Chapter Eleven
"Tell me, Mr. McWhorton; how is Daya," asked Ben, sipping his coffee.
"I must say, Mr. Cartwright, your cook certainly makes an excellent cup of coffee." He drank, savoring the flavor for a moment. "Daya is one of those who refuse to accept white ways. We know at one time she did in Georgia. But she says it left her with nothing before. Why do it again?"
"She has a point. I wonder how long it will be before whites want the land the Cherokee have now."
"That's one reason I resigned. We were to immerse them in white society in Indian Territory so that at some point, you wouldn't know the Indians from the whites. There were those who resisted and still do. Daya is one of them, and she raised Ahyoka that way even though Ahyoka has white features. And then there's Ezra. The law on the reservation says that whites may adopt any Indian child they choose even if the Indian parents object. The government feels the easiest way to transition the Cherokee away from their customs is to raise the children as white. They learn to speak English instead of their native tongue, they dress like white children and they go to white schools. In only a generation, the ways of the Cherokee would all but be forgotten." McWhorton sipped his coffee. "Whites don't usually want an Indian child to raise as their own, but several white couples want to adopt Ezra. The army sent me here rather than sending an officer because they thought I could reason Rachel back to Indian Territory. As far as they're concerned, she's a fugitive."
Ben stopped just before he took another sip, giving McWhorton a harsh gaze. "So you're here to take Rachel and Ezra back so the law can take Ezra away from her?"
"I came because my son asked for my help. He felt I would be better able than he to find help along the way…to find her. He wants Rachel and Ezra back. He intends to raise Ezra."
Shaking his head, Ben sat his coffee cup in the saucer on the table with a loud clatter. "That girl is terrified of being found. There has to be more to it than that."
Leaning forward, McWhorton placed his cup on the table and stood. "I assure you, Mr. Cartwright. There is no more to this than the ideas Daya has put in Rachel's head all these years."
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The three brothers spread out at the point that Adam had initially lost the trail. They came together again at the high valley in the northwest reaches of Ponderosa land.
"Adam, the only way outta here heading northwest is up through those crags up there," said Hoss, pointing to high rough-looking precipices on the other side of the valley. "I don't know why anyone would wanna go that way."
"She went that way because it'll be easy for her to disappear up there. There's no easy way through, so finding the route she took is anyone's guess," said Adam.
Looking intently at one point on the other side of the valley, Joe countered, "Unless someone saw which way she went."
Adam looked back at him. "What do you see, Joe?"
"I see a man on a horse picking his way through the boulders up that middle gully."
Hoss shook his head. "Well, he ain't gonna git very far. Sun's settin'."
"There's a creek on the other side of the valley at the base of those mountains," said Adam. "We'll make camp there and start again at first light." The three men rode down into the valley just as the sun set, making it to the other side in the light of a full moon.
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Just as the sun was setting, Rachel stopped and studied the rocky trail above her, looking for an overhang to make her shelter. The last glint of the sun erased a shadow in the cleft of rock, revealing a ledge with an overhang deep within the space between two rock faces where the wind would be deflected. Rachel moved the pack on her back, tying it from side to side. She folded and tied the blanket into the shape of a papoose and moved Ezra to her back above the pack. Using both hands to pull herself up the steep rocks, she made it to the ledge just as the last light faded. Dropping the pack off her back onto the ledge, her first order of business was to build a fire, not only for light, but to prepare and cook the small rabbit she had caught on their way across the valley. Stunted trees and manzanita grew out of the rock around her, so finding firewood was easy. Soon, Rachel had the shelter assembled, her skins and blankets deep underneath the overhang, and a fire glowing.
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Clouds slowly moved over the moon, causing Adam to look up into the darkness just as the first flakes of snow from the leading edge of the storm began to fall. He blew warm breath into his hands before he reached toward the fire and poured himself another cup of hot coffee.
"Joe, come help me with the canvas," said Hoss. "We need to put up the lean-to before we can't see nothing but white."
"You need help?" asked Adam.
"No, Older Brother," said Hoss. "This is a two-man job. You need to be concentratin' on how we're gonna get up there in a foot or two of snow."
"We're not going up that way."
Joe and Hoss both stopped pulling the canvas out of the gunny sack in which it was packed. "Just how do you propose to get to Rachel before McWhorton's son does?"
"Joe, I figure he won't have an easy time going up those rocks in the snow, and I'm betting that Rachel is already up to the ledge trail that'll take her right around to the old glacier valley on the other side."
"That still doesn't explain how we're gonna get to her."
"You know, Joe, if you'd take some time to ride the outskirts of the Ponderosa, you'd know the trails. We'll follow this creek around. There's a low pass around the bend where there's a burro trail that leads up to that valley. It'll still be hard going. There's nothing but rock up there, but that trail will be a lot easier than climbing straight up."
Pulling the rest of the canvas out of the sack, Hoss handed Joe one corner and stretched the cover out. "Now that the brains of this outfit's finished his work, me and you need to get this canvas up before the ground gets covered with snow."
