nsas, after things get
settled, than they can here. This place is too old; there's too much
competition, and the boys will not have any show if they stay here.
But what does Amanda say?"

Now, Amanda was Mr. Bryant's wife, Mr. Aleck Howell's sister. When
Aleck asked this question, the two men looked at each other for a
moment, queerly and without speaking.

"Well, she'll hate to part with Oscar; he's the apple of her eye, as
it were. But I guess she will listen to reason. When I read this piece
in the paper to her this morning, at the breakfast-table, she was as
mad as a wet hen. As for Oscar, he's so fired up about it that he is
down in the wood-shed chopping wood to blow off steam. Hear him?" And
Mr. Bryant laughed quietly, notwithstanding his rising anger over the
news of the day.

At that moment Sandy came whooping around the corner, intent on
overtaking a big yellow dog, his constant companion,--Bose by
name,--who bounded along far in advance of the boy. "See here, Sandy,"
said his uncle, "how would you like to go to Kansas with your father,
Oscar, Charlie, and myself?"

"To Kansas? shooting buffaloes, deer, Indians, and all that? To
Kansas? Oh, come, now, Uncle Charles, you don't mean it."

"But I do mean it, my laddie," said the elder man, affectionately
patting the freckled cheek of the lad. "I do mean it, and if you can
persuade your father to go along and take you and Charlie with him,
we'll make up a party--just we five--that will scare the Border
Ruffians 'way into the middle of next year." Then, with a more serious
air, he added, "This is a fight for freedom, my boy, and every man and
every boy who believes in God and Liberty can find a chance to help.
I'm sure _we_ can." This he said with a certain sparkle of his eye
that may have meant mischief to any Border Ruffian that might have
been there to see and hear.

As for Sandy, he turned two or three hand-springs by way of relieving
his feelings; then, having once more assured himself that the two men
had serious thoughts of migrating to Kansas, he rushed off to the
wood-shed to carry the wonderful news to Oscar. Dropping his axe, the
lad listened with widened eyes to the story that Sandy had to tell.

"Do you know, Sandy," he said, with an air of great wisdom, "I thought
there was something in the wind. Oh, I never saw father so roused as
he was when he read that story in the Chicago _Press and Tribune_ this
morning. Why, I thought he'd just get up