He is the very
smallest man I ever saw, and he was on a government horse that is
known
By its great height - sixteen hands and two inches, I
believe - and the little man's stirrups were about half way down the
horse's sides, and his knees almost on the horse's back. All three of
us are wearing officers' white cork helmets, but the doctor's is not a
success, being ever so much too large for his small head, consequently
it had tilted back and found a resting place on his shoulders,
covering his ears and the upper part of his already hot face. For a
whip he carried a little switch not much longer than his gauntlets,
and which would have puzzled the big horse, if struck by it. With it
all the little man could not ride, and as his government saddle was
evidently intended for a big person, he seemed uncertain as to which
was the proper place to sit - the pommel, the middle, or the curved
back. All during that first day's march the soldiers watched him. I
knew this, although we were at the head of the column - for every time
he would start his horse up a little I could hear smothered laughter
back of us.
It was late when we finally got across the Missouri on the funny
ferryboat, so we camped for the night on this side near the ferryman's
house. It was the doctor's first experience in camp, and of course he
did not know how to make himself comfortable. He suffered from the
heat, and became still warmer by rushing up and down fanning himself
and fighting mosquitoes. Then after dinner he had his horse saddled, a
soldier helped him to mount, and he rode back and forth bobbing all
sorts of ways, until Faye could stand it no longer and told him to
show some mercy to the beast that had carried him all day, and would
have to do the same for days to come.
Most of the camps have been in beautiful places - always by some clear
stream where often there was good trout fishing. In one or two of
these we found grayling, a very gamey fish, that many epicures
consider more delicate than the trout. We have a fine way of keeping
fish for the following day. As soon as possible after they have been
caught we pack them in long, wet grass and put them in a cool spot,
and in this way they will keep remarkably fresh.
We have had an abundance of game, too - all kinds of grouse and prairie
chicken, and the men killed one antelope. The Chinaman thought that
Faye shot quite too many birds, and began to look cross when they were
brought in, which annoyed me exceedingly, and I was determined to stop
it. So one evening, after Faye had taken some young chicken to the
cook tent, I said to the doctor, "Come with me," and going over to the
tent I picked up the birds and went to some trees near by, and handing
the doctor one, asked him to help me pick them, at the same time
commencing to pull the feathers out of one myself.
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