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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Oregon Trail, by Francis Parkman, Jr.
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Oregon Trail
+
+Author: Francis Parkman, Jr.
+
+Release Date: April 27, 2006 [EBook #1015]
+[Last updated: October 8, 2020]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE OREGON TRAIL ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Donald Lainson
+
+
+
+
+
+THE OREGON TRAIL
+
+by Francis Parkman, Jr.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+I     THE FRONTIER
+
+II    BREAKING THE ICE
+
+III   FORT LEAVENWORTH
+
+IV    “JUMPING OFF”
+
+V     “THE BIG BLUE”
+
+VI    THE PLATTE AND THE DESERT
+
+VII   THE BUFFALO
+
+VIII  TAKING FRENCH LEAVE
+
+IX    SCENES AT FORT LARAMIE
+
+X     THE WAR PARTIES
+
+XI    SCENES AT THE CAMP
+
+XII   ILL LUCK
+
+XIII  HUNTING INDIANS
+
+XIV   THE OGALLALLA VILLAGR
+
+XV    THE HUNTING CAMP
+
+XVI   THE TRAPPERS
+
+XVII  THE BLACK HILLS
+
+XVIII A MOUNTAIN HUNT
+
+XIX   PASSAGE OF THE MOUNTAINS
+
+XX    THE LONELY JOURNEY
+
+XXI   THE PUEBLO AND BENT’S FORT
+
+XXII  TETE ROUGE, THE VOLUNTEER
+
+XXIII INDIAN ALARMS
+
+XXIV  THE CHASE
+
+XXV   THE BUFFALO CAMP
+
+XXVI  DOWN THE ARKANSAS
+
+XXVII THE SETTLEMENTS
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE FRONTIER
+
+
+Last spring, 1846, was a busy season in the City of St. Louis. Not only
+were emigrants from every part of the country preparing for the journey
+to Oregon and California, but an unusual number of traders were making
+ready their wagons and outfits for Santa Fe. Many of the emigrants,
+especially of those bound for California, were persons of wealth and
+standing. The hotels were crowded, and the gunsmiths and saddlers
+were kept constantly at work in providing arms and equipments for the
+different parties of travelers. Almost every day steamboats were leaving
+the levee and passing up the Missouri, crowded with passengers on their
+way to the frontier.
+
+In one of these, the Radnor, since snagged and lost, my friend and
+relative, Quincy A. Shaw, and myself, left St. Louis on the 28th of
+April, on a tour of curiosity and amusement to the Rocky Mountains. The
+boat was loaded until the water broke alternately over her guards. Her
+upper deck was covered with large weapons of a peculiar form, for
+the Santa Fe trade, and her hold was crammed with goods for the same
+destination. There were also the equipments and provisions of a party
+of Oregon emigrants, a band of mules and horses, piles of saddles and
+harness, and a multitude of nondescript articles, indispensable on
+the prairies. Almost hidden in this medley one might have seen a small
+French cart, of the sort very appropriately called a “mule-killer”
+ beyond the frontiers, and not far distant a tent, together with a
+miscellaneous assortment of boxes and barrels. The whole equipage was
+far from prepossessing in its appearance; yet, such as it was, it was
+destined to a long and arduous journey, on which the persevering reader
+will accompany it.
+
+The passengers on board the Radnor corresponded with her freight. In her
+cabin were Santa Fe traders, gamblers, speculators, and adventurers
+of various descriptions, and her steerage was crowded with Oregon
+emigrants, “mountain men,” negroes, and a party of Kansas Indians, who
+had been on a visit to St. Louis.
+
+Thus laden, the boat struggled upward for seven or eight days against
+the rapid current of the Missouri, grating upon snags, and hanging for
+two or three hours at a time upon sand-bars. We entered the mouth of
+the Missouri in a drizzling rain, but the weather soon became clear,
+and showed distinctly the broad and turbid river, with its eddies, its
+sand-bars, its ragged islands, and forest-covered shores. The Missouri
+is constantly changing its course; wearing away its banks on one
+side, while it forms new ones on the other. Its channel is shifting
+continually. Islands are formed, and then washed away; and while the old
+forests on one side are undermined and swept off, a young growth springs
+up from the new soil upon the other. With all these changes, the water
+is so charged with mud and sand that it is perfectly opaque, and in
+a few minutes deposits a sediment an inch thick in the bottom of a
+tumbler. The river was now high; but when we descended in the autumn
+it was fallen very low, and all the secrets of its treacherous shallows
+were exposed to view. It was frightful to see the dead and broken trees,
+thick-set as a military abatis, firmly imbedded in the sand, and all
+pointing down stream, ready to impale any unhappy steamboat that at high
+water should pass over that dangerous ground.
+
+In five or six days we began to see signs of the great western movement
+that was then taking place. Parties of emigrants, with their tents and
+wagons, would be encamped on open spots near the bank, on their way to
+the common rendezvous at Independence. On a rainy day, near sunset, we
+reached the landing of this place, which is situated some miles from
+the river, on the extreme frontier of Missouri. The scene was
+characteristic, for here were represented at one view the most
+remarkable features of this wild and enterprising region. On the muddy
+shore stood some thirty or forty dark slavish-looking Spaniards, gazing
+stupidly out from beneath their broad hats. They were attached to one of
+the Santa Fe companies, whose wagons were crowded together on the banks
+above. In the midst of these, crouching over a smoldering fire, was a
+group of Indians, belonging to a remote Mexican tribe. One or two French
+hunters from the mountains with their long hair and buckskin dresses,
+were looking at the boat; and seated on a log close at hand were three
+men, with rifles lying across their knees. The foremost of these, a
+tall, strong figure, with a clear blue eye and an open, intelligent
+face, might very well represent that race of restless and intrepid
+pioneers whose axes and rifles have opened a path from the Alleghenies
+to the western prairies. He was on his way to Oregon, probably a more
+congenial field to him than any that now remained on this side the great
+plains.
+
+Early on the next morning we reached Kansas, about five hundred
+miles from the mouth of the Missouri. Here we landed and leaving our
+equipments in charge of my good friend Colonel Chick, whose log-house
+was the substitute for a tavern, we set out in a wagon for Westport,
+where we hoped to procure mules and horses for the journey.
+
+It was a remarkably fresh and beautiful May morning. The rich and
+luxuriant woods through which the miserable road conducted us were
+lighted by the bright sunshine and enlivened by a multitude of birds. We
+overtook on the way our late fellow-travelers, the Kansas Indians, who,
+adorned with all their finery, were proceeding homeward at a round pace;
+and whatever they might have seemed on board the boat, they made a very
+striking and picturesque feature in the forest landscape.
+
+Westport was full of Indians, whose little shaggy ponies were tied by
+dozens along the houses and fences. Sacs and Foxes, with shaved heads
+and painted faces, Shawanoes and Delawares, fluttering in calico frocks,
+and turbans, Wyandottes dressed like white men, and a few wretched
+Kansas wrapped in old blankets, were strolling about the streets, or
+lounging in and out of the shops and houses.
+
+As I stood at the door of the tavern, I saw a remarkable looking person
+coming up the street. He had a ruddy face, garnished with the stumps of
+a bristly red beard and mustache; on one side of his head was a round
+cap with a knob at the top, such as Scottish laborers sometimes wear;
+his coat was of a nondescript form, and made of a gray Scotch plaid,
+with the fringes hanging all about it; he wore pantaloons of coarse
+homespun, and hob-nailed shoes; and to complete his equipment, a little
+black pipe was stuck in one corner of his mouth. In this curious attire,
+I recognized Captain C. of the British army, who, with his brother, and
+Mr. R., an English gentleman, was bound on a hunting expedition across
+the continent. I had seen the captain and his companions at St. Louis.
+They had now been for some time at Westport, making preparations for
+their departure, and waiting for a re-enforcement, since they were too
+few in number to attempt it alone. They might, it is true, have joined
+some of the parties of emigrants who were on the point of setting out
+for Oregon and California; but they professed great disinclination to
+have any connection with the “Kentucky fellows.”
+
+The captain now urged it upon us, that we should join forces and proceed
+to the mountains in company. Feeling no greater partiality for the
+society of the emigrants than they did, we thought the arrangement an
+advantageous one, and consented to it. Our future fellow-travelers had
+installed themselves in a little log-house, where we found them all
+surrounded by saddles, harness, guns, pistols, telescopes, knives, and
+in short their complete appointments for the prairie. R., who professed
+a taste for natural history, sat at a table stuffing a woodpecker; the
+brother of the captain, who was an Irishman, was splicing a trail-rope
+on the floor, as he had been an amateur sailor. The captain pointed
+out, with much complacency, the different articles of their outfit. “You
+see,” said he, “that we are all old travelers. I am convinced that no
+party ever went upon the prairie better provided.” The hunter whom they
+had employed, a surly looking Canadian, named Sorel, and their muleteer,
+an American from St. Louis, were lounging about the building. In a
+little log stable close at hand were their horses and mules, selected by
+the captain, who was an excellent judge.
+
+The alliance entered into, we left them to complete their arrangements,
+while we pushed our own to all convenient speed. The emigrants for whom
+our friends professed such contempt were encamped on the prairie about
+eight or ten miles distant, to the number of a thousand or more, and new
+parties were constantly passing out from Independence to join them.
+They were in great confusion, holding meetings, passing resolutions, and
+drawing up regulations, but unable to unite in the choice of leaders to
+conduct them across the prairie. Being at leisure one day, I rode over
+to Independence. The town was crowded. A multitude of shops had sprung
+up to furnish the emigrants and Santa Fe traders with necessaries for
+their journey; and there was an incessant hammering and banging from a
+dozen blacksmiths’ sheds, where the heavy wagons were being repaired,
+and the horses and oxen shod. The streets were thronged with men,
+horses, and mules. While I was in the town, a train of emigrant wagons
+from Illinois passed through, to join the camp on the prairie, and
+stopped in the principal street. A multitude of healthy children’s faces
+were peeping out from under the covers of the wagons. Here and there a
+buxom damsel was seated on horseback, holding over her sunburnt face an
+old umbrella or a parasol, once gaudy enough but now miserably faded.
+The men, very sober-looking countrymen, stood about their oxen; and as I
+passed I noticed three old fellows, who, with their long whips in their
+hands, were zealously discussing the doctrine of regeneration. The
+emigrants, however, are not all of this stamp. Among them are some of
+the vilest outcasts in the country. I have often perplexed myself to
+divine the various motives that give impulse to this strange migration;
+but whatever they may be, whether an insane hope of a better condition
+in life, or a desire of shaking off restraints of law and society, or
+mere restlessness, certain it is that multitudes bitterly repent the
+journey, and after they have reached the land of promise are happy
+enough to escape from it.
+
+In the course of seven or eight days we had brought our preparations
+near to a close. Meanwhile our friends had completed theirs, and
+becoming tired of Westport, they told us that they would set out in
+advance and wait at the crossing of the Kansas till we should come up.
+Accordingly R. and the muleteers went forward with the wagon and tent,
+while the captain and his brother, together with Sorel, and a trapper
+named Boisverd, who had joined them, followed with the band of horses.
+The commencement of the journey was ominous, for the captain was
+scarcely a mile from Westport, riding along in state at the head of his
+party, leading his intended buffalo horse by a rope, when a tremendous
+thunderstorm came on, and drenched them all to the skin. They hurried on
+to reach the place, about seven miles off, where R. was to have had the
+camp in readiness to receive them. But this prudent person, when he
+saw the storm approaching, had selected a sheltered glade in the woods,
+where he pitched his tent, and was sipping a comfortable cup of coffee,
+while the captain galloped for miles beyond through the rain to look
+for him. At length the storm cleared away, and the sharp-eyed trapper
+succeeded in discovering his tent: R. had by this time finished his
+coffee, and was seated on a buffalo robe smoking his pipe. The captain
+was one of the most easy-tempered men in existence, so he bore his
+ill-luck with great composure, shared the dregs of the coffee with his
+brother, and lay down to sleep in his wet clothes.
+
+We ourselves had our share of the deluge. We were leading a pair of
+mules to Kansas when the storm broke. Such sharp and incessant flashes
+of lightning, such stunning and continuous thunder, I have never known
+before. The woods were completely obscured by the diagonal sheets of
+rain that fell with a heavy roar, and rose in spray from the ground; and
+the streams rose so rapidly that we could hardly ford them. At length,
+looming through the rain, we saw the log-house of Colonel Chick, who
+received us with his usual bland hospitality; while his wife, who,
+though a little soured and stiffened by too frequent attendance on
+camp-meetings, was not behind him in hospitable feeling, supplied us
+with the means of repairing our drenched and bedraggled condition. The
+storm, clearing away at about sunset, opened a noble prospect from the
+porch of the colonel’s house, which stands upon a high hill. The sun
+streamed from the breaking clouds upon the swift and angry Missouri, and
+on the immense expanse of luxuriant forest that stretched from its banks
+back to the distant bluffs.
+
+Returning on the next day to Westport, we received a message from the
+captain, who had ridden back to deliver it in person, but finding that
+we were in Kansas, had intrusted it with an acquaintance of his named
+Vogel, who kept a small grocery and liquor shop. Whisky by the way
+circulates more freely in Westport than is altogether safe in a place
+where every man carries a loaded pistol in his pocket. As we passed this
+establishment, we saw Vogel’s broad German face and knavish-looking eyes
+thrust from his door. He said he had something to tell us, and
+invited us to take a dram. Neither his liquor nor his message was very
+palatable. The captain had returned to give us notice that R., who
+assumed the direction of his party, had determined upon another route
+from that agreed upon between us; and instead of taking the course of
+the traders, to pass northward by Fort Leavenworth, and follow the path
+marked out by the dragoons in their expedition of last summer. To adopt
+such a plan without consulting us, we looked upon as a very high-handed
+proceeding; but suppressing our dissatisfaction as well as we could, we
+made up our minds to join them at Fort Leavenworth, where they were to
+wait for us.
+
+Accordingly, our preparation being now complete, we attempted one fine
+morning to commence our journey. The first step was an unfortunate one.
+No sooner were our animals put in harness, than the shaft mule reared
+and plunged, burst ropes and straps, and nearly flung the cart into
+the Missouri. Finding her wholly uncontrollable, we exchanged her
+for another, with which we were furnished by our friend Mr. Boone of
+Westport, a grandson of Daniel Boone, the pioneer. This foretaste of
+prairie experience was very soon followed by another. Westport was
+scarcely out of sight, when we encountered a deep muddy gully, of a
+species that afterward became but too familiar to us; and here for the
+space of an hour or more the car stuck fast.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+BREAKING THE ICE
+
+
+Both Shaw and myself were tolerably inured to the vicissitudes of
+traveling. We had experienced them under various forms, and a birch
+canoe was as familiar to us as a steamboat. The restlessness, the love
+of wilds and hatred of cities, natural perhaps in early years to every
+unperverted son of Adam, was not our only motive for undertaking the
+present journey. My companion hoped to shake off the effects of a
+disorder that had impaired a constitution originally hardy and robust;
+and I was anxious to pursue some inquiries relative to the character and
+usages of the remote Indian nations, being already familiar with many of
+the border tribes.
+
+Emerging from the mud-hole where we last took leave of the reader, we
+pursued our way for some time along the narrow track, in the checkered
+sunshine and shadow of the woods, till at length, issuing forth into
+the broad light, we left behind us the farthest outskirts of that great
+forest, that once spread unbroken from the western plains to the shore
+of the Atlantic. Looking over an intervening belt of shrubbery, we saw
+the green, oceanlike expanse of prairie, stretching swell over swell to
+the horizon.
+
+It was a mild, calm spring day; a day when one is more disposed to
+musing and reverie than to action, and the softest part of his nature is
+apt to gain the ascendency. I rode in advance of the party, as we passed
+through the shrubbery, and as a nook of green grass offered a strong
+temptation, I dismounted and lay down there. All the trees and saplings
+were in flower, or budding into fresh leaf; the red clusters of the
+maple-blossoms and the rich flowers of the Indian apple were there in
+profusion; and I was half inclined to regret leaving behind the land of
+gardens for the rude and stern scenes of the prairie and the mountains.
+
+Meanwhile the party came in sight from out of the bushes. Foremost rode
+Henry Chatillon, our guide and hunter, a fine athletic figure, mounted
+on a hardy gray Wyandotte pony. He wore a white blanket-coat, a broad
+hat of felt, moccasins, and pantaloons of deerskin, ornamented along the
+seams with rows of long fringes. His knife was stuck in his belt; his
+bullet-pouch and powder-horn hung at his side, and his rifle lay before
+him, resting against the high pommel of his saddle, which, like all his
+equipments, had seen hard service, and was much the worse for wear. Shaw
+followed close, mounted on a little sorrel horse, and leading a larger
+animal by a rope. His outfit, which resembled mine, had been provided
+with a view to use rather than ornament. It consisted of a plain, black
+Spanish saddle, with holsters of heavy pistols, a blanket rolled up
+behind it, and the trail-rope attached to his horse’s neck hanging
+coiled in front. He carried a double-barreled smooth-bore, while I
+boasted a rifle of some fifteen pounds’ weight. At that time our attire,
+though far from elegant, bore some marks of civilization, and offered a
+very favorable contrast to the inimitable shabbiness of our appearance
+on the return journey. A red flannel shirt, belted around the waist like
+a frock, then constituted our upper garment; moccasins had supplanted
+our failing boots; and the remaining essential portion of our attire
+consisted of an extraordinary article, manufactured by a squaw out of
+smoked buckskin. Our muleteer, Delorier, brought up the rear with his
+cart, waddling ankle-deep in the mud, alternately puffing at his pipe,
+and ejaculating in his prairie patois: “Sacre enfant de garce!” as
+one of the mules would seem to recoil before some abyss of unusual
+profundity. The cart was of the kind that one may see by scores around
+the market-place in Montreal, and had a white covering to protect the
+articles within. These were our provisions and a tent, with ammunition,
+blankets, and presents for the Indians.
+
+We were in all four men with eight animals; for besides the spare horses
+led by Shaw and myself, an additional mule was driven along with us as a
+reserve in case of accident.
+
+After this summing up of our forces, it may not be amiss to glance at
+the characters of the two men who accompanied us.
+
+Delorier was a Canadian, with all the characteristics of the true Jean
+Baptiste. Neither fatigue, exposure, nor hard labor could ever impair
+his cheerfulness and gayety, or his obsequious politeness to his
+bourgeois; and when night came he would sit down by the fire, smoke his
+pipe, and tell stories with the utmost contentment. In fact, the prairie
+was his congenial element. Henry Chatillon was of a different stamp.
+When we were at St. Louis, several gentlemen of the Fur Company had
+kindly offered to procure for us a hunter and guide suited for our
+purposes, and on coming one afternoon to the office, we found there a
+tall and exceedingly well-dressed man with a face so open and frank that
+it attracted our notice at once. We were surprised at being told that it
+was he who wished to guide us to the mountains. He was born in a little
+French town near St. Louis, and from the age of fifteen years had been
+constantly in the neighborhood of the Rocky Mountains, employed for the
+most part by the Company to supply their forts with buffalo meat. As a
+hunter he had but one rival in the whole region, a man named Cimoneau,
+with whom, to the honor of both of them, he was on terms of the closest
+friendship. He had arrived at St. Louis the day before, from the
+mountains, where he had remained for four years; and he now only asked
+to go and spend a day with his mother before setting out on another
+expedition. His age was about thirty; he was six feet high, and very
+powerfully and gracefully molded. The prairies had been his school;
+he could neither read nor write, but he had a natural refinement and
+delicacy of mind such as is rarely found, even in women. His manly face
+was a perfect mirror of uprightness, simplicity, and kindness of heart;
+he had, moreover, a keen perception of character and a tact that would
+preserve him from flagrant error in any society. Henry had not the
+restless energy of an Anglo-American. He was content to take things
+as he found them; and his chief fault arose from an excess of easy
+generosity, impelling him to give away too profusely ever to thrive in
+the world. Yet it was commonly remarked of him, that whatever he might
+choose to do with what belonged to himself, the property of others was
+always safe in his hands. His bravery was as much celebrated in the
+mountains as his skill in hunting; but it is characteristic of him that
+in a country where the rifle is the chief arbiter between man and man,
+Henry was very seldom involved in quarrels. Once or twice, indeed,
+his quiet good-nature had been mistaken and presumed upon, but the
+consequences of the error were so formidable that no one was ever known
+to repeat it. No better evidence of the intrepidity of his temper could
+be wished than the common report that he had killed more than thirty
+grizzly bears. He was a proof of what unaided nature will sometimes do.
+I have never, in the city or in the wilderness, met a better man than my
+noble and true-hearted friend, Henry Chatillon.
+
+We were soon free of the woods and bushes, and fairly upon the broad
+prairie. Now and then a Shawanoe passed us, riding his little shaggy
+pony at a “lope”; his calico shirt, his gaudy sash, and the gay
+handkerchief bound around his snaky hair fluttering in the wind. At noon
+we stopped to rest not far from a little creek replete with frogs and
+young turtles. There had been an Indian encampment at the place, and
+the framework of their lodges still remained, enabling us very easily
+to gain a shelter from the sun, by merely spreading one or two blankets
+over them. Thus shaded, we sat upon our saddles, and Shaw for the first
+time lighted his favorite Indian pipe; while Delorier was squatted over
+a hot bed of coals, shading his eyes with one hand, and holding a little
+stick in the other, with which he regulated the hissing contents of the
+frying-pan. The horses were turned to feed among the scattered bushes of
+a low oozy meadow. A drowzy springlike sultriness pervaded the air, and
+the voices of ten thousand young frogs and insects, just awakened into
+life, rose in varied chorus from the creek and the meadows.
+
+Scarcely were we seated when a visitor approached. This was an old
+Kansas Indian; a man of distinction, if one might judge from his dress.
+His head was shaved and painted red, and from the tuft of hair remaining
+on the crown dangled several eagles’ feathers, and the tails of two or
+three rattlesnakes. His cheeks, too, were daubed with vermilion; his
+ears were adorned with green glass pendants; a collar of grizzly bears’
+claws surrounded his neck, and several large necklaces of wampum hung
+on his breast. Having shaken us by the hand with a cordial grunt of
+salutation, the old man, dropping his red blanket from his shoulders,
+sat down cross-legged on the ground. In the absence of liquor we offered
+him a cup of sweetened water, at which he ejaculated “Good!” and was
+beginning to tell us how great a man he was, and how many Pawnees he
+had killed, when suddenly a motley concourse appeared wading across the
+creek toward us. They filed past in rapid succession, men, women, and
+children; some were on horseback, some on foot, but all were alike
+squalid and wretched. Old squaws, mounted astride of shaggy, meager
+little ponies, with perhaps one or two snake-eyed children seated behind
+them, clinging to their tattered blankets; tall lank young men on foot,
+with bows and arrows in their hands; and girls whose native ugliness not
+all the charms of glass beads and scarlet cloth could disguise, made up
+the procession; although here and there was a man who, like our visitor,
+seemed to hold some rank in this respectable community. They were the
+dregs of the Kansas nation, who, while their betters were gone to hunt
+buffalo, had left the village on a begging expedition to Westport.
+
+When this ragamuffin horde had passed, we caught our horses, saddled,
+harnessed, and resumed our journey. Fording the creek, the low roofs of
+a number of rude buildings appeared, rising from a cluster of groves and
+woods on the left; and riding up through a long lane, amid a profusion
+of wild roses and early spring flowers, we found the log-church and
+school-houses belonging to the Methodist Shawanoe Mission. The Indians
+were on the point of gathering to a religious meeting. Some scores of
+them, tall men in half-civilized dress, were seated on wooden benches
+under the trees; while their horses were tied to the sheds and fences.
+Their chief, Parks, a remarkably large and athletic man, was just
+arrived from Westport, where he owns a trading establishment. Beside
+this, he has a fine farm and a considerable number of slaves. Indeed the
+Shawanoes have made greater progress in agriculture than any other tribe
+on the Missouri frontier; and both in appearance and in character form a
+marked contrast to our late acquaintance, the Kansas.
+
+A few hours’ ride brought us to the banks of the river Kansas.
+Traversing the woods that lined it, and plowing through the deep sand,
+we encamped not far from the bank, at the Lower Delaware crossing. Our
+tent was erected for the first time on a meadow close to the woods, and
+the camp preparations being complete we began to think of supper. An old
+Delaware woman, of some three hundred pounds’ weight, sat in the porch
+of a little log-house close to the water, and a very pretty half-breed
+girl was engaged, under her superintendence, in feeding a large flock of
+turkeys that were fluttering and gobbling about the door. But no offers
+of money, or even of tobacco, could induce her to part with one of her
+favorites; so I took my rifle, to see if the woods or the river could
+furnish us anything. A multitude of quails were plaintively whistling
+in the woods and meadows; but nothing appropriate to the rifle was to be
+seen, except three buzzards, seated on the spectral limbs of an old dead
+sycamore, that thrust itself out over the river from the dense sunny
+wall of fresh foliage. Their ugly heads were drawn down between their
+shoulders, and they seemed to luxuriate in the soft sunshine that was
+pouring from the west. As they offered no epicurean temptations, I
+refrained from disturbing their enjoyment; but contented myself with
+admiring the calm beauty of the sunset, for the river, eddying swiftly
+in deep purple shadows between the impending woods, formed a wild but
+tranquillizing scene.
+
+When I returned to the camp I found Shaw and an old Indian seated on the
+ground in close conference, passing the pipe between them. The old man
+was explaining that he loved the whites, and had an especial partiality
+for tobacco. Delorier was arranging upon the ground our service of tin
+cups and plates; and as other viands were not to be had, he set before
+us a repast of biscuit and bacon, and a large pot of coffee. Unsheathing
+our knives, we attacked it, disposed of the greater part, and tossed the
+residue to the Indian. Meanwhile our horses, now hobbled for the first
+time, stood among the trees, with their fore-legs tied together, in
+great disgust and astonishment. They seemed by no means to relish this
+foretaste of what was before them. Mine, in particular, had conceived a
+moral aversion to the prairie life. One of them, christened Hendrick,
+an animal whose strength and hardihood were his only merits, and who
+yielded to nothing but the cogent arguments of the whip, looked toward
+us with an indignant countenance, as if he meditated avenging his
+wrongs with a kick. The other, Pontiac, a good horse, though of plebeian
+lineage, stood with his head drooping and his mane hanging about his
+eyes, with the grieved and sulky air of a lubberly boy sent off to
+school. Poor Pontiac! his forebodings were but too just; for when I last
+heard from him, he was under the lash of an Ogallalla brave, on a war
+party against the Crows.
+
+As it grew dark, and the voices of the whip-poor-wills succeeded the
+whistle of the quails, we removed our saddles to the tent, to serve as
+pillows, spread our blankets upon the ground, and prepared to bivouac
+for the first time that season. Each man selected the place in the
+tent which he was to occupy for the journey. To Delorier, however, was
+assigned the cart, into which he could creep in wet weather, and find a
+much better shelter than his bourgeois enjoyed in the tent.
+
+The river Kansas at this point forms the boundary line between the
+country of the Shawanoes and that of the Delawares. We crossed it on
+the following day, rafting over our horses and equipage with much
+difficulty, and unloading our cart in order to make our way up the steep
+ascent on the farther bank. It was a Sunday morning; warm, tranquil and
+bright; and a perfect stillness reigned over the rough inclosures
+and neglected fields of the Delawares, except the ceaseless hum and
+chirruping of myriads of insects. Now and then, an Indian rode past on
+his way to the meeting-house, or through the dilapidated entrance of
+some shattered log-house an old woman might be discerned, enjoying all
+the luxury of idleness. There was no village bell, for the Delawares
+have none; and yet upon that forlorn and rude settlement was the same
+spirit of Sabbath repose and tranquillity as in some little New England
+village among the mountains of New Hampshire or the Vermont woods.
+
+Having at present no leisure for such reflections, we pursued our
+journey. A military road led from this point to Fort Leavenworth, and
+for many miles the farms and cabins of the Delawares were scattered
+at short intervals on either hand. The little rude structures of logs,
+erected usually on the borders of a tract of woods, made a picturesque
+feature in the landscape. But the scenery needed no foreign aid. Nature
+had done enough for it; and the alteration of rich green prairies and
+groves that stood in clusters or lined the banks of the numerous little
+streams, had all the softened and polished beauty of a region that has
+been for centuries under the hand of man. At that early season, too,
+it was in the height of its freshness and luxuriance. The woods were
+flushed with the red buds of the maple; there were frequent flowering
+shrubs unknown in the east; and the green swells of the prairies were
+thickly studded with blossoms.
+
+Encamping near a spring by the side of a hill, we resumed our journey in
+the morning, and early in the afternoon had arrived within a few miles
+of Fort Leavenworth. The road crossed a stream densely bordered with
+trees, and running in the bottom of a deep woody hollow. We were about
+to descend into it, when a wild and confused procession appeared,
+passing through the water below, and coming up the steep ascent toward
+us. We stopped to let them pass. They were Delawares, just returned
+from a hunting expedition. All, both men and women, were mounted on
+horseback, and drove along with them a considerable number of pack
+mules, laden with the furs they had taken, together with the buffalo
+robes, kettles, and other articles of their traveling equipment, which
+as well as their clothing and their weapons, had a worn and dingy
+aspect, as if they had seen hard service of late. At the rear of the
+party was an old man, who, as he came up, stopped his horse to speak to
+us. He rode a little tough shaggy pony, with mane and tail well knotted
+with burrs, and a rusty Spanish bit in its mouth, to which, by way of
+reins, was attached a string of raw hide. His saddle, robbed probably
+from a Mexican, had no covering, being merely a tree of the Spanish
+form, with a piece of grizzly bear’s skin laid over it, a pair of rude
+wooden stirrups attached, and in the absence of girth, a thong of hide
+passing around the horse’s belly. The rider’s dark features and keen
+snaky eyes were unequivocally Indian. He wore a buckskin frock, which,
+like his fringed leggings, was well polished and blackened by grease and
+long service; and an old handkerchief was tied around his head. Resting
+on the saddle before him lay his rifle; a weapon in the use of which
+the Delawares are skillful; though from its weight, the distant prairie
+Indians are too lazy to carry it.
+
+“Who’s your chief?” he immediately inquired.
+
+Henry Chatillon pointed to us. The old Delaware fixed his eyes intently
+upon us for a moment, and then sententiously remarked:
+
+“No good! Too young!” With this flattering comment he left us, and rode
+after his people.
+
+This tribe, the Delawares, once the peaceful allies of William Penn, the
+tributaries of the conquering Iroquois, are now the most adventurous and
+dreaded warriors upon the prairies. They make war upon remote tribes the
+very names of which were unknown to their fathers in their ancient
+seats in Pennsylvania; and they push these new quarrels with true
+Indian rancor, sending out their little war parties as far as the Rocky
+Mountains, and into the Mexican territories. Their neighbors and
+former confederates, the Shawanoes, who are tolerable farmers, are in
+a prosperous condition; but the Delawares dwindle every year, from the
+number of men lost in their warlike expeditions.
+
+Soon after leaving this party, we saw, stretching on the right, the
+forests that follow the course of the Missouri, and the deep woody
+channel through which at this point it runs. At a distance in front were
+the white barracks of Fort Leavenworth, just visible through the trees
+upon an eminence above a bend of the river. A wide green meadow, as
+level as a lake, lay between us and the Missouri, and upon this, close
+to a line of trees that bordered a little brook, stood the tent of the
+captain and his companions, with their horses feeding around it, but
+they themselves were invisible. Wright, their muleteer, was there,
+seated on the tongue of the wagon, repairing his harness. Boisverd
+stood cleaning his rifle at the door of the tent, and Sorel lounged
+idly about. On closer examination, however, we discovered the captain’s
+brother, Jack, sitting in the tent, at his old occupation of splicing
+trail-ropes. He welcomed us in his broad Irish brogue, and said that
+his brother was fishing in the river, and R. gone to the garrison. They
+returned before sunset. Meanwhile we erected our own tent not far off,
+and after supper a council was held, in which it was resolved to remain
+one day at Fort Leavenworth, and on the next to bid a final adieu to
+the frontier: or in the phraseology of the region, to “jump off.” Our
+deliberations were conducted by the ruddy light from a distant swell of
+the prairie, where the long dry grass of last summer was on fire.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+FORT LEAVENWORTH
+
+
+On the next morning we rode to Fort Leavenworth. Colonel, now General,
+Kearny, to whom I had had the honor of an introduction when at St.
+Louis, was just arrived, and received us at his headquarters with the
+high-bred courtesy habitual to him. Fort Leavenworth is in fact no fort,
+being without defensive works, except two block-houses. No rumors of
+war had as yet disturbed its tranquillity. In the square grassy area,
+surrounded by barracks and the quarters of the officers, the men were
+passing and repassing, or lounging among the trees; although not many
+weeks afterward it presented a different scene; for here the very
+off-scourings of the frontier were congregated, to be marshaled for the
+expedition against Santa Fe.
+
+Passing through the garrison, we rode toward the Kickapoo village, five
+or six miles beyond. The path, a rather dubious and uncertain one, led
+us along the ridge of high bluffs that bordered the Missouri; and by
+looking to the right or to the left, we could enjoy a strange contrast
+of opposite scenery. On the left stretched the prairie, rising into
+swells and undulations, thickly sprinkled with groves, or gracefully
+expanding into wide grassy basins of miles in extent; while its
+curvatures, swelling against the horizon, were often surmounted by lines
+of sunny woods; a scene to which the freshness of the season and the
+peculiar mellowness of the atmosphere gave additional softness. Below
+us, on the right, was a tract of ragged and broken woods. We could look
+down on the summits of the trees, some living and some dead; some erect,
+others leaning at every angle, and others still piled in masses together
+by the passage of a hurricane. Beyond their extreme verge, the turbid
+waters of the Missouri were discernible through the boughs, rolling
+powerfully along at the foot of the woody declivities of its farther
+bank.
+
+The path soon after led inland; and as we crossed an open meadow we saw
+a cluster of buildings on a rising ground before us, with a crowd of
+people surrounding them. They were the storehouse, cottage, and stables
+of the Kickapoo trader’s establishment. Just at that moment, as it
+chanced, he was beset with half the Indians of the settlement. They had
+tied their wretched, neglected little ponies by dozens along the fences
+and outhouses, and were either lounging about the place, or crowding
+into the trading house. Here were faces of various colors; red, green,
+white, and black, curiously intermingled and disposed over the visage
+in a variety of patterns. Calico shirts, red and blue blankets, brass
+ear-rings, wampum necklaces, appeared in profusion. The trader was a
+blue-eyed open-faced man who neither in his manners nor his appearance
+betrayed any of the roughness of the frontier; though just at present he
+was obliged to keep a lynx eye on his suspicious customers, who, men
+and women, were climbing on his counter and seating themselves among his
+boxes and bales.
+
+The village itself was not far off, and sufficiently illustrated the
+condition of its unfortunate and self-abandoned occupants. Fancy to
+yourself a little swift stream, working its devious way down a woody
+valley; sometimes wholly hidden under logs and fallen trees, sometimes
+issuing forth and spreading into a broad, clear pool; and on its banks
+in little nooks cleared away among the trees, miniature log-houses
+in utter ruin and neglect. A labyrinth of narrow, obstructed paths
+connected these habitations one with another. Sometimes we met a stray
+calf, a pig or a pony, belonging to some of the villagers, who usually
+lay in the sun in front of their dwellings, and looked on us with cold,
+suspicious eyes as we approached. Farther on, in place of the log-huts
+of the Kickapoos, we found the pukwi lodges of their neighbors, the
+Pottawattamies, whose condition seemed no better than theirs.
+
+Growing tired at last, and exhausted by the excessive heat and
+sultriness of the day, we returned to our friend, the trader. By this
+time the crowd around him had dispersed, and left him at leisure. He
+invited us to his cottage, a little white-and-green building, in
+the style of the old French settlements; and ushered us into a neat,
+well-furnished room. The blinds were closed, and the heat and glare
+of the sun excluded; the room was as cool as a cavern. It was neatly
+carpeted too and furnished in a manner that we hardly expected on the
+frontier. The sofas, chairs, tables, and a well-filled bookcase would
+not have disgraced an Eastern city; though there were one or two little
+tokens that indicated the rather questionable civilization of the
+region. A pistol, loaded and capped, lay on the mantelpiece; and through
+the glass of the bookcase, peeping above the works of John Milton
+glittered the handle of a very mischievous-looking knife.
+
+Our host went out, and returned with iced water, glasses, and a bottle
+of excellent claret; a refreshment most welcome in the extreme heat of
+the day; and soon after appeared a merry, laughing woman, who must have
+been, a year of two before, a very rich and luxuriant specimen of Creole
+beauty. She came to say that lunch was ready in the next room. Our
+hostess evidently lived on the sunny side of life, and troubled herself
+with none of its cares. She sat down and entertained us while we were
+at table with anecdotes of fishing parties, frolics, and the officers
+at the fort. Taking leave at length of the hospitable trader and his
+friend, we rode back to the garrison.
+
+Shaw passed on to the camp, while I remained to call upon Colonel
+Kearny. I found him still at table. There sat our friend the captain,
+in the same remarkable habiliments in which we saw him at Westport; the
+black pipe, however, being for the present laid aside. He dangled
+his little cap in his hand and talked of steeple-chases, touching
+occasionally upon his anticipated exploits in buffalo-hunting. There,
+too, was R., somewhat more elegantly attired. For the last time we
+tasted the luxuries of civilization, and drank adieus to it in wine good
+enough to make us almost regret the leave-taking. Then, mounting,
+we rode together to the camp, where everything was in readiness for
+departure on the morrow.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+“JUMPING OFF”
+
+
+The reader need not be told that John Bull never leaves home without
+encumbering himself with the greatest possible load of luggage. Our
+companions were no exception to the rule. They had a wagon drawn by six
+mules and crammed with provisions for six months, besides ammunition
+enough for a regiment; spare rifles and fowling-pieces, ropes and
+harness; personal baggage, and a miscellaneous assortment of articles,
+which produced infinite embarrassment on the journey. They had also
+decorated their persons with telescopes and portable compasses, and
+carried English double-barreled rifles of sixteen to the pound caliber,
+slung to their saddles in dragoon fashion.
+
+By sunrise on the 23d of May we had breakfasted; the tents were leveled,
+the animals saddled and harnessed, and all was prepared. “Avance donc!
+get up!” cried Delorier from his seat in front of the cart. Wright,
+our friend’s muleteer, after some swearing and lashing, got his
+insubordinate train in motion, and then the whole party filed from the
+ground. Thus we bade a long adieu to bed and board, and the principles
+of Blackstone’s Commentaries. The day was a most auspicious one; and yet
+Shaw and I felt certain misgivings, which in the sequel proved but too
+well founded. We had just learned that though R. had taken it upon him
+to adopt this course without consulting us, not a single man in
+the party was acquainted with it; and the absurdity of our friend’s
+high-handed measure very soon became manifest. His plan was to strike
+the trail of several companies of dragoons, who last summer had made an
+expedition under Colonel Kearny to Fort Laramie, and by this means to
+reach the grand trail of the Oregon emigrants up the Platte.
+
+We rode for an hour or two when a familiar cluster of buildings appeared
+on a little hill. “Hallo!” shouted the Kickapoo trader from over his
+fence. “Where are you going?” A few rather emphatic exclamations might
+have been heard among us, when we found that we had gone miles out of
+our way, and were not advanced an inch toward the Rocky Mountains. So
+we turned in the direction the trader indicated, and with the sun for
+a guide, began to trace a “bee line” across the prairies. We struggled
+through copses and lines of wood; we waded brooks and pools of water; we
+traversed prairies as green as an emerald, expanding before us for mile
+after mile; wider and more wild than the wastes Mazeppa rode over:
+
+     “Man nor brute,
+     Nor dint of hoof, nor print of foot,
+     Lay in the wild luxuriant soil;
+     No sign of travel; none of toil;
+     The very air was mute.”
+
+Riding in advance, we passed over one of these great plains; we looked
+back and saw the line of scattered horsemen stretching for a mile or
+more; and far in the rear against the horizon, the white wagons creeping
+slowly along. “Here we are at last!” shouted the captain. And in truth
+we had struck upon the traces of a large body of horse. We turned
+joyfully and followed this new course, with tempers somewhat improved;
+and toward sunset encamped on a high swell of the prairie, at the foot
+of which a lazy stream soaked along through clumps of rank grass. It
+was getting dark. We turned the horses loose to feed. “Drive down the
+tent-pickets hard,” said Henry Chatillon, “it is going to blow.” We did
+so, and secured the tent as well as we could; for the sky had changed
+totally, and a fresh damp smell in the wind warned us that a stormy
+night was likely to succeed the hot clear day. The prairie also wore
+a new aspect, and its vast swells had grown black and somber under the
+shadow of the clouds. The thunder soon began to growl at a distance.
+Picketing and hobbling the horses among the rich grass at the foot of
+the slope, where we encamped, we gained a shelter just as the rain began
+to fall; and sat at the opening of the tent, watching the proceedings of
+the captain. In defiance of the rain he was stalking among the horses,
+wrapped in an old Scotch plaid. An extreme solicitude tormented him,
+lest some of his favorites should escape, or some accident should befall
+them; and he cast an anxious eye toward three wolves who were sneaking
+along over the dreary surface of the plain, as if he dreaded some
+hostile demonstration on their part.
+
+On the next morning we had gone but a mile or two, when we came to an
+extensive belt of woods, through the midst of which ran a stream, wide,
+deep, and of an appearance particularly muddy and treacherous. Delorier
+was in advance with his cart; he jerked his pipe from his mouth, lashed
+his mules, and poured forth a volley of Canadian ejaculations. In
+plunged the cart, but midway it stuck fast. Delorier leaped out
+knee-deep in water, and by dint of sacres and a vigorous application of
+the whip, he urged the mules out of the slough. Then approached the long
+team and heavy wagon of our friends; but it paused on the brink.
+
+“Now my advice is--” began the captain, who had been anxiously
+contemplating the muddy gulf.
+
+“Drive on!” cried R.
+
+But Wright, the muleteer, apparently had not as yet decided the point
+in his own mind; and he sat still in his seat on one of the shaft-mules,
+whistling in a low contemplative strain to himself.
+
+“My advice is,” resumed the captain, “that we unload; for I’ll bet any
+man five pounds that if we try to go through, we shall stick fast.”
+
+“By the powers, we shall stick fast!” echoed Jack, the captain’s
+brother, shaking his large head with an air of firm conviction.
+
+“Drive on! drive on!” cried R. petulantly.
+
+“Well,” observed the captain, turning to us as we sat looking on, much
+edified by this by-play among our confederates, “I can only give my
+advice and if people won’t be reasonable, why, they won’t; that’s all!”
+
+Meanwhile Wright had apparently made up his mind; for he suddenly began
+to shout forth a volley of oaths and curses, that, compared with the
+French imprecations of Delorier, sounded like the roaring of heavy
+cannon after the popping and sputtering of a bunch of Chinese crackers.
+At the same time he discharged a shower of blows upon his mules, who
+hastily dived into the mud and drew the wagon lumbering after them. For
+a moment the issue was dubious. Wright writhed about in his saddle,
+and swore and lashed like a madman; but who can count on a team of
+half-broken mules? At the most critical point, when all should have been
+harmony and combined effort, the perverse brutes fell into lamentable
+disorder, and huddled together in confusion on the farther bank. There
+was the wagon up to the hub in mud, and visibly settling every instant.
+There was nothing for it but to unload; then to dig away the mud
+from before the wheels with a spade, and lay a causeway of bushes and
+branches. This agreeable labor accomplished, the wagon at last emerged;
+but if I mention that some interruption of this sort occurred at least
+four or five times a day for a fortnight, the reader will understand
+that our progress toward the Platte was not without its obstacles.
+
+We traveled six or seven miles farther, and “nooned” near a brook. On
+the point of resuming our journey, when the horses were all driven down
+to water, my homesick charger, Pontiac, made a sudden leap across, and
+set off at a round trot for the settlements. I mounted my remaining
+horse, and started in pursuit. Making a circuit, I headed the runaway,
+hoping to drive him back to camp; but he instantly broke into a gallop,
+made a wide tour on the prairie, and got past me again. I tried this
+plan repeatedly, with the same result; Pontiac was evidently disgusted
+with the prairie; so I abandoned it, and tried another, trotting along
+gently behind him, in hopes that I might quietly get near enough to
+seize the trail-rope which was fastened to his neck, and dragged about a
+dozen feet behind him. The chase grew interesting. For mile after mile
+I followed the rascal, with the utmost care not to alarm him, and
+gradually got nearer, until at length old Hendrick’s nose was fairly
+brushed by the whisking tail of the unsuspecting Pontiac. Without
+drawing rein, I slid softly to the ground; but my long heavy rifle
+encumbered me, and the low sound it made in striking the horn of the
+saddle startled him; he pricked up his ears, and sprang off at a run.
+“My friend,” thought I, remounting, “do that again, and I will shoot
+you!”
+
+Fort Leavenworth was about forty miles distant, and thither I determined
+to follow him. I made up my mind to spend a solitary and supperless
+night, and then set out again in the morning. One hope, however,
+remained. The creek where the wagon had stuck was just before us;
+Pontiac might be thirsty with his run, and stop there to drink. I kept
+as near to him as possible, taking every precaution not to alarm him
+again; and the result proved as I had hoped: for he walked deliberately
+among the trees, and stooped down to the water. I alighted, dragged old
+Hendrick through the mud, and with a feeling of infinite satisfaction
+picked up the slimy trail-rope and twisted it three times round my hand.
+“Now let me see you get away again!” I thought, as I remounted. But
+Pontiac was exceedingly reluctant to turn back; Hendrick, too, who
+had evidently flattered himself with vain hopes, showed the utmost
+repugnance, and grumbled in a manner peculiar to himself at being
+compelled to face about. A smart cut of the whip restored his
+cheerfulness; and dragging the recovered truant behind, I set out in
+search of the camp. An hour or two elapsed, when, near sunset, I saw the
+tents, standing on a rich swell of the prairie, beyond a line of woods,
+while the bands of horses were feeding in a low meadow close at hand.
+There sat Jack C., cross-legged, in the sun, splicing a trail-rope,
+and the rest were lying on the grass, smoking and telling stories. That
+night we enjoyed a serenade from the wolves, more lively than any with
+which they had yet favored us; and in the morning one of the musicians
+appeared, not many rods from the tents, quietly seated among the horses,
+looking at us with a pair of large gray eyes; but perceiving a rifle
+leveled at him, he leaped up and made off in hot haste.
+
+I pass by the following day or two of our journey, for nothing occurred
+worthy of record. Should any one of my readers ever be impelled to visit
+the prairies, and should he choose the route of the Platte (the best,
+perhaps, that can be adopted), I can assure him that he need not
+think to enter at once upon the paradise of his imagination. A dreary
+preliminary, protracted crossing of the threshold awaits him before
+he finds himself fairly upon the verge of the “great American desert,”
+ those barren wastes, the haunts of the buffalo and the Indian, where
+the very shadow of civilization lies a hundred leagues behind him. The
+intervening country, the wide and fertile belt that extends for
+several hundred miles beyond the extreme frontier, will probably answer
+tolerably well to his preconceived ideas of the prairie; for this it
+is from which picturesque tourists, painters, poets, and novelists, who
+have seldom penetrated farther, have derived their conceptions of the
+whole region. If he has a painter’s eye, he may find his period of
+probation not wholly void of interest. The scenery, though tame, is
+graceful and pleasing. Here are level plains, too wide for the eye
+to measure green undulations, like motionless swells of the ocean;
+abundance of streams, followed through all their windings by lines of
+woods and scattered groves. But let him be as enthusiastic as he may,
+he will find enough to damp his ardor. His wagons will stick in the mud;
+his horses will break loose; harness will give way, and axle-trees prove
+unsound. His bed will be a soft one, consisting often of black mud,
+of the richest consistency. As for food, he must content himself with
+biscuit and salt provisions; for strange as it may seem, this tract of
+country produces very little game. As he advances, indeed, he will see,
+moldering in the grass by his path, the vast antlers of the elk, and
+farther on, the whitened skulls of the buffalo, once swarming over this
+now deserted region. Perhaps, like us, he may journey for a fortnight,
+and see not so much as the hoof-print of a deer; in the spring, not even
+a prairie hen is to be had.
+
+Yet, to compensate him for this unlooked-for deficiency of game, he
+will find himself beset with “varmints” innumerable. The wolves will
+entertain him with a concerto at night, and skulk around him by day,
+just beyond rifle shot; his horse will step into badger-holes; from
+every marsh and mud puddle will arise the bellowing, croaking, and
+trilling of legions of frogs, infinitely various in color, shape and
+dimensions. A profusion of snakes will glide away from under his horse’s
+feet, or quietly visit him in his tent at night; while the pertinacious
+humming of unnumbered mosquitoes will banish sleep from his eyelids.
+When thirsty with a long ride in the scorching sun over some boundless
+reach of prairie, he comes at length to a pool of water, and alights to
+drink, he discovers a troop of young tadpoles sporting in the bottom of
+his cup. Add to this, that all the morning the hot sun beats upon him
+with sultry, penetrating heat, and that, with provoking regularity, at
+about four o’clock in the afternoon, a thunderstorm rises and drenches
+him to the skin. Such being the charms of this favored region, the
+reader will easily conceive the extent of our gratification at learning
+that for a week we had been journeying on the wrong track! How this
+agreeable discovery was made I will presently explain.
+
+One day, after a protracted morning’s ride, we stopped to rest at noon
+upon the open prairie. No trees were in sight; but close at hand, a
+little dribbling brook was twisting from side to side through a hollow;
+now forming holes of stagnant water, and now gliding over the mud in a
+scarcely perceptible current, among a growth of sickly bushes, and great
+clumps of tall rank grass. The day was excessively hot and oppressive.
+The horses and mules were rolling on the prairie to refresh themselves,
+or feeding among the bushes in the hollow. We had dined; and Delorier,
+puffing at his pipe, knelt on the grass, scrubbing our service of tin
+plate. Shaw lay in the shade, under the cart, to rest for a while,
+before the word should be given to “catch up.” Henry Chatillon, before
+lying down, was looking about for signs of snakes, the only living
+things that he feared, and uttering various ejaculations of disgust,
+at finding several suspicious-looking holes close to the cart. I sat
+leaning against the wheel in a scanty strip of shade, making a pair of
+hobbles to replace those which my contumacious steed Pontiac had
+broken the night before. The camp of our friends, a rod or two distant,
+presented the same scene of lazy tranquillity.
+
+“Hallo!” cried Henry, looking up from his inspection of the snake-holes,
+“here comes the old captain!”
+
+The captain approached, and stood for a moment contemplating us in
+silence.
+
+“I say, Parkman,” he began, “look at Shaw there, asleep under the cart,
+with the tar dripping off the hub of the wheel on his shoulder!”
+
+At this Shaw got up, with his eyes half opened, and feeling the part
+indicated, he found his hand glued fast to his red flannel shirt.
+
+“He’ll look well when he gets among the squaws, won’t he?” observed the
+captain, with a grin.
+
+He then crawled under the cart, and began to tell stories of which his
+stock was inexhaustible. Yet every moment he would glance nervously at
+the horses. At last he jumped up in great excitement. “See that horse!
+There--that fellow just walking over the hill! By Jove; he’s off. It’s
+your big horse, Shaw; no it isn’t, it’s Jack’s! Jack! Jack! hallo,
+Jack!” Jack thus invoked, jumped up and stared vacantly at us.
+
+“Go and catch your horse, if you don’t want to lose him!” roared the
+captain.
+
+Jack instantly set off at a run through the grass, his broad pantaloons
+flapping about his feet. The captain gazed anxiously till he saw
+that the horse was caught; then he sat down, with a countenance of
+thoughtfulness and care.
+
+“I tell you what it is,” he said, “this will never do at all. We shall
+lose every horse in the band someday or other, and then a pretty plight
+we should be in! Now I am convinced that the only way for us is to have
+every man in the camp stand horse-guard in rotation whenever we stop.
+Supposing a hundred Pawnees should jump up out of that ravine, all
+yelling and flapping their buffalo robes, in the way they do? Why, in
+two minutes not a hoof would be in sight.” We reminded the captain that
+a hundred Pawnees would probably demolish the horse-guard, if he were to
+resist their depredations.
+
+“At any rate,” pursued the captain, evading the point, “our whole system
+is wrong; I’m convinced of it; it is totally unmilitary. Why, the way
+we travel, strung out over the prairie for a mile, an enemy might attack
+the foremost men, and cut them off before the rest could come up.”
+
+“We are not in an enemy’s country, yet,” said Shaw; “when we are, we’ll
+travel together.”
+
+“Then,” said the captain, “we might be attacked in camp. We’ve no
+sentinels; we camp in disorder; no precautions at all to guard against
+surprise. My own convictions are that we ought to camp in a hollow
+square, with the fires in the center; and have sentinels, and a regular
+password appointed for every night. Besides, there should be vedettes,
+riding in advance, to find a place for the camp and give warning of an
+enemy. These are my convictions. I don’t want to dictate to any man. I
+give advice to the best of my judgment, that’s all; and then let people
+do as they please.”
+
+We intimated that perhaps it would be as well to postpone such
+burdensome precautions until there should be some actual need of
+them; but he shook his head dubiously. The captain’s sense of military
+propriety had been severely shocked by what he considered the irregular
+proceedings of the party; and this was not the first time he had
+expressed himself upon the subject. But his convictions seldom produced
+any practical results. In the present case, he contented himself,
+as usual, with enlarging on the importance of his suggestions, and
+wondering that they were not adopted. But his plan of sending out
+vedettes seemed particularly dear to him; and as no one else was
+disposed to second his views on this point, he took it into his head to
+ride forward that afternoon, himself.
+
+“Come, Parkman,” said he, “will you go with me?”
+
+We set out together, and rode a mile or two in advance. The captain,
+in the course of twenty years’ service in the British army, had seen
+something of life; one extensive side of it, at least, he had enjoyed
+the best opportunities for studying; and being naturally a pleasant
+fellow, he was a very entertaining companion. He cracked jokes and told
+stories for an hour or two; until, looking back, we saw the prairie
+behind us stretching away to the horizon, without a horseman or a wagon
+in sight.
+
+“Now,” said the captain, “I think the vedettes had better stop till the
+main body comes up.”
+
+I was of the same opinion. There was a thick growth of woods just before
+us, with a stream running through them. Having crossed this, we found
+on the other side a fine level meadow, half encircled by the trees; and
+fastening our horses to some bushes, we sat down on the grass; while,
+with an old stump of a tree for a target, I began to display the
+superiority of the renowned rifle of the back woods over the foreign
+innovation borne by the captain. At length voices could be heard in the
+distance behind the trees.
+
+“There they come!” said the captain: “let’s go and see how they get
+through the creek.”
+
+We mounted and rode to the bank of the stream, where the trail crossed
+it. It ran in a deep hollow, full of trees; as we looked down, we saw a
+confused crowd of horsemen riding through the water; and among the dingy
+habiliment of our party glittered the uniforms of four dragoons.
+
+Shaw came whipping his horse up the back, in advance of the rest, with
+a somewhat indignant countenance. The first word he spoke was a blessing
+fervently invoked on the head of R., who was riding, with a crest-fallen
+air, in the rear. Thanks to the ingenious devices of the gentleman, we
+had missed the track entirely, and wandered, not toward the Platte, but
+to the village of the Iowa Indians. This we learned from the dragoons,
+who had lately deserted from Fort Leavenworth. They told us that our
+best plan now was to keep to the northward until we should strike the
+trail formed by several parties of Oregon emigrants, who had that season
+set out from St. Joseph’s in Missouri.
+
+In extremely bad temper, we encamped on this ill-starred spot; while the
+deserters, whose case admitted of no delay rode rapidly forward. On the
+day following, striking the St. Joseph’s trail, we turned our horses’
+heads toward Fort Laramie, then about seven hundred miles to the
+westward.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+“THE BIG BLUE”
+
+
+The great medley of Oregon and California emigrants, at their camps
+around Independence, had heard reports that several additional parties
+were on the point of setting out from St. Joseph’s farther to the
+northward. The prevailing impression was that these were Mormons,
+twenty-three hundred in number; and a great alarm was excited in
+consequence. The people of Illinois and Missouri, who composed by far
+the greater part of the emigrants, have never been on the best terms
+with the “Latter Day Saints”; and it is notorious throughout the country
+how much blood has been spilt in their feuds, even far within the limits
+of the settlements. No one could predict what would be the result, when
+large armed bodies of these fanatics should encounter the most impetuous
+and reckless of their old enemies on the broad prairie, far beyond the
+reach of law or military force. The women and children at Independence
+raised a great outcry; the men themselves were seriously alarmed; and,
+as I learned, they sent to Colonel Kearny, requesting an escort of
+dragoons as far as the Platte. This was refused; and as the sequel
+proved, there was no occasion for it. The St. Joseph’s emigrants were as
+good Christians and as zealous Mormon-haters as the rest; and the very
+few families of the “Saints” who passed out this season by the route of
+the Platte remained behind until the great tide of emigration had gone
+by; standing in quite as much awe of the “gentiles” as the latter did of
+them.
+
+We were now, as I before mentioned, upon this St. Joseph’s trail. It was
+evident, by the traces, that large parties were a few days in advance of
+us; and as we too supposed them to be Mormons, we had some apprehension
+of interruption.
+
+The journey was somewhat monotonous. One day we rode on for hours,
+without seeing a tree or a bush; before, behind, and on either side,
+stretched the vast expanse, rolling in a succession of graceful swells,
+covered with the unbroken carpet of fresh green grass. Here and there a
+crow, or a raven, or a turkey-buzzard, relieved the uniformity.
+
+“What shall we do to-night for wood and water?” we began to ask of each
+other; for the sun was within an hour of setting. At length a dark green
+speck appeared, far off on the right; it was the top of a tree, peering
+over a swell of the prairie; and leaving the trail, we made all haste
+toward it. It proved to be the vanguard of a cluster of bushes and low
+trees, that surrounded some pools of water in an extensive hollow; so we
+encamped on the rising ground near it.
+
+Shaw and I were sitting in the tent, when Delorier thrust his brown face
+and old felt hat into the opening, and dilating his eyes to their utmost
+extent, announced supper. There were the tin cups and the iron spoons,
+arranged in military order on the grass, and the coffee-pot predominant
+in the midst. The meal was soon dispatched; but Henry Chatillon still
+sat cross-legged, dallying with the remnant of his coffee, the beverage
+in universal use upon the prairie, and an especial favorite with him. He
+preferred it in its virgin flavor, unimpaired by sugar or cream; and
+on the present occasion it met his entire approval, being exceedingly
+strong, or, as he expressed it, “right black.”
+
+It was a rich and gorgeous sunset--an American sunset; and the ruddy
+glow of the sky was reflected from some extensive pools of water among
+the shadowy copses in the meadow below.
+
+“I must have a bath to-night,” said Shaw. “How is it, Delorier? Any
+chance for a swim down here?”
+
+“Ah! I cannot tell; just as you please, monsieur,” replied Delorier,
+shrugging his shoulders, perplexed by his ignorance of English, and
+extremely anxious to conform in all respects to the opinion and wishes
+of his bourgeois.
+
+“Look at his moccasion,” said I. “It has evidently been lately immersed
+in a profound abyss of black mud.”
+
+“Come,” said Shaw; “at any rate we can see for ourselves.”
+
+We set out together; and as we approached the bushes, which were at some
+distance, we found the ground becoming rather treacherous. We could
+only get along by stepping upon large clumps of tall rank grass, with
+fathomless gulfs between, like innumerable little quaking islands in
+an ocean of mud, where a false step would have involved our boots in a
+catastrophe like that which had befallen Delorier’s moccasins. The thing
+looked desperate; we separated, so as to search in different directions,
+Shaw going off to the right, while I kept straight forward. At last I
+came to the edge of the bushes: they were young waterwillows, covered
+with their caterpillar-like blossoms, but intervening between them
+and the last grass clump was a black and deep slough, over which, by a
+vigorous exertion, I contrived to jump. Then I shouldered my way through
+the willows, tramping them down by main force, till I came to a wide
+stream of water, three inches deep, languidly creeping along over a
+bottom of sleek mud. My arrival produced a great commotion. A huge green
+bull-frog uttered an indignant croak, and jumped off the bank with a
+loud splash: his webbed feet twinkled above the surface, as he jerked
+them energetically upward, and I could see him ensconcing himself in
+the unresisting slime at the bottom, whence several large air bubbles
+struggled lazily to the top. Some little spotted frogs instantly
+followed the patriarch’s example; and then three turtles, not larger
+than a dollar, tumbled themselves off a broad “lily pad,” where they had
+been reposing. At the same time a snake, gayly striped with black and
+yellow, glided out from the bank, and writhed across to the other side;
+and a small stagnant pool into which my foot had inadvertently pushed a
+stone was instantly alive with a congregation of black tadpoles.
+
+“Any chance for a bath, where you are?” called out Shaw, from a
+distance.
+
+The answer was not encouraging. I retreated through the willows, and
+rejoining my companion, we proceeded to push our researches in company.
+Not far on the right, a rising ground, covered with trees and bushes,
+seemed to sink down abruptly to the water, and give hope of better
+success; so toward this we directed our steps. When we reached the place
+we found it no easy matter to get along between the hill and the water,
+impeded as we were by a growth of stiff, obstinate young birch-trees,
+laced together by grapevines. In the twilight, we now and then, to
+support ourselves, snatched at the touch-me-not stem of some ancient
+sweet-brier. Shaw, who was in advance, suddenly uttered a somewhat
+emphatic monosyllable; and looking up I saw him with one hand grasping a
+sapling, and one foot immersed in the water, from which he had forgotten
+to withdraw it, his whole attention being engaged in contemplating the
+movements of a water-snake, about five feet long, curiously checkered
+with black and green, who was deliberately swimming across the pool.
+There being no stick or stone at hand to pelt him with, we looked at him
+for a time in silent disgust; and then pushed forward. Our perseverence
+was at last rewarded; for several rods farther on, we emerged upon a
+little level grassy nook among the brushwood, and by an extraordinary
+dispensation of fortune, the weeds and floating sticks, which elsewhere
+covered the pool, seemed to have drawn apart, and left a few yards of
+clear water just in front of this favored spot. We sounded it with a
+stick; it was four feet deep; we lifted a specimen in our cupped hands;
+it seemed reasonably transparent, so we decided that the time for action
+was arrived. But our ablutions were suddenly interrupted by ten
+thousand punctures, like poisoned needles, and the humming of myriads
+of over-grown mosquitoes, rising in all directions from their native mud
+and slime and swarming to the feast. We were fain to beat a retreat with
+all possible speed.
+
+We made toward the tents, much refreshed by the bath which the heat of
+the weather, joined to our prejudices, had rendered very desirable.
+
+“What’s the matter with the captain? look at him!” said Shaw. The
+captain stood alone on the prairie, swinging his hat violently around
+his head, and lifting first one foot and then the other, without moving
+from the spot. First he looked down to the ground with an air of
+supreme abhorrence; then he gazed upward with a perplexed and indignant
+countenance, as if trying to trace the flight of an unseen enemy. We
+called to know what was the matter; but he replied only by execrations
+directed against some unknown object. We approached, when our ears were
+saluted by a droning sound, as if twenty bee-hives had been overturned
+at once. The air above was full of large black insects, in a state of
+great commotion, and multitudes were flying about just above the tops of
+the grass blades.
+
+“Don’t be afraid,” called the captain, observing us recoil. “The brutes
+won’t sting.”
+
+At this I knocked one down with my hat, and discovered him to be no
+other than a “dorbug”; and looking closer, we found the ground thickly
+perforated with their holes.
+
+We took a hasty leave of this flourishing colony, and walking up
+the rising ground to the tents, found Delorier’s fire still glowing
+brightly. We sat down around it, and Shaw began to expatiate on the
+admirable facilities for bathing that we had discovered, and recommended
+the captain by all means to go down there before breakfast in the
+morning. The captain was in the act of remarking that he couldn’t have
+believed it possible, when he suddenly interrupted himself, and clapped
+his hand to his cheek, exclaiming that “those infernal humbugs were at
+him again.” In fact, we began to hear sounds as if bullets were humming
+over our heads. In a moment something rapped me sharply on the forehead,
+then upon the neck, and immediately I felt an indefinite number of sharp
+wiry claws in active motion, as if their owner were bent on pushing his
+explorations farther. I seized him, and dropped him into the fire.
+Our party speedily broke up, and we adjourned to our respective tents,
+where, closing the opening fast, we hoped to be exempt from invasion.
+But all precaution was fruitless. The dorbugs hummed through the tent,
+and marched over our faces until day-light; when, opening our blankets,
+we found several dozen clinging there with the utmost tenacity. The
+first object that met our eyes in the morning was Delorier, who seemed
+to be apostrophizing his frying-pan, which he held by the handle at
+arm’s length. It appeared that he had left it at night by the fire; and
+the bottom was now covered with dorbugs, firmly imbedded. Multitudes
+beside, curiously parched and shriveled, lay scattered among the ashes.
+
+The horses and mules were turned loose to feed. We had just taken our
+seats at breakfast, or rather reclined in the classic mode, when an
+exclamation from Henry Chatillon, and a shout of alarm from the captain,
+gave warning of some casualty, and looking up, we saw the whole band
+of animals, twenty-three in number, filing off for the settlements, the
+incorrigible Pontiac at their head, jumping along with hobbled feet,
+at a gait much more rapid than graceful. Three or four of us ran to cut
+them off, dashing as best we might through the tall grass, which was
+glittering with myriads of dewdrops. After a race of a mile or more,
+Shaw caught a horse. Tying the trail-rope by way of bridle round the
+animal’s jaw, and leaping upon his back, he got in advance of the
+remaining fugitives, while we, soon bringing them together, drove them
+in a crowd up to the tents, where each man caught and saddled his own.
+Then we heard lamentations and curses; for half the horses had broke
+their hobbles, and many were seriously galled by attempting to run in
+fetters.
+
+It was late that morning before we were on the march; and early in the
+afternoon we were compelled to encamp, for a thunder-gust came up and
+suddenly enveloped us in whirling sheets of rain. With much ado, we
+pitched our tents amid the tempest, and all night long the thunder
+bellowed and growled over our heads. In the morning, light peaceful
+showers succeeded the cataracts of rain, that had been drenching us
+through the canvas of our tents. About noon, when there were some
+treacherous indications of fair weather, we got in motion again.
+
+Not a breath of air stirred over the free and open prairie; the clouds
+were like light piles of cotton; and where the blue sky was visible, it
+wore a hazy and languid aspect. The sun beat down upon us with a sultry
+penetrating heat almost insupportable, and as our party crept slowly
+along over the interminable level, the horses hung their heads as
+they waded fetlock deep through the mud, and the men slouched into
+the easiest position upon the saddle. At last, toward evening, the old
+familiar black heads of thunderclouds rose fast above the horizon, and
+the same deep muttering of distant thunder that had become the ordinary
+accompaniment of our afternoon’s journey began to roll hoarsely over
+the prairie. Only a few minutes elapsed before the whole sky was densely
+shrouded, and the prairie and some clusters of woods in front assumed a
+purple hue beneath the inky shadows. Suddenly from the densest fold of
+the cloud the flash leaped out, quivering again and again down to the
+edge of the prairie; and at the same instant came the sharp burst and
+the long rolling peal of the thunder. A cool wind, filled with the smell
+of rain, just then overtook us, leveling the tall grass by the side of
+the path.
+
+“Come on; we must ride for it!” shouted Shaw, rushing past at full
+speed, his led horse snorting at his side. The whole party broke into
+full gallop, and made for the trees in front. Passing these, we found
+beyond them a meadow which they half inclosed. We rode pell-mell upon
+the ground, leaped from horseback, tore off our saddles; and in a moment
+each man was kneeling at his horse’s feet. The hobbles were adjusted,
+and the animals turned loose; then, as the wagons came wheeling rapidly
+to the spot, we seized upon the tent-poles, and just as the storm broke,
+we were prepared to receive it. It came upon us almost with the darkness
+of night; the trees, which were close at hand, were completely shrouded
+by the roaring torrents of rain.
+
+We were sitting in the tent, when Delorier, with his broad felt hat
+hanging about his ears, and his shoulders glistening with rain, thrust
+in his head.
+
+“Voulez-vous du souper, tout de suite? I can make a fire, sous la
+charette--I b’lieve so--I try.”
+
+“Never mind supper, man; come in out of the rain.”
+
+Delorier accordingly crouched in the entrance, for modesty would not
+permit him to intrude farther.
+
+Our tent was none of the best defense against such a cataract. The
+rain could not enter bodily, but it beat through the canvas in a fine
+drizzle, that wetted us just as effectively. We sat upon our saddles
+with faces of the utmost surliness, while the water dropped from the
+vizors of our caps, and trickled down our cheeks. My india-rubber cloak
+conducted twenty little rapid streamlets to the ground; and Shaw’s
+blanket-coat was saturated like a sponge. But what most concerned us
+was the sight of several puddles of water rapidly accumulating; one
+in particular, that was gathering around the tent-pole, threatened
+to overspread the whole area within the tent, holding forth but an
+indifferent promise of a comfortable night’s rest. Toward sunset,
+however, the storm ceased as suddenly as it began. A bright streak
+of clear red sky appeared above the western verge of the prairie, the
+horizontal rays of the sinking sun streamed through it and glittered in
+a thousand prismatic colors upon the dripping groves and the prostrate
+grass. The pools in the tent dwindled and sunk into the saturated soil.
+
+But all our hopes were delusive. Scarcely had night set in, when the
+tumult broke forth anew. The thunder here is not like the tame thunder
+of the Atlantic coast. Bursting with a terrific crash directly above our
+heads, it roared over the boundless waste of prairie, seeming to roll
+around the whole circle of the firmament with a peculiar and awful
+reverberation. The lightning flashed all night, playing with its livid
+glare upon the neighboring trees, revealing the vast expanse of the
+plain, and then leaving us shut in as by a palpable wall of darkness.
+
+It did not disturb us much. Now and then a peal awakened us, and made us
+conscious of the electric battle that was raging, and of the floods that
+dashed upon the stanch canvas over our heads. We lay upon india-rubber
+cloths, placed between our blankets and the soil. For a while they
+excluded the water to admiration; but when at length it accumulated and
+began to run over the edges, they served equally well to retain it, so
+that toward the end of the night we were unconsciously reposing in small
+pools of rain.
+
+On finally awaking in the morning the prospect was not a cheerful one.
+The rain no longer poured in torrents; but it pattered with a quiet
+pertinacity upon the strained and saturated canvas. We disengaged
+ourselves from our blankets, every fiber of which glistened with little
+beadlike drops of water, and looked out in vain hope of discovering some
+token of fair weather. The clouds, in lead-colored volumes, rested upon
+the dismal verge of the prairie, or hung sluggishly overhead, while the
+earth wore an aspect no more attractive than the heavens, exhibiting
+nothing but pools of water, grass beaten down, and mud well trampled by
+our mules and horses. Our companions’ tent, with an air of forlorn
+and passive misery, and their wagons in like manner, drenched and
+woe-begone, stood not far off. The captain was just returning from his
+morning’s inspection of the horses. He stalked through the mist and
+rain, with his plaid around his shoulders; his little pipe, dingy as an
+antiquarian relic, projecting from beneath his mustache, and his brother
+Jack at his heels.
+
+“Good-morning, captain.”
+
+“Good-morning to your honors,” said the captain, affecting the Hibernian
+accent; but at that instant, as he stooped to enter the tent, he tripped
+upon the cords at the entrance, and pitched forward against the guns
+which were strapped around the pole in the center.
+
+“You are nice men, you are!” said he, after an ejaculation not necessary
+to be recorded, “to set a man-trap before your door every morning to
+catch your visitors.”
+
+Then he sat down upon Henry Chatillon’s saddle. We tossed a piece of
+buffalo robe to Jack, who was looking about in some embarrassment. He
+spread it on the ground, and took his seat, with a stolid countenance,
+at his brother’s side.
+
+“Exhilarating weather, captain!”
+
+“Oh, delightful, delightful!” replied the captain. “I knew it would be
+so; so much for starting yesterday at noon! I knew how it would turn
+out; and I said so at the time.”
+
+“You said just the contrary to us. We were in no hurry, and only moved
+because you insisted on it.”
+
+“Gentlemen,” said the captain, taking his pipe from his mouth with an
+air of extreme gravity, “it was no plan of mine. There is a man among us
+who is determined to have everything his own way. You may express your
+opinion; but don’t expect him to listen. You may be as reasonable as
+you like: oh, it all goes for nothing! That man is resolved to rule the
+roost and he’ll set his face against any plan that he didn’t think of
+himself.”
+
+The captain puffed for a while at his pipe, as if meditating upon his
+grievances; then he began again:
+
+“For twenty years I have been in the British army; and in all that time
+I never had half so much dissension, and quarreling, and nonsense, as
+since I have been on this cursed prairie. He’s the most uncomfortable
+man I ever met.”
+
+“Yes,” said Jack; “and don’t you know, Bill, how he drank up all the
+coffee last night, and put the rest by for himself till the morning!”
+
+“He pretends to know everything,” resumed the captain; “nobody must give
+orders but he! It’s, oh! we must do this; and, oh! we must do that; and
+the tent must be pitched here, and the horses must be picketed there;
+for nobody knows as well as he does.”
+
+We were a little surprised at this disclosure of domestic dissensions
+among our allies, for though we knew of their existence, we were not
+aware of their extent. The persecuted captain seeming wholly at a loss
+as to the course of conduct that he should pursue, we recommended him to
+adopt prompt and energetic measures; but all his military experience
+had failed to teach him the indispensable lesson to be “hard,” when the
+emergency requires it.
+
+“For twenty years,” he repeated, “I have been in the British army, and
+in that time I have been intimately acquainted with some two hundred
+officers, young and old, and I never yet quarreled with any man. Oh,
+‘anything for a quiet life!’ that’s my maxim.”
+
+We intimated that the prairie was hardly the place to enjoy a quiet
+life, but that, in the present circumstances, the best thing he could
+do toward securing his wished-for tranquillity, was immediately to put
+a period to the nuisance that disturbed it. But again the captain’s
+easy good-nature recoiled from the task. The somewhat vigorous measures
+necessary to gain the desired result were utterly repugnant to him; he
+preferred to pocket his grievances, still retaining the privilege of
+grumbling about them. “Oh, anything for a quiet life!” he said again,
+circling back to his favorite maxim.
+
+But to glance at the previous history of our transatlantic confederates.
+The captain had sold his commission, and was living in bachelor ease
+and dignity in his paternal halls, near Dublin. He hunted, fished, rode
+steeple-chases, ran races, and talked of his former exploits. He
+was surrounded with the trophies of his rod and gun; the walls were
+plentifully garnished, he told us, with moose-horns and deer-horns,
+bear-skins, and fox-tails; for the captain’s double-barreled rifle had
+seen service in Canada and Jamaica; he had killed salmon in Nova Scotia,
+and trout, by his own account, in all the streams of the three kingdoms.
+But in an evil hour a seductive stranger came from London; no less a
+person than R., who, among other multitudinous wanderings, had once been
+upon the western prairies, and naturally enough was anxious to visit
+them again. The captain’s imagination was inflamed by the pictures of a
+hunter’s paradise that his guest held forth; he conceived an ambition
+to add to his other trophies the horns of a buffalo, and the claws of
+a grizzly bear; so he and R. struck a league to travel in company. Jack
+followed his brother, as a matter of course. Two weeks on board the
+Atlantic steamer brought them to Boston; in two weeks more of hard
+traveling they reached St. Louis, from which a ride of six days
+carried them to the frontier; and here we found them, in full tide of
+preparation for their journey.
+
+We had been throughout on terms of intimacy with the captain, but
+R., the motive power of our companions’ branch of the expedition, was
+scarcely known to us. His voice, indeed, might be heard incessantly; but
+at camp he remained chiefly within the tent, and on the road he either
+rode by himself, or else remained in close conversation with his friend
+Wright, the muleteer. As the captain left the tent that morning, I
+observed R. standing by the fire, and having nothing else to do, I
+determined to ascertain, if possible, what manner of man he was. He had
+a book under his arm, but just at present he was engrossed in actively
+superintending the operations of Sorel, the hunter, who was cooking some
+corn-bread over the coals for breakfast. R. was a well-formed and rather
+good-looking man, some thirty years old; considerably younger than the
+captain. He wore a beard and mustache of the oakum complexion, and
+his attire was altogether more elegant than one ordinarily sees on the
+prairie. He wore his cap on one side of his head; his checked shirt,
+open in front, was in very neat order, considering the circumstances,
+and his blue pantaloons, of the John Bull cut, might once have figured
+in Bond Street.
+
+“Turn over that cake, man! turn it over, quick! Don’t you see it
+burning?”
+
+“It ain’t half done,” growled Sorel, in the amiable tone of a whipped
+bull-dog.
+
+“It is. Turn it over, I tell you!”
+
+Sorel, a strong, sullen-looking Canadian, who from having spent his life
+among the wildest and most remote of the Indian tribes, had imbibed much
+of their dark, vindictive spirit, looked ferociously up, as if he longed
+to leap upon his bourgeois and throttle him; but he obeyed the order,
+coming from so experienced an artist.
+
+“It was a good idea of yours,” said I, seating myself on the tongue of a
+wagon, “to bring Indian meal with you.”
+
+“Yes, yes” said R. “It’s good bread for the prairie--good bread for the
+prairie. I tell you that’s burning again.”
+
+Here he stooped down, and unsheathing the silver-mounted hunting-knife
+in his belt, began to perform the part of cook himself; at the same
+time requesting me to hold for a moment the book under his arm, which
+interfered with the exercise of these important functions. I opened
+it; it was “Macaulay’s Lays”; and I made some remark, expressing my
+admiration of the work.
+
+“Yes, yes; a pretty good thing. Macaulay can do better than that though.
+I know him very well. I have traveled with him. Where was it we first
+met--at Damascus? No, no; it was in Italy.”
+
+“So,” said I, “you have been over the same ground with your countryman,
+the author of ‘Eothen’? There has been some discussion in America as to
+who he is. I have heard Milne’s name mentioned.”
+
+“Milne’s? Oh, no, no, no; not at all. It was Kinglake; Kinglake’s the
+man. I know him very well; that is, I have seen him.”
+
+Here Jack C., who stood by, interposed a remark (a thing not common with
+him), observing that he thought the weather would become fair before
+twelve o’clock.
+
+“It’s going to rain all day,” said R., “and clear up in the middle of
+the night.”
+
+Just then the clouds began to dissipate in a very unequivocal manner;
+but Jack, not caring to defend his point against so authoritative a
+declaration, walked away whistling, and we resumed our conversation.
+
+“Borrow, the author of ‘The Bible in Spain,’ I presume you know him
+too?”
+
+“Oh, certainly; I know all those men. By the way, they told me that one
+of your American writers, Judge Story, had died lately. I edited some of
+his works in London; not without faults, though.”
+
+Here followed an erudite commentary on certain points of law, in which
+he particularly animadverted on the errors into which he considered that
+the judge had been betrayed. At length, having touched successively
+on an infinite variety of topics, I found that I had the happiness
+of discovering a man equally competent to enlighten me upon them all,
+equally an authority on matters of science or literature, philosophy or
+fashion. The part I bore in the conversation was by no means a prominent
+one; it was only necessary to set him going, and when he had run long
+enough upon one topic, to divert him to another and lead him on to pour
+out his heaps of treasure in succession.
+
+“What has that fellow been saying to you?” said Shaw, as I returned to
+the tent. “I have heard nothing but his talking for the last half-hour.”
+
+R. had none of the peculiar traits of the ordinary “British snob”;
+his absurdities were all his own, belonging to no particular nation or
+clime. He was possessed with an active devil that had driven him over
+land and sea, to no great purpose, as it seemed; for although he had the
+usual complement of eyes and ears, the avenues between these organs and
+his brain appeared remarkably narrow and untrodden. His energy was much
+more conspicuous than his wisdom; but his predominant characteristic was
+a magnanimous ambition to exercise on all occasions an awful rule and
+supremacy, and this propensity equally displayed itself, as the reader
+will have observed, whether the matter in question was the baking of a
+hoe-cake or a point of international law. When such diverse elements
+as he and the easy-tempered captain came in contact, no wonder some
+commotion ensued; R. rode roughshod, from morning till night, over his
+military ally.
+
+At noon the sky was clear and we set out, trailing through mud and slime
+six inches deep. That night we were spared the customary infliction of
+the shower bath.
+
+On the next afternoon we were moving slowly along, not far from a patch
+of woods which lay on the right. Jack C. rode a little in advance;
+
+
+The livelong day he had not spoke;
+
+
+when suddenly he faced about, pointed to the woods, and roared out to
+his brother:
+
+“O Bill! here’s a cow!”
+
+The captain instantly galloped forward, and he and Jack made a vain
+attempt to capture the prize; but the cow, with a well-grounded distrust
+of their intentions, took refuge among the trees. R. joined them, and
+they soon drove her out. We watched their evolutions as they galloped
+around here, trying in vain to noose her with their trail-ropes, which
+they had converted into lariettes for the occasion. At length they
+resorted to milder measures, and the cow was driven along with the
+party. Soon after the usual thunderstorm came up, the wind blowing with
+such fury that the streams of rain flew almost horizontally along the
+prairie, roaring like a cataract. The horses turned tail to the storm,
+and stood hanging their heads, bearing the infliction with an air of
+meekness and resignation; while we drew our heads between our shoulders,
+and crouched forward, so as to make our backs serve as a pent-house
+for the rest of our persons. Meanwhile the cow, taking advantage of the
+tumult, ran off, to the great discomfiture of the captain, who seemed to
+consider her as his own especial prize, since she had been discovered by
+Jack. In defiance of the storm, he pulled his cap tight over his brows,
+jerked a huge buffalo pistol from his holster, and set out at full speed
+after her. This was the last we saw of them for some time, the mist and
+rain making an impenetrable veil; but at length we heard the captain’s
+shout, and saw him looming through the tempest, the picture of a
+Hibernian cavalier, with his cocked pistol held aloft for safety’s sake,
+and a countenance of anxiety and excitement. The cow trotted before him,
+but exhibited evident signs of an intention to run off again, and the
+captain was roaring to us to head her. But the rain had got in behind
+our coat collars, and was traveling over our necks in numerous little
+streamlets, and being afraid to move our heads, for fear of admitting
+more, we sat stiff and immovable, looking at the captain askance, and
+laughing at his frantic movements. At last the cow made a sudden plunge
+and ran off; the captain grasped his pistol firmly, spurred his horse,
+and galloped after, with evident designs of mischief. In a moment we
+heard the faint report, deadened by the rain, and then the conqueror
+and his victim reappeared, the latter shot through the body, and quite
+helpless. Not long after the storm moderated and we advanced again. The
+cow walked painfully along under the charge of Jack, to whom the captain
+had committed her, while he himself rode forward in his old capacity
+of vedette. We were approaching a long line of trees, that followed
+a stream stretching across our path, far in front, when we beheld the
+vedette galloping toward us, apparently much excited, but with a broad
+grin on his face.
+
+“Let that cow drop behind!” he shouted to us; “here’s her owners!” And
+in fact, as we approached the line of trees, a large white object, like
+a tent, was visible behind them. On approaching, however, we found,
+instead of the expected Mormon camp, nothing but the lonely prairie, and
+a large white rock standing by the path. The cow therefore resumed her
+place in our procession. She walked on until we encamped, when R. firmly
+approaching with his enormous English double-barreled rifle, calmly and
+deliberately took aim at her heart, and discharged into it first one
+bullet and then the other. She was then butchered on the most approved
+principles of woodcraft, and furnished a very welcome item to our
+somewhat limited bill of fare.
+
+In a day or two more we reached the river called the “Big Blue.” By
+titles equally elegant, almost all the streams of this region are
+designated. We had struggled through ditches and little brooks all that
+morning; but on traversing the dense woods that lined the banks of the
+Blue, we found more formidable difficulties awaited us, for the stream,
+swollen by the rains, was wide, deep, and rapid.
+
+No sooner were we on the spot than R. had flung off his clothes, and was
+swimming across, or splashing through the shallows, with the end of a
+rope between his teeth. We all looked on in admiration, wondering what
+might be the design of this energetic preparation; but soon we heard him
+shouting: “Give that rope a turn round that stump! You, Sorel: do you
+hear? Look sharp now, Boisverd! Come over to this side, some of you, and
+help me!” The men to whom these orders were directed paid not the
+least attention to them, though they were poured out without pause
+or intermission. Henry Chatillon directed the work, and it proceeded
+quietly and rapidly. R.’s sharp brattling voice might have been
+heard incessantly; and he was leaping about with the utmost activity,
+multiplying himself, after the manner of great commanders, as if his
+universal presence and supervision were of the last necessity. His
+commands were rather amusingly inconsistent; for when he saw that the
+men would not do as he told them, he wisely accommodated himself
+to circumstances, and with the utmost vehemence ordered them to do
+precisely that which they were at the time engaged upon, no doubt
+recollecting the story of Mahomet and the refractory mountain.
+Shaw smiled significantly; R. observed it, and, approaching with a
+countenance of lofty indignation, began to vapor a little, but was
+instantly reduced to silence.
+
+The raft was at length complete. We piled our goods upon it, with
+the exception of our guns, which each man chose to retain in his own
+keeping. Sorel, Boisverd, Wright and Delorier took their stations at
+the four corners, to hold it together, and swim across with it; and in
+a moment more, all our earthly possessions were floating on the turbid
+waters of the Big Blue. We sat on the bank, anxiously watching the
+result, until we saw the raft safe landed in a little cove far down on
+the opposite bank. The empty wagons were easily passed across; and then
+each man mounting a horse, we rode through the stream, the stray animals
+following of their own accord.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE PLATTE AND THE DESERT
+
+
+We were now arrived at the close of our solitary journeyings along the
+St. Joseph’s trail. On the evening of the 23d of May we encamped near
+its junction with the old legitimate trail of the Oregon emigrants. We
+had ridden long that afternoon, trying in vain to find wood and water,
+until at length we saw the sunset sky reflected from a pool encircled by
+bushes and a rock or two. The water lay in the bottom of a hollow, the
+smooth prairie gracefully rising in oceanlike swells on every side.
+We pitched our tents by it; not however before the keen eye of Henry
+Chatillon had discerned some unusual object upon the faintly-defined
+outline of the distant swell. But in the moist, hazy atmosphere of the
+evening, nothing could be clearly distinguished. As we lay around the
+fire after supper, a low and distant sound, strange enough amid the
+loneliness of the prairie, reached our ears--peals of laughter, and the
+faint voices of men and women. For eight days we had not encountered a
+human being, and this singular warning of their vicinity had an effect
+extremely wild and impressive.
+
+About dark a sallow-faced fellow descended the hill on horseback, and
+splashing through the pool rode up to the tents. He was enveloped in a
+huge cloak, and his broad felt hat was weeping about his ears with
+the drizzling moisture of the evening. Another followed, a stout,
+square-built, intelligent-looking man, who announced himself as leader
+of an emigrant party encamped a mile in advance of us. About twenty
+wagons, he said, were with him; the rest of his party were on the
+other side of the Big Blue, waiting for a woman who was in the pains of
+child-birth, and quarreling meanwhile among themselves.
+
+These were the first emigrants that we had overtaken, although we had
+found abundant and melancholy traces of their progress throughout the
+whole course of the journey. Sometimes we passed the grave of one who
+had sickened and died on the way. The earth was usually torn up, and
+covered thickly with wolf-tracks. Some had escaped this violation. One
+morning a piece of plank, standing upright on the summit of a grassy
+hill, attracted our notice, and riding up to it we found the following
+words very roughly traced upon it, apparently by a red-hot piece of
+iron:
+
+
+MARY ELLIS
+
+DIED MAY 7TH, 1845.
+
+Aged two months.
+
+
+Such tokens were of common occurrence, nothing could speak more for the
+hardihood, or rather infatuation, of the adventurers, or the sufferings
+that await them upon the journey.
+
+We were late in breaking up our camp on the following morning, and
+scarcely had we ridden a mile when we saw, far in advance of us, drawn
+against the horizon, a line of objects stretching at regular intervals
+along the level edge of the prairie. An intervening swell soon hid them
+from sight, until, ascending it a quarter of an hour after, we saw close
+before us the emigrant caravan, with its heavy white wagons creeping on
+in their slow procession, and a large drove of cattle following behind.
+Half a dozen yellow-visaged Missourians, mounted on horseback, were
+cursing and shouting among them; their lank angular proportions
+enveloped in brown homespun, evidently cut and adjusted by the hands
+of a domestic female tailor. As we approached, they greeted us with
+the polished salutation: “How are ye, boys? Are ye for Oregon or
+California?”
+
+As we pushed rapidly past the wagons, children’s faces were thrust
+out from the white coverings to look at us; while the care-worn,
+thin-featured matron, or the buxom girl, seated in front, suspended
+the knitting on which most of them were engaged to stare at us with
+wondering curiosity. By the side of each wagon stalked the proprietor,
+urging on his patient oxen, who shouldered heavily along, inch by
+inch, on their interminable journey. It was easy to see that fear and
+dissension prevailed among them; some of the men--but these, with one
+exception, were bachelors--looked wistfully upon us as we rode lightly
+and swiftly past, and then impatiently at their own lumbering wagons
+and heavy-gaited oxen. Others were unwilling to advance at all until
+the party they had left behind should have rejoined them. Many were
+murmuring against the leader they had chosen, and wished to depose him;
+and this discontent was fermented by some ambitious spirits, who had
+hopes of succeeding in his place. The women were divided between regrets
+for the homes they had left and apprehension of the deserts and the
+savages before them.
+
+We soon left them far behind, and fondly hoped that we had taken a final
+leave; but unluckily our companions’ wagon stuck so long in a deep muddy
+ditch that, before it was extricated, the van of the emigrant caravan
+appeared again, descending a ridge close at hand. Wagon after wagon
+plunged through the mud; and as it was nearly noon, and the place
+promised shade and water, we saw with much gratification that they were
+resolved to encamp. Soon the wagons were wheeled into a circle; the
+cattle were grazing over the meadow, and the men with sour, sullen
+faces, were looking about for wood and water. They seemed to meet with
+but indifferent success. As we left the ground, I saw a tall slouching
+fellow with the nasal accent of “down east,” contemplating the contents
+of his tin cup, which he had just filled with water.
+
+“Look here, you,” he said; “it’s chock full of animals!”
+
+The cup, as he held it out, exhibited in fact an extraordinary variety
+and profusion of animal and vegetable life.
+
+Riding up the little hill and looking back on the meadow, we could
+easily see that all was not right in the camp of the emigrants. The
+men were crowded together, and an angry discussion seemed to be going
+forward. R. was missing from his wonted place in the line, and the
+captain told us that he had remained behind to get his horse shod by a
+blacksmith who was attached to the emigrant party. Something whispered
+in our ears that mischief was on foot; we kept on, however, and coming
+soon to a stream of tolerable water, we stopped to rest and dine. Still
+the absentee lingered behind. At last, at the distance of a mile, he
+and his horse suddenly appeared, sharply defined against the sky on the
+summit of a hill; and close behind, a huge white object rose slowly into
+view.
+
+“What is that blockhead bringing with him now?”
+
+A moment dispelled the mystery. Slowly and solemnly one behind the
+other, four long trains of oxen and four emigrant wagons rolled over the
+crest of the declivity and gravely descended, while R. rode in state
+in the van. It seems that, during the process of shoeing the horse,
+the smothered dissensions among the emigrants suddenly broke into open
+rupture. Some insisted on pushing forward, some on remaining where they
+were, and some on going back. Kearsley, their captain, threw up his
+command in disgust. “And now, boys,” said he, “if any of you are for
+going ahead, just you come along with me.”
+
+Four wagons, with ten men, one woman, and one small child, made up
+the force of the “go-ahead” faction, and R., with his usual proclivity
+toward mischief, invited them to join our party. Fear of the
+Indians--for I can conceive of no other motive--must have induced him
+to court so burdensome an alliance. As may well be conceived, these
+repeated instances of high-handed dealing sufficiently exasperated
+us. In this case, indeed, the men who joined us were all that could be
+desired; rude indeed in manner, but frank, manly, and intelligent.
+To tell them we could not travel with them was of course out of the
+question. I merely reminded Kearsley that if his oxen could not keep up
+with our mules he must expect to be left behind, as we could not consent
+to be further delayed on the journey; but he immediately replied, that
+his oxen “SHOULD keep up; and if they couldn’t, why he allowed that he’d
+find out how to make ‘em!” Having availed myself of what satisfaction
+could be derived from giving R. to understand my opinion of his conduct,
+I returned to our side of the camp.
+
+On the next day, as it chanced, our English companions broke the
+axle-tree of their wagon, and down came the whole cumbrous machine
+lumbering into the bed of a brook! Here was a day’s work cut out for us.
+Meanwhile, our emigrant associates kept on their way, and so vigorously
+did they urge forward their powerful oxen that, with the broken
+axle-tree and other calamities, it was full a week before we overtook
+them; when at length we discovered them, one afternoon, crawling quietly
+along the sandy brink of the Platte. But meanwhile various incidents
+occurred to ourselves.
+
+It was probable that at this stage of our journey the Pawnees would
+attempt to rob us. We began therefore to stand guard in turn, dividing
+the night into three watches, and appointing two men for each. Delorier
+and I held guard together. We did not march with military precision to
+and fro before the tents; our discipline was by no means so stringent
+and rigid. We wrapped ourselves in our blankets, and sat down by the
+fire; and Delorier, combining his culinary functions with his duties as
+sentinel, employed himself in boiling the head of an antelope for our
+morning’s repast. Yet we were models of vigilance in comparison with
+some of the party; for the ordinary practice of the guard was to
+establish himself in the most comfortable posture he could; lay his
+rifle on the ground, and enveloping his nose in the blanket, meditate
+on his mistress, or whatever subject best pleased him. This is all well
+enough when among Indians who do not habitually proceed further in their
+hostility than robbing travelers of their horses and mules, though,
+indeed, a Pawnee’s forebearance is not always to be trusted; but in
+certain regions farther to the west, the guard must beware how he
+exposes his person to the light of the fire, lest perchance some
+keen-eyed skulking marksman should let fly a bullet or an arrow from
+amid the darkness.
+
+Among various tales that circulated around our camp fire was a rather
+curious one, told by Boisverd, and not inappropriate here. Boisverd was
+trapping with several companions on the skirts of the Blackfoot country.
+The man on guard, well knowing that it behooved him to put forth his
+utmost precaution, kept aloof from the firelight, and sat watching
+intently on all sides. At length he was aware of a dark, crouching
+figure, stealing noiselessly into the circle of the light. He hastily
+cocked his rifle, but the sharp click of the lock caught the ear of
+Blackfoot, whose senses were all on the alert. Raising his arrow,
+already fitted to the string, he shot in the direction of the sound. So
+sure was his aim that he drove it through the throat of the unfortunate
+guard, and then, with a loud yell, bounded from the camp.
+
+As I looked at the partner of my watch, puffing and blowing over his
+fire, it occurred to me that he might not prove the most efficient
+auxiliary in time of trouble.
+
+“Delorier,” said I, “would you run away if the Pawnees should fire at
+us?”
+
+“Ah! oui, oui, monsieur!” he replied very decisively.
+
+I did not doubt the fact, but was a little surprised at the frankness of
+the confession.
+
+At this instant a most whimsical variety of voices--barks, howls, yelps,
+and whines--all mingled as it were together, sounded from the prairie,
+not far off, as if a whole conclave of wolves of every age and sex were
+assembled there. Delorier looked up from his work with a laugh, and
+began to imitate this curious medley of sounds with a most ludicrous
+accuracy. At this they were repeated with redoubled emphasis, the
+musician being apparently indignant at the successful efforts of a
+rival. They all proceeded from the throat of one little wolf, not
+larger than a spaniel, seated by himself at some distance. He was of
+the species called the prairie wolf; a grim-visaged, but harmless little
+brute, whose worst propensity is creeping among horses and gnawing the
+ropes of raw hide by which they are picketed around the camp. But
+other beasts roam the prairies, far more formidable in aspect and in
+character. These are the large white and gray wolves, whose deep howl we
+heard at intervals from far and near.
+
+At last I fell into a doze, and, awakening from it, found Delorier
+fast asleep. Scandalized by this breach of discipline, I was about to
+stimulate his vigilance by stirring him with the stock of my rifle; but
+compassion prevailing, I determined to let him sleep awhile, and then to
+arouse him, and administer a suitable reproof for such a forgetfulness
+of duty. Now and then I walked the rounds among the silent horses, to
+see that all was right. The night was chill, damp, and dark, the dank
+grass bending under the icy dewdrops. At the distance of a rod or two
+the tents were invisible, and nothing could be seen but the obscure
+figures of the horses, deeply breathing, and restlessly starting as they
+slept, or still slowly champing the grass. Far off, beyond the black
+outline of the prairie, there was a ruddy light, gradually increasing,
+like the glow of a conflagration; until at length the broad disk of the
+moon, blood-red, and vastly magnified by the vapors, rose slowly upon
+the darkness, flecked by one or two little clouds, and as the light
+poured over the gloomy plain, a fierce and stern howl, close at hand,
+seemed to greet it as an unwelcome intruder. There was something
+impressive and awful in the place and the hour; for I and the beasts
+were all that had consciousness for many a league around.
+
+Some days elapsed, and brought us near the Platte. Two men on horseback
+approached us one morning, and we watched them with the curiosity and
+interest that, upon the solitude of the plains, such an encounter always
+excites. They were evidently whites, from their mode of riding, though,
+contrary to the usage of that region, neither of them carried a rifle.
+
+“Fools!” remarked Henry Chatillon, “to ride that way on the prairie;
+Pawnee find them--then they catch it!”
+
+Pawnee HAD found them, and they had come very near “catching it”;
+indeed, nothing saved them from trouble but the approach of our party.
+Shaw and I knew one of them; a man named Turner, whom we had seen at
+Westport. He and his companion belonged to an emigrant party encamped
+a few miles in advance, and had returned to look for some stray oxen,
+leaving their rifles, with characteristic rashness or ignorance behind
+them. Their neglect had nearly cost them dear; for just before we
+came up, half a dozen Indians approached, and seeing them apparently
+defenseless, one of the rascals seized the bridle of Turner’s fine
+horse, and ordered him to dismount. Turner was wholly unarmed; but the
+other jerked a little revolving pistol out of his pocket, at which
+the Pawnee recoiled; and just then some of our men appearing in the
+distance, the whole party whipped their rugged little horses, and made
+off. In no way daunted, Turner foolishly persisted in going forward.
+
+Long after leaving him, and late this afternoon, in the midst of a
+gloomy and barren prairie, we came suddenly upon the great Pawnee trail,
+leading from their villages on the Platte to their war and hunting
+grounds to the southward. Here every summer pass the motley concourse;
+thousands of savages, men, women, and children, horses and mules, laden
+with their weapons and implements, and an innumerable multitude of
+unruly wolfish dogs, who have not acquired the civilized accomplishment
+of barking, but howl like their wild cousins of the prairie.
+
+The permanent winter villages of the Pawnees stand on the lower Platte,
+but throughout the summer the greater part of the inhabitants are
+wandering over the plains, a treacherous cowardly banditti, who by a
+thousand acts of pillage and murder have deserved summary chastisement
+at the hands of government. Last year a Dakota warrior performed a
+signal exploit at one of these villages. He approached it alone in the
+middle of a dark night, and clambering up the outside of one of the
+lodges which are in the form of a half-sphere, he looked in at the round
+hole made at the top for the escape of smoke. The dusky light from the
+smoldering embers showed him the forms of the sleeping inmates; and
+dropping lightly through the opening, he unsheathed his knife, and
+stirring the fire coolly selected his victims. One by one he stabbed and
+scalped them, when a child suddenly awoke and screamed. He rushed from
+the lodge, yelled a Sioux war-cry, shouted his name in triumph and
+defiance, and in a moment had darted out upon the dark prairie, leaving
+the whole village behind him in a tumult, with the howling and baying of
+dogs, the screams of women and the yells of the enraged warriors.
+
+Our friend Kearsley, as we learned on rejoining him, signalized himself
+by a less bloody achievement. He and his men were good woodsmen, and
+well skilled in the use of the rifle, but found themselves wholly out of
+their element on the prairie. None of them had ever seen a buffalo and
+they had very vague conceptions of his nature and appearance. On the
+day after they reached the Platte, looking toward a distant swell, they
+beheld a multitude of little black specks in motion upon its surface.
+
+“Take your rifles, boys,” said Kearslcy, “and we’ll have fresh meat for
+supper.” This inducement was quite sufficient. The ten men left their
+wagons and set out in hot haste, some on horseback and some on foot, in
+pursuit of the supposed buffalo. Meanwhile a high grassy ridge shut the
+game from view; but mounting it after half an hour’s running and riding,
+they found themselves suddenly confronted by about thirty mounted
+Pawnees! The amazement and consternation were mutual. Having nothing but
+their bows and arrows, the Indians thought their hour was come, and
+the fate that they were no doubt conscious of richly deserving about
+to overtake them. So they began, one and all, to shout forth the most
+cordial salutations of friendship, running up with extreme earnestness
+to shake hands with the Missourians, who were as much rejoiced as they
+were to escape the expected conflict.
+
+A low undulating line of sand-hills bounded the horizon before us. That
+day we rode ten consecutive hours, and it was dusk before we entered the
+hollows and gorges of these gloomy little hills. At length we gained the
+summit, and the long expected valley of the Platte lay before us. We
+all drew rein, and, gathering in a knot on the crest of the hill, sat
+joyfully looking down upon the prospect. It was right welcome; strange
+too, and striking to the imagination, and yet it had not one picturesque
+or beautiful feature; nor had it any of the features of grandeur, other
+than its vast extent, its solitude, and its wilderness. For league after
+league a plain as level as a frozen lake was outspread beneath us;
+here and there the Platte, divided into a dozen threadlike sluices, was
+traversing it, and an occasional clump of wood, rising in the midst like
+a shadowy island, relieved the monotony of the waste. No living thing
+was moving throughout the vast landscape, except the lizards that darted
+over the sand and through the rank grass and prickly-pear just at our
+feet. And yet stern and wild associations gave a singular interest to
+the view; for here each man lives by the strength of his arm and the
+valor of his heart. Here society is reduced to its original elements,
+the whole fabric of art and conventionality is struck rudely to pieces,
+and men find themselves suddenly brought back to the wants and resources
+of their original natures.
+
+We had passed the more toilsome and monotonous part of the journey; but
+four hundred miles still intervened between us and Fort Laramie; and to
+reach that point cost us the travel of three additional weeks. During
+the whole of this time we were passing up the center of a long narrow
+sandy plain, reaching like an outstretched belt nearly to the Rocky
+Mountains. Two lines of sand-hills, broken often into the wildest and
+most fantastic forms, flanked the valley at the distance of a mile or
+two on the right and left; while beyond them lay a barren, trackless
+waste--The Great American Desert--extending for hundreds of miles to the
+Arkansas on the one side, and the Missouri on the other. Before us and
+behind us, the level monotony of the plain was unbroken as far as the
+eye could reach. Sometimes it glared in the sun, an expanse of hot,
+bare sand; sometimes it was veiled by long coarse grass. Huge skulls
+and whitening bones of buffalo were scattered everywhere; the ground
+was tracked by myriads of them, and often covered with the circular
+indentations where the bulls had wallowed in the hot weather. From every
+gorge and ravine, opening from the hills, descended deep, well-worn
+paths, where the buffalo issue twice a day in regular procession down
+to drink in the Platte. The river itself runs through the midst, a thin
+sheet of rapid, turbid water, half a mile wide, and scarce two feet
+deep. Its low banks for the most part without a bush or a tree, are of
+loose sand, with which the stream is so charged that it grates on
+the teeth in drinking. The naked landscape is, of itself, dreary and
+monotonous enough, and yet the wild beasts and wild men that frequent
+the valley of the Platte make it a scene of interest and excitement to
+the traveler. Of those who have journeyed there, scarce one, perhaps,
+fails to look back with fond regret to his horse and his rifle.
+
+Early in the morning after we reached the Platte, a long procession of
+squalid savages approached our camp. Each was on foot, leading his horse
+by a rope of bull-hide. His attire consisted merely of a scanty cincture
+and an old buffalo robe, tattered and begrimed by use, which hung
+over his shoulders. His head was close shaven, except a ridge of hair
+reaching over the crown from the center of the forehead, very much like
+the long bristles on the back of a hyena, and he carried his bow and
+arrows in his hand, while his meager little horse was laden with dried
+buffalo meat, the produce of his hunting. Such were the first specimens
+that we met--and very indifferent ones they were--of the genuine savages
+of the prairie.
+
+They were the Pawnees whom Kearsley had encountered the day before, and
+belonged to a large hunting party known to be ranging the prairie in the
+vicinity. They strode rapidly past, within a furlong of our tents,
+not pausing or looking toward us, after the manner of Indians when
+meditating mischief or conscious of ill-desert. I went out and met them;
+and had an amicable conference with the chief, presenting him with
+half a pound of tobacco, at which unmerited bounty he expressed much
+gratification. These fellows, or some of their companions had committed
+a dastardly outrage upon an emigrant party in advance of us. Two men,
+out on horseback at a distance, were seized by them, but lashing their
+horses, they broke loose and fled. At this the Pawnees raised the yell
+and shot at them, transfixing the hindermost through the back with
+several arrows, while his companion galloped away and brought in the
+news to his party. The panic-stricken emigrants remained for several
+days in camp, not daring even to send out in quest of the dead body.
+
+The reader will recollect Turner, the man whose narrow escape was
+mentioned not long since. We heard that the men, whom the entreaties
+of his wife induced to go in search of him, found him leisurely driving
+along his recovered oxen, and whistling in utter contempt of the Pawnee
+nation. His party was encamped within two miles of us; but we passed
+them that morning, while the men were driving in the oxen, and the women
+packing their domestic utensils and their numerous offspring in the
+spacious patriarchal wagons. As we looked back we saw their caravan
+dragging its slow length along the plain; wearily toiling on its way, to
+found new empires in the West.
+
+Our New England climate is mild and equable compared with that of the
+Platte. This very morning, for instance, was close and sultry, the sun
+rising with a faint oppressive heat; when suddenly darkness gathered in
+the west, and a furious blast of sleet and hail drove full in our faces,
+icy cold, and urged with such demoniac vehemence that it felt like a
+storm of needles. It was curious to see the horses; they faced about
+in extreme displeasure, holding their tails like whipped dogs, and
+shivering as the angry gusts, howling louder than a concert of wolves,
+swept over us. Wright’s long train of mules came sweeping round before
+the storm like a flight of brown snowbirds driven by a winter tempest.
+Thus we all remained stationary for some minutes, crouching close to our
+horses’ necks, much too surly to speak, though once the captain looked
+up from between the collars of his coat, his face blood-red, and the
+muscles of his mouth contracted by the cold into a most ludicrous grin
+of agony. He grumbled something that sounded like a curse, directed
+as we believed, against the unhappy hour when he had first thought of
+leaving home. The thing was too good to last long; and the instant the
+puffs of wind subsided we erected our tents, and remained in camp for
+the rest of a gloomy and lowering day. The emigrants also encamped near
+at hand. We, being first on the ground, had appropriated all the wood
+within reach; so that our fire alone blazed cheerfully. Around it soon
+gathered a group of uncouth figures, shivering in the drizzling rain.
+Conspicuous among them were two or three of the half-savage men who
+spend their reckless lives in trapping among the Rocky Mountains, or
+in trading for the Fur Company in the Indian villages. They were all
+of Canadian extraction; their hard, weather-beaten faces and bushy
+mustaches looked out from beneath the hoods of their white capotes with
+a bad and brutish expression, as if their owner might be the willing
+agent of any villainy. And such in fact is the character of many of
+these men.
+
+On the day following we overtook Kearsley’s wagons, and thenceforward,
+for a week or two, we were fellow-travelers. One good effect, at least,
+resulted from the alliance; it materially diminished the serious fatigue
+of standing guard; for the party being now more numerous, there were
+longer intervals between each man’s turns of duty.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+THE BUFFALO
+
+
+Four days on the Platte, and yet no buffalo! Last year’s signs of them
+were provokingly abundant; and wood being extremely scarce, we found an
+admirable substitute in bois de vache, which burns exactly like peat,
+producing no unpleasant effects. The wagons one morning had left the
+camp; Shaw and I were already on horseback, but Henry Chatillon still
+sat cross-legged by the dead embers of the fire, playing pensively with
+the lock of his rifle, while his sturdy Wyandotte pony stood quietly
+behind him, looking over his head. At last he got up, patted the neck of
+the pony (whom, from an exaggerated appreciation of his merits, he had
+christened “Five Hundred Dollar”), and then mounted with a melancholy
+air.
+
+“What is it, Henry?”
+
+“Ah, I feel lonesome; I never been here before; but I see away yonder
+over the buttes, and down there on the prairie, black--all black with
+buffalo!”
+
+In the afternoon he and I left the party in search of an antelope; until
+at the distance of a mile or two on the right, the tall white wagons
+and the little black specks of horsemen were just visible, so slowly
+advancing that they seemed motionless; and far on the left rose the
+broken line of scorched, desolate sand-hills. The vast plain waved with
+tall rank grass that swept our horses’ bellies; it swayed to and fro in
+billows with the light breeze, and far and near antelope and wolves were
+moving through it, the hairy backs of the latter alternately appearing
+and disappearing as they bounded awkwardly along; while the antelope,
+with the simple curiosity peculiar to them, would often approach as
+closely, their little horns and white throats just visible above the
+grass tops, as they gazed eagerly at us with their round black eyes.
+
+I dismounted, and amused myself with firing at the wolves. Henry
+attentively scrutinized the surrounding landscape; at length he gave a
+shout, and called on me to mount again, pointing in the direction of the
+sand-hills. A mile and a half from us, two minute black specks
+slowly traversed the face of one of the bare glaring declivities, and
+disappeared behind the summit. “Let us go!” cried Henry, belaboring the
+sides of Five Hundred Dollar; and I following in his wake, we galloped
+rapidly through the rank grass toward the base of the hills.
+
+From one of their openings descended a deep ravine, widening as it
+issued on the prairie. We entered it, and galloping up, in a moment were
+surrounded by the bleak sand-hills. Half of their steep sides were bare;
+the rest were scantily clothed with clumps of grass, and various uncouth
+plants, conspicuous among which appeared the reptile-like prickly-pear.
+They were gashed with numberless ravines; and as the sky had suddenly
+darkened, and a cold gusty wind arisen, the strange shrubs and the
+dreary hills looked doubly wild and desolate. But Henry’s face was all
+eagerness. He tore off a little hair from the piece of buffalo robe
+under his saddle, and threw it up, to show the course of the wind. It
+blew directly before us. The game were therefore to windward, and it was
+necessary to make our best speed to get around them.
+
+We scrambled from this ravine, and galloping away through the hollows,
+soon found another, winding like a snake among the hills, and so deep
+that it completely concealed us. We rode up the bottom of it, glancing
+through the shrubbery at its edge, till Henry abruptly jerked his rein,
+and slid out of his saddle. Full a quarter of a mile distant, on the
+outline of the farthest hill, a long procession of buffalo were walking,
+in Indian file, with the utmost gravity and deliberation; then more
+appeared, clambering from a hollow not far off, and ascending, one
+behind the other, the grassy slope of another hill; then a shaggy head
+and a pair of short broken horns appeared issuing out of a ravine close
+at hand, and with a slow, stately step, one by one, the enormous brutes
+came into view, taking their way across the valley, wholly unconscious
+of an enemy. In a moment Henry was worming his way, lying flat on
+the ground, through grass and prickly-pears, toward his unsuspecting
+victims. He had with him both my rifle and his own. He was soon out of
+sight, and still the buffalo kept issuing into the valley. For a long
+time all was silent. I sat holding his horse, and wondering what he was
+about, when suddenly, in rapid succession, came the sharp reports of the
+two rifles, and the whole line of buffalo, quickening their pace into
+a clumsy trot, gradually disappeared over the ridge of the hill. Henry
+rose to his feet, and stood looking after them.
+
+“You have missed them,” said I.
+
+“Yes,” said Henry; “let us go.” He descended into the ravine, loaded the
+rifles, and mounted his horse.
+
+We rode up the hill after the buffalo. The herd was out of sight when
+we reached the top, but lying on the grass not far off, was one quite
+lifeless, and another violently struggling in the death agony.
+
+“You see I miss him!” remarked Henry. He had fired from a distance of
+more than a hundred and fifty yards, and both balls had passed through
+the lungs--the true mark in shooting buffalo.
+
+The darkness increased, and a driving storm came on. Tying our horses
+to the horns of the victims, Henry began the bloody work of dissection,
+slashing away with the science of a connoisseur, while I vainly
+endeavored to imitate him. Old Hendrick recoiled with horror and
+indignation when I endeavored to tie the meat to the strings of raw
+hide, always carried for this purpose, dangling at the back of the
+saddle. After some difficulty we overcame his scruples; and heavily
+burdened with the more eligible portions of the buffalo, we set out on
+our return. Scarcely had we emerged from the labyrinth of gorges and
+ravines, and issued upon the open prairie, when the pricking sleet came
+driving, gust upon gust, directly in our faces. It was strangely
+dark, though wanting still an hour of sunset. The freezing storm soon
+penetrated to the skin, but the uneasy trot of our heavy-gaited horses
+kept us warm enough, as we forced them unwillingly in the teeth of the
+sleet and rain, by the powerful suasion of our Indian whips. The prairie
+in this place was hard and level. A flourishing colony of prairie dogs
+had burrowed into it in every direction, and the little mounds of
+fresh earth around their holes were about as numerous as the hills in
+a cornfield; but not a yelp was to be heard; not the nose of a single
+citizen was visible; all had retired to the depths of their burrows,
+and we envied them their dry and comfortable habitations. An hour’s
+hard riding showed us our tent dimly looming through the storm, one
+side puffed out by the force of the wind, and the other collapsed in
+proportion, while the disconsolate horses stood shivering close around,
+and the wind kept up a dismal whistling in the boughs of three old
+half-dead trees above. Shaw, like a patriarch, sat on his saddle in the
+entrance, with a pipe in his mouth, and his arms folded, contemplating,
+with cool satisfaction, the piles of meat that we flung on the ground
+before him. A dark and dreary night succeeded; but the sun rose with
+heat so sultry and languid that the captain excused himself on that
+account from waylaying an old buffalo bull, who with stupid gravity was
+walking over the prairie to drink at the river. So much for the climate
+of the Platte!
+
+But it was not the weather alone that had produced this sudden abatement
+of the sportsmanlike zeal which the captain had always professed. He had
+been out on the afternoon before, together with several members of his
+party; but their hunting was attended with no other result than the
+loss of one of their best horses, severely injured by Sorel, in vainly
+chasing a wounded bull. The captain, whose ideas of hard riding were all
+derived from transatlantic sources, expressed the utmost amazement at
+the feats of Sorel, who went leaping ravines, and dashing at full speed
+up and down the sides of precipitous hills, lashing his horse with
+the recklessness of a Rocky Mountain rider. Unfortunately for the poor
+animal he was the property of R., against whom Sorel entertained an
+unbounded aversion. The captain himself, it seemed, had also attempted
+to “run” a buffalo, but though a good and practiced horseman, he had
+soon given over the attempt, being astonished and utterly disgusted at
+the nature of the ground he was required to ride over.
+
+Nothing unusual occurred on that day; but on the following morning Henry
+Chatillon, looking over the oceanlike expanse, saw near the foot of the
+distant hills something that looked like a band of buffalo. He was not
+sure, he said, but at all events, if they were buffalo, there was a fine
+chance for a race. Shaw and I at once determined to try the speed of our
+horses.
+
+“Come, captain; we’ll see which can ride hardest, a Yankee or an
+Irishman.”
+
+But the captain maintained a grave and austere countenance. He mounted
+his led horse, however, though very slowly; and we set out at a trot.
+The game appeared about three miles distant. As we proceeded the captain
+made various remarks of doubt and indecision; and at length declared he
+would have nothing to do with such a breakneck business; protesting that
+he had ridden plenty of steeple-chases in his day, but he never knew
+what riding was till he found himself behind a band of buffalo day
+before yesterday. “I am convinced,” said the captain, “that, ‘running’
+is out of the question.* Take my advice now and don’t attempt it. It’s
+dangerous, and of no use at all.”
+
+     *The method of hunting called “running” consists in
+     attacking the buffalo on horseback and shooting him with
+     bullets or arrows when at full-speed.  In “approaching,” the
+     hunter conceals himself and crawls on the ground toward the
+     game, or lies in wait to kill them.
+
+“Then why did you come out with us? What do you mean to do?”
+
+“I shall ‘approach,’” replied the captain.
+
+“You don’t mean to ‘approach’ with your pistols, do you? We have all of
+us left our rifles in the wagons.”
+
+The captain seemed staggered at the suggestion. In his characteristic
+indecision, at setting out, pistols, rifles, “running” and “approaching”
+ were mingled in an inextricable medley in his brain. He trotted on in
+silence between us for a while; but at length he dropped behind and
+slowly walked his horse back to rejoin the party. Shaw and I kept on;
+when lo! as we advanced, the band of buffalo were transformed into
+certain clumps of tall bushes, dotting the prairie for a considerable
+distance. At this ludicrous termination of our chase, we followed the
+example of our late ally, and turned back toward the party. We
+were skirting the brink of a deep ravine, when we saw Henry and the
+broad-chested pony coming toward us at a gallop.
+
+“Here’s old Papin and Frederic, down from Fort Laramie!” shouted Henry,
+long before he came up. We had for some days expected this encounter.
+Papin was the bourgeois of Fort Laramie. He had come down the river
+with the buffalo robes and the beaver, the produce of the last winter’s
+trading. I had among our baggage a letter which I wished to commit to
+their hands; so requesting Henry to detain the boats if he could until
+my return, I set out after the wagons. They were about four miles in
+advance. In half an hour I overtook them, got the letter, trotted back
+upon the trail, and looking carefully, as I rode, saw a patch of broken,
+storm-blasted trees, and moving near them some little black specks like
+men and horses. Arriving at the place, I found a strange assembly. The
+boats, eleven in number, deep-laden with the skins, hugged close to
+the shore, to escape being borne down by the swift current. The rowers,
+swarthy ignoble Mexicans, turned their brutish faces upward to look, as
+I reached the bank. Papin sat in the middle of one of the boats upon the
+canvas covering that protected the robes. He was a stout, robust fellow,
+with a little gray eye, that had a peculiarly sly twinkle. “Frederic”
+ also stretched his tall rawboned proportions close by the bourgeois,
+and “mountain-men” completed the group; some lounging in the boats, some
+strolling on shore; some attired in gayly painted buffalo robes, like
+Indian dandies; some with hair saturated with red paint, and beplastered
+with glue to their temples; and one bedaubed with vermilion upon his
+forehead and each cheek. They were a mongrel race; yet the French blood
+seemed to predominate; in a few, indeed, might be seen the black snaky
+eye of the Indian half-breed, and one and all, they seemed to aim at
+assimilating themselves to their savage associates.
+
+I shook hands with the bourgeois, and delivered the letter; then the
+boats swung round into the stream and floated away. They had reason
+for haste, for already the voyage from Fort Laramie had occupied a full
+month, and the river was growing daily more shallow. Fifty times a
+day the boats had been aground, indeed; those who navigate the Platte
+invariably spend half their time upon sand-bars. Two of these boats,
+the property of private traders, afterward separating from the rest,
+got hopelessly involved in the shallows, not very far from the Pawnee
+villages, and were soon surrounded by a swarm of the inhabitants. They
+carried off everything that they considered valuable, including most of
+the robes; and amused themselves by tying up the men left on guard and
+soundly whipping them with sticks.
+
+We encamped that night upon the bank of the river. Among the emigrants
+there was an overgrown boy, some eighteen years old, with a head as
+round and about as large as a pumpkin, and fever-and-ague fits had dyed
+his face of a corresponding color. He wore an old white hat, tied under
+his chin with a handkerchief; his body was short and stout, but his
+legs of disproportioned and appalling length. I observed him at sunset,
+breasting the hill with gigantic strides, and standing against the sky
+on the summit, like a colossal pair of tongs. In a moment after we heard
+him screaming frantically behind the ridge, and nothing doubting that
+he was in the clutches of Indians or grizzly bears, some of the party
+caught up their rifles and ran to the rescue. His outcries, however,
+proved but an ebullition of joyous excitement; he had chased two little
+wolf pups to their burrow, and he was on his knees, grubbing away like a
+dog at the mouth of the hole, to get at them.
+
+Before morning he caused more serious disquiet in the camp. It was his
+turn to hold the middle guard; but no sooner was he called up, than he
+coolly arranged a pair of saddle-bags under a wagon, laid his head upon
+them, closed his eyes, opened his mouth and fell asleep. The guard on
+our side of the camp, thinking it no part of his duty to look after the
+cattle of the emigrants, contented himself with watching our own horses
+and mules; the wolves, he said, were unusually noisy; but still no
+mischief was anticipated until the sun rose, and not a hoof or horn was
+in sight! The cattle were gone! While Tom was quietly slumbering, the
+wolves had driven them away.
+
+Then we reaped the fruits of R.’s precious plan of traveling in company
+with emigrants. To leave them in their distress was not to be thought
+of, and we felt bound to wait until the cattle could be searched for,
+and, if possible, recovered. But the reader may be curious to know
+what punishment awaited the faithless Tom. By the wholesome law of
+the prairie, he who falls asleep on guard is condemned to walk all
+day leading his horse by the bridle, and we found much fault with
+our companions for not enforcing such a sentence on the offender.
+Nevertheless had he been of our party, I have no doubt he would in like
+manner have escaped scot-free. But the emigrants went farther than mere
+forebearance; they decreed that since Tom couldn’t stand guard without
+falling asleep, he shouldn’t stand guard at all, and henceforward his
+slumbers were unbroken. Establishing such a premium on drowsiness could
+have no very beneficial effect upon the vigilance of our sentinels; for
+it is far from agreeable, after riding from sunrise to sunset, to feel
+your slumbers interrupted by the butt of a rifle nudging your side, and
+a sleepy voice growling in your ear that you must get up, to shiver and
+freeze for three weary hours at midnight.
+
+“Buffalo! buffalo!” It was but a grim old bull, roaming the prairie by
+himself in misanthropic seclusion; but there might be more behind the
+hills. Dreading the monotony and languor of the camp, Shaw and I saddled
+our horses, buckled our holsters in their places, and set out with Henry
+Chatillon in search of the game. Henry, not intending to take part in
+the chase, but merely conducting us, carried his rifle with him, while
+we left ours behind as incumbrances. We rode for some five or six miles,
+and saw no living thing but wolves, snakes, and prairie dogs.
+
+“This won’t do at all,” said Shaw.
+
+“What won’t do?”
+
+“There’s no wood about here to make a litter for the wounded man; I have
+an idea that one of us will need something of the sort before the day is
+over.”
+
+There was some foundation for such an apprehension, for the ground was
+none of the best for a race, and grew worse continually as we proceeded;
+indeed it soon became desperately bad, consisting of abrupt hills and
+deep hollows, cut by frequent ravines not easy to pass. At length, a
+mile in advance, we saw a band of bulls. Some were scattered grazing
+over a green declivity, while the rest were crowded more densely
+together in the wide hollow below. Making a circuit to keep out of
+sight, we rode toward them until we ascended a hill within a furlong of
+them, beyond which nothing intervened that could possibly screen us from
+their view. We dismounted behind the ridge just out of sight, drew our
+saddle-girths, examined our pistols, and mounting again rode over
+the hill, and descended at a canter toward them, bending close to
+our horses’ necks. Instantly they took the alarm; those on the hill
+descended; those below gathered into a mass, and the whole got in
+motion, shouldering each other along at a clumsy gallop. We followed,
+spurring our horses to full speed; and as the herd rushed, crowding and
+trampling in terror through an opening in the hills, we were close at
+their heels, half suffocated by the clouds of dust. But as we drew near,
+their alarm and speed increased; our horses showed signs of the utmost
+fear, bounding violently aside as we approached, and refusing to
+enter among the herd. The buffalo now broke into several small bodies,
+scampering over the hills in different directions, and I lost sight of
+Shaw; neither of us knew where the other had gone. Old Pontiac ran like
+a frantic elephant up hill and down hill, his ponderous hoofs striking
+the prairie like sledge-hammers. He showed a curious mixture of
+eagerness and terror, straining to overtake the panic-stricken herd, but
+constantly recoiling in dismay as we drew near. The fugitives, indeed,
+offered no very attractive spectacle, with their enormous size and
+weight, their shaggy manes and the tattered remnants of their last
+winter’s hair covering their backs in irregular shreds and patches, and
+flying off in the wind as they ran. At length I urged my horse close
+behind a bull, and after trying in vain, by blows and spurring, to
+bring him alongside, I shot a bullet into the buffalo from this
+disadvantageous position. At the report, Pontiac swerved so much that I
+was again thrown a little behind the game. The bullet, entering too much
+in the rear, failed to disable the bull, for a buffalo requires to be
+shot at particular points, or he will certainly escape. The herd ran up
+a hill, and I followed in pursuit. As Pontiac rushed headlong down on
+the other side, I saw Shaw and Henry descending the hollow on the right,
+at a leisurely gallop; and in front, the buffalo were just disappearing
+behind the crest of the next hill, their short tails erect, and their
+hoofs twinkling through a cloud of dust.
+
+At that moment, I heard Shaw and Henry shouting to me; but the muscles
+of a stronger arm than mine could not have checked at once the furious
+course of Pontiac, whose mouth was as insensible as leather. Added to
+this, I rode him that morning with a common snaffle, having the day
+before, for the benefit of my other horse, unbuckled from my bridle the
+curb which I ordinarily used. A stronger and hardier brute never trod
+the prairie; but the novel sight of the buffalo filled him with terror,
+and when at full speed he was almost incontrollable. Gaining the top of
+the ridge, I saw nothing of the buffalo; they had all vanished amid the
+intricacies of the hills and hollows. Reloading my pistols, in the best
+way I could, I galloped on until I saw them again scuttling along at
+the base of the hill, their panic somewhat abated. Down went old Pontiac
+among them, scattering them to the right and left, and then we had
+another long chase. About a dozen bulls were before us, scouring over
+the hills, rushing down the declivities with tremendous weight and
+impetuosity, and then laboring with a weary gallop upward. Still
+Pontiac, in spite of spurring and beating, would not close with them.
+One bull at length fell a little behind the rest, and by dint of much
+effort I urged my horse within six or eight yards of his side. His back
+was darkened with sweat; he was panting heavily, while his tongue lolled
+out a foot from his jaws. Gradually I came up abreast of him, urging
+Pontiac with leg and rein nearer to his side, then suddenly he did what
+buffalo in such circumstances will always do; he slackened his gallop,
+and turning toward us, with an aspect of mingled rage and distress,
+lowered his huge shaggy head for a charge. Pontiac with a snort, leaped
+aside in terror, nearly throwing me to the ground, as I was wholly
+unprepared for such an evolution. I raised my pistol in a passion to
+strike him on the head, but thinking better of it fired the bullet after
+the bull, who had resumed his flight, then drew rein and determined
+to rejoin my companions. It was high time. The breath blew hard from
+Pontiac’s nostrils, and the sweat rolled in big drops down his sides;
+I myself felt as if drenched in warm water. Pledging myself (and I
+redeemed the pledge) to take my revenge at a future opportunity, I
+looked round for some indications to show me where I was, and what
+course I ought to pursue; I might as well have looked for landmarks in
+the midst of the ocean. How many miles I had run or in what direction,
+I had no idea; and around me the prairie was rolling in steep swells
+and pitches, without a single distinctive feature to guide me. I had
+a little compass hung at my neck; and ignorant that the Platte at this
+point diverged considerably from its easterly course, I thought that by
+keeping to the northward I should certainly reach it. So I turned
+and rode about two hours in that direction. The prairie changed as I
+advanced, softening away into easier undulations, but nothing like the
+Platte appeared, nor any sign of a human being; the same wild endless
+expanse lay around me still; and to all appearance I was as far from my
+object as ever. I began now to consider myself in danger of being
+lost; and therefore, reining in my horse, summoned the scanty share of
+woodcraft that I possessed (if that term he applicable upon the prairie)
+to extricate me. Looking round, it occurred to me that the buffalo might
+prove my best guides. I soon found one of the paths made by them in
+their passage to the river; it ran nearly at right angles to my course;
+but turning my horse’s head in the direction it indicated, his freer
+gait and erected ears assured me that I was right.
+
+But in the meantime my ride had been by no means a solitary one.
+The whole face of the country was dotted far and wide with countless
+hundreds of buffalo. They trooped along in files and columns, bulls
+cows, and calves, on the green faces of the declivities in front. They
+scrambled away over the hills to the right and left; and far off, the
+pale blue swells in the extreme distance were dotted with innumerable
+specks. Sometimes I surprised shaggy old bulls grazing alone, or
+sleeping behind the ridges I ascended. They would leap up at my
+approach, stare stupidly at me through their tangled manes, and then
+gallop heavily away. The antelope were very numerous; and as they are
+always bold when in the neighborhood of buffalo, they would approach
+quite near to look at me, gazing intently with their great round eyes,
+then suddenly leap aside, and stretch lightly away over the prairie, as
+swiftly as a racehorse. Squalid, ruffianlike wolves sneaked through the
+hollows and sandy ravines. Several times I passed through villages of
+prairie dogs, who sat, each at the mouth of his burrow, holding his paws
+before him in a supplicating attitude, and yelping away most vehemently,
+energetically whisking his little tail with every squeaking cry he
+uttered. Prairie dogs are not fastidious in their choice of companions;
+various long, checkered snakes were sunning themselves in the midst of
+the village, and demure little gray owls, with a large white ring around
+each eye, were perched side by side with the rightful inhabitants. The
+prairie teemed with life. Again and again I looked toward the crowded
+hillsides, and was sure I saw horsemen; and riding near, with a mixture
+of hope and dread, for Indians were abroad, I found them transformed
+into a group of buffalo. There was nothing in human shape amid all this
+vast congregation of brute forms.
+
+When I turned down the buffalo path, the prairie seemed changed; only
+a wolf or two glided past at intervals, like conscious felons, never
+looking to the right or left. Being now free from anxiety, I was at
+leisure to observe minutely the objects around me; and here, for the
+first time, I noticed insects wholly different from any of the varieties
+found farther to the eastward. Gaudy butterflies fluttered about my
+horse’s head; strangely formed beetles, glittering with metallic luster,
+were crawling upon plants that I had never seen before; multitudes of
+lizards, too, were darting like lightning over the sand.
+
+I had run to a great distance from the river. It cost me a long ride
+on the buffalo path before I saw from the ridge of a sand-hill the pale
+surface of the Platte glistening in the midst of its desert valleys, and
+the faint outline of the hills beyond waving along the sky. From where
+I stood, not a tree nor a bush nor a living thing was visible throughout
+the whole extent of the sun-scorched landscape. In half an hour I came
+upon the trail, not far from the river; and seeing that the party had
+not yet passed, I turned eastward to meet them, old Pontiac’s long
+swinging trot again assuring me that I was right in doing so. Having
+been slightly ill on leaving camp in the morning six or seven hours of
+rough riding had fatigued me extremely. I soon stopped, therefore; flung
+my saddle on the ground, and with my head resting on it, and my horse’s
+trail-rope tied loosely to my arm, lay waiting the arrival of the
+party, speculating meanwhile on the extent of the injuries Pontiac had
+received. At length the white wagon coverings rose from the verge of the
+plain. By a singular coincidence, almost at the same moment two horsemen
+appeared coming down from the hills. They were Shaw and Henry, who had
+searched for me a while in the morning, but well knowing the futility of
+the attempt in such a broken country, had placed themselves on the top
+of the highest hill they could find, and picketing their horses near
+them, as a signal to me, had laid down and fallen asleep. The stray
+cattle had been recovered, as the emigrants told us, about noon. Before
+sunset, we pushed forward eight miles farther.
+
+
+JUNE 7, 1846.--Four men are missing; R., Sorel and two emigrants.
+They set out this morning after buffalo, and have not yet made their
+appearance; whether killed or lost, we cannot tell.
+
+
+I find the above in my notebook, and well remember the council held on
+the occasion. Our fire was the scene of it; or the palpable superiority
+of Henry Chatillon’s experience and skill made him the resort of the
+whole camp upon every question of difficulty. He was molding bullets
+at the fire, when the captain drew near, with a perturbed and care-worn
+expression of countenance, faithfully reflected on the heavy features
+of Jack, who followed close behind. Then emigrants came straggling from
+their wagons toward the common center; various suggestions were made to
+account for the absence of the four men, and one or two of the emigrants
+declared that when out after the cattle they had seen Indians dogging
+them, and crawling like wolves along the ridges of the hills. At this
+time the captain slowly shook his head with double gravity, and solemnly
+remarked:
+
+“It’s a serious thing to be traveling through this cursed wilderness”;
+an opinion in which Jack immediately expressed a thorough coincidence.
+Henry would not commit himself by declaring any positive opinion.
+
+“Maybe he only follow the buffalo too far; maybe Indian kill him; maybe
+he got lost; I cannot tell!”
+
+With this the auditors were obliged to rest content; the emigrants, not
+in the least alarmed, though curious to know what had become of their
+comrades, walked back to their wagons and the captain betook himself
+pensively to his tent. Shaw and I followed his example.
+
+“It will be a bad thing for our plans,” said he as we entered, “if these
+fellows don’t get back safe. The captain is as helpless on the prairie
+as a child. We shall have to take him and his brother in tow; they will
+hang on us like lead.”
+
+“The prairie is a strange place,” said I. “A month ago I should have
+thought it rather a startling affair to have an acquaintance ride out in
+the morning and lose his scalp before night, but here it seems the most
+natural thing in the world; not that I believe that R. has lost his
+yet.”
+
+If a man is constitutionally liable to nervous apprehensions, a tour on
+the distant prairies would prove the best prescription; for though when
+in the neighborhood of the Rocky Mountains he may at times find himself
+placed in circumstances of some danger, I believe that few ever breathe
+that reckless atmosphere without becoming almost indifferent to any evil
+chance that may befall themselves or their friends.
+
+Shaw had a propensity for luxurious indulgence. He spread his blanket
+with the utmost accuracy on the ground, picked up the sticks and stones
+that he thought might interfere with his comfort, adjusted his saddle to
+serve as a pillow, and composed himself for his night’s rest. I had the
+first guard that evening; so, taking my rifle, I went out of the tent.
+It was perfectly dark. A brisk wind blew down from the hills, and
+the sparks from the fire were streaming over the prairie. One of the
+emigrants, named Morton, was my companion; and laying our rifles on the
+grass, we sat down together by the fire. Morton was a Kentuckian, an
+athletic fellow, with a fine intelligent face, and in his manners and
+conversation he showed the essential characteristics of a gentleman.
+Our conversation turned on the pioneers of his gallant native State. The
+three hours of our watch dragged away at last, and we went to call up
+the relief.
+
+R.’s guard succeeded mine. He was absent; but the captain, anxious lest
+the camp should be left defenseless, had volunteered to stand in his
+place; so I went to wake him up. There was no occasion for it, for the
+captain had been awake since nightfall. A fire was blazing outside of
+the tent, and by the light which struck through the canvas, I saw him
+and Jack lying on their backs, with their eyes wide open. The captain
+responded instantly to my call; he jumped up, seized the double-barreled
+rifle, and came out of the tent with an air of solemn determination, as
+if about to devote himself to the safety of the party. I went and lay
+down, not doubting that for the next three hours our slumbers would be
+guarded with sufficient vigilance.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+TAKING FRENCH LEAVE
+
+
+On the 8th of June, at eleven o’clock, we reached the South Fork of the
+Platte, at the usual fording place. For league upon league the desert
+uniformity of the prospect was almost unbroken; the hills were dotted
+with little tufts of shriveled grass, but betwixt these the white sand
+was glaring in the sun; and the channel of the river, almost on a level
+with the plain, was but one great sand-bed, about half a mile wide. It
+was covered with water, but so scantily that the bottom was scarcely
+hidden; for, wide as it is, the average depth of the Platte does not at
+this point exceed a foot and a half. Stopping near its bank, we gathered
+bois de vache, and made a meal of buffalo meat. Far off, on the other
+side, was a green meadow, where we could see the white tents and wagons
+of an emigrant camp; and just opposite to us we could discern a group of
+men and animals at the water’s edge. Four or five horsemen soon entered
+the river, and in ten minutes had waded across and clambered up the
+loose sand-bank. They were ill-looking fellows, thin and swarthy, with
+care-worn, anxious faces and lips rigidly compressed. They had good
+cause for anxiety; it was three days since they first encamped here, and
+on the night of their arrival they had lost 123 of their best cattle,
+driven off by the wolves, through the neglect of the man on guard. This
+discouraging and alarming calamity was not the first that had overtaken
+them. Since leaving the settlements, they had met with nothing but
+misfortune. Some of their party had died; one man had been killed by the
+Pawnees; and about a week before, they had been plundered by the Dakotas
+of all their best horses, the wretched animals on which our visitors
+were mounted being the only ones that were left. They had encamped, they
+told us, near sunset, by the side of the Platte, and their oxen were
+scattered over the meadow, while the band of horses were feeding a
+little farther off. Suddenly the ridges of the hills were alive with a
+swarm of mounted Indians, at least six hundred in number, who, with a
+tremendous yell, came pouring down toward the camp, rushing up within a
+few rods, to the great terror of the emigrants; but suddenly wheeling,
+they swept around the band of horses, and in five minutes had
+disappeared with their prey through the openings of the hills.
+
+As these emigrants were telling their story, we saw four other
+men approaching. They proved to be R. and his companions, who had
+encountered no mischance of any kind, but had only wandered too far
+in pursuit of the game. They said they had seen no Indians, but only
+“millions of buffalo”; and both R. and Sorel had meat dangling behind
+their saddles.
+
+The emigrants re-crossed the river, and we prepared to follow. First
+the heavy ox-wagons plunged down the bank, and dragged slowly over the
+sand-beds; sometimes the hoofs of the oxen were scarcely wetted by the
+thin sheet of water; and the next moment the river would be boiling
+against their sides, and eddying fiercely around the wheels. Inch by
+inch they receded from the shore, dwindling every moment, until at
+length they seemed to be floating far in the very middle of the river.
+A more critical experiment awaited us; for our little mule-cart was
+but ill-fitted for the passage of so swift a stream. We watched it with
+anxiety till it seemed to be a little motionless white speck in the
+midst of the waters; and it WAS motionless, for it had stuck fast in a
+quicksand. The little mules were losing their footing, the wheels were
+sinking deeper and deeper, and the water began to rise through the
+bottom and drench the goods within. All of us who had remained on the
+hither bank galloped to the rescue; the men jumped into the water,
+adding their strength to that of the mules, until by much effort the
+cart was extricated, and conveyed in safety across.
+
+As we gained the other bank, a rough group of men surrounded us. They
+were not robust, nor large of frame, yet they had an aspect of hardy
+endurance. Finding at home no scope for their fiery energies, they had
+betaken themselves to the prairie; and in them seemed to be revived,
+with redoubled force, that fierce spirit which impelled their ancestors,
+scarce more lawless than themselves, from the German forests, to
+inundate Europe and break to pieces the Roman empire. A fortnight
+afterward this unfortunate party passed Fort Laramie, while we were
+there. Not one of their missing oxen had been recovered, though they had
+remained encamped a week in search of them; and they had been compelled
+to abandon a great part of their baggage and provisions, and yoke cows
+and heifers to their wagons to carry them forward upon their journey,
+the most toilsome and hazardous part of which lay still before them.
+
+It is worth noticing that on the Platte one may sometimes see the
+shattered wrecks of ancient claw-footed tables, well waxed and rubbed,
+or massive bureaus of carved oak. These, many of them no doubt
+the relics of ancestral prosperity in the colonial time, must have
+encountered strange vicissitudes. Imported, perhaps, originally from
+England; then, with the declining fortunes of their owners, borne across
+the Alleghenies to the remote wilderness of Ohio or Kentucky; then to
+Illinois or Missouri; and now at last fondly stowed away in the family
+wagon for the interminable journey to Oregon. But the stern privations
+of the way are little anticipated. The cherished relic is soon flung out
+to scorch and crack upon the hot prairie.
+
+We resumed our journey; but we had gone scarcely a mile, when R. called
+out from the rear:
+
+“We’ll camp here.”
+
+“Why do you want to camp? Look at the sun. It is not three o’clock yet.”
+
+“We’ll camp here!”
+
+This was the only reply vouchsafed. Delorier was in advance with his
+cart. Seeing the mule-wagon wheeling from the track, he began to turn
+his own team in the same direction.
+
+“Go on, Delorier,” and the little cart advanced again. As we rode on, we
+soon heard the wagon of our confederates creaking and jolting on behind
+us, and the driver, Wright, discharging a furious volley of oaths
+against his mules; no doubt venting upon them the wrath which he dared
+not direct against a more appropriate object.
+
+Something of this sort had frequently occurred. Our English friend was
+by no means partial to us, and we thought we discovered in his conduct a
+deliberate intention to thwart and annoy us, especially by retarding
+the movements of the party, which he knew that we, being Yankees, were
+anxious to quicken. Therefore, he would insist on encamping at all
+unseasonable hours, saying that fifteen miles was a sufficient day’s
+journey. Finding our wishes systematically disregarded, we took the
+direction of affairs into our own hands. Keeping always in advance, to
+the inexpressible indignation of R., we encamped at what time and place
+we thought proper, not much caring whether the rest chose to follow or
+not. They always did so, however, pitching their tents near ours, with
+sullen and wrathful countenances.
+
+Traveling together on these agreeable terms did not suit our tastes; for
+some time we had meditated a separation. The connection with this party
+had cost us various delays and inconveniences; and the glaring want
+of courtesy and good sense displayed by their virtual leader did not
+dispose us to bear these annoyances with much patience. We resolved to
+leave camp early in the morning, and push forward as rapidly as possible
+for Fort Laramie, which we hoped to reach, by hard traveling, in four or
+five days. The captain soon trotted up between us, and we explained our
+intentions.
+
+“A very extraordinary proceeding, upon my word!” he remarked. Then he
+began to enlarge upon the enormity of the design. The most prominent
+impression in his mind evidently was that we were acting a base and
+treacherous part in deserting his party, in what he considered a very
+dangerous stage of the journey. To palliate the atrocity of our conduct,
+we ventured to suggest that we were only four in number while his party
+still included sixteen men; and as, moreover, we were to go forward
+and they were to follow, at least a full proportion of the perils he
+apprehended would fall upon us. But the austerity of the captain’s
+features would not relax. “A very extraordinary proceeding, gentlemen!”
+ and repeating this, he rode off to confer with his principal.
+
+By good luck, we found a meadow of fresh grass, and a large pool of
+rain-water in the midst of it. We encamped here at sunset. Plenty of
+buffalo skulls were lying around, bleaching in the sun; and sprinkled
+thickly among the grass was a great variety of strange flowers. I had
+nothing else to do, and so gathering a handful, I sat down on a buffalo
+skull to study them. Although the offspring of a wilderness, their
+texture was frail and delicate, and their colors extremely rich; pure
+white, dark blue, and a transparent crimson. One traveling in this
+country seldom has leisure to think of anything but the stern features
+of the scenery and its accompaniments, or the practical details of each
+day’s journey. Like them, he and his thoughts grow hard and rough. But
+now these flowers suddenly awakened a train of associations as alien to
+the rude scene around me as they were themselves; and for the moment my
+thoughts went back to New England. A throng of fair and well-remembered
+faces rose, vividly as life, before me. “There are good things,” thought
+I, “in the savage life, but what can it offer to replace those powerful
+and ennobling influences that can reach unimpaired over more than three
+thousand miles of mountains, forests and deserts?”
+
+Before sunrise on the next morning our tent was down; we harnessed our
+best horses to the cart and left the camp. But first we shook hands
+with our friends the emigrants, who sincerely wished us a safe journey,
+though some others of the party might easily have been consoled had we
+encountered an Indian war party on the way. The captain and his brother
+were standing on the top of a hill, wrapped in their plaids, like
+spirits of the mist, keeping an anxious eye on the band of horses below.
+We waved adieu to them as we rode off the ground. The captain replied
+with a salutation of the utmost dignity, which Jack tried to imitate;
+but being little practiced in the gestures of polite society, his effort
+was not a very successful one.
+
+In five minutes we had gained the foot of the hills, but here we came to
+a stop. Old Hendrick was in the shafts, and being the very incarnation
+of perverse and brutish obstinacy, he utterly refused to move. Delorier
+lashed and swore till he was tired, but Hendrick stood like a rock,
+grumbling to himself and looking askance at his enemy, until he saw a
+favorable opportunity to take his revenge, when he struck out under the
+shaft with such cool malignity of intention that Delorier only escaped
+the blow by a sudden skip into the air, such as no one but a Frenchman
+could achieve. Shaw and he then joined forces, and lashed on both sides
+at once. The brute stood still for a while till he could bear it no
+longer, when all at once he began to kick and plunge till he threatened
+the utter demolition of the cart and harness. We glanced back at the
+camp, which was in full sight. Our companions, inspired by emulation,
+were leveling their tents and driving in their cattle and horses.
+
+“Take the horse out,” said I.
+
+I took the saddle from Pontiac and put it upon Hendrick; the former
+was harnessed to the cart in an instant. “Avance donc!” cried Delorier.
+Pontiac strode up the hill, twitching the little cart after him as if
+it were a feather’s weight; and though, as we gained the top, we saw the
+wagons of our deserted comrades just getting into motion, we had little
+fear that they could overtake us. Leaving the trail, we struck directly
+across the country, and took the shortest cut to reach the main stream
+of the Platte. A deep ravine suddenly intercepted us. We skirted its
+sides until we found them less abrupt, and then plunged through the best
+way we could. Passing behind the sandy ravines called “Ash Hollow,” we
+stopped for a short nooning at the side of a pool of rain-water; but
+soon resumed our journey, and some hours before sunset were descending
+the ravines and gorges opening downward upon the Platte to the west of
+Ash Hollow. Our horses waded to the fetlock in sand; the sun scorched
+like fire, and the air swarmed with sand-flies and mosquitoes.
+
+At last we gained the Platte. Following it for about five miles, we saw,
+just as the sun was sinking, a great meadow, dotted with hundreds of
+cattle, and beyond them an emigrant encampment. A party of about a dozen
+came out to meet us, looking upon us at first with cold and suspicious
+faces. Seeing four men, different in appearance and equipment from
+themselves, emerging from the hills, they had taken us for the van
+of the much-dreaded Mormons, whom they were very apprehensive of
+encountering. We made known our true character, and then they greeted
+us cordially. They expressed much surprise that so small a party should
+venture to traverse that region, though in fact such attempts are not
+unfrequently made by trappers and Indian traders. We rode with them to
+their camp. The wagons, some fifty in number, with here and there a tent
+intervening, were arranged as usual in a circle; in the area within the
+best horses were picketed, and the whole circumference was glowing with
+the dusky light of the fires, displaying the forms of the women and
+children who were crowded around them. This patriarchal scene was
+curious and striking enough; but we made our escape from the place with
+all possible dispatch, being tormented by the intrusive curiosity of the
+men who crowded around us. Yankee curiosity was nothing to theirs. They
+demanded our names, where we came from, where we were going, and what
+was our business. The last query was particularly embarrassing; since
+traveling in that country, or indeed anywhere, from any other motive
+than gain, was an idea of which they took no cognizance. Yet they were
+fine-looking fellows, with an air of frankness, generosity, and even
+courtesy, having come from one of the least barbarous of the frontier
+counties.
+
+We passed about a mile beyond them, and encamped. Being too few in
+number to stand guard without excessive fatigue, we extinguished our
+fire, lest it should attract the notice of wandering Indians; and
+picketing our horses close around us, slept undisturbed till morning.
+For three days we traveled without interruption, and on the evening of
+the third encamped by the well-known spring on Scott’s Bluff.
+
+Henry Chatillon and I rode out in the morning, and descending the
+western side of the Bluff, were crossing the plain beyond. Something
+that seemed to me a file of buffalo came into view, descending the
+hills several miles before us. But Henry reined in his horse, and keenly
+peering across the prairie with a better and more practiced eye, soon
+discovered its real nature. “Indians!” he said. “Old Smoke’s lodges, I
+b’lieve. Come! let us go! Wah! get up, now, Five Hundred Dollar!” And
+laying on the lash with good will, he galloped forward, and I rode by
+his side. Not long after, a black speck became visible on the prairie,
+full two miles off. It grew larger and larger; it assumed the form of
+a man and horse; and soon we could discern a naked Indian, careering at
+full gallop toward us. When within a furlong he wheeled his horse in
+a wide circle, and made him describe various mystic figures upon the
+prairie; and Henry immediately compelled Five Hundred Dollar to execute
+similar evolutions. “It IS Old Smoke’s village,” said he, interpreting
+these signals; “didn’t I say so?”
+
+As the Indian approached we stopped to wait for him, when suddenly he
+vanished, sinking, as it were, into the earth. He had come upon one of
+the deep ravines that everywhere intersect these prairies. In an instant
+the rough head of his horse stretched upward from the edge and the rider
+and steed came scrambling out, and bounded up to us; a sudden jerk of
+the rein brought the wild panting horse to a full stop. Then followed
+the needful formality of shaking hands. I forget our visitor’s name.
+He was a young fellow, of no note in his nation; yet in his person and
+equipments he was a good specimen of a Dakota warrior in his ordinary
+traveling dress. Like most of his people, he was nearly six feet high;
+lithely and gracefully, yet strongly proportioned; and with a skin
+singularly clear and delicate. He wore no paint; his head was bare; and
+his long hair was gathered in a clump behind, to the top of which was
+attached transversely, both by way of ornament and of talisman, the
+mystic whistle, made of the wingbone of the war eagle, and endowed with
+various magic virtues. From the back of his head descended a line of
+glittering brass plates, tapering from the size of a doubloon to that of
+a half-dime, a cumbrous ornament, in high vogue among the Dakotas, and
+for which they pay the traders a most extravagant price; his chest and
+arms were naked, the buffalo robe, worn over them when at rest, had
+fallen about his waist, and was confined there by a belt. This, with the
+gay moccasins on his feet, completed his attire. For arms he carried a
+quiver of dogskin at his back, and a rude but powerful bow in his hand.
+His horse had no bridle; a cord of hair, lashed around his jaw, served
+in place of one. The saddle was of most singular construction; it was
+made of wood covered with raw hide, and both pommel and cantle rose
+perpendicularly full eighteen inches, so that the warrior was wedged
+firmly in his seat, whence nothing could dislodge him but the bursting
+of the girths.
+
+Advancing with our new companion, we found more of his people seated in
+a circle on the top of a hill; while a rude procession came straggling
+down the neighboring hollow, men, women, and children, with horses
+dragging the lodge-poles behind them. All that morning, as we moved
+forward, tall savages were stalking silently about us. At noon we
+reached Horse Creek; and as we waded through the shallow water, we saw a
+wild and striking scene. The main body of the Indians had arrived before
+us. On the farther bank stood a large and strong man, nearly naked,
+holding a white horse by a long cord, and eyeing us as we approached.
+This was the chief, whom Henry called “Old Smoke.” Just behind him his
+youngest and favorite squaw sat astride of a fine mule; it was covered
+with caparisons of whitened skins, garnished with blue and white beads,
+and fringed with little ornaments of metal that tinkled with every
+movement of the animal. The girl had a light clear complexion, enlivened
+by a spot of vermilion on each cheek; she smiled, not to say grinned,
+upon us, showing two gleaming rows of white teeth. In her hand, she
+carried the tall lance of her unchivalrous lord, fluttering with
+feathers; his round white shield hung at the side of her mule; and his
+pipe was slung at her back. Her dress was a tunic of deerskin, made
+beautifully white by means of a species of clay found on the prairie,
+and ornamented with beads, arrayed in figures more gay than tasteful,
+and with long fringes at all the seams. Not far from the chief stood a
+group of stately figures, their white buffalo robes thrown over their
+shoulders, gazing coldly upon us; and in the rear, for several acres,
+the ground was covered with a temporary encampment; men, women, and
+children swarmed like bees; hundreds of dogs, of all sizes and colors,
+ran restlessly about; and, close at hand, the wide shallow stream was
+alive with boys, girls, and young squaws, splashing, screaming, and
+laughing in the water. At the same time a long train of emigrant
+wagons were crossing the creek, and dragging on in their slow, heavy
+procession, passed the encampment of the people whom they and their
+descendants, in the space of a century, are to sweep from the face of
+the earth.
+
+The encampment itself was merely a temporary one during the heat of the
+day. None of the lodges were erected; but their heavy leather coverings,
+and the long poles used to support them, were scattered everywhere
+around, among weapons, domestic utensils, and the rude harness of mules
+and horses. The squaws of each lazy warrior had made him a shelter
+from the sun, by stretching a few buffalo robes, or the corner of a
+lodge-covering upon poles; and here he sat in the shade, with a favorite
+young squaw, perhaps, at his side, glittering with all imaginable
+trinkets. Before him stood the insignia of his rank as a warrior, his
+white shield of bull-hide, his medicine bag, his bow and quiver, his
+lance and his pipe, raised aloft on a tripod of three poles. Except the
+dogs, the most active and noisy tenants of the camp were the old women,
+ugly as Macbeth’s witches, with their hair streaming loose in the wind,
+and nothing but the tattered fragment of an old buffalo robe to hide
+their shriveled wiry limbs. The day of their favoritism passed two
+generations ago; now the heaviest labors of the camp devolved upon them;
+they were to harness the horses, pitch the lodges, dress the buffalo
+robes, and bring in meat for the hunters. With the cracked voices of
+these hags, the clamor of dogs, the shouting and laughing of children
+and girls, and the listless tranquillity of the warriors, the whole
+scene had an effect too lively and picturesque ever to be forgotten.
+
+We stopped not far from the Indian camp, and having invited some of the
+chiefs and warriors to dinner, placed before them a sumptuous repast of
+biscuit and coffee. Squatted in a half circle on the ground, they soon
+disposed of it. As we rode forward on the afternoon journey, several of
+our late guests accompanied us. Among the rest was a huge bloated savage
+of more than three hundred pounds’ weight, christened La Cochon, in
+consideration of his preposterous dimensions and certain corresponding
+traits of his character. “The Hog” bestrode a little white pony, scarce
+able to bear up under the enormous burden, though, by way of keeping
+up the necessary stimulus, the rider kept both feet in constant motion,
+playing alternately against his ribs. The old man was not a chief; he
+never had ambition enough to become one; he was not a warrior nor a
+hunter, for he was too fat and lazy: but he was the richest man in the
+whole village. Riches among the Dakotas consist in horses, and of these
+The Hog had accumulated more than thirty. He had already ten times as
+many as he wanted, yet still his appetite for horses was insatiable.
+Trotting up to me he shook me by the hand, and gave me to understand
+that he was a very devoted friend; and then he began a series of most
+earnest signs and gesticulations, his oily countenance radiant with
+smiles, and his little eyes peeping out with a cunning twinkle from
+between the masses of flesh that almost obscured them. Knowing nothing
+at that time of the sign language of the Indians, I could only guess at
+his meaning. So I called on Henry to explain it.
+
+The Hog, it seems, was anxious to conclude a matrimonial bargain. He
+said he had a very pretty daughter in his lodge, whom he would give
+me, if I would give him my horse. These flattering overtures I chose to
+reject; at which The Hog, still laughing with undiminished good humor,
+gathered his robe about his shoulders, and rode away.
+
+Where we encamped that night, an arm of the Platte ran between high
+bluffs; it was turbid and swift as heretofore, but trees were growing on
+its crumbling banks, and there was a nook of grass between the water
+and the hill. Just before entering this place, we saw the emigrants
+encamping at two or three miles’ distance on the right; while the whole
+Indian rabble were pouring down the neighboring hill in hope of the same
+sort of entertainment which they had experienced from us. In the savage
+landscape before our camp, nothing but the rushing of the Platte broke
+the silence. Through the ragged boughs of the trees, dilapidated and
+half dead, we saw the sun setting in crimson behind the peaks of the
+Black Hills; the restless bosom of the river was suffused with red; our
+white tent was tinged with it, and the sterile bluffs, up to the rocks
+that crowned them, partook of the same fiery hue. It soon passed away;
+no light remained, but that from our fire, blazing high among the dusky
+trees and bushes. We lay around it wrapped in our blankets, smoking and
+conversing until a late hour, and then withdrew to our tent.
+
+We crossed a sun-scorched plain on the next morning; the line of old
+cotton-wood trees that fringed the bank of the Platte forming its
+extreme verge. Nestled apparently close beneath them, we could discern
+in the distance something like a building. As we came nearer, it assumed
+form and dimensions, and proved to be a rough structure of logs. It was
+a little trading fort, belonging to two private traders; and originally
+intended, like all the forts of the country, to form a hollow square,
+with rooms for lodging and storage opening upon the area within. Only
+two sides of it had been completed; the place was now as ill-fitted for
+the purposes of defense as any of those little log-houses, which
+upon our constantly shifting frontier have been so often successfully
+maintained against overwhelming odds of Indians. Two lodges were pitched
+close to the fort; the sun beat scorching upon the logs; no living thing
+was stirring except one old squaw, who thrust her round head from the
+opening of the nearest lodge, and three or four stout young pups, who
+were peeping with looks of eager inquiry from under the covering. In a
+moment a door opened, and a little, swarthy black-eyed Frenchman came
+out. His dress was rather singular; his black curling hair was parted
+in the middle of his head, and fell below his shoulders; he wore a tight
+frock of smoked deerskin, very gayly ornamented with figures worked
+in dyed porcupine quills. His moccasins and leggings were also gaudily
+adorned in the same manner; and the latter had in addition a line of
+long fringes, reaching down the seams. The small frame of Richard,
+for by this name Henry made him known to us, was in the highest degree
+athletic and vigorous. There was no superfluity, and indeed there
+seldom is among the active white men of this country, but every limb was
+compact and hard; every sinew had its full tone and elasticity, and the
+whole man wore an air of mingled hardihood and buoyancy.
+
+Richard committed our horses to a Navahoe slave, a mean looking fellow
+taken prisoner on the Mexican frontier; and, relieving us of our rifles
+with ready politeness, led the way into the principal apartment of his
+establishment. This was a room ten feet square. The walls and floor were
+of black mud, and the roof of rough timber; there was a huge fireplace
+made of four flat rocks, picked up on the prairie. An Indian bow and
+otter-skin quiver, several gaudy articles of Rocky Mountain finery, an
+Indian medicine bag, and a pipe and tobacco pouch, garnished the walls,
+and rifles rested in a corner. There was no furniture except a sort
+of rough settle covered with buffalo robes, upon which lolled a
+tall half-breed, with his hair glued in masses upon each temple,
+and saturated with vermilion. Two or three more “mountain men” sat
+cross-legged on the floor. Their attire was not unlike that of Richard
+himself; but the most striking figure of the group was a naked Indian
+boy of sixteen, with a handsome face, and light, active proportions, who
+sat in an easy posture in the corner near the door. Not one of his limbs
+moved the breadth of a hair; his eye was fixed immovably, not on any
+person present, but, as it appeared, on the projecting corner of the
+fireplace opposite to him.
+
+On these prairies the custom of smoking with friends is seldom omitted,
+whether among Indians or whites. The pipe, therefore, was taken from the
+wall, and its great red bowl crammed with the tobacco and shongsasha,
+mixed in suitable proportions. Then it passed round the circle, each man
+inhaling a few whiffs and handing it to his neighbor. Having spent half
+an hour here, we took our leave; first inviting our new friends to drink
+a cup of coffee with us at our camp, a mile farther up the river. By
+this time, as the reader may conceive, we had grown rather shabby; our
+clothes had burst into rags and tatters; and what was worse, we had very
+little means of renovation. Fort Laramie was but seven miles before us.
+Being totally averse to appearing in such plight among any society that
+could boast an approximation to the civilized, we soon stopped by the
+river to make our toilet in the best way we could. We hung up small
+looking-glasses against the trees and shaved, an operation neglected for
+six weeks; we performed our ablutions in the Platte, though the utility
+of such a proceeding was questionable, the water looking exactly like
+a cup of chocolate, and the banks consisting of the softest and richest
+yellow mud, so that we were obliged, as a preliminary, to build a
+cause-way of stout branches and twigs. Having also put on radiant
+moccasins, procured from a squaw of Richard’s establishment, and made
+what other improvements our narrow circumstances allowed, we took our
+seats on the grass with a feeling of greatly increased respectability,
+to wait the arrival of our guests. They came; the banquet was concluded,
+and the pipe smoked. Bidding them adieu, we turned our horses’ heads
+toward the fort.
+
+An hour elapsed. The barren hills closed across our front, and we could
+see no farther; until having surmounted them, a rapid stream appeared
+at the foot of the descent, running into the Platte; beyond was a green
+meadow, dotted with bushes, and in the midst of these, at the point
+where the two rivers joined, were the low clay walls of a fort. This
+was not Fort Laramie, but another post of less recent date, which having
+sunk before its successful competitor was now deserted and ruinous. A
+moment after the hills, seeming to draw apart as we advanced, disclosed
+Fort Laramie itself, its high bastions and perpendicular walls of
+clay crowning an eminence on the left beyond the stream, while behind
+stretched a line of arid and desolate ridges, and behind these again,
+towering aloft seven thousand feet, arose the grim Black Hills.
+
+We tried to ford Laramie Creek at a point nearly opposite the fort, but
+the stream, swollen with the rains in the mountains, was too rapid. We
+passed up along its bank to find a better crossing place. Men gathered
+on the wall to look at us. “There’s Bordeaux!” called Henry, his face
+brightening as he recognized his acquaintance; “him there with the
+spyglass; and there’s old Vaskiss, and Tucker, and May; and, by George!
+there’s Cimoneau!” This Cimoneau was Henry’s fast friend, and the only
+man in the country who could rival him in hunting.
+
+We soon found a ford. Henry led the way, the pony approaching the bank
+with a countenance of cool indifference, bracing his feet and sliding
+into the stream with the most unmoved composure.
+
+     At the first plunge the horse sunk low,
+     And the water broke o’er the saddle-bow
+
+We followed; the water boiled against our saddles, but our horses bore
+us easily through. The unfortunate little mules came near going down
+with the current, cart and all; and we watched them with some solicitude
+scrambling over the loose round stones at the bottom, and bracing
+stoutly against the stream. All landed safely at last; we crossed a
+little plain, descended a hollow, and riding up a steep bank found
+ourselves before the gateway of Fort Laramie, under the impending
+blockhouse erected above it to defend the entrance.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+SCENES AT FORT LARAMIE
+
+
+Looking back, after the expiration of a year, upon Fort Laramie and its
+inmates, they seem less like a reality than like some fanciful picture
+of the olden time; so different was the scene from any which this tamer
+side of the world can present. Tall Indians, enveloped in their white
+buffalo robes, were striding across the area or reclining at full length
+on the low roofs of the buildings which inclosed it. Numerous squaws,
+gayly bedizened, sat grouped in front of the apartments they occupied;
+their mongrel offspring, restless and vociferous, rambled in every
+direction through the fort; and the trappers, traders, and ENGAGES of
+the establishment were busy at their labor or their amusements.
+
+We were met at the gate, but by no means cordially welcomed. Indeed,
+we seemed objects of some distrust and suspicion until Henry Chatillon
+explained that we were not traders, and we, in confirmation, handed to
+the bourgeois a letter of introduction from his principals. He took
+it, turned it upside down, and tried hard to read it; but his literary
+attainments not being adequate to the task, he applied for relief to
+the clerk, a sleek, smiling Frenchman, named Montalon. The letter read,
+Bordeaux (the bourgeois) seemed gradually to awaken to a sense of what
+was expected of him. Though not deficient in hospitable intentions, he
+was wholly unaccustomed to act as master of ceremonies. Discarding all
+formalities of reception, he did not honor us with a single word, but
+walked swiftly across the area, while we followed in some admiration to
+a railing and a flight of steps opposite the entrance. He signed to us
+that we had better fasten our horses to the railing; then he walked
+up the steps, tramped along a rude balcony, and kicking open a door
+displayed a large room, rather more elaborately finished than a barn.
+For furniture it had a rough bedstead, but no bed; two chairs, a chest
+of drawers, a tin pail to hold water, and a board to cut tobacco upon. A
+brass crucifix hung on the wall, and close at hand a recent scalp, with
+hair full a yard long, was suspended from a nail. I shall again have
+occasion to mention this dismal trophy, its history being connected with
+that of our subsequent proceedings.
+
+This apartment, the best in Fort Laramie, was that usually occupied by
+the legitimate bourgeois, Papin; in whose absence the command devolved
+upon Bordeaux. The latter, a stout, bluff little fellow, much inflated
+by a sense of his new authority, began to roar for buffalo robes. These
+being brought and spread upon the floor formed our beds; much better
+ones than we had of late been accustomed to. Our arrangements made, we
+stepped out to the balcony to take a more leisurely survey of the long
+looked-for haven at which we had arrived at last. Beneath us was the
+square area surrounded by little rooms, or rather cells, which opened
+upon it. These were devoted to various purposes, but served chiefly for
+the accommodation of the men employed at the fort, or of the equally
+numerous squaws, whom they were allowed to maintain in it. Opposite to
+us rose the blockhouse above the gateway; it was adorned with a figure
+which even now haunts my memory; a horse at full speed, daubed upon
+the boards with red paint, and exhibiting a degree of skill which might
+rival that displayed by the Indians in executing similar designs upon
+their robes and lodges. A busy scene was enacting in the area. The
+wagons of Vaskiss, an old trader, were about to set out for a remote
+post in the mountains, and the Canadians were going through their
+preparations with all possible bustle, while here and there an Indian
+stood looking on with imperturbable gravity.
+
+Fort Laramie is one of the posts established by the American Fur
+Company, who well-nigh monopolize the Indian trade of this whole region.
+Here their officials rule with an absolute sway; the arm of the United
+States has little force; for when we were there, the extreme outposts
+of her troops were about seven hundred miles to the eastward. The little
+fort is built of bricks dried in the sun, and externally is of an oblong
+form, with bastions of clay, in the form of ordinary blockhouses, at two
+of the corners. The walls are about fifteen feet high, and surmounted by
+a slender palisade. The roofs of the apartments within, which are built
+close against the walls, serve the purpose of a banquette. Within,
+the fort is divided by a partition; on one side is the square area
+surrounded by the storerooms, offices, and apartments of the inmates;
+on the other is the corral, a narrow place, encompassed by the high clay
+walls, where at night, or in presence of dangerous Indians, the horses
+and mules of the fort are crowded for safe-keeping. The main entrance
+has two gates, with an arched passage intervening. A little square
+window, quite high above the ground, opens laterally from an adjoining
+chamber into this passage; so that when the inner gate is closed and
+barred, a person without may still hold communication with those within
+through this narrow aperture. This obviates the necessity of admitting
+suspicious Indians, for purposes of trading, into the body of the fort;
+for when danger is apprehended, the inner gate is shut fast, and all
+traffic is carried on by means of the little window. This precaution,
+though highly necessary at some of the company’s posts, is now seldom
+resorted to at Fort Laramie; where, though men are frequently killed in
+its neighborhood, no apprehensions are now entertained of any general
+designs of hostility from the Indians.
+
+We did not long enjoy our new quarters undisturbed. The door was
+silently pushed open, and two eyeballs and a visage as black as night
+looked in upon us; then a red arm and shoulder intruded themselves, and
+a tall Indian, gliding in, shook us by the hand, grunted his salutation,
+and sat down on the floor. Others followed, with faces of the natural
+hue; and letting fall their heavy robes from their shoulders, they took
+their seats, quite at ease, in a semicircle before us. The pipe was now
+to be lighted and passed round from one to another; and this was the
+only entertainment that at present they expected from us. These visitors
+were fathers, brothers, or other relatives of the squaws in the
+fort, where they were permitted to remain, loitering about in perfect
+idleness. All those who smoked with us were men of standing and repute.
+Two or three others dropped in also; young fellows who neither by their
+years nor their exploits were entitled to rank with the old men and
+warriors, and who, abashed in the presence of their superiors, stood
+aloof, never withdrawing their eyes from us. Their cheeks were adorned
+with vermilion, their ears with pendants of shell, and their necks with
+beads. Never yet having signalized themselves as hunters, or performed
+the honorable exploit of killing a man, they were held in slight
+esteem, and were diffident and bashful in proportion. Certain formidable
+inconveniences attended this influx of visitors. They were bent on
+inspecting everything in the room; our equipments and our dress alike
+underwent their scrutiny; for though the contrary has been carelessly
+asserted, few beings have more curiosity than Indians in regard to
+subjects within their ordinary range of thought. As to other matters,
+indeed, they seemed utterly indifferent. They will not trouble
+themselves to inquire into what they cannot comprehend, but are quite
+contented to place their hands over their mouths in token of wonder, and
+exclaim that it is “great medicine.” With this comprehensive solution,
+an Indian never is at a loss. He never launches forth into speculation
+and conjecture; his reason moves in its beaten track. His soul is
+dormant; and no exertions of the missionaries, Jesuit or Puritan, of the
+Old World or of the New, have as yet availed to rouse it.
+
+As we were looking, at sunset, from the wall, upon the wild and desolate
+plains that surround the fort, we observed a cluster of strange objects
+like scaffolds rising in the distance against the red western sky. They
+bore aloft some singular looking burdens; and at their foot glimmered
+something white like bones. This was the place of sepulture of some
+Dakota chiefs, whose remains their people are fond of placing in the
+vicinity of the fort, in the hope that they may thus be protected from
+violation at the hands of their enemies. Yet it has happened more than
+once, and quite recently, that war parties of the Crow Indians, ranging
+through the country, have thrown the bodies from the scaffolds, and
+broken them to pieces amid the yells of the Dakotas, who remained pent
+up in the fort, too few to defend the honored relics from insult. The
+white objects upon the ground were buffalo skulls, arranged in the
+mystic circle commonly seen at Indian places of sepulture upon the
+prairie.
+
+We soon discovered, in the twilight, a band of fifty or sixty
+horses approaching the fort. These were the animals belonging to the
+establishment; who having been sent out to feed, under the care of armed
+guards, in the meadows below, were now being driven into the corral for
+the night. A little gate opened into this inclosure; by the side of it
+stood one of the guards, an old Canadian, with gray bushy eyebrows,
+and a dragoon pistol stuck into his belt; while his comrade, mounted
+on horseback, his rifle laid across the saddle in front of him, and
+his long hair blowing before his swarthy face, rode at the rear of the
+disorderly troop, urging them up the ascent. In a moment the narrow
+corral was thronged with the half-wild horses, kicking, biting, and
+crowding restlessly together.
+
+The discordant jingling of a bell, rung by a Canadian in the area,
+summoned us to supper. This sumptuous repast was served on a rough table
+in one of the lower apartments of the fort, and consisted of cakes of
+bread and dried buffalo meat--an excellent thing for strengthening the
+teeth. At this meal were seated the bourgeois and superior dignitaries
+of the establishment, among whom Henry Chatillon was worthily included.
+No sooner was it finished, than the table was spread a second time (the
+luxury of bread being now, however, omitted), for the benefit of
+certain hunters and trappers of an inferior standing; while the ordinary
+Canadian ENGAGES were regaled on dried meat in one of their lodging
+rooms. By way of illustrating the domestic economy of Fort Laramie, it
+may not be amiss to introduce in this place a story current among the
+men when we were there.
+
+There was an old man named Pierre, whose duty it was to bring the meat
+from the storeroom for the men. Old Pierre, in the kindness of
+his heart, used to select the fattest and the best pieces for his
+companions. This did not long escape the keen-eyed bourgeois, who was
+greatly disturbed at such improvidence, and cast about for some means to
+stop it. At last he hit on a plan that exactly suited him. At the side
+of the meat-room, and separated from it by a clay partition, was another
+compartment, used for the storage of furs. It had no other communication
+with the fort, except through a square hole in the partition; and of
+course it was perfectly dark. One evening the bourgeois, watching for
+a moment when no one observed him, dodged into the meat-room, clambered
+through the hole, and ensconced himself among the furs and buffalo
+robes. Soon after, old Pierre came in with his lantern; and, muttering
+to himself, began to pull over the bales of meat, and select the best
+pieces, as usual. But suddenly a hollow and sepulchral voice proceeded
+from the inner apartment: “Pierre! Pierre! Let that fat meat alone! Take
+nothing but lean!” Pierre dropped his lantern, and bolted out into
+the fort, screaming, in an agony of terror, that the devil was in the
+storeroom; but tripping on the threshold, he pitched over upon the
+gravel, and lay senseless, stunned by the fall. The Canadians ran out
+to the rescue. Some lifted the unlucky Pierre; and others, making an
+extempore crucifix out of two sticks, were proceeding to attack the
+devil in his stronghold, when the bourgeois, with a crest-fallen
+countenance, appeared at the door. To add to the bourgeois’
+mortification, he was obliged to explain the whole stratagem to Pierre,
+in order to bring the latter to his senses.
+
+We were sitting, on the following morning, in the passage-way between
+the gates, conversing with the traders Vaskiss and May. These two men,
+together with our sleek friend, the clerk Montalon, were, I believe, the
+only persons then in the fort who could read and write. May was telling
+a curious story about the traveler Catlin, when an ugly, diminutive
+Indian, wretchedly mounted, came up at a gallop, and rode past us into
+the fort. On being questioned, he said that Smoke’s village was close at
+hand. Accordingly only a few minutes elapsed before the hills beyond the
+river were covered with a disorderly swarm of savages, on horseback and
+on foot. May finished his story; and by that time the whole array had
+descended to Laramie Creek, and commenced crossing it in a mass. I
+walked down to the bank. The stream is wide, and was then between three
+and four feet deep, with a very swift current. For several rods the
+water was alive with dogs, horses, and Indians. The long poles used in
+erecting the lodges are carried by the horses, being fastened by the
+heavier end, two or three on each side, to a rude sort of pack saddle,
+while the other end drags on the ground. About a foot behind the horse,
+a kind of large basket or pannier is suspended between the poles, and
+firmly lashed in its place on the back of the horse are piled various
+articles of luggage; the basket also is well filled with domestic
+utensils, or, quite as often, with a litter of puppies, a brood of small
+children, or a superannuated old man. Numbers of these curious vehicles,
+called, in the bastard language of the country travaux were now
+splashing together through the stream. Among them swam countless dogs,
+often burdened with miniature travaux; and dashing forward on horseback
+through the throng came the superbly formed warriors, the slender figure
+of some lynx-eyed boy, clinging fast behind them. The women sat perched
+on the pack saddles, adding not a little to the load of the already
+overburdened horses. The confusion was prodigious. The dogs yelled and
+howled in chorus; the puppies in the travaux set up a dismal whine
+as the water invaded their comfortable retreat; the little black-eyed
+children, from one year of age upward, clung fast with both hands to the
+edge of their basket, and looked over in alarm at the water rushing so
+near them, sputtering and making wry mouths as it splashed against their
+faces. Some of the dogs, encumbered by their loads, were carried down by
+the current, yelping piteously; and the old squaws would rush into the
+water, seize their favorites by the neck, and drag them out. As each
+horse gained the bank, he scrambled up as he could. Stray horses and
+colts came among the rest, often breaking away at full speed through the
+crowd, followed by the old hags, screaming after their fashion on all
+occasions of excitement. Buxom young squaws, blooming in all the charms
+of vermilion, stood here and there on the bank, holding aloft their
+master’s lance, as a signal to collect the scattered portions of his
+household. In a few moments the crowd melted away; each family, with its
+horses and equipage, filing off to the plain at the rear of the fort;
+and here, in the space of half an hour, arose sixty or seventy of
+their tapering lodges. Their horses were feeding by hundreds over the
+surrounding prairie, and their dogs were roaming everywhere. The fort
+was full of men, and the children were whooping and yelling incessantly
+under the walls.
+
+These newcomers were scarcely arrived, when Bordeaux was running across
+the fort, shouting to his squaw to bring him his spyglass. The obedient
+Marie, the very model of a squaw, produced the instrument, and Bordeaux
+hurried with it up to the wall. Pointing it to the eastward, he
+exclaimed, with an oath, that the families were coming. But a few
+moments elapsed before the heavy caravan of the emigrant wagons could
+be seen, steadily advancing from the hills. They gained the river, and
+without turning or pausing plunged in; they passed through, and slowly
+ascending the opposing bank, kept directly on their way past the fort
+and the Indian village, until, gaining a spot a quarter of a mile
+distant, they wheeled into a circle. For some time our tranquillity
+was undisturbed. The emigrants were preparing their encampment; but
+no sooner was this accomplished than Fort Laramie was fairly taken by
+storm. A crowd of broad-brimmed hats, thin visages, and staring eyes
+appeared suddenly at the gate. Tall awkward men, in brown homespun;
+women with cadaverous faces and long lank figures came thronging in
+together, and, as if inspired by the very demon of curiosity, ransacked
+every nook and corner of the fort. Dismayed at this invasion, we
+withdrew in all speed to our chamber, vainly hoping that it might prove
+an inviolable sanctuary. The emigrants prosecuted their investigations
+with untiring vigor. They penetrated the rooms or rather dens, inhabited
+by the astonished squaws. They explored the apartments of the men, and
+even that of Marie and the bourgeois. At last a numerous deputation
+appeared at our door, but were immediately expelled. Being totally
+devoid of any sense of delicacy or propriety, they seemed resolved to
+search every mystery to the bottom.
+
+Having at length satisfied their curiosity, they next proceeded to
+business. The men occupied themselves in procuring supplies for their
+onward journey; either buying them with money or giving in exchange
+superfluous articles of their own.
+
+The emigrants felt a violent prejudice against the French Indians,
+as they called the trappers and traders. They thought, and with some
+justice, that these men bore them no good will. Many of them were firmly
+persuaded that the French were instigating the Indians to attack and
+cut them off. On visiting the encampment we were at once struck with
+the extraordinary perplexity and indecision that prevailed among
+the emigrants. They seemed like men totally out of their elements;
+bewildered and amazed, like a troop of school-boys lost in the woods. It
+was impossible to be long among them without being conscious of the high
+and bold spirit with which most of them were animated. But the FOREST is
+the home of the backwoodsman. On the remote prairie he is totally at a
+loss. He differs much from the genuine “mountain man,” the wild prairie
+hunter, as a Canadian voyageur, paddling his canoe on the rapids of the
+Ottawa, differs from an American sailor among the storms of Cape Horn.
+Still my companion and I were somewhat at a loss to account for this
+perturbed state of mind. It could not be cowardice; these men were of
+the same stock with the volunteers of Monterey and Buena Vista. Yet, for
+the most part, they were the rudest and most ignorant of the frontier
+population; they knew absolutely nothing of the country and its
+inhabitants; they had already experienced much misfortune, and
+apprehended more; they had seen nothing of mankind, and had never put
+their own resources to the test.
+
+A full proportion of suspicion fell upon us. Being strangers we were
+looked upon as enemies. Having occasion for a supply of lead and a few
+other necessary articles, we used to go over to the emigrant camps to
+obtain them. After some hesitation, some dubious glances, and fumbling
+of the hands in the pockets, the terms would be agreed upon, the
+price tendered, and the emigrant would go off to bring the article in
+question. After waiting until our patience gave out, we would go in
+search of him, and find him seated on the tongue of his wagon.
+
+“Well, stranger,” he would observe, as he saw us approach, “I reckon I
+won’t trade!”
+
+Some friend of his followed him from the scene of the bargain and
+suggested in his ear, that clearly we meant to cheat him, and he had
+better have nothing to do with us.
+
+This timorous mood of the emigrants was doubly unfortunate, as it
+exposed them to real danger. Assume, in the presence of Indians a bold
+bearing, self-confident yet vigilant, and you will find them tolerably
+safe neighbors. But your safety depends on the respect and fear you are
+able to inspire. If you betray timidity or indecision, you convert them
+from that moment into insidious and dangerous enemies. The Dakotas saw
+clearly enough the perturbation of the emigrants and instantly availed
+themselves of it. They became extremely insolent and exacting in their
+demands. It has become an established custom with them to go to the camp
+of every party, as it arrives in succession at the fort, and demand a
+feast. Smoke’s village had come with the express design, having made
+several days’ journey with no other object than that of enjoying a cup
+of coffee and two or three biscuits. So the “feast” was demanded, and
+the emigrants dared not refuse it.
+
+One evening, about sunset, the village was deserted. We met old men,
+warriors, squaws, and children in gay attire, trooping off to the
+encampment, with faces of anticipation; and, arriving here, they seated
+themselves in a semicircle. Smoke occupied the center, with his warriors
+on either hand; the young men and boys next succeeded, and the squaws
+and children formed the horns of the crescent. The biscuit and coffee
+were most promptly dispatched, the emigrants staring open-mouthed at
+their savage guests. With each new emigrant party that arrived at Fort
+Laramie this scene was renewed; and every day the Indians grew more
+rapacious and presumptuous. One evening they broke to pieces, out of
+mere wantonness, the cups from which they had been feasted; and this
+so exasperated the emigrants that many of them seized their rifles and
+could scarcely be restrained from firing on the insolent mob of Indians.
+Before we left the country this dangerous spirit on the part of the
+Dakota had mounted to a yet higher pitch. They began openly to threaten
+the emigrants with destruction, and actually fired upon one or two
+parties of whites. A military force and military law are urgently called
+for in that perilous region; and unless troops are speedily stationed at
+Fort Laramie, or elsewhere in the neighborhood, both the emigrants and
+other travelers will be exposed to most imminent risks.
+
+The Ogallalla, the Brules, and other western bands of the Dakota, are
+thorough savages, unchanged by any contact with civilization. Not one
+of them can speak a European tongue, or has ever visited an American
+settlement. Until within a year or two, when the emigrants began to
+pass through their country on the way to Oregon, they had seen no whites
+except the handful employed about the Fur Company’s posts. They esteemed
+them a wise people, inferior only to themselves, living in leather
+lodges, like their own, and subsisting on buffalo. But when the swarm
+of MENEASKA, with their oxen and wagons, began to invade them, their
+astonishment was unbounded. They could scarcely believe that the earth
+contained such a multitude of white men. Their wonder is now giving way
+to indignation; and the result, unless vigilantly guarded against, may
+be lamentable in the extreme.
+
+But to glance at the interior of a lodge. Shaw and I used often to
+visit them. Indeed, we spent most of our evenings in the Indian village;
+Shaw’s assumption of the medical character giving us a fair pretext. As
+a sample of the rest I will describe one of these visits. The sun had
+just set, and the horses were driven into the corral. The Prairie Cock,
+a noted beau, came in at the gate with a bevy of young girls, with whom
+he began to dance in the area, leading them round and round in a circle,
+while he jerked up from his chest a succession of monotonous sounds, to
+which they kept time in a rueful chant. Outside the gate boys and young
+men were idly frolicking; and close by, looking grimly upon them, stood
+a warrior in his robe, with his face painted jet-black, in token that
+he had lately taken a Pawnee scalp. Passing these, the tall dark lodges
+rose between us and the red western sky. We repaired at once to the
+lodge of Old Smoke himself. It was by no means better than the others;
+indeed, it was rather shabby; for in this democratic community, the
+chief never assumes superior state. Smoke sat cross-legged on a buffalo
+robe, and his grunt of salutation as we entered was unusually cordial,
+out of respect no doubt to Shaw’s medical character. Seated around the
+lodge were several squaws, and an abundance of children. The complaint
+of Shaw’s patients was, for the most part, a severe inflammation of the
+eyes, occasioned by exposure to the sun, a species of disorder which
+he treated with some success. He had brought with him a homeopathic
+medicine chest, and was, I presume, the first who introduced that
+harmless system of treatment among the Ogallalla. No sooner had a robe
+been spread at the head of the lodge for our accommodation, and we
+had seated ourselves upon it, than a patient made her appearance; the
+chief’s daughter herself, who, to do her justice, was the best-looking
+girl in the village. Being on excellent terms with the physician, she
+placed herself readily under his hands, and submitted with a good grace
+to his applications, laughing in his face during the whole process, for
+a squaw hardly knows how to smile. This case dispatched, another of
+a different kind succeeded. A hideous, emaciated old woman sat in the
+darkest corner of the lodge rocking to and fro with pain and hiding
+her eyes from the light by pressing the palms of both hands against
+her face. At Smoke’s command, she came forward, very unwillingly, and
+exhibited a pair of eyes that had nearly disappeared from excess of
+inflammation. No sooner had the doctor fastened his grips upon her than
+she set up a dismal moaning, and writhed so in his grasp that he lost
+all patience, but being resolved to carry his point, he succeeded at
+last in applying his favorite remedies.
+
+“It is strange,” he said, when the operation was finished, “that I
+forgot to bring any Spanish flies with me; we must have something here
+to answer for a counter-irritant!”
+
+So, in the absence of better, he seized upon a red-hot brand from the
+fire, and clapped it against the temple of the old squaw, who set up an
+unearthly howl, at which the rest of the family broke out into a laugh.
+
+During these medical operations Smoke’s eldest squaw entered the lodge,
+with a sort of stone mallet in her hand. I had observed some time before
+a litter of well-grown black puppies, comfortably nestled among some
+buffalo robes at one side; but this newcomer speedily disturbed their
+enjoyment; for seizing one of them by the hind paw, she dragged him out,
+and carrying him to the entrance of the lodge, hammered him on the head
+till she killed him. Being quite conscious to what this preparation
+tended, I looked through a hole in the back of the lodge to see the
+next steps of the process. The squaw, holding the puppy by the legs, was
+swinging him to and fro through the blaze of a fire, until the hair was
+singed off. This done, she unsheathed her knife and cut him into small
+pieces, which she dropped into a kettle to boil. In a few moments
+a large wooden dish was set before us, filled with this delicate
+preparation. We felt conscious of the honor. A dog-feast is the greatest
+compliment a Dakota can offer to his guest; and knowing that to refuse
+eating would be an affront, we attacked the little dog and devoured him
+before the eyes of his unconscious parent. Smoke in the meantime was
+preparing his great pipe. It was lighted when we had finished our
+repast, and we passed it from one to another till the bowl was empty.
+This done, we took our leave without further ceremony, knocked at the
+gate of the fort, and after making ourselves known were admitted.
+
+One morning, about a week after reaching Fort Laramie, we were holding
+our customary Indian levee, when a bustle in the area below announced
+a new arrival; and looking down from our balcony, I saw a familiar red
+beard and mustache in the gateway. They belonged to the captain, who
+with his party had just crossed the stream. We met him on the stairs as
+he came up, and congratulated him on the safe arrival of himself and his
+devoted companions. But he remembered our treachery, and was grave and
+dignified accordingly; a tendency which increased as he observed on our
+part a disposition to laugh at him. After remaining an hour or two at
+the fort he rode away with his friends, and we have heard nothing of him
+since. As for R., he kept carefully aloof. It was but too evident that
+we had the unhappiness to have forfeited the kind regards of our London
+fellow-traveler.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE WAR PARTIES
+
+
+The summer of 1846 was a season of much warlike excitement among all the
+western bands of the Dakota. In 1845 they encountered great reverses.
+Many war parties had been sent out; some of them had been totally cut
+off, and others had returned broken and disheartened, so that the whole
+nation was in mourning. Among the rest, ten warriors had gone to the
+Snake country, led by the son of a prominent Ogallalla chief, called The
+Whirlwind. In passing over Laramie Plains they encountered a superior
+number of their enemies, were surrounded, and killed to a man.
+Having performed this exploit the Snakes became alarmed, dreading the
+resentment of the Dakota, and they hastened therefore to signify their
+wish for peace by sending the scalp of the slain partisan, together with
+a small parcel of tobacco attached, to his tribesmen and relations. They
+had employed old Vaskiss, the trader, as their messenger, and the scalp
+was the same that hung in our room at the fort. But The Whirlwind proved
+inexorable. Though his character hardly corresponds with his name, he is
+nevertheless an Indian, and hates the Snakes with his whole soul. Long
+before the scalp arrived he had made his preparations for revenge. He
+sent messengers with presents and tobacco to all the Dakota within three
+hundred miles, proposing a grand combination to chastise the Snakes, and
+naming a place and time of rendezvous. The plan was readily adopted and
+at this moment many villages, probably embracing in the whole five or
+six thousand souls, were slowly creeping over the prairies and tending
+towards the common center at La Bonte’s Camp, on the Platte. Here their
+war-like rites were to be celebrated with more than ordinary solemnity,
+and a thousand warriors, as it was said, were to set out for the enemy
+country. The characteristic result of this preparation will appear in
+the sequel.
+
+I was greatly rejoiced to hear of it. I had come into the country almost
+exclusively with a view of observing the Indian character. Having from
+childhood felt a curiosity on this subject, and having failed completely
+to gratify it by reading, I resolved to have recourse to observation.
+I wished to satisfy myself with regard to the position of the Indians
+among the races of men; the vices and the virtues that have sprung from
+their innate character and from their modes of life, their government,
+their superstitions, and their domestic situation. To accomplish my
+purpose it was necessary to live in the midst of them, and become, as
+it were, one of them. I proposed to join a village and make myself an
+inmate of one of their lodges; and henceforward this narrative, so far
+as I am concerned, will be chiefly a record of the progress of this
+design apparently so easy of accomplishment, and the unexpected
+impediments that opposed it.
+
+We resolved on no account to miss the rendezvous at La Bonte’s Camp. Our
+plan was to leave Delorier at the fort, in charge of our equipage and
+the better part of our horses, while we took with us nothing but our
+weapons and the worst animals we had. In all probability jealousies and
+quarrels would arise among so many hordes of fierce impulsive savages,
+congregated together under no common head, and many of them strangers,
+from remote prairies and mountains. We were bound in common prudence to
+be cautious how we excited any feeling of cupidity. This was our plan,
+but unhappily we were not destined to visit La Bonte’s Camp in this
+manner; for one morning a young Indian came to the fort and brought us
+evil tidings. The newcomer was a dandy of the first water. His ugly face
+was painted with vermilion; on his head fluttered the tail of a prairie
+cock (a large species of pheasant, not found, as I have heard, eastward
+of the Rocky Mountains); in his ears were hung pendants of shell, and a
+flaming red blanket was wrapped around him. He carried a dragoon sword
+in his hand, solely for display, since the knife, the arrow, and the
+rifle are the arbiters of every prairie fight; but no one in this
+country goes abroad unarmed, the dandy carried a bow and arrows in an
+otter-skin quiver at his back. In this guise, and bestriding his yellow
+horse with an air of extreme dignity, The Horse, for that was his name,
+rode in at the gate, turning neither to the right nor the left, but
+casting glances askance at the groups of squaws who, with their mongrel
+progeny, were sitting in the sun before their doors. The evil tidings
+brought by The Horse were of the following import: The squaw of Henry
+Chatillon, a woman with whom he had been connected for years by the
+strongest ties which in that country exist between the sexes, was
+dangerously ill. She and her children were in the village of The
+Whirlwind, at the distance of a few days’ journey. Henry was anxious to
+see the woman before she died, and provide for the safety and support
+of his children, of whom he was extremely fond. To have refused him
+this would have been gross inhumanity. We abandoned our plan of joining
+Smoke’s village, and of proceeding with it to the rendezvous, and
+determined to meet The Whirlwind, and go in his company.
+
+I had been slightly ill for several weeks, but on the third night
+after reaching Fort Laramie a violent pain awoke me, and I found myself
+attacked by the same disorder that occasioned such heavy losses to the
+army on the Rio Grande. In a day and a half I was reduced to extreme
+weakness, so that I could not walk without pain and effort. Having
+within that time taken six grains of opium, without the least beneficial
+effect, and having no medical adviser, nor any choice of diet, I
+resolved to throw myself upon Providence for recovery, using, without
+regard to the disorder, any portion of strength that might remain to
+me. So on the 20th of June we set out from Fort Laramie to meet The
+Whirlwind’s village. Though aided by the high-bowed “mountain saddle,”
+ I could scarcely keep my seat on horseback. Before we left the fort we
+hired another man, a long-haired Canadian, with a face like an owl’s,
+contrasting oddly enough with Delorier’s mercurial countenance. This was
+not the only re-enforcement to our party. A vagrant Indian trader, named
+Reynal, joined us, together with his squaw Margot, and her two nephews,
+our dandy friend, The Horse, and his younger brother, The Hail Storm.
+Thus accompanied, we betook ourselves to the prairie, leaving the beaten
+trail, and passing over the desolate hills that flank the bottoms of
+Laramie Creek. In all, Indians and whites, we counted eight men and one
+woman.
+
+Reynal, the trader, the image of sleek and selfish complacency, carried
+The Horse’s dragoon sword in his hand, delighting apparently in this
+useless parade; for, from spending half his life among Indians, he had
+caught not only their habits but their ideas. Margot, a female animal
+of more than two hundred pounds’ weight, was couched in the basket of
+a travail, such as I have before described; besides her ponderous bulk,
+various domestic utensils were attached to the vehicle, and she was
+leading by a trail-rope a packhorse, who carried the covering of
+Reynal’s lodge. Delorier walked briskly by the side of the cart, and
+Raymond came behind, swearing at the spare horses, which it was his
+business to drive. The restless young Indians, their quivers at their
+backs, and their bows in their hand, galloped over the hills, often
+starting a wolf or an antelope from the thick growth of wild-sage
+bushes. Shaw and I were in keeping with the rest of the rude cavalcade,
+having in the absence of other clothing adopted the buckskin attire
+of the trappers. Henry Chatillon rode in advance of the whole. Thus we
+passed hill after hill and hollow after hollow, a country arid, broken
+and so parched by the sun that none of the plants familiar to our more
+favored soil would flourish upon it, though there were multitudes of
+strange medicinal herbs, more especially the absanth, which covered
+every declivity, and cacti were hanging like reptiles at the edges of
+every ravine. At length we ascended a high hill, our horses treading
+upon pebbles of flint, agate, and rough jasper, until, gaining the top,
+we looked down on the wild bottoms of Laramie Creek, which far below us
+wound like a writhing snake from side to side of the narrow interval,
+amid a growth of shattered cotton-wood and ash trees. Lines of tall
+cliffs, white as chalk, shut in this green strip of woods and meadow
+land, into which we descended and encamped for the night. In the morning
+we passed a wide grassy plain by the river; there was a grove in front,
+and beneath its shadows the ruins of an old trading fort of logs. The
+grove bloomed with myriads of wild roses, with their sweet perfume
+fraught with recollections of home. As we emerged from the trees, a
+rattlesnake, as large as a man’s arm, and more than four feet long,
+lay coiled on a rock, fiercely rattling and hissing at us; a gray hare,
+double the size of those in New England, leaped up from the tall ferns;
+curlew were screaming over our heads, and a whole host of little prairie
+dogs sat yelping at us at the mouths of their burrows on the dry plain
+beyond. Suddenly an antelope leaped up from the wild-sage bushes, gazed
+eagerly at us, and then, erecting his white tail, stretched away like a
+greyhound. The two Indian boys found a white wolf, as large as a calf in
+a hollow, and giving a sharp yell, they galloped after him; but the wolf
+leaped into the stream and swam across. Then came the crack of a rifle,
+the bullet whistling harmlessly over his head, as he scrambled up the
+steep declivity, rattling down stones and earth into the water below.
+Advancing a little, we beheld on the farther bank of the stream, a
+spectacle not common even in that region; for, emerging from among the
+trees, a herd of some two hundred elk came out upon the meadow, their
+antlers clattering as they walked forward in dense throng. Seeing us,
+they broke into a run, rushing across the opening and disappearing
+among the trees and scattered groves. On our left was a barren prairie,
+stretching to the horizon; on our right, a deep gulf, with Laramie
+Creek at the bottom. We found ourselves at length at the edge of a
+steep descent; a narrow valley, with long rank grass and scattered trees
+stretching before us for a mile or more along the course of the
+stream. Reaching the farther end, we stopped and encamped. An old huge
+cotton-wood tree spread its branches horizontally over our tent. Laramie
+Creek, circling before our camp, half inclosed us; it swept along the
+bottom of a line of tall white cliffs that looked down on us from the
+farther bank. There were dense copses on our right; the cliffs, too,
+were half hidden by shrubbery, though behind us a few cotton-wood trees,
+dotting the green prairie, alone impeded the view, and friend or enemy
+could be discerned in that direction at a mile’s distance. Here we
+resolved to remain and await the arrival of The Whirlwind, who would
+certainly pass this way in his progress toward La Bonte’s Camp. To go
+in search of him was not expedient, both on account of the broken and
+impracticable nature of the country and the uncertainty of his position
+and movements; besides, our horses were almost worn out, and I was in no
+condition to travel. We had good grass, good water, tolerable fish
+from the stream, and plenty of smaller game, such as antelope and deer,
+though no buffalo. There was one little drawback to our satisfaction--a
+certain extensive tract of bushes and dried grass, just behind us, which
+it was by no means advisable to enter, since it sheltered a numerous
+brood of rattlesnakes. Henry Chatillon again dispatched The Horse to the
+village, with a message to his squaw that she and her relatives should
+leave the rest and push on as rapidly as possible to our camp.
+
+Our daily routine soon became as regular as that of a well-ordered
+household. The weather-beaten old tree was in the center; our rifles
+generally rested against its vast trunk, and our saddles were flung on
+the ground around it; its distorted roots were so twisted as to form one
+or two convenient arm-chairs, where we could sit in the shade and read
+or smoke; but meal-times became, on the whole, the most interesting
+hours of the day, and a bountiful provision was made for them. An
+antelope or a deer usually swung from a stout bough, and haunches were
+suspended against the trunk. That camp is daguerreotyped on my memory;
+the old tree, the white tent, with Shaw sleeping in the shadow of it,
+and Reynal’s miserable lodge close by the bank of the stream. It was a
+wretched oven-shaped structure, made of begrimed and tattered buffalo
+hides stretched over a frame of poles; one side was open, and at the
+side of the opening hung the powder horn and bullet pouch of the owner,
+together with his long red pipe, and a rich quiver of otterskin, with a
+bow and arrows; for Reynal, an Indian in most things but color, chose
+to hunt buffalo with these primitive weapons. In the darkness of this
+cavern-like habitation, might be discerned Madame Margot, her overgrown
+bulk stowed away among her domestic implements, furs, robes, blankets,
+and painted cases of PAR’ FLECHE, in which dried meat is kept. Here
+she sat from sunrise to sunset, a bloated impersonation of gluttony
+and laziness, while her affectionate proprietor was smoking, or begging
+petty gifts from us, or telling lies concerning his own achievements,
+or perchance engaged in the more profitable occupation of cooking some
+preparation of prairie delicacies. Reynal was an adept at this work; he
+and Delorier have joined forces and are hard at work together over
+the fire, while Raymond spreads, by way of tablecloth, a buffalo hide,
+carefully whitened with pipeclay, on the grass before the tent. Here,
+with ostentatious display, he arranges the teacups and plates; and then,
+creeping on all fours like a dog, he thrusts his head in at the opening
+of the tent. For a moment we see his round owlish eyes rolling wildly,
+as if the idea he came to communicate had suddenly escaped him; then
+collecting his scattered thoughts, as if by an effort, he informs us
+that supper is ready, and instantly withdraws.
+
+When sunset came, and at that hour the wild and desolate scene would
+assume a new aspect, the horses were driven in. They had been grazing
+all day in the neighboring meadow, but now they were picketed close
+about the camp. As the prairie darkened we sat and conversed around the
+fire, until becoming drowsy we spread our saddles on the ground, wrapped
+our blankets around us and lay down. We never placed a guard, having
+by this time become too indolent; but Henry Chatillon folded his loaded
+rifle in the same blanket with himself, observing that he always took it
+to bed with him when he camped in that place. Henry was too bold a man
+to use such a precaution without good cause. We had a hint now and then
+that our situation was none of the safest; several Crow war parties were
+known to be in the vicinity, and one of them, that passed here some time
+before, had peeled the bark from a neighboring tree, and engraved upon
+the white wood certain hieroglyphics, to signify that they had invaded
+the territories of their enemies, the Dakota, and set them at defiance.
+One morning a thick mist covered the whole country. Shaw and Henry went
+out to ride, and soon came back with a startling piece of intelligence;
+they had found within rifle-shot of our camp the recent trail of about
+thirty horsemen. They could not be whites, and they could not be Dakota,
+since we knew no such parties to be in the neighborhood; therefore
+they must be Crows. Thanks to that friendly mist, we had escaped a hard
+battle; they would inevitably have attacked us and our Indian companions
+had they seen our camp. Whatever doubts we might have entertained, were
+quite removed a day or two after, by two or three Dakota, who came to us
+with an account of having hidden in a ravine on that very morning, from
+whence they saw and counted the Crows; they said that they followed
+them, carefully keeping out of sight, as they passed up Chugwater; that
+here the Crows discovered five dead bodies of Dakota, placed according
+to the national custom in trees, and flinging them to the ground, they
+held their guns against them and blew them to atoms.
+
+If our camp were not altogether safe, still it was comfortable enough;
+at least it was so to Shaw, for I was tormented with illness and vexed
+by the delay in the accomplishment of my designs. When a respite in my
+disorder gave me some returning strength, I rode out well-armed upon
+the prairie, or bathed with Shaw in the stream, or waged a petty warfare
+with the inhabitants of a neighborhood prairie-dog village. Around our
+fire at night we employed ourselves in inveighing against the fickleness
+and inconstancy of Indians, and execrating The Whirlwind and all his
+village. At last the thing grew insufferable.
+
+“To-morrow morning,” said I, “I will start for the fort, and see if I
+can hear any news there.” Late that evening, when the fire had sunk
+low, and all the camp were asleep, a loud cry sounded from the darkness.
+Henry started up, recognized the voice, replied to it, and our dandy
+friend, The Horse, rode in among us, just returned from his mission to
+the village. He coolly picketed his mare, without saying a word, sat
+down by the fire and began to eat, but his imperturbable philosophy
+was too much for our patience. Where was the village? about fifty miles
+south of us; it was moving slowly and would not arrive in less than
+a week; and where was Henry’s squaw? coming as fast as she could with
+Mahto-Tatonka, and the rest of her brothers, but she would never reach
+us, for she was dying, and asking every moment for Henry. Henry’s manly
+face became clouded and downcast; he said that if we were willing he
+would go in the morning to find her, at which Shaw offered to accompany
+him.
+
+We saddled our horses at sunrise. Reynal protested vehemently against
+being left alone, with nobody but the two Canadians and the young
+Indians, when enemies were in the neighborhood. Disregarding his
+complaints, we left him, and coming to the mouth of Chugwater,
+separated, Shaw and Henry turning to the right, up the bank of the
+stream, while I made for the fort.
+
+Taking leave for a while of my friend and the unfortunate squaw, I will
+relate by way of episode what I saw and did at Fort Laramie. It was not
+more than eighteen miles distant, and I reached it in three hours; a
+shriveled little figure, wrapped from head to foot in a dingy white
+Canadian capote, stood in the gateway, holding by a cord of bull’s hide
+a shaggy wild horse, which he had lately caught. His sharp prominent
+features, and his little keen snakelike eyes, looked out from beneath
+the shadowy hood of the capote, which was drawn over his head exactly
+like the cowl of a Capuchin friar. His face was extremely thin and like
+an old piece of leather, and his mouth spread from ear to ear. Extending
+his long wiry hand, he welcomed me with something more cordial than the
+ordinary cold salute of an Indian, for we were excellent friends. He had
+made an exchange of horses to our mutual advantage; and Paul, thinking
+himself well-treated, had declared everywhere that the white man had
+a good heart. He was a Dakota from the Missouri, a reputed son of the
+half-breed interpreter, Pierre Dorion, so often mentioned in Irving’s
+“Astoria.” He said that he was going to Richard’s trading house to sell
+his horse to some emigrants who were encamped there, and asked me to go
+with him. We forded the stream together, Paul dragging his wild charge
+behind him. As we passed over the sandy plains beyond, he grew quite
+communicative. Paul was a cosmopolitan in his way; he had been to the
+settlements of the whites, and visited in peace and war most of the
+tribes within the range of a thousand miles. He spoke a jargon of French
+and another of English, yet nevertheless he was a thorough Indian; and
+as he told of the bloody deeds of his own people against their enemies,
+his little eye would glitter with a fierce luster. He told how the
+Dakota exterminated a village of the Hohays on the Upper Missouri,
+slaughtering men, women, and children; and how an overwhelming force of
+them cut off sixteen of the brave Delawares, who fought like wolves
+to the last, amid the throng of their enemies. He told me also another
+story, which I did not believe until I had it confirmed from so many
+independent sources that no room was left for doubt. I am tempted to
+introduce it here.
+
+Six years ago a fellow named Jim Beckwith, a mongrel of French,
+American, and negro blood, was trading for the Fur Company, in a very
+large village of the Crows. Jim Beckwith was last summer at St. Louis.
+He is a ruffian of the first stamp; bloody and treacherous, without
+honor or honesty; such at least is the character he bears upon the
+prairie. Yet in his case all the standard rules of character fail,
+for though he will stab a man in his sleep, he will also perform most
+desperate acts of daring; such, for instance, as the following: While he
+was in the Crow village, a Blackfoot war party, between thirty and forty
+in number came stealing through the country, killing stragglers and
+carrying off horses. The Crow warriors got upon their trail and pressed
+them so closely that they could not escape, at which the Blackfeet,
+throwing up a semicircular breastwork of logs at the foot of a
+precipice, coolly awaited their approach. The logs and sticks, piled
+four or five high, protected them in front. The Crows might have
+swept over the breastwork and exterminated their enemies; but though
+out-numbering them tenfold, they did not dream of storming the little
+fortification. Such a proceeding would be altogether repugnant to their
+notions of warfare. Whooping and yelling, and jumping from side to side
+like devils incarnate, they showered bullets and arrows upon the logs;
+not a Blackfoot was hurt, but several Crows, in spite of their leaping
+and dodging, were shot down. In this childish manner the fight went on
+for an hour or two. Now and then a Crow warrior in an ecstasy of valor
+and vainglory would scream forth his war song, boasting himself the
+bravest and greatest of mankind, and grasping his hatchet, would rush
+up and strike it upon the breastwork, and then as he retreated to his
+companions, fall dead under a shower of arrows; yet no combined
+attack seemed to be dreamed of. The Blackfeet remained secure in their
+intrenchment. At last Jim Beckwith lost patience.
+
+“You are all fools and old women,” he said to the Crows; “come with me,
+if any of you are brave enough, and I will show you how to fight.”
+
+He threw off his trapper’s frock of buckskin and stripped himself naked
+like the Indians themselves. He left his rifle on the ground, and taking
+in his hand a small light hatchet, he ran over the prairie to the right,
+concealed by a hollow from the eyes of the Blackfeet. Then climbing
+up the rocks, he gained the top of the precipice behind them. Forty or
+fifty young Crow warriors followed him. By the cries and whoops that
+rose from below he knew that the Blackfeet were just beneath him; and
+running forward, he leaped down the rock into the midst of them. As
+he fell he caught one by the long loose hair and dragging him down
+tomahawked him; then grasping another by the belt at his waist, he
+struck him also a stunning blow, and gaining his feet, shouted the Crow
+war-cry. He swung his hatchet so fiercely around him that the astonished
+Blackfeet bore back and gave him room. He might, had he chosen, have
+leaped over the breastwork and escaped; but this was not necessary, for
+with devilish yells the Crow warriors came dropping in quick succession
+over the rock among their enemies. The main body of the Crows, too,
+answered the cry from the front and rushed up simultaneously. The
+convulsive struggle within the breastwork was frightful; for an instant
+the Blackfeet fought and yelled like pent-up tigers; but the butchery
+was soon complete, and the mangled bodies lay piled up together under
+the precipice. Not a Blackfoot made his escape.
+
+As Paul finished his story we came in sight of Richard’s Fort. It stood
+in the middle of the plain; a disorderly crowd of men around it, and an
+emigrant camp a little in front.
+
+“Now, Paul,” said I, “where are your Winnicongew lodges?”
+
+“Not come yet,” said Paul, “maybe come to-morrow.”
+
+Two large villages of a band of Dakota had come three hundred miles
+from the Missouri, to join in the war, and they were expected to reach
+Richard’s that morning. There was as yet no sign of their approach; so
+pushing through a noisy, drunken crowd, I entered an apartment of logs
+and mud, the largest in the fort; it was full of men of various races
+and complexions, all more or less drunk. A company of California
+emigrants, it seemed, had made the discovery at this late day that they
+had encumbered themselves with too many supplies for their journey.
+A part, therefore, they had thrown away or sold at great loss to
+the traders, but had determined to get rid of their copious stock of
+Missouri whisky, by drinking it on the spot. Here were maudlin squaws
+stretched on piles of buffalo robes; squalid Mexicans, armed with bows
+and arrows; Indians sedately drunk; long-haired Canadians and trappers,
+and American backwoodsmen in brown homespun, the well-beloved pistol and
+bowie knife displayed openly at their sides. In the middle of the room a
+tall, lank man, with a dingy broadcloth coat, was haranguing the company
+in the style of the stump orator. With one hand he sawed the air, and
+with the other clutched firmly a brown jug of whisky, which he applied
+every moment to his lips, forgetting that he had drained the contents
+long ago. Richard formally introduced me to this personage, who was no
+less a man than Colonel R., once the leader of the party. Instantly the
+colonel seizing me, in the absence of buttons by the leather fringes of
+my frock, began to define his position. His men, he said, had mutinied
+and deposed him; but still he exercised over them the influence of
+a superior mind; in all but the name he was yet their chief. As the
+colonel spoke, I looked round on the wild assemblage, and could not help
+thinking that he was but ill qualified to conduct such men across the
+desert to California. Conspicuous among the rest stood three tail
+young men, grandsons of Daniel Boone. They had clearly inherited the
+adventurous character of that prince of pioneers; but I saw no signs of
+the quiet and tranquil spirit that so remarkably distinguished him.
+
+Fearful was the fate that months after overtook some of the members of
+that party. General Kearny, on his late return from California, brought
+in the account how they were interrupted by the deep snows among the
+mountains, and maddened by cold and hunger fed upon each other’s flesh.
+
+I got tired of the confusion. “Come, Paul,” said I, “we will be off.”
+ Paul sat in the sun, under the wall of the fort. He jumped up, mounted,
+and we rode toward Fort Laramie. When we reached it, a man came out of
+the gate with a pack at his back and a rifle on his shoulder; others
+were gathering about him, shaking him by the hand, as if taking leave.
+I thought it a strange thing that a man should set out alone and on
+foot for the prairie. I soon got an explanation. Perrault--this, if
+I recollect right was the Canadian’s name--had quarreled with the
+bourgeois, and the fort was too hot to hold him. Bordeaux, inflated with
+his transient authority, had abused him, and received a blow in return.
+The men then sprang at each other, and grappled in the middle of the
+fort. Bordeaux was down in an instant, at the mercy of the incensed
+Canadian; had not an old Indian, the brother of his squaw, seized hold
+of his antagonist, he would have fared ill. Perrault broke loose from
+the old Indian, and both the white men ran to their rooms for their
+guns; but when Bordeaux, looking from his door, saw the Canadian, gun in
+hand, standing in the area and calling on him to come out and fight,
+his heart failed him; he chose to remain where he was. In vain the old
+Indian, scandalized by his brother-in-law’s cowardice, called upon him
+to go upon the prairie and fight it out in the white man’s manner; and
+Bordeaux’s own squaw, equally incensed, screamed to her lord and master
+that he was a dog and an old woman. It all availed nothing. Bordeaux’s
+prudence got the better of his valor, and he would not stir. Perrault
+stood showering approbrious epithets at the recent bourgeois. Growing
+tired of this, he made up a pack of dried meat, and slinging it at his
+back, set out alone for Fort Pierre on the Missouri, a distance of three
+hundred miles, over a desert country full of hostile Indians.
+
+I remained in the fort that night. In the morning, as I was coming
+out from breakfast, conversing with a trader named McCluskey, I saw
+a strange Indian leaning against the side of the gate. He was a tall,
+strong man, with heavy features.
+
+“Who is he?” I asked. “That’s The Whirlwind,” said McCluskey. “He is the
+fellow that made all this stir about the war. It’s always the way with
+the Sioux; they never stop cutting each other’s throats; it’s all they
+are fit for; instead of sitting in their lodges, and getting robes to
+trade with us in the winter. If this war goes on, we’ll make a poor
+trade of it next season, I reckon.”
+
+And this was the opinion of all the traders, who were vehemently opposed
+to the war, from the serious injury that it must occasion to their
+interests. The Whirlwind left his village the day before to make a visit
+to the fort. His warlike ardor had abated not a little since he
+first conceived the design of avenging his son’s death. The long and
+complicated preparations for the expedition were too much for his
+fickle, inconstant disposition. That morning Bordeaux fastened upon him,
+made him presents and told him that if he went to war he would destroy
+his horses and kill no buffalo to trade with the white men; in short,
+that he was a fool to think of such a thing, and had better make up his
+mind to sit quietly in his lodge and smoke his pipe, like a wise man.
+The Whirlwind’s purpose was evidently shaken; he had become tired, like
+a child, of his favorite plan. Bordeaux exultingly predicted that he
+would not go to war. My philanthropy at that time was no match for my
+curiosity, and I was vexed at the possibility that after all I might
+lose the rare opportunity of seeing the formidable ceremonies of
+war. The Whirlwind, however, had merely thrown the firebrand; the
+conflagration was become general. All the western bands of the Dakota
+were bent on war; and as I heard from McCluskey, six large villages
+already gathered on a little stream, forty miles distant, were daily
+calling to the Great Spirit to aid them in their enterprise. McCluskey
+had just left and represented them as on their way to La Bonte’s Camp,
+which they would reach in a week, UNLESS THEY SHOULD LEARN THAT THERE
+WERE NO BUFFALO THERE. I did not like this condition, for buffalo
+this season were rare in the neighborhood. There were also the two
+Minnicongew villages that I mentioned before; but about noon, an Indian
+came from Richard’s Fort with the news that they were quarreling,
+breaking up, and dispersing. So much for the whisky of the emigrants!
+Finding themselves unable to drink the whole, they had sold the residue
+to these Indians, and it needed no prophet to foretell the results; a
+spark dropped into a powder magazine would not have produced a quicker
+effect. Instantly the old jealousies and rivalries and smothered feuds
+that exist in an Indian village broke out into furious quarrels. They
+forgot the warlike enterprise that had already brought them three
+hundred miles. They seemed like ungoverned children inflamed with the
+fiercest passions of men. Several of them were stabbed in the drunken
+tumult; and in the morning they scattered and moved back toward the
+Missouri in small parties. I feared that, after all, the long-projected
+meeting and the ceremonies that were to attend it might never take
+place, and I should lose so admirable an opportunity of seeing the
+Indian under his most fearful and characteristic aspect; however,
+in foregoing this, I should avoid a very fair probability of being
+plundered and stripped, and, it might be, stabbed or shot into the
+bargain. Consoling myself with this reflection, I prepared to carry the
+news, such as it was, to the camp.
+
+I caught my horse, and to my vexation found he had lost a shoe and
+broken his tender white hoof against the rocks. Horses are shod at Fort
+Laramie at the moderate rate of three dollars a foot; so I tied
+Hendrick to a beam in the corral, and summoned Roubidou, the blacksmith.
+Roubidou, with the hoof between his knees, was at work with hammer and
+file, and I was inspecting the process, when a strange voice addressed
+me.
+
+“Two more gone under! Well, there is more of us left yet. Here’s Jean
+Gars and me off to the mountains to-morrow. Our turn will come next, I
+suppose. It’s a hard life, anyhow!”
+
+I looked up and saw a little man, not much more than five feet high, but
+of very square and strong proportions. In appearance he was particularly
+dingy; for his old buckskin frock was black and polished with time and
+grease, and his belt, knife, pouch, and powder-horn appeared to have
+seen the roughest service. The first joint of each foot was entirely
+gone, having been frozen off several winters before, and his moccasins
+were curtailed in proportion. His whole appearance and equipment bespoke
+the “free trapper.” He had a round ruddy face, animated with a spirit of
+carelessness and gayety not at all in accordance with the words he had
+just spoken.
+
+“Two more gone,” said I; “what do you mean by that?”
+
+“Oh,” said he, “the Arapahoes have just killed two of us in the
+mountains. Old Bull-Tail has come to tell us. They stabbed one behind
+his back, and shot the other with his own rifle. That’s the way we live
+here! I mean to give up trapping after this year. My squaw says she
+wants a pacing horse and some red ribbons; I’ll make enough beaver to
+get them for her, and then I’m done! I’ll go below and live on a farm.”
+
+“Your bones will dry on the prairie, Rouleau!” said another trapper, who
+was standing by; a strong, brutal-looking fellow, with a face as surly
+as a bull-dog’s.
+
+Rouleau only laughed, and began to hum a tune and shuffle a dance on his
+stumps of feet.
+
+“You’ll see us, before long, passing up our way,” said the other man.
+“Well,” said I, “stop and take a cup of coffee with us”; and as it was
+quite late in the afternoon, I prepared to leave the fort at once.
+
+As I rode out, a train of emigrant wagons was passing across the stream.
+“Whar are ye goin’ stranger?” Thus I was saluted by two or three voices
+at once.
+
+“About eighteen miles up the creek.”
+
+“It’s mighty late to be going that far! Make haste, ye’d better, and
+keep a bright lookout for Indians!”
+
+I thought the advice too good to be neglected. Fording the stream, I
+passed at a round trot over the plains beyond. But “the more haste, the
+worse speed.” I proved the truth in the proverb by the time I reached
+the hills three miles from the fort. The trail was faintly marked, and
+riding forward with more rapidity than caution, I lost sight of it. I
+kept on in a direct line, guided by Laramie Creek, which I could see
+at intervals darkly glistening in the evening sun, at the bottom of
+the woody gulf on my right. Half an hour before sunset I came upon its
+banks. There was something exciting in the wild solitude of the place.
+An antelope sprang suddenly from the sagebushes before me. As he leaped
+gracefully not thirty yards before my horse, I fired, and instantly he
+spun round and fell. Quite sure of him, I walked my horse toward him,
+leisurely reloading my rifle, when to my surprise he sprang up and
+trotted rapidly away on three legs into the dark recesses of the hills,
+whither I had no time to follow. Ten minutes after, I was passing along
+the bottom of a deep valley, and chancing to look behind me, I saw in
+the dim light that something was following. Supposing it to be wolf, I
+slid from my seat and sat down behind my horse to shoot it; but as
+it came up, I saw by its motions that it was another antelope. It
+approached within a hundred yards, arched its graceful neck, and gazed
+intently. I leveled at the white spot on its chest, and was about to
+fire when it started off, ran first to one side and then to the other,
+like a vessel tacking against a wind, and at last stretched away at full
+speed. Then it stopped again, looked curiously behind it, and trotted up
+as before; but not so boldly, for it soon paused and stood gazing at
+me. I fired; it leaped upward and fell upon its tracks. Measuring the
+distance, I found it 204 paces. When I stood by his side, the antelope
+turned his expiring eye upward. It was like a beautiful woman’s, dark
+and rich. “Fortunate that I am in a hurry,” thought I; “I might be
+troubled with remorse, if I had time for it.”
+
+Cutting the animal up, not in the most skilled manner, I hung the meat
+at the back of my saddle, and rode on again. The hills (I could not
+remember one of them) closed around me. “It is too late,” thought I,
+“to go forward. I will stay here to-night, and look for the path in the
+morning.” As a last effort, however, I ascended a high hill, from which,
+to my great satisfaction, I could see Laramie Creek stretching before
+me, twisting from side to side amid ragged patches of timber; and
+far off, close beneath the shadows of the trees, the ruins of the old
+trading fort were visible. I reached them at twilight. It was far from
+pleasant, in that uncertain light, to be pushing through the dense trees
+and shrubbery of the grove beyond. I listened anxiously for the footfall
+of man or beast. Nothing was stirring but one harmless brown bird,
+chirping among the branches. I was glad when I gained the open prairie
+once more, where I could see if anything approached. When I came to the
+mouth of Chugwater, it was totally dark. Slackening the reins, I let my
+horse take his own course. He trotted on with unerring instinct, and by
+nine o’clock was scrambling down the steep ascent into the meadows where
+we were encamped. While I was looking in vain for the light of the
+fire, Hendrick, with keener perceptions, gave a loud neigh, which was
+immediately answered in a shrill note from the distance. In a moment I
+was hailed from the darkness by the voice of Reynal, who had come out,
+rifle in hand, to see who was approaching.
+
+He, with his squaw, the two Canadians and the Indian boys, were the sole
+inmates of the camp, Shaw and Henry Chatillon being still absent. At
+noon of the following day they came back, their horses looking none the
+better for the journey. Henry seemed dejected. The woman was dead, and
+his children must henceforward be exposed, without a protector, to the
+hardships and vicissitudes of Indian life. Even in the midst of his
+grief he had not forgotten his attachment to his bourgeois, for he had
+procured among his Indian relatives two beautifully ornamented buffalo
+robes, which he spread on the ground as a present to us.
+
+Shaw lighted his pipe, and told me in a few words the history of his
+journey. When I went to the fort they left me, as I mentioned, at the
+mouth of Chugwater. They followed the course of the little stream all
+day, traversing a desolate and barren country. Several times they came
+upon the fresh traces of a large war party--the same, no doubt, from
+whom we had so narrowly escaped an attack. At an hour before sunset,
+without encountering a human being by the way, they came upon the lodges
+of the squaw and her brothers, who, in compliance with Henry’s message,
+had left the Indian village in order to join us at our camp. The lodges
+were already pitched, five in number, by the side of the stream. The
+woman lay in one of them, reduced to a mere skeleton. For some time she
+had been unable to move or speak. Indeed, nothing had kept her alive
+but the hope of seeing Henry, to whom she was strongly and faithfully
+attached. No sooner did he enter the lodge than she revived, and
+conversed with him the greater part of the night. Early in the morning
+she was lifted into a travail, and the whole party set out toward our
+camp. There were but five warriors; the rest were women and children.
+The whole were in great alarm at the proximity of the Crow war party,
+who would certainly have destroyed them without mercy had they met. They
+had advanced only a mile or two, when they discerned a horseman, far
+off, on the edge of the horizon. They all stopped, gathering together in
+the greatest anxiety, from which they did not recover until long after
+the horseman disappeared; then they set out again. Henry was riding with
+Shaw a few rods in advance of the Indians, when Mahto-Tatonka, a younger
+brother of the woman, hastily called after them. Turning back, they
+found all the Indians crowded around the travail in which the woman was
+lying. They reached her just in time to hear the death-rattle in
+her throat. In a moment she lay dead in the basket of the vehicle. A
+complete stillness succeeded; then the Indians raised in concert their
+cries of lamentation over the corpse, and among them Shaw clearly
+distinguished those strange sounds resembling the word “Halleluyah,”
+ which together with some other accidental coincidences has given rise
+to the absurd theory that the Indians are descended from the ten lost
+tribes of Israel.
+
+The Indian usage required that Henry, as well as the other relatives of
+the woman, should make valuable presents, to be placed by the side of
+the body at its last resting place. Leaving the Indians, he and Shaw set
+out for the camp and reached it, as we have seen, by hard pushing, at
+about noon. Having obtained the necessary articles, they immediately
+returned. It was very late and quite dark when they again reached the
+lodges. They were all placed in a deep hollow among the dreary hills.
+Four of them were just visible through the gloom, but the fifth and
+largest was illuminated by the ruddy blaze of a fire within, glowing
+through the half-transparent covering of raw hides. There was a perfect
+stillness as they approached. The lodges seemed without a tenant. Not a
+living thing was stirring--there was something awful in the scene. They
+rode up to the entrance of the lodge, and there was no sound but the
+tramp of their horses. A squaw came out and took charge of the animals,
+without speaking a word. Entering, they found the lodge crowded with
+Indians; a fire was burning in the midst, and the mourners encircled
+it in a triple row. Room was made for the newcomers at the head of the
+lodge, a robe spread for them to sit upon, and a pipe lighted and handed
+to them in perfect silence. Thus they passed the greater part of the
+night. At times the fire would subside into a heap of embers, until the
+dark figures seated around it were scarcely visible; then a squaw would
+drop upon it a piece of buffalo-fat, and a bright flame, instantly
+springing up, would reveal of a sudden the crowd of wild faces,
+motionless as bronze. The silence continued unbroken. It was a relief
+to Shaw when daylight returned and he could escape from this house of
+mourning. He and Henry prepared to return homeward; first, however, they
+placed the presents they had brought near the body of the squaw, which,
+most gaudily attired, remained in a sitting posture in one of the
+lodges. A fine horse was picketed not far off, destined to be killed
+that morning for the service of her spirit, for the woman was lame, and
+could not travel on foot over the dismal prairies to the villages of
+the dead. Food, too, was provided, and household implements, for her use
+upon this last journey.
+
+Henry left her to the care of her relatives, and came immediately with
+Shaw to the camp. It was some time before he entirely recovered from his
+dejection.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+SCENES AT THE CAMP
+
+
+Reynal heard guns fired one day, at the distance of a mile or two from
+the camp. He grew nervous instantly. Visions of Crow war parties began
+to haunt his imagination; and when we returned (for we were all absent),
+he renewed his complaints about being left alone with the Canadians
+and the squaw. The day after, the cause of the alarm appeared. Four
+trappers, one called Moran, another Saraphin, and the others nicknamed
+“Rouleau” and “Jean Gras,” came to our camp and joined us. They it was
+who fired the guns and disturbed the dreams of our confederate Reynal.
+They soon encamped by our side. Their rifles, dingy and battered with
+hard service, rested with ours against the old tree; their strong rude
+saddles, their buffalo robes, their traps, and the few rough and simple
+articles of their traveling equipment, were piled near our tent. Their
+mountain horses were turned to graze in the meadow among our own; and
+the men themselves, no less rough and hardy, used to lie half the day in
+the shade of our tree lolling on the grass, lazily smoking, and telling
+stories of their adventures; and I defy the annals of chivalry to
+furnish the record of a life more wild and perilous than that of a Rocky
+Mountain trapper.
+
+With this efficient re-enforcement the agitation of Reynal’s nerves
+subsided. He began to conceive a sort of attachment to our old camping
+ground; yet it was time to change our quarters, since remaining too long
+on one spot must lead to certain unpleasant results not to be borne
+with unless in a case of dire necessity. The grass no longer presented a
+smooth surface of turf; it was trampled into mud and clay. So we removed
+to another old tree, larger yet, that grew by the river side at a
+furlong’s distance. Its trunk was full six feet in diameter; on one
+side it was marked by a party of Indians with various inexplicable
+hieroglyphics, commemorating some warlike enterprise, and aloft among
+the branches were the remains of a scaffolding, where dead bodies had
+once been deposited, after the Indian manner.
+
+“There comes Bull-Bear,” said Henry Chatillon, as we sat on the grass at
+dinner. Looking up, we saw several horsemen coming over the neighboring
+hill, and in a moment four stately young men rode up and dismounted.
+One of them was Bull-Bear, or Mahto-Tatonka, a compound name which he
+inherited from his father, the most powerful chief in the Ogallalla
+band. One of his brothers and two other young men accompanied him. We
+shook hands with the visitors, and when we had finished our meal--for
+this is the orthodox manner of entertaining Indians, even the best of
+them--we handed to each a tin cup of coffee and a biscuit, at which they
+ejaculated from the bottom of their throats, “How! how!” a monosyllable
+by which an Indian contrives to express half the emotions that he is
+susceptible of. Then we lighted the pipe, and passed it to them as they
+squatted on the ground.
+
+“Where is the village?”
+
+“There,” said Mahto-Tatonka, pointing southward; “it will come in two
+days.”
+
+“Will they go to the war?”
+
+“Yes.”
+
+No man is a philanthropist on the prairie. We welcomed this news most
+cordially, and congratulated ourselves that Bordeaux’s interested
+efforts to divert The Whirlwind from his congenial vocation of bloodshed
+had failed of success, and that no additional obstacles would interpose
+between us and our plan of repairing to the rendezvous at La Bonte’s
+Camp.
+
+For that and several succeeding days, Mahto-Tatonka and his friends
+remained our guests. They devoured the relics of our meals; they filled
+the pipe for us and also helped us to smoke it. Sometimes they stretched
+themselves side by side in the shade, indulging in raillery and
+practical jokes ill becoming the dignity of brave and aspiring warriors,
+such as two of them in reality were.
+
+Two days dragged away, and on the morning of the third we hoped
+confidently to see the Indian village. It did not come; so we rode out
+to look for it. In place of the eight hundred Indians we expected, we
+met one solitary savage riding toward us over the prairie, who told
+us that the Indians had changed their plans, and would not come within
+three days; still he persisted that they were going to the war. Taking
+along with us this messenger of evil tidings, we retraced our footsteps
+to the camp, amusing ourselves by the way with execrating Indian
+inconstancy. When we came in sight of our little white tent under the
+big tree, we saw that it no longer stood alone. A huge old lodge was
+erected close by its side, discolored by rain and storms, rotted with
+age, with the uncouth figures of horses and men, and outstretched hands
+that were painted upon it, well-nigh obliterated. The long poles which
+supported this squalid habitation thrust themselves rakishly out from
+its pointed top, and over its entrance were suspended a “medicine-pipe”
+ and various other implements of the magic art. While we were yet at a
+distance, we observed a greatly increased population of various colors
+and dimensions, swarming around our quiet encampment. Moran, the
+trapper, having been absent for a day or two, had returned, it seemed,
+bringing all his family with him. He had taken to himself a wife for
+whom he had paid the established price of one horse. This looks cheap at
+first sight, but in truth the purchase of a squaw is a transaction which
+no man should enter into without mature deliberation, since it involves
+not only the payment of the first price, but the formidable burden of
+feeding and supporting a rapacious horde of the bride’s relatives, who
+hold themselves entitled to feed upon the indiscreet white man. They
+gather round like leeches, and drain him of all he has.
+
+Moran, like Reynal, had not allied himself to an aristocratic circle.
+His relatives occupied but a contemptible position in Ogallalla society;
+for among those wild democrats of the prairie, as among us, there are
+virtual distinctions of rank and place; though this great advantage they
+have over us, that wealth has no part in determining such distinctions.
+Moran’s partner was not the most beautiful of her sex, and he had the
+exceedingly bad taste to array her in an old calico gown bought from
+an emigrant woman, instead of the neat and graceful tunic of whitened
+deerskin worn ordinarily by the squaws. The moving spirit of the
+establishment, in more senses than one, was a hideous old hag of eighty.
+Human imagination never conceived hobgoblin or witch more ugly than she.
+You could count all her ribs through the wrinkles of the leathery skin
+that covered them. Her withered face more resembled an old skull than
+the countenance of a living being, even to the hollow, darkened sockets,
+at the bottom of which glittered her little black eyes. Her arms had
+dwindled away into nothing but whipcord and wire. Her hair, half black,
+half gray, hung in total neglect nearly to the ground, and her sole
+garment consisted of the remnant of a discarded buffalo robe tied round
+her waist with a string of hide. Yet the old squaw’s meager anatomy was
+wonderfully strong. She pitched the lodge, packed the horses, and did
+the hardest labor of the camp. From morning till night she bustled about
+the lodge, screaming like a screech-owl when anything displeased her.
+Then there was her brother, a “medicine-man,” or magician, equally
+gaunt and sinewy with herself. His mouth spread from ear to ear, and his
+appetite, as we had full occasion to learn, was ravenous in proportion.
+The other inmates of the lodge were a young bride and bridegroom; the
+latter one of those idle, good-for nothing fellows who infest an Indian
+village as well as more civilized communities. He was fit neither
+for hunting nor for war; and one might infer as much from the stolid
+unmeaning expression of his face. The happy pair had just entered upon
+the honeymoon. They would stretch a buffalo robe upon poles, so as to
+protect them from the fierce rays of the sun, and spreading beneath this
+rough canopy a luxuriant couch of furs, would sit affectionately side
+by side for half the day, though I could not discover that much
+conversation passed between them. Probably they had nothing to say; for
+an Indian’s supply of topics for conversation is far from being copious.
+There were half a dozen children, too, playing and whooping about the
+camp, shooting birds with little bows and arrows, or making miniature
+lodges of sticks, as children of a different complexion build houses of
+blocks.
+
+A day passed, and Indians began rapidly to come in. Parties of two or
+three or more would ride up and silently seat themselves on the grass.
+The fourth day came at last, when about noon horsemen suddenly appeared
+into view on the summit of the neighboring ridge. They descended, and
+behind them followed a wild procession, hurrying in haste and disorder
+down the hill and over the plain below; horses, mules, and dogs, heavily
+burdened travaux, mounted warriors, squaws walking amid the throng, and
+a host of children. For a full half-hour they continued to pour down;
+and keeping directly to the bend of the stream, within a furlong of us,
+they soon assembled there, a dark and confused throng, until, as if
+by magic, 150 tall lodges sprung up. On a sudden the lonely plain was
+transformed into the site of a miniature city. Countless horses were
+soon grazing over the meadows around us, and the whole prairie was
+animated by restless figures careening on horseback, or sedately
+stalking in their long white robes. The Whirlwind was come at last! One
+question yet remained to be answered: “Will he go to the war, in order
+that we, with so respectable an escort, may pass over to the somewhat
+perilous rendezvous at La Bonte’s Camp?”
+
+Still this remained in doubt. Characteristic indecision perplexed their
+councils. Indians cannot act in large bodies. Though their object be of
+the highest importance, they cannot combine to attain it by a series of
+connected efforts. King Philip, Pontiac, and Tecumseh all felt this to
+their cost. The Ogallalla once had a war chief who could control
+them; but he was dead, and now they were left to the sway of their own
+unsteady impulses.
+
+This Indian village and its inhabitants will hold a prominent place in
+the rest of the narrative, and perhaps it may not be amiss to glance for
+an instant at the savage people of which they form a part. The Dakota
+(I prefer this national designation to the unmeaning French name, Sioux)
+range over a vast territory, from the river St. Peter’s to the Rocky
+Mountains themselves. They are divided into several independent bands,
+united under no central government, and acknowledge no common head.
+The same language, usages, and superstitions form the sole bond between
+them. They do not unite even in their wars. The bands of the east fight
+the Ojibwas on the Upper Lakes; those of the west make incessant war
+upon the Snake Indians in the Rocky Mountains. As the whole people is
+divided into bands, so each band is divided into villages. Each village
+has a chief, who is honored and obeyed only so far as his personal
+qualities may command respect and fear. Sometimes he is a mere nominal
+chief; sometimes his authority is little short of absolute, and his fame
+and influence reach even beyond his own village; so that the whole band
+to which he belongs is ready to acknowledge him as their head. This was,
+a few years since, the case with the Ogallalla. Courage, address, and
+enterprise may raise any warrior to the highest honor, especially if
+he be the son of a former chief, or a member of a numerous family, to
+support him and avenge his quarrels; but when he has reached the dignity
+of chief, and the old men and warriors, by a peculiar ceremony, have
+formally installed him, let it not be imagined that he assumes any of
+the outward semblances of rank and honor. He knows too well on how
+frail a tenure he holds his station. He must conciliate his uncertain
+subjects. Many a man in the village lives better, owns more squaws and
+more horses, and goes better clad than he. Like the Teutonic chiefs of
+old, he ingratiates himself with his young men by making them presents,
+thereby often impoverishing himself. Does he fail in gaining their
+favor, they will set his authority at naught, and may desert him at any
+moment; for the usages of his people have provided no sanctions by which
+he may enforce his authority. Very seldom does it happen, at least among
+these western bands, that a chief attains to much power, unless he is
+the head of a numerous family. Frequently the village is principally
+made up of his relatives and descendants, and the wandering community
+assumes much of the patriarchal character. A people so loosely united,
+torn, too, with ranking feuds and jealousies, can have little power or
+efficiency.
+
+The western Dakota have no fixed habitations. Hunting and fighting, they
+wander incessantly through summer and winter. Some are following the
+herds of buffalo over the waste of prairie; others are traversing the
+Black Hills, thronging on horseback and on foot through the dark gulfs
+and somber gorges beneath the vast splintering precipices, and emerging
+at last upon the “Parks,” those beautiful but most perilous hunting
+grounds. The buffalo supplies them with almost all the necessaries of
+life; with habitations, food, clothing, and fuel; with strings for
+their bows, with thread, cordage, and trail-ropes for their horses, with
+coverings for their saddles, with vessels to hold water, with boats to
+cross streams, with glue, and with the means of purchasing all that they
+desire from the traders. When the buffalo are extinct, they too must
+dwindle away.
+
+War is the breath of their nostrils. Against most of the neighboring
+tribes they cherish a deadly, rancorous hatred, transmitted from father
+to son, and inflamed by constant aggression and retaliation. Many times
+a year, in every village, the Great Spirit is called upon, fasts are
+made, the war parade is celebrated, and the warriors go out by handfuls
+at a time against the enemy. This fierce and evil spirit awakens their
+most eager aspirations, and calls forth their greatest energies. It is
+chiefly this that saves them from lethargy and utter abasement. Without
+its powerful stimulus they would be like the unwarlike tribes beyond
+the mountains, who are scattered among the caves and rocks like beasts,
+living on roots and reptiles. These latter have little of humanity
+except the form; but the proud and ambitious Dakota warrior can
+sometimes boast of heroic virtues. It is very seldom that distinction
+and influence are attained among them by any other course than that of
+arms. Their superstition, however, sometimes gives great power, to those
+among them who pretend to the character of magicians. Their wild hearts,
+too, can feel the power of oratory, and yield deference to the masters
+of it.
+
+But to return. Look into our tent, or enter, if you can bear the
+stifling smoke and the close atmosphere. There, wedged close together,
+you will see a circle of stout warriors, passing the pipe around,
+joking, telling stories, and making themselves merry, after their
+fashion. We were also infested by little copper-colored naked boys and
+snake-eyed girls. They would come up to us, muttering certain words,
+which being interpreted conveyed the concise invitation, “Come and eat.”
+ Then we would rise, cursing the pertinacity of Dakota hospitality, which
+allowed scarcely an hour of rest between sun and sun, and to which we
+were bound to do honor, unless we would offend our entertainers. This
+necessity was particularly burdensome to me, as I was scarcely able to
+walk, from the effects of illness, and was of course poorly qualified
+to dispose of twenty meals a day. Of these sumptuous banquets I gave a
+specimen in a former chapter, where the tragical fate of the little dog
+was chronicled. So bounteous an entertainment looks like an outgushing
+of good will; but doubtless one-half at least of our kind hosts, had
+they met us alone and unarmed on the prairie, would have robbed us of
+our horses, and perchance have bestowed an arrow upon us beside. Trust
+not an Indian. Let your rifle be ever in your hand. Wear next your heart
+the old chivalric motto SEMPER PARATUS.
+
+One morning we were summoned to the lodge of an old man, in good truth
+the Nestor of his tribe. We found him half sitting, half reclining on a
+pile of buffalo robes; his long hair, jet-black even now, though he
+had seen some eighty winters, hung on either side of his thin features.
+Those most conversant with Indians in their homes will scarcely believe
+me when I affirm that there was dignity in his countenance and mien. His
+gaunt but symmetrical frame, did not more clearly exhibit the wreck of
+bygone strength, than did his dark, wasted features, still prominent and
+commanding, bear the stamp of mental energies. I recalled, as I saw him,
+the eloquent metaphor of the Iroquois sachem: “I am an aged hemlock; the
+winds of a hundred winters have whistled through my branches, and I
+am dead at the top!” Opposite the patriarch was his nephew, the young
+aspirant Mahto-Tatonka; and besides these, there were one or two women
+in the lodge.
+
+The old man’s story is peculiar, and singularly illustrative of a
+superstitious custom that prevails in full force among many of the
+Indian tribes. He was one of a powerful family, renowned for their
+warlike exploits. When a very young man, he submitted to the singular
+rite to which most of the tribe subject themselves before entering
+upon life. He painted his face black; then seeking out a cavern in a
+sequestered part of the Black Hills, he lay for several days, fasting
+and praying to the Great Spirit. In the dreams and visions produced by
+his weakened and excited state, he fancied like all Indians, that he
+saw supernatural revelations. Again and again the form of an antelope
+appeared before him. The antelope is the graceful peace spirit of the
+Ogallalla; but seldom is it that such a gentle visitor presents itself
+during the initiatory fasts of their young men. The terrible grizzly
+bear, the divinity of war, usually appears to fire them with martial
+ardor and thirst for renown. At length the antelope spoke. He told the
+young dreamer that he was not to follow the path of war; that a life of
+peace and tranquillity was marked out for him; that henceforward he was
+to guide the people by his counsels and protect them from the evils of
+their own feuds and dissensions. Others were to gain renown by fighting
+the enemy; but greatness of a different kind was in store for him.
+
+The visions beheld during the period of this fast usually determine
+the whole course of the dreamer’s life, for an Indian is bound by iron
+superstitions. From that time, Le Borgne, which was the only name by
+which we knew him, abandoned all thoughts of war and devoted himself to
+the labors of peace. He told his vision to the people. They honored his
+commission and respected him in his novel capacity.
+
+A far different man was his brother, Mahto-Tatonka, who had transmitted
+his names, his features, and many of his characteristic qualities to his
+son. He was the father of Henry Chatillon’s squaw, a circumstance which
+proved of some advantage to us, as securing for us the friendship of
+a family perhaps the most distinguished and powerful in the whole
+Ogallalla band. Mahto-Tatonka, in his rude way, was a hero. No chief
+could vie with him in warlike renown, or in power over his people. He
+had a fearless spirit, and a most impetuous and inflexible resolution.
+His will was law. He was politic and sagacious, and with true Indian
+craft he always befriended the whites, well knowing that he might
+thus reap great advantages for himself and his adherents. When he had
+resolved on any course of conduct, he would pay to the warriors the
+empty compliment of calling them together to deliberate upon it, and
+when their debates were over, he would quietly state his own opinion,
+which no one ever disputed. The consequences of thwarting his imperious
+will were too formidable to be encountered. Woe to those who incurred
+his displeasure! He would strike them or stab them on the spot; and this
+act, which, if attempted by any other chief, would instantly have cost
+him his life, the awe inspired by his name enabled him to repeat again
+and again with impunity. In a community where, from immemorial time,
+no man has acknowledged any law but his own will, Mahto-Tatonka, by the
+force of his dauntless resolution, raised himself to power little short
+of despotic. His haughty career came at last to an end. He had a host
+of enemies only waiting for their opportunity of revenge, and our old
+friend Smoke, in particular, together with all his kinsmen, hated him
+most cordially. Smoke sat one day in his lodge in the midst of his
+own village, when Mahto-Tatonka entered it alone, and approaching the
+dwelling of his enemy, called on him in a loud voice to come out, if
+he were a man, and fight. Smoke would not move. At this, Mahto-Tatonka
+proclaimed him a coward and an old woman, and striding close to the
+entrance of the lodge, stabbed the chief’s best horse, which was
+picketed there. Smoke was daunted, and even this insult failed to call
+him forth. Mahto-Tatonka moved haughtily away; all made way for him, but
+his hour of reckoning was near.
+
+One hot day, five or six years ago, numerous lodges of Smoke’s kinsmen
+were gathered around some of the Fur Company’s men, who were trading
+in various articles with them, whisky among the rest. Mahto-Tatonka was
+also there with a few of his people. As he lay in his own lodge, a fray
+arose between his adherents and the kinsmen of his enemy. The war-whoop
+was raised, bullets and arrows began to fly, and the camp was in
+confusion. The chief sprang up, and rushing in a fury from the lodge
+shouted to the combatants on both sides to cease. Instantly--for the
+attack was preconcerted--came the reports of two or three guns, and the
+twanging of a dozen bows, and the savage hero, mortally wounded, pitched
+forward headlong to the ground. Rouleau was present, and told me the
+particulars. The tumult became general, and was not quelled until
+several had fallen on both sides. When we were in the country the feud
+between the two families was still rankling, and not likely soon to
+cease.
+
+Thus died Mahto-Tatonka, but he left behind him a goodly army of
+descendants, to perpetuate his renown and avenge his fate. Besides
+daughters he had thirty sons, a number which need not stagger the
+credulity of those who are best acquainted with Indian usages and
+practices. We saw many of them, all marked by the same dark complexion
+and the same peculiar cast of features. Of these our visitor, young
+Mahto-Tatonka, was the eldest, and some reported him as likely to
+succeed to his father’s honors. Though he appeared not more than
+twenty-one years old, he had oftener struck the enemy, and stolen more
+horses and more squaws than any young man in the village. We of the
+civilized world are not apt to attach much credit to the latter
+species of exploits; but horse-stealing is well known as an avenue
+to distinction on the prairies, and the other kind of depredation is
+esteemed equally meritorious. Not that the act can confer fame from
+its own intrinsic merits. Any one can steal a squaw, and if he chooses
+afterward to make an adequate present to her rightful proprietor,
+the easy husband for the most part rests content, his vengeance falls
+asleep, and all danger from that quarter is averted. Yet this is
+esteemed but a pitiful and mean-spirited transaction. The danger is
+averted, but the glory of the achievement also is lost. Mahto-Tatonka
+proceeded after a more gallant and dashing fashion. Out of several dozen
+squaws whom he had stolen, he could boast that he had never paid for
+one, but snapping his fingers in the face of the injured husband, had
+defied the extremity of his indignation, and no one yet had dared to lay
+the finger of violence upon him. He was following close in the footsteps
+of his father. The young men and the young squaws, each in their way,
+admired him. The one would always follow him to war, and he was esteemed
+to have unrivaled charm in the eyes of the other. Perhaps his impunity
+may excite some wonder. An arrow shot from a ravine, a stab given in the
+dark, require no great valor, and are especially suited to the Indian
+genius; but Mahto-Tatonka had a strong protection. It was not alone his
+courage and audacious will that enabled him to career so dashingly
+among his compeers. His enemies did not forget that he was one of thirty
+warlike brethren, all growing up to manhood. Should they wreak their
+anger upon him, many keen eyes would be ever upon them, many fierce
+hearts would thirst for their blood. The avenger would dog their
+footsteps everywhere. To kill Mahto-Tatonka would be no better than an
+act of suicide.
+
+Though he found such favor in the eyes of the fair, he was no dandy. As
+among us those of highest worth and breeding are most simple in manner
+and attire, so our aspiring young friend was indifferent to the gaudy
+trappings and ornaments of his companions. He was content to rest his
+chances of success upon his own warlike merits. He never arrayed himself
+in gaudy blanket and glittering necklaces, but left his statue-like
+form, limbed like an Apollo of bronze, to win its way to favor. His
+voice was singularly deep and strong. It sounded from his chest like the
+deep notes of an organ. Yet after all, he was but an Indian. See him as
+he lies there in the sun before our tent, kicking his heels in the air
+and cracking jokes with his brother. Does he look like a hero? See him
+now in the hour of his glory, when at sunset the whole village empties
+itself to behold him, for to-morrow their favorite young partisan goes
+out against the enemy. His superb headdress is adorned with a crest of
+the war eagle’s feathers, rising in a waving ridge above his brow, and
+sweeping far behind him. His round white shield hangs at his breast,
+with feathers radiating from the center like a star. His quiver is at
+his back; his tall lance in his hand, the iron point flashing against
+the declining sun, while the long scalp-locks of his enemies flutter
+from the shaft. Thus, gorgeous as a champion in his panoply, he rides
+round and round within the great circle of lodges, balancing with a
+graceful buoyancy to the free movements of his war horse, while with a
+sedate brow he sings his song to the Great Spirit. Young rival warriors
+look askance at him; vermilion-cheeked girls gaze in admiration, boys
+whoop and scream in a thrill of delight, and old women yell forth his
+name and proclaim his praises from lodge to lodge.
+
+Mahto-Tatonka, to come back to him, was the best of all our Indian
+friends. Hour after hour and day after day, when swarms of savages of
+every age, sex, and degree beset our camp, he would lie in our tent, his
+lynx eye ever open to guard our property from pillage.
+
+The Whirlwind invited us one day to his lodge. The feast was finished,
+and the pipe began to circulate. It was a remarkably large and fine one,
+and I expressed my admiration of its form and dimensions.
+
+“If the Meneaska likes the pipe,” asked The Whirlwind, “why does he not
+keep it?”
+
+Such a pipe among the Ogallalla is valued at the price of a horse.
+A princely gift, thinks the reader, and worthy of a chieftain and a
+warrior. The Whirlwind’s generosity rose to no such pitch. He gave
+me the pipe, confidently expecting that I in return should make him a
+present of equal or superior value. This is the implied condition of
+every gift among the Indians as among the Orientals, and should it not
+be complied with the present is usually reclaimed by the giver. So I
+arranged upon a gaudy calico handkerchief, an assortment of vermilion,
+tobacco, knives, and gunpowder, and summoning the chief to camp, assured
+him of my friendship and begged his acceptance of a slight token of it.
+Ejaculating HOW! HOW! he folded up the offerings and withdrew to his
+lodge.
+
+Several days passed and we and the Indians remained encamped side by
+side. They could not decide whether or not to go to war. Toward evening,
+scores of them would surround our tent, a picturesque group. Late one
+afternoon a party of them mounted on horseback came suddenly in sight
+from behind some clumps of bushes that lined the bank of the stream,
+leading with them a mule, on whose back was a wretched negro, only
+sustained in his seat by the high pommel and cantle of the Indian
+saddle. His cheeks were withered and shrunken in the hollow of his jaws;
+his eyes were unnaturally dilated, and his lips seemed shriveled and
+drawn back from his teeth like those of a corpse. When they brought him
+up before our tent, and lifted him from the saddle, he could not walk or
+stand, but he crawled a short distance, and with a look of utter misery
+sat down on the grass. All the children and women came pouring out of
+the lodges round us, and with screams and cries made a close circle
+about him, while he sat supporting himself with his hands, and looking
+from side to side with a vacant stare. The wretch was starving to death!
+For thirty-three days he had wandered alone on the prairie, without
+weapon of any kind; without shoes, moccasins, or any other clothing than
+an old jacket and pantaloons; without intelligence and skill to guide
+his course, or any knowledge of the productions of the prairie. All this
+time he had subsisted on crickets and lizards, wild onions, and three
+eggs which he found in the nest of a prairie dove. He had not seen a
+human being. Utterly bewildered in the boundless, hopeless desert that
+stretched around him, offering to his inexperienced eye no mark by which
+to direct his course, he had walked on in despair till he could walk no
+longer, and then crawled on his knees until the bone was laid bare. He
+chose the night for his traveling, lying down by day to sleep in the
+glaring sun, always dreaming, as he said, of the broth and corn cake he
+used to eat under his old master’s shed in Missouri. Every man in the
+camp, both white and red, was astonished at his wonderful escape not
+only from starvation but from the grizzly bears which abound in that
+neighborhood, and the wolves which howled around him every night.
+
+Reynal recognized him the moment the Indians brought him in. He had
+run away from his master about a year before and joined the party of
+M. Richard, who was then leaving the frontier for the mountains. He had
+lived with Richard ever since, until in the end of May he with Reynal
+and several other men went out in search of some stray horses, when he
+got separated from the rest in a storm, and had never been heard of up
+to this time. Knowing his inexperience and helplessness, no one dreamed
+that he could still be living. The Indians had found him lying exhausted
+on the ground.
+
+As he sat there with the Indians gazing silently on him, his haggard
+face and glazed eye were disgusting to look upon. Delorier made him
+a bowl of gruel, but he suffered it to remain untasted before him. At
+length he languidly raised the spoon to his lips; again he did so, and
+again; and then his appetite seemed suddenly inflamed into madness, for
+he seized the bowl, swallowed all its contents in a few seconds, and
+eagerly demanded meat. This we refused, telling him to wait until
+morning, but he begged so eagerly that we gave him a small piece, which
+he devoured, tearing it like a dog. He said he must have more. We told
+him that his life was in danger if he ate so immoderately at first.
+He assented, and said he knew he was a fool to do so, but he must
+have meat. This we absolutely refused, to the great indignation of the
+senseless squaws, who, when we were not watching him, would slyly bring
+dried meat and POMMES BLANCHES, and place them on the ground by his
+side. Still this was not enough for him. When it grew dark he contrived
+to creep away between the legs of the horses and crawl over to the
+Indian village, about a furlong down the stream. Here he fed to his
+heart’s content, and was brought back again in the morning, when Jean
+Gras, the trapper, put him on horseback and carried him to the fort.
+He managed to survive the effects of his insane greediness, and
+though slightly deranged when we left this part of the country, he was
+otherwise in tolerable health, and expressed his firm conviction that
+nothing could ever kill him.
+
+When the sun was yet an hour high, it was a gay scene in the village.
+The warriors stalked sedately among the lodges, or along the margin
+of the streams, or walked out to visit the bands of horses that were
+feeding over the prairie. Half the village population deserted the close
+and heated lodges and betook themselves to the water; and here you might
+see boys and girls and young squaws splashing, swimming, and diving
+beneath the afternoon sun, with merry laughter and screaming. But
+when the sun was just resting above the broken peaks, and the purple
+mountains threw their prolonged shadows for miles over the prairie; when
+our grim old tree, lighted by the horizontal rays, assumed an aspect
+of peaceful repose, such as one loves after scenes of tumult and
+excitement; and when the whole landscape of swelling plains and
+scattered groves was softened into a tranquil beauty, then our
+encampment presented a striking spectacle. Could Salvator Rosa have
+transferred it to his canvas, it would have added new renown to his
+pencil. Savage figures surrounded our tent, with quivers at their backs,
+and guns, lances, or tomahawks in their hands. Some sat on horseback,
+motionless as equestrian statues, their arms crossed on their breasts,
+their eyes fixed in a steady unwavering gaze upon us. Some stood erect,
+wrapped from head to foot in their long white robes of buffalo hide.
+Some sat together on the grass, holding their shaggy horses by a rope,
+with their broad dark busts exposed to view as they suffered their robes
+to fall from their shoulders. Others again stood carelessly among the
+throng, with nothing to conceal the matchless symmetry of their forms;
+and I do not exaggerate when I say that only on the prairie and in the
+Vatican have I seen such faultless models of the human figure. See that
+warrior standing by the tree, towering six feet and a half in stature.
+Your eyes may trace the whole of his graceful and majestic height, and
+discover no defect or blemish. With his free and noble attitude, with
+the bow in his hand, and the quiver at his back, he might seem, but
+for his face, the Pythian Apollo himself. Such a figure rose before the
+imagination of West, when on first seeing the Belvidere in the Vatican,
+he exclaimed, “By God, a Mohawk!”
+
+When the sky darkened and the stars began to appear; when the prairie
+was involved in gloom and the horses were driven in and secured around
+the camp, the crowd began to melt away. Fires gleamed around, duskily
+revealing the rough trappers and the graceful Indians. One of the
+families near us would always be gathered about a bright blaze, that
+displayed the shadowy dimensions of their lodge, and sent its lights
+far up among the masses of foliage above, gilding the dead and ragged
+branches. Withered witchlike hags flitted around the blaze, and here for
+hour after hour sat a circle of children and young girls, laughing and
+talking, their round merry faces glowing in the ruddy light. We could
+hear the monotonous notes of the drum from the Indian village, with the
+chant of the war song, deadened in the distance, and the long chorus of
+quavering yells, where the war dance was going on in the largest lodge.
+For several nights, too, we could hear wild and mournful cries, rising
+and dying away like the melancholy voice of a wolf. They came from the
+sisters and female relatives of Mahto-Tatonka, who were gashing their
+limbs with knives, and bewailing the death of Henry Chatillon’s squaw.
+The hour would grow late before all retired to rest in the camp.
+Then the embers of the fires would be glowing dimly, the men would be
+stretched in their blankets on the ground, and nothing could be heard
+but the restless motions of the crowded horses.
+
+I recall these scenes with a mixed feeling of pleasure and pain. At
+this time I was so reduced by illness that I could seldom walk without
+reeling like a drunken man, and when I rose from my seat upon the ground
+the landscape suddenly grew dim before my eyes, the trees and lodges
+seemed to sway to and fro, and the prairie to rise and fall like the
+swells of the ocean. Such a state of things is by no means enviable
+anywhere. In a country where a man’s life may at any moment depend on
+the strength of his arm, or it may be on the activity of his legs, it is
+more particularly inconvenient. Medical assistance of course there was
+none; neither had I the means of pursuing a system of diet; and sleeping
+on a damp ground, with an occasional drenching from a shower, would
+hardly be recommended as beneficial. I sometimes suffered the
+extremity of languor and exhaustion, and though at the time I felt
+no apprehensions of the final result, I have since learned that my
+situation was a critical one.
+
+Besides other formidable inconveniences I owe it in a great measure to
+the remote effects of that unlucky disorder that from deficient
+eyesight I am compelled to employ the pen of another in taking down
+this narrative from my lips; and I have learned very effectually that a
+violent attack of dysentery on the prairie is a thing too serious for
+a joke. I tried repose and a very sparing diet. For a long time, with
+exemplary patience, I lounged about the camp, or at the utmost staggered
+over to the Indian village, and walked faint and dizzy among the lodges.
+It would not do, and I bethought me of starvation. During five days I
+sustained life on one small biscuit a day. At the end of that time I was
+weaker than before, but the disorder seemed shaken in its stronghold and
+very gradually I began to resume a less rigid diet. No sooner had I done
+so than the same detested symptoms revisited me; my old enemy resumed
+his pertinacious assaults, yet not with his former violence or
+constancy, and though before I regained any fair portion of my ordinary
+strength weeks had elapsed, and months passed before the disorder left
+me, yet thanks to old habits of activity, and a merciful Providence, I
+was able to sustain myself against it.
+
+I used to lie languid and dreamy before our tent and muse on the past
+and the future, and when most overcome with lassitude, my eyes turned
+always toward the distant Black Hills. There is a spirit of energy
+and vigor in mountains, and they impart it to all who approach their
+presence. At that time I did not know how many dark superstitions and
+gloomy legends are associated with those mountains in the minds of the
+Indians, but I felt an eager desire to penetrate their hidden recesses,
+to explore the awful chasms and precipices, the black torrents, the
+silent forests, that I fancied were concealed there.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+ILL LUCK
+
+
+A Canadian came from Fort Laramie, and brought a curious piece of
+intelligence. A trapper, fresh from the mountains, had become enamored
+of a Missouri damsel belonging to a family who with other emigrants had
+been for some days encamped in the neighborhood of the fort. If bravery
+be the most potent charm to win the favor of the fair, then no wooer
+could be more irresistible than a Rocky Mountain trapper. In the present
+instance, the suit was not urged in vain. The lovers concerted a scheme,
+which they proceeded to carry into effect with all possible dispatch.
+The emigrant party left the fort, and on the next succeeding night but
+one encamped as usual, and placed a guard. A little after midnight
+the enamored trapper drew near, mounted on a strong horse and leading
+another by the bridle. Fastening both animals to a tree, he stealthily
+moved toward the wagons, as if he were approaching a band of buffalo.
+Eluding the vigilance of the guard, who was probably half asleep, he met
+his mistress by appointment at the outskirts of the camp, mounted her on
+his spare horse, and made off with her through the darkness. The sequel
+of the adventure did not reach our ears, and we never learned how the
+imprudent fair one liked an Indian lodge for a dwelling, and a reckless
+trapper for a bridegroom.
+
+At length The Whirlwind and his warriors determined to move. They had
+resolved after all their preparations not to go to the rendezvous at La
+Bonte’s Camp, but to pass through the Black Hills and spend a few weeks
+in hunting the buffalo on the other side, until they had killed enough
+to furnish them with a stock of provisions and with hides to make their
+lodges for the next season. This done, they were to send out a small
+independent war party against the enemy. Their final determination left
+us in some embarrassment. Should we go to La Bonte’s Camp, it was
+not impossible that the other villages would prove as vacillating and
+indecisive as The Whirlwinds, and that no assembly whatever would take
+place. Our old companion Reynal had conceived a liking for us, or rather
+for our biscuit and coffee, and for the occasional small presents which
+we made him. He was very anxious that we should go with the village
+which he himself intended to accompany. He declared he was certain that
+no Indians would meet at the rendezvous, and said moreover that it
+would be easy to convey our cart and baggage through the Black Hills. In
+saying this, he told as usual an egregious falsehood. Neither he nor
+any white man with us had ever seen the difficult and obscure defiles
+through which the Indians intended to make their way. I passed them
+afterward, and had much ado to force my distressed horse along the
+narrow ravines, and through chasms where daylight could scarcely
+penetrate. Our cart might as easily have been conveyed over the summit
+of Pike’s Peak. Anticipating the difficulties and uncertainties of an
+attempt to visit the rendezvous, we recalled the old proverb about “A
+bird in the hand,” and decided to follow the village.
+
+Both camps, the Indians’ and our own, broke up on the morning of the 1st
+of July. I was so weak that the aid of a potent auxiliary, a spoonful of
+whisky swallowed at short intervals, alone enabled me to sit on my hardy
+little mare Pauline through the short journey of that day. For half a
+mile before us and half a mile behind, the prairie was covered far
+and wide with the moving throng of savages. The barren, broken plain
+stretched away to the right and left, and far in front rose the gloomy
+precipitous ridge of the Black Hills. We pushed forward to the head of
+the scattered column, passing the burdened travaux, the heavily laden
+pack horses, the gaunt old women on foot, the gay young squaws on
+horseback, the restless children running among the crowd, old men
+striding along in their white buffalo robes, and groups of young
+warriors mounted on their best horses. Henry Chatillon, looking backward
+over the distant prairie, exclaimed suddenly that a horseman was
+approaching, and in truth we could just discern a small black speck
+slowly moving over the face of a distant swell, like a fly creeping on a
+wall. It rapidly grew larger as it approached.
+
+“White man, I b’lieve,” said Henry; “look how he ride! Indian never ride
+that way. Yes; he got rifle on the saddle before him.”
+
+The horseman disappeared in a hollow of the prairie, but we soon saw him
+again, and as he came riding at a gallop toward us through the crowd of
+Indians, his long hair streaming in the wind behind him, we recognized
+the ruddy face and old buckskin frock of Jean Gras the trapper. He was
+just arrived from Fort Laramie, where he had been on a visit, and
+said he had a message for us. A trader named Bisonette, one of Henry’s
+friends, was lately come from the settlements, and intended to go with a
+party of men to La Bonte’s Camp, where, as Jean Gras assured us, ten or
+twelve villages of Indians would certainly assemble. Bisonette desired
+that we would cross over and meet him there, and promised that his men
+should protect our horses and baggage while we went among the Indians.
+Shaw and I stopped our horses and held a council, and in an evil hour
+resolved to go.
+
+For the rest of that day’s journey our course and that of the Indians
+was the same. In less than an hour we came to where the high barren
+prairie terminated, sinking down abruptly in steep descent; and standing
+on these heights, we saw below us a great level meadow. Laramie Creek
+bounded it on the left, sweeping along in the shadow of the declivities,
+and passing with its shallow and rapid current just below us. We sat
+on horseback, waiting and looking on, while the whole savage array went
+pouring past us, hurrying down the descent and spreading themselves
+over the meadow below. In a few moments the plain was swarming with the
+moving multitude, some just visible, like specks in the distance, others
+still passing on, pressing down, and fording the stream with bustle
+and confusion. On the edge of the heights sat half a dozen of the elder
+warriors, gravely smoking and looking down with unmoved faces on the
+wild and striking spectacle.
+
+Up went the lodges in a circle on the margin of the stream. For the sake
+of quiet we pitched our tent among some trees at half a mile’s distance.
+In the afternoon we were in the village. The day was a glorious one,
+and the whole camp seemed lively and animated in sympathy. Groups of
+children and young girls were laughing gayly on the outside of the
+lodges. The shields, the lances, and the bows were removed from the tall
+tripods on which they usually hung before the dwellings of their owners.
+The warriors were mounting their horses, and one by one riding away over
+the prairie toward the neighboring hills.
+
+Shaw and I sat on the grass near the lodge of Reynal. An old woman, with
+true Indian hospitality, brought a bowl of boiled venison and placed it
+before us. We amused ourselves with watching half a dozen young squaws
+who were playing together and chasing each other in and out of one of
+the lodges. Suddenly the wild yell of the war-whoop came pealing from
+the hills. A crowd of horsemen appeared, rushing down their sides and
+riding at full speed toward the village, each warrior’s long hair flying
+behind him in the wind like a ship’s streamer. As they approached, the
+confused throng assumed a regular order, and entering two by two, they
+circled round the area at full gallop, each warrior singing his war song
+as he rode. Some of their dresses were splendid. They wore superb
+crests of feathers and close tunics of antelope skins, fringed with the
+scalp-locks of their enemies; their shields too were often fluttering
+with the war eagle’s feathers. All had bows and arrows at their back;
+some carried long lances, and a few were armed with guns. The White
+Shield, their partisan, rode in gorgeous attire at their head, mounted
+on a black-and-white horse. Mahto-Tatonka and his brothers took no part
+in this parade, for they were in mourning for their sister, and were all
+sitting in their lodges, their bodies bedaubed from head to foot with
+white clay, and a lock of hair cut from each of their foreheads.
+
+The warriors circled three times round the village; and as each
+distinguished champion passed, the old women would scream out his name
+in honor of his bravery, and to incite the emulation of the younger
+warriors. Little urchins, not two years old, followed the warlike
+pageant with glittering eyes, and looked with eager wonder and
+admiration at those whose honors were proclaimed by the public voice of
+the village. Thus early is the lesson of war instilled into the mind
+of an Indian, and such are the stimulants which incite his thirst for
+martial renown.
+
+The procession rode out of the village as it had entered it, and in half
+an hour all the warriors had returned again, dropping quietly in, singly
+or in parties of two or three.
+
+As the sun rose next morning we looked across the meadow, and could see
+the lodges leveled and the Indians gathering together in preparation to
+leave the camp. Their course lay to the westward. We turned toward the
+north with our men, the four trappers following us, with the Indian
+family of Moran. We traveled until night. I suffered not a little from
+pain and weakness. We encamped among some trees by the side of a little
+brook, and here during the whole of the next day we lay waiting for
+Bisonette, but no Bisonette appeared. Here also two of our trapper
+friends left us, and set out for the Rocky Mountains. On the second
+morning, despairing of Bisonette’s arrival we resumed our journey,
+traversing a forlorn and dreary monotony of sun-scorched plains, where
+no living thing appeared save here and there an antelope flying before
+us like the wind. When noon came we saw an unwonted and most welcome
+sight; a rich and luxuriant growth of trees, marking the course of a
+little stream called Horseshoe Creek. We turned gladly toward it. There
+were lofty and spreading trees, standing widely asunder, and supporting
+a thick canopy of leaves, above a surface of rich, tall grass. The
+stream ran swiftly, as clear as crystal, through the bosom of the wood,
+sparkling over its bed of white sand and darkening again as it entered a
+deep cavern of leaves and boughs. I was thoroughly exhausted, and flung
+myself on the ground, scarcely able to move. All that afternoon I lay
+in the shade by the side of the stream, and those bright woods and
+sparkling waters are associated in my mind with recollections of
+lassitude and utter prostration. When night came I sat down by the
+fire, longing, with an intensity of which at this moment I can hardly
+conceive, for some powerful stimulant.
+
+In the morning as glorious a sun rose upon us as ever animated that
+desolate wilderness. We advanced and soon were surrounded by tall bare
+hills, overspread from top to bottom with prickly-pears and other cacti,
+that seemed like clinging reptiles. A plain, flat and hard, and with
+scarcely the vestige of grass, lay before us, and a line of tall
+misshapen trees bounded the onward view. There was no sight or sound of
+man or beast, or any living thing, although behind those trees was the
+long-looked-for place of rendezvous, where we fondly hoped to have found
+the Indians congregated by thousands. We looked and listened anxiously.
+We pushed forward with our best speed, and forced our horses through
+the trees. There were copses of some extent beyond, with a scanty stream
+creeping through their midst; and as we pressed through the yielding
+branches, deer sprang up to the right and left. At length we caught a
+glimpse of the prairie beyond. Soon we emerged upon it, and saw, not
+a plain covered with encampments and swarming with life, but a vast
+unbroken desert stretching away before us league upon league, without a
+bush or a tree or anything that had life. We drew rein and gave to the
+winds our sentiments concerning the whole aboriginal race of America.
+Our journey was in vain and much worse than in vain. For myself, I was
+vexed and disappointed beyond measure; as I well knew that a slight
+aggravation of my disorder would render this false step irrevocable, and
+make it quite impossible to accomplish effectively the design which had
+led me an arduous journey of between three and four thousand miles. To
+fortify myself as well as I could against such a contingency, I resolved
+that I would not under any circumstances attempt to leave the country
+until my object was completely gained.
