Our team was fat, frisky, and well rested, and walked away with its load with ease; but, following our soldier training in starting out for a long trip, we made short, easy drives for the first few days, gradually increasing them till we reached the maximum--about twenty-five miles a day. Shortly after leaving Leavenworth we met our old friends the bull-whackers, with whom we had made the first part of our trip on starting from Fort Wise. They were just getting in with their train, as dirty and jolly as ever. We were gratified to realize that we had gained so much time and avoided so much dirt by transferring to the mule train at the Santa Fé crossing of the Arkansas River. Later we met more bull trains and other freighting outfits coming in but found few going west. At this season most people were inclined to seek the friendly shelter and comforts of the settlements rather than to brave the inclemencies and dangers of the bleak plains. Among the travellers whom we met coming in was an occasional outfit of "busted Pike's Peakers," as unfortunate and discouraged miners returning from the Pike's Peak gold region were called. Most of these gave doleful accounts of life and prospects in the Colorado mines. For a few days after leaving Leavenworth we kept the dog, Found, tied up, lest he should go back to his master; but we were all kind to him, and he showed no inclination to quit our company, and when we turned him loose again he contentedly remained with our outfit. We found the roads fine and the weather real Indian summer; days hazy, warm, and pleasant, nights cool, and mornings frosty, as is usual on the plains at this the most pleasant time of the year. While in the settlements we indulged in such luxuries as milk, butter, eggs, and so forth, whenever they were to be bought, and we killed plenty of prairie-chickens with our shotgun. These prairie-chickens were very numerous in the Kansas settlements, occurring in such multitudes that they were pests to the farmers, eating great quantities of grain. They haunted the settled country or grain-producing parts but were seldom found far out on the plains, though while in the service I saw a few as far west as the Big Bend of the Arkansas. In the army the Sibley tent was calculated to hold twelve to sixteen men--crowded pretty close together--but in our Sibley, with only the three occupants, there was room for stove, mess-chest, camp-stools, or anything else we might bring inside. Found always made his bed under the wagon, where he could keep watch over the animals and act as general camp guard.