Book 5 10. HORSE THIEVES Little House On The Prairie By Laura Ingalls Wilder
horse thieves
one night at supper paw spoke hardly at
all
he only answered questions at last ma
asked aren’t you feeling well charles
i’m all right caroline paul answered
then what is the matter
ma demanded nothing paul said nothing to
worry about
well the fact is the boys have got word
to look out for horse thieves tonight
that’s high’s affair moss said i hope
you’ll let him tend to it
well don’t worry caroline paul said
laura and carrie looked at each other
and then at ma
after a moment ma said gently i wish
shoot out with it charles
big jerry’s been in camp paul said he’s
been here a week
and now he’s gone the boys say he’s in
with the gang of horse thieves
they say every time big jerry visits a
camp the best horses are stolen after he
leaves
they think he stays just long enough to
pick out the best teams and find out
what stalls they’re in
and then he comes back with his gang in
the night and gets away with them in the
dark
i always heard you can’t trust a
half-breed ma
said ma did not like indians she did not
like even half indians
we’d all have been scalped down on the
verdigris river if it hadn’t been for a
full blood
said paw we wouldn’t have been in any
danger of scalping if it hadn’t been for
those
howling savages said ma with fresh skunk
skins around their middles
and she made a sound that came from
remembering how those skunk skins
smelled
i don’t think jerry steals horses paw
said
but laura thought he said it as if he
hoped that saying it would make it so
the real trouble is he comes to camp
after payday
and wins all the boys money playing
poker that’s why some
of them would be glad to shoot him i
wonder high allows it
said ma if there’s anything as bad as
drink
it’s gambling they don’t have to gamble
if they don’t want to caroline paul
said if jerry wins their money it’s
their own fault
there never was a kinderhearted man than
big jerry he’d give the shirt off his
back
look how he takes care of old johnny
that’s so
ma admitted old johnny was the water
boss
he was a little whizzoned bent-backed
old irishman
he’d worked on railroads all his life
and now he was too old to work
so the company had given him the job of
carrying water to the men
every morning and again after dinner
little old johnny came to the well
to fill his two large wooden water pails
when they were full
he set his wooden yoke across his
shoulders and stooping
he hooked into the pails the two hooks
that hung from short chains
at each end of the yoke then with a
grunt and a groan
he straightened up the chains lifted the
heavy pails from the ground
and johnny steadied them with his hands
while he bore their weight on his
shoulders
he trotted under the weight with short
stiff steps
there was a tin dipper in each water
pail when he got to the men working on
the grade
johnny would trot along the line of work
so that any thirsty man could help
himself to a drink of water without
stopping work
johnny was so old that he was little
stooped
and shrunken his face was a mass of
wrinkles
but his blue eyes twinkled cheerily and
he always trotted as quickly as he could
so that no thirsty man need wait for a
drink
one morning before breakfast big jerry
had come to the door
and told ma that old johnny had been
sick all night he’s so
little and old ma’am big jerry said
the meals at the boarding shanty don’t
agree with them
would you give him a cup of hot tea and
a bit of breakfast
ma put several of her hot light biscuits
on a plate
and beside them she put a fried mashed
potato cake
and a slice of crisply fried salt pork
then she filled a little tin pail with
hot tea
and gave it all to big jerry after
breakfast
paul went to the bunk house to see old
johnny and later he told ma
that jerry had taken care of the poor
old man all night
johnny said that jerry had even spread
his own blanket over him to keep him
warm
and gone without any covering himself in
the cold
he couldn’t take better care of his own
father than he did of old johnny
paul said for that matter caroline i
don’t know but what we’re beholden to
them ourselves
they all remembered how big jerry had
come out of the prairie on his white
horse when the strange man was following
them and the sun was setting
well paul said getting up slowly i’ve
got to go sell the boys the ammunition
for their guns
i hope jerry doesn’t come back to camp
tonight
if he just rode up to see how old johnny
is rode up to the stable to put his
horse in
they’d shoot him oh no charles surely
they wouldn’t do that
ma exclaimed paul pulled on his hat
the one that’s doing most of the
talkings already killed one man
he said he got off easy on a plea of
self-defense but he served a term in
states prison
and big jerry cleaned him out last
