Passage to Natchez

by Cameron Judd

  Celinda opened her eyes and sat up with a sense of alarm. She had always had a good instinct for time, and even with the distortion of light that came from being inside a cave, she sensed that it was about noon. She marveled at having slept so hard that she hadn’t been awakened by the noise around her.

  Then she realized that, for once, there was no noise. The cave was utterly quiet, unnervingly so.

  She was surprised as well to discover that the rear portion of the cave was empty except for her. The men of the cave were clustered down near the mouth, holding tense postures, peering out at the river. Curious, she rose, folded her blanket, and went toward them. Jim Horton was at the rear of the cluster. He turned and saw her. A frown crossed his face and he waved her back. Confused and growing alarmed, she obeyed, seating herself on the cave floor, wondering what could have everyone’s attention so, and why they were so quiet.

  Only then did she notice that, to a man, the cavern dwellers were armed with pistols, rifles, and hatchets. Comprehension came in a sickening rush.

  She stood in horror. Even without seeing it, she knew that there were people out on that river, perhaps a band of boatmen shipping wares downriver, or a family traveling by flatboat … innocent travelers, just like she and her father had been. Innocent travelers, floating into a death trap here where the Ohio grew fast and narrow and the waters were hard to navigate.

  She wanted to rush out and shout a warning, but she couldn’t. Helpless, she simply remained where she was, waiting for something to happen.

  A minute passed, then another. The man at the cave’s mouth visibly grew more intense. Celinda watched hatchets being raised, rifles and pistols being cocked. Tension grew heavy, heavier, and then with a rush of motion that hit Celinda like a jolt, the men surged forward, out of the cave, raising fierce yells.

  “No,” Celinda whispered. “Please, God, no.”

  She turned her back toward the mouth of the cave and put her hands over her ears, but nothing could block out the sounds that came echoing back to her. Shots, yells, howls of pain, hoots of beastly triumph. She heard a woman’s scream, cut off by the sound of a shot. Now I know where Queen gets her dresses. The thought made her feel sick. Celinda’s eyes filled, and through her tears she happened to look directly at the spill of light coming through the opening that led to the sinkhole above the cave.

  She looked at the bottle-strung ropes, and realized that even if those bottles clanked together right now, no one else was in the cave to hear them. The others were all outside, exulting in slaughter and robbery.

  She did not hesitate a moment. She scrambled back toward the rear opening, up the rough, gravelly slope and into the opening that led up into the hole. The bottles clinked and a few even broke, but Celinda climbed without regard to that. She grunted in pain as her hands and knees became abraded in the climb, and twice she almost fell, but in only a few moments she was in the sinkhole, then out, on solid ground and above the cave.

  She heard the noise of violence continuing from below. The pirates were still at it, and apparently receiving some resistance. Celinda hoped that the people on the boat would escape, and all the better, would deliver as much death as possible back to these human devils who preyed upon the innocent. Nothing would be more just, or more satisfying.

  Celinda ran as hard as she could, back away from the river and then to her right, heading upriver for no particular reason. She had no plan about where to go; all she desired was to get away, to put miles between herself and the place of death behind her.

  As she ran, wild exuberance overwhelmed her. She threw her arms aloft, fists clenched, head thrown back as if she were an ancient Greek runner coming in victorious at the end of a footrace. A great sense of freedom washed over her like a waterfall. She pushed herself harder, and suddenly came out of the woods onto a foot trail that followed the course of the river. Perhaps, she thought, she should move back off the trail and remain among the trees … but it was hard to run in the trees, and besides that, there was no one here to detect her. They were all back at the cave’s mouth.

  So she kept to the trail, rounded a curve on a run, and jerked to a jolting halt.

  She was standing face-to-face with the bulky person of Queen Fine and a tall, bald, albino stranger whose ruddy face grinned at her from beneath a stained cap of woven wool.

  CHAPTER 13

  “Well, look here, Felix,” Queen said. “It’s the mute boy, running for all that’s in him.” She smiled, eyes narrowing. “Him, I say. But I got my doubts. I don’t believe we’re seeing the truth. Haven’t from the first time I saw him. I believe our mute’s got a secret.”

