It was found necessary either that Frank should put in 2,000 dollars more capital (which he said would set them right), or he must give up the creamery. He did give it up, and was left high and dry to begin the world again with a capital of about two hundred dollars. I am told that the working partner still carries on the business, and having got hold of the plant at a nominal price, is now really making the thing pay. But Frank was out of it, and Minnesota was no longer a place for him. With the small capital above mentioned he decided to strike out west for the Rockies. How he fared I will tell you in my next letter. [Illustration] [Illustration] LETTER No. II. Frank's dearly-bought experience—A start for the Rockies—Magnificent scenery—Indian scouts and revolvers—Advice to parents—Frank's determination to "rough it." _London, August, 1885._ I have now given you a short account of how Frank managed to get through his two first years of farming life in Minnesota, and how he (or rather I) was worse off in the end than at the beginning. He had purchased experience at my expense; his money was nearly all gone, and with what remained he resolved to start off for the Rocky Mountains with a friend. This friend was a young fellow, who had gone out from the City of London fired with the notion that the Great West was the proper place for him, that there was nothing like a life in the open prairie, where a little work would be diversified by a good deal of hunting, shooting, and riding about. So this youth immediately on his reaching Frank, to whom he had been highly commended by friends at home, borrowed a hundred dollars from him, and they started off together to seek their fortunes in the Rockies. I think I cannot do better than send you some extracts from Frank's letters, which will give you a fair notion of his progress from the year 1883 to this time, and show, at all events, that amid a good many ups and downs, and hardships of no ordinary character, he has up to this point "stuck to it;" while his friend who accompanied him to the Rockies, suddenly bolted, leaving Frank in the lurch, and minus the money he had lent him. The first letter is dated June, 1883. "MY DEAR PARENTS, "I have just struck out here; I had nothing to do at M. The creamery business was finished up, and I can get better pay working out here than there. I started with S. on Monday, and we arrived here on Thursday, a distance of 1,100 miles, right through the Rockies.