As Sarah served him breakfast, she found herself telling him about the last few days. As she was talking, the miners returned with the two runaways on their horses.
As they neared, the stranger eating breakfast rose to his feet. “Those horses . . . they look familiar. They are! They are mine! They were stolen!”
The two runaways looked up and saw him. They kicked the horses as hard as they could. The horses plunged, wheeled, and took off with the runaways hanging on.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
A Baby Horse and a Missing Donkey
TONY AND HIS TWO COMPANIONS raced after them. They easily caught the already-tired horses. Sarah could understand how the schoolmaster could identify them so easily. They were a matched pair of striking white and black mares.
One of the horse thieves slid from the saddle and tried to make a run for it. Red was on top of him instantly. The other man, a younger one, remained in his saddle, looking terrified.
As they brought them back, one of the miners shouted, “Horse thieves!”
“String ‘em up!” someone else shouted. “We don’t need them around.”
Sarah felt her stomach tighten with panic. She grabbed the kettle and spoon again and banged with all her might, hoping she would be heard above the roaring crowd. Gradually, they quieted.
“There will be no lynching!” Sarah said, firmly. “We will not act in haste.”
“Sarah’s right!” said the schoolmaster. “They are my horses. And I will have some say in the matter!” He turned to Sarah. “Do you have any idea what their punishment should be?”
“I don’t know,” Sarah shrugged. “It’s obvious they hate to work. I say we make them work and work hard.”
“That sounds like a good idea!” Mr. Douglas said. “They can start by mucking out the barn.”
A cheer went up from the men. “And chopping enough fire wood to last all winter.”
“And making the hay! By themselves!”
Suddenly, the crowd was noisy again, as suggestions rang out. Sarah could see the humor had been restored as the shouts got more wild and hilarious by the minute. The two horse thieves looked pale and scared.
The schoolmaster held up his hands for silence. Finally, he took Sarah’s kettle and banged on it again. “As you all know, horse stealing is a hanging offense.” He held up his hands to silence the crowd again, then glanced at Sarah. “If they cleaned out the whole barn, would that buy breakfast for all of us?”
“It sure would!” As the crowd cheered again, Sarah told the schoolmaster, “I’m not sure we have enough prepared for everyone, but we have enough that everyone can start.”
“Good enough.” The schoolmaster relayed the message, then suggested that everyone take a seat. Many sat on the porch, but the others just sat in the yard.
Sarah hurried in to start dishing out food, while Ma sliced some more bacon to fry. To Sarah, it seemed like a long time until everyone was satisfied.
When she and Ma finally sat down to their own breakfast, the schoolmaster stepped into the kitchen. He had surprised Sarah by helping. Now he grinned and pulled up an empty chair. Instead of sitting on it, he emptied the contents of his hat. Sarah stared in amazement at the coins and gold pieces that tumbled out. “That, Miss Sarah, is for breakfast. The miners suggested you use it for chairs or benches.”
“But I thought their breakfast was paid by the horse thieves.”
“They paid this because they didn’t think that was fair to you and your ma. There are two men here that finally admitted to being furniture makers. After some harassing from the others, they agreed to stay and make tables and chairs for you. They are waiting outside for you.”
As Sarah started to rise, the schoolmaster motioned her to sit down again. “Finish breakfast. They are out there visiting.”
Ma and Sarah discussed what they would need as they finished eating. By the time they finished, Baby Brian was fussy again, so Sarah went out to talk to the men.
Sarah was surprised they both had several men to help them. She found them arguing good-naturedly about who was the best. “My chairs are so beautiful even the Queen of Sheba would feel too humble to sit on one.”
“Oh ho! She’d be afeared it wouldn’t hold her, that’s what. She’d sure enough be afeared to sit on one o’ your chairs, sure she’d tumble to the ground and break one o’ her dainty ankles. Now, if she had a glimpse o’ one o’ mine, she’d set herself down right elegantly.”
“I’m sure she’d set right down if she had a glimpse of one of your ankles!” roared the first man.
Sarah couldn’t keep from chuckling at the hearty laughter that followed. But when they saw her approaching, they became all business. Sarah showed them a list of the tables, chairs, and benches they thought they would need. After discussing supplies and costs, the men promised to get busy right away.
