He
was very tall, and very erect, even while carrying those books and that
bag. He was smooth-shaven, and was the first man I ever saw who shaved
every day, and could do the trick without a looking-glass. His eyes were
black and very piercing; and his voice rolled like thunder when he grew
earnest--which he was likely to do whenever he spoke. He would begin to
discuss my cows, the principles of farming, the sky, the birds of
passage, the flowers, the sucking in of the Dutchman--which I told him
all about before we had gone five miles--the mire-holes in the slews,
anything at all--and rising from a joke or a flighty notion which he
earnestly advocated, he would lower his voice and elevate his language
and utter a little gem of an oration. After which he would be still and
solemn for a while--to let it sink in I thought.
N.V. was at that time twenty-seven years old. He; came from Evansville,
Indiana, by the Ohio from Evansville to St. Louis, and thence up the
Mississippi. From Dubuque he had partly walked and partly ridden with
people who were willing to give him a lift.
"I am like unto the Apostle Peter," he said when he asked for the chance
to ride with me, "silver and gold have I none; but such as I have I give
unto thee."
"What do you mean?" I asked; for it is just as well always to be sure
beforehand when it comes to pay-though, of course, I should have been
glad to have him with me without money and without price.
"In the golden future of Iowa," he said, "you will occasionally want
legal advice.
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