Frog's Run

Frog - Chapter Two

Frog awoke to Gully’s roaring laughter outside the hut. Frog never understood what it was that he found so funny and he how he could be so happy all the time. Some people are just blessed that way he thought. It was just before sunrise and he knew that it was time to eat. He elbowed JoJo to wake him up too. “Come on,” he grumbled, “it’s time to go eat.”  They walked outside of the hut and was each handed a wooden cup full of pinto beans and a piece of bread.

“Good morning to you Frog, good morning to you JoJo,” said Moses as he handed them the beans and bread. “I slept quite well after all. I trust you two did as well. Eat up because it’s going to be a long hot day, yes sir. You’ll need your strength today.”

Frog and JoJo were glad to do as they were told and even scraped the inside of the cups with their fingers to get every last drop. When they were finished Frog collected the cups and washed them from a bucket of water that was sitting outside the hut. He then emptied the bucket and went to the well and filled it up again. Frog was small but very strong for his age and even though it was a bit of a walk from the well to the field, he had no trouble toting the full bucket all the way without stopping.

  His daddy and the others were there ready to start work when he arrived and the sun was up ready to issue it's daily beating upon them. Frog’s daddy called to him as soon as he put the water down. He pulled Frog away from earshot of the others and spoke to him in a hushed voice

“Frog listen, want you to be sure to stay with us close.  Only have about 3 more weeks to get this harvest in and I don’t want you runnin’ off. Overseers are ill tempered enough, and you know it’s even worse at harvest time. I want you to promise me, no runnin’ off.”

“Yes daddy,” he replied, “I promise.”

“Good. Now, want you to be good to JoJo. He never did wrong to you an’ he’s got nobody on this earth. At least we have each other, me and you. Won’t hurt us to share that what we have with someone else. Want you to promise me.”

Frog looked down, averting his eyes from his daddy’s gaze. He didn’t want to share his daddy with JoJo. He felt his daddy was the only thing that belonged just to him. He also didn’t want his daddy angry at him so after a moment of silence, he gave in. “Yes sir, I promise,” he said looking up meekly.

“That’s fine son, just fine. Now go get your sack and let’s get busy pickin’ before we get in trouble.”
  The days were long and boiling. The work was tedious and hard. Many would pass out from dehydration and had to be carried from the field. At the end of the day their backs and feet would ache and the raw cotton would rub their hands bloody. Gully would make a salve out of lard, turpentine and poke root for them to rub on their hands at the end of the days work. They would then wrap them in a rag as they slept. The days went on and on with seemingly no end in sight. However, true to his word, Frog was good to JoJo and the ice between them finally broke. They would laugh and sing songs as they worked and Frog would make up stories about pirates and ship battles to make the day go by. It didn’t take long before JoJo was also infatuated with ships and the sea as much as Frog was. One morning Frogs daddy told him that he wasn’t going to be working with him that day.
 
“Frog, me and Gully and some of the other men are going over to that new field that just was cleared and start diggin’ trenches for the water. You and JoJo stay here and keep working. The harvest is almost in, only about four or five more days I think. Just stay out of trouble and keep busy. Moses will be here with you and you best mind him”

They did as he said and went straight to work. It was about mid morning that Moses left them to make a trip to the outhouse as he did every morning at this time. As soon as he was out of sight, Frog whispered over to JoJo.

“Hey, let’s take off for a spell and play pirates. I’ve got some sticks hidden just beyond that patch of trees yonder.”

“Are you c-crazy?” said JoJo. We’ll get c-c-caught for sure. I’m not about to go g-get myself b-beat, not today, n-no sir!”

“What are you scared? I’ve done it plenty of times. Besides, the crop is almost in and no one will catch us anyhow. I know just how to do it. You just crawl down low through the rows and when you get to the edge of the field, you sneak a look. As long as no one is watching, you just make a run for it and dive in the grass. We’ll do the same coming back. No harm in it.”

JoJo thought for a moment, uncertain. “I don’t n-n-know frog. Your daddy will sure be m-mad at us.”

“He won’t even know,” replied Frog. “He’ll be at that new field all day and we’ll be back before the afternoon meal. Moses won’t say anything either. He never does.”

“Well, I guess s-so. J-Just for a little while,” said JoJo finally giving in.

JoJo followed Frog as they crawled on their hands and knees to the edge of the field. Frog stuck his head up briefly and took a good look. All the other slaves were busy working. Frog could see one of the white overseers at the far edge of the field sitting on his horse. He was turned away from them looking in the other direction dipping into his tobacco pouch. Now was the time thought Frog. He slapped JoJo on the back and took off like a lightning bolt. He reached the edge of the field and dove out of sight into some high grass. JoJo could see him poke his face up and wave to him to follow. JoJo did the same as Frog had done, although no where near as fast. When they were safe in the grass, they laid there still for several minutes as quiet as they could. Finally Frog stuck his head up for another peek. He could see the white overseer still sitting on his horse at the far end of the field. The overseer was leaving, heading to another field away from them. Frog gave a sigh of relief and the two boys disappeared into the tree line.

From across the field Chester spied the youths sneaking into the tree line. He couldn’t help but curse under his breath at the sight. He quickly glanced around him. He could see one of the overseers riding off in the opposite direction as the boys. That was good thought Chester. His master had told him that if that dumb stutterin’ boy caused any trouble and didn’t work, he would take Chester’s other hand from him. Chester was mad enough to chew nails. When he caught up to that boy, he thought, he would whip that sand colored skin right off him.

“I’m coming aboard that ship and taking it from you Captain JoJo. The Lady’s Luck shall be mine!

