For several weeks he had been picking his animals for the outfit.

And now he was to begin what is perhaps the most remarkable race ever made across the Plains.
A mule train was to start a week after Simpson's lightning bulls began their westward course.

Whichever outfit got to Fort Laramie first would be the winner.

No more excitement could have been occasioned had the contestants been a reindeer and a jack-rabbit.

To my infinite delight Simpson let me join his party.
My thousand-mile tramp over the Plains had cured me of the walking habit and I was glad to find that this time I was to have a horse to ride--part of the way, anyhow.