THE HOME RANCH 



31 



ing with unruffled composure an occasional roll from top to bottom. But, 

 in spite of the climbing abilities of the ponies, it is difficult, and at 

 times — for our steeds, at any rate — dangerous work to go through such 

 places, and we only do it when it cannot be avoided. Once I was over- 

 taken by darkness while trying to get through a great tract of very rough 

 land, and, after once or twice nearly breaking my neck, in despair had to 

 give up all attempts to get out, and until daybreak simply staid where i 

 was, in a kind of ledge or pocket on the side of the cliff, luckily sheltered 

 from the wind. It was midsummer and the nights were short, but this 

 particular one seemed quite long enough ; and though I was on the move 

 by dawn, it was three hours later before I led the horse, as hungry, numb, 

 and stiff as myself, out on the prairie again. 



Occasionally it is imperatively necessary to cross some of the worst 

 parts of the Bad Lands with a wagon, and such a trip is exhausting 

 and laborious beyond belief. Often the wagon will have to be taken to 

 pieces every few hundred yards in order to get it over a ravine, lower it 

 into a valley, or drag it up a cliff. One outfit, that a year ago tried to 

 take a short cut through some of the Bad Lands of the Powder River, 

 made just four miles in three days, and then had to come back to their 

 starting-point after all. But with only saddle-horses we feel that it must 

 be a very extraordinary country indeed if, in case of necessity, we cannot 

 go through it. 



The long forenoon's work, with its attendant mishaps to man and 

 beast, being over, the men who have been out among the horses and 

 cattle come riding in, to be joined by their fellows — if any there be — who 

 have been hunting, or haying, or chopping wood. The midday dinner is 

 variable as to time, for it comes when the men have returned from their 

 work ; but, whatever be the hour, it is the most substantial meal of the 

 day, and we feel that we have little fault to find with a table on the 

 clean cloth of which are spread platters of smoked elk meat, loaves of 

 good bread, jugs and bowls of milk, saddles of venison or broiled antelope 

 steaks, perhaps roast and fried prairie chickens, with eggs, butter, wild 

 plums, and tea or coffee. 



The afternoon's tasks are usually much the same as the morning's, but 

 this time is often spent in doing the odds and ends ; as, for instance, 

 it may be devoted to breaking-in a new horse. Large outfits gener- 

 ally hire a bronco-buster to do this ; but we ourselves almost always 

 break our own horses, two or three of my men being pretty good riders, 

 although none of them can claim to be anything out of the common. A 

 first-class flash rider or bronco-buster receives hieh waores. and deserves 



