Slavery had been divisive in United States' politics even before the United States was officially a nation. Before the Constitution could be ratified an agreement was reached that there would be no attempt to abolish slavery for twenty years after ratification. But they were not a quiet twenty years. The slavery issue simmered and frequently threatened to boil over.
By 1818, Missouri had sufficient population to petition for statehood. Most Missourians had come from the South and were pro slavery. Alabama's petition had preceded Missouri's and the admission to the Union of Alabama in 1819 had made the Senate half anti-slavery and half pro-slavery. Northern senators would not approve Missouri because it would give the Senate a pro-slavery majority.
In 1820, Maine petitioned for admission to the Union. The Senate considered a bill that would admit both territories with the proviso that Missouri be allowed to adopt a constitution allowing slavery, but that all remaining portions of the Louisiana Purchase north of the southern border of Missouri would be "free soil." That term referred to a loose confederation of abolitionists and those campaigning for free "homestead" rights. After much north-south dissention and some compromise, the Missouri Compromise was passed and Maine admitted to the Union. After the adoption of its Constitution in 1821, Missouri was also admitted as a state.
The Missouri Compromise brought a national sigh of relief. People, both north and south, felt that the contentious issue of slavery in the United States had been satisfactorily laid to rest.
Texas, when an independent country after it won its freedom from Mexico in 1838, welcomed slaveholders. By the time Texas became a state in 1845, slavery was well established. The acquisition of territory through The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848 after the United States victory in the Mexican war again made the question of slavery a major issue. Northern pressures were strong to exclude slavery from all those lands. The balance in the Senate already favored the south with the admission of Texas.
When California petitioned for statehood as a free state in 1849, the issue became volatile. Talk of secession in the south grew and the dissolution of the Union seemed eminent. Henry Clay proposed the admission of California as Free State and the organization of New Mexico and Utah as territories with no mention of slavery. For those two territories, Clay suggested 'Popular Sovereignty', meaning that the territories themselves would decide the issue of slavery when they were ready for statehood. The Senate approved Clay's proposal and again the nation sighed. The Compromise of 1850 partially nullified the Missouri Compromise but it had also surely solved the slavery issue.
But, there remained the question of the Kansas/Nebraska Territory. If the Missouri Compromise were to be followed, Kansas/Nebraska would be Free Soil. Attempts to admit Kansas/Nebraska as one Free State failed but angered the South. The South again threatened secession. In an attempt at yet another compromise, the Senate passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854 that completely nullified both the Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850. The act divided the territory north and south along the 40th parallel. It also gave both territories Popular Sovereignty.
There was little support for slavery in Nebraska. Much of eastern Kansas, however, had been populated by immigrants from Missouri and there was strong sympathy for slavery. Amos Adams Lawrence of Boston, a strong abolitionist and a heavy contributor to John Brown's abolition movement, also contributed to Eli Thayer's New England Emigrant Aid Company that financed the emigration of Free Soil and abolition sympathizers to Kansas. Approximately 1,200 New Englanders settled in eastern Kansas. Their settlement eventually became the town of Lawrence, Kansas, named in deference to their benefactor.
Rumors spread quickly in the south that 20,000 northerners had invaded Kansas. Thousands of southern sympathizers, mostly from Missouri, poured into Kansas. The political and social climate became hostile. Groups of political activists from both sides gradually became militias.
From 1854 until 1861, eastern Kansas was in virtual civil war. Atrocities abounded. Abolitionist John Brown, later of Harper's Ferry fame, and his sons dragged five pro-slavery advocates from their homes and hacked them to death at Pottawatomie Creek. Pro-Slavery militias terrorized free-state settlers and attempted to drive them from Kansas. Even after the attack on Fort Sumter, mayhem prevailed in Kansas. In 1863, the pro-slavery Quantrill's Raiders sacked and burned Lawrence, Kansas. For more than ten years, savagery was such that Kansas was referred to as Bleeding Kansas or Bloody Kansas.
It was the New England Emigrant Aid Company that brought Ruben Miderding to Kansas. Ruben had been born in New Hampshire, just a few feet from the Quebec border. His great-grandfather, Ruben, was a German Hessian deserter who had fled to the northern woods to escape capture by either the British allies of the Hessians or the Colonials. He had fathered several children with a French woman and although Ruben's family retained its German surname over several generations, his culture had been poverty-stricken French Canadian.
