172 THE " LONE TREE." 



which appeared in the form of cannon-balls and of the same 

 colour, and though he called them " Petits pains a la 

 Parisienne " we none of us could eat them ; we therefore very 

 soon sent him back, and installed John, who had been first a 

 pastry-cook and then a prize-fighter, as cook, but not before 

 Billy and Louis had had some rounds, in the course of which 

 the latter was knocked into the fire. 



From Houston we started north for a place called Richmond, 

 getting into trouble on our second night out. There was a 

 landmark going by the name of the "lone tree " standing out 

 on the prairie, away from all timber, which had served as a 

 directing-post for ages. It consisted of a large dead tree, and 

 it stood in what was in wet weather a swamp. On the second 

 evening we found ourselves not far from this tree, with our 

 animals tired and the wheels half buried in the swamp. We 

 managed to reach the tree, which was on a small dry mound, 

 but could get no further, so we had to camp, picketing our 

 animals out round the tree, and making our fire up against it, 

 and also using some of it to burn. There was not room for all 

 of us to sleep on the mound, so some slept in the waggon ; 

 but I was one of the former, and in the night we were awoke 

 by the heat, and found the tree on fire to the top, and it was 

 all consumed when we left it in the morning. 



On hitching up we found the waggon was firmly imbedded, 

 and our team could not move it an inch, so hearing the creaking 

 of wheels on the opposite side of a small rise, we rode there, 

 and found a negro driving four span of oxen to Houston, and 

 promised him five dollars if he would get us out of the swamp, 

 but this he refused to do, telling us that he had no time. As 

 another team might not pass all day, we told him that we 



