He had no family to provide for, or even
companion to care for, on the route which he was about to enter. Yet
some things were necessary for himself; and to relieve his body from
the pressure of a load, he provided himself with a wheel-barrow, on
which to place his traps.
'It must not be supposed that our hero was ignorant of the large
number of emigrants that was moving over the plains, and it is quite
probable that his sagacity was precocious enough to look ahead at the
result of attempting to carry forward such ponderous loads, and such a
variety of at least dispensable things as the earlier parties started
with. A detailed list of the 'amount and variety of goods and wares,
useful and superfluous, including many of the appendages of refined
and fashionable life, would astonish the reader. Our hero was not in a
hurry. He reasoned thus: "The world was not made in a day; the race is
not always for the swift." He trundled along his barrow, enjoying the
comforts of his pipe, the object of wonder to many, and the subject of
much sportive remark to those who were hurried along by their fresh
and spirited teams on their first days.
'Many weeks had not passed, however, before our traveller had tangible
evidence that trouble had fallen to the lot of some who had preceded
him. A stray ox was feeding on his track: the mate of which, he
afterwards learned, was killed, and this one turned adrift as useless.
He coaxed this waif to be the companion of his journey, taking care to
stop where he could provide himself with the needful sustenance.
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