with me to try and help my slave family I had to wonder
why he would do so.
'What do you mean chosen?' I asked. 'How was I
chosen and who in hell chose me?'
'The answer, like your true name, Forty-seven, is in your blood. You and a few others like you have the perfect blood code to hold the powers of the Tamal. And you, unlike many others, have a pure heart and an innocent view of the world. Even the fact that you would go back to your friends after almost being killed by Wall's ghoul proves that you have a brave soul and true spirit.'
'What happened to Mr. Stewart?' I asked then.
come upon him before the vitality had gone out of his blood. Wall resurrected him to do his bidding.'
'If he can do all that then why can't he build his own machine to dig down in the ground for that powder?'
'The Calash are not as evolved in technology as are the Tamal,' John said. 'They work mainly with biology. They even travel through space using certain unique qualities of their anatomy. Wall needs my machine or it will be more than a century before he will receive the power to try again.' 'So it's our job to keep Wall from getting to your ma chine?' I asked. 'Yes.'
'I promise to help you do that if you help me save Mama Flore and Champ and as many slaves as we can.' 'As I said,' John replied, 'I will follow your lead.'
When we got back upon the Corinthian Plantation it was just before dawn. Everything was calm.
'Are they still under your spell?' I asked John. 'No. Everyone is sleeping normally. But look.' John put his hand on my shoulder and pointed to the woods on the other side of Tobias's mansion. Somehow his touch allowed me to see what he could with his superior alien perceptions. Suddenly I could see behind the woods, making out a group of a dozen or so heavily armed men. The one-eyed ghoul, Mr. Stewart, was in their lead.
All of the men were white, armed with rifles, and had pistols-
stealthily toward the big house and the workmen's dormitory.
'Quick,' John said. 'Hurry down and release as many slaves as you can while I warn Tobias and his men.'
Before I could run he added, 'I will be weak from the effort of waking the slave master's clan, Forty-seven. You will have to save your friends alone.'
Maybe if I had time to think about his last words I would have changed my mind. But I was mostly thinking about saving my friends.
'Where I find you aftah?' I asked John.
'Under the hanging tree,' he said ominously.
I nodded and then I was gone.
I ran as fast as I could toward the Tomb, having made up my mind that Champ Noland was the first man that I had to free.
Again I was amazed at how fast I could run. I moved as nimbly as an African cheetah and so was in front of the small prison in no time at all. But when I got there I saw that it was padlocked.
I knew where the key to the Tomb was kept because of all the years I'd spent near Mama Flore. It was on a hook in the kitchen. With my newfound speed I ran to the back kitchen door. I found a ring of keys hanging from the hook. Then I hurried toward the Tomb and tried three keys before one of them opened the padlock.
'Champ!' I cried.
He was curled up on the floor with his head down between his knees. When he heard my voice he roused himself and raised his eyes to see who had opened his door.
At once I went to work finding the right key for his
manacles.
His face was all bruised and the flesh above both his eyes was swollen from beatings. There was dried blood about his mouth and there was something wrong with his jaw. 'What you doin' here, Forty-seven?' 'Men wit' guns comin',' I said, still fumbling for the right key. 'We gotta get the other slaves and run 'fore they kill us all.'
I might have been John's people's hero but Champ Noland was mine. He took in my words and forgot his pain and torture. I found the right key and his chains fell away. He rose up and strode out of that prison just as if it was any other door. He knew that if Tobias had seen him defy his punishment that he would be killed no matter how valuable he was as a worker and a stud. But having heard my call he rose to the task regardless of the danger.
'AWAKEN, TOBIAS TURNER AND TENNESSEE BOB AND WILLIAM THORNDEN AND MILLER JONES!' the voice boomed in my head so loudly that I lowered almost to the ground.
'What's the mattah, Forty-seven?' Champ asked. 'You
shot?'
'Don't you hear it, Champ?' I said.
He pulled me to my feet and started dragging me toward the slave quarters.
'RISE ALL YOU MEN OF THE CORINTHIAN PLANTATION!' the voice boomed again. 'BRIGANDS ARE ATTACKING WITH MUSKETS AND KNIVES!'
I knew that it was John somehow speaking in my mind and in the minds of all the sleeping white inhabitants of the Corinthian Plantation. I could hear the voice because of the light in my chest but Tall John wasn't speaking to the slaves, and so Champ remained ignorant of the call.
As we moved toward the slave quarters the voice got weaker. And by the time we were at the men's cabin I
