There was so much game for us to bring in, that during the remainder
of the day every man and boy that could be spared was kept busy at work
skinning the dead buffaloes or cutting up the flesh.
What a feast we had that evening! We had buffalo tongues baked in the
ovens, or in front of small fires which had been built here and there.
Then there were what father called hump ribs, steaks, and meat of every
kind that could be taken from a buffalo. Each member of the company was
eager to learn how every eatable portion of the animal tasted, and,
therefore, cooked two or three times as much as could be used at one
meal.
Our people had no more than time to skin and cut up the carcasses
before dark; on the following morning word was passed around that each
family must dry, or smoke-cure, as much of the flesh as possible within
the next four and twenty hours.
[Illustration]
Straightway every man, woman, and child set about either slicing the
meat as thin as it could be cut with sharp knives, or putting together
racks made of sticks, on which the strips of flesh were to be hung and
exposed to the rays of the sun, as well as to the smoke of the fires
that were to be built directly beneath them.