Sometimes, as they got well on in their journey, they came to patches of soap-weed, a vegetable of soft, pulpy nature, which grows to a considerable height, and dies from the bottom, retaining its greenness of appearance long after the stem has become brown and withered; it burns freely, with a brilliant flame. The women of the party rejoiced when a clump of soap-weed was discovered, and it was always the occasion of a general wash, as by immersing some of it in water it had all the properties of soap, except that it did not make the lather which distinguishes the real article. But in places where the soap-weed was not to be found, and chips were scarce, the hunters did their best to supply fuel, and would generally bring home large bundles of wood upon such of the horses as were not carrying game.
The children's greatest delight was when the camp happened to be pitched near a prairie-dog town, and they were never weary of watching the antics of these funny little creatures. Some of these towns were of considerable extent, the ground within their circle being quite bare of herbage from their scratching, and the constant scampering of their little feet, and covered thickly with the mounds which marked the entrances to the innumerable holes. The prairie-dogs themselves were about the size of rabbits, but seemed to Frank, from their quick, jerking motions, and their habit of sitting up on their hind-legs, to resemble squirrels more than any other animal. They were as much interested in the travellers as the latter were with them, almost every mound having its occupant sitting up watching them inquisitively. There were four or five dogs with the caravan, and until the novelty had passed off, and they became convinced of the utter futility of the chase, the dogs exhausted themselves in their endeavours to capture the prairie-dogs. These seemed to feel an absolute enjoyment in exasperating the dogs, sitting immovable until the latter were within a few yards of them, and then suddenly disappearing like a flash of lightning down their holes, popping their heads out again and resuming their position on the tops as soon as the dogs had dashed off in another direction.
But the prairie-dogs were not the only occupants of the towns; with them, apparently on terms of great friendship, lived a colony of little owls, sharing their abodes, and sitting with them on their hillocks. There were also a third species of inhabitant, and the presence of these caused strict orders to be given to the children not to wander over the ground; these were rattlesnakes, of which, on a sunny afternoon, many could be seen basking on the sand-heaps.
"Yes, you always find the three together," Abe said, in answer to Frank's question, "and how such contrary things get to be friends is more nor I can tell. Sartin they must eat each other, there ain't anything else for 'em to eat. The prairie-dogs air a puzzle; you never see 'em any distance beyond thar towns, and yet they must live on grass and roots. The owls, no doubt, live on little prairie-dogs, and the rattlesnakes may sometimes eat an old one. Still, there it is; they never seem afraid of each other, and no one, as far as I knows, has ever seen a prairie dog fifty yards away from his town. The rummest thing about them is as every town has got its well. The prairie-dogs have all got their holes, and though you may see 'em going about popping in and out of each other's houses, I fancy as they always keep to their own. But there's one hole which they all use, and that goes down to the water. No matter how deep it is, they takes it down; I fancy the whole lot digs at it by turns till they get there. You will see thar towns are always on lowish ground, so that they can get down to water all the sooner; that's why they build up those mounds round each hole."
"I thought it was just the earth they had thrown out, Abe."
"So it is, partly; but it serves to keep the water out in the wet season too. If you watch 'em you can see 'em building the earth up and patting it down hard if it gets broken down. Sometimes, in very wet weather, thar will be a flood, and then the whole lot, dogs and owls and snakes, get drowned all together. Mighty nasty places they are, I tell yer, when they are desarted. At other times you can see 'em plain enough, and can ride through 'em at a gallop, for the horses are accustomed to pick thar way; but after a year or two, when the grass grows again, and is breast high in summer, and you come across one of them, the first you know about it is the horse puts his foot in a hole, and you are flying through the air. Many a fall have I had from them darned little things."
"Are they good eating, Abe?"
"Yes, they ain't bad eating; and if you lie down quiet, and shoot straight, you ain't long in making a bag. But you have got to kill 'em to get 'em; if you don't put your bullet through thar head, they just chucks themselves straight down the hole, and it would take an hour's digging, and it may be more, to get at 'em."
"There seems to be a tremendous lot of rattlesnakes in some places, Abe."
"Thar are that, lad; I have seen places where you might kill a hundred in an hour with your Colt. Thar are two sorts, them as you finds on the plains and them as you finds among rocks; one are twice as big as the other, but thar ain't much difference in thar bite."