November 1, 1863
Hickory Heights
“Miss Annie! Miss Annie! Come quick! Lord have mercy! Miss Annie!”
Annie nearly fell out of bed, scrambling to answer. It was just past midnight. With shaking hands, she lit her candle and stumbled to the top of the stairs.
Below in the front hall were Aunt May and Isaac, in their nightclothes. Aunt May had sunk to the floor and was rocking back and forth, crying.
“Good God, what is it?” cried Annie, frozen to where she stood. She knew it had to be awful since Aunt May was so upset.
“That Murdock man. He came to our cottage. He and another man,” Isaac began.
“He done took my baby,” wailed Aunt May. “They took Rachel and Lenah and said they was going to sell them to a trader ’cross the river. My baby!”
“What?” Annie gasped. Behind her came the running feet of the entire household, followed by the slow, unsteady tread of Laurence. Annie skittered down the stairs to free herself of the frightened clutch around her knees of her little cousins. Jamie followed.
“Aunt May.” She crouched and held the shaking body. “How long ago?”
“Just now. They tied the girls onto a mule. Murdock held a pistol to my baby’s head so I wouldn’t do nothing. If he’d held it to mine, it wouldn’t have stopped me. He could’ve put a bullet in my head and I’d still have kicked that varmint to death.”
“Jamie!” Annie turned to scream for her brother, but he was already beside her.
“Who was with him? Do you know?” Jamie asked.
“No.”
“Describe him to me.”
She did.
“I know who it is.” Jamie turned to Annie. His calm stunned her. “I think I know where they’ll go, too. Murdock muttered something about this. His friend was furious with Mosby because the major didn’t give him a share of some money we found last raid. Major Mosby said the Confederate army needed it instead. So he and Murdock started concocting a plan to steal some slaves and sell them.”
“Jamie, why didn’t you say something to me!”
“He was drinking. I didn’t believe him.”
“Miss Annie,” Isaac asked in a quavering voice, “what about that e-man-sup-ta-tion proclaim Mister Laurence told us about? Ain’t we free now?” Tears were streaming down the old man’s face.
“Not in Maryland, Isaac,” Annie answered as gently as she could. “The Emancipation Proclamation only applies in states that seceded from the Union, those states in rebellion. Maryland stayed with the Union, and so slavery is still condoned there. If he makes it across the Potomac River, he might be able to sell Rachel and Lenah back into slavery.”
“We’ll get them back,” Jamie spoke. No swagger, no yipping in his voice—just calm confidence.
“And how will you do that?” It was Laurence.
Jamie looked at him, looked at Annie, thought for an instant. “I’ve got to ride out now.”
“You can’t do that. You’re only a…” Laurence stopped himself, swallowed, recalibrated. “You can’t do it alone, Jamie.”
“That’s right, you can’t,” said Annie. “I’ll go too.”
“No,” said Laurence. “I forbid it. I’ll go.”
The three siblings looked at one another, there in the light of a few candles, held in shaking hands. Annie had the sense to wait, wait for Laurence to remember. But Jamie blurted, “Look at you, Laurence. You can’t ride.”
“I can!” Laurence shouted, a desperate rage in his voice. “I can ride!”
“Maybe you can ride, but you can’t hold a gun, too,” Jamie countered.
The agony of being helpless, no longer able to defend those he cared about, overwhelmed Laurence. He pounded the wall with his good hand. “I can!” His head fell against the wall and he cried out, “What will I tell Sam? Sam saved me. What will I tell him if his wife is lost and I did nothing?”
Annie ached for Laurence. But his anguish was wasting precious minutes. A strange calm settled on her as well. She took Laurence’s face and held it in her hands so that he looked at her. “Brother, there is no time. With every moment Murdock gets farther away. You tell Sam this. You had the sense to send Jamie and me to find her.” Laurence stared at her. She went on. “They’re drunk. We’ll surprise them and get Rachel and Lenah back. It’ll be easy. There’s no other choice, Laurence. You know it. Jamie can’t do this alone.”
Slowly, Laurence’s eyes cleared. A look he must have worn in battle came over him. He nodded.
Annie kissed his cheek. “It will be all right.”
“We’d better hurry,” said Jamie. He turned to Isaac. “I’ve got only one Colt loaded. You need to help me. Annie’s going to need two revolvers as well.”
“I need some breeches, Jamie,” said Annie.
“For this I need to play a man’s part.”
“Lord preserve us,” muttered Aunt May.
“Missus Miriam, forgive me.”
“Where are we going?” Annie called through the moonlit darkness. Jamie was in front. Although Annie was the better rider, Jamie had been traversing these paths in the night for the past year. He knew his way better than she. At a canter, through the woods, that knowledge was crucial to their safety.
“To Seneca Fords,” he called back.
“But that’s near Dranesville. There’ll be Federal pickets everywhere. Why would they ride that way?”
“Easier crossing,” said Jamie. “And Murdock knows that Mosby will be furious about this scheme and likely send out riders to stop him. Major Mosby goes by the law, you know, no matter what people say about his tactics.”
Annie fell silent. She knew they’d better not talk much if they wanted to catch Murdock by surprise. Jamie hadn’t even allowed them to take canteens of water that might clink against the saddle and give them away. She was already panting from thirst.
