The Lynching of Louie Sam by Elizabeth Stewart

Author:Elizabeth Stewart [Stewart, Elizabeth]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Historical, Book, ebook
ISBN: 9781554514397
Publisher: Annick Press
Published: 2012-06-21T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

JOHN IS DOING THE MILKING Sunday morning when I come into the shed. I take Father’s handsaw down from its nail. John is watching me while he milks.

“Did you ask him if you can take that?” he wants to know.

“Why don’t you mind your own business, John?” I say, because the truth is I didn’t ask Father. I’m hoping I can return the saw before he notices it’s missing. I put it in a knapsack with the bread and cheese that Mam has given me, and set out along the track toward The Crossing with the sun barely peeking over the trees.

This is the second Sunday since Mr. Bell died. By the time I reach the remains of his cabin, the sun is high enough to send sparkles off the frosty rime that’s spread over the charred timbers like white moss. It’s almost pretty. I haven’t had breakfast yet, so I stop and eat some of the bread and cheese. While I chew I walk the length of the ruins. Kids have started talking at school about this stretch of the track being haunted by Mr. Bell’s ghost, but the place doesn’t feel haunted to me. It just feels lonely. It always felt lonely, though, even when Mr. Bell was alive.

I come to the spot between what used to be his store and his kitchen—the spot where we found his body—and I wonder what it was about him that made his wife and son hate him so. But did she hate him enough to want him dead? Is that what Mrs. Thompson and Mrs. Stevens were driving at? It doesn’t seem possible that we have a murderer living right here in our midst. But if it’s true that Louie Sam didn’t kill Mr. Bell, then somebody else must have done it. I set out walking again. My mind is full of such thoughts all the way to The Crossing—about Mr. Bell hating Mr. Harkness for stealing his wife away, and Mrs. Bell hating her husband all the more for the trouble he was causing her and Mr. Harkness. I just don’t know what to believe.

When I reach Mr. Moultray’s store, it’s closed. In the livery stable I find Jack Simpson, the man the posse sent ahead to sneak into Mr. York’s farmhouse. He tells me to give him a minute and he’ll get the pitch I need for the repairs from the supplies shed. I watch him feed and water the last of the horses. Jack’s a friendly type with a quick smile, though he smells bad from having no mother or wife to wash his clothes or tell him to take a bath. He’s close enough to my age that I feel like I can ask him a question.

“What do you make of Governor Newell saying he’s going to track down the leaders of the Vigilance Committee?” I say.

“He can try,” he replies with a laugh.

“Mr. York saw your face. He knows who you are.”

“Mr. York is a good actor,” says Jack.

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.