The Treasure Hunt (11 page)

“Willie,” repeated Father, as if he couldn't think who that was. “Oh, you mean the prospector who lives in the creek bank. I never did get around to visiting him.”

“Well, he's very sick,” Joe said again urgently.

Father looked at him. “From what you say, I'd guess someone should go for the doctor. In the meantime, someone should go to Willie as well. Maybe I could do that if Jake would agree to go after the doctor.”

“Is it far to the den?” asked Mother.

“Not terribly far,” Joe answered.

“Well, I'll go along,” decided Mother.

“Joe, will you ask Jake to go get the doctor? He can ride King. Then please show us where Willie lives.”

Jake was forking straw in the barn. He listened to Joe's story, asked a few questions, saddled King, and set off. Meanwhile, Father and Mother had started slowly across the field with Lydia trailing after them. Joe could easily catch up. In fact, he found it hard to walk slowly enough for Father.

They eventually arrived at the door in the riverbank. Father nearly stumbled over Joe's pan and asked, “What's this?”

“Oh, that's to pan for gold,” Joe mumbled.

“Oh. Well, Joe, will you go in first, since he knows you?”

Joe knocked. As soon as he heard Willie's voice, he went in and stood near the bed. “I brought my parents here. They want to help you.”

Again Willie's face got that look. He pulled the blanket up higher as Father and Mother approached the bed. “Leave me alone,” he begged.

Father told him kindly, “We just want to help.”

Mother quickly made a fire in the stove. Finding the oatmeal, she stirred together a thin gruel and brought it to Willie. “Here's something for you to eat.”

Willie stared at the bowl. Finally he reached out a claw like hand that shook badly. Anybody could see that he wasn't able to hold the bowl, much less handle a spoon.

Father helped Willie hold up his head, while Mother dribbled the gruel into his mouth, a few drops at a time. Lydia watched wide-eyed from the door. She had never seen such a sick person.

After a while Father stuck his head out the door. “Where's Joe? Oh, there you are. You'd better go back to the house. When the doctor comes, someone will have to tell him where Willie is.”

Father helped Willie hold up his head, while Mother dribbled the gruel into his mouth.

“Okay,”

Lydia scrambled up the bank after Joe, but he trotted so fast that she couldn't keep up. She wanted to beg him to wait, but she knew he should hurry. What if the doctor was already there at the house?

Sure enough, Dr. Crawford's car came bumping toward
Lydia across the field. Joe grinned at her from the passenger side. Getting a ride in a car wasn't something that happened often to the Yoder family.

Lisbet was full of questions when Lydia finally reached the house, so she told her all she knew. Soon they saw the doctor's car coming back, more slowly this time. “He's probably got the sick man in the car, so that's why he's driving carefully,” Lisbet surmised.

Joe loped along beside the car, and last of all came Father and Mother. Father trudged ever so slowly. Mother supported him by holding onto his good arm. As soon as he reached the kitchen, Father dropped into a chair.

“Is Dr. Crawford taking Willie to the hospital?” Lydia asked.

“For now he'll just take him to Mrs.Whitsun's boarding house. He wants to make some inquiries and find out if Willie has relatives nearby. He thinks Willie may just have the flu,” Mother replied. “We offered to take him into our house, but Dr. Crawford said he'd rather take him to town.”

“He thought,” Father put in with a wry smile, “that we already have enough sick people the way it is.”

15

The Miller Boys

O
nce Father's hand was better, Jake finally got his wish to go to work on a threshing crew. On the morning he was to leave, Father read from Proverbs 3.

My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments…Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart…Trust in the L
ORD
with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

Closing the Bible, Father said to Jake, “The crew you will be joining is quite decent, but there are a few fellows who are mainly out for a good time. With God's help, may you resist temptation and stand strong in the faith.”

Jake nodded very seriously. He didn't seem to know what to say.

Lydia felt a lump forming in her throat as she watched her big brother pick up his bag and start toward the door. “Goodbye! See you soon,” she called to him.

“See you,” Jake echoed back to her.

“I'll be back in a month or so. There's Samuel Miller coming up the road now with Jonas.” With that he stepped outside and closed the door behind him. Jonas was Jake's age, and he too was going to join the threshing crew. His father had agreed to drive the two young men to the train station.

Lydia ran to the window and said, “Maybe Rebecca and Veronica came along to visit me while their father is in town.” When no girls climbed down from the wagon when it stopped to pick up Jake, Lydia said sadly, “They haven't been here for quite a while.”

“I know what,” began Mother. “When Samuel comes back, we'll try to stop him. We'll ask him if they could come for Sunday dinner.”

“Yes, let's,” cried Lydia. “May I bake a cake? I'd like to make a pumpkin cake.”

“That's a good idea!”

