“What’s God got to do with it?” He spat out the words.
“Everything. Because He cares.”
“He didn’t keep my pa from goin’ to jail.”
“He didn’t keep a lot of things from happening. Your pa losing his cousin in the cave. My aunt dying. But He has His reasons. It’s not for us to try and figure it out. We’re to let Him work, even when we don’t know the answers. Sometimes He just wants us to have faith that He’s going to work it out, even when we don’t understand how He’s working.”
“My pa said you were religious.”
“I’m a Christian. Anyone can be religious, but a Christian is one who believes in Jesus. You ought to believe in Him, too. He’d help you through times like these.”
Riley stirred in his seat. “I don’t have time to sit here and jaw about religion right now. I gotta git my pa out of jail. I’ll go see that doctor myself if I have to. And what are you gonna do? Your uncle’s dying, you know. He has the consumption. If you had any sense in you, you’d git him released. Lessen you don’t care if he dies in jail. If so, then maybe you belong in jail, too.” Riley bolted to his feet and left.
Stunned by the revelation, Jared stood still and silent, his heart beating rapidly. Uncle Dwight has the consumption? No! He recalled the look of pallor about his uncle and the handkerchief the man deftly put away when he thought no one was looking. Did that cloth have on it the telltale stain of blood, the sign of the dreaded disease? He closed his eyes in despair. In his zeal to save Susanna and others, he just might have sentenced his uncle to death in some forsaken jail cell.
Jared began loading up a saddlebag. He had no choice. He had to go back to the hotel, back to the doctor, and beg for mercy, for a way out, for another miracle.
❧
The road had become all too familiar to Jared, the one leading him to the hotel and Mammoth Cave, though he had no idea what he would do when he arrived. With his sick uncle imprisoned because of him, he, too, felt sick inside. He felt no confidence in the meeting to come. He knew what would happen when he saw that doctor and the others. He had stared those men in the eye. Met them face-to-face. They were deadly serious about their business and their cave. They would show no mercy. And another of his relatives would die because of something he had done.
The journey seemed long this time. The burdens of his soul were heavy. Maybe he had purposely slowed the trip so as to avoid what he knew awaited him. He veered off the path to the hotel and headed for the river. He would take time to think and pray. Get his thoughts together. Think of what he wanted to say. And allow the Lord to speak words of encouragement to his beleaguered soul.
The river was low. Not much rain had fallen in recent weeks. Saplings bent over the river as if attempting to draw out the life-giving water. There were few fish to be found. He paused then with the horse’s hooves at the water’s edge and looked at the meandering river. “God, what am I going to do?” he asked aloud. I need an answer, but answers aren’t coming. I know I have to find that doctor. I know he has no right to release my uncle or the other men after what they were planning to do. But what if Riley’s words are true? What if my uncle does have the consumption? If he isn’t set free, he will die in jail. How can I live with that? His head fell to his chest, staring at the reins wrapped around his hand. He couldn’t turn back, and he couldn’t go forward. He was trapped with his heart caught in a snag.
Just then, a song drifted into his ears. He thought it might be a bird, so sweet and lilting the melody, until he heard words of what sounded like a hymn. He edged from his saddle and guided the horse to a tree where he secured the reins around a trunk. Someone approached, her song carrying on the wind. He waited and looked.
Then he saw her, her dress gathered in one hand, touching the water with her other hand. A hat hid her face from view, but he would know her regardless. Maybe she was his answer. He moved slowly so as not to startle her. She continued her singing, a song of praise it seemed, until he came but a stone’s throw away. She then jerked herself upright and whirled around. “Susanna, it’s me.”
“Oh, Jared!” She hurried toward him, her arms outstretched. She seemed genuinely pleased to see him. He wanted to hold her, too, but the pain of this day kept his arms at his side, even as she embraced him. Her lips touched his cheek.