+
+And where were the Indians? They were assembled in great numbers at a
+spot about twenty miles distant, and there at that very moment they
+were engaged in their warlike ceremonies. The scarcity of buffalo in
+the vicinity of La Bonte’s Camp, which would render their supply of
+provisions scanty and precarious, had probably prevented them from
+assembling there; but of all this we knew nothing until some weeks
+after.
+
+Shaw lashed his horse and galloped forward, I, though much more vexed
+than he, was not strong enough to adopt this convenient vent to my
+feelings; so I followed at a quiet pace, but in no quiet mood. We
+rode up to a solitary old tree, which seemed the only place fit for
+encampment. Half its branches were dead, and the rest were so scantily
+furnished with leaves that they cast but a meager and wretched shade,
+and the old twisted trunk alone furnished sufficient protection from the
+sun. We threw down our saddles in the strip of shadow that it cast, and
+sat down upon them. In silent indignation we remained smoking for an
+hour or more, shifting our saddles with the shifting shadow, for the sun
+was intolerably hot.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+HUNTING INDIANS
+
+
+At last we had reached La Bonte’s Camp, toward which our eyes had turned
+so long. Of all weary hours, those that passed between noon and sunset
+of the day when we arrived there may bear away the palm of exquisite
+discomfort. I lay under the tree reflecting on what course to pursue,
+watching the shadows which seemed never to move, and the sun which
+remained fixed in the sky, and hoping every moment to see the men and
+horses of Bisonette emerging from the woods. Shaw and Henry had ridden
+out on a scouting expedition, and did not return until the sun was
+setting. There was nothing very cheering in their faces nor in the news
+they brought.
+
+“We have been ten miles from here,” said Shaw. “We climbed the highest
+butte we could find, and could not see a buffalo or Indian; nothing but
+prairie for twenty miles around us.”
+
+Henry’s horse was quite disabled by clambering up and down the sides of
+ravines, and Shaw’s was severely fatigued.
+
+After supper that evening, as we sat around the fire, I proposed to Shaw
+to wait one day longer in hopes of Bisonette’s arrival, and if he
+should not come to send Delorier with the cart and baggage back to
+Fort Laramie, while we ourselves followed The Whirlwind’s village and
+attempted to overtake it as it passed the mountains. Shaw, not having
+the same motive for hunting Indians that I had, was averse to the
+plan; I therefore resolved to go alone. This design I adopted very
+unwillingly, for I knew that in the present state of my health the
+attempt would be extremely unpleasant, and, as I considered, hazardous.
+I hoped that Bisonette would appear in the course of the following day,
+and bring us some information by which to direct our course, and enable
+me to accomplish my purpose by means less objectionable.
+
+The rifle of Henry Chatillon was necessary for the subsistence of the
+party in my absence; so I called Raymond, and ordered him to prepare to
+set out with me. Raymond rolled his eyes vacantly about, but at length,
+having succeeded in grappling with the idea, he withdrew to his bed
+under the cart. He was a heavy-molded fellow, with a broad face exactly
+like an owl’s, expressing the most impenetrable stupidity and entire
+self-confidence. As for his good qualities, he had a sort of stubborn
+fidelity, an insensibility to danger, and a kind of instinct or
+sagacity, which sometimes led him right, where better heads than his
+were at a loss. Besides this, he knew very well how to handle a rifle
+and picket a horse.
+
+Through the following day the sun glared down upon us with a pitiless,
+penetrating heat. The distant blue prairie seemed quivering under it.
+The lodge of our Indian associates was baking in the rays, and our
+rifles, as they leaned against the tree, were too hot for the touch.
+There was a dead silence through our camp and all around it, unbroken
+except by the hum of gnats and mosquitoes. The men, resting their
+foreheads on their arms, were sleeping under the cart. The Indians kept
+close within their lodge except the newly married pair, who were seated
+together under an awning of buffalo robes, and the old conjurer, who,
+with his hard, emaciated face and gaunt ribs, was perched aloft like a
+turkey-buzzard among the dead branches of an old tree, constantly on the
+lookout for enemies. He would have made a capital shot. A rifle bullet,
+skillfully planted, would have brought him tumbling to the ground.
+Surely, I thought, there could be no more harm in shooting such a
+hideous old villain, to see how ugly he would look when he was dead,
+than in shooting the detestable vulture which he resembled. We dined,
+and then Shaw saddled his horse.
+
+“I will ride back,” said he, “to Horseshoe Creek, and see if Bisonette
+is there.”
+
+“I would go with you,” I answered, “but I must reserve all the strength
+I have.”
+
+The afternoon dragged away at last. I occupied myself in cleaning my
+rifle and pistols, and making other preparations for the journey. After
+supper, Henry Chatillon and I lay by the fire, discussing the properties
+of that admirable weapon, the rifle, in the use of which he could fairly
+outrival Leatherstocking himself.
+
+It was late before I wrapped myself in my blanket and lay down for the
+night, with my head on my saddle. Shaw had not returned, but this gave
+no uneasiness, for we presumed that he had fallen in with Bisonette, and
+was spending the night with him. For a day or two past I had gained in
+strength and health, but about midnight an attack of pain awoke me, and
+for some hours I felt no inclination to sleep. The moon was quivering on
+the broad breast of the Platte; nothing could be heard except those low
+inexplicable sounds, like whisperings and footsteps, which no one who
+has spent the night alone amid deserts and forests will be at a loss to
+understand. As I was falling asleep, a familiar voice, shouting from the
+distance, awoke me again. A rapid step approached the camp, and Shaw on
+foot, with his gun in his hand, hastily entered.
+
+“Where’s your horse?” said I, raising myself on my elbow.
+
+“Lost!” said Shaw. “Where’s Delorier?”
+
+“There,” I replied, pointing to a confused mass of blankets and buffalo
+robes.
+
+Shaw touched them with the butt of his gun, and up sprang our faithful
+Canadian.
+
+“Come, Delorier; stir up the fire, and get me something to eat.”
+
+“Where’s Bisonette?” asked I.
+
+“The Lord knows; there’s nobody at Horseshoe Creek.”
+
+Shaw had gone back to the spot where we had encamped two days before,
+and finding nothing there but the ashes of our fires, he had tied his
+horse to the tree while he bathed in the stream. Something startled his
+horse, who broke loose, and for two hours Shaw tried in vain to catch
+him. Sunset approached, and it was twelve miles to camp. So he abandoned
+the attempt, and set out on foot to join us. The greater part of his
+perilous and solitary work was performed in darkness. His moccasins were
+worn to tatters and his feet severely lacerated. He sat down to eat,
+however, with the usual equanimity of his temper not at all disturbed
+by his misfortune, and my last recollection before falling asleep was of
+Shaw, seated cross-legged before the fire, smoking his pipe. The
+horse, I may as well mention here, was found the next morning by Henry
+Chatillon.
+
+When I awoke again there was a fresh damp smell in the air, a gray
+twilight involved the prairie, and above its eastern verge was a streak
+of cold red sky. I called to the men, and in a moment a fire was blazing
+brightly in the dim morning light, and breakfast was getting ready. We
+sat down together on the grass, to the last civilized meal which Raymond
+and I were destined to enjoy for some time.
+
+“Now, bring in the horses.”
+
+My little mare Pauline was soon standing by the fire. She was a fleet,
+hardy, and gentle animal, christened after Paul Dorion, from whom I had
+procured her in exchange for Pontiac. She did not look as if equipped
+for a morning pleasure ride. In front of the black, high-bowed mountain
+saddle, holsters, with heavy pistols, were fastened. A pair of saddle
+bags, a blanket tightly rolled, a small parcel of Indian presents tied
+up in a buffalo skin, a leather bag of flour, and a smaller one of tea
+were all secured behind, and a long trail-rope was wound round her
+neck. Raymond had a strong black mule, equipped in a similar manner. We
+crammed our powder-horns to the throat, and mounted.
+
+“I will meet you at Fort Laramie on the 1st of August,” said I to Shaw.
+
+“That is,” replied he, “if we don’t meet before that. I think I shall
+follow after you in a day or two.”
+
+This in fact he attempted, and he would have succeeded if he had not
+encountered obstacles against which his resolute spirit was of no avail.
+Two days after I left him he sent Delorier to the fort with the cart
+and baggage, and set out for the mountains with Henry Chatillon; but a
+tremendous thunderstorm had deluged the prairie, and nearly obliterated
+not only our trail but that of the Indians themselves. They followed
+along the base of the mountains, at a loss in which direction to go.
+They encamped there, and in the morning Shaw found himself poisoned by
+ivy in such a manner that it was impossible for him to travel. So they
+turned back reluctantly toward Fort Laramie. Shaw’s limbs were swollen
+to double their usual size, and he rode in great pain. They encamped
+again within twenty miles of the fort, and reached it early on the
+following morning. Shaw lay seriously ill for a week, and remained at
+the fort till I rejoined him some time after.
+
+To return to my own story. We shook hands with our friends, rode out
+upon the prairie, and clambering the sandy hollows that were channeled
+in the sides of the hills gained the high plains above. If a curse had
+been pronounced upon the land it could not have worn an aspect of more
+dreary and forlorn barrenness. There were abrupt broken hills, deep
+hollows, and wide plains; but all alike glared with an insupportable
+whiteness under the burning sun. The country, as if parched by the heat,
+had cracked into innumerable fissures and ravines, that not a little
+impeded our progress. Their steep sides were white and raw, and along
+the bottom we several times discovered the broad tracks of the terrific
+grizzly bear, nowhere more abundant than in this region. The ridges of
+the hills were hard as rock, and strewn with pebbles of flint and coarse
+red jasper; looking from them, there was nothing to relieve the desert
+uniformity of the prospect, save here and there a pine-tree clinging at
+the edge of a ravine, and stretching out its rough, shaggy arms. Under
+the scorching heat these melancholy trees diffused their peculiar
+resinous odor through the sultry air. There was something in it, as I
+approached them, that recalled old associations; the pine-clad mountains
+of New England, traversed in days of health and buoyancy, rose like a
+reality before my fancy. In passing that arid waste I was goaded with
+a morbid thirst produced by my disorder, and I thought with a longing
+desire on the crystal treasure poured in such wasteful profusion from
+our thousand hills. Shutting my eyes, I more than half believed that
+I heard the deep plunging and gurgling of waters in the bowels of the
+shaded rocks. I could see their dark ice glittering far down amid the
+crevices, and the cold drops trickling from the long green mosses.
+
+When noon came, we found a little stream, with a few trees and bushes;
+and here we rested for an hour. Then we traveled on, guided by the sun,
+until, just before sunset, we reached another stream, called Bitter
+Cotton-wood Creek. A thick growth of bushes and old storm-beaten trees
+grew at intervals along its bank. Near the foot of one of the trees we
+flung down our saddles, and hobbling our horses turned them loose to
+feed. The little stream was clear and swift, and ran musically on its
+white sands. Small water birds were splashing in the shallows, and
+filling the air with their cries and flutterings. The sun was just
+sinking among gold and crimson clouds behind Mount Laramie. I well
+remember how I lay upon a log by the margin of the water, and watched
+the restless motions of the little fish in a deep still nook below.
+Strange to say, I seemed to have gained strength since the morning, and
+almost felt a sense of returning health.
+
+We built our fire. Night came, and the wolves began to howl. One deep
+voice commenced, and it was answered in awful responses from the hills,
+the plains, and the woods along the stream above and below us. Such
+sounds need not and do not disturb one’s sleep upon the prairie. We
+picketed the mare and the mule close at our feet, and did not wake until
+daylight. Then we turned them loose, still hobbled, to feed for an hour
+before starting. We were getting ready our morning’s meal, when Raymond
+saw an antelope at half a mile’s distance, and said he would go and
+shoot it.
+
+“Your business,” said. I, “is to look after the animals. I am too weak
+to do much, if anything happens to them, and you must keep within sight
+of the camp.”
+
+Raymond promised, and set out with his rifle in his hand. The animals
+had passed across the stream, and were feeding among the long grass
+on the other side, much tormented by the attacks of the numerous large
+green-headed flies. As I watched them, I saw them go down into a hollow,
+and as several minutes elapsed without their reappearing, I waded
+through the stream to look after them. To my vexation and alarm I
+discovered them at a great distance, galloping away at full speed,
+Pauline in advance, with her hobbles broken, and the mule, still
+fettered, following with awkward leaps. I fired my rifle and shouted to
+recall Raymond. In a moment he came running through the stream, with a
+red handkerchief bound round his head. I pointed to the fugitives, and
+ordered him to pursue them. Muttering a “Sacre!” between his teeth, he
+set out at full speed, still swinging his rifle in his hand. I walked
+up to the top of a hill, and looking away over the prairie, could just
+distinguish the runaways, still at full gallop. Returning to the fire,
+I sat down at the foot of a tree. Wearily and anxiously hour after
+hour passed away. The old loose bark dangling from the trunk behind
+me flapped to and fro in the wind, and the mosquitoes kept up their
+incessant drowsy humming; but other than this, there was no sight nor
+sound of life throughout the burning landscape. The sun rose higher and
+higher, until the shadows fell almost perpendicularly, and I knew that
+it must be noon. It seemed scarcely possible that the animals could be
+recovered. If they were not, my situation was one of serious difficulty.
+Shaw, when I left him had decided to move that morning, but whither
+he had not determined. To look for him would be a vain attempt. Fort
+Laramie was forty miles distant, and I could not walk a mile without
+great effort. Not then having learned the sound philosophy of yielding
+to disproportionate obstacles, I resolved to continue in any event the
+pursuit of the Indians. Only one plan occurred to me; this was to send
+Raymond to the fort with an order for more horses, while I remained on
+the spot, awaiting his return, which might take place within three days.
+But the adoption of this resolution did not wholly allay my anxiety, for
+it involved both uncertainty and danger. To remain stationary and alone
+for three days, in a country full of dangerous Indians, was not the most
+flattering of prospects; and protracted as my Indian hunt must be by
+such delay, it was not easy to foretell its ultimate result. Revolving
+these matters, I grew hungry; and as our stock of provisions, except
+four or five pounds of flour, was by this time exhausted, I left the
+camp to see what game I could find. Nothing could be seen except four or
+five large curlew, which, with their loud screaming, were wheeling over
+my head, and now and then alighting upon the prairie. I shot two of
+them, and was about returning, when a startling sight caught my eye. A
+small, dark object, like a human head, suddenly appeared, and vanished
+among the thick hushes along the stream below. In that country every
+stranger is a suspected enemy. Instinctively I threw forward the muzzle
+of my rifle. In a moment the bushes were violently shaken, two heads,
+but not human heads, protruded, and to my great joy I recognized the
+downcast, disconsolate countenance of the black mule and the yellow
+visage of Pauline. Raymond came upon the mule, pale and haggard,
+complaining of a fiery pain in his chest. I took charge of the animals
+while he kneeled down by the side of the stream to drink. He had kept
+the runaways in sight as far as the Side Fork of Laramie Creek, a
+distance of more than ten miles; and here with great difficulty he had
+succeeded in catching them. I saw that he was unarmed, and asked him
+what he had done with his rifle. It had encumbered him in his pursuit,
+and he had dropped it on the prairie, thinking that he could find it
+on his return; but in this he had failed. The loss might prove a very
+formidable one. I was too much rejoiced however at the recovery of the
+animals to think much about it; and having made some tea for Raymond in
+a tin vessel which we had brought with us, I told him that I would give
+him two hours for resting before we set out again. He had eaten nothing
+that day; but having no appetite, he lay down immediately to sleep. I
+picketed the animals among the richest grass that I could find, and made
+fires of green wood to protect them from the flies; then sitting down
+again by the tree, I watched the slow movements of the sun, begrudging
+every moment that passed.
+
+The time I had mentioned expired, and I awoke Raymond. We saddled and
+set out again, but first we went in search of the lost rifle, and in
+the course of an hour Raymond was fortunate enough to find it. Then we
+turned westward, and moved over the hills and hollows at a slow pace
+toward the Black Hills. The heat no longer tormented us, for a cloud
+was before the sun. Yet that day shall never be marked with white in my
+calendar. The air began to grow fresh and cool, the distant mountains
+frowned more gloomily, there was a low muttering of thunder, and dense
+black masses of cloud rose heavily behind the broken peaks. At first
+they were gayly fringed with silver by the afternoon sun, but soon the
+thick blackness overspread the whole sky, and the desert around us
+was wrapped in deep gloom. I scarcely heeded it at the time, but now
+I cannot but feel that there was an awful sublimity in the hoarse
+murmuring of the thunder, in the somber shadows that involved the
+mountains and the plain. The storm broke. It came upon us with a zigzag
+blinding flash, with a terrific crash of thunder, and with a hurricane
+that howled over the prairie, dashing floods of water against us.
+Raymond looked round, and cursed the merciless elements. There seemed
+no shelter near, but we discerned at length a deep ravine gashed in the
+level prairie, and saw half way down its side an old pine tree, whose
+rough horizontal boughs formed a sort of penthouse against the tempest.
+We found a practicable passage, and hastily descending, fastened our
+animals to some large loose stones at the bottom; then climbing up, we
+drew our blankets over our heads, and seated ourselves close beneath the
+old tree. Perhaps I was no competent judge of time, but it seemed to me
+that we were sitting there a full hour, while around us poured a deluge
+of rain, through which the rocks on the opposite side of the gulf were
+barely visible. The first burst of the tempest soon subsided, but the
+rain poured steadily. At length Raymond grew impatient, and scrambling
+out of the ravine, he gained the level prairie above.
+
+“What does the weather look like?” asked I, from my seat under the tree.
+
+“It looks bad,” he answered; “dark all around,” and again he descended
+and sat down by my side. Some ten minutes elapsed.
+
+“Go up again,” said I, “and take another look;” and he clambered up the
+precipice. “Well, how is it?”
+
+“Just the same, only I see one little bright spot over the top of the
+mountain.”
+
+The rain by this time had begun to abate; and going down to the bottom
+of the ravine, we loosened the animals, who were standing up to their
+knees in water. Leading them up the rocky throat of the ravine, we
+reached the plain above. “Am I,” I thought to myself, “the same man who
+a few months since, was seated, a quiet student of BELLES-LETTRES, in a
+cushioned arm-chair by a sea-coal fire?”
+
+All around us was obscurity; but the bright spot above the mountaintops
+grew wider and ruddier, until at length the clouds drew apart, and
+a flood of sunbeams poured down from heaven, streaming along the
+precipices, and involving them in a thin blue haze, as soft and lovely
+as that which wraps the Apennines on an evening in spring. Rapidly the
+clouds were broken and scattered, like routed legions of evil spirits.
+The plain lay basking in sunbeams around us; a rainbow arched the desert
+from north to south, and far in front a line of woods seemed inviting
+us to refreshment and repose. When we reached them, they were glistening
+with prismatic dewdrops, and enlivened by the song and flutterings of
+a hundred birds. Strange winged insects, benumbed by the rain, were
+clinging to the leaves and the bark of the trees.
+
+Raymond kindled a fire with great difficulty. The animals turned eagerly
+to feed on the soft rich grass, while I, wrapping myself in my blanket,
+lay down and gazed on the evening landscape. The mountains, whose stern
+features had lowered upon us with so gloomy and awful a frown, now
+seemed lighted up with a serene, benignant smile, and the green waving
+undulations of the plain were gladdened with the rich sunshine. Wet,
+ill, and wearied as I was, my spirit grew lighter at the view, and I
+drew from it an augury of good for my future prospects.
+
+When morning came, Raymond awoke, coughing violently, though I had
+apparently received no injury. We mounted, crossed the little stream,
+pushed through the trees, and began our journey over the plain beyond.
+And now, as we rode slowly along, we looked anxiously on every hand
+for traces of the Indians, not doubting that the village had passed
+somewhere in that vicinity; but the scanty shriveled grass was not more
+than three or four inches high, and the ground was of such unyielding
+hardness that a host might have marched over it and left scarcely a
+trace of its passage. Up hill and down hill, and clambering through
+ravines, we continued our journey. As we were skirting the foot of a
+hill I saw Raymond, who was some rods in advance, suddenly jerking the
+reins of his mule. Sliding from his seat, and running in a crouching
+posture up a hollow, he disappeared; and then in an instant I heard the
+sharp quick crack of his rifle. A wounded antelope came running on three
+legs over the hill. I lashed Pauline and made after him. My fleet little
+mare soon brought me by his side, and after leaping and bounding for
+a few moments in vain, he stood still, as if despairing of escape. His
+glistening eyes turned up toward my face with so piteous a look that it
+was with feelings of infinite compunction that I shot him through the
+head with a pistol. Raymond skinned and cut him up, and we hung the
+forequarters to our saddles, much rejoiced that our exhausted stock of
+provisions was renewed in such good time.
+
+Gaining the top of a hill, we could see along the cloudy verge of the
+prairie before us lines of trees and shadowy groves that marked the
+course of Laramie Creek. Some time before noon we reached its banks
+and began anxiously to search them for footprints of the Indians. We
+followed the stream for several miles, now on the shore and now wading
+in the water, scrutinizing every sand-bar and every muddy bank. So
+long was the search that we began to fear that we had left the trail
+undiscovered behind us. At length I heard Raymond shouting, and saw him
+jump from his mule to examine some object under the shelving bank. I
+rode up to his side. It was the clear and palpable impression of an
+Indian moccasin. Encouraged by this we continued our search, and at
+last some appearances on a soft surface of earth not far from the shore
+attracted my eye; and going to examine them I found half a dozen tracks,
+some made by men and some by children. Just then Raymond observed across
+the stream the mouth of a small branch entering it from the south. He
+forded the water, rode in at the opening, and in a moment I heard him
+shouting again, so I passed over and joined him. The little branch had a
+broad sandy bed, along which the water trickled in a scanty stream; and
+on either bank the bushes were so close that the view was completely
+intercepted. I found Raymond stooping over the footprints of three or
+four horses. Proceeding we found those of a man, then those of a child,
+then those of more horses; and at last the bushes on each bank were
+beaten down and broken, and the sand plowed up with a multitude of
+footsteps, and scored across with the furrows made by the lodge-poles
+that had been dragged through. It was now certain that we had found
+the trail. I pushed through the bushes, and at a little distance on the
+prairie beyond found the ashes of a hundred and fifty lodge fires, with
+bones and pieces of buffalo robes scattered around them, and in some
+instances the pickets to which horses had been secured still standing
+in the ground. Elated by our success we selected a convenient tree, and
+turning the animals loose, prepared to make a meal from the fat haunch
+of our victim.
+
+Hardship and exposure had thriven with me wonderfully. I had gained both
+health and strength since leaving La Bonte’s Camp. Raymond and I made a
+hearty meal together in high spirits, for we rashly presumed that having
+found one end of the trail we should have little difficulty in reaching
+the other. But when the animals were led in we found that our old ill
+luck had not ceased to follow us close. As I was saddling Pauline I saw
+that her eye was as dull as lead, and the hue of her yellow coat visibly
+darkened. I placed my foot in the stirrup to mount, when instantly she
+staggered and fell flat on her side. Gaining her feet with an effort she
+stood by the fire with a drooping head. Whether she had been bitten by
+a snake or poisoned by some noxious plant or attacked by a sudden
+disorder, it was hard to say; but at all events her sickness was
+sufficiently ill-timed and unfortunate. I succeeded in a second attempt
+to mount her, and with a slow pace we moved forward on the trail of the
+Indians. It led us up a hill and over a dreary plain; and here, to our
+great mortification, the traces almost disappeared, for the ground was
+hard as adamant; and if its flinty surface had ever retained the print
+of a hoof, the marks had been washed away by the deluge of yesterday. An
+Indian village, in its disorderly march, is scattered over the prairie,
+often to the width of full half a mile; so that its trail is nowhere
+clearly marked, and the task of following it is made doubly wearisome
+and difficult. By good fortune plenty of large ant-hills, a yard or more
+in diameter, were scattered over the plain, and these were frequently
+broken by the footprints of men and horses, and marked by traces of the
+lodge-poles. The succulent leaves of the prickly-pear, also bruised from
+the same causes, helped a little to guide us; so inch by inch we moved
+along. Often we lost the trail altogether, and then would recover it
+again, but late in the afternoon we found ourselves totally at fault.
+We stood alone without clew to guide us. The broken plain expanded
+for league after league around us, and in front the long dark ridge of
+mountains was stretching from north to south. Mount Laramie, a little
+on our right, towered high above the rest and from a dark valley just
+beyond one of its lower declivities, we discerned volumes of white smoke
+slowly rolling up into the clear air.
+
+“I think,” said Raymond, “some Indians must be there. Perhaps we
+had better go.” But this plan was not rashly to be adopted, and we
+determined still to continue our search after the lost trail. Our good
+stars prompted us to this decision, for we afterward had reason to
+believe, from information given us by the Indians, that the smoke was
+raised as a decoy by a Crow war party.
+
+Evening was coming on, and there was no wood or water nearer than the
+foot of the mountains. So thither we turned, directing our course toward
+the point where Laramie Creek issues forth upon the prairie. When we
+reached it the bare tops of the mountains were still brightened with
+sunshine. The little river was breaking with a vehement and angry
+current from its dark prison. There was something in the near vicinity
+of the mountains, in the loud surging of the rapids, wonderfully
+cheering and exhilarating; for although once as familiar as home itself,
+they had been for months strangers to my experience. There was a rich
+grass-plot by the river’s bank, surrounded by low ridges, which would
+effectually screen ourselves and our fire from the sight of wandering
+Indians. Here among the grass I observed numerous circles of large
+stones, which, as Raymond said, were traces of a Dakota winter
+encampment. We lay down and did not awake till the sun was up. A large
+rock projected from the shore, and behind it the deep water was slowly
+eddying round and round. The temptation was irresistible. I threw off
+my clothes, leaped in, suffered myself to be borne once round with the
+current, and then, seizing the strong root of a water plant, drew myself
+to the shore. The effect was so invigorating and refreshing that I
+mistook it for returning health. “Pauline,” thought I, as I led the
+little mare up to be saddled, “only thrive as I do, and you and I will
+have sport yet among the buffalo beyond these mountains.” But scarcely
+were we mounted and on our way before the momentary glow passed. Again I
+hung as usual in my seat, scarcely able to hold myself erect.
+
+“Look yonder,” said Raymond; “you see that big hollow there; the Indians
+must have gone that way, if they went anywhere about here.”
+
+We reached the gap, which was like a deep notch cut into the mountain
+ridge, and here we soon discerned an ant-hill furrowed with the mark of
+a lodge-pole. This was quite enough; there could be no doubt now. As we
+rode on, the opening growing narrower, the Indians had been compelled to
+march in closer order, and the traces became numerous and distinct. The
+gap terminated in a rocky gateway, leading into a rough passage upward,
+between two precipitous mountains. Here grass and weeds were bruised to
+fragments by the throng that had passed through. We moved slowly over
+the rocks, up the passage; and in this toilsome manner we advanced for
+an hour or two, bare precipices, hundreds of feet high, shooting up on
+either hand. Raymond, with his hardy mule, was a few rods before me,
+when we came to the foot of an ascent steeper than the rest, and which
+I trusted might prove the highest point of the defile. Pauline strained
+upward for a few yards, moaning and stumbling, and then came to a dead
+stop, unable to proceed further. I dismounted, and attempted to lead
+her; but my own exhausted strength soon gave out; so I loosened the
+trail-rope from her neck, and tying it round my arm, crawled up on my
+hands and knees. I gained the top, totally exhausted, the sweat drops
+trickling from my forehead. Pauline stood like a statue by my side, her
+shadow falling upon the scorching rock; and in this shade, for there was
+no other, I lay for some time, scarcely able to move a limb. All around
+the black crags, sharp as needles at the top, stood glowing in the
+sun, without a tree, or a bush, or a blade of grass, to cover their
+precipitous sides. The whole scene seemed parched with a pitiless,
+insufferable heat.
+
+After a while I could mount again, and we moved on, descending the rocky
+defile on its western side. Thinking of that morning’s journey, it
+has sometimes seemed to me that there was something ridiculous in my
+position; a man, armed to the teeth, but wholly unable to fight, and
+equally so to run away, traversing a dangerous wilderness, on a sick
+horse. But these thoughts were retrospective, for at the time I was in
+too grave a mood to entertain a very lively sense of the ludicrous.
+
+Raymond’s saddle-girth slipped; and while I proceeded he was stopping
+behind to repair the mischief. I came to the top of a little declivity,
+where a most welcome sight greeted my eye; a nook of fresh green grass
+nestled among the cliffs, sunny clumps of bushes on one side, and shaggy
+old pine trees leaning forward from the rocks on the other. A shrill,
+familiar voice saluted me, and recalled me to days of boyhood; that of
+the insect called the “locust” by New England schoolboys, which was fast
+clinging among the heated boughs of the old pine trees. Then, too, as
+I passed the bushes, the low sound of falling water reached my ear.
+Pauline turned of her own accord, and pushing through the boughs we
+found a black rock, over-arched by the cool green canopy. An icy stream
+was pouring from its side into a wide basin of white sand, from whence
+it had no visible outlet, but filtered through into the soil below.
+While I filled a tin cup at the spring, Pauline was eagerly plunging
+her head deep in the pool. Other visitors had been there before us. All
+around in the soft soil were the footprints of elk, deer, and the Rocky
+Mountain sheep; and the grizzly bear too had left the recent prints of
+his broad foot, with its frightful array of claws. Among these mountains
+was his home.
+
+Soon after leaving the spring we found a little grassy plain, encircled
+by the mountains, and marked, to our great joy, with all the traces of
+an Indian camp. Raymond’s practiced eye detected certain signs by which
+he recognized the spot where Reynal’s lodge had been pitched and his
+horses picketed. I approached, and stood looking at the place. Reynal
+and I had, I believe, hardly a feeling in common. I disliked the fellow,
+and it perplexed me a good deal to understand why I should look with so
+much interest on the ashes of his fire, when between him and me there
+seemed no other bond of sympathy than the slender and precarious one of
+a kindred race.
+
+In half an hour from this we were clear of the mountains. There was a
+plain before us, totally barren and thickly peopled in many parts with
+the little prairie dogs, who sat at the mouths of their burrows and
+yelped at us as we passed. The plain, as we thought, was about six miles
+wide; but it cost us two hours to cross it. Then another mountain range
+rose before us, grander and more wild than the last had been. Far out of
+the dense shrubbery that clothed the steeps for a thousand feet shot up
+black crags, all leaning one way, and shattered by storms and thunder
+into grim and threatening shapes. As we entered a narrow passage on the
+trail of the Indians, they impended frightfully on one side, above our
+heads.
+
+Our course was through dense woods, in the shade and twinkling sunlight
+of overhanging boughs. I would I could recall to mind all the startling
+combinations that presented themselves, as winding from side to side
+of the passage, to avoid its obstructions, we could see, glancing at
+intervals through the foliage, the awful forms of the gigantic cliffs,
+that seemed at times to hem us in on the right and on the left, before
+us and behind! Another scene in a few moments greeted us; a tract of
+gray and sunny woods, broken into knolls and hollows, enlivened by birds
+and interspersed with flowers. Among the rest I recognized the mellow
+whistle of the robin, an old familiar friend whom I had scarce expected
+to meet in such a place. Humble-bees too were buzzing heavily about
+the flowers; and of these a species of larkspur caught my eye, more
+appropriate, it should seem, to cultivated gardens than to a remote
+wilderness. Instantly it recalled a multitude of dormant and delightful
+recollections.
+
+Leaving behind us this spot and its associations, a sight soon presented
+itself, characteristic of that warlike region. In an open space, fenced
+in by high rocks, stood two Indian forts, of a square form, rudely built
+of sticks and logs. They were somewhat ruinous, having probably been
+constructed the year before. Each might have contained about twenty men.
+Perhaps in this gloomy spot some party had been beset by their enemies,
+and those scowling rocks and blasted trees might not long since have
+looked down on a conflict unchronicled and unknown. Yet if any traces
+of bloodshed remained they were completely hidden by the bushes and tall
+rank weeds.
+
+Gradually the mountains drew apart, and the passage expanded into a
+plain, where again we found traces of an Indian encampment. There were
+trees and bushes just before us, and we stopped here for an hour’s rest
+and refreshment. When we had finished our meal Raymond struck fire, and
+lighting his pipe, sat down at the foot of a tree to smoke. For some
+time I observed him puffing away with a face of unusual solemnity. Then
+slowly taking the pipe from his lips, he looked up and remarked that we
+had better not go any farther.
+
+“Why not?” asked I.
+
+He said that the country was becoming very dangerous, that we were
+entering the range of the Snakes, Arapahoes and Grosventre Blackfeet,
+and that if any of their wandering parties should meet us, it would cost
+us our lives; but he added, with a blunt fidelity that nearly reconciled
+me to his stupidity, that he would go anywhere I wished. I told him to
+bring up the animals, and mounting them we proceeded again. I confess
+that, as we moved forward, the prospect seemed but a dreary and doubtful
+one. I would have given the world for my ordinary elasticity of body
+and mind, and for a horse of such strength and spirit as the journey
+required.
+
+Closer and closer the rocks gathered round us, growing taller and
+steeper, and pressing more and more upon our path. We entered at length
+a defile which I never had seen rivaled. The mountain was cracked from
+top to bottom, and we were creeping along the bottom of the fissure, in
+dampness and gloom, with the clink of hoofs on the loose shingly rocks,
+and the hoarse murmuring of a petulant brook which kept us company.
+Sometimes the water, foaming among the stones, overspread the whole
+narrow passage; sometimes, withdrawing to one side, it gave us room to
+pass dry-shod. Looking up, we could see a narrow ribbon of bright blue
+sky between the dark edges of the opposing cliffs. This did not last
+long. The passage soon widened, and sunbeams found their way down,
+flashing upon the black waters. The defile would spread out to many rods
+in width; bushes, trees, and flowers would spring by the side of the
+brook; the cliffs would be feathered with shrubbery, that clung in every
+crevice, and fringed with trees, that grew along their sunny edges. Then
+we would be moving again in the darkness. The passage seemed about four
+miles long, and before we reached the end of it, the unshod hoofs of our
+animals were lamentably broken, and their legs cut by the sharp stones.
+Issuing from the mountain we found another plain. All around it stood a
+circle of lofty precipices, that seemed the impersonation of silence and
+solitude. Here again the Indians had encamped, as well they might, after
+passing with their women, children and horses through the gulf behind
+us. In one day we had made a journey which had cost them three to
+accomplish.
+
+The only outlet to this amphitheater lay over a hill some two hundred
+feet high, up which we moved with difficulty. Looking from the top,
+we saw that at last we were free of the mountains. The prairie
+spread before us, but so wild and broken that the view was everywhere
+obstructed. Far on our left one tall hill swelled up against the sky, on
+the smooth, pale green surface of which four slowly moving black specks
+were discernible. They were evidently buffalo, and we hailed the sight
+as a good augury; for where the buffalo were, there too the Indians
+would probably be found. We hoped on that very night to reach the
+village. We were anxious to do so for a double reason, wishing to bring
+our wearisome journey to an end, and knowing, moreover, that though
+to enter the village in broad daylight would be a perfectly safe
+experiment, yet to encamp in its vicinity would be dangerous. But as we
+rode on, the sun was sinking, and soon was within half an hour of the
+horizon. We ascended a hill and looked round us for a spot for our
+encampment. The prairie was like a turbulent ocean, suddenly congealed
+when its waves were at the highest, and it lay half in light and half in
+shadow, as the rich sunshine, yellow as gold, was pouring over it. The
+rough bushes of the wild sage were growing everywhere, its dull pale
+green overspreading hill and hollow. Yet a little way before us, a
+bright verdant line of grass was winding along the plain, and here and
+there throughout its course water was glistening darkly. We went down to
+it, kindled a fire, and turned our horses loose to feed. It was a little
+trickling brook, that for some yards on either bank turned the barren
+prairie into fertility, and here and there it spread into deep pools,
+where the beaver had dammed it up.
+
+We placed our last remaining piece of the antelope before a scanty fire,
+mournfully reflecting on our exhausted stock of provisions. Just then an
+enormous gray hare, peculiar to these prairies, came jumping along, and
+seated himself within fifty yards to look at us. I thoughtlessly raised
+my rifle to shoot him, but Raymond called out to me not to fire for
+fear the report should reach the ears of the Indians. That night for the
+first time we considered that the danger to which we were exposed was
+of a somewhat serious character; and to those who are unacquainted with
+Indians, it may seem strange that our chief apprehensions arose from
+the supposed proximity of the people whom we intended to visit. Had any
+straggling party of these faithful friends caught sight of us from the
+hill-top, they would probably have returned in the night to plunder us
+of our horses and perhaps of our scalps. But we were on the prairie,
+where the GENIUS LOCI is at war with all nervous apprehensions; and
+I presume that neither Raymond nor I thought twice of the matter that
+evening.
+
+While he was looking after the animals, I sat by the fire engaged in
+the novel task of baking bread. The utensils were of the most simple
+and primitive kind, consisting of two sticks inclining over the bed of
+coals, one end thrust into the ground while the dough was twisted in a
+spiral form round the other. Under such circumstances all the epicurean
+in a man’s nature is apt to awaken within him. I revisited in fancy the
+far distant abodes of good fare, not indeed Frascati’s, or the Trois
+Freres Provencaux, for that were too extreme a flight; but no other than
+the homely table of my old friend and host, Tom Crawford, of the White
+Mountains. By a singular revulsion, Tom himself, whom I well remember
+to have looked upon as the impersonation of all that is wild and
+backwoodsman-like, now appeared before me as the ministering angel of
+comfort and good living. Being fatigued and drowsy I began to doze, and
+my thoughts, following the same train of association, assumed another
+form. Half-dreaming, I saw myself surrounded with the mountains of
+New England, alive with water-falls, their black crags tinctured with
+milk-white mists. For this reverie I paid a speedy penalty; for the
+bread was black on one side and soft on the other.
+
+For eight hours Raymond and I, pillowed on our saddles, lay insensible
+as logs. Pauline’s yellow head was stretched over me when I awoke. I
+got up and examined her. Her feet indeed were bruised and swollen by the
+accidents of yesterday, but her eye was brighter, her motions livelier,
+and her mysterious malady had visibly abated. We moved on, hoping within
+an hour to come in sight of the Indian village; but again disappointment
+awaited us. The trail disappeared, melting away upon a hard and stony
+plain. Raymond and I separating, rode from side to side, scrutinizing
+every yard of ground, until at length I discerned traces of the
+lodge-poles passing by the side of a ridge of rocks. We began again to
+follow them.
+
+“What is that black spot out there on the prairie?”
+
+“It looks like a dead buffalo,” answered Raymond.
+
+We rode out to it, and found it to be the huge carcass of a bull killed
+by the Indians as they had passed. Tangled hair and scraps of hide were
+scattered all around, for the wolves had been making merry over it,
+and had hollowed out the entire carcass. It was covered with myriads of
+large black crickets, and from its appearance must certainly have lain
+there for four or five days. The sight was a most disheartening one,
+and I observed to Raymond that the Indians might still be fifty or sixty
+miles before us. But he shook his head, and replied that they dared not
+go so far for fear of their enemies, the Snakes.
+
+Soon after this we lost the trail again, and ascended a neighboring
+ridge, totally at a loss. Before us lay a plain perfectly flat,
+spreading on the right and left, without apparent limit, and bounded in
+front by a long broken line of hills, ten or twelve miles distant.
+All was open and exposed to view, yet not a buffalo nor an Indian was
+visible.
+
+“Do you see that?” said Raymond; “Now we had better turn round.”
+
+But as Raymond’s bourgeois thought otherwise, we descended the hill and
+began to cross the plain. We had come so far that I knew perfectly well
+neither Pauline’s limbs nor my own could carry me back to Fort Laramie.
+I considered that the lines of expediency and inclination tallied
+exactly, and that the most prudent course was to keep forward. The
+ground immediately around us was thickly strewn with the skulls and
+bones of buffalo, for here a year or two before the Indians had made a
+“surround”; yet no living game presented itself. At length, however, an
+antelope sprang up and gazed at us. We fired together, and by a singular
+fatality we both missed, although the animal stood, a fair mark, within
+eighty yards. This ill success might perhaps be charged to our own
+eagerness, for by this time we had no provision left except a little
+flour. We could discern several small lakes, or rather extensive pools
+of water, glistening in the distance. As we approached them, wolves
+and antelopes bounded away through the tall grass that grew in their
+vicinity, and flocks of large white plover flew screaming over their
+surface. Having failed of the antelope, Raymond tried his hand at the
+birds with the same ill success. The water also disappointed us. Its
+muddy margin was so beaten up by the crowd of buffalo that our timorous
+animals were afraid to approach. So we turned away and moved toward the
+hills. The rank grass, where it was not trampled down by the buffalo,
+fairly swept our horses’ necks.
+
+Again we found the same execrable barren prairie offering no clew by
+which to guide our way. As we drew near the hills an opening appeared,
+through which the Indians must have gone if they had passed that way at
+all. Slowly we began to ascend it. I felt the most dreary forebodings
+of ill success, when on looking round I could discover neither dent of
+hoof, nor footprint, nor trace of lodge-pole, though the passage was
+encumbered by the ghastly skulls of buffalo. We heard thunder muttering;
+a storm was coming on.
+
+As we gained the top of the gap, the prospect beyond began to disclose
+itself. First, we saw a long dark line of ragged clouds upon the
+horizon, while above them rose the peak of the Medicine-Bow, the
+vanguard of the Rocky Mountains; then little by little the plain came
+into view, a vast green uniformity, forlorn and tenantless, though
+Laramie Creek glistened in a waving line over its surface, without a
+bush or a tree upon its banks. As yet, the round projecting shoulder of
+a hill intercepted a part of the view. I rode in advance, when suddenly
+I could distinguish a few dark spots on the prairie, along the bank of
+the stream.
+
+“Buffalo!” said I. Then a sudden hope flashed upon me, and eagerly and
+anxiously I looked again.
+
+“Horses!” exclaimed Raymond, with a tremendous oath, lashing his mule
+forward as he spoke. More and more of the plain disclosed itself, and
+in rapid succession more and more horses appeared, scattered along
+the river bank, or feeding in bands over the prairie. Then, suddenly,
+standing in a circle by the stream, swarming with their savage
+inhabitants, we saw rising before us the tall lodges of the Ogallalla.
+Never did the heart of wanderer more gladden at the sight of home than
+did mine at the sight of those wild habitations!
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+THE OGALLALLA VILLAGE
+
+
+Such a narrative as this is hardly the place for portraying the mental
+features of the Indians. The same picture, slightly changed in shade and
+coloring, would serve with very few exceptions for all the tribes that
+lie north of the Mexican territories. But with this striking similarity
+in their modes of thought, the tribes of the lake and ocean shores, of
+the forests and of the plains, differ greatly in their manner of life.
+Having been domesticated for several weeks among one of the wildest of
+the wild hordes that roam over the remote prairies, I had extraordinary
+opportunities of observing them, and I flatter myself that a faithful
+picture of the scenes that passed daily before my eyes may not be devoid
+of interest and value. These men were thorough savages. Neither their
+manners nor their ideas were in the slightest degree modified by contact
+with civilization. They knew nothing of the power and real character of
+the white men, and their children would scream in terror at the sight of
+me. Their religion, their superstitions, and their prejudices were the
+same that had been handed down to them from immemorial time. They fought
+with the same weapons that their fathers fought with and wore the same
+rude garments of skins.
+
+Great changes are at hand in that region. With the stream of emigration
+to Oregon and California, the buffalo will dwindle away, and the large
+wandering communities who depend on them for support must be broken
+and scattered. The Indians will soon be corrupted by the example of the
+whites, abased by whisky, and overawed by military posts; so that within
+a few years the traveler may pass in tolerable security through their
+country. Its danger and its charm will have disappeared together.
+
+As soon as Raymond and I discovered the village from the gap in the
+hills, we were seen in our turn; keen eyes were constantly on the watch.
+As we rode down upon the plain the side of the village nearest us was
+darkened with a crowd of naked figures gathering around the lodges.
+Several men came forward to meet us. I could distinguish among them the
+green blanket of the Frenchman Reynal. When we came up the ceremony of
+shaking hands had to be gone through with in due form, and then all were
+eager to know what had become of the rest of my party. I satisfied them
+on this point, and we all moved forward together toward the village.
+
+“You’ve missed it,” said Reynal; “if you’d been here day before
+yesterday, you’d have found the whole prairie over yonder black with
+buffalo as far as you could see. There were no cows, though; nothing but
+bulls. We made a ‘surround’ every day till yesterday. See the village
+there; don’t that look like good living?”
+
+In fact I could see, even at that distance, that long cords were
+stretched from lodge to lodge, over which the meat, cut by the squaws
+into thin sheets, was hanging to dry in the sun. I noticed too that the
+village was somewhat smaller than when I had last seen it, and I asked
+Reynal the cause. He said that the old Le Borgne had felt too weak
+to pass over the mountains, and so had remained behind with all his
+relations, including Mahto-Tatonka and his brothers. The Whirlwind
+too had been unwilling to come so far, because, as Reynal said, he was
+afraid. Only half a dozen lodges had adhered to him, the main body of
+the village setting their chief’s authority at naught, and taking the
+course most agreeable to their inclinations.
+
+“What chiefs are there in the village now?” said I.
+
+“Well,” said Reynal, “there’s old Red-Water, and the Eagle-Feather, and
+the Big Crow, and the Mad Wolf and the Panther, and the White Shield,
+and--what’s his name?--the half-breed Cheyenne.”
+
+By this time we were close to the village, and I observed that while the
+greater part of the lodges were very large and neat in their appearance,
+there was at one side a cluster of squalid, miserable huts. I looked
+toward them, and made some remark about their wretched appearance. But I
+was touching upon delicate ground.
+
+“My squaw’s relations live in those lodges,” said Reynal very warmly,
+“and there isn’t a better set in the whole village.”
+
+“Are there any chiefs among them?” asked I.
+
+“Chiefs?” said Reynal; “yes, plenty!”
+
+“What are their names?” I inquired.
+
+“Their names? Why, there’s the Arrow-Head. If he isn’t a chief he ought
+to be one. And there’s the Hail-Storm. He’s nothing but a boy, to be
+sure; but he’s bound to be a chief one of these days!”
+
+Just then we passed between two of the lodges, and entered the great
+area of the village. Superb naked figures stood silently gazing on us.
+
+“Where’s the Bad Wound’s lodge?” said I to Reynal.
+
+“There, you’ve missed it again! The Bad Wound is away with The
+Whirlwind. If you could have found him here, and gone to live in his
+lodge, he would have treated you better than any man in the village.
+But there’s the Big Crow’s lodge yonder, next to old Red-Water’s. He’s a
+good Indian for the whites, and I advise you to go and live with him.”
+
+“Are there many squaws and children in his lodge?” said I.
+
+“No; only one squaw and two or three children. He keeps the rest in a
+separate lodge by themselves.”
+
+So, still followed by a crowd of Indians, Raymond and I rode up to the
+entrance of the Big Crow’s lodge. A squaw came out immediately and took
+our horses. I put aside the leather nap that covered the low opening,
+and stooping, entered the Big Crow’s dwelling. There I could see the
+chief in the dim light, seated at one side, on a pile of buffalo robes.
+He greeted me with a guttural “How, cola!” I requested Reynal to tell
+him that Raymond and I were come to live with him. The Big Crow gave
+another low exclamation. If the reader thinks that we were intruding
+somewhat cavalierly, I beg him to observe that every Indian in the
+village would have deemed himself honored that white men should give
+such preference to his hospitality.
+
+The squaw spread a buffalo robe for us in the guest’s place at the head
+of the lodge. Our saddles were brought in, and scarcely were we seated
+upon them before the place was thronged with Indians, who came crowding
+in to see us. The Big Crow produced his pipe and filled it with the
+mixture of tobacco and shongsasha, or red willow bark. Round and round
+it passed, and a lively conversation went forward. Meanwhile a squaw
+placed before the two guests a wooden bowl of boiled buffalo meat, but
+unhappily this was not the only banquet destined to be inflicted on us.
+Rapidly, one after another, boys and young squaws thrust their heads in
+at the opening, to invite us to various feasts in different parts of the
+village. For half an hour or more we were actively engaged in passing
+from lodge to lodge, tasting in each of the bowl of meat set before us,
+and inhaling a whiff or two from our entertainer’s pipe. A thunderstorm
+that had been threatening for some time now began in good earnest. We
+crossed over to Reynal’s lodge, though it hardly deserved this name, for
+it consisted only of a few old buffalo robes, supported on poles, and
+was quite open on one side. Here we sat down, and the Indians gathered
+round us.
+
+“What is it,” said I, “that makes the thunder?”
+
+“It’s my belief,” said Reynal, “that it is a big stone rolling over the
+sky.”
+
+“Very likely,” I replied; “but I want to know what the Indians think
+about it.”
+
+So he interpreted my question, which seemed to produce some doubt
+and debate. There was evidently a difference of opinion. At last old
+Mene-Seela, or Red-Water, who sat by himself at one side, looked up with
+his withered face, and said he had always known what the thunder was.
+It was a great black bird; and once he had seen it, in a dream, swooping
+down from the Black Hills, with its loud roaring wings; and when it
+flapped them over a lake, they struck lightning from the water.
+
+“The thunder is bad,” said another old man, who sat muffled in his
+buffalo robe; “he killed my brother last summer.”
+
+Reynal, at my request, asked for an explanation; but the old man
+remained doggedly silent, and would not look up. Some time after I
+learned how the accident occurred. The man who was killed belonged to an
+association which, among other mystic functions, claimed the exclusive
+power and privilege of fighting the thunder. Whenever a storm which they
+wished to avert was threatening, the thunder-fighters would take their
+bows and arrows, their guns, their magic drum, and a sort of whistle,
+made out of the wingbone of the war eagle. Thus equipped, they would
+run out and fire at the rising cloud, whooping, yelling, whistling, and
+beating their drum, to frighten it down again. One afternoon a heavy
+black cloud was coming up, and they repaired to the top of a hill, where
+they brought all their magic artillery into play against it. But the
+undaunted thunder, refusing to be terrified, kept moving straight
+onward, and darted out a bright flash which struck one of the party
+dead, as he was in the very act of shaking his long iron-pointed
+lance against it. The rest scattered and ran yelling in an ecstasy of
+superstitious terror back to their lodges.
+
+The lodge of my host Kongra-Tonga, or the Big Crow, presented a
+picturesque spectacle that evening. A score or more of Indians were
+seated around in a circle, their dark naked forms just visible by
+the dull light of the smoldering fire in the center, the pipe glowing
+brightly in the gloom as it passed from hand to hand round the lodge.
+Then a squaw would drop a piece of buffalo-fat on the dull embers.
+Instantly a bright glancing flame would leap up, darting its clear light
+to the very apex of the tall conical structure, where the tops of the
+slender poles that supported its covering of leather were gathered
+together. It gilded the features of the Indians, as with animated
+gestures they sat around it, telling their endless stories of war and
+hunting. It displayed rude garments of skins that hung around the lodge;
+the bow, quiver, and lance suspended over the resting-place of the
+chief, and the rifles and powder-horns of the two white guests. For a
+moment all would be bright as day; then the flames would die away, and
+fitful flashes from the embers would illumine the lodge, and then leave
+it in darkness. Then all the light would wholly fade, and the lodge and
+all within it be involved again in obscurity.
+
+As I left the lodge next morning, I was saluted by howling and yelling
+from all around the village, and half its canine population rushed
+forth to the attack. Being as cowardly as they were clamorous, they kept
+jumping around me at the distance of a few yards, only one little cur,
+about ten inches long, having spirit enough to make a direct assault. He
+dashed valiantly at the leather tassel which in the Dakota fashion was
+trailing behind the heel of my moccasin, and kept his hold, growling and
+snarling all the while, though every step I made almost jerked him over
+on his back. As I knew that the eyes of the whole village were on the
+watch to see if I showed any sign of apprehension, I walked forward
+without looking to the right or left, surrounded wherever I went by this
+magic circle of dogs. When I came to Reynal’s lodge I sat down by it, on
+which the dogs dispersed growling to their respective quarters. Only one
+large white one remained, who kept running about before me and showing
+his teeth. I called him, but he only growled the more. I looked at him
+well. He was fat and sleek; just such a dog as I wanted. “My friend,”
+ thought I, “you shall pay for this! I will have you eaten this very
+morning!”
+
+I intended that day to give the Indians a feast, by way of conveying a
+favorable impression of my character and dignity; and a white dog is
+the dish which the customs of the Dakota prescribe for all occasions of
+formality and importance. I consulted Reynal; he soon discovered that an
+old woman in the next lodge was owner of the white dog. I took a
+gaudy cotton handkerchief, and laying it on the ground, arranged some
+vermilion, beads, and other trinkets upon it. Then the old squaw was
+summoned. I pointed to the dog and to the handkerchief. She gave a
+scream of delight, snatched up the prize, and vanished with it into
+her lodge. For a few more trifles I engaged the services of two other
+squaws, each of whom took the white dog by one of his paws, and led him
+away behind the lodges, while he kept looking up at them with a face
+of innocent surprise. Having killed him they threw him into a fire to
+singe; then chopped him up and put him into two large kettles to boil.
+Meanwhile I told Raymond to fry in buffalo-fat what little flour we
+had left, and also to make a kettle of tea as an additional item of the
+repast.
+
+The Big Crow’s squaw was set briskly at work sweeping out the lodge for
+the approaching festivity. I confided to my host himself the task of
+inviting the guests, thinking that I might thereby shift from my own
+shoulders the odium of fancied neglect and oversight.
+
+When feasting is in question, one hour of the day serves an Indian as
+well as another. My entertainment came off about eleven o’clock. At that
+hour, Reynal and Raymond walked across the area of the village, to the
+admiration of the inhabitants, carrying the two kettles of dog-meat
+slung on a pole between them. These they placed in the center of the
+lodge, and then went back for the bread and the tea. Meanwhile I had put
+on a pair of brilliant moccasins, and substituted for my old buckskin
+frock a coat which I had brought with me in view of such public
+occasions. I also made careful use of the razor, an operation which no
+man will neglect who desires to gain the good opinion of Indians. Thus
+attired, I seated myself between Reynal and Raymond at the head of the
+lodge. Only a few minutes elapsed before all the guests had come in and
+were seated on the ground, wedged together in a close circle around
+the lodge. Each brought with him a wooden bowl to hold his share of the
+repast. When all were assembled, two of the officials called “soldiers”
+ by the white men, came forward with ladles made of the horn of the Rocky
+Mountain sheep, and began to distribute the feast, always assigning
+a double share to the old men and chiefs. The dog vanished with
+astonishing celerity, and each guest turned his dish bottom upward to
+show that all was gone. Then the bread was distributed in its turn,
+and finally the tea. As the soldiers poured it out into the same wooden
+bowls that had served for the substantial part of the meal, I thought it
+had a particularly curious and uninviting color.
+
+“Oh!” said Reynal, “there was not tea enough, so I stirred some soot in
+the kettle, to make it look strong.”
+
+Fortunately an Indian’s palate is not very discriminating. The tea was
+well sweetened, and that was all they cared for.
+
+Now the former part of the entertainment being concluded, the time for
+speech-making was come. The Big Crow produced a flat piece of wood
+on which he cut up tobacco and shongsasha, and mixed them in due
+proportions. The pipes were filled and passed from hand to hand around
+the company. Then I began my speech, each sentence being interpreted
+by Reynal as I went on, and echoed by the whole audience with the usual
+exclamations of assent and approval. As nearly as I can recollect, it
+was as follows:
+
+I had come, I told them, from a country so far distant, that at the rate
+they travel, they could not reach it in a year.
+
+“Howo how!”
+
+“There the Meneaska were more numerous than the blades of grass on the
+prairie. The squaws were far more beautiful than any they had ever seen,
+and all the men were brave warriors.”
+
+“How! how! how!”
+
+Here I was assailed by sharp twinges of conscience, for I fancied I
+could perceive a fragrance of perfumery in the air, and a vision rose
+before me of white kid gloves and silken mustaches with the mild and
+gentle countenances of numerous fair-haired young men. But I recovered
+myself and began again.
+
+“While I was living in the Meneaska lodges, I had heard of the
+Ogallalla, how great and brave a nation they were, how they loved
+the whites, and how well they could hunt the buffalo and strike their
+enemies. I resolved to come and see if all that I heard was true.”
+
+“How! how! how! how!”
+
+“As I had come on horseback through the mountains, I had been able to
+bring them only a very few presents.”
+
+“How!”
+
+“But I had enough tobacco to give them all a small piece. They might
+smoke it, and see how much better it was than the tobacco which they got
+from the traders.”
+
+“How! how! how!”
+
+“I had plenty of powder, lead, knives, and tobacco at Fort Laramie.
+These I was anxious to give them, and if any of them should come to the
+fort before I went away, I would make them handsome presents.”
+
+“How! howo how! how!”
+
+Raymond then cut up and distributed among them two or three pounds of
+tobacco, and old Mene-Seela began to make a reply. It was quite long,
+but the following was the pith of it:
+
+“He had always loved the whites. They were the wisest people on earth.
+He believed they could do everything, and he was always glad when any
+of them came to live in the Ogallalla lodges. It was true I had not made
+them many presents, but the reason of it was plain. It was clear that I
+liked them, or I never should have come so far to find their village.”
+
+Several other speeches of similar import followed, and then this more
+serious matter being disposed of, there was an interval of smoking,
+laughing, and conversation; but old Mene-Seela suddenly interrupted it
+with a loud voice:
+
+“Now is a good time,” he said, “when all the old men and chiefs are here
+together, to decide what the people shall do. We came over the mountain
+to make our lodges for next year. Our old ones are good for nothing;
+they are rotten and worn out. But we have been disappointed. We have
+killed buffalo bulls enough, but we have found no herds of cows, and the
+skins of bulls are too thick and heavy for our squaws to make lodges of.
+There must be plenty of cows about the Medicine-Bow Mountain. We ought
+to go there. To be sure it is farther westward than we have ever been
+before, and perhaps the Snakes will attack us, for those hunting-grounds
+belong to them. But we must have new lodges at any rate; our old ones
+will not serve for another year. We ought not to be afraid of the
+Snakes. Our warriors are brave, and they are all ready for war. Besides,
+we have three white men with their rifles to help us.”
+
+I could not help thinking that the old man relied a little too much on
+the aid of allies, one of whom was a coward, another a blockhead, and
+the third an invalid. This speech produced a good deal of debate.
+As Reynal did not interpret what was said, I could only judge of the
+meaning by the features and gestures of the speakers. At the end of it,
+however, the greater number seemed to have fallen in with Mene-Seela’s
+opinion. A short silence followed, and then the old man struck up
+a discordant chant, which I was told was a song of thanks for the
+entertainment I had given them.
+
+“Now,” said he, “let us go and give the white men a chance to breathe.”
+
+So the company all dispersed into the open air, and for some time the
+old chief was walking round the village, singing his song in praise of
+the feast, after the usual custom of the nation.
+
+At last the day drew to a close, and as the sun went down the horses
+came trooping from the surrounding plains to be picketed before the
+dwellings of their respective masters. Soon within the great circle of
+lodges appeared another concentric circle of restless horses; and here
+and there fires were glowing and flickering amid the gloom of the dusky
+figures around them. I went over and sat by the lodge of Reynal. The
+Eagle-Feather, who was a son of Mene-Seela, and brother of my host the
+Big Crow, was seated there already, and I asked him if the village would
+move in the morning. He shook his head, and said that nobody could tell,
+for since old Mahto-Tatonka had died, the people had been like children
+that did not know their own minds. They were no better than a body
+without a head. So I, as well as the Indians themselves, fell asleep
+that night without knowing whether we should set out in the morning
+toward the country of the Snakes.
+
+At daybreak, however, as I was coming up from the river after my
+morning’s ablutions, I saw that a movement was contemplated. Some of the
+lodges were reduced to nothing but bare skeletons of poles; the leather
+covering of others was flapping in the wind as the squaws were pulling
+it off. One or two chiefs of note had resolved, it seemed, on moving;
+and so having set their squaws at work, the example was tacitly followed
+by the rest of the village. One by one the lodges were sinking down in
+rapid succession, and where the great circle of the village had been
+only a moment before, nothing now remained but a ring of horses and
+Indians, crowded in confusion together. The ruins of the lodges were
+spread over the ground, together with kettles, stone mallets, great
+ladles of horn, buffalo robes, and cases of painted hide, filled with
+dried meat. Squaws bustled about in their busy preparations, the old
+hags screaming to one another at the stretch of their leathern lungs.
+The shaggy horses were patiently standing while the lodge-poles were
+lashed to their sides, and the baggage piled upon their backs. The dogs,
+with their tongues lolling out, lay lazily panting, and waiting for the
+time of departure. Each warrior sat on the ground by the decaying embers
+of his fire, unmoved amid all the confusion, while he held in his hand
+the long trail-rope of his horse.
+
+As their preparations were completed, each family moved off the ground.
+The crowd was rapidly melting away. I could see them crossing the river,
+and passing in quick succession along the profile of the hill on the
+farther bank. When all were gone, I mounted and set out after them,
+followed by Raymond, and as we gained the summit, the whole village
+came in view at once, straggling away for a mile or more over the barren
+plains before us. Everywhere the iron points of lances were glittering.
+The sun never shone upon a more strange array. Here were the heavy-laden
+pack horses, some wretched old women leading them, and two or three
+children clinging to their backs. Here were mules or ponies covered from
+head to tail with gaudy trappings, and mounted by some gay young squaw,
+grinning bashfulness and pleasure as the Meneaska looked at her. Boys
+with miniature bows and arrows were wandering over the plains, little
+naked children were running along on foot, and numberless dogs were
+scampering among the feet of the horses. The young braves, gaudy with
+paint and feathers, were riding in groups among the crowd, and often
+galloping, two or three at once along the line, to try the speed of
+their horses. Here and there you might see a rank of sturdy pedestrians
+stalking along in their white buffalo robes. These were the dignitaries
+of the village, the old men and warriors, to whose age and experience
+that wandering democracy yielded a silent deference. With the rough
+prairie and the broken hills for its background, the restless scene
+was striking and picturesque beyond description. Days and weeks made me
+familiar with it, but never impaired its effect upon my fancy.
+
+As we moved on the broken column grew yet more scattered and disorderly,
+until, as we approached the foot of a hill, I saw the old men before
+mentioned seating themselves in a line upon the ground, in advance of
+the whole. They lighted a pipe and sat smoking, laughing, and telling
+stories, while the people, stopping as they successively came up, were
+soon gathered in a crowd behind them. Then the old men rose, drew their
+buffalo robes over their shoulders, and strode on as before. Gaining the
+top of the hill, we found a very steep declivity before us. There was
+not a minute’s pause. The whole descended in a mass, amid dust and
+confusion. The horses braced their feet as they slid down, women and
+children were screaming, dogs yelping as they were trodden upon, while
+stones and earth went rolling to the bottom. In a few moments I could
+see the village from the summit, spreading again far and wide over the
+plain below.
+
+At our encampment that afternoon I was attacked anew by my old disorder.
+In half an hour the strength that I had been gaining for a week past had
+vanished again, and I became like a man in a dream. But at sunset I lay
+down in the Big Crow’s lodge and slept, totally unconscious till the
+morning. The first thing that awakened me was a hoarse flapping over my
+head, and a sudden light that poured in upon me. The camp was breaking
+up, and the squaws were moving the covering from the lodge. I arose and
+shook off my blanket with the feeling of perfect health; but scarcely
+had I gained my feet when a sense of my helpless condition was once more
+forced upon me, and I found myself scarcely able to stand. Raymond had
+brought up Pauline and the mule, and I stooped to raise my saddle from
+the ground. My strength was quite inadequate to the task. “You must
+saddle her,” said I to Raymond, as I sat down again on a pile of buffalo
+robes:
+
+
+“Et hoec etiam fortasse meminisse juvabit.”
+
+
+I thought, while with a painful effort I raised myself into the saddle.
+Half an hour after, even the expectation that Virgil’s line expressed
+seemed destined to disappointment. As we were passing over a great
+plain, surrounded by long broken ridges, I rode slowly in advance of
+the Indians, with thoughts that wandered far from the time and from the
+place. Suddenly the sky darkened, and thunder began to mutter. Clouds
+were rising over the hills, as dreary and dull as the first forebodings
+of an approaching calamity; and in a moment all around was wrapped in
+shadow. I looked behind. The Indians had stopped to prepare for the
+approaching storm, and the dark, dense mass of savages stretched far to
+the right and left. Since the first attack of my disorder the effects
+of rain upon me had usually been injurious in the extreme. I had no
+strength to spare, having at that moment scarcely enough to keep my seat
+on horseback. Then, for the first time, it pressed upon me as a strong
+probability that I might never leave those deserts. “Well,” thought I
+to myself, “a prairie makes quick and sharp work. Better to die here, in
+the saddle to the last, than to stifle in the hot air of a sick chamber,
+and a thousand times better than to drag out life, as many have done,
+in the helpless inaction of lingering disease.” So, drawing the buffalo
+robe on which I sat over my head, I waited till the storm should come.
+It broke at last with a sudden burst of fury, and passing away as
+rapidly as it came, left the sky clear again. My reflections served
+me no other purpose than to look back upon as a piece of curious
+experience; for the rain did not produce the ill effects that I had
+expected. We encamped within an hour. Having no change of clothes, I
+contrived to borrow a curious kind of substitute from Reynal: and this
+done, I went home, that is, to the Big Crow’s lodge to make the entire
+transfer that was necessary. Half a dozen squaws were in the lodge, and
+one of them taking my arm held it against her own, while a general laugh
+and scream of admiration were raised at the contrast in the color of the
+skin.
+
+Our encampment that afternoon was not far distant from a spur of the
+Black Hills, whose ridges, bristling with fir trees, rose from the
+plains a mile or two on our right. That they might move more rapidly
+toward their proposed hunting-grounds, the Indians determined to leave
+at this place their stock of dried meat and other superfluous articles.
+Some left even their lodges, and contented themselves with carrying a
+few hides to make a shelter from the sun and rain. Half the inhabitants
+set out in the afternoon, with loaded pack horses, toward the mountains.
+Here they suspended the dried meat upon trees, where the wolves and
+grizzly bears could not get at it. All returned at evening. Some of the
+young men declared that they had heard the reports of guns among the
+mountains to the eastward, and many surmises were thrown out as to the
+origin of these sounds. For my part, I was in hopes that Shaw and Henry
+Chatillon were coming to join us. I would have welcomed them cordially,
+for I had no other companions than two brutish white men and five
+hundred savages. I little suspected that at that very moment my unlucky
+comrade was lying on a buffalo robe at Fort Laramie, fevered with ivy
+poison, and solacing his woes with tobacco and Shakespeare.
+
+As we moved over the plains on the next morning, several young men were
+riding about the country as scouts; and at length we began to see them
+occasionally on the tops of the hills, shaking their robes as a signal
+that they saw buffalo. Soon after, some bulls came in sight. Horsemen
+darted away in pursuit, and we could see from the distance that one
+or two of the buffalo were killed. Raymond suddenly became inspired.
+I looked at him as he rode by my side; his face had actually grown
+intelligent!
+
+“This is the country for me!” he said; “if I could only carry the
+buffalo that are killed here every month down to St. Louis I’d make
+my fortune in one winter. I’d grow as rich as old Papin, or Mackenzie
+either. I call this the poor man’s market. When I’m hungry I have only
+got to take my rifle and go out and get better meat than the rich folks
+down below can get with all their money. You won’t catch me living in
+St. Louis another winter.”
+
+“No,” said Reynal, “you had better say that after you and your Spanish
+woman almost starved to death there. What a fool you were ever to take
+her to the settlements.”
+
+“Your Spanish woman?” said I; “I never heard of her before. Are you
+married to her?”
+
+“No,” answered Raymond, again looking intelligent; “the priests don’t
+marry their women, and why should I marry mine?”
+
+This honorable mention of the Mexican clergy introduced the subject of
+religion, and I found that my two associates, in common with other white
+men in the country, were as indifferent to their future welfare as men
+whose lives are in constant peril are apt to be. Raymond had never
+heard of the Pope. A certain bishop, who lived at Taos or at Santa
+Fe, embodied his loftiest idea of an ecclesiastical dignitary. Reynal
+observed that a priest had been at Fort Laramie two years ago, on his
+way to the Nez Perce mission, and that he had confessed all the men
+there and given them absolution. “I got a good clearing out myself that
+time,” said Reynal, “and I reckon that will do for me till I go down to
+the settlements again.”
+
+Here he interrupted himself with an oath and exclaimed: “Look! look! The
+Panther is running an antelope!”
+
+The Panther, on his black and white horse, one of the best in the
+village, came at full speed over the hill in hot pursuit of an antelope
+that darted away like lightning before him. The attempt was made in mere
+sport and bravado, for very few are the horses that can for a moment
+compete in swiftness with this little animal. The antelope ran down the
+hill toward the main body of the Indians who were moving over the plain
+below. Sharp yells were given and horsemen galloped out to intercept his
+flight. At this he turned sharply to the left and scoured away with such
+incredible speed that he distanced all his pursuers and even the vaunted
+horse of the Panther himself. A few moments after we witnessed a more
+serious sport. A shaggy buffalo bull bounded out from a neighboring
+hollow, and close behind him came a slender Indian boy, riding without
+stirrups or saddle and lashing his eager little horse to full speed.
+Yard after yard he drew closer to his gigantic victim, though the bull,
+with his short tail erect and his tongue lolling out a foot from his
+foaming jaws, was straining his unwieldy strength to the utmost. A
+moment more and the boy was close alongside of him. It was our friend
+the Hail-Storm. He dropped the rein on his horse’s neck and jerked an
+arrow like lightning from the quiver at his shoulder.
+
+“I tell you,” said Reynal, “that in a year’s time that boy will match
+the best hunter in the village. There he has given it to him! and there
+goes another! You feel well, now, old bull, don’t you, with two arrows
+stuck in your lights? There, he has given him another! Hear how the
+Hail-Storm yells when he shoots! Yes, jump at him; try it again, old
+fellow! You may jump all day before you get your horns into that pony!”
+
+The bull sprang again and again at his assailant, but the horse kept
+dodging with wonderful celerity. At length the bull followed up his
+attack with a furious rush, and the Hail-Storm was put to flight, the
+shaggy monster following close behind. The boy clung in his seat like a
+leech, and secure in the speed of his little pony, looked round toward
+us and laughed. In a moment he was again alongside of the bull, who
+was now driven to complete desperation. His eyeballs glared through
+his tangled mane, and the blood flew from his mouth and nostrils. Thus,
+still battling with each other, the two enemies disappeared over the
+hill.
+
+Many of the Indians rode at full gallop toward the spot. We followed at
+a more moderate pace, and soon saw the bull lying dead on the side of
+the hill. The Indians were gathered around him, and several knives were
+already at work. These little instruments were plied with such wonderful
+address that the twisted sinews were cut apart, the ponderous bones fell
+asunder as if by magic, and in a moment the vast carcass was reduced to
+a heap of bloody ruins. The surrounding group of savages offered no very
+attractive spectacle to a civilized eye. Some were cracking the huge
+thigh-bones and devouring the marrow within; others were cutting away
+pieces of the liver and other approved morsels, and swallowing them
+on the spot with the appetite of wolves. The faces of most of them,
+besmeared with blood from ear to ear, looked grim and horrible enough.
+My friend the White Shield proffered me a marrowbone, so skillfully laid
+open that all the rich substance within was exposed to view at once.
+Another Indian held out a large piece of the delicate lining of the
+paunch; but these courteous offerings I begged leave to decline. I
+noticed one little boy who was very busy with his knife about the
+jaws and throat of the buffalo, from which he extracted some morsel of
+peculiar delicacy. It is but fair to say that only certain parts of the
+animal are considered eligible in these extempore banquets. The Indians
+would look with abhorrence on anyone who should partake indiscriminately
+of the newly killed carcass.
+
+We encamped that night, and marched westward through the greater part of
+the following day. On the next morning we again resumed our journey. It
+was the 17th of July, unless my notebook misleads me. At noon we stopped
+by some pools of rain-water, and in the afternoon again set forward.
+This double movement was contrary to the usual practice of the Indians,
+but all were very anxious to reach the hunting ground, kill the
+necessary number of buffalo, and retreat as soon as possible from the
+dangerous neighborhood. I pass by for the present some curious incidents
+that occurred during these marches and encampments. Late in the
+afternoon of the last-mentioned day we came upon the banks of a little
+sandy stream, of which the Indians could not tell the name; for they
+were very ill acquainted with that part of the country. So parched and
+arid were the prairies around that they could not supply grass enough
+for the horses to feed upon, and we were compelled to move farther and
+farther up the stream in search of ground for encampment. The country
+was much wilder than before. The plains were gashed with ravines and
+broken into hollows and steep declivities, which flanked our course, as,
+in long-scattered array, the Indians advanced up the side of the stream.
+Mene-Seela consulted an extraordinary oracle to instruct him where the
+buffalo were to be found. When he with the other chiefs sat down on the
+grass to smoke and converse, as they often did during the march, the old
+man picked up one of those enormous black-and-green crickets, which the
+Dakota call by a name that signifies “They who point out the buffalo.”
+ The Root-Diggers, a wretched tribe beyond the mountains, turn them to
+good account by making them into a sort of soup, pronounced by certain
+unscrupulous trappers to be extremely rich. Holding the bloated insect
+respectfully between his fingers and thumb, the old Indian looked
+attentively at him and inquired, “Tell me, my father, where must we go
+to-morrow to find the buffalo?” The cricket twisted about his long horns
+in evident embarrassment. At last he pointed, or seemed to point, them
+westward. Mene-Seela, dropping him gently on the grass, laughed with
+great glee, and said that if we went that way in the morning we should
+be sure to kill plenty of game.
+
+Toward evening we came upon a fresh green meadow, traversed by the
+stream, and deep-set among tall sterile bluffs. The Indians descended
+its steep bank; and as I was at the rear, I was one of the last to reach
+this point. Lances were glittering, feathers fluttering, and the water
+below me was crowded with men and horses passing through, while the
+meadow beyond was swarming with the restless crowd of Indians. The sun
+was just setting, and poured its softened light upon them through an
+opening in the hills.
+
+I remarked to Reynal that at last we had found a good camping-ground.
+
+“Oh, it is very good,” replied he ironically; “especially if there is a
+Snake war party about, and they take it into their heads to shoot down
+at us from the top of these hills. It is no plan of mine, camping in
+such a hole as this!”
+
+The Indians also seemed apprehensive. High up on the top of the tallest
+bluff, conspicuous in the bright evening sunlight, sat a naked warrior
+on horseback, looking around, as it seemed, over the neighboring
+country; and Raymond told me that many of the young men had gone out in
+different directions as scouts.
+
+The shadows had reached to the very summit of the bluffs before the
+lodges were erected and the village reduced again to quiet and order. A
+cry was suddenly raised, and men, women, and children came running out
+with animated faces, and looked eagerly through the opening on the hills
+by which the stream entered from the westward. I could discern afar
+off some dark, heavy masses, passing over the sides of a low hill. They
+disappeared, and then others followed. These were bands of buffalo cows.
+The hunting-ground was reached at last, and everything promised well for
+the morrow’s sport. Being fatigued and exhausted, I went and lay down in
+Kongra-Tonga’s lodge, when Raymond thrust in his head, and called
+upon me to come and see some sport. A number of Indians were gathered,
+laughing, along the line of lodges on the western side of the village,
+and at some distance, I could plainly see in the twilight two huge black
+monsters stalking, heavily and solemnly, directly toward us. They were
+buffalo bulls. The wind blew from them to the village, and such was
+their blindness and stupidity that they were advancing upon the enemy
+without the least consciousness of his presence. Raymond told me that
+two men had hidden themselves with guns in a ravine about twenty yards
+in front of us. The two bulls walked slowly on, heavily swinging from
+side to side in their peculiar gait of stupid dignity. They approached
+within four or five rods of the ravine where the Indians lay in ambush.
+Here at last they seemed conscious that something was wrong, for they
+both stopped and stood perfectly still, without looking either to the
+right or to the left. Nothing of them was to be seen but two huge black
+masses of shaggy mane, with horns, eyes, and nose in the center, and
+a pair of hoofs visible at the bottom. At last the more intelligent of
+them seemed to have concluded that it was time to retire. Very slowly,
+and with an air of the gravest and most majestic deliberation, he began
+to turn round, as if he were revolving on a pivot. Little by little his
+ugly brown side was exposed to view. A white smoke sprang out, as it
+were from the ground; a sharp report came with it. The old bull gave
+a very undignified jump and galloped off. At this his comrade wheeled
+about with considerable expedition. The other Indian shot at him from
+the ravine, and then both the bulls were running away at full speed,
+while half the juvenile population of the village raised a yell and ran
+after them. The first bull was soon stopped, and while the crowd stood
+looking at him at a respectable distance, he reeled and rolled over on
+his side. The other, wounded in a less vital part, galloped away to the
+hills and escaped.
+
+In half an hour it was totally dark. I lay down to sleep, and ill as I
+was, there was something very animating in the prospect of the general
+hunt that was to take place on the morrow.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+THE HUNTING CAMP
+
+
+Long before daybreak the Indians broke up their camp. The women of
+Mene-Seela’s lodge were as usual among the first that were ready for
+departure, and I found the old man himself sitting by the embers of the
+decayed fire, over which he was warming his withered fingers, as the
+morning was very chilly and damp. The preparations for moving were
+even more confused and disorderly than usual. While some families were
+leaving the ground the lodges of others were still standing untouched.
+At this old Mene-Seela grew impatient, and walking out to the middle of
+the village stood with his robe wrapped close around him, and harangued
+the people in a loud, sharp voice. Now, he said, when they were on an
+enemy’s hunting-grounds, was not the time to behave like children;
+they ought to be more active and united than ever. His speech had some
+effect. The delinquents took down their lodges and loaded their pack
+horses; and when the sun rose, the last of the men, women, and children
+had left the deserted camp.
+
+This movement was made merely for the purpose of finding a better and
+safer position. So we advanced only three or four miles up the little
+stream, before each family assumed its relative place in the great
+ring of the village, and all around the squaws were actively at work in
+preparing the camp. But not a single warrior dismounted from his horse.
+All the men that morning were mounted on inferior animals, leading their
+best horses by a cord, or confiding them to the care of boys. In small
+parties they began to leave the ground and ride rapidly away over the
+plains to the westward. I had taken no food that morning, and not being
+at all ambitious of further abstinence, I went into my host’s lodge,
+which his squaws had erected with wonderful celerity, and sat down in
+the center, as a gentle hint that I was hungry. A wooden bowl was soon
+set before me, filled with the nutritious preparation of dried meat
+called pemmican by the northern voyagers and wasna by the Dakota. Taking
+a handful to break my fast upon, I left the lodge just in time to see
+the last band of hunters disappear over the ridge of the neighboring
+hill. I mounted Pauline and galloped in pursuit, riding rather by the
+balance than by any muscular strength that remained to me. From the
+top of the hill I could overlook a wide extent of desolate and unbroken
+prairie, over which, far and near, little parties of naked horsemen were
+rapidly passing. I soon came up to the nearest, and we had not ridden
+a mile before all were united into one large and compact body. All
+was haste and eagerness. Each hunter was whipping on his horse, as if
+anxious to be the first to reach the game. In such movements among the
+Indians this is always more or less the case; but it was especially
+so in the present instance, because the head chief of the village was
+absent, and there were but few “soldiers,” a sort of Indian police, who
+among their other functions usually assumed the direction of a buffalo
+hunt. No man turned to the right hand or to the left. We rode at a swift
+canter straight forward, uphill and downhill, and through the stiff,
+obstinate growth of the endless wild-sage bushes. For an hour and a half
+the same red shoulders, the same long black hair rose and fell with
+the motion of the horses before me. Very little was said, though once I
+observed an old man severely reproving Raymond for having left his rifle
+behind him, when there was some probability of encountering an enemy
+before the day was over. As we galloped across a plain thickly set with
+sagebushes, the foremost riders vanished suddenly from sight, as if
+diving into the earth. The arid soil was cracked into a deep ravine.
+Down we all went in succession and galloped in a line along the bottom,
+until we found a point where, one by one, the horses could scramble out.
+Soon after we came upon a wide shallow stream, and as we rode swiftly
+over the hard sand-beds and through the thin sheets of rippling water,
+many of the savage horsemen threw themselves to the ground, knelt on the
+sand, snatched a hasty draught, and leaping back again to their seats,
+galloped on again as before.
+
+Meanwhile scouts kept in advance of the party; and now we began to see
+them on the ridge of the hills, waving their robes in token that
+buffalo were visible. These however proved to be nothing more than old
+straggling bulls, feeding upon the neighboring plains, who would stare
+for a moment at the hostile array and then gallop clumsily off. At
+length we could discern several of these scouts making their signals
+to us at once; no longer waving their robes boldly from the top of the
+hill, but standing lower down, so that they could not be seen from the
+plains beyond. Game worth pursuing had evidently been discovered. The
+excited Indians now urged forward their tired horses even more rapidly
+than before. Pauline, who was still sick and jaded, began to groan
+heavily; and her yellow sides were darkened with sweat. As we were
+crowding together over a lower intervening hill, I heard Reynal and
+Raymond shouting to me from the left; and looking in that direction,
+I saw them riding away behind a party of about twenty mean-looking
+Indians. These were the relatives of Reynal’s squaw Margot, who, not
+wishing to take part in the general hunt, were riding toward a distant
+hollow, where they could discern a small band of buffalo which they
+meant to appropriate to themselves. I answered to the call by ordering
+Raymond to turn back and follow me. He reluctantly obeyed, though
+Reynal, who had relied on his assistance in skinning, cutting up, and
+carrying to camp the buffalo that he and his party should kill, loudly
+protested and declared that we should see no sport if we went with the
+rest of the Indians. Followed by Raymond I pursued the main body of
+hunters, while Reynal in a great rage whipped his horse over the hill
+after his ragamuffin relatives. The Indians, still about a hundred in
+number, rode in a dense body at some distance in advance. They galloped
+forward, and a cloud of dust was flying in the wind behind them. I could
+not overtake them until they had stopped on the side of the hill where
+the scouts were standing. Here, each hunter sprang in haste from the
+tired animal which he had ridden, and leaped upon the fresh horse that
+he had brought with him. There was not a saddle or a bridle in the whole
+party. A piece of buffalo robe girthed over the horse’s back served in
+the place of the one, and a cord of twisted hair lashed firmly round
+his lower jaw answered for the other. Eagle feathers were dangling from
+every mane and tail, as insignia of courage and speed. As for the rider,
+he wore no other clothing than a light cincture at his waist, and a pair
+of moccasins. He had a heavy whip, with a handle of solid elk-horn,
+and a lash of knotted bull-hide, fastened to his wrist by an ornamental
+band. His bow was in his hand, and his quiver of otter or panther skin
+hung at his shoulder. Thus equipped, some thirty of the hunters galloped
+away toward the left, in order to make a circuit under cover of the
+hills, that the buffalo might be assailed on both sides at once.
+The rest impatiently waited until time enough had elapsed for their
+companions to reach the required position. Then riding upward in a body,
+we gained the ridge of the hill, and for the first time came in sight of
+the buffalo on the plain beyond.
+
+They were a band of cows, four or five hundred in number, who were
+crowded together near the bank of a wide stream that was soaking
+across the sand-beds of the valley. This was a large circular basin,
+sun-scorched and broken, scantily covered with herbage and encompassed
+with high barren hills, from an opening in which we could see our allies
+galloping out upon the plain. The wind blew from that direction. The
+buffalo were aware of their approach, and had begun to move, though very
+slowly and in a compact mass. I have no further recollection of seeing
+the game until we were in the midst of them, for as we descended the
+hill other objects engrossed my attention. Numerous old bulls were
+scattered over the plain, and ungallantly deserting their charge at our
+approach, began to wade and plunge through the treacherous quick-sands
+or the stream, and gallop away toward the hills. One old veteran was
+struggling behind all the rest with one of his forelegs, which had
+been broken by some accident, dangling about uselessly at his side. His
+appearance, as he went shambling along on three legs, was so ludicrous
+that I could not help pausing for a moment to look at him. As I came
+near, he would try to rush upon me, nearly throwing himself down at
+every awkward attempt. Looking up, I saw the whole body of Indians full
+a hundred yards in advance. I lashed Pauline in pursuit and reached
+them just in time, for as we mingled among them, each hunter, as if by
+a common impulse, violently struck his horse, each horse sprang forward
+convulsively, and scattering in the charge in order to assail the entire
+herd at once, we all rushed headlong upon the buffalo. We were among
+them in an instant. Amid the trampling and the yells I could see their
+dark figures running hither and thither through clouds of dust, and the
+horsemen darting in pursuit. While we were charging on one side, our
+companions had attacked the bewildered and panic-stricken herd on
+the other. The uproar and confusion lasted but for a moment. The dust
+cleared away, and the buffalo could be seen scattering as from a common
+center, flying over the plain singly, or in long files and small compact
+bodies, while behind each followed the Indians, lashing their horses to
+furious speed, forcing them close upon their prey, and yelling as they
+launched arrow after arrow into their sides. The large black carcasses
+were strewn thickly over the ground. Here and there wounded buffalo were
+standing, their bleeding sides feathered with arrows; and as I rode past
+them their eyes would glare, they would bristle like gigantic cats, and
+feebly attempt to rush up and gore my horse.
+
+I left camp that morning with a philosophic resolution. Neither I nor
+my horse were at that time fit for such sport, and I had determined to
+remain a quiet spectator; but amid the rush of horses and buffalo, the
+uproar and the dust, I found it impossible to sit still; and as four or
+five buffalo ran past me in a line, I drove Pauline in pursuit. We went
+plunging close at their heels through the water and the quick-sands,
+and clambering the bank, chased them through the wild-sage bushes that
+covered the rising ground beyond. But neither her native spirit nor the
+blows of the knotted bull-hide could supply the place of poor Pauline’s
+exhausted strength. We could not gain an inch upon the poor fugitives.
+At last, however, they came full upon a ravine too wide to leap over;
+and as this compelled them to turn abruptly to the left, I contrived to
+get within ten or twelve yards of the hindmost. At this she faced about,
+bristled angrily, and made a show of charging. I shot at her with
+a large holster pistol, and hit her somewhere in the neck. Down she
+tumbled into the ravine, whither her companions had descended before
+her. I saw their dark backs appearing and disappearing as they galloped
+along the bottom; then, one by one, they came scrambling out on the
+other side and ran off as before, the wounded animal following with
+unabated speed.
+
+Turning back, I saw Raymond coming on his black mule to meet me; and as
+we rode over the field together, we counted dozens of carcasses lying on
+the plain, in the ravines and on the sandy bed of the stream. Far away
+in the distance, horses and buffalo were still scouring along, with
+little clouds of dust rising behind them; and over the sides of
+the hills we could see long files of the frightened animals rapidly
+ascending. The hunters began to return. The boys, who had held the
+horses behind the hill, made their appearance, and the work of flaying
+and cutting up began in earnest all over the field. I noticed my host
+Kongra-Tonga beyond the stream, just alighting by the side of a cow
+which he had killed. Riding up to him I found him in the act of drawing
+out an arrow, which, with the exception of the notch at the end, had
+entirely disappeared in the animal. I asked him to give it to me, and
+I still retain it as a proof, though by no means the most striking one
+that could be offered, of the force and dexterity with which the Indians
+discharge their arrows.
+
+The hides and meat were piled upon the horses, and the hunters began to
+leave the ground. Raymond and I, too, getting tired of the scene, set
+out for the village, riding straight across the intervening desert.
+There was no path, and as far as I could see, no landmarks sufficient
+to guide us; but Raymond seemed to have an instinctive perception of
+the point on the horizon toward which we ought to direct our course.
+Antelope were bounding on all sides, and as is always the case in the
+presence of buffalo, they seemed to have lost their natural shyness and
+timidity. Bands of them would run lightly up the rocky declivities,
+and stand gazing down upon us from the summit. At length we could
+distinguish the tall white rocks and the old pine trees that, as we well
+remembered, were just above the site of the encampment. Still, we could
+see nothing of the village itself until, ascending a grassy hill, we
+found the circle of lodges, dingy with storms and smoke, standing on the
+plain at our very feet.
+
+I entered the lodge of my host. His squaw instantly brought me food
+and water, and spread a buffalo robe for me to lie upon; and being much
+fatigued, I lay down and fell asleep. In about an hour the entrance of
+Kongra-Tonga, with his arms smeared with blood to the elbows, awoke me.
+He sat down in his usual seat on the left side of the lodge. His squaw
+gave him a vessel of water for washing, set before him a bowl of boiled
+meat, and as he was eating pulled off his bloody moccasins and placed
+fresh ones on his feet; then outstretching his limbs, my host composed
+himself to sleep.
+
+And now the hunters, two or three at a time, began to come rapidly in,
+and each, consigning his horses to the squaws, entered his lodge with
+the air of a man whose day’s work was done. The squaws flung down the
+load from the burdened horses, and vast piles of meat and hides were
+soon accumulated before every lodge. By this time it was darkening fast,
+and the whole village was illumined by the glare of fires blazing all
+around. All the squaws and children were gathered about the piles of
+meat, exploring them in search of the daintiest portions. Some of these
+they roasted on sticks before the fires, but often they dispensed with
+this superfluous operation. Late into the night the fires were still
+glowing upon the groups of feasters engaged in this savage banquet
+around them.
+
+Several hunters sat down by the fire in Kongra-Tonga’s lodge to talk
+over the day’s exploits. Among the rest, Mene-Seela came in. Though he
+must have seen full eighty winters, he had taken an active share in the
+day’s sport. He boasted that he had killed two cows that morning, and
+would have killed a third if the dust had not blinded him so that he had
+to drop his bow and arrows and press both hands against his eyes to stop
+the pain. The firelight fell upon his wrinkled face and shriveled figure
+as he sat telling his story with such inimitable gesticulation that
+every man in the lodge broke into a laugh.
+
+Old Mene-Seela was one of the few Indians in the village with whom I
+would have trusted myself alone without suspicion, and the only one from
+whom I would have received a gift or a service without the certainty
+that it proceeded from an interested motive. He was a great friend to
+the whites. He liked to be in their society, and was very vain of the
+favors he had received from them. He told me one afternoon, as we were
+sitting together in his son’s lodge, that he considered the beaver and
+the whites the wisest people on earth; indeed, he was convinced they
+were the same; and an incident which had happened to him long before had
+assured him of this. So he began the following story, and as the pipe
+passed in turn to him, Reynal availed himself of these interruptions to
+translate what had preceded. But the old man accompanied his words with
+such admirable pantomime that translation was hardly necessary.
+
+He said that when he was very young, and had never yet seen a white man,
+he and three or four of his companions were out on a beaver hunt, and he
+crawled into a large beaver lodge, to examine what was there. Sometimes
+he was creeping on his hands and knees, sometimes he was obliged to
+swim, and sometimes to lie flat on his face and drag himself along. In
+this way he crawled a great distance underground. It was very dark, cold
+and close, so that at last he was almost suffocated, and fell into a
+swoon. When he began to recover, he could just distinguish the voices of
+his companions outside, who had given him up for lost, and were singing
+his death song. At first he could see nothing, but soon he discerned
+something white before him, and at length plainly distinguished three
+people, entirely white; one man and two women, sitting at the edge of
+a black pool of water. He became alarmed and thought it high time to
+retreat. Having succeeded, after great trouble, in reaching daylight
+again, he went straight to the spot directly above the pool of water
+where he had seen the three mysterious beings. Here he beat a hole with
+his war club in the ground, and sat down to watch. In a moment the nose
+of an old male beaver appeared at the opening. Mene-Seela instantly
+seized him and dragged him up, when two other beavers, both females,
+thrust out their heads, and these he served in the same way. “These,”
+ continued the old man, “must have been the three white people whom I saw
+sitting at the edge of the water.”
+
+Mene-Seela was the grand depository of the legends and traditions of the
+village. I succeeded, however, in getting from him only a few fragments.
+Like all Indians, he was excessively superstitious, and continually saw
+some reason for withholding his stories. “It is a bad thing,” he would
+say, “to tell the tales in summer. Stay with us till next winter, and I
+will tell you everything I know; but now our war parties are going out,
+and our young men will be killed if I sit down to tell stories before
+the frost begins.”
+
+But to leave this digression. We remained encamped on this spot five
+days, during three of which the hunters were at work incessantly, and
+immense quantities of meat and hides were brought in. Great alarm,
+however, prevailed in the village. All were on the alert. The young men
+were ranging through the country as scouts, and the old men paid careful
+attention to omens and prodigies, and especially to their dreams. In
+order to convey to the enemy (who, if they were in the neighborhood,
+must inevitably have known of our presence) the impression that we were
+constantly on the watch, piles of sticks and stones were erected on all
+the surrounding hills, in such a manner as to appear at a distance like
+sentinels. Often, even to this hour, that scene will rise before my
+mind like a visible reality: the tall white rocks; the old pine trees
+on their summits; the sandy stream that ran along their bases and half
+encircled the village; and the wild-sage bushes, with their dull
+green hue and their medicinal odor, that covered all the neighboring
+declivities. Hour after hour the squaws would pass and repass with their
+vessels of water between the stream and the lodges. For the most part
+no one was to be seen in the camp but women and children, two or three
+super-annuated old men, and a few lazy and worthless young ones.
+These, together with the dogs, now grown fat and good-natured with the
+abundance in the camp, were its only tenants. Still it presented a busy
+and bustling scene. In all quarters the meat, hung on cords of hide, was
+drying in the sun, and around the lodges the squaws, young and old,
+were laboring on the fresh hides that were stretched upon the ground,
+scraping the hair from one side and the still adhering flesh from the
+other, and rubbing into them the brains of the buffalo, in order to
+render them soft and pliant.
+
+In mercy to myself and my horse, I never went out with the hunters after
+the first day. Of late, however, I had been gaining strength rapidly, as
+was always the case upon every respite of my disorder. I was soon able
+to walk with ease. Raymond and I would go out upon the neighboring
+prairies to shoot antelope, or sometimes to assail straggling buffalo,
+on foot, an attempt in which we met with rather indifferent success. To
+kill a bull with a rifle-ball is a difficult art, in the secret of which
+I was as yet very imperfectly initiated. As I came out of Kongra-Tonga’s
+lodge one morning, Reynal called to me from the opposite side of the
+village, and asked me over to breakfast. The breakfast was a substantial
+one. It consisted of the rich, juicy hump-ribs of a fat cow; a repast
+absolutely unrivaled. It was roasting before the fire, impaled upon a
+stout stick, which Reynal took up and planted in the ground before his
+lodge; when he, with Raymond and myself, taking our seats around it,
+unsheathed our knives and assailed it with good will. It spite of all
+medical experience, this solid fare, without bread or salt, seemed to
+agree with me admirably.
+
+“We shall have strangers here before night,” said Reynal.
+
+“How do you know that?” I asked.
+
+“I dreamed so. I am as good at dreaming as an Indian. There is the
+Hail-Storm; he dreamed the same thing, and he and his crony, the Rabbit,
+have gone out on discovery.”
+
+I laughed at Reynal for his credulity, went over to my host’s lodge,
+took down my rifle, walked out a mile or two on the prairie, saw an old
+bull standing alone, crawled up a ravine, shot him and saw him escape.
+Then, quite exhausted and rather ill-humored, I walked back to the
+village. By a strange coincidence, Reynal’s prediction had been
+verified; for the first persons whom I saw were the two trappers,
+Rouleau and Saraphin, coming to meet me. These men, as the reader may
+possibly recollect, had left our party about a fortnight before. They
+had been trapping for a while among the Black Hills, and were now on
+their way to the Rocky Mountains, intending in a day or two to set out
+for the neighboring Medicine Bow. They were not the most elegant or
+refined of companions, yet they made a very welcome addition to the
+limited society of the village. For the rest of that day we lay smoking
+and talking in Reynal’s lodge. This indeed was no better than a little
+hut, made of hides stretched on poles, and entirely open in front.
+It was well carpeted with soft buffalo robes, and here we remained,
+sheltered from the sun, surrounded by various domestic utensils of
+Madame Margot’s household. All was quiet in the village. Though the
+hunters had not gone out that day, they lay sleeping in their lodges,
+and most of the women were silently engaged in their heavy tasks. A few
+young men were playing a lazy game of ball in the center of the village;
+and when they became tired, some girls supplied their place with a more
+boisterous sport. At a little distance, among the lodges, some children
+and half-grown squaws were playfully tossing up one of their number in
+a buffalo robe, an exact counterpart of the ancient pastime from which
+Sancho Panza suffered so much. Farther out on the prairie, a host of
+little naked boys were roaming about, engaged in various rough games, or
+pursuing birds and ground-squirrels with their bows and arrows; and
+woe to the unhappy little animals that fell into their merciless,
+torture-loving hands! A squaw from the next lodge, a notable active
+housewife named Weah Washtay, or the Good Woman, brought us a large bowl
+of wasna, and went into an ecstasy of delight when I presented her
+with a green glass ring, such as I usually wore with a view to similar
+occasions.
+
+The sun went down and half the sky was growing fiery red, reflected on
+the little stream as it wound away among the sagebushes. Some young
+men left the village, and soon returned, driving in before them all
+the horses, hundreds in number, and of every size, age, and color. The
+hunters came out, and each securing those that belonged to him, examined
+their condition, and tied them fast by long cords to stakes driven in
+front of his lodge. It was half an hour before the bustle subsided
+and tranquillity was restored again. By this time it was nearly dark.
+Kettles were hung over the blazing fires, around which the squaws were
+gathered with their children, laughing and talking merrily. A circle
+of a different kind was formed in the center of the village. This was
+composed of the old men and warriors of repute, who with their white
+buffalo robes drawn close around their shoulders, sat together, and as
+the pipe passed from hand to hand, their conversation had not a particle
+of the gravity and reserve usually ascribed to Indians. I sat down with
+them as usual. I had in my hand half a dozen squibs and serpents, which
+I had made one day when encamped upon Laramie Creek, out of gunpowder
+and charcoal, and the leaves of “Fremont’s Expedition,” rolled round a
+stout lead pencil. I waited till I contrived to get hold of the large
+piece of burning BOIS DE VACHE which the Indians kept by them on the
+ground for lighting their pipes. With this I lighted all the fireworks
+at once, and tossed them whizzing and sputtering into the air, over
+the heads of the company. They all jumped up and ran off with yelps of
+astonishment and consternation. After a moment or two, they ventured to
+come back one by one, and some of the boldest, picking up the cases
+of burnt paper that were scattered about, examined them with eager
+curiosity to discover their mysterious secret. From that time forward I
+enjoyed great repute as a “fire-medicine.”
+
+The camp was filled with the low hum of cheerful voices. There were
+other sounds, however, of a very different kind, for from a large lodge,
+lighted up like a gigantic lantern by the blazing fire within, came a
+chorus of dismal cries and wailings, long drawn out, like the howling of
+wolves, and a woman, almost naked, was crouching close outside, crying
+violently, and gashing her legs with a knife till they were covered with
+blood. Just a year before, a young man belonging to this family had gone
+out with a war party and had been slain by the enemy, and his relatives
+were thus lamenting his loss. Still other sounds might be heard; loud
+earnest cries often repeated from amid the gloom, at a distance beyond
+the village. They proceeded from some young men who, being about to set
+out in a few days on a warlike expedition, were standing at the top of a
+hill, calling on the Great Spirit to aid them in their enterprise. While
+I was listening, Rouleau, with a laugh on his careless face, called to
+me and directed my attention to another quarter. In front of the lodge
+where Weah Washtay lived another squaw was standing, angrily scolding an
+old yellow dog, who lay on the ground with his nose resting between
+his paws, and his eyes turned sleepily up to her face, as if he were
+pretending to give respectful attention, but resolved to fall asleep as
+soon as it was all over.
+
+“You ought to be ashamed of yourself!” said the old woman. “I have fed
+you well, and taken care of you ever since you were small and blind, and
+could only crawl about and squeal a little, instead of howling as you do
+now. When you grew old, I said you were a good dog. You were strong and
+gentle when the load was put on your back, and you never ran among the
+feet of the horses when we were all traveling together over the prairie.
+But you had a bad heart! Whenever a rabbit jumped out of the bushes, you
+were always the first to run after him and lead away all the other dogs
+behind you. You ought to have known that it was very dangerous to act
+so. When you had got far out on the prairie, and no one was near to help
+you, perhaps a wolf would jump out of the ravine; and then what could
+you do? You would certainly have been killed, for no dog can fight well
+with a load on his back. Only three days ago you ran off in that way,
+and turned over the bag of wooden pins with which I used to fasten up
+the front of the lodge. Look up there, and you will see that it is all
+flapping open. And now to-night you have stolen a great piece of fat
+meat which was roasting before the fire for my children. I tell you, you
+have a bad heart, and you must die!”
+
+So saying, the squaw went into the lodge, and coming out with a large
+stone mallet, killed the unfortunate dog at one blow. This speech
+is worthy of notice as illustrating a curious characteristic of the
+Indians: the ascribing intelligence and a power of understanding speech
+to the inferior animals, to whom, indeed, according to many of their
+traditions, they are linked in close affinity, and they even claim the
+honor of a lineal descent from bears, wolves, deer, or tortoises.
+
+As it grew late, and the crowded population began to disappear, I too
+walked across the village to the lodge of my host, Kongra-Tonga. As I
+entered I saw him, by the flickering blaze of the fire in the center,
+reclining half asleep in his usual place. His couch was by no means an
+uncomfortable one. It consisted of soft buffalo robes laid together on
+the ground, and a pillow made of whitened deerskin stuffed with feathers
+and ornamented with beads. At his back was a light framework of poles
+and slender reeds, against which he could lean with ease when in a
+sitting posture; and at the top of it, just above his head, his bow
+and quiver were hanging. His squaw, a laughing, broad-faced woman,
+apparently had not yet completed her domestic arrangements, for she was
+bustling about the lodge, pulling over the utensils and the bales of
+dried meats that were ranged carefully round it. Unhappily, she and
+her partner were not the only tenants of the dwelling, for half a dozen
+children were scattered about, sleeping in every imaginable posture. My
+saddle was in its place at the head of the lodge and a buffalo robe
+was spread on the ground before it. Wrapping myself in my blanket I lay
+down, but had I not been extremely fatigued the noise in the next lodge
+would have prevented my sleeping. There was the monotonous thumping of
+the Indian drum, mixed with occasional sharp yells, and a chorus chanted
+by twenty voices. A grand scene of gambling was going forward with all
+the appropriate formalities. The players were staking on the chance
+issue of the game their ornaments, their horses, and as the excitement
+rose, their garments, and even their weapons, for desperate gambling
+is not confined to the hells of Paris. The men of the plains and the
+forests no less resort to it as a violent but grateful relief to
+the tedious monotony of their lives, which alternate between fierce
+excitement and listless inaction. I fell asleep with the dull notes
+of the drum still sounding on my ear, but these furious orgies lasted
+without intermission till daylight. I was soon awakened by one of the
+children crawling over me, while another larger one was tugging at
+my blanket and nestling himself in a very disagreeable proximity. I
+immediately repelled these advances by punching the heads of these
+miniature savages with a short stick which I always kept by me for the
+purpose; and as sleeping half the day and eating much more than is good
+for them makes them extremely restless, this operation usually had to be
+repeated four or five times in the course of the night. My host himself
+was the author of another most formidable annoyance. All these
+Indians, and he among the rest, think themselves bound to the constant
+performance of certain acts as the condition on which their success in
+life depends, whether in war, love, hunting, or any other employment.
+These “medicines,” as they are called in that country, which are usually
+communicated in dreams, are often absurd enough. Some Indians will
+strike the butt of the pipe against the ground every time they smoke;
+others will insist that everything they say shall be interpreted by
+contraries; and Shaw once met an old man who conceived that all would be
+lost unless he compelled every white man he met to drink a bowl of cold
+water. My host was particularly unfortunate in his allotment. The Great
+Spirit had told him in a dream that he must sing a certain song in the
+middle of every night; and regularly at about twelve o’clock his dismal
+monotonous chanting would awaken me, and I would see him seated bolt
+upright on his couch, going through his dolorous performances with a
+most business-like air. There were other voices of the night still more
+inharmonious. Twice or thrice, between sunset and dawn, all the dogs
+in the village, and there were hundreds of them, would bay and yelp in
+chorus; a most horrible clamor, resembling no sound that I have ever
+heard, except perhaps the frightful howling of wolves that we used
+sometimes to hear long afterward when descending the Arkansas on the
+trail of General Kearny’s army. The canine uproar is, if possible, more
+discordant than that of the wolves. Heard at a distance, slowly rising
+on the night, it has a strange unearthly effect, and would fearfully
+haunt the dreams of a nervous man; but when you are sleeping in the
+midst of it the din is outrageous. One long loud howl from the next
+lodge perhaps begins it, and voice after voice takes up the sound till
+it passes around the whole circumference of the village, and the air is
+filled with confused and discordant cries, at once fierce and mournful.
+It lasts but for a moment and then dies away into silence.
+
+Morning came, and Kongra-Tonga, mounting his horse, rode out with the
+hunters. It may not be amiss to glance at him for an instant in his
+domestic character of husband and father. Both he and his squaw, like
+most other Indians, were very fond of their children, whom they indulged
+to excess, and never punished, except in extreme cases when they
+would throw a bowl of cold water over them. Their offspring became
+sufficiently undutiful and disobedient under this system of education,
+which tends not a little to foster that wild idea of liberty and utter
+intolerance of restraint which lie at the very foundation of the Indian
+character. It would be hard to find a fonder father than Kongra-Tonga.
+There was one urchin in particular, rather less than two feet high, to
+whom he was exceedingly attached; and sometimes spreading a buffalo robe
+in the lodge, he would seat himself upon it, place his small favorite
+upright before him, and chant in a low tone some of the words used as an
+accompaniment to the war dance. The little fellow, who could just manage
+to balance himself by stretching out both arms, would lift his feet and
+turn slowly round and round in time to his father’s music, while my host
+would laugh with delight, and look smiling up into my face to see if
+I were admiring this precocious performance of his offspring. In his
+capacity of husband he was somewhat less exemplary. The squaw who lived
+in the lodge with him had been his partner for many years. She took
+good care of his children and his household concerns. He liked her well
+enough, and as far as I could see they never quarreled; but all his
+warmer affections were reserved for younger and more recent favorites.
+Of these he had at present only one, who lived in a lodge apart from his
+own. One day while in his camp he became displeased with her, pushed her
+out, threw after her her ornaments, dresses, and everything she had,
+and told her to go home to her father. Having consummated this summary
+divorce, for which he could show good reasons, he came back, seated
+himself in his usual place, and began to smoke with an air of utmost
+tranquillity and self-satisfaction.
+
+I was sitting in the lodge with him on that very afternoon, when I felt
+some curiosity to learn the history of the numerous scars that appeared
+on his naked body. Of some of them, however, I did not venture to
+inquire, for I already understood their origin. Each of his arms was
+marked as if deeply gashed with a knife at regular intervals, and there
+were other scars also, of a different character, on his back and on
+either breast. They were the traces of those formidable tortures
+which these Indians, in common with a few other tribes, inflict upon
+themselves at certain seasons; in part, it may be, to gain the glory of
+courage and endurance, but chiefly as an act of self-sacrifice to secure
+the favor of the Great Spirit. The scars upon the breast and back were
+produced by running through the flesh strong splints of wood, to which
+ponderous buffalo-skulls are fastened by cords of hide, and the wretch
+runs forward with all his strength, assisted by two companions, who take
+hold of each arm, until the flesh tears apart and the heavy loads
+are left behind. Others of Kongra-Tonga’s scars were the result of
+accidents; but he had many which he received in war. He was one of the
+most noted warriors in the village. In the course of his life he had
+slain as he boasted to me, fourteen men, and though, like other Indians,
+he was a great braggart and utterly regardless of truth, yet in this
+statement common report bore him out. Being much flattered by my
+inquiries he told me tale after tale, true or false, of his warlike
+exploits; and there was one among the rest illustrating the worst
+features of the Indian character too well for me to omit. Pointing out
+of the opening of the lodge toward the Medicine-Bow Mountain, not many
+miles distant he said that he was there a few summers ago with a war
+party of his young men. Here they found two Snake Indians, hunting. They
+shot one of them with arrows and chased the other up the side of the
+mountain till they surrounded him on a level place, and Kongra-Tonga
+himself, jumping forward among the trees, seized him by the arm. Two of
+his young men then ran up and held him fast while he scalped him alive.
+Then they built a great fire, and cutting the tendons of their captive’s
+wrists and feet, threw him in, and held him down with long poles
+until he was burnt to death. He garnished his story with a great many
+descriptive particulars much too revolting to mention. His features were
+remarkably mild and open, without the fierceness of expression common
+among these Indians; and as he detailed these devilish cruelties, he
+looked up into my face with the same air of earnest simplicity which a
+little child would wear in relating to its mother some anecdote of its
+youthful experience.
+
+Old Mene-Seela’s lodge could offer another illustration of the ferocity
+of Indian warfare. A bright-eyed, active little boy was living there.
+He had belonged to a village of the Gros-Ventre Blackfeet, a small but
+bloody and treacherous band, in close alliance with the Arapahoes. About
+a year before, Kongra-Tonga and a party of warriors had found about
+twenty lodges of these Indians upon the plains a little to the eastward
+of our present camp; and surrounding them in the night, they butchered
+men, women, and children without mercy, preserving only this little
+boy alive. He was adopted into the old man’s family, and was now fast
+becoming identified with the Ogallalla children, among whom he mingled
+on equal terms. There was also a Crow warrior in the village, a man of
+gigantic stature and most symmetrical proportions. Having been taken
+prisoner many years before and adopted by a squaw in place of a son whom
+she had lost, he had forgotten his old national antipathies, and was now
+both in act and inclination an Ogallalla.
+
+It will be remembered that the scheme of the grand warlike combination
+against the Snake and Crow Indians originated in this village; and
+though this plan had fallen to the ground, the embers of the martial
+ardor continued to glow brightly. Eleven young men had prepared
+themselves to go out against the enemy. The fourth day of our stay in
+this camp was fixed upon for their departure. At the head of this party
+was a well-built active little Indian, called the White Shield, whom I
+had always noticed for the great neatness of his dress and appearance.
+His lodge too, though not a large one, was the best in the village,
+his squaw was one of the prettiest girls, and altogether his dwelling
+presented a complete model of an Ogallalla domestic establishment. I
+was often a visitor there, for the White Shield being rather partial
+to white men, used to invite me to continual feasts at all hours of the
+day. Once when the substantial part of the entertainment was concluded,
+and he and I were seated cross-legged on a buffalo robe smoking together
+very amicably, he took down his warlike equipments, which were
+hanging around the lodge, and displayed them with great pride and
+self-importance. Among the rest was a most superb headdress of feathers.
+Taking this from its case, he put it on and stood before me, as if
+conscious of the gallant air which it gave to his dark face and his
+vigorous, graceful figure. He told me that upon it were the feathers of
+three war-eagles, equal in value to the same number of good horses. He
+took up also a shield gayly painted and hung with feathers. The effect
+of these barbaric ornaments was admirable, for they were arranged with
+no little skill and taste. His quiver was made of the spotted skin of a
+small panther, such as are common among the Black Hills, from which the
+tail and distended claws were still allowed to hang. The White Shield
+concluded his entertainment in a manner characteristic of an Indian. He
+begged of me a little powder and ball, for he had a gun as well as bow
+and arrows; but this I was obliged to refuse, because I had scarcely
+enough for my own use. Making him, however, a parting present of a paper
+of vermilion, I left him apparently quite contented.
+
+Unhappily on the next morning the White Shield took cold and was
+attacked with a violent inflammation of the throat. Immediately he
+seemed to lose all spirit, and though before no warrior in the village
+had borne himself more proudly, he now moped about from lodge to lodge
+with a forlorn and dejected air. At length he came and sat down, close
+wrapped in his robe, before the lodge of Reynal, but when he found that
+neither he nor I knew how to relieve him, he arose and stalked over to
+one of the medicine-men of the village. This old imposter thumped him
+for some time with both fists, howled and yelped over him, and beat a
+drum close to his ear to expel the evil spirit that had taken possession
+of him. This vigorous treatment failing of the desired effect, the White
+Shield withdrew to his own lodge, where he lay disconsolate for some
+hours. Making his appearance once more in the afternoon, he again took
+his seat on the ground before Reynal’s lodge, holding his throat with
+his hand. For some time he sat perfectly silent with his eyes fixed
+mournfully on the ground. At last he began to speak in a low tone:
+
+“I am a brave man,” he said; “all the young men think me a great
+warrior, and ten of them are ready to go with me to the war. I will go
+and show them the enemy. Last summer the Snakes killed my brother. I
+cannot live unless I revenge his death. To-morrow we will set out and I
+will take their scalps.”
+
+The White Shield, as he expressed this resolution, seemed to have lost
+all the accustomed fire and spirit of his look, and hung his head as if
+in a fit of despondency.
+
+As I was sitting that evening at one of the fires, I saw him arrayed in
+his splendid war dress, his cheeks painted with vermilion, leading his
+favorite war horse to the front of his lodge. He mounted and rode round
+the village, singing his war song in a loud hoarse voice amid the
+shrill acclamations of the women. Then dismounting, he remained for some
+minutes prostrate upon the ground, as if in an act of supplication.
+On the following morning I looked in vain for the departure of the
+warriors. All was quiet in the village until late in the forenoon, when
+the White Shield, issuing from his lodge, came and seated himself in his
+old place before us. Reynal asked him why he had not gone out to find
+the enemy.
+
+“I cannot go,” answered the White Shield in a dejected voice. “I have
+given my war arrows to the Meneaska.”
+
+“You have only given him two of your arrows,” said Reynal. “If you ask
+him, he will give them back again.”
+
+For some time the White Shield said nothing. At last he spoke in a
+gloomy tone:
+
+“One of my young men has had bad dreams. The spirits of the dead came
+and threw stones at him in his sleep.”
+
+If such a dream had actually taken place it might have broken up this
+or any other war party, but both Reynal and I were convinced at the time
+that it was a mere fabrication to excuse his remaining at home.
+
+The White Shield was a warrior of noted prowess. Very probably, he would
+have received a mortal wound without a show of pain, and endured without
+flinching the worst tortures that an enemy could inflict upon him. The
+whole power of an Indian’s nature would be summoned to encounter such
+a trial; every influence of his education from childhood would have
+prepared him for it; the cause of his suffering would have been visibly
+and palpably before him, and his spirit would rise to set his enemy at
+defiance, and gain the highest glory of a warrior by meeting death with
+fortitude. But when he feels himself attacked by a mysterious evil,
+before whose insidious assaults his manhood is wasted, and his strength
+drained away, when he can see no enemy to resist and defy, the boldest
+warrior falls prostrate at once. He believes that a bad spirit has
+taken possession of him, or that he is the victim of some charm. When
+suffering from a protracted disorder, an Indian will often abandon
+himself to his supposed destiny, pine away and die, the victim of his
+own imagination. The same effect will often follow from a series of
+calamities, or a long run of ill success, and the sufferer has been
+known to ride into the midst of an enemy’s camp, or attack a grizzly
+bear single-handed, to get rid of a life which he supposed to lie under
+the doom of misfortune.
+
+Thus after all his fasting, dreaming, and calling upon the Great Spirit,
+the White Shield’s war party was pitifully broken up.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+THE TRAPPERS
+
+
+In speaking of the Indians, I have almost forgotten two bold adventurers
+of another race, the trappers Rouleau and Saraphin. These men were bent
+on a most hazardous enterprise. A day’s journey to the westward was the
+country over which the Arapahoes are accustomed to range, and for which
+the two trappers were on the point of setting out. These Arapahoes, of
+whom Shaw and I afterward fell in with a large village, are ferocious
+barbarians, of a most brutal and wolfish aspect, and of late they had
+declared themselves enemies to the whites, and threatened death to the
+first who should venture within their territory. The occasion of the
+declaration was as follows:
+
+In the previous spring, 1845, Colonel Kearny left Fort Leavenworth with
+several companies of dragoons, and marching with extraordinary celerity
+reached Fort Laramie, whence he passed along the foot of the mountains
+to Bent’s Fort and then, turning eastward again, returned to the point
+from whence he set out. While at Fort Larantie, he sent a part of his
+command as far westward as Sweetwater, while he himself remained at the
+fort, and dispatched messages to the surrounding Indians to meet him
+there in council. Then for the first time the tribes of that vicinity
+saw the white warriors, and, as might have been expected, they were
+lost in astonishment at their regular order, their gay attire, the
+completeness of their martial equipment, and the great size and power of
+their horses. Among the rest, the Arapahoes came in considerable numbers
+to the fort. They had lately committed numerous acts of outrage, and
+Colonel Kearny threatened that if they killed any more white men he
+would turn loose his dragoons upon them, and annihilate their whole
+nation. In the evening, to add effect to his speech, he ordered a
+howitzer to be fired and a rocket to be thrown up. Many of the Arapahoes
+fell prostrate on the ground, while others ran screaming with amazement
+and terror. On the following day they withdrew to their mountains,
+confounded with awe at the appearance of the dragoons, at their big gun
+which went off twice at one shot, and the fiery messenger which they had
+sent up to the Great Spirit. For many months they remained quiet,
+and did no further mischief. At length, just before we came into the
+country, one of them, by an act of the basest treachery, killed two
+white men, Boot and May, who were trapping among the mountains. For this
+act it was impossible to discover a motive. It seemed to spring from one
+of those inexplicable impulses which often actuate Indians and appear
+no better than the mere outbreaks of native ferocity. No sooner was the
+murder committed than the whole tribe were in extreme consternation.
+They expected every day that the avenging dragoons would arrive, little
+thinking that a desert of nine hundred miles in extent lay between the
+latter and their mountain fastnesses. A large deputation of them came to
+Fort Laramie, bringing a valuable present of horses, in compensation for
+the lives of the murdered men. These Bordeaux refused to accept. They
+then asked him if he would be satisfied with their delivering up the
+murderer himself; but he declined this offer also. The Arapahoes went
+back more terrified than ever. Weeks passed away, and still no dragoons
+appeared. A result followed which all those best acquainted with Indians
+had predicted. They conceived that fear had prevented Bordeaux from
+accepting their gifts, and that they had nothing to apprehend from
+the vengeance of the whites. From terror they rose to the height of
+insolence and presumption. They called the white men cowards and old
+women; and a friendly Dakota came to Fort Laramie and reported that they
+were determined to kill the first of the white dogs whom they could lay
+hands on.
+
+Had a military officer, intrusted with suitable powers, been stationed
+at Fort Laramie, and having accepted the offer of the Arapahoes to
+deliver up the murderer, had ordered him to be immediately led out
+and shot, in presence of his tribe, they would have been awed into
+tranquillity, and much danger and calamity averted; but now the
+neighborhood of the Medicine-Bow Mountain and the region beyond it was a
+scene of extreme peril. Old Mene-Seela, a true friend of the whites, and
+many other of the Indians gathered about the two trappers, and vainly
+endeavored to turn them from their purpose; but Rouleau and Saraphin
+only laughed at the danger. On the morning preceding that on which they
+were to leave the camp, we could all discern faint white columns of
+smoke rising against the dark base of the Medicine-Bow. Scouts were out
+immediately, and reported that these proceeded from an Arapahoe camp,
+abandoned only a few hours before. Still the two trappers continued
+their preparations for departure.
+
+Saraphin was a tall, powerful fellow, with a sullen and sinister
+countenance. His rifle had very probably drawn other blood than that of
+buffalo or even Indians. Rouleau had a broad ruddy face marked with as
+few traces of thought or care as a child’s. His figure was remarkably
+square and strong, but the first joints of both his feet were frozen
+off, and his horse had lately thrown and trampled upon him, by which
+he had been severely injured in the chest. But nothing could check his
+inveterate propensity for laughter and gayety. He went all day rolling
+about the camp on his stumps of feet, talking and singing and frolicking
+with the Indian women, as they were engaged at their work. In fact
+Rouleau had an unlucky partiality for squaws. He always had one whom he
+must needs bedizen with beads, ribbons, and all the finery of an Indian
+wardrobe; and though he was of course obliged to leave her behind him
+during his expeditions, yet this hazardous necessity did not at all
+trouble him, for his disposition was the very reverse of jealous. If at
+any time he had not lavished the whole of the precarious profits of his
+vocation upon his dark favorite, he always devoted the rest to feasting
+his comrades. If liquor was not to be had--and this was usually the
+case--strong coffee was substituted. As the men of that region are by
+no means remarkable for providence or self-restraint, whatever was
+set before them on these occasions, however extravagant in price, or
+enormous in quantity, was sure to be disposed of at one sitting. Like
+other trappers, Rouleau’s life was one of contrast and variety. It was
+only at certain seasons, and for a limited time, that he was absent on
+his expeditions. For the rest of the year he would be lounging about the
+fort, or encamped with his friends in its vicinity, lazily hunting or
+enjoying all the luxury of inaction; but when once in pursuit of beaver,
+he was involved in extreme privations and desperate perils. When in
+the midst of his game and his enemies, hand and foot, eye and ear, are
+incessantly active. Frequently he must content himself with devouring
+his evening meal uncooked, lest the light of his fire should attract
+the eyes of some wandering Indian; and sometimes having made his rude
+repast, he must leave his fire still blazing, and withdraw to a distance
+under cover of the darkness, that his disappointed enemy, drawn thither
+by the light, may find his victim gone, and be unable to trace his
+footsteps in the gloom. This is the life led by scores of men in the
+Rocky Mountains and their vicinity. I once met a trapper whose breast
+was marked with the scars of six bullets and arrows, one of his arms
+broken by a shot and one of his knees shattered; yet still, with the
+undaunted mettle of New England, from which part of the country he had
+come, he continued to follow his perilous occupation. To some of the
+children of cities it may seem strange that men with no object in
+view should continue to follow a life of such hardship and desperate
+adventure; yet there is a mysterious, restless charm in the basilisk eye
+of danger, and few men perhaps remain long in that wild region without
+learning to love peril for its own sake, and to laugh carelessly in the
+face of death.
+
+On the last day of our stay in this camp, the trappers were ready for
+departure. When in the Black Hills they had caught seven beaver, and
+they now left their skins in charge of Reynal, to be kept until their
+return. Their strong, gaunt horses were equipped with rusty Spanish bits
+and rude Mexican saddles, to which wooden stirrups were attached, while
+a buffalo robe was rolled up behind them, and a bundle of beaver traps
+slung at the pommel. These, together with their rifles, their knives,
+their powder-horns and bullet-pouches, flint and steel and a tincup,
+composed their whole traveling equipment. They shook hands with us and
+rode away; Saraphin with his grim countenance, like a surly bulldog’s,
+was in advance; but Rouleau, clambering gayly into his seat, kicked his
+horse’s sides, flourished his whip in the air, and trotted briskly over
+the prairie, trolling forth a Canadian song at the top of his lungs.
+Reynal looked after them with his face of brutal selfishness.
+
+“Well,” he said, “if they are killed, I shall have the beaver. They’ll
+fetch me fifty dollars at the fort, anyhow.”
+
+This was the last I saw of them.
+
+We had been for five days in the hunting camp, and the meat, which all
+this time had hung drying in the sun, was now fit for transportation.
+Buffalo hides also had been procured in sufficient quantities for making
+the next season’s lodges; but it remained to provide the long slender
+poles on which they were to be supported. These were only to be had
+among the tall pine woods of the Black Hills, and in that direction
+therefore our next move was to be made. It is worthy of notice that amid
+the general abundance which during this time had prevailed in the camp
+there were no instances of individual privation; for although the hide
+and the tongue of the buffalo belong by exclusive right to the hunter
+who has killed it, yet anyone else is equally entitled to help himself
+from the rest of the carcass. Thus, the weak, the aged, and even the
+indolent come in for a share of the spoils, and many a helpless old
+woman, who would otherwise perish from starvation, is sustained in
+profuse abundance.
+
+On the 25th of July, late in the afternoon, the camp broke up, with
+the usual tumult and confusion, and we were all moving once more, on
+horseback and on foot, over the plains. We advanced, however, but a few
+miles. The old men, who during the whole march had been stoutly striding
+along on foot in front of the people, now seated themselves in a circle
+on the ground, while all the families, erecting their lodges in the
+prescribed order around them, formed the usual great circle of the camp;
+meanwhile these village patriarchs sat smoking and talking. I threw my
+bridle to Raymond, and sat down as usual along with them. There was none
+of that reserve and apparent dignity which an Indian always assumes
+when in council, or in the presence of white men whom he distrusts. The
+party, on the contrary, was an extremely merry one; and as in a social
+circle of a quite different character, “if there was not much wit, there
+was at least a great deal of laughter.”
+
+When the first pipe was smoked out, I rose and withdrew to the lodge of
+my host. Here I was stooping, in the act of taking off my powder-horn
+and bullet-pouch, when suddenly, and close at hand, pealing loud
+and shrill, and in right good earnest, came the terrific yell of the
+war-whoop. Kongra-Tonga’s squaw snatched up her youngest child, and ran
+out of the lodge. I followed, and found the whole village in confusion,
+resounding with cries and yells. The circle of old men in the center had
+vanished. The warriors with glittering eyes came darting, their weapons
+in their hands, out of the low opening of the lodges, and running with
+wild yells toward the farther end of the village. Advancing a few rods
+in that direction, I saw a crowd in furious agitation, while others ran
+up on every side to add to the confusion. Just then I distinguished
+the voices of Raymond and Reynal, shouting to me from a distance, and
+looking back, I saw the latter with his rifle in his hand, standing on
+the farther bank of a little stream that ran along the outskirts of the
+camp. He was calling to Raymond and myself to come over and join him,
+and Raymond, with his usual deliberate gait and stolid countenance, was
+already moving in that direction.
+
+This was clearly the wisest course, unless we wished to involve
+ourselves in the fray; so I turned to go, but just then a pair of eyes,
+gleaming like a snake’s, and an aged familiar countenance was thrust
+from the opening of a neighboring lodge, and out bolted old Mene-Seela,
+full of fight, clutching his bow and arrows in one hand and his knife
+in the other. At that instant he tripped and fell sprawling on his face,
+while his weapons flew scattering away in every direction. The women
+with loud screams were hurrying with their children in their arms to
+place them out of danger, and I observed some hastening to prevent
+mischief, by carrying away all the weapons they could lay hands on. On
+a rising ground close to the camp stood a line of old women singing a
+medicine song to allay the tumult. As I approached the side of the brook
+I heard gun-shots behind me, and turning back, I saw that the crowd had
+separated into two lines of naked warriors confronting each other at a
+respectful distance, and yelling and jumping about to dodge the shot of
+their adversaries, while they discharged bullets and arrows against each
+other. At the same time certain sharp, humming sounds in the air over my
+head, like the flight of beetles on a summer evening, warned me that the
+danger was not wholly confined to the immediate scene of the fray. So
+wading through the brook, I joined Reynal and Raymond, and we sat
+down on the grass, in the posture of an armed neutrality, to watch the
+result.
+
+Happily it may be for ourselves, though quite contrary to our
+expectation, the disturbance was quelled almost as soon as it had
+commenced. When I looked again, the combatants were once more mingled
+together in a mass. Though yells sounded, occasionally from the throng,
+the firing had entirely ceased, and I observed five or six persons
+moving busily about, as if acting the part of peacemakers. One of the
+village heralds or criers proclaimed in a loud voice something which
+my two companions were too much engrossed in their own observations to
+translate for me. The crowd began to disperse, though many a deep-set
+black eye still glittered with an unnatural luster, as the warriors
+slowly withdrew to their lodges. This fortunate suppression of the
+disturbance was owing to a few of the old men, less pugnacious than
+Mene-Seela, who boldly ran in between the combatants and aided by
+some of the “soldiers,” or Indian police, succeeded in effecting their
+object.
+
+It seemed very strange to me that although many arrows and bullets were
+discharged, no one was mortally hurt, and I could only account for
+this by the fact that both the marksman and the object of his aim were
+leaping about incessantly during the whole time. By far the greater part
+of the villagers had joined in the fray, for although there were not
+more than a dozen guns in the whole camp, I heard at least eight or ten
+shots fired.
+
+In a quarter of an hour all was comparatively quiet. A large circle of
+warriors were again seated in the center of the village, but this time
+I did not venture to join them, because I could see that the pipe,
+contrary to the usual order, was passing from the left hand to the right
+around the circle, a sure sign that a “medicine-smoke” of reconciliation
+was going forward, and that a white man would be an unwelcome intruder.
+When I again entered the still agitated camp it was nearly dark, and
+mournful cries, howls and wailings resounded from many female voices.
+Whether these had any connection with the late disturbance, or were
+merely lamentations for relatives slain in some former war expeditions,
+I could not distinctly ascertain.
+
+To inquire too closely into the cause of the quarrel was by no means
+prudent, and it was not until some time after that I discovered what
+had given rise to it. Among the Dakota there are many associations, or
+fraternities, connected with the purposes of their superstitions,
+their warfare, or their social life. There was one called “The
+Arrow-Breakers,” now in a great measure disbanded and dispersed. In the
+village there were, however, four men belonging to it, distinguished by
+the peculiar arrangement of their hair, which rose in a high bristling
+mass above their foreheads, adding greatly to their apparent height, and
+giving them a most ferocious appearance. The principal among them was
+the Mad Wolf, a warrior of remarkable size and strength, great courage,
+and the fierceness of a demon. I had always looked upon him as the most
+dangerous man in the village; and though he often invited me to feasts,
+I never entered his lodge unarmed. The Mad Wolf had taken a fancy to a
+fine horse belonging to another Indian, who was called the Tall Bear;
+and anxious to get the animal into his possession, he made the owner a
+present of another horse nearly equal in value. According to the customs
+of the Dakota, the acceptance of this gift involved a sort of obligation
+to make an equitable return; and the Tall Bear well understood that
+the other had in view the obtaining of his favorite buffalo horse.
+He however accepted the present without a word of thanks, and having
+picketed the horse before his lodge, he suffered day after day to pass
+without making the expected return. The Mad Wolf grew impatient and
+angry; and at last, seeing that his bounty was not likely to produce the
+desired return, he resolved to reclaim it. So this evening, as soon as
+the village was encamped, he went to the lodge of the Tall Bear, seized
+upon the horse that he had given him, and led him away. At this the Tall
+Bear broke into one of those fits of sullen rage not uncommon among the
+Indians. He ran up to the unfortunate horse, and gave him three mortals
+stabs with his knife. Quick as lightning the Mad Wolf drew his bow to
+its utmost tension, and held the arrow quivering close to the breast
+of his adversary. The Tall Bear, as the Indians who were near him said,
+stood with his bloody knife in his hand, facing the assailant with the
+utmost calmness. Some of his friends and relatives, seeing his danger,
+ran hastily to his assistance. The remaining three Arrow-Breakers,
+on the other hand, came to the aid of their associate. Many of their
+friends joined them, the war-cry was raised on a sudden, and the tumult
+became general.
+
+The “soldiers,” who lent their timely aid in putting it down, are by
+far the most important executive functionaries in an Indian village.
+The office is one of considerable honor, being confided only to men of
+courage and repute. They derive their authority from the old men and
+chief warriors of the village, who elect them in councils occasionally
+convened for the purpose, and thus can exercise a degree of authority
+which no one else in the village would dare to assume. While very few
+Ogallalla chiefs could venture without instant jeopardy of their lives
+to strike or lay hands upon the meanest of their people, the “soldiers”
+ in the discharge of their appropriate functions, have full license to
+make use of these and similar acts of coercion.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+THE BLACK HILLS
+
+
+We traveled eastward for two days, and then the gloomy ridges of the
+Black Hills rose up before us. The village passed along for some miles
+beneath their declivities, trailing out to a great length over the arid
+prairie, or winding at times among small detached hills or distorted
+shapes. Turning sharply to the left, we entered a wide defile of the
+mountains, down the bottom of which a brook came winding, lined with
+tall grass and dense copses, amid which were hidden many beaver dams and
+lodges. We passed along between two lines of high precipices and rocks,
+piled in utter disorder one upon another, and with scarcely a tree, a
+bush, or a clump of grass to veil their nakedness. The restless Indian
+boys were wandering along their edges and clambering up and down their
+rugged sides, and sometimes a group of them would stand on the verge of
+a cliff and look down on the array as it passed in review beneath them.
+As we advanced, the passage grew more narrow; then it suddenly expanded
+into a round grassy meadow, completely encompassed by mountains; and
+here the families stopped as they came up in turn, and the camp rose
+like magic.
+
+The lodges were hardly erected when, with their usual precipitation, the
+Indians set about accomplishing the object that had brought them there;
+that is, the obtaining poles for supporting their new lodges. Half the
+population, men, women and boys, mounted their horses and set out for
+the interior of the mountains. As they rode at full gallop over the
+shingly rocks and into the dark opening of the defile beyond, I thought
+I had never read or dreamed of a more strange or picturesque cavalcade.
+We passed between precipices more than a thousand feet high, sharp
+and splintering at the tops, their sides beetling over the defile or
+descending in abrupt declivities, bristling with black fir trees. On our
+left they rose close to us like a wall, but on the right a winding brook
+with a narrow strip of marshy soil intervened. The stream was clogged
+with old beaver dams, and spread frequently into wide pools. There were
+thick bushes and many dead and blasted trees along its course, though
+frequently nothing remained but stumps cut close to the ground by
+the beaver, and marked with the sharp chisel-like teeth of those
+indefatigable laborers. Sometimes we were driving among trees, and then
+emerging upon open spots, over which, Indian-like, all galloped at
+full speed. As Pauline bounded over the rocks I felt her saddle-girth
+slipping, and alighted to draw it tighter; when the whole array swept
+past me in a moment, the women with their gaudy ornaments tinkling as
+they rode, the men whooping, and laughing, and lashing forward their
+horses. Two black-tailed deer bounded away among the rocks; Raymond shot
+at them from horseback; the sharp report of his rifle was answered by
+another equally sharp from the opposing cliffs, and then the echoes,
+leaping in rapid succession from side to side, died away rattling far
+amid the mountains.
+
+After having ridden in this manner for six or eight miles, the
+appearance of the scene began to change, and all the declivities around
+us were covered with forests of tall, slender pine trees. The Indians
+began to fall off to the right and left, and dispersed with their
+hatchets and knives among these woods, to cut the poles which they had
+come to seek. Soon I was left almost alone; but in the deep stillness of
+those lonely mountains, the stroke of hatchets and the sound of voices
+might be heard from far and near.
+
+Reynal, who imitated the Indians in their habits as well as the worst
+features of their character, had killed buffalo enough to make a
+lodge for himself and his squaw, and now he was eager to get the poles
+necessary to complete it. He asked me to let Raymond go with him and
+assist in the work. I assented, and the two men immediately entered the
+thickest part of the wood. Having left my horse in Raymond’s keeping,
+I began to climb the mountain. I was weak and weary and made slow
+progress, often pausing to rest, but after an hour had elapsed, I gained
+a height, whence the little valley out of which I had climbed seemed
+like a deep, dark gulf, though the inaccessible peak of the mountain was
+still towering to a much greater distance above. Objects familiar from
+childhood surrounded me; crags and rocks, a black and sullen brook that
+gurgled with a hollow voice deep among the crevices, a wood of mossy
+distorted trees and prostrate trunks flung down by age and storms,
+scattered among the rocks, or damming the foaming waters of the little
+brook. The objects were the same, yet they were thrown into a wilder and
+more startling scene, for the black crags and the savage trees assumed
+a grim and threatening aspect, and close across the valley the opposing
+mountain confronted me, rising from the gulf for thousands of feet, with
+its bare pinnacles and its ragged covering of pines. Yet the scene was
+not without its milder features. As I ascended, I found frequent little
+grassy terraces, and there was one of these close at hand, across which
+the brook was stealing, beneath the shade of scattered trees that seemed
+artificially planted. Here I made a welcome discovery, no other than a
+bed of strawberries, with their white flowers and their red fruit, close
+nestled among the grass by the side of the brook, and I sat down by
+them, hailing them as old acquaintances; for among those lonely and
+perilous mountains they awakened delicious associations of the gardens
+and peaceful homes of far-distant New England.
+
+Yet wild as they were, these mountains were thickly peopled. As I
+climbed farther, I found the broad dusty paths made by the elk, as
+they filed across the mountainside. The grass on all the terraces was
+trampled down by deer; there were numerous tracks of wolves, and in
+some of the rougher and more precipitous parts of the ascent, I found
+foot-prints different from any that I had ever seen, and which I took to
+be those of the Rocky Mountain sheep. I sat down upon a rock; there was
+a perfect stillness. No wind was stirring, and not even an insect could
+be heard. I recollected the danger of becoming lost in such a place,
+and therefore I fixed my eye upon one of the tallest pinnacles of the
+opposite mountain. It rose sheer upright from the woods below, and by an
+extraordinary freak of nature sustained aloft on its very summit a large
+loose rock. Such a landmark could never be mistaken, and feeling once
+more secure, I began again to move forward. A white wolf jumped up
+from among some bushes, and leaped clumsily away; but he stopped for a
+moment, and turned back his keen eye and his grim bristling muzzle. I
+longed to take his scalp and carry it back with me, as an appropriate
+trophy of the Black Hills, but before I could fire, he was gone among
+the rocks. Soon I heard a rustling sound, with a cracking of twigs at
+a little distance, and saw moving above the tall bushes the branching
+antlers of an elk. I was in the midst of a hunter’s paradise.
+
+Such are the Black Hills, as I found them in July; but they wear a
+different garb when winter sets in, when the broad boughs of the fir
+tree are bent to the ground by the load of snow, and the dark mountains
+are whitened with it. At that season the mountain-trappers, returned
+from their autumn expeditions, often build their rude cabins in the
+midst of these solitudes, and live in abundance and luxury on the game
+that harbors there. I have heard them relate, how with their tawny
+mistresses, and perhaps a few young Indian companions, they have spent
+months in total seclusion. They would dig pitfalls, and set traps for
+the white wolves, the sables, and the martens, and though through the
+whole night the awful chorus of the wolves would resound from the frozen
+mountains around them, yet within their massive walls of logs they would
+lie in careless ease and comfort before the blazing fire, and in the
+morning shoot the elk and the deer from their very door.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+A MOUNTAIN HUNT
+
+
+The camp was full of the newly-cut lodge-poles; some, already prepared,
+were stacked together, white and glistening, to dry and harden in the
+sun; others were lying on the ground, and the squaws, the boys, and even
+some of the warriors were busily at work peeling off the bark and paring
+them with their knives to the proper dimensions. Most of the hides
+obtained at the last camp were dressed and scraped thin enough for use,
+and many of the squaws were engaged in fitting them together and
+sewing them with sinews, to form the coverings for the lodges. Men were
+wandering among the bushes that lined the brook along the margin of the
+camp, cutting sticks of red willow, or shongsasha, the bark of which,
+mixed with tobacco, they use for smoking. Reynal’s squaw was hard
+at work with her awl and buffalo sinews upon her lodge, while her
+proprietor, having just finished an enormous breakfast of meat, was
+smoking a social pipe along with Raymond and myself. He proposed at
+length that we should go out on a hunt. “Go to the Big Crow’s lodge,”
+ said he, “and get your rifle. I’ll bet the gray Wyandotte pony against
+your mare that we start an elk or a black-tailed deer, or likely as not,
+a bighorn, before we are two miles out of camp. I’ll take my squaw’s old
+yellow horse; you can’t whip her more than four miles an hour, but she
+is as good for the mountains as a mule.”
+
+I mounted the black mule which Raymond usually rode. She was a very fine
+and powerful animal, gentle and manageable enough by nature; but of
+late her temper had been soured by misfortune. About a week before I
+had chanced to offend some one of the Indians, who out of revenge went
+secretly into the meadow and gave her a severe stab in the haunch
+with his knife. The wound, though partially healed, still galled her
+extremely, and made her even more perverse and obstinate than the rest
+of her species.
+
+The morning was a glorious one, and I was in better health than I had
+been at any time for the last two months. Though a strong frame and well
+compacted sinews had borne me through hitherto, it was long since I had
+been in a condition to feel the exhilaration of the fresh mountain wind
+and the gay sunshine that brightened the crags and trees. We left the
+little valley and ascended a rocky hollow in the mountain. Very soon we
+were out of sight of the camp, and of every living thing, man, beast,
+bird, or insect. I had never before, except on foot, passed over such
+execrable ground, and I desire never to repeat the experiment. The black
+mule grew indignant, and even the redoubtable yellow horse stumbled
+every moment, and kept groaning to himself as he cut his feet and legs
+among the sharp rocks.
+
+It was a scene of silence and desolation. Little was visible except
+beetling crags and the bare shingly sides of the mountains, relieved
+by scarcely a trace of vegetation. At length, however, we came upon
+a forest tract, and had no sooner done so than we heartily wished
+ourselves back among the rocks again; for we were on a steep descent,
+among trees so thick that we could see scarcely a rod in any direction.
+
+If one is anxious to place himself in a situation where the hazardous
+and the ludicrous are combined in about equal proportions, let him get
+upon a vicious mule, with a snaffle bit, and try to drive her through
+the woods down a slope of 45 degrees. Let him have on a long rifle, a
+buckskin frock with long fringes, and a head of long hair. These latter
+appendages will be caught every moment and twitched away in small
+portions by the twigs, which will also whip him smartly across the face,
+while the large branches above thump him on the head. His mule, if she
+be a true one, will alternately stop short and dive violently forward,
+and his position upon her back will be somewhat diversified and
+extraordinary. At one time he will clasp her affectionately, to avoid
+the blow of a bough overhead; at another, he will throw himself back
+and fling his knee forward against the side of her neck, to keep it
+from being crushed between the rough bark of a tree and the equally
+unyielding ribs of the animal herself. Reynal was cursing incessantly
+during the whole way down. Neither of us had the remotest idea where we
+were going; and though I have seen rough riding, I shall always retain
+an evil recollection of that five minutes’ scramble.
+
+At last we left our troubles behind us, emerging into the channel of
+a brook that circled along the foot of the descent; and here, turning
+joyfully to the left, we rode in luxury and ease over the white pebbles
+and the rippling water, shaded from the glaring sun by an overarching
+green transparency. These halcyon moments were of short duration. The
+friendly brook, turning sharply to one side, went brawling and foaming
+down the rocky hill into an abyss, which, as far as we could discern,
+had no bottom; so once more we betook ourselves to the detested woods.
+When next we came forth from their dancing shadow and sunlight, we found
+ourselves standing in the broad glare of day, on a high jutting point of
+the mountain. Before us stretched a long, wide, desert valley, winding
+away far amid the mountains. No civilized eye but mine had ever looked
+upon that virgin waste. Reynal was gazing intently; he began to speak at
+last:
+
+“Many a time, when I was with the Indians, I have been hunting for
+gold all through the Black Hills. There’s plenty of it here; you may
+be certain of that. I have dreamed about it fifty times, and I never
+dreamed yet but what it came true. Look over yonder at those black rocks
+piled up against that other big rock. Don’t it look as if there might
+be something there? It won’t do for a white man to be rummaging too much
+about these mountains; the Indians say they are full of bad spirits; and
+I believe myself that it’s no good luck to be hunting about here after
+gold. Well, for all that, I would like to have one of these fellows up
+here, from down below, to go about with his witch-hazel rod, and I’ll
+guarantee that it would not be long before he would light on a gold
+mine. Never mind; we’ll let the gold alone for to-day. Look at those
+trees down below us in the hollow; we’ll go down there, and I reckon
+we’ll get a black-tailed deer.”
+
+But Reynal’s predictions were not verified. We passed mountain after
+mountain, and valley after valley; we explored deep ravines; yet still
+to my companion’s vexation and evident surprise, no game could be found.
+So, in the absence of better, we resolved to go out on the plains and
+look for an antelope. With this view we began to pass down a narrow
+valley, the bottom of which was covered with the stiff wild-sage
+bushes and marked with deep paths, made by the buffalo, who, for some
+inexplicable reason, are accustomed to penetrate, in their long grave
+processions, deep among the gorges of these sterile mountains.
+
+Reynal’s eye was ranging incessantly among the rocks and along the edges
+of the black precipices, in hopes of discovering the mountain sheep
+peering down upon us in fancied security from that giddy elevation.
+Nothing was visible for some time. At length we both detected something
+in motion near the foot of one of the mountains, and in a moment
+afterward a black-tailed deer, with his spreading antlers, stood gazing
+at us from the top of a rock, and then, slowly turning away, disappeared
+behind it. In an instant Reynal was out of his saddle, and running
+toward the spot. I, being too weak to follow, sat holding his horse and
+waiting the result. I lost sight of him, then heard the report of his
+rifle, deadened among the rocks, and finally saw him reappear, with a
+surly look that plainly betrayed his ill success. Again we moved forward
+down the long valley, when soon after we came full upon what seemed a
+wide and very shallow ditch, incrusted at the bottom with white clay,
+dried and cracked in the sun. Under this fair outside, Reynal’s eye
+detected the signs of lurking mischief. He called me to stop, and then
+alighting, picked up a stone and threw it into the ditch. To my utter
+amazement it fell with a dull splash, breaking at once through the thin
+crust, and spattering round the hole a yellowish creamy fluid, into
+which it sank and disappeared. A stick, five or six feet long lay on the
+ground, and with this we sounded the insidious abyss close to its edge.
+It was just possible to touch the bottom. Places like this are numerous
+among the Rocky Mountains. The buffalo, in his blind and heedless walk,
+often plunges into them unawares. Down he sinks; one snort of terror,
+one convulsive struggle, and the slime calmly flows above his shaggy
+head, the languid undulations of its sleek and placid surface alone
+betraying how the powerful monster writhes in his death-throes below.
+
+We found after some trouble a point where we could pass the abyss, and
+now the valley began to open upon the plains which spread to the horizon
+before us. On one of their distant swells we discerned three or four
+black specks, which Reynal pronounced to be buffalo.
+
+“Come,” said he, “we must get one of them. My squaw wants more sinews to
+finish her lodge with, and I want some glue myself.”
+
+He immediately put the yellow horse at such a gallop as he was capable
+of executing, while I set spurs to the mule, who soon far outran her
+plebeian rival. When we had galloped a mile or more, a large rabbit,
+by ill luck, sprang up just under the feet of the mule, who bounded
+violently aside in full career. Weakened as I was, I was flung forcibly
+to the ground, and my rifle, falling close to my head, went off with a
+shock. Its sharp spiteful report rang for some moments in my ear. Being
+slightly stunned, I lay for an instant motionless, and Reynal, supposing
+me to be shot, rode up and began to curse the mule. Soon recovering
+myself, I rose, picked up the rifle and anxiously examined it. It was
+badly injured. The stock was cracked, and the main screw broken, so that
+the lock had to be tied in its place with a string; yet happily it was
+not rendered totally unserviceable. I wiped it out, reloaded it, and
+handing it to Reynal, who meanwhile had caught the mule and led her up
+to me, I mounted again. No sooner had I done so, than the brute began to
+rear and plunge with extreme violence; but being now well prepared for
+her, and free from incumbrance, I soon reduced her to submission. Then
+taking the rifle again from Reynal, we galloped forward as before.
+
+We were now free of the mountain and riding far out on the broad
+prairie. The buffalo were still some two miles in advance of us. When we
+came near them, we stopped where a gentle swell of the plain concealed
+us from their view, and while I held his horse Reynal ran forward with
+his rifle, till I lost sight of him beyond the rising ground. A few
+minutes elapsed; I heard the report of his piece, and saw the buffalo
+running away at full speed on the right, and immediately after, the
+hunter himself unsuccessful as before, came up and mounted his horse in
+excessive ill-humor. He cursed the Black Hills and the buffalo, swore
+that he was a good hunter, which indeed was true, and that he had never
+been out before among those mountains without killing two or three deer
+at least.
+
+We now turned toward the distant encampment. As we rode along, antelope
+in considerable numbers were flying lightly in all directions over the
+plain, but not one of them would stand and be shot at. When we reached
+the foot of the mountain ridge that lay between us and the village, we
+were too impatient to take the smooth and circuitous route; so turning
+short to the left, we drove our wearied animals directly upward among
+the rocks. Still more antelope were leaping about among these flinty
+hillsides. Each of us shot at one, though from a great distance, and
+each missed his mark. At length we reached the summit of the last ridge.
+Looking down, we saw the bustling camp in the valley at our feet, and
+ingloriously descended to it. As we rode among the lodges, the Indians
+looked in vain for the fresh meat that should have hung behind our
+saddles, and the squaws uttered various suppressed ejaculations, to the
+great indignation of Reynal. Our mortification was increased when
+we rode up to his lodge. Here we saw his young Indian relative, the
+Hail-Storm, his light graceful figure on the ground in an easy attitude,
+while with his friend the Rabbit, who sat by his side, he was making an
+abundant meal from a wooden bowl of wasna, which the squaw had placed
+between them. Near him lay the fresh skin of a female elk, which he had
+just killed among the mountains, only a mile or two from the camp. No
+doubt the boy’s heart was elated with triumph, but he betrayed no sign
+of it. He even seemed totally unconscious of our approach, and his
+handsome face had all the tranquillity of Indian self-control;
+a self-control which prevents the exhibition of emotion, without
+restraining the emotion itself. It was about two months since I had
+known the Hail-Storm, and within that time his character had remarkably
+developed. When I first saw him, he was just emerging from the habits
+and feelings of the boy into the ambition of the hunter and warrior. He
+had lately killed his first deer, and this had excited his aspirations
+after distinction. Since that time he had been continually in search
+of game, and no young hunter in the village had been so active or
+so fortunate as he. It will perhaps be remembered how fearlessly he
+attacked the buffalo bull, as we were moving toward our camp at the
+Medicine-Bow Mountain. All this success had produced a marked change in
+his character. As I first remembered him he always shunned the society
+of the young squaws, and was extremely bashful and sheepish in their
+presence; but now, in the confidence of his own reputation, he began
+to assume the airs and the arts of a man of gallantry. He wore his red
+blanket dashingly over his left shoulder, painted his cheeks every day
+with vermilion, and hung pendants of shells in his ears. If I observed
+aright, he met with very good success in his new pursuits; still the
+Hail-Storm had much to accomplish before he attained the full standing
+of a warrior. Gallantly as he began to bear himself among the women and
+girls, he still was timid and abashed in the presence of the chiefs and
+old men; for he had never yet killed a man, or stricken the dead body of
+an enemy in battle. I have no doubt that the handsome smooth-faced boy
+burned with keen desire to flash his maiden scalping-knife, and I would
+not have encamped alone with him without watching his movements with a
+distrustful eye.
+
+His elder brother, the Horse, was of a different character. He was
+nothing but a lazy dandy. He knew very well how to hunt, but preferred
+to live by the hunting of others. He had no appetite for distinction,
+and the Hail-Storm, though a few years younger than he, already
+surpassed him in reputation. He had a dark and ugly face, and he
+passed a great part of his time in adorning it with vermilion, and
+contemplating it by means of a little pocket looking-glass which I
+gave him. As for the rest of the day, he divided it between eating and
+sleeping, and sitting in the sun on the outside of a lodge. Here he
+would remain for hour after hour, arrayed in all his finery, with an old
+dragoon’s sword in his hand, and evidently flattering himself that he
+was the center of attraction to the eyes of the surrounding squaws. Yet
+he sat looking straight forward with a face of the utmost gravity, as
+if wrapped in profound meditation, and it was only by the occasional
+sidelong glances which he shot at his supposed admirers that one could
+detect the true course of his thoughts.
+
+Both he and his brother may represent a class in the Indian community;
+neither should the Hail-Storm’s friend, the Rabbit, be passed by without
+notice. The Hail-Storm and he were inseparable; they ate, slept, and
+hunted together, and shared with one another almost all that they
+possessed. If there be anything that deserves to be called romantic
+in the Indian character, it is to be sought for in friendships such as
+this, which are quite common among many of the prairie tribes.
+
+Slowly, hour after hour, that weary afternoon dragged away. I lay in
+Reynal’s lodge, overcome by the listless torpor that pervaded the
+whole encampment. The day’s work was finished, or if it were not, the
+inhabitants had resolved not to finish it at all, and all were dozing
+quietly within the shelter of the lodges. A profound lethargy, the very
+spirit of indolence, seemed to have sunk upon the village. Now and then
+I could hear the low laughter of some girl from within a neighboring
+lodge, or the small shrill voices of a few restless children, who alone
+were moving in the deserted area. The spirit of the place infected me;
+I could not even think consecutively; I was fit only for musing and
+reverie, when at last, like the rest, I fell asleep.
+
+When evening came and the fires were lighted round the lodges, a select
+family circle convened in the neighborhood of Reynal’s domicile. It was
+composed entirely of his squaw’s relatives, a mean and ignoble clan,
+among whom none but the Hail-Storm held forth any promise of future
+distinction. Even his protests were rendered not a little dubious by the
+character of the family, less however from any principle of aristocratic
+distinction than from the want of powerful supporters to assist him in
+his undertakings, and help to avenge his quarrels. Raymond and I sat
+down along with them. There were eight or ten men gathered around the
+fire, together with about as many women, old and young, some of whom
+were tolerably good-looking. As the pipe passed round among the men,
+a lively conversation went forward, more merry than delicate, and at
+length two or three of the elder women (for the girls were somewhat
+diffident and bashful) began to assail Raymond with various pungent
+witticisms. Some of the men took part and an old squaw concluded
+by bestowing on him a ludicrous nick name, at which a general laugh
+followed at his expense. Raymond grinned and giggled, and made several
+futile attempts at repartee. Knowing the impolicy and even danger of
+suffering myself to be placed in a ludicrous light among the Indians,
+I maintained a rigid inflexible countenance, and wholly escaped their
+sallies.
+
+In the morning I found, to my great disgust, that the camp was to retain
+its position for another day. I dreaded its languor and monotony, and
+to escape it, I set out to explore the surrounding mountains. I was
+accompanied by a faithful friend, my rifle, the only friend indeed on
+whose prompt assistance in time of trouble I could implicitly rely. Most
+of the Indians in the village, it is true, professed good-will toward
+the whites, but the experience of others and my own observation had
+taught me the extreme folly of confidence, and the utter impossibility
+of foreseeing to what sudden acts the strange unbridled impulses of an
+Indian may urge him. When among this people danger is never so near as
+when you are unprepared for it, never so remote as when you are armed
+and on the alert to meet it any moment. Nothing offers so strong a
+temptation to their ferocious instincts as the appearance of timidity,
+weakness, or security.
+
+Many deep and gloomy gorges, choked with trees and bushes, opened from
+the sides of the hills, which were shaggy with forests wherever the
+rocks permitted vegetation to spring. A great number of Indians were
+stalking along the edges of the woods, and boys were whooping and
+laughing on the mountain-sides, practicing eye and hand, and indulging
+their destructive propensities by following birds and small animals
+and killing them with their little bows and arrows. There was one glen,
+stretching up between steep cliffs far into the bosom of the mountain. I
+began to ascend along its bottom, pushing my way onward among the rocks,
+trees, and bushes that obstructed it. A slender thread of water trickled
+along its center, which since issuing from the heart of its native rock
+could scarcely have been warmed or gladdened by a ray of sunshine. After
+advancing for some time, I conceived myself to be entirely alone;
+but coming to a part of the glen in a great measure free of trees and
+undergrowth, I saw at some distance the black head and red shoulders of
+an Indian among the bushes above. The reader need not prepare himself
+for a startling adventure, for I have none to relate. The head and
+shoulders belonged to Mene-Seela, my best friend in the village. As
+I had approached noiselessly with my moccasined feet, the old man was
+quite unconscious of my presence; and turning to a point where I could
+gain an unobstructed view of him, I saw him seated alone, immovable as
+a statue, among the rocks and trees. His face was turned upward, and
+his eyes seemed riveted on a pine tree springing from a cleft in the
+precipice above. The crest of the pine was swaying to and fro in the
+wind, and its long limbs waved slowly up and down, as if the tree had
+life. Looking for a while at the old man, I was satisfied that he was
+engaged in an act of worship or prayer, or communion of some kind with
+a supernatural being. I longed to penetrate his thoughts, but I could
+do nothing more than conjecture and speculate. I knew that though the
+intellect of an Indian can embrace the idea of an all-wise, all-powerful
+Spirit, the supreme Ruler of the universe, yet his mind will not always
+ascend into communion with a being that seems to him so vast, remote,
+and incomprehensible; and when danger threatens, when his hopes are
+broken, when the black wing of sorrow overshadows him, he is prone to
+turn for relief to some inferior agency, less removed from the ordinary
+scope of his faculties. He has a guardian spirit, on whom he relies
+for succor and guidance. To him all nature is instinct with mystic
+influence. Among those mountains not a wild beast was prowling, a bird
+singing, or a leaf fluttering, that might not tend to direct his destiny
+or give warning of what was in store for him; and he watches the world
+of nature around him as the astrologer watches the stars. So closely is
+he linked with it that his guardian spirit, no unsubstantial creation of
+the fancy, is usually embodied in the form of some living thing--a bear,
+a wolf, an eagle, or a serpent; and Mene-Seela, as he gazed intently on
+the old pine tree, might believe it to inshrine the fancied guide and
+protector of his life.
+
+Whatever was passing in the mind of the old man, it was no part of
+sense or of delicacy to disturb him. Silently retracing my footsteps, I
+descended the glen until I came to a point where I could climb the steep
+precipices that shut it in, and gain the side of the mountain. Looking
+up, I saw a tall peak rising among the woods. Something impelled me to
+climb; I had not felt for many a day such strength and elasticity of
+limb. An hour and a half of slow and often intermittent labor brought me
+to the very summit; and emerging from the dark shadows of the rocks and
+pines, I stepped forth into the light, and walking along the sunny verge
+of a precipice, seated myself on its extreme point. Looking between the
+mountain peaks to the westward, the pale blue prairie was stretching to
+the farthest horizon like a serene and tranquil ocean. The surrounding
+mountains were in themselves sufficiently striking and impressive, but
+this contrast gave redoubled effect to their stern features.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+PASSAGE OF THE MOUNTAINS
+
+
+When I took leave of Shaw at La Bonte’s Camp, I promised that I would
+meet him at Fort Laramie on the 1st of August. That day, according to my
+reckoning, was now close at hand. It was impossible, at best, to fulfill
+my engagement exactly, and my meeting with him must have been postponed
+until many days after the appointed time, had not the plans of the
+Indians very well coincided with my own. They too, intended to pass
+the mountains and move toward the fort. To do so at this point was
+impossible, because there was no opening; and in order to find a passage
+we were obliged to go twelve or fourteen miles southward. Late in the
+afternoon the camp got in motion, defiling back through the mountains
+along the same narrow passage by which they had entered. I rode in
+company with three or four young Indians at the rear, and the moving
+swarm stretched before me, in the ruddy light of sunset, or in the deep
+shadow of the mountains far beyond my sight. It was an ill-omened spot
+they chose to encamp upon. When they were there just a year before, a
+war party of ten men, led by The Whirlwind’s son, had gone out against
+the enemy, and not one had ever returned. This was the immediate cause
+of this season’s warlike preparations. I was not a little astonished
+when I came to the camp, at the confusion of horrible sounds with which
+it was filled; howls, shrieks, and wailings were heard from all the
+women present, many of whom not content with this exhibition of grief
+for the loss of their friends and relatives, were gashing their legs
+deeply with knives. A warrior in the village, who had lost a brother
+in the expedition; chose another mode of displaying his sorrow. The
+Indians, who, though often rapacious, are utterly devoid of avarice, are
+accustomed in times of mourning, or on other solemn occasions, to give
+away the whole of their possessions, and reduce themselves to nakedness
+and want. The warrior in question led his two best horses into the
+center of the village, and gave them away to his friends; upon which
+songs and acclamations in praise of his generosity mingled with the
+cries of the women.
+
+On the next morning we entered once more among the mountains. There was
+nothing in their appearance either grand or picturesque, though they
+were desolate to the last degree, being mere piles of black and broken
+rocks, without trees or vegetation of any kind. As we passed among them
+along a wide valley, I noticed Raymond riding by the side of a younger
+squaw, to whom he was addressing various insinuating compliments. All
+the old squaws in the neighborhood watched his proceedings in great
+admiration, and the girl herself would turn aside her head and laugh.
+Just then the old mule thought proper to display her vicious pranks; she
+began to rear and plunge most furiously. Raymond was an excellent rider,
+and at first he stuck fast in his seat; but the moment after, I saw
+the mule’s hind-legs flourishing in the air, and my unlucky follower
+pitching head foremost over her ears. There was a burst of screams and
+laughter from all the women, in which his mistress herself took part,
+and Raymond was instantly assailed by such a shower of witticisms, that
+he was glad to ride forward out of hearing.
+
+Not long after, as I rode near him, I heard him shouting to me. He was
+pointing toward a detached rocky hill that stood in the middle of the
+valley before us, and from behind it a long file of elk came out at
+full speed and entered an opening in the side of the mountain. They had
+scarcely disappeared when whoops and exclamations came from fifty voices
+around me. The young men leaped from their horses, flung down their
+heavy buffalo robes, and ran at full speed toward the foot of the
+nearest mountain. Reynal also broke away at a gallop in the same
+direction, “Come on! come on!” he called to us. “Do you see that band of
+bighorn up yonder? If there’s one of them, there’s a hundred!”
+
+In fact, near the summit of the mountain, I could see a large number of
+small white objects, moving rapidly upward among the precipices, while
+others were filing along its rocky profile. Anxious to see the sport,
+I galloped forward, and entering a passage in the side of the mountain,
+ascended the loose rocks as far as my horse could carry me. Here I
+fastened her to an old pine tree that stood alone, scorching in the sun.
+At that moment Raymond called to me from the right that another band of
+sheep was close at hand in that direction. I ran up to the top of the
+opening, which gave me a full view into the rocky gorge beyond; and
+here I plainly saw some fifty or sixty sheep, almost within rifle-shot,
+clattering upward among the rocks, and endeavoring, after their usual
+custom, to reach the highest point. The naked Indians bounded up lightly
+in pursuit. In a moment the game and hunters disappeared. Nothing could
+be seen or heard but the occasional report of a gun, more and more
+distant, reverberating among the rocks.
+
+I turned to descend, and as I did so I could see the valley below alive
+with Indians passing rapidly through it, on horseback and on foot.
+A little farther on, all were stopping as they came up; the camp was
+preparing, and the lodges rising. I descended to this spot, and soon
+after Reynal and Raymond returned. They bore between them a sheep which
+they had pelted to death with stones from the edge of a ravine, along
+the bottom of which it was attempting to escape. One by one the hunters
+came dropping in; yet such is the activity of the Rocky Mountain sheep
+that, although sixty or seventy men were out in pursuit, not more than
+half a dozen animals were killed. Of these only one was a full-grown
+male. He had a pair of horns twisted like a ram’s, the dimensions of
+which were almost beyond belief. I have seen among the Indians ladles
+with long handles, capable of containing more than a quart, cut from
+such horns.
+
+There is something peculiarly interesting in the character and habits
+of the mountain sheep, whose chosen retreats are above the region of
+vegetation and storms, and who leap among the giddy precipices of their
+aerial home as actively as the antelope skims over the prairies below.
+
+Through the whole of the next morning we were moving forward, among
+the hills. On the following day the heights gathered around us, and the
+passage of the mountains began in earnest. Before the village left its
+camping ground, I set forward in company with the Eagle-Feather, a man
+of powerful frame, but of bad and sinister face. His son, a light-limbed
+boy, rode with us, and another Indian, named the Panther, was also of
+the party. Leaving the village out of sight behind us, we rode together
+up a rocky defile. After a while, however, the Eagle-Feather discovered
+in the distance some appearance of game, and set off with his son in
+pursuit of it, while I went forward with the Panther. This was a mere
+NOM DE GUERRE; for, like many Indians, he concealed his real name out
+of some superstitious notion. He was a very noble looking fellow. As he
+suffered his ornamented buffalo robe to fall into folds about his loins,
+his stately and graceful figure was fully displayed; and while he sat
+his horse in an easy attitude, the long feathers of the prairie cock
+fluttering from the crown of his head, he seemed the very model of
+a wild prairie-rider. He had not the same features as those of other
+Indians. Unless his handsome face greatly belied him, he was free from
+the jealousy, suspicion, and malignant cunning of his people. For the
+most part, a civilized white man can discover but very few points
+of sympathy between his own nature and that of an Indian. With every
+disposition to do justice to their good qualities, he must be conscious
+that an impassable gulf lies between him and his red brethren of the
+prairie. Nay, so alien to himself do they appear that, having breathed
+for a few months or a few weeks the air of this region, he begins to
+look upon them as a troublesome and dangerous species of wild beast,
+and, if expedient, he could shoot them with as little compunction as
+they themselves would experience after performing the same office upon
+him. Yet, in the countenance of the Panther, I gladly read that there
+were at least some points of sympathy between him and me. We were
+excellent friends, and as we rode forward together through rocky
+passages, deep dells, and little barren plains, he occupied himself very
+zealously in teaching me the Dakota language. After a while, we came to
+a little grassy recess, where some gooseberry bushes were growing at the
+foot of a rock; and these offered such temptation to my companion, that
+he gave over his instruction, and stopped so long to gather the fruit
+that before we were in motion again the van of the village came in
+view. An old woman appeared, leading down her pack horse among the
+rocks above. Savage after savage followed, and the little dell was soon
+crowded with the throng.
+
+That morning’s march was one not easily to be forgotten. It led us
+through a sublime waste, a wilderness of mountains and pine forests,
+over which the spirit of loneliness and silence seemed brooding. Above
+and below little could be seen but the same dark green foliage. It
+overspread the valleys, and the mountains were clothed with it from the
+black rocks that crowned their summits to the impetuous streams that
+circled round their base. Scenery like this, it might seem, could have
+no very cheering effect on the mind of a sick man (for to-day my disease
+had again assailed me) in the midst of a horde of savages; but if the
+reader has ever wandered, with a true hunter’s spirit, among the forests
+of Maine, or the more picturesque solitudes of the Adirondack Mountains,
+he will understand how the somber woods and mountains around me might
+have awakened any other feelings than those of gloom. In truth they
+recalled gladdening recollections of similar scenes in a distant and far
+different land. After we had been advancing for several hours through
+passages always narrow, often obstructed and difficult, I saw at a
+little distance on our right a narrow opening between two high wooded
+precipices. All within seemed darkness and mystery. In the mood in which
+I found myself something strongly impelled me to enter. Passing over the
+intervening space I guided my horse through the rocky portal, and as
+I did so instinctively drew the covering from my rifle, half expecting
+that some unknown evil lay in ambush within those dreary recesses. The
+place was shut in among tall cliffs, and so deeply shadowed by a host
+of old pine trees that, though the sun shone bright on the side of the
+mountain, nothing but a dim twilight could penetrate within. As far as
+I could see it had no tenants except a few hawks and owls, who, dismayed
+at my intrusion, flapped hoarsely away among the shaggy branches. I
+moved forward, determined to explore the mystery to the bottom, and soon
+became involved among the pines. The genius of the place exercised
+a strange influence upon my mind. Its faculties were stimulated into
+extraordinary activity, and as I passed along many half-forgotten
+incidents, and the images of persons and things far distant, rose
+rapidly before me with surprising distinctness. In that perilous
+wilderness, eight hundred miles removed beyond the faintest vestige
+of civilization, the scenes of another hemisphere, the seat of ancient
+refinement, passed before me more like a succession of vivid paintings
+than any mere dreams of the fancy. I saw the church of St. Peter’s
+illumined on the evening of Easter Day, the whole majestic pile, from
+the cross to the foundation stone, penciled in fire and shedding a
+radiance, like the serene light of the moon, on the sea of upturned
+faces below. I saw the peak of Mount Etna towering above its inky mantle
+of clouds and lightly curling its wreaths of milk-white smoke against
+the soft sky flushed with the Sicilian sunset. I saw also the gloomy
+vaulted passages and the narrow cells of the Passionist convent where
+I once had sojourned for a few days with the fanatical monks, its pale,
+stern inmates in their robes of black, and the grated window from whence
+I could look out, a forbidden indulgence, upon the melancholy Coliseum
+and the crumbling ruins of the Eternal City. The mighty glaciers of the
+Splugen too rose before me, gleaming in the sun like polished silver,
+and those terrible solitudes, the birthplace of the Rhine, where
+bursting from the bowels of its native mountains, it lashes and
+foams down the rocky abyss into the little valley of Andeer. These
+recollections, and many more, crowded upon me, until remembering that
+it was hardly wise to remain long in such a place, I mounted again
+and retraced my steps. Issuing from between the rocks I saw a few rods
+before me the men, women, and children, dogs and horses, still filing
+slowly across the little glen. A bare round hill rose directly above
+them. I rode to the top, and from this point I could look down on the
+savage procession as it passed just beneath my feet, and far on the
+left I could see its thin and broken line, visible only at intervals,
+stretching away for miles among the mountains. On the farthest ridge
+horsemen were still descending like mere specks in the distance.
+
+I remained on the hill until all had passed, and then, descending,
+followed after them. A little farther on I found a very small meadow,
+set deeply among steep mountains; and here the whole village had
+encamped. The little spot was crowded with the confused and disorderly
+host. Some of the lodges were already completely prepared, or the squaws
+perhaps were busy in drawing the heavy coverings of skin over the bare
+poles. Others were as yet mere skeletons, while others still--poles,
+covering, and all--lay scattered in complete disorder on the ground
+among buffalo robes, bales of meat, domestic utensils, harness, and
+weapons. Squaws were screaming to one another, horses rearing and
+plunging dogs yelping, eager to be disburdened of their loads, while
+the fluttering of feathers and the gleam of barbaric ornaments added
+liveliness to the scene. The small children ran about amid the crowd,
+while many of the boys were scrambling among the overhanging rocks, and
+standing, with their little bows in their hands, looking down upon a
+restless throng. In contrast with the general confusion, a circle of old
+men and warriors sat in the midst, smoking in profound indifference and
+tranquillity. The disorder at length subsided. The horses were driven
+away to feed along the adjacent valley, and the camp assumed an air of
+listless repose. It was scarcely past noon; a vast white canopy of smoke
+from a burning forest to the eastward overhung the place, and partially
+obscured the sun; yet the heat was almost insupportable. The lodges
+stood crowded together without order in the narrow space. Each was a
+perfect hothouse, within which the lazy proprietor lay sleeping. The
+camp was silent as death. Nothing stirred except now and then an old
+woman passing from lodge to lodge. The girls and young men sat together
+in groups under the pine trees upon the surrounding heights. The dogs
+lay panting on the ground, too lazy even to growl at the white man.
+At the entrance of the meadow there was a cold spring among the rocks,
+completely overshadowed by tall trees and dense undergrowth. In this
+cold and shady retreat a number of girls were assembled, sitting
+together on rocks and fallen logs, discussing the latest gossip of
+the village, or laughing and throwing water with their hands at the
+intruding Meneaska. The minutes seemed lengthened into hours. I lay
+for a long time under a tree, studying the Ogallalla tongue, with the
+zealous instructions of my friend the Panther. When we were both tired
+of this I went and lay down by the side of a deep, clear pool formed
+by the water of the spring. A shoal of little fishes of about a pin’s
+length were playing in it, sporting together, as it seemed, very
+amicably; but on closer observation, I saw that they were engaged in a
+cannibal warfare among themselves. Now and then a small one would fall
+a victim, and immediately disappear down the maw of his voracious
+conqueror. Every moment, however, the tyrant of the pool, a monster
+about three inches long, with staring goggle eyes, would slowly issue
+forth with quivering fins and tail from under the shelving bank. The
+small fry at this would suspend their hostilities, and scatter in a
+panic at the appearance of overwhelming force.
+
+“Soft-hearted philanthropists,” thought I, “may sigh long for their
+peaceful millennium; for from minnows up to men, life is an incessant
+battle.”
+
+Evening approached at last, the tall mountain-tops around were still gay
+and bright in sunshine, while our deep glen was completely shadowed.
+I left the camp and ascended a neighboring hill, whose rocky summit
+commanded a wide view over the surrounding wilderness. The sun was still
+glaring through the stiff pines on the ridge of the western mountain.
+In a moment he was gone, and as the landscape rapidly darkened, I turned
+again toward the village. As I descended the hill, the howling of wolves
+and the barking of foxes came up out of the dim woods from far and near.
+The camp was glowing with a multitude of fires, and alive with dusky
+naked figures, whose tall shadows flitted among the surroundings crags.
+
+I found a circle of smokers seated in their usual place; that is, on the
+ground before the lodge of a certain warrior, who seemed to be generally
+known for his social qualities. I sat down to smoke a parting pipe
+with my savage friends. That day was the 1st of August, on which I had
+promised to meet Shaw at Fort Laramie. The Fort was less than two
+days’ journey distant, and that my friend need not suffer anxiety on my
+account, I resolved to push forward as rapidly as possible to the place
+of meeting. I went to look after the Hail-Storm, and having found him,
+I offered him a handful of hawks’-bells and a paper of vermilion, on
+condition that he would guide me in the morning through the mountains
+within sight of Laramie Creek.
+
+The Hail-Storm ejaculated “How!” and accepted the gift. Nothing more was
+said on either side; the matter was settled, and I lay down to sleep in
+Kongra-Tonga’s lodge.
+
+Long before daylight Raymond shook me by the shoulder.
+
+“Everything is ready,” he said.
+
+I went out. The morning was chill, damp, and dark; and the whole camp
+seemed asleep. The Hail-Storm sat on horseback before the lodge, and my
+mare Pauline and the mule which Raymond rode were picketed near it.
+We saddled and made our other arrangements for the journey, but before
+these were completed the camp began to stir, and the lodge-coverings
+fluttered and rustled as the squaws pulled them down in preparation for
+departure. Just as the light began to appear we left the ground, passing
+up through a narrow opening among the rocks which led eastward out of
+the meadow. Gaining the top of this passage, I turned round and sat
+looking back upon the camp, dimly visible in the gray light of the
+morning. All was alive with the bustle of preparation. I turned away,
+half unwilling to take a final leave of my savage associates. We turned
+to the right, passing among the rocks and pine trees so dark that for a
+while we could scarcely see our way. The country in front was wild and
+broken, half hill, half plain, partly open and partly covered with woods
+of pine and oak. Barriers of lofty mountains encompassed it; the woods
+were fresh and cool in the early morning; the peaks of the mountains
+were wreathed with mist, and sluggish vapors were entangled among the
+forests upon their sides. At length the black pinnacle of the tallest
+mountain was tipped with gold by the rising sun. About that time the
+Hail-Storm, who rode in front gave a low exclamation. Some large animal
+leaped up from among the bushes, and an elk, as I thought, his horns
+thrown back over his neck, darted past us across the open space, and
+bounded like a mad thing away among the adjoining pines. Raymond was
+soon out of his saddle, but before he could fire, the animal was full
+two hundred yards distant. The ball struck its mark, though much too low
+for mortal effect. The elk, however, wheeled in its flight, and ran at
+full speed among the trees, nearly at right angles to his former course.
+I fired and broke his shoulder; still he moved on, limping down into the
+neighboring woody hollow, whither the young Indian followed and killed
+him. When we reached the spot we discovered him to be no elk, but a
+black-tailed deer, an animal nearly twice the size of the common deer,
+and quite unknown to the East. We began to cut him up; the reports of
+the rifles had reached the ears of the Indians, and before our task was
+finished several of them came to the spot. Leaving the hide of the deer
+to the Hail-Storm, we hung as much of the meat as we wanted behind
+our saddles, left the rest to the Indians, and resumed our journey.
+Meanwhile the village was on its way, and had gone so far that to get in
+advance of it was impossible. Therefore we directed our course so as to
+strike its line of march at the nearest point. In a short time, through
+the dark trunks of the pines, we could see the figures of the Indians
+as they passed. Once more we were among them. They were moving with even
+more than their usual precipitation, crowded close together in a narrow
+pass between rocks and old pine trees. We were on the eastern descent
+of the mountain, and soon came to a rough and difficult defile, leading
+down a very steep declivity. The whole swarm poured down together,
+filling the rocky passageway like some turbulent mountain stream. The
+mountains before us were on fire, and had been so for weeks. The view in
+front was obscured by a vast dim sea of smoke and vapor, while on either
+hand the tall cliffs, bearing aloft their crest of pines, thrust their
+heads boldly through it, and the sharp pinnacles and broken ridges of
+the mountains beyond them were faintly traceable as through a veil.
+The scene in itself was most grand and imposing, but with the savage
+multitude, the armed warriors, the naked children, the gayly appareled
+girls, pouring impetuously down the heights, it would have formed a
+noble subject for a painter, and only the pen of a Scott could have done
+it justice in description.
+
+We passed over a burnt tract where the ground was hot beneath the
+horses’ feet, and between the blazing sides of two mountains. Before
+long we had descended to a softer region, where we found a succession
+of little valleys watered by a stream, along the borders of which grew
+abundance of wild gooseberries and currants, and the children and many
+of the men straggled from the line of march to gather them as we passed
+along. Descending still farther, the view changed rapidly. The burning
+mountains were behind us, and through the open valleys in front we could
+see the ocean-like prairie, stretching beyond the sight. After passing
+through a line of trees that skirted the brook, the Indians filed out
+upon the plains. I was thirsty and knelt down by the little stream to
+drink. As I mounted again I very carelessly left my rifle among the
+grass, and my thoughts being otherwise absorbed, I rode for some
+distance before discovering its absence. As the reader may conceive,
+I lost no time in turning about and galloping back in search of it.
+Passing the line of Indians, I watched every warrior as he rode by me at
+a canter, and at length discovered my rifle in the hands of one of them,
+who, on my approaching to claim it, immediately gave it up. Having no
+other means of acknowledging the obligation, I took off one of my spurs
+and gave it to him. He was greatly delighted, looking upon it as a
+distinguished mark of favor, and immediately held out his foot for me to
+buckle it on. As soon as I had done so, he struck it with force into
+the side of his horse, who gave a violent leap. The Indian laughed and
+spurred harder than before. At this the horse shot away like an arrow,
+amid the screams and laughter of the squaws, and the ejaculations of the
+men, who exclaimed: “Washtay!--Good!” at the potent effect of my gift.
+The Indian had no saddle, and nothing in place of a bridle except a
+leather string tied round the horse’s jaw. The animal was of course
+wholly uncontrollable, and stretched away at full speed over the
+prairie, till he and his rider vanished behind a distant swell. I never
+saw the man again, but I presume no harm came to him. An Indian on
+horseback has more lives than a cat.
+
+The village encamped on a scorching prairie, close to the foot of the
+mountains. The beat was most intense and penetrating. The coverings
+of the lodges were raised a foot or more from the ground, in order to
+procure some circulation of air; and Reynal thought proper to lay aside
+his trapper’s dress of buckskin and assume the very scanty costume of an
+Indian. Thus elegantly attired, he stretched himself in his lodge on a
+buffalo robe, alternately cursing the heat and puffing at the pipe which
+he and I passed between us. There was present also a select circle of
+Indian friends and relatives. A small boiled puppy was served up as a
+parting feast, to which was added, by way of dessert, a wooden bowl of
+gooseberries, from the mountains.
+
+“Look there,” said Reynal, pointing out of the opening of his lodge; “do
+you see that line of buttes about fifteen miles off? Well, now, do you
+see that farthest one, with the white speck on the face of it? Do you
+think you ever saw it before?”
+
+“It looks to me,” said I, “like the hill that we were camped under when
+we were on Laramie Creek, six or eight weeks ago.”
+
+“You’ve hit it,” answered Reynal.
+
+“Go and bring in the animals, Raymond,” said I: “we’ll camp there
+to-night, and start for the Fort in the morning.”
+
+The mare and the mule were soon before the lodge. We saddled them, and
+in the meantime a number of Indians collected about us. The virtues of
+Pauline, my strong, fleet, and hardy little mare, were well known in
+camp, and several of the visitors were mounted upon good horses which
+they had brought me as presents. I promptly declined their offers, since
+accepting them would have involved the necessity of transferring poor
+Pauline into their barbarous hands. We took leave of Reynal, but not
+of the Indians, who are accustomed to dispense with such superfluous
+ceremonies. Leaving the camp we rode straight over the prairie toward
+the white-faced bluff, whose pale ridges swelled gently against the
+horizon, like a cloud. An Indian went with us, whose name I forget,
+though the ugliness of his face and the ghastly width of his mouth dwell
+vividly in my recollection. The antelope were numerous, but we did not
+heed them. We rode directly toward our destination, over the arid plains
+and barren hills, until, late in the afternoon, half spent with heat,
+thirst, and fatigue, we saw a gladdening sight; the long line of trees
+and the deep gulf that mark the course of Laramie Creek. Passing through
+the growth of huge dilapidated old cottonwood trees that bordered the
+creek, we rode across to the other side.
+
+The rapid and foaming waters were filled with fish playing and splashing
+in the shallows. As we gained the farther bank, our horses turned
+eagerly to drink, and we, kneeling on the sand, followed their example.
+We had not gone far before the scene began to grow familiar.
+
+“We are getting near home, Raymond,” said I.
+
+There stood the Big Tree under which we had encamped so long; there were
+the white cliffs that used to look down upon our tent when it stood
+at the bend of the creek; there was the meadow in which our horses had
+grazed for weeks, and a little farther on, the prairie-dog village
+where I had beguiled many a languid hour in persecuting the unfortunate
+inhabitants.
+
+“We are going to catch it now,” said Raymond, turning his broad, vacant
+face up toward the sky.
+
+In truth, the landscape, the cliffs and the meadow, the stream and the
+groves were darkening fast. Black masses of cloud were swelling up in
+the south, and the thunder was growling ominously.
+
+“We will camp here,” I said, pointing to a dense grove of trees lower
+down the stream. Raymond and I turned toward it, but the Indian stopped
+and called earnestly after us. When we demanded what was the matter, he
+said that the ghosts of two warriors were always among those trees, and
+that if we slept there, they would scream and throw stones at us all
+night, and perhaps steal our horses before morning. Thinking it as well
+to humor him, we left behind us the haunt of these extraordinary ghosts,
+and passed on toward Chugwater, riding at full gallop, for the big drops
+began to patter down. Soon we came in sight of the poplar saplings that
+grew about the mouth of the little stream. We leaped to the ground,
+threw off our saddles, turned our horses loose, and drawing our knives,
+began to slash among the bushes to cut twigs and branches for making a
+shelter against the rain. Bending down the taller saplings as they
+grew, we piled the young shoots upon them; and thus made a convenient
+penthouse, but all our labor was useless. The storm scarcely touched us.
+Half a mile on our right the rain was pouring down like a cataract, and
+the thunder roared over the prairie like a battery of cannon; while we
+by good fortune received only a few heavy drops from the skirt of the
+passing cloud. The weather cleared and the sun set gloriously. Sitting
+close under our leafy canopy, we proceeded to discuss a substantial meal
+of wasna which Weah-Washtay had given me. The Indian had brought with
+him his pipe and a bag of shongsasha; so before lying down to sleep,
+we sat for some time smoking together. Previously, however, our
+wide-mouthed friend had taken the precaution of carefully examining the
+neighborhood. He reported that eight men, counting them on his fingers,
+had been encamped there not long before. Bisonette, Paul Dorion, Antoine
+Le Rouge, Richardson, and four others, whose names he could not tell.
+All this proved strictly correct. By what instinct he had arrived at
+such accurate conclusions, I am utterly at a loss to divine.
+
+It was still quite dark when I awoke and called Raymond. The Indian was
+already gone, having chosen to go on before us to the Fort. Setting out
+after him, we rode for some time in complete darkness, and when the sun
+at length rose, glowing like a fiery ball of copper, we were ten miles
+distant from the Fort. At length, from the broken summit of a tall sandy
+bluff we could see Fort Laramie, miles before us, standing by the side
+of the stream like a little gray speck in the midst of the bounding
+desolation. I stopped my horse, and sat for a moment looking down upon
+it. It seemed to me the very center of comfort and civilization. We were
+not long in approaching it, for we rode at speed the greater part of the
+way. Laramie Creek still intervened between us and the friendly walls.
+Entering the water at the point where we had struck upon the bank, we
+raised our feet to the saddle behind us, and thus, kneeling as it were
+on horseback, passed dry-shod through the swift current. As we rode up
+the bank, a number of men appeared in the gateway. Three of them came
+forward to meet us. In a moment I distinguished Shaw; Henry Chatillon
+followed with his face of manly simplicity and frankness, and Delorier
+came last, with a broad grin of welcome. The meeting was not on either
+side one of mere ceremony. For my own part, the change was a most
+agreeable one from the society of savages and men little better than
+savages, to that of my gallant and high-minded companion and our
+noble-hearted guide. My appearance was equally gratifying to Shaw, who
+was beginning to entertain some very uncomfortable surmises concerning
+me.
+
+Bordeaux greeted me very cordially, and shouted to the cook. This
+functionary was a new acquisition, having lately come from Fort Pierre
+with the trading wagons. Whatever skill he might have boasted, he had
+not the most promising materials to exercise it upon. He set before me,
+however, a breakfast of biscuit, coffee, and salt pork. It seemed like a
+new phase of existence, to be seated once more on a bench, with a knife
+and fork, a plate and teacup, and something resembling a table before
+me. The coffee seemed delicious, and the bread was a most welcome
+novelty, since for three weeks I had eaten scarcely anything but meat,
+and that for the most part without salt. The meal also had the relish of
+good company, for opposite to me sat Shaw in elegant dishabille. If one
+is anxious thoroughly to appreciate the value of a congenial companion,
+he has only to spend a few weeks by himself in an Ogallalla village. And
+if he can contrive to add to his seclusion a debilitating and somewhat
+critical illness, his perceptions upon this subject will be rendered
+considerably more vivid.
+
+Shaw had been upward of two weeks at the Fort. I found him established
+in his old quarters, a large apartment usually occupied by the absent
+bourgeois. In one corner was a soft and luxuriant pile of excellent
+buffalo robes, and here I lay down. Shaw brought me three books.
+
+“Here,” said he, “is your Shakespeare and Byron, and here is the
+Old Testament, which has as much poetry in it as the other two put
+together.”
+
+I chose the worst of the three, and for the greater part of that day
+lay on the buffalo robes, fairly reveling in the creations of that
+resplendent genius which has achieved no more signal triumph than that
+of half beguiling us to forget the pitiful and unmanly character of its
+possessor.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+THE LONELY JOURNEY
+
+
+On the day of my arrival at Fort Laramie, Shaw and I were lounging on
+two buffalo robes in the large apartment hospitably assigned to us;
+Henry Chatillon also was present, busy about the harness and weapons,
+which had been brought into the room, and two or three Indians were
+crouching on the floor, eyeing us with their fixed, unwavering gaze.
+
+“I have been well off here,” said Shaw, “in all respects but one; there
+is no good shongsasha to be had for love or money.”
+
+I gave him a small leather bag containing some of excellent quality,
+which I had brought from the Black Hills.
+
+“Now, Henry,” said he, “hand me Papin’s chopping-board, or give it to
+that Indian, and let him cut the mixture; they understand it better than
+any white man.”
+
+The Indian, without saying a word, mixed the bark and the tobacco in due
+proportions, filled the pipe and lighted it. This done, my companion
+and I proceeded to deliberate on our future course of proceeding; first,
+however, Shaw acquainted me with some incidents which had occurred at
+the fort during my absence.
+
+About a week previous four men had arrived from beyond the mountains;
+Sublette, Reddick, and two others. Just before reaching the Fort
+they had met a large party of Indians, chiefly young men. All of them
+belonged to the village of our old friend Smoke, who, with his whole
+band of adherents, professed the greatest friendship for the whites. The
+travelers therefore approached, and began to converse without the least
+suspicion. Suddenly, however, their bridles were violently seized and
+they were ordered to dismount. Instead of complying, they struck
+their horses with full force, and broke away from the Indians. As
+they galloped off they heard a yell behind them, mixed with a burst of
+derisive laughter, and the reports of several guns. None of them were
+hurt though Reddick’s bridle rein was cut by a bullet within an inch of
+his hand. After this taste of Indian hostility they felt for the moment
+no disposition to encounter further risks. They intended to pursue the
+route southward along the foot of the mountains to Bent’s Fort; and as
+our plans coincided with theirs, they proposed to join forces. Finding,
+however, that I did not return, they grew impatient of inaction, forgot
+their late escape, and set out without us, promising to wait our arrival
+at Bent’s Fort. From thence we were to make the long journey to the
+settlements in company, as the path was not a little dangerous, being
+infested by hostile Pawnees and Comanches.
+
+We expected, on reaching Bent’s Fort, to find there still another
+re-enforcement. A young Kentuckian of the true Kentucky blood, generous,
+impetuous, and a gentleman withal, had come out to the mountains with
+Russel’s party of California emigrants. One of his chief objects, as
+he gave out, was to kill an Indian; an exploit which he afterwards
+succeeded in achieving, much to the jeopardy of ourselves and others who
+had to pass through the country of the dead Pawnee’s enraged relatives.
+Having become disgusted with his emigrant associates he left them, and
+had some time before set out with a party of companions for the head of
+the Arkansas. He sent us previously a letter, intimating that he would
+wait until we arrived at Bent’s Fort, and accompany us thence to the
+settlements. When, however, he came to the Fort, he found there a party
+of forty men about to make the homeward journey. He wisely preferred to
+avail himself of so strong an escort. Mr. Sublette and his companions
+also set out, in order to overtake this company; so that on reaching
+Bent’s Fort, some six weeks after, we found ourselves deserted by our
+allies and thrown once more upon our own resources.
+
+But I am anticipating. When, before leaving the settlement we had made
+inquiries concerning this part of the country of General Kearny, Mr.
+Mackenzie, Captain Wyeth, and others well acquainted with it, they had
+all advised us by no means to attempt this southward journey with
+fewer than fifteen or twenty men. The danger consists in the chance of
+encountering Indian war parties. Sometimes throughout the whole length
+of the journey (a distance of 350 miles) one does not meet a single
+human being; frequently, however, the route is beset by Arapahoes and
+other unfriendly tribes; in which case the scalp of the adventurer is in
+imminent peril. As to the escort of fifteen or twenty men, such a force
+of whites could at that time scarcely be collected by the whole country;
+and had the case been otherwise, the expense of securing them, together
+with the necessary number of horses, would have been extremely heavy. We
+had resolved, however, upon pursuing this southward course. There were,
+indeed, two other routes from Fort Laramie; but both of these were less
+interesting, and neither was free from danger. Being unable therefore to
+procure the fifteen or twenty men recommended, we determined to set out
+with those we had already in our employ, Henry Chatillon, Delorier, and
+Raymond. The men themselves made no objection, nor would they have made
+any had the journey been more dangerous; for Henry was without fear, and
+the other two without thought.
+
+Shaw and I were much better fitted for this mode of traveling than we
+had been on betaking ourselves to the prairies for the first time a few
+months before. The daily routine had ceased to be a novelty. All the
+details of the journey and the camp had become familiar to us. We had
+seen life under a new aspect; the human biped had been reduced to his
+primitive condition. We had lived without law to protect, a roof to
+shelter, or garment of cloth to cover us. One of us at least had been
+without bread, and without salt to season his food. Our idea of what
+is indispensable to human existence and enjoyment had been wonderfully
+curtailed, and a horse, a rifle, and a knife seemed to make up the whole
+of life’s necessaries. For these once obtained, together with the skill
+to use them, all else that is essential would follow in their train,
+and a host of luxuries besides. One other lesson our short prairie
+experience had taught us; that of profound contentment in the present,
+and utter contempt for what the future might bring forth.
+
+These principles established, we prepared to leave Fort Laramie. On the
+fourth day of August, early in the afternoon, we bade a final adieu to
+its hospitable gateway. Again Shaw and I were riding side by side on the
+prairie. For the first fifty miles we had companions with us; Troche,
+a little trapper, and Rouville, a nondescript in the employ of the Fur
+Company, who were going to join the trader Bisonette at his encampment
+near the head of Horse Creek. We rode only six or eight miles that
+afternoon before we came to a little brook traversing the barren
+prairie. All along its course grew copses of young wild-cherry trees,
+loaded with ripe fruit, and almost concealing the gliding thread of
+water with their dense growth, while on each side rose swells of rich
+green grass. Here we encamped; and being much too indolent to pitch
+our tent, we flung our saddles on the ground, spread a pair of buffalo
+robes, lay down upon them, and began to smoke. Meanwhile, Delorier
+busied himself with his hissing frying-pan, and Raymond stood guard
+over the band of grazing horses. Delorier had an active assistant in
+Rouville, who professed great skill in the culinary art, and seizing
+upon a fork, began to lend his zealous aid in making ready supper.
+Indeed, according to his own belief, Rouville was a man of universal
+knowledge, and he lost no opportunity to display his manifold
+accomplishments. He had been a circus-rider at St. Louis, and once he
+rode round Fort Laramie on his head, to the utter bewilderment of all
+the Indians. He was also noted as the wit of the Fort; and as he had
+considerable humor and abundant vivacity, he contributed more that
+night to the liveliness of the camp than all the rest of the party put
+together. At one instant he would be kneeling by Delorier, instructing
+him in the true method of frying antelope steaks, then he would come and
+seat himself at our side, dilating upon the orthodox fashion of braiding
+up a horse’s tail, telling apocryphal stories how he had killed a
+buffalo bull with a knife, having first cut off his tail when at full
+speed, or relating whimsical anecdotes of the bourgeois Papin. At last
+he snatched up a volume of Shakespeare that was lying on the grass, and
+halted and stumbled through a line or two to prove that he could read.
+He went gamboling about the camp, chattering like some frolicsome ape;
+and whatever he was doing at one moment, the presumption was a sure
+one that he would not be doing it the next. His companion Troche sat
+silently on the grass, not speaking a word, but keeping a vigilant eye
+on a very ugly little Utah squaw, of whom he was extremely jealous.
+
+On the next day we traveled farther, crossing the wide sterile basin
+called Goche’s Hole. Toward night we became involved among deep ravines;
+and being also unable to find water, our journey was protracted to
+a very late hour. On the next morning we had to pass a long line of
+bluffs, whose raw sides, wrought upon by rains and storms, were of a
+ghastly whiteness most oppressive to the sight. As we ascended a gap
+in these hills, the way was marked by huge foot-prints, like those of
+a human giant. They were the track of the grizzly bear; and on the
+previous day also we had seen abundance of them along the dry channels
+of the streams we had passed. Immediately after this we were crossing a
+barren plain, spreading in long and gentle undulations to the horizon.
+Though the sun was bright, there was a light haze in the atmosphere.
+The distant hills assumed strange, distorted forms, and the edge of
+the horizon was continually changing its aspect. Shaw and I were riding
+together, and Henry Chatillon was alone, a few rods before us; he
+stopped his horse suddenly, and turning round with the peculiar eager
+and earnest expression which he always wore when excited, he called
+to us to come forward. We galloped to his side. Henry pointed toward a
+black speck on the gray swell of the prairie, apparently about a mile
+off. “It must be a bear,” said he; “come, now, we shall all have some
+sport. Better fun to fight him than to fight an old buffalo bull;
+grizzly bear so strong and smart.”
+
+So we all galloped forward together, prepared for a hard fight; for
+these bears, though clumsy in appearance and extremely large, are
+incredibly fierce and active. The swell of the prairie concealed the
+black object from our view. Immediately after it appeared again. But now
+it seemed quite near to us; and as we looked at it in astonishment,
+it suddenly separated into two parts, each of which took wing and
+flew away. We stopped our horses and looked round at Henry, whose face
+exhibited a curious mixture of mirth and mortification. His hawk’s eye
+had been so completely deceived by the peculiar atmosphere that he had
+mistaken two large crows at the distance of fifty rods for a grizzly
+bear a mile off. To the journey’s end Henry never heard the last of the
+grizzly bear with wings.
+
+In the afternoon we came to the foot of a considerable hill. As we
+ascended it Rouville began to ask questions concerning our conditions
+and prospects at home, and Shaw was edifying him with a minute account
+of an imaginary wife and child, to which he listened with implicit
+faith. Reaching the top of the hill we saw the windings of Horse Creek
+on the plains below us, and a little on the left we could distinguish
+the camp of Bisonette among the trees and copses along the course of
+the stream. Rouville’s face assumed just then a most ludicrously blank
+expression. We inquired what was the matter, when it appeared that
+Bisonette had sent him from this place to Fort Laramie with the sole
+object of bringing back a supply of tobacco. Our rattle-brain friend,
+from the time of his reaching the Fort up to the present moment, had
+entirely forgotten the object of his journey, and had ridden a dangerous
+hundred miles for nothing. Descending to Horse Creek we forded it, and
+on the opposite bank a solitary Indian sat on horseback under a tree. He
+said nothing, but turned and led the way toward the camp. Bisonette had
+made choice of an admirable position. The stream, with its thick growth
+of trees, inclosed on three sides a wide green meadow, where about forty
+Dakota lodges were pitched in a circle, and beyond them half a dozen
+lodges of the friendly Cheyenne. Bisonette himself lived in the Indian
+manner. Riding up to his lodge, we found him seated at the head of it,
+surrounded by various appliances of comfort not common on the prairie.
+His squaw was near him, and rosy children were scrambling about in
+printed-calico gowns; Paul Dorion also, with his leathery face and old
+white capote, was seated in the lodge, together with Antoine Le Rouge, a
+half-breed Pawnee, Sibille, a trader, and several other white men.
+
+“It will do you no harm,” said Bisonette, “to stay here with us for a
+day or two, before you start for the Pueblo.”
+
+We accepted the invitation, and pitched our tent on a rising ground
+above the camp and close to the edge of the trees. Bisonette soon
+invited us to a feast, and we suffered abundance of the same sort of
+attention from his Indian associates. The reader may possibly recollect
+that when I joined the Indian village, beyond the Black Hills, I found
+that a few families were absent, having declined to pass the mountains
+along with the rest. The Indians in Bisonette’s camp consisted of these
+very families, and many of them came to me that evening to inquire after
+their relatives and friends. They were not a little mortified to learn
+that while they, from their own timidity and indolence, were almost in
+a starving condition, the rest of the village had provided their lodges
+for the next season, laid in a great stock of provisions, and were
+living in abundance and luxury. Bisonette’s companions had been
+sustaining themselves for some time on wild cherries, which the squaws
+pounded up, stones and all, and spread on buffalo robes, to dry in the
+sun; they were then eaten without further preparation, or used as an
+ingredient in various delectable compounds.
+
+On the next day the camp was in commotion with a new arrival. A single
+Indian had come with his family the whole way from the Arkansas. As he
+passed among the lodges he put on an expression of unusual dignity and
+importance, and gave out that he had brought great news to tell the
+whites. Soon after the squaws had erected his lodge, he sent his little
+son to invite all the white men, and all the most distinguished Indians,
+to a feast. The guests arrived and sat wedged together, shoulder to
+shoulder, within the hot and suffocating lodge. The Stabber, for that
+was our entertainer’s name, had killed an old buffalo bull on his way.
+This veteran’s boiled tripe, tougher than leather, formed the main item
+of the repast. For the rest, it consisted of wild cherries and grease
+boiled together in a large copper kettle. The feast was distributed, and
+for a moment all was silent, strenuous exertion; then each guest, with
+one or two exceptions, however, turned his wooden dish bottom upward to
+prove that he had done full justice to his entertainer’s hospitality.
+The Stabber next produced his chopping board, on which he prepared the
+mixture for smoking, and filled several pipes, which circulated among
+the company. This done, he seated himself upright on his couch, and
+began with much gesticulation to tell his story. I will not repeat
+his childish jargon. It was so entangled, like the greater part of an
+Indian’s stories, with absurd and contradictory details, that it was
+almost impossible to disengage from it a single particle of truth. All
+that we could gather was the following:
+
+He had been on the Arkansas, and there he had seen six great war parties
+of whites. He had never believed before that the whole world contained
+half so many white men. They all had large horses, long knives, and
+short rifles, and some of them were attired alike in the most splendid
+war dresses he had ever seen. From this account it was clear that bodies
+of dragoons and perhaps also of volunteer cavalry had been passing up
+the Arkansas. The Stabber had also seen a great many of the white lodges
+of the Meneaska, drawn by their long-horned buffalo. These could be
+nothing else than covered ox-wagons used no doubt in transporting stores
+for the troops. Soon after seeing this, our host had met an Indian who
+had lately come from among the Comanches. The latter had told him
+that all the Mexicans had gone out to a great buffalo hunt. That the
+Americans had hid themselves in a ravine. When the Mexicans had shot
+away all their arrows, the Americans had fired their guns, raised their
+war-whoop, rushed out, and killed them all. We could only infer from
+this that war had been declared with Mexico, and a battle fought in
+which the Americans were victorious. When, some weeks after, we arrived
+at the Pueblo, we heard of General Kearny’s march up the Arkansas and of
+General Taylor’s victories at Matamoras.
+
+As the sun was setting that evening a great crowd gathered on the plain
+by the side of our tent, to try the speed of their horses. These were of
+every shape, size, and color. Some came from California, some from the
+States, some from among the mountains, and some from the wild bands of
+the prairie. They were of every hue--white, black, red, and gray, or
+mottled and clouded with a strange variety of colors. They all had a
+wild and startled look, very different from the staid and sober aspect
+of a well-bred city steed. Those most noted for swiftness and spirit
+were decorated with eagle-feathers dangling from their manes and tails.
+Fifty or sixty Dakotas were present, wrapped from head to foot in their
+heavy robes of whitened hide. There were also a considerable number of
+the Cheyenne, many of whom wore gaudy Mexican ponchos swathed around
+their shoulders, but leaving the right arm bare. Mingled among the
+crowd of Indians were a number of Canadians, chiefly in the employ of
+Bisonette; men, whose home is in the wilderness, and who love the camp
+fire better than the domestic hearth. They are contented and happy in
+the midst of hardship, privation, and danger. Their cheerfulness and
+gayety is irrepressible, and no people on earth understand better how
+“to daff the world aside and bid it pass.” Besides these, were two or
+three half-breeds, a race of rather extraordinary composition, being
+according to the common saying half Indian, half white man, and half
+devil. Antoine Le Rouge was the most conspicuous among them, with his
+loose pantaloons and his fluttering calico skirt. A handkerchief was
+bound round his head to confine his black snaky hair, and his small
+eyes twinkled beneath it, with a mischievous luster. He had a fine
+cream-colored horse whose speed he must needs try along with the rest.
+So he threw off the rude high-peaked saddle, and substituting a piece of
+buffalo robe, leaped lightly into his seat. The space was cleared, the
+word was given, and he and his Indian rival darted out like lightning
+from among the crowd, each stretching forward over his horse’s neck and
+plying his heavy Indian whip with might and main. A moment, and both
+were lost in the gloom; but Antoine soon came riding back victorious,
+exultingly patting the neck of his quivering and panting horse.
+
+About midnight, as I lay asleep, wrapped in a buffalo robe on the ground
+by the side of our cart, Raymond came up and woke me. Something he said,
+was going forward which I would like to see. Looking down into camp
+I saw, on the farther side of it, a great number of Indians gathered
+around a fire, the bright glare of which made them visible through the
+thick darkness; while from the midst of them proceeded a loud, measured
+chant which would have killed Paganini outright, broken occasionally by
+a burst of sharp yells. I gathered the robe around me, for the night
+was cold, and walked down to the spot. The dark throng of Indians was
+so dense that they almost intercepted the light of the flame. As I was
+pushing among them with but little ceremony, a chief interposed himself,
+and I was given to understand that a white man must not approach the
+scene of their solemnities too closely. By passing round to the other
+side, where there was a little opening in the crowd, I could see clearly
+what was going forward, without intruding my unhallowed presence into
+the inner circle. The society of the “Strong Hearts” were engaged in one
+of their dances. The Strong Hearts are a warlike association, comprising
+men of both the Dakota and Cheyenne nations, and entirely composed,
+or supposed to be so, of young braves of the highest mettle. Its
+fundamental principle is the admirable one of never retreating from any
+enterprise once commenced. All these Indian associations have a tutelary
+spirit. That of the Strong Hearts is embodied in the fox, an animal
+which a white man would hardly have selected for a similar purpose,
+though his subtle and cautious character agrees well enough with an
+Indian’s notions of what is honorable in warfare. The dancers were
+circling round and round the fire, each figure brightly illumined at one
+moment by the yellow light, and at the next drawn in blackest shadow as
+it passed between the flame and the spectator. They would imitate with
+the most ludicrous exactness the motions and the voice of their sly
+patron the fox. Then a startling yell would be given. Many other
+warriors would leap into the ring, and with faces upturned toward
+the starless sky, they would all stamp, and whoop, and brandish their
+weapons like so many frantic devils.
+
+Until the next afternoon we were still remaining with Bisonette. My
+companion and I with our three attendants then left his camp for the
+Pueblo, a distance of three hundred miles, and we supposed the journey
+would occupy about a fortnight. During this time we all earnestly hoped
+that we might not meet a single human being, for should we encounter
+any, they would in all probability be enemies, ferocious robbers and
+murderers, in whose eyes our rifles would be our only passports. For
+the first two days nothing worth mentioning took place. On the third
+morning, however, an untoward incident occurred. We were encamped by the
+side of a little brook in an extensive hollow of the plain. Delorier
+was up long before daylight, and before he began to prepare breakfast
+he turned loose all the horses, as in duty bound. There was a cold mist
+clinging close to the ground, and by the time the rest of us were awake
+the animals were invisible. It was only after a long and anxious search
+that we could discover by their tracks the direction they had taken.
+They had all set off for Fort Laramie, following the guidance of a
+mutinous old mule, and though many of them were hobbled they had driven
+three miles before they could be overtaken and driven back.
+
+For the following two or three days we were passing over an arid desert.
+The only vegetation was a few tufts of short grass, dried and shriveled
+by the heat. There was an abundance of strange insects and reptiles.
+Huge crickets, black and bottle green, and wingless grasshoppers of the
+most extravagant dimensions, were tumbling about our horses’ feet, and
+lizards without numbers were darting like lightning among the tufts of
+grass. The most curious animal, however, was that commonly called the
+horned frog. I caught one of them and consigned him to the care of
+Delorier, who tied him up in a moccasin. About a month after this I
+examined the prisoner’s condition, and finding him still lively and
+active, I provided him with a cage of buffalo hide, which was hung up
+in the cart. In this manner he arrived safely at the settlements. From
+thence he traveled the whole way to Boston packed closely in a trunk,
+being regaled with fresh air regularly every night. When he reached his
+destination he was deposited under a glass case, where he sat for some
+months in great tranquillity and composure, alternately dilating and
+contracting his white throat to the admiration of his visitors. At
+length, one morning, about the middle of winter, he gave up the ghost.
+His death was attributed to starvation, a very probable conclusion,
+since for six months he had taken no food whatever, though the sympathy
+of his juvenile admirers had tempted his palate with a great variety
+of delicacies. We found also animals of a somewhat larger growth. The
+number of prairie dogs was absolutely astounding. Frequently the hard
+and dry prairie would be thickly covered, for many miles together, with
+the little mounds which they make around the mouth of their burrows, and
+small squeaking voices yelping at us as we passed along. The noses of
+the inhabitants would be just visible at the mouth of their holes,
+but no sooner was their curiosity satisfied than they would instantly
+vanish. Some of the bolder dogs--though in fact they are no dogs at all,
+but little marmots rather smaller than a rabbit--would sit yelping at us
+on the top of their mounds, jerking their tails emphatically with every
+shrill cry they uttered. As the danger grew nearer they would wheel
+about, toss their heels into the air, and dive in a twinkling down into
+their burrows. Toward sunset, and especially if rain were threatening,
+the whole community would make their appearance above ground. We would
+see them gathered in large knots around the burrow of some favorite
+citizen. There they would all sit erect, their tails spread out on
+the ground, and their paws hanging down before their white breasts,
+chattering and squeaking with the utmost vivacity upon some topic of
+common interest, while the proprietor of the burrow, with his head
+just visible on the top of his mound, would sit looking down with a
+complacent countenance on the enjoyment of his guests. Meanwhile, others
+would be running about from burrow to burrow, as if on some errand of
+the last importance to their subterranean commonwealth. The snakes were
+apparently the prairie dog’s worst enemies, at least I think too well of
+the latter to suppose that they associate on friendly terms with these
+slimy intruders, who may be seen at all times basking among their holes,
+into which they always retreat when disturbed. Small owls, with wise and
+grave countenances, also make their abode with the prairie dogs, though
+on what terms they live together I could never ascertain. The manners
+and customs, the political and domestic economy of these little marmots
+is worthy of closer attention than one is able to give when pushing by
+forced marches through their country, with his thoughts engrossed by
+objects of greater moment.
+
+On the fifth day after leaving Bisonette’s camp we saw late in the
+afternoon what we supposed to be a considerable stream, but on our
+approaching it we found to our mortification nothing but a dry bed of
+sand into which all the water had sunk and disappeared. We separated,
+some riding in one direction and some in another along its course. Still
+we found no traces of water, not even so much as a wet spot in the sand.
+The old cotton-wood trees that grew along the bank, lamentably abused by
+lightning and tempest, were withering with the drought, and on the dead
+limbs, at the summit of the tallest, half a dozen crows were hoarsely
+cawing like birds of evil omen as they were. We had no alternative but
+to keep on. There was no water nearer than the South Fork of the Platte,
+about ten miles distant. We moved forward, angry and silent, over a
+desert as flat as the outspread ocean.
+
+The sky had been obscured since the morning by thin mists and vapors,
+but now vast piles of clouds were gathered together in the west. They
+rose to a great height above the horizon, and looking up toward them I
+distinguished one mass darker than the rest and of a peculiar conical
+form. I happened to look again and still could see it as before. At some
+moments it was dimly seen, at others its outline was sharp and distinct;
+but while the clouds around it were shifting, changing, and dissolving
+away, it still towered aloft in the midst of them, fixed and immovable.
+It must, thought I, be the summit of a mountain, and yet its heights
+staggered me. My conclusion was right, however. It was Long’s Peak, once
+believed to be one of the highest of the Rocky Mountain chain, though
+more recent discoveries have proved the contrary. The thickening gloom
+soon hid it from view and we never saw it again, for on the following
+day and for some time after, the air was so full of mist that the view
+of distant objects was entirely intercepted.
+
+It grew very late. Turning from our direct course we made for the river
+at its nearest point, though in the utter darkness it was not easy to
+direct our way with much precision. Raymond rode on one side and Henry
+on the other. We could hear each of them shouting that he had come upon
+a deep ravine. We steered at random between Scylla and Charybdis, and
+soon after became, as it seemed, inextricably involved with deep chasms
+all around us, while the darkness was such that we could not see a rod
+in any direction. We partially extricated ourselves by scrambling, cart
+and all, through a shallow ravine. We came next to a steep descent down
+which we plunged without well knowing what was at the bottom. There was
+a great crackling of sticks and dry twigs. Over our heads were certain
+large shadowy objects, and in front something like the faint gleaming
+of a dark sheet of water. Raymond ran his horse against a tree; Henry
+alighted, and feeling on the ground declared that there was grass enough
+for the horses. Before taking off his saddle each man led his own horses
+down to the water in the best way he could. Then picketing two or three
+of the evil-disposed we turned the rest loose and lay down among the dry
+sticks to sleep. In the morning we found ourselves close to the South
+Fork of the Platte on a spot surrounded by bushes and rank grass.
+Compensating ourselves with a hearty breakfast for the ill fare of the
+previous night, we set forward again on our journey. When only two or
+three rods from the camp I saw Shaw stop his mule, level his gun, and
+after a long aim fire at some object in the grass. Delorier next jumped
+forward and began to dance about, belaboring the unseen enemy with a
+whip. Then he stooped down and drew out of the grass by the neck an
+enormous rattlesnake, with his head completely shattered by Shaw’s
+bullet. As Delorier held him out at arm’s length with an exulting grin
+his tail, which still kept slowly writhing about, almost touched the
+ground, and the body in the largest part was as thick as a stout man’s
+arm. He had fourteen rattles, but the end of his tail was blunted, as if
+he could once have boasted of many more. From this time till we reached
+the Pueblo we killed at least four or five of these snakes every day as
+they lay coiled and rattling on the hot sand. Shaw was the St. Patrick
+of the party, and whenever he or any one else killed a snake he always
+pulled off his tail and stored it away in his bullet-pouch, which was
+soon crammed with an edifying collection of rattles, great and small.
+Delorier, with his whip, also came in for a share of the praise. A day
+or two after this he triumphantly produced a small snake about a span
+and a half long, with one infant rattle at the end of his tail.
+
+We forded the South Fork of the Platte. On its farther bank were the
+traces of a very large camp of Arapahoes. The ashes of some three
+hundred fires were visible among the scattered trees, together with
+the remains of sweating lodges, and all the other appurtenances of a
+permanent camp. The place however had been for some months deserted. A
+few miles farther on we found more recent signs of Indians; the trail
+of two or three lodges, which had evidently passed the day before,
+where every foot-print was perfectly distinct in the dry, dusty soil. We
+noticed in particular the track of one moccasin, upon the sole of which
+its economical proprietor had placed a large patch. These signs gave us
+but little uneasiness, as the number of the warriors scarcely exceeded
+that of our own party. At noon we rested under the walls of a large
+fort, built in these solitudes some years since by M. St. Vrain. It was
+now abandoned and fast falling into ruin. The walls of unbaked bricks
+were cracked from top to bottom. Our horses recoiled in terror from the
+neglected entrance, where the heavy gates were torn from their hinges
+and flung down. The area within was overgrown with weeds, and the long
+ranges of apartments, once occupied by the motley concourse of traders,
+Canadians, and squaws, were now miserably dilapidated. Twelve miles
+further on, near the spot where we encamped, were the remains of still
+another fort, standing in melancholy desertion and neglect.
+
+Early on the following morning we made a startling discovery. We passed
+close by a large deserted encampment of Arapahoes. There were about
+fifty fires still smouldering on the ground, and it was evident from
+numerous signs that the Indians must have left the place within two
+hours of our reaching it. Their trail crossed our own at right angles,
+and led in the direction of a line of hills half a mile on our left.
+There were women and children in the party, which would have greatly
+diminished the danger of encountering them. Henry Chatillon examined the
+encampment and the trail with a very professional and businesslike air.
+
+“Supposing we had met them, Henry?” said I.
+
+“Why,” said he, “we hold out our hands to them, and give them all we’ve
+got; they take away everything, and then I believe they no kill us.
+Perhaps,” added he, looking up with a quiet, unchanged face, “perhaps we
+no let them rob us. Maybe before they come near, we have a chance to get
+into a ravine, or under the bank of the river; then, you know, we fight
+them.”
+
+About noon on that day we reached Cherry Creek. Here was a great
+abundance of wild cherries, plums, gooseberries, and currants. The
+stream, however, like most of the others which we passed, was dried up
+with the heat, and we had to dig holes in the sand to find water for
+ourselves and our horses. Two days after, we left the banks of the creek
+which we had been following for some time, and began to cross the high
+dividing ridge which separates the waters of the Platte from those
+of the Arkansas. The scenery was altogether changed. In place of the
+burning plains we were passing now through rough and savage glens and
+among hills crowned with a dreary growth of pines. We encamped among
+these solitudes on the night of the 16th of August. A tempest was
+threatening. The sun went down among volumes of jet-black cloud, edged
+with a bloody red. But in spite of these portentous signs, we neglected
+to put up the tent, and being extremely fatigued, lay down on the ground
+and fell asleep. The storm broke about midnight, and we erected the
+tent amid darkness and confusion. In the morning all was fair again,
+and Pike’s Peak, white with snow, was towering above the wilderness afar
+off.
+
+We pushed through an extensive tract of pine woods. Large black
+squirrels were leaping among the branches. From the farther edge of
+this forest we saw the prairie again, hollowed out before us into a vast
+basin, and about a mile in front we could discern a little black speck
+moving upon its surface. It could be nothing but a buffalo. Henry primed
+his rifle afresh and galloped forward. To the left of the animal was a
+low rocky mound, of which Henry availed himself in making his approach.
+After a short time we heard the faint report of the rifle. The bull,
+mortally wounded from a distance of nearly three hundred yards, ran
+wildly round and round in a circle. Shaw and I then galloped forward,
+and passing him as he ran, foaming with rage and pain, we discharged our
+pistols into his side. Once or twice he rushed furiously upon us, but
+his strength was rapidly exhausted. Down he fell on his knees. For one
+instant he glared up at his enemies with burning eyes through his black
+tangled mane, and then rolled over on his side. Though gaunt and thin,
+he was larger and heavier than the largest ox. Foam and blood flew
+together from his nostrils as he lay bellowing and pawing the ground,
+tearing up grass and earth with his hoofs. His sides rose and fell
+like a vast pair of bellows, the blood spouting up in jets from the
+bullet-holes. Suddenly his glaring eyes became like a lifeless jelly.
+He lay motionless on the ground. Henry stooped over him, and making an
+incision with his knife, pronounced the meat too rank and tough for use;
+so, disappointed in our hopes of an addition to our stock of provisions,
+we rode away and left the carcass to the wolves.
+
+In the afternoon we saw the mountains rising like a gigantic wall at
+no great distance on our right. “Des sauvages! des sauvages!” exclaimed
+Delorier, looking round with a frightened face, and pointing with
+his whip toward the foot of the mountains. In fact, we could see at a
+distance a number of little black specks, like horsemen in rapid
+motion. Henry Chatillon, with Shaw and myself, galloped toward them
+to reconnoiter, when to our amusement we saw the supposed Arapahoes
+resolved into the black tops of some pine trees which grew along a
+ravine. The summits of these pines, just visible above the verge of
+the prairie, and seeming to move as we ourselves were advancing, looked
+exactly like a line of horsemen.
+
+We encamped among ravines and hollows, through which a little brook
+was foaming angrily. Before sunrise in the morning the snow-covered
+mountains were beautifully tinged with a delicate rose color. A noble
+spectacle awaited us as we moved forward. Six or eight miles on our
+right, Pike’s Peak and his giant brethren rose out of the level prairie,
+as if springing from the bed of the ocean. From their summits down to
+the plain below they were involved in a mantle of clouds, in restless
+motion, as if urged by strong winds. For one instant some snowy peak,
+towering in awful solitude, would be disclosed to view. As the
+clouds broke along the mountain, we could see the dreary forests, the
+tremendous precipices, the white patches of snow, the gulfs and chasms
+as black as night, all revealed for an instant, and then disappearing
+from the view. One could not but recall the stanza of “Childe Harold”:
+
+     Morn dawns, and with it stern Albania’s hills,
+     Dark Suli’s rocks, and Pindus’ inland peak,
+     Robed half in mist, bedewed with snowy rills,
+     Array’d in many a dun and purple streak,
+     Arise; and, as the clouds along them break,
+     Disclose the dwelling of the mountaineer:
+     Here roams the wolf, the eagle whets his beak,
+     Birds, beasts of prey, and wilder men appear,
+     And gathering storms around convulse the closing year.
+
+Every line save one of this description was more than verified here.
+There were no “dwellings of the mountaineer” among these heights. Fierce
+savages, restlessly wandering through summer and winter, alone invade
+them. “Their hand is against every man, and every man’s hand against
+them.”
+
+On the day after, we had left the mountains at some distance. A black
+cloud descended upon them, and a tremendous explosion of thunder
+followed, reverberating among the precipices. In a few moments
+everything grew black and the rain poured down like a cataract. We got
+under an old cotton-wood tree which stood by the side of a stream, and
+waited there till the rage of the torrent had passed.
+
+The clouds opened at the point where they first had gathered, and the
+whole sublime congregation of mountains was bathed at once in warm
+sunshine. They seemed more like some luxurious vision of Eastern romance
+than like a reality of that wilderness; all were melted together into
+a soft delicious blue, as voluptuous as the sky of Naples or the
+transparent sea that washes the sunny cliffs of Capri. On the left the
+whole sky was still of an inky blackness; but two concentric rainbows
+stood in brilliant relief against it, while far in front the ragged
+cloud still streamed before the wind, and the retreating thunder
+muttered angrily.
+
+Through that afternoon and the next morning we were passing down the
+banks of the stream called La Fontaine qui Bouille, from the boiling
+spring whose waters flow into it. When we stopped at noon, we were
+within six or eight miles of the Pueblo. Setting out again, we found by
+the fresh tracks that a horseman had just been out to reconnoiter us; he
+had circled half round the camp, and then galloped back full speed for
+the Pueblo. What made him so shy of us we could not conceive. After an
+hour’s ride we reached the edge of a hill, from which a welcome sight
+greeted us. The Arkansas ran along the valley below, among woods and
+groves, and closely nestled in the midst of wide cornfields and green
+meadows where cattle were grazing rose the low mud walls of the Pueblo.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+THE PUEBLO AND BENT’S FORT
+
+
+We approached the gate of the Pueblo. It was a wretched species of fort
+of most primitive construction, being nothing more than a large
+square inclosure, surrounded by a wall of mud, miserably cracked and
+dilapidated. The slender pickets that surmounted it were half broken
+down, and the gate dangled on its wooden hinges so loosely, that to
+open or shut it seemed likely to fling it down altogether. Two or three
+squalid Mexicans, with their broad hats, and their vile faces overgrown
+with hair, were lounging about the bank of the river in front of it.
+They disappeared as they saw us approach; and as we rode up to the gate
+a light active little figure came out to meet us. It was our old friend
+Richard. He had come from Fort Laramie on a trading expedition to Taos;
+but finding, when he reached the Pueblo, that the war would prevent his
+going farther, he was quietly waiting till the conquest of the country
+should allow him to proceed. He seemed to consider himself bound to do
+the honors of the place. Shaking us warmly by the hands, he led the way
+into the area.
+
+Here we saw his large Santa Fe wagons standing together. A few squaws
+and Spanish women, and a few Mexicans, as mean and miserable as the
+place itself, were lazily sauntering about. Richard conducted us to the
+state apartment of the Pueblo, a small mud room, very neatly
+finished, considering the material, and garnished with a crucifix, a
+looking-glass, a picture of the Virgin, and a rusty horse pistol. There
+were no chairs, but instead of them a number of chests and boxes
+ranged about the room. There was another room beyond, less sumptuously
+decorated, and here three or four Spanish girls, one of them very
+pretty, were baking cakes at a mud fireplace in the corner. They brought
+out a poncho, which they spread upon the floor by way of table-cloth.
+A supper, which seemed to us luxurious, was soon laid out upon it, and
+folded buffalo robes were placed around it to receive the guests. Two
+or three Americans, besides ourselves, were present. We sat down Turkish
+fashion, and began to inquire the news. Richard told us that, about
+three weeks before, General Kearny’s army had left Bent’s Fort to march
+against Santa Fe; that when last heard from they were approaching the
+mountainous defiles that led to the city. One of the Americans produced
+a dingy newspaper, containing an account of the battles of Palo Alto and
+Resaca de la Palma. While we were discussing these matters, the doorway
+was darkened by a tall, shambling fellow, who stood with his hands in
+his pockets taking a leisurely survey of the premises before he entered.
+He wore brown homespun pantaloons, much too short for his legs, and
+a pistol and bowie knife stuck in his belt. His head and one eye
+were enveloped in a huge bandage of white linen. Having completed his
+observations, he came slouching in and sat down on a chest. Eight or ten
+more of the same stamp followed, and very coolly arranging themselves
+about the room, began to stare at the company. Shaw and I looked at each
+other. We were forcibly reminded of the Oregon emigrants, though these
+unwelcome visitors had a certain glitter of the eye, and a compression
+of the lips, which distinguished them from our old acquaintances of the
+prairie. They began to catechise us at once, inquiring whence we had
+come, what we meant to do next, and what were our future prospects in
+life.
+
+The man with the bandaged head had met with an untoward accident a few
+days before. He was going down to the river to bring water, and was
+pushing through the young willows which covered the low ground, when he
+came unawares upon a grizzly bear, which, having just eaten a buffalo
+bull, had lain down to sleep off the meal. The bear rose on his hind
+legs, and gave the intruder such a blow with his paw that he laid his
+forehead entirely bare, clawed off the front of his scalp, and narrowly
+missed one of his eyes. Fortunately he was not in a very pugnacious
+mood, being surfeited with his late meal. The man’s companions, who were
+close behind, raised a shout and the bear walked away, crushing down the
+willows in his leisurely retreat.
+
+These men belonged to a party of Mormons, who, out of a well-grounded
+fear of the other emigrants, had postponed leaving the settlements until
+all the rest were gone. On account of this delay they did not reach Fort
+Laramie until it was too late to continue their journey to California.
+Hearing that there was good land at the head of the Arkansas, they
+crossed over under the guidance of Richard, and were now preparing to
+spend the winter at a spot about half a mile from the Pueblo.
+
+When we took leave of Richard, it was near sunset. Passing out of the
+gate, we could look down the little valley of the Arkansas; a beautiful
+scene, and doubly so to our eyes, so long accustomed to deserts and
+mountains. Tall woods lined the river, with green meadows on either
+hand; and high bluffs, quietly basking in the sunlight, flanked the
+narrow valley. A Mexican on horseback was driving a herd of cattle
+toward the gate, and our little white tent, which the men had pitched
+under a large tree in the meadow, made a very pleasing feature in the
+scene. When we reached it, we found that Richard had sent a Mexican to
+bring us an abundant supply of green corn and vegetables, and invite
+us to help ourselves to whatever we wished from the fields around the
+Pueblo.
+
+The inhabitants were in daily apprehensions of an inroad from more
+formidable consumers than ourselves. Every year at the time when the
+corn begins to ripen, the Arapahoes, to the number of several thousands,
+come and encamp around the Pueblo. The handful of white men, who are
+entirely at the mercy of this swarm of barbarians, choose to make a
+merit of necessity; they come forward very cordially, shake them by the
+hand, and intimate that the harvest is entirely at their disposal. The
+Arapahoes take them at their word, help themselves most liberally, and
+usually turn their horses into the cornfields afterward. They have the
+foresight, however, to leave enough of the crops untouched to serve as
+an inducement for planting the fields again for their benefit in the
+next spring.
+
+The human race in this part of the world is separated into three
+divisions, arranged in the order of their merits; white men, Indians,
+and Mexicans; to the latter of whom the honorable title of “whites” is
+by no means conceded.
+
+In spite of the warm sunset of that evening the next morning was a
+dreary and cheerless one. It rained steadily, clouds resting upon the
+very treetops. We crossed the river to visit the Mormon settlement. As
+we passed through the water, several trappers on horseback entered it
+from the other side. Their buckskin frocks were soaked through by the
+rain, and clung fast to their limbs with a most clammy and uncomfortable
+look. The water was trickling down their faces, and dropping from the
+ends of their rifles, and from the traps which each carried at the
+pommel of his saddle. Horses and all, they had a most disconsolate and
+woebegone appearance, which we could not help laughing at, forgetting
+how often we ourselves had been in a similar plight.
+
+After half an hour’s riding we saw the white wagons of the Mormons drawn
+up among the trees. Axes were sounding, trees were falling, and log-huts
+going up along the edge of the woods and upon the adjoining meadow.
+As we came up the Mormons left their work and seated themselves on
+the timber around us, when they began earnestly to discuss points
+of theology, complain of the ill-usage they had received from the
+“Gentiles,” and sound a lamentation over the loss of their great temple
+at Nauvoo. After remaining with them an hour we rode back to our camp,
+happy that the settlements had been delivered from the presence of such
+blind and desperate fanatics.
+
+On the morning after this we left the Pueblo for Bent’s Fort. The
+conduct of Raymond had lately been less satisfactory than before, and
+we had discharged him as soon as we arrived at the former place; so that
+the party, ourselves included, was now reduced to four. There was some
+uncertainty as to our future course. The trail between Bent’s Fort and
+the settlements, a distance computed at six hundred miles, was at this
+time in a dangerous state; for since the passage of General Kearny’s
+army, great numbers of hostile Indians, chiefly Pawnees and Comanches,
+had gathered about some parts of it. A little after this time they
+became so numerous and audacious, that scarcely a single party, however
+large, passed between the fort and the frontier without some token of
+their hostility. The newspapers of the time sufficiently display this
+state of things. Many men were killed, and great numbers of horses and
+mules carried off. Not long since I met with the gentleman, who, during
+the autumn, came from Santa Fe to Bent’s Fort, when he found a party
+of seventy men, who thought themselves too weak to go down to the
+settlements alone, and were waiting there for a re-enforcement. Though
+this excessive timidity fully proves the ignorance and credulity of
+the men, it may also evince the state of alarm which prevailed in the
+country. When we were there in the month of August, the danger had not
+become so great. There was nothing very attractive in the neighborhood.
+We supposed, moreover, that we might wait there half the winter without
+finding any party to go down with us; for Mr. Sublette and the others
+whom we had relied upon had, as Richard told us, already left Bent’s
+Fort. Thus far on our journey Fortune had kindly befriended us. We
+resolved therefore to take advantage of her gracious mood and trusting
+for a continuance of her favors, to set out with Henry and Delorier, and
+run the gauntlet of the Indians in the best way we could.
+
+Bent’s Fort stands on the river, about seventy-five miles below the
+Pueblo. At noon of the third day we arrived within three or four miles
+of it, pitched our tent under a tree, hung our looking-glasses against
+its trunk and having made our primitive toilet, rode toward the fort.
+We soon came in sight of it, for it is visible from a considerable
+distance, standing with its high clay walls in the midst of the
+scorching plains. It seemed as if a swarm of locusts had invaded the
+country. The grass for miles around was cropped close by the horses of
+General Kearny’s soldiery. When we came to the fort, we found that not
+only had the horses eaten up the grass, but their owners had made
+away with the stores of the little trading post; so that we had great
+difficulty in procuring the few articles which we required for our
+homeward journey. The army was gone, the life and bustle passed away,
+and the fort was a scene of dull and lazy tranquillity. A few invalid
+officers and soldiers sauntered about the area, which was oppressively
+hot; for the glaring sun was reflected down upon it from the high white
+walls around. The proprietors were absent, and we were received by Mr.
+Holt, who had been left in charge of the fort. He invited us to dinner,
+where, to our admiration, we found a table laid with a white cloth, with
+castors in the center and chairs placed around it. This unwonted repast
+concluded, we rode back to our camp.
+
+Here, as we lay smoking round the fire after supper, we saw through the
+dusk three men approaching from the direction of the fort. They rode up
+and seated themselves near us on the ground. The foremost was a tall,
+well-formed man, with a face and manner such as inspire confidence at
+once. He wore a broad hat of felt, slouching and tattered, and the rest
+of his attire consisted of a frock and leggings of buckskin, rubbed with
+the yellow clay found among the mountains. At the heel of one of his
+moccasins was buckled a huge iron spur, with a rowel five or six inches
+in diameter. His horse, who stood quietly looking over his head, had a
+rude Mexican saddle, covered with a shaggy bearskin, and furnished with
+a pair of wooden stirrups of most preposterous size. The next man was a
+sprightly, active little fellow, about five feet and a quarter high, but
+very strong and compact. His face was swarthy as a Mexican’s and covered
+with a close, curly black beard. An old greasy calico handkerchief was
+tied round his head, and his close buckskin dress was blackened and
+polished by grease and hard service. The last who came up was a large
+strong man, dressed in the coarse homespun of the frontiers, who dragged
+his long limbs over the ground as if he were too lazy for the effort. He
+had a sleepy gray eye, a retreating chin, an open mouth and a
+protruding upper lip, which gave him an air of exquisite indolence
+and helplessness. He was armed with an old United States yager, which
+redoubtable weapon, though he could never hit his mark with it, he was
+accustomed to cherish as the very sovereign of firearms.
+
+The first two men belonged to a party who had just come from California
+with a large band of horses, which they had disposed of at Bent’s
+Fort. Munroe, the taller of the two, was from Iowa. He was an excellent
+fellow, open, warm-hearted and intelligent. Jim Gurney, the short man,
+was a Boston sailor, who had come in a trading vessel to California, and
+taken the fancy to return across the continent. The journey had already
+made him an expert “mountain man,” and he presented the extraordinary
+phenomenon of a sailor who understood how to manage a horse. The third
+of our visitors named Ellis, was a Missourian, who had come out with a
+party of Oregon emigrants, but having got as far as Bridge’s Fort, he
+had fallen home-sick, or as Jim averred, love-sick--and Ellis was just
+the man to be balked in a love adventure. He thought proper to join the
+California men and return homeward in their company.
+
+They now requested that they might unite with our party, and make the
+journey to the settlements in company with us. We readily assented, for
+we liked the appearance of the first two men, and were very glad to
+gain so efficient a re-enforcement. We told them to meet us on the next
+evening at a spot on the river side, about six miles below the fort.
+Having smoked a pipe together, our new allies left us, and we lay down
+to sleep.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+TETE ROUGE, THE VOLUNTEER
+
+
+The next morning, having directed Delorier to repair with his cart
+to the place of meeting, we came again to the fort to make some
+arrangements for the journey. After completing these we sat down under a
+sort of perch, to smoke with some Cheyenne Indians whom we found there.
+In a few minutes we saw an extraordinary little figure approach us in a
+military dress. He had a small, round countenance, garnished about
+the eyes with the kind of wrinkles commonly known as crow’s feet and
+surrounded by an abundant crop of red curls, with a little cap resting
+on the top of them. Altogether, he had the look of a man more conversant
+with mint juleps and oyster suppers than with the hardships of prairie
+service. He came up to us and entreated that we would take him home to
+the settlements, saying that unless he went with us he should have to
+stay all winter at the fort. We liked our petitioner’s appearance so
+little that we excused ourselves from complying with his request. At
+this he begged us so hard to take pity on him, looked so disconsolate,
+and told so lamentable a story that at last we consented, though not
+without many misgivings.
+
+The rugged Anglo-Saxon of our new recruit’s real name proved utterly
+unmanageable on the lips of our French attendants, and Henry Chatillon,
+after various abortive attempts to pronounce it, one day coolly
+christened him Tete Rouge, in honor of his red curls. He had at
+different times been clerk of a Mississippi steamboat, and agent in
+a trading establishment at Nauvoo, besides filling various other
+capacities, in all of which he had seen much more of “life” than was
+good for him. In the spring, thinking that a summer’s campaign would
+be an agreeable recreation, he had joined a company of St. Louis
+volunteers.
+
+“There were three of us,” said Tete Rouge, “me and Bill Stevens and John
+Hopkins. We thought we would just go out with the army, and when we had
+conquered the country, we would get discharged and take our pay, you
+know, and go down to Mexico. They say there is plenty of fun going on
+there. Then we could go back to New Orleans by way of Vera Cruz.”
+
+But Tete Rouge, like many a stouter volunteer, had reckoned without
+his host. Fighting Mexicans was a less amusing occupation than he had
+supposed, and his pleasure trip was disagreeably interrupted by brain
+fever, which attacked him when about halfway to Bent’s Fort. He jolted
+along through the rest of the journey in a baggage wagon. When they came
+to the fort he was taken out and left there, together with the rest of
+the sick. Bent’s Fort does not supply the best accommodations for an
+invalid. Tete Rouge’s sick chamber was a little mud room, where he and a
+companion attacked by the same disease were laid together, with nothing
+but a buffalo robe between them and the ground. The assistant surgeon’s
+deputy visited them once a day and brought them each a huge dose of
+calomel, the only medicine, according to his surviving victim, which he
+was acquainted with.
+
+Tete Rouge woke one morning, and turning to his companion, saw his eyes
+fixed upon the beams above with the glassy stare of a dead man. At this
+the unfortunate volunteer lost his senses outright. In spite of the
+doctor, however, he eventually recovered; though between the brain fever
+and the calomel, his mind, originally none of the strongest, was so much
+shaken that it had not quite recovered its balance when we came to the
+fort. In spite of the poor fellow’s tragic story, there was something
+so ludicrous in his appearance, and the whimsical contrast between his
+military dress and his most unmilitary demeanor, that we could not help
+smiling at them. We asked him if he had a gun. He said they had taken
+it from him during his illness, and he had not seen it since; “but
+perhaps,” he observed, looking at me with a beseeching air, “you will
+lend me one of your big pistols if we should meet with any Indians.” I
+next inquired if he had a horse; he declared he had a magnificent one,
+and at Shaw’s request a Mexican led him in for inspection. He exhibited
+the outline of a good horse, but his eyes were sunk in the sockets, and
+every one of his ribs could be counted. There were certain marks too
+about his shoulders, which could be accounted for by the circumstance,
+that during Tete Rouge’s illness, his companions had seized upon the
+insulted charger, and harnessed him to a cannon along with the draft
+horses. To Tete Rouge’s astonishment we recommended him by all means to
+exchange the horse, if he could, for a mule. Fortunately the people at
+the fort were so anxious to get rid of him that they were willing to
+make some sacrifice to effect the object, and he succeeded in getting a
+tolerable mule in exchange for the broken-down steed.
+
+A man soon appeared at the gate, leading in the mule by a cord which he
+placed in the hands of Tete Rouge, who, being somewhat afraid of his new
+acquisition, tried various flatteries and blandishments to induce her
+to come forward. The mule, knowing that she was expected to advance,
+stopped short in consequence, and stood fast as a rock, looking straight
+forward with immovable composure. Being stimulated by a blow from behind
+she consented to move, and walked nearly to the other side of the fort
+before she stopped again. Hearing the by-standers laugh, Tete Rouge
+plucked up spirit and tugged hard at the rope. The mule jerked backward,
+spun herself round, and made a dash for the gate. Tete Rouge, who clung
+manfully to the rope, went whisking through the air for a few rods, when
+he let go and stood with his mouth open, staring after the mule, who
+galloped away over the prairie. She was soon caught and brought back
+by a Mexican, who mounted a horse and went in pursuit of her with his
+lasso.
+
+Having thus displayed his capacity for prairie travel, Tete Rouge
+proceeded to supply himself with provisions for the journey, and with
+this view he applied to a quartermaster’s assistant who was in the fort.
+This official had a face as sour as vinegar, being in a state of chronic
+indignation because he had been left behind the army. He was as anxious
+as the rest to get rid of Tete Rouge. So, producing a rusty key, he
+opened a low door which led to a half-subterranean apartment, into which
+the two disappeared together. After some time they came out again, Tete
+Rouge greatly embarrassed by a multiplicity of paper parcels containing
+the different articles of his forty days’ rations. They were consigned
+to the care of Delorier, who about that time passed by with the cart
+on his way to the appointed place of meeting with Munroe and his
+companions.
+
+We next urged Tete Rouge to provide himself, if he could, with a gun.
+He accordingly made earnest appeals to the charity of various persons
+in the fort, but totally without success, a circumstance which did not
+greatly disturb us, since in the event of a skirmish he would be much
+more apt to do mischief to himself or his friends than to the enemy.
+When all these arrangements were completed we saddled our horses and
+were preparing to leave the fort, when looking round we discovered that
+our new associate was in fresh trouble. A man was holding the mule for
+him in the middle of the fort, while he tried to put the saddle on her
+back, but she kept stepping sideways and moving round and round in
+a circle until he was almost in despair. It required some assistance
+before all his difficulties could be overcome. At length he clambered
+into the black war saddle on which he was to have carried terror into
+the ranks of the Mexicans.
+
+“Get up,” said Tete Rouge, “come now, go along, will you.”
+
+The mule walked deliberately forward out of the gate. Her recent conduct
+had inspired him with so much awe that he never dared to touch her with
+his whip. We trotted forward toward the place of meeting, but before he
+had gone far we saw that Tete Rouge’s mule, who perfectly understood
+her rider, had stopped and was quietly grazing, in spite of his
+protestations, at some distance behind. So getting behind him, we drove
+him and the contumacious mule before us, until we could see through the
+twilight the gleaming of a distant fire. Munroe, Jim, and Ellis were
+lying around it; their saddles, packs, and weapons were scattered about
+and their horses picketed near them. Delorier was there too with our
+little cart. Another fire was soon blazing high. We invited our new
+allies to take a cup of coffee with us. When both the others had gone
+over to their side of the camp, Jim Gurney still stood by the blaze,
+puffing hard at his little black pipe, as short and weather-beaten as
+himself.
+
+“Well!” he said, “here are eight of us; we’ll call it six--for them two
+boobies, Ellis over yonder, and that new man of yours, won’t count for
+anything. We’ll get through well enough, never fear for that, unless the
+Comanches happen to get foul of us.”
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+INDIAN ALARMS
+
+
+We began our journey for the frontier settlements on the 27th of August,
+and certainly a more ragamuffin cavalcade never was seen on the banks of
+the Upper Arkansas. Of the large and fine horses with which we had left
+the frontier in the spring, not one remained; we had supplied their
+place with the rough breed of the prairie, as hardy as mules and almost
+as ugly; we had also with us a number of the latter detestable animals.
+In spite of their strength and hardihood, several of the band were
+already worn down by hard service and hard fare, and as none of them
+were shod, they were fast becoming foot-sore. Every horse and mule had
+a cord of twisted bull-hide coiled around his neck, which by no
+means added to the beauty of his appearance. Our saddles and all our
+equipments were by this time lamentably worn and battered, and our
+weapons had become dull and rusty. The dress of the riders fully
+corresponded with the dilapidated furniture of our horses, and of the
+whole party none made a more disreputable appearance than my friend and
+I. Shaw had for an upper garment an old red flannel shirt, flying open
+in front and belted around him like a frock; while I, in absence of
+other clothing, was attired in a time-worn suit of leather.
+
+Thus, happy and careless as so many beggars, we crept slowly from day to
+day along the monotonous banks of the Arkansas. Tete Rouge gave constant
+trouble, for he could never catch his mule, saddle her, or indeed do
+anything else without assistance. Every day he had some new ailment,
+real or imaginary, to complain of. At one moment he would be woebegone
+and disconsolate, and the next he would be visited with a violent flow
+of spirits, to which he could only give vent by incessant laughing,
+whistling, and telling stories. When other resources failed, we used to
+amuse ourselves by tormenting him; a fair compensation for the trouble
+he cost us. Tete Rouge rather enjoyed being laughed at, for he was
+an odd compound of weakness, eccentricity, and good-nature. He made a
+figure worthy of a painter as he paced along before us, perched on the
+back of his mule, and enveloped in a huge buffalo-robe coat, which some
+charitable person had given him at the fort. This extraordinary garment,
+which would have contained two men of his size, he chose, for some
+reason best known to himself, to wear inside out, and he never took it
+off, even in the hottest weather. It was fluttering all over with seams
+and tatters, and the hide was so old and rotten that it broke out every
+day in a new place. Just at the top of it a large pile of red curls was
+visible, with his little cap set jauntily upon one side, to give him
+a military air. His seat in the saddle was no less remarkable than his
+person and equipment. He pressed one leg close against his mule’s side,
+and thrust the other out at an angle of 45 degrees. His pantaloons were
+decorated with a military red stripe, of which he was extremely vain;
+but being much too short, the whole length of his boots was usually
+visible below them. His blanket, loosely rolled up into a large bundle,
+dangled at the back of his saddle, where he carried it tied with a
+string. Four or five times a day it would fall to the ground. Every few
+minutes he would drop his pipe, his knife, his flint and steel, or a
+piece of tobacco, and have to scramble down to pick them up. In doing
+this he would contrive to get in everybody’s way; and as the most of the
+party were by no means remarkable for a fastidious choice of language, a
+storm of anathemas would be showered upon him, half in earnest and half
+in jest, until Tete Rouge would declare that there was no comfort in
+life, and that he never saw such fellows before.
+
+Only a day or two after leaving Bent’s Fort Henry Chatillon rode forward
+to hunt, and took Ellis along with him. After they had been some time
+absent we saw them coming down the hill, driving three dragoon-horses,
+which had escaped from their owners on the march, or perhaps had given
+out and been abandoned. One of them was in tolerable condition, but the
+others were much emaciated and severely bitten by the wolves. Reduced as
+they were we carried two of them to the settlements, and Henry exchanged
+the third with the Arapahoes for an excellent mule.
+
+On the day after, when we had stopped to rest at noon, a long train of
+Santa Fe wagons came up and trailed slowly past us in their picturesque
+procession. They belonged to a trader named Magoffin, whose brother,
+with a number of other men, came over and sat down around us on the
+grass. The news they brought was not of the most pleasing complexion.
+According to their accounts, the trail below was in a very dangerous
+state. They had repeatedly detected Indians prowling at night around
+their camps; and the large party which had left Bent’s Fort a few weeks
+previous to our own departure had been attacked, and a man named Swan,
+from Massachusetts, had been killed. His companions had buried the body;
+but when Magoffin found his grave, which was near a place called the
+Caches, the Indians had dug up and scalped him, and the wolves had
+shockingly mangled his remains. As an offset to this intelligence, they
+gave us the welcome information that the buffalo were numerous at a few
+days’ journey below.
+
+On the next afternoon, as we moved along the bank of the river, we saw
+the white tops of wagons on the horizon. It was some hours before we
+met them, when they proved to be a train of clumsy ox-wagons, quite
+different from the rakish vehicles of the Santa Fe traders, and loaded
+with government stores for the troops. They all stopped, and the drivers
+gathered around us in a crowd. I thought that the whole frontier might
+have been ransacked in vain to furnish men worse fitted to meet the
+dangers of the prairie. Many of them were mere boys, fresh from the
+plow, and devoid of knowledge and experience. In respect to the state
+of the trail, they confirmed all that the Santa Fe men had told us.
+In passing between the Pawnee Fork and the Caches, their sentinels had
+fired every night at real or imaginary Indians. They said also that
+Ewing, a young Kentuckian in the party that had gone down before us, had
+shot an Indian who was prowling at evening about the camp. Some of them
+advised us to turn back, and others to hasten forward as fast as we
+could; but they all seemed in such a state of feverish anxiety, and so
+little capable of cool judgment, that we attached slight weight to what
+they said. They next gave us a more definite piece of intelligence;
+a large village of Arapahoes was encamped on the river below. They
+represented them to be quite friendly; but some distinction was to be
+made between a party of thirty men, traveling with oxen, which are of
+no value in an Indian’s eyes and a mere handful like ourselves, with a
+tempting band of mules and horses. This story of the Arapahoes therefore
+caused us some anxiety.
+
+Just after leaving the government wagons, as Shaw and I were riding
+along a narrow passage between the river bank and a rough hill that
+pressed close upon it, we heard Tete Rouge’s voice behind us. “Hallo!”
+ he called out; “I say, stop the cart just for a minute, will you?”
+
+“What’s the matter, Tete?” asked Shaw, as he came riding up to us with a
+grin of exultation. He had a bottle of molasses in one hand, and a large
+bundle of hides on the saddle before him, containing, as he triumphantly
+informed us, sugar, biscuits, coffee, and rice. These supplies he had
+obtained by a stratagem on which he greatly plumed himself, and he was
+extremely vexed and astonished that we did not fall in with his views of
+the matter. He had told Coates, the master-wagoner, that the commissary
+at the fort had given him an order for sick-rations, directed to the
+master of any government train which he might meet upon the road. This
+order he had unfortunately lost, but he hoped that the rations would
+not be refused on that account, as he was suffering from coarse fare and
+needed them very much. As soon as he came to camp that night Tete Rouge
+repaired to the box at the back of the cart, where Delorier used to
+keep his culinary apparatus, took possession of a saucepan, and after
+building a little fire of his own, set to work preparing a meal out of
+his ill-gotten booty. This done, he seized on a tin plate and spoon, and
+sat down under the cart to regale himself. His preliminary repast did
+not at all prejudice his subsequent exertions at supper; where, in spite
+of his miniature dimensions, he made a better figure than any of us.
+Indeed, about this time his appetite grew quite voracious. He began to
+thrive wonderfully. His small body visibly expanded, and his cheeks,
+which when we first took him were rather yellow and cadaverous, now
+dilated in a wonderful manner, and became ruddy in proportion. Tete
+Rouge, in short, began to appear like another man.
+
+Early in the afternoon of the next day, looking along the edge of the
+horizon in front, we saw that at one point it was faintly marked with
+pale indentations, like the teeth of a saw. The lodges of the Arapahoes,
+rising between us and the sky, caused this singular appearance. It
+wanted still two or three hours of sunset when we came opposite their
+camp. There were full two hundred lodges standing in the midst of a
+grassy meadow at some distance beyond the river, while for a mile around
+and on either bank of the Arkansas were scattered some fifteen hundred
+horses and mules grazing together in bands, or wandering singly about
+the prairie. The whole were visible at once, for the vast expanse was
+unbroken by hills, and there was not a tree or a bush to intercept the
+view.
+
+Here and there walked an Indian, engaged in watching the horses. No
+sooner did we see them than Tete Rouge begged Delorier to stop the cart
+and hand him his little military jacket, which was stowed away there. In
+this he instantly invested himself, having for once laid the old buffalo
+coat aside, assumed a most martial posture in the saddle, set his cap
+over his left eye with an air of defiance, and earnestly entreated that
+somebody would lend him a gun or a pistol only for half an hour. Being
+called upon to explain these remarkable proceedings, Tete Rouge observed
+that he knew from experience what effect the presence of a military man
+in his uniform always had upon the mind of an Indian, and he thought the
+Arapahoes ought to know that there was a soldier in the party.
+
+Meeting Arapahoes here on the Arkansas was a very different thing from
+meeting the same Indians among their native mountains. There was another
+circumstance in our favor. General Kearny had seen them a few weeks
+before, as he came up the river with his army, and renewing his threats
+of the previous year, he told them that if they ever again touched
+the hair of a white man’s head he would exterminate their nation. This
+placed them for the time in an admirable frame of mind, and the effect
+of his menaces had not yet disappeared. I was anxious to see the village
+and its inhabitants. We thought it also our best policy to visit them
+openly, as if unsuspicious of any hostile design; and Shaw and I, with
+Henry Chatillon, prepared to cross the river. The rest of the party
+meanwhile moved forward as fast as they could, in order to get as far as
+possible from our suspicious neighbors before night came on.
+
+The Arkansas at this point, and for several hundred miles below, is
+nothing but a broad sand-bed, over which a few scanty threads of water
+are swiftly gliding, now and then expanding into wide shallows. At
+several places, during the autumn, the water sinks into the sand and
+disappears altogether. At this season, were it not for the numerous
+quicksands, the river might be forded almost anywhere without
+difficulty, though its channel is often a quarter of a mile wide. Our
+horses jumped down the bank, and wading through the water, or galloping
+freely over the hard sand-beds, soon reached the other side. Here, as we
+were pushing through the tall grass, we saw several Indians not far
+off; one of them waited until we came up, and stood for some moments
+in perfect silence before us, looking at us askance with his little
+snakelike eyes. Henry explained by signs what we wanted, and the Indian,
+gathering his buffalo robe about his shoulders, led the way toward the
+village without speaking a word.
+
+The language of the Arapahoes is so difficult, and its pronunciations so
+harsh and guttural, that no white man, it is said, has ever been able
+to master it. Even Maxwell the trader, who has been most among them, is
+compelled to resort to the curious sign language common to most of the
+prairie tribes. With this Henry Chatillon was perfectly acquainted.
+
+Approaching the village, we found the ground all around it strewn with
+great piles of waste buffalo meat in incredible quantities. The lodges
+were pitched in a very wide circle. They resembled those of the Dakota
+in everything but cleanliness and neatness. Passing between two of them,
+we entered the great circular area of the camp, and instantly hundreds
+of Indians, men, women and children, came flocking out of their
+habitations to look at us; at the same time, the dogs all around the
+village set up a fearful baying. Our Indian guide walked toward the
+lodge of the chief. Here we dismounted; and loosening the trail-ropes
+from our horses’ necks, held them securely, and sat down before the
+entrance, with our rifles laid across our laps. The chief came out
+and shook us by the hand. He was a mean-looking fellow, very tall,
+thin-visaged, and sinewy, like the rest of the nation, and with scarcely
+a vestige of clothing. We had not been seated half a minute before a
+multitude of Indians came crowding around us from every part of the
+village, and we were shut in by a dense wall of savage faces. Some of
+the Indians crouched around us on the ground; others again sat behind
+them; others, stooping, looked over their heads; while many more stood
+crowded behind, stretching themselves upward, and peering over each
+other’s shoulders, to get a view of us. I looked in vain among this
+multitude of faces to discover one manly or generous expression; all
+were wolfish, sinister, and malignant, and their complexions, as well
+as their features, unlike those of the Dakota, were exceedingly bad.
+The chief, who sat close to the entrance, called to a squaw within the
+lodge, who soon came out and placed a wooden bowl of meat before us. To
+our surprise, however, no pipe was offered. Having tasted of the meat as
+a matter of form, I began to open a bundle of presents--tobacco, knives,
+vermilion, and other articles which I had brought with me. At this there
+was a grin on every countenance in the rapacious crowd; their eyes began
+to glitter, and long thin arms were eagerly stretched toward us on all
+sides to receive the gifts.
+
+The Arapahoes set great value upon their shields, which they transmit
+carefully from father to son. I wished to get one of them; and
+displaying a large piece of scarlet cloth, together with some tobacco
+and a knife, I offered them to any one who would bring me what I wanted.
+After some delay a tolerable shield was produced. They were very anxious
+to know what we meant to do with it, and Henry told them that we were
+going to fight their enemies, the Pawnees. This instantly produced a
+visible impression in our favor, which was increased by the distribution
+of the presents. Among these was a large paper of awls, a gift
+appropriate to the women; and as we were anxious to see the beauties
+of the Arapahoe village Henry requested that they might be called to
+receive them. A warrior gave a shout as if he were calling a pack of
+dogs together. The squaws, young and old, hags of eighty and girls of
+sixteen, came running with screams and laughter out of the lodges; and
+as the men gave way for them they gathered round us and stretched out
+their arms, grinning with delight, their native ugliness considerably
+enhanced by the excitement of the moment.
+
+Mounting our horses, which during the whole interview we had held close
+to us, we prepared to leave the Arapahoes. The crowd fell back on each
+side and stood looking on. When we were half across the camp an idea
+occurred to us. The Pawnees were probably in the neighborhood of the
+Caches; we might tell the Arapahoes of this and instigate them to send
+down a war party and cut them off, while we ourselves could remain
+behind for a while and hunt the buffalo. At first thought this plan of
+setting our enemies to destroy one another seemed to us a masterpiece of
+policy; but we immediately recollected that should we meet the Arapahoe
+warriors on the river below they might prove quite as dangerous as
+the Pawnees themselves. So rejecting our plan as soon as it presented
+itself, we passed out of the village on the farther side. We urged our
+horses rapidly through the tall grass which rose to their necks. Several
+Indians were walking through it at a distance, their heads just visible
+above its waving surface. It bore a kind of seed as sweet and nutritious
+as oats; and our hungry horses, in spite of whip and rein, could not
+resist the temptation of snatching at this unwonted luxury as we passed
+along. When about a mile from the village I turned and looked back over
+the undulating ocean of grass. The sun was just set; the western sky was
+all in a glow, and sharply defined against it, on the extreme verge of
+the plain, stood the numerous lodges of the Arapahoe camp.
+
+Reaching the bank of the river, we followed it for some distance
+farther, until we discerned through the twilight the white covering
+of our little cart on the opposite bank. When we reached it we found
+a considerable number of Indians there before us. Four or five of them
+were seated in a row upon the ground, looking like so many half-starved
+vultures. Tete Rouge, in his uniform, was holding a close colloquy with
+another by the side of the cart. His gesticulations, his attempts
+at sign-making, and the contortions of his countenance, were most
+ludicrous; and finding all these of no avail, he tried to make the
+Indian understand him by repeating English words very loudly and
+distinctly again and again. The Indian sat with his eye fixed steadily
+upon him, and in spite of the rigid immobility of his features, it was
+clear at a glance that he perfectly understood his military companion’s
+character and thoroughly despised him. The exhibition was more amusing
+than politic, and Tete Rouge was directed to finish what he had to say
+as soon as possible. Thus rebuked, he crept under the cart and sat down
+there; Henry Chatillon stopped to look at him in his retirement, and
+remarked in his quiet manner that an Indian would kill ten such men and
+laugh all the time.
+
+One by one our visitors rose and stalked away. As the darkness thickened
+we were saluted by dismal sounds. The wolves are incredibly numerous
+in this part of the country, and the offal around the Arapahoe camp had
+drawn such multitudes of them together that several hundred were howling
+in concert in our immediate neighborhood. There was an island in
+the river, or rather an oasis in the midst of the sands at about the
+distance of a gunshot, and here they seemed gathered in the greatest
+numbers. A horrible discord of low mournful wailings, mingled with
+ferocious howls, arose from it incessantly for several hours after
+sunset. We could distinctly see the wolves running about the prairie
+within a few rods of our fire, or bounding over the sand-beds of the
+river and splashing through the water. There was not the slightest
+danger to be feared from them, for they are the greatest cowards on the
+prairie.
+
+In respect to the human wolves in our neighborhood, we felt much less
+at our ease. We seldom erected our tent except in bad weather, and that
+night each man spread his buffalo robe upon the ground with his loaded
+rifle laid at his side or clasped in his arms. Our horses were picketed
+so close around us that one of them repeatedly stepped over me as I lay.
+We were not in the habit of placing a guard, but every man that night
+was anxious and watchful; there was little sound sleeping in camp, and
+some one of the party was on his feet during the greater part of the
+time. For myself, I lay alternately waking and dozing until midnight.
+Tete Rouge was reposing close to the river bank, and about this time,
+when half asleep and half awake, I was conscious that he shifted his
+position and crept on all-fours under the cart. Soon after I fell into
+a sound sleep from which I was aroused by a hand shaking me by the
+shoulder. Looking up, I saw Tete Rouge stooping over me with his face
+quite pale and his eyes dilated to their utmost expansion.
+
+“What’s the matter?” said I.
+
+Tete Rouge declared that as he lay on the river bank, something caught
+his eye which excited his suspicions. So creeping under the cart for
+safety’s sake he sat there and watched, when he saw two Indians, wrapped
+in white robes, creep up the bank, seize upon two horses and lead them
+off. He looked so frightened, and told his story in such a disconnected
+manner, that I did not believe him, and was unwilling to alarm the
+party. Still it might be true, and in that case the matter required
+instant attention. There would be no time for examination, and so
+directing Tete Rouge to show me which way the Indians had gone, I took
+my rifle, in obedience to a thoughtless impulse, and left the camp. I
+followed the river back for two or three hundred yards, listening and
+looking anxiously on every side. In the dark prairie on the right I
+could discern nothing to excite alarm; and in the dusky bed of the
+river, a wolf was bounding along in a manner which no Indian could
+imitate. I returned to the camp, and when within sight of it, saw that
+the whole party was aroused. Shaw called out to me that he had counted
+the horses, and that every one of them was in his place. Tete Rouge,
+being examined as to what he had seen, only repeated his former story
+with many asseverations, and insisted that two horses were certainly
+carried off. At this Jim Gurney declared that he was crazy; Tete Rouge
+indignantly denied the charge, on which Jim appealed to us. As we
+declined to give our judgment on so delicate a matter, the dispute grew
+hot between Tete Rouge and his accuser, until he was directed to go to
+bed and not alarm the camp again if he saw the whole Arapahoe village
+coming.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+THE CHASE
+
+
+The country before us was now thronged with buffalo, and a sketch of the
+manner of hunting them will not be out of place. There are two methods
+commonly practiced, “running” and “approaching.” The chase on horseback,
+which goes by the name of “running,” is the more violent and dashing
+mode of the two. Indeed, of all American wild sports, this is the
+wildest. Once among the buffalo, the hunter, unless long use has made
+him familiar with the situation, dashes forward in utter recklessness
+and self-abandonment. He thinks of nothing, cares for nothing but
+the game; his mind is stimulated to the highest pitch, yet intensely
+concentrated on one object. In the midst of the flying herd, where the
+uproar and the dust are thickest, it never wavers for a moment; he drops
+the rein and abandons his horse to his furious career; he levels his
+gun, the report sounds faint amid the thunder of the buffalo; and when
+his wounded enemy leaps in vain fury upon him, his heart thrills with
+a feeling like the fierce delight of the battlefield. A practiced and
+skillful hunter, well mounted, will sometimes kill five or six cows in
+a single chase, loading his gun again and again as his horse rushes
+through the tumult. An exploit like this is quite beyond the capacities
+of a novice. In attacking a small band of buffalo, or in separating a
+single animal from the herd and assailing it apart from the rest, there
+is less excitement and less danger. With a bold and well trained horse
+the hunter may ride so close to the buffalo that as they gallop side by
+side he may reach over and touch him with his hand; nor is there much
+danger in this as long as the buffalo’s strength and breath continue
+unabated; but when he becomes tired and can no longer run at ease, when
+his tongue lolls out and foam flies from his jaws, then the hunter had
+better keep at a more respectful distance; the distressed brute may turn
+upon him at any instant; and especially at the moment when he fires his
+gun. The wounded buffalo springs at his enemy; the horse leaps violently
+aside; and then the hunter has need of a tenacious seat in the saddle,
+for if he is thrown to the ground there is no hope for him. When he sees
+his attack defeated the buffalo resumes his flight, but if the shot be
+well directed he soon stops; for a few moments he stands still, then
+totters and falls heavily upon the prairie.
+
+The chief difficulty in running buffalo, as it seems to me, is that of
+loading the gun or pistol at full gallop. Many hunters for convenience’
+sake carry three or four bullets in the mouth; the powder is poured
+down the muzzle of the piece, the bullet dropped in after it, the stock
+struck hard upon the pommel of the saddle, and the work is done. The
+danger of this method is obvious. Should the blow on the pommel fail to
+send the bullet home, or should the latter, in the act of aiming, start
+from its place and roll toward the muzzle, the gun would probably burst
+in discharging. Many a shattered hand and worse casualties besides have
+been the result of such an accident. To obviate it, some hunters make
+use of a ramrod, usually hung by a string from the neck, but this
+materially increases the difficulty of loading. The bows and arrows
+which the Indians use in running buffalo have many advantages over fire
+arms, and even white men occasionally employ them.
+
+The danger of the chase arises not so much from the onset of the wounded
+animal as from the nature of the ground which the hunter must ride
+over. The prairie does not always present a smooth, level, and uniform
+surface; very often it is broken with hills and hollows, intersected by
+ravines, and in the remoter parts studded by the stiff wild-sage bushes.
+The most formidable obstructions, however, are the burrows of wild
+animals, wolves, badgers, and particularly prairie dogs, with whose
+holes the ground for a very great extent is frequently honeycombed.
+In the blindness of the chase the hunter rushes over it unconscious of
+danger; his horse, at full career, thrusts his leg deep into one of the
+burrows; the bone snaps, the rider is hurled forward to the ground and
+probably killed. Yet accidents in buffalo running happen less frequently
+than one would suppose; in the recklessness of the chase, the hunter
+enjoys all the impunity of a drunken man, and may ride in safety over
+the gullies and declivities where, should he attempt to pass in his
+sober senses, he would infallibly break his neck.
+
+The method of “approaching,” being practiced on foot, has many
+advantages over that of “running”; in the former, one neither breaks
+down his horse nor endangers his own life; instead of yielding to
+excitement he must be cool, collected, and watchful; he must understand
+the buffalo, observe the features of the country and the course of the
+wind, and be well skilled, moreover, in using the rifle. The buffalo are
+strange animals; sometimes they are so stupid and infatuated that a man
+may walk up to them in full sight on the open prairie, and even shoot
+several of their number before the rest will think it necessary to
+retreat. Again at another moment they will be so shy and wary, that in
+order to approach them the utmost skill, experience, and judgment are
+necessary. Kit Carson, I believe, stands pre-eminent in running
+buffalo; in approaching, no man living can bear away the palm from Henry
+Chatillon.
+
+To resume the story: After Tete Rouge had alarmed the camp, no further
+disturbance occurred during the night. The Arapahoes did not attempt
+mischief, or if they did the wakefulness of the party deterred them
+from effecting their purpose. The next day was one of activity and
+excitement, for about ten o’clock the men in advance shouted the
+gladdening cry of “Buffalo, buffalo!” and in the hollow of the prairie
+just below us, a band of bulls were grazing. The temptation was
+irresistible, and Shaw and I rode down upon them. We were badly mounted
+on our traveling horses, but by hard lashing we overtook them, and
+Shaw, running alongside of a bull, shot into him both balls of his
+double-barreled gun. Looking round as I galloped past, I saw the bull in
+his mortal fury rushing again and again upon his antagonist, whose
+horse constantly leaped aside, and avoided the onset. My chase was more
+protracted, but at length I ran close to the bull and killed him with
+my pistols. Cutting off the tails of our victims by way of trophy, we
+rejoined the party in about a quarter of an hour after we left it.
+Again and again that morning rang out the same welcome cry of “Buffalo,
+buffalo!” Every few moments in the broad meadows along the river, we
+would see bands of bulls, who, raising their shaggy heads, would gaze in
+stupid amazement at the approaching horsemen, and then breaking into a
+clumsy gallop, would file off in a long line across the trail in front,
+toward the rising prairie on the left. At noon, the whole plain before
+us was alive with thousands of buffalo--bulls, cows, and calves--all
+moving rapidly as we drew near; and far-off beyond the river the
+swelling prairie was darkened with them to the very horizon. The party
+was in gayer spirits than ever. We stopped for a nooning near a grove of
+trees by the river side.
+
+“Tongues and hump ribs to-morrow,” said Shaw, looking with contempt at
+the venison steaks which Delorier placed before us. Our meal finished,
+we lay down under a temporary awning to sleep. A shout from Henry
+Chatillon aroused us, and we saw him standing on the cartwheel
+stretching his tall figure to its full height while he looked toward the
+prairie beyond the river. Following the direction of his eyes we could
+clearly distinguish a large dark object, like the black shadow of a
+cloud, passing rapidly over swell after swell of the distant plain;
+behind it followed another of similar appearance though smaller. Its
+motion was more rapid, and it drew closer and closer to the first. It
+was the hunters of the Arapahoe camp pursuing a band of buffalo. Shaw
+and I hastily sought and saddled our best horses, and went plunging
+through sand and water to the farther bank. We were too late. The
+hunters had already mingled with the herd, and the work of slaughter was
+nearly over. When we reached the ground we found it strewn far and
+near with numberless black carcasses, while the remnants of the herd,
+scattered in all directions, were flying away in terror, and the Indians
+still rushing in pursuit. Many of the hunters, however, remained upon
+the spot, and among the rest was our yesterday’s acquaintance, the chief
+of the village. He had alighted by the side of a cow, into which he
+had shot five or six arrows, and his squaw, who had followed him on
+horseback to the hunt, was giving him a draught of water out of a
+canteen, purchased or plundered from some volunteer soldier. Recrossing
+the river we overtook the party, who were already on their way.
+
+We had scarcely gone a mile when an imposing spectacle presented itself.
+From the river bank on the right, away over the swelling prairie on the
+left, and in front as far as we could see, extended one vast host of
+buffalo. The outskirts of the herd were within a quarter of a mile. In
+many parts they were crowded so densely together that in the distance
+their rounded backs presented a surface of uniform blackness; but
+elsewhere they were more scattered, and from amid the multitude rose
+little columns of dust where the buffalo were rolling on the ground.
+Here and there a great confusion was perceptible, where a battle was
+going forward among the bulls. We could distinctly see them rushing
+against each other, and hear the clattering of their horns and their
+hoarse bellowing. Shaw was riding at some distance in advance, with
+Henry Chatillon; I saw him stop and draw the leather covering from his
+gun. Indeed, with such a sight before us, but one thing could be thought
+of. That morning I had used pistols in the chase. I had now a mind to
+try the virtue of a gun. Delorier had one, and I rode up to the side of
+the cart; there he sat under the white covering, biting his pipe between
+his teeth and grinning with excitement.
+
+“Lend me your gun, Delorier,” said I.
+
+“Oui, monsieur, oui,” said Delorier, tugging with might and main to
+stop the mule, which seemed obstinately bent on going forward. Then
+everything but his moccasins disappeared as he crawled into the cart and
+pulled at the gun to extricate it.
+
+“Is it loaded?” I asked.
+
+“Oui, bien charge; you’ll kill, mon bourgeois; yes, you’ll kill--c’est
+un bon fusil.”
+
+I handed him my rifle and rode forward to Shaw.
+
+“Are you ready?” he asked.
+
+“Come on,” said I.
+
+“Keep down that hollow,” said Henry, “and then they won’t see you till
+you get close to them.”
