Mandie Collection, The: 4 (33 page)

“You’re right,” she agreed. “I know Grandmother is probably watching us, and we’ll be out of her sight on that curve, but let’s try it.”

“If I lift my end too high it will throw the weight on you, so I’ll try to keep it level with yours,” Jonathan explained as they carried the trunk a few steps and then stopped to let Mandie flex her hand.

After they got onto the smoother dirt of the trail, Mandie didn’t have to watch her feet so closely. At one point when they paused, Mandie exclaimed, “I see my bag over there! I’ll come back for it.”

“And there’s mine,” Jonathan said, motioning toward the other side of the trail.

When they finally reached the wrecked carriage, Senator Morton had recovered all the small items, so Mandie and Jonathan went back down to retrieve their bags.

Coming back up, Mandie told Jonathan, “I’m glad your aunt and uncle weren’t home when we got to Paris, so you could come on the rest of the trip with us.” She looked up at the dark-haired boy and smiled.

“I am, too,” Jonathan replied. “I’m sure we’re having a lot more interesting time, what with carriage wrecks, thieves in Rome, that mystery in Switzerland, and all the other things we’ve been involved in.” He laughed and swung his bag in the air. “My aunt and uncle will never believe any of this when we finally catch up with them.”

“Your father may catch up with us first,” Mandie reminded him.

“He never has let Senator Morton know exactly what his plans are, so I’d guess that we’ll be back in Paris before he turns up,” Jonathan said.

“But we have lots more traveling to do yet,” Mandie said, switching her bag to the other hand as they climbed the hill.

Celia stood up as the two reached the spot where the others were waiting. She extended her good hand for Mandie’s bag, and said, “Mandie, I feel so useless, letting you and Jonathan do all the work.” She set the bag down near the rest of the luggage.

“No, Celia, you are far from useless,” Mandie assured her as she caught her breath. “You watched Snowball, and that can be quite a job sometimes.” She bent to tickle the kitten under his chin. He stood up on his hind feet, meowing to be picked up. “You see, he’s spoiled rotten, wanting me to pick him up after I’ve traipsed down the mountainside twice.” She laughed and picked up the kitten, then sat on a rock to rest.

Mrs. Taft and Senator Morton were talking quietly nearby, and the young people listened.

“I am just about at the end of my rope,” Mandie’s grandmother complained. “If that man doesn’t come back with help soon, it’s going to be dark as pitch out here in these mountains, and I’m already feeling cold.”

Senator Morton quickly stood up and reached for a bag nearby. “I
believe your cloak is in this bag. Let me get it for you.” He pulled out the heavy brown garment and draped it around her shoulders.

“Oh, thank you, Senator,” Mrs. Taft said, pulling the cape more tightly around her. “This is much better. I don’t mean to complain, but I have never been in such a predicament where I have felt so helpless to do anything.”

“I know what you mean,” Senator Morton agreed. “If the driver doesn’t return soon, perhaps I should go looking for help.”

“Why, Senator, I’d be frightened to death without you here to protect us,” Mrs. Taft said. “There’s no telling who might come down that road.”

Mandie held her breath to keep from giggling. Her grandmother knew just what to say to impress the senator. She looked at her friends and found them grinning, too.

Darkness covered the mountainside now, and the young people also pulled out their wraps against the cooler night air. Celia huddled near Mandie. Mandie looked at her friend by the moonlight, and realized her hand must be hurting. She put her arm around Celia and held Snowball tightly in her lap.

“Is there anything I can do to make your hand feel better?” Mandie asked her.

“No, I don’t think so, Mandie,” Celia said in a low voice. “I’ve had a sprain before. It just has to work itself out. I’ll be all right.”

“Are you sure?” Jonathan asked.

“Yes, I’m sure,” Celia said, taking a deep breath. “Let’s talk about something else, if y’all don’t mind.”

“Like what the baroness will be thinking when we don’t arrive on schedule?” Jonathan asked with a laugh.

“Maybe she’ll send someone to look for us,” Mandie said hopefully.

“I don’t think so. She won’t know we’ve had a wreck,” Jonathan said.

“She might think we got lost,” Celia said.

“And if she thinks that, she might send someone to look for us,” Mandie reasoned.

“Maybe that driver will be back soon with another carriage,” Jonathan said.

