Underground Captive (46 page)

             
It took some doing, but she finally convinced Rags of her honesty.  He explained to her that word had gotten to the Black Rider and Captain Blossom.  The meeting was to take place in a fortnight in the early morning hours at Edmond Falgout's boat landing. 

             
Nicki persuaded Rags to come to Highland Acres to get and escort her to the Falgout plantation on what promised to be a very eventful night.

*  *  *    

             
Pitch black and nearing four in the morning, the mist that shrouded the area settled over the river and the encompass
ing surroundings, giving it a hauntingly eerie cast.  The only sound heard was that of the river gently licking at the levee and the wooden pilings of the Falgout landing.  Even the insects seemed to have taken the night off.  It was quiet and foreboding.

             
Horse and rider moved silently toward the Falgout plantation.  Jared halted

Satan near a grove with a thick cluster of trees.  Out of his saddlebags came a stark white death mask; the only thing of his costume that was different from the usual all black garb.

    
             
Angus came out of the trees, giving Jared the thumbs up sign.  With that gesture, he let him know that everything was set and everyone was in place according to Jared's orders.  He also told Jared that the eleven runaway slaves were hidden in the trees, waiting for the boat.

    
             
"Master Jared, ye willa be careful, won't ye?" Angus whispered in their native Gaelic speech.   "If ye be needin' me I willa ride wi' ye."

    
             
"Nay, Angus," Jared returned in kind.  "This must be done by me alone.  I will be fine.  If the boat gets here before I return, start boarding the Negroes."

    
             
Silently, he turned Satan and guided him deep into the plantation's core toward the slave cabins, pressing on with caution.

             
The night blackness enveloped him and Satan.  The only thing that could

be seen was the stark white death mask, which seemed to float nebulously, unbodied in the foggy mist.

    
             
Jared stopped Satan in the middle of the dirt walk between the long rows of slave cabins.  He whistled and sat waiting a mo
ment.  A cabin door opened.  Then another.  Then another.  Slaves poured out from the cabins, ready to go to work.  What they saw was the death mask floating in mid-air.  They dropped to their knees.

             
"Bouki!  Bouki!" they cried in unison.

    
             
Jared knew that Zombie, and Bouki, ranked highly among the many spirits in which the slaves believed.  These spirits in par
ticular were believed to be mischievous and sometimes malicious.  The slaves were frightened of them.

    
             
"Yes, it is Bouki," Jared said, his voice a deep tremble.  "Bouki demand you stay in your cabins for three days.  It is sacred time for Bouki.  No one is to work for three days.  If Bouki find you working, Bouki will strike you dead.  Rise and go back to your cabins!"  As he spoke, Jared pranced Satan around, making it appear that the mask was floating in the pitch black predawn.

             
The frightened slaves almost ran over each other getting back inside the

cabins.

    
             
Jared rode as quickly as he could to the boat landing, where the captain of the aptly named Ghost Ship awaited him.  He slid off Satan's back, and extended a black-gloved hand.  Likewise, a black-gloved hand accepted.

    
             
"
Monsieur
Black Rider, my sources tell me you wanted this meeting with me.  I am at your service, sir," the captain said.  He was almost the same height as Jared but of slighter build and, like Jared, he was masked against possible recognition.

    
             
"'Tis I who am at yer service,
monsieur
.  Since our sources are one and the same, ye must know we are in the same business.  I, therefore, have a request."

    
             
"What is your request,
monsieur
?" the captain asked, his voice forceful but curiously gentle.

    
             
"'Tis getting increasingly difficult, and always dangerous, to aid the Negroes to new horizons," Jared hurriedly explained in hushed tones.  "Even with all the help I give them, they sometimes don't make it.  The best escape route is the river.  If ye're willing, I can lead them to one of yer pick-up spots.  Ye can then board them and take them out of harm's way.  I have more encounters with the Negroes who want freedom than ye do.  I'll get word to ye when there are slaves who desire freedom.   If ye agree, ye can tell me at what point along the river ye want to meet."

    
             
"
Oui
,
monsieur
," Captain Blossom said without hesitation.   "I do agree.  I want to help as much as possible.  Rags has told me of the tragic death of his daughter. 
Monsieur
Fal
gout is swine swill!  Do you need some help here?"

    
             
"Nay, captain," Jared assured him.   "My servant has gone to get the slaves who seek freedom.  They're the ones who need help getting away from here.  My men are scattered about in the fields awaiting my signal to set the torch to them, which I am about to give right now.  So as soon as the slaves are on board, make ready to flee."

    
             
Jared gave the signal.  A few minutes passed before, in a cotton field far in the distance, the first flicker of flames rose hesitantly then took off full blast on the rain-starved crop.  It had been six weeks since a drop of rain fell.

             
One field after the other burst into flames as Jared's orders were carried

out.

