An Autumn Outing in Nebraska. 



September 27, 1892, at 4:40 o'clock a. m., found the writer 

 and his better half boarding the limited express of the C. & N. 

 W." R. R. at Ogden, la. We were off for Hastings, Neb., the 

 home of my brother, Dr. J. T. Steele. Our object was three- 

 fold a visit, rest and recreation. For the latter my brother 

 and I had planned to put in all our time behind the dog and 

 gun in pursuit of the little brown beauties. Continuous hard 

 work over the dental chair for the past eight or nine months 

 had nearly worked the life out of me, and for several weeks 

 before starting on my annual trip I had kept myself up on 

 anticipation, and reading brother sportsmen's articles in the pa- 

 pers. I had hungered for months for the good appetite and 

 peaceful sleep that always succeed a tramp behind the dog and 

 gun, in the cool bracing air of an October day on the prairies 

 of the west. 



After fixing ourselves as comfortably as possible, we 

 leaned back in our reclining chairs and tried to finish the morn- 

 ing doze, which had been so sadly broken into by the hotel 

 clerk calling: "Time for the 4:40 train." Shortly after day- 

 light our train pulled into the busy little station of Missouri 

 Valley. Here we changed cars to the E. & M. V., and in ten 

 minutes were speeding up the Missouri bottom. At California 

 Junction our train branched off toward the river, and in a few 

 minutes more had crossed the "Big Muddy," and we were 

 twisting up between the bluffs on the Nebraska side. After 

 crossing the Platte River and getting among the big grain and 

 corn fields, we noticed a change that did not strike my hunter's 

 eye as favorable for shooting. Vegetation looked as if rain 

 were a stranger to it ; the roads and streets were dry and dusty. 

 In approaching a town it could be marked miles ahead of our 

 train by the clouds of dust rising from the streets ; a very dis- 

 couraging and disagreeable combination for quail shooting. 



At 4 o'clock p. m. we arrived at the bright, clean little city 

 of Hastings, and found my brother waiting for us. After a 



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