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"Jeremiah! Jeremiah! Wake up! Hurry! Louise! Come on!" The woman's desperation made her wake the children far more roughly than she normally would. "Come on!" She picked up Baby Theresa and almost dragged the older children onto the floor in her haste to wake them.
"Mama? What's going on?" Louise, the eldest of the three children asked sleepily.
"We have to go, now! Here, put these on." The attractive dark--haired woman threw clothes on the bed. "Its easier to wear clothes than to carry them."
"But it's still dark, Mama." Jeremiah was confused. Night--time was for sleeping, day--time for chores and playing. In his young mind it was that simple. That people would be getting up in the dark made no sense at all.
"I know, Jeremiah. But we have to go, now!"
As her mother turned her head Louise saw for the first time the swelling and bruising on her mother's face. Pa must have hit Mama again. She remembered then. Just as she was falling asleep the sound of flesh hitting flesh, and her father's fierce whispers to her mother to 'Shut up! Don't you dare wake the children, you ..." And then there were those words that made Mama cry, the ones Louise would never dream of repeating. If Pa even knew she knew them...She shivered at the thought. Pa hit really hard when he took the belt to them.
She tried to make her sleepy fingers button up her blue dress over the top of her brown one. It was a bit tight wearing two dresses, but Mama said to do it. She didn't know why. It wasn't really cold. She just gave up thinking about it. If she could just go back to sleep it would be all right in the morning, Louise was sure. She yawned so hard it seemed her mouth would stay open forever.
"Come, children, let's get into the wagon. Hurry now!" As Mama went out the door she picked up the carpet bag on the floor near the door. Louise and Jeremiah followed obediently, stumbling a little in the dark. It just didn't seem like their feet really knew what to do.
Mama put the bag into the wagon bed, then helped Louise get up. "Here Louise, take the baby. Now, Jeremiah." Then Mama went inside, leaving the door open behind her. Louise saw her mother go to the can where they kept the white sugar that they only used for visitors. Mama got the money that she had hidden there and stuffed it inside the bodice of her gown. Then she got the pillows and quilt from the children's bed and blew out the lamp. She came out and getting them to lie down in the back of the wagon, she tucked the quilts around the children so they would be warm. "Try to sleep." She almost got in the wagon herself, but at the last moment went back inside. She came out with the rifle. Why does Mama want that ? thought Louise. Mama doesn't like guns. Besides, Pa will be mad if Mama uses that . Louise was never, ever allowed to touch guns. She wasn't strong enough to hold the gun when it kicked as it was fired.
Jeremiah and Theresa fell sleep again almost immediately, but Louise, at eight, was quite old enough to understand that Mama was very upset and something was very, very wrong. She could hear Mama praying as the wagon moved along. Besides, her bottom was sore from yesterday when Pa found out about the eggs she broke and she couldn't get comfortable.
As she lay in the wagon she tried to remember what Mama and Pa had been fighting about. Words came back to her, but they didn't really make any sense. Something about guns, and the Marshal and jail and money -- but she couldn't put it all together, and she was soooo sleepy...
She woke just as the sun was rising. Mama had stopped the wagon. Louise knew that you had to give horses a rest or they would get tired. Mama looked tired too. "Mornin', Mama."
Mama looked at Louise and smiled. "Mornin', Louise. Did you get some sleep?"
"Yes Mama," she replied. Then the questions that had been turning inside her came out. "Mama, why are we here? Why aren't we at home with Pa?"
Mama gave her a funny look, like she didn't quite know what to say. "Louise, come here."
"Yes, Mama."
"Louise, look at my face." Louise gravely inspected Mama's face. It looked even worse than last night. Mama's left eye was almost completely shut. "Louise, Pa hit me."
"Were you naughty, Mama?" Louise didn't understand. She knew she had to get punished if she did something wrong, but Mama never did anything naughty, not like Louise and Jeremiah did.
"No, Louise, I wasn't naughty. I need you to understand. When you broke those eggs yesterday you were careless, but you didn't do it on purpose. Pa shouldn't have belted you as hard as he did. He shouldn't have hit me either. A man shouldn't hit a woman, Louise, not ever."
"You mean Pa was naughty?"
"Yes, Louise." Mama smiled. "Louise, we're not going to live with Pa any more. We're going to take this wagon and go to the station in Greenville and go to St. Joe to be with Uncle Philip and Aunt Mary."
"But what about Pa? He'll be all alone!" Louise loved her father. When he wasn't mean, he would pick her up and spin her around and around and make her laugh so hard she nearly burst. But she always had to be careful not to make him angry. Sometimes she didn't even know what she did wrong.
'Louise, Pa is going away again anyway. He's going to meet some bad men, men I don't want to have around my precious children. I asked Pa not to, but he just got mad. I guess he made his choice. Besides, after the way he hit you, I, well I just know I have to go before he hurts any of us real bad." Mama looked frightened and worried then. Louise came and gave her Mama a big hug.
"We'll be all right, Mama. I'm a big girl and I can help. What do I do first?"
