EMMANUEL WAS IN TOWN, PRESUMABLY visiting with Reverend Miller, so without use of the horse cart, Adam had no choice but to run to Martin’s house.
He knocked on the front door. No answer. He ran around to the side window and called in, “Martin!”
No answer.
“Martin! You there?”
Still no answer.
Adam went around to the back of the house and was going to knock but noticed the back door was open. He went in. He looked around the house. It was a mess. A blanket had been pulled over the top of the dining table so that it covered three sides, but one side was open—as if it were a fort. The mattress had been pulled off of Martin’s bed and was on the floor.
Adam went into the front room and saw several pieces of furniture were all pushed up against the front door as if to block it, and there was a washtub sitting in the middle of the room, filled with water. No doubt about it: this was the house of a man who’d lost his mind. Adam half expected to discover Martin hidden behind some furniture or under a pile of dirty laundry, but he was nowhere to be found.
He went back out the way he had come in, through the back door, and looked around to see if he could figure out where Martin might have gone. He didn’t see Martin’s horse in the pasture.
Adam went out to check in the barn. The cart was still there, but neither Martin nor his horse were there, which meant Martin had taken off on horseback.
Good Lord! Where in the world has he gone?
There would be no sense in trying to run around on foot looking for him. Martin could be anywhere. Instead, Adam ran back to the warehouse to let Elliot and Joe know what he had found, then ran into town to try and find Emmanuel.
He wasn’t at the parsonage as he had anticipated, so he had to search all over to find him. After roaming the streets of the town for twenty minutes or so, he finally saw Emmanuel’s horse cart parked in the street in front of L. Peterson’s, Cordwainer. He saw his grandfather standing just inside, apparently talking to the man working on his shoes.
“Thank God!” said Adam. “I’m glad I found you. I need to talk to you.”
“Adam,” said his grandfather, “I’m getting the sole on that awful left shoe replaced. Remember I told you it’s gotten a terrible hole in it.”
“Yes, I remember. Listen, I need to borrow Rex. Is that alright? I can take you back to the warehouse first if you’d like. We can come back later for your shoe.”
“Good heavens, what’s the matter?” said Emmanuel. “Is everything alright?”
“It’s a long story,” said Adam.
He nudged his grandfather to follow him outside. He didn’t want to talk about what had happened in front of the man inside.
“Martin has disappeared. I think he’s been poisoned. I have to find him.”
“He’s been so sick,” said Emmanuel. “He couldn’t have gotten very far.”
“You would think not, but he’s taken his horse, and from the looks of the inside of his house, I think he may be completely out of his mind.”
“Oh Lord!” said Emmanuel. “I hope he’ll be alright. By all means go now. Go look for him. I can walk back to the warehouse, or I’m sure I could get a ride with Mr. Peterson.”
“Thank you! I’ll see you later then!”
Adam untied Rex from the hitching post, climbed into the horse cart, and was on his way.
* * *
HE RETURNED TO THE WAREHOUSE to see if Martin might have turned up there, but he hadn’t. Boaz was back, though.
“Did you talk to Lawson?” Adam asked, referring to Boaz’s cousin Constable Squires.
“I found him, but he said until we find Martin, or at least some proof that gypsy woman did something to intentionally harm him, there was nothing he could do.”
“What?! Why?”
“You think he’s goin out there to Town Creek to have some big confrontation with her, accusin her of poisonin Martin Smith just because you said it happened?”
“Did you tell him that Martin’s acting crazy?”
“I mentioned that, and he said that’s exactly why we ought to just focus on finding Martin right now.”
“Fine, then!” said Adam. “I’m on my way to do just that. Are y’all going to be looking for him?”
“Of course,” said Boaz. “Elliot and Joe already left. They’re goin to the houses of the crew—see if any of them have seen him. If they don’t find him that way, they’re goin on out to Town Creek on the off chance he’s gone out there lookin for somethin or somebody.”
“That makes sense.”
“I reckon I prob’ly ought to stay here case he comes back,” said Boaz.
