Read Online The Swindler's Treasure by Lois Walfrid Johnson - Free Book Online Page B

danger of fire, Libby wasn’t allowed to have a lamp in her room. In the darkness she heard Gran set a pitcher of water on the washstand in the corner.
    As Libby yawned and stretched, the corn husks in her mattress crackled. When Gran left, Libby bounded out of bed. She didn’t want to waste one moment of this special day.
    The warm water felt good on her face and arms. As soon as she finished washing, Libby put on the dress she liked best after giving away her favorite. Though she could not see much of the dress in her small mirror, she knew the soft blue brought out the honey color in her skin. Brushing her deep red hair, she pulled up the front strands, tying them in place with a ribbon.
    When Libby reached the main deck, passengers were still sleeping wherever they had found a place to lie down. At the bottom of the steps Pa waited in the dark. When his arm circled her shoulders in a quick hug, he whispered, “Happy Birthday, Libby!”
    â€œWhere are we going, Pa?” she whispered back, but he wouldn’t tell her.
    As Libby crossed the deck, Peter was ahead of her. At the gangplank he stopped, as if not sure whether he should walk down.
    â€œGo ahead, Peter,” Libby said softly, then remembered he couldn’t hear.
    Instead of moving on, Peter held back. Then, as if offering a special escort for Libby’s birthday, he turned to her and held out his arm. When she took it, he walked sideways down the gangplank.
    Gran, Caleb, and Jordan stood next to a team of horses and a wagon. Gran climbed up to the high seat next to Pa, and Libby and the boys sat on the straw in the back of the wagon. As it rolled through the streets of Hannibal, Libby saw the darkness of night beginning to fade.
    Before long the wagon rumbled over a bridge, then tilted upward when the horses started up a long hill. In the grayness before dawn, Pa drove the horses off the road and halted them near the beginning of a trail.
    Now Libby was really curious. With her eyes used to the dusky light, she had no problem seeing the way. But why was Pa taking them here? And what did this have to do with her birthday?
    With Pa leading, the rest of them followed single file. As they walked, the rough trail grew more and more steep. Now and then they stopped to rest, and Caleb’s grandmother breathed deeply to catch her breath. Gran was at least fifteen years older than Pa, and it was a difficult climb for persons of any age.
    When they reached a large mound, they followed the trail along its side to the top of the bluff. In the half-light only moments before dawn, Libby turned toward the river. A short distance from where she stood, the mound sloped down to a large, flat rock. Jutting out like a shelf, the rock fell sharply away for two hundred feet.
    Taking Libby’s hand, Pa led her to a safe distance from the edge. As the others gathered around, Libby stared at the enormous drop in front of her. Her heart pounding, she wanted to turn and run in the opposite direction.
    Pa doesn’t know my fear of heights
, Libby thought. Panic washed over her, and she felt as if she were falling forward.
    In that moment her father squeezed her hand. Libby’s world steadied, and she saw beyond the jagged rock. Stretched out before her lay the great Mississippi River and its wide valley.
    â€œLook!” Pa said, and with his words, Libby forgot her fear.
    Far across the silvery water, beyond the hills six miles away, rosecolored light spread above the line of trees. Without speaking, Libby watched the water turn pink. Above the river, clouds, like puffs of cotton, caught the changing light.
    As the color swept around her, Libby turned slowly, and the others turned with her. In the north, south, and even the western sky, thin bands of clouds reflected the rose light. Never in all her life had Libby seen anything like the glory of that sunrise.
    Then, as golden light spread upward, the pink faded. The top arc of the great orange ball