King of the Wild Frontier

By Marion

To be honest, I gotta blame Miss Jones for starting the trouble. After all, if she hadn'ta told us the story, we wouldn'ta gotten inta trouble that first day, and if we hadn'ta gotten inta trouble, we woulda been allowed in town. Then we wouldn'ta gotten inta the real big trouble. But Pa don't see it that way. Sometimes I think he just doesn't understand boys. Anyway, here's how it all began…

I leaned back to get a good look at the tree. "What'dya think?"

Kier bobbed his blond head. "Reckon it's right. What'dya think, Tex?"

Tex shrugged. "I reckon. I ain't never seen a giant, so who's ta say for sure? Ya think ya can hit it in the forehead, Joe, like in the story?"

"Sure I can. No one's better with a slingshot than me." I pulled my trusty slingshot from my pocket. It didn't look like much, just some string and a pouch, but it was accurate. The two guys leaned in for a look.

Kier scowled at me. "Aw, Joe, that ain't no slingshot. Where's the stick?"

I rolled my eyes, then glared at him. "Don’t you know nothing, Kier? Annie says the book says this was the kind o' slingshot he used."

I swooped down and picked up a rock. I hefted it in my hand and decided it would do. I cradled the rock in the pouch and held both ends of the string in my left hand, on accounta I'm left handed. I leaned back again, took aim and started swinging. When I was satisfied I'd swung it enough, I got ready to let go of the string.

What happened next couldn't rightly be called my fault. I was startled when Sheriff Coffee shouted at me just as I let go of the string, and so my aim was off. I didn't mean to break the sheriff's window, it just kinda happened. Next thing I knew, though, the sheriff was dragging me by my arm, and ordering Kier and Tex to follow behind. He dragged me all the way to the blacksmith shop where Pa and Mr. Johnson were talking.

Sheriff Coffee's a real nice man, and he explained to Pa that he knew I wasn't bad, just having fun and he knew I didn't mean ta break the window, but still it was broke and now someone had ta pay for ta get a new one. The new one was gonna cost $20.

Pa turned to me and I quick put my hands over my backside. Now, some folks think I'm doing that to protect my tail, but honestly, if Pa wanted to take some hide, my hands weren't gonna stop him. No, Adam told me when I was a little kid that Pa expected respect when he was lecturing and that standing up straight, hands behind my back was the most respectful way to stand. Adam said it’s the way sailors stand when the captain's talking; he also said that Pa told him long ago that Adam had ta stand like that when Pa was talking. I reckon Pa got it from Adam's grandfather, or maybe Grandfather Cartwright 'cuz I noticed once Annie does the same thing. She says her Pa expected her to stand like that, too.

Anyway, Pa turned to look at me and I knew what was coming. I had come to town to buy the Bowie knife I'd been saving for. I'd saved seven whole dollars, more than I'd ever saved in my life. I reached into my pocket and pulled out the money. I took one last look at it and handed it to Pa. He nodded and turned to the sheriff.

"Well, Roy, here's Joseph's down payment on the window. He'll be working off the rest of his debt but I'll give you the remaining money after I see Eli."

Mr. Johnson held up his hand. "Ain't no need, Ben. I reckon these two boys of mine were part of this, so they can pay the rest." He glared at Kier and Tex. "You boys go get that money you've been saving." They hesitated and he took a step towards them. Mr. Johnson's as intimidating as Pa is when he wants to be. Both fellas turned and ran into the house.

Pa nodded again and turned to me. "Joseph, we'll finish talking about this on the way home. Please wait for me at Orowitz's."

"Yes, Pa." I turned to head to the store.

"Joseph!"

I turned quickly. "Yes, Pa?"

"Please try to stay out of trouble." Pa sounded tired.

I nodded. "Yes, Pa." Problem was, I didn't go looking for trouble, trouble usually just found me.

On the way home Pa asked me what I was doing pointing a slingshot at the sheriff's window. I explained that Tex and Kier didn't believe that a slingshot could hit a giant, like in the story of David and Goliath that Miss Jones had told in Sunday School that week. I was pretty good with my slingshot, least-wise, I am if no one sneaks up from behind. So, I explained to Pa, I told 'em I'd show 'em that David could do it by hitting the top of the tree. Pa just kept shaking his head. Finally he just sighed.

