The Amazon Quest (House of Winslow Book #25)

by Gilbert, Morris

  ****

  With the prospect of war looming for the United States, Aaron and Gail Winslow allowed their children to take a few days’ vacation to get away together and tour some Civil War battlefields. They knew it might not be long before Jared would be going away to war, and they wanted him to have some time alone with his younger sister and brother. Jared drove his siblings in the family car first to nearby Cold Harbor, then on to Fredericksburg and Antietam in Maryland, finally arriving in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, their last stop before heading back home to Richmond.

  Emily was walking between her two brothers as they strolled down a road lined by old cannons. She stopped to go over to one of the cannons and run her hand over the metal. “How do these things work, Jared?”

  Jared came over and patted the cannon. “Why, you shove a bunch of powder in a bag down the muzzle and pound it in, then you put a cannonball in and a wad to hold it in place.”

  “But how does it shoot?”

  “You see this hole back here? It goes to the powder. In earlier times you had to use a match and ignite it. Later on they developed fuses that exploded the powder.”

  Wes climbed up onto the cannon and said, “Come on, Jared, get up here. Emily, you take a picture of us.”

  “All right.” Emily took the simple box camera, and when Jared leaped with an easy grace up on top of the cannon, the two young men put their arms around each other and waved with their free hands. Emily snapped the picture and then said, “Now you come and get one with me and Jared, Wes.”

  Wes was the photographer in the family, and he gladly took the camera. Jared leaned over, grasped Emily’s wrists, and easily lifted her up so that the two were standing on top of the cannon. She started to lose her balance, waving her arms in big circles to keep from falling. Jared quickly grabbed on to her, getting a secure hold around her, and laughed. “I can’t believe anyone who can skate as well as you can’t keep her balance on a cannon.”

  Emily was thankful for Jared’s athletic strength and agility as she held on to him to keep herself steady and called out to Wes to hurry up and take the picture. Wes began calling out commands.

  “Don’t just stare at the camera,” he said. “That looks dumb.”

  Emily twisted her head around to look at Jared, and he smiled back at her. In that instant Wes snapped the picture and said, “Now that will be a good one.”

  Jared leaped to the ground, then reached up and took Emily by the waist and gently lifted her down.

  “What part of the battle took place here, Jared?”

  Jared looked across a sloping meadow at the low-lying hills. “You see how the country goes downhill from here, and then there are those hills over there?”

  “Yes,” Emily said. The early spring sunlight was bright, and the grass was as green as emerald. The earthy smell of freshly plowed fields from a nearby farm filled the air.

  “Well, the main Union army was lined up on top of that hill over there. They had cannons and men packed almost solid. Over there,” he said, “was Round Top, and there’s Little Round Top beside it.”

  “I’ve heard about that,” Emily said.

  “Well, that was the end of the Union line. So Robert E. Lee commanded his army to attack.”

  Wes had come to stand beside his brother and sister, and he stared in disbelief. “You mean across that open field and up that hill over there with guns pointed right at them?”

  “That’s the way it was. The first day of the battle Lee tried the left side over there and had no success. The second day the Alabama troops attacked Little Round Top, and they were beaten back. So on the third day Lee ordered his generals Longstreet and Pickett to attack the center of the line.”

  Emily stared at the beautiful green field. A flock of blackbirds flew over, making raucous cries and wheeling in the air. “I don’t see how they could have charged straight at the cannons. They must have known some of them were going to get killed.”

  “That’s what Longstreet said,” Jared agreed. “He argued as best he could, but General Lee pointed up at that line of hills and said, ‘The enemy is there, and I’m going to strike him.’ ” Jared shook his head. “It was the wrong order. Lee had been ill for several days. Everyone knew his strategy was wrong, but when Pickett started out, they all went. They had to break rank several times to get across the fences and down through gullies, but finally they started up that hill. The Federals held their fire until they were in range, and then they simply destroyed Pickett’s division. Men died by the hundreds. A few of them reached the tops, but it was a devastating loss of life that day. The South never recovered from Gettysburg.”

