by Vicky Saari
*****
Dave had reached a point in rebuilding Hogarth’s tower where he could relax and look around. He watched George and Charlie putting their finishing touches on the roof and was surprised to find them both to be highly skilled carpenters despite his original impressions. He could see that they were waiting for him to complete the tower so that they could complete the roof and install the flashings at the point where the house and tower came together. As he walked to his truck to get his lunch box, George and Charlie were descending the ladder and were about to join him.
“What was it you were saying to me, one day, about this old place being haunted?” Dave asked Charlie.
George rolled his eyes and admonished, “Don’t get him started on that!”
Charlie gave his brother a dirty look and took Dave on a tour of the house. He began telling him about his misadventures when they first began working. Dave wasn’t sure whether to believe all he was told, but he did remember the days loose stones had fallen, and he saw Charlie hanging from the rafters. Although he didn’t believe in such things, he did wonder …
“Did you ever figure out where the water was coming from?” Dave asked as he studied the spot on the floor at the foot of the stairs and then looked up to the dry ceiling.
“Mrs. Parson said her daughter called them Hogarth’s tears,” spoke Charlie tentatively.
Fully aware of his surrounding, Hogarth unashamedly eavesdropped on the men’s conversation. He smiled at the thoughts of Baby Alice and his tears. Unbeknownst to the two men, another droplet fell to the floor behind them.
Chapter 15
Instead of going home, Martha decided that she wanted to go to the store first. She was still a little weak and shaky, but she wanted to look things over before she left. One thing for certain was that she was going to start stocking that bicarbonate that Minnie had brought in that seemed to have helped with the sickness. She was busy making out a list of new supplies she wanted for the store when a lone traveler happened in. She had been so engrossed in her list making that she hadn’t heard the bell over the door as it opened and was somewhat surprised when she rose up to find a man standing near the counter. “Oh my, you startled me. I didn’t hear you come in,” she flustered and attempted to push her hair back under her bonnet.
“I’m sorry, ma’am, I wuz just passin’ through on my way back toward Evansville and thought I’d stop in and look your place over.” The well-dressed stranger tipped his hat and then removed it. “Sorry, ma’am, guess I’m forgettin’ my manners. Nice little store you got here. What happened to the young man who used to run the place?” he asked.
“Oh, that was my husband’s nephew. He’s married to my husband’s niece. Her ma died in Louisville, and they went back home to help look after her pa. Is there somethin’ I can help you with?” she questioned.
“Not really. I come through here every once in a while on business, and I always liked to stop and visit with Jacob. He seemed like a right nice young man,” he said with a smile.
“You are right about that. Jacob is a fine man. He helped Jed Hogarth build this road out here that you’re travelin’ on right now. That’s how Jacob and his wife came to be here,” she bragged. “We’re sure gonna miss him and Priscilla.” She then introduced herself as the newest owner.
“Well, that’s right nice to know. You don’t get to see many lady storekeepers out here. When I was in the old village, they wuz tellin’ me about the sheriff roundin’ up a couple of slave hunters; they said they found ’em right here in Sethsburg.” He studied her carefully. “You ain’t seen nothin’ of the slave they wuz a lookin’ fer, have ye?”
Martha froze at the man’s words, and it took her a few seconds to recover her composure enough to answer. “You know we don’t have slaves in Indiana,” she retorted. “That’s why my husband and I left Kentucky. We didn’t want slaves!”
“Well now, ma’am, that’s not the question I wuz askin’. I asked if you had seen the runaway that those two men wuz lookin’ fer?” the stranger leaned closer and looked her straight in the eye. “You know there’s a $500 fine for anyone caught helpin’ a runaway.”
Martha stared back at the man as the anger worked its way up her body and into her hands. She caught hold of a pottery jar of canned peaches and flung them at the man before she was even aware of what she’d done. “Mister, we don’t have no slaves here, and we don’t want no slaves, do ya hear?”
Fortunately, the stranger had seen what was coming and had deflected the flying jar before it hit him, and it shattered at his feet. He stepped away from the crockery, and a puddle of fruit and syrup was oozing across the floor. He replaced his hat and was almost out the door when he turned and said, “You know, there’s a $1,000 reward out for that runaway.”
*****
Hogarth cringed at the memory of Martha’s story. It still frightened him to think that George’s presence had brought so much danger to his families. This turned his thoughts to the story of Seth and Luke’s trip to Madison.
******
“So you still want to work on a riverboat?” Seth asked Luke as they rode back from Madison. They had been gone nearly two weeks, and both were eager to get home. Fortunately, they had managed to sell Jed’s coal and get enough freight to haul home to help pay for the trip. “Those steam engines they’re puttin’ on ’em are awful new. No tellin’ how long they’re gonna last.”
Luke rolled his eyes at his father’s skepticism. He suspected his pa didn’t really believe what he’d said. He was more into pulling his son’s leg. He firmly believed that the steamboat was the future for river traffic. “I heard the men talking in Madison about a steam railroad they were building between Madison and Indianapolis,” he rejoined. “They say these steam locomotives are gonna be the end of teamsters.”
