to follow, and often even
that could not be seen after we had crossed a stream. At such places
Faye, the doctor, and I would spread out and search for it. As Bettie
and I were always put in the middle, we were usually the finders. One
day we came up a hill that was so steep that twelve mules had to be
hitched to each wagon in order to get it up. Another day we went down
a hill where the trail was so sidling, that the men had to fasten big
ropes to the upper side of each wagon to hold it right side up as it was
drawn down. Another day we made only a few miles because of the deep-cut
banks of a narrow little stream that wound around and across a valley,
and which we had to cross eight times. At every crossing the banks had
to be sloped off and the bed built up before the wagons could be drawn
over. Watching all this has been most entertaining and the whole trip is
making a man of the doctor.

To-night we are in camp in the Judith Basin and by the Judith River--a
beautiful stream, and by far the largest we have seen on the march. And
just across the river from us is a stockade, very high and very large,
with heavy board gate that was closed as we came past. We can see the
roof of the cabin inside, and a stovepipe sticking up through it. Faye
says that he has just heard that the place is a nest of horse thieves of
the boldest and most daring type, and that one of them is coming to see
him this evening! He was told all this by the Frenchman, Junot, who has
a little trading store a mile or so from here.

Faye and the doctor rode over there as soon as the tents had been
pitched, to ascertain if the company from Missoula had passed. Our trail
and the one from the Bitter Root valley fork there. The company passed
several days ago, so we will go on in the morning; otherwise we would
have been obliged to wait for it.

I had to stay here all alone as Faye would not consent to my going with
him. He gave me one of his big pistols, and I had my own small one,
and these I put on a table in the tent, after they had gone, and then
fastened the tent flaps tight and sat down to await events. But the tent
soon became stifling, and it occurred to me that it was foolish to shut
myself up so I could not see whatever might come until it was right upon
me, so putting my pistol in my pocket and hiding the other, I opened the
tent and went out. The first thing I saw was a fishing pole with line
and fly, and that I took, and the next was the fir