Hannah Alexander

by Keeping Faith

  The echo of a baying hound arrested his attention. He stopped to listen along the length of the cavern. More hounds joined the first until the echoes became disorienting. He knew Gray had planned to go with the Africans toward the hidden entrance at the far western part of the cavern about two miles away in the direction where the lights floated upward.

  If Buster led Duncan and his dogs a different way, the Africans would be safe, but what about Buster? Had he even given thought to his own safety? And what was in that sack he carried? Was it powerful enough to continue luring the dogs from the prey they’d been trained to hunt?

  The sound of more than two-dozen whispers echoed against the stalagmites and stalactites, mingling with the splash of a waterfall nearby. The baying grew louder, and Joseph passed the intersection where the shorter arms of the cave crossed the system of caverns that was said to reach Plymouth. What did Buster plan to do, lead his pursuers all the way to Plymouth?

  Otto Duncan and his men were vastly outnumbered. Either the hunter had more people coming behind him, or he was simply a madman.

  Who but a mad killer would force his slaves out onto the land they worked and then force them to run from his dogs and his weapon? A madman. What those poor people must have suffered, knowing death could claim them at any moment. But not today.

  The whispers grew louder when Joseph reached the top of a slippery wet slope. He found Gray and their thirty friends waiting for him, four men and Gray aiming pistols and rifles on him.

  Joseph smiled. “You’re prepared.”

  Gray heaved a sigh of relief as he and the others lowered their weapons.

  “What’s Buster up to?” Joseph asked.

  “He has a deer hindquarter that he left out in the sun yesterday and today. Where’s the doc?”

  “Bringing a child into the world.”

  Gray’s face seemed to pale in the low light. “What? How?”

  Joseph hid his amusement. “I don’t think that’s our problem right now. We have people to protect.”

  “Heidi insisted on going to tell you and Victoria where we were. She said she’d be right back.”

  “Change of plans,” Joseph said. “Believe me, it’s necessary.”

  “But we’ve gotta get out of here, and we can’t leave Victoria and Heidi.”

  “We can’t leave little baby Frasier, either.”

  Gray’s widening eyes pressed his brows farther up on his forehead.

  “Think past your nose, son,” Joseph growled. “Our situation isn’t the only one brewing right now, and if we’re careful, we can make sure this new development could impact the future of everyone we care for.”

  “You mean—”

  “Victoria knows where we are but she can’t leave her patient alone, and neither can Heidi. Where is Buck now?”

  Gray recovered with admirable alacrity. His face flushed with excitement. “He was guarding the boats. Now he’s circled around to the open cave mouth to see if more hooligans are riding into town. But, Captain, we have to get the doc and Heidi out of the house before others come.”

  “Then I suggest you be the one to go back to the house and tell Dr. Fenway she has to come with us.”

  “What if Buck sees more men coming?” There was a definite whine in Gray’s voice now.

  “Then he’ll need help. We’ll get the doctor and Heidi to safety, but I’d like to get the Frasiers out, too, if it’s possible. You need to learn patience.”

  “I’ve lived with Buster for sixteen years. You think I don’t have patience?”

  “I think you haven’t even begun to learn the meaning of the word, but you’re about to start.”

  Gray let out a long expulsion of air that put to the test most men’s deep store of patience. Joseph, however, grinned in the darkness. “Aren’t you concerned about saving lives?”

  Gray looked down and scuffed the toe of his boot against the cave floor. “Yessir.”

  “Don’t you think it’s important to save all the lives we can?”

  “Well, yeah, but the Frasiers have that house and all those furnishings. Why would they want to leave?”

  “You left your father’s home and all the cattle and horses and furnishings. Are you sorry you left?”

  Gray looked up and met Joseph’s gaze. “Sometimes. Would you want to take off into the unknown with Buster?”

  “I think as soon as our doctor makes sure her patients are safely in Buck’s hands, she and Heidi will be right along. The Frasiers will have to decide for themselves if they can come or not.”

