ing buffalo. PAINTED TREES. They had been driven, most probably, by Indians into the swampy lands adjoining this portion of the Fork, where they had mired down by hundreds. It was truly a revolting spectacle, and I soon felt anxious to escape from the dreadfully sickening air; so turning my back upon the tainted stream, I followed, as nearly as the denseness of the undergrowth would permit, the general direction of the river, until I caught sight of our white wagon-covers, and once more regained the camp. Before doing so, while passing a thicket in the river-bottom, I found a little grove of trees, the trunks of which had been partially barked and rudely painted with Indian hieroglyphics, the interpretation whereof was doubtless best known to their authors-at all events, I didn't care, after my recent adventure upon the Arkansas, to spend much time in deciphering them, the more so as it was by no means improbable that their authors might drop in unexpectedly to interfere with my studies. At our "Water Camp," as we called this enforced haltingplace, we were doomed to spend the two succeeding days; and then-the waters having receded sufficiently to permit of our departure-we went on our way rejoicing, determined that henceforth our camp should be upon the right side of a creek, and, if possible, a little beyond it. And now, as we have accomplished more than half our journey, it may not be out of place to introduce at this point of our narrative such brief remarks as the limits of an article will permit upon the general features, climate, and animal life of the Great Prairies. The most fertile district of the plains lies east of the Diamond Spring. The soil is here better adapted to cultivation, the grasses more luxuriant, and the flowers of a gayer dye than upon any other portion of the trail. There is also a marked difference in the quality of the timber that fringes the streams or unites to form the beautiful groves which charm the eye of the voyageur as he approaches the waters of the Missouri, and that which is found between Diamond Spring and the settlements of New Mexico. Indeed as the cotton-wood is almost the only tree which is met with until you reach Council Grove, and not even that unless upon the banks of some never-failing river, where it is protected from the fires which sweep annually the surrounding country, the traveler is necessarily obliged to depend for his fuel upon the dried buffalo dung, which furnishes an excellent substitute for wood for all culinary purposes. As regards the supply of water (putting its quality out of the question, for of that I can say but little which is favorable), the traveler will never be put to serious inconvenience-except, perhaps, upon the Cimarron, or between that river and the crossing of the Arkansas. Indeed, in our own case, we suffered more from a superabundance than a scarcity. The climate of the "Great Prairies" is excellent. I never enjoyed better health than while traversing them; and I would cordially recommend any person who is suffering from dyspepsia or a tendency to consumption to pack up his traps, take leave of the doctor, and "throw physic to the dogs," or out of the window if he prefers it, and then, with a good horse and one of Sharpe's patent rifles, a bowie-knife, and a Colt's six-shooter, let him "make a break" and go Westward to the spurs of the Rocky Mountains; and, believe me, if living in the open air, rough fare, and rougher exercise-and, above all, the pure atmosphere of this elevated region -do not work wonders and effect a cure the case must be an uncommon one and bad indeed. Among the numerous animals who find their homes or feeding-grounds in this remote region, we may enumerate the following: The buffalo; elk; antelope; mustang, or wild horse; prairie wolf, or coyote (canis lutrans); the large gray wolf; and, in the vicinity of timber, the black bear; while least, but seldom last upon the list, the little "prairie dog" claims his share of attention. will follow his example; and so on throughout the herd. This accounts for the holes, or "buffalo wallows," as they are styled, which are so frequently to be met with upon the Great Prairies. There are two modes of hunting this animal-on horseback and upon foot. The former method, which is much the most exciting, is that usually resorted to by the savages, of whose exploits in this way a prairie writer speaks as follows: "The Indians as well as Mexicans hunt the buffalo mostly with the bow and arrows. For this purpose they train their fleetest horses to run close beside him, and when near enough, with almost unerring aim they pierce him with their arrows, usually behind the short ribs ranging forward, which soon disables and brings him to the ground. When an arrow has been misdirected, or does not enter deep enough, and even when it has penetrated a vital part but is needed to use again, the hunter sometimes rides up and draws it out while the animal is yet running. An athletic Indian will not unfrequently discharge his darts with such force that I have seen them (30 inches long) wholly buried in the body of a buffalo; and I have been assured by hunters that the arrows, missing the bones, have been known to pass entirely through the huge carcass and fall upon the ground." The method of hunting upon foot-or "still hunting," as it is