The Ghost Who Would Not Die by Linda Alice Dewey

Author:Linda Alice Dewey
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781612830339
Publisher: Hampton Roads Publishing

What you do—or don't do—matters.

—J. Johnson

A new moon blessed us with a dark night. We waited till Willard gave the signal. A small stone hit our tent as he walked by to the latrine. We crawled out. Nelson, on guard duty that night, followed the rest of us. We sortied together same as before—off the road, around the bend, behind a big rock—ten of us, big men save for me.

Stars twinkled, showing the way. We hiked as the crow flies, moving fast as we could. Knew what would happen when we weren't in our places at reveille. They'd break out a posse on horseback with hounds tracking us like they did every time there was a break, then give up and go back if we got far enough ahead. It was almost routine. One or two deserted every day, but never ten at once. They didn't pursue the others like they could. Too much else to do, just to keep an eye on everything and keep the ranks simmered down.

You can't keep good fighting men doing slave work, just like you can't treat an adult like a child. You just don't do that.

We let our hot heads lead us, instead of figuring out a plan. Once we got clear of the danger of being chased—well, that was as far ahead as anybody thought out. We knew we wanted to get to one of them places where the coloreds did for themselves and not the white man—or any town that wasn't proslavery.

After not being caught the first couple of nights, we got traveling by day since we was free, every now and then stopping for water at a drinking pump for coloreds in some little podunk town along the road.

“Any communities round here where coloreds work for coloreds?” we'd ask when we seen one of our kind. “Like having their own shops and stores?”

They'd look around, their eyes wide like they never heard tell of no such thing and were afraid to be talking such. Which told us we were way too far south yet.

The other problem? Ten coloreds roaming the road together didn't look good. People gave us plenty of space as we moved through town. Some whites even went hiding when they seen us a-coming. Problem was, the coloreds were afraid too. Just wasn't right, people being so afraid of us.

“How come our own look at us like that?” I asked as a few blacks veered off the road before we got to them. Up till that fifth day, we didn't understand it.

Now I gots to tell you, we all stowed rations before leaving camp. Even though the food wasn't enough in the first place, we'd need it on the road even more. At first, everybody had biscuits and all, but it sure wasn't enough when we were on the move. Hell, most of us ate up all we had the first day or so.

Foraging for food was pretty easy at first cause it was harvest time. We found plenty in the fields.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.