BEAGGING HUNTERS. 355 



usual questions as to who we were, where we were going to, 

 &c., they began to pull about our collection of horns, asking 

 why we took home such poor things, one of them saying to the 

 other, " Why, Bill, they are not much more than half the size 

 of those we got last week ! " On our asking him how big those 

 were, he said that he had held the head up, with the points of 

 the horns on the ground, and that his companion, who was over 

 six feet, had walked under the head without stooping. I had 

 heard these stories so often that I thought I would test this one, 

 so I took out fifty dollars and offered it for the head if they 

 would bring it in. Seeing him hesitate, I took out another fifty 

 dollars and offered them both for it, when the first speaker said 

 that perhaps after all it might be hard to find the place where 

 they had thrown them, and that they had not time to go there, 

 after which they mounted and rode off. 



The stage came about eleven o'clock and proved to be an 

 ordinary farm waggon, with short springs under the seat. The 

 driver was a rough-looking fellow, but turned out to be better 

 than he looked. There was no cover of any kind, so I spread 

 my mackintosh sheet over my things, as we now had snow or 

 rain every day. There were five large mail-sacks in the back 

 of the waggon already, which, with my bedding and horns, 

 quite filled it. Now came the good-byes, which are the most 

 unpleasant part of all trips, four or five months in camp 

 making men better friends than years in civilization, after 

 which we parted. 



I found that the driver had been at this kind of life for 

 many years, and was a pleasant companion. He had on several 

 occasions been attacked by Indians, and had more than once 



to desert his mails, and to ride off on one of his team ; but for 



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