t was loaded upon these with
particular care, so that no accidents might occur to delay the journey.
If the roads had been even tolerably good, one of the wagons might have
carried the load, perhaps, but the roads were execrably bad and Barbara
was not minded to take any risks.

When the loading was done, it was nearly nightfall, but the eager girl
insisted upon starting immediately, to the profound disgust of her
drivers. The first ten miles of road was the best ten miles, as the
drivers assured her, and by insisting upon a start that evening instead
of waiting for morning, she managed to cover that part of the distance
by eleven o'clock. Then she established a camp, saw the horses fed, gave
the drivers a hot and savory supper, and ordered them to be ready to
start again at sunrise.

On resuming the journey in the morning, Barbara urged the teamsters to
their best endeavors, reinforcing her plea for haste with a promise of a
tempting money reward for each of them if they should complete the
journey that day.

The drivers did their mightiest to earn the reward, but the difficulties
in the way proved to be much greater than even they had anticipated. For
the two great rivers had at last broken over their banks and their
waters were already spreading over the face of the land. The country
through which the road ran was slightly rolling. The small hillocks were
secure from overflow at any time, but the low-lying spaces between them
were already under water, the depth of which varied from a few inches to
two or three feet. The soft earth of the roadbed was now a mere
quagmire, through which the horses laboriously dragged the wagons hub
deep in mud.

Worse still were those stretches of road which had been corduroyed with
logs. For there some of the logs were floating out of place, and some
were piled on top of those that were still held fast in the mud.

In dragging the wagons through the mud reaches, it was necessary to stop
every few minutes to give the horses a breathing spell. On the corduroy
stretches it was often necessary to stop for half an hour or more at a
time, while the drivers and Bob, wading knee deep, made such repairs as
were possible and absolutely necessary.

Bob, with his habitual exuberance of spirit, enjoyed all this mightily.
The drivers did not enjoy it at all. Several times, indeed, they wanted
to abandon the attempt, declaring that it was impossible to go farther.
But for Barbara's persuasive