  “What might that be, Sister Queen?’ the albino said.

  “Just that this boy ain’t a boy at all. I seen it right off, when Junebug brought him in. His ‘cousin,’ he says. ‘George Ames,’ he says, ‘naught but a poor mute boy.’ He’s lying. If this here ain’t a girl, I’m a polecat.”

  Celinda’s eyes widened, and before she could catch herself she said, “No! I’m not—” She cut off, face blanching as she realized that her voice had revealed not only that she wasn’t a boy, but that she was not mute either. She wanted to kick herself. How could she be so witless?

  “Ah! And no mute!” Queen exclaimed. “Tell me true, ‘George’—you are a girl? Ain’t it so? Your voice sounds like no boy to me.”

  There was no point in trying to perpetuate the lie further. “Yes,” Celinda said, heart sinking. “I’m a girl.”

  “I always knew it, girl. But old Queen Fine kept her mouth shut. I had it figured that Junebug was trying to keep the men off you. Am I right?”

  “Yes.” Celinda looked imploringly at the big woman. “Please, ma’am, don’t betray me!”

  Queen laughed and put a finger across her lips. “Don’t you fret yourself, girl. Queen Fine knows how to keep a secret. And so does Felix here—ain’t that right?”

  “Yes indeed, Sister Queen. I am no Judas. Not at all.”

  Queen grinned and said, “Felix here is my brother. He and me, we look out for one another.”

  “Your brother …”

  “Indeed.”

  Celinda was finding a certain relief in her freedom to talk. “I haven’t seen him about the cave.”

  “He ain’t been there. He stays most all the time on the Diamond Island, up the river, with our sister Jasmine. He and Jasmine and the others there keep a watch out for flatboats and such coming downstream. When they see one, out goes Jasmine to wave at them from the bank. Jasmine, she’s young and pretty, just like I was once. She hollers to the boats that pass that she’s stranded on the island, and begs them to carry her on down to the cave, where there’s folk awaiting who will take her in. ‘Good folk,’ she always says. She rides on down and then the ‘good folk’ come out of the cave, and that’s the end of that.”

  “I saw you leave the cave night before last,” Celinda said. “You were going to the island?”

  “Aye, young lady. I go down often to see Jasmine. This time a boat passed while we were there, and Jasmine went out. They picked her up and by now should have met the ‘good folk’ at the cave.”

  “They have,” Celinda said. “I heard their screaming. God help them.”

  “Don’t weep for them, young lady, but give them honor,” Felix Fine said. “All of us must someday leave this world. Those who have left it today at the cave have done so in a way that betters those of us who gain their possessions. They are deserving of our praise and laud.”

  Celinda was repelled at such a concept, staring at Felix in astonishment. Her eyes were inexplicably drawn to the woolen cap on his head. Something familiar about it …

  “You’ve met us on our return from the island,” Queen said. “Me and Felix, we’re going back now to see what treasures were on that boat. It was big, full of staves and barrels and all kinds of cargo. We watched from the trees while they took on Jasmine. Don’t you think Jasmine is a pretty name, girl?”

  “Yes, I suppose it i
s.”

  “And what is your name, young lady?” Felix asked.

  “Celinda Ames. I’m captive of Jim Horton. He found me in Kentucky after my father died. We had been put off a flatboat, bound for Natchez.”

  “Natchez!” Queen exclaimed. “You were bound for Natchez?”

  “Yes. I have an aunt there.”

  Felix smiled, his reddish-hued eyes sparkling. “We, too, have familial links with the fine town of Natchez,” he said. His speech was, like his appearance, peculiar—precise, cleanly spoken, devoid of any backwoods accent. He was either educated or skillful at pretending to be.

  “We have another sister in Natchez,” Queen said with a proud tone and haughty look. “Beatrice Fine Sullivan. Your aunt will surely know her. She is a woman of importance.”

  “A woman of importance,” Felix repeated, in the same proud attitude. “She married well and became a woman of wealth. The pride of our family.”

