Midnight Rescue (26 page)

“No one here,” he said.

The escaped prisoner, Sam McGrady!

Hearing him, Libby felt sick.
So you came back and managed to find us. Jordan saved your life, but you betrayed him!

A moment later, heavy boots tromped off. Hardly daring to breathe, Libby heard footsteps on the main stairway. Then the steps moved still farther away, as if the men were
going down to the basement.

For a time Libby heard the rumble of far-off voices. Then the men drew closer again. Whoever they were, the men were angry.

Soon the sound of their voices came from the living room. “We’ll be back with more men,” one of them said. “And some of us will watch you every minute till they come.”

When the outside door slammed, it echoed up the secret stairway.

Even when Libby believed everyone was gone, she did not dare move. Finally Dr. James opened the trapdoor on the main floor and called to them.

“Follow the stairs down to the basement,” he said. “We’ll give you more food there.”

In the basement Hattie sank down on a chair. As though exhausted with trying to keep Rose quiet, she rocked back and forth. But a tear slid down Hattie’s cheek.

“I is sorry,” she told Dr. James when he entered the room. “I done put you in danger.”

“We can’t expect a child not to cry,” he answered. Again Libby heard the kindness in his voice.

As the housekeeper brought bowls of soup, Libby looked up in surprise.

“I can cook even if men are searching the house,” the housekeeper said. “I just keep a pot simmering on the back of the stove.”

“For the moment you’re safe,” Dr. James told them as he encouraged them to eat. “But I have no doubt that they’ll be back with more men—so many men that it will be impossible to hide any noise.”

“Is there any time when there’s no one watching you?” Caleb stood at one side of a basement window. Through the narrow gap between the window and the heavy drape, he looked out.

“There’s only one time when they seem to let down their guard,” Dr. James said.

“At daybreak?” Caleb asked.

Dr. James nodded. “They watch all night, thinking we’ll use the hours of darkness. Yes, daybreak is the most hopeful time.”

“Then that be when we go,” Jordan said.

The doctor smiled. “Your time is almost here.”

As Caleb moved away from the window, he, Jordan, and the doctor sat down together. When they started to make plans, Libby joined them.

“There’s something we haven’t counted on,” she said. “When we were in the secret stairway I heard a voice right next to me. It was the escaped prisoner—Sam McGrady!”

“So that’s why I felt uneasy when we crossed the Skunk River!” Caleb exclaimed. “Did the other men look like slave catchers?” he asked Dr. James.

“Two of them. The third man was well dressed. And the fourth man—the one with the raspy voice—had very short hair.”

Jordan moaned. “That be the prisoner all right. I was hopin’ he changed for the better!”

“Remember what you said?” Libby asked Caleb. “That it’s harder to hide from a thief?”

Feeling as though she could not sit still, Libby moved over to the window. She too looked through the narrow opening between the drape and window. The light of the new day would
soon break upon them. According to what most fugitives did, it was exactly the wrong time to leave. Yet they had no choice.

Libby tried to push aside her dread.
Jordan has tried so hard. We’re only about seven miles from Burlington and the
Christina.
What if the escaped prisoner wrecks everything now?

Even the possibility of that happening scared Libby right down to her toes. Then she remembered.
At first I thought I could do anything I tried. Instead, I made a mess of everything. But when I let God help me, that’s when things changed
.

Turning, Libby faced Jordan. “Do you remember what you prayed before we left the
Christina
? That God would blind the eyes and shut the ears of the people who would hurt us? And that He would open the eyes and ears of the people He wants to help us?”

This time it was Libby who offered the prayer. When she started, her voice trembled. Then as she thought about God and not what the others would think, her voice grew strong. As she finished praying, Jordan and Hattie joined her with their own amens.

“I didn’t put the horses in the barn,” Caleb explained when it was time to go. “They’re in a shelter in the woods about half a mile away.”

As they left, Dr. James stood by the door. “God go with you,” he said to Caleb, Jordan, and Zack, then to Hattie, Serena, little Rose, and Libby.

“God go with you!” Libby said as she too passed out the door.
From Gran, Pa, and now Dr. James. God, go with us!

