urrow of some favorite
citizen. There they would all sit erect, their tails spread out on
the ground, and their paws hanging down before their white breasts,
chattering and squeaking with the utmost vivacity upon some topic of
common interest, while the proprietor of the burrow, with his head
just visible on the top of his mound, would sit looking down with a
complacent countenance on the enjoyment of his guests. Meanwhile, others
would be running about from burrow to burrow, as if on some errand of
the last importance to their subterranean commonwealth. The snakes were
apparently the prairie dog's worst enemies, at least I think too well of
the latter to suppose that they associate on friendly terms with these
slimy intruders, who may be seen at all times basking among their holes,
into which they always retreat when disturbed. Small owls, with wise and
grave countenances, also make their abode with the prairie dogs, though
on what terms they live together I could never ascertain. The manners
and customs, the political and domestic economy of these little marmots
is worthy of closer attention than one is able to give when pushing by
forced marches through their country, with his thoughts engrossed by
objects of greater moment.

On the fifth day after leaving Bisonette's camp we saw late in the
afternoon what we supposed to be a considerable stream, but on our
approaching it we found to our mortification nothing but a dry bed of
sand into which all the water had sunk and disappeared. We separated,
some riding in one direction and some in another along its course. Still
we found no traces of water, not even so much as a wet spot in the sand.
The old cotton-wood trees that grew along the bank, lamentably abused by
lightning and tempest, were withering with the drought, and on the dead
limbs, at the summit of the tallest, half a dozen crows were hoarsely
cawing like birds of evil omen as they were. We had no alternative but
to keep on. There was no water nearer than the South Fork of the Platte,
about ten miles distant. We moved forward, angry and silent, over a
desert as flat as the outspread ocean.

The sky had been obscured since the morning by thin mists and vapors,
but now vast piles of clouds were gathered together in the west. They
rose to a great height above the horizon, and looking up toward them I
distinguished one mass darker than the rest and of a peculiar conical
form. I happened to look again and still coul