Chapter 25 #2
They needed some kind of shelter, perhaps a cave or place set in a deep ravine.
Unfortunately, they could walk all day and not discover a change in the landscape.
Regiments of trees rose tall and proud on flat-topped cliffs hugging the river.
He eyed the river speculatively. It was fast-flowing and could get them to the nearest township far more quickly than the land route. All they needed was a boat.
‘There’s one,’ Lochranza called over her shoulder, disturbing his train of thought.
He turned to see a fat fish gasping for air, writhing in dying throes on the ground between him and her.
Berries and raw fish. He shrugged. It would have to do.
‘Ethan!’ There was a sense of urgency in Lochranza’s voice. Silhouetted against the rising sun, she was standing upright and pointing at something to her right.
He craned his neck and looked in the same direction. All he could see were tall grasses, a common variety that grew profusely along this stretch of river.
‘Look,’ she said again, just as urgently, her face clean, having washed in river water. She beamed with joy.
Ethan approached, slipping and sliding down the steep muddy bank until he finally saw what she’d seen; a single canoe hidden in a patch of reeds. It was made of birch bark and plenty big enough to take both of them.
Not a word passed between them, but they were of the same mind, heading for the canoe, throwing in the fish, then the berries tied up in a handkerchief. Ethan’s coat and the deerskin water container replenished back at the lodge of Grey Coat followed.
‘There’s only one paddle,’ Lochranza remarked.
‘You can be the figurehead. I’ll row,’ said Ethan. ‘Take the coat. You might catch a chill.’
She thought about declining his offer on account of him getting a chill, but there was suddenly such a robust look about him, his eyes shining with intent, his body rosy and animated.
‘The sun will get warmer soon,’ he remarked as though he’d read her mind. ‘The day can only get better.’
They grinned happily at each other, both pleased with their achievements and holding high hopes for their journey.
They had transport so could cover more ground than anyone on foot, who would of course have to keep to indistinct paths through the thick undergrowth and high trees. The river would bypass everything.
With her cosily encompassed in his coat in the prow of the canoe, they pushed off, Ethan’s muscles rippling beneath his thin shirt as he dipped the paddle in and out of the water.
With a great amount of effort, the canoe entered the middle of the river, where they picked up the current and, like a gasp of cold breath, hurtled downstream.
Thanks to the fast-flowing torrent, the air was colder here, the insects not so prevalent. Her plait came undone, her hair streaming out behind her, more vibrant, more golden thanks to the early-morning sun. The feathers remained, defiantly tangled and fluttering in her hair.
To Ethan, she personified a river nymph, a wild thing accustomed to either river or forest, not suited at all for the salons of London or the social melee that was New York, Boston or Savannah.
Transfixed by the sight of her fresh-faced beauty, he felt his chest tighten as his old jealousy returned.
A future life beckoned in which he would never let her stray far from him again.
Never also would he allow another man to take liberties with her person.
His jaw locked at the thought of Captain Crabbe – an upstart, a pirate and a scoundrel from what he’d heard.
She’d been reticent in the details surrounding her escape from New Orleans.
She said it was because she wanted to forget all about it.
There were too many things in her life that she couldn’t remember.
This was one that she preferred to forget.
To him, it wasn’t much of an excuse. The jealousy remained.
If he ever came across Captain Crabbe again…
Lochranza felt like a different person to the one who had set out for the Indian village. Suddenly, in a night of violence and mayhem, a childhood nightmare, memory and reality had come back to her.
It took a great deal of self-control not to allow herself to become traumatised by the event. She would not let it destroy her, though she would find out more. She would go back and…
The memory was placed in a dark corner for future reference. She forced herself to concentrate on the present. All nature was around her and it was quite wonderful.
‘Look!’
Showing flashes of innocent enthusiasm, she pointed out various birds either swooping overhead or wading in the shallows closer to the banks of the river. Now and again, an elk would raise its massive head to stare at them as they whisked past. She gasped at the sight of it.
‘So much bigger than a red deer.’
Ethan loved the wonder shining on her face, the way her bare arms glistened like best porcelain in the cool morning light.
