by Vicky Saari
Caleb couldn’t disagree with what the man was thinking, especially about other bounty hunters coming around. As much as he’d enjoy having a friend around to help out, he knew it really wasn’t safe for Moses to hang around too long. “Right now, I got a lot of planting to get done, and that leg of yours ain’t quite ready for hard work like that, so why don’t you sit out another day, and we’ll see how things are when I get back?” Caleb rose, pulled on the floppy old hat that Mittens had made to keep off the sun, and left Moses alone in the kitchen.
Moses was surprised but knew he shouldn’t be. He recognized that Caleb wasn’t the sort of man to let his work go. Moses looked about him at the dirty dishes he and Caleb had left behind. Immediately, he rose, withdrew a pail of water from the large kettle hanging in the fireplace, and began clearing away their morning meal.
At Jed’s house, young Jessie was not surprised to find her sister-in-law already up and about and making breakfast for Abner, Brad, and the two older children. Sarah was extremely pleased to see Mittens walk in and immediately turned the work over to her. She reminded Brad that he had a cow to milk and hogs to feed. “When’s Daddy comin’ home, Ma?” young Jed asked.
Before Sarah could think of a response, the new baby made its presence known. “I’m not sure, son. As soon as your grandma says it’s safe, I guess,” she responded as she left the room to get the baby. Much to her relief, Abner stepped in with a plan to distract the boy.
“I say now, Jeddie. Ain’t you got a lot of pegs to make for your pa?” he said, reminding the boy of work that was to be done. The old man led the boy out to his dad’s workshop, where they each began to whittle.
Mittens grabbed her niece, Catherine, as she tried to escape from the house after them. “They’ve got men’s work to do. You stay here and help me.” She picked the girl up and whirled her around and kissed her neck before releasing her. She was never more than a few feet from her aunt the rest of the day, and when young Jessie returned home at lunchtime to look after her Pa and Moses, little Catherine went with her.
Moments after young Jessie left, Jonathan Pritchett arrived at Sarah and Jed’s. He had been to the village to find out how things were and had learned about all the new sickness. He was relieved to see Abner and Brad in Jed’s workshop with little Jed. Instead of going to the house, he gave them the bad news. Jed, John, Martha, and Jessie had been taken ill during the night. He also told them that one of the men in the village had also taken ill and added that Minnie, Lucille, and Lucinda were looking after them. Minnie had told him through the door that they needed fresh drinking water because she had used up most of the first barrel.
Brad had sent his younger brother on an errand when he saw Pritchett coming, although he didn’t know why. Now he was glad he had. Brad’s first thought was to go and help take care of Jed, but Abner stopped him. “The last thing your ma needs right now is for you to get the sickness. Why don’t you take little Jed, go over and see Little Jessie, and tell her what’s going on. I’m sure Caleb’ll want to know. I’ll break the news to your ma.”
Abner watched as the two boys disappeared down the path toward Caleb’s house. He looked at the house that Jed and Sarah had built soon after they had married. It was a fine frame house, but he still liked the old cabin that he and his old cronies had built for Sarah and her first husband. He tried to think back and figure out how old he was, but that was life on the frontier. Time had a way of passing you by, and after a while one year rolls into another, and you soon lose track of time. “Poor Sarah,” he thought as he started toward the house. She’d lost one man to the wilderness; he sure hoped she wasn’t about to lose another.
When Jonathan left the Hogarth place, he headed for the Bascoms’. Minnie had asked him to tell Opal what was going on in the village. She had also said something about a peddler that had come through a few weeks back with some kind of powder. She wanted Opal to try and find more and hoped he might go into the old village for her. As he neared the tannery, his thoughts were interrupted by loud voices coming from the house. His heart sank, for he feared very much that Opal and his son were getting into another of their frequent arguments. Ever since Opal had built that “still,” there had been nothing but fighting going on in that house. For a moment, he was tempted to turn toward home, but he’d promised Minnie, and he figured for the time being he’d just sit under a tree and take a break until the tempers inside had cooled down.
