Davis went on to put an end to slavery?’
Liam nodded. ‘So it seems. There was an uproar among all the slave owners in the south, of course. But then when convoys of British ships stuffed with money and food and weapons started arriving, I suppose the poor common people of the South figured out maybe supporting the arguments of the rich slaveholders wasn’t doing them any favours!’
‘1865,’ Liam said, looking down at his notes. ‘Davis announces the Freedom Act. It made it a crime for one man to be owned by another. There were still many who claimed by doing this the southern states’ economy would completely crash. That freed slaves would kill their former masters … run riot in the streets.’
Lincoln raised a shaggy eyebrow. ‘And did they?’
‘No.’ Liam shook his head. ‘It all seems to have worked out well. By then, though, British money and troops and supplies were flooding in. The Confederacy held together and the freeing of slaves was not the end of the world for them … as they’d feared.’
Sal leaned forward. ‘So go on.’
‘The year after, in the north, President Bell made a similar announcement, the Proclamation of Liberty. Which looks like it was almost, word for word, a copy of the South’s one. But it was enough of a gesture to encourage the French and several other European nations to put their support behind the North.’ Liam looked up from his exercise book. ‘And from that point onwards the war wasn’t about slavery any more, because both sides of the struggle had turned their back on it.’
He put his notes down and reached for his bowl of stew. He hungrily spooned in a mouthful.
‘So, that as far as you got?’ asked Sal.
He nodded, his mouth full. ‘I’mnnn goinnnnn to mmmeeeed sommme mooore ’ater ommm,’ he sputtered, juice dribbling down his chin.
Lincoln gazed into the flames in front of him. ‘I have, I must admit, not dwelled a great deal on the notion of slavery. Just that it is the way of things. The order of things. That a white man is better suited to spend his time on matters of the mind, the black man to be merely a beast of burden. Just like a farmyard, every beast has its particular role to –’
‘Chuddah!’ Sal’s jaw hung open. ‘How could you actually believe something like that?’
Lincoln stroked his bearded chin thoughtfully. ‘It is a commonly held perception. After all it is white men who enslaved black men with their superior technology. Is history not the story of more advanced races and civilizations conquering other –’
‘Oh, right! Does that make me a beast of burden?’ she said sharply. ‘Because my skin’s brown?’
‘On the contrary.’ He shrugged casually and offered her a well-intended smile. ‘Despite your brown skin – being a half-negro? A mulatto? – it seems quite clear to me that you are in fact a very bright child. I –’
Liam winced at Lincoln’s choice of words.
‘Ughh! I don’t have to listen to this!’ Sal placed her bowl of stew on the floor and stood up. ‘People like you don’t exist in my time! It may not be such a great time but at least we don’t have to listen to … to ignorant pinchudda like that!’ She turned away and stormed out of the kitchen.
Lincoln looked at Liam, perplexed. ‘What is the matter with the girl?’
‘The way you said what you said. It … well, it could’ve come out sounding better.’
Lincoln’s brow lowered into a dark scowl as his gaze returned to the fire. ‘I meant praise by what I said.’
Liam finished his stew and set his bowl down. ‘We should all get some sleep if we’re to get going again tonight.’ He got up. ‘Bob, how long have we got until it’s dark?’
‘Four hours and fifty-two minutes, Liam.’
‘All right, will you wake us up then?’
‘Affirmative.’
Liam headed out of the kitchen’s back door into the weed-strewn yard to find Sal sitting on a squeaking swing.
‘You all right?’
‘He’s a racist!’
Liam stood beside the frame. He rested his hand on its paint-flecked surface and felt its unsteady sway. ‘He’s from 1831. That’s the way people speak and think back then. They didn’t know any better. He didn’t mean anything nasty by it.’
She shook her head. ‘I’ve never been … never had something like that said to me before!’ She looked up at him. ‘I feel like he’s just rubbished me … my parents … everyone I’ve ever known, just by saying what he said. Judging