termed-requires a greater amount of caution, and is infinitely more laborious than the chase upon horseback. In the one case you have only to urge on your steed, taking care to keep him so perfectly under your control that you may be enabled to jump him aside at a moment's warning, in case the enraged beast should (as it is apt to do when too closely pressed) make a rush at you with his dangerous horns; but in "still hunting" the thing is managed differently. In this instance the hunter must take advantage of every favorable peculiarity of the ground as he crawls cautiously upon his prey; and, above all, he must keep himself carefully to leeward of his prey; for The buffalo, the universal theme of prairie travelers, are to be found at times in such immense herds that their huge forms darken the plain as far as the eye can reach, while the very earth seems trembling beneath the shock of their trampling hoofs, as they rend the air with deep-should the buffalo "wind" him, even though he mouthed bellowings. The habits of this animal would appear to be marked with a certain regularity. For instance, they usually spend the day-unless in intensely hot weather-in feeding along the ridges, where the watchful bulls draw a cordon, as it were, of sentinels about the herd, and, thanks to their sensitive noses! give instant warning of the approach of danger if coming from the windward. In the morning and at sundown they generally leave their feeding pastures to seek the pools, often many miles distant, from whence they drink. In migrating for this purpose the buffalo commonly follow each other in Indian file; thus forming those innumerable paths, or "buffalo trails," as they are called, which traverse almost every portion of their feeding-grounds. Occasionally the leading bull will halt to roll himself upon the grass (most probably to clear the hide from dust or vermin). Upon reaching the same spot the next buffalo may have been as yet unseen, the alarmed animal will carry his hump steaks far beyond the reach of even a "Jake Hawkins's" rifle in double-quick time. In buffalo shooting it is useless to throw away your ammunition by aiming at the head; you might as well expend your balls upon a stone-wall outright, as to imagine that they would pierce the thickness of skull and matted hair which protects the brain of a full-grown buffalo bull. After all I prefer the "still hunting," for if you be cool and wary you may crawl upon a herd, and after dropping one of the bulls "on post," creep up and, by making a barricade of his huge body, secure as many of the beasts as you may require. So much for the "monarch of the plains;" and now for a description of the least among their four-legged inhabitants-the little "prairie dog," which has been called, and probably is, a species of marmot. This diminutive animal has attracted the notice and elicited a "favorable | have gained from "making game" of them. I mention" from almost every prairie writer. Among others, Gregg alludes to it in the following strain: liked to come suddenly upon their "towns," and watch the precipitation with which some villager who had been caught too far from home would "Of all the prairie animals by far the most retreat to the nearest burrow. How quickly he curious, and by no means the least celebrated, is would make his short legs fly, and what a comthe little prairie dog. This singular quadruped ical figure he would cut in scampering across is not much larger than the common squirrel, its the ground; but once at his own door, how body being nearly a foot long, with a tail of resolutely the little rascal would face about and three or four inches. The color ranges from raise himself, squirrel-like, upon his hind-legs, brown to a dirty yellow. Its flesh, though often to shake his head and utter a sharp, irritated eaten by travelers, is not esteemed savory. Its yelp, ere he precipitated himself, head-foremost, yelp, which seems its only canine attribute, re-into the cellar of his under-ground habitation. sembles that of the little toy-dog. A collection It is an old saying, that "poverty makes strange of their burrows is usually termed a 'dog-town,' bed-fellows;" and I fancy that the poor prairie which comprises from a dozen or so to some dogs lead rather a hard life of it at times, from thousands in the same vicinity, often covering the society which is forced upon them; for bean area of many thousand square feet. They sides the "dogs" and their infant families, you generally locate upon firm dry plains, coated will find each burrow inhabited by a rattlewith fine short grass, upon which they feed, for snake and a small owl. Whether these lastthey are no doubt exclusively herbivorous. But named inmates take "possession," and are even when tall coarse grass surrounds they thenceforth deaf to all "notices to quit," or seem commonly to destroy this within their whether they are a kind of country cousin on a 'streets,' which are nearly always found paved summer visit to the houses of their four-footed with a fine species suited to their palates. They friends it is impossible to say. They would apmust need but little water, if any at all, as their pear to get along amicably together, but I am 'towns' are often, indeed generally, found in inclined to believe that the younger pups somethe midst of the most arid plains-unless