The baking came to an end, so far as our family was concerned,
shortly after noon; then Ellen and I, taking Eben with us as guide and
protector, went out in search of peas and brought home enough to supply
several families, who had been neighbors of ours, with a generous mess.
Save for the fact that these prairie peas look somewhat like those we
have at home, I could find no likeness between the two varieties. The
wild peas have a tough rind, and there are several seeds in the middle
of each; but after they have been boiled and allowed to remain in
vinegar a few hours, they make a fairly pleasing dish.
[Illustration]
When we began the march once more, I hoped to see the cattle moving
more spiritedly than before the halt; but in this I was mistaken. It
seemed to me that they limped painfully, and worse than ever; that I
was not mistaken was proved, to my satisfaction at least, when I heard
father and another man saying to each other that before many days we
should be forced to kill two or three whose feet were in the worst
condition.
However, the days went on and our cattle continued to work fairly
well, although I noticed that when we came to rough places, such as the
crossing of a stream, where it was necessary to climb a high bank on
the opposite side, the drivers were forced to double up the teams more
often than before, because the poor creatures could not haul so heavy
a load as when we first started out.