“By Baby Jesus’ ass, you look good enough to eat. I’m gonna enjoy this gal, and if you’re a thinkin’ to go and tell the mistress, think again, I’ll go and slit your old mammy’s throat if you do.” Clark snarled in a dreadful voice. He jerked Mary’s legs apart viciously, flipping up her skirts.
Whimpering, Mary tried to kick Clark off her, but he slapped her brutally and then punched her in the stomach. The air was knocked out of her, and she could only open and close her mouth as warm tears slid down the side of her face. Mary lay stunned and open before him, gasping for breath. Satisfied he had knocked the fight out of her, Clark, started to untie the rough belt secured around his waist, anticipating his plunder with relish.
Dark Henry had been waiting for Mary for over an hour. He started to worry when one of the houseboys came down, and said he hadn’t seen Mary. Henry started off toward the house when he spotted Clark dragging his Mary toward the woods. Henry knew what the white devil would do to his Mary and his mind snapped with white hot rage. He would not let anyone touch or hurt his woman.
Increasing his stride, Dark Henry’s long legs ate up the distance between himself and his quarry. Stealthily, Henry approached the pair, nearly giving himself away when Clark struck Mary. Henry crept upon them as Clark was struggling with his belt. Clasping both his massive hands together, Dark Henry swung with all his force, striking the unsuspecting white man in the back of the head.
Years working the forge and the iron had left Henry a strong and powerful man, but with fear and rage behind it, the power and strength were magnificent and terrible to behold. An audible snap filled the quiet night, as Clark’s head shot forward, his neck breaking instantly. Clark fell over, on top of Mary, dead as the dark moon. Dark Henry was surprised, he had expected to fight the evil man, but one blow had done it.
Quickly, Henry pulled Clark’s body off Mary, her eyes wide with fear and pain. She hadn’t seen Henry behind Clark and had thought her life was over when Clark had fallen on top of her. It wasn’t until Dark Henry pulled her up, that the magnitude of what had transpired, hit her. Dark Henry had killed a white man and in the white man’s eyes, she had helped him. Horror filled her bruised face, they would both be hung for this, it didn’t matter that Clark was going to rape her and that Dark Henry was protecting her. No, the whites would tear the meat from their bones, and then hang them. She almost fainted with the thought of what was to come.
Henry grabbed her arms, shaking her roughly, stopping her in mid babble. She looked up into his dark handsome features, calm starting to return.
“Get you ta the cabin, don’t tarry. Tell your mamma what happin’ here. I’m gonna take care of this first, then I be back ta your cabin. Don’t be scared Mary, I’m gonna take care of everything.” Dark Henry whispered softly into her ear, he kissed her head and sent her on her way.
Quickly looking around, Dark Henry took note that it was dark as the devil’s nostrils. This will work in my favor, Henry thought, but he would have to work swiftly. Henry ran back to the outer houses, where Clark lived. Henry took a stick and lit it from the low fire and looked around inside the small squalid cabin. He found what he was looking for, a bottle of whisky.
With great stealth, Henry slipped into the barn, speaking gently to the horses to keep them quiet. He found Clark’s old bay horse and saddled him, all the while talking softly and gently stroking the horse. Henry had picked up one of the windfall apples from a barrel and fed it to the horse, its warm velvet lips gently plucking the apple from his hand. Henry quickly put the saddle on the horse and secured it. He also put the bridle and reins and held them in his grasp. His hand patted the horse’s broad neck and he coaxed the mount with several more apples and walked it out to the stand of woods where the body lay.
Henry hoisted Clark’s lifeless form onto the saddle and walked the horse and dead man down the dark road. Henry’s nose twitched; the man was rancid. Henry shuddered at the thought of the man’s hands on his Mary. From time to time Henry paused, listening. He walked on for about a half hour then stopped the horse. He pulled the corpse from the saddle and laid him on the ground. Henry took the bottle of whisky and poured the liquid in the dead man’s mouth. Then he spilled foul-smelling liquid on Clark’s shirt and placed the bottle in the dead fingers. He tied the reins around Clark’s unresisting hand, it was important that the horse stay with the body.
Satisfied with his work, Henry ran back to the cabins, leaving the old horse and body to be found. By the time Clark was found everyone would think
