"She is pregnant now?"

"About five months. Didn't know it when she poisoned him. Must have been three weeks at the time."

"I didn't poison him!" Cassandra tried to get out from the men holding her arms as her hands were clenched.

"She insisted the wife made up the salad. As if she would be in the kitchen. The wife said she chose Cassandra here for her husband to play with. She claims the husband had bizarre sexual taste Cassandra was supposed to gratify, rather than her." He paused for a bit. "The jury got hung, so she didn't. But the wife sold her off anyway."

"He was disgusting" Cassandra hissed through clenched teeth. Her face looked like she could still taste the feces from what he had her do.

"It is always the slaves who get above themselves like this one who cause problems. Like Nat Turner. This one is going to require a great deal of chastisement. She has gotten a lot since the trial, but she still burns."

De Caniches shook his head in agreement. "She is going to be walking to our Indigo vats outside of New Orleans. By the time she reaches the vats, she will be as quiet as a mouse. I will pay $275 for her."

"$275! She is worth $700! Look at her. And she is still fresh!"

"She is a poisoner, she is pregnant, I wouldn't doubt that the banker gave her some strange disease. But, since we have been business partners for a long time I am willing to give $50 for old times sake."

"I am worth a great deal more than $325," Cassandra said with disgust. "I can do algebra and geometry. I can read."

"She will be more trouble than she is worth. Look at those arms. She hasn't done a lick of work."

"$395. I had to feed her for three months, and this cell didn't come cheap."

Cassandra stared at them with a look of absolut disgust. De Caniches thought for a bit and said "$340."

Bacon, looking disgusted said "$350" Cassandra tugged at the men holding her.

"$345"

"$345, sold. I am going to be glad to get rid of her."

" Dan, Howard, add her to our string." Dan got out the manacles, while Howard showed her his whip. Dan put the chains on her wrists and tied her by the neck to the other four they had purchased that day. She sniffed and whipped away her tears.

"This one, " Bacon said," is a troublemaker to the other slaves. He would tell slave A that slave B had said this about him, and would tell slave B that slave A had said that, and then he would go off and admire the fireworks. "

"I will put him in the sugar cane with some french speaking slaves. He won't be able to play his tricks in my fields."

"Ok, let's total up your purchases... Aggrapina..$275,...Cato $475 ...Nestor ...$660, ...Cassandra $345, ... Vittelius $225, Ben $935, .... Saul $150, and his mama Abby $650... That will be.."

Casandra said "$3,715"

Fry said "Five and five and five and five will be twenty, carry the two, then two and seven and seven and six and four and two and three and five and five will be forty-one, carry the four then we have four and two and four and six and three and two and nine, and one and six and that comes to thirty-five. So, $3,515." He glared at Cassandra who was going to say something, but De Caniches shaking his fist at her she quieted down. "Next we have the transfer tax of 6.25% will be ..."

Cassandra said "$219.69"

Fry said "Shut her up, will you! She is ruining my concentration! five times five is" ... He sat and figured for a bit and finally said " Call it $ 200 and I will eat the difference. " He turned to Cassandra "You are going to regret talking out of turn." He turned to De Caniches "Make sure she walks to New Orleans barefoot. She has a mouth that won't quit"

"Ok, I need to make up titles for them. Then we will need to go to the courthouse to register the transfers. Before that, you need to go to your bankers and get me drafts for $3,700 and the balance to can pay in silver."

De Caniches said "I have drafts on Lucas and Tanner for $2,000, $1,000, and 500. Will you take $215 in gold right now and the drafts? "

"I would be delighted. We can go to the courthouse and transfer title this afternoon."

Sitting at the table with a couple of other dealers, he was feeling pleased with his purchases so far. They were discussing the election coming due in two months. Falconer was a good name for the one on his right. He was insisting that Lincoln would be in trouble. "He made a speech yesterday saying the republic can't survive to have slave and half free. But he didn't say if that is the case the free states would permit slavery to continue there. Two pair."

" Full house. There was a case that made it up to the supreme court that said a slave is just as much a slave in Michigan as it is in Louisiana," Petty said.

De Caniches said "Why are you worried about him? He is an old Whig with high tax proposals. People aren't going to vote for that. He would be lucky to get 35% of the vote. Fold."

Overton used his cigar for emphasis "Ordinarily I would agree with you. And in addition to his insane high tariff policies, he is also in the pocket of the railroads. He is a lawyer for Illinois Central! That should be poison to the electorate But The Democrats...... "

Petty said "The Democrats went for stupid this year. Four Democrats are running for President. I am afraid they are going to split the vote all over. Lincoln can win with 35%, if four Democrats get 15% each."

Overton's cigar went out and he paused to relight it "It won't be that bad. Douglas will win in Illinois and New York. Probably Indiana as well. He has to win in a state, and I don't see him winning in any. It will be four Democrats jockeying for position in the House, with Lincoln getting nothing."

Falconer tossed a quarter onto the table along with everyone else"I don't like it. He has caught fire in the north He seems popular up there."

"Not as popular as Steven Douglas. Not by a long shot," said Petty. leaning back watching the cards fall on the table "He seems to be advocating dividing the country. That won't fly with voters."

"Maybe four years ago, but that Supreme Court case declaring that Negros can't be citizens really made lots of folks up there angry," Heider, a horse dealer, rather than a slave dealer like the rest arranging the cards in his hand as the landed. "I have been up in Ohio, Illinois, even in Pennsylvania. That really got their attention and it made them angry like hornets."

"They will calm down when professional rabble-rousers like Lincoln lose badly. I for the life of me don't see what they see in that beanpole," Overton tossed two cards back .

"I can't figure out what got into the fire eaters. " Falconer tossed three cards." They wanted to force the territories to accept slavery even if they didn't want it. That is electoral suicide. That would get them Lincoln with a majority, rather than having Lincoln barely able to get 35% of the vote"

"You almost would think they want to lose. They would have to struggle with Lincoln to see who can rile people on the other side the most. Lincoln is insisting that the territories be free." Heider tossed in 50 cents

"You have firebrands like Atcheson insisting they permit slavery no matter what the people want. His constitution for Kansas got only 10% of the vote. That got the folks up north mad too. Call" Petty said.

Falconer nodded in agreement. "It makes Lincoln seem reasonable when he is saying that if people don't want it, they shouldn't be obliged to take it. Makes the institution seem like a huge dose of castor oil rather than the beneficent thing that it is

"I am sure that folks would see that the best, safest candidate is Douglas. " All around everyone nodded on agreement with Overton " He will see that the propertied folks will be protected. And he will prevent those crazy Republicans with their high tariffs from controlling congress."

Cassandra stopped in her tracks for a moment. Dan had to shove her to get her to move quickly. She kept her head down and moved quickly until they were in a stable for slaves passing through town. She sat down in a corner and began crying softly again.

Cicero sat down next to her. "Whats the matter girl? You haven't been one for crying"

"This is the town my father had his plantation in. We will see it early tomorrow morning. I saw one of the old ladies' friends. She looked like she won a prize. "

"She happy to see you in a group of slaves heading downriver?"

Cassandra nodded "She has some really delicious gossip. She will dine out on this for a month."

"It is kind of unusual to see a slave &‌#8542; white."

"¹⁵ ⁄ _{16 white. My grandma was ¾} white."

Cicero looked at her. "Why did you get sold off?"

"It is a long story. He hated the woman he was married to, so he bought my mom to have some fun. Sometime along there, he decided he liked her. He built her a nice cabin with four rooms, a piano, and glass in the windows... we lived very nicely for what we were. He slept most nights there"

"So he wasn't a horrible owner?

She raised her hands. "For me and the kids and my mom, he was decent. He was our owner. No forgetting that. He was always full of promises that he never got around to following up on. Plus he was scared of his wife"

"He making promises all the time he never was going to fulfill?"

"My father always said he intended to free us both, but to do that would require $270 for each of us. And while he was considered rich, it was in land and slaves. He never had that much ready money. And he wasn't a good planter. He had less cash every year, and he had to sell a bit of land every year to keep above water. Plus that worthless son of his wife steeling any loose cash in the house."

"$270 for each of you? To free you!"

"In order to manumit a slave in Missouri you have to pay a bond that the slave wouldn't be a criminal or a charge on the community. He just never had that much money in cash. He would get money in autumn, pay the taxes, pay the loans, pay and pay and pay, and in the end, he had to get new loans to keep the estate going. Last year he went bankrupt and we all got sold off. Mother got sold to a planter in Tennessee for $243. I got sold to the disgusting banker for $960."

"Disgusting banker?" Cicero grinned. "We aint supposed to criticizing our owners"

She shrugged. "He is dead now and I got sold off. He enjoyed rape. I was prepared to do whatever he wanted, but what he wanted was someone he could humiliate and hurt and demean. Whenever a business deal went badly, which was often, he would come home angry and would take it out on me. When things went well, he would celebrate with his wife. I was grabbed by the hair, beaten, and had my dress ripped off, and then he would insert himself in me and finish as quickly as possible. I was to get no enjoyment from him at all. It was just a way to pay back the humiliation he got that day."

"He gave you a baby."

She clenched her fists. "How I hate it! I am sick most mornings. And it is his. I feel filthy and... He must have weighed 300 lbs. I felt he was going to crush me.."

Cicero marveled . "How could you breathe with that whale was on top of you!"

She turned on him. "It feels worse! every breath I take has to be shared with his kid. He was so incredibly vile. "

Cicero thought of Wilson and the old man's sons. "I can assure you, you are going to know worse when you get down to the plantation. You will think of him fondly after a while."

"Never! " She remembered what he had done to her. "There can't be any worse than him."

"Just hold onto that thought."

She sat next to the fire with the chain around her neck. It was the nighttime chain of 15', so she could sit comfortably while the slaves on either side slept. "I always knew disaster like this was coming. He procrastinated over everything. One of the reasons he was such a poor planter. Especially where his wife was concerned. He feared her. But she thought she was too good to care about the work around the plantation. My father built a pretty grand slave hut for my mother and my brothers and me. We had glass in the windows. We had a upright piano. He was profligate were his comfort was concerned. We were officially field hands but I never saw that. I taught school to the other slaves."

Saul looked incredulous. "That was illegal!"

"His wife was a fire eater, so to spite her, quietly, he had us go to school. If he had money I think he would have paid us, he disliked her so much. All the slaves did well in school because we hated her also. Getting a good job in school we felt was a way to show her."

"What about your brothers?"

"When they got to be twelve he took them up to Galena Illinois to sell hides to a tanner up there. And he conveniently lost them. He lost quite a few young slaves that way. I only wish he could have lost me up there too, but he couldn't see taking me on the boat up there where he would see how I was treated. I wish he wasn't t so squeamish."

"What about the Children by his wife?"

"He was a bit of work. Dissipated and fat. She doted on him. He thought he was a tremendous gambler. He stole estate money to gamble. And he lost it every time. Money that was reserved for our manumission he grabbed and lost. He challenged a gambler to a duel when the Sherriff came to take the plantation and sell it and us. He lost the duel too. The wife didn't have the money for a funeral. The county had to bury him."

"Only the one boy?"

"Four girls died in infancy. And he was sure that none of them were his."

"What happened to your parents.?"

"I don't know. He watched Mom and me being sold. I saw him walk to the train station after we were sold. After that, I never saw him again. "

"What about the wife?"

"You know the woman who provided our stew this evening? That was her. She has lost 50 lbs. And she probably has only one dress that had so many. I don't feel any joy at her discomfort, where mine is so much worse"

Cassandra listened to De Caniches as he tried to sell the young man on Ben's finer points. She was conflicted because she really didn't want Ben going with her all the way to New Orleans, but the young man was being sold a pup. She knew that much already. And she had decided that she didn't like De Caniches at all. "You know why Ben is being sold down the river?"

De Caniches shook his fist at her and turned his back to her. "Don't pay her any attention"

"You see he has all those extra chains on him? He really isn't worth $600. Or $6."

The young man laughed and wandered off. De Caniches stormed over to Cassandra. "What did you do that for! Do you want me to chain him up to you?"

Cassandra smiled "Don't damage the merchandise."

"I am getting tired of your lip. So help me.." De Caniches looked around. "Dan, tie her hands to that branch on that oak. Let her feet touch the ground, barely. Make it so I can lift her up with a pull on the rope."

Dan nodded to Howard. They marched over to Cassandra, took her out of the chain, and marched her to the oak. Dan swiftly Tied her up with a complicated series of knots. De Caniches gave the rope a quick pull. Cassandra yelped in pain. De Caniches let go for a moment, then pulled again and held it. "Listen to me and you listen good. You don't speak without permission. Understood?" Cassandra bit her cheek. De Caniches pulled on the rope more. "Understood?" Cassandra screwed up her face from pain. De Caniches pulled the rope and then released it. "I can pull on this rope all day. Do you understand me?"

Cassandra was breathing heavily and heaving. "I understand your words"

Dan looked worried. "You shouldn't hang her with wrists up like that. You might kill the baby"

"That's an old wives tale. I need to have her quiet and not interfering like that. "

"Gag her then. The old wives are almost always right when it comes to pregnancy. She will probably lose it."

"I am heartily sick and tired of her lip. She always has something to say about everything. Well she is learning to be quiet now "

Cassandra asked, "Does hanging by your wrist really kill the baby?" She sounded tired and hopeful

Dan shrugged. "That is the story. My wife always had the neighbor help with the laundry when she was pregnant. And she helped the neighbors out. "

She looked hopeful. Then she began screaming. "I am glad then that I told that boy about your fraud. I will shout about your double dealing from the rooftops."

