of the morning before we retired. Israel felt like celebrating indeed, for their first son had arrived the day before, and boys were boys in those days. They enjoyed playing pranks on the other fellows just as they have down through the ages, and I was still a boy.

After being there a few days and becoming acquainted, I saw an old bachelor paying visits every evening or so to the girl of all work, and he would often stay real late. In the morning our day's wood would be gone. This went on for some time, when I persuaded Israel to help me play a joke on the spooners. We went to the slough and got a load of wood that had lain in the water, and cut and piled it to the ceiling in the large wood-box back of the kitchen stove. We retired early that evening for the wet wood had cut hard and as we rested we waited for results. Anne would poke the fire, and then Tom would try his luck, the latter cussing us boys for all that was good and great, for Tom Montgomery could cuss and Anne Gilman, she could and did.

In those days every one was sociable and we thought nothing of driving fifteen and twenty miles to a dance, going in our overalls. Many of my evenings the first winter were spent that way. But as spring neared I wished to see more of Nebraska so four of us planned a hunting trip. Israel Hutchins, John Best, Dave or "Tib" Best as he was known, and myself started out for Clearwater. Israel and myself had a light covered wagon in which we made out our bed, and the Bests a lumber wagon with a box top. When night overtook them they would just lift the box off, turn it over, and crawl beneath it for the night. We journeyed on until we reached the Big Cedar. We left on Tuesday and never got a deer until the following Sunday.

We had Tib so frightened of the Indians that he could scarcely eat or sleep during the trip, and as for myself, well, I brought what appetite I had with me, and as I travelled west I gathered more until at this time I could hardly exist on three meals a day. when they got the deer meat they put me in as cook, for which I was sorry, but no Indian could scare me away until I had my fill. After we got all the venison we wanted we started for home, coming over Cash Creek and following it to the Elkhorn. There we found an old hunter and trapper living in a log shack. We hired his wife to bake us a lot of hot biscuits with plenty of good butter. It was a feed for a king, and we felt well repaid for our time spent on this trip.

By this time I had made several visits south of the river to Charles Hutchins, a brother of Israel, who lived on Deer Creek and wanted help. I was beginning to need money about that time, so decided to work for him. I had discovered a little magnet or drawing card at this place on my first visit or so, and was glad of the opportunity to secure work so near for my frequent visits here-to-fore had meant a lot of walking. That was my only way

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