The Mandie Collection (31 page)

As she nervously cleared her throat, she felt fifty pairs of eyes on her. And when she tried to speak, nothing came out.

Then Joe, who was sitting next to her, gave her a nudge. “Just tell them the same way we told our parents and friends,” he whispered. “Hurry up.”

Mandie cleared her throat again and braced her hands on the edge of the table. “Well, you see, it was like this,” she began, speaking rapidly. “We got lost in a cave, and we found this pile of gold in there. When we finally got out, we went home and told everybody about it . . . and . . . ” She faltered and glanced at Joe.

“Tsali,” Joe whispered, trying to help her. “Tell them about him.”

“Oh, yes, Tsali,” Mandie said. “He was the Indian warrior who put the gold in the cave. He hid there for awhile and scratched a message on the cave wall, saying that the gold was for the Cherokee people after the white people left. He gave himself up when the white men promised not to harm anyone else.”

Mandie took a deep breath. “But they didn't keep their promise,” she continued. “They killed him and his whole family except for one small son. When we found the gold, we tried to give it to the Cherokees, but they refused to have anything to do with it. They just told me to do something with it. So, since I knew they needed a hospital, we decided to build a hospital with it. That's all.” She collapsed in her chair, her cheeks burning with embarrassment.

Instantly, the room rang with applause, and after a moment, the President stood again. “Now, let's hear from the other young lady, who is, by the way, a full-blooded Cherokee. She is also the granddaughter of my old friend, Ned Sweetwater, sitting down there.” He
motioned to the old Indian. “He was the one who told me about the gold. Now, Miss Sallie Sweetwater, would you please tell us what you know about it?”

Mandie looked at Uncle Ned in surprise.
So he knows the President
, she thought.
I'm finding out a lot of things I didn't know before
.

Sallie trembled nervously as she stood and spoke, but she added little to what Mandie had already said. After another round of applause President McKinley introduced Joe for his version of the story.

To Mandie's surprise, Joe stood up straight and tall and looked the other guests in the face as he related his story. “It was like Mandie told you,” he said. “We got lost in that cave, and it turned out to be the cave that the Indian warrior Tsali had hidden in. He had left the gold there and written a message on the wall, saying, ‘This gold left here for good of Cherokee after white man makes peace. This gold belongs to us who are hiding here to save our lives. Curse on the white man who takes it.' Then he signed his name—Tsali.”

Joe shoved his hands deep into his pockets. “After we got the gold out, Uncle Ned and Mandie's Great Uncle Wirt went back to the cave to try to chisel out the message and save it for history. But the whole cave fell in, and the message was lost. They were lucky to get out alive. My father, who is a doctor, is overseeing the construction of the hospital for Mandie while she is away at school. He says it should be finished by springtime. Thank you, Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen.”

Joe sat down amid a roar of applause. Mandie was proud of him. She had never seen him in such a situation, and she decided he would make a good courtroom lawyer.

The dinner lasted several hours. When it was over and everyone except Senator Morton had left, Mrs. Taft ordered the young people to bed. They would need to get up early the next morning to attend church with the President. The First Lady would also go with them if she had sufficiently recovered.

“We older people are going to have coffee in the President's parlor, but you young ones must get to bed immediately. You want to be fresh for tomorrow,” Mrs. Taft told them. “And, Amanda, you promised Miss Prudence you would study while you were away from school, so I suggest you take about thirty minutes for that and then get into bed.”

“Yes, Grandmother. I will,” Mandie assured her. Then turning to the senator, she said, “Good night, Senator Morton. I hope you sleep well.”

After telling all the young people good night, the senator offered his arm to Mrs. Taft, and the adults headed for the President's parlor.

Isabelle appeared in the corridor, and offered to help Mandie and her friends find their rooms again. As the young people followed her, Mandie asked, “Isabelle, do you think you could get something to eat for Snowball?” she asked. “He hasn't had any dinner, and I'd guess he's meowing like crazy after being shut up in my room all this time.”

