Midnight Rescue (12 page)

“I don’t want to even play the part,” Caleb said.

“If someone thinks we is friends, you be in big trouble,”
Jordan answered. “And I be unable to rescue my family.”

A long look passed between them. Finally Caleb nodded.

“But you can’t look proud,” he warned. “If you look proud, anyone who sees you will know it’s you. That’s how the reward poster described you.”

As if he had thought through every detail of his plan, Jordan grinned. “I ain’t goin’ to look proud. You’ll see.”

“So what am I supposed to do?” Libby asked.

As Jordan’s gaze met Caleb’s, Libby again felt sure there had been a disagreement. But she also knew something else. A few weeks before, Caleb had made a surprising offer to Jordan.
“You tell me what to do, and I’ll do it.”

Jordan had leaped up, his eyes blazing with anger.
“You is foolin’ me, sure enough! There ain’t no slave boy who tells a white boy what to do!”

But Caleb hadn’t been making fun of Jordan.
“I know what to do if I find a runaway slave,”
Caleb had said.
“I know how to hide a fugitive who comes near the
Christina.
What you need to do will be a whole lot harder.”

From then on, whenever Libby asked if she could help in the rescue, Caleb had followed one rule. It was Jordan planning the trip. Though Libby felt sure that Caleb didn’t want her along, he had no choice but to stick to his own words.

Now Libby repeated her question. “What do you want me to do?”

“I wants you to go in that peddler wagon,” Jordan said. “I wants you and the peddler to drive right up to that farmhouse. While you does that, me and Caleb sneaks into that farm any way we can. We finds Momma and tells her we is leavin’ for the Promised Land.”

“You want
me
to talk to the owners?” The memory of how she had failed still haunted Libby. “What if I do the wrong thing?”

“Just because you done one thing wrong don’t mean you is goin’ to do everything wrong,” Jordan told her. “The Lord told me we is goin’ to need you.”

“
You
need
me
?” Libby looked from one boy to the other. When Caleb did not meet her eyes, Libby knew she had been right. Caleb still did not want her along.

“Why do you want two wagons?” Libby asked.

“If something happens so me and Caleb don’t git there, Momma’s got another way to escape.”

As though he could no longer sit still, Jordan started pacing up and down in the open space between baggage. “It be early mornin’ now. We has a whole day to git to the farm and find my family. We needs to rescue them by midnight tonight. If we gits away by then, we has till first light tomorrow mornin’ to find a hiding place.”

Suddenly Jordan stopped his pacing. “I is feeling more and more uneasy about my family.”

“What’s wrong?” Caleb asked.

“Right here.” Jordan thumped his chest. “I been feeling the jiggles for three, four days now. Something is goin’ on with Momma and my sisters and my brother.”

“Something bad?” Libby asked.

Jordan nodded. “Something real bad.”

“How do you know?”

“I hears it like a warnin’ bell. Like the Lord is deep inside me sayin’, ‘Jordan, you got to git there soon. You got to git there as fast as you can.’”

“Do you understand what’s wrong?” Caleb asked as if he had no doubt about Jordan hearing from God.

Jordan shook his head. “But I knows one thing.” His face filled with despair. “If my family gits sold away before I git there, I ain’t never goin’ to see them again.”

CHAPTER 9

W
e got to pray,” Jordan said. Between two big trunks, he dropped down on his knees. “We got to pray right now.”

When Jordan stretched his arms high above his head, Libby felt glad there was no one around to see. But then Jordan started praying with the boldness of talking to a good friend. Libby closed her eyes.

“Mighty Jesus, we needs Your help. We needs Your love and protection and favor. We needs You to blind the eyes and shut the ears of them people who want to hurt us. Open the eyes and open the ears of them people You want to help us.”

As if in answer to Jordan’s prayer, Libby’s eyes flew open. Jordan’s eyes were open too. Rocking on his knees, he swayed forward and back, looking up to heaven. “Bring my momma and my brother Zack, my sister Serena, and my little sister Rose safe into your Promised Land!”

As though the Lord had already rescued his family, Jordan sank back on his heels. “Jesus, we thanks You that when we is weak, You makes us strong. Hallelujah! A–men!”

When Caleb looked up, Jordan’s gaze met his. Instead of worry, a glad light shone in Jordan’s eyes.

I wish I could be so sure of what God can do
, Libby thought.

Before long, Jordan left them to get ready for the trip. Libby stayed where she was, leaning against a large piece of baggage. Her head bowed, she felt as if she could barely speak.

