The Whippoorwill Trilogy

by Sharon Sala

  To Letty’s delight, she found two tin plates, a couple of spoons, and one large cooking pot in a box beneath the bed. Added to the few pots and pans they’d brought with them, she could now lay claim to a good assortment of cookware. The oversized bed near the fireplace was a surprise and a blessing, although the leather strapping that had been strung between the bedposts to serve as a mattress was stiff and dry. A couple of the strips had even come undone. One of the braces holding the footboard together had come loose, leaving the bed angled slightly toward the floor, but to Letty, who hadn’t slept in a bed since their night at Four Mile Inn, it looked magnificent.

  While Eulis gathered firewood from the dead fall around the cabin, Letty pounded a loose wooden peg back into the bed, and re-threaded the leather strapping on the bed. By the time Eulis had built the fire, Letty had their bedrolls made up on the bed, and was trying to wipe away the worst of the dust from the floor. When Eulis found a hand-made broom in the corner behind the fireplace, Letty clapped her hands and laughed.

  Eulis grinned.

  “Dang, Letty, it don’t take much to make you happy.”

  Surprised by the pure truth of Eulis’s words, she paused to look down at her hands. They were red and numb from the cold as they curled around the broom handle, but she hadn’t given them much thought. She looked up at Eulis. Snow had frozen in his hair and on his partially bearded face, and there were red patches on his skin, which she knew probably mirrored her own. They’d come close to frostbite more than once, and yet the simplicity of finding a much-needed broom had brought her joy.

  “You know something, Eulis, you’re right.”

  His grin widened.

  “Course I’m right.”

  This time when she laughed, she swung at him with the broom.

  He ducked and sidestepped, then pointed at her playfully.

  “Woman, you watch out now. You don’t want to put me out of commission when we ain’t got a damn thing to eat except some jerky and beans.”

  “You’ve got a point,” Letty said, and resumed sweeping, cleaning the floor of everything from dirt, leaves and mouse turds, to the bones of some small animal, most likely rabbit.

  Within a couple of hours, the cabin had taken on a homey feel. The warmth from the fire had taken the chill out of the air, and Eulis had fastened their tent over the cabin door, blocking out the cold air that kept blowing through the cracks.

  “I’ll fix those cracks in the door tomorrow,” Letty said, as she dished up the re-heated beans they’d carried from the low camp.

  “And I’ll go for an elk at first light.”

  Having stated an immediate plan for the future, they settled down to their beans and jerky, taking comfort in the shelter from the cold and the dark.

  And when it came time to rest, they lay side by side on the bed without thought for propriety or sex. For now, they were two people who, despite the odds against them, had not only survived, but thrived.

  Long after Eulis had fallen asleep and begun to snore, Letty watched the silhouette of his face highlighted against the glowing embers from the fire, and prayed to God that he would not succumb to disease. She knew all too well how few survived, and living without Eulis seemed obscene.

  Within the week, there were two elk carcasses hanging in the shed, and enough firewood to last through most of the winter. The crack in the door had been fixed with a mixture of mud, grass, and some clay Letty had found near the waterfall, which had hardened like brick. She had used the rest of it to patch the chinking between the logs and let the fire in the chimney die back so that she could run a long branch up the flue. Her digging quickly knocked down a half-dozen charred and smoking bird nests from the chimney. She rebuilt the fire, taking great satisfaction that smoke no longer backed up into the room.

  Rosy and Blackie had plenty of grazing and water. All they had to do was dig down past the snow to the dry grass beneath. Each night, Eulis brought them in from the meadow and put them in a small lean-to on the south side of the cabin. It wasn’t much in the way of shelter, but their proximity to the cabin deterred the occasional bear or cougar from attacking, although every night Letty heard wolves howling out in the valley. Even more daunting was the trail of footprints circling the cabin that the pack left behind each night.

