Chapter Twelve

 

Captain Adams had been right though. Weekly dances and entertainment at evening meals did make the men less restless and able to handle the stress of the war they might soon face. The men seemed to enjoy having music and dancing, and they had to admit the food had improved since the women took over the cooking.

It was the first of June and Jennifer and her friend, Essie had gotten up early, put on a stew to simmer and done their wash.

As they were hanging their clothes on the line out back, Jennifer stared at the young widow for a moment. "Essie how long has it been?"

"What?" Essie jerked around to look at her. "What are you talking about?"

"How long has it been since your Luther died?"

Essie nearly dropped the tablecloth she was about to pin up on the line. "Two years." She mumbled.

Jennifer nodded. "And in all that time you've not been courted?"

"No ma'am." Essie said too quickly. "Why do you ask?"

"Because you are young, and very pretty and I can't imagine you not having a lot of young men wanting to court you. Your still young enough to have a family, Essie. Don't you want a family?"

"Of course, I do. Luther and I often talked of having a family. But, do you think two years is long enough to mourn my Luther?" she asked a bit shocked at the suggestion.

"I think it's long enough, especially for a young woman your age." Jennifer smiled sympathetically. "Your still in the prime of life and could find another to go on with your life, don't you think?"

"Maybe, but every time I think so, I feel guilty." Essie admitted. "I've tried, I guess maybe the time wasn't right. At the dances, the men all ask me to dance, but I just couldn't."

"Corporal Riley sure gives you the eye."

"But he's a rebel!" Essie cried out as though she had given him some serious thought.

"Down here in Texas, that seems almost irrelevant, don't you think?" Jennifer cried. "Most of the troops here now will be rebels. It could last a long time. And we aren't going anywhere, it looks like."

"Maybe. But my folks would never approve." Essie shook her head.

"Essie," Jennifer stopped pinning wet clothes and turned to look at her seriously. "Look, we may be stuck here a long while. We must make a life for ourselves no matter where we are. Are you going home to live with your folks when you leave here?" Jennifer asked.

"Well, I guess I will. I don't know."

"You have every right to make a life for yourself, and it doesn't matter if it's with a rebel, or not." Jennifer encouraged.

"My parents would die. I'm from Maryland. Where are you from?"

"New York. But that doesn't seem to matter right now. How old are you Essie?"

"Twenty-two."

"That means you’re a grown woman now. We're in Texas and we won't see as much fighting as some states. But we are among rebels. Still, as a woman you need to let down those defenses, as your parents aren't here to judge you. I've come to realize we might be here a long time, years even, if this war drags on." Jennifer told her.

"Years?" Essie's blue eyes filled with shock "Do you really think it will be that long?"

"Honey, I don't know. But it's possible. This war will last longer than most think, I'm sure of that. We must think about it, about our futures. Our lives are changing every day because of the war. We have no control over that. We are stuck here, and we have to live."

"I hadn't thought about the war much. It seems women are so far removed from it. Especially up north." Essie murmured as though mulling it over in her head.

"Maybe you should think about it. We don't know what our future holds. None of us know exactly what will happen, either." Jennifer smiled at her.

"You're a Yankee, how do you feel about being stuck down here among all these rebels?" Essie challenged.

"I don't consider myself a Yankee for one thing. Nor a southerner either. Tell me, did your family have slaves?" Jennifer asked.

"No ma'am, they did not. I don't believe in slavery. They are people, just like us, they just happen to have a different skin color."

"Exactly." Jennifer smiled.

"My family would never approve of me marrying a rebel, never! Why, they almost as soon I marry a Negro."

"Then you may be lonely for a long while, Essie. That is if you let their opinions hold you back. Here they are either rebels or Texans."

"What's the difference?"

"I'm not sure yet, but I am learning that there is a difference." Jennifer told her. "Do you like Corporal Riley?"

"I don't know him. I mean, not really. I think he's very good looking."

"He was one of Quirt's men, when we came. He was one of the men who dug the ditches for us to sleep in. He's very nice. But consider this, your family is a long way away and it could be a long time before you even see them again. And Corporal Riley is good looking, and quite a gentleman. I've seen the way he stares at you from a distance, he's interested."

Essie stared at her. "He is, isn't he. Still, there would be a lot of differences."

"Would there, he's a man, and you’re a woman."

Then they both burst out laughing.

Jennifer was about to pick her basket up and go back inside when she saw a movement in the woods beyond the yard.

"Essie?" She whispered.

Essie glanced at her curiously.

"Something moved along those tree lines out there." Jennifer muttered lowly.

"Are you sure, where?" Essie glanced around, as her eyes widened in fear.

"Just beyond those trees." Jennifer whispered.

"Should we tell someone?"

"No, but come with me," Jennifer directed her, taking her hand and pulling a revolver out of her pocket with the other hand.

"You have a gun?" Essie shrieked.

"Yeah, Quirt told me I might need one. He gave it to me since he won't be at the fort a lot."

"He likes you, doesn't he?"

"I don't know, maybe. Let's be very quiet…" Jennifer whispered as they neared the trees.

They walked on past the tree line and suddenly they saw him. A man lying in the brush, a black man.

"Lord almighty!" Essie cried out. "He's certainly a big man."

"Hush," Jennifer whispered as she approached the man. She slipped her gun back in her pocket. His shirt was torn in the back with dried blood all over it, and Jennifer saw the whip marks. He had passed out.

"W-what are we going to do about him?" Essie whispered now.

"We can't leave him here, and we can't turn him over to the soldiers. He's probably a runaway slave. They'd take him back to where he came from or hang him one."

Essie's head whipped about to stare into Jennifer's eyes.

