YOUNG GENTLEMEN OF ST JOSEPH. 351 



While I remained at St Joseph, I was introduced to 

 some very nice young men, high-spirited, and gentleman 

 like withal, as well as to an old frontier huntsman, Mr 

 Davis, who was supposed to know the haunts of every wild 

 thing in that portion of the United States. Mr Davis, 

 according to the information I received, was one of those 

 many instances of being as it were overtaken by good 

 fortune, even after the recipient had made enough to sup 

 ply every moderate want, and had sat himself down, 

 milestone fashion, by the side of the highway of the 

 world, a thing which so frequently happens in the sudden 

 growth of that gigantic country. 



When " St Joe," as the town is familiarly called, was 

 in its infancy, Mr Davis had purchased some land, on 

 which he resided, at a little distance from it, taking occa 

 sional trips into the desert, when one, I conclude, very 

 fine morning, a customer on a large scale walked in, 

 foreseeing that the town was going out of town, and bid 

 for and bought the land at, so to speak, an immense value. 

 Mr Davis consequently again purchased land a little fur 

 ther out, and with his unexpected wealth, not in the least 

 wanting such a residence, built himself a good house, and 

 again sat down, according to -my belief from what I saw 

 of the prosperity of St Joseph, if not in his life, still in 

 that of his immediate successor, to be once more sought 

 by gold. 



On the first Saturday after my arrival at St Joe, Mr 

 Davis having been appealed to as an oracle, Mr Shields 

 (one of those agreeable acquaintances it was my good for 

 tune to meet with) and myself agreed to accompany the 

 old frontier man on a sporting excursion. The spot se 

 lected for "the hunt" was about eight miles' distance 

 from the town, and thither we resolved to proceed in my 



