116 A ROCKY-MOUNTAIN MOOSE. 



cover, and had then pulled out a bag containing sixty pouiids 

 of sugar, of which he had eaten all he could, trampling the 

 remainder into the ground a great loss, as we were so far 

 from any place where we could get any more. 



A day or two after this, M , Fox, and I were out after 

 buffalo, when we came across a fine badger, which, finding he 

 could not get away, flattened himself out on the t prairie, 

 thinking, I suppose, that we should not then see him, and 

 sank so low that he did not seem to be more than two inches 



thick. M , who had never seen one, asked what it was, 



on which we told him that it was a " Rocky-Mountain moose," 

 and as such it was described in his journal and in his letters 

 home. 



Hearing from Brown that there was a good-sized settlement, 

 where we could probably buy sugar, about sixty miles down 

 the river, Fox and I determined to go there, making a circuit 

 to avoid the Sioux camp. We calculated on doing it in three 

 days, and took our best horses and weapons, as it was very 

 likely we might be chased by Indians. The first day we 

 camped a few miles below the forks of the river, seeing no 

 fresh Indian sign, and we killed two turkeys from a roost 

 close to where we camped. There were at least two hundred 

 in it, and only a few of the nearest flew away when we fired, 

 so that we could easily have killed many more. We had 

 gathered a number of mushrooms during the ride, and with 

 these and broiled turkey we had a splendid supper. 



On the following day we reached the settlement, which lay 

 on the opposite bank of the river, and found it deserted. 

 There were some twenty houses, and they seemed to have been 

 left very suddenly, as many small things were lying about 



