Book 2 7. THE WOLFPACK Little House On The Prairie By Laura Ingalls Wilder
the wolf pack
all in one day paul and mr edwards built
the stable for pet and patty
they even put the roof on working so
late that ma had to keep supper waiting
for them there was no stable door
but in the moonlight paul drove two
stout posts
well into the ground one on either side
of the doorway
he put pat and patty inside the stable
and then he laid small split logs one
above another across the door space
the posts held them and they made a
solid wall
now said paul let those wolves howl
i’ll sleep tonight in the morning
when he lifted the split logs from
behind the posts
laura was amazed beside pet
stood a long-legged long-eared wobbly
little coat
when laura ran toward it gentle pet laid
back her ears and snapped her teeth at
laura
keep back laura paul said sharply
he said to pet now pit
you know we won’t hurt your little colt
pat answered him with a soft winnie she
would let paws stroke her cult
but she would not let laura or mary come
near it
when they even peeked at it through the
cracks in the stable wall
pet rolled the whites of her eyes at
them and showed them her
teeth they had never seen a cult with
ears so long paw said it was a little
mule
but lara said it looked like a
jackrabbit so they named the little cult
bunny when pat was on the picket line
with bunny frisking around her and
wondering at the big world
laura must watch baby carrie carefully
if anyone but paw came near bunny pet
squealed with rage and dashed to bite
that little girl
early that sunday afternoon paul wrote
paddy a way across the prairie to see
what he should see
there was plenty of meat in the house so
he did not take his gun
he rode away through the tall grass
along the rim of the creek bluffs
flew up before him and circled and sank
into the grasses
paul was looking down into the creek
bottoms as he rode
perhaps he was watching deer browsing
there
then patty broke into a gallop and
swiftly she
and paul grew smaller soon there was
only waving grass where they had been
late that afternoon paul had not come
home
mastered the coals of the fire and laid
chips on them
and began to get supper mary was in the
house minding the baby
and laura asked ma what’s the matter
with jack
jack was walking up and down looking
worried
he wrinkled his nose at the wind and
then
hair rose up on his neck and lay down
and then rose up again pet’s hooves
suddenly thudded she ran around the
circle of her picket rope and stood
still
quickering a low wicker bunny came close
to her
what’s the matter jack ma asked
he looked up at her but he couldn’t say
anything
ma gazed around the whole circle of
earth and sky
she could not see anything unusual
likely it isn’t anything laura she said
she raked coals around the coffee pot
and the spider
and onto the top of the bake oven the
prairie hen sizzled in the spider
and the corn cakes began to smell good
but all the time mark kept glancing at
the prairie all around
jack walked about restlessly and pet did
not graze
she faced the northwest where paw had
gone
and kept her cult close beside her
all at once paddy came running across
the prairie
she was stretched out running with all
her might and paul was leaning almost
flat on her neck
she ran right past the stable before pau
could stop her
he stopped her so hard that she almost
sat down
she was trembling all over and her black
coat was streaked with sweat
and foam paw swung off her and he was
breathing hard too
what is the matter charles ma asked him
paul was looking toward the creek so ma
and laura looked at it too
but they could see only the space above
the bottom lands with a few tree tops in
it
and the distant tops of the earthen
bluffs under the high prairies grasses
what is it ma asked again why did you
ride patty like that
paul breathed a long breath i was afraid
the wolves would beat me here
but i see everything’s all right wolves
she cried what wolves
everything’s all right caroline said paw
let a fella get his breath
when he had got some breath he said i
didn’t ride patty like that
it was all i could do to hold her at all
fifty wolves caroline the biggest wolves
i ever saw
i wouldn’t go through such a thing again
not for a mint of money
a shadow came over the prairie just then
because the sun had gone down and paul
said i’ll tell you about it later
we’ll eat supper in the house said ma no
need of that he told her jack will give
us warning and plenty of time
he brought pet and her colt from the
picket line
he didn’t take them and patty to drink
from the creek as he usually did
he gave them the water in ma’s wash tub
which was standing full ready for the
washing next morning
he rubbed down paddy’s sweaty sides and
legs and put her in the barn with
pet and bunny supper was ready
the campfire made a circle of light in
the dark
laura and mary stayed close to the fire
and kept baby carry with them
they could feel the dark all around them
and they kept looking behind them at the
place where the dark mixed with the edge
of the firelight
shadows moved there as if they were
alive
jack said on his hunches beside laura
the edges of his ears were lifted
listening to the dark
now and then he walked a little way into
it
he walked all around the campfire and
came back to sit beside laura
