Bendigo Shafter (1979) Read Online Free PDF Page A

Cain took a pitchfork and began forking hay to the stock. Something made him look up.
    We saw him stop, stare, then drop his fork and start on a run for the house. Sound carried well in that still air, and we heard him plain. Ma! They've come back, and they've got the children!
    Doors burst open, and folks ran out upon the snow, shading their eyes to see. And then they started to run, floundering in the deep snow, and we started down the hill, running, too. All but Ethan Sackett, who had no one to run to. Cain scooped Ann into his arms, and Lenny ran to his father. Neely ran to Mae. His eyes searched her face. You all right?
    Of course I'm all right. Mr. Sackett and Bendigo fetched me.
    Neely turned on Ethan, mighty uncomfortable. He thrust out a hand, but he was almighty stiff about it. Thanks, Sackett.
    Ethan brushed off the thanks with a gesture. When folks are making a fresh start they have to tolerate. He indicated me with a jerk of his head. It was Bendigo more than me. If he hadn't come out with that pistol when he did we'd probably never have got out alive.
    We started walking back through the snow and my eyes went from one to the other. They were talking and happy, victorious over the first trouble that had come our way. Maybe this wasn't how a town was built, but it was a beginning.
    Our town began with five log cabins and a dugout faced with logs. This was built by Ethan Sackett, and as you might expect, it was the warmest, snuggest place in town.
    When snow fell we were in no shape to face the winter. We had the walls up and the roofs on, and we tacked canvas from our wagon tops over the windows until we could hang shutters. As the ground was frozen and we could not bank our cabins with earth, we banked them with snow, pitching it as high as possible against the walls to make a cushion against the wind.
    As we worked we watched the ridge and the trees for Indians, for we were few, and by now they must have taken a measure of our strength.
    Yet there was another thing that had begun to show itself in our town, and my brother Cain put it into words. There is determination, there is the will to survive, the will to endure. We have that, and few as we are, and no matter what trials we must endure, when spring comes we will be here to greet it.
    Neely Stuart scoffed, yet he himself listened, and I know he profited by Cain's words, for about Cain there was something indomitable, something immovable as a mountain. It had taken Ethan Sackett to open my eyes to my brother's worth, but once opened I could see how much we all depended upon him and somehow waited for his leadership. He had the ability to impart strength to others, and even Neely stood a little straighter because of what my brother had said.
    Most of our time was devoted to the never-ending task of finding, cutting, and hauling fuel. We were cutting brush on the fringes of the forest to deny hiding to Indians when Cain commented, It is no wonder the Egyptians could build pyramids.
    What do you mean? Croft asked.
    It was an easy land they had, with a warm sun, no fuel to find, and a river that each year brought them fresh soil and always carried water in aplenty. I doubt not it gave them time to think on other things.
    There must be time for thinking here, John Sampson said. We must give our children more than meat.
    What is it you have in mind?
    A school with desks and blackboards. On the hill yonder I saw some sheets of slate, and we can find chalk somewhere about.
    A school and a church, Cain agreed.
    You are building a town before you have finished a cabin, Neely protested, but he was listening, and he was interested. Lately he had talked less of California.
    There was a longing in me when they spoke of school, and regret, for I was past the age for school and had little learning, precariously come by. Ours had been a Bible-reading folk, and I'd spent time mulling over what the Bible had taught me. Mostly I'd read the stories for the wonder of them and less