Adam was the last to speak.
“Until I met you, Massa Ross,” he murmured in his soft, easy way, “I figured white folks had slaves everywhere.”
“Those are noble speeches, Liza and Julilly. You are the kind of people we need.” Mr. Ross stroked back his thick, reddish hair. “The men have already talked with me. Adam and Lester are certain that they want to go. Ben hasn’t decided.”
He drew the group closer together and began giving them directions: they must not talk with anyone else on the plantation about the planned escape—they must meet at this same spot next Saturday night and be ready to leave—Lester would give the whippoorwill call again—Lester would be with Mr. Ross all week getting instructions while they hunted for birds—Liza and Julilly would let Lester cut their hair and dress as boys in the woods after they left—their dresses would be thrown in the swamp water.
The eerie call of a hoot owl echoed through the tense, shadowy night. The slaves and Mr. Ross took it as a warning that they should return to their sleeping quarters. They parted in three directions, the girls following Lester on his zig-zag path through the Piney Woods.
CHAPTER TEN
ON THEIR ROW OF COTTON the next day, Julilly and Liza kept their heads low and didn’t talk. They worked hard, filling and refilling the big basket at the end of their row with soft, white cotton bolls from the gunny sacks slung about their necks. They didn’t want to anger Sims. When they saw Lester or Adam, they pretended not to notice them.
There was no more Canada-talk in the long cabin where they lived. At night when the others slept, they tried to sleep too.
“We need to build up our strength,” Liza told Julilly. “We need all the sleep we can get.”
Julilly couldn’t seem to keep her feelings tucked inside as Liza did. Her heart jumped like a scared rabbit. Everything around seemed sharp. The firefly’s flickering turned to hot, bright sparks. Grasshoppers scraped the air when they leaped. Their little eyes bulged. Droning cicadas cackled, and cackled, and CACKLED.
“Keep prayin’,” Liza told her.
She did.
The two girls began storing things away on a high dark shelf of the cabin—extra hoecakes, their winter shoes. Massa Ross promised to find the boys’ clothes. Lester would have the scissors to clip their hair. On the night before leaving they would stuff their crocker sacks with the few belongings that they owned and hang them over their backs as knapsacks.
The heavy dank heat of August pressed down on the Riley plantation. Thick air hung over everything, filled with magnolia fragrance and the crazed whine of mosquitoes. Sweat trickled over the face of the angry Sims. He whipped at the old and the young without reason. Misery was every-where— everywhere but on the cool greenness and the pillared whiteness of the Big House. The Big House, poised, serene and stately, ignored the slave quarters.
On Saturday, there were puffs of clouds in the sky. The flies stung and swarmed, as before a rain. Julilly and Liza watched with fear. If a storm blew up, would they go? If the clouds piled high, could they see the North Star?
All day long they picked in the cotton fields. There was no sun and the air was windless. Before weighing started in the late afternoon, Lester appeared with Mr. Ross. The kindly gentleman was as calm and neatly dressed as on the first day of his arrival. This time his bag for birds bulged with specimens.
“Ah, there you are again, Mr. Sims,” he called out with a jovial smile. “I’ve had an excellent day. There are unbelievably rare and beautiful birds in this great land.”
Sims looked with disdain at the bag of specimens. Julilly watched Lester. With a quick look, he moved his head slightly up and down three times. They would go!
Even if it rained and the clouds blotted out every star, they would go!
Julilly lifted her head and stood tall and straight. This was the last time she would stand shaking and grovelling before Massa Sims, waiting for him to weigh her basket of stamped-down cotton. This was the last time Liza would be whipped and kicked like some worn-out dog.
The two girls walked one behind the other down the path from the cotton fields to the slave quarters.
They were silent, but their thoughts were a cord binding them closer and closer together.
When night came, a twisting wind blew the clouds away. It swirled and tussled through the tall pines and then died in some distant field. The slaves grumbled. Rain would have given them a day of rest from the heat and the fields. For Julilly, Liza, Lester, and Adam it was a blessing straight from the Lord. The Big Dipper appeared above them, as faithful as the rising sun, and the North Star sparkled.
