226 HUNTING THE GRISLY. 



a trail boss of the O X, was drowned while 

 swimming his herd across a swollen river. 

 Another, one of the fancy ropers of the W Bar, 

 was killed while roping cattle in a corral ; his 

 saddle turned, the rope twisted round him, he 

 was pulled off, and was trampled to death by 

 his own horse. 



The fourth man, a cowpuncher named 

 Hamilton, lost his life during the last week of 

 October, 1891, in the first heavy snowstorm of 

 the season. Yet he was a skilled plainsman, 

 on ground he knew well, and just before 

 straying himself, he successfully instructed 

 two men who did not know the country how 

 to get to camp. They were all three with the 

 round-up, and were making a circle through 

 the Bad Lands ; the wagons had camped on 

 the eastern edge of these Bad Lands, where 

 they merged into the prairie, at the head of 

 an old disused road, which led about due east 

 from the Little Missouri. It was a gray, 

 lowering day, and as darkness came on 

 Hamilton's horse played out, and he told his 

 two companions not to wait, as it had begun 

 to snow, but to keep on towards the north, 

 skirting some particularly rough buttes, and 

 as soon as they struck the road to turn to the 

 right and follow it out to the prairie, where 

 they would find camp ; he particularly warned 

 them to keep a sharp look-out, so as not to 

 pass over the dim trail unawares in the dusk 

 and the storm. They followed his advice, and 

 reached camp safely ; and after they had left 

 him nobody ever again saw him alive. Evi- 