  Emily stared across the field. The green grass was waving as the spring breeze moved across it. A group of brown-and-white cows grazed peacefully, lifting their heads to stare solemnly at the trio. It was one of the most tranquil scenes she had ever seen. “It’s hard to believe that so many thousands of men died right here,” she whispered.

  “It was a terrible day,” Jared repeated. He was silent for a moment and then shook his head. “But it’s worse now in France. The Battle of Verdun went on for months last year, and there were over seven hundred thousand casualties. So many men just shot to pieces—and the senseless slaughter still goes on.”

  Emily again felt the chill of fear that came over her whenever she thought of Jared going to a battlefield somewhere in Europe. She shook her head and said, “Let’s go. I’ve seen enough.”

  The three left and went back to the car. Jared shook off his soberness and was happy for the rest of the day. Later they stopped at a restaurant, where he entertained them with stories of ball games he had played in. Emily noticed that the waitress, an attractive young woman with bright red hair, was watching Jared closely.

  “I think the waitress likes you, Jared,” she whispered.

  Jared smiled at her and said, “When I find a girl as pretty as you, Emily, I’ll take out after her. Whatever man gets you is going to get a real prize.”

  “With a temper like hers,” Wes groaned, “don’t bet on it.”

  Jared paid the flirtatious waitress no mind as they finished their hamburgers, french fries, and cherry sodas. Then the three went outside and got back in the car. As they started off with Emily wedged between Jared and Wes, she felt a sudden fear. I wish it could always be like this, she thought, leaning over against Jared.

  As if he had read her mind, he turned his head and winked at her. “You’re still my best girl, sis, aren’t you?”

  “Yes, Jared. I always will be.”

  ****

  The noise in a classroom at Richmond High School was getting out of hand. Emily had joined a group of four other students, two boys and two girls, and they had started an impromptu game chasing one another around the room and bumping into chairs.

  “Come on,” Emily shouted. “Let’s try to get something done here. How are we going to have a dance if we don’t plan for it?”

  Eric Statler came by and squeezed Emily’s arm. “Don’t worry. We’ll have a dance,” he said. “The best one Richmond High’s ever had.”

  Emily pulled away from Eric. “Well, sit down and let’s make some plans. How are we going to decorate the room? Let’s at least decide that.”

  The others were mostly concerned with who would take whom to the dance, and finally, after the meeting ended an hour later with very little accomplished, Emily left, saying, “Well, I guess it doesn’t matter whether we have a dance or not.”

  “Ah, don’t be mad, Emily,” Eric said. “I’ll give you a break. I’ll dance every dance with you.”

  “I wouldn’t dance with you, Eric Statler, if you gave me the Washington Monument!”

  The group laughed, and Emily shrugged her shoulders. Leaving the room, she turned down the hallway, her mind on the up-coming school dance. She stopped abruptly to look at the bulletin board on the wall. Almost against her will, she moved closer to study the picture that was prominently displayed there. It was Mr. Laurence in his
uniform. Alongside it was a story from one of the Richmond papers, which told how he had died in Canada in a training exercise. Emily tried not to look at the picture, but now she could not seem to help herself. She looked at his thin features. The photograph had caught the slight smile that was his customary expression, and he looked somehow younger in the uniform than she remembered him. A shiver went over her as she thought of the tragedy that had cut his life short before he had even achieved his goal of fighting for his country. Not only did war not make any sense, but life itself at times seemed so arbitrary and senseless. She turned and hurried away, trying to put such disconcerting thoughts out of her mind.

  When she got home she started helping her mother fix dinner and set the table. They were having pork chops, mashed potatoes, green beans, homemade bread, and for dessert a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.

  “Is Dad going to be late tonight?” Emily asked.

  Wes and Jared had come downstairs, and Gail said, “Yes, he is. I guess we’ll have to go ahead without him.”