“The North Star’s been polished by the wind and the rain,” declared Julilly to Liza as they hurried to the sleeping cabin before the other girls arrived. They stuffed their meagre supplies into the sturdy crocker sacks, rolled them tight and covered them with the blanket-rags on the floor. Then they lay down and put their heads on top of the pile.
“Close your eyes like you’re already asleep,” Liza murmured to Julilly as the other slave girls began to drift through the open door. There was little talk, for the day had been long and hard. Julilly felt for Liza’s bony, rough hand. Slowly bodies fell silent all over the room, and the night sounds took over.
Julilly found it hard to keep still. Her legs wanted to twist about. Her arms felt like flinging themselves upwards. She clamped her teeth together to keep from shouting: “Let’s go, Liza. Let’s go!”
She squeezed her friend’s hand. The return pressure calmed her. No matter what happened, no matter if Massa Riley got bloodhounds to chase them, she would help Liza, and Liza would help her. And, above all, Liza seemed certain that the Lord was on her side this time. Julilly almost relaxed into sleep when the whippoorwill song sounded faintly three times. The girls lifted their heads slowly, quietly reached for their blankets, and soundlessly walked from the cabin door. Lester was standing by the cypress trees as before. They followed him along the round-about path in the woods, but this time he went faster and there were more twists and turns. Julilly knew why. If blood-hounds began sniffing their trail, it would take them longer to wind around the trees.
Massa Ross stood as last time, splendidly dressed and neatly combed and brushed. He didn’t seem fearful, even though Liza had told Julilly that he could be hanged for helping them escape. His filled-out chest and big stomach seemed to give him strength.
Adam was there, sitting on the ground, waiting and tense—fox-like—ready to spring. But there was no sign of Ben.
Massa Ross asked them to stand close around him. His voice was lower and softer than before. He clasped each of their hands and said,
“The difficulties and dangers of this route and the inevitable pursuit for weeks by human foes and possibly bloodhounds require the exercise of rare qualities of mind and body. Each one of you has these. You have foresight and great courage.”
Julilly liked the sweep of his fine words, even though she couldn’t understand all of them.
Quickly, however, he changed his style. He looked about the circle of trees and listened for many minutes to the strange night sounds. When he spoke next, only the four of them could possibly hear.
“You will start at midnight,” he said. “Then everyone will be asleep. I have given Lester a watch so that he will know when the time comes. Make it to the swamp just ahead and wade through the low water in your bare feet. This will kill the scent of tracks. Bloodhounds lose their scent in water.”
He paused again for a brief moment to listen.
“Tonight you will follow the Mississippi River north. It will guide your feet and the North Star above will guide your eyes.”
He began talking more quickly. The moon was nearing the height of its climb across the sky.
“By all means, stay together. Lester will be your guide. Trust him. I have given him many directions. You will travel by night and sleep by day. When you cross the border into Tennessee, I will be there. Pretend you don’t know me and don’t be
astonished at my face, for my beard will be shaved.”
He stopped talking and handed each of them two dollar bills, a knife and some cold meat and bread. To Julilly and Liza he gave a pair of pants and a shirt.
“Change these after you cross the swamp,” he said. “Let your old clothes float on the water. The slave hunters might think you have drowned. Lester has scissors to clip your hair short.”
He shook hands with each of them, clasping them tightly.
“Now I must go back to the Big House. Tomorrow I leave for another mission in Columbus, Mississippi. Bless you.”
He walked swiftly away from them through the shadow-filled forest.
“Massa Ross is a good man.” Julilly spoke for all of them.
When they could no longer hear his foot-steps, Julilly, Liza and Adam turned to Lester.
“Put everything he gave you in your crocker sack and fasten it to your back,” he said. There was no expression on Lester’s face, but Julilly saw fear and excitement in his eyes.
He looked at the watch, round and smooth in his hand. It was time to go.