He pulled on the rope but she kept screaming about his peculations, and he kept pulling on the rope and holding.it. Finally, she quieted from exhaustion.

He gave the rope a final pull. "A few more hours and you will be quieter than a mouse. "

"This dealer is a owwWWW." She shouted as De Caniches pulled on the rope that held her wrists.

"You will be quiet."

She quieted down. He let the ropes down so that her feet rested on the ground. "How do you like my way of educating slaves?"

"I still think my way is better."

He pulled on the ropes. "You sure about that?" She gasped from pain and he let loose on the ropes again.

She huffed a few times "It does get people's attention, I will grant you that, But for learning anything, I still beg to differ."

"A bit longer hanging like this and you learn. You will learn."

"But the baby?" asked Dan.

"Phooey. Old wives tales. She is healthy, the baby will be fine. She is looking big for five months. It will be due just about when we reach New Orleans. A big baby. When the baby is big enough, we will have another vat worker."

"Fraud!"

De Caniches pulled on the ropes. Cassandra quieted down "It will take quite a long stretch won't it girl."

"Forty years, I guess," Cassandra said

De Caniches gave her a disgusted look and pulled on the ropes. Cassandra gasped and breathed heavily. De Caniches let loose of the rope and stomped off<./p>

Dan and Howard took the rest of the slaves off to the stable for the night. Cassandra hung by her wrists with no one paying attention to her. After an hour Dan came out carrying a plate of stew and corn bread and cider. He sat down at the base of the oak and said "De Caniches wanted you to see what everyone else was having. You aren't getting none." Then he silently ate his supper.

Cassandra watched him for a while. "You aren't supposed to talk to me beyond that?" Dan smiled and shook his head affirmatively. "Enjoy your supper." Dan finished his supper and gave the plate to a slave girl. He whistled as he went to the inn.

She began to weep. The baby within her, that revolting cursed baby still lived.

A while later De Caniches and Dan came back out to the oak. Dan was holding onto a chain. De Caniches stood right up to her. "Do you have anything else you want to say, or do you want to stay here all night?" She shook her head. De Caniches smiled with satisfaction, and Dan chained her up and then untied her from the oak. She rubbed her shoulders as she walked over to the stable. She lay down as Dan attached her to the chain. She turned to the wall as the rest of the slaves watched.

Cassandra felt horribly ill, which was normal for her pregnancy. That afternoon she felt worse than ever. She also felt squeezing and pains in her middle. At first, she bore the pains stoically, but the women on either side of her on the chain noticed her distress. She had dry heaves and she had to stop for a moment sometimes.

Dan noticed her distress and rode up to De Caniches. "Something's wrong with Cassie's baby"

De Caniches rode back down the chain. "You malingering, girl?"

Cassandra gave De Caniches a look of loathing, breathed difficulty, and marched on. The women on either side of her looked worriedly at De Caniches. "She has been in trouble for the last couple of miles" Abby said. "She looks real bad"

Just then Cassandra's water broke. She had a squeeze in her middle that hurt so much she had to bend over double. De Caniches looked exasperated.

"Howard, we passed a plantation four miles back. See if they have a black midwife and ask if we borrow her for a while." He looked worried. "All the men and children rest on the side of the road a bit. The women do what you can for her. Dan, take her out of the chain and take her 20 yards off the road. with the women. "

The black midwife took the afterbirth, laid it next to the baby and pulled down Cassandra's skirt. She called over the plantation slave and he began digging a small hole to bury him. Cassandra got off the birthing stool and lay down and closed her eyes, breathing stertosily.

Dan crossed his arms. "I told you that you would kill the baby by hangin' her by her hands. The cord strangled the baby, see! "

"No way it caused the baby being stillborn."

Cassandra leaned up for a moment and said "Post hoc, ergo procter hoc." She lay down again.

"Oh great, she is delirious. "

Cassandra shook her head. "'After this, because of this' is a logical fallacy. If you saw a cat chasing a mouse, would you say the mouse is the cause of the cat?"

"Woman! When we get somewhere I can hang you by your wrists again, so help me..."

Cicero looked up from building a hearth "Gir;, you have a tongue hinged in the middle and loose on both sides!"

"Where do you get off with these long words" asked Ben.

Cassandra looked across the river. "My father liked reading more than he liked farming. It would have been better for me if he had paid more attention to his crops than he did his long books. But the books were interesting."

"You always have to have the last word. Always. I am going to start calling you Echo"

"Do you think you are Narcissus?"

"I don't know. Dan never bought me a mirror." Cassandra and Cicero both laughed.

"Do you mind telling the rest of us what is so funny?" asked De Caniches.

Cassandra and Cicero looked at each other. "I am Echo, remember."

Cicero stretched his arms out. "Way way back in Greek times their gods and goddesses used to party all the time, and the biggest party animal was the king of the gods, Zeus. He would have huge parties with the goddesses and the nymphes and the fauns and all the folk like that. Now Zeus' wife, Hera, didn't like him party party party all the time, and one time when he was having a particular fine party Hera comes along to break it up. Zeus had Echo, who was a chatterbox like Cassandra here... "

"Hey!"

..."Who always always always had to have the last word to forestall Hera while Zeus had to have all the nymphs and fauns and gods and goddesses run off so that when Hera got into the room in the palace where Zeus was, he was smoking a quiet pipe and looking as innocent as peaches. Hera didn't appreciate being made a fool of by Echo..."

"I always thought Zeus was a chicken where Hera was concerned"

..."So She turns and tells Echo 'You like having the last word? Well, the last word is all that you will have!' And she marches off like a steam engine about to blow."

"Echo discovered that the last word was what she had. She didn't have any other word. So she ran off to the rocky places, where you can hear her even yet."

"Of course, Echo had eyes, and one day she comes across this soldier boy named Narcissus. He was so fine, he was so handsome he was so great! She just melted every time she saw him. But Narcissus, he had no time for Echo. No time at all. Echo just pinned for Narcissus, who just ignored her."

"Echo Went up to Hera and begged that Narcissus would pay attention to her. Hera didn't do that. But she sort of compromised. He would fall in love with someone who wouldn't give him the time of day."

"So one day Narcissus was sitting by a pool of water. And in that pool of water was a man who got his engine going. A man so handsome, a man so fine, so wonderful that he had to embrace and kiss him. But when he tried to embrace him, to kiss him, he would run away. But after a few moments, he was back! And Narcissus would try to kiss him again, and again he would run away."

"Narcissus sat by that pool of water and he couldn't go away from this love of his life. And so he sat there until Hera had pity on him and turned him into a flower, that was always looking into its reflection in a pool of water."

De Caniches said "I understand you have a felon you want to sell down the river? I have a collection of indigo vats that always need more laborers. Working with indigo is unhealthy work and bunches of them die every year. But we need indigo. The Northerners want their blue cloth."

"We have a slave who is due to be executed for parricide. I would prefer to execute him, but the other judges want to sell him. Are you positive he will go to the indigo vats?"

"You have to tell your slaves history when you sell him. No one but the indigo plantations would want him" De Caniches explained. "I have heard his story from folks in town. Very sad. Of course, he would be sold very cheaply, considering his work history. I was thinking $250? Someone like him isn't worth a lot considering how little he has been worked."

"$375. Not a penny less."

"I might be willing to pay $275...."

"$375. I want him to hang. I can't force the other judges to make him hang for anything less than that. "

"$300 is a nice price for this lazybones. How well he will work .."

"Listen, I am not going to dicker and haggle. $375 with you paying the expenses of the sale or he dances to the hempen fandango. Which I would prefer. If you are willing to pay that, he is yours. Otherwise, you are wasting my time and I would be obliged if you would waste time elsewhere."

De Caniches sighed. He sat and looked around the office. "I will call the bailiff to throw you out in a moment."

De Caniches said "I want to leave town tomorrow. Can you have the title and bill of sale done today?"

The judge rang the bell. "This gentleman is buying Valet de Chamber. Prepare the bill of sale and title transfer, the expenses of the sale he will cover. Get the other judges to sign off on it." He looked with loathing at De Caniches and said "You have no reason to pollute this office any further. You can collect Valet de Chamber at any time after 7:00 tomorrow morning. Good afternoon"

De Caniches marched his slaves into his slave pen in the city. He had too many for his needs. He would have to sell a couple. He saw a slave dealer across the way arguing with a customer. "I Ain't selling you another slave until you show me what you have done with those women I sold you last month. I don't like doing business with you, so git."

The customer wandered off without a care. De Caniches went up to the other dealer. "Why don't you want to do business with him?"

"He scares me. He comes and buys the best-looking slaves, yellow ones by preference, both male and female, and he always wants more. But slaves go into his mansion, and they never ever come out."

"He could be taking them out sometimes when you aren't looking."

"Maybe so, but he doesn't have anyplace else to put them. They just go in, and no one has ever seen one come out. Ever."

"Does he pay well?"

"That is what else is spooky. He pays cash on the barrelhead, and he pays extravagant amounts."

"Why do you care what he does with them? The money's good."

"I used to think that, but I don't hold with extravagant cruelty."

"I'll look 'em up."

"You will change your mind when you talk to him."

"I hear you are in the market for a new slave?" He looked into Drioite's eyes. They were a startling shade of deep blue, that was sunk deep in his skull. Droite was thin almost to emaciation but his arms and legs were strong as steel bands.

"I need a couple"

De Caniches felt cold. "What do you want? I have field hands, a cook, a housemaid, and one I have no idea what he will be good for. I have a couple that can write if you want shop clerks here in New Orleans."

A smile that did not go up to the eyes rose on Droite's face. "These sales clerks... Are they pretty?"

De Caniches became nervous. "I wouldn't say these men are pretty, but one of them is ⅞ white and he would be considered handsome by some"

Droite leaned forward in his chair. "Tell me more about him. This handsome one"

"I have to warn you he killed his previous owner. There is that."

"He won't kill me. Tell me more about this handsome one"

"He was thought to be white and was raised as such. Then he discovered who his mother was and he killed his father. He went to college and did quite well there. His name is Valet de Chamber, Chambers for short." De Caniches felt so very cold despite the heat of the day. He decided to jack up the price. "He is available for $2,000. He knows accounting and algebra. He would be an excellent sales clerk." De Caniches felt that charging four times his worth would end this discussion.

Droite nodded his head. "Shall we inspect the merchandise?"

De Caniches felt trapped. Why had he come here? "Do you have banker's drafts for $2,000?"

"I have several. Which bank do you prefer?"

With that, De Caniches told him his bank and they walked to De Caniches's counting house. On the way there De Caniches said he had a large consignment waiting for the transfer of title to come through, and that most of his slaves were at his indigo plantation. Droite just smiled and said "Um hum" at appropriate spots. When they got to the sales room they noticed how quiet it was. De Caniches told Droite to wait and he went back to the slave pens. The men were mostly resting, but Chambers was pacing. "All of you be as quiet as termites or you will get 40 lashes. You hear me?" He signaled to Dan and Howard and said "Bring Chambers to the sales floor. Make him look presentable."

He went back to the sales floor. "We will give him a quick brush up." He got his whip.

"That will hardly be necessary. "

"They like it when they look their best"

Dan came in leading Chambers with a chain around his neck. He was wearing his good suit.

"Very good!" Droite walked around Chambers. Chambers looked at De Caniches waving his whip around. Droite stopped in front of Chambers and ripped his shirt off. He cocked his head. "Oh so VERY good. I think this one would do oh so nicely. He will be Marvelous, absolutely marvelous. Do you have a bill of sale and a change of title prepared?"

De Caniches felt very cold again. But he felt that the sooner they got this sale done, the better. He went to his office and got the appropriate forms. All they needed was the purchaser's information. He came out and got Droite's information on the forms, collected the banker's drafts, and they walked to the courthouse. He told Dan to have the women fix his shirt by the time they returned.

When they returned from the courthouse and shook hands Chambers was ready with his hands in chains and a chain around his neck. Droite led him out the door. De Caniches told Dan "If that man ever comes back tell him I have gone to Michigan and you have no idea when I will have more merchandise. That man is terrifying."

They went down a lane to the south of the big house. They went through a field of sugar cane. A big big beefy overseer met them at the place where two lanes came together. Dan separated Cato, Nestor, and Ben were taken by Wilson, the overseer, to the nearby cabins. He told Wilson to put Ben with the French-speaking slaves. They continued behind the house to where short yellow plants were growing in long rows. Here Tom, Albert, and Frank were taken by another overseer. They continued to shacks where the smell was indescribably foul. Henry and Saul were taken here by yet another overseer. Finally, they came to a long building. Here they were met by Watkins, the last overseer. De Caniches left them there and Cassandra looked around.

Watkins, The new overseer took them to their cabin behind the building. "Listen up" he began "I don't know why you new fish are here, but this is the nicest place here. You develop light fingers or any other felonies, you will go back to the vats. You hear me? You shouldn't be here, there are lots of slaves who deserve to be here more than you. Any backchat, any laziness, any incompetence, you go back to the vats." He looked at them and humphed. then he led them back to the buildings. He went inside. "You have worked a spinning wheel?"

Abby nodded. Cassandra Said sometimes, when we had a large order He looked at her. "What did you usually do?"

"I taught school"

"I will give you an additional week to get proficient. Then it is to the vats with you. You will do your very best, and you will perform up to standard." He pointed at Abby "Up to standard which is twenty-four skeins per day of 8 ounces, or to the vats with you. I have three girls working the vats who should be here rather than you two."

