Chapter 8: Caught

By the end of November Ephraim had gained his strength. He kept inside and didn't allow anyone to see him except for the Martins and the Villeneuves. It came to a point where Ephraim was ready to leave. He was restless. Ben gave him some supplies to carry on his way to the Gullah camp and he ran one day. However, when night came, their plans fell through.

It was an incredibly dark and chilly night. Occum stood up from the chair on the porch and held the lantern up into the darkness, shining light on three men. Horror clutched Ruth as she watched her husband and Ben clunk up the stairs, dragging Ephraim with his arms thrown over their necks. He was bloodied and bruised. She could see a bullet wound dripping, making his once white shirt a crimson red. Ephraim groaned in pain as he was hauled into the house. His head limply swung about as he tried to hold it up from time to time. Ruth was used to this. She had seen it so many times during the war but the situation was new to her in every way. She knew that Wilkins was looking for Ephraim again and she knew he wasn't safe. In fact, she didn't know if he could get away again this time.

She knelt down beside him when he was laid down on the chaise lounge in the parlor. Jean didn't care at that moment if blood stained it. His wife began to rip cotton into strips as Laura rushed about, gathering supplies. Ruth was trying to keep Jim calm. She heard dogs barking in the distance and his moans of pain would draw attention. Jean took his gun from off his shoulder and went back onto the porch. Ruth heard the voices of men outside the door and their torches shed light into the sitting room. She heard a man start yelling.

"Where is he?" she heard Old Wilkins shout.

"Who?" Ben shouted back at the man. Old Wilkins was not in the mood to go around in circles. He had seen Ephraim running into one of the slave cabins only a couple hours before. He had shot him and when Ephraim ran, the chase began again.

"You know who, Mr. Martin!" the enraged man yelled, "I'm tired of this."

Jean lifted his musket up and aimed it at the man to ensure that no one tried to come inside. Ruth had her hand over Ephraim's mouth to keep him from shouting in pain as Laura pushed down on his wound to stop the bleeding. There was an extreme moment of quiet tension. Ruth could hear Ephraim's heart beating so hard, she feared he would die. Blood was all over her hands but when she heard the click of the gun penetrate the silence, she shot up off the floor and ran to the door. Laura tried to protest by grabbing Ruth's skirts but to no avail. Wilkins glared at her when she appeared.

"That's an awful lot of blood, Mrs. Villeneuve," he chuckled. Jean stepped in front of her, not letting the gun down for one moment. She kept silent.

"I want what's mine," he demanded.

"He's not yours," Ruth said under her breath but Old Wilkins caught it.

"I would suggest that you keep your wife quiet," he addressed Jean.

Ben put his hand up to keep his friend from losing his temper. His finger was so tightly wound on the trigger, Ben feared that Jean would pull it. Old Wilkins took a step forward and made his way up the stairs. Ruth stood her ground in the doorway. Ben pushed the rifle down and Jean relented, realizing that his opponent didn't have a gun on him at that moment. Ruth glared up at him. He towered above her but she didn't move. Jean couldn't help but smile at that moment.

"Move," the man addressed her coldly. She stood in place.

"Ruth," Ben whispered, trying to keep her from harm.

"He's not yours," Ruth spoke up, her voice shaking.

Wilkins started laughing and turned around, "She says He's not mine!"

The men all started laughing riotously. All of them except for James.

"By law he is," he said once he turned back around. He stepped towards her. She could smell his breath. Jean stepped forward, ready to pull him away but Ruth shook her head.

"Not by God's law," Ruth challenged him.

He chuckled, "It's a shame when a woman doesn't know her place," he pushed her aside and made his way inside. Ruth rushed in after him, Jean and Ben in tow. Laura looked up at him but continued to dress Ephraim's wounds. She was more worried about his life than the tyrant who stood above her.

Mr. Wilkins looked down on him. He was in horrid shape. He would barely survive a three hour journey back to his plantation without medical attention. The dogs had mauled his arms and the bullet wound in his shoulder would most likely lead to an amputation. Mr. Wilkins angrily turned to go back outside. Ruth confusedly watched him.

