The Mandie Collection (45 page)

“Well, at least we found it,” Joe remarked. “Now we must decide how to measure the distances on the map.”

Mandie thought for a moment. “Let's go find Abraham and see if he has anything to measure with,” she suggested.

They found the old Negro gardener working among the Shaws' beautiful flower beds.

“Abraham,” Mandie began, “do you have anything we can measure with?”

Abraham stopped his work and leaned on his hoe. “What y'all want to measure?” he asked.

“We're hunting for buried treasure, and we've got a map and everything,” Mandie said with a twinkle in her eye. She hoped he wouldn't take her seriously. She didn't want to have to go through all the explanations again.

“And how fur might dat be?” Abraham asked.

“About a mile or so,” Mandie said.

“A mile or so,” the old man repeated. “De longest measure I'se got be dat rope hangin' on de fence over dere. It be one hundred foot long.”

Joe went to pick it up and said, “This is just what we need, if you'll let us borrow it.”

“Sho, go ahaid,” the old man said.

“Thanks, Abraham. Let's start at our front porch,” Mandie said, turning to lead the way. Then she stopped and turned back to the gardener. “Abraham, how long have you lived here?” she asked.

“I live here years and years, Missy,” the old Negro said. His smile showed quite a few teeth missing.

“Were you living here in 1850?” Joe asked.

“In 1850? No, I guess not. My fambly moved to Noo Yawk City in 1847, when I be eight year old,” the Negro said.

“But you came back sometime or other because you're here now,” Mandie reminded him.

“Missy, I comes back when I be sixteen year old and go to work for yo' grandpa. Mistuh John, he be 'bout seven year old den,” the old man explained.

Mandie quickly calculated the dates. “You came back about 1855 then?”

“I reckon. I don't knows, Missy. I'se born in 1839. I knows dat,” the old man said.

“So you left in 1847, if you were eight years old. Did you know Mandie's grandparents before you moved to New York?” Joe asked.

“No, I'se a lil' child den. Didn't know much folks dat I kin 'member,”

Abraham replied. “My ma and pa die in Noo Yawk City. My uncle asks old Mistuh Shaw if he could hep me out. He kindly gives me work and a place to live back here in Franklin. Been here ever since.”

“Guess we're out of luck there,” Joe told Mandie.

“He couldn't have known Ruby, and he certainly wasn't here when she died.” Mandie turned to walk toward the porch. “Now, to get down to business. The map says it's one mile to Hezekiah's house.”

“And there are 5,280 feet in a mile, so if we stretch the rope between us, and the last one keeps moving forward, it won't take long,” Joe said. “Yes, and we can do this standing up as we walk,” Mandie agreed. The old Negro gardener wandered over to watch them stretch the rope and move forward.

They were almost even with the back gate of the cemetery when they heard Liza calling. They looked up to see her standing beside Abraham at the front gate to the house.

“Eatin' time!” the Negro girl yelled. “Eatin' time!”

“Of all times to call us to eat!” Mandie sighed.

“We'll have to remember where we stopped, or we'll have to measure it all over again,” Joe said.

“How many is that?” Mandie asked.

“Five rope lengths,” Sallie announced.

“Right,” Joe agreed. “That's 500 feet.”

“But we still have a long way to go.” Mandie sighed again. “Eatin' time,” Liza called again from across the road.

“Coming!” Mandie yelled as they started back.

When they came to the house gate, Liza asked, “What y'all be doin' by dat graveyard?”

“Dey's lookin' for buried treasure, Liza,” Abraham teased.

“Buried treasure? Ain't no buried treasure in dat graveyard,” she replied. “Nuthin' but buried daid folks.”

“You're right, Liza,” Mandie agreed.

“Come on. Time to eat,” the Negro girl said as she turned to go back to the house. Looking back at the three straggling young people, she added, “Like Aunt Lou say, git a move on!” She danced on across the yard.

“I'll leave the rope on the fence, Abraham,” Joe said as he draped it over.

Laughing, Mandie, Sallie, and Joe turned to say good-bye to Abraham. At that moment a horse and buggy pulled up at the hitching post, and they stopped to see who it was. Liza also stopped to watch.

A huge Negro man in a fine dress suit jumped down and spoke to the gardener. “Abraham, how are you?” he asked, holding out his hand.