“Good idea. I reckon I’ll go on over to the tavern—let them know what’s going on and to put the word out to the patrons there; also let ’em know down by the docks. Then I’ll ride back across town to Russell’s Tavern, let those folks know. Maybe I’ll see him somewhere along the way. If not, I might head on out to his cousin’s place.”
“Ain’t Miss Laney out of town, though?” said Boaz.
“Yeah, but Martin’s not in his right mind. He could’ve gone anywhere. I at least want to let Cyrus and Violet know to keep their eyes open, in case he turns up over that way.”
“Good thinking.”
Within an hour Adam had gone to the docks, both taverns, and kept his eyes open every place in between, but there was no sign of Martin. Since it was sort of on the way, he swung back by the warehouse one more time before going out to Laney Martin’s estate in case Elliot or Joe had come back with any news. Nothing.
He was soon on his way out to Lennoxville Point. There was no sign of Martin out there either, but nevertheless he told Cyrus and Violet that Martin wasn’t well and to keep an eye out for him in case he did show up.
When he returned to the warehouse again, before he went in something caught his attention across the water. That can’t be what I think it is, thought Adam. He was far enough away he was sure his eyes had to be deceiving him. He darted across the lawn towards the water and almost fell right into Taylor Creek trying to get a good look.
It was Martin’s horse, Whisky, alone and looking bewildered over on Carrot Island.
“What in the world is he doing over there?” Adam wondered aloud.
He ran into the warehouse from the dock to tell the others what he had seen. They all followed him outside so they could see the sight for themselves.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” said Boaz. “That sure is Martin’s horse! What the hell is he doing over there?”
“I don’t have the foggiest idea!”
Adam shook his head, while Elliot and Joe just stared at the poor creature, who was obviously confused about what he was supposed to be doing.
“What are y’all waiting for?” said Boaz. “Somebody go on and get in the boat and get over there and help that horse. And see if Martin’s crazy arse is over there.”
Adam and Elliot climbed in and were soon rowing across the creek. Within minutes they pulled the periauger up on the shore of Carrot Island, which was a marshy island that ran parallel from the eastern edge of the Beaufort waterfront. They slowly started approaching the horse.
Whisky made no effort to move or run away. He was standing there as though he was waiting for Martin to come and get him.
“That’s a good horse right there,” said Elliot.
“Mm-hm. Sure is,” Adam agreed, stroking Whisky’s mane. “But where is his owner?”
Elliot looked around. “I don’t see any sign of him over here. I’ll go look around, though.”
“Alright, you go that way,” said Adam, pointing west, “and I’ll go this way.” He motioned eastward.
They spent about twenty minutes searching the place, but they had both already decided that Martin was not on the island. There wasn’t even any evidence of footprints or human activity there, except for some men fishing for mullet.
“How in the world did he get this horse over here?” asked Elliot.
“We’ll have to ask him when we find him,” said Adam.
“If we find him,” said Elliot.
Adam didn’t respond to that.
They were able to get the horse back across the creek, and they tied him to the hitching post outside the warehouse. As soon as they got back inside, Boaz told them a man had come from about a quarter mile east. He said he’d heard about Martin being missing and saw some strange activity in a patch of woods near where he was fishing.
Adam, Elliot, and Joe all took off in Emmanuel’s horse cart to the stretch of land where the man had said their friend might have entered the woods. There was by no means a forest—it was just about a half acre or so of trees. Once they started walking through the woods towards the creek, they heard some rustling and what sounded like sticks falling on the ground.
“Y’all!” said Elliot, pointing. “See there!”
Adam and Joe both looked up a tall oak. Martin was up in the tree, clinging to a branch with both his arms and legs. He was wearing light-colored breeches and a pair of fancy shoes, but that was it.
“Martin!” called Adam. “It’s us!”
Martin looked from the tree towards the creek.
“No!” said Adam. “Down here! At the bottom of the tree.”
Martin made a strange face and looked around, then finally looked down.
“What are y’all doin down there?” he said, his voice panic-stricken. “The land is crawlin with ’em! They’ll chew your face right off if you’re not careful!”