"Go home," Mr. Bryant ordered the others, "He's useless to me right now."

Many of the men, thinking Ephraim was dead, walked away. Ten men remained, standing with their torches ready.

"I said go home," Mr. Wilkins ordered again. The men stood still in their place.

"We should make an example of them," one shouted, "they stole your property!"

The men all agreed with one another. Mr. Wilkins stood on the porch quietly contemplating what they said. Jean pushed Ruth into the house and closed the door. She tried to open it but he held the door shut. He was terrified of what might happen. He knew that most of those men believed firmly in the eye for an eye doctrine.

Ruth stood on the other side of the door and leaned on it. She was trying to hold herself up. She looked back at Laura and Occum who were wrapping the wounds very tight. They were trying to hold themselves together just as much as her. At that moment, they could rely on no earthly person to provide them with a sense of security. They had no one to lean on but God.

"Quiet!" Ben shouted over the men. Ruth listened intensely. Jean was holding the door shut in case she tried to come out.

"Nothing was stolen!" Ben shouted, "Mr. Wilkins dealt the shot and his dogs did the rest!"

The men were still in a ravenous mood.

"We were helping a wounded man!" Ben shouted at them, "how is that punishable?"

The men couldn't answer. Mr. Wilkins walked down the steps and they knew it was time to leave.

"This is not over," Mr. Wilkins threatened before he turned back around and left.

Ruth's heart suddenly released its tension and her knees gave way in relief. She fell on the ground and took deep breaths to calm herself after the incident. Jean let go of the handle of the door and stood, watching the men carefully as they disappeared into the night.

Laura took deep breaths and listened to Ephraim's heart. It was beating weakly. She didn't know if he would make it through the night without medical attention.

"His wounds need to be cleaned and he needs to be stitched up," Ruth said, "and that bullet needs to be removed as soon as possible."

"The doctor lives two hours away," Laura said worriedly, "I don't even know if he has that much time."

"Ha-," Ephraim choked, "Haddie."

Ruth and Laura looked at him in shock. Ruth took his hand and he kept trying to talk before he passed out.

….

Ruth and Jean discovered that Ephraim had been caught because he ran back to the Wilkins plantation in the nighttime to get his wife. She refused to go because she was afraid and had told him to go on without her. Ephraim luckily survived the ordeal. He was out cold for a few days. Ruth and Laura had looked after his wounds. The bullet had been removed by Ben. They knew the doctor was too far away and he took incentive. Luckily for Ephraim, his arm did not require amputation. His wounds were stitched up by Ruth after a good cleaning and he began to recover as well as he could.

The way Jean treated Ephraim as his equal made Ruth see him in a way she hadn't before. In fact, she began to admire that quality in him. Her father had had the same views and she had been raised to abhor slavery despite what was preached from the pulpits and taught to the children. Ruth had never understood why men would force others to do work they were perfectly capable of doing on their own. It frustrated her. She had grown so used to seeing the men her age treating slaves so terribly, it turned her away from wishing to sort them. She had thought James was a bit different but when she learned of his father's plantation and heard of the horrors there, she had become incredibly reluctant to receive his letters. She figured that if she were to marry him, she could change things. That was her plan, at least, until the war.

Ephraim chose to go to the Gullah camp in early January. He took a few supplies and Jean thought it best he went with him to ensure his safety. Ruth was incredibly reluctant to be alone for a week in the house. Jean assured her that Laura and occum would be there if any trouble was raised. They thought Old Wilkins had let it go. They didn't know he hadn't. He was still bent on fulfilling the desire for retribution. He felt as if he had been wronged and he wasn't a man to sulk about it without taking action.

Jean left with Ephraim early in the morning. Ruth and Laura said their goodbyes. When they disappeared on the path into the woods, all Ruth could do was hope and pray that her husband would return safely.