I thought I could do whatever I set out to do. Jordan knows more about rescuing his family than any of us. And he knows he can’t do it without God.
Libby’s cheeks burned with shame just remembering how sure of herself she had been.

She still felt uncomfortable with Caleb. Because she knew he didn’t want her along, there was something stiff and awkward between them. Now a nagging thought entered Libby’s mind.
Caleb doesn’t think I can do it. Maybe he’s right
.

Yet there was a question Libby needed to ask. “Did you mean it when you told Jordan he could lose his life?”

“I meant it,” Caleb answered as though he had no doubt about his words.

“But for Pa—if he got caught with a fugitive, it would be fines or imprisonment. Maybe losing the
Christina
.”

Caleb nodded. “He’s taking a risk for something he believes in. A risk he doesn’t have to take.”

“And for Jordan—” Libby’s voice trailed off. “It could be his
life
?”

“He’s a fugitive,” Caleb reminded.

“But our founding fathers fought for life,” Libby said. “That’s exactly what the men who signed the Declaration of Independence wanted—Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”

More than once during their history lessons, Pa had talked about the document these men had signed. Now, as though it could give Jordan safety, Libby repeated their words. “‘We hold
these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal—’”

Caleb joined her. “‘That they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights—’”

“‘That among these are Life—’” Libby stopped, unable to go on. This last week, life had become very precious to her.

“Are there many runaway slaves who go back for their families?” Libby asked when at last she spoke.

“It’s unusual. Sometimes a man escapes and works hard to buy the freedom of his wife and children. But now, since that 1850 fugitive slave law, slave catchers have been chasing fugitives all the way to Canada. It’s mighty hard for a fugitive to go back.”

“Caleb, how do you know if it’s really God talking to Jordan?”

“I watch to see what happens,” Caleb said. “I want to know if it’s something good, like God’s protection. If Jordan is hearing the Lord, it should help people, not hurt them.”

“So it turns out that Jordan has done the best thing?” Libby asked.

Caleb nodded, but Libby still felt scared. She remembered Jordan’s owner, the cruel slave trader. “Is Jordan going to have trouble with Riggs again?”

To Libby’s surprise Caleb started pacing the floor in much the same way Jordan had. That worried Libby even more. Usually Caleb stayed calm even when really awful things happened. Now he was clearly nervous about what Jordan planned to do.

“Riggs is a really big slave trader, Libby. He’s a rich man with lots of property. I’m surprised he’s chased Jordan as much as he has. He hasn’t got time to run around after one slave, unless—”

A dark, angry look came into Caleb’s eyes.

“Unless what?” Though Libby wanted to know, she dreaded the answer.

Caleb stopped pacing. “Remember how Riggs said, ‘I never had a slave get away from me—alive, that is!’ Riggs might have a special hatred for Jordan because he
did
get away. If it becomes a matter of revenge—”

“Riggs could chase Jordan to the ends of the earth,” Libby said slowly, disliking even the sound of her words. “You mean Riggs might want to prove to himself that no one can get away from him?”

By the set of Caleb’s chin, Libby knew that was exactly what he meant.

Then there was something else Libby knew. She remembered why she liked Caleb. In spite of their disagreement about whether she could go along, they seemed to understand each other. Not since the reporter interviewed him had Libby felt so good just being with Caleb.

Less than an hour later, the
Christina’
s whistle blew for Burlington. Near where the gangplank would go down, Libby and Jordan waited.

As the steamboat came about for the landing, Libby glanced down at the river only a foot or so below the edge of the deck. With no railing between her and the water, she was careful to stand back.

From her earliest memory Libby’s parents had warned her about the dangers of the narrow strip of water between the boat and shore. More than once she had heard stories about someone who fell in, never to rise again. Though Libby
was thirteen and tall for her age, the murky depths of the river were well over her head.

Growing more and more impatient, she looked around, searching for Caleb. “Where is he?” she asked Jordan.

But Jordan only shrugged. “We can’t look like we is together, you know.”

While Libby and Jordan waited, other passengers gathered around. The man closest to the edge of the deck seemed most anxious to leave. Standing with his back to Libby, he wore a hat and long coat in spite of the warmth of the morning. With his highly polished shoes, he looked like a businessman returning home after a trip.

With her deep whistle sounding, the
Christina
drew close to the waterfront. Near Libby, one of the deckhands picked up a landing line. With one end of the rope attached to a cleat on the deck, he wrapped the other end in a coil around his shoulder and elbow.