44 EARLY DAY STORIES. 



was Jolly, but that was not his nature he always had a 

 grouch. Mr. Knapp and another man drove the herd out 

 to the pasture ground as soon as the oxen were unyoked, 

 while Jolly and I remained to eat supper before going-. We 

 reached the cattle just as it was getting dark and had some 

 trouble in keeping them from wandering off, as there was 

 a strong, cold wind from the west and the weather was be- 

 coming disagreeable. A big black cloud was coming up 

 and there were sharp flashes of lighting with heavy thun- 

 der, and a little rain. Although it rained scarcely enough 

 to wet us., what little rain there was felt as cold as ice. 

 Finally the cattle became partly quieted down and Jolly 

 undertook to build a fire, the very thing which he could not 

 do. I tried to get him to let me do it, but he said "No! 

 You watch the dom cattle. I'll build the fire." Finally he 

 gave up after using most of his matches and called for me 

 to try my hand at it. That was one thing I could always 

 do, to build a fire under almost any circumstances when 

 camping out. I got some large sage brush, of which there 

 was plenty, whittled off a good lot of dry shavings, got 

 Jolly to get down on his knees and spread out his overcoat 

 as a wind shield, and used one match only. The next morn- 

 ing was bright and cold, and the Rocky mountains, streaked 

 with broad white patches of snow were in plain sight for 

 the first time, sixty miles away to the west. No wonder it 

 was a cold rain it came right down from the snowy moun- 

 tains. 



We saw no Indians after leaving Loup Fork until 

 within about a day's drive of Ft. Laramie, Wyoming. I was 

 out hunting one day when we were about twenty miles or 

 so east of Ft. Laramie, trying to get a shot at some mountain 

 sheep. The hills were high and very steep and rough; I 

 had come in sight of the game several times, but always 

 they had gone to the top of some high, steep bluff, from 

 the summit of which they would stand on the edge of a 



