Mandie Collection, The: 8 (26 page)

As Mandie and Joe sat on low stools by the fireplace, she said, “I suppose we could go back early in the morning to see if Mr. Smith is home, and if he’s not, we could stop by and ask Miss Abigail if he ever came to get her cart.”

“That’s exactly what I was thinking,” Joe told her. “It is strange that no one has seen him and no one knows where he went.”

Mandie had a sudden idea. “You don’t think he could be involved in the mica mystery, do you?” she asked.

“The mica?” Joe repeated. “No, I doubt that he would be because, for one thing, Uncle Ned thinks the stolen wagons are connected with the mica. I can’t see Mr. Smith stealing wagons, much less moving a mound of mica.”

With a sigh, Mandie agreed, “You’re right. He was my father’s friend, and I don’t think he would be stealing anything. But I do wish we could find him.”

“We will sooner or later,” Joe promised.

“Well, I hope it’s sooner than later,” Mandie replied with a little laugh. “I would like to see him before I have to go home.”

After she went to bed that night, Mandie thought about Mr. Jacob Smith for a long time. Where had he gone? Why had no one seen him? He wouldn’t have just pulled up stakes and left the country. After all, he had restored her father’s house and was living in it to take care of it until someday in the future when she would decide what to do with it.

There was something strange about the whole situation.

CHAPTER EIGHT

SEPARATED IN THE MOUNTAIN

The next morning Mandie and Joe took Mrs. Woodard’s cart and rode by to see if Mr. Jacob Smith was home. But the place was still deserted, so they went on by Miss Abigail’s house.

Miss Abigail was sweeping off her front porch when Joe stopped the cart in her driveway. “My, my! Y’all are sure up early this morning,” the lady greeted them with a smile.

“Yes, ma’am,” Joe said as he jumped down from the cart. “We are looking for Mr. Jacob Smith, and my mother said he usually borrows your cart to haul things from his old house. We wanted to find out if he has been by to get it.”

“Why, no. I was saying yesterday that he was supposed to come and get it on Monday, but he never did show up,” Miss Abigail replied, stopping to lean on a post by the walkway. “Today’s Wednesday, and I still haven’t seen or heard from him.”

“In case he does come by, Miss Abigail, would you please tell him I’ve been trying to find him?” Mandie asked as she remained seated in the cart. “I have to go home Saturday, and I want to see him before I leave.”

“Of course, Amanda,” Miss Abigail replied. “I’ll ask around to see if anyone knows where he is, and I’ll let you know if I learn anything.”

“Thank you, Miss Abigail, and we’ll let you know if we catch up with him,” Mandie promised.

They continued on their way to the Cherokee schoolhouse. Mandie held firmly to Snowball’s leash as he curled up in her lap. When Joe turned the cart into the school yard, Mandie saw Uncle Ned’s wagon and Dimar’s horse tied up under a tree, but no one was in sight.

“They must all be inside the schoolhouse,” Joe said as he brought the cart to a stop next to the wagon.

“Yes, let’s go see,” Mandie replied as she held Snowball and jumped down. She started toward the front door, and Joe quickly followed.

“Good morning,” Sallie called to them as she came to the open doorway.

Mandie and Joe returned the greeting as they came up to the porch.

“Have y’all been here long?” Mandie asked. She set Snowball down to walk and held his leash tightly as they entered the schoolroom.

“We just arrived,” Sallie replied.

Uncle Ned and Dimar were seated in the back of the schoolroom talking with Riley O’Neal.

“Good morning,” Mandie said as she looked at the three. “Did y’all find out anything after we left yesterday?”

Uncle Ned and Dimar shook their heads in the negative.

“No, nothing,” the old man said.

“Not a thing,” Dimar added, smiling at Mandie.

Riley O’Neal spoke up. “They didn’t find anyone or the wagons, but I did confirm for them that the man called Beethoven spent the night here at the schoolhouse. He seemed harmless and in dire need of something to eat and a place to sleep.”

“I didn’t think he looked dangerous,” Mandie said, sitting down next to Uncle Ned on the bench. “In fact, I thought he looked humble.”

“I believe you are a good judge of people, Miss Amanda,” Riley O’Neal told her, smiling as he leaned forward from his seat on the other side of Uncle Ned.

Joe and Sallie sat down next to Dimar on the other bench.

