Book 2 2. CROSSING THE CREEK Little House On The Prairie By Laura Ingalls Wilder
crossing the creek
pat and patty began to trot briskly as
if they were glad too
laura held tight to the wagon bow and
stood up in the jolting wagon
beyond pau’s shoulder and far across the
waves of green grass
she could see the trees and they were
not like any trees she had seen before
they were no taller than bushes
whoa said paw suddenly
now which way he muttered to himself
the road divided here and you could not
tell which was the more traveled way
both of them were faint wheel tracks in
the grass
one went toward the west the other
sloped downward a little
toward the south both soon vanished in
the tall
blowing grass better go downhill i guess
paw decided the creeks down in the
bottoms
must be this is the way to the ford he
turned pet and patty toward the south
the road went down and up and down
and up again over gently curving land
the trees were nearer now but they were
no taller
then laura gasped and clutched the wagon
bow
for almost under pets and paddy’s noses
there was no more blowing grass
there was no land at all
she looked beyond the edge of the land
and across the tops of the trees
the road turned there for a little way
it went along the cliff’s top
then it went sharply downward paw put on
the brakes
pat and patty braced themselves backward
and
almost sat down the wagon wheel
slid onward little by little lowering
the wagon
farther down the steep slope into the
ground
jagged cliffs of bare red earth rose up
on both sides of the wagon grass
waved along their tops but nothing grew
on there seemed
straight up and down sides they were hot
and heat came from them against laura’s
face
the wind was still blowing overhead
but it did not blow down into this deep
crack in the ground
the stillness seemed strange and empty
then once more the wagon was level
the narrow crack down which it had come
opened into the bottomlands here grew
the tall trees
whose tops lara had seen from the
prairie above
shady groves were scattered on the
rolling meadows
and in the groves deer were lying down
hardly to be seen among the shadows the
deer turned their heads toward the wagon
and curious fawns stood up to see it
more clearly
laura was surprised because she did not
see the creek
but the bottomlands were wide down here
below the prairie
there were gentle hills and open sunny
places
the air was still and hot under the
wagon wheels
the ground was soft in the sunny open
spaces the grass grew thin
and deer had cropped it short for a
while the high bare cliffs of red earth
stood up behind the wagon
but they were almost hidden behind hills
and trees
when pet and patty stopped to drink from
the creek
the rushing sound of the water filled
the still air
all along the creek banks the trees hung
over it
and made it dark with shadows in the
middle
it ran swiftly sparkling silver and blue
this creaks pretty high paul said
but i guess we can make it all right you
can see this is afford by the old wheel
ruts
what do you say caroline
whatever you say charles ma answered
pat and patty lifted their wet noses
they pricks their ears forward looking
at the creek then they pricked them
backward to hear what paul would say
they sighed and laid their soft noses
together to whisper to each other
a little way upstream jack was lapping
the water with his red tongue
i’ll tie down the wagon cover paw said
he climbed down from the seat unrolled
the canvas sides and tied them firmly to
the wagon box
then he pulled the rope at the back so
that the canvas puckered together in the
middle
leaving only a tiny round hole too small
to see through
mary huddled down on the bed she did not
like fords
she was afraid of the rushing water but
laura was excited
she liked the splashing paw climbed to
the seat
saying they may have to swim out there
in the middle
but we’ll make it all right caroline
laura thought of jack and said i wish
jack could ride in the wagon paw
paw did not answer he gathered the reins
tightly in his hands
ma said jack can swim laura
he will be all right the wagon went
forward softly in the mud
water began to splash against the wheels
the splashing grew louder the wagon
shook as the noisy water struck at it
then all at once the wagon lifted
and balanced and swayed it was a lovely
feeling
the noise stopped and ma said sharply
lie down girls quick as a flash mary and
laura drop flat on the bed
when ma spoke like that they did as they
were told
ma’s arm pulled a smothering blanket
over them heads and all
be still just as you are don’t move she
said
mary did not move she was trembling and
still
but laura could not help wriggling a
little bit she did so want to see what
was happening
she could feel the wagon swaying and
turning
the splashing was noisy again and again
it died away
then pau’s voice frightened laura it
said take them caroline
the wagon lurched there was a sudden
heavy splash beside it
laura set straight up and clawed the
