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practically, most of the way, through a farm or range country where
roads of least passable sort led them in the general northwesterly
direction which they desired to take. All three of the young explorers
could drive, so they took turns occasionally, while the editor sat in
the back seat and conversed with Uncle Dick.

Beyond a few grouse and rabbits, with a half dozen coyotes, they saw no
game except wild fowl on the sloughs. The cabins and tepees on the Fort
Berthold Indian Reservation afforded them a change of scene, and they
were delighted to find three of the native Mandan earth lodges, one
nearly fifty feet in diameter. They learned that the remnants of the
Mandan tribe, few in number and comprising few, if any, pure blood, were
located with reservation here, and were clinging to their tribal customs
the best they could.

"Well, here's what Patrick Gass says about the old Mandan huts and how
they were built--and he was a carpenter and so ought to know." John was
always ready with his quotations:

"'A Mandane's circular hut is spacious. I measured the one I lodged
in, and found it 90 feet from the door to the opposite side. The
whole space is first dug out about 1-1/2 feet below the surface of
the earth. In the center is the square fireplace, about five feet
on each side, dug out about two feet below the surface of the
ground flat. The lower part of the hut is constructed by erecting
strong posts about six feet out of the ground, at equal distances
from each other, according to the proposed size of the hut, as they
are not all of the same dimensions. Upon these are laid logs as
large as the posts, reaching from post to post to form the circle.
On the outer side are placed pieces of split wood seven feet long,
in a slanting direction, one end resting on the ground, the other
leaning against the cross-logs or beams. Upon these beams rest
rafters about the thickness of a man's leg, and 12 to 15 feet long,
slanting enough to drain off the rain, and laid so close to each
other as to touch. The upper ends of the rafters are supported upon
stout pieces of squared timber, which last are supported by four
thick posts about five feet in circumference, 15 feet out of the
ground and 15 feet asunder, forming a square. Over these squared
timbers others of equal size are laid, crossing them at right
angles, leaving an opening about four fee