Taking a deep breath, she said, “Olina, suppose someone took you to town and you were sold and the people made a pet out of you. What would you think?”
“I wouldn't like it. That would be awful.”
“It is awful. That's what I'm trying to tell you.”
Olina's brow wrinkled. She rolled over on her side and supported her head with her hand, keeping her blue eyes fixed on Sarah. Some thought seemed to trouble her. “You don't like me?”
“Oh, yes, I do like you, Olina. We all do. You take care of us so well. But you take care of your puppy and your kittens out in the barn the same way. And we're not like them.”
“What do you mean, Sarah?”
“I mean, we're not animals—we're people, just like you are.”
“Oh, we're a lot different.”
“No, you aren't—except in size. When you hurt your thumb yesterday, it hurt.” She held up her own thumb and said, “When I hurt mine, it hurts too. Sometimes you get lonesome; so do I. You have good friends, and so do I. I'm just smaller than you are.”
That seemed to be a new thought to the giant child. She pursed her lips and frowned slightly. “But you're not like us.”
For the next twenty minutes Sarah did her best to get through to the girl, but it seemed to be a hopeless matter.
Finally Olina went as far as she knew how. “You're my friend, Sarah,” she said. “I love you.”
There was such charm in the young giantess, though she was huge and sometimes clumsy, that Sarah could not help but smile. “I love you too, Olina. I'd do anything for you. So we're friends.”
Later on that evening, Sarah and Josh were watching while Olina and her mother cooked supper. “I tried to talk to Olina today about how we're people, just like she is.”
“I don't think you'll ever get her to understand that.”
“I suppose not. She's sweet, but as far as she's concerned we're just toys or pets, little dolls for her to play with.”
“Well, she's never seen anything like us. I don't know what I would have thought if a person sue inches high would have popped up on my doorstep.” He nudged Sarah. “Maybe I would have sold him at the county fair.”
“No, you wouldn't. You're not like that, Josh.”
The two of them sat there quietly. They had been friends a long time and had learned that friends didn't have to talk all the time. Once Josh had said, “Sarah, it's nice to be around you. You don't talk all the time like other girls.”
Sarah had been angry until she realized that he was paying her a compliment.
“What do you suppose is happening to the captain and Dawn?” Josh asked.
“I'm worried about them. What if they separated them? Dawn would just die. She's really like a child. She's been so protected.”
“I've thought about that myself.” He looked at Sarah quickly and said, “And I've thought about what would happen if they separated us.”
“Oh, that can't happen!”
“It might. Gant's no man to overlook money. He's not very smart, but he's greedy enough to make up for it. He'll be coming back soon.”
A silence fell over them again, and for a while they sat just thinking. Sarah recalled how many adventures they had gone through together. She said, “I remember back in Oldworld, you didn't like me very much when I first came to stay with your family.” Sarah's parents had to be overseas, and Josh's family had taken her in.
“That's what you think,” Josh said. “I took one look at you and said, “That's the prettiest girl I ever saw in my life!'”
Sarah turned to face him. “You do have your moments, Josh.” Then she frowned. “You certainly kept your thoughts to yourself, though.”
“Ah, well … I was an ugly, gawky kid. Couldn't walk without falling down. Couldn't play sports. I knew you'd be taken with the other guys.”
“I wasn't though. I always liked you—from the very first. Best friends, aren't we, Josh?”
Josh reached over and took her hand. “Best friends.” He smiled.
They were out of their cage and in the middle of supper when the door slammed, and Sarah looked up to see Gant come in.
His round, blunt features were flushed, and his eyes gleamed. “I'm home,” he said, “and look what I have.”
Reaching into his pocket, the giant pulled out a leather bag. He opened the string that held it together and poured out the contents on the table by the Sleepers' cage. “Gold,” he said. “Did you ever see so much gold, wife?”
Gant's wife picked up a coin. “My,” she said, “think what I can buy with this—a new dress!”
