CHAPTER XXVI 



BACK TO GOD'S COUNTRY 



"IT /"E were a cheerful trio next morning as we 

 ^ ^ started out of camp on the home-stretch for 

 ** God's country," with Jack singing: "Ain't we 

 glad to get out of the wilderness!" 



I had brought my captured ponies along, think- 

 ing to use them for riding stock going in and to 

 realize something on them after we reached Leav- 

 enworth, and for the first day tried them — Jack 

 riding one and I the other — but they were in such 

 poor condition that by the time we had reached 

 Charley Rath's ranch, the first evening, I saw that 

 they were not going to be able to stand the travel 

 on grass alone — and I had been unable to teach 

 them to eat grain — so I left them with Charley, 

 with a note to Wild Bill requesting him to dispose 

 of them to the best advantage for me, which he 

 did, turning in the money to me a few weeks later 

 in Leavenworth. 



Our bales of peltries made a bulky but not 

 heavy load, and our two mules and two broncos 

 hauled it with ease, and, though we were all anx- 

 ious now to reach the end of our journey, still we 



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