Chapter 1
Clip-clop, clip-clop. James Gregg listened to his pa's horse trotting
down the road to the general store. When they got there, Pa said, "Who
wants to come in?" James's older brother Jeremy said he didn't want
to, but James did.
When they were going in, they saw a sidewalk. It was made of wood. James
didn't think it could hold him. Pa needed flour and some shot. When they
were going to weigh things, James weighed 99 lbs. Pa got a out a pound
of the shot and weighed James and the shot together. Then James weighed
100 lbs.!
Chapter 2
Pa and James came out of the store and Pa said, "James, can you take
the 75 lbs. of flour and shot to the wagon?" James said okay. So
he brought it to the wagon and he met a kid. His name was Scott. When
they were talking they heard a gun shot and a guy fell down dead. James's
brother Jeremy, who was holding the ropes of the horses, fell off the seat
and the reins fell out of his hands. The horse got loose and a young man
came running and jumped on the horse and stopped it with his heels. Then
Pa came out of the store and said, "Get on the wagon because we're
going home now."
Chapter 3
Ma was making squirrel stew for supper. James thought squirrel stew was
the best thing in the world. That night Colonel Stewart, the guy that was
going to lead the wagon group that the Gregg's were going to be in, came
over. The group was leaving the next day.
The next day when the the Gregg's were going to the group, they saw Scott
going to the group of wagons with his family too. Scott's family was going
to Oregon to open a hardware store and the Gregg's were going to do farming.
Chapter 4
James couldn't sleep because he was excited about the journey west. In
the morning, Jeremy had run away. James and his Pa found him waiting for
the next ferry. Jeremy said, "I'm not coming to Oregon." Pa
said he could stay.
Chapter 5
Everyone was hooking up their oxen when they got loose. A young man named
Will came running and jumped onto the ox and roped it. Mr. Walker thanked
the man for stopping the ox. Will came back the next day on his horse.
He had brought Jeremy back.
Chapter 6
James knew it was going to rain because he could feel it in the air. For
dinner, James had corn meal cakes fried with strips of fat pork. Just as
James finished licking his fingers, it started to rain. Later that night,
a colt got loose because it was so scared. James ran out of the wagon and
stopped it by putting his arms around it.
By 7 AM they had to be on the road to Oregon.
Chapter 7
In the morning, James and Will found the colt's owner, Mr. Meacham, who
gave the colt to James because it looked like an old bag of bones. James
named the colt Bolt because he first saw him when he had just seen a bolt
of lightening.
After a while, they came to unorganized land, which is land that nobody
owns and it is outside of the 29 states.
James was so excited about leaving the 29 states and going to new lands.
Chapter 8
James, Scott and Cady were playing hide and seek. Scott found an ant hole
and got a stick and stuck it in the ant hole. Then they caught a gopher.
James wanted to kill it and Cady got mad at him because James wanted to
kill it. But James changed his mind and Scott got mad at him nor not killing
it for fun.
So, James went to a water bank and saw Will and a young woman named Sara
who were sitting side by side. Will and the young woman left after they
saw James. Every one ended up mad at James that day.
Chapter 9
The wagons are heading north to Fort Laramie. James drove the team to
the Wakarusa River. The river was shallow enough to ford but dangerous.
They met Indians who wanted to trade.
Chapter 10
Before they went to sleep that night, James asked Will when they would
see some buffalo. That morning when James and Jeremy were sleeping in their
tent, James heard a thundering sound. He realized that it was a buffalo
stampede. That afternoon, the buffalo changed directions. Now they were
heading toward the camp!!! All the guys who had guns went out to kill the
5 buffalo leaders. One of the leaders started charging at James's Pa and
hurt him badly. Jeremy took James' gun and shot the buffalo. Then all
the buffalo went away to the horizon.
Chapter 11
James was glad that his pa got better because he didn't have to drive the
team any more and take care of Bolt. James hadn't seen Cady or Scott for
a couple of days. James asked Scott and Cady if they wanted to learn how
to ride a horse. They said sure. So James showed them how to get on a
horse and Scott got the hang of it fast. Cady kept falling off the horse.
Then he showed them how to ride a horse. Cady wanted to go faster but
James said not now. She didn't listen to James and she kicked the horse
to go faster and she fell off the horse.
Then a bunch of wolves surrounded them and later Indians found them and
brought them back to camp.
Chapter 12
Everyone was complaining that James, Cady and Scott weren't really surrounded
by wolves and that the Indians didn't really save them.
The next day 6 men went out hunting for buffalo. James asked his pa if
he could go with Jeremy. Pa said okay.
When all the men got there, they split up. Jeremy went with James and
his pa. James didn't have a gun so he couldn't shoot, but Jeremy did.
Each team got one buffalo. Each buffalo could last half a week for half
of the camp.
Chapter 13
One day when Cady and James were taking care of Bolt, Mr. Meatcham came
over and said, "Okay James, you have had my horse long enough."
"Wait! It's not your horse. You gave him to me because you said
he was good for nothing." "No, no. I lent him to you."
Will heard James and Mr. Meecham and came over and said, "Bolt is
not yours--he is James'." Later that night, everyone was told to tie
everything up because there was going to be a tornado.
Chapter 14
and everyone celebrated that night because they were happy that the storm
was over. Everyone told stories. Colonel Stewart told a story about an
injured Indian.
Chapter 15
One of the guys in the wagon group shot an Indian. Everyone said they
should hang the man for killing an Indian. Colonel Stewart went to the
Pawnee on horseback. He brought two other horses. One had the dead Indian
and the other had the guy who killed the Indian. The Colonel gave the Pawnees
the two horses.
Chapter 16
The wagons were lining up to cross the river. When the Gregg's and the
Walker's were crossingr, Cady fell out of the wagon. James jumped out of
his wagon. When he got Cady he started swimming back to the wagon. They
swallowed a lot of dirty water and got really sick. The next thing he knew,
he and Cady were in James' wagon, because the Walker's were already sick
enough in their wagon.
Chapter 17
Two people died after the river crossing. Colonel Stewart had a funeral
for the two who had died. A week later, Will married Sara. They both wore
their best Sunday clothes.
Chapter 18
One morning, when James woke up, it was pitch black out. James realized
it was a sand storm. James ran to his pa's tent and jumped in. His pa
said, "it is only 7:00."
The next day, the storm was still there, but they moved on. After three
days, one family got lost. The next day, the family that was lost was found.
When the storm was over, everyone started screaming for joy.