490 
FOREST AND STREAM 
[Sept. 24, 1910. 
the Pelican and had made such wonderfully fast 
time that he passed the last calf and me while 
we were madly waltzing around on the patch 
of bare ground, and had taken up a position on 
the trail further down. Had the calf succeeded 
in following the «trail, Morrison would have 
caught him. He now came up and we tried to 
pet the calf, but he was hostile and would accept 
no overtures of peace. We tied and carried him 
across Pelican Creek, again wading waist deep 
in the icy water. I felt the effect of the running 
and ice water on my lungs for two weeks. Jones 
and Minor soon arrived, and Jones drily re¬ 
marked that he was sorry he had not been there, 
as he would have caught some of the grown 
ones. 
The crust was now in such condition that it 
would not hold up the dogs, so after getting the 
toboggan from the cabin and tying the calves 
upon it, we pulled them in ourselves. Stretching 
a rope between two trees on top of a high snow 
bank, packed hard enough to hold them, we fed 
them condensed milk, mixed with water from a 
bottle. Although they must have been thirsty, 
we had poor success in making them drink. One 
man would hold the calf with its nose straight 
up, the mouth was then pried open and the milk 
poured in. A little of this would be swallowed 
and the balance spattered upon us as we flound¬ 
ered about in the snow. 
Jones decided to try and capture the third calf 
which had escaped with the herd. It was older 
and much stronger than the two we had caught 
and was able to hold its place in the herd. The 
prospects of getting it were nil. We knew the 
buffalo would return to look for the calves and 
we took turn about in watching for them from a 
high hill. About 4 o'clock in the afternoon they 
were seen coming along the Pelican in Indian 
file at a slow walk. Morrison, Minor and I 
started up the Pelican about three-quarters of a 
mile, while Jones was to drop in behind them 
and scare them our way. As he came close to 
their trail a few hundred yards in their rear they 
caught sight.of him and all stopped. For some 
time they stood still and seemed to consider 
what to do, then like one animal they all turned 
and started back over their trail at a gallop. 
Jones got tangled up in a sage brush and fell 
down. He was unable to extricate himself until 
they had all passed him, and they continued on 
down the river and that was the last we saw of 
them. 
The next morning at 3 o’clock we were on 
the move. Two gunny sacks partly filled with 
hay were placed on the bottom of the toboggan 
for the calves to lie on, and after securely tying 
their feet and strapping them to the toboggan in 
as comfortable a position as we could find for 
them, we hitched up the dogs and pulled out. It 
was a cold, snappy morning and a strong crust 
had formed on the snow, making good travel¬ 
ing. and the dogs pulled their load as fast as we 
could go. When we reached Pelican Creek the 
dogs were unhitched, and removing our rubbers, 
German socks and stockings, we rolled our 
trousers to the hips, picked up the toboggan and 
calves and waded across. It was below zero and 
not a very agreeable job, but it had to be done. 
The dogs reluctantly entered the water and they 
were a dejected and sad-looking lot when they 
emerged on the opposite side. 
We had to step barefooted into the snow on 
the opposite side, and it seemed we would surely 
freeze before we could get our feet dressed 
again. When again upon the march we traveled 
as fast as possible in order to get warmed up. 
There was a steep hill just before reaching 
Yellowstone Lake, which we could not avoid. I 
had a premonition that something would happen 
at this hill and it came to pass. Jones, who was 
in the lead, called to me to hold back the tobog¬ 
gan. To hold back anything on skis while go¬ 
ing down hill was impossible, as the skis will 
slide as fast or faster than the toboggan. I 
called back that I could not hold it and for him 
to make a run for it. He made a brave attempt, 
but near the bottom of the hill the dogs, running 
for dear life to escape from the toboggan, col¬ 
lided with him and then things happened. In¬ 
stantly there was a scene of wild confusion. I 
saw arms, legs, Dutch socks, big arctic over¬ 
shoes, snowshoe pole, toboggan, dogs, buffalo 
calves, a gunny sack full of hay, a piece of dog 
harness and a faint blur of gray whiskers and 
mouth, all revolving with wonderful rapidity 
around a .common center. Out bf this revolving 
mass came the plaintive notes of the dog Flap- 
jack, evidently in sore distress. We were treated 
to a successful illustration of the working of the 
solar system on a small scale, and only when 
one of the dogs left his orbit and collided with 
some gray whiskers did this interesting exhibi¬ 
tion come to an end. Jones vehemently accused 
me of being the cause of this disaster, but I said 
nothing. 
