Runaway Read online

  I hadn’t thought of that. I twisted uncomfortably on the wagon seat. I tried to think about building my fort instead. I didn’t want to think about Lucas Black any more, and I sure didn’t want to have to feel sorry for him. I guess I just wished he didn’t have to live with Sam Black.

  CHAPTER THREE

  “Sam Black was here,” said Ellie.

  I dropped my spoon and stared at her. “Here? When?”

  “A few days ago. Papa went to the McDougall’s to look at their sick horse, and I was here by myself.”

  “Were you scared?”

  “No,” said Ellie. Ellie is twelve and never admits to being scared of anything. But I bet she was.

  “He walked around our fields, and he looked in everything, the henhouse and the cowshed. He had that boy with him. Then Papa came home.”

  I had lost all interest in my breakfast, a bowl of thick milk porridge. I shivered to think of Sam Black snooping around on our farm. “What did he want?”

  “He wanted Papa to lease him a field to put some cows in,” said Ellie. “But Papa said no.”

  She wiped her hands on her apron and reached up to a high shelf. She picked up a coin and put it on the table. “The boy said to give this to you.”

  The coin Sam Black had stolen from me! I stared at it in disbelief. “His name is Lucas,” I said slowly. “Sam Black will kill him if he finds out.”

  “I told him he better not, but he said it didn’t matter,” said Ellie. “He said Sam Black keeps his money in an old can and by the time he figures out it’s missing, he’ll be gone.”

  “Lucas will be gone?” I repeated, surprised.

  Ellie frowned. “That’s what he said. He said not to tell Sam Black. He said, don’t tell him, but I knew what he meant.”

  Lucas Black must be pretty brave. I squirmed when I thought about chasing him through The Landings. I wish he had told me he’d given me the coin back. He hadn’t said anything. He had just stared with that half angry half scared look.

  I shrugged away thoughts of Lucas Black and looked out the window. Napoleon had predicted a storm by afternoon and it looked like he was right. Black clouds were building up over the lake and the water was flat and grey. Napoleon and Papa were hitching Napoleon’s oxen to the plough, hoping to finish turning the new field before the storm. They had forgotten about me. Maybe I could sneak away to work on my fort.

  Ellie could always read my mind. “Remember Papa said you have to help dig potatoes before it rains,” she said in a warning voice.

  I sighed heavily. Normally I didn’t mind digging potatoes. And I should be happy about getting my coin back. But as I followed Ellie outside to the garden, I couldn’t stop worrying about Lucas Black. What did he mean, he’d be gone? Where would a boy like Lucas go?

  After we finished the potatoes, Ellie went out to the barn to play with her kittens. I gathered up my nails, a hammer and an old syrup can that Napoleon had given me and headed to my fort. Our dog Star raced in front of me, tail wagging. He sped in tight circles around the henhouse and then shot down the trail into the bush, barking. Star could pick up the scent of an animal just like that and I half expected to see a rabbit or a deer jump across the trail. But the forest was still. Why was Star acting so crazy?

  My fort was in the forest behind the henhouse, beside a creek, where a huge dead tree fell over last winter. The roots pulled right out of the ground and made the back wall. My best wall was made of boards. The other two walls and the roof were made from sticks and branches which wasn’t as good because the rain came in through the holes.

  I had taken Napoleon to see my fort in the morning. He said my secret trail through the bushes looked just like a deer trail and you would never know there was a fort so close. Besides Napoleon, Papa and Ellie were the only other people who knew about it. Ellie had said she would give me an old pot and a tin cup if I showed her, but I made her promise not to tell her nosey friend Kate McDougall. I did not want girls in my fort.

  When we got to the fort, Star had a long drink in the creek and then plunged back into the forest, still barking. I pulled back a board and crawled inside. It felt like going into a cave, but there was enough light to see because of all the cracks in my branch walls. It was cold and smelled like wet leaves, but I liked that smell. In half of my fort you could stand straight up without bumping your head. Just before we went to The Landings, I made furniture, a bed of sacks laid over branches and a stump chair and table.