At twenty, Ruben saw that there was nothing for him in the New Hampshire back country. For five years, he wandered aimlessly around New England and happened to be in the Boston area when the New England Emigrant Aid Company was recruiting. Ruben had nothing to lose. He went to Kansas.
He was no more successful in Kansas than he had been in New England. Although he was not stupid, he was not sophisticated enough to understand the intricacies of the political and social situation. He did his duty by voting Free-State whenever something came to a vote but he did not get involved in political societies or militias. He earned his living by ridding the Lawrence streets of horse droppings and other litter.
When the Civil War had started in earnest in the east, Kansans knew that the future status of slavery in their "state" was no longer in their hands. What they would become depended on who prevailed in the east. That did not, however, stop the killing. As mentioned, the first of Quantrill's raids of Lawrence occurred in 1863. There would be others even after fighting had ceased in the east.
The raid of Lawrence had proven something to Ruben that he has suspected of himself. He was a very frightened and insecure man. He left Lawrence and headed west away from the fighting. He never owned land but for several years ran a few cattle on government land. He had a succession of 'wives', none legally married and none stayed that long. Most were saloon girls who agreed to come with him when they were drunk.
His low opinion of himself made him an easy foil for those with devious intentions. He had a vague sense that associating with respected men gave him respect. He was eager to do the bidding of his "friends." He went to Fort Hays after the "Indian" land was posted at the behest of those who did not want to offend the government and lose what grazing rights they still had.
Ruben had watched the boys the entire time they had been playing at the Republican River. He could have snatched a boy several times but it was never the right boy. Not until that last morning had Wili been in the river alone.
Ruben was glad it was Wili he was to grab. The boy had insulted him; made a fool of him in front of other men he was trying so hard to impress with his blustering. Grabbing Wili would give him opportunity to avenge that embarrassment. Ruben felt some sense of vindication but he tried to convince himself that he would snatch Wili for Farris who said that Buford wanted the boy. Farris said that Buford earnestly wanted to rescue the boy from the savages and to save his soul, but did not want to commit the crime of kidnapping.
Wili felt good that morning. They had had fun but they were going home - home to his Papa and Mama and his sisters. The water, cold as it was, felt so good that he decided to swim across the river - right into Ruben's clutches. Wili was grabbed, his mouth covered by Ruben's filthy hand and carried kicking and squirming a mile through the tall grass to Ruben's waiting horse. Ruben could stay low in the tall grass. A horse would be seen.
Before Ruben put the naked boy on his horse, he reminded Wili of their previous encounter at the river. Wili was frightened but he was also angry so that he projected an image of defiance rather than the fear Ruben wanted to see. They stood staring into the other's eyes; Wili becoming more and more frightened but steadfast in his challenging stare and Ruben more and more confused. Wili didn't know this but he was not in physical danger. Ruben was a foolish man, not a cruel man. He had wanted to frighten the boy not injure him. A man his size not being able to frighten a little boy didn't do much for Ruben's confidence. As he'd always known: someone from the poverty and squalor of his childhood couldn't do anything right. He set Wili on his horse, mounted up and road for his shack.
In spite of the danger of an Indian being off John Reid's land, George Raven rode for the sheriff of Cheyenne County. He sent his older son to Goodland to find Cyrus Newfield. The station master probably wouldn't send a wire for a seventeen year old Indian boy but he would for a white man. Cyrus wired Fort Hays and John in Denver.
Abraham Fox was worried and angry. His son was in some kind of danger and he was helpless to do anything. He knew that an Indian wondering around in white man's country would provide more rationalization for those who still wanted all the Indians out of Kansas. Siegfried had come to see Wili as a little brother. There was no formal school right now and he wanted to be involved in the search for Wili. He headed back to Denver.
Keechee danced and sang to the spirits for help. Christians prayed. Some cursed the white man. Others were stoic. The spirits or God or mother earth or whoever is in charge does what he/she will do. Whatever the frame of mind, all were worried and frustrated. They were human beings. Why should they be kept like an animal in a cage? Why could they not go to the aid of someone they loved? Why was the world as it was?
