Beth paced back and forth in the kitchen of their home, praying constantly that the Lord would be with Amanda. She asked for His guidance for the men, so that they could find Amanda quickly and for the Lord to give Amanda strength and courage. Hearing the front door open, she ran into the front room to find Hannah coming in with an armful of laundry.
“What is it? Have you heard anything?” Beth cried.
“One of the men came back with these clothes. Estelle said Mandy had taken their laundry with her. Beth, these were scattered all over the ground several hundred yards from the Taylor
“There is only one thing we can do now – pray!” The two women sank to their knees and began to pour out their hearts to the Lord, asking for their friend’s safety and the safety of the men.
Amanda began to come awake, but she was so tired, she could not seem to open her eyes. Without being aware of it, she must have made some sort of noise because someone was instantly by her side, wiping her brow with a cool cloth. Her head was gently lifted and a cup of water was at her lips and someone urged her to take a sip. She managed to take one small sip before sinking into darkness again.
The next time, Amanda became aware of her surroundings, she was able to open her eyes and look around. It was very dark in the place where she was, and she seemed to be lying on some type of animal skin. The smell of fish was very strong, and she had to fight down feelings of nausea. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she saw a woman across the room. She seemed to be much older than Amanda, and she came nearer. Amanda realized that she was one of the Indian women. Amanda struggled not to scream as she remembered the blanket and being taken captive. The woman placed a wet cloth of Amanda’s forehead again. Amanda’s throat was so dry, but she managed to croak out the word. “Water!” She was not sure if the woman understood English, but she brought the cup to her again. This time Amanda managed to take several sips of water before falling back down to the pallet.
“Where am I? Why am I here?” she whispered to the old woman but the woman either did not understand her or refused to answer. Tears ran down Amanda’s face at the thought of how foolish she had been. If only she had done what the others had told her. Instead she had been too busy thinking about her jealousy and wounded pride to pay attention, and now she was paying the price for her foolishness. Here she was with no way to get word to her friends, and it seemed as if there was no way out. Her head was pounding, and she felt dizzy so that she did not seem to be able to think what she should do. She peered around the room, trying to see some clue that would let her know her whereabouts. Perhaps she was in the Indian village. She had not been close to it but she knew that the men of the town knew where the village was. Once someone realized she was missing, that would be one of the first places they would look for her. Amanda realized she was too weak to try to get away. She wondered if there was something in the water the woman had given her that was making her groggy and not able to think straight. Amanda knew there was one thing that she was able to do – pray. She remembered the verses that Sarah had read the night before during the Bible study. She tried to recall all of the words but only bits and pieces came back to her.
‘Whom shall I fear? Of whom shall I be afraid? He shall hide me in his pavilion. He shall set me up upon a rock. Wait on the Lord. Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart.’
Amanda knew that God would not forsake her. She knew that her friends would soon be looking for her. God had promised not to leave her and to protect her and even to hide her from her enemies. She would have to wait, just as the verses said until she was stronger. Amanda knew that the one thing she could do for now was to pray.
“Father, help me. Help my friends to find me. Help me to be able to think so that I can get away. Give me a plan Lord, so that you can hide me from my enemies. Give me strength.”
Amanda continued praying even as she drifted back to sleep.
Riley and the other men made their way to the Indian village. It was several miles to the east of town. Riley knew that he would have to let the other men speak. Some of them had been among the first settlers and knew Chief Seattle and the other Indians far better than he. He knew that it would be hard for him to keep quiet and not demand that they bring Amanda to them immediately. Riley knew that the other men were praying for Amanda’s safety and for the first time in his life, he called out to the Lord in desperation. He felt that he could not save Amanda alone. He begged God to help them find Amanda soon and to protect Amanda from harm.
Hank Parker went ahead of the others and climbed down from his horse to speak with the chief. Although Riley knew there was a certain protocol to dealing with the Indians, he could barely constrain himself from jumping down from his horse and demanding Amanda’s release.
After speaking with the chief, Hank came back to the group.
“Chief Seattle says they have not seen Amanda or any white woman. They do not know where she is. I asked about Maouk, and the chief said that Maouk had a lodge high above Seattle
Riley looked at the others. “Did he at least tell us what direction to take?” His big hands tightened on the gun barrel of the gun he carried.
“Now don’t get all riled up, Riley. The best thing to do is head back to town and talk with Arthur Dendy and some of the other leaders of the town and decide what action we should take. The last thing we want is to have an Indian uprising.” Hank spoke calmly, but Riley was too anxious to listen.
“How can you say that? That will take too long. There is an innocent woman captured by an Indian. For all we know she could be hurt or tortured. I don’t see how we can wait. You can go back if you want, but I am going on to look for her. The longer we wait, the more likely she is to be hurt.”
The other men tried to talk Riley into coming back to town with them, but he flatly refused. When Will saw that Riley was determined to go on without the other men, he said that he would go along with Riley.
“I’m not coming back until I have Mandy. And, Hank, send someone up to the logging camp for the doc. I want her nearby when I bring Mandy back.”
