Around the River's Bend (25 page)

“We've been praying for Hannah and Josh since they were born, Elizabeth.”

“I know we have, but it troubles me sometimes. I'm not sure how Fox feels about her.” She looked up suddenly and asked, “Would it bother you having a half-Indian son-in-law?”

Her remark genuinely surprised Hawk Spencer. “Why, of course not! There's not a finer man in the world than Sequatchie. He's the best friend I've got in the world. And Fox is of his blood. If the two love each other, then I'd say amen.”

Elizabeth did not answer for a while. She sighed and said, “I don't know about Hannah. She's not very outgoing about things like this.”

“Why don't you just ask her how she feels.”

“No, that's the sort of thing that would have to start with her.” Elizabeth rose and said no more.

As Hawk Spencer went about his work that day, he thought long and hard about the daughter who was so dear to him. He had seen bad marriages many times, and the thought that Hannah might not have a good man or a good marriage troubled him. More than once as he worked, he prayed, “God, I'll have to ask you to help my daughter. She needs to get just the man you have for her and no other.”

****

“My horse is gone!”

Fox was standing to one side and laughing silently. “Of course he's gone. What'd you expect?”

Sion turned in surprise. The two of them had tied their horses deep in the woods while they were hunting for deer. “Well, I didn't expect him to be
gone
. You think somebody's stolen him?”

“No, you tied him up wrong.”

“I tied him firmly. He couldn't have gotten loose.”

“There's his bridle still tied to that tree.” Fox motioned toward a sturdy young tree. The bridle had dropped to the ground, and Fox leaned over and picked it up. “I could have told you this would happen.”

Sion blinked with surprise. “Well, why didn't you?”

“You'll remember longer this way. Look, see how my horse is tied?” He motioned toward his own horse, a clay-colored stallion. “You tie your horse up to a branch that will give. That way he can pull at it, but it'll spring back. When you tie one to a solid tree, you see what can happen.”

Sion stared at the bridle in his hand, then laughed. “You're a hard teacher, Fox.”

“I learned the same way. But the difference was I had to walk home, and I was fifteen miles away. The horse was there when I got there. He had more sense than I did. Come on. He won't have gone far. Let's see if you can track him.”

Sion and Fox had become good friends. Fox knew the woods like he knew his favorite knife, and he was imparting his wisdom and knowledge as fast as he thought Sion could absorb it.

As for Sion, he felt like a child. He knew so little about living in this strange country, but he was a willing learner and had a truly humble spirit. He laughed at his own mistakes as quickly as anyone, which made others more willing to teach him. Now as he followed the tracks of the strayed horse, he was pleased to see that he had at least learned how to track a little bit.

“I'm getting better.”

Fox smiled and shook his head. “A six-year-old could follow this trail. The ground is wet and soft, and you couldn't miss it. Try tracking one on rock sometime.”

“Can you do that?”

“My uncle can. He's the best tracker I ever saw.”

“Did Sequatchie teach you what you know about the woods?”

“Yes, he and Hawk, and I've learned from staying with the Indians. They're the best trackers, of course, except for Hawk.”

The two found the horse not more than two hundred yards away cropping at the grass, and Sion walked right up to him and patted him on the neck. “I hope you enjoyed yourself, horse,” he said. “You won't get away anymore.” They went back and packed up their equipment and were soon on their way.

As the two made their way back toward the settlements, Fox pointed out different trees and plants and signs of animals. To Sion it was almost a miracle. He shook his head. “You know the names of every tree in the woods and every flower too, I think.”

“You'll pick it up. You'll know most of it, too, after you've been here a year or two.”

“I feel more at home farming or in a coal mine.”

“Did you like coal mining?”

“I hated it more than anything I've ever done.” Sion went on to tell of the hardships and mentioned his friend Rees. “I sent money to support him and his family for several months, but I trust he's well by now. Wales is so far away. I don't know if I'll ever see him again.”

