"Now don't you worry," she heard her father say, "I'll take the gun even though I don't expect to have any use for it."
"I'll be terrified if you don't!" Ann Simpson said. "I couldn't bear to think of you out there with no way to defend yourself! All those people!"
"They're good people, Ann. There's nothing to fear. You heard what Pete said."
"I heard him say that ninety-five per cent of them are good and he wouldn't care to cross the border without his gun! Oh, I do wish we'd stayed in Missouri!"
"In Missouri I was just a hired man," Mr. Simpson reminded her.
"But we always had enough, and we were happy. To give it up and take these awful risks!"
"Now, Ann," Cindy's father's voice became firm, "this is the Simpsons' chance, perhaps the only one we'll ever have, to rise in the world. There may be some small risk, but nobody ever gained anything without risking something. Think of the children, and of how much more we'll be able to give them if we have our own farm instead of depending on a hired man's wages."
"But there aren't even any schools out there!"
"There will be," Jed Simpson said. "Schools will follow on the heels of the settlers. So will roads, towns, and even cities! And do you know who one schoolteacher might be?"