a way to get Tipaakke out of the jail before the white men held their trial.
Once darkness settled in on the tidewater settlement of Annapolis, Mekollaan and his Lenni Lenape braves set out to find their captured friend. Single file, the men moved through the inky blackness, down the main street of the town. Mekollaan had been in the white man's village many times, so he thought he knew where the jail was. In silence, the Delawares crept slowly towards the wharfs, ducking in and out of the shadows, listening to the voices of the white men gathered at the docks, or stumbling out of the local tavern.
Katelyn followed Won's lead, doing just as she did. When a door of a white brick house swung open, they leaped into a cultivated flower bed and listened to farewells. Katelyn couldn't believe the Delawares could stand so close to someone and not have anyone know they were near! Through a back yard and a small garden the braves went, and then down a side street near the Customs House. Slipping into the shadows of a large outbuilding, Katelyn and Won stood peering over a wooden fence. Across the brick-paved road stood the jail. Light streamed through two windows, illuminating the figures of two men sitting at a table. They were drinking from pewter mugs and playing at cards.
Mekollaan slipped beside Katelyn and squeezed her arm. He was surprised to see how beautiful she was, standing in the light of the full moon. She wore only a woman's undergarment, made much like his own loincloth, and a sleeveless leather jerkin that fell to her hips. Even with her protruding belly, she was hauntingly beautiful with her pale skin and fiery halo of waist-length curls. He was beginning to see why his brother had fallen in love with her. "This is where they hold their prisoners," he whispered. "The cells must be in the back, through the rooms where the men are sitting." He spoke in English so that she would understand everything he said. "Slow Turtle has just been to the rear of the building. He says there are two small windows very high. He thinks they lead to the cells."
Katelyn stared at the solid brick building; the thought that Fox was so near made her heart flutter. "Could he see in the window? Did he speak to Tipaakke?"
"No. I told Slow Turtle to keep silent. He could not see in the window. Too high. He could not climb the brick wall to look in. He said it would take three men standing stacked to see inside." He placed one hand over the other.
"What are we waiting for? Can you do that?" Her eyes met his questioningly. "We have to be sure he's there."
"We can. You stay here. The street that runs behind the jail is well traveled. I will take two others and leave the rest with you."
"Let me go," she tugged at his arm. "I want to see him."
Mekollaan laughed. "Look at you. You can barely keep your balance standing on a log. You cannot stand on a man's shoulders who is standing on another man's shoulders. Now stay here or I will throw you over my shoulder and carry you back to the village myself."
Katelyn nodded. She knew he was right. The thought of her standing on someone's shoulders was amusing. Pensively, she waited until Hawk and the two braves returned.
"He is there, Katelyn." Mekollaan made no attempt to hide his pleasure.
"You saw him? Is he all right?" She pulled at his muscular bronze arm.
"I did. I see cuts and bruises, but he is alive. They will keep him alive until his trial and then they will hang him in their town square until dead." His voice was laced with contempt.
"Hawk, did you speak to him?" Katelyn brushed her hair off her shoulders.
"No. There was a guard there, and another prisoner in the cell. I could not take the chance."
She chewed on her bottom lip. "I guess there is nothing to do but wait now." It was hard to stand so close to Tipaakke, and not be able to see him, not be able to make him understand what had happened. She knew his heart must be aching.
"I will leave a man on watch here. By daylight he can hide inside this barn. It does not look like anyone has been inside in a long time." He pointed to the outbuilding behind them. From the inside you can see out through a crack in the boards. The men are finding a way to come in by daylight and not be seen."
Katelyn nodded, letting out a sigh. "Are you sure he was all right?"
Mekollaan considered his words, then spoke. "He will be when he learns that you have not betrayed him. Now come. We must go. It is not safe for so many of us to be so near the white men."
Tipaakke blinked, trying to get his swollen left eye open. One of the jailors had knocked him in the face with the butt of a pistol, practically putting out his eye. His whole face ached from shattered bones and shooting pains ran up the leg that had been fractured by the Mohawks. But the greatest pain he felt was in his heart. How could Katelyn have betrayed him like that? How could she have betrayed their love? He just couldn't understand it. He was so bitter. Let the white men hang me, he thought. My soul is already dying. What was there to live for anymore?
My child, that is what I must live for, he told himself. And my people. Mekollaan will get me out of this, and then I will move to the Ohio with my people and my child. I will raise my son to be a true Lenni Lenape; and someday the white will wash from his blood and he will be a true red man. I will never tell my child how his mother betrayed him. She is dead. To me she's dead. Tipaakke's body sagged to the floor and he drifted off to sleep again.
For the next two days, Mekollaan and his men watched over the Annapolis jail. They kept track of who went in and out of the building and at what times. But so far, Tipaakke had not been moved and they'd seen no way to get him out peacefully. Late on the second day, Won and Katelyn sat in the old barn on the corner of the old white woman's property and watched the jail. Like the others in the band of Delawares, they took their turn at the watch.