“No one is huntin’ for us tonight,” Lester said. “We got to cover a lot of ground.”
Julilly glanced at Liza. Her head was down, and her back was bent, which meant that it was already hurting her.
“I’m gonna walk by Liza,” Julilly stated firmly. “We’ve agreed to help each other.”
“You take the rear, then, Adam.” Lester seemed to agree and they started off.
The ground was dry and soft for a stretch and then the wetness came. The lank swamp grass whipped their legs and their feet sank deep into the oozing mud beneath. Julilly grabbed a drooping willow branch with one hand to keep her steady; with the other hand she held Liza’s arm, guiding the bent girl along beside her.
Julilly was grateful for the soft moonlight. It illumined dead branches jutting from the water and water-knees protruding from the tall swamp cypress.
Twice she felt the shell of a turtle slip under her feet.
“I hope those old alligators and water-moccasins are sleepin’ tonight like they are dead,” Julilly whispered to Liza.
“Don’t put your mind on things such as that,” Liza whispered back. “And don’t forget, no bloodhound can smell our scent through this ol’ swamp water.”
At last the ground became more solid. Then it was dry again. Now was the time for Julilly and Liza to change into their boys’ clothes and throw the worn tow shirts on top of the swamp water. Lester quickly clipped their hair with scissors from his knapsack.
There was no time at all to giggle over their changed appearance. Lester was impatient to go on. Already they could hear the flow of the great Mississippi River. None of them had seen it before— but Massa Ross had told them how it would sound and how it would be muddy and fast-flowing and how they would walk north along its banks away from the running current.
When they came to the shores of the river, they stopped. It was an awesome sight. As far as they could see, mud black water rolled past them—broken now and then with eddies and splashes that caught silver from the moonlight.
Adam bent down and eased his hand into the water.
“It’s warm and gentle-like,” he smiled. “It holds no harm for us, and I smell catfish in the wind that blows right out of it.”
“That’s good to know, Adam.” Lester paced nervously along the shore, looking upstream. “We’ll remember about those fish later. Tonight we have bread and cold meat for our meal.” He started walking ahead through the dry canebrakes and tangled shrubs, expecting the others to follow.
Julilly watched Liza hunched against the trunk of a sheltering willow. Her face showed pain.
“We’re goin’ to rest a bit, Lester,” Julilly stated. “And Liza and I are goin’ to have a piece of our bread and a drink of that cat-fish-smellin’ water.”
Lester waited ahead of them on a dry log. Adam cooled his feet in the rushing river. Liza closed her eyes gratefully, accepting the piece of bread and gourd of water that Julilly offered her.
It was a short rest.
“We’re ready now.” Julilly stood and reached for Liza’s hand, pulling her slowly to her feet.
“I’m leading us back a ways from the river,” Lester called. “The trees are thicker and the brush is thinner.”
They walked on as before, Lester in the lead, Julilly and Liza between them, and Adam behind, humming softly and making a rhythm for their steps. There was no stopping now. The running waters of the Mississippi filled their ears, and the North Star gleamed above them.
Not until the night began melting into the black earth and a streak of pink rimmed the eastern sky did Lester stop. The giant trunks of two fallen pines blocked their path. Underneath the solid logs was a rippling brook of clean water, and beside it a hollow place almost hidden by the rotting limbs.
“This is where we eat and where we sleep,” Lester yawned, finally exhausted. The others agreed. They ate slowly, putting aside a portion for the next day’s meal. Julilly passed her gourd from one to the other. The water they dipped up with it was cold and sweet and there was plenty.
“Adam and I will take turns staying awake on guard until sunhigh.” Lester’s eyes followed the widening pink strip along the sky. “Then, Julilly, you and Liza will watch until sundown.”
“Thank the Lord that we’ve had one safe night.” Liza bowed her head briefly. “I ask you, God, keep special watch on us tomorrow when Massa Sims finds out we are gone, and starts out lookin’ for us.”
The others were silent.
Julilly and Liza crawled into the hollow place beneath the logs and slept. They were too exhausted to say a word.
