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Marcus laughed.
    Â Â  “No, not even my hat.”
    Â Â  “Virge, I made you a pillow,” Liberty said. Like the child she was, she wanted him to know what she had done.
    Â Â  Virgil smiled at her and hugged her again. “Thanks, Lib. You’re the best.”
    Â Â  “What about the other horses,” Marcus asked, rubbing Lady’s neck and looking over her for any damage.
    Â Â  Virgil’s smile faded. “They got loose.” 
    Â Â  Marcus looked at the blown-down fence of the stock enclosure. All business now that everyone was safe, he said, “We better round up the stock while there’s still enough light. You take Lady and see if you can find any of them. I will see what I can do about fixing the fences good enough to hold them at least temporarily. Liberty, the soddy is a mess–-”
    Â Â  “I know. I’ll clean it up and see about the geese.”
    Â Â  “They won’t leave,” Marcus said. “You can fix their pen later. I doubt the coyotes will bother them after this storm. They’ve probably quit the country.”
    Â Â  Even before Marcus finished delegating jobs, Virgil was mounted on Lady ready to ride toward the river where the pigs were headed the last he saw them.
    Â Â  “Tomorrow after the ground dries out enough,” Marcus said, “Virgil and I will get back to the cornfield. Lucky we hadn’t planted the corn or it would’ve been blown away along with the loose top soil. Then later we . . .” He stopped talking when he realized he had no audience. Virgil and Lady were loping toward the river. Liberty was inside cleaning out the goose manure and straightening up the furniture the geese had upset. A few small white feathers floated in the air. Two were caught in her black hair. She put pans under the leaks as the rain water began to seep through the sod roof. Though Liberty made some headway in the house, Virgil did not find the horses or other stock in his brief ride around the place.
    Â Â  Early the next morning, rising early as usual, Marcus stepped outside, happy to see that sometime during the night, the cow and calf had returned. He milked out what the calf left, not forgetting to squirt a stream or two to the cat, Nicky, who waited patiently. The two horses and the sow and her pigs did not return.
    Â Â  “We’ve gotta find them,” Virgil said at breakfast.
    Marcus and Liberty agreed. Without the horses they had only Lady for transportation or power to work the land. Without the sow and her pigs, they would have to depend wholly on wild game Virgil could get. But more importantly, when the shoats reached 200 pounds, they counted on trading them for necessary supplies.
    Â Â  Even though they had left the soddy door open all night, the stench of goose manure spoiled their breakfast. Virgil swallowed his coffee, liberally fortified with the cow’s rich milk. The strong smell of coffee barely blotted out the nauseous odor. Marcus was quiet during breakfast. Virgil knew from his unusual silence that he was planning what to do. Before Virgil said that he’d take Lady to look for the horses, he glanced at Liberty. She shook her head and rolled her eyes toward Marcus who was staring at the biscuit in his hand. His face was serious, his brow lowered in thought.
    Â Â  Virgil kept silent. In a few minutes Marcus’s head rose until his eyes met his brother’s. “We must find the animals and we must get the corn in the ground as soon as possible. Both are equally important. Virge, you go look for the horses and pigs, but leave Lady here. With her to pull the harrow, Lib and I can plant the corn.” He walked to the door. After looking at the sky and sniffing the wind, he continued, “This wind is dry. It won’t take long for it to dry out the top soil. The rain yesterday was so fast and hard that most of it ran off. Maybe we can