196 BUFFALO LAND. 



cautiously over the edge of the highland into the 



/' < ' O 



valley of Silver Creek, which stream wound along 

 below, entirely out of sight until one came directly 

 upon it. In this lonely land, the pages of whose his- 

 tory Time had so often turned with bloody fingers, an 

 event slight as even this was startling. That hollow 

 in the plain before us seemed to yawn, as if awaking 

 in sleepy horrors, and we noticed a general tighten- 

 ing of reins and rattling of spurs. This maneuver 

 was executed to prevent our horses running away 

 again and thus rendering us incapable of supporting 

 our advanced guard. If savages were around, our 

 provisions must be protected, and we at once dis- 

 mounted and scattered among the teams in such a 

 way as to offer the most successful defense. 



Our fears were groundless. In a few moments 

 Cody came galloping back on Brigham, and said 

 briefly that we should lose a fine lesson in natural 

 history unless we hurried to the front. Truth com- 

 pels me to say that we did not hanker after a close 

 acquaintance with Lo on the rampage; yet we did 

 earnestly desire to improve every opportunity of 

 studying the other inhabitants of the plains, and a 

 few moments accordingly found our whole party peer- 

 ing over the edge of the bluff into the valley below. 



There, on a patch of bottom grass, half a dozen elk 

 were feeding; a short distance away, a small herd of 

 wild horses drank from the brook ; while in a ravine 

 immediately in front of us, three cayotes were at- 

 tempting to capture a jackass-rabbit. What a wealth 

 of animal life this valley had opened to us. From 

 our own level the table-lands stretched away in all 



