“Hey, Dylan,” Monty called. “We’ve found a good patch of ginseng. It’s about five yards to your right.”
Monty and Dylan had met the girls half an hour earlier and the four had set out through the woods to the spot Jassy had told Rachel about. Rachel was walking hand in hand with Dylan, leaving the younger girl to search with Monty.
As the four bent down to examine the plants Jassy had found, Monty turned to the girl. “Do you want to be my partner? I bet we can find more ginseng than those two can. They wouldn’t even know where to look.”
“Oh you think so, do you?” Dylan smiled widely at Rachel. “Do you want to make a bet with them?” he asked.
“You bet I do,” the smile Rachel gave him was so sweet he could hardly keep from sweeping her into his arms right in front of the other two.
“What will the wager be?” Monty asked. “Something tells me you two are going to be paying more attention to each other than to any old ginseng.”
“The loser has to bring a bottle of whiskey to the dance Saturday,” Dylan said and hurried to lift a large pine branch for Rachel to walk under. Jassy frowned when Monty left her to lift the branch herself. She knew he saw her as nothing more than a little ragamuffin.
About three yards away from the big pine, the two pairs split up, Monty and Jassy going south and Rachel tugging Dylan to go west.
“Why do you want to go in that direction?” Dylan complained. “There’s hardly any ginseng plants there.”
“There’s plenty of ’seng there, you’ll see.” Rachel grinned, seeing in her mind’s eye her mother’s patch of ginseng, hidden in a little hollow halfway up the mountain. Unless she was mistaken, it was only a few minutes’ walk away.
“I love it up here in the summer,” she said wistfully as they made their way up the mountain. “It’s cool and shady, and the waterfalls and wild-flowers are so pretty.”
Dylan looked at her. Rachel seemed a part of the forest, as wild and free as the mountain itself. Yet she was making a home for herself in the valley, too. Like him, she was drawn to both worlds.
They had come to a little hollow where there was a natural clearing in the trees. Rachel paused and began searching the ground.
“I think we’ve found your ’seng patch.” Dylan said with a smile. “I can really smell it.”
“What would you know about what ’seng smells like?” Rachel teased.
“I know a lot about such stuff.” Dylan reached over and tweaked her nose. “I spent my early years running in the woods hunting roots and barks. When spring came and it was time to go down to the lowlands, I always had quite a cache to sell at the post.”
“Well, if you know so much about wild herbs, tell me about some of them,” Rachel teased.
“Well,” Dylan began after thinking a while, “I’ll start with ’seng. Ginseng is its real name of course. It is one of the best of all wild medicines. It also brings the highest price. If you can find several four-prongers, you’ll get a lot of money for them. When I was about fifteen, I had a ’seng patch. You probably know that the plants have to be at least five years old before they bring any big money.
“Well, my patch was just ready to be harvested when some sneak, I think it was a Sutter, came in the night and dug them all up.
“I don’t mind telling you that I cried. For five years I’d waited for those plants to mature. I didn’t know it, but somebody else was waiting, too.”
Rachel placed her hand on Dylan’s and gently squeezed. “I’m so sorry,” she said softly. “Did you start another patch?”
“No.” Dylan turned his hand over until their palms met. “I knew there was no use. Whoever stole the first bunch would be waiting and watching for the second growth to come along. I wasn’t going to work for that thief again.”
“I can’t blame you, and you were probably right in thinking the thief was one of the Sutters. I never did feel like I was part of that family.”
“You’re as different from them as day is from night.” Dylan smiled. “After that I did what the rest of the mountain people did. I hunted the woods. I best like to find young sourwood saplings. They have a lovely fragrance, and sourwood honey is very good for rheumatism and arthritis. Tea made from its bark is also a good stomach medicine. Then, of course, there is the dandelion, the first to come up in the spring. It’s followed by Indian cucumber, wild ginger and wintergreen.
“Then come sheep sorrel and wood sorrel. Those two are rich in vitamin C. Then there’s rhubarb. Use only the stems, though. The leaves are pure poison.
