Buffalo Jones' forty years of adventure : a volume of facts gathered from experience

Front matter

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Buffalo Joxes"

Chapter I

Millions of Buffalo — Their Haunts — So Numerous People Neglected to Study their Habits and Value — Killed for their Hides Only — Coronado Gave First Historical Account of the Buffalo and the Great AVest, in 1542 — Jones's First Buffalo — Horses Stampeded — "'Rained Hail as Large as Oi'anges" — Buffalo made for Blizzards, Siroccos, and all kinds of Weather

— Struggling for Mastership of Herd — Buffalo-Bull Fight ... 1

Chapter II Buffalo .tones

Early Days in Illinois — A Live Deer Tied to Horse's Tail — A Perilous Adventure — Abraham Lincoln Pleads his Father's Cause for $10 — School-Days Very Few — Capturing and Selling a Squirrel Fixes his Ruling Passion — A Small Menagerie

— Could Conquer any Animal — Asleep in the Field at Midnight — Rescued by Searching Party — At College — Bound for the Wild West 14

CHAPTER III ■"WESTWARD no ! "

Journey to the Frontier in a Prairie Schooner — Mrs. Jones's Introduction to Camp Life — Plenty of Wolves — Team Escapes on the Journey — Recapturing — Joyous Meeting 30

Chapter IV Desperadoes

Buffalo Jones as a Farmer — Abandons Farming to Shoot Buffalo — Fails to Shoot Any — Mysterious Mirage — Buffalo Seemingly Running High in the Air — Desperadoes in Camp — "I am Going to Kill You Right Here!" — Rescued by a

Plucky Boy 37

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IV CONTENTS

CHAPTER Y

THE FIRST HUNT FOR CALVES

Buffalo in Nature's Pasture— Why Not Corral Them There ? — Resolved to Try at Last Moment — The Start — Encounter the Old Bulls — Night Search for Water — Companion Extinguishes Beacon -Fire — Feared tlie Indians — Grandeur of Sunrise on the Plains — Discovers a Herd — "Rescuing the Perishing" — Horse Tied to Calf, and Its Mother After the Horse — A. Lucky Shot — A Day of Narrow Escapes — Captures Four Calves — Famishing for Water — Penetrates Llano Estacado — Letting a Companion Down a Bluff for Water — Rope Slips — Sun "Goes Down on his Wrath" — Last Herd Located — Fourteen Calves Captured — Sheds Garments to Protect Calves from AYolves — White Buffalo 47

Chapter VI

Dangers of the Plains — Tenderfoot Stood Little Show Against Indians — Only One Way to Fight Them — Battle with Arrapahoes — Gave Them a Surprise — Buffalo-Hunters, and Not < Soldiers, Conquered the Indians — Nearly Caught while Skin- ' ning a Buffalo — The " Greatest Show on Eartli" — Two Hundred Warriors Surround a Herd of Buffalo — Signaling at Long Distance SS

CHAPTER YII

PRAIRIE FIRES

Reminder of World's Destruction — Daylight Turned to Darkness — People Driven Into Cellars, and Breathe Through Towels and Handkerchiefs — AVild Animals Flee for Their Lives — Like the Roar of a Cyclone — To the Rescue — How to Escape — Many Wild Animals Perish 103

CHAPTER YIII

SECOND nUXT FOR OALVES

Everybody AVanted to Go, but Couldn't, except Two Persistent Strangers, who Drove Into an Irrigation Ditch, where Horse Balked — Wanted Jones to Kill Him — Arriving at ''Robbers' Roost" — Wild-Horse Hunter Yery Much Bewildered — "Buffalo, by Jupiter! " — Everything Done in a Min-

CONTENTS V

ute — Colonel Jones and Mr. Carter Dash After the Herd- Secure Three Calves — Cow Fights to the Death — Searching for Water in tlie Darkness Ill

CHAPTER IX

SECOND CALF HUNT (concluded )

