142 EARLY DAY STORIES. 



Charley, my companion for the trip, was a drummer. 

 This does not mean that he pounded the bass, or tap tapped 

 the snare drum for the Oakdale band, but that he was a 

 travehng salesman for an eastern wholesale hat and cap 

 house. He had been off duty for several months, taking care 

 of his father who was confined to the house with an incur- 

 able disease. Being used to an active out of door life, the 

 confinement necessary in caring for his father was wearing 

 on him greatly. Hence he determined to take this trip with 

 me, his father being even more anxious than Charley him- 

 self that he should take a few weeks of needed relaxation. 



It was between three and four o'clock in the afternoon 

 of a bright pleasant day in the latter part of November, 

 1888, that we left Oakdale for some station in Wyoming, 

 being undecided as yet as to what point we would leave the 

 railroad. At that time that branch of the railroad running 

 west from Chadron, was completed to Casper, Wyoming. 



Our plan of campaign was as follows : We would go 

 by railroad to some point in Wyoming — possibly Van Tas- 

 sell or Manville or Douglas, but probably Glenrock. At 

 whatever place we left the railroad we intended to buy a 

 pony and a pack saddle to carry the blankets, cooking uten- 

 sils and provisions necessary for the trip. We would then 

 strike out afoot in a northerly direction, leading the pony 

 with the packs, and hunt and camp out as long as we wished, 

 and finally when it was time to start for home we would 

 turn to the east and strike the Black Hills branch of the 

 railroad at Rapid City or Buffalo Gap, sell the pony for what 

 he would bring, and come back home by rail. 



We did not expect to find game very plentiful, as it 

 was thought that the deer had been greatly thinned out in 

 the country which we proposed to traverse, but it was sup- 

 posed that there were a few black tail deer left among the 

 rough canyons of Hat Creek, and probably some bands of 



