Freedom Crossing

The slave catchers enter Laura’s room just as she picks up her sewing again. She tries to remain calm while they search her room. Walt comments on how pretty she has gotten, and Laura wishes Bert would make them leave, but he is nowhere to be found. Laura straightens up and asks “What right do you have to come in my room? […] No southern gentleman would think of doing such a thing!” (58). When she speaks, she notices her accent is just as thick as her Aunt Ruth’s. Walt scoffs at her and tells her they have a warrant to search the place.

Laura is terrified, but she presses on, warning them that her father will be upset to hear how they threw furniture everywhere in the search. The sheriff apologizes for their behavior, explaining that they aren’t his men, and he’s only here because the law says he has to help them. Otherwise, he assures Laura, he wouldn’t have come today.

The men, with the exception of Walt, nervously search Laura’s belongings. When Walt lingers a little too long in the room, another man tells him they should leave. He says, “This little southern lady isn’t going to harbor any slave in here” (60). Walt takes one last look around, then finally leaves.

After the group searches the rest of the house, the sheriff returns to apologize again for coming into the house. Once outside, he and the others discuss whether Martin got away, or if he was ever there at all. One man noticed a pile of Martin’s clothes, and even though Bert claimed they were his, the man is not convinced that’s the truth. The group is divided, but ultimately there’s nothing more they can do than keep an eye on the house until Martin is caught. At last, they leave.

Bert comes into Laura’s room and congratulates her on her performance. Relief hits Laura and she breaks down into sobs, telling Bert she was so scared the whole time. Bert, more angry than scared, assures her she pulled it off. Then he rolls back the rug and lifts the floorboard so Martin can come out of hiding. He thanks Bert for putting him in there instead of the wardrobe, where he would have been discovered. He also thanks Laura for letting him in her room. Laura tries to brush it off, but Martin reminds her that she helped even more by keeping her mouth shut about his being there.

Bert tells Martin to practice getting into the hiding place quickly and efficiently while he goes to get better clothes for Martin. When Bert returns with a pair of shoes, Laura recognizes them as his best pair. Afterwards, Bert and Laura go downstairs to burn Martin’s clothes. Laura complains that the day feels endless, and Bert suggests she does some chores to make the time go by faster. Laura, determined to prove that she can still do chores after living away for years, sets out to make homemade applesauce for lunch.

She brings the applesauce upstairs, and the boys are delighted with the treat. Laura asks what the two of them were talking about before she came up, and Martin tells her they were talking about her and how brave she was when the men came to search her room. Laura asks Martin if he was afraid she’d turn him in. He admits that he had been nervous, but that no one who had helped him along the Underground Railroad had turned him in so far.

Martin says, “Moses, she said the people who help the poor runaway slaves are the kindest people in the world” (69). Laura is confused, thinking Martin means Moses in the Bible, but Martin tells her about Harriet Tubman, a Black woman they call Moses who is the leader of the Underground Railroad. The name comes from a song she’ll sing when she’s ready to lead enslaved people to the North, a song called “Go Down Moses” (70). This is the song she sang to his family when they left.

Laura asks Martin why he didn’t go with them, and he tells her that he got sick and couldn’t join. Now, if all goes as planned, he will finally reunite with his parents and siblings. Bert puts a hand up to stop Martin from saying more. He hears someone at the door.

All three of them freeze, worried that the slave catchers have already returned. They quickly hide Martin back under the floor and hide all evidence that he was in the room. Laura takes her place back in the chair while Bert goes downstairs to answer the door. To her surprise, he calls up to her and says to come down. She has a visitor with a present for her.

Laura comes downstairs to find a boy named Harvey holding a package. He hands her the package and says that the boy who sent this gift can’t come to see her that night. Laura’s first thought is that the package must be from Joel, and this message means he can’t come to get Martin tonight after all. She asks Harvey who sent it, but he is not allowed to say.

The siblings give Harvey a cookie, then look at the package together. Laura opens it and finds a copy of a book: Uncle Tom’s Cabin. She is disgusted to have been given “that abolitionist book Joel had said she should read” (74). Her aunt and uncle had warned her against listening to abolitionists, who “were so set on getting rid of slavery, they’d say anything” (74). Laura throws the book on the table. Bert picks it up and tells her that he’s read the book before, and it’s good. Harvey tells Bert that there’s a note inside the book. Laura tells Bert to read it.

