Half Broke Horses

The chapter begins with three children, Helen (7), Buster (9), and the narrator, Lily (10) doing their chores on the homestead. The children noticed that their cows were behaving strangely. In response to the behavior of the cows, the narrator puts her head to the ground and hears a loud noise. She immediately knows that a flash flood is coming. As soon as she realizes this, the cows run off and she grabs her siblings and runs for high ground - which happens to be a tree. The children remain in the tree as the water rushes through their land. The narrator protects her brother and sister by helping them to find safe places in the tree and keeping them awake through the night. The next morning, the water recedes enough for the children to leave the tree and return home. Their parents rush to greet them; while their mother thanks God and a guardian angel, their father wonders if “that guardian angel was you,” Lily.

After this exciting beginning, the narrator, who was born in 1901, describes life on the homestead in Salt Draw in west Texas. She shares the harshness of living on the dry, rock-hard ground as well as the various schemes her father had tried to make money.