Dorothy Garlock - [Wabash River]

by River of Tomorrow

  “This is Mr. Levi Coffin,” Daniel said. “Miss Mercy Quill, sir.”

  “Farrway Quill’s daughter?” The sharp eyes bored into Mercy’s.

  “Foster daughter,” Mercy replied evenly. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Coffin. Do you know my father?”

  “I’ve not had the pleasure, but I’m hoping to in the near future.”

  “We need your help, Mercy.” Since Mercy’s head came to a little above Daniel’s shoulder, she had to tilt her head to look up at him. “Mr. Coffin has been honest with me. The woman is a runaway slave. He’s trying to get her up into the Iowa Territory. Her man is there working in the lead mines. She’s been whipped, and her back’s a mass of welts. I didn’t want to get you involved in this, but we need to get her into good enough shape so that she can travel tomorrow.”

  Mercy turned sympathetically to the thin black girl hunched on the bench. She had not taken her eyes from Levi Coffin’s face. She looked at him as if he were her savior. The babe in her arms was wrapped in a piece of dirty blanket, and from the odor she could tell the child had messed and the mother had been unable to clean it. Its little head seemed too heavy for its neck, and Mercy could see the veins throbbing in its temples. The tall, hawk-faced man was silent. He watched Mercy closely to gauge her reactions.

  “What do you want me to do?” Mercy asked in breathless pity for the poor creature huddled before her.

  “Tend to her back and do what you can for the baby. She doesn’t have enough milk for it. There’s something else. The man she ran from, the one that whipped her and is after her, is Hammond Perry.”

  Mercy looked up at Daniel quickly. “Hammond Perry? Papa’s old enemy?”

  “The same. He’d like nothing better than to find her here. He could accuse Farr of hiding a runaway slave before the state legislature to try to ruin him.”

  “Papa wouldn’t turn her away because he was afraid of that!” Mercy said angrily. “You know how Papa feels about slavery.”

  “I know. And I know how he feels about Hammond Perry, and Perry about him. Perry hasn’t forgotten that he tried to get Papa hung for treason twenty years ago, failed, and lost face with old Zachary Taylor.”

  “The last we heard, Hammond Perry was in the keelboat business over at Kaskaskia.”

  “He’s in the slave-breeding business now, miss,” the Quaker said, his voice stiff with indignation. “He and a fellow named John Crenshaw have leased the salt lands down near Shawneetown. They rent slaves from across the line to labor in the mines. Ah, miss, those slaves belong to landowners who rent them out in the winter months when crops have been harvested. That way the owners can keep from feeding them in the slack season. Crenshaw and Perry hope to develop a breed of Negroes of exceptional strength to stand the arduous labor in the mines.”

  “That’s the most horrible thing I ever heard!” Mercy gasped.

  “I agree. They have a system of selling the offspring as soon as they are weaned. This woman refused to be put to another man when her child reached the age of two months. She was beaten unmercifully. I don’t know how she managed to get to Evansville, but she did. A friend of mine found her there. She was heading up the Ohio, going in the wrong direction.”

  “Good heavens!” Mercy exclaimed. “Oh, you poor thing.” She went to the woman who cringed away from her. “Don’t be afraid. Let me help you. Let me take your baby. I will clean it and feed it.” Mercy held out her arms. The woman’s frightened eyes continued to remain on Levi Coffin.

  “She’s a kind lady, Dovie.” Levi Coffin’s voice was deep, as if he used it a lot, and it was gentle when he spoke to the woman. “Let her take the babe. It must be cared for, or it will die.”

  The dark eyes moved down to Mercy’s face. In their depths was such a helpless, hopeless look that it tore at Mercy’s heart. Mercy’s hands slid beneath the blanket, and she lifted the baby up into her arms. It scarcely weighed more than a kitten. She cuddled the child to her while the mother watched anxiously. The baby let out a soft mewing sound of protest at being moved, but Mercy swung her arms from side to side in a rocking motion and crooned to it.

  “Hush, baby. Oh, you poor little thing! We’ll clean you, and soon you’ll feel better.”

