, all be-plastered with mud. It was a tempting sight. I forgot
my prudent intentions, and fired my rifle; a pistol would have served at
that distance. Round spun old bull like a top, and away he galloped
over the prairie. He ran some distance, and even ascended a considerable
hill, before he lay down and died. After shooting another bull among the
hills, I went back to camp.

At noon, on the 14th of September, a very large Santa Fe caravan came
up. The plain was covered with the long files of their white-topped
wagons, the close black carriages in which the traders travel and sleep,
large droves of animals, and men on horseback and on foot. They all
stopped on the meadow near us. Our diminutive cart and handful of men
made but an insignificant figure by the side of their wide and bustling
camp. Tete Rouge went over to visit them, and soon came back with half
a dozen biscuits in one hand and a bottle of brandy in the other. I
inquired where he got them. "Oh," said Tete Rouge, "I know some of the
traders. Dr. Dobbs is there besides." I asked who Dr. Dobbs might be.
"One of our St. Louis doctors," replied Tete Rouge. For two days past
I had been severely attacked by the same disorder which had so greatly
reduced my strength when at the mountains; at this time I was suffering
not a little from the sudden pain and weakness which it occasioned.
Tete Rouge, in answer to my inquiries, declared that Dr. Dobbs was
a physician of the first standing. Without at all believing him, I
resolved to consult this eminent practitioner. Walking over to the camp,
I found him lying sound asleep under one of the wagons. He offered in
his own person but an indifferent specimen of his skill, for it was five
months since I had seen so cadaverous a face.

His hat had fallen off, and his yellow hair was all in disorder; one of
his arms supplied the place of a pillow; his pantaloons were wrinkled
halfway up to his knees, and he was covered with little bits of grass
and straw, upon which he had rolled in his uneasy slumber. A Mexican
stood near, and I made him a sign that he should touch the doctor. Up
sprang the learned Dobbs, and, sitting upright, rubbed his eyes and
looked about him in great bewilderment. I regretted the necessity of
disturbing him, and said I had come to ask professional advice. "Your
system, sir, is in a disordered state," said he solemnly, after a short
examination.

I inquired what might be the particular species of disorder