It was Seth’s turn to roll his eyes and laugh at what his son had said. In truth, both father and son had been impressed with all the excitement they had encountered in Madison. Everywhere they went there was talk in the air of all the new improvements being made throughout Indiana. There was even talk of a canal connecting Richmond to the Ohio River and another up north connecting the Wabash to the St. Joseph River in Fort Wayne. “Do you think they’ll ever get that new road built from Madison to Michigan?” Luke asked his pa.
“They say they plan to make that canal go all the way north and connect to the traffic on Lake Erie,” Seth stated matter-of-factly. “It all kind of reminds me of the excitement that was going on when your ma and I first moved to Indiana. It was a lot of the same kind of excitement that convinced me that Sethsburg was the way of the future,” he added thoughtfully. “I gather the Erie Canal in New York and the Ohio Canal are bringing new life to parts of the country that once had little hope for a future. There’s a lot more money in the East than we have out here. If we had that kind of money and access to those kinds of resources, we could do a lot more. There’re also a lot of cheaper lands farther west, and most people seem to be going there. You see them everyday passin’ through our town to settle somewhere else.”
Luke pondered his father’s words for a few moments. He couldn’t help but detect a hint of disappointment in his pa’s voice and decided it was time to change the subject. “Did you find out anything about what to do about that darkie at the Hogarths’?” he asked,
Stunned by this new line of questioning, Seth had to think for a moment before he could speak. “What are you talking about?” He feigned ignorance.
Luke laughed openly at his pa’s clumsy attempt to lie. “Pa, I ain’t dumb. I heard you and Ma talking when you were coming back from the Hogarths’ that night before we left. Then those slave hunters show up, and you had the sheriff waitin’ for ’em. The next day you suddenly had to make a trip to Madison.”
Seth was impressed with his son’s astute observations. “You don’t miss anything, do you?” he sa
id with a grin. “The worst part is that I didn’t learn a thing. Every time I tried to ask someone, they just clammed up or denied such things existed. After the first couple of tries, I decided I’d better give it up, or I was gonna rouse up a lot of curiosity.”
“I gather helpin’ slaves escape is a pretty dangerous business,” Luke said quietly. “It’s almost like a secret society.”
Seth cocked one eye at his son and asked, “How do you know so much?”
Luke grinned sheepishly and finally responded, “People don’t always pay much attention to a kid when they’re talkin’, and I like to listen when I can.”
Seth sat quietly and waited for his son to continue. “They say that since England has abolished slavery in Canada, there’s a bunch of people who are startin’ to help runaway slaves get north to freedom. Nobody seems to know much except where to send them to next. I even heard that some people are buildin’ hidden rooms in their houses so the slaves can have a safe place to hide, especially in daytime. Then they can travel or be transported safely to the next stop at night.”
“What do you mean, transported?” asked Seth.
“Well, I’m not really sure, but I did hear somethin’ about wagons that have false bottoms and hidin’ them under hay or whatever freight they might be carryin’.”
“How do you get in touch with these people?” Seth asked.
“I didn’t figure that out, but I did hear someone say somethin’ about checkin’ out someone. I gather there’s a lot of Quakers involved in the business, since most of those I heard were talkin’ funny and wearin’ the clothes. It sounded like you don’t find them; they’ll find you,” Luke summed up his story. “You never know; since you were heard askin’ questions, they may be checkin’ you out right now.”
This thought made Seth squirm a bit in his seat. “Now where wuz you when all this talkin’ was goin’ on?”
Luke looked at his dad and grinned. “In the outhouse!”
Seth laughed aloud for the first time that day and sped up his horse in his hurry to get home. “I’m gonna stop in the village and unload this stuff at Smallwood’s store and check with the sheriff about those two bounty hunters they locked up.”
As Seth neared the old village, work was well under way at the Hogarth homestead. Jessie still felt weak, but she was impressed by how well her daughter had kept things going at home. At sixteen, she was more than able to step in and fill her ma’s shoes, Jessie thought. Not only had she finished her ma’s baking for the week, she’d done the churning and had already planted most of her ma’s kitchen garden. From what Moses said, she had plenty of help from Jed’s kids. They had spent most of the time at their grandma’s while their mom recuperated and adjusted to the newest babe in the house. She was pleased with Moses’s recovery and was surprised when he went with Caleb out to the fields. Apparently, Moses had given Caleb some new ideas to try with his metal plow since Zeke had made the repairs on his forge. From what she could see from her stroll around the house, the two men had made great progress with the fields. As proud as she was of everyone, she was a little disappointed to think they had done so well in her absence. She poured herself another cup of chicory and carried it into her round room to work on her compounds and ointments. She had a stack of orders waiting, so she sat down to plan out the rest of her day.