  Mercy looked up to find Daniel watching her. Her eyes held his for a long while. A bond existed between her and this big, quiet man. It had always been there, but somehow it was different now—stronger and warmer. The Quills had always acted as a buffer between them. Now it was just the two of them. Daniel was depending on her that day, as she had depended on him the night before.

  “What do you need, Mercy?” Daniel’s voice came from close behind her, and she felt his hand on her back.

  “I need milk and pap for this baby, and good solid food for the mother so she can nurse it. I want a clean, warm dress, a petticoat, and a shawl for her. Go to my room and get the heavy, dark brown dress hanging beside a blue one. There’s a dark shawl there too. And . . . find something for her feet. Get two warm blankets from the store and a tin of salve. There’s some clean rags in the kitchen we can use on the baby’s bottom. And . . . I want a big hunk of meat put on to cook in that iron kettle of Mike’s right away. I need those things now, Daniel! What are you waiting for?”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Daniel’s face broke into one of his rare, brilliant smiles. “I’ll swear, Mercy, you get to be more like your mamma every day.”

  * * *

  Levi Coffin and Daniel set on kegs in the storage room behind the store, and Levi told Daniel how an abolitionist friend of his had found the girl, Dovie, under a turned-over boat in Evansville, half starved and shaking with fever. They had taken care of her the best they could, then turned her over to Levi. He had brought her, covered with carpet samples, to Quill’s Station in the back of his wagon.

  As a devout Quaker, Levi hated slavery in spite of his Southern birth and upbringing. Raised on a farm in South Carolina with little opportunity for formal education, he nevertheless had become a teacher. He had opened a Sunday school for slaves in South Carolina. His school was soon closed, however, when masters forbade their slaves’ attendance.

  He told Daniel how he had followed the kidnapers of a free Negro woman, employed by his family, halfway across the state of Pennsylvania. During that ride the horror of slavery had grown so intense that he seemed to hear a voice telling him that he must devote his life to the persecuted and enslaved.

  When he moved to Newport, Indiana, Levi said, he discovered he was on a route of the Underground Railway by which fugitive slaves made their way from the South to Northern Territories and Canada. Coffin had made his home into a depot, and he used much of the money he earned as a merchant to hide and convey “passengers” on their northern journey. He had come to Quill’s Station to plead for yet another depot for his Underground Railway.

  “I’m only part owner of the mill, Levi. And the store here is owned by Mike and my foster father, Farrway Quill. I do, however, have a place about a mile north on the river road. To my way of thinking, it would be more suitable for a depot than here in town.”

  “Praise the Lord!”

  “I send out a freight wagon every few weeks. We go north to Vincennes and northwest to Springfield.”

  “I’ll give thee a list of contacts that can be made along the way. Thee realize what will happen if thee should be caught?”

  “I’d lose my farm, my mill. What are those things, compared to a man’s life? With the help of George Washington, Turley and I have passed a few men through here.” Daniel paused when the Quaker gave him a startled look. “Yes, that’s the name of a man who works for me at the mill. His father was a Negro, his mother a Shawnee. The father named himself Mr. Washington because he admired the man. His son’s name is George. He’s a loyal employee and a good friend.”

  “That’s the lad that met me at the mill?”

  “Did he give you any lip?” Daniel was smiling.

  “None. So this is the place that’s called Sugar Tree.
I’ve heard of thee.”

  Daniel laughed. “I hope that not too many more have heard what we do here. George finds people, or people find George. I haven’t discovered which. Sugar Tree was George’s mother’s name. We use it as a password.”

  “Many people have heard about Sugar Tree, but they don’t know where it is.”

  “Let’s hope it stays that way. I’m not at liberty to leave here at this time, so I’ll send Turley Blaine, a completely reliable man, north to Springfield with the woman and child as soon as she’s able to travel.”

  The Quaker lifted his quiet face to the ceiling and clasped his hands in front of him. “Thank thee, God!”

