94 HUNTING TRIPS 



and crossed the ice without difficulty ; and in 

 a grove of leafless cotton-woods, on the op- 

 posite side, we found the hut for which we 

 had been making, the cowboy already inside 

 with the fire started. Throughout the night 

 the temperature sank lower and lower, and it 

 was impossible to keep the crazy old hut 

 anywhere near freezing-point; the wind 

 whistled through the chinks and crannies of 

 the logs, and, after a short and by no means 

 elaborate supper, we were glad to cower 

 down with our great fur coats still on, under 

 the pile of buffalo robes and bear skins. My 

 sleeping-bag came in very handily, and kept 

 me as warm as possible, in spite of the bitter 

 frost. 



We were up and had taken breakfast next 

 morning by the time the first streak of dawn 

 had dimmed the brilliancy of the stars, and 

 immediately afterwards strode off on foot, 

 as we had been hampered by the horses on 

 the day before. We walked briskly across 

 the plain until, by the time it was light 

 enough to see to shoot, we came to the foot 



