Authors: Cassie Edwards
Man is in love and loves what vanishes,
What more is there to say?
—William Butler Yeats
Hiram groaned as he awakened with a fierce headache. He hated even opening his eye, but he knew he had stayed in the house
long enough, drinking away his disappointment and anger that Lavinia had disappeared from the plantation.
He didn’t for one minute think she had been forced to leave. He knew how much she despised him.
He was certain that she had taken advantage of his being gone for so long playing poker at the fort. Yet her disappearance
was odd, for she had left without even taking any of her clothes. Perhaps she had planned this with someone, a man he had
never known about, for she hadn’t ridden off on any of their horses, and the buggy was still in the stable.
He hadn’t checked the canoes, for he doubted she would have chosen that mode of transportation. The Bone River would only
take her into the Everglades.
Yep, he thought bitterly to himself, surely even when Virgil was alive, Lavinia had had a man waiting to make her his.
She had probably met him on one of her shopping expeditions in the various small towns surrounding their plantation. She had
no doubt just been waiting for the right opportunity to make her escape as soon as Hiram left.
“I stayed away too long,” he growled as he tossed the blanket off himself.
But he’d had no idea what she was planning!
She was a tricky one.
He wondered if Virgil had had even an inkling of what a two-timing wench he’d married.
Grumbling, he left the bed and went to a window to throw open the shutters. His bedroom reeked of unpleasant odors. As usual,
there was the sweat that always covered him. Combined with it was the vile stench of alcohol spilling from his mouth with
each breath he took. And though he had not smoked a cigar after coming home, his clothes still smelled terribly of smoke.
Hiram leaned out the window just enough to take a deep breath of fresh air.
But he got more than that. He realized that it was eerily quiet outside the mansion.
Usually there was a lot of activity as slaves came and went from the fields. And the women, even though they hated being enslaved,
sang while working in the tobacco fields, especially now at harvesttime.
He heard no songs. He heard no laughter of the slave children. He…heard…nothing.
Only silence!
His heart began to race as he leaned farther out and looked in all directions. He saw only a few slaves working the fields.
He saw no children running and playing.
Smoke was spiraling from only a few of the slaves’ cabins. He should see it coming from all of them. Each morning the slaves
built their cook fires in the cabin stoves and started cooking their beans slowly over the flames before they left for work;
beans were the only staple he handed out to them. They were lucky if they got any meat to add to the beans, for he thought
that an unnecessary extravagance.
“They don’t deserve anything extra,” he grumbled to himself. And especially not today when they were lazing around inside
their homes, probably thinking that he was still gone.
“I’ll show ’em a thing or two. I’ll teach ’em how wrong it is not to do their duties even in my absence,” he growled to himself.
He stepped away from the window, gazed down at his wrinkled shirt and breeches, and saw that he had not removed his shoes
before falling into bed in his drunken stupor.
And even though he reeked of sweat and tobacco, and had not shaved for two days, nor bathed, Hiram left his room.
Still unsteady from having drunk too much these past days, he stumbled down the massive staircase. As he took each step,
hanging on to the banister to keep from falling, he still heard no sounds, not even in the house, where servants should be
busy doing their chores.
Nor did he smell the food that should be cooking in the kitchen.
As he continued down the stairs, he grew angrier and angrier, for still there was no one in sight, nor did he hear anything.
It was as though the house were empty of servants, but how could that be?
They knew better than to desert him, for he would search them out and kill them if they did! Yet…yet…he believed
that was exactly what had happened.
Had Lavinia given them permission to leave? Had she freed the slaves before she left?
Finally at the foot of the stairs, he frowned as he looked frantically around, still hoping he was wrong about having been
deserted by the people he depended on for his way of life.
When he still didn’t see or hear anyone, he stamped through the house, searching and growing angrier by the minute. He stopped
suddenly when he heard soft crying.
He followed the sound and pulled open the door that led into the kitchen pantry. He found the servants who usually worked
in the house huddled there, crying. It took only a moment to realize that Twila was not among them.
