Forward, Without Fear

By Dorothy Clapp Robinson

Previous Chapter

Chapter Two

Synopsis: One hundred years ago:

The River Maid, up from New Orleans, disgorged her passengers at a newly constructed wharf on the west bank of the Mississippi a few miles up the river from Montrose, Iowa. The passengers were converts from England but there were four Norwegians —

Ann Kristin Mortensen viewed the land of Zion with mingled joy and sorrow. Sorrow because both parents had been buried along the way, joy because now, she thought, all her troubles were at an end. Her sister

Helga Mortensen insisted Kristin watch the trunk which contained their money while she helped

Niels and Johanna Hansen, to the camp prepared for them a quarter mile up the river.

Edward Lewis, a missionary assigned to conduct the immigrants safely up the river to the settlements. His son.

Matt Lewis, sees Ann Kristin on the wharf and is strongly attracted to her. Later to his mother he calls her an “over-decorated female.” He took a hearty dislike to her fiance

Thomas Bedloe, who with Patty Lou Turner and Jake Nichols, a non-convert, joined the company at St. Louis.

Bedloe secured a wagon to haul the Mortensen girls’ trunks to camp. He wanted Kristin to cross the river to Nauvoo that night but she thinks her duty for a day or two lies with the less fortunate immigrants.

Helga was just starting back to the wharf when Ann Kristin entered the clearing. “Where are the trunks?” she asked in alarm.

“Tom Bedloe is bringing them. Don’t fret about it and, please, do not stare at me that way. They are safe with him.”

“I am not sure. I do not entirely trust him.”

“Helga, how can you say such a thing of the man I am to marry?”

“Forgive me, Aeskling. It is just that I am so anxious over the money.”

“But it is safe, Helga. No one knows it is in the trunk.” Helga hesitated. She was still displeased but there was nothing she could do about it. One of the women called for them to come and eat. They went to the table, but Ann Kristin would not eat. She would wait for Tom Bedloe.

The table was spread with white cloths; but the dishes had quite evidently been gathered here and there. There was not enough cutlery to go around and some of the immigrants went to their bags for some. The food was coarse but wholesome. It was a banquet to most of these people, tired and hungry from their long trip. When the first edge of their appetites had been dulled, tongues were loosed and the buzz of conversation increased in volume and tempo. All were thankful to be here at last. All were anxious to know conditions, the price of labor, the price of land, etc. But the question most often repeated was about the Prophet, how was he, where was he, how soon could they see him? Would it be presumptuous to call on him at his home?

“You can’t see him now at all,” Mrs. Mason, one of the serving women answered. “He is in jail, in Carthage. Young Matt Lewis who belongs to the Nauvoo Legion just came across to see his father. He says the brethren are looking for more trouble. Have some meat, Mrs. Hansen. You look like you could do with some. We may not have meat again for months.”

Where could they find houses, was on every tongue. Some of the men had tents and were going to pitch them. Some wanted to know to whom the land belonged.

‘It belongs to Elder Lewis,” Mrs. Mason answered. “He pre-empted it or bought it, I don’t know which. Anyway, he will let you build shelters here or pitch your tents, and you had better do it for it is going to rain.”

Helga translated for Niels, and he grew more and more excited.

“Such trees. Such soil. It will gfow anything. We shall never be hungry in this country, my Johanna. I will build a cabin for us.”

“My, how he jabbers.” Mrs. Mason looked admiringly at Niels. “I don’t see how he ever learned it. There is another Swede or two in camp. They came from Minnesota.”

When that was translated to him Niels swallowed the remainder of his meal in short order. Bedloe came with the trunks, protesting as he unloaded them. He would not wait to eat but went back with the dray. He promised Ann Kristin to see her later.

Patty Lou Turner made friends with everyone, but stayed close to Helga. Jake refused to eat because he was not a Mormon.

