The boys spun around to look at the figure.

“Seph! What are thee doing here? I thought that thee would be out on the Pike punching some doggies.” Dawsey turned back to Bertie. “Here is one of my cowboy friends from Texas. Seth, I want thee to meet my friend Bertie.”

“Pleasure to meet you.” Seph extended his hand.

Bertie grabbed the large, rough hand and shook it. “Pleased to meet you too. Are you really a cowboy from Texas?”

“Yes, indeed. I am a transplant from the great Lone Star State. Where do you hale from?”

“Where do I what?”

“He wants to know where thee comes from.”

“I come from Leeds, England.”

“Leeds, England, hmm. Never heard of it. But you look like a decent enough person. Why do you want to know about Texas, not that you need a reason? Texas is a beautiful state, much nicer than this puny state they call Pennsylvania.”

“Then why does thee not go back,” said Dawsey.

“I have my reasons.” Seth eyed Dawsey, then turned back to Bertie. “Well, why do you want to go to Texas? I am waiting for your answer.”

“My father is starting a homestead. We are going to raise sheep and then weave their wool into cloth. My father is a weaver. He is quite good. He was told that they do not have weavers in Texas.”

“Also not true, there are just not a lot of good weavers. They can always use another good weaver. Where in Texas are you going to be moving?”

“I think Father said that we will be moving to Callahan county.”

“A beautiful county from what I am told.”

“Where did you live in Texas?”

“Oh, I lived near Waco.”

“What did you do in Texas,” said Bertie.

“Mostly the same things that I do here. I worked on a lot of ranches. At least until I had to leave.” Seph looked out at what Bertie and Dawsey had been doing. “But it looks like you are close to done here. So it is time for you to go in and eat.”

“Goodbye and see thee tomorrow,” said Dawsey.

“Vaya con Dios.” Seph scratched Mr. Snickles head as he walked out of the barn and strided down the path to the front gate.

The boys closed the barn door and headed to the house.

“Why did he have to leave Texas,” said Bertie.

“Does thee promise not to let Seph know that I told thee,” said Dawsey.

“Yes! Yes, I promise not to tell,” said Bertie.

Dawsey stared at Seph who was now small and in the distance. “A lynch mob was after him. They killed his family and are now after him.”

“What!? Why would they want to kill Seph or his family? He seems like such a nice man.”

“When does a lynch mob need a reason to kill a colored man? At least that is what Papa would say to that. Seph is a good man. He helps out a lot here, at the farm and at the store. I wish that everybody who showed up at the store was as good as him.”

Mr. Snickles barked, then ran around to the other side of the house.

Just as the boys got to the front steps, the front door opened. “There thee are. Get inside and get cleaned up quick. Everybody is hungry and wants to start supper.”

“Yes Mama, we will be quick and back downstairs in a jiffy,” said Dawsey. With that said, the boys ran upstairs to get cleaned up. They soon came back downstairs and sat at the now full table.

Mr. Binns stood up. “Welcome to the Haigh family house! I am glad to have thee here. I am also glad to see that thee have finished the first step on thy trip to Texas. I want to introduce thee to the United States, so I asked Anna to make a special meal to welcome thee to thine new home.”

“Yes, welcome! Tom told me that sadly,” Mrs. Binns smiled, “thee were not able to ride first class. So to commemorate thine first night in Springfield, I made thee a first class meal, a sea pie.”

“A sea pie, what is that? I have never heard of that type of pie. Is it tasty,” said Vicki.

“Yes, it is very tasty. I think that you will like it,” said Eli.

Everyone sat at the table. The Binns’ family held hands and invited the Haigh family to do the same. The Haigh family held the offered hands and waited in silence for Mr. Binns to say grace.

They waited.

And waited.

“When will he say Grace,” Vicki whispered to Kate.

“Soon”

Mr. Binns smiled. He gently squeezed his hands. Everyone else squeezed hands.

Mrs. Binns, Hannah, and Jane stood up. Before them were several pies with tendrils of steam coming out of little holes. When they cut in to the golden, dumpling-like pastry more smells of the juicy cooked meats wafted into the air making everybody’s mouth water. When all were served, the women sat back down.

Almost everybody started eating.

“When will you say Grace Mr. Binns,” said Vicki.

“I just did. If it helps, thee can call it Quaker Grace.

“But you did not say anything,” said Vicki.

“No, not out loud, but I offered up prayers to the Lord in my heart as did my family. Does thee want to offer a prayer,” said Mr. Binns.

“No, I was just confused. I have never seen a Quaker Grace. Plus, I have been smelling the pie since I came inside and it smells delicious.” Vicki stuck her fork in the pie on her plate and ate a piece of the pie. Her eyes widened.

“Wow! That is good! I like it,” said Vicki.

“I agree! Can you show me how to make this delicious pie Mrs. Binns,” said Kate.

“Yes, of course. Before thee leaves, I will show thee.”

“Thank you Mrs. Binns. I will greatly appreciate that.” Kate turned to her father. “I want to make sure that I get that recipe before we leave. I am afraid that life in Texas will be dreary and we may never eat good foods like this again. I want to make sure that we have things like this pie to remind us of good times and good people.”

“It is good that you want something to remind us of our stop here in Pennsylvania. But Texas will not be dreary. This a grand adventure! What could get in the way of this glorious new chapter?”

Photo courtesy of

Photo courtesy of https://iconarchive.com/show/flags-icons-by-wikipedia/US-TX-Texas-Flag-icon.html