Milking a Buffalo Cow — Excellent Butter — A Long March — Calf Captured by Horse Throwing Rider on its Neck — Strangers After a Bull — Took Both to Kill It, and then Didn't Get Him—" The Herd ! The Herd ! "—Colonel Jones Never Lost — Buffalo Right in Camp— "Get Down and Crawl!"— Holes Cut in the Colonel's Tent to Shoot Through — Horses Left to Die — Plenty of Calves, but no Water — Strangers Wanted Another Trial, then Another 140

CHAPTER X

M-ILD HORSES — OTHER ANIMALS

Origin, Habitat, Greatest Number, Size, Color, Style, and Surroundings — Stallion Never Leads, but Drives the Herd — Contest for Mastership — Colonel Jones Always Found Water by Following Them — Speed and Endurance — Prairie-Dogs, Owls, and Rattlesnakes — "Happy Family" Theory not True — Held at Bay by a Monstrous Rattler 167

CHAPTER XI

SUCCESSFUL CALF HUNT

Extravagant Preparations — Took Domestic Cows to the Range — Comi)etition Quelled — Competitor's Handsome Reward — Sunday in Camp — Herd Discovered — " Hurrah, Boys, Sunday or no Sunday!" — Capture Eleven Calves in Short Time — Pathetic Poem — Shooting AVithout a Sight — Wolves Devour Calves — Wonderful Success — Long Journey for More Cows — Taken for Cattle-Thieves — Colonel Jones Secures ]\Iilch Cows at Fabulous Prices — Irishman Sorry He Didn't Ask More — Tlie Typical Cowboy and Ranchman 181

CHAPTER XII

THE ANTELOPE

Tlie Shyest and Fleetest of all Animals — "A Mighty Good Greyliound to Catch a Mighty Poor Antelope" — Wliole City on a Hunt, Dogs Included — Colonel Jones Kills More than All 184

Vi CONTENTS

OHAPTEK XIII

THE LAST HUNT

On the Desert — Sends News by Carrier-Pigeons— Buffalo Discovered — Effort to Corral the Herd — Three Calves Quickly Captured — The Mother's Desperate Charge — Caught in a Deluge — Hard Ride for a Calf — Roping full-grown Buffalo- Awaiting the Last Opportunity — Forty-two Days and Nights in Pursuit of Last Herd — Colonel Jones's Wonderful Success Recorded in History 201

CHAPTER XIV

BUFFALO ON THE WATER

Colonel Jones Bound for the Old World — Loading Buffalo on an Ocean Steamer — Big Show without an Audience — Seasick Animals — Sensation in Liverpool — Congratulations from Prince of AVales — Accepts from Colonel Jones, Robe made of Buffalo Fur . . .- 225

' CHAPTER XV

LAST OF THE BUFFALO

Buffalo not of One Family — Organization of a Herd- How Herd was Located — Stampede Equal to a Cyclone — The Cause and Result — Only Method of Escape — Colonel Jones Captures Canada's Last Herd— After Moose — Catalo, the New Race of Cattle — Description and Habits — Need no Artificial Food or Shelter— Robes as Handsome as Beaver. .230

CHAPTER XVI

DOMESTICATED BUFFALO

Habits as Compared with the Wild Buffalo — Propagation- Takes Nerve to Conquer — Corrals of Wire — Buffalo Kills his Captor — "John L. Sullivan," which Never Met his "Corbett "—Training Buffalo to Work, no Boy's Play — Lines Held with a Windlass — Government Responsible for Extermination of Buffalo — Colonel Jones's Proposition to Corral the Last Herd — Warned the Government of Danger — Number Existing at Different Periods — Unwritten Code of Hunters — Why Trails are Crooked — How to Kill a Whole Herd 246

I'ONTENTS VU

CHAPTER XVII

OXE OP THE GREATEST RACES ON RECORD

Opening of the Cherokee Outlet — Oklahoma, "the Beautiful Land" — Horses and Eiders Trampled Beneath a Living Avalanche — Genuine "Jehu" and Red-Headed Darling in the Race — The Most Reckless Equestrienne in the AVorld — Facts Never Before Made Known — Colonel Jones Rode Two Horses, and AVon the Race 266

