Читать книгу Solomon - Marilyn Bishop Shaw - Страница 8

4

It took working from dawn to dusk every day to bring in their little harvest. The corn was picked and stored in the crib, the fodder was stacked to dry in the field, and the sweet potatoes were dug and buried in layers in their banks. They’d enjoyed a few vegetables and berries from the garden and the woods during the summer, and Lela had done her best to get them all built up healthy before fresh food went short in the winter. She even managed a small supply of dried fruits.

By late fall the lean-to was almost finished. The family had spent every possible moment working on it. The end of every pole had to be notched just right so it would fit with others to make corners. The biggest logs went on the bottom with the fat end toward the front to give the roof a natural slope to the back. The problem was that without extra men to help it was slow, back-breaking, dangerous work slipping each log into one side and then lifting its other end to slip into the notch.

Once in a while a log would slip right into place, but more often, they would snag and have to be trimmed to fit into the corner. It was a good day if they got five or six logs in place. Of course, the higher the walls got, the harder the job. He hadn’t known how he’d use them at the time, but Moses was glad he had salvaged several strong ropes from the plantation storehouse before they left Georgia.

Sometimes Lela helped Solomon pull his rope line. More often, she trudged back and forth to the spring for water and to the pit where they found gray clay dirt. Every time a few logs went into place, Lela mixed a batch of good stiff mud strengthened with pine straw, which she daubed in between the logs, inside and out. Otherwise, the cold and wet would just bluster right through the house—and the people, too.

Poor Sunny and Sudie had to help everybody. For Moses, Sunny pulled the heaviest logs up and Sudie hauled the sacks of dirt on her back for the mile trip back to the house for Lela.

For the past three days, the house had been so near completion they barely stopped to eat or rest. Moses tied off the last of the poles serving as roof beams and helped Lela daub the highest parts of the walls. Solomon cut as many broad palmetto fronds as Sudie could drag on a sled. They made trip after trip through the virgin timber, each time unloading the fronds near the house in piles by size.

Moses shouted down to his son, “Solomon, don’t get no more pa’metta. I think we’re ready to put the roof over our heads, boy!”

Solomon let out such a whoop that Sudie lurched and dumped the fronds on the ground and Sunny brayed nervously. “I guess Sunny and Sudie are glad to see the end of this, too, Papa!” Bless that boy, thought Lela. He can still keep a cheerful spirit as tired as he must be.

It took several more days to weave and secure the palmetto fronds thickly and tightly enough to give a waterproof shelter. Their hands were blistered and cut from working with the sharp fan-shaped palmetto leaves. Their arms ached, their backs ached; they were tired to the bone. The three of them stood looking up at their house. “It’s a fine house, Moses, a fine house.”

“It’ll sure do us for a while, an’ it’s a sight better than the wagon even without a front wall. But I tell you, I don’t think I ever been so tired out. Not even after pickin’ cotton all day long in roastin’ Georgia sun.” He noticed Lela flexing her hands. “Oh, my little Lela. Look at them hands. Your hands wasn’t meant for this kind of work. What have I brought you to, girl?”

She quickly pulled her hands away from him before he could see just how badly cut she was. “You go away, Mister Freeman. I just had it too easy all those years growing up with Missy Walker. If I’d stayed on as her lady’s maid I’d have been spoilt and good for nothing sure.” Before he could say another word she continued, “Now, let me see if I can find some cold biscuits and a little of that wild honey Solomon and Sunny stumbled into. If you two men are as hungry as I am, you could eat that honey, bees and all!”

Moses slapped his hat on his leg and chuckled. “Well, I say we ought to enjoy every drop of that honey after all the stings Solomon and Sunny got finding it!” They collapsed at the food box enjoying the relief of a good laugh.

As he put the last big bite of his third cathead biscuit in his mouth, Moses looked thoughtful. “Family, what do you say we have ourselves a little adventure?”

“Adventure, Papa?” Solomon’s big round eyes were gleaming.

