270 Hunting the Grisly 



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 snow- 

 storm of the season. Yet he was a skilled 

 plainsman, on ground he knew well, and just 

 before straying himself, he successfully in- 

 structed two men who did not know the coun- 

 try 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 toward 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 lookout, so as 



