Dorothy Garlock - [Wabash River] (46 page)

“I’ll take the horses to the livery and come back.”

“Do you suppose we could have some tea, Mrs. Glover?”

Moll’s sharp eyes went from one to the other. “Come on out when you’ve settled in. I’ll put on the kettle. I don’t know what you folks is up to, but I ain’t blind. The ‘sick’ young lady straightened up considerable when the private left.”

Willa’s fearful eyes went to Liberty’s face. Liberty was studying the big woman. Knowing they needed her help, she made a quick decision.

“You’re too smart for us, Mrs. Glover, Willa isn’t sick. Oh, she’s worn out, but that’s all. We’re just pretending she is so we could bring her here. Lieutenant Perry wanted to lock her in the laundry room. He’s accused my husband of treason and thinks Willa will be a witness against him.”

“What’s little Bandyass up to now? Treason, is it? Shit-fire! I’ll swear, that little fool is always stirring up something. Treason! He probably thinks it’ll make him a big man if he convicts someone of treason. How sick do you want Willa to be? I can give her a dose that’ll make her throw up all over the little turd.”

Liberty sighed with relief. “I think I love the sergeant for sending us here,” she said weakly.

“Well, don’t get to loving him too much,” Moll said pertly. “He’s my man and I’d not stand a chance against you.”

“You don’t have anything to worry about there, Moll. Even if I didn’t love my husband to distraction, I’m probably too skinny for the sergeant’s taste.”

Moll laughed. “He do like to bounce on my soft belly.” She dropped her eyelid in a knowing wink and left the room.

Willa and Liberty took off their wet coats and hung them on the pegs to dry. The room was cold and damp. They sat down close together on the bed and pulled the blanket up around them.

“What in the world is happening, Libby? Farr didn’t murder Stith Lenning. It was dark, but I saw him with a knife in his hand, and
he
ran at Farr. Why did Lieutenant Perry say what he did to the captain about treason? What does it mean?”

“I don’t know. But Farr says if Governor Harrison were here he could straighten this whole thing out. He wants Colby to snoop around and find out when he’s expected back. Meanwhile, we’ve got to keep you so sick you can’t go to the fort to testify.”

Colby returned. The three of them talked it over and decided to confide in Moll Glover. They went to the kitchen and stood before the warm fire until the chill left their bodies. Then they sat at the table over cups of hot tea and told her the full story.

“I realize now that I made a mistake when I lost my temper at Hammond the first time we met,” Liberty said regretfully. “He lost face in front of Captain Heald and he’ll never forget it. He hated Farr even before that, and I didn’t help matters any.”

Moll had been looking at Willa with a puzzled look on her face. “Dearie, I’d swear I’ve seen you someplace. But pretty as you are it’d seem like I’d know where it was.”

Willa looked frightened and Colby reached over and took her hand in his. “Willa lived here in Vincennes for about six months with some people by the name of Cooley,” he said. “She and her mother came from England. Her mother was bonded out to pay the passage, and when she died, the bond was passed on to Willa. Cooley inherited the bond, took her to Detroit, then down the Ohio to Louisville, and then on to Vincennes. He ran out of money and sold the bond to some people by the name of Thompson. Mr. Thompson gave the bond to Farr Quill, who freed Willa of the obligation. She’s going to be my wife just as soon as I can arrange it.”

“Well, for God’s sake. I remember now. I only saw you a time or two. You was skinny and scared looking. That fat Bella Cooley was a bitch! I can’t blame her much, married to a gambling, mean bastard like Norman Cooley. Why honey, you just look so pretty now, and you got this young gent to look out for you. I’d not a known you was the same girl.”

“Sometimes I can’t believe how good things have gone for me. I feel different inside too. Like I’m . . . worth something,” Willa murmured and held tightly to Colby’s hand.

“Them Cooleys are back. I saw him the other day going in the tavern.”

Willa’s face turned white. “He’s back . . .
here?”

“Big as life. Strutting around like he had the world by the tail. Wearing a new hat and a fur collar on his coat.”

“That means he’s got money again. He was always like that when he had money.”

“Don’t worry about him.” Colby held her hand in both of his. “As soon as this is over we’ll go back to Farr’s. Next spring I’m taking you home to Carrolltown.”

“Moll, do you think Sergeant Callaway will be in tonight?” Liberty asked.

