OB,

THE

BOEDER

WARS

OF

TWO

CENTURIES.

359

and, cdiecking m y h orse, I l ooked around f or my c ompanions. At a little d istance, K i t was o n the g round, engaged i n t ying his horse to the horns o f a cow w hich h e was preparing to cut up. Among the scattered hands, at some d istance b elow, I caught a glimpse o f M a x w e l l ; and while I was looking, a l ight wreath of w hite s moke c urled away from his gun, from which I was too far to hear t he r eport. Nearer, and between m e a nd the hills, towards which they were d irecting their c ourse, was the body of the h erd, and, g i v i n g my h orse t he r ein, we dashed after them. A t hick cloud o f d ust h u n g upon their rear, which filled m y m outh a nd eyes, a nd nearly smothered m e. In the midst o f t his I c ould see n othing, a nd the buffaloes were not d istinguishable u ntil w i t h i n t hirty feet. T hey crowded together m ore d ensely s till as I c ame u pon them, a nd rushed along i n such a c ompact b ody, t hat I c ould n ot o btain an entrance   the h orse a lmost leaping upon them. I n a few moments the mass divided to the r ight a nd l eft, t he h orns clattering w ith a n oise h eard above e verything else, and m y horse darted into the opening. F i v e o r s ix bulls charged o n us as we dashed along the l ine, b ut were l eft far behind; and, singling out a cow, I g ave h er m y f ire, b ut s truck too h igh. She gave a tremendous leap, and scoured o n s wifter than before. I reined up m y horse, and the band swept o n l ike a t orrent, a nd left the place quiet and clear. Our chase h ad l ed us i nto dangerous ground. A . prairie-dog village, so t hickly settled that there were three o r f our h oles i n every twenty yards square, occupied the w hole b ottom f or n early t wo m iles i n l ength. Looking around, I saw o nly one of the h unters, nearly o ut of sight, and the long dark line o f our c aravan crawling along, three or four miles distant. A f t e r a m arch o f t wenty-four miles, we encamped at n ightfall, one m ile and a h alf above the lower end of B rady's Island." In following these a dventurers across t he E ocky Mountains, the general reader w i l l , I h ave no d oubt, he i nterested i n noticing some of the principal features o f the w ild c ountry through which they were t raveling. O n the second o f J u l y , the p arty passed near the spot w here the Oregon emigrants had e ncamped   nly a few days before. A v ariety o f h ousehold articles were