The Mandie Collection (34 page)

Mrs. Taft looked around the table. “I have forgotten, dear. That was so long ago. What difference does it make now?”

“I don't know what difference it makes now because I don't know why it was closed,” Elizabeth persisted.

Hilda, having listened to the conversation around her, turned to Dimar. “Sad, bad mine!” she exclaimed.

Everyone laughed.

“Hilda has learned to say that, too,” Sallie said.

Hilda's face clouded in anger. With tears in her big brown eyes, she banged her fist on the table and yelled, “Do not laugh! Sad, bad mine.”

Dimar reached for her hand and spoke softly to her. “Yes, it is a sad, bad mine.”

Hilda sighed and picked up her fork to resume eating.

“I think we have said enough for now. Let's eat,” Elizabeth said. “We don't want to upset anyone. ”

“John and Uncle Ned should be along soon,” Dr. Woodard remarked. “They've had time to go by the mine.”

“I hope they have Amanda and Joe with them,” Elizabeth said.

Just then Liza trudged into the dining room and spoke to Elizabeth.

“Mistuh Shaw and dat Mistuh Injun man comin' up de road. Got two ponies wid 'em,” she informed them.

They all started to leave the table, but Elizabeth stopped them with a wave of her hand. “Please don't get up,” she said. “They will be hungry. They can join us here at the table.”

The others sat back down and waited. In a minute John Shaw and Uncle Ned, dejected and tired, entered the room.

“We might as well eat, Uncle Ned,” John said, taking a place and indicating one for Uncle Ned. “Well, Elizabeth, Mrs. Woodard, we haven't found them yet. They had been at the mine. Their ponies were tied up near there, but since we couldn't find Joe and Amanda, we brought their ponies home. As soon as we eat a bite, we'll look some more.”

Mrs. Woodard took a deep breath and said nothing.

Elizabeth's blue eyes filled with tears. “John, where can they be?” she asked.

“I have no idea. We thought that with Dimar's help, we would spread out from the mine and keep looking,” John replied, helping himself to the food on the table in front of him.

“I will be glad to help, Mr. Shaw,” Dimar responded.

Elizabeth sighed. “Oh, if only Amanda hadn't disobeyed . . .”

Everyone was silent for a moment.

“Tunnel in mine open,” Uncle Ned stated at last.

“It is?” Celia gasped.

“But it was closed with boards when we left!” Sallie exclaimed. “Do you think Amanda and Joe might have removed the boards?” Dr. Woodard asked.

“They could have if they had had a hammer, but there was no hammer at the mine when we were there, only hoes, shovels, and picks,” Dimar replied. “I do not think they could have torn down the boards with those.”

“Then someone else must have done it,” John concluded. “Didn't you say it was open when you first found it, and the next time you went it was boarded up?”

“Yes, Snowball went through the tunnel to the outdoors. That is how we happened to notice it,” Sallie explained.

“And it was still closed when we saw the man and woman leave in a boat,” Dimar added.

“Someone is messing around at that mine, John, and they could be dangerous,” Elizabeth said nervously.

“I know,” John agreed. “Well, Dimar, we should be on our way soon.”

“Mr. Shaw, couldn't I go, too?” Celia asked.

“No, Celia,” Uncle John replied. “Dimar knows how to get around in the woods. I'm afraid you'd get lost. Then we would have to go looking for you, too.” He smiled.

“I would be glad to help find my friends,” Sallie volunteered.

“Thanks, Sallie, but I believe Dimar will be enough help, along with Uncle Ned and Dr. Woodard,” John replied, smiling at the girl. “I appreciate the concern of all you young people. If we do need you girls later, we'll let you know.”

Hilda looked bewildered as she silently listened to the conversation.

Elizabeth rose from the table. “Perhaps we should pray first,” she said. Bowing her head, she committed the search party to the Lord, asking Him to guide them and to bring Amanda and Joe safely home. When she finished, a chorus of amens echoed around the table.

“I'll get the lanterns,” John stated.

“You know, John, I've been thinking about those ponies,” Dr. Woodard said. “Don't you think we ought to take them back with us in case we find Joe and Amanda?”

