CHAPTER XVII. 



PREPARATIONS FOR THE CHASE — THE VALLEY OP THE SALINE — QUEER 'cOONS A 



bison's game of bluff IN PURSUIT ALONGSIDE THE GAME — FIRING FROM 



THE SADDLE A CHARGE AND A PANIC FALSE HISTORY AGAIN — GOING FOR 



AmiUKITION — THE PROFESSOR'S LETTER — DISROBING THE VICTIM. 



THE early dawn of Wednesday morning saw us 

 again astir. There was the same creeping of 

 mist out of the valley to join the darkness as it fled 

 from the plains above, and the same revealing of 

 thousands of shaggy forms silently feeding in the 

 distance. This time our beasts and our bodies were 

 both in excellent condition for the chase. Joints gain 

 and lose stiffness quickly in such a life. One morn- 

 ing the hunter feels as if the mill of life, though he 

 turn its crank ever so slowly, had broken every bone 

 in his body; twenty-four hours later may find him 

 elastic and buoyant, as if youth had torn away from 

 the embrace of the dead past and was with him again 

 in all its pristine vigor. In the present case, too, 

 that friend of early hours and foe of sleepy eyes, the 

 coffee bean had done its work for us grandly. 



Ten horsemen comprised the strength of the party 

 which rode out of the valley just as daylight was 

 coming into it. One of the hostlers and a Mexican 

 were left in camp, the remainder of our force accom- 

 panying us, with a couple of wagons to bring in the 



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