The short note had no greeting and no signature. It was only four lines long:

Though some may fail,

Those who try on and on will succeed.

Sometimes folly leads to freedom,

And the rabbit escapes from the trap (75).

As Bert finishes reading, Harvey starts to leave. Bert tries to stop him and ask again who sent him, but Harvey insists he’s not supposed to say. Laura tells him he’s been good for doing as he’s told and sends him home. She is certain that Joel is the one who sent the book.

Just as they are about to go back inside after seeing Harvey off, Mrs. Fitch arrives in her carriage. She tells them that Joel’s father was arrested, and she’s on her way to comfort Joel’s mother. Laura notices that Mrs. Fitch Is “delighted to have gossip to pass on” (77) to them. She says that supposedly Mr. Todd was hiding a fugitive in his home, and so, in her opinion, deserves to be in jail.

Mrs. Fitch leaves, and Laura and Bert discuss what to do next. Bert wants to see Joel since he certainly won’t be allowed to leave the house now that his father has been arrested. Laura doesn’t want to stay home alone, so she goes with her brother to see Joel. They decide if anyone asks why they are there, they’ll say they want to comfort Joel the way Mrs. Fitch is comforting his mother.

During the carriage ride to Joel’s house, Laura is nervous that they’ll be stopped and questioned. Bert is equally cautious, telling Laura that if anyone asks, they are headed to town to shop. On their way, they pass Mrs. Fitch again and assume that Mrs. Todd didn’t require her comfort after all. As they approach the Todd’s house, Laura begins to feel nostalgic for her childhood visits there. Her mother and Joel’s mother were friends for years, and Laura has many memories in “the Todds’ pleasant, rambling house” (80). As they get closer, however, the happy feelings are replaced with dread.

Walt, the meanest of the slave catchers, is sitting on the front porch of the Todd house. He recognizes Laura, and Laura urges Bert not to stop. They steer the carriage toward town. As they are leaving, they turn back to see Joel waving them away; “[it is] perfectly clear that he [doesn’t] want them to stop” (81). The siblings realize that Joel must now be trapped in his own home, not allowed to leave for any reason.

To avoid further suspicion, they head to town to shop. As they ride, Bert and Laura try to decipher Joel’s note. Bert thinks it might be a code message, but Laura feels sure Joel was trying to annoy her by sending her Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Bert tells her she should read the book for herself before deciding that it’s nonsense.

More urgent is the fact that, with Joel trapped in his home, there is no one to take Martin to the river by midnight. Laura and Bert’s uncle Daniel, who is not an abolitionist, will be arriving the next day, so the escape has to happen that night. Bert recalls hearing that one of the shop owners in town, Mr. Tryon, helps with the Underground Railroad. He isn’t quite sure, so he decides to ask a question in code. If Mr. Tryon is with the Underground Railroad, he will know what Bert means.

Bert is about to get out of the carriage when Laura stops him. She notices that one of the men in the store seems like he might be a slave catcher. Bert is impressed by his sister’s sharp eye and stays in the carriage. He wonders if Mr. Tryon’s name is part of the note that Joel sent. He tells Laura, “‘Though some may fail, those who try on and on will succeed.’ Notice that? Try on sounds like Tryon” (84). Laura is not convinced there is any hidden meaning in Joel’s note other than to make fun of her, so she dismisses her brother’s suggestion.

On their way home, Bert announces that he is going to keep driving along the river. Laura is not eager to get home quickly either, so she agrees. As “a grass-choked lane [comes] into view, Bert [sits] up alertly” (86). Laura asks where the lane leads, and Bert says it goes to an old house that Mr. Tryon’s brother built long ago, but it’s been empty for years. The house has four cellars, and Laura remembers exploring it once as a child with her cousin and Joel. Bert has a sudden realization and asks Laura if she knows what others call the house. He tells her, “Tryon’s Folly! […] After Amos Tryon spent all that money on the house, his wife wouldn’t live in it” (88). Laura asks Bert to pull out the note again and realizes that Joel meant for them to come here. She exclaims, “‘Sometimes folly leads to freedom,’ might mean that Tryon’s Folly leads to freedom for the runaways” (88). The siblings realize that Tryon’s Folly is the last stop on the Underground Railroad.

