Book 2 20. A SCREAM IN THE NIGHT Little House On The Prairie By Laura Ingalls Wilder

a scream in the night

the days were short and gray now the

nights were very dark and cold

clouds hung low above the little house

and

spread low and far over the bleak

prairie rain fell

and sometimes snow was driven on the

wind

hard little bits of snow whirled in the

air and scurried over the humped backs

of miserable grasses

and next day the snow was gone

every day paul went hunting and trapping

in the cozy firelit house mary and laura

helped ma

with the work then they sewed quilt

patches

they played patty cake with carrie and

they played hide the thimble

with a piece of string in their fingers

they played cat’s cradle

and they played being porridge hot

facing each other

they clapped their hands together and

against each other’s hands keeping time

while they said

bean porridge hot bean porrish cold

bean porridge in the pot nine days old

some like it hot some like a cold

some like it in the pot nine days old

i like it hot i like it cold

i like it in the pot nine days old

that was true no supper was so good

as the thick bean porridge flavored with

a small

bit of salt pork that ma dipped onto the

tin plates when paul had come home

cold and tired from his hunting laura

liked it hot

and she liked it cold and it was always

good as long as it lasted

but it never really lasted nine days

they ate it up before that

all the time the wind blew shrieking

howling

wailing screaming and mournfully sobbing

they were used to hearing the wind all

day they heard it

and at night in their sleep they knew it

was blowing

but one night they heard such a terrible

scream that they all woke up

pau jumped out of bed and ma said

charles what was it

it’s a woman screaming pau said he was

dressing as fast as he could

sounded like it came from scott’s oh

what can be wrong

marx claimed paul was putting on his

boots

he put his foot in and he put his

fingers through the strap ears at the

top of the long bootleg

then he gave a mighty pull and he

stamped hard on the floor

and that boot was on maybe scott is sick

he said

pulling on the other boot you don’t

suppose

ma asked lo no said paw

i keep telling you they won’t make any

trouble they’re perfectly quiet and

peaceable down in those camps among the

bluffs

laura began to climb out of bed but ma

said lie down and be still laura

so she lay down paul put on his warm

bright plaid coat in his fur cap on his

muffler

he lighted the candle in the lantern

took his gun

and hurried outdoors before he shut the

door behind him

laura saw the night outside it was black

dark

not one star was shining lara had never

seen

such solid darkness

ma she said what laura

what makes it so dark it’s going to

storm

ma answered she pulled the latch string

in and put a stick of wood on the fire

then she went back to bed go to sleep

mary and laura

she said but ma did not go to sleep

and neither did mary and laura they lay

wide awake and listened

they could not hear anything but the

wind mary put her head under the quilt

and whispered to laura

i wish pod come back laura nodded her

head on the pillow

but she couldn’t say anything she seemed

to see paw striding along the top of the

bluff on the path that went toward mr

scott’s house

tiny bright spots of candlelight darted

here and there from the holes cut in the

tin lantern

the little flickering light seemed to be

lost in the black

dark after a long time

laura whispered it must be most morning

and mary nodded all that time they’d

been lying and listening to the wind

and paw had not come back then

high above the shrieking of the wind

they heard again that terrible scream

it seemed quite close to the house

laura screamed too and leapt out of bed

mary ducked under the covers

ma got up and began to dress in a hurry

she put another stick of wood on the

fire

and told laura to go back to bed but

laura begged so hard that ma said she

could stay up

wrap yourself in the shawl ma said

they stood by the fire and listened they

couldn’t hear

anything but the wind and they could not

do anything

but at least they were not lying down in

bed

suddenly fists pounded on the door and

pau

shouted let me in quick caroline

ma opened the door and paul slammed it

quickly behind him

he was out of breath he pushed back his

cap and said whoo

i’m scared yet what was it charles

said ma a panther paus said

he had hurried as fast as he could go to

mr scott’s

and when he got there the house was dark

and everything was quiet

paul went all around the house listening

and looking with the lantern

he could not find a sign of anything

wrong so he felt like a fool to think

he’d got up and dressed in the middle of

the night and walked two miles all

because

he heard the wind howl he did not want

mr mrs scott to know about it

so he did not wake them up he came home

as fast as he could because the wind was

bitter cold

and he was hurrying along the path where

it went on the edge of the bluff

when all of a sudden he heard that

scream right under his feet

i’d tell you my hair stood up till it

lifted my gap he told laura

i let out for home like a scared rabbit

where was the panther paw she asked him

in a tree top said paul in the top of

that big cottonwood that grows against

the bluff there

pot didn’t come after you laura asked

and he said

i don’t know laura well you’re safe now

charles

said ma yes and i’m glad of it

this is too dark a night to be out with

panthers paw said

now laura where’s my boot jack

laura brought it to him the boot jack

was a thin

oak slab with a notch in one end and a

cleat across the middle of it

laura laid it on the floor with the

cleat down

and the cleat lifted up the notched end

then pau stood on it with one foot he

put the other foot into the notch

and the notch held the boot by the hill

while paul

pulled his foot out then he pulled off

his other boot the same way

the boots clung tightly but they had to

come off

laura watched him do this and then she

asked

would a panther carry off a little girl

paw

yes said paw and kill her and eat her

too

you and mary must stay in the house till

i shoot that panther

as soon as daylight comes i will take my

gun and go after him

all the next day paul hunted that

panther

and he hunted the next day and the next

day

he found the panthers tracks and he

found the hide and bones of an antelope

that the panther had eaten

but he did not find the panther anywhere

the panther went swiftly through

treetops where it left no tracks

paw said he would not stop till he

killed that panther

he said we can’t have panthers running

around in a country where they’re little

girls

but he did not kill that panther and he

did stop hunting it

one day in the woods he met an indian

they stood in the wet

cold woods and looked at each other and

they could not talk because they did not

know each other’s words

but the indian pointed to the panthers

tracks and he made motions with his gun

to show paw that he had killed the

panther

he pointed to the treetops and to the

ground to show that he had shot it out

of a tree

and he motioned to the sky and west and

east

to say that he had killed it the day

before

so that was all right the panther was

dead

laura asked if a panther would carry off

a little papoose and kill and eat her

too

and pau said yes probably that was why

the indian had

killed that panther