was lonesome, the Missouri, after leaving Buford, was doubly
so. The scenery was wild beyond expression. Great buttes towered darkly
on either shore and they were being continually undermined by the swift
and erratic current, causing avalanches of yellow soil to slide into the
water, so that it was necessary to keep well out in the stream in order
to avoid the dangerous banks. There was not a sight nor a sound of human
presence in all the vast territory through which the river wound. To see
a pile of wood or a stump which the crew of some boat that had wandered
up that far when the river was higher, had cut, was cheering amid that
awful loneliness. A blast from the bugle was echoed from butte to butte,
caught in the recesses of one hill to be thrown back with double force
into the solitude of another; until, from far below, the blast was
returned with such distinctness, that Paul would strain his cars to
catch the sound again, sure that his call had been answered by some
being down the stream.

He began to make thirty-six hour runs, camping every second night. His
program was to make an early start, run all that day and night until
sundown next day, when he would land. His manner of camping and except
on a few occasions, always the same, was to pick out the lee of a bank
where there was plenty of driftwood, Just before leaving the water, the
gun would be put together and one or two ducks knocked over without
difficulty as they were so thick everywhere that it required no hunting
to get them. These were put on the Baby and hauled ashore at the place
selected for camp. Landing, the suit was removed and a fire built. Two
stakes across which a stout pole was laid, were driven in the ground and
the suit hung up to dry. He then skinned the ducks, drew some thin
strips of bacon from the stores of the Baby with which he fried the
most tender parts of the fowls, cooking enough for breakfast so there
would be no necessity of delaying the start next morning. Supper was
usually eaten with a little hot beef tea. After the evening meal, as
soon as the dress was thoroughly dry, it was reversed and a pile of wood
gathered for the purpose of replenishing the fire during the night. The
softest place to the windward of the fire was selected for a bed,
the suit donned, his alarm clock wound, hatchet and arms placed on the
deck of the Baby near at hand in case of danger. Then as night closed in
on the lonely buttes,