To the captain's inquiry as to whether I was sure I could find my way, I replied: "I have hunted on every acre of ground between here and Fort Hays.

I can almost keep my route by the bones of the dead buffaloes." "Never fear about Cody, captain," Curtis added; "he is as good in the dark as he is in the daylight." By ten o'clock that night I was on my way to Fort Hays, sixty-five miles distant across the country.
It was pitch-dark, but this I liked, as it lessened the probability of the Indians' seeing me unless I stumbled on them by accident.

My greatest danger was that my horse might run into a hole and fall, and in this way get away from me.

To avoid any such accident I tied one end of my rawhide lariat to my belt and the other to the bridle.

I did not propose to be left alone, on foot, on that prairie.
Before I had traveled three miles the horse, sure enough, stepped into a prairie dog's hole.