“If only Uncle Ned had come with us,” Mandie mused. “He’d know what to do. He always does.”

Uncle Ned was her father’s old Cherokee friend, and when her father died the Indian had promised to watch over Mandie. He had been true to his promise. But at this particular time he had gone on horseback by a different route in order to stop and visit a friend whom he had known in the United States, and who was now in Germany on business. Uncle Ned planned to catch up with them at the castle. The exact time of his arrival there was uncertain.

“Amanda, y’all be sure you keep your wraps on,” Mrs. Taft called. “I don’t want any of you to catch cold.”

“We could build a fire like the Indians do back home, Grandmother,” Mandie suggested.

“No, we’d better not do that. It could get out of control,” Mrs. Taft said.

“The driver will probably come back soon now,” Senator Morton said, trying to encourage them.

“Seems like he’s been gone an awfully long time. You’d think he would have met up with someone by now,” Mandie said, shifting her sleeping kitten in her lap.

Suddenly Snowball woke up. He bristled his fur and stood.

“Snowball sees or hears something!” Mandie remarked, watching her kitten.

“Probably some wild animal,” Jonathan said.

As the young people listened they heard a faint sound in the distance.

“It’s a horse!” Celia said, rising excitedly.

“You’re right,” Mandie agreed. She stood and put Snowball down on his leash.

“Only one horse. Listen,” Jonathan said.

The clopping sound was closer. Mrs. Taft and Senator Morton were standing now and looking, too.

Everyone watched the road for any sign of help. Snowball growled at the end of his leash as a large dog trotted down the road and a lone horseman came slowly behind him.

Mandie strained in the darkness to see if it might be the carriage driver or, miracle of miracles, Uncle Ned. As the horse drew nearer she knew it couldn’t be Uncle Ned. The rider was too small. He didn’t
look like the driver either. But whoever he was, maybe he would get them some help.

Quickly handing Snowball’s leash to Jonathan, Mandie said, “I’m going to see who it is.”

Jonathan tied the leash to a bush and joined her.

Celia stayed by the kitten, and Mrs. Taft and Senator Morton stood watching.

Mandie reached the edge of the road with Jonathan right behind her just as the rider came by. The dog spotted the two and barked viciously.

The rider drew up his horse. When he did, the dog backed up against the horse’s legs and stopped barking.

“Mister, can you help us?” Mandie called to the man. She was afraid to go any closer.

“Sprechen Sie Englisch?” Jonathan asked loudly.

“Nein, nein!” came the quick, harsh reply as the rider leaned forward to peer at them.

“What did you say to him?” Mandie whispered.

“I only asked if he spoke English, and he said no,” Jonathan explained.

“He sounds awfully upset about something,” Mandie said softly.

The rider began yelling and talking in a language that Jonathan could not understand. Senator Morton and Mrs. Taft, who had come over to see what was going on, could not understand either.

“I don’t recognize the language,” the senator said.

“Neither do I, but then I can’t hear him very well,” Mrs. Taft said. “His voice is muffled.”

“Yes,” the senator agreed.

Jonathan tried speaking to the man in French, but he either ignored him or couldn’t understand. Suddenly he stood up in the stirrups and fired a gun in the air, then went racing off down the steep road, the dog running after him.

The group stood looking blankly at one another while the shot echoed away in the distance.

“That man was either crazy, drunk, or scared,” Jonathan declared.

Mandie turned toward where they’d been sitting, and found Celia right behind her.

“I had to see what was going on,” Celia whispered.

“I don’t believe anybody knows what was going on,” Mandie said.

“Well, it wasn’t the driver. That’s for sure,” Jonathan said as he joined the girls.

“Amanda,” Mrs. Taft spoke to her, “I think it’s best if you do not rush up to strangers like that again, especially in the dark. It could be dangerous.”

“Yes, Grandmother. I just thought maybe it was someone who could help us,” Mandie said. She picked up Snowball and hugged him close.

Senator Morton cleared his throat and announced his decision: “We can’t stay out here all night. If that driver doesn’t come back within the hour, I will go look for help myself.”

“I’ll go with you,” Mandie volunteered.

“Amanda!” Mrs. Taft reproved her.

“But, Grandmother, a person should never go off alone in a strange place,” Mandie countered.

“You wouldn’t be of much help in an emergency,” her grandmother said.