He led them into the room, where four women were working looms and 20 women at the spinning jennies. "Have you ever worked a loom?" Abbey nodded. Cassandra looked sick. "If you don't get sent to the vats like this one will, after six months you will get a chance to work a loom. If there is an opening. "

"Do the workers in the sugar cane and the indigo fields get rewards too?" asked Cassandra.

"They don't get whipped as often. " He pointed to a pair of chairs with holes in the seats. "Over there you do your business. Crap on the right, piss on the left. Don't use the wrong chair or it is to the vats with you. "

"Why does it matter?" asked Cassandra.

"Piss is valuable. It makes the vats work better than plain water. Crap isn't. When you are working with wool every morning you start off with the carders for three hours. You don't need to do that when you work with cotton or flax."

Cassandra was looking at the looms. "What are those cards doing?"

"They control the weave. We produce some nice cloths, and the cards make the pattern. The only trouble is we have to hire some men to load the warp and that takes a week to do. You get to work the linens while they do that. Enough talking. Abbey, you get on the spinner between Sandy and Aisha. Cassandra, work over there and start carding"

De Caniches walked up the porch and stood in the doorway for a moment. The door opened and the aged butler bowed and took his hat. He gulped nervously and walked in. He asked "Where is she? Is she expecting me?"

"She is expecting you an hour ago. Follow me."

He straightened his shoulders and followed the butler to a room at the shady side of the house. His wife was a formidable-looking woman seated between the windows opposite the door. He walked in and kissed her cheek. He waited till the butler closed the door behind him and said " I think we did pretty well this trip. We sold our cloths for a good price. We sold our sugar for an excellent price. I bought several slaves at good prices, and I sold some when I reached New Orleans. I bought one for 400 with all the expenses, and I sold him for five times as much!"

"We should try and get more cloth out of the servants," she said with a frown.

"The problem isn't the servants," he said. "The problem is with the men who set up the looms. The fancy weaves require setting up the cards and the looms. It takes as much as a week of skilled free labor. And the loom gets done in three days. But when we get the cloth done we can sell it for as much as thirty times the value of the dyed cotton with the fancy weaves. "

"We should train some of the servants..."

He shook his head. "You don't like the literate slaves we have. And these are highly literate. It requires five years of literacy, at least. People with math skills. "

She stood up and began pacing. "All these skilled folks head north. Skilled folks just can make so much more up there. We just have illiterate servants and all the money is being made up there. "

"We have the long growing season. We have all the cotton, the indigo, the sugar cane. We have some high-value stuff."

She sat down. "So, you purchased some more servants?"

"I got a good haul for the indigo vats and the cane fields. I hope they all survive till next year. So many get sick from yellow fever and malaria every ear. "

"The vats get them every time. But the northerners do want their blue linens."

"I got a couple for the spinning room. I got a poisoner, but I think she is innocent."

"Make sure she is spinning linen."

"She is too incompetent for that. Would you believe one of her previous owners had her teaching school?"

"Send her to the vats right now. She is dangerous!"

"Actually I was thinking of having her handling the accounting in the stores. She is smart as a whip. We need someone like her doing the accounting."

"She is dangerous. She has ideas above her station. Slaves who can read and write will have ideas. Dangerous ideas."

"I think she is properly cowed. If she gets uppity, she goes right to the vats, no question. But before that, we can make use of her"

"When she goes to the vats, put her in with the linens. I don't trust her. She is a poisoner. It comes from having too much book learning. She doesn't come up to the house, and double she doesn't touch the kitchens."

"Understood. But I can use her in the stores. I will let her stew in the spinning room for a couple of weeks first. Maybe let her taste the vats before I take her to the stores. She needs to see how far she has sunk before I let her loose in the stores. She will be properly frightened "

"Why do you want her to do the accounting? Cicero is quite competent"

He shrugged. "Cicero is also 50 years old. That is elderly for a slave, He is the oldest here."

"He isn't in the sugar cane fields. He has quite a lot of years left"

He nodded. "Even so, finding an educated slave is a godsend. Teaching a slave isn't illegal here in Louisiana like it is in most of the South. You have slaves running stores in New Orleans. But even so, getting a slave up to where they can run a store takes five years. To get them to where they can do Cicero's job would take at least ten years. She says she understands algebra. She can do his job with about six months' training. Maybe faster. The bookwork is complicated but she seems to enjoy complicated. And don't forget if she is in the vats that means she is spreading dangerous ideas to a large audience. "

"I don't want her here" she hissed.

"What are you going to do when Cicero hauls and dies? You can't do his work. I can't do his work. The boys can't do the work. And if they could I wouldn't trust them. Finding someone to do the job is expensive and time-consuming. It might be as much as $2.50 a day. We can't afford that. Because of our profligate sons. This plantation has to be self-sustaining. "

She glared at him "Why aren't we making more money? We have something like 150 servants. "

He kicked a chair. "Ezra and Saul have bad and expensive habits. We had to pay a large debt of theirs from gambling again. I told them they would have to come up with the money themselves next time. I also told them' that David would get their share of the inheritance. I don't believe they credited me. Also your cousin Wilson makes the slaves upset which means I have to whip them to be quiet again. Every whipped slave can't work for a week Wilson is a huge expense. He has to go."

"Cousin Wilson is an excellent overseer."

"I beg to differ. He is lazy, and his using the female help, sometimes the young male help, causes me no end of headaches. He won't push the slaves to work and he just uses the staff. Talk to him, or I will let him go. "

Cassandra was a better spinner of cotton than she had let on. When Watkins saw her work he put her on spinning cotton full-time. She would have preferred carding as it made for more variety in the day. The spinning Jenny machines could be monotonous. The machines were too noisy to permit conversation. There was also the the problem of the smoke from the engine that kept the belts going that kept the jennies going. And the dust that permeated everything that made her cough and made her eyes water was horrible. But the worst of the day came at the end of working day at the spinning jennies. That would be on the days when Wilson, Saul, Hezikiya, and Ezra came in and 'viewed the merchandise.' They would choose a woman each and take her to a cot that was in one of the rooms in the working area. Ezra was pathetic. He usually couldn't perform, so he had her play at moaning with pleasure while he bounced on the cot. He had her play-act for the longest time. Wilson was the shortest, but he was the most violent and beat the women. Saul got the first choice. But he had a favorite who he usually chose. Ezra would choose women in strict alphabetic rotation. It was an unpleasant day when he would get it up, but that was rarely. Saul was the kindest. Not that he was kind.

The two northern gentlemen, Callahan and Murphy, had two favorites as well, Francine and Annabelle, and they went with them to their cabins to prepare their dinners and sleep with them. Annabelle and Francine had their protection from Wilson. Most of the time. Callahan and Murphy strung up the Jacquard looms for the fancy weaves that De Caniches was counting on bringing more money. Annabelle, Francine, Tracy, Elizabeth, and Judith all knew how to read and figure, as they were the slaves who could operate the Jacquard looms. It was required.

With the election coming on Murphy and Callahan worked stolidly and quietly. All the other supervisors were loud with election debate. Murphy looked more and more nervously as the days progressed, and the comments became more violent.

The election didn't mean anything to the slaves, except a day for mild slacking with all the supervisors down at the county seat. The next day the overseers were in a bad mood, with Lincoln's election. As time went by there were comments among the overseers. The election of Lincoln didn't matter to the slaves a bit.

The election did matter to Cassandra. De Caniches came in the morning after and transferred Cassandra to working the vats. She checked in the urine pots from each location and passed out the empty pots back out. Essentially doing the overseer's job. The Overseer was too drunk from the election news and incapable once too often, so he was fired. De Caniches had an illiterate farmhand to oversee the slaves in the vats. Once all the urine pots were checked in, she went into the vats and stirred the urine and indigo with her feet. She had it easier than the slaves who did the next station, stirring the hot indigo, the mordants, and the yarn with long paddles. This was sometimes fatal. De Caniches got a new overseer quickly that got paid a great deal for working with urine all day and being intelligent enough to see when a slave was malingering, and when she was seriously sick.

In December, with the new overseer, Cassandra went back to the weaving room, as she had hoped. She knew if she had slacked off she would be stuck in the vat room permanently. In December there was excitement among the overseers.

Succession.

The excitement with De Caniches's sons and the overseers was palpable. They were excited and they slacked off. Murphy and Callahan, sometimes with Francine and Annabelle, were in a quiet conclave as well. As the end of January came, the Succession convention met.

De Caniches and some of the overseers went to Baton Rouge to participate in the excitement. Two days before Louisiana left the union, Murphy, Annabelle, Callahan, and Francine left overnight. Annabelle's father went with them to the dock and waved them goodbye. Murphy took all the cards for the Jacquard looms with him.

Annabelle's father came back in the afternoon. He was an elderly man of 39, and he knew what was coming to him

In the weaving room there was quiet nervousness when the rest of the slaves Cassandra organized the girls to do as much as possible. "We don't know anything about what they were doing. We just assumed they were busy doing something. We don't suppose, we don't know, don't think." she told them. We just produce more yarn and more cloth than normal. We produce, they can't get mad at us. We will make more than when Wilson is here. Or Watkins.

When De Caniches and his sons and the overseers came back they came back to a smoothly functioning plantation. De Caniches went into the weaving room. He noticed that Murphy and Callahan were missing. And that the cards in the Jacquard looms were missing. He raced to the cabins of Murphy and Callahan. Then he raced back to the weaving room.

"Where are they?" he shouted.

Watkins came into the weaving room as well. All the slaves looked to Cassandra. She said very quietly "Who, sir?" The rest of the slaves all shrugged their shoulders.

Watkins looked around "Where is Francine!"

De Caniches stormed up to Cassandra. "You know damned well." He slapped her. "Where are Callahan and Murphy?"

Watkins said, "And Annabelle is missing too!"

Cassandra shrugged "They haven't been in the weaving room for four or five days. They go off by themselves for two weeks at a time, you know. "

Watkins said, "The card box is missing too!"

De Caniches said "The card box?"

Watkins said "The card box, the cards that operate the jacquard looms"

De Caniches walked over to the nearest Jacquard loom, the cards were all taken out of it. There was the warp and the finished cloth, but the cards were gone.

The slaves quietly worked at the carders, the spinning jennies, and the other looms. They knew something awful was coming.

De Caniches turned around. "You didn't notice anything? " He became quieter with menace. "They are not here and you didn't see anything."

Cassandra spoke more loudly as if to conceal her nervousness. "You know that we aren't supposed to notice anything when an overseer goes off to a cabin with one of us for as long as he wants. We aren't supposed to notice the sounds that come from the cabins. So we don't."

De Caniches said "They must have taken at least five, six horses, to take all their stuff...."

Tracy spoke up. "None of your horses are missing. Saul would have told me"

Watkins said "That must mean that they had help. Someone to insure that six horses weren't missed"

De Caniches slapped Cassandra. "You must know who, so I am going to have you work the hot vat until you tell me."

Cassandra slumped as she walked out the door. De Caniches glared at the women. "You want to see her stay in the hot vat? I want the name! Tell me the name!" All the slaves were silent. Annabelle's father was popular among the slaves. Cassandra was new, talked funny, and was sniffy. She wasn't

De Caniches followed her out and led her to the vat room, where he took one from the hot vats to the cold vats, and sent one to weeding the indigo plants.

An hour later he came back to Cassandra's vat. "We figured it out. It was Annabelle's father. Give me his name and you can go back to the weaving room." Cassandra silently stirred the vat and the yarn. "What we figured was it had to be someone related, so that was only him. He is literate like she was. So it was pretty much the only person who could have. So give me his name." She remained silent. "When we get through whipping him in a week, he is going to be sold. Same as Tracy, Elizabeth, and Judith have to be sold too. They aren't as literate as you are. They don't have fancy math like you have. So when you give me the name, you can go to Cicero in the stores. " She wiped her brow and kept stirring. "Suit yourself. I am mighty angry over this. You keep stirring. When the vat is done, you will all come down and watched him get the first treatment. " Then he stalked off.

In a couple of hours the overseer began testing the contents of each vat. Satisfied, he turned a spigot at the base of each vat and told the woman at each vat to start pulling out the skeins of yarn and begin putting the skins on the racks beside each vat. He got to Cassandra last. "Godamn it, " he shouted "You were supposed to check it! It's too damn dark!" He struck her twice with his cane. "Hang the skeins up. You are for it when the old man sees this"

He hopped down from the vat. "Listen up! You are going to see what happens to a nigger who helps others escape!. This is a special treat because he is going to use the glass whip! If you move slow, I will recommend one or more of you get a taste of it too! So move!"

He patrolled the area between the vats as the women quickly put the skeins on the racks and hopped down and stood by her vat. As each woman stood by her vat he climbed up and checked her vat, grunted with satisfaction, and sent her off to the whipping post. Cassandra was last because she wasn't used to the hot water. He hit her one more time to send her on her way.

The whipping was horrible, as always. The glass in the tips of the whip made the skin fly. When it was over, De Caniches said "We will be back next week for more. No one escapes, or attempts to escape! Now beat it"

Cassandra walked back to her cabin, but De Caniches said "Not you. You come here. "

Cassandra walked over and looked down. De Caniches regarded her for a moment. "You have far more sand than I want to see in any of my slaves. Are you going to give me the name of the slave who helped them?" Cassandra remained quiet. "I should leave you in the vat room. But this one " he pointed to Annabelle's father being carried off on a stretcher "Isn't fit for work, and you are the only one competent to assist Cicero. Wilson, Tie her up tor two hours. " He regarded her. "You have too much sand. You going to be a female Nat Turner? A l'Oveture? Tomorrow morning report to the office and assist Cicero, "

The next morning, when she reported to the office Cicero greeted her "Well, I do declare! It is Echo! You going to try and get the final word again?"

