Ransom's Mark_A Story Based on the Life of the Pioneer Olive Oatman by Wendy Lawton

Author:Wendy Lawton [Lawton, Wendy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Juvenile Fiction, Historical, General
ISBN: 9780802436382
Google: Sz6M2cfCeDIC
Amazon: B000SHDR9G
Goodreads: 1195312
Publisher: Moody Publishers
Published: 2003-06-01T00:00:00+00:00

The Captive Journey

Olive, where’s Mama?”

Olive thought she was hearing things. The quivery voice was almost inaudible. “Mary Ann?”

Still sitting stiffly on the rock and holding the reins of the lead ox was Mary Ann. Her face was drained, and she shook uncontrollably.

“Oh, Mary Ann.” Olive wrapped arms around her sister and they sat huddled together, little caring what would happen next.

The men went through every box in the wagon. They ripped the canvas off the spines and took the wheels off as well. One man searched until he found every piece of food and tied it together in a piece of canvas and put the bundle aside. Another took his knife and ripped open the featherbed, laughing as the feathers floated around the camp.

Olive shielded Mary Ann from the scene as best she could, though the little girl did not seem to comprehend anything.

After their attackers had plundered as much of their belongings as they could carry, they prodded Olive and Mary Ann to move and herded them back toward the river. Olive couldn’t help looking back to see her family one last time. Not a single tear came to her eyes—it was as if she viewed a tableau. Seeing Lucy’s tangled hair and crumpled form tossed in the dust of the desert gave Olive a momentary jolt of reality.

“Until California, dear sister, until California.”

Discarded on the rocky ground near Ma and the baby, Olive saw the partially unwrapped oilcloth bundle with the slip from Ma’s lilac bush.

And Pa, ever-hopeful Pa. Olive remembered that day back in Fulton when she heard the story of the farmer who saw the elephant. The man shrugged off the loss of his entire crop spilled in the ditch and said it was worth it to have seen the beast. What a stupid story!

One of her captors put his club in the middle of her back and gave a hard shove until she stumbled onto the path back down to the river. She could no longer see the remnants of her life that lay scattered on the plateau.

“Where’s Mama, Olive?”

Olive looked at Mary Ann. When the family forded the river this afternoon, they had all removed their shoes. When the Yavapai had come into the camp, neither Mary Ann nor Olive had yet put on their shoes—they now found themselves barefoot and stumbling along a rocky trail. “Mama went to heaven, Mary Ann. With the baby in her arms, she went to heaven.”

Mary Ann continued walking without commenting. Olive wondered how she could tell the seven-year-old that Pa had died along with their beloved Lucy, Royce, and little Charity Ann as well. Even Lorenzo, who always took care of them—gone. Maybe it didn’t matter. She and Mary Ann would undoubtedly be dead before morning. Maybe her sister would never have to know.

After following the trail about a half of a mile beyond the river, they came upon the place the Yavapai must have camped the night before. Their captors stopped and prepared a meal, using some of the provisions taken from the Oatmans.

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