The Swindler's Treasure (18 page)

S
tartled, Riggs turned his horse toward the house. A confused look crossed his face. Only a doctor and a woman stood before him—a woman in a long black dress and a hat. Yet from behind the veil a man's voice had spoken.

Then Jordan leaped into action, again racing toward the woods. As Riggs started after him, the woman cried out, a great, deep bellow.

Once more Riggs wheeled his horse to stare at the woman. In that moment she began to run in the opposite direction from Jordan. As she started around the house, she stumbled. When she caught up her long skirts, a man's pant legs showed underneath.

Again kicking his horse, Riggs started after the man disguised as a woman. Suddenly Jordan stopped, as though unsure what to do.

“Go, Jordan!” the man commanded again, and Jordan went. A moment later he disappeared into the woods.

Just then the two other riders galloped up. As the man in a dress fled across the yard, the slave catchers followed. When they reached him, the catchers leaped from their horses.

One of the catchers tripped the fleeing man. The other shoved his face into the ground. As the hat and veil fell away, Libby saw a man's short black hair.

Is that Jordan's father, Micah Parker?
Libby wondered. Who else would have known Jordan's name?

While one slave catcher twisted the man's arms behind him, the other snapped leg irons around his ankles. As Jordan's daddy lay on the ground, Riggs rode over next to him.

Gazing down at the runaway, Riggs gloated, “I came for your boy and got you—an even bigger prize!”

Even from where she hid, Libby could hear Dr. Brown's groan. As if suddenly remembering him, Riggs turned his horse that way.

“So! This will teach you not to help a runaway slave!”

But Dr. Brown seemed not to hear. As the slave catchers yanked Jordan's father to his feet, the doctor shuddered. “Stop it!”

But Riggs only laughed. “I'll whip him till he obeys. Then I'll get big money for him!”

Dragging Jordan's father by the arms, the slave catchers threw him facedown over a horse.

“Let him go!” Dr. Brown commanded. “You'll kill the man!”

But Riggs towered over the doctor. “Just wait!” he threatened. “I'll find the magistrate and be back to arrest you!”

Wheeling his horse, Riggs rode away. The two slave catchers followed with one of them leading the horse that carried Micah Parker.

As Dr. Brown watched them go, he started to tremble. The moment Riggs and the catchers were out of sight, a girl a bit younger than Libby hurried out of the house. The girl's hair was braided in two long pigtails.

“Let's talk to Dr. Brown before he goes inside,” Caleb said.

Libby and Peter followed him out of the woods. As they started across the road, the girl spoke.

“C'mon, Papa,” she said. “They're gone for now.”

Taking her father by the arm, she led him toward the front door. Just before they reached the steps, the doctor looked around and saw Libby, Caleb, and Peter.

“Who are you?” the doctor asked.

“Jordan's friends,” Caleb told him.

The doctor motioned to them. “Come in.” He waited at the door for them to enter, then said, “This is my daughter Frances.”

Once inside, the doctor seemed to have new life. “Send for help,” he told Frances.

“The men who would rescue a fugitive aren't here. They left town just before you came.”

As though unwilling to believe her words, the doctor sank into a chair. “They're really gone?”

His daughter nodded. “I don't know what happened, but I saw them ride off together.”

Covering his face with his hands, the doctor began to weep. Her arms around his shoulders, Frances stood next to him.

When at last Dr. Brown looked up, his face was lined with tears. “I never lost a passenger before. What will happen to the poor man?”

“Please, sir.” Caleb spoke softly. “I'm afraid for Micah too. But I've got to find Jordan. When the slave catchers went after his father, Jordan got away from me.”

Dr. Brown drew a long, shaky breath. As if he had trained himself to think no matter what was going on, he said, “You can't go now.”

“But I must,” Caleb answered. “Jordan will go crazy thinking about what happened to his father. He'll do something stupid, something—”

Dr. Brown held up his hand, silencing Caleb. “Our woods are thick with many places to hide. There's an Indian trail Jordan can follow if necessary. About a mile from here, there's a creek. He'll find water.”

“But I've got to find Jordan before the slave catchers do.” Caleb's face showed the pain and worry he felt.

“One person can hide much easier than two or three or four. Any minute now, the slave catchers will be back with the magistrate. If you leave, you'll lead the catchers to Jordan.”

As if accepting the truth in the doctor's words, Caleb dropped down, sitting cross-legged on the floor. But every muscle of his body showed his desire to be off.

“The minute it's safe, I'll go into the woods,” Frances promised Caleb as she fed everyone. “I know all the hiding places. I'll find your friend.”

“What's going on?” Peter asked Libby.

With all that had happened, she had forgotten to tell him. Taking the slate from his bag, she started to write.

“What's a magistrate?” Peter asked finally.

Caleb was the one who explained. “A justice, a judge,” he wrote on the slate. “He decides who's doing right and who's doing wrong.”

When they finished eating, Frances led them across a hallway into a small sitting room. “When the slave catchers come back, hide in here so they don't recognize you later.”

Frances showed Libby a small boxlike table with slatted doors. “If you crawl in there, you can see what's going on, but they can't see you.”

In a surprisingly short period of time Riggs returned. When he pounded on the door, Libby and Caleb jumped up. His eyes wide with fear, Peter followed them into the sitting room.

While Caleb and Peter slipped behind heavy drapes, Libby crawled into the small table. As soon as Libby knelt in place, Frances closed the doors. By peering through the narrow cracks between the slats, Libby could see through the hallway into the parlor.

When Dr. Brown opened the front door, Riggs swaggered in. A kind-looking gentleman followed him.

“Mr. Gilson will see that justice is done,” the slave trader announced.

