144 With Feet to the Earth 



a stick marked with eighteen or twenty 

 notches, " one notch for each day he had 

 been out," he said. The ponies of his 

 herd were small, rough-coated, not blooded 

 stock by any means, and were led by a 

 red horse with a bell. There were a couple 

 of colts. I noticed with surprise that two 

 of the horses were loaded with Indian 

 camp equipage, such as does not often 

 form a white man's outfit. A tent of 

 dressed buckskin decorated with Indian 

 pictures was strapped to the back of one 

 of the ponies. The man told us that he 

 had just come from Colorado, was going 

 to Montana to sell his horses, and wanted 

 to know where he could find pasturage and 

 water. We directed him to the grassy 

 opening, two or three miles distant, where 

 we had pitched our own camp, and on 

 returning, afoot, we found that he had 

 picketed his horses a few hundred yards 

 from us, and was preparing to spend the 

 night there. 



When our supper was ready we hallooed 

 to him an invitation to come over and help 

 eat it, for a man who went long distances 



