Blessings of Gold

by,
Mariah

“What!?” someone yelled loudly.

I glanced out of my bedroom window to find where the noise was coming from. A pudgy man in a suit was talking to Chad outside. “Why didn’t you tell me before this?” Chad questioned.

“The document was lost. We found it on Friday in an unused desk.”

“Where!?”

“San Francisco, sir. I will come back for the money next Thursday!” The man moved toward his buggy. “Goodbye!” 

“Goodbye,” Chad answered glumly, before he made his way inside. I ran down the stairs to find out what was wrong.

“Chad? What is wrong!?”

“Get everyone together, then I will tell you.”

I ran to get everyone into the living room. When everyone was present, Chad began to speak. “A banker from San Francisco came a few minutes ago. He said that Father had borrowed the money to buy this ranch. He never paid it back. We are the ones who must pay it back or we will lose this ranch!”

“What!” I gasped. “Do we have enough money?”

 “I am not sure, honey.” I burst into tears.

“I could sell some of our cattle in town!” Mitch spoke up.

“Yeah! Go ahead!” Chad replied.

“May I go for a ride?” I asked. Before I had an answer, I ran outside to the barn. I saddled up Taffy and mounted. Tears ran down my cheeks as the wind blew in my face. “What will happen now?” I thought aloud. When all my tears were gone, I dismounted in the middle of nowhere. To one side of me there was endless desert. To the other, an old mine shaft.

I decided to investigate. I pulled away a few rocks that were blocking the shaft, then stepped inside. I squinted at the walls, until my eyes got accustomed to the darkness. I looked around for a while, and then looked out of the opening in the cave.

I gasped at what I saw. A huge billow of smoke covered the sky, making it look like it was night. I saw the glowing of embers out on the scrubby desert. “Fire! No, it can’t be!”

I started toward the ‘door’, then stopped in my tracks. Taffy was coming into the shaft, because the fire had reached the area. I felt like my life was over. The fire would come into the cave and burn me up. I started running down the tunnel. It was getting darker, so I picked up a stick, a piece of metal, and a stone and ripped off my sleeve. Then I wrapped the cloth around the stick and lit it. I had learnt that trick on a cattle drive with Chad.

As soon as I could see, I noticed something shiny on the walls of the mine shaft. Gold!!! I nearly screamed with joy! The gold could pay for the ranch, with much to spare. I touched the gold and some chipped off onto my hand. I put the gold in my pocket. Then I remembered the fire and resumed running away from the door.

After a couple minutes of running, I realized Taffy had followed me the whole way. “Good girl!” I spoke gently to her.  My running was almost walking by that time, I was so tired. I sat down to rest. Then I realized that there was no grass in the cave so the fire could not come in. I started to laugh at myself. “I am so dumb!” I spoke aloud to Taffy. I climbed onto Taffy, before falling into a deep sleep.

When I woke I found myself in darkness. Taffy was still moving. I didn’t know which way Taffy was going. Farther into the cave or back to the door. I just put my head down on her mane and rested for a while.

If I ever got out of this terrible cave, I would tell Chad that I had struck gold. Gold! I had to trust Taffy to bring us back to the ranch. “Taffy? Bring me home!”

Taffy stopped in her tracks and headed in the opposite direction. Now I almost knew that we were heading home! “Will the fire be gone by then?” I spoke to myself. “Who knows how long I have been in this shaft?”

I felt myself dropping off to sleep, than caught myself. I sat up and kept my eyes open with my fingers. If I fell asleep I might not realize if Taffy brought me home. “God! Please help me!”

“Mother!” Chad yelled.

“Come here if you would like to speak to me!”

Chad rolled his eyes then ran into the kitchen. “There is a fire out in the desert!”

            “Is it coming toward us?” Elizabeth Carter spoke gently.

“No!”

“Then why is it a problem?”

“Andi is out there!”

Elizabeth Carter stood frozen for a moment then whispered, “What can we do?”

“Nothing but pray until the fire is over.”

Elizabeth ran off, her skirts flowing.

“Mother! Where are you going?” Chad called.

“To tell everyone the news!” When everyone was gathered, the family and friends went into the parlor to pray. “Father in heaven, please let Andrea be alright. I pray that she has found a safe shelter, away from the fire.”

            “Amen!” Everyone prayed before Chad went to investigate if the fire was out. It was, so he ran to tell all the ranch hands to follow on their horses. All the men rushed out from their various tasks and onto their horses. The men galloped toward where the fire had happened. The ground was smoking like it was still on fire, but it wasn’t.

Mitch yelled to everyone, “She might have gone to the creek!” They all went to the creek, but no one was there. The party split up, looking through the desert.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth was pacing the house waiting for their return. She heard a buggy coming up the drive and ran out to meet it, wondering if someone had found Andi. Justin, Andi’s favorite brother, had arrived a day early. Elizabeth told him the situation, so Justin went right away to find the search party. He mounted a fast horse and they galloped into the smoking brush land. Elizabeth went back to her pacing, the ranch matter forgotten.

