Into the Wilderness (34 page)

Elizabeth
was trying to extract the sheet of writing paper from its envelope without
tearing either of them, but it was hard work. The outer sheet had clearly been
submerged at one point and left to dry, for the only ink left on it was a dark
blur. She worked the papers apart with Dutch Ton leaning over the counter
toward her.

"It's
from my sister," Dutch Ton said to nobody in particular.

"Well,"
said Elizabeth after a minute or two. "It's badly damaged, I'm afraid, and
quite faint. But I don't think it's German. Did you come over from
Germany?"

The
look of surprise and confusion reminded Elizabeth of her younger pupils when they
listened to the recitations of the older students, and heard questions asked
and answered which seemed to them unfathomable.

"Came
on a ship," he said, as if that should clear everything up. And then,
nodding toward the letter. "Can you read it?"

There
was a sudden shifting and coughing from beside the hearth, and Anna looked up.

"Däta,"
Anna said. "Waking up from his nap.

The
old man stretched a little and then sat up, blinking. He looked at the small
crowd gathered around him and he grinned, exposing three long and very canine
teeth.

"What
have we got here?" he asked, his voice scratchy. "What's up, then,
Annie girl?"

"Dutch
Ton," said Anna. "Came with his infernal letter."

"Who's
this?" asked the old man, his gaze settling on Elizabeth and ignoring the
trapper completely.

"The
schoolmarm," said Jed McGarrity. "Ain't you met Miz Elizabeth
yet?"

"She
don't come in much, Jed. That ain't my fault. The judge's girl. Aha. You look
like your brother."

"Pleased
to make your acquaintance," Elizabeth murmured. "Mr.—"

"Call
me Axel. That's my name. Axel Metzler." He peered at her. "You're a
pretty one," he said, exploring in his beard until he found a spot that
needed scratching.

"Elizabeth,
would you read the letter or give it back to the man and let him get on his
way?" interrupted Anna. "Lord knows I'll never get the stench out of
my goods."

"It's
from my sister," the trapper intoned yet again.

Axel
sent a long look toward Dutch Ton, and then he turned to Elizabeth. "Can't
read it?" he asked her.

She
shook her head. "It might be one of the Scandinavian languages."

The
old man stretched out his hand, and Elizabeth put the letter in it. He puzzled
at it for a few minutes. Elizabeth wondered if she should point out that he was
reading it upside down, but the way he grinned at her told her better.

"Twenty
year he's been bringing this letter around," said Axel. "Enough is
enough. Now I'll read it to him."

Anna
was watching her father closely, as if she expected some magic from him. Jed
McGarrity looked from Elizabeth to Julian quizzically, but got only a puzzled
shrug by way of explanation.

"So,"
said Axel, clearing his voice. "Your sister writes she is in good health,
that the crops are good, that her children are growing, that her husband is a
hardworking man."

Dutch
Ton stood dumbstruck, considering. "Agatha?"

"Ja,
your sister Agatha. She misses you. Oh and the old cow with one horn
died."

The
trapper nodded absently and sat down on a stool, still staring at the mangled
letter.

"And
the hay shed burned down but no real trouble, they built a better one. Oh, and
the neighbor—"

"Däta,"
said Anna.

"I'm
just reading a letter." He grinned up at her. "Let me."

But
Dutch Ton stood up, took the letter from Axel, who was looking a bit
disappointed to have his services broken off so abruptly, and tucked the paper
into a gap in his coat.

"You
see?" asked Axel Metzler of Elizabeth and Anna when the door had closed
behind him. "How easy it was?"

"What
if he finds somebody to really read it to him someday?" asked Jed.

"Not
bloody likely," said Julian with a snort.

"Däta
always was a storyteller," said Anna by way of explanation. "Can't
stop him once he gets started."

"Well,
then," said Julian. "Let's have a story. What have you got to tell,
old man?"

