Page:Six months in Kansas.djvu/121

Rh I am alone in the cabin with the faded Daisy. She has been up for the first time to-day, and borne her weight by taking hold of different objects to support her. Now she gladly takes her place again upon her couch, close by the stove, and sleeps quietly. Her mind is still very weak and child-like; child-like, to be sure, it always is; and the exciting condition of the town, our own wakeful nights, do not affect her with any emotion of fear. How strange it will seem to you to hear that I have loaded pistols and a bowie-knife upon my table at night, three of Sharp's rifles, loaded, standing in the room, and two or three men in the cabin beside Edward, except when it is their turn to keep guard through the little town. All the week every preparation has been made for our defence; and everybody is worn with want of sleep.

The Missourians have taken awful oaths to destroy this Yankee town, and a price is set upon the heads of some of our most honored citizens. Already they have assembled to the number of two hundred at Franklin, a little town south of us, and many more at Douglas, a village farther up the river. They are mov-