FROM THE STREET TO THE WILDS 237 



Among his customers were railroad men, espe- 

 cially conductors on lines running out of Chi- 

 cago. Conductors owned the railroads in those 

 days and the thought of friends of theirs paying 

 toll on their lines would have sounded the depth 

 of inhospitality. On this earlier trip our party 

 was of four men and two dogs. I am quite sure 

 that not a dollar was expended for railroad fares 

 for not only did Lyons's conductor friends pass 

 us on their own lines but they passed the word 

 to conductors on other lines and nods and smiles 

 on such lines took the place of the usual request 

 for tickets. 



Always we were advised where to stop and 

 always some hospitable home was opened to us 

 with a team and local hunter as driver and guide 

 at our disposal. I remember with especial inter- 

 est our stay at Marshalltown, Iowa, where now 

 is a considerable city. We drove at will over 

 the farms on the prairie, constantly getting out 

 of the wagon as the dogs pointed prairie chick- 

 ens. I am ashamed to think of our massacre 

 of the birds, but conservation had not then been 



