Mysterious Signal (21 page)

“I went to see Sadie, but there’s something wrong. I need a doctor. Go talk to the clerk. Check the passenger list. See if we have a doctor on board.”

At the clerk’s office Libby learned the worst. Though a doctor could usually be found among three hundred passengers, there was none listed for this trip. Sick at heart, Libby started back to tell Pa the bad news. On the way there she ran into Annika.

“What’s wrong?” the teacher asked the minute she saw Libby’s face.

Explaining quickly, Libby said, “Pa says Sadie needs a doctor. He doesn’t know what to do.”

“I’ll take a look,” Annika said. “Just give me a minute.”

Annika hurried to her room and returned with a small black bag. “Is there another woman who can help me?”

“Gran—Caleb’s grandmother—is already there. I’ll show you the way.”

When they reached the main deck, Libby led Annika through the door into the cargo area. In spite of the daylight outside, the room was dark. For Sadie’s sake Pa had ordered that all doors be kept closed.

At the front of the cargo area Libby lit the lantern. Annika followed her back into the hiding place between boxes of freight. They found Gran kneeling on the floor next to Sadie.

At the sight of Annika relief flooded Gran’s face. Standing up, she walked outside the hiding place to whisper to Annika. “The baby isn’t coming the way it should.”

To Libby Gran said, “Get us hot water. Boiling water.”

Without a second thought Libby turned to obey. Leaving the lantern with Annika, she started back toward the door at the front of the cargo area. She had gone only a few steps when she heard a noise.

Stopping in her tracks, she listened.
Can it be a cat?
Then Libby knew it was a human sound. Someone was there in the darkness.

Libby swallowed hard. In her worry about Sadie, she had thrown caution to the wind. While passing from the bottom of the stairs to the cargo area, she had forgotten to look around.
I didn’t make sure that no one watched. I led Annika straight here. And someone else!

Rooted to the spot, Libby strained to hear. This time she heard a soft, muffled sound.
Who is it?

She could only hope it was a deckhand.
But none of the crew would be so secretive
.

Then, waiting in the dark, Libby heard another sound. A dull thud coming closer. The sound of boots with a higher heel.
Clump. Clump. Clump
.

Her fear growing, Libby thought back.
Last night outside my room. The man on the deck. Walking round and round with that dreadful thump
. Libby felt sure that man was the gambler Peter described as Slick. But how could she know?

In the next instant Libby remembered Sadie.
What if she makes a noise? What if her baby is born?

“Babies need to cry at birth,”
Pa had said.
“It fills their lungs with air. Helps them live.”

In the darkness Libby heard the scratch of a match. A flame flickered, then a candle moved closer and closer. Soon the man would spot the opening between tall piles of freight. He would see into the hidden room. He would pounce upon Sadie, a fugitive slave.

With dread Libby knew the worst.
I told Sadie she’d be safe. If the wrong person finds her, she’ll be beaten, returned to slavery
.

As the man drew closer, Libby’s panic grew.
Clump. Clump. Clump
.

Libby caught her breath. Only eight or ten feet behind her, Annika knelt on the floor, helping Sadie.
If Annika can help a woman have a baby, I can stop that man from finding Sadie!

Boldly Libby stepped out. As the footsteps paused, the man held the candle so that she could not see his face.

Trying to hide the quaver in her voice, Libby spoke strongly. “This room is out of bounds for passengers. Only crew allowed in here.”

From the darkness came an evil laugh. “And so, little lady, who are you?” Stretching out his arm, the man held the candle close to her face.

Libby stepped back from the flame but straightened to her full height. In that instant she had seen the slicked-down hair and the mustache curled up at both ends. She had smelled the strange perfume.
The man Peter calls Slick!

“Sir, I am the captain’s daughter,” Libby answered. “My father would not take kindly to your having a candle here. Because of the danger of fire, no one uses a candle. Only certain crew members have the privilege of lighting a lantern.”

Again Slick laughed. The sound of it tore through Libby’s heart, but she stood her ground. “Now—leave at once.”

“And what will you do if I don’t?”

“I will call my father.”

In the silence between them, Libby heard a gasp from the room-like space between piles of freight.
Sadie can’t run. What if Slick finds Sadie?

Desperate now, Libby remembered the night before. As if Annika and Gran were praying for her, Libby remembered this man’s steps on the deck outside her room. Then she had cringed at the sound of his steps. Wrapped in her safe quilt she had cried out to Jesus. Now she knew one thing.
Jesus is the only One big enough to help
.

Silently Libby began to pray in the strong name of Jesus.
Help us, Jesus! Protect Sadie. Protect her baby
.

Then the light of Slick’s candle reflected upward, and Libby saw the deep, hard lines in his face. The flickering flame threw evil-looking shadows across his face.

Yet when Libby spoke aloud, there was a sureness in her
voice that hadn’t been there before. “Go,” she said to Slick. “Go at once.”

As if knowing that Libby hid a secret, Slick stood without moving. His cold eyes studied her face, as if testing her. But now Libby knew where her strength came from.

