An Honorable Soldier in General Washington's Army: Chapter 9
by Tami B.
Disclaimer: The following work has been written solely for the enjoyment of fans and not for monetary profit. The rights to the characters initially created for the Daniel Boone series belong to 20th Century Fox and Fess Parker. All other characters are of the author's own creation. No copyright violation is intended.
The following morning Daniel departed the Ward cabin and arrived at the campsite having encountered some friends who agreed do him a favor. He saw that Michaels and Taylor were asleep on the ground while Markes sat on a log reading a book. There were no weapons in plain sight. Unless Markes supplied Michaels and Taylor, they were short on rifles. Daniel decided that now would be the best time to surprise them. He merely walked into the campsite with his rifle ready for quick use, if it became necessary.
"Mr. Markes," Daniel said pleasantly, approaching the bewildered man. "I'm Daniel Boone. I'd like to have a few words with you, if I may."
Michaels and Taylor remained asleep but Daniel kept them in sight just in case they roused and wanted to make trouble. Markes made no aggressive moves. In fact, his only response so far had been to lower his book.
"You mind my joining you?" Daniel asked as he sat on the log beside him.
"Daniel Boone," Markes spoke for the first time. "So you are the famous frontiersman. Also, the man who is sheltering my son."
"That's what I came to talk to you about," Daniel said. "What do you hope to gain by forcing Adam to return to your home? You must know his mindset. He's a patriot and a Continental soldier first and foremost."
"He's a rebel," Markes said, his voice rising. "Fighting in an futile unjust war."
"That's not how he sees it," Daniel explained. "To him he's serving the glorious cause for freedom."
"He's a boy who was easily persuaded by fancy words," Markes said. "I tried talking him out of this nonsense but he wouldn't listen."
"You think he's going to listen now? He's served in the army for over a year now and he hasn't changed his mind any. He's determined to see this war to the end," Daniel said.
"I won't let that happen," Markes said firmly. "I'll not allow my son to die on a battlefield of dishonor. I didn't raise my only son for that. He's to take his place in my business."
"That's not what he wants for his life, Mr. Markes," Daniel said. "I've talked at length with Adam and he's not mentioned taking up the family business. He speaks only of making his own way."
"That's ridiculous," Markes said. "He'll only meet with failure."
"Knowing Adam's resoluteness, I trust he'll succeed. He doesn't give up easily," Daniel said with conviction.
"My son's qualities are best used when directed properly. He'll be a great asset to me in my business," Markes stated.
"Mr. Markes, it would be better if you just let your son make his own decisions and live with them. You can't live his life for him," Daniel advised.
"Have you a son, Boone?" Markes asked.
"Yes," Daniel answered.
"Do you want your son to waste his life soldiering or suffering death in battle? I think not. Well, neither do I want that for mine," Markes said.
"I can understand that but if you could get Adam home in New York, how are you going to keep him there? Make him a prisoner in his own home? Hire escorts to go with him everywhere he goes?" Daniel asked, trying to get Markes to understand the impracticality of forcing his son to return with him.
"That's not your concern, Boone," Markes said testily. "However, I have entertained ideas of sending him to school in England for a time. Surrounded by Loyalists, he'll see the error of his ways and renounce this rebel foolishness."
"Adam's strong of will and there's nothing you can do to break it. You'd never renounce your loyalties to the king and Adam will never renounce his convictions for liberty. Let your son go, Mr. Markes. He's made a life for himself in the army and has no intention of leaving it. You're fighting a losing battle," Daniel said.
"I can't do that," Markes said.
"Why? You've been without him for over a year," Daniel pointed out.
"The longest year of my life. I thought he'd come home after experiencing the hardships of soldiering. He obviously didn't. He only needs to be immersed in right thinking for awhile and he'll come around," Markes stated.
Daniel shook his head. "That won't happen. Even if you should succeed in getting him home, it will only be a matter of time before he finds an opportunity to rejoin the army. That is his life, Mr. Markes, just as much as your life is in New York. You'd fiercely protect to keep that way of life just as much as Adam will do the same. You continue on this course and you will drive your son so far away from you that you'll destroy any chance of reconciliation. I know you're trying to do your best by your son but all you're doing is driving a wedge between the two of you. Withdraw the bounty and return to New York where you belong and leave your son to where he's decided he belongs."
"You make a very persuasive argument, Boone," Markes said. "Truly I'm tempted to do as you suggest. However, I came for my son and I'll not return without him."
"All right," Daniel began, seeing that this conversation was going nowhere. "Have it your way. Come on in, boys."
Four buckskin clad men emerged from the woods forming a half-circle. Awakened from the stirring, Michaels and Taylor jumped to their feet, but they had no weapons so they made no trouble.
