Finding Home

by Ali Spooner

  PART THIRTEEN

  Nat woke the next morning to the soft crunch of footsteps. Maggie had woken earlier and was busy carrying the supplies up to the top of the hill to lessen Quincy’s burden as they left the beach. By the time Nat had wiped the sleep from her eyes, Maggie had carried the last of the crates with their supplies up the hill.

  “Good morning,” she whispered. “The coffee is on the back fire.”

  “Thanks,” Nat whispered back.

  She gently shook Marissa awake and stood to get them coffee. She poured sand from her boots and slipped them on her cold feet before walking into the cave. Nat returned moments later with cups of coffee and stirred the embers in the fire to give them warmth as their bodies awoke.

  Marissa had gotten up and rolled their bedrolls tightly. She gladly accepted the coffee from Nat and used it to warm her hands.

  “Thank you,” she said as she took the cup from Nat.

  “You have been busy,” Nat said.

  “I woke up early and thought I would make good use of my time,” Maggie said with a grin. “I also dug some clams to take back with us, hoping your aren’t sick of chowder yet.”

  “I could eat that almost every night,” Nat said with a grin.

  “I will make some tomorrow when we arrive home while you and Marissa do our bartering,” Maggie said.

  “With fry bread too?” Nat asked.

  “Yes, I will make fry bread,” Maggie said with a smile.

  They drank another cup of coffee together and then went about the task of breaking camp. Marissa doused the fires as Nat saddled the horses and Maggie hitched Quincy to the small cart. Only the barrels of lobster and clams remained on the cart, so he should be able to pull the cart through the soft sand up the hill. There, they would add the rest of the supplies and goods Maggie had already carried up the hill.

  Marissa led the horses up the hill while Maggie guided Quincy and Nat pushed the cart from behind. As it turned out, Quincy did not need the extra help, but it got them up the hill quicker.

  Maggie and Marissa loaded the rest of the supplies and then Nat lifted Marissa into the saddle. “I will walk for a while,” Maggie said as she took Quincy’s halter and started him toward the trail.

  Nat smiled and mounted Hardy. Gyp was walking beside Maggie and they left the ocean shortly after sunrise. Nat turned in her saddle and looked back at the ocean one more time as they walked away.

  They made good time getting back to the river and Nat unhitched Quincy from the cart and watched as he moved down to the water to drink deeply. She joined the small animal for a long drink and then turned back to Maggie and Marissa.

  “If you two will set up camp and care for the animals, Gyp and I will begin the hunt,” she said.

  “We can do that,” Marissa said as she watched Nat pull the rifle from its sling.

  “I will see you sometime later then,” Nat said.

  Marissa watched until Nat and Gyp disappeared into the woods and then turned back to the animals. She removed the saddles from Buck and Hardy as Maggie laid a campfire. She went to the river and dipped out a bucket of fresh water and carried it to the camp site. When they had finished, she and Maggie sat back and enjoyed the relaxing sound of the river as it flowed across the rocks. The sound of the moving water was the only sound that filled the air until Maggie pointed to the sky and they saw a majestic eagle soaring toward the ocean. The large bird called out when it spotted something moving on the ground, then flew out of eyesight.

  Maggie opened a small sack and pulled out pieces of soft buckskin and began sewing the pieces together.

  “What are you making?” Marissa asked.

  “I am making Nat some new boots, but it is a secret,” she said.

  “I won’t say a word,” Marissa promised.

  Maggie showed her the leather and the hard sole she was sewing the buckskin onto and Marissa watched her as Maggie’s hands moved quickly. “Do you braid?” Maggie asked.

  “Yes, I do,” Marissa said.

  “Would you like to make the boot strings for these?” Maggie asked.

  “I would like that, yes,” Marissa said.

  Maggie pulled six long strands of buckskin from the sack. “Three to a string and make them as tight as you can,” she said.

  Marissa went to work braiding the long strands under Maggie’s watchful eye. When she finished one, Maggie inspected it and praised her good work. “That is perfect,” she said.

  Marissa reached for the other three strands, when they heard a gunshot.

  “Nat has found something,” Maggie said.

  As she and Gyp walked through the woods in search of hoof prints to track the buck, they heard a turkey gobbling in the distance. Nat and Gyp followed the sound and as they approached, Nat began mimicking the sound made by the large bird. She crouched low, next to a tree and waited as the turkey approached the sound of her call. Gyp sat patiently by her side as they waited. Gyp was the first to see the large colorful bird as he entered a clearing just ahead of them and her body shook with excitement.

