X THE LATE 



supposing my hair is not lifted by Comanche or Pawnee 

 on the scalping route of the Coon Creeks and Pawnee 

 Fork." 



Poor fellow ! he spoke lightly, in the buoyancy of youth 

 and a confident spirit, of the fate he little thought to meet, 

 but which too surely overtook him not indeed by Indian 

 blade, but by the no less deadly stroke of disease. An- 

 other motive, besides that love of rambling and adventure 

 which, once conceived and indulged, is so difficult to 

 eradicate, impelled him across the Atlantic. 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. In 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 many days, from 

 the effects of an accident I met with in the Rocky Moun- 

 tains, 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 iigly. 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 cause of his dis- 

 solution. From whatsoever this ensued, it mil be a source 

 of deep and lasting regret to all who ever enjoyed oppor- 

 tunities 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. 



