From the time she rose early in the morning, Leah found herself tense and unable to concentrate. She fixed breakfast, but after she had sat at the table for a while, Silas asked, “What’s the matter? You’re not eating anything, Leah.”
“Oh,” she said, looking down at her plate. She realized she had been staring at her food, thinking about Ezra out in the barn—and about Jeff and what he was doing. “I guess I’m not very hungry.”
“As hard as you hunted for those guinea eggs, you’d better eat them,” Uncle Silas said. He looked at her carefully. “You’ve got circles under your eyes,” he commented. “Didn’t you sleep good last night?”
“Not very well,” she admitted.
“You’re not still thinking this is a haunted house, are you? I think you’ve got more judgment than that.”
“Oh, no, it’s nothing like that, Uncle Silas.” Leah took a huge mouthful of scrambled eggs so that she wouldn’t have to answer for a while. She forced herself to eat, then afterward washed the dishes and began cleaning the little house.
As she worked, she thought about Jeff. He’s my best friend. The best friend I’ve ever had. I know he wouldn’t turn me in. But it’s bound to be hard on him, just knowing what’s going on.
Later that day she found an excuse to go to the barn. She’d almost reached it when a voice said, “Well, hello there, Leah.”
Startled, she turned around to see Rufus Prather, who evidently had been walking by on the road.
He came now to where she stood, grinning. “I heard you went to the big party over at our place. Wish I could have gone, but I guess they’re not about to ask their hired help to their play parties.” He was wearing a pair of old overalls, stiff with dirt, and had a straw hat shoved back on his head. “How about I come over and sit on the porch with you a little bit?”
“Oh, no, I don’t think so,” Leah said quickly. “Uncle Silas doesn’t need any visitors right now. He’s not well, you know.”
Rufus reached out and squeezed her arm. “You’re a right pretty gal,” he said. “Maybe you and me could take a walk sometime. Maybe even go to Richmond.”
Leah was half frightened of the boy. He was large and, though fat, seemed extremely strong. She’d heard how lazy he was, but there was also something she didn’t like about his muddy brown eyes. “I don’t go to town much,” she said.
She turned and walked back to the house, ignoring his promise to come to see her anyway. She found herself trembling, for if he had seen her go into the barn, he might have followed her.
All day long she kept well away from the barn. Uncle Silas slept, as usual, most of the afternoon, and she contented herself with reading a book called The Last of the Mohicans, by a man named Cooper.
Ordinarily she liked adventures, but she could hardly keep her mind on what she was reading.
Finally suppertime came, and Uncle Silas seemed to feel so much better that he stayed up very late. He talked a great deal about his youthful days when he had been a salesman on the road. She was glad to see him feeling better, but she was anxious to get out and see how Ezra was.
At last her uncle yawned and said, “Well, Leah, this is the latest I’ve stayed up in a spell. I think I’ll get to bed now.”
“Good night, Uncle Silas.”
“Good night. You sleep well tonight now. If you feel you’re coming down with some kind of the flu, you better get you a toddy or some kind of medicine.”
“Oh, no, I’m all right! You go to bed.” She went over and kissed him on the cheek, and he smiled and patted her shoulder.
“You’re a fine girl, Leah, you and that sister of yours both.”
Leah waited for more than an hour until she was absolutely certain that he was asleep. She even stood in front of his door, listening to his deep, regular breathing. Then she gathered up some food and a candle and left for the barn.
Stepping inside, she called out, “Ezra?”
But there was no answer.
At once Leah knew something was wrong. “Ezra!” she called out more loudly. She lifted the candle, walked up the stairs to where his cot was, and saw a note on the bed. It was by the Bible she had given him to read.
Quickly she seized it and saw printed in large crudely made letters, “Leah, I thank you for all your goodness. I have never known anyone like you. It’s not good for me to stay here anymore. I might get you and your uncle in trouble. I will never forget you. Good-bye.” It was signed, “Ezra Payne.”
Leah put the food on the cot and went down the steps. He can’t make it! He’ll be caught before morning, she thought. I’ll have to find him.
She blew out the candle and stood at the barn door trying to decide which way to look. Then she recalled telling Ezra that there was a path alongside the creek that followed the road. She had told him furthermore that you could walk along that path a long way toward the North-South border and never be seen.
Still, he might have gone any number of ways. She continued to stand there uncertainly, the darkness closing about her. She suddenly said out loud, “Lord, help me to find him, if that’s what You want.”