As they rode, Ruben gloated about the fact that that damn Colonel wasn't as smart as he thought he was. Wili ought to be proud of him for saving him from them savages. Ruben and his friends was gonna see he got a Christian up-bringing. Wili was still frightened but he also realized that it would do no good to argue with Ruben - an argument that he knew that he couldn't win right now - and he didn't want to give Ruben the satisfaction of winning. Since he got no response from the boy, Ruben stopped harassing him and most of the three hour ride was silent.
At the present, Ruben was living alone. He said nothing to Wili, got off his horse, walked into his shack, reappeared at the door holding a Winchester. Wili got the message. He was still sitting on Miterding's horse and the thought that had entered his mind to gallop off, the rifle had quickly put aside. This was very flat land. On a clear day, one could see clearly at least two miles. Wili knew enough about guns to know that if Ruben was any kind of shot, that Winchester could kill as much as a mile away.
Echo had told some stories about when he had been Obadiah. He talked about the shack he lived in. It couldn't have been this bad. Now Wili knew why Ruben smelled so bad. "Don't fret, boy. You ain't stayin' here long. I know it ain't much but it keeps the rain off.
"Don't think on runnin' off. You already know better'n to try to take my horse. I'm gonna get drunk but I'll find you. I'll put my dog on you. I'll get you 'fore you can get to the river."
Actually, Wili was relieved to hear that he wasn't going to have to stay here. No question, he was still frightened but, at least, he wouldn't have to sleep in that stinking place.
Apparently, Miterding was smarter than Wili had thought. He knew that the other boys would tell about the confrontation at the river some time ago and his Papa would come looking for Miterding. Miterding must have known that too. He was at least smart enough not to keep Wili anywhere near him. Didn't make any difference. Wherever he was, his papa would find him. It didn't occur to Wili that Abraham could not leave Indian land.
Wili had to leave some indication that he had been here. It didn't take long to think of a way. Miterding's small herd grazed close to the shack. Among the fifty or so cattle was a cow with maybe a month-old calf.
Ruben had taken off his belt and laid it on what passed for a table. With the belt were an empty holster and a sheathed knife. Wili didn't know what Ruben had done with the pistol but that made no difference. It was the knife he needed. He gave no thought to killing Ruben even though he easily could have. The man couldn't hold his liquor. He was already passed out. Wili could have killed the man but they had made several turns during that three hour ride. He wasn't sure if the river was south or east of where he was. Anyway, Wili wasn't sure he had the stomach for killing.
Wili knew all the tricks. He was surprised how quickly he found a cow that would stand still long enough for him to cover his hands with milk before she kicked at him and moved away. He walked toward the calf holding his milk covered hand in front of him. The calf did as many calves had done before, moved toward the smell of milk and started sucking his finger. Wili was quick with the knife. He had finished making the Fox mark before the calf had time to bawl.
The calf shook its head as if trying to chase some biting insect from its stinging ear. Wili wiped the blood off the blade on the calf's side and started into the shack to replace the knife when Ruben's dog barked and ran toward the west. He must have been at least a mile away but a man in a buckboard was coming toward the shack.
"Thank the Lord for your deliverance, boy."
The man looked short and old. He had white hair and a long white beard. Wili didn't know what to make of him. He seemed nice. He hugged Wili and started praying.
"Lord, God Almighty, I do thank thee for delivering this boy from the evil grasp of the savages. I pray that thou wilt smite the savages and rid this land of their foul stink. It must be an offence to thee, oh God, and it's only through thy great mercy that thou leteth them live. But thou hast been patient enough. They are children of the devil and will never accept thy salvation. Jesus told us to ask anything in His name and He would give it to us. In the name of Jesus, I demand that thou smite the evil savage Indians. Hallelujah and Amen."
The old man picked Wili up and put him in the buckboard. He didn't even go into the shack and talk to Miterding. He flipped the lines and let them slap the horse's rump, chucked at the horse and guided her west.
"A naked body is an abomination to the Lord, boy."
"Then why are we born naked?"
"You don't ask questions, Boy. The Lord said to honor thy father and mother. I am now your father. You must obey the Lord and obey me. Never question me again, Boy, or you will feel the rod of chastisement."
"You're not my father. My Papa is Abraham Fox and I love him and my mama. You might have me now but my Papa will come for me."
"The one you call your Papa is a heathen savage. If he comes on my land I will kill him. Just as God told Joshua to slay all the evil ones, God wants this land cleared of the evil savages."
"How do you know what God wants?"
