108 A WRESTLING-MATCH. 



ridge, so that my mare nearly came down, and he won easily. 

 Knowing all I do now, I should not have paid the money; 

 but I was green then, and did so, and it was a good lesson 

 to me. 



We had a piece of bad luck just before reaching the last 

 settlement, a place called Lake Sibley. We were going along 

 very well, and were thinking of camping for lunch, when the 

 mules shied at a dead ox, which was lying on the road-side, 

 when the front axle broke and the waggon rolled over. Fortu- 

 nately, the mules behaved well and broke nothing ; but we had 

 to camp where we were, away from wood and water, and 

 unpack the waggon into the tent, the weather being stormy, 

 and we made a shelter for ourselves out of the waggon-cover. 

 I rode to the settlement the next morning to try and find a 

 smith to put on a new axle, but found that one must be sent 

 for from St. Joe, involving a delay of a week ; so rather than 

 remain where we were, I exchanged the waggon for another, 

 giving money into the bargain, though mine was a new one, 

 whereas the one I got was several years old. 



During the evening we had a good many visitors to the tent, 

 and among others the man of whom I had got the waggon, 

 and another man called Brown, who wanted to go with us as 

 guide, as he said he knew all the country we wished to hunt 

 over and was not afraid of Indians. The waggon man, whose 

 name was Belknap, began bragging of his wrestling, telling us 

 that he had never been thrown, on which Brown said it was 

 quite time that he should be, and challenged him to come out- 

 side. Of course we all went out to see the fun, and the two 

 men stripped and clinched, when Brown, first making a feint, 

 threw Belknap over his shoulder, giving him a bad shaking ; 



