28

20

over almost a level plain, the horses were evidently under a hard pull. An investigation led to the discovery that all four of the wheels were almost at a stand-still. Being new, they had quickly absorbed the oil put upon the spindles when the wagon was set up in Red Lodge, and now spindles, and thimbles enccasing them, were cutting and grinding in a famish for oil. A search of all parts of the wagon failed to disclose the sought-for oil can, which should be always found with a vehicle used on mountain roads over uninhabited stretches."

"Here we were, twenty-five miles from a town, many miles from a house, a wagon with four wheels on a strike, fast getting into a condition that would make it as difficult to pull as if it were a sled on dry ground, besides it would ruin the wagon, a pair of tired horses, night coming on, and no camping facilities. It was a pretty hard spot, and the busy think we were doing was only interrupted when one of my guests, Mike Russell, said as quietly as if he had been telling us the time of day: 'There's your oil can.' There was a discharge from his Winchester before he had finished speaking, and one of a bunch of antelope that had hove in sight on a knoll a mile away, leaped into the air and lay still on the ground, while it's companians, like streaks of gray, skinned over the mesa. I got another out of the bunch before they were out of range, and in fifteen minutes we had cracked the leg bones of those antelopes, dug out the marrow, greased the wagon, and were on our way with meat–well, meat to burn."

"BUFFALO BILL'S" HOME AND HORSE RANCH ON THE OLD FIGHTING GROUND OF THE PAWNEE AND SIOUX.