“What are you planning to do today, Uncle Ned?” Joe asked.

“We look more,” the old man replied. “Six of us now. We split and go two ways.”

“Six?” Mandie questioned. She looked at Riley O’Neal and said, “Then you must be planning on going with us.”

“No school today, so I thought I might be able to help in the search,” Mr. O’Neal said.

“No school? But today’s Wednesday. Don’t the Cherokee children go to school every day during the week like we do?” Mandie asked.

“No, we are not full time yet,” Riley O’Neal explained. “You see, the Cherokee children have to get used to the idea of going to school every day, so I am gradually adding one more day to the week. So far we are up to three days—Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday.”

“Well, I wish I went to that kind of school,” Mandie replied with a laugh.

“It sure would take you a long time to get educated,” Joe teased.

“And you would be old before you finished enough school to get into college,” Sallie reminded her.

“Oh shucks, I didn’t really mean that. In fact, I’d like to go to school seven days a week and get it all over with in a hurry,” Mandie replied.

“We go now,” Uncle Ned said, standing up and smiling at Mandie as he added, “And get it over with in hurry.”

“Yes, sir,” Mandie agreed.

As they walked across the yard, Uncle Ned turned to look at them and said, “We go to mountain bottom,” and then pointing to each one he added, “There we split. Me take Sallie, Mr. Schoolteacher, and Dimar take Mandie and Joe.”

“Do we take the cart?” Joe asked.

“Yes,” Uncle Ned replied. “Take cart. We take wagon.”

As Mandie climbed into the cart with Dimar and Joe, she said, “I suppose you know which way to go from there, Dimar?”

Dimar looked at Mandie and Joe and explained, “He is dividing us this way because he and I know the trails. We will leave the wagon and the cart at the bottom of the mountain.”

Mandie noticed that Dimar had his rifle with him, as did Joe, so she felt well protected. She sat between the boys on the seat, and Snowball decided he wanted to lie down on the floor, but Mandie held tightly to the end of his leash.

They followed Uncle Ned to the valley below the mountain where the old man pulled his wagon to a stop. He looped the reins loosely to
a bush, giving his horse plenty of slack to graze. Joe tied up his horse and cart nearby. The area was full of young trees with new springtime leaves that provided the horses with plenty of shade in case the sunshine warmed up the valley before they returned.

Mandie jumped down from the cart, holding Snowball in her arms.

“Are you taking that cat with you? We have to climb up the mountain, you know,” Joe said.

“Well, I can’t leave him here,” Mandie replied, stopping to look at Joe.

Dimar spoke behind her. “No, you cannot leave him here. He might get loose, or someone might come by and let him loose.”

“That might not be such a bad thing to happen,” Joe teased Mandie as they hurried over to where the others were waiting.

“Then you would have to help me find him,” Mandie told him.

Uncle Ned explained his plans. “You go that trail.” He pointed to a dense path leading up the mountain on his left. “We go that trail.” He indicated another faint trail to the right.

Mandie thought about what he was saying and asked, “Then how do we get back together again, Uncle Ned?”

“Sun straight up we come back, eat,” the old man told her.

“Eat?” Joe asked. “Mandie, we forgot to bring any food.”

Uncle Ned smiled at him and said, “Morning Star make plenty food in wagon for all.”

“Thank you, Uncle Ned,” Mandie said. “I was about to say we ought to rush back to Joe’s house and ask Mrs. Miller for something to eat later.”

Riley O’Neal looked at Mandie and said, “I’m not used to such outings, so I didn’t bring any food, either.” Turning to Uncle Ned, he said, “Please tell Morning Star I am grateful she remembered to send food.”

Uncle Ned nodded and started off to the right. “Go now,” he said.

Sallie paused as she followed her grandfather and told Mandie, “I would help you carry Snowball but my grandfather is sending us in two different directions.”

“Thank you, Sallie, but he won’t be that much of a problem,” Mandie replied. She hurried to catch up with Joe and Dimar.

The trail was steep in places, and Mandie found it was a struggle to hold on to Snowball and grasp bushes along the way to keep from sliding backward. Joe and Dimar both offered to help carry the cat, but Mandie knew it was her responsibility and she wouldn’t dare admit she wished now she had left Snowball at the Woodards’ house.