“If you don’t leave here, my father will insist that you get off the boat.”

As though an invisible hand reached out, twisting Slick around, he turned. With only one backward glance he stalked toward the door.
Clump. Clump. Clump
.

Libby felt sure he’d be back. She also felt sure he would bring Dexter.

CHAPTER 17

T
he moment Slick was gone, Libby flew to the door and closed it behind her. Then, feeling her way in the dark, she hurried back to the tucked-away area between the piles of freight.

“Annika,” she whispered. “Can Sadie move?”

“I don’t know,” Annika said. “Her baby is almost here. What will we do if that man comes back?”

As much as she wanted Sadie’s baby to be born, the thought of that first cry after birth filled Libby with panic. “Come,” she whispered to Annika. “There’s a secret room in the hold. If we get Sadie there, she and her baby will be safe.”

Gran picked up the lantern. With Libby on one side and Annika on the other, they half carried, half dragged Sadie to the hidden entrance into the hold.

Kneeling down, Libby pushed aside the machine that hid the opening. The minute she swung up the trapdoor, Libby hurried down the ladder. Gran handed her the lantern, and Libby set it on the floor of the hull.

“It’s only five feet down,” Libby encouraged as she guided Sadie’s feet onto the ladder.

Halfway down, Sadie moaned. Clinging to the rungs, she
stopped. But then, as if by supernatural strength, she kept on.

At the bottom of the ladder, Libby had the door open to the secret room that ran along the side of the boat. In the narrow passageway Sadie crawled forward, then dropped onto the boards placed across the beams.

“It’s okay,” Libby said as soon as Sadie’s feet cleared the door. “You’re safe now. You can have your baby. No one will be able to hear.”

“Leave the lantern,” Annika told Libby. “Try for hot water again. Hurry.”

Racing against time, Libby started back up the ladder. As she knelt on the deck to set the hatch door in place, she heard a whimper, then the lusty wail of a newborn baby.

Leaning back on her heels, Libby smiled. Reaching out, she took Gran’s hand and squeezed it. Sadie’s baby was safe. Only those who wanted to help had heard that first cry.

As Libby went for water, she found Pa and told him about her close call with Slick. He promised to set a watch so that Dexter or Slick could not enter the hold.

A short time later, Libby lowered hot water into the small space next to the bottom of the ladder. Gran passed the water to Annika, then climbed out of the hold. In the low hiding place there was barely room for Annika to turn around.

As soon as she finished washing the baby, Annika let Libby climb down to see. On hands and knees, Libby crawled into the narrow room next to the great beams of the hull. In the light of the lantern Libby saw Sadie’s shining eyes. “It’s a girl!” she said proudly.

From her bed of quilts Sadie held up a small bundle. The newborn’s eyes were closed, and her long dark lashes rested on
rounded cheeks. Her thick hair was still wet and tightly curled.

“She is the most beautiful baby in the whole world!” Libby exclaimed.

“She should be,” Sadie answered proudly. “The good Lord said, ‘This child
will
be free.’ And free she is!”

Smiling, Annika caught Libby’s gaze. “Created equal,” the teacher said softly. “It’s a miracle, isn’t it? Our Creator giving Sadie’s baby life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

For some time Libby and Annika stayed there, sharing the miracle of that new life. Libby felt sure that Annika was enjoying this moment as much as she was.

Then Sadie raised herself up on one elbow and held out her child to Libby. “You wants to hold her?”

Libby had never held so small an infant. “If it’s all right. If I won’t hurt her.”

The bundle was light in her arms. As Libby looked down, the baby opened her eyes and looked around.

“Your name, Libby. What does it stand for?” Sadie asked.

“Elizabeth,” Libby told her. “It means ‘Dedicated to God.’ My ma and pa gave me to God.”

“Ah!” A pleased sound filled Sadie’s voice. “Then this child be Elizabeth—named after you. And named because I give her to God. I will tell this child how you helped her be born in freedom.”

Long after Sadie fell asleep, Libby held the baby. Lightly she touched the small cheeks, feeling the soft skin. In wonder she watched the baby’s tiny chest rise and fall with each breath.

“Elizabeth,” Libby whispered in her ear. “Remember you’re named after me. And your momma gave you to God!”

Then she could not see the baby, for tears blurred Libby’s eyes.

Soon after she left the secret hiding place that sheltered Sadie and baby Elizabeth, Libby bumped into Aunt Vi.

“Well now,” her aunt said. With a quick glance Vi took in Libby’s dress and the braid pulled forward over her shoulder. “That certainly looks better. But a proper young lady would not perspire the way you do.”

Libby opened her mouth, ready to tell her aunt that the narrow place that hid Sadie and her baby was small and hot. Then Libby remembered. In spite of all the excitement she felt about holding a newborn, she couldn’t tell Aunt Vi.
She always misses out on the best things
, Libby decided.

As she reached her room high on the texas, Libby decided something else.
Sadie’s baby is free, but I am not
.