TWENTY YEARS IN THE ROCKIES. 51 



In this way we amused ourselves while wading around. 

 With one plunge we swept through a place where the water 

 was three feet deep and stuck on a sandbar. We were 

 amazed to find that we had about two bushels of white suck- 

 ers. We had a regular jollification on getting to shore. 

 We were now dividing the spoils. Some tried to get away 

 with their arms full of live,, wriggling fishes. Others held 

 them by the tails. I had a better way. I filled my old 

 white hat, which, with the rim turned down, held about half 

 a bushel. Our mess had fresh fish for supper, and we did 

 not mind the bones a bit. After we had eaten, we took an- 

 other turn in the water. The fishing continued until it was 

 dark. I believe the whole party had fish for breakfast. To 

 celebrate our good luck, we gathered around the little 

 stream and sang, "Shall we gather at the river?" Then fol- 

 lowed a regular wardance, concluded by war-songs. No 

 savage, with a dozen scalps hanging from his girdle, could 

 have felt happier than did we, on that memorable night. 



In the morning we resumed our journey in high spirits. 

 Our mess paid a visit to George Silverberg and his com- 

 rades. We found George gloriously full. We sang all of 

 the songs that we knew appropriate to the occasion, and left 

 him unspeakably happy. We then sought out William Bald- 

 win, and he sang for us, "The lousy miner." For the time 

 we forgot all our hardships and thought only of present en- 

 joyment and the gold-fields ahead. Our concert came to a 

 close as the dinner hour approached. That evening we 

 pitched our moving tents, one day's march nearer the Big 

 Horn, near Clear Creek. Here we caught a few trout, and 

 smiled at the idea of eating suckers. Oh ! no. No one but 

 a "tenderfoot" would eat suckers. The water of this creek 

 is very clear. The bed is lined with boulders worn round 

 and smooth by the swiftly flowing waters. The banks are 