+
+The hollow was a kind of ravine very wide and shallow; it ran obliquely
+toward the buffalo, and we rode at a canter along the bottom until it
+became too shallow, when we bent close to our horses’ necks, and then
+finding that it could no longer conceal us, came out of it and rode
+directly toward the herd. It was within gunshot; before its outskirts,
+numerous grizzly old bulls were scattered, holding guard over their
+females. They glared at us in anger and astonishment, walked toward us
+a few yards, and then turning slowly round retreated at a trot which
+afterward broke into a clumsy gallop. In an instant the main body caught
+the alarm. The buffalo began to crowd away from the point toward which
+we were approaching, and a gap was opened in the side of the herd. We
+entered it, still restraining our excited horses. Every instant the
+tumult was thickening. The buffalo, pressing together in large bodies,
+crowded away from us on every hand. In front and on either side we could
+see dark columns and masses, half hidden by clouds of dust, rushing
+along in terror and confusion, and hear the tramp and clattering of ten
+thousand hoofs. That countless multitude of powerful brutes, ignorant
+of their own strength, were flying in a panic from the approach of two
+feeble horsemen. To remain quiet longer was impossible.
+
+“Take that band on the left,” said Shaw; “I’ll take these in front.”
+
+He sprang off, and I saw no more of him. A heavy Indian whip was
+fastened by a band to my wrist; I swung it into the air and lashed
+my horse’s flank with all the strength of my arm. Away she darted,
+stretching close to the ground. I could see nothing but a cloud of
+dust before me, but I knew that it concealed a band of many hundreds of
+buffalo. In a moment I was in the midst of the cloud, half suffocated
+by the dust and stunned by the trampling of the flying herd; but I was
+drunk with the chase and cared for nothing but the buffalo. Very soon
+a long dark mass became visible, looming through the dust; then I could
+distinguish each bulky carcass, the hoofs flying out beneath, the short
+tails held rigidly erect. In a moment I was so close that I could have
+touched them with my gun. Suddenly, to my utter amazement, the hoofs
+were jerked upward, the tails flourished in the air, and amid a cloud
+of dust the buffalo seemed to sink into the earth before me. One vivid
+impression of that instant remains upon my mind. I remember looking down
+upon the backs of several buffalo dimly visible through the dust. We had
+run unawares upon a ravine. At that moment I was not the most accurate
+judge of depth and width, but when I passed it on my return, I found it
+about twelve feet deep and not quite twice as wide at the bottom. It
+was impossible to stop; I would have done so gladly if I could; so, half
+sliding, half plunging, down went the little mare. I believe she came
+down on her knees in the loose sand at the bottom; I was pitched forward
+violently against her neck and nearly thrown over her head among the
+buffalo, who amid dust and confusion came tumbling in all around. The
+mare was on her feet in an instant and scrambling like a cat up the
+opposite side. I thought for a moment that she would have fallen back
+and crushed me, but with a violent effort she clambered out and gained
+the hard prairie above. Glancing back I saw the huge head of a bull
+clinging as it were by the forefeet at the edge of the dusty gulf. At
+length I was fairly among the buffalo. They were less densely crowded
+than before, and I could see nothing but bulls, who always run at the
+rear of the herd. As I passed amid them they would lower their heads,
+and turning as they ran, attempt to gore my horse; but as they were
+already at full speed there was no force in their onset, and as Pauline
+ran faster than they, they were always thrown behind her in the effort.
+I soon began to distinguish cows amid the throng. One just in front of
+me seemed to my liking, and I pushed close to her side. Dropping the
+reins I fired, holding the muzzle of the gun within a foot of her
+shoulder. Quick as lightning she sprang at Pauline; the little mare
+dodged the attack, and I lost sight of the wounded animal amid the
+tumultuous crowd. Immediately after I selected another, and urging
+forward Pauline, shot into her both pistols in succession. For a while
+I kept her in view, but in attempting to load my gun, lost sight of her
+also in the confusion. Believing her to be mortally wounded and unable
+to keep up with the herd, I checked my horse. The crowd rushed onward.
+The dust and tumult passed away, and on the prairie, far behind the
+rest, I saw a solitary buffalo galloping heavily. In a moment I and my
+victim were running side by side. My firearms were all empty, and I had
+in my pouch nothing but rifle bullets, too large for the pistols and
+too small for the gun. I loaded the latter, however, but as often as I
+leveled it to fire, the little bullets would roll out of the muzzle
+and the gun returned only a faint report like a squib, as the powder
+harmlessly exploded. I galloped in front of the buffalo and attempted to
+turn her back; but her eyes glared, her mane bristled, and lowering her
+head, she rushed at me with astonishing fierceness and activity. Again
+and again I rode before her, and again and again she repeated her
+furious charge. But little Pauline was in her element. She dodged her
+enemy at every rush, until at length the buffalo stood still, exhausted
+with her own efforts; she panted, and her tongue hung lolling from her
+jaws.
+
+Riding to a little distance I alighted, thinking to gather a handful
+of dry grass to serve the purpose of wadding, and load the gun at my
+leisure. No sooner were my feet on the ground than the buffalo came
+bounding in such a rage toward me that I jumped back again into the
+saddle with all possible dispatch. After waiting a few minutes more,
+I made an attempt to ride up and stab her with my knife; but the
+experiment proved such as no wise man would repeat. At length,
+bethinking me of the fringes at the seams of my buckskin pantaloons,
+I jerked off a few of them, and reloading my gun, forced them down the
+barrel to keep the bullet in its place; then approaching, I shot the
+wounded buffalo through the heart. Sinking to her knees, she rolled over
+lifeless on the prairie. To my astonishment, I found that instead of
+a fat cow I had been slaughtering a stout yearling bull. No longer
+wondering at the fierceness he had shown, I opened his throat and
+cutting out his tongue, tied it at the back of my saddle. My mistake was
+one which a more experienced eye than mine might easily make in the dust
+and confusion of such a chase.
+
+Then for the first time I had leisure to look at the scene around me.
+The prairie in front was darkened with the retreating multitude, and on
+the other hand the buffalo came filing up in endless unbroken columns
+from the low plains upon the river. The Arkansas was three or four miles
+distant. I turned and moved slowly toward it. A long time passed before,
+far down in the distance, I distinguished the white covering of the cart
+and the little black specks of horsemen before and behind it. Drawing
+near, I recognized Shaw’s elegant tunic, the red flannel shirt,
+conspicuous far off. I overtook the party, and asked him what success he
+had met with. He had assailed a fat cow, shot her with two bullets, and
+mortally wounded her. But neither of us were prepared for the chase that
+afternoon, and Shaw, like myself, had no spare bullets in his pouch;
+so he abandoned the disabled animal to Henry Chatillon, who followed,
+dispatched her with his rifle, and loaded his horse with her meat.
+
+We encamped close to the river. The night was dark, and as we lay down
+we could hear mingled with the howling of wolves the hoarse bellowing of
+the buffalo, like the ocean beating upon a distant coast.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+THE BUFFALO CAMP
+
+
+No one in the camp was more active than Jim Gurney, and no one half
+so lazy as Ellis. Between these two there was a great antipathy. Ellis
+never stirred in the morning until he was compelled to, but Jim was
+always on his feet before daybreak; and this morning as usual the sound
+of his voice awakened the party.
+
+“Get up, you booby! up with you now, you’re fit for nothing but eating
+and sleeping. Stop your grumbling and come out of that buffalo robe or
+I’ll pull it off for you.”
+
+Jim’s words were interspersed with numerous expletives, which gave them
+great additional effect. Ellis drawled out something in a nasal tone
+from among the folds of his buffalo robe; then slowly disengaged
+himself, rose into sitting posture, stretched his long arms, yawned
+hideously, and finally, raising his tall person erect, stood staring
+round him to all the four quarters of the horizon. Delorier’s fire was
+soon blazing, and the horses and mules, loosened from their pickets,
+were feeding in the neighboring meadow. When we sat down to breakfast
+the prairie was still in the dusky light of morning; and as the sun rose
+we were mounted and on our way again.
+
+“A white buffalo!” exclaimed Munroe.
+
+“I’ll have that fellow,” said Shaw, “if I run my horse to death after
+him.”
+
+He threw the cover of his gun to Delorier and galloped out upon the
+prairie.
+
+“Stop, Mr. Shaw, stop!” called out Henry Chatillon, “you’ll run down
+your horse for nothing; it’s only a white ox.”
+
+But Shaw was already out of hearing. The ox, who had no doubt strayed
+away from some of the government wagon trains, was standing beneath some
+low hills which bounded the plain in the distance. Not far from him a
+band of veritable buffalo bulls were grazing; and startled at Shaw’s
+approach, they all broke into a run, and went scrambling up the
+hillsides to gain the high prairie above. One of them in his haste and
+terror involved himself in a fatal catastrophe. Along the foot of
+the hills was a narrow strip of deep marshy soil, into which the bull
+plunged and hopelessly entangled himself. We all rode up to the spot.
+The huge carcass was half sunk in the mud, which flowed to his very
+chin, and his shaggy mane was outspread upon the surface. As we came
+near the bull began to struggle with convulsive strength; he writhed
+to and fro, and in the energy of his fright and desperation would lift
+himself for a moment half out of the slough, while the reluctant mire
+returned a sucking sound as he strained to drag his limbs from its
+tenacious depths. We stimulated his exertions by getting behind him and
+twisting his tail; nothing would do. There was clearly no hope for him.
+After every effort his heaving sides were more deeply imbedded and the
+mire almost overflowed his nostrils; he lay still at length, and looking
+round at us with a furious eye, seemed to resign himself to his fate.
+Ellis slowly dismounted, and deliberately leveling his boasted yager,
+shot the old bull through the heart; then he lazily climbed back again
+to his seat, pluming himself no doubt on having actually killed a
+buffalo. That day the invincible yager drew blood for the first and last
+time during the whole journey.
+
+The morning was a bright and gay one, and the air so clear that on the
+farthest horizon the outline of the pale blue prairie was sharply drawn
+against the sky. Shaw felt in the mood for hunting; he rode in advance
+of the party, and before long we saw a file of bulls galloping at full
+speed upon a vast green swell of the prairie at some distance in front.
+Shaw came scouring along behind them, arrayed in his red shirt, which
+looked very well in the distance; he gained fast on the fugitives, and
+as the foremost bull was disappearing behind the summit of the swell,
+we saw him in the act of assailing the hindmost; a smoke sprang from the
+muzzle of his gun, and floated away before the wind like a little
+white cloud; the bull turned upon him, and just then the rising ground
+concealed them both from view.
+
+We were moving forward until about noon, when we stopped by the side of
+the Arkansas. At that moment Shaw appeared riding slowly down the side
+of a distant hill; his horse was tired and jaded, and when he threw
+his saddle upon the ground, I observed that the tails of two bulls were
+dangling behind it. No sooner were the horses turned loose to feed than
+Henry, asking Munroe to go with him, took his rifle and walked quietly
+away. Shaw, Tete Rouge, and I sat down by the side of the cart to
+discuss the dinner which Delorier placed before us; we had scarcely
+finished when we saw Munroe walking toward us along the river bank.
+Henry, he said, had killed four fat cows, and had sent him back for
+horses to bring in the meat. Shaw took a horse for himself and another
+for Henry, and he and Munroe left the camp together. After a short
+absence all three of them came back, their horses loaded with the
+choicest parts of the meat; we kept two of the cows for ourselves and
+gave the others to Munroe and his companions. Delorier seated himself
+on the grass before the pile of meat, and worked industriously for
+some time to cut it into thin broad sheets for drying. This is no easy
+matter, but Delorier had all the skill of an Indian squaw. Long before
+night cords of raw hide were stretched around the camp, and the meat was
+hung upon them to dry in the sunshine and pure air of the prairie.
+Our California companions were less successful at the work; but they
+accomplished it after their own fashion, and their side of the camp was
+soon garnished in the same manner as our own.
+
+We meant to remain at this place long enough to prepare provisions for
+our journey to the frontier, which as we supposed might occupy about a
+month. Had the distance been twice as great and the party ten times as
+large, the unerring rifle of Henry Chatillon would have supplied
+meat enough for the whole within two days; we were obliged to remain,
+however, until it should be dry enough for transportation; so we erected
+our tent and made the other arrangements for a permanent camp. The
+California men, who had no such shelter, contented themselves with
+arranging their packs on the grass around their fire. In the meantime we
+had nothing to do but amuse ourselves. Our tent was within a rod of the
+river, if the broad sand-beds, with a scanty stream of water coursing
+here and there along their surface, deserve to be dignified with the
+name of river. The vast flat plains on either side were almost on a
+level with the sand-beds, and they were bounded in the distance by low,
+monotonous hills, parallel to the course of the Arkansas. All was one
+expanse of grass; there was no wood in view, except some trees and
+stunted bushes upon two islands which rose from amid the wet sands of
+the river. Yet far from being dull and tame this boundless scene was
+often a wild and animated one; for twice a day, at sunrise and at noon,
+the buffalo came issuing from the hills, slowly advancing in their grave
+processions to drink at the river. All our amusements were too at their
+expense. Except an elephant, I have seen no animal that can surpass a
+buffalo bull in size and strength, and the world may be searched in vain
+to find anything of a more ugly and ferocious aspect. At first sight of
+him every feeling of sympathy vanishes; no man who has not experienced
+it can understand with what keen relish one inflicts his death wound,
+with what profound contentment of mind he beholds him fall. The cows are
+much smaller and of a gentler appearance, as becomes their sex. While
+in this camp we forebore to attack them, leaving to Henry Chatillon, who
+could better judge their fatness and good quality, the task of killing
+such as we wanted for use; but against the bulls we waged an unrelenting
+war. Thousands of them might be slaughtered without causing any
+detriment to the species, for their numbers greatly exceed those of the
+cows; it is the hides of the latter alone which are used for purpose of
+commerce and for making the lodges of the Indians; and the destruction
+among them is therefore altogether disproportioned.
+
+Our horses were tired, and we now usually hunted on foot. The wide, flat
+sand-beds of the Arkansas, as the reader will remember, lay close by
+the side of our camp. While we were lying on the grass after dinner,
+smoking, conversing, or laughing at Tete Rouge, one of us would look
+up and observe, far out on the plains beyond the river, certain black
+objects slowly approaching. He would inhale a parting whiff from the
+pipe, then rising lazily, take his rifle, which leaned against the cart,
+throw over his shoulder the strap of his pouch and powder-horn, and
+with his moccasins in his hand walk quietly across the sand toward the
+opposite side of the river. This was very easy; for though the sands
+were about a quarter of a mile wide, the water was nowhere more than two
+feet deep. The farther bank was about four or five feet high, and quite
+perpendicular, being cut away by the water in spring. Tall grass grew
+along its edge. Putting it aside with his hand, and cautiously looking
+through it, the hunter can discern the huge shaggy back of the buffalo
+slowly swaying to and fro, as with his clumsy swinging gait he advances
+toward the water. The buffalo have regular paths by which they come down
+to drink. Seeing at a glance along which of these his intended victim
+is moving, the hunter crouches under the bank within fifteen or twenty
+yards, it may be, of the point where the path enters the river. Here he
+sits down quietly on the sand. Listening intently, he hears the heavy
+monotonous tread of the approaching bull. The moment after he sees a
+motion among the long weeds and grass just at the spot where the path
+is channeled through the bank. An enormous black head is thrust out,
+the horns just visible amid the mass of tangled mane. Half sliding, half
+plunging, down comes the buffalo upon the river-bed below. He steps
+out in full sight upon the sands. Just before him a runnel of water is
+gliding, and he bends his head to drink. You may hear the water as it
+gurgles down his capacious throat. He raises his head, and the drops
+trickle from his wet beard. He stands with an air of stupid abstraction,
+unconscious of the lurking danger. Noiselessly the hunter cocks his
+rifle. As he sits upon the sand, his knee is raised, and his elbow rests
+upon it, that he may level his heavy weapon with a steadier aim. The
+stock is at his shoulder; his eye ranges along the barrel. Still he is
+in no haste to fire. The bull, with slow deliberation, begins his march
+over the sands to the other side. He advances his foreleg, and exposes
+to view a small spot, denuded of hair, just behind the point of his
+shoulder; upon this the hunter brings the sight of his rifle to bear;
+lightly and delicately his finger presses upon the hair-trigger. Quick
+as thought the spiteful crack of the rifle responds to his slight touch,
+and instantly in the middle of the bare spot appears a small red dot.
+The buffalo shivers; death has overtaken him, he cannot tell from
+whence; still he does not fall, but walks heavily forward, as if nothing
+had happened. Yet before he has advanced far out upon the sand, you
+see him stop; he totters; his knees bend under him, and his head sinks
+forward to the ground. Then his whole vast bulk sways to one side; he
+rolls over on the sand, and dies with a scarcely perceptible struggle.
+
+Waylaying the buffalo in this manner, and shooting them as they come to
+water, is the easiest and laziest method of hunting them. They may also
+be approached by crawling up ravines, or behind hills, or even over the
+open prairie. This is often surprisingly easy; but at other times
+it requires the utmost skill of the most experienced hunter. Henry
+Chatillon was a man of extraordinary strength and hardihood; but I have
+seen him return to camp quite exhausted with his efforts, his limbs
+scratched and wounded, and his buckskin dress stuck full of the thorns
+of the prickly-pear among which he had been crawling. Sometimes he would
+lay flat upon his face, and drag himself along in this position for many
+rods together.
+
+On the second day of our stay at this place, Henry went out for an
+afternoon hunt. Shaw and I remained in camp until, observing some bulls
+approaching the water upon the other side of the river, we crossed over
+to attack them. They were so near, however, that before we could get
+under cover of the bank our appearance as we walked over the sands
+alarmed them. Turning round before coming within gunshot, they began to
+move off to the right in a direction parallel to the river. I climbed
+up the bank and ran after them. They were walking swiftly, and before I
+could come within gunshot distance they slowly wheeled about and faced
+toward me. Before they had turned far enough to see me I had fallen flat
+on my face. For a moment they stood and stared at the strange object
+upon the grass; then turning away, again they walked on as before; and
+I, rising immediately, ran once more in pursuit. Again they wheeled
+about, and again I fell prostrate. Repeating this three or four times,
+I came at length within a hundred yards of the fugitives, and as I
+saw them turning again I sat down and leveled my rifle. The one in the
+center was the largest I had ever seen. I shot him behind the shoulder.
+His two companions ran off. He attempted to follow, but soon came to
+a stand, and at length lay down as quietly as an ox chewing the cud.
+Cautiously approaching him, I saw by his dull and jellylike eye that he
+was dead.
+
+When I began the chase, the prairie was almost tenantless; but a great
+multitude of buffalo had suddenly thronged upon it, and looking up, I
+saw within fifty rods a heavy, dark column stretching to the right and
+left as far as I could see. I walked toward them. My approach did not
+alarm them in the least. The column itself consisted entirely of cows
+and calves, but a great many old bulls were ranging about the prairie
+on its flank, and as I drew near they faced toward me with such a shaggy
+and ferocious look that I thought it best to proceed no farther. Indeed
+I was already within close rifle-shot of the column, and I sat down on
+the ground to watch their movements. Sometimes the whole would stand
+still, their heads all facing one way; then they would trot forward,
+as if by a common impulse, their hoofs and horns clattering together
+as they moved. I soon began to hear at a distance on the left the sharp
+reports of a rifle, again and again repeated; and not long after, dull
+and heavy sounds succeeded, which I recognized as the familiar voice
+of Shaw’s double-barreled gun. When Henry’s rifle was at work there was
+always meat to be brought in. I went back across the river for a horse,
+and returning, reached the spot where the hunters were standing. The
+buffalo were visible on the distant prairie. The living had retreated
+from the ground, but ten or twelve carcasses were scattered in various
+directions. Henry, knife in hand, was stooping over a dead cow, cutting
+away the best and fattest of the meat.
+
+When Shaw left me he had walked down for some distance under the river
+bank to find another bull. At length he saw the plains covered with
+the host of buffalo, and soon after heard the crack of Henry’s rifle.
+Ascending the bank, he crawled through the grass, which for a rod or two
+from the river was very high and rank. He had not crawled far before to
+his astonishment he saw Henry standing erect upon the prairie, almost
+surrounded by the buffalo. Henry was in his appropriate element. Nelson,
+on the deck of the Victory, hardly felt a prouder sense of mastery than
+he. Quite unconscious that any one was looking at him, he stood at the
+full height of his tall, strong figure, one hand resting upon his side,
+and the other arm leaning carelessly on the muzzle of his rifle. His
+eyes were ranging over the singular assemblage around him. Now and then
+he would select such a cow as suited him, level his rifle, and shoot her
+dead; then quietly reloading, he would resume his former position. The
+buffalo seemed no more to regard his presence than if he were one of
+themselves; the bulls were bellowing and butting at each other, or else
+rolling about in the dust. A group of buffalo would gather about the
+carcass of a dead cow, snuffing at her wounds; and sometimes they would
+come behind those that had not yet fallen, and endeavor to push them
+from the spot. Now and then some old bull would face toward Henry with
+an air of stupid amazement, but none seemed inclined to attack or fly
+from him. For some time Shaw lay among the grass, looking in surprise at
+this extraordinary sight; at length he crawled cautiously forward, and
+spoke in a low voice to Henry, who told him to rise and come on. Still
+the buffalo showed no sign of fear; they remained gathered about their
+dead companions. Henry had already killed as many cows as we wanted for
+use, and Shaw, kneeling behind one of the carcasses, shot five bulls
+before the rest thought it necessary to disperse.
+
+The frequent stupidity and infatuation of the buffalo seems the more
+remarkable from the contrast it offers to their wildness and wariness at
+other times. Henry knew all their peculiarities; he had studied them as
+a scholar studies his books, and he derived quite as much pleasure from
+the occupation. The buffalo were a kind of companions to him, and, as he
+said, he never felt alone when they were about him. He took great pride
+in his skill in hunting. Henry was one of the most modest of men; yet,
+in the simplicity and frankness of his character, it was quite clear
+that he looked upon his pre-eminence in this respect as a thing too
+palpable and well established ever to be disputed. But whatever may have
+been his estimate of his own skill, it was rather below than above that
+which others placed upon it. The only time that I ever saw a shade of
+scorn darken his face was when two volunteer soldiers, who had just
+killed a buffalo for the first time, undertook to instruct him as to the
+best method of “approaching.” To borrow an illustration from an opposite
+side of life, an Eton boy might as well have sought to enlighten Porson
+on the formation of a Greek verb, or a Fleet Street shopkeeper to
+instruct Chesterfield concerning a point of etiquette. Henry always
+seemed to think that he had a sort of prescriptive right to the buffalo,
+and to look upon them as something belonging peculiarly to himself.
+Nothing excited his indignation so much as any wanton destruction
+committed among the cows, and in his view shooting a calf was a cardinal
+sin.
+
+Henry Chatillon and Tete Rouge were of the same age; that is, about
+thirty. Henry was twice as large, and fully six times as strong as Tete
+Rouge. Henry’s face was roughened by winds and storms; Tete Rouge’s was
+bloated by sherry cobblers and brandy toddy. Henry talked of Indians and
+buffalo; Tete Rouge of theaters and oyster cellars. Henry had led a life
+of hardship and privation; Tete Rouge never had a whim which he would
+not gratify at the first moment he was able. Henry moreover was the
+most disinterested man I ever saw; while Tete Rouge, though equally
+good-natured in his way, cared for nobody but himself. Yet we would
+not have lost him on any account; he admirably served the purpose of
+a jester in a feudal castle; our camp would have been lifeless without
+him. For the past week he had fattened in a most amazing manner; and
+indeed this was not at all surprising, since his appetite was most
+inordinate. He was eating from morning till night; half the time he
+would be at work cooking some private repast for himself, and he paid
+a visit to the coffee-pot eight or ten times a day. His rueful and
+disconsolate face became jovial and rubicund, his eyes stood out like
+a lobster’s, and his spirits, which before were sunk to the depths of
+despondency, were now elated in proportion; all day he was singing,
+whistling, laughing, and telling stories. Being mortally afraid of Jim
+Gurney, he kept close in the neighborhood of our tent. As he had seen an
+abundance of low dissipated life, and had a considerable fund of
+humor, his anecdotes were extremely amusing, especially since he never
+hesitated to place himself in a ludicrous point of view, provided he
+could raise a laugh by doing so. Tete Rouge, however, was sometimes
+rather troublesome; he had an inveterate habit of pilfering provisions
+at all times of the day. He set ridicule at utter defiance; and being
+without a particle of self-respect, he would never have given over his
+tricks, even if they had drawn upon him the scorn of the whole party.
+Now and then, indeed, something worse than laughter fell to his share;
+on these occasions he would exhibit much contrition, but half an hour
+after we would generally observe him stealing round to the box at the
+back of the cart and slyly making off with the provisions which Delorier
+had laid by for supper. He was very fond of smoking; but having no
+tobacco of his own, we used to provide him with as much as he wanted, a
+small piece at a time. At first we gave him half a pound together, but
+this experiment proved an entire failure, for he invariably lost not
+only the tobacco, but the knife intrusted to him for cutting it, and a
+few minutes after he would come to us with many apologies and beg for
+more.
+
+We had been two days at this camp, and some of the meat was nearly fit
+for transportation, when a storm came suddenly upon us. About sunset the
+whole sky grew as black as ink, and the long grass at the river’s
+edge bent and rose mournfully with the first gusts of the approaching
+hurricane. Munroe and his two companions brought their guns and placed
+them under cover of our tent. Having no shelter for themselves, they
+built a fire of driftwood that might have defied a cataract, and wrapped
+in their buffalo robes, sat on the ground around it to bide the fury of
+the storm. Delorier ensconced himself under the cover of the cart. Shaw
+and I, together with Henry and Tete Rouge, crowded into the little tent;
+but first of all the dried meat was piled together, and well protected
+by buffalo robes pinned firmly to the ground. About nine o’clock the
+storm broke, amid absolute darkness; it blew a gale, and torrents of
+rain roared over the boundless expanse of open prairie. Our tent was
+filled with mist and spray beating through the canvas, and saturating
+everything within. We could only distinguish each other at short
+intervals by the dazzling flash of lightning, which displayed the whole
+waste around us with its momentary glare. We had our fears for the tent;
+but for an hour or two it stood fast, until at length the cap gave way
+before a furious blast; the pole tore through the top, and in an instant
+we were half suffocated by the cold and dripping folds of the canvas,
+which fell down upon us. Seizing upon our guns, we placed them erect, in
+order to lift the saturated cloth above our heads. In this disagreeable
+situation, involved among wet blankets and buffalo robes, we spent
+several hours of the night during which the storm would not abate for a
+moment, but pelted down above our heads with merciless fury. Before
+long the ground beneath us became soaked with moisture, and the water
+gathered there in a pool two or three inches deep; so that for a
+considerable part of the night we were partially immersed in a cold
+bath. In spite of all this, Tete Rouge’s flow of spirits did not desert
+him for an instant, he laughed, whistled, and sung in defiance of the
+storm, and that night he paid off the long arrears of ridicule which
+he owed us. While we lay in silence, enduring the infliction with what
+philosophy we could muster, Tete Rouge, who was intoxicated with animal
+spirits, was cracking jokes at our expense by the hour together. At
+about three o’clock in the morning, “preferring the tyranny of the
+open night” to such a wretched shelter, we crawled out from beneath the
+fallen canvas. The wind had abated, but the rain fell steadily. The fire
+of the California men still blazed amid the darkness, and we joined
+them as they sat around it. We made ready some hot coffee by way of
+refreshment; but when some of the party sought to replenish their cups,
+it was found that Tete Rouge, having disposed of his own share, had
+privately abstracted the coffee-pot and drank up the rest of the
+contents out of the spout.
+
+In the morning, to our great joy, an unclouded sun rose upon the
+prairie. We presented rather a laughable appearance, for the cold and
+clammy buckskin, saturated with water, clung fast to our limbs; the
+light wind and warm sunshine soon dried them again, and then we were
+all incased in armor of intolerable rigidity. Roaming all day over the
+prairie and shooting two or three bulls, were scarcely enough to restore
+the stiffened leather to its usual pliancy.
+
+Besides Henry Chatillon, Shaw and I were the only hunters in the party.
+Munroe this morning made an attempt to run a buffalo, but his horse
+could not come up to the game. Shaw went out with him, and being better
+mounted soon found himself in the midst of the herd. Seeing nothing
+but cows and calves around him, he checked his horse. An old bull came
+galloping on the open prairie at some distance behind, and turning, Shaw
+rode across his path, leveling his gun as he passed, and shooting
+him through the shoulder into the heart. The heavy bullets of Shaw’s
+double-barreled gun made wild work wherever they struck.
+
+A great flock of buzzards were usually soaring about a few trees
+that stood on the island just below our camp. Throughout the whole of
+yesterday we had noticed an eagle among them; to-day he was still
+there; and Tete Rouge, declaring that he would kill the bird of America,
+borrowed Delorier’s gun and set out on his unpatriotic mission. As might
+have been expected, the eagle suffered no great harm at his hands. He
+soon returned, saying that he could not find him, but had shot a buzzard
+instead. Being required to produce the bird in proof of his assertion
+he said he believed he was not quite dead, but he must be hurt, from the
+swiftness with which he flew off.
+
+“If you want,” said Tete Rouge, “I’ll go and get one of his feathers; I
+knocked off plenty of them when I shot him.”
+
+Just opposite our camp was another island covered with bushes, and
+behind it was a deep pool of water, while two or three considerable
+streams course’d over the sand not far off. I was bathing at this place
+in the afternoon when a white wolf, larger than the largest Newfoundland
+dog, ran out from behind the point of the island, and galloped leisurely
+over the sand not half a stone’s throw distant. I could plainly see his
+red eyes and the bristles about his snout; he was an ugly scoundrel,
+with a bushy tail, large head, and a most repulsive countenance. Having
+neither rifle to shoot nor stone to pelt him with, I was looking eagerly
+after some missile for his benefit, when the report of a gun came from
+the camp, and the ball threw up the sand just beyond him; at this he
+gave a slight jump, and stretched away so swiftly that he soon dwindled
+into a mere speck on the distant sand-beds. The number of carcasses that
+by this time were lying about the prairie all around us summoned the
+wolves from every quarter; the spot where Shaw and Henry had hunted
+together soon became their favorite resort, for here about a dozen dead
+buffalo were fermenting under the hot sun. I used often to go over the
+river and watch them at their meal; by lying under the bank it was easy
+to get a full view of them. Three different kinds were present; there
+were the white wolves and the gray wolves, both extremely large, and
+besides these the small prairie wolves, not much bigger than spaniels.
+They would howl and fight in a crowd around a single carcass, yet they
+were so watchful, and their senses so acute, that I never was able to
+crawl within a fair shooting distance; whenever I attempted it, they
+would all scatter at once and glide silently away through the tall
+grass. The air above this spot was always full of buzzards or black
+vultures; whenever the wolves left a carcass they would descend upon
+it, and cover it so densely that a rifle-bullet shot at random among
+the gormandizing crowd would generally strike down two or three of them.
+These birds would now be sailing by scores just about our camp, their
+broad black wings seeming half transparent as they expanded them against
+the bright sky. The wolves and the buzzards thickened about us with
+every hour, and two or three eagles also came into the feast. I killed a
+bull within rifle-shot of the camp; that night the wolves made a fearful
+howling close at hand, and in the morning the carcass was completely
+hollowed out by these voracious feeders.
+
+After we had remained four days at this camp we prepared to leave it.
+We had for our own part about five hundred pounds of dried meat, and the
+California men had prepared some three hundred more; this consisted
+of the fattest and choicest parts of eight or nine cows, a very small
+quantity only being taken from each, and the rest abandoned to the
+wolves. The pack animals were laden, the horses were saddled, and the
+mules harnessed to the cart. Even Tete Rouge was ready at last, and
+slowly moving from the ground, we resumed our journey eastward. When
+we had advanced about a mile, Shaw missed a valuable hunting knife and
+turned back in search of it, thinking that he had left it at the camp.
+He approached the place cautiously, fearful that Indians might be
+lurking about, for a deserted camp is dangerous to return to. He saw
+no enemy, but the scene was a wild and dreary one; the prairie was
+overshadowed by dull, leaden clouds, for the day was dark and gloomy.
+The ashes of the fires were still smoking by the river side; the grass
+around them was trampled down by men and horses, and strewn with all the
+litter of a camp. Our departure had been a gathering signal to the birds
+and beasts of prey; Shaw assured me that literally dozens of wolves were
+prowling about the smoldering fires, while multitudes were roaming over
+the prairie around; they all fled as he approached, some running over
+the sand-beds and some over the grassy plains. The vultures in great
+clouds were soaring overhead, and the dead bull near the camp was
+completely blackened by the flock that had alighted upon it; they
+flapped their broad wings, and stretched upward their crested heads
+and long skinny necks, fearing to remain, yet reluctant to leave their
+disgusting feast. As he searched about the fires he saw the wolves
+seated on the distant hills waiting for his departure. Having looked
+in vain for his knife, he mounted again, and left the wolves and the
+vultures to banquet freely upon the carrion of the camp.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+DOWN THE ARKANSAS
+
+
+In the summer of 1846 the wild and lonely banks of the Upper Arkansas
+beheld for the first time the passage of an army. General Kearny, on his
+march to Santa Fe, adopted this route in preference to the old trail of
+the Cimarron. When we came down the main body of the troops had already
+passed on; Price’s Missouri regiment, however, was still on the way,
+having left the frontier much later than the rest; and about this time
+we began to meet them moving along the trail, one or two companies at
+a time. No men ever embarked upon a military expedition with a greater
+love for the work before them than the Missourians; but if discipline
+and subordination be the criterion of merit, these soldiers were
+worthless indeed. Yet when their exploits have rung through all America,
+it would be absurd to deny that they were excellent irregular troops.
+Their victories were gained in the teeth of every established precedent
+of warfare; they were owing to a singular combination of military
+qualities in the men themselves. Without discipline or a spirit of
+subordination, they knew how to keep their ranks and act as one man.
+Doniphan’s regiment marched through New Mexico more like a band of free
+companions than like the paid soldiers of a modern government. When
+General Taylor complimented Doniphan on his success at Sacramento and
+elsewhere, the colonel’s reply very well illustrates the relations which
+subsisted between the officers and men of his command:
+
+“I don’t know anything of the maneuvers. The boys kept coming to me,
+to let them charge; and when I saw a good opportunity, I told them they
+might go. They were off like a shot, and that’s all I know about it.”
+
+The backwoods lawyer was better fitted to conciliate the good-will than
+to command the obedience of his men. There were many serving under him,
+who both from character and education could better have held command
+than he.
+
+At the battle of Sacramento his frontiersmen fought under every possible
+disadvantage. The Mexicans had chosen their own position; they were
+drawn up across the valley that led to their native city of Chihuahua;
+their whole front was covered by intrenchments and defended by batteries
+of heavy cannon; they outnumbered the invaders five to one. An eagle
+flew over the Americans, and a deep murmur rose along their lines. The
+enemy’s batteries opened; long they remained under fire, but when at
+length the word was given, they shouted and ran forward. In one of the
+divisions, when midway to the enemy, a drunken officer ordered a halt;
+the exasperated men hesitated to obey.
+
+“Forward, boys!” cried a private from the ranks; and the Americans,
+rushing like tigers upon the enemy, bounded over the breastwork. Four
+hundred Mexicans were slain upon the spot and the rest fled, scattering
+over the plain like sheep. The standards, cannon, and baggage were
+taken, and among the rest a wagon laden with cords, which the Mexicans,
+in the fullness of their confidence, had made ready for tying the
+American prisoners.
+
+Doniphan’s volunteers, who gained this victory, passed up with the main
+army; but Price’s soldiers, whom we now met, were men from the same
+neighborhood, precisely similar in character, manner, and appearance.
+One forenoon, as we were descending upon a very wide meadow, where
+we meant to rest for an hour or two, we saw a dark body of horsemen
+approaching at a distance. In order to find water, we were obliged to
+turn aside to the river bank, a full half mile from the trail. Here we
+put up a kind of awning, and spreading buffalo robes on the ground, Shaw
+and I sat down to smoke beneath it.
+
+“We are going to catch it now,” said Shaw; “look at those fellows,
+there’ll be no peace for us here.”
+
+And in good truth about half the volunteers had straggled away from the
+line of march, and were riding over the meadow toward us.
+
+“How are you?” said the first who came up, alighting from his horse and
+throwing himself upon the ground. The rest followed close, and a score
+of them soon gathered about us, some lying at full length and some
+sitting on horseback. They all belonged to a company raised in St.
+Louis. There were some ruffian faces among them, and some haggard with
+debauchery; but on the whole they were extremely good-looking men,
+superior beyond measure to the ordinary rank and file of an army. Except
+that they were booted to the knees, they wore their belts and military
+trappings over the ordinary dress of citizens. Besides their swords and
+holster pistols, they carried slung from their saddles the excellent
+Springfield carbines, loaded at the breech. They inquired the character
+of our party, and were anxious to know the prospect of killing buffalo,
+and the chance that their horses would stand the journey to Santa Fe.
+All this was well enough, but a moment after a worse visitation came
+upon us.
+
+“How are you, strangers? whar are you going and whar are you from?” said
+a fellow, who came trotting up with an old straw hat on his head. He was
+dressed in the coarsest brown homespun cloth. His face was rather sallow
+from fever-and-ague, and his tall figure, though strong and sinewy was
+quite thin, and had besides an angular look, which, together with his
+boorish seat on horseback, gave him an appearance anything but graceful.
+Plenty more of the same stamp were close behind him. Their company
+was raised in one of the frontier counties, and we soon had abundant
+evidence of their rustic breeding; dozens of them came crowding round,
+pushing between our first visitors and staring at us with unabashed
+faces.
+
+“Are you the captain?” asked one fellow.
+
+“What’s your business out here?” asked another.
+
+“Whar do you live when you’re at home?” said a third.
+
+“I reckon you’re traders,” surmised a fourth; and to crown the whole,
+one of them came confidentially to my side and inquired in a low voice,
+“What’s your partner’s name?”
+
+As each newcomer repeated the same questions, the nuisance became
+intolerable. Our military visitors were soon disgusted at the concise
+nature of our replies, and we could overhear them muttering curses
+against us. While we sat smoking, not in the best imaginable humor, Tete
+Rouge’s tongue was never idle. He never forgot his military character,
+and during the whole interview he was incessantly busy among his
+fellow-soldiers. At length we placed him on the ground before us, and
+told him that he might play the part of spokesman for the whole. Tete
+Rouge was delighted, and we soon had the satisfaction of seeing him talk
+and gabble at such a rate that the torrent of questions was in a great
+measure diverted from us. A little while after, to our amazement, we saw
+a large cannon with four horses come lumbering up behind the crowd; and
+the driver, who was perched on one of the animals, stretching his neck
+so as to look over the rest of the men, called out:
+
+“Whar are you from, and what’s your business?”
+
+The captain of one of the companies was among our visitors, drawn by
+the same curiosity that had attracted his men. Unless their faces belied
+them, not a few in the crowd might with great advantage have changed
+places with their commander.
+
+“Well, men,” said he, lazily rising from the ground where he had been
+lounging, “it’s getting late, I reckon we had better be moving.”
+
+“I shan’t start yet anyhow,” said one fellow, who was lying half asleep
+with his head resting on his arm.
+
+“Don’t be in a hurry, captain,” added the lieutenant.
+
+“Well, have it your own way, we’ll wait a while longer,” replied the
+obsequious commander.
+
+At length however our visitors went straggling away as they had come,
+and we, to our great relief, were left alone again.
+
+No one can deny the intrepid bravery of these men, their intelligence
+and the bold frankness of their character, free from all that is mean
+and sordid. Yet for the moment the extreme roughness of their manners
+half inclines one to forget their heroic qualities. Most of them seem
+without the least perception of delicacy or propriety, though among them
+individuals may be found in whose manners there is a plain courtesy,
+while their features bespeak a gallant spirit equal to any enterprise.
+
+No one was more relieved than Delorier by the departure of the
+volunteers; for dinner was getting colder every moment. He spread a
+well-whitened buffalo hide upon the grass, placed in the middle the
+juicy hump of a fat cow, ranged around it the tin plates and cups,
+and then acquainted us that all was ready. Tete Rouge, with his usual
+alacrity on such occasions, was the first to take his seat. In his
+former capacity of steamboat clerk, he had learned to prefix the
+honorary MISTER to everybody’s name, whether of high or low degree; so
+Jim Gurney was Mr. Gurney, Henry was Mr. Henry, and even Delorier, for
+the first time in his life, heard himself addressed as Mr. Delorier.
+This did not prevent his conceiving a violent enmity against Tete Rouge,
+who, in his futile though praiseworthy attempts to make himself
+useful used always to intermeddle with cooking the dinners. Delorier’s
+disposition knew no medium between smiles and sunshine and a downright
+tornado of wrath; he said nothing to Tete Rouge, but his wrongs rankled
+in his breast. Tete Rouge had taken his place at dinner; it was his
+happiest moment; he sat enveloped in the old buffalo coat, sleeves
+turned up in preparation for the work, and his short legs crossed on the
+grass before him; he had a cup of coffee by his side and his knife ready
+in his hand and while he looked upon the fat hump ribs, his eyes dilated
+with anticipation. Delorier sat just opposite to him, and the rest of us
+by this time had taken our seats.
+
+“How is this, Delorier? You haven’t given us bread enough.”
+
+At this Delorier’s placid face flew instantly into a paroxysm of
+contortions. He grinned with wrath, chattered, gesticulated, and hurled
+forth a volley of incoherent words in broken English at the astonished
+Tete Rouge. It was just possible to make out that he was accusing him
+of having stolen and eaten four large cakes which had been laid by for
+dinner. Tete Rouge, utterly confounded at this sudden attack, stared at
+Delorier for a moment in dumb amazement, with mouth and eyes wide open.
+At last he found speech, and protested that the accusation was false;
+and that he could not conceive how he had offended Mr. Delorier, or
+provoked him to use such ungentlemanly expressions. The tempest of words
+raged with such fury that nothing else could be heard. But Tete Rouge,
+from his greater command of English, had a manifest advantage over
+Delorier, who after sputtering and grimacing for a while, found his
+words quite inadequate to the expression of his wrath. He jumped up
+and vanished, jerking out between his teeth one furious sacre enfant de
+grace, a Canadian title of honor, made doubly emphatic by being usually
+applied together with a cut of the whip to refractory mules and horses.
+
+The next morning we saw an old buffalo escorting his cow with two small
+calves over the prairie. Close behind came four or five large white
+wolves, sneaking stealthily through the long meadow-grass, and watching
+for the moment when one of the children should chance to lag behind his
+parents. The old bull kept well on his guard, and faced about now and
+then to keep the prowling ruffians at a distance.
+
+As we approached our nooning place, we saw five or six buffalo standing
+at the very summit of a tall bluff. Trotting forward to the spot where
+we meant to stop, I flung off my saddle and turned my horse loose. By
+making a circuit under cover of some rising ground, I reached the foot
+of the bluff unnoticed, and climbed up its steep side. Lying under the
+brow of the declivity, I prepared to fire at the buffalo, who stood on
+the flat surface about not five yards distant. Perhaps I was too hasty,
+for the gleaming rifle-barrel leveled over the edge caught their notice;
+they turned and ran. Close as they were, it was impossible to kill them
+when in that position, and stepping upon the summit I pursued them over
+the high arid tableland. It was extremely rugged and broken; a great
+sandy ravine was channeled through it, with smaller ravines entering on
+each side like tributary streams. The buffalo scattered, and I soon lost
+sight of most of them as they scuttled away through the sandy chasms; a
+bull and a cow alone kept in view. For a while they ran along the edge
+of the great ravine, appearing and disappearing as they dived into some
+chasm and again emerged from it. At last they stretched out upon the
+broad prairie, a plain nearly flat and almost devoid of verdure, for
+every short grass-blade was dried and shriveled by the glaring sun. Now
+and then the old bull would face toward me; whenever he did so I fell
+to the ground and lay motionless. In this manner I chased them for about
+two miles, until at length I heard in front a deep hoarse bellowing. A
+moment after a band of about a hundred bulls, before hidden by a slight
+swell of the plain, came at once into view. The fugitives ran toward
+them. Instead of mingling with the band, as I expected, they passed
+directly through, and continued their flight. At this I gave up the
+chase, and kneeling down, crawled to within gunshot of the bulls, and
+with panting breath and trickling brow sat down on the ground to watch
+them; my presence did not disturb them in the least. They were not
+feeding, for, indeed, there was nothing to eat; but they seemed to
+have chosen the parched and scorching desert as the scene of their
+amusements. Some were rolling on the ground amid a cloud of dust;
+others, with a hoarse rumbling bellow, were butting their large heads
+together, while many stood motionless, as if quite inanimate. Except
+their monstrous growth of tangled grizzly mane, they had no hair; for
+their old coat had fallen off in the spring, and their new one had not
+as yet appeared. Sometimes an old bull would step forward, and gaze at
+me with a grim and stupid countenance; then he would turn and butt his
+next neighbor; then he would lie down and roll over in the dirt, kicking
+his hoofs in the air. When satisfied with this amusement he would jerk
+his head and shoulders upward, and resting on his forelegs stare at me
+in this position, half blinded by his mane, and his face covered with
+dirt; then up he would spring upon all-fours, and shake his dusty sides;
+turning half round, he would stand with his beard touching the ground,
+in an attitude of profound abstraction, as if reflecting on his puerile
+conduct. “You are too ugly to live,” thought I; and aiming at the
+ugliest, I shot three of them in succession. The rest were not at all
+discomposed at this; they kept on bellowing and butting and rolling
+on the ground as before. Henry Chatillon always cautioned us to keep
+perfectly quiet in the presence of a wounded buffalo, for any movement
+is apt to excite him to make an attack; so I sat still upon the ground,
+loading and firing with as little motion as possible. While I was
+thus employed, a spectator made his appearance; a little antelope came
+running up with remarkable gentleness to within fifty yards; and there
+it stood, its slender neck arched, its small horns thrown back, and its
+large dark eyes gazing on me with a look of eager curiosity. By the side
+of the shaggy and brutish monsters before me, it seemed like some lovely
+young girl wandering near a den of robbers or a nest of bearded pirates.
+The buffalo looked uglier than ever. “Here goes for another of you,”
+ thought I, feeling in my pouch for a percussion cap. Not a percussion
+cap was there. My good rifle was useless as an old iron bar. One of the
+wounded bulls had not yet fallen, and I waited for some time, hoping
+every moment that his strength would fail him. He still stood firm,
+looking grimly at me, and disregarding Henry’s advice I rose and walked
+away. Many of the bulls turned and looked at me, but the wounded brute
+made no attack. I soon came upon a deep ravine which would give me
+shelter in case of emergency; so I turned round and threw a stone at
+the bulls. They received it with the utmost indifference. Feeling myself
+insulted at their refusal to be frightened, I swung my hat, shouted, and
+made a show of running toward them; at this they crowded together and
+galloped off, leaving their dead and wounded upon the field. As I moved
+toward the camp I saw the last survivor totter and fall dead. My speed
+in returning was wonderfully quickened by the reflection that the
+Pawnees were abroad, and that I was defenseless in case of meeting with
+an enemy. I saw no living thing, however, except two or three squalid
+old bulls scrambling among the sand-hills that flanked the great ravine.
+When I reached camp the party was nearly ready for the afternoon move.
+
+We encamped that evening at a short distance from the river bank. About
+midnight, as we all lay asleep on the ground, the man nearest to me
+gently reaching out his hand, touched my shoulder, and cautioned me at
+the same time not to move. It was bright starlight. Opening my eyes and
+slightly turning I saw a large white wolf moving stealthily around the
+embers of our fire, with his nose close to the ground. Disengaging my
+hand from the blanket, I drew the cover from my rifle, which lay close
+at my side; the motion alarmed the wolf, and with long leaps he bounded
+out of the camp. Jumping up, I fired after him when he was about thirty
+yards distant; the melancholy hum of the bullet sounded far away through
+the night. At the sharp report, so suddenly breaking upon the stillness,
+all the men sprang up.
+
+“You’ve killed him,” said one of them.
+
+“No, I haven’t,” said I; “there he goes, running along the river.
+
+“Then there’s two of them. Don’t you see that one lying out yonder?”
+
+We went to it, and instead of a dead white wolf found the bleached skull
+of a buffalo. I had missed my mark, and what was worse, had grossly
+violated a standing law of the prairie. When in a dangerous part of
+the country, it is considered highly imprudent to fire a gun after
+encamping, lest the report should reach the ears of the Indians.
+
+The horses were saddled in the morning, and the last man had lighted his
+pipe at the dying ashes of the fire. The beauty of the day enlivened us
+all. Even Ellis felt its influence, and occasionally made a remark as we
+rode along, and Jim Gurney told endless stories of his cruisings in the
+United States service. The buffalo were abundant, and at length a large
+band of them went running up the hills on the left.
+
+“Do you see them buffalo?” said Ellis, “now I’ll bet any man I’ll go and
+kill one with my yager.”
+
+And leaving his horse to follow on with the party, he strode up the hill
+after them. Henry looked at us with his peculiar humorous expression,
+and proposed that we should follow Ellis to see how he would kill a fat
+cow. As soon as he was out of sight we rode up the hill after him, and
+waited behind a little ridge till we heard the report of the unfailing
+yager. Mounting to the top, we saw Ellis clutching his favorite weapon
+with both hands, and staring after the buffalo, who one and all were
+galloping off at full speed. As we descended the hill we saw the party
+straggling along the trail below. When we joined them, another scene
+of amateur hunting awaited us. I forgot to say that when we met the
+volunteers Tete Rouge had obtained a horse from one of them, in exchange
+for his mule, whom he feared and detested. The horse he christened
+James. James, though not worth so much as the mule, was a large and
+strong animal. Tete Rouge was very proud of his new acquisition, and
+suddenly became ambitious to run a buffalo with him. At his request,
+I lent him my pistols, though not without great misgivings, since
+when Tete Rouge hunted buffalo the pursuer was in more danger than the
+pursued. He hung the holsters at his saddle bow; and now, as we passed
+along, a band of bulls left their grazing in the meadow and galloped in
+a long file across the trail in front.
+
+“Now’s your chance, Tete; come, let’s see you kill a bull.” Thus urged,
+the hunter cried, “Get up!” and James, obedient to the signal, cantered
+deliberately forward at an abominably uneasy gait. Tete Rouge, as we
+contemplated him from behind; made a most remarkable figure. He still
+wore the old buffalo coat; his blanket, which was tied in a loose bundle
+behind his saddle, went jolting from one side to the other, and a large
+tin canteen half full of water, which hung from his pommel, was jerked
+about his leg in a manner which greatly embarrassed him.
+
+“Let out your horse, man; lay on your whip!” we called out to him.
+The buffalo were getting farther off at every instant. James, being
+ambitious to mend his pace, tugged hard at the rein, and one of his
+rider’s boots escaped from the stirrup.
+
+“Woa! I say, woa!” cried Tete Rouge, in great perturbation, and after
+much effort James’ progress was arrested. The hunter came trotting back
+to the party, disgusted with buffalo running, and he was received with
+overwhelming congratulations.
+
+“Too good a chance to lose,” said Shaw, pointing to another band of
+bulls on the left. We lashed our horses and galloped upon them. Shaw
+killed one with each barrel of his gun. I separated another from the
+herd and shot him. The small bullet of the rifled pistol, striking too
+far back, did not immediately take effect, and the bull ran on with
+unabated speed. Again and again I snapped the remaining pistol at him. I
+primed it afresh three or four times, and each time it missed fire, for
+the touch-hole was clogged up. Returning it to the holster, I began to
+load the empty pistol, still galloping by the side of the bull. By this
+time he was grown desperate. The foam flew from his jaws and his tongue
+lolled out. Before the pistol was loaded he sprang upon me, and followed
+up his attack with a furious rush. The only alternative was to run
+away or be killed. I took to flight, and the bull, bristling with fury,
+pursued me closely. The pistol was soon ready, and then looking back,
+I saw his head five or six yards behind my horse’s tail. To fire at it
+would be useless, for a bullet flattens against the adamantine skull of
+a buffalo bull. Inclining my body to the left, I turned my horse in
+that direction as sharply as his speed would permit. The bull, rushing
+blindly on with great force and weight, did not turn so quickly. As I
+looked back, his neck and shoulders were exposed to view; turning in the
+saddle, I shot a bullet through them obliquely into his vitals. He
+gave over the chase and soon fell to the ground. An English tourist
+represents a situation like this as one of imminent danger; this is
+a great mistake; the bull never pursues long, and the horse must
+be wretched indeed that cannot keep out of his way for two or three
+minutes.
+
+We were now come to a part of the country where we were bound in common
+prudence to use every possible precaution. We mounted guard at night,
+each man standing in his turn; and no one ever slept without drawing
+his rifle close to his side or folding it with him in his blanket. One
+morning our vigilance was stimulated by our finding traces of a large
+Comanche encampment. Fortunately for us, however, it had been abandoned
+nearly a week. On the next evening we found the ashes of a recent fire,
+which gave us at the time some uneasiness. At length we reached the
+Caches, a place of dangerous repute; and it had a most dangerous
+appearance, consisting of sand-hills everywhere broken by ravines and
+deep chasms. Here we found the grave of Swan, killed at this place,
+probably by the Pawnees, two or three weeks before. His remains, more
+than once violated by the Indians and the wolves, were suffered at
+length to remain undisturbed in their wild burial place.
+
+For several days we met detached companies of Price’s regiment. Horses
+would often break loose at night from their camps. One afternoon we
+picked up three of these stragglers quietly grazing along the river.
+After we came to camp that evening, Jim Gurney brought news that more of
+them were in sight. It was nearly dark, and a cold, drizzling rain had
+set in; but we all turned out, and after an hour’s chase nine horses
+were caught and brought in. One of them was equipped with saddle and
+bridle; pistols were hanging at the pommel of the saddle, a carbine was
+slung at its side, and a blanket rolled up behind it. In the morning,
+glorying in our valuable prize, we resumed our journey, and our
+cavalcade presented a much more imposing appearance than ever before. We
+kept on till the afternoon, when, far behind, three horsemen appeared
+on the horizon. Coming on at a hand-gallop, they soon overtook us, and
+claimed all the horses as belonging to themselves and others of their
+company. They were of course given up, very much to the mortification of
+Ellis and Jim Gurney.
+
+Our own horses now showed signs of fatigue, and we resolved to give them
+half a day’s rest. We stopped at noon at a grassy spot by the river.
+After dinner Shaw and Henry went out to hunt; and while the men lounged
+about the camp, I lay down to read in the shadow of the cart. Looking
+up, I saw a bull grazing alone on the prairie more than a mile distant.
+I was tired of reading, and taking my rifle I walked toward him. As
+I came near, I crawled upon the ground until I approached to within a
+hundred yards; here I sat down upon the grass and waited till he should
+turn himself into a proper position to receive his death-wound. He was
+a grim old veteran. His loves and his battles were over for that season,
+and now, gaunt and war-worn, he had withdrawn from the herd to graze by
+himself and recruit his exhausted strength. He was miserably emaciated;
+his mane was all in tatters; his hide was bare and rough as an
+elephant’s, and covered with dried patches of the mud in which he had
+been wallowing. He showed all his ribs whenever he moved. He looked like
+some grizzly old ruffian grown gray in blood and violence, and scowling
+on all the world from his misanthropic seclusion. The old savage looked
+up when I first approached, and gave me a fierce stare; then he fell
+to grazing again with an air of contemptuous indifference. The moment
+after, as if suddenly recollecting himself, he threw up his head, faced
+quickly about, and to my amazement came at a rapid trot directly toward
+me. I was strongly impelled to get up and run, but this would have been
+very dangerous. Sitting quite still I aimed, as he came on, at the
+thin part of the skull above the nose. After he had passed over about
+three-quarters of the distance between us, I was on the point of firing,
+when, to my great satisfaction, he stopped short. I had full opportunity
+of studying his countenance; his whole front was covered with a huge
+mass of coarse matted hair, which hung so low that nothing but his two
+forefeet were visible beneath it; his short thick horns were blunted and
+split to the very roots in his various battles, and across his nose and
+forehead were two or three large white scars, which gave him a grim and
+at the same time a whimsical appearance. It seemed to me that he stood
+there motionless for a full quarter of an hour, looking at me through
+the tangled locks of his mane. For my part, I remained as quiet as he,
+and looked quite as hard; I felt greatly inclined to come to term with
+him. “My friend,” thought I, “if you’ll let me off, I’ll let you off.”
+ At length he seemed to have abandoned any hostile design. Very slowly
+and deliberately he began to turn about; little by little his side came
+into view, all be-plastered with mud. It was a tempting sight. I forgot
+my prudent intentions, and fired my rifle; a pistol would have served at
+that distance. Round spun old bull like a top, and away he galloped
+over the prairie. He ran some distance, and even ascended a considerable
+hill, before he lay down and died. After shooting another bull among the
+hills, I went back to camp.
+
+At noon, on the 14th of September, a very large Santa Fe caravan came
+up. The plain was covered with the long files of their white-topped
+wagons, the close black carriages in which the traders travel and sleep,
+large droves of animals, and men on horseback and on foot. They all
+stopped on the meadow near us. Our diminutive cart and handful of men
+made but an insignificant figure by the side of their wide and bustling
+camp. Tete Rouge went over to visit them, and soon came back with half
+a dozen biscuits in one hand and a bottle of brandy in the other. I
+inquired where he got them. “Oh,” said Tete Rouge, “I know some of the
+traders. Dr. Dobbs is there besides.” I asked who Dr. Dobbs might be.
+“One of our St. Louis doctors,” replied Tete Rouge. For two days past
+I had been severely attacked by the same disorder which had so greatly
+reduced my strength when at the mountains; at this time I was suffering
+not a little from the sudden pain and weakness which it occasioned.
+Tete Rouge, in answer to my inquiries, declared that Dr. Dobbs was
+a physician of the first standing. Without at all believing him, I
+resolved to consult this eminent practitioner. Walking over to the camp,
+I found him lying sound asleep under one of the wagons. He offered in
+his own person but an indifferent specimen of his skill, for it was five
+months since I had seen so cadaverous a face.
+
+His hat had fallen off, and his yellow hair was all in disorder; one of
+his arms supplied the place of a pillow; his pantaloons were wrinkled
+halfway up to his knees, and he was covered with little bits of grass
+and straw, upon which he had rolled in his uneasy slumber. A Mexican
+stood near, and I made him a sign that he should touch the doctor. Up
+sprang the learned Dobbs, and, sitting upright, rubbed his eyes and
+looked about him in great bewilderment. I regretted the necessity of
+disturbing him, and said I had come to ask professional advice. “Your
+system, sir, is in a disordered state,” said he solemnly, after a short
+examination.
+
+I inquired what might be the particular species of disorder.
+
+“Evidently a morbid action of the liver,” replied the medical man; “I
+will give you a prescription.”
+
+Repairing to the back of one of the covered wagons, he scrambled in; for
+a moment I could see nothing of him but his boots. At length he produced
+a box which he had extracted from some dark recess within, and opening
+it, he presented me with a folded paper of some size. “What is it?” said
+I. “Calomel,” said the doctor.
+
+Under the circumstances I would have taken almost anything. There was
+not enough to do me much harm, and it might possibly do good; so at camp
+that night I took the poison instead of supper.
+
+That camp is worthy of notice. The traders warned us not to follow the
+main trail along the river, “unless,” as one of them observed, “you want
+to have your throats cut!” The river at this place makes a bend; and
+a smaller trail, known as the Ridge-path, leads directly across the
+prairie from point to point, a distance of sixty or seventy miles.
+
+We followed this trail, and after traveling seven or eight miles, we
+came to a small stream, where we encamped. Our position was not chosen
+with much forethought or military skill. The water was in a deep hollow,
+with steep, high banks; on the grassy bottom of this hollow we picketed
+our horses, while we ourselves encamped upon the barren prairie just
+above. The opportunity was admirable either for driving off our horses
+or attacking us. After dark, as Tete Rouge was sitting at supper, we
+observed him pointing with a face of speechless horror over the shoulder
+of Henry, who was opposite to him. Aloof amid the darkness appeared
+a gigantic black apparition; solemnly swaying to and fro, it advanced
+steadily upon us. Henry, half vexed and half amused, jumped up, spread
+out his arms, and shouted. The invader was an old buffalo bull, who with
+characteristic stupidity, was walking directly into camp. It cost some
+shouting and swinging of hats before we could bring him first to a halt
+and then to a rapid retreat.
+
+That night the moon was full and bright; but as the black clouds chased
+rapidly over it, we were at one moment in light and at the next in
+darkness. As the evening advanced, a thunderstorm came up; it struck us
+with such violence that the tent would have been blown over if we had
+not interposed the cart to break the force of the wind. At length it
+subsided to a steady rain. I lay awake through nearly the whole night,
+listening to its dull patter upon the canvas above. The moisture, which
+filled the tent and trickled from everything in it, did not add to the
+comfort of the situation. About twelve o’clock Shaw went out to stand
+guard amid the rain and pitch darkness. Munroe, the most vigilant as
+well as one of the bravest among us, was also on the alert. When about
+two hours had passed, Shaw came silently in, and touching Henry, called
+him in a low quick voice to come out. “What is it?” I asked. “Indians,
+I believe,” whispered Shaw; “but lie still; I’ll call you if there’s a
+fight.”
+
+He and Henry went out together. I took the cover from my rifle, put a
+fresh percussion cap upon it, and then, being in much pain, lay down
+again. In about five minutes Shaw came in again. “All right,” he said,
+as he lay down to sleep. Henry was now standing guard in his place. He
+told me in the morning the particulars of the alarm. Munroe’ s watchful
+eye discovered some dark objects down in the hollow, among the horses,
+like men creeping on all fours. Lying flat on their faces, he and Shaw
+crawled to the edge of the bank, and were soon convinced that what they
+saw were Indians. Shaw silently withdrew to call Henry, and they all
+lay watching in the same position. Henry’s eye is of the best on
+the prairie. He detected after a while the true nature of the moving
+objects; they were nothing but wolves creeping among the horses.
+
+It is very singular that when picketed near a camp horses seldom show
+any fear of such an intrusion. The wolves appear to have no other object
+than that of gnawing the trail-ropes of raw hide by which the animals
+are secured. Several times in the course of the journey my horse’s
+trail-rope was bitten in two by these nocturnal visitors.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII
+
+THE SETTLEMENTS
+
+
+The next day was extremely hot, and we rode from morning till night
+without seeing a tree or a bush or a drop of water. Our horses and mules
+suffered much more than we, but as sunset approached they pricked up
+their ears and mended their pace. Water was not far off. When we came to
+the descent of the broad shallowy valley where it lay, an unlooked-for
+sight awaited us. The stream glistened at the bottom, and along its
+banks were pitched a multitude of tents, while hundreds of cattle were
+feeding over the meadows. Bodies of troops, both horse and foot, and
+long trains of wagons with men, women, and children, were moving over
+the opposite ridge and descending the broad declivity in front. These
+were the Mormon battalion in the service of government, together with a
+considerable number of Missouri volunteers. The Mormons were to be
+paid off in California, and they were allowed to bring with them
+their families and property. There was something very striking in the
+half-military, half-patriarchal appearance of these armed fanatics, thus
+on their way with their wives and children, to found, if might be, a
+Mormon empire in California. We were much more astonished than pleased
+at the sight before us. In order to find an unoccupied camping ground,
+we were obliged to pass a quarter of a mile up the stream, and here we
+were soon beset by a swarm of Mormons and Missourians. The United States
+officer in command of the whole came also to visit us, and remained some
+time at our camp.
+
+In the morning the country was covered with mist. We were always early
+risers, but before we were ready the voices of men driving in the cattle
+sounded all around us. As we passed above their camp, we saw through the
+obscurity that the tents were falling and the ranks rapidly forming; and
+mingled with the cries of women and children, the rolling of the Mormon
+drums and the clear blast of their trumpets sounded through the mist.
+
+From that time to the journey’s end, we met almost every day long trains
+of government wagons, laden with stores for the troops and crawling at a
+snail’s pace toward Santa Fe.
+
+Tete Rouge had a mortal antipathy to danger, but on a foraging
+expedition one evening, he achieved an adventure more perilous than
+had yet befallen any man in the party. The night after we left the
+Ridge-path we encamped close to the river. At sunset we saw a train of
+wagons encamping on the trail about three miles off; and though we
+saw them distinctly, our little cart, as it afterward proved, entirely
+escaped their view. For some days Tete Rouge had been longing
+eagerly after a dram of whisky. So, resolving to improve the present
+opportunity, he mounted his horse James, slung his canteen over his
+shoulder, and set forth in search of his favorite liquor. Some hours
+passed without his returning. We thought that he was lost, or perhaps
+that some stray Indian had snapped him up. While the rest fell asleep I
+remained on guard. Late at night a tremulous voice saluted me from the
+darkness, and Tete Rouge and James soon became visible, advancing toward
+the camp. Tete Rouge was in much agitation and big with some important
+tidings. Sitting down on the shaft of the cart, he told the following
+story:
+
+When he left the camp he had no idea, he said, how late it was. By the
+time he approached the wagoners it was perfectly dark; and as he saw
+them all sitting around their fires within the circle of wagons, their
+guns laid by their sides, he thought he might as well give warning of
+his approach, in order to prevent a disagreeable mistake. Raising his
+voice to the highest pitch, he screamed out in prolonged accents, “Camp,
+ahoy!” This eccentric salutation produced anything but the desired
+result. Hearing such hideous sounds proceeding from the outer darkness,
+the wagoners thought that the whole Pawnee nation were about to break
+in and take their scalps. Up they sprang staring with terror. Each man
+snatched his gun; some stood behind the wagons; some threw themselves
+flat on the ground, and in an instant twenty cocked muskets were leveled
+full at the horrified Tete Rouge, who just then began to be visible
+through the darkness.
+
+“Thar they come,” cried the master wagoner, “fire, fire! shoot that
+feller.”
+
+“No, no!” screamed Tete Rouge, in an ecstasy of fright; “don’t fire,
+don’t! I’m a friend, I’m an American citizen!”
+
+“You’re a friend, be you?” cried a gruff voice from the wagons; “then
+what are you yelling out thar for, like a wild Injun. Come along up here
+if you’re a man.”
+
+“Keep your guns p’inted at him,” added the master wagoner, “maybe he’s a
+decoy, like.”
+
+Tete Rouge in utter bewilderment made his approach, with the gaping
+muzzles of the muskets still before his eyes. He succeeded at last in
+explaining his character and situation, and the Missourians admitted him
+into camp. He got no whisky; but as he represented himself as a
+great invalid, and suffering much from coarse fare, they made up a
+contribution for him of rice, biscuit, and sugar from their own rations.
+
+In the morning at breakfast, Tete Rouge once more related this story.
+We hardly knew how much of it to believe, though after some
+cross-questioning we failed to discover any flaw in the narrative.
+Passing by the wagoner’s camp, they confirmed Tete Rouge’s account in
+every particular.
+
+“I wouldn’t have been in that feller’s place,” said one of them, “for
+the biggest heap of money in Missouri.”
+
+To Tete Rouge’s great wrath they expressed a firm conviction that he
+was crazy. We left them after giving them the advice not to trouble
+themselves about war-whoops in future, since they would be apt to feel
+an Indian’s arrow before they heard his voice.
+
+A day or two after, we had an adventure of another sort with a party of
+wagoners. Henry and I rode forward to hunt. After that day there was
+no probability that we should meet with buffalo, and we were anxious to
+kill one for the sake of fresh meat. They were so wild that we hunted
+all the morning in vain, but at noon as we approached Cow Creek we saw
+a large band feeding near its margin. Cow Creek is densely lined with
+trees which intercept the view beyond, and it runs, as we afterward
+found, at the bottom of a deep trench. We approached by riding along the
+bottom of a ravine. When we were near enough, I held the horses while
+Henry crept toward the buffalo. I saw him take his seat within shooting
+distance, prepare his rifle, and look about to select his victim. The
+death of a fat cow was certain, when suddenly a great smoke arose from
+the bed of the Creek with a rattling volley of musketry. A score of
+long-legged Missourians leaped out from among the trees and ran after
+the buffalo, who one and all took to their heels and vanished. These
+fellows had crawled up the bed of the Creek to within a hundred yards of
+the buffalo. Never was there a fairer chance for a shot. They were good
+marksmen; all cracked away at once, and yet not a buffalo fell. In fact,
+the animal is so tenacious of life that it requires no little knowledge
+of anatomy to kill it, and it is very seldom that a novice succeeds
+in his first attempt at approaching. The balked Missourians were
+excessively mortified, especially when Henry told them if they had kept
+quiet he would have killed meat enough in ten minutes to feed their
+whole party. Our friends, who were at no great distance, hearing such a
+formidable fusillade, thought the Indians had fired the volley for our
+benefit. Shaw came galloping on to reconnoiter and learn if we were yet
+in the land of the living.
+
+At Cow Creek we found the very welcome novelty of ripe grapes and plums,
+which grew there in abundance. At the Little Arkansas, not much farther
+on, we saw the last buffalo, a miserable old bull, roaming over the
+prairie alone and melancholy.
+
+From this time forward the character of the country was changing every
+day. We had left behind us the great arid deserts, meagerly covered
+by the tufted buffalo grass, with its pale green hue, and its short
+shriveled blades. The plains before us were carpeted with rich and
+verdant herbage sprinkled with flowers. In place of buffalo we found
+plenty of prairie hens, and we bagged them by dozens without leaving the
+trail. In three or four days we saw before us the broad woods and the
+emerald meadows of Council Grove, a scene of striking luxuriance and
+beauty. It seemed like a new sensation as we rode beneath the resounding
+archs of these noble woods. The trees were ash, oak, elm, maple,
+and hickory, their mighty limbs deeply overshadowing the path, while
+enormous grape vines were entwined among them, purple with fruit. The
+shouts of our scattered party, and now and then a report of a rifle,
+rang amid the breathing stillness of the forest. We rode forth again
+with regret into the broad light of the open prairie. Little more than a
+hundred miles now separated us from the frontier settlements. The whole
+intervening country was a succession of verdant prairies, rising in
+broad swells and relieved by trees clustering like an oasis around some
+spring, or following the course of a stream along some fertile hollow.
+These are the prairies of the poet and the novelist. We had left danger
+behind us. Nothing was to be feared from the Indians of this region, the
+Sacs and Foxes, the Kansas and the Osages. We had met with signal
+good fortune. Although for five months we had been traveling with an
+insufficient force through a country where we were at any moment liable
+to depredation, not a single animal had been stolen from us, and our
+only loss had been one old mule bitten to death by a rattlesnake. Three
+weeks after we reached the frontier the Pawnees and the Comanches began
+a regular series of hostilities on the Arkansas trail, killing men and
+driving off horses. They attacked, without exception, every party, large
+or small, that passed during the next six months.
+
+Diamond Spring, Rock Creek, Elder Grove, and other camping places
+besides, were passed all in quick succession. At Rock Creek we found a
+train of government provision wagons, under the charge of an emaciated
+old man in his seventy-first year. Some restless American devil had
+driven him into the wilderness at a time when he should have been seated
+at his fireside with his grandchildren on his knees. I am convinced
+that he never returned; he was complaining that night of a disease, the
+wasting effects of which upon a younger and stronger man, I myself had
+proved from severe experience. Long ere this no doubt the wolves have
+howled their moonlight carnival over the old man’s attenuated remains.
+
+Not long after we came to a small trail leading to Fort Leavenworth,
+distant but one day’s journey. Tete Rouge here took leave of us. He was
+anxious to go to the fort in order to receive payment for his valuable
+military services. So he and his horse James, after bidding an
+affectionate farewell, set out together, taking with them as much
+provision as they could conveniently carry, including a large quantity
+of brown sugar. On a cheerless rainy evening we came to our last
+encamping ground. Some pigs belonging to a Shawnee farmer were grunting
+and rooting at the edge of the grove.
+
+“I wonder how fresh pork tastes,” murmured one of the party, and more
+than one voice murmured in response. The fiat went forth, “That pig
+must die,” and a rifle was leveled forthwith at the countenance of the
+plumpest porker. Just then a wagon train, with some twenty Missourians,
+came out from among the trees. The marksman suspended his aim, deeming
+it inexpedient under the circumstances to consummate the deed of blood.
+
+In the morning we made our toilet as well as circumstances would permit,
+and that is saying but very little. In spite of the dreary rain of
+yesterday, there never was a brighter and gayer autumnal morning than
+that on which we returned to the settlements. We were passing through
+the country of the half-civilized Shawanoes. It was a beautiful
+alternation of fertile plains and groves, whose foliage was just tinged
+with the hues of autumn, while close beneath them rested the neat
+log-houses of the Indian farmers. Every field and meadow bespoke the
+exuberant fertility of the soil. The maize stood rustling in the wind,
+matured and dry, its shining yellow ears thrust out between the gaping
+husks. Squashes and enormous yellow pumpkins lay basking in the sun in
+the midst of their brown and shriveled leaves. Robins and blackbirds
+flew about the fences; and everything in short betokened our near
+approach to home and civilization. The forests that border on the
+Missouri soon rose before us, and we entered the wide tract of shrubbery
+which forms their outskirts. We had passed the same road on our outward
+journey in the spring, but its aspect was totally changed. The young
+wild apple trees, then flushed with their fragrant blossoms, were now
+hung thickly with ruddy fruit. Tall grass flourished by the roadside in
+place of the tender shoots just peeping from the warm and oozy soil. The
+vines were laden with dark purple grapes, and the slender twigs of the
+maple, then tasseled with their clusters of small red flowers, now
+hung out a gorgeous display of leaves stained by the frost with burning
+crimson. On every side we saw the tokens of maturity and decay where
+all had before been fresh and beautiful. We entered the forest, and
+ourselves and our horses were checkered, as we passed along, by the
+bright spots of sunlight that fell between the opening boughs. On either
+side the dark rich masses of foliage almost excluded the sun, though
+here and there its rays could find their way down, striking through the
+broad leaves and lighting them with a pure transparent green. Squirrels
+barked at us from the trees; coveys of young partridges ran rustling
+over the leaves below, and the golden oriole, the blue jay, and the
+flaming red-bird darted among the shadowy branches. We hailed these
+sights and sounds of beauty by no means with an unmingled pleasure.
+Many and powerful as were the attractions which drew us toward the
+settlements, we looked back even at that moment with an eager longing
+toward the wilderness of prairies and mountains behind us. For myself I
+had suffered more that summer from illness than ever before in my life,
+and yet to this hour I cannot recall those savage scenes and savage men
+without a strong desire again to visit them.
+
+At length, for the first time during about half a year, we saw the roof
+of a white man’s dwelling between the opening trees. A few moments after
+we were riding over the miserable log bridge that leads into the center
+of Westport. Westport had beheld strange scenes, but a rougher looking
+troop than ours, with our worn equipments and broken-down horses, was
+never seen even there. We passed the well-remembered tavern, Boone’s
+grocery and old Vogel’s dram shop, and encamped on a meadow beyond.
+Here we were soon visited by a number of people who came to purchase our
+horses and equipage. This matter disposed of, we hired a wagon and drove
+on to Kansas Landing. Here we were again received under the hospitable
+roof of our old friend Colonel Chick, and seated on his porch we looked
+down once more on the eddies of the Missouri.
+
+Delorier made his appearance in the morning, strangely transformed by
+the assistance of a hat, a coat, and a razor. His little log-house was
+among the woods not far off. It seemed he had meditated giving a ball
+on the occasion of his return, and had consulted Henry Chatillon as to
+whether it would do to invite his bourgeois. Henry expressed his entire
+conviction that we would not take it amiss, and the invitation was now
+proffered, accordingly, Delorier adding as a special inducement
+that Antoine Lejeunesse was to play the fiddle. We told him we would
+certainly come, but before the evening arrived a steamboat, which came
+down from Fort Leavenworth, prevented our being present at the expected
+festivities. Delorier was on the rock at the landing place, waiting to
+take leave of us.
+
+“Adieu! mes bourgeois; adieu! adieu!” he cried out as the boat pulled
+off; “when you go another time to de Rocky Montagnes I will go with you;
+yes, I will go!”
+
+He accompanied this patronizing assurance by jumping about swinging his
+hat, and grinning from ear to ear. As the boat rounded a distant point,
+the last object that met our eyes was Delorier still lifting his hat and
+skipping about the rock. We had taken leave of Munroe and Jim Gurney at
+Westport, and Henry Chatillon went down in the boat with us.
+
+The passage to St. Louis occupied eight days, during about a third of
+which we were fast aground on sand-bars. We passed the steamer Amelia
+crowded with a roaring crew of disbanded volunteers, swearing, drinking,
+gambling, and fighting. At length one evening we reached the crowded
+levee of St. Louis. Repairing to the Planters’ House, we caused diligent
+search to be made for our trunks, which after some time were discovered
+stowed away in the farthest corner of the storeroom. In the morning we
+hardly recognized each other; a frock of broadcloth had supplanted the
+frock of buckskin; well-fitted pantaloons took the place of the Indian
+leggings, and polished boots were substituted for the gaudy moccasins.
+
+After we had been several days at St. Louis we heard news of Tete Rouge.
+He had contrived to reach Fort Leavenworth, where he had found the
+paymaster and received his money. As a boat was just ready to start
+for St. Louis, he went on board and engaged his passage. This done, he
+immediately got drunk on shore, and the boat went off without him. It
+was some days before another opportunity occurred, and meanwhile the
+sutler’s stores furnished him with abundant means of keeping up his
+spirits. Another steamboat came at last, the clerk of which happened to
+be a friend of his, and by the advice of some charitable person on shore
+he persuaded Tete Rouge to remain on board, intending to detain him
+there until the boat should leave the fort. At first Tete Rouge was
+well contented with this arrangement, but on applying for a dram, the
+barkeeper, at the clerk’s instigation, refused to let him have it.
+Finding them both inflexible in spite of his entreaties, he became
+desperate and made his escape from the boat. The clerk found him after
+a long search in one of the barracks; a circle of dragoons stood
+contemplating him as he lay on the floor, maudlin drunk and crying
+dismally. With the help of one of them the clerk pushed him on board,
+and our informant, who came down in the same boat, declares that he
+remained in great despondency during the whole passage. As we left St.
+Louis soon after his arrival, we did not see the worthless, good-natured
+little vagabond again.
+
+On the evening before our departure Henry Chatillon came to our rooms
+at the Planters’ House to take leave of us. No one who met him in the
+streets of St. Louis would have taken him for a hunter fresh from the
+Rocky Mountains. He was very neatly and simply dressed in a suit of dark
+cloth; for although, since his sixteenth year, he had scarcely been for
+a month together among the abodes of men, he had a native good taste and
+a sense of propriety which always led him to pay great attention to his
+personal appearance. His tall athletic figure, with its easy flexible
+motions, appeared to advantage in his present dress; and his fine face,
+though roughened by a thousand storms, was not at all out of keeping
+with it. We took leave of him with much regret; and unless his changing
+features, as he shook us by the hand, belied him, the feeling on his
+part was no less than on ours. Shaw had given him a horse at Westport.
+My rifle, which he had always been fond of using, as it was an excellent
+piece, much better than his own, is now in his hands, and perhaps
+at this moment its sharp voice is startling the echoes of the Rocky
+Mountains. On the next morning we left town, and after a fortnight of
+railroads and steamboat we saw once more the familiar features of home.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg’s The Oregon Trail, by Francis Parkman, Jr.
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+  <head>
+    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=UTF-8" />
+    <title>
+      The Oregon Trail, by Francis Parkman, Jr.
+    </title>
+    <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve">
+
+    body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify}
+    P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; }
+    H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; }
+    hr  { width: 50%; text-align: center;}
+    .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; }
+    blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;}
+    .mynote    {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;}
+    .toc       { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;}
+    .toc2      { margin-left: 20%;}
+    div.fig    { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; }
+    div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; }
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+    .figright  {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;}
+    .pagenum   {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal;
+               margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%;
+               text-align: right;}
+    pre        { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;}
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+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Oregon Trail, by Francis Parkman, Jr.
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Oregon Trail
+
+Author: Francis Parkman, Jr.
+
+Release Date: April 27, 2006 [EBook #1015]
+[Last updated: October 8, 2020]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE OREGON TRAIL ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Donald Lainson; David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <h1>
+      THE OREGON TRAIL
+    </h1>
+    <p>
+      <br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      by Francis Parkman, Jr.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <blockquote>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <big><b>CONTENTS</b></big>
+      </p>
+      <p>
+        <br /> <a href="#link2HCH0001"> CHAPTER I -- THE FRONTIER </a><br /><br /> <a
+        href="#link2HCH0002"> CHAPTER II -- BREAKING THE ICE </a><br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0003">
+        CHAPTER III -- FORT LEAVENWORTH </a><br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0004"> CHAPTER IV -- “JUMPING OFF” </a><br /><br />
+        <a href="#link2HCH0005"> CHAPTER V -- “THE BIG BLUE” </a><br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0006">
+        CHAPTER VI -- THE PLATTE AND THE DESERT </a><br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0007"> CHAPTER VII -- THE BUFFALO </a><br /><br />
+        <a href="#link2HCH0008"> CHAPTER VIII -- TAKING FRENCH LEAVE </a><br /><br /> <a
+        href="#link2HCH0009"> CHAPTER IX -- SCENES AT FORT LARAMIE </a><br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0010">
+        CHAPTER X -- THE WAR PARTIES </a><br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0011"> CHAPTER XI -- SCENES AT THE CAMP </a><br /><br />
+        <a href="#link2HCH0012"> CHAPTER XII -- ILL LUCK </a><br /><br /> <a
+        href="#link2HCH0013"> CHAPTER XIII -- HUNTING INDIANS </a><br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0014">
+        CHAPTER XIV -- THE OGALLALLA VILLAGE </a><br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0015"> CHAPTER XV -- THE HUNTING CAMP </a><br /><br />
+        <a href="#link2HCH0016"> CHAPTER XVI -- THE TRAPPERS </a><br /><br /> <a
+        href="#link2HCH0017"> CHAPTER XVII -- THE BLACK HILLS</a><br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0018">
+        CHAPTER XVIII -- A MOUNTAIN HUNT </a><br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0019"> CHAPTER XIX -- PASSAGE OF THE MOUNTAINS </a><br /><br />
+        <a href="#link2HCH0020"> CHAPTER XX -- THE LONELY JOURNEY </a><br /><br /> <a
+        href="#link2HCH0021"> CHAPTER XXI -- THE PUEBLO AND BENT’S FORT </a><br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0022">
+        CHAPTER XXII -- TETE ROUGE, THE VOLUNTEER </a><br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0023"> CHAPTER XXIII -- INDIAN ALARMS </a><br /><br />
+        <a href="#link2HCH0024"> CHAPTER XXIV -- THE CHASE</a><br /><br /> <a
+        href="#link2HCH0025"> CHAPTER XXV -- THE BUFFALO CAMP </a><br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0026">
+        CHAPTER XXVI DOWN THE ARKANSAS </a><br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0027"> CHAPTER XXVII -- THE SETTLEMENTS </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+      </p>
+    </blockquote>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br /> <a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER I
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      THE FRONTIER
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Last spring, 1846, was a busy season in the City of St. Louis. Not only
+      were emigrants from every part of the country preparing for the journey to
+      Oregon and California, but an unusual number of traders were making ready
+      their wagons and outfits for Santa Fe. Many of the emigrants, especially
+      of those bound for California, were persons of wealth and standing. The
+      hotels were crowded, and the gunsmiths and saddlers were kept constantly
+      at work in providing arms and equipments for the different parties of
+      travelers. Almost every day steamboats were leaving the levee and passing
+      up the Missouri, crowded with passengers on their way to the frontier.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In one of these, the Radnor, since snagged and lost, my friend and
+      relative, Quincy A. Shaw, and myself, left St. Louis on the 28th of April,
+      on a tour of curiosity and amusement to the Rocky Mountains. The boat was
+      loaded until the water broke alternately over her guards. Her upper deck
+      was covered with large weapons of a peculiar form, for the Santa Fe trade,
+      and her hold was crammed with goods for the same destination. There were
+      also the equipments and provisions of a party of Oregon emigrants, a band
+      of mules and horses, piles of saddles and harness, and a multitude of
+      nondescript articles, indispensable on the prairies. Almost hidden in this
+      medley one might have seen a small French cart, of the sort very
+      appropriately called a &ldquo;mule-killer&rdquo; beyond the frontiers, and not far
+      distant a tent, together with a miscellaneous assortment of boxes and
+      barrels. The whole equipage was far from prepossessing in its appearance;
+      yet, such as it was, it was destined to a long and arduous journey, on
+      which the persevering reader will accompany it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The passengers on board the Radnor corresponded with her freight. In her
+      cabin were Santa Fe traders, gamblers, speculators, and adventurers of
+      various descriptions, and her steerage was crowded with Oregon emigrants,
+      &ldquo;mountain men,&rdquo; negroes, and a party of Kansas Indians, who had been on a
+      visit to St. Louis.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Thus laden, the boat struggled upward for seven or eight days against the
+      rapid current of the Missouri, grating upon snags, and hanging for two or
+      three hours at a time upon sand-bars. We entered the mouth of the Missouri
+      in a drizzling rain, but the weather soon became clear, and showed
+      distinctly the broad and turbid river, with its eddies, its sand-bars, its
+      ragged islands, and forest-covered shores. The Missouri is constantly
+      changing its course; wearing away its banks on one side, while it forms
+      new ones on the other. Its channel is shifting continually. Islands are
+      formed, and then washed away; and while the old forests on one side are
+      undermined and swept off, a young growth springs up from the new soil upon
+      the other. With all these changes, the water is so charged with mud and
+      sand that it is perfectly opaque, and in a few minutes deposits a sediment
+      an inch thick in the bottom of a tumbler. The river was now high; but when
+      we descended in the autumn it was fallen very low, and all the secrets of
+      its treacherous shallows were exposed to view. It was frightful to see the
+      dead and broken trees, thick-set as a military abatis, firmly imbedded in
+      the sand, and all pointing down stream, ready to impale any unhappy
+      steamboat that at high water should pass over that dangerous ground.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In five or six days we began to see signs of the great western movement
+      that was then taking place. Parties of emigrants, with their tents and
+      wagons, would be encamped on open spots near the bank, on their way to the
+      common rendezvous at Independence. On a rainy day, near sunset, we reached
+      the landing of this place, which is situated some miles from the river, on
+      the extreme frontier of Missouri. The scene was characteristic, for here
+      were represented at one view the most remarkable features of this wild and
+      enterprising region. On the muddy shore stood some thirty or forty dark
+      slavish-looking Spaniards, gazing stupidly out from beneath their broad
+      hats. They were attached to one of the Santa Fe companies, whose wagons
+      were crowded together on the banks above. In the midst of these, crouching
+      over a smoldering fire, was a group of Indians, belonging to a remote
+      Mexican tribe. One or two French hunters from the mountains with their
+      long hair and buckskin dresses, were looking at the boat; and seated on a
+      log close at hand were three men, with rifles lying across their knees.
+      The foremost of these, a tall, strong figure, with a clear blue eye and an
+      open, intelligent face, might very well represent that race of restless
+      and intrepid pioneers whose axes and rifles have opened a path from the
+      Alleghenies to the western prairies. He was on his way to Oregon, probably
+      a more congenial field to him than any that now remained on this side the
+      great plains.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Early on the next morning we reached Kansas, about five hundred miles from
+      the mouth of the Missouri. Here we landed and leaving our equipments in
+      charge of my good friend Colonel Chick, whose log-house was the substitute
+      for a tavern, we set out in a wagon for Westport, where we hoped to
+      procure mules and horses for the journey.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was a remarkably fresh and beautiful May morning. The rich and
+      luxuriant woods through which the miserable road conducted us were lighted
+      by the bright sunshine and enlivened by a multitude of birds. We overtook
+      on the way our late fellow-travelers, the Kansas Indians, who, adorned
+      with all their finery, were proceeding homeward at a round pace; and
+      whatever they might have seemed on board the boat, they made a very
+      striking and picturesque feature in the forest landscape.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Westport was full of Indians, whose little shaggy ponies were tied by
+      dozens along the houses and fences. Sacs and Foxes, with shaved heads and
+      painted faces, Shawanoes and Delawares, fluttering in calico frocks, and
+      turbans, Wyandottes dressed like white men, and a few wretched Kansas
+      wrapped in old blankets, were strolling about the streets, or lounging in
+      and out of the shops and houses.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As I stood at the door of the tavern, I saw a remarkable looking person
+      coming up the street. He had a ruddy face, garnished with the stumps of a
+      bristly red beard and mustache; on one side of his head was a round cap
+      with a knob at the top, such as Scottish laborers sometimes wear; his coat
+      was of a nondescript form, and made of a gray Scotch plaid, with the
+      fringes hanging all about it; he wore pantaloons of coarse homespun, and
+      hob-nailed shoes; and to complete his equipment, a little black pipe was
+      stuck in one corner of his mouth. In this curious attire, I recognized
+      Captain C. of the British army, who, with his brother, and Mr. R., an
+      English gentleman, was bound on a hunting expedition across the continent.
+      I had seen the captain and his companions at St. Louis. They had now been
+      for some time at Westport, making preparations for their departure, and
+      waiting for a re-enforcement, since they were too few in number to attempt
+      it alone. They might, it is true, have joined some of the parties of
+      emigrants who were on the point of setting out for Oregon and California;
+      but they professed great disinclination to have any connection with the
+      &ldquo;Kentucky fellows.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The captain now urged it upon us, that we should join forces and proceed
+      to the mountains in company. Feeling no greater partiality for the society
+      of the emigrants than they did, we thought the arrangement an advantageous
+      one, and consented to it. Our future fellow-travelers had installed
+      themselves in a little log-house, where we found them all surrounded by
+      saddles, harness, guns, pistols, telescopes, knives, and in short their
+      complete appointments for the prairie. R., who professed a taste for
+      natural history, sat at a table stuffing a woodpecker; the brother of the
+      captain, who was an Irishman, was splicing a trail-rope on the floor, as
+      he had been an amateur sailor. The captain pointed out, with much
+      complacency, the different articles of their outfit. &ldquo;You see,&rdquo; said he,
+      &ldquo;that we are all old travelers. I am convinced that no party ever went
+      upon the prairie better provided.&rdquo; The hunter whom they had employed, a
+      surly looking Canadian, named Sorel, and their muleteer, an American from
+      St. Louis, were lounging about the building. In a little log stable close
+      at hand were their horses and mules, selected by the captain, who was an
+      excellent judge.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The alliance entered into, we left them to complete their arrangements,
+      while we pushed our own to all convenient speed. The emigrants for whom
+      our friends professed such contempt were encamped on the prairie about
+      eight or ten miles distant, to the number of a thousand or more, and new
+      parties were constantly passing out from Independence to join them. They
+      were in great confusion, holding meetings, passing resolutions, and
+      drawing up regulations, but unable to unite in the choice of leaders to
+      conduct them across the prairie. Being at leisure one day, I rode over to
+      Independence. The town was crowded. A multitude of shops had sprung up to
+      furnish the emigrants and Santa Fe traders with necessaries for their
+      journey; and there was an incessant hammering and banging from a dozen
+      blacksmiths&rsquo; sheds, where the heavy wagons were being repaired, and the
+      horses and oxen shod. The streets were thronged with men, horses, and
+      mules. While I was in the town, a train of emigrant wagons from Illinois
+      passed through, to join the camp on the prairie, and stopped in the
+      principal street. A multitude of healthy children&rsquo;s faces were peeping out
+      from under the covers of the wagons. Here and there a buxom damsel was
+      seated on horseback, holding over her sunburnt face an old umbrella or a
+      parasol, once gaudy enough but now miserably faded. The men, very
+      sober-looking countrymen, stood about their oxen; and as I passed I
+      noticed three old fellows, who, with their long whips in their hands, were
+      zealously discussing the doctrine of regeneration. The emigrants, however,
+      are not all of this stamp. Among them are some of the vilest outcasts in
+      the country. I have often perplexed myself to divine the various motives
+      that give impulse to this strange migration; but whatever they may be,
+      whether an insane hope of a better condition in life, or a desire of
+      shaking off restraints of law and society, or mere restlessness, certain
+      it is that multitudes bitterly repent the journey, and after they have
+      reached the land of promise are happy enough to escape from it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the course of seven or eight days we had brought our preparations near
+      to a close. Meanwhile our friends had completed theirs, and becoming tired
+      of Westport, they told us that they would set out in advance and wait at
+      the crossing of the Kansas till we should come up. Accordingly R. and the
+      muleteers went forward with the wagon and tent, while the captain and his
+      brother, together with Sorel, and a trapper named Boisverd, who had joined
+      them, followed with the band of horses. The commencement of the journey
+      was ominous, for the captain was scarcely a mile from Westport, riding
+      along in state at the head of his party, leading his intended buffalo
+      horse by a rope, when a tremendous thunderstorm came on, and drenched them
+      all to the skin. They hurried on to reach the place, about seven miles
+      off, where R. was to have had the camp in readiness to receive them. But
+      this prudent person, when he saw the storm approaching, had selected a
+      sheltered glade in the woods, where he pitched his tent, and was sipping a
+      comfortable cup of coffee, while the captain galloped for miles beyond
+      through the rain to look for him. At length the storm cleared away, and
+      the sharp-eyed trapper succeeded in discovering his tent: R. had by this
+      time finished his coffee, and was seated on a buffalo robe smoking his
+      pipe. The captain was one of the most easy-tempered men in existence, so
+      he bore his ill-luck with great composure, shared the dregs of the coffee
+      with his brother, and lay down to sleep in his wet clothes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We ourselves had our share of the deluge. We were leading a pair of mules
+      to Kansas when the storm broke. Such sharp and incessant flashes of
+      lightning, such stunning and continuous thunder, I have never known
+      before. The woods were completely obscured by the diagonal sheets of rain
+      that fell with a heavy roar, and rose in spray from the ground; and the
+      streams rose so rapidly that we could hardly ford them. At length, looming
+      through the rain, we saw the log-house of Colonel Chick, who received us
+      with his usual bland hospitality; while his wife, who, though a little
+      soured and stiffened by too frequent attendance on camp-meetings, was not
+      behind him in hospitable feeling, supplied us with the means of repairing
+      our drenched and bedraggled condition. The storm, clearing away at about
+      sunset, opened a noble prospect from the porch of the colonel&rsquo;s house,
+      which stands upon a high hill. The sun streamed from the breaking clouds
+      upon the swift and angry Missouri, and on the immense expanse of luxuriant
+      forest that stretched from its banks back to the distant bluffs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Returning on the next day to Westport, we received a message from the
+      captain, who had ridden back to deliver it in person, but finding that we
+      were in Kansas, had intrusted it with an acquaintance of his named Vogel,
+      who kept a small grocery and liquor shop. Whisky by the way circulates
+      more freely in Westport than is altogether safe in a place where every man
+      carries a loaded pistol in his pocket. As we passed this establishment, we
+      saw Vogel&rsquo;s broad German face and knavish-looking eyes thrust from his
+      door. He said he had something to tell us, and invited us to take a dram.
+      Neither his liquor nor his message was very palatable. The captain had
+      returned to give us notice that R., who assumed the direction of his
+      party, had determined upon another route from that agreed upon between us;
+      and instead of taking the course of the traders, to pass northward by Fort
+      Leavenworth, and follow the path marked out by the dragoons in their
+      expedition of last summer. To adopt such a plan without consulting us, we
+      looked upon as a very high-handed proceeding; but suppressing our
+      dissatisfaction as well as we could, we made up our minds to join them at
+      Fort Leavenworth, where they were to wait for us.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Accordingly, our preparation being now complete, we attempted one fine
+      morning to commence our journey. The first step was an unfortunate one. No
+      sooner were our animals put in harness, than the shaft mule reared and
+      plunged, burst ropes and straps, and nearly flung the cart into the
+      Missouri. Finding her wholly uncontrollable, we exchanged her for another,
+      with which we were furnished by our friend Mr. Boone of Westport, a
+      grandson of Daniel Boone, the pioneer. This foretaste of prairie
+      experience was very soon followed by another. Westport was scarcely out of
+      sight, when we encountered a deep muddy gully, of a species that afterward
+      became but too familiar to us; and here for the space of an hour or more
+      the car stuck fast.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER II
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      BREAKING THE ICE
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Both Shaw and myself were tolerably inured to the vicissitudes of
+      traveling. We had experienced them under various forms, and a birch canoe
+      was as familiar to us as a steamboat. The restlessness, the love of wilds
+      and hatred of cities, natural perhaps in early years to every unperverted
+      son of Adam, was not our only motive for undertaking the present journey.
+      My companion hoped to shake off the effects of a disorder that had
+      impaired a constitution originally hardy and robust; and I was anxious to
+      pursue some inquiries relative to the character and usages of the remote
+      Indian nations, being already familiar with many of the border tribes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Emerging from the mud-hole where we last took leave of the reader, we
+      pursued our way for some time along the narrow track, in the checkered
+      sunshine and shadow of the woods, till at length, issuing forth into the
+      broad light, we left behind us the farthest outskirts of that great
+      forest, that once spread unbroken from the western plains to the shore of
+      the Atlantic. Looking over an intervening belt of shrubbery, we saw the
+      green, oceanlike expanse of prairie, stretching swell over swell to the
+      horizon.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was a mild, calm spring day; a day when one is more disposed to musing
+      and reverie than to action, and the softest part of his nature is apt to
+      gain the ascendency. I rode in advance of the party, as we passed through
+      the shrubbery, and as a nook of green grass offered a strong temptation, I
+      dismounted and lay down there. All the trees and saplings were in flower,
+      or budding into fresh leaf; the red clusters of the maple-blossoms and the
+      rich flowers of the Indian apple were there in profusion; and I was half
+      inclined to regret leaving behind the land of gardens for the rude and
+      stern scenes of the prairie and the mountains.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Meanwhile the party came in sight from out of the bushes. Foremost rode
+      Henry Chatillon, our guide and hunter, a fine athletic figure, mounted on
+      a hardy gray Wyandotte pony. He wore a white blanket-coat, a broad hat of
+      felt, moccasins, and pantaloons of deerskin, ornamented along the seams
+      with rows of long fringes. His knife was stuck in his belt; his
+      bullet-pouch and powder-horn hung at his side, and his rifle lay before
+      him, resting against the high pommel of his saddle, which, like all his
+      equipments, had seen hard service, and was much the worse for wear. Shaw
+      followed close, mounted on a little sorrel horse, and leading a larger
+      animal by a rope. His outfit, which resembled mine, had been provided with
+      a view to use rather than ornament. It consisted of a plain, black Spanish
+      saddle, with holsters of heavy pistols, a blanket rolled up behind it, and
+      the trail-rope attached to his horse&rsquo;s neck hanging coiled in front. He
+      carried a double-barreled smooth-bore, while I boasted a rifle of some
+      fifteen pounds&rsquo; weight. At that time our attire, though far from elegant,
+      bore some marks of civilization, and offered a very favorable contrast to
+      the inimitable shabbiness of our appearance on the return journey. A red
+      flannel shirt, belted around the waist like a frock, then constituted our
+      upper garment; moccasins had supplanted our failing boots; and the
+      remaining essential portion of our attire consisted of an extraordinary
+      article, manufactured by a squaw out of smoked buckskin. Our muleteer,
+      Delorier, brought up the rear with his cart, waddling ankle-deep in the
+      mud, alternately puffing at his pipe, and ejaculating in his prairie
+      patois: &ldquo;Sacre enfant de garce!&rdquo; as one of the mules would seem to recoil
+      before some abyss of unusual profundity. The cart was of the kind that one
+      may see by scores around the market-place in Montreal, and had a white
+      covering to protect the articles within. These were our provisions and a
+      tent, with ammunition, blankets, and presents for the Indians.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We were in all four men with eight animals; for besides the spare horses
+      led by Shaw and myself, an additional mule was driven along with us as a
+      reserve in case of accident.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After this summing up of our forces, it may not be amiss to glance at the
+      characters of the two men who accompanied us.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Delorier was a Canadian, with all the characteristics of the true Jean
+      Baptiste. Neither fatigue, exposure, nor hard labor could ever impair his
+      cheerfulness and gayety, or his obsequious politeness to his bourgeois;
+      and when night came he would sit down by the fire, smoke his pipe, and
+      tell stories with the utmost contentment. In fact, the prairie was his
+      congenial element. Henry Chatillon was of a different stamp. When we were
+      at St. Louis, several gentlemen of the Fur Company had kindly offered to
+      procure for us a hunter and guide suited for our purposes, and on coming
+      one afternoon to the office, we found there a tall and exceedingly
+      well-dressed man with a face so open and frank that it attracted our
+      notice at once. We were surprised at being told that it was he who wished
+      to guide us to the mountains. He was born in a little French town near St.
+      Louis, and from the age of fifteen years had been constantly in the
+      neighborhood of the Rocky Mountains, employed for the most part by the
+      Company to supply their forts with buffalo meat. As a hunter he had but
+      one rival in the whole region, a man named Cimoneau, with whom, to the
+      honor of both of them, he was on terms of the closest friendship. He had
+      arrived at St. Louis the day before, from the mountains, where he had
+      remained for four years; and he now only asked to go and spend a day with
+      his mother before setting out on another expedition. His age was about
+      thirty; he was six feet high, and very powerfully and gracefully molded.
+      The prairies had been his school; he could neither read nor write, but he
+      had a natural refinement and delicacy of mind such as is rarely found,
+      even in women. His manly face was a perfect mirror of uprightness,
+      simplicity, and kindness of heart; he had, moreover, a keen perception of
+      character and a tact that would preserve him from flagrant error in any
+      society. Henry had not the restless energy of an Anglo-American. He was
+      content to take things as he found them; and his chief fault arose from an
+      excess of easy generosity, impelling him to give away too profusely ever
+      to thrive in the world. Yet it was commonly remarked of him, that whatever
+      he might choose to do with what belonged to himself, the property of
+      others was always safe in his hands. His bravery was as much celebrated in
+      the mountains as his skill in hunting; but it is characteristic of him
+      that in a country where the rifle is the chief arbiter between man and
+      man, Henry was very seldom involved in quarrels. Once or twice, indeed,
+      his quiet good-nature had been mistaken and presumed upon, but the
+      consequences of the error were so formidable that no one was ever known to
+      repeat it. No better evidence of the intrepidity of his temper could be
+      wished than the common report that he had killed more than thirty grizzly
+      bears. He was a proof of what unaided nature will sometimes do. I have
+      never, in the city or in the wilderness, met a better man than my noble
+      and true-hearted friend, Henry Chatillon.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We were soon free of the woods and bushes, and fairly upon the broad
+      prairie. Now and then a Shawanoe passed us, riding his little shaggy pony
+      at a &ldquo;lope&rdquo;; his calico shirt, his gaudy sash, and the gay handkerchief
+      bound around his snaky hair fluttering in the wind. At noon we stopped to
+      rest not far from a little creek replete with frogs and young turtles.
+      There had been an Indian encampment at the place, and the framework of
+      their lodges still remained, enabling us very easily to gain a shelter
+      from the sun, by merely spreading one or two blankets over them. Thus
+      shaded, we sat upon our saddles, and Shaw for the first time lighted his
+      favorite Indian pipe; while Delorier was squatted over a hot bed of coals,
+      shading his eyes with one hand, and holding a little stick in the other,
+      with which he regulated the hissing contents of the frying-pan. The horses
+      were turned to feed among the scattered bushes of a low oozy meadow. A
+      drowzy springlike sultriness pervaded the air, and the voices of ten
+      thousand young frogs and insects, just awakened into life, rose in varied
+      chorus from the creek and the meadows.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Scarcely were we seated when a visitor approached. This was an old Kansas
+      Indian; a man of distinction, if one might judge from his dress. His head
+      was shaved and painted red, and from the tuft of hair remaining on the
+      crown dangled several eagles&rsquo; feathers, and the tails of two or three
+      rattlesnakes. His cheeks, too, were daubed with vermilion; his ears were
+      adorned with green glass pendants; a collar of grizzly bears&rsquo; claws
+      surrounded his neck, and several large necklaces of wampum hung on his
+      breast. Having shaken us by the hand with a cordial grunt of salutation,
+      the old man, dropping his red blanket from his shoulders, sat down
+      cross-legged on the ground. In the absence of liquor we offered him a cup
+      of sweetened water, at which he ejaculated &ldquo;Good!&rdquo; and was beginning to
+      tell us how great a man he was, and how many Pawnees he had killed, when
+      suddenly a motley concourse appeared wading across the creek toward us.
+      They filed past in rapid succession, men, women, and children; some were
+      on horseback, some on foot, but all were alike squalid and wretched. Old
+      squaws, mounted astride of shaggy, meager little ponies, with perhaps one
+      or two snake-eyed children seated behind them, clinging to their tattered
+      blankets; tall lank young men on foot, with bows and arrows in their
+      hands; and girls whose native ugliness not all the charms of glass beads
+      and scarlet cloth could disguise, made up the procession; although here
+      and there was a man who, like our visitor, seemed to hold some rank in
+      this respectable community. They were the dregs of the Kansas nation, who,
+      while their betters were gone to hunt buffalo, had left the village on a
+      begging expedition to Westport.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When this ragamuffin horde had passed, we caught our horses, saddled,
+      harnessed, and resumed our journey. Fording the creek, the low roofs of a
+      number of rude buildings appeared, rising from a cluster of groves and
+      woods on the left; and riding up through a long lane, amid a profusion of
+      wild roses and early spring flowers, we found the log-church and
+      school-houses belonging to the Methodist Shawanoe Mission. The Indians
+      were on the point of gathering to a religious meeting. Some scores of
+      them, tall men in half-civilized dress, were seated on wooden benches
+      under the trees; while their horses were tied to the sheds and fences.
+      Their chief, Parks, a remarkably large and athletic man, was just arrived
+      from Westport, where he owns a trading establishment. Beside this, he has
+      a fine farm and a considerable number of slaves. Indeed the Shawanoes have
+      made greater progress in agriculture than any other tribe on the Missouri
+      frontier; and both in appearance and in character form a marked contrast
+      to our late acquaintance, the Kansas.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A few hours&rsquo; ride brought us to the banks of the river Kansas. Traversing
+      the woods that lined it, and plowing through the deep sand, we encamped
+      not far from the bank, at the Lower Delaware crossing. Our tent was
+      erected for the first time on a meadow close to the woods, and the camp
+      preparations being complete we began to think of supper. An old Delaware
+      woman, of some three hundred pounds&rsquo; weight, sat in the porch of a little
+      log-house close to the water, and a very pretty half-breed girl was
+      engaged, under her superintendence, in feeding a large flock of turkeys
+      that were fluttering and gobbling about the door. But no offers of money,
+      or even of tobacco, could induce her to part with one of her favorites; so
+      I took my rifle, to see if the woods or the river could furnish us
+      anything. A multitude of quails were plaintively whistling in the woods
+      and meadows; but nothing appropriate to the rifle was to be seen, except
+      three buzzards, seated on the spectral limbs of an old dead sycamore, that
+      thrust itself out over the river from the dense sunny wall of fresh
+      foliage. Their ugly heads were drawn down between their shoulders, and
+      they seemed to luxuriate in the soft sunshine that was pouring from the
+      west. As they offered no epicurean temptations, I refrained from
+      disturbing their enjoyment; but contented myself with admiring the calm
+      beauty of the sunset, for the river, eddying swiftly in deep purple
+      shadows between the impending woods, formed a wild but tranquillizing
+      scene.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When I returned to the camp I found Shaw and an old Indian seated on the
+      ground in close conference, passing the pipe between them. The old man was
+      explaining that he loved the whites, and had an especial partiality for
+      tobacco. Delorier was arranging upon the ground our service of tin cups
+      and plates; and as other viands were not to be had, he set before us a
+      repast of biscuit and bacon, and a large pot of coffee. Unsheathing our
+      knives, we attacked it, disposed of the greater part, and tossed the
+      residue to the Indian. Meanwhile our horses, now hobbled for the first
+      time, stood among the trees, with their fore-legs tied together, in great
+      disgust and astonishment. They seemed by no means to relish this foretaste
+      of what was before them. Mine, in particular, had conceived a moral
+      aversion to the prairie life. One of them, christened Hendrick, an animal
+      whose strength and hardihood were his only merits, and who yielded to
+      nothing but the cogent arguments of the whip, looked toward us with an
+      indignant countenance, as if he meditated avenging his wrongs with a kick.
+      The other, Pontiac, a good horse, though of plebeian lineage, stood with
+      his head drooping and his mane hanging about his eyes, with the grieved
+      and sulky air of a lubberly boy sent off to school. Poor Pontiac! his
+      forebodings were but too just; for when I last heard from him, he was
+      under the lash of an Ogallalla brave, on a war party against the Crows.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As it grew dark, and the voices of the whip-poor-wills succeeded the
+      whistle of the quails, we removed our saddles to the tent, to serve as
+      pillows, spread our blankets upon the ground, and prepared to bivouac for
+      the first time that season. Each man selected the place in the tent which
+      he was to occupy for the journey. To Delorier, however, was assigned the
+      cart, into which he could creep in wet weather, and find a much better
+      shelter than his bourgeois enjoyed in the tent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The river Kansas at this point forms the boundary line between the country
+      of the Shawanoes and that of the Delawares. We crossed it on the following
+      day, rafting over our horses and equipage with much difficulty, and
+      unloading our cart in order to make our way up the steep ascent on the
+      farther bank. It was a Sunday morning; warm, tranquil and bright; and a
+      perfect stillness reigned over the rough inclosures and neglected fields
+      of the Delawares, except the ceaseless hum and chirruping of myriads of
+      insects. Now and then, an Indian rode past on his way to the
+      meeting-house, or through the dilapidated entrance of some shattered
+      log-house an old woman might be discerned, enjoying all the luxury of
+      idleness. There was no village bell, for the Delawares have none; and yet
+      upon that forlorn and rude settlement was the same spirit of Sabbath
+      repose and tranquillity as in some little New England village among the
+      mountains of New Hampshire or the Vermont woods.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Having at present no leisure for such reflections, we pursued our journey.
+      A military road led from this point to Fort Leavenworth, and for many
+      miles the farms and cabins of the Delawares were scattered at short
+      intervals on either hand. The little rude structures of logs, erected
+      usually on the borders of a tract of woods, made a picturesque feature in
+      the landscape. But the scenery needed no foreign aid. Nature had done
+      enough for it; and the alteration of rich green prairies and groves that
+      stood in clusters or lined the banks of the numerous little streams, had
+      all the softened and polished beauty of a region that has been for
+      centuries under the hand of man. At that early season, too, it was in the
+      height of its freshness and luxuriance. The woods were flushed with the
+      red buds of the maple; there were frequent flowering shrubs unknown in the
+      east; and the green swells of the prairies were thickly studded with
+      blossoms.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Encamping near a spring by the side of a hill, we resumed our journey in
+      the morning, and early in the afternoon had arrived within a few miles of
+      Fort Leavenworth. The road crossed a stream densely bordered with trees,
+      and running in the bottom of a deep woody hollow. We were about to descend
+      into it, when a wild and confused procession appeared, passing through the
+      water below, and coming up the steep ascent toward us. We stopped to let
+      them pass. They were Delawares, just returned from a hunting expedition.
+      All, both men and women, were mounted on horseback, and drove along with
+      them a considerable number of pack mules, laden with the furs they had
+      taken, together with the buffalo robes, kettles, and other articles of
+      their traveling equipment, which as well as their clothing and their
+      weapons, had a worn and dingy aspect, as if they had seen hard service of
+      late. At the rear of the party was an old man, who, as he came up, stopped
+      his horse to speak to us. He rode a little tough shaggy pony, with mane
+      and tail well knotted with burrs, and a rusty Spanish bit in its mouth, to
+      which, by way of reins, was attached a string of raw hide. His saddle,
+      robbed probably from a Mexican, had no covering, being merely a tree of
+      the Spanish form, with a piece of grizzly bear&rsquo;s skin laid over it, a pair
+      of rude wooden stirrups attached, and in the absence of girth, a thong of
+      hide passing around the horse&rsquo;s belly. The rider&rsquo;s dark features and keen
+      snaky eyes were unequivocally Indian. He wore a buckskin frock, which,
+      like his fringed leggings, was well polished and blackened by grease and
+      long service; and an old handkerchief was tied around his head. Resting on
+      the saddle before him lay his rifle; a weapon in the use of which the
+      Delawares are skillful; though from its weight, the distant prairie
+      Indians are too lazy to carry it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who&rsquo;s your chief?&rdquo; he immediately inquired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry Chatillon pointed to us. The old Delaware fixed his eyes intently
+      upon us for a moment, and then sententiously remarked:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No good! Too young!&rdquo; With this flattering comment he left us, and rode
+      after his people.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This tribe, the Delawares, once the peaceful allies of William Penn, the
+      tributaries of the conquering Iroquois, are now the most adventurous and
+      dreaded warriors upon the prairies. They make war upon remote tribes the
+      very names of which were unknown to their fathers in their ancient seats
+      in Pennsylvania; and they push these new quarrels with true Indian rancor,
+      sending out their little war parties as far as the Rocky Mountains, and
+      into the Mexican territories. Their neighbors and former confederates, the
+      Shawanoes, who are tolerable farmers, are in a prosperous condition; but
+      the Delawares dwindle every year, from the number of men lost in their
+      warlike expeditions.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Soon after leaving this party, we saw, stretching on the right, the
+      forests that follow the course of the Missouri, and the deep woody channel
+      through which at this point it runs. At a distance in front were the white
+      barracks of Fort Leavenworth, just visible through the trees upon an
+      eminence above a bend of the river. A wide green meadow, as level as a
+      lake, lay between us and the Missouri, and upon this, close to a line of
+      trees that bordered a little brook, stood the tent of the captain and his
+      companions, with their horses feeding around it, but they themselves were
+      invisible. Wright, their muleteer, was there, seated on the tongue of the
+      wagon, repairing his harness. Boisverd stood cleaning his rifle at the
+      door of the tent, and Sorel lounged idly about. On closer examination,
+      however, we discovered the captain&rsquo;s brother, Jack, sitting in the tent,
+      at his old occupation of splicing trail-ropes. He welcomed us in his broad
+      Irish brogue, and said that his brother was fishing in the river, and R.
+      gone to the garrison. They returned before sunset. Meanwhile we erected
+      our own tent not far off, and after supper a council was held, in which it
+      was resolved to remain one day at Fort Leavenworth, and on the next to bid
+      a final adieu to the frontier: or in the phraseology of the region, to
+      &ldquo;jump off.&rdquo; Our deliberations were conducted by the ruddy light from a
+      distant swell of the prairie, where the long dry grass of last summer was
+      on fire.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0003" id="link2HCH0003">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER III
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      FORT LEAVENWORTH
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      On the next morning we rode to Fort Leavenworth. Colonel, now General,
+      Kearny, to whom I had had the honor of an introduction when at St. Louis,
+      was just arrived, and received us at his headquarters with the high-bred
+      courtesy habitual to him. Fort Leavenworth is in fact no fort, being
+      without defensive works, except two block-houses. No rumors of war had as
+      yet disturbed its tranquillity. In the square grassy area, surrounded by
+      barracks and the quarters of the officers, the men were passing and
+      repassing, or lounging among the trees; although not many weeks afterward
+      it presented a different scene; for here the very off-scourings of the
+      frontier were congregated, to be marshaled for the expedition against
+      Santa Fe.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Passing through the garrison, we rode toward the Kickapoo village, five or
+      six miles beyond. The path, a rather dubious and uncertain one, led us
+      along the ridge of high bluffs that bordered the Missouri; and by looking
+      to the right or to the left, we could enjoy a strange contrast of opposite
+      scenery. On the left stretched the prairie, rising into swells and
+      undulations, thickly sprinkled with groves, or gracefully expanding into
+      wide grassy basins of miles in extent; while its curvatures, swelling
+      against the horizon, were often surmounted by lines of sunny woods; a
+      scene to which the freshness of the season and the peculiar mellowness of
+      the atmosphere gave additional softness. Below us, on the right, was a
+      tract of ragged and broken woods. We could look down on the summits of the
+      trees, some living and some dead; some erect, others leaning at every
+      angle, and others still piled in masses together by the passage of a
+      hurricane. Beyond their extreme verge, the turbid waters of the Missouri
+      were discernible through the boughs, rolling powerfully along at the foot
+      of the woody declivities of its farther bank.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The path soon after led inland; and as we crossed an open meadow we saw a
+      cluster of buildings on a rising ground before us, with a crowd of people
+      surrounding them. They were the storehouse, cottage, and stables of the
+      Kickapoo trader&rsquo;s establishment. Just at that moment, as it chanced, he
+      was beset with half the Indians of the settlement. They had tied their
+      wretched, neglected little ponies by dozens along the fences and
+      outhouses, and were either lounging about the place, or crowding into the
+      trading house. Here were faces of various colors; red, green, white, and
+      black, curiously intermingled and disposed over the visage in a variety of
+      patterns. Calico shirts, red and blue blankets, brass ear-rings, wampum
+      necklaces, appeared in profusion. The trader was a blue-eyed open-faced
+      man who neither in his manners nor his appearance betrayed any of the
+      roughness of the frontier; though just at present he was obliged to keep a
+      lynx eye on his suspicious customers, who, men and women, were climbing on
+      his counter and seating themselves among his boxes and bales.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The village itself was not far off, and sufficiently illustrated the
+      condition of its unfortunate and self-abandoned occupants. Fancy to
+      yourself a little swift stream, working its devious way down a woody
+      valley; sometimes wholly hidden under logs and fallen trees, sometimes
+      issuing forth and spreading into a broad, clear pool; and on its banks in
+      little nooks cleared away among the trees, miniature log-houses in utter
+      ruin and neglect. A labyrinth of narrow, obstructed paths connected these
+      habitations one with another. Sometimes we met a stray calf, a pig or a
+      pony, belonging to some of the villagers, who usually lay in the sun in
+      front of their dwellings, and looked on us with cold, suspicious eyes as
+      we approached. Farther on, in place of the log-huts of the Kickapoos, we
+      found the pukwi lodges of their neighbors, the Pottawattamies, whose
+      condition seemed no better than theirs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Growing tired at last, and exhausted by the excessive heat and sultriness
+      of the day, we returned to our friend, the trader. By this time the crowd
+      around him had dispersed, and left him at leisure. He invited us to his
+      cottage, a little white-and-green building, in the style of the old French
+      settlements; and ushered us into a neat, well-furnished room. The blinds
+      were closed, and the heat and glare of the sun excluded; the room was as
+      cool as a cavern. It was neatly carpeted too and furnished in a manner
+      that we hardly expected on the frontier. The sofas, chairs, tables, and a
+      well-filled bookcase would not have disgraced an Eastern city; though
+      there were one or two little tokens that indicated the rather questionable
+      civilization of the region. A pistol, loaded and capped, lay on the
+      mantelpiece; and through the glass of the bookcase, peeping above the
+      works of John Milton glittered the handle of a very mischievous-looking
+      knife.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Our host went out, and returned with iced water, glasses, and a bottle of
+      excellent claret; a refreshment most welcome in the extreme heat of the
+      day; and soon after appeared a merry, laughing woman, who must have been,
+      a year of two before, a very rich and luxuriant specimen of Creole beauty.
+      She came to say that lunch was ready in the next room. Our hostess
+      evidently lived on the sunny side of life, and troubled herself with none
+      of its cares. She sat down and entertained us while we were at table with
+      anecdotes of fishing parties, frolics, and the officers at the fort.
+      Taking leave at length of the hospitable trader and his friend, we rode
+      back to the garrison.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shaw passed on to the camp, while I remained to call upon Colonel Kearny.
+      I found him still at table. There sat our friend the captain, in the same
+      remarkable habiliments in which we saw him at Westport; the black pipe,
+      however, being for the present laid aside. He dangled his little cap in
+      his hand and talked of steeple-chases, touching occasionally upon his
+      anticipated exploits in buffalo-hunting. There, too, was R., somewhat more
+      elegantly attired. For the last time we tasted the luxuries of
+      civilization, and drank adieus to it in wine good enough to make us almost
+      regret the leave-taking. Then, mounting, we rode together to the camp,
+      where everything was in readiness for departure on the morrow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0004" id="link2HCH0004">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER IV
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      &ldquo;JUMPING OFF&rdquo;
+     </h3>
+    <p>
+      The reader need not be told that John Bull never leaves home without
+      encumbering himself with the greatest possible load of luggage. Our
+      companions were no exception to the rule. They had a wagon drawn by six
+      mules and crammed with provisions for six months, besides ammunition
+      enough for a regiment; spare rifles and fowling-pieces, ropes and harness;
+      personal baggage, and a miscellaneous assortment of articles, which
+      produced infinite embarrassment on the journey. They had also decorated
+      their persons with telescopes and portable compasses, and carried English
+      double-barreled rifles of sixteen to the pound caliber, slung to their
+      saddles in dragoon fashion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      By sunrise on the 23d of May we had breakfasted; the tents were leveled,
+      the animals saddled and harnessed, and all was prepared. &ldquo;Avance donc! get
+      up!&rdquo; cried Delorier from his seat in front of the cart. Wright, our
+      friend&rsquo;s muleteer, after some swearing and lashing, got his insubordinate
+      train in motion, and then the whole party filed from the ground. Thus we
+      bade a long adieu to bed and board, and the principles of Blackstone&rsquo;s
+      Commentaries. The day was a most auspicious one; and yet Shaw and I felt
+      certain misgivings, which in the sequel proved but too well founded. We
+      had just learned that though R. had taken it upon him to adopt this course
+      without consulting us, not a single man in the party was acquainted with
+      it; and the absurdity of our friend&rsquo;s high-handed measure very soon became
+      manifest. His plan was to strike the trail of several companies of
+      dragoons, who last summer had made an expedition under Colonel Kearny to
+      Fort Laramie, and by this means to reach the grand trail of the Oregon
+      emigrants up the Platte.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We rode for an hour or two when a familiar cluster of buildings appeared
+      on a little hill. &ldquo;Hallo!&rdquo; shouted the Kickapoo trader from over his
+      fence. &ldquo;Where are you going?&rdquo; A few rather emphatic exclamations might
+      have been heard among us, when we found that we had gone miles out of our
+      way, and were not advanced an inch toward the Rocky Mountains. So we
+      turned in the direction the trader indicated, and with the sun for a
+      guide, began to trace a &ldquo;bee line&rdquo; across the prairies. We struggled
+      through copses and lines of wood; we waded brooks and pools of water; we
+      traversed prairies as green as an emerald, expanding before us for mile
+      after mile; wider and more wild than the wastes Mazeppa rode over:
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     &ldquo;Man nor brute,
+     Nor dint of hoof, nor print of foot,
+     Lay in the wild luxuriant soil;
+     No sign of travel; none of toil;
+     The very air was mute.&rdquo;
+ </pre>
+    <p>
+      Riding in advance, we passed over one of these great plains; we looked
+      back and saw the line of scattered horsemen stretching for a mile or more;
+      and far in the rear against the horizon, the white wagons creeping slowly
+      along. &ldquo;Here we are at last!&rdquo; shouted the captain. And in truth we had
+      struck upon the traces of a large body of horse. We turned joyfully and
+      followed this new course, with tempers somewhat improved; and toward
+      sunset encamped on a high swell of the prairie, at the foot of which a
+      lazy stream soaked along through clumps of rank grass. It was getting
+      dark. We turned the horses loose to feed. &ldquo;Drive down the tent-pickets
+      hard,&rdquo; said Henry Chatillon, &ldquo;it is going to blow.&rdquo; We did so, and secured
+      the tent as well as we could; for the sky had changed totally, and a fresh
+      damp smell in the wind warned us that a stormy night was likely to succeed
+      the hot clear day. The prairie also wore a new aspect, and its vast swells
+      had grown black and somber under the shadow of the clouds. The thunder
+      soon began to growl at a distance. Picketing and hobbling the horses among
+      the rich grass at the foot of the slope, where we encamped, we gained a
+      shelter just as the rain began to fall; and sat at the opening of the
+      tent, watching the proceedings of the captain. In defiance of the rain he
+      was stalking among the horses, wrapped in an old Scotch plaid. An extreme
+      solicitude tormented him, lest some of his favorites should escape, or
+      some accident should befall them; and he cast an anxious eye toward three
+      wolves who were sneaking along over the dreary surface of the plain, as if
+      he dreaded some hostile demonstration on their part.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the next morning we had gone but a mile or two, when we came to an
+      extensive belt of woods, through the midst of which ran a stream, wide,
+      deep, and of an appearance particularly muddy and treacherous. Delorier
+      was in advance with his cart; he jerked his pipe from his mouth, lashed
+      his mules, and poured forth a volley of Canadian ejaculations. In plunged
+      the cart, but midway it stuck fast. Delorier leaped out knee-deep in
+      water, and by dint of sacres and a vigorous application of the whip, he
+      urged the mules out of the slough. Then approached the long team and heavy
+      wagon of our friends; but it paused on the brink.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now my advice is&mdash;&rdquo; began the captain, who had been anxiously
+      contemplating the muddy gulf.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Drive on!&rdquo; cried R.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But Wright, the muleteer, apparently had not as yet decided the point in
+      his own mind; and he sat still in his seat on one of the shaft-mules,
+      whistling in a low contemplative strain to himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My advice is,&rdquo; resumed the captain, &ldquo;that we unload; for I&rsquo;ll bet any man
+      five pounds that if we try to go through, we shall stick fast.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;By the powers, we shall stick fast!&rdquo; echoed Jack, the captain&rsquo;s brother,
+      shaking his large head with an air of firm conviction.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Drive on! drive on!&rdquo; cried R. petulantly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; observed the captain, turning to us as we sat looking on, much
+      edified by this by-play among our confederates, &ldquo;I can only give my advice
+      and if people won&rsquo;t be reasonable, why, they won&rsquo;t; that&rsquo;s all!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Meanwhile Wright had apparently made up his mind; for he suddenly began to
+      shout forth a volley of oaths and curses, that, compared with the French
+      imprecations of Delorier, sounded like the roaring of heavy cannon after
+      the popping and sputtering of a bunch of Chinese crackers. At the same
+      time he discharged a shower of blows upon his mules, who hastily dived
+      into the mud and drew the wagon lumbering after them. For a moment the
+      issue was dubious. Wright writhed about in his saddle, and swore and
+      lashed like a madman; but who can count on a team of half-broken mules? At
+      the most critical point, when all should have been harmony and combined
+      effort, the perverse brutes fell into lamentable disorder, and huddled
+      together in confusion on the farther bank. There was the wagon up to the
+      hub in mud, and visibly settling every instant. There was nothing for it
+      but to unload; then to dig away the mud from before the wheels with a
+      spade, and lay a causeway of bushes and branches. This agreeable labor
+      accomplished, the wagon at last emerged; but if I mention that some
+      interruption of this sort occurred at least four or five times a day for a
+      fortnight, the reader will understand that our progress toward the Platte
+      was not without its obstacles.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We traveled six or seven miles farther, and &ldquo;nooned&rdquo; near a brook. On the
+      point of resuming our journey, when the horses were all driven down to
+      water, my homesick charger, Pontiac, made a sudden leap across, and set
+      off at a round trot for the settlements. I mounted my remaining horse, and
+      started in pursuit. Making a circuit, I headed the runaway, hoping to
+      drive him back to camp; but he instantly broke into a gallop, made a wide
+      tour on the prairie, and got past me again. I tried this plan repeatedly,
+      with the same result; Pontiac was evidently disgusted with the prairie; so
+      I abandoned it, and tried another, trotting along gently behind him, in
+      hopes that I might quietly get near enough to seize the trail-rope which
+      was fastened to his neck, and dragged about a dozen feet behind him. The
+      chase grew interesting. For mile after mile I followed the rascal, with
+      the utmost care not to alarm him, and gradually got nearer, until at
+      length old Hendrick&rsquo;s nose was fairly brushed by the whisking tail of the
+      unsuspecting Pontiac. Without drawing rein, I slid softly to the ground;
+      but my long heavy rifle encumbered me, and the low sound it made in
+      striking the horn of the saddle startled him; he pricked up his ears, and
+      sprang off at a run. &ldquo;My friend,&rdquo; thought I, remounting, &ldquo;do that again,
+      and I will shoot you!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Fort Leavenworth was about forty miles distant, and thither I determined
+      to follow him. I made up my mind to spend a solitary and supperless night,
+      and then set out again in the morning. One hope, however, remained. The
+      creek where the wagon had stuck was just before us; Pontiac might be
+      thirsty with his run, and stop there to drink. I kept as near to him as
+      possible, taking every precaution not to alarm him again; and the result
+      proved as I had hoped: for he walked deliberately among the trees, and
+      stooped down to the water. I alighted, dragged old Hendrick through the
+      mud, and with a feeling of infinite satisfaction picked up the slimy
+      trail-rope and twisted it three times round my hand. &ldquo;Now let me see you
+      get away again!&rdquo; I thought, as I remounted. But Pontiac was exceedingly
+      reluctant to turn back; Hendrick, too, who had evidently flattered himself
+      with vain hopes, showed the utmost repugnance, and grumbled in a manner
+      peculiar to himself at being compelled to face about. A smart cut of the
+      whip restored his cheerfulness; and dragging the recovered truant behind,
+      I set out in search of the camp. An hour or two elapsed, when, near
+      sunset, I saw the tents, standing on a rich swell of the prairie, beyond a
+      line of woods, while the bands of horses were feeding in a low meadow
+      close at hand. There sat Jack C., cross-legged, in the sun, splicing a
+      trail-rope, and the rest were lying on the grass, smoking and telling
+      stories. That night we enjoyed a serenade from the wolves, more lively
+      than any with which they had yet favored us; and in the morning one of the
+      musicians appeared, not many rods from the tents, quietly seated among the
+      horses, looking at us with a pair of large gray eyes; but perceiving a
+      rifle leveled at him, he leaped up and made off in hot haste.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I pass by the following day or two of our journey, for nothing occurred
+      worthy of record. Should any one of my readers ever be impelled to visit
+      the prairies, and should he choose the route of the Platte (the best,
+      perhaps, that can be adopted), I can assure him that he need not think to
+      enter at once upon the paradise of his imagination. A dreary preliminary,
+      protracted crossing of the threshold awaits him before he finds himself
+      fairly upon the verge of the &ldquo;great American desert,&rdquo; those barren wastes,
+      the haunts of the buffalo and the Indian, where the very shadow of
+      civilization lies a hundred leagues behind him. The intervening country,
+      the wide and fertile belt that extends for several hundred miles beyond
+      the extreme frontier, will probably answer tolerably well to his
+      preconceived ideas of the prairie; for this it is from which picturesque
+      tourists, painters, poets, and novelists, who have seldom penetrated
+      farther, have derived their conceptions of the whole region. If he has a
+      painter&rsquo;s eye, he may find his period of probation not wholly void of
+      interest. The scenery, though tame, is graceful and pleasing. Here are
+      level plains, too wide for the eye to measure green undulations, like
+      motionless swells of the ocean; abundance of streams, followed through all
+      their windings by lines of woods and scattered groves. But let him be as
+      enthusiastic as he may, he will find enough to damp his ardor. His wagons
+      will stick in the mud; his horses will break loose; harness will give way,
+      and axle-trees prove unsound. His bed will be a soft one, consisting often
+      of black mud, of the richest consistency. As for food, he must content
+      himself with biscuit and salt provisions; for strange as it may seem, this
+      tract of country produces very little game. As he advances, indeed, he
+      will see, moldering in the grass by his path, the vast antlers of the elk,
+      and farther on, the whitened skulls of the buffalo, once swarming over
+      this now deserted region. Perhaps, like us, he may journey for a
+      fortnight, and see not so much as the hoof-print of a deer; in the spring,
+      not even a prairie hen is to be had.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Yet, to compensate him for this unlooked-for deficiency of game, he will
+      find himself beset with &ldquo;varmints&rdquo; innumerable. The wolves will entertain
+      him with a concerto at night, and skulk around him by day, just beyond
+      rifle shot; his horse will step into badger-holes; from every marsh and
+      mud puddle will arise the bellowing, croaking, and trilling of legions of
+      frogs, infinitely various in color, shape and dimensions. A profusion of
+      snakes will glide away from under his horse&rsquo;s feet, or quietly visit him
+      in his tent at night; while the pertinacious humming of unnumbered
+      mosquitoes will banish sleep from his eyelids. When thirsty with a long
+      ride in the scorching sun over some boundless reach of prairie, he comes
+      at length to a pool of water, and alights to drink, he discovers a troop
+      of young tadpoles sporting in the bottom of his cup. Add to this, that all
+      the morning the hot sun beats upon him with sultry, penetrating heat, and
+      that, with provoking regularity, at about four o&rsquo;clock in the afternoon, a
+      thunderstorm rises and drenches him to the skin. Such being the charms of
+      this favored region, the reader will easily conceive the extent of our
+      gratification at learning that for a week we had been journeying on the
+      wrong track! How this agreeable discovery was made I will presently
+      explain.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One day, after a protracted morning&rsquo;s ride, we stopped to rest at noon
+      upon the open prairie. No trees were in sight; but close at hand, a little
+      dribbling brook was twisting from side to side through a hollow; now
+      forming holes of stagnant water, and now gliding over the mud in a
+      scarcely perceptible current, among a growth of sickly bushes, and great
+      clumps of tall rank grass. The day was excessively hot and oppressive. The
+      horses and mules were rolling on the prairie to refresh themselves, or
+      feeding among the bushes in the hollow. We had dined; and Delorier,
+      puffing at his pipe, knelt on the grass, scrubbing our service of tin
+      plate. Shaw lay in the shade, under the cart, to rest for a while, before
+      the word should be given to &ldquo;catch up.&rdquo; Henry Chatillon, before lying
+      down, was looking about for signs of snakes, the only living things that
+      he feared, and uttering various ejaculations of disgust, at finding
+      several suspicious-looking holes close to the cart. I sat leaning against
+      the wheel in a scanty strip of shade, making a pair of hobbles to replace
+      those which my contumacious steed Pontiac had broken the night before. The
+      camp of our friends, a rod or two distant, presented the same scene of
+      lazy tranquillity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hallo!&rdquo; cried Henry, looking up from his inspection of the snake-holes,
+      &ldquo;here comes the old captain!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The captain approached, and stood for a moment contemplating us in
+      silence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I say, Parkman,&rdquo; he began, &ldquo;look at Shaw there, asleep under the cart,
+      with the tar dripping off the hub of the wheel on his shoulder!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      At this Shaw got up, with his eyes half opened, and feeling the part
+      indicated, he found his hand glued fast to his red flannel shirt.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He&rsquo;ll look well when he gets among the squaws, won&rsquo;t he?&rdquo; observed the
+      captain, with a grin.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He then crawled under the cart, and began to tell stories of which his
+      stock was inexhaustible. Yet every moment he would glance nervously at the
+      horses. At last he jumped up in great excitement. &ldquo;See that horse! There&mdash;that
+      fellow just walking over the hill! By Jove; he&rsquo;s off. It&rsquo;s your big horse,
+      Shaw; no it isn&rsquo;t, it&rsquo;s Jack&rsquo;s! Jack! Jack! hallo, Jack!&rdquo; Jack thus
+      invoked, jumped up and stared vacantly at us.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Go and catch your horse, if you don&rsquo;t want to lose him!&rdquo; roared the
+      captain.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Jack instantly set off at a run through the grass, his broad pantaloons
+      flapping about his feet. The captain gazed anxiously till he saw that the
+      horse was caught; then he sat down, with a countenance of thoughtfulness
+      and care.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I tell you what it is,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;this will never do at all. We shall
+      lose every horse in the band someday or other, and then a pretty plight we
+      should be in! Now I am convinced that the only way for us is to have every
+      man in the camp stand horse-guard in rotation whenever we stop. Supposing
+      a hundred Pawnees should jump up out of that ravine, all yelling and
+      flapping their buffalo robes, in the way they do? Why, in two minutes not
+      a hoof would be in sight.&rdquo; We reminded the captain that a hundred Pawnees
+      would probably demolish the horse-guard, if he were to resist their
+      depredations.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;At any rate,&rdquo; pursued the captain, evading the point, &ldquo;our whole system
+      is wrong; I&rsquo;m convinced of it; it is totally unmilitary. Why, the way we
+      travel, strung out over the prairie for a mile, an enemy might attack the
+      foremost men, and cut them off before the rest could come up.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We are not in an enemy&rsquo;s country, yet,&rdquo; said Shaw; &ldquo;when we are, we&rsquo;ll
+      travel together.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then,&rdquo; said the captain, &ldquo;we might be attacked in camp. We&rsquo;ve no
+      sentinels; we camp in disorder; no precautions at all to guard against
+      surprise. My own convictions are that we ought to camp in a hollow square,
+      with the fires in the center; and have sentinels, and a regular password
+      appointed for every night. Besides, there should be vedettes, riding in
+      advance, to find a place for the camp and give warning of an enemy. These
+      are my convictions. I don&rsquo;t want to dictate to any man. I give advice to
+      the best of my judgment, that&rsquo;s all; and then let people do as they
+      please.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      We intimated that perhaps it would be as well to postpone such burdensome
+      precautions until there should be some actual need of them; but he shook
+      his head dubiously. The captain&rsquo;s sense of military propriety had been
+      severely shocked by what he considered the irregular proceedings of the
+      party; and this was not the first time he had expressed himself upon the
+      subject. But his convictions seldom produced any practical results. In the
+      present case, he contented himself, as usual, with enlarging on the
+      importance of his suggestions, and wondering that they were not adopted.
+      But his plan of sending out vedettes seemed particularly dear to him; and
+      as no one else was disposed to second his views on this point, he took it
+      into his head to ride forward that afternoon, himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come, Parkman,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;will you go with me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      We set out together, and rode a mile or two in advance. The captain, in
+      the course of twenty years&rsquo; service in the British army, had seen
+      something of life; one extensive side of it, at least, he had enjoyed the
+      best opportunities for studying; and being naturally a pleasant fellow, he
+      was a very entertaining companion. He cracked jokes and told stories for
+      an hour or two; until, looking back, we saw the prairie behind us
+      stretching away to the horizon, without a horseman or a wagon in sight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now,&rdquo; said the captain, &ldquo;I think the vedettes had better stop till the
+      main body comes up.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I was of the same opinion. There was a thick growth of woods just before
+      us, with a stream running through them. Having crossed this, we found on
+      the other side a fine level meadow, half encircled by the trees; and
+      fastening our horses to some bushes, we sat down on the grass; while, with
+      an old stump of a tree for a target, I began to display the superiority of
+      the renowned rifle of the back woods over the foreign innovation borne by
+      the captain. At length voices could be heard in the distance behind the
+      trees.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There they come!&rdquo; said the captain: &ldquo;let&rsquo;s go and see how they get
+      through the creek.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      We mounted and rode to the bank of the stream, where the trail crossed it.
+      It ran in a deep hollow, full of trees; as we looked down, we saw a
+      confused crowd of horsemen riding through the water; and among the dingy
+      habiliment of our party glittered the uniforms of four dragoons.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shaw came whipping his horse up the back, in advance of the rest, with a
+      somewhat indignant countenance. The first word he spoke was a blessing
+      fervently invoked on the head of R., who was riding, with a crest-fallen
+      air, in the rear. Thanks to the ingenious devices of the gentleman, we had
+      missed the track entirely, and wandered, not toward the Platte, but to the
+      village of the Iowa Indians. This we learned from the dragoons, who had
+      lately deserted from Fort Leavenworth. They told us that our best plan now
+      was to keep to the northward until we should strike the trail formed by
+      several parties of Oregon emigrants, who had that season set out from St.
+      Joseph&rsquo;s in Missouri.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In extremely bad temper, we encamped on this ill-starred spot; while the
+      deserters, whose case admitted of no delay rode rapidly forward. On the
+      day following, striking the St. Joseph&rsquo;s trail, we turned our horses&rsquo;
+      heads toward Fort Laramie, then about seven hundred miles to the westward.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0005" id="link2HCH0005">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER V
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      &ldquo;THE BIG BLUE&rdquo;
+     </h3>
+    <p>
+      The great medley of Oregon and California emigrants, at their camps around
+      Independence, had heard reports that several additional parties were on
+      the point of setting out from St. Joseph&rsquo;s farther to the northward. The
+      prevailing impression was that these were Mormons, twenty-three hundred in
+      number; and a great alarm was excited in consequence. The people of
+      Illinois and Missouri, who composed by far the greater part of the
+      emigrants, have never been on the best terms with the &ldquo;Latter Day Saints&rdquo;;
+      and it is notorious throughout the country how much blood has been spilt
+      in their feuds, even far within the limits of the settlements. No one
+      could predict what would be the result, when large armed bodies of these
+      fanatics should encounter the most impetuous and reckless of their old
+      enemies on the broad prairie, far beyond the reach of law or military
+      force. The women and children at Independence raised a great outcry; the
+      men themselves were seriously alarmed; and, as I learned, they sent to
+      Colonel Kearny, requesting an escort of dragoons as far as the Platte.
+      This was refused; and as the sequel proved, there was no occasion for it.
+      The St. Joseph&rsquo;s emigrants were as good Christians and as zealous
+      Mormon-haters as the rest; and the very few families of the &ldquo;Saints&rdquo; who
+      passed out this season by the route of the Platte remained behind until
+      the great tide of emigration had gone by; standing in quite as much awe of
+      the &ldquo;gentiles&rdquo; as the latter did of them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We were now, as I before mentioned, upon this St. Joseph&rsquo;s trail. It was
+      evident, by the traces, that large parties were a few days in advance of
+      us; and as we too supposed them to be Mormons, we had some apprehension of
+      interruption.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The journey was somewhat monotonous. One day we rode on for hours, without
+      seeing a tree or a bush; before, behind, and on either side, stretched the
+      vast expanse, rolling in a succession of graceful swells, covered with the
+      unbroken carpet of fresh green grass. Here and there a crow, or a raven,
+      or a turkey-buzzard, relieved the uniformity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What shall we do to-night for wood and water?&rdquo; we began to ask of each
+      other; for the sun was within an hour of setting. At length a dark green
+      speck appeared, far off on the right; it was the top of a tree, peering
+      over a swell of the prairie; and leaving the trail, we made all haste
+      toward it. It proved to be the vanguard of a cluster of bushes and low
+      trees, that surrounded some pools of water in an extensive hollow; so we
+      encamped on the rising ground near it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shaw and I were sitting in the tent, when Delorier thrust his brown face
+      and old felt hat into the opening, and dilating his eyes to their utmost
+      extent, announced supper. There were the tin cups and the iron spoons,
+      arranged in military order on the grass, and the coffee-pot predominant in
+      the midst. The meal was soon dispatched; but Henry Chatillon still sat
+      cross-legged, dallying with the remnant of his coffee, the beverage in
+      universal use upon the prairie, and an especial favorite with him. He
+      preferred it in its virgin flavor, unimpaired by sugar or cream; and on
+      the present occasion it met his entire approval, being exceedingly strong,
+      or, as he expressed it, &ldquo;right black.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It was a rich and gorgeous sunset&mdash;an American sunset; and the ruddy
+      glow of the sky was reflected from some extensive pools of water among the
+      shadowy copses in the meadow below.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I must have a bath to-night,&rdquo; said Shaw. &ldquo;How is it, Delorier? Any chance
+      for a swim down here?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah! I cannot tell; just as you please, monsieur,&rdquo; replied Delorier,
+      shrugging his shoulders, perplexed by his ignorance of English, and
+      extremely anxious to conform in all respects to the opinion and wishes of
+      his bourgeois.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Look at his moccasion,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;It has evidently been lately immersed in
+      a profound abyss of black mud.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come,&rdquo; said Shaw; &ldquo;at any rate we can see for ourselves.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      We set out together; and as we approached the bushes, which were at some
+      distance, we found the ground becoming rather treacherous. We could only
+      get along by stepping upon large clumps of tall rank grass, with
+      fathomless gulfs between, like innumerable little quaking islands in an
+      ocean of mud, where a false step would have involved our boots in a
+      catastrophe like that which had befallen Delorier&rsquo;s moccasins. The thing
+      looked desperate; we separated, so as to search in different directions,
+      Shaw going off to the right, while I kept straight forward. At last I came
+      to the edge of the bushes: they were young waterwillows, covered with
+      their caterpillar-like blossoms, but intervening between them and the last
+      grass clump was a black and deep slough, over which, by a vigorous
+      exertion, I contrived to jump. Then I shouldered my way through the
+      willows, tramping them down by main force, till I came to a wide stream of
+      water, three inches deep, languidly creeping along over a bottom of sleek
+      mud. My arrival produced a great commotion. A huge green bull-frog uttered
+      an indignant croak, and jumped off the bank with a loud splash: his webbed
+      feet twinkled above the surface, as he jerked them energetically upward,
+      and I could see him ensconcing himself in the unresisting slime at the
+      bottom, whence several large air bubbles struggled lazily to the top. Some
+      little spotted frogs instantly followed the patriarch&rsquo;s example; and then
+      three turtles, not larger than a dollar, tumbled themselves off a broad
+      &ldquo;lily pad,&rdquo; where they had been reposing. At the same time a snake, gayly
+      striped with black and yellow, glided out from the bank, and writhed
+      across to the other side; and a small stagnant pool into which my foot had
+      inadvertently pushed a stone was instantly alive with a congregation of
+      black tadpoles.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Any chance for a bath, where you are?&rdquo; called out Shaw, from a distance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The answer was not encouraging. I retreated through the willows, and
+      rejoining my companion, we proceeded to push our researches in company.
+      Not far on the right, a rising ground, covered with trees and bushes,
+      seemed to sink down abruptly to the water, and give hope of better
+      success; so toward this we directed our steps. When we reached the place
+      we found it no easy matter to get along between the hill and the water,
+      impeded as we were by a growth of stiff, obstinate young birch-trees,
+      laced together by grapevines. In the twilight, we now and then, to support
+      ourselves, snatched at the touch-me-not stem of some ancient sweet-brier.
+      Shaw, who was in advance, suddenly uttered a somewhat emphatic
+      monosyllable; and looking up I saw him with one hand grasping a sapling,
+      and one foot immersed in the water, from which he had forgotten to
+      withdraw it, his whole attention being engaged in contemplating the
+      movements of a water-snake, about five feet long, curiously checkered with
+      black and green, who was deliberately swimming across the pool. There
+      being no stick or stone at hand to pelt him with, we looked at him for a
+      time in silent disgust; and then pushed forward. Our perseverence was at
+      last rewarded; for several rods farther on, we emerged upon a little level
+      grassy nook among the brushwood, and by an extraordinary dispensation of
+      fortune, the weeds and floating sticks, which elsewhere covered the pool,
+      seemed to have drawn apart, and left a few yards of clear water just in
+      front of this favored spot. We sounded it with a stick; it was four feet
+      deep; we lifted a specimen in our cupped hands; it seemed reasonably
+      transparent, so we decided that the time for action was arrived. But our
+      ablutions were suddenly interrupted by ten thousand punctures, like
+      poisoned needles, and the humming of myriads of over-grown mosquitoes,
+      rising in all directions from their native mud and slime and swarming to
+      the feast. We were fain to beat a retreat with all possible speed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We made toward the tents, much refreshed by the bath which the heat of the
+      weather, joined to our prejudices, had rendered very desirable.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What&rsquo;s the matter with the captain? look at him!&rdquo; said Shaw. The captain
+      stood alone on the prairie, swinging his hat violently around his head,
+      and lifting first one foot and then the other, without moving from the
+      spot. First he looked down to the ground with an air of supreme
+      abhorrence; then he gazed upward with a perplexed and indignant
+      countenance, as if trying to trace the flight of an unseen enemy. We
+      called to know what was the matter; but he replied only by execrations
+      directed against some unknown object. We approached, when our ears were
+      saluted by a droning sound, as if twenty bee-hives had been overturned at
+      once. The air above was full of large black insects, in a state of great
+      commotion, and multitudes were flying about just above the tops of the
+      grass blades.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t be afraid,&rdquo; called the captain, observing us recoil. &ldquo;The brutes
+      won&rsquo;t sting.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      At this I knocked one down with my hat, and discovered him to be no other
+      than a &ldquo;dorbug&rdquo;; and looking closer, we found the ground thickly
+      perforated with their holes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We took a hasty leave of this flourishing colony, and walking up the
+      rising ground to the tents, found Delorier&rsquo;s fire still glowing brightly.
+      We sat down around it, and Shaw began to expatiate on the admirable
+      facilities for bathing that we had discovered, and recommended the captain
+      by all means to go down there before breakfast in the morning. The captain
+      was in the act of remarking that he couldn&rsquo;t have believed it possible,
+      when he suddenly interrupted himself, and clapped his hand to his cheek,
+      exclaiming that &ldquo;those infernal humbugs were at him again.&rdquo; In fact, we
+      began to hear sounds as if bullets were humming over our heads. In a
+      moment something rapped me sharply on the forehead, then upon the neck,
+      and immediately I felt an indefinite number of sharp wiry claws in active
+      motion, as if their owner were bent on pushing his explorations farther. I
+      seized him, and dropped him into the fire. Our party speedily broke up,
+      and we adjourned to our respective tents, where, closing the opening fast,
+      we hoped to be exempt from invasion. But all precaution was fruitless. The
+      dorbugs hummed through the tent, and marched over our faces until
+      day-light; when, opening our blankets, we found several dozen clinging
+      there with the utmost tenacity. The first object that met our eyes in the
+      morning was Delorier, who seemed to be apostrophizing his frying-pan,
+      which he held by the handle at arm&rsquo;s length. It appeared that he had left
+      it at night by the fire; and the bottom was now covered with dorbugs,
+      firmly imbedded. Multitudes beside, curiously parched and shriveled, lay
+      scattered among the ashes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The horses and mules were turned loose to feed. We had just taken our
+      seats at breakfast, or rather reclined in the classic mode, when an
+      exclamation from Henry Chatillon, and a shout of alarm from the captain,
+      gave warning of some casualty, and looking up, we saw the whole band of
+      animals, twenty-three in number, filing off for the settlements, the
+      incorrigible Pontiac at their head, jumping along with hobbled feet, at a
+      gait much more rapid than graceful. Three or four of us ran to cut them
+      off, dashing as best we might through the tall grass, which was glittering
+      with myriads of dewdrops. After a race of a mile or more, Shaw caught a
+      horse. Tying the trail-rope by way of bridle round the animal&rsquo;s jaw, and
+      leaping upon his back, he got in advance of the remaining fugitives, while
+      we, soon bringing them together, drove them in a crowd up to the tents,
+      where each man caught and saddled his own. Then we heard lamentations and
+      curses; for half the horses had broke their hobbles, and many were
+      seriously galled by attempting to run in fetters.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was late that morning before we were on the march; and early in the
+      afternoon we were compelled to encamp, for a thunder-gust came up and
+      suddenly enveloped us in whirling sheets of rain. With much ado, we
+      pitched our tents amid the tempest, and all night long the thunder
+      bellowed and growled over our heads. In the morning, light peaceful
+      showers succeeded the cataracts of rain, that had been drenching us
+      through the canvas of our tents. About noon, when there were some
+      treacherous indications of fair weather, we got in motion again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Not a breath of air stirred over the free and open prairie; the clouds
+      were like light piles of cotton; and where the blue sky was visible, it
+      wore a hazy and languid aspect. The sun beat down upon us with a sultry
+      penetrating heat almost insupportable, and as our party crept slowly along
+      over the interminable level, the horses hung their heads as they waded
+      fetlock deep through the mud, and the men slouched into the easiest
+      position upon the saddle. At last, toward evening, the old familiar black
+      heads of thunderclouds rose fast above the horizon, and the same deep
+      muttering of distant thunder that had become the ordinary accompaniment of
+      our afternoon&rsquo;s journey began to roll hoarsely over the prairie. Only a
+      few minutes elapsed before the whole sky was densely shrouded, and the
+      prairie and some clusters of woods in front assumed a purple hue beneath
+      the inky shadows. Suddenly from the densest fold of the cloud the flash
+      leaped out, quivering again and again down to the edge of the prairie; and
+      at the same instant came the sharp burst and the long rolling peal of the
+      thunder. A cool wind, filled with the smell of rain, just then overtook
+      us, leveling the tall grass by the side of the path.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come on; we must ride for it!&rdquo; shouted Shaw, rushing past at full speed,
+      his led horse snorting at his side. The whole party broke into full
+      gallop, and made for the trees in front. Passing these, we found beyond
+      them a meadow which they half inclosed. We rode pell-mell upon the ground,
+      leaped from horseback, tore off our saddles; and in a moment each man was
+      kneeling at his horse&rsquo;s feet. The hobbles were adjusted, and the animals
+      turned loose; then, as the wagons came wheeling rapidly to the spot, we
+      seized upon the tent-poles, and just as the storm broke, we were prepared
+      to receive it. It came upon us almost with the darkness of night; the
+      trees, which were close at hand, were completely shrouded by the roaring
+      torrents of rain.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We were sitting in the tent, when Delorier, with his broad felt hat
+      hanging about his ears, and his shoulders glistening with rain, thrust in
+      his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Voulez-vous du souper, tout de suite? I can make a fire, sous la charette&mdash;I
+      b&rsquo;lieve so&mdash;I try.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Never mind supper, man; come in out of the rain.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Delorier accordingly crouched in the entrance, for modesty would not
+      permit him to intrude farther.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Our tent was none of the best defense against such a cataract. The rain
+      could not enter bodily, but it beat through the canvas in a fine drizzle,
+      that wetted us just as effectively. We sat upon our saddles with faces of
+      the utmost surliness, while the water dropped from the vizors of our caps,
+      and trickled down our cheeks. My india-rubber cloak conducted twenty
+      little rapid streamlets to the ground; and Shaw&rsquo;s blanket-coat was
+      saturated like a sponge. But what most concerned us was the sight of
+      several puddles of water rapidly accumulating; one in particular, that was
+      gathering around the tent-pole, threatened to overspread the whole area
+      within the tent, holding forth but an indifferent promise of a comfortable
+      night&rsquo;s rest. Toward sunset, however, the storm ceased as suddenly as it
+      began. A bright streak of clear red sky appeared above the western verge
+      of the prairie, the horizontal rays of the sinking sun streamed through it
+      and glittered in a thousand prismatic colors upon the dripping groves and
+      the prostrate grass. The pools in the tent dwindled and sunk into the
+      saturated soil.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But all our hopes were delusive. Scarcely had night set in, when the
+      tumult broke forth anew. The thunder here is not like the tame thunder of
+      the Atlantic coast. Bursting with a terrific crash directly above our
+      heads, it roared over the boundless waste of prairie, seeming to roll
+      around the whole circle of the firmament with a peculiar and awful
+      reverberation. The lightning flashed all night, playing with its livid
+      glare upon the neighboring trees, revealing the vast expanse of the plain,
+      and then leaving us shut in as by a palpable wall of darkness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It did not disturb us much. Now and then a peal awakened us, and made us
+      conscious of the electric battle that was raging, and of the floods that
+      dashed upon the stanch canvas over our heads. We lay upon india-rubber
+      cloths, placed between our blankets and the soil. For a while they
+      excluded the water to admiration; but when at length it accumulated and
+      began to run over the edges, they served equally well to retain it, so
+      that toward the end of the night we were unconsciously reposing in small
+      pools of rain.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On finally awaking in the morning the prospect was not a cheerful one. The
+      rain no longer poured in torrents; but it pattered with a quiet
+      pertinacity upon the strained and saturated canvas. We disengaged
+      ourselves from our blankets, every fiber of which glistened with little
+      beadlike drops of water, and looked out in vain hope of discovering some
+      token of fair weather. The clouds, in lead-colored volumes, rested upon
+      the dismal verge of the prairie, or hung sluggishly overhead, while the
+      earth wore an aspect no more attractive than the heavens, exhibiting
+      nothing but pools of water, grass beaten down, and mud well trampled by
+      our mules and horses. Our companions&rsquo; tent, with an air of forlorn and
+      passive misery, and their wagons in like manner, drenched and woe-begone,
+      stood not far off. The captain was just returning from his morning&rsquo;s
+      inspection of the horses. He stalked through the mist and rain, with his
+      plaid around his shoulders; his little pipe, dingy as an antiquarian
+      relic, projecting from beneath his mustache, and his brother Jack at his
+      heels.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good-morning, captain.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good-morning to your honors,&rdquo; said the captain, affecting the Hibernian
+      accent; but at that instant, as he stooped to enter the tent, he tripped
+      upon the cords at the entrance, and pitched forward against the guns which
+      were strapped around the pole in the center.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are nice men, you are!&rdquo; said he, after an ejaculation not necessary
+      to be recorded, &ldquo;to set a man-trap before your door every morning to catch
+      your visitors.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then he sat down upon Henry Chatillon&rsquo;s saddle. We tossed a piece of
+      buffalo robe to Jack, who was looking about in some embarrassment. He
+      spread it on the ground, and took his seat, with a stolid countenance, at
+      his brother&rsquo;s side.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Exhilarating weather, captain!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, delightful, delightful!&rdquo; replied the captain. &ldquo;I knew it would be so;
+      so much for starting yesterday at noon! I knew how it would turn out; and
+      I said so at the time.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You said just the contrary to us. We were in no hurry, and only moved
+      because you insisted on it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Gentlemen,&rdquo; said the captain, taking his pipe from his mouth with an air
+      of extreme gravity, &ldquo;it was no plan of mine. There is a man among us who
+      is determined to have everything his own way. You may express your
+      opinion; but don&rsquo;t expect him to listen. You may be as reasonable as you
+      like: oh, it all goes for nothing! That man is resolved to rule the roost
+      and he&rsquo;ll set his face against any plan that he didn&rsquo;t think of himself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The captain puffed for a while at his pipe, as if meditating upon his
+      grievances; then he began again:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For twenty years I have been in the British army; and in all that time I
+      never had half so much dissension, and quarreling, and nonsense, as since
+      I have been on this cursed prairie. He&rsquo;s the most uncomfortable man I ever
+      met.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said Jack; &ldquo;and don&rsquo;t you know, Bill, how he drank up all the
+      coffee last night, and put the rest by for himself till the morning!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He pretends to know everything,&rdquo; resumed the captain; &ldquo;nobody must give
+      orders but he! It&rsquo;s, oh! we must do this; and, oh! we must do that; and
+      the tent must be pitched here, and the horses must be picketed there; for
+      nobody knows as well as he does.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      We were a little surprised at this disclosure of domestic dissensions
+      among our allies, for though we knew of their existence, we were not aware
+      of their extent. The persecuted captain seeming wholly at a loss as to the
+      course of conduct that he should pursue, we recommended him to adopt
+      prompt and energetic measures; but all his military experience had failed
+      to teach him the indispensable lesson to be &ldquo;hard,&rdquo; when the emergency
+      requires it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For twenty years,&rdquo; he repeated, &ldquo;I have been in the British army, and in
+      that time I have been intimately acquainted with some two hundred
+      officers, young and old, and I never yet quarreled with any man. Oh,
+      &lsquo;anything for a quiet life!&rsquo; that&rsquo;s my maxim.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      We intimated that the prairie was hardly the place to enjoy a quiet life,
+      but that, in the present circumstances, the best thing he could do toward
+      securing his wished-for tranquillity, was immediately to put a period to
+      the nuisance that disturbed it. But again the captain&rsquo;s easy good-nature
+      recoiled from the task. The somewhat vigorous measures necessary to gain
+      the desired result were utterly repugnant to him; he preferred to pocket
+      his grievances, still retaining the privilege of grumbling about them.
+      &ldquo;Oh, anything for a quiet life!&rdquo; he said again, circling back to his
+      favorite maxim.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But to glance at the previous history of our transatlantic confederates.
+      The captain had sold his commission, and was living in bachelor ease and
+      dignity in his paternal halls, near Dublin. He hunted, fished, rode
+      steeple-chases, ran races, and talked of his former exploits. He was
+      surrounded with the trophies of his rod and gun; the walls were
+      plentifully garnished, he told us, with moose-horns and deer-horns,
+      bear-skins, and fox-tails; for the captain&rsquo;s double-barreled rifle had
+      seen service in Canada and Jamaica; he had killed salmon in Nova Scotia,
+      and trout, by his own account, in all the streams of the three kingdoms.
+      But in an evil hour a seductive stranger came from London; no less a
+      person than R., who, among other multitudinous wanderings, had once been
+      upon the western prairies, and naturally enough was anxious to visit them
+      again. The captain&rsquo;s imagination was inflamed by the pictures of a
+      hunter&rsquo;s paradise that his guest held forth; he conceived an ambition to
+      add to his other trophies the horns of a buffalo, and the claws of a
+      grizzly bear; so he and R. struck a league to travel in company. Jack
+      followed his brother, as a matter of course. Two weeks on board the
+      Atlantic steamer brought them to Boston; in two weeks more of hard
+      traveling they reached St. Louis, from which a ride of six days carried
+      them to the frontier; and here we found them, in full tide of preparation
+      for their journey.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We had been throughout on terms of intimacy with the captain, but R., the
+      motive power of our companions&rsquo; branch of the expedition, was scarcely
+      known to us. His voice, indeed, might be heard incessantly; but at camp he
+      remained chiefly within the tent, and on the road he either rode by
+      himself, or else remained in close conversation with his friend Wright,
+      the muleteer. As the captain left the tent that morning, I observed R.
+      standing by the fire, and having nothing else to do, I determined to
+      ascertain, if possible, what manner of man he was. He had a book under his
+      arm, but just at present he was engrossed in actively superintending the
+      operations of Sorel, the hunter, who was cooking some corn-bread over the
+      coals for breakfast. R. was a well-formed and rather good-looking man,
+      some thirty years old; considerably younger than the captain. He wore a
+      beard and mustache of the oakum complexion, and his attire was altogether
+      more elegant than one ordinarily sees on the prairie. He wore his cap on
+      one side of his head; his checked shirt, open in front, was in very neat
+      order, considering the circumstances, and his blue pantaloons, of the John
+      Bull cut, might once have figured in Bond Street.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Turn over that cake, man! turn it over, quick! Don&rsquo;t you see it burning?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It ain&rsquo;t half done,&rdquo; growled Sorel, in the amiable tone of a whipped
+      bull-dog.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is. Turn it over, I tell you!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sorel, a strong, sullen-looking Canadian, who from having spent his life
+      among the wildest and most remote of the Indian tribes, had imbibed much
+      of their dark, vindictive spirit, looked ferociously up, as if he longed
+      to leap upon his bourgeois and throttle him; but he obeyed the order,
+      coming from so experienced an artist.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was a good idea of yours,&rdquo; said I, seating myself on the tongue of a
+      wagon, &ldquo;to bring Indian meal with you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, yes&rdquo; said R. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s good bread for the prairie&mdash;good bread for
+      the prairie. I tell you that&rsquo;s burning again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Here he stooped down, and unsheathing the silver-mounted hunting-knife in
+      his belt, began to perform the part of cook himself; at the same time
+      requesting me to hold for a moment the book under his arm, which
+      interfered with the exercise of these important functions. I opened it; it
+      was &ldquo;Macaulay&rsquo;s Lays&rdquo;; and I made some remark, expressing my admiration of
+      the work.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, yes; a pretty good thing. Macaulay can do better than that though. I
+      know him very well. I have traveled with him. Where was it we first met&mdash;at
+      Damascus? No, no; it was in Italy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;you have been over the same ground with your countryman,
+      the author of &lsquo;Eothen&rsquo;? There has been some discussion in America as to
+      who he is. I have heard Milne&rsquo;s name mentioned.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Milne&rsquo;s? Oh, no, no, no; not at all. It was Kinglake; Kinglake&rsquo;s the man.
+      I know him very well; that is, I have seen him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Here Jack C., who stood by, interposed a remark (a thing not common with
+      him), observing that he thought the weather would become fair before
+      twelve o&rsquo;clock.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It&rsquo;s going to rain all day,&rdquo; said R., &ldquo;and clear up in the middle of the
+      night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Just then the clouds began to dissipate in a very unequivocal manner; but
+      Jack, not caring to defend his point against so authoritative a
+      declaration, walked away whistling, and we resumed our conversation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Borrow, the author of &lsquo;The Bible in Spain,&rsquo; I presume you know him too?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, certainly; I know all those men. By the way, they told me that one of
+      your American writers, Judge Story, had died lately. I edited some of his
+      works in London; not without faults, though.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Here followed an erudite commentary on certain points of law, in which he
+      particularly animadverted on the errors into which he considered that the
+      judge had been betrayed. At length, having touched successively on an
+      infinite variety of topics, I found that I had the happiness of
+      discovering a man equally competent to enlighten me upon them all, equally
+      an authority on matters of science or literature, philosophy or fashion.
+      The part I bore in the conversation was by no means a prominent one; it
+      was only necessary to set him going, and when he had run long enough upon
+      one topic, to divert him to another and lead him on to pour out his heaps
+      of treasure in succession.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What has that fellow been saying to you?&rdquo; said Shaw, as I returned to the
+      tent. &ldquo;I have heard nothing but his talking for the last half-hour.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      R. had none of the peculiar traits of the ordinary &ldquo;British snob&rdquo;; his
+      absurdities were all his own, belonging to no particular nation or clime.
+      He was possessed with an active devil that had driven him over land and
+      sea, to no great purpose, as it seemed; for although he had the usual
+      complement of eyes and ears, the avenues between these organs and his
+      brain appeared remarkably narrow and untrodden. His energy was much more
+      conspicuous than his wisdom; but his predominant characteristic was a
+      magnanimous ambition to exercise on all occasions an awful rule and
+      supremacy, and this propensity equally displayed itself, as the reader
+      will have observed, whether the matter in question was the baking of a
+      hoe-cake or a point of international law. When such diverse elements as he
+      and the easy-tempered captain came in contact, no wonder some commotion
+      ensued; R. rode roughshod, from morning till night, over his military
+      ally.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At noon the sky was clear and we set out, trailing through mud and slime
+      six inches deep. That night we were spared the customary infliction of the
+      shower bath.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the next afternoon we were moving slowly along, not far from a patch of
+      woods which lay on the right. Jack C. rode a little in advance;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The livelong day he had not spoke;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      when suddenly he faced about, pointed to the woods, and roared out to his
+      brother:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O Bill! here&rsquo;s a cow!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The captain instantly galloped forward, and he and Jack made a vain
+      attempt to capture the prize; but the cow, with a well-grounded distrust
+      of their intentions, took refuge among the trees. R. joined them, and they
+      soon drove her out. We watched their evolutions as they galloped around
+      here, trying in vain to noose her with their trail-ropes, which they had
+      converted into lariettes for the occasion. At length they resorted to
+      milder measures, and the cow was driven along with the party. Soon after
+      the usual thunderstorm came up, the wind blowing with such fury that the
+      streams of rain flew almost horizontally along the prairie, roaring like a
+      cataract. The horses turned tail to the storm, and stood hanging their
+      heads, bearing the infliction with an air of meekness and resignation;
+      while we drew our heads between our shoulders, and crouched forward, so as
+      to make our backs serve as a pent-house for the rest of our persons.
+      Meanwhile the cow, taking advantage of the tumult, ran off, to the great
+      discomfiture of the captain, who seemed to consider her as his own
+      especial prize, since she had been discovered by Jack. In defiance of the
+      storm, he pulled his cap tight over his brows, jerked a huge buffalo
+      pistol from his holster, and set out at full speed after her. This was the
+      last we saw of them for some time, the mist and rain making an
+      impenetrable veil; but at length we heard the captain&rsquo;s shout, and saw him
+      looming through the tempest, the picture of a Hibernian cavalier, with his
+      cocked pistol held aloft for safety&rsquo;s sake, and a countenance of anxiety
+      and excitement. The cow trotted before him, but exhibited evident signs of
+      an intention to run off again, and the captain was roaring to us to head
+      her. But the rain had got in behind our coat collars, and was traveling
+      over our necks in numerous little streamlets, and being afraid to move our
+      heads, for fear of admitting more, we sat stiff and immovable, looking at
+      the captain askance, and laughing at his frantic movements. At last the
+      cow made a sudden plunge and ran off; the captain grasped his pistol
+      firmly, spurred his horse, and galloped after, with evident designs of
+      mischief. In a moment we heard the faint report, deadened by the rain, and
+      then the conqueror and his victim reappeared, the latter shot through the
+      body, and quite helpless. Not long after the storm moderated and we
+      advanced again. The cow walked painfully along under the charge of Jack,
+      to whom the captain had committed her, while he himself rode forward in
+      his old capacity of vedette. We were approaching a long line of trees,
+      that followed a stream stretching across our path, far in front, when we
+      beheld the vedette galloping toward us, apparently much excited, but with
+      a broad grin on his face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let that cow drop behind!&rdquo; he shouted to us; &ldquo;here&rsquo;s her owners!&rdquo; And in
+      fact, as we approached the line of trees, a large white object, like a
+      tent, was visible behind them. On approaching, however, we found, instead
+      of the expected Mormon camp, nothing but the lonely prairie, and a large
+      white rock standing by the path. The cow therefore resumed her place in
+      our procession. She walked on until we encamped, when R. firmly
+      approaching with his enormous English double-barreled rifle, calmly and
+      deliberately took aim at her heart, and discharged into it first one
+      bullet and then the other. She was then butchered on the most approved
+      principles of woodcraft, and furnished a very welcome item to our somewhat
+      limited bill of fare.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In a day or two more we reached the river called the &ldquo;Big Blue.&rdquo; By titles
+      equally elegant, almost all the streams of this region are designated. We
+      had struggled through ditches and little brooks all that morning; but on
+      traversing the dense woods that lined the banks of the Blue, we found more
+      formidable difficulties awaited us, for the stream, swollen by the rains,
+      was wide, deep, and rapid.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      No sooner were we on the spot than R. had flung off his clothes, and was
+      swimming across, or splashing through the shallows, with the end of a rope
+      between his teeth. We all looked on in admiration, wondering what might be
+      the design of this energetic preparation; but soon we heard him shouting:
+      &ldquo;Give that rope a turn round that stump! You, Sorel: do you hear? Look
+      sharp now, Boisverd! Come over to this side, some of you, and help me!&rdquo;
+       The men to whom these orders were directed paid not the least attention to
+      them, though they were poured out without pause or intermission. Henry
+      Chatillon directed the work, and it proceeded quietly and rapidly. R.&lsquo;s
+      sharp brattling voice might have been heard incessantly; and he was
+      leaping about with the utmost activity, multiplying himself, after the
+      manner of great commanders, as if his universal presence and supervision
+      were of the last necessity. His commands were rather amusingly
+      inconsistent; for when he saw that the men would not do as he told them,
+      he wisely accommodated himself to circumstances, and with the utmost
+      vehemence ordered them to do precisely that which they were at the time
+      engaged upon, no doubt recollecting the story of Mahomet and the
+      refractory mountain. Shaw smiled significantly; R. observed it, and,
+      approaching with a countenance of lofty indignation, began to vapor a
+      little, but was instantly reduced to silence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The raft was at length complete. We piled our goods upon it, with the
+      exception of our guns, which each man chose to retain in his own keeping.
+      Sorel, Boisverd, Wright and Delorier took their stations at the four
+      corners, to hold it together, and swim across with it; and in a moment
+      more, all our earthly possessions were floating on the turbid waters of
+      the Big Blue. We sat on the bank, anxiously watching the result, until we
+      saw the raft safe landed in a little cove far down on the opposite bank.
+      The empty wagons were easily passed across; and then each man mounting a
+      horse, we rode through the stream, the stray animals following of their
+      own accord.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0006" id="link2HCH0006">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER VI
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      THE PLATTE AND THE DESERT
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      We were now arrived at the close of our solitary journeyings along the St.
+      Joseph&rsquo;s trail. On the evening of the 23d of May we encamped near its
+      junction with the old legitimate trail of the Oregon emigrants. We had
+      ridden long that afternoon, trying in vain to find wood and water, until
+      at length we saw the sunset sky reflected from a pool encircled by bushes
+      and a rock or two. The water lay in the bottom of a hollow, the smooth
+      prairie gracefully rising in oceanlike swells on every side. We pitched
+      our tents by it; not however before the keen eye of Henry Chatillon had
+      discerned some unusual object upon the faintly-defined outline of the
+      distant swell. But in the moist, hazy atmosphere of the evening, nothing
+      could be clearly distinguished. As we lay around the fire after supper, a
+      low and distant sound, strange enough amid the loneliness of the prairie,
+      reached our ears&mdash;peals of laughter, and the faint voices of men and
+      women. For eight days we had not encountered a human being, and this
+      singular warning of their vicinity had an effect extremely wild and
+      impressive.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      About dark a sallow-faced fellow descended the hill on horseback, and
+      splashing through the pool rode up to the tents. He was enveloped in a
+      huge cloak, and his broad felt hat was weeping about his ears with the
+      drizzling moisture of the evening. Another followed, a stout,
+      square-built, intelligent-looking man, who announced himself as leader of
+      an emigrant party encamped a mile in advance of us. About twenty wagons,
+      he said, were with him; the rest of his party were on the other side of
+      the Big Blue, waiting for a woman who was in the pains of child-birth, and
+      quarreling meanwhile among themselves.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These were the first emigrants that we had overtaken, although we had
+      found abundant and melancholy traces of their progress throughout the
+      whole course of the journey. Sometimes we passed the grave of one who had
+      sickened and died on the way. The earth was usually torn up, and covered
+      thickly with wolf-tracks. Some had escaped this violation. One morning a
+      piece of plank, standing upright on the summit of a grassy hill, attracted
+      our notice, and riding up to it we found the following words very roughly
+      traced upon it, apparently by a red-hot piece of iron:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      MARY ELLIS DIED MAY 7TH, 1845.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Aged two months.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Such tokens were of common occurrence, nothing could speak more for the
+      hardihood, or rather infatuation, of the adventurers, or the sufferings
+      that await them upon the journey.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We were late in breaking up our camp on the following morning, and
+      scarcely had we ridden a mile when we saw, far in advance of us, drawn
+      against the horizon, a line of objects stretching at regular intervals
+      along the level edge of the prairie. An intervening swell soon hid them
+      from sight, until, ascending it a quarter of an hour after, we saw close
+      before us the emigrant caravan, with its heavy white wagons creeping on in
+      their slow procession, and a large drove of cattle following behind. Half
+      a dozen yellow-visaged Missourians, mounted on horseback, were cursing and
+      shouting among them; their lank angular proportions enveloped in brown
+      homespun, evidently cut and adjusted by the hands of a domestic female
+      tailor. As we approached, they greeted us with the polished salutation:
+      &ldquo;How are ye, boys? Are ye for Oregon or California?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      As we pushed rapidly past the wagons, children&rsquo;s faces were thrust out
+      from the white coverings to look at us; while the care-worn, thin-featured
+      matron, or the buxom girl, seated in front, suspended the knitting on
+      which most of them were engaged to stare at us with wondering curiosity.
+      By the side of each wagon stalked the proprietor, urging on his patient
+      oxen, who shouldered heavily along, inch by inch, on their interminable
+      journey. It was easy to see that fear and dissension prevailed among them;
+      some of the men&mdash;but these, with one exception, were bachelors&mdash;looked
+      wistfully upon us as we rode lightly and swiftly past, and then
+      impatiently at their own lumbering wagons and heavy-gaited oxen. Others
+      were unwilling to advance at all until the party they had left behind
+      should have rejoined them. Many were murmuring against the leader they had
+      chosen, and wished to depose him; and this discontent was fermented by
+      some ambitious spirits, who had hopes of succeeding in his place. The
+      women were divided between regrets for the homes they had left and
+      apprehension of the deserts and the savages before them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We soon left them far behind, and fondly hoped that we had taken a final
+      leave; but unluckily our companions&rsquo; wagon stuck so long in a deep muddy
+      ditch that, before it was extricated, the van of the emigrant caravan
+      appeared again, descending a ridge close at hand. Wagon after wagon
+      plunged through the mud; and as it was nearly noon, and the place promised
+      shade and water, we saw with much gratification that they were resolved to
+      encamp. Soon the wagons were wheeled into a circle; the cattle were
+      grazing over the meadow, and the men with sour, sullen faces, were looking
+      about for wood and water. They seemed to meet with but indifferent
+      success. As we left the ground, I saw a tall slouching fellow with the
+      nasal accent of &ldquo;down east,&rdquo; contemplating the contents of his tin cup,
+      which he had just filled with water.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Look here, you,&rdquo; he said; &ldquo;it&rsquo;s chock full of animals!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The cup, as he held it out, exhibited in fact an extraordinary variety and
+      profusion of animal and vegetable life.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Riding up the little hill and looking back on the meadow, we could easily
+      see that all was not right in the camp of the emigrants. The men were
+      crowded together, and an angry discussion seemed to be going forward. R.
+      was missing from his wonted place in the line, and the captain told us
+      that he had remained behind to get his horse shod by a blacksmith who was
+      attached to the emigrant party. Something whispered in our ears that
+      mischief was on foot; we kept on, however, and coming soon to a stream of
+      tolerable water, we stopped to rest and dine. Still the absentee lingered
+      behind. At last, at the distance of a mile, he and his horse suddenly
+      appeared, sharply defined against the sky on the summit of a hill; and
+      close behind, a huge white object rose slowly into view.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is that blockhead bringing with him now?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A moment dispelled the mystery. Slowly and solemnly one behind the other,
+      four long trains of oxen and four emigrant wagons rolled over the crest of
+      the declivity and gravely descended, while R. rode in state in the van. It
+      seems that, during the process of shoeing the horse, the smothered
+      dissensions among the emigrants suddenly broke into open rupture. Some
+      insisted on pushing forward, some on remaining where they were, and some
+      on going back. Kearsley, their captain, threw up his command in disgust.
+      &ldquo;And now, boys,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;if any of you are for going ahead, just you
+      come along with me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Four wagons, with ten men, one woman, and one small child, made up the
+      force of the &ldquo;go-ahead&rdquo; faction, and R., with his usual proclivity toward
+      mischief, invited them to join our party. Fear of the Indians&mdash;for I
+      can conceive of no other motive&mdash;must have induced him to court so
+      burdensome an alliance. As may well be conceived, these repeated instances
+      of high-handed dealing sufficiently exasperated us. In this case, indeed,
+      the men who joined us were all that could be desired; rude indeed in
+      manner, but frank, manly, and intelligent. To tell them we could not
+      travel with them was of course out of the question. I merely reminded
+      Kearsley that if his oxen could not keep up with our mules he must expect
+      to be left behind, as we could not consent to be further delayed on the
+      journey; but he immediately replied, that his oxen &ldquo;SHOULD keep up; and if
+      they couldn&rsquo;t, why he allowed that he&rsquo;d find out how to make &lsquo;em!&rdquo; Having
+      availed myself of what satisfaction could be derived from giving R. to
+      understand my opinion of his conduct, I returned to our side of the camp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the next day, as it chanced, our English companions broke the axle-tree
+      of their wagon, and down came the whole cumbrous machine lumbering into
+      the bed of a brook! Here was a day&rsquo;s work cut out for us. Meanwhile, our
+      emigrant associates kept on their way, and so vigorously did they urge
+      forward their powerful oxen that, with the broken axle-tree and other
+      calamities, it was full a week before we overtook them; when at length we
+      discovered them, one afternoon, crawling quietly along the sandy brink of
+      the Platte. But meanwhile various incidents occurred to ourselves.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was probable that at this stage of our journey the Pawnees would
+      attempt to rob us. We began therefore to stand guard in turn, dividing the
+      night into three watches, and appointing two men for each. Delorier and I
+      held guard together. We did not march with military precision to and fro
+      before the tents; our discipline was by no means so stringent and rigid.
+      We wrapped ourselves in our blankets, and sat down by the fire; and
+      Delorier, combining his culinary functions with his duties as sentinel,
+      employed himself in boiling the head of an antelope for our morning&rsquo;s
+      repast. Yet we were models of vigilance in comparison with some of the
+      party; for the ordinary practice of the guard was to establish himself in
+      the most comfortable posture he could; lay his rifle on the ground, and
+      enveloping his nose in the blanket, meditate on his mistress, or whatever
+      subject best pleased him. This is all well enough when among Indians who
+      do not habitually proceed further in their hostility than robbing
+      travelers of their horses and mules, though, indeed, a Pawnee&rsquo;s
+      forebearance is not always to be trusted; but in certain regions farther
+      to the west, the guard must beware how he exposes his person to the light
+      of the fire, lest perchance some keen-eyed skulking marksman should let
+      fly a bullet or an arrow from amid the darkness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Among various tales that circulated around our camp fire was a rather
+      curious one, told by Boisverd, and not inappropriate here. Boisverd was
+      trapping with several companions on the skirts of the Blackfoot country.
+      The man on guard, well knowing that it behooved him to put forth his
+      utmost precaution, kept aloof from the firelight, and sat watching
+      intently on all sides. At length he was aware of a dark, crouching figure,
+      stealing noiselessly into the circle of the light. He hastily cocked his
+      rifle, but the sharp click of the lock caught the ear of Blackfoot, whose
+      senses were all on the alert. Raising his arrow, already fitted to the
+      string, he shot in the direction of the sound. So sure was his aim that he
+      drove it through the throat of the unfortunate guard, and then, with a
+      loud yell, bounded from the camp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As I looked at the partner of my watch, puffing and blowing over his fire,
+      it occurred to me that he might not prove the most efficient auxiliary in
+      time of trouble.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Delorier,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;would you run away if the Pawnees should fire at us?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah! oui, oui, monsieur!&rdquo; he replied very decisively.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I did not doubt the fact, but was a little surprised at the frankness of
+      the confession.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At this instant a most whimsical variety of voices&mdash;barks, howls,
+      yelps, and whines&mdash;all mingled as it were together, sounded from the
+      prairie, not far off, as if a whole conclave of wolves of every age and
+      sex were assembled there. Delorier looked up from his work with a laugh,
+      and began to imitate this curious medley of sounds with a most ludicrous
+      accuracy. At this they were repeated with redoubled emphasis, the musician
+      being apparently indignant at the successful efforts of a rival. They all
+      proceeded from the throat of one little wolf, not larger than a spaniel,
+      seated by himself at some distance. He was of the species called the
+      prairie wolf; a grim-visaged, but harmless little brute, whose worst
+      propensity is creeping among horses and gnawing the ropes of raw hide by
+      which they are picketed around the camp. But other beasts roam the
+      prairies, far more formidable in aspect and in character. These are the
+      large white and gray wolves, whose deep howl we heard at intervals from
+      far and near.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At last I fell into a doze, and, awakening from it, found Delorier fast
+      asleep. Scandalized by this breach of discipline, I was about to stimulate
+      his vigilance by stirring him with the stock of my rifle; but compassion
+      prevailing, I determined to let him sleep awhile, and then to arouse him,
+      and administer a suitable reproof for such a forgetfulness of duty. Now
+      and then I walked the rounds among the silent horses, to see that all was
+      right. The night was chill, damp, and dark, the dank grass bending under
+      the icy dewdrops. At the distance of a rod or two the tents were
+      invisible, and nothing could be seen but the obscure figures of the
+      horses, deeply breathing, and restlessly starting as they slept, or still
+      slowly champing the grass. Far off, beyond the black outline of the
+      prairie, there was a ruddy light, gradually increasing, like the glow of a
+      conflagration; until at length the broad disk of the moon, blood-red, and
+      vastly magnified by the vapors, rose slowly upon the darkness, flecked by
+      one or two little clouds, and as the light poured over the gloomy plain, a
+      fierce and stern howl, close at hand, seemed to greet it as an unwelcome
+      intruder. There was something impressive and awful in the place and the
+      hour; for I and the beasts were all that had consciousness for many a
+      league around.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Some days elapsed, and brought us near the Platte. Two men on horseback
+      approached us one morning, and we watched them with the curiosity and
+      interest that, upon the solitude of the plains, such an encounter always
+      excites. They were evidently whites, from their mode of riding, though,
+      contrary to the usage of that region, neither of them carried a rifle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Fools!&rdquo; remarked Henry Chatillon, &ldquo;to ride that way on the prairie;
+      Pawnee find them&mdash;then they catch it!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Pawnee HAD found them, and they had come very near &ldquo;catching it&rdquo;; indeed,
+      nothing saved them from trouble but the approach of our party. Shaw and I
+      knew one of them; a man named Turner, whom we had seen at Westport. He and
+      his companion belonged to an emigrant party encamped a few miles in
+      advance, and had returned to look for some stray oxen, leaving their
+      rifles, with characteristic rashness or ignorance behind them. Their
+      neglect had nearly cost them dear; for just before we came up, half a
+      dozen Indians approached, and seeing them apparently defenseless, one of
+      the rascals seized the bridle of Turner&rsquo;s fine horse, and ordered him to
+      dismount. Turner was wholly unarmed; but the other jerked a little
+      revolving pistol out of his pocket, at which the Pawnee recoiled; and just
+      then some of our men appearing in the distance, the whole party whipped
+      their rugged little horses, and made off. In no way daunted, Turner
+      foolishly persisted in going forward.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Long after leaving him, and late this afternoon, in the midst of a gloomy
+      and barren prairie, we came suddenly upon the great Pawnee trail, leading
+      from their villages on the Platte to their war and hunting grounds to the
+      southward. Here every summer pass the motley concourse; thousands of
+      savages, men, women, and children, horses and mules, laden with their
+      weapons and implements, and an innumerable multitude of unruly wolfish
+      dogs, who have not acquired the civilized accomplishment of barking, but
+      howl like their wild cousins of the prairie.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The permanent winter villages of the Pawnees stand on the lower Platte,
+      but throughout the summer the greater part of the inhabitants are
+      wandering over the plains, a treacherous cowardly banditti, who by a
+      thousand acts of pillage and murder have deserved summary chastisement at
+      the hands of government. Last year a Dakota warrior performed a signal
+      exploit at one of these villages. He approached it alone in the middle of
+      a dark night, and clambering up the outside of one of the lodges which are
+      in the form of a half-sphere, he looked in at the round hole made at the
+      top for the escape of smoke. The dusky light from the smoldering embers
+      showed him the forms of the sleeping inmates; and dropping lightly through
+      the opening, he unsheathed his knife, and stirring the fire coolly
+      selected his victims. One by one he stabbed and scalped them, when a child
+      suddenly awoke and screamed. He rushed from the lodge, yelled a Sioux
+      war-cry, shouted his name in triumph and defiance, and in a moment had
+      darted out upon the dark prairie, leaving the whole village behind him in
+      a tumult, with the howling and baying of dogs, the screams of women and
+      the yells of the enraged warriors.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Our friend Kearsley, as we learned on rejoining him, signalized himself by
+      a less bloody achievement. He and his men were good woodsmen, and well
+      skilled in the use of the rifle, but found themselves wholly out of their
+      element on the prairie. None of them had ever seen a buffalo and they had
+      very vague conceptions of his nature and appearance. On the day after they
+      reached the Platte, looking toward a distant swell, they beheld a
+      multitude of little black specks in motion upon its surface.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Take your rifles, boys,&rdquo; said Kearslcy, &ldquo;and we&rsquo;ll have fresh meat for
+      supper.&rdquo; This inducement was quite sufficient. The ten men left their
+      wagons and set out in hot haste, some on horseback and some on foot, in
+      pursuit of the supposed buffalo. Meanwhile a high grassy ridge shut the
+      game from view; but mounting it after half an hour&rsquo;s running and riding,
+      they found themselves suddenly confronted by about thirty mounted Pawnees!
+      The amazement and consternation were mutual. Having nothing but their bows
+      and arrows, the Indians thought their hour was come, and the fate that
+      they were no doubt conscious of richly deserving about to overtake them.
+      So they began, one and all, to shout forth the most cordial salutations of
+      friendship, running up with extreme earnestness to shake hands with the
+      Missourians, who were as much rejoiced as they were to escape the expected
+      conflict.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A low undulating line of sand-hills bounded the horizon before us. That
+      day we rode ten consecutive hours, and it was dusk before we entered the
+      hollows and gorges of these gloomy little hills. At length we gained the
+      summit, and the long expected valley of the Platte lay before us. We all
+      drew rein, and, gathering in a knot on the crest of the hill, sat joyfully
+      looking down upon the prospect. It was right welcome; strange too, and
+      striking to the imagination, and yet it had not one picturesque or
+      beautiful feature; nor had it any of the features of grandeur, other than
+      its vast extent, its solitude, and its wilderness. For league after league
+      a plain as level as a frozen lake was outspread beneath us; here and there
+      the Platte, divided into a dozen threadlike sluices, was traversing it,
+      and an occasional clump of wood, rising in the midst like a shadowy
+      island, relieved the monotony of the waste. No living thing was moving
+      throughout the vast landscape, except the lizards that darted over the
+      sand and through the rank grass and prickly-pear just at our feet. And yet
+      stern and wild associations gave a singular interest to the view; for here
+      each man lives by the strength of his arm and the valor of his heart. Here
+      society is reduced to its original elements, the whole fabric of art and
+      conventionality is struck rudely to pieces, and men find themselves
+      suddenly brought back to the wants and resources of their original
+      natures.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We had passed the more toilsome and monotonous part of the journey; but
+      four hundred miles still intervened between us and Fort Laramie; and to
+      reach that point cost us the travel of three additional weeks. During the
+      whole of this time we were passing up the center of a long narrow sandy
+      plain, reaching like an outstretched belt nearly to the Rocky Mountains.
+      Two lines of sand-hills, broken often into the wildest and most fantastic
+      forms, flanked the valley at the distance of a mile or two on the right
+      and left; while beyond them lay a barren, trackless waste&mdash;The Great
+      American Desert&mdash;extending for hundreds of miles to the Arkansas on
+      the one side, and the Missouri on the other. Before us and behind us, the
+      level monotony of the plain was unbroken as far as the eye could reach.
+      Sometimes it glared in the sun, an expanse of hot, bare sand; sometimes it
+      was veiled by long coarse grass. Huge skulls and whitening bones of
+      buffalo were scattered everywhere; the ground was tracked by myriads of
+      them, and often covered with the circular indentations where the bulls had
+      wallowed in the hot weather. From every gorge and ravine, opening from the
+      hills, descended deep, well-worn paths, where the buffalo issue twice a
+      day in regular procession down to drink in the Platte. The river itself
+      runs through the midst, a thin sheet of rapid, turbid water, half a mile
+      wide, and scarce two feet deep. Its low banks for the most part without a
+      bush or a tree, are of loose sand, with which the stream is so charged
+      that it grates on the teeth in drinking. The naked landscape is, of
+      itself, dreary and monotonous enough, and yet the wild beasts and wild men
+      that frequent the valley of the Platte make it a scene of interest and
+      excitement to the traveler. Of those who have journeyed there, scarce one,
+      perhaps, fails to look back with fond regret to his horse and his rifle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Early in the morning after we reached the Platte, a long procession of
+      squalid savages approached our camp. Each was on foot, leading his horse
+      by a rope of bull-hide. His attire consisted merely of a scanty cincture
+      and an old buffalo robe, tattered and begrimed by use, which hung over his
+      shoulders. His head was close shaven, except a ridge of hair reaching over
+      the crown from the center of the forehead, very much like the long
+      bristles on the back of a hyena, and he carried his bow and arrows in his
+      hand, while his meager little horse was laden with dried buffalo meat, the
+      produce of his hunting. Such were the first specimens that we met&mdash;and
+      very indifferent ones they were&mdash;of the genuine savages of the
+      prairie.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They were the Pawnees whom Kearsley had encountered the day before, and
+      belonged to a large hunting party known to be ranging the prairie in the
+      vicinity. They strode rapidly past, within a furlong of our tents, not
+      pausing or looking toward us, after the manner of Indians when meditating
+      mischief or conscious of ill-desert. I went out and met them; and had an
+      amicable conference with the chief, presenting him with half a pound of
+      tobacco, at which unmerited bounty he expressed much gratification. These
+      fellows, or some of their companions had committed a dastardly outrage
+      upon an emigrant party in advance of us. Two men, out on horseback at a
+      distance, were seized by them, but lashing their horses, they broke loose
+      and fled. At this the Pawnees raised the yell and shot at them,
+      transfixing the hindermost through the back with several arrows, while his
+      companion galloped away and brought in the news to his party. The
+      panic-stricken emigrants remained for several days in camp, not daring
+      even to send out in quest of the dead body.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The reader will recollect Turner, the man whose narrow escape was
+      mentioned not long since. We heard that the men, whom the entreaties of
+      his wife induced to go in search of him, found him leisurely driving along
+      his recovered oxen, and whistling in utter contempt of the Pawnee nation.
+      His party was encamped within two miles of us; but we passed them that
+      morning, while the men were driving in the oxen, and the women packing
+      their domestic utensils and their numerous offspring in the spacious
+      patriarchal wagons. As we looked back we saw their caravan dragging its
+      slow length along the plain; wearily toiling on its way, to found new
+      empires in the West.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Our New England climate is mild and equable compared with that of the
+      Platte. This very morning, for instance, was close and sultry, the sun
+      rising with a faint oppressive heat; when suddenly darkness gathered in
+      the west, and a furious blast of sleet and hail drove full in our faces,
+      icy cold, and urged with such demoniac vehemence that it felt like a storm
+      of needles. It was curious to see the horses; they faced about in extreme
+      displeasure, holding their tails like whipped dogs, and shivering as the
+      angry gusts, howling louder than a concert of wolves, swept over us.
+      Wright&rsquo;s long train of mules came sweeping round before the storm like a
+      flight of brown snowbirds driven by a winter tempest. Thus we all remained
+      stationary for some minutes, crouching close to our horses&rsquo; necks, much
+      too surly to speak, though once the captain looked up from between the
+      collars of his coat, his face blood-red, and the muscles of his mouth
+      contracted by the cold into a most ludicrous grin of agony. He grumbled
+      something that sounded like a curse, directed as we believed, against the
+      unhappy hour when he had first thought of leaving home. The thing was too
+      good to last long; and the instant the puffs of wind subsided we erected
+      our tents, and remained in camp for the rest of a gloomy and lowering day.
+      The emigrants also encamped near at hand. We, being first on the ground,
+      had appropriated all the wood within reach; so that our fire alone blazed
+      cheerfully. Around it soon gathered a group of uncouth figures, shivering
+      in the drizzling rain. Conspicuous among them were two or three of the
+      half-savage men who spend their reckless lives in trapping among the Rocky
+      Mountains, or in trading for the Fur Company in the Indian villages. They
+      were all of Canadian extraction; their hard, weather-beaten faces and
+      bushy mustaches looked out from beneath the hoods of their white capotes
+      with a bad and brutish expression, as if their owner might be the willing
+      agent of any villainy. And such in fact is the character of many of these
+      men.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the day following we overtook Kearsley&rsquo;s wagons, and thenceforward, for
+      a week or two, we were fellow-travelers. One good effect, at least,
+      resulted from the alliance; it materially diminished the serious fatigue
+      of standing guard; for the party being now more numerous, there were
+      longer intervals between each man&rsquo;s turns of duty.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0007" id="link2HCH0007">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER VII
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      THE BUFFALO
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Four days on the Platte, and yet no buffalo! Last year&rsquo;s signs of them
+      were provokingly abundant; and wood being extremely scarce, we found an
+      admirable substitute in bois de vache, which burns exactly like peat,
+      producing no unpleasant effects. The wagons one morning had left the camp;
+      Shaw and I were already on horseback, but Henry Chatillon still sat
+      cross-legged by the dead embers of the fire, playing pensively with the
+      lock of his rifle, while his sturdy Wyandotte pony stood quietly behind
+      him, looking over his head. At last he got up, patted the neck of the pony
+      (whom, from an exaggerated appreciation of his merits, he had christened
+      &ldquo;Five Hundred Dollar&rdquo;), and then mounted with a melancholy air.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is it, Henry?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, I feel lonesome; I never been here before; but I see away yonder over
+      the buttes, and down there on the prairie, black&mdash;all black with
+      buffalo!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      In the afternoon he and I left the party in search of an antelope; until
+      at the distance of a mile or two on the right, the tall white wagons and
+      the little black specks of horsemen were just visible, so slowly advancing
+      that they seemed motionless; and far on the left rose the broken line of
+      scorched, desolate sand-hills. The vast plain waved with tall rank grass
+      that swept our horses&rsquo; bellies; it swayed to and fro in billows with the
+      light breeze, and far and near antelope and wolves were moving through it,
+      the hairy backs of the latter alternately appearing and disappearing as
+      they bounded awkwardly along; while the antelope, with the simple
+      curiosity peculiar to them, would often approach as closely, their little
+      horns and white throats just visible above the grass tops, as they gazed
+      eagerly at us with their round black eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I dismounted, and amused myself with firing at the wolves. Henry
+      attentively scrutinized the surrounding landscape; at length he gave a
+      shout, and called on me to mount again, pointing in the direction of the
+      sand-hills. A mile and a half from us, two minute black specks slowly
+      traversed the face of one of the bare glaring declivities, and disappeared
+      behind the summit. &ldquo;Let us go!&rdquo; cried Henry, belaboring the sides of Five
+      Hundred Dollar; and I following in his wake, we galloped rapidly through
+      the rank grass toward the base of the hills.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      From one of their openings descended a deep ravine, widening as it issued
+      on the prairie. We entered it, and galloping up, in a moment were
+      surrounded by the bleak sand-hills. Half of their steep sides were bare;
+      the rest were scantily clothed with clumps of grass, and various uncouth
+      plants, conspicuous among which appeared the reptile-like prickly-pear.
+      They were gashed with numberless ravines; and as the sky had suddenly
+      darkened, and a cold gusty wind arisen, the strange shrubs and the dreary
+      hills looked doubly wild and desolate. But Henry&rsquo;s face was all eagerness.
+      He tore off a little hair from the piece of buffalo robe under his saddle,
+      and threw it up, to show the course of the wind. It blew directly before
+      us. The game were therefore to windward, and it was necessary to make our
+      best speed to get around them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We scrambled from this ravine, and galloping away through the hollows,
+      soon found another, winding like a snake among the hills, and so deep that
+      it completely concealed us. We rode up the bottom of it, glancing through
+      the shrubbery at its edge, till Henry abruptly jerked his rein, and slid
+      out of his saddle. Full a quarter of a mile distant, on the outline of the
+      farthest hill, a long procession of buffalo were walking, in Indian file,
+      with the utmost gravity and deliberation; then more appeared, clambering
+      from a hollow not far off, and ascending, one behind the other, the grassy
+      slope of another hill; then a shaggy head and a pair of short broken horns
+      appeared issuing out of a ravine close at hand, and with a slow, stately
+      step, one by one, the enormous brutes came into view, taking their way
+      across the valley, wholly unconscious of an enemy. In a moment Henry was
+      worming his way, lying flat on the ground, through grass and
+      prickly-pears, toward his unsuspecting victims. He had with him both my
+      rifle and his own. He was soon out of sight, and still the buffalo kept
+      issuing into the valley. For a long time all was silent. I sat holding his
+      horse, and wondering what he was about, when suddenly, in rapid
+      succession, came the sharp reports of the two rifles, and the whole line
+      of buffalo, quickening their pace into a clumsy trot, gradually
+      disappeared over the ridge of the hill. Henry rose to his feet, and stood
+      looking after them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have missed them,&rdquo; said I.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said Henry; &ldquo;let us go.&rdquo; He descended into the ravine, loaded the
+      rifles, and mounted his horse.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We rode up the hill after the buffalo. The herd was out of sight when we
+      reached the top, but lying on the grass not far off, was one quite
+      lifeless, and another violently struggling in the death agony.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You see I miss him!&rdquo; remarked Henry. He had fired from a distance of more
+      than a hundred and fifty yards, and both balls had passed through the
+      lungs&mdash;the true mark in shooting buffalo.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The darkness increased, and a driving storm came on. Tying our horses to
+      the horns of the victims, Henry began the bloody work of dissection,
+      slashing away with the science of a connoisseur, while I vainly endeavored
+      to imitate him. Old Hendrick recoiled with horror and indignation when I
+      endeavored to tie the meat to the strings of raw hide, always carried for
+      this purpose, dangling at the back of the saddle. After some difficulty we
+      overcame his scruples; and heavily burdened with the more eligible
+      portions of the buffalo, we set out on our return. Scarcely had we emerged
+      from the labyrinth of gorges and ravines, and issued upon the open
+      prairie, when the pricking sleet came driving, gust upon gust, directly in
+      our faces. It was strangely dark, though wanting still an hour of sunset.
+      The freezing storm soon penetrated to the skin, but the uneasy trot of our
+      heavy-gaited horses kept us warm enough, as we forced them unwillingly in
+      the teeth of the sleet and rain, by the powerful suasion of our Indian
+      whips. The prairie in this place was hard and level. A flourishing colony
+      of prairie dogs had burrowed into it in every direction, and the little
+      mounds of fresh earth around their holes were about as numerous as the
+      hills in a cornfield; but not a yelp was to be heard; not the nose of a
+      single citizen was visible; all had retired to the depths of their
+      burrows, and we envied them their dry and comfortable habitations. An
+      hour&rsquo;s hard riding showed us our tent dimly looming through the storm, one
+      side puffed out by the force of the wind, and the other collapsed in
+      proportion, while the disconsolate horses stood shivering close around,
+      and the wind kept up a dismal whistling in the boughs of three old
+      half-dead trees above. Shaw, like a patriarch, sat on his saddle in the
+      entrance, with a pipe in his mouth, and his arms folded, contemplating,
+      with cool satisfaction, the piles of meat that we flung on the ground
+      before him. A dark and dreary night succeeded; but the sun rose with heat
+      so sultry and languid that the captain excused himself on that account
+      from waylaying an old buffalo bull, who with stupid gravity was walking
+      over the prairie to drink at the river. So much for the climate of the
+      Platte!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But it was not the weather alone that had produced this sudden abatement
+      of the sportsmanlike zeal which the captain had always professed. He had
+      been out on the afternoon before, together with several members of his
+      party; but their hunting was attended with no other result than the loss
+      of one of their best horses, severely injured by Sorel, in vainly chasing
+      a wounded bull. The captain, whose ideas of hard riding were all derived
+      from transatlantic sources, expressed the utmost amazement at the feats of
+      Sorel, who went leaping ravines, and dashing at full speed up and down the
+      sides of precipitous hills, lashing his horse with the recklessness of a
+      Rocky Mountain rider. Unfortunately for the poor animal he was the
+      property of R., against whom Sorel entertained an unbounded aversion. The
+      captain himself, it seemed, had also attempted to &ldquo;run&rdquo; a buffalo, but
+      though a good and practiced horseman, he had soon given over the attempt,
+      being astonished and utterly disgusted at the nature of the ground he was
+      required to ride over.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Nothing unusual occurred on that day; but on the following morning Henry
+      Chatillon, looking over the oceanlike expanse, saw near the foot of the
+      distant hills something that looked like a band of buffalo. He was not
+      sure, he said, but at all events, if they were buffalo, there was a fine
+      chance for a race. Shaw and I at once determined to try the speed of our
+      horses.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come, captain; we&rsquo;ll see which can ride hardest, a Yankee or an
+      Irishman.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But the captain maintained a grave and austere countenance. He mounted his
+      led horse, however, though very slowly; and we set out at a trot. The game
+      appeared about three miles distant. As we proceeded the captain made
+      various remarks of doubt and indecision; and at length declared he would
+      have nothing to do with such a breakneck business; protesting that he had
+      ridden plenty of steeple-chases in his day, but he never knew what riding
+      was till he found himself behind a band of buffalo day before yesterday.
+      &ldquo;I am convinced,&rdquo; said the captain, &ldquo;that, &lsquo;running&rsquo; is out of the
+      question.* Take my advice now and don&rsquo;t attempt it. It&rsquo;s dangerous, and of
+      no use at all.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     *The method of hunting called &ldquo;running&rdquo; consists in
+     attacking the buffalo on horseback and shooting him with
+     bullets or arrows when at full-speed.  In &ldquo;approaching,&rdquo; the
+     hunter conceals himself and crawls on the ground toward the
+     game, or lies in wait to kill them.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then why did you come out with us? What do you mean to do?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I shall &lsquo;approach,&rsquo;&rdquo; replied the captain.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t mean to &lsquo;approach&rsquo; with your pistols, do you? We have all of us
+      left our rifles in the wagons.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The captain seemed staggered at the suggestion. In his characteristic
+      indecision, at setting out, pistols, rifles, &ldquo;running&rdquo; and &ldquo;approaching&rdquo;
+       were mingled in an inextricable medley in his brain. He trotted on in
+      silence between us for a while; but at length he dropped behind and slowly
+      walked his horse back to rejoin the party. Shaw and I kept on; when lo! as
+      we advanced, the band of buffalo were transformed into certain clumps of
+      tall bushes, dotting the prairie for a considerable distance. At this
+      ludicrous termination of our chase, we followed the example of our late
+      ally, and turned back toward the party. We were skirting the brink of a
+      deep ravine, when we saw Henry and the broad-chested pony coming toward us
+      at a gallop.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Here&rsquo;s old Papin and Frederic, down from Fort Laramie!&rdquo; shouted Henry,
+      long before he came up. We had for some days expected this encounter.
+      Papin was the bourgeois of Fort Laramie. He had come down the river with
+      the buffalo robes and the beaver, the produce of the last winter&rsquo;s
+      trading. I had among our baggage a letter which I wished to commit to
+      their hands; so requesting Henry to detain the boats if he could until my
+      return, I set out after the wagons. They were about four miles in advance.
+      In half an hour I overtook them, got the letter, trotted back upon the
+      trail, and looking carefully, as I rode, saw a patch of broken,
+      storm-blasted trees, and moving near them some little black specks like
+      men and horses. Arriving at the place, I found a strange assembly. The
+      boats, eleven in number, deep-laden with the skins, hugged close to the
+      shore, to escape being borne down by the swift current. The rowers,
+      swarthy ignoble Mexicans, turned their brutish faces upward to look, as I
+      reached the bank. Papin sat in the middle of one of the boats upon the
+      canvas covering that protected the robes. He was a stout, robust fellow,
+      with a little gray eye, that had a peculiarly sly twinkle. &ldquo;Frederic&rdquo; also
+      stretched his tall rawboned proportions close by the bourgeois, and
+      &ldquo;mountain-men&rdquo; completed the group; some lounging in the boats, some
+      strolling on shore; some attired in gayly painted buffalo robes, like
+      Indian dandies; some with hair saturated with red paint, and beplastered
+      with glue to their temples; and one bedaubed with vermilion upon his
+      forehead and each cheek. They were a mongrel race; yet the French blood
+      seemed to predominate; in a few, indeed, might be seen the black snaky eye
+      of the Indian half-breed, and one and all, they seemed to aim at
+      assimilating themselves to their savage associates.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I shook hands with the bourgeois, and delivered the letter; then the boats
+      swung round into the stream and floated away. They had reason for haste,
+      for already the voyage from Fort Laramie had occupied a full month, and
+      the river was growing daily more shallow. Fifty times a day the boats had
+      been aground, indeed; those who navigate the Platte invariably spend half
+      their time upon sand-bars. Two of these boats, the property of private
+      traders, afterward separating from the rest, got hopelessly involved in
+      the shallows, not very far from the Pawnee villages, and were soon
+      surrounded by a swarm of the inhabitants. They carried off everything that
+      they considered valuable, including most of the robes; and amused
+      themselves by tying up the men left on guard and soundly whipping them
+      with sticks.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We encamped that night upon the bank of the river. Among the emigrants
+      there was an overgrown boy, some eighteen years old, with a head as round
+      and about as large as a pumpkin, and fever-and-ague fits had dyed his face
+      of a corresponding color. He wore an old white hat, tied under his chin
+      with a handkerchief; his body was short and stout, but his legs of
+      disproportioned and appalling length. I observed him at sunset, breasting
+      the hill with gigantic strides, and standing against the sky on the
+      summit, like a colossal pair of tongs. In a moment after we heard him
+      screaming frantically behind the ridge, and nothing doubting that he was
+      in the clutches of Indians or grizzly bears, some of the party caught up
+      their rifles and ran to the rescue. His outcries, however, proved but an
+      ebullition of joyous excitement; he had chased two little wolf pups to
+      their burrow, and he was on his knees, grubbing away like a dog at the
+      mouth of the hole, to get at them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Before morning he caused more serious disquiet in the camp. It was his
+      turn to hold the middle guard; but no sooner was he called up, than he
+      coolly arranged a pair of saddle-bags under a wagon, laid his head upon
+      them, closed his eyes, opened his mouth and fell asleep. The guard on our
+      side of the camp, thinking it no part of his duty to look after the cattle
+      of the emigrants, contented himself with watching our own horses and
+      mules; the wolves, he said, were unusually noisy; but still no mischief
+      was anticipated until the sun rose, and not a hoof or horn was in sight!
+      The cattle were gone! While Tom was quietly slumbering, the wolves had
+      driven them away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then we reaped the fruits of R.&lsquo;s precious plan of traveling in company
+      with emigrants. To leave them in their distress was not to be thought of,
+      and we felt bound to wait until the cattle could be searched for, and, if
+      possible, recovered. But the reader may be curious to know what punishment
+      awaited the faithless Tom. By the wholesome law of the prairie, he who
+      falls asleep on guard is condemned to walk all day leading his horse by
+      the bridle, and we found much fault with our companions for not enforcing
+      such a sentence on the offender. Nevertheless had he been of our party, I
+      have no doubt he would in like manner have escaped scot-free. But the
+      emigrants went farther than mere forebearance; they decreed that since Tom
+      couldn&rsquo;t stand guard without falling asleep, he shouldn&rsquo;t stand guard at
+      all, and henceforward his slumbers were unbroken. Establishing such a
+      premium on drowsiness could have no very beneficial effect upon the
+      vigilance of our sentinels; for it is far from agreeable, after riding
+      from sunrise to sunset, to feel your slumbers interrupted by the butt of a
+      rifle nudging your side, and a sleepy voice growling in your ear that you
+      must get up, to shiver and freeze for three weary hours at midnight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Buffalo! buffalo!&rdquo; It was but a grim old bull, roaming the prairie by
+      himself in misanthropic seclusion; but there might be more behind the
+      hills. Dreading the monotony and languor of the camp, Shaw and I saddled
+      our horses, buckled our holsters in their places, and set out with Henry
+      Chatillon in search of the game. Henry, not intending to take part in the
+      chase, but merely conducting us, carried his rifle with him, while we left
+      ours behind as incumbrances. We rode for some five or six miles, and saw
+      no living thing but wolves, snakes, and prairie dogs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This won&rsquo;t do at all,&rdquo; said Shaw.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What won&rsquo;t do?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There&rsquo;s no wood about here to make a litter for the wounded man; I have
+      an idea that one of us will need something of the sort before the day is
+      over.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There was some foundation for such an apprehension, for the ground was
+      none of the best for a race, and grew worse continually as we proceeded;
+      indeed it soon became desperately bad, consisting of abrupt hills and deep
+      hollows, cut by frequent ravines not easy to pass. At length, a mile in
+      advance, we saw a band of bulls. Some were scattered grazing over a green
+      declivity, while the rest were crowded more densely together in the wide
+      hollow below. Making a circuit to keep out of sight, we rode toward them
+      until we ascended a hill within a furlong of them, beyond which nothing
+      intervened that could possibly screen us from their view. We dismounted
+      behind the ridge just out of sight, drew our saddle-girths, examined our
+      pistols, and mounting again rode over the hill, and descended at a canter
+      toward them, bending close to our horses&rsquo; necks. Instantly they took the
+      alarm; those on the hill descended; those below gathered into a mass, and
+      the whole got in motion, shouldering each other along at a clumsy gallop.
+      We followed, spurring our horses to full speed; and as the herd rushed,
+      crowding and trampling in terror through an opening in the hills, we were
+      close at their heels, half suffocated by the clouds of dust. But as we
+      drew near, their alarm and speed increased; our horses showed signs of the
+      utmost fear, bounding violently aside as we approached, and refusing to
+      enter among the herd. The buffalo now broke into several small bodies,
+      scampering over the hills in different directions, and I lost sight of
+      Shaw; neither of us knew where the other had gone. Old Pontiac ran like a
+      frantic elephant up hill and down hill, his ponderous hoofs striking the
+      prairie like sledge-hammers. He showed a curious mixture of eagerness and
+      terror, straining to overtake the panic-stricken herd, but constantly
+      recoiling in dismay as we drew near. The fugitives, indeed, offered no
+      very attractive spectacle, with their enormous size and weight, their
+      shaggy manes and the tattered remnants of their last winter&rsquo;s hair
+      covering their backs in irregular shreds and patches, and flying off in
+      the wind as they ran. At length I urged my horse close behind a bull, and
+      after trying in vain, by blows and spurring, to bring him alongside, I
+      shot a bullet into the buffalo from this disadvantageous position. At the
+      report, Pontiac swerved so much that I was again thrown a little behind
+      the game. The bullet, entering too much in the rear, failed to disable the
+      bull, for a buffalo requires to be shot at particular points, or he will
+      certainly escape. The herd ran up a hill, and I followed in pursuit. As
+      Pontiac rushed headlong down on the other side, I saw Shaw and Henry
+      descending the hollow on the right, at a leisurely gallop; and in front,
+      the buffalo were just disappearing behind the crest of the next hill,
+      their short tails erect, and their hoofs twinkling through a cloud of
+      dust.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At that moment, I heard Shaw and Henry shouting to me; but the muscles of
+      a stronger arm than mine could not have checked at once the furious course
+      of Pontiac, whose mouth was as insensible as leather. Added to this, I
+      rode him that morning with a common snaffle, having the day before, for
+      the benefit of my other horse, unbuckled from my bridle the curb which I
+      ordinarily used. A stronger and hardier brute never trod the prairie; but
+      the novel sight of the buffalo filled him with terror, and when at full
+      speed he was almost incontrollable. Gaining the top of the ridge, I saw
+      nothing of the buffalo; they had all vanished amid the intricacies of the
+      hills and hollows. Reloading my pistols, in the best way I could, I
+      galloped on until I saw them again scuttling along at the base of the
+      hill, their panic somewhat abated. Down went old Pontiac among them,
+      scattering them to the right and left, and then we had another long chase.
+      About a dozen bulls were before us, scouring over the hills, rushing down
+      the declivities with tremendous weight and impetuosity, and then laboring
+      with a weary gallop upward. Still Pontiac, in spite of spurring and
+      beating, would not close with them. One bull at length fell a little
+      behind the rest, and by dint of much effort I urged my horse within six or
+      eight yards of his side. His back was darkened with sweat; he was panting
+      heavily, while his tongue lolled out a foot from his jaws. Gradually I
+      came up abreast of him, urging Pontiac with leg and rein nearer to his
+      side, then suddenly he did what buffalo in such circumstances will always
+      do; he slackened his gallop, and turning toward us, with an aspect of
+      mingled rage and distress, lowered his huge shaggy head for a charge.
+      Pontiac with a snort, leaped aside in terror, nearly throwing me to the
+      ground, as I was wholly unprepared for such an evolution. I raised my
+      pistol in a passion to strike him on the head, but thinking better of it
+      fired the bullet after the bull, who had resumed his flight, then drew
+      rein and determined to rejoin my companions. It was high time. The breath
+      blew hard from Pontiac&rsquo;s nostrils, and the sweat rolled in big drops down
+      his sides; I myself felt as if drenched in warm water. Pledging myself
+      (and I redeemed the pledge) to take my revenge at a future opportunity, I
+      looked round for some indications to show me where I was, and what course
+      I ought to pursue; I might as well have looked for landmarks in the midst
+      of the ocean. How many miles I had run or in what direction, I had no
+      idea; and around me the prairie was rolling in steep swells and pitches,
+      without a single distinctive feature to guide me. I had a little compass
+      hung at my neck; and ignorant that the Platte at this point diverged
+      considerably from its easterly course, I thought that by keeping to the
+      northward I should certainly reach it. So I turned and rode about two
+      hours in that direction. The prairie changed as I advanced, softening away
+      into easier undulations, but nothing like the Platte appeared, nor any
+      sign of a human being; the same wild endless expanse lay around me still;
+      and to all appearance I was as far from my object as ever. I began now to
+      consider myself in danger of being lost; and therefore, reining in my
+      horse, summoned the scanty share of woodcraft that I possessed (if that
+      term he applicable upon the prairie) to extricate me. Looking round, it
+      occurred to me that the buffalo might prove my best guides. I soon found
+      one of the paths made by them in their passage to the river; it ran nearly
+      at right angles to my course; but turning my horse&rsquo;s head in the direction
+      it indicated, his freer gait and erected ears assured me that I was right.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But in the meantime my ride had been by no means a solitary one. The whole
+      face of the country was dotted far and wide with countless hundreds of
+      buffalo. They trooped along in files and columns, bulls cows, and calves,
+      on the green faces of the declivities in front. They scrambled away over
+      the hills to the right and left; and far off, the pale blue swells in the
+      extreme distance were dotted with innumerable specks. Sometimes I
+      surprised shaggy old bulls grazing alone, or sleeping behind the ridges I
+      ascended. They would leap up at my approach, stare stupidly at me through
+      their tangled manes, and then gallop heavily away. The antelope were very
+      numerous; and as they are always bold when in the neighborhood of buffalo,
+      they would approach quite near to look at me, gazing intently with their
+      great round eyes, then suddenly leap aside, and stretch lightly away over
+      the prairie, as swiftly as a racehorse. Squalid, ruffianlike wolves
+      sneaked through the hollows and sandy ravines. Several times I passed
+      through villages of prairie dogs, who sat, each at the mouth of his
+      burrow, holding his paws before him in a supplicating attitude, and
+      yelping away most vehemently, energetically whisking his little tail with
+      every squeaking cry he uttered. Prairie dogs are not fastidious in their
+      choice of companions; various long, checkered snakes were sunning
+      themselves in the midst of the village, and demure little gray owls, with
+      a large white ring around each eye, were perched side by side with the
+      rightful inhabitants. The prairie teemed with life. Again and again I
+      looked toward the crowded hillsides, and was sure I saw horsemen; and
+      riding near, with a mixture of hope and dread, for Indians were abroad, I
+      found them transformed into a group of buffalo. There was nothing in human
+      shape amid all this vast congregation of brute forms.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When I turned down the buffalo path, the prairie seemed changed; only a
+      wolf or two glided past at intervals, like conscious felons, never looking
+      to the right or left. Being now free from anxiety, I was at leisure to
+      observe minutely the objects around me; and here, for the first time, I
+      noticed insects wholly different from any of the varieties found farther
+      to the eastward. Gaudy butterflies fluttered about my horse&rsquo;s head;
+      strangely formed beetles, glittering with metallic luster, were crawling
+      upon plants that I had never seen before; multitudes of lizards, too, were
+      darting like lightning over the sand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I had run to a great distance from the river. It cost me a long ride on
+      the buffalo path before I saw from the ridge of a sand-hill the pale
+      surface of the Platte glistening in the midst of its desert valleys, and
+      the faint outline of the hills beyond waving along the sky. From where I
+      stood, not a tree nor a bush nor a living thing was visible throughout the
+      whole extent of the sun-scorched landscape. In half an hour I came upon
+      the trail, not far from the river; and seeing that the party had not yet
+      passed, I turned eastward to meet them, old Pontiac&rsquo;s long swinging trot
+      again assuring me that I was right in doing so. Having been slightly ill
+      on leaving camp in the morning six or seven hours of rough riding had
+      fatigued me extremely. I soon stopped, therefore; flung my saddle on the
+      ground, and with my head resting on it, and my horse&rsquo;s trail-rope tied
+      loosely to my arm, lay waiting the arrival of the party, speculating
+      meanwhile on the extent of the injuries Pontiac had received. At length
+      the white wagon coverings rose from the verge of the plain. By a singular
+      coincidence, almost at the same moment two horsemen appeared coming down
+      from the hills. They were Shaw and Henry, who had searched for me a while
+      in the morning, but well knowing the futility of the attempt in such a
+      broken country, had placed themselves on the top of the highest hill they
+      could find, and picketing their horses near them, as a signal to me, had
+      laid down and fallen asleep. The stray cattle had been recovered, as the
+      emigrants told us, about noon. Before sunset, we pushed forward eight
+      miles farther.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      JUNE 7, 1846.&mdash;Four men are missing; R., Sorel and two emigrants.
+      They set out this morning after buffalo, and have not yet made their
+      appearance; whether killed or lost, we cannot tell.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I find the above in my notebook, and well remember the council held on the
+      occasion. Our fire was the scene of it; or the palpable superiority of
+      Henry Chatillon&rsquo;s experience and skill made him the resort of the whole
+      camp upon every question of difficulty. He was molding bullets at the
+      fire, when the captain drew near, with a perturbed and care-worn
+      expression of countenance, faithfully reflected on the heavy features of
+      Jack, who followed close behind. Then emigrants came straggling from their
+      wagons toward the common center; various suggestions were made to account
+      for the absence of the four men, and one or two of the emigrants declared
+      that when out after the cattle they had seen Indians dogging them, and
+      crawling like wolves along the ridges of the hills. At this time the
+      captain slowly shook his head with double gravity, and solemnly remarked:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a serious thing to be traveling through this cursed wilderness&rdquo;; an
+      opinion in which Jack immediately expressed a thorough coincidence. Henry
+      would not commit himself by declaring any positive opinion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Maybe he only follow the buffalo too far; maybe Indian kill him; maybe he
+      got lost; I cannot tell!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      With this the auditors were obliged to rest content; the emigrants, not in
+      the least alarmed, though curious to know what had become of their
+      comrades, walked back to their wagons and the captain betook himself
+      pensively to his tent. Shaw and I followed his example.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It will be a bad thing for our plans,&rdquo; said he as we entered, &ldquo;if these
+      fellows don&rsquo;t get back safe. The captain is as helpless on the prairie as
+      a child. We shall have to take him and his brother in tow; they will hang
+      on us like lead.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The prairie is a strange place,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;A month ago I should have
+      thought it rather a startling affair to have an acquaintance ride out in
+      the morning and lose his scalp before night, but here it seems the most
+      natural thing in the world; not that I believe that R. has lost his yet.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      If a man is constitutionally liable to nervous apprehensions, a tour on
+      the distant prairies would prove the best prescription; for though when in
+      the neighborhood of the Rocky Mountains he may at times find himself
+      placed in circumstances of some danger, I believe that few ever breathe
+      that reckless atmosphere without becoming almost indifferent to any evil
+      chance that may befall themselves or their friends.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shaw had a propensity for luxurious indulgence. He spread his blanket with
+      the utmost accuracy on the ground, picked up the sticks and stones that he
+      thought might interfere with his comfort, adjusted his saddle to serve as
+      a pillow, and composed himself for his night&rsquo;s rest. I had the first guard
+      that evening; so, taking my rifle, I went out of the tent. It was
+      perfectly dark. A brisk wind blew down from the hills, and the sparks from
+      the fire were streaming over the prairie. One of the emigrants, named
+      Morton, was my companion; and laying our rifles on the grass, we sat down
+      together by the fire. Morton was a Kentuckian, an athletic fellow, with a
+      fine intelligent face, and in his manners and conversation he showed the
+      essential characteristics of a gentleman. Our conversation turned on the
+      pioneers of his gallant native State. The three hours of our watch dragged
+      away at last, and we went to call up the relief.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      R.&lsquo;s guard succeeded mine. He was absent; but the captain, anxious lest
+      the camp should be left defenseless, had volunteered to stand in his
+      place; so I went to wake him up. There was no occasion for it, for the
+      captain had been awake since nightfall. A fire was blazing outside of the
+      tent, and by the light which struck through the canvas, I saw him and Jack
+      lying on their backs, with their eyes wide open. The captain responded
+      instantly to my call; he jumped up, seized the double-barreled rifle, and
+      came out of the tent with an air of solemn determination, as if about to
+      devote himself to the safety of the party. I went and lay down, not
+      doubting that for the next three hours our slumbers would be guarded with
+      sufficient vigilance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0008" id="link2HCH0008">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER VIII
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      TAKING FRENCH LEAVE
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      On the 8th of June, at eleven o&rsquo;clock, we reached the South Fork of the
+      Platte, at the usual fording place. For league upon league the desert
+      uniformity of the prospect was almost unbroken; the hills were dotted with
+      little tufts of shriveled grass, but betwixt these the white sand was
+      glaring in the sun; and the channel of the river, almost on a level with
+      the plain, was but one great sand-bed, about half a mile wide. It was
+      covered with water, but so scantily that the bottom was scarcely hidden;
+      for, wide as it is, the average depth of the Platte does not at this point
+      exceed a foot and a half. Stopping near its bank, we gathered bois de
+      vache, and made a meal of buffalo meat. Far off, on the other side, was a
+      green meadow, where we could see the white tents and wagons of an emigrant
+      camp; and just opposite to us we could discern a group of men and animals
+      at the water&rsquo;s edge. Four or five horsemen soon entered the river, and in
+      ten minutes had waded across and clambered up the loose sand-bank. They
+      were ill-looking fellows, thin and swarthy, with care-worn, anxious faces
+      and lips rigidly compressed. They had good cause for anxiety; it was three
+      days since they first encamped here, and on the night of their arrival
+      they had lost 123 of their best cattle, driven off by the wolves, through
+      the neglect of the man on guard. This discouraging and alarming calamity
+      was not the first that had overtaken them. Since leaving the settlements,
+      they had met with nothing but misfortune. Some of their party had died;
+      one man had been killed by the Pawnees; and about a week before, they had
+      been plundered by the Dakotas of all their best horses, the wretched
+      animals on which our visitors were mounted being the only ones that were
+      left. They had encamped, they told us, near sunset, by the side of the
+      Platte, and their oxen were scattered over the meadow, while the band of
+      horses were feeding a little farther off. Suddenly the ridges of the hills
+      were alive with a swarm of mounted Indians, at least six hundred in
+      number, who, with a tremendous yell, came pouring down toward the camp,
+      rushing up within a few rods, to the great terror of the emigrants; but
+      suddenly wheeling, they swept around the band of horses, and in five
+      minutes had disappeared with their prey through the openings of the hills.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As these emigrants were telling their story, we saw four other men
+      approaching. They proved to be R. and his companions, who had encountered
+      no mischance of any kind, but had only wandered too far in pursuit of the
+      game. They said they had seen no Indians, but only &ldquo;millions of buffalo&rdquo;;
+      and both R. and Sorel had meat dangling behind their saddles.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The emigrants re-crossed the river, and we prepared to follow. First the
+      heavy ox-wagons plunged down the bank, and dragged slowly over the
+      sand-beds; sometimes the hoofs of the oxen were scarcely wetted by the
+      thin sheet of water; and the next moment the river would be boiling
+      against their sides, and eddying fiercely around the wheels. Inch by inch
+      they receded from the shore, dwindling every moment, until at length they
+      seemed to be floating far in the very middle of the river. A more critical
+      experiment awaited us; for our little mule-cart was but ill-fitted for the
+      passage of so swift a stream. We watched it with anxiety till it seemed to
+      be a little motionless white speck in the midst of the waters; and it WAS
+      motionless, for it had stuck fast in a quicksand. The little mules were
+      losing their footing, the wheels were sinking deeper and deeper, and the
+      water began to rise through the bottom and drench the goods within. All of
+      us who had remained on the hither bank galloped to the rescue; the men
+      jumped into the water, adding their strength to that of the mules, until
+      by much effort the cart was extricated, and conveyed in safety across.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As we gained the other bank, a rough group of men surrounded us. They were
+      not robust, nor large of frame, yet they had an aspect of hardy endurance.
+      Finding at home no scope for their fiery energies, they had betaken
+      themselves to the prairie; and in them seemed to be revived, with
+      redoubled force, that fierce spirit which impelled their ancestors, scarce
+      more lawless than themselves, from the German forests, to inundate Europe
+      and break to pieces the Roman empire. A fortnight afterward this
+      unfortunate party passed Fort Laramie, while we were there. Not one of
+      their missing oxen had been recovered, though they had remained encamped a
+      week in search of them; and they had been compelled to abandon a great
+      part of their baggage and provisions, and yoke cows and heifers to their
+      wagons to carry them forward upon their journey, the most toilsome and
+      hazardous part of which lay still before them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It is worth noticing that on the Platte one may sometimes see the
+      shattered wrecks of ancient claw-footed tables, well waxed and rubbed, or
+      massive bureaus of carved oak. These, many of them no doubt the relics of
+      ancestral prosperity in the colonial time, must have encountered strange
+      vicissitudes. Imported, perhaps, originally from England; then, with the
+      declining fortunes of their owners, borne across the Alleghenies to the
+      remote wilderness of Ohio or Kentucky; then to Illinois or Missouri; and
+      now at last fondly stowed away in the family wagon for the interminable
+      journey to Oregon. But the stern privations of the way are little
+      anticipated. The cherished relic is soon flung out to scorch and crack
+      upon the hot prairie.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We resumed our journey; but we had gone scarcely a mile, when R. called
+      out from the rear:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll camp here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why do you want to camp? Look at the sun. It is not three o&rsquo;clock yet.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll camp here!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This was the only reply vouchsafed. Delorier was in advance with his cart.
+      Seeing the mule-wagon wheeling from the track, he began to turn his own
+      team in the same direction.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Go on, Delorier,&rdquo; and the little cart advanced again. As we rode on, we
+      soon heard the wagon of our confederates creaking and jolting on behind
+      us, and the driver, Wright, discharging a furious volley of oaths against
+      his mules; no doubt venting upon them the wrath which he dared not direct
+      against a more appropriate object.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Something of this sort had frequently occurred. Our English friend was by
+      no means partial to us, and we thought we discovered in his conduct a
+      deliberate intention to thwart and annoy us, especially by retarding the
+      movements of the party, which he knew that we, being Yankees, were anxious
+      to quicken. Therefore, he would insist on encamping at all unseasonable
+      hours, saying that fifteen miles was a sufficient day&rsquo;s journey. Finding
+      our wishes systematically disregarded, we took the direction of affairs
+      into our own hands. Keeping always in advance, to the inexpressible
+      indignation of R., we encamped at what time and place we thought proper,
+      not much caring whether the rest chose to follow or not. They always did
+      so, however, pitching their tents near ours, with sullen and wrathful
+      countenances.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Traveling together on these agreeable terms did not suit our tastes; for
+      some time we had meditated a separation. The connection with this party
+      had cost us various delays and inconveniences; and the glaring want of
+      courtesy and good sense displayed by their virtual leader did not dispose
+      us to bear these annoyances with much patience. We resolved to leave camp
+      early in the morning, and push forward as rapidly as possible for Fort
+      Laramie, which we hoped to reach, by hard traveling, in four or five days.
+      The captain soon trotted up between us, and we explained our intentions.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A very extraordinary proceeding, upon my word!&rdquo; he remarked. Then he
+      began to enlarge upon the enormity of the design. The most prominent
+      impression in his mind evidently was that we were acting a base and
+      treacherous part in deserting his party, in what he considered a very
+      dangerous stage of the journey. To palliate the atrocity of our conduct,
+      we ventured to suggest that we were only four in number while his party
+      still included sixteen men; and as, moreover, we were to go forward and
+      they were to follow, at least a full proportion of the perils he
+      apprehended would fall upon us. But the austerity of the captain&rsquo;s
+      features would not relax. &ldquo;A very extraordinary proceeding, gentlemen!&rdquo;
+       and repeating this, he rode off to confer with his principal.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      By good luck, we found a meadow of fresh grass, and a large pool of
+      rain-water in the midst of it. We encamped here at sunset. Plenty of
+      buffalo skulls were lying around, bleaching in the sun; and sprinkled
+      thickly among the grass was a great variety of strange flowers. I had
+      nothing else to do, and so gathering a handful, I sat down on a buffalo
+      skull to study them. Although the offspring of a wilderness, their texture
+      was frail and delicate, and their colors extremely rich; pure white, dark
+      blue, and a transparent crimson. One traveling in this country seldom has
+      leisure to think of anything but the stern features of the scenery and its
+      accompaniments, or the practical details of each day&rsquo;s journey. Like them,
+      he and his thoughts grow hard and rough. But now these flowers suddenly
+      awakened a train of associations as alien to the rude scene around me as
+      they were themselves; and for the moment my thoughts went back to New
+      England. A throng of fair and well-remembered faces rose, vividly as life,
+      before me. &ldquo;There are good things,&rdquo; thought I, &ldquo;in the savage life, but
+      what can it offer to replace those powerful and ennobling influences that
+      can reach unimpaired over more than three thousand miles of mountains,
+      forests and deserts?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Before sunrise on the next morning our tent was down; we harnessed our
+      best horses to the cart and left the camp. But first we shook hands with
+      our friends the emigrants, who sincerely wished us a safe journey, though
+      some others of the party might easily have been consoled had we
+      encountered an Indian war party on the way. The captain and his brother
+      were standing on the top of a hill, wrapped in their plaids, like spirits
+      of the mist, keeping an anxious eye on the band of horses below. We waved
+      adieu to them as we rode off the ground. The captain replied with a
+      salutation of the utmost dignity, which Jack tried to imitate; but being
+      little practiced in the gestures of polite society, his effort was not a
+      very successful one.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In five minutes we had gained the foot of the hills, but here we came to a
+      stop. Old Hendrick was in the shafts, and being the very incarnation of
+      perverse and brutish obstinacy, he utterly refused to move. Delorier
+      lashed and swore till he was tired, but Hendrick stood like a rock,
+      grumbling to himself and looking askance at his enemy, until he saw a
+      favorable opportunity to take his revenge, when he struck out under the
+      shaft with such cool malignity of intention that Delorier only escaped the
+      blow by a sudden skip into the air, such as no one but a Frenchman could
+      achieve. Shaw and he then joined forces, and lashed on both sides at once.
+      The brute stood still for a while till he could bear it no longer, when
+      all at once he began to kick and plunge till he threatened the utter
+      demolition of the cart and harness. We glanced back at the camp, which was
+      in full sight. Our companions, inspired by emulation, were leveling their
+      tents and driving in their cattle and horses.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Take the horse out,&rdquo; said I.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I took the saddle from Pontiac and put it upon Hendrick; the former was
+      harnessed to the cart in an instant. &ldquo;Avance donc!&rdquo; cried Delorier.
+      Pontiac strode up the hill, twitching the little cart after him as if it
+      were a feather&rsquo;s weight; and though, as we gained the top, we saw the
+      wagons of our deserted comrades just getting into motion, we had little
+      fear that they could overtake us. Leaving the trail, we struck directly
+      across the country, and took the shortest cut to reach the main stream of
+      the Platte. A deep ravine suddenly intercepted us. We skirted its sides
+      until we found them less abrupt, and then plunged through the best way we
+      could. Passing behind the sandy ravines called &ldquo;Ash Hollow,&rdquo; we stopped
+      for a short nooning at the side of a pool of rain-water; but soon resumed
+      our journey, and some hours before sunset were descending the ravines and
+      gorges opening downward upon the Platte to the west of Ash Hollow. Our
+      horses waded to the fetlock in sand; the sun scorched like fire, and the
+      air swarmed with sand-flies and mosquitoes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At last we gained the Platte. Following it for about five miles, we saw,
+      just as the sun was sinking, a great meadow, dotted with hundreds of
+      cattle, and beyond them an emigrant encampment. A party of about a dozen
+      came out to meet us, looking upon us at first with cold and suspicious
+      faces. Seeing four men, different in appearance and equipment from
+      themselves, emerging from the hills, they had taken us for the van of the
+      much-dreaded Mormons, whom they were very apprehensive of encountering. We
+      made known our true character, and then they greeted us cordially. They
+      expressed much surprise that so small a party should venture to traverse
+      that region, though in fact such attempts are not unfrequently made by
+      trappers and Indian traders. We rode with them to their camp. The wagons,
+      some fifty in number, with here and there a tent intervening, were
+      arranged as usual in a circle; in the area within the best horses were
+      picketed, and the whole circumference was glowing with the dusky light of
+      the fires, displaying the forms of the women and children who were crowded
+      around them. This patriarchal scene was curious and striking enough; but
+      we made our escape from the place with all possible dispatch, being
+      tormented by the intrusive curiosity of the men who crowded around us.
+      Yankee curiosity was nothing to theirs. They demanded our names, where we
+      came from, where we were going, and what was our business. The last query
+      was particularly embarrassing; since traveling in that country, or indeed
+      anywhere, from any other motive than gain, was an idea of which they took
+      no cognizance. Yet they were fine-looking fellows, with an air of
+      frankness, generosity, and even courtesy, having come from one of the
+      least barbarous of the frontier counties.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We passed about a mile beyond them, and encamped. Being too few in number
+      to stand guard without excessive fatigue, we extinguished our fire, lest
+      it should attract the notice of wandering Indians; and picketing our
+      horses close around us, slept undisturbed till morning. For three days we
+      traveled without interruption, and on the evening of the third encamped by
+      the well-known spring on Scott&rsquo;s Bluff.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry Chatillon and I rode out in the morning, and descending the western
+      side of the Bluff, were crossing the plain beyond. Something that seemed
+      to me a file of buffalo came into view, descending the hills several miles
+      before us. But Henry reined in his horse, and keenly peering across the
+      prairie with a better and more practiced eye, soon discovered its real
+      nature. &ldquo;Indians!&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Old Smoke&rsquo;s lodges, I b&rsquo;lieve. Come! let us
+      go! Wah! get up, now, Five Hundred Dollar!&rdquo; And laying on the lash with
+      good will, he galloped forward, and I rode by his side. Not long after, a
+      black speck became visible on the prairie, full two miles off. It grew
+      larger and larger; it assumed the form of a man and horse; and soon we
+      could discern a naked Indian, careering at full gallop toward us. When
+      within a furlong he wheeled his horse in a wide circle, and made him
+      describe various mystic figures upon the prairie; and Henry immediately
+      compelled Five Hundred Dollar to execute similar evolutions. &ldquo;It IS Old
+      Smoke&rsquo;s village,&rdquo; said he, interpreting these signals; &ldquo;didn&rsquo;t I say so?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      As the Indian approached we stopped to wait for him, when suddenly he
+      vanished, sinking, as it were, into the earth. He had come upon one of the
+      deep ravines that everywhere intersect these prairies. In an instant the
+      rough head of his horse stretched upward from the edge and the rider and
+      steed came scrambling out, and bounded up to us; a sudden jerk of the rein
+      brought the wild panting horse to a full stop. Then followed the needful
+      formality of shaking hands. I forget our visitor&rsquo;s name. He was a young
+      fellow, of no note in his nation; yet in his person and equipments he was
+      a good specimen of a Dakota warrior in his ordinary traveling dress. Like
+      most of his people, he was nearly six feet high; lithely and gracefully,
+      yet strongly proportioned; and with a skin singularly clear and delicate.
+      He wore no paint; his head was bare; and his long hair was gathered in a
+      clump behind, to the top of which was attached transversely, both by way
+      of ornament and of talisman, the mystic whistle, made of the wingbone of
+      the war eagle, and endowed with various magic virtues. From the back of
+      his head descended a line of glittering brass plates, tapering from the
+      size of a doubloon to that of a half-dime, a cumbrous ornament, in high
+      vogue among the Dakotas, and for which they pay the traders a most
+      extravagant price; his chest and arms were naked, the buffalo robe, worn
+      over them when at rest, had fallen about his waist, and was confined there
+      by a belt. This, with the gay moccasins on his feet, completed his attire.
+      For arms he carried a quiver of dogskin at his back, and a rude but
+      powerful bow in his hand. His horse had no bridle; a cord of hair, lashed
+      around his jaw, served in place of one. The saddle was of most singular
+      construction; it was made of wood covered with raw hide, and both pommel
+      and cantle rose perpendicularly full eighteen inches, so that the warrior
+      was wedged firmly in his seat, whence nothing could dislodge him but the
+      bursting of the girths.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Advancing with our new companion, we found more of his people seated in a
+      circle on the top of a hill; while a rude procession came straggling down
+      the neighboring hollow, men, women, and children, with horses dragging the
+      lodge-poles behind them. All that morning, as we moved forward, tall
+      savages were stalking silently about us. At noon we reached Horse Creek;
+      and as we waded through the shallow water, we saw a wild and striking
+      scene. The main body of the Indians had arrived before us. On the farther
+      bank stood a large and strong man, nearly naked, holding a white horse by
+      a long cord, and eyeing us as we approached. This was the chief, whom
+      Henry called &ldquo;Old Smoke.&rdquo; Just behind him his youngest and favorite squaw
+      sat astride of a fine mule; it was covered with caparisons of whitened
+      skins, garnished with blue and white beads, and fringed with little
+      ornaments of metal that tinkled with every movement of the animal. The
+      girl had a light clear complexion, enlivened by a spot of vermilion on
+      each cheek; she smiled, not to say grinned, upon us, showing two gleaming
+      rows of white teeth. In her hand, she carried the tall lance of her
+      unchivalrous lord, fluttering with feathers; his round white shield hung
+      at the side of her mule; and his pipe was slung at her back. Her dress was
+      a tunic of deerskin, made beautifully white by means of a species of clay
+      found on the prairie, and ornamented with beads, arrayed in figures more
+      gay than tasteful, and with long fringes at all the seams. Not far from
+      the chief stood a group of stately figures, their white buffalo robes
+      thrown over their shoulders, gazing coldly upon us; and in the rear, for
+      several acres, the ground was covered with a temporary encampment; men,
+      women, and children swarmed like bees; hundreds of dogs, of all sizes and
+      colors, ran restlessly about; and, close at hand, the wide shallow stream
+      was alive with boys, girls, and young squaws, splashing, screaming, and
+      laughing in the water. At the same time a long train of emigrant wagons
+      were crossing the creek, and dragging on in their slow, heavy procession,
+      passed the encampment of the people whom they and their descendants, in
+      the space of a century, are to sweep from the face of the earth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The encampment itself was merely a temporary one during the heat of the
+      day. None of the lodges were erected; but their heavy leather coverings,
+      and the long poles used to support them, were scattered everywhere around,
+      among weapons, domestic utensils, and the rude harness of mules and
+      horses. The squaws of each lazy warrior had made him a shelter from the
+      sun, by stretching a few buffalo robes, or the corner of a lodge-covering
+      upon poles; and here he sat in the shade, with a favorite young squaw,
+      perhaps, at his side, glittering with all imaginable trinkets. Before him
+      stood the insignia of his rank as a warrior, his white shield of
+      bull-hide, his medicine bag, his bow and quiver, his lance and his pipe,
+      raised aloft on a tripod of three poles. Except the dogs, the most active
+      and noisy tenants of the camp were the old women, ugly as Macbeth&rsquo;s
+      witches, with their hair streaming loose in the wind, and nothing but the
+      tattered fragment of an old buffalo robe to hide their shriveled wiry
+      limbs. The day of their favoritism passed two generations ago; now the
+      heaviest labors of the camp devolved upon them; they were to harness the
+      horses, pitch the lodges, dress the buffalo robes, and bring in meat for
+      the hunters. With the cracked voices of these hags, the clamor of dogs,
+      the shouting and laughing of children and girls, and the listless
+      tranquillity of the warriors, the whole scene had an effect too lively and
+      picturesque ever to be forgotten.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We stopped not far from the Indian camp, and having invited some of the
+      chiefs and warriors to dinner, placed before them a sumptuous repast of
+      biscuit and coffee. Squatted in a half circle on the ground, they soon
+      disposed of it. As we rode forward on the afternoon journey, several of
+      our late guests accompanied us. Among the rest was a huge bloated savage
+      of more than three hundred pounds&rsquo; weight, christened La Cochon, in
+      consideration of his preposterous dimensions and certain corresponding
+      traits of his character. &ldquo;The Hog&rdquo; bestrode a little white pony, scarce
+      able to bear up under the enormous burden, though, by way of keeping up
+      the necessary stimulus, the rider kept both feet in constant motion,
+      playing alternately against his ribs. The old man was not a chief; he
+      never had ambition enough to become one; he was not a warrior nor a
+      hunter, for he was too fat and lazy: but he was the richest man in the
+      whole village. Riches among the Dakotas consist in horses, and of these
+      The Hog had accumulated more than thirty. He had already ten times as many
+      as he wanted, yet still his appetite for horses was insatiable. Trotting
+      up to me he shook me by the hand, and gave me to understand that he was a
+      very devoted friend; and then he began a series of most earnest signs and
+      gesticulations, his oily countenance radiant with smiles, and his little
+      eyes peeping out with a cunning twinkle from between the masses of flesh
+      that almost obscured them. Knowing nothing at that time of the sign
+      language of the Indians, I could only guess at his meaning. So I called on
+      Henry to explain it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Hog, it seems, was anxious to conclude a matrimonial bargain. He said
+      he had a very pretty daughter in his lodge, whom he would give me, if I
+      would give him my horse. These flattering overtures I chose to reject; at
+      which The Hog, still laughing with undiminished good humor, gathered his
+      robe about his shoulders, and rode away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Where we encamped that night, an arm of the Platte ran between high
+      bluffs; it was turbid and swift as heretofore, but trees were growing on
+      its crumbling banks, and there was a nook of grass between the water and
+      the hill. Just before entering this place, we saw the emigrants encamping
+      at two or three miles&rsquo; distance on the right; while the whole Indian
+      rabble were pouring down the neighboring hill in hope of the same sort of
+      entertainment which they had experienced from us. In the savage landscape
+      before our camp, nothing but the rushing of the Platte broke the silence.
+      Through the ragged boughs of the trees, dilapidated and half dead, we saw
+      the sun setting in crimson behind the peaks of the Black Hills; the
+      restless bosom of the river was suffused with red; our white tent was
+      tinged with it, and the sterile bluffs, up to the rocks that crowned them,
+      partook of the same fiery hue. It soon passed away; no light remained, but
+      that from our fire, blazing high among the dusky trees and bushes. We lay
+      around it wrapped in our blankets, smoking and conversing until a late
+      hour, and then withdrew to our tent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We crossed a sun-scorched plain on the next morning; the line of old
+      cotton-wood trees that fringed the bank of the Platte forming its extreme
+      verge. Nestled apparently close beneath them, we could discern in the
+      distance something like a building. As we came nearer, it assumed form and
+      dimensions, and proved to be a rough structure of logs. It was a little
+      trading fort, belonging to two private traders; and originally intended,
+      like all the forts of the country, to form a hollow square, with rooms for
+      lodging and storage opening upon the area within. Only two sides of it had
+      been completed; the place was now as ill-fitted for the purposes of
+      defense as any of those little log-houses, which upon our constantly
+      shifting frontier have been so often successfully maintained against
+      overwhelming odds of Indians. Two lodges were pitched close to the fort;
+      the sun beat scorching upon the logs; no living thing was stirring except
+      one old squaw, who thrust her round head from the opening of the nearest
+      lodge, and three or four stout young pups, who were peeping with looks of
+      eager inquiry from under the covering. In a moment a door opened, and a
+      little, swarthy black-eyed Frenchman came out. His dress was rather
+      singular; his black curling hair was parted in the middle of his head, and
+      fell below his shoulders; he wore a tight frock of smoked deerskin, very
+      gayly ornamented with figures worked in dyed porcupine quills. His
+      moccasins and leggings were also gaudily adorned in the same manner; and
+      the latter had in addition a line of long fringes, reaching down the
+      seams. The small frame of Richard, for by this name Henry made him known
+      to us, was in the highest degree athletic and vigorous. There was no
+      superfluity, and indeed there seldom is among the active white men of this
+      country, but every limb was compact and hard; every sinew had its full
+      tone and elasticity, and the whole man wore an air of mingled hardihood
+      and buoyancy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Richard committed our horses to a Navahoe slave, a mean looking fellow
+      taken prisoner on the Mexican frontier; and, relieving us of our rifles
+      with ready politeness, led the way into the principal apartment of his
+      establishment. This was a room ten feet square. The walls and floor were
+      of black mud, and the roof of rough timber; there was a huge fireplace
+      made of four flat rocks, picked up on the prairie. An Indian bow and
+      otter-skin quiver, several gaudy articles of Rocky Mountain finery, an
+      Indian medicine bag, and a pipe and tobacco pouch, garnished the walls,
+      and rifles rested in a corner. There was no furniture except a sort of
+      rough settle covered with buffalo robes, upon which lolled a tall
+      half-breed, with his hair glued in masses upon each temple, and saturated
+      with vermilion. Two or three more &ldquo;mountain men&rdquo; sat cross-legged on the
+      floor. Their attire was not unlike that of Richard himself; but the most
+      striking figure of the group was a naked Indian boy of sixteen, with a
+      handsome face, and light, active proportions, who sat in an easy posture
+      in the corner near the door. Not one of his limbs moved the breadth of a
+      hair; his eye was fixed immovably, not on any person present, but, as it
+      appeared, on the projecting corner of the fireplace opposite to him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On these prairies the custom of smoking with friends is seldom omitted,
+      whether among Indians or whites. The pipe, therefore, was taken from the
+      wall, and its great red bowl crammed with the tobacco and shongsasha,
+      mixed in suitable proportions. Then it passed round the circle, each man
+      inhaling a few whiffs and handing it to his neighbor. Having spent half an
+      hour here, we took our leave; first inviting our new friends to drink a
+      cup of coffee with us at our camp, a mile farther up the river. By this
+      time, as the reader may conceive, we had grown rather shabby; our clothes
+      had burst into rags and tatters; and what was worse, we had very little
+      means of renovation. Fort Laramie was but seven miles before us. Being
+      totally averse to appearing in such plight among any society that could
+      boast an approximation to the civilized, we soon stopped by the river to
+      make our toilet in the best way we could. We hung up small looking-glasses
+      against the trees and shaved, an operation neglected for six weeks; we
+      performed our ablutions in the Platte, though the utility of such a
+      proceeding was questionable, the water looking exactly like a cup of
+      chocolate, and the banks consisting of the softest and richest yellow mud,
+      so that we were obliged, as a preliminary, to build a cause-way of stout
+      branches and twigs. Having also put on radiant moccasins, procured from a
+      squaw of Richard&rsquo;s establishment, and made what other improvements our
+      narrow circumstances allowed, we took our seats on the grass with a
+      feeling of greatly increased respectability, to wait the arrival of our
+      guests. They came; the banquet was concluded, and the pipe smoked. Bidding
+      them adieu, we turned our horses&rsquo; heads toward the fort.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      An hour elapsed. The barren hills closed across our front, and we could
+      see no farther; until having surmounted them, a rapid stream appeared at
+      the foot of the descent, running into the Platte; beyond was a green
+      meadow, dotted with bushes, and in the midst of these, at the point where
+      the two rivers joined, were the low clay walls of a fort. This was not
+      Fort Laramie, but another post of less recent date, which having sunk
+      before its successful competitor was now deserted and ruinous. A moment
+      after the hills, seeming to draw apart as we advanced, disclosed Fort
+      Laramie itself, its high bastions and perpendicular walls of clay crowning
+      an eminence on the left beyond the stream, while behind stretched a line
+      of arid and desolate ridges, and behind these again, towering aloft seven
+      thousand feet, arose the grim Black Hills.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We tried to ford Laramie Creek at a point nearly opposite the fort, but
+      the stream, swollen with the rains in the mountains, was too rapid. We
+      passed up along its bank to find a better crossing place. Men gathered on
+      the wall to look at us. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s Bordeaux!&rdquo; called Henry, his face
+      brightening as he recognized his acquaintance; &ldquo;him there with the
+      spyglass; and there&rsquo;s old Vaskiss, and Tucker, and May; and, by George!
+      there&rsquo;s Cimoneau!&rdquo; This Cimoneau was Henry&rsquo;s fast friend, and the only man
+      in the country who could rival him in hunting.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We soon found a ford. Henry led the way, the pony approaching the bank
+      with a countenance of cool indifference, bracing his feet and sliding into
+      the stream with the most unmoved composure.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     At the first plunge the horse sunk low,
+     And the water broke o&rsquo;er the saddle-bow
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      We followed; the water boiled against our saddles, but our horses bore us
+      easily through. The unfortunate little mules came near going down with the
+      current, cart and all; and we watched them with some solicitude scrambling
+      over the loose round stones at the bottom, and bracing stoutly against the
+      stream. All landed safely at last; we crossed a little plain, descended a
+      hollow, and riding up a steep bank found ourselves before the gateway of
+      Fort Laramie, under the impending blockhouse erected above it to defend
+      the entrance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0009" id="link2HCH0009">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER IX
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      SCENES AT FORT LARAMIE
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Looking back, after the expiration of a year, upon Fort Laramie and its
+      inmates, they seem less like a reality than like some fanciful picture of
+      the olden time; so different was the scene from any which this tamer side
+      of the world can present. Tall Indians, enveloped in their white buffalo
+      robes, were striding across the area or reclining at full length on the
+      low roofs of the buildings which inclosed it. Numerous squaws, gayly
+      bedizened, sat grouped in front of the apartments they occupied; their
+      mongrel offspring, restless and vociferous, rambled in every direction
+      through the fort; and the trappers, traders, and ENGAGES of the
+      establishment were busy at their labor or their amusements.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We were met at the gate, but by no means cordially welcomed. Indeed, we
+      seemed objects of some distrust and suspicion until Henry Chatillon
+      explained that we were not traders, and we, in confirmation, handed to the
+      bourgeois a letter of introduction from his principals. He took it, turned
+      it upside down, and tried hard to read it; but his literary attainments
+      not being adequate to the task, he applied for relief to the clerk, a
+      sleek, smiling Frenchman, named Montalon. The letter read, Bordeaux (the
+      bourgeois) seemed gradually to awaken to a sense of what was expected of
+      him. Though not deficient in hospitable intentions, he was wholly
+      unaccustomed to act as master of ceremonies. Discarding all formalities of
+      reception, he did not honor us with a single word, but walked swiftly
+      across the area, while we followed in some admiration to a railing and a
+      flight of steps opposite the entrance. He signed to us that we had better
+      fasten our horses to the railing; then he walked up the steps, tramped
+      along a rude balcony, and kicking open a door displayed a large room,
+      rather more elaborately finished than a barn. For furniture it had a rough
+      bedstead, but no bed; two chairs, a chest of drawers, a tin pail to hold
+      water, and a board to cut tobacco upon. A brass crucifix hung on the wall,
+      and close at hand a recent scalp, with hair full a yard long, was
+      suspended from a nail. I shall again have occasion to mention this dismal
+      trophy, its history being connected with that of our subsequent
+      proceedings.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This apartment, the best in Fort Laramie, was that usually occupied by the
+      legitimate bourgeois, Papin; in whose absence the command devolved upon
+      Bordeaux. The latter, a stout, bluff little fellow, much inflated by a
+      sense of his new authority, began to roar for buffalo robes. These being
+      brought and spread upon the floor formed our beds; much better ones than
+      we had of late been accustomed to. Our arrangements made, we stepped out
+      to the balcony to take a more leisurely survey of the long looked-for
+      haven at which we had arrived at last. Beneath us was the square area
+      surrounded by little rooms, or rather cells, which opened upon it. These
+      were devoted to various purposes, but served chiefly for the accommodation
+      of the men employed at the fort, or of the equally numerous squaws, whom
+      they were allowed to maintain in it. Opposite to us rose the blockhouse
+      above the gateway; it was adorned with a figure which even now haunts my
+      memory; a horse at full speed, daubed upon the boards with red paint, and
+      exhibiting a degree of skill which might rival that displayed by the
+      Indians in executing similar designs upon their robes and lodges. A busy
+      scene was enacting in the area. The wagons of Vaskiss, an old trader, were
+      about to set out for a remote post in the mountains, and the Canadians
+      were going through their preparations with all possible bustle, while here
+      and there an Indian stood looking on with imperturbable gravity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Fort Laramie is one of the posts established by the American Fur Company,
+      who well-nigh monopolize the Indian trade of this whole region. Here their
+      officials rule with an absolute sway; the arm of the United States has
+      little force; for when we were there, the extreme outposts of her troops
+      were about seven hundred miles to the eastward. The little fort is built
+      of bricks dried in the sun, and externally is of an oblong form, with
+      bastions of clay, in the form of ordinary blockhouses, at two of the
+      corners. The walls are about fifteen feet high, and surmounted by a
+      slender palisade. The roofs of the apartments within, which are built
+      close against the walls, serve the purpose of a banquette. Within, the
+      fort is divided by a partition; on one side is the square area surrounded
+      by the storerooms, offices, and apartments of the inmates; on the other is
+      the corral, a narrow place, encompassed by the high clay walls, where at
+      night, or in presence of dangerous Indians, the horses and mules of the
+      fort are crowded for safe-keeping. The main entrance has two gates, with
+      an arched passage intervening. A little square window, quite high above
+      the ground, opens laterally from an adjoining chamber into this passage;
+      so that when the inner gate is closed and barred, a person without may
+      still hold communication with those within through this narrow aperture.
+      This obviates the necessity of admitting suspicious Indians, for purposes
+      of trading, into the body of the fort; for when danger is apprehended, the
+      inner gate is shut fast, and all traffic is carried on by means of the
+      little window. This precaution, though highly necessary at some of the
+      company&rsquo;s posts, is now seldom resorted to at Fort Laramie; where, though
+      men are frequently killed in its neighborhood, no apprehensions are now
+      entertained of any general designs of hostility from the Indians.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We did not long enjoy our new quarters undisturbed. The door was silently
+      pushed open, and two eyeballs and a visage as black as night looked in
+      upon us; then a red arm and shoulder intruded themselves, and a tall
+      Indian, gliding in, shook us by the hand, grunted his salutation, and sat
+      down on the floor. Others followed, with faces of the natural hue; and
+      letting fall their heavy robes from their shoulders, they took their
+      seats, quite at ease, in a semicircle before us. The pipe was now to be
+      lighted and passed round from one to another; and this was the only
+      entertainment that at present they expected from us. These visitors were
+      fathers, brothers, or other relatives of the squaws in the fort, where
+      they were permitted to remain, loitering about in perfect idleness. All
+      those who smoked with us were men of standing and repute. Two or three
+      others dropped in also; young fellows who neither by their years nor their
+      exploits were entitled to rank with the old men and warriors, and who,
+      abashed in the presence of their superiors, stood aloof, never withdrawing
+      their eyes from us. Their cheeks were adorned with vermilion, their ears
+      with pendants of shell, and their necks with beads. Never yet having
+      signalized themselves as hunters, or performed the honorable exploit of
+      killing a man, they were held in slight esteem, and were diffident and
+      bashful in proportion. Certain formidable inconveniences attended this
+      influx of visitors. They were bent on inspecting everything in the room;
+      our equipments and our dress alike underwent their scrutiny; for though
+      the contrary has been carelessly asserted, few beings have more curiosity
+      than Indians in regard to subjects within their ordinary range of thought.
+      As to other matters, indeed, they seemed utterly indifferent. They will
+      not trouble themselves to inquire into what they cannot comprehend, but
+      are quite contented to place their hands over their mouths in token of
+      wonder, and exclaim that it is &ldquo;great medicine.&rdquo; With this comprehensive
+      solution, an Indian never is at a loss. He never launches forth into
+      speculation and conjecture; his reason moves in its beaten track. His soul
+      is dormant; and no exertions of the missionaries, Jesuit or Puritan, of
+      the Old World or of the New, have as yet availed to rouse it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As we were looking, at sunset, from the wall, upon the wild and desolate
+      plains that surround the fort, we observed a cluster of strange objects
+      like scaffolds rising in the distance against the red western sky. They
+      bore aloft some singular looking burdens; and at their foot glimmered
+      something white like bones. This was the place of sepulture of some Dakota
+      chiefs, whose remains their people are fond of placing in the vicinity of
+      the fort, in the hope that they may thus be protected from violation at
+      the hands of their enemies. Yet it has happened more than once, and quite
+      recently, that war parties of the Crow Indians, ranging through the
+      country, have thrown the bodies from the scaffolds, and broken them to
+      pieces amid the yells of the Dakotas, who remained pent up in the fort,
+      too few to defend the honored relics from insult. The white objects upon
+      the ground were buffalo skulls, arranged in the mystic circle commonly
+      seen at Indian places of sepulture upon the prairie.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We soon discovered, in the twilight, a band of fifty or sixty horses
+      approaching the fort. These were the animals belonging to the
+      establishment; who having been sent out to feed, under the care of armed
+      guards, in the meadows below, were now being driven into the corral for
+      the night. A little gate opened into this inclosure; by the side of it
+      stood one of the guards, an old Canadian, with gray bushy eyebrows, and a
+      dragoon pistol stuck into his belt; while his comrade, mounted on
+      horseback, his rifle laid across the saddle in front of him, and his long
+      hair blowing before his swarthy face, rode at the rear of the disorderly
+      troop, urging them up the ascent. In a moment the narrow corral was
+      thronged with the half-wild horses, kicking, biting, and crowding
+      restlessly together.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The discordant jingling of a bell, rung by a Canadian in the area,
+      summoned us to supper. This sumptuous repast was served on a rough table
+      in one of the lower apartments of the fort, and consisted of cakes of
+      bread and dried buffalo meat&mdash;an excellent thing for strengthening
+      the teeth. At this meal were seated the bourgeois and superior dignitaries
+      of the establishment, among whom Henry Chatillon was worthily included. No
+      sooner was it finished, than the table was spread a second time (the
+      luxury of bread being now, however, omitted), for the benefit of certain
+      hunters and trappers of an inferior standing; while the ordinary Canadian
+      ENGAGES were regaled on dried meat in one of their lodging rooms. By way
+      of illustrating the domestic economy of Fort Laramie, it may not be amiss
+      to introduce in this place a story current among the men when we were
+      there.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was an old man named Pierre, whose duty it was to bring the meat
+      from the storeroom for the men. Old Pierre, in the kindness of his heart,
+      used to select the fattest and the best pieces for his companions. This
+      did not long escape the keen-eyed bourgeois, who was greatly disturbed at
+      such improvidence, and cast about for some means to stop it. At last he
+      hit on a plan that exactly suited him. At the side of the meat-room, and
+      separated from it by a clay partition, was another compartment, used for
+      the storage of furs. It had no other communication with the fort, except
+      through a square hole in the partition; and of course it was perfectly
+      dark. One evening the bourgeois, watching for a moment when no one
+      observed him, dodged into the meat-room, clambered through the hole, and
+      ensconced himself among the furs and buffalo robes. Soon after, old Pierre
+      came in with his lantern; and, muttering to himself, began to pull over
+      the bales of meat, and select the best pieces, as usual. But suddenly a
+      hollow and sepulchral voice proceeded from the inner apartment: &ldquo;Pierre!
+      Pierre! Let that fat meat alone! Take nothing but lean!&rdquo; Pierre dropped
+      his lantern, and bolted out into the fort, screaming, in an agony of
+      terror, that the devil was in the storeroom; but tripping on the
+      threshold, he pitched over upon the gravel, and lay senseless, stunned by
+      the fall. The Canadians ran out to the rescue. Some lifted the unlucky
+      Pierre; and others, making an extempore crucifix out of two sticks, were
+      proceeding to attack the devil in his stronghold, when the bourgeois, with
+      a crest-fallen countenance, appeared at the door. To add to the bourgeois&rsquo;
+      mortification, he was obliged to explain the whole stratagem to Pierre, in
+      order to bring the latter to his senses.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We were sitting, on the following morning, in the passage-way between the
+      gates, conversing with the traders Vaskiss and May. These two men,
+      together with our sleek friend, the clerk Montalon, were, I believe, the
+      only persons then in the fort who could read and write. May was telling a
+      curious story about the traveler Catlin, when an ugly, diminutive Indian,
+      wretchedly mounted, came up at a gallop, and rode past us into the fort.
+      On being questioned, he said that Smoke&rsquo;s village was close at hand.
+      Accordingly only a few minutes elapsed before the hills beyond the river
+      were covered with a disorderly swarm of savages, on horseback and on foot.
+      May finished his story; and by that time the whole array had descended to
+      Laramie Creek, and commenced crossing it in a mass. I walked down to the
+      bank. The stream is wide, and was then between three and four feet deep,
+      with a very swift current. For several rods the water was alive with dogs,
+      horses, and Indians. The long poles used in erecting the lodges are
+      carried by the horses, being fastened by the heavier end, two or three on
+      each side, to a rude sort of pack saddle, while the other end drags on the
+      ground. About a foot behind the horse, a kind of large basket or pannier
+      is suspended between the poles, and firmly lashed in its place on the back
+      of the horse are piled various articles of luggage; the basket also is
+      well filled with domestic utensils, or, quite as often, with a litter of
+      puppies, a brood of small children, or a superannuated old man. Numbers of
+      these curious vehicles, called, in the bastard language of the country
+      travaux were now splashing together through the stream. Among them swam
+      countless dogs, often burdened with miniature travaux; and dashing forward
+      on horseback through the throng came the superbly formed warriors, the
+      slender figure of some lynx-eyed boy, clinging fast behind them. The women
+      sat perched on the pack saddles, adding not a little to the load of the
+      already overburdened horses. The confusion was prodigious. The dogs yelled
+      and howled in chorus; the puppies in the travaux set up a dismal whine as
+      the water invaded their comfortable retreat; the little black-eyed
+      children, from one year of age upward, clung fast with both hands to the
+      edge of their basket, and looked over in alarm at the water rushing so
+      near them, sputtering and making wry mouths as it splashed against their
+      faces. Some of the dogs, encumbered by their loads, were carried down by
+      the current, yelping piteously; and the old squaws would rush into the
+      water, seize their favorites by the neck, and drag them out. As each horse
+      gained the bank, he scrambled up as he could. Stray horses and colts came
+      among the rest, often breaking away at full speed through the crowd,
+      followed by the old hags, screaming after their fashion on all occasions
+      of excitement. Buxom young squaws, blooming in all the charms of
+      vermilion, stood here and there on the bank, holding aloft their master&rsquo;s
+      lance, as a signal to collect the scattered portions of his household. In
+      a few moments the crowd melted away; each family, with its horses and
+      equipage, filing off to the plain at the rear of the fort; and here, in
+      the space of half an hour, arose sixty or seventy of their tapering
+      lodges. Their horses were feeding by hundreds over the surrounding
+      prairie, and their dogs were roaming everywhere. The fort was full of men,
+      and the children were whooping and yelling incessantly under the walls.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These newcomers were scarcely arrived, when Bordeaux was running across
+      the fort, shouting to his squaw to bring him his spyglass. The obedient
+      Marie, the very model of a squaw, produced the instrument, and Bordeaux
+      hurried with it up to the wall. Pointing it to the eastward, he exclaimed,
+      with an oath, that the families were coming. But a few moments elapsed
+      before the heavy caravan of the emigrant wagons could be seen, steadily
+      advancing from the hills. They gained the river, and without turning or
+      pausing plunged in; they passed through, and slowly ascending the opposing
+      bank, kept directly on their way past the fort and the Indian village,
+      until, gaining a spot a quarter of a mile distant, they wheeled into a
+      circle. For some time our tranquillity was undisturbed. The emigrants were
+      preparing their encampment; but no sooner was this accomplished than Fort
+      Laramie was fairly taken by storm. A crowd of broad-brimmed hats, thin
+      visages, and staring eyes appeared suddenly at the gate. Tall awkward men,
+      in brown homespun; women with cadaverous faces and long lank figures came
+      thronging in together, and, as if inspired by the very demon of curiosity,
+      ransacked every nook and corner of the fort. Dismayed at this invasion, we
+      withdrew in all speed to our chamber, vainly hoping that it might prove an
+      inviolable sanctuary. The emigrants prosecuted their investigations with
+      untiring vigor. They penetrated the rooms or rather dens, inhabited by the
+      astonished squaws. They explored the apartments of the men, and even that
+      of Marie and the bourgeois. At last a numerous deputation appeared at our
+      door, but were immediately expelled. Being totally devoid of any sense of
+      delicacy or propriety, they seemed resolved to search every mystery to the
+      bottom.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Having at length satisfied their curiosity, they next proceeded to
+      business. The men occupied themselves in procuring supplies for their
+      onward journey; either buying them with money or giving in exchange
+      superfluous articles of their own.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The emigrants felt a violent prejudice against the French Indians, as they
+      called the trappers and traders. They thought, and with some justice, that
+      these men bore them no good will. Many of them were firmly persuaded that
+      the French were instigating the Indians to attack and cut them off. On
+      visiting the encampment we were at once struck with the extraordinary
+      perplexity and indecision that prevailed among the emigrants. They seemed
+      like men totally out of their elements; bewildered and amazed, like a
+      troop of school-boys lost in the woods. It was impossible to be long among
+      them without being conscious of the high and bold spirit with which most
+      of them were animated. But the FOREST is the home of the backwoodsman. On
+      the remote prairie he is totally at a loss. He differs much from the
+      genuine &ldquo;mountain man,&rdquo; the wild prairie hunter, as a Canadian voyageur,
+      paddling his canoe on the rapids of the Ottawa, differs from an American
+      sailor among the storms of Cape Horn. Still my companion and I were
+      somewhat at a loss to account for this perturbed state of mind. It could
+      not be cowardice; these men were of the same stock with the volunteers of
+      Monterey and Buena Vista. Yet, for the most part, they were the rudest and
+      most ignorant of the frontier population; they knew absolutely nothing of
+      the country and its inhabitants; they had already experienced much
+      misfortune, and apprehended more; they had seen nothing of mankind, and
+      had never put their own resources to the test.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A full proportion of suspicion fell upon us. Being strangers we were
+      looked upon as enemies. Having occasion for a supply of lead and a few
+      other necessary articles, we used to go over to the emigrant camps to
+      obtain them. After some hesitation, some dubious glances, and fumbling of
+      the hands in the pockets, the terms would be agreed upon, the price
+      tendered, and the emigrant would go off to bring the article in question.
