304 HUNTING SPORTS OF THE WEST. 







haps civilly asks to be allowed to look on at the sport, 

 as he had never seen "shooting on the wing:" whilst 

 the other, with a bow that would have been creditable 

 to a Stanhope, a Cavendish, or a Paget, invites you to 

 beat the coverts round his domicile on the morrow, and 

 to dine at "his poor cottage," at two o'clock, an invita-- 

 tion which the former urges you to accept, with- the whis- 

 pered hint that his friend's " sisters are the finest gurls 

 in the section, and his pork first rate !" 



It was with no little regret, that on the llth of Octo- 

 ber, forced away by bad weather, we bade adieu to Elk 

 Grove ; and, turning our backs upon the Far West, were 

 driven by our faithful friend Barns, through a perfect 

 hurrican'e of wet to Chicago. Under such meteorologi- 

 cal auspices, I cannot say that the prairie wore a pleas- 

 ing aspect. Our horses could hardly be brought to face 

 the. pitiless storm a mouse could not have found shel- 

 ter in a dozen miles, and the poor prairie hens, battered 

 by the storm, and flying about in despair, had no leisure 

 to rejoice over the retreat of their worst enemies, our- 

 selves. What must be a^ mid-winter journey on these 

 plains ? the sleigh-borne traveler steering by com- 

 pass across a trackless sea of snow, and through a fog 

 of sleet ! 



In our return down the lakes, we were most fortunate 

 in our vessel the Illinois being a splendid, well-formed, 

 and extremely fast boat, and the captain precisely the 

 character fitted to rule -the crowds of wild customers who 

 frequent his decks. Huge in person, and rough and 

 resolute in manner, though attentive in all essentials to 

 his passengers ; I don't know that anything could be 