The servants shrank away from him, their dark eyes wide as he yanked his belt from the waist of his breeches.
“You tell me what’s going on,” he shouted, holding the belt between his hands and snapping it threateningly as he looked from
one to the other. “Why aren’t you working? Where is everyone who should be out in the fields? I saw only a few. And where
is Twila?”
“Massa Hiram, please don’t hurt us,” one of the younger servants said, trembling. “Please don’t make us tell you what you
will hate to hear.”
“What will I hate to hear?” Hiram shouted, suddenly lashing the belt across the belly of the woman who had been brave enough
to speak to him. “You’d better tell me the rest of it, or I’ll do even worse to you.”
The young woman cried hard as she clutched her belly. She was too distraught to respond to Hiram. She was afraid she’d say
the wrong thing and be hit again.
“I’ll tell you,” one of the older women said as she stepped in front of the crying slave. “Just don’ whip this gal again.”
“Well, then, say it,” Hiram shouted. “And you’d better be quick about it, do you hear?”
“Yes, suh, I’se understand,” she said, still standing tall and straight as she gazed directly into his one eye. “Many of your
slaves are gone, but there are enough left to tend the fields. Massa Hiram, they are afraid of what you might do to us because
the others have left. And Massa Hiram, we have no idea where Twila has gone. She’s just gone.”
Hiram was shocked at the thought of so many of his slaves running away. Surely they were long goneby now. They’d had plenty
of time to get away as he lay in his bed in a drunken stupor.
“Your overseer also left,” the woman quickly added. “Those who are workin’ the fields are doin’ it out of loyalty to you,
Massa Hiram. And they are doin’ fine without the whip of the overseer.”
Hiram stood there for a moment longer, absorbing all that he had been told. He was stunned that his overseer had walked out
on him. If you couldn’t depend on your overseer, who was paid well for his services, then who could you depend on?
“I appreciate your tellin’ me everything,” Hiram said, looking from one slave to another. “Now get out of this pantry and
get to work. I’ll be expecting some mighty good food on my dining table after I return from speaking with Colonel Cox at the
fort.” He leaned into each of the servants’ faces in turn, hoping to intimidate them into obeying him.
“If you leave, I won’t be far behind,” he warned. “As for those who have already left, they’ll pay for their disobedience.
I’m going to find them. Do you hear? I’m going to find them! They are gone for now. But you’re still here. And I expect you
to obey me, same as always. Do you understand?”
They all nodded, then filed past him out of the pantry.
They scurried through the house, returning to their usual chores, each one different.
“That’s more like it,” Hiram muttered.
He went to his gun cabinet, unlocked it, and took a rifle from it, too rattled by all that had happened to miss the rifle
Lavinia had taken.
He grabbed a pocketful of bullets, then went outside and stood at the edge of the tobacco field.
He mentally counted how many slaves were still there, stunned at how many had deserted him.
He hurried to one of the heftiest men and grabbed him by the arm. “In which direction did those slaves who deserted me go?”
he asked, his jaw tight.
“North,” the man said, pointing in that direction.
That meant that the runaway slaves had not gone into the Everglades to hide. They were headed out of Florida.
His jaw tightened as he stepped away from the slave and stood with his hands on his hips. He just couldn’t let the runaway
slaves go.
Surely with the colonel’s help, they could be found. If so, he’d punish them good and then give them the hardest work he could
come up with.
“Get back to work,” he said, turning and glaring at those who had stopped to stare at him. “Now. Do you hear? Now. And don’t
you think of tryin’ to escape while I’m gone. I’ll be back soon. You’d best be here.”
They all nodded quickly and returned to their harvesting of the tobacco.
Hiram ran to the stable and threw a saddle onto his best steed, a white mare, and mounted it. Then he rode off, ignoring the
hunger that ate away at his gut. He’d already lost too much time by lying in bed, wallowing in self-pity for having lost Lavinia.
Once he reached Fort Adams, Hiram wasted no time in getting to Colonel Cox’s office.
