ne thought alone occupied him. At
each place he stopped came the questions, Will this suit? Is this the
spot I am in search of? It was strange to mark by what slight and casual
events his mind was influenced. The slightest accident that ruffled him
as he arrived, an insignificant inconvenience, a passing word, the look
of the place, the people, the very aspect of the weather, were each
enough to assure him he had not yet discovered what he sought after.
It was towards the close of his fifth day's ramble that he reached the
small town of Bunkumville. It was a newly settled place, and, like all
such, not over-remarkable for comfort or convenience. The spot had been
originally laid out as the centre of certain lines of railroad, and
intended to have been a place of consequence; but the engineers who had
planned it had somehow incurred disgrace, the project was abandoned, and
instead of a commercial town, rich, populous, and flourishing, it now
presented the aspect of a spot hastily deserted, and left to linger out
an existence of decline and neglect. There were marks enough to denote
the grand projects which were once entertained for the place,--great
areas measured off for squares, spacious streets staked off; here and
there massive "blocks" of building; three or four hotels on a scale of
vast proportion, and an assembly-room worthy of a second-rate city. With
all this, the population was poor-looking and careworn. No stir of trade
or business to be met with. A stray bullock-car stole drearily along
through the deep-rutted streets, or a traveller significantly armed
with rifle and revolver rode by on his own raw-boned horse; but of
the sights and sounds of town life and habits there were none. Of the
hotels, two were closed; the third was partially occupied as a barrack,
by a party of cavalry despatched to repress some Indian outrages on
the frontier. Even the soldiers had contracted some of the wild,
out-of-the-world look of the place, and wore their belts over buckskin
jackets, that smacked more of the prairie than the parade. The public
conveyance which brought Layton to the spot only stopped long enough to
bait the horses and refresh the travellers; and it was to the no
small surprise of the driver that he saw the "Britisher" ask for his
portmanteau, with the intention of halting there. "Well, you ain't
a-goin' to injure your constitution with gayety and late hours,
stranger," said he, as he saw him descend; "that's a f