Book 2 21. INDIAN JAMBOREE Little House On The Prairie By Laura Ingalls Wilder
indian jamboree
winter ended at last there was a softer
note in the sound of the wind
and the bitter cold was gone one day paw
said he had seen a flock of wild geese
flying north
it was time to take his furs to
independence
ma said the indians are so near
they are perfectly friendly said paw
he often met indians in the woods where
he was hunting
there was nothing to fear from indians
no ma said but laura knew that ma was
afraid of indians
you must go charles she said we must
have a plow and seeds and you will soon
be back again
before dawn next morning paw hitched pat
and patty to the wagon
loaded his furs into it and drove away
laura and mary counted the long empty
days
one two three four and still paul had
not come home
in the morning of the fifth day they
began earnestly to watch for him
it was a sunny day there was still a
little chill in the wind
but it smelled of spring the vast blue
sky
resounded to the quacks of wild ducks
and the hunk hunk honking of wild geese
the long black dotted lines of them were
all flying north
laura and mary played outdoors in the
wild sweet weather
and poor jack watched them inside
he couldn’t run and play anymore because
he was chained
laura and mary tried to comfort him but
he didn’t want
petting he wanted to be free again as he
used to be
paul didn’t come home that morning he
didn’t come home that afternoon
ma said it must have taken him a long
time to trade his furs
that afternoon laura and mary were
playing hopscotch
they marked the lines with a stick in
the muddy yard
mary really didn’t want to hop she was
almost eight years old and she didn’t
think that hopscotch was a ladylike play
but laura teased and coaxed and said
that if they stayed outdoors they would
be sure to see paul the minute he came
from the creek bottoms
so mary was hopping suddenly she stopped
on one foot
and said what’s that
laura had already heard the queer sound
and she was listening to it
she said it’s the indians
mary’s other foot dropped and she stood
frozen
still she was scared lara was not
exactly scared
but that sound made her feel funny it
was the sound of quite a lot of indians
chopping with their voices it was
something like the sound
of an axe chopping and something like a
dog barking
and it was something like a song but not
like any song that laura had ever heard
it was a wild fierce sound but it didn’t
seem angry
laura tried to hear it more clearly she
couldn’t hear it very well because hills
and trees and the wind were in the way
and jack was savagely growling
ma came outdoors and listened a minute
then she told mary and laura to come
into
the house ma took jack inside too and
pulled in the latch string
they didn’t play anymore they watched at
the window and listened to that sound
it was harder to hear in the house
sometimes they couldn’t hear it
then they heard it again it hadn’t
stopped
ma and laura did the chores earlier than
usual
they locked bunny in the cow and the
calf and the stable
and took the milk to the house ma
strained it and set it away
she drew a bucket of fresh water from
the well while laura and mary carried in
wood
all the time that sound went on it was
louder now
and faster it made laura’s heart beat
fast
they all went into the house and mob
barred the door
the latch string was already in they
wouldn’t go out of the house till
morning
the sun slowly sank all around the edge
of the prairie the edge of the sky
flushed pink
fire light flickered in the dusky house
and maul was getting supper
but laura and mary silently watched from
the window
they saw the colors fade from everything
the land was shadowy
and the sky was clear pale gray
all the time that sound came from the
creek bottoms louder and louder
faster and faster and laura’s heart beat
faster and louder how she shouted when
she heard the wagon
she ran to the door and jumped up and
down but she couldn’t unbar it
ma wouldn’t let her go out ma went out
to help paul bring in the bundles
he came in with his arms full and laura
and mary clung to his sleeves and
jumped on his feet paul laughed his
jolly big laugh
hey don’t upset me he left what do you
think i
am a tree to climb he dropped the
bundles on the table
he hugged laura in a big bear hug and
tossed her and
hugged her again then he hugged mary
snugly in his other arm
listen paul laura said listen to the
indians
why are they making that funny noise
oh they’re having some kind of jamboree
paul said
i heard them when i crossed the creek
bottoms
then he went out to unhitch the horses
and bring in the rest of the bundles
