Charlie the Great White Horse and the Journey to the North Pole

by Kenneth Mullinix

  ~Chapter 10~

  The Great Indian Chief of the Boreal Forest

  The morning sun was warm, invigorating, and welcome by all who had survived the prior night's devastating winter storm. The hard driving rains had moved on southward during the night, and the dark storm clouds had all but scattered, from a soft gently blowing wind, left over from the night before.

  Seen overhead was a large flock of migrating birds. They had taken flight and were heading south to the warmth of their winter homes, in far-away, distant lands. The warm autumn days and nights had all but disappeared with the turning of the seasons. Winter's grip hastened in quicker this far north. The ground was frozen and unforgiving below, where our weary travelers now lay, upon the unfamiliar rocky shoreline.

  All had survived the harrowing night, and all had found sanctity on the far north shore of the Great Lake, where the sole lighthouse sat atop a renowned rocky outcropping. The lone bright, large gas-lamp light of the Table Rock lighthouse had lit the way for Jupiter and Apollo, on their perilous swim towards, safety during the night.

  The waters of the great lake were now found in a calm deep sleep again.

  The warm and inviting winter sun hung low over the tree-lined horizon on the eastern lakeshore, throwing out gentle, long shimmering rays of morning sunshine, that twinkled on the still waters as each tiny wave crested, and fell over its self.

  Louis was slowly coming around as the warmth of the sun danced on his shoulders. He had survived the evil gaze of Squint-Eye Pete, only by the courage of Jupiter once again.

  Molly and Chug were both drained of strength, but their hearts were still full of courage. Chug slowly gathered some firewood found on the lakeshore then lit a small fire. He dried out the party's wet clothes, and then looked into his backpack to see if any food was still dry enough to eat.

  Apollo and Jupiter alone had saved the party the night before; this was noticed by Chug. As both horses finally awoke, and leisurely rose to their feet Chug walked over to Jupiter to give him a warm heartfelt hug around his neck.

  "Thank you Jupiter. You saved Louis from Squint-Eye Pete, and Red Beard the Pirate. Matter of fact you and Apollo saved all, this is something I will never forget. I just want to say thank you, from all of us."

  Jupiter was still a little wobbly, and not so sure of foot, but he gave Chug a reassuring look, then turned to face Louis and Molly, giving a slight nod of his head that he understood.

  Chug managed to find some dry coffee, a few small potatoes, and some dried venison jerky (that had been wrapped tightly in his backpack) and a small metal saucepan in which to cook breakfast. He brewed some coffee, and heated up the venison jerky. Upon eating the small amount of food, it immediately gave all some much-needed strength.

  "Did anyone really see what happened to Captain Legrange or Red Beard the Pirate last night?" asked Louis in a soft, feeble voice as he drank down a cup of hot coffee.

  "No we don't know what happened to either of them, but we saw Red Beard's ship sink in the night, and watched the Cimarron be taken by the pirates. As for the fate of Legrande, Red Beard, or Squint-Eye Pete, we really just don't know," said Molly who had a very hollow, and sullen look upon her face.

  "Well we can't worry about any of that now. We have to keep moving northward because Charlie is still waiting for us and Santa's Village, is still lost to Black Jack Tilly" said Chug as he stood by the fire to warm his hands.

  Everyone agreed that the journey should go forward after all took a well-deserved rest. After a few hours more of a quiet time-out on the shoreline, all rose and with great worry in their hearts. They took to packing up what little supplies they could salvage. They mounted the horses, after that slowly they started traveling northward again.

  The territories above the Great Lake were more mountainous and wilder now. The animals that inhabited these lands were much more dangerous. Great packs of wolves, coyotes, and sounders of wild bores were known to call these wild-lands home. Great wild beast roamed freely in this part of the backwoods where cowardly men, were seldom seen. Only the bravest of man took to the mountains, and forests of the great north. This was surely not a place for the weak-of-heart or faint-of-spirit.

  After traveling with a slow laborious pace for most of the day the party finally stopped by the side of the road, to start a late afternoon fire, to warm their tired, and cold feet once again. Upon sitting down on the hardened and cold earth Louis rummaged around in his backpack, for the map that Mr. Beamer had given him, for what seemed so like so long ago. He could not immediately find it when a look of panic started to appear across his face. As each moment passed it now became obvious that a calamity again was about to befall the group.

