Into the Wilderness (42 page)

"You
know," Elizabeth said. "I have asked Richard about this part of his
life many times and he is unwilling to tell me anything about it."

"Well,
I cain't tell you much either about what went on those years he lived with the
Mohawk. A' course, it won't be much different from the way any boy is raised.
They train all the young'uns hard, but it feel like play to 'em, the way it's done.
So they say. And the Todd boys was both strong. Every Indian in the northwest
knew who Samuel was, he made a name for his self at lacrosse. They called him
Throws—Far, I believe. And Richard—well, big as he is, he could outrun just
about anybody. Still can."

Curiosity
stopped and turned to look at Elizabeth. Unexpectedly, she smiled.

"Your
hair look pretty like that, Elizabeth, all curled around your face. It's a
shame and pity you cain't let it go free."

"Why,
thank you," Elizabeth said, surprised but pleased.

"Welcome.
Now, let's see. We heard some few years after the children was took that Amos
Foster was trying to buy those boys back from the Mohawk."

"Who?"
asked Elizabeth.

"Martha's
brother, Amos Foster. He had settled in Albany and made his self a fortune at
trade, you see. But his wife died without givin' him children and he wanted to
find his sister's boys to raise up as his own. So he spent a lot of time going
from village to village up in Canada until he found 'em, but it didn't do him
no good."

"They
wouldn't take money for the boys?" Elizabeth asked.

"Don't
rightly know if they would have or not. I expect not. Any more than I would
sell any of mine. But it didn't matter anyway, because Samuel didn't want to be
redeemed. Most didn't, you realize. Not the ones that was took young and
adopted in. Now, the way I heared it happen was that Samuel wouldn't have
nothing to do with the uncle when he finally found them. Wouldn't speak English
to him, even. Wouldn't answer to his Christian name. Not that you could mistake
him, or Richard, either, both of them big and red—haired as they come."

"And
Richard? Did he want to go with his uncle?"

"Richard
was different. He would have left the Mohawk, I expect, if Samuel had come
along. But he wouldn't leave his brother."

"How
do you know all this?" Elizabeth asked suddenly.

"That
uncle of Richard's," said Curiosity matter—of—factly. "He took a
slave by the name of Archimedes along with him when he traveled the
villages."

"And
you know this Archimedes?"

"I
do. He's my Galileo's brother. When Richard's uncle come back through Paradise
to see the judge, Archimedes sat in my kitchen. That was the year Manny was
born, and Archimedes dandled the boy on his knee the whole time."

Curiosity's
smile was different now, turned inward. But she shook herself and sighed.

"So
you see, some of what I'm telling you, don't no other white folks know. Except
Richard his self

"I
don't understand," Elizabeth said slowly. "Mr. Bennett told me that
Richard was eventually redeemed by his uncle."

"It's
true enough that Samuel stayed and Richard left," Curiosity agreed.
"But not because the uncle paid a ransom. Although I guess that's the
story people tell. No, Richard run off the fall he was eleven. Slipped away
from a hunting party and made his way back to Paradise."

"But
that was in Canada—" Elizabeth stopped. "He made his way through the
endless forest by himself?"

"He
did. With no more than a knife and a bag of ho cake on him, he walked the
length of the bush down to Paradise. Took him the winter."

"He
was eleven years old," Elizabeth repeated to herself."

"Yasm,"
Curiosity agreed. "He surely was. But he kept himself fed, eating mostly
rabbit, I guess, and squirrel, whatever he could snare. He ran to keep warm and
found his way by the stars. So I guess you could say it was the eight years he
spent with the Mohawk that kept him alive. Richard Todd is as white a man as
you will ever see on the outside with his velvet and brocade, but the boy
inside him was raised a Mohawk. And a warrior."

Elizabeth
was thinking hard.

"What
made him change his mind and leave his brother behind?"

