Ida's New World

by Lise Muusmann

  She removed the headscarf from her head and mopped her face and neck.

  “Can you prepare a fire, Ida?” Rose asked and looked over at her.

  “Yes, I can manage that. Lisa, come, we are going to get some firewood,” Ida said and took Lisa by the hand. The girls walked down the slope a short distance to where they had seen some low bushes and small trees. They gathered up as much as they could carry and were about to walk back up to the house-building women again. When all of a sudden, they heard a deep groaning sound and the snapping of branches. Ida threw down the fire wood and ducked down instinctively, pulling Lisa with her.

  “Be completely still,” she whispered. “Look! It’s a giant bear. Keep calm.”

  The big brown bear walked around scratching in the soil. It was probably looking for insects and small animals. Then it rose to its full height and sniffed the air. It was a giant of a bear, rummaging around in the little forest.

  “Be completely still,” Ida said and held Lisa down against the ground. She could feel Lisa trembling all over. The girls lay completely still, hardly daring to breathe, until the bear apparently had enough of the place, and left. They stayed still for quite a while after he’d gone.

  “I think we can probably grab our firewood and hurry away now,” said Ida, a bit shakily. “Phew, what a surprise.”

  When Ida began to collect up the firewood again, Lisa started to cry violently.

  “Shush, Lisa,” Ida said. “We still have to keep quiet. Maybe the bear can hear us and come back.”

  “It was way too big,” Lisa cried. “It could have eaten us both in a single mouthful.”

  “No. What nonsense. Bears do not eat little girls. They prefer honey,” Ida explained with a smile. Lisa grew quieter at that and looked up at Ida. She dried her eyes on her dress.

  “Do bears like honey?”

  “Yes, or so I’ve heard. I learned that when I was your age.”

  “All right then, Ida.”

  When they returned to the building site, the women turned towards the girls and smiled.

  “So, how was it?” Anna asked joyfully. “Did you meet anyone on your way?”

  Ida and Lisa stood still. Ida threw her firewood to the ground.

  “We met a bear,” Lisa said with a whimper. Ida hurried to translate.

  “That’s a lie, I hope,” Katrina said and forgot to close her mouth.

  “Where?”

  “Just below here, on the hillside,” Ida answered and pointed.

  “It was gigantic,” Lisa said. She stood on her toes and rose her arms. “Brown and furry.”

  “Oh, God!” Anna shouted. “Are we going to build the house here, where Mr. Bear lives?”

  “I am afraid we have to,” said Rose, who had guessed what Anna said. “We have dug a big hole into the hill, and we shall soon have finished the house. Look, here comes the men with the lumber for the roof.”

  “Can we sleep in the new house tonight?” Ida asked, thinking they would be better protected against the bear in the new house.

  “No, not yet,” cried Henry. ”We shall have to sleep in the wagon again tonight.”

  The men worked hard, framing up the roof and placing supporting poles into the peat-walls to strengthen and shape the house, and to take the weight of the roof frame. The women and the girls kept on stacking peat bricks to dry, then took a break from the hard work, and prepared the dinner. When at last they crept to bed, they were all packed tight inside the wagon. Stephen was still under his blanket, and food was handed in to him.

  Ida was lying at the rear of the wagon again. She looked up at the night sky, which was so beautiful with all the stars, that she could barely sleep. She listened to the night sounds. Maybe the bear would come back again? But finally she fell asleep, and slept soundly under the star spangled sky.

  Chapter 35

  They woke to the sound of pouring rain. It hammered on the canvas and it ran in small rivulets off the sides of the wagon. They looked anxiously at the new peat house, which was soaking wet and mud starting to form off the walls.

  “What will happen to the house now?” Ida asked with worry. “Will the rain wash it away?”

  “Oh, it will stay, don’t worry,” Henry said comfortingly. “But it was a pity, we did not manage to get the roof on in time. Now it will be soaking wet inside.”

