The Return of the Freedom Thief

by Mikki Sadil

  An eternity passed, or so it seemed to Ben. Then, abruptly, Mack nickered loudly, and began pulling himself out of the water. The bank of the Potomac River was slowing rising in front of him, with the state of Maryland right there.

  Mack climbed wearily out of the water and shook himself hard. He walked a few more steps up the bank to more solid ground, and stopped dead. It was obvious he was going to rest, no matter what Ben might have in mind. He hung his head down, and breathed heavily. Ben slipped out of the saddle, dropped the reins, and looked back at the river.

  The three ponies were almost to the bank now. All three children were completely soaked and hanging for dear life around the necks of the ponies. A few more minutes, and the ponies stumbled up the bank, and almost as one, dropped down on the ground. The children fell off, and lay still.

  Ben ran over to them with his heart in his mouth. He was so afraid that after such a long and courageous fight with the river, they might be dead.

  “John! Will, Betsy! Are you all right? Come on, now, talk to me.” He kneeled down beside Betsy, and turned the little girl over. To his relief, she sputtered, coughed, vomited up river water, and then opened her eyes. “I’m freezing, Ben, I’m so cold.”

  About that time, both John and Will sat up. “Yeah, we’re freezing, too. Can we build a fire or something?”

  “You’ve got to get up, all of you, and run around a little to get your muscles working again. I’ll go into the woods and get some firewood.”

  Betsy looked over at her pony. “Ben, what’s wrong with Daisy? She won’t get up. None of them will get up.”

  John looked at the ponies, all three stretched out on the bank of the river, not moving. “They look like they’re dead, all of them.”

  Ben walked over to the ponies, dreading what might have happened to them. He squatted down beside each one, only to find that they were breathing, but very hard. He called to John and Will, “Boys, come over here and get the saddles off. They’re all right, just exhausted from the river.”

  While the children were getting their saddles off the ponies, Ben went a short distance into the woods, and cut down some small branches. He picked up some of the dead leaves and twigs around on the forest floor, and walked just to the edge of the forest. He dropped the load just as he realized the few matches he had were in his saddlebag. If they were wet, he couldn’t start a fire. He went over to Mack and searched through the bag. The matches were in a small box, wrapped in his other jacket, and didn’t seem to be wet. Even the jacket was only damp. He breathed a sigh of relief. “Okay, I’ll start a fire. Come on over here, and get your wet clothes off. At least, the outer clothes. Try to get warm and dry and I’ll see what I can do with the horses.”

  Ben unsaddled Mack and led him over to a big tree close to the fire. He tied him loosely to a lower branch, and let him start munching on ground cover. He went to the three ponies who had at least changed positions, but still were not willing to stand up. The fact that they had all moved of their own accord told Ben they were slowly coming out of their exhaustion.

  “Hey, John, do any of you have a rope?”

  John ran over, and pulled a wet rope out of his saddle bag. “We use this to hobble the ponies sometimes. Is this what you want?”

  Ben took the rope and tried to squeeze a little of the water out of it. “Yeah, it’ll do fine, if we can just get them on their feet. I don’t want them to suddenly spook and run away. I’d like to get them closer to the woods if we can, then we can either hobble them, or tie them to the trees.”

  The ponies were more alert now, raising their heads and looking around, but still not willing to move much. Ben took the first one by the reins. “John, hold on to the other two. I’m going to try to get this one up, and I don’t want that to spook those guys.”

  He pulled hard on the reins, but the little horse was stubborn. He was still tired, and he had no mind to get up. Finally, Ben handed the reins to John. “Hold him for a minute. I’ll be right back.”

  Ben went over to the fire, and picked out a long slender branch not yet in the flames. He took the reins back from John, and smacked the pony hard on the rump with the branch. The pony snorted, whinnied, and scrabbled around in the sand, trying to get a foothold. In another minute, he was on his feet. The other two ponies began trying to stand, and in a couple of minutes, all were up, shaking water and sand all over John and Ben. They led the ponies into the woods near Mack, and tied each one lightly to a tree. At least now they could graze and rest, but wouldn’t be able to run off.

