Trouble Don't Last

The woman who wakes Samuel is Miz Kettle. She, her husband Ham, and her dog Eggs will usher Samuel and Harrison to the next safe place. Miz Kettle has brought disguises so that Harrison can dress up as a young man and Samuel can dress up as a girl. Neither Harrison nor Samuel wants to wear their disguise, but Miz Kettle insists that they do so if they want her help. Miz Kettle instructs them to meet Ham and Eggs down the road a bit, and then she leaves.

Harrison and Samuel find Ham and Eggs. Ham gives them several freshly caught fish on a string. This way, if anyone stops them, they can claim that they have been out fishing and are heading home. Ham will walk ahead of them with Eggs and keep watch while leading the way to the next safe location. They walk for a while with no problems, but then someone in a wagon stops Harrison and Samuel.

The man inside the wagon asks Harrison to hold up the fish. He takes the fish from them, cuts off the head of the smallest one, throws it back to Harrison, and then drives off, laughing.

Harrison recalls the time that he got caught fishing on the plantation where he was a child. He was whipped badly for this transgression because the plantation owner accused Harrison of theft, claiming that the pond did not “belong” to Harrison and neither did the fish. Harrison has always dreamed of being free and having a pond of his own to fish in. Now, he is discouraged to realize that even in the north, he apparently still can’t fish without someone taking the fish away. He is so discouraged that he claims he doesn’t want to continue the journey to Canada. Ham waves for them to walk forward to where he is standing.

Harrison and Samuel approach Ham, and Harrison says he no longer wants to go to Canada. Ham says that they are almost at the next safe place, Green Murdock’s house. He is a white man and a salesman, or “peddler.” This worries Samuel because Lilly says that peddlers are cheats and liars. When they reach Green Murdock’s house, he’s not home, so Ham tells them to hide in the shed until he returns. Samuel hears birds outside and feels bad that he and Harrison have to hide in a shed instead of being free like the wild animals are.

Green Murdock comes home and introduces himself. He tells Harrison and Samuel not to reveal their names or backstories because he has trouble keeping secrets. He nicknames them “Young” (Harrison) and “Old” (Samuel). He seems friendlier and sillier than Widow Taylor, Miz Kettle, or Ham, but Samuel still doesn’t fully trust him. Green Murdock asks if they have money for a “fine ham” that he has in his wagon. They give him some money, but he returns with bacon, claiming that he couldn’t find the ham. Murdock sells all sorts of things, including coffins, and brags about his skill as a good peddler. Green Murdock uses playing cards to tell Harrison and Samuel’s fortunes, even though they ask him not to. The cards say that they’re on a journey and that they will encounter both a sign and unexpected bad luck.

In the morning, Harrison has a bad fever and is having trouble breathing. Green Murdock claims that the cards foretold this. Murdock also tells Harrison and Samuel that they cannot stay any longer; he is busy and doesn’t have enough money to feed them, and Harrison is now sick. Green Murdock plans to take them to a “Negro Hollow” nearby; he has not arranged this in advance but assumes that because the residents there are Black, it should be their responsibility to look after Harrison, not Murdock’s. Having no other choice, Samuel and Harrison get into his wagon to begin the journey.

Harrison tells Samuel more about the gray yarn. Samuel’s mother, Hannah, left it for Harrison, but not before she was sold off. Instead, the yarn appeared approximately three months prior to Harrison and Samuel’s escape; it was sitting on Harrison’s barn stool. Harrison doesn’t know who put it there, but he knows that it came from Samuel’s mother because of what was written on a piece of paper inside the ball of yarn: Chatham, Canada. Before Samuel’s mother was sold off, Harrison and Lily told her that if she ever got free, she should send them a sign to let them know where she went. She said she’d use yarn as her sign so that it would be inconspicuous but they would still understand that it came from her.

Harrison explains that when he learned that Hannah was free and living in Canada, he decided to take Samuel there. Lilly was worried about this plan due to Harrison’s age and physical condition, but Harrison insisted. He didn’t plan on telling Samuel about his mother being free in Canada until they got there, but he is telling the boy now because he is sick and doesn’t know if he’ll survive. This way, Samuel will know that he needs to keep looking for his mother even if Harrison dies or cannot finish the journey.

Samuel, Harrison, and Green Murdock pull up near the small group of Black people’s houses. Murdock sends Samuel to find someone to help move Harrison from the wagon into one of the houses. Samuel goes to one door, and the woman there shoos him away. Someone else opens a window and tells Samuel to go three houses down for help. He does, and the residents, Belle and August Henry, welcome him inside. Samuel tries to explain how Green Murdock brought them here and that Harrison is sick, but Belle and August don’t fully understand what he’s trying to say. Harrison then knocks on the door and introduces himself before collapsing.