4 



Karge as the leader of the party, approached him, and in the 

 mildest tones asked, " Is this a travelling base-ball club, sir?" 

 He was immediately squelched by the stentorian tones of 

 the General, as he replied, "No, sir; this is a circus!" and 

 the General was not far from right, for the whole company 

 afterward proved a source of entertainment to many a native 



of the far West. 



JUNE 23, SATURDAY. 



We arrived early this morning in Chicago, where we were 

 met at the depot by Mr. Hathaway, of the Grand Pacific 

 Hotel, who kindly invited us to partake of a very elegant 

 breakfast given as a compliment to our party. We took our 

 chronometer to the Douglass Observatory and compared it 

 with the standard there, and at 12.30 met the rest of the 

 party (who had separated to visit various points of interest 

 in the city) at the Chicago and Alton depot. We took pos- 

 session of the palace-car " Baltic," and giving three cheers 

 and a rocket for our friends in Chicago, who had gathered 

 at the depot to see us off, we started on our long prairie 

 ride. At twelve o'clock in the evening, as we were approach- 

 ing the bridge at Louisiana, across the Mississippi, a number 

 of us were enjoying the moonlight in the engine-cab, when 

 we saw a sight which curdled our blood. A trackman who 

 had just been paid off was going home intoxicated, and had 

 lain down on the track to sleep. Before we could say a word 

 we were on and over him. We stopped, went back, and 

 found his body, and did what we could for him, but to no 

 avail ; so we left him at a section-house to die. 



JUNE 24, SUNDAY. 



The first rays of light found us rolling along the muddy 

 bottom of the Missouri. The unanimous verdict concern- 

 ing our breakfast at Lexington Junction was that it was " very 

 poor." Soon after leaving this place we encountered a novel 

 experience in railroading. We plunged in water up to the 

 top of the wheels, and moved along at a snail's pace for about 

 a mile and a half, constantly expecting to be stopped by the 

 fires being put out in the engine. We came into Kansas City 

 two hours late. Here we found, to our astonishment, that 

 our baggage-car would not fit the rails of the Kansas Pacific 

 Road, and our whole party had to turn in and transfer our 