She regarded him sourly "Yesterday he hit me and tied me up because I said NO word. The man is impossible to satisfy."

Cicero laughed. "Let's get you to the warehouse. You need to see your duties. Mostly the work is light, but there is a lot of it."

They walked to a large barn away from the stables. They went inside and she admired the quality of the floor. He agreed. "Mostly what we sell is sugar, that, and rum. See those bags over there? that is sugar. Quite a lot of it still, but it will all be gone when the next harvest comes. Same thing with these barrels of rum. The press and the cooker are over a bit in another building. The work with the sugar is however murder on the slaves. That is why he makes two trips north a year, to buy any problematic slaves up there and send them down here. The trip in the fall he only gets eight or nine. In the spring he will bring down twenty or more. When he is doing his business in St Louis, you will be here by yourself. I handle the things he can't."

"Why didn't you cross the river."

"The people in Illinois would send me right back. And I could never go north again. It is a great adventure going north on a steamboat>"

"What are these blocks?"

He picked one up "These are indigo that goes overseas, mostly to France, some to Spain or the Italian states. "

"He has a problem selling to the English? "

"They have their own supply of Indigo. They also have cotton in larger quantities every year from India and Egypt. Indian cotton is supposedly better than some of what is available here. I hear people complaining about lower prices. "

They watched as a cart drew up to the far door. He grabbed one of several clipboards and went to meet it. It had several racks of skeins of yarn. He said '"Where you were yesterday?"' She nodded and pointed at her skeins and smiled ruefully. Two men hopped off the cart and greeted Cicero. He checked each rack had the appropriate wool, cotton, or linen thread. When they were done he then told four men to put the yarn into the appropriate bins. When that was done the next cart came up and he repeated the process.

When that was done, he dismissed the men to Arthur and their other duties.

While they were there, De Caniches showed up with a letter, looking through the bolts of cloth, cursing under his breath, scratching out things in the letter. Cicero stood respectfully away. Finally, he said "Cicero, write a letter to Perkins and Sage, St Louis, telling them we can't do very much of the fancy weaves, almost none of the fancy weaves in indigo. Here are the bolts of cloth we can deliver. Don't tell them why. Just apologize. I hope they don't sue. " He then stalked off.

They went back to the office. "Do you want to write a letter? It will be good practice. There are letters you can use as models. In the meantime, you are going to be involved in the most disagreeable part of the job: assignments. we have forty males over sixteen, and forty-three females, who have to be told what to do and when. There are times when every male is working the sugar cane, and times when only ten are needed. There are other times when they are working the indigo plantation. The cane press requires twelve when it is operating. Women work the indigo plantation wedding and so on. We have fifteen women working in the various kitchens. They prepare the lunches in the fields and the various shops. Breakfast and supper are the individual slave's responsibility as you know. " They went into the office. Cicero showed her the blackboard that listed the slaves assigned to various places. "These are the house slaves, the maids , and the sewing women, and so on. Here is the office. Here is your name! The man whose job you took is here on this blackboard, where we list the sick. He is also on this blackboard, on the list to be sold or disposed of." Cassandra looked at this blackboard, listing Tracy, Elizabeth, and Judith. "We need to prepare updated title documents for them. I liked them. You get the crummy jobs around here. Anyway, We have to prepare these lists whenever people change jobs and prepare them by the end of the day, Mostly they don't change very much from day to day. But some days are busier than others." He showed her to her desk.

There were bills docketed, as well as shipping manifests. He continued. "You have shipments to make every three weeks or so. You will get a banker's draft on Cincinnati or St Louis and you prepare shipments. You will assign three or four carts, two men per cart, plus you or me, to each shipment. We ship with three shipping agents, usually. We get requests from other agents for international trade. We don't ordinarily do that. Most of our trade is to St Louis or Cincinnati. The shipping agents buy our sugar and our indigo and take the risk of shipping to Europe. He doesn't like the risk, so he takes the lower price. He could make so much more shipping to Europe himself. "

"What is this black folder?"

"He was a bit of a prig. These are the sons gambling debts, which we have to pay, or the bills to the brothels they all use. They are a huge drain on the plantation. "

"It looks like this shouldn't take any time at all to do the work here. The work looks interesting, but why am I here?"

"Descartes is being sold. He helped his daughter escape to Jamaica. And right now he is recovering from his whipping. The old man likes to have three of us here. I go with him on his trips to St Louis. Which means that for six weeks twice a year, I am not here. Pliny is great at creating manifests and writing letters. But he isn't bright enough to organize the workforce and choose the jobs we need to be done. The old man can't do any of our jobs, He seems to think you will be better than Pliny. "

De Caniches with Cassandra in the buckboard, Dan and Howard trotted on matching bays into town with Ben, Annabelle's father, Elizebeth, Judith, and Tracy running quickly to keep up with them. They would try to sell Ben and Annabelle's father for a pittance. to whoever wanted them. They had caused way too many problems. Tracy, Elizabeth, and Judith might be sold to a merchant he knew, failing that, they would go to a nice brothel he patronized, They crossed Desire st where they were hailed by Droite. De Caniches paused and Droite came up to him. "These for sale?"

De Caniches thought of lying to him but decided to prevaricate. "These two are. They have caused way too many problems"

"Do tell! " Said Droite. "What kind of problems?"

"This one gets drunk and he has killed two other hands. He has worn my overseers out whipping him."

"$500, right now. I have a banker's draft on your favorite bank in my pocket. You won't complain if I just take him off your hands?"

De Caniches didn't like the idea of selling him to Droite, but $500 for someone worth no more than $50, if that. "What do you want him for? He isn't your normal purchase"

"What is my usual purchase? He seems to be amusing." Droite took a banker's draft from his pocketbook.

De Caniches said "What about that one? He helped two of my better hands to escape to Jamaica. For lagniappe"

Droite wrinkled his nose. "That old man? Not interested. how about that one" he asked pointing with his riding crop at Cassandra

"Not for sale"

"Come now! I will pay $900!"

"Nope"

"$1200. She looks mighty fine. "

"No. Cassandra, write out the bill of sale for this gentleman." Cassandra opened her secretary box and asked Droite for information for the form to be filled out

"She is literate! $2000! I will even take the lagniappe off your hands!"

"She IS NOT FOR SALE. I have needs. You can understand that."

"Than keep your lagniappe. But I will take that hunk there. "

"Agreed. Cassandra, do you have the bill of sale? Good... Good day sir." He gave Cassandra the particulars for her to fill out the form.

"Who pays the $24.25 tax on the transfer," she asked

"We do" De Caniches replied. "Pretty much any sale, the vendor pays."

Cassandra nodded, passed the bill of sale to Droite, and wrote the information down in the sales book. He grinned at her and whispered to her "I am going to get you, soon or late, and when I do, we will have so much enjoyment!" She felt an icy sensation all through her. She looked at Tracy, who looked terrified, and Judith who looked as if she were going to cry. As the buckboard moved off she could see Droite with a frighting smile

They moved to a quiet, large house on the edge of the docks. De Caniches hopped down and signaled to Dan to lead all four he was selling to the front door. Dan didn't move for a moment. He said to De Caniches "How much for Judith?"

De Caniches stopped and gave Dan a look. $275. You can't afford her and you can't keep Wilson away from your cabin. And we have to keep the uppity ones from getting ideas.

Dan looked anxious "I have $215. You can pay me $3 a day instead of $7 for however many days it takes to pay her off. "

"She has four children under six. She has been after me to get someone."

"Your wife might get jealous " De Caniches pointed out. "Judith is a looker "

De Caniches stood arms akimbo above the vat where Cassandra was working. "What in tarnation are you doing."

"I want to die. This is the fastest way to do it."

"You aren't competent to work the vats. Get out before I whip you out. " She stolidly worked the vat. "Why do you want to work the vats?"

"Wilson. He attacks you when you aren't ready for it, and he seems to know when your period is on. He likes to see your blood on his cock. He and David. He is teaching David to have similar tastes."

De Caniches stormed off. Twenty minutes later he came back with young David and Wilson. "You see what you have done! She prefers working the vats to being under your charge. You are not to touch her, understand?"

Wilson was angry. "I get to do them any time I want. That is one of the benefits of the job. David watched silently."

"Well you don't get to touch this one. She is more valuable than you by a long shot."

"Just whip her better"

De Caniches kicked the vat in frustration. "You don't mess with Cicero or Cassandra. The work they do you can't get them to do better by using the whip. They use brains. Something foreign to you, I don't wonder."

Wilson shouted "I know my rights"

De Caniches became very quiet. "Then I will have to let you go. I paid $345 for her. I got a bargain. I didn't pay a penny for you, and you are too damn expensive."

Wilson quieted down. "Any other one is ok?" De Caniches nodded. "Damn it to hell. Ok, this one I leave alone. She is a terrible lay anyway." He stomped off.

De Caniches grabbed Cassandra's arm. "Wash up and go back to the office. I have someone coming for 100 bricks of dye. I need you to grade them before he gets here." She came out and began walking toward the pump. "If you spoiled this batch I will tan your hide so good!" He shouted at the rest of the slaves working the vats. "Get busy! I want to thrash someone this evening, maybe two somebodies. Make sure it isn't you!"

"Do any of you know this Droite character? He called me to his house when I came back from a purchasing trip back in October. He wanted to buy a bunch of my slaves. I sold one that was more trouble than he was worth. For $2,000."

"I heard of him before I met him. He made me nervous. I told him I was sold out."

"He came from somewhere back east. New York or Boston. He had oodles of money. He bought a bunch of women. And I went to his place, and none of them were there."

"Could he be buying them to ship North?"

"Abolitionists don't spend that kind of money on slaves. Besides, it didn't feel like he was buying them for that purpose. If an abolitionist wants to pay $4,000 for a slave, he is welcome. "

"What is he doing with them?"

"I won't tell you my suspicion, but I won't sell him any more of my slaves. "

A detail of Confederate soldiers came up to the office, followed by a chain of worried-looking slaves. Droite, wearing a colonels uniform, led the way followed by a pair of majors and a group of privates. De Caniches came out to meet them. Droite saluted De Caniches and said "I am here to requisition three or four slaves. They are needed to build fortifications down in the delta."

"Requisition? For how long? It is planting season, I need the ones I got. You can't just grab a bunch off of me without a good say-so."

"For as long as they are needed. We need to fortify the area around here better. New Orleans is too important to be left defenseless. "

De Caniches thought for a bit "I suppose in a pinch...."

Droite said with finality "I pick them. Call them all over here"

De Caniches turned to Dan and Wilson with bad grace. "You heard the man. Get them over here."

While Dan, Howard, and Wilson gathered the slaves Droite and the two majors got off their horses. They argued quietly with the majors emphatically castigating Droite, who merely grinned at them. All the slaves gathered behind the office nervously. Droite and the majors quickly chose two of them who were hustled over to the chain. Droite turned to De Caniches "You have a couple that can read and write. I need them."

The slaves looked at Cicero. Droite quickly moved over to him. "Excellent, this one too."

The majors and De Caniches quickly expostulated. A major said "Our orders are for slaves who are big and strong and who can move 75lbs. This one is small, elderly, and weedy and I don't see him lifting 75lbs.

Droite took his whip. "He will lift 75 lbs when I tell him to. Literate slaves are a hazard. We need to make sure they understand who is in control here. I am the colonel, you are majors. We take him." He looked over at the slaves and noticed Cassandra. "And that one too."

The majors and De Caniches expostulated again. The major said "We are supposed to get strong backs to build heavy fortifications. We are supposed to get strong men. She is not a strong man. I will take this up with the general. We are gathering workers, not honey pots for you to dip your wick into. You are making trouble for the plantations, trouble for the construction of the forts, trouble for the defense of the city. You have to stop this."

Droite walked up to Cassandra, who swallowed nervously. He wandered around her and reached for her bosom. De Caniches said "Hands off. She is not a male. She is not what you came here for."

Droite stopped. He stormed to De Caniches. He hissed "I will be back.". He glared at the majors, who glared back. He stalked to his horse and got on. The majors ran to their mounts and climbed on. Droite walked off without a word, the majors got the detail moving. The soldiers got Cicero in the chain, and they moved on as well.

De Caniches stood there clenching his fists. He turned to Cassandra and barked "You know all of Cicero's duties? You can do that? She nodded. "Very well then, you take over for Cicero till he comes back." He stared at the rapidly moving chain of slaves. "Why oh why did they have to put up four Democrats last year? Any one of them could have beaten that bean pole handily. Four of them guaranteed this disaster. I have lost three slaves worth almost $2,000, the Yankees have blockaded the port, and the river is closed to commercial traffic. I am losing money hand over fist because a bunch of idiot politicians couldn't think half as clearly as the Mississippi during the spring. Idiots. Fools. Imbeciles." He stalked into the office and slammed the door. Cassandra stood there nervously. The door opened. He screamed "Get to work, all of you! Cassie, get in here. We have to adjust the work schedules. NOW!"

