Adam won the game of checkers and Ben told Cat it was time for bed. Adam read two chapters in One Thousand and One Nights with her, turned the lamp down and went downstairs. After Ben tucked her in and returned to the great room, Abel said, "We need to talk about Catherine. Hop Sing, you are part of this family and I would like you to be part of this discussion. Adam, I want to know why you have been treating your sister the way you have and don't start telling me about what you think Joe did when you returned from college. I also want to know exactly what you did to her on Friday and why. I know what she did and why but I must know what you did and why." Adam told his grandfather what he had done to Cat on Friday and why. "I see. Your sister told you the boys had threatened to do something very bad if she didn't do what they said but instead of attempting to learn what that threat was, you decided that your sister needed to be punished. And you made that decision based on the fact that you thought your father had let Joe get away with everything and so, you decided he would not punish your sister and it was up to you to do so. I am very disappointed. Let me ask you this. If you had waited to talk with the boys' fathers, would you have punished your sister? If you had not punished her in the sheriff's office, would you have needed to punish her for talking back to you on the way home?"
"No I wouldn't."
"Exactly. You remind me of some first mates I've had. They thought they were ready to be in command even though they were still learning what it takes to become a captain. I'm sure your father remembers at least one of them."
"Yes I do. I was your cabin boy and no older than eleven when he ordered me aloft with no safety line. When I protested that I was not allowed aloft, he struck me."
"That's right. The second mate came down to my cabin and told me what was happening. The man was drunk so I demoted him to seaman, fired him when we returned to Boston and ensured he would never serve as an officer on any vessel again. Adam you are an excellent first mate but not quite ready to command. Catherine doesn't trust you due to your attitude and actions toward her. That is why she risked serious injury to take care of the team today. You are going to have to work hard to regain her trust. I can't tell you how to do it as that is something you need to discover for yourself. I do know one thing that may help. You know she struggles with arithmetic so instead of waiting for her to ask for help, ask her if she would like some help. That alone will not cause you to regain her trust but it may help. Hop Sing, I would welcome your opinion. What do you think of the way the family has been treating it's youngest member?"
"Mr. Cartwright and Adam need to stop acting like Missy Cat is baby. Need to stop treating her like Little Joe when he boy. She no get into mischief like Little Joe. She been through much pain and loss and need to feel like she loved and wanted. Maybe then nightmares stop. Family need to keep promises. You tell her she have no chores so no make her do chores. She little girl and need time to play but she no have time except on weekend. Listen to what she say and stop making her afraid she be punished for no doing something she not supposed to do. Hoss and Little Joe always take time to play and show her they love her. Show her more of Ponderosa, how get there and let her go alone. Puppies soon be big enough to protect her."
"Cat has nightmares? What are they about?"
"Her mother's death," answered Joe. "We took her out to her mother's grave and they got better for a while. She wasn't having so many and the ones she had weren't as bad until Friday. Then she had one of the worst nightmares she's had since coming here to live."
"Joe, please tell me exactly what a school day is like for her."
"Before breakfast, she has to gather the eggs, fill Hop Sing's wood box, muck out Beauty's stall and feed him, Lady and Fury. She also has to set the table for breakfast and clear it when we're done eating. After school, she has to groom Beauty, feed him, Lady, and Fury, fill Hop Sing's wood box, work with Fury, do her homework, set the table and clear it after supper. Then she has time for two games of checkers before getting ready for bed."
"Who used to set and clear the table before Catherine came to live here?"
"I did," said Hop Sing. "Mr. Cartwright say setting and clearing table something Missy Cat need to do."
"I was right when I told my granddaughter that this family ship needs a course change and the sails adjusting. Counting me and Hop Sing, there are seven people in this family. Therefore, each one of us can set and clear the table one day a week. Since Catherine has no chores until after the holidays, she will be exempt unless someone politely asks her to do it and then they will have to take two of her days in January."
"Abel, you are a guest in our home and do not need to do any work, including setting and clearing the table," said Ben.
