Race for Freedom (2 page)

A
lantern hung near the gangplank, casting a glow over the
Christina’s
deck. Libby Norstad’s deep brown eyes sparkled in its light. “We got away!” she whispered to Caleb. “We really got away!”

To Libby it seemed a miracle. For the past two days and nights, they had faced constant danger.

Caleb Whitney’s blond hair fell over his forehead, nearly reaching his eyes. He grinned at Libby, then glanced up at the hills of Burlington, Iowa. The steamboat owned by Libby’s father lay at the landing. While deckhands brought in the gangplank, Caleb kept watch.

Now, late at night, the streets looked empty, yet Libby knew that Caleb was searching for someone. Near the riverfront, the windows of tall warehouses seemed like dark eyes staring down at them.

With three quick blasts of the whistle, the
Christina
put out into the Mississippi River. As the strip of water between the land and boat grew wide, Libby felt relieved. In spite of all kinds of danger, they had escaped!

Just then Libby felt a movement behind her. As she turned, she saw Jordan Parker creeping forward without a sound.When he drew close to the lantern, he stopped, as if afraid to enter the circle of light.

A fugitive slave, Jordan had managed to get away from his master, a cruel slave trader named Riggs. Like Caleb, Jordan also stared up at the city. On the streets above them no one stirred. Then a dark shape stepped out from the shadow of a warehouse.

Jordan moaned. “It’s Riggs!”

With one quick movement, Caleb lifted the glass of the lantern and blew out the flame. Libby dropped down on her hands and knees, but it was too late.

“Riggs knows,” she whispered as Caleb joined her behind piles of freight. “He saw you.”

“He saw you too,” Caleb warned, his voice low.

A feeling of dread tightened Libby’s stomach. “What should we do?”

Caleb shushed her. “Sound carries on water.”

A short distance out from shore, the
Christina
started to turn. As her bow swung around to face downstream, Libby stared at the man next to the warehouse. Then the center of the boat blocked her view.

“How long was Riggs there?” she whispered. “How much did he see?”

“Too much,” Caleb told her. At fourteen, almost fifteen, he was nearly a year older than Libby. Now Caleb led her and Jordan to a place at the front of the boat where no one could hear them talk.

When the boys dropped down on crates, Libby found a nail keg to sit on. “You’re sure it was Riggs?” she asked. It had been too dark to see the man’s face, and she wanted to believe they were wrong. According to Caleb, Riggs was the cruelest man he knew.

“It were Riggs, all right.” Jordan’s voice held no doubt. “He gots one shape—and I knows it!”

“But he could have stayed hidden,” Libby answered. “Why did he step out so we could see him?”

“That man
wants
us to know he’s on our trail,” Jordan said. “He wants to scare us any way he can.”

In the darkness Libby shivered. As long as the slave trader searched for him, Jordan would never be safe. Libby didn’t like being frightened by the sight of Riggs, but deep inside she trembled just thinking about him.

Then she remembered. “Jordan, you weren’t in the light. Maybe Riggs doesn’t know that you’re with us.”

Jordan sighed. “I wish you was right, Libby. That man Riggs is like a bloodhound on my trail. When he sniffs out Caleb, he sniffs out me.”

Since the age of nine, Caleb had worked on the Underground Railroad, the secret plan to help runaway slaves reach freedom. Once fugitives started on that route, they usually kept moving if it was safe. Instead, for special reasons Jordan would stay on the
Christina
.

“What’s wrong?” Caleb asked Libby, as though sensing her worry.

“N-n-nothing!” Libby hated the sound of her voice. “Nothing at all!” If she told Caleb what bothered her, he would think she was a scaredy-cat. Instead, Libby tried to push her fear away.
I want to have courage
, she thought.
Courage like Caleb and Jordan
.

On that March night in 1857, Libby knew the penalty for someone who helped runaway slaves on their race to freedom. Because of fugitive slave laws, slave hunters could follow fugitives into the Northwest Territory and free states. There they could gather a posse and bring runaways back to their owners.

Leaning closer, Caleb peered into Libby’s face. When she tried to hide her feelings, the light of the moon gave her away. “You’re scared,” Caleb said. “You’re scared that Riggs will come on board and find Jordan.”

“Well, doesn’t that frighten you?” Libby asked.

“Nope,” Caleb answered.

“What do you mean,
nope
? Pa is captain of this boat and owner too. Don’t you care that he could be arrested for hiding a runaway slave?”

“Of course I care!”

“You don’t sound like it!” Libby felt upset now. “You know what would happen if Riggs found Jordan on the
Christina
. It’s the law of the land that Pa could be found guilty for hiding a fugitive. He’d have to pay a big fine!”

“Is that all you’re worried about?” Caleb asked. “The fines? The money?”

Libby stared at him. “What if Pa can’t pay the fines? He would lose the
Christina
!”

“Yup! He would.” Caleb didn’t sound too upset.