+      After waiting until our patience gave out, we would go in search of him,
+      and find him seated on the tongue of his wagon.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, stranger,&rdquo; he would observe, as he saw us approach, &ldquo;I reckon I
+      won&rsquo;t trade!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Some friend of his followed him from the scene of the bargain and
+      suggested in his ear, that clearly we meant to cheat him, and he had
+      better have nothing to do with us.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This timorous mood of the emigrants was doubly unfortunate, as it exposed
+      them to real danger. Assume, in the presence of Indians a bold bearing,
+      self-confident yet vigilant, and you will find them tolerably safe
+      neighbors. But your safety depends on the respect and fear you are able to
+      inspire. If you betray timidity or indecision, you convert them from that
+      moment into insidious and dangerous enemies. The Dakotas saw clearly
+      enough the perturbation of the emigrants and instantly availed themselves
+      of it. They became extremely insolent and exacting in their demands. It
+      has become an established custom with them to go to the camp of every
+      party, as it arrives in succession at the fort, and demand a feast.
+      Smoke&rsquo;s village had come with the express design, having made several
+      days&rsquo; journey with no other object than that of enjoying a cup of coffee
+      and two or three biscuits. So the &ldquo;feast&rdquo; was demanded, and the emigrants
+      dared not refuse it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One evening, about sunset, the village was deserted. We met old men,
+      warriors, squaws, and children in gay attire, trooping off to the
+      encampment, with faces of anticipation; and, arriving here, they seated
+      themselves in a semicircle. Smoke occupied the center, with his warriors
+      on either hand; the young men and boys next succeeded, and the squaws and
+      children formed the horns of the crescent. The biscuit and coffee were
+      most promptly dispatched, the emigrants staring open-mouthed at their
+      savage guests. With each new emigrant party that arrived at Fort Laramie
+      this scene was renewed; and every day the Indians grew more rapacious and
+      presumptuous. One evening they broke to pieces, out of mere wantonness,
+      the cups from which they had been feasted; and this so exasperated the
+      emigrants that many of them seized their rifles and could scarcely be
+      restrained from firing on the insolent mob of Indians. Before we left the
+      country this dangerous spirit on the part of the Dakota had mounted to a
+      yet higher pitch. They began openly to threaten the emigrants with
+      destruction, and actually fired upon one or two parties of whites. A
+      military force and military law are urgently called for in that perilous
+      region; and unless troops are speedily stationed at Fort Laramie, or
+      elsewhere in the neighborhood, both the emigrants and other travelers will
+      be exposed to most imminent risks.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Ogallalla, the Brules, and other western bands of the Dakota, are
+      thorough savages, unchanged by any contact with civilization. Not one of
+      them can speak a European tongue, or has ever visited an American
+      settlement. Until within a year or two, when the emigrants began to pass
+      through their country on the way to Oregon, they had seen no whites except
+      the handful employed about the Fur Company&rsquo;s posts. They esteemed them a
+      wise people, inferior only to themselves, living in leather lodges, like
+      their own, and subsisting on buffalo. But when the swarm of MENEASKA, with
+      their oxen and wagons, began to invade them, their astonishment was
+      unbounded. They could scarcely believe that the earth contained such a
+      multitude of white men. Their wonder is now giving way to indignation; and
+      the result, unless vigilantly guarded against, may be lamentable in the
+      extreme.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But to glance at the interior of a lodge. Shaw and I used often to visit
+      them. Indeed, we spent most of our evenings in the Indian village; Shaw&rsquo;s
+      assumption of the medical character giving us a fair pretext. As a sample
+      of the rest I will describe one of these visits. The sun had just set, and
+      the horses were driven into the corral. The Prairie Cock, a noted beau,
+      came in at the gate with a bevy of young girls, with whom he began to
+      dance in the area, leading them round and round in a circle, while he
+      jerked up from his chest a succession of monotonous sounds, to which they
+      kept time in a rueful chant. Outside the gate boys and young men were idly
+      frolicking; and close by, looking grimly upon them, stood a warrior in his
+      robe, with his face painted jet-black, in token that he had lately taken a
+      Pawnee scalp. Passing these, the tall dark lodges rose between us and the
+      red western sky. We repaired at once to the lodge of Old Smoke himself. It
+      was by no means better than the others; indeed, it was rather shabby; for
+      in this democratic community, the chief never assumes superior state.
+      Smoke sat cross-legged on a buffalo robe, and his grunt of salutation as
+      we entered was unusually cordial, out of respect no doubt to Shaw&rsquo;s
+      medical character. Seated around the lodge were several squaws, and an
+      abundance of children. The complaint of Shaw&rsquo;s patients was, for the most
+      part, a severe inflammation of the eyes, occasioned by exposure to the
+      sun, a species of disorder which he treated with some success. He had
+      brought with him a homeopathic medicine chest, and was, I presume, the
+      first who introduced that harmless system of treatment among the
+      Ogallalla. No sooner had a robe been spread at the head of the lodge for
+      our accommodation, and we had seated ourselves upon it, than a patient
+      made her appearance; the chief&rsquo;s daughter herself, who, to do her justice,
+      was the best-looking girl in the village. Being on excellent terms with
+      the physician, she placed herself readily under his hands, and submitted
+      with a good grace to his applications, laughing in his face during the
+      whole process, for a squaw hardly knows how to smile. This case
+      dispatched, another of a different kind succeeded. A hideous, emaciated
+      old woman sat in the darkest corner of the lodge rocking to and fro with
+      pain and hiding her eyes from the light by pressing the palms of both
+      hands against her face. At Smoke&rsquo;s command, she came forward, very
+      unwillingly, and exhibited a pair of eyes that had nearly disappeared from
+      excess of inflammation. No sooner had the doctor fastened his grips upon
+      her than she set up a dismal moaning, and writhed so in his grasp that he
+      lost all patience, but being resolved to carry his point, he succeeded at
+      last in applying his favorite remedies.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is strange,&rdquo; he said, when the operation was finished, &ldquo;that I forgot
+      to bring any Spanish flies with me; we must have something here to answer
+      for a counter-irritant!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So, in the absence of better, he seized upon a red-hot brand from the
+      fire, and clapped it against the temple of the old squaw, who set up an
+      unearthly howl, at which the rest of the family broke out into a laugh.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      During these medical operations Smoke&rsquo;s eldest squaw entered the lodge,
+      with a sort of stone mallet in her hand. I had observed some time before a
+      litter of well-grown black puppies, comfortably nestled among some buffalo
+      robes at one side; but this newcomer speedily disturbed their enjoyment;
+      for seizing one of them by the hind paw, she dragged him out, and carrying
+      him to the entrance of the lodge, hammered him on the head till she killed
+      him. Being quite conscious to what this preparation tended, I looked
+      through a hole in the back of the lodge to see the next steps of the
+      process. The squaw, holding the puppy by the legs, was swinging him to and
+      fro through the blaze of a fire, until the hair was singed off. This done,
+      she unsheathed her knife and cut him into small pieces, which she dropped
+      into a kettle to boil. In a few moments a large wooden dish was set before
+      us, filled with this delicate preparation. We felt conscious of the honor.
+      A dog-feast is the greatest compliment a Dakota can offer to his guest;
+      and knowing that to refuse eating would be an affront, we attacked the
+      little dog and devoured him before the eyes of his unconscious parent.
+      Smoke in the meantime was preparing his great pipe. It was lighted when we
+      had finished our repast, and we passed it from one to another till the
+      bowl was empty. This done, we took our leave without further ceremony,
+      knocked at the gate of the fort, and after making ourselves known were
+      admitted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One morning, about a week after reaching Fort Laramie, we were holding our
+      customary Indian levee, when a bustle in the area below announced a new
+      arrival; and looking down from our balcony, I saw a familiar red beard and
+      mustache in the gateway. They belonged to the captain, who with his party
+      had just crossed the stream. We met him on the stairs as he came up, and
+      congratulated him on the safe arrival of himself and his devoted
+      companions. But he remembered our treachery, and was grave and dignified
+      accordingly; a tendency which increased as he observed on our part a
+      disposition to laugh at him. After remaining an hour or two at the fort he
+      rode away with his friends, and we have heard nothing of him since. As for
+      R., he kept carefully aloof. It was but too evident that we had the
+      unhappiness to have forfeited the kind regards of our London
+      fellow-traveler.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0010" id="link2HCH0010">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER X
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      THE WAR PARTIES
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      The summer of 1846 was a season of much warlike excitement among all the
+      western bands of the Dakota. In 1845 they encountered great reverses. Many
+      war parties had been sent out; some of them had been totally cut off, and
+      others had returned broken and disheartened, so that the whole nation was
+      in mourning. Among the rest, ten warriors had gone to the Snake country,
+      led by the son of a prominent Ogallalla chief, called The Whirlwind. In
+      passing over Laramie Plains they encountered a superior number of their
+      enemies, were surrounded, and killed to a man. Having performed this
+      exploit the Snakes became alarmed, dreading the resentment of the Dakota,
+      and they hastened therefore to signify their wish for peace by sending the
+      scalp of the slain partisan, together with a small parcel of tobacco
+      attached, to his tribesmen and relations. They had employed old Vaskiss,
+      the trader, as their messenger, and the scalp was the same that hung in
+      our room at the fort. But The Whirlwind proved inexorable. Though his
+      character hardly corresponds with his name, he is nevertheless an Indian,
+      and hates the Snakes with his whole soul. Long before the scalp arrived he
+      had made his preparations for revenge. He sent messengers with presents
+      and tobacco to all the Dakota within three hundred miles, proposing a
+      grand combination to chastise the Snakes, and naming a place and time of
+      rendezvous. The plan was readily adopted and at this moment many villages,
+      probably embracing in the whole five or six thousand souls, were slowly
+      creeping over the prairies and tending towards the common center at La
+      Bonte&rsquo;s Camp, on the Platte. Here their war-like rites were to be
+      celebrated with more than ordinary solemnity, and a thousand warriors, as
+      it was said, were to set out for the enemy country. The characteristic
+      result of this preparation will appear in the sequel.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I was greatly rejoiced to hear of it. I had come into the country almost
+      exclusively with a view of observing the Indian character. Having from
+      childhood felt a curiosity on this subject, and having failed completely
+      to gratify it by reading, I resolved to have recourse to observation. I
+      wished to satisfy myself with regard to the position of the Indians among
+      the races of men; the vices and the virtues that have sprung from their
+      innate character and from their modes of life, their government, their
+      superstitions, and their domestic situation. To accomplish my purpose it
+      was necessary to live in the midst of them, and become, as it were, one of
+      them. I proposed to join a village and make myself an inmate of one of
+      their lodges; and henceforward this narrative, so far as I am concerned,
+      will be chiefly a record of the progress of this design apparently so easy
+      of accomplishment, and the unexpected impediments that opposed it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We resolved on no account to miss the rendezvous at La Bonte&rsquo;s Camp. Our
+      plan was to leave Delorier at the fort, in charge of our equipage and the
+      better part of our horses, while we took with us nothing but our weapons
+      and the worst animals we had. In all probability jealousies and quarrels
+      would arise among so many hordes of fierce impulsive savages, congregated
+      together under no common head, and many of them strangers, from remote
+      prairies and mountains. We were bound in common prudence to be cautious
+      how we excited any feeling of cupidity. This was our plan, but unhappily
+      we were not destined to visit La Bonte&rsquo;s Camp in this manner; for one
+      morning a young Indian came to the fort and brought us evil tidings. The
+      newcomer was a dandy of the first water. His ugly face was painted with
+      vermilion; on his head fluttered the tail of a prairie cock (a large
+      species of pheasant, not found, as I have heard, eastward of the Rocky
+      Mountains); in his ears were hung pendants of shell, and a flaming red
+      blanket was wrapped around him. He carried a dragoon sword in his hand,
+      solely for display, since the knife, the arrow, and the rifle are the
+      arbiters of every prairie fight; but no one in this country goes abroad
+      unarmed, the dandy carried a bow and arrows in an otter-skin quiver at his
+      back. In this guise, and bestriding his yellow horse with an air of
+      extreme dignity, The Horse, for that was his name, rode in at the gate,
+      turning neither to the right nor the left, but casting glances askance at
+      the groups of squaws who, with their mongrel progeny, were sitting in the
+      sun before their doors. The evil tidings brought by The Horse were of the
+      following import: The squaw of Henry Chatillon, a woman with whom he had
+      been connected for years by the strongest ties which in that country exist
+      between the sexes, was dangerously ill. She and her children were in the
+      village of The Whirlwind, at the distance of a few days&rsquo; journey. Henry
+      was anxious to see the woman before she died, and provide for the safety
+      and support of his children, of whom he was extremely fond. To have
+      refused him this would have been gross inhumanity. We abandoned our plan
+      of joining Smoke&rsquo;s village, and of proceeding with it to the rendezvous,
+      and determined to meet The Whirlwind, and go in his company.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I had been slightly ill for several weeks, but on the third night after
+      reaching Fort Laramie a violent pain awoke me, and I found myself attacked
+      by the same disorder that occasioned such heavy losses to the army on the
+      Rio Grande. In a day and a half I was reduced to extreme weakness, so that
+      I could not walk without pain and effort. Having within that time taken
+      six grains of opium, without the least beneficial effect, and having no
+      medical adviser, nor any choice of diet, I resolved to throw myself upon
+      Providence for recovery, using, without regard to the disorder, any
+      portion of strength that might remain to me. So on the 20th of June we set
+      out from Fort Laramie to meet The Whirlwind&rsquo;s village. Though aided by the
+      high-bowed &ldquo;mountain saddle,&rdquo; I could scarcely keep my seat on horseback.
+      Before we left the fort we hired another man, a long-haired Canadian, with
+      a face like an owl&rsquo;s, contrasting oddly enough with Delorier&rsquo;s mercurial
+      countenance. This was not the only re-enforcement to our party. A vagrant
+      Indian trader, named Reynal, joined us, together with his squaw Margot,
+      and her two nephews, our dandy friend, The Horse, and his younger brother,
+      The Hail Storm. Thus accompanied, we betook ourselves to the prairie,
+      leaving the beaten trail, and passing over the desolate hills that flank
+      the bottoms of Laramie Creek. In all, Indians and whites, we counted eight
+      men and one woman.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Reynal, the trader, the image of sleek and selfish complacency, carried
+      The Horse&rsquo;s dragoon sword in his hand, delighting apparently in this
+      useless parade; for, from spending half his life among Indians, he had
+      caught not only their habits but their ideas. Margot, a female animal of
+      more than two hundred pounds&rsquo; weight, was couched in the basket of a
+      travail, such as I have before described; besides her ponderous bulk,
+      various domestic utensils were attached to the vehicle, and she was
+      leading by a trail-rope a packhorse, who carried the covering of Reynal&rsquo;s
+      lodge. Delorier walked briskly by the side of the cart, and Raymond came
+      behind, swearing at the spare horses, which it was his business to drive.
+      The restless young Indians, their quivers at their backs, and their bows
+      in their hand, galloped over the hills, often starting a wolf or an
+      antelope from the thick growth of wild-sage bushes. Shaw and I were in
+      keeping with the rest of the rude cavalcade, having in the absence of
+      other clothing adopted the buckskin attire of the trappers. Henry
+      Chatillon rode in advance of the whole. Thus we passed hill after hill and
+      hollow after hollow, a country arid, broken and so parched by the sun that
+      none of the plants familiar to our more favored soil would flourish upon
+      it, though there were multitudes of strange medicinal herbs, more
+      especially the absanth, which covered every declivity, and cacti were
+      hanging like reptiles at the edges of every ravine. At length we ascended
+      a high hill, our horses treading upon pebbles of flint, agate, and rough
+      jasper, until, gaining the top, we looked down on the wild bottoms of
+      Laramie Creek, which far below us wound like a writhing snake from side to
+      side of the narrow interval, amid a growth of shattered cotton-wood and
+      ash trees. Lines of tall cliffs, white as chalk, shut in this green strip
+      of woods and meadow land, into which we descended and encamped for the
+      night. In the morning we passed a wide grassy plain by the river; there
+      was a grove in front, and beneath its shadows the ruins of an old trading
+      fort of logs. The grove bloomed with myriads of wild roses, with their
+      sweet perfume fraught with recollections of home. As we emerged from the
+      trees, a rattlesnake, as large as a man&rsquo;s arm, and more than four feet
+      long, lay coiled on a rock, fiercely rattling and hissing at us; a gray
+      hare, double the size of those in New England, leaped up from the tall
+      ferns; curlew were screaming over our heads, and a whole host of little
+      prairie dogs sat yelping at us at the mouths of their burrows on the dry
+      plain beyond. Suddenly an antelope leaped up from the wild-sage bushes,
+      gazed eagerly at us, and then, erecting his white tail, stretched away
+      like a greyhound. The two Indian boys found a white wolf, as large as a
+      calf in a hollow, and giving a sharp yell, they galloped after him; but
+      the wolf leaped into the stream and swam across. Then came the crack of a
+      rifle, the bullet whistling harmlessly over his head, as he scrambled up
+      the steep declivity, rattling down stones and earth into the water below.
+      Advancing a little, we beheld on the farther bank of the stream, a
+      spectacle not common even in that region; for, emerging from among the
+      trees, a herd of some two hundred elk came out upon the meadow, their
+      antlers clattering as they walked forward in dense throng. Seeing us, they
+      broke into a run, rushing across the opening and disappearing among the
+      trees and scattered groves. On our left was a barren prairie, stretching
+      to the horizon; on our right, a deep gulf, with Laramie Creek at the
+      bottom. We found ourselves at length at the edge of a steep descent; a
+      narrow valley, with long rank grass and scattered trees stretching before
+      us for a mile or more along the course of the stream. Reaching the farther
+      end, we stopped and encamped. An old huge cotton-wood tree spread its
+      branches horizontally over our tent. Laramie Creek, circling before our
+      camp, half inclosed us; it swept along the bottom of a line of tall white
+      cliffs that looked down on us from the farther bank. There were dense
+      copses on our right; the cliffs, too, were half hidden by shrubbery,
+      though behind us a few cotton-wood trees, dotting the green prairie, alone
+      impeded the view, and friend or enemy could be discerned in that direction
+      at a mile&rsquo;s distance. Here we resolved to remain and await the arrival of
+      The Whirlwind, who would certainly pass this way in his progress toward La
+      Bonte&rsquo;s Camp. To go in search of him was not expedient, both on account of
+      the broken and impracticable nature of the country and the uncertainty of
+      his position and movements; besides, our horses were almost worn out, and
+      I was in no condition to travel. We had good grass, good water, tolerable
+      fish from the stream, and plenty of smaller game, such as antelope and
+      deer, though no buffalo. There was one little drawback to our satisfaction&mdash;a
+      certain extensive tract of bushes and dried grass, just behind us, which
+      it was by no means advisable to enter, since it sheltered a numerous brood
+      of rattlesnakes. Henry Chatillon again dispatched The Horse to the
+      village, with a message to his squaw that she and her relatives should
+      leave the rest and push on as rapidly as possible to our camp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Our daily routine soon became as regular as that of a well-ordered
+      household. The weather-beaten old tree was in the center; our rifles
+      generally rested against its vast trunk, and our saddles were flung on the
+      ground around it; its distorted roots were so twisted as to form one or
+      two convenient arm-chairs, where we could sit in the shade and read or
+      smoke; but meal-times became, on the whole, the most interesting hours of
+      the day, and a bountiful provision was made for them. An antelope or a
+      deer usually swung from a stout bough, and haunches were suspended against
+      the trunk. That camp is daguerreotyped on my memory; the old tree, the
+      white tent, with Shaw sleeping in the shadow of it, and Reynal&rsquo;s miserable
+      lodge close by the bank of the stream. It was a wretched oven-shaped
+      structure, made of begrimed and tattered buffalo hides stretched over a
+      frame of poles; one side was open, and at the side of the opening hung the
+      powder horn and bullet pouch of the owner, together with his long red
+      pipe, and a rich quiver of otterskin, with a bow and arrows; for Reynal,
+      an Indian in most things but color, chose to hunt buffalo with these
+      primitive weapons. In the darkness of this cavern-like habitation, might
+      be discerned Madame Margot, her overgrown bulk stowed away among her
+      domestic implements, furs, robes, blankets, and painted cases of PAR&rsquo;
+      FLECHE, in which dried meat is kept. Here she sat from sunrise to sunset,
+      a bloated impersonation of gluttony and laziness, while her affectionate
+      proprietor was smoking, or begging petty gifts from us, or telling lies
+      concerning his own achievements, or perchance engaged in the more
+      profitable occupation of cooking some preparation of prairie delicacies.
+      Reynal was an adept at this work; he and Delorier have joined forces and
+      are hard at work together over the fire, while Raymond spreads, by way of
+      tablecloth, a buffalo hide, carefully whitened with pipeclay, on the grass
+      before the tent. Here, with ostentatious display, he arranges the teacups
+      and plates; and then, creeping on all fours like a dog, he thrusts his
+      head in at the opening of the tent. For a moment we see his round owlish
+      eyes rolling wildly, as if the idea he came to communicate had suddenly
+      escaped him; then collecting his scattered thoughts, as if by an effort,
+      he informs us that supper is ready, and instantly withdraws.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When sunset came, and at that hour the wild and desolate scene would
+      assume a new aspect, the horses were driven in. They had been grazing all
+      day in the neighboring meadow, but now they were picketed close about the
+      camp. As the prairie darkened we sat and conversed around the fire, until
+      becoming drowsy we spread our saddles on the ground, wrapped our blankets
+      around us and lay down. We never placed a guard, having by this time
+      become too indolent; but Henry Chatillon folded his loaded rifle in the
+      same blanket with himself, observing that he always took it to bed with
+      him when he camped in that place. Henry was too bold a man to use such a
+      precaution without good cause. We had a hint now and then that our
+      situation was none of the safest; several Crow war parties were known to
+      be in the vicinity, and one of them, that passed here some time before,
+      had peeled the bark from a neighboring tree, and engraved upon the white
+      wood certain hieroglyphics, to signify that they had invaded the
+      territories of their enemies, the Dakota, and set them at defiance. One
+      morning a thick mist covered the whole country. Shaw and Henry went out to
+      ride, and soon came back with a startling piece of intelligence; they had
+      found within rifle-shot of our camp the recent trail of about thirty
+      horsemen. They could not be whites, and they could not be Dakota, since we
+      knew no such parties to be in the neighborhood; therefore they must be
+      Crows. Thanks to that friendly mist, we had escaped a hard battle; they
+      would inevitably have attacked us and our Indian companions had they seen
+      our camp. Whatever doubts we might have entertained, were quite removed a
+      day or two after, by two or three Dakota, who came to us with an account
+      of having hidden in a ravine on that very morning, from whence they saw
+      and counted the Crows; they said that they followed them, carefully
+      keeping out of sight, as they passed up Chugwater; that here the Crows
+      discovered five dead bodies of Dakota, placed according to the national
+      custom in trees, and flinging them to the ground, they held their guns
+      against them and blew them to atoms.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If our camp were not altogether safe, still it was comfortable enough; at
+      least it was so to Shaw, for I was tormented with illness and vexed by the
+      delay in the accomplishment of my designs. When a respite in my disorder
+      gave me some returning strength, I rode out well-armed upon the prairie,
+      or bathed with Shaw in the stream, or waged a petty warfare with the
+      inhabitants of a neighborhood prairie-dog village. Around our fire at
+      night we employed ourselves in inveighing against the fickleness and
+      inconstancy of Indians, and execrating The Whirlwind and all his village.
+      At last the thing grew insufferable.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To-morrow morning,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;I will start for the fort, and see if I can
+      hear any news there.&rdquo; Late that evening, when the fire had sunk low, and
+      all the camp were asleep, a loud cry sounded from the darkness. Henry
+      started up, recognized the voice, replied to it, and our dandy friend, The
+      Horse, rode in among us, just returned from his mission to the village. He
+      coolly picketed his mare, without saying a word, sat down by the fire and
+      began to eat, but his imperturbable philosophy was too much for our
+      patience. Where was the village? about fifty miles south of us; it was
+      moving slowly and would not arrive in less than a week; and where was
+      Henry&rsquo;s squaw? coming as fast as she could with Mahto-Tatonka, and the
+      rest of her brothers, but she would never reach us, for she was dying, and
+      asking every moment for Henry. Henry&rsquo;s manly face became clouded and
+      downcast; he said that if we were willing he would go in the morning to
+      find her, at which Shaw offered to accompany him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We saddled our horses at sunrise. Reynal protested vehemently against
+      being left alone, with nobody but the two Canadians and the young Indians,
+      when enemies were in the neighborhood. Disregarding his complaints, we
+      left him, and coming to the mouth of Chugwater, separated, Shaw and Henry
+      turning to the right, up the bank of the stream, while I made for the
+      fort.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Taking leave for a while of my friend and the unfortunate squaw, I will
+      relate by way of episode what I saw and did at Fort Laramie. It was not
+      more than eighteen miles distant, and I reached it in three hours; a
+      shriveled little figure, wrapped from head to foot in a dingy white
+      Canadian capote, stood in the gateway, holding by a cord of bull&rsquo;s hide a
+      shaggy wild horse, which he had lately caught. His sharp prominent
+      features, and his little keen snakelike eyes, looked out from beneath the
+      shadowy hood of the capote, which was drawn over his head exactly like the
+      cowl of a Capuchin friar. His face was extremely thin and like an old
+      piece of leather, and his mouth spread from ear to ear. Extending his long
+      wiry hand, he welcomed me with something more cordial than the ordinary
+      cold salute of an Indian, for we were excellent friends. He had made an
+      exchange of horses to our mutual advantage; and Paul, thinking himself
+      well-treated, had declared everywhere that the white man had a good heart.
+      He was a Dakota from the Missouri, a reputed son of the half-breed
+      interpreter, Pierre Dorion, so often mentioned in Irving&rsquo;s &ldquo;Astoria.&rdquo; He
+      said that he was going to Richard&rsquo;s trading house to sell his horse to
+      some emigrants who were encamped there, and asked me to go with him. We
+      forded the stream together, Paul dragging his wild charge behind him. As
+      we passed over the sandy plains beyond, he grew quite communicative. Paul
+      was a cosmopolitan in his way; he had been to the settlements of the
+      whites, and visited in peace and war most of the tribes within the range
+      of a thousand miles. He spoke a jargon of French and another of English,
+      yet nevertheless he was a thorough Indian; and as he told of the bloody
+      deeds of his own people against their enemies, his little eye would
+      glitter with a fierce luster. He told how the Dakota exterminated a
+      village of the Hohays on the Upper Missouri, slaughtering men, women, and
+      children; and how an overwhelming force of them cut off sixteen of the
+      brave Delawares, who fought like wolves to the last, amid the throng of
+      their enemies. He told me also another story, which I did not believe
+      until I had it confirmed from so many independent sources that no room was
+      left for doubt. I am tempted to introduce it here.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Six years ago a fellow named Jim Beckwith, a mongrel of French, American,
+      and negro blood, was trading for the Fur Company, in a very large village
+      of the Crows. Jim Beckwith was last summer at St. Louis. He is a ruffian
+      of the first stamp; bloody and treacherous, without honor or honesty; such
+      at least is the character he bears upon the prairie. Yet in his case all
+      the standard rules of character fail, for though he will stab a man in his
+      sleep, he will also perform most desperate acts of daring; such, for
+      instance, as the following: While he was in the Crow village, a Blackfoot
+      war party, between thirty and forty in number came stealing through the
+      country, killing stragglers and carrying off horses. The Crow warriors got
+      upon their trail and pressed them so closely that they could not escape,
+      at which the Blackfeet, throwing up a semicircular breastwork of logs at
+      the foot of a precipice, coolly awaited their approach. The logs and
+      sticks, piled four or five high, protected them in front. The Crows might
+      have swept over the breastwork and exterminated their enemies; but though
+      out-numbering them tenfold, they did not dream of storming the little
+      fortification. Such a proceeding would be altogether repugnant to their
+      notions of warfare. Whooping and yelling, and jumping from side to side
+      like devils incarnate, they showered bullets and arrows upon the logs; not
+      a Blackfoot was hurt, but several Crows, in spite of their leaping and
+      dodging, were shot down. In this childish manner the fight went on for an
+      hour or two. Now and then a Crow warrior in an ecstasy of valor and
+      vainglory would scream forth his war song, boasting himself the bravest
+      and greatest of mankind, and grasping his hatchet, would rush up and
+      strike it upon the breastwork, and then as he retreated to his companions,
+      fall dead under a shower of arrows; yet no combined attack seemed to be
+      dreamed of. The Blackfeet remained secure in their intrenchment. At last
+      Jim Beckwith lost patience.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are all fools and old women,&rdquo; he said to the Crows; &ldquo;come with me, if
+      any of you are brave enough, and I will show you how to fight.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He threw off his trapper&rsquo;s frock of buckskin and stripped himself naked
+      like the Indians themselves. He left his rifle on the ground, and taking
+      in his hand a small light hatchet, he ran over the prairie to the right,
+      concealed by a hollow from the eyes of the Blackfeet. Then climbing up the
+      rocks, he gained the top of the precipice behind them. Forty or fifty
+      young Crow warriors followed him. By the cries and whoops that rose from
+      below he knew that the Blackfeet were just beneath him; and running
+      forward, he leaped down the rock into the midst of them. As he fell he
+      caught one by the long loose hair and dragging him down tomahawked him;
+      then grasping another by the belt at his waist, he struck him also a
+      stunning blow, and gaining his feet, shouted the Crow war-cry. He swung
+      his hatchet so fiercely around him that the astonished Blackfeet bore back
+      and gave him room. He might, had he chosen, have leaped over the
+      breastwork and escaped; but this was not necessary, for with devilish
+      yells the Crow warriors came dropping in quick succession over the rock
+      among their enemies. The main body of the Crows, too, answered the cry
+      from the front and rushed up simultaneously. The convulsive struggle
+      within the breastwork was frightful; for an instant the Blackfeet fought
+      and yelled like pent-up tigers; but the butchery was soon complete, and
+      the mangled bodies lay piled up together under the precipice. Not a
+      Blackfoot made his escape.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As Paul finished his story we came in sight of Richard&rsquo;s Fort. It stood in
+      the middle of the plain; a disorderly crowd of men around it, and an
+      emigrant camp a little in front.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now, Paul,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;where are your Winnicongew lodges?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not come yet,&rdquo; said Paul, &ldquo;maybe come to-morrow.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Two large villages of a band of Dakota had come three hundred miles from
+      the Missouri, to join in the war, and they were expected to reach
+      Richard&rsquo;s that morning. There was as yet no sign of their approach; so
+      pushing through a noisy, drunken crowd, I entered an apartment of logs and
+      mud, the largest in the fort; it was full of men of various races and
+      complexions, all more or less drunk. A company of California emigrants, it
+      seemed, had made the discovery at this late day that they had encumbered
+      themselves with too many supplies for their journey. A part, therefore,
+      they had thrown away or sold at great loss to the traders, but had
+      determined to get rid of their copious stock of Missouri whisky, by
+      drinking it on the spot. Here were maudlin squaws stretched on piles of
+      buffalo robes; squalid Mexicans, armed with bows and arrows; Indians
+      sedately drunk; long-haired Canadians and trappers, and American
+      backwoodsmen in brown homespun, the well-beloved pistol and bowie knife
+      displayed openly at their sides. In the middle of the room a tall, lank
+      man, with a dingy broadcloth coat, was haranguing the company in the style
+      of the stump orator. With one hand he sawed the air, and with the other
+      clutched firmly a brown jug of whisky, which he applied every moment to
+      his lips, forgetting that he had drained the contents long ago. Richard
+      formally introduced me to this personage, who was no less a man than
+      Colonel R., once the leader of the party. Instantly the colonel seizing
+      me, in the absence of buttons by the leather fringes of my frock, began to
+      define his position. His men, he said, had mutinied and deposed him; but
+      still he exercised over them the influence of a superior mind; in all but
+      the name he was yet their chief. As the colonel spoke, I looked round on
+      the wild assemblage, and could not help thinking that he was but ill
+      qualified to conduct such men across the desert to California. Conspicuous
+      among the rest stood three tail young men, grandsons of Daniel Boone. They
+      had clearly inherited the adventurous character of that prince of
+      pioneers; but I saw no signs of the quiet and tranquil spirit that so
+      remarkably distinguished him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Fearful was the fate that months after overtook some of the members of
+      that party. General Kearny, on his late return from California, brought in
+      the account how they were interrupted by the deep snows among the
+      mountains, and maddened by cold and hunger fed upon each other&rsquo;s flesh.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I got tired of the confusion. &ldquo;Come, Paul,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;we will be off.&rdquo; Paul
+      sat in the sun, under the wall of the fort. He jumped up, mounted, and we
+      rode toward Fort Laramie. When we reached it, a man came out of the gate
+      with a pack at his back and a rifle on his shoulder; others were gathering
+      about him, shaking him by the hand, as if taking leave. I thought it a
+      strange thing that a man should set out alone and on foot for the prairie.
+      I soon got an explanation. Perrault&mdash;this, if I recollect right was
+      the Canadian&rsquo;s name&mdash;had quarreled with the bourgeois, and the fort
+      was too hot to hold him. Bordeaux, inflated with his transient authority,
+      had abused him, and received a blow in return. The men then sprang at each
+      other, and grappled in the middle of the fort. Bordeaux was down in an
+      instant, at the mercy of the incensed Canadian; had not an old Indian, the
+      brother of his squaw, seized hold of his antagonist, he would have fared
+      ill. Perrault broke loose from the old Indian, and both the white men ran
+      to their rooms for their guns; but when Bordeaux, looking from his door,
+      saw the Canadian, gun in hand, standing in the area and calling on him to
+      come out and fight, his heart failed him; he chose to remain where he was.
+      In vain the old Indian, scandalized by his brother-in-law&rsquo;s cowardice,
+      called upon him to go upon the prairie and fight it out in the white man&rsquo;s
+      manner; and Bordeaux&rsquo;s own squaw, equally incensed, screamed to her lord
+      and master that he was a dog and an old woman. It all availed nothing.
+      Bordeaux&rsquo;s prudence got the better of his valor, and he would not stir.
+      Perrault stood showering approbrious epithets at the recent bourgeois.
+      Growing tired of this, he made up a pack of dried meat, and slinging it at
+      his back, set out alone for Fort Pierre on the Missouri, a distance of
+      three hundred miles, over a desert country full of hostile Indians.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I remained in the fort that night. In the morning, as I was coming out
+      from breakfast, conversing with a trader named McCluskey, I saw a strange
+      Indian leaning against the side of the gate. He was a tall, strong man,
+      with heavy features.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who is he?&rdquo; I asked. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s The Whirlwind,&rdquo; said McCluskey. &ldquo;He is the
+      fellow that made all this stir about the war. It&rsquo;s always the way with the
+      Sioux; they never stop cutting each other&rsquo;s throats; it&rsquo;s all they are fit
+      for; instead of sitting in their lodges, and getting robes to trade with
+      us in the winter. If this war goes on, we&rsquo;ll make a poor trade of it next
+      season, I reckon.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      And this was the opinion of all the traders, who were vehemently opposed
+      to the war, from the serious injury that it must occasion to their
+      interests. The Whirlwind left his village the day before to make a visit
+      to the fort. His warlike ardor had abated not a little since he first
+      conceived the design of avenging his son&rsquo;s death. The long and complicated
+      preparations for the expedition were too much for his fickle, inconstant
+      disposition. That morning Bordeaux fastened upon him, made him presents
+      and told him that if he went to war he would destroy his horses and kill
+      no buffalo to trade with the white men; in short, that he was a fool to
+      think of such a thing, and had better make up his mind to sit quietly in
+      his lodge and smoke his pipe, like a wise man. The Whirlwind&rsquo;s purpose was
+      evidently shaken; he had become tired, like a child, of his favorite plan.
+      Bordeaux exultingly predicted that he would not go to war. My philanthropy
+      at that time was no match for my curiosity, and I was vexed at the
+      possibility that after all I might lose the rare opportunity of seeing the
+      formidable ceremonies of war. The Whirlwind, however, had merely thrown
+      the firebrand; the conflagration was become general. All the western bands
+      of the Dakota were bent on war; and as I heard from McCluskey, six large
+      villages already gathered on a little stream, forty miles distant, were
+      daily calling to the Great Spirit to aid them in their enterprise.
+      McCluskey had just left and represented them as on their way to La Bonte&rsquo;s
+      Camp, which they would reach in a week, UNLESS THEY SHOULD LEARN THAT
+      THERE WERE NO BUFFALO THERE. I did not like this condition, for buffalo
+      this season were rare in the neighborhood. There were also the two
+      Minnicongew villages that I mentioned before; but about noon, an Indian
+      came from Richard&rsquo;s Fort with the news that they were quarreling, breaking
+      up, and dispersing. So much for the whisky of the emigrants! Finding
+      themselves unable to drink the whole, they had sold the residue to these
+      Indians, and it needed no prophet to foretell the results; a spark dropped
+      into a powder magazine would not have produced a quicker effect. Instantly
+      the old jealousies and rivalries and smothered feuds that exist in an
+      Indian village broke out into furious quarrels. They forgot the warlike
+      enterprise that had already brought them three hundred miles. They seemed
+      like ungoverned children inflamed with the fiercest passions of men.
+      Several of them were stabbed in the drunken tumult; and in the morning
+      they scattered and moved back toward the Missouri in small parties. I
+      feared that, after all, the long-projected meeting and the ceremonies that
+      were to attend it might never take place, and I should lose so admirable
+      an opportunity of seeing the Indian under his most fearful and
+      characteristic aspect; however, in foregoing this, I should avoid a very
+      fair probability of being plundered and stripped, and, it might be,
+      stabbed or shot into the bargain. Consoling myself with this reflection, I
+      prepared to carry the news, such as it was, to the camp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I caught my horse, and to my vexation found he had lost a shoe and broken
+      his tender white hoof against the rocks. Horses are shod at Fort Laramie
+      at the moderate rate of three dollars a foot; so I tied Hendrick to a beam
+      in the corral, and summoned Roubidou, the blacksmith. Roubidou, with the
+      hoof between his knees, was at work with hammer and file, and I was
+      inspecting the process, when a strange voice addressed me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Two more gone under! Well, there is more of us left yet. Here&rsquo;s Jean Gars
+      and me off to the mountains to-morrow. Our turn will come next, I suppose.
+      It&rsquo;s a hard life, anyhow!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I looked up and saw a little man, not much more than five feet high, but
+      of very square and strong proportions. In appearance he was particularly
+      dingy; for his old buckskin frock was black and polished with time and
+      grease, and his belt, knife, pouch, and powder-horn appeared to have seen
+      the roughest service. The first joint of each foot was entirely gone,
+      having been frozen off several winters before, and his moccasins were
+      curtailed in proportion. His whole appearance and equipment bespoke the
+      &ldquo;free trapper.&rdquo; He had a round ruddy face, animated with a spirit of
+      carelessness and gayety not at all in accordance with the words he had
+      just spoken.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Two more gone,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;what do you mean by that?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;the Arapahoes have just killed two of us in the mountains.
+      Old Bull-Tail has come to tell us. They stabbed one behind his back, and
+      shot the other with his own rifle. That&rsquo;s the way we live here! I mean to
+      give up trapping after this year. My squaw says she wants a pacing horse
+      and some red ribbons; I&rsquo;ll make enough beaver to get them for her, and
+      then I&rsquo;m done! I&rsquo;ll go below and live on a farm.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your bones will dry on the prairie, Rouleau!&rdquo; said another trapper, who
+      was standing by; a strong, brutal-looking fellow, with a face as surly as
+      a bull-dog&rsquo;s.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Rouleau only laughed, and began to hum a tune and shuffle a dance on his
+      stumps of feet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You&rsquo;ll see us, before long, passing up our way,&rdquo; said the other man.
+      &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;stop and take a cup of coffee with us&rdquo;; and as it was
+      quite late in the afternoon, I prepared to leave the fort at once.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As I rode out, a train of emigrant wagons was passing across the stream.
+      &ldquo;Whar are ye goin&rsquo; stranger?&rdquo; Thus I was saluted by two or three voices at
+      once.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;About eighteen miles up the creek.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It&rsquo;s mighty late to be going that far! Make haste, ye&rsquo;d better, and keep
+      a bright lookout for Indians!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I thought the advice too good to be neglected. Fording the stream, I
+      passed at a round trot over the plains beyond. But &ldquo;the more haste, the
+      worse speed.&rdquo; I proved the truth in the proverb by the time I reached the
+      hills three miles from the fort. The trail was faintly marked, and riding
+      forward with more rapidity than caution, I lost sight of it. I kept on in
+      a direct line, guided by Laramie Creek, which I could see at intervals
+      darkly glistening in the evening sun, at the bottom of the woody gulf on
+      my right. Half an hour before sunset I came upon its banks. There was
+      something exciting in the wild solitude of the place. An antelope sprang
+      suddenly from the sagebushes before me. As he leaped gracefully not thirty
+      yards before my horse, I fired, and instantly he spun round and fell.
+      Quite sure of him, I walked my horse toward him, leisurely reloading my
+      rifle, when to my surprise he sprang up and trotted rapidly away on three
+      legs into the dark recesses of the hills, whither I had no time to follow.
+      Ten minutes after, I was passing along the bottom of a deep valley, and
+      chancing to look behind me, I saw in the dim light that something was
+      following. Supposing it to be wolf, I slid from my seat and sat down
+      behind my horse to shoot it; but as it came up, I saw by its motions that
+      it was another antelope. It approached within a hundred yards, arched its
+      graceful neck, and gazed intently. I leveled at the white spot on its
+      chest, and was about to fire when it started off, ran first to one side
+      and then to the other, like a vessel tacking against a wind, and at last
+      stretched away at full speed. Then it stopped again, looked curiously
+      behind it, and trotted up as before; but not so boldly, for it soon paused
+      and stood gazing at me. I fired; it leaped upward and fell upon its
+      tracks. Measuring the distance, I found it 204 paces. When I stood by his
+      side, the antelope turned his expiring eye upward. It was like a beautiful
+      woman&rsquo;s, dark and rich. &ldquo;Fortunate that I am in a hurry,&rdquo; thought I; &ldquo;I
+      might be troubled with remorse, if I had time for it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cutting the animal up, not in the most skilled manner, I hung the meat at
+      the back of my saddle, and rode on again. The hills (I could not remember
+      one of them) closed around me. &ldquo;It is too late,&rdquo; thought I, &ldquo;to go
+      forward. I will stay here to-night, and look for the path in the morning.&rdquo;
+       As a last effort, however, I ascended a high hill, from which, to my great
+      satisfaction, I could see Laramie Creek stretching before me, twisting
+      from side to side amid ragged patches of timber; and far off, close
+      beneath the shadows of the trees, the ruins of the old trading fort were
+      visible. I reached them at twilight. It was far from pleasant, in that
+      uncertain light, to be pushing through the dense trees and shrubbery of
+      the grove beyond. I listened anxiously for the footfall of man or beast.
+      Nothing was stirring but one harmless brown bird, chirping among the
+      branches. I was glad when I gained the open prairie once more, where I
+      could see if anything approached. When I came to the mouth of Chugwater,
+      it was totally dark. Slackening the reins, I let my horse take his own
+      course. He trotted on with unerring instinct, and by nine o&rsquo;clock was
+      scrambling down the steep ascent into the meadows where we were encamped.
+      While I was looking in vain for the light of the fire, Hendrick, with
+      keener perceptions, gave a loud neigh, which was immediately answered in a
+      shrill note from the distance. In a moment I was hailed from the darkness
+      by the voice of Reynal, who had come out, rifle in hand, to see who was
+      approaching.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He, with his squaw, the two Canadians and the Indian boys, were the sole
+      inmates of the camp, Shaw and Henry Chatillon being still absent. At noon
+      of the following day they came back, their horses looking none the better
+      for the journey. Henry seemed dejected. The woman was dead, and his
+      children must henceforward be exposed, without a protector, to the
+      hardships and vicissitudes of Indian life. Even in the midst of his grief
+      he had not forgotten his attachment to his bourgeois, for he had procured
+      among his Indian relatives two beautifully ornamented buffalo robes, which
+      he spread on the ground as a present to us.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shaw lighted his pipe, and told me in a few words the history of his
+      journey. When I went to the fort they left me, as I mentioned, at the
+      mouth of Chugwater. They followed the course of the little stream all day,
+      traversing a desolate and barren country. Several times they came upon the
+      fresh traces of a large war party&mdash;the same, no doubt, from whom we
+      had so narrowly escaped an attack. At an hour before sunset, without
+      encountering a human being by the way, they came upon the lodges of the
+      squaw and her brothers, who, in compliance with Henry&rsquo;s message, had left
+      the Indian village in order to join us at our camp. The lodges were
+      already pitched, five in number, by the side of the stream. The woman lay
+      in one of them, reduced to a mere skeleton. For some time she had been
+      unable to move or speak. Indeed, nothing had kept her alive but the hope
+      of seeing Henry, to whom she was strongly and faithfully attached. No
+      sooner did he enter the lodge than she revived, and conversed with him the
+      greater part of the night. Early in the morning she was lifted into a
+      travail, and the whole party set out toward our camp. There were but five
+      warriors; the rest were women and children. The whole were in great alarm
+      at the proximity of the Crow war party, who would certainly have destroyed
+      them without mercy had they met. They had advanced only a mile or two,
+      when they discerned a horseman, far off, on the edge of the horizon. They
+      all stopped, gathering together in the greatest anxiety, from which they
+      did not recover until long after the horseman disappeared; then they set
+      out again. Henry was riding with Shaw a few rods in advance of the
+      Indians, when Mahto-Tatonka, a younger brother of the woman, hastily
+      called after them. Turning back, they found all the Indians crowded around
+      the travail in which the woman was lying. They reached her just in time to
+      hear the death-rattle in her throat. In a moment she lay dead in the
+      basket of the vehicle. A complete stillness succeeded; then the Indians
+      raised in concert their cries of lamentation over the corpse, and among
+      them Shaw clearly distinguished those strange sounds resembling the word
+      &ldquo;Halleluyah,&rdquo; which together with some other accidental coincidences has
+      given rise to the absurd theory that the Indians are descended from the
+      ten lost tribes of Israel.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Indian usage required that Henry, as well as the other relatives of
+      the woman, should make valuable presents, to be placed by the side of the
+      body at its last resting place. Leaving the Indians, he and Shaw set out
+      for the camp and reached it, as we have seen, by hard pushing, at about
+      noon. Having obtained the necessary articles, they immediately returned.
+      It was very late and quite dark when they again reached the lodges. They
+      were all placed in a deep hollow among the dreary hills. Four of them were
+      just visible through the gloom, but the fifth and largest was illuminated
+      by the ruddy blaze of a fire within, glowing through the half-transparent
+      covering of raw hides. There was a perfect stillness as they approached.
+      The lodges seemed without a tenant. Not a living thing was stirring&mdash;there
+      was something awful in the scene. They rode up to the entrance of the
+      lodge, and there was no sound but the tramp of their horses. A squaw came
+      out and took charge of the animals, without speaking a word. Entering,
+      they found the lodge crowded with Indians; a fire was burning in the
+      midst, and the mourners encircled it in a triple row. Room was made for
+      the newcomers at the head of the lodge, a robe spread for them to sit
+      upon, and a pipe lighted and handed to them in perfect silence. Thus they
+      passed the greater part of the night. At times the fire would subside into
+      a heap of embers, until the dark figures seated around it were scarcely
+      visible; then a squaw would drop upon it a piece of buffalo-fat, and a
+      bright flame, instantly springing up, would reveal of a sudden the crowd
+      of wild faces, motionless as bronze. The silence continued unbroken. It
+      was a relief to Shaw when daylight returned and he could escape from this
+      house of mourning. He and Henry prepared to return homeward; first,
+      however, they placed the presents they had brought near the body of the
+      squaw, which, most gaudily attired, remained in a sitting posture in one
+      of the lodges. A fine horse was picketed not far off, destined to be
+      killed that morning for the service of her spirit, for the woman was lame,
+      and could not travel on foot over the dismal prairies to the villages of
+      the dead. Food, too, was provided, and household implements, for her use
+      upon this last journey.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry left her to the care of her relatives, and came immediately with
+      Shaw to the camp. It was some time before he entirely recovered from his
+      dejection.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0011" id="link2HCH0011">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XI
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      SCENES AT THE CAMP
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Reynal heard guns fired one day, at the distance of a mile or two from the
+      camp. He grew nervous instantly. Visions of Crow war parties began to
+      haunt his imagination; and when we returned (for we were all absent), he
+      renewed his complaints about being left alone with the Canadians and the
+      squaw. The day after, the cause of the alarm appeared. Four trappers, one
+      called Moran, another Saraphin, and the others nicknamed &ldquo;Rouleau&rdquo; and
+      &ldquo;Jean Gras,&rdquo; came to our camp and joined us. They it was who fired the
+      guns and disturbed the dreams of our confederate Reynal. They soon
+      encamped by our side. Their rifles, dingy and battered with hard service,
+      rested with ours against the old tree; their strong rude saddles, their
+      buffalo robes, their traps, and the few rough and simple articles of their
+      traveling equipment, were piled near our tent. Their mountain horses were
+      turned to graze in the meadow among our own; and the men themselves, no
+      less rough and hardy, used to lie half the day in the shade of our tree
+      lolling on the grass, lazily smoking, and telling stories of their
+      adventures; and I defy the annals of chivalry to furnish the record of a
+      life more wild and perilous than that of a Rocky Mountain trapper.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With this efficient re-enforcement the agitation of Reynal&rsquo;s nerves
+      subsided. He began to conceive a sort of attachment to our old camping
+      ground; yet it was time to change our quarters, since remaining too long
+      on one spot must lead to certain unpleasant results not to be borne with
+      unless in a case of dire necessity. The grass no longer presented a smooth
+      surface of turf; it was trampled into mud and clay. So we removed to
+      another old tree, larger yet, that grew by the river side at a furlong&rsquo;s
+      distance. Its trunk was full six feet in diameter; on one side it was
+      marked by a party of Indians with various inexplicable hieroglyphics,
+      commemorating some warlike enterprise, and aloft among the branches were
+      the remains of a scaffolding, where dead bodies had once been deposited,
+      after the Indian manner.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There comes Bull-Bear,&rdquo; said Henry Chatillon, as we sat on the grass at
+      dinner. Looking up, we saw several horsemen coming over the neighboring
+      hill, and in a moment four stately young men rode up and dismounted. One
+      of them was Bull-Bear, or Mahto-Tatonka, a compound name which he
+      inherited from his father, the most powerful chief in the Ogallalla band.
+      One of his brothers and two other young men accompanied him. We shook
+      hands with the visitors, and when we had finished our meal&mdash;for this
+      is the orthodox manner of entertaining Indians, even the best of them&mdash;we
+      handed to each a tin cup of coffee and a biscuit, at which they ejaculated
+      from the bottom of their throats, &ldquo;How! how!&rdquo; a monosyllable by which an
+      Indian contrives to express half the emotions that he is susceptible of.
+      Then we lighted the pipe, and passed it to them as they squatted on the
+      ground.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where is the village?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There,&rdquo; said Mahto-Tatonka, pointing southward; &ldquo;it will come in two
+      days.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Will they go to the war?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      No man is a philanthropist on the prairie. We welcomed this news most
+      cordially, and congratulated ourselves that Bordeaux&rsquo;s interested efforts
+      to divert The Whirlwind from his congenial vocation of bloodshed had
+      failed of success, and that no additional obstacles would interpose
+      between us and our plan of repairing to the rendezvous at La Bonte&rsquo;s Camp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For that and several succeeding days, Mahto-Tatonka and his friends
+      remained our guests. They devoured the relics of our meals; they filled
+      the pipe for us and also helped us to smoke it. Sometimes they stretched
+      themselves side by side in the shade, indulging in raillery and practical
+      jokes ill becoming the dignity of brave and aspiring warriors, such as two
+      of them in reality were.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Two days dragged away, and on the morning of the third we hoped
+      confidently to see the Indian village. It did not come; so we rode out to
+      look for it. In place of the eight hundred Indians we expected, we met one
+      solitary savage riding toward us over the prairie, who told us that the
+      Indians had changed their plans, and would not come within three days;
+      still he persisted that they were going to the war. Taking along with us
+      this messenger of evil tidings, we retraced our footsteps to the camp,
+      amusing ourselves by the way with execrating Indian inconstancy. When we
+      came in sight of our little white tent under the big tree, we saw that it
+      no longer stood alone. A huge old lodge was erected close by its side,
+      discolored by rain and storms, rotted with age, with the uncouth figures
+      of horses and men, and outstretched hands that were painted upon it,
+      well-nigh obliterated. The long poles which supported this squalid
+      habitation thrust themselves rakishly out from its pointed top, and over
+      its entrance were suspended a &ldquo;medicine-pipe&rdquo; and various other implements
+      of the magic art. While we were yet at a distance, we observed a greatly
+      increased population of various colors and dimensions, swarming around our
+      quiet encampment. Moran, the trapper, having been absent for a day or two,
+      had returned, it seemed, bringing all his family with him. He had taken to
+      himself a wife for whom he had paid the established price of one horse.
+      This looks cheap at first sight, but in truth the purchase of a squaw is a
+      transaction which no man should enter into without mature deliberation,
+      since it involves not only the payment of the first price, but the
+      formidable burden of feeding and supporting a rapacious horde of the
+      bride&rsquo;s relatives, who hold themselves entitled to feed upon the
+      indiscreet white man. They gather round like leeches, and drain him of all
+      he has.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Moran, like Reynal, had not allied himself to an aristocratic circle. His
+      relatives occupied but a contemptible position in Ogallalla society; for
+      among those wild democrats of the prairie, as among us, there are virtual
+      distinctions of rank and place; though this great advantage they have over
+      us, that wealth has no part in determining such distinctions. Moran&rsquo;s
+      partner was not the most beautiful of her sex, and he had the exceedingly
+      bad taste to array her in an old calico gown bought from an emigrant
+      woman, instead of the neat and graceful tunic of whitened deerskin worn
+      ordinarily by the squaws. The moving spirit of the establishment, in more
+      senses than one, was a hideous old hag of eighty. Human imagination never
+      conceived hobgoblin or witch more ugly than she. You could count all her
+      ribs through the wrinkles of the leathery skin that covered them. Her
+      withered face more resembled an old skull than the countenance of a living
+      being, even to the hollow, darkened sockets, at the bottom of which
+      glittered her little black eyes. Her arms had dwindled away into nothing
+      but whipcord and wire. Her hair, half black, half gray, hung in total
+      neglect nearly to the ground, and her sole garment consisted of the
+      remnant of a discarded buffalo robe tied round her waist with a string of
+      hide. Yet the old squaw&rsquo;s meager anatomy was wonderfully strong. She
+      pitched the lodge, packed the horses, and did the hardest labor of the
+      camp. From morning till night she bustled about the lodge, screaming like
+      a screech-owl when anything displeased her. Then there was her brother, a
+      &ldquo;medicine-man,&rdquo; or magician, equally gaunt and sinewy with herself. His
+      mouth spread from ear to ear, and his appetite, as we had full occasion to
+      learn, was ravenous in proportion. The other inmates of the lodge were a
+      young bride and bridegroom; the latter one of those idle, good-for nothing
+      fellows who infest an Indian village as well as more civilized
+      communities. He was fit neither for hunting nor for war; and one might
+      infer as much from the stolid unmeaning expression of his face. The happy
+      pair had just entered upon the honeymoon. They would stretch a buffalo
+      robe upon poles, so as to protect them from the fierce rays of the sun,
+      and spreading beneath this rough canopy a luxuriant couch of furs, would
+      sit affectionately side by side for half the day, though I could not
+      discover that much conversation passed between them. Probably they had
+      nothing to say; for an Indian&rsquo;s supply of topics for conversation is far
+      from being copious. There were half a dozen children, too, playing and
+      whooping about the camp, shooting birds with little bows and arrows, or
+      making miniature lodges of sticks, as children of a different complexion
+      build houses of blocks.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A day passed, and Indians began rapidly to come in. Parties of two or
+      three or more would ride up and silently seat themselves on the grass. The
+      fourth day came at last, when about noon horsemen suddenly appeared into
+      view on the summit of the neighboring ridge. They descended, and behind
+      them followed a wild procession, hurrying in haste and disorder down the
+      hill and over the plain below; horses, mules, and dogs, heavily burdened
+      travaux, mounted warriors, squaws walking amid the throng, and a host of
+      children. For a full half-hour they continued to pour down; and keeping
+      directly to the bend of the stream, within a furlong of us, they soon
+      assembled there, a dark and confused throng, until, as if by magic, 150
+      tall lodges sprung up. On a sudden the lonely plain was transformed into
+      the site of a miniature city. Countless horses were soon grazing over the
+      meadows around us, and the whole prairie was animated by restless figures
+      careening on horseback, or sedately stalking in their long white robes.
+      The Whirlwind was come at last! One question yet remained to be answered:
+      &ldquo;Will he go to the war, in order that we, with so respectable an escort,
+      may pass over to the somewhat perilous rendezvous at La Bonte&rsquo;s Camp?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Still this remained in doubt. Characteristic indecision perplexed their
+      councils. Indians cannot act in large bodies. Though their object be of
+      the highest importance, they cannot combine to attain it by a series of
+      connected efforts. King Philip, Pontiac, and Tecumseh all felt this to
+      their cost. The Ogallalla once had a war chief who could control them; but
+      he was dead, and now they were left to the sway of their own unsteady
+      impulses.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This Indian village and its inhabitants will hold a prominent place in the
+      rest of the narrative, and perhaps it may not be amiss to glance for an
+      instant at the savage people of which they form a part. The Dakota (I
+      prefer this national designation to the unmeaning French name, Sioux)
+      range over a vast territory, from the river St. Peter&rsquo;s to the Rocky
+      Mountains themselves. They are divided into several independent bands,
+      united under no central government, and acknowledge no common head. The
+      same language, usages, and superstitions form the sole bond between them.
+      They do not unite even in their wars. The bands of the east fight the
+      Ojibwas on the Upper Lakes; those of the west make incessant war upon the
+      Snake Indians in the Rocky Mountains. As the whole people is divided into
+      bands, so each band is divided into villages. Each village has a chief,
+      who is honored and obeyed only so far as his personal qualities may
+      command respect and fear. Sometimes he is a mere nominal chief; sometimes
+      his authority is little short of absolute, and his fame and influence
+      reach even beyond his own village; so that the whole band to which he
+      belongs is ready to acknowledge him as their head. This was, a few years
+      since, the case with the Ogallalla. Courage, address, and enterprise may
+      raise any warrior to the highest honor, especially if he be the son of a
+      former chief, or a member of a numerous family, to support him and avenge
+      his quarrels; but when he has reached the dignity of chief, and the old
+      men and warriors, by a peculiar ceremony, have formally installed him, let
+      it not be imagined that he assumes any of the outward semblances of rank
+      and honor. He knows too well on how frail a tenure he holds his station.
+      He must conciliate his uncertain subjects. Many a man in the village lives
+      better, owns more squaws and more horses, and goes better clad than he.
+      Like the Teutonic chiefs of old, he ingratiates himself with his young men
+      by making them presents, thereby often impoverishing himself. Does he fail
+      in gaining their favor, they will set his authority at naught, and may
+      desert him at any moment; for the usages of his people have provided no
+      sanctions by which he may enforce his authority. Very seldom does it
+      happen, at least among these western bands, that a chief attains to much
+      power, unless he is the head of a numerous family. Frequently the village
+      is principally made up of his relatives and descendants, and the wandering
+      community assumes much of the patriarchal character. A people so loosely
+      united, torn, too, with ranking feuds and jealousies, can have little
+      power or efficiency.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The western Dakota have no fixed habitations. Hunting and fighting, they
+      wander incessantly through summer and winter. Some are following the herds
+      of buffalo over the waste of prairie; others are traversing the Black
+      Hills, thronging on horseback and on foot through the dark gulfs and
+      somber gorges beneath the vast splintering precipices, and emerging at
+      last upon the &ldquo;Parks,&rdquo; those beautiful but most perilous hunting grounds.
+      The buffalo supplies them with almost all the necessaries of life; with
+      habitations, food, clothing, and fuel; with strings for their bows, with
+      thread, cordage, and trail-ropes for their horses, with coverings for
+      their saddles, with vessels to hold water, with boats to cross streams,
+      with glue, and with the means of purchasing all that they desire from the
+      traders. When the buffalo are extinct, they too must dwindle away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      War is the breath of their nostrils. Against most of the neighboring
+      tribes they cherish a deadly, rancorous hatred, transmitted from father to
+      son, and inflamed by constant aggression and retaliation. Many times a
+      year, in every village, the Great Spirit is called upon, fasts are made,
+      the war parade is celebrated, and the warriors go out by handfuls at a
+      time against the enemy. This fierce and evil spirit awakens their most
+      eager aspirations, and calls forth their greatest energies. It is chiefly
+      this that saves them from lethargy and utter abasement. Without its
+      powerful stimulus they would be like the unwarlike tribes beyond the
+      mountains, who are scattered among the caves and rocks like beasts, living
+      on roots and reptiles. These latter have little of humanity except the
+      form; but the proud and ambitious Dakota warrior can sometimes boast of
+      heroic virtues. It is very seldom that distinction and influence are
+      attained among them by any other course than that of arms. Their
+      superstition, however, sometimes gives great power, to those among them
+      who pretend to the character of magicians. Their wild hearts, too, can
+      feel the power of oratory, and yield deference to the masters of it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But to return. Look into our tent, or enter, if you can bear the stifling
+      smoke and the close atmosphere. There, wedged close together, you will see
+      a circle of stout warriors, passing the pipe around, joking, telling
+      stories, and making themselves merry, after their fashion. We were also
+      infested by little copper-colored naked boys and snake-eyed girls. They
+      would come up to us, muttering certain words, which being interpreted
+      conveyed the concise invitation, &ldquo;Come and eat.&rdquo; Then we would rise,
+      cursing the pertinacity of Dakota hospitality, which allowed scarcely an
+      hour of rest between sun and sun, and to which we were bound to do honor,
+      unless we would offend our entertainers. This necessity was particularly
+      burdensome to me, as I was scarcely able to walk, from the effects of
+      illness, and was of course poorly qualified to dispose of twenty meals a
+      day. Of these sumptuous banquets I gave a specimen in a former chapter,
+      where the tragical fate of the little dog was chronicled. So bounteous an
+      entertainment looks like an outgushing of good will; but doubtless
+      one-half at least of our kind hosts, had they met us alone and unarmed on
+      the prairie, would have robbed us of our horses, and perchance have
+      bestowed an arrow upon us beside. Trust not an Indian. Let your rifle be
+      ever in your hand. Wear next your heart the old chivalric motto SEMPER
+      PARATUS.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One morning we were summoned to the lodge of an old man, in good truth the
+      Nestor of his tribe. We found him half sitting, half reclining on a pile
+      of buffalo robes; his long hair, jet-black even now, though he had seen
+      some eighty winters, hung on either side of his thin features. Those most
+      conversant with Indians in their homes will scarcely believe me when I
+      affirm that there was dignity in his countenance and mien. His gaunt but
+      symmetrical frame, did not more clearly exhibit the wreck of bygone
+      strength, than did his dark, wasted features, still prominent and
+      commanding, bear the stamp of mental energies. I recalled, as I saw him,
+      the eloquent metaphor of the Iroquois sachem: &ldquo;I am an aged hemlock; the
+      winds of a hundred winters have whistled through my branches, and I am
+      dead at the top!&rdquo; Opposite the patriarch was his nephew, the young
+      aspirant Mahto-Tatonka; and besides these, there were one or two women in
+      the lodge.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The old man&rsquo;s story is peculiar, and singularly illustrative of a
+      superstitious custom that prevails in full force among many of the Indian
+      tribes. He was one of a powerful family, renowned for their warlike
+      exploits. When a very young man, he submitted to the singular rite to
+      which most of the tribe subject themselves before entering upon life. He
+      painted his face black; then seeking out a cavern in a sequestered part of
+      the Black Hills, he lay for several days, fasting and praying to the Great
+      Spirit. In the dreams and visions produced by his weakened and excited
+      state, he fancied like all Indians, that he saw supernatural revelations.
+      Again and again the form of an antelope appeared before him. The antelope
+      is the graceful peace spirit of the Ogallalla; but seldom is it that such
+      a gentle visitor presents itself during the initiatory fasts of their
+      young men. The terrible grizzly bear, the divinity of war, usually appears
+      to fire them with martial ardor and thirst for renown. At length the
+      antelope spoke. He told the young dreamer that he was not to follow the
+      path of war; that a life of peace and tranquillity was marked out for him;
+      that henceforward he was to guide the people by his counsels and protect
+      them from the evils of their own feuds and dissensions. Others were to
+      gain renown by fighting the enemy; but greatness of a different kind was
+      in store for him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The visions beheld during the period of this fast usually determine the
+      whole course of the dreamer&rsquo;s life, for an Indian is bound by iron
+      superstitions. From that time, Le Borgne, which was the only name by which
+      we knew him, abandoned all thoughts of war and devoted himself to the
+      labors of peace. He told his vision to the people. They honored his
+      commission and respected him in his novel capacity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A far different man was his brother, Mahto-Tatonka, who had transmitted
+      his names, his features, and many of his characteristic qualities to his
+      son. He was the father of Henry Chatillon&rsquo;s squaw, a circumstance which
+      proved of some advantage to us, as securing for us the friendship of a
+      family perhaps the most distinguished and powerful in the whole Ogallalla
+      band. Mahto-Tatonka, in his rude way, was a hero. No chief could vie with
+      him in warlike renown, or in power over his people. He had a fearless
+      spirit, and a most impetuous and inflexible resolution. His will was law.
+      He was politic and sagacious, and with true Indian craft he always
+      befriended the whites, well knowing that he might thus reap great
+      advantages for himself and his adherents. When he had resolved on any
+      course of conduct, he would pay to the warriors the empty compliment of
+      calling them together to deliberate upon it, and when their debates were
+      over, he would quietly state his own opinion, which no one ever disputed.
+      The consequences of thwarting his imperious will were too formidable to be
+      encountered. Woe to those who incurred his displeasure! He would strike
+      them or stab them on the spot; and this act, which, if attempted by any
+      other chief, would instantly have cost him his life, the awe inspired by
+      his name enabled him to repeat again and again with impunity. In a
+      community where, from immemorial time, no man has acknowledged any law but
+      his own will, Mahto-Tatonka, by the force of his dauntless resolution,
+      raised himself to power little short of despotic. His haughty career came
+      at last to an end. He had a host of enemies only waiting for their
+      opportunity of revenge, and our old friend Smoke, in particular, together
+      with all his kinsmen, hated him most cordially. Smoke sat one day in his
+      lodge in the midst of his own village, when Mahto-Tatonka entered it
+      alone, and approaching the dwelling of his enemy, called on him in a loud
+      voice to come out, if he were a man, and fight. Smoke would not move. At
+      this, Mahto-Tatonka proclaimed him a coward and an old woman, and striding
+      close to the entrance of the lodge, stabbed the chief&rsquo;s best horse, which
+      was picketed there. Smoke was daunted, and even this insult failed to call
+      him forth. Mahto-Tatonka moved haughtily away; all made way for him, but
+      his hour of reckoning was near.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One hot day, five or six years ago, numerous lodges of Smoke&rsquo;s kinsmen
+      were gathered around some of the Fur Company&rsquo;s men, who were trading in
+      various articles with them, whisky among the rest. Mahto-Tatonka was also
+      there with a few of his people. As he lay in his own lodge, a fray arose
+      between his adherents and the kinsmen of his enemy. The war-whoop was
+      raised, bullets and arrows began to fly, and the camp was in confusion.
+      The chief sprang up, and rushing in a fury from the lodge shouted to the
+      combatants on both sides to cease. Instantly&mdash;for the attack was
+      preconcerted&mdash;came the reports of two or three guns, and the twanging
+      of a dozen bows, and the savage hero, mortally wounded, pitched forward
+      headlong to the ground. Rouleau was present, and told me the particulars.
+      The tumult became general, and was not quelled until several had fallen on
+      both sides. When we were in the country the feud between the two families
+      was still rankling, and not likely soon to cease.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Thus died Mahto-Tatonka, but he left behind him a goodly army of
+      descendants, to perpetuate his renown and avenge his fate. Besides
+      daughters he had thirty sons, a number which need not stagger the
+      credulity of those who are best acquainted with Indian usages and
+      practices. We saw many of them, all marked by the same dark complexion and
+      the same peculiar cast of features. Of these our visitor, young
+      Mahto-Tatonka, was the eldest, and some reported him as likely to succeed
+      to his father&rsquo;s honors. Though he appeared not more than twenty-one years
+      old, he had oftener struck the enemy, and stolen more horses and more
+      squaws than any young man in the village. We of the civilized world are
+      not apt to attach much credit to the latter species of exploits; but
+      horse-stealing is well known as an avenue to distinction on the prairies,
+      and the other kind of depredation is esteemed equally meritorious. Not
+      that the act can confer fame from its own intrinsic merits. Any one can
+      steal a squaw, and if he chooses afterward to make an adequate present to
+      her rightful proprietor, the easy husband for the most part rests content,
+      his vengeance falls asleep, and all danger from that quarter is averted.
+      Yet this is esteemed but a pitiful and mean-spirited transaction. The
+      danger is averted, but the glory of the achievement also is lost.
+      Mahto-Tatonka proceeded after a more gallant and dashing fashion. Out of
+      several dozen squaws whom he had stolen, he could boast that he had never
+      paid for one, but snapping his fingers in the face of the injured husband,
+      had defied the extremity of his indignation, and no one yet had dared to
+      lay the finger of violence upon him. He was following close in the
+      footsteps of his father. The young men and the young squaws, each in their
+      way, admired him. The one would always follow him to war, and he was
+      esteemed to have unrivaled charm in the eyes of the other. Perhaps his
+      impunity may excite some wonder. An arrow shot from a ravine, a stab given
+      in the dark, require no great valor, and are especially suited to the
+      Indian genius; but Mahto-Tatonka had a strong protection. It was not alone
+      his courage and audacious will that enabled him to career so dashingly
+      among his compeers. His enemies did not forget that he was one of thirty
+      warlike brethren, all growing up to manhood. Should they wreak their anger
+      upon him, many keen eyes would be ever upon them, many fierce hearts would
+      thirst for their blood. The avenger would dog their footsteps everywhere.
+      To kill Mahto-Tatonka would be no better than an act of suicide.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Though he found such favor in the eyes of the fair, he was no dandy. As
+      among us those of highest worth and breeding are most simple in manner and
+      attire, so our aspiring young friend was indifferent to the gaudy
+      trappings and ornaments of his companions. He was content to rest his
+      chances of success upon his own warlike merits. He never arrayed himself
+      in gaudy blanket and glittering necklaces, but left his statue-like form,
+      limbed like an Apollo of bronze, to win its way to favor. His voice was
+      singularly deep and strong. It sounded from his chest like the deep notes
+      of an organ. Yet after all, he was but an Indian. See him as he lies there
+      in the sun before our tent, kicking his heels in the air and cracking
+      jokes with his brother. Does he look like a hero? See him now in the hour
+      of his glory, when at sunset the whole village empties itself to behold
+      him, for to-morrow their favorite young partisan goes out against the
+      enemy. His superb headdress is adorned with a crest of the war eagle&rsquo;s
+      feathers, rising in a waving ridge above his brow, and sweeping far behind
+      him. His round white shield hangs at his breast, with feathers radiating
+      from the center like a star. His quiver is at his back; his tall lance in
+      his hand, the iron point flashing against the declining sun, while the
+      long scalp-locks of his enemies flutter from the shaft. Thus, gorgeous as
+      a champion in his panoply, he rides round and round within the great
+      circle of lodges, balancing with a graceful buoyancy to the free movements
+      of his war horse, while with a sedate brow he sings his song to the Great
+      Spirit. Young rival warriors look askance at him; vermilion-cheeked girls
+      gaze in admiration, boys whoop and scream in a thrill of delight, and old
+      women yell forth his name and proclaim his praises from lodge to lodge.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mahto-Tatonka, to come back to him, was the best of all our Indian
+      friends. Hour after hour and day after day, when swarms of savages of
+      every age, sex, and degree beset our camp, he would lie in our tent, his
+      lynx eye ever open to guard our property from pillage.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Whirlwind invited us one day to his lodge. The feast was finished, and
+      the pipe began to circulate. It was a remarkably large and fine one, and I
+      expressed my admiration of its form and dimensions.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If the Meneaska likes the pipe,&rdquo; asked The Whirlwind, &ldquo;why does he not
+      keep it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Such a pipe among the Ogallalla is valued at the price of a horse. A
+      princely gift, thinks the reader, and worthy of a chieftain and a warrior.
+      The Whirlwind&rsquo;s generosity rose to no such pitch. He gave me the pipe,
+      confidently expecting that I in return should make him a present of equal
+      or superior value. This is the implied condition of every gift among the
+      Indians as among the Orientals, and should it not be complied with the
+      present is usually reclaimed by the giver. So I arranged upon a gaudy
+      calico handkerchief, an assortment of vermilion, tobacco, knives, and
+      gunpowder, and summoning the chief to camp, assured him of my friendship
+      and begged his acceptance of a slight token of it. Ejaculating HOW! HOW!
+      he folded up the offerings and withdrew to his lodge.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Several days passed and we and the Indians remained encamped side by side.
+      They could not decide whether or not to go to war. Toward evening, scores
+      of them would surround our tent, a picturesque group. Late one afternoon a
+      party of them mounted on horseback came suddenly in sight from behind some
+      clumps of bushes that lined the bank of the stream, leading with them a
+      mule, on whose back was a wretched negro, only sustained in his seat by
+      the high pommel and cantle of the Indian saddle. His cheeks were withered
+      and shrunken in the hollow of his jaws; his eyes were unnaturally dilated,
+      and his lips seemed shriveled and drawn back from his teeth like those of
+      a corpse. When they brought him up before our tent, and lifted him from
+      the saddle, he could not walk or stand, but he crawled a short distance,
+      and with a look of utter misery sat down on the grass. All the children
+      and women came pouring out of the lodges round us, and with screams and
+      cries made a close circle about him, while he sat supporting himself with
+      his hands, and looking from side to side with a vacant stare. The wretch
+      was starving to death! For thirty-three days he had wandered alone on the
+      prairie, without weapon of any kind; without shoes, moccasins, or any
+      other clothing than an old jacket and pantaloons; without intelligence and
+      skill to guide his course, or any knowledge of the productions of the
+      prairie. All this time he had subsisted on crickets and lizards, wild
+      onions, and three eggs which he found in the nest of a prairie dove. He
+      had not seen a human being. Utterly bewildered in the boundless, hopeless
+      desert that stretched around him, offering to his inexperienced eye no
+      mark by which to direct his course, he had walked on in despair till he
+      could walk no longer, and then crawled on his knees until the bone was
+      laid bare. He chose the night for his traveling, lying down by day to
+      sleep in the glaring sun, always dreaming, as he said, of the broth and
+      corn cake he used to eat under his old master&rsquo;s shed in Missouri. Every
+      man in the camp, both white and red, was astonished at his wonderful
+      escape not only from starvation but from the grizzly bears which abound in
+      that neighborhood, and the wolves which howled around him every night.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Reynal recognized him the moment the Indians brought him in. He had run
+      away from his master about a year before and joined the party of M.
+      Richard, who was then leaving the frontier for the mountains. He had lived
+      with Richard ever since, until in the end of May he with Reynal and
+      several other men went out in search of some stray horses, when he got
+      separated from the rest in a storm, and had never been heard of up to this
+      time. Knowing his inexperience and helplessness, no one dreamed that he
+      could still be living. The Indians had found him lying exhausted on the
+      ground.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As he sat there with the Indians gazing silently on him, his haggard face
+      and glazed eye were disgusting to look upon. Delorier made him a bowl of
+      gruel, but he suffered it to remain untasted before him. At length he
+      languidly raised the spoon to his lips; again he did so, and again; and
+      then his appetite seemed suddenly inflamed into madness, for he seized the
+      bowl, swallowed all its contents in a few seconds, and eagerly demanded
+      meat. This we refused, telling him to wait until morning, but he begged so
+      eagerly that we gave him a small piece, which he devoured, tearing it like
+      a dog. He said he must have more. We told him that his life was in danger
+      if he ate so immoderately at first. He assented, and said he knew he was a
+      fool to do so, but he must have meat. This we absolutely refused, to the
+      great indignation of the senseless squaws, who, when we were not watching
+      him, would slyly bring dried meat and POMMES BLANCHES, and place them on
+      the ground by his side. Still this was not enough for him. When it grew
+      dark he contrived to creep away between the legs of the horses and crawl
+      over to the Indian village, about a furlong down the stream. Here he fed
+      to his heart&rsquo;s content, and was brought back again in the morning, when
+      Jean Gras, the trapper, put him on horseback and carried him to the fort.
+      He managed to survive the effects of his insane greediness, and though
+      slightly deranged when we left this part of the country, he was otherwise
+      in tolerable health, and expressed his firm conviction that nothing could
+      ever kill him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When the sun was yet an hour high, it was a gay scene in the village. The
+      warriors stalked sedately among the lodges, or along the margin of the
+      streams, or walked out to visit the bands of horses that were feeding over
+      the prairie. Half the village population deserted the close and heated
+      lodges and betook themselves to the water; and here you might see boys and
+      girls and young squaws splashing, swimming, and diving beneath the
+      afternoon sun, with merry laughter and screaming. But when the sun was
+      just resting above the broken peaks, and the purple mountains threw their
+      prolonged shadows for miles over the prairie; when our grim old tree,
+      lighted by the horizontal rays, assumed an aspect of peaceful repose, such
+      as one loves after scenes of tumult and excitement; and when the whole
+      landscape of swelling plains and scattered groves was softened into a
+      tranquil beauty, then our encampment presented a striking spectacle. Could
+      Salvator Rosa have transferred it to his canvas, it would have added new
+      renown to his pencil. Savage figures surrounded our tent, with quivers at
+      their backs, and guns, lances, or tomahawks in their hands. Some sat on
+      horseback, motionless as equestrian statues, their arms crossed on their
+      breasts, their eyes fixed in a steady unwavering gaze upon us. Some stood
+      erect, wrapped from head to foot in their long white robes of buffalo
+      hide. Some sat together on the grass, holding their shaggy horses by a
+      rope, with their broad dark busts exposed to view as they suffered their
+      robes to fall from their shoulders. Others again stood carelessly among
+      the throng, with nothing to conceal the matchless symmetry of their forms;
+      and I do not exaggerate when I say that only on the prairie and in the
+      Vatican have I seen such faultless models of the human figure. See that
+      warrior standing by the tree, towering six feet and a half in stature.
+      Your eyes may trace the whole of his graceful and majestic height, and
+      discover no defect or blemish. With his free and noble attitude, with the
+      bow in his hand, and the quiver at his back, he might seem, but for his
+      face, the Pythian Apollo himself. Such a figure rose before the
+      imagination of West, when on first seeing the Belvidere in the Vatican, he
+      exclaimed, &ldquo;By God, a Mohawk!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      When the sky darkened and the stars began to appear; when the prairie was
+      involved in gloom and the horses were driven in and secured around the
+      camp, the crowd began to melt away. Fires gleamed around, duskily
+      revealing the rough trappers and the graceful Indians. One of the families
+      near us would always be gathered about a bright blaze, that displayed the
+      shadowy dimensions of their lodge, and sent its lights far up among the
+      masses of foliage above, gilding the dead and ragged branches. Withered
+      witchlike hags flitted around the blaze, and here for hour after hour sat
+      a circle of children and young girls, laughing and talking, their round
+      merry faces glowing in the ruddy light. We could hear the monotonous notes
+      of the drum from the Indian village, with the chant of the war song,
+      deadened in the distance, and the long chorus of quavering yells, where
+      the war dance was going on in the largest lodge. For several nights, too,
+      we could hear wild and mournful cries, rising and dying away like the
+      melancholy voice of a wolf. They came from the sisters and female
+      relatives of Mahto-Tatonka, who were gashing their limbs with knives, and
+      bewailing the death of Henry Chatillon&rsquo;s squaw. The hour would grow late
+      before all retired to rest in the camp. Then the embers of the fires would
+      be glowing dimly, the men would be stretched in their blankets on the
+      ground, and nothing could be heard but the restless motions of the crowded
+      horses.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I recall these scenes with a mixed feeling of pleasure and pain. At this
+      time I was so reduced by illness that I could seldom walk without reeling
+      like a drunken man, and when I rose from my seat upon the ground the
+      landscape suddenly grew dim before my eyes, the trees and lodges seemed to
+      sway to and fro, and the prairie to rise and fall like the swells of the
+      ocean. Such a state of things is by no means enviable anywhere. In a
+      country where a man&rsquo;s life may at any moment depend on the strength of his
+      arm, or it may be on the activity of his legs, it is more particularly
+      inconvenient. Medical assistance of course there was none; neither had I
+      the means of pursuing a system of diet; and sleeping on a damp ground,
+      with an occasional drenching from a shower, would hardly be recommended as
+      beneficial. I sometimes suffered the extremity of languor and exhaustion,
+      and though at the time I felt no apprehensions of the final result, I have
+      since learned that my situation was a critical one.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Besides other formidable inconveniences I owe it in a great measure to the
+      remote effects of that unlucky disorder that from deficient eyesight I am
+      compelled to employ the pen of another in taking down this narrative from
+      my lips; and I have learned very effectually that a violent attack of
+      dysentery on the prairie is a thing too serious for a joke. I tried repose
+      and a very sparing diet. For a long time, with exemplary patience, I
+      lounged about the camp, or at the utmost staggered over to the Indian
+      village, and walked faint and dizzy among the lodges. It would not do, and
+      I bethought me of starvation. During five days I sustained life on one
+      small biscuit a day. At the end of that time I was weaker than before, but
+      the disorder seemed shaken in its stronghold and very gradually I began to
+      resume a less rigid diet. No sooner had I done so than the same detested
+      symptoms revisited me; my old enemy resumed his pertinacious assaults, yet
+      not with his former violence or constancy, and though before I regained
+      any fair portion of my ordinary strength weeks had elapsed, and months
+      passed before the disorder left me, yet thanks to old habits of activity,
+      and a merciful Providence, I was able to sustain myself against it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I used to lie languid and dreamy before our tent and muse on the past and
+      the future, and when most overcome with lassitude, my eyes turned always
+      toward the distant Black Hills. There is a spirit of energy and vigor in
+      mountains, and they impart it to all who approach their presence. At that
+      time I did not know how many dark superstitions and gloomy legends are
+      associated with those mountains in the minds of the Indians, but I felt an
+      eager desire to penetrate their hidden recesses, to explore the awful
+      chasms and precipices, the black torrents, the silent forests, that I
+      fancied were concealed there.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0012" id="link2HCH0012">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XII
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      ILL LUCK
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      A Canadian came from Fort Laramie, and brought a curious piece of
+      intelligence. A trapper, fresh from the mountains, had become enamored of
+      a Missouri damsel belonging to a family who with other emigrants had been
+      for some days encamped in the neighborhood of the fort. If bravery be the
+      most potent charm to win the favor of the fair, then no wooer could be
+      more irresistible than a Rocky Mountain trapper. In the present instance,
+      the suit was not urged in vain. The lovers concerted a scheme, which they
+      proceeded to carry into effect with all possible dispatch. The emigrant
+      party left the fort, and on the next succeeding night but one encamped as
+      usual, and placed a guard. A little after midnight the enamored trapper
+      drew near, mounted on a strong horse and leading another by the bridle.
+      Fastening both animals to a tree, he stealthily moved toward the wagons,
+      as if he were approaching a band of buffalo. Eluding the vigilance of the
+      guard, who was probably half asleep, he met his mistress by appointment at
+      the outskirts of the camp, mounted her on his spare horse, and made off
+      with her through the darkness. The sequel of the adventure did not reach
+      our ears, and we never learned how the imprudent fair one liked an Indian
+      lodge for a dwelling, and a reckless trapper for a bridegroom.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At length The Whirlwind and his warriors determined to move. They had
+      resolved after all their preparations not to go to the rendezvous at La
+      Bonte&rsquo;s Camp, but to pass through the Black Hills and spend a few weeks in
+      hunting the buffalo on the other side, until they had killed enough to
+      furnish them with a stock of provisions and with hides to make their
+      lodges for the next season. This done, they were to send out a small
+      independent war party against the enemy. Their final determination left us
+      in some embarrassment. Should we go to La Bonte&rsquo;s Camp, it was not
+      impossible that the other villages would prove as vacillating and
+      indecisive as The Whirlwinds, and that no assembly whatever would take
+      place. Our old companion Reynal had conceived a liking for us, or rather
+      for our biscuit and coffee, and for the occasional small presents which we
+      made him. He was very anxious that we should go with the village which he
+      himself intended to accompany. He declared he was certain that no Indians
+      would meet at the rendezvous, and said moreover that it would be easy to
+      convey our cart and baggage through the Black Hills. In saying this, he
+      told as usual an egregious falsehood. Neither he nor any white man with us
+      had ever seen the difficult and obscure defiles through which the Indians
+      intended to make their way. I passed them afterward, and had much ado to
+      force my distressed horse along the narrow ravines, and through chasms
+      where daylight could scarcely penetrate. Our cart might as easily have
+      been conveyed over the summit of Pike&rsquo;s Peak. Anticipating the
+      difficulties and uncertainties of an attempt to visit the rendezvous, we
+      recalled the old proverb about &ldquo;A bird in the hand,&rdquo; and decided to follow
+      the village.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Both camps, the Indians&rsquo; and our own, broke up on the morning of the 1st
+      of July. I was so weak that the aid of a potent auxiliary, a spoonful of
+      whisky swallowed at short intervals, alone enabled me to sit on my hardy
+      little mare Pauline through the short journey of that day. For half a mile
+      before us and half a mile behind, the prairie was covered far and wide
+      with the moving throng of savages. The barren, broken plain stretched away
+      to the right and left, and far in front rose the gloomy precipitous ridge
+      of the Black Hills. We pushed forward to the head of the scattered column,
+      passing the burdened travaux, the heavily laden pack horses, the gaunt old
+      women on foot, the gay young squaws on horseback, the restless children
+      running among the crowd, old men striding along in their white buffalo
+      robes, and groups of young warriors mounted on their best horses. Henry
+      Chatillon, looking backward over the distant prairie, exclaimed suddenly
+      that a horseman was approaching, and in truth we could just discern a
+      small black speck slowly moving over the face of a distant swell, like a
+      fly creeping on a wall. It rapidly grew larger as it approached.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;White man, I b&rsquo;lieve,&rdquo; said Henry; &ldquo;look how he ride! Indian never ride
+      that way. Yes; he got rifle on the saddle before him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The horseman disappeared in a hollow of the prairie, but we soon saw him
+      again, and as he came riding at a gallop toward us through the crowd of
+      Indians, his long hair streaming in the wind behind him, we recognized the
+      ruddy face and old buckskin frock of Jean Gras the trapper. He was just
+      arrived from Fort Laramie, where he had been on a visit, and said he had a
+      message for us. A trader named Bisonette, one of Henry&rsquo;s friends, was
+      lately come from the settlements, and intended to go with a party of men
+      to La Bonte&rsquo;s Camp, where, as Jean Gras assured us, ten or twelve villages
+      of Indians would certainly assemble. Bisonette desired that we would cross
+      over and meet him there, and promised that his men should protect our
+      horses and baggage while we went among the Indians. Shaw and I stopped our
+      horses and held a council, and in an evil hour resolved to go.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For the rest of that day&rsquo;s journey our course and that of the Indians was
+      the same. In less than an hour we came to where the high barren prairie
+      terminated, sinking down abruptly in steep descent; and standing on these
+      heights, we saw below us a great level meadow. Laramie Creek bounded it on
+      the left, sweeping along in the shadow of the declivities, and passing
+      with its shallow and rapid current just below us. We sat on horseback,
+      waiting and looking on, while the whole savage array went pouring past us,
+      hurrying down the descent and spreading themselves over the meadow below.
+      In a few moments the plain was swarming with the moving multitude, some
+      just visible, like specks in the distance, others still passing on,
+      pressing down, and fording the stream with bustle and confusion. On the
+      edge of the heights sat half a dozen of the elder warriors, gravely
+      smoking and looking down with unmoved faces on the wild and striking
+      spectacle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Up went the lodges in a circle on the margin of the stream. For the sake
+      of quiet we pitched our tent among some trees at half a mile&rsquo;s distance.
+      In the afternoon we were in the village. The day was a glorious one, and
+      the whole camp seemed lively and animated in sympathy. Groups of children
+      and young girls were laughing gayly on the outside of the lodges. The
+      shields, the lances, and the bows were removed from the tall tripods on
+      which they usually hung before the dwellings of their owners. The warriors
+      were mounting their horses, and one by one riding away over the prairie
+      toward the neighboring hills.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shaw and I sat on the grass near the lodge of Reynal. An old woman, with
+      true Indian hospitality, brought a bowl of boiled venison and placed it
+      before us. We amused ourselves with watching half a dozen young squaws who
+      were playing together and chasing each other in and out of one of the
+      lodges. Suddenly the wild yell of the war-whoop came pealing from the
+      hills. A crowd of horsemen appeared, rushing down their sides and riding
+      at full speed toward the village, each warrior&rsquo;s long hair flying behind
+      him in the wind like a ship&rsquo;s streamer. As they approached, the confused
+      throng assumed a regular order, and entering two by two, they circled
+      round the area at full gallop, each warrior singing his war song as he
+      rode. Some of their dresses were splendid. They wore superb crests of
+      feathers and close tunics of antelope skins, fringed with the scalp-locks
+      of their enemies; their shields too were often fluttering with the war
+      eagle&rsquo;s feathers. All had bows and arrows at their back; some carried long
+      lances, and a few were armed with guns. The White Shield, their partisan,
+      rode in gorgeous attire at their head, mounted on a black-and-white horse.
+      Mahto-Tatonka and his brothers took no part in this parade, for they were
+      in mourning for their sister, and were all sitting in their lodges, their
+      bodies bedaubed from head to foot with white clay, and a lock of hair cut
+      from each of their foreheads.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The warriors circled three times round the village; and as each
+      distinguished champion passed, the old women would scream out his name in
+      honor of his bravery, and to incite the emulation of the younger warriors.
+      Little urchins, not two years old, followed the warlike pageant with
+      glittering eyes, and looked with eager wonder and admiration at those
+      whose honors were proclaimed by the public voice of the village. Thus
+      early is the lesson of war instilled into the mind of an Indian, and such
+      are the stimulants which incite his thirst for martial renown.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The procession rode out of the village as it had entered it, and in half
+      an hour all the warriors had returned again, dropping quietly in, singly
+      or in parties of two or three.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As the sun rose next morning we looked across the meadow, and could see
+      the lodges leveled and the Indians gathering together in preparation to
+      leave the camp. Their course lay to the westward. We turned toward the
+      north with our men, the four trappers following us, with the Indian family
+      of Moran. We traveled until night. I suffered not a little from pain and
+      weakness. We encamped among some trees by the side of a little brook, and
+      here during the whole of the next day we lay waiting for Bisonette, but no
+      Bisonette appeared. Here also two of our trapper friends left us, and set
+      out for the Rocky Mountains. On the second morning, despairing of
+      Bisonette&rsquo;s arrival we resumed our journey, traversing a forlorn and
+      dreary monotony of sun-scorched plains, where no living thing appeared
+      save here and there an antelope flying before us like the wind. When noon
+      came we saw an unwonted and most welcome sight; a rich and luxuriant
+      growth of trees, marking the course of a little stream called Horseshoe
+      Creek. We turned gladly toward it. There were lofty and spreading trees,
+      standing widely asunder, and supporting a thick canopy of leaves, above a
+      surface of rich, tall grass. The stream ran swiftly, as clear as crystal,
+      through the bosom of the wood, sparkling over its bed of white sand and
+      darkening again as it entered a deep cavern of leaves and boughs. I was
+      thoroughly exhausted, and flung myself on the ground, scarcely able to
+      move. All that afternoon I lay in the shade by the side of the stream, and
+      those bright woods and sparkling waters are associated in my mind with
+      recollections of lassitude and utter prostration. When night came I sat
+      down by the fire, longing, with an intensity of which at this moment I can
+      hardly conceive, for some powerful stimulant.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the morning as glorious a sun rose upon us as ever animated that
+      desolate wilderness. We advanced and soon were surrounded by tall bare
+      hills, overspread from top to bottom with prickly-pears and other cacti,
+      that seemed like clinging reptiles. A plain, flat and hard, and with
+      scarcely the vestige of grass, lay before us, and a line of tall misshapen
+      trees bounded the onward view. There was no sight or sound of man or
+      beast, or any living thing, although behind those trees was the
+      long-looked-for place of rendezvous, where we fondly hoped to have found
+      the Indians congregated by thousands. We looked and listened anxiously. We
+      pushed forward with our best speed, and forced our horses through the
+      trees. There were copses of some extent beyond, with a scanty stream
+      creeping through their midst; and as we pressed through the yielding
+      branches, deer sprang up to the right and left. At length we caught a
+      glimpse of the prairie beyond. Soon we emerged upon it, and saw, not a
+      plain covered with encampments and swarming with life, but a vast unbroken
+      desert stretching away before us league upon league, without a bush or a
+      tree or anything that had life. We drew rein and gave to the winds our
+      sentiments concerning the whole aboriginal race of America. Our journey
+      was in vain and much worse than in vain. For myself, I was vexed and
+      disappointed beyond measure; as I well knew that a slight aggravation of
+      my disorder would render this false step irrevocable, and make it quite
+      impossible to accomplish effectively the design which had led me an
+      arduous journey of between three and four thousand miles. To fortify
+      myself as well as I could against such a contingency, I resolved that I
+      would not under any circumstances attempt to leave the country until my
+      object was completely gained.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And where were the Indians? They were assembled in great numbers at a spot
+      about twenty miles distant, and there at that very moment they were
+      engaged in their warlike ceremonies. The scarcity of buffalo in the
+      vicinity of La Bonte&rsquo;s Camp, which would render their supply of provisions
+      scanty and precarious, had probably prevented them from assembling there;
+      but of all this we knew nothing until some weeks after.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shaw lashed his horse and galloped forward, I, though much more vexed than
+      he, was not strong enough to adopt this convenient vent to my feelings; so
+      I followed at a quiet pace, but in no quiet mood. We rode up to a solitary
+      old tree, which seemed the only place fit for encampment. Half its
+      branches were dead, and the rest were so scantily furnished with leaves
+      that they cast but a meager and wretched shade, and the old twisted trunk
+      alone furnished sufficient protection from the sun. We threw down our
+      saddles in the strip of shadow that it cast, and sat down upon them. In
+      silent indignation we remained smoking for an hour or more, shifting our
+      saddles with the shifting shadow, for the sun was intolerably hot.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0013" id="link2HCH0013">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XIII
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      HUNTING INDIANS
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      At last we had reached La Bonte&rsquo;s Camp, toward which our eyes had turned
+      so long. Of all weary hours, those that passed between noon and sunset of
+      the day when we arrived there may bear away the palm of exquisite
+      discomfort. I lay under the tree reflecting on what course to pursue,
+      watching the shadows which seemed never to move, and the sun which
+      remained fixed in the sky, and hoping every moment to see the men and
+      horses of Bisonette emerging from the woods. Shaw and Henry had ridden out
+      on a scouting expedition, and did not return until the sun was setting.
+      There was nothing very cheering in their faces nor in the news they
+      brought.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We have been ten miles from here,&rdquo; said Shaw. &ldquo;We climbed the highest
+      butte we could find, and could not see a buffalo or Indian; nothing but
+      prairie for twenty miles around us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry&rsquo;s horse was quite disabled by clambering up and down the sides of
+      ravines, and Shaw&rsquo;s was severely fatigued.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After supper that evening, as we sat around the fire, I proposed to Shaw
+      to wait one day longer in hopes of Bisonette&rsquo;s arrival, and if he should
+      not come to send Delorier with the cart and baggage back to Fort Laramie,
+      while we ourselves followed The Whirlwind&rsquo;s village and attempted to
+      overtake it as it passed the mountains. Shaw, not having the same motive
+      for hunting Indians that I had, was averse to the plan; I therefore
+      resolved to go alone. This design I adopted very unwillingly, for I knew
+      that in the present state of my health the attempt would be extremely
+      unpleasant, and, as I considered, hazardous. I hoped that Bisonette would
+      appear in the course of the following day, and bring us some information
+      by which to direct our course, and enable me to accomplish my purpose by
+      means less objectionable.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The rifle of Henry Chatillon was necessary for the subsistence of the
+      party in my absence; so I called Raymond, and ordered him to prepare to
+      set out with me. Raymond rolled his eyes vacantly about, but at length,
+      having succeeded in grappling with the idea, he withdrew to his bed under
+      the cart. He was a heavy-molded fellow, with a broad face exactly like an
+      owl&rsquo;s, expressing the most impenetrable stupidity and entire
+      self-confidence. As for his good qualities, he had a sort of stubborn
+      fidelity, an insensibility to danger, and a kind of instinct or sagacity,
+      which sometimes led him right, where better heads than his were at a loss.
+      Besides this, he knew very well how to handle a rifle and picket a horse.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Through the following day the sun glared down upon us with a pitiless,
+      penetrating heat. The distant blue prairie seemed quivering under it. The
+      lodge of our Indian associates was baking in the rays, and our rifles, as
+      they leaned against the tree, were too hot for the touch. There was a dead
+      silence through our camp and all around it, unbroken except by the hum of
+      gnats and mosquitoes. The men, resting their foreheads on their arms, were
+      sleeping under the cart. The Indians kept close within their lodge except
+      the newly married pair, who were seated together under an awning of
+      buffalo robes, and the old conjurer, who, with his hard, emaciated face
+      and gaunt ribs, was perched aloft like a turkey-buzzard among the dead
+      branches of an old tree, constantly on the lookout for enemies. He would
+      have made a capital shot. A rifle bullet, skillfully planted, would have
+      brought him tumbling to the ground. Surely, I thought, there could be no
+      more harm in shooting such a hideous old villain, to see how ugly he would
+      look when he was dead, than in shooting the detestable vulture which he
+      resembled. We dined, and then Shaw saddled his horse.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will ride back,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;to Horseshoe Creek, and see if Bisonette is
+      there.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I would go with you,&rdquo; I answered, &ldquo;but I must reserve all the strength I
+      have.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The afternoon dragged away at last. I occupied myself in cleaning my rifle
+      and pistols, and making other preparations for the journey. After supper,
+      Henry Chatillon and I lay by the fire, discussing the properties of that
+      admirable weapon, the rifle, in the use of which he could fairly outrival
+      Leatherstocking himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was late before I wrapped myself in my blanket and lay down for the
+      night, with my head on my saddle. Shaw had not returned, but this gave no
+      uneasiness, for we presumed that he had fallen in with Bisonette, and was
+      spending the night with him. For a day or two past I had gained in
+      strength and health, but about midnight an attack of pain awoke me, and
+      for some hours I felt no inclination to sleep. The moon was quivering on
+      the broad breast of the Platte; nothing could be heard except those low
+      inexplicable sounds, like whisperings and footsteps, which no one who has
+      spent the night alone amid deserts and forests will be at a loss to
+      understand. As I was falling asleep, a familiar voice, shouting from the
+      distance, awoke me again. A rapid step approached the camp, and Shaw on
+      foot, with his gun in his hand, hastily entered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where&rsquo;s your horse?&rdquo; said I, raising myself on my elbow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Lost!&rdquo; said Shaw. &ldquo;Where&rsquo;s Delorier?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There,&rdquo; I replied, pointing to a confused mass of blankets and buffalo
+      robes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shaw touched them with the butt of his gun, and up sprang our faithful
+      Canadian.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come, Delorier; stir up the fire, and get me something to eat.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where&rsquo;s Bisonette?&rdquo; asked I.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Lord knows; there&rsquo;s nobody at Horseshoe Creek.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Shaw had gone back to the spot where we had encamped two days before, and
+      finding nothing there but the ashes of our fires, he had tied his horse to
+      the tree while he bathed in the stream. Something startled his horse, who
+      broke loose, and for two hours Shaw tried in vain to catch him. Sunset
+      approached, and it was twelve miles to camp. So he abandoned the attempt,
+      and set out on foot to join us. The greater part of his perilous and
+      solitary work was performed in darkness. His moccasins were worn to
+      tatters and his feet severely lacerated. He sat down to eat, however, with
+      the usual equanimity of his temper not at all disturbed by his misfortune,
+      and my last recollection before falling asleep was of Shaw, seated
+      cross-legged before the fire, smoking his pipe. The horse, I may as well
+      mention here, was found the next morning by Henry Chatillon.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When I awoke again there was a fresh damp smell in the air, a gray
+      twilight involved the prairie, and above its eastern verge was a streak of
+      cold red sky. I called to the men, and in a moment a fire was blazing
+      brightly in the dim morning light, and breakfast was getting ready. We sat
+      down together on the grass, to the last civilized meal which Raymond and I
+      were destined to enjoy for some time.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now, bring in the horses.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      My little mare Pauline was soon standing by the fire. She was a fleet,
+      hardy, and gentle animal, christened after Paul Dorion, from whom I had
+      procured her in exchange for Pontiac. She did not look as if equipped for
+      a morning pleasure ride. In front of the black, high-bowed mountain
+      saddle, holsters, with heavy pistols, were fastened. A pair of saddle
+      bags, a blanket tightly rolled, a small parcel of Indian presents tied up
+      in a buffalo skin, a leather bag of flour, and a smaller one of tea were
+      all secured behind, and a long trail-rope was wound round her neck.
+      Raymond had a strong black mule, equipped in a similar manner. We crammed
+      our powder-horns to the throat, and mounted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will meet you at Fort Laramie on the 1st of August,&rdquo; said I to Shaw.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is,&rdquo; replied he, &ldquo;if we don&rsquo;t meet before that. I think I shall
+      follow after you in a day or two.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This in fact he attempted, and he would have succeeded if he had not
+      encountered obstacles against which his resolute spirit was of no avail.
+      Two days after I left him he sent Delorier to the fort with the cart and
+      baggage, and set out for the mountains with Henry Chatillon; but a
+      tremendous thunderstorm had deluged the prairie, and nearly obliterated
+      not only our trail but that of the Indians themselves. They followed along
+      the base of the mountains, at a loss in which direction to go. They
+      encamped there, and in the morning Shaw found himself poisoned by ivy in
+      such a manner that it was impossible for him to travel. So they turned
+      back reluctantly toward Fort Laramie. Shaw&rsquo;s limbs were swollen to double
+      their usual size, and he rode in great pain. They encamped again within
+      twenty miles of the fort, and reached it early on the following morning.
+      Shaw lay seriously ill for a week, and remained at the fort till I
+      rejoined him some time after.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To return to my own story. We shook hands with our friends, rode out upon
+      the prairie, and clambering the sandy hollows that were channeled in the
+      sides of the hills gained the high plains above. If a curse had been
+      pronounced upon the land it could not have worn an aspect of more dreary
+      and forlorn barrenness. There were abrupt broken hills, deep hollows, and
+      wide plains; but all alike glared with an insupportable whiteness under
+      the burning sun. The country, as if parched by the heat, had cracked into
+      innumerable fissures and ravines, that not a little impeded our progress.
+      Their steep sides were white and raw, and along the bottom we several
+      times discovered the broad tracks of the terrific grizzly bear, nowhere
+      more abundant than in this region. The ridges of the hills were hard as
+      rock, and strewn with pebbles of flint and coarse red jasper; looking from
+      them, there was nothing to relieve the desert uniformity of the prospect,
+      save here and there a pine-tree clinging at the edge of a ravine, and
+      stretching out its rough, shaggy arms. Under the scorching heat these
+      melancholy trees diffused their peculiar resinous odor through the sultry
+      air. There was something in it, as I approached them, that recalled old
+      associations; the pine-clad mountains of New England, traversed in days of
+      health and buoyancy, rose like a reality before my fancy. In passing that
+      arid waste I was goaded with a morbid thirst produced by my disorder, and
+      I thought with a longing desire on the crystal treasure poured in such
+      wasteful profusion from our thousand hills. Shutting my eyes, I more than
+      half believed that I heard the deep plunging and gurgling of waters in the
+      bowels of the shaded rocks. I could see their dark ice glittering far down
+      amid the crevices, and the cold drops trickling from the long green
+      mosses.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When noon came, we found a little stream, with a few trees and bushes; and
+      here we rested for an hour. Then we traveled on, guided by the sun, until,
+      just before sunset, we reached another stream, called Bitter Cotton-wood
+      Creek. A thick growth of bushes and old storm-beaten trees grew at
+      intervals along its bank. Near the foot of one of the trees we flung down
+      our saddles, and hobbling our horses turned them loose to feed. The little
+      stream was clear and swift, and ran musically on its white sands. Small
+      water birds were splashing in the shallows, and filling the air with their
+      cries and flutterings. The sun was just sinking among gold and crimson
+      clouds behind Mount Laramie. I well remember how I lay upon a log by the
+      margin of the water, and watched the restless motions of the little fish
+      in a deep still nook below. Strange to say, I seemed to have gained
+      strength since the morning, and almost felt a sense of returning health.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We built our fire. Night came, and the wolves began to howl. One deep
+      voice commenced, and it was answered in awful responses from the hills,
+      the plains, and the woods along the stream above and below us. Such sounds
+      need not and do not disturb one&rsquo;s sleep upon the prairie. We picketed the
+      mare and the mule close at our feet, and did not wake until daylight. Then
+      we turned them loose, still hobbled, to feed for an hour before starting.
+      We were getting ready our morning&rsquo;s meal, when Raymond saw an antelope at
+      half a mile&rsquo;s distance, and said he would go and shoot it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your business,&rdquo; said. I, &ldquo;is to look after the animals. I am too weak to
+      do much, if anything happens to them, and you must keep within sight of
+      the camp.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Raymond promised, and set out with his rifle in his hand. The animals had
+      passed across the stream, and were feeding among the long grass on the
+      other side, much tormented by the attacks of the numerous large
+      green-headed flies. As I watched them, I saw them go down into a hollow,
+      and as several minutes elapsed without their reappearing, I waded through
+      the stream to look after them. To my vexation and alarm I discovered them
+      at a great distance, galloping away at full speed, Pauline in advance,
+      with her hobbles broken, and the mule, still fettered, following with
+      awkward leaps. I fired my rifle and shouted to recall Raymond. In a moment
+      he came running through the stream, with a red handkerchief bound round
+      his head. I pointed to the fugitives, and ordered him to pursue them.
+      Muttering a &ldquo;Sacre!&rdquo; between his teeth, he set out at full speed, still
+      swinging his rifle in his hand. I walked up to the top of a hill, and
+      looking away over the prairie, could just distinguish the runaways, still
+      at full gallop. Returning to the fire, I sat down at the foot of a tree.
+      Wearily and anxiously hour after hour passed away. The old loose bark
+      dangling from the trunk behind me flapped to and fro in the wind, and the
+      mosquitoes kept up their incessant drowsy humming; but other than this,
+      there was no sight nor sound of life throughout the burning landscape. The
+      sun rose higher and higher, until the shadows fell almost perpendicularly,
+      and I knew that it must be noon. It seemed scarcely possible that the
+      animals could be recovered. If they were not, my situation was one of
+      serious difficulty. Shaw, when I left him had decided to move that
+      morning, but whither he had not determined. To look for him would be a
+      vain attempt. Fort Laramie was forty miles distant, and I could not walk a
+      mile without great effort. Not then having learned the sound philosophy of
+      yielding to disproportionate obstacles, I resolved to continue in any
+      event the pursuit of the Indians. Only one plan occurred to me; this was
+      to send Raymond to the fort with an order for more horses, while I
+      remained on the spot, awaiting his return, which might take place within
+      three days. But the adoption of this resolution did not wholly allay my
+      anxiety, for it involved both uncertainty and danger. To remain stationary
+      and alone for three days, in a country full of dangerous Indians, was not
+      the most flattering of prospects; and protracted as my Indian hunt must be
+      by such delay, it was not easy to foretell its ultimate result. Revolving
+      these matters, I grew hungry; and as our stock of provisions, except four
+      or five pounds of flour, was by this time exhausted, I left the camp to
+      see what game I could find. Nothing could be seen except four or five
+      large curlew, which, with their loud screaming, were wheeling over my
+      head, and now and then alighting upon the prairie. I shot two of them, and
+      was about returning, when a startling sight caught my eye. A small, dark
+      object, like a human head, suddenly appeared, and vanished among the thick
+      hushes along the stream below. In that country every stranger is a
+      suspected enemy. Instinctively I threw forward the muzzle of my rifle. In
+      a moment the bushes were violently shaken, two heads, but not human heads,
+      protruded, and to my great joy I recognized the downcast, disconsolate
+      countenance of the black mule and the yellow visage of Pauline. Raymond
+      came upon the mule, pale and haggard, complaining of a fiery pain in his
+      chest. I took charge of the animals while he kneeled down by the side of
+      the stream to drink. He had kept the runaways in sight as far as the Side
+      Fork of Laramie Creek, a distance of more than ten miles; and here with
+      great difficulty he had succeeded in catching them. I saw that he was
+      unarmed, and asked him what he had done with his rifle. It had encumbered
+      him in his pursuit, and he had dropped it on the prairie, thinking that he
+      could find it on his return; but in this he had failed. The loss might
+      prove a very formidable one. I was too much rejoiced however at the
+      recovery of the animals to think much about it; and having made some tea
+      for Raymond in a tin vessel which we had brought with us, I told him that
+      I would give him two hours for resting before we set out again. He had
+      eaten nothing that day; but having no appetite, he lay down immediately to
+      sleep. I picketed the animals among the richest grass that I could find,
+      and made fires of green wood to protect them from the flies; then sitting
+      down again by the tree, I watched the slow movements of the sun,
+      begrudging every moment that passed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The time I had mentioned expired, and I awoke Raymond. We saddled and set
+      out again, but first we went in search of the lost rifle, and in the
+      course of an hour Raymond was fortunate enough to find it. Then we turned
+      westward, and moved over the hills and hollows at a slow pace toward the
+      Black Hills. The heat no longer tormented us, for a cloud was before the
+      sun. Yet that day shall never be marked with white in my calendar. The air
+      began to grow fresh and cool, the distant mountains frowned more gloomily,
+      there was a low muttering of thunder, and dense black masses of cloud rose
+      heavily behind the broken peaks. At first they were gayly fringed with
+      silver by the afternoon sun, but soon the thick blackness overspread the
+      whole sky, and the desert around us was wrapped in deep gloom. I scarcely
+      heeded it at the time, but now I cannot but feel that there was an awful
+      sublimity in the hoarse murmuring of the thunder, in the somber shadows
+      that involved the mountains and the plain. The storm broke. It came upon
+      us with a zigzag blinding flash, with a terrific crash of thunder, and
+      with a hurricane that howled over the prairie, dashing floods of water
+      against us. Raymond looked round, and cursed the merciless elements. There
+      seemed no shelter near, but we discerned at length a deep ravine gashed in
+      the level prairie, and saw half way down its side an old pine tree, whose
+      rough horizontal boughs formed a sort of penthouse against the tempest. We
+      found a practicable passage, and hastily descending, fastened our animals
+      to some large loose stones at the bottom; then climbing up, we drew our
+      blankets over our heads, and seated ourselves close beneath the old tree.
+      Perhaps I was no competent judge of time, but it seemed to me that we were
+      sitting there a full hour, while around us poured a deluge of rain,
+      through which the rocks on the opposite side of the gulf were barely
+      visible. The first burst of the tempest soon subsided, but the rain poured
+      steadily. At length Raymond grew impatient, and scrambling out of the
+      ravine, he gained the level prairie above.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What does the weather look like?&rdquo; asked I, from my seat under the tree.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It looks bad,&rdquo; he answered; &ldquo;dark all around,&rdquo; and again he descended and
+      sat down by my side. Some ten minutes elapsed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Go up again,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;and take another look;&rdquo; and he clambered up the
+      precipice. &ldquo;Well, how is it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Just the same, only I see one little bright spot over the top of the
+      mountain.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The rain by this time had begun to abate; and going down to the bottom of
+      the ravine, we loosened the animals, who were standing up to their knees
+      in water. Leading them up the rocky throat of the ravine, we reached the
+      plain above. &ldquo;Am I,&rdquo; I thought to myself, &ldquo;the same man who a few months
+      since, was seated, a quiet student of BELLES-LETTRES, in a cushioned
+      arm-chair by a sea-coal fire?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      All around us was obscurity; but the bright spot above the mountaintops
+      grew wider and ruddier, until at length the clouds drew apart, and a flood
+      of sunbeams poured down from heaven, streaming along the precipices, and
+      involving them in a thin blue haze, as soft and lovely as that which wraps
+      the Apennines on an evening in spring. Rapidly the clouds were broken and
+      scattered, like routed legions of evil spirits. The plain lay basking in
+      sunbeams around us; a rainbow arched the desert from north to south, and
+      far in front a line of woods seemed inviting us to refreshment and repose.
+      When we reached them, they were glistening with prismatic dewdrops, and
+      enlivened by the song and flutterings of a hundred birds. Strange winged
+      insects, benumbed by the rain, were clinging to the leaves and the bark of
+      the trees.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Raymond kindled a fire with great difficulty. The animals turned eagerly
+      to feed on the soft rich grass, while I, wrapping myself in my blanket,
+      lay down and gazed on the evening landscape. The mountains, whose stern
+      features had lowered upon us with so gloomy and awful a frown, now seemed
+      lighted up with a serene, benignant smile, and the green waving
+      undulations of the plain were gladdened with the rich sunshine. Wet, ill,
+      and wearied as I was, my spirit grew lighter at the view, and I drew from
+      it an augury of good for my future prospects.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When morning came, Raymond awoke, coughing violently, though I had
+      apparently received no injury. We mounted, crossed the little stream,
+      pushed through the trees, and began our journey over the plain beyond. And
+      now, as we rode slowly along, we looked anxiously on every hand for traces
+      of the Indians, not doubting that the village had passed somewhere in that
+      vicinity; but the scanty shriveled grass was not more than three or four
+      inches high, and the ground was of such unyielding hardness that a host
+      might have marched over it and left scarcely a trace of its passage. Up
+      hill and down hill, and clambering through ravines, we continued our
+      journey. As we were skirting the foot of a hill I saw Raymond, who was
+      some rods in advance, suddenly jerking the reins of his mule. Sliding from
+      his seat, and running in a crouching posture up a hollow, he disappeared;
+      and then in an instant I heard the sharp quick crack of his rifle. A
+      wounded antelope came running on three legs over the hill. I lashed
+      Pauline and made after him. My fleet little mare soon brought me by his
+      side, and after leaping and bounding for a few moments in vain, he stood
+      still, as if despairing of escape. His glistening eyes turned up toward my
+      face with so piteous a look that it was with feelings of infinite
+      compunction that I shot him through the head with a pistol. Raymond
+      skinned and cut him up, and we hung the forequarters to our saddles, much
+      rejoiced that our exhausted stock of provisions was renewed in such good
+      time.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Gaining the top of a hill, we could see along the cloudy verge of the
+      prairie before us lines of trees and shadowy groves that marked the course
+      of Laramie Creek. Some time before noon we reached its banks and began
+      anxiously to search them for footprints of the Indians. We followed the
+      stream for several miles, now on the shore and now wading in the water,
+      scrutinizing every sand-bar and every muddy bank. So long was the search
+      that we began to fear that we had left the trail undiscovered behind us.
+      At length I heard Raymond shouting, and saw him jump from his mule to
+      examine some object under the shelving bank. I rode up to his side. It was
+      the clear and palpable impression of an Indian moccasin. Encouraged by
+      this we continued our search, and at last some appearances on a soft
+      surface of earth not far from the shore attracted my eye; and going to
+      examine them I found half a dozen tracks, some made by men and some by
+      children. Just then Raymond observed across the stream the mouth of a
+      small branch entering it from the south. He forded the water, rode in at
+      the opening, and in a moment I heard him shouting again, so I passed over
+      and joined him. The little branch had a broad sandy bed, along which the
+      water trickled in a scanty stream; and on either bank the bushes were so
+      close that the view was completely intercepted. I found Raymond stooping
+      over the footprints of three or four horses. Proceeding we found those of
+      a man, then those of a child, then those of more horses; and at last the
+      bushes on each bank were beaten down and broken, and the sand plowed up
+      with a multitude of footsteps, and scored across with the furrows made by
+      the lodge-poles that had been dragged through. It was now certain that we
+      had found the trail. I pushed through the bushes, and at a little distance
+      on the prairie beyond found the ashes of a hundred and fifty lodge fires,
+      with bones and pieces of buffalo robes scattered around them, and in some
+      instances the pickets to which horses had been secured still standing in
+      the ground. Elated by our success we selected a convenient tree, and
+      turning the animals loose, prepared to make a meal from the fat haunch of
+      our victim.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Hardship and exposure had thriven with me wonderfully. I had gained both
+      health and strength since leaving La Bonte&rsquo;s Camp. Raymond and I made a
+      hearty meal together in high spirits, for we rashly presumed that having
+      found one end of the trail we should have little difficulty in reaching
+      the other. But when the animals were led in we found that our old ill luck
+      had not ceased to follow us close. As I was saddling Pauline I saw that
+      her eye was as dull as lead, and the hue of her yellow coat visibly
+      darkened. I placed my foot in the stirrup to mount, when instantly she
+      staggered and fell flat on her side. Gaining her feet with an effort she
+      stood by the fire with a drooping head. Whether she had been bitten by a
+      snake or poisoned by some noxious plant or attacked by a sudden disorder,
+      it was hard to say; but at all events her sickness was sufficiently
+      ill-timed and unfortunate. I succeeded in a second attempt to mount her,
+      and with a slow pace we moved forward on the trail of the Indians. It led
+      us up a hill and over a dreary plain; and here, to our great
+      mortification, the traces almost disappeared, for the ground was hard as
+      adamant; and if its flinty surface had ever retained the print of a hoof,
+      the marks had been washed away by the deluge of yesterday. An Indian
+      village, in its disorderly march, is scattered over the prairie, often to
+      the width of full half a mile; so that its trail is nowhere clearly
+      marked, and the task of following it is made doubly wearisome and
+      difficult. By good fortune plenty of large ant-hills, a yard or more in
+      diameter, were scattered over the plain, and these were frequently broken
+      by the footprints of men and horses, and marked by traces of the
+      lodge-poles. The succulent leaves of the prickly-pear, also bruised from
+      the same causes, helped a little to guide us; so inch by inch we moved
+      along. Often we lost the trail altogether, and then would recover it
+      again, but late in the afternoon we found ourselves totally at fault. We
+      stood alone without clew to guide us. The broken plain expanded for league
+      after league around us, and in front the long dark ridge of mountains was
+      stretching from north to south. Mount Laramie, a little on our right,
+      towered high above the rest and from a dark valley just beyond one of its
+      lower declivities, we discerned volumes of white smoke slowly rolling up
+      into the clear air.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think,&rdquo; said Raymond, &ldquo;some Indians must be there. Perhaps we had
+      better go.&rdquo; But this plan was not rashly to be adopted, and we determined
+      still to continue our search after the lost trail. Our good stars prompted
+      us to this decision, for we afterward had reason to believe, from
+      information given us by the Indians, that the smoke was raised as a decoy
+      by a Crow war party.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Evening was coming on, and there was no wood or water nearer than the foot
+      of the mountains. So thither we turned, directing our course toward the
+      point where Laramie Creek issues forth upon the prairie. When we reached
+      it the bare tops of the mountains were still brightened with sunshine. The
+      little river was breaking with a vehement and angry current from its dark
+      prison. There was something in the near vicinity of the mountains, in the
+      loud surging of the rapids, wonderfully cheering and exhilarating; for
+      although once as familiar as home itself, they had been for months
+      strangers to my experience. There was a rich grass-plot by the river&rsquo;s
+      bank, surrounded by low ridges, which would effectually screen ourselves
+      and our fire from the sight of wandering Indians. Here among the grass I
+      observed numerous circles of large stones, which, as Raymond said, were
+      traces of a Dakota winter encampment. We lay down and did not awake till
+      the sun was up. A large rock projected from the shore, and behind it the
+      deep water was slowly eddying round and round. The temptation was
+      irresistible. I threw off my clothes, leaped in, suffered myself to be
+      borne once round with the current, and then, seizing the strong root of a
+      water plant, drew myself to the shore. The effect was so invigorating and
+      refreshing that I mistook it for returning health. &ldquo;Pauline,&rdquo; thought I,
+      as I led the little mare up to be saddled, &ldquo;only thrive as I do, and you
+      and I will have sport yet among the buffalo beyond these mountains.&rdquo; But
+      scarcely were we mounted and on our way before the momentary glow passed.
+      Again I hung as usual in my seat, scarcely able to hold myself erect.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Look yonder,&rdquo; said Raymond; &ldquo;you see that big hollow there; the Indians
+      must have gone that way, if they went anywhere about here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      We reached the gap, which was like a deep notch cut into the mountain
+      ridge, and here we soon discerned an ant-hill furrowed with the mark of a
+      lodge-pole. This was quite enough; there could be no doubt now. As we rode
+      on, the opening growing narrower, the Indians had been compelled to march
+      in closer order, and the traces became numerous and distinct. The gap
+      terminated in a rocky gateway, leading into a rough passage upward,
+      between two precipitous mountains. Here grass and weeds were bruised to
+      fragments by the throng that had passed through. We moved slowly over the
+      rocks, up the passage; and in this toilsome manner we advanced for an hour
+      or two, bare precipices, hundreds of feet high, shooting up on either
+      hand. Raymond, with his hardy mule, was a few rods before me, when we came
+      to the foot of an ascent steeper than the rest, and which I trusted might
+      prove the highest point of the defile. Pauline strained upward for a few
+      yards, moaning and stumbling, and then came to a dead stop, unable to
+      proceed further. I dismounted, and attempted to lead her; but my own
+      exhausted strength soon gave out; so I loosened the trail-rope from her
+      neck, and tying it round my arm, crawled up on my hands and knees. I
+      gained the top, totally exhausted, the sweat drops trickling from my
+      forehead. Pauline stood like a statue by my side, her shadow falling upon
+      the scorching rock; and in this shade, for there was no other, I lay for
+      some time, scarcely able to move a limb. All around the black crags, sharp
+      as needles at the top, stood glowing in the sun, without a tree, or a
+      bush, or a blade of grass, to cover their precipitous sides. The whole
+      scene seemed parched with a pitiless, insufferable heat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After a while I could mount again, and we moved on, descending the rocky
+      defile on its western side. Thinking of that morning&rsquo;s journey, it has
+      sometimes seemed to me that there was something ridiculous in my position;
+      a man, armed to the teeth, but wholly unable to fight, and equally so to
+      run away, traversing a dangerous wilderness, on a sick horse. But these
+      thoughts were retrospective, for at the time I was in too grave a mood to
+      entertain a very lively sense of the ludicrous.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Raymond&rsquo;s saddle-girth slipped; and while I proceeded he was stopping
+      behind to repair the mischief. I came to the top of a little declivity,
+      where a most welcome sight greeted my eye; a nook of fresh green grass
+      nestled among the cliffs, sunny clumps of bushes on one side, and shaggy
+      old pine trees leaning forward from the rocks on the other. A shrill,
+      familiar voice saluted me, and recalled me to days of boyhood; that of the
+      insect called the &ldquo;locust&rdquo; by New England schoolboys, which was fast
+      clinging among the heated boughs of the old pine trees. Then, too, as I
+      passed the bushes, the low sound of falling water reached my ear. Pauline
+      turned of her own accord, and pushing through the boughs we found a black
+      rock, over-arched by the cool green canopy. An icy stream was pouring from
+      its side into a wide basin of white sand, from whence it had no visible
+      outlet, but filtered through into the soil below. While I filled a tin cup
+      at the spring, Pauline was eagerly plunging her head deep in the pool.
+      Other visitors had been there before us. All around in the soft soil were
+      the footprints of elk, deer, and the Rocky Mountain sheep; and the grizzly
+      bear too had left the recent prints of his broad foot, with its frightful
+      array of claws. Among these mountains was his home.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Soon after leaving the spring we found a little grassy plain, encircled by
+      the mountains, and marked, to our great joy, with all the traces of an
+      Indian camp. Raymond&rsquo;s practiced eye detected certain signs by which he
+      recognized the spot where Reynal&rsquo;s lodge had been pitched and his horses
+      picketed. I approached, and stood looking at the place. Reynal and I had,
+      I believe, hardly a feeling in common. I disliked the fellow, and it
+      perplexed me a good deal to understand why I should look with so much
+      interest on the ashes of his fire, when between him and me there seemed no
+      other bond of sympathy than the slender and precarious one of a kindred
+      race.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In half an hour from this we were clear of the mountains. There was a
+      plain before us, totally barren and thickly peopled in many parts with the
+      little prairie dogs, who sat at the mouths of their burrows and yelped at
+      us as we passed. The plain, as we thought, was about six miles wide; but
+      it cost us two hours to cross it. Then another mountain range rose before
+      us, grander and more wild than the last had been. Far out of the dense
+      shrubbery that clothed the steeps for a thousand feet shot up black crags,
+      all leaning one way, and shattered by storms and thunder into grim and
+      threatening shapes. As we entered a narrow passage on the trail of the
+      Indians, they impended frightfully on one side, above our heads.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Our course was through dense woods, in the shade and twinkling sunlight of
+      overhanging boughs. I would I could recall to mind all the startling
+      combinations that presented themselves, as winding from side to side of
+      the passage, to avoid its obstructions, we could see, glancing at
+      intervals through the foliage, the awful forms of the gigantic cliffs,
+      that seemed at times to hem us in on the right and on the left, before us
+      and behind! Another scene in a few moments greeted us; a tract of gray and
+      sunny woods, broken into knolls and hollows, enlivened by birds and
+      interspersed with flowers. Among the rest I recognized the mellow whistle
+      of the robin, an old familiar friend whom I had scarce expected to meet in
+      such a place. Humble-bees too were buzzing heavily about the flowers; and
+      of these a species of larkspur caught my eye, more appropriate, it should
+      seem, to cultivated gardens than to a remote wilderness. Instantly it
+      recalled a multitude of dormant and delightful recollections.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Leaving behind us this spot and its associations, a sight soon presented
+      itself, characteristic of that warlike region. In an open space, fenced in
+      by high rocks, stood two Indian forts, of a square form, rudely built of
+      sticks and logs. They were somewhat ruinous, having probably been
+      constructed the year before. Each might have contained about twenty men.
+      Perhaps in this gloomy spot some party had been beset by their enemies,
+      and those scowling rocks and blasted trees might not long since have
+      looked down on a conflict unchronicled and unknown. Yet if any traces of
+      bloodshed remained they were completely hidden by the bushes and tall rank
+      weeds.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Gradually the mountains drew apart, and the passage expanded into a plain,
+      where again we found traces of an Indian encampment. There were trees and
+      bushes just before us, and we stopped here for an hour&rsquo;s rest and
+      refreshment. When we had finished our meal Raymond struck fire, and
+      lighting his pipe, sat down at the foot of a tree to smoke. For some time
+      I observed him puffing away with a face of unusual solemnity. Then slowly
+      taking the pipe from his lips, he looked up and remarked that we had
+      better not go any farther.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why not?&rdquo; asked I.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He said that the country was becoming very dangerous, that we were
+      entering the range of the Snakes, Arapahoes and Grosventre Blackfeet, and
+      that if any of their wandering parties should meet us, it would cost us
+      our lives; but he added, with a blunt fidelity that nearly reconciled me
+      to his stupidity, that he would go anywhere I wished. I told him to bring
+      up the animals, and mounting them we proceeded again. I confess that, as
+      we moved forward, the prospect seemed but a dreary and doubtful one. I
+      would have given the world for my ordinary elasticity of body and mind,
+      and for a horse of such strength and spirit as the journey required.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Closer and closer the rocks gathered round us, growing taller and steeper,
+      and pressing more and more upon our path. We entered at length a defile
+      which I never had seen rivaled. The mountain was cracked from top to
+      bottom, and we were creeping along the bottom of the fissure, in dampness
+      and gloom, with the clink of hoofs on the loose shingly rocks, and the
+      hoarse murmuring of a petulant brook which kept us company. Sometimes the
+      water, foaming among the stones, overspread the whole narrow passage;
+      sometimes, withdrawing to one side, it gave us room to pass dry-shod.
+      Looking up, we could see a narrow ribbon of bright blue sky between the
+      dark edges of the opposing cliffs. This did not last long. The passage
+      soon widened, and sunbeams found their way down, flashing upon the black
+      waters. The defile would spread out to many rods in width; bushes, trees,
+      and flowers would spring by the side of the brook; the cliffs would be
+      feathered with shrubbery, that clung in every crevice, and fringed with
+      trees, that grew along their sunny edges. Then we would be moving again in
+      the darkness. The passage seemed about four miles long, and before we
+      reached the end of it, the unshod hoofs of our animals were lamentably
+      broken, and their legs cut by the sharp stones. Issuing from the mountain
+      we found another plain. All around it stood a circle of lofty precipices,
+      that seemed the impersonation of silence and solitude. Here again the
+      Indians had encamped, as well they might, after passing with their women,
+      children and horses through the gulf behind us. In one day we had made a
+      journey which had cost them three to accomplish.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The only outlet to this amphitheater lay over a hill some two hundred feet
+      high, up which we moved with difficulty. Looking from the top, we saw that
+      at last we were free of the mountains. The prairie spread before us, but
+      so wild and broken that the view was everywhere obstructed. Far on our
+      left one tall hill swelled up against the sky, on the smooth, pale green
+      surface of which four slowly moving black specks were discernible. They
+      were evidently buffalo, and we hailed the sight as a good augury; for
+      where the buffalo were, there too the Indians would probably be found. We
+      hoped on that very night to reach the village. We were anxious to do so
+      for a double reason, wishing to bring our wearisome journey to an end, and
+      knowing, moreover, that though to enter the village in broad daylight
+      would be a perfectly safe experiment, yet to encamp in its vicinity would
+      be dangerous. But as we rode on, the sun was sinking, and soon was within
+      half an hour of the horizon. We ascended a hill and looked round us for a
+      spot for our encampment. The prairie was like a turbulent ocean, suddenly
+      congealed when its waves were at the highest, and it lay half in light and
+      half in shadow, as the rich sunshine, yellow as gold, was pouring over it.
+      The rough bushes of the wild sage were growing everywhere, its dull pale
+      green overspreading hill and hollow. Yet a little way before us, a bright
+      verdant line of grass was winding along the plain, and here and there
+      throughout its course water was glistening darkly. We went down to it,
+      kindled a fire, and turned our horses loose to feed. It was a little
+      trickling brook, that for some yards on either bank turned the barren
+      prairie into fertility, and here and there it spread into deep pools,
+      where the beaver had dammed it up.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We placed our last remaining piece of the antelope before a scanty fire,
+      mournfully reflecting on our exhausted stock of provisions. Just then an
+      enormous gray hare, peculiar to these prairies, came jumping along, and
+      seated himself within fifty yards to look at us. I thoughtlessly raised my
+      rifle to shoot him, but Raymond called out to me not to fire for fear the
+      report should reach the ears of the Indians. That night for the first time
+      we considered that the danger to which we were exposed was of a somewhat
+      serious character; and to those who are unacquainted with Indians, it may
+      seem strange that our chief apprehensions arose from the supposed
+      proximity of the people whom we intended to visit. Had any straggling
+      party of these faithful friends caught sight of us from the hill-top, they
+      would probably have returned in the night to plunder us of our horses and
+      perhaps of our scalps. But we were on the prairie, where the GENIUS LOCI
+      is at war with all nervous apprehensions; and I presume that neither
+      Raymond nor I thought twice of the matter that evening.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      While he was looking after the animals, I sat by the fire engaged in the
+      novel task of baking bread. The utensils were of the most simple and
+      primitive kind, consisting of two sticks inclining over the bed of coals,
+      one end thrust into the ground while the dough was twisted in a spiral
+      form round the other. Under such circumstances all the epicurean in a
+      man&rsquo;s nature is apt to awaken within him. I revisited in fancy the far
+      distant abodes of good fare, not indeed Frascati&rsquo;s, or the Trois Freres
+      Provencaux, for that were too extreme a flight; but no other than the
+      homely table of my old friend and host, Tom Crawford, of the White
+      Mountains. By a singular revulsion, Tom himself, whom I well remember to
+      have looked upon as the impersonation of all that is wild and
+      backwoodsman-like, now appeared before me as the ministering angel of
+      comfort and good living. Being fatigued and drowsy I began to doze, and my
+      thoughts, following the same train of association, assumed another form.
+      Half-dreaming, I saw myself surrounded with the mountains of New England,
+      alive with water-falls, their black crags tinctured with milk-white mists.
+      For this reverie I paid a speedy penalty; for the bread was black on one
+      side and soft on the other.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For eight hours Raymond and I, pillowed on our saddles, lay insensible as
+      logs. Pauline&rsquo;s yellow head was stretched over me when I awoke. I got up
+      and examined her. Her feet indeed were bruised and swollen by the
+      accidents of yesterday, but her eye was brighter, her motions livelier,
+      and her mysterious malady had visibly abated. We moved on, hoping within
+      an hour to come in sight of the Indian village; but again disappointment
+      awaited us. The trail disappeared, melting away upon a hard and stony
+      plain. Raymond and I separating, rode from side to side, scrutinizing
+      every yard of ground, until at length I discerned traces of the
+      lodge-poles passing by the side of a ridge of rocks. We began again to
+      follow them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is that black spot out there on the prairie?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It looks like a dead buffalo,&rdquo; answered Raymond.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We rode out to it, and found it to be the huge carcass of a bull killed by
+      the Indians as they had passed. Tangled hair and scraps of hide were
+      scattered all around, for the wolves had been making merry over it, and
+      had hollowed out the entire carcass. It was covered with myriads of large
+      black crickets, and from its appearance must certainly have lain there for
+      four or five days. The sight was a most disheartening one, and I observed
+      to Raymond that the Indians might still be fifty or sixty miles before us.
+      But he shook his head, and replied that they dared not go so far for fear
+      of their enemies, the Snakes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Soon after this we lost the trail again, and ascended a neighboring ridge,
+      totally at a loss. Before us lay a plain perfectly flat, spreading on the
+      right and left, without apparent limit, and bounded in front by a long
+      broken line of hills, ten or twelve miles distant. All was open and
+      exposed to view, yet not a buffalo nor an Indian was visible.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you see that?&rdquo; said Raymond; &ldquo;Now we had better turn round.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But as Raymond&rsquo;s bourgeois thought otherwise, we descended the hill and
+      began to cross the plain. We had come so far that I knew perfectly well
+      neither Pauline&rsquo;s limbs nor my own could carry me back to Fort Laramie. I
+      considered that the lines of expediency and inclination tallied exactly,
+      and that the most prudent course was to keep forward. The ground
+      immediately around us was thickly strewn with the skulls and bones of
+      buffalo, for here a year or two before the Indians had made a &ldquo;surround&rdquo;;
+      yet no living game presented itself. At length, however, an antelope
+      sprang up and gazed at us. We fired together, and by a singular fatality
+      we both missed, although the animal stood, a fair mark, within eighty
+      yards. This ill success might perhaps be charged to our own eagerness, for
+      by this time we had no provision left except a little flour. We could
+      discern several small lakes, or rather extensive pools of water,
+      glistening in the distance. As we approached them, wolves and antelopes
+      bounded away through the tall grass that grew in their vicinity, and
+      flocks of large white plover flew screaming over their surface. Having
+      failed of the antelope, Raymond tried his hand at the birds with the same
+      ill success. The water also disappointed us. Its muddy margin was so
+      beaten up by the crowd of buffalo that our timorous animals were afraid to
+      approach. So we turned away and moved toward the hills. The rank grass,
+      where it was not trampled down by the buffalo, fairly swept our horses&rsquo;
+      necks.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Again we found the same execrable barren prairie offering no clew by which
+      to guide our way. As we drew near the hills an opening appeared, through
+      which the Indians must have gone if they had passed that way at all.
+      Slowly we began to ascend it. I felt the most dreary forebodings of ill
+      success, when on looking round I could discover neither dent of hoof, nor
+      footprint, nor trace of lodge-pole, though the passage was encumbered by
+      the ghastly skulls of buffalo. We heard thunder muttering; a storm was
+      coming on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As we gained the top of the gap, the prospect beyond began to disclose
+      itself. First, we saw a long dark line of ragged clouds upon the horizon,
+      while above them rose the peak of the Medicine-Bow, the vanguard of the
+      Rocky Mountains; then little by little the plain came into view, a vast
+      green uniformity, forlorn and tenantless, though Laramie Creek glistened
+      in a waving line over its surface, without a bush or a tree upon its
+      banks. As yet, the round projecting shoulder of a hill intercepted a part
+      of the view. I rode in advance, when suddenly I could distinguish a few
+      dark spots on the prairie, along the bank of the stream.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Buffalo!&rdquo; said I. Then a sudden hope flashed upon me, and eagerly and
+      anxiously I looked again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Horses!&rdquo; exclaimed Raymond, with a tremendous oath, lashing his mule
+      forward as he spoke. More and more of the plain disclosed itself, and in
+      rapid succession more and more horses appeared, scattered along the river
+      bank, or feeding in bands over the prairie. Then, suddenly, standing in a
+      circle by the stream, swarming with their savage inhabitants, we saw
+      rising before us the tall lodges of the Ogallalla. Never did the heart of
+      wanderer more gladden at the sight of home than did mine at the sight of
+      those wild habitations!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0014" id="link2HCH0014">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XIV
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      THE OGALLALLA VILLAGE
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Such a narrative as this is hardly the place for portraying the mental
+      features of the Indians. The same picture, slightly changed in shade and
+      coloring, would serve with very few exceptions for all the tribes that lie
+      north of the Mexican territories. But with this striking similarity in
+      their modes of thought, the tribes of the lake and ocean shores, of the
+      forests and of the plains, differ greatly in their manner of life. Having
+      been domesticated for several weeks among one of the wildest of the wild
+      hordes that roam over the remote prairies, I had extraordinary
+      opportunities of observing them, and I flatter myself that a faithful
+      picture of the scenes that passed daily before my eyes may not be devoid
+      of interest and value. These men were thorough savages. Neither their
+      manners nor their ideas were in the slightest degree modified by contact
+      with civilization. They knew nothing of the power and real character of
+      the white men, and their children would scream in terror at the sight of
+      me. Their religion, their superstitions, and their prejudices were the
+      same that had been handed down to them from immemorial time. They fought
+      with the same weapons that their fathers fought with and wore the same
+      rude garments of skins.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Great changes are at hand in that region. With the stream of emigration to
+      Oregon and California, the buffalo will dwindle away, and the large
+      wandering communities who depend on them for support must be broken and
+      scattered. The Indians will soon be corrupted by the example of the
+      whites, abased by whisky, and overawed by military posts; so that within a
+      few years the traveler may pass in tolerable security through their
+      country. Its danger and its charm will have disappeared together.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As soon as Raymond and I discovered the village from the gap in the hills,
+      we were seen in our turn; keen eyes were constantly on the watch. As we
+      rode down upon the plain the side of the village nearest us was darkened
+      with a crowd of naked figures gathering around the lodges. Several men
+      came forward to meet us. I could distinguish among them the green blanket
+      of the Frenchman Reynal. When we came up the ceremony of shaking hands had
+      to be gone through with in due form, and then all were eager to know what
+      had become of the rest of my party. I satisfied them on this point, and we
+      all moved forward together toward the village.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You&rsquo;ve missed it,&rdquo; said Reynal; &ldquo;if you&rsquo;d been here day before yesterday,
+      you&rsquo;d have found the whole prairie over yonder black with buffalo as far
+      as you could see. There were no cows, though; nothing but bulls. We made a
+      &lsquo;surround&rsquo; every day till yesterday. See the village there; don&rsquo;t that
+      look like good living?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      In fact I could see, even at that distance, that long cords were stretched
+      from lodge to lodge, over which the meat, cut by the squaws into thin
+      sheets, was hanging to dry in the sun. I noticed too that the village was
+      somewhat smaller than when I had last seen it, and I asked Reynal the
+      cause. He said that the old Le Borgne had felt too weak to pass over the
+      mountains, and so had remained behind with all his relations, including
+      Mahto-Tatonka and his brothers. The Whirlwind too had been unwilling to
+      come so far, because, as Reynal said, he was afraid. Only half a dozen
+      lodges had adhered to him, the main body of the village setting their
+      chief&rsquo;s authority at naught, and taking the course most agreeable to their
+      inclinations.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What chiefs are there in the village now?&rdquo; said I.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said Reynal, &ldquo;there&rsquo;s old Red-Water, and the Eagle-Feather, and
+      the Big Crow, and the Mad Wolf and the Panther, and the White Shield, and&mdash;what&rsquo;s
+      his name?&mdash;the half-breed Cheyenne.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      By this time we were close to the village, and I observed that while the
+      greater part of the lodges were very large and neat in their appearance,
+      there was at one side a cluster of squalid, miserable huts. I looked
+      toward them, and made some remark about their wretched appearance. But I
+      was touching upon delicate ground.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My squaw&rsquo;s relations live in those lodges,&rdquo; said Reynal very warmly, &ldquo;and
+      there isn&rsquo;t a better set in the whole village.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Are there any chiefs among them?&rdquo; asked I.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Chiefs?&rdquo; said Reynal; &ldquo;yes, plenty!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What are their names?&rdquo; I inquired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Their names? Why, there&rsquo;s the Arrow-Head. If he isn&rsquo;t a chief he ought to
+      be one. And there&rsquo;s the Hail-Storm. He&rsquo;s nothing but a boy, to be sure;
+      but he&rsquo;s bound to be a chief one of these days!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Just then we passed between two of the lodges, and entered the great area
+      of the village. Superb naked figures stood silently gazing on us.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where&rsquo;s the Bad Wound&rsquo;s lodge?&rdquo; said I to Reynal.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There, you&rsquo;ve missed it again! The Bad Wound is away with The Whirlwind.
+      If you could have found him here, and gone to live in his lodge, he would
+      have treated you better than any man in the village. But there&rsquo;s the Big
+      Crow&rsquo;s lodge yonder, next to old Red-Water&rsquo;s. He&rsquo;s a good Indian for the
+      whites, and I advise you to go and live with him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Are there many squaws and children in his lodge?&rdquo; said I.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No; only one squaw and two or three children. He keeps the rest in a
+      separate lodge by themselves.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So, still followed by a crowd of Indians, Raymond and I rode up to the
+      entrance of the Big Crow&rsquo;s lodge. A squaw came out immediately and took
+      our horses. I put aside the leather nap that covered the low opening, and
+      stooping, entered the Big Crow&rsquo;s dwelling. There I could see the chief in
+      the dim light, seated at one side, on a pile of buffalo robes. He greeted
+      me with a guttural &ldquo;How, cola!&rdquo; I requested Reynal to tell him that
+      Raymond and I were come to live with him. The Big Crow gave another low
+      exclamation. If the reader thinks that we were intruding somewhat
+      cavalierly, I beg him to observe that every Indian in the village would
+      have deemed himself honored that white men should give such preference to
+      his hospitality.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The squaw spread a buffalo robe for us in the guest&rsquo;s place at the head of
+      the lodge. Our saddles were brought in, and scarcely were we seated upon
+      them before the place was thronged with Indians, who came crowding in to
+      see us. The Big Crow produced his pipe and filled it with the mixture of
+      tobacco and shongsasha, or red willow bark. Round and round it passed, and
+      a lively conversation went forward. Meanwhile a squaw placed before the
+      two guests a wooden bowl of boiled buffalo meat, but unhappily this was
+      not the only banquet destined to be inflicted on us. Rapidly, one after
+      another, boys and young squaws thrust their heads in at the opening, to
+      invite us to various feasts in different parts of the village. For half an
+      hour or more we were actively engaged in passing from lodge to lodge,
+      tasting in each of the bowl of meat set before us, and inhaling a whiff or
+      two from our entertainer&rsquo;s pipe. A thunderstorm that had been threatening
+      for some time now began in good earnest. We crossed over to Reynal&rsquo;s
+      lodge, though it hardly deserved this name, for it consisted only of a few
+      old buffalo robes, supported on poles, and was quite open on one side.
+      Here we sat down, and the Indians gathered round us.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is it,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;that makes the thunder?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It&rsquo;s my belief,&rdquo; said Reynal, &ldquo;that it is a big stone rolling over the
+      sky.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very likely,&rdquo; I replied; &ldquo;but I want to know what the Indians think about
+      it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So he interpreted my question, which seemed to produce some doubt and
+      debate. There was evidently a difference of opinion. At last old
+      Mene-Seela, or Red-Water, who sat by himself at one side, looked up with
+      his withered face, and said he had always known what the thunder was. It
+      was a great black bird; and once he had seen it, in a dream, swooping down
+      from the Black Hills, with its loud roaring wings; and when it flapped
+      them over a lake, they struck lightning from the water.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The thunder is bad,&rdquo; said another old man, who sat muffled in his buffalo
+      robe; &ldquo;he killed my brother last summer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Reynal, at my request, asked for an explanation; but the old man remained
+      doggedly silent, and would not look up. Some time after I learned how the
+      accident occurred. The man who was killed belonged to an association
+      which, among other mystic functions, claimed the exclusive power and
+      privilege of fighting the thunder. Whenever a storm which they wished to
+      avert was threatening, the thunder-fighters would take their bows and
+      arrows, their guns, their magic drum, and a sort of whistle, made out of
+      the wingbone of the war eagle. Thus equipped, they would run out and fire
+      at the rising cloud, whooping, yelling, whistling, and beating their drum,
+      to frighten it down again. One afternoon a heavy black cloud was coming
+      up, and they repaired to the top of a hill, where they brought all their
+      magic artillery into play against it. But the undaunted thunder, refusing
+      to be terrified, kept moving straight onward, and darted out a bright
+      flash which struck one of the party dead, as he was in the very act of
+      shaking his long iron-pointed lance against it. The rest scattered and ran
+      yelling in an ecstasy of superstitious terror back to their lodges.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The lodge of my host Kongra-Tonga, or the Big Crow, presented a
+      picturesque spectacle that evening. A score or more of Indians were seated
+      around in a circle, their dark naked forms just visible by the dull light
+      of the smoldering fire in the center, the pipe glowing brightly in the
+      gloom as it passed from hand to hand round the lodge. Then a squaw would
+      drop a piece of buffalo-fat on the dull embers. Instantly a bright
+      glancing flame would leap up, darting its clear light to the very apex of
+      the tall conical structure, where the tops of the slender poles that
+      supported its covering of leather were gathered together. It gilded the
+      features of the Indians, as with animated gestures they sat around it,
+      telling their endless stories of war and hunting. It displayed rude
+      garments of skins that hung around the lodge; the bow, quiver, and lance
+      suspended over the resting-place of the chief, and the rifles and
+      powder-horns of the two white guests. For a moment all would be bright as
+      day; then the flames would die away, and fitful flashes from the embers
+      would illumine the lodge, and then leave it in darkness. Then all the
+      light would wholly fade, and the lodge and all within it be involved again
+      in obscurity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As I left the lodge next morning, I was saluted by howling and yelling
+      from all around the village, and half its canine population rushed forth
+      to the attack. Being as cowardly as they were clamorous, they kept jumping
+      around me at the distance of a few yards, only one little cur, about ten
+      inches long, having spirit enough to make a direct assault. He dashed
+      valiantly at the leather tassel which in the Dakota fashion was trailing
+      behind the heel of my moccasin, and kept his hold, growling and snarling
+      all the while, though every step I made almost jerked him over on his
+      back. As I knew that the eyes of the whole village were on the watch to
+      see if I showed any sign of apprehension, I walked forward without looking
+      to the right or left, surrounded wherever I went by this magic circle of
+      dogs. When I came to Reynal&rsquo;s lodge I sat down by it, on which the dogs
+      dispersed growling to their respective quarters. Only one large white one
+      remained, who kept running about before me and showing his teeth. I called
+      him, but he only growled the more. I looked at him well. He was fat and
+      sleek; just such a dog as I wanted. &ldquo;My friend,&rdquo; thought I, &ldquo;you shall pay
+      for this! I will have you eaten this very morning!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I intended that day to give the Indians a feast, by way of conveying a
+      favorable impression of my character and dignity; and a white dog is the
+      dish which the customs of the Dakota prescribe for all occasions of
+      formality and importance. I consulted Reynal; he soon discovered that an
+      old woman in the next lodge was owner of the white dog. I took a gaudy
+      cotton handkerchief, and laying it on the ground, arranged some vermilion,
+      beads, and other trinkets upon it. Then the old squaw was summoned. I
+      pointed to the dog and to the handkerchief. She gave a scream of delight,
+      snatched up the prize, and vanished with it into her lodge. For a few more
+      trifles I engaged the services of two other squaws, each of whom took the
+      white dog by one of his paws, and led him away behind the lodges, while he
+      kept looking up at them with a face of innocent surprise. Having killed
+      him they threw him into a fire to singe; then chopped him up and put him
+      into two large kettles to boil. Meanwhile I told Raymond to fry in
+      buffalo-fat what little flour we had left, and also to make a kettle of
+      tea as an additional item of the repast.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Big Crow&rsquo;s squaw was set briskly at work sweeping out the lodge for
+      the approaching festivity. I confided to my host himself the task of
+      inviting the guests, thinking that I might thereby shift from my own
+      shoulders the odium of fancied neglect and oversight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When feasting is in question, one hour of the day serves an Indian as well
+      as another. My entertainment came off about eleven o&rsquo;clock. At that hour,
+      Reynal and Raymond walked across the area of the village, to the
+      admiration of the inhabitants, carrying the two kettles of dog-meat slung
+      on a pole between them. These they placed in the center of the lodge, and
+      then went back for the bread and the tea. Meanwhile I had put on a pair of
+      brilliant moccasins, and substituted for my old buckskin frock a coat
+      which I had brought with me in view of such public occasions. I also made
+      careful use of the razor, an operation which no man will neglect who
+      desires to gain the good opinion of Indians. Thus attired, I seated myself
+      between Reynal and Raymond at the head of the lodge. Only a few minutes
+      elapsed before all the guests had come in and were seated on the ground,
+      wedged together in a close circle around the lodge. Each brought with him
+      a wooden bowl to hold his share of the repast. When all were assembled,
+      two of the officials called &ldquo;soldiers&rdquo; by the white men, came forward with
+      ladles made of the horn of the Rocky Mountain sheep, and began to
+      distribute the feast, always assigning a double share to the old men and
+      chiefs. The dog vanished with astonishing celerity, and each guest turned
+      his dish bottom upward to show that all was gone. Then the bread was
+      distributed in its turn, and finally the tea. As the soldiers poured it
+      out into the same wooden bowls that had served for the substantial part of
+      the meal, I thought it had a particularly curious and uninviting color.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh!&rdquo; said Reynal, &ldquo;there was not tea enough, so I stirred some soot in
+      the kettle, to make it look strong.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Fortunately an Indian&rsquo;s palate is not very discriminating. The tea was
+      well sweetened, and that was all they cared for.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now the former part of the entertainment being concluded, the time for
+      speech-making was come. The Big Crow produced a flat piece of wood on
+      which he cut up tobacco and shongsasha, and mixed them in due proportions.
+      The pipes were filled and passed from hand to hand around the company.
+      Then I began my speech, each sentence being interpreted by Reynal as I
+      went on, and echoed by the whole audience with the usual exclamations of
+      assent and approval. As nearly as I can recollect, it was as follows:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I had come, I told them, from a country so far distant, that at the rate
+      they travel, they could not reach it in a year.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Howo how!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There the Meneaska were more numerous than the blades of grass on the
+      prairie. The squaws were far more beautiful than any they had ever seen,
+      and all the men were brave warriors.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How! how! how!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Here I was assailed by sharp twinges of conscience, for I fancied I could
+      perceive a fragrance of perfumery in the air, and a vision rose before me
+      of white kid gloves and silken mustaches with the mild and gentle
+      countenances of numerous fair-haired young men. But I recovered myself and
+      began again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;While I was living in the Meneaska lodges, I had heard of the Ogallalla,
+      how great and brave a nation they were, how they loved the whites, and how
+      well they could hunt the buffalo and strike their enemies. I resolved to
+      come and see if all that I heard was true.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How! how! how! how!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As I had come on horseback through the mountains, I had been able to
+      bring them only a very few presents.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But I had enough tobacco to give them all a small piece. They might smoke
+      it, and see how much better it was than the tobacco which they got from
+      the traders.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How! how! how!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I had plenty of powder, lead, knives, and tobacco at Fort Laramie. These
+      I was anxious to give them, and if any of them should come to the fort
+      before I went away, I would make them handsome presents.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How! howo how! how!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Raymond then cut up and distributed among them two or three pounds of
+      tobacco, and old Mene-Seela began to make a reply. It was quite long, but
+      the following was the pith of it:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He had always loved the whites. They were the wisest people on earth. He
+      believed they could do everything, and he was always glad when any of them
+      came to live in the Ogallalla lodges. It was true I had not made them many
+      presents, but the reason of it was plain. It was clear that I liked them,
+      or I never should have come so far to find their village.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Several other speeches of similar import followed, and then this more
+      serious matter being disposed of, there was an interval of smoking,
+      laughing, and conversation; but old Mene-Seela suddenly interrupted it
+      with a loud voice:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now is a good time,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;when all the old men and chiefs are here
+      together, to decide what the people shall do. We came over the mountain to
+      make our lodges for next year. Our old ones are good for nothing; they are
+      rotten and worn out. But we have been disappointed. We have killed buffalo
+      bulls enough, but we have found no herds of cows, and the skins of bulls
+      are too thick and heavy for our squaws to make lodges of. There must be
+      plenty of cows about the Medicine-Bow Mountain. We ought to go there. To
+      be sure it is farther westward than we have ever been before, and perhaps
+      the Snakes will attack us, for those hunting-grounds belong to them. But
+      we must have new lodges at any rate; our old ones will not serve for
+      another year. We ought not to be afraid of the Snakes. Our warriors are
+      brave, and they are all ready for war. Besides, we have three white men
+      with their rifles to help us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I could not help thinking that the old man relied a little too much on the
+      aid of allies, one of whom was a coward, another a blockhead, and the
+      third an invalid. This speech produced a good deal of debate. As Reynal
+      did not interpret what was said, I could only judge of the meaning by the
+      features and gestures of the speakers. At the end of it, however, the
+      greater number seemed to have fallen in with Mene-Seela&rsquo;s opinion. A short
+      silence followed, and then the old man struck up a discordant chant, which
+      I was told was a song of thanks for the entertainment I had given them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;let us go and give the white men a chance to breathe.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So the company all dispersed into the open air, and for some time the old
+      chief was walking round the village, singing his song in praise of the
+      feast, after the usual custom of the nation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At last the day drew to a close, and as the sun went down the horses came
+      trooping from the surrounding plains to be picketed before the dwellings
+      of their respective masters. Soon within the great circle of lodges
+      appeared another concentric circle of restless horses; and here and there
+      fires were glowing and flickering amid the gloom of the dusky figures
+      around them. I went over and sat by the lodge of Reynal. The
+      Eagle-Feather, who was a son of Mene-Seela, and brother of my host the Big
+      Crow, was seated there already, and I asked him if the village would move
+      in the morning. He shook his head, and said that nobody could tell, for
+      since old Mahto-Tatonka had died, the people had been like children that
+      did not know their own minds. They were no better than a body without a
+      head. So I, as well as the Indians themselves, fell asleep that night
+      without knowing whether we should set out in the morning toward the
+      country of the Snakes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At daybreak, however, as I was coming up from the river after my morning&rsquo;s
+      ablutions, I saw that a movement was contemplated. Some of the lodges were
+      reduced to nothing but bare skeletons of poles; the leather covering of
+      others was flapping in the wind as the squaws were pulling it off. One or
+      two chiefs of note had resolved, it seemed, on moving; and so having set
+      their squaws at work, the example was tacitly followed by the rest of the
+      village. One by one the lodges were sinking down in rapid succession, and
+      where the great circle of the village had been only a moment before,
+      nothing now remained but a ring of horses and Indians, crowded in
+      confusion together. The ruins of the lodges were spread over the ground,
+      together with kettles, stone mallets, great ladles of horn, buffalo robes,
+      and cases of painted hide, filled with dried meat. Squaws bustled about in
+      their busy preparations, the old hags screaming to one another at the
+      stretch of their leathern lungs. The shaggy horses were patiently standing
+      while the lodge-poles were lashed to their sides, and the baggage piled
+      upon their backs. The dogs, with their tongues lolling out, lay lazily
+      panting, and waiting for the time of departure. Each warrior sat on the
+      ground by the decaying embers of his fire, unmoved amid all the confusion,
+      while he held in his hand the long trail-rope of his horse.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As their preparations were completed, each family moved off the ground.
+      The crowd was rapidly melting away. I could see them crossing the river,
+      and passing in quick succession along the profile of the hill on the
+      farther bank. When all were gone, I mounted and set out after them,
+      followed by Raymond, and as we gained the summit, the whole village came
+      in view at once, straggling away for a mile or more over the barren plains
+      before us. Everywhere the iron points of lances were glittering. The sun
+      never shone upon a more strange array. Here were the heavy-laden pack
+      horses, some wretched old women leading them, and two or three children
+      clinging to their backs. Here were mules or ponies covered from head to
+      tail with gaudy trappings, and mounted by some gay young squaw, grinning
+      bashfulness and pleasure as the Meneaska looked at her. Boys with
+      miniature bows and arrows were wandering over the plains, little naked
+      children were running along on foot, and numberless dogs were scampering
+      among the feet of the horses. The young braves, gaudy with paint and
+      feathers, were riding in groups among the crowd, and often galloping, two
+      or three at once along the line, to try the speed of their horses. Here
+      and there you might see a rank of sturdy pedestrians stalking along in
+      their white buffalo robes. These were the dignitaries of the village, the
+      old men and warriors, to whose age and experience that wandering democracy
+      yielded a silent deference. With the rough prairie and the broken hills
+      for its background, the restless scene was striking and picturesque beyond
+      description. Days and weeks made me familiar with it, but never impaired
+      its effect upon my fancy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As we moved on the broken column grew yet more scattered and disorderly,
+      until, as we approached the foot of a hill, I saw the old men before
+      mentioned seating themselves in a line upon the ground, in advance of the
+      whole. They lighted a pipe and sat smoking, laughing, and telling stories,
+      while the people, stopping as they successively came up, were soon
+      gathered in a crowd behind them. Then the old men rose, drew their buffalo
+      robes over their shoulders, and strode on as before. Gaining the top of
+      the hill, we found a very steep declivity before us. There was not a
+      minute&rsquo;s pause. The whole descended in a mass, amid dust and confusion.
+      The horses braced their feet as they slid down, women and children were
+      screaming, dogs yelping as they were trodden upon, while stones and earth
+      went rolling to the bottom. In a few moments I could see the village from
+      the summit, spreading again far and wide over the plain below.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At our encampment that afternoon I was attacked anew by my old disorder.
+      In half an hour the strength that I had been gaining for a week past had
+      vanished again, and I became like a man in a dream. But at sunset I lay
+      down in the Big Crow&rsquo;s lodge and slept, totally unconscious till the
+      morning. The first thing that awakened me was a hoarse flapping over my
+      head, and a sudden light that poured in upon me. The camp was breaking up,
+      and the squaws were moving the covering from the lodge. I arose and shook
+      off my blanket with the feeling of perfect health; but scarcely had I
+      gained my feet when a sense of my helpless condition was once more forced
+      upon me, and I found myself scarcely able to stand. Raymond had brought up
+      Pauline and the mule, and I stooped to raise my saddle from the ground. My
+      strength was quite inadequate to the task. &ldquo;You must saddle her,&rdquo; said I
+      to Raymond, as I sat down again on a pile of buffalo robes:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Et hoec etiam fortasse meminisse juvabit.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I thought, while with a painful effort I raised myself into the saddle.
+      Half an hour after, even the expectation that Virgil&rsquo;s line expressed
+      seemed destined to disappointment. As we were passing over a great plain,
+      surrounded by long broken ridges, I rode slowly in advance of the Indians,
+      with thoughts that wandered far from the time and from the place. Suddenly
+      the sky darkened, and thunder began to mutter. Clouds were rising over the
+      hills, as dreary and dull as the first forebodings of an approaching
+      calamity; and in a moment all around was wrapped in shadow. I looked
+      behind. The Indians had stopped to prepare for the approaching storm, and
+      the dark, dense mass of savages stretched far to the right and left. Since
+      the first attack of my disorder the effects of rain upon me had usually
+      been injurious in the extreme. I had no strength to spare, having at that
+      moment scarcely enough to keep my seat on horseback. Then, for the first
+      time, it pressed upon me as a strong probability that I might never leave
+      those deserts. &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; thought I to myself, &ldquo;a prairie makes quick and
+      sharp work. Better to die here, in the saddle to the last, than to stifle
+      in the hot air of a sick chamber, and a thousand times better than to drag
+      out life, as many have done, in the helpless inaction of lingering
+      disease.&rdquo; So, drawing the buffalo robe on which I sat over my head, I
+      waited till the storm should come. It broke at last with a sudden burst of
+      fury, and passing away as rapidly as it came, left the sky clear again. My
+      reflections served me no other purpose than to look back upon as a piece
+      of curious experience; for the rain did not produce the ill effects that I
+      had expected. We encamped within an hour. Having no change of clothes, I
+      contrived to borrow a curious kind of substitute from Reynal: and this
+      done, I went home, that is, to the Big Crow&rsquo;s lodge to make the entire
+      transfer that was necessary. Half a dozen squaws were in the lodge, and
+      one of them taking my arm held it against her own, while a general laugh
+      and scream of admiration were raised at the contrast in the color of the
+      skin.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Our encampment that afternoon was not far distant from a spur of the Black
+      Hills, whose ridges, bristling with fir trees, rose from the plains a mile
+      or two on our right. That they might move more rapidly toward their
+      proposed hunting-grounds, the Indians determined to leave at this place
+      their stock of dried meat and other superfluous articles. Some left even
+      their lodges, and contented themselves with carrying a few hides to make a
+      shelter from the sun and rain. Half the inhabitants set out in the
+      afternoon, with loaded pack horses, toward the mountains. Here they
+      suspended the dried meat upon trees, where the wolves and grizzly bears
+      could not get at it. All returned at evening. Some of the young men
+      declared that they had heard the reports of guns among the mountains to
+      the eastward, and many surmises were thrown out as to the origin of these
+      sounds. For my part, I was in hopes that Shaw and Henry Chatillon were
+      coming to join us. I would have welcomed them cordially, for I had no
+      other companions than two brutish white men and five hundred savages. I
+      little suspected that at that very moment my unlucky comrade was lying on
+      a buffalo robe at Fort Laramie, fevered with ivy poison, and solacing his
+      woes with tobacco and Shakespeare.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As we moved over the plains on the next morning, several young men were
+      riding about the country as scouts; and at length we began to see them
+      occasionally on the tops of the hills, shaking their robes as a signal
+      that they saw buffalo. Soon after, some bulls came in sight. Horsemen
+      darted away in pursuit, and we could see from the distance that one or two
+      of the buffalo were killed. Raymond suddenly became inspired. I looked at
+      him as he rode by my side; his face had actually grown intelligent!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This is the country for me!&rdquo; he said; &ldquo;if I could only carry the buffalo
+      that are killed here every month down to St. Louis I&rsquo;d make my fortune in
+      one winter. I&rsquo;d grow as rich as old Papin, or Mackenzie either. I call
+      this the poor man&rsquo;s market. When I&rsquo;m hungry I have only got to take my
+      rifle and go out and get better meat than the rich folks down below can
+      get with all their money. You won&rsquo;t catch me living in St. Louis another
+      winter.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; said Reynal, &ldquo;you had better say that after you and your Spanish
+      woman almost starved to death there. What a fool you were ever to take her
+      to the settlements.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your Spanish woman?&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;I never heard of her before. Are you
+      married to her?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; answered Raymond, again looking intelligent; &ldquo;the priests don&rsquo;t
+      marry their women, and why should I marry mine?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This honorable mention of the Mexican clergy introduced the subject of
+      religion, and I found that my two associates, in common with other white
+      men in the country, were as indifferent to their future welfare as men
+      whose lives are in constant peril are apt to be. Raymond had never heard
+      of the Pope. A certain bishop, who lived at Taos or at Santa Fe, embodied
+      his loftiest idea of an ecclesiastical dignitary. Reynal observed that a
+      priest had been at Fort Laramie two years ago, on his way to the Nez Perce
+      mission, and that he had confessed all the men there and given them
+      absolution. &ldquo;I got a good clearing out myself that time,&rdquo; said Reynal,
+      &ldquo;and I reckon that will do for me till I go down to the settlements
+      again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Here he interrupted himself with an oath and exclaimed: &ldquo;Look! look! The
+      Panther is running an antelope!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Panther, on his black and white horse, one of the best in the village,
+      came at full speed over the hill in hot pursuit of an antelope that darted
+      away like lightning before him. The attempt was made in mere sport and
+      bravado, for very few are the horses that can for a moment compete in
+      swiftness with this little animal. The antelope ran down the hill toward
+      the main body of the Indians who were moving over the plain below. Sharp
+      yells were given and horsemen galloped out to intercept his flight. At
+      this he turned sharply to the left and scoured away with such incredible
+      speed that he distanced all his pursuers and even the vaunted horse of the
+      Panther himself. A few moments after we witnessed a more serious sport. A
+      shaggy buffalo bull bounded out from a neighboring hollow, and close
+      behind him came a slender Indian boy, riding without stirrups or saddle
+      and lashing his eager little horse to full speed. Yard after yard he drew
+      closer to his gigantic victim, though the bull, with his short tail erect
+      and his tongue lolling out a foot from his foaming jaws, was straining his
+      unwieldy strength to the utmost. A moment more and the boy was close
+      alongside of him. It was our friend the Hail-Storm. He dropped the rein on
+      his horse&rsquo;s neck and jerked an arrow like lightning from the quiver at his
+      shoulder.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I tell you,&rdquo; said Reynal, &ldquo;that in a year&rsquo;s time that boy will match the
+      best hunter in the village. There he has given it to him! and there goes
+      another! You feel well, now, old bull, don&rsquo;t you, with two arrows stuck in
+      your lights? There, he has given him another! Hear how the Hail-Storm
+      yells when he shoots! Yes, jump at him; try it again, old fellow! You may
+      jump all day before you get your horns into that pony!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The bull sprang again and again at his assailant, but the horse kept
+      dodging with wonderful celerity. At length the bull followed up his attack
+      with a furious rush, and the Hail-Storm was put to flight, the shaggy
+      monster following close behind. The boy clung in his seat like a leech,
+      and secure in the speed of his little pony, looked round toward us and
+      laughed. In a moment he was again alongside of the bull, who was now
+      driven to complete desperation. His eyeballs glared through his tangled
+      mane, and the blood flew from his mouth and nostrils. Thus, still battling
+      with each other, the two enemies disappeared over the hill.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Many of the Indians rode at full gallop toward the spot. We followed at a
+      more moderate pace, and soon saw the bull lying dead on the side of the
+      hill. The Indians were gathered around him, and several knives were
+      already at work. These little instruments were plied with such wonderful
+      address that the twisted sinews were cut apart, the ponderous bones fell
+      asunder as if by magic, and in a moment the vast carcass was reduced to a
+      heap of bloody ruins. The surrounding group of savages offered no very
+      attractive spectacle to a civilized eye. Some were cracking the huge
+      thigh-bones and devouring the marrow within; others were cutting away
+      pieces of the liver and other approved morsels, and swallowing them on the
+      spot with the appetite of wolves. The faces of most of them, besmeared
+      with blood from ear to ear, looked grim and horrible enough. My friend the
+      White Shield proffered me a marrowbone, so skillfully laid open that all
+      the rich substance within was exposed to view at once. Another Indian held
+      out a large piece of the delicate lining of the paunch; but these
+      courteous offerings I begged leave to decline. I noticed one little boy
+      who was very busy with his knife about the jaws and throat of the buffalo,
+      from which he extracted some morsel of peculiar delicacy. It is but fair
+      to say that only certain parts of the animal are considered eligible in
+      these extempore banquets. The Indians would look with abhorrence on anyone
+      who should partake indiscriminately of the newly killed carcass.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We encamped that night, and marched westward through the greater part of
+      the following day. On the next morning we again resumed our journey. It
+      was the 17th of July, unless my notebook misleads me. At noon we stopped
+      by some pools of rain-water, and in the afternoon again set forward. This
+      double movement was contrary to the usual practice of the Indians, but all
+      were very anxious to reach the hunting ground, kill the necessary number
+      of buffalo, and retreat as soon as possible from the dangerous
+      neighborhood. I pass by for the present some curious incidents that
+      occurred during these marches and encampments. Late in the afternoon of
+      the last-mentioned day we came upon the banks of a little sandy stream, of
+      which the Indians could not tell the name; for they were very ill
+      acquainted with that part of the country. So parched and arid were the
+      prairies around that they could not supply grass enough for the horses to
+      feed upon, and we were compelled to move farther and farther up the stream
+      in search of ground for encampment. The country was much wilder than
+      before. The plains were gashed with ravines and broken into hollows and
+      steep declivities, which flanked our course, as, in long-scattered array,
+      the Indians advanced up the side of the stream. Mene-Seela consulted an
+      extraordinary oracle to instruct him where the buffalo were to be found.
+      When he with the other chiefs sat down on the grass to smoke and converse,
+      as they often did during the march, the old man picked up one of those
+      enormous black-and-green crickets, which the Dakota call by a name that
+      signifies &ldquo;They who point out the buffalo.&rdquo; The Root-Diggers, a wretched
+      tribe beyond the mountains, turn them to good account by making them into
+      a sort of soup, pronounced by certain unscrupulous trappers to be
+      extremely rich. Holding the bloated insect respectfully between his
+      fingers and thumb, the old Indian looked attentively at him and inquired,
+      &ldquo;Tell me, my father, where must we go to-morrow to find the buffalo?&rdquo; The
+      cricket twisted about his long horns in evident embarrassment. At last he
+      pointed, or seemed to point, them westward. Mene-Seela, dropping him
+      gently on the grass, laughed with great glee, and said that if we went
+      that way in the morning we should be sure to kill plenty of game.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Toward evening we came upon a fresh green meadow, traversed by the stream,
+      and deep-set among tall sterile bluffs. The Indians descended its steep
+      bank; and as I was at the rear, I was one of the last to reach this point.
+      Lances were glittering, feathers fluttering, and the water below me was
+      crowded with men and horses passing through, while the meadow beyond was
+      swarming with the restless crowd of Indians. The sun was just setting, and
+      poured its softened light upon them through an opening in the hills.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I remarked to Reynal that at last we had found a good camping-ground.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, it is very good,&rdquo; replied he ironically; &ldquo;especially if there is a
+      Snake war party about, and they take it into their heads to shoot down at
+      us from the top of these hills. It is no plan of mine, camping in such a
+      hole as this!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Indians also seemed apprehensive. High up on the top of the tallest
+      bluff, conspicuous in the bright evening sunlight, sat a naked warrior on
+      horseback, looking around, as it seemed, over the neighboring country; and
+      Raymond told me that many of the young men had gone out in different
+      directions as scouts.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The shadows had reached to the very summit of the bluffs before the lodges
+      were erected and the village reduced again to quiet and order. A cry was
+      suddenly raised, and men, women, and children came running out with
+      animated faces, and looked eagerly through the opening on the hills by
+      which the stream entered from the westward. I could discern afar off some
+      dark, heavy masses, passing over the sides of a low hill. They
+      disappeared, and then others followed. These were bands of buffalo cows.
+      The hunting-ground was reached at last, and everything promised well for
+      the morrow&rsquo;s sport. Being fatigued and exhausted, I went and lay down in
+      Kongra-Tonga&rsquo;s lodge, when Raymond thrust in his head, and called upon me
+      to come and see some sport. A number of Indians were gathered, laughing,
+      along the line of lodges on the western side of the village, and at some
+      distance, I could plainly see in the twilight two huge black monsters
+      stalking, heavily and solemnly, directly toward us. They were buffalo
+      bulls. The wind blew from them to the village, and such was their
+      blindness and stupidity that they were advancing upon the enemy without
+      the least consciousness of his presence. Raymond told me that two men had
+      hidden themselves with guns in a ravine about twenty yards in front of us.
+      The two bulls walked slowly on, heavily swinging from side to side in
+      their peculiar gait of stupid dignity. They approached within four or five
+      rods of the ravine where the Indians lay in ambush. Here at last they
+      seemed conscious that something was wrong, for they both stopped and stood
+      perfectly still, without looking either to the right or to the left.
+      Nothing of them was to be seen but two huge black masses of shaggy mane,
+      with horns, eyes, and nose in the center, and a pair of hoofs visible at
+      the bottom. At last the more intelligent of them seemed to have concluded
+      that it was time to retire. Very slowly, and with an air of the gravest
+      and most majestic deliberation, he began to turn round, as if he were
+      revolving on a pivot. Little by little his ugly brown side was exposed to
+      view. A white smoke sprang out, as it were from the ground; a sharp report
+      came with it. The old bull gave a very undignified jump and galloped off.
+      At this his comrade wheeled about with considerable expedition. The other
+      Indian shot at him from the ravine, and then both the bulls were running
+      away at full speed, while half the juvenile population of the village
+      raised a yell and ran after them. The first bull was soon stopped, and
+      while the crowd stood looking at him at a respectable distance, he reeled
+      and rolled over on his side. The other, wounded in a less vital part,
+      galloped away to the hills and escaped.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In half an hour it was totally dark. I lay down to sleep, and ill as I
+      was, there was something very animating in the prospect of the general
+      hunt that was to take place on the morrow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0015" id="link2HCH0015">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XV
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      THE HUNTING CAMP
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Long before daybreak the Indians broke up their camp. The women of
+      Mene-Seela&rsquo;s lodge were as usual among the first that were ready for
+      departure, and I found the old man himself sitting by the embers of the
+      decayed fire, over which he was warming his withered fingers, as the
+      morning was very chilly and damp. The preparations for moving were even
+      more confused and disorderly than usual. While some families were leaving
+      the ground the lodges of others were still standing untouched. At this old
+      Mene-Seela grew impatient, and walking out to the middle of the village
+      stood with his robe wrapped close around him, and harangued the people in
+      a loud, sharp voice. Now, he said, when they were on an enemy&rsquo;s
+      hunting-grounds, was not the time to behave like children; they ought to
+      be more active and united than ever. His speech had some effect. The
+      delinquents took down their lodges and loaded their pack horses; and when
+      the sun rose, the last of the men, women, and children had left the
+      deserted camp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This movement was made merely for the purpose of finding a better and
+      safer position. So we advanced only three or four miles up the little
+      stream, before each family assumed its relative place in the great ring of
+      the village, and all around the squaws were actively at work in preparing
+      the camp. But not a single warrior dismounted from his horse. All the men
+      that morning were mounted on inferior animals, leading their best horses
+      by a cord, or confiding them to the care of boys. In small parties they
+      began to leave the ground and ride rapidly away over the plains to the
+      westward. I had taken no food that morning, and not being at all ambitious
+      of further abstinence, I went into my host&rsquo;s lodge, which his squaws had
+      erected with wonderful celerity, and sat down in the center, as a gentle
+      hint that I was hungry. A wooden bowl was soon set before me, filled with
+      the nutritious preparation of dried meat called pemmican by the northern
+      voyagers and wasna by the Dakota. Taking a handful to break my fast upon,
+      I left the lodge just in time to see the last band of hunters disappear
+      over the ridge of the neighboring hill. I mounted Pauline and galloped in
+      pursuit, riding rather by the balance than by any muscular strength that
+      remained to me. From the top of the hill I could overlook a wide extent of
+      desolate and unbroken prairie, over which, far and near, little parties of
+      naked horsemen were rapidly passing. I soon came up to the nearest, and we
+      had not ridden a mile before all were united into one large and compact
+      body. All was haste and eagerness. Each hunter was whipping on his horse,
+      as if anxious to be the first to reach the game. In such movements among
+      the Indians this is always more or less the case; but it was especially so
+      in the present instance, because the head chief of the village was absent,
+      and there were but few &ldquo;soldiers,&rdquo; a sort of Indian police, who among
+      their other functions usually assumed the direction of a buffalo hunt. No
+      man turned to the right hand or to the left. We rode at a swift canter
+      straight forward, uphill and downhill, and through the stiff, obstinate
+      growth of the endless wild-sage bushes. For an hour and a half the same
+      red shoulders, the same long black hair rose and fell with the motion of
+      the horses before me. Very little was said, though once I observed an old
+      man severely reproving Raymond for having left his rifle behind him, when
+      there was some probability of encountering an enemy before the day was
+      over. As we galloped across a plain thickly set with sagebushes, the
+      foremost riders vanished suddenly from sight, as if diving into the earth.
+      The arid soil was cracked into a deep ravine. Down we all went in
+      succession and galloped in a line along the bottom, until we found a point
+      where, one by one, the horses could scramble out. Soon after we came upon
+      a wide shallow stream, and as we rode swiftly over the hard sand-beds and
+      through the thin sheets of rippling water, many of the savage horsemen
+      threw themselves to the ground, knelt on the sand, snatched a hasty
+      draught, and leaping back again to their seats, galloped on again as
+      before.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Meanwhile scouts kept in advance of the party; and now we began to see
+      them on the ridge of the hills, waving their robes in token that buffalo
+      were visible. These however proved to be nothing more than old straggling
+      bulls, feeding upon the neighboring plains, who would stare for a moment
+      at the hostile array and then gallop clumsily off. At length we could
+      discern several of these scouts making their signals to us at once; no
+      longer waving their robes boldly from the top of the hill, but standing
+      lower down, so that they could not be seen from the plains beyond. Game
+      worth pursuing had evidently been discovered. The excited Indians now
+      urged forward their tired horses even more rapidly than before. Pauline,
+      who was still sick and jaded, began to groan heavily; and her yellow sides
+      were darkened with sweat. As we were crowding together over a lower
+      intervening hill, I heard Reynal and Raymond shouting to me from the left;
+      and looking in that direction, I saw them riding away behind a party of
+      about twenty mean-looking Indians. These were the relatives of Reynal&rsquo;s
+      squaw Margot, who, not wishing to take part in the general hunt, were
+      riding toward a distant hollow, where they could discern a small band of
+      buffalo which they meant to appropriate to themselves. I answered to the
+      call by ordering Raymond to turn back and follow me. He reluctantly
+      obeyed, though Reynal, who had relied on his assistance in skinning,
+      cutting up, and carrying to camp the buffalo that he and his party should
+      kill, loudly protested and declared that we should see no sport if we went
+      with the rest of the Indians. Followed by Raymond I pursued the main body
+      of hunters, while Reynal in a great rage whipped his horse over the hill
+      after his ragamuffin relatives. The Indians, still about a hundred in
+      number, rode in a dense body at some distance in advance. They galloped
+      forward, and a cloud of dust was flying in the wind behind them. I could
+      not overtake them until they had stopped on the side of the hill where the
+      scouts were standing. Here, each hunter sprang in haste from the tired
+      animal which he had ridden, and leaped upon the fresh horse that he had
+      brought with him. There was not a saddle or a bridle in the whole party. A
+      piece of buffalo robe girthed over the horse&rsquo;s back served in the place of
+      the one, and a cord of twisted hair lashed firmly round his lower jaw
+      answered for the other. Eagle feathers were dangling from every mane and
+      tail, as insignia of courage and speed. As for the rider, he wore no other
+      clothing than a light cincture at his waist, and a pair of moccasins. He
+      had a heavy whip, with a handle of solid elk-horn, and a lash of knotted
+      bull-hide, fastened to his wrist by an ornamental band. His bow was in his
+      hand, and his quiver of otter or panther skin hung at his shoulder. Thus
+      equipped, some thirty of the hunters galloped away toward the left, in
+      order to make a circuit under cover of the hills, that the buffalo might
+      be assailed on both sides at once. The rest impatiently waited until time
+      enough had elapsed for their companions to reach the required position.
+      Then riding upward in a body, we gained the ridge of the hill, and for the
+      first time came in sight of the buffalo on the plain beyond.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They were a band of cows, four or five hundred in number, who were crowded
+      together near the bank of a wide stream that was soaking across the
+      sand-beds of the valley. This was a large circular basin, sun-scorched and
+      broken, scantily covered with herbage and encompassed with high barren
+      hills, from an opening in which we could see our allies galloping out upon
+      the plain. The wind blew from that direction. The buffalo were aware of
+      their approach, and had begun to move, though very slowly and in a compact
+      mass. I have no further recollection of seeing the game until we were in
+      the midst of them, for as we descended the hill other objects engrossed my
+      attention. Numerous old bulls were scattered over the plain, and
+      ungallantly deserting their charge at our approach, began to wade and
+      plunge through the treacherous quick-sands or the stream, and gallop away
+      toward the hills. One old veteran was struggling behind all the rest with
+      one of his forelegs, which had been broken by some accident, dangling
+      about uselessly at his side. His appearance, as he went shambling along on
+      three legs, was so ludicrous that I could not help pausing for a moment to
+      look at him. As I came near, he would try to rush upon me, nearly throwing
+      himself down at every awkward attempt. Looking up, I saw the whole body of
+      Indians full a hundred yards in advance. I lashed Pauline in pursuit and
+      reached them just in time, for as we mingled among them, each hunter, as
+      if by a common impulse, violently struck his horse, each horse sprang
+      forward convulsively, and scattering in the charge in order to assail the
+      entire herd at once, we all rushed headlong upon the buffalo. We were
+      among them in an instant. Amid the trampling and the yells I could see
+      their dark figures running hither and thither through clouds of dust, and
+      the horsemen darting in pursuit. While we were charging on one side, our
+      companions had attacked the bewildered and panic-stricken herd on the
+      other. The uproar and confusion lasted but for a moment. The dust cleared
+      away, and the buffalo could be seen scattering as from a common center,
+      flying over the plain singly, or in long files and small compact bodies,
+      while behind each followed the Indians, lashing their horses to furious
+      speed, forcing them close upon their prey, and yelling as they launched
+      arrow after arrow into their sides. The large black carcasses were strewn
+      thickly over the ground. Here and there wounded buffalo were standing,
+      their bleeding sides feathered with arrows; and as I rode past them their
+      eyes would glare, they would bristle like gigantic cats, and feebly
+      attempt to rush up and gore my horse.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I left camp that morning with a philosophic resolution. Neither I nor my
+      horse were at that time fit for such sport, and I had determined to remain
+      a quiet spectator; but amid the rush of horses and buffalo, the uproar and
+      the dust, I found it impossible to sit still; and as four or five buffalo
+      ran past me in a line, I drove Pauline in pursuit. We went plunging close
+      at their heels through the water and the quick-sands, and clambering the
+      bank, chased them through the wild-sage bushes that covered the rising
+      ground beyond. But neither her native spirit nor the blows of the knotted
+      bull-hide could supply the place of poor Pauline&rsquo;s exhausted strength. We
+      could not gain an inch upon the poor fugitives. At last, however, they
+      came full upon a ravine too wide to leap over; and as this compelled them
+      to turn abruptly to the left, I contrived to get within ten or twelve
+      yards of the hindmost. At this she faced about, bristled angrily, and made
+      a show of charging. I shot at her with a large holster pistol, and hit her
+      somewhere in the neck. Down she tumbled into the ravine, whither her
+      companions had descended before her. I saw their dark backs appearing and
+      disappearing as they galloped along the bottom; then, one by one, they
+      came scrambling out on the other side and ran off as before, the wounded
+      animal following with unabated speed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Turning back, I saw Raymond coming on his black mule to meet me; and as we
+      rode over the field together, we counted dozens of carcasses lying on the
+      plain, in the ravines and on the sandy bed of the stream. Far away in the
+      distance, horses and buffalo were still scouring along, with little clouds
+      of dust rising behind them; and over the sides of the hills we could see
+      long files of the frightened animals rapidly ascending. The hunters began
+      to return. The boys, who had held the horses behind the hill, made their
+      appearance, and the work of flaying and cutting up began in earnest all
+      over the field. I noticed my host Kongra-Tonga beyond the stream, just
+      alighting by the side of a cow which he had killed. Riding up to him I
+      found him in the act of drawing out an arrow, which, with the exception of
+      the notch at the end, had entirely disappeared in the animal. I asked him
+      to give it to me, and I still retain it as a proof, though by no means the
+      most striking one that could be offered, of the force and dexterity with
+      which the Indians discharge their arrows.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The hides and meat were piled upon the horses, and the hunters began to
+      leave the ground. Raymond and I, too, getting tired of the scene, set out
+      for the village, riding straight across the intervening desert. There was
+      no path, and as far as I could see, no landmarks sufficient to guide us;
+      but Raymond seemed to have an instinctive perception of the point on the
+      horizon toward which we ought to direct our course. Antelope were bounding
+      on all sides, and as is always the case in the presence of buffalo, they
+      seemed to have lost their natural shyness and timidity. Bands of them
+      would run lightly up the rocky declivities, and stand gazing down upon us
+      from the summit. At length we could distinguish the tall white rocks and
+      the old pine trees that, as we well remembered, were just above the site
+      of the encampment. Still, we could see nothing of the village itself
+      until, ascending a grassy hill, we found the circle of lodges, dingy with
+      storms and smoke, standing on the plain at our very feet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I entered the lodge of my host. His squaw instantly brought me food and
+      water, and spread a buffalo robe for me to lie upon; and being much
+      fatigued, I lay down and fell asleep. In about an hour the entrance of
+      Kongra-Tonga, with his arms smeared with blood to the elbows, awoke me. He
+      sat down in his usual seat on the left side of the lodge. His squaw gave
+      him a vessel of water for washing, set before him a bowl of boiled meat,
+      and as he was eating pulled off his bloody moccasins and placed fresh ones
+      on his feet; then outstretching his limbs, my host composed himself to
+      sleep.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And now the hunters, two or three at a time, began to come rapidly in, and
+      each, consigning his horses to the squaws, entered his lodge with the air
+      of a man whose day&rsquo;s work was done. The squaws flung down the load from
+      the burdened horses, and vast piles of meat and hides were soon
+      accumulated before every lodge. By this time it was darkening fast, and
+      the whole village was illumined by the glare of fires blazing all around.
+      All the squaws and children were gathered about the piles of meat,
+      exploring them in search of the daintiest portions. Some of these they
+      roasted on sticks before the fires, but often they dispensed with this
+      superfluous operation. Late into the night the fires were still glowing
+      upon the groups of feasters engaged in this savage banquet around them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Several hunters sat down by the fire in Kongra-Tonga&rsquo;s lodge to talk over
+      the day&rsquo;s exploits. Among the rest, Mene-Seela came in. Though he must
+      have seen full eighty winters, he had taken an active share in the day&rsquo;s
+      sport. He boasted that he had killed two cows that morning, and would have
+      killed a third if the dust had not blinded him so that he had to drop his
+      bow and arrows and press both hands against his eyes to stop the pain. The
+      firelight fell upon his wrinkled face and shriveled figure as he sat
+      telling his story with such inimitable gesticulation that every man in the
+      lodge broke into a laugh.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Old Mene-Seela was one of the few Indians in the village with whom I would
+      have trusted myself alone without suspicion, and the only one from whom I
+      would have received a gift or a service without the certainty that it
+      proceeded from an interested motive. He was a great friend to the whites.
+      He liked to be in their society, and was very vain of the favors he had
+      received from them. He told me one afternoon, as we were sitting together
+      in his son&rsquo;s lodge, that he considered the beaver and the whites the
+      wisest people on earth; indeed, he was convinced they were the same; and
+      an incident which had happened to him long before had assured him of this.
+      So he began the following story, and as the pipe passed in turn to him,
+      Reynal availed himself of these interruptions to translate what had
+      preceded. But the old man accompanied his words with such admirable
+      pantomime that translation was hardly necessary.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He said that when he was very young, and had never yet seen a white man,
+      he and three or four of his companions were out on a beaver hunt, and he
+      crawled into a large beaver lodge, to examine what was there. Sometimes he
+      was creeping on his hands and knees, sometimes he was obliged to swim, and
+      sometimes to lie flat on his face and drag himself along. In this way he
+      crawled a great distance underground. It was very dark, cold and close, so
+      that at last he was almost suffocated, and fell into a swoon. When he
+      began to recover, he could just distinguish the voices of his companions
+      outside, who had given him up for lost, and were singing his death song.
+      At first he could see nothing, but soon he discerned something white
+      before him, and at length plainly distinguished three people, entirely
+      white; one man and two women, sitting at the edge of a black pool of
+      water. He became alarmed and thought it high time to retreat. Having
+      succeeded, after great trouble, in reaching daylight again, he went
+      straight to the spot directly above the pool of water where he had seen
+      the three mysterious beings. Here he beat a hole with his war club in the
+      ground, and sat down to watch. In a moment the nose of an old male beaver
+      appeared at the opening. Mene-Seela instantly seized him and dragged him
+      up, when two other beavers, both females, thrust out their heads, and
+      these he served in the same way. &ldquo;These,&rdquo; continued the old man, &ldquo;must
+      have been the three white people whom I saw sitting at the edge of the
+      water.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mene-Seela was the grand depository of the legends and traditions of the
+      village. I succeeded, however, in getting from him only a few fragments.
+      Like all Indians, he was excessively superstitious, and continually saw
+      some reason for withholding his stories. &ldquo;It is a bad thing,&rdquo; he would
+      say, &ldquo;to tell the tales in summer. Stay with us till next winter, and I
+      will tell you everything I know; but now our war parties are going out,
+      and our young men will be killed if I sit down to tell stories before the
+      frost begins.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But to leave this digression. We remained encamped on this spot five days,
+      during three of which the hunters were at work incessantly, and immense
+      quantities of meat and hides were brought in. Great alarm, however,
+      prevailed in the village. All were on the alert. The young men were
+      ranging through the country as scouts, and the old men paid careful
+      attention to omens and prodigies, and especially to their dreams. In order
+      to convey to the enemy (who, if they were in the neighborhood, must
+      inevitably have known of our presence) the impression that we were
+      constantly on the watch, piles of sticks and stones were erected on all
+      the surrounding hills, in such a manner as to appear at a distance like
+      sentinels. Often, even to this hour, that scene will rise before my mind
+      like a visible reality: the tall white rocks; the old pine trees on their
+      summits; the sandy stream that ran along their bases and half encircled
+      the village; and the wild-sage bushes, with their dull green hue and their
+      medicinal odor, that covered all the neighboring declivities. Hour after
+      hour the squaws would pass and repass with their vessels of water between
+      the stream and the lodges. For the most part no one was to be seen in the
+      camp but women and children, two or three super-annuated old men, and a
+      few lazy and worthless young ones. These, together with the dogs, now
+      grown fat and good-natured with the abundance in the camp, were its only
+      tenants. Still it presented a busy and bustling scene. In all quarters the
+      meat, hung on cords of hide, was drying in the sun, and around the lodges
+      the squaws, young and old, were laboring on the fresh hides that were
+      stretched upon the ground, scraping the hair from one side and the still
+      adhering flesh from the other, and rubbing into them the brains of the
+      buffalo, in order to render them soft and pliant.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In mercy to myself and my horse, I never went out with the hunters after
+      the first day. Of late, however, I had been gaining strength rapidly, as
+      was always the case upon every respite of my disorder. I was soon able to
+      walk with ease. Raymond and I would go out upon the neighboring prairies
+      to shoot antelope, or sometimes to assail straggling buffalo, on foot, an
+      attempt in which we met with rather indifferent success. To kill a bull
+      with a rifle-ball is a difficult art, in the secret of which I was as yet
+      very imperfectly initiated. As I came out of Kongra-Tonga&rsquo;s lodge one
+      morning, Reynal called to me from the opposite side of the village, and
+      asked me over to breakfast. The breakfast was a substantial one. It
+      consisted of the rich, juicy hump-ribs of a fat cow; a repast absolutely
+      unrivaled. It was roasting before the fire, impaled upon a stout stick,
+      which Reynal took up and planted in the ground before his lodge; when he,
+      with Raymond and myself, taking our seats around it, unsheathed our knives
+      and assailed it with good will. It spite of all medical experience, this
+      solid fare, without bread or salt, seemed to agree with me admirably.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We shall have strangers here before night,&rdquo; said Reynal.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How do you know that?&rdquo; I asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I dreamed so. I am as good at dreaming as an Indian. There is the
+      Hail-Storm; he dreamed the same thing, and he and his crony, the Rabbit,
+      have gone out on discovery.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I laughed at Reynal for his credulity, went over to my host&rsquo;s lodge, took
+      down my rifle, walked out a mile or two on the prairie, saw an old bull
+      standing alone, crawled up a ravine, shot him and saw him escape. Then,
+      quite exhausted and rather ill-humored, I walked back to the village. By a
+      strange coincidence, Reynal&rsquo;s prediction had been verified; for the first
+      persons whom I saw were the two trappers, Rouleau and Saraphin, coming to
+      meet me. These men, as the reader may possibly recollect, had left our
+      party about a fortnight before. They had been trapping for a while among
+      the Black Hills, and were now on their way to the Rocky Mountains,
+      intending in a day or two to set out for the neighboring Medicine Bow.
+      They were not the most elegant or refined of companions, yet they made a
+      very welcome addition to the limited society of the village. For the rest
+      of that day we lay smoking and talking in Reynal&rsquo;s lodge. This indeed was
+      no better than a little hut, made of hides stretched on poles, and
+      entirely open in front. It was well carpeted with soft buffalo robes, and
+      here we remained, sheltered from the sun, surrounded by various domestic
+      utensils of Madame Margot&rsquo;s household. All was quiet in the village.
+      Though the hunters had not gone out that day, they lay sleeping in their
+      lodges, and most of the women were silently engaged in their heavy tasks.
+      A few young men were playing a lazy game of ball in the center of the
+      village; and when they became tired, some girls supplied their place with
+      a more boisterous sport. At a little distance, among the lodges, some
+      children and half-grown squaws were playfully tossing up one of their
+      number in a buffalo robe, an exact counterpart of the ancient pastime from
+      which Sancho Panza suffered so much. Farther out on the prairie, a host of
+      little naked boys were roaming about, engaged in various rough games, or
+      pursuing birds and ground-squirrels with their bows and arrows; and woe to
+      the unhappy little animals that fell into their merciless, torture-loving
+      hands! A squaw from the next lodge, a notable active housewife named Weah
+      Washtay, or the Good Woman, brought us a large bowl of wasna, and went
+      into an ecstasy of delight when I presented her with a green glass ring,
+      such as I usually wore with a view to similar occasions.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The sun went down and half the sky was growing fiery red, reflected on the
+      little stream as it wound away among the sagebushes. Some young men left
+      the village, and soon returned, driving in before them all the horses,
+      hundreds in number, and of every size, age, and color. The hunters came
+      out, and each securing those that belonged to him, examined their
+      condition, and tied them fast by long cords to stakes driven in front of
+      his lodge. It was half an hour before the bustle subsided and tranquillity
+      was restored again. By this time it was nearly dark. Kettles were hung
+      over the blazing fires, around which the squaws were gathered with their
+      children, laughing and talking merrily. A circle of a different kind was
+      formed in the center of the village. This was composed of the old men and
+      warriors of repute, who with their white buffalo robes drawn close around
+      their shoulders, sat together, and as the pipe passed from hand to hand,
+      their conversation had not a particle of the gravity and reserve usually
+      ascribed to Indians. I sat down with them as usual. I had in my hand half
+      a dozen squibs and serpents, which I had made one day when encamped upon
+      Laramie Creek, out of gunpowder and charcoal, and the leaves of &ldquo;Fremont&rsquo;s
+      Expedition,&rdquo; rolled round a stout lead pencil. I waited till I contrived
+      to get hold of the large piece of burning BOIS DE VACHE which the Indians
+      kept by them on the ground for lighting their pipes. With this I lighted
+      all the fireworks at once, and tossed them whizzing and sputtering into
+      the air, over the heads of the company. They all jumped up and ran off
+      with yelps of astonishment and consternation. After a moment or two, they
+      ventured to come back one by one, and some of the boldest, picking up the
+      cases of burnt paper that were scattered about, examined them with eager
+      curiosity to discover their mysterious secret. From that time forward I
+      enjoyed great repute as a &ldquo;fire-medicine.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The camp was filled with the low hum of cheerful voices. There were other
+      sounds, however, of a very different kind, for from a large lodge, lighted
+      up like a gigantic lantern by the blazing fire within, came a chorus of
+      dismal cries and wailings, long drawn out, like the howling of wolves, and
+      a woman, almost naked, was crouching close outside, crying violently, and
+      gashing her legs with a knife till they were covered with blood. Just a
+      year before, a young man belonging to this family had gone out with a war
+      party and had been slain by the enemy, and his relatives were thus
+      lamenting his loss. Still other sounds might be heard; loud earnest cries
+      often repeated from amid the gloom, at a distance beyond the village. They
+      proceeded from some young men who, being about to set out in a few days on
+      a warlike expedition, were standing at the top of a hill, calling on the
+      Great Spirit to aid them in their enterprise. While I was listening,
+      Rouleau, with a laugh on his careless face, called to me and directed my
+      attention to another quarter. In front of the lodge where Weah Washtay
+      lived another squaw was standing, angrily scolding an old yellow dog, who
+      lay on the ground with his nose resting between his paws, and his eyes
+      turned sleepily up to her face, as if he were pretending to give
+      respectful attention, but resolved to fall asleep as soon as it was all
+      over.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You ought to be ashamed of yourself!&rdquo; said the old woman. &ldquo;I have fed you
+      well, and taken care of you ever since you were small and blind, and could
+      only crawl about and squeal a little, instead of howling as you do now.
+      When you grew old, I said you were a good dog. You were strong and gentle
+      when the load was put on your back, and you never ran among the feet of
+      the horses when we were all traveling together over the prairie. But you
+      had a bad heart! Whenever a rabbit jumped out of the bushes, you were
+      always the first to run after him and lead away all the other dogs behind
+      you. You ought to have known that it was very dangerous to act so. When
+      you had got far out on the prairie, and no one was near to help you,
+      perhaps a wolf would jump out of the ravine; and then what could you do?
+      You would certainly have been killed, for no dog can fight well with a
+      load on his back. Only three days ago you ran off in that way, and turned
+      over the bag of wooden pins with which I used to fasten up the front of
+      the lodge. Look up there, and you will see that it is all flapping open.
+      And now to-night you have stolen a great piece of fat meat which was
+      roasting before the fire for my children. I tell you, you have a bad
+      heart, and you must die!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So saying, the squaw went into the lodge, and coming out with a large
+      stone mallet, killed the unfortunate dog at one blow. This speech is
+      worthy of notice as illustrating a curious characteristic of the Indians:
+      the ascribing intelligence and a power of understanding speech to the
+      inferior animals, to whom, indeed, according to many of their traditions,
+      they are linked in close affinity, and they even claim the honor of a
+      lineal descent from bears, wolves, deer, or tortoises.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As it grew late, and the crowded population began to disappear, I too
+      walked across the village to the lodge of my host, Kongra-Tonga. As I
+      entered I saw him, by the flickering blaze of the fire in the center,
+      reclining half asleep in his usual place. His couch was by no means an
+      uncomfortable one. It consisted of soft buffalo robes laid together on the
+      ground, and a pillow made of whitened deerskin stuffed with feathers and
+      ornamented with beads. At his back was a light framework of poles and
+      slender reeds, against which he could lean with ease when in a sitting
+      posture; and at the top of it, just above his head, his bow and quiver
+      were hanging. His squaw, a laughing, broad-faced woman, apparently had not
+      yet completed her domestic arrangements, for she was bustling about the
+      lodge, pulling over the utensils and the bales of dried meats that were
+      ranged carefully round it. Unhappily, she and her partner were not the
+      only tenants of the dwelling, for half a dozen children were scattered
+      about, sleeping in every imaginable posture. My saddle was in its place at
+      the head of the lodge and a buffalo robe was spread on the ground before
+      it. Wrapping myself in my blanket I lay down, but had I not been extremely
+      fatigued the noise in the next lodge would have prevented my sleeping.
+      There was the monotonous thumping of the Indian drum, mixed with
+      occasional sharp yells, and a chorus chanted by twenty voices. A grand
+      scene of gambling was going forward with all the appropriate formalities.
+      The players were staking on the chance issue of the game their ornaments,
+      their horses, and as the excitement rose, their garments, and even their
+      weapons, for desperate gambling is not confined to the hells of Paris. The
+      men of the plains and the forests no less resort to it as a violent but
+      grateful relief to the tedious monotony of their lives, which alternate
+      between fierce excitement and listless inaction. I fell asleep with the
+      dull notes of the drum still sounding on my ear, but these furious orgies
+      lasted without intermission till daylight. I was soon awakened by one of
+      the children crawling over me, while another larger one was tugging at my
+      blanket and nestling himself in a very disagreeable proximity. I
+      immediately repelled these advances by punching the heads of these
+      miniature savages with a short stick which I always kept by me for the
+      purpose; and as sleeping half the day and eating much more than is good
+      for them makes them extremely restless, this operation usually had to be
+      repeated four or five times in the course of the night. My host himself
+      was the author of another most formidable annoyance. All these Indians,
+      and he among the rest, think themselves bound to the constant performance
+      of certain acts as the condition on which their success in life depends,
+      whether in war, love, hunting, or any other employment. These &ldquo;medicines,&rdquo;
+       as they are called in that country, which are usually communicated in
+      dreams, are often absurd enough. Some Indians will strike the butt of the
+      pipe against the ground every time they smoke; others will insist that
+      everything they say shall be interpreted by contraries; and Shaw once met
+      an old man who conceived that all would be lost unless he compelled every
+      white man he met to drink a bowl of cold water. My host was particularly
+      unfortunate in his allotment. The Great Spirit had told him in a dream
+      that he must sing a certain song in the middle of every night; and
+      regularly at about twelve o&rsquo;clock his dismal monotonous chanting would
+      awaken me, and I would see him seated bolt upright on his couch, going
+      through his dolorous performances with a most business-like air. There
+      were other voices of the night still more inharmonious. Twice or thrice,
+      between sunset and dawn, all the dogs in the village, and there were
+      hundreds of them, would bay and yelp in chorus; a most horrible clamor,
+      resembling no sound that I have ever heard, except perhaps the frightful
+      howling of wolves that we used sometimes to hear long afterward when
+      descending the Arkansas on the trail of General Kearny&rsquo;s army. The canine
+      uproar is, if possible, more discordant than that of the wolves. Heard at
+      a distance, slowly rising on the night, it has a strange unearthly effect,
+      and would fearfully haunt the dreams of a nervous man; but when you are
+      sleeping in the midst of it the din is outrageous. One long loud howl from
+      the next lodge perhaps begins it, and voice after voice takes up the sound
+      till it passes around the whole circumference of the village, and the air
+      is filled with confused and discordant cries, at once fierce and mournful.
+      It lasts but for a moment and then dies away into silence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Morning came, and Kongra-Tonga, mounting his horse, rode out with the
+      hunters. It may not be amiss to glance at him for an instant in his
+      domestic character of husband and father. Both he and his squaw, like most
+      other Indians, were very fond of their children, whom they indulged to
+      excess, and never punished, except in extreme cases when they would throw
+      a bowl of cold water over them. Their offspring became sufficiently
+      undutiful and disobedient under this system of education, which tends not
+      a little to foster that wild idea of liberty and utter intolerance of
+      restraint which lie at the very foundation of the Indian character. It
+      would be hard to find a fonder father than Kongra-Tonga. There was one
+      urchin in particular, rather less than two feet high, to whom he was
+      exceedingly attached; and sometimes spreading a buffalo robe in the lodge,
+      he would seat himself upon it, place his small favorite upright before
+      him, and chant in a low tone some of the words used as an accompaniment to
+      the war dance. The little fellow, who could just manage to balance himself
+      by stretching out both arms, would lift his feet and turn slowly round and
+      round in time to his father&rsquo;s music, while my host would laugh with
+      delight, and look smiling up into my face to see if I were admiring this
+      precocious performance of his offspring. In his capacity of husband he was
+      somewhat less exemplary. The squaw who lived in the lodge with him had
+      been his partner for many years. She took good care of his children and
+      his household concerns. He liked her well enough, and as far as I could
+      see they never quarreled; but all his warmer affections were reserved for
+      younger and more recent favorites. Of these he had at present only one,
+      who lived in a lodge apart from his own. One day while in his camp he
+      became displeased with her, pushed her out, threw after her her ornaments,
+      dresses, and everything she had, and told her to go home to her father.
+      Having consummated this summary divorce, for which he could show good
+      reasons, he came back, seated himself in his usual place, and began to
+      smoke with an air of utmost tranquillity and self-satisfaction.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I was sitting in the lodge with him on that very afternoon, when I felt
+      some curiosity to learn the history of the numerous scars that appeared on
+      his naked body. Of some of them, however, I did not venture to inquire,
+      for I already understood their origin. Each of his arms was marked as if
+      deeply gashed with a knife at regular intervals, and there were other
+      scars also, of a different character, on his back and on either breast.
+      They were the traces of those formidable tortures which these Indians, in
+      common with a few other tribes, inflict upon themselves at certain
+      seasons; in part, it may be, to gain the glory of courage and endurance,
+      but chiefly as an act of self-sacrifice to secure the favor of the Great
+      Spirit. The scars upon the breast and back were produced by running
+      through the flesh strong splints of wood, to which ponderous
+      buffalo-skulls are fastened by cords of hide, and the wretch runs forward
+      with all his strength, assisted by two companions, who take hold of each
+      arm, until the flesh tears apart and the heavy loads are left behind.
+      Others of Kongra-Tonga&rsquo;s scars were the result of accidents; but he had
+      many which he received in war. He was one of the most noted warriors in
+      the village. In the course of his life he had slain as he boasted to me,
+      fourteen men, and though, like other Indians, he was a great braggart and
+      utterly regardless of truth, yet in this statement common report bore him
+      out. Being much flattered by my inquiries he told me tale after tale, true
+      or false, of his warlike exploits; and there was one among the rest
+      illustrating the worst features of the Indian character too well for me to
+      omit. Pointing out of the opening of the lodge toward the Medicine-Bow
+      Mountain, not many miles distant he said that he was there a few summers
+      ago with a war party of his young men. Here they found two Snake Indians,
+      hunting. They shot one of them with arrows and chased the other up the
+      side of the mountain till they surrounded him on a level place, and
+      Kongra-Tonga himself, jumping forward among the trees, seized him by the
+      arm. Two of his young men then ran up and held him fast while he scalped
+      him alive. Then they built a great fire, and cutting the tendons of their
+      captive&rsquo;s wrists and feet, threw him in, and held him down with long poles
+      until he was burnt to death. He garnished his story with a great many
+      descriptive particulars much too revolting to mention. His features were
+      remarkably mild and open, without the fierceness of expression common
+      among these Indians; and as he detailed these devilish cruelties, he
+      looked up into my face with the same air of earnest simplicity which a
+      little child would wear in relating to its mother some anecdote of its
+      youthful experience.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Old Mene-Seela&rsquo;s lodge could offer another illustration of the ferocity of
+      Indian warfare. A bright-eyed, active little boy was living there. He had
+      belonged to a village of the Gros-Ventre Blackfeet, a small but bloody and
+      treacherous band, in close alliance with the Arapahoes. About a year
+      before, Kongra-Tonga and a party of warriors had found about twenty lodges
+      of these Indians upon the plains a little to the eastward of our present
+      camp; and surrounding them in the night, they butchered men, women, and
+      children without mercy, preserving only this little boy alive. He was
+      adopted into the old man&rsquo;s family, and was now fast becoming identified
+      with the Ogallalla children, among whom he mingled on equal terms. There
+      was also a Crow warrior in the village, a man of gigantic stature and most
+      symmetrical proportions. Having been taken prisoner many years before and
+      adopted by a squaw in place of a son whom she had lost, he had forgotten
+      his old national antipathies, and was now both in act and inclination an
+      Ogallalla.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It will be remembered that the scheme of the grand warlike combination
+      against the Snake and Crow Indians originated in this village; and though
+      this plan had fallen to the ground, the embers of the martial ardor
+      continued to glow brightly. Eleven young men had prepared themselves to go
+      out against the enemy. The fourth day of our stay in this camp was fixed
+      upon for their departure. At the head of this party was a well-built
+      active little Indian, called the White Shield, whom I had always noticed
+      for the great neatness of his dress and appearance. His lodge too, though
+      not a large one, was the best in the village, his squaw was one of the
+      prettiest girls, and altogether his dwelling presented a complete model of
+      an Ogallalla domestic establishment. I was often a visitor there, for the
+      White Shield being rather partial to white men, used to invite me to
+      continual feasts at all hours of the day. Once when the substantial part
+      of the entertainment was concluded, and he and I were seated cross-legged
+      on a buffalo robe smoking together very amicably, he took down his warlike
+      equipments, which were hanging around the lodge, and displayed them with
+      great pride and self-importance. Among the rest was a most superb
+      headdress of feathers. Taking this from its case, he put it on and stood
+      before me, as if conscious of the gallant air which it gave to his dark
+      face and his vigorous, graceful figure. He told me that upon it were the
+      feathers of three war-eagles, equal in value to the same number of good
+      horses. He took up also a shield gayly painted and hung with feathers. The
+      effect of these barbaric ornaments was admirable, for they were arranged
+      with no little skill and taste. His quiver was made of the spotted skin of
+      a small panther, such as are common among the Black Hills, from which the
+      tail and distended claws were still allowed to hang. The White Shield
+      concluded his entertainment in a manner characteristic of an Indian. He
+      begged of me a little powder and ball, for he had a gun as well as bow and
+      arrows; but this I was obliged to refuse, because I had scarcely enough
+      for my own use. Making him, however, a parting present of a paper of
+      vermilion, I left him apparently quite contented.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Unhappily on the next morning the White Shield took cold and was attacked
+      with a violent inflammation of the throat. Immediately he seemed to lose
+      all spirit, and though before no warrior in the village had borne himself
+      more proudly, he now moped about from lodge to lodge with a forlorn and
+      dejected air. At length he came and sat down, close wrapped in his robe,
+      before the lodge of Reynal, but when he found that neither he nor I knew
+      how to relieve him, he arose and stalked over to one of the medicine-men
+      of the village. This old imposter thumped him for some time with both
+      fists, howled and yelped over him, and beat a drum close to his ear to
+      expel the evil spirit that had taken possession of him. This vigorous
+      treatment failing of the desired effect, the White Shield withdrew to his
+      own lodge, where he lay disconsolate for some hours. Making his appearance
+      once more in the afternoon, he again took his seat on the ground before
+      Reynal&rsquo;s lodge, holding his throat with his hand. For some time he sat
+      perfectly silent with his eyes fixed mournfully on the ground. At last he
+      began to speak in a low tone:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am a brave man,&rdquo; he said; &ldquo;all the young men think me a great warrior,
+      and ten of them are ready to go with me to the war. I will go and show
+      them the enemy. Last summer the Snakes killed my brother. I cannot live
+      unless I revenge his death. To-morrow we will set out and I will take
+      their scalps.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The White Shield, as he expressed this resolution, seemed to have lost all
+      the accustomed fire and spirit of his look, and hung his head as if in a
+      fit of despondency.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As I was sitting that evening at one of the fires, I saw him arrayed in
+      his splendid war dress, his cheeks painted with vermilion, leading his
+      favorite war horse to the front of his lodge. He mounted and rode round
+      the village, singing his war song in a loud hoarse voice amid the shrill
+      acclamations of the women. Then dismounting, he remained for some minutes
+      prostrate upon the ground, as if in an act of supplication. On the
+      following morning I looked in vain for the departure of the warriors. All
+      was quiet in the village until late in the forenoon, when the White
+      Shield, issuing from his lodge, came and seated himself in his old place
+      before us. Reynal asked him why he had not gone out to find the enemy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I cannot go,&rdquo; answered the White Shield in a dejected voice. &ldquo;I have
+      given my war arrows to the Meneaska.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have only given him two of your arrows,&rdquo; said Reynal. &ldquo;If you ask
+      him, he will give them back again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      For some time the White Shield said nothing. At last he spoke in a gloomy
+      tone:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;One of my young men has had bad dreams. The spirits of the dead came and
+      threw stones at him in his sleep.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      If such a dream had actually taken place it might have broken up this or
+      any other war party, but both Reynal and I were convinced at the time that
+      it was a mere fabrication to excuse his remaining at home.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The White Shield was a warrior of noted prowess. Very probably, he would
+      have received a mortal wound without a show of pain, and endured without
+      flinching the worst tortures that an enemy could inflict upon him. The
+      whole power of an Indian&rsquo;s nature would be summoned to encounter such a
+      trial; every influence of his education from childhood would have prepared
+      him for it; the cause of his suffering would have been visibly and
+      palpably before him, and his spirit would rise to set his enemy at
+      defiance, and gain the highest glory of a warrior by meeting death with
+      fortitude. But when he feels himself attacked by a mysterious evil, before
+      whose insidious assaults his manhood is wasted, and his strength drained
+      away, when he can see no enemy to resist and defy, the boldest warrior
+      falls prostrate at once. He believes that a bad spirit has taken
+      possession of him, or that he is the victim of some charm. When suffering
+      from a protracted disorder, an Indian will often abandon himself to his
+      supposed destiny, pine away and die, the victim of his own imagination.
+      The same effect will often follow from a series of calamities, or a long
+      run of ill success, and the sufferer has been known to ride into the midst
+      of an enemy&rsquo;s camp, or attack a grizzly bear single-handed, to get rid of
+      a life which he supposed to lie under the doom of misfortune.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Thus after all his fasting, dreaming, and calling upon the Great Spirit,
+      the White Shield&rsquo;s war party was pitifully broken up.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0016" id="link2HCH0016">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XVI
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      THE TRAPPERS
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      In speaking of the Indians, I have almost forgotten two bold adventurers
+      of another race, the trappers Rouleau and Saraphin. These men were bent on
+      a most hazardous enterprise. A day&rsquo;s journey to the westward was the
+      country over which the Arapahoes are accustomed to range, and for which
+      the two trappers were on the point of setting out. These Arapahoes, of
+      whom Shaw and I afterward fell in with a large village, are ferocious
+      barbarians, of a most brutal and wolfish aspect, and of late they had
+      declared themselves enemies to the whites, and threatened death to the
+      first who should venture within their territory. The occasion of the
+      declaration was as follows:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the previous spring, 1845, Colonel Kearny left Fort Leavenworth with
+      several companies of dragoons, and marching with extraordinary celerity
+      reached Fort Laramie, whence he passed along the foot of the mountains to
+      Bent&rsquo;s Fort and then, turning eastward again, returned to the point from
+      whence he set out. While at Fort Larantie, he sent a part of his command
+      as far westward as Sweetwater, while he himself remained at the fort, and
+      dispatched messages to the surrounding Indians to meet him there in
+      council. Then for the first time the tribes of that vicinity saw the white
+      warriors, and, as might have been expected, they were lost in astonishment
+      at their regular order, their gay attire, the completeness of their
+      martial equipment, and the great size and power of their horses. Among the
+      rest, the Arapahoes came in considerable numbers to the fort. They had
+      lately committed numerous acts of outrage, and Colonel Kearny threatened
+      that if they killed any more white men he would turn loose his dragoons
+      upon them, and annihilate their whole nation. In the evening, to add
+      effect to his speech, he ordered a howitzer to be fired and a rocket to be
+      thrown up. Many of the Arapahoes fell prostrate on the ground, while
+      others ran screaming with amazement and terror. On the following day they
+      withdrew to their mountains, confounded with awe at the appearance of the
+      dragoons, at their big gun which went off twice at one shot, and the fiery
+      messenger which they had sent up to the Great Spirit. For many months they
+      remained quiet, and did no further mischief. At length, just before we
+      came into the country, one of them, by an act of the basest treachery,
+      killed two white men, Boot and May, who were trapping among the mountains.
+      For this act it was impossible to discover a motive. It seemed to spring
+      from one of those inexplicable impulses which often actuate Indians and
+      appear no better than the mere outbreaks of native ferocity. No sooner was
+      the murder committed than the whole tribe were in extreme consternation.
+      They expected every day that the avenging dragoons would arrive, little
+      thinking that a desert of nine hundred miles in extent lay between the
+      latter and their mountain fastnesses. A large deputation of them came to
+      Fort Laramie, bringing a valuable present of horses, in compensation for
+      the lives of the murdered men. These Bordeaux refused to accept. They then
+      asked him if he would be satisfied with their delivering up the murderer
+      himself; but he declined this offer also. The Arapahoes went back more
+      terrified than ever. Weeks passed away, and still no dragoons appeared. A
+      result followed which all those best acquainted with Indians had
+      predicted. They conceived that fear had prevented Bordeaux from accepting
+      their gifts, and that they had nothing to apprehend from the vengeance of
+      the whites. From terror they rose to the height of insolence and
+      presumption. They called the white men cowards and old women; and a
+      friendly Dakota came to Fort Laramie and reported that they were
+      determined to kill the first of the white dogs whom they could lay hands
+      on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Had a military officer, intrusted with suitable powers, been stationed at
+      Fort Laramie, and having accepted the offer of the Arapahoes to deliver up
+      the murderer, had ordered him to be immediately led out and shot, in
+      presence of his tribe, they would have been awed into tranquillity, and
+      much danger and calamity averted; but now the neighborhood of the
+      Medicine-Bow Mountain and the region beyond it was a scene of extreme
+      peril. Old Mene-Seela, a true friend of the whites, and many other of the
+      Indians gathered about the two trappers, and vainly endeavored to turn
+      them from their purpose; but Rouleau and Saraphin only laughed at the
+      danger. On the morning preceding that on which they were to leave the
+      camp, we could all discern faint white columns of smoke rising against the
+      dark base of the Medicine-Bow. Scouts were out immediately, and reported
+      that these proceeded from an Arapahoe camp, abandoned only a few hours
+      before. Still the two trappers continued their preparations for departure.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Saraphin was a tall, powerful fellow, with a sullen and sinister
+      countenance. His rifle had very probably drawn other blood than that of
+      buffalo or even Indians. Rouleau had a broad ruddy face marked with as few
+      traces of thought or care as a child&rsquo;s. His figure was remarkably square
+      and strong, but the first joints of both his feet were frozen off, and his
+      horse had lately thrown and trampled upon him, by which he had been
+      severely injured in the chest. But nothing could check his inveterate
+      propensity for laughter and gayety. He went all day rolling about the camp
+      on his stumps of feet, talking and singing and frolicking with the Indian
+      women, as they were engaged at their work. In fact Rouleau had an unlucky
+      partiality for squaws. He always had one whom he must needs bedizen with
+      beads, ribbons, and all the finery of an Indian wardrobe; and though he
+      was of course obliged to leave her behind him during his expeditions, yet
+      this hazardous necessity did not at all trouble him, for his disposition
+      was the very reverse of jealous. If at any time he had not lavished the
+      whole of the precarious profits of his vocation upon his dark favorite, he
+      always devoted the rest to feasting his comrades. If liquor was not to be
+      had&mdash;and this was usually the case&mdash;strong coffee was
+      substituted. As the men of that region are by no means remarkable for
+      providence or self-restraint, whatever was set before them on these
+      occasions, however extravagant in price, or enormous in quantity, was sure
+      to be disposed of at one sitting. Like other trappers, Rouleau&rsquo;s life was
+      one of contrast and variety. It was only at certain seasons, and for a
+      limited time, that he was absent on his expeditions. For the rest of the
+      year he would be lounging about the fort, or encamped with his friends in
+      its vicinity, lazily hunting or enjoying all the luxury of inaction; but
+      when once in pursuit of beaver, he was involved in extreme privations and
+      desperate perils. When in the midst of his game and his enemies, hand and
+      foot, eye and ear, are incessantly active. Frequently he must content
+      himself with devouring his evening meal uncooked, lest the light of his
+      fire should attract the eyes of some wandering Indian; and sometimes
+      having made his rude repast, he must leave his fire still blazing, and
+      withdraw to a distance under cover of the darkness, that his disappointed
+      enemy, drawn thither by the light, may find his victim gone, and be unable
+      to trace his footsteps in the gloom. This is the life led by scores of men
+      in the Rocky Mountains and their vicinity. I once met a trapper whose
+      breast was marked with the scars of six bullets and arrows, one of his
+      arms broken by a shot and one of his knees shattered; yet still, with the
+      undaunted mettle of New England, from which part of the country he had
+      come, he continued to follow his perilous occupation. To some of the
+      children of cities it may seem strange that men with no object in view
+      should continue to follow a life of such hardship and desperate adventure;
+      yet there is a mysterious, restless charm in the basilisk eye of danger,
+      and few men perhaps remain long in that wild region without learning to
+      love peril for its own sake, and to laugh carelessly in the face of death.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the last day of our stay in this camp, the trappers were ready for
+      departure. When in the Black Hills they had caught seven beaver, and they
+      now left their skins in charge of Reynal, to be kept until their return.
+      Their strong, gaunt horses were equipped with rusty Spanish bits and rude
+      Mexican saddles, to which wooden stirrups were attached, while a buffalo
+      robe was rolled up behind them, and a bundle of beaver traps slung at the
+      pommel. These, together with their rifles, their knives, their
+      powder-horns and bullet-pouches, flint and steel and a tincup, composed
+      their whole traveling equipment. They shook hands with us and rode away;
+      Saraphin with his grim countenance, like a surly bulldog&rsquo;s, was in
+      advance; but Rouleau, clambering gayly into his seat, kicked his horse&rsquo;s
+      sides, flourished his whip in the air, and trotted briskly over the
+      prairie, trolling forth a Canadian song at the top of his lungs. Reynal
+      looked after them with his face of brutal selfishness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;if they are killed, I shall have the beaver. They&rsquo;ll
+      fetch me fifty dollars at the fort, anyhow.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This was the last I saw of them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We had been for five days in the hunting camp, and the meat, which all
+      this time had hung drying in the sun, was now fit for transportation.
+      Buffalo hides also had been procured in sufficient quantities for making
+      the next season&rsquo;s lodges; but it remained to provide the long slender
+      poles on which they were to be supported. These were only to be had among
+      the tall pine woods of the Black Hills, and in that direction therefore
+      our next move was to be made. It is worthy of notice that amid the general
+      abundance which during this time had prevailed in the camp there were no
+      instances of individual privation; for although the hide and the tongue of
+      the buffalo belong by exclusive right to the hunter who has killed it, yet
+      anyone else is equally entitled to help himself from the rest of the
+      carcass. Thus, the weak, the aged, and even the indolent come in for a
+      share of the spoils, and many a helpless old woman, who would otherwise
+      perish from starvation, is sustained in profuse abundance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the 25th of July, late in the afternoon, the camp broke up, with the
+      usual tumult and confusion, and we were all moving once more, on horseback
+      and on foot, over the plains. We advanced, however, but a few miles. The
+      old men, who during the whole march had been stoutly striding along on
+      foot in front of the people, now seated themselves in a circle on the
+      ground, while all the families, erecting their lodges in the prescribed
+      order around them, formed the usual great circle of the camp; meanwhile
+      these village patriarchs sat smoking and talking. I threw my bridle to
+      Raymond, and sat down as usual along with them. There was none of that
+      reserve and apparent dignity which an Indian always assumes when in
+      council, or in the presence of white men whom he distrusts. The party, on
+      the contrary, was an extremely merry one; and as in a social circle of a
+      quite different character, &ldquo;if there was not much wit, there was at least
+      a great deal of laughter.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      When the first pipe was smoked out, I rose and withdrew to the lodge of my
+      host. Here I was stooping, in the act of taking off my powder-horn and
+      bullet-pouch, when suddenly, and close at hand, pealing loud and shrill,
+      and in right good earnest, came the terrific yell of the war-whoop.
+      Kongra-Tonga&rsquo;s squaw snatched up her youngest child, and ran out of the
+      lodge. I followed, and found the whole village in confusion, resounding
+      with cries and yells. The circle of old men in the center had vanished.
+      The warriors with glittering eyes came darting, their weapons in their
+      hands, out of the low opening of the lodges, and running with wild yells
+      toward the farther end of the village. Advancing a few rods in that
+      direction, I saw a crowd in furious agitation, while others ran up on
+      every side to add to the confusion. Just then I distinguished the voices
+      of Raymond and Reynal, shouting to me from a distance, and looking back, I
+      saw the latter with his rifle in his hand, standing on the farther bank of
+      a little stream that ran along the outskirts of the camp. He was calling
+      to Raymond and myself to come over and join him, and Raymond, with his
+      usual deliberate gait and stolid countenance, was already moving in that
+      direction.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This was clearly the wisest course, unless we wished to involve ourselves
+      in the fray; so I turned to go, but just then a pair of eyes, gleaming
+      like a snake&rsquo;s, and an aged familiar countenance was thrust from the
+      opening of a neighboring lodge, and out bolted old Mene-Seela, full of
+      fight, clutching his bow and arrows in one hand and his knife in the
+      other. At that instant he tripped and fell sprawling on his face, while
+      his weapons flew scattering away in every direction. The women with loud
+      screams were hurrying with their children in their arms to place them out
+      of danger, and I observed some hastening to prevent mischief, by carrying
+      away all the weapons they could lay hands on. On a rising ground close to
+      the camp stood a line of old women singing a medicine song to allay the
+      tumult. As I approached the side of the brook I heard gun-shots behind me,
+      and turning back, I saw that the crowd had separated into two lines of
+      naked warriors confronting each other at a respectful distance, and
+      yelling and jumping about to dodge the shot of their adversaries, while
+      they discharged bullets and arrows against each other. At the same time
+      certain sharp, humming sounds in the air over my head, like the flight of
+      beetles on a summer evening, warned me that the danger was not wholly
+      confined to the immediate scene of the fray. So wading through the brook,
+      I joined Reynal and Raymond, and we sat down on the grass, in the posture
+      of an armed neutrality, to watch the result.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Happily it may be for ourselves, though quite contrary to our expectation,
+      the disturbance was quelled almost as soon as it had commenced. When I
+      looked again, the combatants were once more mingled together in a mass.
+      Though yells sounded, occasionally from the throng, the firing had
+      entirely ceased, and I observed five or six persons moving busily about,
+      as if acting the part of peacemakers. One of the village heralds or criers
+      proclaimed in a loud voice something which my two companions were too much
+      engrossed in their own observations to translate for me. The crowd began
+      to disperse, though many a deep-set black eye still glittered with an
+      unnatural luster, as the warriors slowly withdrew to their lodges. This
+      fortunate suppression of the disturbance was owing to a few of the old
+      men, less pugnacious than Mene-Seela, who boldly ran in between the
+      combatants and aided by some of the &ldquo;soldiers,&rdquo; or Indian police,
+      succeeded in effecting their object.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It seemed very strange to me that although many arrows and bullets were
+      discharged, no one was mortally hurt, and I could only account for this by
+      the fact that both the marksman and the object of his aim were leaping
+      about incessantly during the whole time. By far the greater part of the
+      villagers had joined in the fray, for although there were not more than a
+      dozen guns in the whole camp, I heard at least eight or ten shots fired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In a quarter of an hour all was comparatively quiet. A large circle of
+      warriors were again seated in the center of the village, but this time I
+      did not venture to join them, because I could see that the pipe, contrary
+      to the usual order, was passing from the left hand to the right around the
+      circle, a sure sign that a &ldquo;medicine-smoke&rdquo; of reconciliation was going
+      forward, and that a white man would be an unwelcome intruder. When I again
+      entered the still agitated camp it was nearly dark, and mournful cries,
+      howls and wailings resounded from many female voices. Whether these had
+      any connection with the late disturbance, or were merely lamentations for
+      relatives slain in some former war expeditions, I could not distinctly
+      ascertain.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To inquire too closely into the cause of the quarrel was by no means
+      prudent, and it was not until some time after that I discovered what had
+      given rise to it. Among the Dakota there are many associations, or
+      fraternities, connected with the purposes of their superstitions, their
+      warfare, or their social life. There was one called &ldquo;The Arrow-Breakers,&rdquo;
+       now in a great measure disbanded and dispersed. In the village there were,
+      however, four men belonging to it, distinguished by the peculiar
+      arrangement of their hair, which rose in a high bristling mass above their
+      foreheads, adding greatly to their apparent height, and giving them a most
+      ferocious appearance. The principal among them was the Mad Wolf, a warrior
+      of remarkable size and strength, great courage, and the fierceness of a
+      demon. I had always looked upon him as the most dangerous man in the
+      village; and though he often invited me to feasts, I never entered his
+      lodge unarmed. The Mad Wolf had taken a fancy to a fine horse belonging to
+      another Indian, who was called the Tall Bear; and anxious to get the
+      animal into his possession, he made the owner a present of another horse
+      nearly equal in value. According to the customs of the Dakota, the
+      acceptance of this gift involved a sort of obligation to make an equitable
+      return; and the Tall Bear well understood that the other had in view the
+      obtaining of his favorite buffalo horse. He however accepted the present
+      without a word of thanks, and having picketed the horse before his lodge,
+      he suffered day after day to pass without making the expected return. The
+      Mad Wolf grew impatient and angry; and at last, seeing that his bounty was
+      not likely to produce the desired return, he resolved to reclaim it. So
+      this evening, as soon as the village was encamped, he went to the lodge of
+      the Tall Bear, seized upon the horse that he had given him, and led him
+      away. At this the Tall Bear broke into one of those fits of sullen rage
+      not uncommon among the Indians. He ran up to the unfortunate horse, and
+      gave him three mortals stabs with his knife. Quick as lightning the Mad
+      Wolf drew his bow to its utmost tension, and held the arrow quivering
+      close to the breast of his adversary. The Tall Bear, as the Indians who
+      were near him said, stood with his bloody knife in his hand, facing the
+      assailant with the utmost calmness. Some of his friends and relatives,
+      seeing his danger, ran hastily to his assistance. The remaining three
+      Arrow-Breakers, on the other hand, came to the aid of their associate.
+      Many of their friends joined them, the war-cry was raised on a sudden, and
+      the tumult became general.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The &ldquo;soldiers,&rdquo; who lent their timely aid in putting it down, are by far
+      the most important executive functionaries in an Indian village. The
+      office is one of considerable honor, being confided only to men of courage
+      and repute. They derive their authority from the old men and chief
+      warriors of the village, who elect them in councils occasionally convened
+      for the purpose, and thus can exercise a degree of authority which no one
+      else in the village would dare to assume. While very few Ogallalla chiefs
+      could venture without instant jeopardy of their lives to strike or lay
+      hands upon the meanest of their people, the &ldquo;soldiers&rdquo; in the discharge of
+      their appropriate functions, have full license to make use of these and
+      similar acts of coercion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0017" id="link2HCH0017">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XVII
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      THE BLACK HILLS
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      We traveled eastward for two days, and then the gloomy ridges of the Black
+      Hills rose up before us. The village passed along for some miles beneath
+      their declivities, trailing out to a great length over the arid prairie,
+      or winding at times among small detached hills or distorted shapes.
+      Turning sharply to the left, we entered a wide defile of the mountains,
+      down the bottom of which a brook came winding, lined with tall grass and
+      dense copses, amid which were hidden many beaver dams and lodges. We
+      passed along between two lines of high precipices and rocks, piled in
+      utter disorder one upon another, and with scarcely a tree, a bush, or a
+      clump of grass to veil their nakedness. The restless Indian boys were
+      wandering along their edges and clambering up and down their rugged sides,
+      and sometimes a group of them would stand on the verge of a cliff and look
+      down on the array as it passed in review beneath them. As we advanced, the
+      passage grew more narrow; then it suddenly expanded into a round grassy
+      meadow, completely encompassed by mountains; and here the families stopped
+      as they came up in turn, and the camp rose like magic.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The lodges were hardly erected when, with their usual precipitation, the
+      Indians set about accomplishing the object that had brought them there;
+      that is, the obtaining poles for supporting their new lodges. Half the
+      population, men, women and boys, mounted their horses and set out for the
+      interior of the mountains. As they rode at full gallop over the shingly
+      rocks and into the dark opening of the defile beyond, I thought I had
+      never read or dreamed of a more strange or picturesque cavalcade. We
+      passed between precipices more than a thousand feet high, sharp and
+      splintering at the tops, their sides beetling over the defile or
+      descending in abrupt declivities, bristling with black fir trees. On our
+      left they rose close to us like a wall, but on the right a winding brook
+      with a narrow strip of marshy soil intervened. The stream was clogged with
+      old beaver dams, and spread frequently into wide pools. There were thick
+      bushes and many dead and blasted trees along its course, though frequently
+      nothing remained but stumps cut close to the ground by the beaver, and
+      marked with the sharp chisel-like teeth of those indefatigable laborers.
+      Sometimes we were driving among trees, and then emerging upon open spots,
+      over which, Indian-like, all galloped at full speed. As Pauline bounded
+      over the rocks I felt her saddle-girth slipping, and alighted to draw it
+      tighter; when the whole array swept past me in a moment, the women with
+      their gaudy ornaments tinkling as they rode, the men whooping, and
+      laughing, and lashing forward their horses. Two black-tailed deer bounded
+      away among the rocks; Raymond shot at them from horseback; the sharp
+      report of his rifle was answered by another equally sharp from the
+      opposing cliffs, and then the echoes, leaping in rapid succession from
+      side to side, died away rattling far amid the mountains.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After having ridden in this manner for six or eight miles, the appearance
+      of the scene began to change, and all the declivities around us were
+      covered with forests of tall, slender pine trees. The Indians began to
+      fall off to the right and left, and dispersed with their hatchets and
+      knives among these woods, to cut the poles which they had come to seek.
+      Soon I was left almost alone; but in the deep stillness of those lonely
+      mountains, the stroke of hatchets and the sound of voices might be heard
+      from far and near.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Reynal, who imitated the Indians in their habits as well as the worst
+      features of their character, had killed buffalo enough to make a lodge for
+      himself and his squaw, and now he was eager to get the poles necessary to
+      complete it. He asked me to let Raymond go with him and assist in the
+      work. I assented, and the two men immediately entered the thickest part of
+      the wood. Having left my horse in Raymond&rsquo;s keeping, I began to climb the
+      mountain. I was weak and weary and made slow progress, often pausing to
+      rest, but after an hour had elapsed, I gained a height, whence the little
+      valley out of which I had climbed seemed like a deep, dark gulf, though
+      the inaccessible peak of the mountain was still towering to a much greater
+      distance above. Objects familiar from childhood surrounded me; crags and
+      rocks, a black and sullen brook that gurgled with a hollow voice deep
+      among the crevices, a wood of mossy distorted trees and prostrate trunks
+      flung down by age and storms, scattered among the rocks, or damming the
+      foaming waters of the little brook. The objects were the same, yet they
+      were thrown into a wilder and more startling scene, for the black crags
+      and the savage trees assumed a grim and threatening aspect, and close
+      across the valley the opposing mountain confronted me, rising from the
+      gulf for thousands of feet, with its bare pinnacles and its ragged
+      covering of pines. Yet the scene was not without its milder features. As I
+      ascended, I found frequent little grassy terraces, and there was one of
+      these close at hand, across which the brook was stealing, beneath the
+      shade of scattered trees that seemed artificially planted. Here I made a
+      welcome discovery, no other than a bed of strawberries, with their white
+      flowers and their red fruit, close nestled among the grass by the side of
+      the brook, and I sat down by them, hailing them as old acquaintances; for
+      among those lonely and perilous mountains they awakened delicious
+      associations of the gardens and peaceful homes of far-distant New England.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Yet wild as they were, these mountains were thickly peopled. As I climbed
+      farther, I found the broad dusty paths made by the elk, as they filed
+      across the mountainside. The grass on all the terraces was trampled down
+      by deer; there were numerous tracks of wolves, and in some of the rougher
+      and more precipitous parts of the ascent, I found foot-prints different
+      from any that I had ever seen, and which I took to be those of the Rocky
+      Mountain sheep. I sat down upon a rock; there was a perfect stillness. No
+      wind was stirring, and not even an insect could be heard. I recollected
+      the danger of becoming lost in such a place, and therefore I fixed my eye
+      upon one of the tallest pinnacles of the opposite mountain. It rose sheer
+      upright from the woods below, and by an extraordinary freak of nature
+      sustained aloft on its very summit a large loose rock. Such a landmark
+      could never be mistaken, and feeling once more secure, I began again to
+      move forward. A white wolf jumped up from among some bushes, and leaped
+      clumsily away; but he stopped for a moment, and turned back his keen eye
+      and his grim bristling muzzle. I longed to take his scalp and carry it
+      back with me, as an appropriate trophy of the Black Hills, but before I
+      could fire, he was gone among the rocks. Soon I heard a rustling sound,
+      with a cracking of twigs at a little distance, and saw moving above the
+      tall bushes the branching antlers of an elk. I was in the midst of a
+      hunter&rsquo;s paradise.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Such are the Black Hills, as I found them in July; but they wear a
+      different garb when winter sets in, when the broad boughs of the fir tree
+      are bent to the ground by the load of snow, and the dark mountains are
+      whitened with it. At that season the mountain-trappers, returned from
+      their autumn expeditions, often build their rude cabins in the midst of
+      these solitudes, and live in abundance and luxury on the game that harbors
+      there. I have heard them relate, how with their tawny mistresses, and
+      perhaps a few young Indian companions, they have spent months in total
+      seclusion. They would dig pitfalls, and set traps for the white wolves,
+      the sables, and the martens, and though through the whole night the awful
+      chorus of the wolves would resound from the frozen mountains around them,
+      yet within their massive walls of logs they would lie in careless ease and
+      comfort before the blazing fire, and in the morning shoot the elk and the
+      deer from their very door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0018" id="link2HCH0018">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XVIII
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      A MOUNTAIN HUNT
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      The camp was full of the newly-cut lodge-poles; some, already prepared,
+      were stacked together, white and glistening, to dry and harden in the sun;
+      others were lying on the ground, and the squaws, the boys, and even some
+      of the warriors were busily at work peeling off the bark and paring them
+      with their knives to the proper dimensions. Most of the hides obtained at
+      the last camp were dressed and scraped thin enough for use, and many of
+      the squaws were engaged in fitting them together and sewing them with
+      sinews, to form the coverings for the lodges. Men were wandering among the
+      bushes that lined the brook along the margin of the camp, cutting sticks
+      of red willow, or shongsasha, the bark of which, mixed with tobacco, they
+      use for smoking. Reynal&rsquo;s squaw was hard at work with her awl and buffalo
+      sinews upon her lodge, while her proprietor, having just finished an
+      enormous breakfast of meat, was smoking a social pipe along with Raymond
+      and myself. He proposed at length that we should go out on a hunt. &ldquo;Go to
+      the Big Crow&rsquo;s lodge,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;and get your rifle. I&rsquo;ll bet the gray
+      Wyandotte pony against your mare that we start an elk or a black-tailed
+      deer, or likely as not, a bighorn, before we are two miles out of camp.
+      I&rsquo;ll take my squaw&rsquo;s old yellow horse; you can&rsquo;t whip her more than four
+      miles an hour, but she is as good for the mountains as a mule.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I mounted the black mule which Raymond usually rode. She was a very fine
+      and powerful animal, gentle and manageable enough by nature; but of late
+      her temper had been soured by misfortune. About a week before I had
+      chanced to offend some one of the Indians, who out of revenge went
+      secretly into the meadow and gave her a severe stab in the haunch with his
+      knife. The wound, though partially healed, still galled her extremely, and
+      made her even more perverse and obstinate than the rest of her species.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The morning was a glorious one, and I was in better health than I had been
+      at any time for the last two months. Though a strong frame and well
+      compacted sinews had borne me through hitherto, it was long since I had
+      been in a condition to feel the exhilaration of the fresh mountain wind
+      and the gay sunshine that brightened the crags and trees. We left the
+      little valley and ascended a rocky hollow in the mountain. Very soon we
+      were out of sight of the camp, and of every living thing, man, beast,
+      bird, or insect. I had never before, except on foot, passed over such
+      execrable ground, and I desire never to repeat the experiment. The black
+      mule grew indignant, and even the redoubtable yellow horse stumbled every
+      moment, and kept groaning to himself as he cut his feet and legs among the
+      sharp rocks.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was a scene of silence and desolation. Little was visible except
+      beetling crags and the bare shingly sides of the mountains, relieved by
+      scarcely a trace of vegetation. At length, however, we came upon a forest
+      tract, and had no sooner done so than we heartily wished ourselves back
+      among the rocks again; for we were on a steep descent, among trees so
+      thick that we could see scarcely a rod in any direction.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If one is anxious to place himself in a situation where the hazardous and
+      the ludicrous are combined in about equal proportions, let him get upon a
+      vicious mule, with a snaffle bit, and try to drive her through the woods
+      down a slope of 45 degrees. Let him have on a long rifle, a buckskin frock
+      with long fringes, and a head of long hair. These latter appendages will
+      be caught every moment and twitched away in small portions by the twigs,
+      which will also whip him smartly across the face, while the large branches
+      above thump him on the head. His mule, if she be a true one, will
+      alternately stop short and dive violently forward, and his position upon
+      her back will be somewhat diversified and extraordinary. At one time he
+      will clasp her affectionately, to avoid the blow of a bough overhead; at
+      another, he will throw himself back and fling his knee forward against the
+      side of her neck, to keep it from being crushed between the rough bark of
+      a tree and the equally unyielding ribs of the animal herself. Reynal was
+      cursing incessantly during the whole way down. Neither of us had the
+      remotest idea where we were going; and though I have seen rough riding, I
+      shall always retain an evil recollection of that five minutes&rsquo; scramble.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At last we left our troubles behind us, emerging into the channel of a
+      brook that circled along the foot of the descent; and here, turning
+      joyfully to the left, we rode in luxury and ease over the white pebbles
+      and the rippling water, shaded from the glaring sun by an overarching
+      green transparency. These halcyon moments were of short duration. The
+      friendly brook, turning sharply to one side, went brawling and foaming
+      down the rocky hill into an abyss, which, as far as we could discern, had
+      no bottom; so once more we betook ourselves to the detested woods. When
+      next we came forth from their dancing shadow and sunlight, we found
+      ourselves standing in the broad glare of day, on a high jutting point of
+      the mountain. Before us stretched a long, wide, desert valley, winding
+      away far amid the mountains. No civilized eye but mine had ever looked
+      upon that virgin waste. Reynal was gazing intently; he began to speak at
+      last:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Many a time, when I was with the Indians, I have been hunting for gold
+      all through the Black Hills. There&rsquo;s plenty of it here; you may be certain
+      of that. I have dreamed about it fifty times, and I never dreamed yet but
+      what it came true. Look over yonder at those black rocks piled up against
+      that other big rock. Don&rsquo;t it look as if there might be something there?
+      It won&rsquo;t do for a white man to be rummaging too much about these
+      mountains; the Indians say they are full of bad spirits; and I believe
+      myself that it&rsquo;s no good luck to be hunting about here after gold. Well,
+      for all that, I would like to have one of these fellows up here, from down
+      below, to go about with his witch-hazel rod, and I&rsquo;ll guarantee that it
+      would not be long before he would light on a gold mine. Never mind; we&rsquo;ll
+      let the gold alone for to-day. Look at those trees down below us in the
+      hollow; we&rsquo;ll go down there, and I reckon we&rsquo;ll get a black-tailed deer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But Reynal&rsquo;s predictions were not verified. We passed mountain after
+      mountain, and valley after valley; we explored deep ravines; yet still to
+      my companion&rsquo;s vexation and evident surprise, no game could be found. So,
+      in the absence of better, we resolved to go out on the plains and look for
+      an antelope. With this view we began to pass down a narrow valley, the
+      bottom of which was covered with the stiff wild-sage bushes and marked
+      with deep paths, made by the buffalo, who, for some inexplicable reason,
+      are accustomed to penetrate, in their long grave processions, deep among
+      the gorges of these sterile mountains.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Reynal&rsquo;s eye was ranging incessantly among the rocks and along the edges
+      of the black precipices, in hopes of discovering the mountain sheep
+      peering down upon us in fancied security from that giddy elevation.
+      Nothing was visible for some time. At length we both detected something in
+      motion near the foot of one of the mountains, and in a moment afterward a
+      black-tailed deer, with his spreading antlers, stood gazing at us from the
+      top of a rock, and then, slowly turning away, disappeared behind it. In an
+      instant Reynal was out of his saddle, and running toward the spot. I,
+      being too weak to follow, sat holding his horse and waiting the result. I
+      lost sight of him, then heard the report of his rifle, deadened among the
+      rocks, and finally saw him reappear, with a surly look that plainly
+      betrayed his ill success. Again we moved forward down the long valley,
+      when soon after we came full upon what seemed a wide and very shallow
+      ditch, incrusted at the bottom with white clay, dried and cracked in the
+      sun. Under this fair outside, Reynal&rsquo;s eye detected the signs of lurking
+      mischief. He called me to stop, and then alighting, picked up a stone and
+      threw it into the ditch. To my utter amazement it fell with a dull splash,
+      breaking at once through the thin crust, and spattering round the hole a
+      yellowish creamy fluid, into which it sank and disappeared. A stick, five
+      or six feet long lay on the ground, and with this we sounded the insidious
+      abyss close to its edge. It was just possible to touch the bottom. Places
+      like this are numerous among the Rocky Mountains. The buffalo, in his
+      blind and heedless walk, often plunges into them unawares. Down he sinks;
+      one snort of terror, one convulsive struggle, and the slime calmly flows
+      above his shaggy head, the languid undulations of its sleek and placid
+      surface alone betraying how the powerful monster writhes in his
+      death-throes below.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We found after some trouble a point where we could pass the abyss, and now
+      the valley began to open upon the plains which spread to the horizon
+      before us. On one of their distant swells we discerned three or four black
+      specks, which Reynal pronounced to be buffalo.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;we must get one of them. My squaw wants more sinews to
+      finish her lodge with, and I want some glue myself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He immediately put the yellow horse at such a gallop as he was capable of
+      executing, while I set spurs to the mule, who soon far outran her plebeian
+      rival. When we had galloped a mile or more, a large rabbit, by ill luck,
+      sprang up just under the feet of the mule, who bounded violently aside in
+      full career. Weakened as I was, I was flung forcibly to the ground, and my
+      rifle, falling close to my head, went off with a shock. Its sharp spiteful
+      report rang for some moments in my ear. Being slightly stunned, I lay for
+      an instant motionless, and Reynal, supposing me to be shot, rode up and
+      began to curse the mule. Soon recovering myself, I rose, picked up the
+      rifle and anxiously examined it. It was badly injured. The stock was
+      cracked, and the main screw broken, so that the lock had to be tied in its
+      place with a string; yet happily it was not rendered totally
+      unserviceable. I wiped it out, reloaded it, and handing it to Reynal, who
+      meanwhile had caught the mule and led her up to me, I mounted again. No
+      sooner had I done so, than the brute began to rear and plunge with extreme
+      violence; but being now well prepared for her, and free from incumbrance,
+      I soon reduced her to submission. Then taking the rifle again from Reynal,
+      we galloped forward as before.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We were now free of the mountain and riding far out on the broad prairie.
+      The buffalo were still some two miles in advance of us. When we came near
+      them, we stopped where a gentle swell of the plain concealed us from their
+      view, and while I held his horse Reynal ran forward with his rifle, till I
+      lost sight of him beyond the rising ground. A few minutes elapsed; I heard
+      the report of his piece, and saw the buffalo running away at full speed on
+      the right, and immediately after, the hunter himself unsuccessful as
+      before, came up and mounted his horse in excessive ill-humor. He cursed
+      the Black Hills and the buffalo, swore that he was a good hunter, which
+      indeed was true, and that he had never been out before among those
+      mountains without killing two or three deer at least.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We now turned toward the distant encampment. As we rode along, antelope in
+      considerable numbers were flying lightly in all directions over the plain,
+      but not one of them would stand and be shot at. When we reached the foot
+      of the mountain ridge that lay between us and the village, we were too
+      impatient to take the smooth and circuitous route; so turning short to the
+      left, we drove our wearied animals directly upward among the rocks. Still
+      more antelope were leaping about among these flinty hillsides. Each of us
+      shot at one, though from a great distance, and each missed his mark. At
+      length we reached the summit of the last ridge. Looking down, we saw the
+      bustling camp in the valley at our feet, and ingloriously descended to it.
+      As we rode among the lodges, the Indians looked in vain for the fresh meat
+      that should have hung behind our saddles, and the squaws uttered various
+      suppressed ejaculations, to the great indignation of Reynal. Our
+      mortification was increased when we rode up to his lodge. Here we saw his
+      young Indian relative, the Hail-Storm, his light graceful figure on the
+      ground in an easy attitude, while with his friend the Rabbit, who sat by
+      his side, he was making an abundant meal from a wooden bowl of wasna,
+      which the squaw had placed between them. Near him lay the fresh skin of a
+      female elk, which he had just killed among the mountains, only a mile or
+      two from the camp. No doubt the boy&rsquo;s heart was elated with triumph, but
+      he betrayed no sign of it. He even seemed totally unconscious of our
+      approach, and his handsome face had all the tranquillity of Indian
+      self-control; a self-control which prevents the exhibition of emotion,
+      without restraining the emotion itself. It was about two months since I
+      had known the Hail-Storm, and within that time his character had
+      remarkably developed. When I first saw him, he was just emerging from the
+      habits and feelings of the boy into the ambition of the hunter and
+      warrior. He had lately killed his first deer, and this had excited his
+      aspirations after distinction. Since that time he had been continually in
+      search of game, and no young hunter in the village had been so active or
+      so fortunate as he. It will perhaps be remembered how fearlessly he
+      attacked the buffalo bull, as we were moving toward our camp at the
+      Medicine-Bow Mountain. All this success had produced a marked change in
+      his character. As I first remembered him he always shunned the society of
+      the young squaws, and was extremely bashful and sheepish in their
+      presence; but now, in the confidence of his own reputation, he began to
+      assume the airs and the arts of a man of gallantry. He wore his red
+      blanket dashingly over his left shoulder, painted his cheeks every day
+      with vermilion, and hung pendants of shells in his ears. If I observed
+      aright, he met with very good success in his new pursuits; still the
+      Hail-Storm had much to accomplish before he attained the full standing of
+      a warrior. Gallantly as he began to bear himself among the women and
+      girls, he still was timid and abashed in the presence of the chiefs and
+      old men; for he had never yet killed a man, or stricken the dead body of
+      an enemy in battle. I have no doubt that the handsome smooth-faced boy
+      burned with keen desire to flash his maiden scalping-knife, and I would
+      not have encamped alone with him without watching his movements with a
+      distrustful eye.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His elder brother, the Horse, was of a different character. He was nothing
+      but a lazy dandy. He knew very well how to hunt, but preferred to live by
+      the hunting of others. He had no appetite for distinction, and the
+      Hail-Storm, though a few years younger than he, already surpassed him in
+      reputation. He had a dark and ugly face, and he passed a great part of his
+      time in adorning it with vermilion, and contemplating it by means of a
+      little pocket looking-glass which I gave him. As for the rest of the day,
+      he divided it between eating and sleeping, and sitting in the sun on the
+      outside of a lodge. Here he would remain for hour after hour, arrayed in
+      all his finery, with an old dragoon&rsquo;s sword in his hand, and evidently
+      flattering himself that he was the center of attraction to the eyes of the
+      surrounding squaws. Yet he sat looking straight forward with a face of the
+      utmost gravity, as if wrapped in profound meditation, and it was only by
+      the occasional sidelong glances which he shot at his supposed admirers
+      that one could detect the true course of his thoughts.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Both he and his brother may represent a class in the Indian community;
+      neither should the Hail-Storm&rsquo;s friend, the Rabbit, be passed by without
+      notice. The Hail-Storm and he were inseparable; they ate, slept, and
+      hunted together, and shared with one another almost all that they
+      possessed. If there be anything that deserves to be called romantic in the
+      Indian character, it is to be sought for in friendships such as this,
+      which are quite common among many of the prairie tribes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Slowly, hour after hour, that weary afternoon dragged away. I lay in
+      Reynal&rsquo;s lodge, overcome by the listless torpor that pervaded the whole
+      encampment. The day&rsquo;s work was finished, or if it were not, the
+      inhabitants had resolved not to finish it at all, and all were dozing
+      quietly within the shelter of the lodges. A profound lethargy, the very
+      spirit of indolence, seemed to have sunk upon the village. Now and then I
+      could hear the low laughter of some girl from within a neighboring lodge,
+      or the small shrill voices of a few restless children, who alone were
+      moving in the deserted area. The spirit of the place infected me; I could
+      not even think consecutively; I was fit only for musing and reverie, when
+      at last, like the rest, I fell asleep.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When evening came and the fires were lighted round the lodges, a select
+      family circle convened in the neighborhood of Reynal&rsquo;s domicile. It was
+      composed entirely of his squaw&rsquo;s relatives, a mean and ignoble clan, among
+      whom none but the Hail-Storm held forth any promise of future distinction.
+      Even his protests were rendered not a little dubious by the character of
+      the family, less however from any principle of aristocratic distinction
+      than from the want of powerful supporters to assist him in his
+      undertakings, and help to avenge his quarrels. Raymond and I sat down
+      along with them. There were eight or ten men gathered around the fire,
+      together with about as many women, old and young, some of whom were
+      tolerably good-looking. As the pipe passed round among the men, a lively
+      conversation went forward, more merry than delicate, and at length two or
+      three of the elder women (for the girls were somewhat diffident and
+      bashful) began to assail Raymond with various pungent witticisms. Some of
+      the men took part and an old squaw concluded by bestowing on him a
+      ludicrous nick name, at which a general laugh followed at his expense.
+      Raymond grinned and giggled, and made several futile attempts at repartee.
+      Knowing the impolicy and even danger of suffering myself to be placed in a
+      ludicrous light among the Indians, I maintained a rigid inflexible
+      countenance, and wholly escaped their sallies.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the morning I found, to my great disgust, that the camp was to retain
+      its position for another day. I dreaded its languor and monotony, and to
+      escape it, I set out to explore the surrounding mountains. I was
+      accompanied by a faithful friend, my rifle, the only friend indeed on
+      whose prompt assistance in time of trouble I could implicitly rely. Most
+      of the Indians in the village, it is true, professed good-will toward the
+      whites, but the experience of others and my own observation had taught me
+      the extreme folly of confidence, and the utter impossibility of foreseeing
+      to what sudden acts the strange unbridled impulses of an Indian may urge
+      him. When among this people danger is never so near as when you are
+      unprepared for it, never so remote as when you are armed and on the alert
+      to meet it any moment. Nothing offers so strong a temptation to their
+      ferocious instincts as the appearance of timidity, weakness, or security.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Many deep and gloomy gorges, choked with trees and bushes, opened from the
+      sides of the hills, which were shaggy with forests wherever the rocks
+      permitted vegetation to spring. A great number of Indians were stalking
+      along the edges of the woods, and boys were whooping and laughing on the
+      mountain-sides, practicing eye and hand, and indulging their destructive
+      propensities by following birds and small animals and killing them with
+      their little bows and arrows. There was one glen, stretching up between
+      steep cliffs far into the bosom of the mountain. I began to ascend along
+      its bottom, pushing my way onward among the rocks, trees, and bushes that
+      obstructed it. A slender thread of water trickled along its center, which
+      since issuing from the heart of its native rock could scarcely have been
+      warmed or gladdened by a ray of sunshine. After advancing for some time, I
+      conceived myself to be entirely alone; but coming to a part of the glen in
+      a great measure free of trees and undergrowth, I saw at some distance the
+      black head and red shoulders of an Indian among the bushes above. The
+      reader need not prepare himself for a startling adventure, for I have none
+      to relate. The head and shoulders belonged to Mene-Seela, my best friend
+      in the village. As I had approached noiselessly with my moccasined feet,
+      the old man was quite unconscious of my presence; and turning to a point
+      where I could gain an unobstructed view of him, I saw him seated alone,
+      immovable as a statue, among the rocks and trees. His face was turned
+      upward, and his eyes seemed riveted on a pine tree springing from a cleft
+      in the precipice above. The crest of the pine was swaying to and fro in
+      the wind, and its long limbs waved slowly up and down, as if the tree had
+      life. Looking for a while at the old man, I was satisfied that he was
+      engaged in an act of worship or prayer, or communion of some kind with a
+      supernatural being. I longed to penetrate his thoughts, but I could do
+      nothing more than conjecture and speculate. I knew that though the
+      intellect of an Indian can embrace the idea of an all-wise, all-powerful
+      Spirit, the supreme Ruler of the universe, yet his mind will not always
+      ascend into communion with a being that seems to him so vast, remote, and
+      incomprehensible; and when danger threatens, when his hopes are broken,
+      when the black wing of sorrow overshadows him, he is prone to turn for
+      relief to some inferior agency, less removed from the ordinary scope of
+      his faculties. He has a guardian spirit, on whom he relies for succor and
+      guidance. To him all nature is instinct with mystic influence. Among those
+      mountains not a wild beast was prowling, a bird singing, or a leaf
+      fluttering, that might not tend to direct his destiny or give warning of
+      what was in store for him; and he watches the world of nature around him
+      as the astrologer watches the stars. So closely is he linked with it that
+      his guardian spirit, no unsubstantial creation of the fancy, is usually
+      embodied in the form of some living thing&mdash;a bear, a wolf, an eagle,
+      or a serpent; and Mene-Seela, as he gazed intently on the old pine tree,
+      might believe it to inshrine the fancied guide and protector of his life.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Whatever was passing in the mind of the old man, it was no part of sense
+      or of delicacy to disturb him. Silently retracing my footsteps, I
+      descended the glen until I came to a point where I could climb the steep
+      precipices that shut it in, and gain the side of the mountain. Looking up,
+      I saw a tall peak rising among the woods. Something impelled me to climb;
+      I had not felt for many a day such strength and elasticity of limb. An
+      hour and a half of slow and often intermittent labor brought me to the
+      very summit; and emerging from the dark shadows of the rocks and pines, I
+      stepped forth into the light, and walking along the sunny verge of a
+      precipice, seated myself on its extreme point. Looking between the
+      mountain peaks to the westward, the pale blue prairie was stretching to
+      the farthest horizon like a serene and tranquil ocean. The surrounding
+      mountains were in themselves sufficiently striking and impressive, but
+      this contrast gave redoubled effect to their stern features.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0019" id="link2HCH0019">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XIX
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      PASSAGE OF THE MOUNTAINS
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      When I took leave of Shaw at La Bonte&rsquo;s Camp, I promised that I would meet
+      him at Fort Laramie on the 1st of August. That day, according to my
+      reckoning, was now close at hand. It was impossible, at best, to fulfill
+      my engagement exactly, and my meeting with him must have been postponed
+      until many days after the appointed time, had not the plans of the Indians
+      very well coincided with my own. They too, intended to pass the mountains
+      and move toward the fort. To do so at this point was impossible, because
+      there was no opening; and in order to find a passage we were obliged to go
+      twelve or fourteen miles southward. Late in the afternoon the camp got in
+      motion, defiling back through the mountains along the same narrow passage
+      by which they had entered. I rode in company with three or four young
+      Indians at the rear, and the moving swarm stretched before me, in the
+      ruddy light of sunset, or in the deep shadow of the mountains far beyond
+      my sight. It was an ill-omened spot they chose to encamp upon. When they
+      were there just a year before, a war party of ten men, led by The
+      Whirlwind&rsquo;s son, had gone out against the enemy, and not one had ever
+      returned. This was the immediate cause of this season&rsquo;s warlike
+      preparations. I was not a little astonished when I came to the camp, at
+      the confusion of horrible sounds with which it was filled; howls, shrieks,
+      and wailings were heard from all the women present, many of whom not
+      content with this exhibition of grief for the loss of their friends and
+      relatives, were gashing their legs deeply with knives. A warrior in the
+      village, who had lost a brother in the expedition; chose another mode of
+      displaying his sorrow. The Indians, who, though often rapacious, are
+      utterly devoid of avarice, are accustomed in times of mourning, or on
+      other solemn occasions, to give away the whole of their possessions, and
+      reduce themselves to nakedness and want. The warrior in question led his
+      two best horses into the center of the village, and gave them away to his
+      friends; upon which songs and acclamations in praise of his generosity
+      mingled with the cries of the women.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the next morning we entered once more among the mountains. There was
+      nothing in their appearance either grand or picturesque, though they were
+      desolate to the last degree, being mere piles of black and broken rocks,
+      without trees or vegetation of any kind. As we passed among them along a
+      wide valley, I noticed Raymond riding by the side of a younger squaw, to
+      whom he was addressing various insinuating compliments. All the old squaws
+      in the neighborhood watched his proceedings in great admiration, and the
+      girl herself would turn aside her head and laugh. Just then the old mule
+      thought proper to display her vicious pranks; she began to rear and plunge
+      most furiously. Raymond was an excellent rider, and at first he stuck fast
+      in his seat; but the moment after, I saw the mule&rsquo;s hind-legs flourishing
+      in the air, and my unlucky follower pitching head foremost over her ears.
+      There was a burst of screams and laughter from all the women, in which his
+      mistress herself took part, and Raymond was instantly assailed by such a
+      shower of witticisms, that he was glad to ride forward out of hearing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Not long after, as I rode near him, I heard him shouting to me. He was
+      pointing toward a detached rocky hill that stood in the middle of the
+      valley before us, and from behind it a long file of elk came out at full
+      speed and entered an opening in the side of the mountain. They had
+      scarcely disappeared when whoops and exclamations came from fifty voices
+      around me. The young men leaped from their horses, flung down their heavy
+      buffalo robes, and ran at full speed toward the foot of the nearest
+      mountain. Reynal also broke away at a gallop in the same direction, &ldquo;Come
+      on! come on!&rdquo; he called to us. &ldquo;Do you see that band of bighorn up yonder?
+      If there&rsquo;s one of them, there&rsquo;s a hundred!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      In fact, near the summit of the mountain, I could see a large number of
+      small white objects, moving rapidly upward among the precipices, while
+      others were filing along its rocky profile. Anxious to see the sport, I
+      galloped forward, and entering a passage in the side of the mountain,
+      ascended the loose rocks as far as my horse could carry me. Here I
+      fastened her to an old pine tree that stood alone, scorching in the sun.
+      At that moment Raymond called to me from the right that another band of
+      sheep was close at hand in that direction. I ran up to the top of the
+      opening, which gave me a full view into the rocky gorge beyond; and here I
+      plainly saw some fifty or sixty sheep, almost within rifle-shot,
+      clattering upward among the rocks, and endeavoring, after their usual
+      custom, to reach the highest point. The naked Indians bounded up lightly
+      in pursuit. In a moment the game and hunters disappeared. Nothing could be
+      seen or heard but the occasional report of a gun, more and more distant,
+      reverberating among the rocks.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I turned to descend, and as I did so I could see the valley below alive
+      with Indians passing rapidly through it, on horseback and on foot. A
+      little farther on, all were stopping as they came up; the camp was
+      preparing, and the lodges rising. I descended to this spot, and soon after
+      Reynal and Raymond returned. They bore between them a sheep which they had
+      pelted to death with stones from the edge of a ravine, along the bottom of
+      which it was attempting to escape. One by one the hunters came dropping
+      in; yet such is the activity of the Rocky Mountain sheep that, although
+      sixty or seventy men were out in pursuit, not more than half a dozen
+      animals were killed. Of these only one was a full-grown male. He had a
+      pair of horns twisted like a ram&rsquo;s, the dimensions of which were almost
+      beyond belief. I have seen among the Indians ladles with long handles,
+      capable of containing more than a quart, cut from such horns.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There is something peculiarly interesting in the character and habits of
+      the mountain sheep, whose chosen retreats are above the region of
+      vegetation and storms, and who leap among the giddy precipices of their
+      aerial home as actively as the antelope skims over the prairies below.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Through the whole of the next morning we were moving forward, among the
+      hills. On the following day the heights gathered around us, and the
+      passage of the mountains began in earnest. Before the village left its
+      camping ground, I set forward in company with the Eagle-Feather, a man of
+      powerful frame, but of bad and sinister face. His son, a light-limbed boy,
+      rode with us, and another Indian, named the Panther, was also of the
+      party. Leaving the village out of sight behind us, we rode together up a
+      rocky defile. After a while, however, the Eagle-Feather discovered in the
+      distance some appearance of game, and set off with his son in pursuit of
+      it, while I went forward with the Panther. This was a mere NOM DE GUERRE;
+      for, like many Indians, he concealed his real name out of some
+      superstitious notion. He was a very noble looking fellow. As he suffered
+      his ornamented buffalo robe to fall into folds about his loins, his
+      stately and graceful figure was fully displayed; and while he sat his
+      horse in an easy attitude, the long feathers of the prairie cock
+      fluttering from the crown of his head, he seemed the very model of a wild
+      prairie-rider. He had not the same features as those of other Indians.
+      Unless his handsome face greatly belied him, he was free from the
+      jealousy, suspicion, and malignant cunning of his people. For the most
+      part, a civilized white man can discover but very few points of sympathy
+      between his own nature and that of an Indian. With every disposition to do
+      justice to their good qualities, he must be conscious that an impassable
+      gulf lies between him and his red brethren of the prairie. Nay, so alien
+      to himself do they appear that, having breathed for a few months or a few
+      weeks the air of this region, he begins to look upon them as a troublesome
+      and dangerous species of wild beast, and, if expedient, he could shoot
+      them with as little compunction as they themselves would experience after
+      performing the same office upon him. Yet, in the countenance of the
+      Panther, I gladly read that there were at least some points of sympathy
+      between him and me. We were excellent friends, and as we rode forward
+      together through rocky passages, deep dells, and little barren plains, he
+      occupied himself very zealously in teaching me the Dakota language. After
+      a while, we came to a little grassy recess, where some gooseberry bushes
+      were growing at the foot of a rock; and these offered such temptation to
+      my companion, that he gave over his instruction, and stopped so long to
+      gather the fruit that before we were in motion again the van of the
+      village came in view. An old woman appeared, leading down her pack horse
+      among the rocks above. Savage after savage followed, and the little dell
+      was soon crowded with the throng.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That morning&rsquo;s march was one not easily to be forgotten. It led us through
+      a sublime waste, a wilderness of mountains and pine forests, over which
+      the spirit of loneliness and silence seemed brooding. Above and below
+      little could be seen but the same dark green foliage. It overspread the
+      valleys, and the mountains were clothed with it from the black rocks that
+      crowned their summits to the impetuous streams that circled round their
+      base. Scenery like this, it might seem, could have no very cheering effect
+      on the mind of a sick man (for to-day my disease had again assailed me) in
+      the midst of a horde of savages; but if the reader has ever wandered, with
+      a true hunter&rsquo;s spirit, among the forests of Maine, or the more
+      picturesque solitudes of the Adirondack Mountains, he will understand how
+      the somber woods and mountains around me might have awakened any other
+      feelings than those of gloom. In truth they recalled gladdening
+      recollections of similar scenes in a distant and far different land. After
+      we had been advancing for several hours through passages always narrow,
+      often obstructed and difficult, I saw at a little distance on our right a
+      narrow opening between two high wooded precipices. All within seemed
+      darkness and mystery. In the mood in which I found myself something
+      strongly impelled me to enter. Passing over the intervening space I guided
+      my horse through the rocky portal, and as I did so instinctively drew the
+      covering from my rifle, half expecting that some unknown evil lay in
+      ambush within those dreary recesses. The place was shut in among tall
+      cliffs, and so deeply shadowed by a host of old pine trees that, though
+      the sun shone bright on the side of the mountain, nothing but a dim
+      twilight could penetrate within. As far as I could see it had no tenants
+      except a few hawks and owls, who, dismayed at my intrusion, flapped
+      hoarsely away among the shaggy branches. I moved forward, determined to
+      explore the mystery to the bottom, and soon became involved among the
+      pines. The genius of the place exercised a strange influence upon my mind.
