There was plenty of food for the children while he was gone, but he didn’t know how they would get along without an adult to watch over them. Those trappers shouldn’t be back by the place for a good three to four days and he would be back before then. Those scoundrels, they meant him no harm, but he knew that they could be trouble when they wanted to be.
The faithful dog was all keyed up to travel with him, but he looked back at the cabin. Duty toward the children beckoned him. “Rufus, why don’t you stand guard over Nan and Elmer? They need you more than I do right now.”
Reluctantly, Rufus walked to the cabin. It was all Fred could do to keep from chuckling at the obedient dog. He certainly had been a lifesaver to him. It was harder to leave him behind that he had at first thought. “Oh, grow up, Fred!” he said chastising himself.
Before too long the sun started shining on the other side of the mountain. The sky brightened a little and the pines stood as dark outlines against it. Sonny and Ruby knew the way to Fred’s hunting grounds. Onward they went until the sun broke over the high mountain. It was strange to be alone in the woods again.
He hadn’t thought the presence of his visitors had really made that much difference in him. He knew that they were healing emotionally and physically. Boy, had they needed all that healing. Elmer had managed to go for ten to twelve days at a time without a headache.
As Fred quietly picked his way up the trail, he wondered about the headaches. Something isn’t right about all that. Poor kid is only five years old; he shouldn’t even know much about pain. Nan said that he would be six in February. They would have to do something to make this birthday special for him.
Tracks. It looked to be about three deer, possibly a doe with two fawns. Well, he wouldn’t leave the little ones orphans.
More tracks appeared on the far side of the creek. These were larger, perhaps a buck. Fred would like to take aim on a large buck and keep his antlers for a souvenir. They would look handsome above his fireplace mantle.
Just then he heard the snap of a twig. A magnificent buck walked into the clearing just in front of Fred. He hadn’t caught scent of him, as Fred was downwind. Fred took careful aim and brought the animal down with the first shot. He ran to the buck and checked him to make certain that he was dead. He didn’t want the animal to have any unwarranted suffering.
Quickly, Fred began to dress the buck, putting the meat into several bundles. He walked back to the spot where Sonny and Ruby were standing and took them to retrieve the bundles of meat.
Just as he finished tying them onto the pack mule, a clap of thunder sounded through the forest. No sooner had the thunder boomed, than the rain began pouring from the heavens.
Fred scanned his surroundings and spied a cave on the side of a mountain. He spurred the animals on to the natural shelter. The rain began to freeze as it continued to pound the earth.
Sleet formed and soon turned into snow. The snow blew and swirled minute upon minute, hour upon hour. Fred shivered in the cold, damp cave. He brought the animals into the cave with him. It was good that it was big enough to accommodate the three of them.
Fred plunged into the darkness and found a dead tree close to the mouth of the cave. It was wet, but he always carried some kindling with him on his pack for days on his hunt that all the wood was wet. He started with just a couple of small twigs and a good portion of his kindling. He got out his flint and proceeded in the ancient art of making a fire. After the first twigs started blazing, Fred added more twigs to the fire. Patiently he tended the fire and was rewarded with the warmth it provided as he finally was able to add small sticks, and eventually a good-sized branch to it. Fred then took the packs and saddle off the animals and gathered a good measure of snow to melt for water for them.
Pa had taught him that eating too much snow would drop his body temperature too quickly and make it nigh to impossible to get warmed up.
He figured the animals would appreciate the warm liquid as much as he would. He reached into his pack and found the feed that he had brought along. His father had instructed from childhood to take good care of the animals he owned and they would take good care of him.
Fred smiled at the thought of how his father’s voice sounded in the early mornings when he was teaching a young Fred the value of nurturing the beasts of burden.
On more than one occasion he had given his friends the speech and mocked his father’s voice. His friends had roared with laughter. Fred could sound exactly like his little father when he wanted to.
