The skin loosely covered the bones, but all the flesh and muscles had shrunk down to the smallest space.

The meat was tough and stringy as basswood bark, and tasted strongly of bitter sage brush the cattle had eaten at almost every camp.

At a dry camp the oxen would lie down and grate their teeth, but they had no cud to chew.

It looked almost merciless to shoot one down for food, but there was no alternative.

We killed our poor brute servants to save ourselves.