by Vicky Saari
Seth looked at his son, wondering where this thought had come from. “Yeah, what about ’em?
“Well, I been a thinkin’ about them steamboats. They burn wood, but I wuz wonderin’ if they might buy more of this coal stuff? Zeke says there’s a lot of that rock on that land south of the road.”
“Yeah, so what’s that got to do with us?” Seth asked.
“I wuz a thinkin’ instead of workin’ on the river, I might work up another wagonload of the stuff and take it down to the river to sell. Might even get orders for more,” Luke wondered aloud.
Seth studied the road ahead for a few moments and then said, “Well, it’s worth a try.” As much as he hated to admit it, his son did have a good head on his shoulders. He was also good at distracting his father when he knew the old man was worried. Unfortunately, the distraction didn’t last long.
*****
Hogarth listened patiently as Jessie told him once again of the many trials that she and Minnie and Sarah had shared. How Minnie had saved her life so many years ago and about the time she had found Minnie alone with a broken leg. Moisture formed under his eaves as he left Jessie free to pour out her grief.
“Jessie,” a voice called softly from behind. “What in the world are ye doin’ out here? Ye know the night air ain’t good for ya.” Caleb urged her back to bed, and Hogarth returned to his present.
Chapter 17
Word of the Bascoms’ tragedy spread quickly. John had practically carried his younger brother back to the inn, where he seemed to withdraw into a shell of grief. At home John sat beside him, also in a state of shock. Life just didn’t seem quite fair at that moment. Their mother had spent her last days saving his life along with Jessie, Martha, and Jed. Job had told him about finding his mother unconscious in the yard and carrying her to bed. Only yesterday, Zeke had driven her home, and she had said not a single word about her own discomfort. For several moments, the two brothers clung to one another and cried the first real tears that either had ever experienced.
Lucinda Bascom looked on helplessly and saw her mother hurrying past the inn without even stopping to visit. She walked out onto her porch and called Martha over to break the news about her mother’s old friend. Martha, still weakened from her sickness and reeling from her ordeal with the stranger in the store, was not in good shape and had hoped to avoid her daughters for the first time in her life. From the look on Cindy’s face, however, she knew she was not going to like what she was about to hear. “What’s wrong? You haven’t lost the baby, have you?” she studied her daughter. Lucinda smiled nervously at her mother and then wrapped her arms about her and drew her down to sit on the steps of the porch. Across the road, Lucy Hogarth was looking out the window and saw her sister beckoning to their mother. She ran to assist her sister, who was already dealing with two distraught men. Martha sobbed uncontrollably in her daughters’ arms. Lucy turned to Cindy and suggested that she look after John and Job while she took care of their mother.
At the Hogarths’ place, all was quiet. Jessie had not spoken since she and Caleb had left Minnie’s. The horror of what she had witnessed still had not penetrated. It wasn’t until she was alone in her round room that she was able to speak again. “Oh Hogarth, it was so terrible,” she cried.
At her mother’s request, young Jessie went about preparing dinner for both houses again, Jed’s and their own. Although no one admitted to being hungry, young Jessie knew that if they were provided the opportunity, the food would be eaten. Somberly, she called Moses and asked him to get her pa, Jed, and Sarah and ask them to come join them for dinner. She knew that while her mother wanted to be alone, she also needed her family around her at this time.
At Jed and Sarah’s, Jed, Caleb, and Abner were putting the finishing touches on two new coffins. There wasn’t time to make them fancy or dress them up. It was this tragic ending to an ancient friendship that had put them all in a melancholy mood as each man fought back his own tears. Brother Pritchett had come to visit them after he saw John and Job back to town. It was decided that they should hold some kind of service for Minnie and Opal the next afternoon. Young Brad was already at the growing little cemetery to lay out two new plots. Since this section of the family’s land had never been cleared, it became necessary to clear away enough of the underbrush to make room for the new graves. Jed, Brother Pritchett, and his son had agreed to collect what remained of their two old friends. It was not a task that any man looked forward to.