"Well. let's see. I need you to take Brownie and White Socks to the creek and give them a drink after I unhitch them. Think you can do that?"
"Yes, Mama. I can." The horses were nice. They always did what Louise wanted them to.
"We'll have to travel as fast as we can, just in case Pa comes looking for us. We'll go to Greenville. Clear Springs is closer, but I don't think Pa will find us if we go to Greenville. Can we do that, Louise?"
"Sure Mama." Louise went and helped her mother, just like the big girl she was.
As she lay down that evening to sleep, Louise realised the most awful thing. Her bestest, specialest friend, Miss Annabelle Mumblepuss, was back in her bed at home. She'd been so sleepy that she'd left her best friend behind. Right then and there Louise decided that she had to go back and get Mumblepuss.
She got up and went to Mama. "Mama, Mumblepuss got left behind. We have to go and get her. She'll be crying."
"Louise, we can't. We need to get as far from home as we can, just in case Pa comes home early and finds us gone." Seeing the despair on her daughter's face, Mama went on. "I'll get you a new doll in St. Jo, I promise, Louise."
Seeing there was nothing to say, Louise went back and lay down. But she couldn't sleep. She just wriggled and squirmed and got lonelier and lonelier. She had to go and get Miss Mumblepuss. She just had to. So she got up and started following the tracks the wagon had left. There was a full moon, and they hadn't travelled far. Mama wasn't as good a traveller as Pa. Besides, Louise thought, Mama's tired and I don't want to worry her. I can be back before morning and she won't even know I've gone. But I can't just leave Miss Annabelle Mumblepuss. I won't be long.
Several hours later, Louise's feet hurt even more than her bottom. Her boots were just a little too tight. Pa was going to get her some new ones the next time they went into town , but now her cramped toes screamed for release. The moon had gone down, and she couldn't see the tracks. She just had to rest a little bit. If only she'd thought to bring some water...
It was almost daylight before she woke. She was so very, very thirsty but her feet seemed better. But Louise's main thought was for her mother, who would be worried. She just hadn't thought it would take so long to walk home and then back to where they were camped. Still, she knew the house was just past the next hill and then she could get Miss Mumblepuss and get back to Mama. Maybe Mama wouldn't be too worried if she hurried.
The small girl, short for her age, ran along the tracks. When she got puffed she stopped and walked as quickly as she could till she got her breath back, then she ran again. She got to the cottonwoods Pa had planted just as the sun was rising. There wasn't a sound as she crept to the bucket and got a dipper of water. Then she ran across the yard and into the house. She got to her bed, picked up Miss Annabelle Mumblepuss and went to leave but the sound of a rider, no, riders coming made her freeze. Who could be coming this time of the morning?
The riders were coming from Clear Springs, the closest town. She peeked out the just-open door and saw Strawberry, her father's horse. Pa! And they must be the bad men Mama was talking about! Louise didn't know what to do. If Pa found her here and Mama gone he would belt her until Louise told where Mama was. And then he would hit Mama and maybe they'd never go to St. Joe. And it was all her fault!
She made up her mind. She had to hide and not let the men see her, then she would run and run and run until she found Mama. Mama mustn't come back looking for her 'cos Pa would see Mama... Quickly she closed the door and went to the clever little door Pa had cut into the wall near the fireplace. It opened into a tiny lean-to where Pa put chopped wood. That meant Mama didn't have to go out in the rain or snow to get wood; she could just open the little door and there it was. But now it would make the perfect place to hide. Louise crept inside -- luckily it wasn't full -- then closed the tiny door. She moved behind the small pile of wood and then stacked the wood as high was it would go so it would hide her if Pa opened the little door. She stopped when she heard the voices of the men as they got off their horses and hitched them to the rail outside the house.
Straight away she opened the back door of the lean-to and slipped outside. She waited at the edge of the house, just like when she and Jeremiah played hide-and-seek, until the men went in, then she ran so, so fast to the barn. She didn't forget Miss Annabelle Mumblepuss either, after all that she'd gone through she couldn't forget her friend.
"MaryLouise! Louise! Jeremiah?! Where are you?" Her father's voice, already impatient, came clearly across the yard. Any minute now he'd come looking for them. Louise climbed up the ladder and burrowed into the hay. She just left a tiny, teeny hole so she could see and breathe, but arranged a few stray strands in front so she couldn't be seen. Jeremiah could never find her when she did that, not ever.
"Jeremiah! Louise! Come here now!" Pa was near the barn now. His voice was loud. Louise heard the barn door swing open and her father's footsteps as he searched the barn. Then the footsteps came up the ladder and her father's head appeared.
"Louise! Time to go!" MaryLouise Boggs went over to the back of the wagon where the children were sleeping. She didn't want to start travelling again -- it seemed to tire her and then the coughing would start again. Even moving to the west hadn't halted the consumption, just slowed it. The last pregnancy with Theresa had set the disease going again, and MaryLouise only hoped she would get the children to her brother's in time.
