Cat was still asleep when they reached the house. Ben heard them ride in and went outside to meet them. He got worried when he saw Cat on the travois, but Adam stopped him. "Relax Pa. She's fine, just very tired. She was almost a third of the way home when we found her. That's a long way to walk when you're not used to it and it seems even longer when you're dragging a heavy saddle." He pointed at Cat's sleeping puppies and continued. "I have a feeling that those two rode part of the way also. I would even be tired dragging a saddle and two heavy puppies that distance."
Hoss tried waking Cat up. "It's time to wake up Punkin. We're home now and Hop Sing's got dinner ready. Ifn ya don't get up, I'm gonna eat my share and yours too."
When Cat didn't stir, Adam said, "She's never going to wake up as long as she's got those puppies and blankets to keep her warm. Lassie, Silver Chief, get off of there so Cat will wake up." Joe laughed when the puppies ignored his brother.
"You can't order them around like that Adam. Let me show you how it's done." He bent down, petted each puppy and said, "Ok you two, we're home now and dinner is almost ready. Cat's going to be awfully mad if Hoss eats all her food because you wouldn't let us wake her up. Come on now, stop being lazy and get off of there so your little girl will wake up." The rest of the family watched in shock as the puppies got off the travois. Joe took the blankets off Cat and handed them to Adam.
"Hey, those are my blankets. Give them back! You can't have them!"
"Come on Punkin," said Hoss. "We're home now and dinner is almost ready. Ifn ya don't get up, yore gonna get real cold and I'm gonna eat all yore food."
Cat opened one eye and saw Ben standing there laughing at her. "Hi Pa."
"Hello there sleepyhead. It's about time you woke up. Come over to the trough and I'll pump some water on your head. That will help you wake up." While they were eating, Ben asked, "What happened to your horse Cat? Did a wild animal scare him away?"
"No. Two big, bad men came into my camp. They stole my food and Beauty. I shot them with arrows and they got mad and tied me and my puppies up. It took a long time to get untied. I tried looking for tracks but couldn't find any. I was going to look this morning but the snow covered up all the tracks. I don't know how, but I'm gonna find them and make them pay for stealing my horse. I won't kill them but when I'm done, they'll wish they were dead!"
"No Cat, that is not the right attitude to take. How big were those men?"
"Bigger than Adam but smaller than Hoss."
"There are several reasons why I said tracking those men and hurting them badly was not the right attitude. First, they are big men. They could easily hurt or kill you and nobody here wants that to happen. Second and most important is what the Bible says. 'Vengeance is mine saith the Lord. I will repay.' Also, don't forget what our Lord taught us about what to do when someone takes something of yours."
"I don't care! I'm going to find those men and make them pay for stealing Beauty!"
"How are ya gonna know ifn ya find those men Punkin?" asked Hoss. "Do you know what they look like? What color was their hair and eyes? There's lots of men that are bigger than Adam and smaller than me. Look at the blacksmith. He's a pretty big man. Not as big as me, but bigger than Adam."
"I don't know exactly what they look like. They stayed between me and my fire so I couldn't see what color their hair and eyes were. All I know is they were big and called each other Tex and Red."
"Those might not be their real names," added Joe. "They might have made up names so you couldn't give their names to Roy."
"Oh. I didn't know that. I thought people always used their real names."
"Not necessarily Squirt," said Adam. "Think about Hoss. His real name is Eric but we've been calling him Hoss ever since he was a baby. Another thing to think about is even if you had been able to get a look at their faces, if they had beards and mustaches, they could have shaved them off or they could grow them if they don't already have them. If they have long hair, they could cut it and if they have short hair they could let it grow."
"They smelled really bad. Does that help?"
"I'm afraid not Kitten," replied Ben. "They could always bathe and put clean clothes on."
"Oh. That's bad. I may never find them."
"The important thing is that they didn't hurt you. Now do you understand why we keep telling you that you're not ready to be out on your own yet? The next time someone comes into your camp, you might not be as lucky as you were last night. Your brothers pick you up and toss you to each other as though you didn't weigh any more than a sack of feathers. Someone could throw you into the lake. At this time of year, the water is very cold and it wouldn't take very long before all of the heat left your body and you died. Someone could shoot and kill you instead of just tying you up. I don't know who those men were or where they went, but I am extremely grateful that they didn't hurt or kill you or your puppies. When you get older, you will be able to take care of yourself better than you can now, but until that time comes, you still need adults in your life to take care of and protect you."
