CHAPTER NINE
Corn Bread and Molasses

“Turn around slowly,” Jack said to Annie.

Clutching the water jugs, Jack and Annie turned around and started back the way they’d come. They tried not to make noise, but sticks and branches cracked and snapped.

The growl came again. Louder.

“Forget slow!” said Jack. “Run!”

Annie bolted ahead through the brush. Jack ran after her. His heart pounded. Brambles and vines blocked their way. Thorns snagged their clothes. They ran as fast as they could, not knowing if all the breathing and thrashing sounds were coming from them—or from the beast chasing them.

They burst into the clearing. Jack looked back. He didn’t see a wolf or wildcat, but he wasn’t ready to stop yet. “Keep going!” he cried.

Jack and Annie tore across the scrubby clearing. Finally they came to the cabin.

Sam was standing by the woodpile, swinging the ax! He gracefully split a log in two. He looked up at Jack and Annie and smiled. “How do?” he said.

Jack and Annie laughed as they tried to catch their breath. For some reason, Jack felt safe now, with Sam. “Fine!” he said. “Fine, fine, fine!”

“How do you do?” said Annie. “Why are you splitting wood?”

“I said to myself, I ain’t going to lie in bed forever,” said Sam. “My headache stopped as soon as I started my chores. I figured the two of you had left.”

“Oh, no, we tried to do your chores,” said Jack. “But—”

“We were headed to the spring to get water and we heard a growl,” said Annie.

“Like a wolf,” said Jack.

“Or a wildcat,” Annie said.

“So we ran,” said Jack.

Annie held up a jug. “No water. Sorry.”

“No milk, either,” said Jack.

“No split wood,” said Annie.

“No corn bread,” said Jack.

Sam gave them a big grin. “Don’t worry. I took care of milking the cow, and I found water in the rain bucket. The corn bread’s baking now.”

“Wow,” said Annie.

“That’s amazing,” said Jack. Now that Sam was better, he wondered if he could lead them to the president. “Do you still have time to help us find Abraham Lincoln?” he asked.

“Sure,” said Sam. “I gave you my word.”

“Great. Do you think he’s still riding his horse in the country?” said Jack.

“Nope. He’s not riding anymore,” said Sam. “But I guarantee you he’s around here.”

“Like where?” said Jack.

“Don’t worry. I’ll introduce you to him very soon,” said Sam. “Let’s go inside first.”

Sam stuck his ax in a log. He picked up an armload of wood and headed into the cabin. As Jack and Annie followed, Jack glanced at the sky. The sun would be going down soon.

Inside, Sam put more wood on the fire. Then he lit two oil lamps. “Would you like to have some corn bread with butter and molasses?” he asked.

“Oh … wow …” Jack didn’t know what to say. He was desperate to look for Abraham Lincoln, but he was also very hungry.

“I’d love it!” said Annie.

“Me too,” said Jack, relieved. “We’ll eat fast. And then we can look for Abraham Lincoln, okay?”

“Yes indeed. But first, you-all sit down,” said Sam.

Jack and Annie sat on small tree stumps that served as stools. Sam lifted the lid on a pot hanging over the fire. The delicious smell of corn bread filled the air.

Sam moved the pot to the wood table. Then he sliced pieces of steaming bread and put them on wooden plates. He smeared butter and dark molasses over the bread and ladled milk from the pail into wooden cups.

Jack sipped the sweet milk and ate the hot, buttery corn bread. “Yum,” he said. He thought it might be the best meal he’d ever had.

“You really worked hard after we left,” Annie said to Sam.

“I like to make things nice for Sarah for when she gets home from school,” the boy said.

“Do you ever go to school?” asked Jack, his mouth full.

Sam nodded. “Since Pa left, I stay here to watch over things and do chores. But Sarah comes home and shares what she’s learned. I do homework and everything.”

“Have you lived here a long time?” Jack asked, looking around at the crude cabin.

“A few years,” said Sam. “We came from Kentucky. Pa and I cut our cabin out of the wilderness. We chopped down trees to make a road. We rolled fifty logs to this site and put up these walls. Did it all by hand and all without nails.”

“Whoa,” said Jack. It sounded like work for the strongest men, he thought, but Sam couldn’t have been more than seven or eight at the time.

“We did as best we could with the furniture,” Sam said with a laugh. “Someday we’ll do better.”

“It’s not bad,” said Jack. He looked at the cabin with new eyes. It seemed like a miracle now—everything made by hand, without the help of machines or even nails.

“You make all your own food, too, don’t you?” asked Annie.

“ ’Course,” said Sam. “We have our crops, and Pa hunts for our meat, or he did when he was here.”

“I wouldn’t be a good hunter,” said Annie.

“Me neither,” said Jack.

“Me neither,” said Sam. “I shot a turkey once. Then I took a good hard look at the bird. I was so taken with its beauty, I ain’t pulled a trigger on a wild creature since. That’s why we haven’t had any meat since Pa left.”

“Well, you do a great job making corn bread,” said Annie.

“You sure do,” said Jack. He took his last bite, finished his milk, and wiped his mouth on his sleeve. Okay. Now they had to look for the president. Through the cracks in the cabin, he could see it was getting darker.

“Did you get all your chores done?” said Annie.

“Nope. I ain’t worked in my Dilworth speller yet,” said Sam. “But I don’t really consider that a chore. It’s my favorite thing. You could say I have a great thirst for learnin’.”

“So do we,” said Annie. “What’s your homework for today?”

“Annie,” said Jack, trying to catch her eye.

“Hold on, I’ll get the speller that Sarah brought me from school and show you.” Sam crossed the room and scrambled up to the loft. “The lesson I studied this morning is parts of speech,” he called down.

“We have to go,” Jack whispered to Annie.

“We can’t hurt his feelings,” whispered Annie. “Just let him show us the speller.”

“But we have a mission—” Jack started.

“Here it is!” said Sam, climbing down from the loft. He grinned at them and held up a tattered book. “Would you mind giving me a little test?”