"Arkansaw was a good feller, boys, and no mistake. He on'y got off his
bearin's w'en ther idee struck him thet he cud clean out this ere town.
But he were clear game. Three cheers fur the corpse."

The cheers were given with a will and another vigilante cried:

"A tiger fur Arkansaw."

With that the hero was lowered into the grave which is one of the sights
of the town.

It was freezing cold the following day when Boyton and Creelman resumed
the voyage, and Paul knew the rest of the journey would be a race
against the winter which was now following close. He paddled between
gumbo hills all afternoon. These black masses are composed of a
sticky substance which becomes quite slippery in wet weather. Not a
blade of grass will grow upon them except here and there where the
natural soil rises to the surface. Ducks and other wild fowl cowered in
the niches or wherever they could gain a foot hold under the banks, to
escape the keen wind. The sky was overcast and not a ray of sunshine
appeared except a momentary gleam during a slight rain storm which
occurred late in the day. Shortly afterward, the river narrowed
considerably and they were forced to paddle through a field of snags
close to the west shore. The presence of the snags was explained by
the hundreds of beaver slides which were worn in the muddy slopes,
showing that that industrious little animal was far from extinct as
commonly reported. The banks were hived with beaver holes and several
trappers were encountered who made a business of catching them.

Night came on cold and cheerless and at midnight they entered the
greatest bend of the Missouri. Two steamboats were sighted aground on a
sand bar. Paul sounded a salute on the bugle, but received no answer.
Later on the eastern sky was lighted up with a dull glare which
soon brightened into a blaze and they could see a long line of flame and
smoke racing across the prairie before a stiff breeze. At the mouth
of Medicine river, the air was literally clouded with feathered game,
hurrying into warmer latitudes from the frosty air of Montana and
Dakota. At nine o'clock in the morning a landing was effected at the
elbow of the great bend and breakfast made from choice bits of two
ducks, shot just before. About noon they entered a great curving
stretch of river, completely walled in on one side with hills, which
resembled a vast causeway or an arched cathedral. The rai