We Were Moving Forward Until About Noon, When We Stopped By The Side
Of The Arkansas.
At that moment Shaw appeared riding slowly down the
side of a distant hill; his horse was tired and jaded, and when he
threw his saddle upon the ground, I observed that the tails of two
bulls were dangling behind it.
No sooner were the horses turned
loose to feed than Henry, asking Munroe to go with him, took his
rifle and walked quietly away. Shaw, Tete Rouge, and I sat down by
the side of the cart to discuss the dinner which Delorier placed
before us; we had scarcely finished when we saw Munroe walking toward
us along the river bank. Henry, he said, had killed four fat cows,
and had sent him back for horses to bring in the meat. Shaw took a
horse for himself and another for Henry, and he and Munroe left the
camp together. After a short absence all three of them came back,
their horses loaded with the choicest parts of the meat; we kept two
of the cows for ourselves and gave the others to Munroe and his
companions. Delorier seated himself on the grass before the pile of
meat, and worked industriously for some time to cut it into thin
broad sheets for drying. This is no easy matter, but Delorier had
all the skill of an Indian squaw. Long before night cords of raw
hide were stretched around the camp, and the meat was hung upon them
to dry in the sunshine and pure air of the prairie.
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