Belle of Batoche by Jacqueline Guest

Author:Jacqueline Guest
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: JUV000000
Publisher: Orca Book Publishers
Published: 2004-08-31T16:00:00+00:00

9

Belle’s Plan

As she trudged home, Belle couldn’t stop thinking about Sarah. She was sure she had cheated on the embroidery. Sarah hated anything to do with sewing; she only wanted to be the bell ringer to get her picture in the paper and maybe to show off her fancy hat.

Belle stopped to watch two men piling brush in front of one of the cleverly hidden rifle pits that now surrounded the town. For the last couple of days, all the adults had been rushing about doing grown-up things.

Perhaps Sarah had wanted to win just to show Belle, which would have been fine if Sarah had done it fairly. But Belle was sure she hadn’t and to make matters worse, Sarah had lied in front of their classmates, making Belle look like a sore loser.

Sore loser, indeed! Belle had to get proof now. Her own reputation was at stake! But how could she do it? If Sarah had denied giving Madame Coteau money, Belle could have asked Monsieur Letendre to vouch for her story, but Sarah had been clever.

There was only one way to straighten the whole thing out. Belle would have to get proof. She would have to go to Madame Coteau!

Belle thought of the scary old woman. Stories of witches and evil shamans swirled in her mind. She put them out of her head. She had to go. It was the only way.

She hurried home. If she left right away, she could catch the last ferry over and back across the river.

“Mama, I need to go out for a while. I might not get back until after supper, but it’s real important and I promise I’ll do my chores when I get back.” She hoped her mother wouldn’t ask for more detail.

“No, my child. You can’t go out. In fact, you must stay in the house for the rest of the day.” Her mother was bustling around the kitchen gathering preserves and dried meat.

This was unexpected. “But Mama, I will only be gone for a short time …” This was almost the truth, if you took out the time for the ferry crossings. After all, Belle had no control over how long the boat ride would take, so she shouldn’t be held responsible for accounting for that time.

“You can’t leave the house tonight!” Her mother’s voice sounded worried.

“Mama, what has happened?” Then Belle saw the lead tea chest standing empty on the table. “Oh Mama! Are the Metis people going to war?” She was alarmed now.

Her mother stopped her rushing about and gave her daughter a hug. “Monsieur Riel says everything will be all right. We have God on our side. Do not worry, little one. Now, you must cook the meal tonight for your papa and brother. I am taking these provisions to the church and will be back later.” She gathered the preserves and meat and placed them in an old sugar sack.

Then with a reassuring smile for Belle, she left for the church.

She also took the empty tea chest.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.