HORSES DEVOURED BY WOLVES. 103 



winds had ceased their ragings, and a clement atmosphere seemed pouring 

 upon us the balm of sympathy for miseries so recently endured. 



But their direful effects were not thus easily eradicated. The feet of one 

 poor fellow were so badly frozen, it was three months before he entirely 

 recovered ; while another lost a portion of one of his ears. As for myself, 

 a severe cold settled in my teeth, producing an intensely painful ache 

 and swoollen face, that continued for eight or ten days. 



It seems almost miraculous that we should have escaped so easily, and 

 often, even after so long an interval, I shudder at the recollection of this 

 anguishing scene. 



Two days subsequently we reached our destination, and found all things 

 pretty nxuch in statu quo. 



CHAPTER XII. 



Another drunken spree. — ^Horses devoured by wolves. — An upset. — A blowing up.— 

 Daring feat of wolves. — A girl offered for liquor. — Winter on the Platte. — Boat 

 building. — Hunting expedition. — Journey up the Platte. — Island camp.— Narrow 

 escape. — Snow storm —Warm Spring.— Pass of the Platte into the prairies.— A 

 valley. — Bitter Cottonwood. — Indian forts. — Wild fruit. — Root-digging. — Cherry 

 tea and its uses. — Geology of the country. — Soils, grasses, herbs, plants, and purity 

 of atmosphere. — Horse-shoe creek. — A panther. — Prairie dogs and their pecuhar- 

 ities. 



Our intended evacuation of the post was posponed till the week follow- 

 ing, and, meanwhile, the few customers, that still hung on, were careful to 

 improve the passing opportunity of steeping their senses in liquor. 



Another general drunken frolic was the consequence, ending as usual in 

 a fight and still further attempts upon the life of our trader. 



Soon after this, our catalogue of disasters was increased by the death 

 of two horses, which fell a prey to wolves. 



The case was an aggravated one, and provoking in the extreme. Both 

 of them were " buffalo horses," and the fleetest and most valuable in our 

 possession, — in fact, they were the only ones of which we ventured to boast. 

 We had others of little worth, so poor and feeble they could oppose none 

 resistance to magpies,* and much less to the rapacity of wolves. 



But, no. These blood-thirsty depredators, desirous of a feast of fat 

 things, were determined to have it, reckless of cost, — and, the encrimsoned 

 tracks, coursing the snowy plain in every direction where passed the swift 



* The magpie of the mountains is the torment of all sore-backed horses, particularly 

 during the winter season. Despite opposition it will feed upon their skinless flesh, 

 often to the very bones. 



