The Mandie Collection (14 page)

In his Indian fashion, Uncle Ned tried to make the white people feel welcome. “Wash! Eat!” he told them, pointing to a washpan on a shelf. A clean towel was hanging on a nail beside it. A bucketful of fresh drinking water was also nearby with a gourd dipper hanging on a nail over it. Ned was a full-blooded Indian, but he knew how the white people lived.

“Save food for Snowball,” Uncle Ned told Mandie, handing her a pan from the shelf. She understood they were to save the scraps from their plates for the kitten.

A beautiful young Indian girl about Mandie's age came through the open door. She was wearing a long, full skirt with a ruffled blouse; multicolored beads hung from her slender neck. Her long, black hair was held back by a red ribbon. Moving silently in her soft mocassins, she smiled as she came forward.

Uncle Ned put his arm around the girl. “This my son's papoose. She Sallie,” he told the others.

“Hello, Sallie, I'm Amanda Shaw—Mandie for short,” Mandie greeted her. “This is my mother, Elizabeth Shaw; my stepfather,
who is also my uncle, John Shaw; and my friend, Joe Woodard, the doctor's son.”

“Welcome,” Sallie replied. “I know John Shaw. We are so excited to have you all visit us.” Her speech indicated she was well educated.

Elizabeth took her small brown hand in hers. “Sallie, we are so happy to be here.”

“Yes, we are, Sallie,” John Shaw added.

Joe stole a glance, admiring her dark beauty, and then put in his greeting. “Sallie, we love your grandfather, Uncle Ned.”

Morning Star spoke quietly to Uncle Ned and he announced loud and clear, “We eat now! Eat! Sit! Sit!”

The adults gathered at one side of the table and were soon deep in conversation. Mandie found a place on the other side between Joe and Sallie. Morning Star took the plates to the kettles over the fire, filled them, and brought them back to the table. Uncle Ned passed them around.

“Give thanks, John Shaw,” Uncle Ned spoke again, as Morning Star sat down.

They all bowed their heads as Uncle John raised his voice in thanks. “We give thanks to thee, O Father, that we are all together, and for the wonderful food prepared for this meal. Bless this house and the people that dwell here. Amen.”

“Guess we can eat now,” Joe remarked.

“Yes,” Sallie told him and then turning to Mandie, she said, “I was very sorry to hear about your father. I remember Jim Shaw. He used to visit us now and then.”

Mandie was surprised. “You knew my father! Well, yes, I suppose you did. Uncle Ned said my father used to come to visit his people here.”

“All the Cherokees loved Jim Shaw. He was a good man,” the Indian girl said. “My father is dead also. I live here with my grandfather and my grandmother.”

“And I have known your grandfather all my life. At least, ever since I can remember. He always came to sell the baskets the
Cherokees made. And I never even knew I was part Cherokee until Uncle Ned told me, after my father went to heaven. My grandmother was Talitha Pindar, a full-blooded Cherokee,” Mandie told her.

“I know. The Cherokees all know who you are,” Sallie said. “Eat. It is owl stew. It is very good.”

Joe, who was listening to their conversation, almost choked as he stuttered, “Owl—st-stew?”

“Yes, it is something special Morning Star makes.”

Mandie swallowed hard and lowered her spoon into the delicious-smelling bowl of stew in front of her. She sipped it, blinked her eyes, and smiled. “It
is
very good.” Then she dug in, thinking,
This is what the Cherokees eat and I am part Cherokee
.

Joe had to follow suit. There was no way he could let a girl outdo him. Then he also smiled and said, “Say, we'll have to get Morning Star's recipe for this to take back home.” He reached for a piece of beanbread and washed it all down with a huge swallow of coffee.

“I suppose you know Tsa'ni?” Mandie asked Sallie.

“Of course. He lives right down the road. He is the grandson of your father's uncle, Wirt Pindar, who lives in Bird-town,” the Indian girl told her.

“Now, let me think that one out. In other words, he is my great-uncle Wirt Pindar's grandson? That would make him my cousin!”

“Yes. He goes to school and is very intelligent, but has no common sense about him,” Sallie said. “He—he thinks too much.”

“I see. Well, I guess he was thinking too much, or something, today, when he left me with a panther staring at me.” Mandie told her about the incident by the river.

