They were calculating how to keep a wheel from breaking before dawn.
The escape began on a night when thick clouds hid the moon.
Thomas repaired the storage cart in the afternoon and left it beneath a lean-to where a guard could see only one side.
Rose placed folded blankets beneath a layer of empty sacks.
Josephine kept her sons occupied with stories so their excitement would not draw attention.
Daniel watched the mill, waiting for the steward’s lamps to go dark.
The plan depended on a delivery notice Abram had secured from the mission house.
The notice allowed a wagon to carry flour through the first checkpoint before daybreak.
It did not authorize the passengers hidden beneath the sacks.
Everyone understood that a single careless sound could expose the group.
Daniel would ride beside Abram as a carpenter sent to inspect equipment at the mission.
Thomas would walk behind until they reached the river path.
Rose would travel inside the wagon to steady Josephine’s youngest son when the road became rough.
At midnight a guard approached the cart while Daniel tightened the harness.
The man complained that Pike’s horses had been losing feed and demanded to inspect the sacks.
Daniel held out the written delivery notice and said the flour had been weighed under Finch’s supervision.
The guard examined the seal, then lifted one sack and looked beneath it.
Rose held her breath behind the boards.
A rat darted from the corner and startled the horse.
The guard cursed and dropped the sack to catch the reins.
Daniel helped calm the animal without speaking.
The guard waved them away, irritated by the disturbance.
They passed the first gate just before dawn.
The road ran between fields where mist lay close to the earth.
Daniel could hear Josephine whispering to her children through the boards.
Her younger son asked whether the sun would look different in a place where nobody could sell him.
She answered that it would look exactly the same, but they might finally be able to watch it without fear.
The boy seemed satisfied.
Daniel kept his eyes on the road because the tenderness of her answer threatened to undo him.
By the second crossing, a patrol had begun stopping travelers.
Abram turned toward an abandoned orchard and waited until the riders passed.
Thomas emerged from the hedges and said he had seen two men following their tracks.
The group could no longer remain together in a slow wagon.
