Leppard, Lois Gladys - [Mandie 02] (6 page)

Morning Star understood and stopped to raise her face and hold her hand on her heart as she prayed in Cherokee.

“Please, God, guide and direct us to our lost children!” Elizabeth implored. “We put our faith in you!”

They quickly caught up with Wirt as he climbed through thick, wet underbrush. Morning Star was experienced in this kind of thing, while Elizabeth was hardly a match for the dense undergrowth in the pouring rain. But in her determination to find the children, she quickly adapted to the way the Indians were stepping and making their way.

“We climb opposite side. Ned climb from Deep Creek. We climb from Bird-town,” Wirt explained as they kept going.

“Yes, I realize that,” Elizabeth replied, pulling a brier from her skirt. “That is good; we will be covering two sides of the mountain between us.”

It was a long, tedious journey up the mountainside in the heavy rain. The Indians were watchful for any sign of a trail and now and then paused to send a loud whistle through the woods in hopes of being heard by the children.

Covered with bruises and scratches, Elizabeth forced herself to keep up with Morning Star who, in spite of her age, was as agile as the men in the party. She paused only a second to catch her breath after a steep climb over boulders that were constantly in their way. She kept a prayer in her heart that no harm come to the missing ones. She had lost her twelve-year-old daughter when she
was a baby and had only recently been reunited with her. Those memories kept her diligent on the path now.

Wirt, worried about the white woman trying to keep up with the Indians, called for a rest stop at the bottom of a huge boulder.

“We sit,” he commanded, pointing to a clearing under a ledge projecting from the boulder above. “Rest.”

“Please don’t stop on my account,” Elizabeth called breathlessly. “I can keep up with you.”

“Sit, rest,” he told her. “Morning Star need rest, too.” He pointed to the old Indian woman who sat down on the rocky floor under the ledge.

Elizabeth followed her, glad for the rest. The men also came under the shelter to get out of the rain.

“While we rest, we send message,” Wirt told them. Stepping back out into the rain, he gave his loud whistle that rang through the trees. Turning, he instructed the men, “You next, then you, until all give message.”

The men, one at a time, stepped out and repeated the loud call through the woods. As the last one turned to sit down, there came an answering call in the distance, barely discernible through the sound of the rain.

“Ned near us. His call!” Wirt cried excitedly as he ran up the face of the boulder, whistling again. His men followed.

Morning Star and Elizabeth smiled joyfully. Maybe Uncle Ned had some good news. They lifted their skirts and ran after the men as fast as they could manage.

Uncle Ned, hearing the call and answering, turned to Uncle John as they stopped beneath a tree.

“Wirt must be near. That his call,” the old Indian said.

“Someone must have let him know,” Uncle John replied. Then he spoke up excitedly. “Elizabeth! Of course—she wouldn’t sit there all this time and do
nothing. She has rounded up our kinpeople at Bird-town.”

Uncle Ned grunted and the two men, with the others following, started out in the direction from which the call had come.

It didn’t take the two parties long to meet. Elizabeth ran forward as John came to meet her.

“Any word?” they both asked at once.

They both shook their heads in the negative as their arms flew around each other.

Wirt was speaking in Cherokee to Uncle Ned. Elizabeth, raising her head from John’s shoulder, heard a soft meow. She looked up to see Snowball still clinging to a limb in the tree.

“Snowball!” she cried, pointing.

Everyone turned to look. John quickly scaled the tree, picked up the frightened kitten and brought it down to Elizabeth.

She stroked the wet kitten who clung to the shoulder of her dress. Her voice trembled as she spoke, “Oh, John, where can Mandie be without Snowball?”

Uncle Ned walked over to the tree. There his quick eyes caught sight of the broken branches on the bushes.

“Trail!” he said, quickly pointing to twigs jutting out at angles on the bushes ahead. “Quick! Follow trail!” He hurried ahead, watching for the marked bushes.

The two parties of searchers fell in behind him and made their way through the brush.

Meanwhile, the three children arrived at Dimar’s mother’s house and were welcomed in to dry by the fire and to partake of a meal. As soon as they had gotten inside the log cabin, the rain stopped.

“This is my mother, Jerusha,” Dimar told them, and turning to his mother, he said, “These are friends I found
lost in the woods—Mandie, Sallie, and Joe.”

“Ah, my papooses,” she said, hurrying to them. “Come.” She took the girls by the hand and led them behind a curtain at the far end of the room. “You wrap in blanket,” she said, handing them each a blanket from the beds.