"I'll be ten next year and that's all grown up so I won't need any grownups then."
"No granddaughter," said Abel. "Ten is not grown up. How old are those two boys you play with?"
"They're eleven."
"Do they still live with their parents?"
"Yes. But Pa said he left home when he was eleven."
"Yes, Benjamin did leave home when he was eleven but he was not on his own. He became the cabin boy on board my ship where he had a lot of adults telling him what to do. He was not even on his own when we were in port. If we were in Boston, he was with his family. If we were in a different port, he was not allowed to leave the ship unless he was accompanied by the cook, one of the mates, or myself."
"Whether you want to believe it or not, you will always need other people. God did not intend for people to be alone. That is why he created both Adam and Eve and gave them children. If you choose to live alone, you will become a very sad, angry person who hates everybody. Is that what you want for yourself? I know I don't want it for you."
"No but I'm tired of a million grownups telling me what to do all the time."
"A million grownups? I know that there aren't that many people in Virginia City, Boston and St. Louis combined. Where are all of these adults who keep telling you what to do?"
"Everywhere! Here, in town, at school, everywhere I go, grownups are always telling me what to do and I don't like it. It's not my fault I'm only nine and I'm real tired of women coming up to me and pulling on my ears to see if I wash behind them. I'm going to start carrying my knife and bow and arrows with me wherever I go. Then nobody will ever be mean to me again and I'll be ready if I see the men who stole Beauty."
"No Cat," said Ben. "You will not be taking your weapons with you everywhere you go. You are only nine years old and should not be taking weapons to school and church. Weapons are not toys and one of the bigger boys could easily take them away from you and hurt someone. When you're older and no longer need to ride to town with someone, I may allow you to start carrying them, but that will not be for quite a few years. Now finish your dinner so we can start working on that pen for your pig."
While they were doing barn chores Saturday morning, Frank and Jeff were trying to figure out how to get Beauty back to the Cartwrights without letting Cat know they were the ones who took him. Jeff was cleaning Beauty's feet when he noticed that the horse had a loose shoe. "I just found the solution to our problem. He's got a loose shoe. We could pull it off and take him into town to be reshod. We'll stop at the Sheriff's office and tell him that we found the horse wandering around one of our pastures, he's missing a shoe & we're taking him to the blacksmith. That way if any of the Cartwrights come to town, he can tell them where to find the horse. If none of them come to town, we can return him after church tomorrow."
"That's a great idea. Let's get some work done around here and then we'll take the horse to town." They finished their barn chores, mended some fencing and took Beauty to town. Before going to the blacksmith's shop, they stopped at Roy's office.
"Frank, Jeff, it's a pleasure to see you. Your mother looked much better when I stopped by the doctor's office yesterday."
"We're hoping she'll be allowed to come home for Christmas" replied Frank. "The reason we stopped here is because we found one of the Cartwright's horses in one of our pastures this morning. We don't know how he got there, but he's missing a shoe. Jeff and I don't even know whose horse he is. We're taking him to the blacksmith to get reshod but thought if one of the Cartwrights came to town today, you could tell them we found the horse."
"I'll walk out with you and see if I know who normally rides the horse." Roy walked outside, looked at Beauty and said, "That's Cat's horse. She was supposed to be spending the night camping by Lake Tahoe. I wonder how he got to your place. When you get to the blacksmith, tell him this is Cat's horse."
"Who's Cat?" asked Jeff. "The last time we saw the Cartwrights, they didn't say anything about Ben getting remarried."
"Cat is Catherine Cartwright. She's Ben's younger sister's daughter. She was orphaned this past June and Ben adopted her." They walked over to the blacksmith's shop where Mr. Samuels was shoeing a horse.
"Hi Mr. Samuels," said Jeff. "We found this horse in one of our pastures and Sheriff Coffee said he belongs to Mr. Cartwright's daughter. He's missing a shoe and we would like you to please put all new shoes on him. We'll pay you and Mr. Cartwright can pay us back when we return the horse."
"No problem boys. I'll be more than happy to take care of him for you. I'm happy you brought him here instead of taking him all the way to the Ponderosa with only three shoes. Why don't you two do whatever else it is you need to do in town and come back in about two hours? I'll be finished with him by then."
