by Indiana Wake
When she was twelve, Loretta was the only child her age still attending school. She began staying home, not because her parents wanted her to, but because she was ashamed to attend school like a rich kid while all her classmates took on the workload of an adult. She would sometimes step into the school to borrow a book or two from the schoolmaster, a young man who had seemed too nice to work for the Company.
In recent years, she had gone less and less as Ma had needed her more and she had fewer hours for reading. Now she cast a longing look at the darkened building as she ran past. She wondered if Master Tarlton had gotten any new books lately. Maybe he had a tale of high seas adventure, or a thick book of history, heavy with the knowledge of the ages.
She would never know.
She cast a farewell thought into the night. Perhaps her friend and her one-time instructor would hear it in his dreams.
Chapter 2
The ear-splitting shriek of the whistle blew before she was past the yawning entrance to the mine. Loretta flinched and increased her pace. Within minutes, the pit would begin belching up men. Miner’s filthy and exhausted wouldn’t see her. They would be concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other as they made their way home after a long fourteen-hour shift.
However, the guards would still be reasonably fresh after a mere eight hours of easier work. They would surely notice a lone girl fleeing down the path. She had to sneak past them; they would not let her escape. Loretta had heard stories of what happened to young girls caught alone by the Company guards. Some came home to their families with a haunted look in their eyes, others never returned.
The steam elevator hissed to a stop and Loretta dropped to the ground behind a rhododendron. She peered between the flat, rubbery leaves as the first guards stepped off the platform and took their places around the mine head, lanterns lighting up the night. Then the miners shuffled off the platform and headed home, empty lunch pails dangling from black hands.
She remembered back to that fateful day. The one when everything changed. She had stood there, watching the miners head silently to their homes. It had been afternoon then, and the sun burned hot on her shoulders. Load after load of miners were regurgitated from the darkness. Finally, the last miner had walked by, but there was still no sign of her father or the men of his crew. The next shift had begun their descent when she dug up the nerve to approach a guard.
The words he told her dropped her to her knees. Pa was still down there, entombed in the darkness of a cave-in. Long hours they waited without a word and then it finally came. The Company was not going to try to save them. One of the other crews had tried to dig through the debris, but were called off and told to go back to work. Loretta had stood there remembering meetings, remembering whispers in the night. But that day while the tears fell nothing changed. The Company had simply sent a representative to her mother with fifty dollars and a shrug of their shoulders.
‘These things happen.’
That was what they said. Ma had taken the money and closed the door. What else could she do with so many mouths to feed? Loretta still burned with anger toward the Company men who had offered so little. She had always liked to read, but from that day forward she had needed those books. She had borrowed as many as she could and devoured them by moonlight.
She had learned that such things as fairness and justice did exist in the world. She had learned that the Company was no better than the feudal lords of the Middle Ages, a time of darkness and oppression. They owned the mines, the houses, the stores, the law, and even the school. Although she thought they did not know all that Master Tarlton was teaching. She had learned that things could change, but now with her leaving nothing would change. Maybe she should stay here and change the world from within?
Shaking her head at such foolish thoughts she remembered the whispers coming from the schoolhouse a few nights before the cave-in. Whispers that spoke of unions and miners banding together to end the tyranny of the Company. When she peeked in a window, she had seen her father listening and nodding with the others. A few days later, he was dead, buried alive in the black pit of the mine.
Had he died because he had gone to that meeting?
The last miners had gone down for their shift. When they came back up, the sun would be preparing to set.
The guards holding the lanterns passed them off to the next batch of fresh guards heading down to the mine. The lights faded and Loretta was alone with the stars and the dew-wet night.
“What are you doing here?”
She squealed and clapped a hand over her mouth to hold in the rest of the scream. Her heart leaped into her throat nearly choking her as her shoulders braced for a blow.
“Answer me, Loretta.” The commanding voice was familiar … and quiet. “What are you doing out here? If you get caught, they will not be kind.”
Her heartbeat began to slow. She pulled her hand from her mouth, although it still trembled. “Master Tarlton? What are you doing here? You nearly scared me to an early grave.”
“You are lucky that it is me.” The schoolmaster’s hands wrapped around her arms and gave her a shake. “If one of those men had found you …”
“I know. I’ve heard the stories.” Loretta cast a glance over her shoulder to make sure no one had appeared to hear them. “I’m leaving. Ma is sending me away. She found a husband for me.”
“A husband!” Master Tarlton’s voice echoed through the trees and he dropped her arms as though he had been burned. “A husband. Is there no one here who could fill that role? Why leave?”
Loretta cringed at his outburst. “Hush. Ma says I need to leave, to find a new life outside the valley. There’s no one here to marry except miners and Company men. Ma won’t let me marry a miner and I won’t marry a Company man.”
“Loretta is there no other option, no other man you could marry.” The sudden tenderness in the schoolmaster’s voice had her staring. She tried to see his face in the silvery light of the stars, but it was nothing but a blur among the shadows.
