Ticket to Curlew, page 6
Sam liked the games, but his favorite time of the day was the ride to school. The air was cool. Birds rose from the fields and gophers dodged into their holes as Prince passed. Sometimes they met a wagon on the track or saw John or Adam Martingale out working.
One morning Sam heard the sound of a horse coming up behind them. It was overtaking them quite fast and Sam twisted around to see who was in such a hurry.
It was the boy from the sod house. He was riding a big raw-boned black horse.
“Of course he can go faster than we can,” Sam said mostly to himself. “His horse has only one rider.”
Josie heard him. “And his horse is much bigger,” she said. “Prince is kind of small.”
Sam was saved from having to answer by a shout from the boy.
“Allo! Allo!”
Josie and Matt answered, “Hello,” but Sam, thinking that the boy wanted more room to pass them, guided Prince to the side of the track.
The boy didn’t pass. He stopped and smiled shyly at all of them. He was wearing a loose blue shirt and black trousers tucked into the tops of wide boots. On his head was a flat cap with a brim in front that shaded his eyes. He looked tall sitting so high on his horse and Sam thought he might be older than twelve.
After a minute the boy pointed to himself and said, “Gregor.”
Josie said in a pleased voice, “It’s his name!” She pointed to herself and said, “Josephine.” The boy frowned in a puzzled way, so she shrugged. “Oh, call me Josie. Everyone does. Josie.”
“Josie,” said Gregor.
Then Matt said, “I’m Matthew. But you can call me Matt.”
Gregor beamed and said slowly and clearly, “Matte-oh.”
“It must be the way to say Matthew in his language,” said Sam. It was his turn now. “Sam,” he said. “Just Sam.” Then he realized that Gregor would think his name was Jussam so he said clearly, “Sam.”
“Sam,” said Gregor and leaned over and held out his hand. Sam stretched out his own hand and they shook. It was the first time he had ever shaken hands with a person his own age, but it felt like the right thing to do.
Gregor smiled the wide smile that turned his eyebrows and all the lines in his face up. Then he said something to his horse and rode off ahead of them. He turned once and waved. They all waved back.
“Where is he going?” asked Matt.
“Pa said his father hired him out to work for someone who is trying to get a house and a barn built in a hurry,” said Sam. “I guess his family needs cash. Maybe he can learn some English working anyway.”
“No, he can’t,” said Josie. “Mrs. Pratt said the people building the house only speak German. We’re lucky. At least we can talk to some people who aren’t in our family.”
As they jogged along, Sam thought that for Josie, having people to talk to was luck. For him luck was not having to work all the time. School was work, in a way, but it was better than spending every day fetching and carrying to build a house you would never live in yourself. He liked doing chores on their own place better. That made sense. And when Prince was included in the job, it hardly even seemed like work.
Prince was turning out to be a reliable horse. That’s what Pa said. Except for wanting his afterschool treat every day, he wasn’t temperamental. He even seemed to have a built-in clock. If school didn’t let out exactly at three-thirty, he came and stuck his nose in the open window of the schoolhouse. He didn’t look at Miss Barnett, only at Sam. He never made a sound, but his unblinking eyes drew everyone’s attention and Miss Barnett would say, “Prince, I think your watch is faster than mine. I’m just about to dismiss them.”
When Sam thought about luck, he had to include Miss Barnett. She was a teacher who could laugh, and she never punished pupils with the strap. If one of them was daydreaming or pestering other children, she said, “Learning is a privilege and if you don’t wish to learn you can spend the day in the cloakroom doing nothing at all.” Being a bit of a daydreamer, Sam had spent some time there himself, and he had to admit it was boring. Especially because Miss Barnett checked every so often to be sure you weren’t just sleeping.
No, school wasn’t bad. Still, Sam was always glad when the time came for the ride home. They never hurried; the ride was a break between schoolwork and chores. Prince was happy to jog along at a steady pace. Like a lot of people, Prince preferred not to exert himself.