  I found a good spot for the syrup can, on a kind of ledge in the roots on the back wall. A few of the sticks from my roof had fallen in and I worked for a while repairing the holes. Muffled sounds came from outside, the tops of the trees blowing in the wind and Star barking wildly in the distance, probably at a squirrel.

  After a while, I crawled back outside to check the sky. The day had got darker and the clouds right above were black. I decided to get a quick drink of water and then head home before it poured. I walked over to an old tree beside the creek, where I kept my tin cup in a hole. I stuck my hand in. The hole was empty.

  I stood there for a second, confused. I had used the cup the last time I was here. I was positive I had put it back. I always put it back. I stared at the ground and kicked away a pile of leaves. Then I looked up and down the side of the creek. Something glinted beside a flat rock.

  My cup! What was it doing over there?

  I walked over and picked it up, frowning. Someone must have been here. I sucked in my breath. Ellie. She had promised not to come to the fort when I was away. But she must have come anyway! And she’d probably even brought Kate. I pictured them sitting on my chairs, using all my stuff. Resentment boiled through me.

  Star’s barks grew louder and then he burst out through the trees on the other side of the creek. Something that looked like a dirty red rag dangled from his mouth.

  “Star!” I called. “Star! Come here! What have you got?”

  Star raced up and down the side of the creek, waving his prize joyfully.

  “Come!” I repeated, trying to make my voice firm like Papa.

  Finally Star waded through the water and stood in front of me, his front legs braced to run. I pulled the rag out of his mouth. It was a wool cap.

  “Star,” I said slowly, “Where did you get this?”

  I had seen this cap before. I frowned, thinking hard. And then I remembered.

  Lucas Black, his red plaid cap darting through the trees as he ran away from us at The Landings.

  My head whirled. So it wasn’t Ellie at all. It was Lucas Black who had been to my fort. How had he found it?

  Elllie had said that Sam Black had been at our farm when I was away. Snooping everywhere. Waiting for Papa. I remembered Ellie saying, “And he had that boy with him.” I frowned. And at The Landings, Red had said that Lucas had been asking all kinds of nosey questions, wanting to know when I was coming back.

  I stared across the creek. For the first time I noticed that some of the bushes were bent back, like someone had made a trail. A trail to Sam Black’s cabin! It was probably no more than a mile through the forest.

  My heart thumped. I had an eerie feeling that I was being watched. I strained hard to hear, but there was nothing except the sound of the wind.

  Suddenly I wanted to talk to Napoleon. Napoleon would know what to do. I put my cup back in the hole in the tree and I hung the cap on a branch. Then I ran back through the forest to the henhouse.

  I hurried around the side of our cabin. A huge man in big black boots stood on the porch, banging hard at the door. I froze.

  Sam Black!

  CHAPTER FOUR

  “Hey, boy!” called Sam Black. “Come here!”

  The back of my neck prickled with goosebumps. I walked slowly towards our cabin, ready to turn and run if I had to.

  Sam Black spat over the railing. “Where’s your Papa, boy?”

  I didn’t say anything but my eyes slid to the field where Napoleon and Papa were ploughing. Papa was striding towa
rds us. He must have seen Sam Black’s wagon. My legs wobbled with relief.

  When Papa got close, he said, “What do you want? I told you I have no pasture to spare.”

  “That ain’t why I’m here,” said Sam Black.

  “Then state your business,” said Papa. “I’ve work to do.”

  This was Papa, who was never rude to visitors? I sidled closer to see what was going to happen.

  “My business,” said Sam Black, “is the boy. He’s gone. Run away two nights ago.”

  Papa looked shocked. He turned to me. “Max, have you seen him?”

  I slid my hand in my pocket and touched my coin. “No sir,” I said truthfully.

  Something must have showed in my eyes. “Do you have any idea where he might be?”

  “None,” I said.

  Ellie had slipped out through the door behind Sam Black. Papa nodded at her. “Ellie?”

  “No, Papa.”

  Papa turned to Sam Black. “Then I can’t help you.” His voice softened. “But I hope you find the boy. I don’t like to think of him out in the forest with a storm coming.”

