The Mandie Collection (33 page)

Snowball bounced along under their feet as Joe led the way up the stairs to the third floor and into Uncle John's library. The young Indians were fascinated with the beautiful house. They had never seen such a large mansion before.

Joe walked over to the heavy draperies in the corner of the room and pulled them aside, revealing a door. Mandie inserted the key and swung it open. Behind the door was a paneled wall. Pushing a latch, she waited for the panel to swing aside and then showed them steps going down.

Dimar was impressed. “That is very clever,” he said.

“I think so, too,” Mandie said with pride. “Uncle John said my great-grandfather built this house when the Cherokees were being moved out of North Carolina. He didn't like the way they were being treated, so he had this tunnel built just for them. He hid as many Cherokees as he could in this tunnel until things became peaceful. It was about 1842 when the Indians moved out and set up their own living quarters,” Mandie explained. She turned to Tsa'ni. “That's how my grandfather and my grandmother met,” she said. “He was twenty-eight, and she was a beautiful eighteen-year-old Indian girl. So you see, my family not only married Indians, they helped them survive when no one else would.”

Tsa'ni only tightened his lips and said nothing.

Sallie sighed. “What a beautiful romance!”

“Yes,” Mandie agreed. “My grandmother was Uncle Wirt's sister, you know. So he is really my great-uncle.”

“Let's go,” Tsa'ni complained.

Joe led them through the door to the steps. “It's kind of dark in places,” he cautioned, “so be sure to watch your step.”

Snowball meowed at Joe's feet. Joe picked up the cat and handed him to Mandie.

As they made their way through, Sallie and Dimar were thrilled, knowing the tunnel had once protected their people. When they finally emerged in the woods, almost out of sight of the house, they were really excited.

“What an adventure!” Dimar exclaimed, looking back to the exit door concealed by bushes.

Sallie turned to Mandie. “You know that my grandfather and my grandmother lived here at one time, don't you?”

Mandie set Snowball down and the kitten rubbed around her ankles. “Yes, Uncle John told me. Morning Star and Uncle Ned came to live with them after my grandfather died. He said my father was only five years old then,” Mandie replied.

“My grandfather has never mentioned this tunnel to me,” Sallie said. “He lived here, so he must have known about it.”

“Your grandfather is the world's greatest keeper of secrets!” Mandie laughed.

“The old people do not like to talk about the Cherokee removal, or anything that reminds them of it,” Dimar volunteered.

Tsa'ni changed the subject. “When are they going to look for the gold?” he asked.

Everyone stared at him.

“Who is going to look for the gold?” Joe asked.

“My grandfather and Mandie's uncle are planning to,” Tsa'ni answered.

Mandie stood up straighter. “The Cherokees put me in charge of the gold, so I will go with them to hunt for it,” she told them.

“So will I,” Joe put in.

“And I,” Sallie said.

Dimar was again admiring Mandie's pretty blue eyes. “I also would like to go with you,” he said.

“Could I go, too?” Polly asked. “I'd just love to look for those creatures that stole it.”

“Oh, Polly!” Mandie replied. “It won't be fun. They were awfully dangerous looking.”

“Joe already told me about them,” Polly said. “Do you think I could go with you?”

“I suppose. You'd have to ask your mother and also my Uncle John,” Mandie said.

“Then let's go find out,” Polly said, turning to go up the hill to the house.

The young people found Uncle John with Uncle Wirt and Elizabeth in the parlor. Not waiting for any greeting or explanation, Polly walked straight to Uncle John and asked, “Could I please go with y'all to search for the gold?”

Uncle John looked at her and then at the other youngsters. “Do what?” he asked.

“You are making plans to hunt the gold, and everyone else is going, so I'd like to go, too,” Polly explained.

“Now wait a minute,” Uncle John said, addressing the anxious young people. “This business about the gold must be kept absolutely secret. No one is to know about it outside of our immediate group here. If it got to be public knowledge, we'd have half the country out here looking for it. We'd never find it. Do you all understand?”

They nodded in agreement.

Mandie sat down on a low stool near her uncle. “But, are we going to look for it?” Mandie asked.

“Uncle Wirt and I will,” John answered.

