e-road towards St. Cloud.
This move withdrew me from the society of Fort Abercrombie, which for
many reasons was a matter for congratulation, and put me in a position to
intercept the captain on his way to Abercrombie. So-on the 13th of July I
left Nolan's hotel, and, with dog and gun, arrived at the solitary house
which was situated not very far from the junction of the Ottertail and
Bois-des-Sioux River on the Minnesota shore, a small, rough settler's
log-hut which stood out upon the level sea of grass and was visible miles
and miles before one reached it. Here had rested one of those unquiet
birds whose flight is ever westward, building himself a rude nest of such
material as the oak-wooded "bays" of the Red River afforded, and
multiplying--in spite of much opposition to the contrary. His eldest had
been struck dead in his house only a few months before by the
thunderbolt, which so frequently hurls destruction upon the valley of the
Red River. The settler had seen many lands since his old home in Cavan
had been left behind, and but for his name it would have been difficult
to tell his Irish nationality. He had wandered up to Red River Settlement
and wandered back again, had squatted in Iowa, and finally, like some
bird which long wheels in circles ere it settles upon the earth, had
pitched his tent on the Red River.

The Red River--let us trace it while we wait the coming captain who is to
navigate us down its tortuous channel. Close to the Lake Ithaska, in
which the great river Mississippi takes its rise, there is a small sheet
of water known as Elbow Lake. Here, at an elevation of 1689 feet above
the sea level, nine feet higher than the source of the Mississippi, the
Red River has its birth. It is curious that the primary direction of both
rivers should be in courses diametrically opposite to their afterlines;
the Mississippi first running to the north, and the Red River first
bending towards the south; in fact, it is only when it gets down here,
near the Breckenridge Prairies, that it finally determines to seek a
northern outlet to the ocean. Meeting the current of the Bois-des-Sioux,
which has its source in Lac Travers, in which the Minnesota River, a
tributary of the Mississippi, also takes its rise, the Red River hurries
on into the level prairie and soon commences its immense windings. This
Lac Travers discharges in wet seasons north and south, and is the only
sheet of water on the Continent which sheds its wat