  Nat lifted the rifle and with one clean shot, she took the birds head off dropping it instantly. It wasn’t the buck she hoped for, but there was still plenty of daylight left to track him. She walked to the clearing and picked up the bird. She would carry it back to Maggie, who could pluck it and prepare it for roasting over the camp fire as she and Gyp crept back into the woods.

  Maggie smartly put her goods back into the bag and after several minutes they heard Nat approach and saw Gyp run from the woods ahead of her master.

  Nat emerged from the woods carrying the large bird and wearing a smile.

  “You got us a turkey,” Maggie said as she stood and watched Nat approach.

  “I thought he would make a good dinner and then some,” Nat said. “I will go back in search of the buck, if you will prepare the bird for dinner,” she said.

  “No problem at all,” Maggie said. “Turkey feathers make for good warmth too,” she added as she took the bird from Nat and headed for the river.

  “I will be back later,” she said, with a smile to Marissa then she and Gyp walked into the woods.

  They walked the banks of the river for nearly an hour before they came to an outcropping of rocks next to the river. Nat had not seen any evidence of the large buck, so she and Gyp climbed atop the pile of rocks. From this point, she could see quite a distance and would be able to see any wildlife well before their approach to the river to drink before the night fell.

  Nat settled in to a comfortable position and waited. She watched as smaller animals, rabbits and a red fox made their way cautiously to the river to drink before disappearing into the dense forest. Gyp placed her head on Nat’s thigh and was gently being stroked by her master when they heard a larger animal moving toward the water.

  Gyp’s ears perked to attention as they watched a small buck move to the water, drink and then bound across the river to disappear once more. She relaxed back against a rock and they continued to wait. They watched more small critters come to drink and Nat had just about given up on seeing the large buck when Gyp lifted her head and looked off to the right.

  Walking toward them in all his beauty was the buck, his large rack making noise in the brush as he approached. Nat watched as he cleared the brush and moved into the open near the river. She raised her rifle and when the buck lifted his head from drinking, she squeezed the trigger and a slug pierced his heart dropping him to his knees.

  Nat climbed down the rocks and walked toward the river. She took a length of rope from her pack and tied one end around the buck’s hind legs and tossed the other end over a branch of a nearby tree. She hoisted the buck off the ground and drew her knife. She made a deep incision across his jugular and his warm blood started flowing onto the ground. Nat continued to cut until she reached the spine on both sides of the buck’s neck and then gripped his antlers and lifted his head until she heard the spine snap and the head fell free from the body. She placed the head
next to the tree and then returned to cut a line down the buck’s abdomen, eviscerating his lifeless body.

  Nat walked to the water to rinse her knife and slipped it back into the sheath in her boot. She picked up the head and her rifle. “Let’s go back for Quincy,” she said to Gyp.

  They followed the river back to the camp site and Maggie jumped to her feet when she heard them approach. “Got him,” Nat said with a huge smile. “I need Quincy to bring him back.”

  Nat placed the buck’s head on the cart and turned to see Marissa staring at it. “Are you okay, sweetheart?” she asked.

  “Can you turn that around so I don’t have to look at those eyes all night?” Marissa said.

  Nat grinned back at her. “Sure thing, honey,” she said and turned the head away from Marissa’s sight.

  Maggie smile at Nat as she led Quincy over to her. “Do you need some help?” she asked.

  “Sure, I can always use help,” Nat said.

  “Let me turn the turkey and I will be ready,” Maggie said.

  “Go ahead, I will tend to the bird,” Marissa said.

  “We will be back soon,” Nat said as she walked Quincy to the woods.

  “She has a difficult time with the hunt, doesn’t she?” Maggie said as they walked.

  “If it deals with blood, she tends to get a little squeamish,” Nat said.

  “That is not an easy thing to deal with if you weren’t raised in the wild,” Maggie said.

  “I noticed,” Nat said with a grin.

  “She seems fine with the meat, once it is cut, but a whole carcass she has difficulty with,” Nat said.

  “Should we go ahead and skin and quarter the buck then?” Maggie asked.

  “That would probably be a good idea and we can hang the quarters away from camp until we get ready to head home tomorrow,” Nat agreed.

  They worked quickly when they reached the buck to skin him and then cut him into four quarters and two loin portions. They tied the meat onto Quincy’s back on top of the skin and walked back to camp. They stopped a few yards from camp and used the rope to hang the meat high up off the ground out of reach of any predators that may catch the scent of fresh blood. When they returned to camp, Maggie hung the skin over the edge of the cart away from Marissa’s view.

  “Dinner is beginning to smell very good,” Nat said as she sat beside Marissa.

