Under the Distant Sky

by Al Lacy

Solomon was listening to the conversation. “Sweetie, if we tried to pick them up, they’d scatter, and the mother would fight us. Besides, there isn’t even time to try. That fire’s getting awfully close.”

  “But, Papa, they’ll burn to death!”

  “Honey,” Hannah said, “Papa says there isn’t time. We’ve got to get into the river. Maybe the mother hen can find a wet place close to the water where she can—”

  “I’ll try,” Solomon said, and was quickly out of the saddle, limping toward the prairie chickens. As soon as the mother hen saw him coming toward them, she squawked and flapped her wings and hurried her chicks away

  “Sol!” Ezra shouted. “You’re wagon’s almost ready to enter the river! Hannah needs you to stay close in case anything happens!”

  Sol nodded, took another look at the fleeing chickens, and mounted his horse.

  “Thank you for trying, Papa,” Mary Beth said, then stood up to follow the hen’s progress. Her last glimpse before the wagon eased into the water was the hen guiding her chicks to the water’s edge.

  Great billows of smoke threatened as the last three wagons moved down the river bank. Though the wind carried the smoke to the middle of the river, it wasn’t as thick as it had been on the south bank.

  The wagon train waited in the river fork for about an hour. When the wall of flame and smoke was a good mile beyond them, Ezra announced that they could resume their journey. In spite of the sparks that had flown to the north side of the fork, the grass had not caught fire. They would go ahead and cross, then follow the Oregon Trail along the south bank of the North Platte.

  While they were waiting for Ezra to lead them out of the river, Mary Beth stood up in the wagon box and looked back toward the bank.

  “Looking for the chickens, honey?” Hannah asked.

  “Yes. I hope they didn’t burn to death.”

  “Do you want me to see if I can find them, Mary Beth?” Chris asked.

  “Oh, would you?”

  Solomon smiled and said, “Let’s both go, Chris.”

  The Cooper women watched as Solomon and Chris rode to the south bank and looked around then focused on one spot. Solomon motioned to Hannah. “Bring the wagon over here, honey! I want the rest of you to see this!”

  When Hannah urged the oxen in a turn, Ezra rode up and said, “Where you goin’, girl? We’re gonna pull outta here in a few minutes.”

  “Solomon wants to show us something,” Hannah said. “Come with us.”

  Father and son were off their horses, looking at something by their feet.

  When the wagon hauled up, Ezra was beside it, eyeing Solomon. “What’s goin’ on?”

  Solomon looked up with wonder in his eyes. “Hear that?” he said.

  “I do, Papa!” Mary Beth said. “It’s the little chickens cheeping! Where are they?”

  Solomon put his toe underneath the charred body of the mother hen and flipped it over. Five little chicks cheeped loudly.

  Ezra gasped. “Why, that little hen used her body to take the fire so she could save her chicks!”

  Mary Beth started to cry. “Oh, bless her little heart! What courage… and what wisdom!”

  Hannah put an arm around her daughter.

  Solomon cleared his throat and blinked at the moisture gathering in his eyes. “I want all of you to think about what you’ve seen here. This is a perfect example of what Jesus did when He was on the cross. He put himself between us and the fiery wrath of God. He sacrificed Himself so that we could be saved.”

  On August 12, the eightieth day, the wagon train pulled into Fort Laramie, Wyoming.

  While the women and children were inside the large trading post, the men were filling the water barrels before they took their turn in the store.

  By the time Tony Cuzak had entered the store, most of the people were back at the wagons. After purchasing a new straight-edge razor and some shaving soap, Tony was about to leave when he heard one of the clerks say something about unpacking the toys and getting them on display.

  “Excuse me, gentlemen,” he said, “but did you say you have toys?”

  “Yes, sir,” the younger clerk replied. “The boss decided that since so many wagon trains come through here, we would carry them. Our latest shipment of goods had three crates of toys.”

  “I see,” Tony said, rubbing his chin. “There wouldn’t happen to be any stuffed bears among those toys, would there?”

