TWENTY YEARS IN THE ROCKIES. 121 



CHAPTER XI. 



HUNTING BIG GAME Waiting for our guide more killing of elk a great 

 game country another mountain lion hunting bears vengeance 

 vowed 011 treacherous guide going through the Bad Lands luck in 

 hunting buffaloes the Crow reservation we camp on Deer Creek arrive 

 at Boseman. 



After a terrible pull we reached Wind River, our horses 

 panting from over exertion. Here the grass was very poor, 

 and, being obliged to find grazing for our teams, we went 

 up the river about a mile, where we found a plentiful sup- 

 ply of good grass. At this place we were to wait the return 

 of our famous guide. He had named the day and hour when 

 he should rejoin us. After our late exertions we were 

 greatly depressed in spirit. Something had to be done. 

 We were out of meat and nearly out of everything else. As 

 we were hundreds of miles from any settlement, in the 

 heart of a great desert, and without any guide, many of the 

 party gave themselves up to tears and bitter lamentations. 



I was vexed for having been persuaded against my 

 better judgment to travel into this desert, and took a wicked 

 kind of pleasure in reminding the members of the company 

 that, at a certain hour, our guide would appear like a good 

 fairy and deliver us from our trouble. The boys were deter- 

 mined to wait for him,, whatever might happen. Next 

 morning I started up the river in search of game, which I 

 knew could not be far off. I soon heard a bull elk (cervus 

 Canadensis) breaking through the bushes with his horns 



