The Journey “Can we stop now mother?” complained Sarah. “No, we must keep going,” replied Sarah’s mother. Sarah, who was six, was on a “Journey” with her mother, father, her nine year old brother Tom, and her brother Jacob, who was thirteen. The family was also accompanied by eight chickens, some cattle, four horses and their dog Peter. It was about mid-afternoon and already some of the Austan Clan was getting ready for sleep. After only traveling ten yards or so after noticing the others, they stopped, lay down, and almost instantly fell asleep. The next morning Sarah and Tom went about their usual chores, such as collecting buffalo dung and feeding the chickens. “Well alright, we have to keep moving. If we start now, we should be at Fort Larnie by tomorrow,” said father. They were about eight hundred miles away from Oregon and took week long stops at forts and towns to rest and get more supplies. As the Austan Clan started walking, they discovered some wild fruit and a skeleton. They continued. By the time they reached Fort Larnie, they only had two hundred pounds of meat and Jacob had contracted dysentery and a cold. There at Fort Larnie, they bought four hundred pounds of meat, some winter clothes and an ox. Continuing on and a week later, they traveled one hundred miles due west, during which time Jacob had begun feeling better, yet Tom got measles. One afternoon, they stopped because they encountered some Indians, who seemed to be signaling them to come toward them by the river. Sarah, Tom, Jacob, and their mother all feared the Indians, yet the father did not. After some explaining, the Indians helped the family cross the river, but for a cost. In exchange for helping the family cross the river, they had to part with quite a bit of food. The father agreed to it and they reached the other side of the river with ease. As nightfall came, the mother and father began to wonder. “Lisa, don’t you think that we’re running a little low on food?” said father. “Yes, but we could make it with three hundred pounds can’t we?” asked mother. “Sure we can, but that means we’ll be eating the bare bones and eggs! We could very well die at that pace! That is unless we get rid of Tom or Sarah or Jacob…” the father says half-jokingly. “How could you even joke about something like that? That’s crazy!” she yelled as she stormed off. The next morning, the parents planned what would eventually “happen” to an unsuspecting Tom. They had to decide not to treat his measles or they’d abandon him. The only reason they even discussed the thought was because they were running dangerously low on everything. A few short days later, the family abandoned Tom one night while he lay asleep under the moonlit sky. The family now consisted on Mom and Dad, Jacob, Sarah, and Peter the dog. They were now five hundred miles away from Oregon and their next stop was Fort Eer. A hundred miles away, and already the food rations were down to two hundred pounds or so. During their westward expansion, they found some fruit and grain. While during the stops, Jacob, being bored out of his mind, would pass the time by secretly drawing pictures of the fruits and some skulls. When they finally arrived at Fort Eer, they purchased more food and had to beg for spare parts for the wagon just in case anything broke. The father was also lucky enough to come across some maps of where they were and where they were headed. Their new route to Oregon was bringing them to Fort Kearney, their next stop, and only one hundred and twenty miles away. Three days later and over a hundred pounds of food rations lighter, they arrived at Fort Kearney. Their stay was very brief at Kearney. They were only about three hundred miles from Oregon and were very anxious to