closed over him and sucked him under, he heard Mrs. Switzer’s cutting voice echo across the water.
“Dopplich Englischer.”
He had no idea what it meant, but he was fairly sure he’d just been insulted.
TEN
Emma sat on the empty trunk beneath a tall tree on the riverbank and tried not to look anyone in the eye. She hadn’t meant to cause a stampede. Granted, she didn’t know cattle would startle so easily. And she certainly didn’t mean for so many to run straight into the river. After the first two sank belly-deep in the mud, couldn’t the rest of them see the predicament and stop?
And after all that, their trunk was empty. All her belongings, along with Mama’s quilt, had been removed. Luke had barely spoken a word since his men fished him out of the river, half drowned. And he certainly couldn’t be pleased right now. Once again he was waist deep in the rushing water trying to haul his cattle out. She kept her gaze to the ground lest he looked up and saw her misery.
“Jonas, pull her out,” Luke called from the middle of the river.
She raised her eyes to watch without lifting her head. Papa had one end of a length of rope around an ox’s neck, the other end secured around a steer in the river. Jesse stood on one side of the frightened animal, and Luke on the other. Papa led the ox, pulling the bellowing steer forward. Its head disappeared under the water, cutting off the sound with a gurgle, and then it resurfaced a moment later, still bawling. The steer was dragged onto the shore, where it wallowed on the grass, loudly voicing its displeasure.
Luke cut the knot from around its middle while Jesse loosened the second rope with which they had tied the rear legs together to stop the steer from struggling. They both jumped back when the animal broke loose. It scrambled to its feet and trotted off down the trail toward the main herd.
The cow’s rescue set the rest of them to hollering. Emma’s gaze swept over the last six bovine bodies mired fast in the muddy riverbed bottom. With only the top of their backs and their heads sticking up out of the water, they were like a logjam of frightened roasts. The sound of their bawls filled the air, accompanied by the shouts of cowboys who hollered instructions to each other about how to safely maneuver them out.
It was all her fault.
Emma’s chin drooped lower on her chest.
Up in the wagon, Maummi straightened from a crouched position, a hand pressed against the small of her back. She’d inspected every square inch of her hutch, and judging by her fierce expression, she wasn’t happy with the condition. She stepped to the wagon’s rear edge and sat, preparing to drop to the ground. Griff hurried to help her.
“Here you go, ma’am.” With strong arms, he lifted her down and set her on the grass as gently as if handling a baby.
Maummi brushed her apron and looked sideways up at him. “Danki.” Then she switched her gaze to Emma. “Dopplich Englischers. A scratch, on the far side. Forty years and no scratches. Now?” She sliced through the air with a vicious gesture. “A scratch.”
“I saw that, ma’am.” Griff hooked a thumb in his belt. “More a scrape than a scratch. You might be able to buff it out when you get to where you’re going.”
She pursed her lips but acknowledged the suggestion with the faintest of nods.
The old cowboy turned a kind gaze toward Emma. “Don’t feel too bad, miss. The sight of that wagon tipping would have stampeded me too. Nothing but plain bad luck that the cattle spooked in the direction of the river. Since we didn’t lose a single head, there’s no cause to fret. There’s not a man here who hasn’t seen worse than this.”
For some reason, his kindness only made Emma’s misery worse. Swallowing against a lump in her throat, she managed a weak smile of gratitude.
Even Maummi spoke in a voice without its usual sharp edge. “Did any of our things in the trunk survive?”
Emma drew in a shuddering breath. “Nothing.”
“I’m guessing when that wagon got mired down, the thieves packed up whatever they could carry and chucked the rest in the river.” Griff turned to look upstream. “All except that stuff over there.”
Emma jerked upright. He pointed to a small cluster of trees behind them.
“Not much left, and some of it took a beating, but