Shortly after midnight we all woke up with the
cold. We already had everything piled on the beds, but as we were
too cold to sleep, there was nothing to do but to get up and start
the camp-fire again. This we did, and stayed near it the rest of
the night, and in this way kept warm at the expense of our sleep.
The morning was clear, but it was by far the coldest we had
experienced. The thermometer at the station marked below zero at
sunrise. We almost longed for another prairie fire. It grew a
little warmer after we started, and at about eleven o'clock we
reached Fort Pierre, on the Missouri, opposite the town Of Pierre.
The ferry-boat had not yet been over for the day, but was expected
in the afternoon.
"You're lucky to get it at all," said a man to us. "It is liable
to stop any day now, and then, till the ice is thick enough for
crossing, there will be no way of getting over."
The boat came puffing across toward night, and we were safely
landed east of the Missouri once more. But we were still two
hundred miles from home; the country was well settled most of the
way, however, and we felt that our voyage was almost ended.
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