Head West, Young Mouse: Transcontinental Railroad Traveler Book #3
Chapter 1 AROUND THE FIRE Maximilian opened his sleepy eyes They were swollen and sore from crying His stomach growled It suddenly dawned on him that he wasn't moving and it was eerily quiet He carefully got to his paws and went toward the slit in the tarp It was dark outside when Maximilian pulled the heavy cloth drape open and peered out He gazed at a star filled sky unlike anything he had ever seen before Several campfires burned nearby It must have been late evening because only a small group of people were awake They talked quietly around the fires Maximilian was on a mission to save his home in Tanner's Glen When he learned that Farmer Tanner was being foreclosed on he
knew he had to do something as mouse of the house He had met Nathaniel Chipmunk III and borrowed Nathaniel's time machine The time machine had taken Maximilian back in time to Boston in 1773 and then to Gettysburg in 1863 Maximilian had tried a third time to get home Now he shivered as the night breeze chilled his bones If the newspaper he had discovered was recent it was 1869 Before thinking twice Maximilian scurried down the rear hatch of the wagon He ran
around the rim of the wooden spoked wheel to the hard ground below Maximilian moved closer to one of the fires He listened to two men One of the men was carving a piece of wood The other was carefully reading a map that had been unrolled on a large slab of bedrock Maximilian inched closer The low rustling of horse hooves could be heard behind him He wanted to get a look at the map If this map is accurate then we're still two days east of Silver Springs the man said The other man kept carving but nodded in agreement That's about right he said So long as the axle on the Franklin wagon is fixed we should be in decent shape The man reading the map moved to stir a kettle that hung over the fire He placed his tattered cowboy hat on the ground I just hope that the Utah Territory is more agreeable than Missouri was he said Both men sat quietly beneath the vast prairie sky and thought about what was in store for them Maximilian did the same
Chapter 2 CHECKING THINGS OUT maximilian P Mouse had a favorite time of day It was dawn just before the sun rose It was this time that the wagon train stretched as far as the eye could see across the Midwestern plains Maximilian sat at the rear of the covered wagon He watched the caravan snake its way over the vast countryside He couldn't help but be amazed at what an impressive sight it truly was The large soft brown ox that followed his wagon chewed her cud Then she gave Maximilian an uneasy stare Maximilian knew it was rare that larger stronger animals were frightened by smaller
