ON THE PRAIRIE 45 



was only by frantic struggles and flounder- 

 ings that we managed to get over. 



On account of these quicksands and mud- 

 holes, crossing the creeks on the prairie is 

 often very disagreeable work. Even when 

 apparently perfectly dry the bottom may 

 have merely a thin crust of hard mud and un- 

 derneath a fathomless bed of slime. If the 

 grass appears wet and with here and there a 

 few tussocks of taller blades in it, it is 

 to avoid it. Often a man may have to go 

 along a creek nearly a mile before he can find 

 a safe crossing, or else run the risk of seeing 

 his horse mired hard and fast. When a 

 horse is once in a mud-hole it will perhaps so 

 exhaust itself by its first desperate and fruit- 

 less struggle that it is almost impossible to 

 get it out. Its bridle and saddle have to be 

 take n off ; if another horse is along the lariat 

 is drawn from the pommel of the latter's sad- 

 dle to the neck of the one that is in, and it 

 is hauled out by main force. Otherwise a 

 man may have to work half a day, fixing the 

 horse's legs in the right position and then 



