Midnight Rescue

by Lois Walfrid Johnson

  Jordan settled himself on another bench. Facing the door, he waited, alert and ready for danger. When Zack sat down on one side of him and Serena on another, Jordan’s face softened.

  Before long Libby heard a muffled sound outside the chapel. As the sound moved closer, she knew what it was—small stones rolling down a steep hillside. When Jordan leaped to his feet, Libby raced to a window.

  Though she could see no one in the darkness, Libby again heard the sound. Muffled but distinct it came, as though someone stopped to listen, then walked on.

  When the footsteps stopped once more, this time just outside the chapel, Jordan stepped behind the door. As it swung open, he waited while a man entered.

  As the door closed again, the man turned toward Jordan’s dark shape. “I’m Dr. James,” he said as if he expected Jordan to be there. “Don’t be afraid. Caleb asked me to come for you.”

  Slowly, as though not wanting to frighten anyone, the doctor moved toward the window. When the moonlight fell across his face, he asked, “Did anyone follow you?”

  “There be slave catchers after us,” Jordan said.

  “And maybe an escaped prisoner,” Libby added.

  “And a man who thinks we is his property,” Hattie said.

  “I see,” said Dr. James. “You are certainly well liked. Then come quickly.”

  Dr. James opened the door, looked around, then led them outside. The chapel lay at the bottom of a wooded ravine. As they hurried up the narrow valley between steep hills, Dr. James walked tall and erect, like a person used to army life.

  When he brought them into his house, Libby saw heavy curtains drawn across the windows. In the living room a huge fireplace nearly filled the wall opposite the door. As the red coals sent forth welcome heat, Libby and the others gathered around. By the light of the lamp, Libby saw kindness in the doctor’s eyes. But he warned them.

  “You can’t stay this close to the front door. Ever since I was caught with a fugitive, slave catchers have watched my house day and night. Someone might come with a search warrant.”

  On either side of the fireplace were closet doors. When Dr. James opened one of them, it looked like the usual closet. Then he showed Libby the latch for a hidden trapdoor. The door in the wall opened onto a landing with a secret stairway leading both up and down.

  “If someone comes to the door, you’ll have to listen,” Dr. James said. “If all is going well, you can stand on the stairs and be safe. But if the child starts to cry—”

  “What does we do?” Hattie asked quickly, no doubt remembering how Rose had cried in the peddler’s wagon.

  “If the slave catchers go upstairs to hunt for you, go down in the basement. If you hear them walk down to the basement, creep upstairs. Even the walls can talk.”

  The doctor’s housekeeper came then, bringing bread and cheese. “If you stay long enough, I’ll have more,” she told them. “Something to warm up your insides. But don’t leave even a crumb in the closet. It’s the first place slave catchers look.”

  They were still eating when Caleb came in. As he wolfed down a sandwich, footsteps sounded outside the house.

  “Hurry!” Dr. James pushed them toward the secret hiding place. “Get in the stairway and close the trapdoor.”

  Inside the closet Libby fumbled with the latch to the trapdoor. Caleb snatched up a candle and followed her. Reaching forward, he pressed the latch, and the trapdoor opened. When Jordan followed Caleb, Hattie shoved Serena and Zack toward him.

  As Libby started up the secret stairway, she looked back into the living room. Little Rose stood next to the window. When her mother raced to get her, the little girl pushed aside the heavy curtain to look out.

  Just then someone pounded on the front door. Libby’s heart leaped into her throat.

  “Get moving,” Caleb said, but Libby was watching Rose.

  Snatching up her child, Hattie raced for the closet. When Dr. James closed the door behind her, Jordan reached for his little sister. “Follow Caleb,” he told Serena and Zack, and the two slipped past him.

  “Hurry!” Jordan told his mother. Pulling her onto the landing, he closed the trap door leading to the closet.

  As the latch clicked into place, Libby fled up the stairs. Through the walls, she heard the pounding on the outside door. Slow footsteps crossed the wooden floor, as if Dr. James was giving them all the time he could.

