There was a sudden commotion as Sean rode up. He was very dusty and tired and had obviously just arrived back from his assignment which had taken him searching for Mark towards the Mexican border. He rushed over and took one end of the rope from Patrick allowing Patrick to be the one to place his daughter’s coffin in the middle so that she could be lowered carefully into place.
Liza and Patrick smiled at him gratefully and they both threw earth onto her coffin and when George had finished his prayers over her, it was all over and Liza thought that poor little Meg had fought so hard not to come into the world, it would really have been better if she’d had her way and never been conceived. Five months was not long enough to get any pleasure out of life, all she had done was give pleasure to those around her and that was very selfish of them all.
As they were walking away, Liza turned and looked at Meg’s grave thinking how cold little Meg was going to be as it was now winter, and how could she leave her there alone. But she wasn’t alone, she had Danny to look after her and he would do that very well. Patrick took her arm and guided her towards their home and it seemed that many people were heading in the same direction. She hadn’t organised any refreshments for them, but of course, she remembered that Kathy, Hannah, Ada and Bea had taken over her home, leaving her to grieve without worry.
Liza went into her sitting room and was immediately surrounded by children. Matthew and John were either side of her on the sofa, with Simon and Rachel standing also either side of her. The twins arrived and decided that they wanted to lean one on each of her knees and of course they were carrying their spoons. It would now be strange to see them without them.
Patrick looked into the sitting room and thought what a beautiful picture it was to see Liza being comforted by children because that was exactly what they were doing. Sean looked in and smiled and nodded. He had arrived back at the fort and found very few people in authority there and having asked why that was and being told of Meg’s funeral, he immediately mounted his horse again and rode straight to the church.
Many people came in to express their sympathies but the children wouldn’t leave Liza and the adults had to talk over them. Slowly guests started drifting away and Liza said the right words to all of them, but still the children stayed with her. Liza wondered why so many people had turned up as nobody really knew Meg, she was too young for anyone to have known her, but she was touched that they had.
Ellen came in to take the twins home and they were reluctant to move until Gabriel came in and said that he would see them to their home. Why they were so enamoured of him, nobody could answer as he was very strict, but they would do anything that he said. He also took Simon with him and the captain and Bea took Rachel and Judith back to the fort. Soon it was just Ada and the colonel, Kathy and Joe and Sean remaining.
Liza thanked them for all their help and especially Sean for coming straight from his assignment as she knew that he must be very tired.
Finally it was just Liza, Patrick, Zelma and the boys, and it looked as though the previous five months had never happened, but little Meg would always remain in their hearts.
It was getting late and Liza helped the boys to bed and spent a long time reading to them. When Liza came down she found that Zelma had already gone to her home and Patrick was sitting in his rocking chair deep in thought. He looked up and smiled at her and tapped his knee indicating that he wanted her to sit on it which she did. She suddenly felt very tired but was comforted by the feel of Patrick’s lap and his arm around her.
“It was good of Sean to rush here today; he must have been really exhausted. How has his assignment gone? Did he tell you?” asked Liza.
“Yes, but he feels that he was being led on a merry dance. He wasn’t sure that the scouts were really reading the signs right, but then they came across part of Mark’s uniform dumped near a small town. The town was very rough and ready and the store there sold some clothes to someone and when Sean told them the description on the poster, the man didn’t know but he had an Indian woman there and she said that it sounded like the same man. So they must have been on the right track. Five days later they found his horse, it had lost a shoe and he had left it at a farm and taken one of their horses in exchange. Once again, they weren’t clear on the description and one of the men on the farm really thought that it was an Indian who left the horse, but the owner said that it couldn’t be as Indians don’t have their horses shod,” said Patrick.
“Where was all this?” asked Liza.
“On the way south, so he must be heading towards Mexico, but still Sean isn’t so sure. He and I can read signs, obviously not as well as our scouts, and somehow they are leading us too easily and coming across indications quickly,” said Patrick.
“What’s going to be done about it?” asked Liza.
“In a few days I’ll be taking a patrol out and possibly going in a different direction,” said Patrick and he saw the look of disappointment on Liza’s face and said, “don’t worry, I won’t be going for a while yet and I’m not going until the half-breed scout returns, he’s exceptionally good at reading signs. I’m going to start from exactly where Mark managed to get out of the fort and take it from there. I know that time has passed, but it will be worth reassessing which direction we think he took, and discussing it with an Indian who speaks English well.”
“Surely if you’ve found his uniform and horse, you must know where he was heading,” said Liza.
“Yes, you would think so, but I just want to make sure, especially as Sean was so uneasy at the way the signs were being read. Naturally I know how Sean works and if he says that something isn’t right then he normally isn’t wrong,” said Patrick.
Liza was pleased that Patrick was waiting for the half-breed scout; he would know how to convince Patrick that Mark was heading for Mexico and of course, when he returned to the fort it meant that Mark had reached New York, so all would be well.
