nside of five minutes."

IX: OFF FOR THE BLACK HILLS

The next day was Sunday, so we did not leave the White River
camp till Monday morning. We found Chadron (pronounced Shadron) an
extremely lively town, in which all of the citizens wore big hats
and immense jingling Mexican spurs. We had the big hats, but to
be in fashion and not to attract attention we also got jingling
spurs.

"I shall wear 'em all night," said Jack, as he strapped his
on. "Only dudes take off their spurs when they go to bed, and I'm
no dude."

Our next objective point was Rapid City. It was a beautiful
morning when we turned to the north. The sand had disappeared,
and the soil was more like asphalt pavement.

"The farmers fire their seed into the ground with
six-shooters," said a man we fell in with on the road. "Very
expensive for powder."

"The soil's what you call gumbo, isn't it?" I said to him.

"Yes. Works better when it's wet. One man can stick a spade
into it then. Takes two to pull it out, though."

It was not long before we passed the Dakota line, marked by a
post and a pile of tin cans. Shortly before noon Ollie made a
discovery.

"What are those little animals?" he cried. "Oh, I
know--prairie-dogs!"

There was a whole town of them right beside the road, with
every dog sitting on top of the mound that marked his home, and
uttering his shrill little bark, and marking each bark by a
peculiar little jerk of his tail.

"How do you know they are prairie-dogs?" asked Jack.

"They had some of them in the park at home," said Ollie. "But
last fall they all went down in their burrows for the winter, and
in the spring they didn't come up. Folks said they must have
frozen to death."

"Nonsense," said Jack. "They got turned around somehow, and
in the spring dug down instead of digging up. They may come out
in China yet if they have good-luck."

"I can hardly swallow that," replied Ollie. "But, anyhow,
these seem to be all right."

There must have been three or four hundred of them, and not
for a moment did one of them stop barking till Snoozer jumped out
of the wagon and charged them, when, with one last bark, each one
of them shot down his hole so quick that it was almost impossible
to see him move.

"Now that's just about the sort of game that Snoozer likes!"
exclaimed Jack. "If they were badgers, or even woodchucks, you
couldn't drive him at them."

"I don't think there is much danger of his get