I 



ACROSS THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS, ETC. 15 



I was not sorry for this, for I felt myself very comfortably 

 situated, and had no wish to take to the road. Mr. P. urged the 

 propriety of our stopping at least another day, and the motion 

 being seconded by his fair daughter, (my favorite,) it was 

 irresistible. 



On the following morning the sun was shining brightly, the 

 air was fresh and elastic, and the roads tolerably dry, so that 

 there was no longer any excuse for tarrying, and we pi'epared 

 for our departure. Our good host, grasping our hands, said 

 that he had been much pleased with our visit, and hoped to see 

 us again, and when I bid good bye to the pretty Miss P., I told 

 her that if I ever visited Missouri again, I would go many 

 miles out of my way to see her and her sisters. Her reply was 

 unsophisticated enough. " Do come again, and come in May 

 or June, for then there are plenty of prairie hens, and you can 

 shoot as many as you want, and you must stay a long while 

 with us, and we'll have nice times; good bye; I'm so sorry 

 you're going." 



April Ath. — I rose this morning at daybreak, and left Mr. N. 

 dreaming of weeds, in a little house at which we stopped last 

 night, and in company with a long, lanky boy, (a son of the poor 

 widow, our hostess,) set to moulding bullets in an old iron 

 spoon, and preparing for deer hunting. The boy shouldered a 

 rusty rifle, that looked almost antediluvian, and off" we plodded 

 to a thicket, two miles from the house. We soon saw about a 

 dozen fine deer, and the boy, clapping his old fire-lock to his 

 shoulder, brought down a beautiful doe at the distance of a full 

 hundred yards. Away sprang the rest of the herd, and I crept 

 round the thicket to meet them. They soon came up, and I 

 fired my piece at a large buck, and wounded the poor creature 

 in the leg ; he went limping away, unable to overtake his com- 

 panions; I felt very sorry, but consoled myself with the reflection 

 that he would soon get well again. 



