CHAPTER XIII 

 FORT SMITH AND THE SOCIAL QUEEN 



SEVERAL times during our river journey I heard refer- 

 ence to an extraordinary woman in the lower country, 

 one who gave herself great airs, put on style, who was 

 so stuck up, indeed, that she had "two pots, one for tea, 

 one for coffee." Such incredible pomposity and arro- 

 gance naturally invited sarcastic comment from all the 

 world, and I was told I should doubtless see this re- 

 markable person at Fort Smith. 



After the return from Buffalo hunt No. 2, and pend- 

 ing arrangements for hunt No. 3, I saw more of Fort 

 Smith than I wished for, but endeavoured to turn 

 the time to account by copying out interesting chap- 

 ters from the rough semi-illegible, perishable manu- 

 script accounts of northern life called " old-timers." 

 The results of this library research work appear under 

 the chapter heads to which they belong. 



At each of these northern posts there were interest- 

 ing experiences in store for me, as one who had read 

 all the books of northern travel and dreamed for half 

 a lifetime of the north; and that was almost daily 

 meeting with famous men. I suppose it would be 

 similar if one of these men were to go to London or 

 Washington and have some one tell him: that gentle 

 old man there is Lord Roberts, or that meek, shy, re- 



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