The Mandie Collection (28 page)

After a short time they came to what looked like an old wagon trail. There, all alone, stood an old wagon with two horses hitched to it.

“In the wagon!” yelled the creature leading them.

The young people looked at one another silently. With their hands still tied, they managed to climb into the back of the wagon. The two creatures sat on the seat—one sitting backwards to watch them; the other, whipping the horses into a run. The trail was terribly rough. The wagon lurched over rocks and bumps and holes in the darkness, jostling the youngsters from side to side.

Snowball, still clinging to Mandie, protested loudly. Mandie tried her best to hold onto him by turning her head sidewise and raising her shoulder.

The wagon finally came to a halt in front of a deserted hut with a low, steeply-slanted roof. In the woods, Mandie had lost all sense of direction and wondered how they would ever find their way back.

The driver stepped down from the wagon. “Out and inside!” he ordered.

They could do nothing but obey. Inside the dark hut the first creature swung his lantern around, inspecting the interior. The other one stayed outside. The dim light showed no windows and only one door. The hut was just one big room with a huge rock fireplace. The young people looked around in dismay, afraid to speak. A nearby shelf held an old coffeepot, tin plates, and utensils. A pile of dirty, ragged quilts lay in one corner on the floor. That was all they could see.

The creature turned to go. “Now we're gonna put an iron padlock and chains on the door outside so thar ain't no way ya kin git out of hyar, and thar ain't no use yer tryin',” he sneered. “That'll teach ya to poke into other people's business.”

“Please, mister, if you'd just let us go, we'll go straight home,” Mandie begged.

“Yeh, go home by way of the wrecked train to see what happened to thet gold, eh? Ain't no way we gonna let ya go. We gonna git thet gold and be gone 'fore ya ever git out of hyar,
if ever
.” He gave an evil laugh. “Ya may never git out of hyar. This is a deserted part of the mountains. Ain't no one ever comes this way. So we done got y'all tuck care of.” He laughed again, stepped outside, and closed the heavy log door.

With the sound of a metal padlock and chains fastening on the outside, Mandie and her friends became prisoners with little hope of ever being rescued.

CHAPTER THREE

THE LITTLE BIRD

With the lantern gone, the hut became dark as pitch. The group huddled together in the center of the floor and helped one another untie their hands.

“If we only had a light,” Sallie wished out loud.

With that reminder, Tsa'ni thrust his hands into his pockets and triumphantly produced the candle he had found in Uncle Ned's wagon. “Wish granted,” he said smartly, although no one could see what he had. He stood up and felt his way to the huge fireplace on the back wall.

Sallie heard him moving about. “What do you mean?” she asked.

“Tsa'ni, where are you going?” Joe stood up, trying to find him.

“I am going to make a light for Sallie,” the Indian boy said from near the fireplace. “If I can only find something to strike a flame.”

“Are you going to build a fire in the fireplace?” Dimar asked.

“No. It might smoke and suffocate us because there is no ventilation in here,” Tsa'ni replied.

The others could hear him striking stones. Suddenly a spark caught a piece of straw in the fireplace and flamed. They gathered around him and then saw the candle in his hand.

“Where did you get the candle?” Dimar asked.

“That's the candle you found in Uncle Ned's wagon!” Mandie cried. “He found it in the wagon after we loaded the gold at the bank,” she explained.

“Yes,” Tsa'ni said. He lit the candle, stomped on the burning straw, and set the candle in one of the tin plates on the hearth. “See what I did for you, Sallie?”

“Thank you, Tsa'ni,” Sallie answered gratefully.

The flame threw a dim light around the room. They all gathered near the candle and sat down once more. Snowball curled up on Mandie's lap for a nap.

Sallie sighed. “Oh, my poor grandfather!” she said sorrowfully. “I wonder where he is!”

“And I wish I knew where my mother and Uncle John are right now,” Mandie added. “How did all this happen, anyway?” “Somehow those ghost creatures must have known about the gold on the train and caused the wreck,” Dimar mused.

“I'm sure your folks are all right, Mandie,” Joe comforted. “Don't worry.”

There was a long silence. Tears came into Sallie's eyes as she envisioned her grandfather at the bottom of the ravine.