So while Sarah was rolling out pie crusts, Ma was baking bread and Dorie was rolling cookie dough into balls. Sarah could hear the pounding and sawing in the background, along with much laughter. The furniture makers seemed to be a jolly bunch. Sarah glanced out the window to where the two horse thieves were busy chopping wood. Mr. Douglas had told her earlier, the men seemed so grateful to escape the hangman’s noose, they had become quite willing workers.
They had even offered to stay and plant some of the fields. Sarah wondered if they were up to something, but Mr. Douglas seemed to think they were afraid of the other miners.
“What shall we have for supper, Ma?” Sarah asked, as she poured peach pie filling into the pie shells. They usually didn’t have as large a crowd for the noon meal as the evening meal.
“How about mashed potatoes with hamburger gravy? We haven’t had that for a while.”
“Sounds great. Do we need any other meat?”
“Let’s fry some beef chunks, too. They are always hungry, and they pay well.”
“I know most of them pay more than we ask, like this morning. When Mr. Douglas goes to town again, maybe he should get some more plates and cups and things.”
“Yes, we’ll have to add that to the list, and also—”
The door banged open suddenly, and Dennis came tearing in, followed by Li’l Joe. “Guess what! Guess what!” Dennis shouted. “You’ll never guess in one hundred guesses!” he shouted excitedly.
From the bedroom, Brian started to cry. “What? What?” asked Gracie, jumping up and down, clearly as delighted as Dennis. “What happened?”
Dennis couldn’t wait for anyone to guess and shouted, “Lady had a baby!”
Gracie looked puzzled. “Ma, can horses have babies?”
“A baby horse, you silly.” Dennis was still shouting. “Horses have baby horses, not baby people.”
Sarah had to stifle her laughter, both at Gracie’s question and Dennis’ indignant answer. She looked at Ma, who was holding Brian and biting her lips to keep from laughing.
Gracie was a bit miffed at Dennis’ attitude. “Baby horses!” she said, in as an indignant a tone as a three-year-old could manage. “Ma, there’s no such thing as a baby horse, is there?”
Ma couldn’t keep from smiling. “Let’s go see, shall we?” Sarah quickly checked the oven while Dorie washed the cookie dough from her hands. Li’l Joe scooped up Gracie, and they all trooped to the barn.
In the barn, they found Lady’s pen surrounded by the rest of the men that were still here. They stepped aside to let them through. Inside the pen, Lady was nuzzling a tiny, wet, sorrel foal. “Oh, my!” murmured Gracie. “A real, for sure, baby horse.”
The men chuckled, and then quieted, as the filly tried to stand on wobbly legs. She tottered slightly and tumbled into the soft straw.
“She can’t stand,” cried Gracie. “Someone help her.” But the little filly was already struggling back to her feet.
After watching a few minutes longer, Ma suggested everyone give them some peace.
As they turned to leave, Dorie stopped at the donkey’s stall. She asked, “May we play
with Minnie awhile, Ma?”
“I’ll keep an eye on them, ma’am,” offered Mr. Douglas, leading the small, gray donkey from the stall.
While Sarah finished the pies, she could see the miners through the kitchen window taking turns to lead Minnie around while the children took turns to ride. She smiled to herself. Most of the miners were good men. The ones that weren’t, well, the good ones were more than willing to take care of them. Sarah slid four more pies into the oven. Still I wish Pa and David were here. They are probably having all kinds of adventures, Sarah thought as she closed the oven door.
The next morning as Sarah cut the peach pies for breakfast, Dennis came flying down the stairs, his worn, green shirttails billowing out behind him. “I’m going out to check on Lady’s foal,” he called, as he smashed a torn straw hat on his uncombed hair.
In minutes, he was back inside, yelling, “Minnie’s gone! Our donkey’s gone!”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Adding On
“IT WEREN’T US! HONEST!” CLAIMED the recent horse thieves, looking pale and frightened. Sarah was sure they recalled the crowd that had threatened to hang them only yesterday.
“The donkey was obviously stolen from the field,” said Mr. Douglas. “That’s why no one heard anything.”
