The Mandie Collection (19 page)

She looked back at her mother. “We got lost in the cave and couldn't find Tsa'ni,” Mandie told her.

“And we couldn't find the way we came in so we dug our way out,” Joe added.

“Yes, and then those strange people in the woods tied us up and left us in the barn,” Sallie explained.

“But how did you get separated from Tsa'ni?” Uncle John asked.

“Well, we stopped to look into a pool of water and I guess it was then we got separated,” Mandie replied.

Tsa'ni was holding his breath as he eavesdropped. He did not understand why the girl did not tell the whole story.

“Do not see how got lost from Tsa'ni,” Uncle Ned said.

Sallie answered her grandfather. “I suppose he thought we were right behind him, but we stopped to look into the water and then we lost him.”

“And how did you dig your way out of the cave?” Elizabeth wanted to know.

“Well, there was a pile of rocks and—” began Joe.

“—and a pile of gold,” Mandie interrupted. “And I mean a pile of gold! And then we could see the daylight through the rocks, so we dug with our hands until we had all the rocks out of the way.”

“Gold?” Uncle John asked as he looked at Uncle Ned. “You saw gold in that cave?”

Tsa'ni moved a little bit closer. They had found gold in the cave? They must be lying.

“Yes,” Mandie affirmed. “It was all under the rocks we dug through to get out.”

“But then the rocks all fell in and the hole closed up as soon as we got through it,” Joe added.

“Do you know of any gold in that cave, Uncle Ned?” John asked.

“No. No gold. Maybe mica in rocks,” Uncle Ned said.

“But it was
gold
, Uncle Ned. We saw it!” Mandie insisted, forgetting about the nugget in her pocket.

“No one goes in cave. Dangerous. Rocks fall in,” the old Indian said.

“Maybe it was mica you saw, but, anyway, we're so thankful you are all safe,” Elizabeth told them. “Now, don't you think we'd better get going so we can get to Uncle Wirt's house before dark?”

The three scrambled for their clothes. As Mandie put on her dress behind the curtain, the gold nugget fell out of her pocket and lay unnoticed on the floor by the bed.

Tsa'ni, breathing a sigh of relief that he was not implicated by the three, swaggered up to Mandie and said in a low voice, “You have no Indian blood in you. You could not even find your way back. You are just white, that is all.”

Dimar, standing nearby, overheard and spoke up, “Tsa'ni, you are a disgrace to the Cherokees, talking like that to your own blood.”

Joe advanced toward Tsa'ni. “You look here, Tsa'ni, Mandie is a well-seasoned traveler. She made a journey all the way from Almond Station to her Uncle John's house in Franklin, through the woods, across the rivers, and over the mountain. And that is rough terrain. Why, she even—”

Mandie caught him by the arm and interrupted. “Never mind, Joe. We have to go now. Come on.” She turned to Sallie who was also listening. “Just ignore him.”

Sallie nodded in agreement.

Wirt came over to Tsa'ni, who was his grandson. “You go to Deep Creek; bring John Shaw's things to my house. They stay with me. Make haste.”

Tsa'ni looked at the old man. “I am on my way,” he said. He turned and gave the three a know-it-all look and walked out the door.

Tsa'ni had no plans to do what his grandfather had asked. He had plans of his own.

CHAPTER SIX

CHEROKEE KINPEOPLE

Uncle Ned and his group went to Bird-town with the others. They were all tired and it was the closest place to go.

Mandie, who had ridden behind her mother on the pony from the foot of the mountain, looked around, her eyes taking in everything. This was part of the Cherokee Indian Reservation here at Bird-town. This was the original land where her Indian ancestors had lived. It was like a small town with a wide dirt road running through it. Rows of log cabins were spaced apart by crops.

There seemed to be an unusual number of women and children waiting along the road. Most of the men had gone with the search party, and they were now returning to their families.

Elizabeth followed Wirt Pindar to his house. It was the largest in the group and was in the center of the community. Aunt Saphronia, Wirt's wife, embraced them and made them welcome. She was a tiny Indian woman with a million wrinkles in her face. She had food cooked and waiting. Her neighbors, some of whom were relatives, opened their doors to the extra men from Deep Creek.