  “I may never reach Natchez if you don’t let me go,” Celinda said. “Jim Horton says he will take me there, but all we’ve done is come to the cave. I fear he’ll keep me there forever. Please don’t make me go back.”

  “There are many from the great cavern who journey on to Natchez,” Felix said in his crisp manner. “Many who make the grand voyage and come back again.”

  Queen said, “Most of the boats that are stopped at the cave are taken on down the river to the market towns. They sell them there, and their cargo, and bring back the gain to be divided among us all. If it is undamaged, the very boat that was stopped today will be making a voyage to Natchez with a crew from among our own number.”

  “You will no doubt find your passage on that boat,” Felix said, his words making it evident that Celinda’s plea to be let go was going to go unheeded.

  “I don’t want to be on that boat or any other boat leaving the cave,” Celinda said, growing disturbed. “I want to leave this place and find my own passage down the river. I don’t want to be with Jim Horton. I know in the end he’s going to hurt me, or worse.” Suddenly, tears gushed out, running in brown streams down her dirty face.

  Queen’s expression softened, humanizing her broad, homely visage. She came forward and put her hand on Celinda’s shoulder. Her tone grew motherly. “Poor child! Poor child! Why are you crying?”

  “I don’t belong among those people back at the cave,” Celinda said in a quaking voice, diplomatically choosing her words to imply that Queen and Felix, of course, were not among the undesirables she sought to escape. “They are not the kind of people I know. I miss my father. When he died, and Jim Horton came along, claiming to be a preacher, I thought God had sent me help and protection, but all I’ve found is that cave and all those wicked folk around me.”

  “Has Junebug used you wrong, Celinda? Has he forced his way on you?” Queen asked, and Celinda knew just what she meant.

  “No. I told him a false tale that made him not want to touch me. I said there was a snake living inside my belly.”

  “A snake?” The albino threw back his head and laughed heartily.

  Queen joined in. “He believed you?”

  “It’s a story told for true of a girl back where I used to live,” Celinda said. “Yes, he did believe me.”

  “You are a girl with wits about you,” Queen said. “You will do well.”

  “You will do well,” Felix repeated.

  “What is Junebug’s plan?” Queen asked. “Hush up that crying and tell me.”

  With great effort Celinda got a hold on her emotions. Sniffing, she said, “He’s pretending to be a preacher named John Deerfield. The real preacher died at an inn, and Jim Horton took his possessions and his name, and now he’s going to go to Natchez and claim to be the true man. There’s money waiting there to pay for a church being built, and he aims to take it for his own.”

  Queen and her brother laughed again. Celinda took it to be a sign of admiration for Horton’s scheme, but Queen said, “That strutting fool! He’ll never pass for no preacher!”

  “He will never pass!” the albino echoed.

  “Have you not tried to run away from him before now?” Queen asked.

  “Once, and he almost hurt me over it. I’ve had no good chance since. This time I thought I was free … but now I’m caught, unless you’ll let me go.” She began to cry again, this time with a touch of sham in it. Celinda sensed she had the sympathies of this bizarre pair, and intuition said a show of fear and distress could further engage those sympathies to her own benefit. Her escape effort had sparked a new awareness that her own survival depended ultimately upon herself and her wits. Her father had charged her to be strong, and at this moment the best strength she had was to appear weak. “Please don’t make me go back to the cave,” she pleaded, looking childishly at Queen. “I mustn’t go back there.”

  “No, girl, you must go back,” Queen said gently. “For you to roam free without help would be the death of you. This country is filled with wickedness. You should know that, having fell in with Junebug as fast as you did. You may think it hard to believe, but you could have fell in with much worse than him. Much worse.”

  “The region is dreadfully full of immoral and evil ruffians,” Felix contributed. He shook his head as if saddened by the thought of such rampant wickedness.

  This whole affair was beginning to seem so outlandish that Celinda half wondered if she were dreaming it all. “But if I go back, Jim Horton will hurt me. He’ll be angry that I ran away.”

  “Don’t fret about Junebug,” Queen said. “I’ll take care of you. Junebug won’t cross me, no ma’am.”

