... His condition became that of a rider whose horse runs
headlong with the bit between his teeth, or of a locomotive, built of
indifferent material, under a head of steam too great for its strength,
hissing at a score of crevices, yet rushing on with accelerating speed to
the inevitable smash.... Soon appeared, as a sign of mischief, weakness of
sight. Accordingly he went to the Rocky Mountains to rest his failing
vision and to get an inside view of Indian life.... Reeling in the saddle,
he set forth, attended by a Canadian hunter.... Joining the Ogallala
Indians, he followed their wanderings for several weeks. To have worn the
air of an invalid would have been an indiscretion, as he says, since "a
horse, a rifle, a pair of pistols, and a red shirt might have offered
temptations too strong for aboriginal virtue." So he hunted when he could
scarcely sit upright.... To the maladies of the prairies other disorders
succeeded on his return.... Flat stagnation followed, reaching its depth
in eighteen months.
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