CHAPTER THIRTEENMargaret Thackrey
Once she had put her ad in the mail, Margaret set to work to do everything she could, while waiting for a reply. The immediate needs were not too difficult—repairing the chicken pen to keep out opossums and foxes, and nailing down the tin roof of the hay barn so as to keep the winter supply of hay dry, could be accomplished without much consumption of her precious time. The more long-term work could wait until she found her helper, as she never doubted she would. She bought a hundred metal fence posts, which would wait in the shed for someone to drive them in wherever the old creosoted posts had rotted away. She also bought rolls of barbed wire. But once she had the chickens safe from the marauders, she felt the worst of her work was done.
Hamner came to
