The Return of the Freedom Thief

by Mikki Sadil

  Ben looked at Puck in amusement. He was not too surprised at her attitude, just at seeing her in clean men’s clothing, rather than in a hoop skirt. “Puck, what are you doing? I thought you would want to be included in this espionage ring. I thought…”

  “That’s just the trouble, Ben, you didn’t think. Or ask. Nobody asked me what I wanted to do. I am not going to be some kind of party girl. I want to stay with you, Ben. I can be a newsboy just as well as you.”

  The tears had left her eyes, and the look on her face was both stormy and determined. She stood with her arms crossed over her breast, and it was obvious she was having none of the party girl idea.

  “Mistress Fenaway, I can’t force Puck to do something she doesn’t want to do. I don’t even know this girl’s last name, or what she was running from, so I sure can’t give her orders. What…”

  Puck sat down abruptly and interrupted. “Okay, you want to know all about me? Fine. Then listen up, because I won’t say it again. My name is Penelope Rose Davidson, and my parents are Frederick and Joanna Davidson whom I hope never to see again. They live here in Lexington, and Mistress Fenaway, if you know anything about them, you know why I ran away.”

  Mistress Fenaway nodded when she heard the Davidson’s names. “Yes, Puck, I know all about your parents. I think I understand a little better now.”

  “Well, I don’t know anything about them, so will someone please tell me?” Ben’s voice was impatient.

  Mistress Fenaway said quietly, “Ben, the Davidson’s own a huge plantation just outside of town, plus several businesses in town. They have a reputation for, well, for brutality. They have hung several of their slaves for breaking one of their rules. They even have a large oak tree on the property that has earned the nickname of “the hanging tree.” Rumor has it that they are very unkind to their employees at their businesses, too. I can see why Puck wanted to run away.”

  “Have they tried to find her? You know, put out posters for her, and that kind of thing? Is she, uh, you know, kind of a ‘wanted’ person?” Ben was worried that having Puck around would be a real detriment if her parents were actively searching for her. How could she avoid being recognized if she went into town?

  Mistress Fenaway sighed. She looked at Puck and said sadly, “No, Ben, there has been no word around town of her missing. No posters, nothing in the papers. That’s why I didn’t recognize you, Puck. I’m sorry, my dear.”

  “I’m not sorry. No one knows me in town. I was never allowed to go to school or go anywhere. My nanny taught me schooling. I hate my parents, I will never go back to them, and I’m glad they didn’t try to find me. Now, can we get on with this? I’m staying with Ben, and that’s all I have to say.”

  At that moment, little Danny stumbled into the room. He was breathless from running up the road, and his brown eyes were filled with fear. He sputtered, “Mistress, Mistress, theys soldiers at our gate, they’s bad Confederate ones, too, an’ they’s got guns an’ they’s want they should come in an’ talk to you, they say they shoot me dead if I don’t open the gate but I don’t open it, Mistress, I’s just run here to tell you.”

  Before anyone in the room could speak, shots rang out, shattering the quiet of the morning.

  Chapter Nine

  Soldiers, Secret Rooms, and Newspapers

  Mistress Fenaway rose quickly from her chair, and motioned to Ben and Puck to follow her. She gave Danny a tight hug, and whispered, “It’s all right, Danny. You did the right thing. Stay here and be very quiet. I’ll be back in a flash.” She smiled at him, put a finger to her lips, and led Ben and Puck into the library. She hurried over to the bookcases, and opened the one that concealed the secret room.

  She not too gently shoved Puck, who was standing motionless, inside, as Ben walked in behind her. Puck started to speak, but the Mistress put a hand over her mouth. “Shh. Be quiet and don’t say a word. Ben, here are the matches to light the lantern. Take it to the back of the room, but don’t light the gas lamps.” She backed out, slid the wall shut, and closed the bookcase.

  Mistress Fenaway took Danny’s hand and closed her own over it tightly. “Well, young man, let’s walk down to the gate, and see what these ruffians are up to. Don’t be afraid, they won’t hurt us, and they surely aren’t going to shoot you.”

