by Ana Seymour
Suddenly there was a shout from Peggy at the front of the boat. “Hannah, Jacob’s going to fall right over the edge.”
Hannah sighed and pushed herself off the barrel. The children had been up since before dawn, excited about the adventure ahead. “Tell him to be careful,” she hollered back. She climbed over crates, plow parts, kettles, Eliza’s spinning wheel and other assorted clutter and made her way around the animals to the flat-nosed front of the boat. The gunwale surrounding the four sides of the boat was low. It would be easy for even a small child to tumble over it. Jacob was on his hands and knees hanging over the wooden lip to touch the water.
“Get back, Jacob. They’re about to launch and there’s going to be a jerk that could toss you right overboard,” she told him.
“I told you so,” Peggy said smugly.
Jacob crawled backward and turned to Hannah with an apologetic expression. “I just wanted to feel the water, Hannah.”
She reached the boy’s side and knelt beside him. “There’ll be plenty of chances to do that, Jacob. But right now you have to stay back.” She put her arm around him. “I’m counting on you to use good sense on this trip. Can you promise me that you’ll do that?”
“I promise,” he said solemnly.
“You stay away from the side of the boat unless you’re with me or your papa, all right?” she added.
He nodded, his eyes on the fast-moving water. There was a sudden lurch of the deck and the boat began to float away from shore into the center of the current.
“We’re off!” Randolph shouted from somewhere in back. It was good to hear excitement in his voice again. He had seemed to be getting more and more discouraged as the trip progressed. Perhaps now that they were on the last leg of their journey, he would regain some of his enthusiasm. Ethan had predicted a week’s travel time if the trip went smoothly. It was hard to believe that in just a week they would be seeing the land they had come so far to claim.
Randolph appeared around the corner of the tiny cabin. “Can you believe it?” he asked them. His tone was more boyish than she had ever heard it. At the fort he had purchased a buckskin jacket, completely unlike his typical clothes. His usually tidy hair was loose and blowing in the river breezes. Hannah smiled at him and thought that his friends back in Philadelphia would hardly recognize him as the Randolph Webster they had known.
“It’s the final stretch,” she said, buoyed by his good spirits.
The children were watching the river churning around them, Jacob carefully staying back from the edge. They seemed to catch their elders’ good mood. Jacob did a little dance of excitement, and Peggy climbed over a crate to give her father a hug.
Suddenly they heard yelling from the other boat. Hannah looked up to see Ethan waving his arms and shouting angrily. “You’d better man those oars, Webster, or you’ll end up with a pile of firewood instead of a flatboat.”
Randolph’s smile died. He pulled Peggy’s arms from around his middle and turned to make his way to the front sweep while Seth took over at the rear.
Hannah, Peggy and Jacob looked after him soberly.
Finally Jacob said softly, “I don’t think Papa knows how to run a boat, Hannah.”
Hannah gave his head a pat. “He’ll learn, Jacob. We’ll all learn.”
After the frantic beginning when Randolph and Seth had lost complete control and had almost sent their boat careening into shore, the journey had gone peacefully, and Hannah, for one, found the travel much more pleasant than the trip by horseback. The broad river stretched out before them like a smooth silver highway. By the second day everyone in the two boats except Nancy had had a turn at the sweeps, and the men were becoming adept at keeping the vessels calm and steady in the midst of the current.
When they had stopped at the end of the first long day they had not even made a campsite. Exhausted from learning to manage the boats and from the emotional goodbyes at the fort, they had built their fires right on board in the small sandboxes built for that purpose in the sterns. Then there had been a haphazard assignment of every possible sleeping space. On the Websters’ boat, Peggy and Eliza slept inside the cabin, while Hannah, Randolph, Seth and Jacob found places outside on the deck. Hannah was squeezed between two piles of boxes, but when she looked up from her narrow bed she could see an expanse of star-spangled sky that took her breath away. The gentle rocking and the lapping of the water against the sides of the boat lulled her into a dreamless sleep.
