The Amen Trail

by Sharon Sala

  Eulis thrust the shovel into the ground, grunting slightly when it didn’t give. He moved to a different location and tried again, this time meeting with some success. Finally, he had the hole dug—small, but deep. He turned to Letty.

  “The bodies, please.”

  She laid the whiskey and the makeup bag down in the hole and stepped back, watching solemnly as Eulis covered them with dirt. Then he set the shovel aside and took off his hat.

  “Dearly Beloved… we are gathered here today to—”

  Letty hissed and rolled her eyes.

  “That’s for weddings,” she muttered.

  “I know,” he said softly, and took her by the hand. “As I was sayin’… we are gathered here today for two reasons. Buryin’ what was left of the old Letty Murphy and Eulis Potter, and joinin’ together in holy matrimony, the new man and woman who have come to take their place.”

  Letty gawked. Leave it up to Eulis to do something weird, but sweet.

  “You never asked me to marry you,” she mumbled.

  “Will you?” he asked.

  “Yes,” she answered.

  “Then hush up and let me finish what I been tryin’ to say.”

  Letty bit her lip to keep from spouting off, and tried not to grin. This was certainly nothing like the romantic wedding she’d dreamed of as a girl. Hellsfire, it wasn’t even a wedding. It was supposed to be a funeral of sorts. Eulis, being the frugal kind, had tossed the vows in for free.

  Eulis took her by the hand.

  “Do you, Leticia Murphy, take this man as your lawful wedded husband?”

  “Yes, only I—”

  “Now, you ask me,” Eulis countered.

  Letty sighed. “But I’m not the preacher.”

  He grinned. “And neither am I, so that makes it even.”

  She frowned. There was a mistake in that logic somewhere. She just couldn’t put her finger on the spot.

  “All right… do you, Eulis Potter, take me as your lawful wedded wife?”

  “I sure do,” he said, and then took her by the hands. “By the power I have taken upon myself, I now pronounce us as husband and wife. And God help any fool who tries to put you under.”

  “Asunder,” Letty mumbled. “The word is asunder.”

  “Whatever,” Eulis said, and kissed her soundly.

  Letty found herself kissing him back.

  A blanket of snow slid off the roof of the lean-to and landed with a shower of ice crystals at their feet.

  “Where are we going for our honeymoon?” Letty asked.

  “To bed,” Eulis said.

  “Works for me.”

  A quiet descended upon the meadow as the cabin door swung shut. Smoke from the chimney thickened as extra wood was added to the fire, but one needed warmth to a room when not wearing any clothes.

  HIDDEN RICHES

  Almost a month had passed since the marrying and the burying. By Eulis’s best guess, January should be almost gone. Within a couple of months, the first signs of spring should be evident, which meant they would be leaving Letty’s Eden.

  Each night as Eulis undressed for bed, he inspected the skin on his body, and each time he did, the scars from his smallpox seemed a little bit smaller and a bit less pink. With time, they would fade even more, although vanity was not something he dwelled upon. His thoughts were all mixed up with the newness of their relationship, and his responsibility to her as a husband. Here, in this hidden-away valley, it was easy to get by. Money was unnecessary if you were willing to live on nothing but meat, and dress like an Indian. But the clothes on their backs were wearing out, and come spring, there was a strong possibility that they would be forced to wear buckskin back into Denver City. Although he kept his beard cut short, he’d let his hair grow long. Although it was nowhere near as long as Letty’s, it still hung down his back. The only time she wore it down was when she intended to wash it, and only until it was dry. After that, she would gather it all over one shoulder, brush it until it was as dark and shiny as the pelt of a mink, then braid it back up. He would watch her do that at night as she sat on the stool by the hearth. It often occurred to him that a man could die happy from that sight alone. But he didn’t want to spend the rest of his life isolating himself and Letty from the rest of the world. Decisions would have to be made soon, and they would do it together, just as they’d done all along.