“I’m still surprised the dogs didn’t bark,” commented Sarah.
“Where are the dogs?” asked Dennis. “I haven’t seen them yet this morning.”
“We’ll spread out and search,” offered one of the miners.
Sarah wanted to join in the search but knew she had to get breakfast started. It wouldn’t be long until the yard would be full of hungry miners wanting a hearty breakfast. As it was, Li’l Joe had joined the search, which meant more work for Sarah and Ma. Sarah had been tempted to ask Dennis to help with the breakfast, but he was fighting tears. He loved the five dogs, but especially Sparky, his half-grown pup. It was better if he could join the search.
As Sarah peeled potatoes, her mind went over their breakfast menu. Hash browns, ham, fried mush, biscuits, and gravy. “Ma, should we fry eggs, too?” Sarah asked.
“We still have plenty. I think we’d better. Some of these men haven’t had eggs for a long time.”
“They usually pay extra if we do. If I get time, I’ll make some syrup for the mush, too. Lots of the miners have a sweet tooth.”
Brian cried from the bedroom. Sarah glanced at Ma. “Do you want me to get him?”
Ma was washing her hands. “No, he’s probably still fussy. He didn’t sleep much last night. He’s still teething. Poor Baby. The biscuits are ready to bake.”
If Brian didn’t sleep much, I’ll bet Ma didn’t either, Sarah thought. After breakfast, I’ll make her go lie down awhile again. The boys and I can do the dishes. Then as a treat, we could let them go to town with Mr. Douglas. Sarah stirred the potatoes, then began slicing ham. Oh, yes! We need to make a list—
A shout from the yard interrupted her thoughts. The dogs! Sarah heard them barking excitedly. She quickly pushed everything to the back of the stove and hurried outside.
The dogs were running in circles and barking, all except Buster, the biggest one. He lay on his side. Mr. Douglas was bending over him. “He got a pretty hard knock on the head,” he said. “It would have probably killed a smaller dog.”
As Sarah approached, Buster raised his head slightly and wagged his tail. “Where were they?”
“Locked in the old chicken coop in the orchard,” Mr. Douglas answered.
“Sounds like it was someone they knew,” said one of the furniture makers.
“It probably was,” Mr. Douglas agreed. “But who? They’ve met a lot of people the last while.”
“I’m just so glad they’re okay,” Sarah said. “They are okay, aren’t they?”
“I think they’ll be fine.” Mr. Douglas ran his hands over Buster’s long body. “The others have sores, too, but Buster got it the worst.”
A noise made Sarah look up in time to see four miners walking in the lane. “I need to finish breakfast.” She quickly gave Buster another loving pat and hurried back inside.
“The dogs are going to be okay,” Sarah told Ma as she fried the mush. “But there is no sign of Minnie. We still have the ponies, but the children loved that little donkey, too.”
“I doubt that we’ll see her again,” Ma said. “Mr. Douglas said thieves are even worse farther south. I’m just glad they aren’t stealing chickens anymore. We really need the eggs.”
“Mr. Marner, one of the guys making furniture for us, said we can use the two benches for breakfast, and then they’ll finish them later. Mr. Douglas said they can put some boards over the saw horses to make a table for now.”
Ma chuckled. “Do we have enough dishes to set another table?”
But they managed just fine. After breakfast, Mr. Douglas told Sarah a man wanted to talk to her and Ma. Sarah quickly told Ma her plan about letting Dennis and Li’l Joe go along to town. As soon as the boys found out, they hurried to do the dishes.
“I want to go, too, Ma,” begged Dorie. “Please! Please! I’m a good helper, too, Ma!”
“I’ll keep hold of her hand all the time we’re there,” promised Mr. Douglas.
“Oh, Mr. Douglas!” cried Dorie, throwing her arms around his legs. “I love you! I do!”
Mr. Douglas laughed and swung her in the air. “Your ma hasn’t said ‘yes’ yet.”
Ma was laughing, too. “I can’t see how I can say no.”
The man who wanted to talk to Ma and Sarah turned out to be a carpenter. “I came to dig for gold and found it not to my liking,” he told them. “When I heard about the men making furniture for you, I wondered if you would allow me to build your restaurant. I would be fair and if people could see my work, they might offer me other jobs. It would benefit us both.”