“You might as well know. He does not like white people,” Sallie said. “The English for his name is John, but he refuses to use it and goes by his Cherokee name. Most of us are called by our English names.”

“He doesn't like white people? Why?” Mandie wanted to know.

“Because the white people destroyed our nation and took our people's land and homes and forced them to move away,” Sallie said.

“I know that was wrong, terribly wrong, but that was a long time back in history. The white people living today had nothing to do with it,” Mandie protested. “Besides, it was my grandfather who rescued my grandmother and her people.”

Joe leaned forward. “Oh, Sallie, you've got to come to Franklin and see Mandie's Uncle John's house. It's complete with tunnels and hidden rooms, and all. Her grandfather had all this done to hide the Cherokees who didn't want to leave that area.”

“I must see it, then,” agreed Sallie. “It sounds very interesting. Is that where you live now, Mandie?”

“Yes, since my father died,” she replied. “Uncle Ned helped me get to Uncle John's house. And then Uncle John found my real mother, and here we are!”

“Most of your kinpeople live in Bird-town,” Sallie said.

“That's what Uncle Ned said. After we visit with you a day or two, we'll be going over there. Is it far to Bird-town?”

“No, but by wagon you have to follow the road instead of cutting through the woods and that makes it longer. Probably two, three hours.”

The grown-ups were getting up from the table.

“You men go sit and visit and you young ones go along with Sallie outside. I will help Morning Star clear the table,” Elizabeth volunteered.

“I have to feed Snowball first,” Mandie told her, and holding out the pan Uncle Ned had given her, she waited for her mother to fill it with food left on the plates, which was very little, except for Joe's. He had not eaten all the owl stew, she noticed. She took the pan over to the hearth and the kitten purred contentedly as he hastily ate the food.

“He was hungry!” Sallie laughed.

“Come on. He'll follow us outside after he finishes,” Mandie told her.

“Yeh, you sure can't lose that cat. He follows you like a shadow,” Joe said as they went out into the yard.

Tsa'ni was sitting on a log under a hickory nut tree nearby. Sallie steered them in his direction. He stared at them silently as the group approached. Mandie could sense hate emanating from his dark eyes.

“Tsa'ni, this is your cousin, Mandie Shaw, and her friend, Joe Woodard,” Sallie told him.

The boy looked from one to another and merely nodded his head without saying a word.

Mandie did not like the boy, but she knew she must at least speak to him because he was her cousin. She could still visualize the panther sitting in the tree and Tsa'ni walking away.

“Hello, Tsa'ni. Could we sit with you?” she ventured.

He immediately moved all the way down to the end of the long log.

“Sit. The log belongs to Sallie's grandfather. It is not mine,” he told them.

They sat down, Mandie next to Tsa'ni.

“Mandie lived at Charley Gap with her father before he died,” the Indian girl told him.

“Charley Gap? Tsali, our great warrior, whom you white people call Charley, lived in a cave near here before you white people killed him,” Tsa'ni said.

“He did? I know the story of Charley, how he fought with the soldiers during the removal and killed one—” Mandie told him.

Tsa'ni interrupted, “—and how your soldiers forced Cherokee prisoners to shoot him down when he surrendered. You killed his brother and his two sons.”

“I didn't kill anyone, Tsa'ni. Let's get this straight. What we are talking about was long ago in history—” Mandie's voice raised. “I know, I know,” he interrupted again.

“That was something I was not responsible for, nor my family,” continued Mandie. “You can't live in the past, and you can't change history. As far as that goes, the Yankees killed my grandfather
during the War of Northern Aggression, but I don't hold a grudge against the people living in the North now. They had nothing to do with it.”

“Cherokee blood must be thicker than white blood then,” Tsa'ni said.

“Well, just remember my grandmother was a full-blooded Cherokee,” Mandie reminded him.

Joe, anxious to smooth the feelings between the two, spoke up, “Could we go see this cave, Tsa'ni?”

The Indian boy hesitated a moment, looking at Mandie. “Sure. It is not far. I will take you there tomorrow, all of you.”

Mandie spoke up, “I'd really like to see it, Tsa'ni.”

“I will go with you,” Sallie added.