"That
I cain't answer. Guess nobody could, but Richard. And Samuel, but he's dead.
Died fighting with the British in the revolution."

"Do
folks around here know about Richard's escape and the winter he spent in the
woods?"

"A'
course they do," Curiosity said. "He come back here, after all. It
was Chingachgook who found him, brought him into the trading post that
February. Thin as a whipsaw, telling his story in half English and half Mohawk.
Hawkeye and Cora wanted to take him in, but he wouldn't go near Hidden Wolf at
first. Later he couldn't stay away," she said, sighing. "But at first
an' Reverend Witherspoon took him and kept him until the spring, when his uncle
came to fetch him to Albany."

"Richard
lived with the Witherspoons?"

"He
did. Let's see, Kitty would have been about five. Mrs. Witherspoon had died
that winter, and I guess the reverend thought it would do her good to have the
boy in the house for a while. It was Kitty that taught him English again. I
remember the way she tagged along behind him, hanging on to his coattails,
chattering the whole day long." Curiosity smiled a little. "She would
do it to this day, if only she could."

"So
she would," Elizabeth agreed.

They
were silent for a while. There was an unreal quality to the clear spring air,
filled with birdsong and the rustling of the woods coming to life again. It was
early afternoon, but to Elizabeth it felt as if a week had passed since
Curiosity had brought her morning tea. She could smell Nathaniel on her skin.
The feel of his hands on her hips came to her, and she drew in a sharp breath.
There was a sudden urge in her just to turn on her heel and go back to him, to
hide there under the waterfall and never come out again. She felt vulnerable
without him as she had never before felt in her life.

"Nathaniel's
training must have been much like Richard's," Elizabeth said after a long
time.

"Uh—huh,"
Curiosity agreed. "Ain't many men as good as Nathaniel—in the bush or out
of it. I would trust him with my life, no question. But there's a difference
between Richard and Nathaniel, and it's one you don't want to forget
about." She stopped, and she took Elizabeth's hand, palm up, in her own.
It was a strangely personal gesture, and it moved Elizabeth.

"Some
men get an idea in their head and they cain't let go. It festers, and turns
into a kind of poison. Richard's got the Wolf in him, you see, Elizabeth, and
if you take it away from him, there's no telling what might happen."

She
said, "I don't have any choice."

"Yes
you do," Curiosity said softly. "Right now you do."

"It's
not right, what Richard wants to do to them," Elizabeth said.

Curiosity
was looking at her with a kind of understanding that made it clear that there
was nothing to hide, and Elizabeth met this look with thankfulness.

"It's
not Richard I love," she said, willing her voice strong and sure, but
hearing the tremor that betrayed her.

"I
can see that, child," Curiosity said, and dropped Elizabeth's hand.
"Just you two make sure you don't forget about Richard. Because he surely
won't forget about you."

When
they had walked another ten minutes or so in silence, Elizabethcleared her
throat.

"There's
more to the story that you're not telling me," she said quietly.

"That
so?" asked Curiosity.

"There's
Sarah," Elizabeth said, the familiar name feeling strange in her mouth.

"Why,
yes, now that you mention it." Curiosity seemed to be considering.
"Weren't clear to me how much you was told about her. Or how much you was
wanting to know."

For
the first time since Curiosity began telling her story, Elizabeth laughed, but
it wasn't a joyful sound. "That's a question I can't answer," she
said. "Except to say that I have a feeling I need to know more than I want
to know."

Curiosity
nodded. "That's the way of it, many times."

It
was clear that the older woman was not going to talk until Elizabeth gave her
some direction. She was tempted to let the subject drop, but also loath to let
the opportunity go.

"I
know that Richard Todd courted Sarah." Elizabeth paused, wondering if she
should cross this line. Finally, she shook her head. "I suppose the
details aren't important," she finished.

