"No, I do not understand any such things as those; but when you've been over to see the Linkens, you come back here, and I'll make ye some more doughnuts. Come back, won't ye, and bring yer Indian boy? I'm a plain woman, and live all alone, and I do love to hear ye talk. It gives me somethin' to think about after ye're gone; and there ain't many preachers that visit these parts."
Jasper moved on under the great trees, and came to the simple Lincoln cabin.
"You have come back, elder," said Thomas Lincoln. "Travelin' with your Indian boy? I'm glad to see you, though we are very poor now. We're goin' to move away—we and some other families. We're all off to Illinois. You've traveled over that kentry, preacher?"
"Yes, I've been there."
"Well, what do you think of the kentry?"
"It is a wonderful country, Mr. Lincoln. It can produce grain enough to feed the world. The earth grows gold. It will some day uplift cities—it will be rich and happy. I like the prairie country well."
"There! let me tell my wife.—Mother, here's the preacher. What do you think he says about the prairie kentry? Says the earth grows gold."
Poor Mrs. Lincoln looked sad and doubtful. She had heard such things before. But she welcomed Jasper heartily, and the three, with Waubeno, sat down to a meal of plain Indian pudding and milk, and talked of the sorrowful winter that had passed and the prospects of a better life amid the flowery prairies of Illinois.
A little dog played around them while they were thus eating and talking.
"It is not our dog," said Mrs. Lincoln, "but he has taken a great liking to Abraham. The boy is away now, but he will be back by sundown. The dog belongs to one of the family, and is always restless when Abraham has gone away. Abraham wants to take him along with us, but it seems to me that we've got enough mouths to feed without him. We are all so poor! and I don't see what good he would do. But if Abraham says so, he will have to go."