"These men are friends of mine. They've been hunting hereabouts and had plans to go to Salem. I thought it an excellent idea that they take your bounty hunters with them. You and I will go to Boonesborough so you and Adam can have this out once and for all," Daniel suggested in a tone that this was the way it was to be.
"It seems I have no choice in the matter," Markes commented.
"I guess you can be on your way, Bill. Thank you for the favor. I owe you one," Daniel said to his friend, shaking his hand.
"You don't owe me nothin', Dan'l. Say hello to Becky and young'uns for me. We'll see to it that these two don't bother you and yours anymore. You sure you don't want us to take fancy pants with us?" Bill asked, casting a look of disdain towards Markes.
"I'm sure, Bill. Thanks just the same," Daniel told him.
"Let's go, boys," Bill ordered and soon all the men had cleared the campsite but Daniel and Markes.
"If you'll pack your things, Mr. Markes, we can be on our way," Daniel said.
"Without my men you've succeeded in making my mission harder, Boone," Markes. "But I will have my son."
"Only if you convince him to come with you of his own free will," Daniel told him.
"He'll come. I can offer him much more than that traitorous army of his," Markes said.
Daniel shook his head. Was this man so blind that he couldn't see that he and Adam had chosen different roads? He supposed he was.
"There's something else," Daniel said. He hauled back a fist and delivered an upper cut to Markes chin. "That's for hiring bounty hunters who injured my wife and your son."
>From the ground, Markes rubbed his chin and looked into the tall man's eyes. "They harmed Adam? How badly?"
"Jackson bruised his ribs real good. He was sore but nothing more than that," Daniel answered, noticing Markes made no mention of his wife's wound.
Without further words of contentiousness, Markes made preparations for departure with Daniel lending a hand. Soon the horse was loaded down with supplies and the two men headed towards the unhappy reunion.
With the sun shining brightly and not a cloud in the bright blue Kentucky sky, Mingo and Rebecca walked together on the road towards Boonesborough with Adam in the lead. He was moving faster than the other two and Rebecca thought it about time to rein him in. They had stopped for a few rest periods and each time Adam led a quicker pace that the one before. She couldn't keep up with him. Delighted as she was that Adam recovered quickly from the weakness he suffered a day earlier, this foot race had to end.
"Mingo," Rebecca said, "I need to rest. My feet are killing me."
"Certainly, Rebecca. I'll call the puppy in," Mingo said teasingly. "Adam! Come back here, boy."
On cue, Adam turned and trotted towards his companions just like the all the other times.
"He's a good puppy," Mingo remarked. "So obedient."
"And housebroken," Rebecca jested with laughter
As with the other rest periods, Mingo aided Rebecca to the ground and would do the same for Adam who had difficulty with the act as it pained his ribs.
"What's so funny?" Adam asked when he joined them.
"Private joke," Mingo told him, moving towards him to ease him into a sitting position.
"I think I'll just stand this time, Mingo. Thank you just the same," he told him pleasantly.
"Adam, you'll sit. After yesterday's display, you've demonstrated a need for rest," Rebecca explained.
"That was yesterday, Mrs. Boone," Adam retorted. "I'm fine today."
"And we're going to keep it that way. Sit," Rebecca said firmly pointing to the ground.
"You sound like you're training a puppy," Adam said, wrapping his arms about his ribs as Mingo provided much needed aid. He tried not to wince but he did it anyway.
"Perhaps I am," Rebecca said exchanging glances with Mingo who shared her amusement. Reaching into his pack that Mrs. Ward had given him, Adam extracted a biscuit.
"Adam, another one?" Rebecca asked. "It seems the more you eat the faster those legs of yours pump."
"Mrs. Boone, I promise to walk at your crawl," he said in jest but that quickly vanished when he noticed her wound. Guilt played across his face.
Rebecca saw it. "Adam, stop it."
Confused, Mingo looked from Adam to Rebecca but didn't observe what invoked Rebecca's stern warning. "What did he do?" Mingo asked.
"When he sees my bruises, he starts feeling guilty and I can see it written all over his face," Rebecca explained.
"Only sometimes do I feel guilty," Adam said then his voice turned playful. "The other times I just feel shame."
Smiling at Adam's attempt to lighten the conversation, she said, "Eat your biscuit, Adam, and listen to what Mingo has to say."
It was decided that the last rest break before reaching Boonesborough Mingo would inform Adam about his father. Mingo wasn't sure how he got the job but it was his and he would fulfill it. "Daniel wasn't just going to track the bounty hunters to be certain they had kept moving east. It was also to speak to their leader."
