238 WALL STREET AND THE WILDS 



invented. If we encountered a farmer the con- 

 versation was likely to be: 



"Where's the watermelon patch?" 

 "Just over that rise about a quarter." 

 When dinner time came we stopped at the 

 nearest farmhouse and were welcomed like long- 

 lost brothers. 



From Chicago Ward and I went to St. Louis 

 and bought tickets from there to Caddo, but 

 were persuaded by some car acquaintances to 

 stop at Schell City, Missouri, for a few days. 

 On our first day there our new friends, Messrs. 

 Lansing and Sherburn, took us out in a wagon 

 on the prairie with a boy to drive. It was a day 

 of amusing misadventure. Our wagon was a 

 box with boards laid across it for seats. Ward 

 shot several plover from the wagon and then fir- 

 ing at a passing duck lost his balance and fell flat 

 on his back in the bottom of the box with his legs 

 pointing to the zenith. Our hosts were gentle- 

 men and polite, but I fear I was neither after I 

 found that my friend wasn't hurt. 



Prairie chickens were abundant and Ward 



