each other suspiciously for
some time, soon became quite intimate friends. After supper one of the
Cheyennes drew, upon a sheet of paper, very rudely, but, as it afterwards
appeared, quite correctly, a map of the general character of the country
between the encampment and their villages, which were about three hundred
miles further west.

The two next days the party made about forty miles. "The air was keen,"
writes Lieutenant Fremont, "the next morning at sunrise, the thermometer
standing at 44 degrees. It was sufficiently cold to make overcoats very
comfortable. A few miles brought us into the midst of the buffalo,
swarming in immense numbers over the plains, where they had left scarcely
a blade of grass standing. Mr. Preuss, who was sketching at a little
distance in the rear, had at first noticed them as large groves of timber.
In the sight of such a mass of life, the traveller feels a strange emotion
of grandeur. We had heard, from a distance, a dull and confused murmuring,
and when we came in view of their dark masses, there was not one among us
who did not feel his heart beat quicker. It was the early part of the day
when the herds are feeding, and every where they are in motion. Here and
there a huge old bull was rolling in the grass, and clouds of dust rose in
the air from various parts of the bands.

"Shouts and songs resounded from every part of the line, and our evening
camp was always the commencement of a feast which terminated only with our
departure on the following morning. At any time of the night might be seen
pieces of the most delicate and choicest meat, roasting on sticks around
the fire. With pleasant weather, and no enemy to fear, an abundance of
the most excellent meat and no scarcity of bread or tobacco, they were
enjoying an oasis of a voyageur's life."

Three buffalo cows were killed to-day. Kit Carson had shot one, and was
continuing the chase in the midst of another herd, when his horse fell
headlong, but sprang up and joined the flying band. Though considerably
hurt, he had the good fortune to break no bones. Maxwell, who was mounted
on a fleet hunter, captured the runaway after a hard chase. He was on the
point of shooting him, to avoid the loss of his bridle, a handsomely
mounted Spanish one, when he found that his horse was able to come up with
him.

The next day was the first of July.

As our adventurers were riding joyfully along, over a beautiful prairie
country, on the right si