Forbidden Fruit Read Online Free PDF Page A

learned from another slave that his wife
     had been sold to a trader who took her to Kentucky. He also learned that his sufferings
     weren’t over. One morning, his master flogged him and branded his initials on the
     side of his face and back of his neck with a hot iron. The devil was real, but Smith
     still called on God. A few days later, a man named William Graham bought him at a
     public auction. Smith lived with Graham for about three years, finally deciding it
     was time to seek that place of refuge, that land of Canaan, he’d heard so much about:
     Canada.
    However, Smith made the mistake of sharing his secret with another slave, who agreed
     to come with him. Any slave sharing information about a planned escape risked discovering
     that a supposed friend was really a traitor, ready to turn him in for a few dollars,
     a few pats on the head or a few slugs of whiskey. Two slaves had spilled Gabriel Prosser’s
     plan to their owner. A house servant also had betrayed Denmark Vesey. Handbills circulated
     in Kentucky and southern Ohio warned slaves about a black man named Robert Russell,
     who operated in and around Ripley, Ohio. For a fee, he would help slaves escape to
     Cincinnati, and for another fee, he would capture and return them to their masters.
     Despite the existence of such treachery, Smith felt he could trust his friend. But
     for half a gallon of whiskey and one dollar, his “friend” became his enemy.
    White men waited for Smith when he rendezvoused with his friend. They captured and
     beat Smith and forced him to listen as his supposed friend recited the details of
     their escape plot. However, Smith’s captors drank so much whiskey, they became careless.
     They sloshed slugs of whiskey down Smith’s throat, and he fooled them into believing
     he was dead drunk, harmless as a log. Certain Smith would be out cold until the next
     morning, his captors went to bed and left the runaway slave stretched out on the kitchen
     floor. An hour later, Smith took off, bound for Canada.
    The old dog Smith had trained to hunt raccoons and possums followed him, hiding with
     him beside mossy logs. The dog had helped him hunt at night to avoid starving on the
     skimpy rations Smith’s master doled out. Unfortunately, the animal loved Smith too
     much for its own good. It kept on following him, yapping at every twitch and tremble,
     growl and yelp, crackle and rustle in the woods. Fearing the dog would cause his capture,
     Smith decided to hang it. He looped a rope around its neck and led it to a tree. The
     dog didn’t resist; in fact, Smith later told Henry Bibb that the animal seemed to
     understand what was happening. Like the biblical Isaac who had calmly watched his
     father, Abraham, prepare to slit his throat and offer his burning body to God, the
     dog seemed willing to surrender his life if it would help—or so it seemed to Smith.
     While he pondered whether or not it was right to sacrifice a loyal friend, Smith heard
     a sound that made him forget all about his old hunting dog. The bloodhounds were coming
     now, mournful-looking, sorrow-spreading dogs capable of following a trail more than
     two weeks old and pursuing it with a relentless stride for more than a hundred miles.
     If they cornered him, he would be yanked back to a life where he had been beaten and
     separated from his wife simply for praying. He released his dog and began to run,
     but the hounds overtook him.
    That’s when Smith’s old hunting dog demonstrated how deep its loyalty and love went.
    Three bloodhounds surrounded Smith, who had armed himself with a heavy club. His dog
     seized one of the hounds by the neck and held on, forcing the other dogs into the
     fight. Smith battered two of the hounds with his club, and the other one managed to
     escape. Then Smith and his dog—two old and fast friends—continued north to the Ohio
     border, guided by the North Star, the brightest star near the Big Dipper and a compass
     for so many