After dinner, the Cartwright family walked out to the barn to begin building a pen for Cat's pet pig. Ben chose a spot next to the barn where the pig pen would get plenty of sun but also have some trees for shade. Once the pen was built, Cat exclaimed, "Penny needs a house! She shouldn't have to be outside in the rain and snow!"
Her brothers started telling Cat that pigs don't need houses when Ben intervened. "Build a house for the pig boys. Even if she doesn't use it now, she may want to use it if we breed her and she gives birth."
Cat pointed to one end of the pen where a low board had been nailed to some taller ones. "What's that for?"
"That's where you're going to put her food," said Joe. "The one next to it is for her water. Since there's no pump here, you're going to have to carry buckets of water to fill her trough every morning."
Cat sighed. Joe's comment about having to carry buckets of water meant that once she started doing her chores again after the holidays, she was going to have to get up before everyone else in the morning to do all of her chores. She estimated it would take at least twenty buckets full of water to fill the trough and since she couldn't carry more than half a bucket full, she would have to make forty trips to and from the pump and the pig pen. Then she had to feed Penny, rake the dirty straw out of her house, put fresh straw down, gather the eggs, fill Hop Sing's wood box, feed Beauty and Fury, who would be weaned by the end of the year, muck out their stalls, as well as groom and saddle Beauty so she would have time to eat breakfast before leaving for school. It just wasn't fair. Her brothers only had one horse each to take care of and they didn't have to rush through breakfast in order to keep from being late to school. They could sit at the table, drinking coffee and talking until they decided to get some work done while she had to leave at seven for the almost two hour ride to school.
After supper, nobody noticed when Cat put her jacket on and took her quiver of arrows outside. She sat down on the porch, removed the arrows, hatchet, knife, and a medium sized flat stone from the quiver. She picked up an arrow and started sharpening it with the stone the way Little Bear had taught her. She had been outside for about thirty minutes when Ben looked up from working on the books and noticed Cat was not in the great room. "Where is Cat? Why isn't she in here with the rest of the family?"
"I'll see if she's in the kitchen with Hop Sing," said Hoss.
"I'll see if she's upstairs getting a book," said Joe.
Both brothers returned to the great room with the news that Cat was not in the house. "Well, don't just sit there," said Ben. "Look for her."
Adam walked over to get his hat and coat and noticed that Cat's jacket and quiver were missing. "I think she's outside somewhere. Her jacket and quiver are gone but her bow is still on the armoire." He walked outside and saw Cat sitting on the porch, sharpening her arrows and sat down next to her. "What are you doing out here at this time of night? It's cold out here and you haven't got your gloves or hat on."
"I'm sharpening my arrows. I shot four arrows into both of those bad men and they shouldn't have been able to ride my horse or even walk too good. So my arrows need to be sharpened. So do my hatchet and knife."
He ignored her comment about shooting the arrows into Frank and Jeff Bonner and said, "I understand that your arrows and knife need to be sharp for hunting and your hatchet needs to be sharp for cutting branches and wood if you need to build a fire but why are you sharpening them out here?"
"Cause I don't want to get yelled at for doing it in the house."
"Nobody is going to yell at you for sharpening your arrows in the house. We clean our guns in the house all the time." He hugged her and said, "Come on Squirt. You're cold and need to come in the house where it's warm. It's much too cold to be sitting out here at this time of night and you're liable to catch a cold if you stay out here any longer. You can sit by the fireplace and sharpen your arrows. Tomorrow, one of us will sharpen your knife and hatchet on the grinder after church. Get your things picked up and I'll go ask Hop Sing to make some hot cocoa for you. I want to see you sitting by the fireplace when I walk out of the kitchen." He walked into the house and told Ben where Cat was and why.
"Why would she think that she'd get in trouble for sharpening her arrows in the house? We clean our guns in here all the time."
"Probably because this is the first time she's sharpened them since she's been here and Hop Sing fusses about messes all the time," answered Joe.
Once Cat's arrows were sharpened and back in the quiver, Ben told her it was time for her bath so she would be clean for church. "I don't want to go to church any more."
"Why not?"
"Because I'm tired of those nasty old ladies being mean to me and I'm tired of all the other ladies pulling on my ears to see if I wash behind them. I'm not a baby and I know how to wash."