“But, Uncle John, I am responsible for the gold. My Cherokee kinpeople put me in charge of it, so I must go, too,” Mandie pleaded.

“It's too dangerous,” Uncle John told her.

“I'm not afraid,” Mandie protested. “I have to find it so I can give ten percent of it to the Lord, and we can receive His blessings.”

“You can give the ten percent after Uncle Wirt and I find it,” he reasoned.

Just then Snowball came into the room and jumped into Mandie's lap. That gave Mandie an idea. “I have to go so Snowball can go,” she said. “Remember, he was the one who found Uncle Ned. Maybe he can help us find the bandits.”

No one dared to laugh.

“Amanda, darling,” Elizabeth said gently, “I want you to stay here with me to help take care of Uncle Ned. Please.”

“But, Mother, Uncle Ned said we must find the gold so we can tithe,” Mandie told her. “And he can't go, so I have to.”

Uncle John finally relented. “All right, you youngsters can go with us to the wrecked train car, but I don't make any promises after that,” he told them. Turning to Joe, he added, “If we get that far we'll stop at your father's house, Joe. He must be home by now.”

“John, are you going to permit this?” Elizabeth asked in disbelief. “You know I don't want Amanda to go.”

“I never could resist blue eyes!” he laughed. “Especially when they're so much like yours.”

The young people dashed out of the room and ran over to Polly's house to ask her mother's permission. After a lot of talking, they finally convinced her that it was not dangerous, and that they were only going to the wrecked train car. Polly went home with Mandie to spend the night so they could start out early the next morning.

Mandie was excited about the trip to the wrecked baggage car, but would they ever really find the gold again?

CHAPTER NINE

OFF TO FIND THE GOLD

Before sunrise the young people quietly slipped out of bed and gathered in the kitchen. Jenny was busy preparing breakfast and food for the journey. Since Elizabeth was not going, Uncle John had told Liza she could go along to look after the three girls. Liza was so excited she danced around in circles among them while their conversation grew louder and louder.

Aunt Lou heard the commotion and came into the kitchen. “You best be quietenin' down or Mr. John'll be in here to see what's goin' on! Liza, 'member youse jest goin' to take care of my chile and these heah other li'l girls.”

“Yessum,” Liza calmed down. “I behave. I see to Miss Amanda and Miss Sallie and Miss Polly. I see they behave, too.”

Mandie laughed. She knew the trip would be more fun with Liza along. “And I'll see that Liza behaves,” she said mischievously.

“Lawsy, Missy,” Liza said. “I ain't got nobody sweet on me to go smoochin' with.”

Everyone broke into laughter.

“Git outa heah,” Aunt Lou said, shooing the young people out through the door. “Git yo' breakfast in the dinin' room. Liza be bringin' it in a minute.”

Mandie was the last one out of the kitchen. “Can Liza eat with us, Aunt Lou?” she asked.

“Hesh yo' mouth, chile. Liza don't belong in the dinin' room,” the big woman told her.

“But, Aunt Lou, Liza's going to eat with us on the trip. She has to, or eat somewhere by herself,” Mandie insisted.

“Well, that won't be under the roof of Mr. John's house,” Aunt Lou told her. “While she under Mr. John's roof, she gonna act like the servant girl she be. Now, git on in there wid yo' friends.”

“I just don't understand it, Aunt Lou,” Mandie argued. “Why can't she eat with us? When I lived at my father's house in Swain County everyone ate at the same table.”

“You'll understand some day, my chile. Now git!” the old woman said.

Mandie sat down at the big dining room table with her friends. Before long her mother and Uncle John and Uncle Wirt joined them.

“Uncle John, why can't Liza eat breakfast with us?” Mandie asked, as soon as her uncle was seated. “After all, she'll have to eat with us on the trip.”

Liza came through the doorway with huge platters of scrambled eggs, bacon, ham, and grits. “Oh, you want Liza to eat with us?” Uncle John asked. Looking up at the young servant girl, he said, “Liza, you get a plate and sit down over there next to Mandie. We're all in this thing together beginning today.”

Liza almost dropped the platters as she set them down. “What, Mister John?” she gasped.

