Cy in Chains Read Online Free PDF

he was standing over the naked body of his son, which he had laid on the ground. Cy approached and looked down at his friend. The eyes were open yet, and the mouth, too. In death, Travis looked small and defenseless, his ribs showing under the pale, thin skin of his chest, his arms and legs like sticks. Cy grasped for the right words to let Strong know how much he ached for Travis, how sad and sick he was over what had happened. But there were no words.
    â€œGive me your shirt,” Strong ordered him.
    Cy undid his overalls and peeled the filthy, tattered rag from his chest, which was heaving with sorrow. Strong wrapped it tenderly around his son’s nakedness, then lifted the body and held it to himself. “Let’s go,” he said. “Tie the nigger, Jeff.”
    They struggled back the way they had come. From time to time, the barrel of Sconyers’s pistol nudged Cy’s back, as if reminding him how much the man would enjoy pulling the trigger.
    When they came to where the boys had slept, Strong draped Travis over Teufel’s back. “Let’s go home,” he said gently. “Your mama’s waiting on us.”
    Strong’s words made a chill run up Cy’s back. How could Travis’s mother be waiting back at Warren Hall? She’d been lying in the family graveyard for two years.
Strong outta his head
, Cy thought.
And a crazy man be likely to do anything
. . .
    As they went, Cy’s thoughts tormented him. Why had he let Uncle Daniel talk him into going to find Travis? He’d messed in the white man’s business, and just as his father had warned, he was in bad trouble now—the worst trouble of his life. Most of all, Cy wished he hadn’t run when Strong came at him—hadn’t turned yellow. If he hadn’t jumped into the river, Travis wouldn’t have followed him. He’d be alive now, instead of lying limp and pitiful across Teufel’s back.
    Teufel. This was all really
his
fault. If he hadn’t lost the race, none of this would have happened. No, it was Travis’s fault! If he hadn’t run away, he’d be alive this minute.
No
. It was all his own fault. If he, Cy, had stood and faced Strong like a man, maybe he
could
have held his own. Maybe Travis would have come and helped him fight. Maybe together they could have gotten Strong to listen to the truth . . .
    Maybe.
What a cruel word. It was all too late; all the maybes in the world couldn’t help Travis now . . .
    Cy felt as if he were trapped in one of those dreams that are so terrifying you wake up pouring sweat, scared to death but grateful it was only a dream. Only this was real, and it wasn’t over yet. Something terrible was going to happen. He felt it in his bones.
    When they approached Warren Hall, Aunt Dorcas appeared at the kitchen door. She screamed and covered her face with her hands. Uncle Daniel hurried from the stable and eased the body off of Teufel’s back.
    â€œTake him upstairs,” Strong ordered. He turned to Aunt Dorcas. “I need your help,” he said. “You know what to do. I’ll be up shortly.”
    Sobbing, she followed Uncle Daniel into the house.
    Strong turned his attention to Burwell Sconyers, Jeff’s brother, who had been waiting for them. The two men walked toward the barn and stood close together. Strong talked, and Burwell listened and nodded. Cy felt jittery and wished he knew what was going on. His bowels demanded relief. Next to him, Jeff Sconyers kept fiddling with his pistol. At last Strong dismissed Burwell and trudged into the house.
    Burwell sauntered up to his brother. “Strong says to untie him, let him go back to the quarter.”
    Again, Jeff did as he was told.
    â€œMr. Strong says for you to git home,” Burwell said. “Wait at your place till he sends word.”
    Cy was suspicious. This was all? Strong wasn’t going to whip him, tell him to clear out? “He