  The fire took hold and blazed brightly. John joined his brother and sister, and soon they were sound asleep. Ben stood near the fire, looking down at the three siblings. I can’t stay with them, I have to get on my way. It’s important I get this information to the Federals as soon as I can. What am I going to do with these children? I can’t just leave them here, I can’t take them with me. Oh, Grammy, I wish you were here to give me some advice. Which is more important, saving these children, or doing my job?

  Exhausted himself, still wet and cold, Ben gave up on his thoughts, laid down and was instantly asleep.

  Ben, I’m surprised at you for even asking. Is a mere job, no matter how important you might think it is, ever more important than saving the lives of other humans? Especially the lives of three young children? Take the children with you and stay with them until they find their relatives. Make sure they are safe when they do find them. Then you can get on your way with your information. If you are too late, well, my boy, that’s life. Especially in this unpredictable war. There will be more and more valuable information for your espionage work, the longer the war goes on. But for now, you take care of those children, you hear me?

  Ben sat up abruptly. He looked around, fully expecting his grandmother to come walking out of the woods. The dream he’d had was so real it seemed as though she had to be around here somewhere.

  The sun had dropped behind the trees, and the breeze had arrived on the back of a cold draft. June was always undependable when it came to being warm or cold. Ben shivered, and looked over at the children, still sleeping soundly by the fire. When they awakened they would be cold and hungry. They were dressed for riding in the spring warmth, not for being out in an unhospitable night.

  Water splashing downriver brought him quickly to his feet. The faint sounds of muffled voices came though the late afternoon air. He ran to the river’s edge and looked downstream. Troops were moving across the river, their horses struggling to keep their footing as they fought the current and cold water. Ben couldn’t tell from the distance if their uniforms were gray or blue, but either way, he and the children needed to get deeper into the forest.

  He woke the children, one by one, by gently placing one hand over their mouths, and shaking them with the other. As soon as their eyes were open, he removed his hand but put a finger to his lips.

  “Shh. Don’t say anything. We need to move back into the woods, but we have to be very quiet.”

  He saw the fear jump into Betsy’s eyes again, and he gave her a hug. “No, Betsy, don’t worry. It’s not the men from town. This is a whole troop of soldiers who came across the river downstream from us. I just don’t want anyone to find us right now, okay?”

  She nodded, and joined her brothers in getting their few items together. Ben shoved sand and dirt over the fire to put it out, and went to get Mack. He tied up his bedroll then motioned for the children to follow him with their ponies. He led Mack back into the woods a short distance before spotting a heavy brush of thickets behind a group of trees. It seemed the best place to hide for the night. A few minutes later, all four horses were tethered and foraging for something to eat.

  John was the only one of the children with a bedroll, and it was just one big blanket. He unrolled it and wrapped it around Will and Betsy. He sat next to them, and the three huddled together, drawing warmth from each other as well as the blanket. Ben sat across from them, and using his small knife, opened a couple of the cans
he had taken from the store. He passed them over to John, as well as some of the biscuits.

  “Eat all you want, but this is about it for food. I took these from the store in town, but—uh, well, I couldn’t stay there long enough to get anything more. We’ll have to try to find food in the morning…” Shots rang out from downriver, and the children cringed. They could hear faint sounds of raucous laughter coming from men.

  Ben said, “It’s okay. It’s not a fight. They probably shot an animal of some kind for food. If it were anything serious, they wouldn’t be laughing. Maybe we could find a rabbit or something like that in the morning. John, do you or Will know how to skin a rabbit?”

  Betsy shuddered. “I won’t eat a rabbit, or a squirrel, either. Ma teached us that all creatures have a right to live.”

  John said gently, “Betsy, it’s ‘taught us,’ not ‘teached us.’ But she also said sometimes you gotta do things you don’t want to do, right?”