What was he saying?
“Loretta, I have waited around for you to be old enough to put forth my own suit for your hand. I have watched you grow from child to young woman and have loved you more deeply each day. Then your father died and I thought you needed to be home with your mother. If I had known what she was thinking …”
Master Tarlton pulled Loretta into his arms and held her against his chest.
Her mind whirled. He loved her. He had loved her for a long time. What would Ma have said if she had known? Would Loretta still have to leave?
She pushed against the schoolmaster’s chest. “It’s too late now. Ma made a bargain and the man has already sent money for the ticket. I’ve got no choice but to go.” The thought had tears welling up in her eyes. “You shoulda talked to Ma. You shoulda told her.”
Loretta lurched to her feet and ran along the narrow track. She didn’t know this path as well as the other, but still she ran. Pushing through the wet branches that slapped at her face and stumbling over roots that rose up to tangle her feet.
She had gained love, only to lose it in minutes.
Because the deal had been struck.
Because she was a good Christian girl and she had made a promise.
Chapter 3
Warm fingers of sun touched her cheek. Loretta opened her eyes and stared around her. She had left the narrow valley of her birth far behind in the night. A new valley stretched out before her. It looked just the same as the old one. Somehow, she had expected it to be different.
Everything else was.
She uncurled from her position nestled among the spreading roots of a tree and stretched. The unaccustomed exercise the night before had her aching all over. She had run, blind with tears, until she had fallen, exhausted, at the foot of the tree.
Calmer with the light of a new day showing her the way, Loretta continued her journey. At a nearby brook, she knelt and splashed water on her face and arms. Sticking her bare feet int
o the icy water, she hissed as it stung the fresh scrapes and bruises left by her headlong flight. She gently bathed them free of dirt and leaves.
Why hadn’t Master Tarlton spoken to Pa of his intentions, or Ma for that matter? Up in the hills, you didn’t wait around for a certain age, or even for death. Life was too short, too harsh for such niceties. Loretta was eighteen. All of the girls she had started school with had been married off years ago. Most of them had babies of their own.
According to mountain traditions, she was already an old maid.
What had he waited for?
Loretta shook her head and stood. She made her way back to the path, stepping carefully to avoid any further damage to her legs. She slung her small sack over her shoulder and headed down the mountain, combing out her long brown hair with her fingers.
She sang as she walked, pleased by the friendly echoes that kept her company.
“Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in thee.”
The walk to town took her most of the day. Twice she had to duck into the trees and hide as riders came up behind her on the trail. There was no law that said no one was allowed to leave the valley, but whispered hints and veiled threats let everyone know that those who left the valley without permission would be watched and followed.
Did the Company know the teacher they had hired to educate the miner’s children whispered of forbidden topics when the children had left for the night? He spouted Company policy during the day and conjured thoughts of justice at night.
Of course they didn’t know, or Master Tarlton would be as dead as was her father.
The thought made her frown and look over her shoulder. He likely knew of the dangers of walking both lines, but it felt wrong to be running away to safety while leaving her friend and family there in harm’s way. Now he was her love, a man loved her and she knew she liked him a lot. Was it love? Who knows, it was something she had never dreamed of. Yet no one had ever treated her like he had. Like an equal, like someone who had a future.
Her steps slowed until she stopped. The town and freedom were just over the next rise. Behind her lay the life she knew and the people she loved. Perhaps in danger. How could she leave him … them?
She couldn’t. She would turn back and …
A pair of riders burst through the brush behind her. They wore the symbol of the Company on the sleeves of their shirts. Their horses pranced in place as the riders pulled them to a sudden stop.
“You there, girl. Have you seen anyone else on the road today?” The one who spoke was swarthy and dark; his small eyes glittered with malice. She vaguely remembered seeing him once or twice on guard duty at the mine. “Well speak up.”
Too frightened to speak, she shook her head. Were they after her?
“What’s the matter, girly? Cain’t you talk?” The other man leered at her, leaning forward in his saddle. “You want I should teach you?”
“Knock it off, Butch. We ain’t got time for dallying. Boss-man wants us to find that teacher fella.”
They were looking for Master Tarlton? Loretta’s heart leaped into her throat. The swarthy man must have seen something in her expression because he narrowed his eyes. “Where you come from, girl?”
Loretta waved a hand over her shoulder toward the north, away from the valley. The plaintive lowing of a cow came from that direction and seemed to ease his suspicions.
“Well, you better get on home before Butch here breaks his leash. He ain’t too nice to pretty girls like you.” He leaned forward and narrowed his eyes further until they resembled those of a snake. “If I find you lied to me, I will find you and make you wish Butch here had gotten to you instead.”
Without waiting for a second warning, Loretta gathered her skirts in her hands and ran.
