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Menace on Horse Creek Trail
Story by Elizabeth McDavid Jones
Illustrations by Roel Wielinga
Printed with permission, from Hot Topics Hot Serials
Chapter Nine - A Silent White Stone
The story so far: The wagon train is headed to Oregon. Several people have gotten sick and died along the way. Nancy was worried that DocÕs medicine may have made people sick and now Doc is ill and refusing to take the medicine.
Hurt and confused, Nancy stuck the bottle in her apron pocket and skirted around DocÕs wagon to her own campsite. Ma was packing up. ÒI was beginning to wonder where youÕd gotten to,Ó she said.
Nancy told Ma what had happened.
Lines of concern knitted MaÕs forehead. ÒDoc down with the fever, too. Well, weÕll take care of him, and IÕll talk to Capt. Beechum about seeing to his team. You finish loading up. When I come back weÕll get the team hitched.Ó
Nodding, Nancy asked the question burning on her tongue. ÒMa, why do you think Doc was so set against taking his medicine?Ó
ÒI expect he wanted to save it for the rest of us,Ó Ma said,
ÒThen why didnÕt he say so? Why knock the bottle out of my hand?Ó
ÒNo doubt it was a spasm of pain,Ó Ma assured her. ÒWhy would he say it if it wasnÕt so?Ó
Nancy didnÕt feel convinced. Her mind fastened on MaÕs question, and she couldnÕt let it go.
Why would Doc say his knocking the bottle away was an accident if it wasnÕt so? Why would he lie?
All morning while she drove the team in the blinding sunlight, the question buzzed in her head like a pesky fly. And something else nagged at her, too: the torn-out newspaper obituary she had seen in DocÕs wagon. What was it about that obituary that was so bothersome?
Finally it occurred to her. It was the date. April 3rd.
Doc had told the wagon train leaders he had arrived in town the day before the train left St. Joseph--- April 15th. How did Doc come to have that newspaper clipping, if it was printed two weeks before heÕd arrived in town? Who was Helen Carpenter, and who was she to Doc?
By the time the train stopped at noon, NancyÕs thoughts felt like a tangled up ball of string. She needed to talk to someone, so she went in search of Mary Katherine. Mary Katherine was sitting in the shade of her familyÕs wagon.
ÒI need to talk to you,Ó Nancy said, then plunged into her worries, including her questions about DocÕs arrival in St. Joseph and his connection to Helen Carpenter.
ÒHmmm,Ó Mary Katherine said. ÒThatÕs a puzzle. But -- Micajah Little might be able to help us solve it. HeÕs from St. Joseph.Ó
ÒYouÕre thinking he might know Helen Carpenter?Ó
ÒOr at least know about her. St. JoÕs not that big a town.Ó
ÒThen letÕs talk to Micajah after supper,Ó said Nancy. ÒMaybe he can tell us about DocÕs medicine, too, whether he had the same reaction to it Selinda did.Ó
It was already dark when the train reached Horse Creek, the nightÕs campsite. Nancy was too exhausted to even think about trying to talk to Micajah. It was all she could do to help Ma fix supper. When Donnie and Karl fell asleep on the ground halfway through supper, Ma picked them up and carried them to bed in the wagon. Then she came back and told Nancy she was going to bed, too. ÒMy head aches like the dickens,Ó she said.
Nancy glanced at Ma with sudden worry. ÒMa, you donÕt think youÕre coming down with something---?Ó
ÒNothing but my delicate condition,Ó Ma said, rubbing her belly. ÒWears me out, some days. IÕll be asleep in two shakes. Why donÕt you go over to the BeechumsÕ and sit with Mary Katherine?Ó
Nancy hesitated.
ÒGo on now,Ó Ma said, pushing her gently.
Still reluctant, Nancy joined Mary Katherine in front of her familyÕs fire. Nancy confided her concerns about Ma to Mary Katherine. ÒMa says itÕs just her condition making her tired. But Doc had a headache from the fever, and so did Selinda. It makes me worry.Ó
ÒItÕs hard not to worry,Ó Mary Katherine said, Òbut I Ômember Mother being wore out like that before she had JasperÉÓ She fell silent.
It was the first time Mary Katherine had mentioned JasperÕs name since he died. Nancy shivered, as a chilling question came to her mind: How many more of the people she traveled with and had grown to care for would be left behind under a silent white stone before this journey was at its end?
Later, Nancy awoke in the darkness of the wagon to a feeling of uneasiness. She lay tense and motionless, listening, and was almost startled when a noise came---a low moaning. Ma or the twins must be sick!
Nancy looked at the twins. They were sleeping peacefully. Then she crawled over to MaÕs bed. She could hear the rattle of phlegm in MaÕs chest and feel the heat radiating from her body. She knew Ma had the fever.
Nancy spoke, ÒMa, can you hear me?Ó
She went cold as Ma called out in answer, ÒFrank! IÕll be right there!Ó
Ma was talking to Pa. She was delirious from the fever. Pa had been taken from
her; was she going to lose Ma too?
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