Pete suddenly sat down on the ground. His legs felt like rubber. Dan looked at his friend in concern and offered him his canteen. The color had drained from his face.
Skeeter stepped up between Pete and the old man. “We’re lost,” he blurted out. “This little girl was lost first and we were helping to look for her and we went up the Golden Steps and into the old mine and found her and then we got lost in the mine, too, and when we came out it was on the wrong side of the mountain and the radio didn’t work and we…”
“Whoa! Whoa there, young fella! Take a breath! Yea, I figgered ya must be lost. Ain’t nobody comes here less’n they’s lost. Lucky for you I was fishin’ just downstream. I saw that bear a little while ago, but I didn’t bother him and he didn’t bother me. We both was too busy catchin’ fish. Then you ornery kids had to come around and spoil a perfectly good fishin’ day!”
Kristi looked almost as frightened of the old man as she had the bear. She handed Patti to Anna, and then stood her ground bravely next to her younger brother. “Mister, we’re sorry we spoiled your fishing, and we do thank you for scaring the bear away, but we didn’t intend to walk in on your little fishing party, so if you could just point us in the right direction to civilization, we’ll be on our way!”
“Now wait a minute, young’un! Ya don’t need to get all uppity with me! I’m just a cranky old mountain man and I ain’t used to havin’ other folks in my territory! But I ain’t all that bad, either! If’n y’all wanna come back to my cabin with me, I’ll cook up some of those fish I caught this mornin’ and then after that I’ll walk y’all down to an access road where that radio of yours will probably work and ya can get help—or at least find yer own way back to that so-called civilization.”
The teens looked at one another. They weren’t sure about the old man. They’d always been taught to beware of strangers, and he certainly seemed to be a rough old character. The rifle in his hand scared them, too.
The old man sensed their uncertainty. He said, “Ya don’t have to come back to the cabin with me if that’s what’s makin’ ya nervous. I’ll just lead y’all to the access road. Oh, and the name’s Greeley—Gabriel Greeley.” His eyes looked sad as he softened his tone.
Kristi softened her tone, as well. “I’m Kristi Cameron and these are my brothers, Dan and Skeeter. These are our friends Pete, Robyn and Anna. And this is little Patti. We’re trying to get her back to her mommy and daddy. We appreciate your help, Mr. Greeley.”
“Just call me Greeley.”
“Thank you, Mr. Greeley. I do like the name Gabriel, though. Gabriel is one of God’s great angels.”
“I ain’t no angel,” the old man said.
“No? We asked the Lord to help us and He sent you to us,” Kristi replied. “Maybe you’re our special angel.”
“I ain’t no angel,” the old man repeated gruffly and turned away.
The young people looked at one another again. “Should we go with him?” Skeeter whispered.
“I don’t know,” Dan said. “He’s kind of—strange.”
“I think he’s an answer to prayer,” Kristi said.
“He ain’t no angel,” Skeeter said.
“No,” Kristi smiled, “but when he said his name is Gabriel, I—well, I just felt like that was a sign from the Lord that we should trust him—and the Lord.”
The old man had walked away. The teens turned to watch him. “Wait!” Dan suddenly called out. “Thanks for the offer! We’ll go with you, if that’s still okay with you.”
“Yea, come on then,” Greeley called back without turning around. “Gotta get my fish where I left ‘em before that old bear comes back and steals my catch.”
The kids followed him a little way down the stream. Greeley pulled a string of fat rainbow trout out of the water. He started off again.
“Mr. Greeley!” Kristi called. “Please wait a moment!” She had noticed that Patti had started shaking again when the old man made the remark about the bear coming back. Her eyes darted from side to side, and she clung to Kristi’s hand.
Kristi knelt down in front of the child. “Did that bear scare you, Patti-Cake? He scared me, too! But he’s gone now, and he’s not coming back, I promise! And do you know what? You’ve got your little bear right here to make you feel better! He’s so soft and cuddly, isn’t he? Why don’t we unzip him out of your jacket and you can give him a big hug, okay? Now, you hold on to him real tight so we don’t lose him again, okay?”
