She learned more about mules in the time it took them to get from that lunch stop to Lonesome Holler than she had ever known in her life.

She knew she was about to meet her aunt at last when Caleb turned off the main road onto a little bare track he probably could not have managed if the cart had been fully loaded. As it was, it took some very careful work by the mules to make the turn. The track took them between two hills, but there was more than enough space between them for a good farm, as she quickly learned when they passed by just such an establishment. A lively crick ran through the holler, deep enough to turn a small water wheel—and this farm had just such an object, attached to what must be small millhouse. It also had a good, big garden, a lot of corn, two mules, a pigsty, a big henhouse, and four cows, two of them with calves. There was a huge house, not built of clapboard, but of logs, and a big barn to match. Why, there must have been at least four rooms in the house, plus a big loft, or even a full second story! It even had two chimneys, which meant two fireplaces!

For a moment she thought wildly that this must be Aunt Jinny’s place, and wondered how her Pa could ever have thought that Jinny was some sort of crazy woman out in the wilderness. But then she saw a man coming out of the barn, and a woman with a younger one—probably her daughter—coming out of the house with a basket of laundry to hang, and she realized her mistake. No, this was a proper farm that belonged to a family. But that meant neighbors for Aunt Jinny. So she wouldn’t be out here all alone with her aunt.

The mules had to pick their way slowly and carefully once they got past that farm. Roots had grown across the track, and the cart swayed from side to side as it rolled slowly over them. She held on to the seat with both hands, and the empty dinner basket bounced around in the cart bed with a rattling noise. The huge trees met overhead, closing them in a tunnel of dim, green gloom.

They must have gone on for at least another hour when she saw light ahead; there was a clearing up there. Was that Aunt Jinny’s place, finally?

It was not; it was merely a clearing, though one big enough that the mules could turn the wagon around. And standing at the other side of that clearing was—a figure.

At first, Anna thought it was a man. It wore denim overalls, a red flannel shirt, and a straw hat. But then Caleb hailed it as he whoa’d the mules.

“Howdy, Miz Jinny! I got the liddle gel, safe an’ sound!” He beamed at the figure, who came forward and tipped up its head, showing, by its beardlessness at least, that it was a woman.