"I didn't know they were doing that to you. Why didn't you tell me?"
"'Cause you're always busy talking to your friends. The ladies in Dodge never did that to me and I didn't have a million people telling me what to do then."
"You still need to take your bath and you do need to go to church with the family. It will be a very long time before those ladies are mean to you again, if they ever are. That's what the meeting before church was all about last week. I promise, I will try and watch what the other ladies do and I will stop them if they start pulling on your ears. You are right in saying that you're not a baby anymore and know how to wash. I seem to remember some of them doing that to Joe after his mother died. I put a stop to it then and I will put a stop to it now. They have no business doing anything to you, especially pulling on your ears. In fact, I'm going to ask your brothers and grandfather to watch and see what the ladies do to you tomorrow so we can stop it now."
"Do I have to wear a dress?"
"Not if you don't want to but you don't have any dress pants or shirts and everyone wears their best clothes to church. Meet me at the general store after school Monday and we'll see if Mr. McLeod has any dress pants and shirts that fit you. We also need to get some material for a Christmas dress for you. I'm sure that last year's dress is too small. In fact, why don't you bring it with us tomorrow and give it to Carrie Ingalls? I'm sure her mother can fix it so she can wear it. Before you ask, I will ask Charles and Caroline to allow me to buy material so Mary and Laura can have new Christmas dresses too. Now it's time for your bath. If you don't take it soon, you won't have time to play checkers before bed."
Before leaving for church, Adam picked up the drawings he made of the cart Mary and Laura wanted to give their mother for Christmas, folded them in half and put them on the inside pocket of his coat. Since Cat was sitting between Adam and Ben in the surrey, she was allowed to drive it all the way to town. When they reached the church, Adam picked Cat up, hugged her and handed her to Hoss who hugged her before handing her to Joe who also hugged her. Cat had only been talking to her friends for a few minutes when Mrs. Davis walked up to her and proceeded to pull on her ears to see if she washed behind them. Adam walked up and asked, "What are you doing to my sister? Nobody gave you permission to touch her, let alone pull on her ears."
"I'm doing my job as a woman and making sure she has washed properly."
"Counting my grandfather and Hop Sing, there are six adults in our house who are quite capable of making sure Cat washes properly. There is no need for any outsider to do that also. My family and I will thank you to leave her alone and I intend to speak with your husband to make sure you do exactly that. The women of this town have caused enough problems for my sister and we intend to see that it doesn't happen again. Good day Mrs. Davis and I meant what I said, leave my sister alone!" After Mrs. Davis walked off, Adam found Reverend Long and told him what the women were doing. After watching them check several other children's ears, he told Adam he would take care of the problem.
Before the service began, Reverend Long decided to do something about the women pulling on the children's ears to see if they had washed behind them. "I witnessed something this morning that has me very upset and I guarantee it will never happen again. I saw women pulling on the ears of children to see if they had washed behind them. What you are doing is very demeaning to the children, not to mention very painful and extremely disrespectful to the parents of those children. Every single child in this congregation has at least one parent or older sibling to take care of them. It is the responsibility of the children's families to ensure they wash properly. If I ever see another adult pulling on a child's ears, I will deal with that adult the same way I said I would deal with the women who have been tormenting Catherine Cartwright and let the church elders decide what to do about them, even if it means excluding them from Sunday services for a period of time. Remember what our Lord said about removing the log from your own eye before attempting to remove the speck from someone else's. There are only a few times when it is appropriate for a non family member to lay their hands on a child and none of them involves checking to see if they have washed behind their ears or anywhere else. Now before we begin the service, I believe Miss Susan Winter has something she'd like to announce to all of the parents here."
"Thank you Reverend Long. Parents, winter is rapidly approaching and we've already had some snow. I have been informed that the children who live on the farms and ranches outside of town will not be able to attend school when the snow gets deep. Therefore, starting this coming Friday, I will be sending eight weeks worth of assignments home with your children and will send an additional week's assignments home every Friday as long as the students are able to attend school. I want to stress that these assignments are not to be completed unless the children are unable to attend school due to the weather as these are things we will be doing in class. Children, if nobody can help you with the assignments, just do the best you can and I'll help you when you are able to return to school."
When the service had ended, Reverend Long asked Cat and Adam to remain behind for a few minutes. "Cat, have you thought about what I asked you to do when I was at your house on Thursday?"