  Remembering the doctor’s warning about noise, Libby stopped on the second-floor landing. Behind her, the others waited. As Caleb held up the candle, Libby saw the stone wall of the chimney on one side of the secret stairway. Opposite the chimney, the wall was wood with openings into other parts of the house. In the light of the candle, Libby’s shadow fell across the wall. Walking on tiptoe, she grabbed the handrail and climbed another step, then another. Each time she moved, her shadow moved with her. As Caleb and the others followed Libby upward, their shadows flickered and danced in the candlelight.

  From below, Libby heard voices. Listening, she tried to figure out how many men there were. “We’re after some runaway slaves,” one of them said.

  “You’ll find no slaves in this house,” Dr. James answered, and Libby knew that like the Quakers, he too believed in honesty, yet in the freedom of every individual.

  “We’ll have a look around,” a second man answered.

  “Not without a search warrant.” The doctor’s voice was firm.

  “Here’s your warrant.” That was the third voice.

  Barely breathing, Libby waited. When she heard no sound, she knew that Dr. James must be reading a paper.

  In that moment little Rose whimpered.

  “Hush, baby,” her mother whispered. But Rose looked up at the dancing shadows and whimpered again.

  “Move!” Jordan whispered, and Libby again started upward.

  Her feet flying without sound, she reached the landing for the attic. Looking back, she saw Caleb, Serena, Zack, and Jordan fleeing up the steps. Last of all came Hattie with the child’s head against her chest. As they passed the second-floor landing, Rose let out a wail.

  Frantic with haste, Libby fumbled with the latch to the attic door. By the time she found it, Rose was sobbing as if her heart would break.

  The minute Libby opened the trapdoor, she stepped into a closet. There she opened another door into a large attic room.

  Still holding the candle, Caleb lit the way for the others. In the attic a window was open, and the current of air caught the flame. When Caleb gave Libby the candle, she cupped her hand around it.

  Just then Hattie moved into the room. Rocking back and forth, she crooned softly to Rose. For the moment the little girl was quiet.

  Peering around the attic, Libby tried to see into the shadows. The main stairway. Where is it?

  Then she knew by the sound. Someone was coming up, no doubt taking the steps two at a time.

  Libby raced for the closet and the secret stairway. As Serena and Zack, then Hattie followed, Caleb stayed behind to help Jordan close the doors.

  In that moment Libby felt a current of air sweep down the steps. An instant later the candle flickered out.

  CHAPTER 19

  Betrayed?

  Suddenly Rose shrieked. Close behind Libby, Serena gasped. Reaching back, Libby felt for Serena’s hand, then grabbed it.

  “Hang on,” Libby whispered to Serena, then started down the stairway. With her other hand on the railing, Libby felt her way in the dark, doing her best to hurry.

  Behind Libby, Serena’s bare feet made no sound. Zack followed Serena, again without sound. Behind them Libby heard only a slight movement now and then.

  When Libby reached the second-floor landing, she paused. Rose was quiet now, for the moment at least. From the other side of the wall next to her, Libby heard a voice. As clearly as if the man were on the stairway with them, he spoke with a rasp in his voice.

  “No one here,” he said.

  The escaped prisoner, Sam McGrady!

  Hearing hi
m, Libby felt sick. So you came back and managed to find us. Jordan saved your life, but you betrayed him!

  A moment later, heavy boots tromped off. Hardly daring to breathe, Libby heard footsteps on the main stairway. Then the steps moved still farther away, as if the men were going down to the basement.

  For a time Libby heard the rumble of far-off voices. Then the men drew closer again. Whoever they were, the men were angry.

  Soon the sound of their voices came from the living room. “We’ll be back with more men,” one of them said. “And some of us will watch you every minute till they come.”

  When the outside door slammed, it echoed up the secret stairway.

  Even when Libby believed everyone was gone, she did not dare move. Finally Dr. James opened the trapdoor on the main floor and called to them.

  “Follow the stairs down to the basement,” he said. “We’ll give you more food there.”

  In the basement Hattie sank down on a chair. As though exhausted with trying to keep Rose quiet, she rocked back and forth. But a tear slid down Hattie’s cheek.

