228 WILD BEASTS AND THEIR WAYS CHAP. 



high wheels of cobweb-like transparency. Jem Bourne had been 

 sent as our conductor, having been engaged as my head man. 



There was nothing but prairie throughout this uninteresting 

 journey, enlivened now and then by a few antelopes. 



Castle Frewen, as the superior log building was facetiously 

 called by the Americans, was 212 miles from Rock Creek station, 

 and we were well pleased upon arrival to accept their thoroughly 

 appreciated hospitality. Their house had an upper floor, and a 

 staircase rising from a hall, the walls of which were boarded, but 

 were ornamented with heads and horns of a variety of wild animals ; 

 these were in excellent harmony with the style of the surroundings. 

 Here we had the additional advantage of a kind and most charming 

 hostess in Mrs. Moreton Frewen, in whose society it seemed im- 

 possible to believe that we were so remote from what the world 

 calls civilisation. There was a private telephone, 22 miles in 

 length, to the station at Powder River, and the springing of the 

 alarm every quarter of an hour throughout the day was a sufficient 

 proof of the attention necessary to conduct the affairs successfully 

 at that distance from the place of business. 



Our kind friends afforded us every possible assistance for the 

 arrangements that were necessary, and we regarded with admiration 

 the energy and perseverance they exhibited in working with their 

 own hands, and in knowing how to use their own hands, in the 

 absence of such assistance as would be considered necessary in 

 civilised countries. 



There were about 8000 head of cattle upon the Frewens' ranche, 

 all of which were in excellent condition. It was beyond my pro- 

 vince to enter upon the question of successful ranching, but the 

 Americans confided to me that the prairie grass, instead of bene- 

 fiting by the pasturing of cattle, became exhausted, and that weeds 

 usurped the place of the grass, which disappeared ; therefore it 

 would follow that a given area, that would support 10,000 head of 

 cattle at the present time, would in a few years only support half 

 that number. It might therefore be inferred that the process of 

 deterioration would ultimately result in the loss of pasturage, and 

 the necessary diminution in the herds. 



From the Frewens' ranche, a ride of 25 miles along the course 

 of the Powder river brought us to the last verge of civilisation ; 

 the utmost limit of the cattle ranches was owned by very nice 

 young people, Mr. and Mrs. Peters, Americans, and Mr. Alston, 

 an English partner. 



^^ ^ e had l>een hospitably received by these charming young 

 settlers, whose rough log-house was in the last stage of completion, 



