Book 2 24. INDIANS RIDE AWAY Little House On The Prairie By Laura Ingalls Wilder
indians right away
there was another long night of sleep it
was so good to lie down and sleep
soundly
everything was safe and quiet only the
owls called
in the woods along the creek while the
great moon
sailed slowly over the curve of the sky
above the endless prairie
in the morning the sun shone warmly
down by the creek the frogs were
croaking
they cried by the edge of the pools
knee deep knee deep
better go round ever since ma had told
them what the frogs were saying
mary and laura could hear the words
plainly
the door was open to let in the warm
spring air
after breakfast paul went out whistling
merrily
he was going to hitch pat and patty to
the plow again
but his whistling suddenly stopped he
stood on the doorstep
looking toward the east and he said come
here caroline
and you mary and laura laura ran
out first and she was surprised
the indians were coming they did not
come on the creek road
they came riding up out of the creek
bottoms far to the east
first came the tall indian who had gone
riding by the house in the moonlight
jack was growling and laura’s heart beat
fast
she was glad to be close to paw but she
knew this was the good indian
the osage chief who had stopped the
terrible war cries
his black pony came trotting willingly
sniffing the wind that blew its mane and
tail like fluttering banners
the pony’s nose and head were free it
wore no bridle
not even one strap was on it anywhere
there was nothing to make it do anything
it didn’t want to do
willingly it came trotting along the old
indian trail
as if it liked to carry the indian on
its back
jack growled savagely trying to get
loose from his chain
he remembered this indian who had
pointed a gun at him
paz said be still jack
jack growled again and for the first
time in their lives
paw struck him lie down be still
paul said jack cowered down and was
still
the pony was very near now and laura’s
heart beat faster and faster
she looked at the indians beated
moccasin she looked up along the fringed
legging that clung to the pony’s bare
side
a bright colored blanket was wrapped
around the indian
one bare brown red arm carried a rifle
lightly across the pony’s naked
shoulders
then laura looked up at the indians
fierce still brown face
it was a proud still face
no matter what happened it would always
be like that
nothing would change it only the eyes
were alive in that face
and they gazed steadily far away to the
west
they did not move nothing moved
or changed except the eagle feathers
standing straight up from the scalp lock
on the shaved head the long feathers
swayed and dipped
waving and spinning in the wind as the
tall
indian on the black pony passed on into
the distance
duchenne himself paul said under his
breath
and he lifted his hand in salute
but the happy pony and the motionless
indian went by
they went by as if the house and the
stable and paw
and ma and mary and laura were not there
at all
paul and ma and mary and laura slowly
turned and looked at that indians proud
straight back
then other ponies and other blankets and
shaved heads
and eagle feathers came between one by
one on the path
more and more savage warriors were
riding behind duchenne
brown face after brown face went by
ponies manes and tails blew in the wind
beads glittered fringe flapped eagle
feathers were waving on all the naked
heads
rifles lying on the pony shoulders
bristled all along the line
laura was excited about the ponies there
were black ponies
bay ponies gray and brown and spotted
ponies
their little feet went trippity trip
trip trippity trip
pat pat a pat patter trippity pat patter
all along the indian trail
their nostrils widened at jack and their
body shied away from him
but they came on bravely looking with
their bright eyes at laura
oh the pretty ponies see the pretty
ponies
she cried clapping her hands look at the
spotted one
she thought she would never be tired of
watching those ponies come by
but after a while she began to look at
the women and children on their backs
the women and children came riding
behind the indian men
little naked brown indians no bigger
than mary and laura
were riding the pretty ponies the ponies
did not have to wear bridles or saddles
and the little indians did not have to
wear clothes
all their skin was out in the fresh air
and the sunshine
their straight black hair blew in the
wind and their black eyes sparkled with
joy
they sat on their pony stiff and still
like grown-up indians
laura looked and looked at the indian
children and they looked at her
she had a naughty wish to be a little
indian girl
of course she did not really mean it she
only wanted to be bare naked in the wind
and the sunshine and riding one of those
gay little ponies
the indian children’s mothers were
riding ponies too
leather fringe dangled between their
legs and blankets were wrapped around
their bodies
but the only thing on their heads was
their black smooth hair
their faces were brown and placid some
had narrow bundles tight on their backs
and tiny babies head stuck out of the
top of the bundles
and some babies and some small children
rode in baskets hanging at the pony
sides beside their mothers
more and more and more ponies passed and
more children
and more babies on their mother’s backs
and more babies in baskets on the pony
sides
then came a mother riding with a baby in
a basket on each side of her pony
laura looked straight into the bright
eyes of the little baby nearer her
only its small head showed above the
basket’s rim
its hair was black as a crow and its
eyes were black as a night when no stars
shine
those black eyes looked deep into
laura’s eyes
and she looked deep down into the
blackness of that little baby’s eyes
and she wanted that one little baby
paw she said get me that little indian
baby
hush laura pau told her sternly the
little baby was going by
its head turned and its eyes kept
looking into laura’s eyes
oh i want it i want it laura begged
the baby was going farther and farther
away but it did not stop looking back at
laura
it wants to stay with me laura begged
please paul please hush
laura paul said the indian woman wants
to keep her baby
laura pleaded and then she began to cry
it was shameful to cry but she couldn’t
help it
the little indian baby was gone she knew
she would never see it anymore
ma said she had never heard of such a
thing for shame laura
she said but laura could not stop crying
why on earth do you want an indian baby
of all things ma
asked her its eyes are so
black laura sobbed she could not say
what she meant
why laura ma said you don’t want another
baby we have a baby our own
baby i want the other one too
laura sobbed loudly well i declare
ma exclaimed look at the indians laura
said paw look west and then look east
and see what you see laura could hardly
see at first
her eyes were full of tears and sobs
kept jerking out of her throat
but she obeyed pause best she could and
in a moment
she was still as far as she could see to
the west
and as far as she could see to the east
there were indians
there was no end to the long long line
that’s an awful lot of indians pause
said
more and more and more indians came
riding by
baby kerry grew tired of looking at
indians and played by herself on the
floor
but laura sat on the doorstep pau stood
close beside her
and ma and mary stood on the doorway
they looked
and looked and looked at indians riding
by
it was dinner time and no one thought of
dinner
indian ponies were still going by
carrying bundles of skins and tent poles
and dangling baskets and cooking pots
there were a few more women and a few
more naked indian children
then the very last pony went by
but paul and ma and laura and mary still
stayed in the doorway
looking till that long line of indians
slowly pulled itself
over the western edge of the world and
nothing was left
but silence and emptiness
all the world seemed very quiet and
lonely
ma said she didn’t feel like doing
anything she was so let down
paul told her not to do anything but
rest
oh you must eat something charles ma
said
no said paw i don’t feel hungry
he went soberly to hitch up pet and
patty
and he began again to break the tough
sod with the plow
laura could not eat anything either she
sat
a long time on the doorstep looking into
the empty west where the indians had
gone
she seemed still to see waving feathers
and black eyes
and to hear the sound of pony’s feet