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beaten trail followed along the bottoms for 

 some distance and then branched out into 

 the Bad Lands, leading up and down 

 through the ravines and over the ridge 

 crests of some very rough and broken coun- 

 try, and crossing a great level plateau, over 

 which the wind blew savagely, swec 

 the powdery snow clean off of the bent 

 blades of short, brown grass. After ma- 

 king a wide circle of some twelve miles the 

 trail again came back to the Little 

 souri, and led along the bottoms between 

 the rows of high bluffs, continually cross- 

 ing and recrossing the river. These cross- 

 ings were difficult and disagreeable for the 

 horse, as they always are when the ice is 

 not quite heavy enough to bear. The water 

 had not frozen until two or three days be- 

 fore, and the cold snap had not yet lasted 

 long enough to make the ice solid, besides 

 which it was covered with about half an 

 inch of light snow that had fallen, conceal- 

 ing all bad-looking places. The ice after 

 bearing the cautiously stepping pony for a 



