laugh. He pondered frowningly. He was the elder by two
years and he felt his responsibilities.

"They'll do all right. With two more men we'll make a strong enough
train."

Leff was cook that night, and he set the coffee on and began cutting
the bacon. Occupied in this congenial work, the joints of his tongue
were loosened, and as the skillet gave forth grease and odors, he gave
forth bits of information gleaned from the earlier part of the
interview:

"I guess they got a first rate outfit. The old gentleman said they'd
been getting it together since last autumn. They must be 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