morning call.
Harris, meanwhile, had come to another conclusion. Loathing the power that
Annie had over him, detesting his weak body for its fascination with her,
appalled that he had exposed his need for her, in daylight, in public, he
knew there was only one way to save himself from a violent action toward
Annie that might get him into trouble.
He had to be rid of her.
21
As it transpired, Cap'n Jack's timing could not possibly have been worse.
In the November elections, Andrew had won a slight majority of the
popular vote, but not enough to give him victory in the electoral
college. According to the Constitution, the matter would now be decided
in the House of Representatives, state by state. The three contenders
were Andrew, John Quincy Adams, and William Crawford, secretary of the
treasury.
The kingmaker would be Henry Clay, who had also run for president but was
not one of the final three. Clay's votes, and his influence on the
states, would dramatically affect the outcome.
James was astonished that Andrew had not won. The people loved him, and
his supporters had been the most strident and demonstrative. That he had
not been swept into office was proof to James that many doubted Andrew's
suitability. He knew he was staring at the weightiest decision of his
life. James still expected that Andrew would win, but did not know if he
would continue to support him. In the weeks before Christmas he had
received several important visitors who shared his doubts, not the least
being Henry Clay himself, who was on his way home to Kentucky.
The two men knew each other of old, for Henry had been a sometime visitor
to the Hermitage in James's Nashville days, and Henry junior, his son,
was a good friend of James's.
Henry Clay expressed his delight with The Forks of Cypress. He had heard
much of it from his son, who had helped find the artisans to build it.
He listened sympathetically when James told him of his problem with his
slaves, and agreed that a strong hand, and a strong overseer, were vital
to the effective functioning of the system.
175
176 ALEX HALEY'S QUEEN
But he was not there to talk about slaves.
"A muddy result," he said, speaking of the election.
"Andrew?" James asked.
Henry was silent for a moment. He had bitterly opposed Andrew's actions in
the Florida campaign, had denounced the hanging of the missionaries, and
had been the prime mover of the ill-fated congressional reprimand.
"Perhaps," he said.
Quietly but eloquently, he listed his reasons for not wanting Andrew in the
president's office. It was old ground, involving Andrew's personality and
behavior, but Henry made it sound damning.
"These are difficult times," Henry concluded. "We need a temperate man, I
say, not an uncaged lion."
"Who?" James was thrilled. He felt as if he were being included in the real
election process, the other election, the secret election by powerful men
who decided affairs of state behind closed doors.
Henry shrugged. "John Quincy Adams, perhaps."
Adams was the son of the second president, the successor to George
Washington.
"He is from New England, and it would make those states happy not to have
a Southerner for president. It has only happened once before."
Henry adopted his most honeyed voice.
" In the end, of course, " he smiled, " it all depends on you.
James laughed. "Me?"
"You and others like you," Henry said. "For the states have the power now,
which is as it should be."
They talked for some hours about the country and its welfare and the
electoral process. Again Henry spoke of his dislike for Andrew, and gently,
very gently, raised the matter of the Indian treaties.
"There are even rumors of bribes paid by Andrew, and if that is true, the
treaties could be annulled."
He let it hang in the air for a moment.
"If bribery could be proven."
James stared at the floor.
"But these are only rumors," Henry said, changing his tone. "And but a
small part of the larger portrait of Andrew."
BLOODLINES 177
He had made his point clearly and effectively, without needing to stress
it. Word of the bribes to the Indians had leaked out, and James was
panicking. He did not know how much anyone else suspected.
Henry declined James's hospitality for the night, as he had friends at
the Nashville Inn, and left before sundown.
James did not know what to do. He knew Henry had flattered him, that his
would be only one small voice in the outcome of his state's decision
regarding the presidency, but every voice counted now.
Andrew in the president's office was dangerous, for many, many reasons,
but Andrew was his friend, Andrew was responsible for much of his
fortune. Just as Andrew could be responsible for his downfall. If
evidence of the bribes was found, James's part in the affair would be
exposed. If the treaties could be annulled, that left much of his land
ownership open to question.
He shivered in fear, and slept badly for the next few nights.
On Christmas Day, the security was reduced to allow the guards time with
their families. Six slaves took advantage of this and escaped. When James
heard the news, he shouted his wrath at Harris, who accepted his
displeasure, but defended his position.
"Things were too easy here for too long," he said. "And it was special
circumstances, being Christmas Day."
He promised the return of the slaves, and James approved the expenditure
for the slave catchers. Harris left, and James sat at his desk in
despair. The plantation could not function effectively if things
continued like this, and that put his income at risk. The rumors of the
bribes were even more distressing, for they put his holdings at risk.
He talked to Sally.
Sally was worried about the runaways, because she thought Harris had put
an end to all that, but agreed the circumstances were special. Things had
been better since Harris had become overseer. There had been less
trouble, and, over the past month, fewer beatings and floggings.
