So on we went, the wagon jolting roughly at times, and at times running smoothly enough as we reached dry roads worn smooth by travel.
Sometimes as I looked back, I could see her face with the eyes fixed upon me questioningly; and then she would ask me if I could see any one coming toward us on the road ahead.
"Nobody," I would say; or, "A covered wagon going the wrong way," or whatever I saw.

"Don't be afraid," I would add; "stand on your rights.
This is a free country.

You've got the right to go east or west with any one you choose, and nobody can say anything against it.

And you've got a friend now, you know." "Is anybody in sight ?" she asked again, after a long silence.
I looked far ahead from the top of a swell in the prairie and then back.
I told her that there was no one ahead so far as I could see except teams that we could not overtake, and nobody back of us but outfits even slower than mine.

So she came forward, and I helped her over the back of the seat to a place by my side.