Finally, Ray couldn’t take it any longer and headed for the door.
Mike met him at there. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“Cabin fever, I need some air,” Ray said.
“You can’t go out there dressed like that.” Mike pushed him back from the door.
Ray got boiling mad and balled his fist. “There’s no one out there this time of night!”
“You don’t want to do that,” Mike told him.
“Maybe I do, if you don’t let me out of this room right now.”
Ray started for the door again, and Mike grabbed him. “Wait—maybe you’re right,” Mike said.
“I am?”
“Yeah, Preacher is taking a long time. We can go as far as the street and have a look around. Don’t let anyone see us.”
“Sounds good,” Ray said, and relaxed.
With his back to the door, Mike looked in Sarah’s direction.
“We’ll be all right,” Sarah reassured him.
“Speak for yourself,” Jenny said.
Mike turned and opened the door. He and Ray walked outside to the porch in their shorts. Mike started down the steps and saw Preacher coming up the street and got back on the porch. “Here he comes now.”
Preacher was carrying two carpetbags. He didn’t see Mike and Ray on the porch, so when he turned to go up the steps he was surprised. Scared, even. When he saw who it was he relaxed. “I have provisions, and information.”
“Where you been?” Ray challenged.
“What kind of information?” Mike asked.
Suddenly, two men emerged from the darkness. One wore a black duster; the other, a tan duster. The dusters went to their ankles. Both men had their handguns drawn.
“Hold it right there,” the one in black said, his gun pointed at the Preacher. “Where’s the chattel?”
“I don’t know what you’re referring to,” Preacher said.
“Sure you don’t. We’re the only people out here at this time of night, and you don’t know what we’re talking about,” the man in black said.
“Save yourself some trouble and hand over the slaves,” the one in a tan duster said.
Preacher looked beaten and glanced over at Mike, who was coming down the steps in his shorts and brogans.
“No can do,” Mike said.
The man in black asked. “What the hell are you supposed to be—dressed like some freak that escaped from a circus?”
“They’re in the church,” the man in tan said, looking up.
Mike turned and saw Jenny looking out the church window. “Damn.”
The man in black said, “Okay, we don’t have all night. We can do this the easy way or the hard way. Your choice.”
He pointed his gun at Preacher’s head. “You got to three.”
Mike stepped forward. The gunman in tan pointed his gun at him. Mike walked closer to the man. “What are you going to do shoot me?”
“If you make me. I will do it,” the man in the tan duster said nervously.
Mike grabbed the man’s wrist and while holding onto his arm, turned and pointed the gun at the man in black. “Drop your weapon.”
The man in black looked confused. “How did you do that?”
In the same instant that Mike dropped to the ground, the man in black fired. Instead of hitting Mike, he shot his partner. The man in the tan duster fell to the ground with Mike. Still pointing the gun at the man in black, Mike fired. The man in black had a surprised look on his face. He fired a second round at Mike, who felt a burning sensation as the bullet grooved the left side of his chest. Mike fired a second round and the man in black dropped his gun and fell to the ground, dead.
“Oh, shit. Oh, shit,” Ray kept repeating.
Preacher was beside himself. “What are we going to do? How do I explain this?”
“We don’t. We need to hide the bodies and get out of here. Now!” Mike said.
“Hide the bodies?” Preacher couldn’t believe this was happening.
“Ray.” Mike said. “Help me drag the bodies behind the steps of the church.”
Sarah, Jenny, and George came running down the steps dressed in their skimpy modern clothes. George saw that Mike was hurting and went to help. While Mike and Ray dragged one body, George dragged the other. They laid them under the steps as far as possible.
“Are you okay, Michael?” Sarah asked, seeing that he was wounded.
“I’m fine.”
“I want to look at that before we go.”
Mike looked at what she and Jenny were wearing. “Need to get you back in the church.”
Preacher picked up the two bags and followed them back into the church.