Abraham's eyes grew big, and he reached to put an arm around the big man. “Samuel!” he cried. “Where y'all come from? Noo Yawk City a long way off from here!”

“I came to visit my brother. He's been under the weather lately, and I thought I'd better come down and check him over,” the man said, glancing at the young people.

Abraham proudly turned to the young people and said, “I wants y'all to meet my very best friend from Noo Yawk City, Mistuh Doctuh Samuel H. Plumbley.”

The three stepped forward to shake hands, greeting the man.

“I'm Mandie Shaw,” Mandie said, introducing her friends, as well.

“How do you do, Missy?” the doctor replied. “Pleased to make your acquaintance, all of you.”

“Glad to meet you,” Joe said. “My father is also a doctor.”

“Is that right? Does he live here in Franklin?” the man asked.

“No, we live over in Swain County in the mountains, but he doctors people all around,” Joe replied.

“I'm glad to hear that there is a physician practicing around here,” the doctor said.

Aunt Lou appeared on the front porch. “You younguns git in here!” she yelled across the yard. “Food's on de table, and you keepin' it waitin.' ”

Liza ran around the house to the back door to avoid Aunt Lou.

“Yes, Aunt Lou. We're coming,” Mandie answered. She turned back to the doctor and said, “I'm glad to have met you, Dr. Plumbley, but we have to go eat now. Bye.”

“Good-bye, Missy,” the doctor replied.

The three rushed into the house, leaving Dr. Plumbley and Abraham standing in the yard.

“He sounds awfully educated,” Sallie remarked.

“Yes, he does,” Mandie agreed. “But then I suppose all the people in New York are educated. They have so much money up there that nobody should be poor.”

“Oh, Mandie,” Joe protested. “That's not so at all. Every place has its rich and its poor. You need to travel around the country and get better educated about these things.”

“Just give me time, Joe Woodard!” Mandie snapped.

CHAPTER FOUR

ABRAHAM'S SECRET

“Uncle John, we met a doctor who is visiting Abraham,” Mandie remarked as they all sat down to the noon meal.

“Doctor? What doctor? Is Abraham sick?” Uncle John questioned her.

“Oh, no. He's a friend of Abraham's from New York,” Mandie explained.

“Yes, Abraham did live in New York years ago,” Uncle John replied, passing the bowl of green beans to Joe.

“Abraham let us use his rope to measure the distances on the map,” Joe said, helping himself to the beans.

“But we did not get finished,” Sallie said.

“Because we had to stop and come and eat,” Mandie added, reaching for a piece of hot corn bread.

“Measuring what?” Elizabeth asked.

“We've been trying to figure out some distances on the map Ruby made. And the path to Hezekiah's house, whoever he was, seems to go right next to the graveyard,” Mandie explained.

“But, dear, if you don't know who this Hezekiah was or where he lived, how are you going to find his house?” Elizabeth asked.

“I don't know, but we'll find it somehow because we have to count the feet from his house to other things on the map in order to find the treasure,” Mandie said.

Uncle Ned was sitting near Uncle John. “Papoose will find. Always.” He smiled.

“If you say we will, then we will.” Mandie grinned at the old Indian.

Joe turned to Mandie. “I was just thinking,” he said. “I wonder if Abraham's doctor friend ever lived here in Franklin.”

“We didn't even ask, did we? Why don't we go find out?” Mandie suggested.

“What's the man's name?” Uncle John asked, sipping his coffee.

“Abraham introduced him to us as Mister Doctor Samuel H. Plumbley,” Mandie replied, laughing.

“Plumbley? I don't believe I ever knew anyone here named Plumbley,” Uncle John said. “Did you, Elizabeth?”

“No, that's not a familiar name,” his wife replied. “What does he look like?”

“He's a big Negro man,” Mandie said, “and real friendly.”

“He is an older man, but not as old as my grandfather,” Sallie added.

“A Negro man?” Uncle John asked. “Uncle Ned, did you ever know a Negro doctor here in Franklin?”

Uncle Ned shook his head. “No such doctor ever here.”

“Come to think of it, he has a brother in town,” Joe said. “He told us his brother had been sick, and he came down from New York to check him over.”

“That's right,” Mandie agreed.

