Here, According To His Own Account, His Cavalcade Might Have Been
Taken For A Procession Of Tatterdemalion Savages; For The Men
Were Ragged Almost To Nakedness, And Had Contracted A Wildness Of
Aspect During Three Years Of Wandering In The Wilderness.
A few
hours in a populous town, however, produced a magical
metamorphosis.
Hats of the most ample brim and longest nap;
coats with buttons that shone like mirrors, and pantaloons of the
most ample plenitude, took place of the well-worn trapper's
equipments; and the happy wearers might be seen strolling about
in all directions, scattering their silver like sailors just from
a cruise.
The worthy captain, however, seems by no means to have shared the
excitement of his men, on finding himself once more in the
thronged resorts of civilized life, but, on the contrary, to have
looked back to the wilderness with regret. "Though the prospect,"
says he, "of once more tasting the blessings of peaceful society,
and passing days and nights under the calm guardianship of the
laws, was not without its attractions; yet to those of us whose
whole lives had been spent in the stirring excitement and
perpetual watchfulness of adventures in the wilderness, the
change was far from promising an increase of that contentment and
inward satisfaction most conducive to happiness. He who, like
myself, has roved almost from boyhood among the children of the
forest, and over the unfurrowed plains and rugged heights of the
western wastes, will not be startled to learn, that
notwithstanding all the fascinations of the world on this
civilized side of the mountains, I would fain make my bow to the
splendors and gayeties of the metropolis, and plunge again amidst
the hardships and perils of the wilderness."
We have only to add that the affairs of the captain have been
satisfactorily arranged with the War Department, and that he is
actually in service at Fort Gibson, on our western frontier,
where we hope he may meet with further opportunities of indulging
his peculiar tastes, and of collecting graphic and characteristic
details of the great western wilds and their motley inhabitants.
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