Danger on the Oregon Trail

Chapter 10

Beth and Lilly had walked through town and looked in a couple of shops that had girls' dresses in the windows. They ended up purchasing three new dresses for her, along with a new pair of shoes and a nightgown. She would likely need more once they reached Oregon, but she'd be able to get by with those until then.

Michael had restocked their supplies and paid to park the wagon at a nearby livery stable that would take care of the horses until they were ready to leave town. While he was at the livery stable, he asked about local hotels and received some really good recommendations. By the time he met up with Beth and Lilly at the agreed time and place, he already knew where they would be staying for the next few nights.

"Did you have any luck?" he asked, noticing that they were carrying a few packages. "Looks like you found something."

"Three dresses," Beth said, "and a nightgown. Mine is just too big for her,"

"And shoes. Mine were getting tight."

"Yes, and shoes,"

"Good. You're sure you don't want to pick out a few more?"

"We will, once we get to Oregon," Beth laughed. "These will last her until then, and besides, she might grow out of them by then!"

"Well, I met a gentleman at the livery stables named Mr. Kendall and he said the nicest hotel in town is the Second Street Hotel down at the corner there. They will bring you a hot bath and a hot breakfast in the morning is included. He also said the hotel restaurant has the best food in town and serves lunch and supper."

"A bath sounds so good right now," Beth murmured as they crossed the street towards the hotel. She had kept out changes of clothes for her and Michael from the wagon and would have what they were wearing laundered before they left the hotel.

"Let's get checked in," he said. "And you can take a bath while Lilly and I explore town for a little while. Then, when we get back, she can take a bath, I'll take a bath and we can meet down in the restaurant for supper."

"We get to explore!?" Lilly asked.

"Sure!" Michael grinned. He glanced over at Beth, who smiled and mouthed a thank you.

Michael paid for two separate rooms as they checked into the hotel, and asked for a bath to be sent up to the room Beth and Lilly would share. "Here's your key," Michael handed one of the room keys to her. "Lilly and I will be back in about an hour and we'll get ready for supper."

"Have fun," she headed up the stairs as the two of them headed back out the front door.

She didn't have to wait long before two housekeepers arrived at her door with buckets of hot water for her bath. They made two trips and made sure it wasn't too hot before leaving her to enjoy a nice, long soak.

There was more than one general store in town and Michael had already spent time in one of them when he ordered supplies. So he took Lilly inside the other one and wandered up and down the aisles to see if they offered anything different, or if he'd forgotten anything at the first one.

"I heard someone's in town in a covered wagon," Michael was looking at the men's hats when he overheard the conversation between another customer and the shop keeper.

"Heard the same thing myself." the shop keeper said.

"You think they're from the same wagon train?"

"You mean the one that was attacked?"

"Yeah."

"I don't know. I guess it's pretty unlikely there was another survivor and they didn't know about each other."

"Or else something else is going on,"

"Like what?"

"I don't know. But if there's more survivors, maybe it wasn't an Indian attack after all. The whole thing sounds a bit suspicious, don't you think? I mean, we had all those Indian attacks back..... .....three, four years ago and they stopped. Then all of a sudden they start up again. I don't know if I buy it."

"Mr. Rogan, are they talking about our wagon train?" Lilly asked softly.

"Maybe. But let's not say anything right now, okay?" he replied. "Why don't we go see if there are any new books for you to read. I think you've read your other ones about as many times as you can stand,"

"Yeah. I have," she said.

Lilly picked out two new books and Michael picked out a few things. They didn't mention the wagon to the shop keeper when they made their purchase, but once they stepped out onto the boardwalk, Lilly asked him about it.

"Lilly, I know we don't talk about what happened very much, but can I ask you something?" he stopped and knelt in front of her.

She nodded.

"When all that bad stuff happened to the wagons, did you see any Indians?"

"No." She shook her head. "I'm sure I would have remembered that."

"Did you see anyone you didn't recognize? That wasn't part of the wagon train?"

"I saw some men I didn't know, but I didn't know everyone on the wagon train."

"Do you remember how many there were?"

"I think there were three."

"Okay. Thank you,"

"Do you think those men had something to do with the fires?"

"I'm not sure," Michael said, getting back to his feet. "But I'm going to try to find out."

By the time they made it back to the hotel, it had been just over an hour. Michael knocked gently on Beth's door as he held onto Lilly's hand.

"Perfect timing!" Beth opened the door and they saw that the housekeepers were just filling the bath for Lilly.

"Mrs. Rogan, you look so clean!" Lilly smiled up at her.

"You're about to look clean, too." Beth laughed. "I think they were going to bring water up for you too," she glanced at Michael as Lilly went into the room to test the water temperature as the two housekeepers left the room.

"Shall we meet for supper in an hour then?" Michael asked as Beth handed him his clean clothes she'd brought from the wagon.

"Yes."

With a tip of his hat, he turned and went to his room.

"There he is," Lilly pointed up the stairs when Michael came down a while later. She and Beth had gone down to the lobby to look around while they waited. "I'm starving!"

"Are you?" Beth laughed softly.

"I hope I didn't keep you waiting too long," Michael said, walking over.

"No, you didn't," Beth assured him, even though Lilly claimed they had waited forever and she was going to die because she was so hungry. "We came down a little early to look around."

"It's almost like a museum in here," he said, looking around and noticing all the fancy art on the walls.

"Maybe that's why it's so highly recommended," she smiled.

"I hear the food is pretty good too," he smiled down at Lilly who was tugging on his sleeve and begging to go get something to eat. "Let's go."

They were seated in the dining room and Beth realized it was the fanciest place she'd ever been. "I feel so under dressed," she whispered.

"You look fine," Michael said. He glanced around the room and saw people in all kinds of different styles of fashion. Some were dressed rather formally, while others were dressed far more casually than they were. "The man over in the corner looks like he just came in from plowing the fields. Trust me, you're not under dressed."