by Al Lacy
Diana waited quietly while both letters were read by each of the four family members. Lorene commented on how well Knight had worded the letters and the others agreed. When they were finished, Diana put the letters and the newspaper ad back in her purse.
“How many pieces of luggage do you have, Miss Morrow?” asked Knight.
“Only two. A small trunk and a suitcase. They’re just inside the front door.”
“How about helping me, Mark?” said Knight.
“Sure.”
“Well, since you boys insist,” said William, “I’ll be at the barn.”
All three men hurried away.
“Let’s go on up to the room, dear,” Sylvia said to Diana.
“I’ll start cleaning up the kitchen, Mom,” said Lorene.
“Fine, honey,” said Sylvia. “Follow me, Diana.”
As Sylvia and Diana moved down the hall toward the staircase, Sylvia said, “Again, I apologize for not responding to you immediately a moment ago, dear. I should have offered you the room when you said you needed to change. You must think we are totally without manners around here.”
“Nothing of the kind,” said Diana. “I can imagine what a shock my arriving here like this must be to all of you. I’m sorry for hitting you with it all of a sudden. I had no idea Jordan was keeping me a secret from his family.”
Knight was halfway up the stairs, carrying the trunk, and Mark was ahead of him with the suitcase.
As the two women started up the stairs, Sylvia said, “That had to be a shock for you, honey. I can see why you would naturally assume Jordan was sharing the news with his family that he had a mail order bride coming.”
“Looks like this has been a shocking day for all of us, Mrs. Shaw.”
“To say the least.”
“I do hope Jordan is all right—that it’s just some unforeseen problem that is hindering his coming home.”
“Me too,” said Sylvia, her voice quivering.
As they topped the stairs, Knight and Mark were coming out of the first door on the left side of the hall.
“We put both pieces of luggage on the bed, Miss Morrow,” said Knight.
“Thank you,” she responded with a smile.
“We’ll see you in a little while,” said Mark, and the two of them moved down the stairs.
Sylvia led Diana into the room, which was beautifully decorated. “Please make yourself at home, dear. I’ll have Lorene bring up some hot water. I’m sure you would like to freshen up a bit after your long trip.”
“That would be nice.”
“Also, there is paper, pen, and ink in the top desk drawer. You’ll find envelopes in the bottom drawer on the left. I’m glad you’re going to get the letter to your mother in the mail today. I wouldn’t want her to be sick with worry over her child like I am over mine.”
Diana’s gentle heart went out to the distraught woman. Laying a hand on her shoulder, she said, “It just has to be that some kind of problem came up that is hindering him, Mrs. Shaw.”
A small smile creased Sylvia’s cheeks. “Oh my dear, I hope you’re right. I’ll leave you now. Lorene will be up with the hot water in a few minutes.”
“You’re very kind. Thank you.”
“And Diana …”
“Yes, ma’am?”
“Please feel free to leave your things here. And consider this your room for as long as you need it.”
Diana thanked her again, and Sylvia closed the door behind her as she left.
As Diana approached the comfortable-looking bed, she thought, What I wouldn’t give to be able to crawl under the covers and take a long nap. Giving herself a mental shake, she uttered in a soft voice, “First things first.”
Opening both the suitcase and the trunk, Diana took out everything, spreading it on the bed. Quickly sorting through it, she laid the split skirt and a blouse on a chair. She picked up a small bag and put what she figured she would need for the mountain trip in the bag.
Then sitting down at the desk, she hurriedly penned the letter to her mother, telling her that she had arrived late, because of the avalanche, but safely. Saying she would fill her in on details in her next letter, she tells her mother of Cora Zeller leading her to the Lord on the train between Cheyenne City and Boise. She gave praise to the Lord, saying how wonderful it is to be born again and to know she is going to heaven.
Quickly she addressed the letter to Shamus and Maggie O’Hearn, using the general delivery address of the Bar-S Ranch under her name in the upper left-hand corner.
As she was sealing the envelope, there was a tap at the door. She opened it to find Lorene with a steaming kettle of hot water. Taking the kettle, she thanked Lorene, then gave her the letter, saying she would pay her for the postage when they got back from the mountains. Lorene told her she would gladly pay the postage and hurried away.
Diana carried the kettle to a table where a washbasin sat and poured the larger portion of the water into the basin. She removed her wrinkled travel clothes, then taking a soft cloth from the table, she washed herself as thoroughly as possible for the short time she had in which to do it. Drying off with the towel, she put on the blouse and split skirt for her trek into the mountains.
Taking a deep breath and looking with longing at the comfortable bed, she picked up the small bag and left the room.
By eleven-thirty, the group was mounted and on their way with two packhorses following on lead ropes. Diana was wearing a heavy black coat supplied by Sylvia, along with a black hat with a ribbon that tied under her chin.
While they were climbing into the mountains, Mark and Diana listened as William and Knight talked about the time they went in search of Jordan eight years ago when they thought he had been killed and eaten by a grizzly.
Diana shuddered at the thought and said, “I’m sure glad it wasn’t so.”
“So were we,” said William. “What a relief when Jordan showed up at Lorene and Mark’s wedding, alive and well.”