"But, Joseph, I don't understand. Why that tree?"

I looked at him real confused. Sometimes Pa can be a little thick, though I'm not gonna point it out ta him. I explained "Well, Pa, there are no giants in Eagle Station. The tree was the best I could find."

I could tell he was trying to not laugh. He always gets this funny look when he's trying not to laugh. His nose twitches a little and it looks like he's trying to bite his cheek. Even with his hat pulled low, I could see his eyes were crinkled like when he laughs.

"Joseph, I honestly don't know how you do it sometimes. I think having to give up your savings to fix the window is punishment enough. We'll say no more about this. However, I think it best if you stay away from town for a while, except for school and church."

I was happy to hear him say that. I wasn't worried about getting a tanning – Pa's pretty understanding about mistakes. I was worried about getting extra chores to "give me time to think about the mistake." Pa likes doing that. Sometimes I'm not sure if he gives me the extra chores so I have time to think or if it's just that he needs the work done and it's a way to get me to do them without arguing. (Pa doesn't tolerate arguing about punishment. I learned that the hard way.) Of course, I couldn’t go to town for a while. When Pa says he thinks something's best, he's not really thinking, he's telling. But, staying out of town wasn't going to be much of a problem. Tex and Kier and I had already decided we'd spend the day on the Ponderosa next Saturday.

When we got home, Hop Sing asked me to bring in some wood, so's he could make supper. Hoss decided everything would go faster if he unloaded the wagon while Adam put the supplies away in the house. Annie and Pa sat at the table recording the expenses in the books. We'd bought a lot of supplies cuz it's almost winter and Pa figures we'd better make every trip to town count. He's afraid we'll get snowed in without food. I guess I can understand his worry, but it sure makes a lot of work for us.

Adam looked at a pile of journals on the table in front of Pa. "Hey, where did you get those?"

Pa looked up from the books. "Eli gave them to me. He thought Joseph might enjoy reading them."

I strained to see what they were, but I didn't want Pa to notice I wasn't doing chores, so I decided to wait until later to see them.

Hoss looked over Adam's shoulder. "Dang, don't that bring back memories, Adam?"

Adam actually shuddered. "Not good ones. Pa, I don't know if the Crockett Almanack is a good thing for Joe. It might, well, give him ideas."

Hoss nudged our big brother. "Speaking from experience, eh, Adam?"

Adam glared at Hoss, then looked at Pa. "Pa, you have to admit Joe's pretty good at finding trouble without that helping him."

"No more than another 13 year old boy, or have you forgotten?" Pa was definitely trying to not laugh.

Adam scowled. "I don't recall you finding that incident particularly funny."

Now Hoss started to laugh. "I don't think I ever heard Tante Jeanette holler so loud!"

Finally I gave up any pretending about chores and headed to the table.

"How come Tante Jeanette hollered loud?"

Hoss nudged Adam again. "Cuz Adam thought he was Davy Crockett!"

Adam looked disgusted. "I didn't think I was Davy Crockett. I was pretending to be Davy Crockett. It's not my fault Tante Jeanette gave her cat a dumb name!" Adam stormed over to the chair in front of the fireplace and sat down in a huff. I sat next to Pa. Hoss sat across from me, his arm draped over Annie's chair. This was gonna be good.

"Ya see, Joe, Tante Jeanette usta have a yellow cat. She named it Beurre, on accounta that's the French word for butter and butter's yellow. But the way she said it, it sounded like bear to Adam. So one day when we was over at Tante Jeanette's cuz Ma and Pa were going some place, Adam decided he was gonna be like Davy Crockett. See, he read where Davy Crockett had killed lots of bears."

"Adam tried to kill Tante Jeanette's cat?"

I heard a groan from the fireplace area. Pa laughed and shook his head. "As Adam explained later, he wasn't going to actually kill the cat. He was just pretending to stalk it."

Hoss grinned. "Yeah, 'sept the cat didn't like being stalked, so it jumped out the window and ran away. Tante Jeanette was real angry because she was afraid the cat wasn't gonna come back and that's when she started yelling and that's when Ma and Pa came in. She started hollering that Adam had made her cat run away and she kept insisting that Pa punish Adam."

