Daughter of Grace

by Michael Phillips

  “There appears to be a lot more to your father than just what shows on the surface, Corrie,” she said.

  “Oh yes, ma’am,” I answered. “Why, I’d hardly know him now from that man who first walked out of the saloon when Captain Dixon brought us into Miracle!”

  When we got back to Sacramento, we dropped in to see Miss Baxter again at her boardinghouse, and who should be sitting there in her parlor but Captain Dixon himself!

  Before I knew what I was doing, I ran toward him, and he stood up and I threw my arms around him and gave him a big squeeze. He seemed almost as pleased to see me too, and hugged me in return. He said his wagon train had arrived early, and then he asked about Becky and Emily and Zack and Tad.

  When I told him how well we were doing with Pa and about the gold in the mine, he seemed genuinely relieved. He said he’d thought about us almost every day and was glad to hear everything was working out so well.

  Miss Baxter fixed us some tea and we had a pleasant visit. Next to Pa and Mrs. Parrish, I reckon Captain Dixon was more responsible for helping us kids through Ma’s death and coming to California than anyone else.

  When we left to go, he and Mrs. Parrish shook hands. “I hope you might one day be able to come out to Miracle for a visit, Mr. Dixon,” she said. “I know the other children would love to see you.”

  “I may just do that, ma’am,” he answered.

  We spent the night in Sacramento, then got Mrs. Parrish’s horses and surrey from the livery stable where she’d left them, and early the next morning began the ride to Miracle.

  We talked about so many things on the way home! Since that very first day on the street outside the Gold Nugget, I had always felt that Mrs. Parrish was my friend, but she had seemed a mite distant all the same. She never really kept herself aloof from me, but she was just so tall and confident, older, and a successful businesswoman, that it made me feel small by comparison.

  But after this trip together, and her asking about Ma and Pa and our family, and with us talking about so many things, I felt that I was her friend too. She never seemed quite so distant after that.

  We met Rev. Rutledge again, this time in Auburn, and he rode all the rest of the way back with us. He was in high spirits and talked practically the whole way about people he’d spoken with and the great opportunities he said existed for “the field of harvest.” I didn’t know what he meant by that, and I must admit I didn’t pay much attention to him. It just wasn’t the same after he joined us, and I was disappointed that my time alone with Mrs. Parrish had to come to an end. Mrs. Parrish was unusually quiet that day too. She didn’t seem quite as enthusiastic about the minister’s plans as she had been several days earlier.

  Chapter 10

  Trouble at Dutch Flat

  As we approached the cabin, I hardly waited for the surrey to come to a stop before I was out and running toward it yelling.

  “Pa! Pa!” I called out. “Pa . . . I saw that man Krebbs and he said he’s gonna—”

  But when I threw open the door I was stopped short by the sight of Zack standing there staring me in the face. The other three were behind him, and I guess the worry in my voice frightened them, cause they were all silent. Even though I’d been gone most of a week, none of us thought to hug or greet each other.

  “Where’s Pa?” I asked, out of breath.

  “He’s gone to fetch Uncle Nick outta trouble,” piped up Tad.

  I glanced at Zack.

  “He rode off on Jester this morning,” Zack said, but before he had the chance to explain, Emily was adding her version of what happened.

  “He was real mad,” she said, “and his face was all red. I hope he doesn’t hurt Jester.”

  By now Mrs. Parrish had come up behind me and was listening. I was still waiting for Zack to fill in the details.

  “He rode out to Dutch Flat in the middle of the mornin’. He didn’t take time to tell me nothin’. He just heard about Uncle Nick, and the next thing I knew he was saddlin’ up Jester and ridin’ off, tellin’ me to keep everyone inside and to go over to Mr. Shaw’s if we had any trouble.”

  I glanced back at Mrs. Parrish. Inside I couldn’t help feeling that some terrible danger was approaching. I didn’t know what had happened with Uncle Nick, but I was worried something awful about what Buck Krebbs had said. I was afraid seeing me had put it into his evil mind again to come back to Miracle and try to hurt us.

