Chapter Twenty-Six

Expecting his nightly routine to be different, Joe waited for a soldier to come get him rather than walking to the line to leave the mine. At first, he was sent where the Aha macave slept; in a tunnel that opened into a wide space where the walls were a dull brown rather than glistening black. When the soldiers came to chain the Aha macave, Joe was taken down another tunnel to a smaller opening where his leg irons were chained to an iron stake in the middle of the floor.

He stood defiantly in the center of the room until the soldier pointed his rifle at him. "Boy, I could care less if you try something. The captain'll be just a might upset for losing another worker, but it's just a matter of time before that happens. As soon as your kin show up, you'll be down the dead shaft. Now, if you want another day, you'll get down on that floor." Joe squatted down and waited for his rations.

While he was eating, another soldier brought in a bucket. "You got your own private privy now. Sweet dreams, Sunshine. 'Cause you'll never see any again." Joe could hear the soldier's cackle echoing through the mine.

Looking around him, Joe found nothing but rock. There were no patches of softer dirt anywhere in this cavern. He lay on his stomach again with his head on his arms, but soon found that whatever position he tried, the rock surface he was laying on was eventually going to hurt. He slept fitfully his first night alone.

The more exhausted he became from lack of sleep and the nature of the work, the easier it became to sleep, at least for awhile. Joe had begun to count the days again by lining up loose rocks in the cavern. He didn't make a regular pattern for fear that one of the soldiers would discovered them so he put rocks in a pile until he had seven, then put one rock next to the bucket to signify a week and started the pile over again. The more rocks he collected, the harder it was for him to believe that Adam was still coming. Looking at the piles during his first meal, he began to think that maybe his family had arrived and were turned away or perhaps the army had found Adam. What if Adam was already here somewhere being forced to dig, just like Joe? What if they had given up? How much longer should he wait before….

He had started on his third pile of rocks, and just before he fell asleep, he said aloud, "One more day."

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A scout was sent to find a suitable place for camp higher up in the mountains. They would have to go further for water and food, but they would be even more difficult to find. Everything required to make camp was carried up the steep rocks on their backs, the women carrying the weight they could right along with the men.

It was long after dark when the camp was settled, and everyone gathered for the evening meal of dried salmon and mesquite beans. Empote quatacheech spoke to the tribe as they ate. "We go tonight to watch, but we will take the knives. If the soldiers do not watch, we will go in to find the brother of Homar huwhen."

"And when you find him, what then?" asked Adam loudly.

"We will bring him to you and you will leave us."

"And Chacha hoda?"

"Chacha hoda must go into the mine to free our people and your brother if he is there. When she has done her work, she may leave with you."

Adam knew there was no point arguing about what would be done after he left. He knew this was the best he could do. Still, he felt…ashamed…dirty…at the prospect of leaving the soldiers to a violent death. Or perhaps the Aha macave. But he saw no way to prevent it.

"How will I know your brother?" asked Mike.

Adam thought for a moment. "Ask him who the cook is. He'll understand. The answer is Hop Sing."

"Hop Sing," she said, nodding.

They traveled to the rocks around the mines as they had before, silently on foot. Empote quatacheech positioned them as before. They watched and waited. The white slaves from the mine were kept in a flat area where they slept on the ground chained together. The soldiers patrolled the area around them as well as the entrance to the mine.

As they watched, one of the Aha macave to the south came back to Empote quatacheech and Adam. He pointed to the north where Adam could just barely make out four dark figures riding toward the mine in the moonlight. It wasn't long before the guards heard them approach, and they all formed a line to the north of their encampment. The only soldiers that didn't go forward were the two stationed in the mouth of the mine. When the riders stopped in front of the soldiers, Empote quatacheech signaled for Mike to enter the mine.

They watched as she deftly climbed down the rock from the top, finding handholds and footholds that could not be seen from below. She stopped just above the mine entrance, hanging on to the rock with one hand and throwing her knife with the other. When the first soldier slumped, the second one bent to see what was wrong, unsuspecting of the knife that had been thrown from above. Before he had a chance to stand back up, she threw a second knife. The soldier slumped on top of the first. She climbed down, disappearing into the dark void of the mine.

Mike searched both soldiers for keys to the chains, found them, then made her way down the main tunnel. She began to worry that she wouldn't be able to find the Aha macave slaves and Adam's brother because there were so many tunnels off the main. She breathed a sigh of relief when she found a large chamber at the end of the main tunnel where the men were sleeping. She covered the mouth of the first man, waking him, then handed him the keys and a knife. He, in turn, woke the next man, passing the key along. As the Aha macave men awoke, she handed out knives. She looked across the entire group, but didn't see a white man, so she pulled the first Aha macave aside, whispering, "White man?"

"One is here in another tunnel. But why?"

"We must free him. We will talk after."

The Aha macave man took her to the tunnel where Joe was sleeping. She put her hand over his mouth and her knife at his neck, waking him.When he opened his eyes, he felt the knife at his throat and saw that it was being held by an Indian girl.

"Who is cook?" she whispered.

Joe creased his eyebrows for moment until the fog cleared.

She dug the knife into the flesh of his neck. "Who is cook?"

"Hop Sing."

Relaxing the knife, she said, "I have come with your brother, Adam, to free you. You must be silent." Joe nodded, and the Aha macave woman unlocked his chains. "Do you know how to use this?" she asked, holding out the knife. Joe nodded. "Then we go."

Once all the men were unchained, they waited for Mike at the mine entrance, crouching in the shadows. When they arrived, Mutheel munagh whispered to Joe, "You are not dead."

"No, I'm not dead," answered Joe, chuckling.

