Part 5 (1/2)
Little girls cried and young boys shuffled in agitation. It just wasn't like their teachera”to just disappear. Something awful must have happened.
At last the tired, hungry searchers returned to their homes, chilled by the cold winds and hampered by blowing snow. There simply was no logic in searching on through the darkness.
In spite of the continued blowing snow, the next morning the sheriff organized a posse of town citizens to fan out into the surrounding hills and even beyond to the plains. An intense search was made along the creek bank, in the fear that Ariana might have slipped and fallen while crossing the footbridge. No sign of her was found.
Bernard Dikerson asked his father to post reward money for her safe return, and the man responded. As the day wore on and the searchers drifted back with no news, the whole town was stricken.
Nothinga”not a trace of the missing girl was found. The doors of the school were closed, and folks of the town huddled in whispering groups, shocked and saddened by the tragic and mysterious disappearance of the beloved schoolteacher.
In the parsonage, the fear and grief filled every room. The Bensons clung to each other. They prayed, they cried, they reminded themselves that they had a sovereign G.o.d, then they prayed and cried some more.
”Surely G.o.dasurely G.o.d knows where she is andaand can preserve her,” insisted Pastor Benson. With her handkerchief clutched in her hand and tears on her cheeks, Mrs. Benson shakily nodded her head in agreement.
Ariana could not tell if it was day or night when she was roused from sleep by the nudge of a well-worn boot. The big man stood over her, staring down into her face.
”Time to ride,” he ordered.
Ariana struggled to stand. She moved nearer the fireplace, brus.h.i.+ng futilely at her wrinkled skirts. The door opened and Sam came in. He was s.h.i.+vering from the cold and muttering words of profanity.
”Fool weather fer anyone to be out,” she heard him grumble.
”Where's yer coat, ya dumb ox?” demanded the big man, no sympathy in his tone.
”Didn't think I'd need it jest to get the horses ready,” Sam replied, not looking up from the coffee he was pouring.
Ariana's eyes dropped to her feet. Sam's heavy coat had been her bed for the night. She felt her cheeks warming with the thought that he had chosen to face the bitter cold rather than awaken her. It both embarra.s.sed her and gave her reason to hope. Perhaps the man was not all bad.
”How're the horses?” asked the big man between gulps of coffee.
Sam nodded. ”Near froze to death, I'm thinkin'. Anxious to be movin' so's their blood'll flow agin.”
”Then let's git movin',” said the big man, and he drained his cup of the last swallow of coffee.
”Girl ain't et yet,” remarked Sam.
The big man turned to Ariana and scowled. ”Best grab ya a biscuit or two. Won't be stoppin' fer no teatime.”
Ariana moved forward. Every bone in her body protested. First the ride through the cold. Then the night on the crude bed on the floor. Her entire being hurt.
She reached for a biscuit, but the pain in her wrist brought a sharp intake of breath. For a moment she felt faint and fought to stay upright.
Sam made a motion as if to move toward her, but then stopped. Neither made comment.
As soon as the room came back into focus, Ariana reached out with her left hand and claimed one of the biscuits lying on the table. She switched it to her right hand so she could accept the cup of coffee Sam held out to her.
The biscuit was hard. The hardest thing Ariana had ever tried to chew. Hesitantly she dipped one edge into her coffee and chewed off the softened portion. It was not pleasanta”but at least it was edible.
Ariana did not have to be encouraged to take full advantage of all of the warmth she was offered. She accepted the heavy mittens, the blanket, along with the moth-eaten beaver hat for her head. Even with this, she still s.h.i.+vered against the cold.
She could hardly tell if it was day or night. The snow continued to fall, obliterating the suna”if indeed it was somewhere up above. The swirling whiteness wiped out all landmarks. All sign of the world around them. Ariana wondered if the two men really knew where they were going or were simply wandering on through the storm. She dared not ask any questions.
After what seemed hours and hours of stumbling their way along the hidden trail, the big man pulled up his horse and the other horses stopped in line behind him.
”Snow's deep,” he said when Sam pushed up beside him. ”Think it might be wise to camp here tonight.”
”I was sure hoping to git on home to my own bed,” said Sam.
”It's been slow goin'. Don't think we'll make it home tonight. A bit too risky on thet ridge.”
Sam nodded. He didn't seem about to argue on that score.
”There's a cave mouth in there somewhere,” said the big man, motioning vaguely. ”See iffen ya can find it.”
Sam moved off cursing. ”Jest hope no big bear found it first,” Ariana heard him say.
The big man turned to her. ”Git on down,” he said, not offering her any a.s.sistance. Ariana wasn't sure if her legs would hold her, but she moved stiffly to obey.
It was as she had feared. Even though she clung to the horse for support, she could not stand upright. Her legs gave way and she found herself in a heap in the deep snow.
”Women,” groused the big man to accompanying curses. ”Don't got no more starch in their backbone then a snake.”
Ariana quite expected to remain in the snow until she could find the strength to movea”unless Sam took mercy on her. But to her surprise the big man reached down and roughly scooped her up. He carried her easily to the side of the trail and deposited her unceremoniously on a tree stump without bothering to brush off its cap of snow.
Ariana sat silently, willing herself to hold her tears at bay. They would only freeze on her frosted cheeks, making her even more miserable than she already was.
Sam returned after some moments and announced he had found the cavea”and it was uninhabited.
Sam moved the horses toward it. Ariana managed to get one foot to proceed the other. With great difficulty she followed the trail broken by Sam and the mounts. The big man brought up the rear.
They gathered in the cave. Sam built a fire, and to Ariana's surprise it was warmer than the cabin had been. But soon swirling gray smoke filled the cave and made Ariana's eyes sting. She moved back into the farthest corner, even though she longed to take advantage of the heat that radiated from the beckoning flames. Sam made the coffee, and along with more hardtack and pemmican, they shared the simple supper. Ariana was only too willing to curl up on spruce boughs and Sam's buffalo robe. She was exhausted. Besides, it was only in sleep that she could shut out the horror of her present experiencea”even if only for a few hours of time.
Chapter Six.
Arrival As they traveled the next day, Ariana grieved as each hour took her farther and farther away from her family and home. She ached for her father and mother. If only she had some way to communicate with them. To let them know she had not been harmeda”at least not yet. She worried about her students. What would they do? What would they think of her, failing to show up for cla.s.ses?
She prayed and worried by turn. Frantic mental searching for ways of escape, followed by clinging to the one word, trust. ”Surely G.o.d knows where I am, even if I don't,” she would remind herself, and then turn right back to worrying again.
Stop it, she scolded herself. I can't trust and worry at the same timea”can I?
It was so difficult to obey her own admonition.
The blinding snow still swirled around her. Her tired pony stumbled on and on. Her bones ached. Her flesh felt numb with cold. She sometimes wondered if she was more dead than alivea”but they traveled on through the blank whiteness.
Guessing it to be afternoon, she had a strange sense that more than falling snow obliterated the pathway. She looked around but could make out little of the landscape. At times she knew she was very close to brus.h.i.+ng up against something on one side or the other. She caught brief glimpses of solid rock. Is it some sort of pa.s.sageway? she wondered. But she could not see well enough for her question to be answered.
She was slumped in her saddle, eyes half closed, when she felt the steps of her horse quicken. Then she heard a neigh from the big black that the man ahead was riding. Sam's horse pushed at hers from behind.