“I don’t know what we would have done without you. You saved us.” She released her grip on him and stepped back. She looked beautiful but with a beauty marred by their circumstances. How he wished none of this had happened, that he and Susanna could go off into the Kentucky hills, get married, and make a home for themselves. They would live far away from caves and death and jail cells and consumption and everything else wrong in this world.
“What’s the matter?”
She asked it with such innocence, he could scarcely believe it. Surely she must have heard what happened. He avoided her gaze and looked out over the river once more.
“Jared? What is it?”
“My uncle. Higgins and the others. That doctor had them arrested.”
She stood still and silent.
“Higgins’s son told me they’re gonna be taken all the way to Louisville. That’s where the doctor’s from. He knows the law there. He’s going to have them put in jail.”
She continued to remain quiet, in another silent vigil. If only she would say something, anything that would ease the burden in his heart and set them all free.
“All they needed was a warning,” Jared went on. “They didn’t need to be arrested. They didn’t do anything. And now I found out my uncle has the consumption. I need to find that doctor and tell him. I need to make him understand that my uncle won’t survive jail.” He kicked at the ground. “But no one here cares about that. You said you’ve tried to understand. . .”
“Yes, I have.”
“It’s hard unless you’ve lost someone you love and then watch others fall because of it. I don’t know why this is happening. I thought I did everything God wanted me to do. I talked my uncle into letting my aunt go to that cave after hearing the doctor speak. I thought it was the right thing to do. Then Aunt Mattie dies. And now I’m in the same place with my uncle. I thought I was doing the right thing by coming to warn you. And now my uncle is going to die because of it.”
“You can’t blame yourself for any of that, Jared. You’ve done what is right.”
“Then why is this happening, Susanna? Why isn’t any good coming from this? Why are people dying?”
“I don’t know. God knows what our lives will look like once He’s done working on them, as my mother used to tell me. He knows the past, the present, the future. I don’t think it was a mistake that your aunt came here. I don’t believe in chance. If we really are God’s, He has a plan for each of us. And His reasons.”
Jared tried to listen, but the emotion of the moment proved too far-reaching. “I have to find Dr. Croghan and tell him to release my uncle. Do you know where he is?”
“Most likely he is in the cave. I haven’t seen him this morning.”
“If I don’t find him, another life is going to be snuffed out. Another life that could have been saved.” Jared began heading back to his mount, even as he heard Susanna’s footsteps following him in the grass.
“Jared, everyone here is very anxious. There are many men on guard everywhere. The hotel, the cave. If you try to enter the cave to see the doctor, they will arrest you, too.”
“Then help get me into the cave, Susanna. Help me find a way to see the doctor. If you come with me, they will let us both in.”
She stepped backward. “But. . .I–I’ve never even been in the cave. How can you ask me to do that?”
He untied the reins. “Maybe you need to see it. Maybe you need to see for yourself what the doctor has done and what lurks in there. Maybe you’ll realize then that what I’ve been saying all along is true.”
She bristled. “So you still think that closing down the cave is the answer to everything. You say it’s
to keep out danger. But I think the doctor said it all correctly. You only want to shut up the guilt in your heart. You don’t want to deal with it face-to-face. And if you keep trying to do this, it will only eat you away to nothing.”
He dropped the reins. His face flinched with the pain of her words. Yet he refused to yield. “I will go myself if I have to and find that doctor. I’ll get those sick people out of there.”
“And then what, Jared? Will you blow up the cave instead of your uncle and his friends? Will you finish the job?”
They stared at each other. She whirled and began heading up the trail toward the hotel.
“Where are you going?”
“I’m going to find Stephen Bishop. He’s the head guide. I’m going to ask him to help us find Dr. Croghan. Stephen knows everything about the cave. He can get us in there and back safely. Stay here so you aren’t seen.”
He stared in disbelief. Maybe there was a bond between them, stronger than mere understanding or a simple truce. Maybe it wasn’t just a kiss of gratitude they had shared last night. Maybe she really did love him and wanted to see things resolved. The mere thought made him hopeful for the future, even if the present looked bleak.