+      Its faculties were stimulated into extraordinary activity, and as I passed
+      along many half-forgotten incidents, and the images of persons and things
+      far distant, rose rapidly before me with surprising distinctness. In that
+      perilous wilderness, eight hundred miles removed beyond the faintest
+      vestige of civilization, the scenes of another hemisphere, the seat of
+      ancient refinement, passed before me more like a succession of vivid
+      paintings than any mere dreams of the fancy. I saw the church of St.
+      Peter&rsquo;s illumined on the evening of Easter Day, the whole majestic pile,
+      from the cross to the foundation stone, penciled in fire and shedding a
+      radiance, like the serene light of the moon, on the sea of upturned faces
+      below. I saw the peak of Mount Etna towering above its inky mantle of
+      clouds and lightly curling its wreaths of milk-white smoke against the
+      soft sky flushed with the Sicilian sunset. I saw also the gloomy vaulted
+      passages and the narrow cells of the Passionist convent where I once had
+      sojourned for a few days with the fanatical monks, its pale, stern inmates
+      in their robes of black, and the grated window from whence I could look
+      out, a forbidden indulgence, upon the melancholy Coliseum and the
+      crumbling ruins of the Eternal City. The mighty glaciers of the Splugen
+      too rose before me, gleaming in the sun like polished silver, and those
+      terrible solitudes, the birthplace of the Rhine, where bursting from the
+      bowels of its native mountains, it lashes and foams down the rocky abyss
+      into the little valley of Andeer. These recollections, and many more,
+      crowded upon me, until remembering that it was hardly wise to remain long
+      in such a place, I mounted again and retraced my steps. Issuing from
+      between the rocks I saw a few rods before me the men, women, and children,
+      dogs and horses, still filing slowly across the little glen. A bare round
+      hill rose directly above them. I rode to the top, and from this point I
+      could look down on the savage procession as it passed just beneath my
+      feet, and far on the left I could see its thin and broken line, visible
+      only at intervals, stretching away for miles among the mountains. On the
+      farthest ridge horsemen were still descending like mere specks in the
+      distance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I remained on the hill until all had passed, and then, descending,
+      followed after them. A little farther on I found a very small meadow, set
+      deeply among steep mountains; and here the whole village had encamped. The
+      little spot was crowded with the confused and disorderly host. Some of the
+      lodges were already completely prepared, or the squaws perhaps were busy
+      in drawing the heavy coverings of skin over the bare poles. Others were as
+      yet mere skeletons, while others still&mdash;poles, covering, and all&mdash;lay
+      scattered in complete disorder on the ground among buffalo robes, bales of
+      meat, domestic utensils, harness, and weapons. Squaws were screaming to
+      one another, horses rearing and plunging dogs yelping, eager to be
+      disburdened of their loads, while the fluttering of feathers and the gleam
+      of barbaric ornaments added liveliness to the scene. The small children
+      ran about amid the crowd, while many of the boys were scrambling among the
+      overhanging rocks, and standing, with their little bows in their hands,
+      looking down upon a restless throng. In contrast with the general
+      confusion, a circle of old men and warriors sat in the midst, smoking in
+      profound indifference and tranquillity. The disorder at length subsided.
+      The horses were driven away to feed along the adjacent valley, and the
+      camp assumed an air of listless repose. It was scarcely past noon; a vast
+      white canopy of smoke from a burning forest to the eastward overhung the
+      place, and partially obscured the sun; yet the heat was almost
+      insupportable. The lodges stood crowded together without order in the
+      narrow space. Each was a perfect hothouse, within which the lazy
+      proprietor lay sleeping. The camp was silent as death. Nothing stirred
+      except now and then an old woman passing from lodge to lodge. The girls
+      and young men sat together in groups under the pine trees upon the
+      surrounding heights. The dogs lay panting on the ground, too lazy even to
+      growl at the white man. At the entrance of the meadow there was a cold
+      spring among the rocks, completely overshadowed by tall trees and dense
+      undergrowth. In this cold and shady retreat a number of girls were
+      assembled, sitting together on rocks and fallen logs, discussing the
+      latest gossip of the village, or laughing and throwing water with their
+      hands at the intruding Meneaska. The minutes seemed lengthened into hours.
+      I lay for a long time under a tree, studying the Ogallalla tongue, with
+      the zealous instructions of my friend the Panther. When we were both tired
+      of this I went and lay down by the side of a deep, clear pool formed by
+      the water of the spring. A shoal of little fishes of about a pin&rsquo;s length
+      were playing in it, sporting together, as it seemed, very amicably; but on
+      closer observation, I saw that they were engaged in a cannibal warfare
+      among themselves. Now and then a small one would fall a victim, and
+      immediately disappear down the maw of his voracious conqueror. Every
+      moment, however, the tyrant of the pool, a monster about three inches
+      long, with staring goggle eyes, would slowly issue forth with quivering
+      fins and tail from under the shelving bank. The small fry at this would
+      suspend their hostilities, and scatter in a panic at the appearance of
+      overwhelming force.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Soft-hearted philanthropists,&rdquo; thought I, &ldquo;may sigh long for their
+      peaceful millennium; for from minnows up to men, life is an incessant
+      battle.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Evening approached at last, the tall mountain-tops around were still gay
+      and bright in sunshine, while our deep glen was completely shadowed. I
+      left the camp and ascended a neighboring hill, whose rocky summit
+      commanded a wide view over the surrounding wilderness. The sun was still
+      glaring through the stiff pines on the ridge of the western mountain. In a
+      moment he was gone, and as the landscape rapidly darkened, I turned again
+      toward the village. As I descended the hill, the howling of wolves and the
+      barking of foxes came up out of the dim woods from far and near. The camp
+      was glowing with a multitude of fires, and alive with dusky naked figures,
+      whose tall shadows flitted among the surroundings crags.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I found a circle of smokers seated in their usual place; that is, on the
+      ground before the lodge of a certain warrior, who seemed to be generally
+      known for his social qualities. I sat down to smoke a parting pipe with my
+      savage friends. That day was the 1st of August, on which I had promised to
+      meet Shaw at Fort Laramie. The Fort was less than two days&rsquo; journey
+      distant, and that my friend need not suffer anxiety on my account, I
+      resolved to push forward as rapidly as possible to the place of meeting. I
+      went to look after the Hail-Storm, and having found him, I offered him a
+      handful of hawks&rsquo;-bells and a paper of vermilion, on condition that he
+      would guide me in the morning through the mountains within sight of
+      Laramie Creek.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Hail-Storm ejaculated &ldquo;How!&rdquo; and accepted the gift. Nothing more was
+      said on either side; the matter was settled, and I lay down to sleep in
+      Kongra-Tonga&rsquo;s lodge.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Long before daylight Raymond shook me by the shoulder.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Everything is ready,&rdquo; he said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I went out. The morning was chill, damp, and dark; and the whole camp
+      seemed asleep. The Hail-Storm sat on horseback before the lodge, and my
+      mare Pauline and the mule which Raymond rode were picketed near it. We
+      saddled and made our other arrangements for the journey, but before these
+      were completed the camp began to stir, and the lodge-coverings fluttered
+      and rustled as the squaws pulled them down in preparation for departure.
+      Just as the light began to appear we left the ground, passing up through a
+      narrow opening among the rocks which led eastward out of the meadow.
+      Gaining the top of this passage, I turned round and sat looking back upon
+      the camp, dimly visible in the gray light of the morning. All was alive
+      with the bustle of preparation. I turned away, half unwilling to take a
+      final leave of my savage associates. We turned to the right, passing among
+      the rocks and pine trees so dark that for a while we could scarcely see
+      our way. The country in front was wild and broken, half hill, half plain,
+      partly open and partly covered with woods of pine and oak. Barriers of
+      lofty mountains encompassed it; the woods were fresh and cool in the early
+      morning; the peaks of the mountains were wreathed with mist, and sluggish
+      vapors were entangled among the forests upon their sides. At length the
+      black pinnacle of the tallest mountain was tipped with gold by the rising
+      sun. About that time the Hail-Storm, who rode in front gave a low
+      exclamation. Some large animal leaped up from among the bushes, and an
+      elk, as I thought, his horns thrown back over his neck, darted past us
+      across the open space, and bounded like a mad thing away among the
+      adjoining pines. Raymond was soon out of his saddle, but before he could
+      fire, the animal was full two hundred yards distant. The ball struck its
+      mark, though much too low for mortal effect. The elk, however, wheeled in
+      its flight, and ran at full speed among the trees, nearly at right angles
+      to his former course. I fired and broke his shoulder; still he moved on,
+      limping down into the neighboring woody hollow, whither the young Indian
+      followed and killed him. When we reached the spot we discovered him to be
+      no elk, but a black-tailed deer, an animal nearly twice the size of the
+      common deer, and quite unknown to the East. We began to cut him up; the
+      reports of the rifles had reached the ears of the Indians, and before our
+      task was finished several of them came to the spot. Leaving the hide of
+      the deer to the Hail-Storm, we hung as much of the meat as we wanted
+      behind our saddles, left the rest to the Indians, and resumed our journey.
+      Meanwhile the village was on its way, and had gone so far that to get in
+      advance of it was impossible. Therefore we directed our course so as to
+      strike its line of march at the nearest point. In a short time, through
+      the dark trunks of the pines, we could see the figures of the Indians as
+      they passed. Once more we were among them. They were moving with even more
+      than their usual precipitation, crowded close together in a narrow pass
+      between rocks and old pine trees. We were on the eastern descent of the
+      mountain, and soon came to a rough and difficult defile, leading down a
+      very steep declivity. The whole swarm poured down together, filling the
+      rocky passageway like some turbulent mountain stream. The mountains before
+      us were on fire, and had been so for weeks. The view in front was obscured
+      by a vast dim sea of smoke and vapor, while on either hand the tall
+      cliffs, bearing aloft their crest of pines, thrust their heads boldly
+      through it, and the sharp pinnacles and broken ridges of the mountains
+      beyond them were faintly traceable as through a veil. The scene in itself
+      was most grand and imposing, but with the savage multitude, the armed
+      warriors, the naked children, the gayly appareled girls, pouring
+      impetuously down the heights, it would have formed a noble subject for a
+      painter, and only the pen of a Scott could have done it justice in
+      description.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We passed over a burnt tract where the ground was hot beneath the horses&rsquo;
+      feet, and between the blazing sides of two mountains. Before long we had
+      descended to a softer region, where we found a succession of little
+      valleys watered by a stream, along the borders of which grew abundance of
+      wild gooseberries and currants, and the children and many of the men
+      straggled from the line of march to gather them as we passed along.
+      Descending still farther, the view changed rapidly. The burning mountains
+      were behind us, and through the open valleys in front we could see the
+      ocean-like prairie, stretching beyond the sight. After passing through a
+      line of trees that skirted the brook, the Indians filed out upon the
+      plains. I was thirsty and knelt down by the little stream to drink. As I
+      mounted again I very carelessly left my rifle among the grass, and my
+      thoughts being otherwise absorbed, I rode for some distance before
+      discovering its absence. As the reader may conceive, I lost no time in
+      turning about and galloping back in search of it. Passing the line of
+      Indians, I watched every warrior as he rode by me at a canter, and at
+      length discovered my rifle in the hands of one of them, who, on my
+      approaching to claim it, immediately gave it up. Having no other means of
+      acknowledging the obligation, I took off one of my spurs and gave it to
+      him. He was greatly delighted, looking upon it as a distinguished mark of
+      favor, and immediately held out his foot for me to buckle it on. As soon
+      as I had done so, he struck it with force into the side of his horse, who
+      gave a violent leap. The Indian laughed and spurred harder than before. At
+      this the horse shot away like an arrow, amid the screams and laughter of
+      the squaws, and the ejaculations of the men, who exclaimed: &ldquo;Washtay!&mdash;Good!&rdquo;
+       at the potent effect of my gift. The Indian had no saddle, and nothing in
+      place of a bridle except a leather string tied round the horse&rsquo;s jaw. The
+      animal was of course wholly uncontrollable, and stretched away at full
+      speed over the prairie, till he and his rider vanished behind a distant
+      swell. I never saw the man again, but I presume no harm came to him. An
+      Indian on horseback has more lives than a cat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The village encamped on a scorching prairie, close to the foot of the
+      mountains. The beat was most intense and penetrating. The coverings of the
+      lodges were raised a foot or more from the ground, in order to procure
+      some circulation of air; and Reynal thought proper to lay aside his
+      trapper&rsquo;s dress of buckskin and assume the very scanty costume of an
+      Indian. Thus elegantly attired, he stretched himself in his lodge on a
+      buffalo robe, alternately cursing the heat and puffing at the pipe which
+      he and I passed between us. There was present also a select circle of
+      Indian friends and relatives. A small boiled puppy was served up as a
+      parting feast, to which was added, by way of dessert, a wooden bowl of
+      gooseberries, from the mountains.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Look there,&rdquo; said Reynal, pointing out of the opening of his lodge; &ldquo;do
+      you see that line of buttes about fifteen miles off? Well, now, do you see
+      that farthest one, with the white speck on the face of it? Do you think
+      you ever saw it before?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It looks to me,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;like the hill that we were camped under when we
+      were on Laramie Creek, six or eight weeks ago.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You&rsquo;ve hit it,&rdquo; answered Reynal.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Go and bring in the animals, Raymond,&rdquo; said I: &ldquo;we&rsquo;ll camp there
+      to-night, and start for the Fort in the morning.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The mare and the mule were soon before the lodge. We saddled them, and in
+      the meantime a number of Indians collected about us. The virtues of
+      Pauline, my strong, fleet, and hardy little mare, were well known in camp,
+      and several of the visitors were mounted upon good horses which they had
+      brought me as presents. I promptly declined their offers, since accepting
+      them would have involved the necessity of transferring poor Pauline into
+      their barbarous hands. We took leave of Reynal, but not of the Indians,
+      who are accustomed to dispense with such superfluous ceremonies. Leaving
+      the camp we rode straight over the prairie toward the white-faced bluff,
+      whose pale ridges swelled gently against the horizon, like a cloud. An
+      Indian went with us, whose name I forget, though the ugliness of his face
+      and the ghastly width of his mouth dwell vividly in my recollection. The
+      antelope were numerous, but we did not heed them. We rode directly toward
+      our destination, over the arid plains and barren hills, until, late in the
+      afternoon, half spent with heat, thirst, and fatigue, we saw a gladdening
+      sight; the long line of trees and the deep gulf that mark the course of
+      Laramie Creek. Passing through the growth of huge dilapidated old
+      cottonwood trees that bordered the creek, we rode across to the other
+      side.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The rapid and foaming waters were filled with fish playing and splashing
+      in the shallows. As we gained the farther bank, our horses turned eagerly
+      to drink, and we, kneeling on the sand, followed their example. We had not
+      gone far before the scene began to grow familiar.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We are getting near home, Raymond,&rdquo; said I.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There stood the Big Tree under which we had encamped so long; there were
+      the white cliffs that used to look down upon our tent when it stood at the
+      bend of the creek; there was the meadow in which our horses had grazed for
+      weeks, and a little farther on, the prairie-dog village where I had
+      beguiled many a languid hour in persecuting the unfortunate inhabitants.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We are going to catch it now,&rdquo; said Raymond, turning his broad, vacant
+      face up toward the sky.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In truth, the landscape, the cliffs and the meadow, the stream and the
+      groves were darkening fast. Black masses of cloud were swelling up in the
+      south, and the thunder was growling ominously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We will camp here,&rdquo; I said, pointing to a dense grove of trees lower down
+      the stream. Raymond and I turned toward it, but the Indian stopped and
+      called earnestly after us. When we demanded what was the matter, he said
+      that the ghosts of two warriors were always among those trees, and that if
+      we slept there, they would scream and throw stones at us all night, and
+      perhaps steal our horses before morning. Thinking it as well to humor him,
+      we left behind us the haunt of these extraordinary ghosts, and passed on
+      toward Chugwater, riding at full gallop, for the big drops began to patter
+      down. Soon we came in sight of the poplar saplings that grew about the
+      mouth of the little stream. We leaped to the ground, threw off our
+      saddles, turned our horses loose, and drawing our knives, began to slash
+      among the bushes to cut twigs and branches for making a shelter against
+      the rain. Bending down the taller saplings as they grew, we piled the
+      young shoots upon them; and thus made a convenient penthouse, but all our
+      labor was useless. The storm scarcely touched us. Half a mile on our right
+      the rain was pouring down like a cataract, and the thunder roared over the
+      prairie like a battery of cannon; while we by good fortune received only a
+      few heavy drops from the skirt of the passing cloud. The weather cleared
+      and the sun set gloriously. Sitting close under our leafy canopy, we
+      proceeded to discuss a substantial meal of wasna which Weah-Washtay had
+      given me. The Indian had brought with him his pipe and a bag of
+      shongsasha; so before lying down to sleep, we sat for some time smoking
+      together. Previously, however, our wide-mouthed friend had taken the
+      precaution of carefully examining the neighborhood. He reported that eight
+      men, counting them on his fingers, had been encamped there not long
+      before. Bisonette, Paul Dorion, Antoine Le Rouge, Richardson, and four
+      others, whose names he could not tell. All this proved strictly correct.
+      By what instinct he had arrived at such accurate conclusions, I am utterly
+      at a loss to divine.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was still quite dark when I awoke and called Raymond. The Indian was
+      already gone, having chosen to go on before us to the Fort. Setting out
+      after him, we rode for some time in complete darkness, and when the sun at
+      length rose, glowing like a fiery ball of copper, we were ten miles
+      distant from the Fort. At length, from the broken summit of a tall sandy
+      bluff we could see Fort Laramie, miles before us, standing by the side of
+      the stream like a little gray speck in the midst of the bounding
+      desolation. I stopped my horse, and sat for a moment looking down upon it.
+      It seemed to me the very center of comfort and civilization. We were not
+      long in approaching it, for we rode at speed the greater part of the way.
+      Laramie Creek still intervened between us and the friendly walls. Entering
+      the water at the point where we had struck upon the bank, we raised our
+      feet to the saddle behind us, and thus, kneeling as it were on horseback,
+      passed dry-shod through the swift current. As we rode up the bank, a
+      number of men appeared in the gateway. Three of them came forward to meet
+      us. In a moment I distinguished Shaw; Henry Chatillon followed with his
+      face of manly simplicity and frankness, and Delorier came last, with a
+      broad grin of welcome. The meeting was not on either side one of mere
+      ceremony. For my own part, the change was a most agreeable one from the
+      society of savages and men little better than savages, to that of my
+      gallant and high-minded companion and our noble-hearted guide. My
+      appearance was equally gratifying to Shaw, who was beginning to entertain
+      some very uncomfortable surmises concerning me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Bordeaux greeted me very cordially, and shouted to the cook. This
+      functionary was a new acquisition, having lately come from Fort Pierre
+      with the trading wagons. Whatever skill he might have boasted, he had not
+      the most promising materials to exercise it upon. He set before me,
+      however, a breakfast of biscuit, coffee, and salt pork. It seemed like a
+      new phase of existence, to be seated once more on a bench, with a knife
+      and fork, a plate and teacup, and something resembling a table before me.
+      The coffee seemed delicious, and the bread was a most welcome novelty,
+      since for three weeks I had eaten scarcely anything but meat, and that for
+      the most part without salt. The meal also had the relish of good company,
+      for opposite to me sat Shaw in elegant dishabille. If one is anxious
+      thoroughly to appreciate the value of a congenial companion, he has only
+      to spend a few weeks by himself in an Ogallalla village. And if he can
+      contrive to add to his seclusion a debilitating and somewhat critical
+      illness, his perceptions upon this subject will be rendered considerably
+      more vivid.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shaw had been upward of two weeks at the Fort. I found him established in
+      his old quarters, a large apartment usually occupied by the absent
+      bourgeois. In one corner was a soft and luxuriant pile of excellent
+      buffalo robes, and here I lay down. Shaw brought me three books.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Here,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;is your Shakespeare and Byron, and here is the Old
+      Testament, which has as much poetry in it as the other two put together.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I chose the worst of the three, and for the greater part of that day lay
+      on the buffalo robes, fairly reveling in the creations of that resplendent
+      genius which has achieved no more signal triumph than that of half
+      beguiling us to forget the pitiful and unmanly character of its possessor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0020" id="link2HCH0020">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XX
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      THE LONELY JOURNEY
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      On the day of my arrival at Fort Laramie, Shaw and I were lounging on two
+      buffalo robes in the large apartment hospitably assigned to us; Henry
+      Chatillon also was present, busy about the harness and weapons, which had
+      been brought into the room, and two or three Indians were crouching on the
+      floor, eyeing us with their fixed, unwavering gaze.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have been well off here,&rdquo; said Shaw, &ldquo;in all respects but one; there is
+      no good shongsasha to be had for love or money.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I gave him a small leather bag containing some of excellent quality, which
+      I had brought from the Black Hills.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now, Henry,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;hand me Papin&rsquo;s chopping-board, or give it to that
+      Indian, and let him cut the mixture; they understand it better than any
+      white man.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Indian, without saying a word, mixed the bark and the tobacco in due
+      proportions, filled the pipe and lighted it. This done, my companion and I
+      proceeded to deliberate on our future course of proceeding; first,
+      however, Shaw acquainted me with some incidents which had occurred at the
+      fort during my absence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      About a week previous four men had arrived from beyond the mountains;
+      Sublette, Reddick, and two others. Just before reaching the Fort they had
+      met a large party of Indians, chiefly young men. All of them belonged to
+      the village of our old friend Smoke, who, with his whole band of
+      adherents, professed the greatest friendship for the whites. The travelers
+      therefore approached, and began to converse without the least suspicion.
+      Suddenly, however, their bridles were violently seized and they were
+      ordered to dismount. Instead of complying, they struck their horses with
+      full force, and broke away from the Indians. As they galloped off they
+      heard a yell behind them, mixed with a burst of derisive laughter, and the
+      reports of several guns. None of them were hurt though Reddick&rsquo;s bridle
+      rein was cut by a bullet within an inch of his hand. After this taste of
+      Indian hostility they felt for the moment no disposition to encounter
+      further risks. They intended to pursue the route southward along the foot
+      of the mountains to Bent&rsquo;s Fort; and as our plans coincided with theirs,
+      they proposed to join forces. Finding, however, that I did not return,
+      they grew impatient of inaction, forgot their late escape, and set out
+      without us, promising to wait our arrival at Bent&rsquo;s Fort. From thence we
+      were to make the long journey to the settlements in company, as the path
+      was not a little dangerous, being infested by hostile Pawnees and
+      Comanches.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We expected, on reaching Bent&rsquo;s Fort, to find there still another
+      re-enforcement. A young Kentuckian of the true Kentucky blood, generous,
+      impetuous, and a gentleman withal, had come out to the mountains with
+      Russel&rsquo;s party of California emigrants. One of his chief objects, as he
+      gave out, was to kill an Indian; an exploit which he afterwards succeeded
+      in achieving, much to the jeopardy of ourselves and others who had to pass
+      through the country of the dead Pawnee&rsquo;s enraged relatives. Having become
+      disgusted with his emigrant associates he left them, and had some time
+      before set out with a party of companions for the head of the Arkansas. He
+      sent us previously a letter, intimating that he would wait until we
+      arrived at Bent&rsquo;s Fort, and accompany us thence to the settlements. When,
+      however, he came to the Fort, he found there a party of forty men about to
+      make the homeward journey. He wisely preferred to avail himself of so
+      strong an escort. Mr. Sublette and his companions also set out, in order
+      to overtake this company; so that on reaching Bent&rsquo;s Fort, some six weeks
+      after, we found ourselves deserted by our allies and thrown once more upon
+      our own resources.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But I am anticipating. When, before leaving the settlement we had made
+      inquiries concerning this part of the country of General Kearny, Mr.
+      Mackenzie, Captain Wyeth, and others well acquainted with it, they had all
+      advised us by no means to attempt this southward journey with fewer than
+      fifteen or twenty men. The danger consists in the chance of encountering
+      Indian war parties. Sometimes throughout the whole length of the journey
+      (a distance of 350 miles) one does not meet a single human being;
+      frequently, however, the route is beset by Arapahoes and other unfriendly
+      tribes; in which case the scalp of the adventurer is in imminent peril. As
+      to the escort of fifteen or twenty men, such a force of whites could at
+      that time scarcely be collected by the whole country; and had the case
+      been otherwise, the expense of securing them, together with the necessary
+      number of horses, would have been extremely heavy. We had resolved,
+      however, upon pursuing this southward course. There were, indeed, two
+      other routes from Fort Laramie; but both of these were less interesting,
+      and neither was free from danger. Being unable therefore to procure the
+      fifteen or twenty men recommended, we determined to set out with those we
+      had already in our employ, Henry Chatillon, Delorier, and Raymond. The men
+      themselves made no objection, nor would they have made any had the journey
+      been more dangerous; for Henry was without fear, and the other two without
+      thought.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shaw and I were much better fitted for this mode of traveling than we had
+      been on betaking ourselves to the prairies for the first time a few months
+      before. The daily routine had ceased to be a novelty. All the details of
+      the journey and the camp had become familiar to us. We had seen life under
+      a new aspect; the human biped had been reduced to his primitive condition.
+      We had lived without law to protect, a roof to shelter, or garment of
+      cloth to cover us. One of us at least had been without bread, and without
+      salt to season his food. Our idea of what is indispensable to human
+      existence and enjoyment had been wonderfully curtailed, and a horse, a
+      rifle, and a knife seemed to make up the whole of life&rsquo;s necessaries. For
+      these once obtained, together with the skill to use them, all else that is
+      essential would follow in their train, and a host of luxuries besides. One
+      other lesson our short prairie experience had taught us; that of profound
+      contentment in the present, and utter contempt for what the future might
+      bring forth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These principles established, we prepared to leave Fort Laramie. On the
+      fourth day of August, early in the afternoon, we bade a final adieu to its
+      hospitable gateway. Again Shaw and I were riding side by side on the
+      prairie. For the first fifty miles we had companions with us; Troche, a
+      little trapper, and Rouville, a nondescript in the employ of the Fur
+      Company, who were going to join the trader Bisonette at his encampment
+      near the head of Horse Creek. We rode only six or eight miles that
+      afternoon before we came to a little brook traversing the barren prairie.
+      All along its course grew copses of young wild-cherry trees, loaded with
+      ripe fruit, and almost concealing the gliding thread of water with their
+      dense growth, while on each side rose swells of rich green grass. Here we
+      encamped; and being much too indolent to pitch our tent, we flung our
+      saddles on the ground, spread a pair of buffalo robes, lay down upon them,
+      and began to smoke. Meanwhile, Delorier busied himself with his hissing
+      frying-pan, and Raymond stood guard over the band of grazing horses.
+      Delorier had an active assistant in Rouville, who professed great skill in
+      the culinary art, and seizing upon a fork, began to lend his zealous aid
+      in making ready supper. Indeed, according to his own belief, Rouville was
+      a man of universal knowledge, and he lost no opportunity to display his
+      manifold accomplishments. He had been a circus-rider at St. Louis, and
+      once he rode round Fort Laramie on his head, to the utter bewilderment of
+      all the Indians. He was also noted as the wit of the Fort; and as he had
+      considerable humor and abundant vivacity, he contributed more that night
+      to the liveliness of the camp than all the rest of the party put together.
+      At one instant he would be kneeling by Delorier, instructing him in the
+      true method of frying antelope steaks, then he would come and seat himself
+      at our side, dilating upon the orthodox fashion of braiding up a horse&rsquo;s
+      tail, telling apocryphal stories how he had killed a buffalo bull with a
+      knife, having first cut off his tail when at full speed, or relating
+      whimsical anecdotes of the bourgeois Papin. At last he snatched up a
+      volume of Shakespeare that was lying on the grass, and halted and stumbled
+      through a line or two to prove that he could read. He went gamboling about
+      the camp, chattering like some frolicsome ape; and whatever he was doing
+      at one moment, the presumption was a sure one that he would not be doing
+      it the next. His companion Troche sat silently on the grass, not speaking
+      a word, but keeping a vigilant eye on a very ugly little Utah squaw, of
+      whom he was extremely jealous.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the next day we traveled farther, crossing the wide sterile basin
+      called Goche&rsquo;s Hole. Toward night we became involved among deep ravines;
+      and being also unable to find water, our journey was protracted to a very
+      late hour. On the next morning we had to pass a long line of bluffs, whose
+      raw sides, wrought upon by rains and storms, were of a ghastly whiteness
+      most oppressive to the sight. As we ascended a gap in these hills, the way
+      was marked by huge foot-prints, like those of a human giant. They were the
+      track of the grizzly bear; and on the previous day also we had seen
+      abundance of them along the dry channels of the streams we had passed.
+      Immediately after this we were crossing a barren plain, spreading in long
+      and gentle undulations to the horizon. Though the sun was bright, there
+      was a light haze in the atmosphere. The distant hills assumed strange,
+      distorted forms, and the edge of the horizon was continually changing its
+      aspect. Shaw and I were riding together, and Henry Chatillon was alone, a
+      few rods before us; he stopped his horse suddenly, and turning round with
+      the peculiar eager and earnest expression which he always wore when
+      excited, he called to us to come forward. We galloped to his side. Henry
+      pointed toward a black speck on the gray swell of the prairie, apparently
+      about a mile off. &ldquo;It must be a bear,&rdquo; said he; &ldquo;come, now, we shall all
+      have some sport. Better fun to fight him than to fight an old buffalo
+      bull; grizzly bear so strong and smart.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So we all galloped forward together, prepared for a hard fight; for these
+      bears, though clumsy in appearance and extremely large, are incredibly
+      fierce and active. The swell of the prairie concealed the black object
+      from our view. Immediately after it appeared again. But now it seemed
+      quite near to us; and as we looked at it in astonishment, it suddenly
+      separated into two parts, each of which took wing and flew away. We
+      stopped our horses and looked round at Henry, whose face exhibited a
+      curious mixture of mirth and mortification. His hawk&rsquo;s eye had been so
+      completely deceived by the peculiar atmosphere that he had mistaken two
+      large crows at the distance of fifty rods for a grizzly bear a mile off.
+      To the journey&rsquo;s end Henry never heard the last of the grizzly bear with
+      wings.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the afternoon we came to the foot of a considerable hill. As we
+      ascended it Rouville began to ask questions concerning our conditions and
+      prospects at home, and Shaw was edifying him with a minute account of an
+      imaginary wife and child, to which he listened with implicit faith.
+      Reaching the top of the hill we saw the windings of Horse Creek on the
+      plains below us, and a little on the left we could distinguish the camp of
+      Bisonette among the trees and copses along the course of the stream.
+      Rouville&rsquo;s face assumed just then a most ludicrously blank expression. We
+      inquired what was the matter, when it appeared that Bisonette had sent him
+      from this place to Fort Laramie with the sole object of bringing back a
+      supply of tobacco. Our rattle-brain friend, from the time of his reaching
+      the Fort up to the present moment, had entirely forgotten the object of
+      his journey, and had ridden a dangerous hundred miles for nothing.
+      Descending to Horse Creek we forded it, and on the opposite bank a
+      solitary Indian sat on horseback under a tree. He said nothing, but turned
+      and led the way toward the camp. Bisonette had made choice of an admirable
+      position. The stream, with its thick growth of trees, inclosed on three
+      sides a wide green meadow, where about forty Dakota lodges were pitched in
+      a circle, and beyond them half a dozen lodges of the friendly Cheyenne.
+      Bisonette himself lived in the Indian manner. Riding up to his lodge, we
+      found him seated at the head of it, surrounded by various appliances of
+      comfort not common on the prairie. His squaw was near him, and rosy
+      children were scrambling about in printed-calico gowns; Paul Dorion also,
+      with his leathery face and old white capote, was seated in the lodge,
+      together with Antoine Le Rouge, a half-breed Pawnee, Sibille, a trader,
+      and several other white men.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It will do you no harm,&rdquo; said Bisonette, &ldquo;to stay here with us for a day
+      or two, before you start for the Pueblo.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      We accepted the invitation, and pitched our tent on a rising ground above
+      the camp and close to the edge of the trees. Bisonette soon invited us to
+      a feast, and we suffered abundance of the same sort of attention from his
+      Indian associates. The reader may possibly recollect that when I joined
+      the Indian village, beyond the Black Hills, I found that a few families
+      were absent, having declined to pass the mountains along with the rest.
+      The Indians in Bisonette&rsquo;s camp consisted of these very families, and many
+      of them came to me that evening to inquire after their relatives and
+      friends. They were not a little mortified to learn that while they, from
+      their own timidity and indolence, were almost in a starving condition, the
+      rest of the village had provided their lodges for the next season, laid in
+      a great stock of provisions, and were living in abundance and luxury.
+      Bisonette&rsquo;s companions had been sustaining themselves for some time on
+      wild cherries, which the squaws pounded up, stones and all, and spread on
+      buffalo robes, to dry in the sun; they were then eaten without further
+      preparation, or used as an ingredient in various delectable compounds.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the next day the camp was in commotion with a new arrival. A single
+      Indian had come with his family the whole way from the Arkansas. As he
+      passed among the lodges he put on an expression of unusual dignity and
+      importance, and gave out that he had brought great news to tell the
+      whites. Soon after the squaws had erected his lodge, he sent his little
+      son to invite all the white men, and all the most distinguished Indians,
+      to a feast. The guests arrived and sat wedged together, shoulder to
+      shoulder, within the hot and suffocating lodge. The Stabber, for that was
+      our entertainer&rsquo;s name, had killed an old buffalo bull on his way. This
+      veteran&rsquo;s boiled tripe, tougher than leather, formed the main item of the
+      repast. For the rest, it consisted of wild cherries and grease boiled
+      together in a large copper kettle. The feast was distributed, and for a
+      moment all was silent, strenuous exertion; then each guest, with one or
+      two exceptions, however, turned his wooden dish bottom upward to prove
+      that he had done full justice to his entertainer&rsquo;s hospitality. The
+      Stabber next produced his chopping board, on which he prepared the mixture
+      for smoking, and filled several pipes, which circulated among the company.
+      This done, he seated himself upright on his couch, and began with much
+      gesticulation to tell his story. I will not repeat his childish jargon. It
+      was so entangled, like the greater part of an Indian&rsquo;s stories, with
+      absurd and contradictory details, that it was almost impossible to
+      disengage from it a single particle of truth. All that we could gather was
+      the following:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He had been on the Arkansas, and there he had seen six great war parties
+      of whites. He had never believed before that the whole world contained
+      half so many white men. They all had large horses, long knives, and short
+      rifles, and some of them were attired alike in the most splendid war
+      dresses he had ever seen. From this account it was clear that bodies of
+      dragoons and perhaps also of volunteer cavalry had been passing up the
+      Arkansas. The Stabber had also seen a great many of the white lodges of
+      the Meneaska, drawn by their long-horned buffalo. These could be nothing
+      else than covered ox-wagons used no doubt in transporting stores for the
+      troops. Soon after seeing this, our host had met an Indian who had lately
+      come from among the Comanches. The latter had told him that all the
+      Mexicans had gone out to a great buffalo hunt. That the Americans had hid
+      themselves in a ravine. When the Mexicans had shot away all their arrows,
+      the Americans had fired their guns, raised their war-whoop, rushed out,
+      and killed them all. We could only infer from this that war had been
+      declared with Mexico, and a battle fought in which the Americans were
+      victorious. When, some weeks after, we arrived at the Pueblo, we heard of
+      General Kearny&rsquo;s march up the Arkansas and of General Taylor&rsquo;s victories
+      at Matamoras.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As the sun was setting that evening a great crowd gathered on the plain by
+      the side of our tent, to try the speed of their horses. These were of
+      every shape, size, and color. Some came from California, some from the
+      States, some from among the mountains, and some from the wild bands of the
+      prairie. They were of every hue&mdash;white, black, red, and gray, or
+      mottled and clouded with a strange variety of colors. They all had a wild
+      and startled look, very different from the staid and sober aspect of a
+      well-bred city steed. Those most noted for swiftness and spirit were
+      decorated with eagle-feathers dangling from their manes and tails. Fifty
+      or sixty Dakotas were present, wrapped from head to foot in their heavy
+      robes of whitened hide. There were also a considerable number of the
+      Cheyenne, many of whom wore gaudy Mexican ponchos swathed around their
+      shoulders, but leaving the right arm bare. Mingled among the crowd of
+      Indians were a number of Canadians, chiefly in the employ of Bisonette;
+      men, whose home is in the wilderness, and who love the camp fire better
+      than the domestic hearth. They are contented and happy in the midst of
+      hardship, privation, and danger. Their cheerfulness and gayety is
+      irrepressible, and no people on earth understand better how &ldquo;to daff the
+      world aside and bid it pass.&rdquo; Besides these, were two or three
+      half-breeds, a race of rather extraordinary composition, being according
+      to the common saying half Indian, half white man, and half devil. Antoine
+      Le Rouge was the most conspicuous among them, with his loose pantaloons
+      and his fluttering calico skirt. A handkerchief was bound round his head
+      to confine his black snaky hair, and his small eyes twinkled beneath it,
+      with a mischievous luster. He had a fine cream-colored horse whose speed
+      he must needs try along with the rest. So he threw off the rude
+      high-peaked saddle, and substituting a piece of buffalo robe, leaped
+      lightly into his seat. The space was cleared, the word was given, and he
+      and his Indian rival darted out like lightning from among the crowd, each
+      stretching forward over his horse&rsquo;s neck and plying his heavy Indian whip
+      with might and main. A moment, and both were lost in the gloom; but
+      Antoine soon came riding back victorious, exultingly patting the neck of
+      his quivering and panting horse.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      About midnight, as I lay asleep, wrapped in a buffalo robe on the ground
+      by the side of our cart, Raymond came up and woke me. Something he said,
+      was going forward which I would like to see. Looking down into camp I saw,
+      on the farther side of it, a great number of Indians gathered around a
+      fire, the bright glare of which made them visible through the thick
+      darkness; while from the midst of them proceeded a loud, measured chant
+      which would have killed Paganini outright, broken occasionally by a burst
+      of sharp yells. I gathered the robe around me, for the night was cold, and
+      walked down to the spot. The dark throng of Indians was so dense that they
+      almost intercepted the light of the flame. As I was pushing among them
+      with but little ceremony, a chief interposed himself, and I was given to
+      understand that a white man must not approach the scene of their
+      solemnities too closely. By passing round to the other side, where there
+      was a little opening in the crowd, I could see clearly what was going
+      forward, without intruding my unhallowed presence into the inner circle.
+      The society of the &ldquo;Strong Hearts&rdquo; were engaged in one of their dances.
+      The Strong Hearts are a warlike association, comprising men of both the
+      Dakota and Cheyenne nations, and entirely composed, or supposed to be so,
+      of young braves of the highest mettle. Its fundamental principle is the
+      admirable one of never retreating from any enterprise once commenced. All
+      these Indian associations have a tutelary spirit. That of the Strong
+      Hearts is embodied in the fox, an animal which a white man would hardly
+      have selected for a similar purpose, though his subtle and cautious
+      character agrees well enough with an Indian&rsquo;s notions of what is honorable
+      in warfare. The dancers were circling round and round the fire, each
+      figure brightly illumined at one moment by the yellow light, and at the
+      next drawn in blackest shadow as it passed between the flame and the
+      spectator. They would imitate with the most ludicrous exactness the
+      motions and the voice of their sly patron the fox. Then a startling yell
+      would be given. Many other warriors would leap into the ring, and with
+      faces upturned toward the starless sky, they would all stamp, and whoop,
+      and brandish their weapons like so many frantic devils.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Until the next afternoon we were still remaining with Bisonette. My
+      companion and I with our three attendants then left his camp for the
+      Pueblo, a distance of three hundred miles, and we supposed the journey
+      would occupy about a fortnight. During this time we all earnestly hoped
+      that we might not meet a single human being, for should we encounter any,
+      they would in all probability be enemies, ferocious robbers and murderers,
+      in whose eyes our rifles would be our only passports. For the first two
+      days nothing worth mentioning took place. On the third morning, however,
+      an untoward incident occurred. We were encamped by the side of a little
+      brook in an extensive hollow of the plain. Delorier was up long before
+      daylight, and before he began to prepare breakfast he turned loose all the
+      horses, as in duty bound. There was a cold mist clinging close to the
+      ground, and by the time the rest of us were awake the animals were
+      invisible. It was only after a long and anxious search that we could
+      discover by their tracks the direction they had taken. They had all set
+      off for Fort Laramie, following the guidance of a mutinous old mule, and
+      though many of them were hobbled they had driven three miles before they
+      could be overtaken and driven back.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For the following two or three days we were passing over an arid desert.
+      The only vegetation was a few tufts of short grass, dried and shriveled by
+      the heat. There was an abundance of strange insects and reptiles. Huge
+      crickets, black and bottle green, and wingless grasshoppers of the most
+      extravagant dimensions, were tumbling about our horses&rsquo; feet, and lizards
+      without numbers were darting like lightning among the tufts of grass. The
+      most curious animal, however, was that commonly called the horned frog. I
+      caught one of them and consigned him to the care of Delorier, who tied him
+      up in a moccasin. About a month after this I examined the prisoner&rsquo;s
+      condition, and finding him still lively and active, I provided him with a
+      cage of buffalo hide, which was hung up in the cart. In this manner he
+      arrived safely at the settlements. From thence he traveled the whole way
+      to Boston packed closely in a trunk, being regaled with fresh air
+      regularly every night. When he reached his destination he was deposited
+      under a glass case, where he sat for some months in great tranquillity and
+      composure, alternately dilating and contracting his white throat to the
+      admiration of his visitors. At length, one morning, about the middle of
+      winter, he gave up the ghost. His death was attributed to starvation, a
+      very probable conclusion, since for six months he had taken no food
+      whatever, though the sympathy of his juvenile admirers had tempted his
+      palate with a great variety of delicacies. We found also animals of a
+      somewhat larger growth. The number of prairie dogs was absolutely
+      astounding. Frequently the hard and dry prairie would be thickly covered,
+      for many miles together, with the little mounds which they make around the
+      mouth of their burrows, and small squeaking voices yelping at us as we
+      passed along. The noses of the inhabitants would be just visible at the
+      mouth of their holes, but no sooner was their curiosity satisfied than
+      they would instantly vanish. Some of the bolder dogs&mdash;though in fact
+      they are no dogs at all, but little marmots rather smaller than a rabbit&mdash;would
+      sit yelping at us on the top of their mounds, jerking their tails
+      emphatically with every shrill cry they uttered. As the danger grew nearer
+      they would wheel about, toss their heels into the air, and dive in a
+      twinkling down into their burrows. Toward sunset, and especially if rain
+      were threatening, the whole community would make their appearance above
+      ground. We would see them gathered in large knots around the burrow of
+      some favorite citizen. There they would all sit erect, their tails spread
+      out on the ground, and their paws hanging down before their white breasts,
+      chattering and squeaking with the utmost vivacity upon some topic of
+      common interest, while the proprietor of the burrow, with his head just
+      visible on the top of his mound, would sit looking down with a complacent
+      countenance on the enjoyment of his guests. Meanwhile, others would be
+      running about from burrow to burrow, as if on some errand of the last
+      importance to their subterranean commonwealth. The snakes were apparently
+      the prairie dog&rsquo;s worst enemies, at least I think too well of the latter
+      to suppose that they associate on friendly terms with these slimy
+      intruders, who may be seen at all times basking among their holes, into
+      which they always retreat when disturbed. Small owls, with wise and grave
+      countenances, also make their abode with the prairie dogs, though on what
+      terms they live together I could never ascertain. The manners and customs,
+      the political and domestic economy of these little marmots is worthy of
+      closer attention than one is able to give when pushing by forced marches
+      through their country, with his thoughts engrossed by objects of greater
+      moment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the fifth day after leaving Bisonette&rsquo;s camp we saw late in the
+      afternoon what we supposed to be a considerable stream, but on our
+      approaching it we found to our mortification nothing but a dry bed of sand
+      into which all the water had sunk and disappeared. We separated, some
+      riding in one direction and some in another along its course. Still we
+      found no traces of water, not even so much as a wet spot in the sand. The
+      old cotton-wood trees that grew along the bank, lamentably abused by
+      lightning and tempest, were withering with the drought, and on the dead
+      limbs, at the summit of the tallest, half a dozen crows were hoarsely
+      cawing like birds of evil omen as they were. We had no alternative but to
+      keep on. There was no water nearer than the South Fork of the Platte,
+      about ten miles distant. We moved forward, angry and silent, over a desert
+      as flat as the outspread ocean.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The sky had been obscured since the morning by thin mists and vapors, but
+      now vast piles of clouds were gathered together in the west. They rose to
+      a great height above the horizon, and looking up toward them I
+      distinguished one mass darker than the rest and of a peculiar conical
+      form. I happened to look again and still could see it as before. At some
+      moments it was dimly seen, at others its outline was sharp and distinct;
+      but while the clouds around it were shifting, changing, and dissolving
+      away, it still towered aloft in the midst of them, fixed and immovable. It
+      must, thought I, be the summit of a mountain, and yet its heights
+      staggered me. My conclusion was right, however. It was Long&rsquo;s Peak, once
+      believed to be one of the highest of the Rocky Mountain chain, though more
+      recent discoveries have proved the contrary. The thickening gloom soon hid
+      it from view and we never saw it again, for on the following day and for
+      some time after, the air was so full of mist that the view of distant
+      objects was entirely intercepted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It grew very late. Turning from our direct course we made for the river at
+      its nearest point, though in the utter darkness it was not easy to direct
+      our way with much precision. Raymond rode on one side and Henry on the
+      other. We could hear each of them shouting that he had come upon a deep
+      ravine. We steered at random between Scylla and Charybdis, and soon after
+      became, as it seemed, inextricably involved with deep chasms all around
+      us, while the darkness was such that we could not see a rod in any
+      direction. We partially extricated ourselves by scrambling, cart and all,
+      through a shallow ravine. We came next to a steep descent down which we
+      plunged without well knowing what was at the bottom. There was a great
+      crackling of sticks and dry twigs. Over our heads were certain large
+      shadowy objects, and in front something like the faint gleaming of a dark
+      sheet of water. Raymond ran his horse against a tree; Henry alighted, and
+      feeling on the ground declared that there was grass enough for the horses.
+      Before taking off his saddle each man led his own horses down to the water
+      in the best way he could. Then picketing two or three of the evil-disposed
+      we turned the rest loose and lay down among the dry sticks to sleep. In
+      the morning we found ourselves close to the South Fork of the Platte on a
+      spot surrounded by bushes and rank grass. Compensating ourselves with a
+      hearty breakfast for the ill fare of the previous night, we set forward
+      again on our journey. When only two or three rods from the camp I saw Shaw
+      stop his mule, level his gun, and after a long aim fire at some object in
+      the grass. Delorier next jumped forward and began to dance about,
+      belaboring the unseen enemy with a whip. Then he stooped down and drew out
+      of the grass by the neck an enormous rattlesnake, with his head completely
+      shattered by Shaw&rsquo;s bullet. As Delorier held him out at arm&rsquo;s length with
+      an exulting grin his tail, which still kept slowly writhing about, almost
+      touched the ground, and the body in the largest part was as thick as a
+      stout man&rsquo;s arm. He had fourteen rattles, but the end of his tail was
+      blunted, as if he could once have boasted of many more. From this time
+      till we reached the Pueblo we killed at least four or five of these snakes
+      every day as they lay coiled and rattling on the hot sand. Shaw was the
+      St. Patrick of the party, and whenever he or any one else killed a snake
+      he always pulled off his tail and stored it away in his bullet-pouch,
+      which was soon crammed with an edifying collection of rattles, great and
+      small. Delorier, with his whip, also came in for a share of the praise. A
+      day or two after this he triumphantly produced a small snake about a span
+      and a half long, with one infant rattle at the end of his tail.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We forded the South Fork of the Platte. On its farther bank were the
+      traces of a very large camp of Arapahoes. The ashes of some three hundred
+      fires were visible among the scattered trees, together with the remains of
+      sweating lodges, and all the other appurtenances of a permanent camp. The
+      place however had been for some months deserted. A few miles farther on we
+      found more recent signs of Indians; the trail of two or three lodges,
+      which had evidently passed the day before, where every foot-print was
+      perfectly distinct in the dry, dusty soil. We noticed in particular the
+      track of one moccasin, upon the sole of which its economical proprietor
+      had placed a large patch. These signs gave us but little uneasiness, as
+      the number of the warriors scarcely exceeded that of our own party. At
+      noon we rested under the walls of a large fort, built in these solitudes
+      some years since by M. St. Vrain. It was now abandoned and fast falling
+      into ruin. The walls of unbaked bricks were cracked from top to bottom.
+      Our horses recoiled in terror from the neglected entrance, where the heavy
+      gates were torn from their hinges and flung down. The area within was
+      overgrown with weeds, and the long ranges of apartments, once occupied by
+      the motley concourse of traders, Canadians, and squaws, were now miserably
+      dilapidated. Twelve miles further on, near the spot where we encamped,
+      were the remains of still another fort, standing in melancholy desertion
+      and neglect.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Early on the following morning we made a startling discovery. We passed
+      close by a large deserted encampment of Arapahoes. There were about fifty
+      fires still smouldering on the ground, and it was evident from numerous
+      signs that the Indians must have left the place within two hours of our
+      reaching it. Their trail crossed our own at right angles, and led in the
+      direction of a line of hills half a mile on our left. There were women and
+      children in the party, which would have greatly diminished the danger of
+      encountering them. Henry Chatillon examined the encampment and the trail
+      with a very professional and businesslike air.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Supposing we had met them, Henry?&rdquo; said I.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;we hold out our hands to them, and give them all we&rsquo;ve
+      got; they take away everything, and then I believe they no kill us.
+      Perhaps,&rdquo; added he, looking up with a quiet, unchanged face, &ldquo;perhaps we
+      no let them rob us. Maybe before they come near, we have a chance to get
+      into a ravine, or under the bank of the river; then, you know, we fight
+      them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      About noon on that day we reached Cherry Creek. Here was a great abundance
+      of wild cherries, plums, gooseberries, and currants. The stream, however,
+      like most of the others which we passed, was dried up with the heat, and
+      we had to dig holes in the sand to find water for ourselves and our
+      horses. Two days after, we left the banks of the creek which we had been
+      following for some time, and began to cross the high dividing ridge which
+      separates the waters of the Platte from those of the Arkansas. The scenery
+      was altogether changed. In place of the burning plains we were passing now
+      through rough and savage glens and among hills crowned with a dreary
+      growth of pines. We encamped among these solitudes on the night of the
+      16th of August. A tempest was threatening. The sun went down among volumes
+      of jet-black cloud, edged with a bloody red. But in spite of these
+      portentous signs, we neglected to put up the tent, and being extremely
+      fatigued, lay down on the ground and fell asleep. The storm broke about
+      midnight, and we erected the tent amid darkness and confusion. In the
+      morning all was fair again, and Pike&rsquo;s Peak, white with snow, was towering
+      above the wilderness afar off.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We pushed through an extensive tract of pine woods. Large black squirrels
+      were leaping among the branches. From the farther edge of this forest we
+      saw the prairie again, hollowed out before us into a vast basin, and about
+      a mile in front we could discern a little black speck moving upon its
+      surface. It could be nothing but a buffalo. Henry primed his rifle afresh
+      and galloped forward. To the left of the animal was a low rocky mound, of
+      which Henry availed himself in making his approach. After a short time we
+      heard the faint report of the rifle. The bull, mortally wounded from a
+      distance of nearly three hundred yards, ran wildly round and round in a
+      circle. Shaw and I then galloped forward, and passing him as he ran,
+      foaming with rage and pain, we discharged our pistols into his side. Once
+      or twice he rushed furiously upon us, but his strength was rapidly
+      exhausted. Down he fell on his knees. For one instant he glared up at his
+      enemies with burning eyes through his black tangled mane, and then rolled
+      over on his side. Though gaunt and thin, he was larger and heavier than
+      the largest ox. Foam and blood flew together from his nostrils as he lay
+      bellowing and pawing the ground, tearing up grass and earth with his
+      hoofs. His sides rose and fell like a vast pair of bellows, the blood
+      spouting up in jets from the bullet-holes. Suddenly his glaring eyes
+      became like a lifeless jelly. He lay motionless on the ground. Henry
+      stooped over him, and making an incision with his knife, pronounced the
+      meat too rank and tough for use; so, disappointed in our hopes of an
+      addition to our stock of provisions, we rode away and left the carcass to
+      the wolves.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the afternoon we saw the mountains rising like a gigantic wall at no
+      great distance on our right. &ldquo;Des sauvages! des sauvages!&rdquo; exclaimed
+      Delorier, looking round with a frightened face, and pointing with his whip
+      toward the foot of the mountains. In fact, we could see at a distance a
+      number of little black specks, like horsemen in rapid motion. Henry
+      Chatillon, with Shaw and myself, galloped toward them to reconnoiter, when
+      to our amusement we saw the supposed Arapahoes resolved into the black
+      tops of some pine trees which grew along a ravine. The summits of these
+      pines, just visible above the verge of the prairie, and seeming to move as
+      we ourselves were advancing, looked exactly like a line of horsemen.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We encamped among ravines and hollows, through which a little brook was
+      foaming angrily. Before sunrise in the morning the snow-covered mountains
+      were beautifully tinged with a delicate rose color. A noble spectacle
+      awaited us as we moved forward. Six or eight miles on our right, Pike&rsquo;s
+      Peak and his giant brethren rose out of the level prairie, as if springing
+      from the bed of the ocean. From their summits down to the plain below they
+      were involved in a mantle of clouds, in restless motion, as if urged by
+      strong winds. For one instant some snowy peak, towering in awful solitude,
+      would be disclosed to view. As the clouds broke along the mountain, we
+      could see the dreary forests, the tremendous precipices, the white patches
+      of snow, the gulfs and chasms as black as night, all revealed for an
+      instant, and then disappearing from the view. One could not but recall the
+      stanza of &ldquo;Childe Harold&rdquo;:
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     Morn dawns, and with it stern Albania&rsquo;s hills,
+     Dark Suli&rsquo;s rocks, and Pindus&rsquo; inland peak,
+     Robed half in mist, bedewed with snowy rills,
+     Array&rsquo;d in many a dun and purple streak,
+     Arise; and, as the clouds along them break,
+     Disclose the dwelling of the mountaineer:
+     Here roams the wolf, the eagle whets his beak,
+     Birds, beasts of prey, and wilder men appear,
+     And gathering storms around convulse the closing year.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Every line save one of this description was more than verified here. There
+      were no &ldquo;dwellings of the mountaineer&rdquo; among these heights. Fierce
+      savages, restlessly wandering through summer and winter, alone invade
+      them. &ldquo;Their hand is against every man, and every man&rsquo;s hand against
+      them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      On the day after, we had left the mountains at some distance. A black
+      cloud descended upon them, and a tremendous explosion of thunder followed,
+      reverberating among the precipices. In a few moments everything grew black
+      and the rain poured down like a cataract. We got under an old cotton-wood
+      tree which stood by the side of a stream, and waited there till the rage
+      of the torrent had passed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The clouds opened at the point where they first had gathered, and the
+      whole sublime congregation of mountains was bathed at once in warm
+      sunshine. They seemed more like some luxurious vision of Eastern romance
+      than like a reality of that wilderness; all were melted together into a
+      soft delicious blue, as voluptuous as the sky of Naples or the transparent
+      sea that washes the sunny cliffs of Capri. On the left the whole sky was
+      still of an inky blackness; but two concentric rainbows stood in brilliant
+      relief against it, while far in front the ragged cloud still streamed
+      before the wind, and the retreating thunder muttered angrily.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Through that afternoon and the next morning we were passing down the banks
+      of the stream called La Fontaine qui Bouille, from the boiling spring
+      whose waters flow into it. When we stopped at noon, we were within six or
+      eight miles of the Pueblo. Setting out again, we found by the fresh tracks
+      that a horseman had just been out to reconnoiter us; he had circled half
+      round the camp, and then galloped back full speed for the Pueblo. What
+      made him so shy of us we could not conceive. After an hour&rsquo;s ride we
+      reached the edge of a hill, from which a welcome sight greeted us. The
+      Arkansas ran along the valley below, among woods and groves, and closely
+      nestled in the midst of wide cornfields and green meadows where cattle
+      were grazing rose the low mud walls of the Pueblo.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0021" id="link2HCH0021">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXI
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      THE PUEBLO AND BENT&rsquo;S FORT
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      We approached the gate of the Pueblo. It was a wretched species of fort of
+      most primitive construction, being nothing more than a large square
+      inclosure, surrounded by a wall of mud, miserably cracked and dilapidated.
+      The slender pickets that surmounted it were half broken down, and the gate
+      dangled on its wooden hinges so loosely, that to open or shut it seemed
+      likely to fling it down altogether. Two or three squalid Mexicans, with
+      their broad hats, and their vile faces overgrown with hair, were lounging
+      about the bank of the river in front of it. They disappeared as they saw
+      us approach; and as we rode up to the gate a light active little figure
+      came out to meet us. It was our old friend Richard. He had come from Fort
+      Laramie on a trading expedition to Taos; but finding, when he reached the
+      Pueblo, that the war would prevent his going farther, he was quietly
+      waiting till the conquest of the country should allow him to proceed. He
+      seemed to consider himself bound to do the honors of the place. Shaking us
+      warmly by the hands, he led the way into the area.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Here we saw his large Santa Fe wagons standing together. A few squaws and
+      Spanish women, and a few Mexicans, as mean and miserable as the place
+      itself, were lazily sauntering about. Richard conducted us to the state
+      apartment of the Pueblo, a small mud room, very neatly finished,
+      considering the material, and garnished with a crucifix, a looking-glass,
+      a picture of the Virgin, and a rusty horse pistol. There were no chairs,
+      but instead of them a number of chests and boxes ranged about the room.
+      There was another room beyond, less sumptuously decorated, and here three
+      or four Spanish girls, one of them very pretty, were baking cakes at a mud
+      fireplace in the corner. They brought out a poncho, which they spread upon
+      the floor by way of table-cloth. A supper, which seemed to us luxurious,
+      was soon laid out upon it, and folded buffalo robes were placed around it
+      to receive the guests. Two or three Americans, besides ourselves, were
+      present. We sat down Turkish fashion, and began to inquire the news.
+      Richard told us that, about three weeks before, General Kearny&rsquo;s army had
+      left Bent&rsquo;s Fort to march against Santa Fe; that when last heard from they
+      were approaching the mountainous defiles that led to the city. One of the
+      Americans produced a dingy newspaper, containing an account of the battles
+      of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma. While we were discussing these
+      matters, the doorway was darkened by a tall, shambling fellow, who stood
+      with his hands in his pockets taking a leisurely survey of the premises
+      before he entered. He wore brown homespun pantaloons, much too short for
+      his legs, and a pistol and bowie knife stuck in his belt. His head and one
+      eye were enveloped in a huge bandage of white linen. Having completed his
+      observations, he came slouching in and sat down on a chest. Eight or ten
+      more of the same stamp followed, and very coolly arranging themselves
+      about the room, began to stare at the company. Shaw and I looked at each
+      other. We were forcibly reminded of the Oregon emigrants, though these
+      unwelcome visitors had a certain glitter of the eye, and a compression of
+      the lips, which distinguished them from our old acquaintances of the
+      prairie. They began to catechise us at once, inquiring whence we had come,
+      what we meant to do next, and what were our future prospects in life.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The man with the bandaged head had met with an untoward accident a few
+      days before. He was going down to the river to bring water, and was
+      pushing through the young willows which covered the low ground, when he
+      came unawares upon a grizzly bear, which, having just eaten a buffalo
+      bull, had lain down to sleep off the meal. The bear rose on his hind legs,
+      and gave the intruder such a blow with his paw that he laid his forehead
+      entirely bare, clawed off the front of his scalp, and narrowly missed one
+      of his eyes. Fortunately he was not in a very pugnacious mood, being
+      surfeited with his late meal. The man&rsquo;s companions, who were close behind,
+      raised a shout and the bear walked away, crushing down the willows in his
+      leisurely retreat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These men belonged to a party of Mormons, who, out of a well-grounded fear
+      of the other emigrants, had postponed leaving the settlements until all
+      the rest were gone. On account of this delay they did not reach Fort
+      Laramie until it was too late to continue their journey to California.
+      Hearing that there was good land at the head of the Arkansas, they crossed
+      over under the guidance of Richard, and were now preparing to spend the
+      winter at a spot about half a mile from the Pueblo.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When we took leave of Richard, it was near sunset. Passing out of the
+      gate, we could look down the little valley of the Arkansas; a beautiful
+      scene, and doubly so to our eyes, so long accustomed to deserts and
+      mountains. Tall woods lined the river, with green meadows on either hand;
+      and high bluffs, quietly basking in the sunlight, flanked the narrow
+      valley. A Mexican on horseback was driving a herd of cattle toward the
+      gate, and our little white tent, which the men had pitched under a large
+      tree in the meadow, made a very pleasing feature in the scene. When we
+      reached it, we found that Richard had sent a Mexican to bring us an
+      abundant supply of green corn and vegetables, and invite us to help
+      ourselves to whatever we wished from the fields around the Pueblo.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The inhabitants were in daily apprehensions of an inroad from more
+      formidable consumers than ourselves. Every year at the time when the corn
+      begins to ripen, the Arapahoes, to the number of several thousands, come
+      and encamp around the Pueblo. The handful of white men, who are entirely
+      at the mercy of this swarm of barbarians, choose to make a merit of
+      necessity; they come forward very cordially, shake them by the hand, and
+      intimate that the harvest is entirely at their disposal. The Arapahoes
+      take them at their word, help themselves most liberally, and usually turn
+      their horses into the cornfields afterward. They have the foresight,
+      however, to leave enough of the crops untouched to serve as an inducement
+      for planting the fields again for their benefit in the next spring.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The human race in this part of the world is separated into three
+      divisions, arranged in the order of their merits; white men, Indians, and
+      Mexicans; to the latter of whom the honorable title of &ldquo;whites&rdquo; is by no
+      means conceded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In spite of the warm sunset of that evening the next morning was a dreary
+      and cheerless one. It rained steadily, clouds resting upon the very
+      treetops. We crossed the river to visit the Mormon settlement. As we
+      passed through the water, several trappers on horseback entered it from
+      the other side. Their buckskin frocks were soaked through by the rain, and
+      clung fast to their limbs with a most clammy and uncomfortable look. The
+      water was trickling down their faces, and dropping from the ends of their
+      rifles, and from the traps which each carried at the pommel of his saddle.
+      Horses and all, they had a most disconsolate and woebegone appearance,
+      which we could not help laughing at, forgetting how often we ourselves had
+      been in a similar plight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After half an hour&rsquo;s riding we saw the white wagons of the Mormons drawn
+      up among the trees. Axes were sounding, trees were falling, and log-huts
+      going up along the edge of the woods and upon the adjoining meadow. As we
+      came up the Mormons left their work and seated themselves on the timber
+      around us, when they began earnestly to discuss points of theology,
+      complain of the ill-usage they had received from the &ldquo;Gentiles,&rdquo; and sound
+      a lamentation over the loss of their great temple at Nauvoo. After
+      remaining with them an hour we rode back to our camp, happy that the
+      settlements had been delivered from the presence of such blind and
+      desperate fanatics.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the morning after this we left the Pueblo for Bent&rsquo;s Fort. The conduct
+      of Raymond had lately been less satisfactory than before, and we had
+      discharged him as soon as we arrived at the former place; so that the
+      party, ourselves included, was now reduced to four. There was some
+      uncertainty as to our future course. The trail between Bent&rsquo;s Fort and the
+      settlements, a distance computed at six hundred miles, was at this time in
+      a dangerous state; for since the passage of General Kearny&rsquo;s army, great
+      numbers of hostile Indians, chiefly Pawnees and Comanches, had gathered
+      about some parts of it. A little after this time they became so numerous
+      and audacious, that scarcely a single party, however large, passed between
+      the fort and the frontier without some token of their hostility. The
+      newspapers of the time sufficiently display this state of things. Many men
+      were killed, and great numbers of horses and mules carried off. Not long
+      since I met with the gentleman, who, during the autumn, came from Santa Fe
+      to Bent&rsquo;s Fort, when he found a party of seventy men, who thought
+      themselves too weak to go down to the settlements alone, and were waiting
+      there for a re-enforcement. Though this excessive timidity fully proves
+      the ignorance and credulity of the men, it may also evince the state of
+      alarm which prevailed in the country. When we were there in the month of
+      August, the danger had not become so great. There was nothing very
+      attractive in the neighborhood. We supposed, moreover, that we might wait
+      there half the winter without finding any party to go down with us; for
+      Mr. Sublette and the others whom we had relied upon had, as Richard told
+      us, already left Bent&rsquo;s Fort. Thus far on our journey Fortune had kindly
+      befriended us. We resolved therefore to take advantage of her gracious
+      mood and trusting for a continuance of her favors, to set out with Henry
+      and Delorier, and run the gauntlet of the Indians in the best way we
+      could.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Bent&rsquo;s Fort stands on the river, about seventy-five miles below the
+      Pueblo. At noon of the third day we arrived within three or four miles of
+      it, pitched our tent under a tree, hung our looking-glasses against its
+      trunk and having made our primitive toilet, rode toward the fort. We soon
+      came in sight of it, for it is visible from a considerable distance,
+      standing with its high clay walls in the midst of the scorching plains. It
+      seemed as if a swarm of locusts had invaded the country. The grass for
+      miles around was cropped close by the horses of General Kearny&rsquo;s soldiery.
+      When we came to the fort, we found that not only had the horses eaten up
+      the grass, but their owners had made away with the stores of the little
+      trading post; so that we had great difficulty in procuring the few
+      articles which we required for our homeward journey. The army was gone,
+      the life and bustle passed away, and the fort was a scene of dull and lazy
+      tranquillity. A few invalid officers and soldiers sauntered about the
+      area, which was oppressively hot; for the glaring sun was reflected down
+      upon it from the high white walls around. The proprietors were absent, and
+      we were received by Mr. Holt, who had been left in charge of the fort. He
+      invited us to dinner, where, to our admiration, we found a table laid with
+      a white cloth, with castors in the center and chairs placed around it.
+      This unwonted repast concluded, we rode back to our camp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Here, as we lay smoking round the fire after supper, we saw through the
+      dusk three men approaching from the direction of the fort. They rode up
+      and seated themselves near us on the ground. The foremost was a tall,
+      well-formed man, with a face and manner such as inspire confidence at
+      once. He wore a broad hat of felt, slouching and tattered, and the rest of
+      his attire consisted of a frock and leggings of buckskin, rubbed with the
+      yellow clay found among the mountains. At the heel of one of his moccasins
+      was buckled a huge iron spur, with a rowel five or six inches in diameter.
+      His horse, who stood quietly looking over his head, had a rude Mexican
+      saddle, covered with a shaggy bearskin, and furnished with a pair of
+      wooden stirrups of most preposterous size. The next man was a sprightly,
+      active little fellow, about five feet and a quarter high, but very strong
+      and compact. His face was swarthy as a Mexican&rsquo;s and covered with a close,
+      curly black beard. An old greasy calico handkerchief was tied round his
+      head, and his close buckskin dress was blackened and polished by grease
+      and hard service. The last who came up was a large strong man, dressed in
+      the coarse homespun of the frontiers, who dragged his long limbs over the
+      ground as if he were too lazy for the effort. He had a sleepy gray eye, a
+      retreating chin, an open mouth and a protruding upper lip, which gave him
+      an air of exquisite indolence and helplessness. He was armed with an old
+      United States yager, which redoubtable weapon, though he could never hit
+      his mark with it, he was accustomed to cherish as the very sovereign of
+      firearms.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The first two men belonged to a party who had just come from California
+      with a large band of horses, which they had disposed of at Bent&rsquo;s Fort.
+      Munroe, the taller of the two, was from Iowa. He was an excellent fellow,
+      open, warm-hearted and intelligent. Jim Gurney, the short man, was a
+      Boston sailor, who had come in a trading vessel to California, and taken
+      the fancy to return across the continent. The journey had already made him
+      an expert &ldquo;mountain man,&rdquo; and he presented the extraordinary phenomenon of
+      a sailor who understood how to manage a horse. The third of our visitors
+      named Ellis, was a Missourian, who had come out with a party of Oregon
+      emigrants, but having got as far as Bridge&rsquo;s Fort, he had fallen
+      home-sick, or as Jim averred, love-sick&mdash;and Ellis was just the man
+      to be balked in a love adventure. He thought proper to join the California
+      men and return homeward in their company.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They now requested that they might unite with our party, and make the
+      journey to the settlements in company with us. We readily assented, for we
+      liked the appearance of the first two men, and were very glad to gain so
+      efficient a re-enforcement. We told them to meet us on the next evening at
+      a spot on the river side, about six miles below the fort. Having smoked a
+      pipe together, our new allies left us, and we lay down to sleep.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0022" id="link2HCH0022">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXII
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      TETE ROUGE, THE VOLUNTEER
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      The next morning, having directed Delorier to repair with his cart to the
+      place of meeting, we came again to the fort to make some arrangements for
+      the journey. After completing these we sat down under a sort of perch, to
+      smoke with some Cheyenne Indians whom we found there. In a few minutes we
+      saw an extraordinary little figure approach us in a military dress. He had
+      a small, round countenance, garnished about the eyes with the kind of
+      wrinkles commonly known as crow&rsquo;s feet and surrounded by an abundant crop
+      of red curls, with a little cap resting on the top of them. Altogether, he
+      had the look of a man more conversant with mint juleps and oyster suppers
+      than with the hardships of prairie service. He came up to us and entreated
+      that we would take him home to the settlements, saying that unless he went
+      with us he should have to stay all winter at the fort. We liked our
+      petitioner&rsquo;s appearance so little that we excused ourselves from complying
+      with his request. At this he begged us so hard to take pity on him, looked
+      so disconsolate, and told so lamentable a story that at last we consented,
+      though not without many misgivings.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The rugged Anglo-Saxon of our new recruit&rsquo;s real name proved utterly
+      unmanageable on the lips of our French attendants, and Henry Chatillon,
+      after various abortive attempts to pronounce it, one day coolly christened
+      him Tete Rouge, in honor of his red curls. He had at different times been
+      clerk of a Mississippi steamboat, and agent in a trading establishment at
+      Nauvoo, besides filling various other capacities, in all of which he had
+      seen much more of &ldquo;life&rdquo; than was good for him. In the spring, thinking
+      that a summer&rsquo;s campaign would be an agreeable recreation, he had joined a
+      company of St. Louis volunteers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There were three of us,&rdquo; said Tete Rouge, &ldquo;me and Bill Stevens and John
+      Hopkins. We thought we would just go out with the army, and when we had
+      conquered the country, we would get discharged and take our pay, you know,
+      and go down to Mexico. They say there is plenty of fun going on there.
+      Then we could go back to New Orleans by way of Vera Cruz.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But Tete Rouge, like many a stouter volunteer, had reckoned without his
+      host. Fighting Mexicans was a less amusing occupation than he had
+      supposed, and his pleasure trip was disagreeably interrupted by brain
+      fever, which attacked him when about halfway to Bent&rsquo;s Fort. He jolted
+      along through the rest of the journey in a baggage wagon. When they came
+      to the fort he was taken out and left there, together with the rest of the
+      sick. Bent&rsquo;s Fort does not supply the best accommodations for an invalid.
+      Tete Rouge&rsquo;s sick chamber was a little mud room, where he and a companion
+      attacked by the same disease were laid together, with nothing but a
+      buffalo robe between them and the ground. The assistant surgeon&rsquo;s deputy
+      visited them once a day and brought them each a huge dose of calomel, the
+      only medicine, according to his surviving victim, which he was acquainted
+      with.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Tete Rouge woke one morning, and turning to his companion, saw his eyes
+      fixed upon the beams above with the glassy stare of a dead man. At this
+      the unfortunate volunteer lost his senses outright. In spite of the
+      doctor, however, he eventually recovered; though between the brain fever
+      and the calomel, his mind, originally none of the strongest, was so much
+      shaken that it had not quite recovered its balance when we came to the
+      fort. In spite of the poor fellow&rsquo;s tragic story, there was something so
+      ludicrous in his appearance, and the whimsical contrast between his
+      military dress and his most unmilitary demeanor, that we could not help
+      smiling at them. We asked him if he had a gun. He said they had taken it
+      from him during his illness, and he had not seen it since; &ldquo;but perhaps,&rdquo;
+       he observed, looking at me with a beseeching air, &ldquo;you will lend me one of
+      your big pistols if we should meet with any Indians.&rdquo; I next inquired if
+      he had a horse; he declared he had a magnificent one, and at Shaw&rsquo;s
+      request a Mexican led him in for inspection. He exhibited the outline of a
+      good horse, but his eyes were sunk in the sockets, and every one of his
+      ribs could be counted. There were certain marks too about his shoulders,
+      which could be accounted for by the circumstance, that during Tete Rouge&rsquo;s
+      illness, his companions had seized upon the insulted charger, and
+      harnessed him to a cannon along with the draft horses. To Tete Rouge&rsquo;s
+      astonishment we recommended him by all means to exchange the horse, if he
+      could, for a mule. Fortunately the people at the fort were so anxious to
+      get rid of him that they were willing to make some sacrifice to effect the
+      object, and he succeeded in getting a tolerable mule in exchange for the
+      broken-down steed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A man soon appeared at the gate, leading in the mule by a cord which he
+      placed in the hands of Tete Rouge, who, being somewhat afraid of his new
+      acquisition, tried various flatteries and blandishments to induce her to
+      come forward. The mule, knowing that she was expected to advance, stopped
+      short in consequence, and stood fast as a rock, looking straight forward
+      with immovable composure. Being stimulated by a blow from behind she
+      consented to move, and walked nearly to the other side of the fort before
+      she stopped again. Hearing the by-standers laugh, Tete Rouge plucked up
+      spirit and tugged hard at the rope. The mule jerked backward, spun herself
+      round, and made a dash for the gate. Tete Rouge, who clung manfully to the
+      rope, went whisking through the air for a few rods, when he let go and
+      stood with his mouth open, staring after the mule, who galloped away over
+      the prairie. She was soon caught and brought back by a Mexican, who
+      mounted a horse and went in pursuit of her with his lasso.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Having thus displayed his capacity for prairie travel, Tete Rouge
+      proceeded to supply himself with provisions for the journey, and with this
+      view he applied to a quartermaster&rsquo;s assistant who was in the fort. This
+      official had a face as sour as vinegar, being in a state of chronic
+      indignation because he had been left behind the army. He was as anxious as
+      the rest to get rid of Tete Rouge. So, producing a rusty key, he opened a
+      low door which led to a half-subterranean apartment, into which the two
+      disappeared together. After some time they came out again, Tete Rouge
+      greatly embarrassed by a multiplicity of paper parcels containing the
+      different articles of his forty days&rsquo; rations. They were consigned to the
+      care of Delorier, who about that time passed by with the cart on his way
+      to the appointed place of meeting with Munroe and his companions.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We next urged Tete Rouge to provide himself, if he could, with a gun. He
+      accordingly made earnest appeals to the charity of various persons in the
+      fort, but totally without success, a circumstance which did not greatly
+      disturb us, since in the event of a skirmish he would be much more apt to
+      do mischief to himself or his friends than to the enemy. When all these
+      arrangements were completed we saddled our horses and were preparing to
+      leave the fort, when looking round we discovered that our new associate
+      was in fresh trouble. A man was holding the mule for him in the middle of
+      the fort, while he tried to put the saddle on her back, but she kept
+      stepping sideways and moving round and round in a circle until he was
+      almost in despair. It required some assistance before all his difficulties
+      could be overcome. At length he clambered into the black war saddle on
+      which he was to have carried terror into the ranks of the Mexicans.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Get up,&rdquo; said Tete Rouge, &ldquo;come now, go along, will you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The mule walked deliberately forward out of the gate. Her recent conduct
+      had inspired him with so much awe that he never dared to touch her with
+      his whip. We trotted forward toward the place of meeting, but before he
+      had gone far we saw that Tete Rouge&rsquo;s mule, who perfectly understood her
+      rider, had stopped and was quietly grazing, in spite of his protestations,
+      at some distance behind. So getting behind him, we drove him and the
+      contumacious mule before us, until we could see through the twilight the
+      gleaming of a distant fire. Munroe, Jim, and Ellis were lying around it;
+      their saddles, packs, and weapons were scattered about and their horses
+      picketed near them. Delorier was there too with our little cart. Another
+      fire was soon blazing high. We invited our new allies to take a cup of
+      coffee with us. When both the others had gone over to their side of the
+      camp, Jim Gurney still stood by the blaze, puffing hard at his little
+      black pipe, as short and weather-beaten as himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well!&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;here are eight of us; we&rsquo;ll call it six&mdash;for them
+      two boobies, Ellis over yonder, and that new man of yours, won&rsquo;t count for
+      anything. We&rsquo;ll get through well enough, never fear for that, unless the
+      Comanches happen to get foul of us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0023" id="link2HCH0023">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXIII
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      INDIAN ALARMS
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      We began our journey for the frontier settlements on the 27th of August,
+      and certainly a more ragamuffin cavalcade never was seen on the banks of
+      the Upper Arkansas. Of the large and fine horses with which we had left
+      the frontier in the spring, not one remained; we had supplied their place
+      with the rough breed of the prairie, as hardy as mules and almost as ugly;
+      we had also with us a number of the latter detestable animals. In spite of
+      their strength and hardihood, several of the band were already worn down
+      by hard service and hard fare, and as none of them were shod, they were
+      fast becoming foot-sore. Every horse and mule had a cord of twisted
+      bull-hide coiled around his neck, which by no means added to the beauty of
+      his appearance. Our saddles and all our equipments were by this time
+      lamentably worn and battered, and our weapons had become dull and rusty.
+      The dress of the riders fully corresponded with the dilapidated furniture
+      of our horses, and of the whole party none made a more disreputable
+      appearance than my friend and I. Shaw had for an upper garment an old red
+      flannel shirt, flying open in front and belted around him like a frock;
+      while I, in absence of other clothing, was attired in a time-worn suit of
+      leather.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Thus, happy and careless as so many beggars, we crept slowly from day to
+      day along the monotonous banks of the Arkansas. Tete Rouge gave constant
+      trouble, for he could never catch his mule, saddle her, or indeed do
+      anything else without assistance. Every day he had some new ailment, real
+      or imaginary, to complain of. At one moment he would be woebegone and
+      disconsolate, and the next he would be visited with a violent flow of
+      spirits, to which he could only give vent by incessant laughing,
+      whistling, and telling stories. When other resources failed, we used to
+      amuse ourselves by tormenting him; a fair compensation for the trouble he
+      cost us. Tete Rouge rather enjoyed being laughed at, for he was an odd
+      compound of weakness, eccentricity, and good-nature. He made a figure
+      worthy of a painter as he paced along before us, perched on the back of
+      his mule, and enveloped in a huge buffalo-robe coat, which some charitable
+      person had given him at the fort. This extraordinary garment, which would
+      have contained two men of his size, he chose, for some reason best known
+      to himself, to wear inside out, and he never took it off, even in the
+      hottest weather. It was fluttering all over with seams and tatters, and
+      the hide was so old and rotten that it broke out every day in a new place.
+      Just at the top of it a large pile of red curls was visible, with his
+      little cap set jauntily upon one side, to give him a military air. His
+      seat in the saddle was no less remarkable than his person and equipment.
+      He pressed one leg close against his mule&rsquo;s side, and thrust the other out
+      at an angle of 45 degrees. His pantaloons were decorated with a military
+      red stripe, of which he was extremely vain; but being much too short, the
+      whole length of his boots was usually visible below them. His blanket,
+      loosely rolled up into a large bundle, dangled at the back of his saddle,
+      where he carried it tied with a string. Four or five times a day it would
+      fall to the ground. Every few minutes he would drop his pipe, his knife,
+      his flint and steel, or a piece of tobacco, and have to scramble down to
+      pick them up. In doing this he would contrive to get in everybody&rsquo;s way;
+      and as the most of the party were by no means remarkable for a fastidious
+      choice of language, a storm of anathemas would be showered upon him, half
+      in earnest and half in jest, until Tete Rouge would declare that there was
+      no comfort in life, and that he never saw such fellows before.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Only a day or two after leaving Bent&rsquo;s Fort Henry Chatillon rode forward
+      to hunt, and took Ellis along with him. After they had been some time
+      absent we saw them coming down the hill, driving three dragoon-horses,
+      which had escaped from their owners on the march, or perhaps had given out
+      and been abandoned. One of them was in tolerable condition, but the others
+      were much emaciated and severely bitten by the wolves. Reduced as they
+      were we carried two of them to the settlements, and Henry exchanged the
+      third with the Arapahoes for an excellent mule.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the day after, when we had stopped to rest at noon, a long train of
+      Santa Fe wagons came up and trailed slowly past us in their picturesque
+      procession. They belonged to a trader named Magoffin, whose brother, with
+      a number of other men, came over and sat down around us on the grass. The
+      news they brought was not of the most pleasing complexion. According to
+      their accounts, the trail below was in a very dangerous state. They had
+      repeatedly detected Indians prowling at night around their camps; and the
+      large party which had left Bent&rsquo;s Fort a few weeks previous to our own
+      departure had been attacked, and a man named Swan, from Massachusetts, had
+      been killed. His companions had buried the body; but when Magoffin found
+      his grave, which was near a place called the Caches, the Indians had dug
+      up and scalped him, and the wolves had shockingly mangled his remains. As
+      an offset to this intelligence, they gave us the welcome information that
+      the buffalo were numerous at a few days&rsquo; journey below.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the next afternoon, as we moved along the bank of the river, we saw the
+      white tops of wagons on the horizon. It was some hours before we met them,
+      when they proved to be a train of clumsy ox-wagons, quite different from
+      the rakish vehicles of the Santa Fe traders, and loaded with government
+      stores for the troops. They all stopped, and the drivers gathered around
+      us in a crowd. I thought that the whole frontier might have been ransacked
+      in vain to furnish men worse fitted to meet the dangers of the prairie.
+      Many of them were mere boys, fresh from the plow, and devoid of knowledge
+      and experience. In respect to the state of the trail, they confirmed all
+      that the Santa Fe men had told us. In passing between the Pawnee Fork and
+      the Caches, their sentinels had fired every night at real or imaginary
+      Indians. They said also that Ewing, a young Kentuckian in the party that
+      had gone down before us, had shot an Indian who was prowling at evening
+      about the camp. Some of them advised us to turn back, and others to hasten
+      forward as fast as we could; but they all seemed in such a state of
+      feverish anxiety, and so little capable of cool judgment, that we attached
+      slight weight to what they said. They next gave us a more definite piece
+      of intelligence; a large village of Arapahoes was encamped on the river
+      below. They represented them to be quite friendly; but some distinction
+      was to be made between a party of thirty men, traveling with oxen, which
+      are of no value in an Indian&rsquo;s eyes and a mere handful like ourselves,
+      with a tempting band of mules and horses. This story of the Arapahoes
+      therefore caused us some anxiety.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Just after leaving the government wagons, as Shaw and I were riding along
+      a narrow passage between the river bank and a rough hill that pressed
+      close upon it, we heard Tete Rouge&rsquo;s voice behind us. &ldquo;Hallo!&rdquo; he called
+      out; &ldquo;I say, stop the cart just for a minute, will you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What&rsquo;s the matter, Tete?&rdquo; asked Shaw, as he came riding up to us with a
+      grin of exultation. He had a bottle of molasses in one hand, and a large
+      bundle of hides on the saddle before him, containing, as he triumphantly
+      informed us, sugar, biscuits, coffee, and rice. These supplies he had
+      obtained by a stratagem on which he greatly plumed himself, and he was
+      extremely vexed and astonished that we did not fall in with his views of
+      the matter. He had told Coates, the master-wagoner, that the commissary at
+      the fort had given him an order for sick-rations, directed to the master
+      of any government train which he might meet upon the road. This order he
+      had unfortunately lost, but he hoped that the rations would not be refused
+      on that account, as he was suffering from coarse fare and needed them very
+      much. As soon as he came to camp that night Tete Rouge repaired to the box
+      at the back of the cart, where Delorier used to keep his culinary
+      apparatus, took possession of a saucepan, and after building a little fire
+      of his own, set to work preparing a meal out of his ill-gotten booty. This
+      done, he seized on a tin plate and spoon, and sat down under the cart to
+      regale himself. His preliminary repast did not at all prejudice his
+      subsequent exertions at supper; where, in spite of his miniature
+      dimensions, he made a better figure than any of us. Indeed, about this
+      time his appetite grew quite voracious. He began to thrive wonderfully.
+      His small body visibly expanded, and his cheeks, which when we first took
+      him were rather yellow and cadaverous, now dilated in a wonderful manner,
+      and became ruddy in proportion. Tete Rouge, in short, began to appear like
+      another man.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Early in the afternoon of the next day, looking along the edge of the
+      horizon in front, we saw that at one point it was faintly marked with pale
+      indentations, like the teeth of a saw. The lodges of the Arapahoes, rising
+      between us and the sky, caused this singular appearance. It wanted still
+      two or three hours of sunset when we came opposite their camp. There were
+      full two hundred lodges standing in the midst of a grassy meadow at some
+      distance beyond the river, while for a mile around and on either bank of
+      the Arkansas were scattered some fifteen hundred horses and mules grazing
+      together in bands, or wandering singly about the prairie. The whole were
+      visible at once, for the vast expanse was unbroken by hills, and there was
+      not a tree or a bush to intercept the view.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Here and there walked an Indian, engaged in watching the horses. No sooner
+      did we see them than Tete Rouge begged Delorier to stop the cart and hand
+      him his little military jacket, which was stowed away there. In this he
+      instantly invested himself, having for once laid the old buffalo coat
+      aside, assumed a most martial posture in the saddle, set his cap over his
+      left eye with an air of defiance, and earnestly entreated that somebody
+      would lend him a gun or a pistol only for half an hour. Being called upon
+      to explain these remarkable proceedings, Tete Rouge observed that he knew
+      from experience what effect the presence of a military man in his uniform
+      always had upon the mind of an Indian, and he thought the Arapahoes ought
+      to know that there was a soldier in the party.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Meeting Arapahoes here on the Arkansas was a very different thing from
+      meeting the same Indians among their native mountains. There was another
+      circumstance in our favor. General Kearny had seen them a few weeks
+      before, as he came up the river with his army, and renewing his threats of
+      the previous year, he told them that if they ever again touched the hair
+      of a white man&rsquo;s head he would exterminate their nation. This placed them
+      for the time in an admirable frame of mind, and the effect of his menaces
+      had not yet disappeared. I was anxious to see the village and its
+      inhabitants. We thought it also our best policy to visit them openly, as
+      if unsuspicious of any hostile design; and Shaw and I, with Henry
+      Chatillon, prepared to cross the river. The rest of the party meanwhile
+      moved forward as fast as they could, in order to get as far as possible
+      from our suspicious neighbors before night came on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Arkansas at this point, and for several hundred miles below, is
+      nothing but a broad sand-bed, over which a few scanty threads of water are
+      swiftly gliding, now and then expanding into wide shallows. At several
+      places, during the autumn, the water sinks into the sand and disappears
+      altogether. At this season, were it not for the numerous quicksands, the
+      river might be forded almost anywhere without difficulty, though its
+      channel is often a quarter of a mile wide. Our horses jumped down the
+      bank, and wading through the water, or galloping freely over the hard
+      sand-beds, soon reached the other side. Here, as we were pushing through
+      the tall grass, we saw several Indians not far off; one of them waited
+      until we came up, and stood for some moments in perfect silence before us,
+      looking at us askance with his little snakelike eyes. Henry explained by
+      signs what we wanted, and the Indian, gathering his buffalo robe about his
+      shoulders, led the way toward the village without speaking a word.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The language of the Arapahoes is so difficult, and its pronunciations so
+      harsh and guttural, that no white man, it is said, has ever been able to
+      master it. Even Maxwell the trader, who has been most among them, is
+      compelled to resort to the curious sign language common to most of the
+      prairie tribes. With this Henry Chatillon was perfectly acquainted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Approaching the village, we found the ground all around it strewn with
+      great piles of waste buffalo meat in incredible quantities. The lodges
+      were pitched in a very wide circle. They resembled those of the Dakota in
+      everything but cleanliness and neatness. Passing between two of them, we
+      entered the great circular area of the camp, and instantly hundreds of
+      Indians, men, women and children, came flocking out of their habitations
+      to look at us; at the same time, the dogs all around the village set up a
+      fearful baying. Our Indian guide walked toward the lodge of the chief.
+      Here we dismounted; and loosening the trail-ropes from our horses&rsquo; necks,
+      held them securely, and sat down before the entrance, with our rifles laid
+      across our laps. The chief came out and shook us by the hand. He was a
+      mean-looking fellow, very tall, thin-visaged, and sinewy, like the rest of
+      the nation, and with scarcely a vestige of clothing. We had not been
+      seated half a minute before a multitude of Indians came crowding around us
+      from every part of the village, and we were shut in by a dense wall of
+      savage faces. Some of the Indians crouched around us on the ground; others
+      again sat behind them; others, stooping, looked over their heads; while
+      many more stood crowded behind, stretching themselves upward, and peering
+      over each other&rsquo;s shoulders, to get a view of us. I looked in vain among
+      this multitude of faces to discover one manly or generous expression; all
+      were wolfish, sinister, and malignant, and their complexions, as well as
+      their features, unlike those of the Dakota, were exceedingly bad. The
+      chief, who sat close to the entrance, called to a squaw within the lodge,
+      who soon came out and placed a wooden bowl of meat before us. To our
+      surprise, however, no pipe was offered. Having tasted of the meat as a
+      matter of form, I began to open a bundle of presents&mdash;tobacco,
+      knives, vermilion, and other articles which I had brought with me. At this
+      there was a grin on every countenance in the rapacious crowd; their eyes
+      began to glitter, and long thin arms were eagerly stretched toward us on
+      all sides to receive the gifts.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Arapahoes set great value upon their shields, which they transmit
+      carefully from father to son. I wished to get one of them; and displaying
+      a large piece of scarlet cloth, together with some tobacco and a knife, I
+      offered them to any one who would bring me what I wanted. After some delay
+      a tolerable shield was produced. They were very anxious to know what we
+      meant to do with it, and Henry told them that we were going to fight their
+      enemies, the Pawnees. This instantly produced a visible impression in our
+      favor, which was increased by the distribution of the presents. Among
+      these was a large paper of awls, a gift appropriate to the women; and as
+      we were anxious to see the beauties of the Arapahoe village Henry
+      requested that they might be called to receive them. A warrior gave a
+      shout as if he were calling a pack of dogs together. The squaws, young and
+      old, hags of eighty and girls of sixteen, came running with screams and
+      laughter out of the lodges; and as the men gave way for them they gathered
+      round us and stretched out their arms, grinning with delight, their native
+      ugliness considerably enhanced by the excitement of the moment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mounting our horses, which during the whole interview we had held close to
+      us, we prepared to leave the Arapahoes. The crowd fell back on each side
+      and stood looking on. When we were half across the camp an idea occurred
+      to us. The Pawnees were probably in the neighborhood of the Caches; we
+      might tell the Arapahoes of this and instigate them to send down a war
+      party and cut them off, while we ourselves could remain behind for a while
+      and hunt the buffalo. At first thought this plan of setting our enemies to
+      destroy one another seemed to us a masterpiece of policy; but we
+      immediately recollected that should we meet the Arapahoe warriors on the
+      river below they might prove quite as dangerous as the Pawnees themselves.
+      So rejecting our plan as soon as it presented itself, we passed out of the
+      village on the farther side. We urged our horses rapidly through the tall
+      grass which rose to their necks. Several Indians were walking through it
+      at a distance, their heads just visible above its waving surface. It bore
+      a kind of seed as sweet and nutritious as oats; and our hungry horses, in
+      spite of whip and rein, could not resist the temptation of snatching at
+      this unwonted luxury as we passed along. When about a mile from the
+      village I turned and looked back over the undulating ocean of grass. The
+      sun was just set; the western sky was all in a glow, and sharply defined
+      against it, on the extreme verge of the plain, stood the numerous lodges
+      of the Arapahoe camp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Reaching the bank of the river, we followed it for some distance farther,
+      until we discerned through the twilight the white covering of our little
+      cart on the opposite bank. When we reached it we found a considerable
+      number of Indians there before us. Four or five of them were seated in a
+      row upon the ground, looking like so many half-starved vultures. Tete
+      Rouge, in his uniform, was holding a close colloquy with another by the
+      side of the cart. His gesticulations, his attempts at sign-making, and the
+      contortions of his countenance, were most ludicrous; and finding all these
+      of no avail, he tried to make the Indian understand him by repeating
+      English words very loudly and distinctly again and again. The Indian sat
+      with his eye fixed steadily upon him, and in spite of the rigid immobility
+      of his features, it was clear at a glance that he perfectly understood his
+      military companion&rsquo;s character and thoroughly despised him. The exhibition
+      was more amusing than politic, and Tete Rouge was directed to finish what
+      he had to say as soon as possible. Thus rebuked, he crept under the cart
+      and sat down there; Henry Chatillon stopped to look at him in his
+      retirement, and remarked in his quiet manner that an Indian would kill ten
+      such men and laugh all the time.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One by one our visitors rose and stalked away. As the darkness thickened
+      we were saluted by dismal sounds. The wolves are incredibly numerous in
+      this part of the country, and the offal around the Arapahoe camp had drawn
+      such multitudes of them together that several hundred were howling in
+      concert in our immediate neighborhood. There was an island in the river,
+      or rather an oasis in the midst of the sands at about the distance of a
+      gunshot, and here they seemed gathered in the greatest numbers. A horrible
+      discord of low mournful wailings, mingled with ferocious howls, arose from
+      it incessantly for several hours after sunset. We could distinctly see the
+      wolves running about the prairie within a few rods of our fire, or
+      bounding over the sand-beds of the river and splashing through the water.
+      There was not the slightest danger to be feared from them, for they are
+      the greatest cowards on the prairie.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In respect to the human wolves in our neighborhood, we felt much less at
+      our ease. We seldom erected our tent except in bad weather, and that night
+      each man spread his buffalo robe upon the ground with his loaded rifle
+      laid at his side or clasped in his arms. Our horses were picketed so close
+      around us that one of them repeatedly stepped over me as I lay. We were
+      not in the habit of placing a guard, but every man that night was anxious
+      and watchful; there was little sound sleeping in camp, and some one of the
+      party was on his feet during the greater part of the time. For myself, I
+      lay alternately waking and dozing until midnight. Tete Rouge was reposing
+      close to the river bank, and about this time, when half asleep and half
+      awake, I was conscious that he shifted his position and crept on all-fours
+      under the cart. Soon after I fell into a sound sleep from which I was
+      aroused by a hand shaking me by the shoulder. Looking up, I saw Tete Rouge
+      stooping over me with his face quite pale and his eyes dilated to their
+      utmost expansion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What&rsquo;s the matter?&rdquo; said I.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Tete Rouge declared that as he lay on the river bank, something caught his
+      eye which excited his suspicions. So creeping under the cart for safety&rsquo;s
+      sake he sat there and watched, when he saw two Indians, wrapped in white
+      robes, creep up the bank, seize upon two horses and lead them off. He
+      looked so frightened, and told his story in such a disconnected manner,
+      that I did not believe him, and was unwilling to alarm the party. Still it
+      might be true, and in that case the matter required instant attention.
+      There would be no time for examination, and so directing Tete Rouge to
+      show me which way the Indians had gone, I took my rifle, in obedience to a
+      thoughtless impulse, and left the camp. I followed the river back for two
+      or three hundred yards, listening and looking anxiously on every side. In
+      the dark prairie on the right I could discern nothing to excite alarm; and
+      in the dusky bed of the river, a wolf was bounding along in a manner which
+      no Indian could imitate. I returned to the camp, and when within sight of
+      it, saw that the whole party was aroused. Shaw called out to me that he
+      had counted the horses, and that every one of them was in his place. Tete
+      Rouge, being examined as to what he had seen, only repeated his former
+      story with many asseverations, and insisted that two horses were certainly
+      carried off. At this Jim Gurney declared that he was crazy; Tete Rouge
+      indignantly denied the charge, on which Jim appealed to us. As we declined
+      to give our judgment on so delicate a matter, the dispute grew hot between
+      Tete Rouge and his accuser, until he was directed to go to bed and not
+      alarm the camp again if he saw the whole Arapahoe village coming.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0024" id="link2HCH0024">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXIV
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      THE CHASE
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      The country before us was now thronged with buffalo, and a sketch of the
+      manner of hunting them will not be out of place. There are two methods
+      commonly practiced, &ldquo;running&rdquo; and &ldquo;approaching.&rdquo; The chase on horseback,
+      which goes by the name of &ldquo;running,&rdquo; is the more violent and dashing mode
+      of the two. Indeed, of all American wild sports, this is the wildest. Once
+      among the buffalo, the hunter, unless long use has made him familiar with
+      the situation, dashes forward in utter recklessness and self-abandonment.
+      He thinks of nothing, cares for nothing but the game; his mind is
+      stimulated to the highest pitch, yet intensely concentrated on one object.
+      In the midst of the flying herd, where the uproar and the dust are
+      thickest, it never wavers for a moment; he drops the rein and abandons his
+      horse to his furious career; he levels his gun, the report sounds faint
+      amid the thunder of the buffalo; and when his wounded enemy leaps in vain
+      fury upon him, his heart thrills with a feeling like the fierce delight of
+      the battlefield. A practiced and skillful hunter, well mounted, will
+      sometimes kill five or six cows in a single chase, loading his gun again
+      and again as his horse rushes through the tumult. An exploit like this is
+      quite beyond the capacities of a novice. In attacking a small band of
+      buffalo, or in separating a single animal from the herd and assailing it
+      apart from the rest, there is less excitement and less danger. With a bold
+      and well trained horse the hunter may ride so close to the buffalo that as
+      they gallop side by side he may reach over and touch him with his hand;
+      nor is there much danger in this as long as the buffalo&rsquo;s strength and
+      breath continue unabated; but when he becomes tired and can no longer run
+      at ease, when his tongue lolls out and foam flies from his jaws, then the
+      hunter had better keep at a more respectful distance; the distressed brute
+      may turn upon him at any instant; and especially at the moment when he
+      fires his gun. The wounded buffalo springs at his enemy; the horse leaps
+      violently aside; and then the hunter has need of a tenacious seat in the
+      saddle, for if he is thrown to the ground there is no hope for him. When
+      he sees his attack defeated the buffalo resumes his flight, but if the
+      shot be well directed he soon stops; for a few moments he stands still,
+      then totters and falls heavily upon the prairie.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The chief difficulty in running buffalo, as it seems to me, is that of
+      loading the gun or pistol at full gallop. Many hunters for convenience&rsquo;
+      sake carry three or four bullets in the mouth; the powder is poured down
+      the muzzle of the piece, the bullet dropped in after it, the stock struck
+      hard upon the pommel of the saddle, and the work is done. The danger of
+      this method is obvious. Should the blow on the pommel fail to send the
+      bullet home, or should the latter, in the act of aiming, start from its
+      place and roll toward the muzzle, the gun would probably burst in
+      discharging. Many a shattered hand and worse casualties besides have been
+      the result of such an accident. To obviate it, some hunters make use of a
+      ramrod, usually hung by a string from the neck, but this materially
+      increases the difficulty of loading. The bows and arrows which the Indians
+      use in running buffalo have many advantages over fire arms, and even white
+      men occasionally employ them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The danger of the chase arises not so much from the onset of the wounded
+      animal as from the nature of the ground which the hunter must ride over.
+      The prairie does not always present a smooth, level, and uniform surface;
+      very often it is broken with hills and hollows, intersected by ravines,
+      and in the remoter parts studded by the stiff wild-sage bushes. The most
+      formidable obstructions, however, are the burrows of wild animals, wolves,
+      badgers, and particularly prairie dogs, with whose holes the ground for a
+      very great extent is frequently honeycombed. In the blindness of the chase
+      the hunter rushes over it unconscious of danger; his horse, at full
+      career, thrusts his leg deep into one of the burrows; the bone snaps, the
+      rider is hurled forward to the ground and probably killed. Yet accidents
+      in buffalo running happen less frequently than one would suppose; in the
+      recklessness of the chase, the hunter enjoys all the impunity of a drunken
+      man, and may ride in safety over the gullies and declivities where, should
+      he attempt to pass in his sober senses, he would infallibly break his
+      neck.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The method of &ldquo;approaching,&rdquo; being practiced on foot, has many advantages
+      over that of &ldquo;running&rdquo;; in the former, one neither breaks down his horse
+      nor endangers his own life; instead of yielding to excitement he must be
+      cool, collected, and watchful; he must understand the buffalo, observe the
+      features of the country and the course of the wind, and be well skilled,
+      moreover, in using the rifle. The buffalo are strange animals; sometimes
+      they are so stupid and infatuated that a man may walk up to them in full
+      sight on the open prairie, and even shoot several of their number before
+      the rest will think it necessary to retreat. Again at another moment they
+      will be so shy and wary, that in order to approach them the utmost skill,
+      experience, and judgment are necessary. Kit Carson, I believe, stands
+      pre-eminent in running buffalo; in approaching, no man living can bear
+      away the palm from Henry Chatillon.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To resume the story: After Tete Rouge had alarmed the camp, no further
+      disturbance occurred during the night. The Arapahoes did not attempt
+      mischief, or if they did the wakefulness of the party deterred them from
+      effecting their purpose. The next day was one of activity and excitement,
+      for about ten o&rsquo;clock the men in advance shouted the gladdening cry of
+      &ldquo;Buffalo, buffalo!&rdquo; and in the hollow of the prairie just below us, a band
+      of bulls were grazing. The temptation was irresistible, and Shaw and I
+      rode down upon them. We were badly mounted on our traveling horses, but by
+      hard lashing we overtook them, and Shaw, running alongside of a bull, shot
+      into him both balls of his double-barreled gun. Looking round as I
+      galloped past, I saw the bull in his mortal fury rushing again and again
+      upon his antagonist, whose horse constantly leaped aside, and avoided the
+      onset. My chase was more protracted, but at length I ran close to the bull
+      and killed him with my pistols. Cutting off the tails of our victims by
+      way of trophy, we rejoined the party in about a quarter of an hour after
+      we left it. Again and again that morning rang out the same welcome cry of
+      &ldquo;Buffalo, buffalo!&rdquo; Every few moments in the broad meadows along the
+      river, we would see bands of bulls, who, raising their shaggy heads, would
+      gaze in stupid amazement at the approaching horsemen, and then breaking
+      into a clumsy gallop, would file off in a long line across the trail in
+      front, toward the rising prairie on the left. At noon, the whole plain
+      before us was alive with thousands of buffalo&mdash;bulls, cows, and
+      calves&mdash;all moving rapidly as we drew near; and far-off beyond the
+      river the swelling prairie was darkened with them to the very horizon. The
+      party was in gayer spirits than ever. We stopped for a nooning near a
+      grove of trees by the river side.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Tongues and hump ribs to-morrow,&rdquo; said Shaw, looking with contempt at the
+      venison steaks which Delorier placed before us. Our meal finished, we lay
+      down under a temporary awning to sleep. A shout from Henry Chatillon
+      aroused us, and we saw him standing on the cartwheel stretching his tall
+      figure to its full height while he looked toward the prairie beyond the
+      river. Following the direction of his eyes we could clearly distinguish a
+      large dark object, like the black shadow of a cloud, passing rapidly over
+      swell after swell of the distant plain; behind it followed another of
+      similar appearance though smaller. Its motion was more rapid, and it drew
+      closer and closer to the first. It was the hunters of the Arapahoe camp
+      pursuing a band of buffalo. Shaw and I hastily sought and saddled our best
+      horses, and went plunging through sand and water to the farther bank. We
+      were too late. The hunters had already mingled with the herd, and the work
+      of slaughter was nearly over. When we reached the ground we found it
+      strewn far and near with numberless black carcasses, while the remnants of
+      the herd, scattered in all directions, were flying away in terror, and the
+      Indians still rushing in pursuit. Many of the hunters, however, remained
+      upon the spot, and among the rest was our yesterday&rsquo;s acquaintance, the
+      chief of the village. He had alighted by the side of a cow, into which he
+      had shot five or six arrows, and his squaw, who had followed him on
+      horseback to the hunt, was giving him a draught of water out of a canteen,
+      purchased or plundered from some volunteer soldier. Recrossing the river
+      we overtook the party, who were already on their way.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We had scarcely gone a mile when an imposing spectacle presented itself.
+      From the river bank on the right, away over the swelling prairie on the
+      left, and in front as far as we could see, extended one vast host of
+      buffalo. The outskirts of the herd were within a quarter of a mile. In
+      many parts they were crowded so densely together that in the distance
+      their rounded backs presented a surface of uniform blackness; but
+      elsewhere they were more scattered, and from amid the multitude rose
+      little columns of dust where the buffalo were rolling on the ground. Here
+      and there a great confusion was perceptible, where a battle was going
+      forward among the bulls. We could distinctly see them rushing against each
+      other, and hear the clattering of their horns and their hoarse bellowing.
+      Shaw was riding at some distance in advance, with Henry Chatillon; I saw
+      him stop and draw the leather covering from his gun. Indeed, with such a
+      sight before us, but one thing could be thought of. That morning I had
+      used pistols in the chase. I had now a mind to try the virtue of a gun.
+      Delorier had one, and I rode up to the side of the cart; there he sat
+      under the white covering, biting his pipe between his teeth and grinning
+      with excitement.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Lend me your gun, Delorier,&rdquo; said I.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oui, monsieur, oui,&rdquo; said Delorier, tugging with might and main to stop
+      the mule, which seemed obstinately bent on going forward. Then everything
+      but his moccasins disappeared as he crawled into the cart and pulled at
+      the gun to extricate it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is it loaded?&rdquo; I asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oui, bien charge; you&rsquo;ll kill, mon bourgeois; yes, you&rsquo;ll kill&mdash;c&rsquo;est
+      un bon fusil.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I handed him my rifle and rode forward to Shaw.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Are you ready?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come on,&rdquo; said I.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Keep down that hollow,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;and then they won&rsquo;t see you till you
+      get close to them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The hollow was a kind of ravine very wide and shallow; it ran obliquely
+      toward the buffalo, and we rode at a canter along the bottom until it
+      became too shallow, when we bent close to our horses&rsquo; necks, and then
+      finding that it could no longer conceal us, came out of it and rode
+      directly toward the herd. It was within gunshot; before its outskirts,
+      numerous grizzly old bulls were scattered, holding guard over their
+      females. They glared at us in anger and astonishment, walked toward us a
+      few yards, and then turning slowly round retreated at a trot which
+      afterward broke into a clumsy gallop. In an instant the main body caught
+      the alarm. The buffalo began to crowd away from the point toward which we
+      were approaching, and a gap was opened in the side of the herd. We entered
+      it, still restraining our excited horses. Every instant the tumult was
+      thickening. The buffalo, pressing together in large bodies, crowded away
+      from us on every hand. In front and on either side we could see dark
+      columns and masses, half hidden by clouds of dust, rushing along in terror
+      and confusion, and hear the tramp and clattering of ten thousand hoofs.
+      That countless multitude of powerful brutes, ignorant of their own
+      strength, were flying in a panic from the approach of two feeble horsemen.
+      To remain quiet longer was impossible.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Take that band on the left,&rdquo; said Shaw; &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll take these in front.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He sprang off, and I saw no more of him. A heavy Indian whip was fastened
+      by a band to my wrist; I swung it into the air and lashed my horse&rsquo;s flank
+      with all the strength of my arm. Away she darted, stretching close to the
+      ground. I could see nothing but a cloud of dust before me, but I knew that
+      it concealed a band of many hundreds of buffalo. In a moment I was in the
+      midst of the cloud, half suffocated by the dust and stunned by the
+      trampling of the flying herd; but I was drunk with the chase and cared for
+      nothing but the buffalo. Very soon a long dark mass became visible,
+      looming through the dust; then I could distinguish each bulky carcass, the
+      hoofs flying out beneath, the short tails held rigidly erect. In a moment
+      I was so close that I could have touched them with my gun. Suddenly, to my
+      utter amazement, the hoofs were jerked upward, the tails flourished in the
+      air, and amid a cloud of dust the buffalo seemed to sink into the earth
+      before me. One vivid impression of that instant remains upon my mind. I
+      remember looking down upon the backs of several buffalo dimly visible
+      through the dust. We had run unawares upon a ravine. At that moment I was
+      not the most accurate judge of depth and width, but when I passed it on my
+      return, I found it about twelve feet deep and not quite twice as wide at
+      the bottom. It was impossible to stop; I would have done so gladly if I
+      could; so, half sliding, half plunging, down went the little mare. I
+      believe she came down on her knees in the loose sand at the bottom; I was
+      pitched forward violently against her neck and nearly thrown over her head
+      among the buffalo, who amid dust and confusion came tumbling in all
+      around. The mare was on her feet in an instant and scrambling like a cat
+      up the opposite side. I thought for a moment that she would have fallen
+      back and crushed me, but with a violent effort she clambered out and
+      gained the hard prairie above. Glancing back I saw the huge head of a bull
+      clinging as it were by the forefeet at the edge of the dusty gulf. At
+      length I was fairly among the buffalo. They were less densely crowded than
+      before, and I could see nothing but bulls, who always run at the rear of
+      the herd. As I passed amid them they would lower their heads, and turning
+      as they ran, attempt to gore my horse; but as they were already at full
+      speed there was no force in their onset, and as Pauline ran faster than
+      they, they were always thrown behind her in the effort. I soon began to
+      distinguish cows amid the throng. One just in front of me seemed to my
+      liking, and I pushed close to her side. Dropping the reins I fired,
+      holding the muzzle of the gun within a foot of her shoulder. Quick as
+      lightning she sprang at Pauline; the little mare dodged the attack, and I
+      lost sight of the wounded animal amid the tumultuous crowd. Immediately
+      after I selected another, and urging forward Pauline, shot into her both
+      pistols in succession. For a while I kept her in view, but in attempting
+      to load my gun, lost sight of her also in the confusion. Believing her to
+      be mortally wounded and unable to keep up with the herd, I checked my
+      horse. The crowd rushed onward. The dust and tumult passed away, and on
+      the prairie, far behind the rest, I saw a solitary buffalo galloping
+      heavily. In a moment I and my victim were running side by side. My
+      firearms were all empty, and I had in my pouch nothing but rifle bullets,
+      too large for the pistols and too small for the gun. I loaded the latter,
+      however, but as often as I leveled it to fire, the little bullets would
+      roll out of the muzzle and the gun returned only a faint report like a
+      squib, as the powder harmlessly exploded. I galloped in front of the
+      buffalo and attempted to turn her back; but her eyes glared, her mane
+      bristled, and lowering her head, she rushed at me with astonishing
+      fierceness and activity. Again and again I rode before her, and again and
+      again she repeated her furious charge. But little Pauline was in her
+      element. She dodged her enemy at every rush, until at length the buffalo
+      stood still, exhausted with her own efforts; she panted, and her tongue
+      hung lolling from her jaws.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Riding to a little distance I alighted, thinking to gather a handful of
+      dry grass to serve the purpose of wadding, and load the gun at my leisure.
+      No sooner were my feet on the ground than the buffalo came bounding in
+      such a rage toward me that I jumped back again into the saddle with all
+      possible dispatch. After waiting a few minutes more, I made an attempt to
+      ride up and stab her with my knife; but the experiment proved such as no
+      wise man would repeat. At length, bethinking me of the fringes at the
+      seams of my buckskin pantaloons, I jerked off a few of them, and reloading
+      my gun, forced them down the barrel to keep the bullet in its place; then
+      approaching, I shot the wounded buffalo through the heart. Sinking to her
+      knees, she rolled over lifeless on the prairie. To my astonishment, I
+      found that instead of a fat cow I had been slaughtering a stout yearling
+      bull. No longer wondering at the fierceness he had shown, I opened his
+      throat and cutting out his tongue, tied it at the back of my saddle. My
+      mistake was one which a more experienced eye than mine might easily make
+      in the dust and confusion of such a chase.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then for the first time I had leisure to look at the scene around me. The
+      prairie in front was darkened with the retreating multitude, and on the
+      other hand the buffalo came filing up in endless unbroken columns from the
+      low plains upon the river. The Arkansas was three or four miles distant. I
+      turned and moved slowly toward it. A long time passed before, far down in
+      the distance, I distinguished the white covering of the cart and the
+      little black specks of horsemen before and behind it. Drawing near, I
+      recognized Shaw&rsquo;s elegant tunic, the red flannel shirt, conspicuous far
+      off. I overtook the party, and asked him what success he had met with. He
+      had assailed a fat cow, shot her with two bullets, and mortally wounded
+      her. But neither of us were prepared for the chase that afternoon, and
+      Shaw, like myself, had no spare bullets in his pouch; so he abandoned the
+      disabled animal to Henry Chatillon, who followed, dispatched her with his
+      rifle, and loaded his horse with her meat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We encamped close to the river. The night was dark, and as we lay down we
+      could hear mingled with the howling of wolves the hoarse bellowing of the
+      buffalo, like the ocean beating upon a distant coast.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0025" id="link2HCH0025">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXV
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      THE BUFFALO CAMP
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      No one in the camp was more active than Jim Gurney, and no one half so
+      lazy as Ellis. Between these two there was a great antipathy. Ellis never
+      stirred in the morning until he was compelled to, but Jim was always on
+      his feet before daybreak; and this morning as usual the sound of his voice
+      awakened the party.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Get up, you booby! up with you now, you&rsquo;re fit for nothing but eating and
+      sleeping. Stop your grumbling and come out of that buffalo robe or I&rsquo;ll
+      pull it off for you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Jim&rsquo;s words were interspersed with numerous expletives, which gave them
+      great additional effect. Ellis drawled out something in a nasal tone from
+      among the folds of his buffalo robe; then slowly disengaged himself, rose
+      into sitting posture, stretched his long arms, yawned hideously, and
+      finally, raising his tall person erect, stood staring round him to all the
+      four quarters of the horizon. Delorier&rsquo;s fire was soon blazing, and the
+      horses and mules, loosened from their pickets, were feeding in the
+      neighboring meadow. When we sat down to breakfast the prairie was still in
+      the dusky light of morning; and as the sun rose we were mounted and on our
+      way again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A white buffalo!&rdquo; exclaimed Munroe.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll have that fellow,&rdquo; said Shaw, &ldquo;if I run my horse to death after
+      him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He threw the cover of his gun to Delorier and galloped out upon the
+      prairie.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Stop, Mr. Shaw, stop!&rdquo; called out Henry Chatillon, &ldquo;you&rsquo;ll run down your
+      horse for nothing; it&rsquo;s only a white ox.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But Shaw was already out of hearing. The ox, who had no doubt strayed away
+      from some of the government wagon trains, was standing beneath some low
+      hills which bounded the plain in the distance. Not far from him a band of
+      veritable buffalo bulls were grazing; and startled at Shaw&rsquo;s approach,
+      they all broke into a run, and went scrambling up the hillsides to gain
+      the high prairie above. One of them in his haste and terror involved
+      himself in a fatal catastrophe. Along the foot of the hills was a narrow
+      strip of deep marshy soil, into which the bull plunged and hopelessly
+      entangled himself. We all rode up to the spot. The huge carcass was half
+      sunk in the mud, which flowed to his very chin, and his shaggy mane was
+      outspread upon the surface. As we came near the bull began to struggle
+      with convulsive strength; he writhed to and fro, and in the energy of his
+      fright and desperation would lift himself for a moment half out of the
+      slough, while the reluctant mire returned a sucking sound as he strained
+      to drag his limbs from its tenacious depths. We stimulated his exertions
+      by getting behind him and twisting his tail; nothing would do. There was
+      clearly no hope for him. After every effort his heaving sides were more
+      deeply imbedded and the mire almost overflowed his nostrils; he lay still
+      at length, and looking round at us with a furious eye, seemed to resign
+      himself to his fate. Ellis slowly dismounted, and deliberately leveling
+      his boasted yager, shot the old bull through the heart; then he lazily
+      climbed back again to his seat, pluming himself no doubt on having
+      actually killed a buffalo. That day the invincible yager drew blood for
+      the first and last time during the whole journey.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The morning was a bright and gay one, and the air so clear that on the
+      farthest horizon the outline of the pale blue prairie was sharply drawn
+      against the sky. Shaw felt in the mood for hunting; he rode in advance of
+      the party, and before long we saw a file of bulls galloping at full speed
+      upon a vast green swell of the prairie at some distance in front. Shaw
+      came scouring along behind them, arrayed in his red shirt, which looked
+      very well in the distance; he gained fast on the fugitives, and as the
+      foremost bull was disappearing behind the summit of the swell, we saw him
+      in the act of assailing the hindmost; a smoke sprang from the muzzle of
+      his gun, and floated away before the wind like a little white cloud; the
+      bull turned upon him, and just then the rising ground concealed them both
+      from view.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We were moving forward until about noon, when we stopped by the side of
+      the Arkansas. At that moment Shaw appeared riding slowly down the side of
+      a distant hill; his horse was tired and jaded, and when he threw his
+      saddle upon the ground, I observed that the tails of two bulls were
+      dangling behind it. No sooner were the horses turned loose to feed than
+      Henry, asking Munroe to go with him, took his rifle and walked quietly
+      away. Shaw, Tete Rouge, and I sat down by the side of the cart to discuss
+      the dinner which Delorier placed before us; we had scarcely finished when
+      we saw Munroe walking toward us along the river bank. Henry, he said, had
+      killed four fat cows, and had sent him back for horses to bring in the
+      meat. Shaw took a horse for himself and another for Henry, and he and
+      Munroe left the camp together. After a short absence all three of them
+      came back, their horses loaded with the choicest parts of the meat; we
+      kept two of the cows for ourselves and gave the others to Munroe and his
+      companions. Delorier seated himself on the grass before the pile of meat,
+      and worked industriously for some time to cut it into thin broad sheets
+      for drying. This is no easy matter, but Delorier had all the skill of an
+      Indian squaw. Long before night cords of raw hide were stretched around
+      the camp, and the meat was hung upon them to dry in the sunshine and pure
+      air of the prairie. Our California companions were less successful at the
+      work; but they accomplished it after their own fashion, and their side of
+      the camp was soon garnished in the same manner as our own.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We meant to remain at this place long enough to prepare provisions for our
+      journey to the frontier, which as we supposed might occupy about a month.
+      Had the distance been twice as great and the party ten times as large, the
+      unerring rifle of Henry Chatillon would have supplied meat enough for the
+      whole within two days; we were obliged to remain, however, until it should
+      be dry enough for transportation; so we erected our tent and made the
+      other arrangements for a permanent camp. The California men, who had no
+      such shelter, contented themselves with arranging their packs on the grass
+      around their fire. In the meantime we had nothing to do but amuse
+      ourselves. Our tent was within a rod of the river, if the broad sand-beds,
+      with a scanty stream of water coursing here and there along their surface,
+      deserve to be dignified with the name of river. The vast flat plains on
+      either side were almost on a level with the sand-beds, and they were
+      bounded in the distance by low, monotonous hills, parallel to the course
+      of the Arkansas. All was one expanse of grass; there was no wood in view,
+      except some trees and stunted bushes upon two islands which rose from amid
+      the wet sands of the river. Yet far from being dull and tame this
+      boundless scene was often a wild and animated one; for twice a day, at
+      sunrise and at noon, the buffalo came issuing from the hills, slowly
+      advancing in their grave processions to drink at the river. All our
+      amusements were too at their expense. Except an elephant, I have seen no
+      animal that can surpass a buffalo bull in size and strength, and the world
+      may be searched in vain to find anything of a more ugly and ferocious
+      aspect. At first sight of him every feeling of sympathy vanishes; no man
+      who has not experienced it can understand with what keen relish one
+      inflicts his death wound, with what profound contentment of mind he
+      beholds him fall. The cows are much smaller and of a gentler appearance,
+      as becomes their sex. While in this camp we forebore to attack them,
+      leaving to Henry Chatillon, who could better judge their fatness and good
+      quality, the task of killing such as we wanted for use; but against the
+      bulls we waged an unrelenting war. Thousands of them might be slaughtered
+      without causing any detriment to the species, for their numbers greatly
+      exceed those of the cows; it is the hides of the latter alone which are
+      used for purpose of commerce and for making the lodges of the Indians; and
+      the destruction among them is therefore altogether disproportioned.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Our horses were tired, and we now usually hunted on foot. The wide, flat
+      sand-beds of the Arkansas, as the reader will remember, lay close by the
+      side of our camp. While we were lying on the grass after dinner, smoking,
+      conversing, or laughing at Tete Rouge, one of us would look up and
+      observe, far out on the plains beyond the river, certain black objects
+      slowly approaching. He would inhale a parting whiff from the pipe, then
+      rising lazily, take his rifle, which leaned against the cart, throw over
+      his shoulder the strap of his pouch and powder-horn, and with his
+      moccasins in his hand walk quietly across the sand toward the opposite
+      side of the river. This was very easy; for though the sands were about a
+      quarter of a mile wide, the water was nowhere more than two feet deep. The
+      farther bank was about four or five feet high, and quite perpendicular,
+      being cut away by the water in spring. Tall grass grew along its edge.
+      Putting it aside with his hand, and cautiously looking through it, the
+      hunter can discern the huge shaggy back of the buffalo slowly swaying to
+      and fro, as with his clumsy swinging gait he advances toward the water.
+      The buffalo have regular paths by which they come down to drink. Seeing at
+      a glance along which of these his intended victim is moving, the hunter
+      crouches under the bank within fifteen or twenty yards, it may be, of the
+      point where the path enters the river. Here he sits down quietly on the
+      sand. Listening intently, he hears the heavy monotonous tread of the
+      approaching bull. The moment after he sees a motion among the long weeds
+      and grass just at the spot where the path is channeled through the bank.
+      An enormous black head is thrust out, the horns just visible amid the mass
+      of tangled mane. Half sliding, half plunging, down comes the buffalo upon
+      the river-bed below. He steps out in full sight upon the sands. Just
+      before him a runnel of water is gliding, and he bends his head to drink.
+      You may hear the water as it gurgles down his capacious throat. He raises
+      his head, and the drops trickle from his wet beard. He stands with an air
+      of stupid abstraction, unconscious of the lurking danger. Noiselessly the
+      hunter cocks his rifle. As he sits upon the sand, his knee is raised, and
+      his elbow rests upon it, that he may level his heavy weapon with a
+      steadier aim. The stock is at his shoulder; his eye ranges along the
+      barrel. Still he is in no haste to fire. The bull, with slow deliberation,
+      begins his march over the sands to the other side. He advances his
+      foreleg, and exposes to view a small spot, denuded of hair, just behind
+      the point of his shoulder; upon this the hunter brings the sight of his
+      rifle to bear; lightly and delicately his finger presses upon the
+      hair-trigger. Quick as thought the spiteful crack of the rifle responds to
+      his slight touch, and instantly in the middle of the bare spot appears a
+      small red dot. The buffalo shivers; death has overtaken him, he cannot
+      tell from whence; still he does not fall, but walks heavily forward, as if
+      nothing had happened. Yet before he has advanced far out upon the sand,
+      you see him stop; he totters; his knees bend under him, and his head sinks
+      forward to the ground. Then his whole vast bulk sways to one side; he
+      rolls over on the sand, and dies with a scarcely perceptible struggle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Waylaying the buffalo in this manner, and shooting them as they come to
+      water, is the easiest and laziest method of hunting them. They may also be
+      approached by crawling up ravines, or behind hills, or even over the open
+      prairie. This is often surprisingly easy; but at other times it requires
+      the utmost skill of the most experienced hunter. Henry Chatillon was a man
+      of extraordinary strength and hardihood; but I have seen him return to
+      camp quite exhausted with his efforts, his limbs scratched and wounded,
+      and his buckskin dress stuck full of the thorns of the prickly-pear among
+      which he had been crawling. Sometimes he would lay flat upon his face, and
+      drag himself along in this position for many rods together.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the second day of our stay at this place, Henry went out for an
+      afternoon hunt. Shaw and I remained in camp until, observing some bulls
+      approaching the water upon the other side of the river, we crossed over to
+      attack them. They were so near, however, that before we could get under
+      cover of the bank our appearance as we walked over the sands alarmed them.
+      Turning round before coming within gunshot, they began to move off to the
+      right in a direction parallel to the river. I climbed up the bank and ran
+      after them. They were walking swiftly, and before I could come within
+      gunshot distance they slowly wheeled about and faced toward me. Before
+      they had turned far enough to see me I had fallen flat on my face. For a
+      moment they stood and stared at the strange object upon the grass; then
+      turning away, again they walked on as before; and I, rising immediately,
+      ran once more in pursuit. Again they wheeled about, and again I fell
+      prostrate. Repeating this three or four times, I came at length within a
+      hundred yards of the fugitives, and as I saw them turning again I sat down
+      and leveled my rifle. The one in the center was the largest I had ever
+      seen. I shot him behind the shoulder. His two companions ran off. He
+      attempted to follow, but soon came to a stand, and at length lay down as
+      quietly as an ox chewing the cud. Cautiously approaching him, I saw by his
+      dull and jellylike eye that he was dead.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When I began the chase, the prairie was almost tenantless; but a great
+      multitude of buffalo had suddenly thronged upon it, and looking up, I saw
+      within fifty rods a heavy, dark column stretching to the right and left as
+      far as I could see. I walked toward them. My approach did not alarm them
+      in the least. The column itself consisted entirely of cows and calves, but
+      a great many old bulls were ranging about the prairie on its flank, and as
+      I drew near they faced toward me with such a shaggy and ferocious look
+      that I thought it best to proceed no farther. Indeed I was already within
+      close rifle-shot of the column, and I sat down on the ground to watch
+      their movements. Sometimes the whole would stand still, their heads all
+      facing one way; then they would trot forward, as if by a common impulse,
+      their hoofs and horns clattering together as they moved. I soon began to
+      hear at a distance on the left the sharp reports of a rifle, again and
+      again repeated; and not long after, dull and heavy sounds succeeded, which
+      I recognized as the familiar voice of Shaw&rsquo;s double-barreled gun. When
+      Henry&rsquo;s rifle was at work there was always meat to be brought in. I went
+      back across the river for a horse, and returning, reached the spot where
+      the hunters were standing. The buffalo were visible on the distant
+      prairie. The living had retreated from the ground, but ten or twelve
+      carcasses were scattered in various directions. Henry, knife in hand, was
+      stooping over a dead cow, cutting away the best and fattest of the meat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When Shaw left me he had walked down for some distance under the river
+      bank to find another bull. At length he saw the plains covered with the
+      host of buffalo, and soon after heard the crack of Henry&rsquo;s rifle.
+      Ascending the bank, he crawled through the grass, which for a rod or two
+      from the river was very high and rank. He had not crawled far before to
+      his astonishment he saw Henry standing erect upon the prairie, almost
+      surrounded by the buffalo. Henry was in his appropriate element. Nelson,
+      on the deck of the Victory, hardly felt a prouder sense of mastery than
+      he. Quite unconscious that any one was looking at him, he stood at the
+      full height of his tall, strong figure, one hand resting upon his side,
+      and the other arm leaning carelessly on the muzzle of his rifle. His eyes
+      were ranging over the singular assemblage around him. Now and then he
+      would select such a cow as suited him, level his rifle, and shoot her
+      dead; then quietly reloading, he would resume his former position. The
+      buffalo seemed no more to regard his presence than if he were one of
+      themselves; the bulls were bellowing and butting at each other, or else
+      rolling about in the dust. A group of buffalo would gather about the
+      carcass of a dead cow, snuffing at her wounds; and sometimes they would
+      come behind those that had not yet fallen, and endeavor to push them from
+      the spot. Now and then some old bull would face toward Henry with an air
+      of stupid amazement, but none seemed inclined to attack or fly from him.
+      For some time Shaw lay among the grass, looking in surprise at this
+      extraordinary sight; at length he crawled cautiously forward, and spoke in
+      a low voice to Henry, who told him to rise and come on. Still the buffalo
+      showed no sign of fear; they remained gathered about their dead
+      companions. Henry had already killed as many cows as we wanted for use,
+      and Shaw, kneeling behind one of the carcasses, shot five bulls before the
+      rest thought it necessary to disperse.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The frequent stupidity and infatuation of the buffalo seems the more
+      remarkable from the contrast it offers to their wildness and wariness at
+      other times. Henry knew all their peculiarities; he had studied them as a
+      scholar studies his books, and he derived quite as much pleasure from the
+      occupation. The buffalo were a kind of companions to him, and, as he said,
+      he never felt alone when they were about him. He took great pride in his
+      skill in hunting. Henry was one of the most modest of men; yet, in the
+      simplicity and frankness of his character, it was quite clear that he
+      looked upon his pre-eminence in this respect as a thing too palpable and
+      well established ever to be disputed. But whatever may have been his
+      estimate of his own skill, it was rather below than above that which
+      others placed upon it. The only time that I ever saw a shade of scorn
+      darken his face was when two volunteer soldiers, who had just killed a
+      buffalo for the first time, undertook to instruct him as to the best
+      method of &ldquo;approaching.&rdquo; To borrow an illustration from an opposite side
+      of life, an Eton boy might as well have sought to enlighten Porson on the
+      formation of a Greek verb, or a Fleet Street shopkeeper to instruct
+      Chesterfield concerning a point of etiquette. Henry always seemed to think
+      that he had a sort of prescriptive right to the buffalo, and to look upon
+      them as something belonging peculiarly to himself. Nothing excited his
+      indignation so much as any wanton destruction committed among the cows,
+      and in his view shooting a calf was a cardinal sin.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry Chatillon and Tete Rouge were of the same age; that is, about
+      thirty. Henry was twice as large, and fully six times as strong as Tete
+      Rouge. Henry&rsquo;s face was roughened by winds and storms; Tete Rouge&rsquo;s was
+      bloated by sherry cobblers and brandy toddy. Henry talked of Indians and
+      buffalo; Tete Rouge of theaters and oyster cellars. Henry had led a life
+      of hardship and privation; Tete Rouge never had a whim which he would not
+      gratify at the first moment he was able. Henry moreover was the most
+      disinterested man I ever saw; while Tete Rouge, though equally
+      good-natured in his way, cared for nobody but himself. Yet we would not
+      have lost him on any account; he admirably served the purpose of a jester
+      in a feudal castle; our camp would have been lifeless without him. For the
+      past week he had fattened in a most amazing manner; and indeed this was
+      not at all surprising, since his appetite was most inordinate. He was
+      eating from morning till night; half the time he would be at work cooking
+      some private repast for himself, and he paid a visit to the coffee-pot
+      eight or ten times a day. His rueful and disconsolate face became jovial
+      and rubicund, his eyes stood out like a lobster&rsquo;s, and his spirits, which
+      before were sunk to the depths of despondency, were now elated in
+      proportion; all day he was singing, whistling, laughing, and telling
+      stories. Being mortally afraid of Jim Gurney, he kept close in the
+      neighborhood of our tent. As he had seen an abundance of low dissipated
+      life, and had a considerable fund of humor, his anecdotes were extremely
+      amusing, especially since he never hesitated to place himself in a
+      ludicrous point of view, provided he could raise a laugh by doing so. Tete
+      Rouge, however, was sometimes rather troublesome; he had an inveterate
+      habit of pilfering provisions at all times of the day. He set ridicule at
+      utter defiance; and being without a particle of self-respect, he would
+      never have given over his tricks, even if they had drawn upon him the
+      scorn of the whole party. Now and then, indeed, something worse than
+      laughter fell to his share; on these occasions he would exhibit much
+      contrition, but half an hour after we would generally observe him stealing
+      round to the box at the back of the cart and slyly making off with the
+      provisions which Delorier had laid by for supper. He was very fond of
+      smoking; but having no tobacco of his own, we used to provide him with as
+      much as he wanted, a small piece at a time. At first we gave him half a
+      pound together, but this experiment proved an entire failure, for he
+      invariably lost not only the tobacco, but the knife intrusted to him for
+      cutting it, and a few minutes after he would come to us with many
+      apologies and beg for more.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We had been two days at this camp, and some of the meat was nearly fit for
+      transportation, when a storm came suddenly upon us. About sunset the whole
+      sky grew as black as ink, and the long grass at the river&rsquo;s edge bent and
+      rose mournfully with the first gusts of the approaching hurricane. Munroe
+      and his two companions brought their guns and placed them under cover of
+      our tent. Having no shelter for themselves, they built a fire of driftwood
+      that might have defied a cataract, and wrapped in their buffalo robes, sat
+      on the ground around it to bide the fury of the storm. Delorier ensconced
+      himself under the cover of the cart. Shaw and I, together with Henry and
+      Tete Rouge, crowded into the little tent; but first of all the dried meat
+      was piled together, and well protected by buffalo robes pinned firmly to
+      the ground. About nine o&rsquo;clock the storm broke, amid absolute darkness; it
+      blew a gale, and torrents of rain roared over the boundless expanse of
+      open prairie. Our tent was filled with mist and spray beating through the
+      canvas, and saturating everything within. We could only distinguish each
+      other at short intervals by the dazzling flash of lightning, which
+      displayed the whole waste around us with its momentary glare. We had our
+      fears for the tent; but for an hour or two it stood fast, until at length
+      the cap gave way before a furious blast; the pole tore through the top,
+      and in an instant we were half suffocated by the cold and dripping folds
+      of the canvas, which fell down upon us. Seizing upon our guns, we placed
+      them erect, in order to lift the saturated cloth above our heads. In this
+      disagreeable situation, involved among wet blankets and buffalo robes, we
+      spent several hours of the night during which the storm would not abate
+      for a moment, but pelted down above our heads with merciless fury. Before
+      long the ground beneath us became soaked with moisture, and the water
+      gathered there in a pool two or three inches deep; so that for a
+      considerable part of the night we were partially immersed in a cold bath.
+      In spite of all this, Tete Rouge&rsquo;s flow of spirits did not desert him for
+      an instant, he laughed, whistled, and sung in defiance of the storm, and
+      that night he paid off the long arrears of ridicule which he owed us.
+      While we lay in silence, enduring the infliction with what philosophy we
+      could muster, Tete Rouge, who was intoxicated with animal spirits, was
+      cracking jokes at our expense by the hour together. At about three o&rsquo;clock
+      in the morning, &ldquo;preferring the tyranny of the open night&rdquo; to such a
+      wretched shelter, we crawled out from beneath the fallen canvas. The wind
+      had abated, but the rain fell steadily. The fire of the California men
+      still blazed amid the darkness, and we joined them as they sat around it.
+      We made ready some hot coffee by way of refreshment; but when some of the
+      party sought to replenish their cups, it was found that Tete Rouge, having
+      disposed of his own share, had privately abstracted the coffee-pot and
+      drank up the rest of the contents out of the spout.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the morning, to our great joy, an unclouded sun rose upon the prairie.
+      We presented rather a laughable appearance, for the cold and clammy
+      buckskin, saturated with water, clung fast to our limbs; the light wind
+      and warm sunshine soon dried them again, and then we were all incased in
+      armor of intolerable rigidity. Roaming all day over the prairie and
+      shooting two or three bulls, were scarcely enough to restore the stiffened
+      leather to its usual pliancy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Besides Henry Chatillon, Shaw and I were the only hunters in the party.
+      Munroe this morning made an attempt to run a buffalo, but his horse could
+      not come up to the game. Shaw went out with him, and being better mounted
+      soon found himself in the midst of the herd. Seeing nothing but cows and
+      calves around him, he checked his horse. An old bull came galloping on the
+      open prairie at some distance behind, and turning, Shaw rode across his
+      path, leveling his gun as he passed, and shooting him through the shoulder
+      into the heart. The heavy bullets of Shaw&rsquo;s double-barreled gun made wild
+      work wherever they struck.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A great flock of buzzards were usually soaring about a few trees that
+      stood on the island just below our camp. Throughout the whole of yesterday
+      we had noticed an eagle among them; to-day he was still there; and Tete
+      Rouge, declaring that he would kill the bird of America, borrowed
+      Delorier&rsquo;s gun and set out on his unpatriotic mission. As might have been
+      expected, the eagle suffered no great harm at his hands. He soon returned,
+      saying that he could not find him, but had shot a buzzard instead. Being
+      required to produce the bird in proof of his assertion he said he believed
+      he was not quite dead, but he must be hurt, from the swiftness with which
+      he flew off.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you want,&rdquo; said Tete Rouge, &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll go and get one of his feathers; I
+      knocked off plenty of them when I shot him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Just opposite our camp was another island covered with bushes, and behind
+      it was a deep pool of water, while two or three considerable streams
+      course&rsquo;d over the sand not far off. I was bathing at this place in the
+      afternoon when a white wolf, larger than the largest Newfoundland dog, ran
+      out from behind the point of the island, and galloped leisurely over the
+      sand not half a stone&rsquo;s throw distant. I could plainly see his red eyes
+      and the bristles about his snout; he was an ugly scoundrel, with a bushy
+      tail, large head, and a most repulsive countenance. Having neither rifle
+      to shoot nor stone to pelt him with, I was looking eagerly after some
+      missile for his benefit, when the report of a gun came from the camp, and
+      the ball threw up the sand just beyond him; at this he gave a slight jump,
+      and stretched away so swiftly that he soon dwindled into a mere speck on
+      the distant sand-beds. The number of carcasses that by this time were
+      lying about the prairie all around us summoned the wolves from every
+      quarter; the spot where Shaw and Henry had hunted together soon became
+      their favorite resort, for here about a dozen dead buffalo were fermenting
+      under the hot sun. I used often to go over the river and watch them at
+      their meal; by lying under the bank it was easy to get a full view of
+      them. Three different kinds were present; there were the white wolves and
+      the gray wolves, both extremely large, and besides these the small prairie
+      wolves, not much bigger than spaniels. They would howl and fight in a
+      crowd around a single carcass, yet they were so watchful, and their senses
+      so acute, that I never was able to crawl within a fair shooting distance;
+      whenever I attempted it, they would all scatter at once and glide silently
+      away through the tall grass. The air above this spot was always full of
+      buzzards or black vultures; whenever the wolves left a carcass they would
+      descend upon it, and cover it so densely that a rifle-bullet shot at
+      random among the gormandizing crowd would generally strike down two or
+      three of them. These birds would now be sailing by scores just about our
+      camp, their broad black wings seeming half transparent as they expanded
+      them against the bright sky. The wolves and the buzzards thickened about
+      us with every hour, and two or three eagles also came into the feast. I
+      killed a bull within rifle-shot of the camp; that night the wolves made a
+      fearful howling close at hand, and in the morning the carcass was
+      completely hollowed out by these voracious feeders.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After we had remained four days at this camp we prepared to leave it. We
+      had for our own part about five hundred pounds of dried meat, and the
+      California men had prepared some three hundred more; this consisted of the
+      fattest and choicest parts of eight or nine cows, a very small quantity
+      only being taken from each, and the rest abandoned to the wolves. The pack
+      animals were laden, the horses were saddled, and the mules harnessed to
+      the cart. Even Tete Rouge was ready at last, and slowly moving from the
+      ground, we resumed our journey eastward. When we had advanced about a
+      mile, Shaw missed a valuable hunting knife and turned back in search of
+      it, thinking that he had left it at the camp. He approached the place
+      cautiously, fearful that Indians might be lurking about, for a deserted
+      camp is dangerous to return to. He saw no enemy, but the scene was a wild
+      and dreary one; the prairie was overshadowed by dull, leaden clouds, for
+      the day was dark and gloomy. The ashes of the fires were still smoking by
+      the river side; the grass around them was trampled down by men and horses,
+      and strewn with all the litter of a camp. Our departure had been a
+      gathering signal to the birds and beasts of prey; Shaw assured me that
+      literally dozens of wolves were prowling about the smoldering fires, while
+      multitudes were roaming over the prairie around; they all fled as he
+      approached, some running over the sand-beds and some over the grassy
+      plains. The vultures in great clouds were soaring overhead, and the dead
+      bull near the camp was completely blackened by the flock that had alighted
+      upon it; they flapped their broad wings, and stretched upward their
+      crested heads and long skinny necks, fearing to remain, yet reluctant to
+      leave their disgusting feast. As he searched about the fires he saw the
+      wolves seated on the distant hills waiting for his departure. Having
+      looked in vain for his knife, he mounted again, and left the wolves and
+      the vultures to banquet freely upon the carrion of the camp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0026" id="link2HCH0026">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXVI
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      DOWN THE ARKANSAS
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      In the summer of 1846 the wild and lonely banks of the Upper Arkansas
+      beheld for the first time the passage of an army. General Kearny, on his
+      march to Santa Fe, adopted this route in preference to the old trail of
+      the Cimarron. When we came down the main body of the troops had already
+      passed on; Price&rsquo;s Missouri regiment, however, was still on the way,
+      having left the frontier much later than the rest; and about this time we
+      began to meet them moving along the trail, one or two companies at a time.
+      No men ever embarked upon a military expedition with a greater love for
+      the work before them than the Missourians; but if discipline and
+      subordination be the criterion of merit, these soldiers were worthless
+      indeed. Yet when their exploits have rung through all America, it would be
+      absurd to deny that they were excellent irregular troops. Their victories
+      were gained in the teeth of every established precedent of warfare; they
+      were owing to a singular combination of military qualities in the men
+      themselves. Without discipline or a spirit of subordination, they knew how
+      to keep their ranks and act as one man. Doniphan&rsquo;s regiment marched
+      through New Mexico more like a band of free companions than like the paid
+      soldiers of a modern government. When General Taylor complimented Doniphan
+      on his success at Sacramento and elsewhere, the colonel&rsquo;s reply very well
+      illustrates the relations which subsisted between the officers and men of
+      his command:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know anything of the maneuvers. The boys kept coming to me, to
+      let them charge; and when I saw a good opportunity, I told them they might
+      go. They were off like a shot, and that&rsquo;s all I know about it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The backwoods lawyer was better fitted to conciliate the good-will than to
+      command the obedience of his men. There were many serving under him, who
+      both from character and education could better have held command than he.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the battle of Sacramento his frontiersmen fought under every possible
+      disadvantage. The Mexicans had chosen their own position; they were drawn
+      up across the valley that led to their native city of Chihuahua; their
+      whole front was covered by intrenchments and defended by batteries of
+      heavy cannon; they outnumbered the invaders five to one. An eagle flew
+      over the Americans, and a deep murmur rose along their lines. The enemy&rsquo;s
+      batteries opened; long they remained under fire, but when at length the
+      word was given, they shouted and ran forward. In one of the divisions,
+      when midway to the enemy, a drunken officer ordered a halt; the
+      exasperated men hesitated to obey.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Forward, boys!&rdquo; cried a private from the ranks; and the Americans,
+      rushing like tigers upon the enemy, bounded over the breastwork. Four
+      hundred Mexicans were slain upon the spot and the rest fled, scattering
+      over the plain like sheep. The standards, cannon, and baggage were taken,
+      and among the rest a wagon laden with cords, which the Mexicans, in the
+      fullness of their confidence, had made ready for tying the American
+      prisoners.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Doniphan&rsquo;s volunteers, who gained this victory, passed up with the main
+      army; but Price&rsquo;s soldiers, whom we now met, were men from the same
+      neighborhood, precisely similar in character, manner, and appearance. One
+      forenoon, as we were descending upon a very wide meadow, where we meant to
+      rest for an hour or two, we saw a dark body of horsemen approaching at a
+      distance. In order to find water, we were obliged to turn aside to the
+      river bank, a full half mile from the trail. Here we put up a kind of
+      awning, and spreading buffalo robes on the ground, Shaw and I sat down to
+      smoke beneath it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We are going to catch it now,&rdquo; said Shaw; &ldquo;look at those fellows,
+      there&rsquo;ll be no peace for us here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      And in good truth about half the volunteers had straggled away from the
+      line of march, and were riding over the meadow toward us.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How are you?&rdquo; said the first who came up, alighting from his horse and
+      throwing himself upon the ground. The rest followed close, and a score of
+      them soon gathered about us, some lying at full length and some sitting on
+      horseback. They all belonged to a company raised in St. Louis. There were
+      some ruffian faces among them, and some haggard with debauchery; but on
+      the whole they were extremely good-looking men, superior beyond measure to
+      the ordinary rank and file of an army. Except that they were booted to the
+      knees, they wore their belts and military trappings over the ordinary
+      dress of citizens. Besides their swords and holster pistols, they carried
+      slung from their saddles the excellent Springfield carbines, loaded at the
+      breech. They inquired the character of our party, and were anxious to know
+      the prospect of killing buffalo, and the chance that their horses would
+      stand the journey to Santa Fe. All this was well enough, but a moment
+      after a worse visitation came upon us.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How are you, strangers? whar are you going and whar are you from?&rdquo; said a
+      fellow, who came trotting up with an old straw hat on his head. He was
+      dressed in the coarsest brown homespun cloth. His face was rather sallow
+      from fever-and-ague, and his tall figure, though strong and sinewy was
+      quite thin, and had besides an angular look, which, together with his
+      boorish seat on horseback, gave him an appearance anything but graceful.
+      Plenty more of the same stamp were close behind him. Their company was
+      raised in one of the frontier counties, and we soon had abundant evidence
+      of their rustic breeding; dozens of them came crowding round, pushing
+      between our first visitors and staring at us with unabashed faces.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Are you the captain?&rdquo; asked one fellow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What&rsquo;s your business out here?&rdquo; asked another.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Whar do you live when you&rsquo;re at home?&rdquo; said a third.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I reckon you&rsquo;re traders,&rdquo; surmised a fourth; and to crown the whole, one
+      of them came confidentially to my side and inquired in a low voice,
+      &ldquo;What&rsquo;s your partner&rsquo;s name?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      As each newcomer repeated the same questions, the nuisance became
+      intolerable. Our military visitors were soon disgusted at the concise
+      nature of our replies, and we could overhear them muttering curses against
+      us. While we sat smoking, not in the best imaginable humor, Tete Rouge&rsquo;s
+      tongue was never idle. He never forgot his military character, and during
+      the whole interview he was incessantly busy among his fellow-soldiers. At
+      length we placed him on the ground before us, and told him that he might
+      play the part of spokesman for the whole. Tete Rouge was delighted, and we
+      soon had the satisfaction of seeing him talk and gabble at such a rate
+      that the torrent of questions was in a great measure diverted from us. A
+      little while after, to our amazement, we saw a large cannon with four
+      horses come lumbering up behind the crowd; and the driver, who was perched
+      on one of the animals, stretching his neck so as to look over the rest of
+      the men, called out:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Whar are you from, and what&rsquo;s your business?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The captain of one of the companies was among our visitors, drawn by the
+      same curiosity that had attracted his men. Unless their faces belied them,
+      not a few in the crowd might with great advantage have changed places with
+      their commander.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, men,&rdquo; said he, lazily rising from the ground where he had been
+      lounging, &ldquo;it&rsquo;s getting late, I reckon we had better be moving.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I shan&rsquo;t start yet anyhow,&rdquo; said one fellow, who was lying half asleep
+      with his head resting on his arm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t be in a hurry, captain,&rdquo; added the lieutenant.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, have it your own way, we&rsquo;ll wait a while longer,&rdquo; replied the
+      obsequious commander.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At length however our visitors went straggling away as they had come, and
+      we, to our great relief, were left alone again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      No one can deny the intrepid bravery of these men, their intelligence and
+      the bold frankness of their character, free from all that is mean and
+      sordid. Yet for the moment the extreme roughness of their manners half
+      inclines one to forget their heroic qualities. Most of them seem without
+      the least perception of delicacy or propriety, though among them
+      individuals may be found in whose manners there is a plain courtesy, while
+      their features bespeak a gallant spirit equal to any enterprise.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      No one was more relieved than Delorier by the departure of the volunteers;
+      for dinner was getting colder every moment. He spread a well-whitened
+      buffalo hide upon the grass, placed in the middle the juicy hump of a fat
+      cow, ranged around it the tin plates and cups, and then acquainted us that
+      all was ready. Tete Rouge, with his usual alacrity on such occasions, was
+      the first to take his seat. In his former capacity of steamboat clerk, he
+      had learned to prefix the honorary MISTER to everybody&rsquo;s name, whether of
+      high or low degree; so Jim Gurney was Mr. Gurney, Henry was Mr. Henry, and
+      even Delorier, for the first time in his life, heard himself addressed as
+      Mr. Delorier. This did not prevent his conceiving a violent enmity against
+      Tete Rouge, who, in his futile though praiseworthy attempts to make
+      himself useful used always to intermeddle with cooking the dinners.
+      Delorier&rsquo;s disposition knew no medium between smiles and sunshine and a
+      downright tornado of wrath; he said nothing to Tete Rouge, but his wrongs
+      rankled in his breast. Tete Rouge had taken his place at dinner; it was
+      his happiest moment; he sat enveloped in the old buffalo coat, sleeves
+      turned up in preparation for the work, and his short legs crossed on the
+      grass before him; he had a cup of coffee by his side and his knife ready
+      in his hand and while he looked upon the fat hump ribs, his eyes dilated
+      with anticipation. Delorier sat just opposite to him, and the rest of us
+      by this time had taken our seats.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How is this, Delorier? You haven&rsquo;t given us bread enough.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      At this Delorier&rsquo;s placid face flew instantly into a paroxysm of
+      contortions. He grinned with wrath, chattered, gesticulated, and hurled
+      forth a volley of incoherent words in broken English at the astonished
+      Tete Rouge. It was just possible to make out that he was accusing him of
+      having stolen and eaten four large cakes which had been laid by for
+      dinner. Tete Rouge, utterly confounded at this sudden attack, stared at
+      Delorier for a moment in dumb amazement, with mouth and eyes wide open. At
+      last he found speech, and protested that the accusation was false; and
+      that he could not conceive how he had offended Mr. Delorier, or provoked
+      him to use such ungentlemanly expressions. The tempest of words raged with
+      such fury that nothing else could be heard. But Tete Rouge, from his
+      greater command of English, had a manifest advantage over Delorier, who
+      after sputtering and grimacing for a while, found his words quite
+      inadequate to the expression of his wrath. He jumped up and vanished,
+      jerking out between his teeth one furious sacre enfant de grace, a
+      Canadian title of honor, made doubly emphatic by being usually applied
+      together with a cut of the whip to refractory mules and horses.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The next morning we saw an old buffalo escorting his cow with two small
+      calves over the prairie. Close behind came four or five large white
+      wolves, sneaking stealthily through the long meadow-grass, and watching
+      for the moment when one of the children should chance to lag behind his
+      parents. The old bull kept well on his guard, and faced about now and then
+      to keep the prowling ruffians at a distance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As we approached our nooning place, we saw five or six buffalo standing at
+      the very summit of a tall bluff. Trotting forward to the spot where we
+      meant to stop, I flung off my saddle and turned my horse loose. By making
+      a circuit under cover of some rising ground, I reached the foot of the
+      bluff unnoticed, and climbed up its steep side. Lying under the brow of
+      the declivity, I prepared to fire at the buffalo, who stood on the flat
+      surface about not five yards distant. Perhaps I was too hasty, for the
+      gleaming rifle-barrel leveled over the edge caught their notice; they
+      turned and ran. Close as they were, it was impossible to kill them when in
+      that position, and stepping upon the summit I pursued them over the high
+      arid tableland. It was extremely rugged and broken; a great sandy ravine
+      was channeled through it, with smaller ravines entering on each side like
+      tributary streams. The buffalo scattered, and I soon lost sight of most of
+      them as they scuttled away through the sandy chasms; a bull and a cow
+      alone kept in view. For a while they ran along the edge of the great
+      ravine, appearing and disappearing as they dived into some chasm and again
+      emerged from it. At last they stretched out upon the broad prairie, a
+      plain nearly flat and almost devoid of verdure, for every short
+      grass-blade was dried and shriveled by the glaring sun. Now and then the
+      old bull would face toward me; whenever he did so I fell to the ground and
+      lay motionless. In this manner I chased them for about two miles, until at
+      length I heard in front a deep hoarse bellowing. A moment after a band of
+      about a hundred bulls, before hidden by a slight swell of the plain, came
+      at once into view. The fugitives ran toward them. Instead of mingling with
+      the band, as I expected, they passed directly through, and continued their
+      flight. At this I gave up the chase, and kneeling down, crawled to within
+      gunshot of the bulls, and with panting breath and trickling brow sat down
+      on the ground to watch them; my presence did not disturb them in the
+      least. They were not feeding, for, indeed, there was nothing to eat; but
+      they seemed to have chosen the parched and scorching desert as the scene
+      of their amusements. Some were rolling on the ground amid a cloud of dust;
+      others, with a hoarse rumbling bellow, were butting their large heads
+      together, while many stood motionless, as if quite inanimate. Except their
+      monstrous growth of tangled grizzly mane, they had no hair; for their old
+      coat had fallen off in the spring, and their new one had not as yet
+      appeared. Sometimes an old bull would step forward, and gaze at me with a
+      grim and stupid countenance; then he would turn and butt his next
+      neighbor; then he would lie down and roll over in the dirt, kicking his
+      hoofs in the air. When satisfied with this amusement he would jerk his
+      head and shoulders upward, and resting on his forelegs stare at me in this
+      position, half blinded by his mane, and his face covered with dirt; then
+      up he would spring upon all-fours, and shake his dusty sides; turning half
+      round, he would stand with his beard touching the ground, in an attitude
+      of profound abstraction, as if reflecting on his puerile conduct. &ldquo;You are
+      too ugly to live,&rdquo; thought I; and aiming at the ugliest, I shot three of
+      them in succession. The rest were not at all discomposed at this; they
+      kept on bellowing and butting and rolling on the ground as before. Henry
+      Chatillon always cautioned us to keep perfectly quiet in the presence of a
+      wounded buffalo, for any movement is apt to excite him to make an attack;
+      so I sat still upon the ground, loading and firing with as little motion
+      as possible. While I was thus employed, a spectator made his appearance; a
+      little antelope came running up with remarkable gentleness to within fifty
+      yards; and there it stood, its slender neck arched, its small horns thrown
+      back, and its large dark eyes gazing on me with a look of eager curiosity.
+      By the side of the shaggy and brutish monsters before me, it seemed like
+      some lovely young girl wandering near a den of robbers or a nest of
+      bearded pirates. The buffalo looked uglier than ever. &ldquo;Here goes for
+      another of you,&rdquo; thought I, feeling in my pouch for a percussion cap. Not
+      a percussion cap was there. My good rifle was useless as an old iron bar.
+      One of the wounded bulls had not yet fallen, and I waited for some time,
+      hoping every moment that his strength would fail him. He still stood firm,
+      looking grimly at me, and disregarding Henry&rsquo;s advice I rose and walked
+      away. Many of the bulls turned and looked at me, but the wounded brute
+      made no attack. I soon came upon a deep ravine which would give me shelter
+      in case of emergency; so I turned round and threw a stone at the bulls.
+      They received it with the utmost indifference. Feeling myself insulted at
+      their refusal to be frightened, I swung my hat, shouted, and made a show
+      of running toward them; at this they crowded together and galloped off,
+      leaving their dead and wounded upon the field. As I moved toward the camp
+      I saw the last survivor totter and fall dead. My speed in returning was
+      wonderfully quickened by the reflection that the Pawnees were abroad, and
+      that I was defenseless in case of meeting with an enemy. I saw no living
+      thing, however, except two or three squalid old bulls scrambling among the
+      sand-hills that flanked the great ravine. When I reached camp the party
+      was nearly ready for the afternoon move.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We encamped that evening at a short distance from the river bank. About
+      midnight, as we all lay asleep on the ground, the man nearest to me gently
+      reaching out his hand, touched my shoulder, and cautioned me at the same
+      time not to move. It was bright starlight. Opening my eyes and slightly
+      turning I saw a large white wolf moving stealthily around the embers of
+      our fire, with his nose close to the ground. Disengaging my hand from the
+      blanket, I drew the cover from my rifle, which lay close at my side; the
+      motion alarmed the wolf, and with long leaps he bounded out of the camp.
+      Jumping up, I fired after him when he was about thirty yards distant; the
+      melancholy hum of the bullet sounded far away through the night. At the
+      sharp report, so suddenly breaking upon the stillness, all the men sprang
+      up.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You&rsquo;ve killed him,&rdquo; said one of them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, I haven&rsquo;t,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;there he goes, running along the river.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then there&rsquo;s two of them. Don&rsquo;t you see that one lying out yonder?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      We went to it, and instead of a dead white wolf found the bleached skull
+      of a buffalo. I had missed my mark, and what was worse, had grossly
+      violated a standing law of the prairie. When in a dangerous part of the
+      country, it is considered highly imprudent to fire a gun after encamping,
+      lest the report should reach the ears of the Indians.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The horses were saddled in the morning, and the last man had lighted his
+      pipe at the dying ashes of the fire. The beauty of the day enlivened us
+      all. Even Ellis felt its influence, and occasionally made a remark as we
+      rode along, and Jim Gurney told endless stories of his cruisings in the
+      United States service. The buffalo were abundant, and at length a large
+      band of them went running up the hills on the left.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you see them buffalo?&rdquo; said Ellis, &ldquo;now I&rsquo;ll bet any man I&rsquo;ll go and
+      kill one with my yager.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      And leaving his horse to follow on with the party, he strode up the hill
+      after them. Henry looked at us with his peculiar humorous expression, and
+      proposed that we should follow Ellis to see how he would kill a fat cow.
+      As soon as he was out of sight we rode up the hill after him, and waited
+      behind a little ridge till we heard the report of the unfailing yager.
+      Mounting to the top, we saw Ellis clutching his favorite weapon with both
+      hands, and staring after the buffalo, who one and all were galloping off
+      at full speed. As we descended the hill we saw the party straggling along
+      the trail below. When we joined them, another scene of amateur hunting
+      awaited us. I forgot to say that when we met the volunteers Tete Rouge had
+      obtained a horse from one of them, in exchange for his mule, whom he
+      feared and detested. The horse he christened James. James, though not
+      worth so much as the mule, was a large and strong animal. Tete Rouge was
+      very proud of his new acquisition, and suddenly became ambitious to run a
+      buffalo with him. At his request, I lent him my pistols, though not
+      without great misgivings, since when Tete Rouge hunted buffalo the pursuer
+      was in more danger than the pursued. He hung the holsters at his saddle
+      bow; and now, as we passed along, a band of bulls left their grazing in
+      the meadow and galloped in a long file across the trail in front.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now&rsquo;s your chance, Tete; come, let&rsquo;s see you kill a bull.&rdquo; Thus urged,
+      the hunter cried, &ldquo;Get up!&rdquo; and James, obedient to the signal, cantered
+      deliberately forward at an abominably uneasy gait. Tete Rouge, as we
+      contemplated him from behind; made a most remarkable figure. He still wore
+      the old buffalo coat; his blanket, which was tied in a loose bundle behind
+      his saddle, went jolting from one side to the other, and a large tin
+      canteen half full of water, which hung from his pommel, was jerked about
+      his leg in a manner which greatly embarrassed him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let out your horse, man; lay on your whip!&rdquo; we called out to him. The
+      buffalo were getting farther off at every instant. James, being ambitious
+      to mend his pace, tugged hard at the rein, and one of his rider&rsquo;s boots
+      escaped from the stirrup.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Woa! I say, woa!&rdquo; cried Tete Rouge, in great perturbation, and after much
+      effort James&rsquo; progress was arrested. The hunter came trotting back to the
+      party, disgusted with buffalo running, and he was received with
+      overwhelming congratulations.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Too good a chance to lose,&rdquo; said Shaw, pointing to another band of bulls
+      on the left. We lashed our horses and galloped upon them. Shaw killed one
+      with each barrel of his gun. I separated another from the herd and shot
+      him. The small bullet of the rifled pistol, striking too far back, did not
+      immediately take effect, and the bull ran on with unabated speed. Again
+      and again I snapped the remaining pistol at him. I primed it afresh three
+      or four times, and each time it missed fire, for the touch-hole was
+      clogged up. Returning it to the holster, I began to load the empty pistol,
+      still galloping by the side of the bull. By this time he was grown
+      desperate. The foam flew from his jaws and his tongue lolled out. Before
+      the pistol was loaded he sprang upon me, and followed up his attack with a
+      furious rush. The only alternative was to run away or be killed. I took to
+      flight, and the bull, bristling with fury, pursued me closely. The pistol
+      was soon ready, and then looking back, I saw his head five or six yards
+      behind my horse&rsquo;s tail. To fire at it would be useless, for a bullet
+      flattens against the adamantine skull of a buffalo bull. Inclining my body
+      to the left, I turned my horse in that direction as sharply as his speed
+      would permit. The bull, rushing blindly on with great force and weight,
+      did not turn so quickly. As I looked back, his neck and shoulders were
+      exposed to view; turning in the saddle, I shot a bullet through them
+      obliquely into his vitals. He gave over the chase and soon fell to the
+      ground. An English tourist represents a situation like this as one of
+      imminent danger; this is a great mistake; the bull never pursues long, and
+      the horse must be wretched indeed that cannot keep out of his way for two
+      or three minutes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We were now come to a part of the country where we were bound in common
+      prudence to use every possible precaution. We mounted guard at night, each
+      man standing in his turn; and no one ever slept without drawing his rifle
+      close to his side or folding it with him in his blanket. One morning our
+      vigilance was stimulated by our finding traces of a large Comanche
+      encampment. Fortunately for us, however, it had been abandoned nearly a
+      week. On the next evening we found the ashes of a recent fire, which gave
+      us at the time some uneasiness. At length we reached the Caches, a place
+      of dangerous repute; and it had a most dangerous appearance, consisting of
+      sand-hills everywhere broken by ravines and deep chasms. Here we found the
+      grave of Swan, killed at this place, probably by the Pawnees, two or three
+      weeks before. His remains, more than once violated by the Indians and the
+      wolves, were suffered at length to remain undisturbed in their wild burial
+      place.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For several days we met detached companies of Price&rsquo;s regiment. Horses
+      would often break loose at night from their camps. One afternoon we picked
+      up three of these stragglers quietly grazing along the river. After we
+      came to camp that evening, Jim Gurney brought news that more of them were
+      in sight. It was nearly dark, and a cold, drizzling rain had set in; but
+      we all turned out, and after an hour&rsquo;s chase nine horses were caught and
+      brought in. One of them was equipped with saddle and bridle; pistols were
+      hanging at the pommel of the saddle, a carbine was slung at its side, and
+      a blanket rolled up behind it. In the morning, glorying in our valuable
+      prize, we resumed our journey, and our cavalcade presented a much more
+      imposing appearance than ever before. We kept on till the afternoon, when,
+      far behind, three horsemen appeared on the horizon. Coming on at a
+      hand-gallop, they soon overtook us, and claimed all the horses as
+      belonging to themselves and others of their company. They were of course
+      given up, very much to the mortification of Ellis and Jim Gurney.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Our own horses now showed signs of fatigue, and we resolved to give them
+      half a day&rsquo;s rest. We stopped at noon at a grassy spot by the river. After
+      dinner Shaw and Henry went out to hunt; and while the men lounged about
+      the camp, I lay down to read in the shadow of the cart. Looking up, I saw
+      a bull grazing alone on the prairie more than a mile distant. I was tired
+      of reading, and taking my rifle I walked toward him. As I came near, I
+      crawled upon the ground until I approached to within a hundred yards; here
+      I sat down upon the grass and waited till he should turn himself into a
+      proper position to receive his death-wound. He was a grim old veteran. His
+      loves and his battles were over for that season, and now, gaunt and
+      war-worn, he had withdrawn from the herd to graze by himself and recruit
+      his exhausted strength. He was miserably emaciated; his mane was all in
+      tatters; his hide was bare and rough as an elephant&rsquo;s, and covered with
+      dried patches of the mud in which he had been wallowing. He showed all his
+      ribs whenever he moved. He looked like some grizzly old ruffian grown gray
+      in blood and violence, and scowling on all the world from his misanthropic
+      seclusion. The old savage looked up when I first approached, and gave me a
+      fierce stare; then he fell to grazing again with an air of contemptuous
+      indifference. The moment after, as if suddenly recollecting himself, he
+      threw up his head, faced quickly about, and to my amazement came at a
+      rapid trot directly toward me. I was strongly impelled to get up and run,
+      but this would have been very dangerous. Sitting quite still I aimed, as
+      he came on, at the thin part of the skull above the nose. After he had
+      passed over about three-quarters of the distance between us, I was on the
+      point of firing, when, to my great satisfaction, he stopped short. I had
+      full opportunity of studying his countenance; his whole front was covered
+      with a huge mass of coarse matted hair, which hung so low that nothing but
+      his two forefeet were visible beneath it; his short thick horns were
+      blunted and split to the very roots in his various battles, and across his
+      nose and forehead were two or three large white scars, which gave him a
+      grim and at the same time a whimsical appearance. It seemed to me that he
+      stood there motionless for a full quarter of an hour, looking at me
+      through the tangled locks of his mane. For my part, I remained as quiet as
+      he, and looked quite as hard; I felt greatly inclined to come to term with
+      him. &ldquo;My friend,&rdquo; thought I, &ldquo;if you&rsquo;ll let me off, I&rsquo;ll let you off.&rdquo; At
+      length he seemed to have abandoned any hostile design. Very slowly and
+      deliberately he began to turn about; little by little his side came into
+      view, all be-plastered with mud. It was a tempting sight. I forgot my
+      prudent intentions, and fired my rifle; a pistol would have served at that
+      distance. Round spun old bull like a top, and away he galloped over the
+      prairie. He ran some distance, and even ascended a considerable hill,
+      before he lay down and died. After shooting another bull among the hills,
+      I went back to camp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At noon, on the 14th of September, a very large Santa Fe caravan came up.
+      The plain was covered with the long files of their white-topped wagons,
+      the close black carriages in which the traders travel and sleep, large
+      droves of animals, and men on horseback and on foot. They all stopped on
+      the meadow near us. Our diminutive cart and handful of men made but an
+      insignificant figure by the side of their wide and bustling camp. Tete
+      Rouge went over to visit them, and soon came back with half a dozen
+      biscuits in one hand and a bottle of brandy in the other. I inquired where
+      he got them. &ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; said Tete Rouge, &ldquo;I know some of the traders. Dr. Dobbs
+      is there besides.&rdquo; I asked who Dr. Dobbs might be. &ldquo;One of our St. Louis
+      doctors,&rdquo; replied Tete Rouge. For two days past I had been severely
+      attacked by the same disorder which had so greatly reduced my strength
+      when at the mountains; at this time I was suffering not a little from the
+      sudden pain and weakness which it occasioned. Tete Rouge, in answer to my
+      inquiries, declared that Dr. Dobbs was a physician of the first standing.
+      Without at all believing him, I resolved to consult this eminent
+      practitioner. Walking over to the camp, I found him lying sound asleep
+      under one of the wagons. He offered in his own person but an indifferent
+      specimen of his skill, for it was five months since I had seen so
+      cadaverous a face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His hat had fallen off, and his yellow hair was all in disorder; one of
+      his arms supplied the place of a pillow; his pantaloons were wrinkled
+      halfway up to his knees, and he was covered with little bits of grass and
+      straw, upon which he had rolled in his uneasy slumber. A Mexican stood
+      near, and I made him a sign that he should touch the doctor. Up sprang the
+      learned Dobbs, and, sitting upright, rubbed his eyes and looked about him
+      in great bewilderment. I regretted the necessity of disturbing him, and
+      said I had come to ask professional advice. &ldquo;Your system, sir, is in a
+      disordered state,&rdquo; said he solemnly, after a short examination.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I inquired what might be the particular species of disorder.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Evidently a morbid action of the liver,&rdquo; replied the medical man; &ldquo;I will
+      give you a prescription.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Repairing to the back of one of the covered wagons, he scrambled in; for a
+      moment I could see nothing of him but his boots. At length he produced a
+      box which he had extracted from some dark recess within, and opening it,
+      he presented me with a folded paper of some size. &ldquo;What is it?&rdquo; said I.
+      &ldquo;Calomel,&rdquo; said the doctor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Under the circumstances I would have taken almost anything. There was not
+      enough to do me much harm, and it might possibly do good; so at camp that
+      night I took the poison instead of supper.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That camp is worthy of notice. The traders warned us not to follow the
+      main trail along the river, &ldquo;unless,&rdquo; as one of them observed, &ldquo;you want
+      to have your throats cut!&rdquo; The river at this place makes a bend; and a
+      smaller trail, known as the Ridge-path, leads directly across the prairie
+      from point to point, a distance of sixty or seventy miles.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We followed this trail, and after traveling seven or eight miles, we came
+      to a small stream, where we encamped. Our position was not chosen with
+      much forethought or military skill. The water was in a deep hollow, with
+      steep, high banks; on the grassy bottom of this hollow we picketed our
+      horses, while we ourselves encamped upon the barren prairie just above.
+      The opportunity was admirable either for driving off our horses or
+      attacking us. After dark, as Tete Rouge was sitting at supper, we observed
+      him pointing with a face of speechless horror over the shoulder of Henry,
+      who was opposite to him. Aloof amid the darkness appeared a gigantic black
+      apparition; solemnly swaying to and fro, it advanced steadily upon us.
+      Henry, half vexed and half amused, jumped up, spread out his arms, and
+      shouted. The invader was an old buffalo bull, who with characteristic
+      stupidity, was walking directly into camp. It cost some shouting and
+      swinging of hats before we could bring him first to a halt and then to a
+      rapid retreat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That night the moon was full and bright; but as the black clouds chased
+      rapidly over it, we were at one moment in light and at the next in
+      darkness. As the evening advanced, a thunderstorm came up; it struck us
+      with such violence that the tent would have been blown over if we had not
+      interposed the cart to break the force of the wind. At length it subsided
+      to a steady rain. I lay awake through nearly the whole night, listening to
+      its dull patter upon the canvas above. The moisture, which filled the tent
+      and trickled from everything in it, did not add to the comfort of the
+      situation. About twelve o&rsquo;clock Shaw went out to stand guard amid the rain
+      and pitch darkness. Munroe, the most vigilant as well as one of the
+      bravest among us, was also on the alert. When about two hours had passed,
+      Shaw came silently in, and touching Henry, called him in a low quick voice
+      to come out. &ldquo;What is it?&rdquo; I asked. &ldquo;Indians, I believe,&rdquo; whispered Shaw;
+      &ldquo;but lie still; I&rsquo;ll call you if there&rsquo;s a fight.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He and Henry went out together. I took the cover from my rifle, put a
+      fresh percussion cap upon it, and then, being in much pain, lay down
+      again. In about five minutes Shaw came in again. &ldquo;All right,&rdquo; he said, as
+      he lay down to sleep. Henry was now standing guard in his place. He told
+      me in the morning the particulars of the alarm. Munroe&rsquo; s watchful eye
+      discovered some dark objects down in the hollow, among the horses, like
+      men creeping on all fours. Lying flat on their faces, he and Shaw crawled
+      to the edge of the bank, and were soon convinced that what they saw were
+      Indians. Shaw silently withdrew to call Henry, and they all lay watching
+      in the same position. Henry&rsquo;s eye is of the best on the prairie. He
+      detected after a while the true nature of the moving objects; they were
+      nothing but wolves creeping among the horses.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It is very singular that when picketed near a camp horses seldom show any
+      fear of such an intrusion. The wolves appear to have no other object than
+      that of gnawing the trail-ropes of raw hide by which the animals are
+      secured. Several times in the course of the journey my horse&rsquo;s trail-rope
+      was bitten in two by these nocturnal visitors.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0027" id="link2HCH0027">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXVII
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      THE SETTLEMENTS
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      The next day was extremely hot, and we rode from morning till night
+      without seeing a tree or a bush or a drop of water. Our horses and mules
+      suffered much more than we, but as sunset approached they pricked up their
+      ears and mended their pace. Water was not far off. When we came to the
+      descent of the broad shallowy valley where it lay, an unlooked-for sight
+      awaited us. The stream glistened at the bottom, and along its banks were
+      pitched a multitude of tents, while hundreds of cattle were feeding over
+      the meadows. Bodies of troops, both horse and foot, and long trains of
+      wagons with men, women, and children, were moving over the opposite ridge
+      and descending the broad declivity in front. These were the Mormon
+      battalion in the service of government, together with a considerable
+      number of Missouri volunteers. The Mormons were to be paid off in
+      California, and they were allowed to bring with them their families and
+      property. There was something very striking in the half-military,
+      half-patriarchal appearance of these armed fanatics, thus on their way
+      with their wives and children, to found, if might be, a Mormon empire in
+      California. We were much more astonished than pleased at the sight before
+      us. In order to find an unoccupied camping ground, we were obliged to pass
+      a quarter of a mile up the stream, and here we were soon beset by a swarm
+      of Mormons and Missourians. The United States officer in command of the
+      whole came also to visit us, and remained some time at our camp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the morning the country was covered with mist. We were always early
+      risers, but before we were ready the voices of men driving in the cattle
+      sounded all around us. As we passed above their camp, we saw through the
+      obscurity that the tents were falling and the ranks rapidly forming; and
+      mingled with the cries of women and children, the rolling of the Mormon
+      drums and the clear blast of their trumpets sounded through the mist.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      From that time to the journey&rsquo;s end, we met almost every day long trains
+      of government wagons, laden with stores for the troops and crawling at a
+      snail&rsquo;s pace toward Santa Fe.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Tete Rouge had a mortal antipathy to danger, but on a foraging expedition
+      one evening, he achieved an adventure more perilous than had yet befallen
+      any man in the party. The night after we left the Ridge-path we encamped
+      close to the river. At sunset we saw a train of wagons encamping on the
+      trail about three miles off; and though we saw them distinctly, our little
+      cart, as it afterward proved, entirely escaped their view. For some days
+      Tete Rouge had been longing eagerly after a dram of whisky. So, resolving
+      to improve the present opportunity, he mounted his horse James, slung his
+      canteen over his shoulder, and set forth in search of his favorite liquor.
+      Some hours passed without his returning. We thought that he was lost, or
+      perhaps that some stray Indian had snapped him up. While the rest fell
+      asleep I remained on guard. Late at night a tremulous voice saluted me
+      from the darkness, and Tete Rouge and James soon became visible, advancing
+      toward the camp. Tete Rouge was in much agitation and big with some
+      important tidings. Sitting down on the shaft of the cart, he told the
+      following story:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When he left the camp he had no idea, he said, how late it was. By the
+      time he approached the wagoners it was perfectly dark; and as he saw them
+      all sitting around their fires within the circle of wagons, their guns
+      laid by their sides, he thought he might as well give warning of his
+      approach, in order to prevent a disagreeable mistake. Raising his voice to
+      the highest pitch, he screamed out in prolonged accents, &ldquo;Camp, ahoy!&rdquo;
+       This eccentric salutation produced anything but the desired result.
+      Hearing such hideous sounds proceeding from the outer darkness, the
+      wagoners thought that the whole Pawnee nation were about to break in and
+      take their scalps. Up they sprang staring with terror. Each man snatched
+      his gun; some stood behind the wagons; some threw themselves flat on the
+      ground, and in an instant twenty cocked muskets were leveled full at the
+      horrified Tete Rouge, who just then began to be visible through the
+      darkness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thar they come,&rdquo; cried the master wagoner, &ldquo;fire, fire! shoot that
+      feller.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no!&rdquo; screamed Tete Rouge, in an ecstasy of fright; &ldquo;don&rsquo;t fire,
+      don&rsquo;t! I&rsquo;m a friend, I&rsquo;m an American citizen!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You&rsquo;re a friend, be you?&rdquo; cried a gruff voice from the wagons; &ldquo;then what
+      are you yelling out thar for, like a wild Injun. Come along up here if
+      you&rsquo;re a man.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Keep your guns p&rsquo;inted at him,&rdquo; added the master wagoner, &ldquo;maybe he&rsquo;s a
+      decoy, like.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Tete Rouge in utter bewilderment made his approach, with the gaping
+      muzzles of the muskets still before his eyes. He succeeded at last in
+      explaining his character and situation, and the Missourians admitted him
+      into camp. He got no whisky; but as he represented himself as a great
+      invalid, and suffering much from coarse fare, they made up a contribution
+      for him of rice, biscuit, and sugar from their own rations.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the morning at breakfast, Tete Rouge once more related this story. We
+      hardly knew how much of it to believe, though after some cross-questioning
+      we failed to discover any flaw in the narrative. Passing by the wagoner&rsquo;s
+      camp, they confirmed Tete Rouge&rsquo;s account in every particular.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wouldn&rsquo;t have been in that feller&rsquo;s place,&rdquo; said one of them, &ldquo;for the
+      biggest heap of money in Missouri.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      To Tete Rouge&rsquo;s great wrath they expressed a firm conviction that he was
+      crazy. We left them after giving them the advice not to trouble themselves
+      about war-whoops in future, since they would be apt to feel an Indian&rsquo;s
+      arrow before they heard his voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A day or two after, we had an adventure of another sort with a party of
+      wagoners. Henry and I rode forward to hunt. After that day there was no
+      probability that we should meet with buffalo, and we were anxious to kill
+      one for the sake of fresh meat. They were so wild that we hunted all the
+      morning in vain, but at noon as we approached Cow Creek we saw a large
+      band feeding near its margin. Cow Creek is densely lined with trees which
+      intercept the view beyond, and it runs, as we afterward found, at the
+      bottom of a deep trench. We approached by riding along the bottom of a
+      ravine. When we were near enough, I held the horses while Henry crept
+      toward the buffalo. I saw him take his seat within shooting distance,
+      prepare his rifle, and look about to select his victim. The death of a fat
+      cow was certain, when suddenly a great smoke arose from the bed of the
+      Creek with a rattling volley of musketry. A score of long-legged
+      Missourians leaped out from among the trees and ran after the buffalo, who
+      one and all took to their heels and vanished. These fellows had crawled up
+      the bed of the Creek to within a hundred yards of the buffalo. Never was
+      there a fairer chance for a shot. They were good marksmen; all cracked
+      away at once, and yet not a buffalo fell. In fact, the animal is so
+      tenacious of life that it requires no little knowledge of anatomy to kill
+      it, and it is very seldom that a novice succeeds in his first attempt at
+      approaching. The balked Missourians were excessively mortified, especially
+      when Henry told them if they had kept quiet he would have killed meat
+      enough in ten minutes to feed their whole party. Our friends, who were at
+      no great distance, hearing such a formidable fusillade, thought the
+      Indians had fired the volley for our benefit. Shaw came galloping on to
+      reconnoiter and learn if we were yet in the land of the living.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At Cow Creek we found the very welcome novelty of ripe grapes and plums,
+      which grew there in abundance. At the Little Arkansas, not much farther
+      on, we saw the last buffalo, a miserable old bull, roaming over the
+      prairie alone and melancholy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      From this time forward the character of the country was changing every
+      day. We had left behind us the great arid deserts, meagerly covered by the
+      tufted buffalo grass, with its pale green hue, and its short shriveled
+      blades. The plains before us were carpeted with rich and verdant herbage
+      sprinkled with flowers. In place of buffalo we found plenty of prairie
+      hens, and we bagged them by dozens without leaving the trail. In three or
+      four days we saw before us the broad woods and the emerald meadows of
+      Council Grove, a scene of striking luxuriance and beauty. It seemed like a
+      new sensation as we rode beneath the resounding archs of these noble
+      woods. The trees were ash, oak, elm, maple, and hickory, their mighty
+      limbs deeply overshadowing the path, while enormous grape vines were
+      entwined among them, purple with fruit. The shouts of our scattered party,
+      and now and then a report of a rifle, rang amid the breathing stillness of
+      the forest. We rode forth again with regret into the broad light of the
+      open prairie. Little more than a hundred miles now separated us from the
+      frontier settlements. The whole intervening country was a succession of
+      verdant prairies, rising in broad swells and relieved by trees clustering
+      like an oasis around some spring, or following the course of a stream
+      along some fertile hollow. These are the prairies of the poet and the
+      novelist. We had left danger behind us. Nothing was to be feared from the
+      Indians of this region, the Sacs and Foxes, the Kansas and the Osages. We
+      had met with signal good fortune. Although for five months we had been
+      traveling with an insufficient force through a country where we were at
+      any moment liable to depredation, not a single animal had been stolen from
+      us, and our only loss had been one old mule bitten to death by a
+      rattlesnake. Three weeks after we reached the frontier the Pawnees and the
+      Comanches began a regular series of hostilities on the Arkansas trail,
+      killing men and driving off horses. They attacked, without exception,
+      every party, large or small, that passed during the next six months.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Diamond Spring, Rock Creek, Elder Grove, and other camping places besides,
+      were passed all in quick succession. At Rock Creek we found a train of
+      government provision wagons, under the charge of an emaciated old man in
+      his seventy-first year. Some restless American devil had driven him into
+      the wilderness at a time when he should have been seated at his fireside
+      with his grandchildren on his knees. I am convinced that he never
+      returned; he was complaining that night of a disease, the wasting effects
+      of which upon a younger and stronger man, I myself had proved from severe
+      experience. Long ere this no doubt the wolves have howled their moonlight
+      carnival over the old man&rsquo;s attenuated remains.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Not long after we came to a small trail leading to Fort Leavenworth,
+      distant but one day&rsquo;s journey. Tete Rouge here took leave of us. He was
+      anxious to go to the fort in order to receive payment for his valuable
+      military services. So he and his horse James, after bidding an
+      affectionate farewell, set out together, taking with them as much
+      provision as they could conveniently carry, including a large quantity of
+      brown sugar. On a cheerless rainy evening we came to our last encamping
+      ground. Some pigs belonging to a Shawnee farmer were grunting and rooting
+      at the edge of the grove.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wonder how fresh pork tastes,&rdquo; murmured one of the party, and more than
+      one voice murmured in response. The fiat went forth, &ldquo;That pig must die,&rdquo;
+       and a rifle was leveled forthwith at the countenance of the plumpest
+      porker. Just then a wagon train, with some twenty Missourians, came out
+      from among the trees. The marksman suspended his aim, deeming it
+      inexpedient under the circumstances to consummate the deed of blood.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the morning we made our toilet as well as circumstances would permit,
+      and that is saying but very little. In spite of the dreary rain of
+      yesterday, there never was a brighter and gayer autumnal morning than that
+      on which we returned to the settlements. We were passing through the
+      country of the half-civilized Shawanoes. It was a beautiful alternation of
+      fertile plains and groves, whose foliage was just tinged with the hues of
+      autumn, while close beneath them rested the neat log-houses of the Indian
+      farmers. Every field and meadow bespoke the exuberant fertility of the
+      soil. The maize stood rustling in the wind, matured and dry, its shining
+      yellow ears thrust out between the gaping husks. Squashes and enormous
+      yellow pumpkins lay basking in the sun in the midst of their brown and
+      shriveled leaves. Robins and blackbirds flew about the fences; and
+      everything in short betokened our near approach to home and civilization.
+      The forests that border on the Missouri soon rose before us, and we
+      entered the wide tract of shrubbery which forms their outskirts. We had
+      passed the same road on our outward journey in the spring, but its aspect
+      was totally changed. The young wild apple trees, then flushed with their
+      fragrant blossoms, were now hung thickly with ruddy fruit. Tall grass
+      flourished by the roadside in place of the tender shoots just peeping from
+      the warm and oozy soil. The vines were laden with dark purple grapes, and
+      the slender twigs of the maple, then tasseled with their clusters of small
+      red flowers, now hung out a gorgeous display of leaves stained by the
+      frost with burning crimson. On every side we saw the tokens of maturity
+      and decay where all had before been fresh and beautiful. We entered the
+      forest, and ourselves and our horses were checkered, as we passed along,
+      by the bright spots of sunlight that fell between the opening boughs. On
+      either side the dark rich masses of foliage almost excluded the sun,
+      though here and there its rays could find their way down, striking through
+      the broad leaves and lighting them with a pure transparent green.
+      Squirrels barked at us from the trees; coveys of young partridges ran
+      rustling over the leaves below, and the golden oriole, the blue jay, and
+      the flaming red-bird darted among the shadowy branches. We hailed these
+      sights and sounds of beauty by no means with an unmingled pleasure. Many
+      and powerful as were the attractions which drew us toward the settlements,
+      we looked back even at that moment with an eager longing toward the
+      wilderness of prairies and mountains behind us. For myself I had suffered
+      more that summer from illness than ever before in my life, and yet to this
+      hour I cannot recall those savage scenes and savage men without a strong
+      desire again to visit them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At length, for the first time during about half a year, we saw the roof of
+      a white man&rsquo;s dwelling between the opening trees. A few moments after we
+      were riding over the miserable log bridge that leads into the center of
+      Westport. Westport had beheld strange scenes, but a rougher looking troop
+      than ours, with our worn equipments and broken-down horses, was never seen
+      even there. We passed the well-remembered tavern, Boone&rsquo;s grocery and old
+      Vogel&rsquo;s dram shop, and encamped on a meadow beyond. Here we were soon
+      visited by a number of people who came to purchase our horses and
+      equipage. This matter disposed of, we hired a wagon and drove on to Kansas
+      Landing. Here we were again received under the hospitable roof of our old
+      friend Colonel Chick, and seated on his porch we looked down once more on
+      the eddies of the Missouri.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Delorier made his appearance in the morning, strangely transformed by the
+      assistance of a hat, a coat, and a razor. His little log-house was among
+      the woods not far off. It seemed he had meditated giving a ball on the
+      occasion of his return, and had consulted Henry Chatillon as to whether it
+      would do to invite his bourgeois. Henry expressed his entire conviction
+      that we would not take it amiss, and the invitation was now proffered,
+      accordingly, Delorier adding as a special inducement that Antoine
+      Lejeunesse was to play the fiddle. We told him we would certainly come,
+      but before the evening arrived a steamboat, which came down from Fort
+      Leavenworth, prevented our being present at the expected festivities.
+      Delorier was on the rock at the landing place, waiting to take leave of
+      us.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Adieu! mes bourgeois; adieu! adieu!&rdquo; he cried out as the boat pulled off;
+      &ldquo;when you go another time to de Rocky Montagnes I will go with you; yes, I
+      will go!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He accompanied this patronizing assurance by jumping about swinging his
+      hat, and grinning from ear to ear. As the boat rounded a distant point,
+      the last object that met our eyes was Delorier still lifting his hat and
+      skipping about the rock. We had taken leave of Munroe and Jim Gurney at
+      Westport, and Henry Chatillon went down in the boat with us.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The passage to St. Louis occupied eight days, during about a third of
+      which we were fast aground on sand-bars. We passed the steamer Amelia
+      crowded with a roaring crew of disbanded volunteers, swearing, drinking,
+      gambling, and fighting. At length one evening we reached the crowded levee
+      of St. Louis. Repairing to the Planters&rsquo; House, we caused diligent search
+      to be made for our trunks, which after some time were discovered stowed
+      away in the farthest corner of the storeroom. In the morning we hardly
+      recognized each other; a frock of broadcloth had supplanted the frock of
+      buckskin; well-fitted pantaloons took the place of the Indian leggings,
+      and polished boots were substituted for the gaudy moccasins.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After we had been several days at St. Louis we heard news of Tete Rouge.
+      He had contrived to reach Fort Leavenworth, where he had found the
+      paymaster and received his money. As a boat was just ready to start for
+      St. Louis, he went on board and engaged his passage. This done, he
+      immediately got drunk on shore, and the boat went off without him. It was
+      some days before another opportunity occurred, and meanwhile the sutler&rsquo;s
+      stores furnished him with abundant means of keeping up his spirits.
+      Another steamboat came at last, the clerk of which happened to be a friend
+      of his, and by the advice of some charitable person on shore he persuaded
+      Tete Rouge to remain on board, intending to detain him there until the
+      boat should leave the fort. At first Tete Rouge was well contented with
+      this arrangement, but on applying for a dram, the barkeeper, at the
+      clerk&rsquo;s instigation, refused to let him have it. Finding them both
+      inflexible in spite of his entreaties, he became desperate and made his
+      escape from the boat. The clerk found him after a long search in one of
+      the barracks; a circle of dragoons stood contemplating him as he lay on
+      the floor, maudlin drunk and crying dismally. With the help of one of them
+      the clerk pushed him on board, and our informant, who came down in the
+      same boat, declares that he remained in great despondency during the whole
+      passage. As we left St. Louis soon after his arrival, we did not see the
+      worthless, good-natured little vagabond again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the evening before our departure Henry Chatillon came to our rooms at
+      the Planters&rsquo; House to take leave of us. No one who met him in the streets
+      of St. Louis would have taken him for a hunter fresh from the Rocky
+      Mountains. He was very neatly and simply dressed in a suit of dark cloth;
+      for although, since his sixteenth year, he had scarcely been for a month
+      together among the abodes of men, he had a native good taste and a sense
+      of propriety which always led him to pay great attention to his personal
+      appearance. His tall athletic figure, with its easy flexible motions,
+      appeared to advantage in his present dress; and his fine face, though
+      roughened by a thousand storms, was not at all out of keeping with it. We
+      took leave of him with much regret; and unless his changing features, as
+      he shook us by the hand, belied him, the feeling on his part was no less
+      than on ours. Shaw had given him a horse at Westport. My rifle, which he
+      had always been fond of using, as it was an excellent piece, much better
+      than his own, is now in his hands, and perhaps at this moment its sharp
+      voice is startling the echoes of the Rocky Mountains. On the next morning
+      we left town, and after a fortnight of railroads and steamboat we saw once
+      more the familiar features of home.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg&rsquo;s The Oregon Trail, by Francis Parkman, Jr.
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+</html>
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Oregon Trail, by Francis Parkman, Jr.
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Oregon Trail
+
+Author: Francis Parkman, Jr.
+
+Release Date: April 27, 2006 [EBook #1015]
+[Last updated: October 8, 2020]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE OREGON TRAIL ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Donald Lainson
+
+
+
+
+
+THE OREGON TRAIL
+
+by Francis Parkman, Jr.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+I     THE FRONTIER
+
+II    BREAKING THE ICE
+
+III   FORT LEAVENWORTH
+
+IV    "JUMPING OFF"
+
+V     "THE BIG BLUE"
+
+VI    THE PLATTE AND THE DESERT
+
+VII   THE BUFFALO
+
+VIII  TAKING FRENCH LEAVE
+
+IX    SCENES AT FORT LARAMIE
+
+X     THE WAR PARTIES
+
+XI    SCENES AT THE CAMP
+
+XII   ILL LUCK
+
+XIII  HUNTING INDIANS
+
+XIV   THE OGALLALLA VILLAGR
+
+XV    THE HUNTING CAMP
+
+XVI   THE TRAPPERS
+
+XVII  THE BLACK HILLS
+
+XVIII A MOUNTAIN HUNT
+
+XIX   PASSAGE OF THE MOUNTAINS
+
+XX    THE LONELY JOURNEY
+
+XXI   THE PUEBLO AND BENT'S FORT
+
+XXII  TETE ROUGE, THE VOLUNTEER
+
+XXIII INDIAN ALARMS
+
+XXIV  THE CHASE
+
+XXV   THE BUFFALO CAMP
+
+XXVI  DOWN THE ARKANSAS
+
+XXVII THE SETTLEMENTS
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE FRONTIER
+
+
+Last spring, 1846, was a busy season in the City of St. Louis. Not only
+were emigrants from every part of the country preparing for the journey
+to Oregon and California, but an unusual number of traders were making
+ready their wagons and outfits for Santa Fe. Many of the emigrants,
+especially of those bound for California, were persons of wealth and
+standing. The hotels were crowded, and the gunsmiths and saddlers
+were kept constantly at work in providing arms and equipments for the
+different parties of travelers. Almost every day steamboats were leaving
+the levee and passing up the Missouri, crowded with passengers on their
+way to the frontier.
+
+In one of these, the Radnor, since snagged and lost, my friend and
+relative, Quincy A. Shaw, and myself, left St. Louis on the 28th of
+April, on a tour of curiosity and amusement to the Rocky Mountains. The
+boat was loaded until the water broke alternately over her guards. Her
+upper deck was covered with large weapons of a peculiar form, for
+the Santa Fe trade, and her hold was crammed with goods for the same
+destination. There were also the equipments and provisions of a party
+of Oregon emigrants, a band of mules and horses, piles of saddles and
+harness, and a multitude of nondescript articles, indispensable on
+the prairies. Almost hidden in this medley one might have seen a small
+French cart, of the sort very appropriately called a "mule-killer"
+beyond the frontiers, and not far distant a tent, together with a
+miscellaneous assortment of boxes and barrels. The whole equipage was
+far from prepossessing in its appearance; yet, such as it was, it was
+destined to a long and arduous journey, on which the persevering reader
+will accompany it.
+
+The passengers on board the Radnor corresponded with her freight. In her
+cabin were Santa Fe traders, gamblers, speculators, and adventurers
+of various descriptions, and her steerage was crowded with Oregon
+emigrants, "mountain men," negroes, and a party of Kansas Indians, who
+had been on a visit to St. Louis.
+
+Thus laden, the boat struggled upward for seven or eight days against
+the rapid current of the Missouri, grating upon snags, and hanging for
+two or three hours at a time upon sand-bars. We entered the mouth of
+the Missouri in a drizzling rain, but the weather soon became clear,
+and showed distinctly the broad and turbid river, with its eddies, its
+sand-bars, its ragged islands, and forest-covered shores. The Missouri
+is constantly changing its course; wearing away its banks on one
+side, while it forms new ones on the other. Its channel is shifting
+continually. Islands are formed, and then washed away; and while the old
+forests on one side are undermined and swept off, a young growth springs
+up from the new soil upon the other. With all these changes, the water
+is so charged with mud and sand that it is perfectly opaque, and in
+a few minutes deposits a sediment an inch thick in the bottom of a
+tumbler. The river was now high; but when we descended in the autumn
+it was fallen very low, and all the secrets of its treacherous shallows
+were exposed to view. It was frightful to see the dead and broken trees,
+thick-set as a military abatis, firmly imbedded in the sand, and all
+pointing down stream, ready to impale any unhappy steamboat that at high
+water should pass over that dangerous ground.
+
+In five or six days we began to see signs of the great western movement
+that was then taking place. Parties of emigrants, with their tents and
+wagons, would be encamped on open spots near the bank, on their way to
+the common rendezvous at Independence. On a rainy day, near sunset, we
+reached the landing of this place, which is situated some miles from
+the river, on the extreme frontier of Missouri. The scene was
+characteristic, for here were represented at one view the most
+remarkable features of this wild and enterprising region. On the muddy
+shore stood some thirty or forty dark slavish-looking Spaniards, gazing
+stupidly out from beneath their broad hats. They were attached to one of
+the Santa Fe companies, whose wagons were crowded together on the banks
+above. In the midst of these, crouching over a smoldering fire, was a
+group of Indians, belonging to a remote Mexican tribe. One or two French
+hunters from the mountains with their long hair and buckskin dresses,
+were looking at the boat; and seated on a log close at hand were three
+men, with rifles lying across their knees. The foremost of these, a
+tall, strong figure, with a clear blue eye and an open, intelligent
+face, might very well represent that race of restless and intrepid
+pioneers whose axes and rifles have opened a path from the Alleghenies
+to the western prairies. He was on his way to Oregon, probably a more
+congenial field to him than any that now remained on this side the great
+plains.
+
+Early on the next morning we reached Kansas, about five hundred
+miles from the mouth of the Missouri. Here we landed and leaving our
+equipments in charge of my good friend Colonel Chick, whose log-house
+was the substitute for a tavern, we set out in a wagon for Westport,
+where we hoped to procure mules and horses for the journey.
+
+It was a remarkably fresh and beautiful May morning. The rich and
+luxuriant woods through which the miserable road conducted us were
+lighted by the bright sunshine and enlivened by a multitude of birds. We
+overtook on the way our late fellow-travelers, the Kansas Indians, who,
+adorned with all their finery, were proceeding homeward at a round pace;
+and whatever they might have seemed on board the boat, they made a very
+striking and picturesque feature in the forest landscape.
+
+Westport was full of Indians, whose little shaggy ponies were tied by
+dozens along the houses and fences. Sacs and Foxes, with shaved heads
+and painted faces, Shawanoes and Delawares, fluttering in calico frocks,
+and turbans, Wyandottes dressed like white men, and a few wretched
+Kansas wrapped in old blankets, were strolling about the streets, or
+lounging in and out of the shops and houses.
+
+As I stood at the door of the tavern, I saw a remarkable looking person
+coming up the street. He had a ruddy face, garnished with the stumps of
+a bristly red beard and mustache; on one side of his head was a round
+cap with a knob at the top, such as Scottish laborers sometimes wear;
+his coat was of a nondescript form, and made of a gray Scotch plaid,
+with the fringes hanging all about it; he wore pantaloons of coarse
+homespun, and hob-nailed shoes; and to complete his equipment, a little
+black pipe was stuck in one corner of his mouth. In this curious attire,
+I recognized Captain C. of the British army, who, with his brother, and
+Mr. R., an English gentleman, was bound on a hunting expedition across
+the continent. I had seen the captain and his companions at St. Louis.
+They had now been for some time at Westport, making preparations for
+their departure, and waiting for a re-enforcement, since they were too
+few in number to attempt it alone. They might, it is true, have joined
+some of the parties of emigrants who were on the point of setting out
+for Oregon and California; but they professed great disinclination to
+have any connection with the "Kentucky fellows."
+
+The captain now urged it upon us, that we should join forces and proceed
+to the mountains in company. Feeling no greater partiality for the
+society of the emigrants than they did, we thought the arrangement an
+advantageous one, and consented to it. Our future fellow-travelers had
+installed themselves in a little log-house, where we found them all
+surrounded by saddles, harness, guns, pistols, telescopes, knives, and
+in short their complete appointments for the prairie. R., who professed
+a taste for natural history, sat at a table stuffing a woodpecker; the
+brother of the captain, who was an Irishman, was splicing a trail-rope
+on the floor, as he had been an amateur sailor. The captain pointed
+out, with much complacency, the different articles of their outfit. "You
+see," said he, "that we are all old travelers. I am convinced that no
+party ever went upon the prairie better provided." The hunter whom they
+had employed, a surly looking Canadian, named Sorel, and their muleteer,
+an American from St. Louis, were lounging about the building. In a
+little log stable close at hand were their horses and mules, selected by
+the captain, who was an excellent judge.
+
+The alliance entered into, we left them to complete their arrangements,
+while we pushed our own to all convenient speed. The emigrants for whom
+our friends professed such contempt were encamped on the prairie about
+eight or ten miles distant, to the number of a thousand or more, and new
+parties were constantly passing out from Independence to join them.
+They were in great confusion, holding meetings, passing resolutions, and
+drawing up regulations, but unable to unite in the choice of leaders to
+conduct them across the prairie. Being at leisure one day, I rode over
+to Independence. The town was crowded. A multitude of shops had sprung
+up to furnish the emigrants and Santa Fe traders with necessaries for
+their journey; and there was an incessant hammering and banging from a
+dozen blacksmiths' sheds, where the heavy wagons were being repaired,
+and the horses and oxen shod. The streets were thronged with men,
+horses, and mules. While I was in the town, a train of emigrant wagons
+from Illinois passed through, to join the camp on the prairie, and
+stopped in the principal street. A multitude of healthy children's faces
+were peeping out from under the covers of the wagons. Here and there a
+buxom damsel was seated on horseback, holding over her sunburnt face an
+old umbrella or a parasol, once gaudy enough but now miserably faded.
+The men, very sober-looking countrymen, stood about their oxen; and as I
+passed I noticed three old fellows, who, with their long whips in their
+hands, were zealously discussing the doctrine of regeneration. The
+emigrants, however, are not all of this stamp. Among them are some of
+the vilest outcasts in the country. I have often perplexed myself to
+divine the various motives that give impulse to this strange migration;
+but whatever they may be, whether an insane hope of a better condition
+in life, or a desire of shaking off restraints of law and society, or
+mere restlessness, certain it is that multitudes bitterly repent the
+journey, and after they have reached the land of promise are happy
+enough to escape from it.
+
+In the course of seven or eight days we had brought our preparations
+near to a close. Meanwhile our friends had completed theirs, and
+becoming tired of Westport, they told us that they would set out in
+advance and wait at the crossing of the Kansas till we should come up.
+Accordingly R. and the muleteers went forward with the wagon and tent,
+while the captain and his brother, together with Sorel, and a trapper
+named Boisverd, who had joined them, followed with the band of horses.
+The commencement of the journey was ominous, for the captain was
+scarcely a mile from Westport, riding along in state at the head of his
+party, leading his intended buffalo horse by a rope, when a tremendous
+thunderstorm came on, and drenched them all to the skin. They hurried on
+to reach the place, about seven miles off, where R. was to have had the
+camp in readiness to receive them. But this prudent person, when he
+saw the storm approaching, had selected a sheltered glade in the woods,
+where he pitched his tent, and was sipping a comfortable cup of coffee,
+while the captain galloped for miles beyond through the rain to look
+for him. At length the storm cleared away, and the sharp-eyed trapper
+succeeded in discovering his tent: R. had by this time finished his
+coffee, and was seated on a buffalo robe smoking his pipe. The captain
+was one of the most easy-tempered men in existence, so he bore his
+ill-luck with great composure, shared the dregs of the coffee with his
+brother, and lay down to sleep in his wet clothes.
+
+We ourselves had our share of the deluge. We were leading a pair of
+mules to Kansas when the storm broke. Such sharp and incessant flashes
+of lightning, such stunning and continuous thunder, I have never known
+before. The woods were completely obscured by the diagonal sheets of
+rain that fell with a heavy roar, and rose in spray from the ground; and
+the streams rose so rapidly that we could hardly ford them. At length,
+looming through the rain, we saw the log-house of Colonel Chick, who
+received us with his usual bland hospitality; while his wife, who,
+though a little soured and stiffened by too frequent attendance on
+camp-meetings, was not behind him in hospitable feeling, supplied us
+with the means of repairing our drenched and bedraggled condition. The
+storm, clearing away at about sunset, opened a noble prospect from the
+porch of the colonel's house, which stands upon a high hill. The sun
+streamed from the breaking clouds upon the swift and angry Missouri, and
+on the immense expanse of luxuriant forest that stretched from its banks
+back to the distant bluffs.
+
+Returning on the next day to Westport, we received a message from the
+captain, who had ridden back to deliver it in person, but finding that
+we were in Kansas, had intrusted it with an acquaintance of his named
+Vogel, who kept a small grocery and liquor shop. Whisky by the way
+circulates more freely in Westport than is altogether safe in a place
+where every man carries a loaded pistol in his pocket. As we passed this
+establishment, we saw Vogel's broad German face and knavish-looking eyes
+thrust from his door. He said he had something to tell us, and
+invited us to take a dram. Neither his liquor nor his message was very
+palatable. The captain had returned to give us notice that R., who
+assumed the direction of his party, had determined upon another route
+from that agreed upon between us; and instead of taking the course of
+the traders, to pass northward by Fort Leavenworth, and follow the path
+marked out by the dragoons in their expedition of last summer. To adopt
+such a plan without consulting us, we looked upon as a very high-handed
+proceeding; but suppressing our dissatisfaction as well as we could, we
+made up our minds to join them at Fort Leavenworth, where they were to
+wait for us.
+
+Accordingly, our preparation being now complete, we attempted one fine
+morning to commence our journey. The first step was an unfortunate one.
+No sooner were our animals put in harness, than the shaft mule reared
+and plunged, burst ropes and straps, and nearly flung the cart into
+the Missouri. Finding her wholly uncontrollable, we exchanged her
+for another, with which we were furnished by our friend Mr. Boone of
+Westport, a grandson of Daniel Boone, the pioneer. This foretaste of
+prairie experience was very soon followed by another. Westport was
+scarcely out of sight, when we encountered a deep muddy gully, of a
+species that afterward became but too familiar to us; and here for the
+space of an hour or more the car stuck fast.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+BREAKING THE ICE
+
+
+Both Shaw and myself were tolerably inured to the vicissitudes of
+traveling. We had experienced them under various forms, and a birch
+canoe was as familiar to us as a steamboat. The restlessness, the love
+of wilds and hatred of cities, natural perhaps in early years to every
+unperverted son of Adam, was not our only motive for undertaking the
+present journey. My companion hoped to shake off the effects of a
+disorder that had impaired a constitution originally hardy and robust;
+and I was anxious to pursue some inquiries relative to the character and
+usages of the remote Indian nations, being already familiar with many of
+the border tribes.
+
+Emerging from the mud-hole where we last took leave of the reader, we
+pursued our way for some time along the narrow track, in the checkered
+sunshine and shadow of the woods, till at length, issuing forth into
+the broad light, we left behind us the farthest outskirts of that great
+forest, that once spread unbroken from the western plains to the shore
+of the Atlantic. Looking over an intervening belt of shrubbery, we saw
+the green, oceanlike expanse of prairie, stretching swell over swell to
+the horizon.
+
+It was a mild, calm spring day; a day when one is more disposed to
+musing and reverie than to action, and the softest part of his nature is
+apt to gain the ascendency. I rode in advance of the party, as we passed
+through the shrubbery, and as a nook of green grass offered a strong
+temptation, I dismounted and lay down there. All the trees and saplings
+were in flower, or budding into fresh leaf; the red clusters of the
+maple-blossoms and the rich flowers of the Indian apple were there in
+profusion; and I was half inclined to regret leaving behind the land of
+gardens for the rude and stern scenes of the prairie and the mountains.
+
+Meanwhile the party came in sight from out of the bushes. Foremost rode
+Henry Chatillon, our guide and hunter, a fine athletic figure, mounted
+on a hardy gray Wyandotte pony. He wore a white blanket-coat, a broad
+hat of felt, moccasins, and pantaloons of deerskin, ornamented along the
+seams with rows of long fringes. His knife was stuck in his belt; his
+bullet-pouch and powder-horn hung at his side, and his rifle lay before
+him, resting against the high pommel of his saddle, which, like all his
+equipments, had seen hard service, and was much the worse for wear. Shaw
+followed close, mounted on a little sorrel horse, and leading a larger
+animal by a rope. His outfit, which resembled mine, had been provided
+with a view to use rather than ornament. It consisted of a plain, black
+Spanish saddle, with holsters of heavy pistols, a blanket rolled up
+behind it, and the trail-rope attached to his horse's neck hanging
+coiled in front. He carried a double-barreled smooth-bore, while I
+boasted a rifle of some fifteen pounds' weight. At that time our attire,
+though far from elegant, bore some marks of civilization, and offered a
+very favorable contrast to the inimitable shabbiness of our appearance
+on the return journey. A red flannel shirt, belted around the waist like
+a frock, then constituted our upper garment; moccasins had supplanted
+our failing boots; and the remaining essential portion of our attire
+consisted of an extraordinary article, manufactured by a squaw out of
+smoked buckskin. Our muleteer, Delorier, brought up the rear with his
+cart, waddling ankle-deep in the mud, alternately puffing at his pipe,
+and ejaculating in his prairie patois: "Sacre enfant de garce!" as
+one of the mules would seem to recoil before some abyss of unusual
+profundity. The cart was of the kind that one may see by scores around
+the market-place in Montreal, and had a white covering to protect the
+articles within. These were our provisions and a tent, with ammunition,
+blankets, and presents for the Indians.
+
+We were in all four men with eight animals; for besides the spare horses
+led by Shaw and myself, an additional mule was driven along with us as a
+reserve in case of accident.
+
+After this summing up of our forces, it may not be amiss to glance at
+the characters of the two men who accompanied us.
+
+Delorier was a Canadian, with all the characteristics of the true Jean
+Baptiste. Neither fatigue, exposure, nor hard labor could ever impair
+his cheerfulness and gayety, or his obsequious politeness to his
+bourgeois; and when night came he would sit down by the fire, smoke his
+pipe, and tell stories with the utmost contentment. In fact, the prairie
+was his congenial element. Henry Chatillon was of a different stamp.
+When we were at St. Louis, several gentlemen of the Fur Company had
+kindly offered to procure for us a hunter and guide suited for our
+purposes, and on coming one afternoon to the office, we found there a
+tall and exceedingly well-dressed man with a face so open and frank that
+it attracted our notice at once. We were surprised at being told that it
+was he who wished to guide us to the mountains. He was born in a little
+French town near St. Louis, and from the age of fifteen years had been
+constantly in the neighborhood of the Rocky Mountains, employed for the
+most part by the Company to supply their forts with buffalo meat. As a
+hunter he had but one rival in the whole region, a man named Cimoneau,
+with whom, to the honor of both of them, he was on terms of the closest
+friendship. He had arrived at St. Louis the day before, from the
+mountains, where he had remained for four years; and he now only asked
+to go and spend a day with his mother before setting out on another
+expedition. His age was about thirty; he was six feet high, and very
+powerfully and gracefully molded. The prairies had been his school;
+he could neither read nor write, but he had a natural refinement and
+delicacy of mind such as is rarely found, even in women. His manly face
+was a perfect mirror of uprightness, simplicity, and kindness of heart;
+he had, moreover, a keen perception of character and a tact that would
+preserve him from flagrant error in any society. Henry had not the
+restless energy of an Anglo-American. He was content to take things
+as he found them; and his chief fault arose from an excess of easy
+generosity, impelling him to give away too profusely ever to thrive in
+the world. Yet it was commonly remarked of him, that whatever he might
+choose to do with what belonged to himself, the property of others was
+always safe in his hands. His bravery was as much celebrated in the
+mountains as his skill in hunting; but it is characteristic of him that
+in a country where the rifle is the chief arbiter between man and man,
+Henry was very seldom involved in quarrels. Once or twice, indeed,
+his quiet good-nature had been mistaken and presumed upon, but the
+consequences of the error were so formidable that no one was ever known
+to repeat it. No better evidence of the intrepidity of his temper could
+be wished than the common report that he had killed more than thirty
+grizzly bears. He was a proof of what unaided nature will sometimes do.
+I have never, in the city or in the wilderness, met a better man than my
+noble and true-hearted friend, Henry Chatillon.
+
+We were soon free of the woods and bushes, and fairly upon the broad
+prairie. Now and then a Shawanoe passed us, riding his little shaggy
+pony at a "lope"; his calico shirt, his gaudy sash, and the gay
+handkerchief bound around his snaky hair fluttering in the wind. At noon
+we stopped to rest not far from a little creek replete with frogs and
+young turtles. There had been an Indian encampment at the place, and
+the framework of their lodges still remained, enabling us very easily
+to gain a shelter from the sun, by merely spreading one or two blankets
+over them. Thus shaded, we sat upon our saddles, and Shaw for the first
+time lighted his favorite Indian pipe; while Delorier was squatted over
+a hot bed of coals, shading his eyes with one hand, and holding a little
+stick in the other, with which he regulated the hissing contents of the
+frying-pan. The horses were turned to feed among the scattered bushes of
+a low oozy meadow. A drowzy springlike sultriness pervaded the air, and
+the voices of ten thousand young frogs and insects, just awakened into
+life, rose in varied chorus from the creek and the meadows.
+
+Scarcely were we seated when a visitor approached. This was an old
+Kansas Indian; a man of distinction, if one might judge from his dress.
+His head was shaved and painted red, and from the tuft of hair remaining
+on the crown dangled several eagles' feathers, and the tails of two or
+three rattlesnakes. His cheeks, too, were daubed with vermilion; his
+ears were adorned with green glass pendants; a collar of grizzly bears'
+claws surrounded his neck, and several large necklaces of wampum hung
+on his breast. Having shaken us by the hand with a cordial grunt of
+salutation, the old man, dropping his red blanket from his shoulders,
+sat down cross-legged on the ground. In the absence of liquor we offered
+him a cup of sweetened water, at which he ejaculated "Good!" and was
+beginning to tell us how great a man he was, and how many Pawnees he
+had killed, when suddenly a motley concourse appeared wading across the
+creek toward us. They filed past in rapid succession, men, women, and
+children; some were on horseback, some on foot, but all were alike
+squalid and wretched. Old squaws, mounted astride of shaggy, meager
+little ponies, with perhaps one or two snake-eyed children seated behind
+them, clinging to their tattered blankets; tall lank young men on foot,
+with bows and arrows in their hands; and girls whose native ugliness not
+all the charms of glass beads and scarlet cloth could disguise, made up
+the procession; although here and there was a man who, like our visitor,
+seemed to hold some rank in this respectable community. They were the
+dregs of the Kansas nation, who, while their betters were gone to hunt
+buffalo, had left the village on a begging expedition to Westport.
+
+When this ragamuffin horde had passed, we caught our horses, saddled,
+harnessed, and resumed our journey. Fording the creek, the low roofs of
+a number of rude buildings appeared, rising from a cluster of groves and
+woods on the left; and riding up through a long lane, amid a profusion
+of wild roses and early spring flowers, we found the log-church and
+school-houses belonging to the Methodist Shawanoe Mission. The Indians
+were on the point of gathering to a religious meeting. Some scores of
+them, tall men in half-civilized dress, were seated on wooden benches
+under the trees; while their horses were tied to the sheds and fences.
+Their chief, Parks, a remarkably large and athletic man, was just
+arrived from Westport, where he owns a trading establishment. Beside
+this, he has a fine farm and a considerable number of slaves. Indeed the
+Shawanoes have made greater progress in agriculture than any other tribe
+on the Missouri frontier; and both in appearance and in character form a
+marked contrast to our late acquaintance, the Kansas.
+
+A few hours' ride brought us to the banks of the river Kansas.
+Traversing the woods that lined it, and plowing through the deep sand,
+we encamped not far from the bank, at the Lower Delaware crossing. Our
+tent was erected for the first time on a meadow close to the woods, and
+the camp preparations being complete we began to think of supper. An old
+Delaware woman, of some three hundred pounds' weight, sat in the porch
+of a little log-house close to the water, and a very pretty half-breed
+girl was engaged, under her superintendence, in feeding a large flock of
+turkeys that were fluttering and gobbling about the door. But no offers
+of money, or even of tobacco, could induce her to part with one of her
+favorites; so I took my rifle, to see if the woods or the river could
+furnish us anything. A multitude of quails were plaintively whistling
+in the woods and meadows; but nothing appropriate to the rifle was to be
+seen, except three buzzards, seated on the spectral limbs of an old dead
+sycamore, that thrust itself out over the river from the dense sunny
+wall of fresh foliage. Their ugly heads were drawn down between their
+shoulders, and they seemed to luxuriate in the soft sunshine that was
+pouring from the west. As they offered no epicurean temptations, I
+refrained from disturbing their enjoyment; but contented myself with
+admiring the calm beauty of the sunset, for the river, eddying swiftly
+in deep purple shadows between the impending woods, formed a wild but
+tranquillizing scene.
+
+When I returned to the camp I found Shaw and an old Indian seated on the
+ground in close conference, passing the pipe between them. The old man
+was explaining that he loved the whites, and had an especial partiality
+for tobacco. Delorier was arranging upon the ground our service of tin
+cups and plates; and as other viands were not to be had, he set before
+us a repast of biscuit and bacon, and a large pot of coffee. Unsheathing
+our knives, we attacked it, disposed of the greater part, and tossed the
+residue to the Indian. Meanwhile our horses, now hobbled for the first
+time, stood among the trees, with their fore-legs tied together, in
+great disgust and astonishment. They seemed by no means to relish this
+foretaste of what was before them. Mine, in particular, had conceived a
+moral aversion to the prairie life. One of them, christened Hendrick,
+an animal whose strength and hardihood were his only merits, and who
+yielded to nothing but the cogent arguments of the whip, looked toward
+us with an indignant countenance, as if he meditated avenging his
+wrongs with a kick. The other, Pontiac, a good horse, though of plebeian
+lineage, stood with his head drooping and his mane hanging about his
+eyes, with the grieved and sulky air of a lubberly boy sent off to
+school. Poor Pontiac! his forebodings were but too just; for when I last
+heard from him, he was under the lash of an Ogallalla brave, on a war
+party against the Crows.
+
+As it grew dark, and the voices of the whip-poor-wills succeeded the
+whistle of the quails, we removed our saddles to the tent, to serve as
+pillows, spread our blankets upon the ground, and prepared to bivouac
+for the first time that season. Each man selected the place in the
+tent which he was to occupy for the journey. To Delorier, however, was
+assigned the cart, into which he could creep in wet weather, and find a
+much better shelter than his bourgeois enjoyed in the tent.
+
+The river Kansas at this point forms the boundary line between the
+country of the Shawanoes and that of the Delawares. We crossed it on
+the following day, rafting over our horses and equipage with much
+difficulty, and unloading our cart in order to make our way up the steep
+ascent on the farther bank. It was a Sunday morning; warm, tranquil and
+bright; and a perfect stillness reigned over the rough inclosures
+and neglected fields of the Delawares, except the ceaseless hum and
+chirruping of myriads of insects. Now and then, an Indian rode past on
+his way to the meeting-house, or through the dilapidated entrance of
+some shattered log-house an old woman might be discerned, enjoying all
+the luxury of idleness. There was no village bell, for the Delawares
+have none; and yet upon that forlorn and rude settlement was the same
+spirit of Sabbath repose and tranquillity as in some little New England
+village among the mountains of New Hampshire or the Vermont woods.
+
+Having at present no leisure for such reflections, we pursued our
+journey. A military road led from this point to Fort Leavenworth, and
+for many miles the farms and cabins of the Delawares were scattered
+at short intervals on either hand. The little rude structures of logs,
+erected usually on the borders of a tract of woods, made a picturesque
+feature in the landscape. But the scenery needed no foreign aid. Nature
+had done enough for it; and the alteration of rich green prairies and
+groves that stood in clusters or lined the banks of the numerous little
+streams, had all the softened and polished beauty of a region that has
+been for centuries under the hand of man. At that early season, too,
+it was in the height of its freshness and luxuriance. The woods were
+flushed with the red buds of the maple; there were frequent flowering
+shrubs unknown in the east; and the green swells of the prairies were
+thickly studded with blossoms.
+
+Encamping near a spring by the side of a hill, we resumed our journey in
+the morning, and early in the afternoon had arrived within a few miles
+of Fort Leavenworth. The road crossed a stream densely bordered with
+trees, and running in the bottom of a deep woody hollow. We were about
+to descend into it, when a wild and confused procession appeared,
+passing through the water below, and coming up the steep ascent toward
+us. We stopped to let them pass. They were Delawares, just returned
+from a hunting expedition. All, both men and women, were mounted on
+horseback, and drove along with them a considerable number of pack
+mules, laden with the furs they had taken, together with the buffalo
+robes, kettles, and other articles of their traveling equipment, which
+as well as their clothing and their weapons, had a worn and dingy
+aspect, as if they had seen hard service of late. At the rear of the
+party was an old man, who, as he came up, stopped his horse to speak to
+us. He rode a little tough shaggy pony, with mane and tail well knotted
+with burrs, and a rusty Spanish bit in its mouth, to which, by way of
+reins, was attached a string of raw hide. His saddle, robbed probably
+from a Mexican, had no covering, being merely a tree of the Spanish
+form, with a piece of grizzly bear's skin laid over it, a pair of rude
+wooden stirrups attached, and in the absence of girth, a thong of hide
+passing around the horse's belly. The rider's dark features and keen
+snaky eyes were unequivocally Indian. He wore a buckskin frock, which,
+like his fringed leggings, was well polished and blackened by grease and
+long service; and an old handkerchief was tied around his head. Resting
+on the saddle before him lay his rifle; a weapon in the use of which
+the Delawares are skillful; though from its weight, the distant prairie
+Indians are too lazy to carry it.
+
+"Who's your chief?" he immediately inquired.
+
+Henry Chatillon pointed to us. The old Delaware fixed his eyes intently
+upon us for a moment, and then sententiously remarked:
+
+"No good! Too young!" With this flattering comment he left us, and rode
+after his people.
+
+This tribe, the Delawares, once the peaceful allies of William Penn, the
+tributaries of the conquering Iroquois, are now the most adventurous and
+dreaded warriors upon the prairies. They make war upon remote tribes the
+very names of which were unknown to their fathers in their ancient
+seats in Pennsylvania; and they push these new quarrels with true
+Indian rancor, sending out their little war parties as far as the Rocky
+Mountains, and into the Mexican territories. Their neighbors and
+former confederates, the Shawanoes, who are tolerable farmers, are in
+a prosperous condition; but the Delawares dwindle every year, from the
+number of men lost in their warlike expeditions.
+
+Soon after leaving this party, we saw, stretching on the right, the
+forests that follow the course of the Missouri, and the deep woody
+channel through which at this point it runs. At a distance in front were
+the white barracks of Fort Leavenworth, just visible through the trees
+upon an eminence above a bend of the river. A wide green meadow, as
+level as a lake, lay between us and the Missouri, and upon this, close
+to a line of trees that bordered a little brook, stood the tent of the
+captain and his companions, with their horses feeding around it, but
+they themselves were invisible. Wright, their muleteer, was there,
+seated on the tongue of the wagon, repairing his harness. Boisverd
+stood cleaning his rifle at the door of the tent, and Sorel lounged
+idly about. On closer examination, however, we discovered the captain's
+brother, Jack, sitting in the tent, at his old occupation of splicing
+trail-ropes. He welcomed us in his broad Irish brogue, and said that
+his brother was fishing in the river, and R. gone to the garrison. They
+returned before sunset. Meanwhile we erected our own tent not far off,
+and after supper a council was held, in which it was resolved to remain
+one day at Fort Leavenworth, and on the next to bid a final adieu to
+the frontier: or in the phraseology of the region, to "jump off." Our
+deliberations were conducted by the ruddy light from a distant swell of
+the prairie, where the long dry grass of last summer was on fire.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+FORT LEAVENWORTH
+
+
+On the next morning we rode to Fort Leavenworth. Colonel, now General,
+Kearny, to whom I had had the honor of an introduction when at St.
+Louis, was just arrived, and received us at his headquarters with the
+high-bred courtesy habitual to him. Fort Leavenworth is in fact no fort,
+being without defensive works, except two block-houses. No rumors of
+war had as yet disturbed its tranquillity. In the square grassy area,
+surrounded by barracks and the quarters of the officers, the men were
+passing and repassing, or lounging among the trees; although not many
+weeks afterward it presented a different scene; for here the very
+off-scourings of the frontier were congregated, to be marshaled for the
+expedition against Santa Fe.
+
+Passing through the garrison, we rode toward the Kickapoo village, five
+or six miles beyond. The path, a rather dubious and uncertain one, led
+us along the ridge of high bluffs that bordered the Missouri; and by
+looking to the right or to the left, we could enjoy a strange contrast
+of opposite scenery. On the left stretched the prairie, rising into
+swells and undulations, thickly sprinkled with groves, or gracefully
+expanding into wide grassy basins of miles in extent; while its
+curvatures, swelling against the horizon, were often surmounted by lines
+of sunny woods; a scene to which the freshness of the season and the
+peculiar mellowness of the atmosphere gave additional softness. Below
+us, on the right, was a tract of ragged and broken woods. We could look
+down on the summits of the trees, some living and some dead; some erect,
+others leaning at every angle, and others still piled in masses together
+by the passage of a hurricane. Beyond their extreme verge, the turbid
+waters of the Missouri were discernible through the boughs, rolling
+powerfully along at the foot of the woody declivities of its farther
+bank.
+
+The path soon after led inland; and as we crossed an open meadow we saw
+a cluster of buildings on a rising ground before us, with a crowd of
+people surrounding them. They were the storehouse, cottage, and stables
+of the Kickapoo trader's establishment. Just at that moment, as it
+chanced, he was beset with half the Indians of the settlement. They had
+tied their wretched, neglected little ponies by dozens along the fences
+and outhouses, and were either lounging about the place, or crowding
+into the trading house. Here were faces of various colors; red, green,
+white, and black, curiously intermingled and disposed over the visage
+in a variety of patterns. Calico shirts, red and blue blankets, brass
+ear-rings, wampum necklaces, appeared in profusion. The trader was a
+blue-eyed open-faced man who neither in his manners nor his appearance
+betrayed any of the roughness of the frontier; though just at present he
+was obliged to keep a lynx eye on his suspicious customers, who, men
+and women, were climbing on his counter and seating themselves among his
+boxes and bales.
+
+The village itself was not far off, and sufficiently illustrated the
+condition of its unfortunate and self-abandoned occupants. Fancy to
+yourself a little swift stream, working its devious way down a woody
+valley; sometimes wholly hidden under logs and fallen trees, sometimes
+issuing forth and spreading into a broad, clear pool; and on its banks
+in little nooks cleared away among the trees, miniature log-houses
+in utter ruin and neglect. A labyrinth of narrow, obstructed paths
+connected these habitations one with another. Sometimes we met a stray
+calf, a pig or a pony, belonging to some of the villagers, who usually
+lay in the sun in front of their dwellings, and looked on us with cold,
+suspicious eyes as we approached. Farther on, in place of the log-huts
+of the Kickapoos, we found the pukwi lodges of their neighbors, the
+Pottawattamies, whose condition seemed no better than theirs.
+
+Growing tired at last, and exhausted by the excessive heat and
+sultriness of the day, we returned to our friend, the trader. By this
+time the crowd around him had dispersed, and left him at leisure. He
+invited us to his cottage, a little white-and-green building, in
+the style of the old French settlements; and ushered us into a neat,
+well-furnished room. The blinds were closed, and the heat and glare
+of the sun excluded; the room was as cool as a cavern. It was neatly
+carpeted too and furnished in a manner that we hardly expected on the
+frontier. The sofas, chairs, tables, and a well-filled bookcase would
+not have disgraced an Eastern city; though there were one or two little
+tokens that indicated the rather questionable civilization of the
+region. A pistol, loaded and capped, lay on the mantelpiece; and through
+the glass of the bookcase, peeping above the works of John Milton
+glittered the handle of a very mischievous-looking knife.
+
+Our host went out, and returned with iced water, glasses, and a bottle
+of excellent claret; a refreshment most welcome in the extreme heat of
+the day; and soon after appeared a merry, laughing woman, who must have
+been, a year of two before, a very rich and luxuriant specimen of Creole
+beauty. She came to say that lunch was ready in the next room. Our
+hostess evidently lived on the sunny side of life, and troubled herself
+with none of its cares. She sat down and entertained us while we were
+at table with anecdotes of fishing parties, frolics, and the officers
+at the fort. Taking leave at length of the hospitable trader and his
+friend, we rode back to the garrison.
+
+Shaw passed on to the camp, while I remained to call upon Colonel
+Kearny. I found him still at table. There sat our friend the captain,
+in the same remarkable habiliments in which we saw him at Westport; the
+black pipe, however, being for the present laid aside. He dangled
+his little cap in his hand and talked of steeple-chases, touching
+occasionally upon his anticipated exploits in buffalo-hunting. There,
+too, was R., somewhat more elegantly attired. For the last time we
+tasted the luxuries of civilization, and drank adieus to it in wine good
+enough to make us almost regret the leave-taking. Then, mounting,
+we rode together to the camp, where everything was in readiness for
+departure on the morrow.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+"JUMPING OFF"
+
+
+The reader need not be told that John Bull never leaves home without
+encumbering himself with the greatest possible load of luggage. Our
+companions were no exception to the rule. They had a wagon drawn by six
+mules and crammed with provisions for six months, besides ammunition
+enough for a regiment; spare rifles and fowling-pieces, ropes and
+harness; personal baggage, and a miscellaneous assortment of articles,
+which produced infinite embarrassment on the journey. They had also
+decorated their persons with telescopes and portable compasses, and
+carried English double-barreled rifles of sixteen to the pound caliber,
+slung to their saddles in dragoon fashion.
+
+By sunrise on the 23d of May we had breakfasted; the tents were leveled,
+the animals saddled and harnessed, and all was prepared. "Avance donc!
+get up!" cried Delorier from his seat in front of the cart. Wright,
+our friend's muleteer, after some swearing and lashing, got his
+insubordinate train in motion, and then the whole party filed from the
+ground. Thus we bade a long adieu to bed and board, and the principles
+of Blackstone's Commentaries. The day was a most auspicious one; and yet
+Shaw and I felt certain misgivings, which in the sequel proved but too
+well founded. We had just learned that though R. had taken it upon him
+to adopt this course without consulting us, not a single man in
+the party was acquainted with it; and the absurdity of our friend's
+high-handed measure very soon became manifest. His plan was to strike
+the trail of several companies of dragoons, who last summer had made an
+expedition under Colonel Kearny to Fort Laramie, and by this means to
+reach the grand trail of the Oregon emigrants up the Platte.
+
+We rode for an hour or two when a familiar cluster of buildings appeared
+on a little hill. "Hallo!" shouted the Kickapoo trader from over his
+fence. "Where are you going?" A few rather emphatic exclamations might
+have been heard among us, when we found that we had gone miles out of
+our way, and were not advanced an inch toward the Rocky Mountains. So
+we turned in the direction the trader indicated, and with the sun for
+a guide, began to trace a "bee line" across the prairies. We struggled
+through copses and lines of wood; we waded brooks and pools of water; we
+traversed prairies as green as an emerald, expanding before us for mile
+after mile; wider and more wild than the wastes Mazeppa rode over:
+
+     "Man nor brute,
+     Nor dint of hoof, nor print of foot,
+     Lay in the wild luxuriant soil;
+     No sign of travel; none of toil;
+     The very air was mute."
+
+Riding in advance, we passed over one of these great plains; we looked
+back and saw the line of scattered horsemen stretching for a mile or
+more; and far in the rear against the horizon, the white wagons creeping
+slowly along. "Here we are at last!" shouted the captain. And in truth
+we had struck upon the traces of a large body of horse. We turned
+joyfully and followed this new course, with tempers somewhat improved;
+and toward sunset encamped on a high swell of the prairie, at the foot
+of which a lazy stream soaked along through clumps of rank grass. It
+was getting dark. We turned the horses loose to feed. "Drive down the
+tent-pickets hard," said Henry Chatillon, "it is going to blow." We did
+so, and secured the tent as well as we could; for the sky had changed
+totally, and a fresh damp smell in the wind warned us that a stormy
+night was likely to succeed the hot clear day. The prairie also wore
+a new aspect, and its vast swells had grown black and somber under the
+shadow of the clouds. The thunder soon began to growl at a distance.
+Picketing and hobbling the horses among the rich grass at the foot of
+the slope, where we encamped, we gained a shelter just as the rain began
+to fall; and sat at the opening of the tent, watching the proceedings of
+the captain. In defiance of the rain he was stalking among the horses,
+wrapped in an old Scotch plaid. An extreme solicitude tormented him,
+lest some of his favorites should escape, or some accident should befall
+them; and he cast an anxious eye toward three wolves who were sneaking
+along over the dreary surface of the plain, as if he dreaded some
+hostile demonstration on their part.
+
+On the next morning we had gone but a mile or two, when we came to an
+extensive belt of woods, through the midst of which ran a stream, wide,
+deep, and of an appearance particularly muddy and treacherous. Delorier
+was in advance with his cart; he jerked his pipe from his mouth, lashed
+his mules, and poured forth a volley of Canadian ejaculations. In
+plunged the cart, but midway it stuck fast. Delorier leaped out
+knee-deep in water, and by dint of sacres and a vigorous application of
+the whip, he urged the mules out of the slough. Then approached the long
+team and heavy wagon of our friends; but it paused on the brink.
+
+"Now my advice is--" began the captain, who had been anxiously
+contemplating the muddy gulf.
+
+"Drive on!" cried R.
+
+But Wright, the muleteer, apparently had not as yet decided the point
+in his own mind; and he sat still in his seat on one of the shaft-mules,
+whistling in a low contemplative strain to himself.
+
+"My advice is," resumed the captain, "that we unload; for I'll bet any
+man five pounds that if we try to go through, we shall stick fast."
+
+"By the powers, we shall stick fast!" echoed Jack, the captain's
+brother, shaking his large head with an air of firm conviction.
+
+"Drive on! drive on!" cried R. petulantly.
+
+"Well," observed the captain, turning to us as we sat looking on, much
+edified by this by-play among our confederates, "I can only give my
+advice and if people won't be reasonable, why, they won't; that's all!"
+
+Meanwhile Wright had apparently made up his mind; for he suddenly began
+to shout forth a volley of oaths and curses, that, compared with the
+French imprecations of Delorier, sounded like the roaring of heavy
+cannon after the popping and sputtering of a bunch of Chinese crackers.
+At the same time he discharged a shower of blows upon his mules, who
+hastily dived into the mud and drew the wagon lumbering after them. For
+a moment the issue was dubious. Wright writhed about in his saddle,
+and swore and lashed like a madman; but who can count on a team of
+half-broken mules? At the most critical point, when all should have been
+harmony and combined effort, the perverse brutes fell into lamentable
+disorder, and huddled together in confusion on the farther bank. There
+was the wagon up to the hub in mud, and visibly settling every instant.
+There was nothing for it but to unload; then to dig away the mud
+from before the wheels with a spade, and lay a causeway of bushes and
+branches. This agreeable labor accomplished, the wagon at last emerged;
+but if I mention that some interruption of this sort occurred at least
+four or five times a day for a fortnight, the reader will understand
+that our progress toward the Platte was not without its obstacles.
+
+We traveled six or seven miles farther, and "nooned" near a brook. On
+the point of resuming our journey, when the horses were all driven down
+to water, my homesick charger, Pontiac, made a sudden leap across, and
+set off at a round trot for the settlements. I mounted my remaining
+horse, and started in pursuit. Making a circuit, I headed the runaway,
+hoping to drive him back to camp; but he instantly broke into a gallop,
+made a wide tour on the prairie, and got past me again. I tried this
+plan repeatedly, with the same result; Pontiac was evidently disgusted
+with the prairie; so I abandoned it, and tried another, trotting along
+gently behind him, in hopes that I might quietly get near enough to
+seize the trail-rope which was fastened to his neck, and dragged about a
+dozen feet behind him. The chase grew interesting. For mile after mile
+I followed the rascal, with the utmost care not to alarm him, and
+gradually got nearer, until at length old Hendrick's nose was fairly
+brushed by the whisking tail of the unsuspecting Pontiac. Without
+drawing rein, I slid softly to the ground; but my long heavy rifle
+encumbered me, and the low sound it made in striking the horn of the
+saddle startled him; he pricked up his ears, and sprang off at a run.
+"My friend," thought I, remounting, "do that again, and I will shoot
+you!"
+
+Fort Leavenworth was about forty miles distant, and thither I determined
+to follow him. I made up my mind to spend a solitary and supperless
+night, and then set out again in the morning. One hope, however,
+remained. The creek where the wagon had stuck was just before us;
+Pontiac might be thirsty with his run, and stop there to drink. I kept
+as near to him as possible, taking every precaution not to alarm him
+again; and the result proved as I had hoped: for he walked deliberately
+among the trees, and stooped down to the water. I alighted, dragged old
+Hendrick through the mud, and with a feeling of infinite satisfaction
+picked up the slimy trail-rope and twisted it three times round my hand.
+"Now let me see you get away again!" I thought, as I remounted. But
+Pontiac was exceedingly reluctant to turn back; Hendrick, too, who
+had evidently flattered himself with vain hopes, showed the utmost
+repugnance, and grumbled in a manner peculiar to himself at being
+compelled to face about. A smart cut of the whip restored his
+cheerfulness; and dragging the recovered truant behind, I set out in
+search of the camp. An hour or two elapsed, when, near sunset, I saw the
+tents, standing on a rich swell of the prairie, beyond a line of woods,
+while the bands of horses were feeding in a low meadow close at hand.
+There sat Jack C., cross-legged, in the sun, splicing a trail-rope,
+and the rest were lying on the grass, smoking and telling stories. That
+night we enjoyed a serenade from the wolves, more lively than any with
+which they had yet favored us; and in the morning one of the musicians
+appeared, not many rods from the tents, quietly seated among the horses,
+looking at us with a pair of large gray eyes; but perceiving a rifle
+leveled at him, he leaped up and made off in hot haste.
+
+I pass by the following day or two of our journey, for nothing occurred
+worthy of record. Should any one of my readers ever be impelled to visit
+the prairies, and should he choose the route of the Platte (the best,
+perhaps, that can be adopted), I can assure him that he need not
+think to enter at once upon the paradise of his imagination. A dreary
+preliminary, protracted crossing of the threshold awaits him before
+he finds himself fairly upon the verge of the "great American desert,"
+those barren wastes, the haunts of the buffalo and the Indian, where
+the very shadow of civilization lies a hundred leagues behind him. The
+intervening country, the wide and fertile belt that extends for
+several hundred miles beyond the extreme frontier, will probably answer
+tolerably well to his preconceived ideas of the prairie; for this it
+is from which picturesque tourists, painters, poets, and novelists, who
+have seldom penetrated farther, have derived their conceptions of the
+whole region. If he has a painter's eye, he may find his period of
+probation not wholly void of interest. The scenery, though tame, is
+graceful and pleasing. Here are level plains, too wide for the eye
+to measure green undulations, like motionless swells of the ocean;
+abundance of streams, followed through all their windings by lines of
+woods and scattered groves. But let him be as enthusiastic as he may,
+he will find enough to damp his ardor. His wagons will stick in the mud;
+his horses will break loose; harness will give way, and axle-trees prove
+unsound. His bed will be a soft one, consisting often of black mud,
+of the richest consistency. As for food, he must content himself with
+biscuit and salt provisions; for strange as it may seem, this tract of
+country produces very little game. As he advances, indeed, he will see,
+moldering in the grass by his path, the vast antlers of the elk, and
+farther on, the whitened skulls of the buffalo, once swarming over this
+now deserted region. Perhaps, like us, he may journey for a fortnight,
+and see not so much as the hoof-print of a deer; in the spring, not even
+a prairie hen is to be had.
+
+Yet, to compensate him for this unlooked-for deficiency of game, he
+will find himself beset with "varmints" innumerable. The wolves will
+entertain him with a concerto at night, and skulk around him by day,
+just beyond rifle shot; his horse will step into badger-holes; from
+every marsh and mud puddle will arise the bellowing, croaking, and
+trilling of legions of frogs, infinitely various in color, shape and
+dimensions. A profusion of snakes will glide away from under his horse's
+feet, or quietly visit him in his tent at night; while the pertinacious
+humming of unnumbered mosquitoes will banish sleep from his eyelids.
+When thirsty with a long ride in the scorching sun over some boundless
+reach of prairie, he comes at length to a pool of water, and alights to
+drink, he discovers a troop of young tadpoles sporting in the bottom of
+his cup. Add to this, that all the morning the hot sun beats upon him
+with sultry, penetrating heat, and that, with provoking regularity, at
+about four o'clock in the afternoon, a thunderstorm rises and drenches
+him to the skin. Such being the charms of this favored region, the
+reader will easily conceive the extent of our gratification at learning
+that for a week we had been journeying on the wrong track! How this
+agreeable discovery was made I will presently explain.
+
+One day, after a protracted morning's ride, we stopped to rest at noon
+upon the open prairie. No trees were in sight; but close at hand, a
+little dribbling brook was twisting from side to side through a hollow;
+now forming holes of stagnant water, and now gliding over the mud in a
+scarcely perceptible current, among a growth of sickly bushes, and great
+clumps of tall rank grass. The day was excessively hot and oppressive.
+The horses and mules were rolling on the prairie to refresh themselves,
+or feeding among the bushes in the hollow. We had dined; and Delorier,
+puffing at his pipe, knelt on the grass, scrubbing our service of tin
+plate. Shaw lay in the shade, under the cart, to rest for a while,
+before the word should be given to "catch up." Henry Chatillon, before
+lying down, was looking about for signs of snakes, the only living
+things that he feared, and uttering various ejaculations of disgust,
+at finding several suspicious-looking holes close to the cart. I sat
+leaning against the wheel in a scanty strip of shade, making a pair of
+hobbles to replace those which my contumacious steed Pontiac had
+broken the night before. The camp of our friends, a rod or two distant,
+presented the same scene of lazy tranquillity.
+
+"Hallo!" cried Henry, looking up from his inspection of the snake-holes,
+"here comes the old captain!"
+
+The captain approached, and stood for a moment contemplating us in
+silence.
+
+"I say, Parkman," he began, "look at Shaw there, asleep under the cart,
+with the tar dripping off the hub of the wheel on his shoulder!"
+
+At this Shaw got up, with his eyes half opened, and feeling the part
+indicated, he found his hand glued fast to his red flannel shirt.
+
+"He'll look well when he gets among the squaws, won't he?" observed the
+captain, with a grin.
+
+He then crawled under the cart, and began to tell stories of which his
+stock was inexhaustible. Yet every moment he would glance nervously at
+the horses. At last he jumped up in great excitement. "See that horse!
+There--that fellow just walking over the hill! By Jove; he's off. It's
+your big horse, Shaw; no it isn't, it's Jack's! Jack! Jack! hallo,
+Jack!" Jack thus invoked, jumped up and stared vacantly at us.
+
+"Go and catch your horse, if you don't want to lose him!" roared the
+captain.
+
+Jack instantly set off at a run through the grass, his broad pantaloons
+flapping about his feet. The captain gazed anxiously till he saw
+that the horse was caught; then he sat down, with a countenance of
+thoughtfulness and care.
+
+"I tell you what it is," he said, "this will never do at all. We shall
+lose every horse in the band someday or other, and then a pretty plight
+we should be in! Now I am convinced that the only way for us is to have
+every man in the camp stand horse-guard in rotation whenever we stop.
+Supposing a hundred Pawnees should jump up out of that ravine, all
+yelling and flapping their buffalo robes, in the way they do? Why, in
+two minutes not a hoof would be in sight." We reminded the captain that
+a hundred Pawnees would probably demolish the horse-guard, if he were to
+resist their depredations.
+
+"At any rate," pursued the captain, evading the point, "our whole system
+is wrong; I'm convinced of it; it is totally unmilitary. Why, the way
+we travel, strung out over the prairie for a mile, an enemy might attack
+the foremost men, and cut them off before the rest could come up."
+
+"We are not in an enemy's country, yet," said Shaw; "when we are, we'll
+travel together."
+
+"Then," said the captain, "we might be attacked in camp. We've no
+sentinels; we camp in disorder; no precautions at all to guard against
+surprise. My own convictions are that we ought to camp in a hollow
+square, with the fires in the center; and have sentinels, and a regular
+password appointed for every night. Besides, there should be vedettes,
+riding in advance, to find a place for the camp and give warning of an
+enemy. These are my convictions. I don't want to dictate to any man. I
+give advice to the best of my judgment, that's all; and then let people
+do as they please."
+
+We intimated that perhaps it would be as well to postpone such
+burdensome precautions until there should be some actual need of
+them; but he shook his head dubiously. The captain's sense of military
+propriety had been severely shocked by what he considered the irregular
+proceedings of the party; and this was not the first time he had
+expressed himself upon the subject. But his convictions seldom produced
+any practical results. In the present case, he contented himself,
+as usual, with enlarging on the importance of his suggestions, and
+wondering that they were not adopted. But his plan of sending out
+vedettes seemed particularly dear to him; and as no one else was
+disposed to second his views on this point, he took it into his head to
+ride forward that afternoon, himself.
+
+"Come, Parkman," said he, "will you go with me?"
+
+We set out together, and rode a mile or two in advance. The captain,
+in the course of twenty years' service in the British army, had seen
+something of life; one extensive side of it, at least, he had enjoyed
+the best opportunities for studying; and being naturally a pleasant
+fellow, he was a very entertaining companion. He cracked jokes and told
+stories for an hour or two; until, looking back, we saw the prairie
+behind us stretching away to the horizon, without a horseman or a wagon
+in sight.
+
+"Now," said the captain, "I think the vedettes had better stop till the
+main body comes up."
+
+I was of the same opinion. There was a thick growth of woods just before
+us, with a stream running through them. Having crossed this, we found
+on the other side a fine level meadow, half encircled by the trees; and
+fastening our horses to some bushes, we sat down on the grass; while,
+with an old stump of a tree for a target, I began to display the
+superiority of the renowned rifle of the back woods over the foreign
+innovation borne by the captain. At length voices could be heard in the
+distance behind the trees.
+
+"There they come!" said the captain: "let's go and see how they get
+through the creek."
+
+We mounted and rode to the bank of the stream, where the trail crossed
+it. It ran in a deep hollow, full of trees; as we looked down, we saw a
+confused crowd of horsemen riding through the water; and among the dingy
+habiliment of our party glittered the uniforms of four dragoons.
+
+Shaw came whipping his horse up the back, in advance of the rest, with
+a somewhat indignant countenance. The first word he spoke was a blessing
+fervently invoked on the head of R., who was riding, with a crest-fallen
+air, in the rear. Thanks to the ingenious devices of the gentleman, we
+had missed the track entirely, and wandered, not toward the Platte, but
+to the village of the Iowa Indians. This we learned from the dragoons,
+who had lately deserted from Fort Leavenworth. They told us that our
+best plan now was to keep to the northward until we should strike the
+trail formed by several parties of Oregon emigrants, who had that season
+set out from St. Joseph's in Missouri.
+
+In extremely bad temper, we encamped on this ill-starred spot; while the
+deserters, whose case admitted of no delay rode rapidly forward. On the
+day following, striking the St. Joseph's trail, we turned our horses'
+heads toward Fort Laramie, then about seven hundred miles to the
+westward.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+"THE BIG BLUE"
+
+
+The great medley of Oregon and California emigrants, at their camps
+around Independence, had heard reports that several additional parties
+were on the point of setting out from St. Joseph's farther to the
+northward. The prevailing impression was that these were Mormons,
+twenty-three hundred in number; and a great alarm was excited in
+consequence. The people of Illinois and Missouri, who composed by far
+the greater part of the emigrants, have never been on the best terms
+with the "Latter Day Saints"; and it is notorious throughout the country
+how much blood has been spilt in their feuds, even far within the limits
+of the settlements. No one could predict what would be the result, when
+large armed bodies of these fanatics should encounter the most impetuous
+and reckless of their old enemies on the broad prairie, far beyond the
+reach of law or military force. The women and children at Independence
+raised a great outcry; the men themselves were seriously alarmed; and,
+as I learned, they sent to Colonel Kearny, requesting an escort of
+dragoons as far as the Platte. This was refused; and as the sequel
+proved, there was no occasion for it. The St. Joseph's emigrants were as
+good Christians and as zealous Mormon-haters as the rest; and the very
+few families of the "Saints" who passed out this season by the route of
+the Platte remained behind until the great tide of emigration had gone
+by; standing in quite as much awe of the "gentiles" as the latter did of
+them.
+
+We were now, as I before mentioned, upon this St. Joseph's trail. It was
+evident, by the traces, that large parties were a few days in advance of
+us; and as we too supposed them to be Mormons, we had some apprehension
+of interruption.
+
+The journey was somewhat monotonous. One day we rode on for hours,
+without seeing a tree or a bush; before, behind, and on either side,
+stretched the vast expanse, rolling in a succession of graceful swells,
+covered with the unbroken carpet of fresh green grass. Here and there a
+crow, or a raven, or a turkey-buzzard, relieved the uniformity.
+
+"What shall we do to-night for wood and water?" we began to ask of each
+other; for the sun was within an hour of setting. At length a dark green
+speck appeared, far off on the right; it was the top of a tree, peering
+over a swell of the prairie; and leaving the trail, we made all haste
+toward it. It proved to be the vanguard of a cluster of bushes and low
+trees, that surrounded some pools of water in an extensive hollow; so we
+encamped on the rising ground near it.
+
+Shaw and I were sitting in the tent, when Delorier thrust his brown face
+and old felt hat into the opening, and dilating his eyes to their utmost
+extent, announced supper. There were the tin cups and the iron spoons,
+arranged in military order on the grass, and the coffee-pot predominant
+in the midst. The meal was soon dispatched; but Henry Chatillon still
+sat cross-legged, dallying with the remnant of his coffee, the beverage
+in universal use upon the prairie, and an especial favorite with him. He
+preferred it in its virgin flavor, unimpaired by sugar or cream; and
+on the present occasion it met his entire approval, being exceedingly
+strong, or, as he expressed it, "right black."
+
+It was a rich and gorgeous sunset--an American sunset; and the ruddy
+glow of the sky was reflected from some extensive pools of water among
+the shadowy copses in the meadow below.
+
+"I must have a bath to-night," said Shaw. "How is it, Delorier? Any
+chance for a swim down here?"
+
+"Ah! I cannot tell; just as you please, monsieur," replied Delorier,
+shrugging his shoulders, perplexed by his ignorance of English, and
+extremely anxious to conform in all respects to the opinion and wishes
+of his bourgeois.
+
+"Look at his moccasion," said I. "It has evidently been lately immersed
+in a profound abyss of black mud."
+
+"Come," said Shaw; "at any rate we can see for ourselves."
+
+We set out together; and as we approached the bushes, which were at some
+distance, we found the ground becoming rather treacherous. We could
+only get along by stepping upon large clumps of tall rank grass, with
+fathomless gulfs between, like innumerable little quaking islands in
+an ocean of mud, where a false step would have involved our boots in a
+catastrophe like that which had befallen Delorier's moccasins. The thing
+looked desperate; we separated, so as to search in different directions,
+Shaw going off to the right, while I kept straight forward. At last I
+came to the edge of the bushes: they were young waterwillows, covered
+with their caterpillar-like blossoms, but intervening between them
+and the last grass clump was a black and deep slough, over which, by a
+vigorous exertion, I contrived to jump. Then I shouldered my way through
+the willows, tramping them down by main force, till I came to a wide
+stream of water, three inches deep, languidly creeping along over a
+bottom of sleek mud. My arrival produced a great commotion. A huge green
+bull-frog uttered an indignant croak, and jumped off the bank with a
+loud splash: his webbed feet twinkled above the surface, as he jerked
+them energetically upward, and I could see him ensconcing himself in
+the unresisting slime at the bottom, whence several large air bubbles
+struggled lazily to the top. Some little spotted frogs instantly
+followed the patriarch's example; and then three turtles, not larger
+than a dollar, tumbled themselves off a broad "lily pad," where they had
+been reposing. At the same time a snake, gayly striped with black and
+yellow, glided out from the bank, and writhed across to the other side;
+and a small stagnant pool into which my foot had inadvertently pushed a
+stone was instantly alive with a congregation of black tadpoles.
+
+"Any chance for a bath, where you are?" called out Shaw, from a
+distance.
+
+The answer was not encouraging. I retreated through the willows, and
+rejoining my companion, we proceeded to push our researches in company.
+Not far on the right, a rising ground, covered with trees and bushes,
+seemed to sink down abruptly to the water, and give hope of better
+success; so toward this we directed our steps. When we reached the place
+we found it no easy matter to get along between the hill and the water,
+impeded as we were by a growth of stiff, obstinate young birch-trees,
+laced together by grapevines. In the twilight, we now and then, to
+support ourselves, snatched at the touch-me-not stem of some ancient
+sweet-brier. Shaw, who was in advance, suddenly uttered a somewhat
+emphatic monosyllable; and looking up I saw him with one hand grasping a
+sapling, and one foot immersed in the water, from which he had forgotten
+to withdraw it, his whole attention being engaged in contemplating the
+movements of a water-snake, about five feet long, curiously checkered
+with black and green, who was deliberately swimming across the pool.
+There being no stick or stone at hand to pelt him with, we looked at him
+for a time in silent disgust; and then pushed forward. Our perseverence
+was at last rewarded; for several rods farther on, we emerged upon a
+little level grassy nook among the brushwood, and by an extraordinary
+dispensation of fortune, the weeds and floating sticks, which elsewhere
+covered the pool, seemed to have drawn apart, and left a few yards of
+clear water just in front of this favored spot. We sounded it with a
+stick; it was four feet deep; we lifted a specimen in our cupped hands;
+it seemed reasonably transparent, so we decided that the time for action
+was arrived. But our ablutions were suddenly interrupted by ten
+thousand punctures, like poisoned needles, and the humming of myriads
+of over-grown mosquitoes, rising in all directions from their native mud
+and slime and swarming to the feast. We were fain to beat a retreat with
+all possible speed.
+
+We made toward the tents, much refreshed by the bath which the heat of
+the weather, joined to our prejudices, had rendered very desirable.
+
+"What's the matter with the captain? look at him!" said Shaw. The
+captain stood alone on the prairie, swinging his hat violently around
+his head, and lifting first one foot and then the other, without moving
+from the spot. First he looked down to the ground with an air of
+supreme abhorrence; then he gazed upward with a perplexed and indignant
+countenance, as if trying to trace the flight of an unseen enemy. We
+called to know what was the matter; but he replied only by execrations
+directed against some unknown object. We approached, when our ears were
+saluted by a droning sound, as if twenty bee-hives had been overturned
+at once. The air above was full of large black insects, in a state of
+great commotion, and multitudes were flying about just above the tops of
+the grass blades.
+
+"Don't be afraid," called the captain, observing us recoil. "The brutes
+won't sting."
+
+At this I knocked one down with my hat, and discovered him to be no
+other than a "dorbug"; and looking closer, we found the ground thickly
+perforated with their holes.
+
+We took a hasty leave of this flourishing colony, and walking up
+the rising ground to the tents, found Delorier's fire still glowing
+brightly. We sat down around it, and Shaw began to expatiate on the
+admirable facilities for bathing that we had discovered, and recommended
+the captain by all means to go down there before breakfast in the
+morning. The captain was in the act of remarking that he couldn't have
+believed it possible, when he suddenly interrupted himself, and clapped
+his hand to his cheek, exclaiming that "those infernal humbugs were at
+him again." In fact, we began to hear sounds as if bullets were humming
+over our heads. In a moment something rapped me sharply on the forehead,
+then upon the neck, and immediately I felt an indefinite number of sharp
+wiry claws in active motion, as if their owner were bent on pushing his
+explorations farther. I seized him, and dropped him into the fire.
+Our party speedily broke up, and we adjourned to our respective tents,
+where, closing the opening fast, we hoped to be exempt from invasion.
+But all precaution was fruitless. The dorbugs hummed through the tent,
+and marched over our faces until day-light; when, opening our blankets,
+we found several dozen clinging there with the utmost tenacity. The
+first object that met our eyes in the morning was Delorier, who seemed
+to be apostrophizing his frying-pan, which he held by the handle at
+arm's length. It appeared that he had left it at night by the fire; and
+the bottom was now covered with dorbugs, firmly imbedded. Multitudes
+beside, curiously parched and shriveled, lay scattered among the ashes.
+
+The horses and mules were turned loose to feed. We had just taken our
+seats at breakfast, or rather reclined in the classic mode, when an
+exclamation from Henry Chatillon, and a shout of alarm from the captain,
+gave warning of some casualty, and looking up, we saw the whole band
+of animals, twenty-three in number, filing off for the settlements, the
+incorrigible Pontiac at their head, jumping along with hobbled feet,
+at a gait much more rapid than graceful. Three or four of us ran to cut
+them off, dashing as best we might through the tall grass, which was
+glittering with myriads of dewdrops. After a race of a mile or more,
+Shaw caught a horse. Tying the trail-rope by way of bridle round the
+animal's jaw, and leaping upon his back, he got in advance of the
+remaining fugitives, while we, soon bringing them together, drove them
+in a crowd up to the tents, where each man caught and saddled his own.
+Then we heard lamentations and curses; for half the horses had broke
+their hobbles, and many were seriously galled by attempting to run in
+fetters.
+
+It was late that morning before we were on the march; and early in the
+afternoon we were compelled to encamp, for a thunder-gust came up and
+suddenly enveloped us in whirling sheets of rain. With much ado, we
+pitched our tents amid the tempest, and all night long the thunder
+bellowed and growled over our heads. In the morning, light peaceful
+showers succeeded the cataracts of rain, that had been drenching us
+through the canvas of our tents. About noon, when there were some
+treacherous indications of fair weather, we got in motion again.
+
+Not a breath of air stirred over the free and open prairie; the clouds
+were like light piles of cotton; and where the blue sky was visible, it
+wore a hazy and languid aspect. The sun beat down upon us with a sultry
+penetrating heat almost insupportable, and as our party crept slowly
+along over the interminable level, the horses hung their heads as
+they waded fetlock deep through the mud, and the men slouched into
+the easiest position upon the saddle. At last, toward evening, the old
+familiar black heads of thunderclouds rose fast above the horizon, and
+the same deep muttering of distant thunder that had become the ordinary
+accompaniment of our afternoon's journey began to roll hoarsely over
+the prairie. Only a few minutes elapsed before the whole sky was densely
+shrouded, and the prairie and some clusters of woods in front assumed a
+purple hue beneath the inky shadows. Suddenly from the densest fold of
+the cloud the flash leaped out, quivering again and again down to the
+edge of the prairie; and at the same instant came the sharp burst and
+the long rolling peal of the thunder. A cool wind, filled with the smell
+of rain, just then overtook us, leveling the tall grass by the side of
+the path.
+
+"Come on; we must ride for it!" shouted Shaw, rushing past at full
+speed, his led horse snorting at his side. The whole party broke into
+full gallop, and made for the trees in front. Passing these, we found
+beyond them a meadow which they half inclosed. We rode pell-mell upon
+the ground, leaped from horseback, tore off our saddles; and in a moment
+each man was kneeling at his horse's feet. The hobbles were adjusted,
+and the animals turned loose; then, as the wagons came wheeling rapidly
+to the spot, we seized upon the tent-poles, and just as the storm broke,
+we were prepared to receive it. It came upon us almost with the darkness
+of night; the trees, which were close at hand, were completely shrouded
+by the roaring torrents of rain.
+
+We were sitting in the tent, when Delorier, with his broad felt hat
+hanging about his ears, and his shoulders glistening with rain, thrust
+in his head.
+
+"Voulez-vous du souper, tout de suite? I can make a fire, sous la
+charette--I b'lieve so--I try."
+
+"Never mind supper, man; come in out of the rain."
+
+Delorier accordingly crouched in the entrance, for modesty would not
+permit him to intrude farther.
+
+Our tent was none of the best defense against such a cataract. The
+rain could not enter bodily, but it beat through the canvas in a fine
+drizzle, that wetted us just as effectively. We sat upon our saddles
+with faces of the utmost surliness, while the water dropped from the
+vizors of our caps, and trickled down our cheeks. My india-rubber cloak
+conducted twenty little rapid streamlets to the ground; and Shaw's
+blanket-coat was saturated like a sponge. But what most concerned us
+was the sight of several puddles of water rapidly accumulating; one
+in particular, that was gathering around the tent-pole, threatened
+to overspread the whole area within the tent, holding forth but an
+indifferent promise of a comfortable night's rest. Toward sunset,
+however, the storm ceased as suddenly as it began. A bright streak
+of clear red sky appeared above the western verge of the prairie, the
+horizontal rays of the sinking sun streamed through it and glittered in
+a thousand prismatic colors upon the dripping groves and the prostrate
+grass. The pools in the tent dwindled and sunk into the saturated soil.
+
+But all our hopes were delusive. Scarcely had night set in, when the
+tumult broke forth anew. The thunder here is not like the tame thunder
+of the Atlantic coast. Bursting with a terrific crash directly above our
+heads, it roared over the boundless waste of prairie, seeming to roll
+around the whole circle of the firmament with a peculiar and awful
+reverberation. The lightning flashed all night, playing with its livid
+glare upon the neighboring trees, revealing the vast expanse of the
+plain, and then leaving us shut in as by a palpable wall of darkness.
+
+It did not disturb us much. Now and then a peal awakened us, and made us
+conscious of the electric battle that was raging, and of the floods that
+dashed upon the stanch canvas over our heads. We lay upon india-rubber
+cloths, placed between our blankets and the soil. For a while they
+excluded the water to admiration; but when at length it accumulated and
+began to run over the edges, they served equally well to retain it, so
+that toward the end of the night we were unconsciously reposing in small
+pools of rain.
+
+On finally awaking in the morning the prospect was not a cheerful one.
+The rain no longer poured in torrents; but it pattered with a quiet
+pertinacity upon the strained and saturated canvas. We disengaged
+ourselves from our blankets, every fiber of which glistened with little
+beadlike drops of water, and looked out in vain hope of discovering some
+token of fair weather. The clouds, in lead-colored volumes, rested upon
+the dismal verge of the prairie, or hung sluggishly overhead, while the
+earth wore an aspect no more attractive than the heavens, exhibiting
+nothing but pools of water, grass beaten down, and mud well trampled by
+our mules and horses. Our companions' tent, with an air of forlorn
+and passive misery, and their wagons in like manner, drenched and
+woe-begone, stood not far off. The captain was just returning from his
+morning's inspection of the horses. He stalked through the mist and
+rain, with his plaid around his shoulders; his little pipe, dingy as an
+antiquarian relic, projecting from beneath his mustache, and his brother
+Jack at his heels.
+
+"Good-morning, captain."
+
+"Good-morning to your honors," said the captain, affecting the Hibernian
+accent; but at that instant, as he stooped to enter the tent, he tripped
+upon the cords at the entrance, and pitched forward against the guns
+which were strapped around the pole in the center.
+
+"You are nice men, you are!" said he, after an ejaculation not necessary
+to be recorded, "to set a man-trap before your door every morning to
+catch your visitors."
+
+Then he sat down upon Henry Chatillon's saddle. We tossed a piece of
+buffalo robe to Jack, who was looking about in some embarrassment. He
+spread it on the ground, and took his seat, with a stolid countenance,
+at his brother's side.
+
+"Exhilarating weather, captain!"
+
+"Oh, delightful, delightful!" replied the captain. "I knew it would be
+so; so much for starting yesterday at noon! I knew how it would turn
+out; and I said so at the time."
+
+"You said just the contrary to us. We were in no hurry, and only moved
+because you insisted on it."
+
+"Gentlemen," said the captain, taking his pipe from his mouth with an
+air of extreme gravity, "it was no plan of mine. There is a man among us
+who is determined to have everything his own way. You may express your
+opinion; but don't expect him to listen. You may be as reasonable as
+you like: oh, it all goes for nothing! That man is resolved to rule the
+roost and he'll set his face against any plan that he didn't think of
+himself."
+
+The captain puffed for a while at his pipe, as if meditating upon his
+grievances; then he began again:
+
+"For twenty years I have been in the British army; and in all that time
+I never had half so much dissension, and quarreling, and nonsense, as
+since I have been on this cursed prairie. He's the most uncomfortable
+man I ever met."
+
+"Yes," said Jack; "and don't you know, Bill, how he drank up all the
+coffee last night, and put the rest by for himself till the morning!"
+
+"He pretends to know everything," resumed the captain; "nobody must give
+orders but he! It's, oh! we must do this; and, oh! we must do that; and
+the tent must be pitched here, and the horses must be picketed there;
+for nobody knows as well as he does."
+
+We were a little surprised at this disclosure of domestic dissensions
+among our allies, for though we knew of their existence, we were not
+aware of their extent. The persecuted captain seeming wholly at a loss
+as to the course of conduct that he should pursue, we recommended him to
+adopt prompt and energetic measures; but all his military experience
+had failed to teach him the indispensable lesson to be "hard," when the
+emergency requires it.
+
+"For twenty years," he repeated, "I have been in the British army, and
+in that time I have been intimately acquainted with some two hundred
+officers, young and old, and I never yet quarreled with any man. Oh,
+'anything for a quiet life!' that's my maxim."
+
+We intimated that the prairie was hardly the place to enjoy a quiet
+life, but that, in the present circumstances, the best thing he could
+do toward securing his wished-for tranquillity, was immediately to put
+a period to the nuisance that disturbed it. But again the captain's
+easy good-nature recoiled from the task. The somewhat vigorous measures
+necessary to gain the desired result were utterly repugnant to him; he
+preferred to pocket his grievances, still retaining the privilege of
+grumbling about them. "Oh, anything for a quiet life!" he said again,
+circling back to his favorite maxim.
+
+But to glance at the previous history of our transatlantic confederates.
+The captain had sold his commission, and was living in bachelor ease
+and dignity in his paternal halls, near Dublin. He hunted, fished, rode
+steeple-chases, ran races, and talked of his former exploits. He
+was surrounded with the trophies of his rod and gun; the walls were
+plentifully garnished, he told us, with moose-horns and deer-horns,
+bear-skins, and fox-tails; for the captain's double-barreled rifle had
+seen service in Canada and Jamaica; he had killed salmon in Nova Scotia,
+and trout, by his own account, in all the streams of the three kingdoms.
+But in an evil hour a seductive stranger came from London; no less a
+person than R., who, among other multitudinous wanderings, had once been
+upon the western prairies, and naturally enough was anxious to visit
+them again. The captain's imagination was inflamed by the pictures of a
+hunter's paradise that his guest held forth; he conceived an ambition
+to add to his other trophies the horns of a buffalo, and the claws of
+a grizzly bear; so he and R. struck a league to travel in company. Jack
+followed his brother, as a matter of course. Two weeks on board the
+Atlantic steamer brought them to Boston; in two weeks more of hard
+traveling they reached St. Louis, from which a ride of six days
+carried them to the frontier; and here we found them, in full tide of
+preparation for their journey.
+
+We had been throughout on terms of intimacy with the captain, but
+R., the motive power of our companions' branch of the expedition, was
+scarcely known to us. His voice, indeed, might be heard incessantly; but
+at camp he remained chiefly within the tent, and on the road he either
+rode by himself, or else remained in close conversation with his friend
+Wright, the muleteer. As the captain left the tent that morning, I
+observed R. standing by the fire, and having nothing else to do, I
+determined to ascertain, if possible, what manner of man he was. He had
+a book under his arm, but just at present he was engrossed in actively
+superintending the operations of Sorel, the hunter, who was cooking some
+corn-bread over the coals for breakfast. R. was a well-formed and rather
+good-looking man, some thirty years old; considerably younger than the
+captain. He wore a beard and mustache of the oakum complexion, and
+his attire was altogether more elegant than one ordinarily sees on the
+prairie. He wore his cap on one side of his head; his checked shirt,
+open in front, was in very neat order, considering the circumstances,
+and his blue pantaloons, of the John Bull cut, might once have figured
+in Bond Street.
+
+"Turn over that cake, man! turn it over, quick! Don't you see it
+burning?"
+
+"It ain't half done," growled Sorel, in the amiable tone of a whipped
+bull-dog.
+
+"It is. Turn it over, I tell you!"
+
+Sorel, a strong, sullen-looking Canadian, who from having spent his life
+among the wildest and most remote of the Indian tribes, had imbibed much
+of their dark, vindictive spirit, looked ferociously up, as if he longed
+to leap upon his bourgeois and throttle him; but he obeyed the order,
+coming from so experienced an artist.
+
+"It was a good idea of yours," said I, seating myself on the tongue of a
+wagon, "to bring Indian meal with you."
+
+"Yes, yes" said R. "It's good bread for the prairie--good bread for the
+prairie. I tell you that's burning again."
+
+Here he stooped down, and unsheathing the silver-mounted hunting-knife
+in his belt, began to perform the part of cook himself; at the same
+time requesting me to hold for a moment the book under his arm, which
+interfered with the exercise of these important functions. I opened
+it; it was "Macaulay's Lays"; and I made some remark, expressing my
+admiration of the work.
+
+"Yes, yes; a pretty good thing. Macaulay can do better than that though.
+I know him very well. I have traveled with him. Where was it we first
+met--at Damascus? No, no; it was in Italy."
+
+"So," said I, "you have been over the same ground with your countryman,
+the author of 'Eothen'? There has been some discussion in America as to
+who he is. I have heard Milne's name mentioned."
+
+"Milne's? Oh, no, no, no; not at all. It was Kinglake; Kinglake's the
+man. I know him very well; that is, I have seen him."
+
+Here Jack C., who stood by, interposed a remark (a thing not common with
+him), observing that he thought the weather would become fair before
+twelve o'clock.
+
+"It's going to rain all day," said R., "and clear up in the middle of
+the night."
+
+Just then the clouds began to dissipate in a very unequivocal manner;
+but Jack, not caring to defend his point against so authoritative a
+declaration, walked away whistling, and we resumed our conversation.
+
+"Borrow, the author of 'The Bible in Spain,' I presume you know him
+too?"
+
+"Oh, certainly; I know all those men. By the way, they told me that one
+of your American writers, Judge Story, had died lately. I edited some of
+his works in London; not without faults, though."
+
+Here followed an erudite commentary on certain points of law, in which
+he particularly animadverted on the errors into which he considered that
+the judge had been betrayed. At length, having touched successively
+on an infinite variety of topics, I found that I had the happiness
+of discovering a man equally competent to enlighten me upon them all,
+equally an authority on matters of science or literature, philosophy or
+fashion. The part I bore in the conversation was by no means a prominent
+one; it was only necessary to set him going, and when he had run long
+enough upon one topic, to divert him to another and lead him on to pour
+out his heaps of treasure in succession.
+
+"What has that fellow been saying to you?" said Shaw, as I returned to
+the tent. "I have heard nothing but his talking for the last half-hour."
