Immense herds of buffaloes, often numbering ten or twenty thousand, grazed upon these rich and boundless pastures.

Timid deer and droves of wild horses, almost countless in numbers, here luxuriated in a congenial home.

There was scarcely a white man in the land whose eyes had ever beheld the cliffs of the Rocky mountains.

And each Indian tribe had its hunting-grounds marked out with considerable precision, beyond which even the boldest braves seldom ventured to wander.
About a score of men started upon this trip.

They were thoroughly armed, practiced marksmen, well mounted and each man led a pack mule, heavily laden with goods for the Santa Fe market.