I Am a Fugitive from a Georgia Chain Gang!

XXIV. Another Try at Breaking the Gang

C H A F T E R X X I V 'Another Try at Breaking the Gang UT NO signal yet. Was my deliverer coming? Again I looked at my shadow. It was 8 o'clock. Still no signal. Disappointment replaced hope. My shadow said 8:10—and I knew that the man who had promised to aid me was not coming. The tension in my body and mind relaxed; hopelessnessand despair settled over me. I continued my work, discouraged and baffled. Later in the afternoon, whom should I seecoming down the road, but my nameless friend! Again he stopped to talk with the guard, and again he walked up to me. When he was close enough to me for a low-toned conversation , I spoke first, and said: "Where the hell were you?" "I couldn't make it this morning/' he answered. I saw at once that he wasn't so keen about the job. Hastily, I went over the plan again, using all of my powers of persuasion to sell him the idea, and increased the remuneration by five dollars. As we had moved down the road a little distance from where we had formulated our plan the day before, I indicated another landmark at which to hide the car. My conversation with him revived his waning cour211 B 212 I Am A Fugitive age and he again promised to be there with his car on the following morning, the only change from the original plan being the new landmark, and the increase of payment from fifty to fifty-five dollars. I passed the balance of the afternoon and night in the same mental condition as the day and evening previous. The next morning, for the second time, I was eagerly awaiting the magic signal. My shadow indicated 7:45. The signal had not yet come. He had failed me once. It was very possible, I thought, that he would fail me again. It was now 8 o'clock. Still no sign of him. What could be wrong? Again bitter disappointment and despair. I began to wonder what could be this man's purpose in twice agreeing and twice failing to put in his appearance. Was he stalling for more money? Did he lack the courage? Was he planning to report me to the Warden? No matter how I analyzed these questions, I could arrive at no conclusive answer. The day wore on. It was late in the afternoon. Looking up from my work, I sawmy namelessfriend coming down the road for the third time. For the third time, he stopped a minute to talk with the guard. A few minutes later, we were engaged in conversation again. I spoke first: "What the deuce are you trying to do, kid me?" "No/5 he answered, "but I've got to be mighty careful, as you know darn well that if we should get caught, I'll be on the chain gang with you." I realized, from this remark, that he still wasn't quite sold on the proposition, and that I would have to use all Breaking the Gang 213 my powers of salesmanship to get him to give the plan a trial. I went over the whole plan again, showing him that with care and discretion we should certainly beat the posse into Atlanta and that, asAtlanta was a large city, strangers were neither unusual nor conspicuous. I also increased the remuneration to sixty dollars and, to add to his incentive, I faithfully promised him that I would send him by mail an additional hundred dollars if I should safely get up the country. This arrangement pleased him, and after making me faithfully promise to be sure and mail him the additional hundred dollars, he positively agreed to go through with the plan on the following morning with one change: instead of taking me to Atlanta, he would take me to College Park, a small suburb about fifteen miles from Atlanta, where I could catch a trolley-car and ride into Atlanta. I agreed to this change. Had I realized what this change was going to mean, I would never have accepted it. We selected a new landmark at which to hide the car, made necessary by the progress of the work of the convicts, and he continued on his way, leaving me with a strong feeling that he would not fail me this time...