plight we should be in! Now I am convinced that the only way for us is to have every man in the camp stand horse-guard in rotation whenever we stop. Supposing a hundred Pawnees should jump up out of that ravine, all yelling and flapping their buffalo robes, in the way they do? Why in two minutes, not a hoof would be in sight.' We reminded the Captain that a hundred Pawnees would probably demolish the horse-guard, if he were to resist their depredations.

'At any rate,' pursued the Captain, evading the point, 'our whole system is wrong; I'm convinced of it; it is totally unmilitary. Why the way we travel, strung out over the prairie for a mile, an enemy might attack the foremost men, and cut them off before the rest could come up.'

'We are not in an enemy's country yet,' said Shaw; when we are, we'll travel together.'

'Then,' said the Captain, we might be attacked in camp. We've no sentinels; we 'camp in disorder; no precautions at all to guard against surprise! My own convictions are, that we ought to 'camp in a hollow-square, with the fires in the centre; and have sentinels, and a regular pass-word appointed for every night. Beside, there should be videttes, riding in advance, to find a place for the camp and give warning of an enemy. These are my convictions. I don't want to dictate to any man. I give advice to the best of my judgment, that's all; and then let people do as they please.'

We intimated that perhaps it would be as well to postpone such burdensome precautions until there should be some actual need of them; but he shook his head dubiously. The Captain's sense of military propriety had been severely shocked by what he considered the irregular proceedings of the party; and this was not the first time he had expressed himself upon the subject. But his 'convictions' seldom produced any practical results. In the present case, he contented himself, as usual, with enlarging on the importance of his suggestions, and wondering that they were not adopted. But his plan of sending out videttes seemed particularly dear to him; and as no one else seemed disposed to second his views on this point, he took it into his head to ride forward that afternoon, himself.

'Come, Parkman,' said he, 'will you go with me?'

So we set out together, and rode a mile or two in advance. The Captain, in the course of twenty years' service in the British army, had seen something of life; one extensive side of it, at least, he had enjoyed the best opportunities for studying; and being naturally a pleasant fellow, he was a very entertaining companion. He cracked jokes and told stories for an hour or two; until looking back, we saw the prairie behind us stretching away to the horizon, without a horseman or a wagon in sight.

'Now,' said the Captain, I think the videttes had better stop till the main body comes up.'

I was of the same opinion. There was a thick growth of woods just before us, with a stream running through them. Having crossed this, we found on the other side a fine level meadow, half encircled by the trees; and fastening our horses to some bushes, we sat down on

the grass; while, with an old stump of a tree for a target, I began to display the superiority of the renowned rifle of the back-woods over the foreign innovation borne by the Captain. At length voices could be heard in the distance, behind the trees.

There they come !' said the Captain; let's go and see how they get through the creek.'

We mounted and rode to the bank of the stream, where the trail crossed it. It ran in a deep hollow, full of trees: as we looked down, we saw a confused crowd of horsemen riding through the water; and among the dingy habiliments of our party, glittered the uniforms of four dragoons.

Shaw came whipping his horse up the bank, in advance of the rest, with a somewhat indignant countenance. The first word he spoke was a blessing fervently invoked on the head of R, who was riding, with a crest-fallen air, in the rear. Thanks to the ingenious devices of this gentleman, formerly exhibited to the reader, we had missed the track entirely, and wandered, not toward the Platte, but to the village of the Iowa Indians. This we learned from the dragoons, who had lately deserted from Fort Leavenworth. They told us that our best plan now was to keep to the northward until we should strike the trail formed by several parties of Oregon emigrants, who had that season set out from St. Joseph's in Missouri. In extremely bad temper, we encamped on this ill-starred spot; while the deserters, whose case admitted of no delay, rode rapidly forward. On the day following, striking the St. Joseph's trail, we turned our horses' heads toward Fort Laramie, then about seven hundred miles to the westward; and I shall resume this history with an account of what befel us on the journey; how Shaw and I enjoyed the luxury of a bath upon the prairie; and how the Captain, as a foretaste of buffalo-hunting, performed a gallant exploit upon a stray cow.

THOU starry virtue, fare thee well; seek Heaven

And there by Cassiopea, shine in glory.'- BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER.

[May,

JACK HILTON'S

NUPTIALS.

BY P. HAMILTON MYERS.

MIDGEVILLE was once a small place. Its present magnitude and beauty were little anticipated by its founders. There is a church now in Midgeville, with a steeple in expectancy. There is also a seminary and a bank. What the town will be when it is finished, it will be difficult to tell. That it is not yet done, is perhaps owing to the fact that the institution last named has not been long established.

Samuel Smith, a brother of John, is one of the principal men in the town. He keeps a store and the post-office, just opposite the bank; I dare say you have noticed his sign, if you have ever passed through the village. I said that he was one of the principal men. He had been the very first. He cut the first tree, turned the first furrow, and built the first cabin in all Midgeville; in short, he was that individual so often talked of, and so seldom seen, the oldest inhabitant. Yet Mr. Smith was not very old. Beside that, he didn't believe in reckoning life by years. People past the grand climacteric seldom do. Health and vigor were his criteria of age. For himself, he believed his natural force to be unabated. He could even see, he said, as well as ever, only he wanted a little more light. As to hearing, there would have been no difficulty, but his neighbors had latterly acquired a bad habit of talking low or indistinctly. His strength was remarkable, and in order to keep it so, he had for many years ceased to make trial of it. If it is farther said that Mr. Smith was tall and stout and erect, with a shrivelled but florid face, with invisible green eyes, and iron-grey hair, the reader will have a sufficient description of him to know whom we are talking

about.

Jack Hilton knew him well. Jack was the lawyer of Midgeville. He was a good fellow every way, and might have done honor to the fraternity in a much larger place. He possessed every element of success, except ambition. You will find a good many individuals exactly like him, in all the professions. People who heard Jack speak on the famous Rattle Creek suit, before Justice Dulbrayn, said he only wanted rousing to make him quite terrific. You must have heard about that suit. Rattle Creek was a little laughing stream about two feet wide, that crossed Smith's farm, and which he had coaxed out of its course, for the purpose of bringing it nearer to his house. This interference had so bewildered the little rivulet that it never was able to find the remaining portion of its path. It wandered away, hither and thither, and finally made its exit from Smith's grounds at a place quite remote from the former channel, thereby entirely giving the slip to old Mr. Glum, whose disappointed ducks,