UC-NRLF B 3 b2M ^=17^ ^m ^^aiiim^^^^^'^ mi^m^t i'i^iii")i;/;:iai;, Siifffffl 'Mr 'H^,^. 1 1 1 1 1 '\ i 1 \ '\ w^. V t ■1 \ 1 1 I M / I I ■/!• ■ I (Jum.AIUif.^UUifAl//d'JMfJiALa.M' BUFFALO LAND: AN Authentic Account OF" THE Discoveries, Adventures, and Mishaps of a Scientijic and Sporti7ig Painty m THE WILD WEST; WITH GRAPHIC DESCRIPTIONS OF THE COUNTRY; THE RED MAN, SAVAGE AND CIVILIZED ; HUNTING THE BUFFALO, ANTELOPE, ELK, AND WILD TURKEY ; ETC., ETC. KEPLETE WITH INFORMATION, WIT, AND HUMOR. S'-bc ^{jpenbis Cowprtsiug a Compute dluibe for Sportsmen anb Smtgrants. BY OF TOPEKA, Kansas. FROM ACl'UAL PHOTOGRAPHS, AND ORIGINAL DRAWINGS BY HENRY WOR?,AI.L CINCINNATI AND CHICAGO: E. HANNAFORD & COMPANY. BOSTON: J. F. RIDAY & CO. 1873. PRESERVATION COPY ADDED • • • • ' ... Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872, by E. HANNAFORD & CO., In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. BTEBEOTTPED AT THE FRANKLIN TTPE FOnNDBT, CINCINNATI. TO QJiC Original Westerner, and First Buffalo Hunter^ With Peofound Beqabd, Sr TMH 31UTM0S. mTSGOS BUFFALO LAND BY OUR TAMMANY SACHEM. THERE'S a wonderful land far out in the Westj Well worthy a visit, my friend ; There, Puritans thought, as the sun went to rest, Creation itself had an end. 'T is a wild, weird spot on the continent's face, A wound which is ghastly ard rer. Where the savages write the deeds of their race In blood that they constantly shed. The graves of the dead the fair prairies deface, And stamp it the kingdom of dread. The emigrant trail is a skeleton path ; You measure its miles by the bones; There savages struck, in their merciless wrath, And now, after sunset, the moans, When tempests are out, fill the shuddering air, And ghosts flit the wagons beside, And point to the skulls lying grinning and bare And beg of the teamsters a ride ; Sometimes 't is a father with snow on his hair, Again, 'tis a youth and his bride. What visions of horror each valley could tell, If Providence gave it a tongue ! How often its Eden was changed to a hell, I In which a whole train had been flung; (Vli) Vm BUFFALO LAND. How death cry and battle-shout frightened the birds, And prayers were as thick as the leaves, And no one to catch the poor dying one's words But Death, as he gathered his sheaves : You see the bones bleaching among the wild herds, In shrouds that the field spider weaves. That era is passing — another one comes, The era of steam and the plow, With clangor of commerce and factory hums. Where only the wigwam is now. Like mist of the morning before the bright sun. The cloud from the land disappears ; The Spirit of Murder his circle has run And fled from the march of the years ; The click of machine drowns the click of the guir And day hides the night time of tears. PEEFACE. The purpose of this work is to make the reader better acquainted with that wild land which he has known from childhood, as the home of the Indian and the buffalo. The Rocky Mountain chain, dis- torted and rugged, has been aptly called the colossal vertebrae of our continent's broad back, and from thence, as a line, the plains, weird and wonderful, stretch eastward through Colorado, and embrace the entire western half of Kansas. Fortune, not long since, threw in my way an in- vitation, which I gladly accejDted, to join a semi- scientific party, since somewhat known to fame through various articles in the newspaper press, in a sojourn of several months on the great plains. At a meeting held with due solemnity on the eve of starting, the Professor (to whom the reader will be introduced in the proper connection) was chosen leader of the expedition, while to my lot fell the (ix) X PREFACE. office of editor of the future record, or ratlier Grand Scribe of wluit we were pleased to call our "Log- Book " The latter now lies before me, in all its glory of shabby covers and dirty pages. Its soiled face is as honorable as that of the laborer who comes from his task in a well harvested field. Out of the sheaves gathered during our journey, I shall try and take such portions as may best supply the mental cravings of the countless thousands who hunger for the life and the lore of the far West. I have given the mistakes as well as triumphs of our expedition, and the members of the party will readily recognize their familiar camp names. The disguise will probably be pleasant, as few like to see their fjiilures on public parade, preferring rather to leave these in barracks, and let their successes only appear at review. The plains have a face, a people, and a brute creation, peculiarly their own, and to these our party devoted earnest study. The expedition pre- sented a rare opportunity of becoming acquainted with the game of the country ; and, in writing the present volume, my aim has been to make it so far a text-book for amateur hunters that they may become at once conversant with the habits of the game, and the best manner of killing it. The time is not far distant, when the plains and the Rocky PREFACE. XI Mountains will be sought by thousands annually, as a favorite field for sport and recreation. Another and still larger class, it is hoped, will find much of interest and value in the following pages. From every state in the Union, people are constantly passing westward. We found emigrant wagons on spots from which the Indians had just removed their wigwams. Multitudes more are now on the way, with the earnest jiurpose of founding homes and, if possible, of finding fortunes. In order to aid this class, as well as the sportsman, I have gathered in an appendix such additional infor- mation as may be useful to both. The scientific details of our trip will probably be published in proper form and time, by the savans interested. In regard to these, my object has been simply to chronicle such matters as made an im- pression upon my own . mind, being content with what cream might be gathered by an amateur's skimming, while the more bulky milk should be saved in capacious scientific buckets. Professor Cope, the well known naturalist, of the Academy of Sciences, Philadelphia, received for ex- amination and classification the most valuable fossils we obtained, and to him I am indebted for a large amount of most interesting and valuable Xll PEEFACE. scientific matter, which will be found embodied in chapters twenty-third and twenty-fourth. The illustrations of men and brutes in this work are studies from life. Whenever it was possible, we had photographs taken. The plains, it must be said, are a tract with which Romance has had much more to do than History. Red men, brave and chivalrous, and un- natural buffalo, with the habits of lions, exist only in imagination. In these pages, my earnest en- deavor, when dealing with actualities, has^een to "hold the mirror up to Nature," and to describe men, manners, and things as they are in real life upon the frontiers, and beyond, to-day. W. E. W. ToPEKA, Kansas, 3Iay, 1872. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. FLQtC IHB OBJECT OF OUB EXPEDITION A GLIMPSE OP ALASKA THROUGH CAP- TAIN walrus' glass — WE ARE TEMPTED BY OUR RECENT PURCHASE — ALASKAN GAME OF "OLD SLEDGE " THE EARLY STRUGGLES OF KAN- ^ SAS THE SMOKY HILL TRAIL — INDIAN HIGH ART — THE "BORDER- RUFFIAN," PAST AND PRESENT — TOPEKA — HOW IT RECEIVED ITS NAME — WAUKARUSA AND ITS LEGEND, 2d-3b CHAPTER II. A CHAPTER OP INTRODUCTIONS — PROFESSOR PALEOZOIC TAMMANY SACHEM DOCTOR PYTHAGORAS — GENUINE MUGGS — COLON AND SEMI-COLON SHAMUS DOBEEN TENACIOUS GRIPE — BUGS AND PHILOSOPHY — HOW 36-54 CHAPTER III. the topeka auctioneer — muggs gets a bargain — cynocephalus — indian summer in kansas — hunting prairie chickens our first day's sport, 55-63 CHAPTER IV. OBICKEN-SHOOTING CONTINUED — A SCIBNTIFIO^PARTY TAKE THE BIRDS ON THE WING EVILS OF FAST FIRING AN OLD-FASHIONED "SLOW SHOT" — THE HABITS OF THE PRAIRIE CHICKEN — ITS PROSPECTIVE EXTINC- TION — liODE OF HUNTING IT — THE GOPHER SCALP LAW, . . . Sl-T-i (Xiii) 3t,y CONTENTS. CHAPTER V. PA1Z3. A TRIAL BY JDDGE LYNCH HDNG FOB CONTEMPT OF COURT QUAIL SHOOTING UABITS OF THE BIRDS, AND MODE OF KILLING THEM A RING OF QUAILS — THE EFFECTS OF A SEVERE WINTER — THE SNOW GOOSE, 75-83 CHAPTER VI. OFF FOR BUFFALO LAND — THE NAVIGATION OF THE KAW — FORT RILEY THE CENTER-POST OF THE UNITED STATES OUR PURCHASE OF HORSES — "Lo" as a SAVAGE AND AS A CITIZEN — GRIPE UNFOLDS TflE IN- DIAN QUESTION A BALLAD BY SACHEM, PRESENTING ANOTHER VIEW, 84-98 \ CHAPTER VII. aKIPK'S VIEWS OK INDIAN CHARACTER THE DELAWARES, THE ISHMAELITES OF THE PLAINS THE TERRITORY OF THE "LONG HORNS " TEXAN3 AND THEIR CHARACTERISTICS MUSHROOM KOCK A VALUABLE DIS- COVERY FOOTPRINTS IN THE ROCK THE PRIMEVAL PAUL AND VIRGINIA, 99-1 ]1 CHAPTER VIII. THE "GREAT AMERICAN DESERT " — ITS FOSSIL WEALTH — AN ILLUSION DIS- PELLED — FIRES ACCORDING TO NOVELS AND ACCORDING TO FACT SENSATIONAL HEROES AND HEROINES PRAIRIE DOGS AND THEIR HAB- ITS HAWK AND DOG, AND HAWK AND CAT, 112-123 CHAPTER IX. WK SEE BUFFALO ARRIVAL AT HAYS GENERAL SHERIDAN AT THE FORT INDIAN MURDERS — BLOOD-CHRISTENING OF THE PACIFIC RAILROAD SURPRISED BY A BUFFALO HERD A BUFFALO BULL IN A QUANDARY GBNTLK ZEPHYRS — HOW A CIRCUS WENT OFF — BOLOGNA TO LEAN ON 124-141 CONTENTS. XV CHAPTER X. TAors. HAYS CITY BY LAMP-LIGHT — THE SANTA FE TRADE — BULL-WHACKERS — MEXICANS — SABBATH ON THE PLAINS — THE DARK AGES— WILD BILL AND BUFFALO BILL OFF FOR THE SALINE DOBEEN'S GHOST-STORY AN ADVENTURE WITH INDIANS — MEXICAN CANNONADE A RUNAWAY, 142-160 CHAPTER XL WHITE WOLF, THE CHEYENNE CHIEF HUNGRY INDIANS RETURN TO HAYS A CHEYENNE WAR PARTY THE PIPE OP PEACE — THE COUNCIL CHAMBER WHITE WOLF'S SPEECH, AS RENDERED BY SACHEM — THE WHITE man's WIGWAM, 161-176 CHAPTER XII. ARMS OF A WAR PARTY A DONKEY PRESENT EATING POWERS OF THE NOMADS SATANTA, HIS CRIMES AND PUNISHMENT RUNNING OFF WITH A GOVERNMENT HERD — DAUB, OUR ARTIST — ANTELOPE CHA3S 1 ( -19] CHAPTER XIII. CHARACTER OF THE PLAINS BUFFALO BILL AND HIS HORSE BRIGHAM THE GUIDE AND SCOUT OF ROMANCE — CAYOTE VERSUS JACKASS-RAB- BIT A LAWYER-LIKE RESCUE — OUR CAMP ON SILVER CREEK UNCLE SAM'S BUFFALO HERDS — TURKEY-SHOOTING OUR FIRST MEAL ON THE 192-208 CHAPTER XIV. A CAMP-FIRE SCENE — VAGABONDIZING THE BLACK PACER OP THE PLAINS — BOMB ADVICE PROM BUFFALO BILL ABOUT INDIAN FIGHTING — LO'S ABHORRENCE OP LONG RANGE HIS DREAD OF CANNON — AN IRISH 60BLIN, 20y-219 XVI CONTENTS. CHAPTER XV. A FIRE 8CENK — A GLIMPSE OF TUB SOUTH — 'cOON HUNTING IN MISSIS- SIPPI — VOICES IN THE SOLITUDE — FRIENDS OR FOES — A STARTLING SERENADE — PANIC IN CAMP — CAT0TE3 AND THEIK HABITS — WORRY- ING A BUFFALO BULL — THE SECOND DAY — DAUB, OUR ARTIST — KM MAKES HIS MARK, ^ 220-235 CHAPTER XVI. BISON MEAT — A STRANGE ARRIVAL THE SYDNEY FAMILY — THE HOME 'N THE VALLEY — THE SOLOMON MASSACRE — THE MURDER OF THE FATHER AND THE CHILD — THE SETTLERS' FLIGHT INCIDENTS OUR QUEEN OF THE PLAINS THE PROFESSOR INTERESTED IRISH MARY DOBEEN HAPPY — THE HEROINE OP ROMANCE — SACHEm's BATH BY MOONLIGHT — THif BEAVER COLONY, ...... 236-249 CHAPTER XVII. PREPARATIONS FOR THE CHASE THE VALLEY OF THE SALINE — QUEER 'COONS A bison's GAME OF BLUFF — IN PURSUIT — ALONGSIDE THM GAME — FIRING FROM THE SADDLE — A CHARGE AND A PANIC — FALSE HISTORY AGAIN — GOING FOR AMMUNITION THE PROFESSOR'S LET- 250-263 CHAPTER XVIII. STILL HUNTING DARK OBJECTS AGAINST THE HORIZON — THE RED MAN AGAIN RETREAT TO CAMP — PREPARATIONS FOR DEFENSE SHAKING HANDS WITH DEATH — MR. COLON'S BUGS — THE EMBASSADORS— A NEW ALARM — MORE INDIANS — TERRIFIC BATTLE BETWEEN PAWNEES AND CHEYENNES THEIR MODE OF FIGHTING GOOD HORSEMANSHIP A SCIENTIFIC PARTY AS SEXTONS— DITTO AS SURGEONS — CAMPS OF THL COMBATANTS — STEALING AWAY — AN APPARITION, .... :i64-2?9 CHAPTER XIX. STALKING THE BISON — BUFFALO AS OXEN — EXPENSIVE POWER — A I;UF- FALO AT A LUNATIC ASYLUM — THE GATEWAY TO THE HERDS — INFER- CONTENTS. XVll PAOU. NAL GRAPK-SHOT — NATURE S BOMB-SHELLS — CRAWLING BEDOUINS — •'THAR THEY HUMP" THE SLAOGHTEB BEGUN AN INEFFECTUAL CHARGB — "KETCHING THE CRITTER " — RETURN TO CAMP — CALVES' HEAD ON THE STOMACH — AN UNPLEASANT EPISODE WOLF BAITING, AND HOW IT IS DONE, 280-29- CHAPTER XX. THE CATOTES' STRYCHNINE FEAST — CAPTURING A TIMBER WOLF — A FEW CORDS OF VICTIMS WHAT THE LAW CONSIDERS "INDIAN TAN " "finishing" THE NEW YORK MARKET A NEW YORK FARMER'S OPINION OF OUR GRAY WOLF — WESTWARD AGAIN — EPISODES IN OUR JOURNEY — THE WILD HUNTRESS OF THE PLAINS — WAS OUR GUIDE A MURDERER? — THE READER JOINS US IN A BUFFALO CHASE — THE DYING