  “There certainly are. I made the order myself.”

  Hannah had invited Tony to eat supper with them that night. During the meal, he talked about Amanda Kline and left no question that he intended to go back and marry her.

  “Mr. Tony,” Patty Ruth said, “when you go back to see Mrs. Kline and her children, will you do somethin’ for me?”

  “Of course, sweetie. What is it?”

  “Would you tell Ulysses that I miss him and love him?”

  Tony smiled. “I sure will. And I’ll tell him something else, too.”

  “What’s that?”

  Tony rose to his feet. “Be right back.”

  When Tony returned, he had one hand behind his back. “Patty Ruth,” he said, “I’ll tell Ulysses that you have a new friend.” As he spoke, he handed her a brown stuffed bear. It was factory made but had black shoe-button eyes, and was nearly twice the size of Ulysses.

  It took Patty Ruth a moment to find her voice. “Is… is he really for me?” “He sure is, sweetie. The Lord Jesus wanted you to be rewarded for giving Ulysses to Matthew, so when I was in the trading post, He let me learn that a shipment of toys had just came in. And guess what? They had this bear just waiting for you!”

  As Tony placed the bear in Patty Ruth’s hands, she hugged him to her chest and said, “I know what I’m gonna name him! Tony!”

  The Cooper family applauded the name, and Patty Ruth’s parents thanked Tony for his generosity.

  That night, Patty Ruth went to sleep without crying.

  On August 23, the train passed Fort Caspar, which had been closed and abandoned in 1867.

  Two days later, they rolled along the southern edge of Rattlesnake Hills. During the next two days, the men of the train killed five rattlers. Everyone was glad when Ezra announced that they had passed the dangerous area.

  Soon they left the North Platte to follow the Sweetwater River. They made camp about a mile west of Devil’s Gate. They could still hear the roar of the water.

  After supper, Ezra met with the weary travelers and explained that they were now only two hundred miles from Fort Bridger. They would be there in about twenty days.

  There was no moon that night, and when bedtime came, the night was thick and black. It was an especially warm night, and the Coopers decided they would all sleep on the ground next to the wagon to take advantage of any breeze that might come up.

  Solomon read Scripture to his family by firelight, then led them in prayer. Soon the children lay asleep in their bedrolls. Patty Ruth slept soundly with her new stuffed bear wrapped in her arms.

  Solomon and Hannah settled down side by side with the children around them. When he took her hand, he noticed she was trembling. He raised up and said, “Sweetheart… something wrong?”

  “No. Not wrong. Just exciting.”

  “Because we’re only twenty days from our new home?”

  “No, that’s not it.”

  “Well, out with it. What are you so excited about?”

  “Sh-h-h! Not so loud. It’s a secret.”

  “Okay,” he said in a low tone, “what’s the secret?”

  “Well,” she said, her voice quavering, “I’ve waited to tell you until I was sure. We’re going to have another child.”

  Solomon breathed in sharply. “Really? Really, Hannah?”

  “Mm-hmm. Come spring there’ll be a new little Cooper in our home!”

  “Oh, I want to shout!”

  “Not till we let it be known.”

  “Well, I’m shouting inside!” he said, and folded her in his arms.
“I love you, sweetheart. That’s the best news I’ve had since you told me the last time.”

  “And didn’t we get a sweet one?”

  “That she is, darlin’. That she is.”

  Solomon kissed his wife soundly and settled back, taking her hand again. They prayed together, thanking the Lord for the new little life growing beneath Hannah’s heart.

  In the deep of the night, Solomon awakened, wondering what had snatched him from a sound sleep. Hannah was on her side now, facing the other way. He could hear her steady breathing, and that of the children.

  Suddenly there was a sensation of movement against his bare left arm, and he realized it was the same sensation that had awakened him. Then he heard a slight rattling sound.

  The snake slowly slithered between him and Mary Beth, who lay no more than a foot to his left.

  Solomon’s skin crawled and it seemed as if a lump of ice had congealed in his chest, sending cold chills through his entire body. Though the snake had stopped moving, he could feel its scaly skin touching his arm.

