CHAPTER YI. 



OFF FOB BUFFALO LAND — THE NAVIGATION OF THE KAW — FORT RILET — THE CEN- 

 TKR-POST OF THE UNITED STATES — OUR PURCHASE OP HORSES — " LO " AS a 

 SAVAGE AND AS A CITIZEN — GRIPE UNFOLDS THE INDIAN QUESTION A BALLAD 



NEXT morning we said good-by to hospitable To- 

 peka, and took up our westward way over the 

 Pacific Raih'oad. An ever-repeated succession of 

 valley and prairie stretched away on either hand. 

 To the left the Kaw came down with far swifter cur- 

 rent than it has in its course below, from its far-away 

 source in Colorado. It might properly be called one 

 of the eaves or water-spouts of the great Rocky 

 Mountain water-shed. With a pitch of over five 

 feet to the mile, its pace is here necessarily a rapid 

 one, and when at freshet height the stream is like a 

 mill-race for foam and fury. 



At the junction of the Big Blue we found the old 

 yet pretty town of Manhattan. To this point, in 

 early times, water transit was once attempted. A 

 boat of exceedingly light draught, one of those built 

 to run on a heavy dew, being procured, freight was 

 advertised for, and the navigation of the Kaw com- 

 menced. The one hundred miles or more to Man- 

 hattan Avas accomplished principally by means of the 

 capstan, the boat being " warped " over the number- 

 less shallows. This proved easier, of course — a trifle 



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