Now, mind what I say. After you have forded the river, you will
strike the military road till you arrive in the prairie; then you ride
twenty miles east, till you arrive at Caledonia city; there they will
tell you all about it."
I crossed the river, and, after half an hour's fruitless endeavours, I
could not find the military road, so I forded back, and returned to
my host.
"Law!" he answered; "why, the trees are blazed on each side of the
road."
Now, if he had told me that at first, I could not have mistaken, for I
had seen the blazing of a bridle-path; but as he had announced a
military road, I expected, what it imported, a military road. I resumed
my journey and entered the prairie. The rays of the sun were very
powerful, and, wishing to water my horse, I hailed with delight a
miserable hut, sixteen feet square, which I saw at about half a mile
from the trail. In a few minutes I was before the door, and tied my
horse to a post, upon which was a square board bearing some kind of
hieroglyphics on both sides. Upon a closer inspection, I saw upon one
side "Ice," and upon the other, "POSTOFF."
"A Russian, a Swede, or a Norwegian," thought I, knowing that Iowa
contained eight or ten thousand emigrants of these countries.
"Ice--well, that is a luxury rarely to be found by a traveller in the
prairie, but it must be pretty dear; no matter, have some I must.
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