3d.--As this was to be a point in our homeward journey, I made a cache (a
term used in all this country for what is hidden in the ground) of a
barrel of pork. It was impossible to conceal such a proceeding from the
sharp eyes of our Cheyenne companions, and I therefore told them to go and
see what it was they were burying. They would otherwise have not failed to
return and destroy our cache in expectation of some rich booty; but pork
they dislike and never eat. We left our camp at nine, continuing up the
South fork, the prairie-bottom affording us a fair road; but in the long
grass we roused myriads of mosquitoes and flies, from which our horses
suffered severely. The day was smoky, with a pleasant breeze from the
south, and the plains on the opposite side were covered with buffalo.
Having traveled twenty-five miles, we encamped at six in the evening; and
the men were sent across the river for wood, as there is none here on the
left bank. Our fires were partially made of the _bois de vache_, the
dry excrement of the buffalo, which, like that of the camel in the Arabian
deserts, furnishes to the traveler a very good substitute for wood,
burning like turf. Wolves in great numbers surrounded us during the night,
crossing and recrossing from the opposite herds to our camp, and howling
and trotting about in the river until morning.

4th.--The morning was very smoky, the sun shining dimly and red, as in
thick fog. The camp was roused by a salute at daybreak, and from our
scanty store a portion of what our Indian friends called the "red fire-
water" served out to the men. While we were at breakfast, a buffalo-calf
broke through the camp, followed by a couple of wolves. In its fright, it
had probably mistaken us for a band of buffalo. The wolves were obliged to
make a circuit round the camp, so that the calf got a little the start,
and strained every nerve to reach a large herd at the foot of the hills,
about two miles distant; but first one and then another, and another wolf
joined in the chase, until his pursuers amounted to twenty or thirty, and