  * * *

  After Dovie’s back had been washed with vinegar water and coated with healing salve, she put on Mercy’s dress. Before Mercy diapered the baby, she covered his little bottom, chapped and covered with sores, with the same salve she had used on his mother’s back. Now, his little stomach full of milk and pap, he lay sleeping on Mike’s bed.

  The black woman dozed beside the fire after Mercy forced her to drink a hot rum toddy. Mercy looked at her. Even in her sleep her hands twitched nervously, and periodically her eyelids flew open. How terrible it must be to be a slave at the beck and call of a master like Hammond Perry. The woman had been given a terrible beating, but whoever had whipped her had made sure the scars were on her back, where they wouldn’t be seen when she was put on the auction block.

  She had been separated from the man she considered her husband after she became pregnant. The father of her child had been too “willful” and had been sold to another master, but he had managed to escape and had sent word back to Dovie to tell her where he was. All of this was told them by Mr. Coffin. Dovie was still too weary and too scared to talk.

  Mercy stirred the kettle of cubed meat she had cooking on the stove. Her own troubles seemed as nothing compared to those of this poor creature. When the meat was tender, Mercy stirred up a batch of dumplings and dropped the dough by the spoonfuls into the hot broth. The meat and dumplings would make a nourishing meal for the black woman.

  They heard a soft knock on the door. The woman jumped to her feet and looked wildly around for her child. She grabbed him up from the bed into her arms and cowered back against the wall. The door opened, and Daniel and Levi Coffin came in.

  “It’s all right, Dovie,” Levi said. “Put the baby down and sit down. You’re safe here.”

  The woman’s shoulders slumped in relief. Placing the baby back on the bed, she sat poised on the edge beside him. Daniel held out a pair of moccasins he had found in the storage room. Dovie looked at them but didn’t make a move to take them from his hand. Finally Levi took them out of Daniel’s hand and placed them in hers. She looked at the moccasins and then up into Daniel’s face. He smiled and pointed to her feet. Continuing to look at him with puzzlement in her eyes, she hugged the warm shoes to her breast.

  She doesn’t know how to respond to kindness, Mercy thought sadly. She went to Dovie, knelt down, gently took one of the moccasins from her hand, and put it on her foot. She tied it, then looked up into the woman’s puzzled face and smiled.

  “They fit just fine, and they’ll be warm too.” She stood and looked first at Daniel, then back at the woman. “Where did you find them?”

  Daniel grinned. “In the storage room. I think they’re Mike’s. Yours were not near big enough, and mine were too big.”

  “You’d better tell him he’s missing a pair of shoes.” Mercy tossed a saucy grin over her shoulder and went to move the teakettle to the back of the stove.

  “We’ve got to be going.” Daniel had followed her, and now stood behind her, speaking in low tones. “It’s still light enough for Granny Halpen to see us leave. We don’t want her thinking you spent the night here with Mike, and she’s sure to think that, if we don’t leave soon.”

  “You’d rather she think I spent the night with you?”

  “Why, sure,” Daniel said in a teasing tone. “Unless you want her to think you have two lovers instead of one.”

  “Daniel! You’re being ridiculous.” She looked at him over her shoulder with blue eyes that came alight with sparkles. A small giggle bubbled from her lips.

  “Yes, but it made you laugh. Get your shawl. Mike and Levi can take care of things here.”

  “But what about getting Dovie and the baby away from here? Hammond Perry is sure to show up sooner or later.”

  “Don’t worry about it. The arrangements are made.”

  Mercy tied her scarf over her head. She leaned over the bed to stroke the baby’s satin ebony cheek with her fingertips and rubbed his woolly head.

  “’Bye, little boy,” she whispered. “Oh, I hope that when you grow up, you can be free and happy.” She straightened and placed her hand on Dovie’s shoulder. “Good luck to you, Dovie. I think your baby will be all right now. I pray you find your husband and that he’s all right.”

  The Negro woman fell to her knees, and being careful not to touch Mercy, kissed the hem of her dress. Tears sprang into Mercy’s eyes.

  “Oh, no! You needn’t do that.”