“Well, yes, I guess you're right,” John agreed.

“We find,” Uncle Ned nodded. “Not come back till we find.”

Bidding the others goodbye, the search party rode directly to the mine and tied up the ponies where they had found them. The men had hastily scanned the place on their previous search, but now they began looking more closely for clues.

“Let's go inside first and comb every inch of it,” John suggested. “If there's nothing there, we'll search the tunnel and continue on through to the outside.”

“I stay out here. Look for feet marks,” Uncle Ned offered.

“All right, Uncle Ned. The rest of us will go inside,” John decided.

After descending the steps into the mine, John, Dr. Woodard, and Dimar divided up the area and carefully searched by lantern light for any evidence that the missing young people had been there.

Suddenly Dimar straightened up. “I just remembered something,” he said. “Mandie took that white cat with her. There may be paw prints.”

“Amanda took Snowball with her? Her mother didn't mention that,” Dr. Woodard said, stooping to inspect the dirt.

“You might know she would take Snowball. He goes with her almost everywhere except to church. And I have an idea she would like to take him to church if she thought she could get away with it.” John Shaw laughed.

“But what good is it to look for footprints, really?” asked Dr. Woodard. “All of you young people were here earlier, including Snowball.”

“Here!” exclaimed Dimar, pointing ahead of him in the direction of the tunnel. “Footprints going into the tunnel. Big footprints.”

John and Dr. Woodard hurried to look.

“You're right,” John said. “I can see the print of Mandie's boots right there.”

“And Joe's are right there.” Dr. Woodard pointed. “But there are two sets of larger footprints right next to theirs as well. So they must be fresh footprints.”

“Evidently a man and a woman,” John observed.

“They must belong to the strange man and woman we saw leaving here,” Dimar said. “They left in a boat outside the tunnel.”

“Lead the way, Dimar. You're better at this than I am,” John told the boy.

Dimar walked slowly through the tunnel, holding his lantern low in order to see the ground. As they came out into the daylight, they extinguished their lanterns and looked around. “The footprints continue this way,” he said, bending low to look at the ground as he moved forward.

Something blue in a nearby bush caught his attention. He straightened up and started toward it. The men looked as he held up the blue sash.

“This is the sash to that dress they saw in the farmhouse. Mandie found this sash when we first went through the tunnel, and she has kept it in her apron pocket ever since,” Dimar explained, handing it to John.

John and Dr. Woodard examined it. It did seem to be a sash to a lady's dress.

“That means Amanda dropped it here, probably on purpose if she was carrying it in her apron pocket,” John surmised.

“As an indication that she had been here,” Dimar agreed.

Uncle Ned had worked his way around the mine and met up with the others. John showed him the sash and explained.

The old Indian quickly scanned the ground. “This way. To water,” he told the others, slowly leading the way down to Rose Creek. Uncle Ned pointed out across the water. “Go in boat. No more feet marks,” he said.

The search party stood at the edge of the creek, not sure what to do next. It would be almost impossible to trace a boat.

CHAPTER EIGHT

ADRIFT IN THE RIVER

Mandie clutched both sides of the boat as it swirled this way and that, drifting out of Rose Creek into the mainstream of the Little Tennessee River. All the while, she tried to keep an eye on Joe, who was in the bottom of the boat, still not moving.

Snowball meowed and meowed as he was thrown around. Every time Mandie tried to catch him, the boat would swerve, and Snowball would fall beyond her reach.

Mandie kept praying. “Dear God,” she said, “please don't let Joe die. Please help him. And dear God, please calm the water so we don't get upset and drown. I'm so scared that we'll all fall out or the boat will wreck. Please help us! Please!”

As the wind continued to blow, the boat turned sharply and Snowball landed at Mandie's feet. She released one hand from the side of the boat and quickly snatched him up.

“Oh, Snowball, pretty kitty. I'm sorry you're so frightened,” she whispered to the kitten as she buried her face in his soft white fur. “I'm scared, too, but we must trust God to save us, Snowball, because we sure can't save ourselves.”

