Leppard, Lois Gladys - [Mandie 02] (5 page)

The Indian woman grinned as she understood what Elizabeth meant. She got up and motioned to Elizabeth to follow her. She went outside to the barn. There was a small cart inside and Morning Star hastily opened a door to a stall and led out a pony. Elizabeth helped her harness it to the cart and they started out for Bird-town.

Meanwhile the three prisoners in the barn were still talking and trying to figure out a way to escape from the
old man and woman.

“If we could only see in this darkness, we might find something we could cut the rope with,” Mandie said.

“How is either one of us going to cut the rope when all our hands are tied?” Joe wanted to know.

“If one of us had something we could hold in our hands, we could back up to each other and cut each other’s ropes apart,” Sallie said.

“That’s right,” Mandie replied and then jumped as Snowball clawed her hand as he played with the rope. “Oh, Snowball, you stuck me with your claws!” Then she caught her breath. “Snowball! Snowball! He can do it!”

“Do what, Mandie?” Joe asked.

“Untie the rope. If I shake it for him to play with, he can claw at it until it comes undone!”

“Oh, Mandie, how could a cat untie a rope?” Joe asked.

“Well, it does feel looser and besides, I am the last one on the rope.” She shook her hands behind her, and Snowball jumped and began playing and clawing at the rope.

“Mandie, it’ll never work,” Joe told her.

“Snowball is smarter than you give him credit for. Don’t forget, I am the one who educated him,” laughed Mandie, still shaking her hands as the kitten played. “It’s looser! It’s looser!”

“Please keep trying,” Sallie told her as she shifted from her cramped position to lean back against a post. Then she jumped forward again. A nail had scratched her back. “Mandie, there’s a nail behind me. If Snowball has the rope loose enough, you might be able to hang it on the nail and pull it apart.”

“Where, Sallie, where?” Mandie was excited.

“Do not lose your sense of direction. It is directly behind me on the post. I am going to move so you can slide over here in my place,” the Indian girl said, moving slowly closer to Joe, who began edging farther away to give the girls room to move. Mandie kept sliding until she felt the post behind her. She leaned back trying to locate the nail.

“I’ve found it!” she cried. “Now if I can just catch the rope on it!” She maneuvered her hands until her fingers found the nail, and then she slid her wrists around until the nail caught the rope.

“Did you find it?” Joe wanted to know. “Or I should say, did the nail find the rope?”

“Yes, now I have the rope caught on it. If I can only catch the right loop so it will start untying.”

“Be careful. You might hurt yourself,” Sallie warned her.

Snowball had followed Mandie and was again pulling at the rope with his claws. One foot caught and he pulled with all his might trying to get his paw free. Mandie felt the rope give way. She rubbed her wrists together and slipped one hand out of the noose.

“It worked! I have my left hand free!” she cried. “There! I have it all off! Now, let me get you two untied.”

She slipped behind Sallie and freed her hands and then removed the rope from Joe’s hands. The three sat there rubbing their bruised wrists in the dark.

“That man must not have tied the knots very tight,” Joe said.

“Probably because he was too drunk to realize what he was doing,” the Indian girl said.

“Well, let’s get going!” Mandie stood up, picking up Snowball.

“I will leave a signal for our people if they come here
looking for us,” Sallie said, as she removed the beads from around her neck and hung them on the nail. “My grandfather will see these and will know we were here.”

“I hope we find them before they get this far,” Joe said.

“We’d certainly better be careful going by the log cabin,” Mandie reminded them as they stepped out of the barn. The first signs of dawn were in the sky.

“We will circle the clearing and stay away from the house,” the Indian girl told them. She led the way, keeping the house at a distance as they tried to find their way back into the woods and downhill.

While the three were trying to find their way, Uncle Ned’s search party had fanned out across the mountain. He and Uncle John stayed together while the other men scattered out. Sometime later the old Indian found the bright blue ribbon from Mandie’s hair hanging on the bush by the creek where she had lost it in the scuffle with the old man and woman.

“Papoose ribbon!” he cried excitedly as he pulled the ribbon from the bush. “They been here!” He looked around on the ground. “Feet make marks!” He pointed to the footprints in the soft sand by the water.

Uncle John anxiously bent to look.

“Looks like quite a few different feet,” he remarked.