"Nonsense. I am family and will do what I can to help around here. Adam, I want you to try something until after the new year. Whenever you are going to do something to your sister, stop and ask yourself if whatever it is you are planning to do is something you would do if Catherine was your daughter instead of your sister. If the answer is yes, then go ahead and do it. If the answer is no, ask yourself why you are doing it. If you can justify your actions, then do whatever it is you were going to do. Otherwise don't do it. Also, if you catch her doing something you don't think she should be doing, especially if she could get hurt, ask her why she's doing it. She may think she's helping out and may not realize that she could get hurt. Try spending more time with her. I know it's getting too cold for fishing but the two of you could just go for a ride. Another thing you could do is ask if she'd like to learn to play the guitar. Benjamin, Hoss, Joe, if you see Adam do something to Cat, ask him why he did it. If his answer is reasonable, accept it. If it is not, ask him how he could have handled the situation differently. Adam, I make no guarantees, but doing what I just asked you to do may help to restore her trust in you. Will you do that for me?"
"Yes I will. As you said, it may help and it certainly can't hurt. When I learned what those boys had threatened to do if Cat didn't go to the saloon with them, I wanted to wring their necks. I also realized how wrong I was to treat Cat the way I did and wished there was some way to undo my actions. She told me they had threatened to do something bad but I wasn't paying attention to her words, only to the fact that she was in town in the middle of the night, looking under the saloon door."
"Very good. Now I want to know why Cat has been here for three months and still does not know her way around this ranch."
"Pa's bein' real overprotective of little sister," said Hoss. "He wants ta wrap her in cotton wool & put her on a shelf. I'm surprised he don't insist on riding ta school with her every day. Even though Doc Martin said for us to take her, Pa didn't even want me, Adam and Joe takin' her to her mama's grave 'cause the doc said for him not to go. He don' even want her learnin' how to get anywhere on her own exceptin' school and Lake Tahoe."
"He's gotten better," added Joe, "but he's still got a long way to go. I'm surprised he let her go fishing with us on Saturday and I'm even more surprised he let her drive the buckboard to school this morning. I think the only reason he let her help us move the cattle to their winter pastures is because he knew she would try and do something on her own and possibly get badly hurt."
"What was her life like before she came here to live?"
"She had a lot of freedom," answered Adam. "As long as her uncle or one of his friends knew where she was going, she was allowed to go anywhere she wanted. She also had three jobs."
"What kind of jobs did a young girl have?"
"She caught fish for the hotel restaurant, took telegrams to the farms and ranches outside of town, and sometimes helped the blacksmith. In fact, she'd go fishing after school and do her homework while she was fishing. It took some doing but we managed to convince Pa to allow her to do her homework out in the pasture with her colt."
"Well Benjamin, now I know why that precious child thinks that you don't really want her and only adopted her because you felt sorry for her. She went from having unlimited freedom to having none at all. It also explains why she keeps saying she wants to go back to Dodge. She knew she was loved and that her uncle would always be there for her. He took her to a family outside of town to keep her safe when a cattle drive arrived but rode out to see her every day. The four of you didn't even notice that she wasn't in the house with everyone else this afternoon until she asked someone to put the harness away and Hop Sing scolded you.
Beginning tomorrow, after Catherine finishes her homework, one of you is going to start showing her around the ranch. Pick a spot and take her there every day until she can find it with her eyes closed. Then pick another spot and to do the same thing until she knows her way around the ranch. Obviously you're not going to be able to show her the entire ranch before the end of this year, but you can get a good start on it. You and Adam need to do more than tell Cat that you love her. You need to show her that you love her. Remember, actions speak louder than words and until she believes that the two of you do love her and want her here, she will not be happy and will continue wanting to go back to her uncle. Catherine is a sweet child who needs to know that she is loved and wanted. Since this is your first experience raising a girl, there is one thing you need to know. Girls wear their hearts on their sleeves and they are easily broken. Little girl's feelings are also easily hurt. Sometimes all it takes is a single cross word to make a girl go running off in tears. I experienced that many times with Elizabeth when she was growing up. Now Benjamin, how about a game of chess. I am anxious to see if your skills have improved since the last time we played."
"It's not that late so I'm going to ride over and see if Amos Morgan will let me ask Sally Ann to the harvest festival and dance on Saturday," said Joe. "With everything that happened at church yesterday, I didn't get a chance to ask her. Don't worry, I won't be out too late. Amos won't let us do much more than sit on the porch and talk for a little while."
When Joe returned home, everyone else had already gone to bed. He decided to look in on Cat to make sure she hadn't kicked her covers off and was surprised to find her bed empty. Knowing that Adam was still awake, he lightly knocked on his brother's door. "What do you want at this hour of the night?" asked Adam. "Don't you realize what time it is?"
