Mr. Winston allowed him to pass him on the trail, unobserved, and heard him saying, as he rubbed one of his legs, "Oh Lord, my God, what ever made me leave my comfortable home and friends, and come out into this wilderness!" At this instant Mr. Winston called out, "What is the matter ----?" "Oh, I'm freezing, and I don't know that I shall ever be of any use if I ever get out," he replied. He did live to get out and to reach his friends, none the worse for his doleful experience. He did not again, however, go north into the forest, but tried another portion of the western country, where he became very prosperous. Long living around the open camp fire in the winter months, standing around in the smoke, and accumulating more or less of the odors from foods of various kinds being cooked by the open fire, invariably result in all of one's clothing and all of one's bedding becoming more or less saturated with the smell of the camp. This condition one does not notice while living in it from day to day, but he does not need to be out and away from such environments for more than a few hours, before he becomes personally conscious, to some degree, that such odors are not of a quality that would constitute a marketable article for cash. On arriving in Minneapolis at the close of the winter's campaign, without having changed our garments--as we had none with us that had not shared with us one and the same fate--Mr. P. B. Winston and I engaged a hack at the railroad station, and drove to our respective homes. [Illustration: "We saw racks in Minnesota made by the Indians". (Page 172.)] It was Mr. Winston's domicile that was first reached, and it happened, as the driver stopped in front of his house, that his fiancée, Miss Kittie Stevens (the first white child born in Minneapolis), chanced to be passing by. Of course their meeting was unexpected to either, but was a pleasant and joyous one, though somewhat embarrassing to Mr. Winston. The wind was blowing, and I noticed that he took the precaution to keep his own person out of the windward. He had been a soldier in the Confederate Army, and I smiled with much satisfaction as I observed his splendid maneuver. On meeting me next day, Mr. Winston inquired whether his tactics had been observed, and, being assured that they had, he said that that was the embarrassing moment for him, for he did not know but that the young lady might have considered that she had just grounds for breaking the engagement. Both of us, however, knew better, for she was a young lady possessed of a large degree of common sense and loveliness. The young people later were married, Mr. Winston becoming mayor of Minneapolis, remaining always, one of its best citizens. Often, afterwards, incidents of that winter's experience, a few of which have been herein recorded, were gone over together with great pleasure by the parties interested. CHAPTER XVII. Methods of Acquiring Government Land--An Abandoned Squaw.