of the expedition was due. The two men who, in their very different 

 ways, made our achievements possible were Mr. Paris Gibson and 

 Sergeant Mortson. 



I engaged, with very Httle difficulty, a fine lot of horses, especially a 

 splendid team of four for the wagon, the best I ever had in all my 

 Western peregrinations. I could not close the bargain, however, until 

 the treasurer should arrive and let me know the state of our funds. 

 When he did turn up, it once appeared that we were some $300 short. 

 I then held a consultation with the party, as to whether they would 

 stand by me, if I borrowed the necessary funds, explaining that the 

 only alternative was to confess defeat and go home. Unanimously and 

 without hesitation, they told me to go ahead and borrow the money. 

 This I did at the local bank, Mr. Gibson endorsing my note, an ex- 

 tremely generous thing for him to do for the benefit of strangers. I may 

 anticipate so far as to say that we had no difficulty in paying the debt, 

 the sale of our horses more than covering it. 



For the work of the expedition, I engaged three employees, each 

 uncommonly good in his own line. Besides Sergeant Mortson, who 

 was to be our guide and map maker, there were George, the teamster, 

 and Charlie, the cook. I think the latter must have been in fear of 

 the police and anxious to get out of the town, for he, though a thor- 

 oughly trained and competent hotel cook, volunteered to come with us 

 for much less than his usual wages. Never have I had a camp cook who 

 could compare with him, though Proctor, of the '82 trip, was a good 

 second. The superlatively good meals he gave us made gluttons of us 

 all and the quantity of supplies that we consumed that summer was 

 quite incredible. To have three such competent and willing men was 

 a wonderful stroke of good luck and made the work of camp and 

 march mere child's play. 



For some time we went wandering about in search of the fossil beds, 

 of which the settlers knew nothing. We expected to see exposures 

 somewhat like the famiUar bad lands of Dakota and Wyoming and 

 could find nothing of the sort. In view of the very short time at our 

 disposal, it began to look as though we should have to go home without 

 having found a place to begin work. This would have been another 

 mortifying fiasco for me, but I was saved from it by Sergeant Mortson. 



On a hot day, I borrowed a light wagon and harnessed our own 

 wheelers to it, for a drive of fourteen miles to White Sulphur Springs. 

 On the drive, I had a characteristic bit of experience. After driving 

 some miles, I overtook that very rare bird in the Far West, a man 



C 182 2 



