JEM GREEN. 189 



discussing their future proceedings. Some of them 

 appeared as simple, frivolous, and changeable as 

 children. One moment, the fascinations of city life 

 were remembered by them with regret, and a deter- 

 mination to return to town was expressed. The 

 great drawback was, that they were without the 

 means of living, once they got there ; and they had 

 no idea of going back poor. One of the party had a 

 visionary idea of some distant country where the 

 Indians were friendly, and as yet untainted by con- 

 tact with the white man. Game, he said, was there 

 plentiful, and prospecting for gold certain to lead to 

 the discovery of rich lodes. The physiognomies of 

 one or two of the listeners expressed doubts whether 

 such things were not too good to be true ; but these 

 were convinced by the narrative of some adven- 

 turer's experience in this favoured land. Some 

 portions of this story might be true ; but assuredly 

 the greater part of it was imaginary. There were 

 great discrepancies in the narrative ; but the yarn 

 had been spun dozens of times before, and stories, 

 like snowballs, gather additions in their progress. 



Jem Green, a powerful man, with a far from 

 attractive cast of countenance, had all the talk to 

 himself ^for more than half-an-hour, during which he 

 kept the floor, only occasionally interrupted by such 

 an interjection as, ' That's so !' or a request for 

 further information. As some appeared doubtful of 

 his tale, he turned to a man well known on the 

 plains, who knew them like a book, old Tom Kemble 



