The Mandie Collection (11 page)

Uncle Ned stopped for a moment, pointing ahead to the left. “Near Catawba man's house,” he muttered softly.

“Let's see if anyone is home,” John suggested.

“Yes, but quiet,” Uncle Ned reminded them, stealthily leading the group forward.

The old barn came into view when they reached the clearing. The men slowly slipped around the makeshift house and peered through the open window.

“No one is home,” Dr. Woodard whispered.

“I go inside,” said Uncle Wirt.

“I suppose we should search every conceivable place,” John agreed. “They could have hidden Joe anywhere.”

Uncle Wirt quietly opened the sagging door and slipped inside. The others watched through the window as the old man searched the room. He looked under everything and behind everything. There wasn't much furniture in the old one-room barn.

“We go around,” Uncle Ned said, waving his arms to indicate searching the surrounding area.

As the men fanned out in various directions, Uncle Ned headed straight toward the storm cellar. The old Indian heard a noise and stopped to listen. He walked a little farther. It sounded like someone crying. Uncle Ned hurried forward and found Snowball sitting there, meowing.

He looked around quickly, then stooped and picked up the white kitten. Snowball immediately hushed and started purring. Uncle Ned examined the ribbons tied around the kitten.

“Snowball, where Papoose? What you do in woods?” the old man talked to the kitten, smoothing its white fur.

Although there wasn't much light and the Catawbas had camouflaged the storm cellar door, Uncle Ned's sharp eyes noticed the small hole in the ground. He stooped to look closer.

Hovering over the hole, he once again talked to the kitten. “Snowball, hole there,” he said, setting the kitten down. He kicked at the mound of straw and found the wooden door to the storm cellar.

Mandie's heart beat wildly. “Someone is outside, Sallie,” she whispered.

Sallie quickly climbed up the ladder and stood beside her friend.

Uncle Ned stooped to move the boulder on top of the door. “Move, Snowball,” he said, giving the boulder a push.

Instantly Mandie and Sallie recognized the voice.

“Uncle Ned!” Mandie cried.

“Grandfather!” called Sallie.

Uncle Ned realized who was inside. “Papooses, what you do in there?” he shouted.

Standing up, he signalled the other men with a shrill bird whistle, then struggled to pull the cellar door open.

Uncle John, Dr. Woodard, Uncle Wirt, and Dimar came running at his call.

“Papooses in there,” Uncle Ned told them.

“Papooses? Amanda and Sallie?” Uncle John asked.

When the door finally came open, the girls were clinging to the top of the ladder. Everyone started talking at once.

Mandie grabbed the doctor's sleeve. “Dr. Woodard, Joe is down there. He's sick—bad,” she said as she and Sallie climbed out.

Dimar quickly jumped into the cellar, and Dr. Woodard made his way down the ladder.

“Joe, at last,” Uncle John said with relief. He called down to Dr. Woodard. “Need me to help, or would I be in the way?”

“We will manage,” Dr. Woodard called back.

In a few minutes Dimar appeared on the ladder with Joe's limp body slung over his shoulder. Dr. Woodard came right behind him, carrying the girls' aprons. Reaching the top, they laid Joe on the ground, and again covered him with the aprons.

“Go get blanket,” Uncle Ned directed Dimar, pointing back toward Running Fire's house.

Dimar hurried off, and Uncle Wirt followed in case he had any trouble.

As Dr. Woodard examined his unconscious son, Mandie and Sallie explained how they got there.

Mandie clung to Uncle John, while Sallie hugged her grandfather.

“The Catawba man, Running Fire, is the one who has been tearing down the hospital,” Mandie told them. “He's a medicine man.”

“That explains a lot of things,” said Dr. Woodard.

Mandie knelt beside Joe, watching the doctor work. “Will he be all right, Dr. Woodard?” she asked, trembling. In the dim light, she could again see the dried blood and bruises on Joe's ashen face.

A tired, worried frown creased the doctor's forehead. “We'll see,” he said. “We must get him in a warm bed at once.”

Dimar and Uncle Wirt returned with two heavy blankets.

“We make bed,” Uncle Ned told them. Laying one blanket on the ground, he waited for Dr. Woodard to move Joe onto it. Uncle Ned covered Joe with the other blanket, then motioned to Uncle Wirt, Uncle John, and Dimar to help him pick up the corners to form a hammock-like bed for carrying Joe.

