Chapter 6 The Search
James soon caught up with Jason. They stopped for a moment; the snow was now going sideways. Neither had taken much in supplies but they also knew some survival techniques. Jason pointed to a stand of trees about a stone's throw. They headed for the trees. They jumped off their horses and led them in between the trees. The snow was wet but not too wet, they packed the snow between two trees and made a makeshift wall and roof. Then taking their blankets they placed them on the snow-packed ground. Their horses tethered to the trees with their faces to the inside of the 3 trees. They huddled close together for warmth and stayed inside as they watched the snow blowing past. Soon they fell asleep.
Jonathan Bolt and James McConnell spent most of the night gathering supplies food and blankets, and something to make tents and they sat down at the saloon table and had a drink.
"Mr. Bolt!" said James,
"Please Call me Jonathan!"
"Jonathan, I want to thank you for helping me to prepare for this journey. I do hope we can get to your son and my daughter tomorrow!" James McConnell said.
"Aye, we will, Jason knows the hills better than I ever did. He and his brothers have gone exploring this whole mountain. I suspect that they will have headed towards the caves. There is one particular cave that Sir James may be in. It is big enough to fit a whole family and has a back entrance that not everyone knows about!" Jonathan said to James McConnell. James McConnell listened to Jonathan's description of the cave. Being new to the area he was grateful that Jonathan Bolt knew this area well! They both fell asleep sitting at the table. Early in the morning, the new proprietor came down and saw them sleeping. She saw the half-full glasses of beer and picked up the glasses and took them to the sink. Then she put on a pot of coffee and prepared a good egg and biscuit breakfast for the men. She knew it was going to be cold outside, so she also fixed a couple of extra biscuits with bacon and eggs in them for their lunch and some for the children, well they weren't children really, but she considered them children.
The men woke up and sat at the table rubbing their eyes. Mrs. McConnell came in with a basket of food for the men as well. When they saw that both Miss Lottie and Mrs. McConnell had provided food for them they thanked them both. Mr. McConnell gave his wife a kiss and shook hands with Miss Lottie. His wife looked on and approved. They packed the horses, taking care not to overburden them, they took Jack and Hoolan and another horse named Bonney along with them. Lottie and Mrs. McConnell watched them go. Mrs. McConnell was crying. Miss Lottie put her hand on Mrs. McConnell's shoulder and said:
"Mrs. McConnell, they will find…"
"Please call me Maggie!"
"All right, Maggie, Jonathan knows this mountain and this area very well, they will not be lost, and they will find the children and bring them home." Miss Lottie said to comfort Maggie.
In the cave, I sat on the edge of the bed, dreading what may happen at any moment. He would look at me and then go back to cooking breakfast.
"Now, Matilda, my dear, my love, you will need to keep up your strength, so I suggest you come over to the table and have some breakfast." Sir James said as he finished cooking the eggs and biscuits.
"I know it is not the kind of fare you will receive once we are back in Scotland and are living in our castle, but it is what we have, and I am sure you will be grateful for that!" As he said this he had come over and around the screen. I had not moved from where I was the night before. He smiled and politely gestured for me to leave the bedroom area to have some breakfast. I decided that it would be a good thing to eat so that if I should be able to escape I would have strength. I also decided to 'play along' so as to keep him off guard until I could come up with a way to get out of the cave. I sat at the table he had brought me some coffee and the biscuits were warm and the eggs just the way I liked them. He sat as well and started to eat. We ate in silence for a while then he said:
"My little dove. You are proving to be quite resolved as to your fate!" He took a sip of his coffee and putting it down on the table he looked straight at me and said:
"If you are planning anything, I suggest you forget about it! No one can hear you if you were to scream, and no one knows where you are. So, if I decide to have my way with you and then kill you, no one will ever know. They would think you went to Scotland with me, and no one would be the wiser!" He had smiled when he said the word 'kill.' I had a suspicion that He might do that anyway. I tried to think of something polite but just as sinister to say but all I could say was:
"Thank you for breakfast, Sir James!" He looked at me with suspicion and then smiled and said:
"Well, my dove you are very welcome. Once you are settled in I will start having you cook as well! Has your mother taught you the main Scottish dishes?" He asked as he wiped his mouth with his napkin and then set it on the table.
"you may leave if you are finished my dear, after all this is kind of your honeymoon. I will clean the table. Feel free to walk around and look in the closet I prepared for you. There are many beautiful dresses that are the fashion these days for ladies of the court." I must have turned to look at him because he looked surprised that I did not know about being in the court of the king.
