A Trip on the Prairie 231 



and then cantered back to the edge of the brush, 

 when a little spotted fawn came out and joined 

 her. The two stood together for a few moments, 

 and then walked off into the cover. The little pond 

 at which they had drunk was within fifty yards of 

 my night bed ; and it had other tenants in the shape 

 of a mallard duck, with a brood of little ducklings, 

 balls of fuzzy yellow down, that bobbed off into the 

 reeds like little corks as I walked by. 



Breaking camp is a simple operation for one man ; 

 and but a few minutes after breakfast Manitou and 

 I were off; the embers of the fire having been extin 

 guished with the care that comes to be almost second 

 nature with the cattleman, one of whose chief dreads 

 is the prairie fire, that sometimes robs his stock of 

 such an immense amount of feed. Very little game 

 was seen during the morning, as I rode in an almost 

 straight line over the hot, parched plains, the ground 

 cracked and seamed by the heat, and the dull brown 

 blades bending over as if the sun was too much even 

 for them. The sweat drenched the horse even when 

 we were walking; and long before noon we halted 

 for rest by a bitter alkaline pool with border so steep 

 and rotten that I had to bring water up to the horse 

 in my hat; having taken some along in a canteen 

 for my own use. But there was a steep bank near, 

 overgrown with young trees, and thus giving good 

 shade; and it was this that induced me to stop. 

 When leaving this halting-place, I spied three fig 

 ures in the distance, loping toward me; they turned 

 out to be cowboys, who had been out a couple of 