Mike turned to the women. “We need to get dressed and moving.”
Preacher opened the bag of clothes and handed Mike and Ray brown pants and white shirts. Then handed Sarah and Jenny dresses. Mike and Ray went to a dark corner, while Sarah and Jenny went to the back and discreetly changed out of their modern clothes. They threw off their sandals and put on 19th century shoes that laced high above their ankles.
Mike and Ray laced up their brogans and returned. The
Preacher handed each of them a hat and coat. “I see you found some shoes.”
“Yes, thanks,” Mike said.
“Ain’t it hot out?” Ray said.
“You’d be naked if you don’t have your coat,” Preacher said.
“Just go with it,” Mike told Ray.
Mike opened the bag with the food and water. It contained salted ham, salt beef, bread, hard crackers, and hard candy. There were also four canteens full of water.
“Hand me some candy,” Ray said.
Preacher handed George some salt pork and hard candy for his daughter.
Mike was straightening his suspenders when Jenny came back with an irate look on her face.
“What the hell is this?” She was in a brown plaid garment that went to the floor. “I wouldn’t be caught dead in this. I’m supposed to wear this in public?”
“You look great,” Mike said.
Ray was chewing on a piece of hard candy when he looked up and saw how the dress Jenny was wearing filled out her bosom. He nodded in agreement with Mike.
Sarah saw the two of them gawking at Jenny and wasn’t amused. She wore the same type of dress, only hers was a purple plaid.
“The shoes cover my ankles,” Jenny complained.
“I like the feel of this century,” Sarah said.
Preacher was confused. “What’s wrong? I don’t understand?”
Mike looked over at Sarah and smiled. “Nothing’s wrong. Come on, we’ve got to go.”
“What if I trip and hurt myself?” Jenny said.
“Don’t,” Mike told her.
They passed around the water and everyone got a drink.
“We’ll need to go easy on the water,” Preacher said.
“Why?” Ray asked.
“That’s all we’ve got, and we have a long trip ahead of us.”
“We can get more water along the way,” Mike said.
“That we will, you’re right, but we need this to last the night until we find more,” Preacher explained.
“We’ll ration the water,” Mike said.
“We still have two wagons waiting to take us north,” Preacher said.
“Where?” Mike said.
“At the house,” Preacher said.
“What house?”
“The house on the hill, just outside of town.”
Mike suddenly realized what Preacher was referring to. That would be my house. Wonder who lives there now? He thought.
“How do we get up there without being seen?” Ray asked.
“We go through the tunnel,” Preacher said.
“The tunnel? You don’t mean that tunnel?” Mike said.
“The tunnel we just crawled through?” Ray asked queasily.
“I don’t know what you two are talking about. Let me show you the tunnel that I am talking about.”
Preacher walked over to the altar and pointed. “Right here.”
Just behind the altar was a wall panel that the Preacher removed. There was the tunnel.
Mike turned to Ray, who looked sick to his stomach. “I didn’t know the tunnel ended here.”
“I really don’t need to go back in there again,” Ray said.
Preacher pulled his pocket watch. “It’s after midnight already, we must hurry.”
Preacher gave Sarah and Jenny a piece of salt pork and bread each. “Eat this as we go,” he said, then turned toward the tunnel behind the altar. There was a collective sigh. Then Ray mumbled, “Here we go again.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Thursday, June 11, 1863
Elements of General Lee’s army were crossing the rushing waters of the Potomac River at a flat area called Falling Waters. The name was given because of a waterfall on the Maryland side. It was about two miles south of Williamsport. The Confederates built a pontoon bridge across the river, which was a half-mile wide. The supply train, which was 17 miles long, crossed wagon by wagon into Maryland.
Lee’s strategy was offensive, but his tactics in battle would be defensive. He wanted to threaten Harrisburg and Philadelphia. Locate terrain favorable to his army and draw out the Army of the Potomac and engage them in battle on ground he had selected and prepared. After that great victory, he would turn his 75,000-man army south toward Baltimore and Washington.
