12 HUNTING THE GRISLY. 



eight hours without drinking. " February 

 1 9th. Pulled on twenty-one miles trail bad 

 freezing night, no water, and wolves after 

 our fresh meat. 20. Made nineteen miles 

 over prairie ; again only mud, no water, 

 freezing hard frightful thirst. 2 1 st. Thirty 

 miles to Clear Fork, freshwater." These en- 

 tries were hurriedly jotted down at the time, 

 by a boy who deemed it unmanly to make 

 any especial note of hardship or suffering ; 

 but every plainsman will understand the real 

 \ agony implied in working hard for two nights, 

 one day, and portions of two others, without 

 water, even in cool weather. During the last 

 few miles the staggering horses were only just 

 able to drag the lightly loaded wagon, for 

 they had but one with them at the time, 

 while the men plodded along in sullen silence, 

 their mouths so parched that they could hardly 

 utter a word. My own hunting and ranching 

 were done in the north where there is more 

 water ; so I have never had a similar experi- 

 ence. Once I took a team in thirty-six hours 

 across a country where there was no water ; 

 but by good luck it rained heavily in the 

 night, so that the horses had plenty of wet 

 grass, and I caught the rain in my slicker, and 

 so had enough water for myself. Personally, 

 I have but once been as long as twenty-six 

 hours without water. 



The party pitched their permanent camp in 

 a canyon of the Brazos known as Canyon Blan- 

 co. The last few days of their journey they 

 travelled beside the river through a veritable 