“I’m leaving directly,” he told the women. “I came along with Patty Lou. It wouldn’t do to let her come alone. She is too scatterbrained. Want to walk back to the river with me. Honey?”

Hesitating long enough to let him know she wasn’t concerned about his going, Patty Lou followed him down the trail a short way.

“Honey,” Jake turned to her, “I know you-all don’t care nothing about me, but if you ever need me send word.”

“Why should I be needing you-all?” she demanded. “That’s what my papa said, when I get tired of my new Church and need him, I can go back. Well, I am not going back to either one of you, Jake Nichols.”

Acute pain flitted across the man’s face. “Your papa give you money?”

She nodded. His heavy boot dug into the soft earth. “They say as there’s money to be made freighting between here and the western forts. I’ll be getting word to you. Sure you-all got enough money?” When she did not answer he went on, “If I don’t get out directly, I’ll see you again.”

As he strode off toward the wharf the girl’s face twisted. He was her last link with home. She felt in her pocket. If he only knew how empty it was.

As Patty Lou left, Helga turned to her sister. “Let us get some money from the trunk and put in our purse. Tomorrow we will go to a bank. There are some gold pieces.”

“Tomorrow we move to a hotel in Nauvoo,” Ann Kristin answered positively. She turned to go. Just then a little girl screeching in fun ran past. To avoid her, Ann Kristin whirled and stopped the headlong flight of two pursuers. The three rolled over and over in a tangle of skirts and legs. Scrambling hurriedly to her feet, Ann Kristin found herself facing Matt Lewis. He was doubled over with laughter. Ann Kristin bit her lip to still its trembling.

“Forgive me.” Matt stepped close. “You have hurt your hand.”

“It is nothing— just a sliver.” The women crowded about her but Matt took her hand. He held it palm up. Blood was running through her fingers. A jagged sliver had gone through the flesh between her thumb and forefinger.

“That’s nasty,” Mrs. Mason said, “It will fester and make your whole arm sore. You’d better get it out.”

It was more than a sliver. A very small twig had gone through and broken off. Matt’s glance went from the wound to the girl’s face. “I can get it out with my knife. Can you stand it?”

She nodded, not trusting herself to speak. She concentrated on Matt’s hands. They were brown and lean like his body, but sure and steady, and his touch was gentle. When, at last, he got the sliver between his knife blade and thumbnail, he gave a quick jerk. It did not come away clean. Matt probed but there was nothing more he could remove. Mrs. Lewis came with turpentine and clean cloth for bandages.

“Hold her hand steady, Matthew, while I pour turpentine in the wound.”

“She is going to faint.”

Matt’s arm had already gone around her. He eased her to a bench by the table.

“Didn’t I see you at the wharf?” he asked later.

“For a moment.” Remembering his “over-decorated female” she turned her eyes to the cloth his mother was tying around her hand. When she raised them he was still watching.

“You speak English so— so well.”

So that was the reason for his staring. She spoke shortly. “Helga and I were taught English by our schoolmaster; and it is two years since we left Norway.”

“Your accent is— it makes you— that is—.” He became suddenly aware of the women’s attention.

“Why don’t you-all say it?” Patty Lou had come back. “Say it makes her more charming. That, is what Tom Bedloe says.”

“Who is Tom Bedloe?” Mrs. Lewis asked.

“He is the Wonder Man of the Ages. We-all come down the Ohio together, and joined this company at St. Louis. He is going to marry Kris.”

Without a word Matt walked away to join some men he could see though the trees. Anxious to get away from the solicitous women, Ann Kristin walked back and sat down on one of their trunks. Helga joined her a few minutes later. Patty Lou’s trunk had been placed by theirs.

Helga took a purse from the pocket of her skirt, and from it took a ring of keys. She went to the smallest trunk and unlocked it. Meanwhile Ann Kristin had undone the leather straps with her one hand. “I have never worried so much in my life as I have since father gave me the key to this metal box,” Helga confided. “We must get this money into a bank at Nauvoo tomorrow.”

