text: The next day when they'd stowed away all the food, they took on the task of digging a root cellar. They dug into a bank not far from the house.
  
  "How far do we gotta dig?" Paulie asked.
  
  "I'm not real sure," Grit said, "but I've heard the temperatures stay the same all year round about five feet down. Let's dig that far."
  
  "This diggin's easy work, not nearly as hard as cuttin' down trees," Paulie said.
  
  When they got a hole dug about five feet square and five feet deep, they placed all the potatoes, onions, carrots and cabbage in the bottom, built a ladder and then a solid shelter over the top from wood left over from construction of the barn and house. They finished it off with a slim door that gave them access to the cellar.
  
  "That should do it," Grit said.
  
  "Why'd you wanna buy so much cabbage?" Paulie asked.
  
  "I don't know exactly why," Grit said, "but if you eat cabbage in winter, you don't get what they call the scurvy, which is some kind of deficiency disease that is cured by eating fruits and leafy vegetables. Same reason English sailors keep limes aboard their ships. I read about it in a book."
  
  "How long do cabbages last in a root cellar?" Paulie asked.
  
  "Oh, five or six months."
  
  After they'd dug the root cellar, they went back to cutting down trees and stacking wood along the riverbank. They'd given about two cords to the Knudsen family, and both men felt like they needed to replenish that, and so they worked hard for about 10 days when the dark clouds rolled in from the Canadian north, and the temperatures dropped below freezing.
  
  "We need to go down to Yankton before snow flies and see if you have a letter from the college," Grit said. And so the next day, they set off on the horses and made it to Yankton two days later. When Paulie checked, he found there was a letter.
  
  "What's it say?" Grit asked.
  
  "Says I got to go down there and take a test," Paulie said. "It's not worth the effort."
  
  "Yes, it is," Grit said. "We'll put you on the train and you can be back here in three or four days."
  
  "Can't you come with me?" Paulie asked.
  
  "I guess I could," Grit said.
  
  So they stabled their horses and bought tickets to Lincoln, Nebraska. They arrived 12 hours later after changing trains in Omaha. Paulie went to the University Hall and inquired about taking an admission test.
  
  A male secretary said, "When can you take it?"
  
  "How long does it take?" Paulie asked.
  
  "Depends how smart you are," the man with a laugh. "Usually it's two or three hours."
  
  "Okay, well, I got time right now," Paulie said. He was put into a nearby office and took the test, which included an essay on why he wanted a college education. Paulie thought he'd done fairly well, but he didn't know.
  
  "When will I know if I can come?" he asked.
  
  "We'll have a professor read it tonight, and you'll know tomorrow morning," the secretary said.
  
  "Okay, I'll be here in the morning, then I have to head back to my job up in Dakota Territory," Paulie said.
  
  He and Grit got a hotel that night and had supper together. "Tell me about the test," Grit said.
  
  "Well, it had some math problems, some words to define, some questions about history, geography and science, then the essay," Paulie said. "I'll get the results in the morning, either a yes or no."
  
  After breakfast the next day, they waited around for an hour until the office opened, then Paulie went back to the office.
  
  The secretary said, "Well, young man, you scored 82 out of a hundred. Go over to the registrar and put down a deposit. We'll expect you in the fall. If you don't show, you'll forfeit your deposit."