No Good Deed 14

It was the second time this peculiarly named mode of transport had been mentioned to me. Although not yet sure what it might be, I was sure that it did not involve an engine or any kind of rolling stock.

'You're a slave Tom, are you not?' I asked him.

'We all slaves, 'cept the barber, Missuh Northrup,' he replied.

'Do you not think of escape, of freedom?'

He looked at me as though he had never met a duller specimen.

'Ain't nobody free, less'n we all free, Missuh Northrup.'

'And what has this to do with me?' I asked.

Most definitely, I wished I hadn't, for a strong arm was around my neck and something sharp pressed into my ribs. Tom's face loomed close to mine, the large man behind me said nothing, but from the smell of him, it was one of the stokers. The waiter's eyes had slitted and he hissed at me,

'You shore you's Northrup?'

It was not the moment for panic, so I merely answered,

'You have seen the vest, who else would I be?'

The grip on my neck did not noticeably slacken – and Tom's face reflected both doubt and distrust in equal measure. If the moment was then more appropriate for said panic, there was little I could do but rely on the best of lies, that is, a simulacrum of the truth.

'Don't be hasty,' I began. 'I have as yet received no instructions. I am aboard this tub merely by chance. There is a rendezvous I must attend in Hannibal, I am aboard the Grand Turk solely to effect my arrival in that place.'

The arm tightened and Tom's voice remained full of venom.

'Ron-day-voo? What's 'at?'

I felt that unless I could get him to address me once more as Northrup, all might conceivably be lost, and I could well make the rest of the trip upriver beneath the trap-door in the depths of the hull. At least - until my remains caused sufficient odour to occasion a clandestine jettison of same into the wide Mississippi river.

'A meeting. I'm to wait for someone to ask me for news of Levi Coffin.'

Tom's eyes widened at the mention of this name, and I was relieved to feel a little less pressure around my throat. I did not mention the packet I was to deliver.

'Might be alright, Washington.' Tom said.

He was looking past me at my captor, who though a little more gentle in his treatment of my person, still yet afforded me no chance of escape. A deep and cultured voice caused my ears themselves to vibrate:

'It might indeed. But why should we take a chance?'

I was desperate to see the face of this man, but could no more turn in his grasp than dance a polka.

'Shore don't talk like an Illinois man, he fum Baltimore, you think?'

The hearty laugh caused a great deal of pain to my tympanum.

'No, Thomas, he's not from Baltimore, he's a Britisher.'

'Indeed I am not! I am recently returned from those shores after many years. I am as American as either of you.'

And was this not so? Since they were slaves, they were surely not American citizens.

The dark voice rumbled again,

'With whom is the supposed rendezvous, Mr Northrup?'

I felt that the sarcasm enveloping this appellation might well leave some physical mark on my ear. However, at least he had used it.

'Winona, Winona Shepherd.'

Thankfully his grip was released before his laugh filled the slaves' bunk room and deafened me. I turned to get a look at the face of the man with the educated tones. He was enormous, as befit a stoker of engines. Undoubtedly handsome, he looked at me with an intelligence in his gaze that he surely must have kept hidden in the company of Missouri white folks. He held out a hand

'George Washington Irving, pleased to meet you, Mr Northrup, if that's who you be.'

I shook it and moved to take my own hand back, but he held it in a grip as strong as he had placed round my neck.

'Best you be him, too. Mr Northrup. The big river's a dangerous place. You get along topside, now, where you belong. Better take him back Thomas, I'm not convinced this fellow could find his posterior with both hands.'

Tom laughed, although I was unsure whether he understood the joke, or simply acknowledged that it had been made at my expense.

I resolved to check the contents of the package given me in the Yaller House at the earliest opportunity.