  The baying of the hounds started up again, silencing everyone. Buster was swift footed, but he would likely slow his steps enough to give the animals a good whiff of the venison so they would keep following him.

  When the baying reached the intersection, Joseph motioned for the others to duck behind stalagmites. Everyone moved silently, most with bare feet. No one spoke. When Buster’s noisy footsteps reached the intersection, their dark faces were bracketed by lantern light and outlined with fear, but a ridge blocked them all from sight.

  Joseph didn’t realize he was clenching his jaw until the dogs and their masters passed the intersection and continued to follow their original quarry. So far, everyone appeared safe except Buster, but the kid would need help, and soon.

  * * *

  Victoria gritted her teeth at the sound of Francine’s shallow breathing. She was in extreme and constant pain. Something was terribly wrong.

  A door opened and slammed shut downstairs. Heidi gasped, her face paling in the bright light coming in from the window. One set of footsteps echoed through the house.

  “Those are Buck’s footsteps,” Francine said, her voice roughened by tension and pain.

  Victoria nodded to Heidi. “You should go down and let him know he’s about to become a father, and be ready to skitter out of the way if he swoons.” She looked at Francine. “I can’t believe you didn’t even tell your husband you were in labor.”

  Francine had another pain as Heidi slipped out the bedroom door. Victoria held her beloved friend’s hands as the grip nearly took her fingers off. The amount of pain frightened her. Even more so when the pain ended and Francine lost consciousness. Victoria took the opportunity to check the baby’s progress, and she went weak.

  The baby had turned, and now a tiny foot jutted from the birth canal. One foot only. This was always dangerous.

  Heavy footsteps came clomping up the stairway, followed by Heidi’s light, birdlike stride. There was a firm knock on the door.

  Victoria was covering Francine with a sheet when she awakened from her faint and moaned again.

  Another knock hit the door. “Francine? Dr. Fenway?”

  “We’re here, Buck,” Victoria said. “We’re making way for your new baby to arrive.” She tried to instill cheer in her voice.

  The door opened and Buck strode in. His mouth dropped open when he saw Francine. He went to his wife’s other side and took her hand, turning pale at the sight of Francine’s agony. “What’s wrong here, Victoria?”

  “It’s a breach. I’ll need to stay and help. Heidi, would you please go through my bag and find the laudanum Buck gave me? Bring it as quickly as you can.” She listened until Heidi’s footsteps skittered away. “Buck, you’re the town doctor. I know this would shock polite society, but you should be in here with us for the birthing.”

  “I’m not leaving.”

  Victoria stepped over to the washstand and scrubbed her hands while Buck murmured comforting words into his wife’s ear and dried her tears, mopping her forehead with a cloth. He kissed her cheek.

  There was no missing the relief that spread through Francine seconds before her next contraction.

  Heidi came running in with the laudanum and stopped at the threshold as if she’d rammed into the door, her eyes widening with distress, face reddening with obvious embarrassment.

  “Heidi,” Victoria said quietly, “if you wish to become a doctor—”

  “I do.”<
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  Victoria smiled. “Then you should expect to find yourself in some very personal situations. You will need to separate yourself from the fancy rules of the social set and learn about caring for patients, with all the living blood and pain and beauty. In this room we have two patients who need us.”

  Heidi closed the door behind her and crossed to the other side of the bed, obviously unable to look at Buck.

  “Please give Mrs. Frasier a good dose of laudanum, Heidi. Is the birthing tea brewing?”

  “Yes, ma’am. It’s steeped and ready.”

  “Then place a cool, wet cloth over her forehead.”

  Buck cleared his throat. “Honey,” he said softly to his wife, “when did you start having pains?”

  “Last...night,” she said between breaths.

  “Why didn’t you tell me then?”

  “I knew it’d be a while.” Francine’s voice was weak. “Victoria once told me that first births often take longer.” She grimaced and squeezed her eyes shut. “That’s proved true with cows, so I figured I’d be the same.”