"Shhh," whispered Joe. "I don't want to wake Pa. May I come in for a minute?"
Adam stood aside and let his brother in and closed the door behind him. "Now just exactly what is so important that it can't wait for morning?"
"Cat's not in her bed and neither are her puppies."
"If she's ridden off somewhere…"
"She's still here somewhere. Her clothes are on her desk chair and all of the horses are in their stalls."
"Alright. You check the outhouse and I'll look in the kitchen."
Joe came back in the house and said, "She's not in the outhouse and I don't see her puppies anywhere in the yard."
"Well then, that means there's only one other place she can be."
"You're right. I didn't even think to look and see if she was sleeping with Fury. She does that when she's upset and these past two days have been very upsetting for her."
"I think I'll let her spend the night in here with me. Please get her pillow and blanket while I put my boots on and then we'll see if our theory is right and little sister is sleeping with her colt again."
They walked out to the barn and found Cat sound asleep in Lady and Fury's stall, using the colt as a pillow, with her puppies curled up on either side of her. "Too bad it's too cold to leave her out here," said Joe. "I can't believe she didn't even think to bring a blanket with her."
"I know. She is awfully cute lying there and if it were still summer, I'd leave her right where she's at. Since it's late fall, we had better get her into the house."
"Yeah," said Joe, picking her up. "She's awfully cold. Let's make some hot cocoa for her before putting her back to bed."
"You read my mind little brother. Some hot cocoa will help all of us to get to sleep faster."
They carried Cat into the kitchen and made enough noise to wake Hop Sing who came out of his room. "What you doing so late? Why Missy Cat not in bed?"
"Shhh," said Adam. "Not so loud. We don't want to wake Pa. We found Cat sleeping in the barn with Fury and she didn't even have a blanket with her. She's cold so we're making some hot cocoa to warm her up before taking her back upstairs. I'm going to put her in my bed. I hate lying to Pa but if he looks for her in the morning, I'm going to tell him that she was having a hard time sleeping so I made her some hot cocoa and put her in my bed. Please don't tell him that we found her in the barn. It will just make him angry."
"Hop Sing no say anything. No want Mr. Cartwright angry at Missy Cat. I make hot cocoa. You get cups out." They drank their hot cocoa and Adam carried Cat upstairs and put her in his bed. He rubbed her back and sang to her until she fell asleep."
The next morning, Ben was surprised when he didn't find Cat in her bed. He asked Adam about it while they were having coffee before starting morning chores. "She was having trouble sleeping, so I made her some hot cocoa and put her in my bed. I rubbed her back and sang to her until she fell asleep."
"Why didn't you wake me?" demanded Ben.
"Why did Adam need to wake you?" asked Abel. "What could you have done for her that he didn't? I think he did an excellent job taking care of his sister."
"Thank you Grandfather. I used to do the same things for Joe after Marie died and Pa left us."
"Because I'm her father and I need to know if she's having trouble sleeping."
"You didn't seem to care that your five year old son was having nightmares and crying for his mama and papa fourteen years ago," retorted Adam.
"Adam," said Abel. "That was fourteen years ago. I am surprised that you are still angry with your father after all these years. He knows he was wrong to leave. I also realize how hard it was for you to run the ranch and take care of your brothers when you were only seventeen. However, your father did return and apologized for his actions. What has been done has been done and cannot be undone. It is long past time for you to let go of your anger. Benjamin, it is not necessary for you to be notified every time something happens with Catherine or she does something. She had trouble sleeping and Adam took care of her. I am quite certain that he would have knocked on your door if she had been having a nightmare or if she had fallen down the stairs. You cannot continue to be overprotective of her. If you do, you will lose her. She is a young child, full of life who needs the opportunity to run and play and to be allowed to make mistakes and learn from those mistakes. It is only by making mistakes and learning from them as children that we grow into responsible adults.
