The scoundrel has been selling it to every man that came along
for a month, and I don't believe there were three sackfuls in the
whole field to start with."
We went to work at it, and found that he was not far from
right.
"No wonder the old skeesicks went off to town soon as he got
his money," I said. "He won't show himself back here till he is
sure we have gone."
We worked for an hour, and managed to fill one bag with
"nubbins," and gave up, promising ourselves that we wouldn't be
imposed upon in that way again.
We reached Chadron in due time, and went into camp a little
way beyond, on the banks of the White River, a stream which flows
through Dakota and finally joins the Missouri. Our camp was on a
little flat where the river bends around in the shape of a
horseshoe. It seemed to be a popular stopping-place, and there
were half a dozen other covered wagons in camp there. The number
of empty tin cans scattered about on that piece of ground must
have run up into the thousands. But there had not been a mile of
the road since we left Valentine which had not had from a dozen
to several hundred cans scattered along it, left by former
"movers.
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