“You can have five new dresses, if you like.” Gant grinned. He reached down and hugged Olina. “And you can have that pony you've been begging me for. How do you like that?”
Olina's eyes gleamed. “Where did you get it all, Papa?”
“I sold the two Little People—to the king, no less.”
Gant's wife and Olina sat down while the giant boasted how he had forced the king to pay a high price for his wares. He ignored the Sleepers as though they were animals—livestock—not to be considered.
While he talked, Dave walked up to one of the coins. It was more than a foot in diameter and very thick. He struggled to pick it up but could not. “It's made out of solid gold,” he said. “Think what this would be worth back home. Why, we could all live like kings on what was in this bag.”
“We're not likely to get a chance,” Jake grumbled. But he came over too and examined the coins with interest. “If he got this much for the captain and Dawn, he'll be wanting to get more for us,” he guessed shrewdly.
Jake was not wrong. As soon as Gant had finished his story, he turned and stood over the Sleepers, grinning broadly. “These Little People—they're my gold mine,” he said. “But I won't be fool enough to let the king know about them.”
“What will you do?” Gant's wife asked.
“I'll take one of them at a time. Nobody knows that I have more. And I'll take them far away where some of the rich people up in the north country are. Why, they've got as much money as the king, and they'll all want to have what the king has. You know how rich people are.”
“But the Little People won't like being separated!” Olina protested. She looked down at Sarah's distressed face. “See … look … they don't like it.”
Gant shrugged. “They won't mind. They'll be well fed.”
“But they'll be lonesome.”
“Maybe they'll get 'em a pet, a bird or something else small. That would be something—pets having pets— wouldn't it?”
He stretched hugely and said, “I'll rest up tomorrow and go buy me a horse and a wagon. I'm going in style this time. But day after tomorrow, I'll pick one of them out.” He leaned over and studied them all. His hand shot out, and he picked up Sarah. “This one—she talks a lot. She ought to be nice.”
“No, that's my favorite!”
Gant patted Olina on the head with his free hand. “As I say, you'll have a pony. You won't miss this one. And you've got six more to play with—for a while.”
“Are you going to sell them all?” Olina protested, tears in her eyes.
“Oh, I may let you keep one. You can pick any one you like.”
“Then I pick that one,” Olina said quickly, pointing at Sarah.
“Well, all right. She's a special pet of yours.” Gant put Sarah down and snatched up Abbey. “Then I'll take this one. She'll do just as well.”
There was misery among the Sleepers that night. Abbey was pale. Dave put his arm around her on one side, and Sarah did the same on the other.
“I'll never see any of you again,” Abbey said. Her lips were drawn into a tight line, and she was fighting against tears. “All of us will be alone.”
“It would be a nice time for Goél to come and settle all of this.” Josh had spoken impulsively, and for a moment hope gleamed in his eyes. “But he's taught us to use our heads to get out of our troubles whenever we can. I guess we should try harder. And when
we really need him, we can count on him to come.”
Jake's face was a mask of gloom. “We'd better try harder, because all we've got is a little while, then Abbey'11 be gone—and then all of us.”
“We've sure got to do something,” Josh said. “We have to think of a way out of this.”
Sarah squeezed his arm approvingly. “You'll think of something.” She smiled faintly. “You always do, Josh Adams.”
11
A Piece of String
Gant left early in the morning, his booming voice saying, “I'll be back with a horse and carriage late tonight. Tomorrow I'll leave to sell that pretty little doll of yours.”
Josh looked at Abbey. She turned white and looked up at Dave, who was standing beside her. “It frightens me to think of it, Dave. Just think what it'll be like being all alone in a cage somewhere. I won't have you or any of the others to talk to.”
Dave put his arm around her and drew her close. His voice was husky as he said, “Somehow I know it's going to be all right. Every jam we've gotten into looked like it was impossible to get out of at the time, but Goél always made a way.”