  The little girl shook her head, and blonde curls jumped around her shoulders. “I don’t care, I won’t eat ‘em, so there.”

  Ben smiled at her. “It’s okay, maybe we can find some other food, Betsy. Don’t worry, we won’t kill anything unless we absolutely have to. How about that?”

  She nodded, and yawned. She dug her hands into her eyes, and yawned again.

  Ben saw how sleepy she was, and looked at the boys. They, too, seemed to be fighting sleep. He didn’t want to build another fire and take a chance on the soldiers noticing. It was going to get colder, and all they had between the four of them was two blankets. But he had an idea.

  “Look, you are all tired and sleepy, so get settled. Curl up close to each other, and I’ll cover you up. We can’t make another fire, so we’ll have to stay as warm as we can by everyone cuddling, okay?”

  John and Will lay down with Betsy between them, and drew their blanket up. Ben added his blanket, and curled up next to John. In minutes, all were asleep.

  * * *

  A couple of hours later, Ben sat up. He nudged John, who started to sit up, but Ben put his hand on his arm, and a finger to his lips. “Shh, John, don’t say anything. I’m going to leave for a few minutes. I’ll be back, so you go on back to sleep, okay? Don’t wake the others.”

  John nodded, put his head down and was almost instantly asleep again.

  Ben eased out from under the blanket, and tucked it more snugly around the children. He took off his jacket, and folded it tightly to fit in his saddlebag then put his other jacket on. He fastened his holster around his waist, and slipped the pistol in. As quietly as he could, he walked back down to the river bank. The full moon shone brightly enough to light his way, but he hoped it wouldn’t also be bright enough to awaken the sleeping soldiers.

  He knew the soldiers were downstream, and not too far away. He followed the bank for what he thought was about a half mile, and found the soldiers’ camp. While they were bedded down in the woods, around fires that were mostly nothing more than embers now, most of their supplies were left on the sand. Ben found extra bedrolls, and boxes with ‘hardtack’ and ‘canned food’ written on the outside. He took one large bedroll, and one of each box. Carrying them back by himself was going to be a problem, but he figured he could manage long enough to get back into the woods.

  He stacked the two boxes with the bedroll on top, and was barely able to pick it all up. He staggered, found his footing in the sand, and began moving slowly back upstream. He was both surprised and deeply thankful that the soldiers had not posted a sentry. After a few minutes, he knew he had to get into the woods, and rearrange his prize. He couldn’t maintain his footing in the sand, with the heavy load he was carrying.

  He slipped into the woods just far enough from the bank of the river to still be able to see it, then dropped everything onto the ground. Before he could begin to rearrange it, a shout went up from the camp.

  “Everybody up! Now! Camp’s been raided!”

  Ben’s heart dropped into his stomach. There was no way the soldiers could not follow him, he had left deep footprints in the sand. He had no choice but to run into the woods and hide as best he could. Unless…

  The soldiers were not about to be awakened so soon and so roughly. Instead of many men rushing after him, Ben could hear nothing but the yelling of the man who had found the supplies tampered with, combined with the yelling and complaining of the soldiers who had been sleeping.

  Ben ran back to the sandy bank of the river, and began trampling down the sand around his footprints. In a few seconds, there was nothing left to follow. But he still had to get back into the woods. He heard the men still shouting and swearing at the one who had awakened them. He stepped into the mess he had created, and deliberately walked back towards the Confederate camp, heading towards the woods where they had bedded down. The moon began sliding under heavy, newly formed clouds, and immediately, there was no light to see by. Ben reached the timberline, and turned quickly back in the direction he had come. He was just in time, as a few of the men had been rousted from their sleep, and were headed down to the supplies. He disappeared into the edge of the woods, just as a voice shouted, “There he is! Come on boys, he went into them woods, the ornery thief!”

