reached it we went several miles along the upper ends of the
canyons, down a long hill so steep that we had to chain both hind
wheels, forded the Niobrara twice, followed the river several
miles, went out across the military reservation, which was like a
desert, saw six or eight hundred negro soldiers at Fort Niobrara,
and finally drove through Valentine, and went into camp a mile
west of town. On the way we saw thousands of the biggest and
reddest tumbleweeds, and two or three new sorts of cactus. The
colored troops surprised Ollie, as he had never seen any before.

"It's the western winds and the hot sun that's tanned those
soldiers," said Jack. "We'll look just that way, too, before we
get back."

Ollie was half inclined to believe this astonishing statement
at first, but concluded that his uncle was joking.

[Illustration: Sad Result of Dishonesty]

We went into camp on the banks of the Minichaduza River, a
little brook which flows into the Niobrara from the northwest.
All night it gurgled and bubbled almost under our wheels. A man
stopped to chat with us as we sat around our camp-fire after
supper. We told him of our experience in getting the hay the
night before. He laughed and said: "Ever steal any of your horse
feed?"

"We haven't yet," answered Jack. "We try to be reasonably
honest."