66 CANADIAN NIGHTS 



regards themselves, is apt to result in the discom- 

 fiture of the rider if he is new to the plains, and to 

 cause him to describe a graceful parabola in the air, 

 and fall down head foremost in the soft substance 

 of the sand beneath. It is the easiest thing in the 

 world to lose yourself in this broken sand-heapy 

 country, for you will lose sight of the wagons when 

 not a hundred yards from them, and not see them 

 until you are right on the top of them again. There 

 is of course no kind of road or track of any sort ; 

 you simply travel in the direction which you wish to 

 go, choosing the best line of country you can find. 



We camped that night on Little Sandy Creek, 

 the south branch of the east fork of the western 

 arm of one of the larger tributaries of the North 

 Platte. It was on the next day's march that the 

 first elk was killed. I was riding alone a little to 

 the left of the wagons, much alarmed at not having 

 them constantly in view, but still so anxious to get 

 a shot that I ventured to keep off a little way. I 

 had adopted by this time the manners and cus- 

 toms of the native hunter, which consist in going 

 up cautiously to the crest of a sand-hill, looking 

 over inch by inch, and occasionally going to the 

 top of the highest point in the neighbourhood and 

 taking a good survey round with a pair of field- 



