but the trip has done me good. Sort of
stretched my eyes and ears! Stretched me all over--inside, I mean." He
laughed. "I don't need any stretching on the outside."

Allen looked at his tall friend. They had been together most of the
time. They had talked with the same people, visited the same places,
seen the same sights. Already Allen was beginning to forget them. Now
that he was almost home, it was as if he had never been away. But Abe
seemed different. Somehow he had changed.

"I can't figure it out," Allen told him. "You don't seem the same."

"Maybe I'm not," said Abe. "I keep thinking about some of the things I
saw."

13

[Illustration]

The Lincolns were leaving Pigeon Creek. One day a letter had arrived
from John Hanks, a cousin, who had gone to Illinois to live. The soil
was richer there, the letter said. Why didn't Tom come, too, and bring
his family? He would find it easier to make a living. Even the name of
the river near John's home had a pleasant sound. It was called the
Sangamon--an Indian word meaning "plenty to eat."

"We're going," Tom decided. "I'm going to sell this farm and buy
another. Do you want to come with us, Abe?"

Two years had passed since Abe's return from New Orleans. Two years of
hard work. Two years of looking forward to his next birthday. He was
nearly twenty-one and could leave home if he wanted to.

"Well, Pa--" he hesitated.

Sarah was watching him, waiting for his answer.

"I'll come with you," said Abe. "I'll stay long enough to help you get
the new farm started."

There were thirteen people in the Lincoln party: Tom and Sarah, Abe and
Johnny, Betsy and Dennis Hanks who had been married for several years,
Mathilda and her husband, and two sets of children. They made the
journey in three big wagons, traveling over frozen roads and crossing
icy streams. After two weeks they came to John Hanks' home on the
prairies of Illinois. He made them welcome, then took them to see the
place that he had selected for their farm. In the cold winter light it
looked almost as desolate as Pigeon Creek had looked fourteen years
before. Tom Lincoln was beginning all over again.

This time he had more help. John Hanks had a great pile of logs split
and ready to be used for their new cabin. Abe was now able to do a man's
work. After the cabin was finished, he split enough rails to build a
fence around the farm. Some of the new neighbors hired him to split logs
for them.

The