The Ransom of Mercy Carter Read Online Free PDF Page B

painted in black. His arms were tattooed with snakes that curled their fangs when he tightened his muscles. How could he go half bare in this weather? she thought, and then remembered that she wore his rabbit-lined cloak.
    Daniel, sitting happily on her hip, reached out from under the rabbit fur and patted the snake. The Indian tensed his upper arm to make the snake slither. Daniel giggled, so the Indian did it again, and it seemed to Mercy that he actually smiled at Daniel.
    Then, blessedly, he took Marah for her.
    One child she could manage. One child was nothing. Now she would not fall behind. “Help me get Daniel on my back, Ruth.”
    Ruth removed the Indian’s cape and lifted Daniel. He dug his heels into her waist, got comfortable and began to suck his thumb once more. Ruth tucked the cape in and around them both, tying the hood. Invisible and toasty under the cape, Daniel gnawed on his bread. Little crumbs fell down Mercy’s back. She was able to walk as fast as Eben now. They were still last in line, but not in danger.
    Up ahead, several children were being carried by Indians. Little Eunice Williams, the minister’s youngest daughter, was actually riding on an Indian’s shoulders, enjoying this strange parade, because she had a comfortable seat and a fine view.
    Mercy’s spirits actually rose. The distant hills looked like piled quilts. Her favorite psalm came back to her in all its beauty and truth.
I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help
.
    Faith passed through Mercy like a drink of something sweet and warm.
    A moment later her Indian came up from behind, passing her and heading toward the front.
    He did not have Marah.
    I T WAS AN HOUR before the Indians paused again, and then they stopped so abruptly that prisoners were tripping over each other.
    It frightened Eben. What was going to happen?
    What dread plan might the Indians have for their white prisoners now?
    No Indian lifted a weapon. They stood motionless, looking west.
    Eben watched for several moments before he was able to pick out distant figures coming toward them. It was not rescue. If those were English, the Indians would long ago have surrounded and attacked them.
    Slowly, the shapes turned into men; men carrying burdens; men bent double under the weight, yet not staggering as Eben had. They looked as if they had killed and were carrying entire cows.
    They were very close before Eben realized he was seeing warriors carrying their wounded. Each hurt man was rolled up into a package, swaddled like a baby in blankets and strapped to a warrior’s back. These men were carrying, by their foreheads and on their spines, a weight equal to their own.
    Eben was awestruck.
    Dropping his own pack on the snow, Eben’s Indian knelt beside one of the wounded men, unwrapping bandages to examine the wound. His profile against the snow was beautiful as an eagle or a hawk is beautiful.
    B LESSED REST .
    Mercy flopped onto the snow. Daniel danced around, just a three-year-old enjoying the pretty day. Mercyclosed her eyes so she could not see his happiness. She knew Marah was in the hands of the Lord. It’s my fault. I didn’t keep her quiet, thought Mercy, and she wept into the snow and then, because she had had so little sleep and so much horror, because she had walked so far and carried so much, Mercy fell asleep.
    Even in sleep, she felt the extraordinary cold. The sleep was intense and short and she woke to the odd sensation of somebody unlacing her shoes.
    I fell asleep with my shoes on, thought Mercy. Mother is taking them off for me. Mother is going to tuck me in and say my prayers for me.
    Sam and Benny and John and Tommy loved stories about Mother, and Mercy loved to tell them. When she knew she was dying, Mother had pleaded with her children. Don’t forget me, she had said, her eyes filled with tears. I will wait for you in the Lord, but don’t forget me.
    I will never forget you, Mercy had promised, but soon the shape of