Key City on the River. Greta Gorsuch

      Chapter One

      Illinois, The mouth of the Fever River, November 21, 1833

      “Penny! Nate! Where are you?” called Mr. Butterman. “Ella! Where did those two go?” he asked his wife, Mrs. Butterman.

      “I saw them over there,” said Ella Butterman. She pointed to the water’s edge. She said, “Let Aunt Sunday find them. She knows where they are.”

      Mr. Butterman walked fast over to Aunt Sunday. He was in a hurry. They had to get started. It was getting late in the day. It got so dark, so fast, in November.

      Aunt Sunday was sitting on a log not far away. She looked at the small Fever River on her left. It was like a thin rope. It curved into the distance, back to Leadville. That’s where they came from this morning. Then she looked at the huge Mississippi River straight ahead. That’s where they were going. And they weren’t just going to the Mississippi River. They were going to cross it. Aunt Sunday never saw such large river. There was so much water in it! She could hear that dark water rushing by. She was old, and she couldn’t hear well. But she could still hear that river making noise. She didn’t want to go. There was a new home across that river, in the new Iowa Territory. But she didn’t care. She felt very, very far from home. Once she crossed the Mississippi, she thought she might never go home to Virginia again. So when she heard Mr. Butterman shouting for Penny and Nate, Aunt Sunday stayed quiet. Then Mr. Butterman came to her saying, “Aunt Sunday! Help me find Penny and Nate!”

      “Yes sir,” said Aunt Sunday. It sounded like she said Yasshuh. Her voice had a soft sound. Aunt Sunday only had three teeth left due to age. And she spoke how she learned back in Virginia. She got off the log slowly. She was a small woman. Her hair was white. She turned around slowly. Then she pointed. There they were. Penny was throwing a stone into the fast water. Nate was just watching that river with all that water go by. “Over there,” she said. It sounded like she said Ovatheah.

      “You two!” shouted Mr. Butterman. “Get over here!” Aunt Sunday watched Penny and Nate turn around and slowly walk back over the hard ground. When Nate got near enough, Mr. Butterman jumped closer. Then he grabbed Nate’s shirt collar and pulled him along faster, back to the two wagons. Penny stayed far enough away from Mr. Butterman. He was in a bad mood from waiting. “Best to let him cool off,” she thought to herself. She went to Aunt Sunday and walked with her to the wagons. It was time to cross that river. It was time to go.

      Chapter Two

      Illinois, The mouth of the Fever River, November 21, 1833

      Mr. and Mrs. Butterman, Aunt Sunday, and Penny and Nate got into the two wagons. Mr. Butterman drove one wagon and Nate drove the other. Two horses pulled each wagon. Mr. Butterman’s riding horse, Harv, was tied behind Mr. Butterman’s wagon. Harv was a tall dark brown horse, restless from the deep water he saw ahead.

      They waited in line behind a family with three wagons. They were going to cross the Mississippi River on a small ferry. The ferry, a small flat boat, could only take two wagons at a time. The owner of the ferry had four men. When someone wanted to cross the fast, dark water, they got on the ferry at the Illinois side of the river. The ferryboat owner and the four helpers then paddled the boat to the Iowa side of the river. On each side of the river, there was a ferry landing. This was where people, horses, and wagons got on or off the ferry. On the Iowa side, the landing was at the base of a bluff. This was a tall, very steep hill with rocks and trees. At that part of the river, steep bluffs rose on each side.

      Another thirty minutes went by. Mr. Butterman waited and waited. He talked to himself. Sometimes Mrs. Butterman would say, “Yes, dear.” And then Mr. Butterman would begin talking to himself again. He thought the ferry crossing was taking too long. It would be dark soon. It was very cold. The late afternoon November light was a thin blue. In the second wagon, Nate looked at Penny. She smiled and lifted one shoulder up. She was tall. She wore a long, dark striped dress and an old pair of boots from Mrs. Butterman. She had a warm shawl around her shoulders that she made herself. She knew how to sew by hand. She made many clothes for Mr. and Mrs. Butterman. She smiled with her dark lips, showing white teeth. She had skin the color of dark tea. But her hands and nose were red from the cold. She asked Nate, “Do you know how to swim?”

      “Yeah,” he said. “But we may not need it today!” He took Penny’s hand. He held her hand for a few minutes. His hand was warm. Penny gave him her other hand to hold, too.

      “I hope not,” she said. “There’s a lot of water in that river.” She turned to Aunt Sunday, who was very, very quiet. “Aunt Sunday?” she asked. Aunt Sunday didn’t answer. Penny looked at Aunt Sunday more closely. Aunt Sunday had her eyes tightly closed. She was talking to herself. “Aunt Sunday?” Penny asked again.

      “Can’t talk now,” said Aunt Sunday, keeping her eyes closed.

      The Buttermans’ wagons pulled up to the ferry landing on the Illinois side. The ferry owner Jones and his men got the two wagons, Harv, Mr. and Mrs. Butterman, Nate, Penny, and Aunt Sunday onto the ferryboat. They pushed away into the Mississippi River.

      Chapter Three

      On the Mississippi River between Illinois and Iowa Territory, November 21, 1833

      Things were fine until they got close to the Iowa side of the river. Here the river was deeper, and it ran faster. The sun was going down. And the tall bluff ahead made it even darker. The sun was setting behind it. The trouble began with Harv, Mr. Butterman’s tall riding horse. Harv was never good with water. He didn’t like this deep, fast water at all. He began to pull at his rope at the end of Mr. Butterman’s