  “I’ve got to warn Pa!” I said, turning and running back out to the surrey to grab up my few things and bring them into the cabin. Then, almost before anyone knew what I was doing, even before I knew what I was doing, I ran to the barn and started saddling Snowball.

  A couple of minutes later I heard the door open behind me. It was Mrs. Parrish, her voice calm.

  “Corrie, please,” she began, “let’s go inside and talk about this. It might be best if—”

  “Don’t try to stop me, ma’am,” I interrupted, not realizing how rude I sounded, especially with her having done so much for me and just getting back from taking me to San Francisco.

  “I won’t try to stop you, Corrie,” she went on, still calm. “You’re practically a grown woman now, and I know it’s not my place to tell you what to do. But it’s late in the day and it’s a long way to Dutch Flat—”

  “Only fifteen miles. I can ride that in a little over an hour!”

  “But you don’t know where your father has gone.”

  “I’ll find him! I know I can!” I said, tightening the saddle straps.

  “Besides, Corrie, dear, you don’t know what the trouble is. There may be danger.”

  “It can’t be worse than Buck Krebbs trying to kill him! It was only about a month ago that Pa was sayin’ the men down at Dutch Flat might know something about the men who were after him and Uncle Nick. I didn’t think anything of it at the time, but now I see it could have to do with Buck Krebbs. Don’t you see, Mrs. Parrish, I gotta go! I gotta warn him! What if Buck Krebbs is back around here already!”

  “I understand,” she replied. “But I think it would be best if you waited until tomorrow morning. You and the children can spend the night with me, and tomorrow we’ll talk to the sheriff and—”

  I don’t know why all of a sudden I was acting so ornery and stubborn. But deep inside I just knew I had to find Pa and not wait a second longer. Zack was always telling me I was mule-headed. I figured it was because he was my kid brother. But maybe he was right. Pa had said a time or two that as I grew older I reminded him more and more of Ma. And I knew she could be mighty determined once she set herself to do something.

  Anyhow, by the time the next words came out of my mouth, I was getting ready to swing up onto Snowball’s back. “I’m sorry, ma’am,” I said, “but I just gotta try to find him, and I just can’t wait till tomorrow!”

  I turned Snowball’s head toward the door, but before I was even outside Zack called out, “I’m goin’ with you, Corrie!” I hadn’t even noticed him follow Mrs. Parrish into the barn, where he went straight to Blue Flame to start saddling him.

  “You know the way, then,” I called back. “You can catch up!” I knew Blue Flame would be able to catch Snowball in a quarter of a mile once he was on the open road. But even though I was in a hurry, I wouldn’t have trusted myself to him. Zack had learned to handle him pretty well, but he was too spirited for me. I dug my heels into Snowball’s flanks and was off.

  “Corrie, at least take something to eat!” called out Mrs. Parrish’s voice behind me.

  The words brought me to my senses in the middle of all the emotions that were flying through me. I reined in Snowball, stopped, then turned and trotted back to where she was standing beside the barn. “Let me at least put some things in the saddle bag for you,” she said. I nodded, got down off Snowball, and followed her back to the cabin.

  By this time Zack was out of the barn with Blue Flame. He tied him to a post and ran inside.

  I saw at once that he was thinking more straight than I
was, cause when he came back out he was carrying a couple of blankets and his overcoat, in case we didn’t make it back by nightfall. He was growing up, maybe in some ways faster than I was!

  Five minutes later we were back on our horses again, this time with food to last us a day or two, blankets, and coats. Mrs. Parrish hadn’t said anything more about trying to talk me out of going. She looked up at me, straight into my eyes.

  “I’m sorry, Mrs. Parrish,” I said, “to go running off like this the minute we get back—”

  “Don’t you worry about a thing, Corrie. I understand! And I trust you to do the right thing. I know the Lord is with you.”

  “Thank you,” I answered. “And thank you for taking me to San Francisco! This isn’t exactly how I figured it would end, but I am grateful to you for everything!”