+
+R. had none of the peculiar traits of the ordinary "British snob";
+his absurdities were all his own, belonging to no particular nation or
+clime. He was possessed with an active devil that had driven him over
+land and sea, to no great purpose, as it seemed; for although he had the
+usual complement of eyes and ears, the avenues between these organs and
+his brain appeared remarkably narrow and untrodden. His energy was much
+more conspicuous than his wisdom; but his predominant characteristic was
+a magnanimous ambition to exercise on all occasions an awful rule and
+supremacy, and this propensity equally displayed itself, as the reader
+will have observed, whether the matter in question was the baking of a
+hoe-cake or a point of international law. When such diverse elements
+as he and the easy-tempered captain came in contact, no wonder some
+commotion ensued; R. rode roughshod, from morning till night, over his
+military ally.
+
+At noon the sky was clear and we set out, trailing through mud and slime
+six inches deep. That night we were spared the customary infliction of
+the shower bath.
+
+On the next afternoon we were moving slowly along, not far from a patch
+of woods which lay on the right. Jack C. rode a little in advance;
+
+
+The livelong day he had not spoke;
+
+
+when suddenly he faced about, pointed to the woods, and roared out to
+his brother:
+
+"O Bill! here's a cow!"
+
+The captain instantly galloped forward, and he and Jack made a vain
+attempt to capture the prize; but the cow, with a well-grounded distrust
+of their intentions, took refuge among the trees. R. joined them, and
+they soon drove her out. We watched their evolutions as they galloped
+around here, trying in vain to noose her with their trail-ropes, which
+they had converted into lariettes for the occasion. At length they
+resorted to milder measures, and the cow was driven along with the
+party. Soon after the usual thunderstorm came up, the wind blowing with
+such fury that the streams of rain flew almost horizontally along the
+prairie, roaring like a cataract. The horses turned tail to the storm,
+and stood hanging their heads, bearing the infliction with an air of
+meekness and resignation; while we drew our heads between our shoulders,
+and crouched forward, so as to make our backs serve as a pent-house
+for the rest of our persons. Meanwhile the cow, taking advantage of the
+tumult, ran off, to the great discomfiture of the captain, who seemed to
+consider her as his own especial prize, since she had been discovered by
+Jack. In defiance of the storm, he pulled his cap tight over his brows,
+jerked a huge buffalo pistol from his holster, and set out at full speed
+after her. This was the last we saw of them for some time, the mist and
+rain making an impenetrable veil; but at length we heard the captain's
+shout, and saw him looming through the tempest, the picture of a
+Hibernian cavalier, with his cocked pistol held aloft for safety's sake,
+and a countenance of anxiety and excitement. The cow trotted before him,
+but exhibited evident signs of an intention to run off again, and the
+captain was roaring to us to head her. But the rain had got in behind
+our coat collars, and was traveling over our necks in numerous little
+streamlets, and being afraid to move our heads, for fear of admitting
+more, we sat stiff and immovable, looking at the captain askance, and
+laughing at his frantic movements. At last the cow made a sudden plunge
+and ran off; the captain grasped his pistol firmly, spurred his horse,
+and galloped after, with evident designs of mischief. In a moment we
+heard the faint report, deadened by the rain, and then the conqueror
+and his victim reappeared, the latter shot through the body, and quite
+helpless. Not long after the storm moderated and we advanced again. The
+cow walked painfully along under the charge of Jack, to whom the captain
+had committed her, while he himself rode forward in his old capacity
+of vedette. We were approaching a long line of trees, that followed
+a stream stretching across our path, far in front, when we beheld the
+vedette galloping toward us, apparently much excited, but with a broad
+grin on his face.
+
+"Let that cow drop behind!" he shouted to us; "here's her owners!" And
+in fact, as we approached the line of trees, a large white object, like
+a tent, was visible behind them. On approaching, however, we found,
+instead of the expected Mormon camp, nothing but the lonely prairie, and
+a large white rock standing by the path. The cow therefore resumed her
+place in our procession. She walked on until we encamped, when R. firmly
+approaching with his enormous English double-barreled rifle, calmly and
+deliberately took aim at her heart, and discharged into it first one
+bullet and then the other. She was then butchered on the most approved
+principles of woodcraft, and furnished a very welcome item to our
+somewhat limited bill of fare.
+
+In a day or two more we reached the river called the "Big Blue." By
+titles equally elegant, almost all the streams of this region are
+designated. We had struggled through ditches and little brooks all that
+morning; but on traversing the dense woods that lined the banks of the
+Blue, we found more formidable difficulties awaited us, for the stream,
+swollen by the rains, was wide, deep, and rapid.
+
+No sooner were we on the spot than R. had flung off his clothes, and was
+swimming across, or splashing through the shallows, with the end of a
+rope between his teeth. We all looked on in admiration, wondering what
+might be the design of this energetic preparation; but soon we heard him
+shouting: "Give that rope a turn round that stump! You, Sorel: do you
+hear? Look sharp now, Boisverd! Come over to this side, some of you, and
+help me!" The men to whom these orders were directed paid not the
+least attention to them, though they were poured out without pause
+or intermission. Henry Chatillon directed the work, and it proceeded
+quietly and rapidly. R.'s sharp brattling voice might have been
+heard incessantly; and he was leaping about with the utmost activity,
+multiplying himself, after the manner of great commanders, as if his
+universal presence and supervision were of the last necessity. His
+commands were rather amusingly inconsistent; for when he saw that the
+men would not do as he told them, he wisely accommodated himself
+to circumstances, and with the utmost vehemence ordered them to do
+precisely that which they were at the time engaged upon, no doubt
+recollecting the story of Mahomet and the refractory mountain.
+Shaw smiled significantly; R. observed it, and, approaching with a
+countenance of lofty indignation, began to vapor a little, but was
+instantly reduced to silence.
+
+The raft was at length complete. We piled our goods upon it, with
+the exception of our guns, which each man chose to retain in his own
+keeping. Sorel, Boisverd, Wright and Delorier took their stations at
+the four corners, to hold it together, and swim across with it; and in
+a moment more, all our earthly possessions were floating on the turbid
+waters of the Big Blue. We sat on the bank, anxiously watching the
+result, until we saw the raft safe landed in a little cove far down on
+the opposite bank. The empty wagons were easily passed across; and then
+each man mounting a horse, we rode through the stream, the stray animals
+following of their own accord.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE PLATTE AND THE DESERT
+
+
+We were now arrived at the close of our solitary journeyings along the
+St. Joseph's trail. On the evening of the 23d of May we encamped near
+its junction with the old legitimate trail of the Oregon emigrants. We
+had ridden long that afternoon, trying in vain to find wood and water,
+until at length we saw the sunset sky reflected from a pool encircled by
+bushes and a rock or two. The water lay in the bottom of a hollow, the
+smooth prairie gracefully rising in oceanlike swells on every side.
+We pitched our tents by it; not however before the keen eye of Henry
+Chatillon had discerned some unusual object upon the faintly-defined
+outline of the distant swell. But in the moist, hazy atmosphere of the
+evening, nothing could be clearly distinguished. As we lay around the
+fire after supper, a low and distant sound, strange enough amid the
+loneliness of the prairie, reached our ears--peals of laughter, and the
+faint voices of men and women. For eight days we had not encountered a
+human being, and this singular warning of their vicinity had an effect
+extremely wild and impressive.
+
+About dark a sallow-faced fellow descended the hill on horseback, and
+splashing through the pool rode up to the tents. He was enveloped in a
+huge cloak, and his broad felt hat was weeping about his ears with
+the drizzling moisture of the evening. Another followed, a stout,
+square-built, intelligent-looking man, who announced himself as leader
+of an emigrant party encamped a mile in advance of us. About twenty
+wagons, he said, were with him; the rest of his party were on the
+other side of the Big Blue, waiting for a woman who was in the pains of
+child-birth, and quarreling meanwhile among themselves.
+
+These were the first emigrants that we had overtaken, although we had
+found abundant and melancholy traces of their progress throughout the
+whole course of the journey. Sometimes we passed the grave of one who
+had sickened and died on the way. The earth was usually torn up, and
+covered thickly with wolf-tracks. Some had escaped this violation. One
+morning a piece of plank, standing upright on the summit of a grassy
+hill, attracted our notice, and riding up to it we found the following
+words very roughly traced upon it, apparently by a red-hot piece of
+iron:
+
+
+MARY ELLIS
+
+DIED MAY 7TH, 1845.
+
+Aged two months.
+
+
+Such tokens were of common occurrence, nothing could speak more for the
+hardihood, or rather infatuation, of the adventurers, or the sufferings
+that await them upon the journey.
+
+We were late in breaking up our camp on the following morning, and
+scarcely had we ridden a mile when we saw, far in advance of us, drawn
+against the horizon, a line of objects stretching at regular intervals
+along the level edge of the prairie. An intervening swell soon hid them
+from sight, until, ascending it a quarter of an hour after, we saw close
+before us the emigrant caravan, with its heavy white wagons creeping on
+in their slow procession, and a large drove of cattle following behind.
+Half a dozen yellow-visaged Missourians, mounted on horseback, were
+cursing and shouting among them; their lank angular proportions
+enveloped in brown homespun, evidently cut and adjusted by the hands
+of a domestic female tailor. As we approached, they greeted us with
+the polished salutation: "How are ye, boys? Are ye for Oregon or
+California?"
+
+As we pushed rapidly past the wagons, children's faces were thrust
+out from the white coverings to look at us; while the care-worn,
+thin-featured matron, or the buxom girl, seated in front, suspended
+the knitting on which most of them were engaged to stare at us with
+wondering curiosity. By the side of each wagon stalked the proprietor,
+urging on his patient oxen, who shouldered heavily along, inch by
+inch, on their interminable journey. It was easy to see that fear and
+dissension prevailed among them; some of the men--but these, with one
+exception, were bachelors--looked wistfully upon us as we rode lightly
+and swiftly past, and then impatiently at their own lumbering wagons
+and heavy-gaited oxen. Others were unwilling to advance at all until
+the party they had left behind should have rejoined them. Many were
+murmuring against the leader they had chosen, and wished to depose him;
+and this discontent was fermented by some ambitious spirits, who had
+hopes of succeeding in his place. The women were divided between regrets
+for the homes they had left and apprehension of the deserts and the
+savages before them.
+
+We soon left them far behind, and fondly hoped that we had taken a final
+leave; but unluckily our companions' wagon stuck so long in a deep muddy
+ditch that, before it was extricated, the van of the emigrant caravan
+appeared again, descending a ridge close at hand. Wagon after wagon
+plunged through the mud; and as it was nearly noon, and the place
+promised shade and water, we saw with much gratification that they were
+resolved to encamp. Soon the wagons were wheeled into a circle; the
+cattle were grazing over the meadow, and the men with sour, sullen
+faces, were looking about for wood and water. They seemed to meet with
+but indifferent success. As we left the ground, I saw a tall slouching
+fellow with the nasal accent of "down east," contemplating the contents
+of his tin cup, which he had just filled with water.
+
+"Look here, you," he said; "it's chock full of animals!"
+
+The cup, as he held it out, exhibited in fact an extraordinary variety
+and profusion of animal and vegetable life.
+
+Riding up the little hill and looking back on the meadow, we could
+easily see that all was not right in the camp of the emigrants. The
+men were crowded together, and an angry discussion seemed to be going
+forward. R. was missing from his wonted place in the line, and the
+captain told us that he had remained behind to get his horse shod by a
+blacksmith who was attached to the emigrant party. Something whispered
+in our ears that mischief was on foot; we kept on, however, and coming
+soon to a stream of tolerable water, we stopped to rest and dine. Still
+the absentee lingered behind. At last, at the distance of a mile, he
+and his horse suddenly appeared, sharply defined against the sky on the
+summit of a hill; and close behind, a huge white object rose slowly into
+view.
+
+"What is that blockhead bringing with him now?"
+
+A moment dispelled the mystery. Slowly and solemnly one behind the
+other, four long trains of oxen and four emigrant wagons rolled over the
+crest of the declivity and gravely descended, while R. rode in state
+in the van. It seems that, during the process of shoeing the horse,
+the smothered dissensions among the emigrants suddenly broke into open
+rupture. Some insisted on pushing forward, some on remaining where they
+were, and some on going back. Kearsley, their captain, threw up his
+command in disgust. "And now, boys," said he, "if any of you are for
+going ahead, just you come along with me."
+
+Four wagons, with ten men, one woman, and one small child, made up
+the force of the "go-ahead" faction, and R., with his usual proclivity
+toward mischief, invited them to join our party. Fear of the
+Indians--for I can conceive of no other motive--must have induced him
+to court so burdensome an alliance. As may well be conceived, these
+repeated instances of high-handed dealing sufficiently exasperated
+us. In this case, indeed, the men who joined us were all that could be
+desired; rude indeed in manner, but frank, manly, and intelligent.
+To tell them we could not travel with them was of course out of the
+question. I merely reminded Kearsley that if his oxen could not keep up
+with our mules he must expect to be left behind, as we could not consent
+to be further delayed on the journey; but he immediately replied, that
+his oxen "SHOULD keep up; and if they couldn't, why he allowed that he'd
+find out how to make 'em!" Having availed myself of what satisfaction
+could be derived from giving R. to understand my opinion of his conduct,
+I returned to our side of the camp.
+
+On the next day, as it chanced, our English companions broke the
+axle-tree of their wagon, and down came the whole cumbrous machine
+lumbering into the bed of a brook! Here was a day's work cut out for us.
+Meanwhile, our emigrant associates kept on their way, and so vigorously
+did they urge forward their powerful oxen that, with the broken
+axle-tree and other calamities, it was full a week before we overtook
+them; when at length we discovered them, one afternoon, crawling quietly
+along the sandy brink of the Platte. But meanwhile various incidents
+occurred to ourselves.
+
+It was probable that at this stage of our journey the Pawnees would
+attempt to rob us. We began therefore to stand guard in turn, dividing
+the night into three watches, and appointing two men for each. Delorier
+and I held guard together. We did not march with military precision to
+and fro before the tents; our discipline was by no means so stringent
+and rigid. We wrapped ourselves in our blankets, and sat down by the
+fire; and Delorier, combining his culinary functions with his duties as
+sentinel, employed himself in boiling the head of an antelope for our
+morning's repast. Yet we were models of vigilance in comparison with
+some of the party; for the ordinary practice of the guard was to
+establish himself in the most comfortable posture he could; lay his
+rifle on the ground, and enveloping his nose in the blanket, meditate
+on his mistress, or whatever subject best pleased him. This is all well
+enough when among Indians who do not habitually proceed further in their
+hostility than robbing travelers of their horses and mules, though,
+indeed, a Pawnee's forebearance is not always to be trusted; but in
+certain regions farther to the west, the guard must beware how he
+exposes his person to the light of the fire, lest perchance some
+keen-eyed skulking marksman should let fly a bullet or an arrow from
+amid the darkness.
+
+Among various tales that circulated around our camp fire was a rather
+curious one, told by Boisverd, and not inappropriate here. Boisverd was
+trapping with several companions on the skirts of the Blackfoot country.
+The man on guard, well knowing that it behooved him to put forth his
+utmost precaution, kept aloof from the firelight, and sat watching
+intently on all sides. At length he was aware of a dark, crouching
+figure, stealing noiselessly into the circle of the light. He hastily
+cocked his rifle, but the sharp click of the lock caught the ear of
+Blackfoot, whose senses were all on the alert. Raising his arrow,
+already fitted to the string, he shot in the direction of the sound. So
+sure was his aim that he drove it through the throat of the unfortunate
+guard, and then, with a loud yell, bounded from the camp.
+
+As I looked at the partner of my watch, puffing and blowing over his
+fire, it occurred to me that he might not prove the most efficient
+auxiliary in time of trouble.
+
+"Delorier," said I, "would you run away if the Pawnees should fire at
+us?"
+
+"Ah! oui, oui, monsieur!" he replied very decisively.
+
+I did not doubt the fact, but was a little surprised at the frankness of
+the confession.
+
+At this instant a most whimsical variety of voices--barks, howls, yelps,
+and whines--all mingled as it were together, sounded from the prairie,
+not far off, as if a whole conclave of wolves of every age and sex were
+assembled there. Delorier looked up from his work with a laugh, and
+began to imitate this curious medley of sounds with a most ludicrous
+accuracy. At this they were repeated with redoubled emphasis, the
+musician being apparently indignant at the successful efforts of a
+rival. They all proceeded from the throat of one little wolf, not
+larger than a spaniel, seated by himself at some distance. He was of
+the species called the prairie wolf; a grim-visaged, but harmless little
+brute, whose worst propensity is creeping among horses and gnawing the
+ropes of raw hide by which they are picketed around the camp. But
+other beasts roam the prairies, far more formidable in aspect and in
+character. These are the large white and gray wolves, whose deep howl we
+heard at intervals from far and near.
+
+At last I fell into a doze, and, awakening from it, found Delorier
+fast asleep. Scandalized by this breach of discipline, I was about to
+stimulate his vigilance by stirring him with the stock of my rifle; but
+compassion prevailing, I determined to let him sleep awhile, and then to
+arouse him, and administer a suitable reproof for such a forgetfulness
+of duty. Now and then I walked the rounds among the silent horses, to
+see that all was right. The night was chill, damp, and dark, the dank
+grass bending under the icy dewdrops. At the distance of a rod or two
+the tents were invisible, and nothing could be seen but the obscure
+figures of the horses, deeply breathing, and restlessly starting as they
+slept, or still slowly champing the grass. Far off, beyond the black
+outline of the prairie, there was a ruddy light, gradually increasing,
+like the glow of a conflagration; until at length the broad disk of the
+moon, blood-red, and vastly magnified by the vapors, rose slowly upon
+the darkness, flecked by one or two little clouds, and as the light
+poured over the gloomy plain, a fierce and stern howl, close at hand,
+seemed to greet it as an unwelcome intruder. There was something
+impressive and awful in the place and the hour; for I and the beasts
+were all that had consciousness for many a league around.
+
+Some days elapsed, and brought us near the Platte. Two men on horseback
+approached us one morning, and we watched them with the curiosity and
+interest that, upon the solitude of the plains, such an encounter always
+excites. They were evidently whites, from their mode of riding, though,
+contrary to the usage of that region, neither of them carried a rifle.
+
+"Fools!" remarked Henry Chatillon, "to ride that way on the prairie;
+Pawnee find them--then they catch it!"
+
+Pawnee HAD found them, and they had come very near "catching it";
+indeed, nothing saved them from trouble but the approach of our party.
+Shaw and I knew one of them; a man named Turner, whom we had seen at
+Westport. He and his companion belonged to an emigrant party encamped
+a few miles in advance, and had returned to look for some stray oxen,
+leaving their rifles, with characteristic rashness or ignorance behind
+them. Their neglect had nearly cost them dear; for just before we
+came up, half a dozen Indians approached, and seeing them apparently
+defenseless, one of the rascals seized the bridle of Turner's fine
+horse, and ordered him to dismount. Turner was wholly unarmed; but the
+other jerked a little revolving pistol out of his pocket, at which
+the Pawnee recoiled; and just then some of our men appearing in the
+distance, the whole party whipped their rugged little horses, and made
+off. In no way daunted, Turner foolishly persisted in going forward.
+
+Long after leaving him, and late this afternoon, in the midst of a
+gloomy and barren prairie, we came suddenly upon the great Pawnee trail,
+leading from their villages on the Platte to their war and hunting
+grounds to the southward. Here every summer pass the motley concourse;
+thousands of savages, men, women, and children, horses and mules, laden
+with their weapons and implements, and an innumerable multitude of
+unruly wolfish dogs, who have not acquired the civilized accomplishment
+of barking, but howl like their wild cousins of the prairie.
+
+The permanent winter villages of the Pawnees stand on the lower Platte,
+but throughout the summer the greater part of the inhabitants are
+wandering over the plains, a treacherous cowardly banditti, who by a
+thousand acts of pillage and murder have deserved summary chastisement
+at the hands of government. Last year a Dakota warrior performed a
+signal exploit at one of these villages. He approached it alone in the
+middle of a dark night, and clambering up the outside of one of the
+lodges which are in the form of a half-sphere, he looked in at the round
+hole made at the top for the escape of smoke. The dusky light from the
+smoldering embers showed him the forms of the sleeping inmates; and
+dropping lightly through the opening, he unsheathed his knife, and
+stirring the fire coolly selected his victims. One by one he stabbed and
+scalped them, when a child suddenly awoke and screamed. He rushed from
+the lodge, yelled a Sioux war-cry, shouted his name in triumph and
+defiance, and in a moment had darted out upon the dark prairie, leaving
+the whole village behind him in a tumult, with the howling and baying of
+dogs, the screams of women and the yells of the enraged warriors.
+
+Our friend Kearsley, as we learned on rejoining him, signalized himself
+by a less bloody achievement. He and his men were good woodsmen, and
+well skilled in the use of the rifle, but found themselves wholly out of
+their element on the prairie. None of them had ever seen a buffalo and
+they had very vague conceptions of his nature and appearance. On the
+day after they reached the Platte, looking toward a distant swell, they
+beheld a multitude of little black specks in motion upon its surface.
+
+"Take your rifles, boys," said Kearslcy, "and we'll have fresh meat for
+supper." This inducement was quite sufficient. The ten men left their
+wagons and set out in hot haste, some on horseback and some on foot, in
+pursuit of the supposed buffalo. Meanwhile a high grassy ridge shut the
+game from view; but mounting it after half an hour's running and riding,
+they found themselves suddenly confronted by about thirty mounted
+Pawnees! The amazement and consternation were mutual. Having nothing but
+their bows and arrows, the Indians thought their hour was come, and
+the fate that they were no doubt conscious of richly deserving about
+to overtake them. So they began, one and all, to shout forth the most
+cordial salutations of friendship, running up with extreme earnestness
+to shake hands with the Missourians, who were as much rejoiced as they
+were to escape the expected conflict.
+
+A low undulating line of sand-hills bounded the horizon before us. That
+day we rode ten consecutive hours, and it was dusk before we entered the
+hollows and gorges of these gloomy little hills. At length we gained the
+summit, and the long expected valley of the Platte lay before us. We
+all drew rein, and, gathering in a knot on the crest of the hill, sat
+joyfully looking down upon the prospect. It was right welcome; strange
+too, and striking to the imagination, and yet it had not one picturesque
+or beautiful feature; nor had it any of the features of grandeur, other
+than its vast extent, its solitude, and its wilderness. For league after
+league a plain as level as a frozen lake was outspread beneath us;
+here and there the Platte, divided into a dozen threadlike sluices, was
+traversing it, and an occasional clump of wood, rising in the midst like
+a shadowy island, relieved the monotony of the waste. No living thing
+was moving throughout the vast landscape, except the lizards that darted
+over the sand and through the rank grass and prickly-pear just at our
+feet. And yet stern and wild associations gave a singular interest to
+the view; for here each man lives by the strength of his arm and the
+valor of his heart. Here society is reduced to its original elements,
+the whole fabric of art and conventionality is struck rudely to pieces,
+and men find themselves suddenly brought back to the wants and resources
+of their original natures.
+
+We had passed the more toilsome and monotonous part of the journey; but
+four hundred miles still intervened between us and Fort Laramie; and to
+reach that point cost us the travel of three additional weeks. During
+the whole of this time we were passing up the center of a long narrow
+sandy plain, reaching like an outstretched belt nearly to the Rocky
+Mountains. Two lines of sand-hills, broken often into the wildest and
+most fantastic forms, flanked the valley at the distance of a mile or
+two on the right and left; while beyond them lay a barren, trackless
+waste--The Great American Desert--extending for hundreds of miles to the
+Arkansas on the one side, and the Missouri on the other. Before us and
+behind us, the level monotony of the plain was unbroken as far as the
+eye could reach. Sometimes it glared in the sun, an expanse of hot,
+bare sand; sometimes it was veiled by long coarse grass. Huge skulls
+and whitening bones of buffalo were scattered everywhere; the ground
+was tracked by myriads of them, and often covered with the circular
+indentations where the bulls had wallowed in the hot weather. From every
+gorge and ravine, opening from the hills, descended deep, well-worn
+paths, where the buffalo issue twice a day in regular procession down
+to drink in the Platte. The river itself runs through the midst, a thin
+sheet of rapid, turbid water, half a mile wide, and scarce two feet
+deep. Its low banks for the most part without a bush or a tree, are of
+loose sand, with which the stream is so charged that it grates on
+the teeth in drinking. The naked landscape is, of itself, dreary and
+monotonous enough, and yet the wild beasts and wild men that frequent
+the valley of the Platte make it a scene of interest and excitement to
+the traveler. Of those who have journeyed there, scarce one, perhaps,
+fails to look back with fond regret to his horse and his rifle.
+
+Early in the morning after we reached the Platte, a long procession of
+squalid savages approached our camp. Each was on foot, leading his horse
+by a rope of bull-hide. His attire consisted merely of a scanty cincture
+and an old buffalo robe, tattered and begrimed by use, which hung
+over his shoulders. His head was close shaven, except a ridge of hair
+reaching over the crown from the center of the forehead, very much like
+the long bristles on the back of a hyena, and he carried his bow and
+arrows in his hand, while his meager little horse was laden with dried
+buffalo meat, the produce of his hunting. Such were the first specimens
+that we met--and very indifferent ones they were--of the genuine savages
+of the prairie.
+
+They were the Pawnees whom Kearsley had encountered the day before, and
+belonged to a large hunting party known to be ranging the prairie in the
+vicinity. They strode rapidly past, within a furlong of our tents,
+not pausing or looking toward us, after the manner of Indians when
+meditating mischief or conscious of ill-desert. I went out and met them;
+and had an amicable conference with the chief, presenting him with
+half a pound of tobacco, at which unmerited bounty he expressed much
+gratification. These fellows, or some of their companions had committed
+a dastardly outrage upon an emigrant party in advance of us. Two men,
+out on horseback at a distance, were seized by them, but lashing their
+horses, they broke loose and fled. At this the Pawnees raised the yell
+and shot at them, transfixing the hindermost through the back with
+several arrows, while his companion galloped away and brought in the
+news to his party. The panic-stricken emigrants remained for several
+days in camp, not daring even to send out in quest of the dead body.
+
+The reader will recollect Turner, the man whose narrow escape was
+mentioned not long since. We heard that the men, whom the entreaties
+of his wife induced to go in search of him, found him leisurely driving
+along his recovered oxen, and whistling in utter contempt of the Pawnee
+nation. His party was encamped within two miles of us; but we passed
+them that morning, while the men were driving in the oxen, and the women
+packing their domestic utensils and their numerous offspring in the
+spacious patriarchal wagons. As we looked back we saw their caravan
+dragging its slow length along the plain; wearily toiling on its way, to
+found new empires in the West.
+
+Our New England climate is mild and equable compared with that of the
+Platte. This very morning, for instance, was close and sultry, the sun
+rising with a faint oppressive heat; when suddenly darkness gathered in
+the west, and a furious blast of sleet and hail drove full in our faces,
+icy cold, and urged with such demoniac vehemence that it felt like a
+storm of needles. It was curious to see the horses; they faced about
+in extreme displeasure, holding their tails like whipped dogs, and
+shivering as the angry gusts, howling louder than a concert of wolves,
+swept over us. Wright's long train of mules came sweeping round before
+the storm like a flight of brown snowbirds driven by a winter tempest.
+Thus we all remained stationary for some minutes, crouching close to our
+horses' necks, much too surly to speak, though once the captain looked
+up from between the collars of his coat, his face blood-red, and the
+muscles of his mouth contracted by the cold into a most ludicrous grin
+of agony. He grumbled something that sounded like a curse, directed
+as we believed, against the unhappy hour when he had first thought of
+leaving home. The thing was too good to last long; and the instant the
+puffs of wind subsided we erected our tents, and remained in camp for
+the rest of a gloomy and lowering day. The emigrants also encamped near
+at hand. We, being first on the ground, had appropriated all the wood
+within reach; so that our fire alone blazed cheerfully. Around it soon
+gathered a group of uncouth figures, shivering in the drizzling rain.
+Conspicuous among them were two or three of the half-savage men who
+spend their reckless lives in trapping among the Rocky Mountains, or
+in trading for the Fur Company in the Indian villages. They were all
+of Canadian extraction; their hard, weather-beaten faces and bushy
+mustaches looked out from beneath the hoods of their white capotes with
+a bad and brutish expression, as if their owner might be the willing
+agent of any villainy. And such in fact is the character of many of
+these men.
+
+On the day following we overtook Kearsley's wagons, and thenceforward,
+for a week or two, we were fellow-travelers. One good effect, at least,
+resulted from the alliance; it materially diminished the serious fatigue
+of standing guard; for the party being now more numerous, there were
+longer intervals between each man's turns of duty.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+THE BUFFALO
+
+
+Four days on the Platte, and yet no buffalo! Last year's signs of them
+were provokingly abundant; and wood being extremely scarce, we found an
+admirable substitute in bois de vache, which burns exactly like peat,
+producing no unpleasant effects. The wagons one morning had left the
+camp; Shaw and I were already on horseback, but Henry Chatillon still
+sat cross-legged by the dead embers of the fire, playing pensively with
+the lock of his rifle, while his sturdy Wyandotte pony stood quietly
+behind him, looking over his head. At last he got up, patted the neck of
+the pony (whom, from an exaggerated appreciation of his merits, he had
+christened "Five Hundred Dollar"), and then mounted with a melancholy
+air.
+
+"What is it, Henry?"
+
+"Ah, I feel lonesome; I never been here before; but I see away yonder
+over the buttes, and down there on the prairie, black--all black with
+buffalo!"
+
+In the afternoon he and I left the party in search of an antelope; until
+at the distance of a mile or two on the right, the tall white wagons
+and the little black specks of horsemen were just visible, so slowly
+advancing that they seemed motionless; and far on the left rose the
+broken line of scorched, desolate sand-hills. The vast plain waved with
+tall rank grass that swept our horses' bellies; it swayed to and fro in
+billows with the light breeze, and far and near antelope and wolves were
+moving through it, the hairy backs of the latter alternately appearing
+and disappearing as they bounded awkwardly along; while the antelope,
+with the simple curiosity peculiar to them, would often approach as
+closely, their little horns and white throats just visible above the
+grass tops, as they gazed eagerly at us with their round black eyes.
+
+I dismounted, and amused myself with firing at the wolves. Henry
+attentively scrutinized the surrounding landscape; at length he gave a
+shout, and called on me to mount again, pointing in the direction of the
+sand-hills. A mile and a half from us, two minute black specks
+slowly traversed the face of one of the bare glaring declivities, and
+disappeared behind the summit. "Let us go!" cried Henry, belaboring the
+sides of Five Hundred Dollar; and I following in his wake, we galloped
+rapidly through the rank grass toward the base of the hills.
+
+From one of their openings descended a deep ravine, widening as it
+issued on the prairie. We entered it, and galloping up, in a moment were
+surrounded by the bleak sand-hills. Half of their steep sides were bare;
+the rest were scantily clothed with clumps of grass, and various uncouth
+plants, conspicuous among which appeared the reptile-like prickly-pear.
+They were gashed with numberless ravines; and as the sky had suddenly
+darkened, and a cold gusty wind arisen, the strange shrubs and the
+dreary hills looked doubly wild and desolate. But Henry's face was all
+eagerness. He tore off a little hair from the piece of buffalo robe
+under his saddle, and threw it up, to show the course of the wind. It
+blew directly before us. The game were therefore to windward, and it was
+necessary to make our best speed to get around them.
+
+We scrambled from this ravine, and galloping away through the hollows,
+soon found another, winding like a snake among the hills, and so deep
+that it completely concealed us. We rode up the bottom of it, glancing
+through the shrubbery at its edge, till Henry abruptly jerked his rein,
+and slid out of his saddle. Full a quarter of a mile distant, on the
+outline of the farthest hill, a long procession of buffalo were walking,
+in Indian file, with the utmost gravity and deliberation; then more
+appeared, clambering from a hollow not far off, and ascending, one
+behind the other, the grassy slope of another hill; then a shaggy head
+and a pair of short broken horns appeared issuing out of a ravine close
+at hand, and with a slow, stately step, one by one, the enormous brutes
+came into view, taking their way across the valley, wholly unconscious
+of an enemy. In a moment Henry was worming his way, lying flat on
+the ground, through grass and prickly-pears, toward his unsuspecting
+victims. He had with him both my rifle and his own. He was soon out of
+sight, and still the buffalo kept issuing into the valley. For a long
+time all was silent. I sat holding his horse, and wondering what he was
+about, when suddenly, in rapid succession, came the sharp reports of the
+two rifles, and the whole line of buffalo, quickening their pace into
+a clumsy trot, gradually disappeared over the ridge of the hill. Henry
+rose to his feet, and stood looking after them.
+
+"You have missed them," said I.
+
+"Yes," said Henry; "let us go." He descended into the ravine, loaded the
+rifles, and mounted his horse.
+
+We rode up the hill after the buffalo. The herd was out of sight when
+we reached the top, but lying on the grass not far off, was one quite
+lifeless, and another violently struggling in the death agony.
+
+"You see I miss him!" remarked Henry. He had fired from a distance of
+more than a hundred and fifty yards, and both balls had passed through
+the lungs--the true mark in shooting buffalo.
+
+The darkness increased, and a driving storm came on. Tying our horses
+to the horns of the victims, Henry began the bloody work of dissection,
+slashing away with the science of a connoisseur, while I vainly
+endeavored to imitate him. Old Hendrick recoiled with horror and
+indignation when I endeavored to tie the meat to the strings of raw
+hide, always carried for this purpose, dangling at the back of the
+saddle. After some difficulty we overcame his scruples; and heavily
+burdened with the more eligible portions of the buffalo, we set out on
+our return. Scarcely had we emerged from the labyrinth of gorges and
+ravines, and issued upon the open prairie, when the pricking sleet came
+driving, gust upon gust, directly in our faces. It was strangely
+dark, though wanting still an hour of sunset. The freezing storm soon
+penetrated to the skin, but the uneasy trot of our heavy-gaited horses
+kept us warm enough, as we forced them unwillingly in the teeth of the
+sleet and rain, by the powerful suasion of our Indian whips. The prairie
+in this place was hard and level. A flourishing colony of prairie dogs
+had burrowed into it in every direction, and the little mounds of
+fresh earth around their holes were about as numerous as the hills in
+a cornfield; but not a yelp was to be heard; not the nose of a single
+citizen was visible; all had retired to the depths of their burrows,
+and we envied them their dry and comfortable habitations. An hour's
+hard riding showed us our tent dimly looming through the storm, one
+side puffed out by the force of the wind, and the other collapsed in
+proportion, while the disconsolate horses stood shivering close around,
+and the wind kept up a dismal whistling in the boughs of three old
+half-dead trees above. Shaw, like a patriarch, sat on his saddle in the
+entrance, with a pipe in his mouth, and his arms folded, contemplating,
+with cool satisfaction, the piles of meat that we flung on the ground
+before him. A dark and dreary night succeeded; but the sun rose with
+heat so sultry and languid that the captain excused himself on that
+account from waylaying an old buffalo bull, who with stupid gravity was
+walking over the prairie to drink at the river. So much for the climate
+of the Platte!
+
+But it was not the weather alone that had produced this sudden abatement
+of the sportsmanlike zeal which the captain had always professed. He had
+been out on the afternoon before, together with several members of his
+party; but their hunting was attended with no other result than the
+loss of one of their best horses, severely injured by Sorel, in vainly
+chasing a wounded bull. The captain, whose ideas of hard riding were all
+derived from transatlantic sources, expressed the utmost amazement at
+the feats of Sorel, who went leaping ravines, and dashing at full speed
+up and down the sides of precipitous hills, lashing his horse with
+the recklessness of a Rocky Mountain rider. Unfortunately for the poor
+animal he was the property of R., against whom Sorel entertained an
+unbounded aversion. The captain himself, it seemed, had also attempted
+to "run" a buffalo, but though a good and practiced horseman, he had
+soon given over the attempt, being astonished and utterly disgusted at
+the nature of the ground he was required to ride over.
+
+Nothing unusual occurred on that day; but on the following morning Henry
+Chatillon, looking over the oceanlike expanse, saw near the foot of the
+distant hills something that looked like a band of buffalo. He was not
+sure, he said, but at all events, if they were buffalo, there was a fine
+chance for a race. Shaw and I at once determined to try the speed of our
+horses.
+
+"Come, captain; we'll see which can ride hardest, a Yankee or an
+Irishman."
+
+But the captain maintained a grave and austere countenance. He mounted
+his led horse, however, though very slowly; and we set out at a trot.
+The game appeared about three miles distant. As we proceeded the captain
+made various remarks of doubt and indecision; and at length declared he
+would have nothing to do with such a breakneck business; protesting that
+he had ridden plenty of steeple-chases in his day, but he never knew
+what riding was till he found himself behind a band of buffalo day
+before yesterday. "I am convinced," said the captain, "that, 'running'
+is out of the question.* Take my advice now and don't attempt it. It's
+dangerous, and of no use at all."
+
+     *The method of hunting called "running" consists in
+     attacking the buffalo on horseback and shooting him with
+     bullets or arrows when at full-speed.  In "approaching," the
+     hunter conceals himself and crawls on the ground toward the
+     game, or lies in wait to kill them.
+
+"Then why did you come out with us? What do you mean to do?"
+
+"I shall 'approach,'" replied the captain.
+
+"You don't mean to 'approach' with your pistols, do you? We have all of
+us left our rifles in the wagons."
+
+The captain seemed staggered at the suggestion. In his characteristic
+indecision, at setting out, pistols, rifles, "running" and "approaching"
+were mingled in an inextricable medley in his brain. He trotted on in
+silence between us for a while; but at length he dropped behind and
+slowly walked his horse back to rejoin the party. Shaw and I kept on;
+when lo! as we advanced, the band of buffalo were transformed into
+certain clumps of tall bushes, dotting the prairie for a considerable
+distance. At this ludicrous termination of our chase, we followed the
+example of our late ally, and turned back toward the party. We
+were skirting the brink of a deep ravine, when we saw Henry and the
+broad-chested pony coming toward us at a gallop.
+
+"Here's old Papin and Frederic, down from Fort Laramie!" shouted Henry,
+long before he came up. We had for some days expected this encounter.
+Papin was the bourgeois of Fort Laramie. He had come down the river
+with the buffalo robes and the beaver, the produce of the last winter's
+trading. I had among our baggage a letter which I wished to commit to
+their hands; so requesting Henry to detain the boats if he could until
+my return, I set out after the wagons. They were about four miles in
+advance. In half an hour I overtook them, got the letter, trotted back
+upon the trail, and looking carefully, as I rode, saw a patch of broken,
+storm-blasted trees, and moving near them some little black specks like
+men and horses. Arriving at the place, I found a strange assembly. The
+boats, eleven in number, deep-laden with the skins, hugged close to
+the shore, to escape being borne down by the swift current. The rowers,
+swarthy ignoble Mexicans, turned their brutish faces upward to look, as
+I reached the bank. Papin sat in the middle of one of the boats upon the
+canvas covering that protected the robes. He was a stout, robust fellow,
+with a little gray eye, that had a peculiarly sly twinkle. "Frederic"
+also stretched his tall rawboned proportions close by the bourgeois,
+and "mountain-men" completed the group; some lounging in the boats, some
+strolling on shore; some attired in gayly painted buffalo robes, like
+Indian dandies; some with hair saturated with red paint, and beplastered
+with glue to their temples; and one bedaubed with vermilion upon his
+forehead and each cheek. They were a mongrel race; yet the French blood
+seemed to predominate; in a few, indeed, might be seen the black snaky
+eye of the Indian half-breed, and one and all, they seemed to aim at
+assimilating themselves to their savage associates.
+
+I shook hands with the bourgeois, and delivered the letter; then the
+boats swung round into the stream and floated away. They had reason
+for haste, for already the voyage from Fort Laramie had occupied a full
+month, and the river was growing daily more shallow. Fifty times a
+day the boats had been aground, indeed; those who navigate the Platte
+invariably spend half their time upon sand-bars. Two of these boats,
+the property of private traders, afterward separating from the rest,
+got hopelessly involved in the shallows, not very far from the Pawnee
+villages, and were soon surrounded by a swarm of the inhabitants. They
+carried off everything that they considered valuable, including most of
+the robes; and amused themselves by tying up the men left on guard and
+soundly whipping them with sticks.
+
+We encamped that night upon the bank of the river. Among the emigrants
+there was an overgrown boy, some eighteen years old, with a head as
+round and about as large as a pumpkin, and fever-and-ague fits had dyed
+his face of a corresponding color. He wore an old white hat, tied under
+his chin with a handkerchief; his body was short and stout, but his
+legs of disproportioned and appalling length. I observed him at sunset,
+breasting the hill with gigantic strides, and standing against the sky
+on the summit, like a colossal pair of tongs. In a moment after we heard
+him screaming frantically behind the ridge, and nothing doubting that
+he was in the clutches of Indians or grizzly bears, some of the party
+caught up their rifles and ran to the rescue. His outcries, however,
+proved but an ebullition of joyous excitement; he had chased two little
+wolf pups to their burrow, and he was on his knees, grubbing away like a
+dog at the mouth of the hole, to get at them.
+
+Before morning he caused more serious disquiet in the camp. It was his
+turn to hold the middle guard; but no sooner was he called up, than he
+coolly arranged a pair of saddle-bags under a wagon, laid his head upon
+them, closed his eyes, opened his mouth and fell asleep. The guard on
+our side of the camp, thinking it no part of his duty to look after the
+cattle of the emigrants, contented himself with watching our own horses
+and mules; the wolves, he said, were unusually noisy; but still no
+mischief was anticipated until the sun rose, and not a hoof or horn was
+in sight! The cattle were gone! While Tom was quietly slumbering, the
+wolves had driven them away.
+
+Then we reaped the fruits of R.'s precious plan of traveling in company
+with emigrants. To leave them in their distress was not to be thought
+of, and we felt bound to wait until the cattle could be searched for,
+and, if possible, recovered. But the reader may be curious to know
+what punishment awaited the faithless Tom. By the wholesome law of
+the prairie, he who falls asleep on guard is condemned to walk all
+day leading his horse by the bridle, and we found much fault with
+our companions for not enforcing such a sentence on the offender.
+Nevertheless had he been of our party, I have no doubt he would in like
+manner have escaped scot-free. But the emigrants went farther than mere
+forebearance; they decreed that since Tom couldn't stand guard without
+falling asleep, he shouldn't stand guard at all, and henceforward his
+slumbers were unbroken. Establishing such a premium on drowsiness could
+have no very beneficial effect upon the vigilance of our sentinels; for
+it is far from agreeable, after riding from sunrise to sunset, to feel
+your slumbers interrupted by the butt of a rifle nudging your side, and
+a sleepy voice growling in your ear that you must get up, to shiver and
+freeze for three weary hours at midnight.
+
+"Buffalo! buffalo!" It was but a grim old bull, roaming the prairie by
+himself in misanthropic seclusion; but there might be more behind the
+hills. Dreading the monotony and languor of the camp, Shaw and I saddled
+our horses, buckled our holsters in their places, and set out with Henry
+Chatillon in search of the game. Henry, not intending to take part in
+the chase, but merely conducting us, carried his rifle with him, while
+we left ours behind as incumbrances. We rode for some five or six miles,
+and saw no living thing but wolves, snakes, and prairie dogs.
+
+"This won't do at all," said Shaw.
+
+"What won't do?"
+
+"There's no wood about here to make a litter for the wounded man; I have
+an idea that one of us will need something of the sort before the day is
+over."
+
+There was some foundation for such an apprehension, for the ground was
+none of the best for a race, and grew worse continually as we proceeded;
+indeed it soon became desperately bad, consisting of abrupt hills and
+deep hollows, cut by frequent ravines not easy to pass. At length, a
+mile in advance, we saw a band of bulls. Some were scattered grazing
+over a green declivity, while the rest were crowded more densely
+together in the wide hollow below. Making a circuit to keep out of
+sight, we rode toward them until we ascended a hill within a furlong of
+them, beyond which nothing intervened that could possibly screen us from
+their view. We dismounted behind the ridge just out of sight, drew our
+saddle-girths, examined our pistols, and mounting again rode over
+the hill, and descended at a canter toward them, bending close to
+our horses' necks. Instantly they took the alarm; those on the hill
+descended; those below gathered into a mass, and the whole got in
+motion, shouldering each other along at a clumsy gallop. We followed,
+spurring our horses to full speed; and as the herd rushed, crowding and
+trampling in terror through an opening in the hills, we were close at
+their heels, half suffocated by the clouds of dust. But as we drew near,
+their alarm and speed increased; our horses showed signs of the utmost
+fear, bounding violently aside as we approached, and refusing to
+enter among the herd. The buffalo now broke into several small bodies,
+scampering over the hills in different directions, and I lost sight of
+Shaw; neither of us knew where the other had gone. Old Pontiac ran like
+a frantic elephant up hill and down hill, his ponderous hoofs striking
+the prairie like sledge-hammers. He showed a curious mixture of
+eagerness and terror, straining to overtake the panic-stricken herd, but
+constantly recoiling in dismay as we drew near. The fugitives, indeed,
+offered no very attractive spectacle, with their enormous size and
+weight, their shaggy manes and the tattered remnants of their last
+winter's hair covering their backs in irregular shreds and patches, and
+flying off in the wind as they ran. At length I urged my horse close
+behind a bull, and after trying in vain, by blows and spurring, to
+bring him alongside, I shot a bullet into the buffalo from this
+disadvantageous position. At the report, Pontiac swerved so much that I
+was again thrown a little behind the game. The bullet, entering too much
+in the rear, failed to disable the bull, for a buffalo requires to be
+shot at particular points, or he will certainly escape. The herd ran up
+a hill, and I followed in pursuit. As Pontiac rushed headlong down on
+the other side, I saw Shaw and Henry descending the hollow on the right,
+at a leisurely gallop; and in front, the buffalo were just disappearing
+behind the crest of the next hill, their short tails erect, and their
+hoofs twinkling through a cloud of dust.
+
+At that moment, I heard Shaw and Henry shouting to me; but the muscles
+of a stronger arm than mine could not have checked at once the furious
+course of Pontiac, whose mouth was as insensible as leather. Added to
+this, I rode him that morning with a common snaffle, having the day
+before, for the benefit of my other horse, unbuckled from my bridle the
+curb which I ordinarily used. A stronger and hardier brute never trod
+the prairie; but the novel sight of the buffalo filled him with terror,
+and when at full speed he was almost incontrollable. Gaining the top of
+the ridge, I saw nothing of the buffalo; they had all vanished amid the
+intricacies of the hills and hollows. Reloading my pistols, in the best
+way I could, I galloped on until I saw them again scuttling along at
+the base of the hill, their panic somewhat abated. Down went old Pontiac
+among them, scattering them to the right and left, and then we had
+another long chase. About a dozen bulls were before us, scouring over
+the hills, rushing down the declivities with tremendous weight and
+impetuosity, and then laboring with a weary gallop upward. Still
+Pontiac, in spite of spurring and beating, would not close with them.
+One bull at length fell a little behind the rest, and by dint of much
+effort I urged my horse within six or eight yards of his side. His back
+was darkened with sweat; he was panting heavily, while his tongue lolled
+out a foot from his jaws. Gradually I came up abreast of him, urging
+Pontiac with leg and rein nearer to his side, then suddenly he did what
+buffalo in such circumstances will always do; he slackened his gallop,
+and turning toward us, with an aspect of mingled rage and distress,
+lowered his huge shaggy head for a charge. Pontiac with a snort, leaped
+aside in terror, nearly throwing me to the ground, as I was wholly
+unprepared for such an evolution. I raised my pistol in a passion to
+strike him on the head, but thinking better of it fired the bullet after
+the bull, who had resumed his flight, then drew rein and determined
+to rejoin my companions. It was high time. The breath blew hard from
+Pontiac's nostrils, and the sweat rolled in big drops down his sides;
+I myself felt as if drenched in warm water. Pledging myself (and I
+redeemed the pledge) to take my revenge at a future opportunity, I
+looked round for some indications to show me where I was, and what
+course I ought to pursue; I might as well have looked for landmarks in
+the midst of the ocean. How many miles I had run or in what direction,
+I had no idea; and around me the prairie was rolling in steep swells
+and pitches, without a single distinctive feature to guide me. I had
+a little compass hung at my neck; and ignorant that the Platte at this
+point diverged considerably from its easterly course, I thought that by
+keeping to the northward I should certainly reach it. So I turned
+and rode about two hours in that direction. The prairie changed as I
+advanced, softening away into easier undulations, but nothing like the
+Platte appeared, nor any sign of a human being; the same wild endless
+expanse lay around me still; and to all appearance I was as far from my
+object as ever. I began now to consider myself in danger of being
+lost; and therefore, reining in my horse, summoned the scanty share of
+woodcraft that I possessed (if that term he applicable upon the prairie)
+to extricate me. Looking round, it occurred to me that the buffalo might
+prove my best guides. I soon found one of the paths made by them in
+their passage to the river; it ran nearly at right angles to my course;
+but turning my horse's head in the direction it indicated, his freer
+gait and erected ears assured me that I was right.
+
+But in the meantime my ride had been by no means a solitary one.
+The whole face of the country was dotted far and wide with countless
+hundreds of buffalo. They trooped along in files and columns, bulls
+cows, and calves, on the green faces of the declivities in front. They
+scrambled away over the hills to the right and left; and far off, the
+pale blue swells in the extreme distance were dotted with innumerable
+specks. Sometimes I surprised shaggy old bulls grazing alone, or
+sleeping behind the ridges I ascended. They would leap up at my
+approach, stare stupidly at me through their tangled manes, and then
+gallop heavily away. The antelope were very numerous; and as they are
+always bold when in the neighborhood of buffalo, they would approach
+quite near to look at me, gazing intently with their great round eyes,
+then suddenly leap aside, and stretch lightly away over the prairie, as
+swiftly as a racehorse. Squalid, ruffianlike wolves sneaked through the
+hollows and sandy ravines. Several times I passed through villages of
+prairie dogs, who sat, each at the mouth of his burrow, holding his paws
+before him in a supplicating attitude, and yelping away most vehemently,
+energetically whisking his little tail with every squeaking cry he
+uttered. Prairie dogs are not fastidious in their choice of companions;
+various long, checkered snakes were sunning themselves in the midst of
+the village, and demure little gray owls, with a large white ring around
+each eye, were perched side by side with the rightful inhabitants. The
+prairie teemed with life. Again and again I looked toward the crowded
+hillsides, and was sure I saw horsemen; and riding near, with a mixture
+of hope and dread, for Indians were abroad, I found them transformed
+into a group of buffalo. There was nothing in human shape amid all this
+vast congregation of brute forms.
+
+When I turned down the buffalo path, the prairie seemed changed; only
+a wolf or two glided past at intervals, like conscious felons, never
+looking to the right or left. Being now free from anxiety, I was at
+leisure to observe minutely the objects around me; and here, for the
+first time, I noticed insects wholly different from any of the varieties
+found farther to the eastward. Gaudy butterflies fluttered about my
+horse's head; strangely formed beetles, glittering with metallic luster,
+were crawling upon plants that I had never seen before; multitudes of
+lizards, too, were darting like lightning over the sand.
+
+I had run to a great distance from the river. It cost me a long ride
+on the buffalo path before I saw from the ridge of a sand-hill the pale
+surface of the Platte glistening in the midst of its desert valleys, and
+the faint outline of the hills beyond waving along the sky. From where
+I stood, not a tree nor a bush nor a living thing was visible throughout
+the whole extent of the sun-scorched landscape. In half an hour I came
+upon the trail, not far from the river; and seeing that the party had
+not yet passed, I turned eastward to meet them, old Pontiac's long
+swinging trot again assuring me that I was right in doing so. Having
+been slightly ill on leaving camp in the morning six or seven hours of
+rough riding had fatigued me extremely. I soon stopped, therefore; flung
+my saddle on the ground, and with my head resting on it, and my horse's
+trail-rope tied loosely to my arm, lay waiting the arrival of the
+party, speculating meanwhile on the extent of the injuries Pontiac had
+received. At length the white wagon coverings rose from the verge of the
+plain. By a singular coincidence, almost at the same moment two horsemen
+appeared coming down from the hills. They were Shaw and Henry, who had
+searched for me a while in the morning, but well knowing the futility of
+the attempt in such a broken country, had placed themselves on the top
+of the highest hill they could find, and picketing their horses near
+them, as a signal to me, had laid down and fallen asleep. The stray
+cattle had been recovered, as the emigrants told us, about noon. Before
+sunset, we pushed forward eight miles farther.
+
+
+JUNE 7, 1846.--Four men are missing; R., Sorel and two emigrants.
+They set out this morning after buffalo, and have not yet made their
+appearance; whether killed or lost, we cannot tell.
+
+
+I find the above in my notebook, and well remember the council held on
+the occasion. Our fire was the scene of it; or the palpable superiority
+of Henry Chatillon's experience and skill made him the resort of the
+whole camp upon every question of difficulty. He was molding bullets
+at the fire, when the captain drew near, with a perturbed and care-worn
+expression of countenance, faithfully reflected on the heavy features
+of Jack, who followed close behind. Then emigrants came straggling from
+their wagons toward the common center; various suggestions were made to
+account for the absence of the four men, and one or two of the emigrants
+declared that when out after the cattle they had seen Indians dogging
+them, and crawling like wolves along the ridges of the hills. At this
+time the captain slowly shook his head with double gravity, and solemnly
+remarked:
+
+"It's a serious thing to be traveling through this cursed wilderness";
+an opinion in which Jack immediately expressed a thorough coincidence.
+Henry would not commit himself by declaring any positive opinion.
+
+"Maybe he only follow the buffalo too far; maybe Indian kill him; maybe
+he got lost; I cannot tell!"
+
+With this the auditors were obliged to rest content; the emigrants, not
+in the least alarmed, though curious to know what had become of their
+comrades, walked back to their wagons and the captain betook himself
+pensively to his tent. Shaw and I followed his example.
+
+"It will be a bad thing for our plans," said he as we entered, "if these
+fellows don't get back safe. The captain is as helpless on the prairie
+as a child. We shall have to take him and his brother in tow; they will
+hang on us like lead."
+
+"The prairie is a strange place," said I. "A month ago I should have
+thought it rather a startling affair to have an acquaintance ride out in
+the morning and lose his scalp before night, but here it seems the most
+natural thing in the world; not that I believe that R. has lost his
+yet."
+
+If a man is constitutionally liable to nervous apprehensions, a tour on
+the distant prairies would prove the best prescription; for though when
+in the neighborhood of the Rocky Mountains he may at times find himself
+placed in circumstances of some danger, I believe that few ever breathe
+that reckless atmosphere without becoming almost indifferent to any evil
+chance that may befall themselves or their friends.
+
+Shaw had a propensity for luxurious indulgence. He spread his blanket
+with the utmost accuracy on the ground, picked up the sticks and stones
+that he thought might interfere with his comfort, adjusted his saddle to
+serve as a pillow, and composed himself for his night's rest. I had the
+first guard that evening; so, taking my rifle, I went out of the tent.
+It was perfectly dark. A brisk wind blew down from the hills, and
+the sparks from the fire were streaming over the prairie. One of the
+emigrants, named Morton, was my companion; and laying our rifles on the
+grass, we sat down together by the fire. Morton was a Kentuckian, an
+athletic fellow, with a fine intelligent face, and in his manners and
+conversation he showed the essential characteristics of a gentleman.
+Our conversation turned on the pioneers of his gallant native State. The
+three hours of our watch dragged away at last, and we went to call up
+the relief.
+
+R.'s guard succeeded mine. He was absent; but the captain, anxious lest
+the camp should be left defenseless, had volunteered to stand in his
+place; so I went to wake him up. There was no occasion for it, for the
+captain had been awake since nightfall. A fire was blazing outside of
+the tent, and by the light which struck through the canvas, I saw him
+and Jack lying on their backs, with their eyes wide open. The captain
+responded instantly to my call; he jumped up, seized the double-barreled
+rifle, and came out of the tent with an air of solemn determination, as
+if about to devote himself to the safety of the party. I went and lay
+down, not doubting that for the next three hours our slumbers would be
+guarded with sufficient vigilance.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+TAKING FRENCH LEAVE
+
+
+On the 8th of June, at eleven o'clock, we reached the South Fork of the
+Platte, at the usual fording place. For league upon league the desert
+uniformity of the prospect was almost unbroken; the hills were dotted
+with little tufts of shriveled grass, but betwixt these the white sand
+was glaring in the sun; and the channel of the river, almost on a level
+with the plain, was but one great sand-bed, about half a mile wide. It
+was covered with water, but so scantily that the bottom was scarcely
+hidden; for, wide as it is, the average depth of the Platte does not at
+this point exceed a foot and a half. Stopping near its bank, we gathered
+bois de vache, and made a meal of buffalo meat. Far off, on the other
+side, was a green meadow, where we could see the white tents and wagons
+of an emigrant camp; and just opposite to us we could discern a group of
+men and animals at the water's edge. Four or five horsemen soon entered
+the river, and in ten minutes had waded across and clambered up the
+loose sand-bank. They were ill-looking fellows, thin and swarthy, with
+care-worn, anxious faces and lips rigidly compressed. They had good
+cause for anxiety; it was three days since they first encamped here, and
+on the night of their arrival they had lost 123 of their best cattle,
+driven off by the wolves, through the neglect of the man on guard. This
+discouraging and alarming calamity was not the first that had overtaken
+them. Since leaving the settlements, they had met with nothing but
+misfortune. Some of their party had died; one man had been killed by the
+Pawnees; and about a week before, they had been plundered by the Dakotas
+of all their best horses, the wretched animals on which our visitors
+were mounted being the only ones that were left. They had encamped, they
+told us, near sunset, by the side of the Platte, and their oxen were
+scattered over the meadow, while the band of horses were feeding a
+little farther off. Suddenly the ridges of the hills were alive with a
+swarm of mounted Indians, at least six hundred in number, who, with a
+tremendous yell, came pouring down toward the camp, rushing up within a
+few rods, to the great terror of the emigrants; but suddenly wheeling,
+they swept around the band of horses, and in five minutes had
+disappeared with their prey through the openings of the hills.
+
+As these emigrants were telling their story, we saw four other
+men approaching. They proved to be R. and his companions, who had
+encountered no mischance of any kind, but had only wandered too far
+in pursuit of the game. They said they had seen no Indians, but only
+"millions of buffalo"; and both R. and Sorel had meat dangling behind
+their saddles.
+
+The emigrants re-crossed the river, and we prepared to follow. First
+the heavy ox-wagons plunged down the bank, and dragged slowly over the
+sand-beds; sometimes the hoofs of the oxen were scarcely wetted by the
+thin sheet of water; and the next moment the river would be boiling
+against their sides, and eddying fiercely around the wheels. Inch by
+inch they receded from the shore, dwindling every moment, until at
+length they seemed to be floating far in the very middle of the river.
+A more critical experiment awaited us; for our little mule-cart was
+but ill-fitted for the passage of so swift a stream. We watched it with
+anxiety till it seemed to be a little motionless white speck in the
+midst of the waters; and it WAS motionless, for it had stuck fast in a
+quicksand. The little mules were losing their footing, the wheels were
+sinking deeper and deeper, and the water began to rise through the
+bottom and drench the goods within. All of us who had remained on the
+hither bank galloped to the rescue; the men jumped into the water,
+adding their strength to that of the mules, until by much effort the
+cart was extricated, and conveyed in safety across.
+
+As we gained the other bank, a rough group of men surrounded us. They
+were not robust, nor large of frame, yet they had an aspect of hardy
+endurance. Finding at home no scope for their fiery energies, they had
+betaken themselves to the prairie; and in them seemed to be revived,
+with redoubled force, that fierce spirit which impelled their ancestors,
+scarce more lawless than themselves, from the German forests, to
+inundate Europe and break to pieces the Roman empire. A fortnight
+afterward this unfortunate party passed Fort Laramie, while we were
+there. Not one of their missing oxen had been recovered, though they had
+remained encamped a week in search of them; and they had been compelled
+to abandon a great part of their baggage and provisions, and yoke cows
+and heifers to their wagons to carry them forward upon their journey,
+the most toilsome and hazardous part of which lay still before them.
+
+It is worth noticing that on the Platte one may sometimes see the
+shattered wrecks of ancient claw-footed tables, well waxed and rubbed,
+or massive bureaus of carved oak. These, many of them no doubt
+the relics of ancestral prosperity in the colonial time, must have
+encountered strange vicissitudes. Imported, perhaps, originally from
+England; then, with the declining fortunes of their owners, borne across
+the Alleghenies to the remote wilderness of Ohio or Kentucky; then to
+Illinois or Missouri; and now at last fondly stowed away in the family
+wagon for the interminable journey to Oregon. But the stern privations
+of the way are little anticipated. The cherished relic is soon flung out
+to scorch and crack upon the hot prairie.
+
+We resumed our journey; but we had gone scarcely a mile, when R. called
+out from the rear:
+
+"We'll camp here."
+
+"Why do you want to camp? Look at the sun. It is not three o'clock yet."
+
+"We'll camp here!"
+
+This was the only reply vouchsafed. Delorier was in advance with his
+cart. Seeing the mule-wagon wheeling from the track, he began to turn
+his own team in the same direction.
+
+"Go on, Delorier," and the little cart advanced again. As we rode on, we
+soon heard the wagon of our confederates creaking and jolting on behind
+us, and the driver, Wright, discharging a furious volley of oaths
+against his mules; no doubt venting upon them the wrath which he dared
+not direct against a more appropriate object.
+
+Something of this sort had frequently occurred. Our English friend was
+by no means partial to us, and we thought we discovered in his conduct a
+deliberate intention to thwart and annoy us, especially by retarding
+the movements of the party, which he knew that we, being Yankees, were
+anxious to quicken. Therefore, he would insist on encamping at all
+unseasonable hours, saying that fifteen miles was a sufficient day's
+journey. Finding our wishes systematically disregarded, we took the
+direction of affairs into our own hands. Keeping always in advance, to
+the inexpressible indignation of R., we encamped at what time and place
+we thought proper, not much caring whether the rest chose to follow or
+not. They always did so, however, pitching their tents near ours, with
+sullen and wrathful countenances.
+
+Traveling together on these agreeable terms did not suit our tastes; for
+some time we had meditated a separation. The connection with this party
+had cost us various delays and inconveniences; and the glaring want
+of courtesy and good sense displayed by their virtual leader did not
+dispose us to bear these annoyances with much patience. We resolved to
+leave camp early in the morning, and push forward as rapidly as possible
+for Fort Laramie, which we hoped to reach, by hard traveling, in four or
+five days. The captain soon trotted up between us, and we explained our
+intentions.
+
+"A very extraordinary proceeding, upon my word!" he remarked. Then he
+began to enlarge upon the enormity of the design. The most prominent
+impression in his mind evidently was that we were acting a base and
+treacherous part in deserting his party, in what he considered a very
+dangerous stage of the journey. To palliate the atrocity of our conduct,
+we ventured to suggest that we were only four in number while his party
+still included sixteen men; and as, moreover, we were to go forward
+and they were to follow, at least a full proportion of the perils he
+apprehended would fall upon us. But the austerity of the captain's
+features would not relax. "A very extraordinary proceeding, gentlemen!"
+and repeating this, he rode off to confer with his principal.
+
+By good luck, we found a meadow of fresh grass, and a large pool of
+rain-water in the midst of it. We encamped here at sunset. Plenty of
+buffalo skulls were lying around, bleaching in the sun; and sprinkled
+thickly among the grass was a great variety of strange flowers. I had
+nothing else to do, and so gathering a handful, I sat down on a buffalo
+skull to study them. Although the offspring of a wilderness, their
+texture was frail and delicate, and their colors extremely rich; pure
+white, dark blue, and a transparent crimson. One traveling in this
+country seldom has leisure to think of anything but the stern features
+of the scenery and its accompaniments, or the practical details of each
+day's journey. Like them, he and his thoughts grow hard and rough. But
+now these flowers suddenly awakened a train of associations as alien to
+the rude scene around me as they were themselves; and for the moment my
+thoughts went back to New England. A throng of fair and well-remembered
+faces rose, vividly as life, before me. "There are good things," thought
+I, "in the savage life, but what can it offer to replace those powerful
+and ennobling influences that can reach unimpaired over more than three
+thousand miles of mountains, forests and deserts?"
+
+Before sunrise on the next morning our tent was down; we harnessed our
+best horses to the cart and left the camp. But first we shook hands
+with our friends the emigrants, who sincerely wished us a safe journey,
+though some others of the party might easily have been consoled had we
+encountered an Indian war party on the way. The captain and his brother
+were standing on the top of a hill, wrapped in their plaids, like
+spirits of the mist, keeping an anxious eye on the band of horses below.
+We waved adieu to them as we rode off the ground. The captain replied
+with a salutation of the utmost dignity, which Jack tried to imitate;
+but being little practiced in the gestures of polite society, his effort
+was not a very successful one.
+
+In five minutes we had gained the foot of the hills, but here we came to
+a stop. Old Hendrick was in the shafts, and being the very incarnation
+of perverse and brutish obstinacy, he utterly refused to move. Delorier
+lashed and swore till he was tired, but Hendrick stood like a rock,
+grumbling to himself and looking askance at his enemy, until he saw a
+favorable opportunity to take his revenge, when he struck out under the
+shaft with such cool malignity of intention that Delorier only escaped
+the blow by a sudden skip into the air, such as no one but a Frenchman
+could achieve. Shaw and he then joined forces, and lashed on both sides
+at once. The brute stood still for a while till he could bear it no
+longer, when all at once he began to kick and plunge till he threatened
+the utter demolition of the cart and harness. We glanced back at the
+camp, which was in full sight. Our companions, inspired by emulation,
+were leveling their tents and driving in their cattle and horses.
+
+"Take the horse out," said I.
+
+I took the saddle from Pontiac and put it upon Hendrick; the former
+was harnessed to the cart in an instant. "Avance donc!" cried Delorier.
+Pontiac strode up the hill, twitching the little cart after him as if
+it were a feather's weight; and though, as we gained the top, we saw the
+wagons of our deserted comrades just getting into motion, we had little
+fear that they could overtake us. Leaving the trail, we struck directly
+across the country, and took the shortest cut to reach the main stream
+of the Platte. A deep ravine suddenly intercepted us. We skirted its
+sides until we found them less abrupt, and then plunged through the best
+way we could. Passing behind the sandy ravines called "Ash Hollow," we
+stopped for a short nooning at the side of a pool of rain-water; but
+soon resumed our journey, and some hours before sunset were descending
+the ravines and gorges opening downward upon the Platte to the west of
+Ash Hollow. Our horses waded to the fetlock in sand; the sun scorched
+like fire, and the air swarmed with sand-flies and mosquitoes.
+
+At last we gained the Platte. Following it for about five miles, we saw,
+just as the sun was sinking, a great meadow, dotted with hundreds of
+cattle, and beyond them an emigrant encampment. A party of about a dozen
+came out to meet us, looking upon us at first with cold and suspicious
+faces. Seeing four men, different in appearance and equipment from
+themselves, emerging from the hills, they had taken us for the van
+of the much-dreaded Mormons, whom they were very apprehensive of
+encountering. We made known our true character, and then they greeted
+us cordially. They expressed much surprise that so small a party should
+venture to traverse that region, though in fact such attempts are not
+unfrequently made by trappers and Indian traders. We rode with them to
+their camp. The wagons, some fifty in number, with here and there a tent
+intervening, were arranged as usual in a circle; in the area within the
+best horses were picketed, and the whole circumference was glowing with
+the dusky light of the fires, displaying the forms of the women and
+children who were crowded around them. This patriarchal scene was
+curious and striking enough; but we made our escape from the place with
+all possible dispatch, being tormented by the intrusive curiosity of the
+men who crowded around us. Yankee curiosity was nothing to theirs. They
+demanded our names, where we came from, where we were going, and what
+was our business. The last query was particularly embarrassing; since
+traveling in that country, or indeed anywhere, from any other motive
+than gain, was an idea of which they took no cognizance. Yet they were
+fine-looking fellows, with an air of frankness, generosity, and even
+courtesy, having come from one of the least barbarous of the frontier
+counties.
+
+We passed about a mile beyond them, and encamped. Being too few in
+number to stand guard without excessive fatigue, we extinguished our
+fire, lest it should attract the notice of wandering Indians; and
+picketing our horses close around us, slept undisturbed till morning.
+For three days we traveled without interruption, and on the evening of
+the third encamped by the well-known spring on Scott's Bluff.
+
+Henry Chatillon and I rode out in the morning, and descending the
+western side of the Bluff, were crossing the plain beyond. Something
+that seemed to me a file of buffalo came into view, descending the
+hills several miles before us. But Henry reined in his horse, and keenly
+peering across the prairie with a better and more practiced eye, soon
+discovered its real nature. "Indians!" he said. "Old Smoke's lodges, I
+b'lieve. Come! let us go! Wah! get up, now, Five Hundred Dollar!" And
+laying on the lash with good will, he galloped forward, and I rode by
+his side. Not long after, a black speck became visible on the prairie,
+full two miles off. It grew larger and larger; it assumed the form of
+a man and horse; and soon we could discern a naked Indian, careering at
+full gallop toward us. When within a furlong he wheeled his horse in
+a wide circle, and made him describe various mystic figures upon the
+prairie; and Henry immediately compelled Five Hundred Dollar to execute
+similar evolutions. "It IS Old Smoke's village," said he, interpreting
+these signals; "didn't I say so?"
+
+As the Indian approached we stopped to wait for him, when suddenly he
+vanished, sinking, as it were, into the earth. He had come upon one of
+the deep ravines that everywhere intersect these prairies. In an instant
+the rough head of his horse stretched upward from the edge and the rider
+and steed came scrambling out, and bounded up to us; a sudden jerk of
+the rein brought the wild panting horse to a full stop. Then followed
+the needful formality of shaking hands. I forget our visitor's name.
+He was a young fellow, of no note in his nation; yet in his person and
+equipments he was a good specimen of a Dakota warrior in his ordinary
+traveling dress. Like most of his people, he was nearly six feet high;
+lithely and gracefully, yet strongly proportioned; and with a skin
+singularly clear and delicate. He wore no paint; his head was bare; and
+his long hair was gathered in a clump behind, to the top of which was
+attached transversely, both by way of ornament and of talisman, the
+mystic whistle, made of the wingbone of the war eagle, and endowed with
+various magic virtues. From the back of his head descended a line of
+glittering brass plates, tapering from the size of a doubloon to that of
+a half-dime, a cumbrous ornament, in high vogue among the Dakotas, and
+for which they pay the traders a most extravagant price; his chest and
+arms were naked, the buffalo robe, worn over them when at rest, had
+fallen about his waist, and was confined there by a belt. This, with the
+gay moccasins on his feet, completed his attire. For arms he carried a
+quiver of dogskin at his back, and a rude but powerful bow in his hand.
+His horse had no bridle; a cord of hair, lashed around his jaw, served
+in place of one. The saddle was of most singular construction; it was
+made of wood covered with raw hide, and both pommel and cantle rose
+perpendicularly full eighteen inches, so that the warrior was wedged
+firmly in his seat, whence nothing could dislodge him but the bursting
+of the girths.
+
+Advancing with our new companion, we found more of his people seated in
+a circle on the top of a hill; while a rude procession came straggling
+down the neighboring hollow, men, women, and children, with horses
+dragging the lodge-poles behind them. All that morning, as we moved
+forward, tall savages were stalking silently about us. At noon we
+reached Horse Creek; and as we waded through the shallow water, we saw a
+wild and striking scene. The main body of the Indians had arrived before
+us. On the farther bank stood a large and strong man, nearly naked,
+holding a white horse by a long cord, and eyeing us as we approached.
+This was the chief, whom Henry called "Old Smoke." Just behind him his
+youngest and favorite squaw sat astride of a fine mule; it was covered
+with caparisons of whitened skins, garnished with blue and white beads,
+and fringed with little ornaments of metal that tinkled with every
+movement of the animal. The girl had a light clear complexion, enlivened
+by a spot of vermilion on each cheek; she smiled, not to say grinned,
+upon us, showing two gleaming rows of white teeth. In her hand, she
+carried the tall lance of her unchivalrous lord, fluttering with
+feathers; his round white shield hung at the side of her mule; and his
+pipe was slung at her back. Her dress was a tunic of deerskin, made
+beautifully white by means of a species of clay found on the prairie,
+and ornamented with beads, arrayed in figures more gay than tasteful,
+and with long fringes at all the seams. Not far from the chief stood a
+group of stately figures, their white buffalo robes thrown over their
+shoulders, gazing coldly upon us; and in the rear, for several acres,
+the ground was covered with a temporary encampment; men, women, and
+children swarmed like bees; hundreds of dogs, of all sizes and colors,
+ran restlessly about; and, close at hand, the wide shallow stream was
+alive with boys, girls, and young squaws, splashing, screaming, and
+laughing in the water. At the same time a long train of emigrant
+wagons were crossing the creek, and dragging on in their slow, heavy
+procession, passed the encampment of the people whom they and their
+descendants, in the space of a century, are to sweep from the face of
+the earth.
+
+The encampment itself was merely a temporary one during the heat of the
+day. None of the lodges were erected; but their heavy leather coverings,
+and the long poles used to support them, were scattered everywhere
+around, among weapons, domestic utensils, and the rude harness of mules
+and horses. The squaws of each lazy warrior had made him a shelter
+from the sun, by stretching a few buffalo robes, or the corner of a
+lodge-covering upon poles; and here he sat in the shade, with a favorite
+young squaw, perhaps, at his side, glittering with all imaginable
+trinkets. Before him stood the insignia of his rank as a warrior, his
+white shield of bull-hide, his medicine bag, his bow and quiver, his
+lance and his pipe, raised aloft on a tripod of three poles. Except the
+dogs, the most active and noisy tenants of the camp were the old women,
+ugly as Macbeth's witches, with their hair streaming loose in the wind,
+and nothing but the tattered fragment of an old buffalo robe to hide
+their shriveled wiry limbs. The day of their favoritism passed two
+generations ago; now the heaviest labors of the camp devolved upon them;
+they were to harness the horses, pitch the lodges, dress the buffalo
+robes, and bring in meat for the hunters. With the cracked voices of
+these hags, the clamor of dogs, the shouting and laughing of children
+and girls, and the listless tranquillity of the warriors, the whole
+scene had an effect too lively and picturesque ever to be forgotten.
+
+We stopped not far from the Indian camp, and having invited some of the
+chiefs and warriors to dinner, placed before them a sumptuous repast of
+biscuit and coffee. Squatted in a half circle on the ground, they soon
+disposed of it. As we rode forward on the afternoon journey, several of
+our late guests accompanied us. Among the rest was a huge bloated savage
+of more than three hundred pounds' weight, christened La Cochon, in
+consideration of his preposterous dimensions and certain corresponding
+traits of his character. "The Hog" bestrode a little white pony, scarce
+able to bear up under the enormous burden, though, by way of keeping
+up the necessary stimulus, the rider kept both feet in constant motion,
+playing alternately against his ribs. The old man was not a chief; he
+never had ambition enough to become one; he was not a warrior nor a
+hunter, for he was too fat and lazy: but he was the richest man in the
+whole village. Riches among the Dakotas consist in horses, and of these
+The Hog had accumulated more than thirty. He had already ten times as
+many as he wanted, yet still his appetite for horses was insatiable.
+Trotting up to me he shook me by the hand, and gave me to understand
+that he was a very devoted friend; and then he began a series of most
+earnest signs and gesticulations, his oily countenance radiant with
+smiles, and his little eyes peeping out with a cunning twinkle from
+between the masses of flesh that almost obscured them. Knowing nothing
+at that time of the sign language of the Indians, I could only guess at
+his meaning. So I called on Henry to explain it.
+
+The Hog, it seems, was anxious to conclude a matrimonial bargain. He
+said he had a very pretty daughter in his lodge, whom he would give
+me, if I would give him my horse. These flattering overtures I chose to
+reject; at which The Hog, still laughing with undiminished good humor,
+gathered his robe about his shoulders, and rode away.
+
+Where we encamped that night, an arm of the Platte ran between high
+bluffs; it was turbid and swift as heretofore, but trees were growing on
+its crumbling banks, and there was a nook of grass between the water
+and the hill. Just before entering this place, we saw the emigrants
+encamping at two or three miles' distance on the right; while the whole
+Indian rabble were pouring down the neighboring hill in hope of the same
+sort of entertainment which they had experienced from us. In the savage
+landscape before our camp, nothing but the rushing of the Platte broke
+the silence. Through the ragged boughs of the trees, dilapidated and
+half dead, we saw the sun setting in crimson behind the peaks of the
+Black Hills; the restless bosom of the river was suffused with red; our
+white tent was tinged with it, and the sterile bluffs, up to the rocks
+that crowned them, partook of the same fiery hue. It soon passed away;
+no light remained, but that from our fire, blazing high among the dusky
+trees and bushes. We lay around it wrapped in our blankets, smoking and
+conversing until a late hour, and then withdrew to our tent.
+
+We crossed a sun-scorched plain on the next morning; the line of old
+cotton-wood trees that fringed the bank of the Platte forming its
+extreme verge. Nestled apparently close beneath them, we could discern
+in the distance something like a building. As we came nearer, it assumed
+form and dimensions, and proved to be a rough structure of logs. It was
+a little trading fort, belonging to two private traders; and originally
+intended, like all the forts of the country, to form a hollow square,
+with rooms for lodging and storage opening upon the area within. Only
+two sides of it had been completed; the place was now as ill-fitted for
+the purposes of defense as any of those little log-houses, which
+upon our constantly shifting frontier have been so often successfully
+maintained against overwhelming odds of Indians. Two lodges were pitched
+close to the fort; the sun beat scorching upon the logs; no living thing
+was stirring except one old squaw, who thrust her round head from the
+opening of the nearest lodge, and three or four stout young pups, who
+were peeping with looks of eager inquiry from under the covering. In a
+moment a door opened, and a little, swarthy black-eyed Frenchman came
+out. His dress was rather singular; his black curling hair was parted
+in the middle of his head, and fell below his shoulders; he wore a tight
+frock of smoked deerskin, very gayly ornamented with figures worked
+in dyed porcupine quills. His moccasins and leggings were also gaudily
+adorned in the same manner; and the latter had in addition a line of
+long fringes, reaching down the seams. The small frame of Richard,
+for by this name Henry made him known to us, was in the highest degree
+athletic and vigorous. There was no superfluity, and indeed there
+seldom is among the active white men of this country, but every limb was
+compact and hard; every sinew had its full tone and elasticity, and the
+whole man wore an air of mingled hardihood and buoyancy.
+
+Richard committed our horses to a Navahoe slave, a mean looking fellow
+taken prisoner on the Mexican frontier; and, relieving us of our rifles
+with ready politeness, led the way into the principal apartment of his
+establishment. This was a room ten feet square. The walls and floor were
+of black mud, and the roof of rough timber; there was a huge fireplace
+made of four flat rocks, picked up on the prairie. An Indian bow and
+otter-skin quiver, several gaudy articles of Rocky Mountain finery, an
+Indian medicine bag, and a pipe and tobacco pouch, garnished the walls,
+and rifles rested in a corner. There was no furniture except a sort
+of rough settle covered with buffalo robes, upon which lolled a
+tall half-breed, with his hair glued in masses upon each temple,
+and saturated with vermilion. Two or three more "mountain men" sat
+cross-legged on the floor. Their attire was not unlike that of Richard
+himself; but the most striking figure of the group was a naked Indian
+boy of sixteen, with a handsome face, and light, active proportions, who
+sat in an easy posture in the corner near the door. Not one of his limbs
+moved the breadth of a hair; his eye was fixed immovably, not on any
+person present, but, as it appeared, on the projecting corner of the
+fireplace opposite to him.
+
+On these prairies the custom of smoking with friends is seldom omitted,
+whether among Indians or whites. The pipe, therefore, was taken from the
+wall, and its great red bowl crammed with the tobacco and shongsasha,
+mixed in suitable proportions. Then it passed round the circle, each man
+inhaling a few whiffs and handing it to his neighbor. Having spent half
+an hour here, we took our leave; first inviting our new friends to drink
+a cup of coffee with us at our camp, a mile farther up the river. By
+this time, as the reader may conceive, we had grown rather shabby; our
+clothes had burst into rags and tatters; and what was worse, we had very
+little means of renovation. Fort Laramie was but seven miles before us.
+Being totally averse to appearing in such plight among any society that
+could boast an approximation to the civilized, we soon stopped by the
+river to make our toilet in the best way we could. We hung up small
+looking-glasses against the trees and shaved, an operation neglected for
+six weeks; we performed our ablutions in the Platte, though the utility
+of such a proceeding was questionable, the water looking exactly like
+a cup of chocolate, and the banks consisting of the softest and richest
+yellow mud, so that we were obliged, as a preliminary, to build a
+cause-way of stout branches and twigs. Having also put on radiant
+moccasins, procured from a squaw of Richard's establishment, and made
+what other improvements our narrow circumstances allowed, we took our
+seats on the grass with a feeling of greatly increased respectability,
+to wait the arrival of our guests. They came; the banquet was concluded,
+and the pipe smoked. Bidding them adieu, we turned our horses' heads
+toward the fort.
+
+An hour elapsed. The barren hills closed across our front, and we could
+see no farther; until having surmounted them, a rapid stream appeared
+at the foot of the descent, running into the Platte; beyond was a green
+meadow, dotted with bushes, and in the midst of these, at the point
+where the two rivers joined, were the low clay walls of a fort. This
+was not Fort Laramie, but another post of less recent date, which having
+sunk before its successful competitor was now deserted and ruinous. A
+moment after the hills, seeming to draw apart as we advanced, disclosed
+Fort Laramie itself, its high bastions and perpendicular walls of
+clay crowning an eminence on the left beyond the stream, while behind
+stretched a line of arid and desolate ridges, and behind these again,
+towering aloft seven thousand feet, arose the grim Black Hills.
+
+We tried to ford Laramie Creek at a point nearly opposite the fort, but
+the stream, swollen with the rains in the mountains, was too rapid. We
+passed up along its bank to find a better crossing place. Men gathered
+on the wall to look at us. "There's Bordeaux!" called Henry, his face
+brightening as he recognized his acquaintance; "him there with the
+spyglass; and there's old Vaskiss, and Tucker, and May; and, by George!
+there's Cimoneau!" This Cimoneau was Henry's fast friend, and the only
+man in the country who could rival him in hunting.
+
+We soon found a ford. Henry led the way, the pony approaching the bank
+with a countenance of cool indifference, bracing his feet and sliding
+into the stream with the most unmoved composure.
+
+     At the first plunge the horse sunk low,
+     And the water broke o'er the saddle-bow
+
+We followed; the water boiled against our saddles, but our horses bore
+us easily through. The unfortunate little mules came near going down
+with the current, cart and all; and we watched them with some solicitude
+scrambling over the loose round stones at the bottom, and bracing
+stoutly against the stream. All landed safely at last; we crossed a
+little plain, descended a hollow, and riding up a steep bank found
+ourselves before the gateway of Fort Laramie, under the impending
+blockhouse erected above it to defend the entrance.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+SCENES AT FORT LARAMIE
+
+
+Looking back, after the expiration of a year, upon Fort Laramie and its
+inmates, they seem less like a reality than like some fanciful picture
+of the olden time; so different was the scene from any which this tamer
+side of the world can present. Tall Indians, enveloped in their white
+buffalo robes, were striding across the area or reclining at full length
+on the low roofs of the buildings which inclosed it. Numerous squaws,
+gayly bedizened, sat grouped in front of the apartments they occupied;
+their mongrel offspring, restless and vociferous, rambled in every
+direction through the fort; and the trappers, traders, and ENGAGES of
+the establishment were busy at their labor or their amusements.
+
+We were met at the gate, but by no means cordially welcomed. Indeed,
+we seemed objects of some distrust and suspicion until Henry Chatillon
+explained that we were not traders, and we, in confirmation, handed to
+the bourgeois a letter of introduction from his principals. He took
+it, turned it upside down, and tried hard to read it; but his literary
+attainments not being adequate to the task, he applied for relief to
+the clerk, a sleek, smiling Frenchman, named Montalon. The letter read,
+Bordeaux (the bourgeois) seemed gradually to awaken to a sense of what
+was expected of him. Though not deficient in hospitable intentions, he
+was wholly unaccustomed to act as master of ceremonies. Discarding all
+formalities of reception, he did not honor us with a single word, but
+walked swiftly across the area, while we followed in some admiration to
+a railing and a flight of steps opposite the entrance. He signed to us
+that we had better fasten our horses to the railing; then he walked
+up the steps, tramped along a rude balcony, and kicking open a door
+displayed a large room, rather more elaborately finished than a barn.
+For furniture it had a rough bedstead, but no bed; two chairs, a chest
+of drawers, a tin pail to hold water, and a board to cut tobacco upon. A
+brass crucifix hung on the wall, and close at hand a recent scalp, with
+hair full a yard long, was suspended from a nail. I shall again have
+occasion to mention this dismal trophy, its history being connected with
+that of our subsequent proceedings.
+
+This apartment, the best in Fort Laramie, was that usually occupied by
+the legitimate bourgeois, Papin; in whose absence the command devolved
+upon Bordeaux. The latter, a stout, bluff little fellow, much inflated
+by a sense of his new authority, began to roar for buffalo robes. These
+being brought and spread upon the floor formed our beds; much better
+ones than we had of late been accustomed to. Our arrangements made, we
+stepped out to the balcony to take a more leisurely survey of the long
+looked-for haven at which we had arrived at last. Beneath us was the
+square area surrounded by little rooms, or rather cells, which opened
+upon it. These were devoted to various purposes, but served chiefly for
+the accommodation of the men employed at the fort, or of the equally
+numerous squaws, whom they were allowed to maintain in it. Opposite to
+us rose the blockhouse above the gateway; it was adorned with a figure
+which even now haunts my memory; a horse at full speed, daubed upon
+the boards with red paint, and exhibiting a degree of skill which might
+rival that displayed by the Indians in executing similar designs upon
+their robes and lodges. A busy scene was enacting in the area. The
+wagons of Vaskiss, an old trader, were about to set out for a remote
+post in the mountains, and the Canadians were going through their
+preparations with all possible bustle, while here and there an Indian
+stood looking on with imperturbable gravity.
+
+Fort Laramie is one of the posts established by the American Fur
+Company, who well-nigh monopolize the Indian trade of this whole region.
+Here their officials rule with an absolute sway; the arm of the United
+States has little force; for when we were there, the extreme outposts
+of her troops were about seven hundred miles to the eastward. The little
+fort is built of bricks dried in the sun, and externally is of an oblong
+form, with bastions of clay, in the form of ordinary blockhouses, at two
+of the corners. The walls are about fifteen feet high, and surmounted by
+a slender palisade. The roofs of the apartments within, which are built
+close against the walls, serve the purpose of a banquette. Within,
+the fort is divided by a partition; on one side is the square area
+surrounded by the storerooms, offices, and apartments of the inmates;
+on the other is the corral, a narrow place, encompassed by the high clay
+walls, where at night, or in presence of dangerous Indians, the horses
+and mules of the fort are crowded for safe-keeping. The main entrance
+has two gates, with an arched passage intervening. A little square
+window, quite high above the ground, opens laterally from an adjoining
+chamber into this passage; so that when the inner gate is closed and
+barred, a person without may still hold communication with those within
+through this narrow aperture. This obviates the necessity of admitting
+suspicious Indians, for purposes of trading, into the body of the fort;
+for when danger is apprehended, the inner gate is shut fast, and all
+traffic is carried on by means of the little window. This precaution,
+though highly necessary at some of the company's posts, is now seldom
+resorted to at Fort Laramie; where, though men are frequently killed in
+its neighborhood, no apprehensions are now entertained of any general
+designs of hostility from the Indians.
+
+We did not long enjoy our new quarters undisturbed. The door was
+silently pushed open, and two eyeballs and a visage as black as night
+looked in upon us; then a red arm and shoulder intruded themselves, and
+a tall Indian, gliding in, shook us by the hand, grunted his salutation,
+and sat down on the floor. Others followed, with faces of the natural
+hue; and letting fall their heavy robes from their shoulders, they took
+their seats, quite at ease, in a semicircle before us. The pipe was now
+to be lighted and passed round from one to another; and this was the
+only entertainment that at present they expected from us. These visitors
+were fathers, brothers, or other relatives of the squaws in the
+fort, where they were permitted to remain, loitering about in perfect
+idleness. All those who smoked with us were men of standing and repute.
+Two or three others dropped in also; young fellows who neither by their
+years nor their exploits were entitled to rank with the old men and
+warriors, and who, abashed in the presence of their superiors, stood
+aloof, never withdrawing their eyes from us. Their cheeks were adorned
+with vermilion, their ears with pendants of shell, and their necks with
+beads. Never yet having signalized themselves as hunters, or performed
+the honorable exploit of killing a man, they were held in slight
+esteem, and were diffident and bashful in proportion. Certain formidable
+inconveniences attended this influx of visitors. They were bent on
+inspecting everything in the room; our equipments and our dress alike
+underwent their scrutiny; for though the contrary has been carelessly
+asserted, few beings have more curiosity than Indians in regard to
+subjects within their ordinary range of thought. As to other matters,
+indeed, they seemed utterly indifferent. They will not trouble
+themselves to inquire into what they cannot comprehend, but are quite
+contented to place their hands over their mouths in token of wonder, and
+exclaim that it is "great medicine." With this comprehensive solution,
+an Indian never is at a loss. He never launches forth into speculation
+and conjecture; his reason moves in its beaten track. His soul is
+dormant; and no exertions of the missionaries, Jesuit or Puritan, of the
+Old World or of the New, have as yet availed to rouse it.
+
+As we were looking, at sunset, from the wall, upon the wild and desolate
+plains that surround the fort, we observed a cluster of strange objects
+like scaffolds rising in the distance against the red western sky. They
+bore aloft some singular looking burdens; and at their foot glimmered
+something white like bones. This was the place of sepulture of some
+Dakota chiefs, whose remains their people are fond of placing in the
+vicinity of the fort, in the hope that they may thus be protected from
+violation at the hands of their enemies. Yet it has happened more than
+once, and quite recently, that war parties of the Crow Indians, ranging
+through the country, have thrown the bodies from the scaffolds, and
+broken them to pieces amid the yells of the Dakotas, who remained pent
+up in the fort, too few to defend the honored relics from insult. The
+white objects upon the ground were buffalo skulls, arranged in the
+mystic circle commonly seen at Indian places of sepulture upon the
+prairie.
+
+We soon discovered, in the twilight, a band of fifty or sixty
+horses approaching the fort. These were the animals belonging to the
+establishment; who having been sent out to feed, under the care of armed
+guards, in the meadows below, were now being driven into the corral for
+the night. A little gate opened into this inclosure; by the side of it
+stood one of the guards, an old Canadian, with gray bushy eyebrows,
+and a dragoon pistol stuck into his belt; while his comrade, mounted
+on horseback, his rifle laid across the saddle in front of him, and
+his long hair blowing before his swarthy face, rode at the rear of the
+disorderly troop, urging them up the ascent. In a moment the narrow
+corral was thronged with the half-wild horses, kicking, biting, and
+crowding restlessly together.
+
+The discordant jingling of a bell, rung by a Canadian in the area,
+summoned us to supper. This sumptuous repast was served on a rough table
+in one of the lower apartments of the fort, and consisted of cakes of
+bread and dried buffalo meat--an excellent thing for strengthening the
+teeth. At this meal were seated the bourgeois and superior dignitaries
+of the establishment, among whom Henry Chatillon was worthily included.
+No sooner was it finished, than the table was spread a second time (the
+luxury of bread being now, however, omitted), for the benefit of
+certain hunters and trappers of an inferior standing; while the ordinary
+Canadian ENGAGES were regaled on dried meat in one of their lodging
+rooms. By way of illustrating the domestic economy of Fort Laramie, it
+may not be amiss to introduce in this place a story current among the
+men when we were there.
+
+There was an old man named Pierre, whose duty it was to bring the meat
+from the storeroom for the men. Old Pierre, in the kindness of
+his heart, used to select the fattest and the best pieces for his
+companions. This did not long escape the keen-eyed bourgeois, who was
+greatly disturbed at such improvidence, and cast about for some means to
+stop it. At last he hit on a plan that exactly suited him. At the side
+of the meat-room, and separated from it by a clay partition, was another
+compartment, used for the storage of furs. It had no other communication
+with the fort, except through a square hole in the partition; and of
+course it was perfectly dark. One evening the bourgeois, watching for
+a moment when no one observed him, dodged into the meat-room, clambered
+through the hole, and ensconced himself among the furs and buffalo
+robes. Soon after, old Pierre came in with his lantern; and, muttering
+to himself, began to pull over the bales of meat, and select the best
+pieces, as usual. But suddenly a hollow and sepulchral voice proceeded
+from the inner apartment: "Pierre! Pierre! Let that fat meat alone! Take
+nothing but lean!" Pierre dropped his lantern, and bolted out into
+the fort, screaming, in an agony of terror, that the devil was in the
+storeroom; but tripping on the threshold, he pitched over upon the
+gravel, and lay senseless, stunned by the fall. The Canadians ran out
+to the rescue. Some lifted the unlucky Pierre; and others, making an
+extempore crucifix out of two sticks, were proceeding to attack the
+devil in his stronghold, when the bourgeois, with a crest-fallen
+countenance, appeared at the door. To add to the bourgeois'
+mortification, he was obliged to explain the whole stratagem to Pierre,
+in order to bring the latter to his senses.
+
+We were sitting, on the following morning, in the passage-way between
+the gates, conversing with the traders Vaskiss and May. These two men,
+together with our sleek friend, the clerk Montalon, were, I believe, the
+only persons then in the fort who could read and write. May was telling
+a curious story about the traveler Catlin, when an ugly, diminutive
+Indian, wretchedly mounted, came up at a gallop, and rode past us into
+the fort. On being questioned, he said that Smoke's village was close at
+hand. Accordingly only a few minutes elapsed before the hills beyond the
+river were covered with a disorderly swarm of savages, on horseback and
+on foot. May finished his story; and by that time the whole array had
+descended to Laramie Creek, and commenced crossing it in a mass. I
+walked down to the bank. The stream is wide, and was then between three
+and four feet deep, with a very swift current. For several rods the
+water was alive with dogs, horses, and Indians. The long poles used in
+erecting the lodges are carried by the horses, being fastened by the
+heavier end, two or three on each side, to a rude sort of pack saddle,
+while the other end drags on the ground. About a foot behind the horse,
+a kind of large basket or pannier is suspended between the poles, and
+firmly lashed in its place on the back of the horse are piled various
+articles of luggage; the basket also is well filled with domestic
+utensils, or, quite as often, with a litter of puppies, a brood of small
+children, or a superannuated old man. Numbers of these curious vehicles,
+called, in the bastard language of the country travaux were now
+splashing together through the stream. Among them swam countless dogs,
+often burdened with miniature travaux; and dashing forward on horseback
+through the throng came the superbly formed warriors, the slender figure
+of some lynx-eyed boy, clinging fast behind them. The women sat perched
+on the pack saddles, adding not a little to the load of the already
+overburdened horses. The confusion was prodigious. The dogs yelled and
+howled in chorus; the puppies in the travaux set up a dismal whine
+as the water invaded their comfortable retreat; the little black-eyed
+children, from one year of age upward, clung fast with both hands to the
+edge of their basket, and looked over in alarm at the water rushing so
+near them, sputtering and making wry mouths as it splashed against their
+faces. Some of the dogs, encumbered by their loads, were carried down by
+the current, yelping piteously; and the old squaws would rush into the
+water, seize their favorites by the neck, and drag them out. As each
+horse gained the bank, he scrambled up as he could. Stray horses and
+colts came among the rest, often breaking away at full speed through the
+crowd, followed by the old hags, screaming after their fashion on all
+occasions of excitement. Buxom young squaws, blooming in all the charms
+of vermilion, stood here and there on the bank, holding aloft their
+master's lance, as a signal to collect the scattered portions of his
+household. In a few moments the crowd melted away; each family, with its
+horses and equipage, filing off to the plain at the rear of the fort;
+and here, in the space of half an hour, arose sixty or seventy of
+their tapering lodges. Their horses were feeding by hundreds over the
+surrounding prairie, and their dogs were roaming everywhere. The fort
+was full of men, and the children were whooping and yelling incessantly
+under the walls.
+
+These newcomers were scarcely arrived, when Bordeaux was running across
+the fort, shouting to his squaw to bring him his spyglass. The obedient
+Marie, the very model of a squaw, produced the instrument, and Bordeaux
+hurried with it up to the wall. Pointing it to the eastward, he
+exclaimed, with an oath, that the families were coming. But a few
+moments elapsed before the heavy caravan of the emigrant wagons could
+be seen, steadily advancing from the hills. They gained the river, and
+without turning or pausing plunged in; they passed through, and slowly
+ascending the opposing bank, kept directly on their way past the fort
+and the Indian village, until, gaining a spot a quarter of a mile
+distant, they wheeled into a circle. For some time our tranquillity
+was undisturbed. The emigrants were preparing their encampment; but
+no sooner was this accomplished than Fort Laramie was fairly taken by
+storm. A crowd of broad-brimmed hats, thin visages, and staring eyes
+appeared suddenly at the gate. Tall awkward men, in brown homespun;
+women with cadaverous faces and long lank figures came thronging in
+together, and, as if inspired by the very demon of curiosity, ransacked
+every nook and corner of the fort. Dismayed at this invasion, we
+withdrew in all speed to our chamber, vainly hoping that it might prove
+an inviolable sanctuary. The emigrants prosecuted their investigations
+with untiring vigor. They penetrated the rooms or rather dens, inhabited
+by the astonished squaws. They explored the apartments of the men, and
+even that of Marie and the bourgeois. At last a numerous deputation
+appeared at our door, but were immediately expelled. Being totally
+devoid of any sense of delicacy or propriety, they seemed resolved to
+search every mystery to the bottom.
+
+Having at length satisfied their curiosity, they next proceeded to
+business. The men occupied themselves in procuring supplies for their
+onward journey; either buying them with money or giving in exchange
+superfluous articles of their own.
+
+The emigrants felt a violent prejudice against the French Indians,
+as they called the trappers and traders. They thought, and with some
+justice, that these men bore them no good will. Many of them were firmly
+persuaded that the French were instigating the Indians to attack and
+cut them off. On visiting the encampment we were at once struck with
+the extraordinary perplexity and indecision that prevailed among
+the emigrants. They seemed like men totally out of their elements;
+bewildered and amazed, like a troop of school-boys lost in the woods. It
+was impossible to be long among them without being conscious of the high
+and bold spirit with which most of them were animated. But the FOREST is
+the home of the backwoodsman. On the remote prairie he is totally at a
+loss. He differs much from the genuine "mountain man," the wild prairie
+hunter, as a Canadian voyageur, paddling his canoe on the rapids of the
+Ottawa, differs from an American sailor among the storms of Cape Horn.
+Still my companion and I were somewhat at a loss to account for this
+perturbed state of mind. It could not be cowardice; these men were of
+the same stock with the volunteers of Monterey and Buena Vista. Yet, for
+the most part, they were the rudest and most ignorant of the frontier
+population; they knew absolutely nothing of the country and its
+inhabitants; they had already experienced much misfortune, and
+apprehended more; they had seen nothing of mankind, and had never put
+their own resources to the test.
+
+A full proportion of suspicion fell upon us. Being strangers we were
+looked upon as enemies. Having occasion for a supply of lead and a few
+other necessary articles, we used to go over to the emigrant camps to
+obtain them. After some hesitation, some dubious glances, and fumbling
+of the hands in the pockets, the terms would be agreed upon, the
+price tendered, and the emigrant would go off to bring the article in
+question. After waiting until our patience gave out, we would go in
+search of him, and find him seated on the tongue of his wagon.
+
+"Well, stranger," he would observe, as he saw us approach, "I reckon I
+won't trade!"
+
+Some friend of his followed him from the scene of the bargain and
+suggested in his ear, that clearly we meant to cheat him, and he had
+better have nothing to do with us.
+
+This timorous mood of the emigrants was doubly unfortunate, as it
+exposed them to real danger. Assume, in the presence of Indians a bold
+bearing, self-confident yet vigilant, and you will find them tolerably
+safe neighbors. But your safety depends on the respect and fear you are
+able to inspire. If you betray timidity or indecision, you convert them
+from that moment into insidious and dangerous enemies. The Dakotas saw
+clearly enough the perturbation of the emigrants and instantly availed
+themselves of it. They became extremely insolent and exacting in their
+demands. It has become an established custom with them to go to the camp
+of every party, as it arrives in succession at the fort, and demand a
+feast. Smoke's village had come with the express design, having made
+several days' journey with no other object than that of enjoying a cup
+of coffee and two or three biscuits. So the "feast" was demanded, and
+the emigrants dared not refuse it.
+
+One evening, about sunset, the village was deserted. We met old men,
+warriors, squaws, and children in gay attire, trooping off to the
+encampment, with faces of anticipation; and, arriving here, they seated
+themselves in a semicircle. Smoke occupied the center, with his warriors
+on either hand; the young men and boys next succeeded, and the squaws
+and children formed the horns of the crescent. The biscuit and coffee
+were most promptly dispatched, the emigrants staring open-mouthed at
+their savage guests. With each new emigrant party that arrived at Fort
+Laramie this scene was renewed; and every day the Indians grew more
+rapacious and presumptuous. One evening they broke to pieces, out of
+mere wantonness, the cups from which they had been feasted; and this
+so exasperated the emigrants that many of them seized their rifles and
+could scarcely be restrained from firing on the insolent mob of Indians.
+Before we left the country this dangerous spirit on the part of the
+Dakota had mounted to a yet higher pitch. They began openly to threaten
+the emigrants with destruction, and actually fired upon one or two
+parties of whites. A military force and military law are urgently called
+for in that perilous region; and unless troops are speedily stationed at
+Fort Laramie, or elsewhere in the neighborhood, both the emigrants and
+other travelers will be exposed to most imminent risks.
+
+The Ogallalla, the Brules, and other western bands of the Dakota, are
+thorough savages, unchanged by any contact with civilization. Not one
+of them can speak a European tongue, or has ever visited an American
+settlement. Until within a year or two, when the emigrants began to
+pass through their country on the way to Oregon, they had seen no whites
+except the handful employed about the Fur Company's posts. They esteemed
+them a wise people, inferior only to themselves, living in leather
+lodges, like their own, and subsisting on buffalo. But when the swarm
+of MENEASKA, with their oxen and wagons, began to invade them, their
+astonishment was unbounded. They could scarcely believe that the earth
+contained such a multitude of white men. Their wonder is now giving way
+to indignation; and the result, unless vigilantly guarded against, may
+be lamentable in the extreme.
+
+But to glance at the interior of a lodge. Shaw and I used often to
+visit them. Indeed, we spent most of our evenings in the Indian village;
+Shaw's assumption of the medical character giving us a fair pretext. As
+a sample of the rest I will describe one of these visits. The sun had
+just set, and the horses were driven into the corral. The Prairie Cock,
+a noted beau, came in at the gate with a bevy of young girls, with whom
+he began to dance in the area, leading them round and round in a circle,
+while he jerked up from his chest a succession of monotonous sounds, to
+which they kept time in a rueful chant. Outside the gate boys and young
+men were idly frolicking; and close by, looking grimly upon them, stood
+a warrior in his robe, with his face painted jet-black, in token that
+he had lately taken a Pawnee scalp. Passing these, the tall dark lodges
+rose between us and the red western sky. We repaired at once to the
+lodge of Old Smoke himself. It was by no means better than the others;
+indeed, it was rather shabby; for in this democratic community, the
+chief never assumes superior state. Smoke sat cross-legged on a buffalo
+robe, and his grunt of salutation as we entered was unusually cordial,
+out of respect no doubt to Shaw's medical character. Seated around the
+lodge were several squaws, and an abundance of children. The complaint
+of Shaw's patients was, for the most part, a severe inflammation of the
+eyes, occasioned by exposure to the sun, a species of disorder which
+he treated with some success. He had brought with him a homeopathic
+medicine chest, and was, I presume, the first who introduced that
+harmless system of treatment among the Ogallalla. No sooner had a robe
+been spread at the head of the lodge for our accommodation, and we
+had seated ourselves upon it, than a patient made her appearance; the
+chief's daughter herself, who, to do her justice, was the best-looking
+girl in the village. Being on excellent terms with the physician, she
+placed herself readily under his hands, and submitted with a good grace
+to his applications, laughing in his face during the whole process, for
+a squaw hardly knows how to smile. This case dispatched, another of
+a different kind succeeded. A hideous, emaciated old woman sat in the
+darkest corner of the lodge rocking to and fro with pain and hiding
+her eyes from the light by pressing the palms of both hands against
+her face. At Smoke's command, she came forward, very unwillingly, and
+exhibited a pair of eyes that had nearly disappeared from excess of
+inflammation. No sooner had the doctor fastened his grips upon her than
+she set up a dismal moaning, and writhed so in his grasp that he lost
+all patience, but being resolved to carry his point, he succeeded at
+last in applying his favorite remedies.
+
+"It is strange," he said, when the operation was finished, "that I
+forgot to bring any Spanish flies with me; we must have something here
+to answer for a counter-irritant!"
+
+So, in the absence of better, he seized upon a red-hot brand from the
+fire, and clapped it against the temple of the old squaw, who set up an
+unearthly howl, at which the rest of the family broke out into a laugh.
+
+During these medical operations Smoke's eldest squaw entered the lodge,
+with a sort of stone mallet in her hand. I had observed some time before
+a litter of well-grown black puppies, comfortably nestled among some
+buffalo robes at one side; but this newcomer speedily disturbed their
+enjoyment; for seizing one of them by the hind paw, she dragged him out,
+and carrying him to the entrance of the lodge, hammered him on the head
+till she killed him. Being quite conscious to what this preparation
+tended, I looked through a hole in the back of the lodge to see the
+next steps of the process. The squaw, holding the puppy by the legs, was
+swinging him to and fro through the blaze of a fire, until the hair was
+singed off. This done, she unsheathed her knife and cut him into small
+pieces, which she dropped into a kettle to boil. In a few moments
+a large wooden dish was set before us, filled with this delicate
+preparation. We felt conscious of the honor. A dog-feast is the greatest
+compliment a Dakota can offer to his guest; and knowing that to refuse
+eating would be an affront, we attacked the little dog and devoured him
+before the eyes of his unconscious parent. Smoke in the meantime was
+preparing his great pipe. It was lighted when we had finished our
+repast, and we passed it from one to another till the bowl was empty.
+This done, we took our leave without further ceremony, knocked at the
+gate of the fort, and after making ourselves known were admitted.
+
+One morning, about a week after reaching Fort Laramie, we were holding
+our customary Indian levee, when a bustle in the area below announced
+a new arrival; and looking down from our balcony, I saw a familiar red
+beard and mustache in the gateway. They belonged to the captain, who
+with his party had just crossed the stream. We met him on the stairs as
+he came up, and congratulated him on the safe arrival of himself and his
+devoted companions. But he remembered our treachery, and was grave and
+dignified accordingly; a tendency which increased as he observed on our
+part a disposition to laugh at him. After remaining an hour or two at
+the fort he rode away with his friends, and we have heard nothing of him
+since. As for R., he kept carefully aloof. It was but too evident that
+we had the unhappiness to have forfeited the kind regards of our London
+fellow-traveler.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE WAR PARTIES
+
+
+The summer of 1846 was a season of much warlike excitement among all the
+western bands of the Dakota. In 1845 they encountered great reverses.
+Many war parties had been sent out; some of them had been totally cut
+off, and others had returned broken and disheartened, so that the whole
+nation was in mourning. Among the rest, ten warriors had gone to the
+Snake country, led by the son of a prominent Ogallalla chief, called The
+Whirlwind. In passing over Laramie Plains they encountered a superior
+number of their enemies, were surrounded, and killed to a man.
+Having performed this exploit the Snakes became alarmed, dreading the
+resentment of the Dakota, and they hastened therefore to signify their
+wish for peace by sending the scalp of the slain partisan, together with
+a small parcel of tobacco attached, to his tribesmen and relations. They
+had employed old Vaskiss, the trader, as their messenger, and the scalp
+was the same that hung in our room at the fort. But The Whirlwind proved
+inexorable. Though his character hardly corresponds with his name, he is
+nevertheless an Indian, and hates the Snakes with his whole soul. Long
+before the scalp arrived he had made his preparations for revenge. He
+sent messengers with presents and tobacco to all the Dakota within three
+hundred miles, proposing a grand combination to chastise the Snakes, and
+naming a place and time of rendezvous. The plan was readily adopted and
+at this moment many villages, probably embracing in the whole five or
+six thousand souls, were slowly creeping over the prairies and tending
+towards the common center at La Bonte's Camp, on the Platte. Here their
+war-like rites were to be celebrated with more than ordinary solemnity,
+and a thousand warriors, as it was said, were to set out for the enemy
+country. The characteristic result of this preparation will appear in
+the sequel.
+
+I was greatly rejoiced to hear of it. I had come into the country almost
+exclusively with a view of observing the Indian character. Having from
+childhood felt a curiosity on this subject, and having failed completely
+to gratify it by reading, I resolved to have recourse to observation.
+I wished to satisfy myself with regard to the position of the Indians
+among the races of men; the vices and the virtues that have sprung from
+their innate character and from their modes of life, their government,
+their superstitions, and their domestic situation. To accomplish my
+purpose it was necessary to live in the midst of them, and become, as
+it were, one of them. I proposed to join a village and make myself an
+inmate of one of their lodges; and henceforward this narrative, so far
+as I am concerned, will be chiefly a record of the progress of this
+design apparently so easy of accomplishment, and the unexpected
+impediments that opposed it.
+
+We resolved on no account to miss the rendezvous at La Bonte's Camp. Our
+plan was to leave Delorier at the fort, in charge of our equipage and
+the better part of our horses, while we took with us nothing but our
+weapons and the worst animals we had. In all probability jealousies and
+quarrels would arise among so many hordes of fierce impulsive savages,
+congregated together under no common head, and many of them strangers,
+from remote prairies and mountains. We were bound in common prudence to
+be cautious how we excited any feeling of cupidity. This was our plan,
+but unhappily we were not destined to visit La Bonte's Camp in this
+manner; for one morning a young Indian came to the fort and brought us
+evil tidings. The newcomer was a dandy of the first water. His ugly face
+was painted with vermilion; on his head fluttered the tail of a prairie
+cock (a large species of pheasant, not found, as I have heard, eastward
+of the Rocky Mountains); in his ears were hung pendants of shell, and a
+flaming red blanket was wrapped around him. He carried a dragoon sword
+in his hand, solely for display, since the knife, the arrow, and the
+rifle are the arbiters of every prairie fight; but no one in this
+country goes abroad unarmed, the dandy carried a bow and arrows in an
+otter-skin quiver at his back. In this guise, and bestriding his yellow
+horse with an air of extreme dignity, The Horse, for that was his name,
+rode in at the gate, turning neither to the right nor the left, but
+casting glances askance at the groups of squaws who, with their mongrel
+progeny, were sitting in the sun before their doors. The evil tidings
+brought by The Horse were of the following import: The squaw of Henry
+Chatillon, a woman with whom he had been connected for years by the
+strongest ties which in that country exist between the sexes, was
+dangerously ill. She and her children were in the village of The
+Whirlwind, at the distance of a few days' journey. Henry was anxious to
+see the woman before she died, and provide for the safety and support
+of his children, of whom he was extremely fond. To have refused him
+this would have been gross inhumanity. We abandoned our plan of joining
+Smoke's village, and of proceeding with it to the rendezvous, and
+determined to meet The Whirlwind, and go in his company.
+
+I had been slightly ill for several weeks, but on the third night
+after reaching Fort Laramie a violent pain awoke me, and I found myself
+attacked by the same disorder that occasioned such heavy losses to the
+army on the Rio Grande. In a day and a half I was reduced to extreme
+weakness, so that I could not walk without pain and effort. Having
+within that time taken six grains of opium, without the least beneficial
+effect, and having no medical adviser, nor any choice of diet, I
+resolved to throw myself upon Providence for recovery, using, without
+regard to the disorder, any portion of strength that might remain to
+me. So on the 20th of June we set out from Fort Laramie to meet The
+Whirlwind's village. Though aided by the high-bowed "mountain saddle,"
+I could scarcely keep my seat on horseback. Before we left the fort we
+hired another man, a long-haired Canadian, with a face like an owl's,
+contrasting oddly enough with Delorier's mercurial countenance. This was
+not the only re-enforcement to our party. A vagrant Indian trader, named
+Reynal, joined us, together with his squaw Margot, and her two nephews,
+our dandy friend, The Horse, and his younger brother, The Hail Storm.
+Thus accompanied, we betook ourselves to the prairie, leaving the beaten
+trail, and passing over the desolate hills that flank the bottoms of
+Laramie Creek. In all, Indians and whites, we counted eight men and one
+woman.
+
+Reynal, the trader, the image of sleek and selfish complacency, carried
+The Horse's dragoon sword in his hand, delighting apparently in this
+useless parade; for, from spending half his life among Indians, he had
+caught not only their habits but their ideas. Margot, a female animal
+of more than two hundred pounds' weight, was couched in the basket of
+a travail, such as I have before described; besides her ponderous bulk,
+various domestic utensils were attached to the vehicle, and she was
+leading by a trail-rope a packhorse, who carried the covering of
+Reynal's lodge. Delorier walked briskly by the side of the cart, and
+Raymond came behind, swearing at the spare horses, which it was his
+business to drive. The restless young Indians, their quivers at their
+backs, and their bows in their hand, galloped over the hills, often
+starting a wolf or an antelope from the thick growth of wild-sage
+bushes. Shaw and I were in keeping with the rest of the rude cavalcade,
+having in the absence of other clothing adopted the buckskin attire
+of the trappers. Henry Chatillon rode in advance of the whole. Thus we
+passed hill after hill and hollow after hollow, a country arid, broken
+and so parched by the sun that none of the plants familiar to our more
+favored soil would flourish upon it, though there were multitudes of
+strange medicinal herbs, more especially the absanth, which covered
+every declivity, and cacti were hanging like reptiles at the edges of
+every ravine. At length we ascended a high hill, our horses treading
+upon pebbles of flint, agate, and rough jasper, until, gaining the top,
+we looked down on the wild bottoms of Laramie Creek, which far below us
+wound like a writhing snake from side to side of the narrow interval,
+amid a growth of shattered cotton-wood and ash trees. Lines of tall
+cliffs, white as chalk, shut in this green strip of woods and meadow
+land, into which we descended and encamped for the night. In the morning
+we passed a wide grassy plain by the river; there was a grove in front,
+and beneath its shadows the ruins of an old trading fort of logs. The
+grove bloomed with myriads of wild roses, with their sweet perfume
+fraught with recollections of home. As we emerged from the trees, a
+rattlesnake, as large as a man's arm, and more than four feet long,
+lay coiled on a rock, fiercely rattling and hissing at us; a gray hare,
+double the size of those in New England, leaped up from the tall ferns;
+curlew were screaming over our heads, and a whole host of little prairie
+dogs sat yelping at us at the mouths of their burrows on the dry plain
+beyond. Suddenly an antelope leaped up from the wild-sage bushes, gazed
+eagerly at us, and then, erecting his white tail, stretched away like a
+greyhound. The two Indian boys found a white wolf, as large as a calf in
+a hollow, and giving a sharp yell, they galloped after him; but the wolf
+leaped into the stream and swam across. Then came the crack of a rifle,
+the bullet whistling harmlessly over his head, as he scrambled up the
+steep declivity, rattling down stones and earth into the water below.
+Advancing a little, we beheld on the farther bank of the stream, a
+spectacle not common even in that region; for, emerging from among the
+trees, a herd of some two hundred elk came out upon the meadow, their
+antlers clattering as they walked forward in dense throng. Seeing us,
+they broke into a run, rushing across the opening and disappearing
+among the trees and scattered groves. On our left was a barren prairie,
+stretching to the horizon; on our right, a deep gulf, with Laramie
+Creek at the bottom. We found ourselves at length at the edge of a
+steep descent; a narrow valley, with long rank grass and scattered trees
+stretching before us for a mile or more along the course of the
+stream. Reaching the farther end, we stopped and encamped. An old huge
+cotton-wood tree spread its branches horizontally over our tent. Laramie
+Creek, circling before our camp, half inclosed us; it swept along the
+bottom of a line of tall white cliffs that looked down on us from the
+farther bank. There were dense copses on our right; the cliffs, too,
+were half hidden by shrubbery, though behind us a few cotton-wood trees,
+dotting the green prairie, alone impeded the view, and friend or enemy
+could be discerned in that direction at a mile's distance. Here we
+resolved to remain and await the arrival of The Whirlwind, who would
+certainly pass this way in his progress toward La Bonte's Camp. To go
+in search of him was not expedient, both on account of the broken and
+impracticable nature of the country and the uncertainty of his position
+and movements; besides, our horses were almost worn out, and I was in no
+condition to travel. We had good grass, good water, tolerable fish
+from the stream, and plenty of smaller game, such as antelope and deer,
+though no buffalo. There was one little drawback to our satisfaction--a
+certain extensive tract of bushes and dried grass, just behind us, which
+it was by no means advisable to enter, since it sheltered a numerous
+brood of rattlesnakes. Henry Chatillon again dispatched The Horse to the
+village, with a message to his squaw that she and her relatives should
+leave the rest and push on as rapidly as possible to our camp.
+
+Our daily routine soon became as regular as that of a well-ordered
+household. The weather-beaten old tree was in the center; our rifles
+generally rested against its vast trunk, and our saddles were flung on
+the ground around it; its distorted roots were so twisted as to form one
+or two convenient arm-chairs, where we could sit in the shade and read
+or smoke; but meal-times became, on the whole, the most interesting
+hours of the day, and a bountiful provision was made for them. An
+antelope or a deer usually swung from a stout bough, and haunches were
+suspended against the trunk. That camp is daguerreotyped on my memory;
+the old tree, the white tent, with Shaw sleeping in the shadow of it,
+and Reynal's miserable lodge close by the bank of the stream. It was a
+wretched oven-shaped structure, made of begrimed and tattered buffalo
+hides stretched over a frame of poles; one side was open, and at the
+side of the opening hung the powder horn and bullet pouch of the owner,
+together with his long red pipe, and a rich quiver of otterskin, with a
+bow and arrows; for Reynal, an Indian in most things but color, chose
+to hunt buffalo with these primitive weapons. In the darkness of this
+cavern-like habitation, might be discerned Madame Margot, her overgrown
+bulk stowed away among her domestic implements, furs, robes, blankets,
+and painted cases of PAR' FLECHE, in which dried meat is kept. Here
+she sat from sunrise to sunset, a bloated impersonation of gluttony
+and laziness, while her affectionate proprietor was smoking, or begging
+petty gifts from us, or telling lies concerning his own achievements,
+or perchance engaged in the more profitable occupation of cooking some
+preparation of prairie delicacies. Reynal was an adept at this work; he
+and Delorier have joined forces and are hard at work together over
+the fire, while Raymond spreads, by way of tablecloth, a buffalo hide,
+carefully whitened with pipeclay, on the grass before the tent. Here,
+with ostentatious display, he arranges the teacups and plates; and then,
+creeping on all fours like a dog, he thrusts his head in at the opening
+of the tent. For a moment we see his round owlish eyes rolling wildly,
+as if the idea he came to communicate had suddenly escaped him; then
+collecting his scattered thoughts, as if by an effort, he informs us
+that supper is ready, and instantly withdraws.
+
+When sunset came, and at that hour the wild and desolate scene would
+assume a new aspect, the horses were driven in. They had been grazing
+all day in the neighboring meadow, but now they were picketed close
+about the camp. As the prairie darkened we sat and conversed around the
+fire, until becoming drowsy we spread our saddles on the ground, wrapped
+our blankets around us and lay down. We never placed a guard, having
+by this time become too indolent; but Henry Chatillon folded his loaded
+rifle in the same blanket with himself, observing that he always took it
+to bed with him when he camped in that place. Henry was too bold a man
+to use such a precaution without good cause. We had a hint now and then
+that our situation was none of the safest; several Crow war parties were
+known to be in the vicinity, and one of them, that passed here some time
+before, had peeled the bark from a neighboring tree, and engraved upon
+the white wood certain hieroglyphics, to signify that they had invaded
+the territories of their enemies, the Dakota, and set them at defiance.
+One morning a thick mist covered the whole country. Shaw and Henry went
+out to ride, and soon came back with a startling piece of intelligence;
+they had found within rifle-shot of our camp the recent trail of about
+thirty horsemen. They could not be whites, and they could not be Dakota,
+since we knew no such parties to be in the neighborhood; therefore
+they must be Crows. Thanks to that friendly mist, we had escaped a hard
+battle; they would inevitably have attacked us and our Indian companions
+had they seen our camp. Whatever doubts we might have entertained, were
+quite removed a day or two after, by two or three Dakota, who came to us
+with an account of having hidden in a ravine on that very morning, from
+whence they saw and counted the Crows; they said that they followed
+them, carefully keeping out of sight, as they passed up Chugwater; that
+here the Crows discovered five dead bodies of Dakota, placed according
+to the national custom in trees, and flinging them to the ground, they
+held their guns against them and blew them to atoms.
+
+If our camp were not altogether safe, still it was comfortable enough;
+at least it was so to Shaw, for I was tormented with illness and vexed
+by the delay in the accomplishment of my designs. When a respite in my
+disorder gave me some returning strength, I rode out well-armed upon
+the prairie, or bathed with Shaw in the stream, or waged a petty warfare
+with the inhabitants of a neighborhood prairie-dog village. Around our
+fire at night we employed ourselves in inveighing against the fickleness
+and inconstancy of Indians, and execrating The Whirlwind and all his
+village. At last the thing grew insufferable.
+
+"To-morrow morning," said I, "I will start for the fort, and see if I
+can hear any news there." Late that evening, when the fire had sunk
+low, and all the camp were asleep, a loud cry sounded from the darkness.
+Henry started up, recognized the voice, replied to it, and our dandy
+friend, The Horse, rode in among us, just returned from his mission to
+the village. He coolly picketed his mare, without saying a word, sat
+down by the fire and began to eat, but his imperturbable philosophy
+was too much for our patience. Where was the village? about fifty miles
+south of us; it was moving slowly and would not arrive in less than
+a week; and where was Henry's squaw? coming as fast as she could with
+Mahto-Tatonka, and the rest of her brothers, but she would never reach
+us, for she was dying, and asking every moment for Henry. Henry's manly
+face became clouded and downcast; he said that if we were willing he
+would go in the morning to find her, at which Shaw offered to accompany
+him.
+
+We saddled our horses at sunrise. Reynal protested vehemently against
+being left alone, with nobody but the two Canadians and the young
+Indians, when enemies were in the neighborhood. Disregarding his
+complaints, we left him, and coming to the mouth of Chugwater,
+separated, Shaw and Henry turning to the right, up the bank of the
+stream, while I made for the fort.
+
+Taking leave for a while of my friend and the unfortunate squaw, I will
+relate by way of episode what I saw and did at Fort Laramie. It was not
+more than eighteen miles distant, and I reached it in three hours; a
+shriveled little figure, wrapped from head to foot in a dingy white
+Canadian capote, stood in the gateway, holding by a cord of bull's hide
+a shaggy wild horse, which he had lately caught. His sharp prominent
+features, and his little keen snakelike eyes, looked out from beneath
+the shadowy hood of the capote, which was drawn over his head exactly
+like the cowl of a Capuchin friar. His face was extremely thin and like
+an old piece of leather, and his mouth spread from ear to ear. Extending
+his long wiry hand, he welcomed me with something more cordial than the
+ordinary cold salute of an Indian, for we were excellent friends. He had
+made an exchange of horses to our mutual advantage; and Paul, thinking
+himself well-treated, had declared everywhere that the white man had
+a good heart. He was a Dakota from the Missouri, a reputed son of the
+half-breed interpreter, Pierre Dorion, so often mentioned in Irving's
+"Astoria." He said that he was going to Richard's trading house to sell
+his horse to some emigrants who were encamped there, and asked me to go
+with him. We forded the stream together, Paul dragging his wild charge
+behind him. As we passed over the sandy plains beyond, he grew quite
+communicative. Paul was a cosmopolitan in his way; he had been to the
+settlements of the whites, and visited in peace and war most of the
+tribes within the range of a thousand miles. He spoke a jargon of French
+and another of English, yet nevertheless he was a thorough Indian; and
+as he told of the bloody deeds of his own people against their enemies,
+his little eye would glitter with a fierce luster. He told how the
+Dakota exterminated a village of the Hohays on the Upper Missouri,
+slaughtering men, women, and children; and how an overwhelming force of
+them cut off sixteen of the brave Delawares, who fought like wolves
+to the last, amid the throng of their enemies. He told me also another
+story, which I did not believe until I had it confirmed from so many
+independent sources that no room was left for doubt. I am tempted to
+introduce it here.
+
+Six years ago a fellow named Jim Beckwith, a mongrel of French,
+American, and negro blood, was trading for the Fur Company, in a very
+large village of the Crows. Jim Beckwith was last summer at St. Louis.
+He is a ruffian of the first stamp; bloody and treacherous, without
+honor or honesty; such at least is the character he bears upon the
+prairie. Yet in his case all the standard rules of character fail,
+for though he will stab a man in his sleep, he will also perform most
+desperate acts of daring; such, for instance, as the following: While he
+was in the Crow village, a Blackfoot war party, between thirty and forty
+in number came stealing through the country, killing stragglers and
+carrying off horses. The Crow warriors got upon their trail and pressed
+them so closely that they could not escape, at which the Blackfeet,
+throwing up a semicircular breastwork of logs at the foot of a
+precipice, coolly awaited their approach. The logs and sticks, piled
+four or five high, protected them in front. The Crows might have
+swept over the breastwork and exterminated their enemies; but though
+out-numbering them tenfold, they did not dream of storming the little
+fortification. Such a proceeding would be altogether repugnant to their
+notions of warfare. Whooping and yelling, and jumping from side to side
+like devils incarnate, they showered bullets and arrows upon the logs;
+not a Blackfoot was hurt, but several Crows, in spite of their leaping
+and dodging, were shot down. In this childish manner the fight went on
+for an hour or two. Now and then a Crow warrior in an ecstasy of valor
+and vainglory would scream forth his war song, boasting himself the
+bravest and greatest of mankind, and grasping his hatchet, would rush
+up and strike it upon the breastwork, and then as he retreated to his
+companions, fall dead under a shower of arrows; yet no combined
+attack seemed to be dreamed of. The Blackfeet remained secure in their
+intrenchment. At last Jim Beckwith lost patience.
+
+"You are all fools and old women," he said to the Crows; "come with me,
+if any of you are brave enough, and I will show you how to fight."
+
+He threw off his trapper's frock of buckskin and stripped himself naked
+like the Indians themselves. He left his rifle on the ground, and taking
+in his hand a small light hatchet, he ran over the prairie to the right,
+concealed by a hollow from the eyes of the Blackfeet. Then climbing
+up the rocks, he gained the top of the precipice behind them. Forty or
+fifty young Crow warriors followed him. By the cries and whoops that
+rose from below he knew that the Blackfeet were just beneath him; and
+running forward, he leaped down the rock into the midst of them. As
+he fell he caught one by the long loose hair and dragging him down
+tomahawked him; then grasping another by the belt at his waist, he
+struck him also a stunning blow, and gaining his feet, shouted the Crow
+war-cry. He swung his hatchet so fiercely around him that the astonished
+Blackfeet bore back and gave him room. He might, had he chosen, have
+leaped over the breastwork and escaped; but this was not necessary, for
+with devilish yells the Crow warriors came dropping in quick succession
+over the rock among their enemies. The main body of the Crows, too,
+answered the cry from the front and rushed up simultaneously. The
+convulsive struggle within the breastwork was frightful; for an instant
+the Blackfeet fought and yelled like pent-up tigers; but the butchery
+was soon complete, and the mangled bodies lay piled up together under
+the precipice. Not a Blackfoot made his escape.
+
+As Paul finished his story we came in sight of Richard's Fort. It stood
+in the middle of the plain; a disorderly crowd of men around it, and an
+emigrant camp a little in front.
+
+"Now, Paul," said I, "where are your Winnicongew lodges?"
+
+"Not come yet," said Paul, "maybe come to-morrow."
+
+Two large villages of a band of Dakota had come three hundred miles
+from the Missouri, to join in the war, and they were expected to reach
+Richard's that morning. There was as yet no sign of their approach; so
+pushing through a noisy, drunken crowd, I entered an apartment of logs
+and mud, the largest in the fort; it was full of men of various races
+and complexions, all more or less drunk. A company of California
+emigrants, it seemed, had made the discovery at this late day that they
+had encumbered themselves with too many supplies for their journey.
+A part, therefore, they had thrown away or sold at great loss to
+the traders, but had determined to get rid of their copious stock of
+Missouri whisky, by drinking it on the spot. Here were maudlin squaws
+stretched on piles of buffalo robes; squalid Mexicans, armed with bows
+and arrows; Indians sedately drunk; long-haired Canadians and trappers,
+and American backwoodsmen in brown homespun, the well-beloved pistol and
+bowie knife displayed openly at their sides. In the middle of the room a
+tall, lank man, with a dingy broadcloth coat, was haranguing the company
+in the style of the stump orator. With one hand he sawed the air, and
+with the other clutched firmly a brown jug of whisky, which he applied
+every moment to his lips, forgetting that he had drained the contents
+long ago. Richard formally introduced me to this personage, who was no
+less a man than Colonel R., once the leader of the party. Instantly the
+colonel seizing me, in the absence of buttons by the leather fringes of
+my frock, began to define his position. His men, he said, had mutinied
+and deposed him; but still he exercised over them the influence of
+a superior mind; in all but the name he was yet their chief. As the
+colonel spoke, I looked round on the wild assemblage, and could not help
+thinking that he was but ill qualified to conduct such men across the
+desert to California. Conspicuous among the rest stood three tail
+young men, grandsons of Daniel Boone. They had clearly inherited the
+adventurous character of that prince of pioneers; but I saw no signs of
+the quiet and tranquil spirit that so remarkably distinguished him.
+
+Fearful was the fate that months after overtook some of the members of
+that party. General Kearny, on his late return from California, brought
+in the account how they were interrupted by the deep snows among the
+mountains, and maddened by cold and hunger fed upon each other's flesh.
+
+I got tired of the confusion. "Come, Paul," said I, "we will be off."
+Paul sat in the sun, under the wall of the fort. He jumped up, mounted,
+and we rode toward Fort Laramie. When we reached it, a man came out of
+the gate with a pack at his back and a rifle on his shoulder; others
+were gathering about him, shaking him by the hand, as if taking leave.
+I thought it a strange thing that a man should set out alone and on
+foot for the prairie. I soon got an explanation. Perrault--this, if
+I recollect right was the Canadian's name--had quarreled with the
+bourgeois, and the fort was too hot to hold him. Bordeaux, inflated with
+his transient authority, had abused him, and received a blow in return.
+The men then sprang at each other, and grappled in the middle of the
+fort. Bordeaux was down in an instant, at the mercy of the incensed
+Canadian; had not an old Indian, the brother of his squaw, seized hold
+of his antagonist, he would have fared ill. Perrault broke loose from
+the old Indian, and both the white men ran to their rooms for their
+guns; but when Bordeaux, looking from his door, saw the Canadian, gun in
+hand, standing in the area and calling on him to come out and fight,
+his heart failed him; he chose to remain where he was. In vain the old
+Indian, scandalized by his brother-in-law's cowardice, called upon him
+to go upon the prairie and fight it out in the white man's manner; and
+Bordeaux's own squaw, equally incensed, screamed to her lord and master
+that he was a dog and an old woman. It all availed nothing. Bordeaux's
+prudence got the better of his valor, and he would not stir. Perrault
+stood showering approbrious epithets at the recent bourgeois. Growing
+tired of this, he made up a pack of dried meat, and slinging it at his
+back, set out alone for Fort Pierre on the Missouri, a distance of three
+hundred miles, over a desert country full of hostile Indians.
+
+I remained in the fort that night. In the morning, as I was coming
+out from breakfast, conversing with a trader named McCluskey, I saw
+a strange Indian leaning against the side of the gate. He was a tall,
+strong man, with heavy features.
+
+"Who is he?" I asked. "That's The Whirlwind," said McCluskey. "He is the
+fellow that made all this stir about the war. It's always the way with
+the Sioux; they never stop cutting each other's throats; it's all they
+are fit for; instead of sitting in their lodges, and getting robes to
+trade with us in the winter. If this war goes on, we'll make a poor
+trade of it next season, I reckon."
+
+And this was the opinion of all the traders, who were vehemently opposed
+to the war, from the serious injury that it must occasion to their
+interests. The Whirlwind left his village the day before to make a visit
+to the fort. His warlike ardor had abated not a little since he
+first conceived the design of avenging his son's death. The long and
+complicated preparations for the expedition were too much for his
+fickle, inconstant disposition. That morning Bordeaux fastened upon him,
+made him presents and told him that if he went to war he would destroy
+his horses and kill no buffalo to trade with the white men; in short,
+that he was a fool to think of such a thing, and had better make up his
+mind to sit quietly in his lodge and smoke his pipe, like a wise man.
+The Whirlwind's purpose was evidently shaken; he had become tired, like
+a child, of his favorite plan. Bordeaux exultingly predicted that he
+would not go to war. My philanthropy at that time was no match for my
+curiosity, and I was vexed at the possibility that after all I might
+lose the rare opportunity of seeing the formidable ceremonies of
+war. The Whirlwind, however, had merely thrown the firebrand; the
+conflagration was become general. All the western bands of the Dakota
+were bent on war; and as I heard from McCluskey, six large villages
+already gathered on a little stream, forty miles distant, were daily
+calling to the Great Spirit to aid them in their enterprise. McCluskey
+had just left and represented them as on their way to La Bonte's Camp,
+which they would reach in a week, UNLESS THEY SHOULD LEARN THAT THERE
+WERE NO BUFFALO THERE. I did not like this condition, for buffalo
+this season were rare in the neighborhood. There were also the two
+Minnicongew villages that I mentioned before; but about noon, an Indian
+came from Richard's Fort with the news that they were quarreling,
+breaking up, and dispersing. So much for the whisky of the emigrants!
+Finding themselves unable to drink the whole, they had sold the residue
+to these Indians, and it needed no prophet to foretell the results; a
+spark dropped into a powder magazine would not have produced a quicker
+effect. Instantly the old jealousies and rivalries and smothered feuds
+that exist in an Indian village broke out into furious quarrels. They
+forgot the warlike enterprise that had already brought them three
+hundred miles. They seemed like ungoverned children inflamed with the
+fiercest passions of men. Several of them were stabbed in the drunken
+tumult; and in the morning they scattered and moved back toward the
+Missouri in small parties. I feared that, after all, the long-projected
+meeting and the ceremonies that were to attend it might never take
+place, and I should lose so admirable an opportunity of seeing the
+Indian under his most fearful and characteristic aspect; however,
+in foregoing this, I should avoid a very fair probability of being
+plundered and stripped, and, it might be, stabbed or shot into the
+bargain. Consoling myself with this reflection, I prepared to carry the
+news, such as it was, to the camp.
+
+I caught my horse, and to my vexation found he had lost a shoe and
+broken his tender white hoof against the rocks. Horses are shod at Fort
+Laramie at the moderate rate of three dollars a foot; so I tied
+Hendrick to a beam in the corral, and summoned Roubidou, the blacksmith.
+Roubidou, with the hoof between his knees, was at work with hammer and
+file, and I was inspecting the process, when a strange voice addressed
+me.
+
+"Two more gone under! Well, there is more of us left yet. Here's Jean
+Gars and me off to the mountains to-morrow. Our turn will come next, I
+suppose. It's a hard life, anyhow!"
+
+I looked up and saw a little man, not much more than five feet high, but
+of very square and strong proportions. In appearance he was particularly
+dingy; for his old buckskin frock was black and polished with time and
+grease, and his belt, knife, pouch, and powder-horn appeared to have
+seen the roughest service. The first joint of each foot was entirely
+gone, having been frozen off several winters before, and his moccasins
+were curtailed in proportion. His whole appearance and equipment bespoke
+the "free trapper." He had a round ruddy face, animated with a spirit of
+carelessness and gayety not at all in accordance with the words he had
+just spoken.
+
+"Two more gone," said I; "what do you mean by that?"
+
+"Oh," said he, "the Arapahoes have just killed two of us in the
+mountains. Old Bull-Tail has come to tell us. They stabbed one behind
+his back, and shot the other with his own rifle. That's the way we live
+here! I mean to give up trapping after this year. My squaw says she
+wants a pacing horse and some red ribbons; I'll make enough beaver to
+get them for her, and then I'm done! I'll go below and live on a farm."
+
+"Your bones will dry on the prairie, Rouleau!" said another trapper, who
+was standing by; a strong, brutal-looking fellow, with a face as surly
+as a bull-dog's.
+
+Rouleau only laughed, and began to hum a tune and shuffle a dance on his
+stumps of feet.
+
+"You'll see us, before long, passing up our way," said the other man.
+"Well," said I, "stop and take a cup of coffee with us"; and as it was
+quite late in the afternoon, I prepared to leave the fort at once.
+
+As I rode out, a train of emigrant wagons was passing across the stream.
+"Whar are ye goin' stranger?" Thus I was saluted by two or three voices
+at once.
+
+"About eighteen miles up the creek."
+
+"It's mighty late to be going that far! Make haste, ye'd better, and
+keep a bright lookout for Indians!"
+
+I thought the advice too good to be neglected. Fording the stream, I
+passed at a round trot over the plains beyond. But "the more haste, the
+worse speed." I proved the truth in the proverb by the time I reached
+the hills three miles from the fort. The trail was faintly marked, and
+riding forward with more rapidity than caution, I lost sight of it. I
+kept on in a direct line, guided by Laramie Creek, which I could see
+at intervals darkly glistening in the evening sun, at the bottom of
+the woody gulf on my right. Half an hour before sunset I came upon its
+banks. There was something exciting in the wild solitude of the place.
+An antelope sprang suddenly from the sagebushes before me. As he leaped
+gracefully not thirty yards before my horse, I fired, and instantly he
+spun round and fell. Quite sure of him, I walked my horse toward him,
+leisurely reloading my rifle, when to my surprise he sprang up and
+trotted rapidly away on three legs into the dark recesses of the hills,
+whither I had no time to follow. Ten minutes after, I was passing along
+the bottom of a deep valley, and chancing to look behind me, I saw in
+the dim light that something was following. Supposing it to be wolf, I
+slid from my seat and sat down behind my horse to shoot it; but as
+it came up, I saw by its motions that it was another antelope. It
+approached within a hundred yards, arched its graceful neck, and gazed
+intently. I leveled at the white spot on its chest, and was about to
+fire when it started off, ran first to one side and then to the other,
+like a vessel tacking against a wind, and at last stretched away at full
+speed. Then it stopped again, looked curiously behind it, and trotted up
+as before; but not so boldly, for it soon paused and stood gazing at
+me. I fired; it leaped upward and fell upon its tracks. Measuring the
+distance, I found it 204 paces. When I stood by his side, the antelope
+turned his expiring eye upward. It was like a beautiful woman's, dark
+and rich. "Fortunate that I am in a hurry," thought I; "I might be
+troubled with remorse, if I had time for it."
+
+Cutting the animal up, not in the most skilled manner, I hung the meat
+at the back of my saddle, and rode on again. The hills (I could not
+remember one of them) closed around me. "It is too late," thought I,
+"to go forward. I will stay here to-night, and look for the path in the
+morning." As a last effort, however, I ascended a high hill, from which,
+to my great satisfaction, I could see Laramie Creek stretching before
+me, twisting from side to side amid ragged patches of timber; and
+far off, close beneath the shadows of the trees, the ruins of the old
+trading fort were visible. I reached them at twilight. It was far from
+pleasant, in that uncertain light, to be pushing through the dense trees
+and shrubbery of the grove beyond. I listened anxiously for the footfall
+of man or beast. Nothing was stirring but one harmless brown bird,
+chirping among the branches. I was glad when I gained the open prairie
+once more, where I could see if anything approached. When I came to the
+mouth of Chugwater, it was totally dark. Slackening the reins, I let my
+horse take his own course. He trotted on with unerring instinct, and by
+nine o'clock was scrambling down the steep ascent into the meadows where
+we were encamped. While I was looking in vain for the light of the
+fire, Hendrick, with keener perceptions, gave a loud neigh, which was
+immediately answered in a shrill note from the distance. In a moment I
+was hailed from the darkness by the voice of Reynal, who had come out,
+rifle in hand, to see who was approaching.
+
+He, with his squaw, the two Canadians and the Indian boys, were the sole
+inmates of the camp, Shaw and Henry Chatillon being still absent. At
+noon of the following day they came back, their horses looking none the
+better for the journey. Henry seemed dejected. The woman was dead, and
+his children must henceforward be exposed, without a protector, to the
+hardships and vicissitudes of Indian life. Even in the midst of his
+grief he had not forgotten his attachment to his bourgeois, for he had
+procured among his Indian relatives two beautifully ornamented buffalo
+robes, which he spread on the ground as a present to us.
+
+Shaw lighted his pipe, and told me in a few words the history of his
+journey. When I went to the fort they left me, as I mentioned, at the
+mouth of Chugwater. They followed the course of the little stream all
+day, traversing a desolate and barren country. Several times they came
+upon the fresh traces of a large war party--the same, no doubt, from
+whom we had so narrowly escaped an attack. At an hour before sunset,
+without encountering a human being by the way, they came upon the lodges
+of the squaw and her brothers, who, in compliance with Henry's message,
+had left the Indian village in order to join us at our camp. The lodges
+were already pitched, five in number, by the side of the stream. The
+woman lay in one of them, reduced to a mere skeleton. For some time she
+had been unable to move or speak. Indeed, nothing had kept her alive
+but the hope of seeing Henry, to whom she was strongly and faithfully
+attached. No sooner did he enter the lodge than she revived, and
+conversed with him the greater part of the night. Early in the morning
+she was lifted into a travail, and the whole party set out toward our
+camp. There were but five warriors; the rest were women and children.
+The whole were in great alarm at the proximity of the Crow war party,
+who would certainly have destroyed them without mercy had they met. They
+had advanced only a mile or two, when they discerned a horseman, far
+off, on the edge of the horizon. They all stopped, gathering together in
+the greatest anxiety, from which they did not recover until long after
+the horseman disappeared; then they set out again. Henry was riding with
+Shaw a few rods in advance of the Indians, when Mahto-Tatonka, a younger
+brother of the woman, hastily called after them. Turning back, they
+found all the Indians crowded around the travail in which the woman was
+lying. They reached her just in time to hear the death-rattle in
+her throat. In a moment she lay dead in the basket of the vehicle. A
+complete stillness succeeded; then the Indians raised in concert their
+cries of lamentation over the corpse, and among them Shaw clearly
+distinguished those strange sounds resembling the word "Halleluyah,"
+which together with some other accidental coincidences has given rise
+to the absurd theory that the Indians are descended from the ten lost
+tribes of Israel.
+
+The Indian usage required that Henry, as well as the other relatives of
+the woman, should make valuable presents, to be placed by the side of
+the body at its last resting place. Leaving the Indians, he and Shaw set
+out for the camp and reached it, as we have seen, by hard pushing, at
+about noon. Having obtained the necessary articles, they immediately
+returned. It was very late and quite dark when they again reached the
+lodges. They were all placed in a deep hollow among the dreary hills.
+Four of them were just visible through the gloom, but the fifth and
+largest was illuminated by the ruddy blaze of a fire within, glowing
+through the half-transparent covering of raw hides. There was a perfect
+stillness as they approached. The lodges seemed without a tenant. Not a
+living thing was stirring--there was something awful in the scene. They
+rode up to the entrance of the lodge, and there was no sound but the
+tramp of their horses. A squaw came out and took charge of the animals,
+without speaking a word. Entering, they found the lodge crowded with
+Indians; a fire was burning in the midst, and the mourners encircled
+it in a triple row. Room was made for the newcomers at the head of the
+lodge, a robe spread for them to sit upon, and a pipe lighted and handed
+to them in perfect silence. Thus they passed the greater part of the
+night. At times the fire would subside into a heap of embers, until the
+dark figures seated around it were scarcely visible; then a squaw would
+drop upon it a piece of buffalo-fat, and a bright flame, instantly
+springing up, would reveal of a sudden the crowd of wild faces,
+motionless as bronze. The silence continued unbroken. It was a relief
+to Shaw when daylight returned and he could escape from this house of
+mourning. He and Henry prepared to return homeward; first, however, they
+placed the presents they had brought near the body of the squaw, which,
+most gaudily attired, remained in a sitting posture in one of the
+lodges. A fine horse was picketed not far off, destined to be killed
+that morning for the service of her spirit, for the woman was lame, and
+could not travel on foot over the dismal prairies to the villages of
+the dead. Food, too, was provided, and household implements, for her use
+upon this last journey.
+
+Henry left her to the care of her relatives, and came immediately with
+Shaw to the camp. It was some time before he entirely recovered from his
+dejection.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+SCENES AT THE CAMP
+
+
+Reynal heard guns fired one day, at the distance of a mile or two from
+the camp. He grew nervous instantly. Visions of Crow war parties began
+to haunt his imagination; and when we returned (for we were all absent),
+he renewed his complaints about being left alone with the Canadians
+and the squaw. The day after, the cause of the alarm appeared. Four
+trappers, one called Moran, another Saraphin, and the others nicknamed
+"Rouleau" and "Jean Gras," came to our camp and joined us. They it was
+who fired the guns and disturbed the dreams of our confederate Reynal.
+They soon encamped by our side. Their rifles, dingy and battered with
+hard service, rested with ours against the old tree; their strong rude
+saddles, their buffalo robes, their traps, and the few rough and simple
+articles of their traveling equipment, were piled near our tent. Their
+mountain horses were turned to graze in the meadow among our own; and
+the men themselves, no less rough and hardy, used to lie half the day in
+the shade of our tree lolling on the grass, lazily smoking, and telling
+stories of their adventures; and I defy the annals of chivalry to
+furnish the record of a life more wild and perilous than that of a Rocky
+Mountain trapper.
+
+With this efficient re-enforcement the agitation of Reynal's nerves
+subsided. He began to conceive a sort of attachment to our old camping
+ground; yet it was time to change our quarters, since remaining too long
+on one spot must lead to certain unpleasant results not to be borne
+with unless in a case of dire necessity. The grass no longer presented a
+smooth surface of turf; it was trampled into mud and clay. So we removed
+to another old tree, larger yet, that grew by the river side at a
+furlong's distance. Its trunk was full six feet in diameter; on one
+side it was marked by a party of Indians with various inexplicable
+hieroglyphics, commemorating some warlike enterprise, and aloft among
+the branches were the remains of a scaffolding, where dead bodies had
+once been deposited, after the Indian manner.
+
+"There comes Bull-Bear," said Henry Chatillon, as we sat on the grass at
+dinner. Looking up, we saw several horsemen coming over the neighboring
+hill, and in a moment four stately young men rode up and dismounted.
+One of them was Bull-Bear, or Mahto-Tatonka, a compound name which he
+inherited from his father, the most powerful chief in the Ogallalla
+band. One of his brothers and two other young men accompanied him. We
+shook hands with the visitors, and when we had finished our meal--for
+this is the orthodox manner of entertaining Indians, even the best of
+them--we handed to each a tin cup of coffee and a biscuit, at which they
+ejaculated from the bottom of their throats, "How! how!" a monosyllable
+by which an Indian contrives to express half the emotions that he is
+susceptible of. Then we lighted the pipe, and passed it to them as they
+squatted on the ground.
+
+"Where is the village?"
+
+"There," said Mahto-Tatonka, pointing southward; "it will come in two
+days."
+
+"Will they go to the war?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+No man is a philanthropist on the prairie. We welcomed this news most
+cordially, and congratulated ourselves that Bordeaux's interested
+efforts to divert The Whirlwind from his congenial vocation of bloodshed
+had failed of success, and that no additional obstacles would interpose
+between us and our plan of repairing to the rendezvous at La Bonte's
+Camp.
+
+For that and several succeeding days, Mahto-Tatonka and his friends
+remained our guests. They devoured the relics of our meals; they filled
+the pipe for us and also helped us to smoke it. Sometimes they stretched
+themselves side by side in the shade, indulging in raillery and
+practical jokes ill becoming the dignity of brave and aspiring warriors,
+such as two of them in reality were.
+
+Two days dragged away, and on the morning of the third we hoped
+confidently to see the Indian village. It did not come; so we rode out
+to look for it. In place of the eight hundred Indians we expected, we
+met one solitary savage riding toward us over the prairie, who told
+us that the Indians had changed their plans, and would not come within
+three days; still he persisted that they were going to the war. Taking
+along with us this messenger of evil tidings, we retraced our footsteps
+to the camp, amusing ourselves by the way with execrating Indian
+inconstancy. When we came in sight of our little white tent under the
+big tree, we saw that it no longer stood alone. A huge old lodge was
+erected close by its side, discolored by rain and storms, rotted with
+age, with the uncouth figures of horses and men, and outstretched hands
+that were painted upon it, well-nigh obliterated. The long poles which
+supported this squalid habitation thrust themselves rakishly out from
+its pointed top, and over its entrance were suspended a "medicine-pipe"
+and various other implements of the magic art. While we were yet at a
+distance, we observed a greatly increased population of various colors
+and dimensions, swarming around our quiet encampment. Moran, the
+trapper, having been absent for a day or two, had returned, it seemed,
+bringing all his family with him. He had taken to himself a wife for
+whom he had paid the established price of one horse. This looks cheap at
+first sight, but in truth the purchase of a squaw is a transaction which
+no man should enter into without mature deliberation, since it involves
+not only the payment of the first price, but the formidable burden of
+feeding and supporting a rapacious horde of the bride's relatives, who
+hold themselves entitled to feed upon the indiscreet white man. They
+gather round like leeches, and drain him of all he has.
+
+Moran, like Reynal, had not allied himself to an aristocratic circle.
+His relatives occupied but a contemptible position in Ogallalla society;
+for among those wild democrats of the prairie, as among us, there are
+virtual distinctions of rank and place; though this great advantage they
+have over us, that wealth has no part in determining such distinctions.
+Moran's partner was not the most beautiful of her sex, and he had the
+exceedingly bad taste to array her in an old calico gown bought from
+an emigrant woman, instead of the neat and graceful tunic of whitened
+deerskin worn ordinarily by the squaws. The moving spirit of the
+establishment, in more senses than one, was a hideous old hag of eighty.
+Human imagination never conceived hobgoblin or witch more ugly than she.
+You could count all her ribs through the wrinkles of the leathery skin
+that covered them. Her withered face more resembled an old skull than
+the countenance of a living being, even to the hollow, darkened sockets,
+at the bottom of which glittered her little black eyes. Her arms had
+dwindled away into nothing but whipcord and wire. Her hair, half black,
+half gray, hung in total neglect nearly to the ground, and her sole
+garment consisted of the remnant of a discarded buffalo robe tied round
+her waist with a string of hide. Yet the old squaw's meager anatomy was
+wonderfully strong. She pitched the lodge, packed the horses, and did
+the hardest labor of the camp. From morning till night she bustled about
+the lodge, screaming like a screech-owl when anything displeased her.
+Then there was her brother, a "medicine-man," or magician, equally
+gaunt and sinewy with herself. His mouth spread from ear to ear, and his
+appetite, as we had full occasion to learn, was ravenous in proportion.
+The other inmates of the lodge were a young bride and bridegroom; the
+latter one of those idle, good-for nothing fellows who infest an Indian
+village as well as more civilized communities. He was fit neither
+for hunting nor for war; and one might infer as much from the stolid
+unmeaning expression of his face. The happy pair had just entered upon
+the honeymoon. They would stretch a buffalo robe upon poles, so as to
+protect them from the fierce rays of the sun, and spreading beneath this
+rough canopy a luxuriant couch of furs, would sit affectionately side
+by side for half the day, though I could not discover that much
+conversation passed between them. Probably they had nothing to say; for
+an Indian's supply of topics for conversation is far from being copious.
+There were half a dozen children, too, playing and whooping about the
+camp, shooting birds with little bows and arrows, or making miniature
+lodges of sticks, as children of a different complexion build houses of
+blocks.
+
+A day passed, and Indians began rapidly to come in. Parties of two or
+three or more would ride up and silently seat themselves on the grass.
+The fourth day came at last, when about noon horsemen suddenly appeared
+into view on the summit of the neighboring ridge. They descended, and
+behind them followed a wild procession, hurrying in haste and disorder
+down the hill and over the plain below; horses, mules, and dogs, heavily
+burdened travaux, mounted warriors, squaws walking amid the throng, and
+a host of children. For a full half-hour they continued to pour down;
+and keeping directly to the bend of the stream, within a furlong of us,
+they soon assembled there, a dark and confused throng, until, as if
+by magic, 150 tall lodges sprung up. On a sudden the lonely plain was
+transformed into the site of a miniature city. Countless horses were
+soon grazing over the meadows around us, and the whole prairie was
+animated by restless figures careening on horseback, or sedately
+stalking in their long white robes. The Whirlwind was come at last! One
+question yet remained to be answered: "Will he go to the war, in order
+that we, with so respectable an escort, may pass over to the somewhat
+perilous rendezvous at La Bonte's Camp?"
+
+Still this remained in doubt. Characteristic indecision perplexed their
+councils. Indians cannot act in large bodies. Though their object be of
+the highest importance, they cannot combine to attain it by a series of
+connected efforts. King Philip, Pontiac, and Tecumseh all felt this to
+their cost. The Ogallalla once had a war chief who could control
+them; but he was dead, and now they were left to the sway of their own
+unsteady impulses.
+
+This Indian village and its inhabitants will hold a prominent place in
+the rest of the narrative, and perhaps it may not be amiss to glance for
+an instant at the savage people of which they form a part. The Dakota
+(I prefer this national designation to the unmeaning French name, Sioux)
+range over a vast territory, from the river St. Peter's to the Rocky
+Mountains themselves. They are divided into several independent bands,
+united under no central government, and acknowledge no common head.
+The same language, usages, and superstitions form the sole bond between
+them. They do not unite even in their wars. The bands of the east fight
+the Ojibwas on the Upper Lakes; those of the west make incessant war
+upon the Snake Indians in the Rocky Mountains. As the whole people is
+divided into bands, so each band is divided into villages. Each village
+has a chief, who is honored and obeyed only so far as his personal
+qualities may command respect and fear. Sometimes he is a mere nominal
+chief; sometimes his authority is little short of absolute, and his fame
+and influence reach even beyond his own village; so that the whole band
+to which he belongs is ready to acknowledge him as their head. This was,
+a few years since, the case with the Ogallalla. Courage, address, and
+enterprise may raise any warrior to the highest honor, especially if
+he be the son of a former chief, or a member of a numerous family, to
+support him and avenge his quarrels; but when he has reached the dignity
+of chief, and the old men and warriors, by a peculiar ceremony, have
+formally installed him, let it not be imagined that he assumes any of
+the outward semblances of rank and honor. He knows too well on how
+frail a tenure he holds his station. He must conciliate his uncertain
+subjects. Many a man in the village lives better, owns more squaws and
+more horses, and goes better clad than he. Like the Teutonic chiefs of
+old, he ingratiates himself with his young men by making them presents,
+thereby often impoverishing himself. Does he fail in gaining their
+favor, they will set his authority at naught, and may desert him at any
+moment; for the usages of his people have provided no sanctions by which
+he may enforce his authority. Very seldom does it happen, at least among
+these western bands, that a chief attains to much power, unless he is
+the head of a numerous family. Frequently the village is principally
+made up of his relatives and descendants, and the wandering community
+assumes much of the patriarchal character. A people so loosely united,
+torn, too, with ranking feuds and jealousies, can have little power or
+efficiency.
+
+The western Dakota have no fixed habitations. Hunting and fighting, they
+wander incessantly through summer and winter. Some are following the
+herds of buffalo over the waste of prairie; others are traversing the
+Black Hills, thronging on horseback and on foot through the dark gulfs
+and somber gorges beneath the vast splintering precipices, and emerging
+at last upon the "Parks," those beautiful but most perilous hunting
+grounds. The buffalo supplies them with almost all the necessaries of
+life; with habitations, food, clothing, and fuel; with strings for
+their bows, with thread, cordage, and trail-ropes for their horses, with
+coverings for their saddles, with vessels to hold water, with boats to
+cross streams, with glue, and with the means of purchasing all that they
+desire from the traders. When the buffalo are extinct, they too must
+dwindle away.
+
+War is the breath of their nostrils. Against most of the neighboring
+tribes they cherish a deadly, rancorous hatred, transmitted from father
+to son, and inflamed by constant aggression and retaliation. Many times
+a year, in every village, the Great Spirit is called upon, fasts are
+made, the war parade is celebrated, and the warriors go out by handfuls
+at a time against the enemy. This fierce and evil spirit awakens their
+most eager aspirations, and calls forth their greatest energies. It is
+chiefly this that saves them from lethargy and utter abasement. Without
+its powerful stimulus they would be like the unwarlike tribes beyond
+the mountains, who are scattered among the caves and rocks like beasts,
+living on roots and reptiles. These latter have little of humanity
+except the form; but the proud and ambitious Dakota warrior can
+sometimes boast of heroic virtues. It is very seldom that distinction
+and influence are attained among them by any other course than that of
+arms. Their superstition, however, sometimes gives great power, to those
+among them who pretend to the character of magicians. Their wild hearts,
+too, can feel the power of oratory, and yield deference to the masters
+of it.
+
+But to return. Look into our tent, or enter, if you can bear the
+stifling smoke and the close atmosphere. There, wedged close together,
+you will see a circle of stout warriors, passing the pipe around,
+joking, telling stories, and making themselves merry, after their
+fashion. We were also infested by little copper-colored naked boys and
+snake-eyed girls. They would come up to us, muttering certain words,
+which being interpreted conveyed the concise invitation, "Come and eat."
+Then we would rise, cursing the pertinacity of Dakota hospitality, which
+allowed scarcely an hour of rest between sun and sun, and to which we
+were bound to do honor, unless we would offend our entertainers. This
+necessity was particularly burdensome to me, as I was scarcely able to
+walk, from the effects of illness, and was of course poorly qualified
+to dispose of twenty meals a day. Of these sumptuous banquets I gave a
+specimen in a former chapter, where the tragical fate of the little dog
+was chronicled. So bounteous an entertainment looks like an outgushing
+of good will; but doubtless one-half at least of our kind hosts, had
+they met us alone and unarmed on the prairie, would have robbed us of
+our horses, and perchance have bestowed an arrow upon us beside. Trust
+not an Indian. Let your rifle be ever in your hand. Wear next your heart
+the old chivalric motto SEMPER PARATUS.
+
+One morning we were summoned to the lodge of an old man, in good truth
+the Nestor of his tribe. We found him half sitting, half reclining on a
+pile of buffalo robes; his long hair, jet-black even now, though he
+had seen some eighty winters, hung on either side of his thin features.
+Those most conversant with Indians in their homes will scarcely believe
+me when I affirm that there was dignity in his countenance and mien. His
+gaunt but symmetrical frame, did not more clearly exhibit the wreck of
+bygone strength, than did his dark, wasted features, still prominent and
+commanding, bear the stamp of mental energies. I recalled, as I saw him,
+the eloquent metaphor of the Iroquois sachem: "I am an aged hemlock; the
+winds of a hundred winters have whistled through my branches, and I
+am dead at the top!" Opposite the patriarch was his nephew, the young
+aspirant Mahto-Tatonka; and besides these, there were one or two women
+in the lodge.
+
+The old man's story is peculiar, and singularly illustrative of a
+superstitious custom that prevails in full force among many of the
+Indian tribes. He was one of a powerful family, renowned for their
+warlike exploits. When a very young man, he submitted to the singular
+rite to which most of the tribe subject themselves before entering
+upon life. He painted his face black; then seeking out a cavern in a
+sequestered part of the Black Hills, he lay for several days, fasting
+and praying to the Great Spirit. In the dreams and visions produced by
+his weakened and excited state, he fancied like all Indians, that he
+saw supernatural revelations. Again and again the form of an antelope
+appeared before him. The antelope is the graceful peace spirit of the
+Ogallalla; but seldom is it that such a gentle visitor presents itself
+during the initiatory fasts of their young men. The terrible grizzly
+bear, the divinity of war, usually appears to fire them with martial
+ardor and thirst for renown. At length the antelope spoke. He told the
+young dreamer that he was not to follow the path of war; that a life of
+peace and tranquillity was marked out for him; that henceforward he was
+to guide the people by his counsels and protect them from the evils of
+their own feuds and dissensions. Others were to gain renown by fighting
+the enemy; but greatness of a different kind was in store for him.
+
+The visions beheld during the period of this fast usually determine
+the whole course of the dreamer's life, for an Indian is bound by iron
+superstitions. From that time, Le Borgne, which was the only name by
+which we knew him, abandoned all thoughts of war and devoted himself to
+the labors of peace. He told his vision to the people. They honored his
+commission and respected him in his novel capacity.
+
+A far different man was his brother, Mahto-Tatonka, who had transmitted
+his names, his features, and many of his characteristic qualities to his
+son. He was the father of Henry Chatillon's squaw, a circumstance which
+proved of some advantage to us, as securing for us the friendship of
+a family perhaps the most distinguished and powerful in the whole
+Ogallalla band. Mahto-Tatonka, in his rude way, was a hero. No chief
+could vie with him in warlike renown, or in power over his people. He
+had a fearless spirit, and a most impetuous and inflexible resolution.
+His will was law. He was politic and sagacious, and with true Indian
+craft he always befriended the whites, well knowing that he might
+thus reap great advantages for himself and his adherents. When he had
+resolved on any course of conduct, he would pay to the warriors the
+empty compliment of calling them together to deliberate upon it, and
+when their debates were over, he would quietly state his own opinion,
+which no one ever disputed. The consequences of thwarting his imperious
+will were too formidable to be encountered. Woe to those who incurred
+his displeasure! He would strike them or stab them on the spot; and this
+act, which, if attempted by any other chief, would instantly have cost
+him his life, the awe inspired by his name enabled him to repeat again
+and again with impunity. In a community where, from immemorial time,
+no man has acknowledged any law but his own will, Mahto-Tatonka, by the
+force of his dauntless resolution, raised himself to power little short
+of despotic. His haughty career came at last to an end. He had a host
+of enemies only waiting for their opportunity of revenge, and our old
+friend Smoke, in particular, together with all his kinsmen, hated him
+most cordially. Smoke sat one day in his lodge in the midst of his
+own village, when Mahto-Tatonka entered it alone, and approaching the
+dwelling of his enemy, called on him in a loud voice to come out, if
+he were a man, and fight. Smoke would not move. At this, Mahto-Tatonka
+proclaimed him a coward and an old woman, and striding close to the
+entrance of the lodge, stabbed the chief's best horse, which was
+picketed there. Smoke was daunted, and even this insult failed to call
+him forth. Mahto-Tatonka moved haughtily away; all made way for him, but
+his hour of reckoning was near.
+
+One hot day, five or six years ago, numerous lodges of Smoke's kinsmen
+were gathered around some of the Fur Company's men, who were trading
+in various articles with them, whisky among the rest. Mahto-Tatonka was
+also there with a few of his people. As he lay in his own lodge, a fray
+arose between his adherents and the kinsmen of his enemy. The war-whoop
+was raised, bullets and arrows began to fly, and the camp was in
+confusion. The chief sprang up, and rushing in a fury from the lodge
+shouted to the combatants on both sides to cease. Instantly--for the
+attack was preconcerted--came the reports of two or three guns, and the
+twanging of a dozen bows, and the savage hero, mortally wounded, pitched
+forward headlong to the ground. Rouleau was present, and told me the
+particulars. The tumult became general, and was not quelled until
+several had fallen on both sides. When we were in the country the feud
+between the two families was still rankling, and not likely soon to
+cease.
+
+Thus died Mahto-Tatonka, but he left behind him a goodly army of
+descendants, to perpetuate his renown and avenge his fate. Besides
+daughters he had thirty sons, a number which need not stagger the
+credulity of those who are best acquainted with Indian usages and
+practices. We saw many of them, all marked by the same dark complexion
+and the same peculiar cast of features. Of these our visitor, young
+Mahto-Tatonka, was the eldest, and some reported him as likely to
+succeed to his father's honors. Though he appeared not more than
+twenty-one years old, he had oftener struck the enemy, and stolen more
+horses and more squaws than any young man in the village. We of the
+civilized world are not apt to attach much credit to the latter
+species of exploits; but horse-stealing is well known as an avenue
+to distinction on the prairies, and the other kind of depredation is
+esteemed equally meritorious. Not that the act can confer fame from
+its own intrinsic merits. Any one can steal a squaw, and if he chooses
+afterward to make an adequate present to her rightful proprietor,
+the easy husband for the most part rests content, his vengeance falls
+asleep, and all danger from that quarter is averted. Yet this is
+esteemed but a pitiful and mean-spirited transaction. The danger is
+averted, but the glory of the achievement also is lost. Mahto-Tatonka
+proceeded after a more gallant and dashing fashion. Out of several dozen
+squaws whom he had stolen, he could boast that he had never paid for
+one, but snapping his fingers in the face of the injured husband, had
+defied the extremity of his indignation, and no one yet had dared to lay
+the finger of violence upon him. He was following close in the footsteps
+of his father. The young men and the young squaws, each in their way,
+admired him. The one would always follow him to war, and he was esteemed
+to have unrivaled charm in the eyes of the other. Perhaps his impunity
+may excite some wonder. An arrow shot from a ravine, a stab given in the
+dark, require no great valor, and are especially suited to the Indian
+genius; but Mahto-Tatonka had a strong protection. It was not alone his
+courage and audacious will that enabled him to career so dashingly
+among his compeers. His enemies did not forget that he was one of thirty
+warlike brethren, all growing up to manhood. Should they wreak their
+anger upon him, many keen eyes would be ever upon them, many fierce
+hearts would thirst for their blood. The avenger would dog their
+footsteps everywhere. To kill Mahto-Tatonka would be no better than an
+act of suicide.
+
+Though he found such favor in the eyes of the fair, he was no dandy. As
+among us those of highest worth and breeding are most simple in manner
+and attire, so our aspiring young friend was indifferent to the gaudy
+trappings and ornaments of his companions. He was content to rest his
+chances of success upon his own warlike merits. He never arrayed himself
+in gaudy blanket and glittering necklaces, but left his statue-like
+form, limbed like an Apollo of bronze, to win its way to favor. His
+voice was singularly deep and strong. It sounded from his chest like the
+deep notes of an organ. Yet after all, he was but an Indian. See him as
+he lies there in the sun before our tent, kicking his heels in the air
+and cracking jokes with his brother. Does he look like a hero? See him
+now in the hour of his glory, when at sunset the whole village empties
+itself to behold him, for to-morrow their favorite young partisan goes
+out against the enemy. His superb headdress is adorned with a crest of
+the war eagle's feathers, rising in a waving ridge above his brow, and
+sweeping far behind him. His round white shield hangs at his breast,
+with feathers radiating from the center like a star. His quiver is at
+his back; his tall lance in his hand, the iron point flashing against
+the declining sun, while the long scalp-locks of his enemies flutter
+from the shaft. Thus, gorgeous as a champion in his panoply, he rides
+round and round within the great circle of lodges, balancing with a
+graceful buoyancy to the free movements of his war horse, while with a
+sedate brow he sings his song to the Great Spirit. Young rival warriors
+look askance at him; vermilion-cheeked girls gaze in admiration, boys
+whoop and scream in a thrill of delight, and old women yell forth his
+name and proclaim his praises from lodge to lodge.
+
+Mahto-Tatonka, to come back to him, was the best of all our Indian
+friends. Hour after hour and day after day, when swarms of savages of
+every age, sex, and degree beset our camp, he would lie in our tent, his
+lynx eye ever open to guard our property from pillage.
+
+The Whirlwind invited us one day to his lodge. The feast was finished,
+and the pipe began to circulate. It was a remarkably large and fine one,
+and I expressed my admiration of its form and dimensions.
+
+"If the Meneaska likes the pipe," asked The Whirlwind, "why does he not
+keep it?"
+
+Such a pipe among the Ogallalla is valued at the price of a horse.
+A princely gift, thinks the reader, and worthy of a chieftain and a
+warrior. The Whirlwind's generosity rose to no such pitch. He gave
+me the pipe, confidently expecting that I in return should make him a
+present of equal or superior value. This is the implied condition of
+every gift among the Indians as among the Orientals, and should it not
+be complied with the present is usually reclaimed by the giver. So I
+arranged upon a gaudy calico handkerchief, an assortment of vermilion,
+tobacco, knives, and gunpowder, and summoning the chief to camp, assured
+him of my friendship and begged his acceptance of a slight token of it.
+Ejaculating HOW! HOW! he folded up the offerings and withdrew to his
+lodge.
+
+Several days passed and we and the Indians remained encamped side by
+side. They could not decide whether or not to go to war. Toward evening,
+scores of them would surround our tent, a picturesque group. Late one
+afternoon a party of them mounted on horseback came suddenly in sight
+from behind some clumps of bushes that lined the bank of the stream,
+leading with them a mule, on whose back was a wretched negro, only
+sustained in his seat by the high pommel and cantle of the Indian
+saddle. His cheeks were withered and shrunken in the hollow of his jaws;
+his eyes were unnaturally dilated, and his lips seemed shriveled and
+drawn back from his teeth like those of a corpse. When they brought him
+up before our tent, and lifted him from the saddle, he could not walk or
+stand, but he crawled a short distance, and with a look of utter misery
+sat down on the grass. All the children and women came pouring out of
+the lodges round us, and with screams and cries made a close circle
+about him, while he sat supporting himself with his hands, and looking
+from side to side with a vacant stare. The wretch was starving to death!
+For thirty-three days he had wandered alone on the prairie, without
+weapon of any kind; without shoes, moccasins, or any other clothing than
+an old jacket and pantaloons; without intelligence and skill to guide
+his course, or any knowledge of the productions of the prairie. All this
+time he had subsisted on crickets and lizards, wild onions, and three
+eggs which he found in the nest of a prairie dove. He had not seen a
+human being. Utterly bewildered in the boundless, hopeless desert that
+stretched around him, offering to his inexperienced eye no mark by which
+to direct his course, he had walked on in despair till he could walk no
+longer, and then crawled on his knees until the bone was laid bare. He
+chose the night for his traveling, lying down by day to sleep in the
+glaring sun, always dreaming, as he said, of the broth and corn cake he
+used to eat under his old master's shed in Missouri. Every man in the
+camp, both white and red, was astonished at his wonderful escape not
+only from starvation but from the grizzly bears which abound in that
+neighborhood, and the wolves which howled around him every night.
+
+Reynal recognized him the moment the Indians brought him in. He had
+run away from his master about a year before and joined the party of
+M. Richard, who was then leaving the frontier for the mountains. He had
+lived with Richard ever since, until in the end of May he with Reynal
+and several other men went out in search of some stray horses, when he
+got separated from the rest in a storm, and had never been heard of up
+to this time. Knowing his inexperience and helplessness, no one dreamed
+that he could still be living. The Indians had found him lying exhausted
+on the ground.
+
+As he sat there with the Indians gazing silently on him, his haggard
+face and glazed eye were disgusting to look upon. Delorier made him
+a bowl of gruel, but he suffered it to remain untasted before him. At
+length he languidly raised the spoon to his lips; again he did so, and
+again; and then his appetite seemed suddenly inflamed into madness, for
+he seized the bowl, swallowed all its contents in a few seconds, and
+eagerly demanded meat. This we refused, telling him to wait until
+morning, but he begged so eagerly that we gave him a small piece, which
+he devoured, tearing it like a dog. He said he must have more. We told
+him that his life was in danger if he ate so immoderately at first.
+He assented, and said he knew he was a fool to do so, but he must
+have meat. This we absolutely refused, to the great indignation of the
+senseless squaws, who, when we were not watching him, would slyly bring
+dried meat and POMMES BLANCHES, and place them on the ground by his
+side. Still this was not enough for him. When it grew dark he contrived
+to creep away between the legs of the horses and crawl over to the
+Indian village, about a furlong down the stream. Here he fed to his
+heart's content, and was brought back again in the morning, when Jean
+Gras, the trapper, put him on horseback and carried him to the fort.
+He managed to survive the effects of his insane greediness, and
+though slightly deranged when we left this part of the country, he was
+otherwise in tolerable health, and expressed his firm conviction that
+nothing could ever kill him.
+
+When the sun was yet an hour high, it was a gay scene in the village.
+The warriors stalked sedately among the lodges, or along the margin
+of the streams, or walked out to visit the bands of horses that were
+feeding over the prairie. Half the village population deserted the close
+and heated lodges and betook themselves to the water; and here you might
+see boys and girls and young squaws splashing, swimming, and diving
+beneath the afternoon sun, with merry laughter and screaming. But
+when the sun was just resting above the broken peaks, and the purple
+mountains threw their prolonged shadows for miles over the prairie; when
+our grim old tree, lighted by the horizontal rays, assumed an aspect
+of peaceful repose, such as one loves after scenes of tumult and
+excitement; and when the whole landscape of swelling plains and
+scattered groves was softened into a tranquil beauty, then our
+encampment presented a striking spectacle. Could Salvator Rosa have
+transferred it to his canvas, it would have added new renown to his
+pencil. Savage figures surrounded our tent, with quivers at their backs,
+and guns, lances, or tomahawks in their hands. Some sat on horseback,
+motionless as equestrian statues, their arms crossed on their breasts,
+their eyes fixed in a steady unwavering gaze upon us. Some stood erect,
+wrapped from head to foot in their long white robes of buffalo hide.
+Some sat together on the grass, holding their shaggy horses by a rope,
+with their broad dark busts exposed to view as they suffered their robes
+to fall from their shoulders. Others again stood carelessly among the
+throng, with nothing to conceal the matchless symmetry of their forms;
+and I do not exaggerate when I say that only on the prairie and in the
+Vatican have I seen such faultless models of the human figure. See that
+warrior standing by the tree, towering six feet and a half in stature.
+Your eyes may trace the whole of his graceful and majestic height, and
+discover no defect or blemish. With his free and noble attitude, with
+the bow in his hand, and the quiver at his back, he might seem, but
+for his face, the Pythian Apollo himself. Such a figure rose before the
+imagination of West, when on first seeing the Belvidere in the Vatican,
+he exclaimed, "By God, a Mohawk!"
+
+When the sky darkened and the stars began to appear; when the prairie
+was involved in gloom and the horses were driven in and secured around
+the camp, the crowd began to melt away. Fires gleamed around, duskily
+revealing the rough trappers and the graceful Indians. One of the
+families near us would always be gathered about a bright blaze, that
+displayed the shadowy dimensions of their lodge, and sent its lights
+far up among the masses of foliage above, gilding the dead and ragged
+branches. Withered witchlike hags flitted around the blaze, and here for
+hour after hour sat a circle of children and young girls, laughing and
+talking, their round merry faces glowing in the ruddy light. We could
+hear the monotonous notes of the drum from the Indian village, with the
+chant of the war song, deadened in the distance, and the long chorus of
+quavering yells, where the war dance was going on in the largest lodge.
+For several nights, too, we could hear wild and mournful cries, rising
+and dying away like the melancholy voice of a wolf. They came from the
+sisters and female relatives of Mahto-Tatonka, who were gashing their
+limbs with knives, and bewailing the death of Henry Chatillon's squaw.
+The hour would grow late before all retired to rest in the camp.
+Then the embers of the fires would be glowing dimly, the men would be
+stretched in their blankets on the ground, and nothing could be heard
+but the restless motions of the crowded horses.
+
+I recall these scenes with a mixed feeling of pleasure and pain. At
+this time I was so reduced by illness that I could seldom walk without
+reeling like a drunken man, and when I rose from my seat upon the ground
+the landscape suddenly grew dim before my eyes, the trees and lodges
+seemed to sway to and fro, and the prairie to rise and fall like the
+swells of the ocean. Such a state of things is by no means enviable
+anywhere. In a country where a man's life may at any moment depend on
+the strength of his arm, or it may be on the activity of his legs, it is
+more particularly inconvenient. Medical assistance of course there was
+none; neither had I the means of pursuing a system of diet; and sleeping
+on a damp ground, with an occasional drenching from a shower, would
+hardly be recommended as beneficial. I sometimes suffered the
+extremity of languor and exhaustion, and though at the time I felt
+no apprehensions of the final result, I have since learned that my
+situation was a critical one.
+
+Besides other formidable inconveniences I owe it in a great measure to
+the remote effects of that unlucky disorder that from deficient
+eyesight I am compelled to employ the pen of another in taking down
+this narrative from my lips; and I have learned very effectually that a
+violent attack of dysentery on the prairie is a thing too serious for
+a joke. I tried repose and a very sparing diet. For a long time, with
+exemplary patience, I lounged about the camp, or at the utmost staggered
+over to the Indian village, and walked faint and dizzy among the lodges.
+It would not do, and I bethought me of starvation. During five days I
+sustained life on one small biscuit a day. At the end of that time I was
+weaker than before, but the disorder seemed shaken in its stronghold and
+very gradually I began to resume a less rigid diet. No sooner had I done
+so than the same detested symptoms revisited me; my old enemy resumed
+his pertinacious assaults, yet not with his former violence or
+constancy, and though before I regained any fair portion of my ordinary
+strength weeks had elapsed, and months passed before the disorder left
+me, yet thanks to old habits of activity, and a merciful Providence, I
+was able to sustain myself against it.
+
+I used to lie languid and dreamy before our tent and muse on the past
+and the future, and when most overcome with lassitude, my eyes turned
+always toward the distant Black Hills. There is a spirit of energy
+and vigor in mountains, and they impart it to all who approach their
+presence. At that time I did not know how many dark superstitions and
+gloomy legends are associated with those mountains in the minds of the
+Indians, but I felt an eager desire to penetrate their hidden recesses,
+to explore the awful chasms and precipices, the black torrents, the
+silent forests, that I fancied were concealed there.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+ILL LUCK
+
+
+A Canadian came from Fort Laramie, and brought a curious piece of
+intelligence. A trapper, fresh from the mountains, had become enamored
+of a Missouri damsel belonging to a family who with other emigrants had
+been for some days encamped in the neighborhood of the fort. If bravery
+be the most potent charm to win the favor of the fair, then no wooer
+could be more irresistible than a Rocky Mountain trapper. In the present
+instance, the suit was not urged in vain. The lovers concerted a scheme,
+which they proceeded to carry into effect with all possible dispatch.
+The emigrant party left the fort, and on the next succeeding night but
+one encamped as usual, and placed a guard. A little after midnight
+the enamored trapper drew near, mounted on a strong horse and leading
+another by the bridle. Fastening both animals to a tree, he stealthily
+moved toward the wagons, as if he were approaching a band of buffalo.
+Eluding the vigilance of the guard, who was probably half asleep, he met
+his mistress by appointment at the outskirts of the camp, mounted her on
+his spare horse, and made off with her through the darkness. The sequel
+of the adventure did not reach our ears, and we never learned how the
+imprudent fair one liked an Indian lodge for a dwelling, and a reckless
+trapper for a bridegroom.
+
+At length The Whirlwind and his warriors determined to move. They had
+resolved after all their preparations not to go to the rendezvous at La
+Bonte's Camp, but to pass through the Black Hills and spend a few weeks
+in hunting the buffalo on the other side, until they had killed enough
+to furnish them with a stock of provisions and with hides to make their
+lodges for the next season. This done, they were to send out a small
+independent war party against the enemy. Their final determination left
+us in some embarrassment. Should we go to La Bonte's Camp, it was
+not impossible that the other villages would prove as vacillating and
+indecisive as The Whirlwinds, and that no assembly whatever would take
+place. Our old companion Reynal had conceived a liking for us, or rather
+for our biscuit and coffee, and for the occasional small presents which
+we made him. He was very anxious that we should go with the village
+which he himself intended to accompany. He declared he was certain that
+no Indians would meet at the rendezvous, and said moreover that it
+would be easy to convey our cart and baggage through the Black Hills. In
+saying this, he told as usual an egregious falsehood. Neither he nor
+any white man with us had ever seen the difficult and obscure defiles
+through which the Indians intended to make their way. I passed them
+afterward, and had much ado to force my distressed horse along the
+narrow ravines, and through chasms where daylight could scarcely
+penetrate. Our cart might as easily have been conveyed over the summit
+of Pike's Peak. Anticipating the difficulties and uncertainties of an
+attempt to visit the rendezvous, we recalled the old proverb about "A
+bird in the hand," and decided to follow the village.
+
+Both camps, the Indians' and our own, broke up on the morning of the 1st
+of July. I was so weak that the aid of a potent auxiliary, a spoonful of
+whisky swallowed at short intervals, alone enabled me to sit on my hardy
+little mare Pauline through the short journey of that day. For half a
+mile before us and half a mile behind, the prairie was covered far
+and wide with the moving throng of savages. The barren, broken plain
+stretched away to the right and left, and far in front rose the gloomy
+precipitous ridge of the Black Hills. We pushed forward to the head of
+the scattered column, passing the burdened travaux, the heavily laden
+pack horses, the gaunt old women on foot, the gay young squaws on
+horseback, the restless children running among the crowd, old men
+striding along in their white buffalo robes, and groups of young
+warriors mounted on their best horses. Henry Chatillon, looking backward
+over the distant prairie, exclaimed suddenly that a horseman was
+approaching, and in truth we could just discern a small black speck
+slowly moving over the face of a distant swell, like a fly creeping on a
+wall. It rapidly grew larger as it approached.
+
+"White man, I b'lieve," said Henry; "look how he ride! Indian never ride
+that way. Yes; he got rifle on the saddle before him."
+
+The horseman disappeared in a hollow of the prairie, but we soon saw him
+again, and as he came riding at a gallop toward us through the crowd of
+Indians, his long hair streaming in the wind behind him, we recognized
+the ruddy face and old buckskin frock of Jean Gras the trapper. He was
+just arrived from Fort Laramie, where he had been on a visit, and
+said he had a message for us. A trader named Bisonette, one of Henry's
+friends, was lately come from the settlements, and intended to go with a
+party of men to La Bonte's Camp, where, as Jean Gras assured us, ten or
+twelve villages of Indians would certainly assemble. Bisonette desired
+that we would cross over and meet him there, and promised that his men
+should protect our horses and baggage while we went among the Indians.
+Shaw and I stopped our horses and held a council, and in an evil hour
+resolved to go.
+
+For the rest of that day's journey our course and that of the Indians
+was the same. In less than an hour we came to where the high barren
+prairie terminated, sinking down abruptly in steep descent; and standing
+on these heights, we saw below us a great level meadow. Laramie Creek
+bounded it on the left, sweeping along in the shadow of the declivities,
+and passing with its shallow and rapid current just below us. We sat
+on horseback, waiting and looking on, while the whole savage array went
+pouring past us, hurrying down the descent and spreading themselves
+over the meadow below. In a few moments the plain was swarming with the
+moving multitude, some just visible, like specks in the distance, others
+still passing on, pressing down, and fording the stream with bustle
+and confusion. On the edge of the heights sat half a dozen of the elder
+warriors, gravely smoking and looking down with unmoved faces on the
+wild and striking spectacle.
+
+Up went the lodges in a circle on the margin of the stream. For the sake
+of quiet we pitched our tent among some trees at half a mile's distance.
+In the afternoon we were in the village. The day was a glorious one,
+and the whole camp seemed lively and animated in sympathy. Groups of
+children and young girls were laughing gayly on the outside of the
+lodges. The shields, the lances, and the bows were removed from the tall
+tripods on which they usually hung before the dwellings of their owners.
+The warriors were mounting their horses, and one by one riding away over
+the prairie toward the neighboring hills.
+
+Shaw and I sat on the grass near the lodge of Reynal. An old woman, with
+true Indian hospitality, brought a bowl of boiled venison and placed it
+before us. We amused ourselves with watching half a dozen young squaws
+who were playing together and chasing each other in and out of one of
+the lodges. Suddenly the wild yell of the war-whoop came pealing from
+the hills. A crowd of horsemen appeared, rushing down their sides and
+riding at full speed toward the village, each warrior's long hair flying
+behind him in the wind like a ship's streamer. As they approached, the
+confused throng assumed a regular order, and entering two by two, they
+circled round the area at full gallop, each warrior singing his war song
+as he rode. Some of their dresses were splendid. They wore superb
+crests of feathers and close tunics of antelope skins, fringed with the
+scalp-locks of their enemies; their shields too were often fluttering
+with the war eagle's feathers. All had bows and arrows at their back;
+some carried long lances, and a few were armed with guns. The White
+Shield, their partisan, rode in gorgeous attire at their head, mounted
+on a black-and-white horse. Mahto-Tatonka and his brothers took no part
+in this parade, for they were in mourning for their sister, and were all
+sitting in their lodges, their bodies bedaubed from head to foot with
+white clay, and a lock of hair cut from each of their foreheads.
+
+The warriors circled three times round the village; and as each
+distinguished champion passed, the old women would scream out his name
+in honor of his bravery, and to incite the emulation of the younger
+warriors. Little urchins, not two years old, followed the warlike
+pageant with glittering eyes, and looked with eager wonder and
+admiration at those whose honors were proclaimed by the public voice of
+the village. Thus early is the lesson of war instilled into the mind
+of an Indian, and such are the stimulants which incite his thirst for
+martial renown.
+
+The procession rode out of the village as it had entered it, and in half
+an hour all the warriors had returned again, dropping quietly in, singly
+or in parties of two or three.
+
+As the sun rose next morning we looked across the meadow, and could see
+the lodges leveled and the Indians gathering together in preparation to
+leave the camp. Their course lay to the westward. We turned toward the
+north with our men, the four trappers following us, with the Indian
+family of Moran. We traveled until night. I suffered not a little from
+pain and weakness. We encamped among some trees by the side of a little
+brook, and here during the whole of the next day we lay waiting for
+Bisonette, but no Bisonette appeared. Here also two of our trapper
+friends left us, and set out for the Rocky Mountains. On the second
+morning, despairing of Bisonette's arrival we resumed our journey,
+traversing a forlorn and dreary monotony of sun-scorched plains, where
+no living thing appeared save here and there an antelope flying before
+us like the wind. When noon came we saw an unwonted and most welcome
+sight; a rich and luxuriant growth of trees, marking the course of a
+little stream called Horseshoe Creek. We turned gladly toward it. There
+were lofty and spreading trees, standing widely asunder, and supporting
+a thick canopy of leaves, above a surface of rich, tall grass. The
+stream ran swiftly, as clear as crystal, through the bosom of the wood,
+sparkling over its bed of white sand and darkening again as it entered a
+deep cavern of leaves and boughs. I was thoroughly exhausted, and flung
+myself on the ground, scarcely able to move. All that afternoon I lay
+in the shade by the side of the stream, and those bright woods and
+sparkling waters are associated in my mind with recollections of
+lassitude and utter prostration. When night came I sat down by the
+fire, longing, with an intensity of which at this moment I can hardly
+conceive, for some powerful stimulant.
+
+In the morning as glorious a sun rose upon us as ever animated that
+desolate wilderness. We advanced and soon were surrounded by tall bare
+hills, overspread from top to bottom with prickly-pears and other cacti,
+that seemed like clinging reptiles. A plain, flat and hard, and with
+scarcely the vestige of grass, lay before us, and a line of tall
+misshapen trees bounded the onward view. There was no sight or sound of
+man or beast, or any living thing, although behind those trees was the
+long-looked-for place of rendezvous, where we fondly hoped to have found
+the Indians congregated by thousands. We looked and listened anxiously.
+We pushed forward with our best speed, and forced our horses through
+the trees. There were copses of some extent beyond, with a scanty stream
+creeping through their midst; and as we pressed through the yielding
+branches, deer sprang up to the right and left. At length we caught a
+glimpse of the prairie beyond. Soon we emerged upon it, and saw, not
+a plain covered with encampments and swarming with life, but a vast
+unbroken desert stretching away before us league upon league, without a
+bush or a tree or anything that had life. We drew rein and gave to the
+winds our sentiments concerning the whole aboriginal race of America.
+Our journey was in vain and much worse than in vain. For myself, I was
+vexed and disappointed beyond measure; as I well knew that a slight
+aggravation of my disorder would render this false step irrevocable, and
+make it quite impossible to accomplish effectively the design which had
+led me an arduous journey of between three and four thousand miles. To
+fortify myself as well as I could against such a contingency, I resolved
+that I would not under any circumstances attempt to leave the country
+until my object was completely gained.
+
+And where were the Indians? They were assembled in great numbers at a
+spot about twenty miles distant, and there at that very moment they
+were engaged in their warlike ceremonies. The scarcity of buffalo in
+the vicinity of La Bonte's Camp, which would render their supply of
+provisions scanty and precarious, had probably prevented them from
+assembling there; but of all this we knew nothing until some weeks
+after.
+
+Shaw lashed his horse and galloped forward, I, though much more vexed
+than he, was not strong enough to adopt this convenient vent to my
+feelings; so I followed at a quiet pace, but in no quiet mood. We
+rode up to a solitary old tree, which seemed the only place fit for
+encampment. Half its branches were dead, and the rest were so scantily
+furnished with leaves that they cast but a meager and wretched shade,
+and the old twisted trunk alone furnished sufficient protection from the
+sun. We threw down our saddles in the strip of shadow that it cast, and
+sat down upon them. In silent indignation we remained smoking for an
+hour or more, shifting our saddles with the shifting shadow, for the sun
+was intolerably hot.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+HUNTING INDIANS
+
+
+At last we had reached La Bonte's Camp, toward which our eyes had turned
+so long. Of all weary hours, those that passed between noon and sunset
+of the day when we arrived there may bear away the palm of exquisite
+discomfort. I lay under the tree reflecting on what course to pursue,
+watching the shadows which seemed never to move, and the sun which
+remained fixed in the sky, and hoping every moment to see the men and
+horses of Bisonette emerging from the woods. Shaw and Henry had ridden
+out on a scouting expedition, and did not return until the sun was
+setting. There was nothing very cheering in their faces nor in the news
+they brought.
+
+"We have been ten miles from here," said Shaw. "We climbed the highest
+butte we could find, and could not see a buffalo or Indian; nothing but
+prairie for twenty miles around us."
+
+Henry's horse was quite disabled by clambering up and down the sides of
+ravines, and Shaw's was severely fatigued.
+
+After supper that evening, as we sat around the fire, I proposed to Shaw
+to wait one day longer in hopes of Bisonette's arrival, and if he
+should not come to send Delorier with the cart and baggage back to
+Fort Laramie, while we ourselves followed The Whirlwind's village and
+attempted to overtake it as it passed the mountains. Shaw, not having
+the same motive for hunting Indians that I had, was averse to the
+plan; I therefore resolved to go alone. This design I adopted very
+unwillingly, for I knew that in the present state of my health the
+attempt would be extremely unpleasant, and, as I considered, hazardous.
+I hoped that Bisonette would appear in the course of the following day,
+and bring us some information by which to direct our course, and enable
+me to accomplish my purpose by means less objectionable.
+
+The rifle of Henry Chatillon was necessary for the subsistence of the
+party in my absence; so I called Raymond, and ordered him to prepare to
+set out with me. Raymond rolled his eyes vacantly about, but at length,
+having succeeded in grappling with the idea, he withdrew to his bed
+under the cart. He was a heavy-molded fellow, with a broad face exactly
+like an owl's, expressing the most impenetrable stupidity and entire
+self-confidence. As for his good qualities, he had a sort of stubborn
+fidelity, an insensibility to danger, and a kind of instinct or
+sagacity, which sometimes led him right, where better heads than his
+were at a loss. Besides this, he knew very well how to handle a rifle
+and picket a horse.
+
+Through the following day the sun glared down upon us with a pitiless,
+penetrating heat. The distant blue prairie seemed quivering under it.
+The lodge of our Indian associates was baking in the rays, and our
+rifles, as they leaned against the tree, were too hot for the touch.
+There was a dead silence through our camp and all around it, unbroken
+except by the hum of gnats and mosquitoes. The men, resting their
+foreheads on their arms, were sleeping under the cart. The Indians kept
+close within their lodge except the newly married pair, who were seated
+together under an awning of buffalo robes, and the old conjurer, who,
+with his hard, emaciated face and gaunt ribs, was perched aloft like a
+turkey-buzzard among the dead branches of an old tree, constantly on the
+lookout for enemies. He would have made a capital shot. A rifle bullet,
+skillfully planted, would have brought him tumbling to the ground.
+Surely, I thought, there could be no more harm in shooting such a
+hideous old villain, to see how ugly he would look when he was dead,
+than in shooting the detestable vulture which he resembled. We dined,
+and then Shaw saddled his horse.
+
+"I will ride back," said he, "to Horseshoe Creek, and see if Bisonette
+is there."
+
+"I would go with you," I answered, "but I must reserve all the strength
+I have."
+
+The afternoon dragged away at last. I occupied myself in cleaning my
+rifle and pistols, and making other preparations for the journey. After
+supper, Henry Chatillon and I lay by the fire, discussing the properties
+of that admirable weapon, the rifle, in the use of which he could fairly
+outrival Leatherstocking himself.
+
+It was late before I wrapped myself in my blanket and lay down for the
+night, with my head on my saddle. Shaw had not returned, but this gave
+no uneasiness, for we presumed that he had fallen in with Bisonette, and
+was spending the night with him. For a day or two past I had gained in
+strength and health, but about midnight an attack of pain awoke me, and
+for some hours I felt no inclination to sleep. The moon was quivering on
+the broad breast of the Platte; nothing could be heard except those low
+inexplicable sounds, like whisperings and footsteps, which no one who
+has spent the night alone amid deserts and forests will be at a loss to
+understand. As I was falling asleep, a familiar voice, shouting from the
+distance, awoke me again. A rapid step approached the camp, and Shaw on
+foot, with his gun in his hand, hastily entered.
+
+"Where's your horse?" said I, raising myself on my elbow.
+
+"Lost!" said Shaw. "Where's Delorier?"
+
+"There," I replied, pointing to a confused mass of blankets and buffalo
+robes.
+
+Shaw touched them with the butt of his gun, and up sprang our faithful
+Canadian.
+
+"Come, Delorier; stir up the fire, and get me something to eat."
+
+"Where's Bisonette?" asked I.
+
+"The Lord knows; there's nobody at Horseshoe Creek."
+
+Shaw had gone back to the spot where we had encamped two days before,
+and finding nothing there but the ashes of our fires, he had tied his
+horse to the tree while he bathed in the stream. Something startled his
+horse, who broke loose, and for two hours Shaw tried in vain to catch
+him. Sunset approached, and it was twelve miles to camp. So he abandoned
+the attempt, and set out on foot to join us. The greater part of his
+perilous and solitary work was performed in darkness. His moccasins were
+worn to tatters and his feet severely lacerated. He sat down to eat,
+however, with the usual equanimity of his temper not at all disturbed
+by his misfortune, and my last recollection before falling asleep was of
+Shaw, seated cross-legged before the fire, smoking his pipe. The
+horse, I may as well mention here, was found the next morning by Henry
+Chatillon.
+
+When I awoke again there was a fresh damp smell in the air, a gray
+twilight involved the prairie, and above its eastern verge was a streak
+of cold red sky. I called to the men, and in a moment a fire was blazing
+brightly in the dim morning light, and breakfast was getting ready. We
+sat down together on the grass, to the last civilized meal which Raymond
+and I were destined to enjoy for some time.
+
+"Now, bring in the horses."
+
+My little mare Pauline was soon standing by the fire. She was a fleet,
+hardy, and gentle animal, christened after Paul Dorion, from whom I had
+procured her in exchange for Pontiac. She did not look as if equipped
+for a morning pleasure ride. In front of the black, high-bowed mountain
+saddle, holsters, with heavy pistols, were fastened. A pair of saddle
+bags, a blanket tightly rolled, a small parcel of Indian presents tied
+up in a buffalo skin, a leather bag of flour, and a smaller one of tea
+were all secured behind, and a long trail-rope was wound round her
+neck. Raymond had a strong black mule, equipped in a similar manner. We
+crammed our powder-horns to the throat, and mounted.
+
+"I will meet you at Fort Laramie on the 1st of August," said I to Shaw.
+
+"That is," replied he, "if we don't meet before that. I think I shall
+follow after you in a day or two."
+
+This in fact he attempted, and he would have succeeded if he had not
+encountered obstacles against which his resolute spirit was of no avail.
+Two days after I left him he sent Delorier to the fort with the cart
+and baggage, and set out for the mountains with Henry Chatillon; but a
+tremendous thunderstorm had deluged the prairie, and nearly obliterated
+not only our trail but that of the Indians themselves. They followed
+along the base of the mountains, at a loss in which direction to go.
+They encamped there, and in the morning Shaw found himself poisoned by
+ivy in such a manner that it was impossible for him to travel. So they
+turned back reluctantly toward Fort Laramie. Shaw's limbs were swollen
+to double their usual size, and he rode in great pain. They encamped
+again within twenty miles of the fort, and reached it early on the
+following morning. Shaw lay seriously ill for a week, and remained at
+the fort till I rejoined him some time after.
+
+To return to my own story. We shook hands with our friends, rode out
+upon the prairie, and clambering the sandy hollows that were channeled
+in the sides of the hills gained the high plains above. If a curse had
+been pronounced upon the land it could not have worn an aspect of more
+dreary and forlorn barrenness. There were abrupt broken hills, deep
+hollows, and wide plains; but all alike glared with an insupportable
+whiteness under the burning sun. The country, as if parched by the heat,
+had cracked into innumerable fissures and ravines, that not a little
+impeded our progress. Their steep sides were white and raw, and along
+the bottom we several times discovered the broad tracks of the terrific
+grizzly bear, nowhere more abundant than in this region. The ridges of
+the hills were hard as rock, and strewn with pebbles of flint and coarse
+red jasper; looking from them, there was nothing to relieve the desert
+uniformity of the prospect, save here and there a pine-tree clinging at
+the edge of a ravine, and stretching out its rough, shaggy arms. Under
+the scorching heat these melancholy trees diffused their peculiar
+resinous odor through the sultry air. There was something in it, as I
+approached them, that recalled old associations; the pine-clad mountains
+of New England, traversed in days of health and buoyancy, rose like a
+reality before my fancy. In passing that arid waste I was goaded with
+a morbid thirst produced by my disorder, and I thought with a longing
+desire on the crystal treasure poured in such wasteful profusion from
+our thousand hills. Shutting my eyes, I more than half believed that
+I heard the deep plunging and gurgling of waters in the bowels of the
+shaded rocks. I could see their dark ice glittering far down amid the
+crevices, and the cold drops trickling from the long green mosses.
+
+When noon came, we found a little stream, with a few trees and bushes;
+and here we rested for an hour. Then we traveled on, guided by the sun,
+until, just before sunset, we reached another stream, called Bitter
+Cotton-wood Creek. A thick growth of bushes and old storm-beaten trees
+grew at intervals along its bank. Near the foot of one of the trees we
+flung down our saddles, and hobbling our horses turned them loose to
+feed. The little stream was clear and swift, and ran musically on its
+white sands. Small water birds were splashing in the shallows, and
+filling the air with their cries and flutterings. The sun was just
+sinking among gold and crimson clouds behind Mount Laramie. I well
+remember how I lay upon a log by the margin of the water, and watched
+the restless motions of the little fish in a deep still nook below.
+Strange to say, I seemed to have gained strength since the morning, and
+almost felt a sense of returning health.
+
+We built our fire. Night came, and the wolves began to howl. One deep
+voice commenced, and it was answered in awful responses from the hills,
+the plains, and the woods along the stream above and below us. Such
+sounds need not and do not disturb one's sleep upon the prairie. We
+picketed the mare and the mule close at our feet, and did not wake until
+daylight. Then we turned them loose, still hobbled, to feed for an hour
+before starting. We were getting ready our morning's meal, when Raymond
+saw an antelope at half a mile's distance, and said he would go and
+shoot it.
+
+"Your business," said. I, "is to look after the animals. I am too weak
+to do much, if anything happens to them, and you must keep within sight
+of the camp."
+
+Raymond promised, and set out with his rifle in his hand. The animals
+had passed across the stream, and were feeding among the long grass
+on the other side, much tormented by the attacks of the numerous large
+green-headed flies. As I watched them, I saw them go down into a hollow,
+and as several minutes elapsed without their reappearing, I waded
+through the stream to look after them. To my vexation and alarm I
+discovered them at a great distance, galloping away at full speed,
+Pauline in advance, with her hobbles broken, and the mule, still
+fettered, following with awkward leaps. I fired my rifle and shouted to
+recall Raymond. In a moment he came running through the stream, with a
+red handkerchief bound round his head. I pointed to the fugitives, and
+ordered him to pursue them. Muttering a "Sacre!" between his teeth, he
+set out at full speed, still swinging his rifle in his hand. I walked
+up to the top of a hill, and looking away over the prairie, could just
+distinguish the runaways, still at full gallop. Returning to the fire,
+I sat down at the foot of a tree. Wearily and anxiously hour after
+hour passed away. The old loose bark dangling from the trunk behind
+me flapped to and fro in the wind, and the mosquitoes kept up their
+incessant drowsy humming; but other than this, there was no sight nor
+sound of life throughout the burning landscape. The sun rose higher and
+higher, until the shadows fell almost perpendicularly, and I knew that
+it must be noon. It seemed scarcely possible that the animals could be
+recovered. If they were not, my situation was one of serious difficulty.
+Shaw, when I left him had decided to move that morning, but whither
+he had not determined. To look for him would be a vain attempt. Fort
+Laramie was forty miles distant, and I could not walk a mile without
+great effort. Not then having learned the sound philosophy of yielding
+to disproportionate obstacles, I resolved to continue in any event the
+pursuit of the Indians. Only one plan occurred to me; this was to send
+Raymond to the fort with an order for more horses, while I remained on
+the spot, awaiting his return, which might take place within three days.
+But the adoption of this resolution did not wholly allay my anxiety, for
+it involved both uncertainty and danger. To remain stationary and alone
+for three days, in a country full of dangerous Indians, was not the most
+flattering of prospects; and protracted as my Indian hunt must be by
+such delay, it was not easy to foretell its ultimate result. Revolving
+these matters, I grew hungry; and as our stock of provisions, except
+four or five pounds of flour, was by this time exhausted, I left the
+camp to see what game I could find. Nothing could be seen except four or
+five large curlew, which, with their loud screaming, were wheeling over
+my head, and now and then alighting upon the prairie. I shot two of
+them, and was about returning, when a startling sight caught my eye. A
+small, dark object, like a human head, suddenly appeared, and vanished
+among the thick hushes along the stream below. In that country every
+stranger is a suspected enemy. Instinctively I threw forward the muzzle
+of my rifle. In a moment the bushes were violently shaken, two heads,
+but not human heads, protruded, and to my great joy I recognized the
+downcast, disconsolate countenance of the black mule and the yellow
+visage of Pauline. Raymond came upon the mule, pale and haggard,
+complaining of a fiery pain in his chest. I took charge of the animals
+while he kneeled down by the side of the stream to drink. He had kept
+the runaways in sight as far as the Side Fork of Laramie Creek, a
+distance of more than ten miles; and here with great difficulty he had
+succeeded in catching them. I saw that he was unarmed, and asked him
+what he had done with his rifle. It had encumbered him in his pursuit,
+and he had dropped it on the prairie, thinking that he could find it
+on his return; but in this he had failed. The loss might prove a very
+formidable one. I was too much rejoiced however at the recovery of the
+animals to think much about it; and having made some tea for Raymond in
+a tin vessel which we had brought with us, I told him that I would give
+him two hours for resting before we set out again. He had eaten nothing
+that day; but having no appetite, he lay down immediately to sleep. I
+picketed the animals among the richest grass that I could find, and made
+fires of green wood to protect them from the flies; then sitting down
+again by the tree, I watched the slow movements of the sun, begrudging
+every moment that passed.
+
+The time I had mentioned expired, and I awoke Raymond. We saddled and
+set out again, but first we went in search of the lost rifle, and in
+the course of an hour Raymond was fortunate enough to find it. Then we
+turned westward, and moved over the hills and hollows at a slow pace
+toward the Black Hills. The heat no longer tormented us, for a cloud
+was before the sun. Yet that day shall never be marked with white in my
+calendar. The air began to grow fresh and cool, the distant mountains
+frowned more gloomily, there was a low muttering of thunder, and dense
+black masses of cloud rose heavily behind the broken peaks. At first
+they were gayly fringed with silver by the afternoon sun, but soon the
+thick blackness overspread the whole sky, and the desert around us
+was wrapped in deep gloom. I scarcely heeded it at the time, but now
+I cannot but feel that there was an awful sublimity in the hoarse
+murmuring of the thunder, in the somber shadows that involved the
+mountains and the plain. The storm broke. It came upon us with a zigzag
+blinding flash, with a terrific crash of thunder, and with a hurricane
+that howled over the prairie, dashing floods of water against us.
+Raymond looked round, and cursed the merciless elements. There seemed
+no shelter near, but we discerned at length a deep ravine gashed in the
+level prairie, and saw half way down its side an old pine tree, whose
+rough horizontal boughs formed a sort of penthouse against the tempest.
+We found a practicable passage, and hastily descending, fastened our
+animals to some large loose stones at the bottom; then climbing up, we
+drew our blankets over our heads, and seated ourselves close beneath the
+old tree. Perhaps I was no competent judge of time, but it seemed to me
+that we were sitting there a full hour, while around us poured a deluge
+of rain, through which the rocks on the opposite side of the gulf were
+barely visible. The first burst of the tempest soon subsided, but the
+rain poured steadily. At length Raymond grew impatient, and scrambling
+out of the ravine, he gained the level prairie above.
+
+"What does the weather look like?" asked I, from my seat under the tree.
+
+"It looks bad," he answered; "dark all around," and again he descended
+and sat down by my side. Some ten minutes elapsed.
+
+"Go up again," said I, "and take another look;" and he clambered up the
+precipice. "Well, how is it?"
+
+"Just the same, only I see one little bright spot over the top of the
+mountain."
+
+The rain by this time had begun to abate; and going down to the bottom
+of the ravine, we loosened the animals, who were standing up to their
+knees in water. Leading them up the rocky throat of the ravine, we
+reached the plain above. "Am I," I thought to myself, "the same man who
+a few months since, was seated, a quiet student of BELLES-LETTRES, in a
+cushioned arm-chair by a sea-coal fire?"
+
+All around us was obscurity; but the bright spot above the mountaintops
+grew wider and ruddier, until at length the clouds drew apart, and
+a flood of sunbeams poured down from heaven, streaming along the
+precipices, and involving them in a thin blue haze, as soft and lovely
+as that which wraps the Apennines on an evening in spring. Rapidly the
+clouds were broken and scattered, like routed legions of evil spirits.
+The plain lay basking in sunbeams around us; a rainbow arched the desert
+from north to south, and far in front a line of woods seemed inviting
+us to refreshment and repose. When we reached them, they were glistening
+with prismatic dewdrops, and enlivened by the song and flutterings of
+a hundred birds. Strange winged insects, benumbed by the rain, were
+clinging to the leaves and the bark of the trees.
+
+Raymond kindled a fire with great difficulty. The animals turned eagerly
+to feed on the soft rich grass, while I, wrapping myself in my blanket,
+lay down and gazed on the evening landscape. The mountains, whose stern
+features had lowered upon us with so gloomy and awful a frown, now
+seemed lighted up with a serene, benignant smile, and the green waving
+undulations of the plain were gladdened with the rich sunshine. Wet,
+ill, and wearied as I was, my spirit grew lighter at the view, and I
+drew from it an augury of good for my future prospects.
+
+When morning came, Raymond awoke, coughing violently, though I had
+apparently received no injury. We mounted, crossed the little stream,
+pushed through the trees, and began our journey over the plain beyond.
+And now, as we rode slowly along, we looked anxiously on every hand
+for traces of the Indians, not doubting that the village had passed
+somewhere in that vicinity; but the scanty shriveled grass was not more
+than three or four inches high, and the ground was of such unyielding
+hardness that a host might have marched over it and left scarcely a
+trace of its passage. Up hill and down hill, and clambering through
+ravines, we continued our journey. As we were skirting the foot of a
+hill I saw Raymond, who was some rods in advance, suddenly jerking the
+reins of his mule. Sliding from his seat, and running in a crouching
+posture up a hollow, he disappeared; and then in an instant I heard the
+sharp quick crack of his rifle. A wounded antelope came running on three
+legs over the hill. I lashed Pauline and made after him. My fleet little
+mare soon brought me by his side, and after leaping and bounding for
+a few moments in vain, he stood still, as if despairing of escape. His
+glistening eyes turned up toward my face with so piteous a look that it
+was with feelings of infinite compunction that I shot him through the
+head with a pistol. Raymond skinned and cut him up, and we hung the
+forequarters to our saddles, much rejoiced that our exhausted stock of
+provisions was renewed in such good time.
+
+Gaining the top of a hill, we could see along the cloudy verge of the
+prairie before us lines of trees and shadowy groves that marked the
+course of Laramie Creek. Some time before noon we reached its banks
+and began anxiously to search them for footprints of the Indians. We
+followed the stream for several miles, now on the shore and now wading
+in the water, scrutinizing every sand-bar and every muddy bank. So
+long was the search that we began to fear that we had left the trail
+undiscovered behind us. At length I heard Raymond shouting, and saw him
+jump from his mule to examine some object under the shelving bank. I
+rode up to his side. It was the clear and palpable impression of an
+Indian moccasin. Encouraged by this we continued our search, and at
+last some appearances on a soft surface of earth not far from the shore
+attracted my eye; and going to examine them I found half a dozen tracks,
+some made by men and some by children. Just then Raymond observed across
+the stream the mouth of a small branch entering it from the south. He
+forded the water, rode in at the opening, and in a moment I heard him
+shouting again, so I passed over and joined him. The little branch had a
+broad sandy bed, along which the water trickled in a scanty stream; and
+on either bank the bushes were so close that the view was completely
+intercepted. I found Raymond stooping over the footprints of three or
+four horses. Proceeding we found those of a man, then those of a child,
+then those of more horses; and at last the bushes on each bank were
+beaten down and broken, and the sand plowed up with a multitude of
+footsteps, and scored across with the furrows made by the lodge-poles
+that had been dragged through. It was now certain that we had found
+the trail. I pushed through the bushes, and at a little distance on the
+prairie beyond found the ashes of a hundred and fifty lodge fires, with
+bones and pieces of buffalo robes scattered around them, and in some
+instances the pickets to which horses had been secured still standing
+in the ground. Elated by our success we selected a convenient tree, and
+turning the animals loose, prepared to make a meal from the fat haunch
+of our victim.
+
+Hardship and exposure had thriven with me wonderfully. I had gained both
+health and strength since leaving La Bonte's Camp. Raymond and I made a
+hearty meal together in high spirits, for we rashly presumed that having
+found one end of the trail we should have little difficulty in reaching
+the other. But when the animals were led in we found that our old ill
+luck had not ceased to follow us close. As I was saddling Pauline I saw
+that her eye was as dull as lead, and the hue of her yellow coat visibly
+darkened. I placed my foot in the stirrup to mount, when instantly she
+staggered and fell flat on her side. Gaining her feet with an effort she
+stood by the fire with a drooping head. Whether she had been bitten by
+a snake or poisoned by some noxious plant or attacked by a sudden
+disorder, it was hard to say; but at all events her sickness was
+sufficiently ill-timed and unfortunate. I succeeded in a second attempt
+to mount her, and with a slow pace we moved forward on the trail of the
+Indians. It led us up a hill and over a dreary plain; and here, to our
+great mortification, the traces almost disappeared, for the ground was
+hard as adamant; and if its flinty surface had ever retained the print
+of a hoof, the marks had been washed away by the deluge of yesterday. An
+Indian village, in its disorderly march, is scattered over the prairie,
+often to the width of full half a mile; so that its trail is nowhere
+clearly marked, and the task of following it is made doubly wearisome
+and difficult. By good fortune plenty of large ant-hills, a yard or more
+in diameter, were scattered over the plain, and these were frequently
+broken by the footprints of men and horses, and marked by traces of the
+lodge-poles. The succulent leaves of the prickly-pear, also bruised from
+the same causes, helped a little to guide us; so inch by inch we moved
+along. Often we lost the trail altogether, and then would recover it
+again, but late in the afternoon we found ourselves totally at fault.
+We stood alone without clew to guide us. The broken plain expanded
+for league after league around us, and in front the long dark ridge of
+mountains was stretching from north to south. Mount Laramie, a little
+on our right, towered high above the rest and from a dark valley just
+beyond one of its lower declivities, we discerned volumes of white smoke
+slowly rolling up into the clear air.
+
+"I think," said Raymond, "some Indians must be there. Perhaps we
+had better go." But this plan was not rashly to be adopted, and we
+determined still to continue our search after the lost trail. Our good
+stars prompted us to this decision, for we afterward had reason to
+believe, from information given us by the Indians, that the smoke was
+raised as a decoy by a Crow war party.
+
+Evening was coming on, and there was no wood or water nearer than the
+foot of the mountains. So thither we turned, directing our course toward
+the point where Laramie Creek issues forth upon the prairie. When we
+reached it the bare tops of the mountains were still brightened with
+sunshine. The little river was breaking with a vehement and angry
+current from its dark prison. There was something in the near vicinity
+of the mountains, in the loud surging of the rapids, wonderfully
+cheering and exhilarating; for although once as familiar as home itself,
+they had been for months strangers to my experience. There was a rich
+grass-plot by the river's bank, surrounded by low ridges, which would
+effectually screen ourselves and our fire from the sight of wandering
+Indians. Here among the grass I observed numerous circles of large
+stones, which, as Raymond said, were traces of a Dakota winter
+encampment. We lay down and did not awake till the sun was up. A large
+rock projected from the shore, and behind it the deep water was slowly
+eddying round and round. The temptation was irresistible. I threw off
+my clothes, leaped in, suffered myself to be borne once round with the
+current, and then, seizing the strong root of a water plant, drew myself
+to the shore. The effect was so invigorating and refreshing that I
+mistook it for returning health. "Pauline," thought I, as I led the
+little mare up to be saddled, "only thrive as I do, and you and I will
+have sport yet among the buffalo beyond these mountains." But scarcely
+were we mounted and on our way before the momentary glow passed. Again I
+hung as usual in my seat, scarcely able to hold myself erect.
+
+"Look yonder," said Raymond; "you see that big hollow there; the Indians
+must have gone that way, if they went anywhere about here."
+
+We reached the gap, which was like a deep notch cut into the mountain
+ridge, and here we soon discerned an ant-hill furrowed with the mark of
+a lodge-pole. This was quite enough; there could be no doubt now. As we
+rode on, the opening growing narrower, the Indians had been compelled to
+march in closer order, and the traces became numerous and distinct. The
+gap terminated in a rocky gateway, leading into a rough passage upward,
+between two precipitous mountains. Here grass and weeds were bruised to
+fragments by the throng that had passed through. We moved slowly over
+the rocks, up the passage; and in this toilsome manner we advanced for
+an hour or two, bare precipices, hundreds of feet high, shooting up on
+either hand. Raymond, with his hardy mule, was a few rods before me,
+when we came to the foot of an ascent steeper than the rest, and which
+I trusted might prove the highest point of the defile. Pauline strained
+upward for a few yards, moaning and stumbling, and then came to a dead
+stop, unable to proceed further. I dismounted, and attempted to lead
+her; but my own exhausted strength soon gave out; so I loosened the
+trail-rope from her neck, and tying it round my arm, crawled up on my
+hands and knees. I gained the top, totally exhausted, the sweat drops
+trickling from my forehead. Pauline stood like a statue by my side, her
+shadow falling upon the scorching rock; and in this shade, for there was
+no other, I lay for some time, scarcely able to move a limb. All around
+the black crags, sharp as needles at the top, stood glowing in the
+sun, without a tree, or a bush, or a blade of grass, to cover their
+precipitous sides. The whole scene seemed parched with a pitiless,
+insufferable heat.
+
+After a while I could mount again, and we moved on, descending the rocky
+defile on its western side. Thinking of that morning's journey, it
+has sometimes seemed to me that there was something ridiculous in my
+position; a man, armed to the teeth, but wholly unable to fight, and
+equally so to run away, traversing a dangerous wilderness, on a sick
+horse. But these thoughts were retrospective, for at the time I was in
+too grave a mood to entertain a very lively sense of the ludicrous.
+
+Raymond's saddle-girth slipped; and while I proceeded he was stopping
+behind to repair the mischief. I came to the top of a little declivity,
+where a most welcome sight greeted my eye; a nook of fresh green grass
+nestled among the cliffs, sunny clumps of bushes on one side, and shaggy
+old pine trees leaning forward from the rocks on the other. A shrill,
+familiar voice saluted me, and recalled me to days of boyhood; that of
+the insect called the "locust" by New England schoolboys, which was fast
+clinging among the heated boughs of the old pine trees. Then, too, as
+I passed the bushes, the low sound of falling water reached my ear.
+Pauline turned of her own accord, and pushing through the boughs we
+found a black rock, over-arched by the cool green canopy. An icy stream
+was pouring from its side into a wide basin of white sand, from whence
+it had no visible outlet, but filtered through into the soil below.
+While I filled a tin cup at the spring, Pauline was eagerly plunging
+her head deep in the pool. Other visitors had been there before us. All
+around in the soft soil were the footprints of elk, deer, and the Rocky
+Mountain sheep; and the grizzly bear too had left the recent prints of
+his broad foot, with its frightful array of claws. Among these mountains
+was his home.
+
+Soon after leaving the spring we found a little grassy plain, encircled
+by the mountains, and marked, to our great joy, with all the traces of
+an Indian camp. Raymond's practiced eye detected certain signs by which
+he recognized the spot where Reynal's lodge had been pitched and his
+horses picketed. I approached, and stood looking at the place. Reynal
+and I had, I believe, hardly a feeling in common. I disliked the fellow,
+and it perplexed me a good deal to understand why I should look with so
+much interest on the ashes of his fire, when between him and me there
+seemed no other bond of sympathy than the slender and precarious one of
+a kindred race.
+
+In half an hour from this we were clear of the mountains. There was a
+plain before us, totally barren and thickly peopled in many parts with
+the little prairie dogs, who sat at the mouths of their burrows and
+yelped at us as we passed. The plain, as we thought, was about six miles
+wide; but it cost us two hours to cross it. Then another mountain range
+rose before us, grander and more wild than the last had been. Far out of
+the dense shrubbery that clothed the steeps for a thousand feet shot up
+black crags, all leaning one way, and shattered by storms and thunder
+into grim and threatening shapes. As we entered a narrow passage on the
+trail of the Indians, they impended frightfully on one side, above our
+heads.
+
+Our course was through dense woods, in the shade and twinkling sunlight
+of overhanging boughs. I would I could recall to mind all the startling
+combinations that presented themselves, as winding from side to side
+of the passage, to avoid its obstructions, we could see, glancing at
+intervals through the foliage, the awful forms of the gigantic cliffs,
+that seemed at times to hem us in on the right and on the left, before
+us and behind! Another scene in a few moments greeted us; a tract of
+gray and sunny woods, broken into knolls and hollows, enlivened by birds
+and interspersed with flowers. Among the rest I recognized the mellow
+whistle of the robin, an old familiar friend whom I had scarce expected
+to meet in such a place. Humble-bees too were buzzing heavily about
+the flowers; and of these a species of larkspur caught my eye, more
+appropriate, it should seem, to cultivated gardens than to a remote
+wilderness. Instantly it recalled a multitude of dormant and delightful
+recollections.
+
+Leaving behind us this spot and its associations, a sight soon presented
+itself, characteristic of that warlike region. In an open space, fenced
+in by high rocks, stood two Indian forts, of a square form, rudely built
+of sticks and logs. They were somewhat ruinous, having probably been
+constructed the year before. Each might have contained about twenty men.
+Perhaps in this gloomy spot some party had been beset by their enemies,
+and those scowling rocks and blasted trees might not long since have
+looked down on a conflict unchronicled and unknown. Yet if any traces
+of bloodshed remained they were completely hidden by the bushes and tall
+rank weeds.
+
+Gradually the mountains drew apart, and the passage expanded into a
+plain, where again we found traces of an Indian encampment. There were
+trees and bushes just before us, and we stopped here for an hour's rest
+and refreshment. When we had finished our meal Raymond struck fire, and
+lighting his pipe, sat down at the foot of a tree to smoke. For some
+time I observed him puffing away with a face of unusual solemnity. Then
+slowly taking the pipe from his lips, he looked up and remarked that we
+had better not go any farther.
+
+"Why not?" asked I.
+
+He said that the country was becoming very dangerous, that we were
+entering the range of the Snakes, Arapahoes and Grosventre Blackfeet,
+and that if any of their wandering parties should meet us, it would cost
+us our lives; but he added, with a blunt fidelity that nearly reconciled
+me to his stupidity, that he would go anywhere I wished. I told him to
+bring up the animals, and mounting them we proceeded again. I confess
+that, as we moved forward, the prospect seemed but a dreary and doubtful
+one. I would have given the world for my ordinary elasticity of body
+and mind, and for a horse of such strength and spirit as the journey
+required.
+
+Closer and closer the rocks gathered round us, growing taller and
+steeper, and pressing more and more upon our path. We entered at length
+a defile which I never had seen rivaled. The mountain was cracked from
+top to bottom, and we were creeping along the bottom of the fissure, in
+dampness and gloom, with the clink of hoofs on the loose shingly rocks,
+and the hoarse murmuring of a petulant brook which kept us company.
+Sometimes the water, foaming among the stones, overspread the whole
+narrow passage; sometimes, withdrawing to one side, it gave us room to
+pass dry-shod. Looking up, we could see a narrow ribbon of bright blue
+sky between the dark edges of the opposing cliffs. This did not last
+long. The passage soon widened, and sunbeams found their way down,
+flashing upon the black waters. The defile would spread out to many rods
+in width; bushes, trees, and flowers would spring by the side of the
+brook; the cliffs would be feathered with shrubbery, that clung in every
+crevice, and fringed with trees, that grew along their sunny edges. Then
+we would be moving again in the darkness. The passage seemed about four
+miles long, and before we reached the end of it, the unshod hoofs of our
+animals were lamentably broken, and their legs cut by the sharp stones.
+Issuing from the mountain we found another plain. All around it stood a
+circle of lofty precipices, that seemed the impersonation of silence and
+solitude. Here again the Indians had encamped, as well they might, after
+passing with their women, children and horses through the gulf behind
+us. In one day we had made a journey which had cost them three to
+accomplish.
+
+The only outlet to this amphitheater lay over a hill some two hundred
+feet high, up which we moved with difficulty. Looking from the top,
+we saw that at last we were free of the mountains. The prairie
+spread before us, but so wild and broken that the view was everywhere
+obstructed. Far on our left one tall hill swelled up against the sky, on
+the smooth, pale green surface of which four slowly moving black specks
+were discernible. They were evidently buffalo, and we hailed the sight
+as a good augury; for where the buffalo were, there too the Indians
+would probably be found. We hoped on that very night to reach the
+village. We were anxious to do so for a double reason, wishing to bring
+our wearisome journey to an end, and knowing, moreover, that though
+to enter the village in broad daylight would be a perfectly safe
+experiment, yet to encamp in its vicinity would be dangerous. But as we
+rode on, the sun was sinking, and soon was within half an hour of the
+horizon. We ascended a hill and looked round us for a spot for our
+encampment. The prairie was like a turbulent ocean, suddenly congealed
+when its waves were at the highest, and it lay half in light and half in
+shadow, as the rich sunshine, yellow as gold, was pouring over it. The
+rough bushes of the wild sage were growing everywhere, its dull pale
+green overspreading hill and hollow. Yet a little way before us, a
+bright verdant line of grass was winding along the plain, and here and
+there throughout its course water was glistening darkly. We went down to
+it, kindled a fire, and turned our horses loose to feed. It was a little
+trickling brook, that for some yards on either bank turned the barren
+prairie into fertility, and here and there it spread into deep pools,
+where the beaver had dammed it up.
+
+We placed our last remaining piece of the antelope before a scanty fire,
+mournfully reflecting on our exhausted stock of provisions. Just then an
+enormous gray hare, peculiar to these prairies, came jumping along, and
+seated himself within fifty yards to look at us. I thoughtlessly raised
+my rifle to shoot him, but Raymond called out to me not to fire for
+fear the report should reach the ears of the Indians. That night for the
+first time we considered that the danger to which we were exposed was
+of a somewhat serious character; and to those who are unacquainted with
+Indians, it may seem strange that our chief apprehensions arose from
+the supposed proximity of the people whom we intended to visit. Had any
+straggling party of these faithful friends caught sight of us from the
+hill-top, they would probably have returned in the night to plunder us
+of our horses and perhaps of our scalps. But we were on the prairie,
+where the GENIUS LOCI is at war with all nervous apprehensions; and
+I presume that neither Raymond nor I thought twice of the matter that
+evening.
+
+While he was looking after the animals, I sat by the fire engaged in
+the novel task of baking bread. The utensils were of the most simple
+and primitive kind, consisting of two sticks inclining over the bed of
+coals, one end thrust into the ground while the dough was twisted in a
+spiral form round the other. Under such circumstances all the epicurean
+in a man's nature is apt to awaken within him. I revisited in fancy the
+far distant abodes of good fare, not indeed Frascati's, or the Trois
+Freres Provencaux, for that were too extreme a flight; but no other than
+the homely table of my old friend and host, Tom Crawford, of the White
+Mountains. By a singular revulsion, Tom himself, whom I well remember
+to have looked upon as the impersonation of all that is wild and
+backwoodsman-like, now appeared before me as the ministering angel of
+comfort and good living. Being fatigued and drowsy I began to doze, and
+my thoughts, following the same train of association, assumed another
+form. Half-dreaming, I saw myself surrounded with the mountains of
+New England, alive with water-falls, their black crags tinctured with
+milk-white mists. For this reverie I paid a speedy penalty; for the
+bread was black on one side and soft on the other.
+
+For eight hours Raymond and I, pillowed on our saddles, lay insensible
+as logs. Pauline's yellow head was stretched over me when I awoke. I
+got up and examined her. Her feet indeed were bruised and swollen by the
+accidents of yesterday, but her eye was brighter, her motions livelier,
+and her mysterious malady had visibly abated. We moved on, hoping within
+an hour to come in sight of the Indian village; but again disappointment
+awaited us. The trail disappeared, melting away upon a hard and stony
+plain. Raymond and I separating, rode from side to side, scrutinizing
+every yard of ground, until at length I discerned traces of the
+lodge-poles passing by the side of a ridge of rocks. We began again to
+follow them.
+
+"What is that black spot out there on the prairie?"
+
+"It looks like a dead buffalo," answered Raymond.
+
+We rode out to it, and found it to be the huge carcass of a bull killed
+by the Indians as they had passed. Tangled hair and scraps of hide were
+scattered all around, for the wolves had been making merry over it,
+and had hollowed out the entire carcass. It was covered with myriads of
+large black crickets, and from its appearance must certainly have lain
+there for four or five days. The sight was a most disheartening one,
+and I observed to Raymond that the Indians might still be fifty or sixty
+miles before us. But he shook his head, and replied that they dared not
+go so far for fear of their enemies, the Snakes.
+
+Soon after this we lost the trail again, and ascended a neighboring
+ridge, totally at a loss. Before us lay a plain perfectly flat,
+spreading on the right and left, without apparent limit, and bounded in
+front by a long broken line of hills, ten or twelve miles distant.
+All was open and exposed to view, yet not a buffalo nor an Indian was
+visible.
+
+"Do you see that?" said Raymond; "Now we had better turn round."
+
+But as Raymond's bourgeois thought otherwise, we descended the hill and
+began to cross the plain. We had come so far that I knew perfectly well
+neither Pauline's limbs nor my own could carry me back to Fort Laramie.
+I considered that the lines of expediency and inclination tallied
+exactly, and that the most prudent course was to keep forward. The
+ground immediately around us was thickly strewn with the skulls and
+bones of buffalo, for here a year or two before the Indians had made a
+"surround"; yet no living game presented itself. At length, however, an
+antelope sprang up and gazed at us. We fired together, and by a singular
+fatality we both missed, although the animal stood, a fair mark, within
+eighty yards. This ill success might perhaps be charged to our own
+eagerness, for by this time we had no provision left except a little
+flour. We could discern several small lakes, or rather extensive pools
+of water, glistening in the distance. As we approached them, wolves
+and antelopes bounded away through the tall grass that grew in their
+vicinity, and flocks of large white plover flew screaming over their
+surface. Having failed of the antelope, Raymond tried his hand at the
+birds with the same ill success. The water also disappointed us. Its
+muddy margin was so beaten up by the crowd of buffalo that our timorous
+animals were afraid to approach. So we turned away and moved toward the
+hills. The rank grass, where it was not trampled down by the buffalo,
+fairly swept our horses' necks.
+
+Again we found the same execrable barren prairie offering no clew by
+which to guide our way. As we drew near the hills an opening appeared,
+through which the Indians must have gone if they had passed that way at
+all. Slowly we began to ascend it. I felt the most dreary forebodings
+of ill success, when on looking round I could discover neither dent of
+hoof, nor footprint, nor trace of lodge-pole, though the passage was
+encumbered by the ghastly skulls of buffalo. We heard thunder muttering;
+a storm was coming on.
+
+As we gained the top of the gap, the prospect beyond began to disclose
+itself. First, we saw a long dark line of ragged clouds upon the
+horizon, while above them rose the peak of the Medicine-Bow, the
+vanguard of the Rocky Mountains; then little by little the plain came
+into view, a vast green uniformity, forlorn and tenantless, though
+Laramie Creek glistened in a waving line over its surface, without a
+bush or a tree upon its banks. As yet, the round projecting shoulder of
+a hill intercepted a part of the view. I rode in advance, when suddenly
+I could distinguish a few dark spots on the prairie, along the bank of
+the stream.
+
+"Buffalo!" said I. Then a sudden hope flashed upon me, and eagerly and
+anxiously I looked again.
+
+"Horses!" exclaimed Raymond, with a tremendous oath, lashing his mule
+forward as he spoke. More and more of the plain disclosed itself, and
+in rapid succession more and more horses appeared, scattered along
+the river bank, or feeding in bands over the prairie. Then, suddenly,
+standing in a circle by the stream, swarming with their savage
+inhabitants, we saw rising before us the tall lodges of the Ogallalla.
+Never did the heart of wanderer more gladden at the sight of home than
+did mine at the sight of those wild habitations!
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+THE OGALLALLA VILLAGE
+
+
+Such a narrative as this is hardly the place for portraying the mental
+features of the Indians. The same picture, slightly changed in shade and
+coloring, would serve with very few exceptions for all the tribes that
+lie north of the Mexican territories. But with this striking similarity
+in their modes of thought, the tribes of the lake and ocean shores, of
+the forests and of the plains, differ greatly in their manner of life.
+Having been domesticated for several weeks among one of the wildest of
+the wild hordes that roam over the remote prairies, I had extraordinary
+opportunities of observing them, and I flatter myself that a faithful
+picture of the scenes that passed daily before my eyes may not be devoid
+of interest and value. These men were thorough savages. Neither their
+manners nor their ideas were in the slightest degree modified by contact
+with civilization. They knew nothing of the power and real character of
+the white men, and their children would scream in terror at the sight of
+me. Their religion, their superstitions, and their prejudices were the
+same that had been handed down to them from immemorial time. They fought
+with the same weapons that their fathers fought with and wore the same
+rude garments of skins.
+
+Great changes are at hand in that region. With the stream of emigration
+to Oregon and California, the buffalo will dwindle away, and the large
+wandering communities who depend on them for support must be broken
+and scattered. The Indians will soon be corrupted by the example of the
+whites, abased by whisky, and overawed by military posts; so that within
+a few years the traveler may pass in tolerable security through their
+country. Its danger and its charm will have disappeared together.
+
+As soon as Raymond and I discovered the village from the gap in the
+hills, we were seen in our turn; keen eyes were constantly on the watch.
+As we rode down upon the plain the side of the village nearest us was
+darkened with a crowd of naked figures gathering around the lodges.
+Several men came forward to meet us. I could distinguish among them the
+green blanket of the Frenchman Reynal. When we came up the ceremony of
+shaking hands had to be gone through with in due form, and then all were
+eager to know what had become of the rest of my party. I satisfied them
+on this point, and we all moved forward together toward the village.
+
+"You've missed it," said Reynal; "if you'd been here day before
+yesterday, you'd have found the whole prairie over yonder black with
+buffalo as far as you could see. There were no cows, though; nothing but
+bulls. We made a 'surround' every day till yesterday. See the village
+there; don't that look like good living?"
+
+In fact I could see, even at that distance, that long cords were
+stretched from lodge to lodge, over which the meat, cut by the squaws
+into thin sheets, was hanging to dry in the sun. I noticed too that the
+village was somewhat smaller than when I had last seen it, and I asked
+Reynal the cause. He said that the old Le Borgne had felt too weak
+to pass over the mountains, and so had remained behind with all his
+relations, including Mahto-Tatonka and his brothers. The Whirlwind
+too had been unwilling to come so far, because, as Reynal said, he was
+afraid. Only half a dozen lodges had adhered to him, the main body of
+the village setting their chief's authority at naught, and taking the
+course most agreeable to their inclinations.
+
+"What chiefs are there in the village now?" said I.
+
+"Well," said Reynal, "there's old Red-Water, and the Eagle-Feather, and
+the Big Crow, and the Mad Wolf and the Panther, and the White Shield,
+and--what's his name?--the half-breed Cheyenne."
+
+By this time we were close to the village, and I observed that while the
+greater part of the lodges were very large and neat in their appearance,
+there was at one side a cluster of squalid, miserable huts. I looked
+toward them, and made some remark about their wretched appearance. But I
+was touching upon delicate ground.
+
+"My squaw's relations live in those lodges," said Reynal very warmly,
+"and there isn't a better set in the whole village."
+
+"Are there any chiefs among them?" asked I.
+
+"Chiefs?" said Reynal; "yes, plenty!"
+
+"What are their names?" I inquired.
+
+"Their names? Why, there's the Arrow-Head. If he isn't a chief he ought
+to be one. And there's the Hail-Storm. He's nothing but a boy, to be
+sure; but he's bound to be a chief one of these days!"
+
+Just then we passed between two of the lodges, and entered the great
+area of the village. Superb naked figures stood silently gazing on us.
+
+"Where's the Bad Wound's lodge?" said I to Reynal.
+
+"There, you've missed it again! The Bad Wound is away with The
+Whirlwind. If you could have found him here, and gone to live in his
+lodge, he would have treated you better than any man in the village.
+But there's the Big Crow's lodge yonder, next to old Red-Water's. He's a
+good Indian for the whites, and I advise you to go and live with him."
+
+"Are there many squaws and children in his lodge?" said I.
+
+"No; only one squaw and two or three children. He keeps the rest in a
+separate lodge by themselves."
+
+So, still followed by a crowd of Indians, Raymond and I rode up to the
+entrance of the Big Crow's lodge. A squaw came out immediately and took
+our horses. I put aside the leather nap that covered the low opening,
+and stooping, entered the Big Crow's dwelling. There I could see the
+chief in the dim light, seated at one side, on a pile of buffalo robes.
+He greeted me with a guttural "How, cola!" I requested Reynal to tell
+him that Raymond and I were come to live with him. The Big Crow gave
+another low exclamation. If the reader thinks that we were intruding
+somewhat cavalierly, I beg him to observe that every Indian in the
+village would have deemed himself honored that white men should give
+such preference to his hospitality.
+
+The squaw spread a buffalo robe for us in the guest's place at the head
+of the lodge. Our saddles were brought in, and scarcely were we seated
+upon them before the place was thronged with Indians, who came crowding
+in to see us. The Big Crow produced his pipe and filled it with the
+mixture of tobacco and shongsasha, or red willow bark. Round and round
+it passed, and a lively conversation went forward. Meanwhile a squaw
+placed before the two guests a wooden bowl of boiled buffalo meat, but
+unhappily this was not the only banquet destined to be inflicted on us.
+Rapidly, one after another, boys and young squaws thrust their heads in
+at the opening, to invite us to various feasts in different parts of the
+village. For half an hour or more we were actively engaged in passing
+from lodge to lodge, tasting in each of the bowl of meat set before us,
+and inhaling a whiff or two from our entertainer's pipe. A thunderstorm
+that had been threatening for some time now began in good earnest. We
+crossed over to Reynal's lodge, though it hardly deserved this name, for
+it consisted only of a few old buffalo robes, supported on poles, and
+was quite open on one side. Here we sat down, and the Indians gathered
+round us.
+
+"What is it," said I, "that makes the thunder?"
+
+"It's my belief," said Reynal, "that it is a big stone rolling over the
+sky."
+
+"Very likely," I replied; "but I want to know what the Indians think
+about it."
+
+So he interpreted my question, which seemed to produce some doubt
+and debate. There was evidently a difference of opinion. At last old
+Mene-Seela, or Red-Water, who sat by himself at one side, looked up with
+his withered face, and said he had always known what the thunder was.
+It was a great black bird; and once he had seen it, in a dream, swooping
+down from the Black Hills, with its loud roaring wings; and when it
+flapped them over a lake, they struck lightning from the water.
+
+"The thunder is bad," said another old man, who sat muffled in his
+buffalo robe; "he killed my brother last summer."
+
+Reynal, at my request, asked for an explanation; but the old man
+remained doggedly silent, and would not look up. Some time after I
+learned how the accident occurred. The man who was killed belonged to an
+association which, among other mystic functions, claimed the exclusive
+power and privilege of fighting the thunder. Whenever a storm which they
+wished to avert was threatening, the thunder-fighters would take their
+bows and arrows, their guns, their magic drum, and a sort of whistle,
+made out of the wingbone of the war eagle. Thus equipped, they would
+run out and fire at the rising cloud, whooping, yelling, whistling, and
+beating their drum, to frighten it down again. One afternoon a heavy
+black cloud was coming up, and they repaired to the top of a hill, where
+they brought all their magic artillery into play against it. But the
+undaunted thunder, refusing to be terrified, kept moving straight
+onward, and darted out a bright flash which struck one of the party
+dead, as he was in the very act of shaking his long iron-pointed
+lance against it. The rest scattered and ran yelling in an ecstasy of
+superstitious terror back to their lodges.
+
+The lodge of my host Kongra-Tonga, or the Big Crow, presented a
+picturesque spectacle that evening. A score or more of Indians were
+seated around in a circle, their dark naked forms just visible by
+the dull light of the smoldering fire in the center, the pipe glowing
+brightly in the gloom as it passed from hand to hand round the lodge.
+Then a squaw would drop a piece of buffalo-fat on the dull embers.
+Instantly a bright glancing flame would leap up, darting its clear light
+to the very apex of the tall conical structure, where the tops of the
+slender poles that supported its covering of leather were gathered
+together. It gilded the features of the Indians, as with animated
+gestures they sat around it, telling their endless stories of war and
+hunting. It displayed rude garments of skins that hung around the lodge;
+the bow, quiver, and lance suspended over the resting-place of the
+chief, and the rifles and powder-horns of the two white guests. For a
+moment all would be bright as day; then the flames would die away, and
+fitful flashes from the embers would illumine the lodge, and then leave
+it in darkness. Then all the light would wholly fade, and the lodge and
+all within it be involved again in obscurity.
+
+As I left the lodge next morning, I was saluted by howling and yelling
+from all around the village, and half its canine population rushed
+forth to the attack. Being as cowardly as they were clamorous, they kept
+jumping around me at the distance of a few yards, only one little cur,
+about ten inches long, having spirit enough to make a direct assault. He
+dashed valiantly at the leather tassel which in the Dakota fashion was
+trailing behind the heel of my moccasin, and kept his hold, growling and
+snarling all the while, though every step I made almost jerked him over
+on his back. As I knew that the eyes of the whole village were on the
+watch to see if I showed any sign of apprehension, I walked forward
+without looking to the right or left, surrounded wherever I went by this
+magic circle of dogs. When I came to Reynal's lodge I sat down by it, on
+which the dogs dispersed growling to their respective quarters. Only one
+large white one remained, who kept running about before me and showing
+his teeth. I called him, but he only growled the more. I looked at him
+well. He was fat and sleek; just such a dog as I wanted. "My friend,"
+thought I, "you shall pay for this! I will have you eaten this very
+morning!"
+
+I intended that day to give the Indians a feast, by way of conveying a
+favorable impression of my character and dignity; and a white dog is
+the dish which the customs of the Dakota prescribe for all occasions of
+formality and importance. I consulted Reynal; he soon discovered that an
+old woman in the next lodge was owner of the white dog. I took a
+gaudy cotton handkerchief, and laying it on the ground, arranged some
+vermilion, beads, and other trinkets upon it. Then the old squaw was
+summoned. I pointed to the dog and to the handkerchief. She gave a
+scream of delight, snatched up the prize, and vanished with it into
+her lodge. For a few more trifles I engaged the services of two other
+squaws, each of whom took the white dog by one of his paws, and led him
+away behind the lodges, while he kept looking up at them with a face
+of innocent surprise. Having killed him they threw him into a fire to
+singe; then chopped him up and put him into two large kettles to boil.
+Meanwhile I told Raymond to fry in buffalo-fat what little flour we
+had left, and also to make a kettle of tea as an additional item of the
+repast.
+
+The Big Crow's squaw was set briskly at work sweeping out the lodge for
+the approaching festivity. I confided to my host himself the task of
+inviting the guests, thinking that I might thereby shift from my own
+shoulders the odium of fancied neglect and oversight.
+
+When feasting is in question, one hour of the day serves an Indian as
+well as another. My entertainment came off about eleven o'clock. At that
+hour, Reynal and Raymond walked across the area of the village, to the
+admiration of the inhabitants, carrying the two kettles of dog-meat
+slung on a pole between them. These they placed in the center of the
+lodge, and then went back for the bread and the tea. Meanwhile I had put
+on a pair of brilliant moccasins, and substituted for my old buckskin
+frock a coat which I had brought with me in view of such public
+occasions. I also made careful use of the razor, an operation which no
+man will neglect who desires to gain the good opinion of Indians. Thus
+attired, I seated myself between Reynal and Raymond at the head of the
+lodge. Only a few minutes elapsed before all the guests had come in and
+were seated on the ground, wedged together in a close circle around
+the lodge. Each brought with him a wooden bowl to hold his share of the
+repast. When all were assembled, two of the officials called "soldiers"
+by the white men, came forward with ladles made of the horn of the Rocky
+Mountain sheep, and began to distribute the feast, always assigning
+a double share to the old men and chiefs. The dog vanished with
+astonishing celerity, and each guest turned his dish bottom upward to
+show that all was gone. Then the bread was distributed in its turn,
+and finally the tea. As the soldiers poured it out into the same wooden
+bowls that had served for the substantial part of the meal, I thought it
+had a particularly curious and uninviting color.
+
+"Oh!" said Reynal, "there was not tea enough, so I stirred some soot in
+the kettle, to make it look strong."
+
+Fortunately an Indian's palate is not very discriminating. The tea was
+well sweetened, and that was all they cared for.
+
+Now the former part of the entertainment being concluded, the time for
+speech-making was come. The Big Crow produced a flat piece of wood
+on which he cut up tobacco and shongsasha, and mixed them in due
+proportions. The pipes were filled and passed from hand to hand around
+the company. Then I began my speech, each sentence being interpreted
+by Reynal as I went on, and echoed by the whole audience with the usual
+exclamations of assent and approval. As nearly as I can recollect, it
+was as follows:
+
+I had come, I told them, from a country so far distant, that at the rate
+they travel, they could not reach it in a year.
+
+"Howo how!"
+
+"There the Meneaska were more numerous than the blades of grass on the
+prairie. The squaws were far more beautiful than any they had ever seen,
+and all the men were brave warriors."
+
+"How! how! how!"
+
+Here I was assailed by sharp twinges of conscience, for I fancied I
+could perceive a fragrance of perfumery in the air, and a vision rose
+before me of white kid gloves and silken mustaches with the mild and
+gentle countenances of numerous fair-haired young men. But I recovered
+myself and began again.
+
+"While I was living in the Meneaska lodges, I had heard of the
+Ogallalla, how great and brave a nation they were, how they loved
+the whites, and how well they could hunt the buffalo and strike their
+enemies. I resolved to come and see if all that I heard was true."
+
+"How! how! how! how!"
+
+"As I had come on horseback through the mountains, I had been able to
+bring them only a very few presents."
+
+"How!"
+
+"But I had enough tobacco to give them all a small piece. They might
+smoke it, and see how much better it was than the tobacco which they got
+from the traders."
+
+"How! how! how!"
+
+"I had plenty of powder, lead, knives, and tobacco at Fort Laramie.
+These I was anxious to give them, and if any of them should come to the
+fort before I went away, I would make them handsome presents."
+
+"How! howo how! how!"
+
+Raymond then cut up and distributed among them two or three pounds of
+tobacco, and old Mene-Seela began to make a reply. It was quite long,
+but the following was the pith of it:
+
+"He had always loved the whites. They were the wisest people on earth.
+He believed they could do everything, and he was always glad when any
+of them came to live in the Ogallalla lodges. It was true I had not made
+them many presents, but the reason of it was plain. It was clear that I
+liked them, or I never should have come so far to find their village."
+
+Several other speeches of similar import followed, and then this more
+serious matter being disposed of, there was an interval of smoking,
+laughing, and conversation; but old Mene-Seela suddenly interrupted it
+with a loud voice:
+
+"Now is a good time," he said, "when all the old men and chiefs are here
+together, to decide what the people shall do. We came over the mountain
+to make our lodges for next year. Our old ones are good for nothing;
+they are rotten and worn out. But we have been disappointed. We have
+killed buffalo bulls enough, but we have found no herds of cows, and the
+skins of bulls are too thick and heavy for our squaws to make lodges of.
+There must be plenty of cows about the Medicine-Bow Mountain. We ought
+to go there. To be sure it is farther westward than we have ever been
+before, and perhaps the Snakes will attack us, for those hunting-grounds
+belong to them. But we must have new lodges at any rate; our old ones
+will not serve for another year. We ought not to be afraid of the
+Snakes. Our warriors are brave, and they are all ready for war. Besides,
+we have three white men with their rifles to help us."
+
+I could not help thinking that the old man relied a little too much on
+the aid of allies, one of whom was a coward, another a blockhead, and
+the third an invalid. This speech produced a good deal of debate.
+As Reynal did not interpret what was said, I could only judge of the
+meaning by the features and gestures of the speakers. At the end of it,
+however, the greater number seemed to have fallen in with Mene-Seela's
+opinion. A short silence followed, and then the old man struck up
+a discordant chant, which I was told was a song of thanks for the
+entertainment I had given them.
+
+"Now," said he, "let us go and give the white men a chance to breathe."
+
+So the company all dispersed into the open air, and for some time the
+old chief was walking round the village, singing his song in praise of
+the feast, after the usual custom of the nation.
+
+At last the day drew to a close, and as the sun went down the horses
+came trooping from the surrounding plains to be picketed before the
+dwellings of their respective masters. Soon within the great circle of
+lodges appeared another concentric circle of restless horses; and here
+and there fires were glowing and flickering amid the gloom of the dusky
+figures around them. I went over and sat by the lodge of Reynal. The
+Eagle-Feather, who was a son of Mene-Seela, and brother of my host the
+Big Crow, was seated there already, and I asked him if the village would
+move in the morning. He shook his head, and said that nobody could tell,
+for since old Mahto-Tatonka had died, the people had been like children
+that did not know their own minds. They were no better than a body
+without a head. So I, as well as the Indians themselves, fell asleep
+that night without knowing whether we should set out in the morning
+toward the country of the Snakes.
+
+At daybreak, however, as I was coming up from the river after my
+morning's ablutions, I saw that a movement was contemplated. Some of the
+lodges were reduced to nothing but bare skeletons of poles; the leather
+covering of others was flapping in the wind as the squaws were pulling
+it off. One or two chiefs of note had resolved, it seemed, on moving;
+and so having set their squaws at work, the example was tacitly followed
+by the rest of the village. One by one the lodges were sinking down in
+rapid succession, and where the great circle of the village had been
+only a moment before, nothing now remained but a ring of horses and
+Indians, crowded in confusion together. The ruins of the lodges were
+spread over the ground, together with kettles, stone mallets, great
+ladles of horn, buffalo robes, and cases of painted hide, filled with
+dried meat. Squaws bustled about in their busy preparations, the old
+hags screaming to one another at the stretch of their leathern lungs.
+The shaggy horses were patiently standing while the lodge-poles were
+lashed to their sides, and the baggage piled upon their backs. The dogs,
+with their tongues lolling out, lay lazily panting, and waiting for the
+time of departure. Each warrior sat on the ground by the decaying embers
+of his fire, unmoved amid all the confusion, while he held in his hand
+the long trail-rope of his horse.
+
+As their preparations were completed, each family moved off the ground.
+The crowd was rapidly melting away. I could see them crossing the river,
+and passing in quick succession along the profile of the hill on the
+farther bank. When all were gone, I mounted and set out after them,
+followed by Raymond, and as we gained the summit, the whole village
+came in view at once, straggling away for a mile or more over the barren
+plains before us. Everywhere the iron points of lances were glittering.
+The sun never shone upon a more strange array. Here were the heavy-laden
+pack horses, some wretched old women leading them, and two or three
+children clinging to their backs. Here were mules or ponies covered from
+head to tail with gaudy trappings, and mounted by some gay young squaw,
+grinning bashfulness and pleasure as the Meneaska looked at her. Boys
+with miniature bows and arrows were wandering over the plains, little
+naked children were running along on foot, and numberless dogs were
+scampering among the feet of the horses. The young braves, gaudy with
+paint and feathers, were riding in groups among the crowd, and often
+galloping, two or three at once along the line, to try the speed of
+their horses. Here and there you might see a rank of sturdy pedestrians
+stalking along in their white buffalo robes. These were the dignitaries
+of the village, the old men and warriors, to whose age and experience
+that wandering democracy yielded a silent deference. With the rough
+prairie and the broken hills for its background, the restless scene
+was striking and picturesque beyond description. Days and weeks made me
+familiar with it, but never impaired its effect upon my fancy.
+
+As we moved on the broken column grew yet more scattered and disorderly,
+until, as we approached the foot of a hill, I saw the old men before
+mentioned seating themselves in a line upon the ground, in advance of
+the whole. They lighted a pipe and sat smoking, laughing, and telling
+stories, while the people, stopping as they successively came up, were
+soon gathered in a crowd behind them. Then the old men rose, drew their
+buffalo robes over their shoulders, and strode on as before. Gaining the
+top of the hill, we found a very steep declivity before us. There was
+not a minute's pause. The whole descended in a mass, amid dust and
+confusion. The horses braced their feet as they slid down, women and
+children were screaming, dogs yelping as they were trodden upon, while
+stones and earth went rolling to the bottom. In a few moments I could
+see the village from the summit, spreading again far and wide over the
+plain below.
+
+At our encampment that afternoon I was attacked anew by my old disorder.
+In half an hour the strength that I had been gaining for a week past had
+vanished again, and I became like a man in a dream. But at sunset I lay
+down in the Big Crow's lodge and slept, totally unconscious till the
+morning. The first thing that awakened me was a hoarse flapping over my
+head, and a sudden light that poured in upon me. The camp was breaking
+up, and the squaws were moving the covering from the lodge. I arose and
+shook off my blanket with the feeling of perfect health; but scarcely
+had I gained my feet when a sense of my helpless condition was once more
+forced upon me, and I found myself scarcely able to stand. Raymond had
+brought up Pauline and the mule, and I stooped to raise my saddle from
+the ground. My strength was quite inadequate to the task. "You must
+saddle her," said I to Raymond, as I sat down again on a pile of buffalo
+robes:
+
+
+"Et hoec etiam fortasse meminisse juvabit."
+
+
+I thought, while with a painful effort I raised myself into the saddle.
+Half an hour after, even the expectation that Virgil's line expressed
+seemed destined to disappointment. As we were passing over a great
+plain, surrounded by long broken ridges, I rode slowly in advance of
+the Indians, with thoughts that wandered far from the time and from the
+place. Suddenly the sky darkened, and thunder began to mutter. Clouds
+were rising over the hills, as dreary and dull as the first forebodings
+of an approaching calamity; and in a moment all around was wrapped in
+shadow. I looked behind. The Indians had stopped to prepare for the
+approaching storm, and the dark, dense mass of savages stretched far to
+the right and left. Since the first attack of my disorder the effects
+of rain upon me had usually been injurious in the extreme. I had no
+strength to spare, having at that moment scarcely enough to keep my seat
+on horseback. Then, for the first time, it pressed upon me as a strong
+probability that I might never leave those deserts. "Well," thought I
+to myself, "a prairie makes quick and sharp work. Better to die here, in
+the saddle to the last, than to stifle in the hot air of a sick chamber,
+and a thousand times better than to drag out life, as many have done,
+in the helpless inaction of lingering disease." So, drawing the buffalo
+robe on which I sat over my head, I waited till the storm should come.
+It broke at last with a sudden burst of fury, and passing away as
+rapidly as it came, left the sky clear again. My reflections served
+me no other purpose than to look back upon as a piece of curious
+experience; for the rain did not produce the ill effects that I had
+expected. We encamped within an hour. Having no change of clothes, I
+contrived to borrow a curious kind of substitute from Reynal: and this
+done, I went home, that is, to the Big Crow's lodge to make the entire
+transfer that was necessary. Half a dozen squaws were in the lodge, and
+one of them taking my arm held it against her own, while a general laugh
+and scream of admiration were raised at the contrast in the color of the
+skin.
+
+Our encampment that afternoon was not far distant from a spur of the
+Black Hills, whose ridges, bristling with fir trees, rose from the
+plains a mile or two on our right. That they might move more rapidly
+toward their proposed hunting-grounds, the Indians determined to leave
+at this place their stock of dried meat and other superfluous articles.
+Some left even their lodges, and contented themselves with carrying a
+few hides to make a shelter from the sun and rain. Half the inhabitants
+set out in the afternoon, with loaded pack horses, toward the mountains.
+Here they suspended the dried meat upon trees, where the wolves and
+grizzly bears could not get at it. All returned at evening. Some of the
+young men declared that they had heard the reports of guns among the
+mountains to the eastward, and many surmises were thrown out as to the
+origin of these sounds. For my part, I was in hopes that Shaw and Henry
+Chatillon were coming to join us. I would have welcomed them cordially,
+for I had no other companions than two brutish white men and five
+hundred savages. I little suspected that at that very moment my unlucky
+comrade was lying on a buffalo robe at Fort Laramie, fevered with ivy
+poison, and solacing his woes with tobacco and Shakespeare.
+
+As we moved over the plains on the next morning, several young men were
+riding about the country as scouts; and at length we began to see them
+occasionally on the tops of the hills, shaking their robes as a signal
+that they saw buffalo. Soon after, some bulls came in sight. Horsemen
+darted away in pursuit, and we could see from the distance that one
+or two of the buffalo were killed. Raymond suddenly became inspired.
+I looked at him as he rode by my side; his face had actually grown
+intelligent!
+
+"This is the country for me!" he said; "if I could only carry the
+buffalo that are killed here every month down to St. Louis I'd make
+my fortune in one winter. I'd grow as rich as old Papin, or Mackenzie
+either. I call this the poor man's market. When I'm hungry I have only
+got to take my rifle and go out and get better meat than the rich folks
+down below can get with all their money. You won't catch me living in
+St. Louis another winter."
+
+"No," said Reynal, "you had better say that after you and your Spanish
+woman almost starved to death there. What a fool you were ever to take
+her to the settlements."
+
+"Your Spanish woman?" said I; "I never heard of her before. Are you
+married to her?"
+
+"No," answered Raymond, again looking intelligent; "the priests don't
+marry their women, and why should I marry mine?"
+
+This honorable mention of the Mexican clergy introduced the subject of
+religion, and I found that my two associates, in common with other white
+men in the country, were as indifferent to their future welfare as men
+whose lives are in constant peril are apt to be. Raymond had never
+heard of the Pope. A certain bishop, who lived at Taos or at Santa
+Fe, embodied his loftiest idea of an ecclesiastical dignitary. Reynal
+observed that a priest had been at Fort Laramie two years ago, on his
+way to the Nez Perce mission, and that he had confessed all the men
+there and given them absolution. "I got a good clearing out myself that
+time," said Reynal, "and I reckon that will do for me till I go down to
+the settlements again."
+
+Here he interrupted himself with an oath and exclaimed: "Look! look! The
+Panther is running an antelope!"
+
+The Panther, on his black and white horse, one of the best in the
+village, came at full speed over the hill in hot pursuit of an antelope
+that darted away like lightning before him. The attempt was made in mere
+sport and bravado, for very few are the horses that can for a moment
+compete in swiftness with this little animal. The antelope ran down the
+hill toward the main body of the Indians who were moving over the plain
+below. Sharp yells were given and horsemen galloped out to intercept his
+flight. At this he turned sharply to the left and scoured away with such
+incredible speed that he distanced all his pursuers and even the vaunted
+horse of the Panther himself. A few moments after we witnessed a more
+serious sport. A shaggy buffalo bull bounded out from a neighboring
+hollow, and close behind him came a slender Indian boy, riding without
+stirrups or saddle and lashing his eager little horse to full speed.
+Yard after yard he drew closer to his gigantic victim, though the bull,
+with his short tail erect and his tongue lolling out a foot from his
+foaming jaws, was straining his unwieldy strength to the utmost. A
+moment more and the boy was close alongside of him. It was our friend
+the Hail-Storm. He dropped the rein on his horse's neck and jerked an
+arrow like lightning from the quiver at his shoulder.
+
+"I tell you," said Reynal, "that in a year's time that boy will match
+the best hunter in the village. There he has given it to him! and there
+goes another! You feel well, now, old bull, don't you, with two arrows
+stuck in your lights? There, he has given him another! Hear how the
+Hail-Storm yells when he shoots! Yes, jump at him; try it again, old
+fellow! You may jump all day before you get your horns into that pony!"
+
+The bull sprang again and again at his assailant, but the horse kept
+dodging with wonderful celerity. At length the bull followed up his
+attack with a furious rush, and the Hail-Storm was put to flight, the
+shaggy monster following close behind. The boy clung in his seat like a
+leech, and secure in the speed of his little pony, looked round toward
+us and laughed. In a moment he was again alongside of the bull, who
+was now driven to complete desperation. His eyeballs glared through
+his tangled mane, and the blood flew from his mouth and nostrils. Thus,
+still battling with each other, the two enemies disappeared over the
+hill.
+
+Many of the Indians rode at full gallop toward the spot. We followed at
+a more moderate pace, and soon saw the bull lying dead on the side of
+the hill. The Indians were gathered around him, and several knives were
+already at work. These little instruments were plied with such wonderful
+address that the twisted sinews were cut apart, the ponderous bones fell
+asunder as if by magic, and in a moment the vast carcass was reduced to
+a heap of bloody ruins. The surrounding group of savages offered no very
+attractive spectacle to a civilized eye. Some were cracking the huge
+thigh-bones and devouring the marrow within; others were cutting away
+pieces of the liver and other approved morsels, and swallowing them
+on the spot with the appetite of wolves. The faces of most of them,
+besmeared with blood from ear to ear, looked grim and horrible enough.
+My friend the White Shield proffered me a marrowbone, so skillfully laid
+open that all the rich substance within was exposed to view at once.
+Another Indian held out a large piece of the delicate lining of the
+paunch; but these courteous offerings I begged leave to decline. I
+noticed one little boy who was very busy with his knife about the
+jaws and throat of the buffalo, from which he extracted some morsel of
+peculiar delicacy. It is but fair to say that only certain parts of the
+animal are considered eligible in these extempore banquets. The Indians
+would look with abhorrence on anyone who should partake indiscriminately
+of the newly killed carcass.
+
+We encamped that night, and marched westward through the greater part of
+the following day. On the next morning we again resumed our journey. It
+was the 17th of July, unless my notebook misleads me. At noon we stopped
+by some pools of rain-water, and in the afternoon again set forward.
+This double movement was contrary to the usual practice of the Indians,
+but all were very anxious to reach the hunting ground, kill the
+necessary number of buffalo, and retreat as soon as possible from the
+dangerous neighborhood. I pass by for the present some curious incidents
+that occurred during these marches and encampments. Late in the
+afternoon of the last-mentioned day we came upon the banks of a little
+sandy stream, of which the Indians could not tell the name; for they
+were very ill acquainted with that part of the country. So parched and
+arid were the prairies around that they could not supply grass enough
+for the horses to feed upon, and we were compelled to move farther and
+farther up the stream in search of ground for encampment. The country
+was much wilder than before. The plains were gashed with ravines and
+broken into hollows and steep declivities, which flanked our course, as,
+in long-scattered array, the Indians advanced up the side of the stream.
+Mene-Seela consulted an extraordinary oracle to instruct him where the
+buffalo were to be found. When he with the other chiefs sat down on the
+grass to smoke and converse, as they often did during the march, the old
+man picked up one of those enormous black-and-green crickets, which the
+Dakota call by a name that signifies "They who point out the buffalo."
+The Root-Diggers, a wretched tribe beyond the mountains, turn them to
+good account by making them into a sort of soup, pronounced by certain
+unscrupulous trappers to be extremely rich. Holding the bloated insect
+respectfully between his fingers and thumb, the old Indian looked
+attentively at him and inquired, "Tell me, my father, where must we go
+to-morrow to find the buffalo?" The cricket twisted about his long horns
+in evident embarrassment. At last he pointed, or seemed to point, them
+westward. Mene-Seela, dropping him gently on the grass, laughed with
+great glee, and said that if we went that way in the morning we should
+be sure to kill plenty of game.
+
+Toward evening we came upon a fresh green meadow, traversed by the
+stream, and deep-set among tall sterile bluffs. The Indians descended
+its steep bank; and as I was at the rear, I was one of the last to reach
+this point. Lances were glittering, feathers fluttering, and the water
+below me was crowded with men and horses passing through, while the
+meadow beyond was swarming with the restless crowd of Indians. The sun
+was just setting, and poured its softened light upon them through an
+opening in the hills.
+
+I remarked to Reynal that at last we had found a good camping-ground.
+
+"Oh, it is very good," replied he ironically; "especially if there is a
+Snake war party about, and they take it into their heads to shoot down
+at us from the top of these hills. It is no plan of mine, camping in
+such a hole as this!"
+
+The Indians also seemed apprehensive. High up on the top of the tallest
+bluff, conspicuous in the bright evening sunlight, sat a naked warrior
+on horseback, looking around, as it seemed, over the neighboring
+country; and Raymond told me that many of the young men had gone out in
+different directions as scouts.
+
+The shadows had reached to the very summit of the bluffs before the
+lodges were erected and the village reduced again to quiet and order. A
+cry was suddenly raised, and men, women, and children came running out
+with animated faces, and looked eagerly through the opening on the hills
+by which the stream entered from the westward. I could discern afar
+off some dark, heavy masses, passing over the sides of a low hill. They
+disappeared, and then others followed. These were bands of buffalo cows.
+The hunting-ground was reached at last, and everything promised well for
+the morrow's sport. Being fatigued and exhausted, I went and lay down in
+Kongra-Tonga's lodge, when Raymond thrust in his head, and called
+upon me to come and see some sport. A number of Indians were gathered,
+laughing, along the line of lodges on the western side of the village,
+and at some distance, I could plainly see in the twilight two huge black
+monsters stalking, heavily and solemnly, directly toward us. They were
+buffalo bulls. The wind blew from them to the village, and such was
+their blindness and stupidity that they were advancing upon the enemy
+without the least consciousness of his presence. Raymond told me that
+two men had hidden themselves with guns in a ravine about twenty yards
+in front of us. The two bulls walked slowly on, heavily swinging from
+side to side in their peculiar gait of stupid dignity. They approached
+within four or five rods of the ravine where the Indians lay in ambush.
+Here at last they seemed conscious that something was wrong, for they
+both stopped and stood perfectly still, without looking either to the
+right or to the left. Nothing of them was to be seen but two huge black
+masses of shaggy mane, with horns, eyes, and nose in the center, and
+a pair of hoofs visible at the bottom. At last the more intelligent of
+them seemed to have concluded that it was time to retire. Very slowly,
+and with an air of the gravest and most majestic deliberation, he began
+to turn round, as if he were revolving on a pivot. Little by little his
+ugly brown side was exposed to view. A white smoke sprang out, as it
+were from the ground; a sharp report came with it. The old bull gave
+a very undignified jump and galloped off. At this his comrade wheeled
+about with considerable expedition. The other Indian shot at him from
+the ravine, and then both the bulls were running away at full speed,
+while half the juvenile population of the village raised a yell and ran
+after them. The first bull was soon stopped, and while the crowd stood
+looking at him at a respectable distance, he reeled and rolled over on
+his side. The other, wounded in a less vital part, galloped away to the
+hills and escaped.
+
+In half an hour it was totally dark. I lay down to sleep, and ill as I
+was, there was something very animating in the prospect of the general
+hunt that was to take place on the morrow.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+THE HUNTING CAMP
+
+
+Long before daybreak the Indians broke up their camp. The women of
+Mene-Seela's lodge were as usual among the first that were ready for
+departure, and I found the old man himself sitting by the embers of the
+decayed fire, over which he was warming his withered fingers, as the
+morning was very chilly and damp. The preparations for moving were
+even more confused and disorderly than usual. While some families were
+leaving the ground the lodges of others were still standing untouched.
+At this old Mene-Seela grew impatient, and walking out to the middle of
+the village stood with his robe wrapped close around him, and harangued
+the people in a loud, sharp voice. Now, he said, when they were on an
+enemy's hunting-grounds, was not the time to behave like children;
+they ought to be more active and united than ever. His speech had some
+effect. The delinquents took down their lodges and loaded their pack
+horses; and when the sun rose, the last of the men, women, and children
+had left the deserted camp.
+
+This movement was made merely for the purpose of finding a better and
+safer position. So we advanced only three or four miles up the little
+stream, before each family assumed its relative place in the great
+ring of the village, and all around the squaws were actively at work in
+preparing the camp. But not a single warrior dismounted from his horse.
+All the men that morning were mounted on inferior animals, leading their
+best horses by a cord, or confiding them to the care of boys. In small
+parties they began to leave the ground and ride rapidly away over the
+plains to the westward. I had taken no food that morning, and not being
+at all ambitious of further abstinence, I went into my host's lodge,
+which his squaws had erected with wonderful celerity, and sat down in
+the center, as a gentle hint that I was hungry. A wooden bowl was soon
+set before me, filled with the nutritious preparation of dried meat
+called pemmican by the northern voyagers and wasna by the Dakota. Taking
+a handful to break my fast upon, I left the lodge just in time to see
+the last band of hunters disappear over the ridge of the neighboring
+hill. I mounted Pauline and galloped in pursuit, riding rather by the
+balance than by any muscular strength that remained to me. From the
+top of the hill I could overlook a wide extent of desolate and unbroken
+prairie, over which, far and near, little parties of naked horsemen were
+rapidly passing. I soon came up to the nearest, and we had not ridden
+a mile before all were united into one large and compact body. All
+was haste and eagerness. Each hunter was whipping on his horse, as if
+anxious to be the first to reach the game. In such movements among the
+Indians this is always more or less the case; but it was especially
+so in the present instance, because the head chief of the village was
+absent, and there were but few "soldiers," a sort of Indian police, who
+among their other functions usually assumed the direction of a buffalo
+hunt. No man turned to the right hand or to the left. We rode at a swift
+canter straight forward, uphill and downhill, and through the stiff,
+obstinate growth of the endless wild-sage bushes. For an hour and a half
+the same red shoulders, the same long black hair rose and fell with
+the motion of the horses before me. Very little was said, though once I
+observed an old man severely reproving Raymond for having left his rifle
+behind him, when there was some probability of encountering an enemy
+before the day was over. As we galloped across a plain thickly set with
+sagebushes, the foremost riders vanished suddenly from sight, as if
+diving into the earth. The arid soil was cracked into a deep ravine.
+Down we all went in succession and galloped in a line along the bottom,
+until we found a point where, one by one, the horses could scramble out.
+Soon after we came upon a wide shallow stream, and as we rode swiftly
+over the hard sand-beds and through the thin sheets of rippling water,
+many of the savage horsemen threw themselves to the ground, knelt on the
+sand, snatched a hasty draught, and leaping back again to their seats,
+galloped on again as before.
