Black Angels

by Linda Beatrice Brown

  Betty said, “That’s the house, Caswell. You just stand next to me and be quiet.” She stood outside the door and gave three knocks. Then she said, “Gather roun the flag, boys.”

  When the door opened, a tall dirty White man stood there. His clothes were torn, and he had a beard. He smelled bad, like whiskey. The whole place smelled like strong drink.

  Betty said, “Is this the house of Master Jones?”

  The dirty man said, “Who’s askin?”

  And then two other men came to the door, and Betty said to the first one, “Mister, we lost.” Caswell didn’t know why Betty had said that since she had just said this was the house. Before he could even think about it, the three men grabbed Betty, and he started screaming.

  “We know you the Indian what’s been spyin on us!” Betty’s face horrified Caswell. He’d never seen her look like that. She yelled in a rough voice, “You got the wrong Indian! Don’t you see I got my boy?” Then she yelled, “Run! Caswell, run! Go home!” But he was riveted to the floor with fear. The three men were trying to hold Betty. But they couldn’t hold her. They hit her. She fought, and one of them lunged for him so fast, he was caught. He saw Betty pull a knife from under her blouse and stab the man who had grabbed him. The man fell forward, choking. A chair hit the wall and splintered. Blood went everywhere. The whole place was noise and confusion.

  “Run!” Betty screamed at Caswell. “Run!”

  The men were yelling curses.

  Caswell ran out in the yard looking for someplace to hide. The first thing he saw was a horse and wagon, but he was too short to get into it. He struggled to get into the wagon for a few crazy seconds, and then he saw some big hay bales and got behind them. He heard groans and yells coming from the house. He heard the stabbed man hollering, “Help me! I’m bleedin bad! I’m dyin. Help!”

  One said, “The boy! Where is he?”

  And another said, “Leave him! He don’t matter!”

  Just then, Caswell peeked from behind the hay bale, and he saw the two men and Betty fall out the front door into the yard. The two men were knocking Betty around. She fought back, kicking one man in the shins and trying to use her knife. She cut one of the men in the face and arm.

  “Damn,” he swore. “Get her! Get her!” and finally he knocked her down and took her knife, and she stayed down. Then they got a rope and tied her up. “We gonna kill you, squaw,” one said. “But first we gotta git some help for Joe, and then we gonna find out what you know. Just you sit here and think about how we gonna make you talk!”

  Betty spit at the man.

  He slapped her face so hard, it made her head bounce. Caswell was having trouble breathing. His chest felt like it was tied with ropes. His legs were quivering. As the two men dragged Betty to a shed that was on the place, Caswell took off, running for his life, headed toward Betty’s cabin.

  CHAPTER 22

  FAMILY

  Some katydids whined in the night. Luke could hear the lap-lap sounds of the river, it was so quiet. He was just about to give up and lie down when he heard something or someone outside. He stood very still. If it wasn’t Betty and Caswell, he’d be ready for whoever it was. The rustle of leaves came closer. It sounded small, not heavy. He thought it was some kind of animal. Luke brought his breath in sharply. “Daylily, you hear that?”

  She sat up, awake all at once.

  Oh, Lordy, don’t let it be another mountain lion, Luke thought. Then someone knocked on the door and they heard Caswell. “Luke, Luke, Daylily, it’s me! Open the door. It’s me! It’s me!” Caswell pummeled the door with his small fists.

  Luke took the bar off the door and Caswell threw his arms around Luke’s waist.

  “They took her,” he cried, sobbing now that he was safe, “and put her in a shed. And they might shoot her, or hang her, or they might put her in jail. Oh, Luke, what’s gonna happen to us?”

  “Slow down a minute, whoa! Hold your horses! Caswell! Caswell!” Luke grabbed hold of Caswell’s arm and took a good look at his face. Between the tears and the makeup Betty had put on him, he looked like he had stripes. His hair had long since come out of the leather thong Betty had tied around it, and he was a wild sight. His legs and arms were scratched by bushes and red from insect bites, and his trousers were torn. Altogether he looked like he had come through a war all by himself.

