The Mandie Collection (9 page)

“We will,” Uncle John promised.

Elizabeth stood with Morning Star in the doorway. “I wish you all Godspeed,” she said, waving to them.

“Dr. Woodard,” Mandie called, “I'll be praying that you find Joe soon and that he is all right.”

“Bless you, Amanda,” the doctor answered.

Uncle Ned took command. “We go now. We find Joe. “Find crooks,” he said. And with that, the four were off, riding quickly down the dirt road.

The women and girls watched until the men were out of sight and all they could see was a cloud of dust. Then they went back into the cabin to wait.

The day dragged by for the girls. They ate the noon meal. They helped with the chores. They wandered listlessly around the yard until late afternoon. Then they sat on a fallen log under the big chestnut tree.

“I wish they would hurry back so we'd know something,” Mandie said.

“You know they will return just as soon as they find Joe,” Sallie replied.

Mandie sighed. “I know, but I wish I could do something.”

“Would you like to pick some wild flowers?” Sallie asked.

“Sure.” Mandie stood. “But I'll have to ask Mother first.”

They ran for the cabin and found Elizabeth peeling potatoes. Morning Star was stirring several pots over the fire in the fireplace.

“Mother, why are you cooking so much food?” Mandie asked. “We don't know when the men will return, Amanda,” Elizabeth replied, “or how many there will be, so we have to cook a lot of food and have it ready for them.”

“You don't need us, do you?” Mandie asked.

“No, dear. Morning Star and I have everything under control,” her mother said.

“Then could Sallie and I go out and pick some wild flowers?” Mandie asked.

“If you promise not to be gone too long,” Elizabeth consented. “It's not long till suppertime.”

“We won't,” Mandie promised.

“Come on, Mandie,” Sallie said after talking to Morning Star. “I have permission to go.”

As the girls hurried outdoors and started down the road, Snowball followed.

“We can go to the woods,” Sallie suggested. “It is not very far.” “Are there a lot of flowers there?” Mandie asked.

“Yes, everywhere. All kinds,” Sallie told her.

At the bend in the road, the girls walked off into the woods. Sallie was right. As they went along, they found more and more flowers.
Pulling their aprons up to hold the flowers, they kept going, not realizing how late it was getting.

Then Sallie stopped suddenly and looked around. “Mandie, we are a long way into the woods. We are almost to the hospital,” Sallie said.

“We are?” said Mandie. “But it took a long time to get there on the road.”

“It is much shorter through the woods,” Sallie said. “But since we—” she paused, listening. “Mandie, do you hear something?”

Mandie held her breath to listen for a moment. “I hear pounding,” she said.

“Yes, it sounds like someone chopping wood,” Sallie added.

“Chopping wood? And we are near the hospital? Could it be the workmen who are building the hospital?” Mandie asked.

“We will go find out,” Sallie replied.

The two girls hurried on through the woods, still holding their flowers in their aprons. The noise grew louder, and then it suddenly ceased. The girls stopped and looked at each other. The sound of footsteps came toward them through the brush.

“Quick! Behind those big trees!” said Sallie, running for cover.

Mandie followed. Together they stood there, holding their breath, waiting to see who came along. Mandie's heart beat wildly. The footsteps grew louder. Three men carrying axes passed in front of them, then walked on out of sight.

The girls, shaking with fright, came out from behind the trees.

“Who was that?” Mandie asked.

“That was the Catawba man, Running Fire, and his sons. He is the husband of Moongo, the old Cherokee woman who came back not long ago. She had been gone many, many years, but they now live in an old barn near here,” Sallie explained.

“Oh, yes,” Mandie replied. “Uncle Ned told us about them. But they were all three carrying axes, and the chopping noise stopped just before they came by here,” Mandie observed. “Come on! Hurry! Let's check the hospital.”

“This way,” Sallie told her, quickly running ahead.

When they came to the hospital clearing, they were panting for breath. They stared at the hospital, then at each other. The workmen were gone, and the walls had all been chopped down.

“Sallie, let's follow them!” Mandie urged her friend. Turning back the way they had come, Mandie held Snowball tightly as they ran. Since the men weren't walking very fast, the girls quickly caught up with them.

