Soul Catcher (65 page)

^{"How many?"}

^{"Just one."}

^{"I didn't get your name."}

^{"It's Cain."}

^{"I have not had the pleasure of working with you before, sir. Where do you hail from?"}

^{"Back east."}

^{The man looked him over again, taking note once more of the big gun on his hip. "If I may be frank, you hardly look like a shepherd. Have you brought other sheep across the river?"}

^{"No, this is the first time."}

^{"I see," the old man said, bringing one bony hand to his beard. "Why have you decided to help the cause now?"}

^{"I'm not interested in any cause," replied Cain, growing annoyed at the man's questions. "I only want to get one sheep across."}

^{"We have to be careful. There are spies everywhere."}

^{"I am looking to find the Gist Settlement. Have you heard of it?"}

^{"Yes. It is about a week's ride west of here. Why?"}

^{"I would like to bring someone there."}

^{The man wagged his head. "You do not want to be going there now."}

^{"Why not?"}

^{"It's far too dangerous. The roads south and west of here are chock-full of slave catchers and patrols."}

^{"I've noticed them. What's the cause of it?"}

^{"They're after a runaway female."}

^{"I heard. All this for just one girl?" Cain said.}

^{"She's wanted for murder."}

^{"Murder!" he repeated.}

^{"Yes. She killed her mistress. Happened over near Elkins. From what I've heard, the mistress was beating her with a frying pan, and the poor girl wrested it from her and hit her back. Evidently it killed the woman. So the girl fled."}

^{Cain smiled inwardly. All this time he'd thought it was Rosetta they were after. Turned out to be just a coincidence. He still had to be careful, especially taking a slave north across the river. They'd be suspicious.}

^{"There is a five-hundred-dollar reward for her capture," Stone explained. "They've been scouring the countryside looking for her. Which has made things rather difficult for everyone."}

^{"Would you help me?" Cain asked.}

^{"I cannot help you if you're set on going west."}

^{"I just want to see her somewhere safe."}

^{"A woman runaway?"}

^"Yes."

^{"I would be willing to arrange transport north."}

^{"How far north?"}

^{"Canada. Where is she now?"}

^{"Across the river."}

^{"I have some sheep hidden away in the woods," the old man said, continuing with the absurd cover. "Tomorrow night I shall be bringing them on to the next station. If you can get her here by midnight, I will be happy to take her along as well."}

^{"They're guarding the bridge and the ferry."}

^{"Yes. You will need to be careful. They have patrols all up and down the river on both sides. If you don't have the proper papers for a slave, they will stop you. They are jailing any Negro without them. However, there is a man on the Virginia side that sometimes brings runaways across. Pettigrew. He's not one of us. He charges for his services."}

^{"I can pay," Cain said.}

^{Stone then described where the man lived in Parkersburg, a cabin in a wooded area down near the confluence of the Little Kanawha and Ohio rivers. He then stood and offered his hand to Cain.}

^{"You will need to have her here by midnight or I shall be forced to leave without you. Godspeed."}

^{Cain took the ferry back across the river. By now it was getting on toward dark. He rode down to the junction of the two rivers and, as the underbrush became so clotted with sweet briar and blackberry brambles, he had to dismount, tie Hermes to a tree, and go it on foot. In the darkness, he crept through the woods, getting entangled and cut up on the vines. He came finally upon a cleared area down by the water. By moonlight, he made out a cabin, built into the side of the bank with the back suspended over the water on stilts. Dense undergrowth grew up along the sides of the cabin. He saw a light in the window and smoke wafting from a chimney. In front of the place was a small garden patch, while off to the right was a ramshackle shed and chicken coop. Cain headed up to the front door and knocked.}

^{"Whatchu want?" a voice called from within.}

^{"I'm looking for Pettigrew."}

^{"That'd be me. What's your business?"}

^{"John Stone said you could help me. I have some sheep I need transported across the river," Cain said.}

^{"Ain't interested."}

^{"I'm willing to pay twenty dollars."}

^{There was silence, followed by the sound of a wooden bar being slid across behind the door. The door swung in and Cain found himself facing an old fowling piece.}

^{"Twenty dollars, you say?" said Pettigrew. Behind the gun was a thin, pale man, shirtless, wearing a pair of homespun trousers held up by suspenders. His skin appeared grayish in the dim light, and while his arms and face were skinny, he had a potbelly that sagged over his pants waist. A mangy white cat circled about his legs.}