"Yes sir."
"What have you decided? Will you sing for the congregation during the Christmas Eve service?"
"No sir. Not by myself. If I make a mistake and someone laughs at me, I will beat the stuffing out of them even if we're in church. Nobody laughs at me for making a mistake and gets away with it!"
"What if I ask Adam to sing with you? Will you sing then?"
"I'll sing if Adam sings with me but I won't sing by myself," she replied, hoping Adam would say no.
"Adam, will you play your guitar and sing with your sister during the Christmas Eve service?"
Adam sighed. He really didn't want to play and sing in church but it was hard to refuse a request from the minister. "Yes I will. Did you have any particular hymns in mind?"
"Yes I did but you are free to choose different ones. I thought you could sing 'Angels We Have Heard On High' after the children sing 'The First Noel' and 'O Holy Night' to end the service. I have copies of the music for you to take home and practice with."
"How about it Squirt?" asked Adam. "Will you sing with me on Christmas Eve?"
"I guess so."
Adam hugged her. "That's my girl. Don't worry, everything will turn out just fine and nobody will laugh at either of us if we make a mistake. I fully intend to speak with some fathers before then and make sure their children are sitting next to them during the service. Even if we both sing off key and sing the wrong words, those children will not laugh at either one of us."
"Promise?"
Adam picked her up and hugged her. "I promise little sister and as Hoss and Joe can tell you, I always do my best to keep my promised."
"Thank you both," said Reverend Long. "I do appreciate you saying you would sing. Now do you want to sing those two songs or something different?"
"The songs you picked are just fine," replied Adam. "They're not difficult and it shouldn't take Cat long to learn them. Come on Cat. I need to show these drawings to Mary and Laura so we can start working on their Christmas present for their mother." They walked outside just as Charles was helping his daughters into their wagon. "Charles, please don't go just yet. I need to borrow Mary and Laura for a few minutes. Please don't ask why. It's a surprise and I know you wouldn't want to ruin it."
"Alright Adam but please don't be too long. Caroline is eager to get home and start dinner and Carrie will need a nap before long."
"This shouldn't take long at all. Girls, let's go over by the steps and talk for a minute."
He took the drawings out of his pocket and handed them to Mary who showed them to Laura. "That is perfect!" exclaimed Mary.
"It's just what we thought it would look like," added Laura. "How big are we going to make it?"
"I thought we'd make it the height of a small buggy. That way it will be easy for your mother to get into it even when it is close to the time for the baby to be born."
"How big is a small buggy?" asked Mary.
"Let's walk over to the livery stable and see if Mr. Jonas has one." Adam, Cat, Laura, and Mary walked over to the stable. "Hello Sam," said Adam as they walked inside.
"Hello Adam, girls. What brings you over here today?"
"We were wondering if you have a small buggy we could look at for a few minutes."
"I sure do. If you'll follow me, I'll show it to you." They looked at the buggy and both Ingalls girls decided it was the perfect height.
Adam thanked Mr. Jonas for his time and said, "Laura, Mary, the two of you need to decide what color or colors you want to paint your cart. You can tell Cat tomorrow at school. Hoss, Joe, and I will start cutting the wood tomorrow and I'll talk to Mr. White about the wheels. Once I have them, I can ask Mr. Samuels to make the runners and locks. When all of the wood has been cut, it will need to be painted before we can nail the pieces together. There are only five weeks left until Christmas and we have a lot of work to do, which is why you need to decide on a color or colors by Tuesday at the latest so I can get the paint. Now, let's get you back to your family before your parents think I decided to eat you for dinner."
Just as the Ingalls were leaving, Frank and Jeff Bonner walked up to the Cartwrights. "Mr. Cartwight," said Frank, "We found something that belongs to you."
Jeff walked off and returned, leading Beauty. "We found him yesterday morning out in one of our pastures and recognized the brand. We would have brought him out to the Ponderosa yesterday, but he was missing a shoe so we took him to the blacksmith and had him reshod."
Cat couldn't believe her eyes when she saw her horse. Before she could say anything, Adam said, "Cat, I would like you to meet some good friends of mine. This is Frank Bonner and his brother Jeff. Frank, Jeff, this is my little sister, Catherine. We call her Cat. Hoss calls her Wild Cat. He says she's as wild as the West Texas wind and harder to tame and that statement couldn't be more true."
