N.V. was at that time twenty-seven years old.  He; came from Evansville, Indiana, by the Ohio from Evansville to St. Louis, and thence up the Mississippi.  From Dubuque he had partly walked and partly ridden with people who were willing to give him a lift.

“I am like unto the Apostle Peter,” he said when he asked for the chance to ride with me, “silver and gold have I none; but such as I have I give unto thee.”

“What do you mean?” I asked; for it is just as well always to be sure beforehand when it comes to pay-though, of course, I should have been glad to have him with me without money and without price.

“In the golden future of Iowa,” he said, “you will occasionally want legal advice.  I will accept transportation in your very safe, but undeniably slow equipage as a retainer.”

“Captain Sproule used to say,” I said, “that what you pay the lawyer is the least of the matter when you go to law.”

“Wise Captain Sproule,” replied N.V.; “and my rule shall be to keep my first client, Mr. Jacob T. Vandemark, out of the courts; and in addition to my prospective legal services, I can wield the goad-stick and manipulate the blacksnake.  Moreover, when these feet of mine get their blisters healed, I can help drive the cattle; and I can gather firewood, kindle fires, and perhaps I may suggest that my conversation may not be entirely unprofitable.”

I told him I would take him in as a passenger; and there our life-long friendship began.  His conversation was not unprofitable.  He had the vision of the future of Iowa which I had until then lacked.  He could see on every quarter-section a prosperous farm, and he knew what the building of the railways must mean.  As we forded the Maquoketa he laughed at the settlers working at the timber, grubbing out stumps, burning off the logs, struggling with roots.

“Your ancestors, the Dutch,” said he, “have been held up to ridicule because they refused to establish a town until they found a place where dykes had to be built to keep out the sea, though there were plenty of dry places available.  These settlers are acting just as foolishly.  They have been used to grubbing, and they go where grubbing has to be done.  Two miles either way is better land ready for the plow!  Why can’t every one be wise like us?”

“They have to have wood for houses, stables, and fuel,” I said.  “I hope my land has timber on it.”

“The railroads are coming,” said he, “and they will bring you coal and wood and everything you want.  They are racing for the crossings of the Mississippi.  Soon they will reach the Missouri—­and some day they will cross the continent to the Pacific.  No more Erie Canals; no more Aaron Burr conspiracies for the control of the mouth of the Mississippi.  Towns!  Cities!  Counties!  States!  We are pioneers; but civilization is treading on our heels.  I feel it galling my kibes[8]—­and what are a few blisters to me!  I see in my own adopted city of Lithopolis, Iowa, a future Sparta or Athens or Rome, or anyhow, a Louisville or Cincinnati or Dubuque—­a place in which to achieve greatness—­or anyhow, a chance to deal in town lots, defend criminals, or prosecute them, and where the unsettled will have to be settled in the courts as well as on the farm.  On to Lithopolis!  G’lang, Whiteface, g’lang!”