The Mandie Collection (21 page)

Dimar volunteered. “I am young and strong. I will go down and put Tsa'ni in the basket.”

“Go,” Uncle Ned told him, and he slid down the rope Mandie had used.

“I am at the bottom,” Dimar called. “Send down the basket.”

The crude basket was lowered and Dimar pulled it flat on the rock floor of the pit. He and Tsa'ni were about the same size, and it was no easy job to lift the other boy and lay him on the rope basket. Neither spoke a word.

“All right, pull! He is in the basket,” Dimar called.

The men carefully pulled on the rope from either side of the hole, and soon the basket with Tsa'ni in it appeared.

“That way,” Uncle Ned motioned to the men on both sides to walk to the far end of the pit, holding the rope taut as they went. Then they lowered the basket carefully to the floor. Uncle Wirt bent to examine the injured boy.

“I cannot move,” Tsa'ni told his grandfather. His face was pale and he looked frightened in the lantern light.

“We take Tsa'ni to wagon,” Wirt told the others.

Tsa'ni turned his head away.

Joe protested as they prepared to leave. “What about the gold?”

“We'll have to use the wagon to get Tsa'ni to a doctor. We'll just have to come back tomorrow,” Uncle John told them.

Mandie sighed. “Oh, me. All this work all over again.” She was feeling hatred again toward Tsa'ni for interfering with their plans. After all, he had fallen into the pit because he was trying to beat them to the gold.

“Yeh, all because of that stupid boy,” Joe said.

Sallie looked at the two, “He will be sorry.”

“I hope he is,” Joe said. “First thing you know, someone else will get the gold, and we'll never know what happened to it. So many people know about it now.”

Mandie and Sallie agreed. Too many people knew about the gold. They must hurry back the next day.

CHAPTER EIGHT

THE BROKEN WAGON WHEEL

Uncle Ned pulled the wagon to a halt in front of his cabin and motioned to the others. “Wirt and me take Tsa'ni to doctor. You stay here. Morning Star make food.”

“Are you sure you won't need any help?” Uncle John asked as he helped Elizabeth down from the wagon.

“No. You watch papooses,” Uncle Ned said, laughing.

“I don't think they'll go anywhere. It's past suppertime and I know they're hungry,” Uncle John told him.

Mandie, Joe, Sallie, and Dimar jumped down and headed for the cabin. Dimar had told his mother he would be gone for a day or two, so he decided to stay at Uncle Ned's house for the night.

Morning Star had the food cooking and Elizabeth helped her finish. The four young people sat on the doorstep with Snowball.

“Where are they taking Tsa'ni to a doctor?” Mandie asked Sallie.

“To Dr. Carnes. He is a white doctor. He lives between here and Bryson City,” the Indian girl replied.

“He probably won't find anything wrong with him. I think it's all put on so he won't get into trouble for trying to steal the gold,” Joe remarked, as he drew lines in the sand with a stick.

“But, Joe, he didn't say a word all the way back. He had his eyes closed,” Mandie said, secretly thinking the same thing as Joe. She was desperately trying to rid her mind of the mean thoughts.

“Well, I could do that, too. Saves answering a whole lot of questions,” Joe chided.

“I do not think so, Joe,” Sallie disagreed. “I really believe he was hurt. He looked pale and weak.”

“Well, he sure slowed things down for us.”

“You're right there, Joe,” Mandie said.

“Your uncle said we would return tomorrow,” Dimar reminded her. His eyes never left her face. His admiration was plain to see, but Mandie was not aware of it.

“But, Dimar, we have to go all the way back up there to the cave and then all through those spooky rooms until we find the right one again,” Mandie said.

“That will not be hard this time. I think I can remember exactly which way we went.” Sallie was confident.

“Yeh, like that.” Joe drew a rough diagram of the cave in the sand. “Here's the entrance, and we went this way.” He pointed. “Then this way and that way,” He sketched a line through the outline. “That is right.” Sallie was watching.

“But there's still the problem of actually finding the gold. It's buried somewhere under all those rocks, and they all look the same,” Mandie reminded them.

“That should not take long with so many people to help dig,” Dimar said.

