atch up the halters o' your pack-horses, Mister
Irishman--"

"Larry O'Hale at your sarvice, Mister Trapper."

"Benjamin Hicks at yours, Mister O'Hale, but I'm better known as Big
Ben! And now," he continued, "keep well in rear, all of you, an' follow
me down in the bottom there, between the ridges. Don't out o'
cooriosity go exposin' yourselves to the buffalo. In the meantime keep
quiet, and let your mouths water at the thought o' fat steaks and
marrow-bones."

Benjamin Hicks galloped along the bottom of the hollow for a
considerable distance; then, dismounting, hobbled his horse by tying its
two fore feet together with a piece of rope. Thus hampered, it could
hop about in an awkward fashion and feed, while its master advanced on
foot. With rapid strides he proceeded some distance further along the
bottom, and then ascended the ridge in a stooping position. On nearing
the summit he crept on hands and knees, and, on gaining it, he sank like
a phantom into the grass and disappeared.

The party who followed him stopped on reaching the spot where the horse
had been left, and for some time waited in excited and silent
expectation, listening for the report of the hunter's rifle. Despite
the caution given them, however, they could not long refrain from
attempting to see what was going on. After waiting a few minutes, Will
Osten hobbled his horse and crept up the side of the ridge, which might
be more correctly described as an undulating prairie-wave. Bunco and
Larry followed his example. When they all lay flat among the grass on
the summit and raised their heads cautiously, the sight that met their
eyes sent a thrill of delight to their hearts.

It was still the boundless prairie, indeed, but its uniform flatness was
broken by innumerable knolls and hillocks, of varied extent, which
looked like islands in a green sea. Some were covered with clusters of
white pines, others with low bushes. Rich grass waved gently in the
evening breeze, giving to the whole scene an air of quiet motion. Not
far distant flowed the little stream already referred to, and as this
reflected the gorgeous golden clouds that were lit up by the setting
sun, it appeared like a stream of liquid fire meandering over the
plains, while, far, far away on the hazy and glowing horizon--so far
that it seemed as if a whole world lay between--a soft blue line was
faintly visible. It might have been mistaken for the distant sea, or a
long low clou