  “Hush now, boy, tell me what you sayin about Betty. Slow down. Slow down! Stop cryin and tell us.” Luke had heard enough to dread what was coming.

  Caswell took a deep, ragged breath.

  “Daylily, give him a drink so’s he can talk,” Luke said. Daylily had been standing there all along, struck speechless by the confusion.

  Caswell gulped down some water. “We went to a farmhouse over yonder. We walked a long time, and Betty told me that if we got separated, I should follow the river road back here to you and Daylily.” He talked in a strange, squeaking voice, and he was still shaking, but he told Luke and Daylily the whole story. “I cut out fast comin back here, and they must not have seen where I was cause nobody followed me. But what’s gonna happen to us now?” Big tears ran down his streaked face.

  Daylily put her arm around him. “Don’t you feel bad now, Caswell, you come back to tell us Betty in trouble. You did good!”

  “Oh, Lordy,” Luke said, “let me think. Let me think.”

  Daylily’s eyes filled up with tears. “I’m thinkin that Betty is dead now,” she said. “I can’t stand no more dyin.”

  “Wait, it ain’t time for snivelin,” Luke said. “Not yet. Us got to have a plan. Maybe us can find her and set her loose. How far is this place, Caswell?”

  “Over yonder” was all he could say.

  “Well, wait a minute. Wait. Where was the sun when y’all got to that house? Think hard now. Straight overhead or comin down?”

  “I remember, I remember! She said it was getting on to din nertime. Sun was straight over our heads when we saw the house.”

  “It’s a far piece then,” said Luke, “cause y’all left this mornin. OK, we got to sleep now, and rest up. Get a little food together for the trip and rest up. We gots to walk a long way and try to help Betty Strong Foot.”

  “Luke, I’m scared,” said Daylily.

  Caswell said, “Me too.”

  “Me too,” said Luke, “but we gotta try. She helped us. She saved our lives. And now it’s time for us to help her. We gon start at first light. It’s too late now. Don’t wanna be out in these woods and run into another mountain lion. We just follow the river.”

  Caswell was glassy eyed and seemed to be far away. “I did it, Luke, didn’t I? I walked all the way back, and it got dark and I didn’t get lost or nothin. I made it . . . all by myself?”

  “You did, Caswell. You sho nuff did!”

  Caswell’s smile stretched from cheek to cheek.

  “Think you can find it again?”

  “Sho nuff!” said Caswell, trying to sound like Luke.

  This hit a funny bone in Daylily and Luke, and Caswell laughed at his own joke as hard as they did. It was so good not to be crying or worrying for a few minutes that they fell all over each other like ordinary children.

  “And go wash your filthy face,” said Luke to Caswell. “You are a sight to behold. If you could just see yourself, you be scared sho nuff!” That started the laughter all over again, and they pointed fingers at each other. They laughed at the state of Luke’s hair, and Caswell’s face with the streaks of makeup and dust. They laughed until their stomachs hurt, until they were finally exhausted. And then a quiet shadow settled on their faces and they gathered in front of the fire.

  “We gotta pray now,” Daylily said. “We gotta pray Betty be OK, and that we find her and we don’t get killed like Buttercup and her babies, and that we all gets back home somewhere safe and sound. Y’all bow your heads,” she said.

  For once Luke didn’t argue with her.

  “God,” she said, “this here’s Daylily callin on You. We down here just little
chirren,” she said, “cept Luke, who’s a little bigger than us. And we scared to death, Lord, and we callin on You in our time of need.”

  “Amen,” said Luke.

  “And we just want to ask you, Lord, to bless us and help us find our Betty Strong Foot, cause she sure did save our lives.”

  “Amen,” said Luke.

  “And she a good woman, Lord, who in trouble, and Lord, we don’t know if You hold with that spy work she doin, Lord, but please don’t take it to heart, and keep us safe. Amen.”

  “And Lord,” Luke added, “if You don’t like what she doin, please don’t take it out on us. Thank you, Jesus. Amen.”

  Daylily nudged Caswell. “Say amen.”

  Caswell said, “Amen.”

  “Everybody lay down and rest,” said Luke. In the quiet that followed they could hear each other breathing. Sensitive to each other now, each one knew the others were not asleep.