  "The map...it's...it's...gone!"

  "No Louis..." cried out Chug.

  "It's...lost. It's not here...nor...the compass!" revealed Louis in disbelief.

  "Are you sure Louis? Look again..." exclaimed Chug.

  "I hope it was not lost during the storm, or when we were swimming in the lake water," said Molly.

  Louis continued to frantically search about his bag when he realized that Mr. Beamer's journal was missing as well.

  "The journal it's...gone...as...well" cried out Louis again.

  "My...gosh Louis...no..." uttered Chug.

  "It had to have been was Squint-Eye Pete, that's it. He must have taken everything while we were sleeping, one night in our cabin, or sometime during the rain storm," said Chug.

  "Louis what about the Magic Jingle Bell? Do you still have that?" called back Molly.

  Louis searched his front pants pockets, and with a great sigh of relief, he pulled out the one singular silvery bell, and held it up for all to see.

  "The bell is safe..."

  "What about the other bell Louis. The one that hangs around your neck, the one Charlie gave you?" asked Chug.

  Louis thrust his hands down into his shirt, and groped around his neck in vain.

  The bell was gone!

  "The silver locket with the picture of my father in it is here, but the other bell is missing."

  Louis dropped his head into his hands, and began to cry inconsolably.

  Through tears, flowing down his face Louis spoke out again.

  "That bell meant the world to me. It was given to me as a gift by my Charlie to be used in my hour of need, it's now gone forever."

  Louis's voice lost its breath and his words stumbled over each other as they tried to leave his dry throat.

  "Louis, Pete took the wrong bell though. Don't you see?" said Chug as he tried to cheer up Louis.

  "You still have the one bell that counts, the real Magic Jingle Bell. We can still help get Charlie well. The bell that Pete took could only be used to find the wearer. Don't you remember Louis? That is how Charlie found you last year in that snowstorm. That's the only power that that bell had. Now, as for the compass and maps, we can follow the Northern Star at night and the sun during the day. We can still make it to the North Pole, plus didn't you say you had read Mr. Beamer's journal from, front to back, over and over?"

  Louis started to feel a little better after hearing Chug's arguments.

  He lifted his head up to speak.

  "You're right Chug we can still make it; all is not lost. Let's not give up hope just yet. Look I expected this would be a hard journey, but I didn't know it would be this hard, again, you're right Chug, I did read that journal, and studied those maps over and over again. I should be able to find the true way north into Santa's Village."

  "Forget about the journal and maps for a moment. Louis, I actually have good news for a change. I have something in my pocket you need to see that should cheer you up, because it can never hurt you or find you again," said Chug.

  "What are you talking about Chug? You're starting to make me nervous again."

  Chug dug deep
into his pants pocket, pulled out a cloth handkerchief, and opened one corner of it to expose what lay within. As Chug opened, the corner of the cloth Squint-Eye Pete's crazy eyeball fell out of his hand. It rolled across the rocky ground, coming to a stop in front of Louis's feet.

  "What the heck..."

  "Louis don't worry...it's..."

  "What's that...awful thing...Chug?" asked Molly as she crunched up her face.

  "Chug...it's...er...Pete's evil eyeball! What are you doing with it?" asked a befuddled Louis.

  "You were frozen in fear, and had been hit by lightening Louis. You could not possible remember, or have seen what happened on the ship's deck that night. But right before the Cimarron Cutter sunk, Ms. Telly smacked Ole' Pete on the back of the head with a cast-iron frying pan. The evil eyeball popped out of Pete's socket and I grabbed it...thinking we might need it someday."

  "Cover it up Chug, before it gets me again. Cover it up right now!"

  "OK, Louis calm down."

  Chug looked away from the evil eye as he fumbled around on the ground until he scooped the eyeball back up, covered it, and placed it back inside the safety of the cloth.

  "Here Louis I want you to have it. Consider it a gift from me," said Chug with a sly little smirk on his face.

  "Well, I have had better gifts than this from you, how about just a new bike next time? Now that would be a good gift, or how about a new pair of shoes, we could re-gift them to poor old Harry this year for Christmas."

  "Well I don't know what I would ever do with this thing, but thanks anyway. I will put it in my pocket, and cherish it always," said Louis with a now comical look on his face.

  Molly just stood there watching this whole thing unfold in front of her thinking.

  Boys will be boys.