SHERIFF'S WORK ON A RANCH 



127 



Seawall and Dow left me the following morning, went back to the boats, 

 and had no further difficulty, for the weather set in very warm, the ice 

 went through with a rush, and they reached Mandan in about ten days, 

 killing four beaver and five geese on the way, but lacking time to stop to 

 do any regular hunting. 



Meanwhile I took the three thieves into Dickinson, the nearest town. 

 The going was bad, and the little mares could only drag the wagon at a 

 walk ; so, though we drove during the daylight, it took us two days and a 

 night to make the journey. It was a most desolate drive. The prairie 

 had been burned the fall before, and was a mere bleak waste of blackened 

 earth, and a cold, rainy mist lasted throughout the two days. The only 

 variety was where the road crossed the shallow headwaters of Knife and 

 Green rivers. Here the ice was high along the banks, and the wagon had 

 to be taken to pieces to get it over. My three captives were unarmed, but 

 as I was alone with them, except for the driver, of whom I knew nothing, 

 I had to be doubly on my guard, and never let them come close to me. 

 The little mares went so slowly, and the heavy road rendered any hope of 

 escape by flogging up the horses so entirely out of the question, that I 



