It was several hours until dark when Althea chose a meadow to bed down. It took an hour for Althea to care for the horses while Farley and Chester unpacked the mules.
Mona and Rupert set up camp and built a fire. Mona quickly gathered wood, started a fire, and made coffee while Rupert sliced potatoes into several skillets with country ham and poured water to make a thin gravy. It wasn’t long before the other three joined them. Rupert dished out the potatoes and ham, which were gratefully accepted by all.
“Tomorrow I have to make a detour to see a patient. After that we can resume the quest,” Althea said, giving Freddy some scraps.
“I thought we weren’t to have contact with the locals,” Rupert said. From the pitch in his voice, he was obviously disturbed. He looked quickly at Chester, who shrugged.
“You don’t have to go anywhere near the house, but I have to check on Mrs. Fugate. I promised the next time I was close I would stop in. It won’t take over an hour or two. Y’all can wait down the path. Once I’m finished, we can resume. It’s on our way, Rupert,” Althea said, perplexed at Rupert’s concern.
“It will be fine, Althea,” Mona reassured. “We’re being followed anyway.”
“What do you mean?” Rupert said, searching the tree line.
“Don’t worry,” Althea said. “Someone spotted us and is curious about what we are doing. Frontier nurses usually travel alone and stay at someone’s house for the night. The fact that I am traveling with others and pack mules will create some interest. Just ignore him. He’ll get bored and move on. Happens all the time.”
“Regardless, I think we need to take turns standing guard tonight. I would hate to have to walk out of these woods because someone stole the horses,” Farley said.
“I think that is sound advice,” Chester added, pulling out a harmonica from his shirt pocket.
Rupert nodded in agreement.
“Well, I’m not going to stand guard,” Althea said. “If he wanted to harm us, he would have. I’m going to bed. The rest of you can stay up if you want. Whoever is following us knows me. We’re safe.” Althea threw her coffee out on the ground and handed the cup to Mona. “I’m turning in. Good night, everyone. Come, Freddy.” She unfurled her bedroll and climbed in, turning her back on the other four.
Freddy lay beside her licking his paws.
“Good night, Althea,” Rupert said, gathering dirty aluminum camp dishes. There was just enough moonlight for him to wash the dishes in the creek. Chester helped him.
Mona threw more wood on the fire. “Robert, I’ll take a turn tonight guarding. I think it’s a good idea.”
“Did you get a good look?”
“Just glimpses. I think it’s an older man. I saw a beard and gray hair.”
“Could be some old codger just wanting to see what we are up to.”
“We might be trespassing on his land.”
“So far, Althea has kept us close to communal pathways and trails. I don’t think that’s it, but we are carrying two mules loaded with expensive supplies. That’s awful tempting.”
Mona offered, “I’ll take the first watch. I’ll wake you around midnight.”
“I think I’ll take you up on that. I’m beat.” Farley climbed into his bedroll and was soon asleep.
Mona was relieved that Farley was civil to her after their argument earlier in the day. She realized she had been unfair. Maybe they could patch things up and start fresh on this trip. Mona hoped so because it unnerved her when Farley was unhappy with her. She didn’t feel centered when that happened.
When Rupert and Chester came back, Mona helped them tidy up the camp. Rupert laid out what he was going to cook for breakfast and stored it in saddlebags near the fire. They chitchatted with Mona for a while until they begged off and went to sleep.
Restless, Mona tended the fire and checked the horses and mules.
Freddy raised his head watching Mona. Sensing nothing amiss, he laid his head back down.
Petting Shaggy’s neck, Mona studied the night sky and was amazed at the brilliance of the stars. “Look Shaggy. You can see the Milky Way,” Mona whispered.
The lonely hoot of an owl and the distant baying of a hound sounded in the distance. Then Mona heard the unmistakable sound of dry leaves being crushed by someone walking about.
Hearing the noise also, Freddy rose and softly growled staring into the trees.
Slowly, Mona moseyed over to the fire and threw more wood on it, causing the flames to shoot upward. Making sure she was standing in front of the fire and could be seen plainly from the line of trees surrounding the camp, Mona took out a revolver and holster from her saddlebag, checked the chamber, and snapped the gun shut before buckling the holster around her waist.
“Shh,” she said to Freddy. “I’ve got this. Go back to sleep.” Grabbing the last cup of coffee, Mona sat a little outside the camp circle watching and listening.
Freddy circled three times and curled into a tight ball on the sleeping bag next to Althea.
At midnight, she woke Farley and told him that someone had been stalking their camp. Farley grabbed his shotgun and cocked it. The unmistakable sound would alert anyone watching of Farley’s deadly intent if his group was attacked. With athletic grace, he climbed a tree and surveyed the woods from his hiding place.
Mona went to sleep feeling secure that no harm would come with Farley on watch. It seemed her head had just hit her bedroll when Althea woke her. “Mona, get up. It’s five o’clock. We gotta get moving.”
Stiff and sore, Mona groaned and struggled to get up when Althea handed her a tin of salve. “It’s still dark.”
“Sun will be up in a few moments. You can see the sun’s first rays peeking over the ridge. Listen—the birds are singing. That means dawn will be here soon. What do the English say—before Bob’s your uncle? By the way, have you checked your thighs?”
“No.”
“You better. They’ve likely been rubbed raw, so put lots of this salve on your skin. It may be sticky and stink, but it will save you a lot of misery.”
“What’s in it?”
“Beeswax, sassafras, witch hazel, goldenrod, and probably a dozen other plants. One of my patients gave it to me and it works. If you are chaffing, this will help.”
