98 THE WILDERNESS HUNTER. 



valley. Evidently they feared to leave the 

 flats for the broken country beyond, where 

 the rugged hills were riven by gorges, in some 

 of which snow lay deep even thus early in the 

 season. Accordingly, after galloping a couple 

 of times round the valley, they once more 

 broke by me, at short range, and tore back 

 along the plateaus to that on which I had first 

 found them. Their evident and extreme re- 

 luctance to venture into the broken country 

 round about made me readily understand the 

 tales I had heard of game butchers killing 

 over a hundred individuals at a time out of a 

 herd so situated. 



I walked back to my game, dressed it, and 

 lashed the saddles and hams behind me on 

 my horse ; I had chosen old Sorrel Joe for the 

 trip because he was strong, tough, and quiet. 

 Then I started for the ranch, keeping to the 

 prairie as long as I could, because there the 

 going was easier ; sometimes I rode, some- 

 times I ran on foot leading Sorrel Joe. 



Late in the afternoon, as I rode over a roll 

 in the prairie I saw ahead of me a sight very 

 unusual at that season ; a small emigrant train 

 going westward. There were three white- 

 topped prairie schooners, containing the 

 household goods, the tow-headed children, 

 and the hard-faced, bony women ; the tired 

 horses were straining wearily in the traces ; 

 the bearded, moody men walked alongside. 

 They had been belated by sickness, and the 

 others of their company had gone ahead to 

 take up claims along the Yellowstone ; now 

 they themselves were pushing forward in 

 order to reach the holdings of their friends 



