Rivers of Gold (27 page)

Gold.
How he hated the very word.

Jacob had seen his mother, sister, and father suffer because of gold and silver. He wanted to be done with it all— to be rid of such nonsense. He wanted to work at a regular job with regular pay and have a home.

A noise behind the cache caught his attention. Several of the dogs began to bark. Jacob immediately moved to the area, but found nothing amiss.
It might have been a bear
, he told himself.

Like many of their neighbors, Gump and Adrik had built the cache with two purposes in mind. One, the raised platform and enclosed storage area for their bulk food provided protection from wild animals. It also allowed them to store tools and other things that had become too plentiful in a house filled with seven people. Down below, Adrik and Gump had arranged a makeshift pen alongside the support posts for the cache. Here they quartered the dogs, while under the raised platform they found a perfect place to shelter the sled. Jacob felt certain that should anyone try to steal from them, the dogs would be the first to know, and from their apparent irritation, something had caused them to feel threatened.

The dogs quieted momentarily, then began letting up a wild howl, yipping toward the stand of trees behind them.

“Who’s there?” Jacob called, leveling the Winchester. “Come out, or I’ll start shooting.”

“Whoa there, boy. I didn’t save your life in Whitehorse just to get myself shot.” A figure emerged from the shadows, and Jacob recognized the man as Cec Blackabee. Cec had indeed saved his life. It had been while Jacob was working in Whitehorse at Cec’s saloon that Adrik had found him.

“What are you doing sneaking around our cache?” Jacob asked, lowering the rifle. “Don’t you know it’s foolish to threaten another man’s supplies?”

The wiry old man stepped closer and Jacob could see he carried his own rifle and pack. Cec looked thinner to Jacob, maybe even sickly. He had a scruffy look to him that suggested it’d been months since he and a bath had exchanged pleasantries.

“I wasn’t so much threatenin’ your supplies as trying to reclaim my own,” Cec replied.

“What are you talking about?” Jacob asked warily. The old man was up to something underhanded. He could almost see it in his expression.

Licking his lips, Cec struck a casual stance as he leaned back against the trunk of a tree. “Well, it’s like this, son, I came north after you left me. I figured to do me some gold pannin’.”

“Thought you said there was more gold in whiskey than panning,” Jacob interjected.

“I thought so, too. Maybe still think that, but I had a chance to make it big. Had me a partner who figured we could do well with a claim he’d discovered. He sold me half, and I sold off the bar to pay him his share. Then the doublecrosser took off with our supplies. He stole our sled and dogs and left me for dead. If I hadn’t been found by a Mountie on patrol, I probably would have froze to death.”

“What’s that have to do with us?”

The dogs continued to yip and howl at the intrusion, causing Jacob to motion Cec away from the pen. This quieted the dogs a bit. Jacob was surprised their barking hadn’t roused Adrik by now. “I don’t see what you need with us. Your ex-partner isn’t here.”

“No, I know that full well,” Cec replied. “But he sold off our sled, and you folks ended up with it.”

“The sled we bought was stolen …” Jacob stopped and looked Cec in the eye. “It was you, wasn’t it? You’re the one who took it.”

“I did it, but it was mine to begin with. He had no right sellin’ it off like that. He took all my gear and I figured he might have sold that to you as well.”

Jacob shook his head. “No. The sled was all we bought.”

“There weren’t nothin’ else? No sled box?”

Jacob wasn’t about to tell Cec that they had a baby inside the house sleeping in the sled box, so he shrugged. “Could be, I don’t remember too clearly. Adrik bought a lot of things in Dawson that day.”

“Look, boy,” Cec said, moving closer. The dogs didn’t like the threat to Jacob and picked up barking again. Cec looked around him as if to make certain they were alone. “I’ll give you a good amount of money if you’ll help me get that sled box back.”

“What’s so important about it?”

“Call it sentimental value,” Cec said, grinning.

“No,” Jacob replied. “I don’t want anything to do with you, and I certainly don’t want anything to do with anything illegal.”