The snow whipped around the spruce trees and showed no sign of letting up. He got out some of the provisions that he had packed and proceeded to make some coffee. The hot liquid would warm him.
His clothes were starting to steam and become uncomfortable to him so he got out his bedroll and found the extra pants and shirt that he rolled in with the blanket. He made a makeshift tripod to hang his wet clothes on to dry by the fire.
After drinking the coffee, Fred lay down to sleep. He would have to wake every quarter hour to feed the fire, but the warmth was worth it. It was bound to be a long night.
Fred awoke the next morning and the fire was nearly out. He stirred the embers into a small flame. He looked out the opening and the snow was still falling. He needed to get back to the cabin soon for the children, and for his own sanity.
The same old memories flooded his consciousness. No, I refuse to think about all that again! Try as he would, the memories invaded. There was Claire and Joy in the cabin. They needed an escape from the vicious people who had made him doubt his calling into the ministry.
He had brought them to live on the mountain to experience the beauty of the Rocky Mountains and God’s creation. He thought that the good fresh air would be just the thing for them. He was using the year that they would spend there to be an intense search for God’s will. The Bible was his meat and drink. God was his close Companion. One day a man had come to the cabin for help. He had a fever and desired prayer. He had a bluish tint to his skin and said that he felt as if he had been beaten all over.
They tried to nurse him to health, but before they could even make out a bed for him, he died in Claire’s arms. A few days later Joy came down with a fever and almost immediately afterwards it affected Claire too. They died in a matter of hours. They were too sick to move. The town had no doctor even if he got them there.
Fred had sat on the ground next to the fresh graves and waited for the influenza to attack him and put him out of his misery. Nothing happened. His Ma and Pa came out to check on the little family only to find him laying next to the graves in a mental stupor. They took him home with them and tried to bring his weary mind a little peace. He just couldn’t stop crying.
Finally, in a rage, he yelled at God and took off for Silverton and the wicked Blair Street. He spent months in the saloons and houses of ill repute in hopes to get the memories out of his mind. He was also running from God.
The memory of that chapter in his life was one of the ghosts that Fred could never shake. He prayed about it, but he just couldn’t leave the mountain and the two graves next to that confounded cabin. He felt so weak in his walk with God that the thought of ministering to anyone else was laughable.
His thoughts turned to Nan and Elmer. Now here were two people who understood pain and the need for solitude. For as young as they were, they knew how to leave a man be if he needed to think. Fred felt as if he were looking at his eightieth year instead of the twenty-two actual years he had spent on the earth.
It had been good to laugh again. The kids had a great sense of humor and imagination. Fred smiled as he thought of the day in October that they had been fishing and lying on a blanket next to the stream watching the clouds.
Elmer was so intent on finding objects in the clouds. Nan described doggies and faces to him and he stared with wide eyes. He said that he could see all that Nan pointed out and even more. Fred had enjoyed the make believe time with them. For a while, he was a
ble to be like a kid. It felt so good.
Just then a gust of wind hit the interior of the cave. When was this blizzard going to let up? He was starting to worry about getting home to the kids. He was hoping that the snow wouldn’t be as bad lower down the mountain at the cabin site. He picked up a stick and stirred the fire, and then he got some snow and melted it for coffee. Boy, he surely was lonely!
Chapter 11
Nan and Elmer had seen the storm clouds gathering and decided to bring a massive amount of firewood indoors. Fred had told them that it was important to have plenty inside and dry in case a sudden blizzard came upon them.
He told them of instances that people would freeze to death trying to get back to the house from the barn. He had rigged up a clothesline to run from the barn to the cabin for the winter so that they could feed the animals and find the way to the cabin by holding onto the line.
Elmer had taken scraps to Rufus and asked Nan if Rufus could stay inside the cabin because of the approaching storm. Nan told him that they would let him in as soon as it hit. Rufus was much happier outside and hated being indoors.
They had just sat down to a hot plate of beans when the three trappers banged on the door and let themselves in. “What are you youngins doing in here?”
