Chapter 7 Summary

Despite his father's behavior, Ben MacDonald does not intend to run away. The furthest Ben has ever traveled with his family is to North Corners. On his own, he has never been further than a mile from the farmhouse, to the bank of the Red River. Today, Ben will wander much further than that.

John, Beth and Coral are away on the last day of school. Ben crawls over the big pile of dirt where John and his father are digging a new well. He flushes a prairie chicken, and begins to follow the bird. The bird will take a dozen hopping steps, and stop. Ben rushes after her, flapping his arms as if they were wings, and the bird takes another dozen hopping steps. Finally, the bird takes off with a whoosh, flying away. Ben chases after her as far as he...