Part 6 (1/2)

Nosy found me a place to sleep in one of the sheds back of the tavern, on a pile of empty sacks amongst some bins of fruit and vegetables. I was plenty tired, but worrying as I was about those soldiers' notes, it took me awhile to get to sleep. Finally I dozed off; but when I woke in the morning, I began thinking about them first thing.

I went out of the shed, across the yard, and into the kitchen, hoping that somebody would see how hungry I looked and take pity on me. But the cooks was all das.h.i.+ng around getting breakfast for the paying guests, and all they said to me was to keep out of the way unless I wanted a cuffing. So I went out in the yard and stood there in the morning suns.h.i.+ne, and by and by Nosy came along with her barrow. ”Where you going, Nosy?” I said.

”The fish market. They always wants fried fish for breakfast.”

”Well, I'll tell you what, Nosy,” I said. ”If you can duck into the kitchen and get hold of a piece of bread and cheese, I'll go along with you and give you a hand.” There was coming into my mind the beginning of a plan.

”Maybe I don't need a hand,” she said.

”Yes, you do,” I said. ”But I ain't going to be very strong if I don't have breakfast.”

She gave me a look, but she went into the kitchen and in a minute came back with a nice chunk of bread and a big piece of cheese. We went around the tavern out of the yard into Broad Street and headed for the waterfront. I chewed on the bread and cheese as we went along. Naturally, Nosy began right away asking me questions about the soldiers' notes and how I'd stolen them back from Mrs. Ivers, and what they looked like and what they was worth, until finally I said, ”Nosy, I can't hardly get a mouthful to eat for answering questions,” and she shut up for a couple of minutes.

We had gone along Broad Street to Dock Street and was getting close enough to the water so's I could smell the smell of it. My nerves was beginning to hum a little. ”Now, Nosy, where are we coming out to?”

”The fish stalls at Old Slip Market.”

”Is that a likely place for Captain Ivers to have docked the Junius Brutus?”

She shrugged. ”There's no way to know. A lot of them Connecticut captains puts in at Peck's Slip, though. Old Peck, he's a Yankee himself.”

I stopped and put a hand on her shoulder. ”Now here's the idea, Nosy. If you just amble along the dock with your barrow, maybe you can spot the Junius Brutus. You won't have trouble, the railing's all busted up and there ain't but one mast on it. The main thing we have to know is whether they're unloading it. I'm going to wait right here.”

”I can't do that. The cook'll kill me if I don't get right back with the fish.”

”Oh, come on, Nosy, you ain't scared of the cook, are you?”

”You'd be scared of him too if you'd been cursed out by him as much as I have.”

”Oh, a cook's cursing ain't nothing to worry about. Wait till you get cursed out by a mate. That's real cursing.”

”Well, I ain't going to do it,” she said. ”You didn't say nothing about it when we left.”

”Oh, you'll do it, Nosy. Because if I do it on my own, you'll be left out, and I won't tell you none of it afterward. You'll never know what I did.”

That got to her, I could see that. She kind of swung her eyes around here and there, and finally she said, ”Well, just for a little bit. Then I got to get back with the fish.”

”I knew you'd do it, Nosy. I knew you wasn't a coward.”

She trotted off, and I ducked back into a little alleyway where I was covered in shadows, and waited. I was pretty sure she wouldn't stop looking until she found the brig. She was too curious to quit until she'd seen what it looked like and knew what was going on.

So I waited; and waited; and about twenty minutes later she came trotting back with the barrow loaded up with fish, all out of breath. ”I seen it,” she said. ”The mainmast was busted clean off.”

”I already knew that, Nosy. Where's she at?”

”Peck's Slip, like I said.”

”Are they unloading her?”

”They're taking boxes and such off and stacking them up on the dockside. There's about the biggest black man I ever did see with a club standing watch over them.”

She had the right s.h.i.+p, that was clear. ”That's Big Tom,” I said. ”He don't like black folks.”

