Читать книгу Key City on the River - Greta Gorsuch - Страница 5

Chapter Three

On the Mississippi River between Illinois and Iowa Territory, November 21, 1833

Things were fine until they got close to the Iowa side of the river. Here the river was deeper, and it ran faster. The sun was going down. And the tall bluff ahead made it even darker. The sun was setting behind it. The trouble began with Harv, Mr. Butterman’s tall riding horse. Harv was never good with water. He didn’t like this deep, fast water at all. He began to pull at his rope at the end of Mr. Butterman’s wagon. Nate quickly got off his wagon. Mrs. Ella Butterman saw this. She was always quick-thinking. She tossed Nate a large piece of cloth. Nate tied the cloth over the horse’s eyes so he could not see the water. Harv got a little quieter. Then suddenly, a very large log crashed into the side of the ferryboat. The log was really a large tree floating in the water. Aunt Sunday cried out in the back of the wagon. She was scared.

Jones the ferry owner shouted, “It’s all right! There was a storm a few days ago! There are lots of trees in the water today. Don’t worry!”

But Harv didn’t care what the ferry owner said. With the crash of the log on the side of the boat, he went wild. He pulled on the rope as hard as he could. Suddenly, the rope snapped free. Harv fell over the side of the boat into the deep, fast water. Nate ran to the side of boat. Harv’s head came out of the water. Nate grabbed Harv’s rope. He held Harv’s head above water. It was hard to hold on to Harv. He was such a large, strong horse. Mrs. Butterman ran over to help. So did Mr. Butterman. “Hold him!” yelled Mr. Butterman. The water was fast, but just then they got to the edge of the river. Harv’s feet found the rocky river bottom.

It was almost dark now. Harv climbed up out of the river. Nate jumped out of the boat after him. He held onto Harv’s rope. He led the wild horse away from the water onto the muddy riverbank. Mr. Butterman drove one wagon off of the ferryboat. Mrs. Butterman climbed onto the second wagon. Penny moved over and Mrs. Butterman sat next to her. Mrs. Butterman drove the second wagon off the boat. Then she turned to Aunt Sunday, who was crying into her shawl.

“Aunt Sunday,” she said. “You’re going to be all right. It’s over. We’re across. We’re in Iowa.”

But Aunt Sunday just cried. Ella Butterman turned to Penny. Penny said, “She told me this morning she didn’t want to cross the water. She thought she would never see Virginia again if she crossed the Mississippi.”

“Ah,” said Mrs. Butterman. “Well . . . I’m sure she misses home.” Mrs. Butterman herself was from Ohio. She had never been to Virginia. “So what do you think, Penny? What do you think about Iowa so far?” she said.

Penny answered, “I can’t really see it! It’s too dark!” Both women laughed softly.

Nate tied Harv to the back of Mr. Butterman’s wagon. Harv was shaking and cold. Nate climbed into the wagon next to Mr. Butterman. The two wagons rode into the darkness. They would camp tonight. But tomorrow they would be in Key City.