“Mandie wants you to eat with us since you're going on the journey too. So get yourself a plate and sit down,” Uncle John told her.

“Yes, Liza, sit right here next to me.” Mandie used her foot to push out the chair next to her.

“Missy, I can't do that. Aunt Lou, she git all over me,” Liza protested.

“But Uncle John is the boss here. You heard what he said. Get your plate,” Mandie insisted.

Liza gave up. “Yes, Missy, I git me a plate and be right back,” the black girl said, returning to the kitchen.

Elizabeth looked at John.

“I told you I just can't resist those blue eyes, especially when they look so much like yours,” John told her.

“First thing you know, you'll have all the servants in an uproar,” Elizabeth protested. “The other servants won't like the idea at all.”

“Leave it to me. I'll take care of it if and when that time comes,” John told her. “After all, I'm half Indian. I'm not expected to act in the usual ‘white people' fashion,” he laughed.

“Oh, John, you can be funny!” Elizabeth smiled.

Polly was sitting next to Mandie and gave her a nudge. “Mandie, you have some great parents!” she said.

“One parent,” corrected Mandie. “Uncle John is still my uncle, even though he is married to my mother.”

“They are very much in love,” Dimar said, helping himself to more eggs and bacon.

She missed her father so much, it was hard to sort out her feelings about all that happened.

Uncle John was the “richest man this side of Richmond,” according to Liza. Why hadn't he shared his wealth with her father who was desperately poor? She would always wonder about that.

Liza came back through the door with a plate in one hand and a platter of hot biscuits in the other. After putting the biscuits in the middle of the long table, she sat down next to Mandie.

“Here,” Mandie said. She reached for the platter of eggs and passed it to Liza.

Joe passed the bacon and ham.

Dimar watched in amusement from the other end of the table. “Eat,” he said.

“That's one word that's good in any language—eat,” Joe laughed.

Liza nervously helped herself to the food, and then sat there pushing the food around with her fork. She cast a sheltered glance now and then at the others at the table.

“Liza, eat,” Uncle John's voice boomed from the other end of the table. “We've got to get going.”

“Yes, sir. Yes, sir, Mister John,” Liza answered and quickly shoved her mouth full of food.

Sallie looked across the table at Liza and felt sorry for her.
Poor Liza!
she thought.
She's so nervous sitting at the big table that she can't eat
. She almost choked on the food and hurried to wash it down with coffee that was too hot.

“Please do not worry. We are all on your side,” Sallie told her. “I felt the same way the first time I sat at this great table in this fancy house. You see, I live in a log cabin with my grandfather and grandmother.”

“I ain't never lived in a log cabin, Miss Sallie,” Liza replied. “I wouldn't know how to act in a log cabin.”

All the young people laughed.

“I also live in a log cabin,” Dimar told her.

“And so do I,” Tsa'ni added.

Turning to Mandie, Liza asked, “Where all these log cabins at?”

“Liza, haven't you ever seen a log cabin?” Mandie asked. “You know I lived in a log cabin with my father, too. That's how people live out in the country away from town. Log cabins are scattered all over the woods and fields.”

“I ain't never lived in de country either. I be born right heah in this house,” Liza told them.

“You were?” Mandie said. “Where are your mother and father?”

“They be done dead with de new-moanie, long time ago, when I was a li'l tyke. Aunt Lou, she tuck care of me after that,” Liza told them.

“My father died from the same thing,” Mandie said.

Uncle John's voice boomed out again. “Eat up, everyone! Whoever is going with me, be ready in fifteen minutes.”

He got up and left the table, with Elizabeth and Uncle Wirt following.

“You heard him. Eat,” Joe said. “Let's hurry and get done!”

Liza tried her best to swallow the food. She
was
hungry, but to have to sit here with “Miss Amanda” and her friends was too much for her. She pushed her plate away and stood up.

“I'se done,” she said. “Let's git our things and go.”

Mandie looked at the girl's plate. “But, Liza, you hardly ate anything at all,” Mandie objected.

Liza turned to her and spoke softly. “To be honest 'bout it, Miss Amanda, I jest didn't wanta eat in here with all these people. It'd be like you eatin' with Mr. McKinley in the White House.”