“Now,” Dylan teased, “Let’s hear what you know of mountain medicine.”
“Well,” Rachel said, grinning at him, “It’s only fair that I tell you I’ve been reading my mother’s notes. She was also a fair illustrator of wild plants, so I know how to recognize all the different herbs.”
Dylan looked at her with amusement. “I think you’re just talking to kill time.”
“I am not!” Rachel shot back. “I know just as much, if not more, than you do about plants, barks and roots. My mother taught me from the time I was little.”
“Alright, let’s hear some of the things your mama taught you.” Dylan’s eyes twinkled at her.
“Alright, Mr. Smarty. We’ll start with salad plants. There are the plants that you mentioned, but let’s add mustard greens, lamb’s-quarter and cress. Then there are the spring tonics: sassafras tea, spicewood tea and sweet birch. Make sure to avoid the plants of the parsnip family.
“Then there are berries you didn’t mention: blackberries and huckleberries, mulberries and—”
“Alright, that’s enough,” Dillion exclaimed with a laugh. “I admit that you know more than I do.”
He put his arm around her and, gazing down at her as he played with a white-blond curl at the nape of her neck, he said huskily, “You are so beautiful, Rachel.”
“Do you really think so, Dylan?” She reached out a hand to stroke his cheek.
“You know you are,” he murmured as he captured her mouth with his own.
Jassy had wandered off a little distance from Monty as they hurried to gather as many ginseng roots as possible. He might annoy her mightily with his teasing and taunting, but she still wanted to help him win the wager. It would be Dylan Quade who had to bring the bottle of whiskey to the dance.
She smiled softly. She couldn’t wait for Saturday. She wanted to think of her first party dress; how she would arrange her hair. She had no idea how to do that. She felt sure that Rachel would help her do it if she asked her to, but she hated to let her pretty cousin know just how ignorant she was.
Jassy never dressed her hair fancy. She most always wore the dark curls loose, hardly even bothered to brush them.
Jassy yanked a big healthy root out of the black loam just as Jenny Quade’s voice whined behind her, “That’s a right good root of ’seng. I hope you intend to share the money it brings you with your Quade relatives.”
Jassy made no answer for a minute as she rubbed the dirt off the root, which resembled a little man. Then she looked up and said clearly, “Hope ahead, Jenny. Ain’t no Quade gonna get a dime from this root. I don’t count any of your family as kin of mine. I only have Granny Hawkins. She’s the only one who would take me in when my ma died.”
“Well,” Jenny said, her hands on her hips, “act the big lady while you can. You think you’re special, staying at the post with Miss Uppity Rachel? I know what’ll bring you down a peg or two. My brother Web has his eye on you. He’ll teach you to sass me.”
“You think so, do you?” Jassy glared at her. “I’ll just tell Monty and Dylan what your brother is plannin’ to do. He’ll put a stop to that real fast.”
“Hah! those cowboys couldn’t stand up to a mountain man for two minutes.”
“I’ll tell you one thing,” Jassy said, scowling at Jenny, “they would never hide behind a tree and shoot a man in the dark.”
Jenny’s voice tightened. “Our mountain men don’t do that kind of thing,” she squeaked.
“Your brother did, and you know it,” Jassy retorted. “Rachel told me all about it.”
Jenny had opened her mouth to argue further when a light rain began to fall. Relief was plain on her face. She had a good excuse to walk away, now. Jassy hid a look of amusement.
“Just remember what I told you,” Jenny threatened as she turned away.
“Oh, I will, never fear,” Jassy said as she bent over and formed a big ball of mud. Her skinny arm wound up and sent the mud ball right at the back of Jenny’s head. It looked for a minute as if Jenny would retaliate, but then she struck off through the trees.
Dusk had been hastened by the rain, and the forest was suddenly gloomy and somehow frightening to Jassy. Where had Monty disappeared to? The trees became figures of men who stalked her, and Jassy shivered.
“You just put such thoughts out of your head,” she muttered to herself as she walked cautiously and quietly. Ever since she could remember she had walked these trails. They were lonely, wild paths, ones a wise man trod with caution.