  What concerned him most was where would they go from there. He wasn’t of a mind to go back to panning for bits and pieces of gold, and living in a tent, and it wasn’t fair to subject Letty to that hardship again. They still had most of the small poke of gold nuggets that they’d panned from Cherry Creek last fall, but it was hardly enough money to set them up for life. What he needed was a plan.

  Before he’d been a drunk he’d been a soldier, and before that, and only briefly, his father had tried to farm. But being orphaned at such an early age had shortened any apprenticeship he might have experienced. Like Letty, all he knew how to do was survive.

  Unaware of Eulis’s concerns, Letty went from day to day without thinking too far ahead. It was how she’d kept from going insane while sleeping with men for money and habit was a hard thing to break.

  What had changed most for her was her self-esteem. It didn’t make sense and it shouldn’t have mattered, but symbolically burying herself had made a marked changed in Letty’s attitude. She held her head up higher when she walked, and she moved with a confidence and pride that she’d never had before. But she wasn’t the only one who’d changed.

  If Eulis could grow wings, he would be flying. He woke up smiling, and went through the hard winter days with gusto. Cutting wood was a blessing, and bringing in a brace of rabbits now and then as a change to their diet gave him joy. Once in a while they talked about the future and where they might go, but not often. Until the spring thaw, they were just marking time.

  ***

  On this particular day, the sun had come up to reveal a clear sky. For the time being, the sunshine was melting snow from the roof. In some places it splattered, in others it ran in rivulets onto the snow and ice at the base of the cabin. Eulis had taken the mules out of the valley and up into the tree line to haul back some wood, while Letty decided to make good use of his absence by giving the cabin a thorough cleaning. After wiping ash from all the flat surfaces inside the cabin, she set a bucket of snow by the hearth to melt for mop water. While it was melting, she took the broom to the far corner of the room where they’d been stacking the firewood, and began sweeping up the leaves and wood chips with a passion.

  Soon, the air in the room was swirling with dry ash and dust motes. When she began to make herself cough, she decided a little air on the subject wouldn’t be amiss and opened the door just a crack.

  The air was cold, but it smelled fresh and clean, and as she leaned outside, she took a deep cleansing breath before returning to her task. It wasn’t until she went back to the dirt she was sweeping that she saw something odd. The addition of light into the room was highlighting the tiny bits of dust still floating in the air. Only the bits were no longer floating. Something was pulling them toward the back wall.

  If it had been toward the chimney, it would have made sense. After all, there would be a natural draft from the doorway to the flue, but there was no reason this should be happening—at least not from the door to the corner of the room.

  Curious, she moved toward the wall and laid her hands against the rough-hewn wood, tracing the path of the chinking between the logs. To her surprise, she felt a rush of cold air, which didn’t make sense. The cabin had been built flush up against the mountain. There shouldn’t be anything back there to make a draft and yet it was there.

  She stood for a moment, studying the darkened corner, then got the poker from the fireplace and began tapping it along the wall. Within seconds, she heard a difference in the sound and tapped the poker again, thumping on the logs until she settled on a section that sounded different—almost hollow.

  Frustrated
by lack of light, she hurried back to the door and opened it back as far as it would go. Cold air immediately filled the room, but it couldn’t be helped. She had a mystery to solve.

  The addition of light was more than revealing. Almost immediately, she could see a faint, but distinct cut in the logs from about three feet below the ceiling, then all the way to the floor. Still uncertain of what it was that she’d found, she began pushing against the logs in an effort to see if anything moved.

  The only thing that happened was that the room kept getting colder. Irked with herself for letting out so much heat, she decided to give up the search and ran to close the door.

  Even though the fire was burning hot, the room was now freezing. She stirred the fire then added another log. Her hands were like ice and her feet weren’t much better. The way she figured it, she would get warmer faster if she continued to work. The mop water had melted, so she sloshed it across the floor, then took the broom and began sweeping it down. She was working her way toward the corner when she stepped on a piece of bark. Before she knew it, her ankle rolled and she was falling backward. She knew she would hit the wall, but she never expected it to swing inward. The unexpected motion caught her off guard and when she fell, she hit headfirst and hard.