“That's the way life is,” Fox observed. “Every time I see a man I wonder if he will be a good friend or an enemy.”

Sion glanced at Fox with surprise. “I never think like that. Why should I think a man will be my enemy?”

“I think it's different here in this country, especially with the conflict between the Indians and the white men.”

“It must be difficult for you being caught in the middle.”

Fox did not speak for a time. “Yes, it is. I thought for a while about going and living with the Cherokee, but that way of life is passing.” A spirit of gloom seemed to possess him. “The Indians will be forced out.”

“Can't they learn to farm and take up the white man's ways?”

“I think I can, but I'm half white. It'll be hard for the old ones. Suppose you had to learn to live like the Indians. Think how hard that would be.”

Sion pondered the words of Fox and finally said, “I believe you're right, but it's a sad thing.”

“Yes, it is, and it's going to get worse.”

———

The two rode together except when the trail narrowed to accommodate only one horse. Fox was curious about Sion and Sabrina. He knew the basics of their story but wondered how Sion felt about being a bond servant. Finally he asked him, “You've got five years to serve until you're a free man?”

“That's right.”

Fox hesitated and then said, “That's almost like being a slave.”

“It's better than being in a prison in England.”

“I suppose that's true.”

“I owe a lot to Miss Fairfax. If she hadn't gotten me out of that prison, I don't think I could have lasted my ten years there. That's how long my original sentence was. No, this is all right, Fox. Five years isn't forever.”

“It would bother me a great deal. It's like you're being put in a box. You have to do what she says for five whole years. What if you wanted to marry?”

“Bond servants get married, but what woman would want to be married to a man who isn't free? I'll just have to put that off for a time.”

“I don't think Sabrina will.”

Sion turned in the saddle. “What do you mean by that?”

Surprised by Sion's sharp tone, Fox said, “I mean she's a beautiful woman, and she has property. And there are a lot of unmarried men in these parts. As a matter of fact, Hannah was telling me there's been a regular parade of fellows coming by offering to marry her.”

“She's right about that,” Sion said. “They're driving her crazy.”

“It happens all the time out here. Women are so scarce. I think she'll marry Drake Hammond.”

Indeed, Drake Hammond had become a frequent visitor to Sabrina's house. He had taken her to a celebration in town, and Sabrina had appeared to enjoy his company.

Fox noted that Sion had little to say about this. “How do you feel about Sabrina?”

“She's a good woman.”

“Have you ever thought of marrying her yourself?”

Sion stared at Fox with surprise. “I'm her servant, Fox. She would never marry a servant.”

Fox did not answer, and he noted that the conversation seemed to trouble Sion, so he changed the subject. “We'll stop on the way back and see if we can't get us a deer or maybe a turkey. I'd fancy a bit of that for a change.”

****

Sion and Sabrina stood together looking out over the field of corn. A sense of pride came to both of them, especially to Sion. He had put in long hours working in this field, and now he felt a sense of possession, of ownership. He turned to Sabrina and said, “I don't know as I've ever seen a healthier crop. Those rains we had, they're so good for crops like this.”

“I never noticed crops growing before, Sion—not at home, that is. They were there, I suppose, but I was interested in other things. But this is beautiful.” She turned to him and smiled. “You worked very hard on it.”

“I can do better next year. You learn from doing. The land is good here. Fox told me that his people catch small fish and fertilize the ground with them, but it would take a lot of fish to do a field this big.”

“What will we do with all this corn? Sell it?”

“Keep some for seed corn. A lot of people make whiskey out of it.”

“Do you know how to do that?”

“No, not really.”

Sion had learned that corn could be traded for almost anything. He had also learned that by turning corn into whiskey, a farmer could have a product that was worth up to two dollars per gallon—whereas a bushel of good corn was valued at fifty cents.

The two walked around the field, lost in admiration, and from time to time Sabrina stopped to finger one of the strong stalks and note the tiny beginnings of ears. “We'll have fresh corn. That'll be good.”

