The Emigrant Trail | Page 6

pretty well fixed."
David nodded. Being "well fixed" or being poor did not count on the
edge of the prairie. They were frivolous outside matters that had weight
in cities. Leff went on,
"He's consumpted. That's why he's going. He says he expects to be
cured before he gets to California."
A sudden zephyr irritated the tree tops, which bent away from its touch
and scattered moisture on the fire and the frying pan. There was a

sputter and sizzle and Leff muttered profanely before he took up the
dropped thread:
"The man that drives the mules, he's a hired man that the old
gentleman's had for twenty years. He was out on the frontier once and
knows all about it, and there ain't nothing he can't drive"--turning of the
bacon here, Leff absorbed beyond explanatory speech--"They got four
horses, two to ride and two extra ones, and a cow. I don't see how
they're goin' to keep up the pace with the cow along. The old gentleman
says they can do twenty to twenty-five miles a day when the road's
good. But I don't seem to see how the cow can keep up such a lick."
"A hired man, a cow, and an outfit that it took all winter to get
together," said David thoughtfully. "It sounds more like a pleasure trip
than going across the plains."
He sat as if uneasily debating the possible drawbacks of so elaborate an
escort, but he was really ruminating upon the princess, who moved
upon the wilderness with such pomp and circumstance.
As they set out their tin cups and plates they continued to discuss the
doctor, his caravan, his mules, his servant, and his cow, in fact,
everything but his daughter. It was noticeable that no mention of her
was made till supper was over and the night fell. Then their comments
on her were brief. Leff seemed afraid of her even a mile away in the
damp hotel at Independence, seemed to fear that she might in some way
know he'd had her name upon his tongue, and would come to-morrow
with angry, accusing looks like an offended goddess. David did not
want to talk about her, he did not quite know why. Before the thought
of traveling a month in her society his mind fell back reeling, baffled
by the sudden entrance of such a dazzling intruder. A month beside this
glowing figure, a month under the impersonal interrogation of those
cool, demanding eyes! It was as if the President or General Zachary
Taylor had suddenly joined them.
But of course she figured larger in their thoughts than any other part or
all the combined parts of Dr. Gillespie's outfit. In their
imaginations--the hungry imaginations of lonely young men--she

represented all the grace, beauty, and mystery of the Eternal Feminine.
They did not reason about her, they only felt, and what they
felt--unconsciously to themselves--was that she had introduced the last,
wildest, and most disturbing thrill into the adventure of the great
journey.
CHAPTER III
The next day broke still and clear. The dawn was yet a pale promise in
the East when from Independence, out through the dripping woods and
clearings, rose the tumult of breaking camps. The rattle of the yoke
chains and the raucous cry of "Catch up! Catch up!" sounded under the
trees and out and away over valley and upland as the lumbering wagons,
freighted deep for the long trail, swung into the road.
David's camp was astir long before the sun was up. The great hour had
come. They were going! They sung and shouted as they harnessed Bess
and Ben, a pair of sturdy roans bought from an emigrant discouraged
before the start, while the saddle horses nosed about the tree roots for a
last cropping of the sweet, thick grass. Inside the wagon the provisions
were packed in sacks and the rifles hung on hooks on the canvas walls.
At the back, on a supporting step, the mess chest was strapped. It was a
businesslike wagon. Its contents included only one deviation from the
practical and necessary--three books of David's. Joe had laughed at him
about them. What did a man want with Byron's poems and Milton and
Bacon's "Essays" crossing the plains? Neither Joe nor Leff could
understand such devotion to the printed page. Their kits were of the
compactest, not a useless article or an unnecessary pound, unless you
counted the box of flower seeds that belonged to Joe, who had heard
that California, though a dry country, could be coaxed into
productiveness along the rivers.
Dr. Gillespie and his daughter were punctual. David's silver watch,
large as the circle of a cup and possessed of a tick so loud it interrupted
conversation, registered five minutes before seven, when the doctor