300 MEN 1 HAVE FISHED WITH. 



tied up. He plied the whip, and made appropriate re- 

 marks while doing it. Some dog bolted the meat, and the 

 fighting stopped, for there was no pork in sight. The 

 half-breed muttered something, evidently not a prayer, 

 while he put each dog in its place, and on he went in no 

 pleasant mood, and the scene was soon repeated. He 

 was near us this time, and we could see that the second 

 dog won the prize, while the rest had to be contented 

 with a bite of or from his neighbor. It was fun for the 

 dogs and for us, but from what the half-breed said I doubt 

 if he enjoyed it. If he had seen us he might have in- 

 dulged in more oratory, but he had to waste his elo- 

 quence on the dogs. It was fun to do this at that time, 

 because we thought it fun. To-day we wouldn't do it, 

 because there would be no fun in it. Thus we view 

 things at different periods of life. The fire-crackers we 

 shot off half a century ago don't sound as joyful as they 

 did, and we go into the country to avoid them ; so we go. 

 McBride sold our provisions I think there were two 

 barrels of flour and one of pork left and if memory 

 serves he got about $20 per barrel for the flour, and twice 

 that for the pork. Long prices ; but transportation from 

 St. Paul, over one hundred miles away, over a winter 

 road, and no way of getting from St. Louis to St. Paul 

 except by teams when the river was frozen, made things 

 come high. The wagon was sold and a bob sleigh 

 bought, the box filled with straw and blankets, and on 

 December 22 we started for home. Two days later we 

 stopped just outside St. Paul. It did seem good to get 

 in a bed again, but we couldn't stand a room with win- 

 dows closed. We had slept in the pure, cold air too long 

 for that. We left the river at Red Wing, and took the 

 west side, avoiding the hotels in the large towns, stop- 

 ping at country taverns, and we had what Henry called 



