Dream Of Echoes

by Karen C. Webb

  We put our stuff against the wall and headed back outside. I didn’t know about Kate, but I wanted to spend the least amount of time as possible around all those sick people. Place looks like a college dorm after an all-night party, I thought to myself.

  “That sure was a lot of people in one house,” I said to Kate when we got back outside.

  “Yes, but I’m concerned about the sickness,” she answered. “It may be measles, which is highly contagious.”

  “Measles. I think I was vaccinated for measles,” I told her.

  “Well, I wasn’t.” she sounded angry, or maybe it was fear.

  I got quiet as we wandered the property, looking around at what these people had built here. I remembered a little from history class. Smallpox. That’s what I remembered. Was measles the same thing? I didn’t think so, but I remembered how these diseases spread and killed so many of the pioneers, and the Indians, too. I had a vague memory of reading about the pioneers bringing sickness that wiped out most of the Indians in these parts.

  “What makes you think its measles?”

  “We heard about it when we stopped here on the way west,” she answered. “We didn’t meet anyone with it before, but we heard about Indian children dying from measles.”

  “Damn, what are we supposed to do now?”

  “I don’t know John, I’m thinking.”

  We walked down to the mill pond and sat down beside it.

  “Maybe we should go back and look for Jeremiah’s cabin,” Kate said at last.

  “Yeah, and what if we still don’t find it? It’s getting mighty cold at night to be camping out.” I looked at the date on my watch. November twenty-eight. December was not going to get any warmer.

  “We’ll just have to find it. I don’t know if it’s the sickness or what John, but my gut tells me we shouldn’t stay here.”

  “Alright then, but can we at least stay the night? I was really looking forward to a roof over my head for a change.”

  “Yes, John, I was too,” she looked over at me and smiled, but there was a worry line creasing her forehead.

  We wandered around the area the rest of the afternoon. We followed their irrigation ditch back to the river, then walked through the herd of horses and cattle grazing across the hills. The fat Cayuse ponies were more wary of us than the Eastern horses, but most of them were curious as we made our way between them. Nip’s head came up as we approached and Kate scratched his favorite spot behind the ears, then he went back to his grazing as we walked on. I thought about all the fences that would be here in my time. It was pretty cool to just set the horses free and let them graze.

  When we got back to the immigrant house, Mrs. Danbury was serving up the stew she’d been cooking over the fire. We each took a bowl and shared a small settee to eat. It was a little old couch with a flowered cloth print and heavy scrolled wood along the back of it. The kind of furniture that would sell for a lot of money back in my time.

  It was a wonderful stew, with beef and potatoes and carrots. It reminded me of a stew my mother made when I was a kid. And, aside from the sickness in the house, we were both thankful to be indoors and eating a good hot meal for a change.

  We turned in right away after dinner, unrolling our blankets and stretching out together on the floor.

  I had thought I’d sleep good being indoors, but the moaning and coughing of the sick kept me up. One of the small children in the bed was begging for water sometime in the night. I had to go outside to a bucket with a ladle in it. I couldn’t find a cup, but I did find a bowl someone had left by the fireplace. I filled the bowl and carried it to him.

  “Thank you sir,” the little boy told me after he’d emptied the bowl.

  “You’re welcome, young man,” I tousled the little guy’s hair, noticing a red rash on his face and spreading down to his neck. “Hope you feel better,” I told him, returning to my place beside Kate.

  Kate got me up before the sun had even risen the next morning. I felt like I’d only just got to sleep and I didn’t want to get up.

  “Come on John, we need to get out of here,” the urgency in her voice woke me up and I slowly climbed out of my warm bed and began repacking our gear. I checked on the little boy in the bed as I passed by him. His face was so deathly pale, it made the red rash stand out against his skin. I couldn’t actually tell if he was breathing or not. I leaned in for a closer look.

  “Come on John,” Kate hissed, poking her head back through the door. “Let’s get out of here.”

  Chapter 11

  Kate didn’t know what had come over her. All this way to get here, and she had so been looking forward to a warm bed and visiting with Mrs. Whitman. Yet, from the time they arrived, a horrible feeling had been hanging over her, almost like a sick sense of dread in the pit of her stomach. She couldn’t explain it to John, but the feeling stayed with her as they wandered about the property in the afternoon and it was there throughout the night as she tossed and turned. She heard John get up in the night and tend the sick child and she feigned sleep when he returned to bed. But, as she was falling back to sleep with John’s arms tight around her, a small smile wrinkled the corners of her mouth as she thought about how sweet her ‘future man’ had been to get out of bed and tend the sick boy.

  The horrible sense of dread was still with her as she woke before dawn and she did her best to rouse John, determined to get away from this place of sickness and death.

  I left Kate at the house while I went to fetch Nip. A heavy fog had rolled in overnight and when I stepped outside, I felt like I needed to put my hands out to find my way. Daylight was just peaking across the eastern hills, but it did very little to brighten the day. The fog was like trying to see through a misty soup. I made my way slowly across the hills where the horses had been grazing, but I found nothing. Between the dark and the fog, I couldn’t see across the fields either. I tried calling out to see if I’d get an answering neigh from Nip, but I heard nothing.

