“You cannot move a wagon over it safely.”
“Then we’ll use the upper ford.”
“The ford’s deep after last night’s rain.”
Silas glared at him.
“Must every road be broken when I need to use it?”
“Only the ones that are broken,” Amos answered.
The overseer walked away swearing.
Caleb kept working until he could see no straight line in the timber.
At dusk Amos took him behind the kiln.
“Josiah will be here before the rider has his breakfast,” he said.
“We have one chance.”
“What about Ruth?”
“Lottie has sent someone to tell her which door will be unlocked.”
“And if Eleanor gets there first?”
Amos took a long breath.
“Then Ruth will decide whether to stay hidden or come out.”
Caleb wanted to protest the risk, but every path contained danger because Eleanor had made safety impossible.
He touched the brass hinges of his father’s folding ruler.
“I’m ready,” he said.
He did not feel ready at all.
Chapter Seven: The Wrong Road
The escape began with a cart of potatoes rather than a dramatic midnight departure.
Josiah Finch arrived at Red Cedar just after breakfast with a wagon full of sacks for the kitchen.
Silas questioned him about the broken bridge, and Josiah complained so bitterly about county maintenance that the overseer lost interest.
While two workers unloaded the sacks, Caleb climbed into the concealed space beneath the wagon bed.
Amos laid a folded blanket over him and positioned a loose board above the opening.
“Breathe slowly,” he whispered.
“I’ll follow when I can.”
Caleb grabbed his sleeve.
“You don’t have to risk it.”
“I know.”
Amos looked at him steadily.
“That’s why it matters.”
A minute later the wagon rolled through the gate.
Caleb heard the horses’ shoes strike gravel, then the hollow sound of wooden planks beneath the weight.
Every time the wheels slowed, he imagined Silas standing ahead with a rope.
The driver stopped at a crossroads and spoke with two men about a fallen tree.
Caleb heard a name that made his pulse quicken.
“The Hawthorne rider came through before sunrise,” one man said.
“He had three hired hands with him.”
Josiah answered with practiced indifference.
“Then he’s got company for a long trip.”
“He was asking about a young carpenter.”
“There are carpenters everywhere,” Josiah said.
The wagon moved on.
Near sunset, Josiah led the horses into a stand of willows and opened the hidden compartment.
Caleb emerged stiff and dizzy.
