up and talked pointedly.

But I had my faithful dog back, and I kept him more closely by me while
I was making the rest of my tour. Six years later it chanced that I lost
Jim. While we were waiting at a station, I let him out of the car for a
few minutes. The train started unexpectedly and Jim was left behind. A
good reward was offered for him, but nobody ever came to collect it.

[Illustration: Welcomed by President Roosevelt at the Capitol.]

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

THE END OF THE LONG TRAIL

I WAS glad enough to get out of the crowds of New York. It had given me
some rich experiences, but that big city is no place for ox teams. It
was good to get away from the jam and the hurry out on to the country
roads.

On the way to Philadelphia, between Newark and Elizabeth City, New
Jersey, at a point known as Lyon's Farm, the old Meeker homestead stood,
built in the year 1676. Here the Meeker Tribe, as we call ourselves,
came out to greet me, nearly forty strong.

On the way through Maryland we saw a good many oxen, some of them driven
on the road. The funny part of it was to have the owners try to trade
their scrawny teams for Dave and Dandy, offering money to boot, or two
yoke for one. They had never before seen such large oxen as Dave and
Dandy, and for that matter I never had myself. Dandy was of unusual
size, and Dave was probably the largest trained ox in the United States
then; he was sixteen hands high and eight feet in girth.

I reached Washington, the capital, just twenty-two months to the day
from the time I left home in Washington, the state. As soon as
arrangements could be made I went to see President Roosevelt. Senator
Piles and Representative Cushman, of the Washington Congressional
delegation, introduced me to the President in the cabinet room.

Mr. Roosevelt manifested a lively interest in the work of marking the
trail. He did not need to be told that the trail was a battlefield, or
that the Oregon pioneers who moved out and occupied the Oregon Country
while it was yet in dispute between Great Britain and the United States
were heroes. When I suggested that they were "the winners of the Farther
West," he fairly snatched these words from my lips. He went even further
than I had dreamed of or hoped for, in invoking Government aid to carry
on the work. Addressing Senator Piles, the President said with emphasis:
"I am in favor of this work to mark this trail. If you will bring before
Congre