Ann Fights for Freedom Read online

Ann’s heart thumped so hard it felt like it might burst through her chest. The men stopped in their tracks. They’d heard it too. They were closer to the house than the bushes, so they all ran forward.

  Daddy slipped in the grass, and Ann fought the urge to yell for him to hurry. He fell behind the other men by several yards.

  Go, Daddy! Hurry! Ann thought. She held her breath as the hoofbeats grew louder… and closer.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Eastern Maryland, near the Choptank River

  Monday, November 20, 1854

  Near sunrise

  Ann watched as Daddy struggled to catch up. She could no longer tell the difference between the hoofbeats and her own heartbeat. Seconds felt like hours.

  And then Daddy made it to the house, just behind the other men. They knocked on the door and were let inside. Ann let out the breath she’d been holding. Next to her, Mama exhaled too. Seconds later a wagon came into view. It stopped in front of the house. A white man climbed down from the seat and knocked on the door.

  Ann kept her fingers crossed, hoping he was one of the helpers on the Underground Railroad. Daddy had said some of the people at stations would be white. Ann and Paul had been surprised that white people helped Negroes hide, but Daddy had said, “Good and bad come in every size, shape, and color.” If this man wasn’t a helper, there would be trouble.

  A woman opened the door, talked to the man for a little while, and then handed him a basket of something. They were too far away to hear anything, but the man nodded and left again.

  Paul whispered, “Good. He’s leaving.”

  After the wagon was gone from sight Paul asked, “Mama, can we go to the house now too?”

  “No,” whispered Mama. “Your daddy said wait until dark.”

  Ann knew darkness was a long way off. The sun had just come up. Mama gave them another piece of pork and told them to lie down after they ate.

  Now that she was still, Ann realized all the muscles in her body were tired. They had walked two nights in a row. Their rest had been cut short yesterday when Nathan found them. She lay down and let herself fall asleep.

  When Ann woke again, it was dusk. Paul was staring at her. Mama and Elizabeth were sound asleep. Paul pointed at Mama and then pointed toward the house. Ann knew he wanted to go be with Daddy. She shook her head at him. Paul was going to have to learn to be patient. The sun wasn’t even all the way down yet.

  As soon as it was dark, Mama woke up. It was like her body had told her it was time. The four of them crouched in the bushes and watched the house for a while. All was quiet.

  Mama said, “Ann, you go first. Paul, you follow Ann. I want to be in back so I know I’m not leaving anyone behind.”

  Ann nodded. Without Daddy to take the lead, it was her job to help Mama, and she would not fail. She couldn’t fail. She crept out of the bushes so carefully the leaves barely rustled. She looked at the house. It seemed like the lantern on the porch was welcoming her.

  A wagon must have gotten there while they were asleep, because Ann hadn’t noticed it before. She looked back at the bushes. Paul peeked at her, and she motioned for him to come on.

  But just as Paul came out of the bushes, a bunch of shouting came from the house. The door opened, and a man with a gun made two of the runaways from earlier get on the wagon. Another man came out, pushing the boy along.

  Ann dove back into the bushes and watched in horror as slave catchers forced their three friends onto the wagon. The man with the gun guarded them, and the other one went back in. There was more hollering… and a gunshot.

  Suddenly more people than Ann could count came running out of the house. Ann could tell some of them were runaways, and some of them were slave catchers.

  Baby Elizabeth started to holler, so Mama nursed her to keep her quiet. The men hadn’t heard the baby over all of the screaming.

  Ann couldn’t bear to watch what was happening, and she didn’t want Paul to see it. She pulled Paul close and covered both of their faces. She felt Mama lay down in the bushes next to them. Tears stung Ann’s eyes, even though they were pressed against her sleeve.

  “Get him!” someone yelled.

  “He went that way,” said another voice.

  Ann had no idea how many of the slaves had been caught, but she heard the wagon leave. After a while, the night was quiet again. The only sound was Mama trying not to make noise while she cried. They waited until the moon was high in the sky, but Daddy never came back.

