BUFFALO NEAR THE BIG BEND 



those of the fore wheels had seemed tight enough; 

 but since leaving there the woodwork of the fore 

 wheels had been shrinking more and more each 

 day, until now something must be done to tighten 

 them or we would soon have a broken-down 

 wagon. We had hoped to reach Fort Larned 

 before having to reset these tires, but from Big 

 Bend it was nearly two days' drive to the fort. 



Seeing old Tom examining the wheels, I asked: 



"Well, Tom, what are we going to do about it? 

 Hadn't we better take them fore wheels off and 

 throw them into the river overnight?" 



"No," replied the old man, "that would only 

 help us for a day and by to-morrow night they'd 

 be dry as ever. We'll just give 'em a plains- 

 man's shrinking, an' that's pretty nigh as good as 

 to have a blacksmith cut an' weld an' reset 'em. 

 We'll swell the felloes by puttin' canvas between 

 them an* the tires. The first thing is to unload 

 the wagon." 



It was quite a job, but Jack and I soon had the 

 stuff all out and stacked up on the ground. 



"Now, prop up the front ex an' take off the 

 wheels." 



This was soon accomplished. 



"Now, while I knock off the tires you an' Jack 

 can get out your gunny sacks an' carry up a whole 

 lot of buffalo-chips an' pile 'em handy." 



By the time we had done this Tom had taken 

 off the tires and laid them down, one on top of 



93 



