Spake As a Dragon (48 page)

“
Yeah, sure did Luke, but
we’ve done learnt two thangs – Robert is alive and we know where he
headin’ - he’s goin’ home!”

“
Oh, C.J. sorry we got
carried away about Father, what was so funny you wanted to talk
about?”

C.J. leaned over the table as before,
“Did you ever know your father as a deeply religious man
Luke?”

“
Deeply? No, I would not
say Father was a fanatic about such things, but he was a good
father, a good husband, and was generous to the poor and he would
help a neighbor when needed. We went to church, but not every time
the doors were opened. Why do you ask?”

“
The night before he left
we wuz sitting out back smoking when yer father sez to me, ‘C.J. if
I get back home I’m gonna send word to you at yer house in Bull’s
Gap.’ You see, that’s where I am from Bull’s Gap,
Tennessee...”

“
Okay, C.J. enough of the
geography lessons, what was so important about Father and his
religion?”

“
No Luke, you mistook what
I said, it’s not about Robert’s religion it was about his
Bible.”

“
What Bible?”

“
You see, that is a
mystery, Robert never had no Bible! But that night afore he left he
told me if I didn’t get a letter from him telling me he got home
okay, I was to write and tell y’all not to forget his Bible. He
said to tell y’all to remember 2K168. Reckon what he wanted y’all
to do with them numbers? And yer Bible, was he afeared y’all wuz
gonna lose it?”

“
C.J. that is peculiar,
especially since he was talking to me about a Bible the day he was
nearly killed at Gettysburg. At the time, I thought he was
asking
for a Bible, but he was telling me
not to
forget
about the Bible! And those numbers were scratched on the
rock where he was wounded at Gettysburg. Reckon what all of this
means?”

“
Does he own a Bible
Luke?”

“
Well yeah, at home, we
only have one Bible and it’s about a foot thick. Father always said
it belonged to Pappy, my great-grandfather, but I never saw him
reading in it. Huh, the Bible, that is curious?”

“
What you thank Luke, does
we head out fer Norfolk or try to catch’em at Charles
Town?”

“
Neither Nate – even if we
were able to get to Norfolk or Charleston we still might miss him.
Both those places are pretty big and it would be easy to miss him.
Nah, you and I are goin’ back to South Carolina and hope he finds
his way home. There just isn’t much more you and I can
do.

HUFFING AND PUFFING ACROSS
THE MOUNTAIN

“
Slow up Sam, I’ve got to
rest. You’re going so fast I can’t keep up!”

“
I’m sorry William, but
I’m anxious, if I’m reading the map right that creek should be over
this next ridge. Right over yonder is them Twin Peaks and that,”
Sam said pointing, “got to be Chimney Rock.”

“
What you waiting for Sam,
let’s get going.”

Huffing and puffing William finally
reaches the crest of the ridge Sam was talking about, but the
forest is too thick to see down into the canyon on the far
side.

“
William I remember Luke
telling the story of Old Bill’s gold strike. Luke said Old Bill was
in the creek when those outlaws rode up. I think if those gents
were riding horses there must be a trail down into this gorge.
Let’s try to work ourselves along this ridge and see if we might
stumble upon the trail. Climbing down from here to the creek is
going to take forever and it is so steep just one slip and we might
end up with a broken leg.”

“
That’s good thinking Sam,
come on let’s get at it.”

“
Hold on William, hear
that? I don’t like that sound.”

“
Hear what Sam? All I hear
is the water rushing down the creek below.”

“
Yeah, its water all right
William, lots of water! It shouldn’t be this loud, and it
definitely shouldn’t be rushing! Man, I wish we could see the
bottom of the gorge and the creek from here.”

Traveling along the crest of the
mountain Sam and William walk through the woods trying to find
another way down into the canyon below. It is tough walking for
William; the snow was deep and beginning to get slushy. “William
I’m telling you, it’s too warm. We ought to be freezing our butts
off up here on top of this mountain this time of the year.” Sam
hollers, “Here William, here is the trail.”

Sam has found the trail leading from
the top of the ridge to the creek below. It like the rock overhang
where they had spent the night was probably a trail that had been
used by the Indians for hundreds of years. Sam is worried, the
closer they get to the creek below the louder the roar of the water
increases. About half way down they could finally see the creek
below. No, now the word ‘creek’ did not accurately describe what
they were seeing. What they saw was a river! A wild, raging river
being fed by the melting snow pack miles farther up the
mountain.

A couple of hours later Sam and
William stand on a rock ledge overlooking the swirling, ice cold
waters of Indian Creek. Best known today as the Indian River, this
was no creek. The water at the creek covered the canyon almost from
one side to the other. Not only was seeking gold out of the
question, merely getting too close to the raging waters could be
perilous to one’s life.

With tears almost flowing Sam speaks,
“William! William! What are we to do?”

Sitting down on a fallen log, the two
discuss the turn of events. Sam is visible upset, William is
crestfallen, but sitting on this log isn’t getting them
anywhere.

“
Okay Sam, you have been
trying to warn me for a week about the early snow melt. I just did
not realize its implications. When is the usual time the snow
should be melting?”

“
William, not for another
month at best, maybe two. I never dreamed the creek would be in
flood stage so early in the season. What do you suggest we do
William?”

“
Aw Sam, we ain’t got but
one thing to do – bad as I hate to say it, go back to the farm and
return later in the spring.”

“
All right William, but
before we go I’m gonna nudge myself close to the waters edge and
see if there has been any gold washed up.”

“
Sam, I don’t think that
is a very good idea. Those rocks are wet and slippery and even if
you find a nugget it will just be a stray one that happened to get
washed out.”