the hair lay flat on his thick neck and
he did not growl
his teeth showed a little but that was
because he was a bulldog
laura and mary ate their corn cakes and
the prairie hens drumsticks
and they listened to paul while he told
ma
about the wolves
he had found some more neighbors
settlers were coming in
and settling along both sides of the
creek
less than three miles away in a hollow
on the high prairie
a man and his wife were building a house
their name was scott and paul said they
were nice
folks six miles beyond them
two bachelors were living in one house
they had taken two
farms and built the house on the line
between them
one man’s bunk was against one wall of
the house
and the other man spunk was against the
other wall
so each man slept on his own farm
although they were in the same house
and the house was only eight feet wide
they cooked and ate together in the
middle of the house
paul had not said anything about the
wolves yet
laura wished he would but she knew that
she must not interrupt when paul was
talking
he said that these bachelors did not
know that anyone else was in the country
they had seen nobody but indians so they
were glad to see paw
and he stayed there longer than he had
meant to
then he rode on and from a little rise
in the prairie
he saw a white speck down in the creek
bottoms
he thought it was a covered wagon and it
was
when he came to it he found a man and
his wife and five children
they had come from iowa and they had
camped in the bottoms because
one of their horses was sick the horse
was better now
but the bad night air so near the creek
had given them fever and egg you
the man and his wife and the three
oldest children were too sick to stand
up
the little boy and girl no bigger than
mary and laura
were taking care of them so paul did
what he could for them
and then he wrote back to tell the
bachelors about them
one of them rode right away to fetch
that family up on the high prairie
where they would soon get well in the
good air
one thing had led to another until paul
was starting home later than he had
meant
he took a shortcut across the prairie
and as he was loping along on paddy
suddenly out of a little draw came a
pack of wolves
they were all around paul in a moment
it was a big pack paw said all
of fifty wolves and the biggest wolves i
ever saw in my life
must be what they call buffalo wolves
their leader is a big gray brute that
stands three feet at the shoulder of an
inch i’ll tell you my hair stood
straight on
end and you didn’t have your gun
said ma i thought of that but my gun
would have been no use if i’d had it
you can’t fight 50 wolves with one gun
and paddy couldn’t outrun them
what did you do ma asked nothing
said paw patty tried to run
i never wanted anything worse than i
wanted to get away from there
but i knew if paddy even started those
wolves would be on us in a minute
pulling us down
so i held paddy to a walk goodness
charles moss said under her breath
yes i wouldn’t go through such a thing
again for any money
caroline i never saw such wolves one big
fella trotted along
right by my stirrup i could have kicked
him in the ribs
they didn’t pay any attention to me at
all they must have just made a kill and
eaten all they could
i tell you caroline those wolves just
closed in around paddy and me
and trotted along with us in broad
daylight
for all the world like a pack of dogs
going along with a horse
they were all around us trotting along
and jumping and playing and snapping at
each other
just like dogs goodness
charles ma said again laura’s heart was
thumping fast and her mouth and her
eyes were wide open staring at paw
patty was shaking all over and fighting
the bit
said paw sweat ran off her she was so
scared
i was sweating too but i held her down
to a walk
and we went walking along among those
wolves
they came right along with us a quarter
of a mile or more
that big fella trotted by my stirrup as
if he was there to stay
then we came to the head of a draw
running down into the creek bottoms
the big gray leader went down in it and
all the rest of the pack trotted down
into it behind him
as soon as the last one was in the draw
i let paddy go
she headed straight for home across the
prairie and she couldn’t run faster if
i’d been cutting into her with a rawhide
whip
i was scared the whole way i thought the
wolves might be coming this way and they
might
be making better time than i was i was
glad you had the gun caroline
and glad the house is built i know you
could keep the wolves out of the house
with the gun
but pat and the colt were outside you
need not have worried charles mars said
i guess i would manage to save our
horses
i was not fully reasonable at the time
said paul
i know you would save the horses
caroline those wolves wouldn’t bother
you anyway
if they had been hungry i wouldn’t be
here to
little pictures have big ears ma said
she meant that he must not frighten mary
and laura
well all’s well that ends well paul
replied
and those wolves are miles from here by
now
what made them act like that laura asked
him
i don’t know laura he said
i guess they had just eaten all they
could hold and they were on their way to
the creek to get a drink
or perhaps they were out playing on the
prairie and
not paying any attention to anything but
