The Whippoorwill Trilogy - Sharon Sala Page 0,214

from the wagon, walked to the front of the team and began leading them, trying desperately to stay up with the Arapahos on horseback in front of them.

More than once it occurred to Eulis that they might be following the Arapaho to their death. He had no reason to trust them, and no earthly idea of where they were going. He certainly didn’t understand the bond that seemed to be between Letty and the woman who she called Little Bird. But Letty was convinced it was safe, and so they went, farther up the mountain, trusting their lives to savages.

It was nearing sundown when Little Bird suddenly stopped her pony and then motioned for Letty to come. Letty got down from the wagon and slogged her way through the snow while wondering if she’d ever be warm again.

“What?” she asked.

Little Bird pointed.

“There. You go there.”

Letty moved past their horses and found herself looking down into a small, sheltered valley. In the distance, she could see a cabin that had been built up against the back wall of the mountain, and less than a hundred yards away, a small waterfall shot out of a crevice in the rocks about halfway down from the top.

“Oh. Oh, my,” she whispered and then looked up at Little Bird.

“Man die… two, maybe three winters ago. Plenty grass, plenty game. Good water. You go.”

Letty knew that their lives had just been saved.

“Little Bird. Thank you. Thank you.”

The little Indian woman shrugged. “You help me. I help you. We go now.”

Letty stepped aside.

The Arapaho warrior who was with Little Bird eyed Letty curiously. She wondered if Little Bird had told him what she’d done, and then knew that it didn’t matter. The tribe was safe from the smallpox, and she and Eulis had found sanctuary. Now if God was vigilant on their behalf and Eulis was saved from the disease, their lives would be perfect.

Refusing to accept that Eulis had been exposed, she ran back to the wagon and climbed in.

“What did she say?” Eulis asked.

Letty pointed to the break in the trees.

“That way,” she said. “You’ll see.”

And they did.

The valley below was blanketed by both a layer of snow and natural grasses that would provide all the winter fodder their animals would need. As Eulis remarked upon the cabin and the water, Letty watched a herd of elk moving slowly across the valley.

“Unbelievable,” Eulis said. “But what about the owner of that cabin?”

“Little Bird said he’s dead. Let’s go, Eulis. The cabin is bound to need cleaning and it’s getting late.”

“As long as it’s got a roof and four walls, it’s gonna satisfy me,” Eulis said, and clucked to the mules.

He wouldn’t let himself think about getting sick, or dying down here in this valley and leaving Letty all alone to try and find her way out come spring. For now, their dilemma had been solved. He was too cold and weary to worry about tomorrow.

Raising Lazarus

Letty named the place Eden.

Eulis thought it was a bit too fancy for a one-roomed cabin that smelled faintly of polecat and dust, but after they had unpacked their belongings and started a fire, he could almost believe she’d been right. The relief of knowing they had shelter for the winter did seem like a gift from above.

The fireplace smoked some, and Eulis figured some birds had probably built a nest up in the flue, but if it didn’t burn itself clean by morning, he would climb up on the roof and dig out the clog.

To Letty’s delight, she found two tin plates, a couple of spoons, and one large cooking pot in a box beneath the bed. Added to the few pots and pans they’d brought with them, she could now lay claim to a good assortment of cookware. The oversized bed near the fireplace was a surprise and a blessing, although the leather strapping that had been strung between the bedposts to serve as a mattress was stiff and dry. A couple of the strips had even come undone. One of the braces holding the footboard together had come loose, leaving the bed angled slightly toward the floor, but to Letty, who hadn’t slept in a bed since their night at Four Mile Inn, it looked magnificent.

While Eulis gathered firewood from the dead fall around the cabin, Letty pounded a loose wooden peg back into the bed, and re-threaded the leather strapping on the bed. By the time Eulis had built the fire, Letty had their bedrolls made