Chapter 18

Sam and Cassie came back just before the auction started. It seemed Mr. Wilson had died and they were selling off everything he had. They started out selling furniture, then they started selling livestock.

The last of the livestock to sell was the slaves. They auctioned off half a dozen young black men. I wished we could have bought all of them and released them, but there was just no way we could afford to do it.

Finally, they brought the black father out on the stage. The auctioneer had the man stand, facing the crowd. "What am I bid for this fine field hand?" the auctioneer asked.

"Fine field hand my ass," someone yelled. "He ain't gonna last much longer working in the fields. Get rid of him and sell the girls."

"We must dispose of the property in the order Mr. Portnoy specified. Now do I have a bid for this field hand?"

"Five dollars," I yelled.

"Five dollars?" the auctioneer said. "That's not nearly enough for this buck. Do I hear ten?"

"Ten dollars," said the fop I had been talking to earlier.

"I have ten dollars, do I hear fifteen?"

"Fifteen," I said.

"I have fifteen dollars. Do I hear twenty?"

"Seventeen," said the fop.

"Twenty," I yelled without waiting for the auctioneer.

"I have twenty dollars. Do I hear twenty five?"

No one said anything, so the auctioneer repeated, "I have twenty dollars. Do I hear twenty five?"

Again there was silence. "Are there any other bids?"

Silence.

"Sold to the man in the buckskins for twenty dollars."

The auctioneer took the black man off the stage and brought up his wife. He made her stand, then turn around. He stopped her when she was again facing the crowd. "We have here a fine house nigger. She has worked in Mr. Wilson's house for many years and has been the primary cook for the last ten years. What am I bid for this fine house nigger?"

"Ten dollars," I said.

"Twenty," someone yelled from the other side of the crowd.

"Thirty," I yelled.

"Forty."

"Fifty," I said.

"Fifty five," the other voice yelled.

"Sixty," I said.

"I have a bid of sixty dollars, do I hear seventy?"

"Sixty five," the other man said hesitantly.

"Seventy," I said.

"I have seventy dollars, do I hear seventy five?"

Silence.

"Seventy dollars, going once... Going twice... Sold to the man in the buckskins for seventy dollars."

The auctioneer took the woman off of the stage and brought up the two girls. He made them turn around like he had their mother. The fop I had been talking to yelled, "Make them strip."

"Take off your dresses, girls," the auctioneer said.

Both girls lifted their dresses over their heads and stood naked in front of the crowd. "Turn around," the auctioneer said.

The girls did a complete turn and again stood facing the crowd. They were no longer crying. They just looked numb.

"These girls have been working in the Wilson kitchen for the last ten years. According to the records, they are fifteen years old. As you can see from looking at them, they are twins. We're selling them as a pair. What am I bid for the two of them?"

"One hundred dollars," the fop said.

"One fifty," someone else yelled.

"Two hundred," I said.

"Two fifty," from the fop.

"Three hundred," from the other man.

"Four hundred," I said.

"Four fifty," the fop said.

Nothing came from the other man, so I said, "Five hundred."

"Five fifty," the fop looked at me angrily.

"Six hundred," I said with a smile.

"Can you break them up and sell them separately?" the fop yelled to the auctioneer.

"No, sir. Mr. Portnoy said to sell them as a pair. I have a bid of six hundred. Do I hear six fifty?"

The fop hesitated, but then said, "Six fifty."

"Seven hundred, I said quickly.

The fop glared at me, but kept his mouth shut.

"I have a bid of seven hundred. Do I hear any more bids?"

Silence from everyone.

"Going once for seven hundred... Going twice... Sold to the man in the buckskins for seven hundred dollars."

The auctioneer took the girls off the stage and I went over to where a man was handling the transactions. "That'll be seven hundred and ninety dollars total for the four niggers," he said.

"Where are their papers?" I asked as I started counting out the money.

"Right here, sir. Who shall I make the bills of sale out to?"

"Make them to Ed Hill," I said and handed him the money. Andy had come up behind me as I was counting the money so I turned to him and said, "Get them on the horses while I get the bills of sale."

Andy moved them out and I saw Sam and Cassie following them. The man handed me four bills of sale and I started to follow my family. The fop stopped me.

