Soon Mrs. O’Shaughnessy returned, and as the drummer was trying to get out to E——­, and that was our destination also, she made her way toward him, intending to invite him to ride with us.  She wore over her best clothes an old coat that had once belonged to some one of her men friends.  It had once been bearskin, but was now more bare skin, so her appearance was against her; she looked like something with the mange.  So Mr. Drummer did not wait to hear what she was going to say but at once exclaimed, “No, madam, I cannot let you ride out with me.  I can’t get a rig myself in this beastly place.”  Then he turned to a man standing near and remarked, “These Western women are so bold they don’t hesitate to demand favors.”

Mrs. O’Shaughnessy’s eyes fairly snapped, but she said nothing.  I think she took a malicious delight in witnessing the drummer’s chagrin when a few moments later our comfortable sleigh and good strong team appeared.

We were going to drive ourselves, but we had to drive to the depot for our suit-cases; but when we got there the ticket-office was not open, so the agent was probably having his beauty sleep.  There was a fire in the big stove, and we joined the bunch of men in the depot.  Among them we noticed a thin, consumptive-looking fellow, evidently a stranger.

Very soon some men began talking of some transaction in which a Bishop B——­ was concerned.  It seemed they didn’t admire the Bishop very much; they kept talking of his peculiarities and transgressions, and mentioned his treatment of his wives.  His “second,” they said, was blind because of cataracts, and, although abundantly able, he left her in darkness.  She had never seen her two last children.  Some one spoke up and said, “I thought polygamy was no longer practiced.”  Then the man explained that they no longer contracted plural marriages, but that many kept all their wives and B——­ still had both of his.  He went on to say that although such practice is contrary to law, it was almost impossible to make a case against them, for the women would not swear against their husbands.  B——­ had been arrested once, but his second swore that she didn’t know who her children’s father was, and it cost the sheriff his office the next election.

Mrs. O’Shaughnessy spoke to an acquaintance of hers and mentioned where we were going.  In a short while we got our suit-cases and we were off, but as we drove past the freight depot, the stranger we had noticed came down the steps and asked us to let him ride out with us.  I really felt afraid of him, but Mrs. O’Shaughnessy thinks herself a match for any mere man, so she drew up and the man climbed in.  He took the lines and we snuggled down under the robes and listened to the runners, shrill screeching over the frozen surface.

We had dinner with a new settler, and about two o’clock that afternoon we overtook a fellow who was plodding along the road.  His name was B——­, he said, and he pointed out to us his broad fields and herds.  He had been overseeing some feeders he had, and his horse had escaped, so he was walking home, as it was only a couple of miles.  He talked a great deal in that two-mile trip; too much for his own good, it developed.