❧
What am I doing? Perspiration beaded on her face. Do I really care that much about Jared? Can he really be having this kind of effect on me, the kind that would make me do just about anything for him? She hurried up the trail, past the men with guns guarding the cave entrance. They nodded at her. She sighed. Something stronger than anxiety or even fear was at work here. At the riverbank she saw a man in pain. A man desperate to free himself from his burden of guilt. A man who needed answers—the same man who had sought to protect her and who now needed her help. She was seeing more and more how much she had changed. Nothing had been the same since that dreary day when she first gazed on Jared a few weeks ago. Little did she realize what a simple bouquet of early spring lilies would bring her. Now she stood on the verge of descending into a dark and forbidden place that, up to this point, she had only heard spoken of. Could love transform a person in such a way as this? Could love make one attempt to do things only dreamed about before? But there was no choice. She and Jared were connected by God’s great plan. And she would see this journey through, even if she wondered what would come of it in the end.
The hotel was a flurry of activity when she arrived. Angry patrons milled about, asking why they were not being allowed to tour the cave. She saw her father and Mr. Miller frantic among the irate guests, trying to explain the circumstances without causing a panic.
Susanna brushed by the milling tourists and walked to the humble shacks built behind the hotel. In one of them she found Stephen Bishop, playing with a little boy on his lap.
“Miss Barnett!” he exclaimed. “Ain’t this a surprise? I reckon you know my little Tom here.”
She smiled briefly. “Stephen, I need your help. We must find the doctor, and he’s in the cave. Can you take us there?”
“Ain’t no one allowed in the cave, miss. Not right now anyways.”
“It’s very important that we find him. A man’s life depends on it.”
Stephen exchanged looks with his wife before handing the young boy over to her. He grabbed some lanterns, a large metal jug, and a leather pouch. “Someone hurt?” he asked, following her outside.
“Yes, he’s hurting very badly and needs the doctor’s care. I know you can lead us there. You know everything about the cave.”
“Yes’m, I shore do. The cave and I are good friends.” Stephen paused to fill up the leather pouch with water from an outside well.
“So the cave isn’t really a danger to anyone?”
“There’s always danger in anything one does. It’s what you do with it that matters. The good Lawd gave us minds to think things out. So long as you keep on thinking and be smart, you can make it through most everything. It’s when people stop thinking that they git into trouble.” He began heading toward the hotel.
“Not that way,” Susanna urged, thinking of her father’s reaction if he saw Stephen carrying equipment for a tour. “There’s too much commotion right now at the hotel. The guests might think you’re leading a tour. Let’s take the path through the woods.”
He obliged. “Yep, they’s all riled up today. I hear someone wants to blow up the cave or some fool thing. At least that’s the rumor going around. That’s why there’s no tours today.” He began to chuckle. “Ain’t no one can blow up that cave. No siree. That cave was meant to be found and explored.”
“You seem confident of that.”
“More than most folks, I reckon. Maybe ’cause I’ve seen more than most folks. Miss Barnett, when you go into the cave, you really are steppin’ into another world that ain’t like our own. It really is a mammoth of a cave.”
Susanna drew in a sharp breath. And now she was about to enter the cave that, to her, had only been mere words spoken by people. Maybe seeing the beauty of the underground world and the good work of the doctor would settle any doubts—so long as it didn’t create new ones.
Twelve
Susanna had no idea why she agreed to do this. Despite her best intentions, doubt gnawed at her with ugly teeth. Fear of the unknown nipped at her heels as she drew closer to the cave’s entrance. Stephen headed down the trail, loaded with provisions that included extra lard for the lanterns, food, and water.
“I never go anywhere in the cave without my supplies,” he said. “Don’t never know what might happen.”
