128 In the United States v 



to have killed two. There are, however, vast 

 herds one hundred and fifty miles away to the south ; 

 and we thought about paying the great Spotted Tail 

 a visit in order to see them, but the weather is 

 so changeable that we have given the idea up. 



' Our first hunting ground was not real prairie, 

 rolling away to the horizon, a mass of wild, sandy 

 hills, with patches of rank grass on them here and 

 there, and having, as often as not, abrupt little cliffs 

 some fifteen or twenty feet high on one side of 

 them, which made it mighty pleasant riding. To 

 the south the land was better and firmer, sparsely 

 timbered with gray-barked, gnarled elms and cotton- 

 trees, and cut by shallow valleys containing sluggish, 

 green, alkaline streams fringed with thickets of red 

 willow and large sun -flowers, now dead and dry. 

 A snow bird or two, an occasional flight of 

 handsome, long - tailed magpies, and a few wary 

 willow grouse stretching out their necks and peering 

 about as they perch on the tops of the elms, ready 

 at the slightest alarm to fly clucking away to the 

 wild prairie, represent the birds ; black -tail and 

 white - tail (the former very fine, as fine as a red 

 stag), elk and lynxes, the larger animals ; the 

 cedar rat (handsome and clean), the cotton - tailed 

 rabbit, and an infinite variety of moles, gophers, 

 and ground squirrels, and what not, the smaller.' 



Evidently he had, at one time, thought of writing 

 an article, perhaps even a book, about some of his 