The firing had stopped for three days. De Caniches rode toward town on the second day but turned back when he came across a Union picket line five miles down the road. In the afternoon calm the harsh jangling sound of an army on the march. First came the men on horseback. Then came two regiments came marching. Finally came the 12 guns, six horses to each gun, four horses to the cassions, and six horses to the mobile forge. At the tail end came a final group of horsemen, a captain who was leading a young man, young David, on a chain. Everyone stopped what they were doing to watch. The overseers were gawking too.

The captain leading David came up to the big house, where the family waited. "This here is yours, I believe?"

"That is my youngest son" Said De Caniches.

"Your young'un has got the most sand I ever did see. He has enough sand to extend the delta five miles. But he is too young to be fighting wars at his age." The horseman got off. "I think you had better keep him chained up. He kept wanting to run off."

De Caniches addressed David. "Where are your brothers?"

"Saul was killed. Hezikiya and Ezra are wounded and in a Yankee hospital. Hezikaya lost his right arm at the shoulder."

The officer handed the chain to De Caniches. "We have to set up a camp here, but Mr. Lincoln said not to incommode you any more than necessary. If you will assist in showing us where the best place to camp, and I do mean the best place, would be, I would be much obliged. "

"And if I don't?"

"Well, I am in sort of a disagreement with Mr Lincoln about discommoding rebels. I would find the best place for me without reference to you. But Orders are orders. Are you going to have me follow my orders to the letter, or are you going to allow me to follow my inclination?"

De Caniches thought for a bit. "About a quarter mile on is a large watercourse. There are places where there are magnolias rather than cypress growing, so you know where the dry spots are." The officer gave a wolfish grin. "The watercourse is pretty deep, but the watercourse is sluggish. The mosquitos are pretty fierce there. I don't permit my slaves to spend much time there. But mosquito season is pretty much over. I would prefer you use the cypress for cooking and firewood."

"Do you have mosquito netting?"

"I could make some up if you are willing to pay for it. But it is seven cents a yard, and each soldier would require two yards."

"I would require 300 yards then. I would pay $5 now, $10 when you have 150 yards done, and the balance when you deliver the last of it. Agreed?" He took a $5 gold coin out of his pocketbook.

De Caniches turned to Watkins, the weaving room overseer. "Number Seven loom isn't being used for anything, correct?" The overseer nodded. "Have Farida work it to produce mosquito netting."

Farida asked with a shocked expression expression "Arent we free now? Isn't this war about us, like he always said?"

The officer sighed. "Unfortunately, no. Another place I disagree with is Mr Lincoln. Provided slaves haven't been used in building defenses or other war-like pursuits, you are still the property of this man here." The slaves standing around sounded mutinous. "We will also, against my better judgment, enforce his authority."

"Cassandra!" She came racing up. De Caniches handed her the chain. "Take this and tie him to a chair in the schoolroom. Have him write 'I will not shoot damned Yankees till I am seventeen' 200 times. Don't you dare assist him? Don't you dare." He stood still for a moment.

"Wait! David, do you know what happened to Cicero, Cato, and Nestor?"

"This guy had them penned up. He wouldn't tell me what happened to them."

"They were used to build fortifications south of New Orleans. They are contraband."

"Contrabands!"

"Yes, any slave used to build fortifications are as much contraband as the fortifications they construct."

"But they are mine!"

"You shouldn't have allowed them to be used for building fortifications."

"Allowed them? They came and took them. They didn't pay for them either."

Captain Buchhalter shrugged. "They were used to build forts. Your bad luck."

"It looks as if you have Cicero's job permanently now Cassandra. Take him away, and make sure he writes his lines neatly. You can use as many hickory sticks as you need."

The captain said "I need space and fodder for 100 horses..."

"Cassie! Hold up!"

She came back along with the two slaves holding David. "Fodder for 100 horses! You will have to supply some of that. This is a working plantation. We don't have that much fodder. We only have twenty horses. And we have to get fodder for them from Ruth for them."

De Caniches said "Most of Ruth's land is going to be fallow this year. Her husband is in Virginia. Are you folks going to buy your fodder?"

Cassandra asked "Is her land free from Confederates? "

The captain said, "We will make it so."

Cassandra said "Maybe you can have your horses be up there, with a small contingent to watch over them. "

"How far is it?" the captain inquired.

De Caniches replied "About six miles."

The captain said "There are about six batteries in this area. that is 600 horses."

De Caniches shook his head. "You will have to provide your fodder. But I guess you can get the first choice. Cassie, you get the captain's horses situated after supervising David."

Cassandra said, "It will be about three hours supervising David."

De Caniches said "Make it two. As I said, use as many hickory switches as you need. The boy doesn't need to sit down after writing his sentences. We need to have the first call on the land for the horses. Six hundred horses." He shook his head. "I don't know where they will have room for them all. " He looked at the captain "You Will be paying for the places for them all?"

The captain said "We will be paying at the rate that Congress set. It won't be as much as you would wish, but the constitution says that you have to be compensated for what we take."

De Caniches said "I figured as much. Anyway, the office is over there. You meet with Cassie for whatever you need. She is the plantation accountant. I don't want to talk to you. Talk to her about whatever you need. She will take you to my daughter Ruth's place when she finishes with David. Have Cato over there take you to the place for your men to camp. "

Cassandra smiled at Abduhl, one of the largest most menacing-looking slaves on the plantation. "You get the disciplining David. Get a bunch of switches. a large bunch." Abduhl went after the switches and Cassandra, the other slave, and David headed to the office. "You will copy the sentences neatly and precisely. 200 hundred perfect lines, do you hear. Or Abduhl will assist you in making your lines acceptable. "

Pliny came into the office looking haunted "Cassie, I need to move to the back sugar field."

"Why?"

"Ruth has decided to set her cap at me. People talk. The old man hears about that, I am a dead man"

"I'll talk to the old man."

Pliny put up his hands "Don't do that! He is sure to kill me if he finds out what she wants!"

Cassandra looked disgusted. "Ruth isn't supposed to be out here with the hands. You realize how hard it is to find a hand who can write and figure? They don't let us learn, but they need people who can do what they prevent us from doing. They are so fearful... The old man told me he wanted to get rid of a half dozen slaves anyway. I will look for someone to sell you to. " She took a slate and began writing. "Your woman is Deborah? Is that right? What are all the children's names?"

"Mine are Calliope and Hector. I think she would want Wilson's, he is Leonidas. "

"Very well. I will see what I can do. In the meantime, you are working the back sugar fields. " She took out a piece of note paper and wrote a terse note with a pencil. "I am going to miss you. You wrote a beautiful hand."

"You won't sell us to someone as bad as Wilson, I hope."

Cassandra thought for a moment. "I think I may have a solution. There is another plantation that needs someone who can write. But it is beyond the lines. It is a confederate territory. that will solve your Ruth problem nicely. You will have to go between the lines. Do you have a problem with that? "

Pliny shook his head.

"Very good. " She wrote the notes out. "Too bad you couldn't write these notes. But... Here you are. Can you ride? "

Pliny nodded.

She took out another note paper. "I am going to have you give this note to Pickford. You don't want anyone saying you are stealing a horse. Have a nice ride. When you get back, go to Tompkins, who is doing Wilson's job today.. "

Tom, one of the larger and more menacing servants, and Cassandra sat in the back with the dye blocks that De Caniches was taking to the port. She was enjoying the trip. Suddenly De Caniches stopped the buckboard. Tom was grinning. She turned around and looked at what Tom and De Caniches had noticed. They saw Cicero and the other slaves that had been taken by Droite working on building a levee. De Caniches shouted "Cicero! Come here, boy! " Cicero ignored him. De Caniches got his whip and started to go after Cicero when his way was blocked by a soldier. "That's my slave, I intend to get him back."

The soldier presented his bayonet to De Caniches's chest. "Contraband. You can't have him."

De Caniches swore. "I wasn't paid for him! I mean to get him."

"What the confederate government did or didn't do not do is no concern of mine. He is contraband. He is working for the US Army now. "

De Caniches stomped back to the buckboard. "Cassie, see if you can't talk to Cicero. Find out how long he is going to be working for the army."

Cassandra got off the buckboard and walked to the soldier and asked permission to speak to one of the contrabands. He looked at her skin and her blond hair and her blue eyes. "Are you one of his slaves?" The soldier asked incredulously. She nodded. "These Southerners are monsters. Pass."

She went up to Cicero "How do, Cicero? They treat you right?"

Cicero put down his shovel. "Pretty fair. I am getting 60¢ a day, and no whippings. The work is hard, and if you don't work, you don't eat, and we have to compete for the open jobs. It is harder work than I have ever done. It is more satisfying."

"He wants to know if you are coming back."

"Nope. No way in hell. I hear they are going to recruit us contrabands as soldiers. I intend to get in on that. Who do they have done my job?"

"Me. I am having a lot of fun doing it. I feel kind of conflicted. I do a good job because that is what I do, but I don't feel right doing it."

"Continue doing a good job because it is a good habit. The world is turning upside down. Slavery is deader than a doornail. Lots of other things changing too. I am sorry, I can't talk more. Time is money. Bye now Cassie"

She embraced him and walked back to De Caniches. "He is contraband. He is lost to you. He thinks they are going to recruit black soldiers, and he thinks he will join the army. They are paying him. He likes that."

De Caniches stared at her. He looked at the soldiers patrolling the waterfront. He swallowed. "Get in the back. Please. We have work to do." Tom and Cassandra grinned at each other. The world was changing. Not by much, but that little was momentous.

They got down to the wharves. They were looking for a French ship that De Caniches thought would be interested in his dyes. De Caniches was worried about his finances as his cash reserves were almost down to nothing, and the prices of slaves had sunk precipitously. He hoped that the French ship would buy his dyes that the British wouldn't touch. Cassandra saw the tricolor first, and they drove up to the wharf it was tied up at. There looked around at the quiet ship. Cassandra stood up and shouted "Bon jew ore!"

De Caniches asked sourly "You have the French lingo?"

" Father insisted. I didn't do very well."

A bearded face came out of a hatch. Bonjour madam.

"Es-tu le capitaine?"

"Non, je vais le chercher." The bearded face went below.

"He is going to fetch the captain. I'm afraid I have shot my bolt speaking French. Especially if he starts discussing numbers. The French number system is confusing."

Another bearded face came out of the door on the main deck. Bonjour madam. Bienvenue à bord de mon navire

"Merci. Maître." she said indicating De Caniches.

"Ah! And You have somezing to sell?" changing languages for De Caniches.

"I have some bricks of indigo dye."

"And your dye is forbidden to sell to ze English, no? You use mordants forbidden by ze English? Your dyes are not forbidden to us. How many do you have?"

"I have 300 here, I have 400 more blocks back at the farm."

"700 blocks! Such a lot of dye!" He offered a ridiculous price.

Cassandra said, "There is another French ship further down the waterfront."

The French captain laughed. "This one makes negotiating enjoyable! " Let us not be so hasty! How about a bit more?"

"This one is why the French are famous for their Christian milk."

De Caniches gave a price that was the same as the indigo fetched in 1860.

The captain said "You have 700 bricks of dye. You are flooding ze market."

Cassandra said "We thought you would appreciate some dye, as you have been without for two years. Let's see what that other captain will offer. He wants us to give him the dyes for free."

De Caniches said, "For the price he is offering I will use these bricks to build a house." He turned and moved to the ladder.

"Now now, we are all friends here. I have to make a profit for my lovely ship. I tell you I will be willing to offer zees much." Offering a pittance but more in line with the price of the goods.

"I have expenses too. You are offering an amount that leaves me in penury. I will starve if I take a penny less than this."

"The army uses a lot of blue dye. Have you thought of offering them any? Selling to the army or starving becomes less of a matter of patriotism when you have to face that choice head on" Cassandra pointed out.

The captain doubled his offer.

Cassandra moved to the ladder and began going down it. De Caniches turned to say goodbye when the captain accepted his last offer for 700 blocks. They shook hands. The captain gave quick orders to his crew and the captain went into his cabin for the silver money.

A net was dropped next to the buckboard from a crane on the ship. The captain came back with the money and the sailors began moving the blocks quickly into the net. In no time the net was filled, the buckboard was empty and the crane dropped the net into hold. The captain looked satisfied. "You come tomorrow with the 400 blocks no? I pay you for them then." De Caniches and the captain shook hands again.

Cassandra and Tom sat down on the buckboard. De Caniches got the buckboard moving away from the waterfront. when they were a ways a way he stopped it for a moment. De Caniches asked "Christian milk?"

Cassandra laughed. "Milk that has been baptized. I read it in a book on traveling in France."

He looked at her again. "Echo would be a better name for you. " Then he started the horses again.

After her work was done for the day she just drifted over to the captain's tent. The captain was sure ornamental. Cassandra enjoyed listening to the German musicians play their polkas and waltzes. Of Course, they didn't always play music. They argued about politics back home.

Sergeant Hofbrodt was laughing as he was reading the news from Prussia in Germany "Another new chancellor. They go through them in a hurry!"

"They will find someone they like. They can't go through the entire Junker class."

"What is the news? " asked Cassandra.

Captain Buchhalter explained "Another new chancellor for Prussia. Someone named Bismark. He is the fourth, I think, Chancellor in five years."

"Six months tops!" said Hofbrodt

"The sergeant thinks he won't last half a year."

"The Sergeant is from Prussia? Why did he leave?"

"She wants to know why you left."

"Chose the wrong side in '48. I had to leave in a hurry. I was an officer! They had no amnesty for officers."