payday he hasn’t got the nerve to face
big jerry but he’ll bushwhack him if he
gets the chance
paul went to the store and moss soberly
began to clear the table
while laura washed the dishes she
thought of big jerry and his white horse
she had seen them many times galloping
over the brown prairie
big jerry always wore a bright red shirt
he was always bareheaded
and his white horse never wore a strap
the night was dark when park came from
the store
he said that half a dozen men with
loaded guns were lying in weight around
the stable
it was bedtime there was not a light in
the camp
the dark shanties low against the land
could hardly be seen
only if you knew where to look you could
see them darker
in the dark there was a little star
shine on silver lake
and all around it stretched the black
prairie flat
under the velvet dark sky sparkling with
stars
the wind whispered cold in the dark and
the grass rustled
as if it were afraid laura looked
and listened and hurried shivering
into the shanty again behind the curtain
grace was sleeping
and ma was helping mary and carrie to
bed
paw had hung up his hat and sat down on
the bench
but he was not taking off his boots he
looked up when laura came in
and then he got up and put on his coat
he buttoned it all the way up
and turned up its collar so that his
gray shirt did not show
laura did not say a word paul put on his
hat
don’t sit up for me caroline he said
cheerfully
ma came from behind the curtain but paul
was gone
she went to the doorway and looked out
paul had disappeared in the darkness
after a minute ma
turned around and said bedtime laura
please ma let me stay up too laura
begged
i believe i won’t go to bed said ma not
for a while anyway i’m not sleepy
it’s no use to go to bed when you’re not
sleepy i’m not sleepy ma
laura said ma turned down the lamp
and blew it out she sat down in the
hickory rocker that paw had made for her
in indian territory
laura went softly on her bare feet
across the ground
and sat close beside ma they sat in the
dark
listening laura could hear a thin
faint humming in her ears it seemed to
be the sound
of her listening she could hear moz
breathing
and the slow breathing of grace asleep
and the faster breathing of mary and
carrie lying awake behind the curtain
the curtain made a faint sound moving a
little in the air from the open doorway
outside the doorway there was an oblong
of sky
and stars above the far away edge of
dark land
out there the wind sighed the grass
rustled and there was the tiny ceaseless
sound of little waves
lapping on the lakeshore a
sharp cry in the dark jerked all through
laura
she almost screamed it was only the call
of a wild goose
lost from its flock wild geese answered
it from the slough
and a quacking of sleepy ducks rose
ma let me go out and find paw laura
whispered
be quiet ma answered you couldn’t find
par
and he doesn’t want you to be quiet and
let paul take care of himself
i want to do something i’d rather do
something laura said
so would i said ma in the dark her hand
began softly to stroke laura’s head the
sun and the wind are drying your hair
laura
ma said you must brush it more you must
brush your hair a hundred strokes
every night before you go to bed yes ma
laura whispered i had lovely long hair
when your paw and i were married ma said
i could sit on the braids she did not
say any more
she went on stroking laura’s rough hair
while they listened for the sound of
shooting
there was one shining large star by the
black edge of the doorway
as time went on it moved
slowly it moved from east to west
and more slowly still the smaller stars
wheeled about it suddenly
laura and ma heard footsteps and in an
instant the stars were blotted out
paul was in the doorway laura jumped up
but ma only went
limp in the chair sitting up caroline
paul said sure you didn’t need to do
that
everything’s all right how did you know
that paul
laura asked how do you know big jerry
never mind flutter budget
post opted cheerfully big jerry’s all
right
he won’t be coming into camp tonight i
wouldn’t be surprised though if he rode
in this morning on his white horse
now go to bed let’s get what sleep we
can before sunrise
then pause great laugh ring out like
bells
there’ll be a sleepy bunch of men
working on the grade today
while laura was undressing behind the
curtain and paul was taking off his
boots on the other side of it
she heard him saying a low voice to ma
the best of it is caroline they’ll never
be a horse stolen from silver lake camp
sure enough early that morning laura saw
big jerry riding by the shanty on his
white horse
he held paw at the store and paul waved
to him
then big jerry and the white horse
galloped on and away toward where the
men were working
there never was a horse stolen from
silver lake camp
[Music]
you