CHAPTER XVIII

BUFFALO JOXES'S ARCTIC EXPEDTTIO.N

Bound for the Arctic Regions after Musk-Oxen and Other Aniinals — Route Through Canada — "White Girl Held in Captivity by Indians — Leaves Civilization — Alone in a Boat Down the Athabaska River — Indians Oppose his Mission — Boat Capsized and Indians Refuse his Life-Line — Hot Day in the Far North — Crossing Athabaska Lake — On the Peace and Slave Rivers — Big Chiefs Hold a Council to Prevent his Progress L'77

CHAPTER XIX

BOUND NORTHWARD

Ordered to Return by Indians — Reaches Great Slave Lake — Tossed at Midnight by an Angry Tempest — Reaches Ruins of Searching Party — Fort Reliance — Treachery of Big Indian Siena 302

CHAPTER XX

IX WINTER QUARTERS

Indian's Wife of Less Value than a Dog — Mercury at Zero October 10 — J. R. Rea, a Hero of Heroes — Desperation of Indians — Deaf and Dumb Girl's Sufferings — Children Frightened at White Man — " Hoppy Shompooly " (Sweet Salt), White Sugar — Indians take Provisions by Force — Apply the Torch to Colonel Jones's Cabin — Shoots his First Reindeer — Indians Starving — Conjure Caribou's Return — Wlien they did Come, Colonel Jones Killed More than the Whole Tribe — They Claimed but did not Get Them 320

VUl CONTENTS

CHAPTER XXI

AFTER Ml'SK-OXEX

Arranging a Musk-Ox Hunt — Mr. Rea Makes a Long Journey with Indians — Caught in a Terrific Blizzard — Greatest Waterfalls of the Far North — Second Xiagara — Reindeer Everywhere — Driving Them Into a Corral — Indians Determined to Stay and Eat "White Man's Meat — Could Not Drive Them Away 334

CHAPTER XXII

DESPERATION IX ARCTIC REGIONS

Indians Left Squaw and Child to Perish — The Scanty Supply Divided with Them — Drove Them Out when Mercury was at Forty-eight Below Zero — Little Ellen Covered with Icicles — Squaw Cut her Foot as an Excuse to Remain — Colonel Jones's Long Journey in Midwinter — Clothes Frozen Stiff — Failed to Find Indian Village — Frightened Indians to Save Supplies — Reindeer Appear at Last Moment — Indian Frightened Them Away — " Too Mad to Swear " 347

CHAPTER XXIII

MUSK-OX HUNT

Start for the Far North on Dog-Sleds — Crossing Mountains — On Artillery Lake — Terrific Blizzard — In Blankets Thirty-six Hours, Facing Wind at Forty Degrees Below Zero — On Clinton Golden Lake — Camped in " Land of Little Sticks"— Dog Carried off by Wolves — Colonel Jones's Narrow Escape — Discover New Rivers and Lakes — Musk-Oxen at Last — Kill Six — Description — Indian Superstition — Cross Great Fish River and Arctic Circle — Out of Wood, and Compelled to Return — Guide Badly Lost — Depended on the Colonel's Compass— Arrive at '"Little Sticks "—Guide Abandons the Two Nimrods — They Again Penetrate to the Far North 364

CHAPTER XXI Y

HEROIC EFFORT BRINGS REWARD

Two White Men on the Barren Lands Without a Guide — Keep Going Until Near the Magnetic Pole — Young Musk-Oxen

CONTENTS IX

Discovered — Old Ones Shot and Calves Lassoed — A "Wild West Show" in the Arctic Zone — Shepherd Dog Devoured by "Wolves — Night Made Hideous — Start fur Home — Destruction by "Wolves Appears Imminent — Figliting Wolves by Night and Traveling by Day — Indians or Eskimos Cut the Throats of the Musk-Ox Calves while Captors Sleep — Ammunition Gone, therefoi'e Compelled to Return — Colonel Jones Fires the Last Cartridge and Hits the Mark — Saved from Starvation — Reaching Cabin in Deplorable Condition. .380