“Moses Freeman, what have you got in that fool head of yours this time?” Lela asked, a gleam of curiosity and suspicion under her highly arched right eyebrow.

“I tell you what’s in my fool head, woman. We been working from can to cain’t ever day since we been here. Now, I don’t mind work, but it’s time we took us a break. Mercy, we even had a day of rest near ’most every week when we was slaves!” Lela and Solomon tried to wait patiently, knowing that Moses would reveal his plan in his own time in his own way. “We ain’t looked around these parts much, only what we could see going where we had to go for fishing, or clay dirt, or such. S’pose we take a little look around. Maybe to the south a piece. The coast is s’pose to be south of us but I don’t rightly know how far. Maybe we could even get to the salty part and dry us up some fresh salt.”

“That we could use. I’m all but out, and without a little salt none of our fine stews will taste so good. Maybe we could take the wagon and gather up a supply of good roots and herbs. Oh, and these biscuits are the end of the flour. Maybe we can find some of that coontie to grind up. They say it makes passable flour.”

“Yeah, Mama, and maybe we can find some good fat raccoons and rabbits. I been saving the hides to trade when we can find a place to do the trading.”

“Hold on there, you two. You got your store list all wrote out, don’t you, Miss Lela?” Moses asked.

“I guess I do know a thing or two we could use,” Lela answered as she cocked her head thinking of still more things to add to her shopping list.

“It’s settled then, best get good sleep ’cause we leave at first light.”

By dawn, all three were up and ready to leave. Some debate slowed their leaving as they tried to decide whether they’d have to use Sunny and Sudie for pack or if they could take the wagon. They had no idea what they would encounter, but hoped to find enough roots, herbs, nuts, and animal hides to fill the wagon. They would go as far as they could. If they had to leave the wagon and return to it later, they’d depend on Solomon’s keen sense of direction to relocate it.

With a week ahead of them to enjoy the freedom of exploration, they left their little home with light hearts. Solomon raced ahead of the wagon, darting from one curiosity to another. Moses walked mostly but sometimes he sat on the wagon seat with Lela as she drove, her eye constantly on the lookout for the items on her shopping list. Their pace was slow but steady.

The further south they moved, the more frequently they stopped, and Lela’s herb and root baskets were filling more quickly than she’d expected. They’d found ginger, lamb’s ear, and tree moss for healing. There were wild garlic and wild onions for cooking. They even dug coontie roots. It wasn’t anything like white flour, but the roots could be ground and dried into passable flour when nothing else was available.

Hopping from the wagon and scurrying toward a miniature hammock of sassafras, Lela fairly danced. “Come on, Old Massah Winter,” Lela sang out, her arms flying outward as she spun around and around. “Lela’s ready for you now. She has a warm house, roots for making flour and boiling, and herbs for seasoning and healing. So, you just come on and try to get me!” Solomon and his father doubled over laughing at Lela’s dance.

Lela staggered to a stop at the sound of a click and a voice. “Oh, girlie, I’ll come and get you, all right.” His pistol was pointed straight at her. Moses and Solomon froze. This was trouble for sure.

The intruder was joined by two more who looked just as dirty and mean as the one who had spoken. The leader took a step toward Lela, taunting her with the pistol. “Oh, aye, my little chocolate girl. Ye are a little beauty, ain’t ye?” The barrel of the pistol traced the edge of Lela’s cheek and defiance shone from her emerald eyes. “Mmm, sure some pure blood in you, ain’t they?” He turned to one of the other men. “She could ’bout pass fer one of them señoritas, couldn’t she, boys?.”

“She sure ’nough could, Pork,” another lowlife growled. Moses didn’t stop to think if it was right or not, he just spoke. “That ain’t your little girl, mister, she my wife,” he said as he put a protective arm in front of Solomon, “and the mother of this youngun.” He hoped these men had some care about them. In his heart, he doubted they did.

