Chapter 2
Pa builds the little house;
It was still dark, and Pa was packing everything into the wagon. Mary and Laura ate their breakfast in a hurry. When the sun came up, they were driving across the prairie again. There was no road now. So Pet and Patty walked through the tall grass.
Before noon, Pa stopped the wagon. 'Here we are, Caroline!' he said. 'We'll build our house right here.'
Laura and Mary jumped out. There was nothing around them but grass that reached to the edge of the sky.
Nearby was a creek. It lay below the prairie, but they could see the dark green tree-tops. Far away another line of different greens lay across the prairie.
'That's the Verdigris River,' Pa said to Ma.
Then Pa and Ma took everything out of the wagon and put it on the ground. They took the canvas off the wagon and covered all their things. Then Pa took his axe and drove away.
'Where's Pa going?' Laura asked.
'To get logs from the creek for our house,' Ma said.
It was strange and frightening to be without the wagon on the High Prairie. The land and the sky seemed too large, and Laura felt small. She wanted to hide in the tall grass like a prairie chicken. But she didn't. First she helped Ma make the beds under the canvas cover. Then she went for a walk.
She found a mysterious little path in the grass, and she followed it slowly. But suddenly she felt afraid and hurried back to Ma.
When Pa returned with the logs, Laura told him about the path. 'I saw it earlier,' he said. 'It's an old trail, I guess.' 'When will I see a papoose?' she asked.
'I don't know, Laura,' Pa replied. 'You only see Indians when they want you to see them.'
Day after day Pa drove to the creek. When he had enough logs, he measured the shape of the house on the ground by walking from side to side and front to back. He dug shallow trenches along two sides and rolled two big logs into them. Then he put two strong logs across the first two to make a square. With his axe he made a deep wide cut near the end of each log. The four logs fit together at these cuts. These four strong logs could hold up the new house.
All by himself Pa built the house three logs high. Then Ma helped him. Log by log, they built the walls higher while Laura played in the tall grass. One day she heard Pa shout, 'Caroline, be careful! Get out of the way!'
A big log was falling towards Ma. Pa couldn't stop it. It crashed down, and Ma fell to the ground.
Laura and Pa ran to Ma. The log was on her foot.
Pa lifted it and Ma pulled out her foot. Pa felt her leg; nothing was broken. 'Can you move your arms?' he asked.
'Can you turn your head?'
Ma moved her arms and turned her head. 'I'm all right,' she whispered.
'Thank God,' Pa said. 'Nothing's broken. It's only a bad sprain.'
Ma's face was gray but she said bravely, 'Well, a sprain will soon get better. Don't worry, Charles.'
But Ma's foot didn't get better for some time.
'The house must wait,' said Pa.
Then one afternoon, Pa came up the creek road singing. 'Good news!' he shouted. 'We have a neighbour only three kilometers away on the other side of the creek. I met him while I was hunting. He's going to help me finish our house, and then I'll go over and help him with his house.'
Early the next morning Mr Edwards arrived. He was tall and wore old clothes, but he was very polite to Ma. And he was a fast worker. In one day he and Pa finished the walls. They laughed and sang while they worked, and their axes made the wood fly. They cut holes for a door and two windows, and soon the house was finished except for the roof and floor.
Laura ran inside the new house. It smelled sweetly of cut wood and prairie grass. The sun shone through the window holes and fell across Laura's hands and her arms and her feet. The walls were thick and the house felt large and strong.
Ma had cooked a good supper and she and Pa invited Mr Edwards to stay. There was rabbit and hot cornbread with pork and even coffee with real sugar. Then Pa took out his fiddle. Mr Edwards lay on the ground near the fire to listen as Pa played Laura and Mary's favourite song, 'I am a Gypsy King'. Pa's voice was deeper than an old frog's. Laura could not stop laughing.
Then Mr Edwards jumped up and began to dance wildly in the moonlight. Pa played song after song while Mr Edwards danced. Laura's and Mary's hands were clapping and their feet were moving with the music, too. And Baby Carrie, who had woken up, was sitting in Ma's arms, clapping her little hands and laughing. When it was time for Mr Edwards to go, he took his gun and said good night. Pa played one last song as Mr Edwards walked away into the darkness, singing happily. When the song ended, the prairie was silent. Only the wind whispered in the tall grass.
'The walls are up,' Pa said to Ma the next morning. 'Let's move in. I heard wolves everywhere around us last night. We should have strong thick walls around us. I'll make the floor and roof later because I must build a stable for Pet and Patty as fast as I can. They should be safe inside walls, too.'
'Why haven't we seen any Indians?' Ma asked.
'I don't know,' Pa replied. 'I've seen the places where they camp. They're away hunting for food now, I guess.'
After breakfast Pa got on top of the walls to put the canvas wagon cover over the house. The canvas blew wildly in the wind, and so did Pa's hair. Once he almost flew away into the air like a big bird. But he finally tied the canvas down.
By dinner time, the house was ready. The beds were made on the floor. Short logs had become chairs. Pa's gun was up in its place over the door. It was a pleasant house.
'Before winter comes I'll make a wood floor and a solid roof,' Pa said. 'But that must wait until I finish helping Mr Edwards and building a stable. We're going to do well here, Caroline. We'll be happy here for the rest of our lives.'
Laura liked this place, too. She liked the great big sky, the winds, and the wide land. Everything was so clean and big and wonderful.
