Linnett was very relieved to have overheard the men and felt slightly less afraid than before. Linnett tried to smile at Will whenever he looked in her direction to show her gratitude. The men cooked some fish they had caught earlier over the fire and gave her a stick with a burnt fish speared onto the end. She had nibbled dubiously at it, but was surprised to find it tasted quite good, and she was so hungry, she had devoured every last morsel. Linnett tried to stay awake while the men made preparations for the night, building up the fire and tending to their horses.
She must have fallen asleep at some point though because she awoke suddenly to terrible screams, horse screams, she thought, punctuated by the fearsome roars and growls of some wild creature. Petrified, Linnett scrambled to her feet. Will ran across to her, signalling to her to stay quiet, and then he grabbed hold of her and towed her along with him. They ran in the darkness, the terrible noise following them, echoing in the still night air. With the horrible screams ringing in her ears, Linnett stumbled and staggered along in wake of the men. Finally, they reached the river, and the men urged her into the shallow water, dark and oily in the faint light from the moon. Linnett shuddered with fear as she put her foot into the ice cold fast-flowing water. It was horrible not knowing what was under her feet. They began to push their way against the current, upstream in single file, stumbling on slippery water weed that covered the stones under their feet.
Linnett whispered to Will in front of her, “What was that creature?” Will turned his head and Linnett, could see the pale oval of his face in the faint moon light but couldn’t see his features clearly. “Bear,” he said shortly and carried on walking. Linnett was none the wiser.
The water was so cold, and the strong current pulled at her legs. She was thankful she had had the foresight to put on a pair of John’s trousers that morning; it would have been impossible to walk against these swift waters with long heavy skirts weighing her down. They trudged on for what seemed like ages to Linnett before they scrambled out of the water onto dry land. The men knew where they were going and soon they came upon a large rock face. Will, the first man, started to climb up, and then it was Linnett’s turn to follow. When she refused, Ned wasted no time with argument. He simply grunted and picked her up, slinging her over his shoulder, climbing slowly up behind Will, who had already reached the top. Will lent over the lip of the rock and grabbed hold of Linnett under the arms, hauling her upwards and onto the flat top of the huge outcrop. At last, they were all safely up, Linnett shivering from wet and cold.
“What was that creature?” she managed to ask again between chattering teeth. “Grizzly, nasty one, too” said Ned.
“What is grizzly?” Linnett asked.
“Yer are a real green horn, ain’t yer girly? Bear, a great big old grizzly bear, been tracking it nigh on a week now. Clever old bastard, this un!” Ned spat sideways to emphasize his point, and Linnett gagged with disgust as a phlegm blob hit the rock beside her.
Will grunted agreement as he was unrolling a blanket that he had the foresight to grab before they had left their camp. The two men seated themselves either side of Linnett and wrapped the blanket over them all. Linnett was grateful for the warmth but felt embarrassed that she sat so closely sandwiched between the two men. She covered her confusion with talk. “A bear, you say? Well, what was all that screaming? I thought it sounded like a horse, and why did we walk in the river?”
Will answered her this time. “A grizzly tracks by smell, see, and they can’t smell our tracks in water and this rock’s high enough up to carry our scent away, winds blowing in the opposite direction to the camp where the bear is at, see? We should be safe enough here till mornin’.”
Linnett felt relieved and asked, “What will we do when the morning comes?”
Ned put his arm around her waist and gave her a squeeze. “Don’t worry, darlin’, the bear will be gone. Bears sleep most of the day this time o’ the year, they hunt afternoon and night. Anyways, yer got old Ned ter keep yer safe and warm.”
Linnett shifted, uncomfortably aware of his arm snaked around her waist. “Oh well, that’s good, thank you,” Linnett muttered uneasily. She was beginning to feel very sleepy. Anxious that she might lean into one of the men if she fell asleep, Linnett sat up and put her head on her knees, clasped her arms around her legs, having no intention of giving these men any ideas.
John and Hans decided to ride through the night. They found that they could follow the path by the pale moonlight fairly well. Once they reached the river, it would be easier to keep to the path, which was marked by the course the river flowed. They rode silently, each man with his own grave thoughts, with Hans leading the way.
