Merline Lovelace Read Online Free PDF Page A

tribe. Those unscrupulous land speculators back East have taken great advantage of the situation. They’re selling false deeds as fast as they can print them. Ah, well, perhaps the commission President Jackson has appointed will sort through the mess.”
    “Perhaps.”
    Privately, Zach held little hope that the three-man commission expected to arrive at Fort Gibson any day now could untangle decades of conflicting negotiations.
    “In the meantime, we must continue resettling the eastern tribes as best we can. I’ll expect you to make yourself and your company ready for escortduty after you deliver Lady Barbara to Morgan’s Falls.”
    The lines of worry faded from the colonel’s face. A fatuous smile replaced them. A longtime bachelor, Arbuckle nevertheless had an eye for the ladies.
    “You’ll be most grateful to me for assigning you this task when you encounter the lady, Morgan.”
    “I’ve already encountered her, sir.”
    “Indeed? Is she not utterly captivating?”
    “Utterly.”
    “She was most surprised and interested to learn the woman she’s traveled so far to find had a son under my command.”
    “Did the lady indicate why she’s come in search of my mother?”
    “I didn’t wish to pry, but I formed the impression it has something to do with one of your mother’s business interests.”
    Zach supposed he shouldn’t be surprised. His mother was a shrewd trader and financier who’d invested in a number of enterprises over the years. Her varied interests included a steamship line operating out of New Orleans, timber sales to several sawmills and a tannery that cured the beaver, mink and muskrat pelts she’d once trapped with her French-born first husband. Yet somehow Zach couldn’t envision Barbara Chamberlain being concerned with the fluctuating price of beaver pelts.
    “I’m sure she’ll explain all when you speak with her,” Arbuckle said.
    “Yes, sir.”
     
    After promising to deliver a written copy of his report before departing for Morgan’s Falls, Zach crossed the grassy flats and made for the establishment of Mrs. Sallie Nicks. He didn’t doubt the generous-hearted widow would take Hattie in, but he didn’t want to just show up on her stoop with the woman in tow if her house was as full to overflowing as Prescott had indicated.
    The gregarious Mrs. Nicks was the widow of General John Nicks, who’d secured the lucrative license to sell provisions to the garrison at Fort Gibson. Upon her husband’s death, Sallie had taken over duties as supplier to the garrison. She was a merry-eyed, shrewdly competent woman much courted by the officers and visitors to the post. The rumor that she’d inherited an estate valued at more than twenty thousand dollars from the general along with the right to continue operation of their store only added to her charms.
    She occupied a two-story plank house close by the river and the warehouses where she stored her goods. As Nate had warned, the residence was full to overflowing with visitors who’d arrived via the steamboat. And with every officer in the garrison not currently on duty, Zach soon discovered.
    They crowded shoulder to shoulder in the parlor where Mrs. Nicks presided over a silver tea tray. Zach presented himself first to the widow, then to her guest. Sallie acknowledged him with a warm smile, Lady Barbara with an infinitesimal dip of her chin.
    “I’ve come to beg a favor,” he said to the widow. “I hate to ask it when you’re entertaining so many guests, but I wonder if I might impose upon you to take in one more. I brought a woman back to the post with me.”
    Sallie’s eyes twinkled. “A woman? Your mother will be pleased to hear it, if every unmarried female in Indian Country will not. Who is this woman?”
    “Her name is Hattie Goodson. She’s the indentured servant of a squatter we were forced to evict. I should tell you, ma’am, she had a rough time of it at the man’s hands. Could you find a corner for her until I can