244 BUFFALO LAND. 



readers toward the rising sun should not clearly un- 



O v 



derstand the old gentleman's meaning, I ought per- 

 haps to explain that, under existing laws, a " Home- 

 steader " can not be absent from his land over six 

 months at any time, without forfeiting his title, and 

 rendering it liable to occupancy by other parties. It 

 was already two days over the allotted period, he 

 said. But the oxen were thin, and he finally de- 

 cided to rest with us until the next morning, and then 

 push forward. 



Flora, the younger daughter, was a blooming West- 

 ern girl of a thoroughly practical turn, and a coun- 

 selor on whose advice the father and sister evidently 

 relied greatly. The Professor assured me confiden- 

 tially that evening, and with much more than his 

 wonted enthusiasm on such a subject, that she pre- 

 ferred the language of the rocks to that of fashion 

 plates. She had even disputed one of his statements, 

 he said, and vanquished him by producing the proof 

 from a well-worn scientific work one of a dozen 

 books carefully wrapped up and stowed away with 

 other goods in the wagon. ^ 



A novel accomplishment which the young lady 

 possessed was that of being an excellent rifle shot, 

 and it afforded us all considerable merriment when 

 she challenged Muggs to a trial of skill, and, produc- 

 ing a target rifle, utterly defeated him. Such a wo- 

 man as that, the Professor said, was safe on the fron- 

 tier; she could fight her own way and clear her 

 vicinity of savages, whenever necessary, as well as 

 any of us. 



We did not wish our emigrant maiden aught but 



