808 
KANSAS. 
his dry saying:, would make the longest and most sedate counte¬ 
nance shorten in a smile; and no company of the same number 
could have been found with a more pervading love of fun, and a 
greater fund of good-humor. So, however “dark the cloud, we 
find the silver lining.” 
There is an ever-present indignation at the course of the admin¬ 
istration and its underlings; but with it there is the realization, 
strong as the “ everlasting hills,” that its villany will work its 
own ruin. 
Woodson, Fain, and other “ law-and-order ” men from Lecomp- 
ton, were in camp yesterday. Several of these men have sat in 
their wagon watching us a long time to-day. They tried quite per- 
severingiy to learn who were the tenants of the various tents, and 
“ which was which ” of the prisoners. One of them came into our 
tents without asking permission of the captain, and was ordered 
away several times by the guard before leaving. They appeared 
to feel themselves particularly privileged above other men, and it 
was amusing to see them march along with great nonchalance in 
spite of the sentinel’s cry of “ Halt! ” but it was more so when a 
sudden period was put to their locomotion, as the guard levelled 
his gun at them, and they, with an assumed air of innocent igno¬ 
rance, cried, “ Halt! halt! is it us you are hallooing at ? ” 
Capt. Brown has been ill several days; and, for a day or two, 
delirious. To get the air, he lay out upon the ground in the 
shadow of the tents. Physicians from Lawrence were sent for; 
also provisions. 
Towards evening great preparations for defence were made. 
Large government wagon-bodies were taken from the wheels, and 
placed against the open space between the cabins. They were 
filled with corn, barrels, and sacks. Capt. W. flitted around, as 
though he had the affairs of a continent resting upon his shoulders, 
until the barricades were completed. He also compelled the free- 
state family to vacate their room. He knocked the chinking out 
of the walls and took possession. 
The family went half a mile to their nearest neighbor’s to sleep, 
and every night and morning we had a general move between the 
