Doctor Battius had rendered himself a little remarkable throughout the
whole of the preceding retreat, for the exceeding diligence with which
he had laboured to effect that desirable object. So very conspicuous
was his zeal, indeed, as to have entirely gotten the better of all his
ordinary predilections. The worthy naturalist belonged to that species
of discoverers, who make the worst possible travelling companions to a
man who has reason to be in a hurry. No stone, no bush, no plant is
ever suffered to escape the examination of their vigilant eyes, and
thunder may mutter, and rain fall, without disturbing the abstraction
of their reveries. Not so, however, with the disciple of Linnaeus,
during the momentous period that it remained a mooted point at the
tribunal of his better judgment, whether the stout descendants of the
squatter were not likely to dispute his right to traverse the prairie
in freedom. The highest blooded and best trained hound, with his game
in view, could not have run with an eye more riveted than that with
which the Doctor had pursued his curvilinear course.
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