I want you to take it." Then they bade me good night and went into the saloon.
The wind had been rising, and the snow was drifting; and it was evident that in many places the road would be obliterated, and I had a long stretch of prairie to travel over on which there was not a human habitation.

It was dangerous to undertake it, and I had to stay in Atchison.

I found an empty corral, where my teams would be decently sheltered, and went to the only hotel in town.

The sleeping room they assigned me was separated from the bar-room only by a thin board partition, and I could hear every word that was said.

This hotel was the boarding-place of the South Carolinians, and they soon began to drop in from about town, and word was passed among them that Butler was in the house.