SACHEM DISGUSTED. 245 



what she was, and were well pleased with the romance 

 of her visit. For the nonce, she was our queen ; the 

 rough ox-wagon was her throne, and the great plains 

 her ample domain. In sober truth, she might justly 

 challenge our esteem and admiration. Here was one 

 of the gentler sex willing to make divorce of happi- 

 ness, that she might minister to a half-crazed father 

 and mourning sister, and who, for their sake, chose 

 to wander through a country which might at any mo- 

 ment become to them the valley of the shadow of 

 death. In the presence of such heroism, what right 

 had we, though bruised and tired, to complain ? No 

 wonder the Professor took early occasion to tell us 

 that she was a noble woman, an honor to her sex. 



This emigrant wagon, with its wee bit of domestic 

 life, was a pleasant object to all of us out there on the 

 desert, with the single exception of Alderman Sa- 

 chem. That worthy member of our party avoided 

 its vicinity, as if a plague spot had there seized 

 upon the valley. "I did think," he exclaimed, 

 dividing glances that were quite the reverse of com- 

 plimentary between the Professor and Shamus— " I 

 did think that we had got out of the latitude of spoon- 

 ing. We have n't had a digestible mouthful since 

 they came in sight. A love-struck Irishman can 

 neither eat, himself, or let others." 



But Shamus was too happy to heed the remark ; 

 for the first time since starting, he seemed perfectly 

 contented. An Irish girl, the like of Mary, and de- 

 voted enough to follow her old master through such 

 adversity, seemed Dobeen's beau ideal of the lovely 

 and lovable in the sex. The valley became for him 