  “Yes, but you didn’t need to endure the pain in silence,” Victoria told her. “I could have given you some tea to help you feel better. You’ve been in labor for more than fourteen hours, and you’ve been suffering without support.”

  “But it hasn’t been too bad until now.”

  “That’s because your body’s trying to give birth and the baby isn’t cooperating.”

  Francine laid her head back into the pillow and closed her eyes. Tears dripped down the sides of her face and into the cloth beneath her. When she reached up to wipe them away, her hand was shaking. “Please don’t tell me my baby’s going to die. We’ve waited so long to have this little one.”

  “I just know it’s a good thing I was still here. Buck has big hands. Mine are slender.” Victoria nodded to Heidi. “We’ll be turning the baby. Buck, you know what I’m talking about.”

  “I’ve done it on cows, but I couldn’t bear to hurt Francine.”

  “No, but you’ll need to watch and learn, because hurting them now will be a lot better than the pain they’ll endure if you don’t do this. Besides,” she said, indicating Francine’s glazing eyes as the laudanum took hold, “I don’t think this will be quite as traumatic as it could have been.”

  “My hands are smaller than yours, Dr. Fenway,” Heidi said. “Maybe I should do it.”

  “Someday I’ll teach you, but not on Francine. Not today. You need to help her cope when it hurts.”

  “I’ll do that,” Buck said.

  “I’ll bring the tea if you wish,” Heidi said.

  “Please, but make it quick.”

  As Heidi rose and went to the door, Francine caught Victoria’s hands in her own. “I know you can do this.”

  “Yes, my friend, I can. And your baby has been active and kicking, so there’s no reason to worry. It’s just going to hurt more than usual. I’m so glad we had laudanum on hand.”

  Heidi came back into the room holding the cup of tea she’d prepared. She sniffed it and wrinkled her nose. “What is this stuff?”

  “Some herbs I’ve gathered and experimented with in the past. It has willow bark, which tends to make the blood too thin with something like this, so I use crushed kale that slows the blood loss, and valerian root, which calms. Some nice sugar makes it go down easily enough. Help her sip it, please.”

  With Heidi on one side of Francine, helping her sip the brew, and Buck on the other side, not looking the least bit embarrassed by his presence in a place where women ruled, Francine had another pain.

  “I’m praying for you, my friend,” Victoria said, surprising herself. And yet it was the truth. In her heart she was entreating the Lord to cover this family with peace and healing, that He would protect their friends in the cave and that she would be able to do what needed to be done.

  She couldn’t have told when she’d begun speaking to the Lord again or why it had taken her so long to do so. She also couldn’t have predicted the peace that suddenly flowed over her with the reconnection she felt. She’d lost her dearest friend only to find Him again.

  “What I’m going to do is reach for that little one and find out what position I need to change so the birthing will go smoothly.” Victoria glanced at Heidi’s flushed cheeks, at Buck’s grim demeanor as he held his wife’s arm and kissed her hand. “I believe I’ll need to pull one little leg around so the baby can slide out without any problem. We can do this.”

  The tea had begun to mingle with the laudanum, and Francine broke into a wobbly smile. “I know. And I thank you for it. Okay, Doctor,” she said, grabbing Buck’s hands with both of hers. “Do what you do best.”

  * * *

  Joseph carried his rifle down toward the main cavern, though he knew better than to fire a weapon in a cave. He held his torch low behind him to keep the light from reflecting against the white cave walls ahead. The men were at least thirty feet ahead of him, and their attention was all on the dogs and what they followed. In another situation it would’ve been comical, but this was a tense afternoon and the darkness seemed to hover around him like impending death.

  When he arrived at the center of the intersection, the baying of the dogs grew silent for less than a second, but it was long enough for him to hear the moaning of a woman in the distance. Francine. He hesitated where he stood. A man with wooly white hair turned around.