AGONIES, 292-305 CHAPTER XXI. "creasing" WILD HORSES — MUGGS DISAPPOINTED A FEAT FOR PIO- TION HORSE AND MONKEY HOOF WISDOM FOR TURFMEN PROS- PECTIVE CLIMATIC CHANGES ON THE PLAINS — THE QUESTION OF SPONTANEOUS GENERATION WANTON SLAUGHTER OF BUFFALO AMOUNT OF ROBES AND MEAT ANNUALLY WASTED — A STRANGE HABIT OF THE BISON — NUMEROUS BILLS — THE "SNEAK THIEF " OP THE PLAINS, 306-317 CHAPTER XXII. A IiIVB TOWN AND ITS GRAVE-YARD — HONEST ROMBEAUX IN TROUBLE JUDGE LYNCH HOLDS COURT — MARIE AND THE VINE-COVERED COT- TAGE — THE TERRIBLE FLOODS — DEATH IN CAMP AND IN THE DUG- '' OUT — WAS IT THE WATER WHICH DID IT ? — DISCOVERY OF A HUGE FOSSIL — THE MOSASAURCS OP THE CRETACEOUS SEA — A GLIMPSE OP THE REPTILIAN AGE — REMINISCENCES OP ALLIGATOR-SHOOTING — THEY SUGGEST A THEORY, 318-329 XVUl CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXIII. PAOEfU FROM SHERIDAN TO THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS THE COLORADO PORTION OF THE PLAINS THE GIANT PINES — ATTEMPT TO PHOTOGRAPH A BUF- FALO — THINGS GET MIXED THE LEVIATHAN AT HOME A CUAT WITH PROFESSOR COPE TWENTY-SIX-INCH OYSTERS REPTILES AND FISHES OF THE CRETACEOUS SEA, 330-350 CHAPTER XXIV. CONTINUED BY COPE THE GIANTS OP THE SEAS TAKING OUT FOSSILS IN A GALE — INTERESTING DISCOVERIES — THE GEOLOGY OP THE PLAINS, 351-365 CHAPTER XXV, A SAVAGE OUTBREAK — THE BATTLE OP THE FORTY SCOUTS — THE SUR- PRISE — PACK-MULES STAMPEDED — DEATH ON THE ARICKEREE THE MEDICINE MAN A DISMAL NIGHT — MESSENGERS SENT TO WALLACE MORNING ATTACK WHOSE FUNERAL ? RELIEF AT LAST THE OLD scout's DEVOTION TO THE BLUE, 366-376 CHAPTER XXVI. THE STAGE DRIVERS OF THE PLAINS — "OLD BOB " — JAMAICA AND GIN- GER — AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE BEADS OF THE PAST — ROBBING THfi DEAD A LEAF FROM THE LOST HISTORY OF THE MOUND BUILDERS INDIAN TRADITIONS — SPECULATIONS ADOBE HOUSES IN A RAIN CHEAP LIVING WATCH TOWERS, 377-386 CHAPTER XXVII. OUR PROGRAMME CONCLUDED — FROM SHERIDAN TO THE SOLOMON — FIERCE WINDS — A TERRIFIC STORM SHAMUS' BLOODY APPARITION AND INDIAN WITCH — A RECONNOISSANCE — AN INDIAN BURIAL GROVE — A contractor's daring and ITS PENALTY — MORE VAGABONDIZING — CONTENTS. XIX sHAMUS TREATS US TO "CHILK" THE RESULT, .... 387-395 CHAPTER XXVIII. THE BLOCK-HOUSE ON THE SOLOMON HOW THE OLD MAN DIED — WACONDA DA LEGEND OF WA-BOG-AHA AND HEWGAW SABBATH MORNING sachem's POETICAL EPITAPH AN ALARM BATTLE BETWEEN AN EMIGRANT AND THE INDIANS WAS IT THE SYDNEYS ? — TO THE RESCUE AN ELK HUNT ROCKY MOUNTAIN SHEEP NOVEL MODE OF HUNTING TURKEY'S IN CAMP ON THE SOLOMON A WARM WEL- COME, 396-415 CHAPTER XXIX. OUR LAST NIGHT TOGETHER THE REMARKABLE SHED-TAIL DOG HE RESCUES HIS MISTRESS, AND BREAKS UP A MEETING A SKETCH OP TERRITORIAL TIMES BY GRIPE MONTGOMERY'S EXPEDITION FOR THE RESCUE OF JOHN BROWN'S COMPANIONS SCALPED, AND CARTING HIS OWN EPITAPH AN IRISH JACOB "SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST" sachem's POETICAL LETTER POPPING THE QUESTION ON THE RUN 416-428 CONTENTS OF APPENDIX. PA0E8. PBKLIMI.NAIIY TO THE APPENDIX, , . 431, 432 CHAPTER FIRST. COME TO THE GREAT WEST — SHOULD THERE NOT BE COMPULSORY EMI- GRATION "get a GOOD ready"- — HOMESTEAD LAWS AND REGULA- TIONS — THE STATE OF KANSAS THE COST OF A FARM A FEW MORE PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS, 433-450 CHAPTER SECOND. HUNTING THE BUFFALO — ANTELOPE HUNTING ELK HUNTING — TURKEY HUNTING — GENERAL REMARKS — WHAT TO DO IF LOST ON THE PLAINS — THE NEW FIELD FOR SPORTSMEN 451-463 CHAPTER THIRD. "by THE MOUTH OF TWO OR THREE WITNESSES" — THE GRH.f.T WEST — FALL OF THE RIVERS THE PRINCIPAL RIVERS A\n VALLEYS OF BUFFALO LAND — THE VALLEY OF THE PLATTE — THE SOLOMON VND SMOKY HILL RIVERS THE ARKANSAS RIVER AND ITS TRIBUTARIES — STOCK RAISING IN THE GREAT WEST— THE CATTLE HIVE OF NORTH AMERICA THE CLIMATE OF THE PLAINS — CLIMATIC CHANGES ON THE PLAINS — THE TREES AND FUTURE FORESTS OF THE PLAINS — THE SUPPLY OF FUEL DISTRICTS CONTIGUOUS TO THE PLAINS THE VAL- LEYS OF THE WHITE EARTH AND NIOBRARA NEW MEXICO: ITS SOIL, CLIMATE, RESOURCES, ETC. THE DISAPPEARING BISON THE FISH WITH LEGS THE MOUNTAIN SUPPLY OF LUMBER FOR THE PLAINS, 465-503 (XX) LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. F»'0»» Original Drawings by Henry Worrall, and Actual Photographs. The Engraving by the Bureau of Ultistration, Buffalo, N. T. PAQl Frontispiece, Facing Title Paob Alaskan Lovers — Sealing the Contract, 27 Alaskan Game op Old Sledge, 27 "Waukarusa," 33 " Toasts his Moccasined Feet by the Fire," 33 The Professor — A Remarkable Stone, 39 Tammany Sachem — Prospective and Retrospectivb, .... 39 Colon and Semi-colon, *3 David Pythagoras, M. D., *3 One op the Muggses, "f^ Shamus Dobeen — His Card, 53 Hon. T. Gripe (Beatified), 53 "Sperit, Gentlemen!" 57 Our First Bird-Shooting, 67 Judge Lynch — His Court T^ Unnaturalized ®^ '> Naturalized, • ^^ (x.xi) XXll LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. "YOC'VK RiLKD THAT BuOOk" — An OlD FaBLB MODERNIZED, Dog Town — Tue Happy Family, Indian Rock — Fuom a Photograph, Mushroom Rock — From a Photograph, . Fire on the Plains, accouding to Novels, Fire on the Plains, as it is, . •'And Erin's Son Christens those Far-off Points of the Pacifio road with his Blood," .... Gentle Zephyrs — Going off without a Drawback, '•Looked like the End of a Tail," The Rare Old Plainsman of the Novels, Wild Bill — From a Photograph, . Buffalo Bill — From a Photograph, OcR Horses Run Away with Us, •The Pipe of Peace — The Professor's Dilemma, White Wolf at Home, The Wild Denizens of the Plains, Smashing a Cheyenne Black-Kettle, Midnight Serenade on the Plains, Going after Ammunition, .... Battle between Chbyennes and Pawnees, One of our Specimens — Photographed by J. Lee Knight, Topeka, Wanton Destruction op Buffalo, Embracing Daily, for Fun, .... 300 A Day for Pleasure, For Excitement, .... 100,000 for Tongues, . 2,000,000 for Robes, to get Whiskt, Due Out, Taking and Being Taken, Developing — One of the First Families, The Sea which once Covered the Plains, Waoonda Da — Great Spirit Salt Spkisg, Rail- riea 96 96 105 1C5 115 115 127 133 137 137 147 147 157 1G7 172 197 219 227 259 271 301 315 315 315 315 31.