Adam made a face that clearly indicated his concern to Elliot and Joe.
“What will chew our faces off? Tell us what we should be looking for down here!”
“Are you blind, man?!” Martin screamed. “There are rats everywhere! Everywhere! They’re crawlin over the tops of each other, over your feet!”
Adam looked at the ground to humor his friend. “Well, no, I don’t think you’ve got anything to worry about down here. I don’t see any rats.”
“It’s because you don’t have good vision like me,” he said. “I can see everything now. I can see so many different things! And colors! There are so many colors! The rats—they’re different colors, too, you know? I always just thought they were gray or brown, but they are every color you can imagine! I don’t know how they do it, but I think they must wear disguises most of the time.”
“Good God,” said Elliot, “that boy is well and truly out of his gourd.”
“Mm-hm. Mm-hm. Sure looks that way, don’t it?” agreed his cousin Joe.
“It’s just that strange medicine doing it to him, y’all,” said Adam. He took the rope he was carrying and threw one end of it up over the highest branch he could reach. “We need to get him down from that tree somehow and get that bottle away from him. It looks like he may have it with him, but God only knows how he got it up there!”
Adam didn’t wait to see if Elliot or Joe would volunteer to go up the tree. As he started to climb, he said, “Y’all keep your eyes open in case one of us falls.”
“What do you want us to do if that happens?” said Joe.
“Well, I reckon he’ll want us to go get help or somethin,” said Elliot.
“Y’all just pay attention for now,” said Adam. “Martin, I’m coming to hide up there with you. I’m bringing a rope, too, so we can come back down.”
“Why would we want to do that?” asked Martin. “I can’t stand rats. I’m not goin down no rope into a forest full of rats.”
“Oh no,” said Adam. “Don’t worry about that. Elliot and Joe have just turned some cats loose. They’re down there catching those rats right now. We need to go back down so we can help ’em release some more cats.”
Martin appeared to be reaching for something but nearly slipped.
“What are you doing? What are you trying to get?” said Adam.
“My medicine. It’s up here in this little crook in this branch. I think I need another swig.”
“Hang on,” said Adam. “I’ll get it for you.”
“Good. Good,” said Martin. “You’re such a good friend.”
Adam was grateful this was at least a sturdy tree. He couldn’t imagine what kind of hallucinations brought Martin way out here and up into the tree. Worrying about rats scurrying all over the ground might certainly send him running, but he was surprised he came this far. Why hadn’t he just gone to the warehouse and ran upstairs?
Once he finally made it up to the branch just below Martin, he said, “I’m right here just below you. I’m going to try to stand up in this corner here, and I want you to try to come down to where I am.” He motioned to the enormous crook in the tree’s trunk, where he was easily able to stand.
“See?” he said to Martin. “There’s plenty of room. From here we can probably watch Elliot and Joe and the cats attacking all of those nasty rats. And then when you’re ready I’ve got a rope, so we can tie it to this part of the trunk here and climb down. How does that sound?”
“Are we gonna fight ’em together?” asked Martin. “You and me?”
“Uh-huh,” said Adam with a nod. “You and me.”
“We’re like brothers, aren’t we?” said Martin.
Adam nodded. “Yep. We sure are. Just like brothers.”
Martin scooted his body down the branch he was clinging to. Once he made it to the trunk, he reached over and grabbed the bottle of medicine. It was hard for him to keep holding on to the branch and the bottle, and that gave a perfect opportunity for Adam to offer to hold it for him.
“Why don’t you hand me that bottle there, brother?” said Adam. “Looks like you’re struggling a bit coming down from that branch. I’ll hold it for you until you get to where I’m standing.”
Martin looked carefully at the bottle, then looked at the ground below. He looked back at the bottle and finally handed it down to Adam.
“Don’t you dare drop it,” he said. “That’s my medicine. It has magic. It gives me magic eyes. I can see everything I couldn’t see before.”
“Yep. I’m sure you can,” said Adam. “I’m sure you don’t want to drop that.”
“No,” said Martin. “Just hold it for me.”