Curiosity
was looking troubled, her brow drawn down into a deep furrow. "I think
it's best if Nathaniel tell you his self about what passed back then. What I
know ain't gonna set your mind at ease, you see, 'cause I don't know the whole
story. Nobody does, except Nathaniel and Richard, now that Sarah's gone. One
thing you got wrong, though, and that is that Richard never courted Sarah. Not
the way you mean.

"I
see," said Elizabeth thoughtfully.

Curiosity
grunted. "I doubt you do," she said. "But I've said enough for
one day."

The
sky which had been so blue and unencumbered just an hour ago was now
disappearing in a rolling bank of clouds. Against the steel—gray horizon, the
yellow—green of the budding trees stood out in stark relief. They were almost
home; there was no time to draw Curiosity out, even if Elizabeth had known how
to do that. And she was tired to the bone, chilled through and in want of her
room where she could be alone to think.

When
they emerged from the wood to start up the last small rise, Curiosity stopped
suddenly and laid a hand on Elizabeth's arm in a fierce grip. Elizabeth looked
up, startled, to see that Curiosity's attention was focused on the house.

Richard
Todd stood at the door, filling the frame. At his side, looking the worse for
travel but wearing a welcoming smile, was John Bennett, magistrate.

"Sneeze,"
whispered Curiosity.

Puzzled,
Elizabeth began to turn to her, but Curiosity's hand clamped down on her wrist
and squeezed, hard.

"Sneeze!"
Curiosity hissed. "And put some work into it." She let Elizabeth's
wrist go and set her face in a smile. "Well!" she called out.
"Look who come to call! Mr. Bennett, it is good to see you, sir! It has
been some seasons since you last come to visit us here in Paradise."

Elizabeth
hung back while Mr. Bennett and Curiosity exchanged pleasantries, trying to
make sense of what was happening, but it seemed that her mind would not work.
Richard was back from Johnstown, and he had brought John Bennett with him.
These two facts danced through her head, bumping into each other, but she could
not make them intersect in a meaningful way. Curiosity cast her a furious
glance, and Elizabeth stumbled forward. Richard had brought Mr. Bennett to
Paradise. Mr. Bennett, who belonged in Johnstown, was here.

Then
her father appeared at the door, waving a letter. "Word from your aunt
Merriweather!" he called cheerfully.

With
a rush of understanding as cold and clear as the waterfall she had willingly
stood in just an hour ago, the truth of the matter hit Elizabeth. Richard had
brought Mr. Bennett to Paradise, and it would no longer be necessary to go to
Johnstown to sign and notarize the deed. It could be done now, this afternoon.
Her father's property would be signed over to Elizabeth this very day. Just as
soon as she gave Richard her vow.

The
men were near enough now for Elizabeth to see the self—satisfied smile on
Richard's face. And why not? What excuse could she have now, to put him off?
She saw the pieces of his plan, and they were simple and beautiful, his
strategy flawless.

For
the first time in her life, Elizabeth felt close to a faint; the world wavered,
and reluctantly cleared. Thoughts of Nathaniel and Hannah flashed through her
mind, Lake in the Clouds in snowdrifts, Otter's bloody leg, and then Nathaniel
again, framed in the light from the waterfall. Hidden Wolf Richard thought that
he had won; she could see it in the set of his mouth.

Elizabeth
was overcome with a white anger so pure and hot that she felt all the blood
drain from her face and settle in her fingertips, just as her thoughts settled
suddenly into complete clarity.
You think
you've got me in a corner,
she whispered.
But think again, my laddie.

All
this had taken only a few seconds; Curiosity still stood, waiting for Elizabeth
with one brow raised. The men waited, too; she had yet to say a word to any of
them. The three of them were without a clue of what woman could do when
everything she held dear was threatened. She felt contempt for them, which she
struggled to keep from her face.

Elizabeth
looked Richard straight in the eye, and focusing all her attention on his perfectly
tied cravat, she manufactured three tremendously loud, credible, and completely
unladylike sneezes.