Summary

In this chapter, the Ingalls leave Pepin for Kansas. At the beginning of the chapter, Fraser describes Charles Ingalls's sale of the Pepin property for a profit. He would not be that financially secure for many years. His profit might have in part resulted from the high price of wheat. He then bought territory in Missouri, likely sight unseen, from a man named Adamantine Johnson. The Ingalls family, which then consisted of Charles, Caroline, Mary, and Laura went south to Missouri in the summer of 1869, traveling by covered wagon. Their so-called "prairie schooner" could only carry essential items. Caroline Ingalls, ever unflappable, dealt with the hardships of housekeeping on the road. The land was likely a disappointment, however, and Charles Ingalls moved his family to Kansas.

Laura Ingalls forever remembered looking out at the vast prairie from a keyhole opening in the...