y.

How vast the distances appeared through that clear, sun-illumined
atmosphere, and how pronounced and distinctive were the varied colors
spread to the full vista of the eye, contrasts of shine and shadow no
human brush, however daring, would venture to depict on canvas. A
primitive land this, idealized by distance, vast in its wide, sweeping
plains, its boundless sea, its leagues of glistening sand, and, bending
over all, the deepest, darkest arch of blue that ever mirrored so fair
a picture of the wilderness.

Scattered groups of cottonwood trees, the irregular mounds and ridges
of sand, the silvery ribbon of river, merely emphasized the whole, and
gave new meaning to what might else have been but sheer desert waste.
I knew little then of what other years had seen within these solitudes
and within the circle of my view; yet scraps of border legend came
floating back into memory, until I recalled the name of many an
old-time adventurer,--La Salle, Joliet, Marquette the Jesuit,--who must
have camped beside that very stream out yonder.

The column had halted as our last laggards cleared the gate; and for a
moment we rested in silence upon the side of the slope, while the long
line was being re-arranged for travel. The Indians, in seemingly
disorganized masses, were already enveloping the head of the column
with noisy clamor, and Wells was having difficulty in holding his Miami
scouts to their proper position. A few scattered and skulking
savages,--chiefly squaws, I thought at the time,--were stealthily
edging their way up the slope of the slight rise, eager to begin the
spoliation of the Fort as soon as we had deserted it.

Wild and turbulent as was the scene, I perceived no alarming symptoms
of hostility, and turned toward Mademoiselle with lighter heart. Her
dark eyes were full of suppressed merriment as they encountered mine.

"I thought you would sit there and dream all day," she said pleasantly;
"and I hardly have the heart to blame you. 'T is indeed a fair scene,
and one I almost regret leaving, now that the time to do so has come.
Never before has its rare beauty so strongly appealed to me."

"'T is the great distance outspread yonder which renders all so soft to
the eye," I answered, glad to reflect her mood; "yet Captain de Croix
and I know well 't is far less pleasant travelling over than to look at
here. We think of the swamps, the forests, the leagues of sand and the
swift rivers which will hind