“I’ll have a look around the perimeter of the fort myself in the meantime. Anyway, let’s not worry about that now. I’m very tired and I would think that you are also, shall we go and rest. I doubt whether we’ll sleep through the night, but at least we can be comfortable,” said Patrick.
Liza automatically looked to pick up Meg’s cradle and then remembered and wondered where it was, but looking around everything that was Meg’s had disappeared. Liza felt so sad that a little life could completely be wiped away in such a short space of time. Patrick was watching her and quite possibly knew what she was thinking and they slowly made their way to bed and Liza cried herself to sleep in Patrick’s arms.
They were both awake early the next morning and Zelma arrived early also and they managed to sit quietly over coffee before they heard the boys waking up. Liza went up to them to help them get ready for school which surprised them as they thought that they would need to stay at home for a while.
“We have to try to get our lives back to normal as much as possible,” said Liza. “You’ll see all your friends at school and they will help you get over losing little Meg. I’m not asking you to totally forget her, but we all have to live our lives without her now. Daddy has to get back to work soon, and I have lots of things that I must do and Zelma also has people to see and jobs to carry out. Our best way to ease our sadness is to get on with life and all our friends will help us to do that, so come on get yourselves ready and come down for some breakfast, I’m sure Si will be here shortly for you.”
When the boys had gone off to school, Patrick asked Liza what she was going to do that day and she replied that she had no idea how she was going to spend her day and that she didn’t really feel like doing anything.
“Do you want to come to the fort with me and see the colonel? I know that he wants to talk to you,” said Patrick.
“What are you going in there for; I thought you had some time off this week,” said Liza.
“Yes, I don’t have to go in but I’d like to see Sean and look at the way that Mark got out, just for my ow
n peace of mind. I’m not going away yet, Liza,” said Patrick.
“I don’t really feel that I want to hear the colonel tell me again what a good person I am, because I’m not really. I’m just ordinary and if he thought about it, he should be annoyed at me because I didn’t say anything about the fort’s lack of security sooner,” said Liza.
Patrick put this reticence down to Liza’s sadness at the moment and thought that she would settle down to being her normal self soon enough, but it was early days for them both.
***
Whilst all the dramas and sadness was going on in Benson, Mark Kendal was well on his way to New York. He reflected on the way he had reached where he was.
When Liza had come back to the prison with the ‘forgotten’ book, the guard was totally unconscious; Zelma’s potion had certainly rendered him incapable. Corporal Shaw had let him out of the cell. They waited for Liza who had stopped her buggy in front of the outer prison door and brought the book which was placed on a table in the cell and then the door was locked.
Liza and the corporal walked out of the prison together and jointly they managed to cover the fact that Mark was crouching down behind them for the three very short steps to the buggy which managed to hide him, slowly Liza turned her pony and buggy all the while talking to the corporal who said goodbye to her as she headed towards the gates. Mark was already running down the side of a building and the corporal slowly went to the building and then ran to catch him up. He had been told that there was a way out down that alleyway and the corporal pulled aside one of the wooden posts and Mark stepped through it to the outside. He knew that when he heard a commotion at the gate he was to run to the outcrop where he would be met by the half-breed Indian.
He stayed in the shadow of the fort for a short while listening out for whatever Liza had arranged to occupy the guard on the gate and all the while the thunder and lightning was getting closer. Suddenly he heard Liza’s pony make some loud frightened noises and a shout from the guard telling her to hold on, and then he heard the corporal telling him to help settle the pony. He could see the gate from the shadows and knew that the guard was completely occupied with trying to hold on to Liza’s pony and the corporal was helping her to straighten up as if she had nearly fallen. Well done, Liza, he thought as he ran to the stony outcrop and well into the shadows.
It was not yet raining, but the storm was virtually overhead and he was suddenly grabbed by the arm and was led to a small flat stone by the half-breed and told to take his uniform off. He was handed an Indian shirt, buckskins and moccasins and told to put them on. Nearby was another Indian who carefully donned his uniform and boots. As this Indian turned, a flash of lightning caught his face and Mark wondered where he had seen him before. It puzzled him for a short while, but then he realised that it was a male version of Zelma. It had to be her brother. This Indian said something to the half-breed and then led an army horse away from them. The half-breed brushed any signs that they had been there away and told him to climb over the rocks towards the east and he would follow him making sure that nobody would know which way they were headed.
They walked over difficult terrain for a couple of hours and the half-breed no longer had to cover their tracks as the rain had started to fall heavily washing away any sign that they had been there. They came to a clearing and the scout told him to stay on the rocks whilst he went down to a group of five Indians who had horses. The scout rode one of the horses and led another over to where Mark was perched on the rocks and told him to mount it without putting his feet on the soft ground. Luckily Mark had ridden unsaddled horses before so he didn’t find it too difficult. The five Indians moved off with two of them riding double.