Sallie explained in Cherokee that they must find the way back to her grandfather’s house as soon as their clothes had dried and they had eaten.

The girls went back to the fire, and Jerusha spread their dresses to dry. Dimar helped Joe find a blanket and hung up his wet clothes.

“Now, we eat,” the woman said smiling.

She brought them tin plates filled with ham, corn, and beanbread, and cups of steaming hot coffee were set on the hearth. The three ate as though they had not eaten in a week.

“Oh, how good!” Joe said, with his mouth full as he continued to cram in the food.

“This is the best meal I think I’ve ever had,” Mandie added.

“Good food,” Sallie agreed.

Dimar and his mother sat nearby, having their meal and watching the three. Jerusha kept turning the clothes so the heat would dry them.

“Eat. Much food,” she told them. She rose and refilled Joe’s plate but the two girls refused.

“I just can’t eat anymore,” Mandie told her. “I’m full up to here.” She touched her throat and laughed.

“Me, too. The food was very good. We thank you.” Sallie smiled as she pulled the blanket closely around her.

Even though it was summertime and terribly hot during the day, the rain cooled the air considerably. All the
homes had a fire in the fireplace for cooking, and today it felt especially good.

Everyone jumped at the sound of voices outside. Mandie was the first to look out.

“It’s Uncle Ned!” she cried and, securing her blanket, ran to open the door. Joe and Sallie joined her.

Uncle Ned cried with joy as he took the three into his arms. John and Elizabeth crowded in behind him.

“Uncle Ned! Mother! Uncle John!” Mandie cried excitedly.

Elizabeth handed the wet kitten to Mandie.

“Snowball! How could I not have missed you?” she said, cuddling the kitten to her blanket. She ran to the fireside and fed him the scraps on her plate, which he swallowed at once and began searching for more. Jerusha was quick to comply.

It was a joyous occasion and everyone was talking at once. Jerusha made them all feel welcome and brought out more food. The cabin was filled with so many people, there was only room to stand. Tsa’ni sulked over in a corner, afraid to mingle with the crowd. His eyes kept darting from Mandie to Sallie to Joe. Mandie ignored him. She could feel the hatred in the air between them, though she knew she shouldn’t hate him. She shouldn’t hate anyone. But it was so hard to be nice to an enemy. She was afraid all her Cherokee kinpeople would be like Tsa’ni and would not like her because she was mostly white.

Uncle John grabbed her hand and led her to Wirt Pindar.

“Mandie, this is your Great Uncle Wirt. He is your grandmother’s youngest brother.”

The old man bent to embrace her.

“My real uncle!” she exclaimed, backing off a little to look at him. He was also looking her over. “My very own
uncle!”

“Jim Shaw’s papoose!” the old man said softly. “Look like Jim Shaw, but have Indian thumb.” He was holding her hand and examining it.

“Indian thumb?” the girl questioned him.

“Short, blunt thumb,” he explained, holding his own next to hers. They were similar in shape.

“I have a Cherokee thumb!” she cried. “I’m so glad!” She turned to John. “Uncle John, let me see your thumb.”

He held out his thumb and laughed. “We both have one like Uncle Wirt’s.”

“Little one come to Wirt’s house,” the old man said.

“Oh, yes, Uncle Wirt. We
are
coming to visit you,” Mandie replied.

“Today,” he said. “Not far to Bird-town.”

Uncle Ned was standing nearby listening. “Close to Bird-town. Far to Deep Creek. We go to Bird-town.”

“Now,” began Elizabeth as the three gathered around her, “I want to know exactly what happened.
Where
have you been?”

Tsa’ni, wide-eyed and listening from across the room, moved in closer to hear what they would say. Mandie saw him and took pity on him. She thought,
I won’t tell a lie. I just won’t tell everything
.

She looked back at her mother. “We got lost in the cave and couldn’t find Tsa’ni,” Mandie told her.

“And we couldn’t find the way we came in so we dug our way out,” Joe added.

“Yes, and then those strange people in the woods tied us up and left us in the barn,” Sallie explained.

“But how did you get separated from Tsa’ni?” Uncle John asked.

“Well, we stopped to look into a pool of water and I
guess it was then we got separated,” Mandie replied.

Tsa’ni was holding his breath as he eavesdropped. He did not understand why the girl did not tell the whole story.