“I will go with you, Senator Morton,” Jonathan offered.

“No, Jonathan. One of us needs to stay here with the ladies—to protect them,” Senator Morton said.

“Well—” Jonathan began.

Mandie interrupted, “You see, Grandmother. I’m the only logical one to go with Senator Morton. Celia has hurt her hand, and Jonathan must stay here to protect you. That leaves me to go.”

“Senator Morton hasn’t asked you to go, and besides, he hasn’t decided for sure that he will go,” Mrs. Taft said.

“I’ll wait a little while longer, and if the man doesn’t return we’ll go,” the senator said. “That is, if Amanda insists, and you agree, Mrs. Taft. It will be fine with me if she goes.”

“All right, but you’re not to leave Senator Morton’s side. Is that understood?” Mrs. Taft asked sternly.

“Yes, Grandmother, I understand,” Mandie quickly replied. “Thank you, Grandmother.”

When the driver did not return within the hour, Mandie left her kitten with her friends, and she and the senator set out down the road.

The night became lighter as the full moon appeared from behind the trees, but as they walked on, the road became rougher.

Suddenly the moonlight was obliterated by a dense forest through which the road passed. There was no other way to go but through the forest.

CHAPTER TWO

SILENT HELP

Senator Morton slowed his steps and looked ahead. Mandie stayed right by his side.

“I do hope there’s light enough to find our way through all those trees,” he said.

“I’ve been through lots of forests, Senator Morton, back home in Swain County,” Mandie told him. “After you get inside, your eyes adjust to the darkness. Then you can see all the night creatures, the owls, and the birds sleeping, and the crickets jumping all around.”

“Yes, you’re right, my dear,” the senator said, looking down at her. “But you must remember to stay close to me. I don’t want to lose you.”

“I will, Senator Morton,” Mandie promised. “I don’t want to lose you either.” She smiled up at the tall man as they walked on through the forest.

Mandie looked around, listening for the usual sounds she knew from the woods back home. She couldn’t hear a single creature. She held her skirts close to keep from snagging them on the bushes along the way, and stayed as close by the senator’s side as possible, until the road became too narrow for two people to walk abreast.

Senator Morton put a hand on Mandie’s shoulder. “Wait, dear,” he said. “This so-called road has turned into a mere pathway that would
never accommodate anything as large as a carriage. Either we missed a turn somewhere or the road has run out.”

“The driver said he had never been on this route before,” Mandie said, trying to see ahead of them in the darkness. “Maybe this isn’t the right road. I mean, maybe the driver didn’t know how to get to the castle at all.”

“That could very well be,” Senator Morton agreed. “I wonder if we should go back to the wreck and go in the opposite direction.”

“It’d be a long walk before we’d find anyone,” Mandie reminded him. “Remember, it was all mountains the way we came, and no sign of anyone or any dwelling after we stopped at that inn to eat today.”

“Yes, the road did seem to be deserted, but then your grandmother and I were busy talking and I didn’t really notice,” Senator Morton replied.

“Since we’ve already come this far, why don’t we just see what’s beyond this forest?” Mandie suggested.

“This could be a huge stand of trees,” Senator Morton said.

“You know, I just realized something,” Mandie said, looking up at him in the darkness. “That man on the horse came this way. There must be something beyond these woods.”

“I don’t think we want to meet up with that man again,” Senator Morton said. “However, as you say, he had to be going somewhere. I suppose we could go a little farther.”

“Good idea,” Mandie quickly agreed.

Mandie walked in front of the senator on the narrow path. As they moved along slowly, silently, she kept listening. The only sounds were their own movements, the rustle of leaves as they brushed by them, and the crack of twigs beneath their feet.

There was a moldy odor. The forest was damp, with lots of dead underbrush.

After what seemed an awfully long time to Mandie, Senator Morton finally spoke.

“Wait,” he said. “This must go on for miles and miles. And the path is so winding we may never find our way back if we keep going. Besides, if we do find someone to ask for help, how will we ever explain where the others are?”

“I can find the way back,” Mandie told him. “I’m one-fourth Cherokee, remember? And Uncle Ned taught me how to mark a trail. If you
want me to, I’ll just start breaking twigs to show the way we’ve come.” She let go of her long skirts and reached out to bend a twig on a bush. When it cracked she left it dangling. Senator Morton stood watching her, fascinated.