  If he could only see! The night around him was like the inside of a tomb. Horrid images of the rattler striking out at Mary Beth’s arm or Patty Ruth’s chubby cheek flooded Solomon’s mind.

  One movement from any of his family and the snake might strike.

  Solomon knew there was only one thing to do. In one smooth move, he rose to his knees and swung his left arm wildly toward the snake’s head to draw its attention. Instantly he felt a sharp stab in his forearm. He tried to grab the rattler’s head but missed. Pain, like the sting of a thousand wasps, exploded in his arm and shot up his shoulder.

  In spite of the pain, Solomon swung the arm again. This time when the fangs struck flesh, he found the scaly body with his right hand and gripped it tight. He was trying to find the head when the third strike caught him in the side of the neck.

  His family was beginning to stir when he finally gripped the snake behind the head and scrambled to his feet.

  “Sol,” Hannah’s sleepy voice called, “what’s going on?”

  “I’ve got a rattler in my hands,” he said, breathing hard. “I’ve been bitten.” Even as he spoke, he stumbled away from his family, carrying the hissing diamondback.

  He remembered there was a large rock a few feet to the south. He found it and smashed the snake’s head against it. When he dropped the dead snake, he saw the flare of a match as Hannah lit a lantern.

  She ran to her husband, her breath coming in ragged spurts, and held the light to capture Solomon in its glow. He was down on his knees now.

  A tiny cry escaped Hannah’s lips. Solomon was breathing hard, and she knew that with every beat of his pounding heart, the venom was driving through his bloodstream. She grabbed hold of his good arm.

  “Lie down and try to calm yourself,” she said.

  A few people were coming with lanterns, asking what had happened.

  “Sol’s been bitten by a rattler!” she cried. “Somebody bring a knife, quick!”

  Ezra Comstock dashed in, wielding his hunting knife. “Let me do this, Hannah,” he said, his leathered old face a pale mask. “I’ve done it before. How many bites?”

  “Three,” Solomon said. “One on my neck and two on my arm.”

  Hannah saw her children stumbling sleepily toward her. “Mama, what’s wrong with Papa?” Mary Beth asked. “Did a snake bite him?”

  “Yes, honey,” she said, trying to gather all four children in her arms.

  Tony Cuzak knelt beside Ezra, who was cutting the neck wound open first. “I’ll suck the venom from that one, Ezra,” he said. “You get the ones on his arm.”

  Soon the entire camp was gathered in a circle, watching the frantic scene. Solomon’s temperature rose rapidly, and he was growing weak. He looked up at Hannah and the children with languid eyes.

  “Sol, darling, what—how—?”

  “I woke up and felt the snake by my arm. I…I couldn’t see it. You… the children. I couldn’t let it happen—”

  “O, please, dear God!” she cried. “Please, Lord, don’t let him die!”

  Solomon’s tongue was swelling now, and he tried to focus on his family. “Hannah, I want you to go on. Take the… children to Fort Bridger. Build the new life we planned.”

  “No-o-o! Sol, my precious husband… I can’t do it without you!”

  Solomon was fading fast. He reached toward his family. “You children… take care of your mother.”

  Hannah and the children bent over him, tears flooding their cheeks.

  “Jesus… is calling, Hannah. I love you with all… my h—”

  Solomon’s body relaxed and a soft rush of air left his lips.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  Solomon Cooper was buried at midmorning, under a bright blue sky. Tony Cuzak had asked Hannah if he could read Scripture and say a few words before Solomon’s body was lowered into the ground. Hannah was pleased to give her permission.

  Tony ran his gaze over the faces of his friends and fellow travelers, and said, “I want to read some verses in Second Corinthians 5 that drew my attention when I first started reading the Bible on this trip. Mr. Cooper and I discussed them not long ago.

  “‘Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (for we walk by faith, not by sight:) We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.’

  “Solomon Cooper is not in this body. Because he died as a born-again child of God, he is with the Lord in heaven.”