CHAPTER XXV

AT THE CABIN HOME

Dogs with Hydrophobia — Cuts Steel Chain with Teeth — Mr. Rea's Narrow Escape — In Summer, Waiting for Summer — How to Reach the North Pole — A Start for the Sunny South

— Fourth of July, but Still Frozen in the lee — Living on Bread Alone — Mosquitoes and Gnats in Swarnls — Arrival at Fort Resolution — First News of War with Spain — Music in the Far North — "Sweetest Ever Heard" — Colonel Jones Fancied he was in the " Spirit Land " — Grand Reception 396

CHAPTER XXVI

METEOROLOGICAL PHENOMENA

'"Total Darkness" and "Everlasting Day" — Extreme Temperature of Each Month — Precipitation — Burnt by Cold Steel — Brilliant Display of Aurora Borealis — Mock Suns — Ice Upheavals, etc., etc 417

CHAPTER XXVII

IXniAXS AND ESKIMOS OF THE FAR NORTH

Differ from Other Indians — Mode of Living in Land of Darkness — Women Slaves —Meat and Fish the Only Diet of the Natives — Marriage Relation — Names of Tribes — Location

— Their Habits, Dwellings, Intelligence, Superstitions — Traditional History — Happiest People on Earth, but at Times the Most Miserable — Education Ruins all Indians in that Country who Attempt It 423

X CONTENTS

CHAPTER XXYIII

HOMEWARD BOIND

In a Storm on the Lake — Rudder Breaks — Waves Roll Into the Boat — Boat Following is Capsized — One Man Drowned, Others Washed Ashore — Protestant Mission on the Mackenzie River — Catholic Priests Need Attention— A Visit to the Spot where Franklin Spent a Dreary Winter on Great Bear Lake — Picture of his Cabin — Desolation — In the Ramparts — Crossed the Arctic Circle — Fort Good Hope — Sail on the Arctic Ocean — Up Peel's and Rat Rivers — Hundreds of Gold -Seekers Caught in that Desolate Region — Shooting Down the Cascades of the Pacific Slope — Boat Smashed on a Rock — Long Journey Down the Porcupine — Fort Yukon — St. Michael's — Facts About Alaska of Great Interest — On Bering Sea — Reached Seattle — Grand Reception at the Colonel's Old Home — Everybody Sang, "My Country, 'tis of Thee," and " Home, Sweet Home" 437

Introduction

It is the mission of this volume to present, from a carefully kept journal, the thrilling incidents, experiences and observations, together with the results of the efforts of one who has devoted the best years of his life to saving from absolute extinction one of the once most conspicuous, in point of numbers, of all the large mammals on the North-American continent: the bison, or buffalo as commonly designated. He has also exerted his energies in behalf of the preservation of other animals of his native country. The field of his labors embraced all of the great territory extending from the Gulf of Mexico to and including the frozen wilderness of the Arctic Circle. So remarkable and full of exciting personal adventure have been the eft'orts of Mr. Jones in the direction indicated, that he has a world-wide reputation, and is familiarly known to the people of both North America and Europe by his well-earned sobriquet of "Buffalo Jones."

His travels in the remote regions of the North-American continent are a chapter of hardships, privations and dangers which rarely fall to any individual in modern

times, and show what indomitable courage, self-possession

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X;i INTRODUCTION

and determination can accomplish under the most adverse conditions. At the same time, "Buffalo" Jones has been a close observer of nature, — of all its physical characteristics. In this volume he presents the results of his investigations. The reader will find here many things which will be new to him, and that the book is of thrilling interest, and is instructive as well.

Heney Inman.

