The men set off once again down the winding road to Darien. They traveled fairly light but well-armed. Soon, they saw Isaac dressed for travel waiting for them.
“Lad, are you here to wish us well?” William asked.
“No, Sovereign McIntosh. I plan on seeing this through with you. We are brothers and I honor that,” the hulking Jew responded.
“What does Dr. Nunis say about this journey? He surely has to be annoyed at all your travel,” Archibald inquired.
“This morning I make my own path. I am finally a free man. I purchased my contract from Dr. Nunis and still have plenty of gold left. I have to say, even the air smells different when you’re a free man,” Isaac observed proudly. The men cheered and embraced him. It was indeed a reason to celebrate. Many indentures died before they were free.
“Well, lad, we sure could use your muscle for this dangerous mission. Bless you,” William said.
The four men made it to William's without incident. His family met him on the porch with open arms. Some sweet greetings were exchanged in Scottish and the men sat down for a drink before the sun set. The same scene from the last night at the Freeman’s was repeated at the McIntosh’s, except that William told their exciting tale in Scottish tongue. Although Patrick had no idea what they were saying, he figured out some of the stories from Williams animated movements. Patrick had a feeling that each time the tale was told, it got more elaborate. He joked with Isaac, “By the time we ever tell this story to our children, it will also involve us sailing around the world and slaying sea monsters and Cyclops.”
“William, why did you name your daughter Lauren? It is not a very Scottish name is it?” Patrick asked him after some drinking.
“Lad, we were traveling through Italy trading and we named her after the town she was conceived in. It is old Latin for man from 'Laurentum,' a town in Latium. It was to remember that wonderful voyage together," William explained.
The men laughed and enjoyed the drink as the night wound down. Normally, proper Scottish men slept under a tree, but with so many road agents on the attack, this tradition was no longer safe. The family shut in and carried on into the night. When the men arose in the morning, they ate breakfast and hatched a plan.
“William, how well do you know the men left behind in the African fort? Are they sympathetic to the cause of liberty and personal sovereignty? “Archibald asked.
“Aye, Duncan. That’s right, I be calling you 'Duncan,' your real Scottish name. And stop speaking like a goddamned Brit in my house. Use your natural Scottish tongue," William insisted. "But aye, most of them prisoners get it and even come to our Scottish Freeman Society meetings.”
“Then I would like to make a proposal. I think the bag of gold marked to help the cause should be used to buy these men’s freedom. I can’t think of a better investment than freeing souls with this money. What says the rest of you?" Duncan inquired. The men slowly looked at each other from around the table and one by one, nodded in agreement. “Very good. William, keep your gold for your family. We will use this bag instead.
“Now with that done, I have a plan. We cannot just stroll up to a hostile fort with a bag of gold and expect to come out alive. We need to find a Spanish deer pelt trader working around the fort and pay him to take a letter back to Alick. He saved our lives before and I think he would broker this deal for us. The money would greatly help his people and they don’t want to have to keep caring for and feeding these prisoners,” Archibald surmised.
Isaac voiced his concern, “That will be a very dangerous gamble. I don’t like the idea of getting anywhere near that fort. We need to ask Alick to meet us and escort us down to Fort Mose.”
Patrick agreed, “That is the best thing to do but this entire plan is dangerous.”
“Say your goodbyes. Time to go free our clansman,” Archibald told William.
* * *
In the morning, the mist started to burn off of the swamp and two dark figures could be seen sitting on the rocks in the marsh. The four men approached carefully until they heard a woman’s voice yell.
“Archibald! Archibald! That be you?"
“Gloria, is that you?” he yelled through the heavy swamp mist. The four men dropped their guard and walked over to Alick and Gloria. Archibald made formal introductions of the group to the freed slaves. “I am so happy you two made it safely to Fort Mose,” Archibald said.
“We lucky. We find Spanish fur trader," Gloria responded. "He take us to da fort. The warriors at fort welcome us and we happy der. Dey great warriors. Feel safe finally."
“I am glad you found peace with your clansman. Did you understand the note?” Archibald asked.
“We be not lettered. Had prisoner read it. The tribe at fort wants your gold. They will say prisoners escape to Spanish. Tribe no trust white man. Yous must pay now. I return with prisoners,” Alick explained.
The men looked nervously at each other when William finally motioned to give the bag of gold to Alick. Archibald reluctantly handed the freed slave the gold.
“I return soon,” Alick stated as he and Gloria disappeared into the marsh.
“He did save our lives. We have to trust him lads,” William tried to ease the nervousness of the men.
“Well anyone think to bring a chess set?” Patrick mused.
Camp was made and the men waited vigil.
“Archibald, how come you never talk about God and church? I thought you Scots were a religious bunch,” Patrick questioned.
“We are. Just not Archibald,” replied William.
Archibald sadly confessed, “I lost all faith the day I saw my entire family murdered by the British. What kind of god would allow that kind of savagery? So now I look back and find the whole notion silly. Do you really think there is a king in the sky sitting on a throne deciding who will burn in Hell for eternity?”