“Oh, I want to hear about that,” said Diana.
While William and Mark were telling her the story, Knight thought about Ol’ Halfpaw and the grudge the bear might have toward Jordan for shooting off part of his right forepaw. He would keep this to himself. William, Mark, and Diana didn’t need that to worry them.
When they reached the old abandoned cabin in midafternoon, they were disappointed to see no sign of Jordan nor his horse. The only tracks in the fresh snow around the cabin were those of deer and elk.
Sliding from the saddle, Knight said, “I’ll go inside and take a look. Be right back.”
Knight plodded through the snow, stepped up on the porch of the cabin, opened the squeaky door, and went inside.
Mark said, “Where do we go now?”
“No particular place,” said William. “He could be anywhere. We’ll just have to start searching.”
Looking around at the towering mountain peaks and the massive forests, Diana said, “I hope he’s holed up somewhere dry, warm, and safe.”
“Me too,” said William.
At that instant, Knight came out the door, stepped off the porch, and approached his companions. “Someone has been staying in the cabin recently. I can tell by the ashes in the stove and fireplace, and the lack of dust on the cupboard and the table. But there’s no way we can be sure it was Jordan. There’s plenty of firewood, so we’ll be able to warm it up good when we come back tonight.”
“I’m glad to hear that,” said William. “Tell you what. I think we should pair off so we can cover twice as much territory.”
“Good idea,” said Knight. “I’ll take Miss Morrow with me.”
William nodded.
Looking at Diana, Knight said, “This all right with you?”
“Sure is.”
“Let’s do it like this,” said William. “Mark and I will go up through the forest to the west, and you two head due east toward those peaks over there. I think we should call out Jordan’s name loudly as we ride, so if he’s in tro
uble somewhere near, he can hear us and hopefully respond.
“If one pair finds him, they are to fire three successive shots into the air, then bring him here to the cabin. The other pair will then make a beeline this direction. If no shots are fired, we’ll meet here at the cabin at dusk.”
“Sounds like a good plan to me,” said Knight.
“Okay,” said William. “If we haven’t found Jordan by nightfall, we’ll cover other areas tomorrow.”
“That’s fine,” said Knight. “Well, Miss Morrow, let’s move out.”
As Knight and Diana rode through the woods together, with Knight periodically shouting out Jordan’s name, he asked questions about Diana’s family in Virginia. She told him about her siblings and her mother, but when he asked about her father, she became reluctant to go into any details.
Noting that the mention of her father stiffened her face, he said, “I’m sorry, Miss Morrow. I didn’t mean to be nosy.”
“You’re not nosy, Mr. Colburn,” she said, smiling at him. “You’re simply showing interest in my family, and I appreciate it. Suffice it to say that I took Jordan up on his offer and left home because of some deep heartaches involving my family. I’d just rather not talk about it right now.”
“Of course,” Knight said, smiling back. “I understand.”
They rode on in silence for a while—except for Knight’s calling out Jordan’s name every few minutes.
Diana was thinking if they found Jordan to be all right, how fearful she was going to be to tell him she had become a Christian on the trip and could not marry him unless he became one, too.
To her surprise, Knight said, “Miss Morrow, did you attend church in Virginia?”
“No, I didn’t. My father hates churches and never took us. He wouldn’t let us go without him, either.”
“Have you ever heard that when Jesus Christ died on the cross, He paid the price for all of sinful mankind to be saved from hell and the wrath of God if they would come to Him by faith and let Him save them?”
Diana’s heart leaped in her chest. Turning to look at him, she said, “Not until quite recently. My mother was in the hospital, and a pastor came into her room with his Bible. He showed her how to be born again, and she received the Lord Jesus into her heart as her own personal Saviour. Because of the reason she was in the hospital, she hasn’t been able to be baptized yet, but she’s going to do so as soon as possible.”
Knight’s eyes lit up. “Well, wonderful!”
“And you know what?”
“What?”
“Mama tried to talk to me about being saved, but I wouldn’t listen. But I know she’s been praying for me because when I was on the train between Cheyenne City and Boise, a dear, sweet lady from Portland, Oregon, named Cora Zeller began talking to me about being saved and led me to Jesus.”
Knight’s face took on a bright beam. “Oh, Miss Morrow, I’m so glad to hear that! Praise the Lord!”
Knight called out Jordan’s name loudly a few times, and as his voice echoed over the mountains, Diana said, “Mr. Colburn, since you’re Jordan’s best friend, you know him well, I’m sure.”
“Yes. We’ve been friends since we were small boys.”
“I … I need to know if he is a Christian.”
Knight’s brow furrowed. A touch of sadness showed in his eyes. “No, he isn’t. I’ve been trying to lead Jordan to the Lord since I got saved eight years ago. But he won’t have anything to do with the Lord. He’s a moral and sincere person, but he’s not a Christian.”
Diana nodded silently.
Knight went on to tell her of his father’s sudden death eight years ago, which came a very short time after he was saved. He explained how it came about that he and his parents were saved, then told her that his mother now lived with him in his house, and would one day live in a house of her own whenever he found the right girl and got married.
