ON THE PRAIRIE 77 



us as we rode along, but were too cold to 

 move a hand's breadth out of our way ; in- 

 deed it is a marvel how they survive the 

 winter at all. Our course at first lay up a 

 long valley, cut up by cattle trails ; then we 

 came out, just as the sun had risen, upon the 

 rounded, gently-sloping highlands, thickly 

 clad with the short, nutritious grass, which 

 curls on the stalk into good hay, and on 

 which the cattle feed during winter. We 

 galloped rapidly over the hills, our blood 

 gradually warming up from the motion ; and 

 soon came to the long wash-out, cutting 

 down like a miniature canyon for a space 

 of two or three miles through the bottom of 

 a valley, into which the cowboy said he had 

 seen the bears go. One of us took one side 

 and one the other, and we rode along up 

 wind, but neither the bears nor any traces 

 of them could we see; at last, half a mile 

 ahead of us, two dark objects suddenly 

 emerged from the wash-out, and came out 

 on the plain. For a second we thought they 

 were the quarry ; thai we saw that they were 



