The Fiddler's Secret

by Lois Walfrid Johnson

  In that moment Libby guessed why Caleb stood quietly and what the whistled signal meant. Waiting in the darkness, she did not move. Once, she heard the scrape of gravel as if someone wore boots. Jordan?

  Then she remembered. Bare feet move without a sound.

  Within a few minutes, Libby heard the call of a bird. Again Caleb turned around, this time facing the business area of Galena, and Libby knew she had recognized another signal. Walking together, she and Caleb hurried up a short flight of steps. At the top was a large building with a sign that read Union House.

  Two large porches stretched across the front of the hotel, one on the ground floor and the other on the second. As she and Caleb drew close, Libby saw a man drop onto his knees and crawl under the lower porch.

  Caleb stopped. Looked. Listened. Turned to the back side of the hotel. There Caleb and Libby met Jordan. Even in the shadows, Libby could see the laughter in his face.

  “Remember what Riggs told me?” Jordan asked. “That a slave had never escaped from him alive?”

  Libby remembered all right. The thought of it still filled her with dread.

  But Jordan wiggled his shoulders with glee. “Those men you saw? They came from near where I used to live! Riggs bought them. When they heard I escaped, they thought, ‘We is gettin’ away too!’ All this time they’ve been figuring out how to do it!”

  Caleb’s soft laugh filled the darkness. “So you were the beginning! The first to escape. The one to lead the rest.”

  Jordan clapped Caleb’s shoulder. “Thanks for everything, my friend! Thanks for helping me become a conductor. I need to leave you now.”

  Libby and Caleb were partway back to the river when he laughed again, then whispered, “It’s more than leading his family now. Jordan will be one of the best conductors in the Underground Railroad!”

  “Where will he take them?”

  Caleb’s grin stretched from ear to ear. “To his family, I expect, until it’s safe to send them on to Freeport. Wait till Riggs gets home and hears about all the money he’s lost. Some sort of justice to that, don’t you think?”

  As they drew close to the Christina, Riggs tore across the front deck. His face red with anger, he looked in every direction.

  “He doesn’t dare come down here in the darkness,” Caleb whispered. “He’s afraid to walk between the freight.” Finally Riggs whirled around and stalked back up the steps to the main cabin.

  When Libby reached the gangplank, she met Pa and Aunt Vi coming down. By now deckhands had set Vi’s big trunk and her many pieces of baggage on the levee. Libby was amazed that her aunt had actually gathered everything together in two hours. She must have been so mad that she just threw it all in!

  Libby held back a giggle. Carefully she made her face straight and stood next to Pa as he said goodbye.

  He was quietly polite to Aunt Vi. “Thank you for all you’ve done for Libby in the past.”

  Libby took her lead from him. “You’ve taught me to enjoy music, to be an artist,” she said as she reached up to hug her aunt.

  Vi felt stiff and did not put her arms around her. Then Libby remembered. She doesn’t like hugs in public. I embarrassed her again.

  “I’ve asked a man to see you safely on your way,” Pa said. “I wish you and Alex well.”

  As though with the greatest effort, Vi offered her hand. “And you and Libby also.” From looking at her, no one would know that anything was wrong.

  Pa waited long enough for Vi and her baggage to be taken away. Then he spoke to Libby. “I see a captain I trust. If he’s going upriver, I’ll give him my letter for Annika. I’ll ask him to personally take care of it.”

  When Pa came back, he told Libby the good news. His friend was headed for St. Paul. Within a few days Annika would receive the letter. Everything would be straightened out.

  After breakfast the next morning, Pa said to Libby, “Let’s get started on Peter’s adoption.”

  They found him in an open area on the levee. “You’re just the one I want to see,” Peter told Libby. “Go stand by those crates. I’m teaching Wellington secret signs.”

  When Libby was in place, Peter stood with his arms down at his side. Looking into the dog’s eyes, he raised his right arm slightly. Pointing his index finger toward Libby, Peter commanded, “Go get Libby!”

  Wellington ran straight for her. Libby dropped to her knees. “Good dog! Good dog!” She offered the treat that Peter slipped her.

