Picked from the Prairie Province 239 



ally himself with the best shot in a party, but a pri- 

 vate hint from Thompson had not been lost upon the 

 wily Batteese, who was well aware that his brother 

 Alfred was Thompson's favorite, as an older man, 

 an uncle, was Monroe's. 



It was a great drive. Once fairly upon the trail, 

 we rolled along almost as smoothly and silently 

 as a billiard-ball. The entire region was one vast, 

 level plain, seemingly an endless reach of alternate 

 wild meadow and scrub, the only proof of progress 

 being the approaching and passing of exactly alike 

 areas of poplar. Thompson and Monroe literally 

 burdened the seat behind the driver, while I had 

 the rear seat to myself. This arrangement was, as 

 Monroe claimed, " To let the wee chap have plenty 

 of room for getting down and up before and after 

 such chances as offered by the way." This also 

 was very sarcastic, because I, the lightest and short- 

 est of the trio, was sawed off at six feet one, and 

 weigh about two hundred and 'steen pounds. The 

 first ten miles were enlivened by an unbroken suc- 

 cession of yarns of the fur-trade, encounters with 

 various animals, and not seldom of lively experiences 

 along that very trail. But with all the nonsense and 

 yarns, all hands kept a sharp lookout either side 

 the way. Because Batteese knew his ponies as 

 they knew the trail, there was nothing of actual 

 driving, which left the swarthy one free to observe 

 things on his own account. The superiority of the 

 wild eye was demonstrated when brown hands sud- 

 denly hauled upon the reins and a voice like a low 

 growl said, " Chicken dur," the shock head at the 

 same time nodding toward a clump of low brush 



