The Mandie Collection (80 page)

At that moment the old Cherokee Indian came walking out from behind a clump of tall trees. He was carrying his bow and arrows and was dressed in the deerskin jacket he always wore back home in North Carolina.

Mandie ran to meet him, and his old face smiled into a thousand wrinkles. He stooped to embrace her. Mandie threw her arms around the old man's neck, and tears of joy rained down her face. She was so happy she couldn't speak.

Celia picked up Snowball and came over to greet the old Indian. Uncle Ned smiled at her over Mandie's blonde head. “Papoose need Ned. Me come. Help.” He reached to include Celia in his arms.

Mandie excitedly asked, “Uncle Ned, how did you
get
here? All the way to Europe. I know I told you I didn't need you now that I'm thirteen years old, but I was so wrong, Uncle Ned. I'll always need you.”

Uncle Ned smiled. “Ned watch over Papoose like he promise her father, Jim Shaw, when he go to happy hunting ground. Ned watch till
he
go to happy hunting ground.”

“But how did you
get
here?” Mandie asked again, stepping back to dry her tears.

The old Cherokee smiled. “Mother of Papoose say Ned must go on other ship to Europe. Watch Papoose. Not let Papoose see.”

“I should have known my mother would do that,” Mandie said with a laugh. “Oh, Uncle Ned, we need your help so badly. Our friend is in desperate trouble.”

The girls quickly related the events of the day.

The old Indian listened. “Ned see papooses leave hotel after grandmother leave. Me follow, but lose trail sometimes,” he explained. “Can you figure out what to do, Uncle Ned?” Mandie asked eagerly. “I know you can. You always solve things for me.” The old Indian looked at her and smiled.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

UNEXPECTED HELP

With Uncle Ned's help the girls found the outside window to the cell where Jonathan and the three sisters were imprisoned.

The old Indian examined the bars guarding the opening and shook his head. “Bars not move,” he said. “Find other way.”

Mandie and Celia led him through the maze of tunnels until they finally found the locked room. Since their last visit there, someone had locked the adjoining room. The girls couldn't show the old Indian the bar across the connecting door.

While Celia held Snowball, Mandie spoke through the keyhole. “Jonathan, we haven't found a way to get you out yet,” she whispered, “but Uncle Ned, my dear old Cherokee friend, is here. He can solve anything, and I'm sure he'll figure out what to do.”

“Please get us out, too,” the oldest girl called.

Jonathan came over to the keyhole. “Mandie, how can you have a
Cherokee
friend in France?” he asked.

“He's not from France. He's from back home in North Carolina,” Mandie explained. “He was my father's dearest friend.”

“And he came all the way to France? A Cherokee Indian?” Jonathan asked in disbelief.

“That's what I said, Jonathan. Now do you want him to help you get out or not?” Mandie asked, exasperated. “Every minute counts.”

“Of course, Mandie. I'm sorry,” Jonathan apologized. “It's just so unusual for a Cherokee Indian to come to France.”

“And I'm sorry if I sounded sharp, Jonathan. I really didn't mean to. I'm all upset,” Mandie told him. “But we've got to get you out, and Uncle Ned can help.”

“Those people who adopted us are coming back in a little while,” Maude called to them. “I don't want to see them again, so please help us, too.”

“I'll do whatever I can,” Mandie promised. “If we're able to get Jonathan out, of course you'll be freed, too.”

Snowball twisted and turned in Celia's arms, fighting to get down.

“Mandie,” Celia complained, “Snowball is trying to scratch me.”

Mandie quickly took the kitten and let him down on his leash. “I'm sorry, Celia. I guess he's just worn out,” she said.

But Snowball pounced playfully on Uncle Ned's moccasins. The old Indian smiled and rubbed the kitten's white fur. Snowball purred and cuddled against Uncle Ned's hand.

“Why, Snowball, you just wanted to say hello to Uncle Ned.” Mandie laughed. “But that's enough for now. We've got some thinking and planning to do.” She looked at Uncle Ned, waiting for his suggestions.

