Queen (14 page)

    "Some," James admitted. The truculent manner of his visitor was annoying

    him again. He wanted to say something to put him in his place, but was

    already slightly in awe of him.

    "My father bred steeplechasers," he said, with a tinge of pride. "Crazy

    Jane, among others."

    Andrew nodded in appreciation, and James was surprised again, for he

    could not imagine that anyone here had heard of his father's prize mare.

    -We'll make a frontiersman of you yet," he said. "Though I trust your

    prices will be more reasonable than your thieving brothers'."

    He was already on his way out of the store, and James's temper snapped.

., my brothers are not thieves," he cried. "And nor am I.-

    Andrew stopped and turned back, and gave James his most dazzling smile.

    The effect of that smile, impudent, confident, embracing, and reassuring,

    was remarkable. James thought he had survived a test of fire, and had

    triumphed and been included in the company of a god.

    "Well, we shall see," Andrew said. He tipped his hat to the women who

    were still twittering about beans and swept out of the store. Alfred

    followed him, as closely as his shadow.

After he had gone, James looked at his hands, which were shaking slightly,

but he was well satisfied with the meeting. He sold the women what they

wanted, then, having no other customers, set to and swept the store.

    At dinner that night he told Washington about Andrew, and, cautiously,

    suggested that they might soon own a slave. Washington raised his

    eyebrows in surprise, but listened to James's justifications.

    BLOODLINES 79

"I'd rather the poor beggar was with us," Washington said,

than stuck in the fields like his brothers. I have seen terrible things

done to them."

    Washington, on his journeys of delivery, had seen much more of the actual

    workings of slave life than James. He had seen blacks flogged for minor

    misdemeanors, and it had shocked him at first, and repulsed him. But he

    was getting used to it.

"And it is the way of things," he said.

    They agreed they would be kind to their slave, if he turned up, and never

    raise their hand to him in anger. They made a room ready in the basement,

    with a small bunk and some blankets, like getting a kennel ready for a

    new and costly dog, and wondered what he would eat. They took their own

    meals at the tavern across the road, and remembered there was provision

    for the feeding of slaves, in the kitchen.

Alfred came back the following morning, before Washington set off on his

rounds. He had a small black boy with him, of eight or nine years old.

He tipped his hat to James and Washington.

"Massa," he said. "This here be Ephraim."

    Ephraim was thin and scrawny, simply dressed and barefooted. He kept his

    eyes to the floor.

Alfred bent down and spoke to him.

    "This yo' new Massas," he said. "Be a good boy, an' allus do what you

    tol'."

    Ephraim nodded without looking up. Washington went to him.

    "Well, now, Ephraim," he said. "I'm Massa Washington, and that's Massa

    James."

He waited a moment.

"Do you understand?"

Ephraim nodded.

"What is my name?" Washington asked him.

"Mass' Wash'n'ton," Ephraim murmured.

"Very good," Washington said. "And that man?"

"Mass' James," Ephraim whispered.

    "Excellent," Washington said, and put his arm around the boy's shoulders.

    Ephraim stiffened.

80 ALEX HALEY'S QUEEN

    "There's no need to be frightened of me," Washington told him. "I'm not

    going to beat you."

Ephraim nodded, but didn't seem convinced.

"Are you hungry?" Washington asked him.

    "Chile bin fed," Alfred said, but Ephraim looked up at Washington with

    large and sorrowful eyes. He had been well fed that morning, but he was

    always hungry.

    Washington smiled. The effect of his smile on Ephraim was similar to the

    effect of Andrew's smile on James the previous day. He looked at

    Washington adoringly and nodded his head.

"I's allus hungry," he said.

    "Thought so," Washington said cheerily. "I am too. Why don't you and I

    find some bread and cheese and get to know each other. -

    He led Ephraim to the back of the store, found some fresh bread and a

    lump of hard cheese, and the two sat together, munching happily, while

    Washington told Ephraim what was expected of him.

Alfred came to James, and put some papers on the counter.

"Sign here, Massa," he instructed James.

    James signed where he indicated. It was official. He owned a slave.

    "Dat a hunerd dollar you owe Massa Andrew," he said. "But he take it in

    kind."

    He tipped his hat, and left the store. James went to join Washington and

    Ephraim.

    "He's a good lad," Washington told James. "His family should be proud of

    him."

    "Where is your mother, Ephraim?" he asked the little slave, who looked

    at the floor again, because he didn't understand the question.

    "Yo' mammy.- Washington had already picked up a few words of the slaves'

    dialect. "Where is she?"

    -Wi' Massa Jackson," Ephraim whispered. There was a tear in his eye. This

    big white man might be quite friendly, but he was his Massa, and Massas

    could turn on nigger boys at any moment. And he missed his mammy.

    Although he had only been parted from her that morning, he did not expect

    to see her again.

"Well, I'll take you with me sometimes, when I go to visit

    BLOODLINES 81

Massa Jackson's farm," Washington told him, for he missed his mother. "And

you can see your mammy.-

    Ephraim looked at him again, as if he couldn't quite believe his ears,

    or his luck,

    "Now, let's go and took at your room," Washington said, and led Ephraim

    away.

    James stayed in the store, beset by two conflicting emotions. He was

    quite proud of the fact that he now owned a slave, of some value. He was

    becoming a man of property and substance.

    But he was also ashamed. It had not occured to him that Ephraim might

    miss his mammy. Or even that he had one.

    10

After Ephraim it was easy, almost as easy as making money, which flowed

to them in a steady stream at first, but then in a raging torrent.