Chapter I Millions Of Buffalo — Their Hauntb — 80 Numerous

PEOPLE NEGLECTED TO STUDY THEIR HABITS AND WORTH

KILLED FOR THEIR HIDES ONLY CORONADO GAVE FIRST

HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THEM AND THE GREAT WEST, IN 1542 — JONES's FIRST BUFFALO — DUTCHMAN'S HORSES STAMPEDED BY COMING TOO NEAR HERD — "RAINED HAIL AS LARGE AS ORANGES " ! — BUFFALO MADE FOR BLIZZARDS, SIROCCOS, AND ALL CLIMATIC ELEMENTS — STRUGGLE FOB MASTERSHIP OF THE HERD — GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION OF A BUFFALO-BULL FIGHT

A FEW years ago, — scarcely a quarter of a century, — millions upon millions of American bison, or buffalo as they are generally though erroneously called, roamed over the vast plains of the intracontinental region of North America. Now, they are so reduced in number that absolutely the last lingering spark of vitality is smouldering on the very verge of extinction. If nothing had been effected toward rescuing them, the buffalo, like the Auk and Dodo, would soon have been found mounted in museums only, as mere specimens ; a silent monument to the wantonness and cupidity of man.

The geographical area over which these immense animals grazed, comprised millions of square miles. When the railroads penetrated this heretofore almost inaccessible territory, transportation suddenly became relatively cheap ; then there was at once created an unprecedented demand for the beautiful soft robes of the buffalo, and millions were sent to Europe to be converted into leather. Almost immediately, too, the slaughter of the fated beasts achieved such proportions that annihilation was a question of a short period.

Thousands, even millions, of green hides appeared in the markets of the world, and tourists, attracted by the novelty attending the opening of the continent, which the press announced in graphic word-painting, commenced an indiscriminate onslaught on the now apparently doomed animals.

To a relatively limited number of persons the interior of the country west of the Missouri was well known. To the majority it was a veritable terra incognita. Now, however, there was a phenomenal inrush, whose crowds began to kill merely for the sport it furnished. For miles along the great trunk lines, then wending their way across the so-called "desert," the carcasses of the huge beasts were collected so thickly that one could have walked hundreds of miles, on either side of the track, on their bleached bones.

To properly present the slow, weary, and sometimes discouraging steps which marked Colonel Jones's career in his initiatory attempt to preserve a nucleus of the unfortunate animals (which he hopes and firmly believes will reestablish the bison, with all the superior qualities of this species of the bovine family), it is necessary, in order that the reader may intelligently appreciate his labors, to portray their original haunts, habits, value, characteristics, and the methods he employed in capturing, domesticating, and cross-breeding, as contained in his remarkably interesting journal.

It is an indisputable fact, that notwithstanding the bison had been known to exist on the Great Plains for

HABITS AND WORTH OF THE BUFFALO 3

four centuries, were at one time almost as numerous as the "sands of the seashore," and that a large number of people had been in constant contact with them, yet the world is really unacquainted with them, even to this day. Had the American bison been a rare species of ruminant, few in number, confined to some remote island or limited geographical area, all that science would have regarded as necessary to know relating to them would have long since been published. Biological societies would have vied with each other to report what they had discovered ; the text-books of our educational institutions would have been full of their habits, as they are of the African lion, the camel, or the giraffe. The very fact that they existed in such appalling numbers right at home, as it were, is the reason, perhaps, of their having been regarded of such little consequence, from a utilitarian standpoint at least.

The savage of the prairies knew more of their serviceableness, of their priceless utility, than the solitary trapper, or freighter across the great desert, who merely killed an occasional one for his meat, or to procure a new robe for his own immediate use.

The American bison has been traced backward through the ages by scientists, with a certainty, to a period anterior by a thousand years to the dawn of the Christian era. It has been known relatively well by historians, for at least eighteen centuries.

