Ida's New World

by Lise Muusmann

  “We are getting wet,” Ida said. “It is coming inside.”

  “Here,” Rose shouted. “Here are a couple more blankets you can pull over yourselves.” She threw the blankets to them, and Ida pulled Lisa under cover with her. Then along with the rain came some very sudden, testy gusts of wind. The horses tried to keep their eyes from the wind and the wheels could barely stay on the track. The wagon lurched violently.

  “We are almost in the forest!” Henry shouted encouragement to the brave horses.

  “Won’t it be dangerous in the forest if the trees should fall?” Frederik shouted, and looked behind them at the boiling clouds in despair.

  “Yes, perhaps, but more importantly, the hills and the tall trees will break up the wind when it comes.” Henry said and urged the horses to struggle on. The pair had sensed the trees and were doing their best to reach shelter. Ida peered out at the sky and tightly held Lisa, who cried out in fear.

  “I want to go home,” she whined and curled up like a ball.

  “Now then, it won’t be long before we are finished the journey and we will come to the place where we are going to make our homestead,” Ida promised brightly. “And in the next town we are going to buy sugar candy.”

  “What is sugar candy?” Lisa asked, and peered out at Ida for a moment.

  “Don’t you know sugar candy?” Ida asked surprised.

  “No. What is it?” Lisa asked and then cried out loudly, because the wagon lurched alarmingly in the wind.

  “Sugar candy is wonderful,” Ida whispered and held her little sister tightly. “It is brown and sweet and is the very best thing for frights.”

  ”What awful weather!” Henry shouted. The two men were soaking wet as the horses plunged in under the first trees, stamping and snorting.

  “At last! Here we will be sheltered by the hill and by these good strong trees.” Henry stood on the box, holding the reins and guiding the trembling horses.

  They had reached the forested area in a low valley with hills on both sides. Henry had managed to get the horses and wagon under cover before the worst of the storm broke. The welcome shelter of the trees and the hill could be felt immediately, the wind did not have the same force here, but the rain was still pouring down. Henry jumped down and unharnessing the frightened horses, led them deeper into the trees and tethered them where they turned with their backs to the weather. Frederik hurried under the canvas to get to the women and children. Anna sat quietly and cried. Her face was soaking wet with rain and tears. Now the weather really raged out on the prairie. They had been so lucky to have managed to get into shelter before it really hit or the wagon would surely have overturned, the horses fled or worse.

  The weather raged for two more hours and then stopped as abruptly as it started.

  “Well, there won’t be any coffee to be had,” Henry said, “because we can’t make a fire when everything is so wet.” They climbed out of the wagon to stretch their legs and look around. The air was heavy with fragrance from the rain soaked trees and prairie grasses.

  Chapter 27

  The trees dripped, the horses drooped, the canvas sagged, and everything was soaking wet. The sky was dark grey and sinister.

  “Are we not yet out of the country of the mean spirits?” Frederik asked and shook himself. Henry nodded and kicked at a wagon wheel hub. The wheels had stayed on!

  “Well, just a bit further to go, then we shall reach a good area, where there are also some lakes.”

  “Have you been here before?” Frederik asked him.

  “I have been through here. This is where you come, when you want to get away from everything. Canada is also just a little further up,” Henry said and pointed upwards past the valley.

  “No, not to Canada. We have been travelling more than enough already. I hope we shall arrive where we can settle and make a homestead soon.”

  Henry nodded. “We are staying here tonight,” he said and looked at Rose who nodded in agreement.

  “Yes, we have some bread and meat. That will have to do, nothing warm,” she answered with a little smile on her lips.

  Henry and Frederik climbed into the wagon to change into dry clothes. Everything that was wet was hung out to dry on low branches. The women served up the bread and the meat and poured water into the drinking mugs. Now that the storm was over, they could take the time to look around and saw that the valley was a beautiful place. There was also a little spring with nice clean water to replenish their water supplies and let the horses drink as much as they wished. When darkness came, they all settled inside the wagon. It was very cosy, there was hardly room to breathe.

