Sylvester was gone long into the night, returning after the moon had passed across most of the sky and long shadows crossed the back yard. Again he slipped up the back porch and into the house, Daniel and Rose following him in from their night watch. Sarah fixed him a meal while he told of his travels.
“That’s good, Mama, I haven’t eaten all day,” he sighed as he sipped at his coffee. “Been all around town. There must be a hundred men out there, riding up and down by the tracks, looking for this escaped convict who supposedly attacked Mrs. Taylor. Her ‘friend’ there,” he said, raising his eyebrow, “He’s nowhere to be found. Nobody’s seen him since Monday, he hasn’t been on his route since then either.
“People are leaving,” Sylvester told Sarah. “The Bradleys are gone, Sam Carter’s family, the Brooks family. Mr. Wright told me there’re two, maybe three hundred men roaming around between Bronson and Rosewood. A whole bunch came down from Gainesville after that march, and more came from Bronson and all over the county. Said the Sheriff told them to disperse and they refused. Have to defend their families, they say, even though it looks like most of them aren’t even from around here. He ended up deputizing half of them, hoping they’d at least follow orders instead of running off on their own. Wright said he’s sold every gun in his store, every bullet and shell too, men coming in and taking them right off the shelf.”
Sylvester went to the back door and looked out for a minute, then turned back to his mother.
“It looks quiet now, but I wonder. Should we bring all the babies from all the families over here? Least then I can protect them, something starts,” he said. “Daniel and Roy are here. We could hold off a bunch if we had to.”
“Son, there’s no holding off a few hundred men. Emma and all hers are here now and you can bring the other families here if you want. But maybe you shouldn’t be here yourself. Poly Wilkerson was here,” Sarah told him. “Wanted to find you and take you in. Said he’ll be back, needs to talk to you.”
Sylvester grinned. “Yeah, I saw Poly, but he didn’t see me. Don’t worry about him Mama, he’s just a big mouth. Thinks he’s a big boss, owning that store over in Sumner. Him and all his friends are out wandering, just looking for some trouble. I’ll stay out of his sight.”
“Maybe you should go on back to Gainesville,” Sarah said. “Get right out until this all moves on. Can’t find you if you’re not here.”
“I’m not leaving you all here alone,” Sylvester frowned. “We don’t know how long Mr. Pillsbury will keep Uncle James and all the other men at the mill, and Aaron’s in jail for who knows how long. There’s nobody else to watch over this family right now. Besides, I’m not planning on going anywhere. This is our home. I’m not leaving.”
“I can’t believe we’d need protection,” Sarah said. “That Poly Wilkerson, he always was a mean one, but all the rest of them wouldn’t want to do us any harm. I just can’t believe our neighbors would do that.”
“Our neighbors have been drinking and running around with guns for two days, Mama. Our neighbors killed Sam Carter, right outside our parlor window. They’d hurt us. Maybe some of them would feel bad after, but they’d do it.”
Sarah shook her head, but crossed the kitchen to where Sylvester stood. She slid an arm around him and he pulled her closer. They stood together, looking out over the moonlit yard.
“Maybe we should all go,” Sarah said. “We can come back in a while. No one can take our land from us, we own it.”
“They’ll take every other thing on it, Mama. Cows, hogs, they’ll take them. They’ll empty that smokehouse and the root cellar too. I saw them carrying Mrs. Carter’s settee right out the front door in broad daylight. Sheriff can’t stop them.”
“Maybe we should send all these children out of here, until this is over,” Sarah said.
“Maybe. But where will they go? Who’ll take them in?” Sylvester asked. “They’re here now because nobody else has room for them all.”
“Queen’s too sick to move. I won’t leave her, or you,” Daniel told his grandmother.
Rose shivered at the idea of leaving her new home and the protection of her new family. “I don’t want to leave you all,” she told her aunt.
“Well, we don’t need to decide this minute. Things were pretty quiet today, we’ll wait and see what happens tomorrow,” Sarah decided.
As the others moved towards the hall, heading upstairs to bed, Sylvester and his mother stood, arms around each other, silent, looking out the back window, watching.