Elizabeth came to the doorway. “Eat!” She laughed.

“Eat! That word is good in any language!” Joe exclaimed as they stood up and hurried to the table for their evening meal.

“Amen!” agreed Mandie.

Dimar managed to sit between Mandie and Sallie with Joe on the other side of Mandie. Joe was beginning to notice Dimar's behavior around his friend. He didn't say anything, but kept a watch on the two of them during the meal. Mandie still did not seem to notice the extra attention.

Uncle Ned returned after a while, alone. Everyone looked up, anxious for news of Tsa'ni.

“Tsa'ni go home. Wirt go with him,” the old Indian told them as he sat down to eat. “Doctor say—stay in bed.”

“Well, did he think it was serious? I mean, can Tsa'ni move now?” Uncle John asked.

“No,” the old man replied. “Hurt back, legs.”

“Well, I hope he doesn't have a
bad
back injury. He may never walk again,” Elizabeth said.

Everyone became serious. Mandie was fighting elation over the fact that Tsa'ni really was injured. In the back of her mind she knew she should feel sorry for him. But she couldn't help feeling he deserved it.

She spoke up to clear her thoughts. “Can we go to see him tomorrow?”

The old Indian nodded. “Yes—Tsa'ni bad Cherokee.”

“You mean because he tried to get the gold?” asked Joe.

The old man nodded again. “Gold bad for Cherokee. Tsa'ni bad, too.”

Mandie turned to her Uncle John. “Are you still going back to the cave tomorrow?”

He turned to Uncle Ned. “What do you think? Should we go back up there tomorrow?”

“Go tomorrow. Be done!” the Indian grunted.

Uncle John laughed. “You still aren't happy about looking for the gold. Uncle Ned, the Cherokees could use the gold for a lot of things they need—a hospital, a school closer by, even a new church. Depending on how much is there, the gold could buy lots of things which would take years and years to get otherwise.”

“Gold make people crazy. Bad for Cherokee. Bad for Tsa'ni.” He was very firm about it.

“I know, but we'll see what good we can do with it,” John continued.

“You mean we can't
keep
the gold?” Joe asked, surprised at the conversation between the two men.

“Of course not, Joe,” Uncle John told him. “This is Cherokee territory, so it rightfully belongs to them.”

“But the cave is not on the Cherokee reservation,” Joe argued.

“I know that, but it's almost one hundred percent Cherokee territory around here. Besides, that cave belongs to their history. Remember, Tsali hid in there,” John added.

“Couldn't we just keep a little sample for a souvenir?” Mandie ventured.

“Depends on how big the sample is,” Uncle John laughed. “Anyhow, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

Morning Star had been sitting at the table listening to the conversation. No one had any idea how much she had understood until she spoke up with great conviction, “Jim Shaw's papoose have gold!”

Everyone turned to look at her, startled.

She tried to explain. She pointed to herself and then to Mandie. “My gold Papoose's gold.”

Mandie jumped up to hug her. “Oh, Morning Star, you are learning to speak English! I wouldn't take your gold. Like Uncle John says, it belongs to the Cherokees living around here.”

Morning Star shook her head furiously and rattled off something in Cherokee. Uncle Ned listened and turned to explain.

“Morning Star say gold bad for Cherokee. Morning Star remember Cherokee move. I remember, too.”

“Times have changed, Uncle Ned,” John insisted. “I can guarantee you no harm will come to the Cherokees when the gold is found. It won't be like it was before.”

The old man grunted and got up to go outside. John followed him.

“Early to bed, early to rise,” Elizabeth told the children.

The four went to bed early, but there was a great deal of talking going on over the wall. Dimar and Joe were on the one side and the girls on the other. Joe, knowing the Indian boy was interested in Mandie, tried to monopolize the conversation.

“Mandie, this is even more exciting than looking for your uncle's will, don't you think?” Joe began.

“Well, I don't know about that,” she said. “I suppose it is just
as
exciting. Of course, I've never seen so much gold before.”

“Neither have I,” Sallie put in.

