Escape Into the Night (15 page)

When Caleb finally stopped, they stood at the back door of a large white house. Quickly Caleb knocked with an unusual pattern of raps. When there was no answer, he knocked again, using the same raps. It was a signal, Libby felt sure. Could she remember it?

A moment later, the door opened. As Libby hurried inside,
she glanced back. Just across the yard was a barn. Had someone slipped around a corner?

I imagined it
, Libby decided.
With all the turns we took, how could anyone possibly follow us?

Inside the house, a woman led them through a hallway. After the bright sunlight, Libby’s eyes needed to adjust to the dimmer light. But Caleb walked as if he knew every step of the way.

“Why are we here?” Libby whispered.

“To see Pastor Salter.”

“Who’s he?”

“He used to be my pastor,” Caleb told her. “When we lived in Burlington, we went to the Congregational church.”

“So he’s against slavery,” Libby blurted out. “Is that where you learned to hate it?”

Caleb shushed her. “You talk too much.”

The woman led them into a room filled with books. An east window overlooked the city and the river.

When Pastor Salter welcomed them, his face seemed warm with interest. Caleb introduced Libby and Jordan.

“Well, Caleb,” the pastor said as they all sat down. “I haven’t seen you for some time. How are you?”

As though talking with an old friend, Caleb grinned. “Still going up and down the Mississippi. Still finding things to do.”

He tipped his head toward Jordan, and the Reverend Salter seemed to understand. “Were you followed?” he asked.

Caleb nodded. “By a slave trader, Jordan’s owner. We might have slipped him, but I’m not sure. If he knows you, he’ll know where to look.”

A smile lit the pastor’s eyes. “Yes, he’ll know where to look.”

As Caleb told the story, Pastor Salter listened intently.

“If your mother came through here, I haven’t seen her,” he told Jordan at last. “Do you want Caleb to go to Salem for you?”

Jordan shook his head. “If he finds Momma, she’ll be feared to trust him.”

“It’s very dangerous for you to go,” the pastor warned.

“The Lord, He go ahead of me.” A light shone in Jordan’s black eyes, as though he felt no fear.

“Yes,” the pastor answered, as though he, too, felt sure of that truth. “And you, Libby? Are you going with them?”

Libby glanced at Caleb, expecting him to say no. Instead, Caleb said, “If you want to go, I’ll take you.”

“You’ll take me?” Libby felt surprised.
Maybe Caleb trusts me, after all
, she thought.

Then Caleb explained to Pastor Salter. “We don’t think the slave trader saw Libby. But if he follows her now, she’ll lead him to the
Christina
.”

Libby’s hopes shattered into a million pieces.
So you’re afraid I’ll give you away, Caleb Whitney. You still don’t trust me!

Auntie Vi’s words haunted Libby.
I’m ready to give up on that girl
, she had said.
Did Caleb feel the same way?

Then Pastor Salter cut into Libby’s thoughts. “We’ve had so much traffic lately that one of my members is in the barn right now. He has a load of seed potatoes you can deliver in Salem.”

As though expecting such a plan, Caleb grinned.

He knows so much, Libby thought.
He has to be part of the Underground Railroad
.

“I’ll have a message sent to your father,” the pastor told Libby. “He needs to know what’s going on. He’s captain of the
Christina
, right?”

“How did you know?” Libby asked.

“I respect your father. I value him as an able captain and as a man of God.”

A man of God
, Libby thought.
What does that mean?
She loved her father, but the way Pastor Salter talked, it sounded as if Pa was a saint. Libby had never thought of him in that way.

“We’ll need boards, sir,” Caleb said, “and a hammer and nails.”

“Take whatever you find in the barn,” the pastor answered. “But first, I want to pray for all of you.”

When he bowed his head, Libby bowed hers too. Yet she peeked. Then Caleb and Jordan closed their eyes, and Libby decided she better do the same.

In a strong voice the pastor prayed. “Lord, we ask thee to help Caleb and Jordan and Libby know the way they should walk. Give them light when they need light, and darkness when they need darkness. Clothe them with your disguise.”

When Pastor Salter paused, Libby’s thoughts raced ahead.
He prays as if he really expects God to do something!

“Deliver them from their enemies,” the pastor finished. “We thank thee, Lord. Amen.”

“Amen!” Jordan exclaimed. “Amen, amen!” He grinned at Caleb, then at Pastor Salter.

As Caleb opened the back door, ready to go outside, Libby stopped him. “I think I saw someone as we came in,” she warned. “I wonder if there’s a man lurking around the barn.”

CHAPTER 14

T
his time Caleb acted as though he believed Libby. Instead of walking straight to the barn, he led Libby and Jordan to the front door, then around the side of the house. There they waited and watched.

When Caleb felt it was safe, he took them to the back side of the Salter barn. When Caleb opened a door, Libby and Jordan slipped inside.

A farmer waited there, along with two horses hitched to a wagon. Caleb recognized one of the horses.

“So old Dobbin’s still around!”

“He’s given you rides since you were nine years old.” The farmer lowered his voice. “I thought you had given up this business.”