The second night they decided to make a camp and stretch out their cramped limbs. They were not as fatigued as they had been the nights on the trail, however, and the supper turned into something of a party.
When they had tied up that afternoon, Ethan had showed Jacob how to cut an alder pole and tie a hook and line to it. The two had then disappeared upriver, and in what seemed like no time at all were back with a string of four trout, still flopping.
While Ethan and Jacob skewered the fish with sticks through their mouths and began to roast them, Eliza and Hannah set out the last of the freshly baked food they had brought from the fort—corn johnnycakes and raisin tarts. They would make a feast of the meal, they decided, since it would be awhile before they would have the like again.
After supper the group sat contentedly around the fire, listening to the lullaby of the river’s rush and the symphony of insects in the thick woods surrounding them. Seth turned down a request to play his fiddle, saying there couldn’t be a sweeter sound than a peaceful spring evening.
“Aye, peaceful, that’s the key. Are we safe in these parts, Reed?” Randolph asked. “Do you think we need to cover the boats?”
Ethan shook his head. “We’re not likely to come across hostiles while we’re still this close to the fort. The only Indians we should encounter in this area are the Wyandots, and they’re friendly.”
“There are Indians here, right where we’re camping?” Jacob asked, instantly attentive.
“Somewhere hereabouts.”
Jacob craned his neck to look around at the dark trees. “Can we see them?”
Ethan laughed. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they could see us, but I doubt that we’ll see them. They keep to themselves mostly.”
“Could I talk to them if some came here?” Jacob persisted.
“That might be a problem. I think you would find that only a few speak English. A few speak some French.”
“But mostly they talk Indian?”
Ethan answered the boy’s questions patiently. “There are lots of different tribes of Indians, and they each speak their own language.”
“So they can’t talk even to each other?”
“Well, the Indians seem to be better than we white folk are at communicating with each other even without all the right words. They use hand signals, and somehow they just manage to understand.”
By now all four children had gathered around Ethan. “Like magic, almost,” Bridgett piped in.
“Kind of like magic, I guess,” Ethan agreed, smiling at the youngest Trask girl.
As usual when the children seemed to be getting too fascinated with Ethan’s frontier lore, Randolph had begun to look impatient. “I think that’s enough talk about Indians,” he said, getting to his feet.
Ethan stood, also. “That’s probably enough talk, period. Tonight you can all get a good sleep on solid ground.”
“Can’t I stay on the boat like last night?” Jacob asked. “I liked going up and down with the water.” He turned to Hannah for an answer.
“Your papa already set up our tent…” she began doubtfully, looking at Randolph.
As though he were trying to make up for cutting off his son’s discussion with Ethan, Randolph gave a tolerant smile. “I don’t see why you can’t sleep on deck. If you get scared during the night, just climb ashore and go into the tent with Hannah and Peggy.”
“I won’t get scared,” Jacob said.
“Can I, too, Mama?” Bridgett asked her mother. “It’s so hot and stuffy inside the ten
t. And there’s not room for all of us anymore.”
No one made a comment on this obvious reference to the increasing size of Nancy’s girth. “You want to sleep out in the open?” Nancy asked without much energy.
Bridgett nodded vigorously. “Under the stars. Didn’t you see the sky last night? It looked like a black quilt sewn with sparkles.” Both the Trask girls had medium brown hair and rather plain little faces, but when her eyes shone with enthusiasm, Bridgett took on some of her mother’s beauty.
Nancy looked over at her husband, who shrugged. “All right,” she said. “But you sleep over on Jacob’s boat, so the two of you are together.”
Bridgett and Jacob looked at each other shyly. After a moment Jacob said, “Well, come on then. I’ll show you where you can put your blankets smack in the front. You can see the whole sky from there.”
There was a general busyness as everyone made their arrangements for the night. Hannah had a prick of uneasiness over the children’s plan to sleep by them-selves, but she shook it off. The boat was just a few yards away from where she and Peggy would be in the tent. If anything should happen, Jacob could cry out and they would be by his side in seconds.
