We continued on in this manner till fall, visiting almost every town in Northern Michigan and Wisconsin, when I had increased my stock to several hundred dollars, and was making money fast. [Illustration] CHAPTER XXXI. ROBBED OF A TRUNK OF JEWELRY--ONLY A SMALL STOCK LEFT--A TERRIBLE CALAMITY--COLLAPSED--AN EMPTY SAMPLE-CASE MY SOLE POSSESSION--PEDDLING POLISH AGAIN--MAKING A RAISE--UNINTENTIONAL GENEROSITY BREAKS ME UP--MEETING AN OLD PARTNER--THE JOBBER SUPPLIES ME WITH JEWELRY--HUS'LING AGAIN WITH GREAT SUCCESS--MAKING SIX HUNDRED DOLLARS IN ONE DAY--MY HEALTH FAILS ME--I RETURN TO OHIO--A PHYSICIAN GIVES ME BUT TWO YEARS TO LIVE--HOW I FOOLED HIM. As cold weather was approaching, my wife concluded to return to Chicago, and I proceeded towards the Northwest. At Duluth I received two large packages of new goods, which came C.O.D., and which took nearly my last dollar. I carried with me a leather trunk in which to keep my reserved stock, and as I had but a few moments' spare time, after receiving the goods at Duluth, before the train left for Aiken, Minnesota, I put all of my new goods in the leather trunk, leaving but a small stock in my sample case. I then checked the trunk to Aiken, where I arrived at one o'clock in the morning. From force of habit I had become accustomed to stepping forward towards the baggage car, whenever I alighted at a depot, to see that my baggage was taken off; and this time not being an exception, I remained standing by till I saw my trunk taken off and set to one side, when I proceeded to the hotel. I expected to have a porter return to the depot and assist me in carrying it to the hotel, but on reaching there found a cheap fourth-rate house, with not less than fifty or sixty drunken woodsmen, and at once decided that the jewelry would be safer at the depot than there, and retired without it. The next morning I presented my check and was informed that there was no piece of baggage there with a corresponding number. I told the baggage-man that I saw him take it off and set it on the platform. He was sure he had never seen it, and at once accompanied me to Brainerd, where the general baggage-agent's report showed that the trunk had been reported taken off at Aiken; the agent at this place then produced the duplicate to my check, and stated that the conductor of the train on which I had come from Duluth had found it on the rear end of the hind car, just after leaving Aiken. The superintendent took immediate steps towards having the matter ferreted out, and very kindly gave me a pass over the road.