  “We had a few potatoes left too, that I thought we could fry to go with the turkey,” Marissa said. “I have already cut them up and will fry them once the meat is close to being done.”

  Maggie was busy at the cart and Nat walked over to see what she was doing. Maggie had harvested the liver and heart from the buck and was salting them down to preserve them. She then tucked them away in a small sack next to the barrels.

  Nat returned to the fire and was joined a few minutes later when Maggie walked to the fire. “We have a little butter left which should make the skin a nice golden brown,” she said as she rubbed the butter across the bird’s cooking skin.

  Gyp sat next to Nat and licked her lips in anticipation of the meal to come.

  They turned the bird on the fire frequently for the next hour. “Why don’t you cut off one of the legs and let it cool for our girl,” Maggie said. “Then we can pull the meat from the bone and put it in her bowl.”

  Nat cut off a leg and laid it on a plate to cool. She then walked over to the animals and slipped the feed bags over their heads as Marissa began to fry the potatoes.

  The turkey roasted to a beautiful golden brown and Nat used her to knife to cut thick slices of the juicy meat for their meals.

  After their meal they snuggled in for a cool night’s rest without the protection of the cave walls. Nat hugged Marissa close as she struggled to rest on the cold ground.

  The following morning, they drank coffee while Nat and Maggie broke camp.

  “Are we ready to head for home?” she asked.

  “I am ready to sleep in my warm, comfortable bed,” Marissa said with a sheepish grin.

  Nat and Maggie shared a knowing smile. “Tonight you will, my love,” Nat promised.

  They had traveled about an hour when Gyp emitted a low growl deep in her throat and all progress came to a stop. Nat watched in disbelief as a small grizzly stepped from the clearing fifty yards ahead of them.

  “Stay very still everyone,” she warned. “He has caught the scent of the buck’s carcass and I imagine he is extremely hungry after his winter sleep.” Nat took her rifle from the sling slowly.

  “We cannot outrun him, so the decision is his. He is thinking about food only at this point and deciding if he is willing to confront three humans for an easy meal. ”

  Nat looked at Marissa and saw the terror growing in her eyes. “Just relax, if he starts this way, I will drop him in his tracks.”

  Maggie held tight to Quincy’s lead as the mule shifted nervously, sensing that he was carrying what the bear wanted.

  Nat watched the bear cautiously as she thought back to her father’s death several months ago. This bear was not as large as the one that had mauled Nathan, but he was large enough to do plenty of damage if allowed.

  “Marissa, slowly pull back on your reins to back Buck toward the cart,” Nat said as they bear turned to face them fully.

  Nat carefully dismounted and handed her reins to Maggie. “Stay Gyp,” Nat said, and Gyp sat obediently beside Maggie, her small body quivering with anticipation.

  Nat stepped away from Hardy and watched as the bear slowly approached, swing his head from side to side as he growled, hoping to scare them off. He began to gallop toward them and when he had traveled twenty yards, he skidded to a stop and stood up on his hind leads bellowing a furious call. Nat knew that would be her best shot and raised her rifle, taking careful aim and squeezing the trigger as a bullet entered the bear’s body just above his heart. A good shot, but not enough to drop the bear. He stumbled back down to his feet and continued his approach. Nat stepped forward to advance on the bear and when he stood up erect again she took another shot which struck him squarely in the heart.

  Nat slowly approached the bear and knelt down beside him. Marissa watched in horror as the bear’s left paw struck out and grazed the right side of Nat’s face, drawing blood immediately. Nat jumped to her feet and aimed her rifle and fired a shot directly into his brain.

  Marissa jumped from the saddle and ran to Nat. Nat had a three inch gash down her right temple. “I am okay,” she said as Marissa’s face turned white at the sight of all the blood.

  Maggie submerged a handkerchief in the salty water in one of the barrels and rushed to Nat’s side. She pressed the wet cloth against the wound and when the salt hit open flesh, Nat flinched in pain.

  “I know it stings, but it will help the wound to heal,” Maggie said as she kept pressure on the wound until the bleeding stopped. “You, go sit on the cart, and Marissa and I will prepare the bear for travel and then we will finish the ride home.”

  Nat obediently followed Maggie’s instruction and walked to sit on the edge of the cart, with Gyp closely in tow.

  “You are going to have to help me,” Maggie said to Marissa, who nodded her head in response.

  Nat watched as Maggie took a length of rope and with Marissa’s help they drug the bear from the path close to a tree. Maggie then tied the rope to the bear’s hind legs and using Hardy’s strength they hoisted the bear off the ground to bleed and gut him in preparation for the travel home. Maggie severed the head to make the carcass bleed out more quickly and placed it on the cart close to Nat.