eff, uncouth and unlettered, extracted all that was possible from the
words, and felt a delicate elation at the thought that so fine a
creature could endure his society.

"We expect to go a great deal faster than the long trains," she
continued. "We have no oxen, only six mules and two extra horses and a
cow."

Her father laughed outright.

"Don't let my daughter frighten you. We've really got a very small
amount of baggage. Our little caravan has been made up on the advice
of Dr. Marcus Whitman, an old friend of mine. Five years ago when he
was in Washington he gave me a list of what was needed for the journey
across the plains. I suppose he's the best authority on that subject.
We all know how successfully the Oregon emigration was carried through."

David was glad to show he knew something of that. A boy friend of his
had gone to Oregon with this, the first large body of emigrants that
had ventured on the great enterprise. Whitman was to him a national
hero, his ride in the dead of winter from the far Northwest to
Washington, as patriotically inspiring as Paul Revere's.

There was more talk, standing round the fire, while the agreements for
the start were being made. No one thought the arrangement hasty, for
it was a place and time of quick decisions. Men starting on the
emigrant trail were not for wasting time on preliminaries. Friendships
sprang up like the grass and were mown down like it. Standing on the
edge of the unknown was not the propitious moment for caution and
hesitation. Only the bold dared it and the bold took each other
without question, reading what was on the surface, not bothering about
what might be hidden.

It was agreed, the weather being fair, that they would start at seven
the next morning, Dr. Gillespie's party joining David's at the camp.
With their mules and horses they should make good time and within a
month overhaul the train that had left the Gillespies behind.

As the doctor and his daughter walked away the shyness of the young men
returned upon them in a heavy backwash. They were so whelmed by it
that they did not even speak to one another. But both glanced with
cautious stealth at the receding backs, the doctor in front, his
daughter walking daintily on the edge of grass by the roadside, holding
her skirts away from the wet weeds.

When she was out of sight Leff said with an embarrassed laugh:

"Well, we got some one to go along with us now."

David did not