Diana let a brief moment of silence pass, then asked, “Are you seeing someone?”
“No. I’m just waiting for the Lord to send that right girl into my life.”
“I’m sure that’s the right thing to do.”
“Sure is. Don’t want to get the wrong girl.”
Again, Diana let a brief moment of silence pass, then said, “What is your job at the Elkton Sentinel, Mr. Colburn?”
“I … ah … I own the paper,” he said.
Diana’s mouth dropped open. “Well, isn’t that something? A man as young as you are! That’s wonderful. I’m impressed.”
Knight chuckled. “Well, you’re good for a man’s ego, Miss Morrow.”
She was smiling at him as he cupped his hands around his mouth and called out Jordan’s name a few more times.
By the time dusk was falling over the mountains, Knight and Diana had heard no gunshots. They returned to the cabin as darkness was settling in. William and Mark had not yet returned.
Knight took Diana into the cabin, and while he was building a fire in the fireplace, he said, “We won’t be able to eat until William and Mark return, since the food is in the knapsacks on the backs of the packhorses.”
Diana was tired beyond belief, both physically and mentally. Taking one of the chairs from the table, she placed it in front of the fireplace and sat down. “Well, until they get here, I’m going to soak up some heat.”
Knight picked up another chair and sat down beside her. Soon the fire was blazing.
Diana thought back to earlier that day when she first met Knight. She had felt an unexplainable magnetism toward him. But now she knew it was because he was a brother in the family of God. She felt so comfortable in his presence—as if she could talk to him about anything.
Glancing at him in the flickering light of the fire, she said, “Mr. Colburn, I’m sorry if I seemed abrupt today when you were asking about my family, and I said I didn’t want to talk about them.”
“I didn’t feel that you were abrupt at all. I understand how those kind of things can be very upsetting.”
“Thank you, Mr. Colburn,” she said softly. “I… I would like to talk about them. You seem to be such an understanding person, and when there are a good pair of listening ears, sometimes it helps to share the heartaches.”
“I’ll be glad to listen on one condition,” he said, looking her square in the eye.
“Yes?”
“That you call me Knight. I believe we are becoming friends, and as your friend, Mr. Colburn sounds so formal. Okay?”
Diana warmed him with a smile. “All right. Then you must call me Diana.”
“It’s a deal,” he said. “Now, these ears are ready to listen.”
With the dual warmth of her new friend and the crackling fire soothing her nerves, Diana told him the story of her father’s brutalities to the family, of his being in jail for beating up Tom Wymore, and of his threats toward her. She explained in detail why she replied to Jordan’s ad in the newspaper, and of the relief she felt being where her father could not find her.
“Diana, my heart goes out to you. I’m so sorry you’ve had to leave the rest of your family because of the fear you have of your father. And now you’ve come here to find refuge with Jordan, and he has disappeared.”
“That brings up something else,” she said, then told him that Cora Zeller had shown her in the Bible what God says about believers not marrying unbelievers.
“She did the right thing by showing it to you, Diana. So many Christians have messed up their lives by going against God’s commandment about that. Some by ignorance. Others by rebellion.”
“I have to admit that I’ve been very nervous about having to tell Jordan I won’t marry him unless he becomes a Christian,” said Diana. “I don’t know what I’ll do if something has happened to Jordan, or if we find him, but he doesn’t get saved. I can’t possibly go back to Virginia and face the wrath of my father.”
Knight was about to tell her that he would help find some solution for her when they heard a horse whinny.
Both of them sto
od up, and Knight started for the door. Before he could reach it, the door came open and William and Mark stepped in, holding the knapsacks.
“Well,” William said dolefully, “it appears that you two found no sign of Jordan, either. We’ll get an early start in the morning.”
Diana prepared a hearty meal for the weary group, and even though none of them had much appetite, they ate as much as they could hold, knowing they would need strength for the next day.
Before they got into their bedrolls, Knight took his Bible from his pack and asked William and Mark if they would like to join Diana and him for Bible reading. Both men politely declined, removed their boots, and slipped into their bedrolls.
Sitting close to the fire, Diana listened as Knight read an encouraging portion of Scripture.
Sometime during the night, Knight Colburn awakened and felt the chill of the air on his face. Opening his eyes, he saw that the fire had dwindled to a few flickering flames, which were barely putting out heat.
Moving as quietly as possible, he eased out of his bedroll and rose to his feet. William and Mark were sleeping soundly near the table. Diana’s bedroll was near the fireplace, and as Knight stepped that way, he saw that she was asleep but twisting beneath the covers and tossing her head back and forth fitfully.
He quietly placed more logs on the fire, then turned to head back to his bedroll. He noted that Diana was still quite restless, and as she was rolling her head back and forth, she was moving her lips and making a moaning sound.
It was obvious that Diana was having some kind of bad dream. He was trying to decide whether to awaken her or not when suddenly she let out a loud cry and sat bolt upright, gasping.
William and Mark were both stirring as Knight knelt beside Diana, grasped both shoulders and said softly, “Diana, are you all right?”
The effect of the nightmare was so powerful, Diana threw her arms around Knight’s neck without thinking. Knight’s natural reaction was to put his arms around her.