He saw the look the colonel gave him and understood the reason for it. Hiram had never allowed himself to look so disheveled
in the presence of others.
But that was the least of his concerns. He wanted his slaves back and would go to any length to reclaim them.
“Well, now, look what the cat dragged in,” Colonel Cox said, gazing at Hiram over his desk. “Lord, man, have you forgotten
how to shave and bathe? And look at your clothes. Aren’t those the same duds you wore when we were playing poker the other
night?”
He sniffed and frowned. “And do you know how bad you stink?” he said, waving a hand toward Hiram. “Step back. Do you hear?
Step back away from my desk and then tell me why you’re here so you can leave. I don’t savor havin’ your company in this condition.”
“I need help,” Hiram said, ignoring Cox’s command to step back. Instead, he placed the palms of his hands on the desk and
leaned even closer to the colonel. “Fred, did you hear me? I need your help.”
“What’s happened?” Colonel Cox asked, arching an eyebrow. He placed his fingertips together before him.
“Disaster,” Hiram said, suddenly sinking into a chair across the desk from the colonel. “The worst of it is that Lavinia is
gone. She wasn’t there when I returned home from the fort. And then after I awakened from sleeping off my drunken stupor,
Idiscovered that more than half of my slaves have fled the plantation. They’re headed north, out of Florida. I need your help,
Fred. I need it now. With you and your soldiers’ help, I can get my slaves back. But I think Lavinia is gone forever. I’ve
got to forget about her.”
“And so you’ve discovered the pitfalls of bein’ a slave owner, have you?” Fred said, relaxing into his chair and chuckling.
“You know, I have never thought much of owning slaves, but there are many, like you, who do. Well, that’s nothing to do with
me. I’ve got no orders to chase after runaways. No, Hiram, I won’t help you get those slaves back. Had you treated them humanely,
I doubt they’d have left. So be on your way, Hiram. I’ve better things to do than waste my time on you.”
“Not even if it’s to go after Chief Wolf Dancer?” Hiram taunted, knowing how much the colonel would like to get his hands
on the only chief in the area who had outwitted the military.
“But you said the slaves went north,” Colonel Cox replied, arching an eyebrow. “Which is it? North or in the direction of
the chief’s island?”
“I’m not sure,” Hiram said. “Who’s to say whether that slave who told me the runaways went north told me the truth? Maybe
they went in the opposite direction. In any case, this would be a good opportunity to go looking for that island.”
“I told you I don’t believe in slavery, and I don’t ever want to try and find that island,” Colonel Cox grumbled. “I wouldn’t
send my regiment into thatswampy mess for any reason. There are too many mysterious things going on in the Everglades. Nope.
I won’t send any of my men to fight against the likes of mysterious white panthers, nor floating and flying ghostly apparitions.
It’s much safer staying away from there. Anyway, Chief Wolf Dancer hasn’t caused me any problems. I see no need to attack
him, and I especially don’t want any of my men to come face-to-face with that white panther that stalks anything with two
legs.”
“That white panther is only a myth,” Hiram said, laughing. “It’s only a tale made up to scare whites outta the swamp and away
from the Indians’ island.”
He leaned farther over the desk. “I’m begging you,” he said thickly. “My whole life is going to be changed if I don’t get
those slaves back. I’m accepting that I’ve lost Lavinia. But I don’t want to lose my tobacco. It’s ready to harvest. It takes
a lot of work to get it harvested.”
“Then go and do it yourself,” Colonel Cox said, laughing. “And if you need those slaves so badly, you go into the Everglades
yourself and find them. But consider this: If they did go there, by now they are probably dead, killed by snakes, alligators,
the panther, or the swampy water itself.”
Hiram glared at the colonel with his one eye, then turned and left angrily.
He didn’t see Colonel Cox standing at a window watching him, smiling, as Hiram rode away on his steed, not so much angry as
embarrassed by defeat.
“Virgil, it’s because of you,” Hiram cried to the heavens. “You had the loyalty of the slaves. You taught them to hate me,
didn’t you, Virgil? I hope you’re rotting in hell!”