John realised after a while that he could hear a faint sound, and stopping his horse, he listened hard. He thought he could hear a distant voice calling -- yes, there it was again. “Hans! Listen!”
Hans halted his horse, putting his head on one side. He could hear the sound, a faint calling off to their right and away from the river. “I hear it, John! Faint, but certainly a voice calling for help! It means us leaving the river path. I do not like it; we could get very lost in the dark.”
John was desperate to go and follow the voice, he was so frantic with worry about Linnett, but he knew that Hans must be equally worried about his young son. John was a sensible young man, and he knew that Hans would have more luck tracking the two than he would.
“I will stay here by the river edge, and you go and search for them, Hans. You know the country better than I. If you get lost, fire your pistol, and I will fire mine that way you can follow the sound back.”
Hans reined his horse in and turned it so that he could put his hand on John’s shoulder. “Are you sure of this, my friend? Would you rather go and I will wait?”
John shook his head. “Go, Hans. As I said, you know the country better than I.” John reached out and slapped Hans’s horse’s rump, and the horse and rider disappeared into the darkness. John kept his horse, still listening to the sound of hooves until he realised he could no longer hear anything. He dismounted and tethered the animal, thinking he might as well try to rest. He would probably have a long wait.
Hans, meanwhile, walked his horse slowly, listening intently for the sound of the voice they had heard. But now there was only silence. He went some way and then stopped and listened again but still nothing. “Peter? Linnett!” he called into the darkness, his voice sounding hollow and strange.
He listened but heard only the whisper of the night breeze and the faint rustling of grass and trees, no voice replying. He tried again, “Peter! Linnet! Answer me!”
Hans listened again, Ah! This time he heard it, a voice, slightly louder now but unmistakably his son! Hans trotted his horse for a short while, following the direction that Peter’s voice had come from. He stopped to listen and called again and this time there was no doubt about the reply. “Pa! Pa! I’m here! Pa!”
Hans jumped down from his horse, running towards the sound of his son’s voice. “Keep calling out, son, so that I can find you, just keep calling!”
“Pa! Pa! Over here, Pa, I’m under a tree!”
Hans saw a movement under the dark, looming tree and ran to his son, gathering the boy into his arms Hans clasped him to his chest. “Peter, oh thank the Lord!”
He loosened his hold and took his son’s pale face between his palms, gazing anxiously into his small face. “Are you hurt?”
Peter tried to nod, saying, “My leg, I think it’s broke, Pa! The horse was snake-bit, I think, and he threw me and bucked and dived and then he collapsed and he died, Pa!” Peter’s small face was awash with tears. His father rocked him and crooned to him in Dutch before he lifted him onto his horse and turned back towards the spot where he had left John.
Linnett awoke in the morning with the sun warm on her face, curled up on the sun-warmed rock. It took her a while to realise where she was, and she was surprised to find that she was alone, finding no sign of the two trappers. After scrambling
back down the rock’s side, which proved much easier in daylight than the climb up the previous night, Linnett decided she would pay a call of nature and then bathe quickly in the river. She needed to wash away all the grime the last couple of days had covered her in. She was drying herself with the blanket in a secluded spot surrounded by low shrubbery, her clothes placed on a low flattish rock beside her, when Linnett heard the crack of twigs and the sound of stealthy footsteps. Linnett froze, holding the blanket high up under her chin. Ned appeared, his eyes narrowed lustfully at the sight of her near nakedness. His thin lips slackened and his feral gaze boldly raked Linnett’s body.
“We-ell, what d’ we ‘ave ‘ere then?” drawled Ned.
He placed his musket carefully against a bush, his eyes not once leaving her body. Linnett glanced across at her clothes nervously. Could she reach them?
“Why, Ned, you startled me. Is Will with you?” Linnett looked beyond Ned to try to find Will.
“He’s off tracking that old bear, determined ter get it, he is. Damn thing killed all the horses last night.”
Linnett wished Will was with Ned, becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the way Ned was looking at her. “Could you hand me my clothes, please?”
