By the Shores of Silver Lake (Little House 5)

“Oh, let me go! They’ll hurt Pa! Let me go, they’ll hurt Pa!” Laura screamed in a whisper.

“Be still!” Ma told her in a voice Laura had never heard before.

“Stand back, boys. Don’t crowd too close,” said Pa. Laura heard his cold voice and stood trembling.

Then she heard another voice behind the crowd. It was deep and strong, not loud, but plainly heard. “What’s up, boys?”

In the dark Laura could not see the red shirt, but only Big Jerry was so tall. He stood head and shoulders above the shadowy figures of the crowd. Beyond them in the dusk was a pale blur that would be the white horse. A confusion of voices answered Big Jerry, then he laughed. His laugh was big and booming.

“You fools!” Big Jerry laughed. “What’s the fuss about? You want the goods out of the store? Well, tomorrow we’ll take what we want of them. They’ll still be here. Nobody’ll stop us when we get started.”

Laura was hearing rough language. Big Jerry was using it. What he said was all mixed with swear words and with other words she had never heard. She hardly heard them now, because she felt all broken up; she felt as if everything was smashed like a dropped plate when Big Jerry took sides against Pa.

The crowd was all around Big Jerry now. He was calling some of the men by their names and talking to them about drinking and playing cards. Some of the crowd went with him toward the bunkhouse, then the rest of it broke into smaller pieces and scattered away in the dark.

Ma shut the door. “Bedtime, girls,” she said.

Laura went trembling to bed as Ma told her to do. Pa did not come. Now and then she heard an outbreak of loud, rough voices from the camp, and sometimes singing. She knew she would not sleep till Pa came.

Then her eyes opened suddenly. It was morning.

Beyond Silver Lake the sky was burning gold and one line of red cloud lay across it; the lake was rosy, and wild birds flew up clamoring. The camp was noisy too. All around the boarding shanty the men were gathered in a milling crowd, talking excitedly.

Ma and Laura stood outdoors at the corner of the shanty watching. They heard a shout and saw Big Jerry jump onto his white horse.

“Come on, boys!” he shouted. “All aboard for the fun!”

The white horse reared and whirled and reared again. Big Jerry gave a wild whoop, the white horse broke into a run, and away they went over the prairie toward the west. All the men rushed to the stable and in a minute man after man was on his horse and following Big Jerry. The whole crowd went streaming away on the horses and was gone.

A great, cool quietness came over the camp and over Laura and Ma. “Well!” Ma said.

They saw Pa walking from the store toward the boarding shanty. Fred, the foreman, came out of it and met him. They talked a minute. Then Fred went to the stable, got on his horse, and galloped away to the west.

Pa was chuckling. Ma said she did not know what there was to laugh about.

“That Big Jerry!” Pa’s laugh rang out. “By gum, if he didn’t lead ’em all away to do their devilment somewhere else!”

“Where?” Ma asked sharply.

Pa was sober then. “There’s a riot at Stebbins’ camp. Everybody’s flocking there from all the camps. You’re right, Caroline, it’s no laughing matter.”

All day the camp was quiet. Laura and Mary did not go for their walk. There was no telling what might be happening at Stebbins’ camp, nor when that dangerous crowd would come back. Ma’s eyes were anxious all day, her lips were tight, and now and then she sighed without knowing it.

After dark the men came. But they rode into camp more quietly than they had left it. They ate supper in the boarding shanty and then they went to bed in the bunkhouse.

Laura and Mary were still awake when Pa came late from the store. They lay quiet in their bunk and heard Pa and Ma talking beyond the lamplit curtain.

“Nothing to worry about now, Caroline,” Pa said. “They’re tired out and everything’s quiet.” He yawned, and sat down to take off his boots.

“What did they do, Charles? Was anybody hurt?” Ma asked.

“They strung up the paymaster,” said Pa. “And one man was hurt bad. They put him in a lumber wagon and started back east with him to find a doctor. Don’t get so upset, Caroline. We better thank our stars we got off so easy. It’s all over.”

“I don’t get upset till it is over,” Ma said. Her voice was shaking.

“Come here,” said Pa. Laura knew that now Ma was sitting on Pa’s knee. “There, I know you don’t,” he said to her. “Never mind, Caroline. The grading’s pretty near done, these camps’ll be closing down and gone before long, and next summer we’ll be settled on the homestead.”

“When are you going to pick it out?” said Ma.