  When they reached the gate, she gave Danny’s hand a squeeze, and stood quietly, looking at the men. Her silence made the soldiers uneasy. They quieted down, looked at each other, not knowing what to do.

  Finally, the one officer jumped down from his horse and approached the gate. He stuck his hat under his arm, and bowed stiffly.

  “Mistress Fenaway, I am Lieutenant Winston, at your service, Madam.”

  “Lieutenant Winston, just what is this ‘service’ you are talking about? I know nothing about any service rendered to me by the Confederate Army, so why are you here, frightening my staff with those gun shots? I do not appreciate that.”

  “Mistress, I apologize for my men. They got a little antsy when that young slave there didn’t open the gate for us. Now that…”

  “Excuse me, Lieutenant, but this young man is not a slave. I am not a slave owner. My staff are well paid and looked after. I hope we are clear on that issue. Now, once again, exactly why are you here?”

  The Lieutenant frowned. Obviously, he was not accustomed to anyone questioning him, and certainly not a woman who was apparently refusing him and his men admittance to her home.

  “My orders came down from Major James Lewis Gordon. I am to inspect this property and the house, barns, and any other outbuildings I might find. I am to do this forthwith and without delay, and report back to him by supper time. Now you will please open this gate.”

  Danny moved slightly, as if to comply with the man’s order to open the gate, but the Mistress gripped his hand even tighter, holding him in place.

  “No, Lieutenant Winston, I will not open the gate. I don’t take orders from you, nor from your Major Gordon. Whoever he is. You will tell me precisely what you are looking for, and why you feel, or this Major feels, that either you or he has to right to come in and ‘inspect’ my property. Inspect it for what?”

  “I, uh, well, uh…” The young Lieutenant flushed angrily.

  Mistress Fenaway didn’t move. She continued to stare at him, while his men looked nervously at each other. Finally, the Lieutenant drew himself up to his full height. With his lips compressed into a thin line, his face a little paler than it had been, he looked more like a defiant school boy than an officer of the Confederate Army.

  “Mistress Fenaway, I have been ordered to search the premises and your house in order to find two people we believe are carrying important information that would help the Federals. We believe they have been hidden by you. You need to open this gate immediately.”

  Mistress Fenaway continued to stare at him, before breaking into laughter that was fairly hearty for a genteel lady.

  When she stopped to catch her breath, she said, “Your Major is an idiot, Lieutenant, but very well. Danny, you may open the gate for these, um, these gentlemen. Lieutenant, I would very much appreciate it if you would direct your men to ride straight up the road to the barns, and not trespass on the lawns. There will be someone there to take your horses while you carry out your search.”

  She looked the men and horses over, before releasing Danny’s hand to open the gate. “One more thing, Lieutenant. I don’t obey orders given by the military, so I will only allow you, and one of your men, to come into my house. The two of you may search to your heart’s content, but if you even attempt to take anything from the house, or if you disrupt my home in any way, you will pay for it. And I don’t mean pay monetarily. If you will abide by my rules, you may enter.”

  As Danny walked reluctantly over to release the lock and open the gate, Mistress Fenaway lifted her frilly white apron, and pulled out a pistol. She pointed it at the Lieutenant. “I’m not the only person in my household to have one of these, and to know how to use it.
I suggest you order your men to behave, and to be respectful of me and my home. Are we clear?”

  The young Lieutenant gulped. “Yes, Ma’am, we are very clear.”

  As the gate swung open, he turned to the six men behind him. “You all heard everything the Mistress said, so I suggest you follow her rules, and behave yourselves. Understood?”

  * * *

  Meanwhile, in the secret room, Ben and Puck were glaring at each other. Ben shook his head, wondering why this stubborn girl would not be appreciative of what the Mistress was offering her. He finally broke the silence between them.

  “Puck, I don’t understand you. Where’d you get this bee in your bonnet about coming with me? What’s wrong with staying here, and dressing like a girl? You are a girl, you know. Besides, you can’t come with me and that’s final.”

  She folded her arms across her chest again. “Then I’ll go it alone. I’m not going to stay here and be a party girl, and that’s final.”

