8 2 Life of a Fossil Hunter 



sor Cope, who galloped up to the guide and stopped 

 him, the gestures of the two men and the sound of 

 their raised voices indicating that an animated argu- 

 ment was going on between them. Finally the scout, 

 his face heated and scowling, came up to the wagon, 

 and without a word, got out his roll of blankets and 

 extra clothing, and started off in the direction of 

 Fort Benton. 



The cook shouted after him, and then, springing 

 from the wagon, followed him. When they were 

 out of earshot, the scout stopped, and the two began 

 an excited conversation. Then it was the cook's 

 turn to show of what poor stuff he was made, for, 

 coming back to the wagon, he loaded his blankets 

 and grip on his broad shoulders, and struck out on 

 foot for a wood-camp a few miles to the north, on 

 the river. 



When Cope came up he told us that these two 

 men, whom he had paid in full for three months' 

 work, had deserted him here on the open prairie, a 

 hundred and twenty miles from his base of supplies. 



It seems that the scout had come across Sitting 

 Bull's war camp, where thousands of warriors, 

 drunk with the blood of Custer and the brave men 

 of the Seventh U. S. Cavalry, were defying the 

 Government in the inaccessible canyons around the 

 Dry Fork of the Missouri. The camp was only a 

 day's journey from us, and the scout and our valiant 