Bert tries to turn the carriage back to explore the house, but Laura is worried he’ll get caught. They fight about it until Laura threatens to get the sheriff involved if he goes. Reluctantly, Bert turns the carriage around toward home, right as Walt appears in their path.

Walt and his horse appear so suddenly that it causes the siblings’ horse to rear in fright. He taunts Bert and Laura and asks to look in the back of their carriage. They reluctantly agree, so as not to arouse more suspicion, and Walt “examine[s] every inch of the carriage” (92). Once he’s convinced Martin isn’t in the carriage, he asks them where they are going. Without hesitation, Laura answers that they are on their way to visit their cousin, Tessie. Bert plays along and insists that they leave so as not to keep Tessie waiting for them.

Walt lets them pass, and Laura tells Bert to go to Tessie’s. She has a feeling that Walt may keep an eye on them longer than they realize. They’ll visit their cousin, as she said she would, and then, when the coast is clear, they will return to explore Tryon’s Folly.

After a brief visit with Tessie, Bert and Laura head back down the abandoned lane. Bert is careful to cover the carriage tracks as they get closer, and eventually they decide to go the rest of the way by foot. As they walk through the trees and arrive at the house, Laura realizes she “had forgotten how large and impressive it was” (96) and feels sorry that Mrs. Tryon never wanted to live in it. Bert remarks that she always wanted a house by the river, and Laura agrees. After days of disagreement and arguing, they find each other again in a small, shared moment.

They get into the house through the front door. While Laura feels uneasy about breaking in, Bert reminds her that “Joel practically sent [them] here” (97). Laura relaxes and remembers that they won’t damage anything while they are there.

Inside, Laura finds a door to the cellar. She and Bert descend three flights, finally reaching the fourth cellar. At the bottom is another door that leads outside. There, through the brush, they can see the river. With delight, Bert and Laura know they’ve found the place where they’re supposed to bring Martin tonight.

Bert steps out to explore a bit, but then rushes back and pulls Laura inside when he sees someone in a boat across the water. Laura assures him they’re safe and out of sight, but Bert isn’t so sure. He is nervous that he will let down their father and Joel by accidentally exposing this spot on the Underground Railroad. He confides in Laura that he thinks Joel and their father didn’t tell him much about what they do to help the runaways in case he messed it up. Laura tells her brother that it likely wasn’t a matter of not trusting him, but more a matter of keeping Bert safe.

They decide to go home so that Martin won’t be worried. On their way out, Laura tells Bert she’s worried about him coming back alone tonight. She accuses Bert of being interested in the Underground Railroad more for the adventure than for helping the runaways. Bert replies, “Pa says a man’s conscience is stronger that the law. And he says laws can be bad” (102). Laura still doesn’t understand how something would be worth breaking the law and asks if Martin could go by himself tonight to make it less risky for Bert. Bert tells her he couldn’t because it would be more dangerous for Martin to go by himself to Tryon’s Folly.

Laura gets out of the carriage to make sure the coast is clear before Bert backs out of the lane from the old house. She urges him on and covers the tracks as he settles the carriage to leave. They are not far from the lane when another horse and rider approach them. The rider slows down and shouts out to them, ‘They caught a slave in Lewiston! I’m rounding up help to set him free!” (104). Bert calls out to affirm the rider, then presses on at a steady pace. Laura asks if they can go faster, but Bert doesn’t want anyone to cause anyone to question why they are racing back in such a hurry.

When they’re back in town, Bert gets out of the carriage and tells Laura to wait for him there. Everyone is heading to the Presbyterian church, where the captured fugitive is being held. Laura glances in Mr. Tryon’s store to see him moving at a calm pace, and the man with the beard, whom she suspects is a slave catcher, is still there. Laura grows impatient and decides she should be able to see who has been captured as well. She jumps from the carriage and walks toward the crowd. As she follows the crowd to the church, Laura is surprised to find that the angry group believes the slave catchers should be lynched for coming up north.