The Time Heiress by Georgina Young- Ellis

Author:Georgina Young- Ellis
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Leaping Tall Buildings Productions LLC
Published: 2011-12-04T14:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

We waited in the bushes on the bank of the Chesapeake for more than a day and a night. We watched boats go by and observed that there seemed to be a dock a ways east. We carefully made our way, staying low and in the bushes, for this was a populated area with houses and farms along the shore. We watched that dock one long day, and then at nightfall, saw a white man put two black people on a boat. It didn’t look like a master and slaves ’cause he was acting kind to them, and they had a secretive air about them. I decided to take a chance. Without saying a word to Sam and Lill, so as to not put them in danger if I was wrong, I dashed out of our hiding place and ran up to the boat before it set off.

“Sir,” I said to the white man, not looking him in the eye, “I need passage on this boat.”

“Where are you going?” he asked in a mild voice.

“Philadelphia.”

He chuckled. “Well, this boat don’t go that far. The whole Chesapeake Bay don’t even go that far. But I will take you with these others here, out around the point to Reedville. There, another boat can take you up near Lexington Park and another across the bay to Canton. From there, you go by foot or train or however you can, on up the east coast of Maryland, through a little bit o’ Delaware and then you reach Philly. But we gotta hurry now, come on.”

“Wait,” I said. “I got two friends with me.” I glanced up at him and he looked dismayed.

“Brother,” he said, “I am not strong enough to row five people and myself.”

“My friend is strong and so am I. You show us how and we will help you row.”

He considered a moment. “Very well. Bring ’em.”

I waved to Sam and Lill and they came running.

“Sir,” I said, “we cannot pay you.”

“I am not lookin’ for pay,” he said. “I am doing this for God and my fellow man.”

That was music to my ears. We scrambled onto the boat, which was not very big. The man rowed out a ways, then sat Sam on one oar and me on another. After a minute we got the idea of how to do it together and we moved that boat forward. The man brought out a tin bucket of cornbread and chicken, and Sam and I ate with the others, and rowed by turns. Even when we were working together, it took us all night, guided by the moon, to get to this place he called Reedville, especially since the water was rough and choppy once we got out of the inlet and out around the point into the bay. But we made it there in one piece and once on land, he led us to the house of his friends.

We slept there in the cellar with the other two folks, whose names

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