In the village, Minnie went to check on Mr. Turner and gave Mrs. Turner some of her bicarbonate, enough for three or four doses. She promised she would be back later in the day. At the inn, she found everyone quiet. She had made a willow tea for the fever, and it seemed to be helping. While everyone was sleeping, her daughter-in-law, Lucinda, convinced her that she should try and get some rest herself.
At the Hogarth homestead, young Jessie and little Catherine had carried the churn out under a tree and filled it with the fresh cream her mother had been saving to make butter. She had been pleasantly surprised and pleased to come home and find the kitchen clean, and Moses was already organizing their dinner. She knew her mother would be exhausted when she came home, which was why she was trying to get the churning done. She watched as Catherine’s chubby little arms attempted to raise and lower the dasher of the old wooden churn but was surprised when the girl squealed and began running away, abandoning the churn. She saw Brad and Little Jed ambling slowly along the path as though they carried the weight of the world on their shoulders.
Just as they reached the clearing, Moses emerged from the smokehouse attempting to carry strips of meat in one arm and use his crutch under the other. Brad hurried over to help. From the other side of the house came Caleb. He was carrying the remains of his plow. It had broken again as he attempted to plow around one of the stumps in the new ground he had cleared. He would have to take it to Zeke and have him fix it. The instant he saw Brad with Catherine and Little Jed in the middle of the day, his heart sank, for he knew something was wrong.
After Brad told them about Brother Pritchett’s visit, Caleb told Brad to get the rain barrel out by the back door. Jessie normally used the water for her garden, but it hadn’t rained for so long that it was pretty near empty. As soon as he unhitched Jed’s mules from the plow, he hitched them to his wagon and put the barrel in it. He drew the wagon near the springhouse and gave Brad and Little Jed each a wooden bucket and told them to fill the barrel. Brad had already anticipated his plan, and his brother fell in behind him. It took several trips from the springhouse to the wagon to fill the barrel. Then Brad helped Caleb load his broken plow into the wagon. Both boys hopped onto the wagon expecting to go along for the ride. Caleb didn’t object. He enjoyed having the boys under foot. Ten minutes later, they pulled up in front of Zeke’s blacksmith shop to drop off the plow and then pulled the wagon up behind the inn near the back door. “How’s Jessie?” he called from the back door.
Lucinda came to greet him and said, “Sorry, I can’t let you in, Pa. Right now Ma and Jed both seem to be doing all right. Everyone’s asleep now. Minnie and Zeke’ve gone over to the Turners to get some fresh water and check on the Hamburgs.”
“My plow broke down again, and I brought you another barrel of water,” Caleb noted. “Brad said John and your mother are both sick, too. Is there any more I can do for you?”
“Right now we’re holdin’ our own,” Lucinda said, trying to reassure her sister’s father-in-law. “But we sure needed the water. Minnie told us not to use any from the well, and that first barrel is about gone.”
“What about the Maynard children? Are they all right?” Caleb asked.
“So far, none of them seem to be sick. Todd went with Zeke, and Mattie has been a real help here. Joe Jr. and Abigail are with the Hamburgs,” she told him, adding, “Jessie keeps talking about getting more fruit. She seems to think fruit is going to help with the sickness. She said she had a lot of dried berries in
baskets in the old cabin. Do you think you can check it out?”
“Well, I’ll leave the wagon here with the water barrel. I’ll be back later for it with whatever I can find,” Caleb called as he turned to unhitch his team once again. “Tell Zeke I left my plow at the shop, when he comes back.” With that, he turned and led his mules back to the house. Brad and Little Jed followed.
Lucinda turned to look at their four patients lying on pallets on the floor. Everyone seemed to be resting quietly for the moment. Young Mattie had taken over the responsibility of wringing cloths and putting them on the head of her patients to try and bring down their fevers. While it was still quiet, Lucinda hurried to the kitchen to prepare lunch. She was relieved to know that since school had been cancelled, her sister, Lucy, was watching over their mother’s store.
*****
Slowly, Hogarth could feel his timbers being pulled and prodded back into place. Indeed, he was beginning to feel almost as good as new in many places, especially in his tower. He liked to listen to Dave sing hymns as he worked.