- 329 335 348 357 399 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. xxiii More of our Specimens (Puotographed by J. Lee Knight), Embracing: Peairie Chickens, 413 Head of an Elk, ... 413 Wild Tubket, .... . . . . , 413 bSAYER, ......... 413 BUFFALO LAND. so ^ ^ 9 ... ^, . • . » CHAPTER I. THE OBJECT OF OUR EXPEDITION — A GLIMPSE OF ALASKA THROUGH CAPTAIN WALRUS* GLASS WE ARE TEMPTED BY OUR RECENT PURCHASE ALASKAN GAME OF "OLD SLEDGE " THE EARLY STRUGGLES OP KANSAS THE SMOKY HILL TRAIL INDIAM HIGH ART — THE " BORDER-RUFFIAN," PAST AND PRESENT — TOPEKA HOW IT RE- CEIVED ITS NAME WAUKARUSA AND ITS LEGEND. THE great plains — the region of country in Avhicli our expedition sojourned for so many months — is wikler, and by far more interesting, than those soli- tudes over which the Egyptian Sphynx looks out. The latter are barren and desolate, while the former teem with their savage races and scarcel}" more savage beasts. The very soil which these tread is written all over with a history of the past, even its surface giving to science wonderful and countless fossils of those ages when the world was young and man not yet born. At first, it was rather unsettled which way the steps of our party would turn ; between unexplored territory and that newly acquired, there were several fields open which promised much of interest. Orig- inally, our company numbered a dozen; byt Alaska tempted a portion of our savans, and to the fishy and frigid maiden they yielded, drawn by a strange predi- lection for train-oil and seal meat toward the land of (25) 2G BUFFALO LAND. furs. For the remainder of our party, however, life under the Ahiskan's tent-pole had no charms. Our decision may have been influenced somewhat by the seafaring man with whom our friends were to sail. : The .real; iiame of this son of Xcptune was Samuels, ' but o'Llr: party called him, as it savored more of salt wat'er,' 'Captaili A^^alrus, of the bark Harpoon. This worthy, at'cor'd'ih^' to his own statement, had been born on a whaler, weaned among the Esquimeaux, and, moreover, had frozen off eight toes "trying to winter it at our recent purchase." He evidently dis liked to have scientific men aboard, intent on studying eclipses and seals. "A heathenish and strange people are the Alaskans," Walrus was wont to say. "What is not Indian is Russian, and a compound of the latter and aboriginal is a mixture most villainous. One por- tion of 'the partnership anatomy takes to brand}'^, while the other absorbs train-oil, and so a half-breed Alaskan heathen is always prepared for spontaneous combus- tion, and if rubbed the wrong way, flames up instantly. He is always hot for murder, and if you throw cold water on his designs, his oily nature sheds it." And many a yarn did the captain spin concerning their strange customs. Sealing a marriage contract consisted in the warrior leaving a fat seal at the hole of the luit, where his intended crawled in to her home privileges of smoke and fish. Their favorite game was "okl sledge," played with prisoners to shorten their captivity. All this, and much more, probably equally true, we had picked up of Alaskan history, and at one time our chests had been packed for a voyage on the Har- poon; but at the final council the west carried it .v,.-,^ w I c c « c <■ <■ c o t t I 1 t t I < t roc <' T>T T7iT:irvT-\T/-i tr a tvtci i i-i " BLEEDING KANSAS. 29 against the north, and our steps were directed toward the setting sun, instead of the polar star. The expedition afforded unexcelled facilities for seeing Buffalo Land. It was composed of good ma- terial, and pursued its chosen path successfully, though under difficulties which would have turned back a less determined party. ]Vone of our company, I trust, will consider it an unwarrantable license which recounts to others the personal peculiarities and mistakes about which we joked so freely while in camp. It was generally un- derstood, before we parted, that the adventures should be common stock for our children and children's children. Why should not the great public share in it also ? Let the reader place before him a checker-board, and allow it to represent Kansas, whose shape and outline it much resembles ; the half nearest him will stand for the eastern or settled portion of the State, of which the other half is embraced in Buffalo Land proper. It is with the latter that we have first to do, as with it Ave first became acquainted. Our party entered the State at Kansas City, and took the cars for Topeka, its capital. During our morning ride through the valley of the Kaw, memory went backward to the years when "Bleeding Kan- sas " was the signal-cry of emancipation. When gray old Time, a decade and a half ago, was writing the his- tory of those bright children of Freedom, the united sisterhood, a virgin arm reached over his shoulder, and a fair young hand, stained with its own life- 30 BUFFALO LAND. blood, wrote on the page toward which all the world was gazing, " I am Kansas, latest-born of America. I would be free, yet they would make me a slave. •Save me, my sisters ! " The great heart of our nation was sorely distressed. Conscience pointed to one path — Policy, that rank hypocrite, to another. And so it was that the young queen, with her grand domain in the West, struggled forward to lay her fealty at the feet of our great mother, Liberty. She made a body-guard of her own sons, and their number was quickly swelled by brave hearts from the north, cast, and west. The new territory, begging admission as a State, became a battle-ground. Slavery had reached forth its hand to grasp the new State and fresh soil, but the mutilated member was drawn back with wounds Vvhich soon reached, cor- ru[)ted and destroyed the body. In this land of the Far West a nation of young giants had been suddenly developed, and Kansas was forever won for freedom. But there was yet another enemy and another dan- ger. Westward, toward Colorado, the savage's toma- hawk and knife glittered, and struck among the affrighted settlements. Ad Asfra per Aspera, " to the stars through difliculties," the State exclaims on the seal, and to the stars, through blood, its course has been. Those old pages of liistor}^ are too bloody to be brought to light in the bright present, and we purpose turning them only enough to gather what will be now of practical use. Kansas suffered cruelly, and brooded over her wrongs, but she has long since struck hands with her bitterer foe. Most of the "Border THE SMOKY HILL TEAIL. 