"Which he did!" Adam just continued to stare into the fireplace.

I was sure he did. Ma didn't like it when we riled Tante Jeanette, and Pa didn't like it when we riled Ma. I gotta admit, I love the thought of Adam in trouble. "What did ya do, Pa?"

Pa said nothing, but he winked at me. Hah! I knew Adam got into trouble when he was my age - but the way he acts, I think he must have forgotten about the trouble. I gotta remember this story for the next time he acts all perfect-like.

Well, I spent mosta that night looking through the Almanacks and I gotta say, they were awfully exciting. I was havin' so much fun reading that I didn't want to take my bath. But Pa insisted, on accounta we had church the next day. If you ask me, baths were invented just to ruin a good Saturday.

Next morning, I noticed Pa speaking with Miss Jones before Sunday School. I don't know what he had to say to her, but she didn't tell any good stories. She spent the entire time talking about some Sermon on the Mountain. I had a tough time staying awake. Annie kept nudging me. Now she's gotten to be a real goody-goody if you ask me. Annie, that is, not Miss Jones. Miss Jones was always a goody-goody.

Anyway, Annie hardly ever gets into trouble with Pa anymore. I asked Adam about it and he reckoned she was just growing up. Hoss reckons she just got tired of ending up over Pa's knee. But even though she's turning into a boring girl, she's sometimes still all right, like when she keeps me awake during Sunday School and when she whispers verses to me. Thanks to her, I've earned enough tickets to almost get a Bible. Pa'll sure be impressed when that happens.

Blessed are the meek? Nah, I'd rather be Davy Crockett. He was the king of the wild frontier. He could kill bears and drink up the Gulf of Mexico. Why, once he rode on a pet bear so fast that he scalded the hair off his back. I'm not sure was that the bear's back or Davy's back, but either way, they must have been running real fast.

I spent the ride home from church wondering if the fellas and me could build a bear trap so's I could tame me a bear like Davy did. But just as I had figured out how to do it, an image of Pa shaking his head jumped into my mind. I could hear him asking, "do you ever think, Joseph?" So, I decided to make him proud and think about it. The more I thought about it, the more I thought of the problems. Like, how do you tame a bear, exactly. Some of the ones I've seen are pretty big and even if I caught a cub, the mama would be around somewhere. Then there was the problem of keeping it until I tamed it. I just knew Pa wouldn't let me keep it in the barn. After all, he didn't let Hoss keep them wolves a while back. Maybe I should look through those Almanacks again.

Some of the stories in the Almanacks are real exciting, like the one where Davy rides his pet alligator up Niagara Falls. Adam says that's in New York. Adam says he remembers alligators from New Orleans. He told me that after my bath Saturday night. Then he laughed and looked at Hoss.

"Ask Hoss if he remembers alligators."

Hoss scowled. "I got a better idea. Don't ask Hoss if he remembers alligators."

"C'mon, Hoss. You thought the Davy Crockett story was pretty funny. I'm sure Joe and Annie want to hear about the time you brought the baby alligator home."

Pa sat up suddenly. "I think I'd like to hear about the time you brought home the baby alligator home. I don't remember that."

Adam looked sheepish. "Ma never told you?" Pa shook his head. "Sorry, Hoss, I thought he knew."

Hoss sighed and sat down next to me on the sofa. "Nah, I reckon Ma took a little pity on me. She said she'd punished me and that Pa didn't need to know."

Ma was like that; I reckon she saved my hide more than once by not telling Pa what I'd done.

"Anyways, Joe, I was about seven or eight and Adam was telling me stories about the alligators. So one day, I decided I wanted to go see some myself. I don't rightly know where Pa was at the time, but I reckon he wasn't around or I'd never of gone to the swamps."

Pa interrupted. "You went to the swamps when you were seven years old?" He frowned. "You are very lucky your mother didn't tell me."

"Aw, Pa, that was ten years ago. Don't go frettin' about it now." Hoss shifted nervously in the seat next to me.

"So, I went inta the swamps. I didn't see no big alligators. Thinkin' back on it, I'm kinda glad I didn't. But I did find a little bitty alligator, not much longer than my arm was from elbow to fingers. I decided it would be a real good pet. See, Pa wouldn't let us have a dog and I wanted a pet."

