Escapes! (21 page)

Riley sat with his shipmates, watching the sun disappear behind the small huts that dotted the horizon. That makes it eight days since Hamet left for Mogadore, Riley thought grimly. Still they had heard nothing. He lay awake at nights, his mind swinging feverishly between hope and fear. He pictured Hamet searching in vain for someone who would read his letter — never mind pay the money! He must be angry by now, thought Riley. He must think I tricked him.

The sound of anyone coming — an opening gate, the trample of hooves — made Riley jump. He couldn't wait for his master to return, and at the same time he dreaded it. It would be the moment that either set him free, or ended his life.

A voice from nowhere made Riley and his men leap to their feet.

“How de-do Cap-e-tan.”

English! Riley couldn't remember the last time anyone but his crew had spoken to him in his own language. A man was walking toward them. Speaking in a mixture of English and Spanish, he explained that an Englishman had sent him from Mogadore. He handed Riley a letter.

Riley's heart was in his mouth as he took it. His shipmates stared at the letter with wide eyes, knowing it spelled out their fate. With shaking hands, Riley unfolded the paper and began to read.

My dear and afflicted sir,

I have this moment received your note...

Riley's eyes scanned down the page to the only words that mattered.

I have agreed to pay the sum of nine hundred and twenty dollars
to Sidi Hamet on your safe arrival in this town with your
fellow sufferers. He remains here as a kind of hostage for your safe
appearance...

…with the hope of a happy end to all your sufferings, I subscribe
myself, my dear Sir,

Your friend,
William Willshire

Riley stared for a moment at the name he'd never heard before. The name of a stranger. A stranger who had saved him. Joy and wonder began to swell inside him. He raised a hand to his gaunt face, and felt that his cheeks were wet with tears.

When Captain Riley returned home to the United States he wrote a book about his adventures. Riley's
Narrative
was read by over a million people, including a young boy named Abraham Lincoln. Some historians suggest that two events helped set the future American president's mind against slavery. One was his visit to a slave market in New Orleans when he was 19. And the other, earlier experience may have been reading Captain Riley's tale of slavery and escape.

Tickets to Freedom

Macon, Georgia, 1848

T
HERE WERE ONLY A FEW DAYS LEFT
before Christmas, as a young black slave named William Craft hurried home through the dusk to the cottage he shared with his wife, Ellen. In the pocket of his coat he felt the pair of dark eyeglasses he'd bought moments before. Slaves weren't supposed to buy such things without their master's permission, but some storekeepers were ready to take a slave's money and not ask too many questions.

For weeks now, William had been buying pieces of clothing one at a time — a shirt here, a hat there, all at different stores so as not to attract too much attention. The green glasses were the finishing touch on a plan, a bold and dangerous scheme William and Ellen had worked out together: their bid for freedom.

William and Ellen had always known they were luckier than many slaves. Ellen worked in her mistress' house as a lady's maid. William's master had paid to train him as a carpenter and then hired him out, taking most of William's pay but letting him keep a little for himself. Life was better for them than for the slaves on a cotton plantation — theirs was hard, back-breaking work, never far from an overseer's watchful eye and sharp whip.

Still, they had longed for freedom. William was tired of working hard only to hand over his wages to someone else. And Ellen could never shake the fear that all they had could be snatched away. If either of their masters needed money, she or William could be sold and they would never see each other again. Worst of all, any children they might have could be taken from them. William had watched helplessly while his parents were sold at an auction to the highest bidder — and he felt the same anger and sadness whenever he remembered. Ellen had been taken from her mother when she was 11, and now she couldn't bear the thought of raising a child to be someone's slave. At first they had put off getting married, hoping to escape and marry once they were free.

Other slaves had done it. They'd followed the Underground Railroad — which wasn't a railroad at all, but a long line of hiding places and secret helpers that ran from the southern slave states through the free north, all the way to Canada. Some slaves had even made a desperate run for it, following the North Star at night, hiding in woods and swamps during the day. With luck, they stumbled upon a friendly person who could tell them the way to the next safe house, or “station” along the railroad.

But Ellen and William wanted to come up with a plan before they made their move. Whenever they were alone they whispered together about all kinds of schemes, yet every one had its problems.