At the lake station we again stretched a rope 
between two trees and to this the calves were 
tied in such a way that they could not injure 
themselves, and the bottle feeding process began 
again. It was evident, however, that they would 
starve to death unless other means of feeding 
them were found. 
The winter keeper for the E. C. Waters Boat 
Company informed us that he had a fresh milk 
cow at his place and we could take the calves up 
there. At it was only a half mile from the 
station and seemed to present a solution of our 
difficulties, we gladly accepted the offer. The 
next morning the calves were again tied and 
strapped to the toboggan and hauled to Waters’ 
stables, where a stall had been fixed up for them 
with clean straw for bedding. After turning 
them loose in this, one was taken out and the 
experiment of having a wild buffalo calf suck 
A TYPICAL March sun struggled bravely 
through the occasional rifts in the clouds, 
and a typical March gale swept from the 
northwest across the brown meadows. The last 
of the winter’s ice, rotted and stained with mud, 
had gone seaward on the crest of a freshet. 
Everywhere—in the moist air, in the sodden 
ground, in the fitful bursts of sunshine—was 
that deceptive, intangible something which 
heralds the coming of the real spring. 
We had taken up the last of our muskrat 
traps, for the fur would soon be getting poor, 
and were paddling up along the edge of the 
a domestic cow was tried. To our surprise the 
calf started to suck voraciously, butting with 
great force. The cow glare'd at him with a look 
of mingled surprise and suspicion, but fortu¬ 
nately made no attempt to kick him. His sides 
slowly filled out, and just before he reached 
what we considered the bursting point, we pulled 
him away, kicking and struggling, and returned 
him to his stall, and the other calf was given the 
same treatment with the same result. 
They were so pleased after their feed that they 
danced around in their stall with joy, then lay 
down, and grunting with satisfaction, went to 
sleep. We had no further worry about their 
future. They were fed three times a day and 
gained rapidly in size. During the first few days 
of their captivity we assisted at their feeding and 
watched them carefully for any unfavorable sym- 
toms, due to a change of milk and environment, 
but in spite of the great change in their condi¬ 
tion from the bright snow fields to a dark stall 
in a stable, from their mother’s milk to that of 
a domestic cow, they throve and grew. 
During this time Jones was confined to the 
station with a bad case of snow blindness, an 
extremely painful malady that affects the eyes 
when they are exposed to the glare of the sun 
on the snow without the protection of snow 
glasses. 
The buffalo calves were left at the lake until 
the roads became passable, when a wagon from 
the post was sent after them. They were taken 
to the post, where they were placed with a do¬ 
mestic cow, and when they were weaned they 
were placed with the herd, but strangely enough 
they were looked upon with suspicion and would 
stay by themselves on the outskirts of the herd. 
These calves are now six years old and are fine 
looking specimens. 
My conscience had pricked me considerably 
about this robbing a mother of her young, but 
their happy and satisfied condition in their new 
environment and a look into their future tended 
to remove this feeling. They are now the prop¬ 
erty of Uncle Sam, and as long as life shall last 
they will be provided for. It is not their destiny 
to struggle desperately in the extremes of cold 
and snow for a mere miserable and starved ex¬ 
istence. until the inevitable pathetic end shall 
leave their bones to bleach in the strange, deso¬ 
late land of their nativity. 
broad stream, bucking the ebb tide. The day’s 
catch had not been especially good, partly be¬ 
cause the rats were scarce and partly because 
someone with less honesty than persistence had 
located our line and helped himself to a number 
of the traps. 
We both saw The Thing at the same time. It 
was near the further bank, a quarter of a mile 
distant, where a narrow channel afforded fairly 
deep water close to the shore. Now it would 
gleam white for a moment, then suddenly dis¬ 
appear for a time as if it had dived below the 
surface. For some minutes we watched these 
The Thing 
By ROBERT S. LEMMON 
