Authors: Cathy Keeton
Abby lay in bed that night wondering if it could be possible. She had a strong feeling that Polly was in fact Green Eye’s mother. What were the chances that she would come across her husband’s grandmother? Everything that Polly had told her about her daughter being taken by the Indians was almost identical to what Green Eyes had said. Abby was at odds with herself as to whether she should tell Polly her suspicion, if she was wrong she didn’t want to get Polly’s hopes up for nothing.
Abby suddenly remembered that she had not asked Polly what her last name is. She would find out at breakfast without making Polly wonder why she was just now asking.
Abby rose early the next morning because she had not slept well. The thought that she could be under the same roof with her baby’s great grandmother was just unbelievable.
Abby began breakfast while Polly was out taking care of the livestock and milking the goat. She had the biscuits baked and the eggs and ham fried when Polly returned. She had one arm full of firewood and a pail of goat milk dangling from the other.
“Good morning, you’re up early. Didn’t you sleep well?” Polly asked as she put the firewood in the box behind the cook stove.
“I am alright; just had a lot in my mind is all. Do you want me to make some gravy to go with the biscuits and ham?”
“Only if you or Joshua wants any, I am not in the mood for gravy this morning. I think I am coming down with something, my throat hurts, and I feel a bit feverish.”
Abby walked to Polly and placed her hand on Polly’s head. “You do feel a little warm, maybe you should lay down after you eat, I will take care of the milk.”
“I think I might do that if you think you can take the milk to the spring.”
“Where is the spring you haven’t told me anything about a spring.”
“The spring is in the cave it runs down from somewhere high up in the mountains and opens up into a pool. That’s where I get water most of the time.”
“I knew this water couldn’t be from a creek or melted snow it tastes too good.” Abby said as she sat the table and lifted Joshua into a chair.
“I have a half gallon jar that I fill with milk and put in the spring, it stay ice cold even in the summer. I also make cheese and put it in there to stay fresh.” Polly said as she cleared her throat and winced.
“If you give me directions I will be happy to take the milk to the spring for you.”
After breakfast and Polly had prepared the milk, Abby walked the short distance to the cave entrance. The goats were resting when she passed by. The directions that Polly had given were clear. The spring was at the end of a tunnel that led off to the left of the large area were the animals were kept. Polly had rigged an old wooden gate at the entrance to the tunnel that reached from top to bottom; one of the chickens couldn’t even get to the water. Abby remembered seeing two large troths filled with water for the animals, she had assumed it was melted snow before she had heard about the spring.
When Abby entered the section of caves that held the spring, she noticed that it was much colder. This cave was formed much the same as the other one only smaller. There were stalactite formations of different lengths and widths hanging all around. The spring itself was a wonder off nature. There was a small waterfall that ran down from a crack in the cave wall and ended in a pool that was crystal clear. The part of the cave wall that the water ran down was worn away a good two feet back in the side of the mountain.
She could feel air blowing from somewhere. She put the milk jar in the spring and raised her lantern high so that she could get a better look at the walls of the cave. Up next to the roof of the cavern was a huge hole where the air was coming from. Abby could have sworn that, as she looked up at the hole that she had felt snowflakes on her face.
She looked back at the pool and started to turn to go back out of the cavern when she lost her footing and started to fall. She caught herself before she fell, still holding onto the lantern with trembling fingers. She then noticed that the overflow from the pool ran along the floor of the cave and over the side. Abby couldn’t see how far the drop was, but she could here running water far below where she stood. It was a haunting sound.
Abby returned to the cabin to find Polly trying to teach Joshua to play checkers. They were having such a good time laughing and playing. She hoped that Joshua would have less nightmares, Polly was doing whatever she could to keep his mind off family.
“Well hello you two. Are you winning Joshua?”
“I don’t know,” he replied shrugging his little shoulders and grinning sheepishly, his beautiful blue eyes sparkling as he looked up at Abby.
“He is a quick learner, I have never seen a four year old as clever as this one. Do you know that he can say the entire alphabet without missing nary a one, and he knows his numbers all the way to ten?”
“Me and ma used to have lessons ever day when she was done with chores.”
“Oh Joshua you are such a smart boy.” Abby hugged him to her as she fought the tears that threatened to fall. She knew he needed his own flesh and blood relatives to come forward and clam him, but she selfishly hoped that no one did for she had truly learned to love him.
“Polly, you must be feeling better,” Abby said.
“I am my, throat still hurts, but the fever is gone. I don’t know what brought it on.”
“I am glad you are some better. You know Polly I don’t think you ever told me what your last name is.”
