Book 5 10. HORSE THIEVES Little House On The Prairie By Laura Ingalls Wilder

horse thieves

one night at supper paw spoke hardly at

all

he only answered questions at last ma

asked aren’t you feeling well charles

i’m all right caroline paul answered

then what is the matter

ma demanded nothing paul said nothing to

worry about

well the fact is the boys have got word

to look out for horse thieves tonight

that’s high’s affair moss said i hope

you’ll let him tend to it

well don’t worry caroline paul said

laura and carrie looked at each other

and then at ma

after a moment ma said gently i wish

shoot out with it charles

big jerry’s been in camp paul said he’s

been here a week

and now he’s gone the boys say he’s in

with the gang of horse thieves

they say every time big jerry visits a

camp the best horses are stolen after he

leaves

they think he stays just long enough to

pick out the best teams and find out

what stalls they’re in

and then he comes back with his gang in

the night and gets away with them in the

dark

i always heard you can’t trust a

half-breed ma

said ma did not like indians she did not

like even half indians

we’d all have been scalped down on the

verdigris river if it hadn’t been for a

full blood

said paw we wouldn’t have been in any

danger of scalping if it hadn’t been for

those

howling savages said ma with fresh skunk

skins around their middles

and she made a sound that came from

remembering how those skunk skins

smelled

i don’t think jerry steals horses paw

said

but laura thought he said it as if he

hoped that saying it would make it so

the real trouble is he comes to camp

after payday

and wins all the boys money playing

poker that’s why some

of them would be glad to shoot him i

wonder high allows it

said ma if there’s anything as bad as

drink

it’s gambling they don’t have to gamble

if they don’t want to caroline paul

said if jerry wins their money it’s

their own fault

there never was a kinderhearted man than

big jerry he’d give the shirt off his

back

look how he takes care of old johnny

that’s so

ma admitted old johnny was the water

boss

he was a little whizzoned bent-backed

old irishman

he’d worked on railroads all his life

and now he was too old to work

so the company had given him the job of

carrying water to the men

every morning and again after dinner

little old johnny came to the well

to fill his two large wooden water pails

when they were full

he set his wooden yoke across his

shoulders and stooping

he hooked into the pails the two hooks

that hung from short chains

at each end of the yoke then with a

grunt and a groan

he straightened up the chains lifted the

heavy pails from the ground

and johnny steadied them with his hands

while he bore their weight on his

shoulders

he trotted under the weight with short

stiff steps

there was a tin dipper in each water

pail when he got to the men working on

the grade

johnny would trot along the line of work

so that any thirsty man could help

himself to a drink of water without

stopping work

johnny was so old that he was little

stooped

and shrunken his face was a mass of

wrinkles

but his blue eyes twinkled cheerily and

he always trotted as quickly as he could

so that no thirsty man need wait for a

drink

one morning before breakfast big jerry

had come to the door

and told ma that old johnny had been

sick all night he’s so

little and old ma’am big jerry said

the meals at the boarding shanty don’t

agree with them

would you give him a cup of hot tea and

a bit of breakfast

ma put several of her hot light biscuits

on a plate

and beside them she put a fried mashed

potato cake

and a slice of crisply fried salt pork

then she filled a little tin pail with

hot tea

and gave it all to big jerry after

breakfast

paul went to the bunk house to see old

johnny and later he told ma

that jerry had taken care of the poor

old man all night

johnny said that jerry had even spread

his own blanket over him to keep him

warm

and gone without any covering himself in

the cold

he couldn’t take better care of his own

father than he did of old johnny

paul said for that matter caroline i

don’t know but what we’re beholden to

them ourselves

they all remembered how big jerry had

come out of the prairie on his white

horse when the strange man was following

them and the sun was setting

well paul said getting up slowly i’ve

got to go sell the boys the ammunition

for their guns

i hope jerry doesn’t come back to camp

tonight

if he just rode up to see how old johnny

is rode up to the stable to put his

horse in

they’d shoot him oh no charles surely

they wouldn’t do that

ma exclaimed paul pulled on his hat

the one that’s doing most of the

talkings already killed one man

he said he got off easy on a plea of

self-defense but he served a term in

states prison

and big jerry cleaned him out last

payday he hasn’t got the nerve to face