“I sure hope we find it,” Dimar said. “There must be a pile of it if it can buy a hospital and all that other stuff your Uncle John was talking about, Mandie,”

“A
huge
pile of it. I have no idea how much it's worth, though,” said Mandie.

“Your uncle will know,” Dimar assured her.

“I'm sure glad he's around to handle everything because Uncle Ned is certainly not interested,” she said.

“He can remember the removal,” Dimar reminded her.

Joe, becoming jealous of the boy, faked a yawn and said loudly, “Well, time to go to sleep. Have to get up early.”

“Yes, we have to get up early,” Sallie agreed.

“I almost forgot something. If we are leaving early in the morning for the cave, how are we going to see Tsa'ni?” Mandie asked.

“Well, I have no intention of going to see Tsa'ni. You will just have to wait until we come back if you insist on visiting him,” Joe replied.

The question was settled at early dawn when the four, wide awake with excitement, went downstairs for breakfast. Uncle Ned and Uncle John were just coming in the door from outside. They looked disturbed.

Seeing the four youngsters at the table, Uncle John explained, “Well, it looks like we won't be going back to the cave today. The wagon has a broken wheel and we have to get the part from Bryson City, which is going to take some time.”

The four spoke as one, “Oh, no!”

“It wasn't broken when you came home last night, was it, Uncle Ned?” Mandie asked.

The old man shook his head. “Broke today.”

Uncle John explained. “No, it wasn't broken last night. It looks like someone has been prowling around and deliberately damaged the wheel.”

The four looked at one another.

“Well, since Tsa'ni can't walk, it couldn't have been him this time,” Mandie said.

“How about the old man and woman that captured us in the woods?” Joe asked.

“Snuff and Rennie Lou?” Mandie asked.

“Yeh, maybe it was them.”

“I hardly think they would come down here and do a thing like that,” Uncle John said.

“You said you told them you were going to report them to the authorities,” Sallie reminded him.

“Yes, as a matter of fact, I did tell them that.”

“But why would they want to do something like that?” Uncle John added.

“Maybe they know about the gold,” Dimar suggested.

“And maybe they know we are going after it,” added Mandie.

“Well, anyway, however it happened, we will have to wait until the wagon is repaired,” John Shaw said.

“Couldn't we borrow a wagon from one of the neighbors? After all, Uncle Ned knows all of them,” Mandie said.

“No, we'd rather not do that. We'd have to keep it all day, and we'd have to explain where we were going. Uncle Ned and I are going to ride into Bryson City when we get the horses saddled up and see what we can get to fix the wheel.”

“Are you going to talk to the authorities about the old man and woman?” Joe asked.

“I suppose we'll do that while we're there,” John said.

“They must have a still up there. Remember, we told you they thought we were spying on their still,” Mandie added.

“I remember.”

“May we go visit Tsa'ni while Uncle John is gone, Mother?” Mandie asked Elizabeth.

“If you want to, but you mustn't stay too long. Tsa'ni is probably too sick to be bothered with company,” her mother told her.

As the men rode away to Bryson City, the four waved good-bye from the front of the cabin.

“Anyone want to go see Tsa'ni now?” Mandie asked.

“I will go with you,” Sallie replied.

“I don't know. I think he is dishonest with us,” Joe mumbled.

“I will go,” Dimar said, eager for the chance to be with Mandie.

Joe was quick to notice, and he thought he'd better go along just to keep an eye on the two. He shuffled his feet around in the sand and looked up. “All right. I'll go, too, but I won't have anything to say to him.”

Tsa'ni lived about a mile down the road from Uncle Ned's house, but the road had such a sharp curve that it was easier to cut through the backyards of several neighbors. Mandie had already decided that all the Cherokees' cabins were alike and so she was not surprised to find Tsa'ni's home a duplicate of Uncle Ned's. The door of the log cabin was open and as they approached, a kind Indian woman came to welcome them.

“Come in. I am glad you could come to see Tsa'ni,” she said, as they entered the house.

The boy was on a bed at the far end of the room, and Mandie could feel him staring at her.

“I am Amanda Shaw, and you must be Tsa'ni's mother,” Mandie introduced herself.

“Yes, I am Meli,” the woman said. “Your father was my husband's cousin.”