io8 Life of a Fossil Hunter 



onto the hardened clay, broke through into the 

 thick mortar below. 



The boys, jumping out, managed to get both 

 horses unhitched before they went down, and 

 quickly hitched them to the hind axle of the wagon, 

 to save the load of fossils which we were hauling 

 to the station. Then began a performance of that 

 tantalizing trick which horses know so well how to 

 play. Rowdy would make a rush forward, as if 

 he intended to haul out the load in a hurry, but the 

 moment he felt the collar press his neck, he would 

 fall back against the wheel, while his mate went 

 through the same performance. So they see-sawed 

 up and down, until I could stand it no longer, as the 

 wagon was slowly sinking. I took the lines, and 

 putting all my will-power into the command " Get 

 out of this ! " I forced them to pull together and 

 haul the wagon out to solid ground. Then when 

 we unhitched them, they ran away and scattered 

 singletrees, nuts, and bolts all over the prairie. 



South of the river we found some fine examples 

 of large Haploscapha shells, some of them a foot 

 in diameter. The valves of this shell are shaped a 

 little like a woman's bonnet, and the name Conrad 

 gave it, "Haploscapha grandis," may be freely 

 translated "The great hood." (Fig. 17.) 



We found many fish and saurian s or mosasaurs 

 also. Very different was our method of collecting 