“A train or boat would get us out of Georgia the quickest. We could save for the fare,” Ellen ventured.

William shook his head. “Not without permission from our masters. We can't even walk the roads without that. Any white person could stop us and ask for our passes, to show we had a right to be there. And then what?” He paused and added, “They'd send slave catchers after us, that's what.”

Ellen was silent. They both knew about professional slave hunters. The way they tracked down runaways — on horseback with guns and dogs — reminded William of a fox hunt. He shuddered as he imagined himself and Ellen being dragged back to slavery. And not to their old jobs, either. They'd be punished as a lesson to other slaves — separated and sold “down the river” to a much harder life on a plantation.

The more they talked, the more impossible it seemed to make it across the slave states to freedom — a journey of nearly a thousand miles. Ellen and William asked for their masters' permission to marry, and they tried to make the best of it. But they never forgot their dream, and kept their eyes open for the smallest hope of escape.

Mending a drawer in his workshop one December afternoon, William puzzled over the problems that stood in their way. Slaves couldn't get on a train or boat without permission. As he sanded, he pictured Ellen. She was so fair-skinned; she had a white father, after all. A bold plan began to form in William's mind. What if Ellen pretended to be white, while William traveled as her slave?

But no, he knew a southern lady would never travel alone with a male servant. Then a sudden idea made his hand pause on the wood. Ellen could disguise herself as a white
man.
They could escape in daylight, under the noses of the slaveholders themselves! They'd travel first-class to Philadelphia — in the free state of Pennsylvania — and from there through the northern states to Canada.

It was risky, he thought, but so unexpected that it might have a chance. He knew that some slaveholders gave their favorite slaves a few days' holiday around Christmas. If he and Ellen could get time off, it would give them a head start before they were missed.

That night William described his plan to Ellen. She was too shocked to speak at first. How could she keep up a disguise like that for hundreds of miles across the slave states? No, thought Ellen, it was too crazy. Then she pictured the life that lay before her if she did nothing — years of work without anything to call their own, not even their own bodies. And always the fear of losing her husband, her future children to the auction block. She looked at William and nodded — she would take the risk.

William began to buy as many pieces of her disguise as he could, a little at a time. Ellen was extra careful to please her mistress before she asked for a pass to be away for a few days, and the cabinetmaker gave William a pass without too much fuss. They hurried home to show each other their passes, but neither could read them — it was illegal to teach slaves to read. They'd have to trust that the passes said what they hoped.

So far all the pieces were falling into place. But as the day of escape drew closer, Ellen began to notice flaws in their plan. “William, any traveling gentleman would sign his name to register at a hotel — and I can't write!”

William slumped in his chair — he hadn't thought of that. Ellen paced the cottage floor anxiously. Then her face lit up. “I think I have it — I'll bind up my right hand in a sling, and ask the innkeeper to sign for me.”

Then, glimpsing herself in a mirror, she frowned — her face was too smooth to convince anyone that she was a man! She pulled some cloth out of her sewing box and wound it into a bundle. Wrapping it around her chin with a handkerchief, she tied the ends over her head.

“As if I had a bad toothache,” she explained, turning to show William. He agreed it could work. And it would give her an excuse to avoid chatting with other travelers — the less she had to talk, the better.

Four more nights passed as they stayed up late, talking over their plan in the darkness. The sling and handkerchief gave William more ideas. If Ellen acted sick and lost in her thoughts, people wouldn't bother her. Like many slave owners, she'd count on her slave to fetch and carry for her — and answer questions from any nosy fellow travelers. And in only a few days, they could be free!

The moment they had so eagerly awaited was almost at hand. Ellen's costume was nearly finished. Whatever William hadn't been able to buy, Ellen had sewn herself in her moments alone. The evening before their escape, William brought home the pair of glasses that would complete the picture. The dark lenses would hide any fear in Ellen's eyes. They both knew she would have to sit surrounded by white men — and slave owners — wherever they traveled.

Just before dawn, William cut off Ellen's long hair. With trembling hands she slipped on her dark suit, cloak, and hat, then the high-heeled boots that would make her look taller. As she stood leaning on a cane, with one arm in a sling and bandages on her face, William took a long look at her. He smiled and shook his head in disbelief — she looked so much like a sickly white gentleman he was almost convinced himself!