st frantic, and
forced us to huddle into a gully for protection. The rain
lasted all night and we all slept in the wagon, pretty wet
and not very comfortable. Another time a sharp gale of wind
or rain struck us in the middle of the night, as we were
lying out in the open (we have no tent), and we shivered
under our wet blankets till morning. We go into camp a
little before sunset, tethering two or three of the horses,
and letting the others range. One night we camped in a most
beautiful natural park; it was a large, grassy hill, studded
thickly with small, pine-crowned chalk buttes, with very
steep sides, worn into the most outlandish and fantastic
shapes. All that night the wolves kept up a weird concert
around our camp--they are most harmless beasts.

The second letter was to his friend Lodge, who was in the midst of a
stiff fight to hold his seat in Congress.

You must pardon the paper and general appearance of this
letter, as I am writing out in camp, a hundred miles or so
from any house; and indeed, whether this letter is, or is
not, ever delivered depends partly on Providence, and
partly on the good-will of an equally inscrutable personage,
either a cowboy or a horse-thief, whom we have just met, and
who has volunteered to post it--my men are watching him with
anything but friendly eyes, as they think he is going to try
to steal our ponies. (To guard against this possibility he
is to sleep between my foreman and myself--delectable
bedfellow he'll prove, doubtless.)

I have no particular excuse for writing, beyond the fact
that I would give a good deal to have a talk with you over
political matters, just now. I heartily enjoy this life,
with its perfect freedom, for I am very fond of hunting, and
there are few sensations I prefer to that of galloping over
these rolling, limitless prairies, rifle in hand, or winding
my way among the barren, fantastic and grimly picturesque
deserts of the so-called Bad Lands; and yet I cannot help
wishing I could be battling along with you, and I cannot
regret enough the unfortunate turn in political affairs that
has practically debarred me from taking any part in the
fray. I have received fifty different requests to speak in
various places--among others, to open the campaign in
Vermont and