Sweetsmoke (25 page)

    Cassius
sagged at the news.

    "Jesus
Christ, what's the matter with you, Mule, why you tell him that? Now we got to
take care of him, teach him his place, and it's your fault," said Bornock.

    Cassius
knew he was facing a beating. It would be worse in the cold rain.

    "You
think I'm gettin down, we got a boy to chase, I ain't gettin down; you want to
take time to beat his ass, you do it, Bornock," said Lang.

    "All
right, then just me and Mule. Come on, Mule."

    "You
spend last three hour accuse me of steal your gun, and now you want my help? Go
on yourself, you always say you hotshot, handle anyone," said Mueller.

    "Damn,"
said Bornock. He angled his horse in front of Cassius and pressed him off the
road, into a clear area around a hedge. The other two walked their horses down
the road to a stand of trees under which they were partly protected from the
rain.

    Cassius
stood his ground in the clearing, in the light from the two lanterns. Bornock
sat on his horse, looking at him. Cassius knew he didn't have his full
strength, but he gathered what he had.

    "I'm
beat your ass," said Bornock.

    Come
on with it, said Cassius.

    Bornock
came down out of his saddle into the muck and grass. He hooked his lantern over
the horn of the saddle. His horse did not move. Bornock was a big man, he
outweighed Cassius and was about the same height.

    "You
git on over here."

    Cassius
stayed where he was.

    "Damn,"
said Bornock, and he charged, swinging his short whip. Cassius caught his hand
and twisted it, and he felt the uncertainty in Bornock's attack. Bornock had
expected help from Lang and Mueller, and when it had not come, he expected
Cassius to acquiesce. Now he faced an enemy he did not know. Cassius gained
strength and power from this knowledge, and he let Bornock's weight work
against him, stepping aside so that Bornock slipped and tumbled in the mud. He
came up spitting and his fury made him foolish. He found his feet and moved at
Cassius again.

    Come
on then, give me that lesson, said Cassius. Come on!

    Bornock
came on in the dim light of the lanterns, but Cassius moved at him now, and
landed a solid fist in Bornock's belly. He heard an "oof" as Bornock
doubled over, dropping to his knees, sending water out in a wave.

    "I'll
kill you," said Bornock hoarsely. "We gonna string you up so high the
birds won't reach your eyes."

    Cassius
moved in and grabbed Bornock by the hair.

    You do
that. You call 'em over, 'cause it goin take all three of you, and you tell 'em
they gotta help you 'cause you couldn't handle me. You tell 'em that and I'll
wait here.

    "Damn,"
said Bornock and he spit something into the mud.

    Or
you say you did me good, you say Cassius can't stand up. Tell 'em you let me
live so Hoke Howard don't come looking for the two thousand dollars it cost to
replace a prime hand.

    "Uh,"
said Bornock, squeezing his eyes together at the pain. He got to his feet,
holding his stomach. Cassius took his short whip from him and threw it away in
the dark. He noticed Bornock did not have his fancy pearl-handled Colt Army
revolver, and realized that he had not seen it earlier, before they came into
the clearing.

    Bornock
moved to his horse. Cassius leaned to pick Bornock's hat out of a puddle and
spun it to him. Bornock swung himself into the saddle. Cassius watched Bornock
ride back to the road, losing him in the rain but for the light splay of his
lantern. The three lanterns joined and for a moment Cassius thought his ploy
hadn't worked, but then they moved away together. Cassius picked up his lantern
and walked back to the road. He followed the group of three lanterns as they
moved ahead, growing smaller.

    Big
Gus, he thought. Big Gus had done exactly what he'd meant to do, he drove
Joseph until Joseph could take it no longer, and now Joseph was running.
Cassius hoped Joseph was smart and knew how to get north. The rain clouds would
hide the star markers in the sky, but they could also help him avoid the
patrollers and slave catchers that Hoke would employ. But things would now be
more difficult for Cassius, he would have less room to maneuver as everyone
would be on edge. Every white man in the area would be alert and the patrols
would increase. If it had been dangerous before, now it was worse.

    He
came to the small bridge and stopped, listening to the swollen creek rush by
under his feet. He thought about his escape from Otis Bornock, and he was
gratified. Bornock might brag and preen, but Cassius knew the kind of bully
Bornock was. Cassius had instilled fear in the man. Bornock would, from that
moment on, always be unsure of himself around Cassius, and was unlikely to
bother him again. That at least was something.

    Cassius
stepped into Mam Rosie's kitchen and the intense heat burned his eyes and
pressured his forehead, and his brain pounded as if expanding. Something in the
room was unusual, and he looked to see that her unmade pallet and personal
possessions were out on the brick floor-if she had not found time to tidy her
few belongings, then she had been hard-pressed, cooking constantly for the
hunters of Joseph. Within the demonically heated air dwelled good smells that
were complex, accented by sweet. He looked to the great hearth; she had built
the fire so that it burned at various levels of intensity across its full
width. Up front, the older glowing coals slow-roasted embedded potatoes; behind
that, a hearty flame licked the side of a hog set on the spit. To the left,
heavy cast-iron pots hung from trivets, and coals rested on the cover of one
pot so that the insides cooked evenly. Hot as it was, the hearth fire alone
would not have made the room unbearable. He looked to the side wall and saw
heat waves from the brick oven in full burn. She had been all night bringing the
oven to temperature in order to bake. The sweetness was the first boil molasses
added to cornbread.

