Underground to Canada (6 page)

Liza was in some sort of trance.

When she looked up, though, the crippled girl's eyes snapped and danced. They lit up her face until there wasn't a scowl left.

Julilly stared. Liza must be about thirteen years old—the same as her! She hadn't thought of any age for this new friend of hers. She'd just seen a worn-out, sullen, old slave face on her, such as many of the other young girls had.

“You look happy,” Julilly said eventually, beating hard with her stick to make up for Liza's not moving at all.

“I am.” Liza still didn't move. “I thought my daddy was wrong. I thought the Lord had passed me by. But he hasn't. This time I'll have help in findin' my freedom. I'll have you and Massa Ross.”

IN THE SHADOW-FILLED MOONLIGHT that night, Liza and Julilly lay quiet on their cabin floor. Their eyes were closed and they didn't move.
Honeysuckle
sweetness from the Big House lawn drifted through the open door; gentle bird calls sounded from the cypress grove. They waited and waited, wondering when the call they were listening for would come.

The big girl, Bessie, near by, twisted about and then sat up to swat a mosquito that circled her head.

“Oh, Lord, put Bessie to sleep,” Julilly prayed.

Within minutes the big girl did sleep.

Then they heard it—three soft calls of the whippoorwill.

Swiftly and silently the girls crept out of the door. They were barefoot and the hard dirt of the slave quarters made no sound. Lester's shadow spread over the ground near the line of trees, guiding them.

As they approached, they could see Lester put his fingers over his lips. They didn't speak. Lester started walking fast toward the Piney Woods and motioned for the girls to follow.

Inside the woods, the thick, fallen pine needles were soft to their feet. There was no path. Lester meandered dog-like around the tall trunks as though sniffing his way.

They walked deep among the trees until the tall, guarding trunks enclosed them in an open space. Mr. Ross was there with Adam and Ben.

“This is Julilly who I told you about,” Lester said breathlessly to Mr. Ross. “And this girl is Liza. She tried to escape once, but got caught. Massa Sims lashed her almost to death.”

Mr. Ross shook Liza's hand and then Julilly's. Julilly hadn't expected this. It was a gesture of friendship. It was like their hands made a bridge.

Maybe, with this big man's help she could cross over it into Canada.

Mr. Ross drew the group close together. He spoke directly and forcefully. Julilly had to strain to understand his Canadian speech.

“Lester has chosen you out of all the miserable slaves on this plantation,” he said, “because he thought you were the only ones with the desire and the courage to escape to Canada.”

“That's right for me,” Julilly answered gravely. The others nodded their heads.

“My conviction is that human slavery is such a monstrous wrong that any measure is justified to liberate as many of you as possible.”

Lester interrupted. “I think these folks should know,
Massa Ross
, that you are one of those Abolitionists who are helpin' to free the slaves.”

“That's right, Lester.” Mr. Ross' eyes became merry and he laughed softly. “I've been called ‘Negro Thief,' and in one town in Tennessee a sign was put up which said, ‘$1,200 reward for the apprehension of the Accursed Abolitionist.' That was me.”

His laugh eased the tension. The circle of sturdy pine trees closed about them like a sheltering arm.

Mr. Ross began speaking straightforwardly. “This is a great risk you are taking to escape bondage for freedom. None of it is going to be easy. It won't even be easy when you get to Canada.”

He looked at each of them steadily and in turn they met his eyes with lifted heads.

“It takes courage and determination and a good deal of wit.” His words were measured and slow. “If you don't think you can do it, I will understand.”

Julilly found it strange just to look in the eyes of a white man. How was she going to speak her mind in front of one? She was glad for the night and the darkness that covered all of them.

“I'm afraid, Massa Ross. But I don't want to be whipped by Massa Sims one more time. Even a horse shouldn't be whipped the way he whips us slaves. My Mammy told me to join her in Canada and I want to do this. I've got courage the same as she has.”

“That's so, Massa Ross,” Lester added.

“She helped me out of a swamp when the chain was round my ankle.”

