ROUGH WEATHER. 137 



It was a fine morning when I left camp, and I had a very 

 pleasant ride through a pretty country, chiefly rolling prairie, 

 till I reached the Republican River, which I crossed without 

 any trouble, jumping a fine elk as I landed on the opposite 

 bank; but very soon afterwards it began to rain heavily. 

 About midday I halted to dine, making my small fire among 

 some bushes, in case of Indians being about. Having rested 

 two hours I started again, being by this time wet through. I 

 fortunately had brought a compass with me, as I could not see 

 more than a few hundred yards ahead ; and late in the evening 

 I struck the Little Blue River, and camped in as sheltered a 

 spot as I could find, putting up my sheet as a tent. 



Indians dislike bad weather quite as much as we do, and on 

 such a night as this would be under the shelter of their lodges ; 

 then, too, the fog was so thick that a fire could not be seen 

 far, so I made up a good one and risked it. 



It was a very rough night, and the rain blew under my 

 shelter, making me very wet and miserable, so I was glad to 

 get up at daybreak to make a fire. It was still raining, and I 

 had very hard work getting it to burn up, and was obliged to 

 go down on my knees and blow at it, when, happening to look 

 towards the hills on my side of the river, I saw what I took to 

 be three buffaloes, but knowing that they were everywhere just 

 now, I thought no more of them. 



Having made the fire burn, I got in my horse and saddled 

 him, tying him close to my sleeping-place ; I then put on my 

 tin cup full of water to boil, and cutting my meat into 

 " kabobs," I peeled a dry stick, and threading them on it, 

 sloped them over the fire to roast, this being one of the quickest 

 ways of cooking meat. Everything being now in trim, I looked 