Annie shifted the two Union-made revolvers that were shoved into her belt. Lord, they were heavy, horrible things. She’d watched Isaac load them as Jamie prepared more for himself. The revolver was loaded through its six-shot cylinder. To fill a cylinder, Isaac inserted a skin-gut cartridge containing powder and a conical bullet, which he rammed in with the loading lever from under the barrel. He repeated the process six times. Finally, he put a copper percussion cap, which would ignite when struck by the pistol’s hammer, into the notch of each chamber. It seemed to take forever. No wonder Jamie always went off on his raids with at least two guns already loaded and ready. And at that, he’d have only twelve shots. That’s all she’d have tonight if, God forbid, she needed to defend herself. She’d never even fired a gun before.
“The Colt tends to shoot high,” Laurence had told her before she left. “Aim for the stomach to hit the heart.”
She shuddered at the thought. Please, God, help me tonight.
They rode on. They’d been out almost an hour now, riding at a good clip. She shifted in her saddle and smiled for a moment about the pants she wore. They certainly made riding easier. They’d made running to the stable a lot easier, as well. She couldn’t help wishing that she could wear them all the time. Her hair was yanked back and shoved into a hat, too, no fuss with braids and combs. With their clothes, at least, boys sure had it easy.
Ahead of her, Jamie waved his hand and slowed his horse. She brought hers down to a trot and then a walk. She tried to shorten its stride to make it quieter. For a moment, she choked on the thought of Angel and how silently she’d glide through the night.
She pulled next to Jamie and stopped. He pointed to his ear and then ahead. She listened. In the distance, she heard cussing.
“Someone’s fallen off his horse,” Jamie breathed. “Probably Charlie. Can’t ride worth a lick when he drinks.” He eased a pistol out of his belt.
“We’ve got to charge in. If they have time to pull their guns, we’re lost. Stay right behind me. Let me talk. Ready?”
Annie nodded, her heart pounding.
“Take out your gun, then, Annie.” Jamie grinned and booted his horse into a gallop.
It all happened in a blur. Rushing through the trees, holding up the heavy gun, Annie was way off balance as they crashed out of the woods into a clearing.
“Stop right there!” shouted Jamie.
Annie fumbled to aim her pistol at the man accompanying Murdock. He pointed his at her at the very moment she lined up on him. When she heard him cock the hammer of his gun, she did the same. They were in a standoff, gun pointed at gun. Aim for his stomach, aim for his stomach, she repeated to herself, trembling.
Murdock had indeed been thrown and was on the ground. Jamie had his revolver inches from his head and was circling him with his horse, preventing Murdock from reaching his own. “Tell your friend to drop the gun or I’ll fill you full of lead, Murdock.”
Murdock said nothing.
“I mean it, Murdock. Andy there can shoot a squirrel off a tree a hundred yards away. Your friend may get off one shot, but he won’t live to talk about it.”
Andy, who in the world is Andy? thought Annie. Then she realized. It was she! Annie tried to look mean and was grateful that the half moon could shed only so much light on her face.
“All right,” snarled Murdock. He told his friend to back off. The pistol facing Annie was lowered. She kept hers aimed.
“Now cut Rachel and Lenah loose,” Jamie ordered.
Murdock did it.
“I’m going to have to take you boys back to Mosby, you know. This kind of rascality doesn’t sit with the major. Give me your gun, Charlie.”
Murdock did.
“And the other two in your coat.”
Cursing, Murdock complied again.
Annie marveled at it all. Jamie thought of everything. He instructed Murdock onto the mule. He had Rachel tie his hands and tether the mule to Jamie’s horse. Lenah dealt with Murdock’s friend. Jamie obviously was practiced in securing prisoners. Rachel and Lenah were not, however, tying the hands of Murdock and his friend loosely, in front of them, instead of behind their backs. Still, nothing went wrong until Lenah and Rachel were on Murdock’s horse, Murdock and his partner on the mule, and they were ready to go.
That’s when Rachel got a good look at Annie. “Annie?” she gasped.
“Annie?” snarled Murdock. He shouted at his companion, “She’s nothing but a girl!” He kicked the mule, making it rear and ram into Jamie’s horse. While Murdock grabbed at Jamie, his friend slid off the mule and ran toward Annie. She saw him reach to his belt and pull something out that gleamed momentarily before the rope fell away from his hands. A knife!
Aim for the stomach, aim for the stomach! Annie cocked the hammer and squeezed the trigger. It seemed to take forever to fire.
BLAM! The kick from the revolver felt like a lightning bolt going up her arm. Annie reeled from it, the horse bucked and lunged, but somehow she stuck to the saddle.
The bullet seemed to ricochet off the ground and clip the man’s leg. Cussing, he stumbled, dropped his knife, and grabbed his ankle, falling to the ground.
“Jamie!”
Murdock had scrambled onto Jamie’s horse and was trying to choke Jamie from behind with his rope-bound hands.
“Get off him,” Annie shouted. Somehow, her anger and terror turned into a cold-blooded force. She kicked her horse over to him and got the revolver right up beside the nape of his neck before Murdock could pull his hands up over Jamie’s head to attack her.
“Don’t move. Not an inch. I may be just a girl, but this is my brother and you’re not going to harm him.”
Murdock stiffened and sat still.
This time it was Annie’s turn. “Rachel, come here.”
“Annie, I’m so sorry,” Rachel stammered when she reached the horse’s neck. “I shouldn’t have said—”
“It’s all right,” Annie interrupted her. “Pull that other gun out of my belt. Aim it at him. At his stomach,” she added.
Soon, positions were corrected. Murdock again sat on the mule. His partner sat behind him. This time Jamie did the tying.
But the night still didn’t end correctly. They weren’t the only ones who had heard the shot that Annie had fired.