As the person who decided the outcome of cases brought into court, the magistrate was expected to carry out the law. However, Mr. Gilson looked very unhappy about being there.

“Well, what are you waiting for?” Riggs demanded when the magistrate did nothing. “I've given you the proof you need!”

His gaze steady and unafraid, Mr. Gilson watched the slave trader but did not answer.

The magistrate's unwillingness to obey angered Riggs. “I caught this so-called doctor helping a slave escape. You saw that slave for yourself. He's still in the front yard. Arrest this man!”

“I cannot arrest him.” Judge Gilson spoke in a calm, steady voice.

“You can't arrest him?” Riggs raged. “That's your job!”

“But this is Sunday,” the judge answered.

“Sunday? What does that have to do with it?”

“This is the Lord's day. I make no arrests on Sunday.” Without a backward glance, Mr. Gilson walked out of the house.

Riggs followed him, shouting all the way to the road. Dr. Brown quietly closed the door, then locked it.

On her hands and knees, Libby crawled out from the table and crept over to a window. Being careful to stay behind a curtain, she and Caleb and Peter watched. Frances and her father watched from another window.

Micah Parker was still slung over the horse. A chain stretched between the iron bands around his ankles.

“It must be agony for Jordan's father to lie on his stomach that way,” Libby said.

Caleb agreed. “Every time the horse moves, he feels it.”

Moments later one of the slave catchers pulled Micah Parker down from the horse. With quick, angry movements, the catcher bound a rope around Micah's hands. Holding the long end of the rope, the catcher climbed up on the horse.

When the two slave catchers rode away, Jordan's father walked behind. Swinging his feet as wide as the chain would allow, he brought forward one foot, then another, trying to keep up.

Libby cringed just watching him. “If he stumbles and falls, they'll drag him!”

On his horse again, Riggs waited in the middle of the road until Micah Parker and the slave catchers disappeared from sight. Then, with one last angry look at Dr. Brown's house, Riggs rode off in the opposite direction.

“What's he going to do?” Libby asked Caleb.

“Get together a bunch of slave catchers and go after Jordan.”

Libby's mind was still reeling from all that had happened. For months Jordan had longed to see his father.

Caleb turned from the window. “I'm going now,” he told Dr. Brown. “I've got to find Jordan before dark.”

As though he had aged ten years, the doctor again sank into his chair. “Do everything you can to bring Jordan back. If you manage to get him this far, we'll keep him safe.”

To Libby the doctor's quiet voice seemed even more heartbreaking than all the angry shouting she had heard.

Libby, Caleb, and Peter followed Frances into the kitchen. Working together, they made more sandwiches. Quickly they wrapped them in pieces of cloth. Then Frances told them the best way to search the woods. She and Peter would take one half. Libby and Caleb would search the other half. They would try to move without sound, yet show themselves plainly so that Jordan wouldn't be frightened.

As quietly as possible, Libby and Caleb walked through their half of the woods. Whenever they came to a cluster of bushes or a clump of trees, they searched carefully. At even a small hollow in the ground, Caleb checked to see if Jordan lay hidden beneath a pile of old, fallen leaves. By the time Libby and Caleb came out on the far side of the woods, the sun lay close to the western horizon.

“We have to find him soon!” Caleb muttered as they started back through the woods.

As they continued searching, the dusk grew deeper. Even Caleb showed his panic now by whispering, “Once it's dark, we'll
never
see him!”

Walking back from a different direction, they noticed a large log they had missed before. Dropping down on her hands and knees, Libby wiggled under bushes to reach the far side of the log. There, in a hollow beneath the wood, Jordan was huddled.

The moment Libby motioned to him, Caleb crawled under the bushes. With his forehead on the ground, Jordan turned his head just enough to see Caleb. Reaching out, Caleb rested his hand on his friend's shoulder.

“I'm sorry,” he said quietly.

As if he didn't recognize Caleb, Jordan only stared at him.

“Come with us,” Caleb said.

His face swollen from weeping and his eyes glazed with grief, Jordan shook his head.

“You need to hide,” Caleb told him.

But Jordan pulled away, as if wanting nothing to do with Caleb.

Again Caleb spoke quietly. “We need to hurry,” he warned. “The slave catchers will find you.”

Jordan's eyes were wild now. “Maybe they'd take me to where my daddy be. Maybe I'd see him again!”

“That's exactly what your daddy doesn't want!” Caleb exclaimed.

Jordan shuddered. “How could my daddy give himself away for me? How could he give up his life for mine?”

Still on his knees, Jordan pounded the earth with his fists. “Momma needs him. Serena and Zack and little Rose—they all need him. If my daddy hadn't called out to me, he would have gotten away!”

Caleb tugged at Jordan's arm. “You need to hide.”

Instead, Jordan's shoulders heaved with sobs. “Just when I found my daddy, I lost him again!”

“Your daddy wants you to be
free
!”

Only then did Jordan seem to understand. Slowly he crawled out from his hiding place, got to his feet, and followed Caleb.

As they started back, the darkness grew thick around them. To Libby's relief, Caleb remembered the direction they should go. Partway through the woods, they met Peter and Frances. From then on Frances took the lead.

When they drew close to the house, Frances brought them around to where they could see the backyard. A lighted lantern stood on a post, giving the all-clear signal. Crossing the open yard, Frances took them into the house.

Inside, she led them up the stairs to the second floor. At the top of the steps was a short hallway. At the end of the hall, Frances opened a secret door into the attic.

“Hurry!” she whispered to Jordan. “If someone comes, there's another door. It leads into the upper floor of our shed. You'll be safe there.”