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Stanton's name was mentioned even more than that of Lincoln. And Andrew
Johnson, Lincoln's Vice-
President, was evidently at best a non-entity. All Jerry could hear of
Johnson were a few snickers at the way the man from Tennessee had disgraced
himself by taking too much to drink before last month's inauguration
ceremonies.
And then at last, on Tuesday the eleventh of April, Jerry realized
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Saberhagen, Fred - After the Fact that the train was passing through Maryland,
and Washington was very near.
TEN
The church bells of the city of Washington cried peace and victory with a
thousand voices. The great national celebration, begun on
Palm Sunday, was continuing. Not only continuing, it seemed to be picking up
steam.
The train that would convey Jerry and Colleen Monahan into
Washington had halted at a watering-stop, and they, along with a number of
other passengers, had got out to stretch their legs, and enjoy the feeling of
solid silent earth beneath their feet once more.
There was no town here, only three or four houses in the midst of
Maryland woods and fields. The train, currently six or eight wooden coaches
long, waited with most of its windows open. Birds sang amid spring foliage in
a nearby grove; the stationary engine grumbled to itself as it drank from an
elevated watering-tank beside the track.
"How far from here to Washington?" Jerry asked in a low voice, squinting ahead
along the track. They must be entering the South, he thought; here even the
April sun was strong enough to make the distant rails shimmer.
"Just about ten miles. Why?"
Jerry didn't answer right away. He had been evolving a plan in his own mind,
and he decided this was the time to put it into effect.
When he spoke again it was to try another question: "Will Stan ton
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Saberhagen, Fred - After the Fact have anyone meeting us in Washington?"
The two of them were strolling trackside, now far enough from the other
passengers to let Colleen answer plainly. "Don't see how he could. He won't
even know what train we're coming in on. No one but he and Peter Watson know
he sent you to Missouri, or sent me to warn you and bring you back."
Colleen had previously mentioned Peter Watson a couple of times, saying enough
to let Jerry identify the man as some kind of high-
level assistant at the War Department. Now he said: "Some of
Baker's people obviously know about me now. And about you. Who we are, what
train we're on."
"Looks that way."
Jerry had stopped walking, and was standing looking up and down the track. "We
leave the train here," he said at last, decisively.
She took his meaning at once. "All right, if you think best. What about our
baggage? Just leave it aboard?"
He hesitated. "I don't see how that would help. If anybody's watching us
they'll know we've gone, whether we take the bags along or not. And it'll just
take us a minute to get the things off the train."
"If Baker still has an agent on the train, and he sees us go?"
"If he follows us, we'll have a chance to see who it is. If he doesn't, he'll
lose us." Jerry raised his eyes, looking for branching trackside wires.
"There's no station here, no telegraph. He won't be able to send word on
ahead."
Colleen nodded. "Then let's get moving."
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Saberhagen, Fred - After the Fact
Within two minutes the two of them had retrieved their bags from the train,
and were hiking a path across a muddy field, in the general direction of the
nearest house.
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"We'll hire a wagon here," Jerry decided. "Or else we'll walk until we find a
place where we can hire one."
And after they had found new transportation, Jerry added silently to himself,
would come the next step. It might be trickier, but somehow he would
accomplish it.
Over the past few hours he had been thinking over his situation as intensely
as the hypnotic jolting of the train would allow. In
Washington, as Colleen had just confirmed, only Stanton himself, and probably
his aide Peter Watson, were able to recognize Jim
Lockwood on sight. Jerry's trouble was that he was not Jim
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