Axel
sent Julian a narrow and appraising look that made Elizabeth shift
uncomfortably, but Julian seemed unperturbed.

"Tell
the one about the Bear Dancer," said Jed.

Axel
waved a hand dismissively. "Not today."

Elizabeth
had been sitting silently and wondering if she dare speak up. She felt the old
man's gaze on her, and before she knew how she could say what she wanted to say
without arousing Julian's curiosity, she spoke.

"Tell
us about Jack Lingo and the Tory Gold."

There
was a little silence, and Elizabeth thought he would refuse. He was chewing on
the stem of his cold pipe, considering. She dared not look at her brother, or
even at Anna. No one could know how interested she was in this story.

"Ja,
sure," said Axel finally. "That's a good one. Jack Lingo. Taught me
ever thing there was to know about the beaver. Back in '57 it was when I first
ran into him. Hard times, girly. Pray to God you never see the like."

With
a sigh he leaned forward and put his elbows on his knees.

"The
Mingo were selling scalps to the French and they weren't fussy about where they
got 'em, neither. Me and the missus had a little place on the Mohawk back in
them days, near Albany, until they burned us out. Oh, ja, hard times. My Gret
went to stay by her sister—she was big with this one here—" He jerked his thumb
toward Anna, who nodded her approval. "So I think to myself a man has got
to have some cash, and I went into the bush, looking for beaver. Down on the
Mohawk they was all gone, hunted clean out. But up in the bush I was thinking I
can make me some money to start fresh.

"Now
I weren't no boy, you know. More than forty, I was then, but green as a
stripling. I run into Jack. Good thing, too. The bush ain't kind. No, it'll do
the same job to a man as a Mingo war club but not so quick, most of the time.
Ever seen what a spring bear can do to a man? Or a painter, dropping out of a
tree?

"A
painter?" asked Elizabeth, confused but also amused by this image.

"He
means a panther," interjected Anna. "Pa! Get onto the Tory Gold!
That's the story we want!"

"You'll
take the stories I got, missy," Axel said good—naturedly, his great
splayed thumb packing down the tobacco in his pipe. "My whole life I'm
telling this story, and you know better?"

Anna
waved him on impatiently.

"Naja.
So. The Frenchies were all over the lake in them days.

Feeling
good about things, like they had the whole north woods to tie up in a pretty
package and send back to their king. I was up in the bush trying my hand at the
beaver and making a fine mess of it when they took old William Henry and turned
him inside out."

"Fort
William Henry," interjected Jed.

Axel
went on as if he hadn't heard him.

"The
Frog Eaters and the Mingos made short work on it. Drove the Tories and the
militia out and cut 'em to pieces. Now they say it was Montcalm who found the
Tory Gold, hid under the floorboards. Don't know what it was doing there. Never
in my life have I known a soldier to be paid in gold. I seen a gold guinea coin
myself once, a long time later in Albany. I imagine that a thousand of them
gold joes in a pile would look to a man a little like heaven. But that Montcalm
was an officer and they say a good one. He packed all that gold up and he got
together some of his men and he sent it back to Montreal, thinking to send it
on to France, I reckon. But that's where he made his mistake."

Axel
hunched forward, gesturing to Elizabeth with one knotty finger until she leaned
toward him.

"He
sent them overland, through the bush. They had the water all tied up, you see,
and they could of put that gold on a boat and had it in Montreal in no time.
But they set off overland, and that right there was the mistake."

Leaning
back, Axel paused to draw on his pipe, looking contemplatively at the ceiling.
Elizabeth smiled, recognizing the studied pause of a born storyteller.

"They
all went into the bush," he repeated. "And not a man jack of 'em come
out again. Nor the gold. Now, this is where the story gets peculiar,
like." Axel nursed his pipe once again, staring now at Julian, who had
moved up close and sat at attention.

