152 THE PLANTER'S HOUSE. 



was with great satisfaction that I then learned that his 

 father, living at Hanham, near Bristol, had been a con 

 stituent of mine while I represented the Western Divi 

 sion of Gloucestershire in the House of Commons. 



On arriving at the Planter's House I found it a low 

 building of one story, and that my room was therefore 

 on the ground-floor, while, in some storehouses near, 

 George and my dogs obtained very good accommoda 

 tion. Thus, then, I had at last arrived at Kansas city, 

 the extreme point of civilization on this route to the 

 prairies, and with the greatest alacrity I became, not as 

 " Japhet in search of a father," but as an English hunter 

 in search of and most anxious to obtain not only seven 

 good mules, but three able and active horses, fast enough 

 to carry fourteen stone up to a bison going at the top of 

 his speed, and a pony from whose back, while on the 

 march, I might obtain all the smaller game that chance, 

 or " Chance/' indeed, might enable me to discover. 