“I’ll be plumb put out if he ain’t. It’ll take more than a little old snowfall to keep him away,” she said confidently.

“I’m anxious about my husband. Hammond Perry is so damn mean! I’d not put it past him to lock him up somewhere without heat or blankets or anything to eat.” There was a quiver in Liberty’s voice.

“What you got to worry about is your man trying to get out. Perry’d have a excuse to shoot him. Then he’d not have to prove he’s a spy. Callaway knows that. He knows everything that goes on out there, dearie. He likes your man or he’d not have sent you here. He’ll see to him. He knows where to put a shilling so it’ll do the most good.”

A
s the afternoon wore on, Liberty became nervous and weepy. She paced the floor restlessly. She felt caged in town and longed to be back home with Farr. She thought of Amy and Mercy and Daniel with his serious little face. She thought of how her life had changed in the last year. A year before she had only Stith Lenning to worry about. Now he was dead. He had finally met a man who refused to be pushed around and bullied, and she didn’t have to worry about him any longer. Moll’s voice intruded into her thoughts, and she stopped pacing to listen.

“We’ll have to be careful. Bandyass’ll send his spies around. Sarge will be in tonight and tell us what’s going on. He’ll know if that crackpot doctor got back from Fort Harrison. If he did, you can bet your buttons he’ll be here in the morning before he goes to the tavern.”

“Doctor? I hadn’t thought about them having a doctor at the fort,” Colby said.

“He ain’t much a one. You’re stretching the word acalling him that. Looking at him is enough to make you puke,” Moll said with disgust.

“What in the world will we do, Moll, if he comes to look at Willa?”

“Don’t worry ’bout that. I can fix up a dose that’ll fool that drunken old fool. It’ll make you sicker than a dog, hon,” she said to Willa. “You’ll be hating my guts while you’re throwing up yours.”

“I’ll not hate you, Moll,” Willa said. “I don’t know what we would have done without you and Sergeant Callaway.”

*  *  *

It was late when Sergeant Callaway arrived at Moll’s door. He was cold and tired. But before he and Moll disappeared into her room, he told Liberty that Farr was in an unheated room, but that he had fur robes and a thick stack of hay for a bed. He had had a hot meal and later a mug of hot buttered rum had been smuggled in to him.

Farr had sent a message. He wanted Liberty and Colby to go to Grouseland and speak with Mrs. Harrison. If the governor was not expected back soon, perhaps she could get a message to Zachary Taylor.

The sergeant also brought the news that the doctor would be calling on Willa in the morning.

It was a long, cold night for the three who huddled in Moll Glover’s small room. Around midnight Colby got up off the floor, spread his robes over the women on the bed and crawled in beside them.

“To hell with propriety. I’m freezing!”

They lay spoon fashion with Willa between Liberty and Colby. He wrapped his arms around them. Warmth seeped into their bodies and they slept.

Morning came. They hurried down the passageway to the warm kitchen. It had stopped snowing during the night, but the sky was still gray. Moll told them over cups of hot tea not to worry about the doctor’s visit.

“If you’re willing, hon, I’ll give you a dose of melted lard, snuff, and jimsonweed that’ll make you so sick you’ll want to die. It won’t hurt you none except to give you the trots.”

Willa avoided looking at Colby. “I’ll take it.”

“The old quack won’t be here until the middle of the morning, so eat a good bait of breakfast. You’ll need something in your belly to throw up.”

“I’m sorry you’ve got to do this, Willa,” Liberty said.

“Are you sure it won’t hurt her?” Colby’s young face was showing the signs of strain.

“Hell yes, it’ll hurt, but it ain’t nothing she can’t stand.” Moll forked thick slabs of meat into the spider skillet.

“After the doctor comes, Colby and I will go call on Mrs. Harrison.”

“Mrs. Harrison’s a fine lady,” Moll said. “I ain’t in her sewing circle and she don’t invite me to tea, but what the hell, she’s still a fine lady.”

Colby carried an iron pot filled with hot coals from the kitchen fireplace to their room to take off the chill. He paced restlessly in the kitchen while Willa was put to bed and given the vile dose. She gagged repeatedly, and Moll spooned molasses into her mouth to keep the concoction down so it could reach her stomach.

By the time the doctor arrived she had already vomited twice and the chamber pot beside the bed reeked with a foul odor. Her stomach cramped and sweat beaded her forehead. The sound of her moans were more than Colby could stand. He put on his coat and left the house.

