The Pull Of Freedom by Brenda Barrett Read Free Book Online Page B

arms. 
    She was in a very threadbare dress, which was once white. Her attempts to keep it in its original condition had failed abysmally. As the only woman in the group of men, she was careful to cover herself as best as she could even though she knew they had too much respect and fear of her to even think of touching her.
    “And some animals,” Quao intruded on her thoughts, “roasted chicken sounds good.”
    The other men licked their lips.
    “And some women,” Ibo said. He had given up on Nanny returning any feelings for him in the past month.
    “There is a plantation a days walk from here,” Aman said sniffing the air, “I could smell boiling pimento when we started the hill.”
    Nanny nodded, “we will take everything we need to start up here. Including cutlasses, we need to work hard to make this spot into a village. Don't take anyone against his or her will. She looked at each man in turn. If a man or woman wants to remain a slave we can’t stop them.”
    The men nodded.
    Nanny looked at their barely covered bodies, the nights in the mountains were almost freezing cold. “We have to get the clothes as soon as possible. If we start walking tomorrow we can reach there in the night.”

Chapter Thirteen
     
    They trekked behind Aman. He held his nose in the air as he sniffed and stopped and sniffed and pointed. Ibo walked behind the group of men and woman. He covered their tracks as their barefoot slid through the slightly damp grass. They were heading to a large plantation that they had seen in the dying rays of the evening sun. Smoke was coming from the heavily populated slave quarters.
    “We could join the slaves for supper,” Aman said licking his lips.
    Nanny stood quietly on the trail, her body tense. She looked over the plantation, rows of cane were planted to the west and to the east side had pepper trees, their sturdy bodies green in the evening, little red and yellow fruit peeped from under healthy looking leaves. To the right of the peppers were corals where the horses exercised. There were a group of overseers on horse back in front of the house. They had guns slung over their shoulders and were chewing tobacco. They watched as the slaves gathered around what obviously was a food shed. Sometimes they laughed and spat on the ground, their expressions were indistinguishable to her. The front of the house had two white columns and a wrap around veranda. The red and yellow hues of tropical flowers lined the driveway as a carriage canted up to the front of the house.
    “This is the plan,” she said to her loyal posse.
    Everybody huddled together.
    “You Aman,” she pointed at Aman, who was now sporting a thick beard after a month of having nothing to shave with. His eyes were quizzical as he looked at her.
    “You are going to pretend that you are a slave and just came in from a long days work. I want you to get some gentleman’s clothes for Kes.”
    “Me?” Kes looked scared his Caucasian features was deeply tanned, his dark brown hair ruffled.
    “Yes, you are going to pretend that you are a visiting friend from England. Aman will get all the relevant information about the plantation owners and then we plan what you will say. Scope out the place for a day.”
    “Are ye sure you want to test my acting skills at that level?” Kes asked with the English accent he had tried so hard to extinguish the minute he had been sold into slavery. He doubted that he could go back into the world of the white man without showing his hatred.
    Nanny grinned, “you can do it, you were one of them for years. Remember we want supplies for the village, anything that is suitable make a note. This,” she pointed to a finely ground powder that she had in her bosom; the pouch was made from her dress material. “I want you to give this to the people on the plantation even the dogs. They should sleep for a whole night, when you are sure that they are all sleeping we will come and take what we need.”
    Kes took the