“For a while.” As if the matter weren’t terribly important, Caleb winked. “I look different now, don’t I? Older and more mature.”

When the farmer looked uneasy, Libby suspected that Caleb’s change of appearance might be wishful thinking. But why was it important that he looked different? Were there people from whom he needed to hide? People who might hurt him?

Caleb went to work at once. At one side of the barn he picked up boards and a hammer and nails. He and the farmer
pounded the boards together in an upside down U. Then Caleb and Jordan set the strange arrangement at the front of the wagon bed.

As though used to taking such a place, Jordan climbed into the wagon and curled up. The U-shaped frame protected his sensitive back. Caleb set down another board, and the U became a box. Then he and the farmer loaded the wagon with sacks of potatoes. When they finished, Jordan’s hiding place was covered.

As Caleb and Libby climbed up on the high seat, the farmer stepped close. “I wish you weren’t doing this, Caleb. Take extra care. You mean a lot to us.”

The sun was slanting westward as Caleb turned the horses into the street. Though Libby had a thousand questions, she managed to stay quiet until they reached the open road west of Burlington.

She had just started to feel they had gotten safely away when she heard hoofbeats behind them. When she turned to look back, a curve in the road hid whoever followed.

Caleb clucked to the horses. As they picked up their pace, he shifted the reins into one hand. With one quick movement he pulled off his cap, mussed up his hair, and stashed the cap back on his head. When he hunched his shoulders, Caleb looked like a different person—older, thinner, not like the fun person he was.

Libby giggled, and he flashed her a grin. Yet she knew this wasn’t a game.

“Look back, Libby,” he said quietly. “Has anything bounced out of place? Any sack of potatoes covering the boards over Jordan? Anything that would make a slave catcher suspect him?”

Turning, Libby knelt on the seat to check every inch of the wagon bed.

“Do you hear the hoofbeats, Jordan?” she asked softly.

“Yes’m.” His voice came through a small opening in the board under the backside of the seat. “Don’t you worry none. I lies as still as these here potatoes.”

As Libby sat down again, Jordan slid a piece of wood across the opening. Already the hoofbeats sounded closer. “Can you hurry the horses, Caleb?”

“If I push them, whoever is following will know that I’ve got something to hide.”

When they reached a crossroad, Caleb stopped the horses and listened. Again Libby glanced around, but she saw only trees. The hoofbeats had stopped.

Caleb flicked the reins across the backs of the horses. As soon as they moved on, Libby heard hoofbeats behind them again. Though she wondered if it were her imagination, Caleb’s hands tightened on the reins.

“Don’t look again, Libby.” He spoke in a low voice. “You have to pretend it doesn’t matter.”

“But it does!” she exclaimed.

“Sure, it does. But you can’t act scared, or you’ll give us away.”

“How do I not act scared? I’m scared silly!”

“Take a deep breath and smile.” Caleb took his own advice, then let his shoulders sag again.

“Caleb? Who’s following?”

“One man on horseback.”

“You know by the sound?”

“Yup.”

“Is it Riggs?” Libby dreaded even the thought of the man.

“Don’t know. But probably.”

“How could he find us that easily? I didn’t see anyone when we left the house.”

“Neither did I. And there wasn’t anyone when we left the barn. But everyone knows that Pastor Salter is an abolitionist—a person who wants to abolish slavery. If Riggs knows that, too, and he probably does—”

Suddenly Libby understood. “He would wait somewhere until we left the barn.”

“Yup.”

As the sun dropped behind the trees, the hoofbeats drew closer. Libby obeyed Caleb and didn’t look back. But her teeth started to chatter.

“Are you cold?” Caleb asked. “Or afraid?”

“Both.”

Reaching around, Caleb grabbed a blanket from on top of the potatoes. At the same time he managed to glance back.

“It’s Riggs, all right.” He handed Libby the blanket. “Did he see you before you came into the store?”

“I doubt it,” Libby answered. “And then I was down on the floor drawing.”

“Put the blanket over your head like a shawl,” Caleb said. “Let it cover your dress and fall forward around your face.”

Quickly Libby obeyed. The blanket’s warmth felt good, and she stopped shaking. Yet her frightened feelings were growing. If someone caught them with a runaway slave in the wagon, they were breaking the law. They could even go to prison!

Closer and closer came the hoofbeats.

“He’ll try to stop us,” Caleb warned, still speaking low.
“Pretend that you’re enjoying a nice spring ride. But let the blanket hide your face.”

Soon Libby heard the hoofbeats close behind the wagon.
How can I possibly act as if I have nothing to hide?
But Caleb could, and she would have to also.

Suddenly the awfulness of it all struck Libby funny. When she giggled, Caleb spoke in a low voice.

“That’s the way. Keep it up.”

Libby’s next laugh was forced, but it didn’t sound too bad.

As she looked toward Caleb, she saw the rider out of the corner of her eye. He was even with the bed of the wagon, and they were entering a stretch of lonely woods.

“Have you noticed the sun?” Libby asked. “I’ve never seen a prettier sunset—all gold and pink.”

Libby knew she was talking nonsense, but she couldn’t think of anything else to say.