One by one they followed Caleb. In single file, with Libby walking last, they crossed the yard to the edge of the woods.
As Libby slipped between the trees, she glanced back along the side of the house.

Just then a man came over the edge of the hill. As he looked at Libby, he stopped dead in his tracks.

Short hair
, she thought.
Was half of it shaved off? Now grown out. The other side cut short to match
?

In the next instant their gaze met, as it had that morning in Prescott.

Libby froze.
The escaped prisoner
.

Then, as Mr. Weaver came into view, Sam McGrady suddenly turned, taking Mr. Weaver with him. In the next moment both men disappeared behind the hill.

Whirling around, Libby broke into a run. “Hurry!’ she whispered as she passed the others to reach Jordan. “Hurry!” she warned as the family slipped back under the hay. “Hurry!” she told Caleb as he leaped up to the high seat.

Only when they were well on the road to Burlington did Libby explain. “Sam McGrady saw us, but he turned the other way. He took Mr. Weaver with him.”

Clearly puzzled, Caleb shook his head. “I don’t understand,” he said. “I don’t understand at all. Why didn’t McGrady stop us right then?”

When they entered Burlington the streets were still empty with the quiet of early morning. Caleb stopped the horses near the back door of a church. To Libby the building looked familiar, even from that side.

“The doors are open all the time,” Caleb told her. “Wait inside. I’ll be with you soon.”

One by one Jordan and his family slipped from beneath the hay into the church. The minute Caleb returned he led
them through the basement. On the front side of the church, out beyond an opening in the foundation, was a secret room.

As though Caleb had been there often, he closed the door behind Jordan’s family, then lit a candle. From that candle Caleb lit another, and yet another, as though he wanted to celebrate.

It’s home to Caleb
, Libby thought. In that moment she knew where they were.
The First Congregational Church. Where Rev. Salter is pastor
. Libby remembered the courageous man from her first trip to Burlington.

The hiding place seemed to be well used. Along one wall were jars of water and bowls of food. From a neatly folded pile, Caleb gave out blankets for the family to sit or lie down.

When Libby looked around the circle, she wanted to reach out to Serena.
Will we have time to become friends?
Libby wondered. Or would Serena be like other fugitives, passing on to the next station almost at once?

And Jordan, Zack, Hattie, and little Rose? What will happen to them?

Then as Libby’s gaze rested on Caleb, he looked at her and grinned.
He’s my friend again
, Libby thought with gladness of heart.
My very best friend
.

“Your pa isn’t here yet,” he said. “But he will be. By nightfall he and the
Christina
will be waiting for us.”

As they waited throughout the day, Libby watched Jordan come to know his sisters and brother again. Here little Rose could play peekaboo and giggle at Jordan’s games. Here Serena could put her hand within his. Here Zack could openly look up to the big brother he admired. And here Hattie freely gazed upon her family with the glory light in her eyes.

They’re a never-give-up family
, Libby thought.
They’re a family that stays together even when it’s difficult
.

After many hours in the secret room, Libby heard several quick knocks on the door. As if the raps were a signal, Caleb leaped up. Slowly he opened the door, looked out, then stepped into the hallway to talk to someone.

“We can go now,” Caleb said when he came back. “Just walk like you’re not afraid, as though you don’t have anything to hide. But do what I do.”

When they slipped out the front door of the church, Caleb led them. Jordan stood tall, wearing his proud look again. His family followed as if they walked this street most any day of the week. Yet they stayed within the shadows of the buildings on their right.

Two or three blocks away, Caleb brought them to Hawkeye Creek. Crouching low, Jordan and his family followed the stream, hugging the shadows of its banks. Without a sound their bare feet followed the way of other fugitives seeking freedom.

When they reached the riverfront, Caleb led them into the darkness between two small buildings. There he stopped to wait and watch.

As Libby looked out from the shadows, she saw the tall white steamboat owned by her father.
It’s still the most beautiful boat on the Mississippi
, Libby thought. She could hardly wait to see Pa. Then he was there, standing next to the gangplank, looking tall and handsome in his captain’s uniform.

The waterfront was quiet now, the passengers on board or wherever they wanted to be. The riverbank was empty, as if all the freight that needed to be shipped was on board. But Caleb still waited. And Libby’s father still stood near the gangplank,
looking upstream as if he was relaxing after a busy day.