***
Preacher led George and his family into the tunnel. Mike and his friends followed close behind. It was dark and musty, but they only walked about 100 yards to a doorway. Preacher opened the door and they all exited into a dark alleyway behind the church.
“That’s it?” Ray said.
“Where did you think it went?” Preacher answered.
“I didn’t think the tunnel went all the way to the house,” Mike said, thinking out loud.
“Good news, we didn’t have to crawl. Bad news, we have to walk?” Ray gestured.
“Yes,” Preacher said. He started up the pathway.
Mike looked at Ray and said, “Yeah, where did you think it went?” He smiled, and followed Preacher.
Sarah plucked aloe leaves as she walked the pathway, which led them to the edge of the rear property line of what would one day be Mike’s home.
“This is so weird to see my own house back in the day,” Mike whispered.
Police whistles blew in the distance.
“Cops must have found the two dead men,” Mike said.
“We must hurry, then,” Preacher said.
They ran into the rear yard and Preacher stopped at the root cellar entrance. “This way,” he said, then opened the door and went down the steps. The others hurried close behind. Upon entering the cellar, Preacher turned to Mike. “This isn’t just a root cellar. The far wall has a tunnel that leads to the house.”
“Oh, so this is how it was?” Mike said.
“Have you been here before?” Preacher asked.
Mike caught his slip of the tongue. “Oh, no. Not really.”
Preacher followed the tunnel to an entrance into the house. He knocked three times on a door, and at almost that same moment the door opened, bringing light into the tunnel. Preacher entered a room with a dark figure of a man standing there with brown hair, goatee, and mustache. Mike and the others were right behind Preacher. They stood in a large study with a big mahogany desk and bookshelves that lined the room.
“Good evening, Mister Braymer,” Preacher said as he waited for everyone to enter the room. “I would like you all to meet Mister Jack Braymer.”
Jack Braymer was a 46-year-old, sober-looking man with the hooded eyes of a hawk. His brown suit and paisley silk vest showed he was a man of wealth.
“He is the owner of this lovely home,” Preacher said.
“You’re late, and who are these people? Braymer asked.
“What do you mean?” Preacher said.
“Do you want me to go to jail? I’m doing you a favor, and you bring four strangers into my home? You put the whole operation in jeopardy.”
“Oh, dear, I didn’t know.” Preacher didn’t know how to argue in his defense.
“Let me make this perfectly clear to you. If I don’t know someone, then I don’t trust them, understood?”
Preacher was taken back. “Yes, by all means, it won’t happen again, but-”
“But what?”
“They are good people. This man saved my life.”
“What? How?” Braymer asked.
“Slave hunters, he had to kill them before they killed me,” Preacher explained.
“Is that true, you saved this man’s life?”
“Yes,” Mike said. He lifted his shirt, showing the bullet wound to Braymer.
“Let us have a moment to patch his wound, please,” Sarah asked Braymer.
“Yes, by all means,” Braymer said.
Sarah took Mike’s hand and walked him to a water basin on a wooden table. She poured water from a pitcher into the basin. “I need to wash it first.”
“Thanks, Sarah,” Mike said.
While Sarah was cleaning Mike’s wound, Braymer addressed Preacher. “So who are these folks we’re all here to help?”
“Ah, yes, Mister Braymer. This is George and his wife, Anita, and their lovely daughter, Valerie.
“So glad we can help you folks,” Braymer said.
Sarah added some water to the aloe leaves and rubbed them in her hands to use as an ointment to treat Mike’s wound.
“Are you two ready over there?” Braymer asked.
“Yes,” Sarah said as she washed her hands.
“Then let’s get on with it,” Braymer said.
Sarah finished dressing Mike’s wound and was drying her hands when Mike, somewhat confused, saw the way Braymer was dressed. The gentleman didn’t look like he was ready to go on a journey.