"You are evil, Boy. Just as I told Colonel Reid, those Indians made you evil. But you are white and God's grace and the rod of chastisement in my hand will cleanse you of that evil.
"You are a boy. You do not question me. You listen and learn. You have already sinned against me twice. You will feel the rod and you will learn to be thankful for it."
Wili knew hate when he saw it. He thought of Broken Bough and Marvilla. Wili had dealt with hate before. But this was a hate that Wili couldn't understand. Broken Bough had watched his children murdered. Marvilla wanted to steal Papa Dieter's money and when she couldn't she hated everybody. But why did this man hate? The old man didn't seem angry. He was talking as if he were chatting with a friend. His hate wasn't anger at an event or a failure. His hate was him. It was who he was. Wili had never seen hate like that before but he didn't think he had to worry about it. His Papa would come and get him soon.
They drove west for several hours. The old man continued to "preach." He said things like, "God is an angry God." and, "Those evil savages will burn in hell." And "Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord." - stuff like that.
Wili didn't understand most of what the old man was saying so he let his mind wander. There wasn't much to see on the prairie, just miles and miles of grass. With most of the buffalo gone and not that many cattle yet, the grass got quite tall. Sitting in a buckboard, Wili could see over the top of the grass but there was really nothing to see but the horizon.
Wili got the sense that he wasn't in physical danger and he became less afraid but more and more angry. This old man had said some mean lies about his Papa. His Papa was not a savage and Wili thought the old man was probably more likely headed for the hell he was talking about than his Papa.
When the sun was high, Wili was given some jerky, bread and water. The old man kept saying things that didn't make sense. Wili didn't know that much about God but from what the man with the tall hat said, God wasn't anything like what the old man was saying. It was hot and his belly was full so - Wili went to sleep.
Ethan Newfield, sheriff of Cheyenne County had about all he wanted to take from Ruben Miterding. Ruben wasn't a danger but he was an aggravating drunk. Ethan knew that his brother, Cyrus, worked for John Reid and knew the boy. Ethan knew that Cyrus would want to come up to help look for Wili.
Ethan got a small posse together and when Cyrus arrived, they went to Ruben's shack. Ruben swore he knew nothing about the boy. Ethan's men went through Ruben's filthy shack and wondered around the area looking for other places that the boy might be hidden. They didn't find the boy but something caught Cyrus' eye. He untied his rope, twirled a loop and galloped after a calf.
"Look at this, Ethan. That's Abe Fox's mark and it's new cut. The boy's here somewheres."
Ruben tried to protest that a coyote probably nipped that calf's ear.
"You're a liar, Ruben Miterding! I know Abe Fox's mark and I know how Wili makes it. Wili's here. Where is he?"
As Cyrus was talking, Ethan laid the muzzle of his pistol behind Ruben's ear. "My brother's askin'. I'm tellin'. You tell me where that boy's at or you won't tell nothin' to nobody ever again."
Ruben trembled and sputtered. "He come to me. Weren't my idea. He said ain't right that boy livin' with them savages. Said Buford'd make a Christian of him."
"Who's Buford?"
"Don't know. Farris just say Buford don't want that boy livin' with them Indians."
"Who's Farris."
"Just Farris. Live over to Colorado."
Ethan and his men mounted up. "If I don't find that boy alive I'll come back here and do more than what I done with this pistol."
They headed back toward St. Francis. Cyrus said to his brother, "Mama'd tan your hide did she see you doin' a man like that."
"Well, Mama just ain't up to date on the latest interrogation techniques."
"You think he's tellin' the truth?"
"Most skittish man I ever knowd. He didn't know but what I meant what I said. He ain't dumb. He's too smart to take a chance. He's tellin' the truth. We'll go on back and wire Reid. I know he's out lookin'."
John Reid had already sent a party of five men to Buford Sidell's place. They reported that Buford acted out of his mind and would say nothing. His wife denied knowing anything about the boy. They had looked around but found no sign that Wili was on the place.
When John was told that Wili was missing, Buford Sidell was the first person who came to mind. Buford had been the most vocal and most persistent in his complaints about John leaving that boy with the Indians.
Buford was probably fifty years old, maybe older. He was another of the New England immigrants. He had apparently been a man of means in Boston because he had the money to buy a large spread north east of Denver almost to the Nebraska border - up near Crook. He owned several thousand acres but ran very few cattle. He couldn't keep help.