he had got the plow he left it in the
stable
but he brought all the seeds into the
house for safety
he had sugar not any white sugar this
time but brown
white sugar cost too much but he had
brought a little white flour
there were cornmeal and salt and coffee
and
all the seeds they needed paw even got
seed potatoes laura wished they might
eat the potatoes but they must be saved
to plant
then paw’s face beamed and he opened a
small paper sack
it was full of crackers he set it on the
table
and he unwrapped and set beside it a
glass jar
full of little green cucumber pickles
i thought we’d all have a treat he said
laura’s mouth watered and ma’s eyes
shone softly at paw
he had remembered how she longed for
pickles
that wasn’t all he gave ma a package and
watched her unwrap it
and in it was enough pretty calico to
make her a dress
oh charles you shouldn’t it’s too much
she said but her face and paws were two
beams of
joy now he hung up his cap
and his plaid coat on their pegs his
eyes looked sideways at laura and mary
but that was all he sat down and
stretched out his legs to the fire
mary sat down too and folded her hands
in her lap
but laura climbed onto paw’s knee and
beat him with her
fists where is it where is it where’s my
present
she said beating him paul laughed his
big laugh
like great big bells ringing and he said
well i do believe there’s something in
my blouse pocket
he took out an oddly shaped package and
very very slowly he opened it
you first mary he said because you’re so
patient and he gave mary a comb for her
hair
and here flutter budget this is for you
he said to laura the combs were exactly
alike
they were made of black rubber and
curved to fit over
the top of a little girl’s head and over
the top of the comb
lay a flat piece of black rubber with
curving slits cut in it
and in the very middle of it a little
five-pointed star was cut out
a bright colored ribbon was drawn
underneath and the color showed through
the ribbon in mary’s comb was blue and
the ribbon in laura’s comb was red
ma smoothed back their hair and slid the
combs into it
and there in the golden hair exactly
over the middle of mary’s forehead
was a little blue star and in laura’s
brown hair
over the middle of her forehead was a
little red star
laura looked at mary’s star and mary
looked at lara’s and they
laughed with joy they had never had
anything so pretty
moss said but charles you didn’t get
yourself a thing
oh i got myself a plow said paw
warm weather will be here soon now and
i’ll be plowing
that was the happiest supper they had
had for a long time
paul was safely home again the fried
salt pork was very good
after so many months of eating ducks and
geese and turkeys and venison
and nothing had ever tasted so good as
those crackers and the little green sour
pickles
pod told them all about the seeds he had
got seeds of
turnips and carrots and onions
and cabbage he had got peas and beans
and corn and wheat and tobacco and the
seed potatoes
and watermelon seeds he said to ma
i tell you caroline when we begin
getting crops off this rich land of ours
we’ll be living like kings
they had almost forgotten the noise from
the indian camp
the window shutters were closed now and
the wind was
moaning in the chimney and whining
around the house
they were so used to the wind that they
did not hear it
but when the wind was silent an instant
laura heard again that wild shrill fast
beating sound
from the indian camps then paul said
something to ma that made laura sit very
still and listen carefully
he said that folks and independents said
that the government was going to put the
white settlers
out of the indian territory he said the
indians had been complaining
and they had got that answer from
washington
oh charles no ma said not when we’ve
done so much
paul said he didn’t believe it he said
they always have let settlers keep the
land
they’ll make the indians move on again
didn’t i get word straight from
washington that this country’s going to
be open for settlement any time now
i wish they’d settle it and stop talking
about it ma said
after laura was in bed she lay awake a
long time and so did mary
paw and ma sat in the fire light and
candlelight reading
paul had brought a newspaper from kansas
and he read it to ma
and prove that he was right the
government would not do anything to the
white settlers
whenever the sound of the wind died away
laura could faintly hear the noise of
that wild jamboree in the indian camp
sometimes even above the howling of the
wind she thought she still heard those
fierce yells of jubilation faster
faster faster they made her heart beat
hey hi hi ha ha