“Do not worry, Miss Amanda,” Isabelle replied, continuing down the hallway. “Mr. Snowball has had a big supper. I saw to it myself. He's probably fast asleep by now.”

When they reached their rooms, Mandie peeked into the one she was sharing with Sallie. There, curled up in the middle of the big bed was Snowball, sound asleep. Isabelle said good night and continued down the hall.

Mandie paused in the doorway, then turned to her friends. “Don't you think we ought to go look in that room where those men were talking today?” she asked.

“No,” Joe said firmly. “Your grandmother told us to go to bed, and that's where you'd better go right now. Good night.” He strode down the hallway a short distance to the room he was occupying.

Mandie turned to Sallie and shrugged. Then the two girls went into their room, closed the door, and began getting ready for bed.

“Maybe we can go look tomorrow sometime,” Mandie suggested.

“Maybe,” Sallie agreed. “But we do not want to do anything we should not.”

Mandie felt a little frustrated, but she knew Joe and Sallie were right. “Of course, Sallie,” she said. Then taking her history book from her school bag, she sat down in one of the big comfortable chairs. “I have to do a little studying, so you go ahead to bed.”

After saying good night, Sallie crawled under the covers and was soon sound asleep. Mandie read for awhile, but her eyes kept closing, so she finally gave up. Putting her history book back in the bag, she stood up and stretched, then carefully slid into bed to avoid waking her friend. Snowball curled up at her feet.

It seemed as if she had been asleep only a short time when a noise awakened her. She raised up on one elbow to listen. The noise seemed to be coming from the yard outside the window. Being careful not to wake Sallie, Mandie slipped out of bed, tiptoed over to the window, and looked out into the darkness. Snowball followed her.

A few gaslight lampposts by the driveway cast a faint light across the yard. As Snowball rubbed around her ankles, Mandie squinted into the darkness but couldn't see a thing. She was about to go back to bed when a strange figure appeared on the lawn.

Mandie gasped. It was George Washington again! And he was walking across the yard. Snatching a shawl from a nearby chair, she hurried out the door, banging it against the wall, and raced downstairs to get outside. Snowball ran after her. She knew the door had made a loud noise, but she hoped it hadn't awakened anyone.

By the time she made her way down the long hallways and reached a side door, she was panting, out of breath. Pushing the door open, she ran across the lawn toward where she had seen the strange figure. She ran and ran and looked all around but couldn't see a single soul. George Washington had just plain disappeared.

Hearing someone call her name, she gasped and turned to see her old friend, Uncle Ned, peeking out from behind a tree in the darkness. He started toward her. “Papoose, cold out here,” he called to her. “Go back inside.”

Suddenly she realized just how cold she was with only her nightgown and the thin shawl she had grabbed at the last minute. She shivered. “Uncle Ned!” she cried, starting toward him.

Then she saw her grandmother hurrying across the lawn toward them with a lantern. “Amanda, what are you doing out here at this time of night?” she called.

Mandie knew she was in trouble now. Her grandmother would demand to know what she was doing.
Oh, well
, she thought,
I might as well tell her
. But she spoke to Uncle Ned first. “Did you see anyone come across the yard ahead of me just now, Uncle Ned?” she asked as Mrs. Taft caught up with them.

“No, Papoose. No one here,” Uncle Ned replied. “I out for breath of air. No one come.”

“Amanda,” Mrs. Taft demanded, “what are you doing out here? You're going to catch your death of cold. Get back inside immediately.”

“Grandmother, I thought I saw George Washington walking across the yard,” Mandie explained, realizing how foolish it must sound.

“Oh, dear child, are you running a fever, or are you sleepwalking?” Mrs. Taft asked anxiously. “George Washington has been dead and buried many a year now, dear.”

“I don't think I was imagining things, Grandmother,” Mandie replied.

Mrs. Taft held the lantern high and grabbed Mandie's hand. “You must have been having a dream,” she said. “Let's all get back inside at once. It's too cold out here to be wandering around this time of night.”

Mandie picked up Snowball and held him close.

“Yes, time me go in, too,” Uncle Ned said, leading them back inside the White House.