  She reached up and gave my hand a squeeze, still gazing straight into my eyes. “It was a wonderful time for me, Corrie! But we’ll talk about San Francisco more later! Now, you go and find your father! I’ll have Tad and Becky and Emily at my place in town when you get back!”

  “Come on, Zack!” I said, and we galloped off. But before we were out of sight, I glanced back for a last look at the three young’uns and Mrs. Parrish. I couldn’t help thinking how nice it looked with her standing with them in front of our place. I found myself wishing she’d still be there when we got back, instead of in town in that big house of hers.

  Chapter 11

  Grizzly Hatch

  Zack and I rode hard most of the way, at least where we could.

  We went over the hill first, crossing the Allegheny road north of Miracle, then along the trail leading from French Corral to Soda Springs till we were across the South Fork of the Yuba. After that we headed south, up and across Chalk Bluff Ridge, down through Deadman’s Flat, then across the Bear.

  I was proud of Zack. He knew the way exactly and didn’t need my help at all. Not that I’d have been much help. I’d only been this way once with Pa, and then not all the way to Dutch Flat. But I guess Zack had come two or three times with Uncle Nick.

  We made good time. I think we were there in less than two hours. But even so, it was late and the sun was starting to think about bedding down for the night. Zack told me there’d be a half moon tonight, though, so if the clouds stayed away we’d be able to make it back home after dark if we wanted to.

  There wasn’t much to Dutch Flat, that’s for sure. All it amounted to was a little valley between the Bear River and Canyon Creek where they’d discovered gold. There were claims here and there on the streams, and a shack or two, one of them a saloon. I don’t think there was one respectable family in the whole place.

  We hadn’t really talked about what we would do when we actually got there, or how we thought we would find Pa. I’d been praying all the way that God would help us. I’d remembered a verse in the Bible that Mrs. Parrish had told me about God guiding someone’s footsteps if you give yourself to Him.

  Now I remember—if you acknowledge Him was the word she used. If you acknowledge Him, He will lead you. I asked her what “acknowledge” meant.

  “If you say that God is in charge of your life,” she answered, “if you agree to go along with His leading instead of you trying to lead yourself, then you’re recognizing that He is your Lord. That’s what acknowledge means—just saying that He is holding the reins of your life instead of you yourself. And when you do that, it’s like He tells the horse where to go and all you have to do is follow. If you acknowledge Him, He will direct your path. That’s what He tells us in Proverbs.”

  Now her words came back to me, and I’d been praying that God would help us know where to go and what to do. But riding into that little place was a fearsome moment. All of a sudden we were there and we didn’t know what we were going to do. I think we figured we’d see Pa’s horse right off and there he’d be. But it didn’t turn out that easy!

  There were some horses tied up in front of a rundown building, but none I recognized. Voices came from inside. Zack and I looked at each other, sort of half-shrugged, then as if by unspoken agreement went slowly toward it, dismounted, and walked timidly inside.

  It wasn’t well-lit, but I could make out a table with men sitting around it. It looked like they were playing cards and a bottle of whiskey sat in the middle of the table. Most of them had glasses in front of them half filled with the amber liquid.

  A couple of them glanced up when they saw us in the doorway, one leaned back in his chair and tilted his hat back on his head as if taking in the sight thoughtfully. One by one the rest of the card-playing company noticed us, and slowly the game came to a halt. There were some muttered comments and some snickering. “Well, what do we have here, boys?” said a voice, followed by a low laugh I didn’t like the sound of.

  I stepped farther into the room. “We’re looking for our Pa,” I said. “We wondered if any of you could help us. His name’s Drum. Sometimes he goes by just that. Sometimes by Drum Hollister.”

  “Ya don’t say? Yer Pa, eh?” mumbled another.

  “You all the way out here alone, girl?” said another of the men, drawing out the word alone with a sinister tone.

  “No, she ain’t alone,” piped up Zack, walking forward to join me. I know he was trying to sound brave, but it didn’t work.

  “Well, if that don’t change everything now!” said one of the men. “You hear that, boys? She ain’t alone! She’s got this tough gunslinger here to protect her! Ha, ha, ha!”