  “I is sorry,” she told Dr. James when he entered the room. “I done put you in danger.”

  “We can’t expect a child not to cry,” he answered. Again Libby heard the kindness in his voice.

  As the housekeeper brought bowls of soup, Libby looked up in surprise.

  “I can cook even if men are searching the house,” the housekeeper said. “I just keep a pot simmering on the back of the stove.”

  “For the moment you’re safe,” Dr. James told them as he encouraged them to eat. “But I have no doubt that they’ll be back with more men—so many men that it will be impossible to hide any noise.”

  “Is there any time when there’s no one watching you?” Caleb stood at one side of a basement window. Through the narrow gap between the window and the heavy drape, he looked out.

  “There’s only one time when they seem to let down their guard,” Dr. James said.

  “At daybreak?” Caleb asked.

  Dr. James nodded. “They watch all night, thinking we’ll use the hours of darkness. Yes, daybreak is the most hopeful time.”

  “Then that be when we go,” Jordan said.

  The doctor smiled. “Your time is almost here.”

  As Caleb moved away from the window, he, Jordan, and the doctor sat down together. When they started to make plans, Libby joined them.

  “There’s something we haven’t counted on,” she said. “When we were in the secret stairway I heard a voice right next to me. It was the escaped prisoner—Sam McGrady!”

  “So that’s why I felt uneasy when we crossed the Skunk River!” Caleb exclaimed. “Did the other men look like slave catchers?” he asked Dr. James.

  “Two of them. The third man was well dressed. And the fourth man—the one with the raspy voice—had very short hair.”

  Jordan moaned. “That be the prisoner all right. I was hopin’ he changed for the better!”

  “Remember what you said?” Libby asked Caleb. “That it’s harder to hide from a thief?”

  Feeling as though she could not sit still, Libby moved over to the window. She too looked through the narrow opening between the drape and window. The light of the new day would soon break upon them. According to what most fugitives did, it was exactly the wrong time to leave. Yet they had no choice.

  Libby tried to push aside her dread. Jordan has tried so hard. We’re only about seven miles from Burlington and the Christina. What if the escaped prisoner wrecks everything now?

  Even the possibility of that happening scared Libby right down to her toes. Then she remembered. At first I thought I could do anything I tried. Instead, I made a mess of everything. But when I let God help me, that’s when things changed.

  Turning, Libby faced Jordan. “Do you remember what you prayed before we left the Christina? That God would blind the eyes and shut the ears of the people who would hurt us? And that He would open the eyes and ears of the people He wants to help us?”

  This time it was Libby who offered the prayer. When she started, her voice trembled. Then as she thought about God and not what the others would think, her voice grew strong. As she finished praying, Jordan and Hattie joined her with their own amens.

  “I didn’t put the horses in the barn,” Caleb explained when it was time to go. “They’re in a shelter in the woods about half a mile away.”

  As they left, Dr. James stood by the door. “God go with you,” he said to Caleb, Jordan, and Zack, then to Hattie, Serena, little Rose, and Libby.

  “God go with you!” Libby said as she too passed out the door. From Gran, Pa, and now Dr. James. God, go with us!

  One by one they followed Caleb. In single file, with Libby walking last, they crossed the yard to the edge of the woods. As Libby slipped between the trees, she glanced back along the side of the house.

  Just then a man came over the edge of the hill. As he looked at Libby, he stopped dead in his tracks.

  Short hair, she thought. Was half of it shaved off? Now grown out. The other side cut short to match?

  In the next instant their gaze met, as it had that morning in Prescott.

  Libby froze. The escaped prisoner.

  Then, as Mr. Weaver came into view, Sam McGrady suddenly turned, taking Mr. Weaver with him. In the next moment both men disappeared behind the hill.

  Whirling around, Libby broke into a run. “Hurry!’ she whispered as she passed the others to reach Jordan. “Hurry!” she warned as the family slipped back under the hay. “Hurry!” she told Caleb as he leaped up to the high seat.