Mandie reached over to take Sallie's dark hand in her own small white one. “We have to trust God to take care of all of them, Sallie,” Mandie said, “and figure out a way to get us out of this place.” She glanced around the cabin, hoping to find some way to escape.

Snowball stirred and jumped out of Mandie's lap. Prowling around the cabin, he uncovered an old rope among the dirty quilts and played with it, scooting the end across the floor.

“Look what Snowball found!” Mandie cried.

“What good is a rope to us?” Joe asked.

“Maybe we could think of some plan to use the rope to escape,” Dimar suggested. “Let us all try.”

The young people grew silent again, trying to think of possible uses for the rope. Suddenly there was a twittering noise and a small bird flew down from the rafters. Snowball, at once alert, began chasing it.

“A bird! Snowball, come back here and leave that little bird alone!” Mandie scolded.

But Snowball had other plans. He chased the bewildered little bird around the room until it finally beat its wings against the huge fireplace and found the chimney opening. The bird disappeared. Mandie tried to grab the kitten, but she was a few seconds too late. Hungry for the little bird, Snowball clawed his way right up the inside chimney wall.

Mandie stood at the fireplace trying to see up the chimney. Soon the scratching noises stopped, and the frightened meowing began.

“Snowball! Come back down here, you silly cat!” Mandie called. “Kitty, kitty! Snowball!”

“He must have thought the chimney was a tree!” Joe laughed.

Mandie cocked her head in an effort to see where the kitten was. “Joe, it's not funny! How in the world will I ever be able to get him down?” Mandie wailed.

Dimar came and stood beside her. “I will go up and get him!” he offered.

“Go up the chimney?” Sallie frowned.

“Yes, it is quite wide. I think I can manage,” Dimar insisted. “Snowball must be holding onto the rocks inside the chimney.” Dimar stooped to pick up the candle and tried to shine the light up the chimney.

“I think he has gone too far up, Dimar. You can't reach him,” Mandie moaned, clenching her fists.

“Dimar can climb the chimney,” Tsa'ni said. “I know how, too.”

“Climb the chimney?” Mandie questioned. “Dimar, you might fall!”

“I will not fall,” Dimar told her. “You see, by bracing my toes on one side of the chimney and my backside on the other, I can push myself up and reach Snowball. I will not fall.”

“If you can do that,” Mandie reasoned, “maybe we could all climb the chimney and get out of here.—What do you think, Sallie?”

“I think we should try it,” the Indian girl agreed.

Mandie picked up the rope Snowball had been playing with. “What if we tied the rope up on the roof like we did in the cave when we rescued Tsa'ni from that pit?” she asked.

Tsa'ni examined the rope. “It might work if the rope is long enough,” he said.

Joe grabbed one end and stretched the rope across the room. “It's a lot longer than this room is wide,” he said.

Dimar took the rope from Joe. “Yes, it looks long enough,” he said. “I will take the rope with me and climb all the way to the top. After I secure it there, I will throw the end back down the chimney for you to use in climbing,” he told them.

The others anxiously watched as Dimar, with the rope coiled around his shoulder, disappeared into the black recesses of the chimney.

Snowball continued to meow for help.

“Let us know when you find Snowball
and
when you get to the top, please!” Mandie called.

After a few moments Dimar yelled down to them. “I now have Snowball on my shoulder,” he said.

“Oh, thank you!” Mandie said gratefully.

They all waited around the fireplace in silence. Then there was a loud clattering noise, and the girls cried out in fear.

“Dimar! What was that?” Joe called up the chimney.

“It is just me on the roof. It is made of tin.” Dimar's voice came faintly down the chimney. “I have Snowball out, too. I am fastening the rope around the top of the chimney and will throw the end down to you. Here it comes!”

There was a swishing sound and the end of the rope appeared in the dim candlelight in the fireplace. Joe lunged forward and grabbed it.

“We have it, Dimar,” he called. He turned to the others. “Girls first. Sallie or Mandie?”

“Sallie, you go first,” Mandie told her Indian friend.

