by Cathy Keeton
As the daylight had faded and darkness promised to overtake them, she stumbled upon this old tree while looking for some sort of a cave to use for shelter until morning. She supposed that this was a good as a cave, only smaller. She checked Joshua making sure that he was as warm as possible. He looked up at her so sweetly through sleep clouded eyes.
“Mama”
“Oh Baby go back to sleep, I’m right here I won’t let anything hurt you, I promise,” she hoped that she could keep that promise.
“I want my mama,” he said as he closed his eyes once again.
He was a beautiful child. He had curly black hair and big blue eyes, and the cutest little nose. His skin was as smooth and soft as butterfly wings and still held some of the tan he had gotten from playing in the sunshine this past summer. Abby wondered if he had grandparents or aunts and uncles somewhere that would want to raise him. She had fell in love with him when she first saw him and he looked up and smiled, that smile went straight to her heart and latched on.
As Abby drifted off to sleep, she wondered where Shadow Spirit was, she knew that wherever he was he would never give up until he found her. She hoped that she would be home soon. She needed to rest for her baby’s sake as well as her own.
Abby woke to the sound of someone coughing just beyond the blanket. She froze with fear and grabbed the knife that she had kept by her side as she slept. She listened as a woman began to sing Amazing Grace. Her voice was clear and strong with a touch of rasp. Joshua stirred and started to say something, she but her finger to his lips and made a motion for him to be quite. Abby peaked out from behind the blanket to see a petite woman in a pair of men’s pants that had holes at the knees and the hem was tattered from years of use. She wore a long weather beaten old overcoat that was two sizes to big with the sleeves covering half her hands. She wore a yellow and red flowered bonnet trimmed in a delicate green lace; the bonnet didn’t go with the rest of her attire. She was bent over shoveling snow. She was standing slightly sideways so Abby couldn’t get a good view of her face, as she continued to shovel and sing.
“You can come out now,” she said.
Abby jumped back into her hiding place, surprised that she had been discovered. She was strangely not afraid of the woman; she did not seem threatening, especially in that bonnet. She poked her head out of the tree and looked directly into the dark brown eyes of the little woman. She had the of lines life on her face, but particularly around her eyes, as if she had spent a good deal of time laughing.
“I said you can come out, I’m not going to hurt you.”
Abby removed the blanket and crawled slowly out of the alcove in the tree trunk.
Joshua came out behind her holding on to her doeskin dress. He looked scared and whimpered softly.
“Well I swear you two look like you have not had a bite to eat in a month of Sundays. I guess you could use a good hot breakfast, follow me,” she said as she began trudging up a path that Abby had not seen when she decided to sleep in the tree. The path ran between two hills that were covered with evergreen trees, it looked like it had been carved through the hillside by a small stream that had long since dried up. If you didn’t know it was there, you would never notice it for all the dead vines and brush that lay where the trail began. They walked around bend after bend where the trail twisted and turned so that Abby wondered if she could find her way out. She carried Joshua because the snow was so deep in this ravine that it would have came past his knees. She trudged on and on, and with each step the snow becoming harder to get through and Joshua seemed to get heavier. She would have been better off in the tree at least she was dry there.
The path finally ended in a clearing where at the base of a great mountain sat an old barn that had been on fire at some point in time. The fire had blackened and splintered the planks, leaving jagged edges sticking out haphazardly. The clay that had once held them together was now ash. What was left of the roof sagged and seemed ready to cave in. Surely, this was not where this little woman lived.
As they approached the barn, Abby could see swirls of white smoke coming from a crumbling chimney. The dilapidated old building looked like it was attached to the mountain because it was so close to it.
“Watch your step,” the woman said with a twinkle in her eye as she grunted and opened the charred barn door.
“Do you live…?” Abby started to ask her if this was where she lived as she stepped inside the barn, but she was so astonished at what she saw that she couldn’t finish the sentence. In the middle of the barn sat a perfect little cabin with a swing on the front porch and windows with black shutters that were drawn together to keep out the cold. The cabin was made of hewn logs that fit together like they grew out of the earth for just this purpose.
“Come on in, don’t just stand there you are letting in the cold.”
Abby entered the cabin and the heat coming from inside enveloped her in a cocoon of warmth that brought back memories of her childhood home. Remembering her father and all that he had sacrificed for her, a tear slid down her cheek.
Joshua stirred in Abby’s arms wiping the sleep from his eyes he looked around in amazement his surroundings. He squirmed trying to get down.
“Here let me take the boy to the table and get him something to eat. You should not be packing him around in your condition, come on over here and eat, you look like you are about ready to hit the floor. My name is Polly, what’s yours?”
“Abby and thank you for helping us”
At the table, Polly dished up heaping bowls of stew with an aroma better than anything Abby had ever smelled. She could detect the onions, potatoes, and meat, she even got a whiff of the herbs that her mother had used, it was a heady fragrance that made her mouth water. Polly went to a cook stove and pulled out cornbread that was golden brown with a crunchy crust and piping hot.
