you; you would neither like the fatigue nor the slavery of it; and,
positively, there is no excitement, save for the half-dozen who really
contest the race. Meek, and others of the same stamp, will tell you that
property should be represented in the Legislature. I agree fully with
the sentiment, so it should. So also should a man's rents be collected,
but that's no reason he should be his own agent, when he can find
another, far more capable, ready for office.--Touch that off-side horse,
he 'll skulk his collar when he can.--Now, if you have county or borough
influence going a begging, send in your nominee, any fellow who 'll suit
your views, and express your opinions,--myself, for instance," said
he, laughing, "for want of a better.--Those manes don't lie right; that
near-sider's falls on the wrong side of the neck.--The great secret for
any man situated as you are is to avoid all complications, political,
social, and matrimonial. You have a glorious open country before you, if
there be no cross-riding to spoil your run."

"Well, I am not above taking advice," said Cashel; "but really I must
own that, from the little I've seen of the matter, it seems harder to go
through life with a good fortune than without a shilling. I know that,
as a poor man, very lately--"

"Come, come, you know very little of what poverty means; you 've been
leading a gay life in a land where men do by one bold enterprise the
work which costs years of slow toil in our tamer regions. Now, I should
have liked that kind of thing myself. Ay, you may smile, that a man
who devotes a large share of each day to the tie of his cravat, and the
immaculate elegance of his boots, should venture to talk of prairie
life and adventure. Take care! By Jove! I thought you were into that
apple-stall."

"Never say it twice," cried Cashel, gayly. "I 'm beginning to feel
confoundedly tired of this life here; and, if I don't find that it
improves on acquaintance, I 'll take a run down west, just to refresh my
spirits. Will you come with me?"

"With my whole heart I join the proposal; but you are not serious; I
know you are merely jesting in all this."

"Perfectly serious. I am decidedly weary of seven o'clock dinners and
morning calls. But here we are."

As he spoke, they drove into the barrack-yard, where groups of lounging
officers, in every variety of undress, were seen in all the insipid
enjoyment of that cigar-smoking existence which forms the first article