ers from that region, and had been very favorably impressed with
his report. This Republican Fork man was an Arkansas man, but "a good
fellow," so Sandy said. To be a good fellow, according to Sandy's way
of putting things, was to be worthy of all confidence and esteem.

Mr. Bryant thought that as there were growing rumors of troublesome
Indians, it would be better to take the southern or Smoky Hill route;
the bulk of the settlers were going that way, and where there were
large numbers there would be safety. While the lads were talking with
the Clarks, Bryant and his brother-in-law came up, and, after greeting
their former acquaintance and ascertaining whither he was bound, Mr.
Howell told the boys that they had been discussing the advantages of
the two routes with Younkins, the settler from Republican Fork, and
had decided to go on to "the post," as Fort Riley was generally
called, and there decide which way they should go--to the right or to
the left.

As to the Clarks, they were determined to take the trail for Hunter's
Creek that very day. Bartlett decided to go to the Smoky Hill country.
He cast in his lot with a party of Western men, who had heard glowing
reports of the fertility and beauty of the region lying along
Solomon's Fork, a tributary of the Smoky Hill. It was in this way that
parties split up after they had entered the Promised Land.

Leaving the Clarks to hitch up their teams and part company with
Bartlett, the Dixon party returned to their camp, left temporarily in
the care of Younkins, who had come to Manhattan for a few supplies,
and who had offered to guide the others to a desirable place for
settlement which he told them he had in mind for them. Younkins was a
kindly and pleasant-faced man, simple in his speech and frontier-like
in his manners. Sandy conceived a strong liking for him as soon as
they met. The boy and the man were friends at once.

"Well, you see," said Younkins, sitting down on the wagon-tongue, when
the party had returned to their camp, "I have been thinking over-like
the matter that we were talking about, and I have made up my mind-like
that I sha'n't move back to my claim on the south side of the
Republican. I'm on the north side, you know, and my old claim on the
south side will do just right for my brother Ben; he's coming out in
the fall. Now if you want to go up our way, you can have the cabin on
that claim. There's nobody living in it. It's no great of a cabin, but
it's