“Quietly now,” whispered Ryan to Matthew as they slipped down the stairway in their bare feet. “Father’s had to stay late at the bank again and I think Mother is in bed. But Lettie’s around here somewhere so we’ve got to look out for her.”
Matthew nodded his head. The two boys were down the stairs in a minute and easing out the front door as quietly as they could. In an instant they were outside, slipping on their shoes. Matthew immediately began to dash down the street.
“No! Slow down!” urged Ryan. “We don’t want anybody to take notice of us. Just walk down the street…like we have all the time in the world.” Ryan ambled casually down the street. Matthew, disgusted, shook his head. “But Joseph is waiting for us! We’ll never get there!”
“We’ll get there all right,” replied Ryan, “and the worst thing that could happen to us is someone asking where we’re going and why we aren’t home with our parents!”
“Okay, I’ll slow down, but Joseph’s going to think we’ve forgotten him.”
Almost forty minutes later, they were approaching Shanty Town. It was now almost completely dark. They searched the dark alleys for almost twenty minutes before once again finding the back door to the small warehouse where the three boys had hidden just a couple of days earlier.
Ryan tapped softly against the door. “Joseph! Joseph! Are you in there?”
“Yes, but come quietly,” came Joseph’s voice from within. “I heard some noises in the alleyway just a few minutes ago.”
“Do you think someone’s poking around here looking for you?” whispered Matthew as he and Ryan pushed the door open and made their way slowly into the semi-darkness.
“Can’t tell,” Joseph whispered back. “But we can’t take any chances.”
“We brought you some more bread and a small jug of water,” said Ryan. “Have you been all right?”
“Well,” I’m been hungry, thirsty and I can’t sleep too well cooped up in this damp, smelly building,” said Joseph with a sigh. The three boys quickly sat on the floor in the only corner of the building where the moonlight managed to creep in through the rafters. “But I’m still here so I guess I must be all right,” Joseph continued. “I sure liked staying in your cellar better than this place. Heck, I even liked staying in your tool shed better than this place.”
“I know,” said Ryan. “I’m really sorry we had to ask you to leave, but Father said it would be dangerous to hide you. He said that, since your father was gone, you might have to go to an orphanage, at least for a while.”
“My father’s not gone!” Joseph cried. “I found out that they took him to the old Chimborazo Hospital. He’s been hurt.”
“Hurt?” asked Matthew. “Hurt badly?”
“I don’t know,” replied Joseph quietly. “But he can still walk because the father of a kid who lives down the street from me in Shanty Town is an orderly at the hospital and he saw my Father being brought in.”
Ryan nodded his head. “Do you have any idea when they’ll let him out?”
“He’s being held in the prisoner’s wing of the hospital, I guess. So they just might take him to prison when he’s out of the hospital,” said Joseph.
“Why should he go to prison? On what charge?” demanded Matthew.
“They don’t need a charge,” snapped Joseph. “He’s a black man, remember?”
“But he’s a freeman,” Matthew argued.
“Doesn’t seem to matter much,” said Joseph angrily.
“Remember that your father said that he’d hired a guide to help him get through the Confederate lines? My guess is that guide was really a Confederate spy and he turned your father in for trying to leave Richmond,” explained Ryan.
“We’re still going to leave Richmond,” exclaimed Joseph passionately. “We’ve just got to get my father out of the hospital first.”
“We can’t just walk in there, Joseph. You know that,” said Ryan.
“We’ve got to do something! If they throw him into Libby prison or the Castle, he’s done for!” cried Joseph.
“I know, I know,” said Ryan, reaching out to touch Joseph’s shoulder. “I’m just saying that we can’t just walk in there, but maybe there’s a way that somebody else can get in there and rescue your father.”
“But it’s got to be soon, Ryan. It’s got to be soon,” said Joseph, leaning forward and gazing directly into Ryan’s eyes.
“Look…I’ve got an idea,” Ryan responded quickly. “But I’m going to need a little time to work on it. Joseph, I know you hate it here, but you’ve got to stay here a little longer—maybe a day or two. In the meantime, I’ll try to put the plan together and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.”
“Make it soon, Ryan. Make it real soon,” Joseph said desperately. “This place has got rats as big as cats, and they may be moving my father into prison at any time. And once they get him in prison, we’re never going to get him out.”
“I’ll make it soon, Joseph,” said Ryan, trying to sound as reassuring as possible. “You just hold on here. We’ll be back to you before you know it.”