Read Online Wild Heart on the Prairie (A Prairie Heritage, Book 2) by Vikki Kestell - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Vikki Kestell
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lead the way.
The sojourners had made five miles when Mr. Bailey stopped
atop a knoll and gestured to the river below them. Then his finger tracked far up
the river and pointed to where a creek could just be seen joining the river.
Jan and Karl knew immediately that this was “their” creek.
It would guide them the rest of the way to their land.
~~**~~
Chapter 7
Jan stood on a low rise and surveyed the land before him. My
land, his heart sang. His and Karl’s two claims ran side-by-side, the plot
Karl had chosen just to the north and mine right here under my feet , Jan
wanted to shout to the sky. From the small creek west of them to the low,
rounded hills in the east, this was their land.
In every direction the prairie grasses danced, an ever-changing
kaleidoscope of pale green and silver. He closed his eyes and lifted his face
to the sun and waited. He waited in utter stillness for the land to speak to
him.
He could hear the morning breeze run its fingers over the
grasses, rising and falling, rising and falling. A meadowlark warbled. In the
distance the children laughed and called to each other. But right here, in this
moment, with his eyes squeezed shut, Jan listened only to the sound of the
prairie wind—gentle, undulating, soothing, eternal.
Eyes still tightly closed, Jan inhaled deeply. He smelled
sage and cedar mixed with the earthy scent of moist soil. It had rained last
night, a late spring shower. A perfect, soaking rain.
He reached down and, grasping a clump of grass with both
hands, pulled free a chunk of soil. He examined the soil thick with the roots
of prairie grasses. Sod they called it. He knew that six inches under
the prairie sod ran a layer of dark, rich, fertile earth.
Lord, I thank you , his heart rejoiced. He struggled to
contain his emotions, and Jan knew he would remember this moment until he died.
He turned and gazed to the west. Their nearest neighbors were
on the claim across the creek. Anderson , their new friend Herr Bailey
had said. Jan studied the low bluff, a few hundred yards beyond the creek. The
bluff curved gently, creating a wide hollow between it and the creek.
From this distance Jan could see a plowed field atop the
bluff already glowing with the green of newly sprouted corn. A green garden was
marked out in the hollow below. He saw a woman going in and out of a door built
into the bluff. A small child played close by.
They dug into the bluff , Jan realized. Something like
what the Baileys had. Jan and Karl had read of dugouts and soddies back in Norway.
He glanced again at the thick clump of sod in his hand.
They had read how homesteaders cut thick, root-filled sod
blocks, a foot wide and two feet long, to build prairie homes. From what he
could see at this distance, his neighbors had burrowed into the hillside and used
sod bricks for the outside wall.
He watched for a few minutes, his imagination captured by
the picturesque curve of the bluff. He easily envisioned a house built there
someday, nestled in that hollow and facing the creek. For an instant he wished he
had arrived a year or two earlier and filed claim on the acreage across the
creek before his neighbor had.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s goods , the Holy
Spirit reminded him.
Yes, Lord!
He looked again across their land and his heart swelled. He
turned east and saw his family and their wagons. He and Karl had many decisions
to make and much work to do—and soon, as quickly as they could manage.
“ Fader , I am so grateful,” he whispered. “I want to
build our home right here, on this spot where we have talked this day.” Jan
looked around him, in his mind seeing the foundations of the house on this gentle
rise.
The oxen had been slow and the wagons heavily laden. Because
they had left so late in the afternoon their first day on the trail, they had
arrived at their claims midmorning on their third day—yesterday, the first day
of June.
On the trail to their land Bailey had built their
The sojourners had made five miles when Mr. Bailey stopped
atop a knoll and gestured to the river below them. Then his finger tracked far up
the river and pointed to where a creek could just be seen joining the river.
Jan and Karl knew immediately that this was “their” creek.
It would guide them the rest of the way to their land.
~~**~~
Chapter 7
Jan stood on a low rise and surveyed the land before him. My
land, his heart sang. His and Karl’s two claims ran side-by-side, the plot
Karl had chosen just to the north and mine right here under my feet , Jan
wanted to shout to the sky. From the small creek west of them to the low,
rounded hills in the east, this was their land.
In every direction the prairie grasses danced, an ever-changing
kaleidoscope of pale green and silver. He closed his eyes and lifted his face
to the sun and waited. He waited in utter stillness for the land to speak to
him.
He could hear the morning breeze run its fingers over the
grasses, rising and falling, rising and falling. A meadowlark warbled. In the
distance the children laughed and called to each other. But right here, in this
moment, with his eyes squeezed shut, Jan listened only to the sound of the
prairie wind—gentle, undulating, soothing, eternal.
Eyes still tightly closed, Jan inhaled deeply. He smelled
sage and cedar mixed with the earthy scent of moist soil. It had rained last
night, a late spring shower. A perfect, soaking rain.
He reached down and, grasping a clump of grass with both
hands, pulled free a chunk of soil. He examined the soil thick with the roots
of prairie grasses. Sod they called it. He knew that six inches under
the prairie sod ran a layer of dark, rich, fertile earth.
Lord, I thank you , his heart rejoiced. He struggled to
contain his emotions, and Jan knew he would remember this moment until he died.
He turned and gazed to the west. Their nearest neighbors were
on the claim across the creek. Anderson , their new friend Herr Bailey
had said. Jan studied the low bluff, a few hundred yards beyond the creek. The
bluff curved gently, creating a wide hollow between it and the creek.
From this distance Jan could see a plowed field atop the
bluff already glowing with the green of newly sprouted corn. A green garden was
marked out in the hollow below. He saw a woman going in and out of a door built
into the bluff. A small child played close by.
They dug into the bluff , Jan realized. Something like
what the Baileys had. Jan and Karl had read of dugouts and soddies back in Norway.
He glanced again at the thick clump of sod in his hand.
They had read how homesteaders cut thick, root-filled sod
blocks, a foot wide and two feet long, to build prairie homes. From what he
could see at this distance, his neighbors had burrowed into the hillside and used
sod bricks for the outside wall.
He watched for a few minutes, his imagination captured by
the picturesque curve of the bluff. He easily envisioned a house built there
someday, nestled in that hollow and facing the creek. For an instant he wished he
had arrived a year or two earlier and filed claim on the acreage across the
creek before his neighbor had.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s goods , the Holy
Spirit reminded him.
Yes, Lord!
He looked again across their land and his heart swelled. He
turned east and saw his family and their wagons. He and Karl had many decisions
to make and much work to do—and soon, as quickly as they could manage.
“ Fader , I am so grateful,” he whispered. “I want to
build our home right here, on this spot where we have talked this day.” Jan
looked around him, in his mind seeing the foundations of the house on this gentle
rise.
The oxen had been slow and the wagons heavily laden. Because
they had left so late in the afternoon their first day on the trail, they had
arrived at their claims midmorning on their third day—yesterday, the first day
of June.
On the trail to their land Bailey had built their
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