ng of this re-enforcement
of picked men all danger of war ceased.

Before noon the Pawnee chiefs and some of the elder warriors had paid
their visit, received their presents, sold a few horses to wagoners who
had jaded animals and then returned to their camp, pitched along the
banks of the creek a short distance away. The afternoon was spent in
visiting between the two encampments and the night in alert vigilance.
At dawn the animals were turned out to graze under a strong guard and
before noon the caravan was on its way again, its rear guard and
flankers doubled in strength.

Shortly after leaving Ash Creek they came to great sections of the
prairie where the buffalo grass was cropped as short as though a herd of
sheep had crossed it. It marked the grazing ground of the more compact
buffalo herds. The next creek was Pawnee Fork, but since it lay only six
miles from the last stopping place, and because it was wise to put a
greater distance between them and the Pawnees, the caravan crossed it
close to where it emptied into the Arkansas, the trail circling at the
double bend of the creek and crossing it twice. Great care was needed to
keep the wagons from upsetting here, but it was put behind without
accident and the night was spent on the open prairie not far from Little
Coon Creek.

The fuel question was now solved and while the buffalo chips, plentiful
all around them, made execrable, smudgy fires in wet weather if they
would burn at all, in dry weather they gave a quick, hot fire excellent
to cook on and one which threw out more heat, with equal amounts of
fuel, than one of wood; and after an amusing activity in collecting the
chips the entire camp was soon girdled by glowing fires.

The next day saw them nooning at the last named creek, and before
nightfall they had crossed Big Coon Creek. For the last score of miles
they had found such numbers of rattlesnakes that the reptiles became a
nuisance; but notwithstanding this they camped here for the night, which
was made more or less exciting because several snakes sought warmth in
the blankets of some of the travelers. It is not a pleasant feeling to
wake up and find a three-foot prairie rattlesnake coiled up against
one's stomach. Fortunately there were no casualties among the travelers
but, needless to say, there was very little sleep.

Next came the lower crossing of the Arkansas, where there was some
wrangling about the choice of fords; many, fearing the season