  I finally made my slow way back to the house and found Kate outside, waiting for me and shivering in the wet and cold.

  “I couldn’t find him in this damn fog,” I told her.

  “Then we’ll have to come back for him later,” she said impatiently as she began repacking our gear.

  “You think that’s a good idea? To just up and leave him?”

  “I don’t know, John. I just think we need to leave,” she said as she stuffed clothing into her bedroll.

  Now we would have to carry what the horse had been carrying. Although it was a lot lighter, since we were running out of supplies.

  I was beginning to feel her same sense of foreboding. I don’t know if it was the fog or the sickness in that house or what, but I felt it, too. We should get out of here. Chills actually ran down my spine as the thought lodged in my brain.

  We carried what we could, leaving the packsaddle behind. I hated the thought of leaving the only horse we had behind, but I followed Kate as she lifted her pack and set off into the heavy fog.

  As the new day was breaking, we could see quite a few Indians milling around in the fog. More than when we’d first arrived. And they weren’t busy working, more like just milling around, talking to each other. We walked on by them and set off the same way we’d come, beginning our journey back downriver.

  The fog lifted as the day wore on and we stopped for lunch beside the river. We had cold jerky and water since we were out of coffee.

  “I really hope we can find that cabin, Kate. I don’t think we want to spend much longer out here like this. We’re running low on supplies and we keep losing horses. With winter coming on, I’m afraid we’re going to die out here if we don’t find some shelter.”

  “I know. I was just thinking of how much my family left home with and what I have left now.”

  I hugged her to me and felt like a heel for complaining. She’d been through so much more than me, and besides, I’d jumped off a bridge and put myself in this situation.

  “We can
go to Fort Walla Walla if we don’t find the cabin soon,” Kate said. “I think it lies a ways north of the mouth of this river. Surely the soldiers will take us in.”

  “Okay then, at least it’s something for a plan.” I had my doubts about us finding the cabin or the fort in this wilderness. What if we just kept wandering around out here, until we either froze or starved to death? It was not a comforting thought.

  It was afternoon when we heard a horse coming through the brush across the river. We stayed back in the trees and watched as a man led a horse down to drink. I felt pretty wary after the last encounter we’d had with men in these woods.

  “Nip!” Kate screeched. She ran over to the river, jumped in and started wading across, holding her bedroll up on her shoulders.

  I had no choice but to follow, but when I hit the icy water, I almost turned back. “Son of a bitch,” I mumbled under my breath when the water came up to my stomach. I looked up at Nip and saw the man jumping back on, bareback. Kate was already out of the water ahead of me and grabbed the horse’s rein.

  “This is my horse, sir,” she said angrily.

  “My apologies ma’am, but I’m riding to the fort for help. I just grabbed the first horse I could get my hands on. Haven’t you heard what happened?”

  “No. What happened?” Kate asked, some of her anger subsiding.

  “There was a massacre at Whitman Station. The Indians,” his voice rose excitedly, “they killed Doctor and Mrs. Whitman and several other people and they are holding captives in the Whitman’s home.”

  My blood ran cold and I felt my hands begin to tremble as I thought how close we’d probably come to being murdered. Guess that explains the intuition Kate had, I thought to myself. I probably would have still been sleeping.

  “Why?” I asked him.

  “I’m not for sure, but there’s been a lot of unrest this season among the tribes. So many immigrants have brought sickness this year and many Indians have died, including a lot of their children. They just buried a small Indian boy at the mission this morning. There’s been some whispering that they hold Dr. Whitman responsible.”

  Kate bowed her head at the mention of the children and her grip loosened on the rein. The stranger suddenly kicked the horse and yanked the rein, ripping it from her hand.

  “I’ll return the horse,” he called over his shoulder, “or set him free and he’ll find you.” He galloped away before we could move.

  I felt anger and helplessness as I watched him gallop away. Then I saw the pain and hurt in Kate’s eyes and I pulled her to me.

  “Don’t worry, little one.” I wrapped both arms around her and pulled her into my chest. “We’ll get him back.”

  “It’s not just Nip,” she said into my chest, her voice quavering. “All those people at the Mission. And the Whitmans. You didn’t get a chance to meet them, but they were wonderful people. I just can’t believe they’re gone.”

  “I can’t either,” I said dejectedly as I held her. But I sure am glad we got the hell out of there.

  We built a fire to dry our clothes. The temperature felt like the high forties, I guessed. The sun was shining now that the fog had cleared, but it was still damn cold and we had to get dried out. I stared into the flames as I thought about what I’d gotten myself into. I could picture the soft couch and the big-screen TV in my apartment. And here I was running from measles and from massacring Indians, facing freezing to death or starvation in this wilderness. I looked at the beautiful, tiny blond girl sitting across from me. I smiled as I looked at her. Yep, she’s worth it.