It was nearly sunset when Seth and Luke reached the end of their lane. Despite the early summer weather, there was a chill in the air. Both men were surprised that there were no lights on in the house and no smoke was coming from the chimney. They were even more surprised to find Ellison Turner, one of Seth’s teamsters, and Hiram Ross, the farm manager and land agent, talking near the barn. As Seth’s team approached, the two men turned to greet them. When Seth and Luke alighted from the wagon, Ross quickly disconnected the team and led them to the creek for water and then on into the stable. It was Turner who had to break all of the important news, not only the deaths and illnesses of the fever, but also the tragedy of the Bascoms. Neither Seth nor Luke was prepared for so much tragedy all in one hearing. Their first thought was for Martha, Cindy, and John. Ross had prepared a small meal in his own quarters and attempted to get them to eat. Instead, they immediately headed toward the inn, where Agnes Turner and Greta Hamburg had fixed dinner for everyone, including the Pritchetts, who came to meet with John and Job.
Martha ran to Seth the moment he walked in the door and quietly asked if he would take her to see Jessie. She didn’t say anything, but she also wanted to talk to him about the strange man who had visited her in the store that morning. At the same time, he wanted to talk to her and to Caleb about the news he had heard in the village. Apparently people were talking, and the talk was getting ugly, especially since the two bounty hunters had been talking from the jail to anyone and everyone who would listen about how they had lost their slave near Sethsburg. There were a lot of young men around without work, and there was enough of a bounty out on Moses to cause him to worry. For the moment, however, before he could leave, Seth spent some time with his son-in-law and Job. Tears filled his eyes as he greeted the sons of his oldest friends. He thought of Opal and the trip the two of them had made to the village years before the road through Sethsburg had been completed. Job was still a toddler, the same age as his own son, and his heart ached for both of “his” boys. He was pleased that Pritchett had made all of the arrangements and that a special service would be held the next afternoon at the church/school.
By the time Seth and Martha left for the Hogarths’ it was already dark, and Seth carried a tin lantern with a candle inside. As they approached their neighbor’s home, they were surprised to find candles burning all over the house as well as at the old cabin. Jed and Sarah were just preparing to leave, and Abner was in the old cabin swapping stories with Moses. It was the first chance Martha had had to see the new baby, and this delayed their departure a few moments longer. Although Sarah longed to visit, her baby was less than two weeks old. She was more than just a little tired, and for this reason, Jed had brought them to visit his parents in their wagon. As they were about to leave, Abner hitched a ride while Little Jessie offered to walk halfway with Brad as he led the wagon home.
When the Hodges were free to speak openly with Moses and the Hogarths, their news was not encouraging. Seth had reported his attempts to find out about this North Star business, but everyone he had spoken to had clammed up and refused to talk. He told them what Luke had learned, which wasn’t any more helpful for Moses. Then, Martha recounted her story of the strange man who had been in her store that very morning. How he spoke so threateningly, as if he believed her to be hiding the slave. Everyone had a good laugh when she told them how she had ended their conversation by flinging a jar of peaches at him. “Peaches! That sounds like a good name for you, Miss Martha,” chuck
led Moses. “Peaches!”
Even Caleb and Jessie had to agree that Peaches was an apt nickname for Martha. The levity of the moment relieved the tension, but any relief was only temporary. Seth’s news about the situation in the old village was much more disconcerting. Indeed, Caleb was the first to voice what the others were thinking, “What if some of those young bucks that hang around the distillery and the sawmill were to decide to try and get some quick money?”
As Moses listened to his friends talk, he became more uncertain than ever about his decision to run away. Until now, it was only his life that was in danger, but suddenly his very presence was endangering everyone about him. For some reason, this was something he had never bargained for. “I’s think I should leave right now,” vowed Moses. “I cain’t see you folks gettin’ hurt all on account of me.”
Martha was the first to speak up. “Gee, Moses, I have known you since I was a girl. After what my pa did to you and your ma, I couldn’t live with myself if I let something happen to you again. You’ve earned your right to a good life, and I intend to see that you get it.” Jessie, Caleb, and Seth simply looked at Martha and smiled. She’d said what they were already thinking.