"What do you mean? How do you know?"

"I mean, he's a runaway slave, Essie, see those whip marks on his back. We can't just hand him over to the officers, they are rebels," Jennifer stared at her. "They will take him back to his owner or imprison him here. Or worse. We have to hide him, Essie."

"Hide him? Forever more. We'll get in trouble, won't we?"

"Not if we keep our mouths shut." Jennifer told her.

Essie stared once more, now she was visibly trembling. "I guess you're right. But where are we going to hide him?"

"There's an old butchering shed across the creek, it isn't used anymore, it leaks rain, Quirt told me about it once. We can take him there."

"But how will he eat?"

"We'll just have to sneak him food until he gets well enough to travel."

"This is dangerous, isn't it?" Essie murmured. "Don't you think someone is bound to notice us going out all the time?"

"Yes, I'm afraid it is dangerous. We'll have to be discreet when we go out. Make it look quite natural. And if caught we'll tell them we are feeding a deer we saw in the woods. But we mustn't tell the rebel troops about him. You're right, it is very dangerous, but we can't leave him here to die either, that wouldn't be very Christian of us, would it?"

"Your right, they might hurt him more than he already is." Essie agreed.

"Help me pull him over there."

Together they managed to half drag and pull him to the old burned out shed and they laid him inside on an old cot in the back of the shed. It stunk like burnt wood, and it wasn't as clean as she'd hoped. "This will have to do. We'll sneak him food as often as we can, until he's well."

"Alright, I'm with you."

"He needs those wounds tended to, looks like they took the flesh right off of him."

"I'm glad you are with me," Essie cried.

Jennifer smiled. "We can't tell the other girls either. Someone would be bound to say something."

"Yeah, I think you are right about that too. We just don't know who we could trust to keep him a secret." Essie nodded.

The shed was a burnout hull of a place, but the man could rest up and maybe get well enough to be on his way. At least Jennifer hoped he could. The bed was dirty and probably had bugs, but it was the best they could do for him.

Once they had done all they could for the man, they left and returned to the clothesline.

"Are you ladies alright?" Hans asked seeing them come back from the trees.

"Yes, we're fine, why?"

"Looks like you wandered off a bit."

"It's a beautiful day, we went walking that's all. Thought we saw a deer around that tree line, so we hoped to see him closer."

"Best get inside now," Hans instructed.

"Yeah, thanks." Jennifer nodded as he opened the door as they carried their baskets back inside.

Quirt was on a scouting mission and wouldn't be back for a few days, so Jennifer and Essie managed to save some food from their plates every day to feed the man in the shed. They learned different ways to hide it and sneak it to him. Jennifer doctored his wounds as best she could with the moisture from an aloe plant. Essie found it exciting, but Jennifer was too aware of the dangers to enjoy it.

The black man had come to and told them he had escaped a mean rancher who beat his slaves regular. The man had been working on the ranch for five years and could no longer tolerate the inhumane treatment and ran away.

"What's his name?" Jennifer asked him.

"Ed Turner, owns a ranch about a hundred miles south of here." The black man said.

"And your name?"

"Miles is what they call me, because I can walk miles before getting tired." He almost laughed.

"I'm Jennifer and this is Essie."

"Pleased to meet you. But ladies I don't want to get you two in trouble. I thank you for what you done, but I gots to be getting along now." He explained.

"But you can't yet. You see, this fort is run by Confederates. They see you and they'll arrest you." Jennifer told him.

Miles bowed his head, "Then I gots to figure me a way out of here."

"Don't go yet. Once a month we take a wagon into town for supplies. Maybe we could sneak you out in it."

"Ladies, I appreciate what you are doin', but I don't want to get you in trouble." He told them.

"Let's think on a plan then…." Jennifer suggested.

He nodded slowly. "I don't know why you two are doin' this, but I thank you for it, and for the food."

"Don't thank us too soon, you aren't out of here yet."

"Why would two ladies want to help me, a black man?"

"I'm from New York, and she's from Maryland. We don't believe in slavery."

"You're from the north?" He looked surprised.

"Yes, it's a long story, but we are."

"Do you know where you want to go?" Essie asked him.

"Not really, just out of here, is all." He smiled.

"We'll do all we can to help you," Jennifer assured him and they left.

About three days later, they were taking some food to Miles when Hans stumbled upon them. Jennifer shot Essie a quick glance, then smiled at Hans. He glanced at the food, then them. "Ladies, what are you doing out here, with that food?"

"Oh," Jennifer grabbed her chest, stalling her answer until she could find one. "You scared us silly, Hans."

He frowned, "Well, I'm sorry for that. But what are you ladies doing out here?"

"We've been feeding a deer." Jennifer told him. "We told you we thought we saw one, and we did."

He stared at the small clearing in the woods and saw blood on the ground. "Beans and cornbread?" He made a comical face.

"Well, we didn’t really know what kind of food they ate, but he was so sweet and let us walk right up to him."

"Where is this deer?"

"Well, he comes up to the tree line every evening, so we leave him food." Jennifer explained. "He only let us near once, he seems to want to keep his distance."

"Beans and cornbread? For a deer?" He sounded incredulous.

"It's all we have…." Jennifer shrugged.

His expression was one of disbelief, but he finally sighed loudly and nodded, "Alright ladies, but let's get you back to the fort. You shouldn't be out in the woods…Was the deer injured."

"I don't know, why?"

"Because there is blood back there."

"Well, to be honest he didn’t let us get that near."

"Yeah," he stared at her, "I expect not."

They nodded and walked back to the fort with him.

Jennifer knew he didn't believe them, but what could she do?