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plenty of work.”
    Jan couldn’t believe their good fortune. “So! We wish to
cross tomorrow. Maybe you can give us some good advice, eh?”
    Olafsson looked toward the ferries. “ Ja , sure. I will
be in line for an hour more, I think. Tell me, where are you going after you
cross?”
    Karl spoke up. “We wish to file our claims and take the
railroad north until it starts to turn west again. Then, we think, we would get
off and drive wagons north.”
    “Ah! There is still much good land that direction, from what
I hear. But where will you get off the train, do you think?”
    Jan and Karl looked at each other. “We are not sure yet, perhaps
past Fremont.”
    “And you will need wagons, oxen, supplies?”
    “ Ja ,” Jan answered. “And lumber.”
    Olafsson grinned. “It is good we are talking. Let me tell
you something. When you get to Fremont and beyond, it is very hard to buy the
things you will need—wagons, oxen, and such. And there is no lumber to be had.
The railroad takes all there is. I have seen some men return to Omaha because they had no way to haul their belongings from the train to their land.”
    Karl and Jan raised their eyebrows in understanding. “So,”
Karl said. “Did they buy what they needed in Omaha and then drive the whole way
to their land? It would be a long, hard trip, nei ?”
    Olafsson nodded. “Some do, but if you have the money there
is a better way.”
    “We are listening,” Karl replied.
    “Omaha has all you need at the best prices west of the Missouri. Not cheap, but best. You already have one freight car?”
    Jan nodded.
    Their new friend rubbed his chin. “If you can pay for
another car, that is the way. Load your oxen into one side of the car. Break down
the wagons and load them into the other side. Then when you wish to get off,
you reassemble the wagons, load them, and go straight north.”
    “It may cost a lot,” he concluded, “but paying for a car is
not more than paying the costs of things farther north—and you do not run the
risk of not finding what you need for sale when you get off the train.”
    Karl looked at Jan and back at Olafsson. “And what of land
offices? Do you recommend we file our claims in Omaha or farther on?”
    “You can file in Fremont. You will have to pay to have your
cars taken off the train and then put back on, but the land you want will be
listed there.”
    Karl and Jan walked away from Olafsson deep in thought.
    “We can get everything we need in Omaha,” Karl thought
aloud. “But can we get it all in another car?” He was thinking of the four head
of oxen they would need to pull two wagons.
    “We can put more in our car. We can stack things higher.”
Jan was thinking of what Karl was thinking: the list of what they needed to buy
and how much two wagons could hold.
    “I am thinking we could use a third wagon, Karl,” Jan
stated. “But six oxen?”
    Karl nodded. “ Ja . A third wagon would be good. We could
buy more lumber.”
    “Perhaps Elli could drive one of the wagons,” Jan suggested.
    Karl mulled it over. “We will ask her. You know, I am
thinking that we do not need six oxen on our land, eh? But after we get
settled, we could sell two of them. If they are scarce, as Olafsson says, then
they are better than cash money where we are going. We could trade them for
other scarce things.”
    They thought silently for several minutes before Karl
concluded. “We will go across and talk to the freight master on the other side about
another car, eh?”
    Olafsson arrived with a wagon the next morning to unload
their freight car and take the Thoresens and their belongings to the ferry.
    “Look for my friend Svens Jensen on the other side,
Thoresen,” Olafsson told Jan. “Tell him Jakov Olafsson sent you. He will treat
you fairly.”
    ~~**~~

Chapter 4
    Jan and Elli, keeping a tight hold of the rail and their
children, watched the shore of Council Bluffs disappear, while ahead Omaha
drew closer. The city was the capital of