"There was an abortive revolution in 1848, and he was on the side of the revolutionists. When the revolution was crushed, he came here."

"Why are they going through Chancellors so quickly?"

"She wants to know why they are going through chancellors so quickly. It confuses me too."

"The king, in order to quiet the rebellion, had to agree to more powers to the Landtag. The king wants men drafted to serve three years, the Landtag only wants them to serve two."

"The king made a deal to quiet the revolution and had to give more power to the legislature. Not much, but more than before. Now the king and the legislature are arguing over men's compulsory service. The king wants the men to serve three years, the legislature only wants service for two years."

Cassandra looked incredulous"Everybody serves two years? But the king wants it to be longer and the legislature wants it to be shorter! They should be arguing that they don't have to serve at all".

The captain laughed "That is what legislatures the world over do. Argue minutia. For the last 80 years, people here have been arguing over where slavery should be, and how it should operate. Discussing whether it should exist at all... they didn't think about discussing that."

"Did you come to America in 48?"

"No, my father came in 1830. He doesn't talk about it. I imagine it must have been pretty bad then as well. He told me he was a journeyman printer in Dresden. He had a wife there, and a son. But they died But what happened in '30, he just won't tell me. He tells me about going to the church square and admiring the coaches of the nobility, and of seeing the king go by on his stallion. But of what happened he closes down like a tomb. "

Cassandra was getting tired of David's grab assing. He hadn't demanded her to put out for him yet. But he was getting bolder all the time. She had talked to his father, but it was getting annoying.

She was working on rearranging the work schedules again. Two slaves had beaten up Wilson. They had been whipped very badly. The rest of them were mutinous. Several of the rest of the slaves had to be whipped too. They would be off work for at least three days. She was furious, but she couldn't do anything about it. She was furious with Wilson. Him always using the slave women and slave young boys for his pleasure. She would be in trouble if the work quotas weren't met. It barely registered with her when David came in, she was trying so hard to get the sugar cane workers to get them in some sort of order. She was very surprised when he came up behind her and grabbed her bosoms. She stood up and slapped him.

David was incredulous. "You hit me! You think you can hit me? You have another thing coming!"

She didn't say a word but grabbed him by the ear and pushed his head to the floor. Then the enormity of what she had done got to her. She then held onto his ear and marched him over to the whipping post. She was going to earn her whipping, she decided.

When they got there she found Captain Buchhalter and De Caniches having a heated discussion. they paused when she came up to the post and knocked David down at the foot of the post.

"This animal grabbed my boobs. I thought you had talked to him about this. Whip me and toss me in the vats, but I will no longer do your books."

David said, "She hit me!"

De Caniches said "I told you hands off. I can't get anyone to do what she does. Damn, you are stupid." He pointed to the slave Mustafa "Tie him up."

David was incredulous when he was tied up to the whipping post. " But she hit me! "

"Mustafa, take off his shirt. Get the whip. You did a good job yesterday. Do as well with this one."

The captain said, "You going to whip him too?"

De Caniches shook his head. "I gotta. I have spanked him till I got callouses. I switched him till my arm nearly fell off. I can't have him messing around with Cassandra. I have told him hands off enough times. I am going to have Mustafa see if he can convince him. "

Mustafa came back with the whip. "You sure about this boss? You aren't going to have me whipped for following orders, are you?"

"This isn't the one with the glass?"

Mustafa said, "No, I didn't think you wanted to go that far."

De Caniches said, "Get the one with the glass."

Cassandra looked sick

The captain said "No! Bring the one with the glass to me when you are done here. No more whipping with glass. Am I understood!"

De Caniches shrugged "Do as the man says. "

Mustafa looked relieved. He gave one stroke.

De Caniches said "Come on boy! That one won't count. Put some back into it. "

Mustafa cracked the whip "Like that boss?"

"Harder!"

Mustafa sighed and gestured for everyone to stand back. Then he swung the whip around three times and swung into David. The skin came off David's back. He looked to De Caniches

" Acceptable. Another one"

Mustafa repeated the stroke. David was crying. The rest of the slaves skittishly shook hands or covered their faces from showing their delight. De Caniches watched closely and wasn't paying attention to the slaves.

"Acceptable. Another seven like that."

Mustafa went in and made seven more strokes. David was crying. Cassandra was crying too. The captain shook his head.

When Mustafa was done he moved to take David down. De Caniches said "Wait." Then he walked up to the post and said to David "I mean what I say. You don't touch her. The plantation can't survive a day without her. Am I understood? Do I need to have you whipped some more?"

David shook his head. "I understand. I won't bother her no more."

"Good." He stood up and pointed at two women. "Take him where you usually take slaves who have been whipped. I understand you have medicines for this kind of thing. Fix him up."

He turned to the captain. "I don't do anything to the slaves that I don't do to the white folks, agreed?"

The Captain shook his head. I don't like it, but if you are willing to do this for your family I guess you can continue. He stalked off.

Cassandra looked shocked. "Did I just permit you to continue whipping people? "

De Caniches grinned at her. "Be proud of yourself." Then he followed David and the two women taking care of him.

Mustafa came up carrying the whip with the glass. Cassandra said "Give that to me. I will give it to the captain."

She walked back to the office. She found the captain standing in front of it looking back at the whipping post. He said, "That was quite the performance."

She nodded. "This is the whip he used yesterday. " She showed the shards of broken glass at the tips of the whip. "He needs this because of Wilson."

He took the whip from her. "I am going to have a bonfire tonight. Do you want to see?" He demonstrated the whip.

She shook her head. "I trust you. I never want to see it again."

The captain sighed and looked toward the whipping post. "I wish I had never come down here to see this. " He walked slowly off, holding the glass whip.

De Caniches and David came by the office on the way to the main house. David gave her a glare of pure hatred. De Caniches gave her a nasty look too. He stopped for a moment. "You better behave yourself. I am going to get a white man to do your job. I don't care how much it costs. You remember the vats? You remember Wilson? " He saw her discomfiture. "I see that you do. "Then he took David on. "Son, sometimes you gotta do things you hate. Remember this day. You have to do what I say, and when I tell you hands off, that means hands off.... "

Cassandra worked steadily in the mornings until De Caniches left to go to the city when she just fretted. Her work suffered as she paced around nervously. But every evening when he came back, alone she relaxed and got the work done. He left every business day for three weeks but came back empty-handed. On days she did especially badly at her work he made her stand for an hour and sent her to bed without her supper. He finally came to the office and made her stand up and sat in her chair. "I can't find anybody to do your job. The whites all ran off to Virginia, or they want too much money. No blacks are for sale. Your work has fallen to pieces too. Do the work, don't mess up. I am watching you. I will find someone. Sometime."

"Your men are interfering with my slaves again"

Captain Buchhalter looked up at the incandescent planter. "What is it this time"

"Sergeant Haferbrot has taken Zaynab and refuses to let Wilson sleep with her. You realize that is one of the perks the overseers get. "

Captain Buchhalter turned to his orderly. "Bring Sergeant Haferbrot and Zaynab here will you?" He turned to the planter. "Zaynab is too young for that, surely?"

The planter shrugged. "She is Twelve. I bet Sergeant Haferbrot plans to sleep with her as well."

Captain Buchhalter shook his head. "Twelve"

Sergeant Haferbrot came to Captain Buchhalters tent and saluted. He was already grey at 50. Following him was a slightly extremely dark young girl. She was mostly flat.

"At ease, Sergeant. What do I hear of you interfering with this man's property?"

"Last week you this man Wilson was a horse was being cruel to and you him stopped . I unnecessarily cruel to his property could stop."

Captain Buchhalter said, in Saxon German, "Try that again in German. Your English is barbaric"

Sergeant Haferbrot said in Konnigsburg Prussian "Last week you stopped this evil disgusting worthless piece of shit from being cruel to the planter's horse. If you can stop him from being cruel to a horse, I can prevent him from being cruel to this girl."

Captain Buchhalter said "He has a point. I stopped this man" pointing at Wilson "being cruel to a horse. So he can stop Wilson from being cruel to this young girl. You saw me interfering with his cruelty toward your horse, and you commended me for that, so he feels you should commend him for taking care of the girl."

"So he wants her virginity?"

Captain Buchhalter said in German "You plan on sleeping with her yourself? "

Sergeant Haferbrot said "She is flat as a Junkers estate. She is practically a little boy. I prefer them to have something I can hold on to."

" He said she is too young. And I agree."

The Sergeant said "I would prefer that she not be anyplace where Wilson can get at her. He is a cruel monster. Perhaps I could rent her? She would be a good laundress. Maybe even a decent cook."

"He is willing to pay rent for her of $4 a month. I would take that offer if I were you"

Cassandra said "That values her at $430. Her virginity is worth half that. That is far more than you could get for her in any other place. The market price for slaves is dropping like a rock. "

"I am paying for her virginity? No!"

"You pay for it, or Wilson gets it for free."

"She is so small and I wouldn't have it for years. If I wanted it, which I don't. I don't want to sleep with her, I just don't want her hurt. She is black and ugly and and..."

"You want to preserve her from hurt, you pay $4 a month. Otherwise, she goes to Wilson."

Sergeant Haferbrot reached into his wallet and dug out two $5 gold pieces, and two silver dollars and passed them to the planter. "Agreed? Three months?"

The planter stood there with the money in his hand. Cassandra said "That is far more than she is worth. She is not a good worker." Sergeant Haferbrot turned to Zaynab and told her "Koman sie hie" and grabbed her by the hand and took her away. Zaynab said as they left "I am so a good worker!" as she trotted behind him.

Wilson hissed "You are going to let that Yankee going to get that girl, and I won't? That is unfair and unchristian. That is part of my wages, getting the girls."

De Caniches sighed. "What can I do? "

Captain Buchhalter asked "You think preventing you from raping a twelve-year-old girl is unchristian? You seem to have a different view of Christian kindness than I was raised with."

Wilson said, "I have had it with your pusillanimity I quit." He raged out of the tent.

De Caniches watched him go. "That went far better than I thought. I was planning on letting he go at the end of the month. " He turned in disgust to Captain Buchhalter. "You really should help me keep my hands. They keep running off and you don't do a thing to stop it."

"I have more important things to do than chase after them. Besides, it is the job of the Marshall. You need to talk to him. We have to fight a war. We don't deal with trivia"

"You want what?"

"Ve vould a lamb like to buy for the holiday."

"What holiday?"

"Passover Friday night vould be"

De Caniches thought for a moment. He would have five lambs for sale, and selling them in New Orleans would be difficult with the checkpoints between the plantation. But doing anything to oblige Lieutenant Zimmermann just bothered him. "I have five lambs. You would have to buy all five for $20."

"A moment please"

Captain Buchhalter came into the office then. "What are you people doing here? " he asked in German.

"We came here to buy a lamb for the Passover holiday, but he wants us to buy five for $20" Lieutenant Zimmerman said in German

"Unconscionable price gouging" Lieutenant Elber sputtered. "We only want the one, and that one would only be worth $2.50."

"I will buy the other four for $4.25 a piece, you can make sausage out of them? Maybe some steaks? He won't sell them to me, so you have to make the deal." He turned to De Caniches. "These men don't belong here. Take their money or not, but they have to go."

Lieutenant Zimmerman passed over a bunch of bills and change. De Caniches took them with bad grace and left. Captain Buchhalter went over to Cassandra and asked about any mail that had come to the plantation that was for him. "None today. What is this Passover they are talking about?"

"It is a religious holiday for Jews. I don't know much about it either. I just know it comes around Easter."

"I wonder what it is like? I would like to see something different than Christianity" she said with much bitterness.

"That shouldn't be any problem. They do permit, nay encourages, poor people to eat at the table. However, the food they serve is horrible."

"Oh come, it can't be that bad."

"Lieutenant Zimmerman! Cassandra is interested in going to your Passover dinner. I would be escorting her. Would that be agreeable?"

"All are welcome. I do have a request for the gracious lady for the use of an oven on Thursday." He bowed to her

"I am sure that could be arranged."

Cassandra said "De Caniches wouldn't approve.."

"We were wondering if you could get approval from one of the ladies in the cabins to use hers?"

She looked wonderingly "You are asking permission? White folks always just assume..."

"God wants us to ask. Especially for this holiday."

She shook her head in wonder. "Come with me. We will get you use of an oven. I know someone who has a large one."

"Thank you kindly."

Cassandra and Captain Buchhalter came to the table laying on the grass under some magnolias which were in flower. There were fifteen men sitting Indian fashion or laying around the table. There was a fire with some meat on it. Most of the men were privates, but there were other ranks. There was Corporal Silberschmied who was wearing a Confederate uniform and waxed moustaches and was carrying a deck of cards. Silberschmied was usually a bit of a prig known for his disapproval of card playing.

Zaynab was seated defiantly at the table already. The men moved over for Cassandra and Captain Buchhalter.

"Vell, ve have some visitors to our table, and zo I have some seders in English. But dey are Reform seders, so dey will not be exactly like the seder we are using. But close enough, close enough. I have from the sutlers some wine bought. It is wine, which is grapes, it is in glass bottles. It is not exactly kosher, but it is kosher enough. The lamb was not by a shochet killed, but I have had experience in confederates killing, so I am sure pain the lamb did not feel. Zo! " Lieutenant Zimmerman got a spill from the fire and used it to light the candles down the center of the table. Then he began reading from a scroll in Hebrew. All the men around the table raised their wine with him, and a moment later so did Captain Buchhalter, Cassandra and Zaynab. They all drank some wine and talk became general. Lieutenant Zimmerman and Lieutenant Elber began to go down the table with a pitcher of water and washed the hands of each diner. Captain Buchhalter, Cassandra, and Zaynab waited for eating to begin but no one touched the food yet.