  “What could you possibly find to smile about?”

  “I was thinking how warm and comfortable it would be back home, but how I’d rather be here with you.”

  “Oh, you were not, John Baker.” She threw a pebble at me and I jumped up and chased her around the fire, both of us laughing ridiculously, until I caught her and pulled her to me for a kiss.

  “We’ll get through this, Kate.” I said softly as I held her shoulders and looked into those big blue eyes. “I’m not sure how, but we’ll make it.”

  “I know that, John. I have complete confidence in you.”

  “Well, I’m glad one of us does.”

  She giggled at that and I held her tight as I thought again about our narrow escape from the massacre.

  We got ourselves dry, then continued on our way, sticking to the north side of the river. No use crossing back over through that icy water. Although we’d have to cross it sooner or later to get back to the trail.

  We made several more miles that day before calling it quits. We were both unnaturally quiet as we walked. I’m sure she was thinking, as I was, about those poor folks at the mission and our own dire situation.

  Kate had brought the remainder of our vegetables, which wasn’t much, and we made a stew over the fire.

  “I’ve gotta toughen up Kate,” I told her as we ate. “I need to learn to use your weapons so I can hunt and I’ve got to figure out the old ways so we can both survive. I wish I’d paid more attention in history class.”

  “Old ways?”

  I looked at her and we both laughed.

  “Okay. The ways.”

  She giggled some more at my joke.

  “I used to go hunting with my dad, but it was more of a sport. We weren’t going to starve if we didn’t get a deer or whatever,” I told her.

  “Then what did you do for food?”

  “We have grocery stores. You go buy what you need. We didn’t have to kill it, butcher it and then cook it.”

  “Oh, that sounds nice. Is your family wealthy?”

  “No, that’s just how it’s done in my time. My family has a farm and apple orchards in Washington. They’ve always done pretty good, but they’re not rich.”

  “I can show you some stuff with the rifles, but I’m afraid I can’t help you with hunting and such. My father would never have allowed it. Although, he did teach me to shoot pretty well, for self-defense.”

  “Then we’ll learn together.”

  “Really, you don’t mind if I go hunting?”

  “No little one, you can do anything you want to do.”

  “Good, then I want to learn to ride a horse—like a man—astraddle. My father allowed me to ride some as a small child, but as I got older, he said it was not ladylike. He couldn’t afford a sidesaddle, you see.”

  “Done,” I told her, “as soon as we get your horse back.”

  The temperature dipped that night and we huddled together under both wool blankets, and I got up several times to keep the fire going, but it still wasn’t enough.

  We were stiff and chilled to the bone as we sat around the fire the following morning, not even a hot cup of coffee to warm our bones.

  We heated the remainder of our vegetable stew on the fire, then set off in the frosty morning air. I was determined that we find some sort of shelter today, or else head straight to the fort.

  We had walked several hours and we were thinking of stopping for a lunch of cold beef jerky, when I thought I saw a door hidden in the hillside. We walked toward it, and we could see rough-cut logs forming walls as we got closer.

  “I think we found it,” Kate said excitedly, grabbing my arm. “I think this is Jeremiah’s cabin and we didn’t find it before because we were on the other side of the river.”

  “Hmm…maybe.” I knocked on the rough wooden door just to be sure, hearing nothing inside, but getting an ugly splinter in my hand. The door looked like thick wood, but I’d have to duck my head a little to go through it. The walls on each side disappeared into the hillside. The house was built literally into the hill.

  When nobody answered, I finally lifted the crude latch and threw the door open, yelling out ‘hello’ as it creaked open. I could see a roughly-built table and benches sitting on a stone floor and a fireplace built of rock, but no inhabitants. Kate pushed past me and went inside, throwing her arms out and spinning around, laughing excitedly. “We found it, John. Now we have she
lter; food will be our only concern.”

  “Yeah, I’ll just make a run to the market. You want anything?” I joked sarcastically as I looked around. We surveyed the cabin, which didn’t take very long; it was only the one room, there was what I assumed was a kitchen in one corner. No stove or sink, but a couple pots and pans hanging on the wall and a few plates, bowls and cups on a shelf, alongside two tall, tin containers. Kate looked inside and smiled, holding them out for me to look. One tin held coffee and the other, flour.

  “Hallelujah!” I yelled excitedly. I never thought I’d be so happy to see ground coffee—such a simple, easily obtained commodity. I had definitely taken it for granted my whole life. The only other things in the room besides the table and benches were a bed in the opposite corner and a rug on the floor in front of the fireplace. Not a rug really, but an animal skin covered in brown hair. Deer, maybe? How the hell did I know from skins? The only window was beside the door. It had glass in it, but the panes weren’t exactly clear, it was kind of like looking through a glass bottle. Being built into the hillside and with only the one small window made it pretty dark inside. I found a little firewood and some kindling and got a fire going in the fireplace. As I added logs and the fire crept higher, the small cabin was bathed in a warm, orange glow.