e leader.

It seemed a little dangerous. The stream was about one hundred rods
wide, and the current was tolerably swift, swollen by the inrush of
smaller streams above. The water was cold, and made an ominous
swishing and gurgling among the underbrush that leaned into the margin
of the river. In Indian file, Mr. Howell bringing up the rear, and
keeping his eyes anxiously upon the lads before him, they all crossed
in safety, Sandy, the shortest of the party, being unable to keep dry
the only garment he had worn, for the water came well up under his
arms.

"Well, that was funny, anyhow," he blithely remarked, as he wrung the
water out of his shirt, and, drying himself as well as he could,
dressed and joined the rest of the party in the trip toward their
future home.

Along the lower bank of the Republican Fork, where the new settlers
now found themselves, the country is gently undulating. Bordering the
stream they saw a dense growth of sycamores, cottonwoods, and birches.
Some of these trees were tall and handsome, and the general effect on
the minds of the newcomers was delightful. After they had emerged from
the woods that skirted the river, they were in the midst of a lovely
rolling prairie, the forest on the right; on their left was a thick
growth of wood that marked the winding course of a creek which, rising
far to the west, emptied into the Republican Fork at a point just
below where the party had forded the stream. The land rose gradually
from the point nearest the ford, breaking into a low, rocky bluff
beyond at their right and nearest the river, a mile away, and rolling
off to the southwest in folds and swales.

Just at the foot of the little bluff ahead, with a background of
trees, was a log-cabin of hewn timber, weather-stained and gray in the
summer sun, absolutely alone, and looking as if lost in this untrodden
wild. Pointing to it, Younkins said, "That's your house so long as you
want it."

The emigrants tramped through the tall, lush grass that covered every
foot of the new Kansas soil, their eyes fixed eagerly on the log-cabin
before them. The latch-string hung out hospitably from the door of
split "shakes," and the party entered without ado. Everything was just
as Younkins had last left it. Two or three gophers, disturbed in
their foraging about the premises, fled swiftly at the entrance of the
visitors, and a flock of blackbirds, settled around the rear of the
house, flew noisily across the cree