Susanna didn’t like the connotation behind his words. She hoped this would be an easy venture and that everything would go well between Jared and the doctor so that her own relationship with Jared might prosper. She wanted to see the rift gone and a love between her and Jared take its place. The journey between them had been tenuous at best. Now she was ready to stand on firm ground.
When they came to the cave entrance, Susanna motioned for Stephen to wait while she hurried down to the Green River. Jared was there where she’d left him, pitching stones into the water, looking thoughtful and even a bit lost. “We’re ready,” she said breathlessly. “I have a guide.”
Jared followed her up the wooded path. “You didn’t tell the guide why we wanted to see the doctor, did you?”
“I only told Stephen we needed to find Dr. Croghan, that someone was sick. Stephen knows everything about the cave. He’s been exploring it for many years now.”
Jared said little. No doubt his mind was preoccupied by everything that was happening. She wished the difficulty would draw them closer instead of pushing them apart. After last evening and the kiss they’d shared, she felt certain God had brought them together for a purpose. Though Jared had not been the one she once envisioned in her dreams, even if he did own a horse as dark as midnight, there were things about him that attracted her. He was not pretentious. He held no lofty ambitions. He was straightforward in thought and deed, commanded by God who flowed like a river in his heart. Isn’t that all she really needed? Simplicity. Determination. A fine Christian character. And at this moment, one who needed her as much as she needed him.
“Is that Stephen?” he inquired, acknowledging the rugged black man who stood patiently waiting for them.
Susanna nodded. Before they could say anything else, a party of four men came hurrying down the trail, armed with rifles. She heard Jared inhale a deep breath and look back to the river. His apprehension grew so thick she could almost touch it.
“What’s going on here?” one of the men barked. “No one is allowed inside the cave on the orders of Mr. Miller and Mr. Barnett.”
“If you please, I am Mr. Barnett’s daughter. I asked Stephen to guide us to the doctor in the sick cave. We have need of his skill as soon as possible.”
The man tipped his hat at her before giving Jared a look-over. “Who’s he?”
She glanced over at Jared to see the concern clearly written in his eyes. “He’s the one whose relative is in need of the doctor’s care. The doct
or knows his family quite well. Stephen agreed to take us there.”
The men looked at each other and shrugged. “All right, but be careful.”
Breathing a sigh of relief, Susanna offered a smile of encouragement. “Shall we be going then?”
Stephen led the way down the sloping trail to the gaping hole of the cavern’s entrance. A cool gust greeted her, along with the steady trickle of water. Just then, she felt a brief touch on her arm and glanced back to see Jared’s luminous eyes staring into hers.
“Thank you, Susanna. I thought for a minute this might all be a trap.”
The mere notion made anger well up in her heart. “If you think that, then you really don’t know me at all. You only see me as this.” She pointed to the dark entrance. “Something black and terrible. Maybe we do need to go in there so God can open both our eyes to the truth.”
Stephen lit the lanterns. “Each of you needs to carry a lantern,” he instructed. “Gets dark in there mighty quick. You won’t see nuthin’ without them.”
The dripping of water and the cool dampness already sent a shiver running through Susanna and a wish that she had donned one of the cave costumes the visitors wore. Maybe her chills were due more to a fear of the unknown than the temperature of this place.
Jared was pointing at some long wooden tubes and what looked like boxes lined against the side of the cave. “What’s all that for?” he asked.
“Folks lookin’ for saltpeter around 1812 or thereabouts—during the war,” Stephen said. “They dun got heaps of it from the cave, I hears. Hauled in the dirt from way back in the cave and brought it here to work it out. Once the war ended, they stopped fetchin’ it, and folks came just to see the cave itself. And a fine cave it is, too.”
Jared rushed on. “Is there really a bottomless pit in here somewhere, Stephen? And fish without eyes in some underground river?”
Stephen laughed. “So you know things about this place already. Who told you all that?”
“Matt. He said you know everything about it. That you’ve been to places in the cave no other man has seen.”
Into The Deep Page 11