Chapter 23: Chapter 23

Once the framework of the barn was lifted into place, Cuthan and Alex helped Lucas and me start hammering the siding in place. The younger boys’ task was to haul buffalo grass hewn from the prairie and mud dug from the crick to the site. Then they helped the women mix a tabby and pack it between the inner and outer walls for insulation. The barn began to look like a proper outhouse rather quickly after that. I decided to construct a gambrel roof as I’d seen in some of Billy’s books—one with two different angles joined at a hip. This allowed for the storage of more hay in the loft than in a barn with a simple steepled roof.