ing.

Small flocks of antelope, fleet and graceful, were frequently seen
gliding over the plain. They were very shy, and kept several gunshots
away. But their curiosity was great, and if a man would lie down on the
ground and wave a flag or handkerchief tied to a stick till they noticed
it, they would first gaze at it intently and then gradually approach. In
this way they were often enticed by hunters to come near enough for a
shot.

Forty or fifty miles below Denver we came in view of one picturesque
ruin--old Fort St. Vrain--with its high, thick walls of adobe situated
on the north side of the Platte. It was built about twenty-five years
before, by Ceran St. Vrain, an old trapper and Indian trader. These
adobe walls, standing well preserved in this climate, it seemed to me,
would be leveled to the ground by one or two good eastern equinoxial
storms.

We reached Denver on the 18th of September about noon, being forty-nine
days out from St. Joe. Stubbs met us five or six miles out on the road.
This gave him and me a chance, as we walked along, to talk over the
condition of things and our plans for the immediate future. He had been
in Denver over a week waiting for us and had had no tidings of the train
since I wrote him from Fort Kearney. He had considerable liking for
display and had evidently told people in Denver that he was waiting for
the arrival of a large train of machinery and goods in which he was
interested. He thought it would be a scene to be proud of to see
fourteen new wagons, heavily loaded and drawn by forty yoke of oxen,
come marching into town in one close file. When he saw only nine wagons
straggling along over the space of a mile, covered with dust that had
been settling on them for weeks, with oxen lean, footsore, limping and
begrimed with sweat and dirt, and teamsters in clothes faded, soiled and
ragged, his pride sank to a low level, and he did not want to go into
town with the wagons. The train did not tarry, but crossed Cherry
Creek--then entirely dry, though often a torrent--drove up the Platte a
mile or so and camped for the day on the south or east side of the
stream. Stubbs and I spent a couple of hours looking over the town and
calling on some acquaintances and then went to the camp.

Denver was at that time a lively place, with a few dozen frame and log
buildings, and probably a thousand or more people. Most of them lived
and did business in tents and wagons. A Mr. Forrest, whom I had