  Suddenly Ida woke up, and found everything was trembling. The wagon with its wooden arches and drying canvas was rocking strangely. She jumped up and looked out the rear. It was still pitch dark and she could not see a thing. But the earth was rumbling.

  “Buffalo,” said Henry, stirring awake. “It is a big herd passing by out on the prairie. They flatten everything in their wake and the whole countryside rattles and shakes”

  “How lucky we are, not to have pitched camp out on the prairie,” Rose said. “We could have been trampled to pieces.”

  “Yes, we are sitting very nicely here in this valley,” Frederik said. “It sounds like thunder.” Henry looked over at the blanket where his son was still hiding.

  “We were really lucky that we were forced off track and into this valley, because of the weather. When a big herd rushes by at great speed, nothing stands a chance.”

  “Nothing is ever so bad, that it is not good for something,” Anna said philosophically, in Danish. Ida translated and they all agreed.

  When the shaking and the rumbling finally stopped, they all settled down to sleep again. Ida was lying at the very back of the wagon and was almost afraid she might fall out in her sleep. But never the less, she fell deeply asleep and was woken up by her face being licked, accompanied by soft warm breath. She opened her eyes and stared straight into big brown eyes right up close. The big wet tongue came out again and licked all of her face in one swipe.

  “Argh!” Ida sat up. “There is a big brown box cow at the wagon. I am being licked in the face!”

  “It is so sweet,” Lisa giggled and sat up to pat the calf on the head.

  “What?” Frederik came to the back of the wagon and looked out on the big brown calf. “It is a young bison.”

  “Buffalo!” Henry shouted and raced out of the front of the wagon with his gun. He pushed the calf away from the wagon and then he shot it. The calf bellowed and ran straight into a tree, before it fell over.

  “Now the poor thing is dead,” Lisa said sadly looking at the calf in amazement. It was lying against the tree, with all four legs pointing straight up into the air.

  “Well, he was unlucky to get lost from the herd, but that was lucky for us. Now we shall have meat for many days. Rose, now it is the women’s turn to butcher it,” Henry declared.

  “Yes, that is as maybe. But you men will have to help us hang it up to get the hide off, so we can sell it. The meat we can manage ourselves.”

  She rolled up her sleeves and rummaged in a box for tools. She brought out some long knives, a big hammer and an axe. Rose handed a knife to Katrina and one to Anna. “Let’s go.”

   Chapter 28

  It was quite a bloody day in the little valley with the beautiful stream. The water turned red, and the biggest tree was decorated with the hanging frame of the calf, dripping blood. The women were soaked in the calf’s blood from top to bottom.

  “How are we going to transport all this meat?” Frederik asked and looked at Henry, who was sawing the largest slabs of meat into smaller pieces. He worked on for a while before answering. Then he straightened up and looked at Frederik.

  “We will build and Indian sled by connecting two long branches to the back of the wagon. We build a frame to create a sled-webbing between them and then we drag everything we don’t want in the wagon, behind us on the sled. We can put the s
alted meat in sacks and transport it there. That is the way the Indians transport their stuff, when they are moving from one settlement to another."

  “They use sled to move house?” Ida asked surprised.

  Henry merely nodded and carried on with the butchery. It was late afternoon before they had the sled ready.

  “Will the sled be strong enough?” Katrina asked doubtfully. She looked at the fragile-looking contraption.

  “Oh yes,” Henry answered. “I have done this many times, and it works remarkably well.”

  “Have you learned this from the Indians?” Henry asked. Henry nodded. “Have you lived with them then?”

  “I worked with some Indians, when we lived in Nebraska. I also learned a few words in one of their languages.”

  “Is it difficult?” Ida asked but she was staring at the piles of butchered meat, which was being salted and wrapped in cloth before being packed down on the criss-crossed branches of the sled. Henry saw the look on her face.

  “When we stop for dinner,” he said, “we will make a fine fire and fry some good fresh steaks.”

  The girls jumped with excitement and Stephen looked out from under his blanket.

