304 HUNTING SPORTS OF THE WEST. 



haps civilly asks to be allowed to look on at the sport, 

 as he had never seen "shooting on the wing:" whilst 

 the other, with a bow that would have been creditable 

 to a Stanhope, a Cavendish, or a Paget, invites you to 

 beat the coverts round his domicile on the morrow, and 

 to dine at "his poor cottage," at two o'clock, an invita- 

 tion which the former urges you to accept, with the whis- 

 pered hint that his friend's " sisters are the finest gurls 

 in the section, and his pork first rate !" 



It was with no little regret, that on the llth of Octo- 

 ber, forced away by bad weather, we bade adieu to Elk 

 Grove ; and, turning our backs upon the Far West, were 

 driven by our faithful friend Barns, through a perfect 

 hurricane of wet to Chicago. Under such meteorologi- 

 cal auspices, I cannot say that the prairie wore a pleas- 

 ing aspect. Our horses could hardly be brought to face 

 the pitiless storm a mouse could not have found shel- 

 ter in a dozen miles, and the poor prairie hens, battered 

 by the storm, and flying about in despair, had no leisure 

 to rejoice over the retreat of their worst enemies, our- 

 selves. What must be a mid- winter journey on these 

 plains? the sleigh-borne traveler steering by com- 

 pass across a trackless sea of snow, and through a fog 

 of sleet ! 



In our return down the lakes, we were most fortunate 

 in our vessel the Illinois being a splendid, well-formed, 

 and extremely fast boat, and the captain precisely the 

 character fitted to rule the crowds of wild customers who 

 frequent his decks. Huge in person, and rough and 

 resolute in manner, though attentive in all essentials to 

 his passengers ; I don't know that anything could be 



