Mysterious Signal (10 page)

C
loser and closer the men came. Libby peered into the darkness, trying to see their faces. Instead, she began to hear the sound of their voices.

As the men came even with Libby, they passed not more than five feet from where she hid. In that moment she heard their words. “He must be carrying that money I stole from him. If I see him with a carpetbag, I’ll know.”

Libby gasped.
Dexter! Dexter talking about Jordan
.

Even worse, Libby knew that if Dexter glanced her way, he might see her, crouched and hiding. Filled with panic, Libby pressed so hard against the fence that her arms began to hurt.
What if Dexter turns to look?

But Dexter passed on, still talking. “When I collect the reward money, I’ll accuse that boy of stealing. I’ll say he stole that money from
me
.”

As the sound of Dexter’s voice faded away, Libby waited. Gradually the hollow clump, the footsteps of the man with Dexter, moved off in the darkness. Even when Libby could no longer hear the thud on the boardwalk, she stayed where she was.

At first she felt so afraid that she could not even think.
With her thoughts tumbling every direction, she became more confused by the moment.
Jordan. Dexter had to be talking about Jordan
. When the members of his church in Galena asked Jordan to carry their gift of money to Chicago, he used a carpetbag—a cloth bag with handles. Today Caleb and Peter carried that money from Springfield for him. But tomorrow—

Tomorrow Jordan needed to travel to Chicago. There he would turn the money over to John Jones or someone else who helped fugitive slaves reach safety in Canada. But if Jordan carried a carpetbag, a knapsack, or anything that could hold something important—

Libby didn’t want to even think about what could happen. It would be bad enough for Jordan to be caught by a slave catcher. Jordan would be hauled back and beaten unmercifully by an angry master. But to be a runaway slave caught with what Dexter said was stolen money?

Libby’s whole being filled with dread—dread so deep that she pushed it away, knowing she had to figure out what to do.

Without making a sound, she picked up the basket with Pa’s money and crawled out from under the bushes. Running lightly across the grass, she headed for the porch, tiptoed across the boards, and pushed open the door.

Inside the kitchen, Libby stood by the door and listened. Here, where there was less light than outside, she waited until her eyes grew used to the darkness. Then she closed the door without a sound.

Moving slowly, she crept across the floor to the table. Trying not to bump into chairs, she felt her way around the table. When she reached the pantry door, she congratulated herself.
I made it!

Just then she heard a noise down the hall. Stepping inside the pantry, Libby closed the door. Moments later she heard footsteps along the hallway.
Annika. Annika walking in the dark of night
.

Libby lay down on her bed of blankets but held her head off the pillow, listening. From the kitchen came the sound of quiet movements that told Libby Annika was trying not to wake her. But then Libby heard one unmistakable sound. The big key turned, grating in the lock.

She’ll know I was outside!

Libby dropped her head to the pillow. As careful as she had been, it had not been enough. Annika would know that she herself had not failed to lock the door.

When at last the teacher passed back down the hall to her room, Libby slipped under the top sheet. But she still could not sleep.
I’ve got to think of a way that Jordan and his daddy can carry the money safely
. If they were accused of stealing, what would happen to them?

Hours later Libby fell asleep, still not knowing what to do.

In the gray light before dawn she woke up. When she pushed aside the curtain over the pantry window, Libby could see into the backyard. Tall, lovely spikes of blue flowers grew there.
I’ll pick a bouquet for breakfast
, Libby thought.

Then she remembered,
I’m supposed to be a boy. Would a boy pick flowers for breakfast?
Having had no brothers, Libby wasn’t sure.

Though she hated the idea of wearing boys’ clothing again, Libby changed into the wrinkled shirt and too-short overalls. Feeling grateful there was no mirror in the pantry, Libby
pulled a brush through her hair. But when she rolled up her white robe, she found black dirt along the hem, and more dirt on Annika’s once clean sheets. Getting down on her knees, Libby tried to brush out the dirt, but dark smudges remained.

Libby sighed. It wasn’t easy to live something she wasn’t. Though she wanted to protect Peter, Libby didn’t like pretending that she was a boy. She just wanted to be herself.

The day dawned bright and warm—so warm that Libby knew the heat would soon be overwhelming. She wished she were on Pa’s boat where she could feel the water around her. Better yet, she wished she could go swimming. Long ago Pa had taught her how in case she ever fell off the boat. Since then Libby had become a strong swimmer. But when she lived with Ma’s sister, Auntie Vi hadn’t approved.

Once Vi had caught Libby swimming in the Chicago River. Just thinking about it now made Libby grin. At first she had wondered if her aunt thought it was dangerous. Soon Libby discovered it was more.

“How could you?” Auntie Vi had stormed. “How could you do anything so unladylike?”