******
Hogarth turned from his past just long enough to check on his present. From what he could tell, Charlie and George had done a pretty good job of putting him back together. Overhead, the stars were shining brightly, and his eyes were drawn to the North Star, and he wondered if Moses had ever gotten there. With this thought in mind, he turned back to his past. He wished the tragedies were over.
Chapter 16
At the Bascom household, Minnie hauled herself from her bed, where she had landed after breakfast. She hurried to the outhouse but was upset that she had messed herself before she got there. Her stomach was cramping, and she could feel her fever rising. “Oh Lord, please don’t let this be happening to me,” she prayed beneath her breath. It was her last thought. Midafternoon, Job found his mother lying unconscious on the path to the outhouse and carried her back to bed. Not knowing what else to do, he ran toward the Hogarths’ in search of Jessie without knowing and not really caring where his pa was.
Opal had not been sober since Minnie had left to care for the sick in Sethsburg. His tannery business had all but dried up. With so many people moving west, business had almost died with them. Most of what little leather he made, he sold to the Pritchetts for shoes and harnesses. Opal had spent the morning working in the vats and was trying to catch up when he saw his son run from the house toward the Hogarths’. It was well past lunchtime, and he hadn’t heard a word from Minnie. He poured himself another drink from his newest batch of moonshine and decided to take his first break of the day when he started toward the house, taking the jug with him.
All the way to the house, he began recounting his miseries and trials, so that by the time he stepped across the threshold, he had worked up a full head of steam. The fire was nearly out, there was no food on the table, and there was his squaw lying in the bed, still wearing her nightclothes. “What in tarnation is goin’ on?” he demanded. When Minnie didn’t respond, he completely lost his head and smashed the jug of liquor against the small cast-iron cookstove he’d bought for his wife all those years ago. The alcohol in the jug was full strength, and there was just enough of a fire in the stove to ignite the liquid as it seeped across the floor and under Minnie’s bed. The fire spread quickly, and the dry, unpainted lumber ignited almost instantly. Opal, in his drunken state, was unaware of what was happening around him. Instead, he sat down and began to cry until the smoke had overcome him.
Jonathan Pritchett was the first to see the smoke coming from the Bascoms’. At first, he thought it might be a brushfire but decided he should check on it anyway. By the time he reached the house, it was fully engulfed in flames. Immediately, he began drawing water from the Bascoms’ well and did all he could to keep the fire from spreading to the other buildings. Meanwhile, the smoke from the fire could be seen from Sethsburg. Soon, Zeke Hogarth, and John Bascom were there to help. John was in a state of shock when his brother finally arrived trailed by Jed, Caleb, and Jessie, who were in the wagon. For Minnie and Opal, they were all too late. John and Job stared at the remains of their family home and wept uncontrollably for the mother and father they had just lost. Jonathan Pritchett stood and stared at the cabin where he’d found a future for himself. Opal had given him his start, and he felt he owed the man much. As the lay preacher studied the two young men he had helped raise and looked toward the dying embers of their home, he thought about the “still” their father had built, and a rage rose up in him like never before. Without speaking, he stalked toward the shed, grabbed an ax, went around to Opal’s still, and began to dismantle it with a few mighty blows.
For a man who was never heard to speak out in anger, the scene before the Bascoms and Hogarths was breathtaking. Pritchett’s son reached the gathering just as his father took his last swing, and a cheer rose up in response. The Pritchetts promised Caleb and Jessie that they would stay with the Bascom boys until the fire had died down. With that thought, Caleb and Jed turned toward home with a pale and wan Jessie. “Pa, I think I got enough lumber already cut to make a couple of caskets,” Jed said softly in his pa’s ear. “I know Sarah would want Minnie up there with Brad and the others.”
The Old Village was Seth’s last stop before going home. He was looking forward to unloading and getting back on the road. He and Luke were just debating whether they should wait until morning to make the trip when Mr. Smallwood came out to greet them. He had hired a couple of men from town to help unload the wagon and asked Seth how things were at home. Surprised by the tone of Smallwood’s voice, Seth asked what he meant. It was then that Seth learned of the sickness in Sethsburg and that i
t had taken the lives of several people. Smallwood wasn’t sure who it was, but he had heard that one of Seth’s drivers had died along the road before he got home. Seth was so upset by this news that he almost forgot about his other business in the village.
“What about those bounty hunters?” he asked offhandedly as he climbed back onto his wagon. “The sheriff still got them locked up?”
“That’s another problem. Aside from them two yelpin’ and carryin’ on, the sheriff says he’s havin’ trouble keepin’ ’em locked up. Seems there’s not enough evidence to hold them, and a lot of people are up in arms over lettin’ a slave get away. Guess there’s a big bounty out on this guy,” Smallwood concluded. “There’s a lot of talk about huntin’ him up, ’specially among the menfolk.”
Luke listened carefully to this conversation but didn’t say much until they were out on the old state road. “You know those black rocks that we just sold? The ones that Zeke’s been usin’ in his forge?” he asked his pa. “He says they’re better than wood charcoal.”