  As Pa grinned, Peter said, “Let’s try one more thing. I want to see if Wellington obeys me with only hand signals.”

  This time Peter didn’t speak his command. Looking into the dog’s eyes, he barely lifted his right arm. Wellington’s ears pricked up.

  Peter pointed toward Libby. Looking neither to the left nor right, Wellington raced straight for her.

  “He did it! He did it!” Peter cried. Pa started clapping.

  “Next, I’m going to teach Wellington to find you even when he doesn’t see you,” Peter told Libby.

  Reaching out, Pa touched Peter’s arm in the signal they used to get each other’s attention. As soon as Peter looked at him, Pa pointed to Libby, then himself. Crossing his arms across his chest, Pa made the sign for love and pointed to Peter.

  Peter pointed to himself, crossed his arms over his chest, and pointed to Pa.

  Taking the slate, Pa wrote quickly. “Libby and I want to adopt you. Would you like that?”

  Peter’s face lit up. “We’d be a real family?”

  This time it was Libby’s turn to write. “A never-give-up family.”

  “I’d like that.” Peter’s words were quiet, but the excitement in his voice told Libby he would like that very much.

  “Let’s ask a man to start work on it,” Pa said.

  When the Christina reached St. Louis, Libby and Caleb watched Riggs walk down the gangplank. “I wonder how he’s going to like the news that seven more slaves have run away,” Libby said.

  Caleb grinned. “Maybe by now even more of his slaves have figured out a way to do it.”

  Later that morning, Pa brought a newspaper back to the Christina. “The Ohio Life Insurance and Trust Company closed its doors yesterday,” he said.

  “Closed its doors?” Libby asked. “What does that mean?”

  “It went bankrupt,” her father explained. “It’s an important New York company, and it doesn’t have the money it needs to pay its bills. This could mean the start of an economic panic. People get scared and rush to sell property or stocks. We’ll have to wait and see what happens.”

  For the next few weeks, Pa went up and down the river bringing pigs, or bars, of lead from the mines at Galena to St. Louis. Then one day in late September, as they left St. Louis, Libby found Pa at the railing, looking upriver. When she took a place beside him, he said, “Something is wrong with Annika.”

  “How do you know, Pa?” Libby had also felt uneasy. In fact, she had been praying more than at any time in her life. Several times she had wondered what to do about it.

  “It’s something I’m sensing deep inside,” her father said. “It’s as though God is nudging me—telling me to pray even more than usual for Annika. To pray that she finds a home.”

  That upset Libby. “I thought she had a home—a good place to stay. A job too.”

  “Yes, she did have both. But I’m wondering what has happened.” As though not wanting to say what he was thinking, Pa looked off in the distance.

  “What is it, Pa?” Libby asked when he didn’t go on.

  “I’m wondering how the economic panic has affected her. If I know Annika—” Again he stopped.

  “She’s independent,” Libby said.

  “Yes. All over the country, banks are closing. We have the kind of panic I was afraid would come. Because of the amount of speculation in St. Paul, it could be hit especially hard. Since fortunes were made overnight, they could be lost the same way.”

  “Pa, what are you saying?” Libby felt more upset all the t
ime.

  “What if there’s no money to pay Annika? If she lost her job, she wouldn’t stay where she couldn’t pay her room and board. She’s too used to being on her own.”

  Libby agreed. “But if she has no money, where can she go?”

  “That’s what bothers me,” Pa said. “She might be forced to leave St. Paul. If that happens, how will we find her again?”

  A lump formed in Libby’s throat. With it came a memory of Wellington and how hungry he was when Peter found him. What if Annika is hungry?

  Libby pushed the thought aside, telling herself that there had to be enough food in Minnesota Territory. But another worry rushed in. What if Annika gets so poor that she marries someone else?

  It wasn’t hard to remember Oliver White III. He seemed to have so much money that even in a panic he’d be rich. If it was possible to buy food, he could give it to Annika. What if she had to depend on him?

  “I’ll pour on steam,” Pa said. “We’ll head for Minnesota Territory as fast as we can safely go.”