  Sam Black spat again on the ground right beside Papa. Then he looked straight at me. An icy shiver ran up and down my back. I tried to stare back but I couldn’t. I dropped my eyes to the ground.

  “I sure hope you ain’t lyin’, boy,” he said softly.

  “If you have something to say, say it to me,” said Papa in a tight voice. “Now I told you, I have work to do.”

  Sam Black walked over to his wagon. He heaved his huge body onto the seat and slapped the reins across the thin grey horse’s neck.

  He looked at us and said, “I ain’t worried about the storm. But I want the boy back. He’s got a pile of work to do. I’ll find him and he’ll be sorry he ever thought of running away.”

  Papa put his arm around Ellie and me. The first icy drops of rain splattered on the ground as we watched Sam Black’s wagon disappear around the bend in the road.

  I didn’t get a chance to talk to Napoleon alone. Ellie baked bread in the afternoon. We ate thick slabs with butter, watching the rain stream past the windows and listening to the rumble of thunder.

  Napoleon played his fiddle for awhile, and then went back to his tent to read his Bible. Papa always said we had to leave Napoleon alone when he was reading his Bible, because he might be thinking about his son. Napoleon’s son drowned crossing a river on a raft. For a long time we didn’t know and then one day he told Papa. The other mystery about Napoleon was a big black trunk in the corner of his tent that was always locked. I wanted to ask Napoleon to open his trunk, but Papa said it was not my business.

  After Napoleon left, Papa fell asleep by the fire, with a piece of half mended harness in his hands. Ellie curled up reading. Papa had taught both me and Ellie to read, but Ellie was better at it. I sat at the table, hunched over a page of handwriting I was supposed to be copying. My mind kept jumping back to Lucas Black.

  Where was he?

  My eyes were drawn to the window. Tree branches lashed in the wind and the rain poured in slanted sheets over the gray lake. I shivered. What would I do if I were Lucas? Where would I go?

  The fort.

  I chewed my lip. I glanced at Papa, who was snoring softly. Ellie was in the other room, buried in a quilt and lost in her book. They would never know I was gone. I pushed my handwriting away and slid off the chair. Quickly I cut a slab of bread and a chunk of cheese and wrapped them in a piece of cloth. Then I took my coat and cap off the peg, and slipped outside, easing the door shut behind me.

  I ran to the henhouse, my head ducked against the driving rain, and along the trail. Dripping branches slapped at my face and my boots slipped on wet leaves. A crack of thunder made my heart jump. When I got to the creek, I hesitated, listening hard, and then I took a big breath and pulled away the board in front of my fort.

  Lucas wasn’t there.

  Fighting back disappointment, I crawled inside. Everything was just how I left it, the sacks spread neatly over the branch bed, the syrup can, my tools. I knew he hadn’t been back. I listened to the rain drumming on my stick roof and watched a puddle slowly spread across one corner of the dirt floor. I had been so sure he would come.

  Where could he be?

  I waited a few more minutes, then went back outside. I stared across the creek into the dark rain soaked trees.

  I cupped my hands to my mouth and shouted, “Lucas! Lucas Black!”

  Thunder crashed. I hugged my arms to my chest. “Lucas!” I hollered. “It’s all right!”

  Nothing. Sam Black said Lucas had run away two nights ago. He’d be awfully hungry by now. And he wouldn’t have expected a storm. He must have gone back. I felt sick when I remembered the huge man’s words, “He’ll be sorry he ever thought about running away.”

  Rain ran off the edge of my cap and dripped down my neck. I couldn’t stop shivering. “Lucas!” I yelled one last time, and then turned miserably to go home.

  Just then something moved behind the trees. I held my breath. A second later, Lucas Black pushed his way through the clinging wet branches.

  We stood still for a second, watching each other. Lucas’ thin shirt was plastered to his body and his hair hung in dripping clumps over his forehead. Then he crossed the creek, slipping from rock to rock, and stood in front of me, his dark eyes wary.

  I pulled the cloth bundle out of my pocket. It was slightly squashed but dry.

  “I brought you something,” I said.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  “I only stayed here at night,” Lucas said between mouthfuls of bread and cheese. “And I never took anything.”