Then Pa yawned. Politely he tapped his fingers across his mouth. Turning to the lantern that hung from a nearby post, he blew out the flame.

As Caleb took one step forward, Libby caught a movement nearby. Within the shadow of a nearby warehouse, a deeper shadow moved. Reaching out, Libby put a warning hand on Caleb’s arm. Together they edged back, once again hiding between the small buildings.

A moment later a man stepped out from the darkness next to the warehouse. Wearing the red shirt of a lumberjack, he seemed like a stranger. Boldly he walked straight toward the
Christina
. But then Libby recognized him.

“It’s Sam McGrady,” she whispered.

With Caleb on one side of Libby and Jordan on the other, the three walked forward. Staying a short distance behind Sam, they followed him up the gangplank. Then they closed in behind him.

“Good evening, Captain,” McGrady said as though he were a Red Shirt returning from a visit to town.

“Good evening,” Captain Norstad replied. “Welcome aboard.”

As Pa glanced beyond the man to Libby, McGrady started to slip past him. But Libby spoke up.

“Pa, I’d like you to meet the Stillwater prisoner, Sam McGrady.”

As if Libby were out of her mind, Captain Norstad stared at her. “Libby,” he began, “do you understand what you’re saying?”

To Libby’s surprise Sam didn’t try to get away. Instead, he looked her father in the eye.

“She’s right, Captain. I escaped from the Minnesota Territorial Prison. I want to go back.”

“Go back?” Again Captain Norstad stared, this time at Sam McGrady.

But now Sam looked Jordan in the eye. “Your words started eatin’ on me.”

“’Cause I said I risked my life for you? there ain’t no bigger sacrifice anybody can give?” Jordan asked.

McGrady nodded.

“That, and something else too.”

Sam glanced toward Libby. “I heard what you said to her that day on deck. You told her, ‘You can’t run away from yourself.’ It took a while, but I finally figured it out. Trying to run from myself is a whole lot harder than running away from someone else.”

Once again Sam faced Captain Norstad. “I don’t have the money to buy a ticket up the river. If you take me to Stillwater, I’ll go back to prison. If I finish serving my time, I can be with my family again.”

“As a changed man?” the captain asked.

“As a changed man,” Sam promised. “I won’t steal any clothes on the way there.”

Captain Norstad stretched out his hand, and Sam McGrady shook on it. Then he looked at Jordan. “You got your freedom. I’m going to get mine.”

As Sam McGrady left them, Pa opened his arms to Libby. When they closed around her, she felt warm with love for her father.

“Welcome home, Libby,” he said. “Every time you come back, it feels better.”

“We’re a never-give-up family, aren’t we?” Libby said. “We like being together.”

Looking down at her, Pa grinned. “I suspect you have a lot to tell me. But I also think your work isn’t quite finished. When you get time, why don’t you come to my cabin and tell me why I need to buy so many blankets and quilts?”

As Pa started up the stairway, Jordan slipped away. Soon after he disappeared between the buildings near the waterfront, Caleb lit the lantern. Once again he and Libby waited. They watched for shadows, movements, and any hidden person. But this time they stood on the deck of the
Christina
.

Finally Caleb lifted the glass of the lantern and blew out the flame. When Jordan and his family started up the gangplank, Libby heard no sound from their bare feet. Without a word Jordan led them around the wide stairs into the cargo room.

Walking forward to the bow of the boat, Libby and Caleb sat down to wait. It wasn’t hard for Libby to imagine Jordan pushing aside the machinery near the engine room door. In her mind’s eye she saw him pull up the hatch. She saw Serena, Zack, Hattie, and little Rose climb down the ladder. She saw Jordan follow them, holding out a candle to help them find their way into the hiding place. And then Libby imagined Serena and little Rose lying down to sleep on the soft blankets and quilts.

Before long, deckhands brought in the gangplank. As the
Christina
put out into the river, Libby felt relieved. Still she and Caleb waited.

When Jordan didn’t come back, Libby knew that his family was safe. Staring up at the moon, Libby felt thankfulness well up within her.