“I don’t know what steps we need to take next, but I suggest for the time bein’ we simply pray on it,” Seth said as he rose to leave. “We have a long day ahead of us, and I think we all need our rest at this point.” No one could argue, and with few words everyone rose to go back to their respective homes. Seth and Martha took their lantern and started home. They enjoyed the solitude, and the path was well worn and smooth in most places. Martha’s attention was drawn to a clear night sky with bright stars overhead. “Which is the North Star?” she casually asked, and as they made their way home her husband explained how people had used stars to guide their travels for centuries.
Meanwhile, as Caleb and Jessie prepared to retire for the evening their thoughts went to Moses. “You know, if Moses has to leave us, I sure am gonna miss him,” Caleb confessed. “With the boys grown and gone, it has been awful hard to keep my fields up. With Moses’s help and his advice, he’s made the job seem so much easier. I sure wouldn’t mind giving him his own piece of land in exchange for his help.”
Jessie, still weakened from her ordeal with the fever, could only imagine how much help Moses had been. Had it only been a day since her return? Had she really been away for nearly two weeks? It seemed like she had lost so much time, yet Caleb’s fields were a testament to all that Moses had done. They were already twice as big as they had been in the past. Of course, she was still amazed at how well her daughter had managed in her absence. The baking, the churning, and even most of the gardening were done, despite the fact that much of her time had also been spent helping her brother’s wife. She wondered how long it would be before her daughter would have her own home. She had been watching her and Brad visiting back and forth and often wondered how long it would take the two of them to realize what was happening to them.
Without thinking, Jessie tiptoed to the door of her daughter’s room and looked in. Young Jessie had long ago slipped in and was now lost in a sound sleep so that she was oblivious to her mother’s footfalls. As Jessie watched her youngest child sleep, her mind was taken back to the days following her birth in the old cabin. She was already near death and unable to care for her newborn when the young woman, Sarah, had taken the girl to her breast. Then, into their lives had come Minnie. It was Minnie who had saved her life, and it was Minnie who had saved her life now. She placed a tender kiss on the sleeping woman-child’s cheek. Quietly, she withdrew to her round room and wept again for the old friend who had given so much and had asked for so little.
At the inn, Minnie’s sons sat in the dark remembering their mother and mourning the man they had known as their father. “You know Ma had the fever,” Job spoke soberly. “I found her out by the privy. She was unconscious and had messed herself, so I tore off her soiled clothes and carried her to bed. I left to get Jessie. I didn’t know what else to do.”
“Well, I let Zeke take her home for me ’cause I said I was too weak to do it myself,” grumbled John self-mockingly. “I was feeling so sorry for myself and Cindy that I never stopped to think about Ma.”
“Remember that time when Jed made me a whistle, and you threw it up into the loft? When Ma climbed up to get it, she fell and broke her leg?” asked Job.
“How in the heck can you remember that? You were still a baby,” his older brother questioned.
“I don’t know, but I do,” Job replied. “Remember that morning when Big Eagle showed up at the house and wanted Ma to take us with him when the rest of Ma’s family was forced to go west?”
“I wuz really surprised. I had no idea that Pa even knew Big Eagle,” John responded. “Do you think Ma ever regretted staying behind and never seeing her family again?”
“I don’t know. There were a few times when she would get out her medicine bag and look at the amulet she kept inside. She always seemed kinda sad when she looked at those things. I think when she lost her mother and grandmother she seemed to lose interest in all things Indian,” Job responded. “Besides, Pa treated her like a princess in the old days.”
“Yeah! I remember hearing him tell her that someday people would look up to Minnie Bascom.” John chuckled.
“She left your pa because she knew white people would never accept her or you. Were you ever surprised to find out Sarah Hogarth was your sister?” Job asked.
“I guess I wuz, but I think Pa was even more surprised. I still remember the fight they had when Pa found out,” John replied. “They didn’t speak for days. I think the worst thing for Pa was the way people acted when he took Ma into the village that one time. Mr. Smallwood was awful nice but some of the men who hung out around the mill made some really nasty remarks about squaws and half-breeds. He never took any of us into the village again.”