“What’s worse, Pa could go to jail! Wouldn’t you be scared if the captain were your father?”

Caleb sat with his back to the moon. Darkness shadowed his face, but Libby saw the shake of his head. “There’s something that bothers me a whole lot more,” he said.

“What’s that?” Libby asked. More than once she had found it hard to understand this strange boy. “What could be worse than Pa going to jail?”

Before Caleb could answer, Jordan leaped up. “Don’t you worry none,” he told Libby. “First stop we make, I leaves the boat.”

“No!” Caleb exclaimed. “Don’t listen to Libby! You can’t leave now!”

“Yes, I can. I ain’t goin’ to hurt Libby’s Pa.”

“That’s true,” Caleb answered. “You aren’t going to hurt Captain Norstad.”

“But you heard Libby.”

“Yup, I heard.” Caleb sounded angry. “And I won’t let you hurt her pa. I’ll keep hiding you for as long as you need to be hid.”

Jordan shook his head. “I was wrong to ask Captain Norstad if I could stay.”

“He gave his permission,” Caleb answered. “Remember?”

“I remembers. And he gave me a job.” Jordan’s shoulders shifted as though the idea of working for pay gave him pleasure.

“Don’t forget the reason Captain Norstad said you could stay.”

Jordan straightened. “’Cause I wants to find my daddy. I wants to be my momma’s hands. Momma is mighty strong. But if she runs away, she ain’t got enough hands for my sisters and my brother.”

In the moonlight Jordan stood sure and tall. “Momma don’t know if I is dead or alive. She be moanin’ and weepin’ for me, and here I is—free as a bird from a cage!”

For the first time since seeing Riggs, Jordan’s gaze met Caleb’s. “When I leaves this boat, I is goin’ to the place where Momma lives. I is goin’ to help my momma and my sisters and my brother escape!”

“You want to go there
now
?” Caleb stared at Jordan. “You can’t do that! On every tree and building, there are posters about you! Every slave catcher on earth wants to collect that big reward!”

But Jordan was wearing his proud look—the look that reminded Libby of royalty. With his head high, he spoke. “When I was just a little boy, my momma told me, ‘Jordan, you is goin’ to lead your people to the Promised Land. You is goin’ to take them to
freedom
!’”

“That’s right,” Caleb answered. “You
will
lead your people to freedom! But if you try now, you’ll lose
your
freedom.”

When Jordan blinked, Caleb rushed on. “Have you got a plan figured out? Do you know a way to disguise who you are?”

Jordan shook his head.

“Do you know how to get to where your mother is?”

Again Jordan shook his head. “I ain’t never seen where Momma lives now. When I gits there, I’ll know what to do.”

“Then let’s think of a way you can get there without being caught,” Caleb said.

Looking as though he didn’t want to listen, Jordan dropped back down on a crate. “We gots to figure out that plan real soon,” he said. “I ain’t goin’ to wait for something more to happen to Momma.”

As if Libby were no longer there, Caleb leaned forward, speaking to Jordan. “I want to help you find every member of your family. You tell me what to do, and I’ll do it.”

“I tell
you
what to do?” Again Jordan leaped to his feet. This time his eyes blazed. “You is foolin’ me, sure enough! There ain’t no slave boy that tells a white boy what to do!”

“I know what to do if I find a runaway slave,” Caleb said. “I know how to hide a fugitive who comes near the
Christina
. What you need to do will be a whole lot harder.”

Standing as still as a stone, Jordan seemed to consider Caleb’s words. Finally he turned. “You thinks I can lead my people to freedom?”

Caleb’s gaze held steady. “I
know
you can lead your people to freedom. If you’d like my help, you’ve got it.” As though wanting to shake on it, Caleb offered his hand.

Jordan stared down at Caleb’s hand, then looked up. “You
really
wants to help me?” he asked.

“I really want to help you,” Caleb said.

As if he had never before touched a white boy’s hand, Jordan hesitated. Then, seeming to make up his mind, he stretched out his own hand. Halfway between the two boys, their hands met.

Jordan grinned. “I hope you knows what you is doing.”

“First, we keep you safe,” Caleb promised. “Then we figure out a way to get to your family.”

In that moment Libby felt scared right down to her toes. Something important had been decided. Something that would change Jordan’s life, but also Caleb’s and hers. Even the thought of what might happen frightened Libby.

I wish I had their courage
, she told herself again. Then she remembered the man on the Burlington street. It had been too dark to see the evil lines in his face. Yet a shiver of fear ran through Libby—a shiver so strong that she trembled.

With all her heart, she wanted Jordan’s mother and sisters and brother to reach freedom. With all her heart, she wanted Jordan to find the father who had been sold away from the family. But Libby knew how dangerous it would be.

One idea haunted her.
How can we hide from Riggs wherever we go?

As if knowing her thoughts, Caleb spoke. “We can be sure of one thing. Riggs will do everything he can to stop us. Wherever we are, he won’t be far behind!”

CHAPTER 2