  They sat down at the table, and Gail asked Jared to say the blessing. Jared obliged and then reached out and picked up a bowl of mashed potatoes and scooped a generous helping onto his plate.

  “Don’t take all the potatoes, you hog!” Wes protested.

  “Mashed potatoes are good for you. I’ve got to keep my strength up,” Jared said with a grin.

  “If you eat all the stuff you’ve got on your plate, you’ll pop,” Wes argued.

  Emily smiled, for her brothers argued like this almost constantly. The two had a real affection for each other, and Emily was always glad to see it. She thought suddenly, I’ll bet there aren’t three kids in the world any closer than Wes and Jared and me.

  At that instant she heard the front door slam and turned expectantly. She saw her father come in and heard her mother say, “Come on in, dear. We just got started.”

  Aaron came over and took his place at the head of the table. He stopped long enough to kiss Gail on the cheek, then sat down and unfolded his napkin.

  Emily waited for him to speak, but he did not. Finally Gail asked, “Is something wrong, Aaron?”

  Aaron lifted his head and said, “I just got the news by phone. President Wilson has asked Congress to declare war on Germany. The whole country’s been watching President Wilson, asking what he will do about the Germans. Will he go to war with them, or try to build a moat around the country? Now that they’ve sunk three of our ships, he’s simply got to act—and he has. My congressman friend Gerald Grayson is very close to the president. He told me that Wilson made the greatest speech of his life, saying, ‘There is one choice we cannot make, we are incapable of making—we will not choose the path of submission.’ He also said that Chief Justice White, who is a Civil War veteran, raised his hands and collapsed in tears. Wilson got the greatest ovation of his life, and Gerald was there when the president said to his secretary, ‘Think of what they were applauding. My message today was a message of death for our young men. How strange that they applauded that.’ ”

  “How did the vote go, Dad?” Jared asked quietly.

  “The House voted 373 to 49 to support the president. Congresswoman Jeannette Rankin of Montana was one of the dissenters. She voted no—and then fainted.”

  A silence had fallen across the dining room, and Emily could not keep from turning to look at Jared. She heard her father say, “It’s settled. We’ll fight in France.”

  Emily could not speak. Her throat was constricted, and she knew she was close to tears. She did not dare ask Jared the question she most feared, for she already knew the answer.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  We’re Coming Over!

  April had been a lovely month in Virginia. The dogwoods had blossomed, spotting the woods with glistening white. The wild flowers had outdone themselves, filling the roadsides with bright yellows and reds, and the farmers had broken their fields into rich black earth turned over neatly in folds.

  Jared’s high school graduation in early May had been a high point for Emily, who was so proud of her brother’s accomplishments. The family’s celebration for their oldest son was a welcome relief from the worries they all shared over what the future might hold for him, and indeed for them all, with America now at war, too.

  The morning after his graduation party, Jared had invited Emily to go fishing down at the pond, and for the last hour they had sat there with their poles in the water, drinking in the early-morning freshness of the day.

  “I like early morning,” Jared said. “I like to get up before the sun rises and go sit out in the yard. I call it the cobwebby time of the day.”

  “I didn’t know that,” Emily said. She was wearing an old dress that had once been a pale yellow but was now bleached almost white from so many washings. She wore a well-worn white hat with a broad brim to shade her eyes when the sun came up and to keep away the freckles, which she despised. Holding her pole in her hand, she watched the red-and-white cork as it bobbed up and down with the current when the wind rippled across the top of the water. “I like to stay up late.”

  “Scared to go to bed?” Jared teased.

  “No,” Emily said quickly. “I’m afraid I’ll miss something.”

  “You always were a night owl. I can remember when you were no more than four or five. I decided to stay up all night for some reason, and you begged to stay with me. I’ll be dipped if you didn’t almost do it, too! You kept pinching yourself to stay awake, and every time I told you to just go on to bed you said, ‘I’m going to stay awake with you, Jared.’ ”

  “I remember that,” Emily said slowly. “We were out in the backyard sitting around a fire, and we toasted marshmallows.”

