Around the entrance to their holes the ground is piled up almost a foot high; on these little elevations the prairie-dogs sit upon their hind legs, chattering to each other and observing whatever passes on the plains.
They will permit a person to approach quite near, but when they have viewed him closely, they dive into their dens with wonderful quickness.
They are difficult to kill, and if hit, generally succeed in crawling underground before they can be captured.

Rattlesnakes and small owls are generally found in great numbers in the prairie-dog towns, and live in the same holes with the dogs on friendly terms.

A few of the prairie-dogs were killed, and were found to be very palatable eating.
[Illustration: PRAIRIE-DOG VILLAGE.] A short distance beyond the dog town we discovered a settlement of five white men, who proved to be the two Clifford brothers, Arthur Ruff, Dick Seymour and John Nelson--the latter already referred to in these pages.
Each of them had a squaw wife and numerous half-breed children, living in tents of buffalo skins.

They owned a herd of horses and mules and a few cattle, and had cultivated a small piece of land.

Their principal occupation was hunting, and they had a large number of buffalo hides, which, they had tanned in the Indian manner.
Upon reaching Pleasant Valley, on Medicine Creek, our party divided into two detachments--one hunting along the bank of the stream for elk or deer, and the other remaining with the main body of the escort.