For the first time he could remember, tears sprang to Hiram’s eyes.
A pity beyond all telling
Is hid in the heart of love.
—William Butler Yeats
A youthful voice sounded outside of Wolf Dancer’s closed door, interrupting Joshua in the middle of a sentence.
Joshua glanced over at Wolf Dancer, who rose to his feet and walked to the door.
Wolf Dancer looked over his shoulder at Dorey. He recognized the voice as belonging to Running Bear and wondered how she was
going to react to seeing the two young braves who had caused her such alarm and fear. He was sure that she too had recognized
the voice.
Wolf Dancer had expected the two boys to come this morning to offer an apology to Dorey for the way they had treated her.
Thus far they had avoided her, and Wolf Dancer had decided not to rush the issue. He wanted to give the boys enough time to
realize what they had done. He wanted the apology to Dorey to be sincere.
Dorey had stiffened when she recognized the voice and now saw Wolf Dancer glance over his shoulder ather. She wasn’t sure
how to interpret that look, but she knew how she felt: uneasy!
She had yet to come face-to-face with her young assailants, and she wasn’t sure how she would react to the sight of them.
She sat still, filled with anxiety at what might happen in these next few moments. She hoped that when she saw those boys
again she wouldn’t be filled with hatred. She wanted to forget that the incident had ever happened, for she knew she must
learn to get along with the two boys as well as all the other Seminole people, at least until her mother made other plans
for their future.
Something told Dorey that Lavinia was so in love with Wolf Dancer that she might never want to leave him.
She had seen that love in her mother’s eyes whenever she was around Wolf Dancer. She had seen it in the chief’s eyes as well.
They were certainly in love, even though it was forbidden for a white woman to love a red man. But she and her mother were
no longer among whites! They were with the peace-loving Seminole.
And if Dorey had her way about their future, she would stay in this village. While she was with Wolf Dancer, she felt safe.
She had known she could trust him the moment she heard the kindness in his voice.
And he treated Dorey’s mother with such gentle care that she felt he might be the very one to put everything right in her
mother’s world.
Her mother had not loved the man she’d married. She deserved to find a man she could love now.
Lavinia’s insides tightened as Wolf Dancer opened the door and peered outside. From where she sat, she could see past him
to the two young braves standing there.
She could only conclude that these were the two boys who had abducted Dorey. They had yet to come and apologize to her. Surely
that was why they were here now.
She glanced over at Dorey to see how she was reacting and found her daughter looking at the young braves, too. Lavinia saw
a mixture of feelings in Dorey’s eyes, but the overriding emotion was anger. And Dorey had cause to be angry. She could have
died in the murky waters of the Everglades.
Just as Lavinia had been bitten by a snake, Dorey could have been bitten, too, and she would not have survived the bite because
she had been left alone to fend for herself!
Lavinia was surprised when Wolf Dancer welcomed the two young braves kindly—she thought they should have been reprimanded
and made to apologize.
But she loved Wolf Dancer and everything about him, so she believed that however he had decided to treat the young men was
surely best. He was a man of much intelligence, and also patience.
But she couldn’t help feeling he had been patient enough with those two young men as far as she was concerned. She would enjoy
giving them a piece of her mind.
But she knew it was not her place to speak up, or scold them. Wolf Dancer would take care of this.
Wolf Dancer stepped outside with Running Bear and Deer Shadow. He saw the uneasiness in their eyes as they looked up at him.
“My chief, Deer Shadow and I would like to apologize to Dorey, and then we would like to invite her to join in the fun with
us and our friends this morning,” Running Bear said as he peered around Wolf Dancer and made eye contact with Dorey, who was
staring angrily at him.
Wolf Dancer looked from one boy to the other, then placed a hand on the bare shoulder of each. “You know the wrong that you
did, do you not?” he asked, his jaw tight. “You know that it could have ended in tragedy?”
Both braves nodded anxiously.
“We are very sorry to have gone against all that my mother and father, and…you…have taught us,” Running Bear said.