^{"That's right."}

^{"What sort of sheep?"}

^{"You interested or not?"}

^{"C'mon in."}

^{Inside, the place reeked of coal oil, corn liquor, and rotting fish. The man hung his gun above the fireplace, walked across the room, and grabbed hold of an empty hogshead. He rolled it out of the way and lifted up a hinged part of the flooring, which turned out to be a trapdoor. He glanced over at Cain and said, "I have to take precautions." Then he climbed down a ladder toward the river. Cain glanced around the sparsely furnished cabin. Besides the table and two chairs, there was a bed in the corner, at its foot a crudely made box fashioned of pine planks. It resembled a coffin. Pettigrew returned in a moment carrying a stone jug dripping water. He sat at a table made of a rough slab of cottonwood cut width-wise and propped up on four spindly legs.}

^{"Well, set yourself down whilst I eat."}

^{Cain sat across the table from Pettigrew. The man fell to eating a pile of fried catfish. His mouth made crunching noises as he broke bones and cartilage without seeming concern. He washed it all down with copious swigs of liquor from the stone jug. He didn't offer Cain any. The cat had jumped up on the table and was watching the man eat, biding his time.}

^{"How come you cain't go by the reg'lar ferry?"}

^{"This sheep needs special care," Cain replied.}

^{"How many?"}

^{"Just the one."}

^{Pettigrew smiled, showing a handful of blackened teeth.}

^{"You either running from the law or you got a nigger needs crossing. Wouldn't be that nigger gal they's after here'bouts?"}

^{"No," Cain replied.}

^{"When you lookin' to cross?"}

^{"Tomorrow night."}

^{"Hell," the man cried. "Too dangerous now. You tell Stone to wait a few days. Let things settle down a mite."}

^{Cain got up, went over to a window at the back, which looked out onto the river. The river's dark surface gleamed in the moonlight like a piece of polished onyx. Below, nearly hidden by overhanging limbs and bushes, sat a dugout canoe in the water.}

^{"I'm only wanting to get across that river," Cain said.}

^{"You and ever' damn nigger south of the Mason-Dixon."}

^{"All right. I'll pay you thirty dollars."}

^{"They catch me, I'd go to prison. Naw, you wait awhile."}

^{"No, it has to be tomorrow night."}

^{Cain could see that the man had already decided he would do it and was now just trying to increase his price.}

^{"All right," said Cain, "fifty dollars."}

^{At this, the man stopped chewing. He looked across the room at Cain and his eyes narrowed.}

^{"You make it a hunnerd and you got yourself a deal."}

^{"A hundred dollars just to cross?"}

^{"It's dangerous times. Take it or leave it, mister."}

^{Cain removed his billfold and dropped fifty dollars on the table. While he was counting the money, Pettigrew's attention was drawn away from his plate, allowing the cat to move in on his dinner. When he saw it, the man swore and smacked the cat with the back of his hand, sending the thing sprawling onto the floor.}

^{"Ain't but fifty there," the man said.}

^{"The rest when we land on the other side."}

^{Pettigrew took another drink from the jug. "Tomorrow night be here soon's it's dark. And make sure you have the rest of the money."}

^{Riding back through town toward where Rosetta was waiting, Cain decided to stop at a saloon down near the river. He was thirsty and figured to have himself another drink, and mull things over. Everything had gotten so jumbled up, his mind streaked and his will flummoxed. That odd sensation he'd had up under his ribs since the previous night was still there. When he'd finished the first glass of whiskey, he had another and then another after that, hoping for some sort of clarity. He thought of some lines from Milton:
The mind is its own place, and in itself, can make heaven of Hell, and a hell of Heaven.}

^{* * *}

^{I
t was late when Cain finally stumbled out into the street. As he mounted Hermes and turned east, he chanced to see several horses tied in front of an inn across the street. He noticed that one of the animals was gray colored in the moonlight, its hindquarters muscled and thick. Something told him he'd seen the animal before, but he was too drunk to pay it much mind.}

^{As he approached the spot in the woods where he thought he'd left Rosetta, he dismounted and walked along on foot. He stumbled over something in the dark and fell headlong. As he lay on the ground, behind his ear he heard the distinctive click of a gun's hammer.}

^{"That you, Cain?" Rosetta whispered.}

^{"It's me."}

^{"Where on earth you been?"}

^{"I had to make arrangements," he said.}

^{She struck a locofoco and lit the lantern she carried. She held it up in front of him. "You're drunk," she said, staring at him.}

^{"So what if I am?"}

^{"I was worried sick, and you out gettin' liquored up."}