Our Kansas Home by Deborah Hopkinson & PATRICK FARICY

Author:Deborah Hopkinson & PATRICK FARICY
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Aladdin
Published: 2003-10-09T16:00:00+00:00

“Lion will be our watchdog. He’ll warn us if anyone comes,” Momma had said.

Charlie stood in front of his dog and spoke firmly. “Momma is depending on you, Lion.”

Lion seemed to understand. He sat straight without moving, and watched Charlie and Ida Jane walk away. Charlie looked back at him proudly.

“I hope I get to ride in a wagon at night and help Lizzie escape,” Ida Jane said as the cabin disappeared from view. “All the exciting things have been happening to you, Charlie. I want something to happen to me, too.”

Charlie pointed. “Maybe it will. Look, someone’s riding toward us.”

Ida Jane squinted in the sun. “It’s only Mr. Engle.”

“Ida Jane! Charlie! Where’s your father?” called Mr. Engle, pulling up his horse.

“Papa’s away. He’s hiding so the border ruffians won’t arrest him,” Ida Jane told him.

Mr. Engle spoke quickly. “Run back and warn your mother. I hear border ruffians may be headed this way. They’ve been roaming the countryside since dawn, stealing every chicken and cow they can get their hands on.”

Mr. Engle turned his horse’s head. “Try to hide your stock. I’ve got to get home and do the same.”

Ida Jane stretched out her hand. “Wait, Mr. Engle! We were coming to see you. We have … a friend at our house. A friend who wants to go to Canada.”

“Until this business settles down, the ‘railroad’ won’t be running,” Mr. Engle told them, spurring his horse. “Do the best you can for now. Later in the summer we can help.”

Chickens and cows, chickens and cows!

How can we get all the chickens and cows hidden? Charlie wondered. And what about Lizzie?

“Ida Jane,” he gasped as their feet pounded the dirt. “Sadie and Momma have more than twenty baby chicks. And there’s Annie and her calf. How can we hide them?”

Ida Jane’s bonnet was tipped over one eye. Her long braids bounced on her shoulders as she ran. “Don’t talk to me, I’m thinking!”

Charlie tried to come up with a plan, too. But all he could picture in his mind were the awful things he had seen in Lawrence: the smashed printing press and flames shooting from the Free State Hotel.

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