Midnight Rescue by Lois Walfrid Johnson Page A

whatever he steals disappear.
    Sam McGrady was seen climbing over the wall of the prison by Nate Johnson of Stillwater and three friends from the steamboat
Christina
. At that time Sam was wearing gray pants and a white shirt. As Nate and the others tried to report his escape, they were involved in the accident reported elsewhere in this paper.
    A logger from the upper St. Croix River remembers seeing a man wearing the gray pants, wool cap, and red and blue jacket that is the usual dress of Stillwater prisoners. The escaped prisoner may have hidden in the cave used to store food for the cook shack. If so, he could have boarded a steamboat and left this area.
    Sam McGrady may be armed and is thought to be dangerous.
    Libby gasped.
That’s the man I saw in the store at Prescott! That’s exactly what he was wearing. So he has to be the person who threw the rope around Jordan last night!
    Her heart in her throat, Libby snatched up the newspaper and raced out of the room.
    When Libby found Pa in his cabin, he too had bad news.A man had just reported a three-piece suit and a white shirt missing.
    Libby frowned.
That well-dressed man who came on deck while I talked to Caleb and Jordan. That man was wearing a three-piece suit. But so are a lot of other men on board.
    “Let me guess,” Libby said. “It’s a suit like any first-class passenger would wear.”
    Pa grinned. “As Jordan would say, ‘You got it!’”
    “If only I could have caught a better look at the prisoner’s face,” Libby said. More than once she had tried to remember what the man looked like when he came over the wall. She had been too far away to see even the color of his eyes.
    When Libby showed Pa the newspaper article, he said, “I’m not surprised. At least we know who we’re looking for.”
    After a search of the
Christina
, Libby found Caleb and Jordan in the baggage room with each of them sitting on a large trunk. As she drew near they stopped talking, and Libby felt sure they were making plans.
    Libby handed Caleb the newspaper. When she sat down, Caleb read the article aloud. Jordan looked over his shoulder, as though hoping he could match Caleb’s words with words he had learned to read.
    “Uh-oh!” Caleb exclaimed when he finished. “Maybe I did you wrong, Libby. I wouldn’t be surprised if Sam McGrady picked up our cookies as he came on board.”
    “I got the feelin’ I know that man already,” Jordan said. “And I sure don’t like that rope of his.”
    “He must be the man I saw in the store at Prescott,” Libby said.
    “If you’re right, you’re the only one on board who knows what he looks like,” Caleb told her.
    Libby hadn’t thought about that. “You mean I’m the only one who can identify him?”
    “Yup,” Caleb answered. “And he sure knows who you are with your red hair.”
    “My
auburn
hair.” As Libby tossed her head, her long hair swung around her shoulders. But Caleb had something more important in mind.
    “We’re just making final plans to rescue Jordan’s mother.”
    Libby jumped to her feet. “I’ll leave so you can talk.” For the first time she felt glad that Jordan and Caleb would make the trip without her. At least Jordan would be off the boat, away from Sam McGrady. “If I don’t see you before you go, have a safe trip.”
    But Jordan stopped her. “Hold on there, Libby. Me and Caleb was talking about something.”
    Libby looked from one to the other.
Arguing, you mean
, she thought. When she sat down again, Jordan held out a slate.
    “Caleb taught me how to write
Burlington
,” Jordan said proudly. He erased the name and drew a line that stood for the Mississippi River. Next to that line Jordan put a dot, then a
B
for Burlington.
    Farther down the Mississippi, Jordan carefully printed a
K
next to a dot for Keokuk, Iowa. Then he drew a line for the Des Moines River. Inland from Keokuk, he put a third dot, and the letter
C
.

    “Cahoka,” Jordan said. “In northeast Missouri. That’s