"Your brother has come for you as you said," said the Indian, smiling.

Joe crawled up next to the Indian girl, and seeing riders at the far side of the encampment, he nodded toward them and said quietly, "That's my father and brother."

She squatted low so the men on the ground below couldn't see her and signaled to Empote quatacheech. "You are not to kill the men on horseback," she said to the Aha macave waiting behind her. She turned to Joe. "You will go to the rocks there", she said, pointing toward Adam's position. "You and your brother go back to our camp and prepare to leave. Tell your brother to pack the horses. Tell him to wear his gun."

When Empote quatacheech gave the signal, the Aha macave poured out of the surrounding mountains, some moving the ladder to the mouth of the mine. More Aha macave came out of the mine, their combined numbers taking the soldiers on the ground by surprise. Empote quatacheech had moved from their hiding place and went down the mountain with his men.

Joe did as he was told, running to the rocks at the west and climbing until he was grabbed and pulled into the shadows.

Adam wrapped his hand around Joe's neck, looking into his eyes with a seriousness that made Joe inwardly smile at the knowledge that this family would never have given up. "Joe?"

"I'm alright, Adam," he said, and for the first time in weeks, he was alright. He grasped his brother's arms. "She said to go back to the horses and get them packed."

The girl waited until the fighting began, skirting along the sides of the mountains until she was even with Ben and Hoss who were confused at what was taking place, their horses barely in control. Running to Ben's horse, she grabbed the reins. "I am Mike Dutton. Follow me," she yelled above the calls of the Indians and the cries of dying men. She ran ahead of them, turning and motioning them to follow. Ben turned his horse, yelling for Hoss and the two hands. They galloped toward her as she ran to the cover of the rocks. "We must go quickly," she said, swinging up on Ben's horse behind him, pointing the way.

Adam and Joe were running toward the camp when they heard the approaching horses and ducked behind rocks until the horses were closer. Seeing his father, Adam climbed up on top of the rock and waved him down. "Pa, I don't have time to explain. We have to go."

Mike jumped down from Ben's horse, and Adam grabbed her arm. "Where are you going?"

"I must help my people," she said, trying to pull away.

"You're not going back. We need your help to get out of here."

"You do not need my help," she shouted, struggling against his grip. "You know the way."

"Help me get them back to the camp. Then we'll both come back."

Joe climbed up behind Ben who glanced back with a grateful smile and a watery shine in his eyes. The ranch hands doubled up on one horse, and Adam hauled Mike, kicking and struggling, up on the last horse and followed her up, sitting behind her and holding her in the saddle.

When they arrived at camp, Mike spoke in her language to the women, apparently explaining the white men in their camp. "You must stay at my hut," she then said to the Cartwrights. "If you move away from here, they will kill you."

Adam turned to leave with her. "Wait, where are you going?" asked Ben anxiously.

"Pa, stay here. I have to help if I can."

Ben grabbed Adam's arm. "The only thing you have to do is leave with us. You're not going back there."

Adam shrugged his father's hand away. "I can't leave them, Pa," he said, looking intently into his father's eyes.

Ben grudgingly nodded, recognizing that look on Adam's face that said he was doing this no matter what his father had to say. Adam went into the hut, pulling his gun out of the basket, and then he and Mike climbed back down from the camp to the trail through the canyons.

"Pa, where is Adam going?" Joe asked.

"He's going back to help the Indians."

A determined look came over Joe's face. "Then I'm going with him," he said as he turned to follow Adam.

Ben grabbed his arm. "You're going to stay right here with the rest of us. I'm not going to risk two sons in an Indian war."

"Pa, it was the Indians who came for me. I owe it to them to help," he argued, his nostrils flaring and his jaw set.

Ben took a deep breath and spoke calmly. "There already gone, son. You might not even find them. Besides that, you need to rest. You've been through an ordeal yourself." Ben looked at his wrists. "How did this happen?"

Sighing heavily, Joe looked at his hands. "I was shackled until I got to the mine."

"Save your strength. We still have to get out of here."

Joe glanced at his father's face, seeing tiredness there along with deep lines of worry. Somehow it was as though Pa's fatigue wove itself right into Joe. He was tired, he realized. More than tired. He was also having a hard time taking a deep breath, and his back…it was burning, reminding him of those first nights…reminding him of the whip. Clenching his teeth, he nodded brusquely, angry and frustrated at feeling so weak. He turned to go into the hut, but stopped himself.

"Pa, what about Adam?"

"What do you mean?"

"He didn't look like..." Joe opened his mouth and shook his head as if he was trying to find the right words. "He didn't look like Adam. He looked like…like one of them."

Ben nodded and attempted a smile, then put his hand on Joe's shoulder. "Get some rest."

When Adam and Mike arrived at the mine, they climbed back up on the precipice where Empote quatacheech and Adam had been hiding, looking down into the encampment. Mike gasped at the bloody scene, bodies of both Indian and soldier littering the encampment floor. There were still screams of the soldiers as they felt the Aha macave knife mixed in with the grunts of the Aha macave falling from the bullets of the soldier's guns. In the end, there were more soldiers standing than Aha macave. Adam and Mike watched as the few Aha macave that remained began to climb the rocks to escape.

"Stay here," Adam said as he climbed down the rock face. He motioned for the remaining Aha macave to come to him. As he pointed them up the rock, he drew his gun ready to defend them if the soldiers gave chase. When he climbed up behind them, he turned around and looked down at the encampment. He saw no more Aha macave who were alive. "There's nothing more to do here," said Adam. "Let's get back to the camp." Adam stood to leave and Mike reluctantly followed.