Disregarding William’s warning Sam
begins to inch his way from his place of safety down toward the
side of the roaring river. Sam bent over examining the dirt at the
edge of the water. He cut off a length of mountain cane, which grew
abundantly along these mountain creeks, and used it to poke the
small rocks and pebbles.

“
Come back Sam, you’re
close enough and haven’t seen anything!”

Sam’s concentration was on the end of
his cane and he did not notice he had ventured out onto a piece of
rock that had been undercut by the swift flow of the river. Sam was
unaware of the danger. Seeing something shiny; he tried to reach to
pick it up. Nothing happened on the first step, but with the second
he had placed most of his weight on the unstable piece of earth. It
gave way and Sam is hurled headfirst into the turbulent, icy
waters.

“
Grab hold of something
Sam, I’m coming,” but by the time William had gotten upon his feet
Sam had disappeared down the foaming rapids. William began to run
downstream yelling as he ran, “Sam! Sam! Hold on, I’m coming.” A
few hundred yards downstream the canyon narrows making it
impossible for William to pursue Sam any farther. William stands at
the edge of the river and stares downstream hoping to get a glimpse
of Sam, but to no avail. Soaking wet and bleeding from scratches
caused by the briers in the canyon William dejected, turns and
begins to walk back upstream. Tears are forming at the corner of
his eyes as he thinks what he will say to Catherine when he arrives
back at Scarlett. He can do nothing but admit it was entirely his
fault he should have stopped Sam. He will have to say he knew
better, but let Sam venture too close to the water
anyway.

Squeezing the water from his hat,
William sat on a rock and wished it had been he who had fallen into
the icy waters. Telling the family was a fate worse than death.
Placing the wet hat back upon his head he started back upstream
toward the trail, above the roar of the water he heard something.
Turning back toward the flood filled creek he hears, “William!
William I am here. William!”

‘
No, no, it can’t
be
,’ thought William,
‘is my mind playing tricks on
me?’

“
William I’m here! Holding
onto this tree!”

William searches downriver and sees
nothing. He scours the river from bank to bank carefully,
‘
There, the tree.’
Sure enough, he has spotted Sam with one
arm waving into the air the other hand hanging onto one of the tree
limbs.

An hour later William and Sam are
sitting in a log lean-to William has quickly thrown together.
William has a warm fire going and Sam sits buck naked (except for a
blanket) waiting on his and William’s clothes to dry. “How can I
ever thank you William, you saved my life.”

Grinning, William replies, “You know
in Indian lore, that means you are responsible for my life from now
on!”

“
William, I will surely
try, but in all seriousness I want to just say ‘Thanks.”

“
If it will get you to
hush – you are welcome.”

Extending his hand to William, who
thinks Sam wants to shake, as their hands touch Sam opens his fist
and a gold nugget drops into William’s. “You’re not telling me you
held onto this nugget as you were being swept
downstream?”

“
Sure did, and it’s yours
now. I’m gonna call it the Good-Luck Nugget. In fact, if I ever get
to mine on this creek that’s what I’m gonna call her the ‘Good-Luck
Mining Company’, and in addition to me and Catherine I’m giving you
one-third of my gold strike.”

“
Sam me and you don’t know
nothing ‘bout running a business, especially a gold
mine.”

“
That’s right William.
Catherine’s got real book sense we need someone who knows how to
run the whole operation. Catherine is the one to do it.”

“
Wait a minute Sam, what
about Luke?”

“
Oh, well you know the
whole map thing was given to him by Old Bill. Luke had the map and
me and Catherine owned the land, so I’ve always thought Luke and
Catherine would someday move back up to our farm and we would all
work the mine together. It seems this is where they belong. Luke
can provide the brawn and Catherine can be the brains. Me and you
will let them run the mine as they see fit and we’ll just take our
third and be tickled pink livin’ it up in Knoxville.”

Chapter
Fifty-Eight

BROTHER CHARLES

Back at the farm Sam and William sit
by the fire, old Kentucky Lead warmly lies at their feet. Sam is
the first to speak, “William, I’ve been givin’ it some thought
about goin’ back to Caroline.”

“
Okay Sam, when are you
proposing we set out to go back home?”

“
Nah, that ain’t exactly
what I’ve been thinking about. What do you say we light out for
Pennsylvania to see your brother Matthew and Mizz Kimberley’s
father?”

Sam went on to explain that Matthew
and Mark depended on help to build the artificial legs. He reminded
William about the story Luke and Catherine had explained how Matt
and Mark were out of money and without money they had no choice,
but to suspend their construction of the soldier’s artificial legs.
Sam said he and William could journey to Gettysburg, first to help
Matt and Mark build the legs and second he wanted to see the actual
battlefield where his brother Charles was killed. He also wanted to
visit the spot where Williams’s father was wounded.

This was the first time William had
heard about Sam’s brother, and it came as a shock. William wondered
why Sam or Catherine had not mentioned Charles. When questioned Sam
answered they did not want to bring up the name Gettysburg since it
would revive the sad memory of Robert their father.

Sam indicated his father, being a
Quaker, was not too pleased with his son joining the Army, even if
to serve as a hospital attendant. Sam said Charles had tried to
explain he would be trying to save lives not taking them, he felt
he had to do his part. His father would have nothing to do with him
since his indication to join, saying Quakers should abstain from
anything to do with War. Charles did not let his father persuade
him out of his intentions, and he joined up the first chance he
got.

Sam said his father disowned Charles
as did the church, even going so far as to say he now only had one
son. He said Sam walked past his father’s room when news arrived of
Charles’ death and saw him sitting with his face buried in his hand
sobbing. Sam said he could hear his father repeating over and over,
“My boy! My boy!”

“
Sam I am truly sorry to
learn of your brother’s death. It seems the more I learn about you
and your family the closer we become. In some ways, our friendship
is more akin to you and I being brothers more than just my
sister-in-law’s brother.”