Page 52 of Snowed in With My Small Town Billionaire

Lucas laughed. “My guess is that they saw animals doing it and figured that if it was safe for the animals then it was safe for them. That is how Grizzly Adams knew what berries were safe to eat. He ate what Gentle Ben ate.”

“Smart man. I always liked that show even though it aired before my time. It was a shame when Dan Haggerty went to prison for drugs.”

“Me too. I was sad when he died.”

The two men lapsed into silence as they scanned the woods for any signs of the snowshoe hares, elk, ptarmigans, or moose.

Sawyer spotted some tracks and pointed them out to Lucas. The white-furred animals blended into their surroundings perfectly, but Lucas managed to spot one.

After a couple hours of hunting, they managed to bag six snowshoe hairs. They were small but should be enough for Millie.

“That should be enough to get us through at least a couple more meals if Millie has the stuff to make a stew with,” Sawyer said.

“If not, then we come out tomorrow for more food,” Lucas said.

When they got back to the lodge, they found Oliver in the shed.

“How did you do?” he asked, a tinge of worry in his voice.

“We got six hares,” Lucas said.

“That’ll be enough for at least today. Thank you.”

“Do you want us to dress them?” Sawyer asked.

“Nah, Daniel and I can do that,” Oliver assured him. “Millie told me about your conversation. The animals will get the entrails and bones. I know a guy in town who can use the hides. The animals won’t die in vain, and of course, we’ll give thanks to them for sacrificing their lives so that we might survive. Part of my culture. I’m half Ute Native American.”

“It’s a good one practice,” Sawyer said. “Let us know if you need anything else from us.”

Lucas said, “My guess is that Millie is going to make stew out of them. It seems to be her specialty.”

“Plus, it does make the meat last longer.”

Sawyer checked on Zaid when they got back in. He was very pale and feverish. Although Zaid went out of his way not to complain, he was in extreme pain. His blood pressure was high and he hadn’t been able to keep anything down for a couple of days.

The leg wasn’t looking good. It was very swollen and there were red streaks from his knee to his ankle. The skin was warm to the touch.

“It doesn’t look good, does it, Doc?” Zaid asked.

“No, and we’re out of antibiotics. We can try making tea out of the inner bark of the aspen trees.”

Tessie, who was hovering nearby, said, “We also have some juniper berry tincture.”

Sawyer looked at her and smiled. “Thank you. Every little bit helps.”

“Are you going to have to amputate my leg?”

Sawyer sighed. He didn’t want to lie to him. “We don’t really have the facilities or the equipment to do so. However, if thisgets worse and you get gangrene, then we might have to consider it.”

“I’ve seen the documentaries on how they did things during the Civil War. I guess I’ll need a stick to bite down on,” he said.

“Actually, we have the supplies we need to make chloroform if it comes to that,” Sawyer said.

“Let’s pray that it doesn’t come down to that,” Zaid said. “I’m rather fond of my leg. But, if it does, I would prefer to live.”

Emilia touched his face. “I’ll be with you whether you have one leg or two.”

He smiled at her. “Thank you,” he said quietly.

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