Dan squatted down next to them. “Would you like me to carry you for a while, Patti?” The little girl held her arms up and Dan picked her up.
Greeley was waiting patiently, to their surprise, and his face had softened as he looked at the tiny girl. “Well, come on then,” he said gruffly.
It didn’t take long to walk to Greeley’s cabin. It stood in a small clearing not far from the stream. Greeley walked over to a bench outside the cabin and began cleaning the fish. “So do ya want somethin’ to eat or not?” he asked. “I can have ‘em fried up in no time. Good eatin’!”
“Thanks!” Skeeter spoke up quickly. “I’m—I mean, we’re—really hungry!”
Dan looked at his watch. “We need to keep moving. I want to try to find help before dark tonight.” He looked at Patti, who was drooping against Kristi’s leg. “But Patti needs a rest, and we could all use something hot in our stomachs. Thanks, Mr. Greeley. We’d be glad to have some of those fish!”
Greeley fried the fish on the old woodstove inside his cabin. He opened a couple cans of peaches and put a loaf of home-baked bread and a jar of jelly on the table, as well. “Ain’t got no fancy dishes,” he said as he handed a variety of mismatched plates and bowls to Robyn and Anna. The girls set the table as best they could. The old man ended up eating his fish directly from the pan since there weren’t enough dishes to go around in the mountain man’s cabin.
Kristi looked around as they ate. The cabin was tiny and poorly furnished. It was neat, though, and with its fireplace and woodstove, she imagined it was cozy in winter. She wondered about the old man who lived in this hideaway all alone. Why was he all alone? How did he get his supplies? How long had he been living like this?
They wasted no time eating and helping to clean up afterwards. They refilled their canteens from the old man’s well. They were preparing to set out again when Patti suddenly broke away from Kristi. She ran to a little patch of wildflowers that were growing a few feet from the cabin. She bent to pick one and brought it back to Kristi. The child did not smile as she handed it to her, but Kristi could see it was a gesture of love and thanks. Tears filled her eyes as she whispered “Thank you” in the little girl’s ear and gave her a hug. Her heart went out to the tiny tot who seemed so frail and lonely. She vowed that somehow, before they parted ways, she would get a smile from little Patti-Cake.
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CHAPTER NINE
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Rocky Mountain Fireworks
Greeley led the way as they left the little cabin in the woods. The young people chatted and laughed, as usual, as they walked, but the old man was as silent as the little girl. He’d snort every once and a while at something that was said, and Kristi thought she heard him stifle a chuckle once, but otherwise he marched through forest and fields as quickly and quietly as one of the creatures who lived there.
Dan tried the radio several more times, but each time he got only static. He thought he heard a tiny, faraway voice say his name once, but he lost the signal and couldn’t get it back. Greeley muttered something about “blasted newfangled contraptions” and told Dan to quit wasting their time with “that piece of garbage.”
So they kept walking. More than two hours had passed when they noticed dark clouds coming in over the mountaintops. Pete looked at them with a worried look in his eyes. “How much longer do you think it will take us to reach that access road, Mr. Greeley?” he asked.
“I dunno—maybe ‘nother hour or so. Would have been there by now if you ornery kids hadn�
��t poked along.”
Kristi looked down at little Patti. The child was staggering along, doing the best she could, but she wouldn’t last much longer. They had taken turns carrying her whenever they could, but the terrain was rough and there were places where it was almost impossible to haul themselves along, let alone do it carrying someone else. “We’ll have to carry Patti the rest of the way,” she said. “She’s not going to make it on her own.” Pete scooped the tot up in his arms and they moved forward once more.
Black clouds continued to gather overhead until the sun was blotted out and the afternoon looked almost like night. Suddenly lightning split the sky. It crackled nearly overhead, and the thunder that followed immediately afterwards seemed to shake the ground.
