Down to a Soundless Sea by Thomas Steinbeck

Author:Thomas Steinbeck [Steinbeck, Thomas]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-345-45867-4
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2011-10-19T04:00:00+00:00

Doctor Thadius hedgepoole was sitting in his small garden reading his mail when Solomon Gill shuffled across the dirt street and planted his bag on the abalone shell wall that guarded the old doctor’s roses. Hedgepoole looked up over his reading glasses, but since he was expecting no company, it took a moment to recognize his road-weary friend.

“By all that’s holy, Solomon Gill, what are you doing here? I didn’t expect to see you until … But come along there and have a seat by me. Mrs. Ogden is due with some port and hot tea any moment. It’s my favorite time of the day. So what brings you to these parts, young Prometheus?”

Solomon found it difficult to come to the point at first. He insisted on talking about minor irrelevances, but saw he was boring his host, so he moved on to the crux of his visit. The short of it being that, yes, Dr. Hedgepoole had known about the text reference to Indian hunting encampments and, no, he had personally never seen or heard of one being discovered.

“If they still exist as reported,” Hedgepoole continued, “they would now presumably be heavily overgrown and probably invisible to the naked eye. I once talked to Frank Post, years ago it was, about Indian fishing camps on the Carmel and Big Sur Rivers. He said that as far as he knew, the locations changed all the time, because the rivers and the good fishing changed all the time. But come to think of it, Frank did mention a place his mother had taken him to when he was a child. It was up near Pico Blanco as I recall. Rumsen hunting parties traditionally gathered there in the spring and autumn. But Frank distinctly said he couldn’t remember exactly where it was. It seems his mother, Anselma Onesimo, stopped taking him when he was six or seven. He was always getting himself in some mischief or other, so she finally left him at home when she went off to be with her own people.”

The tea and port arrived, and it was decided that Solomon would have the small guest bedroom for the night. Captain Balycott, an old friend, kindly stopped by with a basket of fresh sand dabs as a gift. Dr. Hedgepoole was overjoyed and begged Mrs. Ogden to grill the delightful creatures for supper. It was later agreed, over fine Cuban coffee, that Mrs. Ogden had certainly outdone herself in their preparation.

Once warm in front of the fire, Solomon continued a rambling query roughly centered on the subject of semipermanent Indian enclaves in the mountains. Hedgepoole came to understand that his friend was eager to have a look for himself and, though somewhat skeptical about the possible results, said nothing to discourage him from his little sojourn. In fact, he took the time to compose a note that would introduce Professor Gill to the people down at Pfeiffer’s Lodge. Dr. Hedgepoole thought they might be helpful in seeing to it that Solomon found his way about safely.

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