Katelyn sat in the dusty barn, leaning against the wall. She arched her back, trying to alleviate the ache in the small of her spine. The baby stirred and she ran her hands over her stomach.
"The child moves often." Won took a bite of a stolen biscuit and passed it to Katelyn. "It is a big one, a boy I am sure."
Katelyn bit into the biscuit. "It's a giant!" Slowly she got to her feet. "Sit, Won. I will watch." She rested her hand on her back.
"No. I will watch." Won peered through the crack in the barn.
"I'm tired of sitting. You've stood all afternoon. Mekollaan will be here soon. Let me watch." Her voice was insistent. She was so bored, her nerves jumpy from the long day of doing nothing.
Won slid to the ground.
"I'm sorry, Won. I didn't mean to snap at you. I just can't stand this waiting. I'm so afraid for Fox. What if someone comes for him?" She leaned to peek out the wide crack.
"Mekollaan says the English white men are slow to punish. It will still be days before he stands before their council and then he will return to the jail before he is hung." She pulled another biscuit from her b
ag. "There is still many days. We must be patient."
Chewing on her biscuit, Katelyn stared at the jailhouse door. A woman in sober garb was approaching the steps. "Won, come here. Look!"
Won moved to stare over Katelyn's head through the crack in the wall. "What is she? Does she mourn for someone's death?"
Katelyn laughed. "She is a religious woman. A Quaker. I knew of them in England. Look, she carries a basket. Is that bread sticking out?" Her voice was hushed and hopeful.
In silence they watched the woman disappear into the jail. A few moments later, she reappeared, the basket seemingly lighter, with no bread in sight.
"I think you are right, Kate-lyn. The woman takes food to the guards or to Tipaakke and the other man." She watched with curiosity as the woman wearing the black dress and white cap started down the hill and crossed the street. "Do you think she is warm in that?" Won wrinkled her nose. "She is covered from her chin to her toes. I would not wear such things. Not in the summer."
"The worst is the clothes underneath. I itch just thinking about it." She watched thoughtfully until the woman disappeared from sight.
When Mekollaan and another brave arrived to take the watch, Katelyn already had a plan sketched in her mind.
"No, Katelyn." Mekollaan shook his head.
"Yes, I can do it. I can get in and out without anyone thinking anything of it." She reached out beseechingly with one hand. "Don't be a fool, Hawk. Who else could do it? I'm the only white woman here. Neither you or Won could make yourselves look much like a Quaker woman."
Hawk continued to shake his head. He didn't like this at all; she didn't belong here in the first place. He should have made Katelyn stay at the camp. He should have known better than to let her stand watch. "No. It won't work."
"What do you mean it won't work. Of course it will work." Katelyn paced the hard dirt floor of the abandoned barn.
"Where are you going to get clothes? Food to take? What are you going to do when you get in there? What if a true Quaker comes and unmasks you?" Mekollaan wanted to be sure she was thinking. She was right, it was a good idea, though he wished Katelyn didn't have to be the one to go inside.
"If you see another Quaker coming, warn me with the whipoorwill's call. As for the clothes, I'll steal them. Won can cook some food, rabbit stew or something. We'll get bread out of the old woman's window. Biscuits have been left two days in a row." She motioned to the brick house the barn belonged to. "If I can get inside, I can get a good look around. I don't know how I'll get him out. Maybe he'll have a good idea."
"You will not get him out. You will take him the food and let him know we will get him out." He shook his long finger at her. "You will do nothing else."
Katelyn grasped Mekollaan's hands. "I know I can do it! Everything will be good between us again when I talk to him. Tomorrow . . . "
"No," Mekollaan interrupted. "You will not go tomorrow. Tomorrow you will get the food and clothing together. We will see if the woman comes again." He pulled his hands from Katelyn's, planting them on his hips.
Late the next afternoon, to Katelyn's delight, a Quaker woman appeared with food at the jail again. This time it was a different woman.
When the Quaker came out of the jail, Won slipped out the barn door. "I will try to follow her. You stay and watch."
"Come back for me; we should wait until nightfall to get the clothes." Katelyn squeezed Won's broad shoulder. "Take care, my friend."
Well after dark, Won returned to the barn where Katelyn waited with two other braves. Together, the two set out to steal the Quaker woman's clothes, leaving the braves to stand the night watch.
When Won reached a simple, two story, frame house on the outskirts of the town, she slipped through a back gate and crept past a sweet smelling herb garden. "Is it not beautiful?" she murmured to Katelyn who followed behind. "I think when we reach the Ohio, I will grow a garden like this outside my wigwam." She spoke in Algonquian.
Katelyn nodded. "Ia, so beautiful. Now how do we get inside?" she asked in English.
"Through the cooking room, here." She pointed to a heavy hand-hewn door. "Inside lives the woman, an old man and an old woman. We will slip in, then out, and no one will ever see us."
Katelyn took a deep breath, wishing the woman had just left clothes hanging on the line. That would have made things much simpler. "I see no light from the house."