"I thought Jackson was their leader," Adam said.
"He was one of them. This is the one that hired them," Mingo told him.
Adam stopped chewing his biscuit momentarily. "My father is with them?" he asked incredulously. "That surprises me. He usually just hires out his dirty work and keeps well clear afterward."
Mingo continued. "Daniel is trying to talk him into retracting the bounty on you."
"Can it be done?" Adam asked hopefully.
"With Daniel Boone almost anything is possible," Mingo said. "Don't get your hopes up too high, Adam. Daniel's efforts could be unsuccessful."
"If my father has come all the way to Kentucky to bring me back, he won't settle for anything less. I tell you I won't go back with him. I'll die first!" Adam proclaimed.
"It won't come to that, Adam," Rebecca injected.
"You don't know my father like I do, Mrs. Boone," Adam explained. "He can be a ruthless man when he wants to be. He proved that already by hiring thugs who endangered your life. When I see my father and I will no doubt, I'll have a few choice words for him."
"I hope a confrontation can be avoided," Rebecca said.
"As do I, Mrs. Boone," Adam agreed, "but my father won't see it that way. He wants his son to be a good little Tory. He just can't seem to understand that I am a patriot and I freely chose that. I'm an honorable soldier in General Washington's army and chose that as well. Mingo's right. If this is to end peacefully and without further damage, it'll be the colonel that turns the tide. And if he fails, then I'll just handle what comes my way."
"And we'll be there to back you up, Adam," Rebecca promised him.
"Thank you, Mrs. Boone. I knew I could count on you and Mingo," Adam said. "What do you say to us being on our way? I got a feeling Mrs. Rand has a deer stew cooking and I don't want to miss out."
"How do you know that?" Mingo asked.
"Because after Mr. Rand and I hunted, skinned, and dressed the deer, Mrs. Rand said she would make stew of it and share some with me the next time I came to the fort," Adam said. "Well, I'm coming. Mingo, if you wouldn't mind -"
Mingo helped Adam up then proceeded to do the same for Rebecca. The trio set off down the trail walking side by side with Adam proclaiming he could smell the deer stew even at this far distance from the fort. A victim of his imagination is what Rebecca and Mingo thought.
Activity at the fort was practically nonexistent except for two boys wrestling and chasing each other in the courtyard. Jemima watched them while keeping watch over the fort's front gate. She expected to see her mother walking through at any moment. Yesterday, she thought the same thing but today would be the day she was convinced of it.
Glancing back towards the boys, she saw Israel flip his friend onto his back and stand on his chest. "Israel," Jemima scolded him, "get off Andy before you crush him."
Before her little brother had a chance to comply, his friend rolled onto his side throwing Israel to the ground in a torrent of giggles.
Jemima shook her head at the antics of little boys. When she looked back towards the gate, she saw her mother, Adam, and Mingo just coming through. She ran as fast as she could and upon reaching her mother she threw arms around her who returned the embrace just as enthusiastically.
"Oh, Ma, I missed you. Are you all right?" Jemima said, then looked into her mother's face to see the bruises there. "Ma, what happened to you?"
"I'll tell you about it later," she said as she bent down to hug her newly arrived son.
When Israel saw Rebecca's injury, he was instantly filled with wrath. Reasoning that Adam was responsible, Israel charged him pounding his small fists against Adam's ribs. "You hurt my ma!" he screeched.
Adam doubled over as Rebecca pulled Israel away. "Israel," Rebecca explained, "Adam didn't hurt me. It was one of the bounty hunters and he hurt Adam too. You apologize now."
"If he's hurt, where are his bruises?" Israel asked skeptically.
"His ribs are hurt, Israel," Jemima said, knowing her brother didn't hit Adam hard enough to hurt him as much as his reaction to it implied. So, the bounty hunter must have injured Adam in the same place Israel assaulted.
"Oh," Israel said. As quickly as his anger came, it left even more swiftly. "I'm sorry about whuppin' you, Adam. No hard feelin's?"
"I understand, Israel," Adam told him, bearing no grudge. "I would've whupped somebody too if I saw my mother hurt."
"After I thank Mrs. Rand, we can go home," Rebecca announced.
"Ma, we can't go home now," Israel protested. "Mrs. Rand fixed a pot of deer stew for all of us."
Adam almost looked smug. He refrained from bellowing an I told you so, however. "Mrs. Boone, we shouldn't keep Mrs. Rand waiting. It'd be rude," Adam said as he lead the way to the Rand cabin.
"I guess he's hungry," Mingo observed. "Shall we join him before there is nothing left but an empty pot."
The group followed Adam and entered the festive confines of the Rand cabin.
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