text: When they got home, Grit pulled out the push plow they'd bought in Yankton and plowed up a huge garden spot near the house while Paulie started digging holes for the fence around the garden. A fence was necessary to keep the deer and raccoons out mainly but other animals as well. After the plowing, Colleen and Astrid planted tomatoes, spinach, leaf lettuce and peppers. A day later they finished the fence by winding five-foot tree limbs in wire. Later, they'd plant beans, beets, carrots, potatoes, cucumbers and corn.
  
  With the garden taken care of, Grit and Paulie went back to downing trees for more firewood. A week later, the first of the riverboats came churning up the river, blowing huge plumes of smoke out of its twin stacks. As it drew closer, Grit said, "She's not gonna stop, Paulie."
  
  "Why not?"
  
  "Look at her decks," Grit said. "She's just bought wood somewhere downriver. Her decks are stacked with it. I got no idea where she bought it, but it can't be far." The passengers on the Liberty waved vigorously as they powered on upstream. Grit and Paulie simply stood and watched in their disappointment.
  
  "But that's all part of the Yankton reservation down there," Paulie said.
  
  "Let's ride downstream a bit, Paulie," Grit said.
  
  They saddled their horses and rode along the river. About six miles down, they heard the sound of axes, lots of axes. When they rode on down, they sat their horses and saw four lumberjacks felling trees and cutting them into firewood.
  
  "Looks like they got us outmanned," Paulie said.
  
  "Yep, let's ask how much they're charging."
  
  They rode down and one of the men stopped work and walked over. "Howdy," he said, "what can I do for ya?"
  
  "We're just getting acquainted. We've got property up the river aways. Name's Grit Milburn, and this is Paulie Samson. Y'all own this property here, do ya?"
  
  "No, we figure the trees are here for the taking," the man said.
  
  "You're on the Yankton reservation," Grit said. "Do they know you're here?"
  
  "I don't know," the man said.
  
  "How long you been here?"
  
  "It'll be a week tomorrow."
  
  "If you don't mind me askin', how much for the wood?"
  
  "Six dollars a cord."
  
  "Well, we'll be goin'," Grit said. "Good luck to ya."
  
  Two days later, a riverboat anchored in the river by Grit and Paulie's huge piles of firewood. They sent a rowboat to shore, and a man in the bow of the boat jumped out and asked, "I'm Cole Slate, second mate on the Columbia. How much for the wood?"
  
  "It's all prime hardwood at seven dollars and fifty cents a cord," Grit said.
  
  "Holy smokes," Slate said. "Downriver a bit here they're sellin' it for $6 a cord."
  
  "Why didn't you buy from them?"
  
  "They don't have any wood right now," Slate said. "There was a troop of cavalry there, and it looked like the troopers were running the men off, but their sign said $6 a cord." Grit looked at Paulie who started laughing.
  
  "You see, that's the thing," Grit said. "When we don't have any firewood, it's only $6 a cord. When we do have it, it's $7.50 a cord, and right now, we have nearly 300 cords ready to sell at $7.50."
  
  Slate laughed. "Okay, I get it. We'll take 40 cords." He pulled out a leather bag with a roll of cash and counted out $300. Paulie accepted the money and stuffed it in his pocket.
  
  "How come you let junior take your money?" Slate asked Grit.
  
  Grit laughed, winked at Paulie and said, "He's the bookkeeper, and he does a good, honest job of it."
  
  It turned out to be a glorious spring and early summer in southern Dakota Territory. The third riverboat to stop brought a letter from the lawyer in Yankton that contained all the adoption papers. Grit and Colleen were now the legal guardians and parents of Astrid Knudsen, and the judge had included an addendum to the adoption of a name change to Astrid Milburn.
  
  "Well, I'm relieved," Colleen said. "Now we know her future, and nobody can take our little sweetheart from us."
  
  During the spring, the riverboats made regular stops going up the river. Colleen and Astrid explored the countryside, saw all kinds of wildlife and picked flowers nearly every day. They found blackberries and huckleberries and wild plums. Nearby they found a grove of black walnut trees and picked up a basket of fresh walnuts and brought them back to the house.
  