  Finally Mama whispered, “We have to go back.”

  “To the river?” asked Paul.

  “No,” said Mama. “We have to go back home to the farm. We can’t go on without Daddy.”

  Ann knew going home was a mistake. Their only hope of survival was ahead of them—not behind them. That meant she would have to lead her family to the North. She would have to be a conductor on the Underground Railroad.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Eastern Maryland, near the Choptank River

  Monday, November 20, 1854

  Late evening

  Ann couldn’t let Mama give up on their freedom. She couldn’t let Paul down. She couldn’t let baby Elizabeth grow up and spend her whole life working in a field for nothing.

  “Let’s go on,” Ann whispered. They had to keep moving. She led them back to the river, right into the water.

  Mama put a hand on Ann’s shoulder to make her stop. “We have to go back, Ann.”

  Paul started to cry. “They’re gon’ sell us, Mama. I don’t want to be sold.”

  “Shh,” said Mama. “Someone will hear you carrying on.”

  Everyone being upset made Elizabeth cry, and Ann got angry. “You two are going to get us killed. If we go back, there’s no telling what they’ll do. If we stand here, we’ll get caught for sure,” she said. “You all need to hush. We’re going north.”

  Ann was surprised by the strength in her words. She didn’t usually talk to her Mama like this. Paul looked up at Mama, who blinked and stared at Ann.

  Mama put her finger in Elizabeth’s mouth, and the baby stopped crying. Paul wiped his tears with his hand. They looked ready to move on.

  Ann nodded and continued in the direction Daddy had told them to go. She made them walk all night long. She wanted to get as far away from that house and those pattyrollers as she could.

  Finally the river started to narrow, and Ann stopped. “We’ll rest here.”

  “Ann, I can’t do this alone,” said Mama, starting to cry again. “Not with the baby and the two of you.”

  Ann said, “Mama, you’re not alone. You have me.”

  Mama sighed. “It would be bad to go back,” she said. “Are you sure you want to do this without Daddy?”

  Ann didn’t know if it was fear or hope—or the promise she’d made to Daddy after Elizabeth was born—that made her so determined. She would keep her family safe. Ann nodded, and she knew that settled it. Their journey north wasn’t over yet.

  Mama opened her pouch of food. There wasn’t much left. Just a few strips of pork, two pieces of ashcake, and a few little carrots. She ate carrots and a piece of pork, then gave the rest to Ann and Paul. Ann would have to figure out how to get them more food when they moved on.

  Paul broke the silence. “Where’s Daddy?” he asked.

  It was the question Ann had been asking herself. She knew Mama was thinking about Daddy too. Even though Ann wanted to know, she was afraid to find out. The combination of thinking about Daddy and sitting in the cold night in wet clothes made her shiver.

  “I don’t know,” said Mama. “I hope he got away. My heart can’t take losing anybody else in this family.” Fresh tears rolled down her cheeks, and her shoulders slumped. Mama looked like she was too tired to hold her own head up.

  Ann knew Mama was thinking about Granny. She spotted some logs not too far off and helped
Mama lay down behind one of them. “Get some rest,” Ann whispered.

  Mama lay on her side and nursed Elizabeth. Ann put Paul behind another log. She lay with him until he started to snore, then she crept off to her own log. She needed to be alone to think.

  Ann didn’t know she’d fallen asleep until the barking of bloodhounds woke her up. In a single movement, she was on her feet. She rushed to Mama and helped her up. Paul grabbed Mama’s hand.

  Deep barks, growls, and howls echoed through the night. The dogs sounded like they wanted nothing more than to catch Ann and her family. Ann wanted nothing more than to make sure that didn’t happen.

  “Run!” said Ann.

  It was still dark, but Ann could see the river. She didn’t want to run in it, because the dogs would hear the splashing. But if they didn’t run in the river, they would leave footprints.

  Ann knew their footprints would give the dogs a scent to follow. So she did the only thing she could think of. She ran as close to the river as she could without being in it.

