of the general
expenses of the campaign.

Proverbially careful and judicious in the expenditure of money, as may
be supposed, in the purchase of his supplies on this occasion Doctor
Hanchett quite outshone himself. Besides the indispensable pans
and shovels and picks with which every man provided himself, Doctor
Hanchett laid in an assortment of miscellaneous drugs and surgical
instruments, that added a new lustre to his distinction in the eyes
of his comrades. But it was in the compilation of his wardrobe and his
deadly weapons that he displayed an individuality of taste altogether
unique. It being now the month of May, and the journey across the
Plains being expected to occupy about three months, the doctor, who
was a small man, bought first a great--uncommonly great--coat, that
fitted him about as snugly as a sentry-box might have done; secondly,
a pair of cavalry boots, the tops of which towered almost to his
eyebrows; and thirdly, a silk hat of the very finest and very tallest
description to be found in the market. Then he purchased a pair of
large Colt's revolvers, handsomely mounted in silver, and had his name
engraved on the plate in bold letters--"ELIAS HANCHETT, M.D.;" and his
armory was completed by the addition of numerous and various knives of
vast length and breadth of blade, into the hasp of each of which was
let a neat silver plate, upon which was engraved his name--"ELIAS
HANCHETT, M.D." Thus clad and thus arsenaled, he bore down upon Dora
with much elation as she was returning home from her school, and
proudly challenged her admiration. Of course the loving girl responded
heartily, notwithstanding her thrifty and methodical soul was racked
to see such few of her hardly-earned coins as remained unexpended
falling to the ground and rolling away in all directions as the doctor
turned pocket after pocket inside out in search of yet another and
another knife to surprise her withal.

At last the company got off, going by river to Council Bluffs, and
thence striking out upon the almost interminable trail, that, however
surely it might lead to fortune, was far from being a royal road
thereto. It was two months later when a member of the party, compelled
by ill-health to abandon the tedious journey and return home, brought
to Clarksville the first intelligence of the achievements of Doctor
Hanchett in the capacity of a physician and surgeon in actual
practice. These achievements cannot be recorded here, but