54 ADVENTURES OF DR. ALLEN. 



CHAPTER IV. 



NATURE STUDIES Animal life on the plains white-tailed deer buffaloes- 

 beaver dams beaver at work a beaver colony. 



Our train halted on Middle Goose Creek, Wyoming. 

 We intended to camp here for a few days to rest our weary 

 animals and to prospect for gold. Presently we pulled out 

 to make a camp farther down the stream, and I left Thomas 

 Randall in charge while I took a ramble across the country. 

 To see our train strung out along the stream, as it wound 

 its way down a beautiful meadow, was truly a pleasing- 

 sight. The creek abounded with delicious trout and white- 

 tail deer, antelopes and buffaloes sported in great numbers 

 on adjacent hills. Grouse, prairie chickens and sagehens 

 thrust themselves upon our notice. Nature had been spec- 

 ially lavish in this section, and the red man was not slow to 

 appreciate the fact. The Crows, the Cheyennes, the Sioux, 

 and the Shoshones were continually righting for the mastery 

 and possession of this Eden of Wyoming. 



My horse was eager to join the train ; his large brown 

 eyes glistened and he pawed the ground while I saddled 

 him, adjusted my cartridge belt and thrust my old Bullard 

 rifle through the sling. As I raised into the saddle he 

 sprang forward. We headed for the mountains, and we flew 

 over the green meadow, rich in a thousand beautiful flow- 

 ers, whose perfume filled the air and mingled with the spices 

 of red willows. 