  Only when they were well on the road to Burlington did Libby explain. “Sam McGrady saw us, but he turned the other way. He took Mr. Weaver with him.”

  Clearly puzzled, Caleb shook his head. “I don’t understand,” he said. “I don’t understand at all. Why didn’t McGrady stop us right then?”

  When they entered Burlington the streets were still empty with the quiet of early morning. Caleb stopped the horses near the back door of a church. To Libby the building looked familiar, even from that side.

  “The doors are open all the time,” Caleb told her. “Wait inside. I’ll be with you soon.”

  One by one Jordan and his family slipped from beneath the hay into the church. The minute Caleb returned he led them through the basement. On the front side of the church, out beyond an opening in the foundation, was a secret room.

  As though Caleb had been there often, he closed the door behind Jordan’s family, then lit a candle. From that candle Caleb lit another, and yet another, as though he wanted to celebrate.

  It’s home to Caleb, Libby thought. In that moment she knew where they were. The First Congregational Church. Where Rev. Salter is pastor. Libby remembered the courageous man from her first trip to Burlington.

  The hiding place seemed to be well used. Along one wall were jars of water and bowls of food. From a neatly folded pile, Caleb gave out blankets for the family to sit or lie down.

  When Libby looked around the circle, she wanted to reach out to Serena. Will we have time to become friends? Libby wondered. Or would Serena be like other fugitives, passing on to the next station almost at once?

  And Jordan, Zack, Hattie, and little Rose? What will happen to them?

  Then as Libby’s gaze rested on Caleb, he looked at her and grinned. He’s my friend again, Libby thought with gladness of heart. My very best friend.

  “Your pa isn’t here yet,” he said. “But he will be. By nightfall he and the Christina will be waiting for us.”

  As they waited throughout the day, Libby watched Jordan come to know his sisters and brother again. Here little Rose could play peekaboo and giggle at Jordan’s games. Here Serena could put her hand within his. Here Zack could openly look up to the big brother he admired. And here Hattie freely gazed upon her family with the glory light in her eyes.

  They’re a never-give-up family, Libby thought. They’re a family that stays together even when it’s diffi
cult.

  After many hours in the secret room, Libby heard several quick knocks on the door. As if the raps were a signal, Caleb leaped up. Slowly he opened the door, looked out, then stepped into the hallway to talk to someone.

  “We can go now,” Caleb said when he came back. “Just walk like you’re not afraid, as though you don’t have anything to hide. But do what I do.”

  When they slipped out the front door of the church, Caleb led them. Jordan stood tall, wearing his proud look again. His family followed as if they walked this street most any day of the week. Yet they stayed within the shadows of the buildings on their right.

  Two or three blocks away, Caleb brought them to Hawkeye Creek. Crouching low, Jordan and his family followed the stream, hugging the shadows of its banks. Without a sound their bare feet followed the way of other fugitives seeking freedom.

  When they reached the riverfront, Caleb led them into the darkness between two small buildings. There he stopped to wait and watch.

  As Libby looked out from the shadows, she saw the tall white steamboat owned by her father. It’s still the most beautiful boat on the Mississippi, Libby thought. She could hardly wait to see Pa. Then he was there, standing next to the gangplank, looking tall and handsome in his captain’s uniform.

  The waterfront was quiet now, the passengers on board or wherever they wanted to be. The riverbank was empty, as if all the freight that needed to be shipped was on board. But Caleb still waited. And Libby’s father still stood near the gangplank, looking upstream as if he was relaxing after a busy day.

  Then Pa yawned. Politely he tapped his fingers across his mouth. Turning to the lantern that hung from a nearby post, he blew out the flame.

  As Caleb took one step forward, Libby caught a movement nearby. Within the shadow of a nearby warehouse, a deeper shadow moved. Reaching out, Libby put a warning hand on Caleb’s arm. Together they edged back, once again hiding between the small buildings.

  A moment later a man stepped out from the darkness next to the warehouse. Wearing the red shirt of a lumberjack, he seemed like a stranger. Boldly he walked straight toward the Christina. But then Libby recognized him.