202 A Trip on the Prairie. 



course for a mile or so, till a small spot of green in the side 

 of a bank showed the presence of water, a little pool 

 of which lay underneath. The ground was so rotten that 

 it was with difficulty I could get Manitou down where he 

 could drink ; but at last both of us satisfied our thirst, and 

 he was turned loose to graze, with his saddle off, so as to 

 cool his back, and I, after eating a biscuit, lay on my face 

 on the ground there was no shade of any sort near and 

 dozed until a couple of hours' rest and feed had put the 

 horse in good trim for the afternoon ride. When it came 

 to crossing over the dry creek on whose bank we had 

 rested, we almost went down in a quicksand, and it was 

 only by frantic struggles and flounderings that we man- 

 aged to get over. 



On account of these quicksands and mud-holes, cross- 

 ing the creeks on the prairie is often very disagreeable 

 work. Even when apparently perfectly dry the bottom 

 may have merely a thin crust of hard mud and underneath a 

 fathomless bed of slime. If the grass appears wet and with 

 here and there a few tussocks of taller blades in it, it is 

 well to avoid it. Often a man may have to go along a 

 creek nearly a mile before he can find a safe crossing, 

 or else run the risk of seeing his horse mired hard and 

 fast. When a horse is once in a mud-hole it will perhaps 

 so exhaust itself by its first desperate and fruitless 

 struggle that it is almost impossible to get it out. Its 

 bridle and saddle have to be taken off; if another horse is 

 along the lariat is drawn from the pommel of the latter's 

 saddle to the neck of the one that is in, and it is hauled 

 out by main force. Otherwise a man may have to work 