Angrily Mandie ran up to Running Fire and stood in front of him, blocking his path.

“You tore down the walls to the hospital, didn't you?” she cried. “Why did you do that? Why?” she demanded, tears choking her voice.

“Move!” Running Fire demanded.

Mandie stepped closer. “You also kidnapped Joe, didn't you? Where is he? Where is he?” Mandie screamed, dropping her apron and spilling the flowers to the ground.

Sallie also dropped her flowers and grabbed Mandie's arm. “Come, Mandie,” she said.

Mandie ignored her friend.

“Well, you won't get away with it!” she shouted. “We have the whole Cherokee nation out looking for you.”

The Catawba man reached out and grabbed her long blonde braid. “We take you, too,” he said. Then pointing to Sallie, he told his sons, “Get her!”

The two younger men snatched Sallie and held her tight.

“Go,” ordered Running Fire, pushing Mandie ahead of him. “We take you where white boy is.”

The other two men pushed Sallie along with them.

Mandie held Snowball tightly. “You don't have to shove. We'll go,” said Mandie. “If you're taking us to Joe, we'll go.”

“Shut up!” snapped Running Fire.

Without another word, the girls went along with the three men to the old barn where the Catawba man lived.

“Stop here!” Running Fire ordered. Then turning to one of his sons, he said, “Open.”

The younger man, after waiting to be sure his brother had a secure hold on Sallie, walked to a mound of straw and kicked it aside. Beneath the straw was a wooden door made flat into the ground. He removed a large boulder sitting on the door, then pulled the door open.

The girls watched in amazement. No wonder no one had been able to find Joe if he was in there.

Running Fire motioned to the girls. “Get in!” he ordered, shoving Mandie toward the opening in the ground.

The son pushed Sallie forward.

Mandie looked down into the dark hole and saw an old ladder hanging down inside.

“Get in!” Running Fire shouted again, giving Mandie a sharp push.

Trembling with fear and anger, Mandie stooped down, put Snowball on her shoulder, and then carefully made her way down the ladder into the storm cellar. Sallie was forced to follow.

At the bottom, when Mandie's feet touched ground, she peered around the semidarkness. Someone groaned. Over in the corner Joe lay on the ground, gagged and tied up. Mandie ran to him, and Sallie quickly joined her.

“Joe!” Mandie cried, fumbling to untie him. “Joe! It's me, Mandie!”

The boy only groaned.

The girls looked him over. He was bruised, and beaten, and evidently very ill, almost unconscious.

Overhead, Running Fire closed the wooden door, and the girls heard the stone being pushed back over it.

Mandie bent over Joe compassionately. “Sallie, what are we going to do?” she cried. “Joe is sick.”

“He is cold, too,” Sallie said. “It is cold in here.”

Mandie stood up. “Let's use our aprons to cover him up a little,” she told Sallie.

The two girls quickly removed their big, full aprons and carefully covered the boy as well as they could.

With the door closed, it was almost completely dark in the storm cellar.

Mandie shivered. “Sallie, we must pray. Joe is sick, and if he doesn't get help soon, he may die,” she said with tears in her eyes. “He's been gone since night before last.”

The two girls quietly knelt beside Joe and looked upward.

“Dear God, please, please get us out of here,” Mandie prayed aloud. “Let somebody find us before it's too late for Joe. Please don't let him die, dear God, please.” Mandie's voice broke. She took a deep breath and repeated her favorite prayer from the Bible. “What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee.” She began to sob.

“Yes, dear God, please do not wait too long,” Sallie begged.

Sallie put her arm around her friend. “Mandie, remember what Dr. Woodard said. We must not give up. We must not!” the Indian girl told her.

Mandie rubbed her sleeve across her wet eyes and straightened up. “We won't give up. Never!” Mandie determined. “Someone will find us. I know they will.”

“Yes, someone will find us,” Sallie agreed.

Mandie sat quietly for a moment, thinking. “Sallie, I've just realized something awful,” she said.

“What?”

“I'm afraid I have wrongly accused Tsa'ni,” Mandie cried. “He was not the one who was tearing down the walls.”

“You can straighten things out with Tsa'ni later,” the Indian girl replied.

“But I accused him in the council house in front of all our people,” Mandie reminded her. “He'll never forgive me. I just hope God will.”

