Book 5 6. RAILROAD CAMP Little House On The Prairie By Laura Ingalls Wilder

railroad camp

early next morning they were all in the

wagon going west

gray sat between ma and paw on the

spring seat

and carrie and laura sat with mary

between them on a board across the wagon

box

traveling on the cars was rich and swift

but lara preferred the wagon

for this one day’s trip paw had not put

on the cover

the whole sky was overhead and the

prairie stretched away on all sides with

farms scattered over it

the wagon went slowly so there was time

to see

everything and they could all talk

comfortably together

the only noise was the horse’s feet clop

clopping

and the little creaking sounds of the

wagon

paul said that uncle hai had finished

his first contract

and was moving to a new camp farther

west he said

the men have cleared out already there’s

only a couple of teamsters left beside

docea’s folks

they’ll have the last of the shanties

down and be hauling off the lumber in a

couple of days

are we moving on then too ma asked

in a couple of days yes paul answered

he had not looked for a homestead yet he

would get one farther west

laura did not find much to see out loud

for mary

the horses followed the road that went

straight across the prairie

always beside it was the railroad grade

of raw earth

to the north the fields and houses were

the same as at home

except that they were newer and smaller

the freshness of the morning wore off

all the time little jolts and jiggles

came up from the wagon through the hard

board that they were sitting on

it seemed that the sun had never climbed

so slowly

carrie’s sighed her peaked little face

was pale

but laura could do nothing for her laura

and carrie must sit on the ends of the

board where the jiggling was hardest

because mary must be in the middle at

last

the sun was overhead and paw stopped the

horses by a little creek

it was good to feel still the little

creek talked to itself

the horses munched their oats in the

feed box at the back of the wagon and on

the warm grass

moss spread a cloth and opened the

lunchbox

there was bread and butter and good

hard-boiled eggs

with pepper and salt in a paper to dip

the bitten eggs into

noon ended too soon paul led the horses

to drink from the creek while ma and

laura picked up the eggshells and bits

of paper to leave the place tidy

paw hitched the horses to the wagon

again and sang out

all aboard laura and carrie wish they

could walk for a while

but they did not say so they knew that

mary could not keep up with the wagon

and they could not let her sit in it

alone and blind

they helped to climb up and sat down

beside her on the board

the afternoon was longer than the

morning once laura said

i thought we were going west well we are

going west laura

paul said surprised i thought it would

be different

laura explained just you wait till we

get out beyond settled country said paw

once carrie sighed i’m tired

but she straightened up quickly and said

not so very tired carrie did not mean to

complain

one little jolt is nothing at all they

had hardly noticed two miles and a half

of little jolts when they rode to town

from plum

creek but all the little jolts from

sunrise to noon and then

all the little jolts from noon to sunset

are

tiring dark came

and still the horses plotted on and the

wheels kept turning and the hardboard

went on

jarring stars were overhead

the wind was chilly they would all have

been asleep if the jolting board had let

them sleep

for a long time nobody said anything

then paul said

there’s the light of the shanty far

ahead

there was a little twinkle on the dark

land

the stars were larger but their light

was cold the tiny twinkle

was warm it’s a little yellow spark

mary laura said it’s shining from

far away in the dark to tell us to keep

on coming

there’s a house there and folks and

supper

said mary aunt jose is keeping supper

hot for us

very slowly the light twinkled larger

it began to shine steady and round

after a long time it was square cornered

you can see it’s a window now laura told

mary

it’s in a long low house there are two

other

long low dark houses in the dark that’s

all i can see

that’s all of the camp paw said he told

the horses

whoa the horses stopped right then

without another step

the jiggling and jolting stopped

everything stopped

there was only the still cold dark

then lamplight flared out of a doorway

and aunt docilla was saying

come right in caroline and girls hurry

up and put up your team charles supper’s

waiting the chilly dark had settled in

laura’s bones

mary and carrie moved stiffly too and

they stumbled

yawning in the long room the lamp shone

on a long table in

benches and rough board walls it was

warm there

and smelled of supper on the stove

auntosia said

well lena and gene aren’t you going to

say anything to your cousins

how do you do lena said laura and mary

and carrie all

said how do you do

jean was only a little boy 11 years old

but lena was a year older than laura her

eyes were black and snappy

her hair was black as black can be and

it curled naturally

the short wisp scrolled around her

forehead

the top of her head was wavy and the

ends of her braids were round curls

laura liked her do you like to ride

horseback

she asked laura we’ve got two black

ponies

we ride them and i can drive them too

gene can’t because he’s too little

paul won’t let him take the buggy but i

can

and tomorrow i’m going for the washing

and you can come if you want to do you

yes laura said if maul let me

she was too sleepy to ask how they could

go in a buggy for the washing

she was so sleepy that she could hardly

stay awake to eat supper

uncle hai was fat and good-natured and

easy-going

aunt dosia talked very fast

uncle hai tried to calm her down but

every time he tried

antosia only talked faster she was angry

because uncle hai had worked hard all

summer

and had nothing to show for it he’s

worked like a nailer all summer

she said he’s even worked his own teams

on the grade and both of us saving and

scrimping

and pinching till the job was finished

and now it’s finished

and the company says we owe them money

they say we’re in debt to them for our

summers hard work and on top of that

they want us to take another contract

and hai takes it that’s what he does he

takes it

uncle hai tried to calm her down again

and laura tried to stay awake

all the faces wavered and the voice

raveled out thin

then her neck jerked her head up when

supper was over

she staggered up to help do the dishes

but aunt dossier told her and lena

to run along to bed there was no room in

aunt dossier’s beds for laura and lena

nor for jean he was going to stay in the

bunk house with the men

and lena said come along laura we’re

going to sleep in the office tent

outdoors was very large and dim and

chilly

the bunk house lay low and dark under

the big sky

and the little office tent was ghostly

in the starlight

it seemed far away from the lamplit

shanty

the tent was empty there was only grass

underfoot

and canvas walls sloping up to a peak

overhead

laura felt lost and lonesome

she would not have minded sleeping in

the wagon but she did not like to sleep

on the ground in a strange place

and she wished that pau and ma were

there lena thought it was

great fun to sleep in the tent she

flopped down

right away on a blanket spread on the

ground

laura mumbled sleepily don’t we undress

what for lena said you only have to put

on your clothes again in the morning

besides there aren’t any covers

so laura lay down on the blanket and was

sound asleep

suddenly she jerked awake with a

frightful start

from the huge blackness of the night

came again a

wild shrill howl it was not an indian

it was not a wolf laura did not know

what it was

her heart stopped beating ah you can’t

scare us

lena called out she said to laura it’s

gene trying to scare us gene yelled

again but lena shouted

run away little boy i wasn’t brought up

in the woods to be scared by an owl

yeah gene called back

laura began to unstiffen and fell asleep

[Music]

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