31 Kuffians " ripened on gallows trees, or fell by the sword, years ago. A few, however, are yet spared, to cheer their old age by riding around in desolate M'oods at midnight, wrapped in damp nightgowns, and masked in grinning death-heads. Although the mists of shadow-land are chilling their hearts, yet those organs, at the cry of blood, beat quick again, like regimental drums, for action. The Kaw or the Kansas River, the valley of which we were traversing, is the principal stream of the State — in length to the mouth of the Republican one hundred and fifty miles, and above that, under the name of Smoky Hill, three hundred miles more. The " Smoky Hill trail " is a familiar name in many an American home. It was the great Califor- nia path, and many a time the demons of the plain gloated over fair hair, yet fresh from a mother's touch and blessing. And many a faint and thirsty trav- eler has flung himself with a burst of gratitude on the sandy bed of the desolate river, and thanked the Great Giver of all good for the concealed life found under the sand, and with the strength thus sucked from the bosom of our much-abused mother, he has pushed onward until at length the grand mountains and great parks of Colorado burst upon his delighted vision. About noon we arrived' at Topeka, the capital, well situated on the south bank of the river, having a comfortable, well-to-do air, which suggests the quiet satisfaction of an honest burgher after a morning of toil. The slavery billow of agitation rolled even thus far from beyond the border of the state. Armed men 32 BUFFALO LAND. rode over the beautiful prairies, some east, some west — one band to transj^lant slavery from the tainted soil of Missouri, another to pluck it up. A small party of Free State men settled upon this beautiful prairie. South flowed the Waukarusa, south and east the Shunganunga, and west and north the Kaw or Kansas. Here thrived a bulbous root, much loved by the red man, and here lazy Potta- watomies gathered in the fall to dig it. In size and somewhat in shape, it resembled a goose egg, and had a hard, reddish brown shell, and an interior like damaged dough. The Indian gourmands ate it greedily and called it "Topeka." From the two or three families of refugee Free State men the town grew up, and from the Indian root it took its name. Its christening took place in the first cabin erected, and it is reported that a now prominent banker of the town stood sponsor, with his back against the door, refusing any egress until the name of his choice was accepted. It is even affirmed that one opposing city founder was pulled back by his coat-tail from an attempted escape up the wide chimney. The old Indian love of commemorating events by significant names is well illustrated in Kansas. One example may be given here. Waukarusa once op- posed its swollen tide to an exploring band of red men. Now, from time beyond ken, the noble savage has been illustrious for the ingenuity with which he lays all disagreeable duties upon the shoulders of the patient squaw. He may ride to their death, in free wild sport, the bison multitudes ; but their skins " WAUKARUSA. "TOASTS IIK MOCCASINICD ll.hl !.'> lltK I"IRE. " WAUKARUSA.'' 35 must be converted into marketable robes, and the flesh into jerked meat, by the ugly and over-worked partner of his bosom. While she pins the raw hide to earth, and bends patiently over, fleshing it with horn hatchet for weary hours, the stronger vessel, his abdominal recesses wadded with buffalo meat, toasts his moccasined feet by the fire, fills his lungs with smoke from villainous killikinick, and muses sooth- ingly of white scalps and haji^iy hunting grounds. Ox-like maiden, happy " big injun ! " you both be- long to an age and a history well nigh past, and let us rejoice that it is so. But to return to the band long since gathered into aboriginal dust whom we left pausing on the banks of the Waukarusa. " Deep water, bad bottom ! " grunted the braves, and, nothing doubting it, one lov- ing warrior pushed his wife and her pony over the bank to test the matter. From the middle of the tide the squaw called back, "Waukarusa" (thigh deep), and soon had gained the opposite bank in safety. Then and there the creek received its name, " Waukarusa." We procured a remarkable sketch, in the well known Indian style of high art, commemorative of this event. It has always struck us that the savage order of drawing resembles very much that of the ancient Egyptian — except in the matter of drawing at sight, with bow or rifle, on the white man. CHAPTER II. i CHAPTBE OF INTRODUCTIONS — PROFESSOR PALEOZOIC — TAMMANY SACHEM — DOOTOK PYTHAGORAS — GENtllNB MUGGS — COLON AND SEMI-COLON — SHAMUS DOREEN — TKNACIODS GRIPE — BUGS AND PHILOSOPHY — HOW GRIPE BECAME A REPUBLICAN. WHEN permission was given me to draw upon the journal of our trip for such material as I might desire, it was stipulated that the camp-names should be adhered to. A company on the plains is no respecter of persons, and titles which might have caused offense before starting were received in good part, and worn gracefully thenceforward. Our leader, Professor Paleozoic, ordinarily existed in a sort of transition state between the primary and tertiary formations. He could tell cheese from chalk under the microscope, and show that one was fidl of the fossil and the other of the living evidences of animal life. A worthy man, vastly more troubled with rocks on the brain than "rocks" in the pocket. Learning had once come near making him mad, but from this sad fate he was happily saved by a somewhat Pickwickian blunder. While in Kansas, some years since, he penetrated a remote portion of the wilderness, where, as he was happy in believing, none but the native savage, or, possibly, the prime- val man, could ever have tarried long enough to leave any sign behind. Inuigine his astonishment and (36) A PICKAVICKIAN BLUNDER. 