Above the sound of the water Mandie heard a groan behind her. She quickly managed to twist around enough to see Joe shake his head and try to sit up. “Joe! Joe! Are you all right now'?” Mandie cried.

“You mean we aren't drowned yet?” he asked.

“Joe, what a thing to say,” Mandie said, as inch by inch she managed to turn completely around, facing him. “Are you really all right?”

Joe sat up and rubbed a hand across his face as he held on to the side of the boat with the other hand. “I suppose I'm all right, considering the situation we're in,” the boy told her. “Are you all right?”

“Yes, now that I realize there is nothing I can do about it except trust God to save us,” Mandie answered, holding tightly to Snowball with one hand.

“Is Snowball all right?” Joe asked, leaning forward to look at the frightened kitten.

“He's all right. He's just scared,” Mandie replied.

“The last I remember, those people pushed us back into the boat and then shoved the boat out into the water and took the oars. What else happened?” he asked.

“You must have been knocked out. I was afraid you were going to die before we got rescued,” she said solemnly. “What a terrible thing I have done. I caused all this trouble just by disobeying my mother.”

Joe looked at her in silence for a moment. “I know we shouldn't have stopped at the mine, but I think we're getting enough punishment right now. I'm sure our parents will forgive us,” he assured. “They'll be glad just to have us home in one piece—if we make it,” he added.

Just then a big wave sloshed over the side of the boat, spraying them both as the boat rocked wildly.

“Oh, Joe,” Mandie cried, “nobody will ever find us way out here in the middle of this river.”

“I wish you could swim,” said Joe. “We could probably jump out of this boat and swim to the bank.”

“I am going to learn how to swim,” Mandie firmly stated. “If I don't drown in this river, I am going to learn how to swim.”

“It's about time. Most girls know how to swim by the time they're twelve years old,” Joe teased.

Mandie ignored the jest. “I made the mistake of letting those mean people know I can't swim. Otherwise they might have at least left us on land somewhere,” she said regretfully.

“I doubt that. They wanted us out of their way for a while, and this was the easiest way to do it,” Joe said.

“What do you imagine they had in those bags?”

“I have no idea, but whatever it was, it must have been awfully valuable or important for them to go to all this trouble,” Joe replied.

“They must have figured it was more valuable than our lives. They don't know but what we got drowned in this river with no oars to control the boat,” Mandie said. “Who do you suppose they were?”

“They knew your uncle's name and that he owned the mine, so they must be from around Franklin somewhere,” Joe answered. “I'd like to go after them and make them pay for this.”

“No, Joe, we have to forgive them. You know that,” Mandie reminded him.

“Well, anyway, I hope we never see them again,” he muttered.

“Br-r-r-r!” Mandie shivered as she cuddled Snowball to her, still clutching to one side of the boat. “It's cold out here on this river. I'm getting chilled through and through.”

“If we could sit together, we might be warmer. Maybe we could gradually move closer,” he suggested. But when he started to get up, the boat rocked dangerously.

Mandie's heart pounded. “No.” she cried. “Don't stand up! The boat might turn over!”

Joe looked disappointed. “I'm sorry, Mandie. I wish I had a coat to give you.”

“That's all right,” Mandie replied. “I don't think I'll freeze to death. By the way, where are we headed?”

“This river flows north from Georgia and then northwest right into Tennessee, where it goes into the Tennessee River,” he told her. “So we might just end up in Tennessee if we keep on going.”

“But that would take an awfully long time, wouldn't it? We aren't actually moving forward very fast. It's mostly the wiggly boat that makes it seem that way, don't you think?”

“I'd say it'd take quite a while to get there, but what else can we do but go on to Tennessee? We can't stop this boat and turn it around or even dock it at a riverbank.”

“We can pray,” Mandie suggested. “Prayer changes things, you know.”

“We haven't said our verse,” Joe reminded her.

“I did while you were knocked out, but we can say it again,” Mandie offered.

Joe nodded.

Together they looked toward the sky and repeated, “ ‘What time I am afraid, I will put my trust in Thee.' ”