Crossing the Great Plains 35 



Four months before the Anderson fam- 

 ily, consisting of Mr. and Mrs. Anderson, 

 Thomas, a boy of nine years, and the soli- 

 tary watcher by the camp-fire, named Ben- 

 jamin, aged eleven years, had said good-bye 

 to Indiana. 



Ill luck had always followed the Ander- 

 sons in that state, and Bennie's father had 

 said that perhaps a change of scene would 

 also change their luck. So nearly all their 

 belongings had been packed into the can- 

 vas-covered wagon, two dilapidated mules 

 hitched to it. the old cow tied behind, and 

 with the dog following beneath the wagon 

 or capering about as best suited his fancy, 

 they had left the tumble-down cabin and 

 the Indiana homestead, and had started for 

 the frontier beyond the Mississippi. In the 

 same manner their ancestors had left West- 

 ern New York, and started for the Middle 

 West two generations before. 



You must not imagine for a moment that 



