they ran him down before he could reach his friends. There were a few
bulls near the place, and one of them attacked the wolves and tried to
rescue him; but was driven off immediately, and the little animal fell an
easy prey, half devoured before he was dead. We watched the chase with the
interest always felt for the weak; and had there been a saddled horse at
hand, he would have fared better. Leaving camp, our road soon approached
the hills, in which strata of a marl like that of the Chimney rock,
hereafter described, made their appearance. It is probably of this rock
that the hills on the right bank of the Platte, a little below the
junction, are composed, and which are worked by the winds and rains into
sharp peaks and cones, giving them, in contrast to the surrounding level
region, something of a picturesque appearance. We crossed, this morning,
numerous beds of the small creeks which, in the time of rains and melting
snow, pour down from the ridge, bringing down with them, always, great
quantities of sand and gravel, which have gradually raised their beds four
to ten feet above the level of the prairie, which they cross, making each
one of them a miniature Po. Raised in this way above the surrounding
prairie, without any bank, the long yellow and winding line of their beds
resembles a causeway from the hills to the river. Many spots on the
prairie are yellow with sunflower, (_helianthus_.)

As we were riding slowly along this afternoon, clouds of dust in the
ravines, among the hills to the right, suddenly attracted our attention,
and in a few minutes column after column of buffalo came galloping down,
making directly to the river. By the time the leading herds had reached
the water, the prairie was darkened with the dense masses. Immediately
before us, when the bands first came down into the valley, stretched an
unbroken line, the head of which was lost among the river hills on the
opposite side; and still they poured down from the ridge on our right.
From hill to hill, the prairie bottom was certainly not less than two