"Jack
Lingo was in the bush that day up to no good. Stole more beaver than he ever
trapped his self they say, and I ain't gonna disagree. Lazy, you know. Said to
me once he spent years paddling the fur route up from Montreal to Grand Portage
and back again, and didn't see he should have to work no more. So."

There
was a crackling from the fire as Axel paused to light his pipe. Elizabeth felt
her brother's attention on her and she turned to him, one eyebrow raised,
meeting his curiosity and suspicion full on. Julian yawned. He might want her
to think him bored, but Julian could not hide his intense interest in this
story.

"The
mistake Jack Lingo made that day was, he stole from a man smarter than him.
Chingachgook was in the bush, you see. Don't know what Lingo was thinking,
trying to steal from Chingachgook, but I guess he weren't thinking much at all.
So here's what you got: Jack Lingo decides that Chingachgook don't need his
canoe no more, and he climbs in and paddles off. He's on his way out of the
bush, when he runs into a river of blood. Them Frenchies, cut up bad. Scalps
gone, other parts, too." Axel glanced at Elizabeth and cleared his throat.
"But the chest was there. Why? Dunno. Maybe they was coming back for it
later. Maybe they was just interested in the scalps and never bothered to look
inside.

"Now
Old Jack wasn't a complete fool, not him. He got a look in that chest and saw
what was there, and he knew sure enough what to do." Axel turned suddenly
to Elizabeth.

"What
would you do, now, missy?"

The
question took Elizabeth by surprise. She sat up, considered.

"Load
the strongbox in the canoe and take off," supplied Julian before she could
answer.

"Ja,
that's just about what Jack wanted to do, but just then Chingachgook caught up
with him. Now." Axel tapped his pipe against his knee. "There ain't
no worse crime in the bush than stealing. And there weren't no tougher man in
the bush than Chingachgook."

Elizabeth
thought of the old man up at Hidden Wolf, his kind smile, and she tried to
imagine him in his prime.

".
. . so now Jack's got Chingachgook in front of him and Chingachgook's canoe
behind him, and the chest between them. What did he do?"

"He
ran like the devil," muttered Jed McGarrity.

"Like
the devil!" echoed Axel with a little laugh. "Ja, like the devil his
self And it must have been the devil who looked out after him that day, because
he got away. Any other day, Chingachgook would have killed him."

"So
what happened to the strongbox and the gold?" asked Julian, when it was
clear that the old man had told all of the story he considered worth telling.

"Well,
now," said Axel, wiping his watery eyes with a dingy handkerchief
"That's the question, ain't it?"

"What
do you think happened to it?" Elizabeth asked quietly.

Axel
shook his head. "This is what I know," he said. "Chingachgook
ain't a stupid man, and he ain't a rich one, neither. Unless he been sitting on
that gold all these years, he ain't got it. Me, I think he ain't got it. Jack
Lingo thinks otherwise, he been spending all this time trying to get Chingachgook
to give him a share. Note now, missy, I ain't said a fair share. Lingo never
much understood that particular word, in any language."

Julian
had a preoccupied look. "Where is this Jack Lingo?"

"Why,
I thought that would be naked as a peeled egg," said Axel. "He's in
the bush. Looking for the spot where Chingachgook hid the gold. Some say it's
up there on Hidden Wolf. Ain't that so, Dr. Todd?"

Elizabeth
looked up with a start to find Richard standing not ten steps away. There was a
look on his face she wasn't familiar with, the blue eyes narrowed and steely
above the bright red—gold of his beard. In the past month Elizabeth had avoided
the topic of Hidden Wolf with Richard, and the look on his face made her glad
she had done so.

"That's
what they say," Richard said finally, his eyes coming to settle, heavily,
on Elizabeth.

"Your
beau has come to see you home, sister," said Julian, reaching for his
coat. "I'll come along as chaperon."

"Beau?"
said Axel, sitting up straighter and grinning. "I guess I ain't the only
one with a story to tell, then."

"My
brother speaks out of turn," Elizabeth said with a sharp look to Julian.