r notes in, `when I
could get any.' I kicked it with my foot, and should indubitably have
been food for cat-fish, had I not heard most _a propos_ the puffing of a
steam-boat coming down the river."

At that moment the parson interrupted his narrative, by observing:

"Well, I'd no idea that I had talked so long; why, man, look to the
east, 'tis almost daylight."

And sure enough the horizon of the prairie was skirted with that red
tinge which always announces the break of day in these immense level
solitudes. Our companions had all fallen asleep, and our horses,
looking to the east, snuffed the air and stamped upon the ground, as if
to express their impatience to leave so inhospitable a region. I
replied to the parson:

"It is now too late for us to think of sleeping; let us stir the fire,
and go on with your story." We added fuel to the nearly consumed pile,
and shaking our blankets, which were heavy with the dew, my companion
resumed his narrative:--

"Well, I reckon it was more than half an hour before the steam-boat came
in sight, and as the channel of the river ran close in with the shore, I
was soon picked up. The boat was going to St. Louis, and as I had not a
cent left to pay my passage, I was obliged, in way of payment, to relate
my adventure. Everybody laughed. All the men declared the joke was
excellent, and that General Meyer was a clever rascal; they told me I
should undoubtedly meet him at New Orleans, but it would be of no use.
Every body knew Meyer and his pious family, but he was so smart, that
nothing could be done against him. Well, the clerk was a good-humoured
fellow; he lent me an old coat and five dollars; the steward brought me
a pair of slippers, and somebody gave me a worn-out loose cap. This was
very good, but my luck was better still. The cause of my own ruin had
been the grounding of a steam-boat; the same accident happening again
set me on my legs. Just as we turned the southern point of Illinois, we
buried ourselves in a safe bed of mud. It was so common an occurrence,
that nobody cared much about it, except a Philadelphian going to Texas;
he was in a great hurry to go on westward, and no wonder. I learned
afterwards that he had absconded from the bank, of which he was a
cashier, with sixty thousand dollars.

"Well, as I said, we were bogged; patience was necessary, laments were
of no use, so we dined with as much appetite as if nothing had happened,
and some of the regu