  Each day, Eulis taught Letty one thing new. He’d showed her the best way to fell trees, using the mules to drag them to the cabin, and then showed her how to split them for firewood. Yesterday it had been setting snares for rabbits. Today he’d showed her how to clean green skins for tanning. There was water to be had, and food to be cooked. She knew enough to take care of herself until spring, and she knew the way out of the valley. For Eulis, who figured he was living each day on borrowed time, it was all he thought about. He’d gotten her into this mess by dragging her to the gold fields, and if it was the last thing he did, he was going to make sure she got out alive.

  Letty stayed so busy, and there was so much to learn, that she put the smallpox scare into the back of her mind. She’d laughed more since coming to this valley than she ever had in her life, and she slept sounder lying beside Eulis than she’d ever slept before. They’d earned their right to happiness. Surely God wouldn’t let any more tragedies befall them.

  On the eighth day, morning dawned on a clear sky. The sun was so bright on the snow that looking upon the valley was painful to the eyes. By mid-morning, Letty had an elk roast cooking over the fireplace, and was out by the lean-to, scraping the same elk’s skin that Eulis had stretched for her. She’d never made anything from the skin of an animal, but figured there was a first time for everything.

  Despite the sun, the air was cold, leaving a bite to the skin. Blackie was grazing nearby, while Eulis had taken Rosy with him to fell trees. Already, they’d dragged two large dead pines to the cabin to be cut up later for firewood.

  Letty glanced toward the trees periodically as she worked, taking note of the time that Eulis and Rosy had been gone. She was just beginning to be concerned when she saw them coming out of the trees again. Only this time Eulis wasn’t leading Rosy as he’d done both times before. He was riding her bareback. She watched for a moment and then gasped when Eulis swayed. She laid down her knife and grabbed a handful of snow to clean her hands without looking away.

  Rosy kept walking.

  Eulis was still astraddle the black mule.

  Everything was fine. She told herself that he was just tired. After all, it was their third trip. Taking a ride didn’t have to mean anything was wrong.

  She walked a few steps away from the house, kicking snow as she went. Her shoes were wet. Her feet were numb. She ignored both.

  Blackie stopped grazing and looked up, braying when he saw Rosy coming.

  Letty waved.

  Eulis slumped forward, then as if in slow motion, slid off the mule into the snow.

  “No,” Letty moaned, and started running.

  Blackie shied and then brayed, kicking as Letty dashed past. The snow was wet and halfway to her knees. For Letty, who was scared half out of her mind, it felt as if she was trying to run through a lake of mud. The weight of the snow sucked at her shoes, more than once threatening to pull them off her feet, and yet she kept moving, afraid that if she stopped, then so would her heart.

  Finally, she reached him and began pulling at Eulis’s coat in a desperate attempt to get his face out of the snow, afraid that she was too late and that he’d suffocated. She rolled him over and began digging snow from his mouth and nose, then slapping at his cheek in an effort to wake him. The first thing she felt was the heat of his skin beneath her palms, and when she did, she rocked back on her heels and screamed.

  Once at fate for dealing them one more blow.

  Once at God for letting it happen.

  And once for herself, knowing full well what still lay ahead.

  Then she dragged herself up, slid her hands beneath Eulis’s arms, and started yelling at him as she pulled.

  “Get up!” she sh
outed. “Open your eyes and get up!”

  Eulis could hear Letty’s voice, and although he couldn’t quite focus on the words, recognized the panic in her voice.

  “I’m sick,” he mumbled.

  Letty moaned, tugging even harder.

  “I know you’re sick, but you’ve got to help me or you’re damn sure gonna die. Stand up, Eulis. Stand up long enough for me to get you back on Rosy.”

  He tried to get up, but his legs wouldn’t work, and there was something wrong with the sky. It was spinning around his head like a top.

  “Letty?”

  “I’m here,” Letty said. “I need you to get up.”

  “Can’t,” Eulis said. “Gonna die.”

  “Not if I can help it,” she muttered, then saw the rope dragging behind the mule and grabbed it.

  When she tried to put it around Eulis’s chest, he began struggling against her intent.

  “Don’t,” Letty begged, pushing at his hands as he pulled at the rope. “Quit it, Eulis. You can’t get up and I’ve got to get you to the cabin.”

