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. The poor doctor
looked as though he was wishing he had made a specialty of dementia,
and stood like a goose, looking at the chicken. Charlie soon became
very restless - went inside the tent, and then came out, humming all
the time. Finally he gave in, and coming over to us, fairly snatched
the birds from me and said, "Me flixee him," and carried the whole
bunch back of his tent where we could not see him. Since that evening
Charlie has been the most delighted one in camp when Faye has brought
birds in.
All the way we have had only a faint trail to follow, and often even
that could not be seen after we had crossed a stream. At such places
Faye, the doctor, and I would spread out and search for it. As Bettie
and I were always put in the middle, we were usually the finders. One
day we came up a hill that was so steep that twelve mules had to be
hitched to each wagon in order to get it up. Another day we went down
a hill where the trail was so sidling, that the men had to fasten big
ropes to the upper side of each wagon to hold it right side up as it
was drawn down. Another day we made only a few miles because of the
deep-cut banks of a narrow little stream that wound around and across
a valley, and which we had to cross eight times. At every crossing the
banks had to be sloped off and the bed built up before the wagons
could be drawn over. Watching all this has been most entertaining and
the whole trip is making a man of the doctor.
To-night we are in camp in the Judith Basin and by the Judith River - a
beautiful stream, and by far the largest we have seen on the march.
And just across the river from us is a stockade, very high and very
large, with heavy board gate that was closed as we came past. We can
see the roof of the cabin inside, and a stovepipe sticking up through
it. Faye says that he has just heard that the place is a nest of horse
thieves of the boldest and most daring type, and that one of them is
coming to see him this evening! He was told all this by the Frenchman,
Junot, who has a little trading store a mile or so from here.
Faye and the doctor rode over there as soon as the tents had been
pitched, to ascertain if the company from Missoula had passed. Our
trail and the one from the Bitter Root valley fork there. The company
passed several days ago, so we will go on in the morning; otherwise we
would have been obliged to wait for it.
I had to stay here all alone as Faye would not consent to my going
with him. He gave me one of his big pistols, and I had my own small
one, and these I put on a table in the tent, after they had gone, and
then fastened the tent flaps tight and sat down to await events. But
the tent soon became stifling, and it occurred to me that it was
foolish to shut myself up so I could not see whatever might come until
it was right upon me, so putting my pistol in my pocket and hiding the
other, I opened the tent and went out. The first thing I saw was a
fishing pole with line and fly, and that I took, and the next was the
first sergeant watching me. I knew then that Faye had told him to take
care of me.
I went over to tell him that I was going for a fish, and then on down
to the beautiful river, whose waters are green and very much the color
of the Niagara River.