After saying good night to Uncle Ned in the hallway outside their rooms, Mandie asked her grandmother what brought her outside.

“Why, you must have banged that door loud enough to wake the dead when you went out,” Mrs. Taft explained. “I got up to see what was going on, and there was Sallie, sound asleep—bless her heart. I'll never know how she slept through that loud bang. But you were missing. Then I just happened to see you through the window.” She stroked Mandie's hair. “Now get in bed, dear, and don't you get out again tonight, do you hear?”

“Yes, ma'am,” Mandie said reluctantly. “Good night.” Going to her room, she closed the door and set Snowball down, then slipped into the warm bed.

But she couldn't get to sleep right away. For a long time she lay awake thinking. She didn't believe she was just having nightmares or imagining things, but what else could it be? No one else had seen anyone who even looked like George Washington. Besides, it was true—George Washington had died a long time ago. How could he be walking around the White House?

She sighed deeply. Since no one believed her, she decided she wouldn't mention it to anyone again. She would just keep it to herself and stay on the lookout for him.

When Mandie awoke the next morning, the first thing that came to her mind was the incident of the night before. She lay there for a moment, wondering if the whole thing had really happened. Suddenly she was determined to find out.

Noticing that someone had already built a roaring fire in the huge fireplace, she jumped out of bed, grabbed her robe, and sat down in front of it. Sallie stirred and sat up.

Mandie turned to look at her friend. “It must be too early to get up, Sallie,” she said. “I'm sorry if I woke you.”

Sallie threw back the heavy covers and swung around to sit on the side of the big bed. Finding her robe, she joined Mandie in front of the fire. “It is never too early for me,” the Indian girl said as the firelight splashed on their faces. “I like to get up early. It's so nice and quiet and clean early in the morning.”

“I like to get up early, too,” Mandie replied, “but I thought maybe after our big day yesterday, you might want to sleep later.” Mandie kept debating whether to tell her friend about the figure she had seen the night before on the lawn. Finally she decided against it, at least for now. “Let's get dressed and see if we can find the dining room,” she continued. “For some reason I'm starving.”

“I am, too,” Sallie said. “I imagine my grandfather is already in the dining room.”

“Joe, too, probably,” Mandie agreed.

When the girls finally found their way to the dining room, both Joe and Uncle Ned were there, digging into enormous breakfasts.

Joe glanced up. “Good morning, sleepyheads,” he greeted them.

“Good morning,” Mandie replied. “We're not exactly sleepyheads. No one called us for breakfast.” The girls pulled out two chairs across from Joe and Uncle Ned and sat down. “Besides, we kept late hours last night.”

Uncle Ned smiled at Mandie. “Did Papoose find what she look for last night?” he asked.

“No, Uncle Ned,” Mandie answered quickly. Not wanting Joe to know anything about the incident the night before, she quickly changed the subject. “We are supposed to go to church with the President today,” she said brightly. “I hope Mrs. McKinley is well enough to go.”

“I do, too,” Sallie agreed. “She has been ill so much, I hear.”

Joe seemed to understand what Mandie was trying to do. “What was Papoose looking for last night?” he teased.

“Nothing, really,” Mandie answered. “Are we going back to look at that room today?” She didn't want to say too much about this matter, either, with Uncle Ned there.

“I don't think we'll have time,” Joe said. “The inauguration is tomorrow, and it seems today is crammed full of things to do.”

“Many people coming to stay in White House,” Uncle Ned told them. “President invite whole houseful. Come today.”

“And I suppose we won't have much of a chance to get away if the halls are going to be running over with people,” Mandie moaned.

Just then a maid in a starched white uniform came over to where the girls were sitting. “What would you two young ladies like for breakfast?” she asked.

Mandie looked up at her. “Scrambled eggs and grits—do you have grits?” she asked.

The maid smiled. “We certainly do. The President ordered them just for you people.”

“Thanks,” Mandie said with a grin. “I'll have scrambled eggs and grits and a piece of bacon or ham, whatever you have. And coffee to drink.”

Sallie ordered the same, and the maid went back to the kitchen.