  “I don’t see how you can remember that. It’s been so long ago.”

  “I do, though. I think it’s one of the first things I do remember. It was such fun, and I was so proud that you let me sit up with you. Where was Wes, I wonder?”

  “He was too little. He couldn’t have been more than two. You and I have always been good buddies.”

  Emily turned to study Jared’s profile. The summer sun had turned his skin golden, and now his crisp brown hair fell over his forehead. He’s better looking than Douglas Fairbanks, she thought suddenly. Aloud she said, “You remember the old tire swing we had out in the woods?”

  “I’ll say I do. I wonder if it’s still there.”

  “No, the rope finally rotted. We had such fun with that swing,” Emily said. Her eyes half closed as she spoke of that time with pleasure. “I remember it would swing out over a big gully. When I was little it seemed like a mile to the ground, but when I went back later it was just a little gully. Not more than ten feet down.”

  “I guess time does things like that. You remember when we went to our relatives’ home in Missouri? I thought they had the biggest house I ever saw. Then when I went back last year, why, it was just a tiny thing. I guess the past gets magnified.”

  “I guess so,” Emily said. “Have you heard any more about getting a scholarship?”

  “Oh, I’ve heard from a college or two. I could get a football scholarship to the University of Alabama, but Notre Dame said I could come and try out.”

  “Notre Dame! That would be something to play for the Fighting Irish.”

  “Sure would. It’s always been a dream of mine.”

  “Why don’t you do it, Jared?” Emily urged. “We could all come and see you play.”

  “It’s a long way to Notre Dame.”

  “We could come, though,” Emily insisted.

  Jared lifted his pole, studied the bait, and then put it back in. The cork sent out a series of concentric circles into the water, and he watched them lap against the shore. After a long while, he turned to her and said quietly, “Emily, I enlisted yesterday.”

  Emily’s throat constricted. She could neither speak nor move. His news was not unexpected, but suddenly she was terrified at what the future held for Jared. Cap’n Brown, who had come with th
em, had been chasing squirrels, but now he came over and sat down beside Emily, almost as if he sensed her distress. He was as tall as she was in this position, and he easily reached over and licked her face.

  “Get away, Cap’n Brown,” Emily whispered, shoving him back.

  “You’ll hurt his feelings,” Jared said. He pulled the dog closer to him, caressed him roughly, then put his arm around him. “You mustn’t feel bad about this, Emily. I know you don’t want me to go, but it’s something I have to do.”

  “This is a stupid war!”

  “All wars are stupid,” Jared nodded. “But it’s the right thing for me to do. I’d like for you to see that. It would mean a lot to me to know that you’re with me in this.”

  For the life of her, Emily could not speak the words that Jared wanted to hear. She dropped her pole suddenly and threw her arms around him, holding him fiercely. She felt his arms go around her, and finally she straightened up. The tears were running down her cheeks, and she managed to whisper, “God will bring you back.”

  “That’s the way to talk, Emily,” he said, smiling at her. “I’m sure everything will be fine.”

  ****

  Within a week Jared and his family stood in the midst of the crowd milling about at the train station. He looked so tall and strong and handsome in his uniform. Emily had cried herself to sleep the night before. Her mother had come to her room to say, “You mustn’t cry when Jared leaves. He must see nothing but smiles and good cheer from all of us.”

  Emily had steeled herself for this moment, and now amidst the shouts and the cheers and the playing of the band, she waited bravely to say good-bye to her big brother. He had saved her for last, and now he bent down and whispered in her ear, “You’re still my best girl, right?”

  “Right.” It was all Emily could say. She blinked back the tears and forced a broad smile. “You be careful. You hear me?”

  “I will. I’ll be back in no time, and we’ll go fishing and hunting in the woods.”