Free Home by Morning by Kaki Warner

do they call it that?” Thomas asked.
    â€œBecause it was all very secret, and to avoid suspicion, the people who ran it used railroad terms as code names for different aspects of the organization.”
    â€œWhite people complicate everything,” Thomas muttered.
    â€œPerhaps. But many blacks helped on the railroad as well. Harriet Tubman, an ex-slave, was famous for it. Do you remember the stories you learned at school about Harriet?” she asked Lillie.
    â€œThe one who change her name from Minty?”
    â€œAraminta Ross. Yes, that’s the one. I’m proud you remembered.” In addition to her work with the Underground Railroad, Harriet had also aided the abolitionist John Brown before his disastrous raid at Harper’s Ferry. Even now, Mrs. Tubman continued to further the Negro cause, and though they had never met, Pru felt a strong connection to the courageous black woman.
    â€œAnyway,” Pru went on, “‘stations’ or ‘depots’ were safe resting places along the secret routes, and ‘conductors’ were people who helped move the runaways from place to place. I’ve heard that over a hundred thousand slaves escaped to freedom on the Underground Railroad, many through Indiana. But that was before the War of the Rebellion.”
    Thomas watched
Eho’nehevehohtse
’s long, slim fingers work the braid and remembered those same fingers sliding through the gaps in his shirt the previous night. She liked to touch him. He liked it, as well. And it pleased him that beneath her shy smile was a ferocious passion awakened only by him.
    â€œHold this, dear.” Prudence put Lillian’s fingers on the end of the braid so she could tie a ribbon around it.
    Thomas noted the girl’s hair was not as smooth and shiny as
Eho’nehevehohtse
’s, and it took many small braids to tame it. Like
Katse’e
, it seemed to have a mind of its own.
    â€œFor several years after the war ended,” Prudence went on as she started another braid, “there wasn’t much need for escape routes. But lately, with increasing unrest because of Reconstruction, many Negroes feel their only hope of a better life is to escape into Canada . . . although I’ve been hearing things can be difficult up there, too.”
    â€œIf there is no more slavery, why do they not go there on their own?” Thomas asked. “Why do they need the secret railroad?”
    â€œBecause there are those who have gotten into trouble and need help.”
    â€œLawbreakers.”
    â€œSome. But not all laws are just. Or enforced equally.”
    â€œYou do not need to tell a Cheyenne that.” Moving from the window, he sprawled in the worn chair beside the bed. “The man today is a lawbreaker who needs your help?” Thomas would not have thought the frightened black man had the courage to break laws.
    â€œChester Hogan? No. He’s more of a ‘conductor.’ There, Lillie. All finished. You look quite grand.”
    Thomas thought she still looked like she had sprouted raven feathers.
    Grinning, the girl climbed back onto the bed and began humming to herself as she wrapped her new scarf around her thin neck.
    â€œChester’s not in trouble,” Prudence explained. “But he’s helping someone who is.”
    â€œAnd he needs you to do this?”
    â€œI’m just a step along the way.”
    Thomas did not like this. Many of the white man’s laws might be foolish, but their lawmen were quick to punish thosewho broke them. When he was Declan Brodie’s deputy in Heartbreak Creek, he had locked several men away for breaking the rules. He had even been in jail himself. Once in Heartbreak Creek, and for a short time in a faraway place named Liverpool. “Is this why Marsh threatened you? He does not want you to do this?”
    A look of disdain marred the beauty of her face. “He’s afraid if we’re caught it