by Barbara Goss
“Hello,” Dawn replied.
“Sit down. I didn’t mean to frighten you from your seat.” He had a smile similar to Bob’s.
Dawn resumed her seat on the bench.
The man sat beside her. “You are Chinook. I was told you were here. I am Tal’-a-puss.”
“Prairie wolf!” Dawn exclaimed.
“Yes, and I love my name, but now I am called Parker Cole.”
“I like that name, too.”
The man laughed. “I’m getting used to it. I was named after Arthur Bortner’s grandfather, Parker Cole Bortner. He said I should wear the name proudly, since his grandfather was a great man.”
“I am Dowanhowee, now called Dawn.”
“I love both the names. Do you sing?”
“Not a note!”
They both laughed.
Dawn liked the man instantly. “You remind me of Bob.”
Parker laughed again. “He’s my father.”
“Arthur Bortner named everyone here? This is a much bigger village than the one in Oregon.”
“Yes. He and his staff gave us all names if we couldn’t think of one ourselves. We have a little over two hundred and fifty Chinook living here.”
Dawn gazed down the bay at the longhouses, lined up one after another as far as she could see.
“Who named you, Dawn?”
“I was orphaned at an early age and given to a white family as a slave. They didn’t raise me as a slave but as a family member. I learned English, how to read and write, and all the things a young woman needs to learn. They were good to me. I also have a white sister, whom I adore. They called me Dawn from the first day I arrived.”
“And your husband?”
“I am not married—yet. I do have a love interest, though. His name is Jake Winters.”
“That is his white man’s name?”
“No, he is a white man.”
“Oh, no. You know that will never work,” Parker said.
“I thought that, too, but it will work because we have trust and love.”
“How did you come to be here all alone, then?”
“I wish I knew.” Dawn smoothed the crease in her riding skirt before continuing. “I stepped onto a train because someone told me a passenger needed help—” Dawn stopped talking and both of her hands went to her temples.
It had been Mercy who'd told her! It had to have been Mercy that knocked her out. There wasn’t a man in need of help at all. How could Mercy have known there was a man on the train unless…Mercy had answered the letter! There had never been a Thomas Ainslee.
“What is it, Dawn?” Parker asked.
“I just realized who knocked me out with some type of chemical on a cloth. I stepped on the train, someone from behind me put the cloth on my face, and that’s all I knew. When I woke up, I was nearly to Olympia, where I got off the train.”
She realized why Mercy had done what she did while Parker digested her story. She'd wanted Jake for herself!
“Who was it?” Parker asked.
“I just realized who it was: a woman named Mercy who wanted me out of the way so she could have Jake.”
After several moments of silence, Parker asked, “So what did you do in Olympia?”
“I went to the nearest church, where the pastor led me to Arthur Bortner, and here I am.”
“I’m glad you're here.” Parker gave her the most enchanting smile.
Bob walked over to them. “I see you’ve met Dawn.”
“I have,” Parker said.
“The chief would like to meet her, and then perhaps you can show her around, son?”
Parker grinned. “I’d love to.”
Bob led Dawn to the chief’s longhouse.
The chief sat at the table, polishing a rifle. “So, Bob tells me you are Dawn, a Chinook from Oregon.”
Dawn nodded. “Yes. I was sort of knocked out and put on a train. Now, I have no way to get back to Silverpines, Oregon.”
“Ah, Silverpines. The town that was hit badly by an earthquake, recently. I hope things are getting back to normal.” The chief set his gun aside and studied her. “You are not a full-blooded Chinook.”
“No,” Dawn answered. “My mother was a full-blooded Chinook. She married a French trapper who lived with my mother among the Chinook.”
The man looked more like a chief than Moses had. He was dressed in a soft, leather shirt and had the look of importance about him. His mannerisms, his communication, as well as his looks all helped to make him look like a leader.
“I am the chief of this village. They once called me Hy-ak, but I am now John Hall.
Dawn smiled. “Hy-ak: Quick or fast?”
John nodded. “I once was very fast.
“Bob has offered you a bed in his longhouse. Do you accept?”
“I accept. Bob is very friendly,” Dawn said, “but how can I get home?”
“I don’t know. Perhaps one of the men can paddle you down the Pacific to Astoria, but it will have to wait until spring—it’s much too dangerous at this time of year.”
Dawn followed Bob and Parker to their longhouse. When she walked inside, it looked the same as Moses’ house and the one she’d lived in. There were beds along the outside walls, a kitchen on the back wall, and a large dining table graced the floor in the middle.
Bob pointed to the first bed as they walked into the home. “Our extended family isn’t as big as it once was. This will be your bed. No one occupies the next bed, which will give you some privacy. Parker and I are on the other side, toward the kitchen.”
Dawn was relieved that she wouldn't be sleeping near Parker since she had the feeling he'd found her attractive. The last thing she needed was a romance when her heart was already taken. She missed Jake something terrible.
“Let me show you around the village,” Parker said. “We’ll have time before dinner. My mother and her sisters are cooking salmon tonight.”
Dawn allowed Parker to walk her outside and around the village. There wasn’t much to see, but Parker showed her what was there.
