CHAPTER XII
STARTING FOR THE NEW WEST
“The great day has come at last!” said Sandy, early one morning, as they started down toward the river from the blockhouse, where they had been quartered ever since the flood, their cabin having been occupied by a family with a numerous brood of young children, whose shelter had been carried away by the ruthless waters.
“Yes,” Bob replied, stretching himself; “days and weeks have crept along, and this has been a busy hamlet, what with the rebuilding of cabins, planting crops for those who expect to stay, and the fashioning of our flatboat, with its strong cabin on deck. A busy time, everybody says.”
“But our boat is done at last!” Sandy declared, joyfully; “and most of our things are packed aboard, for to-day we make a start, headed for the Mississippi!”
Bob looked at his brother a little uneasily. He himself was feeling more or less sad, because there were friendships that must be severed; and the chances seemed to be that they would never again shake the hands of some of those who had come out from Virginia with them.
But Sandy seemed to have no thought of this. His father, mother, sister and brother were going along; and what need then to feel distressed? That was the way the light-hearted lad felt about it; and the one great dream of his young life seemed about to be realized. For many months he had yearned to set eyes on that mysterious and mighty river, that rolled toward the far-off gulf; and whose source was as yet a sealed book to the world.
Sandy had hardly slept a wink all through the preceding night. Instead, he tossed on his pillow, and kept picturing what the future would have in store for them in that beautiful land toward the setting sun.
No doubt the little mother also lay awake; but for different reasons. Brave wife of a pioneer that she was, surely Mrs. Armstrong must have looked into the future with something of uneasiness. Many wild stories had she listened to from the lips of Pat O’Mara and other valiant souls, who had penetrated part of the distance toward the Mississippi; and doubtless these all came to haunt her now, magnified by the fact that they themselves were about to go forth into that wilderness to build a new home, under conditions that no one could faithfully picture.