Dimar was in the lead and turned to say, “We searched this side of the mountain yesterday. We will search the other side after we go over the top.”

“Going down the other side will probably be easier than all this climbing,” Joe said.

“The other side is steep, too steep for my horse,” Dimar said. “I have been there many times before. I always leave my horse below.”

“Dimar,” Mandie said, stepping closer as the three of them stood on a large rock jutting out of the side of the mountain. “What exactly are we supposed to be looking for in this mountain?”

“Wagons, mica, people—anything that does not belong to the mountain,” Dimar explained.

“And what do we do if we suddenly come upon someone?” Mandie asked.

Dimar touched his rifle over his shoulder. “We ask questions,” he said. “However, we are prepared for more.”

“Yes,” Joe agreed, lifting his rifle.

“I have been thinking I should get myself a rifle,” Mandie told the boys with a serious expression.

Joe smiled at her and said, “You wouldn’t know what to do with it if you had a rifle.”

Mandie frowned and said, “I could learn to shoot it.”

“Yes,” Dimar agreed. “I could teach you how.”

Joe quickly said, “I could teach you how, too, but you don’t have to get a rifle. I can take care of you.”

“But what about when you aren’t with me?” Mandie asked.

Dimar quickly said, “Get a rifle. I will teach you how to shoot it. Now we must go on.” He began climbing the trail again.

As Mandie followed the boys, she thought about her father. She was sure he had had a rifle, and she wondered if it was still in the house where Mr. Jacob Smith lived now. If she could ever catch up with Mr. Smith, she would ask him about it.

After what seemed hours to Mandie, they finally reached the crest
of the mountain. Dimar led the way to a small clearing where they flopped down in the grass to rest. Mandie let Snowball play at the end of his leash.

“Five minutes,” Dimar told Mandie and Joe. “Then we go down the other side.”

“How far are we going? Uncle Ned said to come back to his wagon at noontime,” Mandie told Dimar.

“It will not take long to go down the mountainside, and then I know a shortcut to the wagon,” Dimar explained. “But we have to watch and search as we go down.”

“If Uncle Ned finds anything, or anybody, on his trail, how will we know?” Joe asked, stretching out in the grass.

“He will send a smoke signal. If we find anything, we will send him a smoke signal,” Dimar explained.

“I haven’t been looking up or watching the sky. Do you think we will see it if he does send one?” Mandie asked, pulling on Snowball’s leash as he tried to break free.

“Yes, I have been watching,” Dimar replied with a smile. He stood and motioned around him. “Look, you can see everywhere from here.”

Mandie rose and looked around as she held Snowball’s leash. She could see several lower peaks with valleys in between. Evidently they were on the highest part of the mountain. She wondered where Uncle Ned and the others were in all that landscape.

“The trail we came up was at an angle and not straight. We began down that way,” Dimar explained, pointing down to his left.

Joe stood up and joined them. “There is one question I have,” he said. “Suppose Uncle Ned runs into trouble somewhere and is not able to send us a message? How will we know that?”

“Uncle Ned is fast. He will send us a message somehow,” Dimar told him. “Now we must go on.”

Mandie picked up Snowball, and they started down the other side of the mountain. She found it was no easier going down than coming up. The small rocks under her feet seemed to roll and make her skid, causing Snowball to growl and want down. She tried walking him with his leash, but he kept sliding and she had to pick him up again.

Dimar, in the lead, kept looking all around them, and Mandie
watched him for signs of anything he might see. Joe came down the trail behind her.

Since it was impossible to talk as they walked, Mandie had lots of time to think. She remembered that Uncle Ned had said at least part of the mica seemed to have been moved down the river, but they weren’t even near the river that she could see. And she couldn’t imagine how anyone could get a wagon on this mountain, so Uncle Ned must be looking for the people who moved the mica and who probably stole the wagons. But why would the people who stole the wagons leave them somewhere and then come to the mountain? So far she had not seen any sign of anyone living on the mountain—there were no houses of any kind and there was nothing but wilderness. But she knew Uncle Ned was always right in his decisions concerning mysteries.

Eventually the trail began leveling out and turning in a curve to their left.

“This will take us back to the wagon,” Dimar explained as they finally reached flat ground again and were able to walk side by side and talk.

“So what good did it do to go up that mountain?” Mandie asked.