Almost Eden by Dorothy Garlock

Author:Dorothy Garlock [Garlock, Dorothy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 1995-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

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Eli hated his weakness and was careful to rise slowly to his feet and not to bend over lest he become dizzy. It was a serious blow to his pride to have Aee MacMillan doing work that he was unable to attempt because he was weak from the fever. Now he sat on a bench behind the cabin cleaning the guns Kruger had thought to render useless by dropping them over the side into the river before taking off in the canoe. When Many Spots had reported seeing the action, MacMillan had had the guns brought up out of the muddy water.

Eli watched Aee work alongside her father, Caleb and Paul to do what they could to protect their home. She filled the water barrels Caleb had brought from the barn in case the cabin should be fired and she cut and pulled all brush and flowers back from the cabin walls. Eli found himself gazing at her rounded bottom in the duck britches as she bent to pick up anything that would carry fire to the cabin.

Since their bickering exchange earlier, Aee had ignored him. When her father told her to pass out bread and meat for a midday meal, she gave Eli’s portion to Paul to take to him. Somehow this irritated Eli. He might have been harsh with her, but she hadn’t been a bit shy about giving it back. She had no business sticking her nose into his affairs.

Aee was capable; there was no doubting that. No task seemed to be too hard for her to tackle. She kept her Kentucky rifle close by, taking it with her as she moved from task to task.

“How fast can you reload?” Eli asked as she passed him, carrying the long Kentucky rifle, its length of four inches over five feet equaling her height.

“Fast as ya can, I wager.”

“Twelve seconds?”

“Ten.”

He gave a derisive snort that he knew would rile her. It did.

“I suppose a smart-mouth, know-it-all like ya can do it in eight.”

“Around there. How do you know you can do it in ten? You carry a clock?”

“I count ‘donkey carts’ an’ can come within a half a second of the best time clock ya ever saw.”

“Donkey carts?” He snorted again.

“It’s what I said. Are yore ears stopped up?”

“I heard you,” Eli said irritably. “I don’t see what ‘donkey carts’ has got to do with how fast you can load that rifle.”

“Donkey carts, donkey carts, donkey carts. Three seconds, ya dumb Swede.”

Eli’s laugh was low and rumbling. “We’ll count your way and have us a little wager when this is over. I can beat you whether you count donkey carts or donkey wagons.”

“When this is over, I’m hopin’ ya take yore high-’n’-mighty self back downriver to a town where ya’ll find plenty a married woman t’ put yore cow-eyes on. Ya ain’t got the gumption t’ find yore own woman.”

Aee walked calmly away, leaving Eli sputtering. As soon as she was out of sight around the cabin, she stopped, stomped her foot and uttered a swear word she had heard her pa use on occasion.

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