For some time after his arrival he still
followed the same profession. When, for instance, he saw a knot of the
ruffians on the prairie, discussing, of course, the single topic which
then occupied their minds, he would, perhaps, take his compass and one
of his sons, and proceed to run an imaginary line right through the
very spot on which that conclave had assembled, and when he came up to
them, he would naturally pause and have some talk with them,
learning their news, and, at last, all their plans perfectly; and
having thus completed his real survey he would resume his imaginary
one, and run on his line till he was out of sight.
When I expressed surprise that he could live in Kansas at all,
with a price set upon his head, and so large a number, including the
authorities, exasperated against him, he accounted for it by saying,
"It is perfectly well understood that I will not be taken." Much of
the time for some years he has had to skulk in swamps, suffering
from poverty, and from sickness which was the consequence of exposure,
befriended only by Indians and a few whites. But though it might be
known that he was lurking in a particular swamp, his foes commonly did
not care to go in after him.
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