  “Hey, you there. What’re you doing here?” He raised his rifle.

  The dogs hushed again, and once more Francine’s cry reached the cave. Joseph pretended not to hear her. How could her voice carry through a rock wall?

  Joseph locked stares with Wooly. “In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m not game.”

  “Ain’t sure about that.”

  “Your dogs seem to be. You want to lower that thing? Anybody with a lick of sense knows it isn’t safe to hunt in a cave.”

  The man didn’t budge. “What’s your business here?”

  “I belong here. Friends with the townsfolk.” He tried to ignore the rifle aimed at him as he remembered Buck telling him about a small vent he had opened between their bedroom’s back wall and the cave against which the home was built. Their room was always cool in the summertime and never froze in the winter. It was why Francine’s voice was carrying so well. He wondered how long before he heard a baby squall.

  The hungry-looking dogs took up their baying once more and rushed after Buster, but the men turned their attention to Joseph. The other two raised their rifles.

  “I’m trying to tell you it isn’t a good idea to go hunting in a cave.”

  “I noticed you’re armed,” Wooly said.

  “Did you also notice I’m not aiming? I might ask what your business is here, since I’m the one with the local friends, and it’s obvious you’re from out of town.”

  “This is where the dogs led us,” said the man on Wooly’s right. “Think they caught a whiff of you? Or maybe you got others down here.”

  Judging by the lantern light, Joseph thought he had a good shot at all three of the men, but he wouldn’t risk it with Buster on the other side of them. He, however, had a wall of white cave rock behind him, and he braced himself to fall to the floor if they took aim.

  The dogs stopped baying, and growling commenced. Joseph chuckled. “I think your animals have found their prey. I take it they like venison?”

  The tallest of the men raised his lantern and saw what the dogs had, then turned his rifle on Joseph. “We followed some of my runaway slaves down here. Heard they was hiding out in this cave.”

  “I don’t know who’d tell you anything like that,” Joseph said. But he wished he knew. He needed to get word back to Buck and Francine that not all of their neighbors had overlooked new faces. Not everyone passing through Jolly Mill was jolly. Not everyone they knew believed in their cause.

  The tall man kept his aim on Joseph and walked toward him. “You’d be surprised who might tell me things.”

  “
You know, I believe I must have been wrong. I think I do know who you are, after all. Are you that fella, Otto Duncan, who uses his dogs to hunt his slaves for sport? I can guarantee you won’t find any sport in Jolly Mill today.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “Because there are no slaves here.”

  The man took three long-legged strides closer, his face scrunched into lines shot with long-held rancor. “We know what a slave looks like.”

  Joseph’s hand tightened on his rifle stock. He leaned down with slow caution to place his torch on the ground. “How can you?” With the same wary movements, he straightened again. “Most folks don’t even look them in the face long enough to tell one person from another. Are you telling me you brought proof of ownership?”

  Duncan cocked his rifle. “All I need’s the law behind me.”

  “Whose law? You have a bill of sale?”

  Duncan took aim and Joseph prepared to drop to the ground. He thought he could detect a gleam of insanity in the man’s eyes this deep into the darkness. In fact, darkness was where he belonged.

  Duncan squeezed the trigger and shot. Joseph dropped to the ground as he heard the bullet whiz over his head and ricochet from the wall behind him, echoing through the cavern with a deafening roar. The man cocked the rifle again, took aim and Joseph rolled behind a boulder. Another shot ricocheted, then another.

  Someone bellowed and hit the ground with a crash of a lantern. The cavern grew darker as one torch went cold.

  Joseph peered out from around the boulder and saw that Duncan’s bullet had caught one of his cohorts, a neck shot.

  A low whimper marked the man’s death as he slumped over, his rifle sliding across the uneven stone floor. Joseph tried to see past the circle of light created by his torch and the two remaining lanterns, but he couldn’t catch a glimpse of Buster.