A Trip on the Prairie 225 



with the lariat round his neck, to feed where he 

 wished until I went to bed, when he was to be taken 

 to a place where the grass was thick and succulent, 

 and tethered out for the night. There was any 

 amount of wood with which a fire was started for 

 cheerfulness, and some of the coals were soon raked 

 off apart to cook over. The horse blanket was 

 spread on the ground, with the oil-skin over it as a 

 bed, underneath a spreading cotton wood tree, while 

 the regular blanket served as covering. The metal 

 cup was soon filled with water and simmering over 

 the coals to make tea, while an antelope steak was 

 roasting on a forked stick. It is wonderful how 

 cosy a camp, in clear weather, becomes if there is a 

 good fire and enough to eat, and how sound the 

 sleep is afterward in the cool air, with the brilliant 

 stars glimmering through the branches overhead. 

 In the country where I was there was absolutely no 

 danger from Indian horse-thieves, and practically 

 none from white ones, for I felt pretty sure no one 

 was anywhere within a good many miles of me, 

 and none could have seen me come into the valley. 

 Besides, in the cattle country stealing horses is a 

 hazardous profession, as any man who is found en- 

 gaged in it is at once, and very properly, strung 

 up to the nearest tree, or shot if no trees are handy ; 

 so very few people follow it, at least for any length 

 of time, and a man's horses are generally safe. 



Near where we had halted for the night camp was 

 a large prairie-dog town. Prairie-dogs are abundant 

 all over the cattle country ; they are in shape like lit- 