  “Stephen, don’t worry, you will get a really good steak,” Rose said and waved at him. He hid under the blanket again.

  It was late before they had finished the butchery, but finally the bison meat had been packed and loaded onto the Indian sled. The girls were wondering whether the sled would be strong enough to endure the weight and the bumpy journey over the prairie.

  “Look, it is following straight behind us,” Ida said, watching the sled with its load jiggling about as it was dragged along the trail. It wasn’t long before the girls fell into a deep sleep, the long day had brought more than enough surprises.

  “Now we are approaching the land that might prove to be very interesting to us,” Henry said to Frederik. “We have been following the Missouri river for quite a while now.”

  “Yes, it is a very beautiful area,” Frederik agreed. “We are also getting rather tired of all this traveling.”

  “It is quite unbelievable, how people come here from so far away, and yet they do not know where the journey will end. Nobody could know, the land is so big and offers something quite different from what we know in Europe.”

  Frederik nodded in agreement and looked out over the prairie with its endless flowing grasses, that looked like an ocean never at rest.

  “Let’s set up our homesteads near to each other, so that we can be of help to each other?” Frederik asked.

  “We can sort that out,” Henry said and nodded, smiling. “We have done it before and so we do have some experience.”

  “Yes, that is what I had been thinking,” Frederik said with relief. “We have only been working as labourers back home. There was not much where we had any say.”

  “No, it is like that in many places in the old world. It is sad there is no development for the good of the people,” Henry answered in a bitter tone.

  “It will come,” Frederik said. “One day.”

  They drove until there was barely any light on the prairie. Darkness engulfed them. Henry halted the tired horses, and the women got down and busied themselves with preparing the evening meal and the men built up a bright warm fire.

  Chapter 29

  “What a party,” Katrina exclaimed, talking eagerly with her mouth full, holding a big juicy steak between her fingers.

  “I haven’t had so much real food for such a long time now, it seems.” She held her belly, and they all laughed happily and contended.

  “Yes, what wonderful food!” Ida shouted and danced around the fire. She pulled Lisa up, and they danced around with full bellies. Stephen had climbed down from the wagon, with his blanket still covering him. Now he lay next to Rose, under his blanket. One could hear noisy chewing. Occasionally a hand appeared to ask for more food.

  “Aren’t you coming out to dance with the girls?” Rose asked and lifted the edge of the blanket. By way of answer, the toy gun came out.

  “Bang, bang, bang.” Then withdrew, and Rose shook her head. They all went to bed immediately after the sumptuous meal, agreeing on an early start the next morning.

  “Tomorrow, we will arrive at the area where we might be able to set up a homestead,” Henry said. “We shall be driving north-west and it is going to be very exciting.”

  “Ida, you have to wake up now,” Katrina said. “Maybe we shall find the place today, where we are going to build our house.”

  Ida hurried to get up and gave Lisa a gentle shove. Breakfast consisted of flat bread and cold steaks, left over from the huge feast of the night before. The sled was checked over carefully, to ensure it was still sturdy enough to carry its precious cargo. Later, the day began to warm up, and the girls sat in the sun at the rear of the wagon, bare armed and looked out at the landscape. It did not take long before Ida spotted the flying feathers. There were many of them, but they kept at a distance. She cast a sidelong glance at the blanket where Stephen was hiding. The Indians had taken his brother.

  One could never know, if or when Stephen would get better, so that he could come out from under his blanket. Ida held Lisa tightly. Nobody would take her little sister from her! The feathers left shortly before they rolled into a small country town.

  “The Indians are gone now,” Ida shouted to Henry and Frederik.

  “Are you afraid of them?” Lisa whispered to Ida. She shook her head. When they jumped down from the wagon to shop at a small grocer, Ida asked her mother for some money.

  “Do you think they have got sugar candy?”

  “Go and ask them,” Katrina said.

  Ida took Lisa by the hand and they went together into the grocers shop. In the middle of all the wares sat an enormously big woman. She wore a tight black dress with a low neckline that showed off her big breasts. On her head she wore a hat trimmed with feathers of many colours.

