and
re-form, only to dissolve again, with a steady accompaniment of
contentions. I would not enter into any organized company, but neither
could I travel alone. By tacit agreement our party and the McAuleys
travelled together, the outfit consisting of four wagons and thirteen
persons--nine men, three women, and the baby. Yet although we kept apart
as a separate unit, we were all the while in one great train, never out
of sight and hearing of others. In fact, at times the road would be so
full of wagons that all could not travel in one track, and this fact
accounts for the double roadbeds seen in so many places on the trail.

[Illustration: Giving chase to the buffaloes.]

CHAPTER FIVE

THE WESTWARD RUSH

WE crossed the Missouri on the seventeenth and eighteenth of May. The
next day we made a short drive, and camped within hearing of the shrill
steamboat whistle that resounded far over the prairie.

The whistle announced the arrival of a steamer. This meant that a dozen
or more wagons could be carried across the river at a time, and that a
dozen or more trips could be made during the day, with as many more at
night. Very soon we were overtaken by this throng of wagons. They gave
us some troubles, and much discomfort.

The rush for the West was then at its height. The plan of action was to
push ahead and make as big a day's drive as possible; hence it is not to
be wondered at that nearly all the thousand wagons that crossed the
river after we did soon passed us.

"Now, fellers, jist let 'em rush on. If we keep cool, we'll overcatch
'em afore long," said McAuley.

And we did. We passed many a team, broken down as a result of those
first few days of rush. People often brought these and other ills upon
themselves by their own indiscretion.

The traveling had not progressed far until there came a general outcry
against the heavy loads and unnecessary articles. Soon we began to see
abandoned property. First it might be a table or a cupboard, or perhaps
a bedstead or a cast-iron cookstove. Then feather beds, blankets,
quilts, and pillows were seen. Very soon, here and there would be an
abandoned wagon; then provisions, stacks of flour and bacon being the
most abundant--all left as common property.

It was a case of help yourself if you would; no one would interfere. In
some places such a sign was posted,--"Help yourself." Hundreds of wagons
were left and hundreds of tons of goods. People seemed to vie