"He mixed the names on purpose," explained Jim. "Nichols and Wicks were the names he was tearing his throat with."

"Haven't you got no patriotism? Don't you love your country?" asked Dave reproachfully.

This was too much for Jim, who laughed himself into a better humor.

Ben.

"And one of 'em said, 'Rah for my.horse,'" remarked

"Let's get up," said George bounding to his feet. "We'll see Nebraska today."

Their father's haste was indeed unusual. By sunrise the day's journey was begun. George and Ben were all agog to let nothing escape their notice, and they walked the whole forenoon.

IV.

Entering Nebraska.

An hour's drive took the family into the midst of the rugged ground bordering the Missouri bottom. Toward the river the bluff presented a steep slope with fluted face and sharp, though irregular, outline. The yellowish soil sustained a rather light covering of grass, while here and there was a naked spot telling of a miniature landslide. Trees stood in the hollows and were accompanied with hazel and sumach. Egress to the low land was supplied by transverse ravines, down one of which the road was winding.

All at once the Missouri bottom came into view; a level, grassy plain five miles across. At the farther side was a belt of woodland, indicating the course of the great river, while just beyond rose a confronting ridge.

"There are the Nebraska bluffs, said Mr. Colwood pointing westerly. "By noon, if nothing happens, we'll be across the Missouri."

Every eye turned with interest to the confine of the new state. The boys were enthusiastic, the parents hopeful.

Near the foot of the bluff was an insignificant village with a solitary street. The houses were very small and their neglected appearance suggested a lack of thrift.

"Have they any name for this place?" inquired Jim of the only man he saw.

"We call it Union City," was the reply. "These houses been here ten years. The place is dead; no show for a town here"

"Is there a plain road to Plattsmouth?" asked Mr. Colwood from the wagon.

"I'm going half a mile that way, and I'll show you." "This soil looks very rich," remarked the driver. "You're just right. We raise staving big corn here." "A good deal of ague, I suppose?" continued the driver.

"Yes, some, but they don't mind the chills much, It's worse lower down the river. There they shake till they can't keep their boots on.

99

"Don't the river overflow?"

"Guess you'd think so. Once in a while the river spreads pretty much all over this bottom. After a big rain the roads are horrid muddy. I've seen them so bad that two teams could hardly budge know this country like a book. years.

an empty wagon. I Been up here three

"Isn't it swampy in some places?" inquired George, who had been an interested listener.

"Not very much. Sometimes there are bayous, where the river has shifted its channel, and sometimes swamps over against the bluffs. The ground seems lower there than nearer the river. The Big Muddy is a bad neighbor. You can't tell one year where it will run the next. Here, it runs close to the Nebraska bluffs, but the Indians say it used to run on this side."

"What tall corn this is, "exclaimed Ben as they went

by a field wherein some men were husking.

"We can beat the world for corn," returned the guide complacently.

"Wells can't be very deep here," said George. "No, it's only a little way to water.

But then it's not

so good as spring water. I say," he continued, addressing Mr. Colwood, "You keep this road a quarter of a mile, then turn south and go half a mile, turn west again and keep right on. This here is a half section road." "Thank you," said Mr. Colwood.

"Not at all." replied the stranger, leaving the road. It was not in the corn stalks alone that the richness of the soil was manifest. The wild grass was higher than the fence and the stems were very coarse. The sunflowers along the road assumed tree-like proportions, while smaller weeds were as varied in kind as they were exhuberant in growth.

A cool wind had been felt on the bluff, but in this low plain the sun was hot and the air quiet. Entering the woodland they went down a bank and encountered a chilly breeze.

"This cold air comes off the river," observed Mr. Col

wood.

The lower bottom, shady and damp, was succeeded by a sand bar projecting into the river channel. Snaggy driftwood, deprived of bark and bleached by the elements, lay stranded on its barren surface. An extensive island itself a sandbank, lay very near the bar.

"I see this arm of the river is to be forded," observed Mr. Colwood. "Boys, get in the wagon. Jim and I will manage the cows."

The two men drove the cows before the wagon, and

then, while clinging to the outside of the vehicle, tried to make them cross the water. Two of the cattle were considerate enough to go on, but the third paused at a shoal. place in midchannel and was going to stay there till she got ready to move. Jim was about to unhitch a horse, when a mounted stranger, seeing the situation, brought. on the disobliging cow.

The island bar was crossed without further hindrance and to their great relief, since the Missouri abounds in dangerous quicksands. At the verge of the main channel were two wagons to claim precedence of Mr. Colwood in crossing. The flatboat, their means of transit, was nearing the other shore.

"The river looks like a stream of slop," declared Jim as he watched the floating masses of foam resembling impure ice.

The comparison was homely, yet rather to the point. In Western phrase the river is often called the "Big Muddy," and the coffee-hued torrent deserves the epithet. "It don't look so very wide," observed Ben.

"Wait till you get half way over," said his more knowing parent.

On the return of the flatboat, it was seen there would not be room enough for the conveyance of all the Colwood possessions. The head of the family staid behind to go with the cattle on the next trip. The boat was rowed upstream until the midcurrent was reached, and then it was veered about and borne toward the Nebraska bank.

When it was half way across, and while he was dividing his gaze between the opposing shores, Ben wondered that the Missouri seemed at first so narrow.

"In talking about our travels," said George, "we can