“We did not want to harm Dorey, only to spend time with her. We know nothing of her world. We have been on the island since
we were born. Do you not understand why we wanted to learn about the white world? We were going to tell her of our ways, too.
It would have been an exchange of knowledge between us.”
He lowered his eyes. “We should not have waited until it was so late in the day to take her to our tree house,” he said, swallowing
hard.
Then he looked quickly up into Wolf Dancer’s eyes. “If we had brought her to the tree house at an earlier hour, we could have
talked and then released her and let her return to her home before night fell,” he said. “As it was, she came in her canoe
toolate for us to talk at length with her. That is why we left her there alone.”
“But we regret having done it,” Deer Shadow blurted out. “We have learned our lesson. You can trust us, Chief Wolf Dancer.
We will never go against the rules of our people again. But…but…we do want the girl’s friendship now, for as long
as she will be at our village. If she accepts our apology and wants to join our fun, will you allow it?”
Wolf Dancer had listened intently to what had been said, and he had heard true regret in the braves’ voices. He knew it was
important for the young people to put this unfortunate incident behind them. If Wolf Dancer had his way, both Dorey and her
mother would not want to return to the life they had left behind, but instead would spend their futures with him and his Seminole
people.
He turned and gazed at Dorey. “You have heard,” he said quietly. “Do you hear the sincerity in their voices? They regret what
they did to you. Can you accept their apology, or would you rather not join them in their fun today?”
Dorey had not been able to quell her excitement at the idea of joining the children in their games. She had seen the fun they
had while she had silently observed them.
She understood why the young braves had captured her.
She herself had hungered for knowledge of the Seminole.
That was why she had sought answers in the books in her father’s study.
She rose to her feet, and as her mother, Twila, and Joshua watched, she went and stood beside Wolf Dancer. She could not help
feeling nervous about what she was going to do, for although she did want to forgive these young men, she might never forget
her fear while she was alone in the tree house, and later in the
garita
.
“Are you truly sorry for what you did?” she asked guardedly, looking from one boy to the other. She saw the humbleness of
their expressions, and she knew deep inside that they did regret their actions.
“We are very sorry,” Running Bear said, tears shining in his eyes. “Will you let us make it up to you? Will you come and meet
our friends and join in our games?”
Deer Shadow suddenly pulled out his right arm, which he had kept behind him, and smiled broadly as he reached out to Dorey
and showed her what he had kept hidden.
“We made these game darts just for you,” Deer Shadow said, proudly displaying the darts, which had been made from corncobs
and feathers.
“They are for me?” Dorey said, her eyes widening as she gazed at the beautifully colored feathers on the darts.
“For always,” Deer Shadow said, holding them closer to her. “Please take them and come with us to play darts with our friends.”
Dorey slowly reached a hand out toward him, then smiled as he laid the lovely darts in her palm. “They are very pretty,” she
murmured. She looked from one boy to the other. “Are they truly mine?”
“Yes, and we have made another set for your black friend,” Running Bear said as he brought out the darts he had hidden behind
his back. “Will she come, too?”
Twila had heard everything, and her heart skipped a beat when she saw the darts that the young braves had made especially
for her.
She scampered to her feet and went to stand beside Dorey. When Running Bear held the darts closer to her, she slowly opened
her hand and accepted them.
“Thank you,” she murmured, her eyes bright with excitement.
Dorey turned and smiled at her mother. “May I go and play with the children?” she asked. She turned to Joshua. “May Twila?”
Both parents quickly nodded.
Lavinia sighed with a mixture of relief and happiness as she watched Dorey and Twila join the two young braves. They were
all soon laughing together as they ran and joined the others who were waiting for them.
Wolf Dancer closed the door and sat down beside Lavinia.
“It is a good day,” he said, gently taking her hand in his. “You do believe the boys were sincere?” “The gifts they made for
Dorey and Twila proved their sincerity,” Lavinia said, relishing the touch of Wolf Dancer’s hand in hers. It seemed that suddenly
everything in her and her daughter’s world was being righted.