Julilly was pleased that Lester remembered. She knew Lester would never stay at Massa Riley's place even if he was whipped until he nearly died. She didn't know about Adam. He was meek and gentle. He mostly liked to sing. But he had strong arms and a proud head. His skin was as black as Liza's. It faded into the night.

Liza straightened her back and stood as tall as she could. “The Lord has been speakin' to me, Massa Ross,” she said simply. “He says to me ‘You ain't meant to be beaten. You is a woman same as Missy Riley.' Bein' black don't make me no animal. I got eyes, and hands, and legs same as she has.”

Adam was the last to speak.

“Until I met you, Massa Ross,” he murmured in his soft, easy way, “I figured white folks had slaves everywhere.”

“Those are noble speeches, Liza and Julilly. You are the kind of people we need.” Mr. Ross stroked back his thick, reddish hair. “The men have already talked with me. Adam and Lester are certain that they want to go. Ben hasn't decided.”

He drew the group closer together and began giving them directions: they must not talk with anyone else on the plantation about the planned escape—they must meet at this same spot next Saturday night and be ready to leave—Lester would give the whippoorwill call again—Lester would be with Mr. Ross all week getting instructions while they hunted for birds—Liza and Julilly would let Lester cut their hair and dress as boys in the woods after they left—their dresses would be thrown in the swamp water.

The eerie call of a
hoot owl
echoed through the tense, shadowy night. The slaves and Mr. Ross took it as a warning that they should return to their sleeping quarters. They parted in three directions, the girls following Lester on his zig-zag path through the Piney Woods.

CHAPTER TEN

ON THEIR ROW OF COTTON the next day, Julilly and Liza kept their heads low and didn't talk. They worked hard, filling and refilling the big basket at the end of their row with soft, white cotton bolls from the
gunny sacks
slung about their necks. They didn't want to anger Sims. When they saw Lester or Adam, they pretended not to notice them.

There was no more Canada-talk in the long cabin where they lived. At night when the others slept, they tried to sleep too.

“We need to build up our strength,” Liza told Julilly. “We need all the sleep we can get.”

Julilly couldn't seem to keep her feelings tucked inside as Liza did. Her heart jumped like a scared rabbit. Everything around seemed sharp. The firefly's flickering turned to hot, bright sparks. Grasshoppers scraped the air when they leaped. Their little eyes bulged. Droning
cicadas
cackled, and cackled, and CACKLED.

“Keep prayin',” Liza told her.

She did.

The two girls began storing things away on a high dark shelf of the cabin—extra hoecakes, their winter shoes. Massa Ross promised to find the boys' clothes. Lester would have the scissors to clip their hair. On the night before leaving they would stuff their crocker sacks with the few belongings that they owned and hang them over their backs as knapsacks.

The heavy dank heat of August pressed down on the Riley plantation. Thick air hung over everything, filled with
magnolia
fragrance and the crazed whine of mosquitoes. Sweat trickled over the face of the angry Sims. He whipped at the old and the young without reason. Misery was every-where— everywhere but on the cool greenness and the pillared whiteness of the Big House. The Big House, poised, serene and stately, ignored the slave quarters.

On Saturday, there were puffs of clouds in the sky. The flies stung and swarmed, as before a rain. Julilly and Liza watched with fear. If a storm blew up, would they go? If the clouds piled high, could they see the North Star?

All day long they picked in the cotton fields. There was no sun and the air was windless. Before weighing started in the late afternoon, Lester appeared with Mr. Ross. The kindly gentleman was as calm and neatly dressed as on the first day of his arrival. This time his bag for birds bulged with specimens.

“Ah, there you are again, Mr. Sims,” he called out with a jovial smile. “I've had an excellent day. There are unbelievably rare and beautiful birds in this great land.”

Sims looked with disdain at the bag of specimens. Julilly watched Lester. With a quick look, he moved his head slightly up and down three times. They would go!

Even if it rained and the clouds blotted out every star, they would go!

