Free Sarah Bishop by Scott O’Dell

We could make it after nightfall if we pressed, however."
    "Does it have a tavern?"
    "Yes, but it costs. Two shillings a night just to sleep on the floor. Better to camp by the road and save."
    The oxen were slow and the road wound upward through hills. At sunset Mr. Goshen pulled off into a clump of sycamores. I gathered my belongings and got down from the wagon. He kindled a fire, then milked one of the cows.
    "Pleased to have you stay for a bite of supper," he said. "Ridgeford is most of two miles north of here."
    "I'll be going," I said. "Thank you for the ride. I'll be glad to pay you what it's worth."
    "Wouldn't think of takin' money, especially from a pretty girl like you." Mr. Goshen brought out a slab of bacon and cut two big slices and put them in a skillet over the fire. "You're more than welcome to stay," he said.
    I thanked him again. I put the bundle on my back, the Brown Bess under my arm, and set off for the road. As I circled the fire, Mr. Goshen suddenly reached out and took hold of my arm. At first I thought it was a friendly gesture. Then I saw his eyes. In the fading light they were pink like a rabbit's.
    "Sorry to see you go," he said. "It would be nice if you stayed to eat. A man hates to eat alone."
    I tried to pull away.
    "No use kickin' up a fuss," he said. "I don't aim to do you no harm."
    I felt limp and helpless.
    "No harm at all."
    I tried to wrench myself free, but he grasped my other arm and pressed me hard against the wagon. I felt the steel rim of a wheel in my back. The bundle and my musket fell on the ground.
    "Now, now," he whispered in a dovelike voice. His breath smelled of wine. "Calm yourself, miss."
    The little blue-eyed dog began to bark.
    "What's a girl doin' on the road if she don't have ideas?" Sam Goshen asked.
    I tried to answer, but he interrupted me.
    "Ain't right for a girl to go paradin' herself around the country," he said.
    Two horsemen were riding up the road toward Ridgeford.
    "Ain't right."
    The little dog began to snap at my legs. Goshen gave it a kick.
    The musket lay on the ground in back of him, one short step away.
    "Ain't right at all," Goshen said and started to fumble with my bodice.
    By chance, in doing so, he knocked my cap off. A look of surprise came over his face as he caught sight of my shaven head. He gasped.
    During the brief moment he took to overcome what he saw, I lunged for the musket and grasped it by the stock. I pointed it at him. The trigger was at half-cock and I put it at full-cock. The sound came loud in the quiet dusk.
    His piebald horse was tethered nearby. I untied it and put my bundle across its back and mounted. I kept the musket pointed at Goshen all the time.
    "I'll leave your horse at the tavern," I said to him and rode away.
    The little dog came after me, barking, but Sam Goshen stayed by the fire. There was still light far down in the west. I made good time toward Ridgeford village.

20
    A FTER I HAD put Goshen's horse in the stable, I found a room in the tavern. The floor was occupied by four women, so I had to sleep in bed with two others, which cost me a shilling extra. I woke up at daylight, not knowing where I was. I had the feeling that I was unable to do anything. I couldn't make up my mind about anything, even getting out of bed.
    Finally, I wandered outside to the kitchen, where a fire was burning and a young Negro woman was making cookies. She had rolled out a slab of yellow dough, enough to cover the top of a table, and was stamping it out with a tin cutter—click, click, click.
    She didn't look up when I came in but went on stamping the dough. I asked her what sort of country lay to the west.
    "There's a big river over there," she said. "I crossed it two weeks ago."
    "How far?"
    "Twenty miles. Twenty-five. I don't know."
    "What's between us and the river?"
    "Between? Nothing but what's wild."
    "Do people live there?"
    "None that 'mounts to much, I'd say. A red Indian or two. Maybe more, but that's all I saw."
    The