+
+Meanwhile scouts kept in advance of the party; and now we began to see
+them on the ridge of the hills, waving their robes in token that
+buffalo were visible. These however proved to be nothing more than old
+straggling bulls, feeding upon the neighboring plains, who would stare
+for a moment at the hostile array and then gallop clumsily off. At
+length we could discern several of these scouts making their signals
+to us at once; no longer waving their robes boldly from the top of the
+hill, but standing lower down, so that they could not be seen from the
+plains beyond. Game worth pursuing had evidently been discovered. The
+excited Indians now urged forward their tired horses even more rapidly
+than before. Pauline, who was still sick and jaded, began to groan
+heavily; and her yellow sides were darkened with sweat. As we were
+crowding together over a lower intervening hill, I heard Reynal and
+Raymond shouting to me from the left; and looking in that direction,
+I saw them riding away behind a party of about twenty mean-looking
+Indians. These were the relatives of Reynal's squaw Margot, who, not
+wishing to take part in the general hunt, were riding toward a distant
+hollow, where they could discern a small band of buffalo which they
+meant to appropriate to themselves. I answered to the call by ordering
+Raymond to turn back and follow me. He reluctantly obeyed, though
+Reynal, who had relied on his assistance in skinning, cutting up, and
+carrying to camp the buffalo that he and his party should kill, loudly
+protested and declared that we should see no sport if we went with the
+rest of the Indians. Followed by Raymond I pursued the main body of
+hunters, while Reynal in a great rage whipped his horse over the hill
+after his ragamuffin relatives. The Indians, still about a hundred in
+number, rode in a dense body at some distance in advance. They galloped
+forward, and a cloud of dust was flying in the wind behind them. I could
+not overtake them until they had stopped on the side of the hill where
+the scouts were standing. Here, each hunter sprang in haste from the
+tired animal which he had ridden, and leaped upon the fresh horse that
+he had brought with him. There was not a saddle or a bridle in the whole
+party. A piece of buffalo robe girthed over the horse's back served in
+the place of the one, and a cord of twisted hair lashed firmly round
+his lower jaw answered for the other. Eagle feathers were dangling from
+every mane and tail, as insignia of courage and speed. As for the rider,
+he wore no other clothing than a light cincture at his waist, and a pair
+of moccasins. He had a heavy whip, with a handle of solid elk-horn,
+and a lash of knotted bull-hide, fastened to his wrist by an ornamental
+band. His bow was in his hand, and his quiver of otter or panther skin
+hung at his shoulder. Thus equipped, some thirty of the hunters galloped
+away toward the left, in order to make a circuit under cover of the
+hills, that the buffalo might be assailed on both sides at once.
+The rest impatiently waited until time enough had elapsed for their
+companions to reach the required position. Then riding upward in a body,
+we gained the ridge of the hill, and for the first time came in sight of
+the buffalo on the plain beyond.
+
+They were a band of cows, four or five hundred in number, who were
+crowded together near the bank of a wide stream that was soaking
+across the sand-beds of the valley. This was a large circular basin,
+sun-scorched and broken, scantily covered with herbage and encompassed
+with high barren hills, from an opening in which we could see our allies
+galloping out upon the plain. The wind blew from that direction. The
+buffalo were aware of their approach, and had begun to move, though very
+slowly and in a compact mass. I have no further recollection of seeing
+the game until we were in the midst of them, for as we descended the
+hill other objects engrossed my attention. Numerous old bulls were
+scattered over the plain, and ungallantly deserting their charge at our
+approach, began to wade and plunge through the treacherous quick-sands
+or the stream, and gallop away toward the hills. One old veteran was
+struggling behind all the rest with one of his forelegs, which had
+been broken by some accident, dangling about uselessly at his side. His
+appearance, as he went shambling along on three legs, was so ludicrous
+that I could not help pausing for a moment to look at him. As I came
+near, he would try to rush upon me, nearly throwing himself down at
+every awkward attempt. Looking up, I saw the whole body of Indians full
+a hundred yards in advance. I lashed Pauline in pursuit and reached
+them just in time, for as we mingled among them, each hunter, as if by
+a common impulse, violently struck his horse, each horse sprang forward
+convulsively, and scattering in the charge in order to assail the entire
+herd at once, we all rushed headlong upon the buffalo. We were among
+them in an instant. Amid the trampling and the yells I could see their
+dark figures running hither and thither through clouds of dust, and the
+horsemen darting in pursuit. While we were charging on one side, our
+companions had attacked the bewildered and panic-stricken herd on
+the other. The uproar and confusion lasted but for a moment. The dust
+cleared away, and the buffalo could be seen scattering as from a common
+center, flying over the plain singly, or in long files and small compact
+bodies, while behind each followed the Indians, lashing their horses to
+furious speed, forcing them close upon their prey, and yelling as they
+launched arrow after arrow into their sides. The large black carcasses
+were strewn thickly over the ground. Here and there wounded buffalo were
+standing, their bleeding sides feathered with arrows; and as I rode past
+them their eyes would glare, they would bristle like gigantic cats, and
+feebly attempt to rush up and gore my horse.
+
+I left camp that morning with a philosophic resolution. Neither I nor
+my horse were at that time fit for such sport, and I had determined to
+remain a quiet spectator; but amid the rush of horses and buffalo, the
+uproar and the dust, I found it impossible to sit still; and as four or
+five buffalo ran past me in a line, I drove Pauline in pursuit. We went
+plunging close at their heels through the water and the quick-sands,
+and clambering the bank, chased them through the wild-sage bushes that
+covered the rising ground beyond. But neither her native spirit nor the
+blows of the knotted bull-hide could supply the place of poor Pauline's
+exhausted strength. We could not gain an inch upon the poor fugitives.
+At last, however, they came full upon a ravine too wide to leap over;
+and as this compelled them to turn abruptly to the left, I contrived to
+get within ten or twelve yards of the hindmost. At this she faced about,
+bristled angrily, and made a show of charging. I shot at her with
+a large holster pistol, and hit her somewhere in the neck. Down she
+tumbled into the ravine, whither her companions had descended before
+her. I saw their dark backs appearing and disappearing as they galloped
+along the bottom; then, one by one, they came scrambling out on the
+other side and ran off as before, the wounded animal following with
+unabated speed.
+
+Turning back, I saw Raymond coming on his black mule to meet me; and as
+we rode over the field together, we counted dozens of carcasses lying on
+the plain, in the ravines and on the sandy bed of the stream. Far away
+in the distance, horses and buffalo were still scouring along, with
+little clouds of dust rising behind them; and over the sides of
+the hills we could see long files of the frightened animals rapidly
+ascending. The hunters began to return. The boys, who had held the
+horses behind the hill, made their appearance, and the work of flaying
+and cutting up began in earnest all over the field. I noticed my host
+Kongra-Tonga beyond the stream, just alighting by the side of a cow
+which he had killed. Riding up to him I found him in the act of drawing
+out an arrow, which, with the exception of the notch at the end, had
+entirely disappeared in the animal. I asked him to give it to me, and
+I still retain it as a proof, though by no means the most striking one
+that could be offered, of the force and dexterity with which the Indians
+discharge their arrows.
+
+The hides and meat were piled upon the horses, and the hunters began to
+leave the ground. Raymond and I, too, getting tired of the scene, set
+out for the village, riding straight across the intervening desert.
+There was no path, and as far as I could see, no landmarks sufficient
+to guide us; but Raymond seemed to have an instinctive perception of
+the point on the horizon toward which we ought to direct our course.
+Antelope were bounding on all sides, and as is always the case in the
+presence of buffalo, they seemed to have lost their natural shyness and
+timidity. Bands of them would run lightly up the rocky declivities,
+and stand gazing down upon us from the summit. At length we could
+distinguish the tall white rocks and the old pine trees that, as we well
+remembered, were just above the site of the encampment. Still, we could
+see nothing of the village itself until, ascending a grassy hill, we
+found the circle of lodges, dingy with storms and smoke, standing on the
+plain at our very feet.
+
+I entered the lodge of my host. His squaw instantly brought me food
+and water, and spread a buffalo robe for me to lie upon; and being much
+fatigued, I lay down and fell asleep. In about an hour the entrance of
+Kongra-Tonga, with his arms smeared with blood to the elbows, awoke me.
+He sat down in his usual seat on the left side of the lodge. His squaw
+gave him a vessel of water for washing, set before him a bowl of boiled
+meat, and as he was eating pulled off his bloody moccasins and placed
+fresh ones on his feet; then outstretching his limbs, my host composed
+himself to sleep.
+
+And now the hunters, two or three at a time, began to come rapidly in,
+and each, consigning his horses to the squaws, entered his lodge with
+the air of a man whose day's work was done. The squaws flung down the
+load from the burdened horses, and vast piles of meat and hides were
+soon accumulated before every lodge. By this time it was darkening fast,
+and the whole village was illumined by the glare of fires blazing all
+around. All the squaws and children were gathered about the piles of
+meat, exploring them in search of the daintiest portions. Some of these
+they roasted on sticks before the fires, but often they dispensed with
+this superfluous operation. Late into the night the fires were still
+glowing upon the groups of feasters engaged in this savage banquet
+around them.
+
+Several hunters sat down by the fire in Kongra-Tonga's lodge to talk
+over the day's exploits. Among the rest, Mene-Seela came in. Though he
+must have seen full eighty winters, he had taken an active share in the
+day's sport. He boasted that he had killed two cows that morning, and
+would have killed a third if the dust had not blinded him so that he had
+to drop his bow and arrows and press both hands against his eyes to stop
+the pain. The firelight fell upon his wrinkled face and shriveled figure
+as he sat telling his story with such inimitable gesticulation that
+every man in the lodge broke into a laugh.
+
+Old Mene-Seela was one of the few Indians in the village with whom I
+would have trusted myself alone without suspicion, and the only one from
+whom I would have received a gift or a service without the certainty
+that it proceeded from an interested motive. He was a great friend to
+the whites. He liked to be in their society, and was very vain of the
+favors he had received from them. He told me one afternoon, as we were
+sitting together in his son's lodge, that he considered the beaver and
+the whites the wisest people on earth; indeed, he was convinced they
+were the same; and an incident which had happened to him long before had
+assured him of this. So he began the following story, and as the pipe
+passed in turn to him, Reynal availed himself of these interruptions to
+translate what had preceded. But the old man accompanied his words with
+such admirable pantomime that translation was hardly necessary.
+
+He said that when he was very young, and had never yet seen a white man,
+he and three or four of his companions were out on a beaver hunt, and he
+crawled into a large beaver lodge, to examine what was there. Sometimes
+he was creeping on his hands and knees, sometimes he was obliged to
+swim, and sometimes to lie flat on his face and drag himself along. In
+this way he crawled a great distance underground. It was very dark, cold
+and close, so that at last he was almost suffocated, and fell into a
+swoon. When he began to recover, he could just distinguish the voices of
+his companions outside, who had given him up for lost, and were singing
+his death song. At first he could see nothing, but soon he discerned
+something white before him, and at length plainly distinguished three
+people, entirely white; one man and two women, sitting at the edge of
+a black pool of water. He became alarmed and thought it high time to
+retreat. Having succeeded, after great trouble, in reaching daylight
+again, he went straight to the spot directly above the pool of water
+where he had seen the three mysterious beings. Here he beat a hole with
+his war club in the ground, and sat down to watch. In a moment the nose
+of an old male beaver appeared at the opening. Mene-Seela instantly
+seized him and dragged him up, when two other beavers, both females,
+thrust out their heads, and these he served in the same way. "These,"
+continued the old man, "must have been the three white people whom I saw
+sitting at the edge of the water."
+
+Mene-Seela was the grand depository of the legends and traditions of the
+village. I succeeded, however, in getting from him only a few fragments.
+Like all Indians, he was excessively superstitious, and continually saw
+some reason for withholding his stories. "It is a bad thing," he would
+say, "to tell the tales in summer. Stay with us till next winter, and I
+will tell you everything I know; but now our war parties are going out,
+and our young men will be killed if I sit down to tell stories before
+the frost begins."
+
+But to leave this digression. We remained encamped on this spot five
+days, during three of which the hunters were at work incessantly, and
+immense quantities of meat and hides were brought in. Great alarm,
+however, prevailed in the village. All were on the alert. The young men
+were ranging through the country as scouts, and the old men paid careful
+attention to omens and prodigies, and especially to their dreams. In
+order to convey to the enemy (who, if they were in the neighborhood,
+must inevitably have known of our presence) the impression that we were
+constantly on the watch, piles of sticks and stones were erected on all
+the surrounding hills, in such a manner as to appear at a distance like
+sentinels. Often, even to this hour, that scene will rise before my
+mind like a visible reality: the tall white rocks; the old pine trees
+on their summits; the sandy stream that ran along their bases and half
+encircled the village; and the wild-sage bushes, with their dull
+green hue and their medicinal odor, that covered all the neighboring
+declivities. Hour after hour the squaws would pass and repass with their
+vessels of water between the stream and the lodges. For the most part
+no one was to be seen in the camp but women and children, two or three
+super-annuated old men, and a few lazy and worthless young ones.
+These, together with the dogs, now grown fat and good-natured with the
+abundance in the camp, were its only tenants. Still it presented a busy
+and bustling scene. In all quarters the meat, hung on cords of hide, was
+drying in the sun, and around the lodges the squaws, young and old,
+were laboring on the fresh hides that were stretched upon the ground,
+scraping the hair from one side and the still adhering flesh from the
+other, and rubbing into them the brains of the buffalo, in order to
+render them soft and pliant.
+
+In mercy to myself and my horse, I never went out with the hunters after
+the first day. Of late, however, I had been gaining strength rapidly, as
+was always the case upon every respite of my disorder. I was soon able
+to walk with ease. Raymond and I would go out upon the neighboring
+prairies to shoot antelope, or sometimes to assail straggling buffalo,
+on foot, an attempt in which we met with rather indifferent success. To
+kill a bull with a rifle-ball is a difficult art, in the secret of which
+I was as yet very imperfectly initiated. As I came out of Kongra-Tonga's
+lodge one morning, Reynal called to me from the opposite side of the
+village, and asked me over to breakfast. The breakfast was a substantial
+one. It consisted of the rich, juicy hump-ribs of a fat cow; a repast
+absolutely unrivaled. It was roasting before the fire, impaled upon a
+stout stick, which Reynal took up and planted in the ground before his
+lodge; when he, with Raymond and myself, taking our seats around it,
+unsheathed our knives and assailed it with good will. It spite of all
+medical experience, this solid fare, without bread or salt, seemed to
+agree with me admirably.
+
+"We shall have strangers here before night," said Reynal.
+
+"How do you know that?" I asked.
+
+"I dreamed so. I am as good at dreaming as an Indian. There is the
+Hail-Storm; he dreamed the same thing, and he and his crony, the Rabbit,
+have gone out on discovery."
+
+I laughed at Reynal for his credulity, went over to my host's lodge,
+took down my rifle, walked out a mile or two on the prairie, saw an old
+bull standing alone, crawled up a ravine, shot him and saw him escape.
+Then, quite exhausted and rather ill-humored, I walked back to the
+village. By a strange coincidence, Reynal's prediction had been
+verified; for the first persons whom I saw were the two trappers,
+Rouleau and Saraphin, coming to meet me. These men, as the reader may
+possibly recollect, had left our party about a fortnight before. They
+had been trapping for a while among the Black Hills, and were now on
+their way to the Rocky Mountains, intending in a day or two to set out
+for the neighboring Medicine Bow. They were not the most elegant or
+refined of companions, yet they made a very welcome addition to the
+limited society of the village. For the rest of that day we lay smoking
+and talking in Reynal's lodge. This indeed was no better than a little
+hut, made of hides stretched on poles, and entirely open in front.
+It was well carpeted with soft buffalo robes, and here we remained,
+sheltered from the sun, surrounded by various domestic utensils of
+Madame Margot's household. All was quiet in the village. Though the
+hunters had not gone out that day, they lay sleeping in their lodges,
+and most of the women were silently engaged in their heavy tasks. A few
+young men were playing a lazy game of ball in the center of the village;
+and when they became tired, some girls supplied their place with a more
+boisterous sport. At a little distance, among the lodges, some children
+and half-grown squaws were playfully tossing up one of their number in
+a buffalo robe, an exact counterpart of the ancient pastime from which
+Sancho Panza suffered so much. Farther out on the prairie, a host of
+little naked boys were roaming about, engaged in various rough games, or
+pursuing birds and ground-squirrels with their bows and arrows; and
+woe to the unhappy little animals that fell into their merciless,
+torture-loving hands! A squaw from the next lodge, a notable active
+housewife named Weah Washtay, or the Good Woman, brought us a large bowl
+of wasna, and went into an ecstasy of delight when I presented her
+with a green glass ring, such as I usually wore with a view to similar
+occasions.
+
+The sun went down and half the sky was growing fiery red, reflected on
+the little stream as it wound away among the sagebushes. Some young
+men left the village, and soon returned, driving in before them all
+the horses, hundreds in number, and of every size, age, and color. The
+hunters came out, and each securing those that belonged to him, examined
+their condition, and tied them fast by long cords to stakes driven in
+front of his lodge. It was half an hour before the bustle subsided
+and tranquillity was restored again. By this time it was nearly dark.
+Kettles were hung over the blazing fires, around which the squaws were
+gathered with their children, laughing and talking merrily. A circle
+of a different kind was formed in the center of the village. This was
+composed of the old men and warriors of repute, who with their white
+buffalo robes drawn close around their shoulders, sat together, and as
+the pipe passed from hand to hand, their conversation had not a particle
+of the gravity and reserve usually ascribed to Indians. I sat down with
+them as usual. I had in my hand half a dozen squibs and serpents, which
+I had made one day when encamped upon Laramie Creek, out of gunpowder
+and charcoal, and the leaves of "Fremont's Expedition," rolled round a
+stout lead pencil. I waited till I contrived to get hold of the large
+piece of burning BOIS DE VACHE which the Indians kept by them on the
+ground for lighting their pipes. With this I lighted all the fireworks
+at once, and tossed them whizzing and sputtering into the air, over
+the heads of the company. They all jumped up and ran off with yelps of
+astonishment and consternation. After a moment or two, they ventured to
+come back one by one, and some of the boldest, picking up the cases
+of burnt paper that were scattered about, examined them with eager
+curiosity to discover their mysterious secret. From that time forward I
+enjoyed great repute as a "fire-medicine."
+
+The camp was filled with the low hum of cheerful voices. There were
+other sounds, however, of a very different kind, for from a large lodge,
+lighted up like a gigantic lantern by the blazing fire within, came a
+chorus of dismal cries and wailings, long drawn out, like the howling of
+wolves, and a woman, almost naked, was crouching close outside, crying
+violently, and gashing her legs with a knife till they were covered with
+blood. Just a year before, a young man belonging to this family had gone
+out with a war party and had been slain by the enemy, and his relatives
+were thus lamenting his loss. Still other sounds might be heard; loud
+earnest cries often repeated from amid the gloom, at a distance beyond
+the village. They proceeded from some young men who, being about to set
+out in a few days on a warlike expedition, were standing at the top of a
+hill, calling on the Great Spirit to aid them in their enterprise. While
+I was listening, Rouleau, with a laugh on his careless face, called to
+me and directed my attention to another quarter. In front of the lodge
+where Weah Washtay lived another squaw was standing, angrily scolding an
+old yellow dog, who lay on the ground with his nose resting between
+his paws, and his eyes turned sleepily up to her face, as if he were
+pretending to give respectful attention, but resolved to fall asleep as
+soon as it was all over.
+
+"You ought to be ashamed of yourself!" said the old woman. "I have fed
+you well, and taken care of you ever since you were small and blind, and
+could only crawl about and squeal a little, instead of howling as you do
+now. When you grew old, I said you were a good dog. You were strong and
+gentle when the load was put on your back, and you never ran among the
+feet of the horses when we were all traveling together over the prairie.
+But you had a bad heart! Whenever a rabbit jumped out of the bushes, you
+were always the first to run after him and lead away all the other dogs
+behind you. You ought to have known that it was very dangerous to act
+so. When you had got far out on the prairie, and no one was near to help
+you, perhaps a wolf would jump out of the ravine; and then what could
+you do? You would certainly have been killed, for no dog can fight well
+with a load on his back. Only three days ago you ran off in that way,
+and turned over the bag of wooden pins with which I used to fasten up
+the front of the lodge. Look up there, and you will see that it is all
+flapping open. And now to-night you have stolen a great piece of fat
+meat which was roasting before the fire for my children. I tell you, you
+have a bad heart, and you must die!"
+
+So saying, the squaw went into the lodge, and coming out with a large
+stone mallet, killed the unfortunate dog at one blow. This speech
+is worthy of notice as illustrating a curious characteristic of the
+Indians: the ascribing intelligence and a power of understanding speech
+to the inferior animals, to whom, indeed, according to many of their
+traditions, they are linked in close affinity, and they even claim the
+honor of a lineal descent from bears, wolves, deer, or tortoises.
+
+As it grew late, and the crowded population began to disappear, I too
+walked across the village to the lodge of my host, Kongra-Tonga. As I
+entered I saw him, by the flickering blaze of the fire in the center,
+reclining half asleep in his usual place. His couch was by no means an
+uncomfortable one. It consisted of soft buffalo robes laid together on
+the ground, and a pillow made of whitened deerskin stuffed with feathers
+and ornamented with beads. At his back was a light framework of poles
+and slender reeds, against which he could lean with ease when in a
+sitting posture; and at the top of it, just above his head, his bow
+and quiver were hanging. His squaw, a laughing, broad-faced woman,
+apparently had not yet completed her domestic arrangements, for she was
+bustling about the lodge, pulling over the utensils and the bales of
+dried meats that were ranged carefully round it. Unhappily, she and
+her partner were not the only tenants of the dwelling, for half a dozen
+children were scattered about, sleeping in every imaginable posture. My
+saddle was in its place at the head of the lodge and a buffalo robe
+was spread on the ground before it. Wrapping myself in my blanket I lay
+down, but had I not been extremely fatigued the noise in the next lodge
+would have prevented my sleeping. There was the monotonous thumping of
+the Indian drum, mixed with occasional sharp yells, and a chorus chanted
+by twenty voices. A grand scene of gambling was going forward with all
+the appropriate formalities. The players were staking on the chance
+issue of the game their ornaments, their horses, and as the excitement
+rose, their garments, and even their weapons, for desperate gambling
+is not confined to the hells of Paris. The men of the plains and the
+forests no less resort to it as a violent but grateful relief to
+the tedious monotony of their lives, which alternate between fierce
+excitement and listless inaction. I fell asleep with the dull notes
+of the drum still sounding on my ear, but these furious orgies lasted
+without intermission till daylight. I was soon awakened by one of the
+children crawling over me, while another larger one was tugging at
+my blanket and nestling himself in a very disagreeable proximity. I
+immediately repelled these advances by punching the heads of these
+miniature savages with a short stick which I always kept by me for the
+purpose; and as sleeping half the day and eating much more than is good
+for them makes them extremely restless, this operation usually had to be
+repeated four or five times in the course of the night. My host himself
+was the author of another most formidable annoyance. All these
+Indians, and he among the rest, think themselves bound to the constant
+performance of certain acts as the condition on which their success in
+life depends, whether in war, love, hunting, or any other employment.
+These "medicines," as they are called in that country, which are usually
+communicated in dreams, are often absurd enough. Some Indians will
+strike the butt of the pipe against the ground every time they smoke;
+others will insist that everything they say shall be interpreted by
+contraries; and Shaw once met an old man who conceived that all would be
+lost unless he compelled every white man he met to drink a bowl of cold
+water. My host was particularly unfortunate in his allotment. The Great
+Spirit had told him in a dream that he must sing a certain song in the
+middle of every night; and regularly at about twelve o'clock his dismal
+monotonous chanting would awaken me, and I would see him seated bolt
+upright on his couch, going through his dolorous performances with a
+most business-like air. There were other voices of the night still more
+inharmonious. Twice or thrice, between sunset and dawn, all the dogs
+in the village, and there were hundreds of them, would bay and yelp in
+chorus; a most horrible clamor, resembling no sound that I have ever
+heard, except perhaps the frightful howling of wolves that we used
+sometimes to hear long afterward when descending the Arkansas on the
+trail of General Kearny's army. The canine uproar is, if possible, more
+discordant than that of the wolves. Heard at a distance, slowly rising
+on the night, it has a strange unearthly effect, and would fearfully
+haunt the dreams of a nervous man; but when you are sleeping in the
+midst of it the din is outrageous. One long loud howl from the next
+lodge perhaps begins it, and voice after voice takes up the sound till
+it passes around the whole circumference of the village, and the air is
+filled with confused and discordant cries, at once fierce and mournful.
+It lasts but for a moment and then dies away into silence.
+
+Morning came, and Kongra-Tonga, mounting his horse, rode out with the
+hunters. It may not be amiss to glance at him for an instant in his
+domestic character of husband and father. Both he and his squaw, like
+most other Indians, were very fond of their children, whom they indulged
+to excess, and never punished, except in extreme cases when they
+would throw a bowl of cold water over them. Their offspring became
+sufficiently undutiful and disobedient under this system of education,
+which tends not a little to foster that wild idea of liberty and utter
+intolerance of restraint which lie at the very foundation of the Indian
+character. It would be hard to find a fonder father than Kongra-Tonga.
+There was one urchin in particular, rather less than two feet high, to
+whom he was exceedingly attached; and sometimes spreading a buffalo robe
+in the lodge, he would seat himself upon it, place his small favorite
+upright before him, and chant in a low tone some of the words used as an
+accompaniment to the war dance. The little fellow, who could just manage
+to balance himself by stretching out both arms, would lift his feet and
+turn slowly round and round in time to his father's music, while my host
+would laugh with delight, and look smiling up into my face to see if
+I were admiring this precocious performance of his offspring. In his
+capacity of husband he was somewhat less exemplary. The squaw who lived
+in the lodge with him had been his partner for many years. She took
+good care of his children and his household concerns. He liked her well
+enough, and as far as I could see they never quarreled; but all his
+warmer affections were reserved for younger and more recent favorites.
+Of these he had at present only one, who lived in a lodge apart from his
+own. One day while in his camp he became displeased with her, pushed her
+out, threw after her her ornaments, dresses, and everything she had,
+and told her to go home to her father. Having consummated this summary
+divorce, for which he could show good reasons, he came back, seated
+himself in his usual place, and began to smoke with an air of utmost
+tranquillity and self-satisfaction.
+
+I was sitting in the lodge with him on that very afternoon, when I felt
+some curiosity to learn the history of the numerous scars that appeared
+on his naked body. Of some of them, however, I did not venture to
+inquire, for I already understood their origin. Each of his arms was
+marked as if deeply gashed with a knife at regular intervals, and there
+were other scars also, of a different character, on his back and on
+either breast. They were the traces of those formidable tortures
+which these Indians, in common with a few other tribes, inflict upon
+themselves at certain seasons; in part, it may be, to gain the glory of
+courage and endurance, but chiefly as an act of self-sacrifice to secure
+the favor of the Great Spirit. The scars upon the breast and back were
+produced by running through the flesh strong splints of wood, to which
+ponderous buffalo-skulls are fastened by cords of hide, and the wretch
+runs forward with all his strength, assisted by two companions, who take
+hold of each arm, until the flesh tears apart and the heavy loads
+are left behind. Others of Kongra-Tonga's scars were the result of
+accidents; but he had many which he received in war. He was one of the
+most noted warriors in the village. In the course of his life he had
+slain as he boasted to me, fourteen men, and though, like other Indians,
+he was a great braggart and utterly regardless of truth, yet in this
+statement common report bore him out. Being much flattered by my
+inquiries he told me tale after tale, true or false, of his warlike
+exploits; and there was one among the rest illustrating the worst
+features of the Indian character too well for me to omit. Pointing out
+of the opening of the lodge toward the Medicine-Bow Mountain, not many
+miles distant he said that he was there a few summers ago with a war
+party of his young men. Here they found two Snake Indians, hunting. They
+shot one of them with arrows and chased the other up the side of the
+mountain till they surrounded him on a level place, and Kongra-Tonga
+himself, jumping forward among the trees, seized him by the arm. Two of
+his young men then ran up and held him fast while he scalped him alive.
+Then they built a great fire, and cutting the tendons of their captive's
+wrists and feet, threw him in, and held him down with long poles
+until he was burnt to death. He garnished his story with a great many
+descriptive particulars much too revolting to mention. His features were
+remarkably mild and open, without the fierceness of expression common
+among these Indians; and as he detailed these devilish cruelties, he
+looked up into my face with the same air of earnest simplicity which a
+little child would wear in relating to its mother some anecdote of its
+youthful experience.
+
+Old Mene-Seela's lodge could offer another illustration of the ferocity
+of Indian warfare. A bright-eyed, active little boy was living there.
+He had belonged to a village of the Gros-Ventre Blackfeet, a small but
+bloody and treacherous band, in close alliance with the Arapahoes. About
+a year before, Kongra-Tonga and a party of warriors had found about
+twenty lodges of these Indians upon the plains a little to the eastward
+of our present camp; and surrounding them in the night, they butchered
+men, women, and children without mercy, preserving only this little
+boy alive. He was adopted into the old man's family, and was now fast
+becoming identified with the Ogallalla children, among whom he mingled
+on equal terms. There was also a Crow warrior in the village, a man of
+gigantic stature and most symmetrical proportions. Having been taken
+prisoner many years before and adopted by a squaw in place of a son whom
+she had lost, he had forgotten his old national antipathies, and was now
+both in act and inclination an Ogallalla.
+
+It will be remembered that the scheme of the grand warlike combination
+against the Snake and Crow Indians originated in this village; and
+though this plan had fallen to the ground, the embers of the martial
+ardor continued to glow brightly. Eleven young men had prepared
+themselves to go out against the enemy. The fourth day of our stay in
+this camp was fixed upon for their departure. At the head of this party
+was a well-built active little Indian, called the White Shield, whom I
+had always noticed for the great neatness of his dress and appearance.
+His lodge too, though not a large one, was the best in the village,
+his squaw was one of the prettiest girls, and altogether his dwelling
+presented a complete model of an Ogallalla domestic establishment. I
+was often a visitor there, for the White Shield being rather partial
+to white men, used to invite me to continual feasts at all hours of the
+day. Once when the substantial part of the entertainment was concluded,
+and he and I were seated cross-legged on a buffalo robe smoking together
+very amicably, he took down his warlike equipments, which were
+hanging around the lodge, and displayed them with great pride and
+self-importance. Among the rest was a most superb headdress of feathers.
+Taking this from its case, he put it on and stood before me, as if
+conscious of the gallant air which it gave to his dark face and his
+vigorous, graceful figure. He told me that upon it were the feathers of
+three war-eagles, equal in value to the same number of good horses. He
+took up also a shield gayly painted and hung with feathers. The effect
+of these barbaric ornaments was admirable, for they were arranged with
+no little skill and taste. His quiver was made of the spotted skin of a
+small panther, such as are common among the Black Hills, from which the
+tail and distended claws were still allowed to hang. The White Shield
+concluded his entertainment in a manner characteristic of an Indian. He
+begged of me a little powder and ball, for he had a gun as well as bow
+and arrows; but this I was obliged to refuse, because I had scarcely
+enough for my own use. Making him, however, a parting present of a paper
+of vermilion, I left him apparently quite contented.
+
+Unhappily on the next morning the White Shield took cold and was
+attacked with a violent inflammation of the throat. Immediately he
+seemed to lose all spirit, and though before no warrior in the village
+had borne himself more proudly, he now moped about from lodge to lodge
+with a forlorn and dejected air. At length he came and sat down, close
+wrapped in his robe, before the lodge of Reynal, but when he found that
+neither he nor I knew how to relieve him, he arose and stalked over to
+one of the medicine-men of the village. This old imposter thumped him
+for some time with both fists, howled and yelped over him, and beat a
+drum close to his ear to expel the evil spirit that had taken possession
+of him. This vigorous treatment failing of the desired effect, the White
+Shield withdrew to his own lodge, where he lay disconsolate for some
+hours. Making his appearance once more in the afternoon, he again took
+his seat on the ground before Reynal's lodge, holding his throat with
+his hand. For some time he sat perfectly silent with his eyes fixed
+mournfully on the ground. At last he began to speak in a low tone:
+
+"I am a brave man," he said; "all the young men think me a great
+warrior, and ten of them are ready to go with me to the war. I will go
+and show them the enemy. Last summer the Snakes killed my brother. I
+cannot live unless I revenge his death. To-morrow we will set out and I
+will take their scalps."
+
+The White Shield, as he expressed this resolution, seemed to have lost
+all the accustomed fire and spirit of his look, and hung his head as if
+in a fit of despondency.
+
+As I was sitting that evening at one of the fires, I saw him arrayed in
+his splendid war dress, his cheeks painted with vermilion, leading his
+favorite war horse to the front of his lodge. He mounted and rode round
+the village, singing his war song in a loud hoarse voice amid the
+shrill acclamations of the women. Then dismounting, he remained for some
+minutes prostrate upon the ground, as if in an act of supplication.
+On the following morning I looked in vain for the departure of the
+warriors. All was quiet in the village until late in the forenoon, when
+the White Shield, issuing from his lodge, came and seated himself in his
+old place before us. Reynal asked him why he had not gone out to find
+the enemy.
+
+"I cannot go," answered the White Shield in a dejected voice. "I have
+given my war arrows to the Meneaska."
+
+"You have only given him two of your arrows," said Reynal. "If you ask
+him, he will give them back again."
+
+For some time the White Shield said nothing. At last he spoke in a
+gloomy tone:
+
+"One of my young men has had bad dreams. The spirits of the dead came
+and threw stones at him in his sleep."
+
+If such a dream had actually taken place it might have broken up this
+or any other war party, but both Reynal and I were convinced at the time
+that it was a mere fabrication to excuse his remaining at home.
+
+The White Shield was a warrior of noted prowess. Very probably, he would
+have received a mortal wound without a show of pain, and endured without
+flinching the worst tortures that an enemy could inflict upon him. The
+whole power of an Indian's nature would be summoned to encounter such
+a trial; every influence of his education from childhood would have
+prepared him for it; the cause of his suffering would have been visibly
+and palpably before him, and his spirit would rise to set his enemy at
+defiance, and gain the highest glory of a warrior by meeting death with
+fortitude. But when he feels himself attacked by a mysterious evil,
+before whose insidious assaults his manhood is wasted, and his strength
+drained away, when he can see no enemy to resist and defy, the boldest
+warrior falls prostrate at once. He believes that a bad spirit has
+taken possession of him, or that he is the victim of some charm. When
+suffering from a protracted disorder, an Indian will often abandon
+himself to his supposed destiny, pine away and die, the victim of his
+own imagination. The same effect will often follow from a series of
+calamities, or a long run of ill success, and the sufferer has been
+known to ride into the midst of an enemy's camp, or attack a grizzly
+bear single-handed, to get rid of a life which he supposed to lie under
+the doom of misfortune.
+
+Thus after all his fasting, dreaming, and calling upon the Great Spirit,
+the White Shield's war party was pitifully broken up.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+THE TRAPPERS
+
+
+In speaking of the Indians, I have almost forgotten two bold adventurers
+of another race, the trappers Rouleau and Saraphin. These men were bent
+on a most hazardous enterprise. A day's journey to the westward was the
+country over which the Arapahoes are accustomed to range, and for which
+the two trappers were on the point of setting out. These Arapahoes, of
+whom Shaw and I afterward fell in with a large village, are ferocious
+barbarians, of a most brutal and wolfish aspect, and of late they had
+declared themselves enemies to the whites, and threatened death to the
+first who should venture within their territory. The occasion of the
+declaration was as follows:
+
+In the previous spring, 1845, Colonel Kearny left Fort Leavenworth with
+several companies of dragoons, and marching with extraordinary celerity
+reached Fort Laramie, whence he passed along the foot of the mountains
+to Bent's Fort and then, turning eastward again, returned to the point
+from whence he set out. While at Fort Larantie, he sent a part of his
+command as far westward as Sweetwater, while he himself remained at the
+fort, and dispatched messages to the surrounding Indians to meet him
+there in council. Then for the first time the tribes of that vicinity
+saw the white warriors, and, as might have been expected, they were
+lost in astonishment at their regular order, their gay attire, the
+completeness of their martial equipment, and the great size and power of
+their horses. Among the rest, the Arapahoes came in considerable numbers
+to the fort. They had lately committed numerous acts of outrage, and
+Colonel Kearny threatened that if they killed any more white men he
+would turn loose his dragoons upon them, and annihilate their whole
+nation. In the evening, to add effect to his speech, he ordered a
+howitzer to be fired and a rocket to be thrown up. Many of the Arapahoes
+fell prostrate on the ground, while others ran screaming with amazement
+and terror. On the following day they withdrew to their mountains,
+confounded with awe at the appearance of the dragoons, at their big gun
+which went off twice at one shot, and the fiery messenger which they had
+sent up to the Great Spirit. For many months they remained quiet,
+and did no further mischief. At length, just before we came into the
+country, one of them, by an act of the basest treachery, killed two
+white men, Boot and May, who were trapping among the mountains. For this
+act it was impossible to discover a motive. It seemed to spring from one
+of those inexplicable impulses which often actuate Indians and appear
+no better than the mere outbreaks of native ferocity. No sooner was the
+murder committed than the whole tribe were in extreme consternation.
+They expected every day that the avenging dragoons would arrive, little
+thinking that a desert of nine hundred miles in extent lay between the
+latter and their mountain fastnesses. A large deputation of them came to
+Fort Laramie, bringing a valuable present of horses, in compensation for
+the lives of the murdered men. These Bordeaux refused to accept. They
+then asked him if he would be satisfied with their delivering up the
+murderer himself; but he declined this offer also. The Arapahoes went
+back more terrified than ever. Weeks passed away, and still no dragoons
+appeared. A result followed which all those best acquainted with Indians
+had predicted. They conceived that fear had prevented Bordeaux from
+accepting their gifts, and that they had nothing to apprehend from
+the vengeance of the whites. From terror they rose to the height of
+insolence and presumption. They called the white men cowards and old
+women; and a friendly Dakota came to Fort Laramie and reported that they
+were determined to kill the first of the white dogs whom they could lay
+hands on.
+
+Had a military officer, intrusted with suitable powers, been stationed
+at Fort Laramie, and having accepted the offer of the Arapahoes to
+deliver up the murderer, had ordered him to be immediately led out
+and shot, in presence of his tribe, they would have been awed into
+tranquillity, and much danger and calamity averted; but now the
+neighborhood of the Medicine-Bow Mountain and the region beyond it was a
+scene of extreme peril. Old Mene-Seela, a true friend of the whites, and
+many other of the Indians gathered about the two trappers, and vainly
+endeavored to turn them from their purpose; but Rouleau and Saraphin
+only laughed at the danger. On the morning preceding that on which they
+were to leave the camp, we could all discern faint white columns of
+smoke rising against the dark base of the Medicine-Bow. Scouts were out
+immediately, and reported that these proceeded from an Arapahoe camp,
+abandoned only a few hours before. Still the two trappers continued
+their preparations for departure.
+
+Saraphin was a tall, powerful fellow, with a sullen and sinister
+countenance. His rifle had very probably drawn other blood than that of
+buffalo or even Indians. Rouleau had a broad ruddy face marked with as
+few traces of thought or care as a child's. His figure was remarkably
+square and strong, but the first joints of both his feet were frozen
+off, and his horse had lately thrown and trampled upon him, by which
+he had been severely injured in the chest. But nothing could check his
+inveterate propensity for laughter and gayety. He went all day rolling
+about the camp on his stumps of feet, talking and singing and frolicking
+with the Indian women, as they were engaged at their work. In fact
+Rouleau had an unlucky partiality for squaws. He always had one whom he
+must needs bedizen with beads, ribbons, and all the finery of an Indian
+wardrobe; and though he was of course obliged to leave her behind him
+during his expeditions, yet this hazardous necessity did not at all
+trouble him, for his disposition was the very reverse of jealous. If at
+any time he had not lavished the whole of the precarious profits of his
+vocation upon his dark favorite, he always devoted the rest to feasting
+his comrades. If liquor was not to be had--and this was usually the
+case--strong coffee was substituted. As the men of that region are by
+no means remarkable for providence or self-restraint, whatever was
+set before them on these occasions, however extravagant in price, or
+enormous in quantity, was sure to be disposed of at one sitting. Like
+other trappers, Rouleau's life was one of contrast and variety. It was
+only at certain seasons, and for a limited time, that he was absent on
+his expeditions. For the rest of the year he would be lounging about the
+fort, or encamped with his friends in its vicinity, lazily hunting or
+enjoying all the luxury of inaction; but when once in pursuit of beaver,
+he was involved in extreme privations and desperate perils. When in
+the midst of his game and his enemies, hand and foot, eye and ear, are
+incessantly active. Frequently he must content himself with devouring
+his evening meal uncooked, lest the light of his fire should attract
+the eyes of some wandering Indian; and sometimes having made his rude
+repast, he must leave his fire still blazing, and withdraw to a distance
+under cover of the darkness, that his disappointed enemy, drawn thither
+by the light, may find his victim gone, and be unable to trace his
+footsteps in the gloom. This is the life led by scores of men in the
+Rocky Mountains and their vicinity. I once met a trapper whose breast
+was marked with the scars of six bullets and arrows, one of his arms
+broken by a shot and one of his knees shattered; yet still, with the
+undaunted mettle of New England, from which part of the country he had
+come, he continued to follow his perilous occupation. To some of the
+children of cities it may seem strange that men with no object in
+view should continue to follow a life of such hardship and desperate
+adventure; yet there is a mysterious, restless charm in the basilisk eye
+of danger, and few men perhaps remain long in that wild region without
+learning to love peril for its own sake, and to laugh carelessly in the
+face of death.
+
+On the last day of our stay in this camp, the trappers were ready for
+departure. When in the Black Hills they had caught seven beaver, and
+they now left their skins in charge of Reynal, to be kept until their
+return. Their strong, gaunt horses were equipped with rusty Spanish bits
+and rude Mexican saddles, to which wooden stirrups were attached, while
+a buffalo robe was rolled up behind them, and a bundle of beaver traps
+slung at the pommel. These, together with their rifles, their knives,
+their powder-horns and bullet-pouches, flint and steel and a tincup,
+composed their whole traveling equipment. They shook hands with us and
+rode away; Saraphin with his grim countenance, like a surly bulldog's,
+was in advance; but Rouleau, clambering gayly into his seat, kicked his
+horse's sides, flourished his whip in the air, and trotted briskly over
+the prairie, trolling forth a Canadian song at the top of his lungs.
+Reynal looked after them with his face of brutal selfishness.
+
+"Well," he said, "if they are killed, I shall have the beaver. They'll
+fetch me fifty dollars at the fort, anyhow."
+
+This was the last I saw of them.
+
+We had been for five days in the hunting camp, and the meat, which all
+this time had hung drying in the sun, was now fit for transportation.
+Buffalo hides also had been procured in sufficient quantities for making
+the next season's lodges; but it remained to provide the long slender
+poles on which they were to be supported. These were only to be had
+among the tall pine woods of the Black Hills, and in that direction
+therefore our next move was to be made. It is worthy of notice that amid
+the general abundance which during this time had prevailed in the camp
+there were no instances of individual privation; for although the hide
+and the tongue of the buffalo belong by exclusive right to the hunter
+who has killed it, yet anyone else is equally entitled to help himself
+from the rest of the carcass. Thus, the weak, the aged, and even the
+indolent come in for a share of the spoils, and many a helpless old
+woman, who would otherwise perish from starvation, is sustained in
+profuse abundance.
+
+On the 25th of July, late in the afternoon, the camp broke up, with
+the usual tumult and confusion, and we were all moving once more, on
+horseback and on foot, over the plains. We advanced, however, but a few
+miles. The old men, who during the whole march had been stoutly striding
+along on foot in front of the people, now seated themselves in a circle
+on the ground, while all the families, erecting their lodges in the
+prescribed order around them, formed the usual great circle of the camp;
+meanwhile these village patriarchs sat smoking and talking. I threw my
+bridle to Raymond, and sat down as usual along with them. There was none
+of that reserve and apparent dignity which an Indian always assumes
+when in council, or in the presence of white men whom he distrusts. The
+party, on the contrary, was an extremely merry one; and as in a social
+circle of a quite different character, "if there was not much wit, there
+was at least a great deal of laughter."
+
+When the first pipe was smoked out, I rose and withdrew to the lodge of
+my host. Here I was stooping, in the act of taking off my powder-horn
+and bullet-pouch, when suddenly, and close at hand, pealing loud
+and shrill, and in right good earnest, came the terrific yell of the
+war-whoop. Kongra-Tonga's squaw snatched up her youngest child, and ran
+out of the lodge. I followed, and found the whole village in confusion,
+resounding with cries and yells. The circle of old men in the center had
+vanished. The warriors with glittering eyes came darting, their weapons
+in their hands, out of the low opening of the lodges, and running with
+wild yells toward the farther end of the village. Advancing a few rods
+in that direction, I saw a crowd in furious agitation, while others ran
+up on every side to add to the confusion. Just then I distinguished
+the voices of Raymond and Reynal, shouting to me from a distance, and
+looking back, I saw the latter with his rifle in his hand, standing on
+the farther bank of a little stream that ran along the outskirts of the
+camp. He was calling to Raymond and myself to come over and join him,
+and Raymond, with his usual deliberate gait and stolid countenance, was
+already moving in that direction.
+
+This was clearly the wisest course, unless we wished to involve
+ourselves in the fray; so I turned to go, but just then a pair of eyes,
+gleaming like a snake's, and an aged familiar countenance was thrust
+from the opening of a neighboring lodge, and out bolted old Mene-Seela,
+full of fight, clutching his bow and arrows in one hand and his knife
+in the other. At that instant he tripped and fell sprawling on his face,
+while his weapons flew scattering away in every direction. The women
+with loud screams were hurrying with their children in their arms to
+place them out of danger, and I observed some hastening to prevent
+mischief, by carrying away all the weapons they could lay hands on. On
+a rising ground close to the camp stood a line of old women singing a
+medicine song to allay the tumult. As I approached the side of the brook
+I heard gun-shots behind me, and turning back, I saw that the crowd had
+separated into two lines of naked warriors confronting each other at a
+respectful distance, and yelling and jumping about to dodge the shot of
+their adversaries, while they discharged bullets and arrows against each
+other. At the same time certain sharp, humming sounds in the air over my
+head, like the flight of beetles on a summer evening, warned me that the
+danger was not wholly confined to the immediate scene of the fray. So
+wading through the brook, I joined Reynal and Raymond, and we sat
+down on the grass, in the posture of an armed neutrality, to watch the
+result.
+
+Happily it may be for ourselves, though quite contrary to our
+expectation, the disturbance was quelled almost as soon as it had
+commenced. When I looked again, the combatants were once more mingled
+together in a mass. Though yells sounded, occasionally from the throng,
+the firing had entirely ceased, and I observed five or six persons
+moving busily about, as if acting the part of peacemakers. One of the
+village heralds or criers proclaimed in a loud voice something which
+my two companions were too much engrossed in their own observations to
+translate for me. The crowd began to disperse, though many a deep-set
+black eye still glittered with an unnatural luster, as the warriors
+slowly withdrew to their lodges. This fortunate suppression of the
+disturbance was owing to a few of the old men, less pugnacious than
+Mene-Seela, who boldly ran in between the combatants and aided by
+some of the "soldiers," or Indian police, succeeded in effecting their
+object.
+
+It seemed very strange to me that although many arrows and bullets were
+discharged, no one was mortally hurt, and I could only account for
+this by the fact that both the marksman and the object of his aim were
+leaping about incessantly during the whole time. By far the greater part
+of the villagers had joined in the fray, for although there were not
+more than a dozen guns in the whole camp, I heard at least eight or ten
+shots fired.
+
+In a quarter of an hour all was comparatively quiet. A large circle of
+warriors were again seated in the center of the village, but this time
+I did not venture to join them, because I could see that the pipe,
+contrary to the usual order, was passing from the left hand to the right
+around the circle, a sure sign that a "medicine-smoke" of reconciliation
+was going forward, and that a white man would be an unwelcome intruder.
+When I again entered the still agitated camp it was nearly dark, and
+mournful cries, howls and wailings resounded from many female voices.
+Whether these had any connection with the late disturbance, or were
+merely lamentations for relatives slain in some former war expeditions,
+I could not distinctly ascertain.
+
+To inquire too closely into the cause of the quarrel was by no means
+prudent, and it was not until some time after that I discovered what
+had given rise to it. Among the Dakota there are many associations, or
+fraternities, connected with the purposes of their superstitions,
+their warfare, or their social life. There was one called "The
+Arrow-Breakers," now in a great measure disbanded and dispersed. In the
+village there were, however, four men belonging to it, distinguished by
+the peculiar arrangement of their hair, which rose in a high bristling
+mass above their foreheads, adding greatly to their apparent height, and
+giving them a most ferocious appearance. The principal among them was
+the Mad Wolf, a warrior of remarkable size and strength, great courage,
+and the fierceness of a demon. I had always looked upon him as the most
+dangerous man in the village; and though he often invited me to feasts,
+I never entered his lodge unarmed. The Mad Wolf had taken a fancy to a
+fine horse belonging to another Indian, who was called the Tall Bear;
+and anxious to get the animal into his possession, he made the owner a
+present of another horse nearly equal in value. According to the customs
+of the Dakota, the acceptance of this gift involved a sort of obligation
+to make an equitable return; and the Tall Bear well understood that
+the other had in view the obtaining of his favorite buffalo horse.
+He however accepted the present without a word of thanks, and having
+picketed the horse before his lodge, he suffered day after day to pass
+without making the expected return. The Mad Wolf grew impatient and
+angry; and at last, seeing that his bounty was not likely to produce the
+desired return, he resolved to reclaim it. So this evening, as soon as
+the village was encamped, he went to the lodge of the Tall Bear, seized
+upon the horse that he had given him, and led him away. At this the Tall
+Bear broke into one of those fits of sullen rage not uncommon among the
+Indians. He ran up to the unfortunate horse, and gave him three mortals
+stabs with his knife. Quick as lightning the Mad Wolf drew his bow to
+its utmost tension, and held the arrow quivering close to the breast
+of his adversary. The Tall Bear, as the Indians who were near him said,
+stood with his bloody knife in his hand, facing the assailant with the
+utmost calmness. Some of his friends and relatives, seeing his danger,
+ran hastily to his assistance. The remaining three Arrow-Breakers,
+on the other hand, came to the aid of their associate. Many of their
+friends joined them, the war-cry was raised on a sudden, and the tumult
+became general.
+
+The "soldiers," who lent their timely aid in putting it down, are by
+far the most important executive functionaries in an Indian village.
+The office is one of considerable honor, being confided only to men of
+courage and repute. They derive their authority from the old men and
+chief warriors of the village, who elect them in councils occasionally
+convened for the purpose, and thus can exercise a degree of authority
+which no one else in the village would dare to assume. While very few
+Ogallalla chiefs could venture without instant jeopardy of their lives
+to strike or lay hands upon the meanest of their people, the "soldiers"
+in the discharge of their appropriate functions, have full license to
+make use of these and similar acts of coercion.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+THE BLACK HILLS
+
+
+We traveled eastward for two days, and then the gloomy ridges of the
+Black Hills rose up before us. The village passed along for some miles
+beneath their declivities, trailing out to a great length over the arid
+prairie, or winding at times among small detached hills or distorted
+shapes. Turning sharply to the left, we entered a wide defile of the
+mountains, down the bottom of which a brook came winding, lined with
+tall grass and dense copses, amid which were hidden many beaver dams and
+lodges. We passed along between two lines of high precipices and rocks,
+piled in utter disorder one upon another, and with scarcely a tree, a
+bush, or a clump of grass to veil their nakedness. The restless Indian
+boys were wandering along their edges and clambering up and down their
+rugged sides, and sometimes a group of them would stand on the verge of
+a cliff and look down on the array as it passed in review beneath them.
+As we advanced, the passage grew more narrow; then it suddenly expanded
+into a round grassy meadow, completely encompassed by mountains; and
+here the families stopped as they came up in turn, and the camp rose
+like magic.
+
+The lodges were hardly erected when, with their usual precipitation, the
+Indians set about accomplishing the object that had brought them there;
+that is, the obtaining poles for supporting their new lodges. Half the
+population, men, women and boys, mounted their horses and set out for
+the interior of the mountains. As they rode at full gallop over the
+shingly rocks and into the dark opening of the defile beyond, I thought
+I had never read or dreamed of a more strange or picturesque cavalcade.
+We passed between precipices more than a thousand feet high, sharp
+and splintering at the tops, their sides beetling over the defile or
+descending in abrupt declivities, bristling with black fir trees. On our
+left they rose close to us like a wall, but on the right a winding brook
+with a narrow strip of marshy soil intervened. The stream was clogged
+with old beaver dams, and spread frequently into wide pools. There were
+thick bushes and many dead and blasted trees along its course, though
+frequently nothing remained but stumps cut close to the ground by
+the beaver, and marked with the sharp chisel-like teeth of those
+indefatigable laborers. Sometimes we were driving among trees, and then
+emerging upon open spots, over which, Indian-like, all galloped at
+full speed. As Pauline bounded over the rocks I felt her saddle-girth
+slipping, and alighted to draw it tighter; when the whole array swept
+past me in a moment, the women with their gaudy ornaments tinkling as
+they rode, the men whooping, and laughing, and lashing forward their
+horses. Two black-tailed deer bounded away among the rocks; Raymond shot
+at them from horseback; the sharp report of his rifle was answered by
+another equally sharp from the opposing cliffs, and then the echoes,
+leaping in rapid succession from side to side, died away rattling far
+amid the mountains.
+
+After having ridden in this manner for six or eight miles, the
+appearance of the scene began to change, and all the declivities around
+us were covered with forests of tall, slender pine trees. The Indians
+began to fall off to the right and left, and dispersed with their
+hatchets and knives among these woods, to cut the poles which they had
+come to seek. Soon I was left almost alone; but in the deep stillness of
+those lonely mountains, the stroke of hatchets and the sound of voices
+might be heard from far and near.
+
+Reynal, who imitated the Indians in their habits as well as the worst
+features of their character, had killed buffalo enough to make a
+lodge for himself and his squaw, and now he was eager to get the poles
+necessary to complete it. He asked me to let Raymond go with him and
+assist in the work. I assented, and the two men immediately entered the
+thickest part of the wood. Having left my horse in Raymond's keeping,
+I began to climb the mountain. I was weak and weary and made slow
+progress, often pausing to rest, but after an hour had elapsed, I gained
+a height, whence the little valley out of which I had climbed seemed
+like a deep, dark gulf, though the inaccessible peak of the mountain was
+still towering to a much greater distance above. Objects familiar from
+childhood surrounded me; crags and rocks, a black and sullen brook that
+gurgled with a hollow voice deep among the crevices, a wood of mossy
+distorted trees and prostrate trunks flung down by age and storms,
+scattered among the rocks, or damming the foaming waters of the little
+brook. The objects were the same, yet they were thrown into a wilder and
+more startling scene, for the black crags and the savage trees assumed
+a grim and threatening aspect, and close across the valley the opposing
+mountain confronted me, rising from the gulf for thousands of feet, with
+its bare pinnacles and its ragged covering of pines. Yet the scene was
+not without its milder features. As I ascended, I found frequent little
+grassy terraces, and there was one of these close at hand, across which
+the brook was stealing, beneath the shade of scattered trees that seemed
+artificially planted. Here I made a welcome discovery, no other than a
+bed of strawberries, with their white flowers and their red fruit, close
+nestled among the grass by the side of the brook, and I sat down by
+them, hailing them as old acquaintances; for among those lonely and
+perilous mountains they awakened delicious associations of the gardens
+and peaceful homes of far-distant New England.
+
+Yet wild as they were, these mountains were thickly peopled. As I
+climbed farther, I found the broad dusty paths made by the elk, as
+they filed across the mountainside. The grass on all the terraces was
+trampled down by deer; there were numerous tracks of wolves, and in
+some of the rougher and more precipitous parts of the ascent, I found
+foot-prints different from any that I had ever seen, and which I took to
+be those of the Rocky Mountain sheep. I sat down upon a rock; there was
+a perfect stillness. No wind was stirring, and not even an insect could
+be heard. I recollected the danger of becoming lost in such a place,
+and therefore I fixed my eye upon one of the tallest pinnacles of the
+opposite mountain. It rose sheer upright from the woods below, and by an
+extraordinary freak of nature sustained aloft on its very summit a large
+loose rock. Such a landmark could never be mistaken, and feeling once
+more secure, I began again to move forward. A white wolf jumped up
+from among some bushes, and leaped clumsily away; but he stopped for a
+moment, and turned back his keen eye and his grim bristling muzzle. I
+longed to take his scalp and carry it back with me, as an appropriate
+trophy of the Black Hills, but before I could fire, he was gone among
+the rocks. Soon I heard a rustling sound, with a cracking of twigs at
+a little distance, and saw moving above the tall bushes the branching
+antlers of an elk. I was in the midst of a hunter's paradise.
+
+Such are the Black Hills, as I found them in July; but they wear a
+different garb when winter sets in, when the broad boughs of the fir
+tree are bent to the ground by the load of snow, and the dark mountains
+are whitened with it. At that season the mountain-trappers, returned
+from their autumn expeditions, often build their rude cabins in the
+midst of these solitudes, and live in abundance and luxury on the game
+that harbors there. I have heard them relate, how with their tawny
+mistresses, and perhaps a few young Indian companions, they have spent
+months in total seclusion. They would dig pitfalls, and set traps for
+the white wolves, the sables, and the martens, and though through the
+whole night the awful chorus of the wolves would resound from the frozen
+mountains around them, yet within their massive walls of logs they would
+lie in careless ease and comfort before the blazing fire, and in the
+morning shoot the elk and the deer from their very door.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+A MOUNTAIN HUNT
+
+
+The camp was full of the newly-cut lodge-poles; some, already prepared,
+were stacked together, white and glistening, to dry and harden in the
+sun; others were lying on the ground, and the squaws, the boys, and even
+some of the warriors were busily at work peeling off the bark and paring
+them with their knives to the proper dimensions. Most of the hides
+obtained at the last camp were dressed and scraped thin enough for use,
+and many of the squaws were engaged in fitting them together and
+sewing them with sinews, to form the coverings for the lodges. Men were
+wandering among the bushes that lined the brook along the margin of the
+camp, cutting sticks of red willow, or shongsasha, the bark of which,
+mixed with tobacco, they use for smoking. Reynal's squaw was hard
+at work with her awl and buffalo sinews upon her lodge, while her
+proprietor, having just finished an enormous breakfast of meat, was
+smoking a social pipe along with Raymond and myself. He proposed at
+length that we should go out on a hunt. "Go to the Big Crow's lodge,"
+said he, "and get your rifle. I'll bet the gray Wyandotte pony against
+your mare that we start an elk or a black-tailed deer, or likely as not,
+a bighorn, before we are two miles out of camp. I'll take my squaw's old
+yellow horse; you can't whip her more than four miles an hour, but she
+is as good for the mountains as a mule."
+
+I mounted the black mule which Raymond usually rode. She was a very fine
+and powerful animal, gentle and manageable enough by nature; but of
+late her temper had been soured by misfortune. About a week before I
+had chanced to offend some one of the Indians, who out of revenge went
+secretly into the meadow and gave her a severe stab in the haunch
+with his knife. The wound, though partially healed, still galled her
+extremely, and made her even more perverse and obstinate than the rest
+of her species.
+
+The morning was a glorious one, and I was in better health than I had
+been at any time for the last two months. Though a strong frame and well
+compacted sinews had borne me through hitherto, it was long since I had
+been in a condition to feel the exhilaration of the fresh mountain wind
+and the gay sunshine that brightened the crags and trees. We left the
+little valley and ascended a rocky hollow in the mountain. Very soon we
+were out of sight of the camp, and of every living thing, man, beast,
+bird, or insect. I had never before, except on foot, passed over such
+execrable ground, and I desire never to repeat the experiment. The black
+mule grew indignant, and even the redoubtable yellow horse stumbled
+every moment, and kept groaning to himself as he cut his feet and legs
+among the sharp rocks.
+
+It was a scene of silence and desolation. Little was visible except
+beetling crags and the bare shingly sides of the mountains, relieved
+by scarcely a trace of vegetation. At length, however, we came upon
+a forest tract, and had no sooner done so than we heartily wished
+ourselves back among the rocks again; for we were on a steep descent,
+among trees so thick that we could see scarcely a rod in any direction.
+
+If one is anxious to place himself in a situation where the hazardous
+and the ludicrous are combined in about equal proportions, let him get
+upon a vicious mule, with a snaffle bit, and try to drive her through
+the woods down a slope of 45 degrees. Let him have on a long rifle, a
+buckskin frock with long fringes, and a head of long hair. These latter
+appendages will be caught every moment and twitched away in small
+portions by the twigs, which will also whip him smartly across the face,
+while the large branches above thump him on the head. His mule, if she
+be a true one, will alternately stop short and dive violently forward,
+and his position upon her back will be somewhat diversified and
+extraordinary. At one time he will clasp her affectionately, to avoid
+the blow of a bough overhead; at another, he will throw himself back
+and fling his knee forward against the side of her neck, to keep it
+from being crushed between the rough bark of a tree and the equally
+unyielding ribs of the animal herself. Reynal was cursing incessantly
+during the whole way down. Neither of us had the remotest idea where we
+were going; and though I have seen rough riding, I shall always retain
+an evil recollection of that five minutes' scramble.
+
+At last we left our troubles behind us, emerging into the channel of
+a brook that circled along the foot of the descent; and here, turning
+joyfully to the left, we rode in luxury and ease over the white pebbles
+and the rippling water, shaded from the glaring sun by an overarching
+green transparency. These halcyon moments were of short duration. The
+friendly brook, turning sharply to one side, went brawling and foaming
+down the rocky hill into an abyss, which, as far as we could discern,
+had no bottom; so once more we betook ourselves to the detested woods.
+When next we came forth from their dancing shadow and sunlight, we found
+ourselves standing in the broad glare of day, on a high jutting point of
+the mountain. Before us stretched a long, wide, desert valley, winding
+away far amid the mountains. No civilized eye but mine had ever looked
+upon that virgin waste. Reynal was gazing intently; he began to speak at
+last:
+
+"Many a time, when I was with the Indians, I have been hunting for
+gold all through the Black Hills. There's plenty of it here; you may
+be certain of that. I have dreamed about it fifty times, and I never
+dreamed yet but what it came true. Look over yonder at those black rocks
+piled up against that other big rock. Don't it look as if there might
+be something there? It won't do for a white man to be rummaging too much
+about these mountains; the Indians say they are full of bad spirits; and
+I believe myself that it's no good luck to be hunting about here after
+gold. Well, for all that, I would like to have one of these fellows up
+here, from down below, to go about with his witch-hazel rod, and I'll
+guarantee that it would not be long before he would light on a gold
+mine. Never mind; we'll let the gold alone for to-day. Look at those
+trees down below us in the hollow; we'll go down there, and I reckon
+we'll get a black-tailed deer."
+
+But Reynal's predictions were not verified. We passed mountain after
+mountain, and valley after valley; we explored deep ravines; yet still
+to my companion's vexation and evident surprise, no game could be found.
+So, in the absence of better, we resolved to go out on the plains and
+look for an antelope. With this view we began to pass down a narrow
+valley, the bottom of which was covered with the stiff wild-sage
+bushes and marked with deep paths, made by the buffalo, who, for some
+inexplicable reason, are accustomed to penetrate, in their long grave
+processions, deep among the gorges of these sterile mountains.
+
+Reynal's eye was ranging incessantly among the rocks and along the edges
+of the black precipices, in hopes of discovering the mountain sheep
+peering down upon us in fancied security from that giddy elevation.
+Nothing was visible for some time. At length we both detected something
+in motion near the foot of one of the mountains, and in a moment
+afterward a black-tailed deer, with his spreading antlers, stood gazing
+at us from the top of a rock, and then, slowly turning away, disappeared
+behind it. In an instant Reynal was out of his saddle, and running
+toward the spot. I, being too weak to follow, sat holding his horse and
+waiting the result. I lost sight of him, then heard the report of his
+rifle, deadened among the rocks, and finally saw him reappear, with a
+surly look that plainly betrayed his ill success. Again we moved forward
+down the long valley, when soon after we came full upon what seemed a
+wide and very shallow ditch, incrusted at the bottom with white clay,
+dried and cracked in the sun. Under this fair outside, Reynal's eye
+detected the signs of lurking mischief. He called me to stop, and then
+alighting, picked up a stone and threw it into the ditch. To my utter
+amazement it fell with a dull splash, breaking at once through the thin
+crust, and spattering round the hole a yellowish creamy fluid, into
+which it sank and disappeared. A stick, five or six feet long lay on the
+ground, and with this we sounded the insidious abyss close to its edge.
+It was just possible to touch the bottom. Places like this are numerous
+among the Rocky Mountains. The buffalo, in his blind and heedless walk,
+often plunges into them unawares. Down he sinks; one snort of terror,
+one convulsive struggle, and the slime calmly flows above his shaggy
+head, the languid undulations of its sleek and placid surface alone
+betraying how the powerful monster writhes in his death-throes below.
+
+We found after some trouble a point where we could pass the abyss, and
+now the valley began to open upon the plains which spread to the horizon
+before us. On one of their distant swells we discerned three or four
+black specks, which Reynal pronounced to be buffalo.
+
+"Come," said he, "we must get one of them. My squaw wants more sinews to
+finish her lodge with, and I want some glue myself."
+
+He immediately put the yellow horse at such a gallop as he was capable
+of executing, while I set spurs to the mule, who soon far outran her
+plebeian rival. When we had galloped a mile or more, a large rabbit,
+by ill luck, sprang up just under the feet of the mule, who bounded
+violently aside in full career. Weakened as I was, I was flung forcibly
+to the ground, and my rifle, falling close to my head, went off with a
+shock. Its sharp spiteful report rang for some moments in my ear. Being
+slightly stunned, I lay for an instant motionless, and Reynal, supposing
+me to be shot, rode up and began to curse the mule. Soon recovering
+myself, I rose, picked up the rifle and anxiously examined it. It was
+badly injured. The stock was cracked, and the main screw broken, so that
+the lock had to be tied in its place with a string; yet happily it was
+not rendered totally unserviceable. I wiped it out, reloaded it, and
+handing it to Reynal, who meanwhile had caught the mule and led her up
+to me, I mounted again. No sooner had I done so, than the brute began to
+rear and plunge with extreme violence; but being now well prepared for
+her, and free from incumbrance, I soon reduced her to submission. Then
+taking the rifle again from Reynal, we galloped forward as before.
+
+We were now free of the mountain and riding far out on the broad
+prairie. The buffalo were still some two miles in advance of us. When we
+came near them, we stopped where a gentle swell of the plain concealed
+us from their view, and while I held his horse Reynal ran forward with
+his rifle, till I lost sight of him beyond the rising ground. A few
+minutes elapsed; I heard the report of his piece, and saw the buffalo
+running away at full speed on the right, and immediately after, the
+hunter himself unsuccessful as before, came up and mounted his horse in
+excessive ill-humor. He cursed the Black Hills and the buffalo, swore
+that he was a good hunter, which indeed was true, and that he had never
+been out before among those mountains without killing two or three deer
+at least.
+
+We now turned toward the distant encampment. As we rode along, antelope
+in considerable numbers were flying lightly in all directions over the
+plain, but not one of them would stand and be shot at. When we reached
+the foot of the mountain ridge that lay between us and the village, we
+were too impatient to take the smooth and circuitous route; so turning
+short to the left, we drove our wearied animals directly upward among
+the rocks. Still more antelope were leaping about among these flinty
+hillsides. Each of us shot at one, though from a great distance, and
+each missed his mark. At length we reached the summit of the last ridge.
+Looking down, we saw the bustling camp in the valley at our feet, and
+ingloriously descended to it. As we rode among the lodges, the Indians
+looked in vain for the fresh meat that should have hung behind our
+saddles, and the squaws uttered various suppressed ejaculations, to the
+great indignation of Reynal. Our mortification was increased when
+we rode up to his lodge. Here we saw his young Indian relative, the
+Hail-Storm, his light graceful figure on the ground in an easy attitude,
+while with his friend the Rabbit, who sat by his side, he was making an
+abundant meal from a wooden bowl of wasna, which the squaw had placed
+between them. Near him lay the fresh skin of a female elk, which he had
+just killed among the mountains, only a mile or two from the camp. No
+doubt the boy's heart was elated with triumph, but he betrayed no sign
+of it. He even seemed totally unconscious of our approach, and his
+handsome face had all the tranquillity of Indian self-control;
+a self-control which prevents the exhibition of emotion, without
+restraining the emotion itself. It was about two months since I had
+known the Hail-Storm, and within that time his character had remarkably
+developed. When I first saw him, he was just emerging from the habits
+and feelings of the boy into the ambition of the hunter and warrior. He
+had lately killed his first deer, and this had excited his aspirations
+after distinction. Since that time he had been continually in search
+of game, and no young hunter in the village had been so active or
+so fortunate as he. It will perhaps be remembered how fearlessly he
+attacked the buffalo bull, as we were moving toward our camp at the
+Medicine-Bow Mountain. All this success had produced a marked change in
+his character. As I first remembered him he always shunned the society
+of the young squaws, and was extremely bashful and sheepish in their
+presence; but now, in the confidence of his own reputation, he began
+to assume the airs and the arts of a man of gallantry. He wore his red
+blanket dashingly over his left shoulder, painted his cheeks every day
+with vermilion, and hung pendants of shells in his ears. If I observed
+aright, he met with very good success in his new pursuits; still the
+Hail-Storm had much to accomplish before he attained the full standing
+of a warrior. Gallantly as he began to bear himself among the women and
+girls, he still was timid and abashed in the presence of the chiefs and
+old men; for he had never yet killed a man, or stricken the dead body of
+an enemy in battle. I have no doubt that the handsome smooth-faced boy
+burned with keen desire to flash his maiden scalping-knife, and I would
+not have encamped alone with him without watching his movements with a
+distrustful eye.
+
+His elder brother, the Horse, was of a different character. He was
+nothing but a lazy dandy. He knew very well how to hunt, but preferred
+to live by the hunting of others. He had no appetite for distinction,
+and the Hail-Storm, though a few years younger than he, already
+surpassed him in reputation. He had a dark and ugly face, and he
+passed a great part of his time in adorning it with vermilion, and
+contemplating it by means of a little pocket looking-glass which I
+gave him. As for the rest of the day, he divided it between eating and
+sleeping, and sitting in the sun on the outside of a lodge. Here he
+would remain for hour after hour, arrayed in all his finery, with an old
+dragoon's sword in his hand, and evidently flattering himself that he
+was the center of attraction to the eyes of the surrounding squaws. Yet
+he sat looking straight forward with a face of the utmost gravity, as
+if wrapped in profound meditation, and it was only by the occasional
+sidelong glances which he shot at his supposed admirers that one could
+detect the true course of his thoughts.
+
+Both he and his brother may represent a class in the Indian community;
+neither should the Hail-Storm's friend, the Rabbit, be passed by without
+notice. The Hail-Storm and he were inseparable; they ate, slept, and
+hunted together, and shared with one another almost all that they
+possessed. If there be anything that deserves to be called romantic
+in the Indian character, it is to be sought for in friendships such as
+this, which are quite common among many of the prairie tribes.
+
+Slowly, hour after hour, that weary afternoon dragged away. I lay in
+Reynal's lodge, overcome by the listless torpor that pervaded the
+whole encampment. The day's work was finished, or if it were not, the
+inhabitants had resolved not to finish it at all, and all were dozing
+quietly within the shelter of the lodges. A profound lethargy, the very
+spirit of indolence, seemed to have sunk upon the village. Now and then
+I could hear the low laughter of some girl from within a neighboring
+lodge, or the small shrill voices of a few restless children, who alone
+were moving in the deserted area. The spirit of the place infected me;
+I could not even think consecutively; I was fit only for musing and
+reverie, when at last, like the rest, I fell asleep.
+
+When evening came and the fires were lighted round the lodges, a select
+family circle convened in the neighborhood of Reynal's domicile. It was
+composed entirely of his squaw's relatives, a mean and ignoble clan,
+among whom none but the Hail-Storm held forth any promise of future
+distinction. Even his protests were rendered not a little dubious by the
+character of the family, less however from any principle of aristocratic
+distinction than from the want of powerful supporters to assist him in
+his undertakings, and help to avenge his quarrels. Raymond and I sat
+down along with them. There were eight or ten men gathered around the
+fire, together with about as many women, old and young, some of whom
+were tolerably good-looking. As the pipe passed round among the men,
+a lively conversation went forward, more merry than delicate, and at
+length two or three of the elder women (for the girls were somewhat
+diffident and bashful) began to assail Raymond with various pungent
+witticisms. Some of the men took part and an old squaw concluded
+by bestowing on him a ludicrous nick name, at which a general laugh
+followed at his expense. Raymond grinned and giggled, and made several
+futile attempts at repartee. Knowing the impolicy and even danger of
+suffering myself to be placed in a ludicrous light among the Indians,
+I maintained a rigid inflexible countenance, and wholly escaped their
+sallies.
+
+In the morning I found, to my great disgust, that the camp was to retain
+its position for another day. I dreaded its languor and monotony, and
+to escape it, I set out to explore the surrounding mountains. I was
+accompanied by a faithful friend, my rifle, the only friend indeed on
+whose prompt assistance in time of trouble I could implicitly rely. Most
+of the Indians in the village, it is true, professed good-will toward
+the whites, but the experience of others and my own observation had
+taught me the extreme folly of confidence, and the utter impossibility
+of foreseeing to what sudden acts the strange unbridled impulses of an
+Indian may urge him. When among this people danger is never so near as
+when you are unprepared for it, never so remote as when you are armed
+and on the alert to meet it any moment. Nothing offers so strong a
+temptation to their ferocious instincts as the appearance of timidity,
+weakness, or security.
+
+Many deep and gloomy gorges, choked with trees and bushes, opened from
+the sides of the hills, which were shaggy with forests wherever the
+rocks permitted vegetation to spring. A great number of Indians were
+stalking along the edges of the woods, and boys were whooping and
+laughing on the mountain-sides, practicing eye and hand, and indulging
+their destructive propensities by following birds and small animals
+and killing them with their little bows and arrows. There was one glen,
+stretching up between steep cliffs far into the bosom of the mountain. I
+began to ascend along its bottom, pushing my way onward among the rocks,
+trees, and bushes that obstructed it. A slender thread of water trickled
+along its center, which since issuing from the heart of its native rock
+could scarcely have been warmed or gladdened by a ray of sunshine. After
+advancing for some time, I conceived myself to be entirely alone;
+but coming to a part of the glen in a great measure free of trees and
+undergrowth, I saw at some distance the black head and red shoulders of
+an Indian among the bushes above. The reader need not prepare himself
+for a startling adventure, for I have none to relate. The head and
+shoulders belonged to Mene-Seela, my best friend in the village. As
+I had approached noiselessly with my moccasined feet, the old man was
+quite unconscious of my presence; and turning to a point where I could
+gain an unobstructed view of him, I saw him seated alone, immovable as
+a statue, among the rocks and trees. His face was turned upward, and
+his eyes seemed riveted on a pine tree springing from a cleft in the
+precipice above. The crest of the pine was swaying to and fro in the
+wind, and its long limbs waved slowly up and down, as if the tree had
+life. Looking for a while at the old man, I was satisfied that he was
+engaged in an act of worship or prayer, or communion of some kind with
+a supernatural being. I longed to penetrate his thoughts, but I could
+do nothing more than conjecture and speculate. I knew that though the
+intellect of an Indian can embrace the idea of an all-wise, all-powerful
+Spirit, the supreme Ruler of the universe, yet his mind will not always
+ascend into communion with a being that seems to him so vast, remote,
+and incomprehensible; and when danger threatens, when his hopes are
+broken, when the black wing of sorrow overshadows him, he is prone to
+turn for relief to some inferior agency, less removed from the ordinary
+scope of his faculties. He has a guardian spirit, on whom he relies
+for succor and guidance. To him all nature is instinct with mystic
+influence. Among those mountains not a wild beast was prowling, a bird
+singing, or a leaf fluttering, that might not tend to direct his destiny
+or give warning of what was in store for him; and he watches the world
+of nature around him as the astrologer watches the stars. So closely is
+he linked with it that his guardian spirit, no unsubstantial creation of
+the fancy, is usually embodied in the form of some living thing--a bear,
+a wolf, an eagle, or a serpent; and Mene-Seela, as he gazed intently on
+the old pine tree, might believe it to inshrine the fancied guide and
+protector of his life.
+
+Whatever was passing in the mind of the old man, it was no part of
+sense or of delicacy to disturb him. Silently retracing my footsteps, I
+descended the glen until I came to a point where I could climb the steep
+precipices that shut it in, and gain the side of the mountain. Looking
+up, I saw a tall peak rising among the woods. Something impelled me to
+climb; I had not felt for many a day such strength and elasticity of
+limb. An hour and a half of slow and often intermittent labor brought me
+to the very summit; and emerging from the dark shadows of the rocks and
+pines, I stepped forth into the light, and walking along the sunny verge
+of a precipice, seated myself on its extreme point. Looking between the
+mountain peaks to the westward, the pale blue prairie was stretching to
+the farthest horizon like a serene and tranquil ocean. The surrounding
+mountains were in themselves sufficiently striking and impressive, but
+this contrast gave redoubled effect to their stern features.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+PASSAGE OF THE MOUNTAINS
+
+
+When I took leave of Shaw at La Bonte's Camp, I promised that I would
+meet him at Fort Laramie on the 1st of August. That day, according to my
+reckoning, was now close at hand. It was impossible, at best, to fulfill
+my engagement exactly, and my meeting with him must have been postponed
+until many days after the appointed time, had not the plans of the
+Indians very well coincided with my own. They too, intended to pass
+the mountains and move toward the fort. To do so at this point was
+impossible, because there was no opening; and in order to find a passage
+we were obliged to go twelve or fourteen miles southward. Late in the
+afternoon the camp got in motion, defiling back through the mountains
+along the same narrow passage by which they had entered. I rode in
+company with three or four young Indians at the rear, and the moving
+swarm stretched before me, in the ruddy light of sunset, or in the deep
+shadow of the mountains far beyond my sight. It was an ill-omened spot
+they chose to encamp upon. When they were there just a year before, a
+war party of ten men, led by The Whirlwind's son, had gone out against
+the enemy, and not one had ever returned. This was the immediate cause
+of this season's warlike preparations. I was not a little astonished
+when I came to the camp, at the confusion of horrible sounds with which
+it was filled; howls, shrieks, and wailings were heard from all the
+women present, many of whom not content with this exhibition of grief
+for the loss of their friends and relatives, were gashing their legs
+deeply with knives. A warrior in the village, who had lost a brother
+in the expedition; chose another mode of displaying his sorrow. The
+Indians, who, though often rapacious, are utterly devoid of avarice, are
+accustomed in times of mourning, or on other solemn occasions, to give
+away the whole of their possessions, and reduce themselves to nakedness
+and want. The warrior in question led his two best horses into the
+center of the village, and gave them away to his friends; upon which
+songs and acclamations in praise of his generosity mingled with the
+cries of the women.
+
+On the next morning we entered once more among the mountains. There was
+nothing in their appearance either grand or picturesque, though they
+were desolate to the last degree, being mere piles of black and broken
+rocks, without trees or vegetation of any kind. As we passed among them
+along a wide valley, I noticed Raymond riding by the side of a younger
+squaw, to whom he was addressing various insinuating compliments. All
+the old squaws in the neighborhood watched his proceedings in great
+admiration, and the girl herself would turn aside her head and laugh.
+Just then the old mule thought proper to display her vicious pranks; she
+began to rear and plunge most furiously. Raymond was an excellent rider,
+and at first he stuck fast in his seat; but the moment after, I saw
+the mule's hind-legs flourishing in the air, and my unlucky follower
+pitching head foremost over her ears. There was a burst of screams and
+laughter from all the women, in which his mistress herself took part,
+and Raymond was instantly assailed by such a shower of witticisms, that
+he was glad to ride forward out of hearing.
+
+Not long after, as I rode near him, I heard him shouting to me. He was
+pointing toward a detached rocky hill that stood in the middle of the
+valley before us, and from behind it a long file of elk came out at
+full speed and entered an opening in the side of the mountain. They had
+scarcely disappeared when whoops and exclamations came from fifty voices
+around me. The young men leaped from their horses, flung down their
+heavy buffalo robes, and ran at full speed toward the foot of the
+nearest mountain. Reynal also broke away at a gallop in the same
+direction, "Come on! come on!" he called to us. "Do you see that band of
+bighorn up yonder? If there's one of them, there's a hundred!"
+
+In fact, near the summit of the mountain, I could see a large number of
+small white objects, moving rapidly upward among the precipices, while
+others were filing along its rocky profile. Anxious to see the sport,
+I galloped forward, and entering a passage in the side of the mountain,
+ascended the loose rocks as far as my horse could carry me. Here I
+fastened her to an old pine tree that stood alone, scorching in the sun.
+At that moment Raymond called to me from the right that another band of
+sheep was close at hand in that direction. I ran up to the top of the
+opening, which gave me a full view into the rocky gorge beyond; and
+here I plainly saw some fifty or sixty sheep, almost within rifle-shot,
+clattering upward among the rocks, and endeavoring, after their usual
+custom, to reach the highest point. The naked Indians bounded up lightly
+in pursuit. In a moment the game and hunters disappeared. Nothing could
+be seen or heard but the occasional report of a gun, more and more
+distant, reverberating among the rocks.
+
+I turned to descend, and as I did so I could see the valley below alive
+with Indians passing rapidly through it, on horseback and on foot.
+A little farther on, all were stopping as they came up; the camp was
+preparing, and the lodges rising. I descended to this spot, and soon
+after Reynal and Raymond returned. They bore between them a sheep which
+they had pelted to death with stones from the edge of a ravine, along
+the bottom of which it was attempting to escape. One by one the hunters
+came dropping in; yet such is the activity of the Rocky Mountain sheep
+that, although sixty or seventy men were out in pursuit, not more than
+half a dozen animals were killed. Of these only one was a full-grown
+male. He had a pair of horns twisted like a ram's, the dimensions of
+which were almost beyond belief. I have seen among the Indians ladles
+with long handles, capable of containing more than a quart, cut from
+such horns.
+
+There is something peculiarly interesting in the character and habits
+of the mountain sheep, whose chosen retreats are above the region of
+vegetation and storms, and who leap among the giddy precipices of their
+aerial home as actively as the antelope skims over the prairies below.
+
+Through the whole of the next morning we were moving forward, among
+the hills. On the following day the heights gathered around us, and the
+passage of the mountains began in earnest. Before the village left its
+camping ground, I set forward in company with the Eagle-Feather, a man
+of powerful frame, but of bad and sinister face. His son, a light-limbed
+boy, rode with us, and another Indian, named the Panther, was also of
+the party. Leaving the village out of sight behind us, we rode together
+up a rocky defile. After a while, however, the Eagle-Feather discovered
+in the distance some appearance of game, and set off with his son in
+pursuit of it, while I went forward with the Panther. This was a mere
+NOM DE GUERRE; for, like many Indians, he concealed his real name out
+of some superstitious notion. He was a very noble looking fellow. As he
+suffered his ornamented buffalo robe to fall into folds about his loins,
+his stately and graceful figure was fully displayed; and while he sat
+his horse in an easy attitude, the long feathers of the prairie cock
+fluttering from the crown of his head, he seemed the very model of
+a wild prairie-rider. He had not the same features as those of other
+Indians. Unless his handsome face greatly belied him, he was free from
+the jealousy, suspicion, and malignant cunning of his people. For the
+most part, a civilized white man can discover but very few points
+of sympathy between his own nature and that of an Indian. With every
+disposition to do justice to their good qualities, he must be conscious
+that an impassable gulf lies between him and his red brethren of the
+prairie. Nay, so alien to himself do they appear that, having breathed
+for a few months or a few weeks the air of this region, he begins to
+look upon them as a troublesome and dangerous species of wild beast,
+and, if expedient, he could shoot them with as little compunction as
+they themselves would experience after performing the same office upon
+him. Yet, in the countenance of the Panther, I gladly read that there
+were at least some points of sympathy between him and me. We were
+excellent friends, and as we rode forward together through rocky
+passages, deep dells, and little barren plains, he occupied himself very
+zealously in teaching me the Dakota language. After a while, we came to
+a little grassy recess, where some gooseberry bushes were growing at the
+foot of a rock; and these offered such temptation to my companion, that
+he gave over his instruction, and stopped so long to gather the fruit
+that before we were in motion again the van of the village came in
+view. An old woman appeared, leading down her pack horse among the
+rocks above. Savage after savage followed, and the little dell was soon
+crowded with the throng.
+
+That morning's march was one not easily to be forgotten. It led us
+through a sublime waste, a wilderness of mountains and pine forests,
+over which the spirit of loneliness and silence seemed brooding. Above
+and below little could be seen but the same dark green foliage. It
+overspread the valleys, and the mountains were clothed with it from the
+black rocks that crowned their summits to the impetuous streams that
+circled round their base. Scenery like this, it might seem, could have
+no very cheering effect on the mind of a sick man (for to-day my disease
+had again assailed me) in the midst of a horde of savages; but if the
+reader has ever wandered, with a true hunter's spirit, among the forests
+of Maine, or the more picturesque solitudes of the Adirondack Mountains,
+he will understand how the somber woods and mountains around me might
+have awakened any other feelings than those of gloom. In truth they
+recalled gladdening recollections of similar scenes in a distant and far
+different land. After we had been advancing for several hours through
+passages always narrow, often obstructed and difficult, I saw at a
+little distance on our right a narrow opening between two high wooded
+precipices. All within seemed darkness and mystery. In the mood in which
+I found myself something strongly impelled me to enter. Passing over the
+intervening space I guided my horse through the rocky portal, and as
+I did so instinctively drew the covering from my rifle, half expecting
+that some unknown evil lay in ambush within those dreary recesses. The
+place was shut in among tall cliffs, and so deeply shadowed by a host
+of old pine trees that, though the sun shone bright on the side of the
+mountain, nothing but a dim twilight could penetrate within. As far as
+I could see it had no tenants except a few hawks and owls, who, dismayed
+at my intrusion, flapped hoarsely away among the shaggy branches. I
+moved forward, determined to explore the mystery to the bottom, and soon
+became involved among the pines. The genius of the place exercised
+a strange influence upon my mind. Its faculties were stimulated into
+extraordinary activity, and as I passed along many half-forgotten
+incidents, and the images of persons and things far distant, rose
+rapidly before me with surprising distinctness. In that perilous
+wilderness, eight hundred miles removed beyond the faintest vestige
+of civilization, the scenes of another hemisphere, the seat of ancient
+refinement, passed before me more like a succession of vivid paintings
+than any mere dreams of the fancy. I saw the church of St. Peter's
+illumined on the evening of Easter Day, the whole majestic pile, from
+the cross to the foundation stone, penciled in fire and shedding a
+radiance, like the serene light of the moon, on the sea of upturned
+faces below. I saw the peak of Mount Etna towering above its inky mantle
+of clouds and lightly curling its wreaths of milk-white smoke against
+the soft sky flushed with the Sicilian sunset. I saw also the gloomy
+vaulted passages and the narrow cells of the Passionist convent where
+I once had sojourned for a few days with the fanatical monks, its pale,
+stern inmates in their robes of black, and the grated window from whence
+I could look out, a forbidden indulgence, upon the melancholy Coliseum
+and the crumbling ruins of the Eternal City. The mighty glaciers of the
+Splugen too rose before me, gleaming in the sun like polished silver,
+and those terrible solitudes, the birthplace of the Rhine, where
+bursting from the bowels of its native mountains, it lashes and
+foams down the rocky abyss into the little valley of Andeer. These
+recollections, and many more, crowded upon me, until remembering that
+it was hardly wise to remain long in such a place, I mounted again
+and retraced my steps. Issuing from between the rocks I saw a few rods
+before me the men, women, and children, dogs and horses, still filing
+slowly across the little glen. A bare round hill rose directly above
+them. I rode to the top, and from this point I could look down on the
+savage procession as it passed just beneath my feet, and far on the
+left I could see its thin and broken line, visible only at intervals,
+stretching away for miles among the mountains. On the farthest ridge
+horsemen were still descending like mere specks in the distance.
+
+I remained on the hill until all had passed, and then, descending,
+followed after them. A little farther on I found a very small meadow,
+set deeply among steep mountains; and here the whole village had
+encamped. The little spot was crowded with the confused and disorderly
+host. Some of the lodges were already completely prepared, or the squaws
+perhaps were busy in drawing the heavy coverings of skin over the bare
+poles. Others were as yet mere skeletons, while others still--poles,
+covering, and all--lay scattered in complete disorder on the ground
+among buffalo robes, bales of meat, domestic utensils, harness, and
+weapons. Squaws were screaming to one another, horses rearing and
+plunging dogs yelping, eager to be disburdened of their loads, while
+the fluttering of feathers and the gleam of barbaric ornaments added
+liveliness to the scene. The small children ran about amid the crowd,
+while many of the boys were scrambling among the overhanging rocks, and
+standing, with their little bows in their hands, looking down upon a
+restless throng. In contrast with the general confusion, a circle of old
+men and warriors sat in the midst, smoking in profound indifference and
+tranquillity. The disorder at length subsided. The horses were driven
+away to feed along the adjacent valley, and the camp assumed an air of
+listless repose. It was scarcely past noon; a vast white canopy of smoke
+from a burning forest to the eastward overhung the place, and partially
+obscured the sun; yet the heat was almost insupportable. The lodges
+stood crowded together without order in the narrow space. Each was a
+perfect hothouse, within which the lazy proprietor lay sleeping. The
+camp was silent as death. Nothing stirred except now and then an old
+woman passing from lodge to lodge. The girls and young men sat together
+in groups under the pine trees upon the surrounding heights. The dogs
+lay panting on the ground, too lazy even to growl at the white man.
+At the entrance of the meadow there was a cold spring among the rocks,
+completely overshadowed by tall trees and dense undergrowth. In this
+cold and shady retreat a number of girls were assembled, sitting
+together on rocks and fallen logs, discussing the latest gossip of
+the village, or laughing and throwing water with their hands at the
+intruding Meneaska. The minutes seemed lengthened into hours. I lay
+for a long time under a tree, studying the Ogallalla tongue, with the
+zealous instructions of my friend the Panther. When we were both tired
+of this I went and lay down by the side of a deep, clear pool formed
+by the water of the spring. A shoal of little fishes of about a pin's
+length were playing in it, sporting together, as it seemed, very
+amicably; but on closer observation, I saw that they were engaged in a
+cannibal warfare among themselves. Now and then a small one would fall
+a victim, and immediately disappear down the maw of his voracious
+conqueror. Every moment, however, the tyrant of the pool, a monster
+about three inches long, with staring goggle eyes, would slowly issue
+forth with quivering fins and tail from under the shelving bank. The
+small fry at this would suspend their hostilities, and scatter in a
+panic at the appearance of overwhelming force.
+
+"Soft-hearted philanthropists," thought I, "may sigh long for their
+peaceful millennium; for from minnows up to men, life is an incessant
+battle."
+
+Evening approached at last, the tall mountain-tops around were still gay
+and bright in sunshine, while our deep glen was completely shadowed.
+I left the camp and ascended a neighboring hill, whose rocky summit
+commanded a wide view over the surrounding wilderness. The sun was still
+glaring through the stiff pines on the ridge of the western mountain.
+In a moment he was gone, and as the landscape rapidly darkened, I turned
+again toward the village. As I descended the hill, the howling of wolves
+and the barking of foxes came up out of the dim woods from far and near.
+The camp was glowing with a multitude of fires, and alive with dusky
+naked figures, whose tall shadows flitted among the surroundings crags.
+
+I found a circle of smokers seated in their usual place; that is, on the
+ground before the lodge of a certain warrior, who seemed to be generally
+known for his social qualities. I sat down to smoke a parting pipe
+with my savage friends. That day was the 1st of August, on which I had
+promised to meet Shaw at Fort Laramie. The Fort was less than two
+days' journey distant, and that my friend need not suffer anxiety on my
+account, I resolved to push forward as rapidly as possible to the place
+of meeting. I went to look after the Hail-Storm, and having found him,
+I offered him a handful of hawks'-bells and a paper of vermilion, on
+condition that he would guide me in the morning through the mountains
+within sight of Laramie Creek.
+
+The Hail-Storm ejaculated "How!" and accepted the gift. Nothing more was
+said on either side; the matter was settled, and I lay down to sleep in
+Kongra-Tonga's lodge.
+
+Long before daylight Raymond shook me by the shoulder.
+
+"Everything is ready," he said.
+
+I went out. The morning was chill, damp, and dark; and the whole camp
+seemed asleep. The Hail-Storm sat on horseback before the lodge, and my
+mare Pauline and the mule which Raymond rode were picketed near it.
+We saddled and made our other arrangements for the journey, but before
+these were completed the camp began to stir, and the lodge-coverings
+fluttered and rustled as the squaws pulled them down in preparation for
+departure. Just as the light began to appear we left the ground, passing
+up through a narrow opening among the rocks which led eastward out of
+the meadow. Gaining the top of this passage, I turned round and sat
+looking back upon the camp, dimly visible in the gray light of the
+morning. All was alive with the bustle of preparation. I turned away,
+half unwilling to take a final leave of my savage associates. We turned
+to the right, passing among the rocks and pine trees so dark that for a
+while we could scarcely see our way. The country in front was wild and
+broken, half hill, half plain, partly open and partly covered with woods
+of pine and oak. Barriers of lofty mountains encompassed it; the woods
+were fresh and cool in the early morning; the peaks of the mountains
+were wreathed with mist, and sluggish vapors were entangled among the
+forests upon their sides. At length the black pinnacle of the tallest
+mountain was tipped with gold by the rising sun. About that time the
+Hail-Storm, who rode in front gave a low exclamation. Some large animal
+leaped up from among the bushes, and an elk, as I thought, his horns
+thrown back over his neck, darted past us across the open space, and
+bounded like a mad thing away among the adjoining pines. Raymond was
+soon out of his saddle, but before he could fire, the animal was full
+two hundred yards distant. The ball struck its mark, though much too low
+for mortal effect. The elk, however, wheeled in its flight, and ran at
+full speed among the trees, nearly at right angles to his former course.
+I fired and broke his shoulder; still he moved on, limping down into the
+neighboring woody hollow, whither the young Indian followed and killed
+him. When we reached the spot we discovered him to be no elk, but a
+black-tailed deer, an animal nearly twice the size of the common deer,
+and quite unknown to the East. We began to cut him up; the reports of
+the rifles had reached the ears of the Indians, and before our task was
+finished several of them came to the spot. Leaving the hide of the deer
+to the Hail-Storm, we hung as much of the meat as we wanted behind
+our saddles, left the rest to the Indians, and resumed our journey.
+Meanwhile the village was on its way, and had gone so far that to get in
+advance of it was impossible. Therefore we directed our course so as to
+strike its line of march at the nearest point. In a short time, through
+the dark trunks of the pines, we could see the figures of the Indians
+as they passed. Once more we were among them. They were moving with even
+more than their usual precipitation, crowded close together in a narrow
+pass between rocks and old pine trees. We were on the eastern descent
+of the mountain, and soon came to a rough and difficult defile, leading
+down a very steep declivity. The whole swarm poured down together,
+filling the rocky passageway like some turbulent mountain stream. The
+mountains before us were on fire, and had been so for weeks. The view in
+front was obscured by a vast dim sea of smoke and vapor, while on either
+hand the tall cliffs, bearing aloft their crest of pines, thrust their
+heads boldly through it, and the sharp pinnacles and broken ridges of
+the mountains beyond them were faintly traceable as through a veil.
+The scene in itself was most grand and imposing, but with the savage
+multitude, the armed warriors, the naked children, the gayly appareled
+girls, pouring impetuously down the heights, it would have formed a
+noble subject for a painter, and only the pen of a Scott could have done
+it justice in description.
+
+We passed over a burnt tract where the ground was hot beneath the
+horses' feet, and between the blazing sides of two mountains. Before
+long we had descended to a softer region, where we found a succession
+of little valleys watered by a stream, along the borders of which grew
+abundance of wild gooseberries and currants, and the children and many
+of the men straggled from the line of march to gather them as we passed
+along. Descending still farther, the view changed rapidly. The burning
+mountains were behind us, and through the open valleys in front we could
+see the ocean-like prairie, stretching beyond the sight. After passing
+through a line of trees that skirted the brook, the Indians filed out
+upon the plains. I was thirsty and knelt down by the little stream to
+drink. As I mounted again I very carelessly left my rifle among the
+grass, and my thoughts being otherwise absorbed, I rode for some
+distance before discovering its absence. As the reader may conceive,
+I lost no time in turning about and galloping back in search of it.
+Passing the line of Indians, I watched every warrior as he rode by me at
+a canter, and at length discovered my rifle in the hands of one of them,
+who, on my approaching to claim it, immediately gave it up. Having no
+other means of acknowledging the obligation, I took off one of my spurs
+and gave it to him. He was greatly delighted, looking upon it as a
+distinguished mark of favor, and immediately held out his foot for me to
+buckle it on. As soon as I had done so, he struck it with force into
+the side of his horse, who gave a violent leap. The Indian laughed and
+spurred harder than before. At this the horse shot away like an arrow,
+amid the screams and laughter of the squaws, and the ejaculations of the
+men, who exclaimed: "Washtay!--Good!" at the potent effect of my gift.
+The Indian had no saddle, and nothing in place of a bridle except a
+leather string tied round the horse's jaw. The animal was of course
+wholly uncontrollable, and stretched away at full speed over the
+prairie, till he and his rider vanished behind a distant swell. I never
+saw the man again, but I presume no harm came to him. An Indian on
+horseback has more lives than a cat.
+
+The village encamped on a scorching prairie, close to the foot of the
+mountains. The beat was most intense and penetrating. The coverings
+of the lodges were raised a foot or more from the ground, in order to
+procure some circulation of air; and Reynal thought proper to lay aside
+his trapper's dress of buckskin and assume the very scanty costume of an
+Indian. Thus elegantly attired, he stretched himself in his lodge on a
+buffalo robe, alternately cursing the heat and puffing at the pipe which
+he and I passed between us. There was present also a select circle of
+Indian friends and relatives. A small boiled puppy was served up as a
+parting feast, to which was added, by way of dessert, a wooden bowl of
+gooseberries, from the mountains.
+
+"Look there," said Reynal, pointing out of the opening of his lodge; "do
+you see that line of buttes about fifteen miles off? Well, now, do you
+see that farthest one, with the white speck on the face of it? Do you
+think you ever saw it before?"
+
+"It looks to me," said I, "like the hill that we were camped under when
+we were on Laramie Creek, six or eight weeks ago."
+
+"You've hit it," answered Reynal.
+
+"Go and bring in the animals, Raymond," said I: "we'll camp there
+to-night, and start for the Fort in the morning."
+
+The mare and the mule were soon before the lodge. We saddled them, and
+in the meantime a number of Indians collected about us. The virtues of
+Pauline, my strong, fleet, and hardy little mare, were well known in
+camp, and several of the visitors were mounted upon good horses which
+they had brought me as presents. I promptly declined their offers, since
+accepting them would have involved the necessity of transferring poor
+Pauline into their barbarous hands. We took leave of Reynal, but not
+of the Indians, who are accustomed to dispense with such superfluous
+ceremonies. Leaving the camp we rode straight over the prairie toward
+the white-faced bluff, whose pale ridges swelled gently against the
+horizon, like a cloud. An Indian went with us, whose name I forget,
+though the ugliness of his face and the ghastly width of his mouth dwell
+vividly in my recollection. The antelope were numerous, but we did not
+heed them. We rode directly toward our destination, over the arid plains
+and barren hills, until, late in the afternoon, half spent with heat,
+thirst, and fatigue, we saw a gladdening sight; the long line of trees
+and the deep gulf that mark the course of Laramie Creek. Passing through
+the growth of huge dilapidated old cottonwood trees that bordered the
+creek, we rode across to the other side.
+
+The rapid and foaming waters were filled with fish playing and splashing
+in the shallows. As we gained the farther bank, our horses turned
+eagerly to drink, and we, kneeling on the sand, followed their example.
+We had not gone far before the scene began to grow familiar.
+
+"We are getting near home, Raymond," said I.
+
+There stood the Big Tree under which we had encamped so long; there were
+the white cliffs that used to look down upon our tent when it stood
+at the bend of the creek; there was the meadow in which our horses had
+grazed for weeks, and a little farther on, the prairie-dog village
+where I had beguiled many a languid hour in persecuting the unfortunate
+inhabitants.
+
+"We are going to catch it now," said Raymond, turning his broad, vacant
+face up toward the sky.
+
+In truth, the landscape, the cliffs and the meadow, the stream and the
+groves were darkening fast. Black masses of cloud were swelling up in
+the south, and the thunder was growling ominously.
+
+"We will camp here," I said, pointing to a dense grove of trees lower
+down the stream. Raymond and I turned toward it, but the Indian stopped
+and called earnestly after us. When we demanded what was the matter, he
+said that the ghosts of two warriors were always among those trees, and
+that if we slept there, they would scream and throw stones at us all
+night, and perhaps steal our horses before morning. Thinking it as well
+to humor him, we left behind us the haunt of these extraordinary ghosts,
+and passed on toward Chugwater, riding at full gallop, for the big drops
+began to patter down. Soon we came in sight of the poplar saplings that
+grew about the mouth of the little stream. We leaped to the ground,
+threw off our saddles, turned our horses loose, and drawing our knives,
+began to slash among the bushes to cut twigs and branches for making a
+shelter against the rain. Bending down the taller saplings as they
+grew, we piled the young shoots upon them; and thus made a convenient
+penthouse, but all our labor was useless. The storm scarcely touched us.
+Half a mile on our right the rain was pouring down like a cataract, and
+the thunder roared over the prairie like a battery of cannon; while we
+by good fortune received only a few heavy drops from the skirt of the
+passing cloud. The weather cleared and the sun set gloriously. Sitting
+close under our leafy canopy, we proceeded to discuss a substantial meal
+of wasna which Weah-Washtay had given me. The Indian had brought with
+him his pipe and a bag of shongsasha; so before lying down to sleep,
+we sat for some time smoking together. Previously, however, our
+wide-mouthed friend had taken the precaution of carefully examining the
+neighborhood. He reported that eight men, counting them on his fingers,
+had been encamped there not long before. Bisonette, Paul Dorion, Antoine
+Le Rouge, Richardson, and four others, whose names he could not tell.
+All this proved strictly correct. By what instinct he had arrived at
+such accurate conclusions, I am utterly at a loss to divine.
+
+It was still quite dark when I awoke and called Raymond. The Indian was
+already gone, having chosen to go on before us to the Fort. Setting out
+after him, we rode for some time in complete darkness, and when the sun
+at length rose, glowing like a fiery ball of copper, we were ten miles
+distant from the Fort. At length, from the broken summit of a tall sandy
+bluff we could see Fort Laramie, miles before us, standing by the side
+of the stream like a little gray speck in the midst of the bounding
+desolation. I stopped my horse, and sat for a moment looking down upon
+it. It seemed to me the very center of comfort and civilization. We were
+not long in approaching it, for we rode at speed the greater part of the
+way. Laramie Creek still intervened between us and the friendly walls.
+Entering the water at the point where we had struck upon the bank, we
+raised our feet to the saddle behind us, and thus, kneeling as it were
+on horseback, passed dry-shod through the swift current. As we rode up
+the bank, a number of men appeared in the gateway. Three of them came
+forward to meet us. In a moment I distinguished Shaw; Henry Chatillon
+followed with his face of manly simplicity and frankness, and Delorier
+came last, with a broad grin of welcome. The meeting was not on either
+side one of mere ceremony. For my own part, the change was a most
+agreeable one from the society of savages and men little better than
+savages, to that of my gallant and high-minded companion and our
+noble-hearted guide. My appearance was equally gratifying to Shaw, who
+was beginning to entertain some very uncomfortable surmises concerning
+me.
+
+Bordeaux greeted me very cordially, and shouted to the cook. This
+functionary was a new acquisition, having lately come from Fort Pierre
+with the trading wagons. Whatever skill he might have boasted, he had
+not the most promising materials to exercise it upon. He set before me,
+however, a breakfast of biscuit, coffee, and salt pork. It seemed like a
+new phase of existence, to be seated once more on a bench, with a knife
+and fork, a plate and teacup, and something resembling a table before
+me. The coffee seemed delicious, and the bread was a most welcome
+novelty, since for three weeks I had eaten scarcely anything but meat,
+and that for the most part without salt. The meal also had the relish of
+good company, for opposite to me sat Shaw in elegant dishabille. If one
+is anxious thoroughly to appreciate the value of a congenial companion,
+he has only to spend a few weeks by himself in an Ogallalla village. And
+if he can contrive to add to his seclusion a debilitating and somewhat
+critical illness, his perceptions upon this subject will be rendered
+considerably more vivid.
+
+Shaw had been upward of two weeks at the Fort. I found him established
+in his old quarters, a large apartment usually occupied by the absent
+bourgeois. In one corner was a soft and luxuriant pile of excellent
+buffalo robes, and here I lay down. Shaw brought me three books.
+
+"Here," said he, "is your Shakespeare and Byron, and here is the
+Old Testament, which has as much poetry in it as the other two put
+together."
+
+I chose the worst of the three, and for the greater part of that day
+lay on the buffalo robes, fairly reveling in the creations of that
+resplendent genius which has achieved no more signal triumph than that
+of half beguiling us to forget the pitiful and unmanly character of its
+possessor.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+THE LONELY JOURNEY
+
+
+On the day of my arrival at Fort Laramie, Shaw and I were lounging on
+two buffalo robes in the large apartment hospitably assigned to us;
+Henry Chatillon also was present, busy about the harness and weapons,
+which had been brought into the room, and two or three Indians were
+crouching on the floor, eyeing us with their fixed, unwavering gaze.
+
+"I have been well off here," said Shaw, "in all respects but one; there
+is no good shongsasha to be had for love or money."
+
+I gave him a small leather bag containing some of excellent quality,
+which I had brought from the Black Hills.
+
+"Now, Henry," said he, "hand me Papin's chopping-board, or give it to
+that Indian, and let him cut the mixture; they understand it better than
+any white man."
+
+The Indian, without saying a word, mixed the bark and the tobacco in due
+proportions, filled the pipe and lighted it. This done, my companion
+and I proceeded to deliberate on our future course of proceeding; first,
+however, Shaw acquainted me with some incidents which had occurred at
+the fort during my absence.
+
+About a week previous four men had arrived from beyond the mountains;
+Sublette, Reddick, and two others. Just before reaching the Fort
+they had met a large party of Indians, chiefly young men. All of them
+belonged to the village of our old friend Smoke, who, with his whole
+band of adherents, professed the greatest friendship for the whites. The
+travelers therefore approached, and began to converse without the least
+suspicion. Suddenly, however, their bridles were violently seized and
+they were ordered to dismount. Instead of complying, they struck
+their horses with full force, and broke away from the Indians. As
+they galloped off they heard a yell behind them, mixed with a burst of
+derisive laughter, and the reports of several guns. None of them were
+hurt though Reddick's bridle rein was cut by a bullet within an inch of
+his hand. After this taste of Indian hostility they felt for the moment
+no disposition to encounter further risks. They intended to pursue the
+route southward along the foot of the mountains to Bent's Fort; and as
+our plans coincided with theirs, they proposed to join forces. Finding,
+however, that I did not return, they grew impatient of inaction, forgot
+their late escape, and set out without us, promising to wait our arrival
+at Bent's Fort. From thence we were to make the long journey to the
+settlements in company, as the path was not a little dangerous, being
+infested by hostile Pawnees and Comanches.
+
+We expected, on reaching Bent's Fort, to find there still another
+re-enforcement. A young Kentuckian of the true Kentucky blood, generous,
+impetuous, and a gentleman withal, had come out to the mountains with
+Russel's party of California emigrants. One of his chief objects, as
+he gave out, was to kill an Indian; an exploit which he afterwards
+succeeded in achieving, much to the jeopardy of ourselves and others who
+had to pass through the country of the dead Pawnee's enraged relatives.
+Having become disgusted with his emigrant associates he left them, and
+had some time before set out with a party of companions for the head of
+the Arkansas. He sent us previously a letter, intimating that he would
+wait until we arrived at Bent's Fort, and accompany us thence to the
+settlements. When, however, he came to the Fort, he found there a party
+of forty men about to make the homeward journey. He wisely preferred to
+avail himself of so strong an escort. Mr. Sublette and his companions
+also set out, in order to overtake this company; so that on reaching
+Bent's Fort, some six weeks after, we found ourselves deserted by our
+allies and thrown once more upon our own resources.
+
+But I am anticipating. When, before leaving the settlement we had made
+inquiries concerning this part of the country of General Kearny, Mr.
+Mackenzie, Captain Wyeth, and others well acquainted with it, they had
+all advised us by no means to attempt this southward journey with
+fewer than fifteen or twenty men. The danger consists in the chance of
+encountering Indian war parties. Sometimes throughout the whole length
+of the journey (a distance of 350 miles) one does not meet a single
+human being; frequently, however, the route is beset by Arapahoes and
+other unfriendly tribes; in which case the scalp of the adventurer is in
+imminent peril. As to the escort of fifteen or twenty men, such a force
+of whites could at that time scarcely be collected by the whole country;
+and had the case been otherwise, the expense of securing them, together
+with the necessary number of horses, would have been extremely heavy. We
+had resolved, however, upon pursuing this southward course. There were,
+indeed, two other routes from Fort Laramie; but both of these were less
+interesting, and neither was free from danger. Being unable therefore to
+procure the fifteen or twenty men recommended, we determined to set out
+with those we had already in our employ, Henry Chatillon, Delorier, and
+Raymond. The men themselves made no objection, nor would they have made
+any had the journey been more dangerous; for Henry was without fear, and
+the other two without thought.
+
+Shaw and I were much better fitted for this mode of traveling than we
+had been on betaking ourselves to the prairies for the first time a few
+months before. The daily routine had ceased to be a novelty. All the
+details of the journey and the camp had become familiar to us. We had
+seen life under a new aspect; the human biped had been reduced to his
+primitive condition. We had lived without law to protect, a roof to
+shelter, or garment of cloth to cover us. One of us at least had been
+without bread, and without salt to season his food. Our idea of what
+is indispensable to human existence and enjoyment had been wonderfully
+curtailed, and a horse, a rifle, and a knife seemed to make up the whole
+of life's necessaries. For these once obtained, together with the skill
+to use them, all else that is essential would follow in their train,
+and a host of luxuries besides. One other lesson our short prairie
+experience had taught us; that of profound contentment in the present,
+and utter contempt for what the future might bring forth.
+
+These principles established, we prepared to leave Fort Laramie. On the
+fourth day of August, early in the afternoon, we bade a final adieu to
+its hospitable gateway. Again Shaw and I were riding side by side on the
+prairie. For the first fifty miles we had companions with us; Troche,
+a little trapper, and Rouville, a nondescript in the employ of the Fur
+Company, who were going to join the trader Bisonette at his encampment
+near the head of Horse Creek. We rode only six or eight miles that
+afternoon before we came to a little brook traversing the barren
+prairie. All along its course grew copses of young wild-cherry trees,
+loaded with ripe fruit, and almost concealing the gliding thread of
+water with their dense growth, while on each side rose swells of rich
+green grass. Here we encamped; and being much too indolent to pitch
+our tent, we flung our saddles on the ground, spread a pair of buffalo
+robes, lay down upon them, and began to smoke. Meanwhile, Delorier
+busied himself with his hissing frying-pan, and Raymond stood guard
+over the band of grazing horses. Delorier had an active assistant in
+Rouville, who professed great skill in the culinary art, and seizing
+upon a fork, began to lend his zealous aid in making ready supper.
+Indeed, according to his own belief, Rouville was a man of universal
+knowledge, and he lost no opportunity to display his manifold
+accomplishments. He had been a circus-rider at St. Louis, and once he
+rode round Fort Laramie on his head, to the utter bewilderment of all
+the Indians. He was also noted as the wit of the Fort; and as he had
+considerable humor and abundant vivacity, he contributed more that
+night to the liveliness of the camp than all the rest of the party put
+together. At one instant he would be kneeling by Delorier, instructing
+him in the true method of frying antelope steaks, then he would come and
+seat himself at our side, dilating upon the orthodox fashion of braiding
+up a horse's tail, telling apocryphal stories how he had killed a
+buffalo bull with a knife, having first cut off his tail when at full
+speed, or relating whimsical anecdotes of the bourgeois Papin. At last
+he snatched up a volume of Shakespeare that was lying on the grass, and
+halted and stumbled through a line or two to prove that he could read.
+He went gamboling about the camp, chattering like some frolicsome ape;
+and whatever he was doing at one moment, the presumption was a sure
+one that he would not be doing it the next. His companion Troche sat
+silently on the grass, not speaking a word, but keeping a vigilant eye
+on a very ugly little Utah squaw, of whom he was extremely jealous.
+
+On the next day we traveled farther, crossing the wide sterile basin
+called Goche's Hole. Toward night we became involved among deep ravines;
+and being also unable to find water, our journey was protracted to
+a very late hour. On the next morning we had to pass a long line of
+bluffs, whose raw sides, wrought upon by rains and storms, were of a
+ghastly whiteness most oppressive to the sight. As we ascended a gap
+in these hills, the way was marked by huge foot-prints, like those of
+a human giant. They were the track of the grizzly bear; and on the
+previous day also we had seen abundance of them along the dry channels
+of the streams we had passed. Immediately after this we were crossing a
+barren plain, spreading in long and gentle undulations to the horizon.
+Though the sun was bright, there was a light haze in the atmosphere.
+The distant hills assumed strange, distorted forms, and the edge of
+the horizon was continually changing its aspect. Shaw and I were riding
+together, and Henry Chatillon was alone, a few rods before us; he
+stopped his horse suddenly, and turning round with the peculiar eager
+and earnest expression which he always wore when excited, he called
+to us to come forward. We galloped to his side. Henry pointed toward a
+black speck on the gray swell of the prairie, apparently about a mile
+off. "It must be a bear," said he; "come, now, we shall all have some
+sport. Better fun to fight him than to fight an old buffalo bull;
+grizzly bear so strong and smart."
+
+So we all galloped forward together, prepared for a hard fight; for
+these bears, though clumsy in appearance and extremely large, are
+incredibly fierce and active. The swell of the prairie concealed the
+black object from our view. Immediately after it appeared again. But now
+it seemed quite near to us; and as we looked at it in astonishment,
+it suddenly separated into two parts, each of which took wing and
+flew away. We stopped our horses and looked round at Henry, whose face
+exhibited a curious mixture of mirth and mortification. His hawk's eye
+had been so completely deceived by the peculiar atmosphere that he had
+mistaken two large crows at the distance of fifty rods for a grizzly
+bear a mile off. To the journey's end Henry never heard the last of the
+grizzly bear with wings.
+
+In the afternoon we came to the foot of a considerable hill. As we
+ascended it Rouville began to ask questions concerning our conditions
+and prospects at home, and Shaw was edifying him with a minute account
+of an imaginary wife and child, to which he listened with implicit
+faith. Reaching the top of the hill we saw the windings of Horse Creek
+on the plains below us, and a little on the left we could distinguish
+the camp of Bisonette among the trees and copses along the course of
+the stream. Rouville's face assumed just then a most ludicrously blank
+expression. We inquired what was the matter, when it appeared that
+Bisonette had sent him from this place to Fort Laramie with the sole
+object of bringing back a supply of tobacco. Our rattle-brain friend,
+from the time of his reaching the Fort up to the present moment, had
+entirely forgotten the object of his journey, and had ridden a dangerous
+hundred miles for nothing. Descending to Horse Creek we forded it, and
+on the opposite bank a solitary Indian sat on horseback under a tree. He
+said nothing, but turned and led the way toward the camp. Bisonette had
+made choice of an admirable position. The stream, with its thick growth
+of trees, inclosed on three sides a wide green meadow, where about forty
+Dakota lodges were pitched in a circle, and beyond them half a dozen
+lodges of the friendly Cheyenne. Bisonette himself lived in the Indian
+manner. Riding up to his lodge, we found him seated at the head of it,
+surrounded by various appliances of comfort not common on the prairie.
+His squaw was near him, and rosy children were scrambling about in
+printed-calico gowns; Paul Dorion also, with his leathery face and old
+white capote, was seated in the lodge, together with Antoine Le Rouge, a
+half-breed Pawnee, Sibille, a trader, and several other white men.
+
+"It will do you no harm," said Bisonette, "to stay here with us for a
+day or two, before you start for the Pueblo."
+
+We accepted the invitation, and pitched our tent on a rising ground
+above the camp and close to the edge of the trees. Bisonette soon
+invited us to a feast, and we suffered abundance of the same sort of
+attention from his Indian associates. The reader may possibly recollect
+that when I joined the Indian village, beyond the Black Hills, I found
+that a few families were absent, having declined to pass the mountains
+along with the rest. The Indians in Bisonette's camp consisted of these
+very families, and many of them came to me that evening to inquire after
+their relatives and friends. They were not a little mortified to learn
+that while they, from their own timidity and indolence, were almost in
+a starving condition, the rest of the village had provided their lodges
+for the next season, laid in a great stock of provisions, and were
+living in abundance and luxury. Bisonette's companions had been
+sustaining themselves for some time on wild cherries, which the squaws
+pounded up, stones and all, and spread on buffalo robes, to dry in the
+sun; they were then eaten without further preparation, or used as an
+ingredient in various delectable compounds.
+
+On the next day the camp was in commotion with a new arrival. A single
+Indian had come with his family the whole way from the Arkansas. As he
+passed among the lodges he put on an expression of unusual dignity and
+importance, and gave out that he had brought great news to tell the
+whites. Soon after the squaws had erected his lodge, he sent his little
+son to invite all the white men, and all the most distinguished Indians,
+to a feast. The guests arrived and sat wedged together, shoulder to
+shoulder, within the hot and suffocating lodge. The Stabber, for that
+was our entertainer's name, had killed an old buffalo bull on his way.
+This veteran's boiled tripe, tougher than leather, formed the main item
+of the repast. For the rest, it consisted of wild cherries and grease
+boiled together in a large copper kettle. The feast was distributed, and
+for a moment all was silent, strenuous exertion; then each guest, with
+one or two exceptions, however, turned his wooden dish bottom upward to
+prove that he had done full justice to his entertainer's hospitality.
+The Stabber next produced his chopping board, on which he prepared the
+mixture for smoking, and filled several pipes, which circulated among
+the company. This done, he seated himself upright on his couch, and
+began with much gesticulation to tell his story. I will not repeat
+his childish jargon. It was so entangled, like the greater part of an
+Indian's stories, with absurd and contradictory details, that it was
+almost impossible to disengage from it a single particle of truth. All
+that we could gather was the following:
+
+He had been on the Arkansas, and there he had seen six great war parties
+of whites. He had never believed before that the whole world contained
+half so many white men. They all had large horses, long knives, and
+short rifles, and some of them were attired alike in the most splendid
+war dresses he had ever seen. From this account it was clear that bodies
+of dragoons and perhaps also of volunteer cavalry had been passing up
+the Arkansas. The Stabber had also seen a great many of the white lodges
+of the Meneaska, drawn by their long-horned buffalo. These could be
+nothing else than covered ox-wagons used no doubt in transporting stores
+for the troops. Soon after seeing this, our host had met an Indian who
+had lately come from among the Comanches. The latter had told him
+that all the Mexicans had gone out to a great buffalo hunt. That the
+Americans had hid themselves in a ravine. When the Mexicans had shot
+away all their arrows, the Americans had fired their guns, raised their
+war-whoop, rushed out, and killed them all. We could only infer from
+this that war had been declared with Mexico, and a battle fought in
+which the Americans were victorious. When, some weeks after, we arrived
+at the Pueblo, we heard of General Kearny's march up the Arkansas and of
+General Taylor's victories at Matamoras.
+
+As the sun was setting that evening a great crowd gathered on the plain
+by the side of our tent, to try the speed of their horses. These were of
+every shape, size, and color. Some came from California, some from the
+States, some from among the mountains, and some from the wild bands of
+the prairie. They were of every hue--white, black, red, and gray, or
+mottled and clouded with a strange variety of colors. They all had a
+wild and startled look, very different from the staid and sober aspect
+of a well-bred city steed. Those most noted for swiftness and spirit
+were decorated with eagle-feathers dangling from their manes and tails.
+Fifty or sixty Dakotas were present, wrapped from head to foot in their
+heavy robes of whitened hide. There were also a considerable number of
+the Cheyenne, many of whom wore gaudy Mexican ponchos swathed around
+their shoulders, but leaving the right arm bare. Mingled among the
+crowd of Indians were a number of Canadians, chiefly in the employ of
+Bisonette; men, whose home is in the wilderness, and who love the camp
+fire better than the domestic hearth. They are contented and happy in
+the midst of hardship, privation, and danger. Their cheerfulness and
+gayety is irrepressible, and no people on earth understand better how
+"to daff the world aside and bid it pass." Besides these, were two or
+three half-breeds, a race of rather extraordinary composition, being
+according to the common saying half Indian, half white man, and half
+devil. Antoine Le Rouge was the most conspicuous among them, with his
+loose pantaloons and his fluttering calico skirt. A handkerchief was
+bound round his head to confine his black snaky hair, and his small
+eyes twinkled beneath it, with a mischievous luster. He had a fine
+cream-colored horse whose speed he must needs try along with the rest.
+So he threw off the rude high-peaked saddle, and substituting a piece of
+buffalo robe, leaped lightly into his seat. The space was cleared, the
+word was given, and he and his Indian rival darted out like lightning
+from among the crowd, each stretching forward over his horse's neck and
+plying his heavy Indian whip with might and main. A moment, and both
+were lost in the gloom; but Antoine soon came riding back victorious,
+exultingly patting the neck of his quivering and panting horse.
+
+About midnight, as I lay asleep, wrapped in a buffalo robe on the ground
+by the side of our cart, Raymond came up and woke me. Something he said,
+was going forward which I would like to see. Looking down into camp
+I saw, on the farther side of it, a great number of Indians gathered
+around a fire, the bright glare of which made them visible through the
+thick darkness; while from the midst of them proceeded a loud, measured
+chant which would have killed Paganini outright, broken occasionally by
+a burst of sharp yells. I gathered the robe around me, for the night
+was cold, and walked down to the spot. The dark throng of Indians was
+so dense that they almost intercepted the light of the flame. As I was
+pushing among them with but little ceremony, a chief interposed himself,
+and I was given to understand that a white man must not approach the
+scene of their solemnities too closely. By passing round to the other
+side, where there was a little opening in the crowd, I could see clearly
+what was going forward, without intruding my unhallowed presence into
+the inner circle. The society of the "Strong Hearts" were engaged in one
+of their dances. The Strong Hearts are a warlike association, comprising
+men of both the Dakota and Cheyenne nations, and entirely composed,
+or supposed to be so, of young braves of the highest mettle. Its
+fundamental principle is the admirable one of never retreating from any
+enterprise once commenced. All these Indian associations have a tutelary
+spirit. That of the Strong Hearts is embodied in the fox, an animal
+which a white man would hardly have selected for a similar purpose,
+though his subtle and cautious character agrees well enough with an
+Indian's notions of what is honorable in warfare. The dancers were
+circling round and round the fire, each figure brightly illumined at one
+moment by the yellow light, and at the next drawn in blackest shadow as
+it passed between the flame and the spectator. They would imitate with
+the most ludicrous exactness the motions and the voice of their sly
+patron the fox. Then a startling yell would be given. Many other
+warriors would leap into the ring, and with faces upturned toward
+the starless sky, they would all stamp, and whoop, and brandish their
+weapons like so many frantic devils.
+
+Until the next afternoon we were still remaining with Bisonette. My
+companion and I with our three attendants then left his camp for the
+Pueblo, a distance of three hundred miles, and we supposed the journey
+would occupy about a fortnight. During this time we all earnestly hoped
+that we might not meet a single human being, for should we encounter
+any, they would in all probability be enemies, ferocious robbers and
+murderers, in whose eyes our rifles would be our only passports. For
+the first two days nothing worth mentioning took place. On the third
+morning, however, an untoward incident occurred. We were encamped by the
+side of a little brook in an extensive hollow of the plain. Delorier
+was up long before daylight, and before he began to prepare breakfast
+he turned loose all the horses, as in duty bound. There was a cold mist
+clinging close to the ground, and by the time the rest of us were awake
+the animals were invisible. It was only after a long and anxious search
+that we could discover by their tracks the direction they had taken.
+They had all set off for Fort Laramie, following the guidance of a
+mutinous old mule, and though many of them were hobbled they had driven
+three miles before they could be overtaken and driven back.
+
+For the following two or three days we were passing over an arid desert.
+The only vegetation was a few tufts of short grass, dried and shriveled
+by the heat. There was an abundance of strange insects and reptiles.
+Huge crickets, black and bottle green, and wingless grasshoppers of the
+most extravagant dimensions, were tumbling about our horses' feet, and
+lizards without numbers were darting like lightning among the tufts of
+grass. The most curious animal, however, was that commonly called the
+horned frog. I caught one of them and consigned him to the care of
+Delorier, who tied him up in a moccasin. About a month after this I
+examined the prisoner's condition, and finding him still lively and
+active, I provided him with a cage of buffalo hide, which was hung up
+in the cart. In this manner he arrived safely at the settlements. From
+thence he traveled the whole way to Boston packed closely in a trunk,
+being regaled with fresh air regularly every night. When he reached his
+destination he was deposited under a glass case, where he sat for some
+months in great tranquillity and composure, alternately dilating and
+contracting his white throat to the admiration of his visitors. At
+length, one morning, about the middle of winter, he gave up the ghost.
+His death was attributed to starvation, a very probable conclusion,
+since for six months he had taken no food whatever, though the sympathy
+of his juvenile admirers had tempted his palate with a great variety
+of delicacies. We found also animals of a somewhat larger growth. The
+number of prairie dogs was absolutely astounding. Frequently the hard
+and dry prairie would be thickly covered, for many miles together, with
+the little mounds which they make around the mouth of their burrows, and
+small squeaking voices yelping at us as we passed along. The noses of
+the inhabitants would be just visible at the mouth of their holes,
+but no sooner was their curiosity satisfied than they would instantly
+vanish. Some of the bolder dogs--though in fact they are no dogs at all,
+but little marmots rather smaller than a rabbit--would sit yelping at us
+on the top of their mounds, jerking their tails emphatically with every
+shrill cry they uttered. As the danger grew nearer they would wheel
+about, toss their heels into the air, and dive in a twinkling down into
+their burrows. Toward sunset, and especially if rain were threatening,
+the whole community would make their appearance above ground. We would
+see them gathered in large knots around the burrow of some favorite
+citizen. There they would all sit erect, their tails spread out on
+the ground, and their paws hanging down before their white breasts,
+chattering and squeaking with the utmost vivacity upon some topic of
+common interest, while the proprietor of the burrow, with his head
+just visible on the top of his mound, would sit looking down with a
+complacent countenance on the enjoyment of his guests. Meanwhile, others
+would be running about from burrow to burrow, as if on some errand of
+the last importance to their subterranean commonwealth. The snakes were
+apparently the prairie dog's worst enemies, at least I think too well of
+the latter to suppose that they associate on friendly terms with these
+slimy intruders, who may be seen at all times basking among their holes,
+into which they always retreat when disturbed. Small owls, with wise and
+grave countenances, also make their abode with the prairie dogs, though
+on what terms they live together I could never ascertain. The manners
+and customs, the political and domestic economy of these little marmots
+is worthy of closer attention than one is able to give when pushing by
+forced marches through their country, with his thoughts engrossed by
+objects of greater moment.
+
+On the fifth day after leaving Bisonette's camp we saw late in the
+afternoon what we supposed to be a considerable stream, but on our
+approaching it we found to our mortification nothing but a dry bed of
+sand into which all the water had sunk and disappeared. We separated,
+some riding in one direction and some in another along its course. Still
+we found no traces of water, not even so much as a wet spot in the sand.
+The old cotton-wood trees that grew along the bank, lamentably abused by
+lightning and tempest, were withering with the drought, and on the dead
+limbs, at the summit of the tallest, half a dozen crows were hoarsely
+cawing like birds of evil omen as they were. We had no alternative but
+to keep on. There was no water nearer than the South Fork of the Platte,
+about ten miles distant. We moved forward, angry and silent, over a
+desert as flat as the outspread ocean.
+
+The sky had been obscured since the morning by thin mists and vapors,
+but now vast piles of clouds were gathered together in the west. They
+rose to a great height above the horizon, and looking up toward them I
+distinguished one mass darker than the rest and of a peculiar conical
+form. I happened to look again and still could see it as before. At some
+moments it was dimly seen, at others its outline was sharp and distinct;
+but while the clouds around it were shifting, changing, and dissolving
+away, it still towered aloft in the midst of them, fixed and immovable.
+It must, thought I, be the summit of a mountain, and yet its heights
+staggered me. My conclusion was right, however. It was Long's Peak, once
+believed to be one of the highest of the Rocky Mountain chain, though
+more recent discoveries have proved the contrary. The thickening gloom
+soon hid it from view and we never saw it again, for on the following
+day and for some time after, the air was so full of mist that the view
+of distant objects was entirely intercepted.
+
+It grew very late. Turning from our direct course we made for the river
+at its nearest point, though in the utter darkness it was not easy to
+direct our way with much precision. Raymond rode on one side and Henry
+on the other. We could hear each of them shouting that he had come upon
+a deep ravine. We steered at random between Scylla and Charybdis, and
+soon after became, as it seemed, inextricably involved with deep chasms
+all around us, while the darkness was such that we could not see a rod
+in any direction. We partially extricated ourselves by scrambling, cart
+and all, through a shallow ravine. We came next to a steep descent down
+which we plunged without well knowing what was at the bottom. There was
+a great crackling of sticks and dry twigs. Over our heads were certain
+large shadowy objects, and in front something like the faint gleaming
+of a dark sheet of water. Raymond ran his horse against a tree; Henry
+alighted, and feeling on the ground declared that there was grass enough
+for the horses. Before taking off his saddle each man led his own horses
+down to the water in the best way he could. Then picketing two or three
+of the evil-disposed we turned the rest loose and lay down among the dry
+sticks to sleep. In the morning we found ourselves close to the South
+Fork of the Platte on a spot surrounded by bushes and rank grass.
+Compensating ourselves with a hearty breakfast for the ill fare of the
+previous night, we set forward again on our journey. When only two or
+three rods from the camp I saw Shaw stop his mule, level his gun, and
+after a long aim fire at some object in the grass. Delorier next jumped
+forward and began to dance about, belaboring the unseen enemy with a
+whip. Then he stooped down and drew out of the grass by the neck an
+enormous rattlesnake, with his head completely shattered by Shaw's
+bullet. As Delorier held him out at arm's length with an exulting grin
+his tail, which still kept slowly writhing about, almost touched the
+ground, and the body in the largest part was as thick as a stout man's
+arm. He had fourteen rattles, but the end of his tail was blunted, as if
+he could once have boasted of many more. From this time till we reached
+the Pueblo we killed at least four or five of these snakes every day as
+they lay coiled and rattling on the hot sand. Shaw was the St. Patrick
+of the party, and whenever he or any one else killed a snake he always
+pulled off his tail and stored it away in his bullet-pouch, which was
+soon crammed with an edifying collection of rattles, great and small.
+Delorier, with his whip, also came in for a share of the praise. A day
+or two after this he triumphantly produced a small snake about a span
+and a half long, with one infant rattle at the end of his tail.
+
+We forded the South Fork of the Platte. On its farther bank were the
+traces of a very large camp of Arapahoes. The ashes of some three
+hundred fires were visible among the scattered trees, together with
+the remains of sweating lodges, and all the other appurtenances of a
+permanent camp. The place however had been for some months deserted. A
+few miles farther on we found more recent signs of Indians; the trail
+of two or three lodges, which had evidently passed the day before,
+where every foot-print was perfectly distinct in the dry, dusty soil. We
+noticed in particular the track of one moccasin, upon the sole of which
+its economical proprietor had placed a large patch. These signs gave us
+but little uneasiness, as the number of the warriors scarcely exceeded
+that of our own party. At noon we rested under the walls of a large
+fort, built in these solitudes some years since by M. St. Vrain. It was
+now abandoned and fast falling into ruin. The walls of unbaked bricks
+were cracked from top to bottom. Our horses recoiled in terror from the
+neglected entrance, where the heavy gates were torn from their hinges
+and flung down. The area within was overgrown with weeds, and the long
+ranges of apartments, once occupied by the motley concourse of traders,
+Canadians, and squaws, were now miserably dilapidated. Twelve miles
+further on, near the spot where we encamped, were the remains of still
+another fort, standing in melancholy desertion and neglect.
+
+Early on the following morning we made a startling discovery. We passed
+close by a large deserted encampment of Arapahoes. There were about
+fifty fires still smouldering on the ground, and it was evident from
+numerous signs that the Indians must have left the place within two
+hours of our reaching it. Their trail crossed our own at right angles,
+and led in the direction of a line of hills half a mile on our left.
+There were women and children in the party, which would have greatly
+diminished the danger of encountering them. Henry Chatillon examined the
+encampment and the trail with a very professional and businesslike air.
+
+"Supposing we had met them, Henry?" said I.
+
+"Why," said he, "we hold out our hands to them, and give them all we've
+got; they take away everything, and then I believe they no kill us.
+Perhaps," added he, looking up with a quiet, unchanged face, "perhaps we
+no let them rob us. Maybe before they come near, we have a chance to get
+into a ravine, or under the bank of the river; then, you know, we fight
+them."
+
+About noon on that day we reached Cherry Creek. Here was a great
+abundance of wild cherries, plums, gooseberries, and currants. The
+stream, however, like most of the others which we passed, was dried up
+with the heat, and we had to dig holes in the sand to find water for
+ourselves and our horses. Two days after, we left the banks of the creek
+which we had been following for some time, and began to cross the high
+dividing ridge which separates the waters of the Platte from those
+of the Arkansas. The scenery was altogether changed. In place of the
+burning plains we were passing now through rough and savage glens and
+among hills crowned with a dreary growth of pines. We encamped among
+these solitudes on the night of the 16th of August. A tempest was
+threatening. The sun went down among volumes of jet-black cloud, edged
+with a bloody red. But in spite of these portentous signs, we neglected
+to put up the tent, and being extremely fatigued, lay down on the ground
+and fell asleep. The storm broke about midnight, and we erected the
+tent amid darkness and confusion. In the morning all was fair again,
+and Pike's Peak, white with snow, was towering above the wilderness afar
+off.
+
+We pushed through an extensive tract of pine woods. Large black
+squirrels were leaping among the branches. From the farther edge of
+this forest we saw the prairie again, hollowed out before us into a vast
+basin, and about a mile in front we could discern a little black speck
+moving upon its surface. It could be nothing but a buffalo. Henry primed
+his rifle afresh and galloped forward. To the left of the animal was a
+low rocky mound, of which Henry availed himself in making his approach.
+After a short time we heard the faint report of the rifle. The bull,
+mortally wounded from a distance of nearly three hundred yards, ran
+wildly round and round in a circle. Shaw and I then galloped forward,
+and passing him as he ran, foaming with rage and pain, we discharged our
+pistols into his side. Once or twice he rushed furiously upon us, but
+his strength was rapidly exhausted. Down he fell on his knees. For one
+instant he glared up at his enemies with burning eyes through his black
+tangled mane, and then rolled over on his side. Though gaunt and thin,
+he was larger and heavier than the largest ox. Foam and blood flew
+together from his nostrils as he lay bellowing and pawing the ground,
+tearing up grass and earth with his hoofs. His sides rose and fell
+like a vast pair of bellows, the blood spouting up in jets from the
+bullet-holes. Suddenly his glaring eyes became like a lifeless jelly.
+He lay motionless on the ground. Henry stooped over him, and making an
+incision with his knife, pronounced the meat too rank and tough for use;
+so, disappointed in our hopes of an addition to our stock of provisions,
+we rode away and left the carcass to the wolves.
+
+In the afternoon we saw the mountains rising like a gigantic wall at
+no great distance on our right. "Des sauvages! des sauvages!" exclaimed
+Delorier, looking round with a frightened face, and pointing with
+his whip toward the foot of the mountains. In fact, we could see at a
+distance a number of little black specks, like horsemen in rapid
+motion. Henry Chatillon, with Shaw and myself, galloped toward them
+to reconnoiter, when to our amusement we saw the supposed Arapahoes
+resolved into the black tops of some pine trees which grew along a
+ravine. The summits of these pines, just visible above the verge of
+the prairie, and seeming to move as we ourselves were advancing, looked
+exactly like a line of horsemen.
+
+We encamped among ravines and hollows, through which a little brook
+was foaming angrily. Before sunrise in the morning the snow-covered
+mountains were beautifully tinged with a delicate rose color. A noble
+spectacle awaited us as we moved forward. Six or eight miles on our
+right, Pike's Peak and his giant brethren rose out of the level prairie,
+as if springing from the bed of the ocean. From their summits down to
+the plain below they were involved in a mantle of clouds, in restless
+motion, as if urged by strong winds. For one instant some snowy peak,
+towering in awful solitude, would be disclosed to view. As the
+clouds broke along the mountain, we could see the dreary forests, the
+tremendous precipices, the white patches of snow, the gulfs and chasms
+as black as night, all revealed for an instant, and then disappearing
+from the view. One could not but recall the stanza of "Childe Harold":
+
+     Morn dawns, and with it stern Albania's hills,
+     Dark Suli's rocks, and Pindus' inland peak,
+     Robed half in mist, bedewed with snowy rills,
+     Array'd in many a dun and purple streak,
+     Arise; and, as the clouds along them break,
+     Disclose the dwelling of the mountaineer:
+     Here roams the wolf, the eagle whets his beak,
+     Birds, beasts of prey, and wilder men appear,
+     And gathering storms around convulse the closing year.
+
+Every line save one of this description was more than verified here.
+There were no "dwellings of the mountaineer" among these heights. Fierce
+savages, restlessly wandering through summer and winter, alone invade
+them. "Their hand is against every man, and every man's hand against
+them."
+
+On the day after, we had left the mountains at some distance. A black
+cloud descended upon them, and a tremendous explosion of thunder
+followed, reverberating among the precipices. In a few moments
+everything grew black and the rain poured down like a cataract. We got
+under an old cotton-wood tree which stood by the side of a stream, and
+waited there till the rage of the torrent had passed.
+
+The clouds opened at the point where they first had gathered, and the
+whole sublime congregation of mountains was bathed at once in warm
+sunshine. They seemed more like some luxurious vision of Eastern romance
+than like a reality of that wilderness; all were melted together into
+a soft delicious blue, as voluptuous as the sky of Naples or the
+transparent sea that washes the sunny cliffs of Capri. On the left the
+whole sky was still of an inky blackness; but two concentric rainbows
+stood in brilliant relief against it, while far in front the ragged
+cloud still streamed before the wind, and the retreating thunder
+muttered angrily.
+
+Through that afternoon and the next morning we were passing down the
+banks of the stream called La Fontaine qui Bouille, from the boiling
+spring whose waters flow into it. When we stopped at noon, we were
+within six or eight miles of the Pueblo. Setting out again, we found by
+the fresh tracks that a horseman had just been out to reconnoiter us; he
+had circled half round the camp, and then galloped back full speed for
+the Pueblo. What made him so shy of us we could not conceive. After an
+hour's ride we reached the edge of a hill, from which a welcome sight
+greeted us. The Arkansas ran along the valley below, among woods and
+groves, and closely nestled in the midst of wide cornfields and green
+meadows where cattle were grazing rose the low mud walls of the Pueblo.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+THE PUEBLO AND BENT'S FORT
+
+
+We approached the gate of the Pueblo. It was a wretched species of fort
+of most primitive construction, being nothing more than a large
+square inclosure, surrounded by a wall of mud, miserably cracked and
+dilapidated. The slender pickets that surmounted it were half broken
+down, and the gate dangled on its wooden hinges so loosely, that to
+open or shut it seemed likely to fling it down altogether. Two or three
+squalid Mexicans, with their broad hats, and their vile faces overgrown
+with hair, were lounging about the bank of the river in front of it.
+They disappeared as they saw us approach; and as we rode up to the gate
+a light active little figure came out to meet us. It was our old friend
+Richard. He had come from Fort Laramie on a trading expedition to Taos;
+but finding, when he reached the Pueblo, that the war would prevent his
+going farther, he was quietly waiting till the conquest of the country
+should allow him to proceed. He seemed to consider himself bound to do
+the honors of the place. Shaking us warmly by the hands, he led the way
+into the area.
+
+Here we saw his large Santa Fe wagons standing together. A few squaws
+and Spanish women, and a few Mexicans, as mean and miserable as the
+place itself, were lazily sauntering about. Richard conducted us to the
+state apartment of the Pueblo, a small mud room, very neatly
+finished, considering the material, and garnished with a crucifix, a
+looking-glass, a picture of the Virgin, and a rusty horse pistol. There
+were no chairs, but instead of them a number of chests and boxes
+ranged about the room. There was another room beyond, less sumptuously
+decorated, and here three or four Spanish girls, one of them very
+pretty, were baking cakes at a mud fireplace in the corner. They brought
+out a poncho, which they spread upon the floor by way of table-cloth.
+A supper, which seemed to us luxurious, was soon laid out upon it, and
+folded buffalo robes were placed around it to receive the guests. Two
+or three Americans, besides ourselves, were present. We sat down Turkish
+fashion, and began to inquire the news. Richard told us that, about
+three weeks before, General Kearny's army had left Bent's Fort to march
+against Santa Fe; that when last heard from they were approaching the
+mountainous defiles that led to the city. One of the Americans produced
+a dingy newspaper, containing an account of the battles of Palo Alto and
+Resaca de la Palma. While we were discussing these matters, the doorway
+was darkened by a tall, shambling fellow, who stood with his hands in
+his pockets taking a leisurely survey of the premises before he entered.
+He wore brown homespun pantaloons, much too short for his legs, and
+a pistol and bowie knife stuck in his belt. His head and one eye
+were enveloped in a huge bandage of white linen. Having completed his
+observations, he came slouching in and sat down on a chest. Eight or ten
+more of the same stamp followed, and very coolly arranging themselves
+about the room, began to stare at the company. Shaw and I looked at each
+other. We were forcibly reminded of the Oregon emigrants, though these
+unwelcome visitors had a certain glitter of the eye, and a compression
+of the lips, which distinguished them from our old acquaintances of the
+prairie. They began to catechise us at once, inquiring whence we had
+come, what we meant to do next, and what were our future prospects in
+life.
+
+The man with the bandaged head had met with an untoward accident a few
+days before. He was going down to the river to bring water, and was
+pushing through the young willows which covered the low ground, when he
+came unawares upon a grizzly bear, which, having just eaten a buffalo
+bull, had lain down to sleep off the meal. The bear rose on his hind
+legs, and gave the intruder such a blow with his paw that he laid his
+forehead entirely bare, clawed off the front of his scalp, and narrowly
+missed one of his eyes. Fortunately he was not in a very pugnacious
+mood, being surfeited with his late meal. The man's companions, who were
+close behind, raised a shout and the bear walked away, crushing down the
+willows in his leisurely retreat.
+
+These men belonged to a party of Mormons, who, out of a well-grounded
+fear of the other emigrants, had postponed leaving the settlements until
+all the rest were gone. On account of this delay they did not reach Fort
+Laramie until it was too late to continue their journey to California.
+Hearing that there was good land at the head of the Arkansas, they
+crossed over under the guidance of Richard, and were now preparing to
+spend the winter at a spot about half a mile from the Pueblo.
+
+When we took leave of Richard, it was near sunset. Passing out of the
+gate, we could look down the little valley of the Arkansas; a beautiful
+scene, and doubly so to our eyes, so long accustomed to deserts and
+mountains. Tall woods lined the river, with green meadows on either
+hand; and high bluffs, quietly basking in the sunlight, flanked the
+narrow valley. A Mexican on horseback was driving a herd of cattle
+toward the gate, and our little white tent, which the men had pitched
+under a large tree in the meadow, made a very pleasing feature in the
+scene. When we reached it, we found that Richard had sent a Mexican to
+bring us an abundant supply of green corn and vegetables, and invite
+us to help ourselves to whatever we wished from the fields around the
+Pueblo.
+
+The inhabitants were in daily apprehensions of an inroad from more
+formidable consumers than ourselves. Every year at the time when the
+corn begins to ripen, the Arapahoes, to the number of several thousands,
+come and encamp around the Pueblo. The handful of white men, who are
+entirely at the mercy of this swarm of barbarians, choose to make a
+merit of necessity; they come forward very cordially, shake them by the
+hand, and intimate that the harvest is entirely at their disposal. The
+Arapahoes take them at their word, help themselves most liberally, and
+usually turn their horses into the cornfields afterward. They have the
+foresight, however, to leave enough of the crops untouched to serve as
+an inducement for planting the fields again for their benefit in the
+next spring.
+
+The human race in this part of the world is separated into three
+divisions, arranged in the order of their merits; white men, Indians,
+and Mexicans; to the latter of whom the honorable title of "whites" is
+by no means conceded.
+
+In spite of the warm sunset of that evening the next morning was a
+dreary and cheerless one. It rained steadily, clouds resting upon the
+very treetops. We crossed the river to visit the Mormon settlement. As
+we passed through the water, several trappers on horseback entered it
+from the other side. Their buckskin frocks were soaked through by the
+rain, and clung fast to their limbs with a most clammy and uncomfortable
+look. The water was trickling down their faces, and dropping from the
+ends of their rifles, and from the traps which each carried at the
+pommel of his saddle. Horses and all, they had a most disconsolate and
+woebegone appearance, which we could not help laughing at, forgetting
+how often we ourselves had been in a similar plight.
+
+After half an hour's riding we saw the white wagons of the Mormons drawn
+up among the trees. Axes were sounding, trees were falling, and log-huts
+going up along the edge of the woods and upon the adjoining meadow.
+As we came up the Mormons left their work and seated themselves on
+the timber around us, when they began earnestly to discuss points
+of theology, complain of the ill-usage they had received from the
+"Gentiles," and sound a lamentation over the loss of their great temple
+at Nauvoo. After remaining with them an hour we rode back to our camp,
+happy that the settlements had been delivered from the presence of such
+blind and desperate fanatics.
+
+On the morning after this we left the Pueblo for Bent's Fort. The
+conduct of Raymond had lately been less satisfactory than before, and
+we had discharged him as soon as we arrived at the former place; so that
+the party, ourselves included, was now reduced to four. There was some
+uncertainty as to our future course. The trail between Bent's Fort and
+the settlements, a distance computed at six hundred miles, was at this
+time in a dangerous state; for since the passage of General Kearny's
+army, great numbers of hostile Indians, chiefly Pawnees and Comanches,
+had gathered about some parts of it. A little after this time they
+became so numerous and audacious, that scarcely a single party, however
+large, passed between the fort and the frontier without some token of
+their hostility. The newspapers of the time sufficiently display this
+state of things. Many men were killed, and great numbers of horses and
+mules carried off. Not long since I met with the gentleman, who, during
+the autumn, came from Santa Fe to Bent's Fort, when he found a party
+of seventy men, who thought themselves too weak to go down to the
+settlements alone, and were waiting there for a re-enforcement. Though
+this excessive timidity fully proves the ignorance and credulity of
+the men, it may also evince the state of alarm which prevailed in the
+country. When we were there in the month of August, the danger had not
+become so great. There was nothing very attractive in the neighborhood.
+We supposed, moreover, that we might wait there half the winter without
+finding any party to go down with us; for Mr. Sublette and the others
+whom we had relied upon had, as Richard told us, already left Bent's
+Fort. Thus far on our journey Fortune had kindly befriended us. We
+resolved therefore to take advantage of her gracious mood and trusting
+for a continuance of her favors, to set out with Henry and Delorier, and
+run the gauntlet of the Indians in the best way we could.
+
+Bent's Fort stands on the river, about seventy-five miles below the
+Pueblo. At noon of the third day we arrived within three or four miles
+of it, pitched our tent under a tree, hung our looking-glasses against
+its trunk and having made our primitive toilet, rode toward the fort.
+We soon came in sight of it, for it is visible from a considerable
+distance, standing with its high clay walls in the midst of the
+scorching plains. It seemed as if a swarm of locusts had invaded the
+country. The grass for miles around was cropped close by the horses of
+General Kearny's soldiery. When we came to the fort, we found that not
+only had the horses eaten up the grass, but their owners had made
+away with the stores of the little trading post; so that we had great
+difficulty in procuring the few articles which we required for our
+homeward journey. The army was gone, the life and bustle passed away,
+and the fort was a scene of dull and lazy tranquillity. A few invalid
+officers and soldiers sauntered about the area, which was oppressively
+hot; for the glaring sun was reflected down upon it from the high white
+walls around. The proprietors were absent, and we were received by Mr.
+Holt, who had been left in charge of the fort. He invited us to dinner,
+where, to our admiration, we found a table laid with a white cloth, with
+castors in the center and chairs placed around it. This unwonted repast
+concluded, we rode back to our camp.
+
+Here, as we lay smoking round the fire after supper, we saw through the
+dusk three men approaching from the direction of the fort. They rode up
+and seated themselves near us on the ground. The foremost was a tall,
+well-formed man, with a face and manner such as inspire confidence at
+once. He wore a broad hat of felt, slouching and tattered, and the rest
+of his attire consisted of a frock and leggings of buckskin, rubbed with
+the yellow clay found among the mountains. At the heel of one of his
+moccasins was buckled a huge iron spur, with a rowel five or six inches
+in diameter. His horse, who stood quietly looking over his head, had a
+rude Mexican saddle, covered with a shaggy bearskin, and furnished with
+a pair of wooden stirrups of most preposterous size. The next man was a
+sprightly, active little fellow, about five feet and a quarter high, but
+very strong and compact. His face was swarthy as a Mexican's and covered
+with a close, curly black beard. An old greasy calico handkerchief was
+tied round his head, and his close buckskin dress was blackened and
+polished by grease and hard service. The last who came up was a large
+strong man, dressed in the coarse homespun of the frontiers, who dragged
+his long limbs over the ground as if he were too lazy for the effort. He
+had a sleepy gray eye, a retreating chin, an open mouth and a
+protruding upper lip, which gave him an air of exquisite indolence
+and helplessness. He was armed with an old United States yager, which
+redoubtable weapon, though he could never hit his mark with it, he was
+accustomed to cherish as the very sovereign of firearms.
+
+The first two men belonged to a party who had just come from California
+with a large band of horses, which they had disposed of at Bent's
+Fort. Munroe, the taller of the two, was from Iowa. He was an excellent
+fellow, open, warm-hearted and intelligent. Jim Gurney, the short man,
+was a Boston sailor, who had come in a trading vessel to California, and
+taken the fancy to return across the continent. The journey had already
+made him an expert "mountain man," and he presented the extraordinary
+phenomenon of a sailor who understood how to manage a horse. The third
+of our visitors named Ellis, was a Missourian, who had come out with a
+party of Oregon emigrants, but having got as far as Bridge's Fort, he
+had fallen home-sick, or as Jim averred, love-sick--and Ellis was just
+the man to be balked in a love adventure. He thought proper to join the
+California men and return homeward in their company.
+
+They now requested that they might unite with our party, and make the
+journey to the settlements in company with us. We readily assented, for
+we liked the appearance of the first two men, and were very glad to
+gain so efficient a re-enforcement. We told them to meet us on the next
+evening at a spot on the river side, about six miles below the fort.
+Having smoked a pipe together, our new allies left us, and we lay down
+to sleep.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+TETE ROUGE, THE VOLUNTEER
+
+
+The next morning, having directed Delorier to repair with his cart
+to the place of meeting, we came again to the fort to make some
+arrangements for the journey. After completing these we sat down under a
+sort of perch, to smoke with some Cheyenne Indians whom we found there.
+In a few minutes we saw an extraordinary little figure approach us in a
+military dress. He had a small, round countenance, garnished about
+the eyes with the kind of wrinkles commonly known as crow's feet and
+surrounded by an abundant crop of red curls, with a little cap resting
+on the top of them. Altogether, he had the look of a man more conversant
+with mint juleps and oyster suppers than with the hardships of prairie
+service. He came up to us and entreated that we would take him home to
+the settlements, saying that unless he went with us he should have to
+stay all winter at the fort. We liked our petitioner's appearance so
+little that we excused ourselves from complying with his request. At
+this he begged us so hard to take pity on him, looked so disconsolate,
+and told so lamentable a story that at last we consented, though not
+without many misgivings.
+
+The rugged Anglo-Saxon of our new recruit's real name proved utterly
+unmanageable on the lips of our French attendants, and Henry Chatillon,
+after various abortive attempts to pronounce it, one day coolly
+christened him Tete Rouge, in honor of his red curls. He had at
+different times been clerk of a Mississippi steamboat, and agent in
+a trading establishment at Nauvoo, besides filling various other
+capacities, in all of which he had seen much more of "life" than was
+good for him. In the spring, thinking that a summer's campaign would
+be an agreeable recreation, he had joined a company of St. Louis
+volunteers.
+
+"There were three of us," said Tete Rouge, "me and Bill Stevens and John
+Hopkins. We thought we would just go out with the army, and when we had
+conquered the country, we would get discharged and take our pay, you
+know, and go down to Mexico. They say there is plenty of fun going on
+there. Then we could go back to New Orleans by way of Vera Cruz."
+
+But Tete Rouge, like many a stouter volunteer, had reckoned without
+his host. Fighting Mexicans was a less amusing occupation than he had
+supposed, and his pleasure trip was disagreeably interrupted by brain
+fever, which attacked him when about halfway to Bent's Fort. He jolted
+along through the rest of the journey in a baggage wagon. When they came
+to the fort he was taken out and left there, together with the rest of
+the sick. Bent's Fort does not supply the best accommodations for an
+invalid. Tete Rouge's sick chamber was a little mud room, where he and a
+companion attacked by the same disease were laid together, with nothing
+but a buffalo robe between them and the ground. The assistant surgeon's
+deputy visited them once a day and brought them each a huge dose of
+calomel, the only medicine, according to his surviving victim, which he
+was acquainted with.
+
+Tete Rouge woke one morning, and turning to his companion, saw his eyes
+fixed upon the beams above with the glassy stare of a dead man. At this
+the unfortunate volunteer lost his senses outright. In spite of the
+doctor, however, he eventually recovered; though between the brain fever
+and the calomel, his mind, originally none of the strongest, was so much
+shaken that it had not quite recovered its balance when we came to the
+fort. In spite of the poor fellow's tragic story, there was something
+so ludicrous in his appearance, and the whimsical contrast between his
+military dress and his most unmilitary demeanor, that we could not help
+smiling at them. We asked him if he had a gun. He said they had taken
+it from him during his illness, and he had not seen it since; "but
+perhaps," he observed, looking at me with a beseeching air, "you will
+lend me one of your big pistols if we should meet with any Indians." I
+next inquired if he had a horse; he declared he had a magnificent one,
+and at Shaw's request a Mexican led him in for inspection. He exhibited
+the outline of a good horse, but his eyes were sunk in the sockets, and
+every one of his ribs could be counted. There were certain marks too
+about his shoulders, which could be accounted for by the circumstance,
+that during Tete Rouge's illness, his companions had seized upon the
+insulted charger, and harnessed him to a cannon along with the draft
+horses. To Tete Rouge's astonishment we recommended him by all means to
+exchange the horse, if he could, for a mule. Fortunately the people at
+the fort were so anxious to get rid of him that they were willing to
+make some sacrifice to effect the object, and he succeeded in getting a
+tolerable mule in exchange for the broken-down steed.
+
+A man soon appeared at the gate, leading in the mule by a cord which he
+placed in the hands of Tete Rouge, who, being somewhat afraid of his new
+acquisition, tried various flatteries and blandishments to induce her
+to come forward. The mule, knowing that she was expected to advance,
+stopped short in consequence, and stood fast as a rock, looking straight
+forward with immovable composure. Being stimulated by a blow from behind
+she consented to move, and walked nearly to the other side of the fort
+before she stopped again. Hearing the by-standers laugh, Tete Rouge
+plucked up spirit and tugged hard at the rope. The mule jerked backward,
+spun herself round, and made a dash for the gate. Tete Rouge, who clung
+manfully to the rope, went whisking through the air for a few rods, when
+he let go and stood with his mouth open, staring after the mule, who
+galloped away over the prairie. She was soon caught and brought back
+by a Mexican, who mounted a horse and went in pursuit of her with his
+lasso.
+
+Having thus displayed his capacity for prairie travel, Tete Rouge
+proceeded to supply himself with provisions for the journey, and with
+this view he applied to a quartermaster's assistant who was in the fort.
+This official had a face as sour as vinegar, being in a state of chronic
+indignation because he had been left behind the army. He was as anxious
+as the rest to get rid of Tete Rouge. So, producing a rusty key, he
+opened a low door which led to a half-subterranean apartment, into which
+the two disappeared together. After some time they came out again, Tete
+Rouge greatly embarrassed by a multiplicity of paper parcels containing
+the different articles of his forty days' rations. They were consigned
+to the care of Delorier, who about that time passed by with the cart
+on his way to the appointed place of meeting with Munroe and his
+companions.
+
+We next urged Tete Rouge to provide himself, if he could, with a gun.
+He accordingly made earnest appeals to the charity of various persons
+in the fort, but totally without success, a circumstance which did not
+greatly disturb us, since in the event of a skirmish he would be much
+more apt to do mischief to himself or his friends than to the enemy.
+When all these arrangements were completed we saddled our horses and
+were preparing to leave the fort, when looking round we discovered that
+our new associate was in fresh trouble. A man was holding the mule for
+him in the middle of the fort, while he tried to put the saddle on her
+back, but she kept stepping sideways and moving round and round in
+a circle until he was almost in despair. It required some assistance
+before all his difficulties could be overcome. At length he clambered
+into the black war saddle on which he was to have carried terror into
+the ranks of the Mexicans.
+
+"Get up," said Tete Rouge, "come now, go along, will you."
+
+The mule walked deliberately forward out of the gate. Her recent conduct
+had inspired him with so much awe that he never dared to touch her with
+his whip. We trotted forward toward the place of meeting, but before he
+had gone far we saw that Tete Rouge's mule, who perfectly understood
+her rider, had stopped and was quietly grazing, in spite of his
+protestations, at some distance behind. So getting behind him, we drove
+him and the contumacious mule before us, until we could see through the
+twilight the gleaming of a distant fire. Munroe, Jim, and Ellis were
+lying around it; their saddles, packs, and weapons were scattered about
+and their horses picketed near them. Delorier was there too with our
+little cart. Another fire was soon blazing high. We invited our new
+allies to take a cup of coffee with us. When both the others had gone
+over to their side of the camp, Jim Gurney still stood by the blaze,
+puffing hard at his little black pipe, as short and weather-beaten as
+himself.
+
+"Well!" he said, "here are eight of us; we'll call it six--for them two
+boobies, Ellis over yonder, and that new man of yours, won't count for
+anything. We'll get through well enough, never fear for that, unless the
+Comanches happen to get foul of us."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+INDIAN ALARMS
+
+
+We began our journey for the frontier settlements on the 27th of August,
+and certainly a more ragamuffin cavalcade never was seen on the banks of
+the Upper Arkansas. Of the large and fine horses with which we had left
+the frontier in the spring, not one remained; we had supplied their
+place with the rough breed of the prairie, as hardy as mules and almost
+as ugly; we had also with us a number of the latter detestable animals.
+In spite of their strength and hardihood, several of the band were
+already worn down by hard service and hard fare, and as none of them
+were shod, they were fast becoming foot-sore. Every horse and mule had
+a cord of twisted bull-hide coiled around his neck, which by no
+means added to the beauty of his appearance. Our saddles and all our
+equipments were by this time lamentably worn and battered, and our
+weapons had become dull and rusty. The dress of the riders fully
+corresponded with the dilapidated furniture of our horses, and of the
+whole party none made a more disreputable appearance than my friend and
+I. Shaw had for an upper garment an old red flannel shirt, flying open
+in front and belted around him like a frock; while I, in absence of
+other clothing, was attired in a time-worn suit of leather.
+
+Thus, happy and careless as so many beggars, we crept slowly from day to
+day along the monotonous banks of the Arkansas. Tete Rouge gave constant
+trouble, for he could never catch his mule, saddle her, or indeed do
+anything else without assistance. Every day he had some new ailment,
+real or imaginary, to complain of. At one moment he would be woebegone
+and disconsolate, and the next he would be visited with a violent flow
+of spirits, to which he could only give vent by incessant laughing,
+whistling, and telling stories. When other resources failed, we used to
+amuse ourselves by tormenting him; a fair compensation for the trouble
+he cost us. Tete Rouge rather enjoyed being laughed at, for he was
+an odd compound of weakness, eccentricity, and good-nature. He made a
+figure worthy of a painter as he paced along before us, perched on the
+back of his mule, and enveloped in a huge buffalo-robe coat, which some
+charitable person had given him at the fort. This extraordinary garment,
+which would have contained two men of his size, he chose, for some
+reason best known to himself, to wear inside out, and he never took it
+off, even in the hottest weather. It was fluttering all over with seams
+and tatters, and the hide was so old and rotten that it broke out every
+day in a new place. Just at the top of it a large pile of red curls was
+visible, with his little cap set jauntily upon one side, to give him
+a military air. His seat in the saddle was no less remarkable than his
+person and equipment. He pressed one leg close against his mule's side,
+and thrust the other out at an angle of 45 degrees. His pantaloons were
+decorated with a military red stripe, of which he was extremely vain;
+but being much too short, the whole length of his boots was usually
+visible below them. His blanket, loosely rolled up into a large bundle,
+dangled at the back of his saddle, where he carried it tied with a
+string. Four or five times a day it would fall to the ground. Every few
+minutes he would drop his pipe, his knife, his flint and steel, or a
+piece of tobacco, and have to scramble down to pick them up. In doing
+this he would contrive to get in everybody's way; and as the most of the
+party were by no means remarkable for a fastidious choice of language, a
+storm of anathemas would be showered upon him, half in earnest and half
+in jest, until Tete Rouge would declare that there was no comfort in
+life, and that he never saw such fellows before.
+
+Only a day or two after leaving Bent's Fort Henry Chatillon rode forward
+to hunt, and took Ellis along with him. After they had been some time
+absent we saw them coming down the hill, driving three dragoon-horses,
+which had escaped from their owners on the march, or perhaps had given
+out and been abandoned. One of them was in tolerable condition, but the
+others were much emaciated and severely bitten by the wolves. Reduced as
+they were we carried two of them to the settlements, and Henry exchanged
+the third with the Arapahoes for an excellent mule.
+
+On the day after, when we had stopped to rest at noon, a long train of
+Santa Fe wagons came up and trailed slowly past us in their picturesque
+procession. They belonged to a trader named Magoffin, whose brother,
+with a number of other men, came over and sat down around us on the
+grass. The news they brought was not of the most pleasing complexion.
+According to their accounts, the trail below was in a very dangerous
+state. They had repeatedly detected Indians prowling at night around
+their camps; and the large party which had left Bent's Fort a few weeks
+previous to our own departure had been attacked, and a man named Swan,
+from Massachusetts, had been killed. His companions had buried the body;
+but when Magoffin found his grave, which was near a place called the
+Caches, the Indians had dug up and scalped him, and the wolves had
+shockingly mangled his remains. As an offset to this intelligence, they
+gave us the welcome information that the buffalo were numerous at a few
+days' journey below.
+
+On the next afternoon, as we moved along the bank of the river, we saw
+the white tops of wagons on the horizon. It was some hours before we
+met them, when they proved to be a train of clumsy ox-wagons, quite
+different from the rakish vehicles of the Santa Fe traders, and loaded
+with government stores for the troops. They all stopped, and the drivers
+gathered around us in a crowd. I thought that the whole frontier might
+have been ransacked in vain to furnish men worse fitted to meet the
+dangers of the prairie. Many of them were mere boys, fresh from the
+plow, and devoid of knowledge and experience. In respect to the state
+of the trail, they confirmed all that the Santa Fe men had told us.
+In passing between the Pawnee Fork and the Caches, their sentinels had
+fired every night at real or imaginary Indians. They said also that
+Ewing, a young Kentuckian in the party that had gone down before us, had
+shot an Indian who was prowling at evening about the camp. Some of them
+advised us to turn back, and others to hasten forward as fast as we
+could; but they all seemed in such a state of feverish anxiety, and so
+little capable of cool judgment, that we attached slight weight to what
+they said. They next gave us a more definite piece of intelligence;
+a large village of Arapahoes was encamped on the river below. They
+represented them to be quite friendly; but some distinction was to be
+made between a party of thirty men, traveling with oxen, which are of
+no value in an Indian's eyes and a mere handful like ourselves, with a
+tempting band of mules and horses. This story of the Arapahoes therefore
+caused us some anxiety.
+
+Just after leaving the government wagons, as Shaw and I were riding
+along a narrow passage between the river bank and a rough hill that
+pressed close upon it, we heard Tete Rouge's voice behind us. "Hallo!"
+he called out; "I say, stop the cart just for a minute, will you?"
+
+"What's the matter, Tete?" asked Shaw, as he came riding up to us with a
+grin of exultation. He had a bottle of molasses in one hand, and a large
+bundle of hides on the saddle before him, containing, as he triumphantly
+informed us, sugar, biscuits, coffee, and rice. These supplies he had
+obtained by a stratagem on which he greatly plumed himself, and he was
+extremely vexed and astonished that we did not fall in with his views of
+the matter. He had told Coates, the master-wagoner, that the commissary
+at the fort had given him an order for sick-rations, directed to the
+master of any government train which he might meet upon the road. This
+order he had unfortunately lost, but he hoped that the rations would
+not be refused on that account, as he was suffering from coarse fare and
+needed them very much. As soon as he came to camp that night Tete Rouge
+repaired to the box at the back of the cart, where Delorier used to
+keep his culinary apparatus, took possession of a saucepan, and after
+building a little fire of his own, set to work preparing a meal out of
+his ill-gotten booty. This done, he seized on a tin plate and spoon, and
+sat down under the cart to regale himself. His preliminary repast did
+not at all prejudice his subsequent exertions at supper; where, in spite
+of his miniature dimensions, he made a better figure than any of us.
+Indeed, about this time his appetite grew quite voracious. He began to
+thrive wonderfully. His small body visibly expanded, and his cheeks,
+which when we first took him were rather yellow and cadaverous, now
+dilated in a wonderful manner, and became ruddy in proportion. Tete
+Rouge, in short, began to appear like another man.
+
+Early in the afternoon of the next day, looking along the edge of the
+horizon in front, we saw that at one point it was faintly marked with
+pale indentations, like the teeth of a saw. The lodges of the Arapahoes,
+rising between us and the sky, caused this singular appearance. It
+wanted still two or three hours of sunset when we came opposite their
+camp. There were full two hundred lodges standing in the midst of a
+grassy meadow at some distance beyond the river, while for a mile around
+and on either bank of the Arkansas were scattered some fifteen hundred
+horses and mules grazing together in bands, or wandering singly about
+the prairie. The whole were visible at once, for the vast expanse was
+unbroken by hills, and there was not a tree or a bush to intercept the
+view.
+
+Here and there walked an Indian, engaged in watching the horses. No
+sooner did we see them than Tete Rouge begged Delorier to stop the cart
+and hand him his little military jacket, which was stowed away there. In
+this he instantly invested himself, having for once laid the old buffalo
+coat aside, assumed a most martial posture in the saddle, set his cap
+over his left eye with an air of defiance, and earnestly entreated that
+somebody would lend him a gun or a pistol only for half an hour. Being
+called upon to explain these remarkable proceedings, Tete Rouge observed
+that he knew from experience what effect the presence of a military man
+in his uniform always had upon the mind of an Indian, and he thought the
+Arapahoes ought to know that there was a soldier in the party.
+
+Meeting Arapahoes here on the Arkansas was a very different thing from
+meeting the same Indians among their native mountains. There was another
+circumstance in our favor. General Kearny had seen them a few weeks
+before, as he came up the river with his army, and renewing his threats
+of the previous year, he told them that if they ever again touched
+the hair of a white man's head he would exterminate their nation. This
+placed them for the time in an admirable frame of mind, and the effect
+of his menaces had not yet disappeared. I was anxious to see the village
+and its inhabitants. We thought it also our best policy to visit them
+openly, as if unsuspicious of any hostile design; and Shaw and I, with
+Henry Chatillon, prepared to cross the river. The rest of the party
+meanwhile moved forward as fast as they could, in order to get as far as
+possible from our suspicious neighbors before night came on.
+
+The Arkansas at this point, and for several hundred miles below, is
+nothing but a broad sand-bed, over which a few scanty threads of water
+are swiftly gliding, now and then expanding into wide shallows. At
+several places, during the autumn, the water sinks into the sand and
+disappears altogether. At this season, were it not for the numerous
+quicksands, the river might be forded almost anywhere without
+difficulty, though its channel is often a quarter of a mile wide. Our
+horses jumped down the bank, and wading through the water, or galloping
+freely over the hard sand-beds, soon reached the other side. Here, as we
+were pushing through the tall grass, we saw several Indians not far
+off; one of them waited until we came up, and stood for some moments
+in perfect silence before us, looking at us askance with his little
+snakelike eyes. Henry explained by signs what we wanted, and the Indian,
+gathering his buffalo robe about his shoulders, led the way toward the
+village without speaking a word.
+
+The language of the Arapahoes is so difficult, and its pronunciations so
+harsh and guttural, that no white man, it is said, has ever been able
+to master it. Even Maxwell the trader, who has been most among them, is
+compelled to resort to the curious sign language common to most of the
+prairie tribes. With this Henry Chatillon was perfectly acquainted.
+
+Approaching the village, we found the ground all around it strewn with
+great piles of waste buffalo meat in incredible quantities. The lodges
+were pitched in a very wide circle. They resembled those of the Dakota
+in everything but cleanliness and neatness. Passing between two of them,
+we entered the great circular area of the camp, and instantly hundreds
+of Indians, men, women and children, came flocking out of their
+habitations to look at us; at the same time, the dogs all around the
+village set up a fearful baying. Our Indian guide walked toward the
+lodge of the chief. Here we dismounted; and loosening the trail-ropes
+from our horses' necks, held them securely, and sat down before the
+entrance, with our rifles laid across our laps. The chief came out
+and shook us by the hand. He was a mean-looking fellow, very tall,
+thin-visaged, and sinewy, like the rest of the nation, and with scarcely
+a vestige of clothing. We had not been seated half a minute before a
+multitude of Indians came crowding around us from every part of the
+village, and we were shut in by a dense wall of savage faces. Some of
+the Indians crouched around us on the ground; others again sat behind
+them; others, stooping, looked over their heads; while many more stood
+crowded behind, stretching themselves upward, and peering over each
+other's shoulders, to get a view of us. I looked in vain among this
+multitude of faces to discover one manly or generous expression; all
+were wolfish, sinister, and malignant, and their complexions, as well
+as their features, unlike those of the Dakota, were exceedingly bad.
+The chief, who sat close to the entrance, called to a squaw within the
+lodge, who soon came out and placed a wooden bowl of meat before us. To
+our surprise, however, no pipe was offered. Having tasted of the meat as
+a matter of form, I began to open a bundle of presents--tobacco, knives,
+vermilion, and other articles which I had brought with me. At this there
+was a grin on every countenance in the rapacious crowd; their eyes began
+to glitter, and long thin arms were eagerly stretched toward us on all
+sides to receive the gifts.
+
+The Arapahoes set great value upon their shields, which they transmit
+carefully from father to son. I wished to get one of them; and
+displaying a large piece of scarlet cloth, together with some tobacco
+and a knife, I offered them to any one who would bring me what I wanted.
+After some delay a tolerable shield was produced. They were very anxious
+to know what we meant to do with it, and Henry told them that we were
+going to fight their enemies, the Pawnees. This instantly produced a
+visible impression in our favor, which was increased by the distribution
+of the presents. Among these was a large paper of awls, a gift
+appropriate to the women; and as we were anxious to see the beauties
+of the Arapahoe village Henry requested that they might be called to
+receive them. A warrior gave a shout as if he were calling a pack of
+dogs together. The squaws, young and old, hags of eighty and girls of
+sixteen, came running with screams and laughter out of the lodges; and
+as the men gave way for them they gathered round us and stretched out
+their arms, grinning with delight, their native ugliness considerably
+enhanced by the excitement of the moment.
+
+Mounting our horses, which during the whole interview we had held close
+to us, we prepared to leave the Arapahoes. The crowd fell back on each
+side and stood looking on. When we were half across the camp an idea
+occurred to us. The Pawnees were probably in the neighborhood of the
+Caches; we might tell the Arapahoes of this and instigate them to send
+down a war party and cut them off, while we ourselves could remain
+behind for a while and hunt the buffalo. At first thought this plan of
+setting our enemies to destroy one another seemed to us a masterpiece of
+policy; but we immediately recollected that should we meet the Arapahoe
+warriors on the river below they might prove quite as dangerous as
+the Pawnees themselves. So rejecting our plan as soon as it presented
+itself, we passed out of the village on the farther side. We urged our
+horses rapidly through the tall grass which rose to their necks. Several
+Indians were walking through it at a distance, their heads just visible
+above its waving surface. It bore a kind of seed as sweet and nutritious
+as oats; and our hungry horses, in spite of whip and rein, could not
+resist the temptation of snatching at this unwonted luxury as we passed
+along. When about a mile from the village I turned and looked back over
+the undulating ocean of grass. The sun was just set; the western sky was
+all in a glow, and sharply defined against it, on the extreme verge of
+the plain, stood the numerous lodges of the Arapahoe camp.
+
+Reaching the bank of the river, we followed it for some distance
+farther, until we discerned through the twilight the white covering
+of our little cart on the opposite bank. When we reached it we found
+a considerable number of Indians there before us. Four or five of them
+were seated in a row upon the ground, looking like so many half-starved
+vultures. Tete Rouge, in his uniform, was holding a close colloquy with
+another by the side of the cart. His gesticulations, his attempts
+at sign-making, and the contortions of his countenance, were most
+ludicrous; and finding all these of no avail, he tried to make the
+Indian understand him by repeating English words very loudly and
+distinctly again and again. The Indian sat with his eye fixed steadily
+upon him, and in spite of the rigid immobility of his features, it was
+clear at a glance that he perfectly understood his military companion's
+character and thoroughly despised him. The exhibition was more amusing
+than politic, and Tete Rouge was directed to finish what he had to say
+as soon as possible. Thus rebuked, he crept under the cart and sat down
+there; Henry Chatillon stopped to look at him in his retirement, and
+remarked in his quiet manner that an Indian would kill ten such men and
+laugh all the time.
+
+One by one our visitors rose and stalked away. As the darkness thickened
+we were saluted by dismal sounds. The wolves are incredibly numerous
+in this part of the country, and the offal around the Arapahoe camp had
+drawn such multitudes of them together that several hundred were howling
+in concert in our immediate neighborhood. There was an island in
+the river, or rather an oasis in the midst of the sands at about the
+distance of a gunshot, and here they seemed gathered in the greatest
+numbers. A horrible discord of low mournful wailings, mingled with
+ferocious howls, arose from it incessantly for several hours after
+sunset. We could distinctly see the wolves running about the prairie
+within a few rods of our fire, or bounding over the sand-beds of the
+river and splashing through the water. There was not the slightest
+danger to be feared from them, for they are the greatest cowards on the
+prairie.
+
+In respect to the human wolves in our neighborhood, we felt much less
+at our ease. We seldom erected our tent except in bad weather, and that
+night each man spread his buffalo robe upon the ground with his loaded
+rifle laid at his side or clasped in his arms. Our horses were picketed
+so close around us that one of them repeatedly stepped over me as I lay.
+We were not in the habit of placing a guard, but every man that night
+was anxious and watchful; there was little sound sleeping in camp, and
+some one of the party was on his feet during the greater part of the
+time. For myself, I lay alternately waking and dozing until midnight.
+Tete Rouge was reposing close to the river bank, and about this time,
+when half asleep and half awake, I was conscious that he shifted his
+position and crept on all-fours under the cart. Soon after I fell into
+a sound sleep from which I was aroused by a hand shaking me by the
+shoulder. Looking up, I saw Tete Rouge stooping over me with his face
+quite pale and his eyes dilated to their utmost expansion.
+
+"What's the matter?" said I.
+
+Tete Rouge declared that as he lay on the river bank, something caught
+his eye which excited his suspicions. So creeping under the cart for
+safety's sake he sat there and watched, when he saw two Indians, wrapped
+in white robes, creep up the bank, seize upon two horses and lead them
+off. He looked so frightened, and told his story in such a disconnected
+manner, that I did not believe him, and was unwilling to alarm the
+party. Still it might be true, and in that case the matter required
+instant attention. There would be no time for examination, and so
+directing Tete Rouge to show me which way the Indians had gone, I took
+my rifle, in obedience to a thoughtless impulse, and left the camp. I
+followed the river back for two or three hundred yards, listening and
+looking anxiously on every side. In the dark prairie on the right I
+could discern nothing to excite alarm; and in the dusky bed of the
+river, a wolf was bounding along in a manner which no Indian could
+imitate. I returned to the camp, and when within sight of it, saw that
+the whole party was aroused. Shaw called out to me that he had counted
+the horses, and that every one of them was in his place. Tete Rouge,
+being examined as to what he had seen, only repeated his former story
+with many asseverations, and insisted that two horses were certainly
+carried off. At this Jim Gurney declared that he was crazy; Tete Rouge
+indignantly denied the charge, on which Jim appealed to us. As we
+declined to give our judgment on so delicate a matter, the dispute grew
+hot between Tete Rouge and his accuser, until he was directed to go to
+bed and not alarm the camp again if he saw the whole Arapahoe village
+coming.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+THE CHASE
+
+
+The country before us was now thronged with buffalo, and a sketch of the
+manner of hunting them will not be out of place. There are two methods
+commonly practiced, "running" and "approaching." The chase on horseback,
+which goes by the name of "running," is the more violent and dashing
+mode of the two. Indeed, of all American wild sports, this is the
+wildest. Once among the buffalo, the hunter, unless long use has made
+him familiar with the situation, dashes forward in utter recklessness
+and self-abandonment. He thinks of nothing, cares for nothing but
+the game; his mind is stimulated to the highest pitch, yet intensely
+concentrated on one object. In the midst of the flying herd, where the
+uproar and the dust are thickest, it never wavers for a moment; he drops
+the rein and abandons his horse to his furious career; he levels his
+gun, the report sounds faint amid the thunder of the buffalo; and when
+his wounded enemy leaps in vain fury upon him, his heart thrills with
+a feeling like the fierce delight of the battlefield. A practiced and
+skillful hunter, well mounted, will sometimes kill five or six cows in
+a single chase, loading his gun again and again as his horse rushes
+through the tumult. An exploit like this is quite beyond the capacities
+of a novice. In attacking a small band of buffalo, or in separating a
+single animal from the herd and assailing it apart from the rest, there
+is less excitement and less danger. With a bold and well trained horse
+the hunter may ride so close to the buffalo that as they gallop side by
+side he may reach over and touch him with his hand; nor is there much
+danger in this as long as the buffalo's strength and breath continue
+unabated; but when he becomes tired and can no longer run at ease, when
+his tongue lolls out and foam flies from his jaws, then the hunter had
+better keep at a more respectful distance; the distressed brute may turn
+upon him at any instant; and especially at the moment when he fires his
+gun. The wounded buffalo springs at his enemy; the horse leaps violently
+aside; and then the hunter has need of a tenacious seat in the saddle,
+for if he is thrown to the ground there is no hope for him. When he sees
+his attack defeated the buffalo resumes his flight, but if the shot be
+well directed he soon stops; for a few moments he stands still, then
+totters and falls heavily upon the prairie.
+
+The chief difficulty in running buffalo, as it seems to me, is that of
+loading the gun or pistol at full gallop. Many hunters for convenience'
+sake carry three or four bullets in the mouth; the powder is poured
+down the muzzle of the piece, the bullet dropped in after it, the stock
+struck hard upon the pommel of the saddle, and the work is done. The
+danger of this method is obvious. Should the blow on the pommel fail to
+send the bullet home, or should the latter, in the act of aiming, start
+from its place and roll toward the muzzle, the gun would probably burst
+in discharging. Many a shattered hand and worse casualties besides have
+been the result of such an accident. To obviate it, some hunters make
+use of a ramrod, usually hung by a string from the neck, but this
+materially increases the difficulty of loading. The bows and arrows
+which the Indians use in running buffalo have many advantages over fire
+arms, and even white men occasionally employ them.
+
+The danger of the chase arises not so much from the onset of the wounded
+animal as from the nature of the ground which the hunter must ride
+over. The prairie does not always present a smooth, level, and uniform
+surface; very often it is broken with hills and hollows, intersected by
+ravines, and in the remoter parts studded by the stiff wild-sage bushes.
+The most formidable obstructions, however, are the burrows of wild
+animals, wolves, badgers, and particularly prairie dogs, with whose
+holes the ground for a very great extent is frequently honeycombed.
+In the blindness of the chase the hunter rushes over it unconscious of
+danger; his horse, at full career, thrusts his leg deep into one of the
+burrows; the bone snaps, the rider is hurled forward to the ground and
+probably killed. Yet accidents in buffalo running happen less frequently
+than one would suppose; in the recklessness of the chase, the hunter
+enjoys all the impunity of a drunken man, and may ride in safety over
+the gullies and declivities where, should he attempt to pass in his
+sober senses, he would infallibly break his neck.
+
+The method of "approaching," being practiced on foot, has many
+advantages over that of "running"; in the former, one neither breaks
+down his horse nor endangers his own life; instead of yielding to
+excitement he must be cool, collected, and watchful; he must understand
+the buffalo, observe the features of the country and the course of the
+wind, and be well skilled, moreover, in using the rifle. The buffalo are
+strange animals; sometimes they are so stupid and infatuated that a man
+may walk up to them in full sight on the open prairie, and even shoot
+several of their number before the rest will think it necessary to
+retreat. Again at another moment they will be so shy and wary, that in
+order to approach them the utmost skill, experience, and judgment are
+necessary. Kit Carson, I believe, stands pre-eminent in running
+buffalo; in approaching, no man living can bear away the palm from Henry
+Chatillon.
+
+To resume the story: After Tete Rouge had alarmed the camp, no further
+disturbance occurred during the night. The Arapahoes did not attempt
+mischief, or if they did the wakefulness of the party deterred them
+from effecting their purpose. The next day was one of activity and
+excitement, for about ten o'clock the men in advance shouted the
+gladdening cry of "Buffalo, buffalo!" and in the hollow of the prairie
+just below us, a band of bulls were grazing. The temptation was
+irresistible, and Shaw and I rode down upon them. We were badly mounted
+on our traveling horses, but by hard lashing we overtook them, and
+Shaw, running alongside of a bull, shot into him both balls of his
+double-barreled gun. Looking round as I galloped past, I saw the bull in
+his mortal fury rushing again and again upon his antagonist, whose
+horse constantly leaped aside, and avoided the onset. My chase was more
+protracted, but at length I ran close to the bull and killed him with
+my pistols. Cutting off the tails of our victims by way of trophy, we
+rejoined the party in about a quarter of an hour after we left it.
+Again and again that morning rang out the same welcome cry of "Buffalo,
+buffalo!" Every few moments in the broad meadows along the river, we
+would see bands of bulls, who, raising their shaggy heads, would gaze in
+stupid amazement at the approaching horsemen, and then breaking into a
+clumsy gallop, would file off in a long line across the trail in front,
+toward the rising prairie on the left. At noon, the whole plain before
+us was alive with thousands of buffalo--bulls, cows, and calves--all
+moving rapidly as we drew near; and far-off beyond the river the
+swelling prairie was darkened with them to the very horizon. The party
+was in gayer spirits than ever. We stopped for a nooning near a grove of
+trees by the river side.
+
+"Tongues and hump ribs to-morrow," said Shaw, looking with contempt at
+the venison steaks which Delorier placed before us. Our meal finished,
+we lay down under a temporary awning to sleep. A shout from Henry
+Chatillon aroused us, and we saw him standing on the cartwheel
+stretching his tall figure to its full height while he looked toward the
+prairie beyond the river. Following the direction of his eyes we could
+clearly distinguish a large dark object, like the black shadow of a
+cloud, passing rapidly over swell after swell of the distant plain;
+behind it followed another of similar appearance though smaller. Its
+motion was more rapid, and it drew closer and closer to the first. It
+was the hunters of the Arapahoe camp pursuing a band of buffalo. Shaw
+and I hastily sought and saddled our best horses, and went plunging
+through sand and water to the farther bank. We were too late. The
+hunters had already mingled with the herd, and the work of slaughter was
+nearly over. When we reached the ground we found it strewn far and
+near with numberless black carcasses, while the remnants of the herd,
+scattered in all directions, were flying away in terror, and the Indians
+still rushing in pursuit. Many of the hunters, however, remained upon
+the spot, and among the rest was our yesterday's acquaintance, the chief
+of the village. He had alighted by the side of a cow, into which he
+had shot five or six arrows, and his squaw, who had followed him on
+horseback to the hunt, was giving him a draught of water out of a
+canteen, purchased or plundered from some volunteer soldier. Recrossing
+the river we overtook the party, who were already on their way.
+
+We had scarcely gone a mile when an imposing spectacle presented itself.
+From the river bank on the right, away over the swelling prairie on the
+left, and in front as far as we could see, extended one vast host of
+buffalo. The outskirts of the herd were within a quarter of a mile. In
+many parts they were crowded so densely together that in the distance
+their rounded backs presented a surface of uniform blackness; but
+elsewhere they were more scattered, and from amid the multitude rose
+little columns of dust where the buffalo were rolling on the ground.
+Here and there a great confusion was perceptible, where a battle was
+going forward among the bulls. We could distinctly see them rushing
+against each other, and hear the clattering of their horns and their
+hoarse bellowing. Shaw was riding at some distance in advance, with
+Henry Chatillon; I saw him stop and draw the leather covering from his
+gun. Indeed, with such a sight before us, but one thing could be thought
+of. That morning I had used pistols in the chase. I had now a mind to
+try the virtue of a gun. Delorier had one, and I rode up to the side of
+the cart; there he sat under the white covering, biting his pipe between
+his teeth and grinning with excitement.
+
+"Lend me your gun, Delorier," said I.
+
+"Oui, monsieur, oui," said Delorier, tugging with might and main to
+stop the mule, which seemed obstinately bent on going forward. Then
+everything but his moccasins disappeared as he crawled into the cart and
+pulled at the gun to extricate it.
+
+"Is it loaded?" I asked.
+
+"Oui, bien charge; you'll kill, mon bourgeois; yes, you'll kill--c'est
+un bon fusil."
+
+I handed him my rifle and rode forward to Shaw.
+
+"Are you ready?" he asked.
+
+"Come on," said I.
+
+"Keep down that hollow," said Henry, "and then they won't see you till
+you get close to them."
+
+The hollow was a kind of ravine very wide and shallow; it ran obliquely
+toward the buffalo, and we rode at a canter along the bottom until it
+became too shallow, when we bent close to our horses' necks, and then
+finding that it could no longer conceal us, came out of it and rode
+directly toward the herd. It was within gunshot; before its outskirts,
+numerous grizzly old bulls were scattered, holding guard over their
+females. They glared at us in anger and astonishment, walked toward us
+a few yards, and then turning slowly round retreated at a trot which
+afterward broke into a clumsy gallop. In an instant the main body caught
+the alarm. The buffalo began to crowd away from the point toward which
+we were approaching, and a gap was opened in the side of the herd. We
+entered it, still restraining our excited horses. Every instant the
+tumult was thickening. The buffalo, pressing together in large bodies,
+crowded away from us on every hand. In front and on either side we could
+see dark columns and masses, half hidden by clouds of dust, rushing
+along in terror and confusion, and hear the tramp and clattering of ten
+thousand hoofs. That countless multitude of powerful brutes, ignorant
+of their own strength, were flying in a panic from the approach of two
+feeble horsemen. To remain quiet longer was impossible.
+
+"Take that band on the left," said Shaw; "I'll take these in front."
+
+He sprang off, and I saw no more of him. A heavy Indian whip was
+fastened by a band to my wrist; I swung it into the air and lashed
+my horse's flank with all the strength of my arm. Away she darted,
+stretching close to the ground. I could see nothing but a cloud of
+dust before me, but I knew that it concealed a band of many hundreds of
+buffalo. In a moment I was in the midst of the cloud, half suffocated
+by the dust and stunned by the trampling of the flying herd; but I was
+drunk with the chase and cared for nothing but the buffalo. Very soon
+a long dark mass became visible, looming through the dust; then I could
+distinguish each bulky carcass, the hoofs flying out beneath, the short
+tails held rigidly erect. In a moment I was so close that I could have
+touched them with my gun. Suddenly, to my utter amazement, the hoofs
+were jerked upward, the tails flourished in the air, and amid a cloud
+of dust the buffalo seemed to sink into the earth before me. One vivid
+impression of that instant remains upon my mind. I remember looking down
+upon the backs of several buffalo dimly visible through the dust. We had
+run unawares upon a ravine. At that moment I was not the most accurate
+judge of depth and width, but when I passed it on my return, I found it
+about twelve feet deep and not quite twice as wide at the bottom. It
+was impossible to stop; I would have done so gladly if I could; so, half
+sliding, half plunging, down went the little mare. I believe she came
+down on her knees in the loose sand at the bottom; I was pitched forward
+violently against her neck and nearly thrown over her head among the
+buffalo, who amid dust and confusion came tumbling in all around. The
+mare was on her feet in an instant and scrambling like a cat up the
+opposite side. I thought for a moment that she would have fallen back
+and crushed me, but with a violent effort she clambered out and gained
+the hard prairie above. Glancing back I saw the huge head of a bull
+clinging as it were by the forefeet at the edge of the dusty gulf. At
+length I was fairly among the buffalo. They were less densely crowded
+than before, and I could see nothing but bulls, who always run at the
+rear of the herd. As I passed amid them they would lower their heads,
+and turning as they ran, attempt to gore my horse; but as they were
+already at full speed there was no force in their onset, and as Pauline
+ran faster than they, they were always thrown behind her in the effort.
+I soon began to distinguish cows amid the throng. One just in front of
+me seemed to my liking, and I pushed close to her side. Dropping the
+reins I fired, holding the muzzle of the gun within a foot of her
+shoulder. Quick as lightning she sprang at Pauline; the little mare
+dodged the attack, and I lost sight of the wounded animal amid the
+tumultuous crowd. Immediately after I selected another, and urging
+forward Pauline, shot into her both pistols in succession. For a while
+I kept her in view, but in attempting to load my gun, lost sight of her
+also in the confusion. Believing her to be mortally wounded and unable
+to keep up with the herd, I checked my horse. The crowd rushed onward.
+The dust and tumult passed away, and on the prairie, far behind the
+rest, I saw a solitary buffalo galloping heavily. In a moment I and my
+victim were running side by side. My firearms were all empty, and I had
+in my pouch nothing but rifle bullets, too large for the pistols and
+too small for the gun. I loaded the latter, however, but as often as I
+leveled it to fire, the little bullets would roll out of the muzzle
+and the gun returned only a faint report like a squib, as the powder
+harmlessly exploded. I galloped in front of the buffalo and attempted to
+turn her back; but her eyes glared, her mane bristled, and lowering her
+head, she rushed at me with astonishing fierceness and activity. Again
+and again I rode before her, and again and again she repeated her
+furious charge. But little Pauline was in her element. She dodged her
+enemy at every rush, until at length the buffalo stood still, exhausted
+with her own efforts; she panted, and her tongue hung lolling from her
+jaws.
+
+Riding to a little distance I alighted, thinking to gather a handful
+of dry grass to serve the purpose of wadding, and load the gun at my
+leisure. No sooner were my feet on the ground than the buffalo came
+bounding in such a rage toward me that I jumped back again into the
+saddle with all possible dispatch. After waiting a few minutes more,
+I made an attempt to ride up and stab her with my knife; but the
+experiment proved such as no wise man would repeat. At length,
+bethinking me of the fringes at the seams of my buckskin pantaloons,
+I jerked off a few of them, and reloading my gun, forced them down the
+barrel to keep the bullet in its place; then approaching, I shot the
+wounded buffalo through the heart. Sinking to her knees, she rolled over
+lifeless on the prairie. To my astonishment, I found that instead of
+a fat cow I had been slaughtering a stout yearling bull. No longer
+wondering at the fierceness he had shown, I opened his throat and
+cutting out his tongue, tied it at the back of my saddle. My mistake was
+one which a more experienced eye than mine might easily make in the dust
+and confusion of such a chase.
+
+Then for the first time I had leisure to look at the scene around me.
+The prairie in front was darkened with the retreating multitude, and on
+the other hand the buffalo came filing up in endless unbroken columns
+from the low plains upon the river. The Arkansas was three or four miles
+distant. I turned and moved slowly toward it. A long time passed before,
+far down in the distance, I distinguished the white covering of the cart
+and the little black specks of horsemen before and behind it. Drawing
+near, I recognized Shaw's elegant tunic, the red flannel shirt,
+conspicuous far off. I overtook the party, and asked him what success he
+had met with. He had assailed a fat cow, shot her with two bullets, and
+mortally wounded her. But neither of us were prepared for the chase that
+afternoon, and Shaw, like myself, had no spare bullets in his pouch;
+so he abandoned the disabled animal to Henry Chatillon, who followed,
+dispatched her with his rifle, and loaded his horse with her meat.
+
+We encamped close to the river. The night was dark, and as we lay down
+we could hear mingled with the howling of wolves the hoarse bellowing of
+the buffalo, like the ocean beating upon a distant coast.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+THE BUFFALO CAMP
+
+
+No one in the camp was more active than Jim Gurney, and no one half
+so lazy as Ellis. Between these two there was a great antipathy. Ellis
+never stirred in the morning until he was compelled to, but Jim was
+always on his feet before daybreak; and this morning as usual the sound
+of his voice awakened the party.
+
+"Get up, you booby! up with you now, you're fit for nothing but eating
+and sleeping. Stop your grumbling and come out of that buffalo robe or
+I'll pull it off for you."
+
+Jim's words were interspersed with numerous expletives, which gave them
+great additional effect. Ellis drawled out something in a nasal tone
+from among the folds of his buffalo robe; then slowly disengaged
+himself, rose into sitting posture, stretched his long arms, yawned
+hideously, and finally, raising his tall person erect, stood staring
+round him to all the four quarters of the horizon. Delorier's fire was
+soon blazing, and the horses and mules, loosened from their pickets,
+were feeding in the neighboring meadow. When we sat down to breakfast
+the prairie was still in the dusky light of morning; and as the sun rose
+we were mounted and on our way again.
+
+"A white buffalo!" exclaimed Munroe.
+
+"I'll have that fellow," said Shaw, "if I run my horse to death after
+him."
+
+He threw the cover of his gun to Delorier and galloped out upon the
+prairie.
+
+"Stop, Mr. Shaw, stop!" called out Henry Chatillon, "you'll run down
+your horse for nothing; it's only a white ox."
+
+But Shaw was already out of hearing. The ox, who had no doubt strayed
+away from some of the government wagon trains, was standing beneath some
+low hills which bounded the plain in the distance. Not far from him a
+band of veritable buffalo bulls were grazing; and startled at Shaw's
+approach, they all broke into a run, and went scrambling up the
+hillsides to gain the high prairie above. One of them in his haste and
+terror involved himself in a fatal catastrophe. Along the foot of
+the hills was a narrow strip of deep marshy soil, into which the bull
+plunged and hopelessly entangled himself. We all rode up to the spot.
+The huge carcass was half sunk in the mud, which flowed to his very
+chin, and his shaggy mane was outspread upon the surface. As we came
+near the bull began to struggle with convulsive strength; he writhed
+to and fro, and in the energy of his fright and desperation would lift
+himself for a moment half out of the slough, while the reluctant mire
+returned a sucking sound as he strained to drag his limbs from its
+tenacious depths. We stimulated his exertions by getting behind him and
+twisting his tail; nothing would do. There was clearly no hope for him.
+After every effort his heaving sides were more deeply imbedded and the
+mire almost overflowed his nostrils; he lay still at length, and looking
+round at us with a furious eye, seemed to resign himself to his fate.
+Ellis slowly dismounted, and deliberately leveling his boasted yager,
+shot the old bull through the heart; then he lazily climbed back again
+to his seat, pluming himself no doubt on having actually killed a
+buffalo. That day the invincible yager drew blood for the first and last
+time during the whole journey.
+
+The morning was a bright and gay one, and the air so clear that on the
+farthest horizon the outline of the pale blue prairie was sharply drawn
+against the sky. Shaw felt in the mood for hunting; he rode in advance
+of the party, and before long we saw a file of bulls galloping at full
+speed upon a vast green swell of the prairie at some distance in front.
+Shaw came scouring along behind them, arrayed in his red shirt, which
+looked very well in the distance; he gained fast on the fugitives, and
+as the foremost bull was disappearing behind the summit of the swell,
+we saw him in the act of assailing the hindmost; a smoke sprang from the
+muzzle of his gun, and floated away before the wind like a little
+white cloud; the bull turned upon him, and just then the rising ground
+concealed them both from view.
+
+We were moving forward until about noon, when we stopped by the side of
+the Arkansas. At that moment Shaw appeared riding slowly down the side
+of a distant hill; his horse was tired and jaded, and when he threw
+his saddle upon the ground, I observed that the tails of two bulls were
+dangling behind it. No sooner were the horses turned loose to feed than
+Henry, asking Munroe to go with him, took his rifle and walked quietly
+away. Shaw, Tete Rouge, and I sat down by the side of the cart to
+discuss the dinner which Delorier placed before us; we had scarcely
+finished when we saw Munroe walking toward us along the river bank.
+Henry, he said, had killed four fat cows, and had sent him back for
+horses to bring in the meat. Shaw took a horse for himself and another
+for Henry, and he and Munroe left the camp together. After a short
+absence all three of them came back, their horses loaded with the
+choicest parts of the meat; we kept two of the cows for ourselves and
+gave the others to Munroe and his companions. Delorier seated himself
+on the grass before the pile of meat, and worked industriously for
+some time to cut it into thin broad sheets for drying. This is no easy
+matter, but Delorier had all the skill of an Indian squaw. Long before
+night cords of raw hide were stretched around the camp, and the meat was
+hung upon them to dry in the sunshine and pure air of the prairie.
+Our California companions were less successful at the work; but they
+accomplished it after their own fashion, and their side of the camp was
+soon garnished in the same manner as our own.
+
+We meant to remain at this place long enough to prepare provisions for
+our journey to the frontier, which as we supposed might occupy about a
+month. Had the distance been twice as great and the party ten times as
+large, the unerring rifle of Henry Chatillon would have supplied
+meat enough for the whole within two days; we were obliged to remain,
+however, until it should be dry enough for transportation; so we erected
+our tent and made the other arrangements for a permanent camp. The
+California men, who had no such shelter, contented themselves with
+arranging their packs on the grass around their fire. In the meantime we
+had nothing to do but amuse ourselves. Our tent was within a rod of the
+river, if the broad sand-beds, with a scanty stream of water coursing
+here and there along their surface, deserve to be dignified with the
+name of river. The vast flat plains on either side were almost on a
+level with the sand-beds, and they were bounded in the distance by low,
+monotonous hills, parallel to the course of the Arkansas. All was one
+expanse of grass; there was no wood in view, except some trees and
+stunted bushes upon two islands which rose from amid the wet sands of
+the river. Yet far from being dull and tame this boundless scene was
+often a wild and animated one; for twice a day, at sunrise and at noon,
+the buffalo came issuing from the hills, slowly advancing in their grave
+processions to drink at the river. All our amusements were too at their
+expense. Except an elephant, I have seen no animal that can surpass a
+buffalo bull in size and strength, and the world may be searched in vain
+to find anything of a more ugly and ferocious aspect. At first sight of
+him every feeling of sympathy vanishes; no man who has not experienced
+it can understand with what keen relish one inflicts his death wound,
+with what profound contentment of mind he beholds him fall. The cows are
+much smaller and of a gentler appearance, as becomes their sex. While
+in this camp we forebore to attack them, leaving to Henry Chatillon, who
+could better judge their fatness and good quality, the task of killing
+such as we wanted for use; but against the bulls we waged an unrelenting
+war. Thousands of them might be slaughtered without causing any
+detriment to the species, for their numbers greatly exceed those of the
+cows; it is the hides of the latter alone which are used for purpose of
+commerce and for making the lodges of the Indians; and the destruction
+among them is therefore altogether disproportioned.
+
+Our horses were tired, and we now usually hunted on foot. The wide, flat
+sand-beds of the Arkansas, as the reader will remember, lay close by
+the side of our camp. While we were lying on the grass after dinner,
+smoking, conversing, or laughing at Tete Rouge, one of us would look
+up and observe, far out on the plains beyond the river, certain black
+objects slowly approaching. He would inhale a parting whiff from the
+pipe, then rising lazily, take his rifle, which leaned against the cart,
+throw over his shoulder the strap of his pouch and powder-horn, and
+with his moccasins in his hand walk quietly across the sand toward the
+opposite side of the river. This was very easy; for though the sands
+were about a quarter of a mile wide, the water was nowhere more than two
+feet deep. The farther bank was about four or five feet high, and quite
+perpendicular, being cut away by the water in spring. Tall grass grew
+along its edge. Putting it aside with his hand, and cautiously looking
+through it, the hunter can discern the huge shaggy back of the buffalo
+slowly swaying to and fro, as with his clumsy swinging gait he advances
+toward the water. The buffalo have regular paths by which they come down
+to drink. Seeing at a glance along which of these his intended victim
+is moving, the hunter crouches under the bank within fifteen or twenty
+yards, it may be, of the point where the path enters the river. Here he
+sits down quietly on the sand. Listening intently, he hears the heavy
+monotonous tread of the approaching bull. The moment after he sees a
+motion among the long weeds and grass just at the spot where the path
+is channeled through the bank. An enormous black head is thrust out,
+the horns just visible amid the mass of tangled mane. Half sliding, half
+plunging, down comes the buffalo upon the river-bed below. He steps
+out in full sight upon the sands. Just before him a runnel of water is
+gliding, and he bends his head to drink. You may hear the water as it
+gurgles down his capacious throat. He raises his head, and the drops
+trickle from his wet beard. He stands with an air of stupid abstraction,
+unconscious of the lurking danger. Noiselessly the hunter cocks his
+rifle. As he sits upon the sand, his knee is raised, and his elbow rests
+upon it, that he may level his heavy weapon with a steadier aim. The
+stock is at his shoulder; his eye ranges along the barrel. Still he is
+in no haste to fire. The bull, with slow deliberation, begins his march
+over the sands to the other side. He advances his foreleg, and exposes
+to view a small spot, denuded of hair, just behind the point of his
+shoulder; upon this the hunter brings the sight of his rifle to bear;
+lightly and delicately his finger presses upon the hair-trigger. Quick
+as thought the spiteful crack of the rifle responds to his slight touch,
+and instantly in the middle of the bare spot appears a small red dot.
+The buffalo shivers; death has overtaken him, he cannot tell from
+whence; still he does not fall, but walks heavily forward, as if nothing
+had happened. Yet before he has advanced far out upon the sand, you
+see him stop; he totters; his knees bend under him, and his head sinks
+forward to the ground. Then his whole vast bulk sways to one side; he
+rolls over on the sand, and dies with a scarcely perceptible struggle.
+
+Waylaying the buffalo in this manner, and shooting them as they come to
+water, is the easiest and laziest method of hunting them. They may also
+be approached by crawling up ravines, or behind hills, or even over the
+open prairie. This is often surprisingly easy; but at other times
+it requires the utmost skill of the most experienced hunter. Henry
+Chatillon was a man of extraordinary strength and hardihood; but I have
+seen him return to camp quite exhausted with his efforts, his limbs
+scratched and wounded, and his buckskin dress stuck full of the thorns
+of the prickly-pear among which he had been crawling. Sometimes he would
+lay flat upon his face, and drag himself along in this position for many
+rods together.
+
+On the second day of our stay at this place, Henry went out for an
+afternoon hunt. Shaw and I remained in camp until, observing some bulls
+approaching the water upon the other side of the river, we crossed over
+to attack them. They were so near, however, that before we could get
+under cover of the bank our appearance as we walked over the sands
+alarmed them. Turning round before coming within gunshot, they began to
+move off to the right in a direction parallel to the river. I climbed
+up the bank and ran after them. They were walking swiftly, and before I
+could come within gunshot distance they slowly wheeled about and faced
+toward me. Before they had turned far enough to see me I had fallen flat
+on my face. For a moment they stood and stared at the strange object
+upon the grass; then turning away, again they walked on as before; and
+I, rising immediately, ran once more in pursuit. Again they wheeled
+about, and again I fell prostrate. Repeating this three or four times,
+I came at length within a hundred yards of the fugitives, and as I
+saw them turning again I sat down and leveled my rifle. The one in the
+center was the largest I had ever seen. I shot him behind the shoulder.
+His two companions ran off. He attempted to follow, but soon came to
+a stand, and at length lay down as quietly as an ox chewing the cud.
+Cautiously approaching him, I saw by his dull and jellylike eye that he
+was dead.
+
+When I began the chase, the prairie was almost tenantless; but a great
+multitude of buffalo had suddenly thronged upon it, and looking up, I
+saw within fifty rods a heavy, dark column stretching to the right and
+left as far as I could see. I walked toward them. My approach did not
+alarm them in the least. The column itself consisted entirely of cows
+and calves, but a great many old bulls were ranging about the prairie
+on its flank, and as I drew near they faced toward me with such a shaggy
+and ferocious look that I thought it best to proceed no farther. Indeed
+I was already within close rifle-shot of the column, and I sat down on
+the ground to watch their movements. Sometimes the whole would stand
+still, their heads all facing one way; then they would trot forward,
+as if by a common impulse, their hoofs and horns clattering together
+as they moved. I soon began to hear at a distance on the left the sharp
+reports of a rifle, again and again repeated; and not long after, dull
+and heavy sounds succeeded, which I recognized as the familiar voice
+of Shaw's double-barreled gun. When Henry's rifle was at work there was
+always meat to be brought in. I went back across the river for a horse,
+and returning, reached the spot where the hunters were standing. The
+buffalo were visible on the distant prairie. The living had retreated
+from the ground, but ten or twelve carcasses were scattered in various
+directions. Henry, knife in hand, was stooping over a dead cow, cutting
+away the best and fattest of the meat.
+
+When Shaw left me he had walked down for some distance under the river
+bank to find another bull. At length he saw the plains covered with
+the host of buffalo, and soon after heard the crack of Henry's rifle.
+Ascending the bank, he crawled through the grass, which for a rod or two
+from the river was very high and rank. He had not crawled far before to
+his astonishment he saw Henry standing erect upon the prairie, almost
+surrounded by the buffalo. Henry was in his appropriate element. Nelson,
+on the deck of the Victory, hardly felt a prouder sense of mastery than
+he. Quite unconscious that any one was looking at him, he stood at the
+full height of his tall, strong figure, one hand resting upon his side,
+and the other arm leaning carelessly on the muzzle of his rifle. His
+eyes were ranging over the singular assemblage around him. Now and then
+he would select such a cow as suited him, level his rifle, and shoot her
+dead; then quietly reloading, he would resume his former position. The
+buffalo seemed no more to regard his presence than if he were one of
+themselves; the bulls were bellowing and butting at each other, or else
+rolling about in the dust. A group of buffalo would gather about the
+carcass of a dead cow, snuffing at her wounds; and sometimes they would
+come behind those that had not yet fallen, and endeavor to push them
+from the spot. Now and then some old bull would face toward Henry with
+an air of stupid amazement, but none seemed inclined to attack or fly
+from him. For some time Shaw lay among the grass, looking in surprise at
+this extraordinary sight; at length he crawled cautiously forward, and
+spoke in a low voice to Henry, who told him to rise and come on. Still
+the buffalo showed no sign of fear; they remained gathered about their
+dead companions. Henry had already killed as many cows as we wanted for
+use, and Shaw, kneeling behind one of the carcasses, shot five bulls
+before the rest thought it necessary to disperse.
+
+The frequent stupidity and infatuation of the buffalo seems the more
+remarkable from the contrast it offers to their wildness and wariness at
+other times. Henry knew all their peculiarities; he had studied them as
+a scholar studies his books, and he derived quite as much pleasure from
+the occupation. The buffalo were a kind of companions to him, and, as he
+said, he never felt alone when they were about him. He took great pride
+in his skill in hunting. Henry was one of the most modest of men; yet,
+in the simplicity and frankness of his character, it was quite clear
+that he looked upon his pre-eminence in this respect as a thing too
+palpable and well established ever to be disputed. But whatever may have
+been his estimate of his own skill, it was rather below than above that
+which others placed upon it. The only time that I ever saw a shade of
+scorn darken his face was when two volunteer soldiers, who had just
+killed a buffalo for the first time, undertook to instruct him as to the
+best method of "approaching." To borrow an illustration from an opposite
+side of life, an Eton boy might as well have sought to enlighten Porson
+on the formation of a Greek verb, or a Fleet Street shopkeeper to
+instruct Chesterfield concerning a point of etiquette. Henry always
+seemed to think that he had a sort of prescriptive right to the buffalo,
+and to look upon them as something belonging peculiarly to himself.
+Nothing excited his indignation so much as any wanton destruction
+committed among the cows, and in his view shooting a calf was a cardinal
+sin.
+
+Henry Chatillon and Tete Rouge were of the same age; that is, about
+thirty. Henry was twice as large, and fully six times as strong as Tete
+Rouge. Henry's face was roughened by winds and storms; Tete Rouge's was
+bloated by sherry cobblers and brandy toddy. Henry talked of Indians and
+buffalo; Tete Rouge of theaters and oyster cellars. Henry had led a life
+of hardship and privation; Tete Rouge never had a whim which he would
+not gratify at the first moment he was able. Henry moreover was the
+most disinterested man I ever saw; while Tete Rouge, though equally
+good-natured in his way, cared for nobody but himself. Yet we would
+not have lost him on any account; he admirably served the purpose of
+a jester in a feudal castle; our camp would have been lifeless without
+him. For the past week he had fattened in a most amazing manner; and
+indeed this was not at all surprising, since his appetite was most
+inordinate. He was eating from morning till night; half the time he
+would be at work cooking some private repast for himself, and he paid
+a visit to the coffee-pot eight or ten times a day. His rueful and
+disconsolate face became jovial and rubicund, his eyes stood out like
+a lobster's, and his spirits, which before were sunk to the depths of
+despondency, were now elated in proportion; all day he was singing,
+whistling, laughing, and telling stories. Being mortally afraid of Jim
+Gurney, he kept close in the neighborhood of our tent. As he had seen an
+abundance of low dissipated life, and had a considerable fund of
+humor, his anecdotes were extremely amusing, especially since he never
+hesitated to place himself in a ludicrous point of view, provided he
+could raise a laugh by doing so. Tete Rouge, however, was sometimes
+rather troublesome; he had an inveterate habit of pilfering provisions
+at all times of the day. He set ridicule at utter defiance; and being
+without a particle of self-respect, he would never have given over his
+tricks, even if they had drawn upon him the scorn of the whole party.
+Now and then, indeed, something worse than laughter fell to his share;
+on these occasions he would exhibit much contrition, but half an hour
+after we would generally observe him stealing round to the box at the
+back of the cart and slyly making off with the provisions which Delorier
+had laid by for supper. He was very fond of smoking; but having no
+tobacco of his own, we used to provide him with as much as he wanted, a
+small piece at a time. At first we gave him half a pound together, but
+this experiment proved an entire failure, for he invariably lost not
+only the tobacco, but the knife intrusted to him for cutting it, and a
+few minutes after he would come to us with many apologies and beg for
+more.
+
+We had been two days at this camp, and some of the meat was nearly fit
+for transportation, when a storm came suddenly upon us. About sunset the
+whole sky grew as black as ink, and the long grass at the river's
+edge bent and rose mournfully with the first gusts of the approaching
+hurricane. Munroe and his two companions brought their guns and placed
+them under cover of our tent. Having no shelter for themselves, they
+built a fire of driftwood that might have defied a cataract, and wrapped
+in their buffalo robes, sat on the ground around it to bide the fury of
+the storm. Delorier ensconced himself under the cover of the cart. Shaw
+and I, together with Henry and Tete Rouge, crowded into the little tent;
+but first of all the dried meat was piled together, and well protected
+by buffalo robes pinned firmly to the ground. About nine o'clock the
+storm broke, amid absolute darkness; it blew a gale, and torrents of
+rain roared over the boundless expanse of open prairie. Our tent was
+filled with mist and spray beating through the canvas, and saturating
+everything within. We could only distinguish each other at short
+intervals by the dazzling flash of lightning, which displayed the whole
+waste around us with its momentary glare. We had our fears for the tent;
+but for an hour or two it stood fast, until at length the cap gave way
+before a furious blast; the pole tore through the top, and in an instant
+we were half suffocated by the cold and dripping folds of the canvas,
+which fell down upon us. Seizing upon our guns, we placed them erect, in
+order to lift the saturated cloth above our heads. In this disagreeable
+situation, involved among wet blankets and buffalo robes, we spent
+several hours of the night during which the storm would not abate for a
+moment, but pelted down above our heads with merciless fury. Before
+long the ground beneath us became soaked with moisture, and the water
+gathered there in a pool two or three inches deep; so that for a
+considerable part of the night we were partially immersed in a cold
+bath. In spite of all this, Tete Rouge's flow of spirits did not desert
+him for an instant, he laughed, whistled, and sung in defiance of the
+storm, and that night he paid off the long arrears of ridicule which
+he owed us. While we lay in silence, enduring the infliction with what
+philosophy we could muster, Tete Rouge, who was intoxicated with animal
+spirits, was cracking jokes at our expense by the hour together. At
+about three o'clock in the morning, "preferring the tyranny of the
+open night" to such a wretched shelter, we crawled out from beneath the
+fallen canvas. The wind had abated, but the rain fell steadily. The fire
+of the California men still blazed amid the darkness, and we joined
+them as they sat around it. We made ready some hot coffee by way of
+refreshment; but when some of the party sought to replenish their cups,
+it was found that Tete Rouge, having disposed of his own share, had
+privately abstracted the coffee-pot and drank up the rest of the
+contents out of the spout.
+
+In the morning, to our great joy, an unclouded sun rose upon the
+prairie. We presented rather a laughable appearance, for the cold and
+clammy buckskin, saturated with water, clung fast to our limbs; the
+light wind and warm sunshine soon dried them again, and then we were
+all incased in armor of intolerable rigidity. Roaming all day over the
+prairie and shooting two or three bulls, were scarcely enough to restore
+the stiffened leather to its usual pliancy.
+
+Besides Henry Chatillon, Shaw and I were the only hunters in the party.
+Munroe this morning made an attempt to run a buffalo, but his horse
+could not come up to the game. Shaw went out with him, and being better
+mounted soon found himself in the midst of the herd. Seeing nothing
+but cows and calves around him, he checked his horse. An old bull came
+galloping on the open prairie at some distance behind, and turning, Shaw
+rode across his path, leveling his gun as he passed, and shooting
+him through the shoulder into the heart. The heavy bullets of Shaw's
+double-barreled gun made wild work wherever they struck.
+
+A great flock of buzzards were usually soaring about a few trees
+that stood on the island just below our camp. Throughout the whole of
+yesterday we had noticed an eagle among them; to-day he was still
+there; and Tete Rouge, declaring that he would kill the bird of America,
+borrowed Delorier's gun and set out on his unpatriotic mission. As might
+have been expected, the eagle suffered no great harm at his hands. He
+soon returned, saying that he could not find him, but had shot a buzzard
+instead. Being required to produce the bird in proof of his assertion
+he said he believed he was not quite dead, but he must be hurt, from the
+swiftness with which he flew off.
+
+"If you want," said Tete Rouge, "I'll go and get one of his feathers; I
+knocked off plenty of them when I shot him."
+
+Just opposite our camp was another island covered with bushes, and
+behind it was a deep pool of water, while two or three considerable
+streams course'd over the sand not far off. I was bathing at this place
+in the afternoon when a white wolf, larger than the largest Newfoundland
+dog, ran out from behind the point of the island, and galloped leisurely
+over the sand not half a stone's throw distant. I could plainly see his
+red eyes and the bristles about his snout; he was an ugly scoundrel,
+with a bushy tail, large head, and a most repulsive countenance. Having
+neither rifle to shoot nor stone to pelt him with, I was looking eagerly
+after some missile for his benefit, when the report of a gun came from
+the camp, and the ball threw up the sand just beyond him; at this he
+gave a slight jump, and stretched away so swiftly that he soon dwindled
+into a mere speck on the distant sand-beds. The number of carcasses that
+by this time were lying about the prairie all around us summoned the
+wolves from every quarter; the spot where Shaw and Henry had hunted
+together soon became their favorite resort, for here about a dozen dead
+buffalo were fermenting under the hot sun. I used often to go over the
+river and watch them at their meal; by lying under the bank it was easy
+to get a full view of them. Three different kinds were present; there
+were the white wolves and the gray wolves, both extremely large, and
+besides these the small prairie wolves, not much bigger than spaniels.
+They would howl and fight in a crowd around a single carcass, yet they
+were so watchful, and their senses so acute, that I never was able to
+crawl within a fair shooting distance; whenever I attempted it, they
+would all scatter at once and glide silently away through the tall
+grass. The air above this spot was always full of buzzards or black
+vultures; whenever the wolves left a carcass they would descend upon
+it, and cover it so densely that a rifle-bullet shot at random among
+the gormandizing crowd would generally strike down two or three of them.
+These birds would now be sailing by scores just about our camp, their
+broad black wings seeming half transparent as they expanded them against
+the bright sky. The wolves and the buzzards thickened about us with
+every hour, and two or three eagles also came into the feast. I killed a
+bull within rifle-shot of the camp; that night the wolves made a fearful
+howling close at hand, and in the morning the carcass was completely
+hollowed out by these voracious feeders.
+
+After we had remained four days at this camp we prepared to leave it.
+We had for our own part about five hundred pounds of dried meat, and the
+California men had prepared some three hundred more; this consisted
+of the fattest and choicest parts of eight or nine cows, a very small
+quantity only being taken from each, and the rest abandoned to the
+wolves. The pack animals were laden, the horses were saddled, and the
+mules harnessed to the cart. Even Tete Rouge was ready at last, and
+slowly moving from the ground, we resumed our journey eastward. When
+we had advanced about a mile, Shaw missed a valuable hunting knife and
+turned back in search of it, thinking that he had left it at the camp.
+He approached the place cautiously, fearful that Indians might be
+lurking about, for a deserted camp is dangerous to return to. He saw
+no enemy, but the scene was a wild and dreary one; the prairie was
+overshadowed by dull, leaden clouds, for the day was dark and gloomy.
+The ashes of the fires were still smoking by the river side; the grass
+around them was trampled down by men and horses, and strewn with all the
+litter of a camp. Our departure had been a gathering signal to the birds
+and beasts of prey; Shaw assured me that literally dozens of wolves were
+prowling about the smoldering fires, while multitudes were roaming over
+the prairie around; they all fled as he approached, some running over
+the sand-beds and some over the grassy plains. The vultures in great
+clouds were soaring overhead, and the dead bull near the camp was
+completely blackened by the flock that had alighted upon it; they
+flapped their broad wings, and stretched upward their crested heads
+and long skinny necks, fearing to remain, yet reluctant to leave their
+disgusting feast. As he searched about the fires he saw the wolves
+seated on the distant hills waiting for his departure. Having looked
+in vain for his knife, he mounted again, and left the wolves and the
+vultures to banquet freely upon the carrion of the camp.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+DOWN THE ARKANSAS
+
+
+In the summer of 1846 the wild and lonely banks of the Upper Arkansas
+beheld for the first time the passage of an army. General Kearny, on his
+march to Santa Fe, adopted this route in preference to the old trail of
+the Cimarron. When we came down the main body of the troops had already
+passed on; Price's Missouri regiment, however, was still on the way,
+having left the frontier much later than the rest; and about this time
+we began to meet them moving along the trail, one or two companies at
+a time. No men ever embarked upon a military expedition with a greater
+love for the work before them than the Missourians; but if discipline
+and subordination be the criterion of merit, these soldiers were
+worthless indeed. Yet when their exploits have rung through all America,
+it would be absurd to deny that they were excellent irregular troops.
+Their victories were gained in the teeth of every established precedent
+of warfare; they were owing to a singular combination of military
+qualities in the men themselves. Without discipline or a spirit of
+subordination, they knew how to keep their ranks and act as one man.
+Doniphan's regiment marched through New Mexico more like a band of free
+companions than like the paid soldiers of a modern government. When
+General Taylor complimented Doniphan on his success at Sacramento and
+elsewhere, the colonel's reply very well illustrates the relations which
+subsisted between the officers and men of his command:
+
+"I don't know anything of the maneuvers. The boys kept coming to me,
+to let them charge; and when I saw a good opportunity, I told them they
+might go. They were off like a shot, and that's all I know about it."
+
+The backwoods lawyer was better fitted to conciliate the good-will than
+to command the obedience of his men. There were many serving under him,
+who both from character and education could better have held command
+than he.
+
+At the battle of Sacramento his frontiersmen fought under every possible
+disadvantage. The Mexicans had chosen their own position; they were
+drawn up across the valley that led to their native city of Chihuahua;
+their whole front was covered by intrenchments and defended by batteries
+of heavy cannon; they outnumbered the invaders five to one. An eagle
+flew over the Americans, and a deep murmur rose along their lines. The
+enemy's batteries opened; long they remained under fire, but when at
+length the word was given, they shouted and ran forward. In one of the
+divisions, when midway to the enemy, a drunken officer ordered a halt;
+the exasperated men hesitated to obey.
+
+"Forward, boys!" cried a private from the ranks; and the Americans,
+rushing like tigers upon the enemy, bounded over the breastwork. Four
+hundred Mexicans were slain upon the spot and the rest fled, scattering
+over the plain like sheep. The standards, cannon, and baggage were
+taken, and among the rest a wagon laden with cords, which the Mexicans,
+in the fullness of their confidence, had made ready for tying the
+American prisoners.
+
+Doniphan's volunteers, who gained this victory, passed up with the main
+army; but Price's soldiers, whom we now met, were men from the same
+neighborhood, precisely similar in character, manner, and appearance.
+One forenoon, as we were descending upon a very wide meadow, where
+we meant to rest for an hour or two, we saw a dark body of horsemen
+approaching at a distance. In order to find water, we were obliged to
+turn aside to the river bank, a full half mile from the trail. Here we
+put up a kind of awning, and spreading buffalo robes on the ground, Shaw
+and I sat down to smoke beneath it.
+
+"We are going to catch it now," said Shaw; "look at those fellows,
+there'll be no peace for us here."
+
+And in good truth about half the volunteers had straggled away from the
+line of march, and were riding over the meadow toward us.
+
+"How are you?" said the first who came up, alighting from his horse and
+throwing himself upon the ground. The rest followed close, and a score
+of them soon gathered about us, some lying at full length and some
+sitting on horseback. They all belonged to a company raised in St.
+Louis. There were some ruffian faces among them, and some haggard with
+debauchery; but on the whole they were extremely good-looking men,
+superior beyond measure to the ordinary rank and file of an army. Except
+that they were booted to the knees, they wore their belts and military
+trappings over the ordinary dress of citizens. Besides their swords and
+holster pistols, they carried slung from their saddles the excellent
+Springfield carbines, loaded at the breech. They inquired the character
+of our party, and were anxious to know the prospect of killing buffalo,
+and the chance that their horses would stand the journey to Santa Fe.
+All this was well enough, but a moment after a worse visitation came
+upon us.
+
+"How are you, strangers? whar are you going and whar are you from?" said
+a fellow, who came trotting up with an old straw hat on his head. He was
+dressed in the coarsest brown homespun cloth. His face was rather sallow
+from fever-and-ague, and his tall figure, though strong and sinewy was
+quite thin, and had besides an angular look, which, together with his
+boorish seat on horseback, gave him an appearance anything but graceful.
+Plenty more of the same stamp were close behind him. Their company
+was raised in one of the frontier counties, and we soon had abundant
+evidence of their rustic breeding; dozens of them came crowding round,
+pushing between our first visitors and staring at us with unabashed
+faces.
+
+"Are you the captain?" asked one fellow.
+
+"What's your business out here?" asked another.
+
+"Whar do you live when you're at home?" said a third.
+
+"I reckon you're traders," surmised a fourth; and to crown the whole,
+one of them came confidentially to my side and inquired in a low voice,
+"What's your partner's name?"
+
+As each newcomer repeated the same questions, the nuisance became
+intolerable. Our military visitors were soon disgusted at the concise
+nature of our replies, and we could overhear them muttering curses
+against us. While we sat smoking, not in the best imaginable humor, Tete
+Rouge's tongue was never idle. He never forgot his military character,
+and during the whole interview he was incessantly busy among his
+fellow-soldiers. At length we placed him on the ground before us, and
+told him that he might play the part of spokesman for the whole. Tete
+Rouge was delighted, and we soon had the satisfaction of seeing him talk
+and gabble at such a rate that the torrent of questions was in a great
+measure diverted from us. A little while after, to our amazement, we saw
+a large cannon with four horses come lumbering up behind the crowd; and
+the driver, who was perched on one of the animals, stretching his neck
+so as to look over the rest of the men, called out:
+
+"Whar are you from, and what's your business?"
+
+The captain of one of the companies was among our visitors, drawn by
+the same curiosity that had attracted his men. Unless their faces belied
+them, not a few in the crowd might with great advantage have changed
+places with their commander.
+
+"Well, men," said he, lazily rising from the ground where he had been
+lounging, "it's getting late, I reckon we had better be moving."
+
+"I shan't start yet anyhow," said one fellow, who was lying half asleep
+with his head resting on his arm.
+
+"Don't be in a hurry, captain," added the lieutenant.
+
+"Well, have it your own way, we'll wait a while longer," replied the
+obsequious commander.
+
+At length however our visitors went straggling away as they had come,
+and we, to our great relief, were left alone again.
+
+No one can deny the intrepid bravery of these men, their intelligence
+and the bold frankness of their character, free from all that is mean
+and sordid. Yet for the moment the extreme roughness of their manners
+half inclines one to forget their heroic qualities. Most of them seem
+without the least perception of delicacy or propriety, though among them
+individuals may be found in whose manners there is a plain courtesy,
+while their features bespeak a gallant spirit equal to any enterprise.
+
+No one was more relieved than Delorier by the departure of the
+volunteers; for dinner was getting colder every moment. He spread a
+well-whitened buffalo hide upon the grass, placed in the middle the
+juicy hump of a fat cow, ranged around it the tin plates and cups,
+and then acquainted us that all was ready. Tete Rouge, with his usual
+alacrity on such occasions, was the first to take his seat. In his
+former capacity of steamboat clerk, he had learned to prefix the
+honorary MISTER to everybody's name, whether of high or low degree; so
+Jim Gurney was Mr. Gurney, Henry was Mr. Henry, and even Delorier, for
+the first time in his life, heard himself addressed as Mr. Delorier.
+This did not prevent his conceiving a violent enmity against Tete Rouge,
+who, in his futile though praiseworthy attempts to make himself
+useful used always to intermeddle with cooking the dinners. Delorier's
+disposition knew no medium between smiles and sunshine and a downright
+tornado of wrath; he said nothing to Tete Rouge, but his wrongs rankled
+in his breast. Tete Rouge had taken his place at dinner; it was his
+happiest moment; he sat enveloped in the old buffalo coat, sleeves
+turned up in preparation for the work, and his short legs crossed on the
+grass before him; he had a cup of coffee by his side and his knife ready
+in his hand and while he looked upon the fat hump ribs, his eyes dilated
+with anticipation. Delorier sat just opposite to him, and the rest of us
+by this time had taken our seats.
+
+"How is this, Delorier? You haven't given us bread enough."
+
+At this Delorier's placid face flew instantly into a paroxysm of
+contortions. He grinned with wrath, chattered, gesticulated, and hurled
+forth a volley of incoherent words in broken English at the astonished
+Tete Rouge. It was just possible to make out that he was accusing him
+of having stolen and eaten four large cakes which had been laid by for
+dinner. Tete Rouge, utterly confounded at this sudden attack, stared at
+Delorier for a moment in dumb amazement, with mouth and eyes wide open.
+At last he found speech, and protested that the accusation was false;
+and that he could not conceive how he had offended Mr. Delorier, or
+provoked him to use such ungentlemanly expressions. The tempest of words
+raged with such fury that nothing else could be heard. But Tete Rouge,
+from his greater command of English, had a manifest advantage over
+Delorier, who after sputtering and grimacing for a while, found his
+words quite inadequate to the expression of his wrath. He jumped up
+and vanished, jerking out between his teeth one furious sacre enfant de
+grace, a Canadian title of honor, made doubly emphatic by being usually
+applied together with a cut of the whip to refractory mules and horses.
+
+The next morning we saw an old buffalo escorting his cow with two small
+calves over the prairie. Close behind came four or five large white
+wolves, sneaking stealthily through the long meadow-grass, and watching
+for the moment when one of the children should chance to lag behind his
+parents. The old bull kept well on his guard, and faced about now and
+then to keep the prowling ruffians at a distance.
+
+As we approached our nooning place, we saw five or six buffalo standing
+at the very summit of a tall bluff. Trotting forward to the spot where
+we meant to stop, I flung off my saddle and turned my horse loose. By
+making a circuit under cover of some rising ground, I reached the foot
+of the bluff unnoticed, and climbed up its steep side. Lying under the
+brow of the declivity, I prepared to fire at the buffalo, who stood on
+the flat surface about not five yards distant. Perhaps I was too hasty,
+for the gleaming rifle-barrel leveled over the edge caught their notice;
+they turned and ran. Close as they were, it was impossible to kill them
+when in that position, and stepping upon the summit I pursued them over
+the high arid tableland. It was extremely rugged and broken; a great
+sandy ravine was channeled through it, with smaller ravines entering on
+each side like tributary streams. The buffalo scattered, and I soon lost
+sight of most of them as they scuttled away through the sandy chasms; a
+bull and a cow alone kept in view. For a while they ran along the edge
+of the great ravine, appearing and disappearing as they dived into some
+chasm and again emerged from it. At last they stretched out upon the
+broad prairie, a plain nearly flat and almost devoid of verdure, for
+every short grass-blade was dried and shriveled by the glaring sun. Now
+and then the old bull would face toward me; whenever he did so I fell
+to the ground and lay motionless. In this manner I chased them for about
+two miles, until at length I heard in front a deep hoarse bellowing. A
+moment after a band of about a hundred bulls, before hidden by a slight
+swell of the plain, came at once into view. The fugitives ran toward
+them. Instead of mingling with the band, as I expected, they passed
+directly through, and continued their flight. At this I gave up the
+chase, and kneeling down, crawled to within gunshot of the bulls, and
+with panting breath and trickling brow sat down on the ground to watch
+them; my presence did not disturb them in the least. They were not
+feeding, for, indeed, there was nothing to eat; but they seemed to
+have chosen the parched and scorching desert as the scene of their
+amusements. Some were rolling on the ground amid a cloud of dust;
+others, with a hoarse rumbling bellow, were butting their large heads
+together, while many stood motionless, as if quite inanimate. Except
+their monstrous growth of tangled grizzly mane, they had no hair; for
+their old coat had fallen off in the spring, and their new one had not
+as yet appeared. Sometimes an old bull would step forward, and gaze at
+me with a grim and stupid countenance; then he would turn and butt his
+next neighbor; then he would lie down and roll over in the dirt, kicking
+his hoofs in the air. When satisfied with this amusement he would jerk
+his head and shoulders upward, and resting on his forelegs stare at me
+in this position, half blinded by his mane, and his face covered with
+dirt; then up he would spring upon all-fours, and shake his dusty sides;
+turning half round, he would stand with his beard touching the ground,
+in an attitude of profound abstraction, as if reflecting on his puerile
+conduct. "You are too ugly to live," thought I; and aiming at the
+ugliest, I shot three of them in succession. The rest were not at all
+discomposed at this; they kept on bellowing and butting and rolling
+on the ground as before. Henry Chatillon always cautioned us to keep
+perfectly quiet in the presence of a wounded buffalo, for any movement
+is apt to excite him to make an attack; so I sat still upon the ground,
+loading and firing with as little motion as possible. While I was
+thus employed, a spectator made his appearance; a little antelope came
+running up with remarkable gentleness to within fifty yards; and there
+it stood, its slender neck arched, its small horns thrown back, and its
+large dark eyes gazing on me with a look of eager curiosity. By the side
+of the shaggy and brutish monsters before me, it seemed like some lovely
+young girl wandering near a den of robbers or a nest of bearded pirates.
+The buffalo looked uglier than ever. "Here goes for another of you,"
+thought I, feeling in my pouch for a percussion cap. Not a percussion
+cap was there. My good rifle was useless as an old iron bar. One of the
+wounded bulls had not yet fallen, and I waited for some time, hoping
+every moment that his strength would fail him. He still stood firm,
+looking grimly at me, and disregarding Henry's advice I rose and walked
+away. Many of the bulls turned and looked at me, but the wounded brute
+made no attack. I soon came upon a deep ravine which would give me
+shelter in case of emergency; so I turned round and threw a stone at
+the bulls. They received it with the utmost indifference. Feeling myself
+insulted at their refusal to be frightened, I swung my hat, shouted, and
+made a show of running toward them; at this they crowded together and
+galloped off, leaving their dead and wounded upon the field. As I moved
+toward the camp I saw the last survivor totter and fall dead. My speed
+in returning was wonderfully quickened by the reflection that the
+Pawnees were abroad, and that I was defenseless in case of meeting with
+an enemy. I saw no living thing, however, except two or three squalid
+old bulls scrambling among the sand-hills that flanked the great ravine.
+When I reached camp the party was nearly ready for the afternoon move.
+
+We encamped that evening at a short distance from the river bank. About
+midnight, as we all lay asleep on the ground, the man nearest to me
+gently reaching out his hand, touched my shoulder, and cautioned me at
+the same time not to move. It was bright starlight. Opening my eyes and
+slightly turning I saw a large white wolf moving stealthily around the
+embers of our fire, with his nose close to the ground. Disengaging my
+hand from the blanket, I drew the cover from my rifle, which lay close
+at my side; the motion alarmed the wolf, and with long leaps he bounded
+out of the camp. Jumping up, I fired after him when he was about thirty
+yards distant; the melancholy hum of the bullet sounded far away through
+the night. At the sharp report, so suddenly breaking upon the stillness,
+all the men sprang up.
+
+"You've killed him," said one of them.
+
+"No, I haven't," said I; "there he goes, running along the river.
+
+"Then there's two of them. Don't you see that one lying out yonder?"
+
+We went to it, and instead of a dead white wolf found the bleached skull
+of a buffalo. I had missed my mark, and what was worse, had grossly
+violated a standing law of the prairie. When in a dangerous part of
+the country, it is considered highly imprudent to fire a gun after
+encamping, lest the report should reach the ears of the Indians.
+
+The horses were saddled in the morning, and the last man had lighted his
+pipe at the dying ashes of the fire. The beauty of the day enlivened us
+all. Even Ellis felt its influence, and occasionally made a remark as we
+rode along, and Jim Gurney told endless stories of his cruisings in the
+United States service. The buffalo were abundant, and at length a large
+band of them went running up the hills on the left.
+
+"Do you see them buffalo?" said Ellis, "now I'll bet any man I'll go and
+kill one with my yager."
+
+And leaving his horse to follow on with the party, he strode up the hill
+after them. Henry looked at us with his peculiar humorous expression,
+and proposed that we should follow Ellis to see how he would kill a fat
+cow. As soon as he was out of sight we rode up the hill after him, and
+waited behind a little ridge till we heard the report of the unfailing
+yager. Mounting to the top, we saw Ellis clutching his favorite weapon
+with both hands, and staring after the buffalo, who one and all were
+galloping off at full speed. As we descended the hill we saw the party
+straggling along the trail below. When we joined them, another scene
+of amateur hunting awaited us. I forgot to say that when we met the
+volunteers Tete Rouge had obtained a horse from one of them, in exchange
+for his mule, whom he feared and detested. The horse he christened
+James. James, though not worth so much as the mule, was a large and
+strong animal. Tete Rouge was very proud of his new acquisition, and
+suddenly became ambitious to run a buffalo with him. At his request,
+I lent him my pistols, though not without great misgivings, since
+when Tete Rouge hunted buffalo the pursuer was in more danger than the
+pursued. He hung the holsters at his saddle bow; and now, as we passed
+along, a band of bulls left their grazing in the meadow and galloped in
+a long file across the trail in front.
+
+"Now's your chance, Tete; come, let's see you kill a bull." Thus urged,
+the hunter cried, "Get up!" and James, obedient to the signal, cantered
+deliberately forward at an abominably uneasy gait. Tete Rouge, as we
+contemplated him from behind; made a most remarkable figure. He still
+wore the old buffalo coat; his blanket, which was tied in a loose bundle
+behind his saddle, went jolting from one side to the other, and a large
+tin canteen half full of water, which hung from his pommel, was jerked
+about his leg in a manner which greatly embarrassed him.
+
+"Let out your horse, man; lay on your whip!" we called out to him.
+The buffalo were getting farther off at every instant. James, being
+ambitious to mend his pace, tugged hard at the rein, and one of his
+rider's boots escaped from the stirrup.
+
+"Woa! I say, woa!" cried Tete Rouge, in great perturbation, and after
+much effort James' progress was arrested. The hunter came trotting back
+to the party, disgusted with buffalo running, and he was received with
+overwhelming congratulations.
+
+"Too good a chance to lose," said Shaw, pointing to another band of
+bulls on the left. We lashed our horses and galloped upon them. Shaw
+killed one with each barrel of his gun. I separated another from the
+herd and shot him. The small bullet of the rifled pistol, striking too
+far back, did not immediately take effect, and the bull ran on with
+unabated speed. Again and again I snapped the remaining pistol at him. I
+primed it afresh three or four times, and each time it missed fire, for
+the touch-hole was clogged up. Returning it to the holster, I began to
+load the empty pistol, still galloping by the side of the bull. By this
+time he was grown desperate. The foam flew from his jaws and his tongue
+lolled out. Before the pistol was loaded he sprang upon me, and followed
+up his attack with a furious rush. The only alternative was to run
+away or be killed. I took to flight, and the bull, bristling with fury,
+pursued me closely. The pistol was soon ready, and then looking back,
+I saw his head five or six yards behind my horse's tail. To fire at it
+would be useless, for a bullet flattens against the adamantine skull of
+a buffalo bull. Inclining my body to the left, I turned my horse in
+that direction as sharply as his speed would permit. The bull, rushing
+blindly on with great force and weight, did not turn so quickly. As I
+looked back, his neck and shoulders were exposed to view; turning in the
+saddle, I shot a bullet through them obliquely into his vitals. He
+gave over the chase and soon fell to the ground. An English tourist
+represents a situation like this as one of imminent danger; this is
+a great mistake; the bull never pursues long, and the horse must
+be wretched indeed that cannot keep out of his way for two or three
+minutes.
+
+We were now come to a part of the country where we were bound in common
+prudence to use every possible precaution. We mounted guard at night,
+each man standing in his turn; and no one ever slept without drawing
+his rifle close to his side or folding it with him in his blanket. One
+morning our vigilance was stimulated by our finding traces of a large
+Comanche encampment. Fortunately for us, however, it had been abandoned
+nearly a week. On the next evening we found the ashes of a recent fire,
+which gave us at the time some uneasiness. At length we reached the
+Caches, a place of dangerous repute; and it had a most dangerous
+appearance, consisting of sand-hills everywhere broken by ravines and
+deep chasms. Here we found the grave of Swan, killed at this place,
+probably by the Pawnees, two or three weeks before. His remains, more
+than once violated by the Indians and the wolves, were suffered at
+length to remain undisturbed in their wild burial place.
+
+For several days we met detached companies of Price's regiment. Horses
+would often break loose at night from their camps. One afternoon we
+picked up three of these stragglers quietly grazing along the river.
+After we came to camp that evening, Jim Gurney brought news that more of
+them were in sight. It was nearly dark, and a cold, drizzling rain had
+set in; but we all turned out, and after an hour's chase nine horses
+were caught and brought in. One of them was equipped with saddle and
+bridle; pistols were hanging at the pommel of the saddle, a carbine was
+slung at its side, and a blanket rolled up behind it. In the morning,
+glorying in our valuable prize, we resumed our journey, and our
+cavalcade presented a much more imposing appearance than ever before. We
+kept on till the afternoon, when, far behind, three horsemen appeared
+on the horizon. Coming on at a hand-gallop, they soon overtook us, and
+claimed all the horses as belonging to themselves and others of their
+company. They were of course given up, very much to the mortification of
+Ellis and Jim Gurney.
+
+Our own horses now showed signs of fatigue, and we resolved to give them
+half a day's rest. We stopped at noon at a grassy spot by the river.
+After dinner Shaw and Henry went out to hunt; and while the men lounged
+about the camp, I lay down to read in the shadow of the cart. Looking
+up, I saw a bull grazing alone on the prairie more than a mile distant.
+I was tired of reading, and taking my rifle I walked toward him. As
+I came near, I crawled upon the ground until I approached to within a
+hundred yards; here I sat down upon the grass and waited till he should
+turn himself into a proper position to receive his death-wound. He was
+a grim old veteran. His loves and his battles were over for that season,
+and now, gaunt and war-worn, he had withdrawn from the herd to graze by
+himself and recruit his exhausted strength. He was miserably emaciated;
+his mane was all in tatters; his hide was bare and rough as an
+elephant's, and covered with dried patches of the mud in which he had
+been wallowing. He showed all his ribs whenever he moved. He looked like
+some grizzly old ruffian grown gray in blood and violence, and scowling
+on all the world from his misanthropic seclusion. The old savage looked
+up when I first approached, and gave me a fierce stare; then he fell
+to grazing again with an air of contemptuous indifference. The moment
+after, as if suddenly recollecting himself, he threw up his head, faced
+quickly about, and to my amazement came at a rapid trot directly toward
+me. I was strongly impelled to get up and run, but this would have been
+very dangerous. Sitting quite still I aimed, as he came on, at the
+thin part of the skull above the nose. After he had passed over about
+three-quarters of the distance between us, I was on the point of firing,
+when, to my great satisfaction, he stopped short. I had full opportunity
+of studying his countenance; his whole front was covered with a huge
+mass of coarse matted hair, which hung so low that nothing but his two
+forefeet were visible beneath it; his short thick horns were blunted and
+split to the very roots in his various battles, and across his nose and
+forehead were two or three large white scars, which gave him a grim and
+at the same time a whimsical appearance. It seemed to me that he stood
+there motionless for a full quarter of an hour, looking at me through
+the tangled locks of his mane. For my part, I remained as quiet as he,
+and looked quite as hard; I felt greatly inclined to come to term with
+him. "My friend," thought I, "if you'll let me off, I'll let you off."
+At length he seemed to have abandoned any hostile design. Very slowly
+and deliberately he began to turn about; little by little his side came
+into view, all be-plastered with mud. It was a tempting sight. I forgot
+my prudent intentions, and fired my rifle; a pistol would have served at
+that distance. Round spun old bull like a top, and away he galloped
+over the prairie. He ran some distance, and even ascended a considerable
+hill, before he lay down and died. After shooting another bull among the
+hills, I went back to camp.
+
+At noon, on the 14th of September, a very large Santa Fe caravan came
+up. The plain was covered with the long files of their white-topped
+wagons, the close black carriages in which the traders travel and sleep,
+large droves of animals, and men on horseback and on foot. They all
+stopped on the meadow near us. Our diminutive cart and handful of men
+made but an insignificant figure by the side of their wide and bustling
+camp. Tete Rouge went over to visit them, and soon came back with half
+a dozen biscuits in one hand and a bottle of brandy in the other. I
+inquired where he got them. "Oh," said Tete Rouge, "I know some of the
+traders. Dr. Dobbs is there besides." I asked who Dr. Dobbs might be.
+"One of our St. Louis doctors," replied Tete Rouge. For two days past
+I had been severely attacked by the same disorder which had so greatly
+reduced my strength when at the mountains; at this time I was suffering
+not a little from the sudden pain and weakness which it occasioned.
+Tete Rouge, in answer to my inquiries, declared that Dr. Dobbs was
+a physician of the first standing. Without at all believing him, I
+resolved to consult this eminent practitioner. Walking over to the camp,
+I found him lying sound asleep under one of the wagons. He offered in
+his own person but an indifferent specimen of his skill, for it was five
+months since I had seen so cadaverous a face.
+
+His hat had fallen off, and his yellow hair was all in disorder; one of
+his arms supplied the place of a pillow; his pantaloons were wrinkled
+halfway up to his knees, and he was covered with little bits of grass
+and straw, upon which he had rolled in his uneasy slumber. A Mexican
+stood near, and I made him a sign that he should touch the doctor. Up
+sprang the learned Dobbs, and, sitting upright, rubbed his eyes and
+looked about him in great bewilderment. I regretted the necessity of
+disturbing him, and said I had come to ask professional advice. "Your
+system, sir, is in a disordered state," said he solemnly, after a short
+examination.
+
+I inquired what might be the particular species of disorder.
+
+"Evidently a morbid action of the liver," replied the medical man; "I
+will give you a prescription."
+
+Repairing to the back of one of the covered wagons, he scrambled in; for
+a moment I could see nothing of him but his boots. At length he produced
+a box which he had extracted from some dark recess within, and opening
+it, he presented me with a folded paper of some size. "What is it?" said
+I. "Calomel," said the doctor.
+
+Under the circumstances I would have taken almost anything. There was
+not enough to do me much harm, and it might possibly do good; so at camp
+that night I took the poison instead of supper.
+
+That camp is worthy of notice. The traders warned us not to follow the
+main trail along the river, "unless," as one of them observed, "you want
+to have your throats cut!" The river at this place makes a bend; and
+a smaller trail, known as the Ridge-path, leads directly across the
+prairie from point to point, a distance of sixty or seventy miles.
+
+We followed this trail, and after traveling seven or eight miles, we
+came to a small stream, where we encamped. Our position was not chosen
+with much forethought or military skill. The water was in a deep hollow,
+with steep, high banks; on the grassy bottom of this hollow we picketed
+our horses, while we ourselves encamped upon the barren prairie just
+above. The opportunity was admirable either for driving off our horses
+or attacking us. After dark, as Tete Rouge was sitting at supper, we
+observed him pointing with a face of speechless horror over the shoulder
+of Henry, who was opposite to him. Aloof amid the darkness appeared
+a gigantic black apparition; solemnly swaying to and fro, it advanced
+steadily upon us. Henry, half vexed and half amused, jumped up, spread
+out his arms, and shouted. The invader was an old buffalo bull, who with
+characteristic stupidity, was walking directly into camp. It cost some
+shouting and swinging of hats before we could bring him first to a halt
+and then to a rapid retreat.
+
+That night the moon was full and bright; but as the black clouds chased
+rapidly over it, we were at one moment in light and at the next in
+darkness. As the evening advanced, a thunderstorm came up; it struck us
+with such violence that the tent would have been blown over if we had
+not interposed the cart to break the force of the wind. At length it
+subsided to a steady rain. I lay awake through nearly the whole night,
+listening to its dull patter upon the canvas above. The moisture, which
+filled the tent and trickled from everything in it, did not add to the
+comfort of the situation. About twelve o'clock Shaw went out to stand
+guard amid the rain and pitch darkness. Munroe, the most vigilant as
+well as one of the bravest among us, was also on the alert. When about
+two hours had passed, Shaw came silently in, and touching Henry, called
+him in a low quick voice to come out. "What is it?" I asked. "Indians,
+I believe," whispered Shaw; "but lie still; I'll call you if there's a
+fight."
+
+He and Henry went out together. I took the cover from my rifle, put a
+fresh percussion cap upon it, and then, being in much pain, lay down
+again. In about five minutes Shaw came in again. "All right," he said,
+as he lay down to sleep. Henry was now standing guard in his place. He
+told me in the morning the particulars of the alarm. Munroe' s watchful
+eye discovered some dark objects down in the hollow, among the horses,
+like men creeping on all fours. Lying flat on their faces, he and Shaw
+crawled to the edge of the bank, and were soon convinced that what they
+saw were Indians. Shaw silently withdrew to call Henry, and they all
+lay watching in the same position. Henry's eye is of the best on
+the prairie. He detected after a while the true nature of the moving
+objects; they were nothing but wolves creeping among the horses.
+
+It is very singular that when picketed near a camp horses seldom show
+any fear of such an intrusion. The wolves appear to have no other object
+than that of gnawing the trail-ropes of raw hide by which the animals
+are secured. Several times in the course of the journey my horse's
+trail-rope was bitten in two by these nocturnal visitors.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII
+
+THE SETTLEMENTS
+
+
+The next day was extremely hot, and we rode from morning till night
+without seeing a tree or a bush or a drop of water. Our horses and mules
+suffered much more than we, but as sunset approached they pricked up
+their ears and mended their pace. Water was not far off. When we came to
+the descent of the broad shallowy valley where it lay, an unlooked-for
+sight awaited us. The stream glistened at the bottom, and along its
+banks were pitched a multitude of tents, while hundreds of cattle were
+feeding over the meadows. Bodies of troops, both horse and foot, and
+long trains of wagons with men, women, and children, were moving over
+the opposite ridge and descending the broad declivity in front. These
+were the Mormon battalion in the service of government, together with a
+considerable number of Missouri volunteers. The Mormons were to be
+paid off in California, and they were allowed to bring with them
+their families and property. There was something very striking in the
+half-military, half-patriarchal appearance of these armed fanatics, thus
+on their way with their wives and children, to found, if might be, a
+Mormon empire in California. We were much more astonished than pleased
+at the sight before us. In order to find an unoccupied camping ground,
+we were obliged to pass a quarter of a mile up the stream, and here we
+were soon beset by a swarm of Mormons and Missourians. The United States
+officer in command of the whole came also to visit us, and remained some
+time at our camp.
+
+In the morning the country was covered with mist. We were always early
+risers, but before we were ready the voices of men driving in the cattle
+sounded all around us. As we passed above their camp, we saw through the
+obscurity that the tents were falling and the ranks rapidly forming; and
+mingled with the cries of women and children, the rolling of the Mormon
+drums and the clear blast of their trumpets sounded through the mist.
+
+From that time to the journey's end, we met almost every day long trains
+of government wagons, laden with stores for the troops and crawling at a
+snail's pace toward Santa Fe.
+
+Tete Rouge had a mortal antipathy to danger, but on a foraging
+expedition one evening, he achieved an adventure more perilous than
+had yet befallen any man in the party. The night after we left the
+Ridge-path we encamped close to the river. At sunset we saw a train of
+wagons encamping on the trail about three miles off; and though we
+saw them distinctly, our little cart, as it afterward proved, entirely
+escaped their view. For some days Tete Rouge had been longing
+eagerly after a dram of whisky. So, resolving to improve the present
+opportunity, he mounted his horse James, slung his canteen over his
+shoulder, and set forth in search of his favorite liquor. Some hours
+passed without his returning. We thought that he was lost, or perhaps
+that some stray Indian had snapped him up. While the rest fell asleep I
+remained on guard. Late at night a tremulous voice saluted me from the
+darkness, and Tete Rouge and James soon became visible, advancing toward
+the camp. Tete Rouge was in much agitation and big with some important
+tidings. Sitting down on the shaft of the cart, he told the following
+story:
+
+When he left the camp he had no idea, he said, how late it was. By the
+time he approached the wagoners it was perfectly dark; and as he saw
+them all sitting around their fires within the circle of wagons, their
+guns laid by their sides, he thought he might as well give warning of
+his approach, in order to prevent a disagreeable mistake. Raising his
+voice to the highest pitch, he screamed out in prolonged accents, "Camp,
+ahoy!" This eccentric salutation produced anything but the desired
+result. Hearing such hideous sounds proceeding from the outer darkness,
+the wagoners thought that the whole Pawnee nation were about to break
+in and take their scalps. Up they sprang staring with terror. Each man
+snatched his gun; some stood behind the wagons; some threw themselves
+flat on the ground, and in an instant twenty cocked muskets were leveled
+full at the horrified Tete Rouge, who just then began to be visible
+through the darkness.
+
+"Thar they come," cried the master wagoner, "fire, fire! shoot that
+feller."
+
+"No, no!" screamed Tete Rouge, in an ecstasy of fright; "don't fire,
+don't! I'm a friend, I'm an American citizen!"
+
+"You're a friend, be you?" cried a gruff voice from the wagons; "then
+what are you yelling out thar for, like a wild Injun. Come along up here
+if you're a man."
+
+"Keep your guns p'inted at him," added the master wagoner, "maybe he's a
+decoy, like."
+
+Tete Rouge in utter bewilderment made his approach, with the gaping
+muzzles of the muskets still before his eyes. He succeeded at last in
+explaining his character and situation, and the Missourians admitted him
+into camp. He got no whisky; but as he represented himself as a
+great invalid, and suffering much from coarse fare, they made up a
+contribution for him of rice, biscuit, and sugar from their own rations.
+
+In the morning at breakfast, Tete Rouge once more related this story.
+We hardly knew how much of it to believe, though after some
+cross-questioning we failed to discover any flaw in the narrative.
+Passing by the wagoner's camp, they confirmed Tete Rouge's account in
+every particular.
+
+"I wouldn't have been in that feller's place," said one of them, "for
+the biggest heap of money in Missouri."
+
+To Tete Rouge's great wrath they expressed a firm conviction that he
+was crazy. We left them after giving them the advice not to trouble
+themselves about war-whoops in future, since they would be apt to feel
+an Indian's arrow before they heard his voice.
+
+A day or two after, we had an adventure of another sort with a party of
+wagoners. Henry and I rode forward to hunt. After that day there was
+no probability that we should meet with buffalo, and we were anxious to
+kill one for the sake of fresh meat. They were so wild that we hunted
+all the morning in vain, but at noon as we approached Cow Creek we saw
+a large band feeding near its margin. Cow Creek is densely lined with
+trees which intercept the view beyond, and it runs, as we afterward
+found, at the bottom of a deep trench. We approached by riding along the
+bottom of a ravine. When we were near enough, I held the horses while
+Henry crept toward the buffalo. I saw him take his seat within shooting
+distance, prepare his rifle, and look about to select his victim. The
+death of a fat cow was certain, when suddenly a great smoke arose from
+the bed of the Creek with a rattling volley of musketry. A score of
+long-legged Missourians leaped out from among the trees and ran after
+the buffalo, who one and all took to their heels and vanished. These
+fellows had crawled up the bed of the Creek to within a hundred yards of
+the buffalo. Never was there a fairer chance for a shot. They were good
+marksmen; all cracked away at once, and yet not a buffalo fell. In fact,
+the animal is so tenacious of life that it requires no little knowledge
+of anatomy to kill it, and it is very seldom that a novice succeeds
+in his first attempt at approaching. The balked Missourians were
+excessively mortified, especially when Henry told them if they had kept
+quiet he would have killed meat enough in ten minutes to feed their
+whole party. Our friends, who were at no great distance, hearing such a
+formidable fusillade, thought the Indians had fired the volley for our
+benefit. Shaw came galloping on to reconnoiter and learn if we were yet
+in the land of the living.
+
+At Cow Creek we found the very welcome novelty of ripe grapes and plums,
+which grew there in abundance. At the Little Arkansas, not much farther
+on, we saw the last buffalo, a miserable old bull, roaming over the
+prairie alone and melancholy.
+
+From this time forward the character of the country was changing every
+day. We had left behind us the great arid deserts, meagerly covered
+by the tufted buffalo grass, with its pale green hue, and its short
+shriveled blades. The plains before us were carpeted with rich and
+verdant herbage sprinkled with flowers. In place of buffalo we found
+plenty of prairie hens, and we bagged them by dozens without leaving the
+trail. In three or four days we saw before us the broad woods and the
+emerald meadows of Council Grove, a scene of striking luxuriance and
+beauty. It seemed like a new sensation as we rode beneath the resounding
+archs of these noble woods. The trees were ash, oak, elm, maple,
+and hickory, their mighty limbs deeply overshadowing the path, while
+enormous grape vines were entwined among them, purple with fruit. The
+shouts of our scattered party, and now and then a report of a rifle,
+rang amid the breathing stillness of the forest. We rode forth again
+with regret into the broad light of the open prairie. Little more than a
+hundred miles now separated us from the frontier settlements. The whole
+intervening country was a succession of verdant prairies, rising in
+broad swells and relieved by trees clustering like an oasis around some
+spring, or following the course of a stream along some fertile hollow.
+These are the prairies of the poet and the novelist. We had left danger
+behind us. Nothing was to be feared from the Indians of this region, the
+Sacs and Foxes, the Kansas and the Osages. We had met with signal
+good fortune. Although for five months we had been traveling with an
+insufficient force through a country where we were at any moment liable
+to depredation, not a single animal had been stolen from us, and our
+only loss had been one old mule bitten to death by a rattlesnake. Three
+weeks after we reached the frontier the Pawnees and the Comanches began
+a regular series of hostilities on the Arkansas trail, killing men and
+driving off horses. They attacked, without exception, every party, large
+or small, that passed during the next six months.
+
+Diamond Spring, Rock Creek, Elder Grove, and other camping places
+besides, were passed all in quick succession. At Rock Creek we found a
+train of government provision wagons, under the charge of an emaciated
+old man in his seventy-first year. Some restless American devil had
+driven him into the wilderness at a time when he should have been seated
+at his fireside with his grandchildren on his knees. I am convinced
+that he never returned; he was complaining that night of a disease, the
+wasting effects of which upon a younger and stronger man, I myself had
+proved from severe experience. Long ere this no doubt the wolves have
+howled their moonlight carnival over the old man's attenuated remains.
+
+Not long after we came to a small trail leading to Fort Leavenworth,
+distant but one day's journey. Tete Rouge here took leave of us. He was
+anxious to go to the fort in order to receive payment for his valuable
+military services. So he and his horse James, after bidding an
+affectionate farewell, set out together, taking with them as much
+provision as they could conveniently carry, including a large quantity
+of brown sugar. On a cheerless rainy evening we came to our last
+encamping ground. Some pigs belonging to a Shawnee farmer were grunting
+and rooting at the edge of the grove.
+
+"I wonder how fresh pork tastes," murmured one of the party, and more
+than one voice murmured in response. The fiat went forth, "That pig
+must die," and a rifle was leveled forthwith at the countenance of the
+plumpest porker. Just then a wagon train, with some twenty Missourians,
+came out from among the trees. The marksman suspended his aim, deeming
+it inexpedient under the circumstances to consummate the deed of blood.
+
+In the morning we made our toilet as well as circumstances would permit,
+and that is saying but very little. In spite of the dreary rain of
+yesterday, there never was a brighter and gayer autumnal morning than
+that on which we returned to the settlements. We were passing through
+the country of the half-civilized Shawanoes. It was a beautiful
+alternation of fertile plains and groves, whose foliage was just tinged
+with the hues of autumn, while close beneath them rested the neat
+log-houses of the Indian farmers. Every field and meadow bespoke the
+exuberant fertility of the soil. The maize stood rustling in the wind,
+matured and dry, its shining yellow ears thrust out between the gaping
+husks. Squashes and enormous yellow pumpkins lay basking in the sun in
+the midst of their brown and shriveled leaves. Robins and blackbirds
+flew about the fences; and everything in short betokened our near
+approach to home and civilization. The forests that border on the
+Missouri soon rose before us, and we entered the wide tract of shrubbery
+which forms their outskirts. We had passed the same road on our outward
+journey in the spring, but its aspect was totally changed. The young
+wild apple trees, then flushed with their fragrant blossoms, were now
+hung thickly with ruddy fruit. Tall grass flourished by the roadside in
+place of the tender shoots just peeping from the warm and oozy soil. The
+vines were laden with dark purple grapes, and the slender twigs of the
+maple, then tasseled with their clusters of small red flowers, now
+hung out a gorgeous display of leaves stained by the frost with burning
+crimson. On every side we saw the tokens of maturity and decay where
+all had before been fresh and beautiful. We entered the forest, and
+ourselves and our horses were checkered, as we passed along, by the
+bright spots of sunlight that fell between the opening boughs. On either
+side the dark rich masses of foliage almost excluded the sun, though
+here and there its rays could find their way down, striking through the
+broad leaves and lighting them with a pure transparent green. Squirrels
+barked at us from the trees; coveys of young partridges ran rustling
+over the leaves below, and the golden oriole, the blue jay, and the
+flaming red-bird darted among the shadowy branches. We hailed these
+sights and sounds of beauty by no means with an unmingled pleasure.
+Many and powerful as were the attractions which drew us toward the
+settlements, we looked back even at that moment with an eager longing
+toward the wilderness of prairies and mountains behind us. For myself I
+had suffered more that summer from illness than ever before in my life,
+and yet to this hour I cannot recall those savage scenes and savage men
+without a strong desire again to visit them.
+
+At length, for the first time during about half a year, we saw the roof
+of a white man's dwelling between the opening trees. A few moments after
+we were riding over the miserable log bridge that leads into the center
+of Westport. Westport had beheld strange scenes, but a rougher looking
+troop than ours, with our worn equipments and broken-down horses, was
+never seen even there. We passed the well-remembered tavern, Boone's
+grocery and old Vogel's dram shop, and encamped on a meadow beyond.
+Here we were soon visited by a number of people who came to purchase our
+horses and equipage. This matter disposed of, we hired a wagon and drove
+on to Kansas Landing. Here we were again received under the hospitable
+roof of our old friend Colonel Chick, and seated on his porch we looked
+down once more on the eddies of the Missouri.
+
+Delorier made his appearance in the morning, strangely transformed by
+the assistance of a hat, a coat, and a razor. His little log-house was
+among the woods not far off. It seemed he had meditated giving a ball
+on the occasion of his return, and had consulted Henry Chatillon as to
+whether it would do to invite his bourgeois. Henry expressed his entire
+conviction that we would not take it amiss, and the invitation was now
+proffered, accordingly, Delorier adding as a special inducement
+that Antoine Lejeunesse was to play the fiddle. We told him we would
+certainly come, but before the evening arrived a steamboat, which came
+down from Fort Leavenworth, prevented our being present at the expected
+festivities. Delorier was on the rock at the landing place, waiting to
+take leave of us.
+
+"Adieu! mes bourgeois; adieu! adieu!" he cried out as the boat pulled
+off; "when you go another time to de Rocky Montagnes I will go with you;
+yes, I will go!"
+
+He accompanied this patronizing assurance by jumping about swinging his
+hat, and grinning from ear to ear. As the boat rounded a distant point,
+the last object that met our eyes was Delorier still lifting his hat and
+skipping about the rock. We had taken leave of Munroe and Jim Gurney at
+Westport, and Henry Chatillon went down in the boat with us.
+
+The passage to St. Louis occupied eight days, during about a third of
+which we were fast aground on sand-bars. We passed the steamer Amelia
+crowded with a roaring crew of disbanded volunteers, swearing, drinking,
+gambling, and fighting. At length one evening we reached the crowded
+levee of St. Louis. Repairing to the Planters' House, we caused diligent
+search to be made for our trunks, which after some time were discovered
+stowed away in the farthest corner of the storeroom. In the morning we
+hardly recognized each other; a frock of broadcloth had supplanted the
+frock of buckskin; well-fitted pantaloons took the place of the Indian
+leggings, and polished boots were substituted for the gaudy moccasins.
+
+After we had been several days at St. Louis we heard news of Tete Rouge.
+He had contrived to reach Fort Leavenworth, where he had found the
+paymaster and received his money. As a boat was just ready to start
+for St. Louis, he went on board and engaged his passage. This done, he
+immediately got drunk on shore, and the boat went off without him. It
+was some days before another opportunity occurred, and meanwhile the
+sutler's stores furnished him with abundant means of keeping up his
+spirits. Another steamboat came at last, the clerk of which happened to
+be a friend of his, and by the advice of some charitable person on shore
+he persuaded Tete Rouge to remain on board, intending to detain him
+there until the boat should leave the fort. At first Tete Rouge was
+well contented with this arrangement, but on applying for a dram, the
+barkeeper, at the clerk's instigation, refused to let him have it.
+Finding them both inflexible in spite of his entreaties, he became
+desperate and made his escape from the boat. The clerk found him after
+a long search in one of the barracks; a circle of dragoons stood
+contemplating him as he lay on the floor, maudlin drunk and crying
+dismally. With the help of one of them the clerk pushed him on board,
+and our informant, who came down in the same boat, declares that he
+remained in great despondency during the whole passage. As we left St.
+Louis soon after his arrival, we did not see the worthless, good-natured
+little vagabond again.
+
+On the evening before our departure Henry Chatillon came to our rooms
+at the Planters' House to take leave of us. No one who met him in the
+streets of St. Louis would have taken him for a hunter fresh from the
+Rocky Mountains. He was very neatly and simply dressed in a suit of dark
+cloth; for although, since his sixteenth year, he had scarcely been for
+a month together among the abodes of men, he had a native good taste and
+a sense of propriety which always led him to pay great attention to his
+personal appearance. His tall athletic figure, with its easy flexible
+motions, appeared to advantage in his present dress; and his fine face,
+though roughened by a thousand storms, was not at all out of keeping
+with it. We took leave of him with much regret; and unless his changing
+features, as he shook us by the hand, belied him, the feeling on his
+part was no less than on ours. Shaw had given him a horse at Westport.
+My rifle, which he had always been fond of using, as it was an excellent
+piece, much better than his own, is now in his hands, and perhaps
+at this moment its sharp voice is startling the echoes of the Rocky
+Mountains. On the next morning we left town, and after a fortnight of
+railroads and steamboat we saw once more the familiar features of home.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Oregon Trail, by Francis Parkman, Jr.
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+
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+   "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" >
+
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en">
+  <head>
+    <title>
+      The Oregon Trail, by Francis Parkman, Jr.
+    </title>
+    <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve">
+
+    body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify}
+    P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; }
+    H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; }
+    hr  { width: 50%; text-align: center;}
+    .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; }
+    blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;}
+    .mynote    {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;}
+    .toc       { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;}
+    .toc2      { margin-left: 20%;}
+    div.fig    { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; }
+    div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; }
+    .figleft   {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;}
+    .figright  {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;}
+    .pagenum   {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal;
+               margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%;
+               text-align: right;}
+    pre        { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;}
+
+</style>
+  </head>
+  <body>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Oregon Trail, by Francis Parkman, Jr.
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Oregon Trail
+
+Author: Francis Parkman, Jr.
