Belle Read Online Free PDF Page A

it, Mama. Says he gets tired of chauffeuring me around.”
    Her mother ignored that. “Help Belle get dressed.”
    She exited.
    So Belle dressed with Josephine’s help. Like all of the clothing Belle wore, the faded blue gown and scuffed shoes came from a stash of donated articles Mrs. Best kept for runaways. Because of Belle’s height, the hem ended a few inches above her ankles. Belle didn’t mind. The garment was far better than anything she’d owned before and she didn’t wish to remain cooped up inside the house another minute.
    Daniel drove the wagon around to the front of the house, and if he didn’t want to play chauffeur he kept it hidden. He had on a nice brown top hat and a matching coat.
    Belle knew her attire wasn’t nearly as fine. Her hand-me-down cloak and bonnet, though clean, were neither fashionable nor new.
    Jojo, ever in charge said, “Belle, why don’t you sit in the middle?”
    Belle looked up at Daniel, seated behind the reins. Her heart began to pound. “I can sit on the outside.”
    Daniel told them both, “Come on, you two, I don’t have all day.”
    So Belle picked up her skirts and climbed aboard. Once Jojo took the end spot on the seat, Daniel slapped down the reins and they were under way.
    Belle wondered if Daniel could sense her nervousness. Not wanting to draw attention to herself, she sat quietly while Daniel drove and Jojo talked. According to Jojo, the train station was just a few miles away in a town called Ann Arbor.
    Jojo couldn’t resist the opportunity to needle her brother. “I told Mama you wouldn’t like us tagging along, but she said she didn’t care how you felt.”
    He looked her way and retorted, “I didn’t know pests could talk.”
    A grinning Josephine stuck out her tongue. Belle inwardly chuckled. It was quite apparent the siblings cared for each other, and their mock squabblings were just that. Belle soon put them out of her mind, though, because she was so happy to be out-of-doors. The April air still held a trace of the departing winter’s chill, but the sun felt warm on her face, and the promise of spring could be seen in the fat brown buds on the trees.
    Daniel directed his next words to Belle. “Did Mama show you the papers?”
    She nodded. “Yes.”
    The papers he was referring to were her free papers. The documents verified a former slave’s freedom. They also noted the person’s description, age and where they were born. Being a runaway, Belle was not legally entitled to have them, but the Bests had secured her a set somehow. “How’d she get them?”
    “Papa forged them.”
    Belle’s eyes widened.
    He chuckled at her alarmed face. “The slave catchers don’t play fair, so why should we? Papa copies real papers, then adds whatever name is needed to the forgeries.”
    “Is that common?” Belle asked.
    He nodded. “All over the North. Papa’s even copied my papers a few times for fugitives going through our station.”
    “But what do you mean by the slave catchers don’t play fair?”
    “Slave catchers have the right to hunt down runaways because of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. We call it the Kidnap Law because there’s nothing in it that prevents them from taking anyone they choose, slave or free, and that’s what they’ve been doing. There’s been lots of free people taken South just so the catchers can collect a bounty.”
    “Is that part of the law, too?”
    “No. Before a person can be sent back to slavery there’s supposed to be a hearing before a magistrate, but many times the catchers jump that step and take them South anyway.”
    Jojo added bitterly, “And even if there’s a hearing, the magistrates are paid more to process the case when the fugitive is sent back.”
    Belle didn’t like the sound of that. “So if I don’t have the papers I can be sent back? What if they’re lost or get burned up in a fire?”
    “Don’t worry,” Daniel told her. “Mama hid them in a safe place, and Papa filed a duplicate