“Do you want to work on my place?”
Frederick was so surprised by the question that he barely managed to gasp, “Oh, yes, sir! I do, sir!”
The master’s next words were louder.
“Then get down to the bottom tract.” He pointed with his whip. “And hurry!” he almost shouted.
Without another word the boy streaked off across the field. Master William yelled for his horse and went riding lickety-split after him. The yard folks stared: Well!
Some of the boys tried to console Frederick that evening. They considered field work low drudgery and held themselves aloof from the “fiel’ han’s.” But Frederick considered himself fortunate. He liked Mr. Freeland, liked the way he had told an older worker to show him, liked the way he had gone off, leaving them together.
He found he was to bunk over the stable with Sandy and John. John was Henry’s brother, but Henry slept in the house where he could answer a summons. Handy occupied a cabin with his mother and sister. Before Frederick went to sleep that first night he knew all there was to know about these four, who were to be his closest friends. Sandy, though still owned by Mr. Grooms, had been hired out for the season as usual to Mr. Freeland. He told Frederick that his wife Noma was well. He spent every Sunday with her as always. Some Sunday, he promised, he would take Frederick to see her. The mother of John and Handy had died while they were quite young. They had never been away from Freelands, and were curious about what went on “outside.”
Never had Frederick enjoyed such congenial companionship. The slaves at Freelands had all they wanted to eat; they were not driven with a lash; they had time to do many things for themselves. Aunt Lou was an exacting overseer, but Aunt Lou could be outwitted. After his grueling labor at Covey’s, Frederick’s duties seemed very light indeed. He was still a field hand, but he preferred work in the open to any service which would bring him under the eyes of the Old Missus. Since he had no business in the house or out front, he could stay out of her sight. Once in a while he would look up to find Master William watching him at work, but he seldom said anything.
Frederick was growing large and strong and began to take pride in the fact that he could do as much hard work as the older men. The workers competed frequently among themselves, measuring each other’s strength. But slaves were too wise to keep it up long enough to produce an extraordinary day’s work. They reasoned that if a large quantity of work were done in one day and it became known to the master, he might ask the same amount every day. Even at Freelands this thought was enough to bring them to a dead halt in the middle of a close race.