United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Juvenile fiction
They walked for an hour or so and sat on a patch of grass to rest. The
day had dawned clear and warmer. Tim reached for the map and spread it
out against his knee. They had made good time the night before, heading
straight north over level, lightly wooded country, following a road for
a while and crossing a deep-cut river on a stout wooden bridge. The
night had been just right for walking; just nippy enough to give them
spirit. They must be close to the border now.
Tim marked an X where he thought they were and read the compass. They
had kept the Broad River on their left to a point a few miles south
of MacNeil’s farm. There the river had parted from the northwesterly
direction of the track, flowing straight down from the north. They had
crossed it on a high bridge. Now as they moved due north they would
strike the river again just after they crossed into North Carolina.
They made up their minds to follow the Broad until they reached the
foothills of the Blue Ridge.
In the mountain country Kate’s map seemed less than complete, but
on the far side of the mountains, in the upper left-hand corner of
the map, KNOXVILLE was neatly lettered. The railroads and roads that
converged on the city were clearly shown.
As Tim put the map away he slapped at his pocket and remembered that
Kane still had his diary and album of photographs.
Tim didn’t mention his loss to Red. He lay back on the grass and
closed his eyes and tried to bring Kate’s face to mind. He started by
remembering her photograph but that didn’t work. He thought of how she
walked and danced and the way she turned her head. That brought her
alive but try as he would he couldn’t make her face come clear.
Red chewed the end of a piece of grass. “A penny for your thoughts.”
“You don’t have a penny.”
“I’ll owe it to you.”
“I wouldn’t have you carry a burden of debt.” Tim opened his eyes,
sat up on the grass and watched a little gray bird fluttering and
chirping in the underbrush. “I was trying to remember Kate’s face but
it wouldn’t come clear.”
“Nancy’s face doesn’t often come clear any more.” Red stood up. “We
better find cover and sleep a while.”
“We’ve been lucky. I hope it will last.”
They walked until they found a grove of pines and laid out the poncho
and blankets and slept until just after noon. Then they found a little
stream and drank and doused their heads and moved on without eating.
They were keeping the milk to mix with rokeeg at suppertime.
That evening the sky began to cloud. During the day they had circled
some cabins but they hadn’t seen a road or a town. Now, as it began to
grow dark, they came to a road that ran northwest and decided to follow
it.
When they had traveled a mile or two they rounded a bend and a young
colored man and his girl appeared before them in the middle of the
road. The girl shrank back, and the man stood rooted to the ground,
staring at the strangers.
“You have nothing to fear,” Tim said.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account