90 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTEKS. 



floods saw me amongst their springs. The salt and tumbling 

 Gulf tossed me upon its southern shores, and broad savannahs 

 swelled in my westward course into undulating plains ; and 

 they yet rose, across their wearisome breadth, into tall, 

 rounded hills, that grew apace, with crags upon their heads, 

 until heap upon heap far glinting through the clouds, the 

 pinnacled sharp rocks climbed upwards, and the vast forest 

 of crags spread its white bloomy tops among the stars. 



My restless step was everywhere ; my eager eyes saw all 

 that our great continent could show. The grizzly bear and 

 the tropic bird were equally known to me. The savage 

 trooper and the Mexican slave had been familiars, as well as 

 the fierce bandit, and the stern, simple-hearted hunter. Years 

 of my earlier manhood passed in these erratic wanderings. I 

 had grown familiar with all wild, grotesque and lonely crea- 

 tures that populate those infinite solitudes of nature, " that 

 own not man's dominion." The vision and the passions of 

 my boyhood still haunted me, and the rustling of free wings 

 by my ear yet awakened all pleasant images. 



Now, I felt that I had a right to know and see, face to 

 face, that remarkable man whose deeds and life had so much 

 occupied my imagination — who had so made a living reality 

 out of what had been to me the poetry of life — aye, a poetry 

 which had proved with me, stronger 



" Than stipulations, duties, reverences, 



and driven me far and wide, an April shadow chased before 

 the fitful wind ! 



Should I ever see him ? The eager questioning lived about 

 my heart whenever I heard his name. I returned home, " the 

 prodigal son," my spirit much tamed and chastened ; yet the 

 old leaven fermenting deep beneath the calmer surface. 



My restless steps had not long been still. I became again 

 a traveler. 



Our boat landed one morning about daybreak at Pittsburg 