The doctor was everything Moll said he was. His clothes were dirty, his eyes watery, and his hands shook. The smell of stale ale was on his breath. His examination of the patient consisted of lifting her eyelids, looking in her mouth, peering into the chamber pot and sloshing its contents.

“Her intestines are wrapped around her liver.” He announced his decision, yanked off his eyeglasses and put them in the wooden case he carried under his arm.

“That’s just what I thought was wrong, Doc.” Moll shook her head regretfully. When the doctor looked away she winked at Liberty.

“Give her a spoonful of mutton tallow and soda every two hours and feed her molasses mixed in flour twice a day. Keep her bowels moving. If she ain’t dead in four days she’ll get better.”

Liberty walked with him to the door and pressed a couple of shillings in his hand when he held it out.

“Thank you for coming, Doctor. Be sure and make your report to Captain Sinclair. If we need you again, we’ll send for you.”

She watched the doctor slosh through the snow to the tavern and then went back down the passageway to the room.

Moll was holding Willa’s head over the chamber pot.

“There, there, lovey. I’ll get some milk to settle your stomach. You done good, real good. The old fool don’t know his ass from a hole in the ground.”

“What a terrible old man! He probably kills more of those poor men than he cures. He was filthy!” Liberty mopped Willa’s head with a damp cloth. “Oh, Willa! I’m so sorry you had to do this.”

“Old Doc ain’t so bad with gunshots and boils, but he don’t know doodlely ’bout anything else. He’ll go back and tell Sinclair she’s sick all right, and he’ll tell it in the tavern and to anybody else that’ll listen. He’ll be back in four days so he’ll get another shilling.”

“Willa can’t go through this again. Isn’t there something else we can do?”

“We’ll paint some spots on her next time. He’ll think the poison’s coming out. A week is the most you can get out of this, hon, if that long. After that you’ll have to think of something else.”

*  *  *

Liberty took care with her toilet and dressed in the best she’d brought with her, blessing Colby for telling her to bring something so she and Willa would look presentable. She piled her light colored hair on the top of her head and perched her bonnet on it. With Colby’s hand firmly on her arm, they walked to the mansion to call on Mrs. Harrison. The house was even more impressive when they were near it. They rang the bell beside the door.

A Negro servant answered the bell, bowed formally, and ushered them into a foyer.

“Mrs. Farrway Quill and Mr. Colby Carroll wish to see Mrs. Harrison.”

Liberty looked at Colby in surprise. His manner was that of a gentleman who was not accustomed to taking no for an answer.

“Wait here, suh.”

The servant went down the hall and through a set of double doors. While they waited, Liberty glanced at the beautiful chandelier that hung from the ceiling, the gleaming floors, the carved oak staircase and the Queen Anne chairs with complete disinterest. Her thoughts were so taken up with what was happening to Farr that there was no room for anything else.

The servant returned. “I is ta show yo in, suh.”

The servant took their coats and hung them on a hall tree. Liberty knew it was proper to leave on her bonnet, but she removed it. Snow had fallen from a tree branch as they passed, and it was wet. She patted her hair in place and followed the servant down the hall.

Mrs. Harrison stood to greet them. She was a plump, gracious lady in her late thirties. She came forward with outstretched hands.

“Mrs. Quill, I’m delighted to meet you. We hadn’t heard that Farrway had taken a wife.”

“I’m delighted to meet you, Mrs. Harrison. Farr and I were married rather suddenly. I understand it’s not uncommon here on the frontier to meet, fall in love, and many within a few weeks’ time.”

“I’m beginning to believe that there is nothing uncommon here on the frontier. We’re fond of your husband. I hope you’ll be very happy.” She offered her hand to Colby. “It’s good to see you again, Colby.” He bowed over her hand, placing a kiss on her fingers. “Always the gallant gentleman,” Mrs. Harrison laughed. “I said that to your mother once, and she had an answer that I don’t think you’d quite appreciate. Come sit down. I’ve ordered tea.”

Mrs. Harrison made polite conversation with Colby about his parents until the tea cart arrived. After they were served, she leaned back in her chair with lifted brows and waited. Liberty had decided to leave most of the talking to Colby. He told her the facts as they had happened and asked her when her husband was expected to return.