Catherine is a lot like Elizabeth was at that age. She was wild and fun loving. Much like Cat and her friends climbing the water tank in Dodge, Elizabeth snuck on board my ship and climbed the rigging when she was eight. Of course, I was terrified something bad would happen to her. Also, I had recently been promoted to first mate and was concerned that her actions would cause me to be demoted back to second mate. Instead, my captain climbed the rigging himself, helped her into the crow's nest and let her look through his spyglass before helping her back to the deck. Then he told her she was welcome on board anytime but she should ask his help before climbing the rigging again. My wife on the other hand, was not so forgiving. Margaret was furious when she learned where our daughter had been and what she had been doing. She felt that Elizabeth should be at home, learning to cook, sew, and keep house. I told her there would be plenty of time for Liz to learn those things but she was only going to be a child once and should enjoy her childhood. I'm afraid I overindulged my daughter when she was a child but I firmly believe that if I hadn't, she wouldn't have grown into the young woman you fell in love with and married. I would like you to do the same thing with Cat. A little bit of overindulgence won't hurt her a bit." As everyone was getting ready to go outside and do the morning chores, Abel asked, "Should I go and wake my granddaughter?"
Ben looked at the clock and said, "No, not yet. Since she doesn't have any chores this morning, she can sleep for another hour. If she's not awake by the time breakfast is ready, you can wake her then."
Cat came downstairs shortly before breakfast, yawning, stretching, and rubbing her eyes. As usual when she hadn't had enough sleep, her shirt was on backwards. Her brothers laughed at her and Adam teased, "Little sister, what have Hoss, Joe, and I told you about going into town, playing poker, and drinking most of the night?"
"Not to, but it's fun."
"I see. And how much did you win last night?"
"Five hundred million dollars."
"And what did you do with all that money?"
"I bought a bunch of candy and ate it on the way home. I really had fun last night. I got into a big fight and beat ten cowboys who were bigger than Hoss. Then I moved all of the horses around so nobody could find theirs. It was lots of fun watching all the cowboys looking for their horses. It took them hours and hours to find them."
"That does sound like fun. I'll have to try it sometime. How much whiskey did you drink?"
"None. I don't like whiskey. It tastes worse than coffee does. I drank a small barrel of beer. I'm too tired to go to school today. I should just stay home and sleep."
Abel had a hard time containing his laughter while Cat was telling everyone what she had done during the night.
"Young lady," said Ben with mock severity, "If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times, little girls who spend their nights drinking and gambling in saloons do not get to sleep all day. They have to go to school even if they have to do it riding backwards on a mule."
Adam picked Cat up and put her over one of his shoulders. "Come on Squirt. You need to use the outhouse before you wet your pants because if you do, I will ride to school with you and tell all of your classmates what you did so they can laugh at you."
"Adam, why are you carrying your sister like that?" asked Abel.
"Because it's fun. Hoss and I still do it with Joe sometimes but he's not as light as he used to be. Also, if I carry her this way, I can do this…" He took one of Cat's moccasins off her feet and began to tickle her."
"Say Adam," said Hoss, "That ain't such a good idea. You got a clean shirt on an' you know what happens when little sister gets tickled first thing in the morning."
"Thanks Hoss. Tickling little sister is so much fun I forgot about that. Come on Squirt. Let's get you outside." He set Cat down near the outhouse and said, "Meet me at the pump when you're done. I'll pump some cold water on your head to help you wake up. You might want to put your shirt on the right way around while you're in there or everyone at school will laugh at you."
"Thanks."
"You're welcome. I'll see you in a few minutes."
Once Adam had left the house with Cat over his shoulder, Abel started laughing so hard, he had tears coming out of his eyes. "That little girl sure does have an active imagination. I'm trying to picture her winning a fight against ten men all of whom are bigger than Hoss."
"Don't forget winning five hundred million dollars at poker and moving all of the horses around so nobody could find theirs," added Joe.
"You're not planning on curbing that imagination, are you Benjamin? I certainly hope not," asked Abel.
"No, of course not. I'm afraid that if I even thought about it, I would be ostracized by my family. I would probably have to sleep in the barn or one of the line shacks, if they even allowed me on the Ponderosa. In fact, my friends and everyone who knows Cat would be so angry with me that I would probably have to move to another town and change my name."
Cat had a hard time staying awake at breakfast and Adam had to wake her up several times. After the second time, Ben said, "Cat, try and finish your breakfast then go back to bed. I'm afraid if I send you to school, you'll fall out of the saddle before you get out of the yard. Joe, after you finish eating, please ride over to the Ingalls', tell Laura that Cat won't be in school today and ask her to get your sister's lessons. Then ride over to the Devlins and tell Michael so he won't wait for her. I don't want him to be late for school."
