The Mandie Collection (50 page)

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Mandie could hardly sleep that night because she knew Uncle Ned, Sallie, and Morning Star would be arriving the next day, which was Christmas Eve, and she prayed it would not snow so they could get over the mountain. She thought about the box with the dirt in it. So far she had not been able to solve anything regarding that, but when Sallie got there, Mandie was sure she would help.

Jonathan had enjoyed the walk around Uncle John's property, and Mandie thought that since he and Joe had become friends, maybe Joe would entertain him so she could slip off with Sallie. She drifted off to sleep trying to figure out how she would do that.

A loud metallic noise woke Mandie. She quickly sat up and looked around. Liza was working on the fire, so it must be morning already. She felt as though she had slept for only a few minutes.

“Morning, Liza,” Mandie greeted the young girl, pushing up her pillows and stretching under the quilts. She nudged Snowball off the bed, and he jumped down to join Liza in the warmth of the fire.

“Mawnin', Missy 'Manda. Sorry I dropped de shovel. Must woke you up,” Liza said, poking the logs.

“That's all right, Liza. Must be time to get up if you're in here building up the fire,” Mandie replied. “Did you go see my grandmother yesterday? I haven't had a chance to see you since then.”

Liza jumped up, wiped her hands on her white apron, ran over to the bed, and plopped down near Mandie. “I hopes de Lawd blesses you, Missy 'Manda, 'cause you dun saved my soul from de devil, that you have,” Liza started talking fast. “Miz Grandmama, she tell me all 'bout de devil puttin' dat voodoo stuff in my haid. I didn't knows dat voodoo belongs to him. But I knows now. Dis heah is de last time I'll ever talk about that bad word. Miz Grandmama, she know all 'bout it, but you see, Aunt Lou, she don't know all Miz Grandmama know.”

Mandie reached to squeeze the girl's hand. “Oh, Liza, I'm so glad you understand now why Aunt Lou was so angry with you. It was all for your good,” she said. Then she grinned mischievously and added, “Now Aunt Lou won't have to wash out your mouth and shut you up in the tunnel.”

Liza jumped up, ran to the fireplace, and began spitting into the fire. Then she turned back to Mandie, smiled, and said, “There, I dun cleaned out my mouth.” She picked up the bucket she carried to work on the fireplace every morning. “I has to go now. When you sees Miz Grandmama, you tells huh I'm dun cured.” She danced around the room and went to open the door.

“I'll be sure to tell her, Liza,” Mandie called after her as she went into the hallway and closed the door behind her.

“Thank the Lord!” Mandie said with a big smile. She jumped up, took clothes out of the wardrobe, and began dressing in front of the heat from the fireplace. Looking down at Snowball, who was washing his face, she said, “Sallie will be here today.”

Suddenly she remembered it might have snowed during the night. She ran to the window and pulled back the curtain. The sun wasn't shining, but it wasn't snowing, and there was no sign of any having fallen during the night. “Oh, it's going to be a wonderful day!” she exclaimed as she ran back to the fireplace to put on her shoes.

As soon as she had dressed, she hurried downstairs to the parlor. Snowball followed and went off in the direction of the kitchen. But no one was in the parlor when she got there. She must be the first one up this morning. However, by the time she sat down on a stool in front of the crackling fire, Joe came in.

“Good morning,” they greeted each other.

Joe pulled up another stool and sat down near her. “Have you seen Jonathan?” he asked.

“Jonathan? No, I figured no one else was up,” Mandie answered. “I went by his room but he wasn't there, so I thought maybe he would be down here,” Joe told her.

Mandie moved her feet to turn and look at Joe, and when she did she noticed a button was missing on one of her shoes. She looked around the floor. “Oh shucks! I've lost a button. See.” She stuck her foot out for Joe to inspect it.

Joe stooped down and searched the floor. “You must have lost it before you came in here,” he said as he stood up.

“These are not going to be very comfortable with them gaping open that way. I think I'll run back to my room and put on another pair,” she said as she rose from the carpet.

“You have plenty of time. No one else seems to be up yet,” Joe said.