"Louise! I need you to help water the horses before we go. Besides, you have to eat..." her voice trailed off as she moved the blankets to reveal Jeremiah and Theresa but Louise was gone.
Fighting to control her fear, MaryLouise breathed a prayer. Then she remembered what Louise had said about her doll. She must have gone back to get her doll. MaryLouise went to the wagon tracks and there, beside the ruts made by the wagon's wheels, were small pointed bootmarks going home.
Trust Louise She had always been an independent child, right from when she could walk. The number of times MaryLouise had had to stop her eldest daughter from doing something dangerous - well, she just couldn't count the times. Louise just didn't seem to know fear.
There was only one thing to do. MaryLouise began to hitch up the horses. She only hoped her husband hadn't found the child. He would stop at nothing to keep the family he didn't really love under his control.
Louise sat so still, stiller than ever she'd sat when she'd been playing with Jeremiah. She didn't even breathe when she saw her father's head poking up from the top of the ladder. He didn't stay long. There was only hay in the top of the barn and he really didn't expect Louise to be hiding in it.
"Boggs!" A strange voice called out to Pa. "There's wagon tracks!" Pa almost jumped off the ladder as he went to talk to the man.
Louise felt terrible. Now Pa would follow the tracks and find Mama. If she hadn't come back, Mama would have been travelling by now and Pa wouldn't catch up. Then a worse thought occurred to her. What if Mama had worked out where she was and was actually travelling back home! Guilt washed over Louise. Now what? She couldn't even follow the tracks because Pa would be in front of her.
The voice came clearly to her. "They won't have gone far. There's time to have a cup of coffee before we go, Karl. The only place they can go is Greenville, and that's four days away."
"Peters! You're talking about my wife! No woman runs away from Karl Boggs! Never! I'll chase her to hell and back if I have to!"
"Of course, and we'll help, but you'll chase better with food in the saddlebag and in your stomach. Half an hour won't make any difference -- those tracks aren't two days old!"
As Louise crept down the ladder and to the small knothole in the wood next to the door she saw Pa and a man with red hair and a funny hat go inside. There was only one thing she could do. Louise took the small knife Pa kept in the barn to cut leather with, which she wasn't really supposed to touch. Trying to not be seen from the house she crept up to Strawberry, who was her favouritest horse. She quietly cut the reins of the strange men's horses and then the girths of their saddles. She led Strawberry quietly to her mounting box, the one Pa had put there so she could ride White Socks to school. She placed Miss Annabelle Mumblepuss in the saddlebag and climbed up.
As she clambered up on Strawberry's back she almost slipped, but Strawberry stayed very still. "C'mon girl!" Louise, who was a good rider for her age (she always won the races she had with the boys on the way to school), had no trouble staying in the saddle as the beautiful horse began to gallop almost as soon as Louise was on, even though the stirrups were far too long.
Behind her the door opened as the men hear the horse's hoofbeats, but when they tried to mount their horses the saddles just slipped onto the ground, and there were no reins to guide the horses. There was nothing the men could do but curse as the tiny girl raced out of sight.
Louise was tired when the wagon finally came in sight. It was cold and the clouds were black with rain. Her sore bottom hurt nearly as much as when Pa first hit her from all the bouncing in the saddle. If only she'd been able to put her feet in the stirrups!
Mama had started back along the way home, but hadn't got more than a quarter of the way. Strawberry was always the fastest horse , Louise thought.
"Louise! Louise! Are you all right? Why did you run away? I was so worried" Mama's questions came out so fast Louise didn't know which one to answer first. She hung her head. She had never felt so ashamed.Mama had been crying, and so had Jeremiah. She knew Mama was in a hurry, and she'd slowed her down.
"Mama, I'm sorry. I know I was naughty, but I had to get Miss Annabelle Mumblepuss."
Mama sighed. "I thought so. Louise, we are in trouble. I thought you understood. If Pa comes home..." Then Mama realised that Louise was riding Strawberry. Her voice changed; the fear in it was plain to even a small girl like Louise. "How did you get Pa's horse, Louise?"
"Pa came home. He had bad men with him. They looked mean. I took Strawberry and cut the other horses' reins and girths. They know where we are going, Mama. I heard them talking and they knew we were going to Greenville."
Just then the rain started; huge drops that presaged a storm. In the distance a grey wall of rain was advancing steadily towards them. "Don't worry Louise. God has sent the rain to wipe out our tracks. Instead of going to Greenville we'll change turn east and go to Huntersville instead. We'll go hungry the last day, but Pa won't find us. Maybe everything's worked out for the best"
"I don't mind being hungry, Mama. I'll be brave."
MaryLouise thought of the adventure her little girl had already had; travelling alone in the dark, having the presence of mind to cut the other horses's reins and girths, hiding from her father and all for the sake of a doll that was precious to her. Her voice sounded a little choked as she replied. "I know you will, Louise. You are already one of the bravest girls I have ever known."
The End
'The Young Riders' is an Ogden/Kane Production. No breach of copyright is intended.