Mark and the scout rode hard through the night even though the sky had opened and to be out in such a storm was really quite frightening. As dawn was breaking, the scout took them to a cave, which looked as if it was often used as there was evidence of many fires being lit in the past. There was room also for the horses which were cold and wet. The scout lit a fire and rubbed down his horse and told Mark to do the same. There was feed in the cave for the horses and food for them as well. This had obviously been well-prepared for them.
“We’ll rest now,” said the scout. “And the horses also need their rest otherwise they will not get us to our destination. We are safe here for a while. Soon they will be discovering that you are missing at the fort, but we have made it look as if you are heading for the Mexican border.”
“You’re taking a very big risk doing this for me,” said Mark.
“We don’t do it for you; we do it for i-tse di-ka-ta and she is the one taking the big risk,” said the scout.
“Who did you say?” asked Mark.
The scout smiled slightly, “Green eyes in your language. Here eat and dry yourself off and try to get warm. We still have a long way to go before we reach the wagons.”
“That’s what you call her. Who is she really and what is she to you?” asked Mark.
“She is special to my people and so is her son; she is destined to make our people greater than they are already. She is the one that will fulfil that prophecy. That’s why you are being helped. We know that she has seen something in you and it is the reason why you must be taken to safety. She can see the future,” said the scout.
“Yes, I believe she can,” said Mark remembering the shadow and the dream which came to him twice. He now understood why she had been taken by the Cherokees; it had not been a random kidnapping, but a well-planned abduction.
Mark lay on the floor by the fire and slept for a while. When he awoke, the scout had prepared some food and put blankets on the horses ready for another long ride that day. The storm had passed and cold weather had followed it, but there were blankets in the cave which would keep them warm on their ride.
“We should reach the wagons this time tomorrow,” said the scout. “Once you are with them, you will become one of them; they have clothes and other things for you. i-tse di-ka-ta has arranged it all for you. I hope that if ever you are found, you will never mention her name.”
“I would never do that to Liza, or to you. If I do get caught, they will never know who helped me; that I promise. But I’m not going to get caught, am I?” said Mark as he smiled at the scout and then they were on their way again, riding hard, but allowing the horses to rest every few hours.
It was mid-morning the following day when they caught up with Cole and Jack’s wagons. The scout went down the hill to them telling Mark to stay where he was just in case there were any problems. Mark could see him talking to Cole, who he had met on a previous occasion in Benson. Jack climbed off his wagon and joined them and he could see them both nodding and the scout returned to where Mark was hiding.
“Everything is ready for you. i-tse di-ka-ta has been very thorough. The younger one is calm about it, but the older one will grumble and moan, but that is his way. You are lucky; they trust i-tse di-ka-ta and know that what she has asked of them is for a good reason. Let’s go down now. I will be with you whilst you are with them and also when you go on to the bigger wagon train that will take you to the train into the place you call New York. You may not see me but I will be watching out for you until you are away from the wagons and onto the train.”
“Are you sure that it will be necessary for you to stay. I would think that if they have followed signs that go towards Mexico, I will be safe enough now,” said Mark.
“I am doing what is asked of me to make sure you get to safety. Those men are right that i-tse di-ka-ta has a good reason for what she asks and I know the same, so you are under my protection until you near New York,” said the scout and with that they moved down to the wagons.
Cole gave Mark a friendly greeting but all he got from Jack was a nod and a grunt. They all moved off towards a waterhole which took just an hour to reach. By this time Mark was exhausted and was pleased to dismount. A fire was lit and Jack started to cook food for them all. Cole handed Liza’s letter and package t
o Mark and from that point onwards he was referred to as Mike Decker. He read her letter and was overwhelmed by everything that she had arranged for him and also by the money she had included.
“We have suitable clothes for you, Mike,” said Cole using his new name deliberately. “When you’ve rested for a while, it would be better for you to get changed. Do you know how to drive a wagon?”
“Yes, I’ve driven one for the army, but it was quite some time ago,” said the new Mike Decker.
“My advice to you is to never mention anything that you have done in the army; all you needed to say was that you had driven a wagon before. These next few days we will put you through your paces so that you can take up your new life with confidence. When you join the other wagon train you will have to convince them that you have been a driver for a while. We will not be there to guide you then, you’ll be on your own and nobody will know who you were. I don’t know what Liza’s letter to you says, but again I would advise that you read it a few times, memorise the essential parts and then we destroy it,” said Cole.
“Yes, I think I have a lot to learn and to remember,” said ‘Mike’.
“The scout will be watching you until you leave the next wagon train. He’s already getting rid of the tracks that you probably made reaching us. He’ll come into us on occasion, but the next wagon train will probably never know he’s around, but he will know if you need help,” said Cole.
Jack handed ‘Mike’ a plate of bacon and beans with a grunt, a sound that he would get used to over the course of the next few days. When he had finished eating, Cole took him to one of the wagons and told him that his clothes were inside and he changed and much as he had felt strange in Indian clothes, he felt equally awkward in civilian clothes as he had worn a uniform for such a long while.
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