Isaac responded, “I would not talk like that. This god is a vengeful god to non-believers. Jews love and fear their God."
“So you think that a being powerful enough to create everything was bored one day and just decided to make man to entertain him? What’s the point? If He already knows what is going to happen with everyone before they do it, why would He bother?” Archibald blasphemed.
“It be sorrows I feel for ya, Duncan. Ya carry a great darkness for God around in ya soul. If ya let Him back in, He can make that pain disappear,” William injected.
“William, you're an intelligent man. Tell me, why does your god have to threaten me with the worst kind of torture like burning alive forever, if I don’t accept His love? Does that sound like any kind of love that makes sense to a rational person?” the blacksmith countered.
“God made man in his own image, so if man gets angry and jealous, so must God, too. He uses fear and love, just like all relationships I have ever known. I fear my father, but I still love him,” Isaac responded.
“I am not trying to be disrespectful to you two. I just think these stories were made to control the masses. The two most dangerous ideas on the earth are religion and government. No two ideas have been the death and misery of so many people. The flawed idea that government is necessary and that my religion is right and yours is not. Open your eyes. This dogma was created to control your minds by politicians and priests,” Archibald pleaded.
“While I have to agree that church and government have killed countless souls, they are good ideas. Without them, man would have no laws and would kill each other with no accountability. I do not think that is a fair statement; there are many good and righteous people who work for governments and churches. They are just following the orders of bad people, they don’t have a choice,” Isaac replied.
“That is such shit! Of course they have a choice. Why does a good person just follow bad orders? They simply lack the courage to not comply. It is so easy for someone to say 'I'm just following orders.' That kind of attitude is exactly why a government or religion can kill so many people and still be worshiped and followed. If you can seve
r someone from the consequences of their actions, they can do unspeakable evil and just blame their superiors.” Archibald was getting heated.
“I don’t associate with any church, but I still find my peace with God on a personal level. Ya don’t need some man in the middle to allow you to have a relationship with the all mighty. Ya simply don’t understand. Ya cannot try and poke and prod the good book without first believing in it. Ya have to believe first. Then these questions are easier to answer coming from a position of faith,” the kilted man returned.
Isaac interjected, “He is correct: without faith first, this book seems to make no sense. You have to remember to take the message behind it and not worry over all the details. People who believe these teachings will find great reward and inner peace.”
Archibald answered, “I will concede that most people who worship are good people. I just don’t understand why they submit to control and even create positions of authority. Positions of any kind of authority attract the worst kind of people.”
“Unless ya accept the Lord in your heart, ya just can’t understand the answers to this question. I don’t want to talk about this anymore,” William concluded.
“Wait. Isn’t that kind of backwards? Why would you first believe something just so you can understand it. One would think you would to need to understand this book first before one can believe it,” Patrick pointed out.
“I said we be done. Ya heathens just don’t get the line of reasoning we be conveying. I am going to bed,” William challenged angrily.
“I guess we are on first watch, lad.” Archibald said to Patrick.
The night passed quickly to morning as the night watch shifts changed. The next day grew long as the men grew more and more anxious without the return of Alick.
Until Isaac confessed, “I think we might have just been politely robbed.”
“I thought you Jews were all about having faith?” Archibald returned. Isaac shot daggers at the blacksmith from his eyes.
As time went by slowly, the group started second guessing their decision to trust the freed slave with their gold and begun bickering with each other. As the argument became more heated, they were abruptly interrupted by sounds from the edge of the marsh which revealed a group of twenty African warriors dressed in full battle paint and gear. Isaac yelled, “Looks like we have been betrayed! Let us make haste!” The four men agreed with Isaac’s assessment and started falling back in retreat.
“Wait! Wait!” a woman’s voice called out. Gloria ran into the marsh and was yelling something in her African tribal tongue to the warriors. The warriors reluctantly lowered their spears from their attack position. Patrick stopped running first and waited. The other fleeing men halted as well. Then a ratty, sickly looking group of highlanders and Indians stumbled into the marsh. Gloria escorted the motley gang to Archibald as the warriors cautiously watched the exchange. “Sorry it took long time. Big fight with tribe. Elders wanted keep money and prisoners. Alick had to fight elder and was hurt, but Alick win fight so his promise kept to yous,” Gloria said.
The Fort Mose free slaves
“I am so sorry about Alick," Archibald asked. "How bad is he injured?”
“He broke his hand and arm but will recover. Very important to his honor he keep his word true to yous” Gloria proudly said.
“Tell him he is a great and honorable man. Thank him for saving so many souls, but we have a problem, Gloria. We only wanted the Highlanders. We never paid for the Indians,” Mr. Freeman stated.
Gloria looked back at the angry warriors and nervously spoke, “I am not lettered. The note said prisoners. We assumed yous wanted all of them. Yous have to take the redskins. These warriors will kill them if you no take dem.”
William said, “Duncan, we cannot be leaving these redskins to their death when we can so easily just take them with us. A man deserves to be free.”