  The anger was back in her face again, but her eyes betrayed her. Ben could see the fear in them, and in the faint quiver of her bottom lip.

  He sighed. “We’ll talk about this when the Mistress comes back. For now, let’s just be quiet. The soldiers may come into the house.”

  The fear became apparent. “Ben, do…do you think they will find this room? What will they do to us if they find us? Would they send me back…Oh, Ben, I can’t go back there, I can’t go back to my parents!”

  He put his arms around her, holding her shaking body tightly. “They won’t find us, Puck. They won’t find this room. I can…Shh!” He dropped his voice to a whisper. “They’re in the library, we’ve got to be quiet.”

  The sounds coming through the wall were faint, but distinct. The soldiers were moving about the room, but Ben couldn’t hear what they were saying or doing.

  After a few minutes, they heard a rough voice, a bit of noise, and then silence.

  The next few minutes were torture. No noise, no voices. Ben and Puck had no way of knowing if the soldiers had taken Mistress Fenaway with them or not. Without warning, the wall slid back, and Mistress Fenaway stood framed in the light from the library. “You can come out now, the soldiers have gone.”

  Back in the parlor, Mistress Fenaway sat down on one of the sofas. She frowned at both of them. “Well, now, have you two come to some conclusion about what it is you’re going to do?”

  Ben sighed. “I guess Puck is coming with me. For now, anyway. We’ll go to Lexington and see if we can hire out as newsboys. I don’t reckon anyone will take Puck, but we’ll have to wait on that. Mistress Fenaway, why were the soldiers here? Who were they looking for?”

  “The young Lieutenant would not say. ‘Someone’ is all he would admit to. No one knows about the two of you, so I wouldn’t come undone about it. All right, here’s what we will do. Ben, since I know both publishers in town, I’ll give you an introductory letter to each of them. I’m sure one, if not both, would hire you on. However, I think you will end up as a courier rather than a newsboy, so I still believe you will be working for me.” She smiled at Ben, before addressing Puck.

  “Puck, I have no knowledge of newsgirls, so I have no idea what is going to happen with you. If you should change your mind about being a ‘party doll’, as you call it, you are welcome to return here. However,” she shrugged, “that is entirely up to you. Now, the horses. Socks is in wonderful shape, he was hungry and thirsty, but now he is raring to go again. Puck, I’m giving you a young gelding. He is well trained, and like Socks, he will run far and fast with no problems.”

  Puck stood with her mouth open. “Mistress Fenaway, I can’t pay for a horse. I don’t have any money for anything.”

  Mistress Fenaway just smiled. “I know that, Puck. You don’t owe me a cent for the horse. He is a gift. You repay me by taking the best care of him you can. Someday, my dear, you will return to me, and bring him with you. That I am absolutely sure of. Oh, and by the way, his name is Bandit. Both of your horses are black, and that is by design. Very difficult to see a black horse at night.”

  She stood and started towards the door. “I think you need to see to your horses, while I write this note to my friends in town. Then you’d best be on your way.”

  * * *

  Ben and Puck went to the stables to saddle the horses up. Peter was waiting for them, lead lines in hand.

  “Hey, Mister Ben, I’s been waitin’ for you. These here horses has a good night’s sleep, and I fed them real good this mornin’. They be right hungry boys! Here, Mister Ben,” the young boy handed both lead lines to Ben, “I go get them saddles for you and the Missy here.”

  He came back loaded down with saddles, bridles, and reins, which he dumped on the ground. He picked up a small English saddle and handed it to Puck. “Here, Missy, this here be your saddle. Now, you knows how to saddle up a horse rightly?”

  Puck stared at him, amusement on her face. “Yes, I know. Does this saddle come with a blanket?”

  Peter was indignant. “’Course it come with a blanket. They’s over there on the railin’. Up to you what to choose. You, too, Mister Ben.”

  Ben and Puck looked at the saddle blankets piled high on the railing. Ben said, “The horses are black, the saddles are dark, so we need a dark blanket.”

