Gabriel's Horses by Alison Hart

Author:Alison Hart
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Peachtree Publishers
Published: 2007-08-25T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

Crack! Crack! Crack! The shots come faster. Throwing back the blanket, I scramble over Pa and out of bed, stepping on someone’s arm. The room is piled with men sleeping two to a bunk and in blanket-wrapped rows on the floor.

“Hurry. We gotta find Jackson,” I tell Pa as I frantically hunt for my britches, which he must have pulled off before putting me to bed.

With a groan, Pa rolls over and throws his arm over his eyes. “Hush, Gabriel, before you wake the others. We ain’t being attacked. Those are Yankee rifles ringing in the Fourth of July.”

“What’re you talking about?” Kneeling on the floor, I search under the bunk.

“Independence Day.”

I know little of Independence Day. Since Master Giles is British, we don’t celebrate on the farm.

Sitting up, Pa glances down at me and chuckles. “Boy, how you expecting to fight Rebels with no britches?”

I flush mightily, embarrassed by my nakedness and stupidity. Still chuckling, Pa pulls my britches and a small haversack from under his pillow. “I believe this is what you’re hunting for.” He tosses the pants to me. “Let’s get washed up.”

By now, the men are stirring, and the bunkroom is pungent with the smell of dirty bodies. Tying my waist rope, I hurry after Pa. He’s buttoning the coat of his uniform as he heads down a hallway to the washroom where a pump brings water into an indoor sink.

“Master Giles needs one of these things.” I move the handle up and down. “Sure save a lot of bucket-carrying from the well.” I bend and peer at the water pouring from the spout. “Where’s it coming from?”

Pa splashes his face. “Long pipes run all the way to the Kentucky River.”

I splash water on my face, too, then scrub myself with a rag and small chunk of soap. The rinse water dripping into the sink is gray with yesterday’s dirt. “So where’d Jackson sleep?”

“In the wagon bed. He said there were too many men bunked in one room for his liking. He’ll have the team hitched and ready to go after breakfast.”

I stop scrubbing. “Go? We just got here.”

Pa dries his face with a rag. “That pass signed by General Fry only allows you one day in camp.”

“But I ain’t ready to leave,” I protest. “If I enlist, can I stay with you?”

“You can’t enlist, Gabriel. You can’t stay,” he says flatly. Tossing me the rag, he hurries from the washroom.

“But, Pa!” Hastily I dry my face, tears pricking my eyes at the thought of leaving him. A bear of a man pushes past, knocking me against the wall. I hang the rag on a peg and slither past him and into the hall. It’s teeming with black men of all sizes. A few are about my height, so I know I can pass for older. I’ll enlist today, and Pa can’t deny me!

In the bunkroom, Pa’s tidying up around his bed.

“I want to stay with you,” I say, trying to keep my voice from cracking.

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