They went several yards into
the thick woods and then began moving parallel to the road. These trees were
different from the swamplands they had been walking through the previous night.
The land was firm and dry, and the trees grew thick and close together, forcing
each person to watch closely to where they were stepping. Ben carried Baby
Claire while also helping Jane pick her way through the branches which tugged
at her dress and shawl. The moon was thin, but the sky was clear and thankfully
it gave off enough light for them to be able to see the outlines of the trees
in front of them, but they couldn’t see much beyond that.
Henry was trailing behind the group now. He was distracted
by the night noises of howls and chirps coming from deeper in the woods, and he
pulled his pockets inside out for good luck. Just as he did that he heard a
loud owl hoot from a nearby tree. He stopped walking.
“Did you hear that?” he asked. Even in the cold air he was
beginning to break out in a sweat.
“Keep moving,” said Harriet.
“Owl cries are bad luck,” Henry said.
“Keep moving,” repeated Harriet.
Henry
muttered something to himself about bad luck then felt the poke of a gun barrel
press against his back.
“Them owl’s is bad luck for you, fren’,” said a rough voice
behind him. “Now stop right where y’ar.”
“Oh, Lord, Harriet! They caught us,” cried Henry. “Them
slave-catchers caught us here!”
Everyone in Harriet’s group stopped to look back at Henry.
Kyla and Zammie froze in their tracks.
“Who’s that there?” asked Harriet. “Who are ya?” In the
darkness all she could make out was the outline of a man standing behind Henry.
“You be trespassin’ on my land,” said the voice. “An’ we
don’t take kindly to trespassers. What’s yur business out here?”
“I mean no disrespec’, sir, but we didn’t know this was
your land,” said Harriet. “We’ll be more than happy to move on through as
quickly as our feet’ll carry us.”
“An’ why should I jus let you go like that, lit’l woman?”
asked the man. “I’m thinkin’ I’m due some payment for lettin’ you use my land
as a causeway.”
“He
got a gun, Harriet,” said Henry. His voice was trembling.
“We promise to be movin’ on, sir,” said Harriet. “We don’t
want no trouble now.”
While Harriet was talking, Robert had slowly and carefully
snuck up behind the stranger. Just when the man was about to answer Harriet
again Robert grabbed the barrel of the rifle and pulled it up so it was
pointing in the air. He then hit the man squarely in the mouth with the back of
his elbow and the rifle went off with a loud BANG. The powder flash briefly
illuminated the area. In an instant it was dark again, but in that brief split
second of light, Zammie had noticed several other shapes moving towards them
through the trees.
Robert gave the rifle to Henry then knelt down and lifted
the stranger up by his jacket collar.
“What d’you want from us?” asked Robert.
Two lanterns were then turned on, one on either side of the
group. The forest was illuminated with a warm, yellow glow and they could see
that six other black men, most holding hunting rifles, had surrounded the
group.
Robert looked back down at the first stranger. He was
smiling at Robert through blood-stained teeth. Robert had busted his lip when
he hit him with his elbow.
“You bettuh let me go, son, or you’ll be in more trouble
than you can possibly imagine,” the man said before beginning to laugh.
-- from Time Trip #2:
A Ride on the Underground Railroad
TIME TRIP ADVENTURE 4
KILLING FOR COUNTRY
TIME TRIP ADVENTURE 2
A RIDE ON THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD
TIME TRIP ADVENTURE 3
WITNESS TO THE FIRST THANKSGIVING
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