136 TEAVELS IN THE EIGHTIES. 



or drag home behind Pete a pair of the largest cast 

 elk antlers I could find, with which the ground was 

 strewn. While engaged in so doing a thick fog. 

 which had been threatening, descended, and I had 

 to find my way for many miles by compass, which 

 one should never be without in such places. The 

 camp was situated at the edge of an enormous 

 stretch of prairie, twelve miles broad and at least 

 fifty in length. At the south end was situated Shirley 

 Basin, an equally unlovely and treeless waste, hol- 

 lowed out in a vast depression. On the north side 

 the plain was bounded by a nameless rocky range, 

 and on the west by the Medicine Bow a timber- 

 covered range ; and on the east by barren hills, on 

 the other side of which lay the famous < hole.' We 

 shortly moved our camp to Medicine Bow, where 

 Broncho Bill, at last, found us out, and after a few 

 days' journey, arrived at our most southerly ranche 

 after fording the North Platte and Medicine rivers, 

 and crossing the Union Pacific Eailway, at the com- 

 mencement of September. 



Before starting on our final hunting expedition, 

 we remained a day or two at the ranche to rest the 

 horses and lay in fresh supplies of oats and provisions, 

 while we employed ourselves in the routine occupa- 

 tions that are necessary where no servants are kept. 

 Stray horses had invariably to be searched for. In 

 the early morning the vicinity of the correl ' is 

 indicated by clouds of dust, and the sound of Western 

 oaths and of trampling horses, while through the 