“It seems unfair for us to have so much when all these people have so little.” Ann Kristin was really thinking of all she could do with the small fortune in banknotes and gold that was in the metal box. She had never known hardships and she wanted to get away from here quickly.

“We are alone now,” Helga reminded her. “We must invest our money very carefully.” She threw up the lid. A soft woolen blanket was spread neatly over the contents of the trunk. Standing so their bodies screened it from anyone who might be watching, Helga lifted the blanket and ran her hands into the center of the trunk.

“What is it?” Ann Kristin demanded as her sister began to feel about frantically.

“Kristie. It’s gone. Our money box is gone.”

“Don’t get excited. It must be there. You have had the key all the -”

“It is gone. I tell you, it is gone.”

Indifferent now of any who might see, Helga began snatching at the contents— not knowing nor caring where they fell. The last article was lifted from the trunk, but there was no metal box.

“It was this trunk, wasn’t it?” Kristin asked, hoping desperately.

“Certainly it was. When father gave it to us we put it here— in this trunk.”

“Let’s look in the bags— and the other trunks.” It was not in their bags, nor in the other trunks. The two wooden chests were bound with strong ropes. They had not been opened since being sealed in Norway. Only a man could open them.

“Could we have left it in New Orleans, or on the River Maid?”

Helga’s fear made her cross. “Don’t be foolish. You know it was this trunk.”

“But it can’t be lost. That was all father’s money, and the money he got for our home and his business. Why— without it we— would be poor.” A faintness made Kristin sit down abruptly. “If we had gone to a hotel in Nauvoo we would not have been able to pay.”

Helga flinched as if a lash had struck her. “Yes, we shall be as poor as— as Niels or—.”

“What is it? What is the matter?”

They turned. Elder Lewis and Niels were by them.

“Why have you unpacked in such fashion?” Niels asked. Too stunned to remember English, Helga answered. In short, disjointed sentences, she told about the money and its disappearance.

“How could you have been so careless? If you had told me I would have watched it day and night.”

Edward Lewis, pale and wasted by fever stood listening. He understood a few words of Norwegian.

“What have you lost?” he asked, abruptly.

They told him, and then for his satisfaction they went through the bags and trunks again. It just could not be lost, but it was. Edward Lewis dropped wearily onto one of the boxes.

“It was to prevent this type of thing that I went to New Orleans. Our people have lost so much.”

They had been so absorbed they had not heard a team approach, but suddenly Thomas Bedloe was there, too.

“What is going on?” he asked Ann Kristin. Then noticing her bandaged hand he cried out, “What happened? How did you get hurt?”

Then Niels and Elder Lewis noticed the bandages. She explained briefly. Again she told about their loss. Bedloe asked question after question. He refused to believe it was gone. No. No one had handled the keys.

They had been pinned to Helga’s clothes day and night. The trunk had been in their cabin on board the River Maid. They had insisted on that. Helga had been in the trunk once after leaving St. Louis to get a blanket for Mrs. Jacobson’s baby. She did not actually handle the box then, but she was sure it was there. She could give no reason why she was sure. So, actually, neither one had seen it since locking the trunk at New Orleans. They had had money enough to finish the journey.

“How many people knew you had it?” Startled, they all turned. Matt Lewis was standing back of the largest chest.

“Who knew you had it?” he asked again.

“Just Helga and I.”

“I knew it,” Elder Lewis said. “Helga told me night before last after our testimony meeting. She was worried about getting it to a bank.”

Ann Kristin’s eyes widened. She looked at Helga and then to Matt.

“That makes three,” he said flatly, “Who else?”

“I don’t know that you have any right to ask such a question.” Bedloe was plainly annoyed with Matt.

Ignoring him. Matt still watched Ann Kristin. Something about his eyes, looking so coldly, so mercilessly at her, brought a quick flush to the girl’s cheeks. She thought, some one we know took it, one of our own group must have taken it. Misunderstanding her blush, Matt’s voice softened.

