146 LOSE MY HORSE. 



" Jeff" where I had found the buffalo, as it was most probably 

 the best grass. There was, of course, a good chance of my fire 

 being seen, as the house stood in such a conspicuous place, but 

 the fog was thick, and it was too great a temptation to resist, 

 so I ate a good supper and turned in, and nothing happened 

 during the night. 



The morning was anything but a promising one, the fog 

 having turned to rain, and I did not start till after dinner, by 

 which time it had cleared up. On consulting my compass, I 

 came to the conclusion that I had kept too much to the east, 

 as I found that the house I was in had been formerly a stage 

 station; so I now turned south-west, and towards evening 

 struck the Little Blue River, and camped in the midst of 

 a thick clump of trees close to the stream, and tied my horse's 

 picket-rope to a large bush where the feed was very good. It 

 came on to rain again in the night, and in the morning there 

 was another dense fog, so being wet and cold, I got up early 

 and went to bring in " Jeff " and water him, but both he and 

 the bush to which I had tied him were gone. I could track 

 him for some distance, as he seemed to have gone back the 

 way we had come on the previous day; and thinking he would 

 not have gone far on such a night, I followed him at once, not 

 stopping to eat breakfast. The trail became very indistinct as 

 I came to a hard ridge, and I soon lost it altogether ; but as I 

 thought it most likely that he had gone back to the ranche, I 

 kept on in that direction. It was still pouring, and the 

 mosquitoes were simply awful, rising out of every small hollow 

 in clouds, and it was impossible to keep them off. 



I now began to feel the want of my breakfast, but I buckled 

 my belt tighter, and tried not to think of the cold chicken 