  Colleen got Grit to make a table for the porch, and the whole family started having dinners and suppers outside. In the evening, they would sit outside and look across the verdant river valley at the beautiful sunsets while enjoying a late-night cup of Arbuckles.
  
  In mid-June, Grit said, "We've gotta stop for a day or two, Paulie, and cut the wheat that Knudsen planted. I don't want it to spoil in the field. For three days, they worked from dawn to dusk cutting the wheat and stacking it in shocks to dry in the field. They then carried wagon loads of shocks back to the barn and stored it so that it could completely dry.
  
  "We'll leave it there, Paulie, until the last boat comes from Fort Benton, then we'll thresh it and carry the bags of wheat to the mill in Yankton."
  
  In early August, Colleen cut herself a fishing pole one day and told Grit she was taking Astrid down to the river to get a mess of fish.
  
  Once she was out of sight, Grit said, "Paulie, go with them and make sure everything's alright. I'm sure there's no danger, but the river's treacherous. Just watch out for 'em and keep Astrid safe."
  
  "And what are you gonna do?" Paulie asked.
  
  Grit smiled. "Cut wood! What else?"
  
  When they came back from fishing, Colleen had a nice string of fish, and Astrid was riding on Paulie's shoulders, holding onto his head for dear life, laughing and yelling, "Giddyup, hossy."
  
  "We ran into two men down along the river," Colleen said.
  
  "Oh? Who were they?"
  
  "They said General Custer has found gold in the Black Hills, and they're goin' out there."
  
  "I don't know much about it, but isn't that Sioux territory?"
  
  "I don't know, but if it is, it won't stop these men," Colleen said. "They said thousands of men are getting ready to come into the Black Hills next year. The newspapers back east are saying there's gold nuggets in every stream out there. Of course it's a lie, but I think the men believe it."
  
  "They believe that because that's what they wanna believe," Grit said, "but men will chase their dreams."
  
  Late in August, sitting on the porch near dark, Colleen said, "There are a few supplies we need, and I think I could get them at Fort Sully."
  
  "Okay, we'll take the wagon and go tomorrow," Grit said.
  
  "I know you're low on firewood to sell, and you and Paulie need to work. It's such beautiful weather, I could drive the wagon up with Astrid, spend the night and come back the next day."
  
  "You think you'd be okay doin' that?" Grit asked.
  
  "I'm sure I'll be fine."
  
  "Okay, Paulie and I'll hitch the mules up for you tomorrow morning," Grit said. He smiled at her, "I'm gonna miss having you around."
  
  "I'll miss you too, sweet darlin', but only for one night."
  
  The next morning, Grit and Paulie had the team of mules hitched and ready to go right after breakfast. Astrid was excited about the trip, and Colleen had packed a picnic lunch for them to have along the way.
  
  As they left, Astrid stood in the back of the wagon and yelled, "Bye Papa, bye Paulie."
  
  It was the first time she'd called Grit Papa, and he waved back with tears in his eyes.
  
  "She's a little sweetheart," Paulie said. "I'm going to miss her when I go off to college."
  
  Grit thought it was good for Colleen to leave and have a few moments with her old friends and at the same time show off her little girl of whom she'd grown so fond. She'd buy Astrid some sukkertøy and most likely she'd get her a few new things to wear if the sutler's store had any. Astrid was quickly outgrowing her clothing, and they'd soon have to go to Yankton and buy her a new wardrobe for the coming winter.
  
  Grit was glad that money was not a problem. He and Paulie went back to felling trees and sawing them into the right lengths for firewood. They worked steady and ate from two pots of stew and biscuits that Colleen had fixed before she left.
  
  As they walked together back down into the wood yard that afternoon, Paulie said, "Only three weeks until college starts in Lincoln, and I find I'm looking forward to it."
  
  Grit laughed. "I'm glad you've decided to go, Paulie. The money's there for you, but I hope you'll come home for Christmas and summers."
  
  "Oh, yes, and I'll be here in the summers to help," Paulie said.
  
  "If it works out, be glad to have ya, but if you get an opportunity to work and learn on the job somewhere else, I want you to do that," Grit said. "You know you're always welcome here any time you have a chance to come home."