CHAPTER IX.
A SURPRISE.
“Can you tell me, sir, if I can find a conveyance for myself and children to L––, Minnesota?” inquired a lady of the attentive clerk at a hotel in the thriving young town of Dacotah, Iowa.
“There is no stage running to that point,” he replied; “but we can send a team with you, if you wish to go to so much expense.”
“I would like,” answered the lady, smiling, “to get there with as little cost as I can. My husband is a missionary. I am on my way to join him.”
“I will see what I can do for you,” returned the clerk, bowing respectfully; and, stepping into the bar-room, he asked,–
“Is there any one here going to L–– to-day?”
“I shall go half way there,” said a short, sharp-nosed, black-eyed man, who sat reading an eastern paper.
“Could you take a passenger or two?” 117
“I’m pretty well loaded,” he answered; “but I always find room for one more, seeing it pays.”