37 deliglit, therefore, when from the tangled grass he drew an upright stone, with lines chiseled on three sides and on the fourth a rude fio-ure resemblin<2: more than any thing else one of those odd fictions which geologists call restored specimens. On a ledge near were huge depressions like foot-prints. They were foot-prints of birds, no doubt, and quite as per- fect as those found in more favored localities, and from which whole skeletons had been constructed by learned men. Both specimens were forwarded to, and at the expense of, noted savans of the East. Our professor called the pillar from the tangled grass an altar raised by early races to the winds. The short lines, 'he suggested, designated the ditferent points of the compass, while the rude figure was intended for Boreas. Our scientists toward the rising sun met the boxes at the depot, paid charges, and careful draymen bore them to the expectant museum. One hour after, seven wise men might have been seen wending- their wav sorrowfully homeward, with hands crossed meditatively under their coat-tails, and pocket vacuums where lately were modern coins. Grovernment clearly had a case against our professor. Science decided that he had removed a stone telling in surveyors' signs just what section and township it was on. The figure which he had imagined a heathen idea of Boreas w^as the fancy of some sur- veyor's idle moment — a shocking sketch of an im- possible buffiilo. \Vhether the bird-tracks had a common origin, or were hewn by the hatchets of the red man, is a point still under discussion. 38 BUFFALO LAND. A worthy man, as before remarked, was the pro- fessor, full of knowledge, genial in camp, and, having rubbed his eye-tooth on a section stone, geological authority of the highest order. When the professor said a particular rock belonged to the cretaceous for- mation, one might safely conclude that no modern influences had been at work either on that rock or in that vicinity. That question was settled. JS'ext came Tammany Sachem, our heavy weight tind our mystery. Before joining our part}^, he had been a JSTew York alderman, noted for prowess in annual aldermanic clam-bakes at Coney Island. He was wont to exhibit a medal, the prize of such a tournament, on wdiich several immense clams were racing to the griddle, for the honor of being devoured by the city fathers. A green-ribbed hunting coat traversed his rotund- ity, which had the generous swell of a puncheon. His face was reddish, and his nose like a beacon- light against a sunset sky. When you thought him awake, he was half asleep ; when you thought him asleep, he was wide awake. A look of extreme happiness always beamed on his face when mis- fortunes impended. Per contra, successes made him suspicious and morose. New York aldermen haVe always been a puzzle to the nation at large. Per- haps our friend's facial contradictions, put on origin- ally as one of the tricks of the trade, had become chronic from long usage. We have since learned that the sachems of Tammany laugh the loudest and joke the most freely when under affliction. When I was ap^^ointed editor, the Sachem volun- H X W "d pa O 11 M !/) O PC ;!3 PI > f H O 2 H > s s > z >< (« > o X m S o >T3 W O c PI 50 O e« PI r, H < PI / ■"^I*,-, CUPID AND CLAMS. 4l teered as local reporter. Many of the items he gathered are entered in our log-book in rhyme, and to these pages some of them are transferred verba- tim. In wooing the muses, our alderman certainly acted out of character. The ideal poet is thin in- stead of obese, and he is a reckless innovator who lays claim to any measure of the divine afflatus without possessing either a pale face, thin form, or a garret. As to what drove a JN'ew York alderman to the society of buffaloes, we had but one explanation, and that was Sachem's own. We knew that he dis- liked women in every form, Sorosis and Anti-Sorosis, bitter and sweet alike. According to his statement, made to us in good faith, and which I chronicle in the same, Cupid had once essayed to drive a dart into Sachem's heart, but, in doing so, the barb also struck and wounded his liver. As his love increased, his health failed. His liver became affected in the same ratio as his heart. This was touching our alderman in a tender spot. Imagine a ]^ew York city father without digestion ; what a subject of scorn he would become to his constituency! Our alderman fled from Cupid, clams, and his beloved Gotham, and sought health and buffalo on the plains of Kansas. As he remarked to us pathetically: "A good liver makes a good husband. Indigestion frightens con- nubial bliss out of the window. Pills, my boy, pills is the quietus of love. If you wish Cupid to leave, give him a dose of 'em. The liv^er, instead of the heart, is at the bottom of half the suicides." Doctor Pythagoras in years was fifty, and in stature 42 BUFJFALO LAND. short. His favorite theory was "development," and this he carried to depths which would have astonished Darwin himself. How humble he used to make us feel by digging at the roots of the family tree until its uttermost fiber lay between an oyster and a sponge ! (Rumor charged him with waiting so long for diseases to develop, that his patients developed into spirits.) While he indorsed Darwin, however, he also admired Pythagoras. The latter's doctrine of metempsychosis he Darwinized. In their transmigration from one body to another, souls developed, taking a higher or- der of being with each change, until finally fitted to enter the land of spirits. The soul of a jack-of-all- trades was one which developed slowly, and picked up a new craft with each new body. Like Pythag- oras, he remembered several previous bodies which his soul had animated, among others that of the orig- inal Rarey, who existed in Egpyt some centuries be- fore the modern usurper was born. If souls proved entirely unworthy during the probationary or human period, they were cast back into the brute creation to try it over again. To this class belonged prize-fight- ers. Congressmen, and the like. With them the past was a blank — an unsuccessful problem washed from the slate. The doctor had a hobby that a vicious horse was only a vicious man entered into a lower or- der of being. To demonstrate this he had traveled, and still persisted in traveling, on eccentric horses, for the purpose of reasoning with them. But his Egyptian lore had been lost in transmission, and his falls, kicks, and bites became as many as the moons which had passed over his head. > x: H X > o o > till. THE MUGGSES. 