big jerry but he’ll bushwhack him if he

gets the chance

paul went to the store and moss soberly

began to clear the table

while laura washed the dishes she

thought of big jerry and his white horse

she had seen them many times galloping

over the brown prairie

big jerry always wore a bright red shirt

he was always bareheaded

and his white horse never wore a strap

the night was dark when park came from

the store

he said that half a dozen men with

loaded guns were lying in weight around

the stable

it was bedtime there was not a light in

the camp

the dark shanties low against the land

could hardly be seen

only if you knew where to look you could

see them darker

in the dark there was a little star

shine on silver lake

and all around it stretched the black

prairie flat

under the velvet dark sky sparkling with

stars

the wind whispered cold in the dark and

the grass rustled

as if it were afraid laura looked

and listened and hurried shivering

into the shanty again behind the curtain

grace was sleeping

and ma was helping mary and carrie to

bed

paw had hung up his hat and sat down on

the bench

but he was not taking off his boots he

looked up when laura came in

and then he got up and put on his coat

he buttoned it all the way up

and turned up its collar so that his

gray shirt did not show

laura did not say a word paul put on his

hat

don’t sit up for me caroline he said

cheerfully

ma came from behind the curtain but paul

was gone

she went to the doorway and looked out

paul had disappeared in the darkness

after a minute ma

turned around and said bedtime laura

please ma let me stay up too laura

begged

i believe i won’t go to bed said ma not

for a while anyway i’m not sleepy

it’s no use to go to bed when you’re not

sleepy i’m not sleepy ma

laura said ma turned down the lamp

and blew it out she sat down in the

hickory rocker that paw had made for her

in indian territory

laura went softly on her bare feet

across the ground

and sat close beside ma they sat in the

dark

listening laura could hear a thin

faint humming in her ears it seemed to

be the sound

of her listening she could hear moz

breathing

and the slow breathing of grace asleep

and the faster breathing of mary and

carrie lying awake behind the curtain

the curtain made a faint sound moving a

little in the air from the open doorway

outside the doorway there was an oblong

of sky

and stars above the far away edge of

dark land

out there the wind sighed the grass

rustled and there was the tiny ceaseless

sound of little waves

lapping on the lakeshore a

sharp cry in the dark jerked all through

laura

she almost screamed it was only the call

of a wild goose

lost from its flock wild geese answered

it from the slough

and a quacking of sleepy ducks rose

ma let me go out and find paw laura

whispered

be quiet ma answered you couldn’t find

par

and he doesn’t want you to be quiet and

let paul take care of himself

i want to do something i’d rather do

something laura said

so would i said ma in the dark her hand

began softly to stroke laura’s head the

sun and the wind are drying your hair

laura

ma said you must brush it more you must

brush your hair a hundred strokes

every night before you go to bed yes ma

laura whispered i had lovely long hair

when your paw and i were married ma said

i could sit on the braids she did not

say any more

she went on stroking laura’s rough hair

while they listened for the sound of

shooting

there was one shining large star by the

black edge of the doorway

as time went on it moved

slowly it moved from east to west

and more slowly still the smaller stars

wheeled about it suddenly

laura and ma heard footsteps and in an

instant the stars were blotted out

paul was in the doorway laura jumped up

but ma only went

limp in the chair sitting up caroline

paul said sure you didn’t need to do

that

everything’s all right how did you know

that paul

laura asked how do you know big jerry

never mind flutter budget

post opted cheerfully big jerry’s all

right

he won’t be coming into camp tonight i

wouldn’t be surprised though if he rode

in this morning on his white horse

now go to bed let’s get what sleep we

can before sunrise

then pause great laugh ring out like

bells

there’ll be a sleepy bunch of men

working on the grade today

while laura was undressing behind the

curtain and paul was taking off his

boots on the other side of it

she heard him saying a low voice to ma

the best of it is caroline they’ll never

be a horse stolen from silver lake camp

sure enough early that morning laura saw

big jerry riding by the shanty on his

white horse

he held paw at the store and paul waved

to him

then big jerry and the white horse

galloped on and away toward where the

men were working

there never was a horse stolen from

silver lake camp

[Music]

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