“Why I think you are right I believe I forgot I guess because I am not used to having anyone around. My name is Polly Macintosh.”
This wonderful little woman was indeed Green Eyes mother and Shadow Spirit grandmother, and would be the great grandmother of the baby she carried. She walked over to where Polly and Joshua sat at the table Polly sat hugged her.
“Polly I have some wonderful news for you that might come as a shock. I believe that your daughter is alive.” Polly pulled away and looked at Abby with disbelief and anger.
“Why would you say such a thing, I have come to accept the fact that all my family is gone. I don’t want you trying to give me some kind of hope for something that can never be.” Polly stood up and started to put the food on the table.
Abby walked over and put her arms around the old woman’s shoulders. “Polly was your daughter’s name Judith?” Abby held on to Polly as she crumbled to the floor.
“Yes,” she whispered looking at Abby with tears of hope shinning in her eyes.
“You know the warrior that stopped and helped you when you were caught in that trap and the man that is my husband, well that same amazing man is your grandson. His mother is Judith Macintosh.” Abby finished.
“I can’t believe it. Is she alright?”
“She’s fine. She lost her husband, Chief White Feather a while back. She is strong and healthy and one of the most beautiful women I have ever known on the inside and out.”
“That sounds like my Judith,” Polly sobbed and put her hand on Abby’s belly. “Your baby is my great grandchild and I have actually spoken to my grandson and didn’t know it. I have so many questions.”
“I will answer all that I can. When you told me about your husband being killed and your daughter going missing, it didn’t occur to me until last night that your daughter could be Shadow Spirit mother. When I was in bed last night I realized that the circumstances were the same as what Green Eyes had told me.”
“Green Eyes, is that her Indian name?”
“Yes and it fits her well,” Abby replied.
“Is my daughter happy?”
“Yes she is, she is still saddened by her husband’s death, but she had been expecting it for some time. She is very excited that she is going to be a grandmother not just once but twice. You also have a granddaughter who is expecting a child around the same time as this one is due.”
“Oh I have missed out on so much of my daughter’s life. Please tell me more,” she begged.
They talked the rest of the day and well into the night. Polly just could not stop asking questions, some Abby could answer and some she couldn’t.
Abby hoped that Shadow Spirit was safe and had returned to the village to wait out the winter before coming to find her. He would be so happy to know that his grandmother was still among the living.
Shadow Spirit and Jacob sat at the top of the hill overlooking the fort. They were hidden by a stand of pine trees that were natural cradles for the snow that clung to their branches. The snow had fallen relentlessly for the past few hours and the wind howled like a hungry pack of wolves.
“Shadow Spirit I can’t stand this wind no longer, let’s find someplace where it won’t hit us so hard,” Jacob stated. “My eyes are frozen I have snot cycles hanging from my nose and I can’t feel my feet.”
“I don’t know where we would find a place in this storm. Do you think the soldiers would leave the fort during this storm?”
“Heck no, I’m a tellin you there ain’t but a handful of men down there, and as soon as this weather clears up they’ll hightail it out too.”
“I have two buffalo robes in my bed role, what supplies do you have in your saddlebags?” Shadow Spirit asked as he tried to find a way to keep the both of them from freezing to death.
“I got a couple of old blankets and a change of clothes.”
“Put on all the clothes you have and tie the blankets around you. I will do the same we will just have to wait it out.”
“Shadow Spirit there is an old line shack just over that rise.” Jacob said pointing to the right of where they sat. “If we could get to it we could hold up for a few days, until this dad blamed wind stop. I can take the snow but this wind will cut a feller in half. A wind like this can hack right clean to the bone.”
“I can make it. I will do whatever it takes to live to find my wife. I have lived through some very cold winters, but what about you, you look like you are frozen. Are your injuries bothering you as much as earlier?”
“I’m tough and the winters in the mountains of Kentucky ain’t no easy thing to live through either. I have lived in our shack for weeks on end, only going out to the outhouse and havin to have a rope tied to the porch post and to the door of the privy or you couldn’t get back.”
“Boy you talk too much and you still did not answer my question about your wounds.”
“Oh I’m sorry I guess I just like to talk. My aches and pains are better or I really am froze and can’t feel’em no more.”
They reached the shack just before dark. It was made of logs but some of them had rotted away. The door was hanging by a hinge, and had not been closed in some time. The flat roof was still intact and had snow on it that would have been as deep as up to Shadow Spirit knees. There was snow inside of the shack but only near the door. Most of the missing logs were close to the top, so if they sat they should not feel the wind as much. It was not half as large as a good teepee that his people would erect to keep out the cold and wind.
