TWENTY YEARS IN THE ROCKIES. 225 



per, and turned in on my saddle blankets for the night, under 

 the sheltering boughs of a large cottonwood. The roar of 

 the waters, the rustling of leaves, the cries of coyotes and the 

 howling of wolves, robbed me of sleep and made me feel that 

 the infernal regions could not be very far off. I fired two 

 or three shots in a vain attempt to frighten the brutes into 

 silence, then built a fire and lay down to rest but not to 

 sleep. I reached Fort Custer by noon the next day, hav- 

 ing had no adventure worth relating, save the battle I had 

 witnessed. 