  “Sugar Candy?” Ida asked.

  Lisa looked around the shop. The woman leaned forward a bit, and with her sausage like fingers she took sugar candy from a small basket. The hand was full of small brown pieces. Lisa looked at Ida, who nodded to the woman. Ida held out her apron to catch the sugar candy. Then she gave all the money to the woman, who counted it. Then the woman took more pieces of sugar candy and gave them to Lisa.

  “Have a taste,” Ida said and put a piece of sugar candy into Lisa’s mouth. She sucked at it and chewed the sugar candy. Her eyes became enormous as the sugar warmed in her mouth, and she laughed with excitement. Ida put more sugar candy into her hand.

  “Sugar candy is Good,” Lisa said.

  “Yes, good,” Ida answered and took Lisa by the other hand. They nodded goodbye to the enormous woman and went outside. The girls hurried towards Anna, who sat in the shadow in front of a small house from which came a lot of noise. The girls gave her some sugar candy and looked in through two swing doors. A lot of men sat in there and were drinking heavily. They shouted and saluted.

  “Yes, you are right,” Anna said. “They are on a binge.”

  Ida went in through the doors and looked around the room. It was packed full of men of all ages. Then she spotted Henry and Frederik and went over to them. Frederik bent down to her and whispered in her ear: “You will have to go outside, Ida. You are not allowed in here.” Lisa had followed Ida, and the men started to complain loudly. Ida quickly got hold of Lisa, and they ran out to Anna who laughed and shook her head at them.

  Chapter 30

  It had all worked out very well. Henry and Frederik sold half of the fresh meat to some of the locals, saying it would slow them down too much to travel with so many kilo. There were several eager takers, who paid well for the meat. The hide they sold to a popular shoe maker who could well afford to pay a top price for the soft calfskin. And the women had found a baker with fresh bread. It smelled wonderful in the wagon as they set off once more, and the girls were looking forward to lunch.

  The lan
dscape became more varied with forest clad hills and the wide river winding along in the middle of the view. The trail still followed the Missouri river, and Ida expected any moment to hear the announcement that they had arrived. It was a breathtaking sight with the fast flowing river on their right hand side. They frequently passed groups of Indians, who lived along the river in their tepees. Sometimes they saw an Indian out in his rounded canoe paddling on the river. Late one evening when they stopped at the riverside, several canoes came straight up to them. A couple of Indians sprang out of a canoe and showed them their catch. Big beautiful trout.

  “Fish!” Rose shouted. “Very fresh.” She nodded to the two Indians and found some money to pay for the fish.

  The Indians shook their heads. They had spotted Ida, and pointed eagerly at her. They indicated that they wanted her. Henry hurried to get out his revolver and positioned himself between the Indians and Ida with the revolver at the ready.

  “Quick, get Ida into the wagon,” he shouted. Frederik caught his daughter and threw her into the wagon. The Indians held back for a moment, but they appeared to be determined to take the girl along. More Indians came in their canoes and jumped ashore.

  “Bloody hell,” Henry shouted. “There will be hell to pay if I shoot one of them.”

  “I have a beautiful embroidered tablecloth,” Katrina shouted. “I’ll find it.” She jumped up into the wagon, and returned again in an instant, and showed it to the Indians. They looked eagerly at the tablecloth and felt the material admiringly. But the Indian who had presented the fish shook his head. Ida sat inside the wagon and peeking out, saw how the Indians were negotiating and bargaining for her. Frederik had also found his revolver and stood next to Henry. Ida got so scared, she started to cry. Lisa hid herself under a blanket like Stephen.

  Rose found more money which she threw on the ground at the Indians and there was an enraged discussion amongst them. Finally they took the money and grabbed the tablecloth from Katrina too. When they ran off to the canoes, they left several good large fish on the riverside. Ida howled, and Katrina rushed to comfort her, murmuring in soft, soothing words that it was alright. The Indians had gone.