their play
like little girls do sometimes perhaps
they saw that i didn’t have my gun and i
couldn’t do them any harm
or perhaps they’d never seen a man
before and didn’t know that men can do
them any harm
so they didn’t think about me at all
pat and patty were restlessly walking
around and around inside the barn
jack walked around the campfire when he
stood still to smell the air and listen
the hair lifted on his neck
bedtime for little girls ma said
cheerfully
not even baby carrie was sleepy yet but
ma took them all into the house
she told mary and laura to go to bed and
she put
baby carrie’s little nightgown on and
laid her in the big bed
then she went outdoors to do the dishes
laura wanted parma in the house they
seemed so far away outside
mary and laura were good and lay still
but carrie set up
and played by herself in the dark in the
dark
paw’s arm came from behind the quilt in
the doorway
and quietly took away his gun
out by the campfire the tin plates
rattled
then a knife scraped the spider ma and
paul were talking together
and laura smelled tobacco smoke
the house was safe but it did not feel
safe because pau’s gun was not over the
door
and there was no door it was only the
quilt
after a long time ma lifted the quilt
baby carrie was asleep then
mom park came in very quietly and very
quietly went to bed
jack lay across the doorway but his chin
was not on his paws
his head was up listening
ma breathed softly bob wreathed heavily
and mary was asleep too but laura
strained her eyes in the dark to watch
jack
she could not tell whether the hair was
standing up on his neck
suddenly she was sitting straight up in
bed
she had been asleep the dark was gone
moonlight streamed through the window
hole and streaks of moonlight came
through every crack in that wall
paw stood black in the moonlight at the
window
he had his gun right in laura’s ear
a wolf howled she scringed away from the
wall
the wolf was on the other side of it
laura was too scared to make a sound
the cold was not in her backbone only it
was all through her
mary pulled the quilt over her head jack
growled and showed his teeth at the
quilt in the doorway be still jack
paul said terrible howls curled
all around inside the house and laura
rose out of bed
she wanted to go to paul but she knew
better than to bother him now
he turned his head and saw her standing
in her nightgown
want to see them laura he asked softly
laura couldn’t say anything but she
nodded and patted across the ground to
him
he stood his gun against the wall and
lifted her up to the window hole
there in the moonlight set half a circle
of wolves
they sat on their haunches and looked at
laura in the window and she looked at
them
she had never seen such big wolves
the biggest one was taller than laura he
was taller even than mary
he sat in the middle exactly opposite
laura
everything about him was big his pointed
ears and his pointed mouth with the
tongue hanging out
and his strong shoulders and legs and
his two paws
side by side and his tail curled around
the squatting hunch
his coat was shaggy gray and his eyes
were glittering green
lara clutched her toes into a crack of
the wall
and she folded her arms on the window
slab and she looked
and looked at that wolf but she did not
put her head through the empty window
space into the outdoors where all those
wolves sat so near her
shifting their paws and licking their
chops
paw stood firm against her back and kept
his arm tight around her middle
he’s awful big laura whispered
yes and see how his coat shines
paul whispered into her hair the
moonlight made little glitters in the
edges of the shaggy fur
all around the big wolf
they are in a ring clear around the
house
paul whispered laura pattered beside him
to the other window
he leaned his gun against that wall and
lifted her up again
there sure enough was the other half of
the circle of wolves
all their eyes glittered green in the
shadow of the house
laura could hear their breathing when
they saw paw and laura looking out
the middle of the circle moved back a
little way
pat and patty were squealing and running
inside the barn
their hooves pounded the ground and
crashed against the walls
after a moment paul went back to the
other window and laura went too
they were just in time to see the big
wolf lift his nose till it pointed
straight
at the sky his mouth opened
and a long howl rose toward the moon
then all around the house the circle of
wolves
pointed their noses toward the sky and
answered him
their howl shuddered through the house
and filled the moonlight and quavered
away across
the vast silence of the prairie
now go back to bed little half-pint paw
said
go to sleep jack and i will take care of
you all
so laura went back to bed but for a long
time she did not sleep
she lay and listened to the breathing of
the wolves on the other side of the log
wall
she heard the scratch of their claws on
the ground and the snuffling of a nose
at a crack
she heard the big grey leader howl again
and all the others answering him but
paul was walking quietly from one window
hole to the other
and jack did not stop pacing up and down
before the quilt that hung in the
doorway
the wolves might howl but they could not
get in
while paul and jack were there so at
last
laura fell asleep