  Tracie Armstrong and Deborah had their arms around Hannah, letting their strength flow to her as she held her children close in front of her.

  “In Psalm 116:15,” Tony said, “it says, ‘Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.’

  “Mr. Cooper was one of God’s saints. When he died before dawn this morning, his death was precious in the sight of Almighty God because Mr. Cooper is now in His presence.”

  Through her tears Hannah nodded at Tony’s words, though her heart ached with a dreadful grief.

  “Just one more verse,” Tony said. “Revelation 14:13. ‘And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.’”

  Tony’s voice broke as he said, “I am one of Solomon Cooper’s works. He cared enough about me and my eternal destiny to lead me to Jesus Christ. One day—only God knows when—I will follow him into heaven.”

  Tracie squeezed Hannah’s arm and whispered, “And I’m one of your works, sweet Hannah. We’ll be in heaven together forever because you cared enough to lead me to Jesus.”

  Tony took a deep, shuddering breath. “Solomon Cooper was a very brave man. Not only did he show valor on the battlefield in the War, but he demonstrated unparalleled courage and heroism by dying to protect his family.

  “He loved his dear wife, Hannah; his dear daughters, Mary Beth and Patty Ruth; and his dear sons, Christopher and Brett Jonathan more than he loved his own life. God bless the memory of this gallant man in each of our hearts.”

  When Ezra Comstock had closed in prayer, the people gathered around Hannah and her children, speaking words of comfort and love.

  Ezra was the last person to speak to Hannah as the others lingered around her. “Hannah,” he said, “I know you probably feel like you want to turn around and go back. I’d like to see you go on to Fort Bridger… but not too far along the trail we’ll come upon another supply train headin’ back east. If you wish to join it, I’ll make arrangements for you.”

  “Mrs. Cooper,” Stuart Anderson said, “if you choose to go on, I’ll drive your wagon for you until you feel up to it. Tracie can handle ours.”

  Martha Perryman stepped close. “Hannah, if you decide to go on to Fort Bridger, William and I will do whatever we can to help.”

  “The rest of us, too, Hannah,”
came the voice of Mary Croft.

  There was a jumble of voices offering their support.

  Ezra touched Hannah’s arms. “I know you’d probably like to spend a little time here at the grave, once the body’s been covered. I want you to know that we’ll wait as long as you want. It will be Hannah Cooper who says when we go. Understand?”

  “Yes,” she said, and nodded.

  Hannah took her children to the wagon so they would not see the men lowering their father into the grave and filling it in. She embraced each child, telling them how much she loved them.

  “Mama,” Mary Beth asked, “are we going on to Fort Bridger as Papa said he wanted us to?”

  Hannah patted Mary Beth’s tear-stained cheek. “I…I can’t answer that question right now, honey. I need to talk to the Lord. You understand.”

  Mary Beth nodded.

  “We’ll be praying the Lord will show you, Mama,” Chris said.

  Hannah thanked him and said, “You stay here while I go to the grave. I’ll be back shortly.”

  The Cooper children had no lack of friends who pressed close to comfort them.

  As Hannah stepped up to Solomon’s grave, she broke down and sobbed. It took several minutes to bring her emotions under control. Finally she spoke out loud. “I know you’re not in this grave, Sol. Only your earthly shell is there. You’re in the presence of our Jesus.”

  She faltered for a moment, then swallowed hard. “Lord Jesus, You saw fit to take my husband to be with You. I do not pretend to understand. I—” The brokenhearted widow dropped to her knees and sobbed again. “Why, God? Why? Why would You take my husband when we had a new life ahead of us out here? I don’t understand…I don’t understand…I don’t understand! O dear God, I know You don’t make mistakes. Help me to trust You in this.”

  A few more minutes passed before she said, “Lord, I can’t go on. I can’t! I must take the children and go back to my parents. I can’t do it without you, Sol! I can’t do it! I’ll swallow my pride and go back to Mother and Daddy.

  “Lord, I’m going back. I know Sol said he wanted us to go on to Fort Bridger, but I just can’t do it. I—”