  He sat hunched over on the stump chair, tearing the bread into chunks and cramming it into his mouth. I stared at him. His face went red and he muttered, “My food ran out yesterday.”

  “I can bring more.” I blurted the question that was burning inside me. “How did you find my fort?”

  Lucas swallowed. “Easy! We came to your farm once when you were away. Anyone could see that trail behind the henhouse went some where, so I followed it to see. And then I had to figure out how to get here from my place. I came along the creek.”

  I had been pretty sure my fort was well hidden and I felt annoyed, but I had something even more important to ask. “Does Sam Black know about it?”

  “Well I ain’t that dumb!” said Lucas scornfully.

  We sat in silence while Lucas finished off the last of the cheese.

  Something scratched on the branches outside my fort. Lucas stiffened, but then a whining sound made me laugh. “It’s just Star,” I said. I pushed back the board. “Get in here, girl.”

  Star wiggled joyfully to see me and then shook all over, spraying us with water. For the first time I saw Lucas smile. “Guess I can’t get any wetter anyway.” He bent down and rubbed Star’s ears.

  “I had a dog,” he said suddenly. “He drowned it.”

  I swallowed. “Is Sam Black your uncle?”

  “No! He ain’t no kin of mine. He married my ma, but that don’t make him kin.”

  Lucas looked up at me and his words spilled out. “I had a pa but he died when I was a baby. Ma had all kinds of jobs and then she got a job for him, cooking and looking after his house. He married her so he wouldn’t have to pay her. He just wanted a servant.”

  I pulled Star close to me and hugged her damp body. “Why did your ma agree to marry him?”

  Lucas shrugged. “She thought it would be better for me, on account of she wasn’t strong and it was getting harder and harder for her to work. And he wasn’t so bad at first. But we didn’t need him! I had a job, selling newspapers, and I had a whole can of money saved for Ma and me. He stole it from me, but I aim to get it back one day. It’s my money!”

  “Where’s your ma now?” I asked.

  “She’s dead,” said Lucas flatly. “We were living in New York but there was trouble. He came home one night and said we had to leave. We went to Montreal and then Ma got re
ally sick and died. That’s when he drowned my dog.”

  I thought about that for a minute. Napoleon had told Papa he’d spent last winter in Montreal. I wondered if that’s where he’d run into Sam Black before.

  “My mama’s dead too,” I said finally. “She died in England before we came to Canada.” Lucas looked sympathetic and I added truthfully, “I don’t really miss her ‘cause I don’t remember her.”

  “I miss my ma,” said Lucas simply. “I think about her every day so I won’t forget what she looks like. She had a locket with her picture in it. I’d never forget her if I had the locket, but he sold it.”

  I wanted to ask a pile more questions, like what kind of trouble did Sam Black get into in New York, but I decided I better stop. Ellie always said I was too nosy.

  For the first time, I noticed how quiet it had become outside. I hopped off my stump and pushed back the board and peered outside. “Storm’s over. Come on Lucas.”

  We stood beside the fort for a few minutes, watching water drip from the leaves. It had stopped raining and the clouds were breaking up in the sky. Lucas shivered.

  “I’ll go get you some dry clothes and some more food,” I said. “I’ll be right back.”

  “Can you leave Star?” said Lucas.

  “Sure.”

  He grabbed my arm. “Don’t tell anyone I’m here.”

  “I won’t,” I said.

  “Swear.”

  “I swear.”

  “Double swear on our mothers’ graves.”

  I didn’t think Papa would approve, but I said, “Double swear.”

  Lucas dropped my arm and I ran.

  When I got back to the cabin, Papa and Napoleon were in the field and Ellie was in the barn with her kittens. I bundled together a pair of pants and a shirt and some more bread and cheese and took them back to the fort. Lucas was fast asleep, rolled up in a sack on my branch bed. I left the food and clothes on the ground beside him, whistled for Star who had wandered away into the forest and then went home.

  For the rest of the day I hugged my secret to myself. Papa had left a pile of firewood for me to stack and I had water buckets to fill and the horses to feed. I was tired when Ellie called Papa and Napoleon and me in for supper.