They had seen considerable game while on the way, though not stopping to obtain any fresh meat. All that could keep until they had overtaken those who were ahead. So, although Roger was greatly tempted when he discovered a trio of big elk feeding in a glade not a quarter of a mile to windward, he shut his teeth hard and told himself that on another day his chance would come. Here were jack-rabbits in plenty, gophers whistled in the little open stretches, antelopes were seen feeding on the prairies that lay between the uplifts, while ducks and wild geese swam on the waters of small ponds, and might easily have been bagged had the boys cared to take the time. Some of the rapid little streams they crossed looked as though they might be well stocked with splendid trout; indeed, they often saw fine gamy fellows dart out of sight beneath some overhanging bank. They loved to fish as well as any boys who ever lived; but just then felt it necessary to put the temptation behind them. Once they even discovered a herd of buffalo not a great distance away. "How I would like to creep up on them, and pick out a nice young bull to drop," said Roger. Then he shook his head and heaved a sigh, for there came before his mental vision the happy home so far away, over which such a dark shadow rested, and which could only be dissipated through the efforts of himself and his cousin. "One thing we ought to remember with thankfulness," remarked Dick, "and that is that so far we have seen not a single sign of Indians. The Mandans do not come this way very often, you know, and the Sioux are even more timid about venturing into the region of the Bad Lands; but there are other tribes who are not so fearful." "You mean the Blackfeet and the Crows," Roger added; "both of them fierce fighters, and hating the whites like poison. I'm afraid we will see more or less of them before we get back to camp." "We have always been able to take care of ourselves in the past, remember, Roger, and can again. Here are three of us, well armed and determined. If the Indians try to do us injury they will find two can play at that game. Our fathers had to fight just the same kind of enemies away back there on the Ohio, and if we're 'chips of the old block,' as they tell us, why shouldn't we do as well? There, Benjamin has discovered something, and wants to show us." Mayhew showed the boys where Jasper and his two companions had dropped down behind some bushes, and crawled along for quite a distance. "Here is where they stopped to raise their heads," explained the guide. "I think they must have discovered some enemies over in that direction, for they always kept peering out that way. See, here is where they even plucked some of the dead leaves from this bush to glue their eyes to the opening. It is an old hunter's trick for a moving branch might betray the one in hiding."