is former exploits, and it
was not always that he could narrate them to so numerous an assembly. As
the style he employed could only be understood by individuals who have
rambled upon the borders of the Far West, I will relate the little I
remember in my own way, though I am conscious that the narrative must
lose much when told by any one but Finn himself.

When quite an infant, he had been taken by the Indians and carried into
the fastnesses of the West Virginian forests: there he had been brought
up till he was sixteen years old, when, during an Indian war, he was
recaptured by a party of white men. Who were his parents, he could never
discover, and a kind Quaker took him into his house, gave him his name,
and treated him as his own child, sending him first to school, and then
to the Philadelphia college. The young man, however, was little fit for
the restrictions of a university; he would often escape and wander for
days in the forests, until hunger would bring him home again. At last,
he returned to his adopted father, who was now satisfied that his
thoughts were in the wilderness, and that, in the bustle of a large city
and restraint of civilized life, he would not live, but linger on till
he drooped and died.

This discovery was a sad blow to the kind old man, who had fondly
anticipated that the youngster would be a kind and grateful companion to
him, when age should make him feel the want of friendship; but he was a
just man, and reflecting that perhaps a short year of rambling would
cure him, he was the first to propose it. Young Finn was grateful;
beholding the tears of his venerable protector, he would have remained
and attended him till the hour of his death; but the Quaker would not
permit him, he gave him his best horse, and furnished him with arms and
money. At that time the fame of Daniel Boone had filled the Eastern
States, and young Finn had read with avidity the adventures of that bold
pioneer. Hearing that he was now on the western borders of Kentucky,
making preparations for emigration farther west, into the very heart of
the Indian country, he resolved to join him and share the dangers of his
expedition.

The life of Boone is too well known for me to describe this expedition.
Suffice it to say, that, once in Missouri, Finn conceived and executed
the idea of making alone a trip across the Rocky Mountains, to the very
borders of the Pacific Ocean. Strange to say, he scarcely remembers
anything of t