Hank pointed Riley in the general direction of Maouk’s lodge. The others headed back to town as Riley and Will continued on into the woods.
Amanda opened her eyes cautiously. She seemed to be alone in the crude hut. Pushing herself up with one hand, she tried to sit up. Waves of dizziness swept over her but she persisted, knowing she did not have a chance of getting away if she continued to lie on the soft pallet. She felt gingerly of the knot on the side of her head. Crawling to her knees, she edged closer to the door. She was surprised to see that the day was growing dark,
“I must have been out for a long time,” she thought to herself. Peering around the edge of the opening that served as a door, she pushed aside the piece of hide hanging there. There was no sign of either the old woman or Maouk. There was a fire burning, and she supposed the woman might have gone to get more firewood. She didn’t know where Maouk was and didn’t want to ever see him again.
Amanda looked down to see that she was still dressed in the clothes she was wearing that morning. Her shoes had been removed from her feet, but after looking around the crude hut, she was able to find them near the pallet. She struggled to put them on before the two Indians returned. It seemed to take forever to put them on, but she knew it probably was just a few minutes. Crawling back to the doorway, she pushed the hide a few inches to one side and carefully looked out. Seeing no one, she slipped out the door. Looking all around the clearing, she asked the Lord to lead her as she tried to decide which direction to take. Finally she crept as quietly as she could toward the back of the hut. She knew that she did not have much time and that the Indians were excellent trackers. She knew that she would only be able to get away with the Lord’s help.
Once Amanda was away from the clearing, she walked as fast as she could into the cover of the forest. Glancing behind her every few steps, she tried to decide the best path to take. Still dizzy, she had to pause every few feet to rest. Nothing looked familiar to her, and there was no reason it should, for she had never been this far from town.
Amanda was not sure how far she had traveled when she knew she could go on no farther. Every step seemed to get harder and harder as she grew weaker. There was no set direction to the path she took. Confused, she went north for a few steps, then changed and went in another direction for a while. She prayed constantly that God would guide her every step. The trees grew thicker and thicker and she scrambled through briars and brush.
Amanda gasped when she saw that she faced a high sheer wall of rock.
“Where will I go, Lord? Please help me to get away,” she begged.
Suddenly, she saw a small opening along the bottom of the wall. Less than a foot high, the opening reached back under the rock for several feet. Amanda knew she could not go on. Remembering the verses Sarah had read, she repeated them to herself:
‘For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion: in the secret of His tabernacle shall He hide me: He shall set me up upon a rock’
Amanda prayed that God would hide her in the rock from her enemies. She prayed that her friends would find her, as she crawled as far under the rock as she could. She continued praying as blackness came over her again, never realizing that it had started to rain, covering her tracks.
Beth and Hannah ran to the door when they heard the knocking, hoping that it was someone with word about Amanda. Mr. Parker came in, soaking wet, to tell them that a group of men, including Arthur Dendy and others of the town leaders were leaving to try to find the lodge of Maouk.
“Where’s Riley?” asked Beth.
“He refused to come back without Miss Stone. Will Sloan went with him. I sent a man up to the logging camp to get the doc. She should be along any time now. We will bring Miss Stone back as soon as we can. People all over town are praying for her safety. Don’t give up hope. Just keep praying that God will lead us to her.”
The two women agreed that they would be praying constantly, just as they had ever since they realized that Amanda was missing.
After Mr. Parker left, Beth turned to Hannah and said, “Let’s try to have everything ready for Sarah when she comes. The bed in the examining room needs clean sheets, and we need to have plenty of hot water. We may need bandages. We also should make some hot soup or broth for Mandy. If she has been out in this rain, she will be chilled. I don’t know about you but I can’t just sit here doing nothing. I have to have something to do beside pray or . . .”
Beth broke down and began crying, as she thought of her friend under the control of the Indian. “It wouldn’t be so bad if I didn’t know how frightened she was about Maouk. It always scared her to death just to see him and to think that now he has her. . “
Beth was sobbing as Hannah tried to comfort her. “Beth, we don’t know for sure that he has her, but we do know that God can take care of her. I agree that we should get things ready for Sarah but don’t give up hope. I know Riley and the others won’t give up until they find her.”
The two busied themselves with work, as they continued to pray. Sarah arrived back at the house in a little over an hour, but they had to tell her that there was no news. Sarah was just as worried as they were.
“I know this will be an emotional upset for Mandy, but I am also concerned about the weather. What is a cold rain here could very well be snow up in the mountains. Even though it is summer, it gets very cold at the higher elevations. I just hope she has shelter. I pray that the Indian has not harmed her.”
“It looks like you have done all you can to prepare for the worst. We will be ready when they bring her back. The best thing we can do now is pray.”
The women sat around the kitchen table and held hands as they prayed for their friend. They prayed that the men would find Amanda quickly and that they would be able to get her away from the Indian with no bloodshed and that Amanda had not been harmed by Maouk.
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