“All right, but, Mandie, please be careful when you come up. It looks rather frightening,” Sallie told her. She took the end of the rope, stooped to put her head up the chimney, and then stood up. Grasping the rope tightly, she swung herself off the stone floor. As her feet touched the side of the chimney she kept moving her hands up the rope. The rope was rough and her hands burned as she climbed. Her arms felt as though they were going to pull out of their sockets, but with determination she made her way up.

At the top Dimar helped Sallie climb out of the chimney onto the steep, tin roof. Her legs trembled as she stood, but she breathed a sigh of relief. She smelled the soot on her skin and clothes and tried to brush it off with her hands. “I made it, Dimar, but I must be rather dirty,” she said.

Dimar laughed. “It does not matter. We will all be dirty,” the Indian boy said. Leaning over the top of the chimney, he called, “Who is next?”

Stooping carefully on the slick roof, Sallie picked up Mandie's kitten from where he sat licking himself. “Snowball doesn't like the dirt either,” she said.

Inside the hut, Mandie grasped the end of the rope and worked her way up the chimney as Sallie had done. Soot, loosened by the rubbing of the rope, fell into her face and hair, and she squinted to keep it out of her eyes. Suddenly, she felt her skirt catch on something. She tried to wriggle free, but it tore.
Mother will
—She stopped mid-thought.
Mother will be glad I'm alive
, she decided,
if I ever get out of this chimney
.

When she finally got to the top, Mandie felt Dimar's strong hands lift her out of the chimney and onto the roof next to Sallie.

“Do not move!” Sallie warned, handing the kitten to Mandie. “The roof is very steep.”

Mandie tried to stand still as she smoothed Snowball's dirty, white fur.

Dimar called for one of the boys to come up.

Joe offered the rope to Tsa'ni. “You go next.”

“I will wait. I must put out the candle before I leave,” Tsa'ni replied. “I will go after you.”

“Well, if you insist,” Joe said, grasping the end of the rope.

When Joe arrived safely at the top, Dimar called for Tsa'ni.

Tsa'ni blew out the candle, rolled it in some old ashes for it to cool, and then put it in his pocket. Taking hold of the rope, he pushed himself up and began the climb easily. Suddenly, about halfway up, he felt something give.

“The rope is about to break!” he called to the others on the roof.

Mandie bit her lip. “Please, dear God, don't let it break now!” she cried.

Dimar called down to him, “Try to hurry. Maybe you can get up before it breaks.”

But it was too late. At that moment the rope snapped. Tsa'ni braced his feet against one wall and his backside against the wall behind him. He was going to have to work his way up without the rope. It was a miracle he hadn't fallen.

The young people waited fearfully on the roof. Hearing nothing more, Dimar leaned over the top of the chimney. “Tsa'ni, are you all right?” he called.

“Yes, I am all right,” Tsa'ni answered. “The rope broke, but I can work my way up.”

They could hear the scuffling noise as the Indian boy moved on up the chimney.

Dimar pulled on the remaining piece of rope. Excited, he called down to Tsa'ni. “There is quite a long piece of rope left. If you can manage to get far enough to reach it, you can use it the rest of the way,” he said as he tossed it back down the chimney.

“I will try,” Tsa'ni replied.

“Poor Tsa'ni. He is always getting into trouble,” Mandie moaned.

“Usually through his own doings, though,” Joe added. “But this is not his fault,” Sallie defended him.

“I guess not. In fact, it could have been me on the broken rope. He wanted to be last so he could put out the candle and bring it with him,” Joe explained.

Just then Tsa'ni called from inside the chimney. “I have the rope!” he said.

Dimar checked to see that it was secure. “It seems to be all right at this end,” he answered.

In a few moments a scratched and bruised Tsa'ni appeared at the top of the chimney. He, too, was covered with soot. Dimar and Joe helped him out onto the tin roof.

“Good exercise!” Tsa'ni laughed, rubbing his scratched back.

“Now all we have to do is slide down this roof and jump to the ground,” Dimar told them. “Thank goodness the cabin has a low roof. It will not be so far to jump.”

“Sounds like fun when we can't see what we're jumping into,” Joe laughed.

“I will go first and see what is beneath,” Dimar told them. “Listen for me. I will look all the way around the cabin and pick the best side for you to jump.”