A Frontier Doctor Page: 71
xv, 260 p. : ill., ports. ; 22 cm.View a full description of this book.
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AT THE PALO DURO RANCH
ahead to the Charles Goodnight Ranch in the Palo Duro
Canyon for the needed articles and told me to meet him
at the head of the canyon as he came up with the herd.
I was instructed to ride straight north and told that
my destination was just one day's ride. So I started right
after breakfast without any provisions, expecting to run
into the ranch by sundown. But some one blundered, as
it took me just three days to reach the ranch. I did not
mind it the first day. At night I picketed my horse and
with blanket and saddle for a bed I slept under the stars.
But about noon the second day my appetite began a hail-
ing sign of distress.
There were plenty of buffalo and antelope, but my
horse was not fast enough for me to kill one with a Colt's
forty-five, which was the only weapon I had carried on
this trip. Passing a big mesquite I heard a whiz-z-z, and
as my horse jumped sidewise about six feet I caught sight
of an enormous rattlesnake and quickly shot its head off.
I sat on my horse looking at that reptile for some time.
I had been told by old hunters they were good meat. I
was hungry. I picketed my horse, started a fire of buffalo
chips, and after skinning and cutting up my game roasted
a portion on the end of a mesquite branch spit, and was
agreeably surprised to find that the meat greatly re-
sembled chicken or rabbit and was very palatable. I
satisfied my hunger and had enough for a couple of meals
next day.
For relish there were frequent beds of prickly pear,
rather young yet, but juicy and of good flavor. At that
time there were fresh-water lakes at intervals along the
plains that quenched thirst, and, take it all in all, it was
not so bad.
Just before sundown the third day I sighted the walls
of the Palo Duro Canyon and before dark I was made
comfortable by Colonel Charles Goodnight and his good7I
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Hoyt, Henry Franklin. A Frontier Doctor, book, 1929; Boston, Massachusetts. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth143532/m1/99/?rotate=90: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting University of Texas Health Science Center Libraries.