CHAPTER XI
SOME BITS OF ROUNDTREE HISTORY
"But come into the sitting-room," at length commanded Miss Camilla, "andlet us talk this strange thing over. You must be tired and hungry, too,after this awful adventure of coming through that dreadful tunnel. Youmust have some of this hot gingerbread and a glass of lemonade." Andwhile she bustled about, on hospitable thoughts intent, they heard hermuttering to herself:
"A cave--and a tunnel--and connected with _this_ house!--What _can_ itall mean?"
They sat in restful silence for a time, munching the delicious hotgingerbread and sipping cool lemonade. Never did a repast taste morewelcome, coming as it did after the adventures and uncertainties of thateventful day. And while they ate, Miss Camilla sat wiping her glassesand putting them on and taking them off again and shaking her head overthe perplexing news that had been so unexpectedly thrust upon her.
"I simply cannot understand it all," she began at last. "As I told you,I've never had the slightest idea of such a strange affair, nor can Iimagine how it came there. When did you say that _Anne Arundel_ vesselwas wrecked?"
"Grandfather said in 1850," answered Sally.
"Eighteen hundred and fifty," mused Miss Camilla. "Well, I couldn't havebeen more than four or five years old, so of course I would scarcelyremember it. Besides, I was not at home here a great deal. I used tospend most of my time with my aunt who lived in New York. She used totake me there for long visits, months on a stretch. If this cave andtunnel were made at that time, it was probably done while I was away, orelse I would have known of it. My father and brother and one or twocolored servants were the only ones in the house, most of the time. Ihad a nurse, an old Southern colored 'mammy' who always went about withme. She died about the time the Civil War broke out."
There was no light on the matter here. Miss Camilla relapsed again intopuzzled silence, which the girls hesitated to intrude upon by so much asa single word, lest Miss Camilla should consider that they were pryinginto her past history.
"Wait a moment!" she suddenly exclaimed, sitting up very straight andwiping her glasses again in great excitement. "I believe I have theexplanation." She looked about at her audience a minute, hesitantly. "Ishall have to ask you girls please to keep what I am going to tell youentirely to yourselves. Few if any have ever known of it, and, though itwould do no harm now, I have other reasons for not wishing it discussedpublicly. Since you have discovered what you have, however, I feel itonly right that you should know."
"You may rely on us, Miss Camilla," said Doris, speaking for them both,"to keep anything you may tell us a strict secret."
"Thank you," replied their hostess. "I feel sure of it. Well, I learnedthe fact, very early in my girlhood, that my father and also my brother,who was several years older than I, were both very strict andenthusiastic abolitionists. While slavery was still a nationalinstitution in this country, they were firm advocates of the freedom ofthe colored people. And, so earnest were they in the cause, that theybecame members of the great 'Underground Railway' system."
"What was that?" interrupted both girls at a breath.
"Did you never hear of it?" exclaimed Miss Camilla in surprise. "Why, itwas a great secret system of assisting runaway slaves from the SouthernStates to escape from their bondage and get to Canada where they couldno longer be considered any one's property. There were many people inall the Northern States, who, believing in freedom for the slaves,joined this secret league, and in their houses runaways would besheltered, hidden and quietly passed on to the next house of refuge, or'station,' as they were called, till at length the fugitives had passedthe boundary of the country. It was, however, a severe legal offense tobe caught assisting these fugitives, and the penalty was heavy fines andoften imprisonment. But that did not daunt those whose hearts were inthe cause. And so very secret was the whole organization that few wereever detected in it.
"It was in a rather singular way that I discovered my father to beconcerned in this matter. I happened to be at home here, and camedownstairs one morning, rather earlier than usual, to find our kitchenfilled with a number of strange colored folk, in various stages of ragsand hunger and evident excitement. I was a girl of ten or eleven at thetime. Rushing to my father's study, I demanded an explanation of thestrange spectacle. He took me aside and explained the situation to me,acknowledging that he was concerned in the 'Underground Railway' andwarning me to maintain the utmost secrecy in the matter or it wouldimperil his safety.
"When I returned to the kitchen, to my astonishment, the whole crowdhad mysteriously disappeared, though I had not been gone fifteenminutes. And I could not learn from any one a satisfactory explanationof their lightning disappearance. I should certainly have seen them, hadthey gone away above ground. I believe now that the cave and tunnel musthave been the means of secreting them, and I haven't a doubt that myfather and brother had had it constructed for that very purpose. Arunaway, or even a number of them, could evidently be kept in the caveseveral days and then spirited away at night, probably by way of theriver and some vessel out at sea that could take them straight to NewYork or even to Canada itself. Yes, it is all as clear as daylight to menow."
"But how do you suppose they were able to build the cave and tunnel andbring all the wood from the wreck on the beach without beingdiscovered?" questioned Sally.
"That probably was not so difficult then as it would seem now," answeredMiss Camilla. "To begin with, there were not so many people livingabout here then, and so there was less danger of being discovered. If myfather and brother could manage to get men enough to help and a numberof teams of oxen or horses such as he had, they could have brought thewreckage from the beach here, over what must then have been a verylonely and deserted road, without much danger of discovery. If ithappened that at the time they were sheltering a number of escapedslaves, it would have been no difficult matter to press them intoassisting on dark nights when they could be so well concealed. Yes, Ithink that was undoubtedly the situation."
They all sat quietly for a moment, thinking it over. Miss Camilla'ssolution of the cave and tunnel mystery was clear beyond all doubting,and it seemed as if there was nothing further for them to wonder about.Suddenly, however, Sally leaned forward eagerly.
"But did we tell you about the strange piece of paper we found under theold mattress, Miss Camilla? I've really forgotten what we did say."
Miss Camilla looked perplexed. "Why, no. I don't remember yourmentioning it. Everything was so confused, at first, that I've forgottenit if you did. What about a piece of paper?"
"Here is a copy of what was on it," said Sally. "We never take the realpiece away from where we first found it, but we made this copy. Perhapsyou can tell what it all means." She handed the paper to Miss Camilla,who stared at it for several moments in blank bewilderment. Then sheshook her head.
"I can't make anything of it at all," she acknowledged. "It must havebeen something left there by one of the fugitives. I don't believe itconcerns me at all." She handed the paper back, but as she did so, asudden idea occurred to Doris.
"Mightn't it have been some secret directions to the slaves left therefor them by your father or brother?" she suggested. "Maybe it was totell them where to go next, or something like that."
"I think it very unlikely," said Miss Camilla.
"Most of them could neither read nor write, and they would hardly haveunderstood an explanation so complex. No, it must be something else. Iwonder--" She stopped short and stood thinking intently a moment whileher visitors watched her anxiously. A pained and troubled expression hadcrept into her usually peaceful face, and she seemed to be reviewingmemories that caused her sorrow.
"Can you get the original paper for me?" she suddenly exclaimed in greatexcitement. "Now--at once? I have just thought of something."
"I'll get it!" cried Sally, and she was out of the house in an instant,flying swift-footed over the ground that separated them from theentrance of the cave by the river. While she was gone Miss Camilla sa
tsilent, inwardly reviewing her painful memories.
In ten minutes Sally was back, breathless, with the precious, rusty tinbox clasped in her hand. Opening it, she gave the contents to MissCamilla, who stared at it for three long minutes in silence.
When she looked up her eyes were tragic. But she only said very quietly:
"It is my brother's writing!"