Joe rode over to the Ingalls and found Charles hitching up the wagon. Joe told him about Cat's bad night, that she wouldn't be going to school and asked if Laura would please get her assignments. Then he said, "Please don't tell the girls about what happened last night. I know that they wouldn't intentionally say anything, but they might do so accidentally and I wouldn't want Cat to get teased and embarrassed."
"Don't worry about it Joe. I'll just tell the girls that Cat isn't feeling well and ask Laura to get her assignments."
"Thank you Charles. Little sister would kill me if something happened and I was the cause of it. She's still angry at Pa about last Monday and Adam about what happened on Friday. I don't want her angry at me too. I've got to head over to the Devlins so Mike doesn't wait for Cat."
"Ben and Adam were both wrong so I don't blame Cat for being angry with them. It will take a while, but she'll eventually stop being angry, however something tells me that they're going to have to prove that they really are sorry for their actions. Go on and get over to the Devlins so Mike isn't late for school."
After Joe left, Adam walked up to his father's desk and said, "I've got to go out to the lumber camp after dinner. I think I'll take Cat with me. Maybe I'll even let her be Bull of the Woods today."
"I'm not sure that's a good idea. She could get hurt."
"How is she going to get hurt? I'll put her on a tree stump or a small stack of logs that are tied down & tell her to yell 'moo' as loud as she can. The men will think it's funny. She can also help me mark trees and maybe I'll let her give the men some instructions. She can tell them to make sure their saws are sharp before trying to cut down a tree or something like that."
"Alright son. I'm sure she'll enjoy the experience."
Ben went upstairs to wake Cat shortly before dinner. "What got you so upset that you couldn't sleep last night?"
"Nothing."
"It's not like you to tell a lie. Something was bothering you and I'd like to know what it was."
"You'll be mad at me if I tell you."
"No I won't. I can probably guess what it was. It's everything that has happened to you since you got in trouble for running in the house, including the fact that I made you ride to school double with me and what happened on Sunday and yesterday, isn't it?"
"Yes," she answered quietly.
Ben hugged her. "That's what I thought. Kitten, I don't ever want you to be afraid to tell me when something is bothering you. I can't help you if I don't know something is wrong. Why don't you get up and get dressed? Dinner is almost ready and Adam has something he wants to do with you this afternoon."
"What does he want to do?"
"He said something about feeding you to some trees."
Cat giggled. "That's silly. Trees don't eat people."
"Well, maybe he found some that do. You won't know unless you get dressed and eat dinner."
Cat and Adam rode out after dinner and she asked, "Where are we going?"
"It's a surprise. You'll see when we get there."
When they rode into the lumber camp, all of the men greeted Adam who picked Cat up and said, "Men, meet your new Bull of the Woods."
The men all said hello to her and one of them asked, "How come our new Bull of the Woods isn't in school today?"
"Well little sister, if you're going to be the boss today, you have to tell them why you aren't in school."
Cat told them everything she had told the family that morning and to their credit, the men played along. "Oh, so you're the reason it took me an hour to find my horse last night," said Tom. "Next time that happens, I'll just take your horse and ride it back here."
Jake said, "I'm never playing poker with you again. You're too lucky. I lost a whole week's pay to you only to watch you spend it on beer and candy."
"I thought maybe she was cheating," said Wes, "But the only time her hands weren't in sight is when she dropped a card. It fell on the floor next to me and I watched her pick it up."
While the men were teasing Cat, Adam whispered something to one of the others. He took three men and put extra ropes over a stack of logs and staked them down to make sure they were secure. Once that was done, Ron, the man Adam had whispered to said, "How do we know that this pint sized person is up to the job of Bull of the Woods? We ain't heard her moo yet."
"You've been challenged Cat," said Adam.
"What am I supposed to do?"
"Do you see that stack of logs over there? Well, you have to climb up, stand on top and yell 'moo' as loud as you can. If you're loud enough, the men will accept you as their boss."
Cat walked over to the logs, climbed up to the top, stood up and yelled, "MOO, MOOO, MOOOOOOOO!" as loud as she could.
"That was real good," said Ron. "I think she'll make a good Bull of the Woods." The rest of the men agreed.
"Alright Cat, the men are convinced you're the right person for the job. Come on down." Cat started to try and walk down the logs when Adam said, "No Cat. Don't try and walk down. Sit down and come down on your bottom. Pa will kill me if you get hurt and you could fall and get hurt trying to walk down the logs."