Pa interrupted again. If I'da done that, he'd tell me to mind my manners. But I got more sense than to say that to Pa. "I wouldn't let you have a dog; why on Earth would you think I'd let you have an alligator?"

Hoss blushed. "Aw, Pa, I was only seven. I brought the alligator home and I found a crate for it. I wanted to let Ma know, real gentle like, that I had a new pet, and so I hid it under my bed. Only then she called me to do my chores and while I was outside, I heard her screaming. She had decided to air the mattresses and when she moved mine, she saw the alligator. Adam and me ran into the room and she was just screamin' something in French. I didn't know what she was sayin', but as soon as she saw me, she got that look in her eye. You know the one I mean."

Yup, I knew the look he meant. And I knew what it meant, too. Trouble.

"She told Adam to take the alligator away. She said she didn't care where he left it, as long as it was far away from her. Then she picked up my hairbrush and, well, you can figure the rest."

I sure could. Ma came after me more than once with the hairbrush. My backside still prickles thinking about it. Still, I can't say as I'd mind that if it meant having Ma around still.

So anyway, about the real big trouble. I still think it was Miss Jones' fault. If she hadn'ta told the story, I wouldn't have tried to shoot the tree. If I hadn'ta tried to shoot the tree, I wouldn't broke the window and I would have been allowed to go to town. If I had been allowed in town, I wouldn'ta gotten into trouble like this. Thanks to her, I hadta stay on the Ponderosa except for school and church until Pa said otherwise.

I brought my Almanacks to school on Monday. Kier and Tex and I spent recess time looking through them. Mitch woulda too, but he was home sick. Anyway, Mr. Taylor was real curious about what we were reading when we coulda been playing.

"What do you have there, Joseph?"

I stood up and showed him. No sense getting inta trouble for being disrespectful to the teacher. Me and the fellas had plans to make for the weekend and I didn't want to spend it doing chores. I was determined to stay outta trouble this week!

"Mr. Orowitz gave these to my pa for me. They're real interesting."

Mr. Taylor looked through the one I handed him. "And you say your father's given permission to read these?" Mr. Taylor handed back the Almanack. "He's not afraid it will give you ideas?" He smiled to let me know he was joking. Who knew the teacher could joke like a regular person?

So we spent the week reading the Almanacks and making our plans for the weekend. Finally Friday afternoon came. Mr. Taylor told us to put down our books; we were going to have a special lesson today.

"Who knows what the Alamo is?"

I raised my hand and so did Kier and Tex. A few other kids seemed to know, too, but Mr. Taylor called on Tex on accounta he was just about busting out of his seat.

"My pa knew someone who had a friend whose second cousin met someone who had a relative there. I know all about it." Tex started to tell really good stories about gunshots and knife fights. I knew they were good cuz some of the girls looked like they were gonna be sick. Girls. If Mr. Taylor talked about some yucky love story, they'd all sigh and get goopy, but let us finally talk about something interesting and they act all stupid. Anyway, Mr. Taylor finally stopped Tex.

"That's a very, um, interesting perspective, Tex. Thank you." Mr. Taylor leaned against his desk and crossed his arms. Then he started telling us about the Alamo. He talked about Santa Ana and Jim Bowie and William Travis and Davy Crockett! William Travis vowed he would never surrender or retreat and that he would have victory or death. Then Santa Ana's army attacked and there was lots of hand-to-hand fighting! All the Texans, even Davy Crockett, died defending the Alamo. They musta been real brave. What a glorious fight it musta been.

Kier, Tex and I made our plans after school. They were going to come out to the ranch after chores were done. Kier was real partial to the tales of Mike Fink that we had been reading and he thought we could maybe play Davy Crockett and Mike Fink. Tex wanted to play Alamo so they almost got into a fight but I stopped 'em. Durn fools. If they got caught fighting, they'd get themselves restricted. I told 'em we could do both - Mike Fink in the morning, Alamo in the afternoon. I was feeling pretty clever and they looked at me like I was real smart.

Saturday dawned with a bright blue sky. A little cold, but that was to be expected, Pa said. After all, it was the end of October. Pa and Adam weren't going to be home all day, which suited me just fine. Not that we were gonna do anything wrong, of course, but sometimes Pa will find extra chores if he thinks I'm gonna have too much fun.

