y senior. He had
had some experience on the Plains, and he knew what outfit was needed;
but he had little knowledge in regard to a team of cattle. He was an
impulsive man, and to some extent excitable; yet withal a man of
excellent judgment and honest as God makes men. No lazy bones occupied a
place in Buck's body. He was scrupulously neat and cleanly in all his
ways; courteous to every one; always in good humor and always looking
upon the bright side of things. A better trail mate could not have been
found.

Buck's skill in camp work and his lack of ability to handle the team
naturally settled the division of the work between us. It was he who
selected the outfit to go into the wagon, while I fitted up the wagon
and bought the team. We had butter packed in the center of the flour,
which was in double sacks; eggs packed in corn meal or flour, enough to
last us nearly five hundred miles; fruit in abundance, and dried
pumpkins; a little jerked beef, not too salt. Last though not least,
there was a demijohn of brandy "for medicinal purposes only," as Buck
said, with a merry twinkle of the eye.

The little wife had prepared the homemade yeast cake which she knew so
well how to make and dry, and we had light bread to eat all the way
across. We baked the bread in a tin reflector instead of the heavy Dutch
oven so much in use on the Plains.

The butter in part melted and mingled with the flour, yet it did not
matter much, as the "shortcake" that resulted made us almost glad the
mishap had occurred. Besides, did we not have plenty of fresh butter,
from the milk of our own cows, churned every day in the can by the
jostling of the wagon? Then the buttermilk! What a luxury! I shall
never, as long as I live, forget the shortcake and corn bread, the
puddings and pumpkin pies, and above all the buttermilk.

As we gradually crept out on the Plains and saw the sickness due to
improper food, or in some cases to its improper preparation, it was
borne in upon me how blessed I was, with such a trail partner as Buck
and such a life partner as my wife. Some trains were without fruit, and
most of them depended upon saleratus for raising their bread. Many had
only fat bacon for meat until the buffalo supplied a change; and no
doubt much of the sickness attributed to the cholera was caused by bad
diet.

I am willing to claim credit to myself for the team, every hoof of which
reached the Coast in safety. Four steers and two cows were suffi