Book 2 11. INDIANS IN THE HOUSE Little House On The Prairie By Laura Ingalls Wilder
indians in the house
early one morning paw took his gun and
went hunting
he had meant to make the bedstead that
day he brought in the slabs when moss
said she had no meat for dinner
so he stood the slabs against the wall
and took down his gun
jack wanted to go hunting too his eyes
begged pau to take him and wines came up
from his chest and quivered in his
throat till laura almost cried with him
but paul chained him to the stable no
jack
paul said you must stay here and guard
the place
then he said to mary and laura don’t let
him loose girls
poor jack lay down it was a disgrace to
be chained and he felt it deeply
he turned his head from paw and would
not watch him going away with the gun on
his shoulder
paul went farther and farther away till
the prairie swallowed him up and he was
gone lara tried to comfort jack but he
would not be comforted
the more he thought about the chain the
worse he felt
laura tried to cheer him up to frisk and
play but he only grew more sullen
both mary and laura felt they could not
leave jack while he was so unhappy
so all that morning they stayed by the
stable
they stroked jack’s smooth brindled head
and scratched around his ears and told
him how
sorry they were that he must be chained
he lapped their hands a little bit but
he was very sad and angry
his head was on laura’s knee and she was
talking to him
when suddenly he stood up and growled
a fierce deep growl the hair on his neck
stood straight up and his eyes glared
red
laura was frightened jack had never
growled at her before
then she looked over her shoulder where
jack was looking
and she saw two naked wild men coming
one behind the other on the indian trail
mary look she cried mary looked and saw
them too they were tall
thin fierce looking men their skin was
brownish red
their heads seemed to go up to a peak
and the peak was a tuft of hair that
stood straight up and
ended in feathers their eyes were black
and still and glittering like snake’s
eyes
they came closer and closer
then they went out of sight on the other
side of the house
laura’s head turned and so did mary’s
and they looked at the place where those
terrible men would appear when they came
past the house
indians mary whispered laura was shivery
there was a queer feeling in her middle
and the bones in her legs felt weak
she wanted to sit down but she stood and
looked and waited for those indians to
come out from behind the house
the indians did not do that all this
time jack had been growling
now he stopped growling and was lunging
against the chain
his eyes were red and his lips curled
back and all the hair on his back was
bristling
he bounded and bounded clear off the
ground trying to get loose from the
chain
laura was glad that that chain kept him
right there with her
jack’s here she whispered to mary jack
won’t let them hurt us
we’ll be safe if we stay close to jack
they’re in the house mary whispered
they’re in the house with ma and carrie
then laura began to shake all over
she knew she must do something she did
not know what those indians were doing
to ma and baby carrie
there was no sound at all from the house
oh what are they doing to ma she
screamed in a whisper
oh i don’t know mary whispered
i’m going to let jack loose laura
whispered hoarsely
jack will kill them paw said not to
mary answered they were too scared to
speak out loud
they put their heads together and
watched the house and whispered
he didn’t know indians would come laura
said
he said not to let jack loose mary was
almost crying
laura thought of little baby carrie and
ma shutting the house with those indians
she said i’m going in to help ma
she ran two steps and walked a step
then she turned and flew back to jack
she clutched him wildly and hung onto
his strong
panting neck jack wouldn’t let anything
hurt her
we mustn’t leave ma in there alone mary
whispered
she stood still and trembled mary never
could move when she was frightened
laura hid her face against jack and held
onto him tightly
then she made her arms let go her hands
balled into fists and her eyes shut
tight and she
ran toward the house as fast as she
could run
she stumbled and fell down and her eyes
popped open
she was up again and running before she
could think
mary was close behind her they came to
the door
it was open and they slipped into the
house without a sound
the naked wild men stood by the
fireplace
maul was bending over the fire cooking
something
carrie clung to ma’s skirts with both
hands and her head was hidden in the
folds
laura ran toward ma but just as she
reached the hearth she smelled a
horribly bad smell and she looked up at
the indians
quick as a flash she ducked behind the
long narrow slab that leaned against the
wall
the slab was just wide enough to cover
both her eyes
if she held her head perfectly still and
pressed her nose against the slab
she couldn’t see the indians and she
felt safer
but she couldn’t help moving her head
just a little so that one eye peeped out
and she could see the wild men first she
saw their leather moccasins
then their stringy bare red brown legs
all the way up
around their waists each of the indians
wore a leather thong
and the furry skin of a small animal
hung down in front
the fur was striped black and white
and now laura knew what made that smell
the skins were fresh
skunk skins a knife like paws hunting
knife
and a hatchet like paws hatchet were
stuck into each skunk skin
the indians ribs made little ridges up
their bare sides
their arms were folded on their chests
at last laura looked again at their
faces
and she dodged quickly behind the slab
their faces were bold and fierce and
terrible
their black eyes glittered high on their
foreheads
and above their ears where hair grows
these wild men
had no hair but on top of their heads
a tuft of hair stood straight up
it was wound around with string and
feathers were stuck in it
