ANTOINE GARDAPEE. 249 



plenty of fresh duck, and we caught a large pike by 

 trolling a minnow. Next day we merely guided our 

 boat down the river and into the Mississippi, and after 

 one more night out the Father of Waters brought us to 

 Dubuque, some eighteen miles below Potosi, where An- 

 toine had a bachelor's cabin and I had dearer ties. 



When we tied up at the wharf at Dubuque and went 

 ashore we met Frank Neaville, and learned that all our 

 loved ones were well. Frank went home that night, and 

 carried the news of our arrival. There were serveral fur 

 buyers about Dubuque, and they came to see us. I was 

 for selling to the first one, but Antoine would not have 

 it. The buyers came down, and handled our furs and bid 

 on them, and finally they were sold for cash one morn- 

 ing. There was a steamer to go up in the afternoon 

 which would run up the Grant River to Potosi. I woufd 

 go on that, but Antoine had struck some Canuck friends 

 and had got drunk, and I did not want to leave him with 

 the chance of his being robbed by those thieves which 

 then infested the river towns, and I went in search of 

 him. I got him on board the boat with one of his friends 

 and gave the steward a good tip to entertain them, and 

 before Antoine knew where he was he found himself 

 ashore at La Fayette, the landing for Potosi, with the 

 major portion of his winter's earnings in his pocket. 



Once during the next summer Antoine came to jne, 

 and made me a proposition to go down in Louisiana and 

 trap next winter. He said that fur was plenty there, and 

 in the spring we would take our skins to St. Paul and 

 sell them to some green fur buyers, who would think 

 they were Northern furs. I did not do it, but will tell 

 you where I went the next winter later on. 



My good friend, Hon. J. W. Seaton, of Potosi, Wis., 

 whom I knew in the days of which I am writing, sends 



