ver
which, for three hundred miles, there lay no fort or house of any kind.

Bidding adieu to my host, a young Scotch gentleman, at Fort Ellice, my
little party turned once more towards the North-west and, fording the
Qu'Appelle five miles above its confluence with the Assineboine, struck
out into a lovely country. It was the last day of October and almost the
last of the Indian summer. Clear and distinct lay the blue sky upon the
quiet sun-lit prairie. The horses trotted briskly on under the charge of
an English half-breed named Daniel. Pierre Diome had returned to Red
River, and Daniel was to bear me company as far as Carlton on the North
Saskatchewan. My five horses were now beginning to show the effect of
their incessant work, but it was only in appearance, and the distance
travelled each day was increased instead of diminished as we journeyed
on. I would not have believed it possible that horses could travel the
daily distance which mine did without breaking down altogether under it,
still less would it have appeared possible upon the food which they had
to eat. We had neither hay nor oats to give them; there was nothing-but
the dry grass of the prairie, and no time to eat that but the cold frosty
hours of the night. Still we seldom travelled less than fifty miles
a-day, stopping only for one hour at midday, and going on again until
night began to wrap her mantle around the shivering prairie. My horse was
a wonderful animal; day after day would I fear that his game little limbs
were growing weary, and that soon he must give out; but no, not a bit of
it; his black coat roughened and his flanks grew a little leaner, but
still he went on as gamely and as pluckily as ever. Often during the long
day I would dismount and walk along leading him by the bridle, while the
other two men and the six horses jogged on far in advance; when they had
disappeared altogether behind some distant ridge of the prairie my little
horse would commence to look anxiously around, whinnying and trying to
get along after his comrades; and then how gamely he trotted on when I
remounted, watching out for the first sign of his friends again, far-away
little specks on the great wilds before us. When the camping place would
be reached at nightfall the first care went to the horse. To remove
saddle, bridle, and saddle-cloth, to untie the strip of soft buffalo
leather from his neck and twist it well around his fore-legs, for the
purpose of hobbling, wa