GEORGE FREDERICK RUXTOX % xiii 



so difficult to eradicate, impelled him across the Atlan- 

 tic. He had for some time been out of health at 

 intervals, and he thought the air of his beloved prairies 

 would be efficacious to work a cure. Tn a letter to a 

 friend, in the month of May last, he thus referred to the 

 probable origin of the evil : 



" I have been confined to my room for man y days, 

 from the effects of an accident I met with in the Rocky 

 Mountains, having been spilt from the bare back of a 

 mule, and falling on the sharp picket of an Indian lodge 

 on the small of my back. I fear I injured my spine, 

 for I have never felt altogether the thing since, and, 

 shortly after I saw you, the symptoms became rather 

 ugly. However, I am now getting round again." 



His medical advisers shared his opinion that he had 

 sustained internal injury from this ugly fall ; and it is 

 not improbable that it was the remote, but real caiise of 

 his dissolution. From whatsoever this ensued, it will 

 be a source of deep and lasting regret to all who ever 

 enjoyed opportunities of appreciating the high and 

 sterling qualities of George Frederick Ruxton. Few 

 men, so prepossessing on first acquaintance, gained so 

 much by being better known. With great natural 

 abilities and the most dauntless bravery, he united a 

 modesty and gentleness peculiarly pleasing. Had he 