“Shadow Spirit do you think we could have a fire?”
“I think that we can use some of these dried logs that have fallen in the shack, but we need be careful not to burn the place down. The fire needs to be contained.”
“Hey did you see that medal thing sticking out of the snow beside the door.” Jacob opened the door.
“Do not open that door,” Shadow Spirit began but it was too late Jacob was already outside digging in the snow.
He returned with a look of triumph on his face. He held an old rusty wash pan, and two good-sized rocks. “Here, we can build the fire in this and set smack it in the middle of the shack, and once these rocks get hot they will hold heat too. My daddy always kept hot rocks around the fire place you just had to make sure you didn’t step on one.”
Shadow Spirit had to admit it was a good idea. It kind of reminded him of a sweat lodge but there would be no sweat in here. “Do you still have matches?” He asked Jacob.
“I only have three left.”
“I will only need one.”
Shadow Spirit took one of the logs, peeled thin strips off of it with his knife, and piled them in the pan. “We need some kind of paper to help the fire catch.”
Jacob walked over to where he had put his belongings after removing them from his horse and pulled out the letter he had from his mother. “Here I know this word for word, I think mama would rather I use it to start a fire instead of freezing to death.”
Shadow Spirit took the three-page letter, shredded it, and pushed it under the thin strips of wood he had shaved off the logs. The paper caught fire and it was blazing in a matter of minutes. When a few larger pieces that he had stripped off the log had also caught fire, he placed the rest of the wood on the fire.
Soon they were beginning to thaw out. They ate the last of the dried berries that Shadow Spirit, had along with the biscuits that Jacob had taken from the fort.
“I will go look for us a rabbit, so that we can feed our bodies before we sleep.”
“I’ll go too. I have always been really good at finding grub in the dead of winter, that’s all that kept my family from starvin lots of winters.”
“No, you stay and make sure that the fire continues to burn, I am also good at finding food. You need to rest so that those wounds do not break open again.” The one on Jacobs head was turning red and several small white places forming, it did not look as if it was healing.
“Oh shucks Shadow Spirit I’m fine, but I’ll watch the fire. Don’t be gone to long it’s gonna be dark in a bit.”
“I am not afraid of the dark Jacob.”
“I am and I ain’t ashamed to admit it. Strange things happen in the dark.”
“Here you keep my knife. I only need my bow and arrows.”
Shadow Spirit did not go far before he spotted a gangly jackrabbit that had donned his winter white coat, making it camouflaged in the snow. He quickly pulled an arrow from his quiver and took the rabbit down. He said a prayer of thanks to the Great Spirit and thanked the rabbit for providing them with food.
Shadow Spirit returned to the hut with the rabbit cleaned and ready to cook. Jacob had fallen asleep by the fire and covered up with a buffalo hide. He looked so young and innocent, he told Shadow Spirit that he had seen eighteen summers, but he looked more like he fourteen. He did not look old enough to shave yet, but he had still been fighting in the white man’s war against each other. When word had first reached their camp about the outbreak of the war that pitted white man against white man, the soldiers were fighting the Indians in the west. They withdrew most of the men and resources from the Indian wars, to put their soldiers and guns to settle the war with each other. The war was over and the north had won, but there were still people who would not accept that it was over.
Shadow Spirit moved the fire to one side of the old metal pan and placed the rabbit on the other side putting the hot rocks between the rabbit and the roaring fire. He hoped that it would not burn up while they slept.
“Lordy Shadow Spirit I believe that this is the best rabbit I have ever had.” Jacob sat in front of the fire quickly consuming his part of the morning meal. “My friends back at the fort wouldn’t believe it if I told them that I was sittin here eatin rabbit with Chief Shadow Spirit a mighty Cheyenne.”
“Then do not tell them.”
“Oh I don’t plan on ever seeing them again as soon as we find your woman I’m headed for the hills of Kentucky.”
“I am afraid that you will be seeing them again.”
“What’re you talkin about?”
“I want you to go into the fort and look around for Abby.”
“I told you there ain’t no woman there. I’m scared that if I go back they’ll change their mind and they won’t let me leave again.”
“You can go in at night and look around, if they had Abby there where would they keep her.”
“Oh please Shadow Spirit I just don’t know, maybe in the Captain’s quarters, he died last month. He came down with the miseries and just never got better.”
“Then it should be easy to get into his quarters.”
“I guess, there’s gate right as you pass his cabin. I could go in through there and have a look around.” He looked like he was aggravated and scared.
