Escape Into the Night (12 page)

A
s the rising sun lit her room, Libby woke to the motion of the boat. She wasn’t sure when the
Christina
had left Alton. Half in and half out of sleep, she listened to the engines hum and the great paddles slap against the water.

Then, as Libby came fully awake, there was something she knew.
Pa is my father—my family. When I came to live on the
Christina,
we promised to help each other. A never-give-up family sticks together. I owe Pa more than I owe someone who might be a friend
.

The moment she was dressed, Libby searched out her father. She needed to talk to him now, even before breakfast. When she found him in his cabin, they sat down at the large table.

A strand of Pa’s hair fell down over his forehead, and he pushed it back. As always, Libby felt proud of him. But there was something more.
After all the years when I hardly saw him, I don’t want anything to separate us. Not even my fear of what Caleb thinks
.

Libby started by telling about the large wooden box dropped on the
Christina’s
deck. She told how she had watched that box being loaded onto the train at Gulfport.

Giving her every bit of his attention, her father listened. “Go on, Libby,” he said. “What else do you want to tell me?”

Libby skipped over the slave auction and went straight to the night before. “I saw a runaway slave, Pa—a fugitive. I saw Caleb take off his leg-irons.”

“You’re sure that’s what they were?”

Libby reached for a piece of paper and a pen. Glad for the art lessons she’d had, she dipped the steel point into ink and quickly drew a picture.

Captain Norstad leaned forward. “Those are leg-irons, all right. It’s hard to remember that only a few days ago you didn’t know about the fugitive slave law.”

He studied the drawing. “Can you tell me how you found out what leg-irons are?”

Libby felt the warm flush of embarrassment creep into her face. That part of the story—seeing Jordan at an auction—she hadn’t planned to tell. If she did, would Caleb lose his job?

As she wondered what to say, someone knocked on the door. Libby felt relieved.

“Come in,” her father called.

Caleb stood there. Seeing him, Libby’s relief vanished.

“Do you want to talk to me?” the captain asked as Caleb drew close to the table.

“In a minute, sir.” Caleb looked from one to another. Then his glance dropped to the table. In full sight lay Libby’s drawing.

Quickly Libby laid her hand across the picture. But it was too late. Looking up, she saw Caleb staring at her, his eyes bright with anger.

“What is it, Caleb?” The captain leaned back in his chair, as if he hadn’t noticed a thing.

But Libby knew better. Her father’s brown eyes took in everything. In her entire life Libby had never fooled him once.

“Could I speak with you alone, sir?” Caleb asked.

“What would you like to talk about?” the captain answered.

“I’d rather not say, sir.” Caleb’s gaze flicked over to Libby, then back to the captain.

“It’s all right, Caleb,” Captain Norstad said.

The boy shook his head. “I’ll wait, sir.”

“It truly is all right.” As if wanting to be sure Caleb understood, the captain sounded strong and confident.

But Caleb’s eyes were filled with doubt. Never before had Libby seen him hesitate before making up his mind.

In the silence a clock ticked. Libby’s thoughts raced ahead.
Caleb knows so much. Is he what they call a railroad conductor?

Finally Caleb spoke. “I don’t trust Libby, sir.”

“But I do,” the captain answered.

For a moment longer, Caleb waited. “We’ve taken on a valuable book with black covers,” he said, as though speaking against his will. “The label is blurred, and I don’t know where to send it.”

“Be so good as to bring the book here,” Captain Norstad answered.

“Now?” Caleb looked shocked.

“Right after breakfast. Be very careful about the book’s safety.”

For the first time since Libby met him, Caleb could not hide his feelings. As if hoping the captain would change his mind, the boy backed out of the room.

Even that bothered Libby. She realized that no one else took as much freedom as Caleb when talking to her father.
Like a green-eyed caterpillar, envy wormed its way into Libby’s mind. She envied Caleb’s relationship with her father.

As though understanding her thoughts, Captain Norstad turned back to Libby. “There’s something we need to talk about—what it means to trust one another. Do you trust me?”

Libby sighed. “I want to. It’s the reason I came to talk with you, but—” She stopped, afraid to go on.

“But what?”

“Caleb doesn’t trust me.”

“That’s something else,” her father answered.

“Is it?” Suddenly Libby felt angry. Angry about all the things she didn’t understand. All the things that made her afraid. Angry, even, at the bond between her father and Caleb.