“Everyone down!” Greeley shouted. “Get down, get down!” They hit the ground and covered their heads with their arms. Patti started to cry. Pete was half covering her with his body. Kristi crawled over to protect her on the other side.
Lightning was lighting the sky like a fireworks show, but most of them had their eyes tightly closed and their hands over their ears. “Gotta stay low in a lightnin’ storm,” the old man yelled above the thunder. “Don’t wanna be the tallest thing standin’. The lightnin’ will get ya for sure!”
The words were no sooner out of his mouth when there was another loud crack and a boom. Lightning hit a tree not a hundred feet away from them. The tree split and most of it toppled to the ground on fire. Another nearby strike set a huge pine tree ablaze. Fire began to spread rapidly in the dry trees and underbrush.
“Stay down!” Greeley ordered. “Just start crawlin’ away from the fire. Don’t stand up until this storm is over!” The group started crawling along the ground on their bellies, with Kristi and Pete half dragging Patti between them. Dan crawled over to them and told Kristi to let him take over in helping the little one. They were able to move a bit faster then.
There was no rain with the storm. The lightning seemed to go on for an eternity, but finally it slowed down and then quit altogether. Not so with the fire.
Kristi looked behind her as they finally stood to their feet and prepared to make a dash for it. They had crawled maybe two hundred feet, but she was dismayed to see that the fire was narrowing the distance between them. It had spread quickly from tree to tree and set the whole ridge on fire.
“Okay, let’s move!” Greeley shouted. “Gotta get outta here before we get trapped!”
Dan tossed his backpack to Pete and put Patti on his back. “Dan’s going to give you a piggyback ride, okay, Sweetie?” They took off as fast as they could, conscious of the roaring forest fire behind them.
They did manage to put some distance between them and the blaze, but the fire continued to grow. It spread to either side of them. Sparks and ash were flying all around them. “Move! Move!” the old man yelled. “Gotta get to that access road!”
Anna stumbled and fell. Robyn and Skeeter helped her to her feet and they pressed on. They were all gasping for breath now. Thick smoke filled the air and it was getting harder to even see where they were going. They were moving as quickly as they could, but it seemed that the ever-growing fire was right on their heels.
Greeley had grabbed Kristi and Robyn by their arms and was dragging them along. Pete took Anna’s hand and pulled her after him. Skeeter was helping Dan with Patti. They were all stumbling now, and coughing in the smoke and ash and fire that seemed almost to surround them on all sides. The air was hot and seemed too heavy to breathe. They felt they could not go on.
“Dear God, help us! Help us, please!” Kristi gasped aloud. “Please show us the way! Please send someone! Please, Lord!”
They had dropped to their knees and were crawling once again. Just when they felt they could go no further, Greeley and the two girls with him slid and rolled down an embankment. They hit a hard, graveled surface. “The road!” Greeley wheezed. The rest of the group tumbled down the drop-off near them.
Finding the access road seemed to give them new strength. They struggled to their feet and staggered on. It was none too soon. Moments later the sparks jumped the road and soon the fire was spreading on the other side of it, as well.
They rushed on as fast as they were able. Their faces and hands were black with smoke and all of them had little burns where sparks had hit them. Skeeter was limping. He had twisted his ankle when he fell onto the road, but he pushed on steadfastly without complaint.
Pete took Patti from Dan. The little girl lay limp and pale in his arms. Her eyelids never flickered. The two teenage boys bent over the tiny form and paused for a moment to pray together. “Oh, dear Lord, save her, please! Save all of us!” They hurried after the others.
The forest fire did not seem to let up. No matter how fast they moved, the flames seemed to keep up with them. Greeley had fallen behind the rest of the group now. The old man was panting, and having trouble keeping up. “Keep followin’ the road,” he gasped. “Don’t wait for me!”
Skeeter and Robyn fell back and put their arms around the old mountain man. “Lean on us,” Skeeter instructed him. “Let us help you.” Greeley opened his mouth to argue, but began coughing and choking on the black smoke. The two teens simply dragged him between them as they struggled to keep up with the rest of the group.