    They bought a house, and because they needed a cook and housekeeper,

    Alfred found them Tiara, a young, outspoken girl who cost four hundred

    dollars.

    They decided to expand the small stable at the back of the store into a

    livery stable, and they needed hostlers, so Alfred found them Micah, a

    sturdy young man who was good with horses. Micah cost six hundred

    dollars.

    When Tiara and Micah got much too close to each other and had a son,

    James discovered that he owned a healthy baby boy who hadn't cost him

    anything at all and was worth, on the day of his birth, fifty dollars,

    and who appreciated in value with each passing year. Tiara and Micah

    jumped over the broom, a slave custom, into the land of matrimony, and

    had several more children, all of whom belonged to James, who had never

    attended a slave auction.

    The store did well, and they used that and the house they owned as

    collateral to buy some undeveloped lots on the out-

    82 ALEX HALEY'S QUEEN

skirts of town. Within a year they sold three of them at a handsome

profit. With that money they purchased lot #177, on which a cotton gin had

been erected, and began processing much of the cotton from the district.

    Washington, filled with wanderlust and the adventure of the frontier,

    explored farther south, to Natchez, which had been a Spanish town, and

    bought several lots near there. After the Purchase and Louisiana's later

    admission to the Union, settlement in the area flourished. Washington

    sold his land and tripled his money. He bought more land, cheaper land,

    farther from the town, and within a year sold that and bought more.

James and Washington had early on decided that, unlike most stores in

Nashville, theirs would serve Indians. They were not to be allowed in

while whites were shopping, but came in the evening, when the store was

closed to others. If they wanted to make purchases during the day, they

would come to the back, and Micah or Ephraim would relay their needs to

James.

    The Indians were keenly aware of local opinion and attitudes toward them,

    and just as aware of, and keenly grateful for, James's lack of that

    attitude. James was fascinated by them. He saw little to fear in them,

    and could not equate the countless stories of bloodthirsty savages with

    these reserved and downcast people who were struggling to survive in a

    world that was alien to them. They in turn respected his confidence, and

    he was befriended by Jimmy Doublehedd, and his father, the Cherokee

    chief, Doublehead.

    Chief Doublehead was old, and seldom smiled. In his youth he had been a

    fierce warrior, but after countless, fruitless battles against the

    whites, he had come to believe that his nation could not win against such

    overwhelming, constantly renewing, numbers of white men, who were better

    armed and better trained. He sought peace, as being in the best interest

    of his people.

    He bent his efforts toward a harmonious accommodation between the races,

    and the whites came to regard him as the man who tried to civilize his

    people, He ceded and sold land to the whites. He opened a trading post,

    and supervised appreciable commerce. He adopted the white man's ways of

    agriculture, established a plantation, and owned several black slaves.

    BLOODLINES 83

    A scandal erupted when Doublehead ceded by treaty a large territory of

    land to the south, between Nashville and Huntsville, The Chickasaw

    claimed it was their land and outside of Doublehead's jurisdiction. A

    small war ensued, which both Indian tribes lost. Younger braves of his

    tribe rebelled, and accused Doublehead of surrendering to the white man.

    Chief Doublehead's reputation among the tribes was shattered.

    He found it impossible to smile anymore, because there was nothing to

    smile about. Only his son, Jimmy, defended him.

    Council was called, and one by one the young braves voiced their

    grievances against Doublehead, the U.S. government, and all white men.

    Doublehead listened in silence, and hardly moved, except to restrain his

    angry son, Jimmy. It was council, and all were entitled to their say.

    Bonepolisher, a sturdy Cherokee brave, made a long speech accusing

    Doublehead of infamy to his own tribe, and of making secret treaties with

    the white men, to benefit himself.

Doublehead heard him out, but his anger was rising.

    "You have betrayed the people, your brothers! " Bonepolisher cried. It

    was the greatest sin an Indian could be accused of by his own people.

Doublehead got to his feet.

    "You have said enough, Bonepolisher," Doublehead said, in a voice of

    thunder. "Stop, or I shall kill you."

    In fury, Bonepolisher grabbed his tomahawk and raised it to strike

    Doublehead, who shot him through the heart.

    The council adjourned in anger and confusion. Later that evening,

    Doublehead was sitting in a tavern with his son.

    "It is a good day to die," Doublehead told Jimmy. And sent his son away

    from him.

    Three men came in, Chief Ridge, a half-breed, Alex Saunders, and a white

    trader named Rogers. Doublehead stared at Rogers in contempt.

    "You are not of our people," Doublehead said to the white man. "You live

    among us by our permission. I have never seen you in council or on the

    warpath. Go away, and do not bother me."

Rogers laughed.

    Believing that his end was near, and perhaps wanting to hasten it,

    Doublehead struck the white trader. A fight devel-

    84 ALEX HALEY'S QUEEN

oped, and others came to Doublehead's assistance, and shots were fired.

The assailants fled into the night, but Doublehead's jaw was shattered by

a bullet. A friend helped Doublehead down the street to seek help, but the

assailants came out of hiding and attacked again. Doublehead fought like

a panther, but was killed by a tomahawk blow to his skull.

    In fear of his own life, Jimmy came to James, thinking he would be safe

    with a white man, and poured out his grief. James comforted him, and told

    him that if there was ever anything he could do for Jimmy and his family,

    in honor of the chief, he had only to ask.

    The merchant James Jackson, who had been kind to the Indian people, was

    one of the few white men allowed to attend the funeral of the once great