was apparently good, and the distance across the prairie (two or three miles), gave us a fine opportunity to charge them before they could get among the river hills. It was too fine a prospect for a chase to be lost; and, halting for a few moments, the hunters were brought up and saddled, and Kit Carson, Maxwell and I, started together. They were now somewhat less than half a mile distant, and we rode easily along until within about three hundred yards, when a sudden agitation, a wavering in the band, and a galloping to and fro of some which were scattered along the skirts, gave us the intimation that we were discovered. We started together at a hard gallop riding steadily abreast of each other, and here the interest of the chase became so engrossingly intense, that we were sensible to nothing else. We were now closing upon them rapidly, and the front of the mass was already in rapid motion for the hills, and in a few seconds the movement had communicated itself to the whole herd. A crowd of bulls, as usual, brought up the rear, and every now and then some of them faced about, and then dashed on after the band a short distance, and turned and looked again, as if more than half inclined to stand and fight. In a few moments, however, during which we had been quickening our pace, the rout was universal, and we were going over the ground like a hurricane. When at about thirty yards, we gave the usual shout (the hunter's pas de charge,) and broke into the herd. We entered on the side, the mass giving way in every direction in their heedless course. Many of the bulls, less active and less fleet than the cows, paying no attention to the ground, and occupied solely with the hunter, were precipitated to the earth with great force, rolling over and over with the violence of the shock, and hardly distinguishable in the dust. We separated on entering, each singling out his game. My horse was a trained hunter, famous in the West under the name of Proveau, and, with his eyes flashing, and the foam flying from his mouth, sprang on after the cow like a tiger. In a few moments he brought me alongside of her, and, rising in the stirrups, I fired at the distance of a yard, the ball entering at the termination of the long hair, and passing near the heart. She fell headlong at the report of the gun,

and, checking my horse, I looked around for my companions. At a little distance, Kit was on the ground, engaged in tying his horse to the horns of a cow which he was preparing to cut up. Among the scattered bands, at some distance below, I caught a glimpse of Maxwell; and while I was looking, a light wreath of white smoke curled away from his gun, from which I was too far to hear the report. Nearer, and between me and the hills, towards which they were directing their course, was the body of the herd, and, giving my horse the rein, we dashed after them. A thick cloud of dust hung upon their rear, which filled my mouth and eyes, and nearly smothered me. In the midst of this I could see nothing, and the buffaloes were not distinguishable until within thirty feet. They crowded together more densely still as I came upon them, and rushed along in such a compact body, that I could not obtain an entrance-the horse almost leaping upon them. In a few moments the mass divided to the right and left, the horns clattering with a noise heard above everything else, and my horse darted into the opening. Five or six bulls charged on us as we dashed along the line, but were left far behind; and, singling out a cow, I gave her my fire, but struck too high. She gave a tremendous leap, and scoured on swifter than before. I reined up my horse, and the band swept on like a torrent, and left the place quiet and clear. Our chase had led us into dangerous ground. A prairie-dog village, so thickly settled that there were three or four holes in every twenty yards square, occupied the whole bottom for nearly two miles in length. Looking around, I saw only one of the hunters, nearly out of sight, and the long dark line of our caravan crawling along, three or four miles distant. After a march of twenty-four miles, we encamped at nightfall, one mile and a half above the lower end of Brady's Island."

In following these adventurers across the Rocky Mountains, the general reader will, I have no doubt, be interested in noticing some of the principal features of the wild country through which they were traveling. On the second of July, the party passed near the spot where the Oregon emigrants had encamped only a few days before. A variety of household articles were

scattered about, and they had probably disburdened themselves here of many things not absolutely necessary. On the same day Fremont left the usual road in the forenoon, and having pushed several men ahead to reconnoitre, marched directly for the mouth of the South Fork. On their arrival at this place, search was immediately made for the best fording place. At this point the stream is divided into channels. The southern is four hundred and fifty feet wide, being eighteen or twenty inches deep in the main channel. With the exception of a few dry bars, the bed of the river is generally quick-sands, in which the carts began to sink rapidly unless kept constantly in motion. The northern channel of the river, two thousand two hundred and fifty feet wide, is deeper, having three or four feet of water in the various small channels, with a bed of coarse gravel. The whole width of the Nebraska, immediately below the junction, was, in 1842, five thousand three hundred and fifty feet, with an elevation above the sea of two thousand seven hundred feet.

*

Crossing the river in safety, Fremont encamped. Here, as this was to be a point in their homeward journey, he made a cache of a barrel of pork. On the following day they proceeded about twenty-five miles, and encamped at six o'clock in the evening. Speaking of this night, Fremont says: "Our fires were partially made of the bois de vache, the dry excrement of the buffaloes, which, like that of the camel in the Arabian deserts, furnishes to the traveler a very good substitute for wood, burning like turf. Wolves in great numbers surrounded us during the night, crossing and recrossing from the opposite herds to our camp, and howling and trotting about in the river until morning."

As they were riding along on the afternoon of the following day, clouds of dust in the ravines, among the hills to the right, suddenly attracted their attention, and, in a few moments, column after column of buffaloes came galloping down across their course, making directly to the river. By the time the leading herds had reached the water, the prairie was darkened

* Cache-A term used in the West for anything that is hidden in the ground.-Ed.

with the dense masses. Immediately before them, when the herds first came down into the valley, stretched an unbroken line, the head of which was lost among the river hills on the .opposite side, but still they poured down from the ridges on Fremont's right. The sight was beyond description. Over eleven thousand buffaloes were in view. "In a short time," says Col. Fremont, "they surrounded us on every side, extending for several miles in the rear, and forward as far as the eye could reach; leaving around us as we advanced, an open space of only two or three hundred yards. This movement of the buffaloes indicated to us the presence of Indians on the North Fork."

CHAPTER XLVII.

DIVISION OF FREMONT'S PARTY-THRILLING INCIDENTS OF THE JOURNEY TO FORT LARAMIE-DESCRIPTION OF FORT LARAMIE - FRIGHTFUL RUMORS OF INDIAN HOSTILITY - FREMONT DETERMINES TO CONTINUE KIT CARSON RESOLVES TO FOLLOW HIM-BRAVERY COWARDICE.

AND

WHEN the party arrived at the place where the road crossed the North Fork they were divided, going in two different directions. Fremont, accompanied by Mr. Preuss and four men, Maxwell, Bernier, Ayot and Lajeunesse, and three Cheyenne Indians started out across the country along the South Branch of the river, intending to ascend the river some two hundred miles to St. Vrain's fort, and thence to reach the American company's fort at the mouth of the Laramie. The remainder of the party, which was left under the command of Clement Lambert, was ordered to cross the North Fork, and at some convenient place to make a cache of everything not absolutely necessary to the further progress of the expedition. From this point, using the most guarded precaution in their march through the country, they were to proceed to the same point. This division of the party was effected to enable Fremont to make some observations on the South Branch.

Let us first follow Fremont's own party. During the first day's journey nothing of interest occurred. About sunset Maxwell shot a buffalo, and the little party encamped where a little timber afforded them the means of making a fire. Having placed the meat before the fire on roasting sticks, they proceeded to unpack their bales in search of coffee and sugar, and flour for bread. With the exception of a little parched coffee they found nothing, the cook having neglected to put it up. Tired and hungry, with only tough meat, without salt,