Shadow Spirit waited and watched for any sign of Jacobs return. He had been gone for some time it must have been over an hour. A few minutes later, he saw Jacob creeping up the hill toward him. In the light of the full moon, he could tell it was the boy. He looked like he had all the time in the world.
“Hurry up before someone from the fort spots you,” Shadow Spirit called softly.
‘They ain’t even got a guard posted, I think they have all left or somebody came in and killed em. There was an awful smell coming from somewhere close when I was in the Captain’s old quarters. There weren’t a sign of life anywhere I walked around and looked in some of the other buildings, there weren’t a sound either.”
“So if they are gone maybe they took Abby with them.” Shadow Spirit knew he was not going to find his wife in the fort, but he could not leave without looking for himself.
“Ok lets tough it out up here on this God forsaken hill till daylight and watch for movement. If there are soldiers in the fort they will blow the bugle when mornin comes.”
When dawn broke with an array of colors over the eastern horizon the view was spectacular. There were fiery reds, bright yellow and streaks of clear blue sky in the background, maybe the end of the snowstorm had come, there was not a cloud in the sky. If indeed it was the end of the bad weather, Shadow Spirit knew it would be easier to find Abby.
“Wake up Jacob.”
“I’m awake,” he said through the fog of sleep. The boy had rolled up in two blankets and slept most of the night, while Shadow Spirit had watched the fort for any kind of life. The only thing he had seen was an old wolf loping across in front of the gate to the fort. He knew it was not Storm for even in the moonlight he knew his friend.
“I think that it is safe to go to the fort and look around, maybe what you smelled was from the bodies of the men who were left there. If they are there they will need a proper burial so that their spirits may pass over.”
“You would do that for men who were intent on killin all red men that they could find?”
“Yes all people deserve a decent burial. When their souls reach the hereafter their sins will be addressed by their God.”
When they rode up to the fort, the main gate was ajar and they could not detect any movement. Once inside they searched the grounds for any sign that someone had been here lately but found not a trace of anyone.
“What is that bigger dwelling over there?” Shadow Spirit asked pointing to the largest of the buildings inside the fort.
“That’s where all the men that weren’t officers slept. Let’s see if there is anything left in there.”
They entered the sleeping quarters with caution. In the shadows of the room Shadow Spirit could make out the bodies of five men. He walked to the window and opened the shutters, as the morning light flooded the room he saw that they had been scalped and their bodies had been mutilated. There was blood everywhere, it had sprayed on the furniture, the walls and was frozen in a pool on the floor. The odor was minimal because of the weather, but there was a smell of death in the room. Jacob ran to the corner of the room and threw up. He was even whiter and trembling when he turned back around to the gruesome sight.
“These men were my friends and look at what’s left of them. How could anybody do this to another person?” Jacob cried.
“This is the work of Black Heart, he is one of the wickedest men that I have ever known, and I am ashamed to say that he is Cheyenne,” Shadow Spirit replied.
“I have seen battles with men being shot down, but I ain’t never seen anything this bloody. How long ago do you think this was done?” Jacob asked.
“No more than three or four suns.”
“You think it was that long ago, looks to me like it was done only a few hours ago.” Jacob questioned.
“The bodies are frozen and until the sun warms the earth they will stay as they are.” Shadow Spirit replied thinking how young and afraid that this boy was, yet he had to fight in a war that pitted brother against brother and sometimes even father against son.
They left the ravaged room that held the bodies of the slain soldiers and searched the fort for any sign that anyone was left alive. They went to the other buildings but found no one. There was signs that the buildings had been searched and anything of value taken. Shadow Spirit found nothing to indicate that Abby had ever been here.
“We must do something with the bodies of those men, but the ground is so hard and covered with snow that I believe that it would be wise to give your friends a Cheyenne burial.”
“I think you are right, I’ve seen the burial scaffolds that your people use, and we can build one of those in a jiffy.”
“We will give these men the ceremony all people on Mother Earth deserve and let them walk forever in the spirit world.”
They found a pile of lumber behind one of the buildings and began building a scaffold that would support the weight of the five men. There was very little left at the fort that they could use to wrap the bodies in, but they did find a couple of moth eaten blankets that Black Heart had overlooked.
It was almost dark by the time that the burial task was complete. The snow had stopped by mid morning and the sun had shined on the glistening snow all day warming the earth some, but the wind was still fierce.
Shadow Spirit could see that Jacob was barely able to stand on his feet he was so tired and he still had pain from his wounds.