![A Secret Refuge [02] Sisters of the Confederacy](https://fs.dianahicksbooks.com/464718/thumbs/152x264/a-secret-refuge-02-sisters-of-the-confederacy.jpg)
Read Online A Secret Refuge [02] Sisters of the Confederacy by Lauraine Snelling - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Lauraine Snelling
Tags: Historical, FIC042000, FIC042030, 1861–1865—Fiction, FIC026000, Sisters—Fiction, Women pioneers—Fiction, United States—History—Civil War, Overland journeys to the Pacific—Fiction, Women abolitionists—Fiction
Ads: Link
None of them looked as if they could have gone a step farther.
“Supper is ready.” Ophelia was dishing up plates as the new people straggled into the cave and sank down around the fire, holding their hands to the heat. Tears ran down the woman’s face.
Looking at them, Jesselynn knew they couldn’t send them to that house in town without first getting them stronger. They definitely needed a bigger cave—now! It was a good thing Aunt Agatha hadn’t come home with them.
With hardly a word, the newly freed slaves collapsed around the fire as soon as they finished eating. They didn’t ask for blankets. They didn’t ask for anything. They fell as if a giant puppeteer had cut their strings.
As Jesselynn crawled into her quilt, so exhausted she could barely fold the top over her shoulders, she heard Ophelia crooning, this time a song of praise, and Meshach comforting her with a gentle rumbling voice. Between the two of them, they soothed Jesselynn into a deep sleep.
Daniel and Benjamin took turns standing watch.
“How are we going to feed all these mouths?” Jesselynn asked Meshach in the morning as they stood outside the cave. Their guests had yet to stir.
“Go hunting. Cut wood for Marse Dummont for store supplies. Won’t be long before dey ready to travel again.”
“And clothe them?” Jesselynn had already decided to cut up the blanket from Agatha to make shirts for the men. Their bare feet were crusted with chilblains, and some of the sores looked gangrenous to her. The cruelty of the slavers made her turn cold inside. How could one man treat another this way?
“We share what God gived us.” His simple answer made her snap back.
“Looks to me like we work backbreaking hard for every small thing that we have.”
“We not like dem slavers.” Another simple answer, this one making guilt wash her face white.
“Thank G-G—heavens for that.”
“I do.”
Jesselynn threw her hands in the air and let them drop. How was she to reason with this man?
“Dey work when dey have de strength. Maybe weak now, but a day or two of belly being full and dey strength come back.”
“I surely do hope so.”
“Better to pray so.”
Jesselynn had started back into the cave but spun around to point a finger in Meshach’s direction. “You go too far, Meshach, into what is not your business.”
But Meshach only looked at her. With what? Pity? Jesselynn spun away again and strode on into the cave. Daniel had the horses out to water and graze already, and even the horses walking out hadn’t awakened the newcomers. Were they still alive, or had they died during the night?
She knew the answer to that, since she’d already watched them breathe to make certain they needn’t dig more graves. Ophelia smiled at her, nodded a good morning, and handed her the long-handled wooden spoon to stir the mush laced with chopped bits of dried venison. The rabbit stew last night had disappeared within minutes.
The boys woke up, and Jane Ellen took them outside for their morning duty, both staring openmouthed at the floor crowded with slumbering bodies. They kept quiet only by a strict glare from Jesselynn. Sammy had his thumb in his round mouth and stared back over Jane Ellen’s shoulder.
As Jesselynn stirred the pot, she studied the tangled mass of limbs. Three of the men were the same deep black as Meshach, with kinky hair cut so short it appeared to have recently been shaved. The lighter-skinned male still wore signs of boyhood, his shoulders not much wider than his waist and long of leg and arm, as though he had yet to grow into them. His face in repose would be beautiful once the bruises healed. One eye was swollen shut, one ear cut and bloodied, and the side of his face had a long scrape that looked as if he’d been dragged along the ground.
The woman definitely had white blood and, once her lashes healed, would be comely. It looked as if a whip had taken a chunk of flesh from beside her eye. So close she came to
“Supper is ready.” Ophelia was dishing up plates as the new people straggled into the cave and sank down around the fire, holding their hands to the heat. Tears ran down the woman’s face.
Looking at them, Jesselynn knew they couldn’t send them to that house in town without first getting them stronger. They definitely needed a bigger cave—now! It was a good thing Aunt Agatha hadn’t come home with them.
With hardly a word, the newly freed slaves collapsed around the fire as soon as they finished eating. They didn’t ask for blankets. They didn’t ask for anything. They fell as if a giant puppeteer had cut their strings.
As Jesselynn crawled into her quilt, so exhausted she could barely fold the top over her shoulders, she heard Ophelia crooning, this time a song of praise, and Meshach comforting her with a gentle rumbling voice. Between the two of them, they soothed Jesselynn into a deep sleep.
Daniel and Benjamin took turns standing watch.
“How are we going to feed all these mouths?” Jesselynn asked Meshach in the morning as they stood outside the cave. Their guests had yet to stir.
“Go hunting. Cut wood for Marse Dummont for store supplies. Won’t be long before dey ready to travel again.”
“And clothe them?” Jesselynn had already decided to cut up the blanket from Agatha to make shirts for the men. Their bare feet were crusted with chilblains, and some of the sores looked gangrenous to her. The cruelty of the slavers made her turn cold inside. How could one man treat another this way?
“We share what God gived us.” His simple answer made her snap back.
“Looks to me like we work backbreaking hard for every small thing that we have.”
“We not like dem slavers.” Another simple answer, this one making guilt wash her face white.
“Thank G-G—heavens for that.”
“I do.”
Jesselynn threw her hands in the air and let them drop. How was she to reason with this man?
“Dey work when dey have de strength. Maybe weak now, but a day or two of belly being full and dey strength come back.”
“I surely do hope so.”
“Better to pray so.”
Jesselynn had started back into the cave but spun around to point a finger in Meshach’s direction. “You go too far, Meshach, into what is not your business.”
But Meshach only looked at her. With what? Pity? Jesselynn spun away again and strode on into the cave. Daniel had the horses out to water and graze already, and even the horses walking out hadn’t awakened the newcomers. Were they still alive, or had they died during the night?
She knew the answer to that, since she’d already watched them breathe to make certain they needn’t dig more graves. Ophelia smiled at her, nodded a good morning, and handed her the long-handled wooden spoon to stir the mush laced with chopped bits of dried venison. The rabbit stew last night had disappeared within minutes.
The boys woke up, and Jane Ellen took them outside for their morning duty, both staring openmouthed at the floor crowded with slumbering bodies. They kept quiet only by a strict glare from Jesselynn. Sammy had his thumb in his round mouth and stared back over Jane Ellen’s shoulder.
As Jesselynn stirred the pot, she studied the tangled mass of limbs. Three of the men were the same deep black as Meshach, with kinky hair cut so short it appeared to have recently been shaved. The lighter-skinned male still wore signs of boyhood, his shoulders not much wider than his waist and long of leg and arm, as though he had yet to grow into them. His face in repose would be beautiful once the bruises healed. One eye was swollen shut, one ear cut and bloodied, and the side of his face had a long scrape that looked as if he’d been dragged along the ground.
The woman definitely had white blood and, once her lashes healed, would be comely. It looked as if a whip had taken a chunk of flesh from beside her eye. So close she came to
Similar Books
