Chapter 10
Trouble at Dutch Flat

As we approached the cabin, I hardly waited for the surrey to come to a stop before I was out and running toward it yelling.

“Pa! Pa!” I called out. “Pa . . . I saw that man Krebbs and he said he’s gonna—”

But when I threw open the door I was stopped short by the sight of Zack standing there staring me in the face. The other three were behind him, and I guess the worry in my voice frightened them, cause they were all silent. Even though I’d been gone most of a week, none of us thought to hug or greet each other.

“Where’s Pa?” I asked, out of breath.

“He’s gone to fetch Uncle Nick outta trouble,” piped up Tad.

I glanced at Zack.

“He rode off on Jester this morning,” Zack said, but before he had the chance to explain, Emily was adding her version of what happened.

“He was real mad,” she said, “and his face was all red. I hope he doesn’t hurt Jester.”

By now Mrs. Parrish had come up behind me and was listening. I was still waiting for Zack to fill in the details.

“He rode out to Dutch Flat in the middle of the mornin’. He didn’t take time to tell me nothin’. He just heard about Uncle Nick, and the next thing I knew he was saddlin’ up Jester and ridin’ off, tellin’ me to keep everyone inside and to go over to Mr. Shaw’s if we had any trouble.”

I glanced back at Mrs. Parrish. Inside I couldn’t help feeling that some terrible danger was approaching. I didn’t know what had happened with Uncle Nick, but I was worried something awful about what Buck Krebbs had said. I was afraid seeing me had put it into his evil mind again to come back to Miracle and try to hurt us.

“I’ve got to warn Pa!” I said, turning and running back out to the surrey to grab up my few things and bring them into the cabin. Then, almost before anyone knew what I was doing, even before I knew what I was doing, I ran to the barn and started saddling Snowball.

A couple of minutes later I heard the door open behind me. It was Mrs. Parrish, her voice calm.

“Corrie, please,” she began, “let’s go inside and talk about this. It might be best if—”

“Don’t try to stop me, ma’am,” I interrupted, not realizing how rude I sounded, especially with her having done so much for me and just getting back from taking me to San Francisco.

“I won’t try to stop you, Corrie,” she went on, still calm. “You’re practically a grown woman now, and I know it’s not my place to tell you what to do. But it’s late in the day and it’s a long way to Dutch Flat—”

“Only fifteen miles. I can ride that in a little over an hour!”

“But you don’t know where your father has gone.”

“I’ll find him! I know I can!” I said, tightening the saddle straps.

“Besides, Corrie, dear, you don’t know what the trouble is. There may be danger.”

“It can’t be worse than Buck Krebbs trying to kill him! It was only about a month ago that Pa was sayin’ the men down at Dutch Flat might know something about the men who were after him and Uncle Nick. I didn’t think anything of it at the time, but now I see it could have to do with Buck Krebbs. Don’t you see, Mrs. Parrish, I gotta go! I gotta warn him! What if Buck Krebbs is back around here already!”

“I understand,” she replied. “But I think it would be best if you waited until tomorrow morning. You and the children can spend the night with me, and tomorrow we’ll talk to the sheriff and—”

I don’t know why all of a sudden I was acting so ornery and stubborn. But deep inside I just knew I had to find Pa and not wait a second longer. Zack was always telling me I was mule-headed. I figured it was because he was my kid brother. But maybe he was right. Pa had said a time or two that as I grew older I reminded him more and more of Ma. And I knew she could be mighty determined once she set herself to do something.

Anyhow, by the time the next words came out of my mouth, I was getting ready to swing up onto Snowball’s back. “I’m sorry, ma’am,” I said, “but I just gotta try to find him, and I just can’t wait till tomorrow!”

I turned Snowball’s head toward the door, but before I was even outside Zack called out, “I’m goin’ with you, Corrie!” I hadn’t even noticed him follow Mrs. Parrish into the barn, where he went straight to Blue Flame to start saddling him.

“You know the way, then,” I called back. “You can catch up!” I knew Blue Flame would be able to catch Snowball in a quarter of a mile once he was on the open road. But even though I was in a hurry, I wouldn’t have trusted myself to him. Zack had learned to handle him pretty well, but he was too spirited for me. I dug my heels into Snowball’s flanks and was off.

“Corrie, at least take something to eat!” called out Mrs. Parrish’s voice behind me.

The words brought me to my senses in the middle of all the emotions that were flying through me. I reined in Snowball, stopped, then turned and trotted back to where she was standing beside the barn. “Let me at least put some things in the saddle bag for you,” she said. I nodded, got down off Snowball, and followed her back to the cabin.

By this time Zack was out of the barn with Blue Flame. He tied him to a post and ran inside.

I saw at once that he was thinking more straight than I was, cause when he came back out he was carrying a couple of blankets and his overcoat, in case we didn’t make it back by nightfall. He was growing up, maybe in some ways faster than I was!

Five minutes later we were back on our horses again, this time with food to last us a day or two, blankets, and coats. Mrs. Parrish hadn’t said anything more about trying to talk me out of going. She looked up at me, straight into my eyes.

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Parrish,” I said, “to go running off like this the minute we get back—”

“Don’t you worry about a thing, Corrie. I understand! And I trust you to do the right thing. I know the Lord is with you.”

“Thank you,” I answered. “And thank you for taking me to San Francisco! This isn’t exactly how I figured it would end, but I am grateful to you for everything!”

She reached up and gave my hand a squeeze, still gazing straight into my eyes. “It was a wonderful time for me, Corrie! But we’ll talk about San Francisco more later! Now, you go and find your father! I’ll have Tad and Becky and Emily at my place in town when you get back!”

“Come on, Zack!” I said, and we galloped off. But before we were out of sight, I glanced back for a last look at the three young’uns and Mrs. Parrish. I couldn’t help thinking how nice it looked with her standing with them in front of our place. I found myself wishing she’d still be there when we got back, instead of in town in that big house of hers.