Chapter Ten
Someone’s shout had awakened her, but Hannah was still groggy when she felt Randolph’s hand shaking her shoulder. He had never before come into their tent when she was sleeping, and she sat up in surprise, pulling the blankets around her neck. His face was drawn and something in his expression reminded Hannah of the day Priscilla had died. “What is it?” she asked, her speech thick.
“Jacob’s gone! Bridgett, too. We can’t find them.”
Hannah’s stomach plunged. “What do you mean, gone?” She scrambled out of the covers and sat on her knees. “They’ve probably just gone off to…you know, morning things.”
Randolph ran both hands back through his disheveled hair. “We’ve looked up and down the banks. Trask’s out hollering for them now.”
In the distance Hannah could hear Hugh Trask’s angry shouts. “I’ll go. I’ll find them,” she said, trying to sound calm. But inside, her panic was rising. How could they be missing? What could have happened to them? And how would they ever find them in the middle of this vast wilderness?
She followed Randolph out of the tent and was immediately confronted by a nearly hysterical Nancy. “My baby, Hannah! Bridgett’s my little baby.”
Hannah looked at the pregnant woman in alarm. Her eyes had a wild, haunted look. She was without her ever-present shawl, and her stomach looked painfully big for the rest of her fragile form. Hannah took her arm. “We’ll find her, Nancy. You have to stay calm or you’ll hurt your other wee one.”
Randolph came up to them, running. “We’ve looked everywhere. They’re just not here. Reed says we may have to consider the possibility that they were taken off the boat in the night by the savages.”
Nancy gave a moan of anguish and sagged against Hannah. “Help me with her, Randolph,” Hannah said sharply.
For the first time, Randolph took a good look at Nancy’s face. “Dear Lord,” he said, then bent forward and lifted the pregnant woman in his arms. In spite of her extra weight, he carried her easily over to a mossy section of the riverbank. “Fetch some blankets, Hannah,” he said to her.
Hannah brought a bedroll to lay her against and blankets to cover her. Randolph stepped down to the edge of the river and shouted for her husband. Trask came quickly, looking worried, but it appeared that his concern was only for Bridgett, not his wife.
“Why’d you let the foolish child sleep all by herself out on that boat?” he yelled at Nancy, who cowered at the anger in his voice.
Randolph put a hand on Trask’s chest and pushed him backward, almost causing him to stumble into the water. “Can’t you see she’s distraught, man? Do you intend to kill your own baby before it’s even come into the world?”
Trask took a step toward Randolph, his fists raised. Hannah stepped between them. “Stop it, both of you! We should be thinking about Jacob and Bridgett. What are we going to do?”
Ethan came up behind Hannah. “I haven’t been able to find any tracks.”
Randolph turned on him. “What kind of a guide are you, anyway? How could a bunch of Indians have sneaked up on us during the night and carried off two children?”
Ethan shook his head in bewilderment. “It doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. But if it was Indians, they most likely wouldn’t leave any trace. They know how to move without leaving a trail.”
Peggy and Janie were sitting on the edge of the boat, holding each other, tears running down their faces. Randolph, his chest heaving, was glaring at Ethan as if he wanted to start up a fight with him, too.
Hannah took a deep breath and sent a look of appeal to Seth Baker, who stood with Eliza at the rear of the group. Seth stepped forward. “It appears to me we better get a search organized. We know the youngsters aren’t in the vicinity. We’ve looked every-where.”
Ethan moved back, out of range of Randolph, and let Seth’s calm voice soothe tempers. “Eliza will stay in camp with Mrs. Trask, here, and the girls. The rest of us can move out and start looking.”
Ethan nodded his approval. “We should form two parties. I’ll go inland with Seth and try to pick up some tracks. Webster and Trask, you should follow the river downstream.”
“Why downstream?” Trask asked.
