Having determined to visit New York, I acted upon General Sheridan’s suggestion and wrote to General Stager, from whom in a few days I received my railroad passes.  Obtaining thirty days’ leave of absence from the department, I struck out for the East.  On arriving in Chicago, in February, 1872, I was met at the depot by Colonel M.V.  Sheridan, who said that his brother, the General, had not yet returned, but had sent word that I was to be his and the Colonel’s guest, at their house, while I remained in Chicago.

I spent two or three days very pleasantly in the great city of the West, meeting several of the gentlemen who had been out on the Sheridan hunt in September—­General Stager, Colonel Wilson, editor of the Journal; Mr. Sam Johnson, General Rucker and others—­by all of whom I was most cordially received and well entertained.  I was introduced to quite a number of the best people of the city, and was invited to several “swell” dinners.  I also accompanied General Sheridan—­who meantime had returned to the city—­to a ball at Riverside—­an aristocratic suburb.

[Illustration:  AN EMBARRASSING SITUATION]

On this occasion I became so embarrassed that it was more difficult for me to face the throng of beautiful ladies, than it would have been to confront a hundred hostile Indians.  This was my first trip to the East, and I had not yet become accustomed to being stared at.  And besides this, the hundreds of questions which I was called upon to answer further embarrassed and perplexed me.

According to the route laid out for me by General Stager, I was to stop at Niagara Falls, Buffalo and Rochester on my way to New York, and he provided me with all the necessary railroad passes.  Just as I was about to leave Chicago I met Professor Henry A. Ward, of Rochester, for whom during the previous year or two I had collected a large number of specimens of wild animals.  He was on his way to Rochester, and kindly volunteered to act as my guide until we reached that point.  We spent one day in viewing the wonders of Niagara, and I stopped one day at Rochester and was shown the beauties of that handsome city by Professor Ward, and I had the honor of receiving an invitation to dine with the Mayor.

On arriving at New York I was met at the depot by Mr. J.G.  Hecksher, who had been appointed as “a committee of one” to escort me to the Union Club, where James Gordon Bennett, Leonard W. Jerome and others were to give me an informal reception, and where I was to make my headquarters during my visit in the great metropolis.  I had an elegant dinner at the club rooms, with the gentlemen who had been out on the September hunt, and other members of the club.

After dinner, in company with Mr. Hecksher—­who acted as my guide—­I started out on the trail of my friend, Ned Buntline, whom we found at the Brevoort Place Hotel.  He was delighted to see me, and insisted on my becoming his guest.  He would listen to no excuses, and on introducing me to Messrs. Overton & Blair, proprietors of the Brevoort, they also gave me a pressing invitation to make my home at their house.  I finally compromised the matter by agreeing to divide my time between the Union Club, the Brevoort House, and Ned Buntline’s quarters.