Return to 
the 
Boundary of 
Missouri 
— 144— 
was fairly covered with them, and they seemed to 
feel themselves so safe that I could have killed hun- 
dreds of them with the shot barrel of my double- 
barreled weapon. Just at that time, however, I was 
less interested in hunting than in getting out of the 
confounded swamp, for my horse was visibly becom- 
ing exhausted, and I was making barely a mile an 
hour. With trouble and difficulty I finally reached 
what I had thought from a distance to be trees; but it 
turned out to be only tall reeds, and the second half of 
the swamp still lay before me. My horse now would 
not budge for either whip or spur; so I dismounted 
and dragged it after me by the bridle. The water 
sometimes reached to my chest. With slow and meas- 
ured step I moved onward; my dog swam usually in 
the rear of our stately procession. The sun was sink- 
ing when I finally reached the other side of the 
swamp. Before me lay a little chain of hills and on 
my side of them was a little creek with some timber. 
To this I managed to drive my exhausted animals. 
The solitude in which I was so suddenly placed, would 
have much disquieted me at the beginning of the jour- 
ney; but now it had a certain charm for me. I made 
a fire in a somewhat hidden place, and dried myself 
out. The next morning, just as I was eating break- 
fast, a herd of deer visited me. They came quite 
close to me and gazed at me for quite a while; but I 
did not care to take a shot at them, partly because 1 
still had dried meat on hand, and partly because the 
neighborhood is at times frequented by the Pawnees. 