“Man and woman come back,” he began, barely above a whisper. “I hide. Shoot bow and arrow–”

“Uncle Ned!” Mandie interrupted. “We can't shoot them!”

“Not shoot. Shoot at,” the old man said, smiling. “They afraid of Cherokee. Man and woman open door, Ned shoot arrow over heads, not hit. Surprise. Papoose and friends run quick. Get away.”

Mandie smiled back at the old man. “I knew you would figure something out,” she said. Turning back to the keyhole, she swiftly related their plans. “Uncle Ned will hide and so will we. When those people return and open the door, Uncle Ned will shoot an arrow over their heads, and all of us will have to take off running before they recover from the surprise.”

“That sounds like an excellent idea, Mandie,” Jonathan told her.

“I hope it works,” Martha called softly.

Celia frowned. “What if you should accidentally hit one of them, Uncle Ned?” she asked.

“Uncle Ned never misses his target. Never!” Mandie told her friend.

“But, Uncle Ned, what if those people really hurt one of us?” Celia asked nervously. “You will stop them some way, won't you?”

“Yes.” Uncle Ned nodded. “People hurt papooses, Ned hurt people,” he told her.

Mary told Mandie that the people who adopted them would probably leave the carriage where Mandie and Celia had seen it before and come into the tunnel from that direction.

Uncle Ned and the girls searched the passageway and found a cross tunnel near the locked room where they could watch for the people to return.

There were cells all along the corridor, and Uncle Ned picked a room nearest the intersection of the two passageways.

“Papooses, wait here,” he told them, motioning for them to go inside.

Mandie picked up Snowball, and she and Celia did as he asked. This cell had several small openings in the wall, so the girls could see out into the corridor. Uncle Ned stationed himself right inside the doorway and kept watch.

“When did you actually get to France, Uncle Ned?” Mandie asked the old man as they waited.

“Sun come up this morning,” the old Indian replied.

“Then you weren't here when those people took us from the hotel and kept us in that house overnight,” Mandie whispered back. “We'll have to tell you all about that awful experience.” Turning to Celia, she said, “I wonder if that strange woman from the ship is connected with these girls. Let's remember to ask them.”

“They didn't mention her,” Celia whispered. “And they didn't say anything about our being with her at that house.”

“Papooses quiet. Ears listen for bad people,” Uncle Ned cautioned, keeping his gaze on the corridor.

“I'm sorry,” Mandie whispered her apology.

“Me, too,” Celia added softly.

The time passed slowly. The girls grew tired of standing and finally sat down on the dirty floor. Snowball romped through the room, enjoying his freedom. Uncle Ned remained at the doorway and watched and waited.

No one heard the people coming until they were almost at the intersection of the two passageways. Uncle Ned stiffened. He stared down the corridor. Mandie quietly picked up Snowball, and peeked through a hole in the wall just as the girls' adoptive parents came into view. The man with the deep voice wasn't with them. They were arguing loudly. The woman talked rapidly in some foreign language. The man shook his head vigorously, speaking sharply to her.

As the strangers passed the intersection and disappeared from Mandie's sight, Uncle Ned slowly eased out of the room. He crept to the corner to watch them.

Mandie and Celia crept silently behind him.

Then the crucial moment came. The man took a huge key from his pocket and inserted it in the lock on Jonathan's cell. As he pushed the door open, Uncle Ned sent an arrow in their direction. It whizzed only a fraction of an inch above their heads.

The woman gasped. “What on earth was that?” She turned and saw the quivering arrow imbedded in the wood over the door.

At the same moment, Jonathan and the Covington girls shoved the man out of the way and burst out into the corridor.

Another arrow sailed over the woman's head.

“Indians!” she shrieked.

The man was off balance, but the woman managed to grab Jonathan by his hair as he ran past.

Jonathan howled.

Mandie rushed to the rescue, instinctively flinging Snowball at the woman. He landed on the bodice of the woman's dress, and clung in fright to the lacey frills. The woman released Jonathan's hair.

He and the three sisters followed Celia down the side corridor, while Mandie quickly snatched Snowball from the stunned woman's dress and chased after her friends. They all ducked into a cell down the corridor and waited for Uncle Ned.

