The Voyage of the Rattletrap | Page 4

a craft as ever scoured the plain," was Jack's
opinion; "and if we can keep the four wheels from starting in opposite
directions we'll be all right."
But where was Ollie all this while? And who was Ollie, anyhow? Ollie
was Jack's little nephew, and he lived back East somewhere--I don't
remember where. The nearer we got ready to start, the more firmly Jack
became convinced that Ollie would like to go along, so at last he sent
for him to come, and he arrived the night before our start. Ollie liked
the idea of the trip so much that he simply stood and looked at the
wagon, the guns, the pony, and the horses, and was speechless. At last
he managed to say:
"Uncle Jack, it'll be just like a picnic, won't it?"
The next morning we started as early as we could. But it was not before
people were up.
"Where be they going?" asked Grandpa Oldberry.

"Oh, Nebraska, and Wyoming, and the Black Hills, and any crazy place
they hear of," answered Squire Poinsett.
"They'll all be scalped by Injuns," said Grandpa Oldberry. "Ain't the
Injuns bad this fall?"
"So I was a-reading," returned the Squire. "And in the hills I should be
afeared of b'ar."
"Right," assented Grandpa. "B'ar and sim'lar varmints. And more
'specially hossthieves and sich-like cutthroats. I disremember seeing
three scalawags starting off on such a fool trip since afore the war."

II: OUTWARD BOUND
The port of Prairie Flower was in the eastern part of the Territory of
Dakota. It stood out on an open plain a half-dozen miles wide, which
seemed to be the prairie itself, though it was really the valley of the Big
Sioux River, that funny stream which could run either way, and usually
stood still in the night and rested. To the east and west the edges of this
valley were faintly marked by a range of very low bluffs, so low that
they were mere wrinkles in the surface of the earth, and made the
valley but very little lower than the great plain which rolled away for
miles to the east and for leagues to the west.
It was a beautiful morning a little after the middle of September that the
Rattletrap got away and left Prairie Flower behind. The sun had been
up only half an hour or so, and the shadow of our craft stretched away
across the dry gray plain like a long black streak without end. The air
was fresh and dewy. The morning breeze was just beginning to stir, and
down by the river the acres of wild sunflowers were nodding the dew
off their heads, and beginning to roll in the first long waves which
would keep up all day like the rolling of the ocean. We shouted
"Good-bye" to Grandpa Oldberry and Squire Poinsett, but they only
shook their heads very seriously. The cows and horses picketed on the
prairie all about the little clump of houses which made up the town

looked at us with their eyes open extremely wide, and no doubt said in
their own languages, like Grandpa Oldberry, that they had no
recollection of seeing any such capers as this for many years.
"See here," I said, suddenly, to Jack, "where's that dog you said was
going to follow us?"
"You just hold on," answered Jack.
"Oh, are we going to have a dog, too?" asked Ollie.
"You wait a minute," insisted Jack.
Just then we passed the railroad station. Jack craned his head out of the
front end of the wagon. Ollie and I did the same. Lying asleep on the
corner of the station platform we saw a dog. He was about the size of a
rather small collie; or, to put it another way, perhaps he was half as big
as the largest-size dog. If dogs were numbered like shoes, from one to
thirteen, this would have been about a No. 7 dog. He was yellow, with
short hair, except that his tail was very bushy. One ear stood up straight,
and the other lopped over, very much wilted. Jack whistled sharply.
The dog tossed up his head, straightened up his lopped ear, let fall his
other ear, and looked at us. Jack whistled again, and the dog came. He
ran around the wagon, barked once or twice, sniffed at the pony's heels
and got kicked at for his familiarity, yelped sharply, and came and
looked up at us, and wagged his bushy tail with a great flourish.
"He wants to get in. Give him a boost, Ollie," said Jack.
Ollie clambered over the dash-board and jumped to the ground. He
pushed the dog forward, and he leaped up and scrambled into the
wagon, jumped over on the bed, where he folded