I was told that the warehouse had been broken into and robbed, and the proprietor had fled for parts unknown.

This robbed me of all my good clothes, and I could now go back as lightly loaded as when I came.
I found I had walked sixty miles in that one day, and also found myself very stiff and sore so that I did not start back next day, and I took three days for the return trip--a very unprofitable journey.
I was now ready to go west, and coming across a pet deer which I had tamed, I knew if I left it it would wander away with the first wild ones that came along, and so I killed it and made my friends a present of some venison.

I chose still a new route this time, that I could see all that was possible of this big territory when I could do it so easily.

I was always a great admirer of Nature and things which remained as they were created, and to the extent of my observation, I thought this the most beautiful and perfect country I had seen between Vermont and the Mississippi River.

The country was nearly level, the land rich, the prairies small with oak openings surrounding them, very little marsh land and streams of clear water.