Tears were running down Kristi’s face. Her eyes were red and burning from the smoke, and despair had begun to take hold of her as she realized they might not escape the fire after all. Her mind was filled with thoughts of her parents as she pictured how they would feel if the worst happened and they lost all three of their children at once. She sorrowed for her brothers and her friends, and for her friends’ families, as well. And her heart broke for little Patti and her mommy and daddy. Just when they had hoped they would be returning her safely to their arms once more, that hope was being burnt in the blaze around them.
“Lord Jesus,” she prayed. “Help me to keep trusting You—no matter what happens. Please, please, if it is Your will, send your angels—your real angels—to surround us and carry us through the fire. Give us strength, Lord, and air to breathe. Give Mommy and Daddy strength, too…” She began to cough, and the world was suddenly turning black and fuzzy, and spinning around her as she began to lose consciousness.
She fought the blackness with all her might. “No!” the thought swirled through her mind. “Don’t let go! You have to keep moving!” Slowly her vision cleared and Kristi caught her balance. She tottered forward a few more steps, and then a few more. She thought she was losing her sight once more, though, as black shapes formed in front of her eyes. She shook her head to clear it. Her eyes felt grainy and sore. She closed them for a moment and let her warm tears wash them.
When she opened her eyes again the dark shapes were still there—but this time she saw that they were real. Rescue vehicles stood in the road. Several firefighters stood silhouetted against the blazing forest beyond them. One of them happened to turn and caught sight of the battered group of people who suddenly emerged out of the smoke behind him. He nudged the firefighter next to him and they both stared in shock.
The men suddenly came to their senses and rushed forward, yelling for help as they reached the exhausted refugees. Greeley collapsed in the road. An oxygen mask was placed over his face. One of the firefighters reached for Patti’s still form and looked down gravely at the little smoke and tear-stained face. He checked for her pulse and put his cheek close to her mouth. He nodded slightly when he felt a wisp of breath on his cheek. Another oxygen tank was brought forth and they slipped a mask over her tiny face, as well.
The teenagers had all dropped to the ground, breathing heavily and coughing. “Come on,” one of the firefighters shouted over the roar of the fire. “We need to move you away from here. It’s too dangerous!” The teens wearily got to their feet once more, but this time there was no need to run. They were quickly escorted to one of the rescue vehicles and they climbed into the back.
Kristi saw them loading Greeley and Patti int
o another ambulance. “Wait!” she called out. “I need to go with Patti! If she wakes up and I’m not there she’ll be frightened.” She jumped out before anyone could say anything and climbed into the back of the ambulance. The two vehicles started down the mountain road with their precious cargo.
Kristi looked out the back window as the ambulance pulled away. She saw a handful of firefighters lined up in a battle against the flames and she prayed that once the fire was put out, each and every one of those brave men would return to their homes safely.
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CHAPTER TEN
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Rescue and Reunion
“You’re the Cameron kids, aren’t you?” one of the firefighters asked the teenagers in the rescue vehicle as they bumped down the mountain road. The teenagers had all had some oxygen as soon as they climbed into the vehicles to help them overcome the smoke they had breathed, but now they were all doing better and had removed their masks.
“I’m Dan Cameron, and this is my brother Skeeter. These are our friends, Pete Bennett, Robyn DeLong and Anna Velasquez.” The ranger was busy writing their names in a little notebook. “My sister Kristi is in the ambulance with the little girl. She is the child who was missing—Patti. Sorry, I never knew her last name,” Dan said.
“It’s Ling,” the man said. “Saw it on the reports. Who’s the old man?”
“He told us his name is Gabriel Greeley. He lives in a cabin up there. He helped us out when we were lost and was leading us to the access road when lightening struck and started that fire.”
“Oh yeah. I’ve heard of him. Kind of a hermit. Comes down every once and a while for supplies, but otherwise he stays up there in that cabin year-round.”
Rocky Mountain Rescue (Kristi Cameron Book 3) Page 6