The Long Winter (Little House 6)

Warming his hands above the stove, he looked down at the little pile of twisted hay. “But I don’t need a light to twist hay,” he said. “And we must have more now. There’s not enough here for morning.”

He went out to twist hay and Laura took the coffee mill from Mary. Turning the little handle around and around made the arm and shoulder ache so badly that they must take turns at the grinding. The little mill ground wheat so slowly that they had to keep it grinding all the time to make flour enough to bake for each meal.

Ma took off Grace’s shoes and warmed her feet by the oven door while she slipped off her little dress, pulled on her nightgown, and wrapped her in the shawl that was warming over a chair by the stove.

“Come, Carrie, if you’re good and warm,” she said. “I’ll put Grace in bed with you now.”

When Grace and Carrie were tucked in bed with the warm shawl and the hot flatiron Ma came downstairs.

“I’ll grind wheat now, Laura,” she said. “You and Mary go to bed. As soon as Pa comes in we’ll go to bed, too, to save this hay that is so hard to get and to twist.”

Chapter 20

Antelope!

There came a sunny day when the loose snow was rolling like drifts of smoke across the frozen white prairie.

Pa came hurrying into the house. “There’s a herd of antelope west of town!” he said, as he took his shotgun down from its hooks and filled his pockets with cartridges.

Laura threw Ma’s shawl around her and ran into the cold front room. She scratched a peephole through the frost on the window and she saw a crowd of men gathering in the street. Several were on horseback. Mr. Foster and Almanzo Wilder were riding the beautiful Morgan horses. Cap Garland came running and joined the men on foot who were listening to Pa. They all carried guns. They looked excited and their voices sounded excited and loud.

“Come back where it’s warm, Laura,” Ma called.

“Think of venison!” Laura said, hanging up the shawl. “I hope Pa gets two antelopes!”

“I will be glad to have some meat to go with the brown bread,” Ma said. “But we must not count chickens before they are hatched.”

“Why, Ma, Pa will get an antelope, if there are any antelopes,” said Laura.

Carrie brought a dish of wheat to fill the hopper of the coffee mill that Mary was grinding. “Roast venison,” Carrie said. “With gravy, gravy on the potatoes and the brown bread!”

“Wait a minute, Mary!” Laura exclaimed. “Listen. There they go!”

The steady wind rushed by the house and whistled shrill along the eaves, but they could dimly hear the voices and the feet of men and horses moving away along Main Street.

At the end of the street they paused. They could see, a mile away across the snowdrifts and the blowing snow, the gray herd of antelope drifting southward.

“Slow and easy does it,” said Pa. “Give us time to work around ’em to the north before you boys close in from the south. Come in slow and herd ’em toward us without scaring ’em, if you can, till they’re in gunshot. There’s no hurry, we’ve got the day before us and if we work it right we ought to get us one apiece.”

“Maybe we’d better ride to the north and you fellows on foot surround ’em from the south,” Mr. Foster said.

“No, let it go as Ingalls said,” Mr. Harthorn told him. “Come on, boys!”

“String out,” Pa called. “And go slow and easy. Don’t scare ’em!”

On the Morgans, Almanzo and Mr. Foster took the lead. The cold wind made the horses eager to go. They pricked their ears forward and back and tossed their heads, jingling the bits and pretending to shy a little at their own shadows. They stretched their noses forward, pulling on the bits and prancing to go faster.

“Hold her steady,” Almanzo said to Mr. Foster. “Don’t saw on the bits, she’s tender-mouthed.” Mr. Foster did not know how to ride. He was as nervous as Lady and he was making her more nervous. He bounced in the saddle and did not hold the reins steadily. Almanzo was sorry he had let him ride Lady. “Careful, Foster,” Almanzo said. “That mare will jump out from under you.”

“What’s the matter with her? What’s the matter with her?” Mr. Foster chattered in the cold wind. “Oh, there they are!”

In the clear air the antelope seemed nearer than they were. Beyond the drifting herd the men on foot were working westward. Almanzo saw Mr. Ingalls at the head of the line. In a few more minutes they would have the herd surrounded.

He turned to speak to Mr. Foster and he saw Lady’s saddle empty. At that instant a shot deafened him and both horses jumped high and far. Almanzo reined Prince down, as Lady streaked away.

Foster was jumping up and down, waving his gun and yelling. Crazy with excitement, he had jumped off Lady, let go her reins, and fired at the antelope that were too far away to hit.

Heads and tails up, the antelope were skimming away as if the wind were blowing them above the snowdrifts. Brown Lady overtook the gray herd and reached its middle, running with them.