To Libby’s relief Caleb was first to come into the kitchen. Sitting at the drop-leaf table, she told him all that had happened in the night. The worst part was her fear for Jordan and his daddy. “What if they’re found with what Dexter says is stolen money?”

Immediately Caleb knew what to do. “When they leave here, they’ll be in barrels. But they need something that takes less room and isn’t as noticeable as a carpetbag. Two money belts would do it. They could divide the money between them so neither one carries so much.”

“But where will we get a money belt?” Libby asked.

Then she remembered. Sometimes Pa wore one when he needed to carry a large sum of money to the bank. “How much time do we have?”

“The man with the barrels will come this morning. When he pulls up at the barn, he’ll open the doors and drive inside, as if he’s making a delivery. Jordan will creep into one of the empty barrels, and his daddy will use the extra large one Allan Pinkerton made for him.”

“And the man will drive them to the train?”

Caleb nodded. “To the loading platform. I’ll follow at a distance to make sure the barrels are put on the train to Chicago.”

“What will happen when they get there?”

“Mr. O’Malley—the cooper—told me that the Underground Railroad has a man working in the Chicago freight room. When he sees a certain label on top, he knows that a fugitive is hiding inside. He gives those barrels extra care and rolls them to the back part of the room. When it’s safe, someone will take Jordan and his daddy to where they need to go.”

Libby didn’t like the idea of Jordan and Micah in something that small. She couldn’t help but think how hot it would be inside a barrel, especially when she already felt sticky with heat.

“What if they need to get out?” Libby asked.

“They can push the lids off their barrels from inside.”

“But how do they breathe?” Libby asked.

Caleb led her outside. At the corner of the house was a barrel to catch rainwater for washing clothes. Heavy metal rims circled the outside of the barrel, holding the pieces of wood
together. Between the two center rims was a good-sized hole plugged with a cork.

“If a barrel holds liquid, its owner puts a spigot in here,” Caleb explained.

“And if there’s no cork or spigot, it’s a breathing hole!” Libby felt relieved. It seemed so simple, and a simple plan often seemed the best of all.

Feeling better about how Jordan and his father would reach Chicago, Libby thought back to the problem of how to carry the money. “I know what to do,” she said. “I’ll use a bit of Pa’s money to buy cloth and rawhide bootlaces. I’ll sew each of them a money belt.”

Caleb grinned. “And you’ll go to the store looking the way you do?”

Libby scowled at him. It wasn’t hard to remember how awful she looked. Caleb didn’t need to remind her of it. But how could she do what she needed to do without lying?

Then Libby had an answer for Caleb. “Before I go, I’ll write a note asking for what I want. I won’t say anything about who wrote it. I’ll just lay the note on the counter.”

As soon as the general store opened, Libby set out. At the counter along one side of the store, she put down the note.

It took only a minute for the clerk to find and cut the right size cloth. “But I’m out of bootlace,” he told Libby.

When she paid for the cloth, he gave her change and
directed her on to another store. There Libby paid for what she needed and hurried out.

At Annika’s house again, she collected her sewing bag and went upstairs. Finding a table, she laid down the cloth and cut it in half. Spreading out one piece, she folded up the bottom third. Then, using one of Pa’s dollars as a guide, she sewed straight lines to make a pocket. Soon she had pockets from the left side to the right.

Taking the top third of the cloth, Libby folded it over the bottom third. Finally, she sewed a length of rawhide on each end of the pockets.

Working quickly, Libby started a second belt. She was just finishing that one when Caleb came in.

When Caleb saw what she had done, he was pleased. “Both Jordan and his daddy are wearing loose shirts. Unless someone searches them, no one will see the money belts. And you’re just in time!”

As a wagon rolled into the yard, Caleb took the money he and Libby and Peter had carried and divided it in half. Libby helped him slip the bills into the money belts. Caleb stuffed the belts into his knapsack and raced out of the room.

From an upstairs window, Libby saw the wagon filled with barrels pull up to the barn. When Caleb opened the large double doors, the wagon rolled inside, as though for a delivery.

In that moment Libby heard footsteps. Hollow-sounding footsteps from the boardwalk, but with a lighter thud than the strange clump of the night before.

Only two houses away, Dexter was coming along the boardwalk. Looking from left to right, he was searching for someone.

As she watched from above, Libby’s fists tightened with nervousness. “Caleb!” she wanted to cry out. “Close the doors!”

In the next minute he did, but then Libby had a new fear.
What if someone opens the doors when Jordan and Micah are climbing into the barrels? What if Dexter sees them?

Closer and closer Dexter came. As he reached the wide path leading to the barn, he stopped. In that moment Libby remembered.
I haven’t seen Peter this morning. Where is he?

CHAPTER 9