52 HUNTING TRIPS 



was there was absolutely no danger from In- 

 dian horse-thieves, and practically none from 

 white ones, for I felt pretty sure no one was 

 anywhere within a good many miles of me, 

 and none could have seen me come into the 

 valley. Besides, in the cattle country steal- 

 ing horses is a hazardous profession, as any 

 man who is found engaged in it is at once, 

 and very properly, strung up to the nearest 

 tree, or shot if no trees are handy; so very 

 few people follow it, at least for any length 

 of time, and a man's horses are generally 

 safe. 



Near where we had halted for the night 

 camp was a large prairie-dog town. Prairie- 

 dogs are abundant all over the cattle coun- 

 try ; they are in shape like little woodchucks, 

 and are the most noisy and inquisitive ani- 

 mals imaginable. They are never found sin- 

 gly, but always in towns of several hundred 

 inhabitants ; and these towns are found in all 

 kinds of places where the country is flat and 

 treeless. Sometimes they will be placed on 

 the bottoms of the creeks or rivers, and again 