“But all the other times we were on some kind of quest for Goél,” Abbey said quietly. “This time we're just on a vacation.”
Dave's handsome face was totally serious, and Josh thought he had grown up a great deal over the past months. Now his blue eyes were filled with compassion for the girl. “Somehow,” he said, “I don't think Goél is interested in us only when we're doing his work. He's interested in us all the time. He likes us just for ourselves.”
“Do you think that, Dave?”
“Sure I do, and he'll somehow get us out of this fix too.”
Late that afternoon Olina took a nap, and the Sleepers, having nothing to do, lay around resting. A cloud of sadness hung over the cage.
Most of them were asleep, but Abbey and Jake were restless and talked quietly. Abbey knew that Jake knew she was worried. He did not allude to the fact that she would be taken away first but told her stories about his boyhood in Oldworld, trying to make her laugh.
But Abbey could not put out of her mind the future that seemed so dark, and after a while both fell silent.
Then, “I just wish we'd never come on this trip,” Jake said moodily.
“So do I,” Abbey agreed. “I've complained so much about some of the things that have happened to us on our adventures, but this is absolutely the worst.”
“Hey, guess what! Guess what!”
The two looked up at Wash, who had been lying on a pad made out of one of Olina's handkerchiefs. He was sitting up and scratching his head, and there was a strange look in his eye. “I just had a dream.”
“A nightmare?” Jake asked.
“No, no, it was a good dream. I dreamed about Goél.”
“Tell us about it!” Abbey and Jake exclaimed at once. So many times in the past when things had been absolutely bleak, Goél had come to them—either in person or in a dream but always to bring encouragement.
Wash looked at them blankly. “I can't remember I was just asleep, you know, and I seemed to see him like he always looks. He has such a nice, kind face, but I can't remember anything else.”
“What good is a dream like that?” Jake demanded. “It's important when Goél talks to us. You've got to remember.”
“Well, I can't help it,” Wash said, looking half angry at himself. Always before, the others had known exactly what Goél said. “It's right on the edge of my mind, but I just can't get hold of it.”
“Maybe you'll think of it soon. Try hard. It's real important,” Abbey pleaded.
“Yeah, yeah, I'll do that. I'll think real hard.”
After Olina's nap, she took them outside. They went for a ride on the board in the pond, and a fish, almost as large as the boat, came up and stared at Wash and Abbey as they poled around.
“Did you think of it yet, Wash? What Goél said?”
“Not yet,” he said, “but I'm working on it.”
All afternoon Abbey tried to make the sun slow down. But it seemed to be falling rapidly, and she knew this would be her last night with her friends unless a miracle happened.
The others all seemed sober too. Their turn was coming, but she knew they all felt especially sorry for her, who would be the first to go.
Reb tried to make her laugh. There was a hen that was interested in the small people. She was much higher than Reb's head and had a sharp beak. She came by and pecked at him, and Reb slapped her on the head, then grabbed her around the neck. The hen began to cluck and flutter away, but Reb threw himself over the bird's back.
“Come on, chicken!” he said. “Let's see some good old-time Texas-style bucking!”
The Sleepers gathered around, watching as the chicken ran wildly around the yard. They were inside a small fence and could not escape, so Olina let them have their fun. Reb hollered and jerked off the Stetson that he had preserved through the shipwreck and, holding onto a handful of feathers, yelled shrilly, “Come on, let's see some bucking!”
The poor hen, however, had never had anything like this happen to her before. She flapped about in circles, clucking wildly.
Everyone was laughing, even Abbey.
Finally Reb patted the hen on the head. “You're all right, old girl,” he said. “Not much of a bucker, but you'd sure make a big platter of fried chicken.” He slipped to the ground and walked over to Abbey. “How about you having a ride, Abbey? I'll hold this critter down for you.”
“No, thank you, Reb.” She smiled. “Nice of you to offer, but I've never had much of a desire to ride a chicken.”