Lieutenant Zimmerman took some parsley from a dish, which began going around the table. When everyone had some parsley, he gestured for quiet. Then he dipped the parsley in salt and began a blessing. Then he addressed Cassandra. "The parsley is to commemorate the baby boys who the Nile were cast into. The salt is for the tears of the midwives." Then he ate, joined by everyone else.

He took a piece of hard tack, divided it, and covered the larger piece with a napkin. Then among humorous ribbing of the drummer boy, who was briefly blindfolded, he hid it in a caisson.

Lieutenant Zimmerman addressed Cassandra and Zayeb. "Now I am the invitation going to read. The tradition is I will do it in all languages of the table. " He first read the invitation in Hebrew, then in German, then in English."This is the bread of affliction that our fathers ate on their way out of Egypt. Let all that are hungry, come and eat, let all that are thirsty come and drink. Last year we were slaves, next year may we be free men, this year we are here, next year in Yerushalaem"

"Now young Samuel Goldkugeln will the questions read, first in Hebrew, then in English." He raised his hands and said in all three languages "Father, now I will recite the four questions."

The drummer boy stood up and read the questions in a singing style.

"Vy is tonight different from all other nights?

Vy on all other nights do we eat leavened and unleavened bread, and tonight unleavened bread only?

Vy on other nights do we eat all vegetables, but tonight only bitter vegetables?

Vy on other nights we don't dip even once, but tonight we dip twice?

Vy do we, not recline, but tonight we recline?"

"And now Private Hausierer will the questions answer in Hebrew, German, and English" Lieutenant Zimmerman intoned in careful, precise English:

"On all nights we do not need to dip once, but tonight we dip twice!

On all nights we eat leavened bread or matzah, and on this night, only matzah!

On all nights we eat various vegetables, and on this night, bitter herbs!

On all nights we eat sitting upright or reclining, and on this night we all recline!"

De Caniches stormed into the office "Why did you let David have that horse!"

Cassandra looked mystified "He wasn't supposed to have it? he said that you wanted him to go to the Miller plantation to see if they had some laudanum for Hezikiya because we were out. "

He stormed at her "Of course, he wasn't supposed to have a horse! He kept on saying he was going to go to be a soldier. The idiot was supposed to stay here!"

"You said...."

"When did I EVER say he could have a horse! That fool has gone off to be a soldier."

"Last week he told me you said he could exercise a horse for an hour."

He kicked the desk and swore "He TOLD you that I said something! That boy who lies like a giant Persian rug told you something and you BELIEVED him!"

She stood quietly. He went up to her and slapped her five times. He stood up with his face next to hers. "If my stupid insane son gets killed in this insane war I will have you working the sugar cane and you will be whipped ten times every day you don't make production. And I am going to the city and find me a slave that can do your job. For now, go to the vats for the rest of the day." He grabbed her arm and took her to the vats and told Watkins to fetch the chamber pot from the weaving room. He picked her up and tossed her into the nearest vat. When Watkins came back with the chamber pot he poured it over her head. "Get busy! All of you!" he screamed and marched off.

Watkins picked up his switch and rapped the nearest vat. "You heard the man, make waves and get the cloth so it gets lots of indigo on it!"

A while later Captain Buchhalter came into the room with the vats and saw Cassie working one of the hot vats. He stood there as she stirred the cotton yarn. Watkins watched him closely. He came up close and said, "Is there nothing I can do?"

She looked at Watkins was aiding a slave in taking yarn out of one of the cold vats. "You know the boards that have every slave's jobs for the day on them? I was thinking you could do some of your artillery exercises from your books Erase all the names and all the jobs. He will have to call me back. Of course, he will be really upset with you."

He looked at the job the slaves were doing "I am upset with him. What is with your hair?"

"He dumped one of the urine pots over it."

Captain Buchhalter swore quietly. "Such a monster!"

De Caniches was furious. "You have got to keep your soldiers under better control. They shouldn't go rapeing my property without my say so!"

Captain Buchhalter looked with disgust at the bounty jumper. Then he looked at De Caniches with disgust. "He shouldn't rape your property without your permission?"

"Of course not. " He thought for a bit. "Most of the time the overseers get on with the girls who are willing. Of course, there are different degrees of willing. But just attacking my slave like that is unconscionable."

"So is your objection that your slave was violated without your permission, or are you claiming she was damaged, or what precisely?"

"Fatima was damaged! She was still a virgin! I could have sold you that. Also, he beat her badly. Look at what he did to her. She has a pair of broken teeth, she is bruised, and she can't work for at least three days. "

The major looked at the bounty jumper. He wanted to do something to him, but he was at sea just exactly what the regulations said about this kind of thing. "The problem is, if she were a free woman, I could convene a court martial and try him for the rape and hang him. but since she is property, I think all I can do is tie him to the wheel for twelve hours for damaging civilian property."

De Caniches looked at his ten-year-old slave. "I manumit her today, she is a free woman, you can hang em?"

"I would have to convene a court-martial, and the penalty for raping a free woman is death, yes."

De Caniches looked at the slave, her bruises, her cuts, her bloody lip. "Cassandra.. go up to the office and see if there is a manumission form. I don't know if I still have them, but I remember getting them in a package of forms. They might be in the bottom drawer. But look everywhere."

Cassandra ran to the office and was gone twenty minutes. While they were waiting, Captain Buchhalter had the bounty jumper tied to an artillery wheel. Cassandra came back breathless waving a form. De Caniches said "Go to the office and see if you can find the title document for her. I had to get one when she turned eight. " Cassandra raced back to the office while De Caniches began filling out the form on a wood stump. She came back momentarily. De Caniches looked at the title form and at the manumission form. "You will call a court martial and hang this bastard?"

" I can't promise that he will hang, but I will call a court-martial, they will look at what he has done to her, and I am sure they will act accordingly."

"I will go to the courthouse. I will be about three hours. Try and have the court martial ready when I get back."

"It won't be that quickly, it will have to be at the colonel level. But I will tell them about it. They will probably have it by next week."

"That is all I can hope for. But I do want to see him swing"

Captain Buchhalter looked at the girl. "So do I, so do I"

De Caniches left Captain Buchhalter and found that the slaves responsible for getting the trap ready had it ready to go, and the driver slave helped him up. They moved down the road quickly

Captain Buchhalter was relaxing with a book. He was feeling satisfied. There had been no jayhawker attacks for three weeks, there had been only three accidents, none debilitating, there were only ten men who had to patrol with a log all week, and no one had to be tied to a wheel in more than a month, except that one bounty jumper three days ago. He stretched. His mood declined suddenly. The old man, Cassandra, and Fatima and a bunch of other slaves were coming to his tent with the departmental mail. They looked pleased. Captain Buchhalter turned to his orderly. "Get a detail and bring that bounty jumper here tied up. Get another detail for a firing party."

He stood up and went into his tent for his copy of the Code of Military Justice. He got it, noted that the page was marked, and came back to his tent as the the old man came up to him "We got the mail from the Court Martial. " Cassandra handed him the mail, with the court martial on top. A wagon came up quickly, carrying a rough pine coffin.

The two details Captain Buchhalter requested also came up. The bounty jumper was tied and gagged. Captain Buchhalter had the bounty jumper tied to a wheel and the firing party lined up behind him and told both details to stand at ease.

Buchhalter opened the letter and read it quickly. Then he turned to the bounty jumper. "Ajax U. Priestly, you have been charged with the rape of a free ten-year-old black woman, and you have been found guilty by your commanding officer, Captain Otto B. Buchhalter, and sentenced to death. This court martial confirms the sentence passed by Captain Otto B. Buchhalter acting as judge. This court-martial charges Captain Otto B. Buchhalter to carry out this sentence expeditiously." He folded the letter and stuck it into the book.

He looked around. "Let's go to the watercourse and tie him to that branch of that oak over there."

The sergeants called out commands that moved the group to the tree. Swiftly they tied him with his arms held up. The firing party got into position. The captain stood at one side and allowed the crowd of slaves along with the wagon to stand behind the party.

Captain Buchhalter said "Ajax U. Priestly, you have been convicted of the crime of rape while serving in the US Army, of bringing the army into disrepute and bringing terror to the civilian population. I hereby commend your soul to God" Here he nodded to the sergeant and gave the orders to "Ready, Aim, Fire!"

The guns went off, and the smoke briefly obscured the bounty jumper. His corpse hung from the tree. Captain Buchhalter went up to the corpse, as did the old man and Fatima. Fatima was still showing the bruises from his attack. Fatima spit on the corpse and walked off. The old man called over to a couple of slaves, who came and cut him down and put him in the coffin. The crowd dispersed, the parties were dismissed, and Captain Buchhalter sat down heavily on his chair, feeling angry and unsatisfied.

De Caniches stood there smiling while he looked at the tree.

Captain Buchhalter asked, "What does Fatima do?"

De Caniches started "Pretty much anything a 10-year-old girl can do. She mostly weeds the indigo fields. Why?"

"From now on she gets 35¢ a day."

"Now hold on now!"

"She is free labor now, remember?"

"She gets free room and board, don't forget..."

The captain nodded. "Ok, 20¢ a day. But she gets wages now."

"Only days she works. I will stop her from getting food from the kitchens on days she doesn't work. "

The captain nodded again. "Of course. But don't stop her from sleeping in her mom's cabin when it rains."

De Caniches shook his head "Damn Yankees!" and he stomped off.

Cassandra came up to the captain. and watched him go. "You are US Army, so your orders follow the US constitution, rather than Louisiana's? "

The Captain said, "Of course."

"I am conflicted. I am sort of obligated to tell the old man things like the Fifth Amendment to the US Constitution."

The captain grinned "Ex Post facto laws? I could have Priestly shot for that rape. if she is a slave or free. I looked it up. And he always tells you to shut up about things like that. So follow his orders and shut up. I have to enforce his authority, don't you know."

She said with mock seriousness "I will follow his orders."

"Why does he call you 'Echo' when he tells you to be quiet? "

Cassandra told him about the trip down and Cicero's story of Echo and Narcissus. They both laughed.

Cassandra brought the mail to the captain. She had a thick package with the rest of the mail.

...

"What are you reading," she asked.

"Something that has caused an uproar over in England called 'Origin of Species' I haven't read very far into it."

De Caniches asked suspiciously "That the book by that Darwin Guy? That says we are descended from monkeys?"

"People have made that claim. As I said, I haven't read all that far into it. From what I understand that isn't the main part of his argument. Mostly what he is writing about now is the ideas of a French gentleman named Lamarck. He doesn't think much of Lamarck's ideas. Oddly, he is trashing Lamarck's theories of evolution. "

"Well, he should! "

The captain sank into his pedantic mode. Listening to him made her smile." He isn't saying evolution is wrong. He has seen lots of animals and fossils that give rise to that speculation. He just thinks Lamarck is incorrect in his method. "

"Don't you think that if you paid them you might get better work out of them. "

He looked at the captain as if he had three defective heads. "You know the conditions in the sugar cane fields? You couldn't get anyone to work in those conditions for any money. "

"Men work in coal mines. And the money isn't that great."

"Whips work better. No one wants to work in the sugar fields. Or when dealing with indigo. You hypocrites up north put sugar in your coffee and drink at your blue tablecloths and say how awful we are. They don't realize just what it takes to get your sugar and indigo up to you."

"Mr Lincoln freed the slaves in the places that aren't occupied. My understanding is that my slaves are still mine, correct?"

The captain said "Those are my orders. "

"Your orders don't say anything about not whipping my property when they get uppity, do they?"

The captain clenched his fists and growled for a moment. "You can chastise them within reason, I guess. But no sadism. No glass on the whips. No more than nine strokes."

De Caniches nodded. "When you go away things will go back to normal, I guess. I can wait. "

The captain shook his head. "Universe has changed. You can't put things they were."

"There you are mistaken. We will be the sheriffs, the police, the judges. They will be illiterate and helpless. You will go away, and then we will make things back to the way were. We have the power. They will have nothing. "

"You won't be allowed to prevent them from going to school."

De Caniches laughed. "We will be in charge of education. They will come out of school more ignorant than when they went in. We will want to keep the negro in the position of slaves, if not the legal status, but slaves non the less. They aren't going to learn arithmetic and to read. We will keep them, illiterate slaves, for 200 more years. You will just ignore us. "

"You realize that if you free the negro, you are going to have all kinds of evils follow from it as night follows day. You are going to have negros sleeping with white women!"

" As opposed to white men sleeping with black women?"

"It might lead to giving women the vote!"

"I would be fine with that if it means women like Cassandra here voting in preference to men like Wilson."

"Exactly, giving votes to slaves like Cassandra!"

"A positive in my book."

"And that would mean labor unions! And people working no more than ten hours a day, or more than six days per week."

"My father already calls ten hours a full working day, and he considers a working week to be no more than 60 hours per week. He considers working men on Sunday to be sinful. His hospital he has the nurses working 40 hours a week because they sometimes work on Sunday."

"He has a hospital?"

"He regards free or reduced-priced health care as part of the worker's wages. If a worker gets hurt on the job, he pays no more than $5 to the doctor, and the first week of a hospital stay are free."