*  *  *

    
             
Nicki and Rags approached the Falgout plantation cautiously, not knowing what she would run into.  She knew that Angus, Robert, and Hugh had gone along with Jared on this mission.  If any of them saw her, it would be all over--she would be sent back immediately.  Having once again raided the clothes lines, she wore black breeches and a black cotton shirt.  The shirt was Jared's, the breeches Keith's. But the shirt and breeches swallowed her body, so she'd torn a strip off one of her old, worn petticoats and fashioned a tie around her waist, securing the baggy clothes around her.

    
             
Just as she reached the edge of the plantation, near the levee, an orange glow suddenly lit the mist-laden night.

    
             
"
Mon Dieu
!" Nicki exclaimed.  "
Monsieur
Falgout's fields are burning!  Rags, find shelter and stay out of sight."

             
"Yas'm, mam'zelle," Rags whispered and did as he was bid.

             
Nicki moved toward the landing.  As silently as a cat, she slipped behind the closest tree near where she saw two black clad figures standing and talking to each other.

    
             
She heard Jared's voice hurry Hugh along.  Hugh arrived at the landing and the docked boat with eleven slaves, one of whom took a torch from Hugh.

    
             
"It might as well be high noon out here now, Hugh," Jared said, slightly annoyed.   "The blaze has lit up the sky."

    
             
"
Oui
,
monsieur
," the captain said just as irritated.   "Please hurry.  Not only that, but dawn will be upon us soon.  I must make haste for safety."

             
Nicki's breath caught in her throat and she froze momentarily.  
That

voice!  Ricard! That's Ricard!
  She started forward.  Suddenly, shots rang out.

             
"Get the slaves on board!" the captain ordered, running back onto the

boat.

             
Jared turned, his death mask still on.  The sight he presented frightened the

slaves and they scattered to the four winds, shrieking and screaming.  The slave that

held the torch threw it, before also taking flight.  The flaming torch landed on the

Ghost Ship.

             
"Jared!" Nicki screamed, running towards him.

    
             
"Nicollette!" Jared rushed to meet her.  "What the bloody deuce are ye doing here?"

             
More shots!  This time closer.

             
Jared threw Nicki to the ground and shielded her with his body.  Just then

the boat lit the sky with its flames!

    
             
Nicki wrenched free, and rolled away from Jared.  She came to her feet and started running towards the boat, thinking of nothing except saving her brother's life. 
“Ricard
!"

    
             
Jared grabbed hold of her again and held her securely this time.  He lifted her up and started running with her. 

             
Sobbing hysterically, she tore wildly at him with her nails and pummeled him with her fists.  "It's Ricard, Jared!  It's Ricard!  Put me down!  We've got to save him. 
Ricard
!"

    
             
"God's blood! Be quiet before ye get us both shot," Jared warned, catching a glimpse of Falgout coming into the clearing with a shotgun.

    
             
Nicollette continued screaming.  Jared clamped his hand over her mouth and held her tight with the other one.  He ran away from the burning fields, the landing, and the boat that now burned furiously.  There was hardly any place for immediate cover for hiding.  Everything was silhouetted against the flames.  Any moving figures could easily be seen.  Jared's only chance to escape was to get past the burning boat, roll down to the banks of the levee and hide in the bul
rushes with Nicollette.

    
             
"Suh, the darkies are this way," a familiar voice called out from the opposite direction of Jared and Nicki.  'Twas Hugh.

    
             
The fire, now spread out across one thousand acres of cotton
fields, spawned thick, black smoke, which enveloped the whole area.

    
             
When Jared heard running footsteps becoming fainter, he sur
mised that Falgout had gone toward the sound of Hugh's voice.

    
             
Nicki squirmed furiously in his arms, to no avail.  Jared held onto her with the tenacious cling of a boa constrictor.

    
             
Dawn was breaking.  But the thick, black smoke now gave ex
cellent cover.

    
             
He picked Nicki up and ran for the levee where he rolled over the side with her and landed in the shallow water near the banks.  They coughed and choked, from both the smoke and the murky river water.

    
             
"Th-that was Ricard, Jared," Nicki sobbed, not realizing the enormity of her discovery.  "He's the captain of the Ghost Ship!  I've got to go to him.  He needs me!"  She started to climb out of the water, lifting herself up by grasping the tall grass and overgrown shrubbery.

    
             
Jared grabbed her legs and pulled her back down.  Sputtering, she stood up and balled her fist.  With all her strength, she swung at Jared's face.  He ducked and the force of her swing turned her completely around.

             
Jared raised his foot and gently booted her in the rear.  She went sprawling

face down in the muddy water.  He held her down for a heartbeat of a second, then

pulled her up, gasping for breath.  "Behave, ye daft little minx or so help

me I'll drown ye!" he said through clamped teeth.  "I've got to get us out of here. 

Ye had better pray that nothing has happened to Satan because of yer stupid

impulsiveness!"  He whistled and waited.

             
"Master," a voice said in a loud whisper.

             
"Over here, Hugh."  Jared was relieved to know that Hugh, at least,

among all the rest was safe.  "Did everyone escape?" he asked anxiously.