Chapter 6
Andrew watched, helpless, as the wave came.
The torrent of water must have been held back higher upstream, perhaps by that large beaver dam he’d noticed one day.
Then, when the rains hit and the water ran downslope into the creek, the pressure became too much, the dam couldn’t hold, and a wave of gargantuan proportions was released.
He knew the mechanics of it. He knew how these things came about, but it didn’t make it easier to bear.
He had tried to warn Julie. He had tried to tell her to run, to leave the trunk and save herself, but there hadn’t been the time. She hadn’t been able to hear him in the rushing, pounding of the rain and the water.
And then in a breath, she was swept away.
Andrew ran along the bank, yelling her name. Could she hear him? It was only when the lightning ripped the clouds apart that he was able to spot her, bobbing in the middle of the stream. She was keeping her head above water, but for how long?
“Julie! Hold on!” Andrew cried.
“Andrew!”
Jeff came running over, lantern swaying. “We got the equipment, most of the kitchen, and the horses to higher ground. What happened?”
“It’s Julie!” Andrew cried. “She was swept away! Can you see her?”
They both turned back to the seething soup of the creek. Where was she? He ran along what used to be the bank, his heart in his throat, choking him.
There were things grabbing his legs, branches, bits of tents, sucking mud.
He ran through it all, blind with panic, determined to find Julie.
His muscles burned and strained, fighting the water as he tried to avoid the obstacles that popped up in front of him, giving him just a split second to respond before he would be knocked over by them.
Jeff ran ahead of him and then, seeming to see something, he leaned out over the rushing water.
And slipped. Andrew lunged forward and grabbed his brother, pulling him to his feet, waterlogged and heavier than usual with his wet clothes and the relentless tug of the floodwater.
The bank was nothing but mud. His boots struggled to find purchase.
He had to get them both to safety and go after Julie afterward.
Lord, please help me save my brother and my wife, he prayed fervently.
He managed to inch backward, grasping at muddy grass stems and bushes with one hand, trying to pull Jeff and himself out. Jeff flailed, his feet not finding purchase in the soft, disintegrating soil that was being swept away.
“Andy!” his brother cried. “We’re not going to make it. Let me go.”
“No!” Andrew shouted back, his tired muscles screaming at him.
But his brother was slipping from his grasp.
He couldn’t hold him with his cold, wet, slippery fingers.
He was being dragged into the water slowly, inch by inch, losing the battle as his heart beat faster, his lungs demanded air that seemed to be saturated with water, and his muscles burned as though he was on fire.
Lord, please! Help us!
Then, right there on the bank, Andrew spotted a sturdy-looking black willow root and hooked his arm through it. He anchored himself and Jeff to it, whispering a prayer of gratitude for the miracle.
Andrew’s relief was brief. Not being swept away was a good thing, but how would they get out of the water?
“There they are!” It was Ethan’s voice, carrying over the din of the water.
A rope slapped him in the face, and Andrew grabbed it. He wrapped it around his arm and was suddenly being pulled out of the water.
When he was on solid ground, Andrew lay there shaking, his heart thudding uncontrollably in his chest. Julie. Julie, where are you?
Jeff collapsed beside him. He rolled onto his back, not worrying about the rain that continued to pelt down on his face.
“Julie!” Andrew managed to gasp out. “The water—the rain—she’s—I?—”
“We’ll go and look for her,” Ethan said, vanishing from Andrew’s sight.
“Are you all right?” Walter asked. He peered at Andrew through rain-spotted spectacles. His dark hair was plastered to his head.
“Help me up,” Andrew ordered, his thoughts consumed with his wife.
Walter did as he was told. He was a bookish kind of person but always willing to step in where a hand was needed.
“Where last did you see Julie?” Walter asked. “And how long ago was that?”
“Why could that matter?” Andrew demanded.
“Well, it matters because with the speed the water is flowing at and the amount of debris it’s carrying, there is a strong possibility that she won’t be … She might be … There’s a chance that we won’t find her alive,” Walter mumbled. “I thought I should just warn you.”
Anger filled Andrew. He grabbed the collar of Walter’s coat and shook him like a rag doll until his glasses fell off into the mud.
“Don’t say things like that!” Andrew cried. “Don’t you dare say she’s dead!”