I just finished the last of my chores when Tex and Kier rode up. Hoss and Hop Sing were getting into the wagon; Hoss was gonna take Hop Sing to town for the weekend. I mean, Hop Sing was gonna spend the weekend in town with his cousins and Hoss was gonna take him there. I didn't mean Hoss was gonna spend the weekend in town. I don't know what Hoss would do for the whole weekend in town except for stuff that would make Pa angry and Hoss tries not to do stuff to make Pa angry. So do I, but Hoss seems to be better at it.

"Hi, Hoss, Hi, Hop Sing." Kier and Tex wrapped their horses' reins around the post in front of the house.

"Hey, fellas." Hoss waved as he settled onto the seat. "Joe, I'll be home before chore time. Pa said I could stay in town for a while."

Hop Sing nodded, then smiled. "There are snacks for you on the table. Annie will make lunch for you at noon."

We ran into the house to grab the snacks Hop Sing had left. Annie was just cleaning up the last of the breakfast dishes and when they saw her, both Kier and Tex stopped to look at her. I wish they wouldn't do that. She's just a girl. She just rolled her eyes when she noticed them staring at her.

"Be home at noon for lunch. If you're not home on time, you won't get lunch. I've got a lot of chores this morning and I don't need the extra work."

Now I rolled my eyes. She thinks she's so grown-up. Well, she can't boss me around.

"Maybe we'll be home at noon, maybe we won't." I slammed the door on the way out just to show her.

I quick saddled Paint and we headed up to the lake. I was all excited because Friday night I had asked Adam about keelboats, like Mike Fink had, and Adam had drawn a picture for me. I told Kier and Tex about it and they agreed it would be good to make one. I had packed an ax and saw in my saddlebags and I had some rope, too. I didn't reckon we could make one that looked just like the picture, but we could make a raft and pretend it was a keelboat.

We spent most of the morning building the raft. As soon as we were done, Kier jumped on it and shouted "Whoo-oop! I'm the original iron-jawed, brass-mounted, copper-bellied corpse-maker from the wilds of Arkansas!" Tex and me just looked at him like he was crazy.

"Don't you two know nothing? That's what Mike Fink said to people. Joe, I read it in one of them books of yours."

We both shrugged and then climbed onto the raft. It was about as long as if we all three laid down head to foot and it was wide enough so we could stand side by side. We didn't build the house on it, like in Adam's picture, but we didn’t figure our fathers would let us stay overnight on the raft. That little voice in my head was saying that maybe Pa wouldn't want me on the raft anyway, but I ignored it. Pa wasn't going to be home all day. He'll never know.

Tex had cut three long poles and we used them to push ourselves out onto the lake. We didn't go too far from shore but we floated around for about a half hour until we decided it was time to go home for lunch. I mean, Annie's not my boss, but she's turning into a good cook.

Tex and Kier had a great time at lunch telling Annie all about the raft. I wasn’t sure that was a good idea, she might act all goody-goody on us and tell Pa. But she didn't. Instead she got all excited and announced she wanted to go with us after lunch.

I started to say no, but both Tex and Kier said she could come. What is it with those two and my cousin? They'd better watch themselves cuz Mitch might get angry.

She asked if I would saddle Sadie for her, cuz she had something to do, it would only take a coupla minutes. Well we were outside waitin'. I had my back to the house, and Tex and Kier were facing me when all of a sudden, their jaws dropped wide open, like they seen a ghost.

I turned to look over my shoulder and I groaned. Annie had changed into her trousers and shirt. She had a sack over her shoulder and she jumped down the steps. She hurried over to the horses, threw the bag over the saddle horn and put her foot in the stirrup. I nudged Tex to see if I could get him to breathe.

Annie glared at all three of us. "What?"

Tex and Kier couldn't say anything. I just sighed. "Annie, if Pa finds out you're wearing trousers, he'll have your hide."

"And if he finds out you've built a raft without his permission, he'll have your hide. Look, Joe, he's not going to be home until after supper. He said so this morning." She swung into the saddle. "I thought you guys were going to show me a raft. C'mon. Let's ride."