Cat hugged Frank and Jeff and said, "Thank you for finding Beauty for me. Two bad men stole him from me on Friday night and I didn't think I'd ever see him again."
"You're welcome Miss Cat. I'm glad we were able to find him for you. Those bad men probably left him when he threw that shoe because you can't ride a horse that only has three shoes," said Jeff. "Why don't you tie him to the back of your surrey so you can take him home with you?"
Once Cat walked off, Frank spoke to Ben in a very soft voice. "Mr. Samuels said for us to tell you to look at his left front and right rear shoes when Cat's not around to see."
"Thank you for finding Cat's horse boys. I can't tell you how much it means to all of us. How much do I owe you for the new shoes?"
"Two dollars," replied Frank.
Ben pulled some money out of his pocket and handed Frank ten dollars. "That's a lot more than we paid for the shoes," said Frank.
"That's quite alright. Seeing that little girl smile again is worth more than all of the silver in the Comstock. Since your mother is still at Paul's, why don't the two of you come out to the Ponderosa for supper on Friday? That will give you the chance to get to know Cat a little better."
"That would be wonderful," said Jeff. "Thank you for the invitation. It's been a long time since we've eaten Hop Sing's cooking."
Cat hadn't realized that Christmas was so close until she heard Adam tell Laura and Mary it was only five weeks away and became upset that she didn't have anything to give her family and friends for gifts and didn't have much money to buy anything for them. She decided to ask Pete for ideas. He was the first hand Ben had hired and knew the family better than she did. After dinner, she walked out to the bunkhouse and knocked on the door. Pete answered and invited her inside. He picked her up, hugged her and sat her on a table. "What can we help you with Cat?"
"I just found out that Christmas is only five weeks away and I don't know what to give Pa, Grandpa Stoddard, Hop Sing, and my brothers and I only have a little bit of money."
"One thing everyone always needs around here is gloves. Joe said something just the other day about his winter gloves were about worn out. I'm sure if you ask Mr. Miller, he'll help you make some, especially if you take some of those rabbit skins and deer hides to make them with."
"How do I know how big to make them?"
"Get yourself some paper and a pencil and trace the gloves they have now. Just be sure to write on the paper whose gloves you traced."
"But their gloves are in their bedrooms and I'll get in trouble if I get caught."
"Well now, I think your biggest problems are going to be your Pa, Hop Sing, and Adam. You can easily get into Joe and Hoss' rooms when they're outside. I'm not sure about how easy it will be to get into Adam's grandfather's bedroom. Joe and Hoss are in the barn right now. Why don't you go and trace their gloves while they're not in the house? I'll try and think of how you can get into your Pa's, Adam's, Hop Sing's and Captain Stoddard's bedrooms."
"I don't have any paper except my school tablet and if I ask Pa for some, he'll want to know what for."
"That's one problem I can solve for you. Wait right here for a minute." He walked into his office and came out with a small stack of paper that he handed to Cat. "That should be more than enough to trace everybody's gloves. Now hurry and go into Joe and Hoss' bedrooms. I'll see if I can keep them outside for a little while longer. Just don't run in the house because if you do, you'll get in trouble and it will be at least another day before you'll be able to trace the gloves."
Once Cat was standing on the floor, she hugged Pete and ran to the house. She went inside and started to run but stopped before going more than a few feet. "Catherine, are you running in the house?" came Ben's voice from behind his desk.
"No sir, not yet."
Ben, Adam, and Abel chuckled at her answer. "Well see that you don't or I'll make you ride to school backwards on a mule tomorrow."
As she walked toward the stairs, Cat had an idea. "Adam, can I please go in your room and look at your ship model? I promise I'll be real careful with it."
"It's 'May I', 'ship's model' or 'model ship', and 'very careful', and yes you may."
"Thanks Adam."
"You're welcome Squirt."
Cat went into Joe and Hoss' rooms, traced their gloves and put the papers with her school books. Then she did the same thing in Adam's room before going back in there to look at the ship's model. She carefully removed it from the top of his chest of drawers, put it on his bed and sat in a chair next to it. Adam walked in about five minutes later and asked, "Why are you looking at it like that?"
"I'm trying to figure out how it works and why it doesn't sink."
"I'm not sure about that either, so why don't we take it downstairs and ask Pa and Grandfather to tell us?"