Chapter 4
She darted around trees and bushes and leaped over fallen branches and rocks like the devil himself were after her, which likely wasn’t far from the truth. She ran until a stitch in her side forced her to slow. Holding her side and gulping down great drafts of air, she scanned the area.
There was no sign of pursuit, or of the trail itself. If she had run in a straight line, the trail would be right behind her, but with the ducking and weaving she had done, there was no telling which way was back. Glancing up through the trees at the sun was no help. It was directly above her with no leaning toward the West.
The smart thing to do would be to stay here until the lengthening shadows told her which way to go. That would be the smart thing, but the fading tingle of panic had yet to leave and she couldn’t bear to sit still. How was she to know for sure that the men had not decided to follow her after all?
So she kept walking. Sooner or later she would come to something or someone who would point her toward the city and the train that would steal her away.
As she walked, a desperate hunger grew in her belly. Loretta knelt beside a laughing brook and scooped up handful after handful of cold, clear water. The water of the river was poisoned by the runoff from the mine, but the stream’s water was still good to drink. It helped fool her stomach into thinking it had been fed, but the bone-deep ache that accompanied the hunger would not be held off long. She was used to being hungry, but she was not used to traveling day and night.
Loretta scanned the forest for something to eat, but the late spring offered little unless you were a deer or a rabbit and could eat grass and leaves. There were buds and blooms everywhere showing there would be a fruitful harvest of berries, but they would not ripen for a month or more. She picked a handful of dandelion leaves to nibble on as she journeyed, but they did little more than make her stomach growl louder.
Hours later, the forest ended at the edge of a field. Tidy rows of corn stretched toward a small farmhouse and barn perching on a nearby hill. A woman, with her skirts tied up and out of the way, worked among the rows, hoeing.
Loretta left the shelter of the forest and walked toward the woman being careful not to tread on the ankle high seedlings.
“Excuse me, ma’am,” Loretta called out to the woman. “My name’s Loretta. Could I trouble you for some water or a crust of bread if you can spare it?”
The woman dropped her hoe and patted a hand over her heart. “Land sakes, child. You ‘bout scared me out of my wits. What are you doing wandering about the forest at this time of day? Shouldn’t you be home helpin’ your ma get supper?”
“No, ma’am. Ma’s the one that sent me away, for my own good she says.” Loretta reached the woman and shaded her eyes against the sun. “I got turned around in the woods after a couple of bad men chased me off the trail. You are the first person I’ve seen in hours.”
“And it’s no wonder, there’s nobody that lives back that way until you get to the Putney mines and nobody ever comes from there.” The woman squinted at Loretta, taking in her ragged clothes and bare feet. “Is that where you walked from? You poor thing that has to be over twenty miles.”
Loretta nodded, “And most of it was up and down hills. I haven’t had a bite to eat since I left home last night. Ma tried to pack me a bit, but she needs all she can get to feed the young’uns.”
“Well bless me, one thing Zachariah and I have plenty of is food.” The woman slung the hoe over her shoulder and turned toward the house.
“Is Zachariah your husband?” Loretta followed behind the woman holding a hand to her stomach. The thought of heading toward food had awakened the ravenous monster within and it rumbled loud enough to hear over the pounding hooves coming toward the house.
“Lord, no.” the woman laughed. “He is my brother. I’m Miriam. Our pa died a few years back and left us with the farm. We work it together, but it leaves little time for going courting. So neither of us will likely marry anytime soon.”
Suddenly the sound registered. Pounding hooves …
Loretta looked over her shoulder at the two riders coming up the rutted lane leading up the hill. She clutched Miriam’s arm, pulling her to a stop.
> “It’s the bad men that chased me. Please don’t let them know I came from Putney.” Loretta whispered, not trusting her voice.
Miriam nodded grimly. “I’ve seen them before.”
Chapter 5
The riders pulled their tired horses to a stop before the women. Loretta barely controlled the shiver that traveled up her spine, but she took comfort from Miriam’s serene stance. The silence stretched out as the men scrutinized the women.
Finally, the swarthy man broke the silence. “So this is where you come from. Miriam never told me that she had a little sister. Where have you been hiding all these years?”
“She’s not my sister, she’s a cousin come to visit us from Pennsylvania. My aunt was hoping we could find her some work.” Miriam pushed Loretta in the direction of the barn. “Cousin, why don’t you go see if Zachariah is ready for his dinner. Maybe he will stop dallying over his chores.”
Loretta darted into the barn but turned to peer out between the boards. Miriam stood facing the men with her arms folded across her chest. The swarthy man leaned forward and eyed her with an overly familiar smile.
“I can get her a job. The same one I been offering you for three years. Maybe it’s time I find a younger target.”
“No woman worth anything would want anything to do with the type of job you can offer, Bart. I wouldn’t put a dog I liked in your power.” Miriam made no secret of her disgust.
The swarthy Bart scowled. “You better be careful with that tongue of yours, Miriam. One of these days it is going to get you into trouble.” He yanked his horse around and dug his heels into its sides.