“We should go ask Abraham more questions,” Sallie said.

John and Elizabeth looked at each other, puzzled.

“Let us know what you find out,” Uncle John told the young people.

“We will,” Mandie promised.

As soon as they could finish the meal, the young people asked to be excused from the table. They hurried to the front door, and looked out at the gate to see if the horse and buggy were still there.

“Oh, he's gone!” Mandie whined.

“Let's go see Abraham anyway. Maybe he knows something.” Joe led the way down the front steps and around the house to the gardener's cottage.

Abraham was sitting in a rocking chair on his front porch with a cup of coffee in his hand. The young people crowded around the chair.

“Where is your doctor friend, Abraham?” Mandie asked.

“Oh, he done gone back to his brother's house,”

Abraham said. “Abraham, did your doctor friend ever live in Franklin?” Joe asked.

“Samuel? Why, he sho' did—”

Instantly Abraham was bombarded by questions from all three at once.

“Whoa, there! I ain't got but one set of ears. I cain't hear but one question at a time.”

Everyone laughed.

“We're sorry,” Mandie apologized. “When did he live here?”

“Well now, I reckon he lived wid his grandparents out yonder in de country. Dey die and he go live wid kinfolks in Noo Yawk City,” the old man explained.

“When did he leave Franklin? About what year?” Joe asked.

“Well, it's like dis here. My ma and pa, dey buy their freedom and move to Noo Yawk City to find work 'cause Samuel's kinfolks live up there and tell 'em 'bout it,” Abraham began. “Den when I be 'bout thirteen year old, Samuel's grandma and grandpa dey die, and he come live wid kinfolks in Noo Yawk City near where we live.”

“When were you thirteen?” Joe began figuring. “That would have been in 1852.”

“In 1852!” Mandie repeated quickly. “Then he was here!”

“Yes, he would have been living here in 1850,” Sallie agreed.

“Abraham, we've got to talk to him. Where does his brother live?” Mandie asked excitedly.

“His brother, he live 'bout ten mile from here,” the old man said.

“Ten miles! Mandie, we can't go that far,” Joe said. “Is he coming back to see you, Abraham?”

“He sho' is.”

“When?” Sallie asked.

“Soon as he gits done doctorin' dat brother of his,” Abraham assured them, taking a drink of his coffee.

“Do you think he might have known my grandfather?” Mandie asked.

“Yo' grandpa? Don't imagine so. I didn't know de Shaws 'til I comes back from Noo Yawk City. You see, me and Samuel, we's just younguns back den. We didn't know no grownup white folks,” the old man said.

“You don't have any idea when Dr. Plumbley will be back to see you?” Mandie persisted.

“Like I done tol' you, he come back when he git done doctorin' dat brother of his,” he said. “Den y'all come back and talk all you wants wid him.”

“Would you please knock on the kitchen door and ask Jenny to let us know when he comes back?” Mandie asked.

Abraham shook his head quickly. “No, Missy, I don't talk to dat Jenny.”

“You don't talk to Jenny?” Joe asked. “What do you mean?”

“Well, it be like dis here,” the old man explained. “ 'Bout forty year ago, me and dat Jenny, we gits hitched by de travelin' preacher. Den three days later I ketch her makin' eyes at dat Willie what work in de stables on Main Street, and I say to her, you gits out of my house right heah and now.”

The young people listened, fascinated by his tale.

“And she got out?” Joe asked.

“She sho' did, bag and baggage,” Abraham said.

“Where did she go?” Sallie asked.

“Why, Missy heah,” he said, indicating Mandie, “her grandpa give Jenny a room up there on de third flo' of de big house where she been ever since.”

“You mean you and Jenny have been married for forty years and haven't lived together but three days?” Mandie gasped.

“And you haven't even spoken to each other in all that time?” Joe asked.

“Dat's what I been tellin' y'all. Don't you listen to what I say?” Abraham rocked back and forth quickly in the rocking chair.

“You and Jenny must run into each other, living and working around here,” Sallie said.

Abraham looked out from the porch toward his beautiful flowers. “Jenny cook fo' de big house and live there. I garden de flowers and live out heah,” he replied. “Missy's grandpa, he give me dis house fo' long as I live. We don't see each other. If we does, she run quick her way, and I goes quick my way.”