the water, would exhibit strata of
clay and soil so variegated in color that they resembled vast cameos.
At many places the soil was rich and black for six or seven feet deep,
showing its wonderful agricultural properties, while here and there the
alkali deposits seemed like frost work. The storms had eaten some of
the massive cliffs into forms of castles and there were galleries of
arches and columns sculptured by the rain, stretching for miles on
either side. At nightfall the scene was ghostly and imagination easily
peopled the dark galleries with strange images.

At midnight the sky began to threaten rain. Paul sounded the bugle again
and again in hope of reaching the ears of some hospitable rancher; but
only the musical echoes were returned, until he was about to land and
camp on the shore when he was hailed by a voice which proved to belong
to another squaw man and the weary travelers slept on the floor of his
house until morning. The ranchman had several grown up half breed sons
who could not speak a word of English. One of them had just returned
from a hunt on which he had slaughtered two-hundred buffalos, taking
their hides and leaving their carcasses to fester on the plains.

The start next day was the beginning of a long and tiresome run to Fort
Bennett. During the afternoon, several geese and ducks were shot and a
number of deer were seen in the timber points. When the sun went down,
the country was lit up by remarkably beautiful hues, which died away as
the moon rose clear and bright, and when it shone high above, the
spectacle was magnificent. In some bends of the river the voyagers
seemed completely landlocked and allowed the current to carry them
safely through the quagmires and sand bars. They floated among a number
of white swans and the whole flock flew upward with shrill cries,
startling the cranes that stalked in the shadows and sending clouds of
cackling geese and ducks whirling up from every gloomy nook and ravine.

Toward morning a heavy head wind sprang up that was very trying and just
as dawn was approaching they entered a bend which was twenty-five
miles in length, while the distance across by land, was but four miles.
By hard pulling Fort Bennett was reached at four o'clock in the
afternoon and Paul and Creelman were conveyed to the house of Major
Love, the Indian agent, in an army ambulance after twenty-eight hours
of incessant pulling. They determined