Archibald nodded, “Come on, you lot. Let us make haste quickly. Thank you, Gloria. You have helped save many lives.”
She came to an epiphany with a smile, “Making people free feels good for heart. I help more slaves from Carolina come to Fort Mose and freedom.”
“That is very brave. Let me know if I can ever help you. Now we need to go. Your warriors look angry,” Archibald offered.
Mr. McIntosh led the group of ex-prisoners out of sight. The group pushed quietly and quickly toward the town of Darien. When enough distance had been made from the warriors of Fort Mose, the large group started celebrating. Scottish cheers and blessing filled the air while the Indians sat quietly and fearfully. Archibald confronted the sad group sitting on the ground, “Do one of you speak English or Scottish?”
A hesitant Indian stood up. “I speak. We now sold to you. What have us do?”
Archibald looked at his friends and they nodded. “Tell your tribesman yes, we did buy you but, now we are letting you go,” Archibald smiled.
“Go? You mean you selling us to Caribbean fields?” The confused Indian asked.
“No. You are free to go. Go back to your tribe and your families. We will not sell you into slavery, now tell the others.”
The confused Indian conveyed the message to the other ex-prisoners. With looks of confusion, they slowly got up and cautiously started to walk away. The translator stayed behind and asked, “Why you do this, white man?”
“We do not believe one man should ever own another. All men deserve to be free. Just remember us and if we ever need help in the future, help us,” Archibald explained.
“We help you. Just ask Creek tribe near Tybee when you need! Show tribe this when you need us,” the Indian agreed proudly and handed Mr. Freeman his family’s belt he was wearing. He left with a large group of free Indians whooping war cries of freedom as they departed.
“Duncan, our kin want to get back to their farms tonight and see their families. Let us head out in haste. You have helped do a very good deed today. God bless your heathen heart,” William excitedly announced.
In true highlander tradition, the exhausted men ran all the way back to Darien. William parted ways with his excited kin folk and returned to his home with his friends. Deborah met him with tears of joy. The Scottish community had lost so many fathers to the sneak attack at Fort Mose that the town of Darien was in serious disarray. Returning just a few fathers to their families would greatly help with moral. The men celebrated with drinks and old Scottish songs late into the night. When the sun rose, the two hungover men warmly embraced and said their goodbyes. “I am happy I could do something good for the clan again. You are the only family I really have left,” Archibald embraced the Scot.
“Aye, Duncan. Don’t ever forget who ya are and where ya are from,” William hugged his brother. "Thanks for your help, lads. We will see you at our next Freeman Society meeting.”
The men were excited to finally be going home to enjoy their spoils of war. They arrived in Savannah in short time. The sun had just set and men said their goodbyes to Isaac as they parted ways. Archibald and Patrick were joking about how they would spend their gold when Archibald stopped dead in his tracks. They noticed from a distance two armed British soldiers standing at attention outside his house. “Why are they not shut in? Go get Isaac, something is very wrong!” Archibald ordered.
Chapter 16
The Crimson Dogwood
and Exodus
The Freeman's dogwood in bloom
Patrick ran into the night seeking Isaac’s aid. Archibald approached the house cautiously and addressed the sentries at his door. “What is the meaning of this? Why are you at my home at this hour?” he questioned angrily.
“Blacksmith, stay there!” the soldier demanded.
Archibald complied as his soul filled with a mix of rage and concern. After a long, anxious wait, the guard returned escorted by another soldier. Archibald felt a ball of black terror roll up his spine when he realized Commander Byron Kingsley was standing in his doorway. “Mr. Freeman, by order of the King, your house is now being used
to quarter his Majesty's Army. We now offer you protection from the Spanish if they choose to retaliate. Your family has been sequestered upstairs while they serve our troops' needs,” he coldly explained.
Archibald pushed passed the arrogant commander and yelled up to the loft, “Marian! Are you up there?”
“We are, but Sergeant Luthor is holding us and we have not been allowed to leave for a…” Marian was interrupted.
Sergeant Luthor hissed a threat to Marian, “That be enough accusing tongue, lass.”
“Sergeant Luthor, send her down. Let him see his wife is in good health and that his family is happy to be serving king and country!" Commander Kingsley ordered.
After some rumbling and footsteps, Marian climbed down the ladder from the loft. She was crying. “Husband, I am so sorry. They have been here since yesterday, just taking whatever they want. We have been cooking and cleaning by their command. We were just so frightened. I am so happy you're finally home. Tell me you can fix all this.”
“Are you and the children unmolested and healthy?” Archibald voiced his concern.
“Our younglings with Prudence and Mari Anna are still crammed up there like livestock under guard since the soldiers stormed the house yesterday. They just barged in. They rounded us up and forced us upstairs. We dared not stop them! The troops searched our home and took whatever they wanted. Just look at it! It’s in such disarray,” Marian explained through tears as her husband hugged her.
Pirates of Savannah: The Complete Trilogy - Colonial Historical Fiction Action Adventure (Pirates of Savannah (Adult Version)) Page 23