“Yes,” the old Indian said, as he straightened up to follow the direction of the footprints. “Go this way.” He walked on up the hill, bending low to see the prints as he continued. The old cabin came into view.

“At least we know they got out of the cave,” Uncle John said.

“I hear people coming,” Uncle Ned said, listening as he turned his ear toward the sound. “Walk like white people.”

Snuff and Rennie Lou appeared in the distance, their heavy shoes noisily clopping on the rocks here and there. Uncle Ned stepped behind a tree and motioned for Uncle John to do the same.

As the couple drew nearer, the old Indian stepped out directly in front of them. They stopped in their tracks.

“Where Papoose—wear this ribbon?” Uncle Ned held up Mandie’s ribbon for them to see.

“What papoose?” Snuff asked. “We ain’t seen no papoose, Injun.”

“Papoose feet make prints to your house,” Uncle Ned said, pointing to the tracks in the dirt. “Where Papoose?”

Rennie Lou held tightly onto Snuffs arm. She was frightened of the old Indian. Snuff tried to bluff his way out.

“I told you we ain’t seen no papoose. Now git out of our way!” Snuff gave Uncle Ned a shove.

At that instant Uncle John, his rifle in his hand, stepped out from behind another tree and Uncle Ned gave a loud whistle to round up his braves. The man and woman stood still without saying a word. Indians came from every direction out of the woods as they heard their leader’s call for help. Snuff and Rennie Lou, quaking in their boots, were soon surrounded.

“Hold man, woman,” Uncle Ned ordered. “Me and John—we go look.” The circle of Indians closed in around the frightened pair.

Following the footprints, Uncle Ned and John went on past the cabin and into the barn. The old Indian looked around and grunted as he picked up Sallie’s beads from the nail on the post.

“Papooses been here,” he said to Uncle John, holding up the beads.

“But evidently they are gone now,” Uncle John replied.

“Left different way. Prints going opposite way,” Uncle Ned said, motioning to the footprints left by the three as they had detoured around the house.

Suddenly the dark, cloudy sky broke loose and the rain came pouring down. The old Indian looked up in dismay.

“Rain wash feet marks away!” he exclaimed. “Must hurry!”

“And the children are out in this,” Uncle John fretted. “Unless they found the way back, which I doubt very much.”

The old man whistled for his braves once more and they came on the run, pushing the man and woman along with them in the downpour.

“Must hurry. Rain clean trail,” Uncle Ned told them. “We follow feet marks now!” He pointed to the footprints remaining in the sand.

“What we do with palefaces?” Drumgool asked, pushing the two forward.

“Let go. Must hurry,” the old Indian instructed him.

“I think we should send the authorities back up here, Uncle Ned,” John said. “These people are kidnappers!”

Uncle Ned nodded in agreement.

Snuff and Rennie Lou heard all that was said and looked at each other anxiously. They were sober this morning and the realization of their crime began to dawn on them.

“Look, we ain’t meant no harm. We didn’t hurt the younguns,” Snuff pleaded. “In fact, we’ll hep you hunt ’em if you want.”

“No! We don’t need your help,” Uncle John told them, firmly. “You have broken the law. It will all be taken
care of as I said. I am reporting this to the authorities. You’re not going to get away with it.”

“Please, mister,” the woman begged. “We won’t never do it again. I ’spect we jest had too much partyin’ ’fore they showed up. We didn’t hardly know whut we was doin’. Can’t you unnerstan’ that?”

John shook his head and ran to follow Uncle Ned, with the braves bringing up the rear. The rain was quickly obliterating the tracks of the three, and they were hurrying as fast as they could go. Their clothing was heavy with the dampness, and the wet rocks had become slippery, but they knew they were on the trail of the missing children.

Far ahead of them, Mandie, Joe, and Sallie pushed their way through the dripping bushes and mostly slid downhill when they came to huge boulders now and then. Snowball registered his complaint by clinging tightly to Mandie’s dress.

“Sallie, do you think we are heading in the right direction?” Mandie asked.

“I am not certain but I do know we are headed toward the foot of the mountain, and once we get down there we’ll be able to find the way home,” the girl replied.

“Whew! I’m still hungry!” Joe complained as he led the way. “We sure were dumb not to load up with apples from that barn.”