"Perhaps that is the problem," James said bitterly.
Sally calmed him down, and tried to put his problems in
178 ALEX HALEY'S QUEEN
perspective for him. She guessed that the situation with Andrew was vexing
him most.
"Why not let Andrew decide?" she suggested.
They had to go to Nashville in the new year, to settle A.J. at his school.
James could call on Andrew at the Hermitage, explain his doubts, and listen
to Andrew's answer.
James smiled and shook his head in wonder.
"You always see things so clearly," he said. Hers was the best possible
solution, because James would force Andrew to make the decision. All Andrew
had to do was ask, and s
et James's mind at rest, and he would be given what
he wanted.
Still, it troubled him to confront Andrew, and he puzzled how he would tell
his friend that he had doubts about him. As the day of their departure
approached his mood became more volatile again, and the absence of news
about the runaway slaves kept him angry.
The slaves were caught, fifty miles away. They would be brought back to The
Forks.
"Get rid of them!" James said. "I do not want them on my property. "
"A couple of 'em are good workers," Harris protested, but James cut him
short.
"Sell and buy as you see fit!" He was shouting, and reminded Harris that he
had said he needed only six months to bring the slaves to order. "By the
time I come back from Nashville I want this plantation functioning
efficiently and effectively."
"I'll need authority while you are away," Harris said, smarting at his
employer's wrath.
James signed the necessary papers, and Harris left. James punched his chair
in his frustration.
Sensibly, Cap'n Jack had not approached James while the slaves were missing,
for he knew his Massa's temper. The news that the runaways had been caught
emboldened him, and he wanted to resolve his personal dilemma before James
left for Nashville.
"What is it?" James snapped. Cap'n Jack should have known then, at that
moment, that this was not the time. But his desperation to be free made him
unwise, and he had con-
BLOODLINES 179
vinced himself that James would readily fulfill his promise.
"I want my freedom," Cap'n Jack said.
James could not believe his ears. At some other time he might have
listened more sympathetically, but it was loyalty that he wanted from his
slaves now, not disavowal.
"You made a promise," Cap'n Jack continued, but James cut him off.
"I said that if you served me loyally and well, I would consider it, but
this is not the time."
It was incomprehensible to Cap'n Jack. It was impossible that he could
have done more. The Massa had everything he could want, a fine house and
plantation, a family, sons to succeed him, wealth and position. What more
could he want from Cap'n Jack?
"The plantation is in uproar, the slaves rebellious," James insisted. "if
ever I needed your loyalty, it is now!"
Cap'n Jack hardly heard him. His mind was awash with disappointment and
bitterness.
"You breakin' yo' word," he said.
James almost hit him.
"How dare you say that to me? Remember your place, man! "
"You promised!" Cap'n Jack was desperate.
"Get out! " James shouted. "Get out of my sight!"
Cap'n Jack looked at him dumbfounded. Tears of rage filled his eyes, but
he did as he was told. He left the room, left the house, and went to
Annie.
He clung to her, choking with emotion. It had all been a pipe dream. The
promise had been the old lie, the white man's lie, and he had been fool
enough to believe him.
Annie held him, and stroked him, and whispered love in his ear. After a
while he quieted, and sat in a chair and stared at the wall. At nothing.
James called Harris to him, in his study.
"Cap'n Jack has been insolent," he said. "Put him in the fields for a
week." It was a euphemism they all used. Little work was done in the
fields in winter, but the hands were kept busy in the barns, and fixing
the outbuildings.
Harris was pleased by the turn of events. It was his chance
180 ALEX HALEY'S QUEEN
to break a house nigger, and it had curious implications for his obsession
with Annie.
"That won't break him," Harris said.
"Then do what you must," James snapped, scarcely able to control his anger.
Harris nodded and turned to leave.
"But do not sell him away," James said quietly.
Even at this pitch of rage, he remembered all Cap'n Jack had done for him,
and his affection for the man, and had to believe he would keep his promise
to Cap'n Jack, one day. He was a man of his word.
James and Sally, with A.J. and Sassy, left the following morning for
Nashville. They did not take the older girls, for it would make the
carriage crowded, and they did not take Jass. He had a slight chill, and
Sally worried that the long journey and the cold weather would not suit the
boy.
James, after a night's sleep, was feeling less hostile to Cap'n Jack, but
he could not countermand his order to Harris without looking weak.
"He is a good man," he said to Harris, "and has served me well. Do not be
too hard on him. A few days in the fields, perhaps. "
Harris nodded. He had his orders. He had acted on them the night before. He
and his brother Albert had gone to the weaving house, put manacles on Cap'n
Jack, and taken him to the shed. They left him there, chained to a post,
for the night.
Before they left the weaving house, Harris stared at Annie, who was
clutching Easter. He said nothing to her-the stare was enough-and then they
took Cap'n Jack away.