The two observers snorted at Moses’ attempt to protect Lela. She could smell the one called Pork. Good name, she thought, he smells enough like a hog. They were all filthy and unshaven. From their looks, they could be farmers, Rebel fugitives, or drunks. The two men stepped in and took Lela’s arms as Pork turned his attention and his pistol onto Moses.

“Looks like you ain’t in much position to hep her, now ere ye, boy? Best ye just sit polite-like over there and leave us to our party.” He aimed the gun upward, directly into Moses’ face.

The startling crack of the whip snatched the gun from Pork’s hand much to his surprise. Lela broke from her captors when their attention was drawn to the source of the ambush. In an instant, the horseman dismounted between the Freemans and the three scalawags, with the whip firmly in control of the trio. “Mr. Freeman, are you all alright?” His eyes didn’t leave the three outlaws.

Pork spit and grunted, “Mister? Mister Freeman?” The whip’s hold tightened even more. The men were still and silent.

Solomon was the only one who managed to speak. “Mr. Harker, you done saved us sure.” His stunned parents could only nod agreement.

“Solomon,” Harker asked, “do you have some rope in the wagon?”

“Yessir, plenty,” he answered, racing toward the wagon before Harker even finished his question.

Moses and Pete tied each man securely to a pine tree, working in silence. Moses gave the last knot a good, strong jerk. “I tell you, Mr. Harker. I can’t say I ever been gladder to see a body in my whole life. We owe you a debt, sir. Don’t know how we’ll repay you, but we owe you sure.”

“I can’t think of better people to help out. It was just what needed doing, is all. You don’t owe me a thing.”

“What are we gonna to do with these men, Mr. Harker?” asked Solomon.

“Well, Solomon, I don’t want to get into keeping the law; don’t know that there is any law hereabouts. There’s plenty more of these Rebel renegades and deserters. Why don’t we just leave these three to stew a while until their friends find them?”

“Whatever you think, Mr. Harker,” Moses said, glad he didn’t have to make the decision. “I just know I don’t want to see their kind again. No, sir, don’t want to see this again.” As Moses moved his family toward the wagon, he heard a low gravelly growl as Pete spoke to the scoundrels. He couldn’t hear the words, but felt pretty sure their pack would steer clear of Freeman territory.

The Freemans in their wagon followed Harker to the west away from the river they’d followed on their trip south, trusting him to get them away from trouble the quickest way. As they traveled, he explained how he’d come upon them. “I skirted around a pretty sizable camp on south of here. Easy enough to tell it wasn’t a place I wanted to be.”

Pete took a deep breath and continued. “I’d heard of these bunches but didn’t quite believe the tales. They’re mostly Reb deserters come down this far to save themselves from fighting. Others were dissatisfied with the outcome of the war and came to preserve their, ah” Harker paused, struggling to find the right words, “their so-called purity. Let’s just say the camp looked about as bad as those three. I thought I’d avoided them altogether, until I came on a wagon with what looked like bags of supplies on it. I heard the voices and knew somebody was in trouble. Didn’t know it was you until I got in the middle of it.”

In just a few minutes they stopped at another wagon loaded with all manner of supplies. Harker leaned forward in his saddle and said very formally, “Mr. Freeman, I expect those men owe you and your family an apology and I can’t think of a better one than to offer you some supplies for the winter.”

Lela’s face and voice were firm, “Mr. Harker, that’s stealing. I won’t bide stealing. “

“Begging your pardon, Miss Lela,” he chuckled. “ I wish you wouldn’t think of it that way. I reckon it’s not stealing if you’re accepting it as an apology from those who stole it to start with! Don’t you get it in your head that these men have any honesty about them—they don’t.”

Solomon had scrambled down from their wagon into the other and called out its contents. “Oh, Mama, there’s sugar and corn meal, and real coffee! Wouldn’t you and Papa like some of that?” Moses and Lela looked wistfully at the wagon while the boy continued investigating. “Oh, look here, it’s some cans of,” he struggled to read the labels, “p . . . pea . . . pea-ches. Peaches! And milk!”

