The Voyage of the Rattletrap by Hayden Carruth
page 21 of 134 (15%)
page 21 of 134 (15%)
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of them. The pony trotted contentedly behind. Just before night I
rode her ahead, looking for the lake. I found it to be a small one, perhaps a half-mile wide, scarcely below the level of the prairie, and generally with marshy shores, though on one side the beach was sandy and stony, with a few stunted cottonwood-trees, and here I decided we would camp. I went back and guided the Rattletrap to the spot. Soon Jack had a roaring fire going from the dry wood which Ollie had collected. I fed the horses and turned them loose, and they began eagerly on the green grass which grew on the damp soil near the lake. The pony I picketed with a long rope and a strap around one of her forward ankles, between her hoof and fetlock, as we scarcely felt like trusting her all night. Snoozer got up for his supper, and after that stretched himself by the fire and blinked at it sleepily. The rest of us did much the same. After a while Ollie said. "I think that bed in the wagon looks pretty narrow for two. How are three going to sleep in it?" "I don't think three are going to sleep in it," said Jack. "Where are you going to sleep, then, Uncle Jack?" Jack laughed. "I think," he said, "that the rancher and the cook will sleep in the wagon, and let you sleep under the wagon. Nothing makes a boy grow like sleeping rolled up in a blanket under a wagon. You'll be six inches taller if you do it every night till we get back." "Well, I don't think so," said Ollie, just a little alarmed |
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