Saphronia then spotted Mandie.

“Jim Shaw's papoose!” she cried as she hugged the girl. “Love!”

“Mandie, this is your Uncle Wirt's wife, Aunt Saphronia,” Elizabeth told her as John Shaw came up behind her.

“I love you, too, Aunt Saphronia,” Mandie said, blinking back tears as her father's name brought back memories.

“Aunt Saphronia.” John Shaw smiled as he put his arms around the little woman.

Saphronia looked up into his face. “Take care Jim Shaw's papoose.”

“Yes, I will, Aunt Saphronia, together with her mother Elizabeth here,” he replied.

“You forget,” Elizabeth reminded him. “I have already been here. When we came to get Uncle Wirt, I met Aunt Saphronia then.” She smiled at the old squaw.

“Right. I'd forgotten in all the excitement,” he replied, grinning as he put one of his arms around Elizabeth and tried to include Mandie.

The girl laughed. “I don't think your arms are long enough to hug three of us at one time.”

“Eat. Food ready,” Saphronia told them, leading them to the table.

As they sat at the long table Mandie turned to her Uncle Wirt. “Tell me about my grandmother, Uncle Wirt, when she was a young girl. What did she look like'?”

Uncle Wirt cleared his throat as he strove for the right words. “Talitha beautiful—more than others. She sing, she dance, she smile. Braves follow her. She like everyone. Everyone love her. She born here.”

“She was born here?” Mandie was surprised. She had never thought about that. “Before our people were made to move out and give up their land?”

“Yes. She oldest papoose. Me youngest. All gone to happy hunting ground, but me,” he said sadly.

“I love you, Uncle Wirt. I thank God that I am able to come to see my Cherokee kinpeople. He has been good to me,” she said.

The old man's face brightened. He smiled. “Love, Papoose. Jim Shaw's papoose.”

The others had been listening and now Uncle John spoke up.

“Talitha was my mother, you know, Mandie. But I didn't know her well because I had to go away to school as a small boy, and she was very ill. It was a long time before I had a chance to come back, but I have been back many times since then. Your father also came to visit, at least once a year, but he never knew our mother. She died not long after he was born.

“When she died our father lost all interest in life. He just pined away. He died when your father was only five years old,” he said.

“Five years old,” Mandie said thoughtfully. “Then you took care of my father while he was growing up.”

“Yes, Jim and I lived in the house in Franklin until he got married,” Uncle John said. “Uncle Ned and Morning Star lived with us for several years. He taught us both how to fish, swim, and how to use a bow and arrow.”

“They lived with you and my father” Mandie was surprised. She turned to the old Indian. “Uncle Ned, you never told me that.”

Uncle Ned smiled. “Take many moons tell Papoose many things.”

Dimar Walkingstick came in through the doorway and went straight to Mandie. Everyone was surprised to see him because they had left him at home with his mother when they came to Bird-town.

He held something out to Mandie. “Here. I think this is yours. It was on the floor where your dress was hung to dry.”

Mandie took the gold nugget and gasped, “Oh, Dimar, thank you! I had forgotten about it entirely.”

“Sit. Eat,” Uncle Wirt told the boy, sliding closer to Uncle Ned to make room for him. Dimar squeezed into a place between the two old Indian men, directly facing Mandie. His eyes fastened on her and remained fixed as she showed the others what he had brought.

“You
did
take a nugget with you!” Sallie exclaimed.

“Holding out on us, huh?” Joe teased.

“You see, Uncle John,” she said, handing him the nugget. “There
is
gold in the cave. It
is
gold, isn't it?”

“It certainly is,” Uncle John said, passing the nugget on to the two Indian men. “Look at that!”

Uncle Ned grunted. “Cherokee not know gold in cave.”

Uncle Wirt agreed. “No, Cherokee not know.”

The two old men looked at each other and seemed to be concerned.

“How much do you think was there?” Uncle John asked.

“Probably a bushel basket full, wouldn't you say, Joe, Sallie?” Mandie answered.

Sallie nodded. Joe said, “Oh, probably more than that. I'd say several tote sacks full.”

“Let's see, you said you found it under some rocks when you were digging a hole to get out of the cave?” Uncle John questioned.