Dr. Woodard protested being left out of the operation. “I could carry one corner,” he said.

“No, it's better you stay right alongside him,” Uncle John replied as the party started off through the woods, carrying the sick boy to Uncle Ned's house.

CHAPTER TWELVE

CAPTURED!

Tsa'ni carried the lantern as he led Morning Star and Elizabeth to the hospital site. They met no one and heard nothing. Now and then they stopped to call the girls' names, but received no answer.

Elizabeth was becoming frantic. She wished she knew how to contact John to get his help.

While Tsa'ni and the women were searching the woods, the men arrived at Uncle Ned's house with Joe. When they entered the cabin, they looked around but found no one home.

“Where is Elizabeth? And Morning Star?” Uncle John said. “Elizabeth! Elizabeth!” he called up the ladder to the attic room. No answer. “Now, don't tell me they've disappeared, too,” he said.

Mandie quickly climbed the ladder, looked around, and came back down. Then she saw the note on the table. She ran to pick it up. “Uncle John, they've gone to look for Sallie and me,” she said, handing him the note.

“Of all things,” said Uncle John, reading the note. “We can't seem to get all of us together. It's dark out there now. There's no telling where they are.”

Uncle Ned helped Dr. Woodard put Joe in one of the beds near the fireplace, then stirred up the fire. “Morning Star know woods. Not get lost,” he said.

“But it's getting late, Uncle Ned. We'd better go find them,” Uncle John said.

“Yes, we find,” Uncle Wirt spoke up.

“I will go, too,” Dimar volunteered.

“Amanda, you and Sallie be sure you stay right here with Dr. Woodard,” said Uncle John. “Don't set foot out of this house for any reason at all. Do you hear me?”

“Yes, sir, I understand,” Mandie replied meekly. “I'm sorry we caused so much trouble. We won't ever go looking for flowers again.”

“I am sorry, too,” Sallie added.

“Dr. Woodard may need your help with Joe anyway,” said Uncle John. “We'll be back as soon as we find your mother and Morning Star.”

Uncle Wirt gave Dr. Woodard a rifle. “Catawba man come, you shoot,” he said.

“Well, I'll sure slow him up with this if he comes messing around here,” Dr. Woodard replied. He stood the rifle by the bed and turned back to Joe. “Girls, will you get me a pan of hot water?”

“Sure, Dr. Woodard,” Mandie answered, quickly obeying.

As Uncle John and the others left, Sallie closed the door behind them and put the crossbar in place.

When Mandie returned with the hot water, Dr. Woodard bathed his son's wounds and applied some medicine. Then he placed a hot brick at the bottom of Joe's bed to keep his feet warm.

Joe remained unconscious, and Dr. Woodard stayed right by the bed.

The men hadn't been gone long when they spotted a lighted lantern ahead.

“That must be them,” said Uncle John. “No one else would be going around with a lighted lantern when we've all been trying to catch up with those crooks.”

As the men moved closer, they saw the two women and Tsa'ni searching the bushes.

“Tsa'ni told us he was going home when we saw him,” Uncle John said, confused.

“Tsa'ni!” Uncle Wirt called.

Tsa'ni and the women stopped and looked around. The men quickly came within the light of the lantern.

Elizabeth ran to John, and he eagerly wrapped his arms around her.

“Oh, John,” she sobbed, “Amanda and Sallie are missing.”

“No, they aren't. We just took them home, along with Joe,” John told her, smoothing her soft, blonde hair.

“Thank the Lord!” Elizabeth cried.

When John explained what had happened, the women were joyous, eager to get back to the house. Tsa'ni said nothing.

As they started back to Uncle Ned's house, by way of the hospital site, Tsa'ni took the lead, carrying the lighted lantern. When they came around the corner of the hospital, they almost tripped over Running Fire and his two sons, who were dozing under a nearby tree in the darkness.

Startled, the three troublesome Indians grabbed their guns and jumped to their feet.

Uncle John and Uncle Ned quickly stepped in front of the women and drew their rifles. Everyone was silent, waiting for the other to make the first move.

“We know all about you,” Uncle John warned the three.

“Drop gun or we shoot!” Uncle Wirt yelled at them.

Running Fire took one step forward. “
You
drop gun or
we
shoot,” he snarled.

