Cal sat back with a huff, leaving Mac free to brood about his troubles. His irritation with Cal. His broken relationship with his father. His business troubles. Abercrombie’s continued threats to Zeke. Will’s absence. Jenny’s difficult pregnancy. Jacob Johnson. Each problem loomed larger than the last.

He pulled the wagon into the carriage house, and Mac asked Cal to unharness the wagon. “I’ll be back to care for the horses in a moment.” Mac carried Maggie up to bed, then returned to help Cal. The boy’s exuberance had returned, and he talked the whole time they curried and fed the horses.

Chapter 25: Searching for Joel

The trail left the Umpqua and headed due south, moving from creek to creek. The surrounding forest grew denser, with few farms in the area. Will and Jonah shot more small game and caught enough fish to stretch their cornmeal and flour until Sunday. Occasionally, they came across prospectors panning in the streams. Jonah asked them if they knew his brother Joel. The men shook their heads with barely a glance at the boys.

By Sunday afternoon, Will and Jonah reached a much larger river. “It’s the Rogue,” Jonah said. “It’s gotta be the Rogue.”

A few houses, a store, and a mill sat near the river. “We should ask how far we are from Jacksonville,” Will said. “We’re almost out of food again. Maybe we can work in exchange for provisions.”

They tied their horses outside the store and walked inside. It was a small establishment, nowhere near as large as the stores in Oregon City, or even the store they’d visited in Eugene.

When they asked for directions, the storekeeper told them, “Two ways to Jacksonville. Trail heads southeast to Applegate, then northwest into Jacksonville. That route is purty well clear of brush, though might still be snow on parts. But the shortest route is to follow the Rogue. It’s rough, and snowmelt has the river running wild. Still, if your horses are surefooted, you can make it easy enough.”

“How long until we get there?” Will asked.

The man shrugged. “’Bout two days. Three if the trail is snow-covered.”

“Let’s follow the river,” Jonah said. “We might run across Joel if he’s prospectin.’ We don’t know exactly where he is.”

“Who’s that, young man?” the proprietor asked.

“My brother, Joel Pershing. Do you know him?” Jonah asked.

The man nodded. “I seen him in here. Late last fall. Said he’d hole up in Jacksonville for the winter. But no tellin’ where he is now.”

“Any place we can earn some money?” Will asked.

The man frowned at them. “You boys low on supplies?”

“Yes, sir,” Will said. “We’d work in your store for flour and pemmican.” He nodded at the barrels and bins along the store walls.

“Tell you what,” the man said. “You stock shelves and sweep out this room and the barn back yonder, and I’ll give you enough food to get to Jacksonville. And you can sleep in my barn tonight.”

Will and Jonah worked for the storekeeper until dusk. When the man closed the shop to return to his rooms above the store, he gave them flour and pemmican and more birdshot for Jonah’s shotgun as well. “No fires in the barn,” he admonished. “But you should be warm enough in the straw.”

“Thank you, sir,” Will said, and the boys took their bounty to the barn.

May 8, 1864. Storekeeper let us sleep in his barn. Let us work for food, too.

Early the next morning, Jonah rousted Will from his bedroll. “Come on,” Jonah said. “We’re almost there.” Will chewed a strip of pemmican as he saddled Shanty, and the boys headed up the Rogue toward Jacksonville.

As the storekeeper said, the Rogue River raged alongside them. Often, the path along the bank was submerged, and they had to pick their way to hills above the river. In some places, cliffs spotted with pines rose steeply from the river’s edges. Elsewhere, the watershed widened into a reedy marsh where creeks flowed into the larger Rogue. The current raced through chutes and boulder-lined banks, its sound loud enough to make talking difficult. It was rough country, and Will wondered whether they should have stayed on the Applegate Trail.

But when he shouted the thought to Jonah, his friend started talking about finding gold. “It’s in the hills. All around us,” he said, waving an arm excitedly. “Joel told me. I hope he’s prospectin’ this spring. I’d like to find my fortune. I could marry Iris right quick then.”

Will thought the miners they’d passed between the Umpqua and the Rogue looked half-crazed, as if they didn’t trust anyone and only had eyes for the dirt in their pans. Come to think of it, Joel often had that same expression when he’d visited his family, always spouting off about finding gold.

Maybe running after Joel hadn’t been a good idea.

But it was too late for second thoughts, Will decided. They were almost to Jacksonville.

May 9, 1864. Traveling along the wild waters of the Rogue. Hope to make Jacksonville tomorrow.

Late in the afternoon of the second day after they left the Applegate Trail, Will and Jonah reached Jacksonville. It was the largest town they’d seen since leaving Eugene. “How we gonna find Joel?” Jonah asked Will.

Will shrugged. “Ask for him in the stores, I suppose.”

There were several shops and saloons in town. They dismounted in front of the nearest saloon. Will held the horses, while Jonah ducked inside to ask about his brother. Within seconds, Jonah was outside again.

“Did they know Joel?” Will asked.

“Wouldn’t tell me nothin’.”

“Let’s try a store,” Will said, and the boys walked down the street leading their horses.

Jonah went in each establishment to ask about his brother. On his fourth attempt, he came out beaming. “Man inside knows him,” he said. “Saw Joel last week, but he don’t know where he is now.”

“What do we do now?” Will asked.

“Accordin’ to this fella, Joel’ll be here soon. He said Joel’s runnin’ mules to Fort Klamath.”

“Where’s that?” Will hadn’t heard of Fort Klamath.

Jonah shook his head. “A few days east of here. Near a big lake.”

“We just wait?” Will asked, his stomach sinking.

“What else can we do? We gotta find Joel.”

“But we don’t know when he’ll be here.” Will shrugged. “If he’ll be here. And we’re almost out of food.”

“We got enough for tonight, ain’t we?” Jonah asked. “Let’s camp outside town. See what tomorrow brings.”