heard the word.
Pray
, she thought.
Lord, I just want Jordan and his daddy to be safe
.
On the next block, they met two rough-looking men walking along the street. When they stared at Jordan and Micah Parker, Libby felt frantic inside.
Soon the men passed on. Yet when Libby turned around to look, she found one of them still staring at Jordan and his daddy.
Again Libby prayed.
Help us, Lord. Help us find a safe place!
A few minutes later Jordan spoke in a soft voice. “The Lord says, ‘Turn here.’”
More than once Jordan had received strong leading from the Lord—a quiet inner sense of what to do when they needed help. Libby and Caleb had learned to respect what Jordan said because of the way his words proved to be true.
For a block they walked along the side street Jordan had chosen. Soon he said, “Turn again,” and they followed another street. A block farther on, Libby caught the movement of cloth on one side of a house. Eagerly she hurried forward.
Outside a second-floor window, a railing surrounded a narrow walkway. Hung over the railing was a quilt made with dark red and blue pieces against the cream color of unbleached muslin. A gentle breeze lifted one corner of the quilt.
In that moment Jordan spoke in a low voice. “That’s the signal we need!” Moving quickly into the yard, he led them into a clump of closely grown bushes. There he knelt down.
From between the branches Libby could see the quilt even better. The dark red and blue triangles and squares looked likeladders—steps leading upward.
Libby’s mind leaped.
Steps leading up to heaven?
From Jordan, Libby had learned that
heaven
could be a code word. For Christian slaves it meant a place where there would be no more bondage. But slaves also used the word to mean escape from slavery in this life.
As though Libby had asked her question aloud, Jordan began to hum. Soft and low he hummed, almost under his breath. Then just as quietly, he began to sing.
“We are climbing Jacob’s ladder
,
We are climbing Jacob’s ladder
,
We are climbing Jacob’s ladder
,
Soldiers of the cross.”
Jacob’s ladder!
Libby thought.
So I
did
understand!
From her mother’s early telling of Bible stories, Libby remembered how Jacob fled from an angry brother. When far away from home, Jacob used a rock as a pillow and lay down to sleep. That night he dreamed of angels going up and down a ladder between earth and heaven.
Then Jordan whispered, “Squint!” and Libby did.
In that moment she saw it. In daylight the dark blue pieces stood out as lines moving diagonally across the quilt, as though from south to north. As Libby looked at the quilt with her eyes nearly closed, the blue pieces seemed to merge into lines. “Railroad tracks!”
“The Underground Railroad!” Jordan whispered back. “Tracks leading to the Promised Land!”
Down on her knees, Libby waited without moving. Theclump of bushes seemed to have been planted especially for people who needed to hide. Libby and the others watched to see if anyone went in or out of the house. At the same time, they watched the street and the surrounding neighborhood.
As the minutes stretched long, Libby grew more and more impatient. Turning to Caleb, she whispered close to his ear. “If someone takes us in, can I stop looking like a boy?”
“I don’t know,” he whispered back. “Anyone who hides fugitives knows better than to talk. But there’s something else—the rules of the Underground Railroad.”
The rules
, Libby thought.
The unwritten rules. Most people working with the Railroad know only what they need to know
. And Libby understood why—for their own protection.
The more we tell someone, the harder it is for that person if he’s questioned. A person who doesn’t know something is innocent if a cruel slave catcher questions him
.
Just as Libby felt she couldn’t wait another minute, Jordan turned to his father. “You be ready to run if I’m wrong?”
“I be ready to run,”
Pray
, she thought.
Lord, I just want Jordan and his daddy to be safe
.
On the next block, they met two rough-looking men walking along the street. When they stared at Jordan and Micah Parker, Libby felt frantic inside.
Soon the men passed on. Yet when Libby turned around to look, she found one of them still staring at Jordan and his daddy.
Again Libby prayed.
Help us, Lord. Help us find a safe place!
A few minutes later Jordan spoke in a soft voice. “The Lord says, ‘Turn here.’”
More than once Jordan had received strong leading from the Lord—a quiet inner sense of what to do when they needed help. Libby and Caleb had learned to respect what Jordan said because of the way his words proved to be true.
For a block they walked along the side street Jordan had chosen. Soon he said, “Turn again,” and they followed another street. A block farther on, Libby caught the movement of cloth on one side of a house. Eagerly she hurried forward.
Outside a second-floor window, a railing surrounded a narrow walkway. Hung over the railing was a quilt made with dark red and blue pieces against the cream color of unbleached muslin. A gentle breeze lifted one corner of the quilt.
In that moment Jordan spoke in a low voice. “That’s the signal we need!” Moving quickly into the yard, he led them into a clump of closely grown bushes. There he knelt down.
From between the branches Libby could see the quilt even better. The dark red and blue triangles and squares looked likeladders—steps leading upward.
Libby’s mind leaped.
Steps leading up to heaven?
From Jordan, Libby had learned that
heaven
could be a code word. For Christian slaves it meant a place where there would be no more bondage. But slaves also used the word to mean escape from slavery in this life.
As though Libby had asked her question aloud, Jordan began to hum. Soft and low he hummed, almost under his breath. Then just as quietly, he began to sing.
“We are climbing Jacob’s ladder
,
We are climbing Jacob’s ladder
,
We are climbing Jacob’s ladder
,
Soldiers of the cross.”
Jacob’s ladder!
Libby thought.
So I
did
understand!
From her mother’s early telling of Bible stories, Libby remembered how Jacob fled from an angry brother. When far away from home, Jacob used a rock as a pillow and lay down to sleep. That night he dreamed of angels going up and down a ladder between earth and heaven.
Then Jordan whispered, “Squint!” and Libby did.
In that moment she saw it. In daylight the dark blue pieces stood out as lines moving diagonally across the quilt, as though from south to north. As Libby looked at the quilt with her eyes nearly closed, the blue pieces seemed to merge into lines. “Railroad tracks!”
“The Underground Railroad!” Jordan whispered back. “Tracks leading to the Promised Land!”
Down on her knees, Libby waited without moving. Theclump of bushes seemed to have been planted especially for people who needed to hide. Libby and the others watched to see if anyone went in or out of the house. At the same time, they watched the street and the surrounding neighborhood.
As the minutes stretched long, Libby grew more and more impatient. Turning to Caleb, she whispered close to his ear. “If someone takes us in, can I stop looking like a boy?”
“I don’t know,” he whispered back. “Anyone who hides fugitives knows better than to talk. But there’s something else—the rules of the Underground Railroad.”
The rules
, Libby thought.
The unwritten rules. Most people working with the Railroad know only what they need to know
. And Libby understood why—for their own protection.
The more we tell someone, the harder it is for that person if he’s questioned. A person who doesn’t know something is innocent if a cruel slave catcher questions him
.
Just as Libby felt she couldn’t wait another minute, Jordan turned to his father. “You be ready to run if I’m wrong?”
“I be ready to run,”
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