70 HUNTING TRIPS 



day the storm still continued, but the fog 

 was gone and the wind somewhat easier; 

 and we spent the whole day looking up the 

 horses, which had drifted a long distance be- 

 fore the storm; nor was it till the morning 

 of the third day that we left our beautiful 

 but, as events had made it, uncomfortable 

 camping-ground. 



In midsummer the storms are rarely of 

 long duration, but are very severe while they 

 last. I remember well one day when I was 

 caught in such a storm. I had gone some 

 twenty-five miles from the ranch to see the 

 round-up, which had reached what is known 

 as the Oxbow of the Little Missouri, where 

 the river makes a great loop round a flat 

 grassy bottom, on which the cattle herd was 

 gathered. I stayed, seeing the cattle cut out 

 and the calves branded, until after dinner; 

 for it was at the time of the year when the 

 days were longest. 



At last the work was ended, and I started 

 home in the twilight. The horse splashed 

 across the shallow ford, and then spent half 



