North by Night by Katherine Ayres Read Free Book Online Page A

said as she came downstairs at first light. “We’ve got plenty of food and firewood.” She frowned. “But it will slow things down.”
    “How do you mean?”
    “Emma’s husband, Abraham. They’re holding him in custody in Canton. The Quakers plan to spring him from jail, but the snow will hinder them as well. He must be mightily worried about his family—as they are about him. Just hope young Mr. Strong gets him out safely.”
    “I think the snow may help the rescue instead of hinder. I’ve received a letter.” I touched my pocket. “Jeremiah plans a trip with a sleigh, a winter’s journey. He says the snow and wind will erase his tracks, and he asks us to pray for his success. What else could he mean?”
    Miss Aurelia nodded. “Brave young man, that Quaker. It’s a full-blown blizzard out there. I’d not choose to be about in it.”
    “I believe he left yesterday, so perhaps he’s near to Canton by now.” A shiver went up my back as I thought of Jeremiah, somewhere on a winding road with a storm blowing. And that dratted Southern slaver on the prowl. Blow, wind, blow hard. Cover the tracks of the sleigh. “Please, God, keep him safe,” I whispered.
    Miss Aurelia smiled at me and put her arm around my shoulder. “Amen,” she said. “Keep us all safe.”
    We cooked a hearty breakfast of flapjacks and sausages and hauled it up to the attic. But our guests peered out the windows instead of sitting to eat.
    “Snow. Mama say this here’s snow.” Ben, the oldest boy, pointed and shook his head at me in wonder. It was the most he’d said to me so far—the children seemed wary of me. In truth, I’d had very little real conversation with any of our visitors, for though I talked some with Emma, she spent more time with Miss Aurelia, and Cass was too unwell to do much but lie in bed.
    I rubbed at the window so we could see better. “You’ve never seen snow before?”
    “Nope. Our place, it be warm. We get rain but no snow.”
    “You wait,” I said. “You’ll see lots of snow in Canada.”
    “What it feel like?”
    “If you eat all your breakfast, I’ll see what I can do,” I promised. “Maybe we can go outside.”
    But Miss Aurelia said no. “It’s too risky.”
    “Please! The children have never seen snow. And they’ve been cooped up in the attic nearly a week.”
    She put her arm around my shoulder. “Lucinda, dear,what you say is true. They have been cooped up. But they have also been
safe
. We mustn’t endanger them. Remember, if the Quakers can get through the snow to save their father, the catchers can also get through. We must be vigilant, dear child, no matter how boring it grows.”
    I looked down. A scolding was still a scolding, even when kindly put. And I deserved every word. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking straight. I get excited when it snows. I—”
    “You’re a young girl. I’ve counted on your strong legs and willing arms to carry food and supplies upstairs day after day. Now you must count on me to make wise choices. Let’s open that trunk of outgrown clothes and get out our sewing baskets. I’d like to send our guests on to Canada with warm, well-mended clothing. With you, Emma, and me stitching, the work will go fast enough.”
    She was right, of course. And so we stitched and hemmed and remade garments that my brothers and sister had outgrown. We talked a little as we worked, but I sensed that Emma’s thoughts were with Abraham. And I understood, for I thought constantly of Jeremiah and dreamed that I journeyed with him, out in the snow, with no one to follow the tracks of our sleigh.
    S ATURDAY , J ANUARY 18, 1851
E ARLY MORNING
    I hope this snow is falling on President Fillmore. And I hope someone makes him stay inside, too, and doesn’t allow him to make a single snow angel or throw a single snowball. Bah on all the politicians!
    How long will it take Jeremiah to travel to Canton andback? Two days each way, four days total in good weather. But I must