98 CAMP-FIRES OF A NATURALIST. 



season, and visitors were there from ranches miles 

 away. Cowboys and Cherokee half-breeds were out 

 in full force, and, to supply a deficiency of ladies, 

 dresses were put on several of the cowboys, who acted 

 the feminine part to the satisfaction of all. 



"Short don't play music outen er book," volun- 

 teered the lady of the house, " but he plays real tunes. 

 He don't know a note from a cow-track, but he gets 

 every thin' outen er fiddle there is in it, he does. He's 

 ther best fiddler in the hull country, he is, and he 

 allers stops till ther dance is done, too, he does. This 

 is nothin' now. You jest orter bin here las' night. 

 There were over fifty here, and ther cowboys thet 

 danced for girls was real good ones, too. It was 

 ther best dance we ever had. Some er ther boys got 

 a little too much licker, but ever 'thin' went off real 

 nice." 



Short continued his fiddling, and the cowboys kept 

 time to the rhythm by patting their feet and hands, 

 making such a noise that the tired travellers could not 

 sleep. During the progress of the entertainment a 

 deputy sheriff came in with a prisoner, whom he 

 was taking to Caldwell to jail. The officer got so 

 interested in the dancing that he forgot his prisoner, 

 and the latter coolly walked out of the door and dis- 

 appeared. He was not missed for some time, and 

 then search was made for him with a lantern, but he 

 made good use of his time and was not found. 



Thompson's ranch, on the Cimarron River, sixty 

 miles away, had been determined upon as headquar- 

 ters for the hunt, and as the noise of the dancing pre- 

 vented sleep, Dyche and the professor started early, 



