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Show 206 WESTERN WILDS. you, they take every thing, and nary dollar do you ever git. Why, that feller was in with ' em, of course. They seize every thing they can git a pretense for, and then divide. There won't any body but a scamp or a rough take such an office as deputy marshal in this country. They ' re all on the make, and in with these roughs. That's what I say." Three miles with our slightly rebellious Texan friend brought us to the Arkansas River, and to a steam ferry- boat. At the mouth of Grand River, is the head of navigation on the Arkansas. Steamers run up the Grand River, which has backwater from the Arkansas, three miles or more, and land at Fort Gibson. By a series of dams and locks, like those on Green River, Kentucky, I am convinced the Arkansas could have slack- water navigation a hundred miles or more above this. The waters of Grand River and those of the Arkansas show like two broad bands, one misty blue and the other dirty red and yellow, in the main channel as far as we can see below their junc-tion. The two streams, the clear and the muddy, run side by side for nearly twenty miles, when a series of riffles and sharp turns mingles them freely in a fluid of pale orange tint. At Fort Gibson we found quarters at the usual double- log- house hotel, kept by a Pennsylvania Dutchman, with a " White Cherokee" wife ; and there we met Judge Yann, Hon. A. Rattling Gourd, and other prominent Cherokees. This is a rather handsome town for the border, with several neat brick and frame houses. After a few days' study of local politics, we concluded more was to be learned at the capital, and started afoot for Tahlequah. The distance is twenty-two miles, which we must divide in two journeys. " Better stop at Widow Skrimshee's over night; got a good house and a white son- in-law; ' taint but fifteen miles there," said our new friends. So, valise on shoulder, we started for the widow's, through a beautiful and well-improved country for the first six miles. The log- houses here are superior in style to those in most new countries, being high, neatly squared at the corners, and well shingled. There are few frames. The improvements are much finer than among the Creeks, and about equal to those of the Choctaws. From rolling prairie we descended into a broad valley with heavy timber. From the open and windy plain to this grove was like going from pleasant April to sultry July. Our valises seemed to weigh a hundred each ; our clothing dripped with sweat, and we were soon exhausted by fatigue. We turned aside to the residence of a " White Cherokee" the usual double- log- house with porch between where we lay prostrate in the passage, smoked |
