In expectation of some such raid, we had secreted a good stock of
provisions; but as soon as the day was up Will was dispatched to
Rively's store to reconnoiter, under pretext of buying groceries.
Keeping eyes and ears open, he learned that father's enemies were on the
watch for him; so the cornfield must remain his screen. After several
days, the exposure and anxiety told on his strength. He decided to leave
home and go to Fort Leavenworth, four miles distant. When night fell
he returned to the house, packed a few needed articles, and bade us
farewell. Will urged that he ride Prince, but he regarded his journey
as safer afoot. It was a sad parting. None of us knew whether we should
ever again see our father.

"I hope," he said to mother, "that these clouds will soon pass away,
and that we may have a happy home once more." Then, placing his hands on
Will's head, "You will have to be the man of the house until my return,"
he said. "But I know I can trust my boy to watch over his mother and
sisters."

With such responsibilities placed upon his shoulders, such confidence
reposed in him, small wonder that Will should grow a man in thought and
feeling before he grew to be one in years.

Father reached Fort Leavenworth in safety, but the quarrel between the
pro-slavery party and the Free Soilers waxed more bitter, and he decided
that security lay farther on; so he took passage on an up-river boat to
Doniphan, twenty miles distant. This was then a mere landing-place, but
he found a small band of men in camp cooking supper. They were part of
Colonel Jim Lane's command, some three hundred strong, on their way West
from Indiana.