136 BUFFALO LAND. 



Our first hunt was to be on the Saline, which 

 comes down from the west about fifteen miles north 

 of Hays City. 



Before starting, we carefully overhauled our entire 

 outfit. For a long, busy day nothing was thought 

 of save the cleaning of guns, the oiling of straps, and 

 the examination of saddles, with sundry additions to 

 wardrobe and larder. Shamus became a mighty 

 man among grocery-keepers, and could scarcely have 

 been more popular had he been an Indian supply 

 agent. The inventory which he gave us of his pur- 

 chases comprised twelve cans of condensed milk, with 

 coffee, tea, and sugar, in proportion ; several pounds 

 each of butter, bacon, and crackers ; a few loaves of 

 bread, two sacks of flour, some pickles, and a suffi- 

 cient number of tin-plates, cups, and spoons. To these 

 he subsequently added a half-dozen hams and some- 

 thing like fifty yards of Bologna sausage, which he 

 told us were for use when we should tire of fresh 

 meat. Sachem entered protest, declaring that sau- 

 sage and ham, in a country full of game, reflected 

 upon us. 



Of course, we found use for every item of the above, 

 and especially for the Bologna. If one can feel satis- 

 fied in his own mind as to what portion of the brute 

 creation is entering into him, a half-yard of Bologna, 

 tied to the saddle, stays the stomach wonderfully on 

 an all day's ride. It is so handy to reach it, while 

 trotting along, and with one's hunting-knife cut off a 

 few inches for immediate consumption. Semi-Colon, 

 however, who was a youth of delicate stomach, sick- 

 ened on his ration one day, because he found some- 