  “Luke,” whispered Caswell, “you sleep?”

  “Uh unh.”

  “Luke?”

  “What?”

  “Can White people be related to Negras?”

  “Sometimes they is.”

  “Luke?”

  “What?”

  “Can I be your little brother?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Is that wrong?”

  “No, but don’t tell nobody I say it’s OK. We get in trouble.”

  “OK.”

  “Night.”

  “Night.”

  CHAPTER 23

  RESCUE

  They got themselves together at dawn, Caswell leading this time. Luke could tell Caswell felt very important in spite of being scared. He marched as far ahead of them as he could. “Don’t you be getting so far ahead up there,” Luke said to the younger boy. “We needs to stay together.”

  They had Betty’s corn bread, and Daylily had wrapped it in scraps of Betty’s gingham. Luke had filled the canteens. Caswell got hungry first, so they stopped to eat.

  “Don’t eat it all,” Luke said. “You be hungry fore we get half there.” The birds were singing their hearts out, and when the sun was high, Luke said, “Midday now. And look up ahead there; it’s a house!”

  “This is it,” said Caswell. “This is it!” It was the shabby, unpainted house with the door half off where he and Betty had been before.

  “Shh, we can’t let nobody hear us,” Luke warned. “What if they catch us, and then we as good as cooked!”

  “Oh, mercy me,” whispered Daylily, “we in trouble for sure!” Somewhere a cat whined. Then they saw her. She was white, gray and starving. Her bones were almost poking through the gray fur. She mewed insistently, wanting to be fed.

  “Go way! You makin too much noise!” Daylily whispered. “We ain’t got no food for you. You give us away! Go head on!” she whispered again urgently, pushing the cat with her foot.

  The meows of the gray cat cut into the air. For a minute Luke’s heart failed him. He was sure if anybody was there, they’d come out to see what was wrong with that fool cat, and they would all be shot for being spies, or at least sent back to Massa Higsaw’s and Massa Riverson’s. But then the cat stopped, and he saw why. Daylily was feeding it her corn bread to keep her quiet.

  “This ain’t no time to get cold feet,” Luke whispered, mostly to himself. “We done decided back at the house. Come on, let’s see is she in these sheds over yonder. She could be anywhere. They could have taken her away by now.”

  It didn’t look like there was a soul on the place. It was deathly still. Over near a big tree in a field next to the house was the wagon Caswell had tried to get into, and a horse was hooked up to it. The horse was tied to the tree. Tall yellow grass and lots of weeds grew all around the house.

  Caswell was sure he had seen two horses when he arrived with Betty, but there were no other animals in sight. Unless the second one was in the ramshackle barn. There was a path worn from the house to the barn.

  Maybe they had already taken Betty and killed her was the thought on all their minds. Somewhere a woodpecker was making a hole in a tree, and locusts buzzed. A creaky sound was coming from one of the small outbuildings like a door loose on its hinges.

  “Wait, shh,” Luke warned. “What’s that?” Then he saw the door moving gently in the breeze. He tiptoed up to the shed and looked in. “Unless they’s hidin in the house, don’t look like nobody here,” he said. “Not a soul. All I saw was lots of spiderwebs.”

  “But that’s where they took her!” Caswell whispered.

  “Well, she ain’t here no more,” said Luke.

  Then he really heard something. Someone or something had fallen inside the shack of a house.

  Daylily heard it too. She gasped and looked at Luke as if to warn him. They heard a man swear. He sounded angry. But was Betty in there? There was only one thing to do. Someone had to look inside the house. Caswell whispered, “But they took her over there.”

  “Caswell, hush,” Luke said under his breath. “Y’all, if we gets caught, let me do the talking I’ll say we was just on our way home, and stopped to see if we could have a drink of water.” Luke raised his hand and motioned for the younger ones to stay put. Tiptoeing over to the window, he peeked inside and quickly hunched down, so as not to be seen, moving backward toward Daylily and Caswell.

  He shook his head as if to say she wasn’t there and pointed toward the other shed. It was about twenty yards away across a clearing.

