it could be explained by the fact that one of
them was a prominent member of the Republican party, and the other
no less than the Assistant Secretary of State. We were glad to receive
our penitent wanderers, who promised to be more careful another time.
We slept at Omaha, which is the jumping-off place, and to-morrow
morning early we are going to "jump." We have already traveled
seventeen hundred and fifty miles, and have not yet begun our real trip.
Omaha has still wooden sidewalks and muddy roads; the post-office,
school-house, and churches are all built on a grand scale, and the streets
laid out in squares and broad avenues. Probably they have already
designs for a grand-opera house. One can see FUTURE written all over
it.
Mr. Cadwalader had bought in Philadelphia the best comestibles that it
could provide, and had them stowed away in big hampers and put in the
baggage-car. When the train stopped an hour for food, which it did
three times a day, we preferred to spend that hour looking about us and
(as Mr. Kasson said) stretching our legs rather than going into the
overcrowded eating-rooms, which were reeking of food, loud talk, and
ravenous passengers. The stations were always low wooden buildings
with a piazza; sometimes no other houses were to be seen. On wooden
boxes were enthroned the loafers, who must have ridden miles just to
see passengers get in and out of the train. To show how kind these
rough people must be when they are not engaged in killing people,
chickens foraged about between their huge boots, and I saw a dog
quietly asleep within an inch of a kick. As soon as the train started we
went into the baggage-car and, seated about on the trunks, enjoyed our
delicious feast.
We occupied almost one entire parlor-car. There were only two extra
seats, and those were filled by two men surrounded by a mountain of
newspapers and magazines of all kinds. I said, nodding toward one of
these, "What a handsome man that is!"
"Do you know who it is?" asked Mr. Cadwalader.
"No. How should I?"
"That is the famous scout, Buffalo Bill."
"Really!" I exclaimed. "I had fancied him quite different from that. He
looks like the pictures of Charles the First. His eyes are so soft, and he
has such lovely brown curls and a could-not-hurt-a-fly look about him."
"Well," said Mr. Cadwalader, "he has killed more men than he can
count on his fingers when he tries to go to sleep."
"I can't imagine it," I said, gazing with admiration at Buffalo Bill's fine
and kind face and splendid figure. "His friend does not look so
amiable."
"I should think not. That is the celebrated Mr. Holmes of Texas. He is a
terror in this part of the world."
"He looks it," I said. "See all the pistols he has about him. I can see one
in his coat pocket, and one in his vest pocket, and..."
"And many under his coat which you can't see."
Just at that moment the "terror" got up, and, lo! a pistol fell out of his
clothing on to the floor. Fortunately, it did not go off, but it frightened
us almost out of our senses (the ladies, of course). Buffalo Bill picked
up the weapon and handed it back to Mr. Holmes, who put it quietly in
his pocket, seeming rather abashed.
Buffalo Bill and his friend walked down the middle of the car, and we
were somewhat agitated when he stopped in front of Johan and said in a
soft, cooing voice, "Would you take a drink with me, sir?"
We gasped when we saw Johan shake his head and say politely with a
smile, "No, thank you." We expected a volley of pistol-shots and the
speedy wiping out of us all, but Buffalo Bill merely gave Johan an
inquiring look and a tired but sarcastic smile.
Mr. Cadwalader said, hurriedly, to Johan, "Go, for Heaven's sake!"
Johan hastened to follow the good advice and Buffalo Bill, and said
with diplomatic artifice, "On second thoughts, sir, I will not refuse your
invitation, as I am a little thirsty." On which the three gentlemen went
out together.
Johan came back refreshed and radiant. Never had he seen or talked to
such a delightful person. Buffalo Bill had offered him some of his own
favorite brand of whisky, which Johan found very good.
Johan asked B.B. later, being on more familiar terms, "Would you have
been offended if I had refused to drink with you?"
B.B. answered, "If I had not seen that you were a foreigner I should not
have liked it," meaning, I suppose, bloody murder and sudden death.
B.B. said the reason why he had chosen Johan out of
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