  “He is a weak man at heart,” the albino said.

  “But how can you protect me? And how will I ever get away?”

  The haughty Felix spoke with the tone and manner of a bailiff formally heralding a judge into high court. “It is the most convenient happenstance that my dear Queen will also be voyaging to Natchez, there to find and greet after many years of separation our sister Beatrice, who is a woman of importance, as we informed you earlier.”

  After a moment of interpretation, Celinda said, “You’re going to Natchez, too?” She was vaguely encouraged. At the very least, these people didn’t seem nearly as threatening as Jim Horton, and Queen was obviously confident that she could restrain Horton from doing her any harm.

  “I am indeed,” Queen said. “And I’ll take you with me, tuck you under my wing and keep Junebug off you, girl. Don’t you worry about him as long as Queen Fine is around.”

  The albino said, “Come with us to the cave, Celinda. We will let you meet our sister Jasmine. And you have no worries about our friend Junebug Horton. He is manifestly afraid of Queen and will not defy her.”

  Celinda felt a combination of disappointment and relief. She did not want to return to the cave, but comprehended that if she did so, she would at least be under different and better circumstances, if Queen was to be trusted. She would be under Queen’s protection—all the way to Natchez, if she understood properly. She wondered if Queen would keep her word. But what choice did she have but to trust her? “Thank you,” she said. “Thank you so much for your kindness.”

  “Let’s move on,” Queen said. “I want to get my portion of the treasures before all the others steal it all. Felix, don’t you forget: Celinda’s name among the others is George Ames, and she’s a mute boy. Don’t you let the truth slip, you hear me?”

  “I do indeed, dear sister,” he replied, and tipped his cap. “Come, George Ames. Let us be off.”

  Jim Horton was a miserably unhappy man. He sat pulling on a bottle of whiskey he had found on the doomed flatboat, looking at Celinda, who had stayed close beside Queen and her ugly, pale brother Felix ever since the three of them had come walking back to the cave along the trail that led down along the river. The sight astounded and infuriated him; in the hubbub of slaughter and plundering that followed the landing of the flat-boat, he hadn’t even noticed that Celinda had escaped the cave. He had stormed toward her, ready
to drag her off and give her a sound beating for her defiance, but Queen stepped in front of him, a knife in hand.

  “George is my friend, now,” she had said, with a telling emphasis on the “George.” “You’ll not lay your hand on him”—again the pregnant emphasis—“or I’ll slice out your liver and cook it for my supper.”

  He backed off at once, knowing Queen Fine was not a woman to be challenged. Some months back when he had lived here before, when Sam Mason, the original Cave-in-Rock river pirate, was running a so-called “Liquor Vault and House of Entertainment” here in the cavern, he had seen her knife two men to death, one of them a flatboat piracy victim who had tried to strike her with an axe handle while she helped raid his grounded boat, the other a big brute of a man who had said something to her that offended her. Ever since then he had regarded Queen as being as dangerous as any man. And her albino brother, though foppish and seemingly harmless in manner, was himself quite a dangerous person, or so Horton had been told. He was no brawler and had no ambition to put that reputation to the test.

  What had him most thoroughly riled was Celinda herself. Something had changed in the girl’s manner; in Horton’s perception, she now seemed smug and defiant toward him, sure she had wiggled out of his clutches. Not only was that terribly aggravating, it was also hurtful to him personally. He had enjoyed fancying that he’d won at least a share of the girl’s heart, a share he was sure he could greatly expand later, once he was out on the river with her, floating toward Natchez. Her manner now gave the lie to that notion. Clearly she held him in disdain, and that stung his pride. A time or two she had acted friendly toward him, clung to him as a protector, if nothing more … though he had dared to hope there was something more. Now he wondered if it had all been a deception.

  If so, in what else had she deceived him? The snake-in-the-belly story, most likely. He now felt a fool for having believed that. It was the one thing that had kept him from giving her the great compliment of his affections—such was his warped perception of his attempted molestation of her—and now he was almost sure that she had lied about the snake in her belly. If he had the chance now, he’d show her what he thought of lying females who denied a man his pleasures!