Finding Home (29 page)

Gyp woke Nat the next morning licking
her face. Nat nuzzled Gyp’s neck. “Do you need to go out?” she
asked and Gyp raced for the door. “I will take that as a yes,” Nat
said as she opened the door for Gyp. The cabin was ringed with
verdant green plant life that glistened brightly beneath the early
morning dew. Nat stepped into her boots and placed her knife on her
belt as she watched Gyp race around, nose to the ground smelling
the many scents of animals that had passed through the
yard.

Nat turned and walked back inside and
foraged through the wrapped bundles to find three ham biscuits
left. Gyp came trotting back inside. “This is it girl, one for you
and two for me. After these, it is back to my cooking,” Nat said
with a chuckle.

Gyp took the biscuit from her hand
gently as she sat down to eat. Nat bit into the biscuit and her
mouth watered at the taste of the ham. It made her long for Marissa
even more. “Maybe we should find us a wild boar so we can have
ham,” Nat said to Gyp.

She had become so used to speaking with
humans over the past four months. It seemed strange to hear her own
voice with no one there to answer. Gyp was a great companion, but
Nat wished during moments like this that she could speak. “Okay
maybe it isn’t such a good idea that you speak,” Nat said as she
patted Gyp’s head. “You would probably keep me up all night
talking.”

Nat ate half of the last biscuit and
gave the remainder to Gyp. She drank a glass of water and looked at
Gyp. “Are you ready to get to work?” she asked.

Gyp ran out the door and waited at the
top of the steps as Nat bent down to pick up her rifle. “Let’s go,”
she said and started off down a path. The cabin was ideal for a
trapper. Three of its sides were close to three separate small
creeks which joined together a mile away to form the river where
Nat’s father had been killed. Nat walked down to the first creek
and looked for signs of beaver dams. There were plenty of saplings
that had been hewn by the beaver’s sharp teeth and Nat walked a
hundred yard more down to find several damns that looked fresh. She
traveled to the other two creeks and found the same evidence. On
her way back to the cabin she listened for a familiar
hum.

She heard what she was looking for and
turned to Gyp. “You stay here,” she said. Gyp dropped on her
haunches and sat obediently as Nat walked further into the woods.
“I was hoping you were still here,” she said as she approached a
large split tree. She cautiously peeked inside and saw a mass of
honey bees swarming as they worked. “I will be back for you later,”
Nat said as she turned back to Gyp.

“
We are going to have us
some honey, Gyp,” she said and Gyp danced to her feet. It was still
early morning, so Nat took a half a dozen traps and walked to where
her father had been killed. The spot where she had burned the bear
carcass was filled in with new grass with just a faint hint of
evidence that the ground here had been scorched. Nat worked for an
hour, setting the traps and then walked back to the cabin. “Let’s
go sit down by the creek and see what we can shoot for dinner
tonight,” she said to Gyp.

Gyp followed Nat down to the water’s
edge and they sat patiently watching small animals come to drink.
Nat’s thoughts drifted to memories of Marissa as she sat dazed
against a small tree. Gyp licked her hand to bring her back to
reality as a large rabbit sat up on its hind legs staring at
them.

“
Rabbit stew it is,” Nat
said as she lifted her rifle and killed the rabbit.

Gyp bounded off ahead of her and
sniffed around the dead rabbit, “With some potatoes and carrots
that should taste just fine,” Nat said as she picked up the
rabbit.

Gyp sat patiently on the porch as she
watched Nat skin the rabbit and prepare it for the stew pot. The
rabbit was still lean from winter, but if would provide ample meat
for their stew for a few days. Nat put the meat into the stew pot
and hung the pelt to dry.

She cut up a few of the potatoes and
carrots from her stores and left them soaking in water. There was
still plenty of daylight left as she and Gyp went in search of more
firewood. Nat picked up the axe and her rifle. She used a narrow
strip of buckskin to fashion a strap to the rifle so she could
carry it over her shoulder, leaving her hands free to carry an
armload of wood. She had seen a few trees behind the cabin that had
fallen during the winter snows that she would chop first for their
fireplace.

Nat chopped for nearly an hour,
separating the fallen trees into sections she could carry back to
the cabin. She stacked the small logs beside the cabin door and
returned to split and carry the larger sections of the trunks. As
the sun started to fade, Nat took the axe and returned to the
cabin, smiling at the sizeable stack of wood she was able to bring
in. She placed the axe and her rifle inside and walked to the creek
for a fresh bucket of water. She poured water into Gyp’s bowl and
into her cup as she rested from the labor. She added another few
cups to the cooking stew and dropped the vegetables in with the
meat.

She then mixed up a batch of cornmeal
and placed a skillet into the fireplace to bake. It would be awhile
before dinner was ready, so Nat looked at Gyp. “Should we go steal
some honey?” she asked.

Gyp heard the word go and bounded to
the door. Nat picked up the glass jar she had emptied the night
before that still held a small amount of water and walked to the
door. She made a long torch using a tree limb with an oily cloth
wrapped around the end and lit it as she and Gyp walked to the
honey tree. “You will have to stay back,” Nat said. “I don’t want
you stung by angry bees.”

Gyp sat patiently as she watched her
master approach the tree. Nat poured a small amount of the water on
the torch to make the oily cloth smoke. She then lifted the torch
into the heart of the tree and ducked as an angry swarm of honey
bees flew from the hive. Nat quickly poured the water from the jar
and dunked it into the sticky, sweet honey, careful to break off a
small portion of the comb to place inside the jar. When the jar was
full, Nat moved quickly away from the tree and she and Gyp rushed
back to the house. She extinguished the torch and rested it beside
the cabin to wait for their next raid.