    All
this food would deplete the stores quickly, and he projected a lean winter.

    Lot
of rumors out there, Rose, said Cassius.

    What you
doin here, Cassius, why you come in here today? said Mam Rosie. You see what's
goin on.

    You
think I got something on my mind?

    Mam
Rosie moved at him swiftly, her corded right arm rising to wag a threatening
finger. Don't you pretend with me, Cassius, I raised you, I know you, I know
how you think! This a dangerous game you playin, you close to findin yourself
with a stretched neck.

    What
you hear?

    You
expect to come in all easy sweet and I just tell you?

    You
know me, Rose, you raised me, you know how I think.

    Mam
Rosie lowered her finger. Her mouth turned down and her head swiveled side to
side, wanting to shake him out of her kitchen and out of her thoughts.

    Somethin
goin on with you and that little girl? said Mam Rosie with venom.

    No,
there ain't, he said, meeting her venom.

    The
hell you say.

    You
ask, I answer.

    Pet
is like to git you, Cassius, and I can't say's I blame her. What you got
against Tempie?

    Never
gave her much thought. But she hid that box in the dress of "that little
girl," so I ask you: What Tempie got against Quashee? You think Quashee
should get sold? You think that fair? You think that right?

    So
now you all powerful with right and wrong?

    Rose,
said Cassius softly, I did not know what would come to Tempie. I just know she
set out to injure someone who did her no harm, someone who belonged out of the
fields.

    You
never thought maybe Tempie belong out of the fields? You not think that?

    I think
she had her chance and it didn't go her way.

    You
are the slipperiest, the snakiest, how you get so damn tall anyway? Someone
sneaky as you ought be short and oily.

    Cassius
thought that he got to be slippery and sneaky because of Mam Rosie, but he
said: What you know about Joseph, Rose?

    And
don't be callin me Rose.

    Nobody
here but us, said Cassius easily. Tell me about Joseph.

    Mam
Rosie heard it before Cassius knew anything, a subtle change that caused her to
cock an ear, then move directly to the kettle on the right, arriving just as
froth bubbled over the lip and sizzled against its outer bowl. She took an iron
rod with a C-shaped bend at the end and hooked one leg of the trivet that held
the kettle, jerking it two inches off the heat, at which the foam fell back and
relaxed to an easy roil. She made mental calculations on the rest, added three
coals to the top of the covered pot, nodded to herself, and sat on a low chair
setting her elbows on her knees, resting her head forward where her palms
covered her eyes.

    Took
off in the rain, she said.

    I
know that much.

    Goin
in the rain was smart, no tracks or scent to follow. Paddyrollers and them dogs
havin a bad time 'cause of it. Even got Ol' Mr. Nettle out there, ridin around like
some holy prince, and you know Mr. Nettle ain't been on patrol three year now.
They got slave chasers and whites comin in from every plantation, don't want no
big ideas gettin in the heads of their nigras, got to make a 'xample out of
this one or all our nigras goin think they can run, too.

    One
rumor is he's caught. Another is he's beaten, whipped, even hanged; can't turn
around without a rumor that he had everything done to him that white men can
think up to make the rest of us crap the hope out of our sorry asses.

    Rumors,
she said bitterly. Rumors are Master Lincoln goin free us, lot of good that do.
Right now I settle for just one of us gettin away.

    So
he's not caught.

    No,
she said wearily, not 'less someone right now bringin him in.

    Somebody
had to help him.

    What
for, why somebody had to, can't a man just run? said Mam Rosie, her eyes
unfocused.

    Man
can run. Man can hide for a while, but Joseph ain't much of a man, yet, and if
they don't have him already, figures somebody helped him. You think he linked
up with that Underground Railroad?

    Mam
Rosie whirled at him, her face animated: Don't talk 'bout that, don't even
think 'bout that!

    Emoline
was alive, she'd've helped him, said Cassius.

    Just
wipe that Underground Railroad out your brain, you hear me?

    Cassius
remembered that Darby had often spoken about the Underground Railroad. Mam
Rosie blamed his loose talk for getting him sold.

    So he
didn't come to you, said Cassius.

    Come
to
me
?!? Ain't no way that boy comin to me 'bout no railroad. He just a
boy, I ain't never sent nobody, specially not a boy.

    All
right, Rose, all right.

    She
stared at him, a hard, mean look in her eyes.

    He
was the only one allowed to call me that, she said.

    He
called you that in affection, said Cassius.

    He
was a good man.

    Took
real good care of me, he said.

    You
sayin I didn't?

    You
didn't need a little boy to love you, Rose. When they sold Darby, they took all
the love you had.

    Mam Rosie
stood straighter, and he saw her forcing her mouth tight to cut off the tremble
of her lower lip, but in that struggle her entire head began to tremble. She
turned away suddenly and made a nervous tour of her kitchen, testing the hog's
side and peering into the pots with her back to him, using her apron to wipe
her brow and then her eyes and cheeks. After a long moment, she came back to
where he stood, cocked her head, and shifted it back to look at him.

    You
eat today? Look like you could use somethin, she said quietly.

    What
makes you think I didn't eat?