CHAPTER> EIGHTEEN 
RETURN TO THE BOUNDARY 
OF MISSOURI 
N September 7th we left the forts on the 
O South Fork to go southeastwardly to 
the Arkansas. We went up the South 
Fork for only half a day. , Southwest- 
wardly, beyond the left bank of the 
= Platte, a high mountain chain arose, 
whose more distant peaks were in part covered with 
snow, forming a beautiful background for the Platte 
with its fringe of cottonwood, and for the wide plain 
that stretched along its right bank. On the fourth 
day we crossed the divide between the waters of the 
South Fork and of the Arkansas. The ground was 
somewhat hilly, with scattered pine groves. In the 
wide prairie stretching from there toward the Arkan- 
sas we saw again our first herds of buffalo. We met 
here two lodges of Arapahoes, who had just shot a 
cow, and gave us a hospitable invitation. The squaws 
were still cutting it up. We smoked the while, and, 
in the absence of wood, collected buffalo chips where- 