we times find the presence of these "boarders" a suppose that they dig down to subterranean very killing sort of nuisance. fountains. At least they evidently burrow remarkably deep. Attempts to dig or drown them out of their holes have commonly proved unsuccessful." For myself I could never bear to interfere with the gambols of these playful little creatures by shooting at them. They seemed such "jolly dogs," and had such a comical, good-natured way about them, that I derived a much greater pleasure in watching their pranks than I could We had just completed one of our shortest day's travel; certain moving objects in the distance revived my buffalo fever, and awoke, moreover, a longing for "hump steaks." So I set out alone from camp. When I reached the river I found that the buffaloes were on the opposite side; and that, moreover, they were making off with all their ungainly speed. One old bull, however, lagged behind; and I resolved to give him a trial at all events. So I forded the shallow river, and thereby nearly came to grief. | musket for company, into a hole where the waIt would be a long story to tell how I stalked ter was "seven feet large," the author being the old veteran, gave him several shots which "six scant," when a chorus of yells from the ought to have killed him, but somehow did not; bank, followed by the dash of an arrow or two how I prepared to give him one more, which I into the water beside me, with the prospect of was fully persuaded would serve to introduce his another better aimed next time, assured me of huge carcass to a very intimate acquaintance the arrival of my pursuers. with my hunting-knife. But that shot was never destined to be fired; for as the rammer clinked in the barrel I beheld what, at first sight, would seem to be a mustang, as the wild horse of the prairies is commonly called, rising the grassy ridge that divided me from the yellow sand-hills. As a mustang is an everyday matter in this section of country, I was not at first disposed to pay any particular attention to its movements. But a moment's consideration assured me that there was something unusual in its appearance, which, coupled with the fact that I was sufficiently versed in hunter's craft to know that the wild horse of the prairies would never willingly advance toward the spot on which I stood, in the very face of the strong wind which was then blowing freshly from my position to his, and which would immediately inform him of my presence, induced me to scan this new-comer more clearly. Ere five minutes had elapsed another, and yet another mustang followed it, and as they came rapidly toward me three Indians, who had hitherto been concealed by lying upon the farther side of their horses, now rose suddenly into a sitting posture upon their saddles, and announced at once their own most undesirable proximity and my imminent peril. Had I been upon horseback, or had there been a cover to which I might retreat if too closely pressed, I should have felt but little uneasiness; for with a good gun and plenty of ammunition, and a chance to run away if you can't do better, one white man is, or ought to be, equal to two redskins, or possibly, when your scalp depends upon the issue, even three. But situated as I was, on foot and alone, with two long miles between myself and assistance, I must confess that I felt somewhat "hurried." I hardly fancied a fire in the rear;" but to stop where I was seemed even less desirable. So with one look at my wounded buffalo, I muttered, "I reckon you're no great account after all, hardly worth butchering;" adding, as the new arrivals took a direction which might head me off from the river, "Deuce take the fellow who calls this kind of hunting good sport!" But there was no time to be lost; so I "put out" forthwith, and made what a Kentuckian would have called "the tallest kind of tracks" for water. 66 Upon reaching the brink of the Arkansas I felt satisfied that it was not my ford; but as my situation was just at that moment not unlike the gentleman's who, having got into difficulties, was a "little pressed for time," I "plunged in, accoutred as I was." Nor did I tarry to "bid them follow," knowing that they would take that liberty without waiting for the ceremony of an invitation. I had barely floundered, with my I remember diving and remaining under water until I concluded that the possibility of being shot was preferable to the certainty of being drowned should I remain much longer submerged. But on coming up to breathe, chuck went another arrow into the stream, within a most uncomfortable proximity to my devoted head-a procedure which induced me to go under in haste. It would occupy more space than I could conveniently afford were I to chronicle all my ups and downs, duckings and divings, ere I finally struck bottom and once more regained the shallow water; and then, in less time than it takes to write it, I "might have been seen" making for a little thicket of reeds which I had observed at the upper extremity of the sand-bar that I was then traversing. Having reached this cover, which I found sufficiently dense to furnish a temporary concealment, I halted to breathe, and then, in nautical phrase, proceeded to “take an observation." A single glance convinced me that if the Comanches had had it all in their own way at first, they