Ride we did. Annie was impressed by the raft and she went along with the idea that it was a keelboat. She did cut Kier short when he tried to call her "cher ami" even when he said he was just pretending to be Mike Fink.

"Mike Fink might have called ladies that, but you call me that again and I'll tell Adam."

Now Kier and Tex like Hoss, and they aren't particularly worried about Pa, but they're afraid of Adam. The idea that he might get angry with them worries them considerably. I asked once and all Tex would say was that Ro told them if they upset Adam, she'd get angry. Their sister seems nice enough to me, for a girl, but they don't want to rile her for some reason. Kier stopped calling Annie "cher ami" after that.

We decided we'd go over to my island so we could play Alamo. I don't really own the island, but sometimes Mitch and I like to swim there. Kier and Tex have never been to it. Come to think of it, Annie hasn't either cuz she's not allowed to swim with us.

All four of us fit on the raft without problem. Annie wanted to use the pole, but Tex said it wouldn't be right, that it would be ungentlemanly of him to allow her to do that. Ungentlemanly? Who does he think he is anyway? Annie musta thought the same thing cuz I saw her eyes rolling.

We made it over to the island without any problems and we quickly laid out the fort. A low outcropping of rock became the Long Barracks, a nearby group of trees became the church and a grassy area became the palisades. I announced I was gonna be Davy Crockett and I said Annie had to be Santa Ana. She protested but I told her she had to because she spoke Spanish and because of her name. Suddenly, she stopped protesting and smiled.

"All right, I'll be Santa Ana. That means I get to kill you all!"

She looked a little scary when she said that, but I gave her a push and then she wasn't scary looking any more.

Tex said he wanted to be William Travis, and I said all right. Kier shrugged and said he guessed he'd be Jim Bowie, but I said he shouldn't be on accounta Bowie was sick during the battle and all Tex would get to do would be to lie around and wait for Annie to kill him. Annie looked like she liked the idea, but Kier decided he'd be Mike Fink.

"But Mike Fink wasn't at the Alamo. He died before it!"

Tex shrugged. "Yeah, I know Joe, but I don't know no one else's name."

That made sense to me, so I said okay.

We played for a long time. Tex made speeches about never surrendering and never retreating and Kier acted like Mike Fink, all brave like. Annie was really good as Santa Ana. She killed us lots of times. Then I thought maybe we oughta get to win once, but she wouldn't go along with that. Then she said I could be Santa Ana so I could kill everyone. That was nice of her; she didn't have to do that. Sometimes she's okay, even if she is a dumb girl.

We stopped once to eat the snack Annie brought. Then we played some more until finally Tex looked at the sun.

"Lordy, Kier, we gotta go. Pa'll tan us good if we're not home in time for chores."

"Yeah, Joe, we gotta be home before Uncle Ben." Annie looked down at her trousers and I knew what was worrying her.

We all climbed back onto the keelboat and headed back to shore. We got about halfway back when Annie decided she wanted to use the pole. She tried to grab Kier's pole and he ended up dropping it. Tex decided to use his pole to pull Kier's pole back in, so he leaned way off the raft. Next thing I knew, the raft was flipping and we were tumbling into the water.

Golly, but that water was cold! I came to the surface sputtering and I started looking around. Where was Annie? Tex and Kier popped up but I couldn't see my cousin anywhere.

Just as I was about to panic, I saw Annie come up on the other side of the raft. Actually not much was left of the raft. I guess we didn't do a good job of lashing the logs together because when it flipped over, the logs all fell apart. Annie had grabbed onto the log closest to her and was using it to keep herself afloat. That seemed like a good idea, so Kier and Tex and me grabbed onto different logs.

"Everyone okay?" I glanced over to make sure no one was hurt. "I guess we'll have to swim for it." The water was cold and I wanted to get out just as soon as I could. Annie nodded in agreement and the four of us headed for shore, which fortunately was only about 100 yards away.

We'd just about made it to the shore when I felt strong hands grabbin' onta my belt. I looked down and saw gloves I knew all too well. I didn't really wanna look up, but I didn't have much of a choice. Pa set me down and Adam set Annie down. Kier and Tex staggered to shore right behind us.