Mandie stooped to look at the shoe. “I think I'll just take my shoes off to go up the steps,” she said as she removed her shoes. “This one flops without the button.”

Mandie hurried down the hallway and up the stairs to the second floor. She was about to go toward her room when she thought she heard someone coming down from the third floor. She stepped back and looked up. Jonathan was on the stairs above.

“Good morning,” she called to him.

He stopped to look down through the stairwell. “Good morning,” he said and came down to the landing. “Hope you don't mind. I got up early and was just browsing around. This is a fascinating house.”

“Yes, it is,” she agreed. She thought he looked guilty about something, but she couldn't think what.

“Did you forget to put on your shoes?” Jonathan asked with a big grin as he glanced at the shoes in her hand and her stockinged feet.

“Oh no, you see, I lost a button, and I have to go back to my room and put on another pair,” she said, showing him the place where the missing button should have been. “Joe is in the parlor if you're looking for someone to talk to. And I'll be right back down.” She started down the hallway.

“All right, the parlor it is,” he replied as he continued down the staircase.

Mandie quickly found another pair of shoes in her room, put them
on, and got back downstairs just as Uncle John, Dr. Woodard, and Mr. Guyer came in the front door.

“Y'all have already been out when I thought everyone was still in bed, except for Joe and Jonathan, that is,” Mandie greeted them.

“We've been out for a walk. After all that sitting we did yesterday, I needed some exercise,” Dr. Woodard told her as he hung his coat and hat on the hall tree.

“You young people have been doing a lot of walking so we thought we'd try it,” John Shaw said.

“It's such beautiful country here that I'd like to stay outdoors as much as possible. Everything even smells so much better,” Mr. Guyer added.

The men followed Mandie into the parlor. And soon thereafter everyone else had joined them and they went into the dining room for breakfast. The conversation centered around the expected arrival of Uncle Ned and his family and the possibility of snow.

“I'm sure they're on the way by now, and I haven't heard of any snow to amount to anything anywhere,” Dr. Woodard said. “On our walk we stopped at the depot and spoke with the station master. He had not received any reports of snow.”

“How do they travel when they come here to visit? I mean, do they take the train or what?” Jonathan asked.

Everyone around the table smiled at that question except Mr. Guyer. “They travel in a wagon, Jonathan,” John Shaw said. “And in the winter they keep the top on it. There is no train where they live. And the road is more or less a rough trail through the mountain.”

“Well, it certainly would be nice if somebody would get them a real road built, then,” Jonathan replied. “Or build a railroad track over to where they live.” He looked at his father.

Lindall Guyer smiled at his son and said, “I know exactly what you are thinking, that I have enough interest in railroad stock to use my influence to get this done. It would probably cost a fortune, and the railroad would have to have more passengers besides Uncle Ned and his family. However, I will think about it.”

Mandie was thinking that both her grandmother and her uncle had the money to do such a thing, but she felt sure no one would finance such a deal.

“The Cherokee people might not patronize that kind of transportation,”
Joe said. “I think a good road would be a much better idea.” And he looked at his father, then at John Shaw, and on to Mrs. Taft.

Mrs. Taft was the one who replied, “Someday. We'll see.”

Mandie had very keen hearing and now she was sure she heard a wagon coming into their backyard. “Listen! Someone has come up outside,” she said, looking around the table.

Liza suddenly came through the door and quickly went behind Mandie's chair and whispered, “Dat Injun man and his fambly is heah.”

Mandie stood up and said, “Mother, please excuse me a minute. Liza said Uncle Ned has arrived.”

“All right, but you come straight back here and finish your breakfast, and bring them with you,” Elizabeth told Mandie, who was already leaving the room.

She ran to the back door and opened it. Sallie and Morning Star were getting down from the wagon as Uncle Ned held the reins. The girls met each other halfway and embraced.

“Y'all come on in. Mother says breakfast is waiting for y'all,” Mandie told Sallie, who interpreted this into the Cherokee language for her grandmother, Morning Star.

Abraham, John Shaw's handyman, had also heard the wagon and came walking from his little house in the yard to help Uncle Ned unload the wagon and put away the horses.