  ***

  Eulis was thinking of the warm cabin and spit-roasted rabbit as he came down from the trees, pulling a felled tree behind each mule. As he neared the cabin, the smoke coming out of the chimney was as good as any welcome sign he’d ever seen.

  “Come on, Rosy, come on Blackie… let’s go home.”

  The mules dug in a little deeper and the trees they were pulling slid a little faster against the snow. They were as anxious to get unhitched as Eulis was to see Letty. Within minutes, they were back at the cabin.

  Eulis unhooked the trees near the woodpile, and then unhitched the mules. Rosy tossed her head and gave a quick kick before running out into the meadow. Blackie wasn’t far behind. Eulis laughed at their antics and then stomped the snow from his boots as he got to the door. But when he walked inside, the chill in the air made him frown. It shouldn’t be cold.

  “Letty?”

  She didn’t answer. He saw the water on the floor, and seconds later, saw her. She was flat on her back and lying halfway into some kind of opening. Shot through with panic, he picked her up into his arms and carried her to the bed. When he laid her down, his hand came away bloody. Sick to his stomach and so scared he could barely think, he found a cut on the back of her head.

  “Letty… Letty… what have you done?” he muttered, and ran for some clean rags to put a compress against the wound. As he eased her head up, she moaned, and then blinked.

  “Eulis?”

  “I’m here, darlin’. Lie still.”

  “What happened?” Letty murmured, and reached for her head.

  “I’m not sure, but it appears you’ve gone and knocked a hole in the wall.”

  She frowned. “I think you went and hit your head, too. You’re talkin’ crazy.”

  Ignoring the obvious opening in the back of the room, he began running his hands up and down her arms and legs to check for further injuries.

  Letty swatted at his hands.

  “Not now, Eulis. I’m not exactly in the mood.”

  He had to laugh. It was that, or curse, and she was highly opposed to that happening.

  “You ain’t the only one with lust in the dust. You might near scared the life outa’ me. I’m tryin’ to see if you’re still all in one piece, okay?”

  She sighed, then moaned. “I know… I’m sorry. I’m a bit out of my head.”

  “No wonder,” he said. “You’ve got a goose-egg of a knot and you’re bleedin’ some.”

  “Oh, lord, I don’t want to get blood on the bed,” Letty said, and tried to sit up.

  “It don’t matter,” Eulis said. “Just lie still.”

  Letty groaned again.

  Eulis patted her cheek, and then glanced over his shoulder to the opening in the wall.

  “What did you go and find, girl?”

  “Find? What are you talking about?”

  He pointed toward the corner of the room.

  When she saw what had happened, she started to get up, but the motion made her dizzy. She sat back down with a thump.

  “Easy, darlin’,” Eulis said. “You stay here. I’m gonna take a closer look.”

  He peered inside, but it was so dark he couldn’t see beyond the doorway.

  “Where’s that piece of candle?” he asked.

  “On the shelf above the cooking pans,” she said.

  He got it, lit it with an ember from the fireplace, and then carried it to the darkened opening.

  “Lord have mercy,” he whispered, and took a couple of steps inside. Almost immediately, he could tell that it was some kind of a shaft and that it ran straight back into the mountain.

  Letty held the compress to her head as she got up, staggering a bit until she got her balance, and then followed him inside.

  She ducked underneath his arm and then stopped.

  “Is it a mine? Did we find a mine?”

  “Well… I don’t know about that, but it’s definitely a tunnel.”

  “It’s a mine,” she repeated, then took him by the hand and pulled him forward.

  “Careful,” he said. “The floor feels a little uneven.” Then he lowered the candle for a better view.

  There were no holes in the floor of the tunnel, but there were a lot of rocks. He kicked them aside and then started forward when the faint light from the candle caught and held in something bright.

  Letty had seen it too.

  “What was that?” she asked, then took the candle from his hand and knelt down.