Pa just stood staring down at us. His hands were all balled up and restin' on his hips, a little too close to his belt for my liking. His mouth was all frownin' and his eyebrows were so bunched up, it looked like he only had the one. Annie and me stood up straight, hands behind us, waiting. We didn't have to wait long.

"Of all the stupid, hare-brained…what on earth were you…I am speechless!"

Well, for someone who was speechless Pa sure had a lot to say. I think Annie was thinkin' the same thing cuz I could see her stirrin' outta the corner of my eye. Oh Lordy, please let her keep her mouth shut this one time.

Someone was listening to my prayers because Pa turned to her, finger pointing. "Not a word, young lady, or you will regret it."

He whirled on Tex and Kier. "I think you two boys should be getting home. Now!" The two turned and headed towards their horses, but Pa stopped them. "I'll be seeing your father in church tomorrow and for your sakes I hope that he has heard the story by then."

I hoped so, too. Mr. Johnson's a lot like Pa, and there's nothing worse than Pa having to hear from another adult about some trouble we were in. Hard as it is to tell on myself, it's harder to face Pa when I don't tell on myself.

Tex and Kier both answered, "yes, sir" and rode towards town. Pa watched them for a minute and then turned back to Annie and me.

"Well?"

Annie glanced at me. I swallowed and looked up at Pa. I explained the whole story, about how we had been reading about Davy Crockett and Mike Fink and how we had gotten the idea to build the keelboat and how we had gone to the island and played Alamo. I ended by saying "we didn't think the boat would sink."

"Didn't think? Didn't think?" Pa's voice got lower and that vein on his forehead started sticking out. "Do either of you ever think?"

I could see Annie stirring again and I started praying again. Keep your mouth shut, keep your mouth shut…Fortunately Pa had turned away from us, so he didn't see her open her mouth. I nudged her hard and she closed it right quick before he turned around.

"Did it occur to you that you should ask permission, Joseph? Did you think that I would want to see this raft? Did you ever think, Anna, that the raft might be dangerous?" I didn't dare tell him that I had thought of all those things but had decided they wasn't worth worryin' about. To say Pa was a little angry right then was to say Tahoe was a little lake. I wasn't gonna make him angrier. "Did either of you think that had the raft sank further away from shore, you could have died of the cold before you could swim to land? I ask again, do either of you ever think?"

Pa paused and then nodded slightly. "Well, then, seeing as you obviously need time to think and seeing as you are so interested in wood and logs, I think I will give you time for both." He nodded again, like he was pleased with what he was thinking. "Hoss and Adam have been carting logs for firewood. Joseph, it will be your job to cut them into smaller logs and then to split them. Anna, you will stack the wood and when there is no wood to stack, you will spend your time looking for kindling."

Annie groaned.

"You have something to say?" Pa's hands dropped back to his belt.

Annie shook her head. "No, sir."

Chopping wood didn't sound too bad, definitely not as bad as what I thought would happen.

"Adam, Joe, please go home now. Annie and I will be home presently.

I'd forgotten my brother was standin' there and I was embarrassed that he had heard Pa yellin' at us. I think he was embarrassed, too, cuz he gave me a little smile when he walked past me. I took a look at Annie and she shrugged. I had no idea why she had to stay behind and I guess she didn't either.

Pa stopped me just as I was about to get on Paint. "Joseph, you had best be cutting wood when I get home."

"Yes, sir."

We were halfway home when I finally found my tongue. "Well, that coulda been worse. Chopping wood's not so bad."

Adam snickered. "Have you seen how much wood Hoss and I have brought home? You'll be chopping wood for a long time."

I shrugged. Still didn't seem as bad as a tanning. Those last a long time, too.

"How come Annie had to stay behind, do ya think?"

"Pa doesn't care much for disobedient children."

"She didn't disobey anymore than I did."

"She's wearing trousers."

I knew Adam was right. Pa had told Annie more than once that she couldn't wear her trousers when she wasn't doing chores or when she was around someone not in the family. I reckoned he was gonna have a few words to say to her about that. If she was lucky, that was all he was gonna have for her.

So here I am chopping wood, like I been doing for a week so far. I been thinking a lot like Pa expects me to, though. Right now I'm thinking I'll be lucky to finish before the end of winter. Darn that Miss Jones and her story about David and Goliath! I knew Sunday School wasn't good for me!