“Soon I come in,” the old Indian told Mandie. As they all came into the dining room, Aunt Lou was scurrying around setting places for them at the table. Lindall Guyer and Jonathan had already met Uncle Ned in New York, and now the old man introduced his wife, Morning Star, and granddaughter, Sallie, as they all sat down.

“How did you get here so early?” John Shaw wanted to know.

“Leave sunup yesterday. Come over mountain. Sleep at house of friend Redbird. Come early. Maybe snow,” the old man explained as the food was passed around the table.

“I'm so glad you came early, Uncle Ned,” Elizabeth told him. “So we'll have more time to spend with y'all.”

As the adults carried on their conversation, Mandie and Sallie talked with Jonathan and Joe, who were sitting across the table from them. Mandie told Sallie about the strange gift she had received.

“On the outside it looked just like a present, but inside is all this dirt, twigs, and stuff. Just wait. I'll show you,” Mandie explained.

“What is it supposed to be?” Sallie asked.

“Well,” Mandie began as she looked at Joe. “It could be a treasure map, but if it is, I haven't been able to figure it out.”

Sallie's black eyes widened as she said, “A treasure map would be interesting, but what treasure could it be?”

“A pile of dirt,” Joe said jokingly.

“Joe, I'm going to prove to you that it's more than a pile of dirt,” Mandie said. Then she turned to Sallie and asked, “Will you help me?”

Sallie shrugged and said, “I will do whatever I know how.”

Mandie noticed Jonathan had not taken his eyes off the beautiful Indian girl since he had been introduced. And once in a while Sallie was cutting her eyes in his direction. Mandie smiled to herself. Jonathan had never met a real Cherokee girl. And Sallie had heard about Jonathan from Mandie after Mandie's trip to Europe with her grandmother where they had first met Jonathan. Mandie wondered what Polly would think about this.

“You young people should get a little rest this afternoon because we will be going to church at midnight tonight. This is Christmas Eve, remember,” Elizabeth spoke from the foot of the table.

“Are we going out caroling tonight?” Mandie asked.

Elizabeth looked around the table and said, “Whoever wants to.”

“Count me out. I can't sing a note,” Lindall Guyer quickly said with a big smile.

To Mandie's amazement, Mrs. Taft immediately said, “Count me in. I believe I would enjoy doing that.”

Mandie saw a look pass between the two people, and she wondered what it meant. So far she had not heard them say a single word to each other since Mr. Guyer had arrived.

“I'd like to go,” Jonathan said. “I'm not very good at singing, but maybe everybody else will drown me out.”

“Sallie, you've just got to go,” Mandie told her. “You have to sing in Cherokee for us.”

Sallie smiled and said, “I would be most honored to oblige.”

“And of course you wouldn't be able to keep me from going,” Joe said with a laugh.

The rest of the adults begged off.

“All right, Mother, that leaves you in charge,” Elizabeth said.

“Fine,” Mrs. Taft replied, and looking at the young people she said, “We'll just have us a good time.”

And Mandie knew her grandmother meant it.

As soon as they finished with breakfast, Mandie showed the box to Sallie. The adults were all in the parlor, so the young people gathered in the sitting room at the back of the house.

“What does it look like to you?” Mandie asked as Sallie inspected the contents of the box.

Sallie thought for a moment and said, “Lots of dirt, twigs from a holly tree, also the red berries, small pieces of red ribbon, and tiny pebbles.” She looked up at Mandie.

Mandie looked at Sallie and said, “What I meant was, does it look like a treasure map to you?”

Sallie bent over the box for a moment and then said, “There is a possibility it may be meant to be a treasure map. Those indentations may represent roads. However, these are small hills and valleys in them, and those look too sharp to be part of a roadway.”

Mandie quickly looked to where Sallie pointed. She was right. The tiny ruts in the dirt that she assumed were roads might be something else. “Maybe a pathway through the woods?” she suggested.

“That is possible,” Sallie agreed.

Mandie looked at Joe and Jonathan, who were listening to the conversation, and asked, “Would you all like to walk through the woods with us? We might be able to find these places down there.”

“I suppose a little exercise wouldn't do us any harm,” Joe said, rising from his chair.