  The floor of the shaft appeared to be littered with rocks, but rocks like she’d never seen before. Her heart started to pound as beads of sweat appeared on her upper lip. Since it was anything but hot inside the tunnel, and she was still chilled from lying on the cold floor, she figured she was about to pass out. And since she already had one knot on her head, she figured the best thing she could do was stay down. At least this time she wouldn’t have far to fall.

  She handed Eulis the candle, then sat.

  “Honey… are you all right?” Eulis asked.

  “No. I got an extra hole in my head. Hurts something fierce, but that’s beside the point. Do you see what I see?”

  He squatted down beside her, holding the candle even closer to the rocks, unable to believe what he was seeing. But it was there just the same. Thick veins of gold ran through everything he picked up. Then he stood up and lifted the candle high, shedding a faint, but persistent, light on the walls of the shaft. The veins there were as wide as his arm. He thrust his knife into the wall to see how deep it ran. When it went all the way to the hilt without stopping, he thought he was dreaming.

  “Letty… are you seein’ what I’m seein’?”

  “If you’re seeing gold, then yes. I reckon we’ve found us a gold mine, and if this stuff is as good as it looks, we’re most likely rich.”

  “Wait here,” he said, and moved a few yards forward, curious as to how far back the shaft went.

  He hadn’t gone more than twenty or thirty yards when he saw a bundle of rags lying against the wall. Upon closer inspection, he realized there was a skeleton within them. He took a deep breath, and then called back.

  “Letty.”

  “Yes?”

  “There’s a dead man back here.”

  Letty yelped, and then scrambled to her feet. Using the wall to steady herself, she moved toward the candlelight. Seconds later, she saw the skeleton.

  “Oh lord. Wonder what happened to him?”

  “Most likely, he just died of natural causes.”

  Letty leaned down, staring at the slack-jaw of the skull and the empty eye sockets and whispered.

  “How can you tell?”

  “Well, if someone had done him in, they would have most likely gone and laid claim to the gold?
But since that Indian woman told you the man who lived here was dead, most likely when he didn’t show up anymore, they assumed the obvious, and the mine became his tomb.”

  “That doesn’t make sense,” Letty said. “If he had just up and disappeared, then why would she say he died? Assumption would lead anyone to believe that he’d just left for greener pastures, so to speak.”

  Eulis frowned. “You’re right.”

  “Of course, I’m right,” Letty said, then leaned a bit closer and moved aside the rotting fabric of the shirt. Suddenly she gasped and pointed. “Eulis! Look down there… on the ground between his ribs.”

  Eulis held the candle closer. Then he saw it, too.

  “That’s an arrowhead.”

  “Part of the shaft is broken off,” Letty said.

  “I’ll be danged,” Eulis muttered. “He was gut-shot. Broke the arrow off at the belly. But why did he crawl off in here?”

  The hair on the back of Letty’s neck suddenly stood on end. In her mind, she was twelve years old again, and hiding in that hollowed-out badger hole, listening to the shrill war cries of the Indians as they’d attacked her father and burned their home to the ground. She knew why he’d come in here.

  “He was hiding,” she said.

  Eulis knew enough about her past to know what she was remembering. He squatted down beside her and slid an arm around her shoulders.

  “But it’s safe now,” he said. “The Arapahos are right friendly to the white man.”

  “Not to all,” she said, pointing to the arrowhead and remembering the dead white man she’d helped Little Bird hide.

  “I reckon they had their reasons,” Eulis said.

  When she looked down, the floor started to move. She flattened her hands against the dirt, but it kept on swaying.

  “Do you feel that?” she asked.

  “Feel what?” Eulis said.

  “The floor’s moving.”

  He remembered the knot on her head and cursed himself for being so dense.

  “Here, honey. Hold this,” he said, and handed her the candle, then bent down and picked her up.

  “I think I can walk.”

  “I don’t think you can even stand, and since I’ll be carryin’ you to the bed, you might as well just hush.”