“I’m sorry,” he apologized. “I did not mean to be rude. I am trying to help. Who brought them up from the wharf?”

“Absurd,” Bedloe spoke quickly. “They were not out of my sight. You are way off if you suspect the drayman. You will have to look in a different direction for the thief. It would have to have been taken before the boat docked.”

“Just why are you so sure?”

“I have told you. I was with the trunks until they were unloaded here.” He looked around. “Have they been left alone here?”

Helga shook her head. “We haven’t been out of sight of them.”

Just then Patty Lou came rushing toward them. “Girls, guess what Sister Lewis has. I never saw one before—.” She stopped short. “What —what is it? Is your hand worse? You all look fit for burying.”

Ann Kristin’s hand was throbbing with pain. She wanted to go someplace where she could rest and clean up. She made no effort to answer.

“Their money is gone,” Matt told her.

Patty Lou’s curiosity mounted swiftly. She did not seem surprised. She looked at Bedloe, at the open trunks, and back to Bedloe.

“Are you still going to marry her?”

“What’s that got to do with it?” he demanded harshly.

“So you-all lost your money? Marvelous. Mine has been gone since shortly after we left St. Louis. Elder Lewis only had seven dollars when he left to go to New Orleans. His wife told me. So now we are all in the same stewing kettle.” There was a note in her voice none of them had heard before.

“If you are trying to joke,” Tom Bedloe said crisply, ‘you are not succeeding very well. This is a serious business. It is unbelievable that this could happen in this group, but I am going to find the thief, let the chips fall where they may.”

“So shall I,” Matt’s voice was cold and hard.

“Don’t worry yourself into a lather about it,” Patty Lou cautioned. “Skunks will steal into the best-watched henhouses. Especially,” she added, “if they are hungry skunks.”

“That’s it,” Matt’s voice held a note of triumph. “Who among the group has been spending money?”

Patty Lou stared unabashed at Bedloe. “I recollect you-all said your money was gone when we took contributions for the Jacobson family. Now look at the handsome rig you-all’s hired or bought.”

Bedloe stiffened. “You didn’t think I would give my last cent did you?”

“Do tell,” the girl cooed.

“Silence.” ‘ Edward Lewis’ eyes flashed with anger. “I will not have you accuse each other. Some one who had keys got into your room unnoticed. I will see Captain Russell at once, and I will interview the immigrants. There was a trader on board-.”

“He left the boat with you this morning,” Bedloe said quickly.

“Just why either one of you left I don’t know, but I will find him.”

Matt stepped toward him. “I don’t like the way you said that.”

Before Bedloe could answer, Mrs. Lewis joined them. Her face was radiant. In one hand she carried a kerosene lamp. The bowl and reflector were of shining tin, and the glass chimney had a crinkled flare. It was a kitchen lamp, and very inexpensive by later standards. At that time it was a luxury.

“You walked so fast I could not keep up with you, Patty Lou. Oh—” she stopped short when she saw the men. “I didn’t know you were still here, Matthew. I wanted to show the girls my new lamp. Pa bought it for me. Wasn’t that thoughtful of him when he had such a little money?”

A dead silence fell over the group. They avoided each other’s eyes. Then Matt stepped quickly to his mother’s side. He put an arm over her shoulders.

“It is lovely, Mother, and little enough recompense for the months you spend alone.” He glared at the group, but Patty Lou ignored his threat.

“I reckon a new-fangled gadget like that would have to come from New Orleans, or St. Louis.”

“I am sure it didn’t,” Sister Lewis answered innocently. “Pa would never spend that much money so far from home. Would you. Brother Lewis?”

“No, Matilda. I bought it this morning in Montrose.” He made no other explanation. Each was free to think his own thoughts and all were thinking the same.

(To be continued)