EXPENSIVE NIGHT'S LODGING. 169 



we could wish. They gave us a capital dinner, insisting on 

 opening all kinds of canned things, such as peaches, apricots, 

 and pine-apples, besides a number of bottles of Scotch ale. In 

 the morning we fared equally well, and wished him good-bye 

 with effusion, hoping we might have the pleasure of seeing him 

 again, when, to our horror, he presented a bill nearly as long as 

 one's arm, in which every tin and every bottle was entered at 

 a fancy price, our board and lodging for one night coming to 

 close on twenty-nine dollars, or six pounds, more than double 

 what it would have been at the Lindell House at St. Louis. 

 Of course we had to pay, and I remember had to send Billy 

 back for the money, as we had not brought enough with us. 

 I do not wish my readers to take Captain Richardson as a type 

 of a Texan, as he was not so by any means, he, and one other, 

 of whom more by-and-by, being the only two specimens of his 

 class that we met. Texans are generally very hospitable and 

 generous to a fault. 



We found a great many quail almost everywhere, and also 

 grouse, the three of us often getting seventy odd brace of the 

 former in one day, and half that number of the latter. There 

 were in addition always deer to be found, and we often jumped 

 them when after small game. No one seemed to shoot in 

 those days, and deer they seemed to think were not worth 

 eating, and people did not even thank you for a present of 

 venison, living themselves almost entirely on pork. 



As soon as our letters came we fitted out for our trip to 

 Denver, intending to go by way of San Antonio, Fort Mason, 

 and Fort Belknap, but meaning to take our time to San 

 Antonio, as we did not wish to get there till the spring grass 

 was up. Our waggon and mules we decided to get at Hou-ston, 



