256 MULE-HUNTING EXPEDITION. 
fellow when you understood him), and retiring to 
my inn, determined to enjoy the luxury of a bed 
and a long night-in, having slept on the ground 
since leaving Red Bluffs ; and if the Judge was 
right about the redskins, the chances were con- 
siderably against my ever stretching my limbs 
on another. So, to make the most of it—for a 
start at sun-up and a long ride, added to a 
tedious day, had pretty well fagged me—I retired 
very early, and turned in. 
It really was a lovely bed, just like bathing in 
feathers. I stretched out my limbs until they 
fairly cracked again, and rolled in enjoyment. 
My thoughts were soon wandering ; and visions 
of home, mixed up with mules falling over pre- 
cipices, battles with Indians, an ugly feeling 
round the top of my head, judges, drinks, row- 
dies, all jumbled together in a ghostly medley— 
floated off in misty indistinctness, and I subsided 
into the land of dreams. 
I awoke, with an indistinct idea that I was at 
a ball, with ajigey kind of tune whirling through 
my brain. Pish! | must have been dreaming ; 
so I turned over, and tugged the blankets more 
tightly round my shoulders, vexed that such a 
stupid dream should have awoke me. Hark! 
what on earth is that? ‘ Ladies and gents, take 
