LIFE IN THE FAR WEST 55 



rifle-maker of St Louis,) and bade adieu to the cares and 

 trammels of civilised life. 



However, like a thoughtless beaver-kitten, he put his 

 foot into a trap one fine day, set by Mary Brand, a 

 neighbour's daughter, and esteemed " some punkins," 

 or in other words toasted as the beauty of Memphis 

 County, by the susceptible Mississippians. From that 

 moment he was " gone beaver ; " " he felt queer," he 

 said, " all-over, like a buffalo shot in the lights ; he had 

 no relish for mush and molasses; homminy and johnny 

 cakes failed to excite his appetite. Deer and turkeys 

 ran by him unscathed ; he didn't know, he said, whether 

 his rifle had hind-sights or not. He felt bad, that was 

 a fact ; but what ailed him he didn't know." 



Mary Brand Mary Brand Mary Brand ! the old 

 Dutch clock ticked it. Mary Brand ! his head throbbed 

 it when he lay down to sleep. Mary Brand ! his rifle- 

 lock spoke it plainly when he cocked it, to raise a shaking 

 sight at a deer. Mary Brand, Mary Brand ! the whip- 

 poor-will sang it, instead of her own well-known note ; 

 the bull-frogs croaked it in the swamp, and mosquitoes 

 droned it in his ear as he tossed about his bed at night, 

 wakeful, and striving to think what ailed him. 



Who could that strapping young fellow, who passed 

 the door just now, be going to see ? Mary Brand : 

 Mary Brand. And who can Big Pete Herring be 

 dressing that silver-fox skin so carefully for? For 

 whom but Mary Brand 1 And who is it that jokes and 

 laughs and dances with all the " boys " but him ; and 

 why? 