“It’s too late now,” Mandie replied. “When we get back to Uncle Ned’s I’m going to eat everything in the house.” She laughed, tossing her long, wet hair back out of her face.

“Even owl stew?” Joe teased her.

“I said everything,” she replied.

“Everyone must be worried about us by now,” Sallie said. “I am certain my grandfather has a party search—if
we only knew which direction they were coming from.”

“Looks like a level place for a while here,” Joe remarked as they came down into a meadow.

At that moment an arrow suddenly shot through the trees near Mandie, who was carrying the kitten. Snowball, frightened by the sudden movement, jumped down and darted ahead. He ran up the first tree he came to and peered down from a limb.

Mandie, not noticing the kitten, stared and pointed to the arrow imbedded in another tree. “Joe! Sallie! Look!”

“Land o’Goshen, don’t stand there! Come on!” Joe grabbed her hand and turned to grip Sallies hand. They ran along until they came to a thick clump of bushes, where they hid. From there they saw a young Indian appear in the clearing and go to the arrow in the tree.

Sallie immediately felt relief. She was certain the boy would help them. She broke out of the bushes, calling back, “That is an Indian boy. He will help us. Come on!” She ran toward the boy. “We are lost! Please help us!”

Mandie and Joe, not trusting the boy, stayed behind the bushes. The boy turned to look at Sallie. “Where did you come from?”

“I am Sallie Sweetwater. My friends and I are lost. Will you help us?” she asked as she stood before the boy who seemed to be not much older than she was.

The boy looked around. “Your friends? Where are they?”

“They are behind the bushes because you almost hit us with your arrow and they are frightened,” she told him.

“I am very sorry. I will not harm any of you. Tell them to come out,” he said.

Sallie called to her friends. “Come on, Mandie, Joe.
He will help us find the way!”

Mandie and Joe reluctantly appeared from their shelter and came forward. The boy’s eyes lit up when he saw the blonde-haired girl.

She is the most beautiful girl I have ever seen
, he was thinking as she came nearer.
And blue eyes! How beautiful!

Mandie returned his stare, thinking what a handsome boy he was!

“Where are you going?” the boy asked.

“We are trying to find the way to Deep Creek where I live with my grandfather,” Sallie told him.

“Deep Creek!” he repeated. “You are going in the wrong direction!”

“Oh, no!” Joe moaned. “I’m starving to death!”

“Yes,” the boy said. “My name is Dimar Walkingstick. I live with my mother not far from here. I will take you to her for food and dry clothes. Come!” He turned, expecting them to follow him.

“I am certain my grandfather has a search party looking for us by now,” the Indian girl said. “We shall leave a trail for him.”

“Of course. I will go ahead and break the twigs as we go. He will see them and find the way to my house,” Dimar said, as he began marking their way.

“Food!” Joe murmured. “At last, some food!”

“That’s what he said,” Mandie replied, following along with Joe as Sallie stayed with Dimar, marking their trail. “And a fire to dry our clothes. This rain will never stop!”

Snowball was completely forgotten in the excitement. He clung desperately to the limb of the tree, too frightened to descend.

Chapter 5 - Uncle Ned to the Rescue

Elizabeth and Morning Star arrived at Bird-town, hurriedly told Mandie’s great uncle, Wirt Pindar, what they had come for and in no time flat they were riding toward the mountain with Wirt leading a group of men. Elizabeth insisted on going along and was given a pony to ride, but Uncle Wirt reminded her that she would have to climb the mountain on foot when they reached it.

By the time the foot of the mountain was in sight, the rain began.

“Well, looks like we’re going to have a wet hike,” she remarked as she dismounted. Gathering her long skirt about her, she tucked the hem into the waistband so as not to be slowed down by the weight of the wet material about her feet.

“Yes, will be hard find trail in rain,” Uncle Wirt told her. He motioned for his men to come together and then gave them directions to spread out up the mountain as they climbed.

Morning Star took Elizabeth’s hand and motioned toward the men. Together they followed Uncle Wirt up the incline in the downpour.

“Morning Star, pray,” Elizabeth told her, clasping her hands together and looking toward the sky. She knew the Cherokees always looked up to God in the sky rather than bowing their heads when they prayed. “Pray!”