Queen (30 page)

    not been swept into office was proof to James that many doubted Andrew's

    suitability. He knew he was staring at the weightiest decision of his

    life. James still expected that Andrew would win, but did not know if he

    would continue to support him. In the weeks before Christmas he had

    received several important visitors who shared his doubts, not the least

    being Henry Clay himself, who was on his way home to Kentucky.

    The two men knew each other of old, for Henry had been a sometime visitor

    to the Hermitage in James's Nashville days, and Henry junior, his son,

    was a good friend of James's.

    Henry Clay expressed his delight with The Forks of Cypress. He had heard

    much of it from his son, who had helped find the artisans to build it.

    He listened sympathetically when James told him of his problem with his

    slaves, and agreed that a strong hand, and a strong overseer, were vital

    to the effective functioning of the system.

    175

176 ALEX HALEY'S QUEEN

But he was not there to talk about slaves.

"A muddy result," he said, speaking of the election.

"Andrew?" James asked.

    Henry was silent for a moment. He had bitterly opposed Andrew's actions in

    the Florida campaign, had denounced the hanging of the missionaries, and

    had been the prime mover of the ill-fated congressional reprimand.

"Perhaps," he said.

    Quietly but eloquently, he listed his reasons for not wanting Andrew in the

    president's office. It was old ground, involving Andrew's personality and

    behavior, but Henry made it sound damning.

    "These are difficult times," Henry concluded. "We need a temperate man, I

    say, not an uncaged lion."

    "Who?" James was thrilled. He felt as if he were being included in the real

    election process, the other election, the secret election by powerful men

    who decided affairs of state behind closed doors.

Henry shrugged. "John Quincy Adams, perhaps."

    Adams was the son of the second president, the successor to George

    Washington.

    "He is from New England, and it would make those states happy not to have

    a Southerner for president. It has only happened once before."

Henry adopted his most honeyed voice.

" In the end, of course, " he smiled, " it all depends on you.

James laughed. "Me?"

    "You and others like you," Henry said. "For the states have the power now,

    which is as it should be."

    They talked for some hours about the country and its welfare and the

    electoral process. Again Henry spoke of his dislike for Andrew, and gently,

    very gently, raised the matter of the Indian treaties.

    "There are even rumors of bribes paid by Andrew, and if that is true, the

    treaties could be annulled."

He let it hang in the air for a moment.

"If bribery could be proven."

James stared at the floor.

    "But these are only rumors," Henry said, changing his tone. "And but a

    small part of the larger portrait of Andrew."

    BLOODLINES 177

    He had made his point clearly and effectively, without needing to stress

    it. Word of the bribes to the Indians had leaked out, and James was

    panicking. He did not know how much anyone else suspected.

    Henry declined James's hospitality for the night, as he had friends at

    the Nashville Inn, and left before sundown.

    James did not know what to do. He knew Henry had flattered him, that his

    would be only one small voice in the outcome of his state's decision

    regarding the presidency, but every voice counted now.

    Andrew in the president's office was dangerous, for many, many reasons,

    but Andrew was his friend, Andrew was responsible for much of his

    fortune. Just as Andrew could be responsible for his downfall. If

    evidence of the bribes was found, James's part in the affair would be

    exposed. If the treaties could be annulled, that left much of his land

    ownership open to question.

He shivered in fear, and slept badly for the next few nights.

On Christmas Day, the security was reduced to allow the guards time with

their families. Six slaves took advantage of this and escaped. When James

heard the news, he shouted his wrath at Harris, who accepted his

displeasure, but defended his position.

    "Things were too easy here for too long," he said. "And it was special

    circumstances, being Christmas Day."

    He promised the return of the slaves, and James approved the expenditure

    for the slave catchers. Harris left, and James sat at his desk in

    despair. The plantation could not function effectively if things

    continued like this, and that put his income at risk. The rumors of the

    bribes were even more distressing, for they put his holdings at risk.

He talked to Sally.

    Sally was worried about the runaways, because she thought Harris had put

    an end to all that, but agreed the circumstances were special. Things had

    been better since Harris had become overseer. There had been less

    trouble, and, over the past month, fewer beatings and floggings.

"Perhaps that is the problem," James said bitterly.

Sally calmed him down, and tried to put his problems in

178 ALEX HALEY'S QUEEN

perspective for him. She guessed that the situation with Andrew was vexing

him most.

"Why not let Andrew decide?" she suggested.

    They had to go to Nashville in the new year, to settle A.J. at his school.

    James could call on Andrew at the Hermitage, explain his doubts, and listen

    to Andrew's answer.

James smiled and shook his head in wonder.

    "You always see things so clearly," he said. Hers was the best possible

    solution, because James would force Andrew to make the decision. All Andrew

    had to do was ask, and set James's mind at rest, and he would be given what

    he wanted.

    Still, it troubled him to confront Andrew, and he puzzled how he would tell

    his friend that he had doubts about him. As the day of their departure

    approached his mood became more volatile again, and the absence of news

    about the runaway slaves kept him angry.

    The slaves were caught, fifty miles away. They would be brought back to The

    Forks.

    "Get rid of them!" James said. "I do not want them on my property. "

    "A couple of 'em are good workers," Harris protested, but James cut him

    short.