  “Please,” I said, starting to get a little scared, “have you seen him?”

  “Nobody sees nuthin’ in these parts, girl! It ain’t healthy to be stickin’ yer nose into other folks’ business.”

  “I ain’t seen yer pa, girl, but I can’t say I’d mind seein’ you a mite closer!” said the man with the low laugh, rising up out of his chair and moving slowly toward us.

  “You leave my sister be,” said Zack, stepping forward and pulling me behind him. It was so brave of him. If we hadn’t been in such a fix I’d have hugged him right there! I didn’t know what he would do, because the man who was walking toward us was twice his size. But still Zack just stood there waiting for him, keeping me behind him.

  I was about ready to bolt for the door and make a run for our horses when another voice interrupted the slowly approaching steps of the man’s boots on the wood floor.

  “Now just hold on, Barton,” the new voice said. “Those kids don’t mean no harm. Leave ’em be.”

  “You leave me be, Duke! Keep to yer own affairs an’ let me have a little fun!”

  “I’ve seen what your kind of fun leads to, Jed,” said the other voice. “Especially when you’ve got whiskey in your belly. Now back off, I tell you, or you’ll have to go up against me. And you don’t want to do that. Just remember what happened last time you tried it!”

  The man called Jed Barton stopped, threw several bitter curses over his shoulder toward the voice coming from the dark end of the room, then slunk back to his seat. I heard the sound of a man hoisting himself up from a table and walking toward us. Once I could see him halfway plain he didn’t look much better than Jed Barton, but everything I’d heard from him up till now told me this fellow called Duke was our friend.

  “Your pa was here, kids,” he said. “Leastways I reckon it was your pa. Two, maybe three hours back. But not for long. He was trailing someone else—”

  “Our Uncle Nick!” I said eagerly.

  “Musta been. He just walked in, called out, ‘Name’s Drum. I’m lookin’ for Nick Matthews. Any of you seen ’im?’ and he was outta Dutch Flat in five minutes.”

  “What did you tell him?” Zack asked.

  “That some of the boys there were playing a friendly game of cards with Matthews when ol’ man Hatch wandered in and wanted to join in. Your uncle thought he saw an easy mark, and before it was over he near got his head blown clean off. That Hatch is a looney ol’ cuss, and he lit outta here after your uncle, sending every one of us for cover. I
don’t know how your pa got wind of it so fast. I told him the last I seen of Matthews he was high-tailing it outta here in the direction of Blue Devil Diggings. Course, he mighta been heading for Gold Run. And Hatch was after him with pistol and rifle, both shooting at once!”

  “So where do you think they are now?”

  “Who can tell? But I know Hatch spends a lot of time in these here parts, and if he gets your uncle—or your Pa, for that matter—boxed into one of them canyons down that way, they’ll never be able to outfox him. If he chases Matthews into Squires Canyon, your uncle might already be dead.”

  “Which way is it?” said Zack, already moving toward the door.

  “Southeast of here, off the road to Gold Run,” he answered. “You kids be careful, you hear?”

  “Don’t worry,” I said. It was a stupid thing to say, cause I was terrified myself from what the man said. But I wasn’t about to show it.

  He followed us outside and watched us get back on Snowball and Blue Flame, still not believing, I think, that we were really going to chase off in the direction Pa and Uncle Nick had gone.

  “Thanks, mister,” I called out as we galloped out of Dutch Flat, and as I glanced back he was still standing there staring after us, his hat in his hand, scratching his head.

  We ran our horses for only about three or four minutes when Zack, who was up ahead, signaled me to stop. I came up even with him and could tell he was listening for something.

  “What is it?” I whispered.

  “I thought I heard shots.”

  We listened again.

  “There! Did you hear it?” he said. “There it is again!”

  It sounded like a single shot from a rifle, followed by some yelling I couldn’t make out.

  Slowly we started up again, then left the road off to the right and made our way up a grassy ridge, hoping we could get to a point where we could see further. Every once in a while we’d hear a voice call out and we moved toward the sounds. About a quarter mile off the road I spotted a horse up ahead of us, tied to a tree.