  Libby whirled around and hurried to her room. Not for anything in the world would she tell Pa what she was thinking.

  On the way upriver, Pa asked Libby to come to his cabin. The morning was bright and beautiful, but Pa looked as serious as Libby had ever seen him.

  “I’ve been waiting to give you something,” he said. “I wanted to be sure you were old enough to appreciate it.”

  From his desk Pa took out something wrapped in a silk cloth. As he unfolded the cloth, Libby saw the worn leather covers of a book that had been carefully handled but much used.

  “It’s your mother’s Bible,” Pa said as he handed it to Libby.

  As Libby took it, she felt like crying. It had meant so much to receive her mother’s cross and know all that it meant to her parents. Libby couldn’t believe that Pa was also giving her Ma’s Bible.

  “Ma read from this every day?” Libby asked. Only then did she realize how much she had grown since coming to live with Pa.

  She tried to explain. “Once, I was silly enough to think a special green dress was my most treasured possession. Now this will be.”

  With Pa’s gaze upon her, Libby carefully opened the Bible. Many of the pages were marked with underlining. Next to the verses, notes and dates had been written in the margins.

  “You’ll find it’s a history of your mother’s thoughts,” Pa said. “A spiritual history of times when she learned and grew. Times when she suffered and times when she celebrated. Times when she especially recognized the goodness of God.”

  When Libby was unable to speak, Pa went on. “You’ll come to know your mother through these pages, Libby. Even more, you’ll grow in knowing the Lord she loved and served.”

  Long after Pa left, Libby searched the pages of her mother’s Bible. When she came to the eighth chapter of Romans, she saw that verse twenty-eight was underlined. Pa’s verse, Libby thought. But Ma’s too.

  “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”

  Reading the words, Libby’s questioning heart cried out. If we love God, all things work together for good?

  How could anything good come out of Annika’s staying in St. Paul? Now Pa wondered if she even had enough to eat!

  Just thinking about it made Libby feel angry. Aren’t You supposed to love us, God? So what about the promise that all things work together for good when we love You?

  Then Libby saw that the page in her mother’s Bible was spotted. In those places the paper had drawn together as though tears may have fallen there. Did Ma weep as she read that verse?

  In the margin alongside, Libby saw words written in a small, neat hand:

  Lord, You know I don’t want to leave my precious daughter, Elizabeth. But I trust You to work in everything, to bring something good, even out of that.

  Her mother’s words seemed to reach out to Libby. In everything? she asked herself again and again. Ma trusted God to work in everything?

  For some time Libby sat there, thinking, letting the words completely into her mind.

  I think I finally understand, she told herself at last. Even if things aren’t perfect, God can work to bring something good.

  When Libby began weeping, she couldn’t stop. Hugging the Bible to herself, she repeated the words to which her mother had clung.

  As Libby finally wiped the tears from her eyes, there was something she knew. I can’t make grown-ups do something just because I want it. But I already have a never-give-up family—with or without Annika.

  Pa and Caleb and Gran, Libby thought. Peter.

  A smile flitted across her face. Even Samson and Wellington.

  Right from the start, Pa had talked about their family being one that would stick together no matter what happened. It’s like belonging to God, Libby thought, filled with awe. With God I belong to a never-give-up family. He never gives up on me.

  In that moment Libby began to trust God to take care of Annika. To believe that God could bring something good.

  As she lifted her head, she heard a knock on the door.

  “Libby!” Caleb called. “Are you all right?”

  Still clutching the Bible, Libby opened the door. Caleb’s gaze searched her face.

  “I’m all right now,” she answered. “Just a minute.” Returning to Pa’s rocker, Libby picked up the silk scarf and wrapped her mother’s Bible. Gently she set it inside the drawer until she could read it again.

  Out on the deck, Caleb studied her face. “Are you sure you’re all right?”

  Libby nodded. At first she was afraid to tell him what had happened. Then she knew how much she needed to talk.

  “Pa gave me my mother’s Bible,” Libby said.

  As Caleb waited, she made herself go on. “I found Romans 8:28 and something Ma wrote about me. Even though she was dying, she asked God to bring something good out of it.”