”Why not?” she said.

”I don't know,” I said. ”I guess it's because he wants white folks to favor him instead of other black folks.”

”Well, he looks mighty scary to me,” she said. ”I wouldn't mess with him if I was you, Dan. Now come on. I got to get this fish back. You promised.”

So I picked up the barrow handles and started off at a trot, with Nosy clipping along beside me, and we got back quick enough so that Nosy didn't get cursed out by the cook, only a couple of dirty looks.

Now at least I knew where the soldiers' notes was. They wouldn't be there for long, though. Captain Ivers wasn't going to leave the cargo sitting around on the dock, no matter who was standing guard over them. If he didn't find a buyer for them right away, he'd put them in a storehouse somewheres. I'd have to do something about them quick. But I didn't get much of a chance to think about it, because word came that I was to help out in the stables to work out my keep, and the stable boss kept me on the jump the rest of the morning.

But about the middle of the afternoon things slackened off a little, and I sat down on a bale of hay and gave it a little thought. The first thing that worried me was that if Mr. Fraunces or Mr. Fatherscreft knew what I had in mind, they'd probably stop me, or at least try to. I don't know why they was worried about me; as far as they was concerned, I was just another darky without no home. But they was worried about me, that was clear. Part of it had to do with Mr. Fatherscreft being a Quaker. And of course if Mr. Fraunces really was black, that would explain another part of it; but I didn't know if he was black, and anyway, being black didn't make Big Tom any nicer to his own kind.

No, it had mainly to do with my daddy. They respected my daddy, there wasn't any two ways about that. It was a funny thing, here he was drowned and all, and he was helping me more than he could if he was alive. And that was the reason I wasn't going to quit on those soldiers' notes. If I left Mum up there in Newfield to rot, I'd never be able to think about my daddy again as long as I lived without feeling terrible. A feeling like that would be worse than slavery. So I was going to take the chance. And that meant not letting on to Mr. Fraunces or Mr. Fatherscreft.

But who would I get to help? The only person I knew was Nosy, and she wasn't nothing but a child. But she wasn't stupid, neither. And I figured she'd help me, so as not to be left out.

I didn't have a chance to talk to her until suppertime, when we was on the ground out in the yard with our backs up against the shed wall, eating bowls of stew. ”Now listen, Nosy,” I said. ”Are you game to help me out again? It's a mighty scary adventure.”

”You bound to get into trouble, Dan.”

”I'm already in enough trouble so's a little more won't matter very much. Tonight, after it gets dark, we're going back to the Junius Brutus and get my daddy's soldiers' notes. There's just one little thing you have to do. It ain't scary at all. I'll do all the scary parts.”

”Mr. Fraunces, he'll kill me if I get into trouble.”

”He ain't going to know about it. It's a secret between you and me. And afterward we'll be heroes.”

Well, she was torn about it. I could see that. She wanted to go with me, that was for sure; but on the other side of it, she knew that she could get into a peck of trouble for helping me out. ”You sure n.o.body's gonna know?”

”Sure as sunrise,” I said. ”You ain't going to say nothing, and I ain't going to say nothing, so how would anybody find out?”

I left it like that. We finished up our suppers, and she went back into the kitchen to help wash up the dishes. About an hour later she came out into the yard to pump some water. I came up to her. ”Soon's it gets dark we'll go, Nosy. Bring your barrow.”

I stayed out in the yard, mostly hanging around the shed where n.o.body would notice me. It came to be seven o'clock. The time went awful slow, but finally it was near full dark. I could see Nosy through the kitchen window, messing around with the plates. Finally she came out into the yard to pump up another bucket of water. I crossed over the yard. ”Let's go,” I said.

She looked at me like she was hoping I'd forgot about it. ”I got to fill the water barrel.”

”How long will that take?”

”What are we going to do, Dan?”

”I'll show you when we get there. Now swipe the oyster knife when you come.”

”You're going to get in trouble, Dan.”