The sky was almost completely dark and the air was becoming much cooler. Snowball came bouncing across the yard and jumped into Mandie's lap.

“And so will Snowball,” Mandie laughed, snuggling the kitten on her shoulder.

Tomorrow would be a day long to be remembered.

CHAPTER TWO

LOST IN THE CAVE

Mandie awoke the next morning to the sound of a rooster crowing, and she had to think for a minute before she knew where she was. Sallie was asleep on the cornshuck mattress next to her, and she knew Joe was sleeping on the other side of the rough hand-sawed wall dividing the room. She pulled the long cotton nightgown over her head and quickly reached for her dress hanging on a nail. Today was not a day to be wasted sleeping. She was in Uncle Ned's house, among the
Cherokees!

The Indian girl looked up at her and smiled.

“You are in a hurry,” she said.

“Yes, I don't have a minute to spare. I want to enjoy everything I can about our visit,” Mandie replied.

From beyond the wall, Joe called to them, “Right. We gotta get going so we can go with Tsa'ni to the cave. Remember?”

“Of course,” Mandie agreed.

“I smell coffee. Someone else is already up,” the Indian girl commented as she, too, pulled on her skirt and blouse.

The three hurried down the ladder and found Uncle Ned, Uncle John, and Elizabeth sitting at the table. Morning Star was tending a pot over the fire.

“Good morning,” Mandie called, as she came down the ladder.

“Come, eat,” Uncle Ned said as they lined up at the washpan to wash their faces in the cool creek water from the bucket.

“You won't have to say ‘eat' twice to me this morning. I'm starving!” Joe joked as he sat down across from Uncle Ned.

The girls joined them, and the Indian woman placed bowls of steaming hot oats and slices of homemade bread, with thick slices of ham between, in front of them. Elizabeth filled the coffee cups and passed them around.

“Good morning, Morning Star,” Mandie smiled as she caught the old squaw's hand. The Indian woman smiled too and patted the girl's long blonde curls.

“Love,” she whispered, and Mandie returned the word.

“Love. Oh, Morning Star, you are learning English!”

Sallie was listening. “She can understand some of what you say in English, but I have never heard her say an English word before. You are a good influence, Mandie.”

After the chores were done and the noon meal eaten, the three wandered outside, waiting for Tsa'ni. Soon he arrived, carrying a lantern.

“Sallie, get the lantern from your grandfather's barn, too. It will be dark in the cave,” Tsa'ni told her.

Sallie got the lantern and gave it to Joe to carry.

“Ready?” Tsa'ni asked.

“Yes, but I should tell my mother that we are going now,” Mandie told him.

“Never mind. I will tell your mother, and your grandfather, Sallie.” The Indian boy hurried up to the open door of the cabin with Mandie right behind him. Looking inside, he said, “I am taking the boy and the girl to see the mountain, the woods, and the creek. Sallie is going with us.”

Elizabeth spoke up. “How kind of you, Tsa'ni. Amanda, you won't be long, will you?”

“No, Mother,” she replied, turning to join the others waiting in the yard. “Tsa'ni, you didn't mention the cave.”

“That is all right. The cave is included in the mountain and the woods. Come, let us go.” He started off down the road toward the creek.

Mandie picked up Snowball and carried him on her shoulder. At first it was great fun, skipping along by the creek bank, throwing pebbles at the fish, plucking wild flowers, chasing butterflies, but after a while it became an uphill climb, and it was beginning to get hot. There was no definite trail, but Tsa'ni seemed to know the way all right. The other three grew more quiet and slowed their pace as they became more and more exhausted.

“Whew! Tsa'ni, how much farther?” Mandie complained, holding her skirt close to her legs through the thick undergrowth.

The Indian boy laughed. “Not far.”

“Not far to you must mean miles to us,” Joe sighed, as he pushed a brier away from his pant leg.

“Tsa'ni, where
are
you taking us?” Sallie demanded.

“To the cave, Sallie. I know the way,” the boy replied.

Mandie turned to the Indian girl. “Don't
you
know where the cave is, Sallie?”

“No, I have only heard of it. I do not wander around the way the boys do.” Sallie smiled. “And I have not lived long with my grandfather, so I do not know this land.”