As Gabriel lay in the darkness, he began to hear the soft hooting of an owl. He listened closely. At first, he could hear just the faint “hoo-hoo,” but the sound was growing louder now. As he listened, the owl’s voice seemed to change. He sat up in his bed now and listened, “Tewww, Tewww. . . . Tewww, Tewww,” came the call from the woods not far away. Then Gabriel heard a branch crack on the forest floor, several yards away from his bed. He peered into the darkness, trying to figure out what had made the cracking sound. He sat straight up, all of his senses at attention.
“Tewwww, Tewwww . . . Tewwww, Tewwww,” came to Gabriel’s ears again, and then another crack of a branch, this time closer.
He clenched his drum in one hand and his knife in the other. Something was in the woods, watching him. He could feel its presence. He heard another crack, again closer. He stood up, his knife in front of him. A sudden gust of wind split the still of the night, parting the branches overhead just enough to let a glimmer of light down upon the forest floor. He saw a white, wispy figure curling through the night air flying toward him. At that instant, the branches closed again, and Gabriel heard a loud crack just a few feet away. He swung his knife blindly in front of him, but he heard another loud crack even closer. Feeling the mist beginning to wrap around him, he turned and ran.
He ran as fast as he could through the forest, without knowing where he was going. As he ran, he thought he heard the snapping of branches in the darkness behind him. He felt his heart beating and heard his breath, fast and heavy, in the night air. No matter how far he ran, he still felt as if he was being followed.
He tried to speed up, but he was growing winded. Around him, he could hear the wind picking up again and the branches creaking loudly overhead. He was too terrified to turn and look behind him. Running blindly through the thick wood and bramble, Gabriel felt the sting of thorns tearing at his legs, branches whipping his face and arms. A thick vine grabbed his ankle, and he stumbled over some rocks. Unable to break his fall, he landed hard, slamming his head onto the forest floor.
H 16 H
THE WATERFALL
When Gabriel next opened his eyes, sunlight was warming his face. As he moved his head, it throbbed with pain. He heard the roaring sound of water. Finally, he stood and looked through a clearing in the trees. In front of him, the river water cascaded down a steep cliff at least thirty feet high. It crashed onto the rocks below before churning in a bubbly foam down the river. Gabriel wasn’t sure how he’d ended up there. The last thing he remembered was being chased by what he thought was the Ghost of Thomas Tew.
He looked at the rocky cliffs on either side of the waterfall and could picture Captain Tew climbing, carrying his sack of gold and silver and bandits taking aim with their muskets. “This has to be it,” he exclaimed out loud.
Dizziness hit him then, and Gabriel sat down on a rock not far from the churning water. His head was still aching. Maybe some food would do me good, he thought. He only had enough meat and bread left for a meager breakfast. He hated to eat everything he had left, especially since the prospects of finding more seemed slim, but knew it would help his dizziness. So he ate.
He sat alone in the sunny clearing and dreamed about the Fleming farm for a moment. He wondered what Malinda, Constance, and Mr. Fleming were doing. His time on their farm seemed so long ago. They had probably just finished a fine breakfast of pancakes and sausage. He could almost smell the sausage sizzling on the griddle. Malinda’s words came to his mind. “You have a vision for your life that’s more than this simple farm can offer,” she had said. He remembered the pride in her eyes as she urged him to press on, “I will pray for your safe return.” He had work to do before he could ever return to the Fleming farm.
With food in his belly, Gabriel’s mind began to clear, but what had happened the night before was still a mystery. He had no idea what might have been chasing him, if anything at all. Had he run from nothing but a fictitious ghost created by his overactive imagination? Had it been some forest animal? He would never know, but the one thing he was sure of was that he did not want to spend another night in these woods.
Although he now stood before a waterfall matching the story of Thomas Tew, doubts raced through Gabriel’s mind. Reaching Cambridge and joining the patriot cause meant far more to him than finding hidden treasure ever could. Still, he was here, and he had no better ideas on which way to go in this wilderness.
He slowly walked along the rocky shore to the base of the falls. The cliff on either side was covered with pointed rocks jutting out in all directions. There were also a few small trees growing out from the rocks here and there on the face of the cliff. Gabriel walked over to the cliff, mapping his ascent. He put one hand on a rock above and put his foot on a rock just out in front. As he tried to lift himself up, his hand slipped,