  Once again tears welled up in Libby’s eyes. “I’m not very strong, am I? Do you think I’ll ever learn to trust God when it’s really hard?”

  Caleb’s gaze met hers. For a moment he looked away, as though unable to say what he thought. Then he seemed to know how much it had cost her to be honest. “You’ll learn, Libby. You’ve changed already. You aren’t the same girl who came to live on the Christina.”

  Libby smiled. It was the highest praise Caleb could give her.

  Only then did Libby realize that the Christina had tied up at Savanna, a small settlement along the river. Near shore, the ground was flat and the buildings not far from the water. Behind the town, limestone bluffs stood tall, rising straight up as if reaching for the sky.

  “Peter says he wants to be an explorer, so why don’t we take him exploring?” Caleb asked. “Maybe you need some fun too.”

  The September sun was warm, the air crisp, and the sky bright blue. The idea of being out in that kind of weather made Libby feel good all over.

  Then Caleb told her, “Your pa has business that will keep him here for three or four hours. He said it’s okay if we hike up the bluff.”

  “To the top?” Libby felt weak just thinking about it. Has Caleb forgotten my fear of heights?

  “Remember the view at Hannibal?” he asked. “I’ll show you another great view. You’ll see up and down the river for miles.”

  It was always fun being with Caleb, but Libby still felt afraid. Caleb seemed to guess her thoughts.

  “You’ll like it, Libby. Really you will.”

  As he filled his knapsack, Libby watched. A coil of rope. An extra shirt. Two light jackets. Strips of cloth rolled for bandages.

  “Get a sweater, and I’ll carry it for you,” Caleb told her.

  When Libby returned with the sweater, Caleb stuffed it inside his knapsack. Already he had filled three canteens of water. In a leather case attached to his belt he put a sharp knife.

  “What’s that for?” Libby asked.

  Caleb shrugged. “The unexpected.
That’s the way your pa trained me. ‘Be ready for the worst,’ he always says. ‘Be glad if you don’t need it.’”

  The worst? Libby wondered. Afraid she would sound like a scaredy-cat, she didn’t ask what that meant. A bear? A wolf?

  CHAPTER 16

  Nasty Surprise

  Caleb closed his knapsack. “We’ll pick up sandwiches from Gran. As soon as we find Peter, we can go.” The ten-year-old was on the main deck. When Caleb pointed to himself, Libby, and the bluff, Peter understood. Caleb settled the knapsack on his own back, and the three of them set out at once.

  At first the climb was easy, and they passed quickly between the few trees left on the lower hillside. Steamboat crews had cut off huge areas of timber to feed the hungry furnaces that heated water in the boilers. When Caleb came to an area of long grass, he stopped them.

  “Keep your eyes open,” he warned them. “Watch where you step.” Taking the slate Peter carried, Caleb wrote, “Copperhead snakes.”

  Libby swallowed hard. If Caleb wanted to show her a good view, she wanted to see it. But she didn’t care to see a snake.

  Peter’s eyes widened. “Poisonous, you mean?”

  Caleb nodded. Again he wrote. “Timber rattlesnakes too.”

  “How will we know?” Peter asked.

  “Listen for the rattle,” Caleb answered without thinking. “Back off if you hear it.”

  A moment later Caleb muttered an “Uh-oh!” as if suddenly remembering Peter’s deafness. Caleb took the slate again.

  “Watch,” Caleb wrote and drew a rock with a coiled snake sitting on top of it, then another snake peering out of tall grass. Next to that he drew the tail of a snake with five or six rattles sticking up on the end.

  Peter grinned, and his blue eyes lit up. “I’d like to see a rattler. I’d really be an explorer then.” The possibility of snakes didn’t bother him at all, but even the thought filled Libby with dread.

  When they started out again, Caleb took the lead, with Peter second and Libby third.

  The bluff was steeper now, and Caleb led them in zigzag slants, changing direction often to take the easiest slope. Above the area where steamboat crews had cut, there were trees again. By now the muscles in Libby’s legs ached from the steep climb, and she welcomed the shade.