A Day to Pick Your Own Cotton - Michael R. Phillips [76]
Katie drew in a deep breath of resolve, then stood up.
“Then I guess we’d better get ready,” she said. “Why don’t you fix a bottle or two of milk for Aleta and anything else she needs, and I’ll go saddle two horses.”
When Katie came back into the house ten minutes later, she was both scared and determined. She had been thinking about all Emma had said and realized she was right—they had to try to do something. If hard times took courage, then now was the time when she had to find out how much she had.
She walked into the house and saw a determined look on Emma’s face too. She said it was like watching Emma grow up three years in just a few minutes. They looked at each other, and both knew it was time to do what they had to do.
“Will you be all right, Aleta?” said Katie.
“Yes, Katie.”
“You know everything to do?”
Aleta nodded.
“Good girl,” said Katie. She gave her a hug, kissed her on the cheek, then turned back to Emma.
“Well, are you ready?”
“I’s ready, Miz Katie.”
Then Emma picked up her little son. “You be good fo Miz Aleta,” she said, then kissed him and handed him back to Aleta.
Katie glanced around the kitchen, then walked across the floor and picked up a small carving knife from the counter.
“What dat for, Miz Katie?” said Emma in alarm.
“I hope nothing, Emma—but if Mayme is tied up somewhere, I don’t want to have to go ask Mrs. Mc-Simmons if we can borrow a knife.”
Then another thought seemed to strike Katie. She turned and hurried toward the parlor. Emma followed, and when she came into the room she saw Katie standing in front of the open gun cabinet, removing one of her father’s rifles.
Emma’s eyes widened.
“What you doin’, Miz Katie!”
“We don’t know what we’re going to find, Emma,” she said. “But if that man is hurting Mayme … well, I don’t know what. But I’m going to take this with me. Mayme showed me how to use these guns once before, and maybe I’m going to have to use one again to rescue her.”
She closed the cabinet and turned to go, then stopped. She turned back, took out another rifle, grabbed another handful of shells and put them in her dress pocket, then led Emma from the room, back through the kitchen, and outside to the two waiting horses.
RESCUE PARTY
40
KATIE AND EMMA RODE AS QUICKLY AS THEY could back toward the McSimmons plantation without galloping their horses. Emma’d only been on a horse a time or two in her life, and Katie almost had to teach her how to ride as they went and was afraid she might fall off if they went too fast. As they drew closer Katie realized that she still had no plan of what they would do once they got there. The two rifles sticking out of their saddles behind them wouldn’t do much good against a whole plantation of men.
As they reached the fork where the road to the Mc-Simmons plantation split off, suddenly Katie had an idea. I reckon you could say it was an idea that would change our fortunes in a lot of ways. But right now she wasn’t thinking that far ahead.
“Emma,” she said, “I’m going to ride into town as fast as I can. You need to hide here till I get back.”
“What you doin’ dat for, Miz Katie? I don’ want you ter leab me alone. What about Mayme?”
“That’s why I’m going to town—I’m going to try to get some help.”
Katie led Emma down off the road and amongst the trees, quickly dismounted and tied Emma’s horse so it wouldn’t wander off, then helped Emma down.
“You stay right here, Emma, until I come back. I won’t be more than fifteen or twenty minutes, I promise.”
Without waiting for Emma to protest further, she mounted again, urged her horse back onto the road, and galloped away toward town as fast as she could. By now she wasn’t worried if anyone saw her. She was desperate and didn’t care. She wasn’t even thinking about being found out or what Mrs. Hammond or Henry or anyone else might think.
Six or seven minutes later she was galloping past the church and into town, past Mrs. Hammond’s store and down the street, still as fast as she could go. The sound of the hooves