Poverty Hill
Copyright© 2026 by Asa Strong
Chapter 2
I found the girl’s trail not long after I entered the willows. At first, it was easy to follow, but as the willows became thicker, Dumb Ass was havin’ a hard time pushin’ his way through the thick brush. Pullin’ Li’l Lady behind me didn’t help much either. I finally had to start takin’ the path of least resistance and then try to find her trail again. Often, I couldn’t pick up where she’d crossed the trail and could only hope I’d find it on the next pass through the brush.
I was somewhat familiar with this area. Once, as a kid, I’d had to track down a gut shot mule deer in here. The stand of willows was about a mile and a half wide until the point where the stream that fed them entered a narrow canyon. Sittin’ on Dumb Ass gave me enough height to see over most of the willows, and I could see the canyon about a mile up ahead.
Now, if’n you ever been in a willow stand, you know they can be nasty to make your way through. They grow close together and usually reach a height of about eight feet. A large man now, he would have one hell of a time tryin’ to make his way through ‘em. But a small kid, hell they could wiggle and crawl down low enough to move a lot faster than a grown up.
Willow bushes only grow where the land is wet and marshy. I could tell by the girl’s trail that when I found her, she was gonna be cold and wet. On more than one occasion, I could see where she’d got down on all fours and wormed her way through the thick undergrowth.
I’d been followin’ the trail for about two hours, and the sun was gettin’ pretty close to the top of the mountain to the west when I reached the mouth of the canyon. I hadn’t cut the girl’s trail the last two times I’d made passes through the willows, and was gettin’ concerned. I was afraid I’d missed a change in her direction. I made two more passes through the willows in front of the canyon before I saw where she had bellied her way though a particular thick copse. She were still headed east, right into the canyon.
I spent the next hour makin’ my way through the brush and willows. Thank God that as the canyon narrowed it cut down on the light and the willows were thinin’ out.
I finally saw the girl, sittin’ by the side of a creek, leanin’ up against a small aspen tree, near the side of the canyon.
I got about half way to her when she seen me. She immediately jumped up and started runnin’ towards me. Damn, I didn’t need to treat a broken leg. “Girl, slow down, yah hear. I don’t need to be bringin’ yah back to you’re folks with somethin’ broken.”
I might as well have saved my breath. She didn’t slow down one bit. I no sooner got off old Dumb Ass afore she crashed into me.
“Please, help me. I’m lost. I’m so scared. I tried to find my way back, but couldn’t.”
I finally got myself untangled from the girl and managed to move her away from Dumb Ass. I sure as hell didn’t need her spookin’ the horse, or worse yet havin’ the damn critter catch her, or me, with a hoof.
“OK there girl, settle down. I’ll get yah back to your folks, just hold your britches.”
She seemed to calm down a bit, but was still clutchin’ me like she was afraid I’d let her go. The poor gal was cryin’ up a storm too.
It was ‘bout then that it started spittin’ snow—great big flakes. “Look here girl, we gotta find us somewhere to hole up. Smells like we gonna have one hell of a storm and we need to find a place to stay real quick.”
She was bawlin’ so bad, she probably didn’t hear a word I said. I picked her up and sat her on Dumb Ass. Pointin’ to the saddle horn, I said, “You holt on to that real tight and lets see if’n we can find us a place to camp.”
She sniffled a few times and then nodded her head.
I grabbed aholt of the horse’s reins and started walkin’ towards a small branch off of the canyon. The packhorse weren’t about to be left behind and followed old Dumb Ass like a dog at heel.
The side branch off the canyon looked to be a bit higher than where we were and I couldn’t see any willows. Hopefully, it would be dry and we could make camp there.
It took about fifteen minutes to reach the mouth of the small canyon and the snow by this time was startin’ to come down purty hard.
The small canyon weren’t very deep and on the far side were three large spruce trees. I figured they’d give us some protection from the snow and wind, so I headed towards them.
By the time I got the girl off the horse, I was startin’ to lose the light. My guess was that maybe another twenty minutes afore it got too dark to see.
It was startin’ to turn cold; maybe forty-five degrees and the little girl had to be gettin’ cold. I turned to the girl, “You cold there darlin’?”
“A little bit,” She answered.
I gave her a close look. She weren’t turnin’ blue, so figured I could get a few thin’s done before I lost the light.
“OK, now you stay right here. I know you’re pro’lly colder ‘en hell, but I need to get a few thin’s done here before it gets dark.”
She nodded her head, and I headed towards the packhorse.
I made camp in record time and by the time it got too dark to see, had set up the tent and removed the packs and saddle from the horses. I ended up havin’ to fire up the propane lantern before I was finished, as it was gettin’ too dark to see.
After I was satisfied that I’d done all I could, I said to the girl, “I hear your name’s Alice.”
She nodded her head.
“Well Alice, you need to get out of them wet clothes.”
I rummaged through the packs until I found an old wool blanket.
Handin’ it to her, I said, “You get out of them wet clothes and wrap up in this. Then you get yourself into the tent and crawl in one of them sleepin’ bags. You hear me?”
She nodded her head and took the blanket.
I grabbed a couple of empty one gallon plastic milk jugs and the lantern and walked to where I’d seen a small creek comin’ down the hillside.
I filled the two jugs with water, and by the time I’d returned to camp, Alice was nowhere to be seen. I peeked into the tent to find Alice inside, snuggled up in a sleepin’ bag.
“Where’d you put your wet clothes?”
She pointed to the corner of the tent, “Over there, sir.”
I grabbed the pile of clothes and one of the jugs of water. I rinsed out her clothes as best I could, wrung them out, and hung ‘em under one of the spruce trees. Hopefully they’d dry there. If not, I’d have to hang ‘em in the tent.
When I returned from the tent, I check on Alice again. “You feelin’ OK darlin’?”
“Yes sir, but I’m hungry.”
I laughed, “I’ll take care of that in a bit. You stay in that sleepin’ bag and I’ll see what I can rustle us up for supper.”
I grabbed my cookin’ gear from the tent and went about fixin’ dinner. Once I had a fire started, it weren’t much to make some cornbread in the Dutch oven and a stew in a skillet. I’d learned as a kid all about how to dry meat and vegetables. They’d keep from spoilin’ for a long time. Throw ‘em in a pot with a little water and they made a decent stew.
By the time we finished eatin’, it were snowin’ hard. I could tell we were gonna get a good dumpin’ cause there weren’t no wind to speak of.