“Now, hold off there, boy. Who said it were illegal?”

Jacob backed up a step in order to be able to better maneuver his rifle. “If it’s not illegal, you won’t mind coming inside to tell Adrik and Gump your story.”

“We don’t need to go bringin’ them in on this. I thought you and me were friends. After all, I saved your life.”

Jacob nodded. “Yeah, but Adrik paid you for your trouble.”

“Look, I can make it worth your time if you just help me out.”

“The truth, Cec. I want the truth.”

The old man scratched his jaw and spit. “Well, guess it does no harm to tell you. That box held some important papers—a claim deed and a map. I need them.”

“I never saw anything like that. The man who sold us the sled must have taken them out first,” Jacob replied.

“Jacob! Jacob, what’s going on out there?”

Jacob breathed a sigh of relief and turned toward the cabin. It was Adrik. “I’m out back, Adrik. Come quick.”

Cec pushed Jacob forward, causing him to fall flat on his face. By the time he got to his feet, the older man was gone and Adrik was rounding the corner of the cabin.

“What’s got those dogs all riled?”

“Cec Blackabee,” Jacob answered. “Remember him? He’s the guy who saved my life—the one you paid so you could take me out of Whitehorse?”

“Sure, I remember.”

“Well, he was here. And get this, Adrik, he’s the one who stole the sled. My guess is he’s also the one who’s been nosing around here these past months.”

“Did he say what he wanted?”

“Yeah. He told me his partner had done him wrong. Said the sled and sled box were stolen along with his other supplies, and he wanted them back. That the box contained some papers—a claim. Adrik, he offered to make it worth my time if I helped him retrieve it.”

“Did you let on that we had it?”

Jacob shook his head and picked up his rifle. “No.”

“Well, that’s good.” Adrik looked toward the trees with a worried expression.

“I kind of doubt he’ll come back tonight,” Jacob said. “He seems more of a coward than I remember. I suggested he tell you about all this, but he wanted nothing to do with that.”

Adrik turned back to face Jacob. “You did good, son. I’m proud of you.”

Jacob warmed under his praise. Adrik had become a surrogate father to him, and he’d learned a great deal from the man. “So what do we do now?”

Adrik took one final glance back at the trees, then put his arm around Jacob and started for the house. “I think we’d better take another look at that sled box.”

—[CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR]—

THE SLED BOX, however, proved to be nothing special at all. It was five simple, thin pieces of pine, nailed together with a hinged top to complete it. Adrik had taken the top off, in order to make a bed and play area for Andy.

“I can’t figure why this would get anyone too excited,” Adrik said, shaking his head.

“It’s this place that gots ’em all messed up,” Gump threw in. “The darkness made men mad, and long hours of light do no better. The vinter leaves ’em cold and hungry for the gold and a decent meal—it’s more than enough to make a man foolish.”

“I quite agree,” Adrik said, forgetting about the box.

“That’s vhy I’m gettin’ out. Yes, sir,” Gump said, scratching his chest. “This place vants to kill me. I von’t let it. I think ve got to make our choices based on vhat’s best for our own bodies and mind.”

“I don’t blame you, Gump. I’m just not sure what Karen and I will do. I’m not sure what direction God would take us now.”

And he wasn’t at all convinced that the answer would easily present itself. Adrik had prayed and prayed for a sign— something to show him whether he should sell out with Gump and return to Dawson or Skagway or whether he should stay put.

“I guess we can all sleep on it,” Karen suggested. “You didn’t sleep, Adrik. Why don’t you go back to bed?”

Adrik looked at the clock. “It’s already ten. I’ll just relieve Jacob early and let him have some extra rest. I need the time to think and pray on what’s to be done. Gump is right. We’re going to make our choices soon.”

Karen woke up earlier than usual and lay in the bunk, listening to the sounds of the morning. Reluctantly she pushed back her covers and crawled over the edge of the bunk. She wouldn’t be sorry to leave the cabin and its lack of amenities. Every day was a challenge—whether it was for lack of a proper bathroom or need of a bigger kitchen with running water. She had never worked so hard to accomplish so little.

