246 BUFFALO LAND. 



the brightest spot upon earth. He would have been 

 content there to court and cook, I think, during the 

 remainder of his natural life. Mary was shy, and 

 Shamus was bold, but it was quite apparent that 

 both enjoyed the situation immensely. 



Although the little party stayed but a day, their 

 departure seemed to leave quite a void in the valley. 

 The most noticeable results to us were some errors in 

 cooking and a slackness in the prosecution of scien- 

 tific investigations. 



Mr. Sydney gave us a hearty invitation to visit 

 him upon the Solomon, if our wanderings took us that 

 way, and our prophetic souls, with a common instinct, 

 told all of us that the Professor would recognize a 

 call of science in that direction. By a look and a 

 smile from a maiden, the Philosopher, deeply sunken 

 in the primary formation, had been drawn to the sur- 

 face of the modern, a result which fashionable society 

 had more than once striven in vain to brins; about. 

 Miss Flora certainly bid fair to become a favorite 

 pupil of his, were the opportunity only offered. 



This maiden of the plains was a new character. 

 The beautiful heroine mentioned in most Western 

 novels as having penetrated the Indian country, is 

 either the daughter of " once wealthy parents," or 

 the heiress of a noble family and stolen by gypsies 

 for reward or revenge. It was the first appearance 

 that I could recall of a farmer's girl in a position 

 where kidnapping Indians and a frantic lover could 

 so easily appear, and by opportune conjunction weave 

 the plot of a soul-harrowing romance. 



Another evening in camp was spent in writing and 



