66 IN THE BIG HORN MOUMTAINS. 



become wholly a grain eater, grain being procured with less 

 labor on the farm than insects ; but the individuals of this 

 species who live on the frontier seem content, like the pioneer 

 of the human species, to forego the luxuries of civilization for 

 the sake of carrying the standard of their race into the wilds 

 of the far West. 



During the afternoon we passed the camp of a band of 

 Crow Indians, under Chief Two-Bellies. A scout came out 

 from the camp and rode two or three miles with us, endeavor- 

 ing to find out who we were, where we were going, and what 

 our object was in thus trespassing on their reservation. He 

 could not, or at least pretended he could not speak or under- 

 stand a word of English, and the conversation was carried on 

 with him by signs. After he had obtained the information 

 he came for, he asked us where we were going to camp that 

 night, and said he would like to eat with us, but we told him 

 we were going to ride fifteen miles yet before camping, and 

 thinking that would be rather a long ride for the sake of ob- 

 taining a square meal, he turned and rode back to his village. 

 We expected that another party would be sent after us to 

 order us off the reservation, but were agreeably disappointed. 

 We should not have obeyed such an order if it had come, 

 but preferred not to antagonize the lordly proprietors of the soil. 



Wild fruits were very plentiful along the Rosebud, after 

 we got well up toward its head, and we feasted on plums and 

 choke-cherries ; both being large, thoroughly ripe, and of 

 delicious flavor. 



Having followed the Rosebud nearly to its head to 

 where it was a mere rill that one could easily step across we 

 left it early the next morning, and started across the divide to 

 the Little Big Horn. We reached the top of the divide at 

 ten o'clock in the forenoon, and here, for the first time, we 

 saw with eager eyes what we had so long been seeking, the 