“This stove was all that we saved after the Indians attached”
They sat down at the table and began to eat. Joshua crammed the food in with both hands ignoring the spoon that Polly had provided.
“Here son, slow down, nobody is going to take it away from you.” Polly commented.
She looked around at the two-room cabin. There was one large central room that held a bed with a beautiful red and yellow patchwork quilt. The bed was tucked away into one corner in the front of the room, on the other side stood a beautiful mantle over a fireplace. In the back part of the room stood a black stove that along with the fireplace was the source of that comforting heat. It had four burner plates and a reservoir in one end that held hot water. There was a shelf over the stove that served as a warming rack, it held bowls and plates. Abby couldn’t see what was in the bowls but the plates were filled with golden brown biscuits that made mouth water. The table where they were seated had intricately carved legs and four matching chairs it was clearly made by a real artist.
“Polly, did you carve this furniture?” Abby asked.
“My son did this table and he did the mantle and the bed also. He loved to make things. He was so good with his hands.” Polly said with a veil of sadness coming over her face.
“Does your son live here with you?”
“He did, he went hunting a couple of years ago and never came back. He hated killing living things but it was something that had to be done to eat.”
“What do you think happened to him?”
“I know what happened to him some sort of animal killed him. I found his remains three days after he left.” She stopped speaking for a minute as if to collect her thoughts. “There wasn’t much left but a mother knows her child no matter what kind of shape their in.”
“I’m so sorry because I know what it is like to lose someone you love.”
“Weren’t your fault it’s just one of the things that happen in this harsh country. Let me put the boy down for a while, I will put him Joe’s room. That was my son’s name. What’s your boy’s name?”
“His name is Joshua but he is not my son. He was being held by
a renegade Indian when I was captured and brought to the camp. We managed to escape and have been running and hiding for two days.”
Polly picked up Joshua and carried him through the door to the adjoining room. Abby walked to the door and watched as Polly put the covers around the little boy. There was a smile on the older woman’s face when she turned around.
“He is a precious child, what will become of him?”
“He saw his mother killed and I think his father was killed also. He said his father was asleep in the yard when he was taken away. I don’t know if he has any other family or not, if I don’t find any I will take him home with me.” Abby saw a look of pity in Polly’s eyes.
“Do you think your husband will take you back after the Indians had you?” Polly asked.
“I know that my husband will want me back, and will not stop looking for me as long as he has any life left in his body.” Abby was aware that Polly believed that her husband was white, and for the time being she let her believe that.
“I hope you are right. How is he going to feel about the baby that you carry?”
“He will love it every bit as much as I will.”
“Which Indians had you captured?”
“The Cheyenne that are lead by Chief Shadow Spirit and I was never held captive by the gentle people of that tribe.”
“I have heard that Shadow Spirit is a fair man, he helped me once when I was out looking for wood for the winter, about a year ago last November, I had stepped in a trap I’d set for a mean old bear that kept coming around.”
“Did you talk to him?”
“Yes, I thanked him for helping me and he said that I was welcome in perfect English, I was surprised at the manners he showed,” Polly said.
“He rescued me from one of most evil men I have ever met,” Abby stated. “You have probable heard of all the mayhem he has caused, he is called Black Heart.”
“I have heard of him, I believe that I have seen him and two other men along with a woman ride by the tree where you and the boy were hiding. I have used that same tree many times to stay out of sight.”
“No one will have to worry about the woman anymore, she died of a snake bite a few days ago, and I buried her. She was evil.” Abby said as she yawned. “I know that it is morning, but I am so tired, do you think that I could lie down for a minutes.”
“You go on I have some things to do outside and then we will have dinner, I don’t usually cook dinner. I always make my cornbread while my oven is hot from the biscuits and I make enough to last awhile. I just have whatever I can grub up for dinner and then I cook supper.”
“I will help you cook supper. I so appreciate you letting us rest up here. I promise we will be on our way soon.”
“I will hear of no such thing you will stay here until this snow storm is over or until spring whichever. “Now rest and take care of that baby.”
Abby entered the room off to the side of the main room and was happy to see that it was just as beautiful as the other room only smaller. There was a bed and a chest with four drawers with a pitcher and bowl sitting on it. The carvings on the chest were as detailed as the ones on the table but a total different pattern.
Abby crawled into the bed with Joshua, who slept with the innocence only a child had. He stretched as he repositioned after Abby lay down.
Abby listened for some sign that Polly had left but it was so quiet that she imagined that she could hear the snow fall.
The last thought that she had was of Shadow Spirit, she so hoped that he was safe and had not ran into Black Heart on his search for her.
Chapter Twenty
Shadow Spirit was weary and scared, he had searched for days with the only sign of Abby being the tiny emerald that he found at campsite. He could not believe that he had searched this long in the bitter cold and the snow not to find even another trace of Abby.
