"Now, men, we've got things in shape so that we're ready for a cold snap, snow-storm, or norther ef one chances to come this way. From now on we can take it easier. There will be a lot of trimming an' tidying up to do about camp yet for several days, an' while I'm putting on the finishing touches you two can light out and go to poisoning wolves an' trapping beaver or hunting any other game that you can find. You ought to explore the neighborhood for ten or twelve miles around in every direction. It's about time, too, for one of us to take a trip over to the fort to get our mail an' find out what's going on in the world." "Well, Tom, what are the orders for to-morrow?" said I. "Why, you an' Jack had better go out an' kill a few more buffalo for baits an' Jack can set his traps for some more beaver. You might both of you ride up or down the creek for a few miles now and then, to learn the country like an' maybe pick up an antelope or some wild geese or ducks, to make a change in our bill of fare. An' about to-morrow or next day or the day after, when I get things pretty well shaped up about camp, I think I'll ride over to the fort an' get our mail an' see what's going on in the United States." "In a little while," remarked Jack, "if our luck holds out, we'll be gettin' a big lot of wolfskins dried. How are we going to stow 'em away to take care of 'em till spring?" "Well," replied Tom, "in a few days I'll rig up a lever to press 'em with, an' then as fast as we get a hundred or so dried we'll put fifty of 'em in a pile, press 'em down tight, an' tie 'em in bales with rawhide strips an' then store the bales away in the tent." CHAPTER XIII KILLED BY THE INDIANS For the next few days we were all very busy. Tom was putting the finishing touches on our quarters, while Jack and I were doing the trapping, baiting, and skinning. I assisted Jack in trapping beaver and he helped me in killing buffalo and taking care of the wolfskins. While working at these tasks we were riding the surrounding country, east and west, up and down the creek, and north and south in open prairie. At a distance of about three miles down the creek, on the north side, we found a series of connected sloughs leading off from the creek out into the prairie bottom, through which a string of little ponds ran for about a mile and then united with the main stream again. These sloughs, bordered by a rank growth of rushes, made excellent feeding-grounds for water-fowl. It was easy here to procure all the ducks, geese, brant, and sand-hill cranes that we wished. On the prairie were plenty of antelope, with now and then a few deer and elk in the timber along the creek. Everywhere were seen bleached and bleaching buffalo bones--too common a feature of the landscape to attract more than a passing glance.