  As she ran, she kept looking back to see if Mama and Paul were still with her. Mama and Paul held hands and pulled each other along. The sling that held Elizabeth was cradled in Mama’s other hand. She was trying to keep Elizabeth from bouncing.

  Ann heard the dogs splashing in the river behind them. They were getting closer. She would have to try to confuse them. Even though Ann knew it would make noise, she ran into the river hoping they wouldn’t leave a scent for the dogs to follow. After a while she slowed down.

  Silently Ann mouthed, We have to cross. She pointed to the other side of the river.

  Paul’s eyes got wide, and he shook his head. Ann walked back to Paul and put him on her back. He was heavier than he looked. She started across the river, and Mama walked right next to her. Ann tested the bed of the river before each step she took. She didn’t want to fall. If it got deep suddenly, she would drop Paul. Ann couldn’t swim. They would both drown.

  When the water was up to their waists, Ann started to panic. She had no idea how deep the river was. She took deep breaths to help herself stay calm as the barking of the bloodhounds grew more frantic. Soon the water was so high Mama had to raise Elizabeth up. Paul’s behind was in the water.

  One of the dogs let out a long howl, and Ann could see a spot of light far off in the distance. The men were catching up.

  Just when Ann thought they were going to have to head back the way they came, the river got shallow again, and they made it out on the other side. Ann began to run. She forgot to watch for the North Star. She ran like their lives depended on it.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Eastern Maryland, further north along the Choptank River

  Monday, November 20, 1854

  Late night

  Behind her, Ann could hear the dogs barking. Then she heard a man shout. “Which way did they go?” he yelled.

  She kept running. When Ann looked back to make sure Mama and Paul were keeping up, Mama was limping. She didn’t seem like she would make it much farther.

  Ann searched the land around them for a place to hide. Their choices were to run toward the trees or to run toward a farm in the distance.

  Ann’s mind raced. If she ran into the woods, they might go too far off their path and get lost. But running toward the farm meant running toward people. And those people might capture them. But the men would probably think they ran into the trees, because it wouldn’t make sense for runaways to run to a stranger’s house.

  So Ann headed to the farm with Mama, baby Elizabeth, and Paul right behind her. When she reached the fence, she saw she was next to a pigpen. There was a mama pig with a few babies.

  The mama raised her head and stared at Ann. Ann didn’t want to make the pigs squeal and give away their location, so she went around to the other side of the pen. She found a pile of wood there.

  Ann motioned for her family to sit between the wood and the pen. Once they were all on the ground, she covered as much of their bodies as she could with wood.

  As her breathing slowed, Ann heard the dogs getting closer. Then she heard one of the men whistle and yell at them, and they changed direction. The dogs knew where Ann’s family was hiding, but the men didn’t believe they went to the farm. They had called their dogs away. Ann’s trick had worked.

  Paul wiggled under the wood. “Be still, Paul,” said Ann.

  “Are the dogs gone?” asked Paul.

  Ann nodded. She looked at Mama. Silent tears fell from Mama’s closed eyes. Her lips moved. Ann knew Mama was praying.

  They lay like that until the sun came up. Shortly after sunrise, Ann heard footsteps coming from the direction of the house.

  “Here, pigs,” said a man’s voice.

  The pigs snorted at the man, and Ann heard what sounded like mud splashing, which was a sound she was too familiar with now. At first she wasn’t sure what the sound was, then she realized the man had just poured breakfast for the pigs.

  Ann knew pigs ate people food. She waited until she was positive the man was gone but not long enough for the pigs to eat their meal.

  “Stay here,” she whispered to Mama and Paul.

  Ann snuck back around the pen. She crawled to the fence next to the pig trough. The food smelled good.

  She reached through the fence, but the mama pig snapped at her. Ann drew her hand back and moved to the side of the trough where the piglets were. The mama pig watched her.

  As quick as a snake Ann’s hand went in, grabbed a fistful of food, and pulled back out. She used her skirt to hold the food and took as many fistfuls as she could until the mama pig tried to bite her.