45 Genuine Miiggs was an Englishman. The an- tipodes of Tammany Sachem, who woukl not believe any thing, Muggs swallowed every thing. He had already absorbed so much in this way that he knew all about the United States before visiting it. Given half a chance, he would undoubtedly have told the sava2;e more about the latter's habits than the ab- origine himself knew. It was positively impossible for him to learn any thing. His round British body was so full of indisputable facts that another one would have burst it. In the Presidential alphabet, from Alpha Washington to Omega Grant, he knew all of our rulers' tricks and trades, and understood better the crooked ways of the White House than our own talented Jenkins. British phlegm incased his soul, and Briti.-^h leather his feet. From heel to crown he was com- pletely a Briton. His mutton-chop whiskers came just so far, and the h's dropped in and out of his ut terings in a perfectly natural way. In the Briton's alphabet, Sachem used to remark, the / is so big that it is no wonder the H is often crowded out. Muggs was a fair representative of the average Eno-lishman who has traveled somewhat. The eve- teeth of these persons are generally cut with a slash, and they are forever after sore-mouthed. For a maiden effort they never suck knowledge gently in, but attempt a gulp which strangles. The conse- quence of this hasty acquiring is a bloated condition. The partly-traveled Briton seems, at first acquaint- ance, full and swollen with knowledge ; but should 46 BUFFALO LAND. the student of learning apply the prick, the result ob- tained will generally prove to be — gas. Over our great country, some of the family of Muggs meet one at every turn. Often they scurry along solitarily, but occasionally in groups. In the former case they are unsocial to every body — in the latter to every body except their own party. The bliss which comes from ignorance must be of a thor- oughly enjoyable nature, for the Muggses certainly do enjoy themselves. The}'^ will pass through a coun- tr}', remaining completely uncommunicative and self- wrapped, and know less of it after six months' traveling than an American in two. The professor says he has met them in the lonely parks of the Rocky Mount- ains and in the fishing and hunting solitudes of the Canadas. If they have been an unusually long time without seeing a human being, they may possibly catch at an eye-glass and fling themselves abruptly into a few remarks. But it is in a tone which says, plainer than words, "No use in your going any further, man; I have absorbed all the beauties and knowledge of this locality." It is a rare treat to see a coach delivered of Muggs at a country inn. " Hi, porter, look hout for my lug- gage, you know. Tell the publican some chops, rare, and lively now, and a mug of hale, and, if I can 'ave it, a room to myself." If the latter request is granted, and you are inquisitive enough to take a peep, you may see Muggs sturdily surveying himself in the glass, and giving certain satisfied pats to his cravat and waistcoat, as if to satisfy them that they covered a Briton. Could the mirror which reflects ONE OF THE MUGGSES. C C c COLON SENIOR. 49 his face also reflect his thoughts, they would read about as follows : " Muggs, you are a Briton, and this hotel must be made aware of the fact. Whatever you do, be guilty of no un-English act while in this outlandish land. Your skin is now full of knowl- edge, and let not other travelers, like so many mos- quitoes, suck it from you. Your forefathers blessed their eyes and dropped their h's, and so must you." And perhaps by this time, if the chops have arrived, he dines in seclusion and, by so doing, loses a fund of information which his fellow-travelers have obtainefl by common exchange. Again on the way, Muggs nestles in a corner ot the coach and acts strictly on the defensive, indig- nantly withdrawing his square-toed, thick-soled Eng- lish shoes, should neighboring feet attempt to hob- nob with them. On a trip through Buffalo Land, however, it is difficult for one of her Britannic Maj- esty's subjects to maintain the national dignity. But this fact Genuine Muggs — our Muggs — evidently did not know. Had he known it, he would never have gone with us in the world. 49 Another of our party rejoiced in the appellation of " Colon." He obtained this title because his eccen- tric specialities of character several times came very near putting if not a full stop, at least the next thing to it, upon the particular page of history which our party was making. Longitudinally, Mr. Colon was all of five feet eleven ; in circumference, perhaps a score or so of inches. He possessed a fair share of oddities, and what is better an equally fair one of dol- lars. The hemispheres of his philanthropic brain 50 BUFFALO LAND. seemed equally pre-empted by philosophy and bugs. Engaging in some immense work for the ameliora- tion of mankind, he would pursue it with ardor, dwell upon it with unction, and then suddenly leave it, half finished, to capture a rare spider. Philosophy and Entomology had constant combat for Colon, and vic- tory tarried with neither long enough for the seat of war to be cultivated and blossom with any lux- uriance. At the time he joined our party one of his grandest charitable projects had lately died in a very early period of infancy, entirely supplanted in his aifections for the time being by the prospect of a chase after Brazilian insects. During our journey it was no uncommon thing for us to see his thin form all covered with bugs and reptiles, which had crawled out of the collecting boxes carried in his pockets. If this meets our friend's eye, let him bear no malice, but reflect, in the language of his own invariable answer to our remonstrances, " It can't be helped." Should the public parade of his faults be disagreea- ble, he can suffer no more from them now than we did in the past, and may perhaps call them into closer quarters for the future. Mr. Colon's son, of two years less than a score, we dubbed Semi-colon, as being a smaller edition, or to be exact, precisely one-half of what the senior Colon was. So perfect was the concord of the two that the iunior had fallen into a chronic and to us amusinc: habit of answering " Ditto " to the senior's expressions of opinion. Divide the father's conversation by two, add an assent to every thing, and the result, socially considered, would be the son. It may readily be seen, DOBEEN AND GRIPE. 