A Strange Ride 143 



buffalo, was a surprisingly fast pace. This 

 gait did not seem to tire Buck and it gave 

 a little added excitement and varied the 

 monotony. 



Each evening they camped, preferably 

 near to water, and the boy turned his buf- 

 falo steed out to grass. 



It was while in camp at night that he 

 most missed the home friends, and Shep. 

 On some of those lonely nights when the 

 coyotes were howling and he seemed utterly 

 alone in the vast endless prairies, what 

 would he not have given to pillow his head 

 upon the warm coat of Shep, and feel his 

 confiding, snuggling muzzle in his hand. 



Two weeks of this leisurely traveling 

 brought him to the La Platte, a broad, 

 shallow river which he forded, and then 

 once more pushed on to the northwest, 

 following in a general way the course of the 

 buffalo trails. 



It was not many days before the buffalo 