“Do not see how got lost from Tsa’ni,” Uncle Ned said.

Sallie answered her grandfather. “I suppose he thought we were right behind him, but we stopped to look into the water and then we lost him.”

“And how did you dig your way out of the cave?” Elizabeth wanted to know.

“Well, there was a pile of rocks and—” began Joe.

“—and a pile of gold,” Mandie interrupted. “And I mean a pile of gold! And then we could see the daylight through the rocks, so we dug with our hands until we had all the rocks out of the way.”

“Gold?” Uncle John asked as he looked at Uncle Ned. “You saw gold in that cave?”

Tsa’ni moved a little bit closer. They had found gold in the cave? They must be lying.

“Yes,” Mandie affirmed. “It was all under the rocks we dug through to get out.”

“But then the rocks all fell in and the hole closed up as soon as we got through it,” Joe added.

“Do you know of any gold in that cave, Uncle Ned?” John asked.

“No. No gold. Maybe mica in rocks,” Uncle Ned said.

“But it was
gold
, Uncle Ned. We saw it!” Mandie insisted, forgetting about the nugget in her pocket.

“No one goes in cave. Dangerous. Rocks fall in,” the old Indian said.

“Maybe it was mica you saw, but, anyway, we’re so thankful you are all safe,” Elizabeth told them. “Now,
don’t you think we’d better get going so we can get to Uncle Wirt’s house before dark?”

The three scrambled for their clothes. As Mandie put on her dress behind the curtain, the gold nugget fell out of her pocket and lay unnoticed on the floor by the bed.

Tsa’ni, breathing a sigh of relief that he was not implicated by the three, swaggered up to Mandie and said in a low voice, “You have no Indian blood in you. You could not even find your way back. You are just white, that is all.”

Dimar, standing nearby, overheard and spoke up, “Tsa’ni, you are a disgrace to the Cherokees, talking like that to your own blood.”

Joe advanced toward Tsa’ni. “You look here, Tsa’ni, Mandie is a well-seasoned traveler. She made a journey all the way from Almond Station to her Uncle John’s house in Franklin, through the woods, across the rivers, and over the mountain. And that is rough terrain. Why, she even—”

Mandie caught him by the arm and interrupted. “Never mind, Joe. We have to go now. Come on.” She turned to Sallie who was also listening. “Just ignore him.”

Sallie nodded in agreement.

Wirt came over to Tsa’ni, who was his grandson. “You go to Deep Creek; bring John Shaw’s things to my house. They stay with me. Make haste.”

Tsa’ni looked at the old man. “I am on my way,” he said. He turned and gave the three a know-it-all look and walked out the door.

Tsa’ni had no plans to do what his grandfather had asked. He had plans of his own.

Chapter 6 - Cherokee Kinpeople

Uncle Ned and his group went to Bird-town with the others. They were all tired and it was the closest place to go.

Mandie, who had ridden behind her mother on the pony from the foot of the mountain, looked around, her eyes taking in everything. This was part of the Cherokee Indian Reservation here at Bird-town. This was the original land where her Indian ancestors had lived. It was like a small town with a wide dirt road running through it. Rows of log cabins were spaced apart by crops.

There seemed to be an unusual number of women and children waiting along the road. Most of the men had gone with the search party, and they were now returning to their families.

Elizabeth followed Wirt Pindar to his house. It was the largest in the group and was in the center of the community. Aunt Saphronia, Wirt’s wife, embraced them and made them welcome. She was a tiny Indian woman with a million wrinkles in her face. She had food cooked and waiting. Her neighbors, some of whom were relatives, opened their doors to the extra men from Deep Creek.

Saphronia then spotted Mandie.

“Jim Shaw’s papoose!” she cried as she hugged the girl. “Love!”

“Mandie, this is your Uncle Wirt’s wife, Aunt Saphronia,” Elizabeth told her as John Shaw came up behind her.

“I love you, too, Aunt Saphronia,” Mandie said, blinking back tears as her father’s name brought back memories.

“Aunt Saphronia.” John Shaw smiled as he put his arms around the little woman.

Saphronia looked up into his face. “Take care Jim Shaw’s papoose.”

“Yes, I will, Aunt Saphronia, together with her mother Elizabeth here,” he replied.

“You forget,” Elizabeth reminded him. “I have already been here. When we came to get Uncle Wirt, I met Aunt Saphronia then.” She smiled at the old squaw.