  A round of gunfire whistled through the trees, and Ben dropped to the ground. He crawled into a nearby thicket of brambles with thorns so long they scratched his arms and legs through his clothing. He could hear the soldiers scrambling through the woods, shouting and cursing, but no longer shooting. After a few minutes of crashing around, another voice shouted, “All right, stop. Just stop right where you are. Whoever this thief is, he didn’t get much, and we’re not going to find him in the dark, in the woods. Get back to camp, and get some sleep. We’re heading out at daylight, so not another word. Get going.”

  “Aw, Sarge, dang it, why’d we get woke up anyway?”

  “Yeah, Smitty dun’ woke us up for nothin’.”

  More complaints and curses as the men sullenly left the woods and headed back to their camp. When the night was quiet once more, Ben crept out of his hiding place, and as quietly as he could, went back to the supplies he had stolen.

  Inside one box were packages of hardtack, a type of biscuit fried very hard so that it would keep over time. The other box contained, not canned food as it said, but packets of dried fruits and vegetables. Ben put as much of both boxes as he could inside of the bedroll, which contained two heavy blankets, and rolled it up again. Still heavy, it was much easier to carry than the boxes had been. He slung it across his shoulders, and started back to the children.

  * * *

  Ben felt like he had barely gotten to sleep when he was awakened by the sounds of shouts, horses neighing, and both men and horses crashing through the woods. The noise, although it came from downstream, was loud enough to wake the children, also. They sat up, but remained quiet. When the sound had finally diminished to almost nothing, Ben got up. “Okay, the soldiers are gone. I have some hard biscuits and dried fruit for breakfast, and then we’ve got to be on our way. I’m going to stay with you until you get to your grandparents, after that I have to be off to finish my mission.”

  After they had eaten, Will and Betsy went off to saddle up the ponies. John walked over to Ben.

  “I only know one way to get to our grandparents. We gotta go back up the river until we can see the town. There’s a landing there, on both sides of the river. My pa built ‘em both.” John’s voice clouded, and Ben could see tears in his eyes. He cleared his throat, and started again. “We know the way from the landing, but, uh, do you think it’ll be safe down there?”

  The pain of knowing his parents were dead was on his face again.

  Ben reached out and squeezed his shoulder. “Yeah, I think it will be okay, now. The soldiers are gone, and I’m sure the guys who, uh, you know, the ones who did everything, are gone, too. They got what they wanted, so they wouldn’t hang around. But I don’t know where you mean, so you’ll have to be the point, okay?”

  The
boy nodded, and went back to his siblings. Ben tacked up Mack, and threw the extra bedroll with the remaining food in it behind John’s saddle. They mounted up, and started up the river bank. It was slow going. The sand was thick, heavy, pulling the horses’ hooves downward with every step. The ponies, especially, were having trouble. They threw their heads around, squealing. The children were having trouble keeping them from taking the bits between their teeth. Mack was also unhappy with fighting the sand, and began to buck. Ben hauled back on the reins until he settled down again. “Okay, enough of this. Let’s get back up to the woods, and stay on solid ground. We can walk the horses close enough to the bank to see where we’re going. I think. John, you’re the one who knows where we’re going. Can we stay in the woods and still see the river?”

  “Uh, yeah, I think so. I just gotta be where I can see the landing when we come to it.”

  * * *

  Sometime later, four tired horses and riders came to a halt when John said excitedly, “Look! There’s the landing! I knew I could get us here.” He pulled his pony down onto the sand again, and kicked him hard. Will and Betsy followed, and in seconds, all Ben could see was sand blowing behind them.

  Laughing out loud at how happy John was to be able to lead them to the right place, Ben spurred Mack onto the sand, out into the water’s edge, and splashing water with every step, caught up with the siblings at an old, water-logged wooden landing. There was a small skiff tied up to it, and both skiff and landing lurched sideways into the water.

  John pointed to a small, weed-covered path leading away from the water and into the woods. “See, this is where we go. We just follow this path until it gets to a road, and the road takes us to Gramps and Granny’s place.”