Even Joshua and Twila’s lives held much morepromise than they ever could have at the plantation. They were now as free as
anyone could ever want to be. They were among people who did not scorn them because of the color of their skin. They were
treated as equals by the Seminole.
Joshua had sat quietly by, watching and listening to everything, glad to see that Wolf Dancer and Lavinia seemed so happy.
Joshua had noticed the undercurrents between Wolf Dancer and Lavinia from the first moment they had come together. Surely
something more than friendship was developing between them. Both were widowed, and they were very obviously attracted to one
another.
Sensing that these two people wanted to be alone, Joshua rose to his feet and walked to the door. “I’se needed in the cornfield,”
he said, opening the door. “It is harvesttime back at the plantation. It is harvest-time here as well. I will go and help
harvest de corn.” “Joshua, that is kind, but not necessary,” Wolf Dancer said, smiling up at him, and understanding what was
behind Joshua’s planned exit. Joshua was a wise man and had seen how Wolf Dancer and Lavinia felt about one another. He sought
to give them privacy.
“I’se good in de fields,” Joshua said, nodding and smiling. “Jest you two sit there and enjoy one another’s company.”
Joshua hurried outside, closing the door behind him.
Suddenly there was silence in the room as Lavinia and Wolf Dancer gazed into one another’s eyes.
Lavinia felt so much for Wolf Dancer, yet she was a little afraid of those feelings.
Although she thought he was falling in love with her, too, it seemed too soon after her husband’s death to admit to such passion.
How could she explain that she and her husband had never truly been in love? They had loved, but only in a gentle, caring
way.
“I am surprised that corn is grown in the Everglades,” she blurted out, wanting something, anything, to talk about. She needed
some time before acting on her feelings for Wolf Dancer, and she felt that he needed the same thing. They both wanted to be
sure of what they felt for one another.
But she knew that if he so much as kissed her, she would be truly lost to him.
“The ground of this island is very fertile. Many crops are grown here,” Wolf Dancer said.
He understood Lavinia’s need to talk.
If it was up to him, though, he would take her in his arms at this very moment and kiss her; his body cried out for hers.
But he wanted her to be certain before she gave in to her feelings.
“And I’ve noticed that you have various kinds of meat which are cooked by your women,” Lavinia said softly. “Among them…is turtle meat, which I never thought was good to eat.”
“Turtle meat is a very good food source for my people, as is the tender meat of young alligator tails,” Wolf Dancer said,
and noted how the latter made Lavinia shudder.
“I imagine you need to raise your own crops and catch your own meat because you do not feel safe togo beyond the Everglades
to trade,” Lavinia said. She saw a sudden hardness enter his eyes.
“Wolf Dancer, I know that you said the white soldiers are afraid to come this far into the swamp, but I still can’t help being
afraid that they might come looking for me and Dorey when Hiram discovers that we are gone,” she said. “I don’t believe Hiram
will let us go all that easily. I truly expect him to fight to get me back.”
“My warriors have been alerted to this possibility,” Wolf Dancer said. “They are posted at the most vulnerable points of the
Everglades. No one will be allowed to get near my village, especially not your evil brother-in-law.”
The longer she sat there alone with Wolf Dancer, the more Lavinia felt like an awkward girl in the presence of this powerful,
handsome Indian chief.
“I am sorry about your husband’s death,” Wolf Dancer said, bringing Lavinia out of her deep thoughts. “I know how the shock
of his death made you feel, for I felt the same when my wife died shortly after we were married. One day an alligator came
out of nowhere and my wife, Golden Dawn, was taken from me.”
“I’m so sorry that you experienced such a terrible loss,” Lavinia said, turning to sit directly in front of him. “It’s hard
when one loses a spouse.”
“My wife lives on in my memory, Lavinia” Wolf Dancer said, taking her other hand and holding both in his. “As long as we continue
to remember our loved ones, their spirits will live on within us.”
“That is so beautiful,” Lavinia said, fighting off tears that were burning in the corners of her eyes.