The Triumph of Grace by Kay Marshall Strom Page B

body, yet the bindings around her chest felt more crushing each day. Tonight she feared they would squeeze the life right out of her.
    Cabeto! Cabeto! Grace struggled to grasp hold of his image and trace it in her mind. Piercing black eyes that could see clear through to her soul . . . broad nose that flared when he was angry . . . a serious mouth that knew well how to laugh . . . hands strong enough to tear limbs from a tree, yet gentle enough to cradle a child . . .
    But Grace's mind continued to return to the young boy on the deck above, chained fast to the rail. All afternoon he had stood in the hot sun and stared out at the wide expanse of water, but with not one drop to moisten his parched lips. All night he would remain chained there through the cold darkness, and tomorrow and tomorrow night, too. How frightened Jackie must be! And how terribly miserable with thirst!
    " Yes, Cabeto," Grace mouthed silently. " I know what you would do."
    Quietly Grace slipped from her hammock and crept up the ladder to the main deck. She slid into the shadows, where she moved soundlessly along the bulkhead to a spot just behind where Jackie was chained. In the light of the half moon, she could see the outline of the boy. He had crumpled down onto the deck. The guard Captain Hallam had posted over him lay in a circle of lines, his head thrown back, snoring.
    Soundlessly Grace moved further down the deck to the water barrel. Carefully she picked up the ladle.
    Should anyone have a mind to bring water or food to the prisoner, the same punishment awaits him. The captain's words rang clear in her mind. Awaits her. The same punishment especially awaits her.
    Slowly, carefully, Grace lowered the dipper into the water barrel. It made the tiniest plink of a noise. Just as carefully she drew it out again. Grace tucked herself back into the shadows and eased her way over to the boy.
    "Jackie," Grace breathed.
    "Ashok!" Jackie gasped in surprise.
    The guard shifted in his sleep and readjusted his position.
    "Shhh!" Grace cautioned, breathing her words. "I brought you water. Quickly now!"
    She held the dipper to the boy's sun-burnt lips. Jackie gulped ravenously.
    The guard stirred and stretched himself.
    Grace dropped to her knees and pressed against a stack of barrels.
    "Is that you, boy?" the guard asked.
    "Y . . . yes," Jackie stammered. "I's . . . I's just lickin' me dry lips."
    "Lick 'em more quiet," the guard said. He stretched again and readjusted himself to a more comfortable position on the lines.
    Grace sank back into the shadows. She edged to the water barrel, where she carefully slid the dipper back into place.Moving to the ladder, she slipped down to the berth deck below.
    "What is you doin', coolie?" a voice growled at her in the darkness.
    "Jus . . . taking in a breath of fresh air, is all," Grace said.She pushed her way through the rows of hammocks until she found her own.
    Grace's hammock swayed with the rhythm of the ocean swells—back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. This time Cabeto's face readily came to her. This time it lay gentle in her mind.
    The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want . . .
    The Good Shepherd. Yes, even now He carried Cabeto high upon His shoulders. Surely, in that lofty position, Cabeto was safe and protected.
    Grace believed that.
    She must believe it.
    Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me . . .
    "Good Shepherd," Grace prayed, "carry me, too. Oh, please . . . carry me, too!"

15
    C aleb watched Juba remove his white man shoes and carefully lay them on the edge of the rice field before he stepped onto the sodden ground. With his first step, Juba sank clean up to his bare ankles in mud.
    Dat man has somethin' important on his mind, Caleb thought.
    Caleb forced his hoe back into the muck. But out of the corner of his eye, he watched Juba pick his way through the field toward him.
    Kit, in the next rice field, also saw the driver. He,