  Ann cradled the food in her skirt and crawled back to Mama and Paul. They all lay on their stomachs and ate the slops. There were chunks of cornbread, yams, ham scraps, and apple peels.

  It reminded Ann of their Saturday night gatherings, and she realized the pigs ate better than she usually did. But for now, she was just happy to have food. Ann had managed to steal enough from the pigs to fill their stomachs.

  When they had just finished, Elizabeth started to cry. Mama tried to nurse her, but she wouldn’t eat. Mama tried sticking her finger in Elizabeth’s mouth, but the baby pushed it back out with her tongue. Finally Mama put her hand over Elizabeth’s mouth. Nothing worked. The pigs started to squeal.

  Across the farm a man shouted, “David, go see about those pigs!”

  “Yessir,” said a voice that Ann figured must be David.

  Quickly Ann, Mama, and Paul buried themselves in as much wood as they could before David arrived.

  “What’s the matter with you?” David asked the pigs.

  A piglet made a high-pitched sound. So did Elizabeth. David heard it. “That wasn’t no pig,” he said.

  Ann could tell David was walking toward them. She knew they were going to get caught, because Elizabeth would not be quiet. Ann could just see the top of David’s head from where she was. Soon she saw his dark brown face peering down at them. He gasped.

  “You stay right there,” he said. “Don’t you move. I’mma send somebody down here to help you.”

  Then David hurried away shouting, “Those greedy pigs are fighting over the slops!”

  In a few minutes a very old woman arrived at the woodpile. Her face was more wrinkled than anyone’s Ann had ever seen. “Come on,” she whispered.

  They followed the woman to a row of cabins. They were just like the cabins the slaves lived in back home. The woman took them inside of one. She didn’t speak at all. She lit the cook fire and motioned for them to sit. Then she disappeared.

  Ann said, “Mama, why is Elizabeth crying so much?”

  “I don’t think I have enough milk,” said Mama.

  “Why?” asked Paul.

  “I just don’t,” said Mama. She said it in a way that meant she was done talking about it.

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nbsp; Ann got closer to the fire and watched Mama try to feed Elizabeth.

  “Mama, we’re never going to make it if Elizabeth keeps crying,” said Ann.

  Mama looked at Ann with worried eyes. “I know,” she said. After a while, Elizabeth dozed off, and Mama handed her to Paul. Then she untied and slipped off the shoes that Mattie had given her.

  Ann’s breath caught in her throat. Mama’s feet were red and blistered. “What’s wrong with your feet?” she asked.

  Mama said, “It’s these shoes.”

  Ann realized that Mama had been limping not because she was tired but because her feet were hurt. Ann thought shoes were supposed to make walking easier, not harder.

  The cabin felt so familiar that Ann fell asleep and slept the whole day away. When she woke up, the sun had gone down, and a woman Ann didn’t recognize was making dinner.

  The wrinkled old lady was back, and she was sewing near the fire. David waited by the fire for dinner.

  When dinner was ready the younger woman served David first. He held her hand for a moment after she handed him his food. Ann could tell she was David’s wife. Next she served Ann’s family, the old woman, and herself.

  “Eat,” said David. “Then we’ll talk.”

  Mama opened her mouth to speak, but David put up his hand. “Eat first” he said. “Don’t even tell me your name. The less we know, the better.”

  The old woman began to sing a song about Moses leading the slaves from Egypt. Every now and then she’d stop long enough to eat some grits. All six of them ate without talking. Ann wondered what David wanted to talk about.

  Finally he spoke. “You must be lost,” he said.

  “We are,” said Paul. “My daddy’s lost too.”

  “Shhh,” said Mama.

  David, his wife, and the old woman looked at each other.

  Elizabeth started crying like the thought of her lost daddy made her sad. The old woman took her from Mama. She pinched some grits with two fingers, blew on them, and put them in Elizabeth’s mouth. Ann thought Mama was going to have a fit, but the baby stopped crying and Mama looked relieved.