“Enemy scouts?” she asked in a whisper.
His answer was a mere nod.
“But, I thought—“
“Sh-h-h. Come, follow me,” he said. “I know these woods better than the enemy’s scouts. I will take you to a safe place where you can rest without fear of being found while I go back over our trail.”
“Go back over our trail?”
“Enemy scouts will find it and follow it to us. I must erase our footprints from the land.”
“Oh,” was all she uttered. “How can you erase a trail?”
“Easily,” he whispered. “Now, no more talking.”
She nodded, although even she knew he couldn’t see it and for a simple reason: she was behind him.
He led her through the woods, away from the water, the one place where she had felt safe in this wilderness, the place where he and she had found temporary refuge. Although the deep woods never ended, they began to climb upward. Up and up they stumbled until they, at last, came to the face of a rocky cliff. Scrambling up the cliff in the moonlight was certainly rigorous and a little frightening.
What if she were to fall?
At last, however, they came to a section of the cliff that opened up to reveal a cave leading back into the solid rock. Turning to her, Skenan said, “It is not cold enough yet for a bear to make this cave its home. I think this place will be safe enoughfor us to rest and let the enemy scouts and the Loyalists they serve go their way, not suspecting we are here.”
The cave opened up from a high ledge, and nearby fell a waterfall, though it was barely as tall as a raccoon standing on its two hind feet. At its base on the ledge was a narrow stream running quickly down the slope. At last, climbing up to the ledge, they both stood up and looked backward at the cave’s opening.
She muttered, “It seems there are so many of the Loyalists and enemy scouts in these woods. One would think the war had come to these woods.”
“And, so it has,” Skenan answered. “There is war occurring in Oriskany, a place very close to here. I do not know how the war goes, but if there are enemy scouts about in these woods, I fear it has not gone in our favor.”
“By ‘ours’ do you mean the American forces?”
“Of course I do. The Oneida have long been friends of the Americans,” he answered. “Come, let us enter this cave, where you can rest while I go back over our trail.”
Giving him a gentle smile, she complied.
Before Skenan left to go back over their trail and erase it, he had told her he would climb up to where there was a growth of pine trees above them. He had told her he hoped to find a few good branches amongst those trees to act as a cushion for her bed. Then, leaving both his red sash and his deerskin shirt for her in order to take away the chill, he left.
He soon returned, carrying a few pine branches in his arms. Setting them down, he said, “I must not make a fire here in the cave yet because the scent could bring an enemy to us. These branches and my shirt should help to keep you warm enough until I return.”
“I thank you very much, Mr. Skenan.”
He grinned at her lopsidedly before he inclined his head, saying, “I go now. You sleep.”
She looked long at his smile, unable to take her gaze awayfrom him. He looked young and quite handsome in the dim lighting of the cave. And, though she was inclined to like him, her feelings for him seemed beyond the mere enchantment of him having saved her life this day.
Dear Lord, it did, indeed, seem to her as if she were becoming more than a little enraptured with this man. Glancing away from him, at last, she murmured, “I will try, Mr. Skenan. I will try.”
And, then he was gone.
After he left, she felt very alone and wished she had offered to accompany him on his purpose to erase their trail. It seemed, then, natural when a realization came to her without bells or whistles or any fanfare at all: without Skenan’s presence beside her, helping her this day, she would have been found and returned to the inn, where her life would have been miserable…if she would have even lived.
She was in this young man’s debt, and the sense of obligation to him weighed her down. All at once, her attraction to him seemed to diminish under the debt she knew she now owed him.
She prayed, “Dear Lord, help me to find a way I might bring this man aid. I owe it to him.”
Looking around the cave, she saw it was dark and, also, it was frightening. But, at least when she looked forward toward the opening of the cave, she could see it gave her a good view of the outside world; although, she could see nothing out there, either. She chewed at her lower lip, the action instinctive.
And, as she paused, her worries came easily back to mind. What would she have done if Skenan hadn’t come upon her? What if Mr. Wilson hadn’t sent him to find her and guide her safely to Fort Stanwix?
