y cocked his rifle and got a bead on the
half-breed before the fellow knew what was up. At the word of command
the rogue dropped his rifle and held up his hands. The next order was to
right-about-face--march! The order was obeyed. A double-quick was
ordered, and the half-breed lit out, quickening his pace as he got out
of range. Hill then picked up the other rifle, put whip to his dogs, and
by night had gone so far that he could not be overtaken. When Jim came
back that way a few weeks later, he kept his eye peeled for danger, but
he never saw his friend again.

When I heard Mr. Hill relate this story he told it as simply as he might
relate how he went out to milk the cows. One of the men present asked,
"Didn't you feel sorry for the fellow, to turn him adrift on that frozen
plain, without food or fuel?" Mr. Hill hesitated, and then slowly
answered: "I thought of that, but preferred to send him adrift rather
than kill him, or let him kill me. Anyway he had only some fifty miles
to travel to strike an Indian village. When he was there we were a
hundred and fifty miles apart. You see I am a mathematician. It is a
great joy to figure out what a long distance you are from some folks."

* * * * *

In his business of supplying cord-wood to steamboats, Mr. Hill had a
partner, grizzled and gray, by the name of Griggs. Griggs was a typical
pioneer: he was always moving on. He bought a little stern-wheel
steamboat, and shipped its boiler and engine across to Breckenridge,
where he had the joy of running the first steamboat, "The Northwest," on
the Red River.

Mr. Hill built the second steamboat on the Red River, "The Swallow," on
the order of Kittson, who bought the boat as soon as she had shown her
ability to run. All the metal used in its making, which of course
included engine and boiler, was sent across from Saint Paul. And if the
outfit was gotten out of a wrecked Mississippi stern-wheeler, what boots
it!

Then it was that Kittson, having also bought the Griggs steamboat, was
given the title of Commodore, a distinction which he carried through
life.

By this time several things had happened. One was that Hill had brought
up to Saint Paul a steamboat-load of coal. This coal was mined near
Peoria, on the Illinois River, floated down to the Mississippi, then
carried up to Saint Paul. To bring coal to this Newcastle of wood was
regarded as deliberate folly.

By this time the Saint Paul and