Bill and I struck camp, staked out our horses, made us a camp¬ 
fire and unpacked a sack of grub which the squaws at Pequay’s had 
prepared for us—made a pot of coffee and we enjoyed the meal and 
also the camp. 
The next day we rode all day, not stopping for lunch. As night 
neared, I ran on to a white man by the name of VanArsdell. He had a 
friendly face and seemed to be glad to see me. He said, “I don’t see 
many white men in these parts and would like you to go home with 
me and stay all night.” This invitation Bill and I accepted. VanArs¬ 
dell lived on the North Canadian River. As we approached the house 
his wife met us at the gate. She was a good looking white woman. 
Her husband entertained us and invited us both to stay all night. I 
noticed Mrs. VanArsdell size us up. I am afraid she wasn’t sure 
whether we were gentlemen or horse thieves. However, she hid her 
suspicions as best she could. VanArsdell offered his grain to us and 
told us to grain our horses. We accepted his offer as our ponies had 
not had any grain since we started. So we removed our saddles and 
staked out our ponies and returned to the house. Our friend was sure 
comfortably fixed. He had a good log house, good shelter for his stock, 
good chicken house and a pen of fat hogs. This looked good to me. 
After supper I proceeded to tell VanArsdell that Bill and I were out 
to see the country and expected to scout around until August. He 
said you can ride all over it in that time. I told him that I was a 
hunter and trapper and had a curiosity to see the territory and get 
acquainted with the Indians. I told him that from what I had seen 
so far it was a fine range for stock and plenty of game. “Yes,” says 
VanArsdell, “I was raised in this territory and only went out of it 
once when I went down to Arkansas ‘Gal hunting’ and found this one 
and fooled her until she decided to come back with me.” I asked my 
friend the best mode of procedure to become a citizen of the territory. 
He said that you simply had to go to some citizen and take a lease from 
him, say for 20 years or longer on a certain piece of land—pay one 
dollar per year to the permit agent and that is all there is to it. Our 
friend gave us a good comfortable room—a good feather bed to sleep 
on which I had not seen since I left home. 
— 56 — 