Mr. W. T. Hornaday, superintendent of the Taxidermical Department of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C, in his report to the Fiftieth Congress, sets forth the claim that Cortez, the Spanish conqueror of Mexico, gave the first historical account of the American bison, in the year 1521. He quotes the following extract, -written by De Soto, one of Cortez' retainers, after he visited the Zoological Gardens of the Emperor of Mexico, Montezuma :

" In the second square of the same house were the wild beasts which were either presented to Montezuma, or taken

4 FOETY YEAE8 OP ADVENTURES

by his hunters, in strong cages of timber, ranged in good order, and under cover: lions, tigers, bears, and all others of the savage kind which New Spain produced ; among which the greatest rarity was a Mexican bull, — a wonderful composition of divers animals. It has crooked shoulders, with a bunch on its back like a camel. Its flanks dry, its tail large, and its neck covered with hair like a lion. It is cloven-footed, its head armed like that of a bull, which it resembles in fierceness, with 210 less strength and agility."

The above quaint description does not by any means give a clear, fair picture of the American bison ; particularly, the large tail spoken of does not belong to that animal. The inference is that De Soto did not see a buffalo at all. If he had really seen the American bison, he would have been so enraptured that necessarily he would have been obliged to transmit to posterity a more elaborate report. His description is not accurate. The animal he did see was undoubtedly just what he claimed it to be, a "Mexican bull," with great shaggy shoulders, and exceedingly heavy tail, — which the bison has not.

Mr. Hornaday quotes another Spanish explorer, Alvar Nunez Cabega de Baca, as having seen the American bison in southern Texas, nine years after the first-mentioned date (1580). Cabega thus describes what he saw:

"Cattle come as far as this. I have seen them three times, and eaten of their meat. I think they are about the size of those in Spain. They have small horns, like those of Morocco, and their hair long and flocky, like that of a merino. Some are light-brown (pardillos), and others black. To my judgment, the flesh is finer and sweeter than those of this country.

"The Indians make blankets of those that are not fully grown, and of the larger they make shoes and buckles. They come as far as the seacoast of Florida,^

1 The whole region watered by the Mississippi and Missouri rivers was called Florida.

JONES S FIRST BUFFALO O

and in a direction of more than four hundred leagues. In the whole extent of plains over which they roam the people who live bordering upon it descend and kill them for food ; and thus a great many skins are scattered throughout the country,"

This last account is not any more satisfactory in its details than that of De Soto's, especially where it refers to the size of buffalo being that of Spanish cattle. As everyone knows, Spanish cattle are mere pigmies compared to buffalo, Cabega describes more accurately the Texas cattle than the l^ison (which are nearer the size and colors of Spanish cattle), so striking in their peculiar appearance to a stranger.

Colonel Jones says: "The fact is, the first herd of buffalo I ever saw, was composed of about twenty old bulls. The gentleman who was with me, Mr. Shultz, first noticed them coming toward us, and we secreted ourselves in a shallow buffalo-wallow, having to lie very close to the ground to prevent their seeing us, Mr, Shultz was an experienced hunter, and both of us were possessed of good guns; but before the animals came within three hundred yards of where we were lying, I said to my partner in a whisper: 'Let us compromise with the monsters ; if they will let us alone, we'll let them,go by,' Mr. Shultz smiled as I trembled; I could not have hit a whole flock of barns two hundred feet away. The buffalo grazed along, coming so close that at every mouthful of grass they gathered I could distinctly hear a puff from their nostrils, and their teeth grinding together. They appeared to me hideous monsters. They resembled elephants, and as they moved toward us the very earth appeared to shake, I paid no more attention to them ; they were too near for comfort, and I shut my eyes, scarcely daring to breathe, when suddenly, like a clap of thunder, came the report of a gun, and I was nearly paralyzed. Mr. Shultz had fired at the leader of the herd 1 His gun was about as large as a small cannon ; the discharge was terrific. When silence was again restored, I discovered that at least one buffalo couldn't scare me 'worth a cent.' "

No one after seeing the majestic creatures would ever describe them as " cattle about the size of those in Spain, with small horns, some brown and some black," etc. Nor does Mr. Hornaday so classify them, in his exhaustive history of the great ruminant, comprising more than one hundred and fifty pages of his report to the second session of the Fiftieth Congress.

The first authentic description of the American bison of the great central plains of the continent, is unquestionably that to be found in the itinerary of Coronado's wonderful march in search of the "Seven Cities of Cibola," during the year 1542. He was also the first white man to tell us anything of that vast region west of the Missouri river, and its resources. He was the primitive pioneer of those early days of exploration; the peer of the "Pathfinder," General Fremont, when time and conditions are considered.