Elmer’s eyes were wide with fright, “Who are you?”
“That’s what we want to know, where is the preacher?”
Rufus bolted through the door and caught the calf of the younger intruder and clamped down hard ripping, tearing and delivering a menacing growl.
The kid screamed and the tallest of the three took the butt of his shotgun and smacked him unconscious. Blood flowed down the fur of the loyal dog. “What’s the matter, kid? A little ole mutt git the best of you?”
Elmer began to cry and Nan ran to comfort him. Maybe Rufus wasn’t dead. She certainly hoped not.
The men smelled rotten and were very unsteady on their feet. The elder man looked from Elmer to Nan, “So, kid, how about some of them beans?”
“Okay,” said Nan shakily.
“Hurry, boy, we’re hungry.”
“Nan, who are these men?” asked Elmer.
“Nan, huh? Say, Johnson, this is a little girl!”
“Don’t say? C’mere sweetie,” said the older one with no front teeth. “Why don’t you sit on ole’ grandpa’s lap?’
They began laughing and grabbing at her. She darted around the cabin, but it was too small. One of them held Elmer while the other two savagely tore at her clothes.
“We hit the mother load, boys. This ain’t no little gal. She is full grown.”
They yipped in drunken glee as they threw her around the room like a rag doll. Elmer screamed at the top of his lungs. A big fist hit him square in the forehead. He lay lifeless on the floor. Nan squeezed her eyes tight and prayed with all her might that Fred would come and rescue them.
*****
The morning sun broke through the window and cast eerie shadows across the floor. Nan tried to open her eyes, but they were swollen shut from the blows delivered to her head.
She was naked and bruised. She tried to get up but the pain seared through her body. She sobbed quietly so as not to awaken the snoring beasts lying in the room. It was too late.
The youngest, red-headed one saw her move and headed toward her. “Nanny girl, if you wouldn’t fight so hard, ‘em fellers would treat ya right kind like.” He smiled at her showing tobacco stained teeth. “Come here, sweetheart, let Danny make it all better.”
Nan couldn’t believe that he would want to ravage her again. “Please God, spare me!” she screamed in her head.
“Kid, stop it! She needs to rest if she is gonna make it to our camp.”
Camp? Oh no, not camp! Nan didn’t know what to do. Where was Elmer? She turned her head and saw him in the same spot he fell last night. Was he dead? Nan wished that she were.
The men roused and grabbed some supplies. They refused to let Nan dress. They wrapped a blanket around her and tied her like a sausage. They wouldn’t allow her to have her shoes either. “Girl, we don’t want you getting’ away from us. You belong to us now.”
Chapter 12
The snow had finally stopped falling on the top of the mountain. Fred had already placed the packs on the mule and horse and was leading them through the hip high snow. He knew the trail, but he also knew the danger of avalanche so he traveled carefully.
The stars were beginning to come out when he reached the cabin. The lantern was not burning. Perhaps the kids had already gone to bed. Still, Rufus would have barked a greeting to him.
He quietly entered the cabin and was astonished at what he saw. The whole cabin was trashed. Everything he owned was on the floor in heaps. He heard a low moan over by the fireplace. It was Elmer. Rufus was dead. “Elmer? Nan?”
“Nan, where are you?” Fred shouted. “Elmer, what happened?”
He turned the little body toward him and cradled him in his arms. He rose from the floor and lit the lantern. Elmer had a big lump on his forehead and he was as pale as a sheet. Blood was all over the floor and all over Rufus’ fur.
“Elmer! Wake up!” Fred got a rag and plunged it into the ice-cold bucket of water beside the table and began to mop Elmer’s face. Slowly Elmer’s eyes opened. “Oh, Fred!”
“Where is Nan?”
“Them three bad men hurt her!”
Fred’s blood boiled. What did those trappers want with a little kid like Nan? “Are you sure?”
