In a short time we had the meat to the train and each family had their share. Jim said he did not think he had lost over twenty-five minutes time in waiting for that meat.
The train proceeded on now without any more stops towards the place where we were to camp that night at the sink of the Humboldt. We reached the camping ground quite a little while before sundown, and we certainly had selected an ideal place to camp. A beautiful pearling stream of water, plenty of wood and any amount of grass met our eyes as we came to the place to stop. In a few minutes we had the stock out to grass and the women were busy cooking supper. Jim and I took a walk down towards the Sink, and as we were coming back we had got near the wagons when a couple of girls came to meet us and said, "We want you two to come and eat supper with us. Our two families got supper together tonight." Jim said, "Have you got something good to eat?"
One said, "You may just bet we have; we have got Elk roasted and fried
Elk calf and fried liver. Isn't that something good?"
Jim said it sounded good and we would go and see for ourselves.
When we got to the tent Jim said, "These girls told us that you had invited us to eat supper with you; that you had some stewed dog, and as that is our favorite dish we thought we would accept the invitation."
One of the girls cried, "Oh Mr. Bridger, we didn't tell you any such thing."
Jim answered, "Oh, excuse me, girls. I thought you were going to have something good for supper, so of course all I could think of was dog."
We had a fine supper, and as fried liver was a new dish to Jim and me, we ate heartily of that, and we thought it was beyond the ordinary. It seems to me now in thinking of those days that people had better appetites then for hearty food than they have now; at least it is so in my case. The reason may be that we lived in the open air both day and night, and the air of that western climate was so pure and clear and free from all the different scents that impregnate it now. The amount of food that each person ate at that time would surprise the people of today.
After supper Jim told the girls that they would not get any music to dance to tonight, so they had just as well turn in and have a good night's sleep.