As it grew darker, Olina put the Sleepers into their box and took them back into the house. While she helped her mother set the table, the Sleepers as usual sat at their own little table on their rough chairs.
By chance, they had fried chicken for supper. Olina took one leg and put it in the middle of the table and laughed as the Sleepers stared at it. “There's your supper. You want me to cut it up for you?”
“You'll have to,” Reb shouted. “That leg's as big as an ox.”
Olina took a sharp knife and cut the meat into small fragments. She also spooned out some gravy into a small bowl, and they all dipped their bread into it.
Abbey was not eating; she was glad no one said anything to her about it.
Just as they were finishing, she heard Gant's voice, and he entered, talking excitedly about the wagon and the horses he'd bought.
“I'll leave first thing in the morning,” he said, squeezing his wife and mussing Olina's hair. “When I come back, I'll have enough gold to buy the best pony you ever saw.”
That spoiled the evening for all of the Sleepers, and everyone seemed glad when Olina put them into their cage. The door was always firmly fastened at the top with a latch that none of them could reach. They had tried every way they could think of but had found no way to get at it.
Finally the giants were in bed, and silence fell over the house. It was then that Abbey began to cry. She made no noise about it for a while, then finally could not contain a sob.
At that Sarah reached over and pulled her close. “Don't cry,” she said. “Please don't cry.”
“I can't help it! I can't stand the thought of being all alone!”
“It scares me too. The rest of us will go the same way if Gant has his way.”
Then the Sleepers all gathered on the girls' side of the partition, drawn together by their mutual peril. They stood and talked softly for a long time—all except Wash, who sat with his back to the side of the cage, his head bowed. He was obviously thinking hard.
Josh tried to encourage them all. Then he said, “I'm sorry—I'm not much of a leader to get us into a thing like this.”
“Why, it's not your fault, Josh,” Sarah said. “We all wanted to come.”
“Yes, and nobody could have known how a thing like this would wind up,” Dave added. “Besides, it's not over yet.”
Jake shook his head stubbornly
. He was pessimistic by nature and said, “Well, it's almost over. I hate to see that morning sun—”
“I got it!”
Abbey and everyone else turned and looked at Wash, who was scrambling to stand up. “I'm a pretty slow thinker, but I just finally remembered what it was that Goél said to me.”
“What was it?” they all cried, their eyes fixed on the boy's dark face.
“Well, it just all come rushing back while I was sitting here,” he said slowly. His eyes glowed, and he smiled. “He told me that he hadn't forgotten about us. Said that he knew all about our trip here, all about the shipwreck. I guess he knows everything.” Wash shook his head in admiration. “I dreamed I asked him, ‘But Goél, how're we going to get out of here?’”
“And what did he say?” Jake demanded.
“He said, ‘All you need is to do a little more fishing.’”
Silence ran around the group. The Sleepers looked at each other, then their eyes came back to Wash.
“What does that mean?” Jake said. “We need to do a little more fishing?”
“Well, I don't know about that, but that's what he said in my dream.”
“That's no good,” Jake said. He flung himself down and struck the side of the cage with his fist. “You just ate too much of something.”
“I don't think so,” Josh said slowly. He seemed to be thinking hard. “Goél has always come like this, sometimes in person but sometimes in a dream. The first time he came to me, we were in a jail. I didn't know him very well, but he came, and I saw him, but nobody else could. I think this is like that.”
“I think so too,” Sarah said quickly. “Somehow, he's trying to tell us something.”
“Well, I wish he'd just come out and tell us instead of hinting around.” Jake grunted. “It's too scary around here to fool around with guessing.”
“I think he likes us to figure out things for ourselves,” Sarah said slowly. She tapped her chin thoughtfully with her forefinger. “Going fishing—going fishing—what in the world could that mean?”
“Well, it's too late to go fishing anyway. We can't go unless Olina takes us.”
“It's too late to go to the pond or the river,” Josh said, “but did he mean that?”
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