But, eager to return to his story, Hogarth turned back to his past. He missed Jessie and fretted about her welfare. As he made the transition he looked up at the sky and thought about the North Star and wondered how far men such as George would need to travel before they could find safety.
Chapter 14
By the morning of the fifth day, the worst of the crisis seemed to be over. The fevers had broken, the deliriums had passed, and even Mr. Turner was trying to be up and about. This was also the morning that the stage was due. It arrived around noon, and Zeke and Todd were ready to meet it.
Since Minnie’s admonition not to drink from the town well, Todd had been a tremendous help in hauling water from the creek for the horses in the stable. Zeke also gave him the job of exercising and feeding them. Todd was the first to suggest that he lead the horses to the creek for water instead of hauling so much to the stable. Zeke readily agreed. When the stage arrived, Todd was right there with the fresh horses, ready to switch teams. He watched closely as Zeke unhitched one team and then hitched up the fresh ones just as fast. He gave Todd the reins of the tired team and told him to take them to the stable, brush them down, and give them fresh hay and water. Fortunately, there weren’t many passengers on this trip. Instead of eating at the inn, Lucy used the kitchen in back of the grocery store. Zeke had carried in sawhorses and lumber to set up an eating area. This extra convenience was quite a surprise for the stage driver, who remembered the sickness he had encountered earlier in the week.
“Mind if I ask how many you lost from the sickness?” he asked Zeke.
“None since that first day, when we lost a mother and four of her eight children,” Zeke replied. “We had five others come down with the fever, but they are all starting to recover. My ma and my brother are goin’ home today.”
It took nearly a full minute for this thought to filter through the driver’s mind. With a low whistle, he let out his breath in disbelief. “You folks must have a good doctor. There’s been whole towns almost wiped out,” the driver reported. “They say this sickness is spreading clear down to New Orleans.”
Zeke smiled wryly and said, “My ma and her friends wrote a book on healin’.”
The driver looked at Zeke for a moment, not sure what he meant. Instead, he called for his passengers and climbed aboard his stage. “I got a schedule to keep, but I’ll pass the word about how your town is doin’.” With that, he whistled to his team, and off they went.
Zeke and Todd grinned and waved as the stage pulled away, and they turned to the store to see how Lucy was faring. He patted Todd on the back and put his hand on his shoulder and said, “You know, boy, that was a good job you did back there. I think we’re just gonna have to keep you.”
Todd beamed at this tribute, but the news waiting inside the store sure put a damper on the rest of his day. Lucille was waiting for them on the porch of the store. “You know, Zeke, now that the danger seems to have passed, I don’t see why we can’t open the school up again on Monday,” she said as she turned back to the store, where she began clearing away the dinner dishes.
Inside the inn, Jessie, Martha, Jed, and John had recovered enough that Jessie and Jed decided they could finish their recuperation at home. Lucinda had fixed them all a light lunch of broth and bread with butter and honey. Of course, there was also blackberry cobbler for dessert. “I used the last of Minnie’s bicarbonate to make this,” Cindy told them as they wobbled unsteadily to the table.
“Opal said he didn’t know where to find the peddler that I bought it from,” added Minnie as she joined her patients. “But the next time he comes through, we all need to get some. It makes the best bread.”
“Ma, when’s Pa comin’ back?” Cindy interrupted to ask her mother. “He doesn’t even know you’ve been sick.”
“Right now I’m not sure how long he’s been gone. I’ve been out of it for so long,” Martha spoke shakily. “He figured he’d be gone at least a week. Maybe ten days. Has anyone heard from George?”
Jessie almost choked when Martha asked about George. So much had happened that no one in the village knew about him or his name change. “Caleb and Moses—I mean George, came up with an idea before we all got sick. They got to worrying that if those slave hunters come back, he ought to have a different name. They’ll be suspicious about who George is, but they might not question who Moses is,” Jessie confided to Martha privately.
“I thought the sheriff had those men locked up,” Martha said stiffly.