When Cat reached the ground, Ron said, "That was very good Miss Cat. You were even louder than your Pa and Adam."
"WOW! Wait until I tell Pa. I didn't think anyone was louder than him. Joe said that when he was little and got in trouble, they could probably hear Pa yelling all the way in Carson City. How come those logs are tied like that?"
"It's to keep them from rolling and hurting people."
"I don't understand. Why would they roll?"
"Come over to the table and I'll show you." There was a box of pencils on the table and he took several of them out. "The logs are round just like these pencils. Watch what happens when I try and stack them like the logs." He tried stacking the pencils and Cat watched as they all rolled away. "If we didn't tie the logs down, they would do the same thing. Now watch what happens when I keep the bottom pencils from moving." He put two fingers from one hand on either side of the bottom pencils and stacked more on top. "If you look at that stack of logs you climbed up, you'll see that we've got stakes in four places on each side. Once we put the bottom logs in place, we drive stakes into the ground to keep them from moving before adding extra layers. Then once the stack is complete, we throw ropes over the top and tie them to the end stakes to keep everything in place. When we're ready to put the logs onto a wagon, we untie them, someone climbs up to the top, puts a grappling fork into the top log and then comes back down again. Then we use a hoist to pick the log up and move it onto the wagon. I don't think we're planning on doing that today so maybe you'll get to see how it works the next time you're here."
"Doesn't anyone ever get hurt?"
"Accidents do happen and men get careless, but as long as we're very careful and keep the equipment in good repair, everybody usually stays safe. Now, you're the boss, so what do you want us to do first?"
Cat looked at Adam who whispered something to her. She looked at some axes that needed sharpening and said, "I think that everyone should sharpen their axes and saws. My Uncle Luke says that if an ax isn't sharp, it could bounce off a tree or log and the person using it could get hurt. I don't want anybody to get hurt so all of the axes and saws should be sharpened before you use them."
While the men were sharpening their tools, Adam took Cat and showed her how to mark trees. "Why don't you mark all of them?" she asked.
"Because then there would be nothing to hold the soil in place when it rains and that could cause a big mud slide. If that happens, everything in the path of the mud would be destroyed, including trees, people, and animals."
"Oh. That would be a really bad thing."
"Yes it would. Here come the men. We need to stand back here so we're not in the way of a tree that's being cut."
After watching the men saw trees for a little while, Cat asked, "Can I try doing that?"
"You're pretty small for that, but I'll ask Ron if he'll let you try." Adam and Ron got all of the men to stop working for a little while. Then Adam took her over to where Wes was working and showed her how a two person saw worked. She tried cutting a tree down with Wes and, when he saw her struggling, Adam helped her. They stayed at the lumber camp for several hours and when they left, all of the men hugged Cat, told her that she was the best Bull of the Woods they ever had, and to come back and see them again soon. On the way home, they stopped by a small stream to water their horses. Adam helped Cat down off Beauty and said, "Let's sit here for a few minutes. I have something I need to tell you." He hugged her tightly and said, "I want you to know how proud I am of how you acted today. Even though I put you in charge, you treated all of the men with respect and they appreciated it. I am also very proud of the fact that you stayed right by my side and didn't try to do anything without asking. When we get home, I am going to tell Pa how well you did today and how proud I am of you. Now I need you to promise me something. Promise me that you will never come up here alone unless one of us tells you to or it's an emergency."
"Why?"
"Because that was your first visit to a lumber camp, they are dangerous, and you don't know enough about them to stay completely safe. If you got in the way of a falling tree, you could be killed. Sometimes ax handles break and the head goes flying. If you are nearby, it could hit you. If you were standing too near the wagon when it is being loaded and the hoist broke, a log could fall on you and kill you. If you do have to come up here alone, stay by the table until an adult takes you somewhere else. Will you please make that promise to me? It's for your safety."
"I promise."
Adam hugged her. "Thank you Cat. Your promise means a lot to me and Pa and I won't have to worry about you coming up here and possibly getting hurt or worse."
"Wait until I tell Pa what I did today. He's really going to be surprised."
"Yes he is. Now I had better get you home before Pa and Grandfather think I fed you to a tree. I'll help you with your lessons after I do our chores. That reminds me, it's getting too cold for you to sit out in the pasture and do your homework. It's still warm enough to do it in the barn but by the beginning of December, you'll have to do it in the house."