blanket from her head
paul was gone ma sat alone holding tight
to the reins with both hands
mary hid her face in the blanket again
but laura rose up farther
she couldn’t see the creek bank she
couldn’t see anything in front of the
wagon but water rushing at it
and in the water three heads pet’s head
and paddy’s head and paws small wet head
paws fist in the water was holding tight
to pet’s bridle
laura can faintly hear paw’s voice
through the rushing of the water
it sounded calm and cheerful but she
couldn’t hear what he said
he was talking to the horses ma’s face
was white and scared
lie down laura ma said laura lay down
she felt cold and sick her eyes were
shut tight
but she could still see the terrible
water and pause brown beard drowning in
it
for a long long time the wagon swayed
and swung
and mary cried without making a sound
and laura’s stomach felt sicker and
sicker
then the front wheel struck and grated
and pau shouted the whole wagon
jerked and jolted and tipped backward
but the wheels were turning on the
ground
laura was up again holding to the seat
she saw pets and patties scrambling wet
backs
climbing a steep bank and paul running
beside them
shouting hi patty hi pet get up get up
whoopsy daisy good girls at the top of
the bank they stood still
panting and dripping and the wagon stood
still
safely out of that creek paul
stood panting and dripping too and moss
said
oh charles there there caroline
said paul we’re all safe thanks to a
good tight wagon box
well fastened to the running gear i
never saw a creek rise so fast in my
life
pat and patty are good swimmers but i
guess they wouldn’t have made it if i
hadn’t helped them
if paw had not known what to do or if ma
had been too frightened to drive or if
laura and mary had been
naughty and bothered her then they would
all have been lost
the river would have rolled them over
and over and carried them away
and drowned them and nobody would ever
have known what became of them
for weeks perhaps no other person would
come along that road
well said par all’s well that ends well
and ma said charles you’re wet to the
skin
before pau could answer laura cried
oh where’s jack they had forgotten jack
they had left him on the other side of
that dreadful water and now they could
not see him anywhere
he must have tried to swim after them
but they could not see him struggling in
the water now
laura swallowed hard to keep from crying
she knew it was shameful to cry but
there was crying inside her
all the long way from wisconsin poor
jacket followed them
so patiently and faithfully
and now they had left him to drown
he was so tired and they might have
taken him into the wagon he had stood on
the bank
and seen the wagon going away from him
as if they didn’t care for him
at all and he would never know how much
they wanted him
paul said he wouldn’t have done such a
thing to jack not for a million dollars
if he had known how that creek would
rise when they were in midstream
he would never have let jack try to swim
it
but that can’t be helped now he said
he went far up and down the creek bank
looking for jack
calling him and whistling for him it was
no use
jack was gone
at last there was nothing to do but to
go on
pat and patty were rested paw’s clothes
had dried on him while he searched for
jack
he took the reins again and drove up
hill
out of the river bottoms laura looked
back
all the way she knew she wouldn’t see
jack again
but she wanted to she didn’t see
anything but low curves of land coming
between the wagon and the creek
and beyond the creek those strange
cliffs of red earth
rose up again then other bluffs just
like them
stood up in front of the wagon faint
wheel tracks went into a crack
between those earthen walls pat and
patty climbed
till the crack became a small grassy
valley
and the valley widened out to the high
prairie once more
no road not even the faintest trace of
wheels or of a rider’s passing
could be seen anywhere that prairie
looked as if no human eye had ever seen
it before
only the tall wild grass covered the
endless
empty land and a great empty sky
arched over it far away
the sun’s edge touched the rim of the
earth
the sun was enormous and it was
throbbing
and pulsing with light all around the
sky’s edge
ran a pale pink glow and above the pink
was yellow and above that blue
above the blue the sky was no color at
all
purple shadows were gathering over the
land
and the wind was mourning
paw stopped the mustangs he and ma got
out of the wagon to make
camp and mary and laura climb down to
the ground too
oh ma laura begged jack has gone to
heaven hasn’t he
he was such a good dog can’t he go to
heaven
ma did not know what to answer but paul
said
yes laura he can god doesn’t forget the
sparrows won’t leave a good dog like
jack out in the cold
lara felt only a little better she was
not happy
paul did not whistle about his work as
usual
and after a while he said and what we’ll
do in a wild country without a good
watchdog i don’t know