The old Indian remained at the intersection of the corridors with his bow drawn. The man and woman rushed back down the corridor the way they had come. Uncle Ned made sure the man and woman were gone, and then he joined Mandie and her friends.

The dark-haired girls trembled at the sight of him. “A real Indian!” they squealed, backing away as he walked into the room.

“Yes, a real Cherokee Indian, all the way from the United States,” Mandie said proudly. “And if it weren't for him, you'd still be locked up—or worse.”

Mary stepped forward and reluctantly offered her dainty white hand. “Thank you, sir,” she said.

Uncle Ned nodded and ignored the proffered hand. “Welcome,” he replied.

“Yes, sir,” Jonathan said emphatically, “we all must say thank you. I am so grateful to you.”

Uncle Ned nodded and said, “We go now.”

With Uncle Ned leading the way, the group finally found their way out of the tunnel and up to the courtyard where people were still milling around. Almost all the spectators turned to stare at Uncle Ned, but it didn't seem to bother him at all. He kept right on walking until he found a guard. Then he turned to Jonathan and the girls.

“Speak French?” he asked the group.

“Yes, sir, I do,” Jonathan volunteered. “What shall I say?”

“Police find woman, man,” Uncle Ned told him. “French man find way take Papoose and friends to town.”

Mandie smiled gratefully. Uncle Ned was going to look after them until they were safe.

The girls and the old Indian watched as Jonathan approached the guard and in French quickly explained the situation they were in.

The guard looked shocked and kept interjecting exclamations in French. Then he bowed to the girls and Uncle Ned and quickly walked into the palace.

“He has gone to find the captain of the guard,” Jonathan explained. “They will begin a search immediately for the couple, and also for the other man. And they will take us back to town.”

“Does that include us?” Martha asked.

“Why yes, of course,” Jonathan assured her.

Mandie looked at the three girls with concern. “But where will y'all go?” she asked. “If y'all go back to the hotel, your adoptive parents may find you there, and there's no telling what may happen next.”

“We have a great-uncle—a
real
great-uncle—who will take us in,” Maude told her. “He lives in Paris. If we go to the police, they will take us there.”

“And we will be so glad to be rid of those people who adopted us,” Martha remarked.

The guard returned and spoke to Jonathan, who then turned to the others and translated: “The search has begun, and a carriage will be here immediately to take us back to the city.”

As he spoke, an official-looking carriage with a uniformed driver pulled up and stopped before them. The driver jumped down and opened the door. He bowed to the young girls and after helping them inside, he turned to Uncle Ned. The old Indian smiled and shrugged off the driver's offered hand, and spryly stepped into the carriage. The driver returned to his seat and set the vehicle in motion.

“Jonathan,” Mandie said as they traveled along, “please tell us what happened that night at the hotel when you didn't come back.”

“To make a long story short, two men grabbed me from behind and pushed me out a side door into a carriage they had waiting in the alley,” Jonathan explained. “It was these girls' father and that other dark-complected man, who was from . . . who knows what country! I couldn't identify his language.”

“Please,” Mary objected. “He's not our father. He's just the man who adopted us.”

“Sorry. I thought the man was your father at the time,” Jonathan apologized. “They took me to a store building near the Eiffel Tower and kept me there until they decided to move me to the dungeon at the palace,” he continued. “The traffic was congested around the Tower, and they had to make several stops. I managed to escape from the carriage, but they very quickly caught up with me and forced me back inside.”

“Mandie and I saw them do that!” Celia spoke up. “We were right down the street.”

“You were?” Jonathan asked.

“Yes, we'll tell you our story later. We want to hear yours,” Mandie insisted.

“There isn't much to tell except that they moved me to the dungeon, and said they were demanding guns from my father's factory. You know all that,” he said.

Uncle Ned rode along in silence, listening as the young people discussed their adventures.

“What country was that other man from, Mary?” Mandie asked.

“We don't know anything about him,” Mary replied. “He was supposed to be a friend of the people who adopted us. That's all we know.”

“The police will probably find him and the people who adopted you,” Jonathan told the three sisters.