234 Hunting Trips on the Prairie 



throughout most of the summer and fall on the 

 northern cattle plains. The storms that do take 

 place, though very violent, do not last long. 



Every now and then, however, there will be in 

 the fall a three days storm in which it is almost 

 impossible to travel, and then the best thing to be 

 done is to lie up under any shelter that is at hand 

 until it blows over. I remember one such camp 

 which was made in the midst of the most singular 

 and picturesque surroundings. It was toward the 

 end of a long wagon trip that we had been taking, 

 and all of the horses were tired by incessant work. 

 We had come through country which was entirely 

 new to us, passing nearly all day in a long flat prairie 

 through which flowed a stream that we supposed to 

 be either the Box Alder or the Little Beaver. In 

 leaving this we had struck some heavy sand-hills, 

 and while pulling the loaded wagon up them one of 

 the team played out completely, and we had to take 

 her out and put in one of the spare saddle-ponies, a 

 tough little fellow. Night came on fast, and the 

 sun was just setting when we crossed the final ridge 

 and came in sight of as singular a bit of country as 

 I have ever seen. The cowboys, as we afterward 

 found, had christened the place &quot;Medicine Buttes.&quot; 

 In plains dialect, I may explain, &quot;Medicine&quot; has been 

 adopted from the Indians, among whom it means 

 anything supernatural or very unusual. It is used 

 in the sense of &quot;magic/ or &quot;out of the common.&quot; 



Over an irregular tract of gently rolling sandy 

 hills, perhaps about three-quarters of a mile square, 



