The Mandie Collection (48 page)

“So am I. We had better hurry,” Sallie said.

They quickly washed up and changed clothes and were back downstairs shortly after Joe came down and the adults returned.

At the supper table the young people told the adults about their afternoon measuring.

“We found a house that I know must have been Hezekiah's,” Mandie said.

“You mean it may be where Hezekiah's house might have been,” Joe corrected her.

“Where is this?” Uncle John asked, looking up from the ham he was slicing.

“It's down on a main road about a mile from here,” Mandie replied. “We traced an old dirt path by the cemetery down to this road, and there was the house. A man named Jud Jenkinson owns it, and he said he knows you, Uncle John.”

“Jud Jenkinson? Yes, he owns a boardinghouse. Is that the house you're talking about?” Uncle John asked.

Mandie nodded, then proceeded to tell her uncle about the 1852 sign and the previous house.

Uncle Ned looked up. “House burn down,” he said. “Old people die.”

“You remember it, Uncle Ned?” Mandie asked excitedly. “Who were the people? Was one of them named Hezekiah?”

Uncle Ned shook his head. “No remember name,” he said. “Old man, old woman. Die.”

“Probably Hezekiah is dead. That is why we cannot find anyone who knew him,” Sallie said.

“Does Mr. Jenkinson not know who lived there before his family, dear?” Elizabeth asked.

“No. He said his grandfather bought the place from the previous owners, and then his father owned it, and now he owns it. All the others are dead,” Mandie said, biting into a hot buttered biscuit.

“What are you all planning to do next?” Uncle John asked, passing the sliced ham. “Are you going to keep on looking for clues on the map?”

“We thought we'd go back to that house and then measure off the 936 feet to the rock pile if we can find it. And then on to the other places Ruby put on the map,” Mandie replied.

“You know you will have to take someone with you again, Amanda, if you're going that far away,” Elizabeth reminded her.

“Not Liza, please,” Joe muttered under his breath.

“Tomorrow is Sunday, so we'll all go to church in the morning,” Uncle John said. “Then after the noon meal, you young people can get back to your prospecting.”

“On Sunday, John?” Elizabeth asked. “They should stay home and respect the Lord's Day.”

“I don't think this once will hurt. They have to go back to school next week, and I do believe they have been exceptionally well-behaved lately,” Uncle John said, winking at Mandie.

“Just this one time,” Elizabeth conceded.

“Thank you,” the young people said.

Mandie smiled at Uncle John. “Who is going with us?” she asked.

“We are having Mr. and Mrs. Turner over tomorrow afternoon, dear, so I suppose you'll have to take Liza with you again,” Elizabeth told her.

“Liza!” Joe exclaimed.

“Well, I guess she'll do if nobody else can go.” Mandie sighed.

“What do you mean by that, Amanda?” Uncle John asked.

“She's afraid of everything. Snowball found us somehow and nearly scared the daylights out of her,” Mandie said, laughing.

Liza had stepped into the room and stood by the door, listening. She danced up to the table with a platter of hot biscuits. “Dat's right,
Missy,” she said. “Dat white kitten skeered me good. I ain't goin' no place like dat wilderness no mo.' No, I ain't!”

“Liza, Mother just said you'd go with us tomorrow so we can keep on with our search,” Mandie told the girl.

Liza picked up the empty platter from the table and replaced it with the one of hot biscuits. She glared at Mandie. “I'd druther stay heah and hep Jenny cook.”

“Liza, we have to have somebody go with us, and you're the only one not busy,” Mandie said.

“Not busy? I stays busy all de time. I does,” Liza insisted.

“If you would rather stay here and serve tea tomorrow afternoon for our guests, that will be all right, Liza. The Turners are coming,” Elizabeth told her.

Liza's eyes grew wide. “De Turners? You say de Turners is comin'? No, ma'am. I go wid Missy,” she said, quickly leaving the room.

Joe laughed. “What's wrong with the Turners?”

“The last time they were here, Liza accidentally spilled a cup of tea, and it splashed on Mrs. Turner's dress,” Elizabeth explained with an amused look on her face. “Mrs. Turner naturally was quite upset, and she yelled at Liza. Now Liza is afraid of the woman.”