He pointed to a beach-like area. “This is where our people fish.”
Dawn could see many footprints in the wet sand and lines of rope with beads at intervals. Parker explained how they caught the fish with the nets and ropes.
They walked away from the water and further away from the longhouses.
Parker pointed again. “This is our cemetery. The government commands that we bury our dead. I’m sure you know that we've always put the dead into canoes and hung them from trees or just set them on the ground. Some of the dictates of the Indian agency were hard to abide. The burial custom was the most difficult.
Dawn gazed at the tombstones amid a field of wildflowers. “Yes. My whole family were buried in a canoe that hung from a large oak tree. The tribe was also ordered to bury the dead.”
Parker showed her another area on the bay a good distance from the fishing area. “This is where the women wash clothes and where we bathe, as well.”
“It’s all very similar to my village, except yours is larger and your longhouses are triangular, while ours are rectangular.”
“I’m afraid that’s about all there is to see. It’s probably dinner time—are you hungry, Dawn?”
“I haven’t had a home cooked meal in a long time. I’m famished.”
As they walked back to the Coles’ home, Parker asked, “Is there something bothering you, Dawn?”
“Yes. The chief said he can’t escort me home until spring, and I’m afraid my family will be worried to death. I simply went into town and never returned. I have to either get home or get word to them.”
Chapter Twelve
“Dawn, it’s a four-day ride to a telegraph office. I’d gladly pay for the wire, though.”
“Are Arthur and the Dawsons still in the village? Maybe they could wire them for me.”
“No. They left right after their meeting.” Parker stopped walking. “I wouldn’t risk taking you back by canoe. It�
��s risky any time of the year. The ocean water's choppy, and the air's extremely cold. If a storm hits, the boat would most likely capsize and we’d die. I won’t even mention the sharks. In fact, it’s dangerous enough during the summer months.”
“Have you ever made the ocean trip?” Dawn asked, wide-eyed.
“Only once, in the summer, and we tried to stay as close to shore as we could, but it’s a struggle to keep your canoe from drifting out to sea. My father and brother helped. One man cannot do it alone.”
“I would have liked to have bid Arthur and the Dawsons goodbye.”
“They were in a hurry to get back due to Thanksgiving preparations. Mrs. Dawson did tell me to give you her regards.”
Dawn sighed. “I guess this is my home until spring, then.”
“I’m afraid so, unless you take the land route to Silverpines.”
“How long would that take?”
“It’s hard to say. You could run into ice or snow, winds, and danger from wildlife. The route is through the wilderness. It would take four days to get back to Olympia, and then another week to get to the Columbia River, but you’d be on the wrong side of it.”
Dawn tried to control her emotions, but tears fell from her eyes, and she brushed them swiftly away. She had to stay strong.
“I’m so sorry, Dawn.”
Dawn’s voice broke with emotion. “It’s just that I miss my sister, her family, and mostly Jake. They’ll all think I’ve run off with an imaginary Shawnee Indian. Perhaps Mercy Logan will get her man, after all.”
“It might be for the best, Dawn. You should be with your own kind.”
Dawn glanced up at him. “I’ll pray about it and leave in God’s hands. He, alone, knows my heart and Jake’s.”
“God?” Parker asked. “You mean Neahkanie.”
“No, not the god of nature or the spirits. My God is for everyone, not just the Chinook, or the Chinese, or any other nationality. He is the God of the whole world. He is a good God who is fair and loves us enough to have sent His own son to earth to die for our sins.”
“What is this pray?”
“When you pray, you talk to him.”
“Does he answer?”
Dawn smiled at Parker. “He does, but not with his voice.”
Parker gave her a puzzled look.
“Would you like to learn about my God?” Dawn asked.
Parker seemed to take forever to answer, but then he said, “Maybe I can show you that the Chinook way of life is better. You are Chinook and Neahkanie is your god.”
*******
After a week with no word from Dawn, it was time to report her as missing to Marshal Sewell. Since Laura was Dawn’s next of kin, she was the one who had to report her missing. She'd also given the marshal a photograph of Dawn. Sewell promised to have posters made that they could post around town.
Jake got into bed, picked up his Bible, and opened it randomly, hoping to find something to put his mind at ease about Dawn. The book opened to Isaiah 41. He skimmed down the
page and one verse, in particular, caught his eye: For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, fear not; I will help thee.
He closed the book and prayed for Dawn’s safety. Jake felt calmed and after he turned off his lamp, he fell fast asleep.
As he was leading a horse to its stall mid-morning, Marty yelled to him: “Jake, you have a visitor.”
Jake put the horse into the stall, gave him water, and returned to the front room of the livery. He suspected Max had come with news, and he prayed it would be good.
He stopped dead in his tracks to see Mercy Logan, standing by the front door all dolled up in a ruffled, pink outfit. He had to admit, with the blonde hair and blue eyes, she looked beautiful, but if she thought her looks or outfit would have an effect on him, she was wasting her time.
“I’m guessing you didn’t come to rent a buggy,” Jake said.
“You guessed right,” she said with a syrupy tone.
“Look, Miss Logan, I’m trying to run a business here. I can’t socialize during work hours.”