“If you ask God to forgive you, I think Tsa'ni will, too,” Sallie comforted her. “But we must get out of this place first.”

“I hope it is soon,” Mandie replied.

CHAPTER NINE

TSA'NI TELLS A LIE

The day was beginning to fade away. Elizabeth and Morning Star sat near the open doorway where they could watch for the others to return.

Elizabeth fidgeted nervously. “Morning Star, I know you can't understand much of what I say, but I have to talk to someone,” she said. “I am worried. Amanda and Sallie should have been back long ago. They only went to pick flowers. And someone in the search party should have let us know something by now. Do you understand what I am saying, Morning Star?”

Morning Star grunted and nodded her head. “Late,” she said, frowning.

“That's right. You do understand some things,” said Elizabeth, a little relieved. “I don't know which way they went, but even if I went to look for them they might come back a different way.” She pulled out a handkerchief and dabbed at her eyes. “Oh, why did I give Amanda permission to pick flowers? There is so much danger around with Joe missing and the hospital vandalism.”

Morning Star listened intently. To Elizabeth's surprise, the old Indian squaw stood up and said, “We find. We go.”

“No, Morning Star,” Elizabeth objected. “We don't know which way they went.”

“Flowers, woods,” Morning Star tried to explain.

“You mean they went into the woods to pick flowers? Is that where they went?”

The old woman nodded.

“But the woods are—”

“We go,” Morning Star repeated.

“Wait,” Elizabeth said. “I must leave a note in case someone comes before we get back.”

She walked across the room and rummaged in her travel bag for a piece of paper and a pencil. Morning Star watched her in puzzlement.

As Elizabeth sat down at the table to write the note, a shadow blocked the light from the doorway. Elizabeth looked up to see Tsa'ni standing there.

Tsa'ni stared at her without speaking.

When Morning Star saw him, she began talking rapidly to him in Cherokee. Tsa'ni listened in surprise as Elizabeth sat and watched. Evidently the old woman was telling him about the girls.

Tsa'ni looked at Elizabeth. “Mrs. Shaw, Morning Star says Mandie and Sallie went out to pick flowers and have not come back.”

Elizabeth got up and walked toward the boy. “Yes, Tsa'ni, that is true. We are worried sick. Something must have happened to them,” Elizabeth said.

Impatiently, Morning Star rushed over to the boy and shook him, obviously scolding him harshly in Cherokee.

Elizabeth waited to see what the vile-tempered boy would do.

Tsa'ni said something to the old squaw then turned back to Elizabeth. “She wants me to go hunt them,” he said belligerently.

“Oh, Tsa'ni, would you?” Elizabeth pleaded. “Morning Star and I were about to go and look for them when you came in, but we don't know where to look. Morning Star said they went into the woods. You probably know this area better than she does, and I know nothing at all about it. Will you go?” she repeated.

Tsa'ni scuffed the toe of his mocassin on the rough floor and lowered his eyes. Elizabeth Shaw had always been kind to him, even when all the others were not. He could promise to look for them, but it didn't matter to him whether he found them or not. If he found the girls he would tell them to go home. If he didn't find them, he would
just keep on going. He had only come by Uncle Ned's house to see if his grandfather had returned.

“I will look for them,” he told Elizabeth. Turning to Morning Star, he spoke rapidly in Cherokee.

The old woman smiled.

“Tsa'ni, thank you. I appreciate it,” Elizabeth said sincerely. “I certainly hope you find them. And, please, don't you get lost, too.”

“I have never been lost. I know every tree in the woods,” the boy bragged. “I will go now.”

He hurried out into the yard and started down the road. The women watched him until he was out of sight.

Tsa'ni took his time tramping through the woods. He headed straight for the hospital building, looked around there, and then circled out away from it. Enlarging the circle as he walked, he came nearer and nearer the Catawba man's house.

Then noticing something white through the bushes, he made his way through the brush and found the two piles of flowers the girls had dropped. He bent down, examining the flowers and the tracks around them. Evidently there had been three men here besides the girls. His heartbeat quickened. Three men were more than he wanted to take on. He stood up, looked around, and continued on through the woods. He would just go on home. It was getting late.