had but little to brag of now. My apparent mishap in getting into deep water had evidently saved me; for the savages, in their hurry to overtake me, had ridden in until their horses had fairly logged down among the treacherous quicksands of the Arkansas, where their disappointed yells, as their steeds, floundered helplessly in the mire, gave abundant proof of their anxiety to get forward. As may readily be supposed, I felt any thing but sympathy with their misfortunes. Indeed, next to their having broken their necks, I considered it the very best thing which could possibly have happened to them, and only hoped that they might continue to remain fixtures. "My star is in the ascendant at last, and I'll teach you to interfere with my afternoon amusements!" was my mental exclamation as I slipped a few more buckshot down the barrel of my gun, having previously poured a pint or two of water from the muzzle as a necessary preparation before using it against the copperskins. I then, with no amiable intentions, got a long, steady aim at Comanche No. 1, who looked any thing but pleased with the selection as he writhed himself like a wounded snake in the saddle, at the same time yelping at me most dismally for want of a more killing mode of annoyance. Having cast my eye along the barrel until I was fully satisfied that one at least of my pursuers would be placed beyond the help of Indian surgery, I pulled trigger, but only to discover that a wet gun is a poor tool to fight with. Having tried two more caps with no better success, I concluded, as my enemies seemed to be getting out of their embarrassment, that it would be best to depart. And it was well that I did so; for I had barely left my position when my pursuers extricated themselves from theirs. It was still rather "a near thing;" for I was on foot, single-handed and almost unarmed, while they were three in number, well furnished with weapons, and mounted upon horses, somewhat tired, it is true, with their exertions in the river, but still abundantly able to get over the ground much faster than myself. Luckily for me, the "river bottom" just at this point consists of a succession of ridges, well covered at that season of the year with a luxuriant growth of long grass. In this grass I took refuge; and by dint of crawling while ascending a slope, and running when an intervening ridge sheltered me from my pursuers, I managed to elude the Indians, who searched for me upon every side, and would inevitably have overtaken me had not the strong wind which was blowing at the time kept the grass in continual agitation, so as to render it impossible to detect any particular movement in its midst. I finally reached camp about dusk, hungry, tired, wet, and withal as much scared by my adventure as I had ever been before or would willingly be again. It was certainly a narrow escape. Had I been taken my story would have been a brief one: my bones might have furnished matter for speculation to some future traveler, while my curly scalp would have adorned the lodge of a Comanche brave, or, it may be, have been sent as a delicate token of affection to some copper-colored belle of the wilderness by her Indian admirer. little stream that takes its name from the trees which cast their broad shadows across its placid waters-we overtook a long cavalcade of friendly Indians, probably so called from the fact that they are protected by the United States, and display their gratitude by stealing from our citizens whenever an opportunity is afforded them for pilfering with security. These were the Sacs and Foxes, who were then returning from a buffalo hunt upon the Great Prairies. We found these copper-colored gentry in high feather from the successful termination of a recent difficulty with their mortal enemies the Pawnees, with whom they had had a skirmish which resulted in the death of a couple of Pawnee braves, whose scalps, it was reported, were even then journeying toward the Settlements among the household traps and plunder of a Sac chief. These fellows, with their gay blankets, ponies, packs, strange attire, and fantastic equipments, presented quite a picturesque appearance as they followed each other in Indian file across the plain. A drive of eight miles from Cottonwood brought us to Lost Spring, and fifteen more to a clear fountain of sweet cold water whose crystallike purity has justly won for it the title of the "Diamond Spring." From thence we pressed onward, making our jaded cattle do their best in our anxiety to reach Council Grove, the nearest American settlement. Upon the afternoon of the day following our departure from Council Grove we encamped for the night in some timber bordering on a stream Between the Arkansas and Cottonwood Creek known as Hundred and Ten Mile Creek. From we passed, among other camping-grounds, those this point to Independence the distance is estiof Cow Creek, Little Arkansas, and Turkey mated at from ninety-five to one hundred miles; Creek, at each of which we lay down and rose and as the road was no longer dangerous, Danagain, broke bread and boiled coffee, without var and myself, impatient of the snail-like promeeting with an adventure which might be re-gress of the trains, determined to press forward, corded here. Upon nearing the Cottonwood-a and by dint of hard riding anticipate the arrival |