Unfortunately, she knew exactly what would have happened. She would have been caught, would have beendragged back to the inn, there to await whatever punishment Miss Stockenridge would have deemed necessary. Abagail shivered, but with a good bit of will, she brought her mind back to the present and away from the “what if’s.”
The cave felt cold and wet, and her dress, being quite threadbare, caused her to shiver in the chill of the night air. Taking hold of Skenan’s shirt, she wrapped it around her shoulders, and found, by doing so, she seemed to be instantly better. Perhaps it was because it was his garment which gave her the confidence to simply sit here and wait for him, or perhaps it was his scent upon the clothing which reminded her of him and his rescue of her.
Although he had bid her to sleep, she knew she couldn’t do it. She was frightened, she was worried about him and she feared he might get caught by an enemy. After all, if he were going back over their trail, it meant he was putting himself into danger. What if he didn’t return? What if he were caught and killed? And she, having not even the good sense to have wished him a kindly “Godspeed” as he’d left.
“Dear Lord,” she prayed, “keep Mr. Skenan safe and bring him back here. He is a good man, and I…and I do not know what I would have done without him…or what I will do if he does not return. Please, dear Lord, bring him into the safety of your arms as he embarks upon his intent to erase our trail from the land.”
Keeping Skenan’s shirt around her shoulders, she came to stand up, and then she began to step around the cave. Somewhere in the back of the cave was water, perhaps even another waterfall. She could hear it.
She began pacing toward the sound of the water, when she turned around suddenly and then breathed out a sigh of relief. She could still see the cave’s opening. So black was it within this cavern, she had worried for a moment that she might not be able to see her way back to the opening of the den.
Plus, not being able to see anything at all except blackness, she might have come to some mishap. Quickly, she retraced her steps to the opening of the cave, only to scream when she beheld a man sitting on what looked to be pine branches. And, in the man’s hand was a bow, one he was twirling round and round within the palms of his hands.
Then the man spoke. “Do not fear. It is I, Skenan.”
“Oh my, how you scared me. I did not expect you to be back so soon. I mean, I had thought the work of erasing our trail would take a much longer time to do it.”
“It is not hard to do. And, it does not take long to erase it if one knows how to do it…which I do. Perhaps I should have told you this.”
“Yes, sir. Perhaps you should have.” She paused, then said, “I am glad you are back. I was worried about you.”
“You sound like my mother, and so let me tell you what I say to her when she worries about me: excuse me for causing this to you,” he murmured.
“There is nothing to excuse,” Abagail said. “I was frightened of this cave a little, but I was also fearful of something bad befalling you. I wish now I had gone with you. It would do me no harm to know what a trail looks like, let alone how to erase it from the land.”
“Then,” he said, as he continued to spin the bow over a piece of wood, “if we need to do it again, you shall come with me.”
Suddenly, whatever it was Skenan was doing with his bow produced a spark. She could see it easily within the gloom of the cave. Glancing slightly away from him, she saw some punk, as well as wood, lying in a pile, awaiting only a spark to light a fire.
She said, “I do not even know how to build a fire without flint, and if Fort Stanwix is further away than a few days’ walk, how would I have lived if you hadn’t come to help me?”
“You would watch the birds and eat the berries they eat, though cautiously. Not all berries the birds eat are good for people. But, you would recognize many of the berries, and they would help you keep your strength until you reached the fort.”
“Oh,” she said, watching Skenan as he lit the fire, stoking it now and again until it fairly lit up the darkness of the cave. “Excuse me, but won’t the enemy smell the fire and know we are here?”
“I ensured, before I lit the fire, that there are no enemies in our immediate environment. Although, if you notice, the fire lets off little smoke.”
“True,” she said. “This is true.”
“Tomorrow I might put up another pine branch at the entrance to our cave to hide the light of it and its odor from our enemies.”
“Oh? Then, you expect us to be here longer than the night.”
“I do,” he answered. “We both need to replenish our sleep. This cave will allow us to do this without too much worry. After we have rested, we will be again on our way.”
“Yes.” She nodded. “This is a good plan.”
As they both sat around the cheery fire, a feeling of camaraderie seeped into Abagail’s soul. The quiet ambiance between them made it a little startling when Skenan spoke up, asking, “How is it you have come to be in service to the inn? Has something happened to your husband?”
“I am not married, sir.”
“Not married?Ever?”
“Not ever,” she answered.
“What is wrong with the white men of your acquaintance that you are not yet married?”
She laughed a little at the compliment before replying, “There is nothing wrong with them. It is only that I have grownup without a family, and since I was very little, I have had to make it on my own in this world.”
