Accordingly, one day when United States Judge Lecompte was in our office, I mentioned the matter to him; he told me to go down to the clerk of his court, and he would give me the license.

I inquired what examination I would have to submit to, and he replied, "None at all;" he would admit me on the ground of general intelligence.
During that summer we got our share of the business of the profession, then represented by several eminent law-firms, embracing names that have since flourished in the Senate, and in the higher courts of the country.

But the most lucrative single case was given me by my friend Major Van Vliet, who employed me to go to Fort Riley, one hundred and thirty-six miles west of Fort Leavenworth, to superintend the repairs to the military road.

For this purpose he supplied me with a four-mule ambulance and driver.
The country was then sparsely settled, and quite as many Indians were along the road as white people; still there were embryo towns all along the route, and a few farms sprinkled over the beautiful prairies.

On reaching Indianola, near Topeka, I found everybody down with the chills and fever.