134 HUNTING TRIPS 



small store of food in a pack behind the 

 saddle. 



Leaving the cow-camp early in the morn- 

 ing, we crossed the Little Missouri and for 

 the first ten miles threaded our way through 

 the narrow defiles and along the tortuous 

 divides of a great tract of Bad Lands. Al- 

 though it was fall and the nights were cool 

 the sun was very hot in the middle of the 

 day, and we jogged along at a slow pace, 

 so as not to tire our ponies. Two or three 

 black-tail deer were seen, some distance off, 

 and when we were a couple of hours on our 

 journey, we came across the fresh track of 

 a bull buffalo. Buffalo wander a great dis- 

 tance, for, though they do not go fast, yet 

 they may keep travelling, as they graze, all 

 day long; and though this one had evi- 

 dently passed but a few hours before, we 

 were not sure we would see him. His 

 tracks were easily followed as long as he 

 had kept to the soft creek bottom, crossing 

 and recrossing the narrow wet ditch which 

 wound its way through it; but when he 