  “A good thing we decided to bring the wagon back uphill to sleep in it,” Frederik said. “Well, now we have to get out in the rain to finish the job.”

  Ida noticed her father had become quite good at speaking in English. She crawled over and gave him a big kiss.

  “Thank for our house, sweet, sweet daddy!”

  Lisa also hurried over and gave him a big kiss. Frederik laughed and held his two daughters in a big hug.

  “What a nice way to wake up! Now I certainly have to go out in the rain to keep building,” he said.

  There would be no hot coffee over a cosy morning fire nor warm bread that morning. They all stood around forlornly looking up at a grey, rain-filled sky.

  “Well, let us get started,” Rose said cheerfully and started to cut new peat from the soggy peat bog. The men took the Indian sled down the hill to gather finer branches to make a grid in the roof frame and finish it off with more peat. Later they would make wooden slates to cover it. The girls helped to carry the peat to Katrina who had become quite adept at placing the peat-bricks correctly, so that the walls did not collapse. Anna could not carry any more peat because her back was aching from over doing it the day before. But she went around and adjusting the peat, and smoothing it so that the walls became completely straight and smooth. They were all sloshing around in big puddles of water.

  When the men came back up the hill with the last of the timber, Henry looked in at the floor in the house.

  “Listen girls, you will have to go and get some grass, to put down on the earth floor.” He pointed towards the valley. “Look, there is a lot of good tough grass down there, perfect for a making a strong floor.”

  The girls nodded and ran quickly downhill. They were so wet that everything on them could be wrung out for bath water. They slid around in the mud laughing.

  “It is fun!” Lisa shouted as she tried to get up, but she fell over and slid further. “I am sliding down the hill on my behind.”

  “I hope you do not catch a cold,” Ida said, and realised just how wet and cold she felt, herself. They picked and collected a lot of straight tough grass, that was at least as wet as they were themselves. Ida packed a lot of grass onto Lisa’s back, then took an even bigger bundle in her arms. They looked about the landscape, worried they might see the big bear again.

  “Now we hurry uphill again,” Ida said and looked anxiously around one more time.

  “Luckily I believe there are no bears today.”

  As they climbed up the hill to the plateau, they saw a thin curl of smoke from the new peat chimney stack standing proudly in the centre of the new-laid roof. They had bought a stove in Mandan, and it had been assembled into place with the flue rising up through the chimney stack.

  Anna had the fire going very well with the wood the children had collected the day before. It had been stashed in the front of the wagon and kept dry. Dried peat could also be burned on the stove for long slow and hot burning. When they had a barn, they would store peat bricks there to dry.

  “Now we can make coffee again,” Anna declared and put a pot of water on the stove. “I think we can all treat ourselves to a splash bath today too.” Anna had been forward thinking and put all their pots and the big tank as a trough, out in the rain. There was enough water, both for coffee and for washing. With soap!

  “Yes, it is quite a while now, since we last had a bath,” Katrina said. “One smells like a prairie swamp.” Ida translated and they laughed heartily.

  “You Danes like to poke fun,” Henry said laughing and shaking his head. “It’s a good thing!”

  “It was a good day that we met each other on the roa
d, and a grand thing that we could join each other on this a somewhat troubled prairie trail.” He looked over at his wife, who also nodded and smiled a cheeky smile.

  “It really was very fortunate,” she said and looked at their Danish friends happily.

  The women were very happy with the tough grasses the girls had collected and quickly laid them in a crossed pattern carpet on the floor, packing it down into the mud. It would dry quickly with the stove burning hot now, and would make a firm floor of rush matting. They could make beds now, at the sides of the house.

  “When will Stephen come out from under his blanket?” Ida asked and looked out at the wagon standing lonely in front of the new peat house. The wagon swayed a little, so everyone could tell he was in there, moving about on his own. Still under the blanket.

