A Winter's Promise (13 page)

“
He told
‘
em they could sleep at the camps, too, on
hay in the barn, an
d that was all right with them.
They
figured they
’
d
sleep at
Mc
Crossin
’
s camp
a
nd
then go o
n
to the Spirit River
the next day.
”

Emma
tried to
listen to Al
’
s story, but her thoughts kept slipping back to what she wanted to tell
him.

“
They started north from Jenny, feelin
’
good about
not
having to buy food and being able to save some
money.
They
found the tote road and didn
’
t have any
trouble
crossing at the falls. They ate their bread and bologna and sure were hungry when they saw McCrossin
’
s
camp
up ahead. A good supper and a night
’
s sleep, and
they
’
d
go on to the meadows the next day. But before
they got real close to the camp, they figured something was wrong. It was just too quiet.
”

Emma
’
s knitting lay idle in her lap now.
“
There
wasn
’
t anyone there!
”

“
That
’
s right! Not a soul. It was deserted.
”

“
Oh, my! Those poor, hungry men!
”

“
Well, Old Peterson said, they found some hay to
sleep on and wished they could tell that Swede a thing,
or two. The next morning they started out with their stomachs growling. They saw some German log houses
along the way. Each time they saw one, Ole wanted to
stop and ask for something to eat, but the other two said they
’
d starve before they
’
d ask a German for food. They
laughed at the way the log houses were built and said
the Germans didn
’
t know how to use a broadax or an
adz. They said,
‘
Only tool a
German knows how to
use is a grub hoe.
’”

Al chuckled.
“
Can
’
t blame
‘
em. You know, a lot of Swedes used to be shipbuilders, and they—
”

“
So,
”
Emma interrupted,
“
did they get anything to eat at Stone
’
s camp?
”

Al shook his head.
“
Nope! That camp was deserted,
too. That Swede they talked to didn
’
t know that the
camps shut down for the summer.
”

“
Well . . . what did they
do?
“

“
They saw a porky, and Gust wanted to shoot it. He
had a sawed-off
Harper
’
s
Ferry loaded with shot,
but
the
others
said
they wouldn
’
t eat porky,
no
matter
what
. B
y the time they got through arguing, the porky
was gon
e.
Finally, they got to the meadows. Gust told the other
two to go look at the meadows while he caught some
fish. He made a hook out of a piece of wire and
was sure
he
’
d catch some.
”

Again Al let his cha
ir down with a thump and leaned
forward.
“
Those meadows were
good
—
bigger than the
men had dreamed they would be, and they decided it
su
re would be the right place to
homestead. But Gust hadn
’
t caught any fish. They crawled into Stone
’
s camp hungry as a bear in spring and slept on the cook shanty floor.
”
Al laughed.
“
I bet they had a few choice
things to
say about that Swede.

“
The next morning they didn
’
t even feel like mov
ing, and here they had all that way to hike to Jenny. Be
fore they left, Gust started hunting around and saw
something way
down in the bottom of a barrel. H
e
reached down and grabbed a handful and took it
over to
a window to see what it was. What do you think,
Emma? Dried fruit! I don
’
t know just what
—
apples;
prunes, and such, I suppose. There were some specks of
mold on it, b
ut they didn
’
t care. There musta
been a
couple pounds, Old Peterson said.
”

Emma laughed.
“
I can just see those starved men trying to chew that hard, dry stuff.
”

Al chuckled.
“
Bet they didn
’
t have their mouths
empty all the way back to Jenny! But at least the trip
wasn
’
t for nothing. The next year they filed claims at Wausau and brought their families
up
and settled. I pass pretty close to Gust
’
s house on the way to Ogema. They
did get work at Stone
’
s camp and got to eat Mrs. John
son
’
s pies all right—but nothing ever tasted better than that moldy dried fruit from the old barrel!
”

Emma smiled. For the last ten minutes or so, it was as if someone else had carried her load of trouble.

Al
got up and took a dr
ink of water from the dipper in the water pail.
“
Someda
y when I
’
ve got a little time, I
’
m
gonna stop and take a look at Gust
’
s house. Sure
looks solid. The corn
ers look like they
’
re locked in like
this.
”
He demonstrated by interlacing his fingers.
“
Bet a
man could move that house and it wouldn
’
t give two inches. Gotta admire their building skill, just
like
I admire Old Peterson
’
s skill with horses.
”

Emma shivered.
“
Fire
’
s burning down,
”
she said flat
ly.

Al got up and put more wood in the stove.
“
Yup! One
more winter oughta
do it,
”
he said, gesturing with the poker.

He stuck his feet up on the wood box again.
“
I
’
ll cut
the pine closest to the river first. Skid it out with the
horses and deck it up by the river. By golly, we
’
ll drive it
right down that river with the lumber companies
’
logs!
”

“
How
’
ll you know which are yours?
”

“
I
’
ll stamp
‘
em with a stamp hammer with my own mark on it. And I
’
ll cut a watermark about six inches
from the end, so no one can cut my mark off and put his
on it.
”

“
Oh. But, Al, you said the next thing we would buy would be my sewing machine.
”

Al nodded.
“
Gotta get that, too. A few more young
ones come along
, and you
’
ll never keep up with all
that
sewing.
”

Emma wanted to scream,
“
What
’
s the use! Sewing
machine or no sewing machine, I can
’
t keep up, any
way!
But Al
’
s words had c
aught her up in his enthusiasm
again.

He turned to face her now, the way little Albert did
when he wanted to tell
her something important—
something confidential.
“
I
’
ve been hanging around Old
Peterson a lot. I told you how no one knows horses bet
ter
’
n him. He
’
s teaching me a lot. At first I pretended I
just wanted to h
elp him, but he was suspicious
of
any
one
wanting to do extra work. So I told
him straight out
that I wanted to learn abou
t ta
king care of horses. I think
it kinda
made him feel good to have someone want to learn from him. If I work with him awhile, I
’
ll learn to
be a good teamster, too. Gotta
know how to handle hors
es to get the most out of them.
”

“
Horses! Horses!
”
Emma muttered to herself.
“
That
’
s
all I hear.
”

“
Ah, can
’
t you see us, Em? Soon as chores are done
Sunday mornings, you
’
ll get the little ones ready and I
’
ll
hitch up the team. We
’
ll have a buggy for summer and
a little cutter for winter, and we
’
ll go see your folks or go
to Knox to see Winnie and Jack or out to see Fred and
Louise. . . .
”
He slapped his knee.
“
Can
’
t you just see Fred, when we pull up in that buggy?
”

The thought of seeing her brother Fred brought tears
to Emma
’
s eyes. It had been so long.
“
But that would take all day!
”
she protested.

“
Naw! We could get to Fred
’
s in an hour and to your
folks in half that time!
”

Emma blinked back tears. Imagine getting to her folks
’
house in half an hour!

“‘
Course we
’
ll
probably have a church by that time.
We
’
ll go to church first, and in summer you could pack
us a lunch and we
’
d stop and eat on the way when the
weather is nice.
”

Al didn
’
t even notice Emma
’
s tears. He w
as off dreaming again, staring at the rough ceiling boards.
“
And there
’
s no reason why I can
’
t haul hemlock bark
to Rib Lake to the tannery. . .

“
The what?
”

“
The tannery. I told you about it last week.
”

Emma shook her head.
“
You didn
’
t tell me about it.
”

“
Come to think of it, I didn
’
t hear about it till this week.
”