88 HUNTING TRIPS 



long overland journeys, and that at a speed 

 with which it will give a man trouble to keep 

 up. 



As there are few fish in the plains streams, 

 otters are naturally not at all common, 

 though occasionally we get one. Musk-rats 

 are quite plenty in all the pools of water. 

 Sometimes a little pool out on the prairie 

 will show along its edges numerous traces 

 of animal life; for, though of small extent, 

 and a long distance from other water, it 

 may be the home of beavers and musk-rats, 

 the breeding-place of different kinds of 

 ducks, and the drinking-place for the deni- 

 zens of the dry country roundabouts, such 

 as wolves, antelopes, and badgers. 



Although the plains country is in most 

 places very dry, yet there are here and there 

 patches of prairie land where the reverse 

 is true. One such is some thirty miles dis- 

 tant from my ranch. The ground is gently 

 rolling, in some places almost level, and is 

 crossed by two or three sluggish, winding 



