ON THE PRAIRIE 133 



a trifle more risky; yet, on the other hand, 

 the fatigue of following the game is much 

 kter, and the country is usually so wild 

 as to call for some hardihood and ability 

 to stand rough work on the part of the man 

 \viio penctrato 



One September I determined co take a 

 short trip after bison. At that time I was 

 staying in a cow-camp a good many miles 

 up the river from my ranch ; there were then 

 no cattle south of me, where there are now 

 many thousand head, and the buffalo 

 had been plentiful in the country for a 

 couple of winters past, but the last of the 

 herds had been destroyed or driven out six 

 months before, and there were only a few 

 stragglers left. It was one of my first 

 hunting trips; previously I had shot with 

 the rifle very little, and that only at deer or 

 antelope. I took as a companion one of my 

 best men, named Ferris (a brother of the 

 Ferris already mentioned) ; we rode a 

 couple of ponies, not very good ones, and 

 each carried his roll of blankets and a 



