It was just past seven o'clock, and the streets of the town were already full of early risers.

Along the way, when I saw old Lime and Joey riding horses, people who knew them well waved at them with smiles on their faces: "Good morning, do you have anything to do when you go out on horseback this morning?" ”

"Good morning, Mrs. Scott! I accompanied Pell Jr. and her husband into the mountains! I was back in about two or three days! Old Lem smiled and took off his cowboy hat and waved it at a middle-aged lady on the side of the road.

On the streets along the way, Old Lime and Joey greeted the enthusiastic townspeople one by one, and by the time they left the town, nearly a quarter of an hour had passed.

Having left the town, Old Lyme no longer restricts the horse's running speed. I saw him raise his whip and flick the horse's buttocks, and the horse under him immediately began to accelerate, and the other horse in his hand also accelerated.

Immediately afterwards, Joey also flicked his horsewhip, drove his horse to speed, and followed closely.

At the same time, Austin had already adjusted the speed of the car to third gear, and chased closely after the two horses of Joey and Old Lem, and the group galloped away in the direction of their destination

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Under the morning sun, the group galloped rapidly on the Rocky Great Plains, accelerating all the way along the Plains Highway 191 to the southeast.

After a long journey of about two hours, they arrived at their first destination, a small tributary of the Madison River that meanders down the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains.

The Madison River is the source of one of the tributaries of the Missouri River and is about 295 kilometers long. Located in the northwest corner of Yellowstone National Park.

"Yu ~~~~~~~" Old Lem took the reins, and the horses under him gradually slowed down their gallop. Then he stopped by the river.

"Alright, Joey. You can send it here. Old Lem smiled back at Joey, who was following him closely.

By this time, Austin had also parked his pickup truck on an overgrown flat land by the river not far from them. After pulling out the car keys, he opened the car door and got out of the car and walked in the direction of the horse.

"It's eight minutes before 9 o'clock, so let's take a break here and let the horses rest and drink some water." Old Lem explained to Austin, who was walking towards him.

"It's beautiful!" Pei Pei followed her husband leisurely, and when she walked to the bank of the river, she stretched her waist and raised her hand to adjust the sun hat on her head.

Forthwith. She pointed to the mountains in front of her, turned to old Lyme, and asked, "We should be near the foot of the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains now, so this river should be a tributary of the Missouri River, right?" ”

"You're wrong!" Old Lem walked to the river and squatted down, took off the cowboy hat on his head and put it on his heels, and then plucked his head and face with water, and after cooling the cold river water for a while, he rolled up his sleeves and replied to Pei Pei: "This is a small tributary formed by the changes in the river in the last ten years, and it has no name." But there's a more open stretch of the river, one of the three headwaters of the Missouri River: the Madison River. ”

As he spoke. Old Lem picked up the river and repeatedly threw water on both arms to wash the sweat stains on his arms.

"Give—" Pei Pei took out a pack of tissues from her waist bag, and after handing the tissues to old Lem, she herself squatted by the river. The water chilled his head, face and arms.

By this time, Joey had already beckoned Austin to walk back to the back of the pickup truck, and the two of them held hands with each other. I was carrying large bags and small bags off the car.

When old Lem saw this, he got up and shook his wet head. Then he took the two horses and walked to the side of the pickup truck, picked up two bags and hung them on one of the saddles.

The three men work together in a division of labor. Soon the large and small bags in the trunk of the pickup truck were hung in the saddles of the four horses.

Then, the three men began to say goodbye officially.

After they punched each other, Joey took the car keys from Austin, then pulled the door and sat in the driver's seat.

While twisting the car keys, he pushed the big sunglasses on his face, and smiled at Austin through the window: "Remember to call me in advance when you come back, and I will drive the car here to pick you up." ”

“Okay！ Let's go! Austin smiled and waved at Joey.

After watching Joey's pickup truck gradually move away, Pei Pei took the reins of "Little Red Date", stroked its mane, and asked Old Lem: "I remember that the route we took into the mountains last time was not from here, this time we walked along the river, will it be faster to get to the fixed village of the brown bear tribe?" ”

Old Lem nodded, then put himself in the saddle of his own horse, and after turning over on his horse, he took the reins of the other horse, turned his head to look at Pei Pei and shouted: "Let's all get on the horses and go, it's not too early, I have made an appointment with the people of the Brown Bear Tribe to meet at the intersection of the Missouri and Madison rivers at ten o'clock, and then they will take us on a raft to the fixed village of the Brown Bear Tribe." ”

"Wow! I haven't been on a raft yet! Pei Pei's eyes lit up, and she immediately turned over on the back of the "little red date" horse, and then turned her head to Austin and shouted, "What are you rubbing?" Don't hurry up and get on the horse! ”

Austin was squatting by the river at this time, when he was carrying the bag just now, he was busy sweating, and now he just plucked two handfuls of water in his face, and after hearing his wife's urging, he turned his head and gestured OK, and then hurried to clean the sweat stains on his left and right arms.

After wetting his arms slightly, Austin got up and walked over to the "Wind Talker", then turned over with the saddle on his horse.

"Okay! Let's go! Austin said as he reattached the cowboys to his head, then pulled his sunglasses from his collar and hung them on the bridge of his nose, snapping his fingers at old Lem and shaking the reins.

"Alright, let's go!" After Old Lyme said this, he patted the horse's buttocks, let out a "~~~~~~" from his mouth, and took the lead in galloping along the river upstream.

Pei Pei and Austin hurriedly flicked their horsewhips and kept up with the speed of Old Lyme. The three men and four horses followed this unknown small river, all the way upstream at a constant speed. (To be continued......)

PS: In the afternoon, I checked the original English map from Bozeman to the area around Yellowstone for more than an hour, just to make sure that these rivers do not have geographical bugs.

Thank you for the pink ticket support of the book friend 2009 and the book friend Ice Water at the end of last month, and continue to thank the book friend Sesamee for voting for the guaranteed pink vote for this book on the first day of the month, thank you for your continued support.