was with us. I didn't know her very well because even though she was a fellow slave, she'd been in the service of Eloise and so I had hardly ever crossed her path.
I guess I must have been looking at Nola while having these thoughts because she came up to me then.
'Do you trust that boy they call John, Forty-seven?' she asked softly so that no one else could hear.
'Sure, Nola. He's the on'y reason that we got away alive.'
'But before he got here nuthin' ever happened that we had to get away from,' she said, looking at me with wide, trusting eyes.
I realized that I was like a savior to her because I had saved her life her and her mistress Eloise.
'Do you miss Eloise?' I asked then.
'Miss Eloise?' she asked, repeating the last part of my question. 'I s'pose that I will miss her. But I can see how
things will never be the same. An' even though I love her in my heart I'd be afraid evah to sleep in that house again 'cause I might awake to gunshots and fire.'
'You were brave out there, fighting Mr. Stewart to save Eloise,' I said. 'You're a hero too.'
Hearing this made Nola's brow furrow.
'But I was scared to death fightin' that man,' she said.
'Me too,' I added. 'Bein' brave, I figger, is just the othah side'a the coin from bein' scared. If whatevah you fightin' ain't bad enough to scare ya then they ain't no reason to be
brave.'
Nola smiled at me then and touched my arm. I knew that from that day on we would be the best of friends.
'It's time to go, Forty-seven,' Tall John said.
And so we were off through the deep woods that surrounded the cotton plantations.
John was in the lead, holding up an orange light to show
us the way.
'Is that niggah crazy?' Champ asked me along the way. 'Holdin' up that light so them white mens can find us.'
'We free now, Champ,' I remember saying. 'There ain't no more masters or niggahs or slaves for us. Just free men and free women no mattah what color they is.'
'But what about that light?' he asked.
'Only we can see it, Champ,' I said.
I didn't know how I knew that but I knew it was true.
When Flore said that she was hungry John gave us all little squares of food that looked like bread but tasted sweet like cake. After eating a couple of those squares I wasn't hungry at all.
We walked for hours before reaching the field where John saved me with his light. Eighty-four was there waiting for us. She ran up to John and kissed him on the lips and hugged him to her. She was happy to see the rest of us too but Tall John was the only one she had eyes for.
The sun was coming up again and John told everyone that we needed to sleep before making it out of the south. He gave everyone a drink of the special water that he carried in his yellow bag, but only Champ and Flore and Eighty-four and Nola went to sleep.
'What now?' I asked my brother in light.
'Now we go after Wall and his minion Mr. Stewart,' John said, hefting his yellow sack over his shoulder.
'Sounds good by me,' I said, even though I was quaking inside.
With that John and I took off through the woods while my friends and fellow ex-slaves slept in the clearing next to the big flat stone.
I expected John to hurry us along toward Andrew Pike and Mr. Stewart. But instead he set a slow pace through the woods. There were larks and whip-poor-wills singing in the trees. A dry breeze was blowing and bright sunbeams peeked down through the dark covering of leaves and pine needles. We walked along a shallow creek bed that burbled over large white stones.
For quite a while John was silent on our country stroll. I didn't want to interrupt his reverie. I could tell by the look on his face that he was worried.
I didn't want to know about his fears. The battle at the Corinthian Plantation had been the worst thing that I had ever seen, and from what I understood Andrew Pike meant to cause a conflagration that was on an infinitely grander scale. I didn't care to know about it, fearing that my courage might fail if I did.
After a long time an hour or more the smile came back into Tall John's face.
'You must wonder why,' he said. I knew what he meant. It was almost as if I knew what he was thinking. The light he had saved me with had brought us closer than brothers.
'Yeah,' I said. 'Why me? There's a many millions of peoples in this world. You could'a picked any one'a thems to help you. Heck, you could'a raised a whole army with the tricks you could pull.'
'Yes,' Tall John said, shaking his head sadly. 'And then Wall would raise an army and the whole world would go to war. And war would only benefit my enemy.' 'It'a on'y hep him if he win,' I said. 'No, my friend. If Wall could start a big enough war he would spur the growth of technology. Man always starts inventing when he wants to win