“Do the people you have to work with on the stage line or at the inn ever give you a hard time or call you a half-breed?” Job inquired.
“So far, the question’s never come up. I don’t tell, and they don’t ask, and the Hodges have never treated me any different. Neither have the Hogarths or the Pritchetts. They were the best friends Ma and Pa ever had,” John responded. “Then there was Priscilla’s pa. He was real good at lookin’ down on everyone, even his own brother.”
“Why do you think Pa started drinkin’? Was there somethin’ we didn’t know about?” Job wondered aloud. “He used to talk about how bad his Pa treated him when he drank, and sometimes I thought he’d become just like his pa.”
“Do you think Pa might have had somethin’ to do with that darkie disappearin’? John asked. “The reason I ask is ’cause I seen him help herd Jed’s pigs into town the day they picked up those bounty hunters.”
“You know, John, that was the last time I saw Pa excited about anything. He had me standin’ out by the road watchin’ for those two, and as soon as I seen ’em he had me coo like a dove as a signal for him. So yeah, I guess he had somethin’ to do with it,” mused Job. The conversation continued for another hour before the two brothers finally wound down and settled for the night. John slipped away to his sleeping wife, and Job took a stab at closing his eyes, but then he began to wonder, “Do I have a home now?”
For the first time in his life, he was forced to consider what course he might take for a future of his own. John already had a wife with a child on the way. He had a home of his own and a job to secure them all. What did he have? Long about dawn, he began to drift off and was still no closer to an answer.
******
As Hogarth reflected upon these memories, grief overwhelmed him. He cared not for his past and had little interest in his present. Instead, he focused his attention on the Little Dipper and the North Star, and out of the corner of his eye he saw a falling star.
Chapter 18
As dawn br
oke the next morning, Brad and Abner were loading the two wooden boxes into Jed’s wagon. Jed was to meet Jonathan Pritchett at the Bascoms’ house to begin the grim task of retrieving the remains of Opal and Minnie. Jed regretted that he hadn’t had more time to create something nicer, but Abner, Brad, and Little Jed had each had a hand at smoothing and sealing the finished product. By the time everything was loaded, Sarah had breakfast ready. As Jed drove away, Abner and Brad went to the cemetery to begin digging the graves.
For a man in his late sixties, Abner was still rugged and lean, if not a bit bent. He swung the pickax over his shoulder and sniffed the air. “One good thing, there isn’t any red in the sky,” he noted. Brad just smiled and followed Abner up the hill to the family’s burial plot.
Jed arrived at the Bascom homestead to find Seth Hodges and Brother Pritchett with his son, Nathan, already at work. Seth’s red-rimmed eyes looked exhausted. Brother Pritchett appeared in little better condition. Jed was relieved to find two sheet-bound bundles on the ground waiting for him. “Martha insisted on sending her best linen sheets for Minnie and Opal,” Seth said, sniffing back a tear. “She made them herself last year.”
Brother Pritchett appeared to be in a little more control. “I thought as soon as we get the boxes ready, we could just drive them to the church. Nathan’s wife has gone into town to start cleaning the church so we can give Minnie and Opal a good send-off,” he said to Jed. “Your ma sent word that we were to come there after the services.”
At the church, Lucy and Zeke Hogarth were already helping Olivia Pritchett transform the weekday schoolhouse into a church. The books were stored away, the slate blackboard was freshly washed, and the floors were scrubbed clean. Zeke had fashioned a catafalque from sawhorses and planks from his brother’s workshop on which to rest the coffins. Lucy’s mother had brought over a bolt of fabric to cover the planks and “dress up things” as she put it. She already had Agnes Turner and Greta Hamburg gathering wildflowers to grace the caskets, and she had Cindy and Mattie Maynard baking cakes for the luncheon later that day. Todd, Mattie’s brother, was called into action to act as a watchman for traffic along the road just in case customers came to the store, the blacksmith shop, or the inn and needed help. Seth had put Hiram Ross, Ellison Turner, and Hans Hamburg to work at digging a new well for the town, one well away from any of the town’s privies and the stables.