Chapter 2
Rebecca sat gently rocking, sipping a last cup of coffee. Though she was pretending otherwise she was thinking about Mingo's strained face in the firelight. Something was troubling their family friend, something painful. Daniel came back through the door with another load of firewood. "You know, Dan, that is Israel's duty. He shouldn't get away with neglecting it."
Daniel nodded at his wife, then grinned. "I reckon I am too easy on him. Jemima is so thorough that I forget that Israel isn't. I'll speak to him tomorrow, I promise."
"The two are very, very different. I don't think it's due entirely to the fact that Jemima is a girl, or that she's older."
"Nope. That's just the way they are. But you're right Becky. I need to be tougher on Israel."
Becky sat watching her husband stack the wood beside the fireplace. "Dan, what's bothering Mingo? He was awfully quiet. Even when Israel peppered him with all his questions about the beadwork on his boots he only answered with a few words. It's not like Mingo to ignore Israel."
"No it's not. The tricks played on us by his lordship last year are still working on him. Then yesterday he found a small key near his mother's burial scaffold. I don't pretend to know what he's thinkin' but I know he's bothered."
"What does the key belong to? Does Mingo know?"
"I don't think so. He showed it to me'n Yad today and asked us what we thought it belonged to. It looks like maybe it would unlock a box of keepsakes."
"Does he still have it?"
"He put it back behind his belt. Why? Don't ask him about it Becky. If he wanted you to know he'd have shown you."
Becky frowned at her tall husband. "Well maybe, just maybe I know what it belongs to! You men don't know everything even though you think you do." She got to her feet and walked angrily into their curtained bedroom. Dan could hear her muttering to herself, her voice edgy with hurt feelings.
She did have a point. It was possible that she would recognize the kind of lock that would fit Mingo's key. The problem was how to show Becky without making Mingo irritated. Dan thought for a while, then grunted impatiently. He could think of no way to let Becky see the key without asking Mingo to show her. Slipping into bed moments later he could tell his wife was still aggravated at him. She turned her back on him. He laid thinking until the moon began to slide toward morning.
Just at daylight Mingo pulled Daniel aside as soon as the tall man stepped out of his front door. Pulling the key from behind his belt Mingo held it up to the early morning light. "Daniel, does this marking look like a letter to you?"
Daniel took the key and rubbed his thumb over the indented symbol. Seconds later he nodded to the friend beside him. "It does, but I can't tell what letter it might be. Can you?"
"I thought about it as I was falling asleep last night. It could be an F, a P, a B, or an R.
I'm thinking that it is a key from a bank."
Daniel's brown brows rose as he thought about Mingo's guess. It made sense to him that John Murray would have had a bank key in one of his pockets. They looked at each other. Then Daniel spoke to the Cherokee beside him. "Well Mingo, if you're right how do you go about narrowing it down? And why do you care? That key must have been in the ground for a long time. Your daddy's been gone from Chota for more'n twenty years. No doubt he made another key years ago."
A veil dropped before Mingo's eyes. Daniel saw the effort to hide and was instantly alerted. "Mingo, what are you tryin' to hide from me?" Dan's voice was soft, intimate. "If'n you don't want to tell me, that's your business. But I'll listen if you do."
Mingo swallowed and clenched his jaw. Seconds passed. Finally he turned to his friend, his face taut with memory. "After Lord Dunsmore visited Rebecca and tried to get her to accept his bribe, he went to Chota. He hid near my mother's scaffold. When I went to honor her, he stepped out of the shadows and surprised me. That was when he tried to entice me into joining him in ruling Kentucky for the Crown."
"What? He did what?"
"You heard me. Once again he offered me his precious title. He wanted me to betray you, all of you. Of course he didn't say that. Oh no, that would be too crass for Lord Dunsmore."
"He covered his rotten betrayal in noble cloth. His words all concerned my duty to my mother's people. He intimated that I should join his cause and take back Kentucky for the Cherokee. Then he and I could administer the territory together, as he and the Crown saw fit. He would be the power behind my throne, so to speak. What I'd really be was his puppet!"
Daniel stared at Mingo's agitated face. His friend had told him nothing about the secret midnight meeting. Suddenly Mingo's strange statement in the Governor's mansion made sense. "I was only being an obedient son," he had said with a look of satisfaction.
"He knows me too well, Daniel. The offer was tailor-made for me, a self-sacrifice for the good of my Cherokee people." Mingo sadly shook his head. "He has never given up his dream regarding my acceptance of his title. I know he doesn't want it for my sake. He has no real concern for my well-being."
Daniel waved his hand in a small denial. Mingo's eyes gleamed as his contradiction floated into the morning air. "No Daniel, I know what I'm talking about. He's embarrassed that his offering has so little value to me. It magnifies his failures. In a way my rejection cheapens the whole concept of titles. That is what is important to him. Do you understand?"
"I never thought about it that way but I do see your point. You're an educated man who's not impressed with an English title, something that he's been brought up to believe is envied by everyone else in the world. He can't understand how you can refuse it." Daniel's face was drawn into an expression of deep thought.
"Yes. He thinks I'm being stubborn, or waiting for a higher offer. So he tried to word his idea in such a way that it would seem my best chance. Does he really think I am so blind? Or I'm that stupid?" Mingo stared at the ground, his face reflecting his inner turmoil.
Daniel though about Mingo's question as he watched the sun rise above the summer trees. He stubbed his toe into the soft Kentucky soil as he replied. "No, Mingo, I doubt your daddy thinks you're blind or stupid. It was his best argument. He had to make it."
Mingo looked deeply into his friend's eyes. The words seeped into his mind and he nodded his agreement. Unthinkingly he fingered the key whose outline Daniel could see through the cloth of the Cherokee's belt.
Becky's words of the previous night tickled his brain. He cleared his throat. "Mingo, that key you've got there; suppose Becky would know more about it? Me and Yad gave you our opinion, but if Becky doesn't think it's a box maybe we could start thinkin' a different direction."
In response Mingo pulled the little key from his belt again and entered through the open cabin door. He walked to Becky beside the crackling hearth. She looked up into his face and smiled. "Rebecca, I found a key two days ago and I'm puzzled as to what it might fit. Do you recognize this kind of key?" He held it out cradled in the palm of his brown hand.
Becky reached for it and turned it over in her hand. Her tapered fingers caressed the smooth brass. She again looked into her friend's dark eyes. The pain hidden there made her wince. "I think it belongs to a drawer or desk. It's too large to belong to a box."
"I thought last night that maybe it could be a bank key."
"It could be, but it's such a pretty key that I doubt it. I think this belongs to a piece of furniture of some sort." Becky handed the key back to Mingo and bent once more over the cooking breakfast. Mingo stared at the key as he walked to seat himself at the Boone's table. Israel came scuffling down the ladder buttoning his shirt. He plopped himself beside his friend and took the key from the man's hand.
"That's sure a pretty key Mingo. Where'd you get it?"
Mingo looked down into Israel's puzzled face and smiled. "I found it two days ago, Israel. It is a pretty key."
"What's it belong to?"
"That is a puzzle to me too. Your mother and father have been trying to help me decide that."
Before Israel could delay any further Daniel pulled on his arm. They disappeared through the open cabin door. Seconds later Jemima walked softly into the room with the morning's eggs and milk. She smiled at Mingo sitting silently at the table. After intercepting a look from her mother she set the table, all the while engaging Mingo in small talk about the lovely weather. The mysterious key was once again hidden behind the Cherokee's belt.