when laura peeked out from behind the
slab again
both indians were looking straight at
her her heart
jumped into her throat and choked her
with its pounding
two black eyes glittered down into her
eyes
the indian did not move not one muscle
of his face
moved only his eyes shone and sparkled
at her
laura didn’t move either she didn’t even
breathe
the indian made two short harsh sounds
in his throat
the other indian made one sound like
laura hit her eyes behind the slab again
she heard ma take the cover off the bake
oven
she heard the indians squat down on the
hearth
after a while she heard them eating
laura peeked and hid and peaked again
while the indians ate the cornbread that
ma had baked
they ate every morsel of it and even
picked up the crumbs from the hearth
ma stood and watched them and stroked
baby carrie’s head
mary stood close behind ma and held onto
her sleeve
faintly laura heard jack’s chain
rattling jack was still trying to get
loose
when every crumb of the cornbread was
gone the indians rose up
the skunk smell was stronger when they
moved
one of them made harsh sounds in his
throat again
ma looked at him with big eyes she did
not say anything
the indian turned around the other
indian turned two
and they walked across the floor and out
through the door
their feet made no sound at all
ma sighed a long long sigh
she hugged laura tight in one arm and
mary tightened the other arm and through
the window
they watched those indians going away
one behind the other
on the dim trail toward the west
then ma sat down on the bed and hugged
laura and mary tighter
and trembled she looked sick
do you feel sick more mary asked her
no said ma i’m just thankful they’re
gone
laura wrinkled her nose and said they
smell
awful that was the skunk skins they wore
ma said then they told her how they’d
left jack and had come into the house
because they were afraid the indians
would hurt her in baby carrie
ma said they were her brave little girls
now we must get dinner she said paul
will be here soon and we must have
dinner ready for him
mary bring me some wood laura you may
set the table
ma rolled up her sleeves and washed her
hands and mixed cornbread while mary
brought the wood
and laura set the table she set a tin
plate and a knife and fork and a cup for
paw
and the same for more with carrie’s
little tin cup beside mars
and she set tin plates and knives and
forks for her and mary
but only there one cup between the
plates
mom made the cornmeal and water into two
thin loaves
each shaped in a half circle she laid
the loaves with their straight sides
together in the bake oven
and she pressed her hand flat on top of
each loaf
pau always said he did not ask any other
sweetening
when ma put the prince of her hands on
the loaves
laura had hardly set the table when paul
was there
he left a big rabbit and two prairie
hens outside the door
and stepped in and laid his gun on its
pegs
laura and mary ran and clutched him both
talking at once
what’s all this what’s all this he said
rumpling their hair
indians so you’ve seen indians at last
have you laura
i notice they have a camp in a little
valley west of here
did indians come to the house caroline
yes charles two of them ma said
i’m sorry but they took all your tobacco
and they ate a lot of cornbread
they pointed to the cornmeal and made
signs for me to cook some
i was afraid not to oh charles i was
afraid
you did the right thing part told her we
don’t want to make enemies of any
indians
then he said what a smell
they wore fresh skunk skins said ma
and that was all they wore must have
been thick while they were here
paul said it was charles
we were short of cornmeal too
oh well we have enough to hold out a
while yet
and our meat’s running all over the
country don’t worry caroline
but they took all your tobacco never
mind
paul said i’ll get along without tobacco
till
i can make that trip to independence the
main thing is to be on good terms with
the indians
we don’t want to wake up some night with
a band of the screeching depth
he stopped laura dreadfully wanted to
know
what he had been going to say but ma’s
lips were pressed together and she shook
a little shake of her head at paw
come on mary and laura paul said we’ll
skin that rabbit
and dress the prairie hens while that
cornbread bakes
hurry i’m hungry as a wolf
they sat on the wood pile in the wind
and sunshine
and watched paul work with his hunting
knife
the big rabbit was shot through the eye
and the prairie hen’s heads were shot
clean away
they never knew what hit him paw said
laura held the edge of the rabbit’s skin
while paw’s king knife ripped it off the
rabbit meat
i’ll salt this skin and peg it out on
the house wall to dry he said
it will make a warm fur cat for some
little girl to wear next winter
but laura could not forget the indians
she said to paw that if they had turned
jack loose
he would have eaten those indians right
up
paul laid down the knife did you girls
even
think of turning jack loose he asked in
a dreadful voice
laura’s head bowed down and she
whispered
yes paw after i told you not to
pause said in a more dreadful voice
laura couldn’t speak but mary choked
yes pot for a moment paul was silent
he sighed a long sigh like maw’s sigh
after the indians went away
after this he said in a terrible voice
you girls remember always to do as
you’re told
don’t you even think of disobeying me do
you hear
yes paw laura and mary whispered
do you know what would have happened if
you had turned jack loose
paw asked no paw
they whispered he would have bitten
those indians said paw
then there would have been trouble bad
trouble
do you understand yes pa
they said but they did not understand
would they have killed jack laura asked
yes and that’s not all
you girls remember this you do as you’re
told no matter
what happens yes paw
laura said and mary said yes paw
they were glad they had not turned jack
loose
do as you’re told said paw and no harm
will come to you