One afternoon as they neared the Martingale place, Adam came running out of the barn. “Stop, Sam, stop!” he shouted, waving his arms.
“Whoa, Prince,” said Sam. He wondered whether to jump down. Maybe the barn was on fire. But Adam ran right over to them.
“I’m sorry to shout at you,” he said, “but I’m most worried. The oxen have wandered off. They were in the field for their mid-day grazing and I suppose the gate was left open because they were gone when I came out. You know that we have only one horse and John has ridden off to the west to search. Unfortunately my father and yours have taken a team and gone north to talk to a man who may have some seed wheat. I’m going to borrow Goldie and go to the east. Could you take Prince and go south? I only hope the oxen haven’t gone too far. They are wearing their harness. Take some rope so that you can lead them home if you find them.”
None of the children had ever heard Adam say more than six words together, but this was a real emergency. Even Matt knew that it was the oxen that made the Martingales’ farming possible. To replace them would be very costly, and Sam suspected that for all their books and learned speech, the Martingales were like everyone else out on the prairie, cash poor.
“Of course I’ll go,” he said. “I just have to stop on the way to take Josie and Matt home and tell Mama where I’m going.”
Josie said, “I’m sure they’ll turn up, Adam. It would be hard to lose anything that big for very long.”
But Sam saw Adam’s eyes taking in the vast land all around them. He knew what Adam was thinking. In all that space his oxen could be lost forever.
Mama understood the emergency at once. “Of course you should go and no, Matt, you can’t go along. Sam must ride as fast as he can. Just stay near the wagon track, son, and remember that it gets dark earlier now.” She gave him bread and butter and a glass of milk and put some dried apples in his pocket. Prince had a good drink of water at the trough and then they were off.
As Sam turned Prince west out of the farm gate, he was suddenly filled with excitement. He hoped he would find the oxen, but not too soon. He had been waiting for a chance to take Prince for a real gallop across the country.
He looked around carefully. There were no oxen to be seen. He decided that he would let Prince gallop for ten minutes or so, then slow him and take a good look around. That way they would cover distance and still take time to search the open landscape.
It took a little urging to get Prince to gallop. He turned his head and looked at Sam as if to say, “Do you really want me to exert myself?” But once they found a rhythm together it was wonderful. Sam felt Prince’s warm back rising and falling and the wind blowing his hair straight back. The brown grasses flew past in a blur.
Suddenly he remembered the oxen. “Whoa, Prince,” he said. “We have a job to do.” He held Prince to a walk for some minutes while he scanned the prairie for the missing beasts. Then he urged his horse to a gallop again. Once Prince had the idea, he willingly galloped, then walked, then galloped. Sam was sure that he was enjoying himself, too.
Looking ahead along the track, Sam thought he recognized the stretch he and Matt had stumbled along in the dusk. He leaned forward to pat Prince’s neck.
“I’m glad you’re here now, boy,” he said.
Then he heard hoofbeats behind him. At first he thought he was just remembering the sound of the wagon on that night. But this sound was too loud for memory. Sam turned around, and there was Gregor on his big black horse.
11
The small white horse and the tall black one stood side by side on the wagon road. The two boys looked at each other.
“Allo,” said Gregor. He smiled but he looked puzzled. He pointed down the track and raised his eyebrows at Sam.
“Hello,” said Sam. He was thinking hard. If he could make Gregor understand about the strayed oxen, he might be able to help find them.
Sam shaded his eyes and peered all around to show that he was searching for something. Then he pointed at Prince and at Gregor’s horse and shook his head. He held up two fingers and hunched his shoulders, hoping he would look a little like an ox.
Gregor looked puzzled.
Sam pointed to himself and to the north side of the track. He drew the shape of a house in the air with his hand. Then he pointed to the south side of the track and drew another house.
“Martingale,” he said and looked hopefully at Gregor.
Gregor nodded vigorously. “Martingale,” he repeated.
That was good, Sam thought, but not enough.