“For our sakes, I'm glad she is,” Mandie teased.

“So we will continue our search tomorrow after church, and Liza will go with us,” Sallie summed it all up.

“Yes, and we're going to have to hurry. Time's running out,” Joe warned.

CHAPTER SIX

THE OLD HOUSE ON THE ROCK PILE

As soon as the young people could finish eating their noon meal after church services the next day, they took Liza with them and went to Abraham's house in the backyard. He was inside having his own meal, and they had to knock. Joe picked up the rope and the hoe still on the porch.

Abraham opened the door. “I'se eatin' my dinnuh now. What y'all wants?” he asked.

“We want to tell you we're going back down that dirt path behind the cemetery to measure some more. If your doctor friend comes while we're gone, would you please tell him we want to see him?” Mandie asked.

“Measurin' on Sunday? Dis de Lawd's day. Y'all s'posed to sit and read de good book,” Abraham reproved them.

“We know that, Abraham, but Mr. and Mrs. Shaw made this one exception for today because we have to leave tomorrow to go back to school,” Joe explained.

“Measurin'! Cain't find nuthin' else to do?” the old gardener grumbled. “I'll tell Samuel, but if he's in a hurry, he won't wait fo' you to come back.”

“Thanks, Abraham,” Mandie said. “We'll hurry.”

“Git on yo' way. I'se got to finish my dinnuh,” Abraham told them, closing the door.

“For goodness sakes, does Abraham never get in a good mood? He's always fussing,” Joe mumbled.

“If you'd lost your wife a few days after you were married and you had to live alone when she lived right next door, you'd be fussy, too,” Mandie remarked.

They headed out the front gate.

“I'd have better sense than to lose her in the first place,” Joe said. “There's just no excuse for them to live apart.”

“Maybe it's bettuh to live apart than to live together and fuss,” Liza said, picking up Snowball who was following.

“Maybe, Liza, but how do we know they would fuss at each other if they lived together, anyway?” Mandie asked.

“I don't know about them, but when I marry you, Mandie, we are not going to ever fuss,” Joe stated firmly.

“It is a long time until you grow up,” Sallie said. “Everything may change by then. You may not want to marry each other. I do not think I would like to plan so far ahead.”

Mandie blushed slightly.

“Right now we need to hurry and find this hidden treasure before we all have to go back to school,” she reminded them.

The four of them hurried down the dirt path to its end at the main road.

“It didn't take long dis time, did it?” Liza said as they stood looking across the road at Mr. Jenkinson's boardinghouse.

“That's because we didn't have to worry about measuring and counting and digging out paths to get through,” Mandie replied. She pulled the map out of her apron pocket and unfolded it.

“Y'all ain't plannin' on goin' into no mo' wilderness, are you?” the Negro girl asked.

“That depends,” Joe replied, looking at the map over Mandie's shoulder. “You see, we have to find a rock pile that is 936 feet from here.”

“A rock pile? Lawsy mercy, what in dis world you want wid a rock pile?” Liza asked.

“We don't really want the rock pile, Liza. We just have to find it and then measure 572 feet from it to find a persimmon tree,” Mandie explained.

“ 'Simmon tree?” Liza questioned. “You ain't plannin' on eatin' no 'simmons, are you? Dey taste sumpin' awful.”

Sallie smiled. “We know, Liza, but we are not going to eat any.”

Joe looked at the map again. “And from the persimmon tree we have to measure 333 feet to a rhododendron bush,” he said.

“Now, what fo' y'all has to measure to find a 'dendrum bush when there's piles of 'em growin' in de yard at home?” Liza asked, puzzled.

“But this one is special,” Mandie said. “There's something special about it that we have to find out.”

“Special? Humph! I s'pose it blooms green or sumpin.' ”

Joe glanced up from the map, looking back the way they had come. “Do you see what I see?” he asked.

Everyone turned to look. Darting in and out of the bushes, Snowball bounced along, trying to catch up with them.

