reach home. But, as Harrison says, "I laughed at our fate, and he
joked at it, and we all started off merrily. The generous men of our
company walked and rode by turns with us, and we fared about equal
with the rest. But for this generosity our legs would have had to do
the better work; for in that day this dreary route furnished no horses
to buy or to steal; and, whether on horse or afoot, we always had
company, for many of the horses' backs were too sore for riding." It
is not hard to imagine with what quips and quirks of native fancy
Lincoln and his friends beguiled the way through forest and prairie.
With youth, good health, and a clear conscience, and even then the
dawn of a young and undefiled ambition in his heart, nothing was
wanting to give zest and spice to this long, sociable walk of a
hundred leagues. One joke is preserved, and this one is at the expense
of Lincoln. One chilly morning he complained of being cold. "No
wonder," said some facetious cavalier, "there is so much of you on the
ground." [Footnote: Dr. Holland gives this homely joke (Life of
Lincoln, p. 71), but transfers it to a time four years later, when
Lincoln had permanently assumed shoes and had a horse of his own.] We
hope Lincoln's contributions to the fun were better than this, but of
course the prosperity of these jests lay rather in the liberal ears
that heard them than in the good-natured tongues that uttered them.

Lincoln and Harrison could not have been altogether penniless, for at
Peoria they bought a canoe and paddled down to Pekin. Here the
ingenious Lincoln employed his hereditary talent for carpentry by
making an oar for the frail vessel while Harrison was providing the
commissary stores. The latter goes on to say: "The river, being very
low, was without current, so that we had to pull hard to make half the
speed of legs on land; in fact, we let her float all night, and on the
next morning always found the objects still visible that were beside