Ned ambled over to the rock and scooped up Linnett’s things, holding them in one hand and grinning at her. “These, d’yer mean? Come and get them, girly,” he said, swinging his arm so the clothes swayed slowly to and fro.
“Please, Ned, this isn’t funny. Give me my clothes.”
“Yer won’t need these fer a while,” Ned said, flinging the clothes so that they disappeared far among the shrubbery.
Linnett spun around and ran, stumbling over the blanket as she went. Linnett gathered it up higher, trying to wrap it around herself as she fled. Running as fast as she could away from the river’s edge, the low branches of Aspen bushes stung her face as she blundered head-first through the undergrowth. Her pounding heart raced painfully in her chest, and she ran until agonising pain tore at her ribs. She glanced behind her and tripped over a tree root, falling face downwards in the dirt, her breath knocked painfully from her lungs.
Immediately, she felt rough hands on her body, turning her over onto her back. A heavy weight landed on top of her, crushing what little air she had left out of her chest. Ned was kissing her, his foul breath making her gag. His filthy hands mauled her, digging painfully into her most tender parts. He grunted and muttered thickly as Linnett struggled helplessly under him. Finally, she managed to twist her head free of his slobbering mouth and screamed. She tried to bring her leg up and knee him in the groin, but he grabbed hold of her thigh and forced her legs apart, inserting a knee between. Linnett screamed again louder this time, then bit his ear hard, hanging onto it with her teeth. Ned bellowed in agonised rage, pulling back, splattering Linnet’s face with his blood, and then he raised his arm, ready to hit her across the face. Linnett flinched, screwing her eyes shut, tensed for the blow.
When the blow failed to fall, she opened her eyes and stared into his face, it had contorted, twisted into a horrible grimace; slowly he slumped forward falling inert on top of her. Linnett screamed, scrabbling and pushing at sudden dead weight that crushed her. When all at once the burden was lifted off her, she squinted upwards shielding her eyes from the sun, and found she was looking into the stark face of her furious husband, who was standing glowering down at her.
“John! Oh darling, you saved me! Oh thank God!” Linnett flung her arms around her husband’s neck. John helped his wife to her feet, disentangled her arms and picked up the blanket, wrapping it swiftly around her nakedness.
“Goddamn it, Linnett, what the hell are you playing at!” John yelled, grabbing hold of her, his fingers biting hard into her shoulders. Linnett looked at Ned, and trembling with shock, she realised that he was dead. A dagger protruded from his back. Linnett pointed a shaking finger at his body. “John, he’s dead! My God, John, you’ve killed him!”
John shook her so hard that Linnett’s teeth rattled. Her head snapped back and forth, her hair flinging forwards, stinging her eyes. “Of course I killed him, you little fool! He was about to rape you!” John suddenly groaned and yanked her hard against him, coiling his arms around her tightly. “Linnett, Linnett, thank God I found you, you are safe now! Are you hurt my sweet?”
John tipped up her chin and studied her face, which was covered in spots of blood and any number of tiny scratches. He traced his thumb across her cheek, which was smeared with leaf mould. “Linnett, you look terrible, such a mess....god-dammit where the hell are your clothes?”
Linnett gazed up at him numbly. “My clothes are by the river. I was bathing when Ned…” Linnett turned to walk slowly back towards the river edge, and John followed her.
John tenderly washed his wife’s scratches in the cool river water, his emotions swinging between compassion for his wife one moment and searing rage with her the next. He then built a fire and brewed coffee from the supply provided by Sarah for the journey. John had watched Linnett as she had recounted her adventures to him, excitedly waving her hands about to express herself, just like a child. John sighed to himself; his wife had absolutely no sense of responsibility at all. She was and is oblivious to the worry she has caused, he pondered, bemused.
“What became of the horse?” he asked when she finished her tale. Linnett’s hand flew to her mouth. “Oh, how dreadful of me! I had forgotten all about her! Penny’s tethered in a clearing over that way. John, she will be so thirsty! Shall I go and find her?” Linnett jumped to her feet, agitated and guilty. John immediately got to his feet. “No Linnett, stay by the fire. I will go and find the horse.”