“Aye, and we'll have all kinds of fresh vegetables from the garden. The ground is richer here than in England. You just plant a seed and then jump back out of the way,” Sion said with a smile.

The two continued their walk until finally Sion lifted his head. “Someone's coming at a run.” The two turned, and Sion narrowed his eyes. “That's Josh. There must be something wrong. He wouldn't punish a horse like that.” The two hurried forward to meet Josh, who slid off his horse in one easy motion.

“Bad news,” he said. His eyes were troubled, and he shook his head. “There's been a raid on a family named Johnson. You don't know them, but they live about twelve miles from here.”

“Indians?” Sabrina asked fearfully.

“Yes.”

“Was it bad, Josh?” Sion asked.

“Very bad! The whole family butchered. The man and the woman and four children all dead and scalped and the cabin burned. I came to get you, Sion. A militia's being formed, and you ought to go along with the rest of us.”

“Is that all right, miss?” Sion asked quickly.

“Of course, if it's what the men are doing.”

“Will it be all right, Josh, to leave Miss Fairfax alone here?”

He turned to Sabrina and said, “I think you'd be all right here, but I'd feel better if you'd go stay with my mom and sister until we got back. Dad will be going, but you three women will be all right there. It was a small party, and they were headed north. They won't come this way. I wish they would,” he said grimly. “They'd be easier to catch up with.”

“I'll get my horse and gun.”

“Bring some extra powder and balls if you've got them,” Josh said.

****

Sabrina had attended the funeral of the family killed in the raid. They had been buried on their own place, and the six graves there made a distinct impression on Sabrina. She had stood beside the grave as Rev. Paul Anderson had read from the Scriptures, and the thinness of the line between life and death in this country had become clear to Sabrina. It was the custom in the country to wait until the graves were filled in, and she had stood there along with the others until they heard the dirt strike the caskets. It made a terrible sound to her, and she had had bad dreams about it.

After the funeral she had been more silent than usual, and Sion, who had come back from the fruitless chase after the raiders, had noticed it. He had said nothing for a few days until finally one evening as they were eating supper together, she pushed her plate back and said, “I'll never get used to this country, Sion.”

Sion hesitated, not knowing exactly how to answer that. “You're bothered about the Indians, aren't you?”

“Yes. It could just as easily have been us, Sion.”

“I know, but it's no different than in England. Every time you went for a carriage, you could have had an accident or the plague could have come. Death is always part of life. It will never change, miss.”

“Doesn't it bother you, Sion?”

“Why, I don't think it does.”

“I don't see how you can put it away from you like that.”

“Well, I didn't always. When I was a younger man working in the mines, it was all I could do sometimes to make myself go down in the cage. You can't imagine how bad it is when the cage just falls away into utter darkness. You feel like it will never stop. I never ceased to be afraid of it. And then when you get out of the cage, it's just as bad. At any moment the roof could fall in. It did more than once when I was working. It killed my father, and I knew it could kill me, too.”

Sabrina listened as he described the terrible life that coal miners led. It was all foreign to her, for she had led a sheltered life. Since coming to America her world had been shaken, and she felt vulnerable. When he finished speaking, a silence fell between the two, and he said finally, “I hate to see you troubled.”

“I get discouraged. And that poor family! They had their lives before them, Sion. Those two girls could have married and had their own families. And the boys, they could have found wives. And the couple, their parents, will never see their grandchildren grow up about them. They got up in the morning, and I doubt if they thought about dying. They went about their work, they laughed, they cried, they had arguments, they lived, and that night they were all dead. It all seems so—so useless!”

“God knows all about that family. I think they're with Him right now. They were a fine Christian family, I understand.”

This was cold enough comfort to Sabrina. She knew there was something lacking in her life, but she didn't know what it was, nor could she express her emptiness to Sion. She envied his calmness and his certainty, and she knew that his beliefs were sincere—that he was not afraid of life nor of death. Finally she shook her head. “I'll never get used to this country, and I'll never get used to death. I'm afraid of it.”