"What would you sell one of the girls to me for?" he asked.

"I'm sorry," I said. "They're not for sale."

"I'll give you four hundred for one of them."

"Sorry. Not for sale."

"Look here, my good man. Prime stuff like that doesn't become available very often. I'll give you five hundred for one of them."

"Sorry. Now if you'll excuse me, we have to be on our way." I pushed past him and went to the horses. The man was mounted behind Sam and the woman was behind Cassie. One of the girls was behind Andy and the other was on Hawk. I mounted up and swung Hawk around.

"Head out of town to the north," I said. "We'll swing back around to the south after we're our of town."

As we were clearing the edge of town, Sam rode up beside me. "This is Jud," she said. "He wants to thank you for keeping them all together."

"Yes, Massa, thank you. Muh wife and muh daughters mean a lot to me."

"That's okay, Jud, but I'm Ed. I'm nobody's Massa."

We rode on for a while, then Andy indicated we should turn to the west. We traveled for about an hour in that direction before we again turned south. About two hours later, we stopped for lunch in a little glade, well off the road.

Sam and Cassie started preparing to cook while Andy gathered some firewood for them. I called the black family over to me and said, "Folks, we could see you were in a lot of distress because you were being split up. My wives and I decided we weren't going to let that happen. We had the money, so we bought you."

"Thank you, Massa," they chorused.

"We're traveling around right now. Eventually, we're going to be going back to the northern states where slavery is illegal. We don't believe in slavery, so when we get to the northern states, we will set you free. We'd do it now, but it would be difficult for you to make it through the south even if you had manumission papers."

None of them said anything, they just all stood there looking at me. "Doesn't it mean anything to you to know you're going to be set free?"

"Well, Massa, Massa Wilson, he say he uz gonna set us free afore he died, but he didn't. Besides, what're we gonna do if'n we're free? We don't got no home. We don't got no money. We don't got no job. Seems to me like being free is jus a way to starve."

"Well, we'll see how you feel when the time comes. We'll make sure you're able to make it on your own."

"Thank you, Massa."

"All of you, please call me Ed. I don't want to be anyone's master. I want you to start thinking like free people right now."

"We'll try, Ma... Ed. We done been slaves all ob our lives though. Our fathers and mothers was slaves and so was their fathers and mothers."

"I know, Jud. It's not going to be an easy transition. In a year or two, my family is going to go to Oregon. We're going to start a ranch out there. You're all welcome to go with us if you'd like. You don't have to, but you're welcome if you want to."

"Thank you, Mas... Ed."

"What are all of your names?" I asked.

"Mu wife is Wilhelmina," he said. "De girls are Delia and Dalia. Dey ain't twins though. De man lied tu you tu get a higher price. Delia, she almost a year older dan Dalia."

None of them had said anything except Jud, so I asked, "Which one of you is Delia?"

The one closest to her father said, "I am, Massa."

"Enough of this Massa shit," I said. "I want you all to call me Ed."

I looked at Delia and said, "What is my name, Delia?"

She lowered her eyes and said in a small voice, "Ed."

"Dalia, what is my name?" I asked as I looked at her.

"Ed."

"Mina," I said, looking at their mother, "What is my name?"

"Ed. I like being called Mina. My mama called me that."

"Finally some spunk," I thought.

"From now on, you ladies can help my wives with the cooking while we're traveling. You're nobody's slaves though. As far as we're concerned, you are just the same as we are. We all work to see what needs to be done, gets done."

I knew it was going to be a long road, but I wanted to instill some self worth in these people. They'd need it if they were going to make it on their own.

The new women helped Sam, Cassie and Sarah Beth clean up after lunch, then we packed up and got moving again. Andy suggested we head west again until dark, to further cover our tracks. "If they've got a tracker, it won't do us any good, but if they're just out looking for us, it might throw them off," he said.

We rode all afternoon and not long before we were going to call it a day we passed a small town or maybe it was just a cluster of houses. We didn't want to be noticed, so we skirted it and moved on until it was nearly dark. We moved well back into a grove of trees and set up camp for the night. It looked like it might rain, so we were a little concerned about what to do about our new additions.