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LIFE O3? THE MISSISSIPPI.

He got to dropping alongside me every day, after breakfast, to
help me make my promenade; and so, in the course of time, his easy-
working jaw had told me everything about his business, his prospects,

his family, his relatives, his
politics — in fact everything
that concerned a Backus, living
or dead. And meantime I
think he had managed to get
out of me everything I knew
about my trade, my tribe, my
purposes, my prospects, and
myself. He was a gentle and
persuasive genius, and this
thing showed it; for I was
not given to talking about my
matters. I said something
about triangulation, once; the
stately word pleased his ear;
he inquired what it meant; I
explained ; after that he quiet-
ly and inoffensively ignored my
•name, and always called me
Triangle.

What an enthusiast he was
in cattle! At the bare name
of a bull or a cow, his eye

•would light and his eloquent tongue would turn itself loose. As long
as I would walk and listen, he would walk and talk; he knew all
breeds, he loved all breeds, he caressed them all with his affectionate

MY PBOMENABE.