Buford was a self-appointed prophet. He saw himself as a "voice crying in the wilderness." As far as Buford was concerned, every preacher had it wrong. Buford knew the truth and he was out to teach the world the fear of God. Buford's God was a vengeful God, a God who punished sin and sin was whatever Buford said it was. As Buford viewed his fellow men, he realized that he was the only one without sin. He even feared for the eternal fate of his wife.
Buford had inherited his money. Because of his constant "preaching" he found it impossible to relate to anyone in any sort of positive manner. The New England Emigrant Aid Company provided the opportunity to get out of sinful Boston and to do the Lord's work. He had seen himself as the chaplain of the Abolitionist movement but his innate self-righteousness was too much even for them. His wife suggested that they buy the ranch. Off by themselves, there wouldn't be people to aggravate.
Buford's disposition was eerily pacific. There was none of the bellicosity of most hateful people. Buford projected the placid image of the genuinely pious but his true personality was inquisitional. That one could be so unemotionally hateful and cruel was truly perplexing.
Besides the house, there were two other buildings on the Sidell place. One was obviously a horse stable and the other looked like a church. It had a kind of belfry and a cross on top of that. It was small but more than adequate. Buford "held" services every Sunday but his only congregant was his wife.
Buford tied off the horse at the hitching rail outside the stable. He lifted the horse whip from its stand. "Come boy, you must feel the rod of chastisement."
Wili didn't move. For the first time since the Breed, Wili was terrified. Marvella angered him but never terrified him. Why was this man doing this? What did chastisement mean? What had he done?
Again, without show of emotion, the man took Wili by the arm and pulled the boy from the buckboard. He laid the whip across the seat and took a rope from the back of the buckboard. Buford made a loop around one of Wili's wrists, draped the rope over the hitching rail then looped it around Wili's other wrist. The boy was firmly tied and he tried to ready himself for the lash of the whip. Buford picked up the whip and pulled back ready to strike.
"You put that whip on that boy, so help me God, I'll kill you."
Buford's wife was standing just outside the house, rifle stock at her shoulder, muzzle pointed straight at Buford.
Now Buford registered emotion. It was shock. He stood, silent, confused, staring at his wife. When he had recovered enough to speak his tone was almost that of a whimpering child. "What are you doing, woman? This boy must feel the chastening hand of the Lord."
"That's just it, Buford. It's time you learn that you are not the Lord. I've lived with you for thirty years. I bore you nine children and watched you drive every one of them away with your filthy rags self-righteousness. None will have anything to do with you and since I let it happen, none will have to do with me."
"They are all evil sinners. You were right not to interfere with the chastening hand of the Lord."
"Look at your hand, Buford. Do you see any nail marks? That's not the hand of the Lord. It's the hand of a man, Buford - a man. Since Lawrence, I've done a lot of praying and thinking. I thought I was being a good Christian wife. I've come to see that I was instead a tool of the devil..."
"Are you saying that I'm the devil? The Book says that it is an unforgivable sin to attribute the works of God to the devil. I am doing the works of the Lord."
"You are a very sick man or a very evil one. A long time ago you stopped doing the works of the Lord and in your mind, you became the Lord. You like to hurt people, Buford, and you use God as an excuse to do it. It will stop now!
"I wondered for years why I let you beat our children. Did I allow that because I was afraid that if I tried to stop you, you'd beat me? I pray to God that's not the reason. If that is the reason, I'm more evil than you are.
"I thought I was being a good Christian wife. I was being subject unto my husband. I was obeying my husband. But God has shown me that you are not my husband. A husband loves his wife. You don't love anyone but yourself. I don't need to be subject unto an evil man.
"I agree, that child should not live with the Indians. The marshal or the army will come but I will help you hide him. But if you intend to whip him, you better kill me because if you don't, I will kill you.
"Untie that boy. You come on in the house, boy. What's your name?"
Buford stood dumbfounded. He was not really thinking. Habit reigned. He again lifted the whip. Leah fired a shot that hit the stable just a few inches above Buford's head. "You know that I'm a better shot than that. Untie the boy!"
His movements were trancelike. He removed the rope, leaned against the stable and slid down to a seated position - staring at nothing.
Leah remade a pair of Buford's britches for Wili. Wili hated them but he knew he must wear them. Buford was acting very strangely. He didn't talk. He seemed not to see anyone but Wili. Wili was sure that if Buford ever got him alone, he'd horse-whip him. Wili thought it wise never to get too far from Leah.
