Mina had never seen Papa do such hard work. The sweat glistened on his arms and face,
and his shirt was soaking wet as he swung his axe to cut a tree. When it fell at
last, Papa straightened up, wiped his forehead on the back of his sleeve, and smiled
at Mina. He looked happy to be doing this work. Mina helped by using the hatchet
to chop off the smaller branches as Papa hacked away the larger ones. Then Papa wrapped
a chain around the log, and hitched it up to the yoke of oxen. Together they walked
beside the oxen as the log was dragged slowly back to their cabin site.
Papa had never built a house, but as he always said, "When it is necessary,
one learns to do what one has never done before."
When the logs were all cut, neighbors came to help raise the walls. Mina liked having
so many people around, working together. Anna came with her father. One of Mina's
jobs was to bring drinking water from the creek. She and Anna struggled up the bank with the heavy wooden bucket, and set it down in the shade of a tree. Then everyone gathered around for a drink. When it was Papa's turn, he poured his first dipperful over his head. Everyone laughed.
"Now Ernst knows how to keep cool," Herr Kaufmann said.
Papa laughed heartily as the water dripped from his hair and beard.
Then Herr Kaufmann took the dipper and poured water over himself and some
more over Herr Hessler, who grabbed the dipper and bucket, and began throwing
dippers of water this way and that until everyone was wet and laughing. Finally he
poured the remaining water over himself from the bucket.
Mina had never seen men, certainly not Papa, act so foolish. She and Anna stood watching.
It seemed that something had broken loose inside all of them. For that brief moment
they were a bunch of schoolboys at their pranks again. It was the first time Papa
had really laughed since they came to Texas.
But there was work to be done-logs to be cut to length and notched-and the men became
themselves again, and got to it. Mina held a log steady on the ground as Papa notched
it on either end with his axe. Every time his axe hit, she felt the jolt through
her whole body.
Then the men rolled the log into position, and strained together to lift and lay
it in place. The walls went up slowly. By the next day, they got too high to reach.
Papa leaned two logs against the house at an angle. Then ropes were tied to either
end of a log, and it was hauled up.
The side walls went up into the gables. Everyone cheered as the ridgepole was laid
in place from one gable to the other. The top of the cabin had been reached! Then log rafters were hauled up and set, and long cedar shingles were nailed to them.
When the heavy work was done, Mina and Papa did the finishing by themselves. Papa
made up lime mortar, and they both worked at chinking the cracks between the logs
with rocks and mortar. Then Mina brought stones for Papa to line the fireplace.
Finally the last crack had been chinked, and Mina thought about the clock Opa had
given them so long ago.
"We must unpack the clock, Papa."
Mina went inside the tent and found the clock at the bottom of a box, carefully wrapped
in a blanket. She wound the clock, and placed it on the rough split log above the
fireplace. It began to tick away the minutes, and life in their new home had started.
Fredericksburg began to look like a village. Clearings were made, cabins were started
and finished, others started. More wagon trains came from New Braunfels, and the
colony grew.
One day after the summer heat had come, Papa and Mina were sitting on the bench outside
the cabin.
"Mina, I have been thinking that we need some money to buy a milk cow."
"Oh, I would like that, Papa, but where will we get the money?"
"Well, I have a plan." Papa puffed on his pipe. "The Verein
needs wagons to haul supplies from New Braunfels. So Heinrich has agreed to sell
the wagon and oxen to me, and I will work as a teamster for the Verein. What
do you think of that, Mina? It means I would be away for weeks at a time. And you
would have to stay with the Kaufmanns."
The thought of Papa leaving sent a pang of fear through Mina. What if something should
happen and he never came back?
"Could I go with you, Papa?" Mina asked suddenly.
"Now Mina, you know our garden would go to weeds. And Herr Leyendecker
will be starting his school soon. No, you must stay and take care of things."
The next days passed too quickly for Mina. She wished she could hold them back and
keep Papa from going away. On the day Papa was to leave, Mina got up very early and
cooked bacon and cornbread for him, while Papa hitched the oxen, and cleaned his
shotgun. Then the time came for leaving.
"Come, Mina, I will take you to the Kaufmanns' cabin as I leave."
But Mina had some cleaning up to do, and besides, she did not want Anna to see her
crying after Papa left.
"No, Papa, I will go over as soon as I finish here. Do not worry about me."
Mina tried to smile cheerily at Papa as they stood beside the wagon.
"Very well, then, I will take my leave."
Mina's throat felt tight, and she struggled to keep the tears back.
"Now take care of yourself ... and hurry back." Mina flung her arms around
Papa, and he held her in his strong arms for a moment. She could not say anymore, or the dam inside her would surely break.
Then Papa held her at arm's length. "Remember, you are my pioneer girl."
Mina liked that. She looked up at Papa, smiled back at him, and nodded. "I know,
Papa."
Papa climbed in the wagon, called "Get up" at the oxen, and the wagon started
off slowly out to the road. Mina watched as Papa grew smaller. She heard him call
"Haw" at the oxen to make them go left on the road. As they turned Papa
waved.
"I will be back soon, Mina."
"Auf Wiedersehen, Papa." Mina wanted to run after the wagon, and
go with Papa, but she did not move. She watched as Papa turned into the road and
then was gone.