Moses had quietly joined his son and they spotted the red at the same time. A knowing look passed between father and son and they pulled the bolt of red calico from the bottom of the wagon together. “Solomon, we don’t have no use for such as this, do we, son?”

“Don’t know, Papa, I just don’t know. We need something to cover the opening of our new-built house,” Solomon said, leading the game on.

Moses stroked the cotton fabric. “This ain’t none too thick, though. I don’t know if it would do much for that.” The fabric was tossed back into the bottom of the wagon. “Guess we’ll just leave this behind.” He knew Lela must be biting her tongue nearly in two by now but couldn’t look at her and hold the game.

“Yeah, you’re probably right, Papa. We got ’most a wagon full anyway. No need hauling stuff we can’t make use of.” Their game was interrupted when Pete Harker couldn’t contain his laughter any longer. He burst into a howl and joined right in.

“Miss Lela, if those two men of yours aren’t the worst for seeing what’s in front of them, I don’t know what to say. I can’t imagine that calico doing a thing in this world better than being made into a dress for you.” Lela clasped her hands to her breast and smiled at her men. Harker continued, “Fact is, the cloth looks all right now, but wrapped around you, it’ll be downright beautiful. Isn’t that so, Moses?”

Moses and Solomon couldn’t contain themselves any longer. “Oh, Lela, honey. You know full well me and Solomon ain’t gonna let this here cloth waste when you can make it so purty.” He turned to grin at Pete. “And Mr. Harker best learn to keep all his fancy talk to hisself and remember you my wife!”

“Oh, you men, all three of you are rotten, just rotten!” Lela reached to take the red bundle and laughed with abandon. “I understand what you’re saying, Mr. Harker, and I do appreciate it. I guess it won’t hurt to accept peace offerings from that lot, but only a few things we really need.”

“Lela, honey, you just name it,” said Moses.

As Solomon called out items, Lela found places for them in their wagon. Meal, coffee, sugar, a few cans of milk and peaches were settled into place. For just a moment she cradled a bag of salt as though it were a fragile treasure then held up her hand. “Stop. That’s good enough to teach them manners and to take us through the winter just fine. We won’t go greedy.”

The men didn’t argue. Just as Moses was about to step from the larger wagon into his own, he spied something he had missed before. He reached his hand down and pulled out an old, but serviceable, shotgun. Solomon took in a gasping breath. “We could sure be puttin’ meat on the table with this.” He passed the gun gingerly to Harker’s outstretched hand.

“Why, Moses, this old thing is in fine condition,” Harker observed as he turned the gun over in his hands. “I don’t know whose it was; sure not those fellas, but it’s been taken care of. There must be shells.”

Solomon dragged four boxes of shells out from under the piles of goods and looked for more. Moses hung his head. “Mr. Harker, I’d dearly love that gun, but I got to tell you I ain’t never shot one before. Don’t know as I can.”

Immediately sorry he hadn’t anticipated Mr. Freeman’s lack of experience with guns, Pete said, “Moses, I’ll take my old whip given a choice, but I’m a fair shot. It won’t take a thing to teach you and Miss Lela and young Solomon, too, how to put this old thing to good use. Don’t you worry about that.”

“We’d be obliged, Mr. Pete, much obliged.” Moses knew that if he looked directly at Lela now, her smile from a few minutes before would be gone. He’d hear her fears later. He didn’t know just when, but he knew he’d hear them. For now, nothing was going to spoil their good fortune.

Moses nodded purposefully. “Family, I think maybe we had ’bout as big a dose of adventure as we need right now. Let’s go home. Mr. Harker, you welcome to join us if you a mind to.”

“If I’m gonna teach you to shoot, I’ll have to. Guess that means I’ll finally have to eat some of that awful cooking Miss Lela makes you two eat.” Their mingled laughter echoed through the forest as they moved northward.