Ethan gazed at Nancy, who was lying on the bank looking very pale. “Let’s go discuss this down by the boats,” he said.
Nancy sat up. “No! I want to hear what you have to say.”
Ethan hesitated for a moment, then said awkwardly, “Whoever took them might be traveling downriver, but the other possibility is that they some-how…” He glanced at Nancy, then Randolph. “They might have fallen into the water, been taken by the current.” He bit his lip and looked down at the ground.
“Oh, my poor baby.” Nancy began swaying back and forth and moaning. Hannah dropped to her side and put her arms around her. “We’ll find them, Nancy. You just calm yourself and take care, because we’re going to go out and bring them back.”
Eliza joined them, bringing another blanket to wrap around her. “You go, Hannah,” she said, giving her hand a pat. “I’ll take care of things here.”
“Come on, Hannah,” Randolph said. “Let’s get started.”
“Hannah will come with me,” Ethan interrupted.
“The hell she will.” Randolph bristled with anger.
Ethan turned to walk toward the boat. “Don’t be a fool, Webster. Think of your boy. Whoever finds him, he’s going to scared and upset. He’ll want to see either you or Hannah.”
“You said it’s likely they went downriver.”
Ethan stood by the side of the boat with his back to them, making up a pack of his cartouche box, powder horn and various other supplies. “We don’t know who will find them,” he said.
Hannah hesitated, then walked down the bank to Randolph and put her hand gently on his chest. “He’s probably right, Randolph. You go ahead with Mr. Trask, and I’ll go with Seth and the captain.”
The strain, worry and anger were all evident in the tight pull of Randolph’s face. “Please,” she said. “We have to think about Jacob.”
Randolph braced his shoulders and roughly brushed her hand away. “Do whatever you damn well please,” he said. Then he snatched his rifle from the ground and started off down the river.
Ethan had discovered a trail heading west that he thought would be the most likely path for anyone leaving the river. Without talking, Ethan, Seth and Hannah started out on it. Now that they were away from Nancy’s hysteria and Randolph’s belligerence, Hannah began to feel calmer. Perhaps it was the cathedral effect of the trees towering above them, or watching Ethan’s skilled, methodic search for signs of tracks, but for some reason she was more confident. They were going to find Jacob and Bridgett, she told herself, and they were going to be just fine.
“Someone or something has defi
nitely been through this way,” Ethan said, after studying an area along the badly overgrown trail.
“Do you think it could be the youngsters?” Seth asked, bending over the broken branches that Ethan was indicating.
“It could be nothing more than a deer, but deer don’t usually follow trails. Whatever came through, it was not long ago.”
They continued walking up the trail, Ethan stopping now and then to observe what he called “signs.” Hannah had just about come to the conclusion that her optimism at the beginning of their search had been premature, when Ethan made an exclamation. Ahead of them right in the middle of the path lay the small musket that Ethan had given Jacob.
Hannah pushed around Ethan and started running toward the gun, but he grabbed her arm and pulled her back. “Let me take a look first before you mess up any tracks.”
They approached the spot carefully, and Ethan squatted down to survey the ground. “Something went on here,” he said. The dirt is pushed around. It’s too hard for footprints, but you can tell that there were definitely a number of people here, milling about.”
“A number of people?” Hannah asked, the fear creeping back into her voice.
Ethan nodded grimly. “In moccasins.”
“Lord-a-mercy,” Seth said under his breath.
Ethan straightened up, his expression speculative. “If this were a war party, they’d have attacked all of us and taken our weapons. They’re not interested in two children.”
“And what if they’re the friendly Indians you were talking about last night?” Hannah rubbed together her hands, which had started to sweat as she thought about how terrified Jacob and Bridgett must be at this very moment, if, indeed, they were still alive.
“I can’t think why friendly Indians would want two children, either. It doesn’t make sense.”
“Can you track where they’re headed?” Seth asked.
Ethan nodded. “It doesn’t look as if they’re trying to cover up their trail.”