“Oh!” She pouted. “Shall I come to your home, then?”
Jake let out a loud sigh. “Just what is it you want?”
“I’m worried about Dawn, and I wondered if you’d heard from her yet.”
“No, we haven’t, but I expect we will very soon.”
“I’m telling you: she ran off with that Thomas Ainslee. You’ll see that I’m right.”
Jake started to answer her, but then he stopped. “Wait! How’d you know his name?”
“I…I…someone told me.”
“Who?”
“I don’t recall.”
Jake stared at her for several moments. “I remember a day when I left you in my office for five minutes. You took that letter and you answered it. I don’t know how you got it postmarked from Sacramento, but I know you did it. I just don’t understand why. What did Dawn ever do to you?”
Mercy passed her reticule from one hand to the other, nervously. “Why, that’s ridiculous!”
“Is it?” Jake blocked the door when she tried to leave. “Into my office. Now!”
The tone of his voice made Mercy jump and she scurried into his office.
“Sit down!”
Mercy sat gingerly on a chair at the table.
“What did you do to Dawn?”
Mercy bristled. “I told you: I had nothing to do with her disappearance.”
“I could drag you down to the marshal’s office right now. If you tell me what you did with Dawn, I won’t turn you in; your choice.”
“The marshal can’t prove I had anything to do with it.”
“He’ll have enough to lock you up if I tell him you knew the name of the man she supposedly met. I’ll tell him about the letter, too.”
Mercy sat stubbornly silent.
“I telegraphed the Sacramento post office and they told me there isn’t a Thomas Ainslee living there.”
Mercy remained silent, but her eyes showed her fear.
“I’m thinking I need to check with the stagecoach drivers. They keep a record of mailings. I might just find out how you managed to get a Sacramento postmark on that letter.”
Mercy sighed, and her shoulders slumped. “I tricked her into stepping onto the train and then chloroformed her. The ticket I put in her hand was for Seattle. If she stayed sleeping, that’s where she ended up.”
“And she had no reticule, money, or clothes, other than what she wore?”
Mercy nodded her head.
Jake held his head in his hands. “Good Lord woman—what have you done?”
“You said if I told you, you wouldn’t turn me in to the marshal.”
Jake bent down and spoke directly into Mercy’s face. “If anything's happened to harm Dawn, I’ll turn you in so fast, your head will spin like a wheel. I’ll see you hang!” Jake slammed his hands down on the table and yelled, “Get out!”
*******
Living with the Bay Center Chinook was nothing like living with the Chinook in Oregon—the people seemed wary of her and they kept their distance. Bob and Parker were her only friends. Parker seemed to pop up everywhere she went, and she didn’t know how to discourage him without damaging the friendship they’d built in the weeks she’d been there.
It was December, and it was by the bay and the ocean, and the wind seemed to blow right through her riding outfit. Bob’s wife had given her a buckskin dress to wear while her outfit was being washed, and Dawn found it comfortable and much warmer than her clothes.
While lying in bed one morning, Dawn decided she needed to get back to Olympia. The strangest part of her decision was that she didn’t know why. Perhaps she yearned for the company of Pastor Spitzer and his family. She didn’t know, but she was willing to make the trip despite the weather if someone would accompany her.
Having lived with the Chinook and with a white family, she had to admit she felt more comfortable with the latter. Could it be
her father’s blood in her veins? She yearned to be home at White Oaks and in Jake’s loving arms.
The more she thought about Jake and Laura, the more she wanted to get started on her journey. After a brief stay in Olympia with the Spitzers, she’d have to find a way to get back to Silverpines.
After much haggling, Bob and Parker agreed to take her to Olympia. It took several days for them to prepare and pack for the trip, but on one unusually warm and sunny morning in early December, the three set out for Olympia. Dawn worried when she saw only three horses, but she supposed the Indians knew what they were doing. Perhaps they didn’t need spare horses for the trip.
On the first night, they set their bedrolls near the fire, and Parker moved his closer to hers than she thought proper. She looked up at Bob to see what he thought, but Bob simply shrugged. As handsome and charming as Parker was, her heart was filled with feelings for Jake, and there wasn’t an inch of room for anyone else. As soon as she heard Parker’s light snoring, she moved her bedroll further away.
Because Bob and Parker had only the three horses, they rode, stopping about every ten or so miles to let the horses rest and graze. While the horses grazed, the three sat around and talked. Bob wanted to know all about White Oaks, while Parker was more interested in her ties to the Chinook in Oregon.
The weather had been a bit milder since they'd traveled away from the ocean and the bay, but the nights were very cold. Some mornings, they found light snow on the ground. Dawn was thankful the men had thought to bring blankets and bearskins.
Parker was like her shadow, always right at her elbow to help her with blankets, bedrolls, or when mounting her horse. Dawn knew he'd meant well, but it still unnerved her somewhat, because she could tell by the look in his eyes that he was falling in love with her.
One day during their rest time, Bob went off to take care of his personal needs, and Parker asked her to walk a bit with him. She agreed. They didn’t walk far for fear of missing Bob when he returned, but he walked her to a fallen log and invited her to sit.
