344 MEN I HAVE FISHED WITH. 



dians might do this, so an armed man patroled outside 

 the corral while we slept. 



It rained in the night, but the morning was fair, and 

 leaving ten men to see that the stock did not wander and 

 to keep camp, we saddled our ponies, and started to look 

 for the game. To a question Amos replied: "No, we had 

 our guard all picked afore we started, and we don't ex- 

 pect you boys to do any of it. Them ten men will take 

 care o' things night an' day. I ast ye to come an' hunt, 

 didn't I? Then what ye talkin' 'bout? There ain't even 

 an ole bull in sight, but you can see where the herd went 

 north toward the Smoky Hill Fork, an' mebbe gone on 

 to the Saline or way up to Solomon Fork. But there's 

 more a heap more an' if we don't strike 'em to-day, 

 why, to-morrer's comin'. If it was dry ground we might 

 see where there was a herd by the dust; there's an old 

 bull now off by hisself, but we don't want him. There's 

 nothin' good about him but his overcoat, an' that's on'y 

 good for buckskin. Them old bulls get druv out by the 

 young ones, an' just herd by theirselves." 



We went north to the divide that separates the waters 

 flowing into the Arkansas from those of the Smoky Hill 

 Fork of Kaw River, which feeds the Missouri as far north 

 as Kansas City. The Kaw River is spelled "Kansas" on 

 the maps, but nobody called it anything but Kaw, after 

 the tribe of degraded Indians who lived along its waters. 

 Why this was so may be classed in Lord Dundreary's 

 catalogue of "things no fellow can find out." It was 

 near noon when our ponies were hobbled, and given a 

 couple of hours to graze and drink, while we ate, smoked 

 and talked. There had been no introductions; such 

 things were superfluous in those days among such men, 

 and we had scraped acquaintance, and knew a few Johns, 

 Jims, Bills and Joes. They were rough, ignorant men, 



