ature of the State
where he has long resided; and he is even notorious for making speeches
that have a tendency to put that deliberative body in good humour, and
which, as they are based on great practical knowledge suited to the
condition of the country, possess a merit that is much wanted in many
more subtle and fine-spun theories, that are daily heard in similar
assemblies, to issue from the lips of certain instinctive politicians.
But all these happy fruits were the results of much care, and of a long
period of time. Middleton, who fills, with a credit better suited to
the difference in their educations, a seat in a far higher branch of
legislative authority, is the source from which we have derived most of
the intelligence necessary to compose our legend. In addition to what he
has related of Paul, and of his own continued happiness, he has added
a short narrative of what took place in a subsequent visit to the
prairies, with which, as we conceive it a suitable termination to what
has gone before, we shall judge it wise to conclude our labours.

In the autumn of the year, that succeeded the season, in which the
preceding events occurred, the young man, still in the military service,
found himself on the waters of the Missouri, at a point not far remote
from the Pawnee towns. Released from any immediate calls of duty,
and strongly urged to the measure by Paul, who was in his company, he
determined to take horse, and cross the country to visit the partisan,
and to enquire into the fate of his friend the trapper. As his train
was suited to his functions and rank, the journey was effected, with the
privations and hardships that are the accompaniments of all travelling
in a wild, but without any of those dangers and alarms that marked his
former passage through the same regions. When within a proper distance,
he despatched an Indian runner, belonging to a friendly tribe, to
announce the approach of himself and party, continuing his route at a
deliberate pace, in order that the intelligence might, as was customary,
precede his arrival. To the surprise of the travellers their message was
unanswered. Hour succeeded hour, and mile after mile was passed, without
bringing either the signs of an honourable reception, or the more simple
assurances of a friendly welcome. At length the cavalcade, at whose head
rode Middleton and Paul, descended from the elevated plain, on which
they had long been journeying, to a luxuriant bottom,