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Show CHAP. I. HORSESHOE STATION.-"LADIES." 91 therefore, unusually impatient to start; perhaps, also, time runs more rapidly than it is wont. • At any rate, after a short two hours, we were compelled to shake hands with our kind and considerate hosts, and to return to limbo-the mail-wagon. From Fort Laramie westward the geological formation changes; the great limestone deposits disappear, and are succeeded by a great variety of sandstones, some red, argillaceous, and compact; others gray or yellow, ferruginous, and coarse. Pudding-stones or conglomerates also abound, and the main chain of the Laramie Mountains is supposed to be chiefly composed of this^rock. Beyond the fort there are two roads. The longer leads to the right, near the Platte Biver. It was formerly, and perhaps is still, a favorite with emigrants. We preferred the left, which, crossing the edges of the Black Hills, is rough and uneven, but is "some shorter," as the guide-book says, than the other. The weather began to be unusually disagreeable with heat and raindrops from a heavy nimbus, that forced us to curtain up the rattling vehicle; perhaps, too, we were a little cross, contrasting the present with the past-civilized society, a shady bungalow, and wonderfully good butter. At 4 P.M., following the Platte Yalley, after two hours' drive we halted to change mules at Ward's Station, alias the " Central Star," where several whites were killed by the Sioux in 1855, among them M. Montalan, a Parisian. t Again we started for another twenty-five miles at 4 P.M. The road was rough, and the driver had a curious proclivity for losing the way. I have often found this to be the case after passing through a station. There was little to remark, except that the country was poor and bad, that there was clear water in a ravine to the right, and that we were very tired and surly. But as sorrow comes to an end as well as joy, so, at 9 30 P.M., we drove in, somewhat consoled, to Horseshoe Station-the old Fer d Gheval- where one of the road agents, Mr. Slade, lived, and where we anticipated superior comfort. We were entiches by the aspect of the buildings, which were on an extensive scale - in fact, got up regardless of expense. An ominous silence, however, reigned around. At last, by hard knocking, we were admitted into a house with the Floridian style of veranda previously described, and by the pretensions of the room we at once divined our misfortune-we were threatened with a "lady." The "lady" will, alas! follow us to the Pacific; even in hymns we read, " Now let the Prophet's heart rejoice, His noble lady's too." Our mishap was really worse than we expected-we were exposed to two " ladies," and of these one was a Bloomer. It is only fair to state that it was the only hermaphrodite of the kind that ever met my eyes in the United States; the great founder of the order has long since subsided into her original obscurity, and |