  Chapter 36

  It was odd. The rain stopped at the very same moment the last peat brick was placed on the roof, and shortly thereafter, the sun was shining hot and bright. Ida and Lisa took each others hands and danced around and sang in the front yard, while the rain dripped steadily from the trees and the brush. The peat house started steaming in the sun.

  “The peat house is done

  what more could be won?

  Now we can offer

  Lovely warm coffee.”

  Ida sang out loud, and they all stopped to watch her and Lisa, who merely sang, ‘hurrah, hurrah, hurrah’.

  The old Danish cups were washed in rainwater and the new coffee was poured. They sat down on the boxes and sacks that contained their belongings.

  “Now we just need to carry everything inside, to have something to sit on and to sleep on,” Frederik said with relief.

  “One may take 100 acres,” Henry explained when they were all seated with coffee. “And it’s free. If you are farming the prairie, then you can claim ownership of your piece of land. You have to continue to farm and to live on your property for five years, and you have to build a house.”

  “I just did,” Frederik said with a big smile.

  “You can become an American if you drop your old citizenship.”

  “That means I won’t be a Dane anymore?” Frederik said slowly. He hadn’t thought of this.

  “No, but then you will become a genuine American, and you have your own piece of land which you are farming, and you are making your own way in the world.”

  Frederik nodded and looked very happy.

  “Americans! What do you say to that, Katrina?” He looked at her. She sat hunched up on a soaking wet box with a chipped cup in her hand. Her clothes and her face were wet and covered with soil and grass. She nodded numbly and stared ahead.

  “Then we can never go home again.” She said flatly.

  “Yes. We can go home again, but you will still be American,” Frederik said and drank his coffee.

  “Well, I have almost forgotten the old country,” Anna said. “We have been so taken up with this long journey and all the things that have happened.”

  “And we are going to be even more taken up and busy,” Frederik declared. “We are going to farm the prairie.” He rubbed his hands together. “Potatoes!”

  “Potatoes are hard work from morning until evening,” Henry answered. “And I just hope, we shall be allowed to live in peace.”

  What do you mean?” Frederik asked. Henry answered after moment.

  “You have seen for yourself, how many Indians there are. They have been here for many years, and they want to keep their land for themselves. There may be clashes and you have to realise that.” Suddenly Henry leaned forward, narrowing his eyes, and stared intently at a point out in the horizon. “Maybe we are about to get company,” he said grimly. The women looked out in the same direction and gasped, afraid that the Indians were already coming.

  “It may not be Indians, but someone is definitely approaching at speed. They have probably seen our chimney smoke.”

  “Could they be friendly?” Asked Katrina hopefully.

  “I don’t like it,” answered Henry. “We had better be ready for anything. Haul everything inside the house. Get Stephen inside and hide the wagon amongst the trees where you saw the bear. Run the horses down there too and give them plenty to eat so they keep quiet.”

  They all rushed to get ready and to be prepared for whatever sort of guests might be arriving, whatever might eventuate. Stephen refused to come out for Rose, so she let him stay under his blanket, telling him not to make a sound. Ida stayed up at the house and kept an eye on the approaching travellers.

  “Look, they are turning off the trail and coming up here,” Ida said, pointing. “Three men on horses.”

  “Go into the house,” Henry said quietly to the women and children. “We will see what sort of folk they are. Frederik, have you got your revolver handy?”

  He nodded and patted his jacket pocket. A couple of felled tree trunks had been placed on the ground to form a yard in front of the new house.

  “Let’s sit down here and wait for them,” Henry concealed his revolver in his sleeve. The two men sat with their revolvers at the ready and watched the approaching party.

   Chapter 37

  Three dusty horsemen raced up to the yard. They were well adapted to the land, as the riders and their horses moved together with agility. They came to a halt with a flourish, but remained seated and stared down at Henry and Frederik.

  “Any food on the stove?” One of them drawled, nodding towards the smoke rising from the chimney.

  “We are hungry,” said the second man and made a lip-smacking sound.

  “We have ridden far today.” The third jumped down from his horse.