  But he kept batting at her hands, undoing everything she tried to do.

  “Don’t wanna hang. They hang deserters. Don’t wanna hang.”

  Letty shuddered. He was already out of his head. Fear made her angry and she took it out on him.

  “Damn it, Eulis Potter! You’re not gonna hang, but you’re gonna freeze to death unless you let me help.”

  “Cold,” he muttered.

  She laid her hand against his face. The fire beneath his skin was frightening.

  “I know honey,” she said softly. “I know you’re cold. Let’s go inside the cabin, okay?”

  “Okay,” he said, and passed out.

  She took advantage of the moment by quickly wrapping the rope around his chest and tying it off. She pulled it as taut as she dared without getting him too close to Rosy’s hooves, then grabbed Rosy’s halter and began leading her toward the cabin as fast as she dared, dragging Eulis behind.

  Twice she had to stop and brush snow from his face before they made it to the cabin. She dragged him all the way to the doorsill, then untied the rope and pulled him inside the cabin. Quickly, she unhitched Rosy and left her free to graze as she ran back inside.

  Eulis was lying where she’d left him. Snow was melting from his pants and coat, leaving him lying in a swiftly spreading puddle. She shut the door, tore off her coat and dropped to her knees beside him.

  “Got to get these wet things off you,” she muttered, and started pulling at his boots.

  He moaned once, but didn’t move. His silence was more frightening than when he’d fought her before.

  She shoved the wet boots near the fire to dry, and then began tugging off his pants. It took longer to get off his coat and shirt, because she had to keep rolling him from side to side.

  Finally, he was naked, and Letty started to shake. Already, the first signs of the pox were visible on his skin.

  “God give me strength,” she prayed softly, and then squatted behind him, slid her hands beneath his arms and started to pull.

  “Help me, Eulis. Please God… help him to help me.”

  She pulled again, this time pulling up in an effort to get him to his feet and into bed and somehow he moved. The success of her effort gave her strength, so she pulled again, and he moved again, and so it continued until he was finally on the bed.

  He promptly rolled over onto his side and moaned. When she tried to cover him up, he kicked off the covers.

  “Hot… too hot.”

  Letty grabbed the bucket and ran out the door, coming back moments later with it packed full of snow. She scooped some of it into a pan and then set the bucket by the fire to melt. With shaking fingers, she began bathing his skin with the snow, hoping to lower his temperature.

  It wasn’t until sundown that she remembered the mules and ran out into the night, carrying the rifle to bring them home. To her relief, they’d come to the lean-to on their own, and she quickly shut them in, then she set the rifle aside and carried in as much firewood as she thought they might need.

  She brought in a fresh bucket of snow, and the last thing she brought in was the rifle. Once inside, she let the door swing shut. When the sound echoed, Letty flinched. She turned and stared at the door, then down at the man on the bed. Before, when she’d shut them in each night, it had been to keep them safe from danger. Tonight, the danger was within, and there was little she could do to keep it out.

  By morning he was covered in pox and out of his head. Letty had spent the night by his side, bathing his body with the melted snow, and when she could manage it, getting water down his throat. She was so tired she was shaking and nearly blind from exhaustion, yet sleep was impossible. If she closed her eyes, Eulis might die, and she couldn’t let that happen.

  After a quick trip outside to relieve herself, and to let out the mules, she came back carrying a chunk of bone with a little meat and fat that they’d butchered from the elk. She started it to simmer, adding salt and a pinch of dried sage. Maybe today Eulis would feel better, and if he did, he would need sustenance, but nothing heavy—just a little elk broth.

  Once she’d put the soup bone on to cook, she felt better, as if by planning ahead, she’d given Eulis a future she’d been uncertain he would have.

  A familiar stench rose from the bed and Letty turned abruptly.

  “My poor man,” she said softly, then took a pan of warm water from the hearth and carried it to the bed.

  Eulis would hate what was happening to him, but in a way it was just as well that he didn’t know. He would have rather died than know he was soiling himself and that Letty was cleaning him up as if he was a baby.