He had found a burned farmhouse and a man’s body in the front yard. There was no one else, if there had been anybody in the house they had been burned along with the structure. There were some wooden toys in the yard, so there must have been a child. He prayed that Black Heart had not gotten hold of a child, for he loved to sell them to Comancheros even if he had to travel to Texas. The Comancheros liked white children. They received much more in goods for their purchases when they resold them to the Mexicans to work in fields than Black Heart had gotten.
Shadow Spirit decided to find shelter for the night and start for home with the new sun. He would retrace the path he had used to look for Abby maybe he had missed something, some small sign. He wished that Storm had stayed with him, but he ran off again yesterday.
Shadow Spirit found a lean-to that had been deserted a long time ago. It was built up against a hill with the hill being the back, there was a fairly solid wall on the north side and a broken down wall on the other side but no front. He was very thankful that the wind was coming from the north. White people had no idea how to make a decent place to get in out of the cold and snow. He could have taken a few buffalo hides and made a shelter that would have kept the wind out on all sides, but he did not have the hides.
He ate more of the pemmican his mother had packed for him and covered up to try to get some sleep. He was beginning to fade into sleep when he thought he smelled food cooking, it smelled like meat roasting. He had been without a real meal for days and his mind was playing tricks on him.
Shadow Spirit woke at daybreak stiff, sore and cold.
He had dreamed of roast venison all night. He ate dried berries and drank water from his canteen. All the streams that he had found were frozen. He had been filling his water bag with snow and drinking it as it melted from the heat of his body.
Shadow Spirit was determined to find his wife, he could not give up. He could not go back to his people without Abby. He would be of no use to them. Gray Wolf would do a fine job as acting chief.
He had changed his mind about going back over the ground he had already covered. There was another place that he had not looked. There was a fort about a week’s ride from where he was camped, the soldiers could have found Abby and taken her back to the fort with them. She would have never told them where she was living for fear of them finding the Cheyenne village.
Yes, he would go and watch the Fort for any sign that Abby had been taken there and if she had, he would find a way to get her away from the soldiers and take her home to the Black Hills.
Shadow Spirit knew the danger of getting close to this fort for it had many soldiers to protect it. The fort served as a major point for boats coming and going on the Missouri river. It was in a location that was a key to protecting the whites traveling west. There were woods to the right of the fort, he figured that he could make a camp there and wait, but if Abby was not at the fort then he was just wasting time, but he knew of no other place that she could be.
Shadow Spirit was ready to set out when he again smelled food cooking, he must be going crazy, there were no cabins close to where he was and he had seen no smoke. The only structure that he had seen was the old burned out barn that was ready to fall down. He had went up the path to see if maybe there was a family living at the end of the path, but when he rounded the bend and saw the barn he had turned around. Maybe there was a hunting party close that was roasting meat.
Shadow Spirit began the long ride to the fort. He was hopeful that Abby would be there. Anyone seeing her would know that she was with child, this was January, and their baby should be born in late April. Surely, no one would treat her badly because she was dressed as an Indian.
Chapter Twenty-One
Abby woke to the smell of bacon cooking and biscuits, Polly probably had to make more today because she and Joshua had been so hungry yesterday. These were the same smells that she had woken up to when she was growing up and this brought back wonderful memories of her childhood. Her mother always made sure that there was a hot breakfast waiting for both Abby and her father every morning.
She looked over at Joshua who
was still sleeping, with his thumb in his mouth, sucking lightly. She slid out of the bed slowly as not to wake him and went in search of Polly.
Abby had been unable to sleep when she had tried to during the afternoon yesterday, but had finally just collapsed when she went to bed for the night
“Good morning, did you sleep well?” Polly asked as she stirred milk gravy.
“I slept great, but you should have waked me up sooner, we need to be on our way, I have to get back to my husband.” Abby said.
“Well I don’t think that you will be going anywhere for a while, go to the barn door and look out.”
Abby opened the cabin door and a surge of extremely cold air hit her in the face. She walked the few feet to the old barn door where she could see outside, several more inches of fresh snow had fallen during the night and it was still snowing. The tree branches dropped from the weight of it and all around as far as she could see was nothing but a sea of white. There were no tracks in the snow so evidently Polly had not been out this morning. She ran back inside the cabin where Polly was putting breakfast on the table.
“How long do you think it will be before I can leave?”
“Spring,” Polly answered with a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth.
“I can’t stay here until spring, my baby is due in late April and I have to get back up the through the mountains before it is time for him to come.”
“Why would you want to go into the Black Hills, nothing in those hills but wild animals and Indians?”
“Look, I appreciate your help but as soon as I can I am going to go. My husband is in those mountains.” Abby was going to have to tell Polly that she was married to an Indian and hope that she didn’t throw her out into the cold.
“Abby why don’t you tell me the truth, do you think that I am some horrible person that can only see one view?”
“I am so sorry I just thought that if you knew that I was married to an Indian that it would make a difference to you.”