Abe Lincoln at Last!: A Merlin Mission

can’t sleep—hears wolves and wildcats all night.”
    “Really? Are there wolves and wildcats around here?” said Jack.
    “Plenty,” Sam said. “I have to do my chores—” He tried to sit up.
    “Not until you feel better,” Annie said firmly. “You lie here and rest.
We’ll
do your chores. Just tell us what to do. We’ll be happy to do it. Won’t we, Jack?”
    “Uh, sure …,” said Jack. “What are your chores, Sam?”
    Sam lay back and took a deep breath. “Split wood,” he said, closing his eyes, “milk cow, get water from spring …”
    Jack slipped the pencil and notebook out of his back pocket and wrote:
    split wood
    milk cow
    get water from spring
    “Where’s the spring?” asked Jack.
    “Just a mile away, through the rough,” said Sam.
    “The rough?” said Jack.
    “No problem,” said Annie. “Anything else to do?”
    “Make corn bread, then do homework in speller book …,” said Sam.
    Jack added to his list:
    make corn bread
    homework in speller book
    “That’s it?” said Jack.
    “Yes,” said Sam.
    “Good. We can do that!” said Annie.
    We can?
thought Jack.
Milk cow? Make corn bread? And what’s “the rough”?
    “Sam, where’s the rough?” asked Jack.
    But Sam had fallen asleep.
    “Sam?” said Jack.
    “Shhh, let him sleep,” Annie whispered.
    Jack nodded. He followed Annie down fromthe loft and across the dirt floor. She pushed aside the bearskin, and they stepped out of the cabin.
    “Why did you promise to do Sam’s chores?” said Jack. “We don’t know how to do all that stuff.”
    “It was the only way to keep him from trying to work,” said Annie. “He really needs to rest. Don’t worry. We can figure them out. What’s first?”
    Jack looked at their list.
    “Split wood,” he said.
    “How hard could that be?” said Annie. “There’s the woodpile. There’s the ax.” She strode over to a stack of wood in the front yard. An ax was sunk into a fat log.
    Annie rubbed her hands together, then wrapped them around the ax’s long handle. She pulled and pulled, but the ax didn’t budge.
    “Let me try,” said Jack. Annie stepped aside. Jack gripped the handle and pulled as hard as he could. But the ax stayed in the log.
    “Forget it,” said Jack. “It’s like trying to pull the sword from the stone.”
    Annie laughed. “I guess we’re not meant to be king,” she said. “So, what’s next?”
    “Milk cow,” Jack read from his list.
    “All righty,” Annie said cheerfully. She led the way to the shed next to the cabin.
    Inside the shed, a cow was eating hay and swishing her tail. A three-legged stool and a tin pail stood in the corner.
    “You try first,” said Annie.
    “Me?” said Jack.
    “I tried the ax first,” said Annie.
    Jack put the pail under the cow and moved the stool close to her. Then he sat down.
    The cow gave Jack a look. Then she whipped him in the face with her tail.
    “Oww!” said Jack. He leaned forward and stared at the cow’s udder.
    Jack looked up at Annie. “I have no idea what to do,” he said.
    Annie laughed again. “Me neither,” she said. “We’ll come back to this, too. What’s next?”
    Jack jumped up from the stool and looked attheir list. “Get water from the spring,” he said.
    “I saw two jugs by the door,” said Annie. “I’ll get them.” She ran to the cabin and came back a moment later with two brown jugs.
    “Heavy,” Annie warned. She gave one to Jack.
    The jug
was
surprisingly heavy. “They’ll be heavier with water,” said Jack. “This isn’t going to be easy, since the spring is a mile away, ‘through the rough.’ Whatever that means.”
    “I’ll bet that’s the rough over there,” said Annie. She pointed to the woods on the other side of the clearing.
    Jack and Annie wound their way through the stumps and stone piles until they came to the woodsy area, thick with underbrush. Wild grapevines twisted through bushes and around bare branches of small trees, binding it all together.
    “It looks rough all right,” said Jack.
    Annie pointed to a narrow path. “I’ll bet that’s how to get to the spring,” she said. “Want to give it a try?”
    “Sure,” said Jack. “Let’s go.”

    Carrying the jugs, Jack and Annie started down the path. They pushed aside tangled vines and branches. Crows, sparrows, and woodpeckers swooped overhead. Squirrels ran up and down the small, bare trees.
    Down the path, the rough got rougher. The path nearly disappeared. The