Adam held on to the bottle with one hand, then leaned the other hand against the tree trunk to steady himself. When Martin began to lower himself down into that joint in the branches, Adam said to him, “I need to put this medicine down for a minute so I can give you a hand.”
“Don’t drop it, though,” said Martin. “Just put it on the side for a minute.”
Adam nodded. “Alright. I’ll do that.”
He pretended to put the bottle to the side of him on the tree trunk, but instead motioned to Elliot to get ready and catch it. As soon as Elliot had his hands up and ready, Adam dropped the bottle. Fortunately, Elliot caught it. Now they would have something to take to Constable Squires to show that Martin had been poisoned.
Once Martin was next to Adam on the tree, Adam took the rope he had and tied it around Martin’s torso just under his armpits.
“I’m just putting this around you to make sure you don’t fall into those rats down there,” said Adam.
“Good plan,” said Martin. “You know exactly how to do things. You’re a smart, smart man, Adam Fletcher. You are outsmarting the rats.”
“I try,” said Adam. “Now listen. I want you to start climbing right down this tree. The rats are nearly all gone now. Those cats have eaten them right up. When you get down there, you’ll see a bunch of really fat cats.”
“Oh good,” said Martin.
He started down the main trunk. Adam waited in the fork of the boughs to make sure the rope didn’t slip and that Martin could descend safely. Once Martin was on the ground, Elliot and Joe stood by him while Adam followed him out of the tree.
When they were both on the ground, Martin said to Adam, “I think the cats have all gone. I think we scared them. That’s what these men just said.” He was talking about Elliot and Joe.
“Yeah,” said Elliot. “Those cats, they took right off when they saw you two coming down that tree.”
“This is all good, though,” said Martin. “The rats are all gone because the cats ate them, and now the cats are all gone because we scared them. Things are normal again.”
Adam patted his friend on the back. “Almost. They’re almost normal, but hey, I’ve got a question for you.”
They walked over towards the horse cart.
“Why did you send Whisky over to Carrot Island?”
Martin looked at Adam like it was foolish to even have to ask. “To keep him safe from all those rats! It ain’t like he can climb a tree!”
“Oh sure. Of course,” said Adam. “That makes sense then. It’s a good thing he had you to look out for him.”
Martin was still very much out of his mind, but at this point at least he was under the safe watch of his friends. They could now afford to be a little more amused than they were moments earlier when they worried he would fall out of the tree.
Martin looked around. “Where’s my medicine?”
“What medicine?” asked Adam.
Martin grew hostile. “Don’t play with me! I need another swig of that medicine.”
He studied the three men walking with him and spotted the bottle in Elliot’s hand.
“You!” Martin growled at Elliot. “You stole my medicine!”
He grabbed for the bottle, nearly falling forward. Elliot stepped back and tried to hold the bottle out of reach.
“Give me that!”
Martin pulled quickly away from the loose grip Adam had on his upper arm and he tackled Elliot. Elliot threw his arm far above his head to try and hold the bottle out of reach without dropping it. Joe stooped down to take it from him, but just as Elliot was about to pass the bottle off, Martin grabbed it. Adam dove down and tried to take it from his hand, and they wrestled over it for a moment, but then the bottle slipped out of both of their hands and went flying through the air. It smashed into a tree and shattered.
There went the evidence.
Martin pulled loose and ran over to the base of the tree where the bottle had broken. He started grabbing at the ground and licking his palms, apparently trying to salvage any bit of “medicine” that had seeped into the earth by the roots.
“It’s gone, Martin,” said Adam.
He went over to the tree and tried to help Martin stand, but he refused to get up. Instead, Martin was desperately plucking bits of grass that he thought were wet with the spilled contents of the bottle, and he put them into his mouth. At this point Adam had to decide whether he, Elliot, and Joe should somehow bind Martin and force him to come back into town or just let him tire of doing what he was doing first, and then hopefully he would come back willingly.
They opted for the latter. It took about fifteen minutes, but then Martin stood and started walking towards the horse cart himself.
Adam, Elliot, and Joe quickly caught up, lest he hop in the cart and head into town on his own.