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.Where did that little girl go?” She rubbed Cora's cheek.“Oh, Momma.I am a girl,” she pushed Marion's hand away, “but that doesn't mean I have to sit in the house all prim and proper, sewing and mending and cooking and cleaning.It's truly dull, and you said it yourself that I'm of no use in the kitchen.Why can't I go climb a tree or shoot a slingshot? Sarah can help you, I just get in the way.”“Fine enough, ‘girl child,’ go shoot your slingshot, but dress warm, it's cool out.” Marion smiled at her.“Be in before dinner!” she called as Cora ran out the door.Shooting the slingshot wasn't at all what Cora had in mind.She was going to go find her poppa and Nathan.When she found them, Poppa wouldn't send her back home alone and they couldn't stop hunting to bring her back, so, they'd have to let her hunt too! She was jubilant at the thought of such a fool-proof scheme.Cora skipped off into the dense woods and they closed in behind her.She looked around and wondered which way they had gone and which way she should go to find them.She tried to remember the paths they had taken when Nathan had shown her their hunting place.But everything looked the same now.Cora roamed aimlessly through these strange dark woods.Even though she was terrified, she refused to cry.Cry babies couldn't be mighty hunters.Daniel and Nathan sat quietly waiting for their prey.They heard the cracking of underbrush and prepared their guns.The leaves began to rustle.Nathan put his finger on the trigger and fired— but it was no deer that stepped through the brush and then fell, screaming.It was Cora! Daniel and Nathan both ran to her yelling, “What are you doing here! Oh Cora! Cora!” Daniel knelt down beside her and took her in his arms.“Baby girl, why? Why didn't you stay at home?”“I didn't mean it, Cora, I didn't mean it!” Nathan kept saying as Daniel looked her over.“Hush, Nathan! Hush.It's her arm.She's going to be all right!” Daniel scooped Cora up and started toward the house.“You go get the doctor,” he yelled at Nathan.“I'm taking her home.”Daniel plowed through the door with Cora in his arms.“What is it?” Marion screamed.“What's happened to her?”“Cora came after us.We thought she was a deer and Nathan got her in the arm.Why did you let her come after us, Marion? Why?”“I didn't! She was supposed to be in the yard playing with her slingshot.I don't understand this? How did she get to where y'all were?”“I'm sorry, Momma.I wanted to hunt.” Cora cried.“I slipped off and went to find them.”“Hush now, it's all right.I should have suspected it.I know you don't give up when it's something you want.I shouldn't have let you go out.”The doctor, arriving soon thereafter, dressed her arm.“Cora, you were a mighty lucky little lady.I hope you've learned your lesson.It's important to listen to your folks.”“Yes, Sir.” She smiled.Though Cora seemed very proud of her ‘hunting wound,’ no one else was the least bit pleased.Had Daniel and Marion not been so grateful that she wasn't killed, they would have severely punished her for going against their orders.“If you ever go near those woods again without permission, you won't be able to sit down for a week, I promise you that!” Daniel told her.Chapter Six* * * *John and Doug were well into the network of what they called freedom fighting.They were taking runaway slaves to a point on Lake Erie where they would cross over into Canada.Mr.Tyson compensated them well for their work.He also gave John a job at his paper, The Freedom Gazette, an anti-slavery publication.John was so good with words that Mr.Tyson made him an editor.John loved the job and was making good money.But he tried to keep his involvement in this work quiet.He knew how feelings ran about such things back home, so he would never let his friends or family know about his jobs.It came to the freedom fighters attention that many of the southern states had barred anti-slavery papers such as The Freedom Gazette [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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