Annie stayed where she was, holding Easter, incapable of speech or
movement. She tried to remember her curse, but could not, because she was
too frightened of what the night might bring. It might bring Harris. She
lay awake in fear all night, and when he did not come to her, she was even
more scared, for she knew it boded evil.
"Just a few days in the fields," James said to Harris again, before he got
into the carriage.
Harris nodded again.
James settled in the carriage. Ephraim, who was driving, flicked the reins
and they clattered away.
BLOODLINES 181
James sat in the carriage staring out at the empty cotton fields. He
was dreading Nashville. He wasn't sure how he was going to tell
Andrew, who was dearer than a father to him, that he didn't love him
anymore.
22
The runaways came back the following day, chained together, and already
beaten bloody by the slave catchers. One had been given a rough crutch,
because he was almost unable to walk. His leg had been badly tom by the
hounds.
They stumbled into the clearing and fell to their knees. Harris made them
stand up, and left them there, while he and his brother assembled the
other slaves.
Harris went to the shed and unchained Cap'n Jack, but left his manacles
on. He threw a bucket of water over him to reduce the smell of his mess,
and dragged him outside with the others. He chained Cap'n Jack to a tree.
All the field hands were assembled in the clearing, staring at the
runaways, trying not to imagine what might happen to any of them next.
Harris separated the two he intended to keep and ordered his brother to
give them twenty lashes apiece. He would not flog the ones he intended
to sell, and was furious with the catchers for marking them.
Slaves who
were thought to be troublemakers did not fetch the best price.
The floggings began, and those who watched wept for their brothers, but
did not cry out as loudly as those being punished. Their screams reached
the house, and the slaves there, and from the stables, crept out to see,
but kept their distance.
Both men being flogged fainted, and water was thrown over them. When it
was done they were dragged away to the shed, and chained up, and a woman
sent to rub salt into their wounds, to stop the bleeding.
Everyone waited.
182 ALEX HALEY'S QUEEN
It was a cold day, and the runaways were shivering. Harris simply walked
along the line, inspecting them, and trying to evaluate what the catchers'
beatings had cost him.
They waited for an hour, and then the auctioneer arrived in his cart with
his men. There was no official slave market in Florence, but an
enterprising retired overseer had set up a lucrative business, providing
and disposing of slaves, as an agent for the larger cities.
Fear danced through Cap'n Jack's heart and mind. He could not believe the
Massa would let him be sold.
"These four?" the auctioneer asked, and Harris nodded.
"And him," he said, pointing to Willis, whose brother Henry had run away
the previous year, and had never been found.
"I ain't done nuttin'!" Willis cried, and clung to his woman.
"You're a troublemaker like your brother," Harris said. The men dragged
Willis away from his screaming wife. Willis fought and punched, but they
knocked him senseless and put him in the cart with the runaways.
Harris watched impassively, and then turned and stared at Cap'n Jack.
"And him," he said, pointing to a young, rough giant, Abel, who knew no one
at The Forks and went quietly. He didn't care where he went, or whom he
served; slavery was slavery, no matter who the Massa was, and one day he
would be free.
Harris did not take his eyes off Cap'n Jack. Despite the cold, Cap'n Jack
was sweating, shivering, praying that his knees would not give way.
"Fetch the woman," Harris said softly to Albert, who nodded at two
catchers, and they went to the weaving house.
Slowly it dawned on Cap'n Jack, and a rage greater than any rage he had
ever known filled him, and a fear, and an overwhelming despair.
"No!" he cried, from the pit of his soul.
Harris stared at him.
To Harris it was simple. James had said he had failed at his job, and
Harris agreed. He had not brought order in six months, and since he could
not blame himself and his methods, he had to find a scapegoat.
BLOODLINES 183
Annie.
If Annie had such a powerful effect on him, a righteous white man, what
effect did she have on the licentious blacks? She was a whore, like all
nigra women, who had bewitched him. So she must be a troublemaker,
causing dissension among the hands, causing them to fight each other for
possession of her, just as he would have fought any man to take her as
his own. Women were the root of all evil, foul temptresses, wanton
harlots, and he could not maintain order and discipline as long as she
was at The Forks. So he would tell the Massa.
In any case, it would be too late when James returned. She would be gone,
gone with her strumpet, lascivious ways, gone from his mind, gone from
his flesh, gone from his lust, forever.
They bought Annie from the weaving house. She held Easter in her arms,
and was not struggling because she did not know what was going to happen
to her. Even if she had known, she might not have struggled. She had
never struggled against her fate before, and she had never believed that
her happiness with Cap'n Jack would last.
Cap'n Jack saw her and began shouting at her, telling her to run, to get
away, begging someone, anyone, for help. He pulled at his chains, but
they held fast to the tree. He used all his strength to jerk on them, to
break them, to get free, like a crazed puppet unable to be rid of his
confining strings.
Women were crying now, not because they loved Annie, but because it might
happen to any of them.
Annie accepted what they did to her, because there was nothing she could