She had just rounded a curve in the trail when she came up against a hard male figure. The breath was knocked out of her and she staggered backwards.
“You!” she gasped, terrified to recognize the burly form of Web Spencer. His shaggy hair was filthy, and around his right arm was wrapped a bloody bandage.
“Well, now, ain’t you turned into a purty little thing.” He gripped both her upper arms, holding her fast.
Jassy knew she was in trouble. Twice this man had tried to accost her cousin. He wouldn’t think twice about forcing himself on a young girl alone in the woods.
Jassy began to tremble. She would be helpless against this big brute of a man. She had no weapon with her, nothing to stop him from raping her.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw Jenny dart behind a tree. The bitch, she thought; she put him up to this.
She tensed her muscles and gathered her strength, ready to do battle with this huge mountain of a man. She kicked and scratched, at the same time screaming at the top of her voice. He might have his way with her, but it wouldn’t be easy.
Gradually she realized she was losing the battle. She could feel her arms and legs weakening; even her voice was growing fainter. As she felt herself being slowly pushed to the ground, into the mud, with the rain peppering her face, she was only gasping her cry for help.
Jassy couldn’t believe it when suddenly Web Spencer’s fat body was lifted off her as if it weighed only a few pounds. Panting for air, she gazed up at her liberator.
“Vamoose,” the man said, pointing a rifle at Web Spencer, and the fat man scrambled away into the forest.
However, when she got a close look at the bushy, bearded face gazing down at her, Jassy wasn’t so sure she was out of danger. The man was a wild lobo who ran the hills alone. She had seen him many times over the years, slipping through the trees. And though he always peered at her, she never felt any fear of him. Even stranger, Granny never got upset when Jassy told how she had seen the raggedy wild man. She had asked her great-grandmother why she didn’t fear the strange fellow who ran through the mountains like some wild animal. “Aren’t you afraid he will do me harm some day?”
“Jasper Dunn will never harm you, child,” the old woman had answered, but she would say no more.
“Are you alright, girl?” Jasper asked roughly but kindly. “That varmint didn’t hurt you, did he? I got here in plenty of time, didn’t I?”
Jassy didn’t know exactly what Jasper meant by his getting there in time, but she had a pretty good idea. She gave him a wobbly smile and said, “Yes, sir, you got here in plenty of time.”
The way the older man blushed, she had an idea that it was the first time anyone had ever smiled at him.
He was helping her to her feet when Monty came crashing through the rain. “Was that you yelling for help, Jassy?” he demanded as he came to a puffing halt. “Jasper,” he said before Jassy could answer. “Did you do any harm to this little girl?” He pulled Jassy to his side.
“Dammit, young feller, if you’d keep your yap shut a minute, I’ll tell you what you already know. I didn’t touch this little girl in any harmful way. I’d cut my hand off first.”
Monty gave a small, sheepish laugh. “I know that, Jasper. I was just so upset, I spoke without thinking.”
He turned his attention to Jassy. “I’ve been searching for you for the last half hour, Jassy. What happened?”
“I got lost,” Jassy answered in a voice that still shook a little. “And then Web Spencer found me. He tried . . . he tried . . . thank God Mr. Dunn came along when he did.”
“I’ll echo that,” Monty said, then grinned at Jasper. “Let’s go down to the post and I’ll buy you a drink.”
“Thanks, but I best be gettin’ up the mountain and take care of my livestock. My old mule will be braying that he’s hungry and the cow will want to be milked.”
“Well, next time I see you in the Grizzly Bear, I’ll buy you that drink,” Monty said as they began to walk in different directions.
“Thank you for saving me from that awful Web Spencer,” Jassy said just before Jasper disappeared around a curve in the path.
When the two of them met Rachel and Dylan returning to the post on the river road, Monty told them everything that had happened. “That Jasper looked as happy as if someone had given him a hundred dollars,” he concluded.
Rachel nodded and said that she didn’t imagine the reclusive fellow had received many thanks in his lifetime.