e an equally clear day for the wolf
_rodeo_. Every cow-camp within striking distance of the Walnut Grove,
on the Salt Fork of the Cimarron, was a scene of activity, taxing to
the utmost its hospitality to man and horse. There had been a hearty
response to the invitation to attend the circle drive-hunt of this
well-known shelter of several bands of gray wolves. The cowmen had
suffered so severely in time past from this enemy of cattle that the
Cherokee Strip Cattle Association had that year offered a bounty of
twenty dollars for wolf scalps.

The lay of the land was extremely favorable. The Walnut Grove was
a thickety covert on the north first bottom of the Cimarron, and
possibly two miles wide by three long. Across the river, and extending
several miles above and below this grove, was the salt plain--an
alkali desert which no wild animal, ruminant or carnivorous, would
attempt to cross, instinct having warned it of its danger. At the
termination of the grove proper, down the river or to the eastward,
was a sand dune bottom of several miles, covered by wild plum brush,
terminating in a perfect horseshoe a thousand acres in extent, the
entrance of which was about a mile wide. After passing the grove, this
plum-brush country could be covered by men on horseback, though
the chaparral undergrowth of the grove made the use of horses
impracticable. The Cimarron River, which surrounds this horseshoe on
all sides but the entrance, was probably two hundred yards wide at
an average winter stage, deep enough to swim a horse, and cold and
rolling.

Across the river, opposite this horseshoe, was a cut-bank twenty feet
high in places, with only an occasional cattle trail leading down to
the water. This cut-bank formed the second bottom on that side, and
the alkaline plain--the first bottom--ended a mile or more up the
river. It was an ideal situation for a drive-hunt, and legend,
corroborated by evidences, said that the Cherokees, when they used
this outlet as a hunting-ground after their enforced emigration from
Georgia, had held numerous circle hunts over the same ground after
buffalo, deer, and elk.

The rendezvous was to be at ten o'clock on Encampment Butte, a plateau
overlooking the entire hunting-field and visible for miles. An hour
before the appointed time the clans began to gather. All the camps
within twenty-five miles, and which were entertaining participants
of the hunt, put in a prompt appearance. Word was received e