"Do I pay you before you start or after you finish?" There was more than
a trace of sarcasm in the question.
Joe said grimly, "After I finish. But I also want a clean place to camp
and feed for my stock."
Jake Favors said, "You've made yourself a deal. Drive into the meadow
behind the corrals and make camp. There's a good spring rising under the
apple trees, and it's far enough from the corrals so you won't get much
smell."
Joe swung his team off the road and onto the dusty, dry ground adjoining
the corrals. A little way farther on the wagon wheels ground clean
grass, and Emma looked nervously back at the city. Independence had its
allure, but she had her children to think of and who knew what evil
lurked in a place like this? She asked,
"How long do you think it will take you, Joe?"
"I'm going to try to make it in three weeks, but it might take longer."
"Isn't that cutting our time very short?"
"I doubt it. I figure that we can make thirty miles a day. We'll be in
Laramie well before the fall storms hit and we certainly need the
money."