"Not a bit of it, Dick. You see I'm a'most as active as yourself though
double your age, if not more. I say, Charlie, this _is_ a pretty
look-out. Don't 'ee think so, Mr Crossley? I was sure that Hunky Ben
would find us a pleasant anchorage and safe holding-ground at last,
though it did seem as if we was pretty long o' comin' to it. Just as we
was leavin' the waggins to ride on in advance I said to my missus--says
I--Maggie, you may depend--"

"Hallo! Zook," cried Charlie, as the little man of the slums came
limping up, "what have you done with your horse?"

"Cast 'im loose, sir, an' gi'n 'im leave of absence as long as 'e
pleases. It's my opinion that some the 'osses o' the western prairies
ain't quite eekal to some o' the 'osses I've bin used to in Rotten Row.
Is this the place, Hunky? Well, now," continued the little man, with
flashing eyes, as he looked round on the magnificent scene, "it'll do.
Beats W'itechapel an' the Parks any 'ow. An' there's lots o' poultry
about, too!" he added, as a flock of wild ducks went by on whistling
wings. "I say, Hunky Ben, w'at's yon brown things over there by the
shores o' the lake?"

"Buffalo," answered the scout.

"What! wild uns?"

"There's no tame ones in them diggin's as I knows on. If there was,
they'd soon become wild, you bet."

"An' w'at's yon monster crawlin' over the farthest plain, like the great
sea-serpent?"

"Why, man," returned the scout, "them's the waggins. Come, now, let's
to work an' git the fire lit. The cart wi' the chuck an' tents'll be
here in a few minutes, an' the waggins won't be long arter 'em."

"Ay, wi' the women an' kids shoutin' for grub," added Zook, as he limped
after the scout, while the rest of the little band dispersed--some to
cut firewood, others to select the best positions for the tents. The
waggons, with a supply of food, arrived soon after under the care of
Roaring Bull himself, with two of his cowboys. They were followed by
Buttercup, who bestrode, man-fashion, a mustang nearly as black as
herself and even more frisky.

In a wonderfully short time a number of white tents arose on the plateau
and several fires blazed, and at all the fires Buttercup laboured with
superhuman effect, assisted by the cowboys, to the unbounded admiration
of Zook, who willingly superintended everything, but did little or
nothing. A flat rock on the highest point was chosen for the site of a
future block-house or citadel, and upon this