CHAPTER III. 



The * Catch up' — Breaking up of the Encampment — Perversity 



of Mules — Under way — ^The Diamond Spring — Eecentrieities 

 of Oxen — First Glance of the Antelope — Buffalo Herds and 

 Prairie Novices — A John Gilpin Race — Culinary Preparations 

 A Buffalo Feast — Appetite of Prairie Travellers — Troubles 

 in Fording* Streams — Fre.sh Alarms and their Causes — A 

 Wolfish Frolic — Arkansas River — Pleasing Scenery — Cha- 

 racter of the Country — Ejttraordinary Surgical Operation— 

 The ' Pawnee Rock' — Salutary Effects of Alarms — New Or- 

 der of March^ — Prairie Encampment and * Upholstery' — Hop- 

 pling and Tethering of the * Stock' — Crossing the Arkansas — 

 Great Battle with Rattlesnakes — A Mustang Colt and a Mule 



Fracas — 'The Caches' — Origin and Signification of the 

 Term. 



Owing to the delays of organizing and 

 other preparations, we did not leave the 

 Council Grove camp till May 27tlL Although 

 the usual hour of starting with the prairie 



carav 



after an early breakfast, yet 



%. 



this occasion, we were hindered till in the af- 

 ternoon. The famihar note of preparation, 

 " Catch up ! catch up !" was now sounded 

 from the captain's camp, and re-echoed from 

 every division and scattered group along the 

 valley. On such occasions, a scene of confu- 

 sion ensues, which must be seen to be appre- 

 ciated. The woods and dales resound with 

 he gleeful yells of the light-hearted wagon- 



