talk her out of it, and she’ll never let you tie her to the bed. I’ll have my revolver and my rifle, and it’ll be dark, Charlie. The rushes and brambles are really high, and there are woods for cover. No one will see us in the dark amongst all that greenery.”
“What makes you think you know anything?” Charlie said sternly. “You ain’t never gone up the bay by land, so you ain’t got nothin’ to say. I been here near on thirty-one years, and I still don’t know it all.”
“I saw plenty of land from the deck of the steamship and on the captain’s boat when we took Nelson up,” Mercy replied defiantly. She waited for Charlie to speak again. His decision would be final, and even Lina would know to stop talking when Charlie put his foot down. As though they were her own, Mercy sensed the tumultuous thoughts that must be running through his mind. He had never forbidden Lina to work with the Underground Railroad, but his family in Mississippi owned slaves, and he had always refused to take part in its activities.
Charlie looked at both women in turn and sighed with exasperation. “God damn it, I want to knock both your heads together. Listen here, you both need to take an oath on the good Lord’s Bible that this will be the last time. That’s the only way I’m goin’ to allow this. You’re both as stubborn as each other. That Jacob Stone will have my hide if anything happens to you, Mercy. You know that, don’t you?”
Lina kissed her husband on the cheek and beamed at Mercy. “You rest up today, child. You hear me? We got a long ride ahead of us …”
Chapter Six
The wagon left Newport News around midnight with Lina, Mercy, and the young black man called Seth. Lina had filled the back of the wagon with belongings that she and Charlie planned to take with them to the cabin on her return. There was a small oak sideboard, waist high, a couple of chairs, a trunk, and a mattress. She had hidden Seth behind the mattress, which would give him some cover should they be stopped. “It ain’t gonna be enough to shield the boy, should a body be determined to do a proper search,” Lina told Mercy. “But if a body was lazy and didn’t pay no heed to what was behind the bulk of the contents in the wagon, it would be a good enough hiding place.”
This undertaking had not been as well planned as Lina’s previous endeavours. Usually a network of captains and crewmen on river boats were used, taking the responsibility from Lina. She rarely took land routes north, preferring to smuggle slaves up the river on vessels and touching land only when they reached the borders, she’d told Mercy. However, she did know around twenty miles of the Chesapeake Bay land strip, and as far as she was concerned, that was more than enough to see Seth to the handoff she had in mind.
Lina knew just about every safe house and person involved in the Underground Railroad, from Newport News right up to the very top of the peninsula. After twenty years, this tightly knit network of people smugglers had come to feel like family to her. No people involved ever turned slaves away but instead moved them as far as they could, until they were eventually handed off to the next persons in the chain.
The organisation was well structured. Members never knew when co -conspirators would turn up at their door with runaways, but they were always ready to play their part, just as Lina had insisted on doing on this occasion. These people were devoted to their cause. Some were deep-rooted abolitionists; others were sympathisers and believed it their Christian duty to set their fellow men and women free from chains. All members swore an oath of allegiance, sometimes passing the mantle to their children when they came of age. No one was forced to join. It was, Lina stated, an individual’s measure of conscience that dictated participation.
Lina had calculated that it would take them no more than three hours to reach Garrett’s safe house,
“What makes you think you know anything?” Charlie said sternly. “You ain’t never gone up the bay by land, so you ain’t got nothin’ to say. I been here near on thirty-one years, and I still don’t know it all.”
“I saw plenty of land from the deck of the steamship and on the captain’s boat when we took Nelson up,” Mercy replied defiantly. She waited for Charlie to speak again. His decision would be final, and even Lina would know to stop talking when Charlie put his foot down. As though they were her own, Mercy sensed the tumultuous thoughts that must be running through his mind. He had never forbidden Lina to work with the Underground Railroad, but his family in Mississippi owned slaves, and he had always refused to take part in its activities.
Charlie looked at both women in turn and sighed with exasperation. “God damn it, I want to knock both your heads together. Listen here, you both need to take an oath on the good Lord’s Bible that this will be the last time. That’s the only way I’m goin’ to allow this. You’re both as stubborn as each other. That Jacob Stone will have my hide if anything happens to you, Mercy. You know that, don’t you?”
Lina kissed her husband on the cheek and beamed at Mercy. “You rest up today, child. You hear me? We got a long ride ahead of us …”
Chapter Six
The wagon left Newport News around midnight with Lina, Mercy, and the young black man called Seth. Lina had filled the back of the wagon with belongings that she and Charlie planned to take with them to the cabin on her return. There was a small oak sideboard, waist high, a couple of chairs, a trunk, and a mattress. She had hidden Seth behind the mattress, which would give him some cover should they be stopped. “It ain’t gonna be enough to shield the boy, should a body be determined to do a proper search,” Lina told Mercy. “But if a body was lazy and didn’t pay no heed to what was behind the bulk of the contents in the wagon, it would be a good enough hiding place.”
This undertaking had not been as well planned as Lina’s previous endeavours. Usually a network of captains and crewmen on river boats were used, taking the responsibility from Lina. She rarely took land routes north, preferring to smuggle slaves up the river on vessels and touching land only when they reached the borders, she’d told Mercy. However, she did know around twenty miles of the Chesapeake Bay land strip, and as far as she was concerned, that was more than enough to see Seth to the handoff she had in mind.
Lina knew just about every safe house and person involved in the Underground Railroad, from Newport News right up to the very top of the peninsula. After twenty years, this tightly knit network of people smugglers had come to feel like family to her. No people involved ever turned slaves away but instead moved them as far as they could, until they were eventually handed off to the next persons in the chain.
The organisation was well structured. Members never knew when co -conspirators would turn up at their door with runaways, but they were always ready to play their part, just as Lina had insisted on doing on this occasion. These people were devoted to their cause. Some were deep-rooted abolitionists; others were sympathisers and believed it their Christian duty to set their fellow men and women free from chains. All members swore an oath of allegiance, sometimes passing the mantle to their children when they came of age. No one was forced to join. It was, Lina stated, an individual’s measure of conscience that dictated participation.
Lina had calculated that it would take them no more than three hours to reach Garrett’s safe house,
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