CHAPTER XX. 



PRAIRIE FIRES A FALSE ALARM GROUSE AND PARTRIDGES A 



PRETTY CREEK HORSE-STEALING THE PRIMEVAL FOREST WILD 



GEESE, DUCKS, AND TEAL OLD TREES THE WOOD-DRAKE BEAU 

 TIFUL PROSPECT MALLARDS INTELLIGENCE OF BRUTUS NIGHT 



ON THE PRAIRIES ARRIVAL AT ST JOSEPH THE PLANTER'S 



HOUSE AMERICAN HOTEL-KEEPERS BLACKMAN's HOUSE AUDA 

 CIOUS THEFT OF MY BLUE TEAL LIBERTY HALL A BALL IN THE 

 HOTEL A LESSON IN POLITENESS. 



IT was nearly dark when I sat on the seat of my omni 

 bus to dine off a brace of broiled partridges, sardines, 

 and fresh butter, and while I was sipping my sherry the 

 evening closed in calm and hot. With the darkness 

 also appeared no less than nine different prairie fires, 

 two of which were not very far from my camp, and to 

 one of these directly in the eye of the wind I particu 

 larly addressed my attention. Thus encamped on the 

 plains in a dark night these fires have an awful appear 

 ance, but they are not half so dangerous as novelists 

 depict them, or as the vivid minds of some of the 

 Americans themselves would induce you to believe. 

 The grass of the open plains cannot hold a fire long if 