    "Sell and buy as you see fit!" He was shouting, and reminded Harris that he

    had said he needed only six months to bring the slaves to order. "By the

    time I come back from Nashville I want this plantation functioning

    efficiently and effectively."

    "I'll need authority while you are away," Harris said, smarting at his

    employer's wrath.

    James signed the necessary papers, and Harris left. James punched his chair

    in his frustration.

Sensibly, Cap'n Jack had not approached James while the slaves were missing,

for he knew his Massa's temper. The news that the runaways had been caught

emboldened him, and he wanted to resolve his personal dilemma before James

left for Nashville.

    "What is it?" James snapped. Cap'n Jack should have known then, at that

    moment, that this was not the time. But his desperation to be free made him

    unwise, and he had con-

    BLOODLINES 179

vinced himself that James would readily fulfill his promise.

"I want my freedom," Cap'n Jack said.

    James could not believe his ears. At some other time he might have

    listened more sympathetically, but it was loyalty that he wanted from his

    slaves now, not disavowal.

    "You made a promise," Cap'n Jack continued, but James cut him off.

    "I said that if you served me loyally and well, I would consider it, but

    this is not the time."

    It was incomprehensible to Cap'n Jack. It was impossible that he could

    have done more. The Massa had everything he could want, a fine house and

    plantation, a family, sons to succeed him, wealth and position. What more

    could he want from Cap'n Jack?

    "The plantation is in uproar, the slaves rebellious," James insisted. "if

    ever I needed your loyalty, it is now!"

    Cap'n Jack hardly heard him. His mind was awash with disappointment and

    bitterness.

"You breakin' yo' word," he said.

James almost hit him.

    "How dare you say that to me? Remember your place, man! "

"You promised!" Cap'n Jack was desperate.

"Get out! " James shouted. "Get out of my sight!"

    Cap'n Jack looked at him dumbfounded. Tears of rage filled his eyes, but

    he did as he was told. He left the room, left the house, and went to

    Annie.

    He clung to her, choking with emotion. It had all been a pipe dream. The

    promise had been the old lie, the white man's lie, and he had been fool

    enough to believe him.

    Annie held him, and stroked him, and whispered love in his ear. After a

    while he quieted, and sat in a chair and stared at the wall. At nothing.

James called Harris to him, in his study.

    "Cap'n Jack has been insolent," he said. "Put him in the fields for a

    week." It was a euphemism they all used. Little work was done in the

    fields in winter, but the hands were kept busy in the barns, and fixing

    the outbuildings.

Harris was pleased by the turn of events. It was his chance

180 ALEX HALEY'S QUEEN

to break a house nigger, and it had curious implications for his obsession

with Annie.

"That won't break him," Harris said.

    "Then do what you must," James snapped, scarcely able to control his anger.

Harris nodded and turned to leave.

"But do not sell him away," James said quietly.

    Even at this pitch of rage, he remembered all Cap'n Jack had done for him,

    and his affection for the man, and had to believe he would keep his promise

    to Cap'n Jack, one day. He was a man of his word.

    James and Sally, with A.J. and Sassy, left the following morning for

    Nashville. They did not take the older girls, for it would make the

    carriage crowded, and they did not take Jass. He had a slight chill, and

    Sally worried that the long journey and the cold weather would not suit the

    boy.

    James, after a night's sleep, was feeling less hostile to Cap'n Jack, but

    he could not countermand his order to Harris without looking weak.

    "He is a good man," he said to Harris, "and has served me well. Do not be

    too hard on him. A few days in the fields, perhaps. "

    Harris nodded. He had his orders. He had acted on them the night before. He

    and his brother Albert had gone to the weaving house, put manacles on Cap'n

    Jack, and taken him to the shed. They left him there, chained to a post,

    for the night.

    Before they left the weaving house, Harris stared at Annie, who was

    clutching Easter. He said nothing to her-the stare was enough-and then they

    took Cap'n Jack away.

    Annie stayed where she was, holding Easter, incapable of speech or

    movement. She tried to remember her curse, but could not, because she was

    too frightened of what the night might bring. It might bring Harris. She

    lay awake in fear all night, and when he did not come to her, she was even

    more scared, for she knew it boded evil.

    "Just a few days in the fields," James said to Harris again, before he got

    into the carriage.

Harris nodded again.

    James settled in the carriage. Ephraim, who was driving, flicked the reins

    and they clattered away.

    BLOODLINES 181

    James sat in the carriage staring out at the empty cotton fields. He

    was dreading Nashville. He wasn't sure how he was going to tell

    Andrew, who was dearer than a father to him, that he didn't love him

    anymore.

    22

The runaways came back the following day, chained together, and already

beaten bloody by the slave catchers. One had been given a rough crutch,

because he was almost unable to walk. His leg had been badly tom by the

hounds.

    They stumbled into the clearing and fell to their knees. Harris made them

    stand up, and left them there, while he and his brother assembled the

    other slaves.

    Harris went to the shed and unchained Cap'n Jack, but left his manacles

    on. He threw a bucket of water over him to reduce the smell of his mess,

    and dragged him outside with the others. He chained Cap'n Jack to a tree.

    All the field hands were assembled in the clearing, staring at the

    runaways, trying not to imagine what might happen to any of them next.

    Harris separated the two he intended to keep and ordered his brother to

    give them twenty lashes apiece. He would not flog the ones he intended