INTRODUCTION. 



This fascinating narrative, which the publishers experi- 

 ence much pleasure in offering to the public, has come forth 

 as the result of years of loving participation in hunt, in In- 

 dian fighting, and in nature studies, by Dr. W. A. Allen, a 

 typical oldtime Westerner, who, for over a quarter of a cen- 

 tury, has taken part in the wild life of the West, being in 

 the early days the trusted leader of immigration, a keen en- 

 joyer of the sports of the chase, a crack rifle shot, who won 

 and successfully maintained an enviable record as an Indian 

 fighter of bravery and distinction. 



This volume will be welcomed by lovers of nature and 

 nature studies for its scientific value in the portrayal of nat- 

 ural history ; by the "old-timers" of Montana and Wyoming 

 for its lifelike retrospect of the days when every man held 

 his life in his own hand, and peril lurked on the bank of 

 every stream, glanced out from every mountain side and lay 

 in wait everywhere amid the rich grasses of the plains ; by 

 all lovers of their country, true Americans, for the light it 

 throws upon the flora and fauna of the primitive prairies and 

 mountains, and for its minute descriptions of the different 

 animals that were once the occupants of this then strange, 

 mysterious, unknown country, since that time wrested from 

 savage domination for the establishment of civilization by 



