The Sign of the Beaver

by activextra

Sarah wants adventure. Every night Matt tells her heroic stories and tales of his time with the Indians, and as much as she loves these stories, Sarah wants to go out into the world... not continue this boring routine called life. She sneaks out one night and find much more than a rabbit, like she had hoped. A what-happens-next for The Sign of the Beaver

Hi! Yes, you all probably know this by now but my name is AquaPolarBear. I have just finished reading this book called The Sign of the Beaver for school purposes, and I decided to write a what-happens-next sort of thing. Seriously, I don't usually like all my school literature books, but this one was good! Read it! Hope you enjoy!

Happy swimming! (sorry I love swimming so... yeah.)

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing! Except my idea and words, of course.

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"We just stood there... motionless." Matt whispered. Sarah's eyes opened wide, and hung on to every word Matt spoke. It was the summer of 1771, two years after the family reunited with Matt. Recently, more people had been moving into the area. When the kids went out into the woods, they had to watch out for claims and fences and houses. Over all though, everyone was happy. Sarah was the one exception. She was happy, no doubt about that, but bored. They did the same routine every day. Every morning they all got up and started farming. Every evening Sarah either did chores around the house,which are no fun, or went out into the woods with Matt. Every night Matt told the family his stories about his time with Attean and the tribe. Sarah cherished these stories. Matt was an expressive storyteller, and she could imagine every detail of what really happened. He had started to run out of new stories, but tonight was new. She had never heard about the bear. Sarah, now twelve, could go out in the woods to explore play and shoot, but she wanted real adventure. Adventure like in Matt's stories.

"I'll tell you the rest of the story tomorrow OK?" Matt asked Sarah.

"Ok," She muttered reluctantly. Her brain seemed to shut down, collapse. Her imagination shut off like a door slamming. She was bored again.

Getting out the door was the hardest part. Only when Sarah stepped out into the cold night and the wind brushed past her did she realize how dangerous this was. But, despite the risks, she grabbed her bow and makeshift quiver Matt had made her and raced off. Sarah jogged for a long time before stopping at the trunk of the tree. She murmured the steps of her plan to herself: "OK... #1. Get out and run. #2. Shoot a rabbit or small animal so we can have meat tomorrow. And last but definitely not least, Get back home before anyone notices I'm gone. I'd be in so much trouble..."

Sarah leaned against the tree. She blinked, and it was light outside. The realization hit her, hard. It was morning, and she had slept through the night. Was her family worried? Have they even noticed she's gone yet? Sarah hit her forehead with her palm and examined her surroundings. There was a creek crawling calmly down the hill, with little white flowers extending from the banks. A small beaver dam covered the creek about fifty feet away. There was something peculiar about one of the trees close to the dam. It looked like someone had carved an animal onto the trunk. While she studied it, the residents of the dam popped their heads out innocently, not noticing Sarah. She didn't dare stand up, in case they saw her. She slowly reached her hand back to grab an arrow, and in a moment, it was notched and pointed towards the beaver. Now this is adventure, she thought. Suddenly dark hands clamped around her arrow. She looked up, startled. An Indian. He pulled her up and roughly threw her over his back. The next thing Sarah knew the Indian was sprinting through the woods carrying her away from the beavers.

It took two forevers, but eventually, they got to their destination. They had arrived at the Indian camp. Sarah was very nervous. She hadn't struggled while the Indian carried her, but now she wished she had. About thirty dark eyes pierced her like daggers. She put her hands on her back and leaned into them, cracking her stiff back self consciously.

"...Hi?" Sarah said uncertainly.

"You try shoot beaver?" the Indian who carried her questioned, his voice filled to the brim with anger.

"Yes."

"You see no sign?" Sarah remembered seeing the animal carved on the trunk. Matt had once told her about the signs Indians left to tell other tribes to back off, and now she realized that the animal on the tree was a beaver.

"I did see a sign, but I didn't know what it meant," Sarah stuttered. It was truly unnerving to see all those eyes trained on her. Sarah made an effort to change the subject. "What is your name?"

"I not tell name to stranger squaw." He replied stoutly.

Sarah's curiosity and nervousness suddenly became rage. He won't even tell me his name! How rude is that? She thought. "Fine!" She said, louder than before. "Then I'll tell you mine. My name is Sarah." The Indian boy looked at the chief, and back at Sarah.

"Sarah... Matt sister?" He asked, all the anger in his voice gone. Sarah didn't know how he knew Matt, then suddenly it dawned on her. This young man must be... Attean! As soon as she figured it out, she was sure it was the truth. She had found the Indians! Well, really, they had found her.

A girl about Sarah's age stepped forward. She held out her hand. "My name is Marie."

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This is my favorite quote from Sign of the Beaver.

"I do not understand. How can man own land? Land same as air. Land for all people to live on. For beaver and deer. Does deer own land?" -Attean, The Sign of the Beaver, pg 117

Thanks for reading!

Peace

Love

Swim

Percy (Jackson) (if you don't know who he is look him up NOW)