Buford fed his horses and rode out to keep an eye on his few cattle. He ate with Wili and Leah and he prayed before they ate. But mostly he seemed confused, disoriented, bewildered except with Wili. Wili knew he was plotting. The boy stayed very close to Leah.
Leah was kind to Wili but steadfast. Wili must understand it was for his best that she would not take him back to the Indians. Wili tried his best to make her understand that his Indians were moving to the new ways, that they were not savages and that he loved his Papa and Mama. Leah was sympathetic but unmoved. "You are just a boy, Honey. You don't know what's best for you. Your Indians might be kind now but they are Indians. They can go on the warpath any time and then they will become savages. You are a sweet boy. I do not want you to become a savage."
Three times over the next two months soldiers came. Something was really wrong with Buford but Leah was composed and congenial. She explained that Buford was ailing but it was nothing serious. He'd just have to change his ways and he'd be fine. The lieutenant took that to mean change his activity or diet and thought nothing more of it. Leah denied knowing anything about the boy and prayed every night that God would understand that she bore false witness to save Wili from a life of savagery.
Wili tried to wheedle directions from Leah but she could see through what Wili tried to frame as innocent questions. But Wili would not give up. He knew that Leah would not tell him how to get back to his mama and papa. In frustration, it seemed, he began to scratch with a horse shoe nail on the weathered siding of the stable and the "Church." Buford paid no attention and to Leah it was just inane scribbling. It was doing no harm and allowed the boy to work out his disappointment.
Each time the soldiers had come, Leah put Wili in the storm cellar. Wili could have run from Leah but that would put him alone where Buford could get to him. When Leah told him to get into the cellar, he went. The door to the cellar was concealed under a rug on the platform behind the pulpit of the "church." It had been Buford's intent to dig the cellar from the church to the house - about twenty feet - but his "preaching" drove the workers away. He had intended to make another entrance from the house so that the cellar could also serve as a root cellar.
The men had made ten feet before they quit so Leah would take Wili as far into the cellar as she could. She tied his hands and feet with soft rags not wanting the chaffing that would come from a hemp rope. Each time she left him with, "I know you don't understand this now but when you've grown you will thank me."
It was impossible for anyone to arrive at the Sidell's unnoticed. The flat terrain allowed vision up to two miles and even if it was not a clear day or it was night, the dogs gave warning - more than enough time for Wili to be hidden. Wili would holler and yell but the depth of the cellar, the barking of the dogs or the howl of the almost constant wind made Wili's vocal efforts ineffectual.
Abraham had to have some answers. Against his better judgment, he left Indian land and rode to Denver. Fortunately, he made it without incident. He begged John to give him three soldiers and let him look. He was an Indian. As a boy, his father had taught him well how to see sign - insignificant sign that the unskilled eye of a white soldier might miss. John sympathized but still felt that Wili's kidnapping had mostly to do with causing the Indians to leave their land and give cause for their relocation to Darlington. Even an Indian with soldiers was too risky. John agreed to send another party to Sidell's and he escorted his friend back to Indian land himself.
Siegfried had gone on two of the missions to the Sidell's. If they were going out again, he was going too. He'd come to love that stubborn, feisty little Knabe.
Again, Leah insisted that she knew nothing of the boy. Buford now seemed totally mindless. They could get nothing from him. The lieutenant sent the men to make another search of the place while he continued to grill Leah. He got nowhere.
They were sure that Wili was not hidden somewhere out on the range. On the second visit, they had brought dogs that had been given Wili's scent. They picked it up but never left the area of the buildings. Wili could have been taken on a horse or buckboard but there was too much fresh scent here. The boy had to be here somewhere. When they had brought the dogs, they always seemed to end up at the door of the "church." The building had been searched several times. The boy was not there.
The lieutenant was about to call it off when something caught Siegfried's attention. He had never noticed those scratches before. He studied them for just a moment and then shouted, "He's in the storm cellar."
It had not been inane scratching. Wili had scratched the German words "storm cellar" several places on the stable and "church."
Leah briefly protested that they had no storm cellar but when the lieutenant threatened to tear down every building on the place, she relented.
The first thing Wili did was hug Siegfried profoundly. Then, he tore off his britches and ran. He was free again.