Jeff’s hand was on his shoulder then, and Andrew released his grip on the smaller man.
“Sorry,” he muttered. “That was uncalled for.”
“I understand,” Walter said. He bent and picked up his glasses, cleaned them and replaced them on his nose. “Maybe she’s okay. That’s one tough wife you got yourself, Andrew. If anyone could survive this mess … I’m guessing it’d be her.”
Andrew nodded gruffly, his heart in his throat. He set off walking down the bank of the river, watching intently. He saw a lot of things in the water—logs, branches, pieces of what must be their tents, even a pot sailing downstream, but no sign of Julie.
Where are you? he whispered. This isn’t how it ends for us. I only just found you. You have to be okay, Julie. He would accept no other possibility.
It was morning.
They had given up the search in the dark, although persuading Andrew had taken some serious work.
The water continued to rise, and the rain continued to fall in sheets.
All they could do, if they didn’t want to risk losing someone else, was wait for the sun to rise and the rain to stop.
Andrew didn’t want to cost one of his men their lives, so he finally, very reluctantly, agreed to stop.
He sat on a stump in the mud now, the world washed clean by the storm and yet somehow dirtier than ever. The sky was gray, sullen, and drained of color.
“Andy,” Ethan said. His shadow fell across Andrew.
Looking up, he saw an expression on Ethan’s face, one of sorrow and defeat.
“We didn’t find her,” Ethan said. “We searched for miles. I’m sorry.”
Andrew buried his face in his hands. “She has to be somewhere. We can’t just give up.”
Ethan shook his head. “The creek splits into three parts about a mile on and we checked down all three branches, but we can only do so much. Everyone is tired and hungry. We’re going to have to see to ourselves before we can think about continuing the search. I’m sorry.”
He was right. Andrew had eleven other men and five horses to think about. He couldn’t just sit there, feeling hollow and lost. His men needed him.
Much as he longed to go searching for Julie on his own, he had a responsibility to get his men taken care of before he went looking for her.
The worst part was, he knew for certain that Julie would want him to take care of everyone else first. He’d only known her in person for a few days, but he knew that much about his new wife.
She was as caring as she was smart, stubborn, and brave.
Hold on, Julie. Wherever you are, I’m going to find you. Just as soon as I take care of things here.
“All right,” he said wearily. “Let’s see what we can do about setting up camp again.”
It took hours to get things sorted out. The men combed the riverbank and managed to salvage some things, including a few tents that had made it down the river in one piece and, despite being soaking wet, were perfectly usable.
When Jeff and Michael brought Julie’s medicine trunk out of the water, looking no worse for wear, Andrew almost lost his grip on his emotions. He was tight with tension, counting down the moments until the camp was set up and he could go looking for her.
“You might want to take some of this stuff with you,” Jeff said, opening the trunk and peering in. “I mean, if you manage to find her alive when you go looking for her, who knows what kind of medicine she might need.”
“What?” Andrew asked.
“We know you’re just waiting until the camp is set up before you head out,” Michael said.
“It would be better if you go in the morning though,” Jeff said.
“And we’ll both go with you,” Michael said. “Then you’ll know that all three branches are being searched at the same time.”
Andrew nodded in silent gratitude.
Jeff patted his back. “She’s a real nice lady, and none of us feel right about leaving her out there.
But if we have nothing to bring her back to, that wouldn’t be good either, would it?
Ethan and the others will boil and sieve some water, and we’ve saved quite a bit of our food. We should be all right.”
They set up the camp on the other side of the mine, where the ground rose higher.
There was a copse of cedar elm trees, and Andrew had the men string the tent material between them.
They laid the other tents that they had just pulled from the water out to make a ground sheet and set about building up a fire.
All the wood was drenched and smoked terribly, but it was a good deal better than no fire at all.
Soon they were boiling pots of sieved water, which they had run through Walter and Ethan’s filtration device.
The filtration device was one of the first things the two men had saved when it became clear that their camp was about to be washed away.
It sifted the water through several layers of things like fine sand and charcoal, and the end result was water that was mostly free of silt and particles.
It saved one from finding sand in every cup of coffee and meal.
They had a small dinner of beans and rice, and then all the men made their beds under the shelter strung up between the trees.