Stories of the West . ward to the greatplains of what is now Kansas to hunt the buffalo and elk were scarce in Missouri,and the party did not begin to find them in anynumbers until they reached the neighborhood ofwhat is now southern Nebraska. From there onwards the game was found invast herds and the party began to come uponthose characteristic animals of the Great Plainswhich were as yet unknown to white men of ourrace. The buffalo and the elk had once rangedeastward to the Alleghanies and were familiarto early wanderers through the wooded wilder-ness ; but in no part of the
Stories of the West . ward to the greatplains of what is now Kansas to hunt the buffalo and elk were scarce in Missouri,and the party did not begin to find them in anynumbers until they reached the neighborhood ofwhat is now southern Nebraska. From there onwards the game was found invast herds and the party began to come uponthose characteristic animals of the Great Plainswhich were as yet unknown to white men of ourrace. The buffalo and the elk had once rangedeastward to the Alleghanies and were familiarto early wanderers through the wooded wilder-ness ; but in no part of the east had their numbersever remotely approached the astounding multi-tudes in which they were found on the GreatPlains. The curious prong-buck or prong-homed antelope was unknown east of the GreatPlains. So was the blacktail, or mule deer,which our adventurers began to find here andthere as they gradually worked their way north-westward. So were the coyotes, whose uncannywailing after nightfall varied the sinister bay-. An old-time mountain man with his ponies. T LEWIS AND CLARK 77 ing of the gray wolves; so were many of thesmaller animals, notably the prairie dogs, whosepopulous villages awakened the lively curiosityof Lewis and Clark. In their note-books the two captains faith-fully described all these new animals and all thestrange sights they saw. Few explorers who didand saw so much that was absolutely new havewritten of their deeds with such quiet absence ofboastfulness, and have drawn their descriptionswith such complete freedom from exaggeration. Moreover, what was of even greater impor-tance, the two young captains possessed in per-fection the qualities necessary to pilot such anexpedition through unknown lands and amongsavage tribes. They kept good disciplineamong the men; they never hesitated to punishseverely any wrong-doer; but they were neverover-severe; and as they did their full part ofthe work and ran all the risks and suffered allthe hardship exactly like the o
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