nsists of General and Mrs. Bourke, Mrs. Hall, Mrs. Bourke's
sister, Mrs. Ord of Omaha, General Stanley, paymaster, Captain Rives,
judge advocate--both of the department staff--Lieutenant Travis, junior
aide-de-camp, Faye, and myself. Mrs. Ord is a pretty woman, always wears
dainty gowns, and is a favorite with Omaha society people. I know her
very well, still I hesitated about wearing my short-skirted outing suit,
fearing it would shock her. But a day or two after we got here she said
to me, "What are we to do about those fish, Mrs. Rae? I always catch the
most fish wherever I go, but I hear that you are successful also!"

So with high spirits we started out by ourselves that very morning,
everyone laughing and betting on our number of fish as we left camp. I
wore the short skirt, but Mrs. Ord had her skirts pinned so high I
felt that a tuck or two should be taken in mine, to save her from
embarrassment. The fishing is excellent here and each one had every
confidence in her own good luck, for the morning was perfect for trout
fishing. Once I missed Mrs. Ord, and pushing some bushes back where
I thought she might be, I saw a most comical sight. Lying flat on the
ground, hat pushed back, and eyes peering over the bank of the stream,
was Mrs. Ord, the society woman! I could not help laughing--she was so
ridiculous in that position, which the pinned-up dress made even more
funny--but she did not like it, and looking at me most reproachfully
said, "You have frightened him away, and I almost had him." She had been
in that position a long time, she said, waiting for a large trout to
take her hook. The race for honors was about even that day, and there
was no cause for envy on either side, for neither Mrs. Ord nor I caught
one fish!

Our camp is near Smith's fork of Snake River, and not far from the camp
is another fork that never has fish in it--so everyone tells us. That
seemed so strange, for both streams have the same water from the stream
above, and the same rocky beds. One day I thought I would try the
stream, as Smith's fork was so muddy we could not fish in that. There
had been a storm up in the mountains that had caused both streams
to rise, so I caught some grasshoppers to bait with, as it would be
useless, of course, to try flies. I walked along the banks of the
swollen stream until I saw a place where I thought there should be a
trout, and to that little place the grasshopper was cast, when snap!
went my leader. I