Then she ran toward the stream.
The moonlight was bright enough to enable her to see her way. She moved quickly along the path, and not more than ten minutes later she saw a form ahead outlined like a shadow. She stopped abruptly. “Ezra? Is that you?”
“Yes, it’s me.”
Leah hurried to where he stood. He had left behind the clothes that belonged to Uncle Silas, and she knew immediately he had done that in case he got caught. He was again wearing only the thin shirt and pants he had worn when she first saw him, not even a hat on his head.
“You shouldn’t have run away, Ezra,” she said. “You’re not strong enough yet.”
Somewhere far off a dog barked furiously. They listened until the sound died away.
Then Ezra shook his head. “I couldn’t let you take any more chances on my account,” he said simply. “I couldn’t bear it if anything happened to you, Leah.”
She took a deep breath and sighed. “Come on, Ezra. Nothing’s going to happen. Another week and you’ll be strong enough.” She took his arm and pulled at him, and he surrendered.
They’d gone halfway back to the barn when he said, “I’m afraid I’ve got to rest a little bit. Guess I’m not as strong as I thought.”
“Look—sit on that log over there.”
They both sat down on a fallen tree trunk, and she heard his breath coming in a raspy wheeze. “You’ve got some kind of sickness, Ezra. You’re still not well. I’m going to town tomorrow and find a doctor and get some medicine.”
“No, don’t do that!” he said in alarm. “I’ll be all right. Just give me a little time.”
Leah made up her mind, however, though she did not pursue the matter. The stream flowed by over to their left. The moon made a huge silver reflection that was broken as a fish broke the surface with a loud splash.
“I’d like to come here and catch you,” Leah said to the fish.
“I never went fishing. Is it fun?”
“You never went fishing? I think that’s awful!”
“Well, I was mostly working, and they didn’t fish much where I came from.” He hesitated, then said, “I’ve been reading the Bible you left.”
“Have you, Ezra? Do you like it?”
He hesitated. “Well, I’m not sure as I understand much of it, but what I do get is that God seems to love us. I never knew that. The sermons I heard was mostly about hell and how that God was gonna put us there if we didn’t do good.”
“Have you been reading in the book of John, like I said?”
“Yeah, sure have. That’s a good one. You know, I never thought about Jesus being a man. I mean, He got tired, He went to sleep, He got hungry, just like me. I never thought about that,” he said in a wondering tone.
“Yes, that’s what He was—a man.” Leah nodded. “While He was here on earth anyhow.”
“But He was God too, wasn’t He? How could He be God and still be like us?”
“I don’t think I can explain it very well,” Leah said, “but the preachers all say—and my father told me—that God wanted to save people and the only way He could do it was for Him to send His Son to die.”
“I read that part—about where they nailed Him to a cross.” Ezra shifted on the log and turned to face her. “That made me cry. I don’t remember ever crying, not in a long time, but that did.”
“It makes me cry too sometimes,” Leah said, “to think that God’s own Son would die for us.”
The silence ran on, and finally Leah said, “Ezra, have you ever asked God to forgive your sins?”
“No, I never have.”
“Would you like to do that right now?”
“You mean, right out here? You don’t have to be in a church?”
“No, there weren’t any churches like we have when Jesus was on earth. He often preached to people out on the road or on a hill or in a boat. It doesn’t matter where you are. Anytime you call on God, He’ll save you.”
“Well, I sure need saving, I guess. Don’t know why He’d want to do a thing like that for me.”
“He does want to. He loves every one of us.” Leah turned to Ezra and said, “Let’s just pray. I’ll pray out loud, and you just talk to God any way you can—in your own heart, if you want. You don’t have to say a word out loud if you don’t want to. Will you do that?”
After a long silence, he nodded. “Yes, Miss Leah, I sure will.”
Leah prayed a short prayer, asking God to bless the young soldier. She asked Him to help Ezra see his need of trusting Christ, and, when she had finished the prayer, she asked, “Did you ask God?”
“Yes, I did.” He looked at her and said, “Is that all there is to it?”
“No, there’s lots more, but if you’ve asked Jesus into your heart, you’ve taken the first step. Now wherever you go, He’ll go with you.”
Ezra Payne sat on the log. He was sick and weak, had never known a home, and was far from the place of his birth, among enemies. He looked at the young girl, the kindest person he’d ever known, and then he said, “Well, Leah, I sure need somebody to be with me, because I’ve been alone all my life.”