  Once the job was finished, she carried the waste water outside and dumped it on the other side of the lean-to. When she turned around to go back into the cabin, she found herself face to face with a wolf.

  “God in heaven,” she gasped, and took a step backward.

  The wolf snarled as it lowered its head. It was then Letty saw the blood spreading around its foot and staining the snow. It appeared as if some toes were missing, probably from being caught in a trap. Back in Lizard Flats, she’d heard trappers talking about catching wolves in traps only to have them chew off their own foot rather than stay caught.

  The wolf’s sides were gaunt. It was obvious he’d been unable to hunt, and she was standing between him and the scent of elk meat. The wolf’s upper lip curled, showing a mouthful of sharp teeth. Hunger had overcome every fear it might have had regarding man, and was willing to do what it took to feed.

  A growl rumbled low in its throat as it slunk forward.

  Letty thought of the rifle inside the cabin and groaned.

  “Get!” she shouted, and waved the pan in the air.

  The wolf flinched and dodged, but didn’t go far. When she moved toward the cabin, instinctively, the wolf shifted, too, and again, she was pinned. To her horror, the wolf started toward her, and this time with no intent of stopping.

  Letty moved backward, all the way to the firewood. When she hit the stack with her heel, she suddenly realized she had all the weapons she would need at her back. Her fingers curled around a large branch, only seconds before the wolf leaped.

  Letty screamed as she swung. The branch hit the wolf in mid-air, landing solid up the side of its head. Blood splattered again, only this time on her. The wolf dropped at her feet then twitched, probably in the throes of death, but Letty wasn’t taking any chances. She hit it again, and then again, until blood and brains were spilled all over the snow and she was staggering from the shock of what she’d done.

  She dropped the branch into the snow and looked around for her pan. It was right where she’d dropped it, but when she bent down to pick it up, she swayed, then went to her knees. She took what she meant to be a deep, calming breath, and then started to sob. She cried until her head hurt, and her feet and legs were numb from the cold. When she tried to stand up, she stumbled and fell, only
to find herself lying face to face with what was left of the wolf. She stared long and hard at the flattened skull and sightless eyes and then gritted her teeth. It was dead. She was not. This time when she stood, she was steady on her feet.

  She toed the carcass with the end of her boot.

  “You shouldn’t have gotten in my way,” she muttered, and then went into the cabin.

  Eulis was right where she’d left him, clean and warm beneath the covers. She felt of his forehead, which was still hot to the touch, then slipped her hand beneath his head and raised it just enough that he might drink from the cup she held to his lips.

  “Drink, Eulis. Open your mouth and take a drink.”

  He began muttering the same thing over and over.

  “Don’t drink… not anymore… not anymore… not anymore.”

  Letty pried his lips apart and gently poured the liquid in.

  “Swallow it, Eulis. It’s just water. I swear.”

  The water dribbled down both sides of his lips, but enough went into his mouth to satisfy her intent. She eased him back down and went to check on the broth. It was bubbling.

  She looked down at her pants, frowning at the blood on the legs, then looked at her hands and shuddered.

  She’d killed a man once when she’d taken him to bed, but that had been in the throes of sex, and he’d paid her to die. She’d never killed anything with her hands before, and had often wondered if she had it in her to do the deed. So now she knew.

  She took the skinning knife from the mantle and started for the door, pausing but a moment by Eulis’s bed.

  “I’ll be right back,” she said. “Don’t bother getting up. I’ll see myself out the door.”

  She laughed aloud at the absurdity of what she’d just said, and then choked back another sob. There were things to be done, and she was burning daylight. She laid another stick of wood on the fire, and headed for the door, taking care to carry the rifle when she left.

  She’d lost track of the days that had come and gone. All she knew was that she was so weary from lack of sleep that she’d begun hallucinating. The clean snow around the cabin had either been used up, or stomped down by the mules. It had taken everything she had to make it to the falls, and now she staggered back into the cabin with a bucket of fresh water. She looked toward the fireplace and then froze. For a second, all she could see was the wolf that she’d killed, only it wasn’t dead anymore. It was standing near the fireplace, snarling at her all over again.