"Ah! My little dove, you have not been told about being a Lady. Well, it seems that the Lady is a Lady in waiting while her husband a knight must serve the king. No worries, I have some servants who will school you in the position! I did not show my emotions or my face to him this time. I just kept looking for ways to escape and I knew he was waiting for my first attempt.
Chapter 7 The Search Continues
Jason and James both woke with a start, there was sunshine, and it was no longer snowing. The snow barely covered their little makeshift igloo and the horses seemed to have found some fresh grass under the snow. They both sat up and realized they had been holding each other for warmth. They quickly parted. James was used to snuggling up with his siblings as was Jason, it was just that snuggling with a stranger was very uncomfortable and neither talked about it. They got up, grabbed a cold piece of biscuit, and were ready to continue on to the caves when they heard voices nearby. Both stopped and decided to wait quietly until the voices passed. But they did not. They stopped right in front of the boys.
"Well, I hope ye had a good night's sleep!" a familiar voice said, Jason looked at the person,
"DA!" he ran to him and gave him a hug. James saw his father and ran to him as well.
"I am glad we found you. We did not get started until this morning. Do you not have a fire going?" Father asked.
"Well, ah, we were just going to eat these biscuits and then go on our way," Jason said:
"I think Sir James is hiding in one of the caves and I think it will be the one with the back entrance!" Jason also said to his father and Mr. McConnell.
The fathers both agreed that was the most likely cave he would take her to. Jonathan had a fire built and some hot coffee ready for the boys to drink.
"I think since we know where they are, we can take our time getting there. He won't be leaving soon the way the weather looks he might even be there for the rest of the week, which gives us time to make a darn good plan to get that girl out of there!" Jonathan said. They all agreed, Jason and James were very happy, they were both hungry and cold.
At the cave, I was looking at all the nice things and wondered what he had brought for me. I began to think he was trying to bribe me so that I would be more compliant. I think he figured me to be one of those ladies he was talking about who was compliant and would do whatever a man told them to do. I thought then that was what I needed to do. While looking for escape, I would be compliant and make like all I cared about were the clothes and the latest fashion from Paris, which would give me more freedom to find a way out of this predicament. But, then again, he might be waiting for me to make a move!
I knew there was a stairway that led up and out of the cave, but I thought that it would be too obvious, I would try to find my way back to the entrance and get out that way. I noticed that he had brought some books to read. I liked reading so I took a book and began to look at it. It was on etiquette. I almost tossed it out but decided to check out what it said. I might need the knowledge later on!
Jonathan, Jason, James McConnell, and his son, whom he had started calling Jaimie, were headed to the cave. They arrived there by the afternoon and made camp about a mile away. They sat there wondering how to get in, who would go and scout it out etc.… meanwhile, I sat on the 'bed' and read the book on etiquette. I stopped; it had become very quiet. I looked around and saw that Sir James was not to be found. I wondered if he had slipped out while I was reading, or maybe he was hiding waiting to see if I would try to escape. Not sure what was what, I just decided to take a little walk around. First I went over by the stairs. I looked around and did not see anything suspicious. Then I took another walk, this time towards the other entrance. I thought I would just look to see how far it went. I took one of the torches, I knew he would definitely know I was up to something, but I was not going to walk around the cave in the dark. I started towards the other side. I felt like I was walking for a long time when I heard a noise. I went behind a rock and waited. He walked past me, I had doused the torch and waited until he was long gone. Or I thought he was long gone. I then took the torch and lit it again and headed down the way he had come. I soon felt cold air and saw some light. I went toward it, and suddenly I fell and landed with a loud thud! I could not move I felt for any broken bones and found that my left leg was not in the right position. Also, my arm felt like it had been torn from its socket. Then I heard footsteps.
"Oh, dear, my little dove has fallen. Well, I will have to get you out, but I think I will wait a while. So, you may have to wait, don't be worried, there aren't any scorpions, but I think I heard a rattler around!" he said as he took his torch, and I was in complete darkness. My leg began to hurt, and my shoulder hurt as well. I lay there quietly trying not to cry out in pain. I must have fallen asleep because when I woke up next, I was wet. I could feel some water underneath me. I wondered if this was an underground well. I did my best to straighten my leg and stand against the wall. I looked around and noticed where the water was coming from. I stumbled forward and towards the trickle of water that was coming from the opposite direction. I then saw a waterfall; I was behind a waterfall. It had frozen but I could still get to the other side of it. And maybe get out of the cave itself. It was slow going but I kept on walking to it.