“Thank you, Althea. I’ll check right now.” Mona drifted off into the woods to do her business. When she pulled down her pants, Mona was shocked to see that the insides of her legs were bruised and raw from riding on a horse all day. She liberally applied the salve and felt immediate relief. “I gotta get the recipe for this,” she mumbled. When returning to camp, she washed her face and brushed her teeth and hair at the little water stand Althea had laid out for everyone.
Rupert was fixing eggs-in-a-basket. He flipped one of the fried pieces of bread with an egg in the middle onto a plate and handed it to Mona.
“Thank you,” Mona said.
“It’s a beautiful morning,” Rupert said cheerfully as he dumped another egg-in-a-basket on a plate and handed it to Chester. “Enjoy the eggs this morning. Unless we buy some from the locals, this is it. The rest got cracked yesterday. I guess I didn’t pack them right.”
Althea said, “I’ll see if Mrs. Fugate can give us some extra eggs when I visit her today.”
“That would be great. Otherwise, it’s canned beans and ham until we make base camp.”
“Did you bring along root vegetables to make a stew?” Althea asked. “I know we’ve brought plenty of grits.”
“Yep, but stew takes so long to cook, and we have no butter or cheese for the grits. Eggs can be cooked up in a flash while we’re still on the move.”
“Don’t worry, Rupert. I can hunt us up a rabbit or do a little fishing. We won’t starve,” Althea reassured. She was beginning to think Rupert was a fussbudget and not the dashing young man she had thought he was.
Sensing Rupert was fretting over the egg situation, Mona said, “Rupert, let’s go over your map again. I want to compare it to the map Mary gave Farley.”
Rupert smiled. “No need. I know where we are.”
“I thought you wanted my expertise. That’s why I came along.”
“Okay.” Rupert handed his copy of John Swift’s map to Mona and then dropped another piece of bread with a hole into the skillet before cracking an egg into it.
Mona studied the map memorizing the details. The features of the Swift map were so generic they could have been landmarks in Red River Gorge, Kentucky or even in Tennessee for that matter. She thought the map was useless.
She looked up when Farley joined the group. He looked fresh as a daisy even though subtle beard stubble shadowed his cheeks, making him look roguishly handsome.
“Morning,” he said.
Everyone returned his greeting.
“See anything?” Mona asked.
“It was quiet,” Farley asked, sipping on his coffee.
Chester asked, “What are you two discussing?”
“Someone was walking around our camp last night,” Mona answered.
“I heard him, too,” Althea said. “Probably the man you saw earlier, Mona.”
“You think so?”
“Yeah. Just curious, I’m sure. I’ve done this for two years, and I’ve never had any trouble.”
“Well, I don’t like it,” Rupert complained.
“It is what it is,” Althea said, handing her plate to Rupert. She moved to saddle the horses. Freddy followed briskly behind her after eating his own cooked eggs.
“What do you think, Bob?” Rupert asked.
“It is what it is,” Farley repeated, rising to join Althea.
Mona smiled at Rupert. “Can you fix me another egg, please?”
“I have one egg left and your name is on it.” Rupert made another eggs-in-a-basket and flipped it on Mona’s plate.
“Thanks so much, Rupert.” Mona took the tin plate into the woods and left it on a tree stump.
Exasperated, Rupert followed and asked, “What are you doing?”
“Making friends, Rupert. Making friends.”
“We need that plate.”
Mona patted his shoulder, saying, “We’ll get it back. Don’t worry. Come on. Althea is calling us. The horses must be ready, and we need to put out the fire.”
When Mona and Rupert came out of the woods, Farley was already pouring the coffee over the fire and kicking dirt on the dying embers. The camp kitchen had been packed up by Chester and loaded onto a mule.
Rupert and Chester climbed on their horses without comment and followed Althea on a barely discernible path in the woods. Farley helped Mona mount. She was grateful for the western saddle with its horn giving her extra leverage getting up on the large quarter horse. She put her boots in the stirrups and nodded to Farley that she was set. She patted Shaggy’s neck. “I hope you got lots of rest last night, Shaggy. When we take a break, I’ve got a treat for you. Stole some sweet oats for you.”
Farley gracefully mounted his horse which was a Morgan, whose name was Daisy which Farley thought amusing since “she” was a “he.” As the others were out of sight along the path, he asked, “What were you and Rupert doing in the woods?”
“I left food for our night visitor. I learned a long time ago that one has to treat the locals with respect or trouble will be coming our way. I’m sure our visitor was checking to make sure we are not government agents looking to destroy his still.”
“Makes sense. Althea said the hills are dotted with illegal whiskey stills.”
“They are making hay while the sun shines since Roosevelt has made Congress repeal Prohibition.”
Farley tightened the scarf around his neck and looked at the sky. “It’s getting colder. Hope it doesn’t snow. If it does, I think we should call off this expedition. Snow would make the trails too slippery for the horses.”
“I wouldn’t think so, Robert. These midwives ride these trails in every kind of weather. Rain or snow is not going to keep this trip from going under. We’ll just have to get used to the cold,” Mona said.
Farley replied, “Bloody hell. I hate the cold.”
“How very un-British of you since most English manors don’t have central heat.”
“But we do have fireplaces, Mona. It’s not like we live in igloos.”
Mona smiled. Farley was jousting with her again. That meant things between them had healed. Mona sighed silently and urged her horse forward with Farley bringing up the rear.
That’s how Mona liked things.
Farley covering her back.