That Coronado saw the genuine American bison, is more than confirmed by the graphic description he gives of them. There can be no mistake after reading the record from the pen of the historian, Castenada :

"The first time we encountered the buffalo, all our horses took flight on seeing them, for they are horrible to the sight. They have a broad and short face ; eyes two palms from each other, and projecting in such a manner sidewise that they can see a pursuer. Their beard is like that of goats, and so long that it drags the ground when they lower the head. They have on the anterior portion of the body a frizzled hair like sheep's wool; it is very fine upon the croup, and sleek like a lion's mane. Their horns are very short and thick, and can scarcely be seen through the hair. They always change their hair in May,

DUTCHMAN S HORgES STAMPEDED 7

and at this season they really resemble lions. They make it drop more quickly, for they change it as adders do their skins ; they will roll among the brushwood which they find in the ravines.

" Their tail is very short, and terminates in a great tuft. When they run they carry it in the air like a scorpion. When quite young they are tawny, and resemble our calves."

From the foregoing unique description, any intelligent person would recognize a buffalo, even if its shadow alone were seen.

How it makes an old plainsman laugh to read Castenada's first line : " The first time we encountered the buffalo all our horses took flight on seeing them, for they are horrible to the sight." The fact is, there is nothing so repulsive to a "green" horse as a sight or scent of a buffalo. Many a man has been left on the open prairie by the too close proximity of a herd of these animals to the horse he was riding or driving ; many horses have stampeded, for the same reason, when picketed out to graze. I was once compelled to " hoof it " for twenty miles, from such an experience, and a more delighted individual the reader never heard of, when I discovered it was only that short distance instead of a hundred, and that I did not lose my fine team as well.

I remember at one time meeting a poor German near the Kansas and Colorado line, west of where the flourishing town of Colby is now located, who was in a terrible predicament. It was in the spring of 1872. He was an emigrant to the mountains, and was able to speak only very indifferent English. All his possessions, when I met him, consisted of an old-fashioned muzzle-loading rifle and a pair of nearly worn-out shoes, which he carried in his hand. The antiquated gun was as worthless a piece for those troublesome days on the border as I had ever seen. It might have been one captured by General Blucher

O FORTY YEARS OF ADVENTURES

from the French at the battle of Waterloo, and kept as an heirloom in the family of the disconsolate fellow trudging along in the wilderness of prairie around him. He was more than a hundred miles from any settlement, and had in all probability been wandering hopelessly in a circle, for two days or more.

His first salutation was : " Haben sie wasser ? " " Yes, plenty," I answered, at the same time passing him a canteen which had recently been filled from a ten-gallon keg that was always kept strapped to the side of the wagon. The poor fellow was nearly choked. After filling himself, he caught his breath, and told me as best he could that he had lost two horses, asking if I knew where they were — " or do you know nottings?" I grasped the situation at once, and was satisfied he had been too close to a herd of buffalo. This he confirmed by attempting to explain how it happened : He was surprised ]jy a great number of the beasts, and his horses, never having seen such animals before, naturally stampeded, leaving him all alone on the prairie, remote from any assistance. He was a piteouslooking object, indeed. He had given up all hope ; had become despondent, and if I had not fortunately met him at this particular juncture, he would in all probability have gone insane, and the wolves battened on his bones before sundown of the following day.

I had passed a hunting-party about fifteen miles back, some of whom I knew ; they had incidentally mentioned to me the fact of having picked up a team of " plug" horses, which they supposed some "mover" to Colorado had abandoned to die, they were so misei'ably thin and weak. From the description given me, and what the German had attempted to convey in his queer jargon, I knew the animals were identical. I really felt sorry for the old fellow, and assured him I would recover his lost team, — at which he was nearly wild. I then said to him and my men, we would go into camp about six miles to the southwest, near the foot of a high butte plainly discernible