Macon Georgia
September of 1855
Marcus pulled up her dress while Billy and Paul struggled to keep her immobilized and Cassius undid his pants.
Will roared into the ravine. “That’s enough of that!” he shouted, pushing the men off of Ellie.
Cassius glowered at Will, who thought Cassius would have looked comical standing with his pants down around his knees except for the gravity of the situation. “I knows you, Will Craft,” hissed Cassius, his fists clenched. “This ain’t none a your dealing. You best be gone before you gets a beat’en you won’t never forget!”
The ravine was quiet with all eyes on him. Will was strong, but knew he could not handle all four at once.
“Have you no shame? Have you no pride?” he shouted at the brothers, sure of the futility of reasoning with Cassius. “Your sister Sally, Marcus, she was raped by your master, and now you’re going to copy the sins of the white man?”
Will was relieved to see Marcus shift his eyes to the ground, releasing Ellie’s dress.
“Billy and Paul, you know better than anyone our women need protecting, and this is how you act? Are you animals like the white man says? Do you want to be cursed to hell? Like Sally, Ellie is your sister, just as we are all brothers and sisters before God. On this, the Lord’s day, you are just out of church and this is how you respect the teachings of Jesus?”
Billy and Paul released Ellie, the three brothers looking at each other sheepishly, but as Will expected Cassius showed no signs of backing down. He clumsily pulled his pants up and Will resigned himself to a fight. If the bothers stayed out of it, cowed as he hoped they were, he had a chance.
Only at that moment Ellie, free of her abductors, stooped down, seized a rock the size of her fist, and pitched it hard at Cassius’s skull. He fell to his knees groaning, blood gushing from between the fingers clutching his head. It occurred to Will that Ellie had a real throwing arm. This was the second time she had brained a man, and she never seemed to miss.
Fury in her eyes, Ellie shouted at them, “If any one of you touches me again, I swear you’ll regret it. Now leave me in peace!” Small as she was, she spoke with fire and authority.
Much to Will’s astonishment, the brothers obeyed her. Without Cassius to goad them on, they helped the dazed man to his feet and dragged him off, muttering darkly but leaving Ellie to straighten her clothes and run her fingers through her hair. Will stooped to pick up her bonnet, knocked to the ground in the struggle, and handed it to her.
“You all right?” said Will. “Did they hurt you?”
Ellie shook her head, taking the hat. “No I’m not, thanks to you.”
Will shrugged and almost chuckled, despite the adrenalin still rushing to his heart. “Well I don’t know about that, Miss Ellie. If you hadn’t cracked Cassius’s head open with that rock, I’m not sure what would have happened.” He smiled. “You are not someone to trifle with, I can see.”
They stood alone at the bottom of the ravine, looking into each other’s eyes.