Won nodded, starting for the door. "I saw the woman kneeling in prayer before I left, then she blew out the light." She pointed to a middle window on the second story. "The old ones sleep at the end of the house."
Moving silently, Katelyn and Won entered the Quaker house through the kitchen addition. The door was unbolted. Creeping through the airy room, Katelyn caught the smell of fresh baked bread. "Mmmm, do you smell it?"
Won ran her fingers over a long wooden table until she found the fresh baked loaves, lined neatly in two rows. "Take a loaf and put it in your bag," she told Katelyn. Slipping a strand of stone beads over her head, she laid them on the table. "Payment," she explained.
Katelyn tucked the loaf into the hide bag she wore around her neck; she was glad Won was leaving something in return for the bread and clothes. She was no thief.
"Come." Won whispered in Algonquian, laying a finger on her lips.
Through a doorway and up a narrow flight of steps they crept, their bare toes curling on the edge of each sand washed step. The house smelled so clean and fresh! Katelyn inhaled deeply, running her hands up the white-washed wall. This was so different from the cluttered, stale-smelling home Henry lived in.
Easing their way down the hall, Won ran her fingers along the chair rail that guided her to the woman's bedchamber door. "Here," she whispered in Algonquian. "You stay."
Sarah Hathaway's eyes flew open at the sound of the creaking floor boards. "Father?" She squinted in the darkness. What was he doing creeping through her bedroom naked!" She threw back the bedcovers and slipped out of bed.
Won's eyes grew large. In the darkness, the woman thought she was her father! What am I going to do? She could see the shadows of a dress hanging on a peg on the wall. Just another two steps, and she would have it!
"Father! I said what are you doing in . . . " Sarah's mouth dropped open and she froze in mid-sentence. That wasn't Father! It was a naked . . . she began to tremble violently . . . a naked savage in her bedchamber! She tried to scream, but no sound would come from her throat.
Won took a step forward, holding up her hands to prove she meant no harm. She spoke quiet, soothing words, trying to ease the girl's fright.
Katelyn stood silently in the hallway, watching the Quaker woman drop her head and clasp her hands in fevered prayer. Poor thing, she thought, she's petrified!
One more step and Won slipped the grey dress with the starched collar and a silk bonnet off the peg on the wall. She left the undergarments, knowing Katelyn would have no part of them. Then she began to back up slowly, watching the woman. The Quaker made no attempt to run, no attempt to cry out, she just stood there in her long white gown, looking like a frightened rabbit. Carefully, Won eased the bedchamber door shut and grabbed Katelyn's arm. "Uishameela . . . run!"
Down the stairs they flew, out the door and through the garden. It was not until they reached the woodsline outside the town that Katelyn threw herself onto the ground, laughing. "Did you see that poor woman's face?" She dissolved into a fit of giggles, rolling in the soft grass of the forest. "I don't think I've ever seen anyone look so scared, except maybe Henry!"
Won dropped down beside her, joining in the laughter. "I didn't mean to frighten the poor little rabbit. Do you think she will tell anyone?"
Katelyn shook her head, sitting up. "She wouldn't dare! Who would believe that a tall Indian wearing a loincloth and a red bow in his hair would come into her house and steal her dress and cap?"
Won's face grew serious. "Do you think I should have worn my skirt?"
Katelyn sniffed, running her hand down her friend's arm. "I'
m not laughing at you! I love you. It's just that you're very confusing to people who don't know you." She reached for her skin water bag on her shoulder.
"Con-fusing? What is this word? I do not know it."
"It means people don't understand. You have a man's body, but you walk like a woman, you think like a woman, and you wear things in your hair like a woman." She touched her hair.
Won laughed. "Sometimes Won is confused, too. Come, we go back to the camp. Mekollaan will be waiting; he worries over you like a mother hen."
Chapter Sixteen
Katelyn leaned over the cooking pot, inhaling deeply. "It smells so good, Won. Are you sure we can't have just a little?"
Won shook her head, laughing. "I told you, I had only enough herbs in my bag to make this pot. When we get home, I will make you a whole pot of your own, but this," she tapped the precious metal bowl with her stirring stick, "this is for Tipaakke Oopus. He will know his friend Won sends it when he tastes."
Katelyn nodded. "So how do I look?" She spread out the sober skirts that had belonged to Quaker woman.
Won glanced up at her, standing there in the woods clearing. "Not like you belong here." She nodded approvingly. "You look very white. But cover your hair, those women, they did not wear their hair braided with crow feathers woven in the strands."
Katelyn picked the stolen silk bonnet off the ground and pulled it over her head, tucking her braids beneath. "Is this better?"
Mekollaan came up behind her. "Are you two ready? We must go soon." He faced Katelyn. "You must wipe the fire from your eyes if you want to look like the others."
Katelyn dropped her head and began to walk, shuffling her feet, murmuring a prayer. She knew how those Quaker woman behaved, she had seen them in England.
Mekollaan laughed. "That is good. You have convinced Hawk. But can you convince the white man jailors?"
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