There was only one thing to do. He slid off Prince’s back and got down on his elbows and knees, lowered his head, poked his fingers up above his ears to indicate horns and slowly crawled down the track. After a minute he looked up to see Gregor standing beside his horse nodding and laughing.
Sam stood up. He pointed in all directions, shrugged his shoulders and held out empty hands to show loss. Gregor suddenly looked serious. Sam knew that he finally understood.
Gregor frowned for a moment. Then he said, “Sam!” He put his fingers above his ears like horns and said a word.
Sam said, “Oxen? You mean oxen?”
“Oxen,” repeated Gregor. They stared at each other. It seemed that a whole world of communication had opened between them.
“Oxen!” they both shouted and shook hands for the second time.
Then Gregor stopped smiling. For a moment he stood perfectly still with his eyebrows drawn together. Then he made a bowl shape with his hands, put his face into the bowl and lapped with his tongue.
“Water?” said Sam.
Gregor spread his arms to show that the bowl was now huge, wider than his arms could reach. He pointed to the southwest. Then he went back to lapping with his tongue.
Sam was very excited. “You mean there’s a pond down that way? You think the oxen might be there?”
Gregor picked out the only word he understood. “Oxen,” he said firmly and pointed again to the southwest.
Sam scrambled up on Prince. He looked at Gregor. “Will you show me?” he asked, holding his open palm toward the pond. He could now imagine it as clearly as if he had seen it himself.
But Gregor looked uncertain. He pointed along the track to the south and said a word that sounded very much like papa. Sam knew what he was saying. He had to go home now. Sam shrugged and smiled, trying to show Gregor that he didn’t mind, though he really did.
Gregor smiled his wide smile. He made a beckoning gesture with his hand. He was saying, Come with me. So Sam followed.
He felt very shy as they rode up to the sod house. Gregor’s father was on the roof of a long shed nailing poles in place. Sam thought that he was probably going to cover the poles with sod. Gregor went and spoke to him. The man did not smile at all, but Gregor kept explaining, pointing to Sam and in the direction of the pond.
At last Gregor’s father nodded slowly, but Sam saw him look at the sun, which was nearing the horizon. Then he spoke firmly to Gregor. The tone of his voice made Sam think of his own father. Pa might come here looking for him. If only he could leave a message.
When Gregor came over to him, nodding that they could go now, Sam made writing motions in the palm of his hand, pointed to Gregor and to his father, then to himself and to a tall invisible figure beside him.
Gregor made a face and shook his head. He understood, but they had no paper or pen.
Sam thought a minute, got off Prince and took up a sharp stone. He found a smooth patch of dusty earth near the track and scratched out a message. “Pa, Gone to look for oxen. Not far. Sam.” He hoped the “not far” part was true.
Gregor looked at the message and nodded. He told his father about it and the man looked at Sam with a small smile of approval. Then he went back to his pounding, and Sam and Gregor guided their horses across the track and started west.
As they rode, the tall dry grass brushed their boots and a spray of grasshoppers rose before the horses’ hoofs. The slanting late afternoon sunlight made everything golden. The boys couldn’t talk to each other, but the sense that someone, a friend, was riding beside him filled Sam with excitement. It was as if they were setting off together on an adventure.
The sky was still blue, but an edge of clouds along the horizon seemed to be rising to meet the sun. They were dark underneath and touched with gold above. Sam was just about to point them out to Gregor when his friend said, “Sam,” and pointed ahead of him by lifting his chin. Sam looked. He could see the tops of trees rising above the grass.
In just a few minutes they were riding down a short slope. There in a big hollow in the prairie was a small pond, deep blue like the sky above it. There were reeds all around its edge, showing that in spring the pond would be much bigger. Small willows grew in clumps at the edge of the reeds. And standing knee-deep in the blue water were two large brown oxen.
Sam reached out and slapped Gregor on the back.
“You were right,” he said. “The Martingales will be so happy.”