“Are you taking us north?” Mike asked.
“Oh, heavens no,” Preacher injected. “The wagons are in the barn with a driver, waiting for us.”
“There’s only one driver. I figured you can drive the other wagon,” Braymer said.
“Oh, I suppose so,” Preacher said.
“I can drive for us,” Mike said.
“Oh, well, that’ll do,” Preacher said.
“Come, I’ll introduce you to your driver and guide,” Braymer said. “This way, ladies and gentlemen.” He grabbed his hat and walked them outside, behind the house to the barn.
Mike took Sarah’s hand as they walked and gently squeezed, thanking her for tending to his wound. Sarah smiled back at him.
Braymer slid the barn door open, revealing two wagons harnessed with two teams of Morgan horses. The wagons stood empty, but beside each wagon was a load of lumber. Standing between the two wagons was an untidy older white man in a gray wool jacket, wearing a round brown hat. He was slender and lean, with graying hair.
“Hello, Otis,” Braymer said.
Everyone nodded his presence.
“Does Otis know the smuggling routes north?” Preacher asked.
“Sure do, as good as anyone,” Otis said.
“Here’s your cargo, Otis. Your job is to see that they get safely to the North.”
“Sure thing, Mister Braymer,” Otis acknowledged.
“Hello, Otis.” Mike started to introduce them to Otis. “This here is Sarah, Ray, and Jenny.”
Otis nodded with a slight smile.
“This here is George, Anita, and Valerie.”
Otis walked over to the horses. “You ready?”
Mike looked at Ray, then at Sarah, who looked at Jenny. They were all wondering what just happened.
Braymer said, “Well, have a safe trip,” and walked back to the house.
Otis’s smile disappeared when Braymer walked away. In an attempt to stay pleasant, Mike said, “So, Otis, how long have you been helping the Underground Railroad?”
Otis looked at Mike with piercing green eyes and sai
d, “Look, you don’t know me, and I don’t need to know you. Let’s keep it that way. Long as I get paid, I’m good.”
Otis looked at his pocket watch. “It’s after one, and I was told you need to get across the Mason-Dixon by July First. Is that right?”
“That’s right,” Preacher said.
“To do that, we’ll have make thirty miles every day. We’ll keep moving all day and into the night.”
“That’s good for us,” Mike said.
“Let’s get started then,” Otis snapped.
Otis removed a board from the first wagon, revealing a false bottom, where he placed Preacher’s box of food.
“From this moment on, we are merchants taking a load of lumber to Virginia. You’ll need to get your slaves in the bottom of the wagons.”
“Slaves—really?” Jenny said.
“It’s just a word, Jenny,” Sarah interjected.
“Sensitive, huh?” Otis grinned. “Okay, climb aboard. We’ll cover you with the lumber.” Otis’s grin was gone.
“You want them to lay on the hardwood floor?” Sarah asked.
“That’s the idea, lady.”
“Really? Are you going to just stand there?” Jenny asked Mike.
Mike’s apprehension steadily grew, but he didn’t want to show it. “It is what it is. That’s how they did it. I can’t interfere. We’re just along for the ride.”
“Come on, load up,” Otis ordered.
George and his family got into the wagon. They lay on the raw planks of wood that made up the bottom of the first wagon. Otis and Preacher put the false bottom in place and loaded the lumber, making sure to hide them. Jenny stomped her foot. She was appalled, but she had no choice in the matter. Sarah was more understanding of the situation, having grown up during these days.
“Okay, now it’s your turn,” Otis said to the ladies.
“What do you mean, our turn?” Jenny said.
“Get in the bottom of that wagon.”
“You’re kidding, right? You want me to get in that tiny space with her?” Jenny said defiantly.
“Who says I want to be crammed in there with you?” Sarah replied.
“You’re wasting time, ladies,” Otis said.
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