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direction, knowing the Red River would keep him from going too far east. If he figured right with what little information he had, he'd hit the river north of the Bjorklund homestead or come right into the homeplace.

    But dark caught him before he reached either the river or the homestead he sought. The wind at his back picked up a knife edge when the sun disappeared under the horizon. With nothing but prairie in sight, he huddled tighter into his wool coat and kept on walking. A dog barking brought him to a stop. Slowly, he turned to locate the direction. When he whistled, the barking turned to a frenzy. He turned due south and whistled every once in a while to keep the animal barking.
    "That's enough, Shep!" a man's strong voice commanded. "What- ever's got you going on like this, anyhow?"
    "Helloo!" Haakan called out and stopped to listen for an answer.
    "Hello, yourself. Keep on coming, you're getting near." A lighted lantern pierced the darkness like a beacon at sea. "Welcome, stranger, you nigh unto missed us, didn't you?"
    Haakan reached out to shake the man's hand. "If it hadn't been for your dog barking, I'd have gone right on by." He glanced down at the dog that stood by his master's knee, hackles raised and a rumble deep in his throat.
    "Enough, Shep. Ya done good. Come on in. My missus will skin me alive if I keep you standing out here. She's already got the coffeepot heating."
    "I hoped maybe I could sleep in your barn-"
    "In the barn! Heaven's man, you want us both thrown out on our ears?" He turned and headed for the door. "Agnes won't hear none of that, let me tell you."
    Haakan followed the man, ducking as he did to enter the sod house.
    "Lookee here, Shep brought us some company, he did."
    Before he knew what had happened, Haakan had been divested of his pack, coat, and hat and sat in a rocker in front of a cookstove that seemed to half fill the room. A cup of coffee warmed his hands, and a little girl stared at him from behind her bigger sister as if she'd never seen a stranger before. One thing Haakan knew for sure: he was welcome, and these fine people were as Norwegian as they came. He felt like he'd stepped into a small piece of home but for the close dark walls and the overlying smell of earth from the walls and floor. And they still hadn't even asked his name.
    "Uff da," The woman murmured, seating herself on one of the benches along the trestle table. "Now what news did you hear in St. Andrew? Has the ice gone out on the river? They started up the ferry yet?" She took a swallow from her cup. "Surely will be a treat to have real coffee again. That's first on the list soon as the wagon can make it to St. Andrew. Sorry for the substitute. We use roasted wheat when we run out of the real thing."

    "Give the poor man a chance to answer,"Joseph said, waving his cup in the air. "How far you come, young man?" He looked to his wife and laughed. "Can't keep calling him young man, can I? I'm Joseph Baard, and this is Mrs. Baard, Agnes. We come from Ohio to homestead this here valley." He named all the children, who either grinned or hid behind another depending on their age. "And who might you be?"
    "Haakan Howard Bjorklund."
    "Bjorklund?" Mrs. Baard pushed back so quickly she nearly turned the bench over. "We got neighbors and best friends named Bjorkliind. You related?" At Haakan's nod, she clasped her hands together in her aproned lap. "Thanks be to God! They sure do need some kin to help out."
    "Roald and Carl were my cousins twice removed."
    "You heard they died, then?"
    "Ja, that is why I am here." Haakan described his trip from the north woods of Minnesota in a few short sentences, and then said, "My mor wrote and told me they needed help, and soon as the logging season ended, I started west."
    "Thank the good Lord." Her smile lit the room. "Ah, me. Where's my manners gone? You had any supper?" When he shook his head, she ordered Penny, the older girl, to fetch foodstuffs from the well house while she set