I had fallen asleep on Taffy’s back again. I jerked awake when I saw light. “Light!” I slid off of Taffy’s back and ran around a corner. What I saw pretty much made me cry. As I looked through the mouth of the cave, I observed that there was still smoke everywhere and I could see some glowing.

I wiped my cheeks with my hand. I felt trapped and tired. “How much longer will the fire burn?”  I sat down on the hard floor, with my head down between my legs, to wait out the fire.

Justin galloped around the smoky scrub land, calling Andi’s name. “Andi! Where are you, Andi?” Justin’s eyes searched the scrubby desert in desperate hope, but to no avail.

“Andi! Andi!” Justin called. No one was anywhere in sight. Justin wheeled his horse in the direction of the house. He galloped all the way to the house. When Justin came into the yard, Elizabeth ran up to meet him, holding her skirts up. She stopped in her tracks, when she saw Justin had no one with him.

“Has anyone found her yet?” Elizabeth questioned.

“Not that I know of, Mother.” Justin said grimly. Then he took her arm and guided her inside.

“You just calm down, we’ll find her.” Justin murmured to Elizabeth.

“You are right, son. I should calm down.” Elizabeth took a deep breath and sat down on a chair. As she did so, Nila came to her with a tray of food and drink.

“What time is it?” Justin asked himself as he looked at his pocket watch.

            “What’s that, Señor?” Nila asked.

“Oh, nothing Nila!” Justin then went back outside and mounted his horse, then rode out into the desert, to continue the search.

“Mitch?” Chad asked anxiously.

“Uh huh?” Mitch answered quietly.

“I think all the men should dismount and look on foot.” Chad stated.

“Okay. You are in charge, bro; do whatever you want!”

“Everyone dismount! We will continue the search on foot!” Chad swung off Sky, while Mitch got off Chase and all the other ranch hands followed in suit. They walked for a while in a long line. One moment Mitch was walking steadily at the front of the line, the next he was gone, as if an invisible force had come out of nowhere. All the men gasped and stopped in their tracks.

“Wait! Here is a hole in the ground!” A young man, whom had been walking right behind Mitch, called out. Chad jogged to where the man had seen the hole, bent down and peered into the hole with no success.

“Mitch?”

“Yeah?” Mitch answered groggily from down in the hole.

            “You okay?” Chad called.

            “Yeah, I’m fine! Now, how are we going to get me out of here?” Chad grabbed his lasso and tied one end onto a nearby, large, rock. He tied a loop in the other end and dropped it into the hole.

“Can you reach the rope?” Chad asked.

“Can’t feel anything, yet!” When Mitch’s eyes got used to the light, he could tell that the rope was 6 inches away from his hands. “It’s out of reach, Chad!”

Just then Justin rode up on Thunder. “What’s going on?” Chad explained the situation quickly. “I could go down and lift him!” Justin volunteered. Chad pulled up the rope and tied it around Justin’s waist. Justin dropped down into the hole, and greeted Mitch.

“Hey old bro! Why are you down here?”

 “I fell into this hole.” Mitch said.

Justin untied the rope from around him, lifted Mitch and tied it around his brother. Justin felt his way down the tunnel. “I will be right back up!” Justin called. “Wow, this place is huge!”

When his eyes got used to the light, he noticed a dark object, pretty close to himself, that was moving. “Hello? Anyone there?” A whinny greeted him. “Taffy!” She whinnied again and came closer to him. “Do ya’ know where Andi is? Can you bring me to her?” Taffy turned and whinnied. “Coming!”

            Justin ran after the horse and slid to a stop when Taffy stopped. A dark figure in the corner made Justin run over there. Justin saw that the figure was a human, so he shook it. “Wake up!” The figure jerked awake with a start and a gasp.

“Justin?”

 “Andi!” Andi stood up and gave Justin a big hug. “Come on! Let’s get home!” Justin led Andi in the direction of the hole, but Andi protested. After Justin had explained to her that there was another opening to the cave, they made their way to the hole. “Let’s surprise them and have you go up first without telling them.” Justin whispered.

 “What’s taking you so long?!” Someone yelled. “We need to find Andi!”

 “Coming! Let the rope down.” Justin called back. Justin secured the rope around Andi’s waist and said, “You can pull now!” The men’s sounds of confusion made Justin laugh, when Andi’s head came out of the hole.

“Andi!” Chad and Mitch yelled at the same time. When she was fully up, the brothers hugged her like crazy. Justin had to remind them to let the rope down for him.  A man was sent to collect Taffy and bring her out the other end of the cave.

I sat in front of Justin on Thunder. I was so relieved that I was out of the cave that I nearly fell asleep on Justin’s horse. When we arrived home, Mother was overjoyed and asked for the story.

I told them the whole story. I nearly forgot about the gold! “I struck gold!”

“What?” Everyone asked.

“The ‘cave’ is actually a mine!” I fished into my pocket and took out the nugget of gold. My family gasped and Justin examined it.

“It sure is gold!” Justin said.

“Will it pay for the ranch?” I asked hopefully.

“Definitely! This one piece will pay for the whole thing!” Justin exclaimed.

I felt like jumping up and down, but instead, I prayed out loud, “Thank you Lord for this blessing!”