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maybe four big wagons, maybe twenty men countin’ the mule skinners. Somebody to take care of the herd and cook. Oh, and you got to have about fifty mules.”
    “That seems like a lot for just a few wagons.”
    “Don’t hurt to have more in case you get jumped by the Pawnee. They raid up north sometimes. Takes pretty tough men. I’m just guessing, but I’d say somewhere between fifteen and twenty thousand dollars to do it.”
    Leland did not speak, but his eyes met Jori’s. Both of them knew they would not have that much money even after everything was sold. “I want to thank you for sharing this with us. You’re sure you’re not going to get involved with it?”
    “No, I got another venture or two.”
    “But you’d be willing to give us advice,” Kate said, “in case we decide to do it?”
    “Why, I’m mighty free with my talk, Miss Johnson,” Blanchard smiled. “I have to throw this in though. It’s a risky business. It’s dangerous and it’s hard, but the rewards are great.”
    Blanchard did not stay long after supper, and after he left the family sat around talking for a time.
    “I don’t see how we can do it, Papa,” Jori said. “In the first place, we don’t have enough money. And in the second place, if we did have enough money, it would take it all to make the trip. What would the rest of us do?” Jori paused. “We’d have to live, and that trip would take several months.”
    Kate sat quietly listening, and finally she heard her brother-in-law say, “Well, I didn’t tell you about this, but I have a job offer with the Carter office.”
    “What kind of an offer?” Jori demanded. She had not forgiven the Carter family for advising Gerald to cast her off.
    “Well, I’d be a clerk, more or less, a junior clerk at first.”
    “I won’t let you do that!” Jori exclaimed. “We’ll find something.”
    “Well, we can think about it for a little while, but Al says if we’re going to do it, we’ll have to get started by April. And that’s not much time. It seems impossible to me.”
    The rest, more or less, agreed with him, all except Kate. She said nothing but spent the night seeking God in prayer.
    * * *
    KATE WAS LATE FOR breakfast. When she came down there was a light in her eyes, and she said, “I want to tell you about a dream I had last night.” The rest of them were seated, but she stood looking at them with her eyes bright. “I dreamed of wagons with canvas tops, just the kind that Mr. Blanchard was talking about. They were pulled by mules.”
    “You think that means we’re supposed to go into this?” Mark asked. He shook his head doubtfully. “I think we need more than that.”
    “There’s more to the dream,” Kate said. “I dreamed that there were people walking alongside the wagons, and when I got closer, I saw that it was us. It was our family. We were all filed alongside the wagons headed to some place.”
    “It was just a dream,” Mark mumbled.
    “No, it wasn’t. As I was watching us go along the trail with the wagons, I heard a voice. It said, ‘Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will show thee.’”
    “That sounds familiar,” Leland said, shaking his head. “I can’t place it.”
    “It’s from the twelfth chapter of Genesis,” Kate said. “It’s in the first verse. God said that when He called Abraham out of his home into a new country.”
    “Wait a minute,” Jori said. “You’re not suggesting that all of us go join that wagon train, are you, Aunt Kate?”
    “Yes. That’s what I’m saying. I believe it’s what God wants us to do.”
    “Why, we can’t do that,” Mark exclaimed. “We don’t know a thing about wagon trains!”
    “We can do it,” Carleen said, her face alive with excitement. “We can all go!” Her eyes were dancing, and she got up and stood next to Aunt Kate. “It’d be just like the frontier that you told me about.”
    “It will be pretty