“From what I saw and heard about those two, I’m not sure I’d want to be the sheriff trying to keep them under lock and key,” John offered.
“Considerin’ the way we got them out of town, I’d be afraid if they got loose; this’d be the first place they’d come,” Jed added worriedly.
“Geo …, I mean Moses, said he wanted to follow the North Star to Canada. He’d heard there was people who helped escaped slaves get away. That’s partly why Seth went to Madison, to find out if there was any truth to the story,” Martha said.
Lucinda and Minnie began to speak at the same time, “Little Jessie said Moses was helping her dad with the fields, and he’s got the old cabin lookin’ like a home again,” Minnie finished. “She’s been haulin’ water and brought up all the dried fruits she could find in the cabin.”
“Brad, Little Jed, and Catherine all came with her one day,” Lucinda added with a slight snicker, which was not lost on Jed or Jessie.
“It sounds like my wife has been keepin’ them all pretty busy,” Jed injected. “I can’t wait to get home!” This last remark put smiles on everyone’s face.
“I’ll get Zeke to hitch up a buckboard and take you home. Or do you want me to send him to ask someone to get you now that you are all back to the real world?” inquired Cindy. “Minnie, you look exhausted. Are you doing okay?”
Now that the worst was behind them, Minnie was beginning to wilt. It had been days since she had really slept. As expected, her usual enthusiasm was beginning to wane. “I am tired, but I’m more relieved than anything. For a while, I really was afraid that I was about to lose not only my son, but also my two best friends,” she confessed.
John suddenly felt guilty for having caused his mother so much worry. She had worked around the clock for more than five days without giving one moment of thought to her own welfare. “Cindy, why don’t you ask Zeke to take Ma home?” He turned to his mother and added, “Ma you need to get some rest.”
For once, Minnie couldn’t disagree with her son. She hadn’t seen her husband or her other son since she came into town, but she wasn’t all that eager to leave. She couldn’t say anything here, but she knew why. She dreaded the thought of going home. Opal’s licker had taken over his life. Because of it, home was neither happy nor safe anymore. Reluctantly, she went anyway.
Jessie and
Martha hugged their old friend closely and both sensed reluctance on Minnie’s part, yet neither dared to speak the thoughts that were going through their minds. As the wagon pulled away, Lucy, freed of the store, joined the party, grateful to be able to be a part of the gathering again.
“Why all the long faces?” she asked as she sat down in the chair vacated by Minnie. “We need to celebrate this day! Cindy, have you told Mom your news?” The moment the words came out of her mouth, she knew she had made a mistake. Her sister’s face turned white, and John almost fell off his chair.
“Do you mean the baby?” Martha asked with a coy grin.
Both Cindy’s and John’s mouths dropped open, and neither could speak for a moment. “H-how did you know?” Cindy asked. “Who told you?”
Martha assumed her mothers-know-all posture and said, “No one had to tell me. I could see it in your eyes. I wonder if you should have been doing so much while we were so sick. Is it any good for you to have been around us?” she fussed.
It was the kind of question for which no one had an answer, mostly because there had been no other choice. Jessie turned the conversation back to the original idea. “I was pretty sure, myself, but I was waiting for someone to say something first.”
Jed couldn’t be left out. He grabbed John’s hand weakly and shook it. “I’m glad someone besides me is doing something about the population of Sethsburg.”
John smiled, and for the next hour the conversation around the table filled the air with stories about the new baby, Todd’s work in the stable, and Lucy’s dinner in the grocery store. By the time Zeke and Todd returned, everyone was exhausted, and both Jed and Jessie decided to make the trip home in the back of the wagon. Jessie had been away from home for an entire week. It was the first time she had ever been away for so long. She was near tears when Little Jessie and Caleb came running from different corners to greet her and help her into the house. Little Jed and Catherine came running to join the welcoming party from the cabin where they had been entertaining Moses. They were glad to see Grandma, but finding their pa in the wagon was an even greater joy. Zeke watched his brother and the children wrestling together in the back of the wagon. “I think I’d better get you home,” he laughed as he waved good-bye to his pa and shook the reins of the wagon to signal the horse to move.