  Mercy reached down and lifted the woman to her feet. They were almost the same height and age. Tears rolled down Dovie’s smooth, dark cheeks. This was the first time Mercy had seen her cry. Not even when her back was treated, did she cry out or shed a tear.

  Except for the grace of God, Mercy thought, her throat clogged with tears, this could be me standing here, black-skinned and enslaved like an animal.

  “Missy . . . Missy?”

  “It’s all right. It’s all right,” Mercy crooned to the black girl. “I know you want to thank me, but thanks aren’t necessary. I wish I could do more. Just take care of yourself and your baby.”

  Mercy grabbed up her shawl and, almost blinded with tears, went to the door. Daniel followed, closing the door behind him. He waited a moment for her to dry her eyes, then took her elbow and urged her toward the front of the store.

  “Shhh . . .” he said softly to Mercy before he spoke to Mike. “We’re going, Mike. Turley will be here early in the morning. I told him to pull up out back and load up some hides we’re sending along with the flour up to Springfield. It looks like rain, so make sure his cover is on good and tight. Oh, hello, Samuel. I didn’t see you there.”

  “Howdy, Daniel. Howdy, Miss Mercy.”

  “Hello, Mr. Brown.”

  “Let me help you load up, Samuel.” The elderly man was straining to lift a heavy sack. Daniel swung it easily to his shoulder.

  “Mercy.” Mike came from behind the counter as soon as the men were out the door. He came close and spoke in low tones. “I hate it that you got mixed up in . . . this.”

  “Why? I’m a grown woman. You and Daniel don’t have to shield me from unpleasant things. That poor woman was so pitiful.”

  “Don’t worry about her. Coffin and I will take care of her. There’s something else. There’s talk about Daniel’s staying at the house last night. If you don’t want to stay alone, go down to Granny Halpen’s.”

  “Granny Halpen? That old gossip? Oh, no! I couldn’t stay with Granny Halpen! How could anyone think . . . dirty thoughts about me and Daniel? He’s like a brother to me, even if we’re not blood kin.”

  “I know that. It’s you I’m thinking about. Mary Knibee is a spiteful little baggage, and she’s spreading around all sorts of things about you and Daniel.”

  “What can she say that will hurt me and Daniel?”

  “She’s talking about the two men who came to the school and called you Hester.”

  His words brought back the living horror still facing her. The needs of Dovie and the baby had pushed her problem to the back of her mind for a short while. She started to turn away from Mike.

  “What is it?” He placed his hands on her shoulders and turned her back to face him. “What’s happened to make you look so frightened? Goddammit! If they hurt you—”

  “They didn’t hurt me.” Mercy placed her ha
nd on his arm and looked into his worried face. “They didn’t hurt me,” she repeated.

  Daniel paused in the doorway when he saw Mercy and Mike standing close together; Mike’s brow beetled, Mercy looking anxiously up at him. Something uncomfortable happened to Daniel’s heart—something that would not have happened at this time last week. He stood there thinking, wondering if Mercy had feelings other than brotherly ones, for Mike? The thought caused the muscles in his stomach to jump and his heart to ache beneath his ribs.

  “Let’s go, Mercy.”

  Mike walked with her toward the door. “Is it still raining?” she asked.

  “No. It’s stopped. See you tomorrow, Mike.” Daniel gripped Mercy’s elbow and ushered her out into the early night.

  “Coming back?” Mike followed them out onto the porch.

  “No. I’m staying at the house tonight. I’ll be by in the morning.”

  “Dan, do you think that’s wise? There’s already talk going around.”

  “Talk? Talk about me staying at the Quill house?” Daniel spat out the words angrily.

  “Yes. About you . . . staying last night.”

  “I’m staying again tonight, so they’ll have twice as much to talk about, won’t they? Does my spending the night in the house with Mercy bother you, Mike?”

  “You know better than that.”

  “Then say whatever it is that’s bothering you, so we can get going before it starts raining again.”

  “What’s got into you, for God’s sake? Stop trying to cut me down! I’m thinking about what the talk will do to Mercy, and so should you.”

  “Don’t worry, Mike.” Mercy looked pleadingly from one man to the other.