51 therefore, why the professor for short shoukl call him, as he nearly always did, " Semi." Shamus Dobeen, our cook and body-serA^ant, accord- ing to his own account, was the child of an impov- erished but noble Irish family. Indeed, we doubt if any Irishman was ever promoted from shovel laborer to body-servant without suddenly remembering that he was "descinded" from a line of kings. At the time Shamus was added to the population of Ireland, the patrimonial estate had dwindled down to a peat bog. As this soon " petered out," Shamus went from the exhausted moor into the cold world. He had been by turns expelled jDatriot, dirt disturber on new railroads, gunner on a Confederate cruiser, and high private in a Union regiment. The position of gunner he lost by touching off a piece before the muzzle had been run out, in consequence of which part of the vessel's side went off suddenly with the gun. Captured, he readily became a Union soldier, and could, without doubt, have transformed himself into a Cheyenne, or a Patagonian, had occasion for either ever required. While in Topeka, our party made the acquaintance of Tenacious Gripe, a well-known Kansas politician, and who attached himself to us for the trip. Every person in the State knew him, had known him in territorial times, and would know him until either the State or he ceased to be. Flung headlong from somewhere into Kansas dur- ing the "border ruffian" period, he would probably have passed as rapidly out of it had he been allowed to do so peaceably. But as the slavery party en- 52 BUFFALO LAND, deavored to push him, he concluded to stick. At that particular time, he was a moderate Democrat or conservative Republican, and consequently had no particular princij^les. But the slavery party sup- posed he had, and to them accordingly he became an object of suspicion. They assumed the aggres- sive, and he at once resolved into a staunch Repub- lican. Had the latter first struck him, he would have been as staunch a Democrat. And Gripe has never known how near he came to being the latter. The Republicans had just decided to order him out of the state as a border ruffian spy, when the Demo- crats took action and did so for his not being one. Those were troublous times. He went to the front at once in the antislavery ranks, and has stayed there ever since. Sore-headed men are apt to become famous. There were those in our late war who were kicked by adversity into the very arms of Fame. Our friend had been in both the upper and lower houses of the State Legislature, and had rolled Con- gressional logs, moreover, until he was hardly happy without having his hands on one. X > c O X M W n > :i:Hi;'9';t;|M||ii|||i|ii||||iili|l]l|| iciliili'.iiilii.a 'll»i«;|i|r,ii' ■" liii X o •z o ■ 2 m a CHAPTER III. rna topeka auctioneer — muqgs gets a bargain — cynocephalus — indian boh- MER IN KANSAS — HUNTING PRAIRIE CHICKENS DUE FIRST DAY's SPORT. WE had three or four days to spend in Topeka, as it was there that we were to purchase our outfit for the buffalo region. With the latter purpose in view, we were wandering along Kansas Avenue the next morning, when a horseman came furi- ously down the street, shouting, at the top of his lungs, " Sell um as he wars liar ! " Semi hastily re- treated behind Mr. Colon, thinking it might be a Jayhawker, while the professor adjusted his glasses. Muggs said the individual reminded him of the famous charge at Balaklava. Muggs had never seen Balaklava, but other Englishmen had, which an- swered the same purpose. The equestrian proved to be a well-known auc- tioneer of Topeka, who may be discovered at almost any time tearing through the streets on some spavined or bow-legged old cob, auctioneering it off as he goes. His favorite expression is, " I '11 sell um as he wars har." What particular selling charm lies concealed in this announcement even Gripe could not tell. Sachem thought that possibly he had been brought up at some exposed frontier post, where, on account of Indian prejudices, wearing hair is a rare luxury. (55) 66 BUFFALO LAND. To say there that a man was still able to comb his own scalp-lock denoted an extraordinary state of physical perfection. Expressions of praise for hu- mans are often applied to horses, and so, perhaps, the one in question. " I have heard," quoth our alderman, in support of this assertion, " Fitz say of a belle, at a charity ball, what a 'bootiful cweature; and I have heard him, the day after, in his stable, say the same thing of his horse." That horse-auction was a sight worth seeing. The crowd collected most thickly on the corner of Kansas Avenue and Sixth Street, and before it the cob came to a stand. And it was a stand — as stiff and pain- ful as that of a retired veteran put on dress parade. The limbs would have had full duty to perform in supporting the carcass alone, which had evidently been in light marching order for years past. The additional weight of the auctioneer must certainly have proved altogether too much, had not the horse heard, for the first time, of the wonderful qualities with which he was still endowed. Seeing a whole corner, with gaping mouths, swallow- ing the statement that he was only six years old, reduced by hard work, and could, after three months grass, i:>ull a ton of coal, he would have been a thank- less horse indeed, which could not strain a point, or all his points, for such a rider. And so, when the spurs suddenly rattled against his ribs, the old skin full of bones gave a snort of pain, which the auctioneer called "Sperit, gentlemen ! " 5nd away up the broad avenue he rolled, at a speed which threatened to break the rider's neck, and his 'Pilillllii^//^''- ■'^ '^'■' ^' ' '-^-''''^^' ' ^^^''^''^■<-yf'^-^'^