  “Maybe she in that one,” whispered Luke. “Come on, y’all.” When they started toward the second outbuilding, Luke kept looking back at the house, praying the man inside would stay there. This shed was closed up tight. Unlike the other one, there were no loose doors here, and no windows. Luke got all the way up to the door and stood there, listening.

  “Go on, Luke, open it!” Caswell whispered.

  “Shh, somethin’s in here.” Luke put his eye up to a crack in the wall.

  “Let me see!” Caswell said. Luke motioned to Caswell to be silent, putting his own finger up to his mouth. “Can’t see nothin, too dark. Have to open the door.” He cracked the door, poised to run if necessary. And then they all let out a whoop, clapping their hands over their mouths when they remembered they had company. There she was, all tied up. Lying on the floor with a rag in her mouth. Betty’s eyes were wide with surprise when she saw them. Luke loosened the gag and Betty couldn’t help grinning, even though her mouth was swollen and black and blue.

  “Shh, be quiet now,” she warned, “and for God’s sake, y’all young’uns get me loose!”

  Daylily was so glad to see Betty, she almost cried. Caswell was hanging on her neck, and Luke was trying to untie the knots.

  “Had me hog-tied!” she whispered, “but you young’uns is here!” Her legs were numb and sore, and she rubbed them fast. “I ain’t never been so glad to see somebody in my whole life!”

  “Hush, y’all!” warned Luke. “That man gonna hear us!”

  “How many of em are in the house, Luke?” Betty loosened the last of the knots herself. She gave them all a hurried hug.

  “Just one that I saw, Betty.”

  “That don mean nothing,” she whispered. “Could be more. Drunken trash they was. We got to get out of here.”

  Betty cracked the door of the shed and motioned silently for them to follow. Just as they got all the way outside, the man in the house came down the steps and into the yard. They all stopped breathing.

  But he didn’t see them. He was on his way to the outhouse that was on the other side of the shack, and he was fumbling with his overalls. As soon as he had stumbled into the outhouse, Betty said, “Get in the wagon yonder, quick!”

  Luke lifted Caswell into the wagon, Daylily scrambled on, and Betty got the horse loose. She leapt into the front seat and flicked the reins hard.

  “Giddup!” she said sharply, and they took off flying down the road, faster than lightning. Nobody looked back. They all heard him cussing and shouting at them. Luckily he hadn’t take
n his gun with him to the outhouse.

  CHAPTER 24

  SMALLPOX

  Back on her land, Betty worked quickly. She turned the wagon around and slapped the horse’s haunches. He started off down the road as she hoped he would, and she prayed he’d make his way home so they wouldn’t come looking for their horse. She had seriously wounded a man, and now she would be called a horse thief, an occupation not too uncommon in the war. If she got caught as a spy now, she’d be hanged for sure. Still she couldn’t help smiling. Don’t that just beat all, she thought. Caswell got through! She couldn’t believe it; she had to laugh. The little pathfinder made his way back!

  “I would have been a dead duck!” she said to the children. “Because I was supposed to meet someone else. They were the wrong men.”

  She couldn’t take any chances. She thought about those guns and the other “stolen” goods from Union and Confederate sides both. There was no way she could get rid of the evidence fast enough.

  As they approached her house, she motioned to all the children to stay back. No need for all of them to get hurt. “Listen,” she whispered, “if anybody in the house, run and hide. Don’t try to get help. Betty Strong Foot be OK. Hide till you see them leave, then come home, get food, and go north to Harper’s Ferry. Understand? Stay here and watch. Betty Strong Foot be OK.”

  Luke looked at the others. They didn’t ask any questions. They all knew this was serious business.

  She picked up the largest stick she could find. She usually wore a knife under her blouse, but they had taken it away after she’d stabbed that man.

  She slowly pushed the door with the stick. It opened silently. Once into the cabin, she could see every corner. She checked behind all the big boxes, and anywhere a person could fit. Something was off. There was a jar of her best homemade blackberry wine on the table. And she could smell it—the scent of something foreign invading her space. “Nobody here,” she told them, and put her fingers to her mouth to signal that they should be quiet.