332 MEN I HAVE FISHED WITH. 



compton men called them out to assist them, and that he 

 thought it best to vote. Again the volcano subsided, 

 and a peaceful victory was won at the polls, the Free 

 State men winning every office under the hated Lecomp- 

 ton constitution. The officers elected promptly peti- 

 tioned Congress not to admit Kansas as a State under 

 the present constitution, and the petition being granted 

 it put them all out of office from Governor down. Times 

 were not dull there at that time. 



Warren sold his second claim, and came to live with 

 me. Game was plenty, and from the ridge pole away 

 from the fireplace there was always a turkey or two, some 

 part of a deer and as many prairie chickens as could be 

 used before spoiling. Antelope were plenty, but I killed 

 only one; we preferred venison. Near the timber rab- 

 bits abounded, but we rarely shot them. In summer 

 flocks of screaming paroquets went swiftly through the 

 woods, but boys have been raised since and have no 

 doubt stopped all that. The mourning dove was too 

 common for comfort if one was splitting rails in the 

 woods; its melancholy note only ceased at night. A 

 graceful species of kite sailed over the prairie looking 

 for snakes, and there is a doubt if one of these is left. 

 The only snakes I can remember seeing was a striped 

 one, perhaps the "garter snake," a "blue racer," which, 

 I think, is a form of our common blacksnake, and the 

 small rattlesnake called massasauga, which inhabits 

 prairies, and seldom exceeds two feet in length. 



Occasionally a train of a dozen wagons would pass 

 our cabin going to and from the buffalo ranges, and 

 often left us a quarter of beef, but neither Warren nor I 

 had any desire to go on these hunts. Perhaps it was 

 because everybody else went, and we did not want for 

 fresh meat. In the summer the little prairie wolves could 