  Puck scowled. “But these on top are so pretty! I’d like one of them.” She pointed to a light blue blanket with a lacey cream binding. Definitely a lady’s saddle blanket. “See, like that one. That’s the one I want.”

  “Puck, if you’re riding with me, you’re going to do what I tell you. I don’t aim to keep telling you that, so take one of those dark plaid blankets and go saddle up.”

  She glared at him. “I don’t want a dark blanket. They’re ugly.”

  “I don’t care if you think they’re ugly or not. Just do it.”

  Muttering under her breath, she shot him an angry look, and pulled out a dark purple one with a pale yellow binding. “This is the one I’m taking. Like it or not.”

  Ben shook his head, grabbed a dark blue and black plaid blanket from the railing and stomped away. I don’t think this is going to be anywhere near a good idea. She ought to stay here with Mistress Fenaway, but I can see that’s not going to happen. She’s just more trouble than she’s worth, unless she comes down off that high horse of hers.

  He threw the blanket over Socks’ back, and slammed the saddle down on top. His anger came through to the horse, who moved impatiently and laid his ears back. He snorted loudly.

  “Oh, sorry, Socks. I didn’t mean to take it out on you. Easy, boy, easy now. It’s okay, I won’t do that again.” Ben patted the big gelding on the neck, and rubbed his nose. The horse settled, and Ben began tightening the cinch.

  I think I’d better stay within the Mistress’s spy circle. It would probably be a good thing to have a kind of home base. And that way, I might be able to see Grammy once in a while, too. His thoughts were interrupted when Mistress Fenaway came out to the barn. She handed an envelope to Ben. “This is your introduction to both of the newspaper publishers in town. Now, have you made a decision at all about working for me?”

  Puck started to say something, when Ben headed her off. “Yes, we have. We’ll use you as our home base, if that’s still what you want us to do.” He ignored Puck’s glare.

  The Mistress smiled broadly. “Yes, Ben, that’s exactly what I want you to do. This is a safe place, too, if and when you need one. Also, I’ve exchanged correspondence with Elizabeth since you took off for Liberty, and she believes she will be able to come here occasionally. We will try to arrange that when you are nearby, and can come for a visit with her.”

  “Thanks for everything, Mistress Fenaway. We’ll be off now, and see what we can do with those publishers.”

  Ben set his left foot into the left stirrup iron, and swung up onto the saddle. Puck climbed into her saddle a little less gracefully, and they both took up the reins and cued the horses. When they reached the gate, Danny was there h
olding it open for them.

  “You alls be careful now, you hear?”

  “Thank you, Danny. You take care, too.”

  Once outside the gate, Ben put his spurs into Socks’ sides, and the big horse gave a long leap then settled into a fast gallop. A moment later, Puck caught up with him. As they galloped down the road side by side, she was silent. That didn’t last long.

  “Ben, since when do you make my decisions for me? You told that lady ‘we’ would be part of her spy ring. What makes you…”

  “Puck, get down off that high horse of yours. I’ve said that to you before. If you are riding with me, you’ll do what I say, and that’s final. You don’t want to do that, I reckon you can get on your own way, and get out of mine. ‘That lady’ is Mistress Fenaway, and she’ll always be Mistress Fenaway, understand? You’ve got no call to be rude.”

  “Okay, I’m sorry.” The look on Puck’s face was anything but repentant.

  Ben glanced over at her, and reined Socks to a stop. Puck kept on riding, but when she realized Ben was not coming, she turned Bandit and galloped back, sliding to a halt beside him.

  “What’s wrong now? I said I was sorry,”

  “Puck, I know you’ve been through a bad time. But you can’t do anything about that now and neither can I. Look, I’ve got a job to do, and if you don’t like it, you don’t have to stay around. But you aren’t going to slow me down, either. So make up your mind right now. Are you going with me, and do what I say, or are you going out on your own? Either way, I don’t reckon it means much to me.”

  For a moment, Puck looked down at the ground, and the old defiance washed over her. She thought about turning her horse and riding away from him as fast as she could. Then she remembered the loneliness, and the wanting someone to care about her that gnawed at her heart all the time. She had no one to turn to but Ben.