Nat took the jar inside and wiped the
side that was coated with the sweet honey and lifted it to her
lips. “Mm this is sweet,” she said and watched Gyp’s body wiggle
with anticipation. Nat ran her fingers through the sweet liquid and
offered her fingers to Gyp who licked them with great appreciation
of the tasty treat. Nat placed the metal lid on the jar and sat it
in the middle of the table.

Nat returned to the porch and picked up
an alder branch that she had found earlier that day. She returned
to the cabin and took a chair over to the fireplace to sit and
began skinning the light bark from the limb. She carefully shaved
the limb and stopped every few minutes to drop the shavings into
the fire. She would make this into a walking stick for Maggie, she
decided as she sat back and enjoyed the smell of the cooking food.
Each night, before she retired for the evening she would add
another carving onto the stick, she promised herself. It would make
a beautiful gift for Maggie and would help her pass the time during
the long nights ahead.

When Nat had skinned the bark, she
carefully held the stick over the heat of the fireplace. As the
wood heated, it turned a darker shade that would make Nat’s
carving’s stand out more prominently on the wood. By the time she
had finished staining the stick, the cornbread had risen and the
stew was ready for dinner. Nat carefully propped the stick next to
the fireplace and dished out hearty portions of the stew for their
dinner. She placed the frying pan on the table and cut the
cornbread into four large slices. She removed Gyp’s corn bread to
cool and then crumbled it on top of the stew, before settling in to
her own meal.

“
It’s not too bad, huh,
Gyp?” Nat asked.

Gyp was busily devouring the meal and
did not even look up at the sound of her name. “Must not be too
bad,” Nat said with a chuckle.

Nat cleaned the dishes and took the
stew from the fire as she prepared to retire for the evening. They
would have cornbread and honey for breakfast the next morning and
Nat would bake biscuits for leftover stew the following
evening.

Tired, but satisfied with the day’s
accomplishments, Nat took off her boots and lay down on the cot.
Gyp jumped onto the cot beside her and curled up next to Nat. “Good
night Marissa,” Nat whispered. Gyp whimpered lowly, sensing Nat’s
loneliness and Nat reached over to run her fingers through Gyp’s
fur. “Everything is going to be all right, Gyp,” she said softly to
herself and her companion.

PART NINETEEN

Nat spent the next few weeks, trapping
and treating the pelts she was able to harvest. Each night she
would sit by the fire and carve on the walking stick, whittling
away the time. Her longing for Marissa did not fade and as the days
grew longer, Nat found herself thinking of home.

Nat spent a good deal of time talking
to Nathan’s grave while she worked on her pelts. She knew her
father could not answer her directly, but being near to him made
Nat think like Nathan. As her heart grew unbearably lonesome, Nat
knew her decision was made. Nathan loved the wild, even more deeply
after her mother had died, but he had taught her that no matter
what, Nat should follow her heart. Nat had no doubt, that she loved
the life that Nathan had taught her and it was a life she knew
well, but without him or Marissa, it wasn’t the life she yearned
for.

The more she thought about Maggie’s
suggestion, to harvest ocean life and do some trapping near home
while working for Smithy, the more excited she was about going
home. She had several good weeks and she was sure the quality of
the pelts was exceptional and Smithy would give a fair price for
them, especially this early in the season.

On a sunny morning a month after she
had left home, Nat collected her traps and prepared for the trip
home. She would leave the following morning and spent the day
setting up her packs and topping off her supply of honey. She had
not killed the wild boar she had hoped for, but there would be
plenty of time to hunt once she returned home. Even better, she and
Marissa could raise their own pig for slaughter if they added a
small pen.

That evening, Nat packed up the last of
her cooking utensils. She would eat leftover biscuits and jerky on
her two day trip home. It wasn’t a hearty meal, but Nat knew she
would more than make up for it with Marissa’s home cooking
soon.

Gyp too, seemed excited about
traveling. She danced around Nat’s heels as she walked to and from
the woods to the cabin re-stocking wood. She doubted she would
return to the cabin for a long time, but she wanted the next person
to stumble across it to be properly welcomed.

They ate the last portion of a pheasant
Nat had shot with cornbread. When Nat was done, she sat by the fire
and picked up the walking stick. During her weeks in the woods, Nat
had carved numerous animals deep into the smooth wood and she was
pleased with the final product. Maggie would be honored with the
gift and would use it often in their future journeys
together.

When dawn arrived the following
morning, Nat had to wake Gyp who was still softly snoring on her
cot. “It is time to start for home lazy bones,” Nat teased as she
pulled her boots on.

Nat packed the animals and after
feeding Gyp a strip of jerky, placed one in her mouth and mounted
Hardy. She tore off bites of the dried meat and sucked on it to
allow it to soften enough for her to chew as she rode through the
morning. Nat had not seen another human since leaving town and was
surprised to catch the smell of a campfire as they moved along the
trail. She kept her hand close to her rifle as they approached a
small clearing.

Nat saw a young couple, barely out of
their teens milling around the campfire. They were startled by her
approached and the young man jumped to his feet.

“
Hello there,” Nat shouted
as she approached.

“
Hello,” he answered, but
eyed her warily.

“
What brings you two out to
these parts?” she asked as Hardy walked closer to the
fire.

“
Me and my wife Susan are
trying our hand at trapping,” the strapping young man said
proudly.

“
Are you having much luck?”
Nat asked.

“
Not near as well as you
apparently,” he said, as he saw the mound of pelts on Quincy’s
back. “My name is Tom Calder,” he said as he offered his hand to
Nat.

“
Nat St. Croix,” she said as
she took his hand. “Would you mind a suggestion?” Nat
asked.