Gregor looked pleased but he didn’t smile. He was staring at the oxen. Sam looked at the huge beasts again and realized that finding the oxen was just the first step. Now they had to get them out of the pond and home. He had rope wound around his waist, but he could not believe that those oxen would follow him if he tried to lead them out of a place where they seemed so content.
Suddenly he realized that Gregor was off his horse. He was striding through the reeds and into the shallow water. He slapped the oxen on their large rumps and spoke to them in a quiet, firm voice. To Sam’s amazement the animals turned toward shore and walked out of the water, sending waves across the pond.
Sam slid down off Prince. He handed the rope to Gregor who quickly tied an end to the harness on each ox. He looked at the long rope with an ox at each end and made a face. Sam had the answer to that problem. He took out his pocket knife and cut the rope in the middle. Now they could get back on their horses and each lead one ox.
When they got to the top of the hill, Sam looked back at the little pond. The water was golden now. It shone in the midst of the darkening prairie. Sam had the feeling that it would disappear as soon as they could no longer see it. He looked around him. The sky was filled with golden clouds that seemed to catch fire in the west near the setting sun.
Gregor laid the reins on his horse’s neck and, still holding the end of the rope, he stretched his arms wide as if he wanted to touch the pale gold sky to the east and the blazing orange sky to the west. Then he picked up the reins and moved restlessly on the horse’s back. Sam knew what he meant. He wanted to make his horse fly across the darkening land. So did Sam. But instead they walked slowly and steadily, with the oxen plodding behind.
As they neared the track, Sam saw Pa riding toward them. “Good for you, boys,” he said. “You’ve done a good job. The Martingales will certainly think so, too.”
“It was really Gregor, Pa,” said Sam. “He guessed where the oxen might be and he knew how to get them out of the pond.”
“Thank you, Gregor,” said Pa. “Thank you from the Martingales.”
Gregor looked pleased. He gestured toward Sam as if to say. You deserve some credit, too. But Sam just shook his head.
As they rode along the track, Sam said to Pa, “I guess you found my message.”
I did,” said Pa. “Gregor’s father made sure I saw it. He seemed to think you were a smart young fellow.”
How Pa could know what Gregor’s father thought, Sam had no idea. But when they came to Gregor’s place, there was his whole family out in the yard to greet them. The dogs barked, the younger children waved and Gregor’s mother smiled. Gregor’s father came over to Sam and Pa. He put his hand on his chest.
“Ivan Chomyk,” he said.
Pa held out his hand. “James Ferrier,” he said. “And Sam Ferrier.”
Mr. Chomyk put both of his hands around Pa’s and shook hard. Then he stepped back toward his family.
Gregor handed Pa the rope he was still holding. He knew that the Ferriers had to be starting home. It was nearly dark and it would be a slow journey with the oxen.
Sam and Pa rode in silence for a few minutes. The wind had blown the clouds away and the stars were starting to show themselves.
Pa looked up and said, “This country grows on you, Sam. I admit it can seem lonely, but it grows on you. I guess you’re not so lonely now.”
“No,” said Sam. Besides his whole family there was Gregor and Prince, especially Prince. Prince was always there, ready to go with him, needing no words. Gregor was a friend, but they did need words. Sam had to figure out what to do about that.
11
THE SMALL WHITE horse and the tall black one stood side by side on the wagon road. The two boys looked at each other.
“Allo,” said Gregor. He smiled but he looked puzzled. He pointed down the track and raised his eyebrows at Sam.
“Hello,” said Sam. He was thinking hard. If he could make Gregor understand about the strayed oxen, he might be able to help find them.
Sam shaded his eyes and peered all around to show that he was searching for something. Then he pointed at Prince and at Gregor’s horse and shook his head. He held up two fingers and hunched his shoulders, hoping he would look a little like an ox.
Gregor looked puzzled.
Sam pointed to himself and to the north side of the track. He drew the shape of a house in the air with his hand. Then he pointed to the south side of the track and drew another house.