“Dat white kitten! Y'all went off and left it. De po' lil' thing done walked all dis way,” Liza said. She ran to pick him up. “Come here, you po' lil' tired kitten. I'se gwine t' carry you de rest o' de way, I is.”

Snowball curled up in Liza's arms and purred.

“I know I shut him up in the kitchen.” Mandie sighed.

“That's not a good place to leave him. So many people go in and out of the kitchen, he's sure to get out,” Joe said.

“He wants to go everywhere you do, Mandie,” Sallie observed.

“I wish he had stayed home this time,” Mandie said. “Liza, if you get tired of carrying Snowball, I'll take him. I don't think we'd better let him down. He may get lost.”

“I carries dis po' lil' kitten. He be tired,” Liza said. “Y'all jes' git on wid yo' measurin' rock piles and 'simmon trees and such. I'll take care o' Snowball.”

“Thank you, Liza. I'm sure Snowball appreciates it,” Mandie said.

Joe studied the map again. “If that's the place where Hezekiah's house used to be—across the road there—then according to the map, when we turn around, we should angle back to our right to find the rock pile,” he concluded.

“But the path to Hezekiah's house on the map doesn't show a big road like this one. It must have been made since then,” Mandie said.

“Even if the road was not there, the rock pile should be back in the direction Joe says,” Sallie agreed.

“We do have to measure from that house though,” Mandie said.

“And measure across the road backtracking to the right,” Joe explained.

“The road is about fifty feet wide, and it's about fifty feet from the road to the house, so that's one hundred feet to here,” Joe said, indicating the edge of the road.

“At least it's clear land for a while,” Mandie said as the group surveyed the area ahead.

“So now we go 836 feet to the rock pile,” Sallie said.

“Here we go,” Joe said. He started off at an angle to their right. The girls helped stretch the rope between the three of them. Liza followed.

“Where we gwine now?” Liza asked.

“We're aiming right straight to those woods down yonder.” Mandie pointed.

“Woods? I ain't gwine through no briary woods,” Liza grumbled, holding Snowball closely.

“Remember, Liza, you have to go with us wherever we go. We can't leave you standing here, and my mother told you not to let us out of your sight,” Mandie reminded her. “Of course if you'd rather go home and serve tea to the Turners—”

“I ain't gwine home,” Liza interrupted. “I go wid you.”

As Joe led the way, the girls counted aloud in unison. It was about five hundred feet to the woods, and there they had trouble.

“There are so many trees here, Joe, how can we measure in a straight line?” Mandie asked.

They all just stood there, staring at the thick woods in front of them.

“We'll just have to step around the trees and hope we figure right,” Joe said.

“We only have about 336 feet more before we get to the rock pile,” Mandie reminded them, “so maybe it won't take long to get through these trees.”

“Chiggers! Dat's what y'all gwine to git,” Liza muttered.

“We'll have to take that chance,” Joe told the Negro girl. “Let's go.”

Liza followed along, carefully holding her long skirts against her with one hand and clutching Snowball with the other.

When they finally came into a clearing, they stood there for a moment, looking around.

“It was 300 feet through the woods. That leaves about 36 feet to the rock pile,” Mandie calculated. “We'll have to guess at 36 feet because the rope is one hundred feet long. 36 feet would be a tiny bit more than one-third of the rope.”

“Does anybody see a rock pile?” Joe asked.

They all looked about. There was an old house across the clearing, but they couldn't see a rock pile.

“I wonder if anyone lives in that house over yonder,” Sallie said.

“If someone does, I hope we're not on their property,” Joe replied.

As they walked on, they kept looking for a rock pile, but there was nothing but dirt and weeds.

They were within fifty feet of the old house when Mandie suddenly stopped and pointed. “The house!” she exclaimed. “It's sitting on a rock pile!”

“Do you think this is the rock pile on the map?” Sallie asked as they walked around the house.

“It's the only one I can see anywhere,” Joe said.

“I wonder why someone would build a house on a rock pile,” Mandie said.

“Gotta have sumpin' fo' de house to sit on,” Liza remarked. She held on to Snowball and followed the others.

“It is rock all the way around,” Mandie noted as they came back to the front.

“We should knock on the door and see if anyone lives here,” Sallie suggested.