At sunhigh, when Lester shook Julilly’s shoulder, she sat up frightened and confused. Had she overslept? Was Massa Sims ringing the morning bell on the plantation? Why were her feet so sore and bruised?
Then she saw Lester’s drawn, tired face and she knew where she was. It was her turn to watch and soon it would be Liza’s. Adam lay face down on the soft grass beneath a sheltering willow near the fallen logs.
“If you hear any noise at all, you wake me, Julilly.” Lester rubbed his long fingers over his eyes to smooth out the tired lines.
“You can trust me, Lester,” she answered.
“And when the sun goes down, we’ll eat. Adam caught some catfish—just like he said. He cleaned and skinned them.” Lester smiled.
“Someone will see if we start a fire to cook them.” Julilly was alarmed.
“Massa Ross told me how to do it,” Lester answered calmly. “He said, build a fire in a clear place far away. Then watch. If nobody comes, just lay whatever you catch on the hot coals. When they die down, the fish is ready to eat.”
Julilly smiled too. She settled herself on a scattering of dry pine needles, behind a tangle of brambles and dead limbs and waited. Liza looked bent and shrivelled lying asleep near by. Twice she moaned, but didn’t wake.
“I’m strong enough to watch for both of us,” Julilly decided. “She better rest her aching back.”
A mockingbird sailed through the sky, then perched above her and sang its own clear song. A gentle deer walked serenely to the river’s edge and dipped its head for a long drink.
It was peaceful to sit so quiet. But it didn’t last. The deer jerked its head upright. It listened and then ran back among the trees. The mockingbirds chirped a mixed-up song of many birds, then sped away.
Julilly sat tense. Softly at first and then louder came the cry of baying dogs. Bloodhounds! Somehow their scent had been found and they or other slaves like them were being followed. Lester heard too. He shook Adam. Julilly called Liza.
“Pack everything in your bags.” Lester spoke quickly. “Roll up your pants, and we’ll walk north, straight through the middle of this stream. It will kill our scent.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
THE DAYS AND NIGHTS strung together for Julilly, Liza, Lester, and Adam like a looped rope without an end. When they hear
d dogs barking or saw men on horse-back, they waded through the water-soaked land of the swamps. When the sun shone they fell exhausted in some dank shelter or beneath dry canebrakes and thorn-covered thickets. Their clothes were torn and dirty, their feet were scarred and blistered with insect bites and they were always hungry. One day they found only pecans and hickory nuts to eat.
When it was safe and there was time, Adam and Julilly hunted for swamp rabbits and fished for catfish. Liza kindled small fires with flint and spunk that Massa Ross had given her. Lester charted their course.
He studied the stars on clear nights and when it rained and there were clouds, he felt for moss that grew on the north side of the forest trees.
“How we gonna know when we’ve reached Tennessee?” Julilly asked one night as they talked of Massa Ross and how much they needed him.
“I can read.” Lester spoke bluntly.
“No slave I ever heard of was allowed to read. You is just tellin’ a lie, Lester.” Liza gave him a dark look and lapsed into one of her sullen moods. “One time my daddy bought himself a spellin’ book with some money he saved from sellin’ apples. You know what happened when the Massa found him lookin’ at that book?”
Julilly didn’t want to ask. She knew the answer.
Liza went on. “Massa grabbed that book and threw it in an open fire. Then he said, ‘No nigger of mine is goin’ to get uppity and try to read.’ He tied my daddy’s hands to a tree and stripped him to the waist. Then he got his whip and gave him fifty lashes. I had to watch. His blood ran all over the ground. I loved my daddy.”
“It’s no lie. I can read.” Lester stood up and turned away from the three doubtful faces. “On the Hensen Plantation, one of the house slaves could read and Massa Hensen knew. He taught me to read and the Massa knew that too. He just made us promise never to tell anybody—not even Missy Hensen.”
They sat for a moment on a dry log near the muddy banks of the Mississippi. They ate cold fish which had been cooked before sundown.
Underground to Canada Page 5