By mid-morning, the flatter regions of forest were behind them, the land gradually rising steeply to either side.
As the land rose to greater heights, the river narrowed, the forest giving way to expanses of sheer cliff.
Here and there were small coves of calm, some set well back beneath ledges of rock higher up the face.
By midday, they were in a deep chasm shaded by cliff faces and trees sprouting from crevasses way overhead.
Even the midday sun failed to penetrate the narrowing canyon.
Surrounded by fresh water, the deerskin pouch was frequently replenished, so thirst was no problem. However, the berries were long gone and had done little to satisfy their hunger. There were now two fishes in the bottom of the canoe, a salmon having leapt in on its way upstream.
Ethan scrutinised the passing scenery with great interest, searching for a suitable place to beach the canoe, cook and eat the fish and rest for the night.
Lochranza followed his gaze, narrowing her eyes against the encroaching gloom.
She thought she knew what was in his mind.
The gorge was deep. If they lit a fire in one of those coves beneath an overhang of rock, it was likely the smoke would be dispersed on its way up and would not be seen by their enemies.
Hopefully they would not smell the fish cooking.
She thought she’d found the perfect spot and pointed. ‘Just there?’
Ethan shook his head. ‘I see it, but we’re too travelling too fast to make it. I’ll try to slow us down while we look for another.’
With strong sweeps of his arms, he began slamming the paddles into the water with a forward motion in the hope of putting a brake on their progress. The canoe slowed only a little.
Lochranza spotted a deeper cove some way ahead. She heard the thunder of falling waters and espied a row of jagged rocks sticking up from the river.
‘There!’ she shouted. ‘It has to be there.’
Ethan understood what she was saying, for once not thrilling to the sound of her voice, but tensing. He’d heard the same sound of thundering water just as she had done. The sound was ominous, warning of rapids up ahead, perhaps even a waterfall. The rocks were dangerous too.
Every ounce of strength went into digging the single paddle into the water, slicing it from side to side, desperately grinding his teeth in the process.
‘We need to go over there,’ she shouted, her voice drowned in the sound of tumbling waters. She glanced over her shoulder, then down into the bottom of the canoe.
It was just a flash of recognition, the flat familiarity of something sticking out from beneath an animal skin at the bottom of the boat. Another paddle!
Ethan could not have seen it.
‘Careful,’ he shouted when she turned round, both hands tightly clasping the side of the canoe which was bouncing along over water that was becoming more turbulent by the minute. ‘Go back! What are you doing?’
At last, she dipped down, one hand clinging onto the side of the canoe, the other dragging the second paddle from its hiding place.
Instinctively, she began copying Ethan’s back paddling, though on the other side of the boat.
His strength reinvigorated, he shouted as loud as he could above the sound of rushing water. ‘Over there!’
His words echoed against the high cliffs to either side of them, the water whirling like cream all around them.
There was calmer water to their right where it eddied against the riverbank and was protected from the rapids by a series of the jagged rocks they’d spotted earlier. If they could get out of the main current, it might be possible to beach in one of the sandy coves.
Ethan shouted a warning when she stretched her neck, shifting to one side and tilting the canoe as she did so.
‘There,’ she shouted back, nodding in the direction of what looked to be a perfect place, a shallow slope and a cove sheltered beneath an overhanging ledge.
Soaked by flying spray, Ethan responded, his voice cracking with the effort. ‘Paddle this side! The left side!’
She instantly obeyed. Dipping the paddles on the left side whilst back paddling would take them to the right.
Spray continued to fly up into her face, drenching her bodice, running between her breasts and down her spine until she was totally wet through.
They were closing on the line of rocks and the closer they got, the more menacing they became. Like giant dragon’s teeth, they pierced the surface, the river foaming angrily about them.
Lochranza felt a surge of alarm. What if they were to capsize?
She glanced behind her. Ethan was paddling like a madman, but gave no sign of fear or fatigue.
Ahead of them, fine spray hung like a mist beyond the rocky outcrop, leaving neither of them in any doubt that what lay ahead was most definitely a waterfall.
With renewed vigour, she put all her effort into paddling, sure that behind her Ethan had reached the same conclusion and was doing exactly the same.