Everything worked out fine. Lydia saw Samuel Miller
when he was still quite a distance down the road, so they had plenty of time to intercept him. He was sure his family would like to come on Sunday, so Lydia and Lisbet got busy with preparations. They cleaned the house, peeled potatoes, and stewed fruit besides baking a pumpkin cake.

The Yoders' table ended up being quite crowded that Sunday. Thinking that Barbara must be feeling lonely with Ben gone, Mother invited her and the children too. Of course they thought of Polly and Sam and invited them as well. What with the Millers' four children and the Yoders' three, that made seventeen people!

Joe knew exactly what he wanted to do with the Miller boys. “Would you like to see the prospector's house in the creek bank?” he asked as the boys went outside after dinner.

“Sure thing,” said fourteen-year-old Israel, and, of course eleven-year-old Levi agreed.

They reached the den in record time. “Willie's not home yet,” Joe told the other two. “I guess he's still sick.”

“In the hospital?” Levi asked.

Joe shrugged. “I don't know. To tell you the truth, we haven't heard from him since Dr. Crawford took him away. Maybe he's gone to live with relatives. He was pretty old to be living alone.”

“You know, I wouldn't have noticed this little door if I'd just walked by,” Israel said admiringly. “It's like a secret hideaway.”

Levi asked eagerly, “Can we go in?”

“Father said we're not to go in, but we may open the door and peek inside,” Joe pushed the door open, and they all crowded close to take a look.

“Everything is so tiny. Willie must not be a big man,” remarked Israel.

“No, he's not even as tall as I am,” Joe replied.

“It would be fun to go in and sit on those chairs,” Levi said wistfully.

“Father said we're not to,” Joe said again. Soon he shut the door and suggested, “Shall we sit on the opposite bank?”

The stream was so narrow that they could easily hop across. On the sun-warmed sand of the bank, they found a good spot to sit. Israel announced, “We've seen the teacher, Miss Price.”

“Oh? We heard that school's to begin soon, but we didn't know if the teacher had arrived,” Joe said.

“We went with Father to help get the school ready. You probably heard that they're fixing up the Higgins's shed. It's really quite a nice classroom now. And the teacher will board at the Higgins's house. Miss Price is tiny. Smaller than I am.”

“Oh?” Joe said again, noting that Israel was a good inch shorter than he was.

“And not very old. Maybe not much older than I am. Well, maybe as old as your sister Lisbet.” Israel said with a grin. “Do you think Miss Price can make us listen?”

Joe shifted uncomfortably. He wasn't sure what he should say to that.

Israel got to his feet. “I'm going to take another peek at that prospector's cave.” With a single leap, he was across the creek and at the door. To Joe's distress, he pulled it open and disappeared inside.

Levi followed his brother into the den. Joe hopped over and stood unhappily outside the door. How he wished he hadn't brought the Miller boys here! What if they damaged some of Willie's belongings?

Israel was walking stoop-shouldered around the low room, poking into every corner. He opened the stove lid. He got down on his hands and knees and peered under the bed. “I'm looking to see if he left any gold lying around,” he explained to Joe. “He did pan for gold, didn't he?”

“Uh, yes,” stammered Joe. How could he get these boys out of here before they started nosing into the cupboard?

Just then Israel reached for the cupboard door. Joe opened his mouth to tell him not to touch that cupboard, but shut his mouth before any words came out. If he said anything, Israel would certainly wonder what was inside.

“Here's a little wooden chest! Maybe this is where he keeps his gold,” Israel said.

Joe clenched his fists. He wanted to go over and wrench the little blue-lined box out of Israel's hands.

Israel dumped the box upside down on the table. “Huh.
It's empty. Well, Levi, we better get out of here. Joe doesn't look too happy with us, does he?”

Joe bit his lip as they passed him. He wanted to go in there and check whether those little flakes of gold lay on the table. It was possible Israel just hadn't seen them. But, of course, it wouldn't work for him to do that now, so Joe closed the door carefully and followed the other two up the bank.

For Joe the afternoon had been spoiled. He tried to be friendly and think of something else he and the boys could do together, but nothing was fun anymore. They ended up sitting on the lawn near Father and Samuel, who had taken two chairs outdoors to sit and visit. How relieved Joe was when the Millers left for home!

There was no time to sneak off and set Willie's home to rights that evening because Joe had to do the chores. Father did his best to help feed the cattle, but he still couldn't use his right hand.

It wasn't bandaged any more, and the wound had healed quite nicely, but there was a vivid scar across the palm, and Father couldn't move his fingers very much. He had explained to Joe that the nerves were probably damaged.

Tonight, after feeding some grain, Father sat on a low wall and watched Joe forking hay. “What did you boys do this afternoon?” he asked.

Joe stopped forking hay. “We went to see Willie's house.”