“No, but they tore her clothes almost off her and hit me so I couldn’t help her. They hurt our dog when he tried to help us. Where is Nan? Is Rufus alright?”
Fred’s stomach lurched. Those sorry, good-for-nothin’ tramps! “Elmer, Nan isn’t here and Rufus is dead. You don’t look so good. How long ago did this happen?”
Elmer’s voice cracked as he spoke, “We were startin to eat some supper when they came. Fred, my head is bustin.”
Fred looked at the coals in the hearth and realized that the supper that had been interrupted had been last night.
“Poor kid. Get some rest and we will go find Nan at first light.”
Fred fixed Elmer a little watery oatmeal and put him in the big bed. Fred slept little and tried to pray most of the night.
As soon as dawn started appearing, Fred had Elmer bundled up and Sonny ready to go. Elmer looked terrible. His lips were as white as the rest of his face. Fred knew that he couldn’t take Elmer to find Nan. He had thought about this fact half the night. There was one person that he trusted to take care of this child.
His Mother and Dad would have a fit if they every heard tell of it, but it was his only choice. He arrived in Silverton just as the sun was up. He turned the horse up Blair Street to a known house of ill repute.
Knocking on the door with Elmer in his arms was as awkward as anticipating the talk with the woman inside. An extremely sleepy woman opened the door with makeup streaked across her unwashed face. The young woman looked years older than her actual years. “Hey, preacher! What are you doin’ here? Didn’t backslide agin did ya?”
“Betsy, I need your help. Can you watch this little kid for me for a few days? Somebody almost killed him and I need to track him down and take him to the law.”
“I ain’t no babysitter!”
“I know, but you are the only one that I trust here. Really the only person I know here.”
“A few days?’
“Yep”
“Well, maybe…”
“Can you doctor him too? He has a powerful headache too.”
“Okay… but.”
“Thanks!”
With that he handed over the sleeping Elmer and gently woke him up.
“Elmer, I need you to stay here with Betsy. I’m going to get Nan now. Be good.”
“Nan?” Betsy’s eyebrows rose dramatically.
“It’s his sister. A long story… thanks”
Fred sped through the town and went back to the place where he saw t
he last tracks the trappers left.
Hour after hour he trekked through the deep snow. It was noon when he saw the bunch camped in a clearing beside a creek. He scanned the campsite to see signs of Nan.
There she was slumped beside a tree, wrapped in a blanket with no shoes. “Poor kid!” He saw the men squatted beside a small fire. He checked his shotgun and headed into their camp with it cradled in his arms. “Howdy fellers, what are you doing with my kid?”
“Kid? I ain’t seen no kid. Have you, Dan?”
“No sir. I ain’t seen no kid today!” They erupted in wicked laughter.
“This is my kid!” screamed Fred.
“I don’t know who you are tryin to fool old man, but that woman ain’t no kid.”
“Woman?”
“Yep, and she is just the kind I like. Just take what you want and ya don’t even have to pay nor nothin’”
Fred’s blue eyes were blue flames ready to ignite a forest fire. “You sorry excuse for a human! Shut your mouth! She is just a little girl! What have you done to her?”
Fred didn’t wait for an answer, but began to empty his shotgun. One of the men fell dead and one was wounded by stray shot.
The kid was approaching camp and saw Fred shooting up the camp. He took aim with his rifle and missed his target. He didn’t want to let the girl go back to the Preacher man. “Les, I think I can take him! Throw me your shotgun!”
The wounded man cursed his companion and yelled at Fred, “Get your woman out of here and leave us be! She ain’t worth dyin’ fer.”
“Speak fer yourself! I want to keep her!”
“Shut your mouth, Dan! She ain’t worth it! Git yourself over here and help me before he kills us too!”
The two thugs scampered into the brush out of sight.
When Fred put his hand out to help Nan to her feet, she screamed. Fred firmly declared, “Nan, its me, Fred!”
“Go away! I never want to see you again. I just want to die!”
“I’m here to take you home.”
“Home?”