Moving around the room as quietly as she could, Karen smiled gratefully when she saw Gump had already stoked the fire in the stove. She’d have a quick time of it putting the breakfast on with the stove already hot and ready to go.

“Karen!” Grace called from her bed. Her note of alarm brought Karen quickly.

“What’s wrong?” She looked at her bleary-eyed friend and then to the lethargic baby in her arms.

“It’s Andy. He’s burning with fever!”

Nothing struck fear in the heart of a mother more than to see her child ill. Karen didn’t have to have children of her own to realize this. She remembered only too well, fussing and fretting over Grace’s bouts of illness—and Karen had only been her governess.

“Well, we can wash him in a lukewarm bath and see if that brings the fever down,” Karen suggested.

Grace nodded, but worry obviously consumed her. “He will be all right, won’t he? I mean, I know he’s never seemed like that strong of a baby, but surely this is just something simple.”

Karen wanted to encourage her friend. “Maybe it’s just teething. I remember my sister telling me her children all ran high fevers while teething.”

Grace seemed to relax a bit. “Yes, maybe so.”

Karen went around the room gathering the things they’d need for the tepid bath. “You go ahead and get him ready. It shouldn’t take too long to heat up a bit of water.”

Grace began unfastening the gown Andy slept in. Karen could see that her friend’s hands were shaking from nervousness.
Lord, please give her strength to face this
, Karen prayed. They’d all heard of someone down the line who’d lost a child or a loved one. Grace had already endured the loss of her husband—it seemed unusually cruel for her to be forced to deal with the loss of a baby, as well.

Karen chided herself for such dark thoughts. There was no sense in imagining Andy dead and buried at this point, yet Karen couldn’t help but worry over him. He was so precious. He offered them all the hope that one day—hopefully soon—things would work out for good and that they’d all be safely back to the places they longed to be. Karen wasn’t exactly sure where that place would be for her and Adrik, but she prayed daily for God to show her.

Grace brought Andy to the tub and waited until Karen nodded her approval of the temperature. He didn’t so much as stir when they placed him in the water, and that was when Karen began to worry in earnest. She remembered Aunt Doris teaching her to make a tea from the white ashes of hickory or maple wood. It was an alkaline tea that, when taken several times daily in weak portions, seemed to reduce the fever. The only trouble was, she had no opportunity to go scouting for hickory or maple trees. She didn’t even know if they had such trees in the Yukon.

“Oh, Karen, he’s really sick. What are we going to do?” Grace looked up at Karen, fear eating away her usually cheerful countenance.

“I don’t know. I’ll talk to Adrik while you keep running the water over his body.”

As Karen grabbed up her shawl, she heard Leah call from behind her, wanting to know what was wrong. She didn’t wait to explain the matter but instead exited the cabin in search of her husband.

“Adrik?” she called out in the morning light. “Adrik?” She circled the cabin and found him in the back near the cache.

“What are you doing out here so early?” he asked. “Couldn’t bear to be away from me?” He grinned and casually rested his rifle on his shoulder.

“Andy’s sick, Adrik. Really sick. He’s running a high fever, and when we put him in a tub of water, he didn’t even open his eyes. I’m afraid he may die if we don’t get help.”

Adrik’s expression quickly changed. “I’ll come with you, and we’ll see what’s to be done.”

Just then Grace’s scream filled the air. Adrik and Karen ran for the front of the cabin, just as Leah came running from inside. “Hurry,” she cried, “Andy is shaking all over the place.”

Adrik stepped ahead of Karen, but Karen dogged his heels into the cabin. There in the tub, while Grace held him, Andy jerked in a strange, spasmodic rhythm.

“He just started doing this,” Grace said, tears streaming down her face. “Oh, Karen, help me. Help him!”

By this time, Gump and Jacob were up and watching. Finally, Andy’s body stilled just as suddenly as the spasms had begun. Grace looked to her son and lifted him in her arms. “He’s still breathing,” she sobbed.