Julilly lifted her head and stood tall and straight. This was the last time she would stand shaking and grovelling before Massa Sims, waiting for him to weigh her basket of stamped-down cotton. This was the last time Liza would be whipped and kicked like some worn-out dog.

The two girls walked one behind the other down the path from the cotton fields to the slave quarters.

They were silent, but their thoughts were a cord binding them closer and closer together.

When night came, a twisting wind blew the clouds away. It swirled and tussled through the tall pines and then died in some distant field. The slaves grumbled. Rain would have given them a day of rest from the heat and the fields. For Julilly, Liza, Lester, and Adam it was a blessing straight from the Lord. The Big Dipper appeared above them, as faithful as the rising sun, and the North Star sparkled.

“The North Star's been polished by the wind and the rain,” declared Julilly to Liza as they hurried to the sleeping cabin before the other girls arrived. They stuffed their meagre supplies into the sturdy crocker sacks, rolled them tight and covered them with the blanket-rags on the floor. Then they lay down and put their heads on top of the pile.

“Close your eyes like you're already asleep,” Liza murmured to Julilly as the other slave girls began to drift through the open door. There was little talk, for the day had been long and hard. Julilly felt for Liza's bony, rough hand. Slowly bodies fell silent all over the room, and the night sounds took over.

Julilly found it hard to keep still. Her legs wanted to twist about. Her arms felt like flinging themselves upwards. She clamped her teeth together to keep from shouting: “Let's go, Liza. Let's go!”

She squeezed her friend's hand. The return pressure calmed her. No matter what happened, no matter if Massa Riley got
bloodhounds
to chase them, she would help Liza, and Liza would help her. And, above all, Liza seemed certain that the Lord was on her side this time. Julilly almost relaxed into sleep when the whippoorwill song sounded faintly three times. The girls lifted their heads slowly, quietly reached for their blankets, and soundlessly walked from the cabin door. Lester was standing by the cypress trees as before. They followed him along the round-about path in the woods, but this time he went faster and there were more twists and turns. Julilly knew why. If blood-hounds began sniffing their trail, it would take them longer to wind around the trees.

Massa Ross stood as last time, splendidly dressed and neatly combed and brushed. He didn't seem fearful, even though Liza had told Julilly that he could be hanged for helping them escape. His filled-out chest and big stomach seemed to give him strength.

Adam was there, sitting on the ground, waiting and tense—fox-like—ready to spring. But there was no sign of Ben.

Massa Ross asked them to stand close around him. His voice was lower and softer than before. He clasped each of their hands and said,

“The difficulties and dangers of this route and the inevitable pursuit for weeks by human foes and possibly bloodhounds require the exercise of rare qualities of mind and body. Each one of you has these. You have foresight and great courage.”

Julilly liked the sweep of his fine words, even though she couldn't understand all of them.

Quickly, however, he changed his style. He looked about the circle of trees and listened for many minutes to the strange night sounds. When he spoke next, only the four of them could possibly hear.

“You will start at midnight,” he said. “Then everyone will be asleep. I have given Lester a watch so that he will know when the time comes. Make it to the swamp just ahead and wade through the low water in your bare feet. This will kill the scent of tracks. Bloodhounds lose their scent in water.”

He paused again for a brief moment to listen.

“Tonight you will follow the
Mississippi River
north. It will guide your feet and the North Star above will guide your eyes.”

He began talking more quickly. The moon was nearing the height of its climb across the sky.

“By all means, stay together. Lester will be your guide. Trust him. I have given him many directions. You will travel by night and sleep by day. When you cross the border into Tennessee, I will be there. Pretend you don't know me and don't be astonished at my face, for my beard will be shaved.”

He stopped talking and handed each of them two dollar bills, a knife and some cold meat and bread. To Julilly and Liza he gave a pair of pants and a shirt.

“Change these after you cross the swamp,” he said. “Let your old clothes float on the water. The slave hunters might think you have drowned. Lester has scissors to clip your hair short.”

He shook hands with each of them, clasping them tightly.

“Now I must go back to the Big House. Tomorrow I leave for another mission in Columbus, Mississippi. Bless you.”