“Yes, sir,” Mandie said. “We found this pile of rocks and could see the daylight through a tiny hole in the middle of them so we started digging to see if there was an opening. There was only a small layer of rocks over the pile of gold.”

“Between the three of you, could you find the pile again?” Uncle John wanted to know.

“I don't know. You see, as soon as we got through the hole all the rocks came tumbling down from above and covered up the opening we'd dug,” Mandie said.

“Unless the rockslide changed things drastically inside the cave, I think I would recognize the place,” Joe added.

Uncle John turned to Sallie. “What about you, Sallie? Would you remember where it was?”

“Gold has always been bad luck for the Cherokees. I would rather not look for it,” the Indian girl replied.

Everyone turned to look at Sallie.

“I know what you are referring to—the removal of Indians because of the discovery of gold in Georgia. But it wouldn't be like that now,” John reminded her.

Uncle Ned spoke up. “Cave dangerous. Cherokee not need gold.”

“But, Uncle Ned, there must be a fortune there,” John said.

“Cave not too dangerous. Tsa'ni go there many times,” Uncle Wirt put in.

“That's right. Tsa'ni goes there. Has he ever found any gold'?” John asked.

“No,” Wirt said. “We go to cave when sun up.”

“Uncle Ned, will you come with us?” John asked.

“Papoose go, Ned go. I promise Jim Shaw.” He nodded his head. “But—gold bad for Cherokee.”

“May I go, too?” Dinar spoke up.

Everyone had forgotten about him.

“Of course, if you want to,” John told him.

Dimar rose. “I must return home now. I will meet you at the cave tomorrow morning.”

So plans were made for another search—this time for a pile of gold. And this time they wouldn't get lost.

Meanwhile, Tsa'ni had gone straight to the cave from Dimar's house. He did not bother to go on to Deep Creek and deliver the Shaws' belongings to Bird-town as his grandfather had asked. He felt sure the others would return to look for the gold and he wanted to beat them to it.

He didn't have much oil left in his lantern, but he would hurry before the light went out. He knew his way around inside the cave pretty well. He hurried from one room to another, swinging the light close to the wall as he went. According to what he had heard them say, they had found the gold next to a wall.

Once, as he paused to look carefully at a pile of rocks, he thought he heard voices. He stood still and listened but could hear nothing.

“Hmm, probably the echoes of old Tsali,” he said to himself, and went on about his search.

He knew which room the bats lived in so he carefully avoided them. He was certain gold couldn't be in there anyway. They would
never have stayed long enough to dig out a hole in the wall with the bats flying about their heads.

As he carefully searched tunnel after tunnel, the light in the lantern began to grow dim as the oil was being used up. He shook it and gave a sigh. He would have to leave, go home and refill the lantern before he could continue his search.

As he wound his way back toward the entrance, the light finally sputtered and died, leaving him in total darkness. He felt his way forward slowly. As he crossed the cavern with the huge hole in the middle of the floor, he stumbled on a broken rock. Losing his balance, he grabbed desperately for the rocks, but slid back and fell directly into the pit. Just as he thought he'd never hit bottom, he landed with a splash, his head cracked against a stone, and he knew no more.

CHAPTER SEVEN

THE PIT

“Are y'all ready to go prospectin'?” Joe called through the wall in the upstairs room the next morning as the rooster crowed in Uncle Wirt's yard below.

“Yep!” Mandie yelled back as she jumped out of bed and stretched. Snowball followed her.

“I will go with you,” Sallie said as she rose to reach for her dress hanging on a nail.

“Beat you downstairs!” Joe called, and the girls could hear him scrambling down the ladder.

The adults were already sitting around the table. It seemed no matter how early the young ones got up, the older ones were always there first.

“I was just going to wake you,” her mother said. “On this trip to the cave we are going prepared. You must eat a good breakfast, and we will carry more food. I understand we have an uphill climb on a footpath after we leave the wagon on the road, so we can't carry anything heavy.”

“Besides, we have to carry lots of lanterns,” Mandie told her. “It's awfully dark in that cave.”

“Yes, and I have lots of rope handy, too,” Uncle John added.