10 HUNTING THE GRISLY. 



ters and half-bred greyhounds, trotted along 

 behind the wagons. Each man took his turn 

 for two days as teamster and cook ; and there 

 were always two with the wagons, or camp, as 

 the case might be, while the other six were off 

 hunting, usually in couples. The expedition 

 was undertaken partly for sport and partly 

 with the hope of profit ; for, after purchasing 

 the horses and wagons, none of the party had 

 any money left, and they were forced to rely 

 upon selling skins and hides, and, when near 

 the forts, meat. 



They started on January 2d, and shaped 

 their course for the head-waters of the Salt 

 Fork of the Brazos, the centre of abundance 

 for the great buffalo herds. During the first 

 few days they were in the outskirts of the set- 

 tled country, and shot only small game quail 

 and prairie fowl; then they began to kill 

 turkey, deer, and antelope. These they 

 swapped for flour and feed at the ranches or 

 squalid, straggling frontier towns. On sev- 

 eral occasions the hunters were lost, spending 

 the night out in the open, or sleeping at a 

 ranch, if one was found. Both towns and 

 ranches were filled with rough customers ; all 

 of my brother's companions were muscular, 

 hot-headed fellows ; and as a consequence 

 they were involved in several savage free 

 fights, in which, fortunately, nobody was 

 seriously hurt. My brother kept a very brief 

 diary, the entries being fairly startling from 

 their conciseness. A number of times, the 

 mention of their arrival, either at a halting- 