Uncle Ned's eyes flashed with anger. “You, Catawba man, drop that gun. Cherokees all about in woods.”

Tsa'ni quietly slipped behind a tree trunk and blew out the lantern. In the pitch-black darkness he quickly jumped on top of Running Fire.

The other men realized what he was doing, and also made a dive for the strangers. The Catawba men were outnumbered, and Uncle Ned's party soon had them under control. As Uncle Wirt quickly tied their hands, Dimar took their rifles.

Uncle John approached Running Fire.

The Catawba man cringed.

“Do not touch me, white man!” he yelled. “I am Running Fire, the medicine man for all Catawbas.”

“I know who you are,” Uncle John replied. “And I won't touch you. You're too filthy for me to dirty my hands on. But let me tell you this. If you and your family are not long gone by sunup, you will wish you were. Every Cherokee in the nation will be hunting you. And they will do more serious things to you than we are.”

“Dirty crook!” Uncle Ned spat at the old man. “Hurt doctor boy. Hide Papooses.”

Uncle Wirt shook his big hands at them. “You here sunup I take you apart.”

Dimar spoke up. “And I will help. I am young and I am strong.”

Tsa'ni stood silently listening. Then he stepped forward and pushed the three strangers.

“Get! Now!” he yelled at them.

The Catawbas, anxiously glancing behind them, ran through the woods with their hands still tied together and disappeared.

Uncle John turned to Uncle Ned and asked, “Do you think they will leave?”

“If they do not leave, we make them leave,” Uncle Ned assured him. “Must get message to other Cherokees now to watch and see they leave. Also tell Cherokees Joe found.”

“I will spread the word,” Dimar offered.

Tsa'ni stepped forward, saying, “And I will help.”

Everyone turned in surprise. Tsa'ni was finally volunteering. The two boys hurried off into the woods on their mission.

Uncle Ned, Uncle Wirt, and Uncle John trudged back through the woods to Uncle Ned's house, with the women carefully surrounded.

What would they find at Uncle Ned's house? Would Joe be all right? Would anyone else have disappeared?

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

TOMORROW . . .

Dr. Woodard was still sitting beside Joe's bed when the others returned. Mandie and Sallie sat nearby on the floor. They jumped when Uncle Ned knocked on the door.

“Let us in,” he called. “We home.”

The girls raced to the door and removed the crossbar. Mandie ran to her mother's arms while Sallie embraced her grandmother.

As they all gathered around the warm fire, the men told how they had met Running Fire and his sons in the woods and ordered them to leave Cherokee territory, and the girls related their adventures to Elizabeth and Morning Star.

Suddenly, in the midst of the excitement, Joe opened his eyes. “What's going on?” he asked weakly.

Everyone gathered around his bed, grateful that he had regained consciousness.

His father gripped his hand and smiled. “Well, it's like this, son. We brought you back here to Uncle Ned's house, the crooks have been caught, and everything seems to be under control,” said Dr. Woodard, wiping the perspiration from his brow.

Mandie ran over to Joe, knelt by the bed, and took his hand. “Oh, Joe!” she cried. “I'm so glad you're getting well.”

Joe smiled at her. “I have to get well,” he said in a stronger voice. “Remember, we're going to get married when we get grown.”

Tears welled up in Mandie's eyes, and she buried her face in the covers.

Joe patted her blonde head. “Now, please get me some food, woman. I'm hungry. And not any of that owl stew stuff either,” Joe teased.

“Now I know you're better!” Mandie cried. Getting to her feet, she went to see what Morning Star had cooked that day.

Morning Star had understood Joe's request and was already ladling soup from the big black iron pot into a bowl. She handed it to Mandie with a smile. Mandie took it and hurried back to the bed.

“Can you sit up to eat this?” she asked.

“No, you're going to have to feed me,” Joe said with a sly grin.

His father looked at him disapprovingly. “Now, Joe, come on,” he said. “I'll prop you up on the pillows. Here.” He smiled as he tried to make the bed more comfortable.

“I'll hold the bowl,” Mandie offered. “You use the spoon and eat this good soup.”

Joe propped himself up on one elbow and began to eat the soup slowly. He seemed to revive as the hot broth went down. When he had eaten all he could, he moved a little to stretch. “Oh, I'm sore!” he said. “Those men beat me up.”