hunters about half and in consolidating them into two large parties,
capable of offering some sort of resistance to an Indian attack. One of
these he put under the command of Hank, to that person's great disgust,
for Hank had planned to go on a hunt with his partner, and to join Ogden
and Houghton when well away from the camp. Tom was to remain with the
wagons; Ogden was to have charge of the other hunting party, and
Houghton and Franklin were to stay near the grazing herd.

The fires dimmed here and there as their builders forsook them for
blankets; others glowed brilliantly, among them the fire of Tom and
Hank. The former had said good night to Joe Cooper and Patience and was
walking toward his fire when Pedro silently joined him and went along
with him. Hank was off entertaining a party of tenderfeet with tales of
miraculous adventures in the mountains, and after lying to the best of
his ability for two hours, and hardly being questioned, he described a
wonderful country lying east of Henry's Fork of the Snake River; south
of the Snow Mountains; north of Jackson's Lake and west of the Shoshones
Mountains. It lay along the Yellowstone River and the headwaters of the
Stinking Water, and it contained all manner of natural wonders, which he
described earnestly and graphically, to bursts of laughter. The more
earnest he became the more his auditors roared and finally he got to his
feet, glared around the circle, declared he was not going to "eddicate
airy passel o' danged fools," and stalked away in high dudgeon,
muttering fiercely. Reaching his own fire he threw himself down by it
and glared at the glowing embers as if he held them responsible.

Tom nudged Pedro. "Somebody ask ye fer a left-hand wipin' stick, Hank?"
he asked.

"Thar a passel o' fools!" snorted Hank. "If hoss sense war ten paces
wide an' ten miles long in every man, ye couldn't collect enough o' it
in th' whole danged party fer ter make an ear tab fer a buffaler gnat!"

"Tellin' 'em about that thar river ye saw that couldn't find no way
outer th' valley, an' finally had ter flow up over a mounting?"

"Ye mean them up-side-down water falls?" queried Hank, grinning. "Yes,
an' some o' 'em come clost ter swallerin' it. Why, I sot thar an' filled
'em plumb ter th' ears with lies an' they didn't hardly wink an eye.
Then I told 'em o' that valley on th' Yallerstun, whar th' Injuns won't
go because they figger it's th' home o' th' Devil. An' th' more I told
'