The next day, when as usual, visitors began to flock to the rooms where the Indians were sojourning, the woman and a young Indian, her confederate, took their station by the door, which they kept closed. When any one knocked, the door was cautiously opened, and the woman, extending her hand exclaimed—"Two shinnin."
This was readily paid in each instance, and the game went on, until she had accumulated a considerable sum. But this did not satisfy her. At the first attempt of a visitor to leave the room, the door was held close, as before, the hand was extended, and "two shinnin" again met his ear. He tried to explain that, having paid for his entrance, he must go out free. With an innocent shake of the head, "Two shinnin" was all the English she could understand.
The agent, who had entered a short time before, and who overhearing the dialogue, sat laughing behind his newspaper, waiting to see how it would all end, now came forward and interfered, and the guests were permitted to go forth without further contribution.
[CHAPTER X]
Portage and Old Fort Winnebago—Cemetery Where Soldiers of Several Wars Are Buried—Waubun House
When Wisconsin was on the frontier, as a protection against the Indians, three forts were built—Fort Howard at Green Bay, Fort Crawford at Prairie du Chien, and Fort Winnebago at Portage. The central object of interest in this little journey is the early outpost at the Fox-Wisconsin portage.
Leaving Baraboo on Trunk Line 33, leading directly east of the city, where open fields now greet the eye on either side, was once a treeless tract known as Peck's Prairie. This was named for Eben Peck, an early settler whose residence was on the present highway a short distance west of the fair ground.
Roche Moutonnee
After passing a road which turns to the left and leads to the man mound, a roche moutonnee, sheep shaped surface of the quartzite, may be seen about a half-mile to the left. The surface of the outcrop was rounded during the invasion of the glacial ice into this region.
Just before reaching the Baraboo River the road swings to the left, approaching the talused slope of the rugged north range of the Baraboo Bluffs. Two species of cacti grow on the summit here, also to the west—Opuntia humifusa, the western prickly pear, and Opuntia fragilis, the brittle opuntia.