  “And where may I ask, have you ridden from?” Asked Henry pleasantly, and stared at the many stuffed leather bags attached to the three saddles. “There are some dishonest souls out and about on the prairie.”

  The man who stood by his horse, started to laugh out loud. He looked up at the two men who were still seated. They nodded a silent message amongst themselves and the other two dismounted. Still they offered no information about themselves.

  “It may well be, that we can spare a meal for you,” Henry said. “You still won’t tell us, where you are from?”

  “We belong to the hardened dogs of the west,” the first man said. He was a tall, skinny man with a shifty gaze. The other two were somewhat shorter and one was rather stout.

  “Can we get something to eat?” The first man stared longingly at the mud hut.

  “Let me ask my wife,” Henry said and got up from the tree trunk.

  “Have you just finished this peat house?” The stout fellow asked and smiled. He had only a few teeth visible in his mouth. Frederik nodded and glanced anxiously toward his new house. Rose stepped out from the door way that still awaited a door. She held a big steaming pot in her hands.

  “We have some stew left,” she said and put the pot down on the ground in the middle of the yard. The first man looked at the pot.

  “Must we lie down on the ground to eat your stew?” He asked roughly.

  “We do not have any chairs,” answered Rose. “Can’t you sit on your well upholstered saddlebags?”

  “And what is that supposed to mean?” Demanded the first man. He stepped towards Rose and gave her a slight push.

  “We have no chairs! That is what I mean,” she answered and looked him up and down from head to foot, standing firm with her hands on her hips.

  “Perhaps you at least have some dishes, you insolent woman?” Asked the second man, who had a broken nose and a rather hostile glance. Rose turned and quickly walked into the house and came back out with three dishes and spoons. The men had taken a saddlebag each from their horses and sat on them. They helped themselves from the pot and ate noisily. The stout man opened one of his saddlebags and took out a bottle of whisky regardless of a handful of dollar notes flying out with the bottle. They floated in the air like feathers. He snatched them mid air and stuffed them into his pocket.

  The bottle passed between the three
men, who now began to become a bit more sociable.

  “What a large hut you have made for yourselves,” the first man said. “Now I expect you are going to break up the prairie and grow potatoes.” He glanced at his pals who burst out laughing.

  “It is none of your business,” Henry answered quickly. “We are just earning an honest living.” The skinny man was about to get up at that, but the stout man held him back.

  “Good God, man. They are just some stupid farmers, and we have been fed now, so take it easy.”

  He took another swig from the whiskey bottle.

  Ida had been sitting at one of the cut out windows. Lisa stood right behind her, and they watched the three men fixedly. Things went on in a similar manner for a while, with the men drinking more and then shouting more insults at Henry and Frederik.

  “Well, it is about time the three of you get going again,” Henry said indicating the empty pot.

  “We need oats for our horses. Think you can manage that?” Demanded the skinny man. Without comment, Henry got up and walked to the house, returning with a bag of oats and handed it to him.

  “There is rain water in the trough,” Henry said and pointed to the large tank they had brought with them, for their own horses. The three horses munched the oats hungrily and drank the water thirstily from the trough. Then the men seemed to be ready to get going again. All of a sudden the skinny man drew out a revolver and pointed it at Henry and Frederik.

  “Now we would like your jewellery and gold watches,” he said menacingly. Henry stared calmly at him.

  “We have got no such things,” he said coolly. “You are welcome to search, but there is nothing to find. We are very poor and have never owned fine things like jewellery and gold watches.

  The skinny man looked over at his two pals and shrugged.

  The stout man stepped into the house and looked around briefly. Then he lumbered out again and shrugged at the others, shaking his head. The three robbers mounted their horses again and fired off a few rounds of shots into the air, then started a slow descent to the valley.

  The two families, who had held their collective breath with pounding hearts the whole time, let out one big long sigh of relief as they watched the horsemen riding away through the beautiful, peaceful landscape and disappearing from sight.