THE MISSOURI RIVER JOURNALS 6 1 



Wolf quietly feeding on the remains of our supper. One 

 of the men awoke at the same time and fired at the Wolf, 

 but without effect, and the fellow fled ; we neither saw nor 

 heard more of him during the night. By daylight we were 

 all up, and as our horses had not wandered far, it was the 

 work of a few minutes to catch and saddle them. We rode 

 three or four miles before we discovered anything, but at 

 last saw a group of three Buffaloes some miles from us. 

 We pushed on, and soon neared them ; before arriving at 

 their feeding-ground, we saw, scattered about, immense 

 quantities of pumice-stone, in detached pieces of all sizes; 

 several of the hills appeared to be composed wholly of it. 

 As we approached within two hundred yards of the Buf- 

 faloes they started, and away went the hunters after them. 

 My first intention of being merely a looker-on continued 

 up to this moment, but it was impossible to resist follow- 

 ing; almost unconsciously I commenced urging my horse 

 after them, and was soon rushing up hills and through 

 ravines ; but my horse gave out, and disappointment and 

 anger followed, as McKenzie and Bonaventure succeeded 

 in killing two, and wounding a third, which escaped. As 

 soon as they had finished them, they commenced skin- 

 ning and cutting up one, which was soon in the cart, the 

 offal and useless meat being left on the ground. Again 

 the Wolves made their appearance as we were leaving; 

 they seemed shy, but Owen McKenzie succeeded in killing 

 one, which was old and useless. The other Buffalo was 

 soon skinned and in the cart. In the meantime McKenzie 

 and I started on horseback for water. The man who had 

 charge of the keg had let it all run out, and most fortu- 

 nately none of us had wanted water until now. We rode 

 to a pond, the water of which was very salt and warm, but 

 we had to drink this or none; we did so, filled our flasks 

 for the rest of the party, and a few minutes afterward 

 rejoined them. We started again for more meat to com- 

 plete our load. I observed, as we approached the Buf- 



