apart afforded a
bed of live coals, over which generous slices were suspended on green
twigs, cut from the nearest trees. It took but a few minutes to prepare
the meat. Hank always carried with him a box of mixed pepper and salt,
whose contents were sprinkled over the toothsome food, of which the
three ate their fill.

"Are there any more of these animals left in the neighborhood?" asked
Jack, when their appetites were fully satisfied.

"S'pose you go out on the edge of the timber and larn for yourselves."

The lads followed the suggestion. Looking off in the direction of the
Wind River Mountains, it seemed to them that tens of thousands of cattle
were browsing among the foot-hills and on the grassy plain, while many
more must have been beyond sight. This was one of the choicest regions
of Wyoming, so widely celebrated for its grazing facilities.

It was an impressive sight, and the boys, each of whom was provided with
a good spy-glass, surveyed the scene for some minutes in wondering
silence. The cattle were several miles distant, and seemed to be brown,
undulating hummocks of dirt, kept in constant motion by some force
beneath. On the outer fringe they were more scattered, but were
constantly moving, as if the pasturage was so excellent that they were
continually tempted to give up that which was good for that which looked
better.

"Are they left wholly to themselves?" asked Fred, as the youths came
back to where the guide was saddling his pony.

"No. There are always two or three men looking after them. I seed Bart
Coinjock, one of our own cowboys, 'tending our animals, and he told me
to take my ch'ice from the lot. You mustn't forgit that we're purty
close to the Wind River Injin Reservation, where the Government has
several tribes under charge."

This was news to the boys. Hazletine explained that a large tract of
land to the northwest and close to the mountains had been set apart some
years before by the United States Government for exclusive occupancy by
several tribes of Indians. They owned the land, and no white man had the
right to intrude upon them.

In the Southwest, where the Apaches were placed on reservations, there
had been the most frightful trouble, for those Indians are the worst in
North America. All our readers know how many times the fierce Geronimo
and a few of his hostiles broke away from their reservation, and, riding
swiftly through Arizona and New Mexico, spread desolation, woe and d