"Well, I know these anti-slavery idiots have all kinds of crazy ideas they want to try out, votes for women, prohibition, labor unions, the eight-hour day, and all kinds of silly ideas. You give into these evil people who want to end slavery, you will have all kinds of evil ideas like free love and prohibition and... "

"Free love and prohibition are not ideas that the same people share. And votes for women don't lead to prohibition. Maine has prohibition, and they don't have votes for women. I am pretty sure after Maine's experience, prohibition will go away as a silly experiment. You can't say that ending slavery will have all kinds of crazy things happening like sex between the races. I think you will see less of it with the planter class no longer having free access to black women any time they want. Romantic love occurs with people of similar appearance. I am sure with the end of rape and the preservation of romantic love we will see the separation of the races being more pronounced, rather than this crazy mixing that you are so concerned about."

"Well, just you wait! They're going to give women the vote next. The arguments are the same as giving the blacks the vote."

Captain Buchhalter sighed with frustration. "No one is talking of giving the vote to the former slaves. That would be silly. And giving votes to women is also silly. There are a few lame brains out there who think giving votes to women is a good idea, probably everyone who thinks it a good idea could fit in a 10 X 10 room with a lot of space left over."

"Just you wait. People with crazy ideas will always have another for their utopia."

"Sure, sure. 100 years from now people will be talking about trips to the moon and they will have airships that can fly you to New York, London, or Moscow in a few hours. You are full of strange notions."

had noticed that Cassandra had the plantation humming with efficiency. She was only a slave, but she had arrogated to herself more authority than was held by any of the overseers. Forms were filled out neatly, work schedules were made so everyone was at peak efficiency, for a plantation. Back home in Minnesota things would be considered slipshod and an enormous amount of time was wasted, but none of the wasted time could be laid at her feet.

She had a great deal of free time too, as did Captain Buchhalter. He began spending his free time in the office. He brought his artillery texts there and they worked the problems in the texts. They were beginning calculus with vectors and finding areas of arcs. Sometimes he was the first with a solution, but as time passed, she was beating him to a solution more and more frequently.

Some days he didn't feel like working artillery problems. He would sit with a group of like-minded soldiers and make music. He had a clarinet, the buglers would play, and two of the lieutenants had fiddles. Cassandra would come out to the grove where they made music and just enjoyed it.

There were days when he drilled the various commands. Every morning he would drill the soldiers relentlessly. She would come and watch that too. He Preened when she came, and led the men on every fancy evolution.

There were days when she had hectic times too. She had no time for him then. He felt somewhat upset by that.

There were days when they just sat and conversed. He told of his father's railroad and iron mines and timber lands and sawmills. .

The captain gradually took over the major's job over all six batteries. Cassandra served as his adjutant. She enjoyed the work. The plantation took up only five hours a day on especially busy days. She made her days quiet because of her efficiency. De Caniches noticed that things were going smoothly, and didn't bother her.

The real problem he faced was the horrible problem with sickness. It was a constant problem. There was the problem of constantly moving the latrines because the old ones kept filling up because of the 200 men under him.

Cholera was a constant threat.

Captain Buchhalter took over the telegrapher's job. Because they were in a backwater of the war they got very few telegrams. The dead telegrapher wasn't replaced because there were other, more vital, places to send them.

He was sending his routine telegrams for the week, mostly just reassuring the telegraph system that the system worked, when Cassandra came to the tent with the daily litany of complaints. He finished transmitting and prepared to listen.

She started off with the list of eggs and chickens that had been appropriated, as usual giving extravagant prices for them. Captain Buchhalter said "Enough! we go through this every week. I am willing to authorize payment for ten chickens a week. We will put men on the wheel if he catches them red-handed, but otherwise, forget it. Let me see the list of depredations. "

She gave him the list and asked "How do you keep what goes across the wires secret?"

"We have a cipher. It seems remarkably strong."

"What is it like?"

He reached into his pocket and took out a twenty-dollar gold piece. "This should cover the depredations for the week. I have signed for them. "

He put on a mock-serious expression "You aren't a Confederate spy. Are you?"

She laughed. "Not hardly. I don't think the old man knows this thing is here anymore. "

"It is a remarkably simple system at base, but it is complicated in its execution. It is in two parts, common nouns like the names of generals, colonels, rivers, and cities have other words replacing them. And the nouns that are used a lot have two or three alternate names which you are supposed to use interchangeably. The Mississippi is variously the Yellow, the Nile, and the Yangtze. The Tennessee is the Pechora and the Lena. The Cumberland is Seine, Tiber, and Amazon. The Ohio is the Danube, the Volga, and the Rhone. General Grant is Alqi, Butler is Cpunz, Sherman is Mcnaughten, Bragg is Kindness, Pemberton is reg41."

"Don't they know they know about their names?"

"Theoretically they don't. Stanton would have their heads if they interfered with the cipher, so they keep quiet. They don't need to know, so they don't"

He lapsed into a didactic mode, which always amused her. His Saxon accent became more pronounced "The next part is where it becomes fiendishly complicated. It is called The Route. Every week they change this at 4:00 Sunday morning. When you prepare a message you write it on a grid of between 8 and 12 letters. Then you follow the route when you write the message. For example, I would send a message that General Butler is going to go to Baton Rouge on the Missippi and attack General Bragg, I would send the message 'cpuns going to attack kindness at sticks using the Yangtze. I will show you. This route is a very simple one, we just start in the upper right using a 10X5 grid, and we go down one column, up the next, and down the next. Or we can start in the bottom right and we go up each column. Or we could start in the lower left, and then go to the upper right, and then alternating toward the center. Now my code is done, like so..... I will have a few random letters to fill in the rest of the grid, and voila, an incomprehensible message that the Confederates will tear their hair out trying to figure out. "

She looked at the message "ystskekatc,wegucsktagp,penwisitnu,aqaitadai,qzygstncog. That looks miserable."

"They change the route weekly. This will prevent the confederates ever getting translated in time to do anything about it."

Captain Buchhalter and Cassandra were a long way off from the rest of the lean-tos, but still visible. Cassandra was practicing the fiddle, still very new to her, and the sounds coming from it sounded as if the catgut bow was still the dying cat in really horrible misery. Major Wilkins trotted up to them. Captain Buchhalter Stood up and saluted. He was very surprised, as this was the first time that Major Wilkins had bothered his command in six months.

"Have your men prepare for inspection tomorrow morning. Afterward, there will be a pay parade. You will be responsible for all my command being ready tomorrow at 9:30. You will get the men ready for departure by Thursday to Port Gibson." He then trotted off toward New Orleans.

"That ends the lesson today, I guess."

"Shall I tell the other captains to meet you at the office?"

"Not at the office... but if you could get them to come to my tent in 20 minutes, that would be a huge help."

"I couldn't get them in 20 minutes. More like two hours. They scatter after the morning drill."

"Two hours then. Get all the lieutenants to come too. Pass the word to any sergeants you can find there will be an inspection and pay parade. Make sure that they know if any soldier misses inspection and pays parade, they are out of luck getting paid for another six months." They walked off together toward the lean-tos. "Another thing, make sure the bounty jumpers have four men surrounding them, and when the pay parade is over, have them tied to the guns until I talk to them."

"I Want to buy Cassie."

De Caniches looked up "Why?"

"I have ordered here to move to Port Hudson, and I want her to come with me. I realize Mr Lincoln's proclamation doesn't cover her. I could just have her come with me, but that would be theft. And I realize she is in no way contraband."

De Caniches leaned back. "She has all kinds of funny ideas. If you take her to Port Hudson, she becomes free. And she may just decide that she is totally free and choose to be with someone else. She was telling me just the other day that she thought women should have the vote. You don't want a woman with all these crazy notions."

"Maybe so, but I want that woman."

"Women are fickle. She may not want you."

"A chance I will have to take."

"I don't want to sell her... "

"You really have no choice. You have to pay the taxes that are due. I would prefer to buy from you than buy her at auction."

De Caniches scratched his head. "And it goes without saying I would prefer not to have my goods go to auction. That would be horrible." He looked out the window. "So many have walked off. All I have now are unattached women. And they aren't profitable."

"Come now, making cloth is far more profitable than growing sugarcane."

"When I could make the fancy cloth and I had the indigo. But the men who made the warps got called up and left for Jamaica... Making the warps was a very specialized skill. I can make only very simple weaves now... " He was silent for a while.

"I have a banker's draft for $200, and I will cover all the costs of the sale, the title, and so on. You aren't going to get a better deal."

"She won't enjoy being sold for $200."

"$200 is the time value of money. She would understand that. General Banks has a new constitution for Louisiana. $200 becomes Zero in a few months."

"You drive a hard bargain." He opened a drawer and got out the bill of sale and transfer of title forms. He went over to another cabinet and got out the title for Cassandra. "You said you will cover all the expenses of the sale?"

"Yes. The sooner you do the paperwork the sooner we will be gone. General Banks wants us on the steamboat by Thursday."

"Now about Zaynab." said De Caniches as he leaned back. "I assume she is still a virgin from what I can from what Sergeant Haferbrot has said. She has proven to be a good worker in your lines too. And she has grown up a lot. She is no longer as flat as a board. She is worth a great deal more than she was just two months ago"

"Sergeant Haferbrot has paid up for three months. He can do what he wants with her till those three months are up."

" Including taking her to Port Gibson?"

Captain Buchhalter shrugged "If that is what he wants. He may leave her here. He may take her to Port Gibson or Timbuktu. He has the rental of her for that period of time. He can do what he wants with her. "

"I so much hate you Yankees and your sharp practice."

Cassandra felt exhilarated and annoyed at the same time. She was a good horsewoman, her father's indulgence saw to that. She was riding a beautiful mare that was a joy to ride. At the same time, slaves didn't ride horses. But her new owner was ignorant of master-slave relations. Having her ride next to him was another thing that DID NOT HAPPEN. She remembered walking barefoot from St Louis. This was infinitely better. They came to a small town where a halt was ordered. The wonder of wonders, Captain Buchhalter held the horse still while she got down. She could get used to this.

He led her to a tree and had her sit down, while he got his map out and began studying it. He sat next to her. He looked very pleased about something. "We are in Pointe Coupee county." He waved his arm around. "This is still an area in rebellion according to mr Lincoln"

She looked at him expectantly. "You are a free woman now! Once you crossed the county line back there a bit, you no longer had to listen to anybody with a whip, and the full military strength of the United States will make it so."

She wondered if he were that much of a fool. No, he wasn't stupid. He could do fancy calculus problems from his textbooks in a flash. He was obviously a very competent soldier, but he seemed to expected her to dance for joy. Here she was in the middle of thousands of soldiers and she didn't have a penny and he was telling her she was free. Free to do what, precisely? She sensed that he wanted her to thank him, so she did. She tried to make it fulsome. He seemed to be offended at her lack of enthusiasm.

"I am sorry" she tried to make it in expiation. "It has been a long day and we have had a long march since breakfast. The happiest day in my life also finds me tired."

With that, he seemed to be satisfied. He went to his horse and got some hard tack out of the haversack, which he shared with her, still pleased at the wonderful boon he had granted her. She thought about what she would be eating right now at the indigo plantation. Cornbread, some fried chicken. Some raspberries... She sighed.

They came up to the construction boss's office. "We are going to have to have him build some revetments under fire. I hope he is up for it." Captain Buchhalter knocked and entered. Behind the desk was a 55-year-old black man. Cassandra squealed "Cicero! Look at you!"

Cicero said with mock dignity "That is first sergeant Marcus T Cicero!" Then he unbent and shook her hands. "You look lovely Cassie! What are you doing?"

"I am this officer's camp follower. Laundress, secretary, you name it. But look at you! First Sergeant! And you have an office."

"It isn't my office, but I am the only person who sits on it. It properly belongs to a major, but he is either drunk or drinking, so I do everything for him. The colonel doesn't care who does it, as long as it gets done. And I want it done more than the colonel." he registered the presence of Captain Buchhalter. "How may I help you?"

"I have some heavy artillery that needs to have some revetments built with embrasures. They will need to be built under fire. We will need gabions built and some trenches dug. General Banks wants the attack to take place on the northeast side of the siege works here." Captain Buchhalter unrolled a map. "He wants to have the attacking force to have the flattest approach. This appears to be the easiest path for the attacking force. "

"I have the gabions all made up. I have soldiers make them up when they aren't doing anything else. How many do you need?"

"I honestly don't know. I have never built them around a heavy artillery battery before. How big are the gabions?"

"Depends... but usually around 18" wide by 6' tall. They are pretty light until you fill them with soil. We will take a bunch extra. How many guns are in the battery? Twelve? I will have a crew of 60 go with you and the guns. When will you need them?"

"As soon as possible, but the guns move very slowly. I am going to start as soon as I leave you, so if you could have your men catch up to my command I would be most satisfied."

"I will have them start in the next couple of hours. I will have them take a map, so they should be at your position and looking for the best place for your guns the day before you. That work for you?"

"Excellent. Come along Cassandra"

She rolled her eyes. "Freedom!" She waved as she left behind the captain.

"I like the army a lot better. The discipline is less harsh and I get paid"

"You get paid? How often?"

"I have to admit it is pretty irregular. General Banks has pay parades more often than General Butler did. The last time we got paid it was for four months, which for this army practically means on time"

"Captain Buchhalter's men got paid for six months, which meant they were only one month overdue when we left for Port Gibson."

"The pay is getting better. It is handled separately from the commands, which means there is room for tons, I mean tons of confusion. "