Chapter Six

Simon Goes Missing

When Ethan rose to follow Luke to the barn the next morning, the wagon was gone.

“How long do you suppose they’ll be away?”

“Longer than Chad thinks, unless he gets someone to help ’em,” Luke replied. “I reckon he’ll hire some Indians to work, once he decides where the house will go.”

Ethan couldn’t imagine pulling up in the middle of the vast prairie and building a house, and he said as much to Luke.

Luke shrugged. “Lots of folks have done it. Chad was smart enough to stake a claim along Cottonwood Creek, so water is one less worry he’ll have. He won’t get the house up right away, I can tell you that. The barn will come first.”

“Will we take any animals?”

“Just a few milk cows and a couple pigs. George will be runnin’ this place, so Chad will take only what he needs to get started. It’ll be easy to get stock up there. Easier than moving all these.” Luke gently whacked the last cow through the fence to the pasture, then closed the gate.

Together they separated the cream from the milk and headed for the house.

“Took longer this morning without Henry helpin’, but you done a fine job, Ethan. You’re gonna make a good farmer.”

Ethan beamed at the compliment. That was exactly what he wanted to do. Maybe one day he’d have a place of his own.

A sour-faced Polly greeted them at the door. “Hurry and wash up. The rest of the family’s already eatin’. Ain’t as if I didn’t have enough to do today without runnin’ a late breakfast for you three.”

Luke looked up from the washbasin. “Three of us? Henry’s gone. There’s just Ethan and me.”

Polly stepped to the door and looked out toward the barn. “How come you didn’t bring Simon with you? Is he out there playin’ in the barn?”

“Simon wasn’t with us.”

“He can’t be asleep this late,” Polly said. “He’s always afraid he’ll miss somethin’. Ethan, run up and get him down here. Goodness knows I ain’t gonna be servin’ meals all day.”

Ethan sped up to the room he shared with Simon, but the little boy’s bed was empty.

“He’s not there,” Ethan reported to Polly. “He’s probably playing down by the creek. He asked me to go fishing someday.”

“Well, go ahead and eat your breakfast. He’ll come when he gets hungry. Not that I’m gonna stop my work to feed him. He can gnaw on a corncob like the prodigal son.”

Luke winked at Ethan. They both knew that Polly had a soft heart when it came to the children, no matter how much she complained.

Manda looked around the dining room and thoughtfully eyed each piece of furniture. The heavy oak table sat in the middle of the floor, surrounded by ten massive chairs. Along one wall was the sideboard containing her good dishes. An armoire full of table linens and scarves stood at the far end. The windows were resplendent with heavy velour drapes, and the pictures on the walls in their large, cumbersome frames gave the room an elegant appearance.

How much would she be allowed to take with her? Certainly not all of it. What space could she expect to have in a one-room soddy? And what would the damp underground atmosphere do to her prize possessions? Manda wrinkled her nose at the thought of her good quilts and bedclothes growing mildewed from lack of sunlight. The only thing that soddy would be good for was root vegetables, apples, and canned food, as far as she was concerned.

But, as Lydia said, the Lord had a purpose in all of this, even if He hadn’t revealed it to her. Manda rose from the table and tackled the huge mound of sewing that awaited her.

Chad and Henry rode in silence through the early-morning darkness. The breeze was cool, giving no hint of the sweltering August day that lay ahead of them. Chad reviewed in his mind what had been packed, and he planned how he would choose the spot for their future house. He had been fortunate to lay claim to 460 acres along Cottonwood Creek, which was fed by the White River to the north. There would be abundant water, and he’d have no problem finding building material. He envisioned a soddy about twenty-by-twenty feet that would house his family until construction could begin on a permanent home.

Henry interrupted Chad’s thoughts. “What’s the nearest town to your land?”

“Place called Winner, to the east a ways. That’s where the trains will come in with our goods and the family.”

“No place like Willow Creek that’s easy to get to, then.”

“Not that I know of. Our closest neighbors will be the Indians. Might be a few homesteaders on up north, but I don’t know of any nearby.” Chad glanced at Henry. “I’m thinking of filing for another section along the creek. If you and Luke each lay claim to a section, we’ll have good pasture. We could run a good herd on twenty-five hundred acres of prairie.”

Henry scratched his head. “How much do you reckon a section would cost?”

“Last I heard, about a dollar twenty-five an acre—that would be eight hundred dollars.”

Henry was skeptical. “Where would Luke and me get that kind of money?”

“You won’t need to,” Chad told him. “You file the claim in your name and transfer it to me. I’ll pay for the land. From what I hear, choice property up there is going to be hard to come by soon. The farther you get from the water, the harder it is to farm or run cattle.” Chad was warming to his subject. “Cattle will be a good investment. We can ship them on down to Omaha, and the Rock Island Railway will take them to Chicago. As I see it, we can’t lose.”

Henry told Chad he’d consider the information.

As the sun rose higher, the heat and the dusty road made traveling uncomfortable, and the men were glad to stop at noon to rest and water the horses. While the team grazed, Chad and Henry lay in the shade by a stream with their hats over their faces and took a short rest.

Polly carried fried chicken and mashed potatoes into the dining room for the noon meal. Manda, Alice, and Will were taking their places at the table.

“Where’s Simon?” Polly asked.

“I haven’t seen him,” Frances replied. “I thought he was eating out there with you.”

“Well, he ain’t.” She didn’t add that he hadn’t been there for breakfast either. Preoccupied with all she had to do, Polly had forgotten until now that she hadn’t seen the little boy all morning. “Alice, was he with you?”

“No, I went to the creek with Will. We didn’t see him.”

Polly slammed the dishes down on the table harder than necessary and muttered, “I got enough to do around here without keepin’ track of three extra young ’uns. He’d better get in here with Ethan, or he’s in trouble.”

But Simon didn’t appear with Luke and Ethan, nor had they seen him all morning.

“Eat your lunch, then set out and find him,” Polly told them. “I’m gonna tan him good for runnin’ off without tellin’ anyone.”

Outwardly she scowled. But inside, Polly was frightened. Not only had Simon endeared himself to her, but she remembered too vividly the sadness in this house when Robbie had died. What if something had happened to this little boy too?

When a search of the barn, the creek, and the nearby fields revealed no Simon, Polly approached Manda in the upstairs sewing room. “We can’t find Simon.”

“It’s not time for supper yet,” Manda murmured around a mouthful of pins.

“We ain’t seen him all day.”

Manda removed the pins. “You mean he hasn’t been in since breakfast?”

“He weren’t here for breakfast neither.”

Manda dropped her scissors and sprang to her feet. “Why didn’t you tell me before? Is Luke searching for him?”

“Has been, ever since lunchtime. Ethan, Frances, Alice, and Will are looking too. Everyone thought he was with someone else this morning. I was sure they’d find him right away.”

Manda ran down the stairs and out to the porch, with Polly on her heels. Frances and Alice, with Will between them, were coming up the lane.

“He’s not down by the berry bushes,” Frances reported, “and he’s not on the road either way, as far as we could see.”

“Simon went in a car?” Will tugged at Ethan’s shirt.

“No, Will, I don’t think so. Simon is big enough not to go off with someone he doesn’t know.”

“Ain’t no car around here for him to go in,” Luke said. “He used another way to get off the farm, or else he’s still here somewhere.”

“Simon said he was going with Henry,” Alice ventured.

“Yes! He did!” Ethan looked at Luke. “I told him he couldn’t because—”

Before Ethan could finish the sentence, Luke was racing toward the barn. A few minutes later, he and Dancer, one of the horses, were headed north toward the Niobrara River.