296 WALL STREET AND THE WILDS 



a O 



Suppose they won't go?" 

 "They will go fast enough when you take up 

 your rifle and show them that you mean busi- 



ness." 



I understood this as mere pleasantry and the 

 only Indians who came were Cheyemies who 

 were friendly but showed ignorance of the sign 

 language when I tried to converse with them. 

 There was nothing to cause apprehension and I 

 felt none while there. The Indians always 

 seemed friendly yet about a fortnight later two 

 teamsters were seized by them near Skeleton 

 Creek, tied to their wagons, and burned to death. 



From Skeleton Creek to my home was to be 

 an uninterrupted journey by stage and rail, yet 

 the misfortune of meeting a conductor of my own 

 name on a train near Atchison lengthened my 

 itinerary by a day but gave me a quail hunt over 

 two wonderful dogs, who made it easy for me to 

 bag two score of the birds. 



The straight and narrow path of my journey 

 was again interrupted when at Bureau, Illinois, 

 I saw forty dozen of ducks which had come from 