“I wondered where we are going to put those beautiful tables and chairs they are building,” Sarah said. “We don’t want to leave them outside in all kinds of weather.”
“I was thinking . . . ” began Louis, as the carpenter insisted they call him. “May I draw on your table?” he asked, grinning, referring to the board placed on saw horses.
“Of course,” Ma answered, chuckling.
In a few minutes, he had drawn a new kitchen connected to the existing one, with a large dining room beside it. Sarah and Ma looked over it, adding a few more windows and another small room. “In the summer, we’ll do most of our cooking in this room,” Sarah explained. “It’ll keep the main kitchen cooler.” She thought for a minute, then added a larger pantry and a store room.
Mr. Marner, one of the furniture makers, was looking over the plans. “We can make some cupboards for along here, with plenty of work space, add a large table here and a smaller one here . . . What do you ladies think?”
“Can we afford all that, Ma?” Sarah asked, hopefully.
“If you can’t yet, you can pay me as you can,” offered Louis. “I’m sure I’ll be back plenty of times for your good cooking.”
“Same here,” agreed Mr. Marner. “That’s fine with us, too.”
An hour later, Louis left for town with Mr. Douglas, Li’l Joe, Dennis, and Dorie. Ma was in the bedroom resting with Baby Brian. Gracie was playing doll. In the background, Sarah could hear the furniture makers’ good-natured teasing and hammering. The horse thieves were busy planting the last of the crops. They had turned out to be fairly good farmers, after they were scared into working. Sarah was suspicious they were afraid to leave the protection they received on the farm.
Sarah was making pie pockets. The miners loved to take them along with them when they left. She smiled as she remembered the way they had fussed when she fried donuts. Wish I had time to make some now, Sarah thought. But they take so long to raise .
As Sarah slid the bread into the oven, she had an idea. She had quite a few pie pockets ready, but she couldn’t bake them until the bread was finished. What would happen if I tried to fry some? Sarah filled a ke
ttle with lard and put it on the stove. As she waited for it to heat, she made a glaze like she put on donuts. I’ll just try one, she promised herself. If they are a flop, only Ma will know.
Later, as she waited for the first golden pie pocket to cool, she decided to do a few more.
Suddenly, there was a loud hammering on the door. Sarah hurried to answer, so they wouldn’t wake Ma and Baby Brian. It was a man in fancy clothes, much fancier than any miners wore. He held a shiny top hat in his hands. “Ma’am,” he said. “We have a very sick man in the carriage.” Sarah could see a fancy carriage on the lane. “Someone told us a Mr. Douglas McCall lives here.” At Sarah’s nod, he continued. “We have his son, Adrian, in the carriage. I don’t think he is long for this world.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Adrian
“OH MY!” EXCLAIMED SARAH. “CAN you bring him inside? Has a doctor seen him? What is wrong with him?”
“Yes, ma’am,” replied the man, in the fancy top hat. “We can bring him inside if you’re sure you want us to. There are no doctors in the area. And he was beaten up when he accused another man of cheating at cards. He looks pretty bad. You said his father is here?”
“Yes, I mean no. I mean he usually is,” Sarah stammered. “What I mean is, he lives here, but he went to town for supplies.”
“What’s wrong, Sarah?” Sarah turned to Ma with relief. She was standing behind her holding Brian.
“Oh, Ma! They brought Adrian, Mr. Douglas’ son. And he’s hurt real bad. They think he’s dying. He got beat up. And oh, Ma! What is Mr. Douglas going to do?” Sarah couldn’t stop the tears from falling.
Ma put her arm around Sarah as the man stepped forward and introduced himself.
“Sarah, go get a blanket. We can move him easier that way. We’ll put him in my bed.”
“We’ll help move him, ma’am.” Sarah glanced up to see the miners that had been working on new furniture for the restaurant and even the horse thieves standing respectfully nearby.
She snatched Baby Brian from Ma’s arms and hurried inside to get a blanket. She almost couldn’t bear to watch as they carefully eased the battered and too-silent form onto Pa and Ma’s bed.
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