And so the matter was settled, and Guy became a teamster and a member of the emigrant’s family.
For the next three months he led a dreary, monotonous life, during which not a single incident happened that was worth recording. He arose from his blankets at daybreak, ate a breakfast of corn bread and bacon, and then climbed to his seat in the wagon, where he remained, with the exception of an hour’s halt at noon, until long after dark. Even this work was hard, and the longer it continued the more disgusted with frontier life Guy became, and the firmer grew his resolution, that if he ever lived to get among civilized people again, he would stay among them. The journey, like the voyage around the Horn, seemed endless, but at last, to his immense relief, Omaha appeared in sight.
By this time Guy had made up his mind what he was going to do. From the emigrants he met on the road he learned that the States were at war, that one portion of the Union was in arms against the other, and that men were wanted on both sides.
This seemed almost a godsend to Guy, for it settled a question which he had long been revolving in his mind, namely: What should he do for a living? he could go into the Union army. He would save every cent of the money he earned during his term of service, and if he lived to come out, he would have enough to enable him to take a course at some commercial college, and thus fit himself for business. He was a boy of peace—he had no taste for fights and broils—but he must do something to earn a livelihood, and this seemed to be just what he wanted.
When they reached Omaha Guy was paid off by his employer, receiving thirty-five dollars in money, and after taking leave of him and his family, he started at once for the levee. Finding there a steamer bound for St. Louis, he shipped on it as deck hand. He could not afford to go as passenger, for his clothes were almost in tatters, and he needed the little money he had to purchase a respectable outfit when he reached St. Louis.
The steamer arrived at the city early one morning, and Guy having received his wages, bent his steps toward the nearest clothing store, and when he came out again, half an hour afterward, he looked more like Guy Harris than he had looked for many a long day. He had purchased a neat, durable suit of clothing, and still had a few dollars left in his pocket. He was not ashamed now to show himself on the principal streets.
The first thing was to get a good breakfast, and the next to hunt up an officer to enlist him. There was a restaurant close by, and while he was eating a dish of ham and eggs, and drinking a cup of coffee, he talked with the proprietor, who directed him to the nearest recruiting office. It was on Fourth Street, the man said, and Guy having paid his bill started out to find it.
Guy felt now as if he were among friends from whom he had long been separated. He was delighted to find himself among the sights and sounds of the city again, and not a single incident that happened as he passed along the street did he regard as too trifling to be noticed.
He had now been adrift in the world nearly fifteen months, and during this time he had seldom thought of his home and those he had left there. It is true that when he was in trouble he had wished himself safe under his father’s roof once more, just as a storm-tossed mariner wishes himself back to the comfortable haven he left a few days ago; but if he had ever thought of his father and his father’s wife, it was with a feeling of bitterness which seemed to grow stronger and deeper as he grew older. He thought of them now, but without a single pang of regret or a single longing in his heart to see them. The world had treated him harshly since he had been out in it; but which was the worst, he asked himself—to receive hard words and hard usage from those of whom he had a right to expect nothing better, or to submit to daily exhibitions of indifference and partiality, and acts of petty tyranny and injustice from those of whom he had a right to expect nothing but encouragement, sympathy and love? Guy asked himself this question, and a hard expression settled about the corners of his mouth, which did not soften when he suddenly discovered among the numerous pedestrians one whom he thought he had seen before. It was a tall, dignified gentleman, who was just at that moment crossing the street, evidently with the intention of intercepting him. Guy stared at him in amazement. It was his father!