eared to have upon them, when presently over my own
shoulder I heard the mystic sound-I regret to say that at first these
sounds entirely failed to present to my mind any idea of food or
sustenance of known description, I therefore begged for a repetition of
the words; this time there was no mistake about it, "Steam-pudding or
pumpkin-pie?" echoed the maiden, giving me the terrible alternative in
her most cutting tones; "Both!" I ejaculated, with equal distinctness,
but, I believe, audacity unparalleled since the times of Twist. The
female Bumble seemed to reel beneath the shock, and I noticed that after
communicating her experience to her fellow waiting-woman, I was not
thought of much account for the remainder of the meal.

Upon the day of my arrival at Sauk Rapids I had let it be known pretty
widely that I was ready to become the purchaser of a saddle-horse, if any
person had such an animal to dispose of. In the three following days the
amount of saddle-horses produced in the neighbourhood was perfectly
astonishing; indeed the fact of placing a saddle upon the back of any
thing possessing four legs seemed to constitute the required animal; even
a German--a "Dutchman'" came along with a miserable thing in horseflesh,
sand-cracked and spavined, for which he only asked the trifling sum of
$100. Two livery stables in St. Cloud sent up their superannuated
stagers, and Dr. Chase had something to recommend of a very superior
description. The end of it all was, that, declining to purchase any of
the animals brought up for inspection, I found there was little chance of
being able to get over the 400 miles which lay between St. Cloud and Fort
Garry. It was now the 12th of July; I had reached the farthest limit of
railroad communication, and before me lay 200 miles of partly settled
country lying between the Mississippi and the Red River. It is true that
a four-horse stage ran from St. Cloud to Fort Abercrombie on Red River,
but that would only have conveyed me to about 300 miles distant from Fort
Garry, and over that last 300 miles I could see no prospect of
travelling. I had therefore determined upon procuring a horse and riding
the entire way, and it was with this object that I had entered into these
inspections of horseflesh already mentioned. Matters were in this
unsatisfactory state on the 12th of July, when I was informed that the
solitary steamboat which plied upon the waters of the Red River was about
to make a descent