“N-Not of k-kill you first! You jus’ c-come on if you’re man enough.”

Fog leapt off a log lunging at JoJo, wildly waving a birch stick at him. JoJo backed up a couple steps and began swinging his own stick. A loud crack would sound as the two sticks would make contact.

“You’ll n-never take my ship Frog!”

“Oh yeah, well my blade is bigger than yours. You better watch out that you don’t get gutted, JoJo.” In fact, Frog’s stick was much longer than JoJo’s. Considering JoJo’s size advantage, Frog thought it best to even it up a bit. Frog soon realized that he was much faster than JoJo and could easily dance around him. Frog waited for JoJo swing hard and would dance in the opposite direction away from the blow. This frustrated JoJo.

“Are you goin’ to f-fight or r-run?”

“I can’t help it if you’re slow,” Frog laughed. Just then, ducking away from another of JoJo’s wild swings, Frog danced behind him and smacked him on the back of his legs.

“OUCH!” screamed JoJo. “I’m goin; to g-get you for that!” JoJo threw his stick down and charged towards Frog. Frog turned to try to flee but JoJo was on him, tackling him from behind. His forward momentum carried them both just a little to close to the edge of an embankment. The two boys went over the edge of the bank and rolling down to the bottom of a dried, leaf covered stream bed. When the rolling finally came to a stop, the two boys looked up at each other covered in leaves and laughed aloud.

There was a sudden movement in the bushes at the top of the bank. Frog and JoJo were instantly silent, frozen in place. Frog drew close to JoJo and whispered to him, “Hide in the leaves.”

They both were as quiet as they possibly could be as they laid down prone, trying to blend in to the background. Suddenly a horse broke through the brush, pausing at the top of the bank, just 20 yards from where they laid. Frog concentrated his breathing. He didn’t want to make a single sound.

The overseer paused at the top of the bank looking down into the river bed momentarily, then steered his horse down the bank. As he got to the bottom he stopped, staring in Frog and JoJo’s direction.

“Who’s there?” he called out. Frog and JoJo made no sound and didn’t move a muscle. “I said who’s there? Answer me now!”

Frog felt his heart in his throat. He stood up slowly and JoJo stood up behind him. “Frog sir, and JoJo,” he said looking down and away from the overseer. 

“Why you skulking down here?  Have you been here all day? asked the overseer.   

“No sir,” said Frog.

“Where you been all day then?”

“Pickin’ in the field sir.”

“What you doing over here boy?”

Frog made no answer.

The overseer thought for a moment then began to dismount his horse. “That won’t do at all. Get down,” he said as he approached Frog. Frog got down on his knees. The overseer walked to his side and pulled a flexible rawhide whip from his belt, about 5 feet in length. It was fat at the handle end and got increasingly narrower until it reached the tip. The overseer looked over at JoJo, “Get from behind me and sit down over there,” he said pointing to a place in front of Frog. “You’re going to get yours next.”

As JoJo did what he was told, the overseer raised the whip back over his head and swung it down across Frog’s shoulders. Frog had never been whipped before like that. The whipping he got from his daddy was nothing compared to this. The pain was so intense, Frog instantly winced and tears began to run down his face. He wasn’t going to scream he told himself. He was going to take his whipping but he wasn’t going to scream or beg.

The overseer raised the whip up again and back down across Frog’s back. All JoJo could do was look on in horror at what was happening to Frog, knowing that there was nothing he could do to stop it. The overseer raised the whip up for the third time and began to swing it down, when his arm was grabbed from behind and the whip snatched from his hand. Startled, the overseer turned and stumbled backwards falling on his butt. Frog, seeing him fall, turned on his knees to see what was happening. He looked behind him to see his daddy standing there with the whip in his hand.

The overseer was furious. His face turned as red as a beet. He quickly jumped back up to his feet staring angrily at Frog’s daddy. “How dare you!” he screamed. “I’m goin’ to kill you for that.” The overseer turned and ran towards his horse where he had a rifle holstered to the side of the saddle. Before he could unholster the rifle, Frog’s daddy was on him, wrapping the whip around his neck. The overseer reached grabbing at the whip. He could barely even get his fingers around it however, as Frog’s daddy tightened the whip around his throat as hard as he could. The overseer fought with all his might to free himself. He tried to kick, he tried to elbow Frog’s daddy in the ribs but it all was no use. Frog’s daddy had crushed the overseer’s windpipe and strangled the life from him.

When he was completely still and his arms dropped down to his side, Frog’s daddy let go of the overseer and he dropped to the ground in a lump. Frog’s daddy rushed over to Frog.

“You okay Frog? Did he hurt ya much?”

“I’m okay daddy. It sure does sting though.”

Frog’s daddy pilled up the back of Frog’s shirt to inspect his wounds. “Well, it’s goin’ to welt up real good but the skin isn’t broken. Can you stand up?”

“Yes sir,” said Frog as he struggled just a little trying to stand. His daddy grabbed him by his arm and helped him to his feet. “We need to get going before we get caught. Come on JoJo, help him walk while go ahead.”

  JoJo helped Frog up the embankment and back towards the field, following the path taken by Frog’s daddy.

Chester couldn’t believe what he just witnessed; a negro killing a white master. There was going to be hell to pay on this plantation now, this was a certainty. Chester wasn’t going to catch any of it though. He was going to make sure of that. Just as soon as he told the master what had happened, he would be back in the house. That meant better food, better clothes and better work. Chester ducked behind a large oak until Ira and the boys passed by. As soon as they were out of sight, Chester hurried as fast as he could back to the plantation house, grinning at his luck.