Am I soldier of the boss-- A follower of Jim Lane? And shall I fear to steal a hoss Or blush to ride the same?
We are also told that Mr. Albert Hazlett "picked up a fine stallion down in Missouri."[321] And Mr. Gill, in a letter to Colonel Hinton,[322] speaks of a trip which he and Brown were on during several days, but does not state the nature of their adventures. Brown was ill a part of the summer; and for several weeks was seriously so, in the home of Mr. Adair at Osawatomie, where he was cared for by the faithful Kagi. The latter wrote to his sister that he was compelled to "lay off" at Osawatomie, for a month, on account of this. He laid off from "fishing," and from sleeping on the prairie, with the "blue arch for a covering." It seems, however, that before Brown was taken ill, he had been doing some of this speculative or professional business himself; in fact he attributed his illness to the exposure which he had been subjected to, while engaged in it, whatever it may have been--"fishing" or other employment. He related to Mr. Sanborn, in his letter of July 20th-August 6th: "Have been down with ague since last date, and had no safe way to get off my letter. I had lain every night without shelter, suffering from cold rains and heavy dews, together with the oppressive heat of the day." It appears, from this statement, that Brown also had had engagements in other neighborhoods, for, in his own neighborhood, "deserted farms and dwellings lay in all directions for some miles,"[323] and he could easily have taken shelter in some of them. It is evident, too, that wherever he may have been, his circumstances were such that he could not call upon the settlers, in such neighborhoods, and ask for shelter and accept from them such hospitality and entertainment as settlers are wont to give, or he would have done so. His condition seems to have been similar to the condition which horse thieves are in, when they have stolen horses in their possession: they cannot safely ask for shelter and other entertainment and have to lie out at night, and suffer from cold rains, if there happen to be any, and from heavy dews. It is to be regretted that Brown's later biographer did not secure from Salmon Brown a statement concerning the doings of Brown and his captains, while they were operating in Kansas. It transpired, however, that Brown encouraged horse stealing by his subordinates. Reference has been made to the fine stallion which Hazlett had "picked up" down in Missouri. Mr. Gill, in his narrative about this matter, states that Brown bought this fine horse from Hazlett; giving him, in exchange for it, a United States land warrant for forty acres of land, that had been donated to Brown by Gerrit Smith; and that he afterward sold the horse, by auction, at Cleveland.