Before she could hold back her words, they tumbled out. “Why do you like Caleb more than me?”

“I don’t like Caleb more than you.” Pa’s voice was quiet but firm. “I love you both—each in your own way.”

As though thinking about how to explain, the captain stood up and walked around the room. Finally he stopped next to Libby’s chair. When she refused to look at him, he reached down and cupped her chin in his hand. Gently he lifted it.

“Look at me, Libby.” He waited until she turned her gaze to his.

“I love you as a daughter, Libby. You are priceless to me. I also love you as a person—a very special person.”

Like a dam before a great river of water, something inside Libby broke into pieces. In those endless months between visits she had built a wall between herself and her father. As long as she could remember, Libby had wanted his love.

Still she held back, dancing away from that wounded place
deep within. “But Caleb? You seem to—” Libby struggled to find the words. “You seem to trust him.”

The captain nodded. “I do. I would trust Caleb even with my life.”

“Your
life
?”

“Yes, I would. I think I’d better explain.”

Sitting down at the table, her father faced Libby again. “When Caleb came on board, I started him out with easy jobs, things he could do as a cabin boy. Soon—”

“You found out how much he can do,” Libby said. In these few days she had often felt surprised by how grown-up Caleb seemed. At times she found it hard to believe he was fourteen, almost fifteen, only a year older than she.

“Caleb knows how to handle responsibility,” Captain Norstad explained. “We believe in the same things.”

Libby leaned forward. Maybe she could find out what was really going on.

“Caleb and I share the same code of honor,” Pa explained. “We both want to live for things we believe in.”

“But what does that mean?” Libby didn’t feel satisfied.

“To start with, Caleb and I want to protect runaway slaves. When Congress passed that fugitive slave law in 1850, it was a bad law. Many Christians believe the law goes against the way God intends for us to live.”

“I don’t understand,” Libby said.

“God tells us, ‘Love one another, as I have loved you.’ He wants all of us to be a never-give-up family, Libby. He created us to be equal. Does that sound like anything you know?”

Of course!
Libby had memorized the words. “‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal …’”

Now the meaning of those words came alive. “The Declaration of Independence!”

“Yes! That all of us are created equal,” Pa said. “That we are endowed by our Creator with ‘certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.’”

“Unalienable?” Libby asked. “I never did know what that means.”

“Not to be taken away. Rights that shouldn’t be taken away,” Pa explained.

The night before, Libby had seen Jordan reach an important step in his search for freedom.
But I didn’t even know what the word
freedom
means
!

It came as a shock to her. “If that’s what our country believes, why do we allow slavery?”

Pa smiled but did not speak.

In that moment Libby realized something. “It’s not just our country. It’s
me
. A few days ago, I said such stupid things. How could I forget the Declaration of Independence? How could I act as though the words aren’t important?”

Trying to sort out her thoughts, Libby jumped up and walked over to a window. Far below, the river ran cold and dark with the fullness of spring. Watching it, Libby remembered:
There’s more. Something I still don’t understand. Pa doesn’t know everything that’s going on. Not even on his own boat
.

Libby turned back to her father. “I’m scared, Pa,” she said. “I want Jordan to be free, but I’m scared that you’ll go to prison.”

“There’s always a risk when you believe in something,” her father answered. “You took a risk in talking to me, didn’t you?”

Libby nodded.

“I may have to pay the cost of what I believe.”

“This code of honor you and Caleb have—”

A knock sounded on the door. When it opened, Caleb poked his head into the room. “Breakfast, sir.”

As Libby and her father hurried down the steps to the decks below, she caught a quick glimpse of the shore past which the
Christina
steamed. When they entered the large main cabin, everyone else was already seated. Up till now, Libby had loved eating Granny’s good breakfast rolls. For the first time Libby could hardly swallow them. She only wanted breakfast to be over.

The minute she finished eating, she asked to be excused. Standing up, she started away from the table.

Just then a loud crash shook the boat. Above the pop of snapping timbers, a woman screamed. As the boat shuddered, Libby lost her balance.

Suddenly she fell to the floor. Even the boards trembled beneath her hands.

CHAPTER 12

N
ear Libby, a dish slid off the table. Again the woman screamed. Then a child cried out.

Filled with terror, Libby pushed her arms against the floor.
Why am I here? What happened?