Book 2 3. CAMP ON THE HIGH PRAIRIE Little House On The Prairie By Laura Ingalls Wilder
camp on the high prairie
palm made camp as usual first he
unhitched an unharnessed patent patty
and he put them on their picket lines
picket lines were long ropes fastened to
iron pegs driven into the ground
the pegs were called picket pins when
horses were on picket lines
they could eat all the grass that the
long ropes would let them reach
but when pet and patty were put on them
the first thing they did was to lie down
and
roll back and forth and over they rolled
till the feeling of the harness was all
gone from their backs
pat and patty were rolling paul pulled
all the grass from a large round space
of ground
there was old dead grass at the roots of
the green grass
and paul would take no chance of setting
the prairie on fire
if fire once started in that dry
undergrass
it would sweep that whole country bare
and black
paw said best be on the safe side it
saves trouble in the end
when the space was clear of grass paul
laid a handful of dry grass in its
center
from the creek bottoms he brought an
armful of twigs and dead wood
he laid small twigs and larger twigs
and then the wood on the handful of dry
grass
and he lighted the grass the fire
crackled merrily inside the ring of bare
ground that it couldn’t get out of
then paul brought water from the creek
while mary and laura helped ma get
supper
ma measured coffee beans into the coffee
mill
and mary ground them lara filled the
coffee pot with the water paul brought
and moss set the pot in the coals she
set the iron bake oven in the coals too
while it heated she mixed cornmeal and
salt with water
and patted it into little cakes she
greased the bake oven with a pork rind
laid the cornmeal cakes in it and put on
its iron cover
then paul raked more coals over the
cover
while ma sliced fat salt pork
she fried the slices and the iron spider
the spider had short legs to stand on
in the coals and that was why it was
called
a spider if it had had no legs
it would have been only a frying pan
the coffee boiled the cakes baked
the meat fried and they all smelled so
good that laura grew hungrier and
hungrier
pau set the wagon seat near the fire he
and ma
sat on it mary and laura sat on the
wagon
tongue each of them had a tin plate
and a steel knife and a steel fork with
white bone handles ma had a tin cup
and paw had a tin cup and baby carrie
had a little one all her own
but mary and laura had to share their
tin cup
they drank water they could not drink
coffee until they grew up
while they were eating supper the purple
shadows closed around the campfire
the vast prairie was dark and still
only the wind moved stealthily through
the grass
and the large low stars hung glittering
from the great sky
the campfire was cozy in the big chill
darkness the slices of pork were crisp
and fat the corn cakes were good
in the dark beyond the wagon pat and
patty were eating too
they bit off bites of grass with sharply
crunching sounds
we’ll camp here a day or two said paw
maybe we’ll stay here there’s good land
timber in the bottoms plenty of game
everything a man could want what do you
say caroline
we might go farther and fare worse mar
replied
anyway i’ll look around tomorrow paul
said
i’ll take my gun and get us some good
fresh meat
he lighted his pipe with a hot coal and
stretched out his legs comfortably
the warm brown smell of tobacco smoke
mixed with the warmth of the fire
mary yawned and slid off the wagon
tongue to sit on the grass
laura yawned too ma
quickly washed the tin plates the tin
cups
the knives and the forks she washed the
bake oven in the spider
and rinsed the dishcloth for an instant
she was still listening to the long
whaling howl from the dark prairie
they all knew what it was but that sound
always ran
cold up lara’s backbone and crinkled
over the back of her head
ma shook the dishcloth and then she
walked into
the dark and spread the cloth on the
tall grass to dry
when she came back paul said wolves
half a mile away i’d judge well
well there’s deer there will be wolves
i wish he didn’t say what he wished
but laura knew he wished jack were there
when wolves held in the big woods laura
had always known that jack would not let
them hurt her
a lump swelled hard in her throat and
her nose smarted
she winked fast and did not cry
that wolf or perhaps another wolf
how old again bedtime for little girls
moss said cheerfully mary got up and
turned around so that mark could
unbutton her
but laura jumped up and stood still
she saw something deep in the dark
beyond the fire light two green lights
were shining near the ground
they were eyes cold ran
up laura’s backbone her scalp crinkled
her hair stood up the green lights moved
one winked out then the other winked out
then both shone steadily coming nearer
very rapidly they were coming nearer
look paw look laura said a wolf
paw did not seem to move quickly but he
did
in an instant he took his gun out of the
wagon and was ready to fire at those
green eyes
the eye stopped coming they were still
in the dark
looking at him it can’t be a wolf
unless it’s a mad wolf paw said
maul lifted mary into the wagon
and it’s not that said paw
listen to the horses pat and patty were
still
biting off bits of grass a lynx
said ma or a coyote
paw picked up a stick of wood he shouted
and threw it the green eyes went close
to the ground as if the animal crouched
to spring
paul held the gun ready the creature did
not move
don’t charles ma said but paul slowly
walked toward those eyes
and slowly along the ground the eyes
crawled
toward him laura could see the animal in
the edge of the dark
it was a tawny animal and brindled
then paul shouted and laura screamed
the next thing she knew she was trying
to hug
a jumping panting wriggling
jack who lapped her face and hands with
his warm wet tongue
she couldn’t hold him he leaped and
wriggled from her to paw
to ma and back to her again
well i’m beat pau said so
am i said ma but did you have to wake
the baby
she rocked carrie in her arms hushing
her
jack was perfectly well but soon he laid
down close to laura
and sighed a long sigh
his eyes were red with tiredness and all
the under part of him was caked with mud
ma gave him a cornmeal cake and he
licked it
and wagged politely but he could not eat
he was too tired
no telling how long he kept swimming
paul said
nor how far he was carried downstream
before he landed
and when at last he reached them laura
called him a wolf
and paw threatened to shoot him but jack
knew they didn’t mean it
laura asked him you knew we didn’t mean
it didn’t you jack
jack wagged his stump of a tail he knew
it was past bedtime paw chained pat and
patty
to the feed box at the back of the wagon
and fed them their corn
carrie slept again and ma helped mary
and laura undress
she put their long nightgowns over their
heads while they stuck their arms into
the sleeves
they buttoned the neckbands themselves
and tied the strings of their nightcaps
beneath their chins
under the wagon jack wearily turned
around
three times and lay down to sleep
in the wagon laura and mary said their
prayers
and crawled into their little bed ma
kissed them good night on the other side
of the canvas
pat and patty were eating their corn
when patty whooshed into the feed box
the whoosh was
right at laura’s ear there were little
scurrying sounds in the grass
in the trees by the creek an owl called
farther away another owl answered
far away on the prairie the wolves
howled
and under the wagon jack growled low in
his chest
in the wagon everything was safe and
snug
thickly in front of the open wagon top
hung the large glittering stars
paw could reach them laura thought
she wished he would pick the largest one
from the thread on which it hung from
the sky
and give it to her she was
wide awake she was not sleepy at all
but suddenly she was very much surprised
the large star winked at her
then she was waking up next morning