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maybe Web was the answer.
    Uncle Dem had said to go to Web for advice. Web saw the men when they weren't putting on a front for the women-folk. He would know them better'n I did. I'd ask him who to marry.
    My mind had been struggling all this time to fight off sleep. When I decided to get Web's advice, it just gave up and lit out. This time the mules kept up for there wasn't any grass and all were traveling slowly because of the rocks. Web woke me as he rode by and I looked up to see the wagons ahead circling for the night.
    I moved like a sleep-walker, getting the mules unhitched and unharnessed. My cooked beans would only last another day and I'd be back to eating cornmeal and sorghum again until I could get the bean pot washed and a fresh batch soaked.
    I had not been able to gather any fuel, so set my pot in the coals of the handiest fire and waited for it to heat. I was plumb tuckered out, body and mind, and about that time Mr. Hayes stepped up to me and asked me what I was going to do.
    "Marriage," I told him, and he nodded.
    "Which one?"
    "I still got to figure that."
    "I want an answer tonight. We've wasted enough time."
    He'd get no answer until I talked to Web. "I ain't ready yet."
    "In an hour, then. I'll tell folks there's to be a wedding in an hour."
    That was shaving the whiskers off the pig. I'd best get moving. But the beans were hot and Web still out with the mules. They'd be bringing them in soon. Hayes would have to wait. I put my spoon in the pot and shoveled in the food.
     
     

CHAPTER FIVE
    The past week had taken its toll and I could barely think of what I was doing; but I knew I must talk to Web. The old scout was the only person who could give me trustworthy advice.
    I had an hour before I was to be wed. The reality of it hung somewhere out there, in the vague distance like it was happening to someone else.
    Mallory Buchanan. Soon to be Mrs. Somebody. Calvert Smith? Gareth Madison? I had somehow narrowed the list down to those two even in the few seconds after Mr. Hayes left me. Calvert might be the better choice; I had no particular desire to join the Madison family and at least with Calvert there were no in-laws included in the arrangement.
    With my stomach full and happy, I set the bean pot aside to cool off and washed my spoon clean. The men were bringing in the stock and I went over to get my mules and Uncle Dem's horse, Comfort, and tie them to the wagon wheels. As I was finishing up, Hedda's ten year old daughter, Anna, came running up to me, all excited.
    "Mallory, is it true? You gonna be married?"
    "Looks like it."
    "Mama was none too pleased to hear what Mr. Hayes told us. She sent me to find you and ask who to and when."
    Now Hedda was like a mother hen and if you came under her roof at any time you were treated as one of the family. If she knew how Mr. Hayes was forcing me into this, she'd put her foot down and raise sparks and smoke until the wedding was called off and I was left a burden to her and Axel. I had already decided against that.
    "We'll have the wedding in an hour, Anna. Tell your Ma I'll talk to her when I see her."
    "Who ya marryin'?"
    "I'll tell her then. Now scoot."
    "Whatcha gonna wear?"
    "I don't know, Anna. Look, I've lots to do and no time to do it in. I'll come over as soon as I can."
    "Bye." She ran off, long braids bobbing behind her, and I started searching for Web.
    I wandered past one family group after another, casually working my way to where Web usually bedded down, away from the fire and general noise where he could see and hear better. People stopped me, wanting to talk, so I stepped outside the circle of wagons and continued on around.
    I walked quietly over to where Web's blankets lay in a hump on the ground, but he spoke first, from behind me.
    "Mally?"
    He had come up behind so silently I had not heard him, even though I had been attuned to listening to the night and the sounds of the night.
    "Yes." I decided to come right to the point. There wasn't