It was one of the bulls I had wounded in the morning, when they hurried to the assistance of their comrade: feeling bad it had gone to the water to cool itself, and Trusty had followed its trail to the spot. We put up rags round this one too, and rode sharply to the fort, whence I sent off two of my men with the cart and two mules, accompanied by Tiger. They returned late at night, and brought a heavy load of meat home, which we cut up and salted the next morning. Of the three hides, they only brought the one shot first, which was employed in making a very long lasso. Hunting occupied us pleasantly through the autumn, and Tiger grew more and more used to our mode of life: it became rare for him to remain away several days without our knowing what had become of him; he also took greater pleasure in domestic jobs, and applied himself to them more frequently than at the first period of his stay with us. He learned to milk the cows, and readily helped in it as he was so fond of milk, as well as in making vinegar, which he also liked much, and which is made of the large wild grapes with which the prairie thickets are covered. For this purpose I had two large empty whisky casks fetched from the settlement, and this year our vinegar turned out first-rate. Previously we had made it in smaller quantities of mulberries, plums, or honey, which was not half so agreeable as that made of grapes. Tiger was able to make butter and cheese, and at a pinch cook. Our table was now always well covered, as we had a superabundance of the finest vegetables. The potato crop had turned out very well, and we had more especially an extraordinary quantity of sweet potatoes, as they are called. This is a tuber like the potato; the plant itself consists of tendrils, which spread flat and thick over the soil, and can be easily multiplied in spring. The shoot bears in autumn an extraordinary number of tubers, which are employed precisely like potatoes, except that they have a much more agreeable flavour, resembling the chestnut. A small, most prolific bean, which we plant between the maize, and which spreads over the whole field, had produced us a large stock, while the less hardy vegetables, such as lettuce, spinach, and cabbage, covered the garden all the winter through.