John turned to walk away and then hesitated. He stopped and faced her, saying sternly, “Do not move from this spot, Linnett. I mean it, for I have no wish to hunt for you again. Do you understand me?”
Linnett looked at John, surprised by his tone, and said, “Of course.”
“I mean it, madam; if I return to find you gone this time…. I swear I’ll take my belt to you. Now do you understand me?” John waited. When she failed to reply he snapped, “Linnett!” Linnett scowled at him. “Yes, I have said I will remain here. Now go and find poor Penny, she will be so thirsty!”
John strode away. He was not happy letting Linnett out of his sight, but from her tale about the bear attack the previous night, John suspected that Penny was a casualty, and if he was right, he didn’t want Linnett to see what was left of the poor animal. John replayed the scene he had come upon by the river. He had heard Linnett’s scream and was thankful that he had been nearby to hear her. He couldn’t begin to think what would have happened to her if he had arrived a few minutes later than he had. When John thought about that man with his filthy paws on his wife, John ground his teeth and wished he could kill the bastard all over again. However, he was absolutely furious with his wife; she had brought all this trouble on herself.
John had run out of patience with her. This time, she would learn her lesson and he was going to teach it to her!
Chapter 11
When Hans had rode up in the grey light of pre-dawn carrying Peter’s small body, John had thought the boy dead. The relief that he felt when he realised Peter was actually alive had been immense, even though he knew a broken leg was a serious injury for such a small boy. Linnett had caused all this trouble, and she still seemed to be totally oblivious of the fact. Hans told John he was going straight back to the homestead with Peter; he turned his horse around and left without even acknowledging Linnett.
John had found Penny, or rather, what was left of the poor animal. There was no point in him going any closer; the wolves would finish the remains. He swatted at a cloud of flies that had risen from the carcass and buzzed around him. Walking back to where he had left Linnett, John remembered that he had still to bury the trapper. His expression grew grim as he recalled the man astride his wife’s nude body. By God, she would have some explaining to do before he was through with her. She was just t
oo damn wilful. He would bury the man’s body now, and then they could be on their way back to the farm and he would take Linnett in hand.
John arrived back at the small camp and glanced around. The fire was burning merrily, and his horse stood nearby, contentedly grazing on the patchy grass, but of Linnett, there was no sign. Where the devil was she now? Twenty minutes he’d been gone, just twenty short minutes! John stood stock still, a nerve twitching in his clenched cheek.
“Linnett!” he barked. He listened hard, but there was no answering call, not a sound. John slapped his leg, extremely agitated now. Perhaps the second trapper, Will, had taken her. Anxiously, John hurried towards the river looking for signs of his errant wife.
Linnett had sat patiently waiting for John. They would need to get started on their journey as soon as he returned, and she wanted to get away as soon as possible. Linnett folded the blanket and added it to the pack on John’s saddle. She noticed his water bag was hanging limp and empty and decided that she would fill it with the fresh water they would need on their journey. Linnett built up the fire and set off with the leather water bag swinging at her side.
It was only when she had reached the water’s edge that Linnett recalled John’s instruction not to leave the camp. Well, she hadn’t really left the camp area; after all, she was just fetching water for their journey. Linnett knelt and filled the bag until it was full to overflowing. As she straightened up, Linnett caught sight of something on the opposite side of the river. She put up her hand and shaded her eyes from the bright sunlight, but even squinting, she couldn’t tell what it was. If she moved slightly farther down river, there were overhanging trees that created shade. Perhaps it would be easier to see from there. Linnett made her way along the river bank towards the trees.
Suddenly from across the water, there was a roaring and crashing in the undergrowth, and then a man’s high-pitched scream rent the air. Linnett froze in her tracks, staring at the place the commotion was coming from. Suddenly, a man burst out from the foliage, and he flung himself into the river. Linnett gasped as she recognised Will. From behind him came another deafening roar, and a huge brown bear crashed out from the trees. The bear stood up on hind legs, and its enormous shaggy arms pawed the air.
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