52 NOTES TAKEN. 
companion plead his inability to swim, as a reason for not 
taking the lead in crossing, so I was obliged to precede. © 
All would have gone well, had not my horse commenced 
floundering the moment his feet touched the soft clay at the 
bottom. In we went up to the neck, and whilst struggling 
to keep heads above water, what should I hear but a stanza 
of the Blue Moselle, quietly hummed by the imperturbable 
individual on the bank, With a hearty expletive, denouncing 
all sentiment, and particularly at such a time, I was fain to 
leave him to his fate, but philanthropy, getting the better of 
temper, I re-crossed and piloted the way to the “ terra firma” 
of the most beautiful prairie we had yet crossed,—the prairie, 
upon the outer edge of which stands Fort Washita, where we 
arrived at sundown, sore, sunburnt and fatigued, to experi-. 
ence all the comfort and pleasure, which unaffected and 
disinterested hospitality could offer and accomplish. 
