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
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