+
+Release Date: April 27, 2006 [EBook #1015]
+[Last updated: October 8, 2020]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE OREGON TRAIL ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Donald Lainson; David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <h1>
+      THE OREGON TRAIL
+    </h1>
+    <p>
+      <br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      by Francis Parkman, Jr.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <blockquote>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <big><b>CONTENTS</b></big>
+      </p>
+      <p>
+        <br /> <a href="#link2HCH0001"> CHAPTER I -- THE FRONTIER </a><br /><br /> <a
+        href="#link2HCH0002"> CHAPTER II -- BREAKING THE ICE </a><br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0003">
+        CHAPTER III -- FORT LEAVENWORTH </a><br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0004"> CHAPTER IV -- “JUMPING OFF” </a><br /><br />
+        <a href="#link2HCH0005"> CHAPTER V -- “THE BIG BLUE” </a><br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0006">
+        CHAPTER VI -- THE PLATTE AND THE DESERT </a><br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0007"> CHAPTER VII -- THE BUFFALO </a><br /><br />
+        <a href="#link2HCH0008"> CHAPTER VIII -- TAKING FRENCH LEAVE </a><br /><br /> <a
+        href="#link2HCH0009"> CHAPTER IX -- SCENES AT FORT LARAMIE </a><br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0010">
+        CHAPTER X -- THE WAR PARTIES </a><br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0011"> CHAPTER XI -- SCENES AT THE CAMP </a><br /><br />
+        <a href="#link2HCH0012"> CHAPTER XII -- ILL LUCK </a><br /><br /> <a
+        href="#link2HCH0013"> CHAPTER XIII -- HUNTING INDIANS </a><br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0014">
+        CHAPTER XIV -- THE OGALLALLA VILLAGE </a><br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0015"> CHAPTER XV -- THE HUNTING CAMP </a><br /><br />
+        <a href="#link2HCH0016"> CHAPTER XVI -- THE TRAPPERS </a><br /><br /> <a
+        href="#link2HCH0017"> CHAPTER XVII -- THE BLACK HILLS</a><br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0018">
+        CHAPTER XVIII -- A MOUNTAIN HUNT </a><br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0019"> CHAPTER XIX -- PASSAGE OF THE MOUNTAINS </a><br /><br />
+        <a href="#link2HCH0020"> CHAPTER XX -- THE LONELY JOURNEY </a><br /><br /> <a
+        href="#link2HCH0021"> CHAPTER XXI -- THE PUEBLO AND BENT’S FORT </a><br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0022">
+        CHAPTER XXII -- TETE ROUGE, THE VOLUNTEER </a><br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0023"> CHAPTER XXIII -- INDIAN ALARMS </a><br /><br />
+        <a href="#link2HCH0024"> CHAPTER XXIV -- THE CHASE</a><br /><br /> <a
+        href="#link2HCH0025"> CHAPTER XXV -- THE BUFFALO CAMP </a><br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0026">
+        CHAPTER XXVI DOWN THE ARKANSAS </a><br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0027"> CHAPTER XXVII -- THE SETTLEMENTS </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+      </p>
+    </blockquote>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br /> <a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER I
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      THE FRONTIER
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Last spring, 1846, was a busy season in the City of St. Louis. Not only
+      were emigrants from every part of the country preparing for the journey to
+      Oregon and California, but an unusual number of traders were making ready
+      their wagons and outfits for Santa Fe. Many of the emigrants, especially
+      of those bound for California, were persons of wealth and standing. The
+      hotels were crowded, and the gunsmiths and saddlers were kept constantly
+      at work in providing arms and equipments for the different parties of
+      travelers. Almost every day steamboats were leaving the levee and passing
+      up the Missouri, crowded with passengers on their way to the frontier.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In one of these, the Radnor, since snagged and lost, my friend and
+      relative, Quincy A. Shaw, and myself, left St. Louis on the 28th of April,
+      on a tour of curiosity and amusement to the Rocky Mountains. The boat was
+      loaded until the water broke alternately over her guards. Her upper deck
+      was covered with large weapons of a peculiar form, for the Santa Fe trade,
+      and her hold was crammed with goods for the same destination. There were
+      also the equipments and provisions of a party of Oregon emigrants, a band
+      of mules and horses, piles of saddles and harness, and a multitude of
+      nondescript articles, indispensable on the prairies. Almost hidden in this
+      medley one might have seen a small French cart, of the sort very
+      appropriately called a &ldquo;mule-killer&rdquo; beyond the frontiers, and not far
+      distant a tent, together with a miscellaneous assortment of boxes and
+      barrels. The whole equipage was far from prepossessing in its appearance;
+      yet, such as it was, it was destined to a long and arduous journey, on
+      which the persevering reader will accompany it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The passengers on board the Radnor corresponded with her freight. In her
+      cabin were Santa Fe traders, gamblers, speculators, and adventurers of
+      various descriptions, and her steerage was crowded with Oregon emigrants,
+      &ldquo;mountain men,&rdquo; negroes, and a party of Kansas Indians, who had been on a
+      visit to St. Louis.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Thus laden, the boat struggled upward for seven or eight days against the
+      rapid current of the Missouri, grating upon snags, and hanging for two or
+      three hours at a time upon sand-bars. We entered the mouth of the Missouri
+      in a drizzling rain, but the weather soon became clear, and showed
+      distinctly the broad and turbid river, with its eddies, its sand-bars, its
+      ragged islands, and forest-covered shores. The Missouri is constantly
+      changing its course; wearing away its banks on one side, while it forms
+      new ones on the other. Its channel is shifting continually. Islands are
+      formed, and then washed away; and while the old forests on one side are
+      undermined and swept off, a young growth springs up from the new soil upon
+      the other. With all these changes, the water is so charged with mud and
+      sand that it is perfectly opaque, and in a few minutes deposits a sediment
+      an inch thick in the bottom of a tumbler. The river was now high; but when
+      we descended in the autumn it was fallen very low, and all the secrets of
+      its treacherous shallows were exposed to view. It was frightful to see the
+      dead and broken trees, thick-set as a military abatis, firmly imbedded in
+      the sand, and all pointing down stream, ready to impale any unhappy
+      steamboat that at high water should pass over that dangerous ground.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In five or six days we began to see signs of the great western movement
+      that was then taking place. Parties of emigrants, with their tents and
+      wagons, would be encamped on open spots near the bank, on their way to the
+      common rendezvous at Independence. On a rainy day, near sunset, we reached
+      the landing of this place, which is situated some miles from the river, on
+      the extreme frontier of Missouri. The scene was characteristic, for here
+      were represented at one view the most remarkable features of this wild and
+      enterprising region. On the muddy shore stood some thirty or forty dark
+      slavish-looking Spaniards, gazing stupidly out from beneath their broad
+      hats. They were attached to one of the Santa Fe companies, whose wagons
+      were crowded together on the banks above. In the midst of these, crouching
+      over a smoldering fire, was a group of Indians, belonging to a remote
+      Mexican tribe. One or two French hunters from the mountains with their
+      long hair and buckskin dresses, were looking at the boat; and seated on a
+      log close at hand were three men, with rifles lying across their knees.
+      The foremost of these, a tall, strong figure, with a clear blue eye and an
+      open, intelligent face, might very well represent that race of restless
+      and intrepid pioneers whose axes and rifles have opened a path from the
+      Alleghenies to the western prairies. He was on his way to Oregon, probably
+      a more congenial field to him than any that now remained on this side the
+      great plains.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Early on the next morning we reached Kansas, about five hundred miles from
+      the mouth of the Missouri. Here we landed and leaving our equipments in
+      charge of my good friend Colonel Chick, whose log-house was the substitute
+      for a tavern, we set out in a wagon for Westport, where we hoped to
+      procure mules and horses for the journey.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was a remarkably fresh and beautiful May morning. The rich and
+      luxuriant woods through which the miserable road conducted us were lighted
+      by the bright sunshine and enlivened by a multitude of birds. We overtook
+      on the way our late fellow-travelers, the Kansas Indians, who, adorned
+      with all their finery, were proceeding homeward at a round pace; and
+      whatever they might have seemed on board the boat, they made a very
+      striking and picturesque feature in the forest landscape.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Westport was full of Indians, whose little shaggy ponies were tied by
+      dozens along the houses and fences. Sacs and Foxes, with shaved heads and
+      painted faces, Shawanoes and Delawares, fluttering in calico frocks, and
+      turbans, Wyandottes dressed like white men, and a few wretched Kansas
+      wrapped in old blankets, were strolling about the streets, or lounging in
+      and out of the shops and houses.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As I stood at the door of the tavern, I saw a remarkable looking person
+      coming up the street. He had a ruddy face, garnished with the stumps of a
+      bristly red beard and mustache; on one side of his head was a round cap
+      with a knob at the top, such as Scottish laborers sometimes wear; his coat
+      was of a nondescript form, and made of a gray Scotch plaid, with the
+      fringes hanging all about it; he wore pantaloons of coarse homespun, and
+      hob-nailed shoes; and to complete his equipment, a little black pipe was
+      stuck in one corner of his mouth. In this curious attire, I recognized
+      Captain C. of the British army, who, with his brother, and Mr. R., an
+      English gentleman, was bound on a hunting expedition across the continent.
+      I had seen the captain and his companions at St. Louis. They had now been
+      for some time at Westport, making preparations for their departure, and
+      waiting for a re-enforcement, since they were too few in number to attempt
+      it alone. They might, it is true, have joined some of the parties of
+      emigrants who were on the point of setting out for Oregon and California;
+      but they professed great disinclination to have any connection with the
+      &ldquo;Kentucky fellows.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The captain now urged it upon us, that we should join forces and proceed
+      to the mountains in company. Feeling no greater partiality for the society
+      of the emigrants than they did, we thought the arrangement an advantageous
+      one, and consented to it. Our future fellow-travelers had installed
+      themselves in a little log-house, where we found them all surrounded by
+      saddles, harness, guns, pistols, telescopes, knives, and in short their
+      complete appointments for the prairie. R., who professed a taste for
+      natural history, sat at a table stuffing a woodpecker; the brother of the
+      captain, who was an Irishman, was splicing a trail-rope on the floor, as
+      he had been an amateur sailor. The captain pointed out, with much
+      complacency, the different articles of their outfit. &ldquo;You see,&rdquo; said he,
+      &ldquo;that we are all old travelers. I am convinced that no party ever went
+      upon the prairie better provided.&rdquo; The hunter whom they had employed, a
+      surly looking Canadian, named Sorel, and their muleteer, an American from
+      St. Louis, were lounging about the building. In a little log stable close
+      at hand were their horses and mules, selected by the captain, who was an
+      excellent judge.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The alliance entered into, we left them to complete their arrangements,
+      while we pushed our own to all convenient speed. The emigrants for whom
+      our friends professed such contempt were encamped on the prairie about
+      eight or ten miles distant, to the number of a thousand or more, and new
+      parties were constantly passing out from Independence to join them. They
+      were in great confusion, holding meetings, passing resolutions, and
+      drawing up regulations, but unable to unite in the choice of leaders to
+      conduct them across the prairie. Being at leisure one day, I rode over to
+      Independence. The town was crowded. A multitude of shops had sprung up to
+      furnish the emigrants and Santa Fe traders with necessaries for their
+      journey; and there was an incessant hammering and banging from a dozen
+      blacksmiths&rsquo; sheds, where the heavy wagons were being repaired, and the
+      horses and oxen shod. The streets were thronged with men, horses, and
+      mules. While I was in the town, a train of emigrant wagons from Illinois
+      passed through, to join the camp on the prairie, and stopped in the
+      principal street. A multitude of healthy children&rsquo;s faces were peeping out
+      from under the covers of the wagons. Here and there a buxom damsel was
+      seated on horseback, holding over her sunburnt face an old umbrella or a
+      parasol, once gaudy enough but now miserably faded. The men, very
+      sober-looking countrymen, stood about their oxen; and as I passed I
+      noticed three old fellows, who, with their long whips in their hands, were
+      zealously discussing the doctrine of regeneration. The emigrants, however,
+      are not all of this stamp. Among them are some of the vilest outcasts in
+      the country. I have often perplexed myself to divine the various motives
+      that give impulse to this strange migration; but whatever they may be,
+      whether an insane hope of a better condition in life, or a desire of
+      shaking off restraints of law and society, or mere restlessness, certain
+      it is that multitudes bitterly repent the journey, and after they have
+      reached the land of promise are happy enough to escape from it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the course of seven or eight days we had brought our preparations near
+      to a close. Meanwhile our friends had completed theirs, and becoming tired
+      of Westport, they told us that they would set out in advance and wait at
+      the crossing of the Kansas till we should come up. Accordingly R. and the
+      muleteers went forward with the wagon and tent, while the captain and his
+      brother, together with Sorel, and a trapper named Boisverd, who had joined
+      them, followed with the band of horses. The commencement of the journey
+      was ominous, for the captain was scarcely a mile from Westport, riding
+      along in state at the head of his party, leading his intended buffalo
+      horse by a rope, when a tremendous thunderstorm came on, and drenched them
+      all to the skin. They hurried on to reach the place, about seven miles
+      off, where R. was to have had the camp in readiness to receive them. But
+      this prudent person, when he saw the storm approaching, had selected a
+      sheltered glade in the woods, where he pitched his tent, and was sipping a
+      comfortable cup of coffee, while the captain galloped for miles beyond
+      through the rain to look for him. At length the storm cleared away, and
+      the sharp-eyed trapper succeeded in discovering his tent: R. had by this
+      time finished his coffee, and was seated on a buffalo robe smoking his
+      pipe. The captain was one of the most easy-tempered men in existence, so
+      he bore his ill-luck with great composure, shared the dregs of the coffee
+      with his brother, and lay down to sleep in his wet clothes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We ourselves had our share of the deluge. We were leading a pair of mules
+      to Kansas when the storm broke. Such sharp and incessant flashes of
+      lightning, such stunning and continuous thunder, I have never known
+      before. The woods were completely obscured by the diagonal sheets of rain
+      that fell with a heavy roar, and rose in spray from the ground; and the
+      streams rose so rapidly that we could hardly ford them. At length, looming
+      through the rain, we saw the log-house of Colonel Chick, who received us
+      with his usual bland hospitality; while his wife, who, though a little
+      soured and stiffened by too frequent attendance on camp-meetings, was not
+      behind him in hospitable feeling, supplied us with the means of repairing
+      our drenched and bedraggled condition. The storm, clearing away at about
+      sunset, opened a noble prospect from the porch of the colonel&rsquo;s house,
+      which stands upon a high hill. The sun streamed from the breaking clouds
+      upon the swift and angry Missouri, and on the immense expanse of luxuriant
+      forest that stretched from its banks back to the distant bluffs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Returning on the next day to Westport, we received a message from the
+      captain, who had ridden back to deliver it in person, but finding that we
+      were in Kansas, had intrusted it with an acquaintance of his named Vogel,
+      who kept a small grocery and liquor shop. Whisky by the way circulates
+      more freely in Westport than is altogether safe in a place where every man
+      carries a loaded pistol in his pocket. As we passed this establishment, we
+      saw Vogel&rsquo;s broad German face and knavish-looking eyes thrust from his
+      door. He said he had something to tell us, and invited us to take a dram.
+      Neither his liquor nor his message was very palatable. The captain had
+      returned to give us notice that R., who assumed the direction of his
+      party, had determined upon another route from that agreed upon between us;
+      and instead of taking the course of the traders, to pass northward by Fort
+      Leavenworth, and follow the path marked out by the dragoons in their
+      expedition of last summer. To adopt such a plan without consulting us, we
+      looked upon as a very high-handed proceeding; but suppressing our
+      dissatisfaction as well as we could, we made up our minds to join them at
+      Fort Leavenworth, where they were to wait for us.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Accordingly, our preparation being now complete, we attempted one fine
+      morning to commence our journey. The first step was an unfortunate one. No
+      sooner were our animals put in harness, than the shaft mule reared and
+      plunged, burst ropes and straps, and nearly flung the cart into the
+      Missouri. Finding her wholly uncontrollable, we exchanged her for another,
+      with which we were furnished by our friend Mr. Boone of Westport, a
+      grandson of Daniel Boone, the pioneer. This foretaste of prairie
+      experience was very soon followed by another. Westport was scarcely out of
+      sight, when we encountered a deep muddy gully, of a species that afterward
+      became but too familiar to us; and here for the space of an hour or more
+      the car stuck fast.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER II
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      BREAKING THE ICE
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Both Shaw and myself were tolerably inured to the vicissitudes of
+      traveling. We had experienced them under various forms, and a birch canoe
+      was as familiar to us as a steamboat. The restlessness, the love of wilds
+      and hatred of cities, natural perhaps in early years to every unperverted
+      son of Adam, was not our only motive for undertaking the present journey.
+      My companion hoped to shake off the effects of a disorder that had
+      impaired a constitution originally hardy and robust; and I was anxious to
+      pursue some inquiries relative to the character and usages of the remote
+      Indian nations, being already familiar with many of the border tribes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Emerging from the mud-hole where we last took leave of the reader, we
+      pursued our way for some time along the narrow track, in the checkered
+      sunshine and shadow of the woods, till at length, issuing forth into the
+      broad light, we left behind us the farthest outskirts of that great
+      forest, that once spread unbroken from the western plains to the shore of
+      the Atlantic. Looking over an intervening belt of shrubbery, we saw the
+      green, oceanlike expanse of prairie, stretching swell over swell to the
+      horizon.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was a mild, calm spring day; a day when one is more disposed to musing
+      and reverie than to action, and the softest part of his nature is apt to
+      gain the ascendency. I rode in advance of the party, as we passed through
+      the shrubbery, and as a nook of green grass offered a strong temptation, I
+      dismounted and lay down there. All the trees and saplings were in flower,
+      or budding into fresh leaf; the red clusters of the maple-blossoms and the
+      rich flowers of the Indian apple were there in profusion; and I was half
+      inclined to regret leaving behind the land of gardens for the rude and
+      stern scenes of the prairie and the mountains.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Meanwhile the party came in sight from out of the bushes. Foremost rode
+      Henry Chatillon, our guide and hunter, a fine athletic figure, mounted on
+      a hardy gray Wyandotte pony. He wore a white blanket-coat, a broad hat of
+      felt, moccasins, and pantaloons of deerskin, ornamented along the seams
+      with rows of long fringes. His knife was stuck in his belt; his
+      bullet-pouch and powder-horn hung at his side, and his rifle lay before
+      him, resting against the high pommel of his saddle, which, like all his
+      equipments, had seen hard service, and was much the worse for wear. Shaw
+      followed close, mounted on a little sorrel horse, and leading a larger
+      animal by a rope. His outfit, which resembled mine, had been provided with
+      a view to use rather than ornament. It consisted of a plain, black Spanish
+      saddle, with holsters of heavy pistols, a blanket rolled up behind it, and
+      the trail-rope attached to his horse&rsquo;s neck hanging coiled in front. He
+      carried a double-barreled smooth-bore, while I boasted a rifle of some
+      fifteen pounds&rsquo; weight. At that time our attire, though far from elegant,
+      bore some marks of civilization, and offered a very favorable contrast to
+      the inimitable shabbiness of our appearance on the return journey. A red
+      flannel shirt, belted around the waist like a frock, then constituted our
+      upper garment; moccasins had supplanted our failing boots; and the
+      remaining essential portion of our attire consisted of an extraordinary
+      article, manufactured by a squaw out of smoked buckskin. Our muleteer,
+      Delorier, brought up the rear with his cart, waddling ankle-deep in the
+      mud, alternately puffing at his pipe, and ejaculating in his prairie
+      patois: &ldquo;Sacre enfant de garce!&rdquo; as one of the mules would seem to recoil
+      before some abyss of unusual profundity. The cart was of the kind that one
+      may see by scores around the market-place in Montreal, and had a white
+      covering to protect the articles within. These were our provisions and a
+      tent, with ammunition, blankets, and presents for the Indians.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We were in all four men with eight animals; for besides the spare horses
+      led by Shaw and myself, an additional mule was driven along with us as a
+      reserve in case of accident.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After this summing up of our forces, it may not be amiss to glance at the
+      characters of the two men who accompanied us.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Delorier was a Canadian, with all the characteristics of the true Jean
+      Baptiste. Neither fatigue, exposure, nor hard labor could ever impair his
+      cheerfulness and gayety, or his obsequious politeness to his bourgeois;
+      and when night came he would sit down by the fire, smoke his pipe, and
+      tell stories with the utmost contentment. In fact, the prairie was his
+      congenial element. Henry Chatillon was of a different stamp. When we were
+      at St. Louis, several gentlemen of the Fur Company had kindly offered to
+      procure for us a hunter and guide suited for our purposes, and on coming
+      one afternoon to the office, we found there a tall and exceedingly
+      well-dressed man with a face so open and frank that it attracted our
+      notice at once. We were surprised at being told that it was he who wished
+      to guide us to the mountains. He was born in a little French town near St.
+      Louis, and from the age of fifteen years had been constantly in the
+      neighborhood of the Rocky Mountains, employed for the most part by the
+      Company to supply their forts with buffalo meat. As a hunter he had but
+      one rival in the whole region, a man named Cimoneau, with whom, to the
+      honor of both of them, he was on terms of the closest friendship. He had
+      arrived at St. Louis the day before, from the mountains, where he had
+      remained for four years; and he now only asked to go and spend a day with
+      his mother before setting out on another expedition. His age was about
+      thirty; he was six feet high, and very powerfully and gracefully molded.
+      The prairies had been his school; he could neither read nor write, but he
+      had a natural refinement and delicacy of mind such as is rarely found,
+      even in women. His manly face was a perfect mirror of uprightness,
+      simplicity, and kindness of heart; he had, moreover, a keen perception of
+      character and a tact that would preserve him from flagrant error in any
+      society. Henry had not the restless energy of an Anglo-American. He was
+      content to take things as he found them; and his chief fault arose from an
+      excess of easy generosity, impelling him to give away too profusely ever
+      to thrive in the world. Yet it was commonly remarked of him, that whatever
+      he might choose to do with what belonged to himself, the property of
+      others was always safe in his hands. His bravery was as much celebrated in
+      the mountains as his skill in hunting; but it is characteristic of him
+      that in a country where the rifle is the chief arbiter between man and
+      man, Henry was very seldom involved in quarrels. Once or twice, indeed,
+      his quiet good-nature had been mistaken and presumed upon, but the
+      consequences of the error were so formidable that no one was ever known to
+      repeat it. No better evidence of the intrepidity of his temper could be
+      wished than the common report that he had killed more than thirty grizzly
+      bears. He was a proof of what unaided nature will sometimes do. I have
+      never, in the city or in the wilderness, met a better man than my noble
+      and true-hearted friend, Henry Chatillon.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We were soon free of the woods and bushes, and fairly upon the broad
+      prairie. Now and then a Shawanoe passed us, riding his little shaggy pony
+      at a &ldquo;lope&rdquo;; his calico shirt, his gaudy sash, and the gay handkerchief
+      bound around his snaky hair fluttering in the wind. At noon we stopped to
+      rest not far from a little creek replete with frogs and young turtles.
+      There had been an Indian encampment at the place, and the framework of
+      their lodges still remained, enabling us very easily to gain a shelter
+      from the sun, by merely spreading one or two blankets over them. Thus
+      shaded, we sat upon our saddles, and Shaw for the first time lighted his
+      favorite Indian pipe; while Delorier was squatted over a hot bed of coals,
+      shading his eyes with one hand, and holding a little stick in the other,
+      with which he regulated the hissing contents of the frying-pan. The horses
+      were turned to feed among the scattered bushes of a low oozy meadow. A
+      drowzy springlike sultriness pervaded the air, and the voices of ten
+      thousand young frogs and insects, just awakened into life, rose in varied
+      chorus from the creek and the meadows.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Scarcely were we seated when a visitor approached. This was an old Kansas
+      Indian; a man of distinction, if one might judge from his dress. His head
+      was shaved and painted red, and from the tuft of hair remaining on the
+      crown dangled several eagles&rsquo; feathers, and the tails of two or three
+      rattlesnakes. His cheeks, too, were daubed with vermilion; his ears were
+      adorned with green glass pendants; a collar of grizzly bears&rsquo; claws
+      surrounded his neck, and several large necklaces of wampum hung on his
+      breast. Having shaken us by the hand with a cordial grunt of salutation,
+      the old man, dropping his red blanket from his shoulders, sat down
+      cross-legged on the ground. In the absence of liquor we offered him a cup
+      of sweetened water, at which he ejaculated &ldquo;Good!&rdquo; and was beginning to
+      tell us how great a man he was, and how many Pawnees he had killed, when
+      suddenly a motley concourse appeared wading across the creek toward us.
+      They filed past in rapid succession, men, women, and children; some were
+      on horseback, some on foot, but all were alike squalid and wretched. Old
+      squaws, mounted astride of shaggy, meager little ponies, with perhaps one
+      or two snake-eyed children seated behind them, clinging to their tattered
+      blankets; tall lank young men on foot, with bows and arrows in their
+      hands; and girls whose native ugliness not all the charms of glass beads
+      and scarlet cloth could disguise, made up the procession; although here
+      and there was a man who, like our visitor, seemed to hold some rank in
+      this respectable community. They were the dregs of the Kansas nation, who,
+      while their betters were gone to hunt buffalo, had left the village on a
+      begging expedition to Westport.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When this ragamuffin horde had passed, we caught our horses, saddled,
+      harnessed, and resumed our journey. Fording the creek, the low roofs of a
+      number of rude buildings appeared, rising from a cluster of groves and
+      woods on the left; and riding up through a long lane, amid a profusion of
+      wild roses and early spring flowers, we found the log-church and
+      school-houses belonging to the Methodist Shawanoe Mission. The Indians
+      were on the point of gathering to a religious meeting. Some scores of
+      them, tall men in half-civilized dress, were seated on wooden benches
+      under the trees; while their horses were tied to the sheds and fences.
+      Their chief, Parks, a remarkably large and athletic man, was just arrived
+      from Westport, where he owns a trading establishment. Beside this, he has
+      a fine farm and a considerable number of slaves. Indeed the Shawanoes have
+      made greater progress in agriculture than any other tribe on the Missouri
+      frontier; and both in appearance and in character form a marked contrast
+      to our late acquaintance, the Kansas.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A few hours&rsquo; ride brought us to the banks of the river Kansas. Traversing
+      the woods that lined it, and plowing through the deep sand, we encamped
+      not far from the bank, at the Lower Delaware crossing. Our tent was
+      erected for the first time on a meadow close to the woods, and the camp
+      preparations being complete we began to think of supper. An old Delaware
+      woman, of some three hundred pounds&rsquo; weight, sat in the porch of a little
+      log-house close to the water, and a very pretty half-breed girl was
+      engaged, under her superintendence, in feeding a large flock of turkeys
+      that were fluttering and gobbling about the door. But no offers of money,
+      or even of tobacco, could induce her to part with one of her favorites; so
+      I took my rifle, to see if the woods or the river could furnish us
+      anything. A multitude of quails were plaintively whistling in the woods
+      and meadows; but nothing appropriate to the rifle was to be seen, except
+      three buzzards, seated on the spectral limbs of an old dead sycamore, that
+      thrust itself out over the river from the dense sunny wall of fresh
+      foliage. Their ugly heads were drawn down between their shoulders, and
+      they seemed to luxuriate in the soft sunshine that was pouring from the
+      west. As they offered no epicurean temptations, I refrained from
+      disturbing their enjoyment; but contented myself with admiring the calm
+      beauty of the sunset, for the river, eddying swiftly in deep purple
+      shadows between the impending woods, formed a wild but tranquillizing
+      scene.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When I returned to the camp I found Shaw and an old Indian seated on the
+      ground in close conference, passing the pipe between them. The old man was
+      explaining that he loved the whites, and had an especial partiality for
+      tobacco. Delorier was arranging upon the ground our service of tin cups
+      and plates; and as other viands were not to be had, he set before us a
+      repast of biscuit and bacon, and a large pot of coffee. Unsheathing our
+      knives, we attacked it, disposed of the greater part, and tossed the
+      residue to the Indian. Meanwhile our horses, now hobbled for the first
+      time, stood among the trees, with their fore-legs tied together, in great
+      disgust and astonishment. They seemed by no means to relish this foretaste
+      of what was before them. Mine, in particular, had conceived a moral
+      aversion to the prairie life. One of them, christened Hendrick, an animal
+      whose strength and hardihood were his only merits, and who yielded to
+      nothing but the cogent arguments of the whip, looked toward us with an
+      indignant countenance, as if he meditated avenging his wrongs with a kick.
+      The other, Pontiac, a good horse, though of plebeian lineage, stood with
+      his head drooping and his mane hanging about his eyes, with the grieved
+      and sulky air of a lubberly boy sent off to school. Poor Pontiac! his
+      forebodings were but too just; for when I last heard from him, he was
+      under the lash of an Ogallalla brave, on a war party against the Crows.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As it grew dark, and the voices of the whip-poor-wills succeeded the
+      whistle of the quails, we removed our saddles to the tent, to serve as
+      pillows, spread our blankets upon the ground, and prepared to bivouac for
+      the first time that season. Each man selected the place in the tent which
+      he was to occupy for the journey. To Delorier, however, was assigned the
+      cart, into which he could creep in wet weather, and find a much better
+      shelter than his bourgeois enjoyed in the tent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The river Kansas at this point forms the boundary line between the country
+      of the Shawanoes and that of the Delawares. We crossed it on the following
+      day, rafting over our horses and equipage with much difficulty, and
+      unloading our cart in order to make our way up the steep ascent on the
+      farther bank. It was a Sunday morning; warm, tranquil and bright; and a
+      perfect stillness reigned over the rough inclosures and neglected fields
+      of the Delawares, except the ceaseless hum and chirruping of myriads of
+      insects. Now and then, an Indian rode past on his way to the
+      meeting-house, or through the dilapidated entrance of some shattered
+      log-house an old woman might be discerned, enjoying all the luxury of
+      idleness. There was no village bell, for the Delawares have none; and yet
+      upon that forlorn and rude settlement was the same spirit of Sabbath
+      repose and tranquillity as in some little New England village among the
+      mountains of New Hampshire or the Vermont woods.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Having at present no leisure for such reflections, we pursued our journey.
+      A military road led from this point to Fort Leavenworth, and for many
+      miles the farms and cabins of the Delawares were scattered at short
+      intervals on either hand. The little rude structures of logs, erected
+      usually on the borders of a tract of woods, made a picturesque feature in
+      the landscape. But the scenery needed no foreign aid. Nature had done
+      enough for it; and the alteration of rich green prairies and groves that
+      stood in clusters or lined the banks of the numerous little streams, had
+      all the softened and polished beauty of a region that has been for
+      centuries under the hand of man. At that early season, too, it was in the
+      height of its freshness and luxuriance. The woods were flushed with the
+      red buds of the maple; there were frequent flowering shrubs unknown in the
+      east; and the green swells of the prairies were thickly studded with
+      blossoms.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Encamping near a spring by the side of a hill, we resumed our journey in
+      the morning, and early in the afternoon had arrived within a few miles of
+      Fort Leavenworth. The road crossed a stream densely bordered with trees,
+      and running in the bottom of a deep woody hollow. We were about to descend
+      into it, when a wild and confused procession appeared, passing through the
+      water below, and coming up the steep ascent toward us. We stopped to let
+      them pass. They were Delawares, just returned from a hunting expedition.
+      All, both men and women, were mounted on horseback, and drove along with
+      them a considerable number of pack mules, laden with the furs they had
+      taken, together with the buffalo robes, kettles, and other articles of
+      their traveling equipment, which as well as their clothing and their
+      weapons, had a worn and dingy aspect, as if they had seen hard service of
+      late. At the rear of the party was an old man, who, as he came up, stopped
+      his horse to speak to us. He rode a little tough shaggy pony, with mane
+      and tail well knotted with burrs, and a rusty Spanish bit in its mouth, to
+      which, by way of reins, was attached a string of raw hide. His saddle,
+      robbed probably from a Mexican, had no covering, being merely a tree of
+      the Spanish form, with a piece of grizzly bear&rsquo;s skin laid over it, a pair
+      of rude wooden stirrups attached, and in the absence of girth, a thong of
+      hide passing around the horse&rsquo;s belly. The rider&rsquo;s dark features and keen
+      snaky eyes were unequivocally Indian. He wore a buckskin frock, which,
+      like his fringed leggings, was well polished and blackened by grease and
+      long service; and an old handkerchief was tied around his head. Resting on
+      the saddle before him lay his rifle; a weapon in the use of which the
+      Delawares are skillful; though from its weight, the distant prairie
+      Indians are too lazy to carry it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who&rsquo;s your chief?&rdquo; he immediately inquired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry Chatillon pointed to us. The old Delaware fixed his eyes intently
+      upon us for a moment, and then sententiously remarked:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No good! Too young!&rdquo; With this flattering comment he left us, and rode
+      after his people.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This tribe, the Delawares, once the peaceful allies of William Penn, the
+      tributaries of the conquering Iroquois, are now the most adventurous and
+      dreaded warriors upon the prairies. They make war upon remote tribes the
+      very names of which were unknown to their fathers in their ancient seats
+      in Pennsylvania; and they push these new quarrels with true Indian rancor,
+      sending out their little war parties as far as the Rocky Mountains, and
+      into the Mexican territories. Their neighbors and former confederates, the
+      Shawanoes, who are tolerable farmers, are in a prosperous condition; but
+      the Delawares dwindle every year, from the number of men lost in their
+      warlike expeditions.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Soon after leaving this party, we saw, stretching on the right, the
+      forests that follow the course of the Missouri, and the deep woody channel
+      through which at this point it runs. At a distance in front were the white
+      barracks of Fort Leavenworth, just visible through the trees upon an
+      eminence above a bend of the river. A wide green meadow, as level as a
+      lake, lay between us and the Missouri, and upon this, close to a line of
+      trees that bordered a little brook, stood the tent of the captain and his
+      companions, with their horses feeding around it, but they themselves were
+      invisible. Wright, their muleteer, was there, seated on the tongue of the
+      wagon, repairing his harness. Boisverd stood cleaning his rifle at the
+      door of the tent, and Sorel lounged idly about. On closer examination,
+      however, we discovered the captain&rsquo;s brother, Jack, sitting in the tent,
+      at his old occupation of splicing trail-ropes. He welcomed us in his broad
+      Irish brogue, and said that his brother was fishing in the river, and R.
+      gone to the garrison. They returned before sunset. Meanwhile we erected
+      our own tent not far off, and after supper a council was held, in which it
+      was resolved to remain one day at Fort Leavenworth, and on the next to bid
+      a final adieu to the frontier: or in the phraseology of the region, to
+      &ldquo;jump off.&rdquo; Our deliberations were conducted by the ruddy light from a
+      distant swell of the prairie, where the long dry grass of last summer was
+      on fire.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0003" id="link2HCH0003">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER III
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      FORT LEAVENWORTH
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      On the next morning we rode to Fort Leavenworth. Colonel, now General,
+      Kearny, to whom I had had the honor of an introduction when at St. Louis,
+      was just arrived, and received us at his headquarters with the high-bred
+      courtesy habitual to him. Fort Leavenworth is in fact no fort, being
+      without defensive works, except two block-houses. No rumors of war had as
+      yet disturbed its tranquillity. In the square grassy area, surrounded by
+      barracks and the quarters of the officers, the men were passing and
+      repassing, or lounging among the trees; although not many weeks afterward
+      it presented a different scene; for here the very off-scourings of the
+      frontier were congregated, to be marshaled for the expedition against
+      Santa Fe.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Passing through the garrison, we rode toward the Kickapoo village, five or
+      six miles beyond. The path, a rather dubious and uncertain one, led us
+      along the ridge of high bluffs that bordered the Missouri; and by looking
+      to the right or to the left, we could enjoy a strange contrast of opposite
+      scenery. On the left stretched the prairie, rising into swells and
+      undulations, thickly sprinkled with groves, or gracefully expanding into
+      wide grassy basins of miles in extent; while its curvatures, swelling
+      against the horizon, were often surmounted by lines of sunny woods; a
+      scene to which the freshness of the season and the peculiar mellowness of
+      the atmosphere gave additional softness. Below us, on the right, was a
+      tract of ragged and broken woods. We could look down on the summits of the
+      trees, some living and some dead; some erect, others leaning at every
+      angle, and others still piled in masses together by the passage of a
+      hurricane. Beyond their extreme verge, the turbid waters of the Missouri
+      were discernible through the boughs, rolling powerfully along at the foot
+      of the woody declivities of its farther bank.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The path soon after led inland; and as we crossed an open meadow we saw a
+      cluster of buildings on a rising ground before us, with a crowd of people
+      surrounding them. They were the storehouse, cottage, and stables of the
+      Kickapoo trader&rsquo;s establishment. Just at that moment, as it chanced, he
+      was beset with half the Indians of the settlement. They had tied their
+      wretched, neglected little ponies by dozens along the fences and
+      outhouses, and were either lounging about the place, or crowding into the
+      trading house. Here were faces of various colors; red, green, white, and
+      black, curiously intermingled and disposed over the visage in a variety of
+      patterns. Calico shirts, red and blue blankets, brass ear-rings, wampum
+      necklaces, appeared in profusion. The trader was a blue-eyed open-faced
+      man who neither in his manners nor his appearance betrayed any of the
+      roughness of the frontier; though just at present he was obliged to keep a
+      lynx eye on his suspicious customers, who, men and women, were climbing on
+      his counter and seating themselves among his boxes and bales.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The village itself was not far off, and sufficiently illustrated the
+      condition of its unfortunate and self-abandoned occupants. Fancy to
+      yourself a little swift stream, working its devious way down a woody
+      valley; sometimes wholly hidden under logs and fallen trees, sometimes
+      issuing forth and spreading into a broad, clear pool; and on its banks in
+      little nooks cleared away among the trees, miniature log-houses in utter
+      ruin and neglect. A labyrinth of narrow, obstructed paths connected these
+      habitations one with another. Sometimes we met a stray calf, a pig or a
+      pony, belonging to some of the villagers, who usually lay in the sun in
+      front of their dwellings, and looked on us with cold, suspicious eyes as
+      we approached. Farther on, in place of the log-huts of the Kickapoos, we
+      found the pukwi lodges of their neighbors, the Pottawattamies, whose
+      condition seemed no better than theirs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Growing tired at last, and exhausted by the excessive heat and sultriness
+      of the day, we returned to our friend, the trader. By this time the crowd
+      around him had dispersed, and left him at leisure. He invited us to his
+      cottage, a little white-and-green building, in the style of the old French
+      settlements; and ushered us into a neat, well-furnished room. The blinds
+      were closed, and the heat and glare of the sun excluded; the room was as
+      cool as a cavern. It was neatly carpeted too and furnished in a manner
+      that we hardly expected on the frontier. The sofas, chairs, tables, and a
+      well-filled bookcase would not have disgraced an Eastern city; though
+      there were one or two little tokens that indicated the rather questionable
+      civilization of the region. A pistol, loaded and capped, lay on the
+      mantelpiece; and through the glass of the bookcase, peeping above the
+      works of John Milton glittered the handle of a very mischievous-looking
+      knife.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Our host went out, and returned with iced water, glasses, and a bottle of
+      excellent claret; a refreshment most welcome in the extreme heat of the
+      day; and soon after appeared a merry, laughing woman, who must have been,
+      a year of two before, a very rich and luxuriant specimen of Creole beauty.
+      She came to say that lunch was ready in the next room. Our hostess
+      evidently lived on the sunny side of life, and troubled herself with none
+      of its cares. She sat down and entertained us while we were at table with
+      anecdotes of fishing parties, frolics, and the officers at the fort.
+      Taking leave at length of the hospitable trader and his friend, we rode
+      back to the garrison.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shaw passed on to the camp, while I remained to call upon Colonel Kearny.
+      I found him still at table. There sat our friend the captain, in the same
+      remarkable habiliments in which we saw him at Westport; the black pipe,
+      however, being for the present laid aside. He dangled his little cap in
+      his hand and talked of steeple-chases, touching occasionally upon his
+      anticipated exploits in buffalo-hunting. There, too, was R., somewhat more
+      elegantly attired. For the last time we tasted the luxuries of
+      civilization, and drank adieus to it in wine good enough to make us almost
+      regret the leave-taking. Then, mounting, we rode together to the camp,
+      where everything was in readiness for departure on the morrow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0004" id="link2HCH0004">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER IV
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      &ldquo;JUMPING OFF&rdquo;
+     </h3>
+    <p>
+      The reader need not be told that John Bull never leaves home without
+      encumbering himself with the greatest possible load of luggage. Our
+      companions were no exception to the rule. They had a wagon drawn by six
+      mules and crammed with provisions for six months, besides ammunition
+      enough for a regiment; spare rifles and fowling-pieces, ropes and harness;
+      personal baggage, and a miscellaneous assortment of articles, which
+      produced infinite embarrassment on the journey. They had also decorated
+      their persons with telescopes and portable compasses, and carried English
+      double-barreled rifles of sixteen to the pound caliber, slung to their
+      saddles in dragoon fashion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      By sunrise on the 23d of May we had breakfasted; the tents were leveled,
+      the animals saddled and harnessed, and all was prepared. &ldquo;Avance donc! get
+      up!&rdquo; cried Delorier from his seat in front of the cart. Wright, our
+      friend&rsquo;s muleteer, after some swearing and lashing, got his insubordinate
+      train in motion, and then the whole party filed from the ground. Thus we
+      bade a long adieu to bed and board, and the principles of Blackstone&rsquo;s
+      Commentaries. The day was a most auspicious one; and yet Shaw and I felt
+      certain misgivings, which in the sequel proved but too well founded. We
+      had just learned that though R. had taken it upon him to adopt this course
+      without consulting us, not a single man in the party was acquainted with
+      it; and the absurdity of our friend&rsquo;s high-handed measure very soon became
+      manifest. His plan was to strike the trail of several companies of
+      dragoons, who last summer had made an expedition under Colonel Kearny to
+      Fort Laramie, and by this means to reach the grand trail of the Oregon
+      emigrants up the Platte.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We rode for an hour or two when a familiar cluster of buildings appeared
+      on a little hill. &ldquo;Hallo!&rdquo; shouted the Kickapoo trader from over his
+      fence. &ldquo;Where are you going?&rdquo; A few rather emphatic exclamations might
+      have been heard among us, when we found that we had gone miles out of our
+      way, and were not advanced an inch toward the Rocky Mountains. So we
+      turned in the direction the trader indicated, and with the sun for a
+      guide, began to trace a &ldquo;bee line&rdquo; across the prairies. We struggled
+      through copses and lines of wood; we waded brooks and pools of water; we
+      traversed prairies as green as an emerald, expanding before us for mile
+      after mile; wider and more wild than the wastes Mazeppa rode over:
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     &ldquo;Man nor brute,
+     Nor dint of hoof, nor print of foot,
+     Lay in the wild luxuriant soil;
+     No sign of travel; none of toil;
+     The very air was mute.&rdquo;
+ </pre>
+    <p>
+      Riding in advance, we passed over one of these great plains; we looked
+      back and saw the line of scattered horsemen stretching for a mile or more;
+      and far in the rear against the horizon, the white wagons creeping slowly
+      along. &ldquo;Here we are at last!&rdquo; shouted the captain. And in truth we had
+      struck upon the traces of a large body of horse. We turned joyfully and
+      followed this new course, with tempers somewhat improved; and toward
+      sunset encamped on a high swell of the prairie, at the foot of which a
+      lazy stream soaked along through clumps of rank grass. It was getting
+      dark. We turned the horses loose to feed. &ldquo;Drive down the tent-pickets
+      hard,&rdquo; said Henry Chatillon, &ldquo;it is going to blow.&rdquo; We did so, and secured
+      the tent as well as we could; for the sky had changed totally, and a fresh
+      damp smell in the wind warned us that a stormy night was likely to succeed
+      the hot clear day. The prairie also wore a new aspect, and its vast swells
+      had grown black and somber under the shadow of the clouds. The thunder
+      soon began to growl at a distance. Picketing and hobbling the horses among
+      the rich grass at the foot of the slope, where we encamped, we gained a
+      shelter just as the rain began to fall; and sat at the opening of the
+      tent, watching the proceedings of the captain. In defiance of the rain he
+      was stalking among the horses, wrapped in an old Scotch plaid. An extreme
+      solicitude tormented him, lest some of his favorites should escape, or
+      some accident should befall them; and he cast an anxious eye toward three
+      wolves who were sneaking along over the dreary surface of the plain, as if
+      he dreaded some hostile demonstration on their part.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the next morning we had gone but a mile or two, when we came to an
+      extensive belt of woods, through the midst of which ran a stream, wide,
+      deep, and of an appearance particularly muddy and treacherous. Delorier
+      was in advance with his cart; he jerked his pipe from his mouth, lashed
+      his mules, and poured forth a volley of Canadian ejaculations. In plunged
+      the cart, but midway it stuck fast. Delorier leaped out knee-deep in
+      water, and by dint of sacres and a vigorous application of the whip, he
+      urged the mules out of the slough. Then approached the long team and heavy
+      wagon of our friends; but it paused on the brink.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now my advice is&mdash;&rdquo; began the captain, who had been anxiously
+      contemplating the muddy gulf.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Drive on!&rdquo; cried R.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But Wright, the muleteer, apparently had not as yet decided the point in
+      his own mind; and he sat still in his seat on one of the shaft-mules,
+      whistling in a low contemplative strain to himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My advice is,&rdquo; resumed the captain, &ldquo;that we unload; for I&rsquo;ll bet any man
+      five pounds that if we try to go through, we shall stick fast.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;By the powers, we shall stick fast!&rdquo; echoed Jack, the captain&rsquo;s brother,
+      shaking his large head with an air of firm conviction.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Drive on! drive on!&rdquo; cried R. petulantly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; observed the captain, turning to us as we sat looking on, much
+      edified by this by-play among our confederates, &ldquo;I can only give my advice
+      and if people won&rsquo;t be reasonable, why, they won&rsquo;t; that&rsquo;s all!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Meanwhile Wright had apparently made up his mind; for he suddenly began to
+      shout forth a volley of oaths and curses, that, compared with the French
+      imprecations of Delorier, sounded like the roaring of heavy cannon after
+      the popping and sputtering of a bunch of Chinese crackers. At the same
+      time he discharged a shower of blows upon his mules, who hastily dived
+      into the mud and drew the wagon lumbering after them. For a moment the
+      issue was dubious. Wright writhed about in his saddle, and swore and
+      lashed like a madman; but who can count on a team of half-broken mules? At
+      the most critical point, when all should have been harmony and combined
+      effort, the perverse brutes fell into lamentable disorder, and huddled
+      together in confusion on the farther bank. There was the wagon up to the
+      hub in mud, and visibly settling every instant. There was nothing for it
+      but to unload; then to dig away the mud from before the wheels with a
+      spade, and lay a causeway of bushes and branches. This agreeable labor
+      accomplished, the wagon at last emerged; but if I mention that some
+      interruption of this sort occurred at least four or five times a day for a
+      fortnight, the reader will understand that our progress toward the Platte
+      was not without its obstacles.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We traveled six or seven miles farther, and &ldquo;nooned&rdquo; near a brook. On the
+      point of resuming our journey, when the horses were all driven down to
+      water, my homesick charger, Pontiac, made a sudden leap across, and set
+      off at a round trot for the settlements. I mounted my remaining horse, and
+      started in pursuit. Making a circuit, I headed the runaway, hoping to
+      drive him back to camp; but he instantly broke into a gallop, made a wide
+      tour on the prairie, and got past me again. I tried this plan repeatedly,
+      with the same result; Pontiac was evidently disgusted with the prairie; so
+      I abandoned it, and tried another, trotting along gently behind him, in
+      hopes that I might quietly get near enough to seize the trail-rope which
+      was fastened to his neck, and dragged about a dozen feet behind him. The
+      chase grew interesting. For mile after mile I followed the rascal, with
+      the utmost care not to alarm him, and gradually got nearer, until at
+      length old Hendrick&rsquo;s nose was fairly brushed by the whisking tail of the
+      unsuspecting Pontiac. Without drawing rein, I slid softly to the ground;
+      but my long heavy rifle encumbered me, and the low sound it made in
+      striking the horn of the saddle startled him; he pricked up his ears, and
+      sprang off at a run. &ldquo;My friend,&rdquo; thought I, remounting, &ldquo;do that again,
+      and I will shoot you!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Fort Leavenworth was about forty miles distant, and thither I determined
+      to follow him. I made up my mind to spend a solitary and supperless night,
+      and then set out again in the morning. One hope, however, remained. The
+      creek where the wagon had stuck was just before us; Pontiac might be
+      thirsty with his run, and stop there to drink. I kept as near to him as
+      possible, taking every precaution not to alarm him again; and the result
+      proved as I had hoped: for he walked deliberately among the trees, and
+      stooped down to the water. I alighted, dragged old Hendrick through the
+      mud, and with a feeling of infinite satisfaction picked up the slimy
+      trail-rope and twisted it three times round my hand. &ldquo;Now let me see you
+      get away again!&rdquo; I thought, as I remounted. But Pontiac was exceedingly
+      reluctant to turn back; Hendrick, too, who had evidently flattered himself
+      with vain hopes, showed the utmost repugnance, and grumbled in a manner
+      peculiar to himself at being compelled to face about. A smart cut of the
+      whip restored his cheerfulness; and dragging the recovered truant behind,
+      I set out in search of the camp. An hour or two elapsed, when, near
+      sunset, I saw the tents, standing on a rich swell of the prairie, beyond a
+      line of woods, while the bands of horses were feeding in a low meadow
+      close at hand. There sat Jack C., cross-legged, in the sun, splicing a
+      trail-rope, and the rest were lying on the grass, smoking and telling
+      stories. That night we enjoyed a serenade from the wolves, more lively
+      than any with which they had yet favored us; and in the morning one of the
+      musicians appeared, not many rods from the tents, quietly seated among the
+      horses, looking at us with a pair of large gray eyes; but perceiving a
+      rifle leveled at him, he leaped up and made off in hot haste.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I pass by the following day or two of our journey, for nothing occurred
+      worthy of record. Should any one of my readers ever be impelled to visit
+      the prairies, and should he choose the route of the Platte (the best,
+      perhaps, that can be adopted), I can assure him that he need not think to
+      enter at once upon the paradise of his imagination. A dreary preliminary,
+      protracted crossing of the threshold awaits him before he finds himself
+      fairly upon the verge of the &ldquo;great American desert,&rdquo; those barren wastes,
+      the haunts of the buffalo and the Indian, where the very shadow of
+      civilization lies a hundred leagues behind him. The intervening country,
+      the wide and fertile belt that extends for several hundred miles beyond
+      the extreme frontier, will probably answer tolerably well to his
+      preconceived ideas of the prairie; for this it is from which picturesque
+      tourists, painters, poets, and novelists, who have seldom penetrated
+      farther, have derived their conceptions of the whole region. If he has a
+      painter&rsquo;s eye, he may find his period of probation not wholly void of
+      interest. The scenery, though tame, is graceful and pleasing. Here are
+      level plains, too wide for the eye to measure green undulations, like
+      motionless swells of the ocean; abundance of streams, followed through all
+      their windings by lines of woods and scattered groves. But let him be as
+      enthusiastic as he may, he will find enough to damp his ardor. His wagons
+      will stick in the mud; his horses will break loose; harness will give way,
+      and axle-trees prove unsound. His bed will be a soft one, consisting often
+      of black mud, of the richest consistency. As for food, he must content
+      himself with biscuit and salt provisions; for strange as it may seem, this
+      tract of country produces very little game. As he advances, indeed, he
+      will see, moldering in the grass by his path, the vast antlers of the elk,
+      and farther on, the whitened skulls of the buffalo, once swarming over
+      this now deserted region. Perhaps, like us, he may journey for a
+      fortnight, and see not so much as the hoof-print of a deer; in the spring,
+      not even a prairie hen is to be had.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Yet, to compensate him for this unlooked-for deficiency of game, he will
+      find himself beset with &ldquo;varmints&rdquo; innumerable. The wolves will entertain
+      him with a concerto at night, and skulk around him by day, just beyond
+      rifle shot; his horse will step into badger-holes; from every marsh and
+      mud puddle will arise the bellowing, croaking, and trilling of legions of
+      frogs, infinitely various in color, shape and dimensions. A profusion of
+      snakes will glide away from under his horse&rsquo;s feet, or quietly visit him
+      in his tent at night; while the pertinacious humming of unnumbered
+      mosquitoes will banish sleep from his eyelids. When thirsty with a long
+      ride in the scorching sun over some boundless reach of prairie, he comes
+      at length to a pool of water, and alights to drink, he discovers a troop
+      of young tadpoles sporting in the bottom of his cup. Add to this, that all
+      the morning the hot sun beats upon him with sultry, penetrating heat, and
+      that, with provoking regularity, at about four o&rsquo;clock in the afternoon, a
+      thunderstorm rises and drenches him to the skin. Such being the charms of
+      this favored region, the reader will easily conceive the extent of our
+      gratification at learning that for a week we had been journeying on the
+      wrong track! How this agreeable discovery was made I will presently
+      explain.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One day, after a protracted morning&rsquo;s ride, we stopped to rest at noon
+      upon the open prairie. No trees were in sight; but close at hand, a little
+      dribbling brook was twisting from side to side through a hollow; now
+      forming holes of stagnant water, and now gliding over the mud in a
+      scarcely perceptible current, among a growth of sickly bushes, and great
+      clumps of tall rank grass. The day was excessively hot and oppressive. The
+      horses and mules were rolling on the prairie to refresh themselves, or
+      feeding among the bushes in the hollow. We had dined; and Delorier,
+      puffing at his pipe, knelt on the grass, scrubbing our service of tin
+      plate. Shaw lay in the shade, under the cart, to rest for a while, before
+      the word should be given to &ldquo;catch up.&rdquo; Henry Chatillon, before lying
+      down, was looking about for signs of snakes, the only living things that
+      he feared, and uttering various ejaculations of disgust, at finding
+      several suspicious-looking holes close to the cart. I sat leaning against
+      the wheel in a scanty strip of shade, making a pair of hobbles to replace
+      those which my contumacious steed Pontiac had broken the night before. The
+      camp of our friends, a rod or two distant, presented the same scene of
+      lazy tranquillity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hallo!&rdquo; cried Henry, looking up from his inspection of the snake-holes,
+      &ldquo;here comes the old captain!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The captain approached, and stood for a moment contemplating us in
+      silence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I say, Parkman,&rdquo; he began, &ldquo;look at Shaw there, asleep under the cart,
+      with the tar dripping off the hub of the wheel on his shoulder!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      At this Shaw got up, with his eyes half opened, and feeling the part
+      indicated, he found his hand glued fast to his red flannel shirt.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He&rsquo;ll look well when he gets among the squaws, won&rsquo;t he?&rdquo; observed the
+      captain, with a grin.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He then crawled under the cart, and began to tell stories of which his
+      stock was inexhaustible. Yet every moment he would glance nervously at the
+      horses. At last he jumped up in great excitement. &ldquo;See that horse! There&mdash;that
+      fellow just walking over the hill! By Jove; he&rsquo;s off. It&rsquo;s your big horse,
+      Shaw; no it isn&rsquo;t, it&rsquo;s Jack&rsquo;s! Jack! Jack! hallo, Jack!&rdquo; Jack thus
+      invoked, jumped up and stared vacantly at us.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Go and catch your horse, if you don&rsquo;t want to lose him!&rdquo; roared the
+      captain.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Jack instantly set off at a run through the grass, his broad pantaloons
+      flapping about his feet. The captain gazed anxiously till he saw that the
+      horse was caught; then he sat down, with a countenance of thoughtfulness
+      and care.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I tell you what it is,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;this will never do at all. We shall
+      lose every horse in the band someday or other, and then a pretty plight we
+      should be in! Now I am convinced that the only way for us is to have every
+      man in the camp stand horse-guard in rotation whenever we stop. Supposing
+      a hundred Pawnees should jump up out of that ravine, all yelling and
+      flapping their buffalo robes, in the way they do? Why, in two minutes not
+      a hoof would be in sight.&rdquo; We reminded the captain that a hundred Pawnees
+      would probably demolish the horse-guard, if he were to resist their
+      depredations.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;At any rate,&rdquo; pursued the captain, evading the point, &ldquo;our whole system
+      is wrong; I&rsquo;m convinced of it; it is totally unmilitary. Why, the way we
+      travel, strung out over the prairie for a mile, an enemy might attack the
+      foremost men, and cut them off before the rest could come up.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We are not in an enemy&rsquo;s country, yet,&rdquo; said Shaw; &ldquo;when we are, we&rsquo;ll
+      travel together.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then,&rdquo; said the captain, &ldquo;we might be attacked in camp. We&rsquo;ve no
+      sentinels; we camp in disorder; no precautions at all to guard against
+      surprise. My own convictions are that we ought to camp in a hollow square,
+      with the fires in the center; and have sentinels, and a regular password
+      appointed for every night. Besides, there should be vedettes, riding in
+      advance, to find a place for the camp and give warning of an enemy. These
+      are my convictions. I don&rsquo;t want to dictate to any man. I give advice to
+      the best of my judgment, that&rsquo;s all; and then let people do as they
+      please.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      We intimated that perhaps it would be as well to postpone such burdensome
+      precautions until there should be some actual need of them; but he shook
+      his head dubiously. The captain&rsquo;s sense of military propriety had been
+      severely shocked by what he considered the irregular proceedings of the
+      party; and this was not the first time he had expressed himself upon the
+      subject. But his convictions seldom produced any practical results. In the
+      present case, he contented himself, as usual, with enlarging on the
+      importance of his suggestions, and wondering that they were not adopted.
+      But his plan of sending out vedettes seemed particularly dear to him; and
+      as no one else was disposed to second his views on this point, he took it
+      into his head to ride forward that afternoon, himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come, Parkman,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;will you go with me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      We set out together, and rode a mile or two in advance. The captain, in
+      the course of twenty years&rsquo; service in the British army, had seen
+      something of life; one extensive side of it, at least, he had enjoyed the
+      best opportunities for studying; and being naturally a pleasant fellow, he
+      was a very entertaining companion. He cracked jokes and told stories for
+      an hour or two; until, looking back, we saw the prairie behind us
+      stretching away to the horizon, without a horseman or a wagon in sight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now,&rdquo; said the captain, &ldquo;I think the vedettes had better stop till the
+      main body comes up.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I was of the same opinion. There was a thick growth of woods just before
+      us, with a stream running through them. Having crossed this, we found on
+      the other side a fine level meadow, half encircled by the trees; and
+      fastening our horses to some bushes, we sat down on the grass; while, with
+      an old stump of a tree for a target, I began to display the superiority of
+      the renowned rifle of the back woods over the foreign innovation borne by
+      the captain. At length voices could be heard in the distance behind the
+      trees.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There they come!&rdquo; said the captain: &ldquo;let&rsquo;s go and see how they get
+      through the creek.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      We mounted and rode to the bank of the stream, where the trail crossed it.
+      It ran in a deep hollow, full of trees; as we looked down, we saw a
+      confused crowd of horsemen riding through the water; and among the dingy
+      habiliment of our party glittered the uniforms of four dragoons.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shaw came whipping his horse up the back, in advance of the rest, with a
+      somewhat indignant countenance. The first word he spoke was a blessing
+      fervently invoked on the head of R., who was riding, with a crest-fallen
+      air, in the rear. Thanks to the ingenious devices of the gentleman, we had
+      missed the track entirely, and wandered, not toward the Platte, but to the
+      village of the Iowa Indians. This we learned from the dragoons, who had
+      lately deserted from Fort Leavenworth. They told us that our best plan now
+      was to keep to the northward until we should strike the trail formed by
+      several parties of Oregon emigrants, who had that season set out from St.
+      Joseph&rsquo;s in Missouri.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In extremely bad temper, we encamped on this ill-starred spot; while the
+      deserters, whose case admitted of no delay rode rapidly forward. On the
+      day following, striking the St. Joseph&rsquo;s trail, we turned our horses&rsquo;
+      heads toward Fort Laramie, then about seven hundred miles to the westward.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0005" id="link2HCH0005">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER V
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      &ldquo;THE BIG BLUE&rdquo;
+     </h3>
+    <p>
+      The great medley of Oregon and California emigrants, at their camps around
+      Independence, had heard reports that several additional parties were on
+      the point of setting out from St. Joseph&rsquo;s farther to the northward. The
+      prevailing impression was that these were Mormons, twenty-three hundred in
+      number; and a great alarm was excited in consequence. The people of
+      Illinois and Missouri, who composed by far the greater part of the
+      emigrants, have never been on the best terms with the &ldquo;Latter Day Saints&rdquo;;
+      and it is notorious throughout the country how much blood has been spilt
+      in their feuds, even far within the limits of the settlements. No one
+      could predict what would be the result, when large armed bodies of these
+      fanatics should encounter the most impetuous and reckless of their old
+      enemies on the broad prairie, far beyond the reach of law or military
+      force. The women and children at Independence raised a great outcry; the
+      men themselves were seriously alarmed; and, as I learned, they sent to
+      Colonel Kearny, requesting an escort of dragoons as far as the Platte.
+      This was refused; and as the sequel proved, there was no occasion for it.
+      The St. Joseph&rsquo;s emigrants were as good Christians and as zealous
+      Mormon-haters as the rest; and the very few families of the &ldquo;Saints&rdquo; who
+      passed out this season by the route of the Platte remained behind until
+      the great tide of emigration had gone by; standing in quite as much awe of
+      the &ldquo;gentiles&rdquo; as the latter did of them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We were now, as I before mentioned, upon this St. Joseph&rsquo;s trail. It was
+      evident, by the traces, that large parties were a few days in advance of
+      us; and as we too supposed them to be Mormons, we had some apprehension of
+      interruption.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The journey was somewhat monotonous. One day we rode on for hours, without
+      seeing a tree or a bush; before, behind, and on either side, stretched the
+      vast expanse, rolling in a succession of graceful swells, covered with the
+      unbroken carpet of fresh green grass. Here and there a crow, or a raven,
+      or a turkey-buzzard, relieved the uniformity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What shall we do to-night for wood and water?&rdquo; we began to ask of each
+      other; for the sun was within an hour of setting. At length a dark green
+      speck appeared, far off on the right; it was the top of a tree, peering
+      over a swell of the prairie; and leaving the trail, we made all haste
+      toward it. It proved to be the vanguard of a cluster of bushes and low
+      trees, that surrounded some pools of water in an extensive hollow; so we
+      encamped on the rising ground near it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shaw and I were sitting in the tent, when Delorier thrust his brown face
+      and old felt hat into the opening, and dilating his eyes to their utmost
+      extent, announced supper. There were the tin cups and the iron spoons,
+      arranged in military order on the grass, and the coffee-pot predominant in
+      the midst. The meal was soon dispatched; but Henry Chatillon still sat
+      cross-legged, dallying with the remnant of his coffee, the beverage in
+      universal use upon the prairie, and an especial favorite with him. He
+      preferred it in its virgin flavor, unimpaired by sugar or cream; and on
+      the present occasion it met his entire approval, being exceedingly strong,
+      or, as he expressed it, &ldquo;right black.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It was a rich and gorgeous sunset&mdash;an American sunset; and the ruddy
+      glow of the sky was reflected from some extensive pools of water among the
+      shadowy copses in the meadow below.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I must have a bath to-night,&rdquo; said Shaw. &ldquo;How is it, Delorier? Any chance
+      for a swim down here?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah! I cannot tell; just as you please, monsieur,&rdquo; replied Delorier,
+      shrugging his shoulders, perplexed by his ignorance of English, and
+      extremely anxious to conform in all respects to the opinion and wishes of
+      his bourgeois.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Look at his moccasion,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;It has evidently been lately immersed in
+      a profound abyss of black mud.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come,&rdquo; said Shaw; &ldquo;at any rate we can see for ourselves.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      We set out together; and as we approached the bushes, which were at some
+      distance, we found the ground becoming rather treacherous. We could only
+      get along by stepping upon large clumps of tall rank grass, with
+      fathomless gulfs between, like innumerable little quaking islands in an
+      ocean of mud, where a false step would have involved our boots in a
+      catastrophe like that which had befallen Delorier&rsquo;s moccasins. The thing
+      looked desperate; we separated, so as to search in different directions,
+      Shaw going off to the right, while I kept straight forward. At last I came
+      to the edge of the bushes: they were young waterwillows, covered with
+      their caterpillar-like blossoms, but intervening between them and the last
+      grass clump was a black and deep slough, over which, by a vigorous
+      exertion, I contrived to jump. Then I shouldered my way through the
+      willows, tramping them down by main force, till I came to a wide stream of
+      water, three inches deep, languidly creeping along over a bottom of sleek
+      mud. My arrival produced a great commotion. A huge green bull-frog uttered
+      an indignant croak, and jumped off the bank with a loud splash: his webbed
+      feet twinkled above the surface, as he jerked them energetically upward,
+      and I could see him ensconcing himself in the unresisting slime at the
+      bottom, whence several large air bubbles struggled lazily to the top. Some
+      little spotted frogs instantly followed the patriarch&rsquo;s example; and then
+      three turtles, not larger than a dollar, tumbled themselves off a broad
+      &ldquo;lily pad,&rdquo; where they had been reposing. At the same time a snake, gayly
+      striped with black and yellow, glided out from the bank, and writhed
+      across to the other side; and a small stagnant pool into which my foot had
+      inadvertently pushed a stone was instantly alive with a congregation of
+      black tadpoles.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Any chance for a bath, where you are?&rdquo; called out Shaw, from a distance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The answer was not encouraging. I retreated through the willows, and
+      rejoining my companion, we proceeded to push our researches in company.
+      Not far on the right, a rising ground, covered with trees and bushes,
+      seemed to sink down abruptly to the water, and give hope of better
+      success; so toward this we directed our steps. When we reached the place
+      we found it no easy matter to get along between the hill and the water,
+      impeded as we were by a growth of stiff, obstinate young birch-trees,
+      laced together by grapevines. In the twilight, we now and then, to support
+      ourselves, snatched at the touch-me-not stem of some ancient sweet-brier.
+      Shaw, who was in advance, suddenly uttered a somewhat emphatic
+      monosyllable; and looking up I saw him with one hand grasping a sapling,
+      and one foot immersed in the water, from which he had forgotten to
+      withdraw it, his whole attention being engaged in contemplating the
+      movements of a water-snake, about five feet long, curiously checkered with
+      black and green, who was deliberately swimming across the pool. There
+      being no stick or stone at hand to pelt him with, we looked at him for a
+      time in silent disgust; and then pushed forward. Our perseverence was at
+      last rewarded; for several rods farther on, we emerged upon a little level
+      grassy nook among the brushwood, and by an extraordinary dispensation of
+      fortune, the weeds and floating sticks, which elsewhere covered the pool,
+      seemed to have drawn apart, and left a few yards of clear water just in
+      front of this favored spot. We sounded it with a stick; it was four feet
+      deep; we lifted a specimen in our cupped hands; it seemed reasonably
+      transparent, so we decided that the time for action was arrived. But our
+      ablutions were suddenly interrupted by ten thousand punctures, like
+      poisoned needles, and the humming of myriads of over-grown mosquitoes,
+      rising in all directions from their native mud and slime and swarming to
+      the feast. We were fain to beat a retreat with all possible speed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We made toward the tents, much refreshed by the bath which the heat of the
+      weather, joined to our prejudices, had rendered very desirable.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What&rsquo;s the matter with the captain? look at him!&rdquo; said Shaw. The captain
+      stood alone on the prairie, swinging his hat violently around his head,
+      and lifting first one foot and then the other, without moving from the
+      spot. First he looked down to the ground with an air of supreme
+      abhorrence; then he gazed upward with a perplexed and indignant
+      countenance, as if trying to trace the flight of an unseen enemy. We
+      called to know what was the matter; but he replied only by execrations
+      directed against some unknown object. We approached, when our ears were
+      saluted by a droning sound, as if twenty bee-hives had been overturned at
+      once. The air above was full of large black insects, in a state of great
+      commotion, and multitudes were flying about just above the tops of the
+      grass blades.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t be afraid,&rdquo; called the captain, observing us recoil. &ldquo;The brutes
+      won&rsquo;t sting.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      At this I knocked one down with my hat, and discovered him to be no other
+      than a &ldquo;dorbug&rdquo;; and looking closer, we found the ground thickly
+      perforated with their holes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We took a hasty leave of this flourishing colony, and walking up the
+      rising ground to the tents, found Delorier&rsquo;s fire still glowing brightly.
+      We sat down around it, and Shaw began to expatiate on the admirable
+      facilities for bathing that we had discovered, and recommended the captain
+      by all means to go down there before breakfast in the morning. The captain
+      was in the act of remarking that he couldn&rsquo;t have believed it possible,
+      when he suddenly interrupted himself, and clapped his hand to his cheek,
+      exclaiming that &ldquo;those infernal humbugs were at him again.&rdquo; In fact, we
+      began to hear sounds as if bullets were humming over our heads. In a
+      moment something rapped me sharply on the forehead, then upon the neck,
+      and immediately I felt an indefinite number of sharp wiry claws in active
+      motion, as if their owner were bent on pushing his explorations farther. I
+      seized him, and dropped him into the fire. Our party speedily broke up,
+      and we adjourned to our respective tents, where, closing the opening fast,
+      we hoped to be exempt from invasion. But all precaution was fruitless. The
+      dorbugs hummed through the tent, and marched over our faces until
+      day-light; when, opening our blankets, we found several dozen clinging
+      there with the utmost tenacity. The first object that met our eyes in the
+      morning was Delorier, who seemed to be apostrophizing his frying-pan,
+      which he held by the handle at arm&rsquo;s length. It appeared that he had left
+      it at night by the fire; and the bottom was now covered with dorbugs,
+      firmly imbedded. Multitudes beside, curiously parched and shriveled, lay
+      scattered among the ashes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The horses and mules were turned loose to feed. We had just taken our
+      seats at breakfast, or rather reclined in the classic mode, when an
+      exclamation from Henry Chatillon, and a shout of alarm from the captain,
+      gave warning of some casualty, and looking up, we saw the whole band of
+      animals, twenty-three in number, filing off for the settlements, the
+      incorrigible Pontiac at their head, jumping along with hobbled feet, at a
+      gait much more rapid than graceful. Three or four of us ran to cut them
+      off, dashing as best we might through the tall grass, which was glittering
+      with myriads of dewdrops. After a race of a mile or more, Shaw caught a
+      horse. Tying the trail-rope by way of bridle round the animal&rsquo;s jaw, and
+      leaping upon his back, he got in advance of the remaining fugitives, while
+      we, soon bringing them together, drove them in a crowd up to the tents,
+      where each man caught and saddled his own. Then we heard lamentations and
+      curses; for half the horses had broke their hobbles, and many were
+      seriously galled by attempting to run in fetters.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was late that morning before we were on the march; and early in the
+      afternoon we were compelled to encamp, for a thunder-gust came up and
+      suddenly enveloped us in whirling sheets of rain. With much ado, we
+      pitched our tents amid the tempest, and all night long the thunder
+      bellowed and growled over our heads. In the morning, light peaceful
+      showers succeeded the cataracts of rain, that had been drenching us
+      through the canvas of our tents. About noon, when there were some
+      treacherous indications of fair weather, we got in motion again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Not a breath of air stirred over the free and open prairie; the clouds
+      were like light piles of cotton; and where the blue sky was visible, it
+      wore a hazy and languid aspect. The sun beat down upon us with a sultry
+      penetrating heat almost insupportable, and as our party crept slowly along
+      over the interminable level, the horses hung their heads as they waded
+      fetlock deep through the mud, and the men slouched into the easiest
+      position upon the saddle. At last, toward evening, the old familiar black
+      heads of thunderclouds rose fast above the horizon, and the same deep
+      muttering of distant thunder that had become the ordinary accompaniment of
+      our afternoon&rsquo;s journey began to roll hoarsely over the prairie. Only a
+      few minutes elapsed before the whole sky was densely shrouded, and the
+      prairie and some clusters of woods in front assumed a purple hue beneath
+      the inky shadows. Suddenly from the densest fold of the cloud the flash
+      leaped out, quivering again and again down to the edge of the prairie; and
+      at the same instant came the sharp burst and the long rolling peal of the
+      thunder. A cool wind, filled with the smell of rain, just then overtook
+      us, leveling the tall grass by the side of the path.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come on; we must ride for it!&rdquo; shouted Shaw, rushing past at full speed,
+      his led horse snorting at his side. The whole party broke into full
+      gallop, and made for the trees in front. Passing these, we found beyond
+      them a meadow which they half inclosed. We rode pell-mell upon the ground,
+      leaped from horseback, tore off our saddles; and in a moment each man was
+      kneeling at his horse&rsquo;s feet. The hobbles were adjusted, and the animals
+      turned loose; then, as the wagons came wheeling rapidly to the spot, we
+      seized upon the tent-poles, and just as the storm broke, we were prepared
+      to receive it. It came upon us almost with the darkness of night; the
+      trees, which were close at hand, were completely shrouded by the roaring
+      torrents of rain.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We were sitting in the tent, when Delorier, with his broad felt hat
+      hanging about his ears, and his shoulders glistening with rain, thrust in
+      his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Voulez-vous du souper, tout de suite? I can make a fire, sous la charette&mdash;I
+      b&rsquo;lieve so&mdash;I try.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Never mind supper, man; come in out of the rain.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Delorier accordingly crouched in the entrance, for modesty would not
+      permit him to intrude farther.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Our tent was none of the best defense against such a cataract. The rain
+      could not enter bodily, but it beat through the canvas in a fine drizzle,
+      that wetted us just as effectively. We sat upon our saddles with faces of
+      the utmost surliness, while the water dropped from the vizors of our caps,
+      and trickled down our cheeks. My india-rubber cloak conducted twenty
+      little rapid streamlets to the ground; and Shaw&rsquo;s blanket-coat was
+      saturated like a sponge. But what most concerned us was the sight of
+      several puddles of water rapidly accumulating; one in particular, that was
+      gathering around the tent-pole, threatened to overspread the whole area
+      within the tent, holding forth but an indifferent promise of a comfortable
+      night&rsquo;s rest. Toward sunset, however, the storm ceased as suddenly as it
+      began. A bright streak of clear red sky appeared above the western verge
+      of the prairie, the horizontal rays of the sinking sun streamed through it
+      and glittered in a thousand prismatic colors upon the dripping groves and
+      the prostrate grass. The pools in the tent dwindled and sunk into the
+      saturated soil.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But all our hopes were delusive. Scarcely had night set in, when the
+      tumult broke forth anew. The thunder here is not like the tame thunder of
+      the Atlantic coast. Bursting with a terrific crash directly above our
+      heads, it roared over the boundless waste of prairie, seeming to roll
+      around the whole circle of the firmament with a peculiar and awful
+      reverberation. The lightning flashed all night, playing with its livid
+      glare upon the neighboring trees, revealing the vast expanse of the plain,
+      and then leaving us shut in as by a palpable wall of darkness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It did not disturb us much. Now and then a peal awakened us, and made us
+      conscious of the electric battle that was raging, and of the floods that
+      dashed upon the stanch canvas over our heads. We lay upon india-rubber
+      cloths, placed between our blankets and the soil. For a while they
+      excluded the water to admiration; but when at length it accumulated and
+      began to run over the edges, they served equally well to retain it, so
+      that toward the end of the night we were unconsciously reposing in small
+      pools of rain.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On finally awaking in the morning the prospect was not a cheerful one. The
+      rain no longer poured in torrents; but it pattered with a quiet
+      pertinacity upon the strained and saturated canvas. We disengaged
+      ourselves from our blankets, every fiber of which glistened with little
+      beadlike drops of water, and looked out in vain hope of discovering some
+      token of fair weather. The clouds, in lead-colored volumes, rested upon
+      the dismal verge of the prairie, or hung sluggishly overhead, while the
+      earth wore an aspect no more attractive than the heavens, exhibiting
+      nothing but pools of water, grass beaten down, and mud well trampled by
+      our mules and horses. Our companions&rsquo; tent, with an air of forlorn and
+      passive misery, and their wagons in like manner, drenched and woe-begone,
+      stood not far off. The captain was just returning from his morning&rsquo;s
+      inspection of the horses. He stalked through the mist and rain, with his
+      plaid around his shoulders; his little pipe, dingy as an antiquarian
+      relic, projecting from beneath his mustache, and his brother Jack at his
+      heels.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good-morning, captain.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good-morning to your honors,&rdquo; said the captain, affecting the Hibernian
+      accent; but at that instant, as he stooped to enter the tent, he tripped
+      upon the cords at the entrance, and pitched forward against the guns which
+      were strapped around the pole in the center.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are nice men, you are!&rdquo; said he, after an ejaculation not necessary
+      to be recorded, &ldquo;to set a man-trap before your door every morning to catch
+      your visitors.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then he sat down upon Henry Chatillon&rsquo;s saddle. We tossed a piece of
+      buffalo robe to Jack, who was looking about in some embarrassment. He
+      spread it on the ground, and took his seat, with a stolid countenance, at
+      his brother&rsquo;s side.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Exhilarating weather, captain!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, delightful, delightful!&rdquo; replied the captain. &ldquo;I knew it would be so;
+      so much for starting yesterday at noon! I knew how it would turn out; and
+      I said so at the time.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You said just the contrary to us. We were in no hurry, and only moved
+      because you insisted on it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Gentlemen,&rdquo; said the captain, taking his pipe from his mouth with an air
+      of extreme gravity, &ldquo;it was no plan of mine. There is a man among us who
+      is determined to have everything his own way. You may express your
+      opinion; but don&rsquo;t expect him to listen. You may be as reasonable as you
+      like: oh, it all goes for nothing! That man is resolved to rule the roost
+      and he&rsquo;ll set his face against any plan that he didn&rsquo;t think of himself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The captain puffed for a while at his pipe, as if meditating upon his
+      grievances; then he began again:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For twenty years I have been in the British army; and in all that time I
+      never had half so much dissension, and quarreling, and nonsense, as since
+      I have been on this cursed prairie. He&rsquo;s the most uncomfortable man I ever
+      met.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said Jack; &ldquo;and don&rsquo;t you know, Bill, how he drank up all the
+      coffee last night, and put the rest by for himself till the morning!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He pretends to know everything,&rdquo; resumed the captain; &ldquo;nobody must give
+      orders but he! It&rsquo;s, oh! we must do this; and, oh! we must do that; and
+      the tent must be pitched here, and the horses must be picketed there; for
+      nobody knows as well as he does.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      We were a little surprised at this disclosure of domestic dissensions
+      among our allies, for though we knew of their existence, we were not aware
+      of their extent. The persecuted captain seeming wholly at a loss as to the
+      course of conduct that he should pursue, we recommended him to adopt
+      prompt and energetic measures; but all his military experience had failed
+      to teach him the indispensable lesson to be &ldquo;hard,&rdquo; when the emergency
+      requires it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For twenty years,&rdquo; he repeated, &ldquo;I have been in the British army, and in
+      that time I have been intimately acquainted with some two hundred
+      officers, young and old, and I never yet quarreled with any man. Oh,
+      &lsquo;anything for a quiet life!&rsquo; that&rsquo;s my maxim.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      We intimated that the prairie was hardly the place to enjoy a quiet life,
+      but that, in the present circumstances, the best thing he could do toward
+      securing his wished-for tranquillity, was immediately to put a period to
+      the nuisance that disturbed it. But again the captain&rsquo;s easy good-nature
+      recoiled from the task. The somewhat vigorous measures necessary to gain
+      the desired result were utterly repugnant to him; he preferred to pocket
+      his grievances, still retaining the privilege of grumbling about them.
+      &ldquo;Oh, anything for a quiet life!&rdquo; he said again, circling back to his
+      favorite maxim.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But to glance at the previous history of our transatlantic confederates.
+      The captain had sold his commission, and was living in bachelor ease and
+      dignity in his paternal halls, near Dublin. He hunted, fished, rode
+      steeple-chases, ran races, and talked of his former exploits. He was
+      surrounded with the trophies of his rod and gun; the walls were
+      plentifully garnished, he told us, with moose-horns and deer-horns,
+      bear-skins, and fox-tails; for the captain&rsquo;s double-barreled rifle had
+      seen service in Canada and Jamaica; he had killed salmon in Nova Scotia,
+      and trout, by his own account, in all the streams of the three kingdoms.
+      But in an evil hour a seductive stranger came from London; no less a
+      person than R., who, among other multitudinous wanderings, had once been
+      upon the western prairies, and naturally enough was anxious to visit them
+      again. The captain&rsquo;s imagination was inflamed by the pictures of a
+      hunter&rsquo;s paradise that his guest held forth; he conceived an ambition to
+      add to his other trophies the horns of a buffalo, and the claws of a
+      grizzly bear; so he and R. struck a league to travel in company. Jack
+      followed his brother, as a matter of course. Two weeks on board the
+      Atlantic steamer brought them to Boston; in two weeks more of hard
+      traveling they reached St. Louis, from which a ride of six days carried
+      them to the frontier; and here we found them, in full tide of preparation
+      for their journey.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We had been throughout on terms of intimacy with the captain, but R., the
+      motive power of our companions&rsquo; branch of the expedition, was scarcely
+      known to us. His voice, indeed, might be heard incessantly; but at camp he
+      remained chiefly within the tent, and on the road he either rode by
+      himself, or else remained in close conversation with his friend Wright,
+      the muleteer. As the captain left the tent that morning, I observed R.
+      standing by the fire, and having nothing else to do, I determined to
+      ascertain, if possible, what manner of man he was. He had a book under his
+      arm, but just at present he was engrossed in actively superintending the
+      operations of Sorel, the hunter, who was cooking some corn-bread over the
+      coals for breakfast. R. was a well-formed and rather good-looking man,
+      some thirty years old; considerably younger than the captain. He wore a
+      beard and mustache of the oakum complexion, and his attire was altogether
+      more elegant than one ordinarily sees on the prairie. He wore his cap on
+      one side of his head; his checked shirt, open in front, was in very neat
+      order, considering the circumstances, and his blue pantaloons, of the John
+      Bull cut, might once have figured in Bond Street.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Turn over that cake, man! turn it over, quick! Don&rsquo;t you see it burning?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It ain&rsquo;t half done,&rdquo; growled Sorel, in the amiable tone of a whipped
+      bull-dog.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is. Turn it over, I tell you!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sorel, a strong, sullen-looking Canadian, who from having spent his life
+      among the wildest and most remote of the Indian tribes, had imbibed much
+      of their dark, vindictive spirit, looked ferociously up, as if he longed
+      to leap upon his bourgeois and throttle him; but he obeyed the order,
+      coming from so experienced an artist.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was a good idea of yours,&rdquo; said I, seating myself on the tongue of a
+      wagon, &ldquo;to bring Indian meal with you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, yes&rdquo; said R. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s good bread for the prairie&mdash;good bread for
+      the prairie. I tell you that&rsquo;s burning again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Here he stooped down, and unsheathing the silver-mounted hunting-knife in
+      his belt, began to perform the part of cook himself; at the same time
+      requesting me to hold for a moment the book under his arm, which
+      interfered with the exercise of these important functions. I opened it; it
+      was &ldquo;Macaulay&rsquo;s Lays&rdquo;; and I made some remark, expressing my admiration of
+      the work.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, yes; a pretty good thing. Macaulay can do better than that though. I
+      know him very well. I have traveled with him. Where was it we first met&mdash;at
+      Damascus? No, no; it was in Italy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;you have been over the same ground with your countryman,
+      the author of &lsquo;Eothen&rsquo;? There has been some discussion in America as to
+      who he is. I have heard Milne&rsquo;s name mentioned.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Milne&rsquo;s? Oh, no, no, no; not at all. It was Kinglake; Kinglake&rsquo;s the man.
+      I know him very well; that is, I have seen him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Here Jack C., who stood by, interposed a remark (a thing not common with
+      him), observing that he thought the weather would become fair before
+      twelve o&rsquo;clock.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It&rsquo;s going to rain all day,&rdquo; said R., &ldquo;and clear up in the middle of the
+      night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Just then the clouds began to dissipate in a very unequivocal manner; but
+      Jack, not caring to defend his point against so authoritative a
+      declaration, walked away whistling, and we resumed our conversation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Borrow, the author of &lsquo;The Bible in Spain,&rsquo; I presume you know him too?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, certainly; I know all those men. By the way, they told me that one of
+      your American writers, Judge Story, had died lately. I edited some of his
+      works in London; not without faults, though.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Here followed an erudite commentary on certain points of law, in which he
+      particularly animadverted on the errors into which he considered that the
+      judge had been betrayed. At length, having touched successively on an
+      infinite variety of topics, I found that I had the happiness of
+      discovering a man equally competent to enlighten me upon them all, equally
+      an authority on matters of science or literature, philosophy or fashion.
+      The part I bore in the conversation was by no means a prominent one; it
+      was only necessary to set him going, and when he had run long enough upon
+      one topic, to divert him to another and lead him on to pour out his heaps
+      of treasure in succession.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What has that fellow been saying to you?&rdquo; said Shaw, as I returned to the
+      tent. &ldquo;I have heard nothing but his talking for the last half-hour.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      R. had none of the peculiar traits of the ordinary &ldquo;British snob&rdquo;; his
+      absurdities were all his own, belonging to no particular nation or clime.
+      He was possessed with an active devil that had driven him over land and
+      sea, to no great purpose, as it seemed; for although he had the usual
+      complement of eyes and ears, the avenues between these organs and his
+      brain appeared remarkably narrow and untrodden. His energy was much more
+      conspicuous than his wisdom; but his predominant characteristic was a
+      magnanimous ambition to exercise on all occasions an awful rule and
+      supremacy, and this propensity equally displayed itself, as the reader
+      will have observed, whether the matter in question was the baking of a
+      hoe-cake or a point of international law. When such diverse elements as he
+      and the easy-tempered captain came in contact, no wonder some commotion
+      ensued; R. rode roughshod, from morning till night, over his military
+      ally.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At noon the sky was clear and we set out, trailing through mud and slime
+      six inches deep. That night we were spared the customary infliction of the
+      shower bath.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the next afternoon we were moving slowly along, not far from a patch of
+      woods which lay on the right. Jack C. rode a little in advance;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The livelong day he had not spoke;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      when suddenly he faced about, pointed to the woods, and roared out to his
+      brother:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O Bill! here&rsquo;s a cow!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The captain instantly galloped forward, and he and Jack made a vain
+      attempt to capture the prize; but the cow, with a well-grounded distrust
+      of their intentions, took refuge among the trees. R. joined them, and they
+      soon drove her out. We watched their evolutions as they galloped around
+      here, trying in vain to noose her with their trail-ropes, which they had
+      converted into lariettes for the occasion. At length they resorted to
+      milder measures, and the cow was driven along with the party. Soon after
+      the usual thunderstorm came up, the wind blowing with such fury that the
+      streams of rain flew almost horizontally along the prairie, roaring like a
+      cataract. The horses turned tail to the storm, and stood hanging their
+      heads, bearing the infliction with an air of meekness and resignation;
+      while we drew our heads between our shoulders, and crouched forward, so as
+      to make our backs serve as a pent-house for the rest of our persons.
+      Meanwhile the cow, taking advantage of the tumult, ran off, to the great
+      discomfiture of the captain, who seemed to consider her as his own
+      especial prize, since she had been discovered by Jack. In defiance of the
+      storm, he pulled his cap tight over his brows, jerked a huge buffalo
+      pistol from his holster, and set out at full speed after her. This was the
+      last we saw of them for some time, the mist and rain making an
+      impenetrable veil; but at length we heard the captain&rsquo;s shout, and saw him
+      looming through the tempest, the picture of a Hibernian cavalier, with his
+      cocked pistol held aloft for safety&rsquo;s sake, and a countenance of anxiety
+      and excitement. The cow trotted before him, but exhibited evident signs of
+      an intention to run off again, and the captain was roaring to us to head
+      her. But the rain had got in behind our coat collars, and was traveling
+      over our necks in numerous little streamlets, and being afraid to move our
+      heads, for fear of admitting more, we sat stiff and immovable, looking at
+      the captain askance, and laughing at his frantic movements. At last the
+      cow made a sudden plunge and ran off; the captain grasped his pistol
+      firmly, spurred his horse, and galloped after, with evident designs of
+      mischief. In a moment we heard the faint report, deadened by the rain, and
+      then the conqueror and his victim reappeared, the latter shot through the
+      body, and quite helpless. Not long after the storm moderated and we
+      advanced again. The cow walked painfully along under the charge of Jack,
+      to whom the captain had committed her, while he himself rode forward in
+      his old capacity of vedette. We were approaching a long line of trees,
+      that followed a stream stretching across our path, far in front, when we
+      beheld the vedette galloping toward us, apparently much excited, but with
+      a broad grin on his face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let that cow drop behind!&rdquo; he shouted to us; &ldquo;here&rsquo;s her owners!&rdquo; And in
+      fact, as we approached the line of trees, a large white object, like a
+      tent, was visible behind them. On approaching, however, we found, instead
+      of the expected Mormon camp, nothing but the lonely prairie, and a large
+      white rock standing by the path. The cow therefore resumed her place in
+      our procession. She walked on until we encamped, when R. firmly
+      approaching with his enormous English double-barreled rifle, calmly and
+      deliberately took aim at her heart, and discharged into it first one
+      bullet and then the other. She was then butchered on the most approved
+      principles of woodcraft, and furnished a very welcome item to our somewhat
+      limited bill of fare.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In a day or two more we reached the river called the &ldquo;Big Blue.&rdquo; By titles
+      equally elegant, almost all the streams of this region are designated. We
+      had struggled through ditches and little brooks all that morning; but on
+      traversing the dense woods that lined the banks of the Blue, we found more
+      formidable difficulties awaited us, for the stream, swollen by the rains,
+      was wide, deep, and rapid.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      No sooner were we on the spot than R. had flung off his clothes, and was
+      swimming across, or splashing through the shallows, with the end of a rope
+      between his teeth. We all looked on in admiration, wondering what might be
+      the design of this energetic preparation; but soon we heard him shouting:
+      &ldquo;Give that rope a turn round that stump! You, Sorel: do you hear? Look
+      sharp now, Boisverd! Come over to this side, some of you, and help me!&rdquo;
+       The men to whom these orders were directed paid not the least attention to
+      them, though they were poured out without pause or intermission. Henry
+      Chatillon directed the work, and it proceeded quietly and rapidly. R.&lsquo;s
+      sharp brattling voice might have been heard incessantly; and he was
+      leaping about with the utmost activity, multiplying himself, after the
+      manner of great commanders, as if his universal presence and supervision
+      were of the last necessity. His commands were rather amusingly
+      inconsistent; for when he saw that the men would not do as he told them,
+      he wisely accommodated himself to circumstances, and with the utmost
+      vehemence ordered them to do precisely that which they were at the time
+      engaged upon, no doubt recollecting the story of Mahomet and the
+      refractory mountain. Shaw smiled significantly; R. observed it, and,
+      approaching with a countenance of lofty indignation, began to vapor a
+      little, but was instantly reduced to silence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The raft was at length complete. We piled our goods upon it, with the
+      exception of our guns, which each man chose to retain in his own keeping.
+      Sorel, Boisverd, Wright and Delorier took their stations at the four
+      corners, to hold it together, and swim across with it; and in a moment
+      more, all our earthly possessions were floating on the turbid waters of
+      the Big Blue. We sat on the bank, anxiously watching the result, until we
+      saw the raft safe landed in a little cove far down on the opposite bank.
+      The empty wagons were easily passed across; and then each man mounting a
+      horse, we rode through the stream, the stray animals following of their
+      own accord.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0006" id="link2HCH0006">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER VI
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      THE PLATTE AND THE DESERT
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      We were now arrived at the close of our solitary journeyings along the St.
+      Joseph&rsquo;s trail. On the evening of the 23d of May we encamped near its
+      junction with the old legitimate trail of the Oregon emigrants. We had
+      ridden long that afternoon, trying in vain to find wood and water, until
+      at length we saw the sunset sky reflected from a pool encircled by bushes
+      and a rock or two. The water lay in the bottom of a hollow, the smooth
+      prairie gracefully rising in oceanlike swells on every side. We pitched
+      our tents by it; not however before the keen eye of Henry Chatillon had
+      discerned some unusual object upon the faintly-defined outline of the
+      distant swell. But in the moist, hazy atmosphere of the evening, nothing
+      could be clearly distinguished. As we lay around the fire after supper, a
+      low and distant sound, strange enough amid the loneliness of the prairie,
+      reached our ears&mdash;peals of laughter, and the faint voices of men and
+      women. For eight days we had not encountered a human being, and this
+      singular warning of their vicinity had an effect extremely wild and
+      impressive.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      About dark a sallow-faced fellow descended the hill on horseback, and
+      splashing through the pool rode up to the tents. He was enveloped in a
+      huge cloak, and his broad felt hat was weeping about his ears with the
+      drizzling moisture of the evening. Another followed, a stout,
+      square-built, intelligent-looking man, who announced himself as leader of
+      an emigrant party encamped a mile in advance of us. About twenty wagons,
+      he said, were with him; the rest of his party were on the other side of
+      the Big Blue, waiting for a woman who was in the pains of child-birth, and
+      quarreling meanwhile among themselves.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These were the first emigrants that we had overtaken, although we had
+      found abundant and melancholy traces of their progress throughout the
+      whole course of the journey. Sometimes we passed the grave of one who had
+      sickened and died on the way. The earth was usually torn up, and covered
+      thickly with wolf-tracks. Some had escaped this violation. One morning a
+      piece of plank, standing upright on the summit of a grassy hill, attracted
+      our notice, and riding up to it we found the following words very roughly
+      traced upon it, apparently by a red-hot piece of iron:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      MARY ELLIS DIED MAY 7TH, 1845.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Aged two months.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Such tokens were of common occurrence, nothing could speak more for the
+      hardihood, or rather infatuation, of the adventurers, or the sufferings
+      that await them upon the journey.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We were late in breaking up our camp on the following morning, and
+      scarcely had we ridden a mile when we saw, far in advance of us, drawn
+      against the horizon, a line of objects stretching at regular intervals
+      along the level edge of the prairie. An intervening swell soon hid them
+      from sight, until, ascending it a quarter of an hour after, we saw close
+      before us the emigrant caravan, with its heavy white wagons creeping on in
+      their slow procession, and a large drove of cattle following behind. Half
+      a dozen yellow-visaged Missourians, mounted on horseback, were cursing and
+      shouting among them; their lank angular proportions enveloped in brown
+      homespun, evidently cut and adjusted by the hands of a domestic female
+      tailor. As we approached, they greeted us with the polished salutation:
+      &ldquo;How are ye, boys? Are ye for Oregon or California?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      As we pushed rapidly past the wagons, children&rsquo;s faces were thrust out
+      from the white coverings to look at us; while the care-worn, thin-featured
+      matron, or the buxom girl, seated in front, suspended the knitting on
+      which most of them were engaged to stare at us with wondering curiosity.
+      By the side of each wagon stalked the proprietor, urging on his patient
+      oxen, who shouldered heavily along, inch by inch, on their interminable
+      journey. It was easy to see that fear and dissension prevailed among them;
+      some of the men&mdash;but these, with one exception, were bachelors&mdash;looked
+      wistfully upon us as we rode lightly and swiftly past, and then
+      impatiently at their own lumbering wagons and heavy-gaited oxen. Others
+      were unwilling to advance at all until the party they had left behind
+      should have rejoined them. Many were murmuring against the leader they had
+      chosen, and wished to depose him; and this discontent was fermented by
+      some ambitious spirits, who had hopes of succeeding in his place. The
+      women were divided between regrets for the homes they had left and
+      apprehension of the deserts and the savages before them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We soon left them far behind, and fondly hoped that we had taken a final
+      leave; but unluckily our companions&rsquo; wagon stuck so long in a deep muddy
+      ditch that, before it was extricated, the van of the emigrant caravan
+      appeared again, descending a ridge close at hand. Wagon after wagon
+      plunged through the mud; and as it was nearly noon, and the place promised
+      shade and water, we saw with much gratification that they were resolved to
+      encamp. Soon the wagons were wheeled into a circle; the cattle were
+      grazing over the meadow, and the men with sour, sullen faces, were looking
+      about for wood and water. They seemed to meet with but indifferent
+      success. As we left the ground, I saw a tall slouching fellow with the
+      nasal accent of &ldquo;down east,&rdquo; contemplating the contents of his tin cup,
+      which he had just filled with water.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Look here, you,&rdquo; he said; &ldquo;it&rsquo;s chock full of animals!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The cup, as he held it out, exhibited in fact an extraordinary variety and
+      profusion of animal and vegetable life.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Riding up the little hill and looking back on the meadow, we could easily
+      see that all was not right in the camp of the emigrants. The men were
+      crowded together, and an angry discussion seemed to be going forward. R.
+      was missing from his wonted place in the line, and the captain told us
+      that he had remained behind to get his horse shod by a blacksmith who was
+      attached to the emigrant party. Something whispered in our ears that
+      mischief was on foot; we kept on, however, and coming soon to a stream of
+      tolerable water, we stopped to rest and dine. Still the absentee lingered
+      behind. At last, at the distance of a mile, he and his horse suddenly
+      appeared, sharply defined against the sky on the summit of a hill; and
+      close behind, a huge white object rose slowly into view.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is that blockhead bringing with him now?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A moment dispelled the mystery. Slowly and solemnly one behind the other,
+      four long trains of oxen and four emigrant wagons rolled over the crest of
+      the declivity and gravely descended, while R. rode in state in the van. It
+      seems that, during the process of shoeing the horse, the smothered
+      dissensions among the emigrants suddenly broke into open rupture. Some
+      insisted on pushing forward, some on remaining where they were, and some
+      on going back. Kearsley, their captain, threw up his command in disgust.
+      &ldquo;And now, boys,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;if any of you are for going ahead, just you
+      come along with me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Four wagons, with ten men, one woman, and one small child, made up the
+      force of the &ldquo;go-ahead&rdquo; faction, and R., with his usual proclivity toward
+      mischief, invited them to join our party. Fear of the Indians&mdash;for I
+      can conceive of no other motive&mdash;must have induced him to court so
+      burdensome an alliance. As may well be conceived, these repeated instances
+      of high-handed dealing sufficiently exasperated us. In this case, indeed,
+      the men who joined us were all that could be desired; rude indeed in
+      manner, but frank, manly, and intelligent. To tell them we could not
+      travel with them was of course out of the question. I merely reminded
+      Kearsley that if his oxen could not keep up with our mules he must expect
+      to be left behind, as we could not consent to be further delayed on the
+      journey; but he immediately replied, that his oxen &ldquo;SHOULD keep up; and if
+      they couldn&rsquo;t, why he allowed that he&rsquo;d find out how to make &lsquo;em!&rdquo; Having
+      availed myself of what satisfaction could be derived from giving R. to
+      understand my opinion of his conduct, I returned to our side of the camp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the next day, as it chanced, our English companions broke the axle-tree
+      of their wagon, and down came the whole cumbrous machine lumbering into
+      the bed of a brook! Here was a day&rsquo;s work cut out for us. Meanwhile, our
+      emigrant associates kept on their way, and so vigorously did they urge
+      forward their powerful oxen that, with the broken axle-tree and other
+      calamities, it was full a week before we overtook them; when at length we
+      discovered them, one afternoon, crawling quietly along the sandy brink of
+      the Platte. But meanwhile various incidents occurred to ourselves.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was probable that at this stage of our journey the Pawnees would
+      attempt to rob us. We began therefore to stand guard in turn, dividing the
+      night into three watches, and appointing two men for each. Delorier and I
+      held guard together. We did not march with military precision to and fro
+      before the tents; our discipline was by no means so stringent and rigid.
+      We wrapped ourselves in our blankets, and sat down by the fire; and
+      Delorier, combining his culinary functions with his duties as sentinel,
+      employed himself in boiling the head of an antelope for our morning&rsquo;s
+      repast. Yet we were models of vigilance in comparison with some of the
+      party; for the ordinary practice of the guard was to establish himself in
+      the most comfortable posture he could; lay his rifle on the ground, and
+      enveloping his nose in the blanket, meditate on his mistress, or whatever
+      subject best pleased him. This is all well enough when among Indians who
+      do not habitually proceed further in their hostility than robbing
+      travelers of their horses and mules, though, indeed, a Pawnee&rsquo;s
+      forebearance is not always to be trusted; but in certain regions farther
+      to the west, the guard must beware how he exposes his person to the light
+      of the fire, lest perchance some keen-eyed skulking marksman should let
+      fly a bullet or an arrow from amid the darkness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Among various tales that circulated around our camp fire was a rather
+      curious one, told by Boisverd, and not inappropriate here. Boisverd was
+      trapping with several companions on the skirts of the Blackfoot country.
+      The man on guard, well knowing that it behooved him to put forth his
+      utmost precaution, kept aloof from the firelight, and sat watching
+      intently on all sides. At length he was aware of a dark, crouching figure,
+      stealing noiselessly into the circle of the light. He hastily cocked his
+      rifle, but the sharp click of the lock caught the ear of Blackfoot, whose
+      senses were all on the alert. Raising his arrow, already fitted to the
+      string, he shot in the direction of the sound. So sure was his aim that he
+      drove it through the throat of the unfortunate guard, and then, with a
+      loud yell, bounded from the camp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As I looked at the partner of my watch, puffing and blowing over his fire,
+      it occurred to me that he might not prove the most efficient auxiliary in
+      time of trouble.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Delorier,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;would you run away if the Pawnees should fire at us?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah! oui, oui, monsieur!&rdquo; he replied very decisively.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I did not doubt the fact, but was a little surprised at the frankness of
+      the confession.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At this instant a most whimsical variety of voices&mdash;barks, howls,
+      yelps, and whines&mdash;all mingled as it were together, sounded from the
+      prairie, not far off, as if a whole conclave of wolves of every age and
+      sex were assembled there. Delorier looked up from his work with a laugh,
+      and began to imitate this curious medley of sounds with a most ludicrous
+      accuracy. At this they were repeated with redoubled emphasis, the musician
+      being apparently indignant at the successful efforts of a rival. They all
+      proceeded from the throat of one little wolf, not larger than a spaniel,
+      seated by himself at some distance. He was of the species called the
+      prairie wolf; a grim-visaged, but harmless little brute, whose worst
+      propensity is creeping among horses and gnawing the ropes of raw hide by
+      which they are picketed around the camp. But other beasts roam the
+      prairies, far more formidable in aspect and in character. These are the
+      large white and gray wolves, whose deep howl we heard at intervals from
+      far and near.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At last I fell into a doze, and, awakening from it, found Delorier fast
+      asleep. Scandalized by this breach of discipline, I was about to stimulate
+      his vigilance by stirring him with the stock of my rifle; but compassion
+      prevailing, I determined to let him sleep awhile, and then to arouse him,
+      and administer a suitable reproof for such a forgetfulness of duty. Now
+      and then I walked the rounds among the silent horses, to see that all was
+      right. The night was chill, damp, and dark, the dank grass bending under
+      the icy dewdrops. At the distance of a rod or two the tents were
+      invisible, and nothing could be seen but the obscure figures of the
+      horses, deeply breathing, and restlessly starting as they slept, or still
+      slowly champing the grass. Far off, beyond the black outline of the
+      prairie, there was a ruddy light, gradually increasing, like the glow of a
+      conflagration; until at length the broad disk of the moon, blood-red, and
+      vastly magnified by the vapors, rose slowly upon the darkness, flecked by
+      one or two little clouds, and as the light poured over the gloomy plain, a
+      fierce and stern howl, close at hand, seemed to greet it as an unwelcome
+      intruder. There was something impressive and awful in the place and the
+      hour; for I and the beasts were all that had consciousness for many a
+      league around.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Some days elapsed, and brought us near the Platte. Two men on horseback
+      approached us one morning, and we watched them with the curiosity and
+      interest that, upon the solitude of the plains, such an encounter always
+      excites. They were evidently whites, from their mode of riding, though,
+      contrary to the usage of that region, neither of them carried a rifle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Fools!&rdquo; remarked Henry Chatillon, &ldquo;to ride that way on the prairie;
+      Pawnee find them&mdash;then they catch it!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Pawnee HAD found them, and they had come very near &ldquo;catching it&rdquo;; indeed,
+      nothing saved them from trouble but the approach of our party. Shaw and I
+      knew one of them; a man named Turner, whom we had seen at Westport. He and
+      his companion belonged to an emigrant party encamped a few miles in
+      advance, and had returned to look for some stray oxen, leaving their
+      rifles, with characteristic rashness or ignorance behind them. Their
+      neglect had nearly cost them dear; for just before we came up, half a
+      dozen Indians approached, and seeing them apparently defenseless, one of
+      the rascals seized the bridle of Turner&rsquo;s fine horse, and ordered him to
+      dismount. Turner was wholly unarmed; but the other jerked a little
+      revolving pistol out of his pocket, at which the Pawnee recoiled; and just
+      then some of our men appearing in the distance, the whole party whipped
+      their rugged little horses, and made off. In no way daunted, Turner
+      foolishly persisted in going forward.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Long after leaving him, and late this afternoon, in the midst of a gloomy
+      and barren prairie, we came suddenly upon the great Pawnee trail, leading
+      from their villages on the Platte to their war and hunting grounds to the
+      southward. Here every summer pass the motley concourse; thousands of
+      savages, men, women, and children, horses and mules, laden with their
+      weapons and implements, and an innumerable multitude of unruly wolfish
+      dogs, who have not acquired the civilized accomplishment of barking, but
+      howl like their wild cousins of the prairie.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The permanent winter villages of the Pawnees stand on the lower Platte,
+      but throughout the summer the greater part of the inhabitants are
+      wandering over the plains, a treacherous cowardly banditti, who by a
+      thousand acts of pillage and murder have deserved summary chastisement at
+      the hands of government. Last year a Dakota warrior performed a signal
+      exploit at one of these villages. He approached it alone in the middle of
+      a dark night, and clambering up the outside of one of the lodges which are
+      in the form of a half-sphere, he looked in at the round hole made at the
+      top for the escape of smoke. The dusky light from the smoldering embers
+      showed him the forms of the sleeping inmates; and dropping lightly through
+      the opening, he unsheathed his knife, and stirring the fire coolly
+      selected his victims. One by one he stabbed and scalped them, when a child
+      suddenly awoke and screamed. He rushed from the lodge, yelled a Sioux
+      war-cry, shouted his name in triumph and defiance, and in a moment had
+      darted out upon the dark prairie, leaving the whole village behind him in
+      a tumult, with the howling and baying of dogs, the screams of women and
+      the yells of the enraged warriors.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Our friend Kearsley, as we learned on rejoining him, signalized himself by
+      a less bloody achievement. He and his men were good woodsmen, and well
+      skilled in the use of the rifle, but found themselves wholly out of their
+      element on the prairie. None of them had ever seen a buffalo and they had
+      very vague conceptions of his nature and appearance. On the day after they
+      reached the Platte, looking toward a distant swell, they beheld a
+      multitude of little black specks in motion upon its surface.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Take your rifles, boys,&rdquo; said Kearslcy, &ldquo;and we&rsquo;ll have fresh meat for
+      supper.&rdquo; This inducement was quite sufficient. The ten men left their
+      wagons and set out in hot haste, some on horseback and some on foot, in
+      pursuit of the supposed buffalo. Meanwhile a high grassy ridge shut the
+      game from view; but mounting it after half an hour&rsquo;s running and riding,
+      they found themselves suddenly confronted by about thirty mounted Pawnees!
+      The amazement and consternation were mutual. Having nothing but their bows
+      and arrows, the Indians thought their hour was come, and the fate that
+      they were no doubt conscious of richly deserving about to overtake them.
+      So they began, one and all, to shout forth the most cordial salutations of
+      friendship, running up with extreme earnestness to shake hands with the
+      Missourians, who were as much rejoiced as they were to escape the expected
+      conflict.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A low undulating line of sand-hills bounded the horizon before us. That
+      day we rode ten consecutive hours, and it was dusk before we entered the
+      hollows and gorges of these gloomy little hills. At length we gained the
+      summit, and the long expected valley of the Platte lay before us. We all
+      drew rein, and, gathering in a knot on the crest of the hill, sat joyfully
+      looking down upon the prospect. It was right welcome; strange too, and
+      striking to the imagination, and yet it had not one picturesque or
+      beautiful feature; nor had it any of the features of grandeur, other than
+      its vast extent, its solitude, and its wilderness. For league after league
+      a plain as level as a frozen lake was outspread beneath us; here and there
+      the Platte, divided into a dozen threadlike sluices, was traversing it,
+      and an occasional clump of wood, rising in the midst like a shadowy
+      island, relieved the monotony of the waste. No living thing was moving
+      throughout the vast landscape, except the lizards that darted over the
+      sand and through the rank grass and prickly-pear just at our feet. And yet
+      stern and wild associations gave a singular interest to the view; for here
+      each man lives by the strength of his arm and the valor of his heart. Here
+      society is reduced to its original elements, the whole fabric of art and
+      conventionality is struck rudely to pieces, and men find themselves
+      suddenly brought back to the wants and resources of their original
+      natures.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We had passed the more toilsome and monotonous part of the journey; but
+      four hundred miles still intervened between us and Fort Laramie; and to
+      reach that point cost us the travel of three additional weeks. During the
+      whole of this time we were passing up the center of a long narrow sandy
+      plain, reaching like an outstretched belt nearly to the Rocky Mountains.
+      Two lines of sand-hills, broken often into the wildest and most fantastic
+      forms, flanked the valley at the distance of a mile or two on the right
+      and left; while beyond them lay a barren, trackless waste&mdash;The Great
+      American Desert&mdash;extending for hundreds of miles to the Arkansas on
+      the one side, and the Missouri on the other. Before us and behind us, the
+      level monotony of the plain was unbroken as far as the eye could reach.
+      Sometimes it glared in the sun, an expanse of hot, bare sand; sometimes it
+      was veiled by long coarse grass. Huge skulls and whitening bones of
+      buffalo were scattered everywhere; the ground was tracked by myriads of
+      them, and often covered with the circular indentations where the bulls had
+      wallowed in the hot weather. From every gorge and ravine, opening from the
+      hills, descended deep, well-worn paths, where the buffalo issue twice a
+      day in regular procession down to drink in the Platte. The river itself
+      runs through the midst, a thin sheet of rapid, turbid water, half a mile
+      wide, and scarce two feet deep. Its low banks for the most part without a
+      bush or a tree, are of loose sand, with which the stream is so charged
+      that it grates on the teeth in drinking. The naked landscape is, of
+      itself, dreary and monotonous enough, and yet the wild beasts and wild men
+      that frequent the valley of the Platte make it a scene of interest and
+      excitement to the traveler. Of those who have journeyed there, scarce one,
+      perhaps, fails to look back with fond regret to his horse and his rifle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Early in the morning after we reached the Platte, a long procession of
+      squalid savages approached our camp. Each was on foot, leading his horse
+      by a rope of bull-hide. His attire consisted merely of a scanty cincture
+      and an old buffalo robe, tattered and begrimed by use, which hung over his
+      shoulders. His head was close shaven, except a ridge of hair reaching over
+      the crown from the center of the forehead, very much like the long
+      bristles on the back of a hyena, and he carried his bow and arrows in his
+      hand, while his meager little horse was laden with dried buffalo meat, the
+      produce of his hunting. Such were the first specimens that we met&mdash;and
+      very indifferent ones they were&mdash;of the genuine savages of the
+      prairie.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They were the Pawnees whom Kearsley had encountered the day before, and
+      belonged to a large hunting party known to be ranging the prairie in the
+      vicinity. They strode rapidly past, within a furlong of our tents, not
+      pausing or looking toward us, after the manner of Indians when meditating
+      mischief or conscious of ill-desert. I went out and met them; and had an
+      amicable conference with the chief, presenting him with half a pound of
+      tobacco, at which unmerited bounty he expressed much gratification. These
+      fellows, or some of their companions had committed a dastardly outrage
+      upon an emigrant party in advance of us. Two men, out on horseback at a
+      distance, were seized by them, but lashing their horses, they broke loose
+      and fled. At this the Pawnees raised the yell and shot at them,
+      transfixing the hindermost through the back with several arrows, while his
+      companion galloped away and brought in the news to his party. The
+      panic-stricken emigrants remained for several days in camp, not daring
+      even to send out in quest of the dead body.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The reader will recollect Turner, the man whose narrow escape was
+      mentioned not long since. We heard that the men, whom the entreaties of
+      his wife induced to go in search of him, found him leisurely driving along
+      his recovered oxen, and whistling in utter contempt of the Pawnee nation.
+      His party was encamped within two miles of us; but we passed them that
+      morning, while the men were driving in the oxen, and the women packing
+      their domestic utensils and their numerous offspring in the spacious
+      patriarchal wagons. As we looked back we saw their caravan dragging its
+      slow length along the plain; wearily toiling on its way, to found new
+      empires in the West.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Our New England climate is mild and equable compared with that of the
+      Platte. This very morning, for instance, was close and sultry, the sun
+      rising with a faint oppressive heat; when suddenly darkness gathered in
+      the west, and a furious blast of sleet and hail drove full in our faces,
+      icy cold, and urged with such demoniac vehemence that it felt like a storm
+      of needles. It was curious to see the horses; they faced about in extreme
+      displeasure, holding their tails like whipped dogs, and shivering as the
+      angry gusts, howling louder than a concert of wolves, swept over us.
+      Wright&rsquo;s long train of mules came sweeping round before the storm like a
+      flight of brown snowbirds driven by a winter tempest. Thus we all remained
+      stationary for some minutes, crouching close to our horses&rsquo; necks, much
+      too surly to speak, though once the captain looked up from between the
+      collars of his coat, his face blood-red, and the muscles of his mouth
+      contracted by the cold into a most ludicrous grin of agony. He grumbled
+      something that sounded like a curse, directed as we believed, against the
+      unhappy hour when he had first thought of leaving home. The thing was too
+      good to last long; and the instant the puffs of wind subsided we erected
+      our tents, and remained in camp for the rest of a gloomy and lowering day.
+      The emigrants also encamped near at hand. We, being first on the ground,
+      had appropriated all the wood within reach; so that our fire alone blazed
+      cheerfully. Around it soon gathered a group of uncouth figures, shivering
+      in the drizzling rain. Conspicuous among them were two or three of the
+      half-savage men who spend their reckless lives in trapping among the Rocky
+      Mountains, or in trading for the Fur Company in the Indian villages. They
+      were all of Canadian extraction; their hard, weather-beaten faces and
+      bushy mustaches looked out from beneath the hoods of their white capotes
+      with a bad and brutish expression, as if their owner might be the willing
+      agent of any villainy. And such in fact is the character of many of these
+      men.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the day following we overtook Kearsley&rsquo;s wagons, and thenceforward, for
+      a week or two, we were fellow-travelers. One good effect, at least,
+      resulted from the alliance; it materially diminished the serious fatigue
+      of standing guard; for the party being now more numerous, there were
+      longer intervals between each man&rsquo;s turns of duty.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0007" id="link2HCH0007">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER VII
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      THE BUFFALO
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Four days on the Platte, and yet no buffalo! Last year&rsquo;s signs of them
+      were provokingly abundant; and wood being extremely scarce, we found an
+      admirable substitute in bois de vache, which burns exactly like peat,
+      producing no unpleasant effects. The wagons one morning had left the camp;
+      Shaw and I were already on horseback, but Henry Chatillon still sat
+      cross-legged by the dead embers of the fire, playing pensively with the
+      lock of his rifle, while his sturdy Wyandotte pony stood quietly behind
+      him, looking over his head. At last he got up, patted the neck of the pony
+      (whom, from an exaggerated appreciation of his merits, he had christened
+      &ldquo;Five Hundred Dollar&rdquo;), and then mounted with a melancholy air.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is it, Henry?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, I feel lonesome; I never been here before; but I see away yonder over
+      the buttes, and down there on the prairie, black&mdash;all black with
+      buffalo!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      In the afternoon he and I left the party in search of an antelope; until
+      at the distance of a mile or two on the right, the tall white wagons and
+      the little black specks of horsemen were just visible, so slowly advancing
+      that they seemed motionless; and far on the left rose the broken line of
+      scorched, desolate sand-hills. The vast plain waved with tall rank grass
+      that swept our horses&rsquo; bellies; it swayed to and fro in billows with the
+      light breeze, and far and near antelope and wolves were moving through it,
+      the hairy backs of the latter alternately appearing and disappearing as
+      they bounded awkwardly along; while the antelope, with the simple
+      curiosity peculiar to them, would often approach as closely, their little
+      horns and white throats just visible above the grass tops, as they gazed
+      eagerly at us with their round black eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I dismounted, and amused myself with firing at the wolves. Henry
+      attentively scrutinized the surrounding landscape; at length he gave a
+      shout, and called on me to mount again, pointing in the direction of the
+      sand-hills. A mile and a half from us, two minute black specks slowly
+      traversed the face of one of the bare glaring declivities, and disappeared
+      behind the summit. &ldquo;Let us go!&rdquo; cried Henry, belaboring the sides of Five
+      Hundred Dollar; and I following in his wake, we galloped rapidly through
+      the rank grass toward the base of the hills.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      From one of their openings descended a deep ravine, widening as it issued
+      on the prairie. We entered it, and galloping up, in a moment were
+      surrounded by the bleak sand-hills. Half of their steep sides were bare;
+      the rest were scantily clothed with clumps of grass, and various uncouth
+      plants, conspicuous among which appeared the reptile-like prickly-pear.
+      They were gashed with numberless ravines; and as the sky had suddenly
+      darkened, and a cold gusty wind arisen, the strange shrubs and the dreary
+      hills looked doubly wild and desolate. But Henry&rsquo;s face was all eagerness.
+      He tore off a little hair from the piece of buffalo robe under his saddle,
+      and threw it up, to show the course of the wind. It blew directly before
+      us. The game were therefore to windward, and it was necessary to make our
+      best speed to get around them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We scrambled from this ravine, and galloping away through the hollows,
+      soon found another, winding like a snake among the hills, and so deep that
+      it completely concealed us. We rode up the bottom of it, glancing through
+      the shrubbery at its edge, till Henry abruptly jerked his rein, and slid
+      out of his saddle. Full a quarter of a mile distant, on the outline of the
+      farthest hill, a long procession of buffalo were walking, in Indian file,
+      with the utmost gravity and deliberation; then more appeared, clambering
+      from a hollow not far off, and ascending, one behind the other, the grassy
+      slope of another hill; then a shaggy head and a pair of short broken horns
+      appeared issuing out of a ravine close at hand, and with a slow, stately
+      step, one by one, the enormous brutes came into view, taking their way
+      across the valley, wholly unconscious of an enemy. In a moment Henry was
+      worming his way, lying flat on the ground, through grass and
+      prickly-pears, toward his unsuspecting victims. He had with him both my
+      rifle and his own. He was soon out of sight, and still the buffalo kept
+      issuing into the valley. For a long time all was silent. I sat holding his
+      horse, and wondering what he was about, when suddenly, in rapid
+      succession, came the sharp reports of the two rifles, and the whole line
+      of buffalo, quickening their pace into a clumsy trot, gradually
+      disappeared over the ridge of the hill. Henry rose to his feet, and stood
+      looking after them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have missed them,&rdquo; said I.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said Henry; &ldquo;let us go.&rdquo; He descended into the ravine, loaded the
+      rifles, and mounted his horse.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We rode up the hill after the buffalo. The herd was out of sight when we
+      reached the top, but lying on the grass not far off, was one quite
+      lifeless, and another violently struggling in the death agony.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You see I miss him!&rdquo; remarked Henry. He had fired from a distance of more
+      than a hundred and fifty yards, and both balls had passed through the
+      lungs&mdash;the true mark in shooting buffalo.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The darkness increased, and a driving storm came on. Tying our horses to
+      the horns of the victims, Henry began the bloody work of dissection,
+      slashing away with the science of a connoisseur, while I vainly endeavored
+      to imitate him. Old Hendrick recoiled with horror and indignation when I
+      endeavored to tie the meat to the strings of raw hide, always carried for
+      this purpose, dangling at the back of the saddle. After some difficulty we
+      overcame his scruples; and heavily burdened with the more eligible
+      portions of the buffalo, we set out on our return. Scarcely had we emerged
+      from the labyrinth of gorges and ravines, and issued upon the open
+      prairie, when the pricking sleet came driving, gust upon gust, directly in
+      our faces. It was strangely dark, though wanting still an hour of sunset.
+      The freezing storm soon penetrated to the skin, but the uneasy trot of our
+      heavy-gaited horses kept us warm enough, as we forced them unwillingly in
+      the teeth of the sleet and rain, by the powerful suasion of our Indian
+      whips. The prairie in this place was hard and level. A flourishing colony
+      of prairie dogs had burrowed into it in every direction, and the little
+      mounds of fresh earth around their holes were about as numerous as the
+      hills in a cornfield; but not a yelp was to be heard; not the nose of a
+      single citizen was visible; all had retired to the depths of their
+      burrows, and we envied them their dry and comfortable habitations. An
+      hour&rsquo;s hard riding showed us our tent dimly looming through the storm, one
+      side puffed out by the force of the wind, and the other collapsed in
+      proportion, while the disconsolate horses stood shivering close around,
+      and the wind kept up a dismal whistling in the boughs of three old
+      half-dead trees above. Shaw, like a patriarch, sat on his saddle in the
+      entrance, with a pipe in his mouth, and his arms folded, contemplating,
+      with cool satisfaction, the piles of meat that we flung on the ground
+      before him. A dark and dreary night succeeded; but the sun rose with heat
+      so sultry and languid that the captain excused himself on that account
+      from waylaying an old buffalo bull, who with stupid gravity was walking
+      over the prairie to drink at the river. So much for the climate of the
+      Platte!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But it was not the weather alone that had produced this sudden abatement
+      of the sportsmanlike zeal which the captain had always professed. He had
+      been out on the afternoon before, together with several members of his
+      party; but their hunting was attended with no other result than the loss
+      of one of their best horses, severely injured by Sorel, in vainly chasing
+      a wounded bull. The captain, whose ideas of hard riding were all derived
+      from transatlantic sources, expressed the utmost amazement at the feats of
+      Sorel, who went leaping ravines, and dashing at full speed up and down the
+      sides of precipitous hills, lashing his horse with the recklessness of a
+      Rocky Mountain rider. Unfortunately for the poor animal he was the
+      property of R., against whom Sorel entertained an unbounded aversion. The
+      captain himself, it seemed, had also attempted to &ldquo;run&rdquo; a buffalo, but
+      though a good and practiced horseman, he had soon given over the attempt,
+      being astonished and utterly disgusted at the nature of the ground he was
+      required to ride over.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Nothing unusual occurred on that day; but on the following morning Henry
+      Chatillon, looking over the oceanlike expanse, saw near the foot of the
+      distant hills something that looked like a band of buffalo. He was not
+      sure, he said, but at all events, if they were buffalo, there was a fine
+      chance for a race. Shaw and I at once determined to try the speed of our
+      horses.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come, captain; we&rsquo;ll see which can ride hardest, a Yankee or an
+      Irishman.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But the captain maintained a grave and austere countenance. He mounted his
+      led horse, however, though very slowly; and we set out at a trot. The game
+      appeared about three miles distant. As we proceeded the captain made
+      various remarks of doubt and indecision; and at length declared he would
+      have nothing to do with such a breakneck business; protesting that he had
+      ridden plenty of steeple-chases in his day, but he never knew what riding
+      was till he found himself behind a band of buffalo day before yesterday.
+      &ldquo;I am convinced,&rdquo; said the captain, &ldquo;that, &lsquo;running&rsquo; is out of the
+      question.* Take my advice now and don&rsquo;t attempt it. It&rsquo;s dangerous, and of
+      no use at all.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     *The method of hunting called &ldquo;running&rdquo; consists in
+     attacking the buffalo on horseback and shooting him with
+     bullets or arrows when at full-speed.  In &ldquo;approaching,&rdquo; the
+     hunter conceals himself and crawls on the ground toward the
+     game, or lies in wait to kill them.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then why did you come out with us? What do you mean to do?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I shall &lsquo;approach,&rsquo;&rdquo; replied the captain.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t mean to &lsquo;approach&rsquo; with your pistols, do you? We have all of us
+      left our rifles in the wagons.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The captain seemed staggered at the suggestion. In his characteristic
+      indecision, at setting out, pistols, rifles, &ldquo;running&rdquo; and &ldquo;approaching&rdquo;
+       were mingled in an inextricable medley in his brain. He trotted on in
+      silence between us for a while; but at length he dropped behind and slowly
+      walked his horse back to rejoin the party. Shaw and I kept on; when lo! as
+      we advanced, the band of buffalo were transformed into certain clumps of
+      tall bushes, dotting the prairie for a considerable distance. At this
+      ludicrous termination of our chase, we followed the example of our late
+      ally, and turned back toward the party. We were skirting the brink of a
+      deep ravine, when we saw Henry and the broad-chested pony coming toward us
+      at a gallop.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Here&rsquo;s old Papin and Frederic, down from Fort Laramie!&rdquo; shouted Henry,
+      long before he came up. We had for some days expected this encounter.
+      Papin was the bourgeois of Fort Laramie. He had come down the river with
+      the buffalo robes and the beaver, the produce of the last winter&rsquo;s
+      trading. I had among our baggage a letter which I wished to commit to
+      their hands; so requesting Henry to detain the boats if he could until my
+      return, I set out after the wagons. They were about four miles in advance.
+      In half an hour I overtook them, got the letter, trotted back upon the
+      trail, and looking carefully, as I rode, saw a patch of broken,
+      storm-blasted trees, and moving near them some little black specks like
+      men and horses. Arriving at the place, I found a strange assembly. The
+      boats, eleven in number, deep-laden with the skins, hugged close to the
+      shore, to escape being borne down by the swift current. The rowers,
+      swarthy ignoble Mexicans, turned their brutish faces upward to look, as I
+      reached the bank. Papin sat in the middle of one of the boats upon the
+      canvas covering that protected the robes. He was a stout, robust fellow,
+      with a little gray eye, that had a peculiarly sly twinkle. &ldquo;Frederic&rdquo; also
+      stretched his tall rawboned proportions close by the bourgeois, and
+      &ldquo;mountain-men&rdquo; completed the group; some lounging in the boats, some
+      strolling on shore; some attired in gayly painted buffalo robes, like
+      Indian dandies; some with hair saturated with red paint, and beplastered
+      with glue to their temples; and one bedaubed with vermilion upon his
+      forehead and each cheek. They were a mongrel race; yet the French blood
+      seemed to predominate; in a few, indeed, might be seen the black snaky eye
+      of the Indian half-breed, and one and all, they seemed to aim at
+      assimilating themselves to their savage associates.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I shook hands with the bourgeois, and delivered the letter; then the boats
+      swung round into the stream and floated away. They had reason for haste,
+      for already the voyage from Fort Laramie had occupied a full month, and
+      the river was growing daily more shallow. Fifty times a day the boats had
+      been aground, indeed; those who navigate the Platte invariably spend half
+      their time upon sand-bars. Two of these boats, the property of private
+      traders, afterward separating from the rest, got hopelessly involved in
+      the shallows, not very far from the Pawnee villages, and were soon
+      surrounded by a swarm of the inhabitants. They carried off everything that
+      they considered valuable, including most of the robes; and amused
+      themselves by tying up the men left on guard and soundly whipping them
+      with sticks.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We encamped that night upon the bank of the river. Among the emigrants
+      there was an overgrown boy, some eighteen years old, with a head as round
+      and about as large as a pumpkin, and fever-and-ague fits had dyed his face
+      of a corresponding color. He wore an old white hat, tied under his chin
+      with a handkerchief; his body was short and stout, but his legs of
+      disproportioned and appalling length. I observed him at sunset, breasting
+      the hill with gigantic strides, and standing against the sky on the
+      summit, like a colossal pair of tongs. In a moment after we heard him
+      screaming frantically behind the ridge, and nothing doubting that he was
+      in the clutches of Indians or grizzly bears, some of the party caught up
+      their rifles and ran to the rescue. His outcries, however, proved but an
+      ebullition of joyous excitement; he had chased two little wolf pups to
+      their burrow, and he was on his knees, grubbing away like a dog at the
+      mouth of the hole, to get at them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Before morning he caused more serious disquiet in the camp. It was his
+      turn to hold the middle guard; but no sooner was he called up, than he
+      coolly arranged a pair of saddle-bags under a wagon, laid his head upon
+      them, closed his eyes, opened his mouth and fell asleep. The guard on our
+      side of the camp, thinking it no part of his duty to look after the cattle
+      of the emigrants, contented himself with watching our own horses and
+      mules; the wolves, he said, were unusually noisy; but still no mischief
+      was anticipated until the sun rose, and not a hoof or horn was in sight!
+      The cattle were gone! While Tom was quietly slumbering, the wolves had
+      driven them away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then we reaped the fruits of R.&lsquo;s precious plan of traveling in company
+      with emigrants. To leave them in their distress was not to be thought of,
+      and we felt bound to wait until the cattle could be searched for, and, if
+      possible, recovered. But the reader may be curious to know what punishment
+      awaited the faithless Tom. By the wholesome law of the prairie, he who
+      falls asleep on guard is condemned to walk all day leading his horse by
+      the bridle, and we found much fault with our companions for not enforcing
+      such a sentence on the offender. Nevertheless had he been of our party, I
+      have no doubt he would in like manner have escaped scot-free. But the
+      emigrants went farther than mere forebearance; they decreed that since Tom
+      couldn&rsquo;t stand guard without falling asleep, he shouldn&rsquo;t stand guard at
+      all, and henceforward his slumbers were unbroken. Establishing such a
+      premium on drowsiness could have no very beneficial effect upon the
+      vigilance of our sentinels; for it is far from agreeable, after riding
+      from sunrise to sunset, to feel your slumbers interrupted by the butt of a
+      rifle nudging your side, and a sleepy voice growling in your ear that you
+      must get up, to shiver and freeze for three weary hours at midnight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Buffalo! buffalo!&rdquo; It was but a grim old bull, roaming the prairie by
+      himself in misanthropic seclusion; but there might be more behind the
+      hills. Dreading the monotony and languor of the camp, Shaw and I saddled
+      our horses, buckled our holsters in their places, and set out with Henry
+      Chatillon in search of the game. Henry, not intending to take part in the
+      chase, but merely conducting us, carried his rifle with him, while we left
+      ours behind as incumbrances. We rode for some five or six miles, and saw
+      no living thing but wolves, snakes, and prairie dogs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This won&rsquo;t do at all,&rdquo; said Shaw.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What won&rsquo;t do?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There&rsquo;s no wood about here to make a litter for the wounded man; I have
+      an idea that one of us will need something of the sort before the day is
+      over.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There was some foundation for such an apprehension, for the ground was
+      none of the best for a race, and grew worse continually as we proceeded;
+      indeed it soon became desperately bad, consisting of abrupt hills and deep
+      hollows, cut by frequent ravines not easy to pass. At length, a mile in
+      advance, we saw a band of bulls. Some were scattered grazing over a green
+      declivity, while the rest were crowded more densely together in the wide
+      hollow below. Making a circuit to keep out of sight, we rode toward them
+      until we ascended a hill within a furlong of them, beyond which nothing
+      intervened that could possibly screen us from their view. We dismounted
+      behind the ridge just out of sight, drew our saddle-girths, examined our
+      pistols, and mounting again rode over the hill, and descended at a canter
+      toward them, bending close to our horses&rsquo; necks. Instantly they took the
+      alarm; those on the hill descended; those below gathered into a mass, and
+      the whole got in motion, shouldering each other along at a clumsy gallop.
+      We followed, spurring our horses to full speed; and as the herd rushed,
+      crowding and trampling in terror through an opening in the hills, we were
+      close at their heels, half suffocated by the clouds of dust. But as we
+      drew near, their alarm and speed increased; our horses showed signs of the
+      utmost fear, bounding violently aside as we approached, and refusing to
+      enter among the herd. The buffalo now broke into several small bodies,
+      scampering over the hills in different directions, and I lost sight of
+      Shaw; neither of us knew where the other had gone. Old Pontiac ran like a
+      frantic elephant up hill and down hill, his ponderous hoofs striking the
+      prairie like sledge-hammers. He showed a curious mixture of eagerness and
+      terror, straining to overtake the panic-stricken herd, but constantly
+      recoiling in dismay as we drew near. The fugitives, indeed, offered no
+      very attractive spectacle, with their enormous size and weight, their
+      shaggy manes and the tattered remnants of their last winter&rsquo;s hair
+      covering their backs in irregular shreds and patches, and flying off in
+      the wind as they ran. At length I urged my horse close behind a bull, and
+      after trying in vain, by blows and spurring, to bring him alongside, I
+      shot a bullet into the buffalo from this disadvantageous position. At the
+      report, Pontiac swerved so much that I was again thrown a little behind
+      the game. The bullet, entering too much in the rear, failed to disable the
+      bull, for a buffalo requires to be shot at particular points, or he will
+      certainly escape. The herd ran up a hill, and I followed in pursuit. As
+      Pontiac rushed headlong down on the other side, I saw Shaw and Henry
+      descending the hollow on the right, at a leisurely gallop; and in front,
+      the buffalo were just disappearing behind the crest of the next hill,
+      their short tails erect, and their hoofs twinkling through a cloud of
+      dust.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At that moment, I heard Shaw and Henry shouting to me; but the muscles of
+      a stronger arm than mine could not have checked at once the furious course
+      of Pontiac, whose mouth was as insensible as leather. Added to this, I
+      rode him that morning with a common snaffle, having the day before, for
+      the benefit of my other horse, unbuckled from my bridle the curb which I
+      ordinarily used. A stronger and hardier brute never trod the prairie; but
+      the novel sight of the buffalo filled him with terror, and when at full
+      speed he was almost incontrollable. Gaining the top of the ridge, I saw
+      nothing of the buffalo; they had all vanished amid the intricacies of the
+      hills and hollows. Reloading my pistols, in the best way I could, I
+      galloped on until I saw them again scuttling along at the base of the
+      hill, their panic somewhat abated. Down went old Pontiac among them,
+      scattering them to the right and left, and then we had another long chase.
+      About a dozen bulls were before us, scouring over the hills, rushing down
+      the declivities with tremendous weight and impetuosity, and then laboring
+      with a weary gallop upward. Still Pontiac, in spite of spurring and
+      beating, would not close with them. One bull at length fell a little
+      behind the rest, and by dint of much effort I urged my horse within six or
+      eight yards of his side. His back was darkened with sweat; he was panting
+      heavily, while his tongue lolled out a foot from his jaws. Gradually I
+      came up abreast of him, urging Pontiac with leg and rein nearer to his
+      side, then suddenly he did what buffalo in such circumstances will always
+      do; he slackened his gallop, and turning toward us, with an aspect of
+      mingled rage and distress, lowered his huge shaggy head for a charge.
+      Pontiac with a snort, leaped aside in terror, nearly throwing me to the
+      ground, as I was wholly unprepared for such an evolution. I raised my
+      pistol in a passion to strike him on the head, but thinking better of it
+      fired the bullet after the bull, who had resumed his flight, then drew
+      rein and determined to rejoin my companions. It was high time. The breath
+      blew hard from Pontiac&rsquo;s nostrils, and the sweat rolled in big drops down
+      his sides; I myself felt as if drenched in warm water. Pledging myself
+      (and I redeemed the pledge) to take my revenge at a future opportunity, I
+      looked round for some indications to show me where I was, and what course
+      I ought to pursue; I might as well have looked for landmarks in the midst
+      of the ocean. How many miles I had run or in what direction, I had no
+      idea; and around me the prairie was rolling in steep swells and pitches,
+      without a single distinctive feature to guide me. I had a little compass
+      hung at my neck; and ignorant that the Platte at this point diverged
+      considerably from its easterly course, I thought that by keeping to the
+      northward I should certainly reach it. So I turned and rode about two
+      hours in that direction. The prairie changed as I advanced, softening away
+      into easier undulations, but nothing like the Platte appeared, nor any
+      sign of a human being; the same wild endless expanse lay around me still;
+      and to all appearance I was as far from my object as ever. I began now to
+      consider myself in danger of being lost; and therefore, reining in my
+      horse, summoned the scanty share of woodcraft that I possessed (if that
+      term he applicable upon the prairie) to extricate me. Looking round, it
+      occurred to me that the buffalo might prove my best guides. I soon found
+      one of the paths made by them in their passage to the river; it ran nearly
+      at right angles to my course; but turning my horse&rsquo;s head in the direction
+      it indicated, his freer gait and erected ears assured me that I was right.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But in the meantime my ride had been by no means a solitary one. The whole
+      face of the country was dotted far and wide with countless hundreds of
+      buffalo. They trooped along in files and columns, bulls cows, and calves,
+      on the green faces of the declivities in front. They scrambled away over
+      the hills to the right and left; and far off, the pale blue swells in the
+      extreme distance were dotted with innumerable specks. Sometimes I
+      surprised shaggy old bulls grazing alone, or sleeping behind the ridges I
+      ascended. They would leap up at my approach, stare stupidly at me through
+      their tangled manes, and then gallop heavily away. The antelope were very
+      numerous; and as they are always bold when in the neighborhood of buffalo,
+      they would approach quite near to look at me, gazing intently with their
+      great round eyes, then suddenly leap aside, and stretch lightly away over
+      the prairie, as swiftly as a racehorse. Squalid, ruffianlike wolves
+      sneaked through the hollows and sandy ravines. Several times I passed
+      through villages of prairie dogs, who sat, each at the mouth of his
+      burrow, holding his paws before him in a supplicating attitude, and
+      yelping away most vehemently, energetically whisking his little tail with
+      every squeaking cry he uttered. Prairie dogs are not fastidious in their
+      choice of companions; various long, checkered snakes were sunning
+      themselves in the midst of the village, and demure little gray owls, with
+      a large white ring around each eye, were perched side by side with the
+      rightful inhabitants. The prairie teemed with life. Again and again I
+      looked toward the crowded hillsides, and was sure I saw horsemen; and
+      riding near, with a mixture of hope and dread, for Indians were abroad, I
+      found them transformed into a group of buffalo. There was nothing in human
+      shape amid all this vast congregation of brute forms.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When I turned down the buffalo path, the prairie seemed changed; only a
+      wolf or two glided past at intervals, like conscious felons, never looking
+      to the right or left. Being now free from anxiety, I was at leisure to
+      observe minutely the objects around me; and here, for the first time, I
+      noticed insects wholly different from any of the varieties found farther
+      to the eastward. Gaudy butterflies fluttered about my horse&rsquo;s head;
+      strangely formed beetles, glittering with metallic luster, were crawling
+      upon plants that I had never seen before; multitudes of lizards, too, were
+      darting like lightning over the sand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I had run to a great distance from the river. It cost me a long ride on
+      the buffalo path before I saw from the ridge of a sand-hill the pale
+      surface of the Platte glistening in the midst of its desert valleys, and
+      the faint outline of the hills beyond waving along the sky. From where I
+      stood, not a tree nor a bush nor a living thing was visible throughout the
+      whole extent of the sun-scorched landscape. In half an hour I came upon
+      the trail, not far from the river; and seeing that the party had not yet
+      passed, I turned eastward to meet them, old Pontiac&rsquo;s long swinging trot
+      again assuring me that I was right in doing so. Having been slightly ill
+      on leaving camp in the morning six or seven hours of rough riding had
+      fatigued me extremely. I soon stopped, therefore; flung my saddle on the
+      ground, and with my head resting on it, and my horse&rsquo;s trail-rope tied
+      loosely to my arm, lay waiting the arrival of the party, speculating
+      meanwhile on the extent of the injuries Pontiac had received. At length
+      the white wagon coverings rose from the verge of the plain. By a singular
+      coincidence, almost at the same moment two horsemen appeared coming down
+      from the hills. They were Shaw and Henry, who had searched for me a while
+      in the morning, but well knowing the futility of the attempt in such a
+      broken country, had placed themselves on the top of the highest hill they
+      could find, and picketing their horses near them, as a signal to me, had
+      laid down and fallen asleep. The stray cattle had been recovered, as the
+      emigrants told us, about noon. Before sunset, we pushed forward eight
+      miles farther.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      JUNE 7, 1846.&mdash;Four men are missing; R., Sorel and two emigrants.
+      They set out this morning after buffalo, and have not yet made their
+      appearance; whether killed or lost, we cannot tell.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I find the above in my notebook, and well remember the council held on the
+      occasion. Our fire was the scene of it; or the palpable superiority of
+      Henry Chatillon&rsquo;s experience and skill made him the resort of the whole
+      camp upon every question of difficulty. He was molding bullets at the
+      fire, when the captain drew near, with a perturbed and care-worn
+      expression of countenance, faithfully reflected on the heavy features of
+      Jack, who followed close behind. Then emigrants came straggling from their
+      wagons toward the common center; various suggestions were made to account
+      for the absence of the four men, and one or two of the emigrants declared
+      that when out after the cattle they had seen Indians dogging them, and
+      crawling like wolves along the ridges of the hills. At this time the
+      captain slowly shook his head with double gravity, and solemnly remarked:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a serious thing to be traveling through this cursed wilderness&rdquo;; an
+      opinion in which Jack immediately expressed a thorough coincidence. Henry
+      would not commit himself by declaring any positive opinion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Maybe he only follow the buffalo too far; maybe Indian kill him; maybe he
+      got lost; I cannot tell!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      With this the auditors were obliged to rest content; the emigrants, not in
+      the least alarmed, though curious to know what had become of their
+      comrades, walked back to their wagons and the captain betook himself
+      pensively to his tent. Shaw and I followed his example.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It will be a bad thing for our plans,&rdquo; said he as we entered, &ldquo;if these
+      fellows don&rsquo;t get back safe. The captain is as helpless on the prairie as
+      a child. We shall have to take him and his brother in tow; they will hang
+      on us like lead.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The prairie is a strange place,&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;A month ago I should have
+      thought it rather a startling affair to have an acquaintance ride out in
+      the morning and lose his scalp before night, but here it seems the most
+      natural thing in the world; not that I believe that R. has lost his yet.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      If a man is constitutionally liable to nervous apprehensions, a tour on
+      the distant prairies would prove the best prescription; for though when in
+      the neighborhood of the Rocky Mountains he may at times find himself
+      placed in circumstances of some danger, I believe that few ever breathe
+      that reckless atmosphere without becoming almost indifferent to any evil
+      chance that may befall themselves or their friends.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shaw had a propensity for luxurious indulgence. He spread his blanket with
+      the utmost accuracy on the ground, picked up the sticks and stones that he
+      thought might interfere with his comfort, adjusted his saddle to serve as
+      a pillow, and composed himself for his night&rsquo;s rest. I had the first guard
+      that evening; so, taking my rifle, I went out of the tent. It was
+      perfectly dark. A brisk wind blew down from the hills, and the sparks from
+      the fire were streaming over the prairie. One of the emigrants, named
+      Morton, was my companion; and laying our rifles on the grass, we sat down
+      together by the fire. Morton was a Kentuckian, an athletic fellow, with a
+      fine intelligent face, and in his manners and conversation he showed the
+      essential characteristics of a gentleman. Our conversation turned on the
+      pioneers of his gallant native State. The three hours of our watch dragged
+      away at last, and we went to call up the relief.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      R.&lsquo;s guard succeeded mine. He was absent; but the captain, anxious lest
+      the camp should be left defenseless, had volunteered to stand in his
+      place; so I went to wake him up. There was no occasion for it, for the
+      captain had been awake since nightfall. A fire was blazing outside of the
+      tent, and by the light which struck through the canvas, I saw him and Jack
+      lying on their backs, with their eyes wide open. The captain responded
+      instantly to my call; he jumped up, seized the double-barreled rifle, and
+      came out of the tent with an air of solemn determination, as if about to
+      devote himself to the safety of the party. I went and lay down, not
+      doubting that for the next three hours our slumbers would be guarded with
+      sufficient vigilance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0008" id="link2HCH0008">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER VIII
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      TAKING FRENCH LEAVE
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      On the 8th of June, at eleven o&rsquo;clock, we reached the South Fork of the
+      Platte, at the usual fording place. For league upon league the desert
+      uniformity of the prospect was almost unbroken; the hills were dotted with
+      little tufts of shriveled grass, but betwixt these the white sand was
+      glaring in the sun; and the channel of the river, almost on a level with
+      the plain, was but one great sand-bed, about half a mile wide. It was
+      covered with water, but so scantily that the bottom was scarcely hidden;
+      for, wide as it is, the average depth of the Platte does not at this point
+      exceed a foot and a half. Stopping near its bank, we gathered bois de
+      vache, and made a meal of buffalo meat. Far off, on the other side, was a
+      green meadow, where we could see the white tents and wagons of an emigrant
+      camp; and just opposite to us we could discern a group of men and animals
+      at the water&rsquo;s edge. Four or five horsemen soon entered the river, and in
+      ten minutes had waded across and clambered up the loose sand-bank. They
+      were ill-looking fellows, thin and swarthy, with care-worn, anxious faces
+      and lips rigidly compressed. They had good cause for anxiety; it was three
+      days since they first encamped here, and on the night of their arrival
+      they had lost 123 of their best cattle, driven off by the wolves, through
+      the neglect of the man on guard. This discouraging and alarming calamity
+      was not the first that had overtaken them. Since leaving the settlements,
+      they had met with nothing but misfortune. Some of their party had died;
+      one man had been killed by the Pawnees; and about a week before, they had
+      been plundered by the Dakotas of all their best horses, the wretched
+      animals on which our visitors were mounted being the only ones that were
+      left. They had encamped, they told us, near sunset, by the side of the
+      Platte, and their oxen were scattered over the meadow, while the band of
+      horses were feeding a little farther off. Suddenly the ridges of the hills
+      were alive with a swarm of mounted Indians, at least six hundred in
+      number, who, with a tremendous yell, came pouring down toward the camp,
+      rushing up within a few rods, to the great terror of the emigrants; but
+      suddenly wheeling, they swept around the band of horses, and in five
+      minutes had disappeared with their prey through the openings of the hills.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As these emigrants were telling their story, we saw four other men
+      approaching. They proved to be R. and his companions, who had encountered
+      no mischance of any kind, but had only wandered too far in pursuit of the
+      game. They said they had seen no Indians, but only &ldquo;millions of buffalo&rdquo;;
+      and both R. and Sorel had meat dangling behind their saddles.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The emigrants re-crossed the river, and we prepared to follow. First the
+      heavy ox-wagons plunged down the bank, and dragged slowly over the
+      sand-beds; sometimes the hoofs of the oxen were scarcely wetted by the
+      thin sheet of water; and the next moment the river would be boiling
+      against their sides, and eddying fiercely around the wheels. Inch by inch
+      they receded from the shore, dwindling every moment, until at length they
+      seemed to be floating far in the very middle of the river. A more critical
+      experiment awaited us; for our little mule-cart was but ill-fitted for the
+      passage of so swift a stream. We watched it with anxiety till it seemed to
+      be a little motionless white speck in the midst of the waters; and it WAS
+      motionless, for it had stuck fast in a quicksand. The little mules were
+      losing their footing, the wheels were sinking deeper and deeper, and the
+      water began to rise through the bottom and drench the goods within. All of
+      us who had remained on the hither bank galloped to the rescue; the men
+      jumped into the water, adding their strength to that of the mules, until
+      by much effort the cart was extricated, and conveyed in safety across.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As we gained the other bank, a rough group of men surrounded us. They were
+      not robust, nor large of frame, yet they had an aspect of hardy endurance.
+      Finding at home no scope for their fiery energies, they had betaken
+      themselves to the prairie; and in them seemed to be revived, with
+      redoubled force, that fierce spirit which impelled their ancestors, scarce
+      more lawless than themselves, from the German forests, to inundate Europe
+      and break to pieces the Roman empire. A fortnight afterward this
+      unfortunate party passed Fort Laramie, while we were there. Not one of
+      their missing oxen had been recovered, though they had remained encamped a
+      week in search of them; and they had been compelled to abandon a great
+      part of their baggage and provisions, and yoke cows and heifers to their
+      wagons to carry them forward upon their journey, the most toilsome and
+      hazardous part of which lay still before them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It is worth noticing that on the Platte one may sometimes see the
+      shattered wrecks of ancient claw-footed tables, well waxed and rubbed, or
+      massive bureaus of carved oak. These, many of them no doubt the relics of
+      ancestral prosperity in the colonial time, must have encountered strange
+      vicissitudes. Imported, perhaps, originally from England; then, with the
+      declining fortunes of their owners, borne across the Alleghenies to the
+      remote wilderness of Ohio or Kentucky; then to Illinois or Missouri; and
+      now at last fondly stowed away in the family wagon for the interminable
+      journey to Oregon. But the stern privations of the way are little
+      anticipated. The cherished relic is soon flung out to scorch and crack
+      upon the hot prairie.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We resumed our journey; but we had gone scarcely a mile, when R. called
+      out from the rear:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll camp here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why do you want to camp? Look at the sun. It is not three o&rsquo;clock yet.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll camp here!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This was the only reply vouchsafed. Delorier was in advance with his cart.
+      Seeing the mule-wagon wheeling from the track, he began to turn his own
+      team in the same direction.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Go on, Delorier,&rdquo; and the little cart advanced again. As we rode on, we
+      soon heard the wagon of our confederates creaking and jolting on behind
+      us, and the driver, Wright, discharging a furious volley of oaths against
+      his mules; no doubt venting upon them the wrath which he dared not direct
+      against a more appropriate object.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Something of this sort had frequently occurred. Our English friend was by
+      no means partial to us, and we thought we discovered in his conduct a
+      deliberate intention to thwart and annoy us, especially by retarding the
+      movements of the party, which he knew that we, being Yankees, were anxious
+      to quicken. Therefore, he would insist on encamping at all unseasonable
+      hours, saying that fifteen miles was a sufficient day&rsquo;s journey. Finding
+      our wishes systematically disregarded, we took the direction of affairs
+      into our own hands. Keeping always in advance, to the inexpressible
+      indignation of R., we encamped at what time and place we thought proper,
+      not much caring whether the rest chose to follow or not. They always did
+      so, however, pitching their tents near ours, with sullen and wrathful
+      countenances.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Traveling together on these agreeable terms did not suit our tastes; for
+      some time we had meditated a separation. The connection with this party
+      had cost us various delays and inconveniences; and the glaring want of
+      courtesy and good sense displayed by their virtual leader did not dispose
+      us to bear these annoyances with much patience. We resolved to leave camp
+      early in the morning, and push forward as rapidly as possible for Fort
+      Laramie, which we hoped to reach, by hard traveling, in four or five days.
+      The captain soon trotted up between us, and we explained our intentions.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A very extraordinary proceeding, upon my word!&rdquo; he remarked. Then he
+      began to enlarge upon the enormity of the design. The most prominent
+      impression in his mind evidently was that we were acting a base and
+      treacherous part in deserting his party, in what he considered a very
+      dangerous stage of the journey. To palliate the atrocity of our conduct,
+      we ventured to suggest that we were only four in number while his party
+      still included sixteen men; and as, moreover, we were to go forward and
+      they were to follow, at least a full proportion of the perils he
+      apprehended would fall upon us. But the austerity of the captain&rsquo;s
+      features would not relax. &ldquo;A very extraordinary proceeding, gentlemen!&rdquo;
+       and repeating this, he rode off to confer with his principal.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      By good luck, we found a meadow of fresh grass, and a large pool of
+      rain-water in the midst of it. We encamped here at sunset. Plenty of
+      buffalo skulls were lying around, bleaching in the sun; and sprinkled
+      thickly among the grass was a great variety of strange flowers. I had
+      nothing else to do, and so gathering a handful, I sat down on a buffalo
+      skull to study them. Although the offspring of a wilderness, their texture
+      was frail and delicate, and their colors extremely rich; pure white, dark
+      blue, and a transparent crimson. One traveling in this country seldom has
+      leisure to think of anything but the stern features of the scenery and its
+      accompaniments, or the practical details of each day&rsquo;s journey. Like them,
+      he and his thoughts grow hard and rough. But now these flowers suddenly
+      awakened a train of associations as alien to the rude scene around me as
+      they were themselves; and for the moment my thoughts went back to New
+      England. A throng of fair and well-remembered faces rose, vividly as life,
+      before me. &ldquo;There are good things,&rdquo; thought I, &ldquo;in the savage life, but
+      what can it offer to replace those powerful and ennobling influences that
+      can reach unimpaired over more than three thousand miles of mountains,
+      forests and deserts?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Before sunrise on the next morning our tent was down; we harnessed our
+      best horses to the cart and left the camp. But first we shook hands with
+      our friends the emigrants, who sincerely wished us a safe journey, though
+      some others of the party might easily have been consoled had we
+      encountered an Indian war party on the way. The captain and his brother
+      were standing on the top of a hill, wrapped in their plaids, like spirits
+      of the mist, keeping an anxious eye on the band of horses below. We waved
+      adieu to them as we rode off the ground. The captain replied with a
+      salutation of the utmost dignity, which Jack tried to imitate; but being
+      little practiced in the gestures of polite society, his effort was not a
+      very successful one.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In five minutes we had gained the foot of the hills, but here we came to a
+      stop. Old Hendrick was in the shafts, and being the very incarnation of
+      perverse and brutish obstinacy, he utterly refused to move. Delorier
+      lashed and swore till he was tired, but Hendrick stood like a rock,
+      grumbling to himself and looking askance at his enemy, until he saw a
+      favorable opportunity to take his revenge, when he struck out under the
+      shaft with such cool malignity of intention that Delorier only escaped the
+      blow by a sudden skip into the air, such as no one but a Frenchman could
+      achieve. Shaw and he then joined forces, and lashed on both sides at once.
+      The brute stood still for a while till he could bear it no longer, when
+      all at once he began to kick and plunge till he threatened the utter
+      demolition of the cart and harness. We glanced back at the camp, which was
+      in full sight. Our companions, inspired by emulation, were leveling their
+      tents and driving in their cattle and horses.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Take the horse out,&rdquo; said I.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I took the saddle from Pontiac and put it upon Hendrick; the former was
+      harnessed to the cart in an instant. &ldquo;Avance donc!&rdquo; cried Delorier.
+      Pontiac strode up the hill, twitching the little cart after him as if it
+      were a feather&rsquo;s weight; and though, as we gained the top, we saw the
+      wagons of our deserted comrades just getting into motion, we had little
+      fear that they could overtake us. Leaving the trail, we struck directly
+      across the country, and took the shortest cut to reach the main stream of
+      the Platte. A deep ravine suddenly intercepted us. We skirted its sides
+      until we found them less abrupt, and then plunged through the best way we
+      could. Passing behind the sandy ravines called &ldquo;Ash Hollow,&rdquo; we stopped
+      for a short nooning at the side of a pool of rain-water; but soon resumed
+      our journey, and some hours before sunset were descending the ravines and
+      gorges opening downward upon the Platte to the west of Ash Hollow. Our
+      horses waded to the fetlock in sand; the sun scorched like fire, and the
+      air swarmed with sand-flies and mosquitoes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At last we gained the Platte. Following it for about five miles, we saw,
+      just as the sun was sinking, a great meadow, dotted with hundreds of
+      cattle, and beyond them an emigrant encampment. A party of about a dozen
+      came out to meet us, looking upon us at first with cold and suspicious
+      faces. Seeing four men, different in appearance and equipment from
+      themselves, emerging from the hills, they had taken us for the van of the
+      much-dreaded Mormons, whom they were very apprehensive of encountering. We
+      made known our true character, and then they greeted us cordially. They
+      expressed much surprise that so small a party should venture to traverse
+      that region, though in fact such attempts are not unfrequently made by
+      trappers and Indian traders. We rode with them to their camp. The wagons,
+      some fifty in number, with here and there a tent intervening, were
+      arranged as usual in a circle; in the area within the best horses were
+      picketed, and the whole circumference was glowing with the dusky light of
+      the fires, displaying the forms of the women and children who were crowded
+      around them. This patriarchal scene was curious and striking enough; but
+      we made our escape from the place with all possible dispatch, being
+      tormented by the intrusive curiosity of the men who crowded around us.
+      Yankee curiosity was nothing to theirs. They demanded our names, where we
+      came from, where we were going, and what was our business. The last query
+      was particularly embarrassing; since traveling in that country, or indeed
+      anywhere, from any other motive than gain, was an idea of which they took
+      no cognizance. Yet they were fine-looking fellows, with an air of
+      frankness, generosity, and even courtesy, having come from one of the
+      least barbarous of the frontier counties.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We passed about a mile beyond them, and encamped. Being too few in number
+      to stand guard without excessive fatigue, we extinguished our fire, lest
+      it should attract the notice of wandering Indians; and picketing our
+      horses close around us, slept undisturbed till morning. For three days we
+      traveled without interruption, and on the evening of the third encamped by
+      the well-known spring on Scott&rsquo;s Bluff.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry Chatillon and I rode out in the morning, and descending the western
+      side of the Bluff, were crossing the plain beyond. Something that seemed
+      to me a file of buffalo came into view, descending the hills several miles
+      before us. But Henry reined in his horse, and keenly peering across the
+      prairie with a better and more practiced eye, soon discovered its real
+      nature. &ldquo;Indians!&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Old Smoke&rsquo;s lodges, I b&rsquo;lieve. Come! let us
+      go! Wah! get up, now, Five Hundred Dollar!&rdquo; And laying on the lash with
+      good will, he galloped forward, and I rode by his side. Not long after, a
+      black speck became visible on the prairie, full two miles off. It grew
+      larger and larger; it assumed the form of a man and horse; and soon we
+      could discern a naked Indian, careering at full gallop toward us. When
+      within a furlong he wheeled his horse in a wide circle, and made him
+      describe various mystic figures upon the prairie; and Henry immediately
+      compelled Five Hundred Dollar to execute similar evolutions. &ldquo;It IS Old
+      Smoke&rsquo;s village,&rdquo; said he, interpreting these signals; &ldquo;didn&rsquo;t I say so?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      As the Indian approached we stopped to wait for him, when suddenly he
+      vanished, sinking, as it were, into the earth. He had come upon one of the
+      deep ravines that everywhere intersect these prairies. In an instant the
+      rough head of his horse stretched upward from the edge and the rider and
+      steed came scrambling out, and bounded up to us; a sudden jerk of the rein
+      brought the wild panting horse to a full stop. Then followed the needful
+      formality of shaking hands. I forget our visitor&rsquo;s name. He was a young
+      fellow, of no note in his nation; yet in his person and equipments he was
+      a good specimen of a Dakota warrior in his ordinary traveling dress. Like
+      most of his people, he was nearly six feet high; lithely and gracefully,
+      yet strongly proportioned; and with a skin singularly clear and delicate.
+      He wore no paint; his head was bare; and his long hair was gathered in a
+      clump behind, to the top of which was attached transversely, both by way
+      of ornament and of talisman, the mystic whistle, made of the wingbone of
+      the war eagle, and endowed with various magic virtues. From the back of
+      his head descended a line of glittering brass plates, tapering from the
+      size of a doubloon to that of a half-dime, a cumbrous ornament, in high
+      vogue among the Dakotas, and for which they pay the traders a most
+      extravagant price; his chest and arms were naked, the buffalo robe, worn
+      over them when at rest, had fallen about his waist, and was confined there
+      by a belt. This, with the gay moccasins on his feet, completed his attire.
+      For arms he carried a quiver of dogskin at his back, and a rude but
+      powerful bow in his hand. His horse had no bridle; a cord of hair, lashed
+      around his jaw, served in place of one. The saddle was of most singular
+      construction; it was made of wood covered with raw hide, and both pommel
+      and cantle rose perpendicularly full eighteen inches, so that the warrior
+      was wedged firmly in his seat, whence nothing could dislodge him but the
+      bursting of the girths.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Advancing with our new companion, we found more of his people seated in a
+      circle on the top of a hill; while a rude procession came straggling down
+      the neighboring hollow, men, women, and children, with horses dragging the
+      lodge-poles behind them. All that morning, as we moved forward, tall
+      savages were stalking silently about us. At noon we reached Horse Creek;
+      and as we waded through the shallow water, we saw a wild and striking
+      scene. The main body of the Indians had arrived before us. On the farther
+      bank stood a large and strong man, nearly naked, holding a white horse by
+      a long cord, and eyeing us as we approached. This was the chief, whom
+      Henry called &ldquo;Old Smoke.&rdquo; Just behind him his youngest and favorite squaw
+      sat astride of a fine mule; it was covered with caparisons of whitened
+      skins, garnished with blue and white beads, and fringed with little
+      ornaments of metal that tinkled with every movement of the animal. The
+      girl had a light clear complexion, enlivened by a spot of vermilion on
+      each cheek; she smiled, not to say grinned, upon us, showing two gleaming
+      rows of white teeth. In her hand, she carried the tall lance of her
+      unchivalrous lord, fluttering with feathers; his round white shield hung
+      at the side of her mule; and his pipe was slung at her back. Her dress was
+      a tunic of deerskin, made beautifully white by means of a species of clay
+      found on the prairie, and ornamented with beads, arrayed in figures more
+      gay than tasteful, and with long fringes at all the seams. Not far from
+      the chief stood a group of stately figures, their white buffalo robes
+      thrown over their shoulders, gazing coldly upon us; and in the rear, for
+      several acres, the ground was covered with a temporary encampment; men,
+      women, and children swarmed like bees; hundreds of dogs, of all sizes and
+      colors, ran restlessly about; and, close at hand, the wide shallow stream
+      was alive with boys, girls, and young squaws, splashing, screaming, and
+      laughing in the water. At the same time a long train of emigrant wagons
+      were crossing the creek, and dragging on in their slow, heavy procession,
+      passed the encampment of the people whom they and their descendants, in
+      the space of a century, are to sweep from the face of the earth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The encampment itself was merely a temporary one during the heat of the
+      day. None of the lodges were erected; but their heavy leather coverings,
+      and the long poles used to support them, were scattered everywhere around,
+      among weapons, domestic utensils, and the rude harness of mules and
+      horses. The squaws of each lazy warrior had made him a shelter from the
+      sun, by stretching a few buffalo robes, or the corner of a lodge-covering
+      upon poles; and here he sat in the shade, with a favorite young squaw,
+      perhaps, at his side, glittering with all imaginable trinkets. Before him
+      stood the insignia of his rank as a warrior, his white shield of
+      bull-hide, his medicine bag, his bow and quiver, his lance and his pipe,
+      raised aloft on a tripod of three poles. Except the dogs, the most active
+      and noisy tenants of the camp were the old women, ugly as Macbeth&rsquo;s
+      witches, with their hair streaming loose in the wind, and nothing but the
+      tattered fragment of an old buffalo robe to hide their shriveled wiry
+      limbs. The day of their favoritism passed two generations ago; now the
+      heaviest labors of the camp devolved upon them; they were to harness the
+      horses, pitch the lodges, dress the buffalo robes, and bring in meat for
+      the hunters. With the cracked voices of these hags, the clamor of dogs,
+      the shouting and laughing of children and girls, and the listless
+      tranquillity of the warriors, the whole scene had an effect too lively and
+      picturesque ever to be forgotten.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We stopped not far from the Indian camp, and having invited some of the
+      chiefs and warriors to dinner, placed before them a sumptuous repast of
+      biscuit and coffee. Squatted in a half circle on the ground, they soon
+      disposed of it. As we rode forward on the afternoon journey, several of
+      our late guests accompanied us. Among the rest was a huge bloated savage
+      of more than three hundred pounds&rsquo; weight, christened La Cochon, in
+      consideration of his preposterous dimensions and certain corresponding
+      traits of his character. &ldquo;The Hog&rdquo; bestrode a little white pony, scarce
+      able to bear up under the enormous burden, though, by way of keeping up
+      the necessary stimulus, the rider kept both feet in constant motion,
+      playing alternately against his ribs. The old man was not a chief; he
+      never had ambition enough to become one; he was not a warrior nor a
+      hunter, for he was too fat and lazy: but he was the richest man in the
+      whole village. Riches among the Dakotas consist in horses, and of these
+      The Hog had accumulated more than thirty. He had already ten times as many
+      as he wanted, yet still his appetite for horses was insatiable. Trotting
+      up to me he shook me by the hand, and gave me to understand that he was a
+      very devoted friend; and then he began a series of most earnest signs and
+      gesticulations, his oily countenance radiant with smiles, and his little
+      eyes peeping out with a cunning twinkle from between the masses of flesh
+      that almost obscured them. Knowing nothing at that time of the sign
+      language of the Indians, I could only guess at his meaning. So I called on
+      Henry to explain it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Hog, it seems, was anxious to conclude a matrimonial bargain. He said
+      he had a very pretty daughter in his lodge, whom he would give me, if I
+      would give him my horse. These flattering overtures I chose to reject; at
+      which The Hog, still laughing with undiminished good humor, gathered his
+      robe about his shoulders, and rode away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Where we encamped that night, an arm of the Platte ran between high
+      bluffs; it was turbid and swift as heretofore, but trees were growing on
+      its crumbling banks, and there was a nook of grass between the water and
+      the hill. Just before entering this place, we saw the emigrants encamping
+      at two or three miles&rsquo; distance on the right; while the whole Indian
+      rabble were pouring down the neighboring hill in hope of the same sort of
+      entertainment which they had experienced from us. In the savage landscape
+      before our camp, nothing but the rushing of the Platte broke the silence.
+      Through the ragged boughs of the trees, dilapidated and half dead, we saw
+      the sun setting in crimson behind the peaks of the Black Hills; the
+      restless bosom of the river was suffused with red; our white tent was
+      tinged with it, and the sterile bluffs, up to the rocks that crowned them,
+      partook of the same fiery hue. It soon passed away; no light remained, but
+      that from our fire, blazing high among the dusky trees and bushes. We lay
+      around it wrapped in our blankets, smoking and conversing until a late
+      hour, and then withdrew to our tent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We crossed a sun-scorched plain on the next morning; the line of old
+      cotton-wood trees that fringed the bank of the Platte forming its extreme
+      verge. Nestled apparently close beneath them, we could discern in the
+      distance something like a building. As we came nearer, it assumed form and
+      dimensions, and proved to be a rough structure of logs. It was a little
+      trading fort, belonging to two private traders; and originally intended,
+      like all the forts of the country, to form a hollow square, with rooms for
+      lodging and storage opening upon the area within. Only two sides of it had
+      been completed; the place was now as ill-fitted for the purposes of
+      defense as any of those little log-houses, which upon our constantly
+      shifting frontier have been so often successfully maintained against
+      overwhelming odds of Indians. Two lodges were pitched close to the fort;
+      the sun beat scorching upon the logs; no living thing was stirring except
+      one old squaw, who thrust her round head from the opening of the nearest
+      lodge, and three or four stout young pups, who were peeping with looks of
+      eager inquiry from under the covering. In a moment a door opened, and a
+      little, swarthy black-eyed Frenchman came out. His dress was rather
+      singular; his black curling hair was parted in the middle of his head, and
+      fell below his shoulders; he wore a tight frock of smoked deerskin, very
+      gayly ornamented with figures worked in dyed porcupine quills. His
+      moccasins and leggings were also gaudily adorned in the same manner; and
+      the latter had in addition a line of long fringes, reaching down the
+      seams. The small frame of Richard, for by this name Henry made him known
+      to us, was in the highest degree athletic and vigorous. There was no
+      superfluity, and indeed there seldom is among the active white men of this
+      country, but every limb was compact and hard; every sinew had its full
+      tone and elasticity, and the whole man wore an air of mingled hardihood
+      and buoyancy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Richard committed our horses to a Navahoe slave, a mean looking fellow
+      taken prisoner on the Mexican frontier; and, relieving us of our rifles
+      with ready politeness, led the way into the principal apartment of his
+      establishment. This was a room ten feet square. The walls and floor were
+      of black mud, and the roof of rough timber; there was a huge fireplace
+      made of four flat rocks, picked up on the prairie. An Indian bow and
+      otter-skin quiver, several gaudy articles of Rocky Mountain finery, an
+      Indian medicine bag, and a pipe and tobacco pouch, garnished the walls,
+      and rifles rested in a corner. There was no furniture except a sort of
+      rough settle covered with buffalo robes, upon which lolled a tall
+      half-breed, with his hair glued in masses upon each temple, and saturated
+      with vermilion. Two or three more &ldquo;mountain men&rdquo; sat cross-legged on the
+      floor. Their attire was not unlike that of Richard himself; but the most
+      striking figure of the group was a naked Indian boy of sixteen, with a
+      handsome face, and light, active proportions, who sat in an easy posture
+      in the corner near the door. Not one of his limbs moved the breadth of a
+      hair; his eye was fixed immovably, not on any person present, but, as it
+      appeared, on the projecting corner of the fireplace opposite to him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On these prairies the custom of smoking with friends is seldom omitted,
+      whether among Indians or whites. The pipe, therefore, was taken from the
+      wall, and its great red bowl crammed with the tobacco and shongsasha,
+      mixed in suitable proportions. Then it passed round the circle, each man
+      inhaling a few whiffs and handing it to his neighbor. Having spent half an
+      hour here, we took our leave; first inviting our new friends to drink a
+      cup of coffee with us at our camp, a mile farther up the river. By this
+      time, as the reader may conceive, we had grown rather shabby; our clothes
+      had burst into rags and tatters; and what was worse, we had very little
+      means of renovation. Fort Laramie was but seven miles before us. Being
+      totally averse to appearing in such plight among any society that could
+      boast an approximation to the civilized, we soon stopped by the river to
+      make our toilet in the best way we could. We hung up small looking-glasses
+      against the trees and shaved, an operation neglected for six weeks; we
+      performed our ablutions in the Platte, though the utility of such a
+      proceeding was questionable, the water looking exactly like a cup of
+      chocolate, and the banks consisting of the softest and richest yellow mud,
+      so that we were obliged, as a preliminary, to build a cause-way of stout
+      branches and twigs. Having also put on radiant moccasins, procured from a
+      squaw of Richard&rsquo;s establishment, and made what other improvements our
+      narrow circumstances allowed, we took our seats on the grass with a
+      feeling of greatly increased respectability, to wait the arrival of our
+      guests. They came; the banquet was concluded, and the pipe smoked. Bidding
+      them adieu, we turned our horses&rsquo; heads toward the fort.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      An hour elapsed. The barren hills closed across our front, and we could
+      see no farther; until having surmounted them, a rapid stream appeared at
+      the foot of the descent, running into the Platte; beyond was a green
+      meadow, dotted with bushes, and in the midst of these, at the point where
+      the two rivers joined, were the low clay walls of a fort. This was not
+      Fort Laramie, but another post of less recent date, which having sunk
+      before its successful competitor was now deserted and ruinous. A moment
+      after the hills, seeming to draw apart as we advanced, disclosed Fort
+      Laramie itself, its high bastions and perpendicular walls of clay crowning
+      an eminence on the left beyond the stream, while behind stretched a line
+      of arid and desolate ridges, and behind these again, towering aloft seven
+      thousand feet, arose the grim Black Hills.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We tried to ford Laramie Creek at a point nearly opposite the fort, but
+      the stream, swollen with the rains in the mountains, was too rapid. We
+      passed up along its bank to find a better crossing place. Men gathered on
+      the wall to look at us. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s Bordeaux!&rdquo; called Henry, his face
+      brightening as he recognized his acquaintance; &ldquo;him there with the
+      spyglass; and there&rsquo;s old Vaskiss, and Tucker, and May; and, by George!
+      there&rsquo;s Cimoneau!&rdquo; This Cimoneau was Henry&rsquo;s fast friend, and the only man
+      in the country who could rival him in hunting.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We soon found a ford. Henry led the way, the pony approaching the bank
+      with a countenance of cool indifference, bracing his feet and sliding into
+      the stream with the most unmoved composure.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     At the first plunge the horse sunk low,
+     And the water broke o&rsquo;er the saddle-bow
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      We followed; the water boiled against our saddles, but our horses bore us
+      easily through. The unfortunate little mules came near going down with the
+      current, cart and all; and we watched them with some solicitude scrambling
+      over the loose round stones at the bottom, and bracing stoutly against the
+      stream. All landed safely at last; we crossed a little plain, descended a
+      hollow, and riding up a steep bank found ourselves before the gateway of
+      Fort Laramie, under the impending blockhouse erected above it to defend
+      the entrance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0009" id="link2HCH0009">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER IX
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      SCENES AT FORT LARAMIE
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Looking back, after the expiration of a year, upon Fort Laramie and its
+      inmates, they seem less like a reality than like some fanciful picture of
+      the olden time; so different was the scene from any which this tamer side
+      of the world can present. Tall Indians, enveloped in their white buffalo
+      robes, were striding across the area or reclining at full length on the
+      low roofs of the buildings which inclosed it. Numerous squaws, gayly
+      bedizened, sat grouped in front of the apartments they occupied; their
+      mongrel offspring, restless and vociferous, rambled in every direction
+      through the fort; and the trappers, traders, and ENGAGES of the
+      establishment were busy at their labor or their amusements.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We were met at the gate, but by no means cordially welcomed. Indeed, we
+      seemed objects of some distrust and suspicion until Henry Chatillon
+      explained that we were not traders, and we, in confirmation, handed to the
+      bourgeois a letter of introduction from his principals. He took it, turned
+      it upside down, and tried hard to read it; but his literary attainments
+      not being adequate to the task, he applied for relief to the clerk, a
+      sleek, smiling Frenchman, named Montalon. The letter read, Bordeaux (the
+      bourgeois) seemed gradually to awaken to a sense of what was expected of
+      him. Though not deficient in hospitable intentions, he was wholly
+      unaccustomed to act as master of ceremonies. Discarding all formalities of
+      reception, he did not honor us with a single word, but walked swiftly
+      across the area, while we followed in some admiration to a railing and a
+      flight of steps opposite the entrance. He signed to us that we had better
+      fasten our horses to the railing; then he walked up the steps, tramped
+      along a rude balcony, and kicking open a door displayed a large room,
+      rather more elaborately finished than a barn. For furniture it had a rough
+      bedstead, but no bed; two chairs, a chest of drawers, a tin pail to hold
+      water, and a board to cut tobacco upon. A brass crucifix hung on the wall,
+      and close at hand a recent scalp, with hair full a yard long, was
+      suspended from a nail. I shall again have occasion to mention this dismal
+      trophy, its history being connected with that of our subsequent
+      proceedings.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This apartment, the best in Fort Laramie, was that usually occupied by the
+      legitimate bourgeois, Papin; in whose absence the command devolved upon
+      Bordeaux. The latter, a stout, bluff little fellow, much inflated by a
+      sense of his new authority, began to roar for buffalo robes. These being
+      brought and spread upon the floor formed our beds; much better ones than
+      we had of late been accustomed to. Our arrangements made, we stepped out
+      to the balcony to take a more leisurely survey of the long looked-for
+      haven at which we had arrived at last. Beneath us was the square area
+      surrounded by little rooms, or rather cells, which opened upon it. These
+      were devoted to various purposes, but served chiefly for the accommodation
+      of the men employed at the fort, or of the equally numerous squaws, whom
+      they were allowed to maintain in it. Opposite to us rose the blockhouse
+      above the gateway; it was adorned with a figure which even now haunts my
+      memory; a horse at full speed, daubed upon the boards with red paint, and
+      exhibiting a degree of skill which might rival that displayed by the
+      Indians in executing similar designs upon their robes and lodges. A busy
+      scene was enacting in the area. The wagons of Vaskiss, an old trader, were
+      about to set out for a remote post in the mountains, and the Canadians
+      were going through their preparations with all possible bustle, while here
+      and there an Indian stood looking on with imperturbable gravity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Fort Laramie is one of the posts established by the American Fur Company,
+      who well-nigh monopolize the Indian trade of this whole region. Here their
+      officials rule with an absolute sway; the arm of the United States has
+      little force; for when we were there, the extreme outposts of her troops
+      were about seven hundred miles to the eastward. The little fort is built
+      of bricks dried in the sun, and externally is of an oblong form, with
+      bastions of clay, in the form of ordinary blockhouses, at two of the
+      corners. The walls are about fifteen feet high, and surmounted by a
+      slender palisade. The roofs of the apartments within, which are built
+      close against the walls, serve the purpose of a banquette. Within, the
+      fort is divided by a partition; on one side is the square area surrounded
+      by the storerooms, offices, and apartments of the inmates; on the other is
+      the corral, a narrow place, encompassed by the high clay walls, where at
+      night, or in presence of dangerous Indians, the horses and mules of the
+      fort are crowded for safe-keeping. The main entrance has two gates, with
+      an arched passage intervening. A little square window, quite high above
+      the ground, opens laterally from an adjoining chamber into this passage;
+      so that when the inner gate is closed and barred, a person without may
+      still hold communication with those within through this narrow aperture.
+      This obviates the necessity of admitting suspicious Indians, for purposes
+      of trading, into the body of the fort; for when danger is apprehended, the
+      inner gate is shut fast, and all traffic is carried on by means of the
+      little window. This precaution, though highly necessary at some of the
+      company&rsquo;s posts, is now seldom resorted to at Fort Laramie; where, though
+      men are frequently killed in its neighborhood, no apprehensions are now
+      entertained of any general designs of hostility from the Indians.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We did not long enjoy our new quarters undisturbed. The door was silently
+      pushed open, and two eyeballs and a visage as black as night looked in
+      upon us; then a red arm and shoulder intruded themselves, and a tall
+      Indian, gliding in, shook us by the hand, grunted his salutation, and sat
+      down on the floor. Others followed, with faces of the natural hue; and
+      letting fall their heavy robes from their shoulders, they took their
+      seats, quite at ease, in a semicircle before us. The pipe was now to be
+      lighted and passed round from one to another; and this was the only
+      entertainment that at present they expected from us. These visitors were
+      fathers, brothers, or other relatives of the squaws in the fort, where
+      they were permitted to remain, loitering about in perfect idleness. All
+      those who smoked with us were men of standing and repute. Two or three
+      others dropped in also; young fellows who neither by their years nor their
+      exploits were entitled to rank with the old men and warriors, and who,
+      abashed in the presence of their superiors, stood aloof, never withdrawing
+      their eyes from us. Their cheeks were adorned with vermilion, their ears
+      with pendants of shell, and their necks with beads. Never yet having
+      signalized themselves as hunters, or performed the honorable exploit of
+      killing a man, they were held in slight esteem, and were diffident and
+      bashful in proportion. Certain formidable inconveniences attended this
+      influx of visitors. They were bent on inspecting everything in the room;
+      our equipments and our dress alike underwent their scrutiny; for though
+      the contrary has been carelessly asserted, few beings have more curiosity
+      than Indians in regard to subjects within their ordinary range of thought.
+      As to other matters, indeed, they seemed utterly indifferent. They will
+      not trouble themselves to inquire into what they cannot comprehend, but
+      are quite contented to place their hands over their mouths in token of
+      wonder, and exclaim that it is &ldquo;great medicine.&rdquo; With this comprehensive
+      solution, an Indian never is at a loss. He never launches forth into
+      speculation and conjecture; his reason moves in its beaten track. His soul
+      is dormant; and no exertions of the missionaries, Jesuit or Puritan, of
+      the Old World or of the New, have as yet availed to rouse it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As we were looking, at sunset, from the wall, upon the wild and desolate
+      plains that surround the fort, we observed a cluster of strange objects
+      like scaffolds rising in the distance against the red western sky. They
+      bore aloft some singular looking burdens; and at their foot glimmered
+      something white like bones. This was the place of sepulture of some Dakota
+      chiefs, whose remains their people are fond of placing in the vicinity of
+      the fort, in the hope that they may thus be protected from violation at
+      the hands of their enemies. Yet it has happened more than once, and quite
+      recently, that war parties of the Crow Indians, ranging through the
+      country, have thrown the bodies from the scaffolds, and broken them to
+      pieces amid the yells of the Dakotas, who remained pent up in the fort,
+      too few to defend the honored relics from insult. The white objects upon
+      the ground were buffalo skulls, arranged in the mystic circle commonly
+      seen at Indian places of sepulture upon the prairie.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We soon discovered, in the twilight, a band of fifty or sixty horses
+      approaching the fort. These were the animals belonging to the
+      establishment; who having been sent out to feed, under the care of armed
+      guards, in the meadows below, were now being driven into the corral for
+      the night. A little gate opened into this inclosure; by the side of it
+      stood one of the guards, an old Canadian, with gray bushy eyebrows, and a
+      dragoon pistol stuck into his belt; while his comrade, mounted on
+      horseback, his rifle laid across the saddle in front of him, and his long
+      hair blowing before his swarthy face, rode at the rear of the disorderly
+      troop, urging them up the ascent. In a moment the narrow corral was
+      thronged with the half-wild horses, kicking, biting, and crowding
+      restlessly together.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The discordant jingling of a bell, rung by a Canadian in the area,
+      summoned us to supper. This sumptuous repast was served on a rough table
+      in one of the lower apartments of the fort, and consisted of cakes of
+      bread and dried buffalo meat&mdash;an excellent thing for strengthening
+      the teeth. At this meal were seated the bourgeois and superior dignitaries
+      of the establishment, among whom Henry Chatillon was worthily included. No
+      sooner was it finished, than the table was spread a second time (the
+      luxury of bread being now, however, omitted), for the benefit of certain
+      hunters and trappers of an inferior standing; while the ordinary Canadian
+      ENGAGES were regaled on dried meat in one of their lodging rooms. By way
+      of illustrating the domestic economy of Fort Laramie, it may not be amiss
+      to introduce in this place a story current among the men when we were
+      there.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was an old man named Pierre, whose duty it was to bring the meat
+      from the storeroom for the men. Old Pierre, in the kindness of his heart,
+      used to select the fattest and the best pieces for his companions. This
+      did not long escape the keen-eyed bourgeois, who was greatly disturbed at
+      such improvidence, and cast about for some means to stop it. At last he
+      hit on a plan that exactly suited him. At the side of the meat-room, and
+      separated from it by a clay partition, was another compartment, used for
+      the storage of furs. It had no other communication with the fort, except
+      through a square hole in the partition; and of course it was perfectly
+      dark. One evening the bourgeois, watching for a moment when no one
+      observed him, dodged into the meat-room, clambered through the hole, and
+      ensconced himself among the furs and buffalo robes. Soon after, old Pierre
+      came in with his lantern; and, muttering to himself, began to pull over
+      the bales of meat, and select the best pieces, as usual. But suddenly a
+      hollow and sepulchral voice proceeded from the inner apartment: &ldquo;Pierre!
+      Pierre! Let that fat meat alone! Take nothing but lean!&rdquo; Pierre dropped
+      his lantern, and bolted out into the fort, screaming, in an agony of
+      terror, that the devil was in the storeroom; but tripping on the
+      threshold, he pitched over upon the gravel, and lay senseless, stunned by
+      the fall. The Canadians ran out to the rescue. Some lifted the unlucky
+      Pierre; and others, making an extempore crucifix out of two sticks, were
+      proceeding to attack the devil in his stronghold, when the bourgeois, with
+      a crest-fallen countenance, appeared at the door. To add to the bourgeois&rsquo;
+      mortification, he was obliged to explain the whole stratagem to Pierre, in
+      order to bring the latter to his senses.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We were sitting, on the following morning, in the passage-way between the
+      gates, conversing with the traders Vaskiss and May. These two men,
+      together with our sleek friend, the clerk Montalon, were, I believe, the
+      only persons then in the fort who could read and write. May was telling a
+      curious story about the traveler Catlin, when an ugly, diminutive Indian,
+      wretchedly mounted, came up at a gallop, and rode past us into the fort.
+      On being questioned, he said that Smoke&rsquo;s village was close at hand.
+      Accordingly only a few minutes elapsed before the hills beyond the river
+      were covered with a disorderly swarm of savages, on horseback and on foot.
+      May finished his story; and by that time the whole array had descended to
+      Laramie Creek, and commenced crossing it in a mass. I walked down to the
+      bank. The stream is wide, and was then between three and four feet deep,
+      with a very swift current. For several rods the water was alive with dogs,
+      horses, and Indians. The long poles used in erecting the lodges are
+      carried by the horses, being fastened by the heavier end, two or three on
+      each side, to a rude sort of pack saddle, while the other end drags on the
+      ground. About a foot behind the horse, a kind of large basket or pannier
+      is suspended between the poles, and firmly lashed in its place on the back
+      of the horse are piled various articles of luggage; the basket also is
+      well filled with domestic utensils, or, quite as often, with a litter of
+      puppies, a brood of small children, or a superannuated old man. Numbers of
+      these curious vehicles, called, in the bastard language of the country
+      travaux were now splashing together through the stream. Among them swam
+      countless dogs, often burdened with miniature travaux; and dashing forward
+      on horseback through the throng came the superbly formed warriors, the
+      slender figure of some lynx-eyed boy, clinging fast behind them. The women
+      sat perched on the pack saddles, adding not a little to the load of the
+      already overburdened horses. The confusion was prodigious. The dogs yelled
+      and howled in chorus; the puppies in the travaux set up a dismal whine as
+      the water invaded their comfortable retreat; the little black-eyed
+      children, from one year of age upward, clung fast with both hands to the
+      edge of their basket, and looked over in alarm at the water rushing so
+      near them, sputtering and making wry mouths as it splashed against their
+      faces. Some of the dogs, encumbered by their loads, were carried down by
+      the current, yelping piteously; and the old squaws would rush into the
+      water, seize their favorites by the neck, and drag them out. As each horse
+      gained the bank, he scrambled up as he could. Stray horses and colts came
+      among the rest, often breaking away at full speed through the crowd,
+      followed by the old hags, screaming after their fashion on all occasions
+      of excitement. Buxom young squaws, blooming in all the charms of
+      vermilion, stood here and there on the bank, holding aloft their master&rsquo;s
+      lance, as a signal to collect the scattered portions of his household. In
+      a few moments the crowd melted away; each family, with its horses and
+      equipage, filing off to the plain at the rear of the fort; and here, in
+      the space of half an hour, arose sixty or seventy of their tapering
+      lodges. Their horses were feeding by hundreds over the surrounding
+      prairie, and their dogs were roaming everywhere. The fort was full of men,
+      and the children were whooping and yelling incessantly under the walls.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These newcomers were scarcely arrived, when Bordeaux was running across
+      the fort, shouting to his squaw to bring him his spyglass. The obedient
+      Marie, the very model of a squaw, produced the instrument, and Bordeaux
+      hurried with it up to the wall. Pointing it to the eastward, he exclaimed,
+      with an oath, that the families were coming. But a few moments elapsed
+      before the heavy caravan of the emigrant wagons could be seen, steadily
+      advancing from the hills. They gained the river, and without turning or
+      pausing plunged in; they passed through, and slowly ascending the opposing
+      bank, kept directly on their way past the fort and the Indian village,
+      until, gaining a spot a quarter of a mile distant, they wheeled into a
+      circle. For some time our tranquillity was undisturbed. The emigrants were
+      preparing their encampment; but no sooner was this accomplished than Fort
+      Laramie was fairly taken by storm. A crowd of broad-brimmed hats, thin
+      visages, and staring eyes appeared suddenly at the gate. Tall awkward men,
+      in brown homespun; women with cadaverous faces and long lank figures came
+      thronging in together, and, as if inspired by the very demon of curiosity,
+      ransacked every nook and corner of the fort. Dismayed at this invasion, we
+      withdrew in all speed to our chamber, vainly hoping that it might prove an
+      inviolable sanctuary. The emigrants prosecuted their investigations with
+      untiring vigor. They penetrated the rooms or rather dens, inhabited by the
+      astonished squaws. They explored the apartments of the men, and even that
+      of Marie and the bourgeois. At last a numerous deputation appeared at our
+      door, but were immediately expelled. Being totally devoid of any sense of
+      delicacy or propriety, they seemed resolved to search every mystery to the
+      bottom.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Having at length satisfied their curiosity, they next proceeded to
+      business. The men occupied themselves in procuring supplies for their
+      onward journey; either buying them with money or giving in exchange
+      superfluous articles of their own.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The emigrants felt a violent prejudice against the French Indians, as they
+      called the trappers and traders. They thought, and with some justice, that
+      these men bore them no good will. Many of them were firmly persuaded that
+      the French were instigating the Indians to attack and cut them off. On
+      visiting the encampment we were at once struck with the extraordinary
+      perplexity and indecision that prevailed among the emigrants. They seemed
+      like men totally out of their elements; bewildered and amazed, like a
+      troop of school-boys lost in the woods. It was impossible to be long among
+      them without being conscious of the high and bold spirit with which most
+      of them were animated. But the FOREST is the home of the backwoodsman. On
+      the remote prairie he is totally at a loss. He differs much from the
+      genuine &ldquo;mountain man,&rdquo; the wild prairie hunter, as a Canadian voyageur,
+      paddling his canoe on the rapids of the Ottawa, differs from an American
+      sailor among the storms of Cape Horn. Still my companion and I were
+      somewhat at a loss to account for this perturbed state of mind. It could
+      not be cowardice; these men were of the same stock with the volunteers of
+      Monterey and Buena Vista. Yet, for the most part, they were the rudest and
+      most ignorant of the frontier population; they knew absolutely nothing of
+      the country and its inhabitants; they had already experienced much
+      misfortune, and apprehended more; they had seen nothing of mankind, and
+      had never put their own resources to the test.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A full proportion of suspicion fell upon us. Being strangers we were
+      looked upon as enemies. Having occasion for a supply of lead and a few
+      other necessary articles, we used to go over to the emigrant camps to
+      obtain them. After some hesitation, some dubious glances, and fumbling of
+      the hands in the pockets, the terms would be agreed upon, the price
+      tendered, and the emigrant would go off to bring the article in question.
+      After waiting until our patience gave out, we would go in search of him,
+      and find him seated on the tongue of his wagon.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, stranger,&rdquo; he would observe, as he saw us approach, &ldquo;I reckon I
+      won&rsquo;t trade!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Some friend of his followed him from the scene of the bargain and
+      suggested in his ear, that clearly we meant to cheat him, and he had
+      better have nothing to do with us.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This timorous mood of the emigrants was doubly unfortunate, as it exposed
+      them to real danger. Assume, in the presence of Indians a bold bearing,
+      self-confident yet vigilant, and you will find them tolerably safe
+      neighbors. But your safety depends on the respect and fear you are able to
+      inspire. If you betray timidity or indecision, you convert them from that
+      moment into insidious and dangerous enemies. The Dakotas saw clearly
+      enough the perturbation of the emigrants and instantly availed themselves
+      of it. They became extremely insolent and exacting in their demands. It
+      has become an established custom with them to go to the camp of every
+      party, as it arrives in succession at the fort, and demand a feast.
+      Smoke&rsquo;s village had come with the express design, having made several
+      days&rsquo; journey with no other object than that of enjoying a cup of coffee
+      and two or three biscuits. So the &ldquo;feast&rdquo; was demanded, and the emigrants
+      dared not refuse it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One evening, about sunset, the village was deserted. We met old men,
+      warriors, squaws, and children in gay attire, trooping off to the
+      encampment, with faces of anticipation; and, arriving here, they seated
+      themselves in a semicircle. Smoke occupied the center, with his warriors
+      on either hand; the young men and boys next succeeded, and the squaws and
+      children formed the horns of the crescent. The biscuit and coffee were
+      most promptly dispatched, the emigrants staring open-mouthed at their
+      savage guests. With each new emigrant party that arrived at Fort Laramie
+      this scene was renewed; and every day the Indians grew more rapacious and
+      presumptuous. One evening they broke to pieces, out of mere wantonness,
+      the cups from which they had been feasted; and this so exasperated the
+      emigrants that many of them seized their rifles and could scarcely be
+      restrained from firing on the insolent mob of Indians. Before we left the
+      country this dangerous spirit on the part of the Dakota had mounted to a
+      yet higher pitch. They began openly to threaten the emigrants with
+      destruction, and actually fired upon one or two parties of whites. A
+      military force and military law are urgently called for in that perilous
+      region; and unless troops are speedily stationed at Fort Laramie, or
+      elsewhere in the neighborhood, both the emigrants and other travelers will
+      be exposed to most imminent risks.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Ogallalla, the Brules, and other western bands of the Dakota, are
+      thorough savages, unchanged by any contact with civilization. Not one of
+      them can speak a European tongue, or has ever visited an American
+      settlement. Until within a year or two, when the emigrants began to pass
+      through their country on the way to Oregon, they had seen no whites except
+      the handful employed about the Fur Company&rsquo;s posts. They esteemed them a
+      wise people, inferior only to themselves, living in leather lodges, like
+      their own, and subsisting on buffalo. But when the swarm of MENEASKA, with
+      their oxen and wagons, began to invade them, their astonishment was
+      unbounded. They could scarcely believe that the earth contained such a
+      multitude of white men. Their wonder is now giving way to indignation; and
+      the result, unless vigilantly guarded against, may be lamentable in the
+      extreme.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But to glance at the interior of a lodge. Shaw and I used often to visit
+      them. Indeed, we spent most of our evenings in the Indian village; Shaw&rsquo;s
+      assumption of the medical character giving us a fair pretext. As a sample
+      of the rest I will describe one of these visits. The sun had just set, and
+      the horses were driven into the corral. The Prairie Cock, a noted beau,
+      came in at the gate with a bevy of young girls, with whom he began to
+      dance in the area, leading them round and round in a circle, while he
+      jerked up from his chest a succession of monotonous sounds, to which they
+      kept time in a rueful chant. Outside the gate boys and young men were idly
+      frolicking; and close by, looking grimly upon them, stood a warrior in his
+      robe, with his face painted jet-black, in token that he had lately taken a
+      Pawnee scalp. Passing these, the tall dark lodges rose between us and the
+      red western sky. We repaired at once to the lodge of Old Smoke himself. It
+      was by no means better than the others; indeed, it was rather shabby; for
+      in this democratic community, the chief never assumes superior state.
+      Smoke sat cross-legged on a buffalo robe, and his grunt of salutation as
+      we entered was unusually cordial, out of respect no doubt to Shaw&rsquo;s
+      medical character. Seated around the lodge were several squaws, and an
+      abundance of children. The complaint of Shaw&rsquo;s patients was, for the most
+      part, a severe inflammation of the eyes, occasioned by exposure to the
+      sun, a species of disorder which he treated with some success. He had
+      brought with him a homeopathic medicine chest, and was, I presume, the
+      first who introduced that harmless system of treatment among the
+      Ogallalla. No sooner had a robe been spread at the head of the lodge for
+      our accommodation, and we had seated ourselves upon it, than a patient
+      made her appearance; the chief&rsquo;s daughter herself, who, to do her justice,
+      was the best-looking girl in the village. Being on excellent terms with
+      the physician, she placed herself readily under his hands, and submitted
+      with a good grace to his applications, laughing in his face during the
+      whole process, for a squaw hardly knows how to smile. This case
+      dispatched, another of a different kind succeeded. A hideous, emaciated
+      old woman sat in the darkest corner of the lodge rocking to and fro with
+      pain and hiding her eyes from the light by pressing the palms of both
+      hands against her face. At Smoke&rsquo;s command, she came forward, very
+      unwillingly, and exhibited a pair of eyes that had nearly disappeared from
+      excess of inflammation. No sooner had the doctor fastened his grips upon
+      her than she set up a dismal moaning, and writhed so in his grasp that he
+      lost all patience, but being resolved to carry his point, he succeeded at
+      last in applying his favorite remedies.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is strange,&rdquo; he said, when the operation was finished, &ldquo;that I forgot
+      to bring any Spanish flies with me; we must have something here to answer
+      for a counter-irritant!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So, in the absence of better, he seized upon a red-hot brand from the
+      fire, and clapped it against the temple of the old squaw, who set up an
+      unearthly howl, at which the rest of the family broke out into a laugh.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      During these medical operations Smoke&rsquo;s eldest squaw entered the lodge,
+      with a sort of stone mallet in her hand. I had observed some time before a
+      litter of well-grown black puppies, comfortably nestled among some buffalo
+      robes at one side; but this newcomer speedily disturbed their enjoyment;
+      for seizing one of them by the hind paw, she dragged him out, and carrying
+      him to the entrance of the lodge, hammered him on the head till she killed
+      him. Being quite conscious to what this preparation tended, I looked
+      through a hole in the back of the lodge to see the next steps of the
+      process. The squaw, holding the puppy by the legs, was swinging him to and
+      fro through the blaze of a fire, until the hair was singed off. This done,
+      she unsheathed her knife and cut him into small pieces, which she dropped
+      into a kettle to boil. In a few moments a large wooden dish was set before
+      us, filled with this delicate preparation. We felt conscious of the honor.
+      A dog-feast is the greatest compliment a Dakota can offer to his guest;
+      and knowing that to refuse eating would be an affront, we attacked the
+      little dog and devoured him before the eyes of his unconscious parent.
+      Smoke in the meantime was preparing his great pipe. It was lighted when we
+      had finished our repast, and we passed it from one to another till the
+      bowl was empty. This done, we took our leave without further ceremony,
+      knocked at the gate of the fort, and after making ourselves known were
+      admitted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One morning, about a week after reaching Fort Laramie, we were holding our
+      customary Indian levee, when a bustle in the area below announced a new
+      arrival; and looking down from our balcony, I saw a familiar red beard and
+      mustache in the gateway. They belonged to the captain, who with his party
+      had just crossed the stream. We met him on the stairs as he came up, and
+      congratulated him on the safe arrival of himself and his devoted
+      companions. But he remembered our treachery, and was grave and dignified
+      accordingly; a tendency which increased as he observed on our part a
+      disposition to laugh at him. After remaining an hour or two at the fort he
+      rode away with his friends, and we have heard nothing of him since. As for
+      R., he kept carefully aloof. It was but too evident that we had the
+      unhappiness to have forfeited the kind regards of our London
+      fellow-traveler.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0010" id="link2HCH0010">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER X
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      THE WAR PARTIES
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      The summer of 1846 was a season of much warlike excitement among all the
+      western bands of the Dakota. In 1845 they encountered great reverses. Many
+      war parties had been sent out; some of them had been totally cut off, and
+      others had returned broken and disheartened, so that the whole nation was
+      in mourning. Among the rest, ten warriors had gone to the Snake country,
+      led by the son of a prominent Ogallalla chief, called The Whirlwind. In
+      passing over Laramie Plains they encountered a superior number of their
+      enemies, were surrounded, and killed to a man. Having performed this
+      exploit the Snakes became alarmed, dreading the resentment of the Dakota,
+      and they hastened therefore to signify their wish for peace by sending the
+      scalp of the slain partisan, together with a small parcel of tobacco
+      attached, to his tribesmen and relations. They had employed old Vaskiss,
+      the trader, as their messenger, and the scalp was the same that hung in
+      our room at the fort. But The Whirlwind proved inexorable. Though his
+      character hardly corresponds with his name, he is nevertheless an Indian,
+      and hates the Snakes with his whole soul. Long before the scalp arrived he
+      had made his preparations for revenge. He sent messengers with presents
+      and tobacco to all the Dakota within three hundred miles, proposing a
+      grand combination to chastise the Snakes, and naming a place and time of
+      rendezvous. The plan was readily adopted and at this moment many villages,
+      probably embracing in the whole five or six thousand souls, were slowly
+      creeping over the prairies and tending towards the common center at La
+      Bonte&rsquo;s Camp, on the Platte. Here their war-like rites were to be
+      celebrated with more than ordinary solemnity, and a thousand warriors, as
+      it was said, were to set out for the enemy country. The characteristic
+      result of this preparation will appear in the sequel.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I was greatly rejoiced to hear of it. I had come into the country almost
+      exclusively with a view of observing the Indian character. Having from
+      childhood felt a curiosity on this subject, and having failed completely
+      to gratify it by reading, I resolved to have recourse to observation. I
+      wished to satisfy myself with regard to the position of the Indians among
+      the races of men; the vices and the virtues that have sprung from their
+      innate character and from their modes of life, their government, their
+      superstitions, and their domestic situation. To accomplish my purpose it
+      was necessary to live in the midst of them, and become, as it were, one of
+      them. I proposed to join a village and make myself an inmate of one of
+      their lodges; and henceforward this narrative, so far as I am concerned,
+      will be chiefly a record of the progress of this design apparently so easy
+      of accomplishment, and the unexpected impediments that opposed it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We resolved on no account to miss the rendezvous at La Bonte&rsquo;s Camp. Our
+      plan was to leave Delorier at the fort, in charge of our equipage and the
+      better part of our horses, while we took with us nothing but our weapons
+      and the worst animals we had. In all probability jealousies and quarrels
+      would arise among so many hordes of fierce impulsive savages, congregated
+      together under no common head, and many of them strangers, from remote
+      prairies and mountains. We were bound in common prudence to be cautious
+      how we excited any feeling of cupidity. This was our plan, but unhappily
+      we were not destined to visit La Bonte&rsquo;s Camp in this manner; for one
+      morning a young Indian came to the fort and brought us evil tidings. The
+      newcomer was a dandy of the first water. His ugly face was painted with
+      vermilion; on his head fluttered the tail of a prairie cock (a large
+      species of pheasant, not found, as I have heard, eastward of the Rocky
+      Mountains); in his ears were hung pendants of shell, and a flaming red
+      blanket was wrapped around him. He carried a dragoon sword in his hand,
+      solely for display, since the knife, the arrow, and the rifle are the
+      arbiters of every prairie fight; but no one in this country goes abroad
+      unarmed, the dandy carried a bow and arrows in an otter-skin quiver at his
+      back. In this guise, and bestriding his yellow horse with an air of
+      extreme dignity, The Horse, for that was his name, rode in at the gate,
+      turning neither to the right nor the left, but casting glances askance at
+      the groups of squaws who, with their mongrel progeny, were sitting in the
+      sun before their doors. The evil tidings brought by The Horse were of the
+      following import: The squaw of Henry Chatillon, a woman with whom he had
+      been connected for years by the strongest ties which in that country exist
+      between the sexes, was dangerously ill. She and her children were in the
+      village of The Whirlwind, at the distance of a few days&rsquo; journey. Henry
+      was anxious to see the woman before she died, and provide for the safety
+      and support of his children, of whom he was extremely fond. To have
+      refused him this would have been gross inhumanity. We abandoned our plan
+      of joining Smoke&rsquo;s village, and of proceeding with it to the rendezvous,
+      and determined to meet The Whirlwind, and go in his company.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I had been slightly ill for several weeks, but on the third night after
+      reaching Fort Laramie a violent pain awoke me, and I found myself attacked
+      by the same disorder that occasioned such heavy losses to the army on the
+      Rio Grande. In a day and a half I was reduced to extreme weakness, so that
+      I could not walk without pain and effort. Having within that time taken
+      six grains of opium, without the least beneficial effect, and having no
+      medical adviser, nor any choice of diet, I resolved to throw myself upon
+      Providence for recovery, using, without regard to the disorder, any
+      portion of strength that might remain to me. So on the 20th of June we set
+      out from Fort Laramie to meet The Whirlwind&rsquo;s village. Though aided by the
+      high-bowed &ldquo;mountain saddle,&rdquo; I could scarcely keep my seat on horseback.
+      Before we left the fort we hired another man, a long-haired Canadian, with
+      a face like an owl&rsquo;s, contrasting oddly enough with Delorier&rsquo;s mercurial
+      countenance. This was not the only re-enforcement to our party. A vagrant
+      Indian trader, named Reynal, joined us, together with his squaw Margot,
+      and her two nephews, our dandy friend, The Horse, and his younger brother,
+      The Hail Storm. Thus accompanied, we betook ourselves to the prairie,
+      leaving the beaten trail, and passing over the desolate hills that flank
+      the bottoms of Laramie Creek. In all, Indians and whites, we counted eight
+      men and one woman.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Reynal, the trader, the image of sleek and selfish complacency, carried
+      The Horse&rsquo;s dragoon sword in his hand, delighting apparently in this
+      useless parade; for, from spending half his life among Indians, he had
+      caught not only their habits but their ideas. Margot, a female animal of
+      more than two hundred pounds&rsquo; weight, was couched in the basket of a
+      travail, such as I have before described; besides her ponderous bulk,
+      various domestic utensils were attached to the vehicle, and she was
+      leading by a trail-rope a packhorse, who carried the covering of Reynal&rsquo;s
+      lodge. Delorier walked briskly by the side of the cart, and Raymond came
+      behind, swearing at the spare horses, which it was his business to drive.
+      The restless young Indians, their quivers at their backs, and their bows
+      in their hand, galloped over the hills, often starting a wolf or an
+      antelope from the thick growth of wild-sage bushes. Shaw and I were in
+      keeping with the rest of the rude cavalcade, having in the absence of
+      other clothing adopted the buckskin attire of the trappers. Henry
+      Chatillon rode in advance of the whole. Thus we passed hill after hill and
+      hollow after hollow, a country arid, broken and so parched by the sun that
+      none of the plants familiar to our more favored soil would flourish upon
+      it, though there were multitudes of strange medicinal herbs, more
+      especially the absanth, which covered every declivity, and cacti were
+      hanging like reptiles at the edges of every ravine. At length we ascended
+      a high hill, our horses treading upon pebbles of flint, agate, and rough
+      jasper, until, gaining the top, we looked down on the wild bottoms of
+      Laramie Creek, which far below us wound like a writhing snake from side to
+      side of the narrow interval, amid a growth of shattered cotton-wood and
+      ash trees. Lines of tall cliffs, white as chalk, shut in this green strip
+      of woods and meadow land, into which we descended and encamped for the
+      night. In the morning we passed a wide grassy plain by the river; there
+      was a grove in front, and beneath its shadows the ruins of an old trading
+      fort of logs. The grove bloomed with myriads of wild roses, with their
+      sweet perfume fraught with recollections of home. As we emerged from the
+      trees, a rattlesnake, as large as a man&rsquo;s arm, and more than four feet
+      long, lay coiled on a rock, fiercely rattling and hissing at us; a gray
+      hare, double the size of those in New England, leaped up from the tall
+      ferns; curlew were screaming over our heads, and a whole host of little
+      prairie dogs sat yelping at us at the mouths of their burrows on the dry
+      plain beyond. Suddenly an antelope leaped up from the wild-sage bushes,
+      gazed eagerly at us, and then, erecting his white tail, stretched away
+      like a greyhound. The two Indian boys found a white wolf, as large as a
+      calf in a hollow, and giving a sharp yell, they galloped after him; but
+      the wolf leaped into the stream and swam across. Then came the crack of a
+      rifle, the bullet whistling harmlessly over his head, as he scrambled up
+      the steep declivity, rattling down stones and earth into the water below.
+      Advancing a little, we beheld on the farther bank of the stream, a
+      spectacle not common even in that region; for, emerging from among the
+      trees, a herd of some two hundred elk came out upon the meadow, their
+      antlers clattering as they walked forward in dense throng. Seeing us, they
+      broke into a run, rushing across the opening and disappearing among the
+      trees and scattered groves. On our left was a barren prairie, stretching
+      to the horizon; on our right, a deep gulf, with Laramie Creek at the
+      bottom. We found ourselves at length at the edge of a steep descent; a
+      narrow valley, with long rank grass and scattered trees stretching before
+      us for a mile or more along the course of the stream. Reaching the farther
+      end, we stopped and encamped. An old huge cotton-wood tree spread its
+      branches horizontally over our tent. Laramie Creek, circling before our
+      camp, half inclosed us; it swept along the bottom of a line of tall white
+      cliffs that looked down on us from the farther bank. There were dense
+      copses on our right; the cliffs, too, were half hidden by shrubbery,
+      though behind us a few cotton-wood trees, dotting the green prairie, alone
+      impeded the view, and friend or enemy could be discerned in that direction
+      at a mile&rsquo;s distance. Here we resolved to remain and await the arrival of
+      The Whirlwind, who would certainly pass this way in his progress toward La
+      Bonte&rsquo;s Camp. To go in search of him was not expedient, both on account of
+      the broken and impracticable nature of the country and the uncertainty of
+      his position and movements; besides, our horses were almost worn out, and
+      I was in no condition to travel. We had good grass, good water, tolerable
+      fish from the stream, and plenty of smaller game, such as antelope and
+      deer, though no buffalo. There was one little drawback to our satisfaction&mdash;a
+      certain extensive tract of bushes and dried grass, just behind us, which
+      it was by no means advisable to enter, since it sheltered a numerous brood
+      of rattlesnakes. Henry Chatillon again dispatched The Horse to the
+      village, with a message to his squaw that she and her relatives should
+      leave the rest and push on as rapidly as possible to our camp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Our daily routine soon became as regular as that of a well-ordered
+      household. The weather-beaten old tree was in the center; our rifles
+      generally rested against its vast trunk, and our saddles were flung on the
+      ground around it; its distorted roots were so twisted as to form one or
+      two convenient arm-chairs, where we could sit in the shade and read or
+      smoke; but meal-times became, on the whole, the most interesting hours of
+      the day, and a bountiful provision was made for them. An antelope or a
+      deer usually swung from a stout bough, and haunches were suspended against
+      the trunk. That camp is daguerreotyped on my memory; the old tree, the
+      white tent, with Shaw sleeping in the shadow of it, and Reynal&rsquo;s miserable
+      lodge close by the bank of the stream. It was a wretched oven-shaped
+      structure, made of begrimed and tattered buffalo hides stretched over a
+      frame of poles; one side was open, and at the side of the opening hung the
+      powder horn and bullet pouch of the owner, together with his long red
+      pipe, and a rich quiver of otterskin, with a bow and arrows; for Reynal,
+      an Indian in most things but color, chose to hunt buffalo with these
+      primitive weapons. In the darkness of this cavern-like habitation, might
+      be discerned Madame Margot, her overgrown bulk stowed away among her
+      domestic implements, furs, robes, blankets, and painted cases of PAR&rsquo;
+      FLECHE, in which dried meat is kept. Here she sat from sunrise to sunset,
+      a bloated impersonation of gluttony and laziness, while her affectionate
+      proprietor was smoking, or begging petty gifts from us, or telling lies
+      concerning his own achievements, or perchance engaged in the more
+      profitable occupation of cooking some preparation of prairie delicacies.
+      Reynal was an adept at this work; he and Delorier have joined forces and
+      are hard at work together over the fire, while Raymond spreads, by way of
+      tablecloth, a buffalo hide, carefully whitened with pipeclay, on the grass
+      before the tent. Here, with ostentatious display, he arranges the teacups
+      and plates; and then, creeping on all fours like a dog, he thrusts his
+      head in at the opening of the tent. For a moment we see his round owlish
+      eyes rolling wildly, as if the idea he came to communicate had suddenly
+      escaped him; then collecting his scattered thoughts, as if by an effort,
+      he informs us that supper is ready, and instantly withdraws.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When sunset came, and at that hour the wild and desolate scene would
+      assume a new aspect, the horses were driven in. They had been grazing all
+      day in the neighboring meadow, but now they were picketed close about the
+      camp. As the prairie darkened we sat and conversed around the fire, until
+      becoming drowsy we spread our saddles on the ground, wrapped our blankets
+      around us and lay down. We never placed a guard, having by this time
+      become too indolent; but Henry Chatillon folded his loaded rifle in the
+      same blanket with himself, observing that he always took it to bed with
+      him when he camped in that place. Henry was too bold a man to use such a
+      precaution without good cause. We had a hint now and then that our
+      situation was none of the safest; several Crow war parties were known to
+      be in the vicinity, and one of them, that passed here some time before,
+      had peeled the bark from a neighboring tree, and engraved upon the white
+      wood certain hieroglyphics, to signify that they had invaded the
+      territories of their enemies, the Dakota, and set them at defiance. One
+      morning a thick mist covered the whole country. Shaw and Henry went out to
+      ride, and soon came back with a startling piece of intelligence; they had
+      found within rifle-shot of our camp the recent trail of about thirty
+      horsemen. They could not be whites, and they could not be Dakota, since we
+      knew no such parties to be in the neighborhood; therefore they must be
+      Crows. Thanks to that friendly mist, we had escaped a hard battle; they
+      would inevitably have attacked us and our Indian companions had they seen
+      our camp. Whatever doubts we might have entertained, were quite removed a
+      day or two after, by two or three Dakota, who came to us with an account
+      of having hidden in a ravine on that very morning, from whence they saw
+      and counted the Crows; they said that they followed them, carefully
+      keeping out of sight, as they passed up Chugwater; that here the Crows
+      discovered five dead bodies of Dakota, placed according to the national
+      custom in trees, and flinging them to the ground, they held their guns
+      against them and blew them to atoms.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If our camp were not altogether safe, still it was comfortable enough; at
+      least it was so to Shaw, for I was tormented with illness and vexed by the
+      delay in the accomplishment of my designs. When a respite in my disorder
+      gave me some returning strength, I rode out well-armed upon the prairie,
+      or bathed with Shaw in the stream, or waged a petty warfare with the
+      inhabitants of a neighborhood prairie-dog village. Around our fire at
+      night we employed ourselves in inveighing against the fickleness and
+      inconstancy of Indians, and execrating The Whirlwind and all his village.
+      At last the thing grew insufferable.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To-morrow morning,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;I will start for the fort, and see if I can
+      hear any news there.&rdquo; Late that evening, when the fire had sunk low, and
+      all the camp were asleep, a loud cry sounded from the darkness. Henry
+      started up, recognized the voice, replied to it, and our dandy friend, The
+      Horse, rode in among us, just returned from his mission to the village. He
+      coolly picketed his mare, without saying a word, sat down by the fire and
+      began to eat, but his imperturbable philosophy was too much for our
+      patience. Where was the village? about fifty miles south of us; it was
+      moving slowly and would not arrive in less than a week; and where was
+      Henry&rsquo;s squaw? coming as fast as she could with Mahto-Tatonka, and the
+      rest of her brothers, but she would never reach us, for she was dying, and
+      asking every moment for Henry. Henry&rsquo;s manly face became clouded and
+      downcast; he said that if we were willing he would go in the morning to
+      find her, at which Shaw offered to accompany him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We saddled our horses at sunrise. Reynal protested vehemently against
+      being left alone, with nobody but the two Canadians and the young Indians,
+      when enemies were in the neighborhood. Disregarding his complaints, we
+      left him, and coming to the mouth of Chugwater, separated, Shaw and Henry
+      turning to the right, up the bank of the stream, while I made for the
+      fort.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Taking leave for a while of my friend and the unfortunate squaw, I will
+      relate by way of episode what I saw and did at Fort Laramie. It was not
+      more than eighteen miles distant, and I reached it in three hours; a
+      shriveled little figure, wrapped from head to foot in a dingy white
+      Canadian capote, stood in the gateway, holding by a cord of bull&rsquo;s hide a
+      shaggy wild horse, which he had lately caught. His sharp prominent
+      features, and his little keen snakelike eyes, looked out from beneath the
+      shadowy hood of the capote, which was drawn over his head exactly like the
+      cowl of a Capuchin friar. His face was extremely thin and like an old
+      piece of leather, and his mouth spread from ear to ear. Extending his long
+      wiry hand, he welcomed me with something more cordial than the ordinary
+      cold salute of an Indian, for we were excellent friends. He had made an
+      exchange of horses to our mutual advantage; and Paul, thinking himself
+      well-treated, had declared everywhere that the white man had a good heart.
+      He was a Dakota from the Missouri, a reputed son of the half-breed
+      interpreter, Pierre Dorion, so often mentioned in Irving&rsquo;s &ldquo;Astoria.&rdquo; He
+      said that he was going to Richard&rsquo;s trading house to sell his horse to
+      some emigrants who were encamped there, and asked me to go with him. We
+      forded the stream together, Paul dragging his wild charge behind him. As
+      we passed over the sandy plains beyond, he grew quite communicative. Paul
+      was a cosmopolitan in his way; he had been to the settlements of the
+      whites, and visited in peace and war most of the tribes within the range
+      of a thousand miles. He spoke a jargon of French and another of English,
+      yet nevertheless he was a thorough Indian; and as he told of the bloody
+      deeds of his own people against their enemies, his little eye would
+      glitter with a fierce luster. He told how the Dakota exterminated a
+      village of the Hohays on the Upper Missouri, slaughtering men, women, and
+      children; and how an overwhelming force of them cut off sixteen of the
+      brave Delawares, who fought like wolves to the last, amid the throng of
+      their enemies. He told me also another story, which I did not believe
+      until I had it confirmed from so many independent sources that no room was
+      left for doubt. I am tempted to introduce it here.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Six years ago a fellow named Jim Beckwith, a mongrel of French, American,
+      and negro blood, was trading for the Fur Company, in a very large village
+      of the Crows. Jim Beckwith was last summer at St. Louis. He is a ruffian
+      of the first stamp; bloody and treacherous, without honor or honesty; such
+      at least is the character he bears upon the prairie. Yet in his case all
+      the standard rules of character fail, for though he will stab a man in his
+      sleep, he will also perform most desperate acts of daring; such, for
+      instance, as the following: While he was in the Crow village, a Blackfoot
+      war party, between thirty and forty in number came stealing through the
+      country, killing stragglers and carrying off horses. The Crow warriors got
+      upon their trail and pressed them so closely that they could not escape,
+      at which the Blackfeet, throwing up a semicircular breastwork of logs at
+      the foot of a precipice, coolly awaited their approach. The logs and
+      sticks, piled four or five high, protected them in front. The Crows might
+      have swept over the breastwork and exterminated their enemies; but though
+      out-numbering them tenfold, they did not dream of storming the little
+      fortification. Such a proceeding would be altogether repugnant to their
+      notions of warfare. Whooping and yelling, and jumping from side to side
+      like devils incarnate, they showered bullets and arrows upon the logs; not
+      a Blackfoot was hurt, but several Crows, in spite of their leaping and
+      dodging, were shot down. In this childish manner the fight went on for an
+      hour or two. Now and then a Crow warrior in an ecstasy of valor and
+      vainglory would scream forth his war song, boasting himself the bravest
+      and greatest of mankind, and grasping his hatchet, would rush up and
+      strike it upon the breastwork, and then as he retreated to his companions,
+      fall dead under a shower of arrows; yet no combined attack seemed to be
+      dreamed of. The Blackfeet remained secure in their intrenchment. At last
+      Jim Beckwith lost patience.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are all fools and old women,&rdquo; he said to the Crows; &ldquo;come with me, if
+      any of you are brave enough, and I will show you how to fight.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He threw off his trapper&rsquo;s frock of buckskin and stripped himself naked
+      like the Indians themselves. He left his rifle on the ground, and taking
+      in his hand a small light hatchet, he ran over the prairie to the right,
+      concealed by a hollow from the eyes of the Blackfeet. Then climbing up the
+      rocks, he gained the top of the precipice behind them. Forty or fifty
+      young Crow warriors followed him. By the cries and whoops that rose from
+      below he knew that the Blackfeet were just beneath him; and running
+      forward, he leaped down the rock into the midst of them. As he fell he
+      caught one by the long loose hair and dragging him down tomahawked him;
+      then grasping another by the belt at his waist, he struck him also a
+      stunning blow, and gaining his feet, shouted the Crow war-cry. He swung
+      his hatchet so fiercely around him that the astonished Blackfeet bore back
+      and gave him room. He might, had he chosen, have leaped over the
+      breastwork and escaped; but this was not necessary, for with devilish
+      yells the Crow warriors came dropping in quick succession over the rock
+      among their enemies. The main body of the Crows, too, answered the cry
+      from the front and rushed up simultaneously. The convulsive struggle
+      within the breastwork was frightful; for an instant the Blackfeet fought
+      and yelled like pent-up tigers; but the butchery was soon complete, and
+      the mangled bodies lay piled up together under the precipice. Not a
+      Blackfoot made his escape.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As Paul finished his story we came in sight of Richard&rsquo;s Fort. It stood in
+      the middle of the plain; a disorderly crowd of men around it, and an
+      emigrant camp a little in front.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now, Paul,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;where are your Winnicongew lodges?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not come yet,&rdquo; said Paul, &ldquo;maybe come to-morrow.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Two large villages of a band of Dakota had come three hundred miles from
+      the Missouri, to join in the war, and they were expected to reach
+      Richard&rsquo;s that morning. There was as yet no sign of their approach; so
+      pushing through a noisy, drunken crowd, I entered an apartment of logs and
+      mud, the largest in the fort; it was full of men of various races and
+      complexions, all more or less drunk. A company of California emigrants, it
+      seemed, had made the discovery at this late day that they had encumbered
+      themselves with too many supplies for their journey. A part, therefore,
+      they had thrown away or sold at great loss to the traders, but had
+      determined to get rid of their copious stock of Missouri whisky, by
+      drinking it on the spot. Here were maudlin squaws stretched on piles of
+      buffalo robes; squalid Mexicans, armed with bows and arrows; Indians
+      sedately drunk; long-haired Canadians and trappers, and American
+      backwoodsmen in brown homespun, the well-beloved pistol and bowie knife
+      displayed openly at their sides. In the middle of the room a tall, lank
+      man, with a dingy broadcloth coat, was haranguing the company in the style
+      of the stump orator. With one hand he sawed the air, and with the other
+      clutched firmly a brown jug of whisky, which he applied every moment to
+      his lips, forgetting that he had drained the contents long ago. Richard
+      formally introduced me to this personage, who was no less a man than
+      Colonel R., once the leader of the party. Instantly the colonel seizing
+      me, in the absence of buttons by the leather fringes of my frock, began to
+      define his position. His men, he said, had mutinied and deposed him; but
+      still he exercised over them the influence of a superior mind; in all but
+      the name he was yet their chief. As the colonel spoke, I looked round on
+      the wild assemblage, and could not help thinking that he was but ill
+      qualified to conduct such men across the desert to California. Conspicuous
+      among the rest stood three tail young men, grandsons of Daniel Boone. They
+      had clearly inherited the adventurous character of that prince of
+      pioneers; but I saw no signs of the quiet and tranquil spirit that so
+      remarkably distinguished him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Fearful was the fate that months after overtook some of the members of
+      that party. General Kearny, on his late return from California, brought in
+      the account how they were interrupted by the deep snows among the
+      mountains, and maddened by cold and hunger fed upon each other&rsquo;s flesh.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I got tired of the confusion. &ldquo;Come, Paul,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;we will be off.&rdquo; Paul
+      sat in the sun, under the wall of the fort. He jumped up, mounted, and we
+      rode toward Fort Laramie. When we reached it, a man came out of the gate
+      with a pack at his back and a rifle on his shoulder; others were gathering
+      about him, shaking him by the hand, as if taking leave. I thought it a
+      strange thing that a man should set out alone and on foot for the prairie.
+      I soon got an explanation. Perrault&mdash;this, if I recollect right was
+      the Canadian&rsquo;s name&mdash;had quarreled with the bourgeois, and the fort
+      was too hot to hold him. Bordeaux, inflated with his transient authority,
+      had abused him, and received a blow in return. The men then sprang at each
+      other, and grappled in the middle of the fort. Bordeaux was down in an
+      instant, at the mercy of the incensed Canadian; had not an old Indian, the
+      brother of his squaw, seized hold of his antagonist, he would have fared
+      ill. Perrault broke loose from the old Indian, and both the white men ran
+      to their rooms for their guns; but when Bordeaux, looking from his door,
+      saw the Canadian, gun in hand, standing in the area and calling on him to
+      come out and fight, his heart failed him; he chose to remain where he was.
+      In vain the old Indian, scandalized by his brother-in-law&rsquo;s cowardice,
+      called upon him to go upon the prairie and fight it out in the white man&rsquo;s
+      manner; and Bordeaux&rsquo;s own squaw, equally incensed, screamed to her lord
+      and master that he was a dog and an old woman. It all availed nothing.
+      Bordeaux&rsquo;s prudence got the better of his valor, and he would not stir.
+      Perrault stood showering approbrious epithets at the recent bourgeois.
+      Growing tired of this, he made up a pack of dried meat, and slinging it at
+      his back, set out alone for Fort Pierre on the Missouri, a distance of
+      three hundred miles, over a desert country full of hostile Indians.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I remained in the fort that night. In the morning, as I was coming out
+      from breakfast, conversing with a trader named McCluskey, I saw a strange
+      Indian leaning against the side of the gate. He was a tall, strong man,
+      with heavy features.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who is he?&rdquo; I asked. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s The Whirlwind,&rdquo; said McCluskey. &ldquo;He is the
+      fellow that made all this stir about the war. It&rsquo;s always the way with the
+      Sioux; they never stop cutting each other&rsquo;s throats; it&rsquo;s all they are fit
+      for; instead of sitting in their lodges, and getting robes to trade with
+      us in the winter. If this war goes on, we&rsquo;ll make a poor trade of it next
+      season, I reckon.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      And this was the opinion of all the traders, who were vehemently opposed
+      to the war, from the serious injury that it must occasion to their
+      interests. The Whirlwind left his village the day before to make a visit
+      to the fort. His warlike ardor had abated not a little since he first
+      conceived the design of avenging his son&rsquo;s death. The long and complicated
+      preparations for the expedition were too much for his fickle, inconstant
+      disposition. That morning Bordeaux fastened upon him, made him presents
+      and told him that if he went to war he would destroy his horses and kill
+      no buffalo to trade with the white men; in short, that he was a fool to
+      think of such a thing, and had better make up his mind to sit quietly in
+      his lodge and smoke his pipe, like a wise man. The Whirlwind&rsquo;s purpose was
+      evidently shaken; he had become tired, like a child, of his favorite plan.
+      Bordeaux exultingly predicted that he would not go to war. My philanthropy
+      at that time was no match for my curiosity, and I was vexed at the
+      possibility that after all I might lose the rare opportunity of seeing the
+      formidable ceremonies of war. The Whirlwind, however, had merely thrown
+      the firebrand; the conflagration was become general. All the western bands
+      of the Dakota were bent on war; and as I heard from McCluskey, six large
+      villages already gathered on a little stream, forty miles distant, were
+      daily calling to the Great Spirit to aid them in their enterprise.
+      McCluskey had just left and represented them as on their way to La Bonte&rsquo;s
+      Camp, which they would reach in a week, UNLESS THEY SHOULD LEARN THAT
+      THERE WERE NO BUFFALO THERE. I did not like this condition, for buffalo
+      this season were rare in the neighborhood. There were also the two
+      Minnicongew villages that I mentioned before; but about noon, an Indian
+      came from Richard&rsquo;s Fort with the news that they were quarreling, breaking
+      up, and dispersing. So much for the whisky of the emigrants! Finding
+      themselves unable to drink the whole, they had sold the residue to these
+      Indians, and it needed no prophet to foretell the results; a spark dropped
+      into a powder magazine would not have produced a quicker effect. Instantly
+      the old jealousies and rivalries and smothered feuds that exist in an
+      Indian village broke out into furious quarrels. They forgot the warlike
+      enterprise that had already brought them three hundred miles. They seemed
+      like ungoverned children inflamed with the fiercest passions of men.
+      Several of them were stabbed in the drunken tumult; and in the morning
+      they scattered and moved back toward the Missouri in small parties. I
+      feared that, after all, the long-projected meeting and the ceremonies that
+      were to attend it might never take place, and I should lose so admirable
+      an opportunity of seeing the Indian under his most fearful and
+      characteristic aspect; however, in foregoing this, I should avoid a very
+      fair probability of being plundered and stripped, and, it might be,
+      stabbed or shot into the bargain. Consoling myself with this reflection, I
+      prepared to carry the news, such as it was, to the camp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I caught my horse, and to my vexation found he had lost a shoe and broken
+      his tender white hoof against the rocks. Horses are shod at Fort Laramie
+      at the moderate rate of three dollars a foot; so I tied Hendrick to a beam
+      in the corral, and summoned Roubidou, the blacksmith. Roubidou, with the
+      hoof between his knees, was at work with hammer and file, and I was
+      inspecting the process, when a strange voice addressed me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Two more gone under! Well, there is more of us left yet. Here&rsquo;s Jean Gars
+      and me off to the mountains to-morrow. Our turn will come next, I suppose.
+      It&rsquo;s a hard life, anyhow!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I looked up and saw a little man, not much more than five feet high, but
+      of very square and strong proportions. In appearance he was particularly
+      dingy; for his old buckskin frock was black and polished with time and
+      grease, and his belt, knife, pouch, and powder-horn appeared to have seen
+      the roughest service. The first joint of each foot was entirely gone,
+      having been frozen off several winters before, and his moccasins were
+      curtailed in proportion. His whole appearance and equipment bespoke the
+      &ldquo;free trapper.&rdquo; He had a round ruddy face, animated with a spirit of
+      carelessness and gayety not at all in accordance with the words he had
+      just spoken.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Two more gone,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;what do you mean by that?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;the Arapahoes have just killed two of us in the mountains.
+      Old Bull-Tail has come to tell us. They stabbed one behind his back, and
+      shot the other with his own rifle. That&rsquo;s the way we live here! I mean to
+      give up trapping after this year. My squaw says she wants a pacing horse
+      and some red ribbons; I&rsquo;ll make enough beaver to get them for her, and
+      then I&rsquo;m done! I&rsquo;ll go below and live on a farm.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your bones will dry on the prairie, Rouleau!&rdquo; said another trapper, who
+      was standing by; a strong, brutal-looking fellow, with a face as surly as
+      a bull-dog&rsquo;s.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Rouleau only laughed, and began to hum a tune and shuffle a dance on his
+      stumps of feet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You&rsquo;ll see us, before long, passing up our way,&rdquo; said the other man.
+      &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;stop and take a cup of coffee with us&rdquo;; and as it was
+      quite late in the afternoon, I prepared to leave the fort at once.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As I rode out, a train of emigrant wagons was passing across the stream.
+      &ldquo;Whar are ye goin&rsquo; stranger?&rdquo; Thus I was saluted by two or three voices at
+      once.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;About eighteen miles up the creek.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It&rsquo;s mighty late to be going that far! Make haste, ye&rsquo;d better, and keep
+      a bright lookout for Indians!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I thought the advice too good to be neglected. Fording the stream, I
+      passed at a round trot over the plains beyond. But &ldquo;the more haste, the
+      worse speed.&rdquo; I proved the truth in the proverb by the time I reached the
+      hills three miles from the fort. The trail was faintly marked, and riding
+      forward with more rapidity than caution, I lost sight of it. I kept on in
+      a direct line, guided by Laramie Creek, which I could see at intervals
+      darkly glistening in the evening sun, at the bottom of the woody gulf on
+      my right. Half an hour before sunset I came upon its banks. There was
+      something exciting in the wild solitude of the place. An antelope sprang
+      suddenly from the sagebushes before me. As he leaped gracefully not thirty
+      yards before my horse, I fired, and instantly he spun round and fell.
+      Quite sure of him, I walked my horse toward him, leisurely reloading my
+      rifle, when to my surprise he sprang up and trotted rapidly away on three
+      legs into the dark recesses of the hills, whither I had no time to follow.
+      Ten minutes after, I was passing along the bottom of a deep valley, and
+      chancing to look behind me, I saw in the dim light that something was
+      following. Supposing it to be wolf, I slid from my seat and sat down
+      behind my horse to shoot it; but as it came up, I saw by its motions that
+      it was another antelope. It approached within a hundred yards, arched its
+      graceful neck, and gazed intently. I leveled at the white spot on its
+      chest, and was about to fire when it started off, ran first to one side
+      and then to the other, like a vessel tacking against a wind, and at last
+      stretched away at full speed. Then it stopped again, looked curiously
+      behind it, and trotted up as before; but not so boldly, for it soon paused
+      and stood gazing at me. I fired; it leaped upward and fell upon its
+      tracks. Measuring the distance, I found it 204 paces. When I stood by his
+      side, the antelope turned his expiring eye upward. It was like a beautiful
+      woman&rsquo;s, dark and rich. &ldquo;Fortunate that I am in a hurry,&rdquo; thought I; &ldquo;I
+      might be troubled with remorse, if I had time for it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cutting the animal up, not in the most skilled manner, I hung the meat at
+      the back of my saddle, and rode on again. The hills (I could not remember
+      one of them) closed around me. &ldquo;It is too late,&rdquo; thought I, &ldquo;to go
+      forward. I will stay here to-night, and look for the path in the morning.&rdquo;
+       As a last effort, however, I ascended a high hill, from which, to my great
+      satisfaction, I could see Laramie Creek stretching before me, twisting
+      from side to side amid ragged patches of timber; and far off, close
+      beneath the shadows of the trees, the ruins of the old trading fort were
+      visible. I reached them at twilight. It was far from pleasant, in that
+      uncertain light, to be pushing through the dense trees and shrubbery of
+      the grove beyond. I listened anxiously for the footfall of man or beast.
+      Nothing was stirring but one harmless brown bird, chirping among the
+      branches. I was glad when I gained the open prairie once more, where I
+      could see if anything approached. When I came to the mouth of Chugwater,
+      it was totally dark. Slackening the reins, I let my horse take his own
+      course. He trotted on with unerring instinct, and by nine o&rsquo;clock was
+      scrambling down the steep ascent into the meadows where we were encamped.
+      While I was looking in vain for the light of the fire, Hendrick, with
+      keener perceptions, gave a loud neigh, which was immediately answered in a
+      shrill note from the distance. In a moment I was hailed from the darkness
+      by the voice of Reynal, who had come out, rifle in hand, to see who was
+      approaching.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He, with his squaw, the two Canadians and the Indian boys, were the sole
+      inmates of the camp, Shaw and Henry Chatillon being still absent. At noon
+      of the following day they came back, their horses looking none the better
+      for the journey. Henry seemed dejected. The woman was dead, and his
+      children must henceforward be exposed, without a protector, to the
+      hardships and vicissitudes of Indian life. Even in the midst of his grief
+      he had not forgotten his attachment to his bourgeois, for he had procured
+      among his Indian relatives two beautifully ornamented buffalo robes, which
+      he spread on the ground as a present to us.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shaw lighted his pipe, and told me in a few words the history of his
+      journey. When I went to the fort they left me, as I mentioned, at the
+      mouth of Chugwater. They followed the course of the little stream all day,
+      traversing a desolate and barren country. Several times they came upon the
+      fresh traces of a large war party&mdash;the same, no doubt, from whom we
+      had so narrowly escaped an attack. At an hour before sunset, without
+      encountering a human being by the way, they came upon the lodges of the
+      squaw and her brothers, who, in compliance with Henry&rsquo;s message, had left
+      the Indian village in order to join us at our camp. The lodges were
+      already pitched, five in number, by the side of the stream. The woman lay
+      in one of them, reduced to a mere skeleton. For some time she had been
+      unable to move or speak. Indeed, nothing had kept her alive but the hope
+      of seeing Henry, to whom she was strongly and faithfully attached. No
+      sooner did he enter the lodge than she revived, and conversed with him the
+      greater part of the night. Early in the morning she was lifted into a
+      travail, and the whole party set out toward our camp. There were but five
+      warriors; the rest were women and children. The whole were in great alarm
+      at the proximity of the Crow war party, who would certainly have destroyed
+      them without mercy had they met. They had advanced only a mile or two,
+      when they discerned a horseman, far off, on the edge of the horizon. They
+      all stopped, gathering together in the greatest anxiety, from which they
+      did not recover until long after the horseman disappeared; then they set
+      out again. Henry was riding with Shaw a few rods in advance of the
+      Indians, when Mahto-Tatonka, a younger brother of the woman, hastily
+      called after them. Turning back, they found all the Indians crowded around
+      the travail in which the woman was lying. They reached her just in time to
+      hear the death-rattle in her throat. In a moment she lay dead in the
+      basket of the vehicle. A complete stillness succeeded; then the Indians
+      raised in concert their cries of lamentation over the corpse, and among
+      them Shaw clearly distinguished those strange sounds resembling the word
+      &ldquo;Halleluyah,&rdquo; which together with some other accidental coincidences has
+      given rise to the absurd theory that the Indians are descended from the
+      ten lost tribes of Israel.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Indian usage required that Henry, as well as the other relatives of
+      the woman, should make valuable presents, to be placed by the side of the
+      body at its last resting place. Leaving the Indians, he and Shaw set out
+      for the camp and reached it, as we have seen, by hard pushing, at about
+      noon. Having obtained the necessary articles, they immediately returned.
+      It was very late and quite dark when they again reached the lodges. They
+      were all placed in a deep hollow among the dreary hills. Four of them were
+      just visible through the gloom, but the fifth and largest was illuminated
+      by the ruddy blaze of a fire within, glowing through the half-transparent
+      covering of raw hides. There was a perfect stillness as they approached.
+      The lodges seemed without a tenant. Not a living thing was stirring&mdash;there
+      was something awful in the scene. They rode up to the entrance of the
+      lodge, and there was no sound but the tramp of their horses. A squaw came
+      out and took charge of the animals, without speaking a word. Entering,
+      they found the lodge crowded with Indians; a fire was burning in the
+      midst, and the mourners encircled it in a triple row. Room was made for
+      the newcomers at the head of the lodge, a robe spread for them to sit
+      upon, and a pipe lighted and handed to them in perfect silence. Thus they
+      passed the greater part of the night. At times the fire would subside into
+      a heap of embers, until the dark figures seated around it were scarcely
+      visible; then a squaw would drop upon it a piece of buffalo-fat, and a
+      bright flame, instantly springing up, would reveal of a sudden the crowd
+      of wild faces, motionless as bronze. The silence continued unbroken. It
+      was a relief to Shaw when daylight returned and he could escape from this
+      house of mourning. He and Henry prepared to return homeward; first,
+      however, they placed the presents they had brought near the body of the
+      squaw, which, most gaudily attired, remained in a sitting posture in one
+      of the lodges. A fine horse was picketed not far off, destined to be
+      killed that morning for the service of her spirit, for the woman was lame,
+      and could not travel on foot over the dismal prairies to the villages of
+      the dead. Food, too, was provided, and household implements, for her use
+      upon this last journey.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry left her to the care of her relatives, and came immediately with
+      Shaw to the camp. It was some time before he entirely recovered from his
+      dejection.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0011" id="link2HCH0011">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XI
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      SCENES AT THE CAMP
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Reynal heard guns fired one day, at the distance of a mile or two from the
+      camp. He grew nervous instantly. Visions of Crow war parties began to
+      haunt his imagination; and when we returned (for we were all absent), he
+      renewed his complaints about being left alone with the Canadians and the
+      squaw. The day after, the cause of the alarm appeared. Four trappers, one
+      called Moran, another Saraphin, and the others nicknamed &ldquo;Rouleau&rdquo; and
+      &ldquo;Jean Gras,&rdquo; came to our camp and joined us. They it was who fired the
+      guns and disturbed the dreams of our confederate Reynal. They soon
+      encamped by our side. Their rifles, dingy and battered with hard service,
+      rested with ours against the old tree; their strong rude saddles, their
+      buffalo robes, their traps, and the few rough and simple articles of their
+      traveling equipment, were piled near our tent. Their mountain horses were
+      turned to graze in the meadow among our own; and the men themselves, no
+      less rough and hardy, used to lie half the day in the shade of our tree
+      lolling on the grass, lazily smoking, and telling stories of their
+      adventures; and I defy the annals of chivalry to furnish the record of a
+      life more wild and perilous than that of a Rocky Mountain trapper.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With this efficient re-enforcement the agitation of Reynal&rsquo;s nerves
+      subsided. He began to conceive a sort of attachment to our old camping
+      ground; yet it was time to change our quarters, since remaining too long
+      on one spot must lead to certain unpleasant results not to be borne with
+      unless in a case of dire necessity. The grass no longer presented a smooth
+      surface of turf; it was trampled into mud and clay. So we removed to
+      another old tree, larger yet, that grew by the river side at a furlong&rsquo;s
+      distance. Its trunk was full six feet in diameter; on one side it was
+      marked by a party of Indians with various inexplicable hieroglyphics,
+      commemorating some warlike enterprise, and aloft among the branches were
+      the remains of a scaffolding, where dead bodies had once been deposited,
+      after the Indian manner.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There comes Bull-Bear,&rdquo; said Henry Chatillon, as we sat on the grass at
+      dinner. Looking up, we saw several horsemen coming over the neighboring
+      hill, and in a moment four stately young men rode up and dismounted. One
+      of them was Bull-Bear, or Mahto-Tatonka, a compound name which he
+      inherited from his father, the most powerful chief in the Ogallalla band.
+      One of his brothers and two other young men accompanied him. We shook
+      hands with the visitors, and when we had finished our meal&mdash;for this
+      is the orthodox manner of entertaining Indians, even the best of them&mdash;we
+      handed to each a tin cup of coffee and a biscuit, at which they ejaculated
+      from the bottom of their throats, &ldquo;How! how!&rdquo; a monosyllable by which an
+      Indian contrives to express half the emotions that he is susceptible of.
+      Then we lighted the pipe, and passed it to them as they squatted on the
+      ground.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where is the village?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There,&rdquo; said Mahto-Tatonka, pointing southward; &ldquo;it will come in two
+      days.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Will they go to the war?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      No man is a philanthropist on the prairie. We welcomed this news most
+      cordially, and congratulated ourselves that Bordeaux&rsquo;s interested efforts
+      to divert The Whirlwind from his congenial vocation of bloodshed had
+      failed of success, and that no additional obstacles would interpose
+      between us and our plan of repairing to the rendezvous at La Bonte&rsquo;s Camp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For that and several succeeding days, Mahto-Tatonka and his friends
+      remained our guests. They devoured the relics of our meals; they filled
+      the pipe for us and also helped us to smoke it. Sometimes they stretched
+      themselves side by side in the shade, indulging in raillery and practical
+      jokes ill becoming the dignity of brave and aspiring warriors, such as two
+      of them in reality were.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Two days dragged away, and on the morning of the third we hoped
+      confidently to see the Indian village. It did not come; so we rode out to
+      look for it. In place of the eight hundred Indians we expected, we met one
+      solitary savage riding toward us over the prairie, who told us that the
+      Indians had changed their plans, and would not come within three days;
+      still he persisted that they were going to the war. Taking along with us
+      this messenger of evil tidings, we retraced our footsteps to the camp,
+      amusing ourselves by the way with execrating Indian inconstancy. When we
+      came in sight of our little white tent under the big tree, we saw that it
+      no longer stood alone. A huge old lodge was erected close by its side,
+      discolored by rain and storms, rotted with age, with the uncouth figures
+      of horses and men, and outstretched hands that were painted upon it,
+      well-nigh obliterated. The long poles which supported this squalid
+      habitation thrust themselves rakishly out from its pointed top, and over
+      its entrance were suspended a &ldquo;medicine-pipe&rdquo; and various other implements
+      of the magic art. While we were yet at a distance, we observed a greatly
+      increased population of various colors and dimensions, swarming around our
+      quiet encampment. Moran, the trapper, having been absent for a day or two,
+      had returned, it seemed, bringing all his family with him. He had taken to
+      himself a wife for whom he had paid the established price of one horse.
+      This looks cheap at first sight, but in truth the purchase of a squaw is a
+      transaction which no man should enter into without mature deliberation,
+      since it involves not only the payment of the first price, but the
+      formidable burden of feeding and supporting a rapacious horde of the
+      bride&rsquo;s relatives, who hold themselves entitled to feed upon the
+      indiscreet white man. They gather round like leeches, and drain him of all
+      he has.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Moran, like Reynal, had not allied himself to an aristocratic circle. His
+      relatives occupied but a contemptible position in Ogallalla society; for
+      among those wild democrats of the prairie, as among us, there are virtual
+      distinctions of rank and place; though this great advantage they have over
+      us, that wealth has no part in determining such distinctions. Moran&rsquo;s
+      partner was not the most beautiful of her sex, and he had the exceedingly
+      bad taste to array her in an old calico gown bought from an emigrant
+      woman, instead of the neat and graceful tunic of whitened deerskin worn
+      ordinarily by the squaws. The moving spirit of the establishment, in more
+      senses than one, was a hideous old hag of eighty. Human imagination never
+      conceived hobgoblin or witch more ugly than she. You could count all her
+      ribs through the wrinkles of the leathery skin that covered them. Her
+      withered face more resembled an old skull than the countenance of a living
+      being, even to the hollow, darkened sockets, at the bottom of which
+      glittered her little black eyes. Her arms had dwindled away into nothing
+      but whipcord and wire. Her hair, half black, half gray, hung in total
+      neglect nearly to the ground, and her sole garment consisted of the
+      remnant of a discarded buffalo robe tied round her waist with a string of
+      hide. Yet the old squaw&rsquo;s meager anatomy was wonderfully strong. She
+      pitched the lodge, packed the horses, and did the hardest labor of the
+      camp. From morning till night she bustled about the lodge, screaming like
+      a screech-owl when anything displeased her. Then there was her brother, a
+      &ldquo;medicine-man,&rdquo; or magician, equally gaunt and sinewy with herself. His
+      mouth spread from ear to ear, and his appetite, as we had full occasion to
+      learn, was ravenous in proportion. The other inmates of the lodge were a
+      young bride and bridegroom; the latter one of those idle, good-for nothing
+      fellows who infest an Indian village as well as more civilized
+      communities. He was fit neither for hunting nor for war; and one might
+      infer as much from the stolid unmeaning expression of his face. The happy
+      pair had just entered upon the honeymoon. They would stretch a buffalo
+      robe upon poles, so as to protect them from the fierce rays of the sun,
+      and spreading beneath this rough canopy a luxuriant couch of furs, would
+      sit affectionately side by side for half the day, though I could not
+      discover that much conversation passed between them. Probably they had
+      nothing to say; for an Indian&rsquo;s supply of topics for conversation is far
+      from being copious. There were half a dozen children, too, playing and
+      whooping about the camp, shooting birds with little bows and arrows, or
+      making miniature lodges of sticks, as children of a different complexion
+      build houses of blocks.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A day passed, and Indians began rapidly to come in. Parties of two or
+      three or more would ride up and silently seat themselves on the grass. The
+      fourth day came at last, when about noon horsemen suddenly appeared into
+      view on the summit of the neighboring ridge. They descended, and behind
+      them followed a wild procession, hurrying in haste and disorder down the
+      hill and over the plain below; horses, mules, and dogs, heavily burdened
+      travaux, mounted warriors, squaws walking amid the throng, and a host of
+      children. For a full half-hour they continued to pour down; and keeping
+      directly to the bend of the stream, within a furlong of us, they soon
+      assembled there, a dark and confused throng, until, as if by magic, 150
+      tall lodges sprung up. On a sudden the lonely plain was transformed into
+      the site of a miniature city. Countless horses were soon grazing over the
+      meadows around us, and the whole prairie was animated by restless figures
+      careening on horseback, or sedately stalking in their long white robes.
+      The Whirlwind was come at last! One question yet remained to be answered:
+      &ldquo;Will he go to the war, in order that we, with so respectable an escort,
+      may pass over to the somewhat perilous rendezvous at La Bonte&rsquo;s Camp?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Still this remained in doubt. Characteristic indecision perplexed their
+      councils. Indians cannot act in large bodies. Though their object be of
+      the highest importance, they cannot combine to attain it by a series of
+      connected efforts. King Philip, Pontiac, and Tecumseh all felt this to
+      their cost. The Ogallalla once had a war chief who could control them; but
+      he was dead, and now they were left to the sway of their own unsteady
+      impulses.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This Indian village and its inhabitants will hold a prominent place in the
+      rest of the narrative, and perhaps it may not be amiss to glance for an
+      instant at the savage people of which they form a part. The Dakota (I
+      prefer this national designation to the unmeaning French name, Sioux)
+      range over a vast territory, from the river St. Peter&rsquo;s to the Rocky
+      Mountains themselves. They are divided into several independent bands,
+      united under no central government, and acknowledge no common head. The
+      same language, usages, and superstitions form the sole bond between them.
+      They do not unite even in their wars. The bands of the east fight the
+      Ojibwas on the Upper Lakes; those of the west make incessant war upon the
+      Snake Indians in the Rocky Mountains. As the whole people is divided into
+      bands, so each band is divided into villages. Each village has a chief,
+      who is honored and obeyed only so far as his personal qualities may
+      command respect and fear. Sometimes he is a mere nominal chief; sometimes
+      his authority is little short of absolute, and his fame and influence
+      reach even beyond his own village; so that the whole band to which he
+      belongs is ready to acknowledge him as their head. This was, a few years
+      since, the case with the Ogallalla. Courage, address, and enterprise may
+      raise any warrior to the highest honor, especially if he be the son of a
+      former chief, or a member of a numerous family, to support him and avenge
+      his quarrels; but when he has reached the dignity of chief, and the old
+      men and warriors, by a peculiar ceremony, have formally installed him, let
+      it not be imagined that he assumes any of the outward semblances of rank
+      and honor. He knows too well on how frail a tenure he holds his station.
+      He must conciliate his uncertain subjects. Many a man in the village lives
+      better, owns more squaws and more horses, and goes better clad than he.
+      Like the Teutonic chiefs of old, he ingratiates himself with his young men
+      by making them presents, thereby often impoverishing himself. Does he fail
+      in gaining their favor, they will set his authority at naught, and may
+      desert him at any moment; for the usages of his people have provided no
+      sanctions by which he may enforce his authority. Very seldom does it
+      happen, at least among these western bands, that a chief attains to much
+      power, unless he is the head of a numerous family. Frequently the village
+      is principally made up of his relatives and descendants, and the wandering
+      community assumes much of the patriarchal character. A people so loosely
+      united, torn, too, with ranking feuds and jealousies, can have little
+      power or efficiency.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The western Dakota have no fixed habitations. Hunting and fighting, they
+      wander incessantly through summer and winter. Some are following the herds
+      of buffalo over the waste of prairie; others are traversing the Black
+      Hills, thronging on horseback and on foot through the dark gulfs and
+      somber gorges beneath the vast splintering precipices, and emerging at
+      last upon the &ldquo;Parks,&rdquo; those beautiful but most perilous hunting grounds.
+      The buffalo supplies them with almost all the necessaries of life; with
+      habitations, food, clothing, and fuel; with strings for their bows, with
+      thread, cordage, and trail-ropes for their horses, with coverings for
+      their saddles, with vessels to hold water, with boats to cross streams,
+      with glue, and with the means of purchasing all that they desire from the
+      traders. When the buffalo are extinct, they too must dwindle away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      War is the breath of their nostrils. Against most of the neighboring
+      tribes they cherish a deadly, rancorous hatred, transmitted from father to
+      son, and inflamed by constant aggression and retaliation. Many times a
+      year, in every village, the Great Spirit is called upon, fasts are made,
+      the war parade is celebrated, and the warriors go out by handfuls at a
+      time against the enemy. This fierce and evil spirit awakens their most
+      eager aspirations, and calls forth their greatest energies. It is chiefly
+      this that saves them from lethargy and utter abasement. Without its
+      powerful stimulus they would be like the unwarlike tribes beyond the
+      mountains, who are scattered among the caves and rocks like beasts, living
+      on roots and reptiles. These latter have little of humanity except the
+      form; but the proud and ambitious Dakota warrior can sometimes boast of
+      heroic virtues. It is very seldom that distinction and influence are
+      attained among them by any other course than that of arms. Their
+      superstition, however, sometimes gives great power, to those among them
+      who pretend to the character of magicians. Their wild hearts, too, can
+      feel the power of oratory, and yield deference to the masters of it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But to return. Look into our tent, or enter, if you can bear the stifling
+      smoke and the close atmosphere. There, wedged close together, you will see
+      a circle of stout warriors, passing the pipe around, joking, telling
+      stories, and making themselves merry, after their fashion. We were also
+      infested by little copper-colored naked boys and snake-eyed girls. They
+      would come up to us, muttering certain words, which being interpreted
+      conveyed the concise invitation, &ldquo;Come and eat.&rdquo; Then we would rise,
+      cursing the pertinacity of Dakota hospitality, which allowed scarcely an
+      hour of rest between sun and sun, and to which we were bound to do honor,
+      unless we would offend our entertainers. This necessity was particularly
+      burdensome to me, as I was scarcely able to walk, from the effects of
+      illness, and was of course poorly qualified to dispose of twenty meals a
+      day. Of these sumptuous banquets I gave a specimen in a former chapter,
+      where the tragical fate of the little dog was chronicled. So bounteous an
+      entertainment looks like an outgushing of good will; but doubtless
+      one-half at least of our kind hosts, had they met us alone and unarmed on
+      the prairie, would have robbed us of our horses, and perchance have
+      bestowed an arrow upon us beside. Trust not an Indian. Let your rifle be
+      ever in your hand. Wear next your heart the old chivalric motto SEMPER
+      PARATUS.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One morning we were summoned to the lodge of an old man, in good truth the
+      Nestor of his tribe. We found him half sitting, half reclining on a pile
+      of buffalo robes; his long hair, jet-black even now, though he had seen
+      some eighty winters, hung on either side of his thin features. Those most
+      conversant with Indians in their homes will scarcely believe me when I
+      affirm that there was dignity in his countenance and mien. His gaunt but
+      symmetrical frame, did not more clearly exhibit the wreck of bygone
+      strength, than did his dark, wasted features, still prominent and
+      commanding, bear the stamp of mental energies. I recalled, as I saw him,
+      the eloquent metaphor of the Iroquois sachem: &ldquo;I am an aged hemlock; the
+      winds of a hundred winters have whistled through my branches, and I am
+      dead at the top!&rdquo; Opposite the patriarch was his nephew, the young
+      aspirant Mahto-Tatonka; and besides these, there were one or two women in
+      the lodge.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The old man&rsquo;s story is peculiar, and singularly illustrative of a
+      superstitious custom that prevails in full force among many of the Indian
+      tribes. He was one of a powerful family, renowned for their warlike
+      exploits. When a very young man, he submitted to the singular rite to
+      which most of the tribe subject themselves before entering upon life. He
+      painted his face black; then seeking out a cavern in a sequestered part of
+      the Black Hills, he lay for several days, fasting and praying to the Great
+      Spirit. In the dreams and visions produced by his weakened and excited
+      state, he fancied like all Indians, that he saw supernatural revelations.
+      Again and again the form of an antelope appeared before him. The antelope
+      is the graceful peace spirit of the Ogallalla; but seldom is it that such
+      a gentle visitor presents itself during the initiatory fasts of their
+      young men. The terrible grizzly bear, the divinity of war, usually appears
+      to fire them with martial ardor and thirst for renown. At length the
+      antelope spoke. He told the young dreamer that he was not to follow the
+      path of war; that a life of peace and tranquillity was marked out for him;
+      that henceforward he was to guide the people by his counsels and protect
+      them from the evils of their own feuds and dissensions. Others were to
+      gain renown by fighting the enemy; but greatness of a different kind was
+      in store for him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The visions beheld during the period of this fast usually determine the
+      whole course of the dreamer&rsquo;s life, for an Indian is bound by iron
+      superstitions. From that time, Le Borgne, which was the only name by which
+      we knew him, abandoned all thoughts of war and devoted himself to the
+      labors of peace. He told his vision to the people. They honored his
+      commission and respected him in his novel capacity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A far different man was his brother, Mahto-Tatonka, who had transmitted
+      his names, his features, and many of his characteristic qualities to his
+      son. He was the father of Henry Chatillon&rsquo;s squaw, a circumstance which
+      proved of some advantage to us, as securing for us the friendship of a
+      family perhaps the most distinguished and powerful in the whole Ogallalla
+      band. Mahto-Tatonka, in his rude way, was a hero. No chief could vie with
+      him in warlike renown, or in power over his people. He had a fearless
+      spirit, and a most impetuous and inflexible resolution. His will was law.
+      He was politic and sagacious, and with true Indian craft he always
+      befriended the whites, well knowing that he might thus reap great
+      advantages for himself and his adherents. When he had resolved on any
+      course of conduct, he would pay to the warriors the empty compliment of
+      calling them together to deliberate upon it, and when their debates were
+      over, he would quietly state his own opinion, which no one ever disputed.
+      The consequences of thwarting his imperious will were too formidable to be
+      encountered. Woe to those who incurred his displeasure! He would strike
+      them or stab them on the spot; and this act, which, if attempted by any
+      other chief, would instantly have cost him his life, the awe inspired by
+      his name enabled him to repeat again and again with impunity. In a
+      community where, from immemorial time, no man has acknowledged any law but
+      his own will, Mahto-Tatonka, by the force of his dauntless resolution,
+      raised himself to power little short of despotic. His haughty career came
+      at last to an end. He had a host of enemies only waiting for their
+      opportunity of revenge, and our old friend Smoke, in particular, together
+      with all his kinsmen, hated him most cordially. Smoke sat one day in his
+      lodge in the midst of his own village, when Mahto-Tatonka entered it
+      alone, and approaching the dwelling of his enemy, called on him in a loud
+      voice to come out, if he were a man, and fight. Smoke would not move. At
+      this, Mahto-Tatonka proclaimed him a coward and an old woman, and striding
+      close to the entrance of the lodge, stabbed the chief&rsquo;s best horse, which
+      was picketed there. Smoke was daunted, and even this insult failed to call
+      him forth. Mahto-Tatonka moved haughtily away; all made way for him, but
+      his hour of reckoning was near.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One hot day, five or six years ago, numerous lodges of Smoke&rsquo;s kinsmen
+      were gathered around some of the Fur Company&rsquo;s men, who were trading in
+      various articles with them, whisky among the rest. Mahto-Tatonka was also
+      there with a few of his people. As he lay in his own lodge, a fray arose
+      between his adherents and the kinsmen of his enemy. The war-whoop was
+      raised, bullets and arrows began to fly, and the camp was in confusion.
+      The chief sprang up, and rushing in a fury from the lodge shouted to the
+      combatants on both sides to cease. Instantly&mdash;for the attack was
+      preconcerted&mdash;came the reports of two or three guns, and the twanging
+      of a dozen bows, and the savage hero, mortally wounded, pitched forward
+      headlong to the ground. Rouleau was present, and told me the particulars.
+      The tumult became general, and was not quelled until several had fallen on
+      both sides. When we were in the country the feud between the two families
+      was still rankling, and not likely soon to cease.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Thus died Mahto-Tatonka, but he left behind him a goodly army of
+      descendants, to perpetuate his renown and avenge his fate. Besides
+      daughters he had thirty sons, a number which need not stagger the
+      credulity of those who are best acquainted with Indian usages and
+      practices. We saw many of them, all marked by the same dark complexion and
+      the same peculiar cast of features. Of these our visitor, young
+      Mahto-Tatonka, was the eldest, and some reported him as likely to succeed
+      to his father&rsquo;s honors. Though he appeared not more than twenty-one years
+      old, he had oftener struck the enemy, and stolen more horses and more
+      squaws than any young man in the village. We of the civilized world are
+      not apt to attach much credit to the latter species of exploits; but
+      horse-stealing is well known as an avenue to distinction on the prairies,
+      and the other kind of depredation is esteemed equally meritorious. Not
+      that the act can confer fame from its own intrinsic merits. Any one can
+      steal a squaw, and if he chooses afterward to make an adequate present to
+      her rightful proprietor, the easy husband for the most part rests content,
+      his vengeance falls asleep, and all danger from that quarter is averted.
+      Yet this is esteemed but a pitiful and mean-spirited transaction. The
+      danger is averted, but the glory of the achievement also is lost.
+      Mahto-Tatonka proceeded after a more gallant and dashing fashion. Out of
+      several dozen squaws whom he had stolen, he could boast that he had never
+      paid for one, but snapping his fingers in the face of the injured husband,
+      had defied the extremity of his indignation, and no one yet had dared to
+      lay the finger of violence upon him. He was following close in the
+      footsteps of his father. The young men and the young squaws, each in their
+      way, admired him. The one would always follow him to war, and he was
+      esteemed to have unrivaled charm in the eyes of the other. Perhaps his
+      impunity may excite some wonder. An arrow shot from a ravine, a stab given
+      in the dark, require no great valor, and are especially suited to the
+      Indian genius; but Mahto-Tatonka had a strong protection. It was not alone
+      his courage and audacious will that enabled him to career so dashingly
+      among his compeers. His enemies did not forget that he was one of thirty
+      warlike brethren, all growing up to manhood. Should they wreak their anger
+      upon him, many keen eyes would be ever upon them, many fierce hearts would
+      thirst for their blood. The avenger would dog their footsteps everywhere.
+      To kill Mahto-Tatonka would be no better than an act of suicide.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Though he found such favor in the eyes of the fair, he was no dandy. As
+      among us those of highest worth and breeding are most simple in manner and
+      attire, so our aspiring young friend was indifferent to the gaudy
+      trappings and ornaments of his companions. He was content to rest his
+      chances of success upon his own warlike merits. He never arrayed himself
+      in gaudy blanket and glittering necklaces, but left his statue-like form,
+      limbed like an Apollo of bronze, to win its way to favor. His voice was
+      singularly deep and strong. It sounded from his chest like the deep notes
+      of an organ. Yet after all, he was but an Indian. See him as he lies there
+      in the sun before our tent, kicking his heels in the air and cracking
+      jokes with his brother. Does he look like a hero? See him now in the hour
+      of his glory, when at sunset the whole village empties itself to behold
+      him, for to-morrow their favorite young partisan goes out against the
+      enemy. His superb headdress is adorned with a crest of the war eagle&rsquo;s
+      feathers, rising in a waving ridge above his brow, and sweeping far behind
+      him. His round white shield hangs at his breast, with feathers radiating
+      from the center like a star. His quiver is at his back; his tall lance in
+      his hand, the iron point flashing against the declining sun, while the
+      long scalp-locks of his enemies flutter from the shaft. Thus, gorgeous as
+      a champion in his panoply, he rides round and round within the great
+      circle of lodges, balancing with a graceful buoyancy to the free movements
+      of his war horse, while with a sedate brow he sings his song to the Great
+      Spirit. Young rival warriors look askance at him; vermilion-cheeked girls
+      gaze in admiration, boys whoop and scream in a thrill of delight, and old
+      women yell forth his name and proclaim his praises from lodge to lodge.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mahto-Tatonka, to come back to him, was the best of all our Indian
+      friends. Hour after hour and day after day, when swarms of savages of
+      every age, sex, and degree beset our camp, he would lie in our tent, his
+      lynx eye ever open to guard our property from pillage.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Whirlwind invited us one day to his lodge. The feast was finished, and
+      the pipe began to circulate. It was a remarkably large and fine one, and I
+      expressed my admiration of its form and dimensions.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If the Meneaska likes the pipe,&rdquo; asked The Whirlwind, &ldquo;why does he not
+      keep it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Such a pipe among the Ogallalla is valued at the price of a horse. A
+      princely gift, thinks the reader, and worthy of a chieftain and a warrior.
+      The Whirlwind&rsquo;s generosity rose to no such pitch. He gave me the pipe,
+      confidently expecting that I in return should make him a present of equal
+      or superior value. This is the implied condition of every gift among the
+      Indians as among the Orientals, and should it not be complied with the
+      present is usually reclaimed by the giver. So I arranged upon a gaudy
+      calico handkerchief, an assortment of vermilion, tobacco, knives, and
+      gunpowder, and summoning the chief to camp, assured him of my friendship
+      and begged his acceptance of a slight token of it. Ejaculating HOW! HOW!
+      he folded up the offerings and withdrew to his lodge.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Several days passed and we and the Indians remained encamped side by side.
+      They could not decide whether or not to go to war. Toward evening, scores
+      of them would surround our tent, a picturesque group. Late one afternoon a
+      party of them mounted on horseback came suddenly in sight from behind some
+      clumps of bushes that lined the bank of the stream, leading with them a
+      mule, on whose back was a wretched negro, only sustained in his seat by
+      the high pommel and cantle of the Indian saddle. His cheeks were withered
+      and shrunken in the hollow of his jaws; his eyes were unnaturally dilated,
+      and his lips seemed shriveled and drawn back from his teeth like those of
+      a corpse. When they brought him up before our tent, and lifted him from
+      the saddle, he could not walk or stand, but he crawled a short distance,
+      and with a look of utter misery sat down on the grass. All the children
+      and women came pouring out of the lodges round us, and with screams and
+      cries made a close circle about him, while he sat supporting himself with
+      his hands, and looking from side to side with a vacant stare. The wretch
+      was starving to death! For thirty-three days he had wandered alone on the
+      prairie, without weapon of any kind; without shoes, moccasins, or any
+      other clothing than an old jacket and pantaloons; without intelligence and
+      skill to guide his course, or any knowledge of the productions of the
+      prairie. All this time he had subsisted on crickets and lizards, wild
+      onions, and three eggs which he found in the nest of a prairie dove. He
+      had not seen a human being. Utterly bewildered in the boundless, hopeless
+      desert that stretched around him, offering to his inexperienced eye no
+      mark by which to direct his course, he had walked on in despair till he
+      could walk no longer, and then crawled on his knees until the bone was
+      laid bare. He chose the night for his traveling, lying down by day to
+      sleep in the glaring sun, always dreaming, as he said, of the broth and
+      corn cake he used to eat under his old master&rsquo;s shed in Missouri. Every
+      man in the camp, both white and red, was astonished at his wonderful
+      escape not only from starvation but from the grizzly bears which abound in
+      that neighborhood, and the wolves which howled around him every night.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Reynal recognized him the moment the Indians brought him in. He had run
+      away from his master about a year before and joined the party of M.
+      Richard, who was then leaving the frontier for the mountains. He had lived
+      with Richard ever since, until in the end of May he with Reynal and
+      several other men went out in search of some stray horses, when he got
+      separated from the rest in a storm, and had never been heard of up to this
+      time. Knowing his inexperience and helplessness, no one dreamed that he
+      could still be living. The Indians had found him lying exhausted on the
+      ground.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As he sat there with the Indians gazing silently on him, his haggard face
+      and glazed eye were disgusting to look upon. Delorier made him a bowl of
+      gruel, but he suffered it to remain untasted before him. At length he
+      languidly raised the spoon to his lips; again he did so, and again; and
+      then his appetite seemed suddenly inflamed into madness, for he seized the
+      bowl, swallowed all its contents in a few seconds, and eagerly demanded
+      meat. This we refused, telling him to wait until morning, but he begged so
+      eagerly that we gave him a small piece, which he devoured, tearing it like
+      a dog. He said he must have more. We told him that his life was in danger
+      if he ate so immoderately at first. He assented, and said he knew he was a
+      fool to do so, but he must have meat. This we absolutely refused, to the
+      great indignation of the senseless squaws, who, when we were not watching
+      him, would slyly bring dried meat and POMMES BLANCHES, and place them on
+      the ground by his side. Still this was not enough for him. When it grew
+      dark he contrived to creep away between the legs of the horses and crawl
+      over to the Indian village, about a furlong down the stream. Here he fed
+      to his heart&rsquo;s content, and was brought back again in the morning, when
+      Jean Gras, the trapper, put him on horseback and carried him to the fort.
+      He managed to survive the effects of his insane greediness, and though
+      slightly deranged when we left this part of the country, he was otherwise
+      in tolerable health, and expressed his firm conviction that nothing could
+      ever kill him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When the sun was yet an hour high, it was a gay scene in the village. The
+      warriors stalked sedately among the lodges, or along the margin of the
+      streams, or walked out to visit the bands of horses that were feeding over
+      the prairie. Half the village population deserted the close and heated
+      lodges and betook themselves to the water; and here you might see boys and
+      girls and young squaws splashing, swimming, and diving beneath the
+      afternoon sun, with merry laughter and screaming. But when the sun was
+      just resting above the broken peaks, and the purple mountains threw their
+      prolonged shadows for miles over the prairie; when our grim old tree,
+      lighted by the horizontal rays, assumed an aspect of peaceful repose, such
+      as one loves after scenes of tumult and excitement; and when the whole
+      landscape of swelling plains and scattered groves was softened into a
+      tranquil beauty, then our encampment presented a striking spectacle. Could
+      Salvator Rosa have transferred it to his canvas, it would have added new
+      renown to his pencil. Savage figures surrounded our tent, with quivers at
+      their backs, and guns, lances, or tomahawks in their hands. Some sat on
+      horseback, motionless as equestrian statues, their arms crossed on their
+      breasts, their eyes fixed in a steady unwavering gaze upon us. Some stood
+      erect, wrapped from head to foot in their long white robes of buffalo
+      hide. Some sat together on the grass, holding their shaggy horses by a
+      rope, with their broad dark busts exposed to view as they suffered their
+      robes to fall from their shoulders. Others again stood carelessly among
+      the throng, with nothing to conceal the matchless symmetry of their forms;
+      and I do not exaggerate when I say that only on the prairie and in the
+      Vatican have I seen such faultless models of the human figure. See that
+      warrior standing by the tree, towering six feet and a half in stature.
+      Your eyes may trace the whole of his graceful and majestic height, and
+      discover no defect or blemish. With his free and noble attitude, with the
+      bow in his hand, and the quiver at his back, he might seem, but for his
+      face, the Pythian Apollo himself. Such a figure rose before the
+      imagination of West, when on first seeing the Belvidere in the Vatican, he
+      exclaimed, &ldquo;By God, a Mohawk!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      When the sky darkened and the stars began to appear; when the prairie was
+      involved in gloom and the horses were driven in and secured around the
+      camp, the crowd began to melt away. Fires gleamed around, duskily
+      revealing the rough trappers and the graceful Indians. One of the families
+      near us would always be gathered about a bright blaze, that displayed the
+      shadowy dimensions of their lodge, and sent its lights far up among the
+      masses of foliage above, gilding the dead and ragged branches. Withered
+      witchlike hags flitted around the blaze, and here for hour after hour sat
+      a circle of children and young girls, laughing and talking, their round
+      merry faces glowing in the ruddy light. We could hear the monotonous notes
+      of the drum from the Indian village, with the chant of the war song,
+      deadened in the distance, and the long chorus of quavering yells, where
+      the war dance was going on in the largest lodge. For several nights, too,
+      we could hear wild and mournful cries, rising and dying away like the
+      melancholy voice of a wolf. They came from the sisters and female
+      relatives of Mahto-Tatonka, who were gashing their limbs with knives, and
+      bewailing the death of Henry Chatillon&rsquo;s squaw. The hour would grow late
+      before all retired to rest in the camp. Then the embers of the fires would
+      be glowing dimly, the men would be stretched in their blankets on the
+      ground, and nothing could be heard but the restless motions of the crowded
+      horses.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I recall these scenes with a mixed feeling of pleasure and pain. At this
+      time I was so reduced by illness that I could seldom walk without reeling
+      like a drunken man, and when I rose from my seat upon the ground the
+      landscape suddenly grew dim before my eyes, the trees and lodges seemed to
+      sway to and fro, and the prairie to rise and fall like the swells of the
+      ocean. Such a state of things is by no means enviable anywhere. In a
+      country where a man&rsquo;s life may at any moment depend on the strength of his
+      arm, or it may be on the activity of his legs, it is more particularly
+      inconvenient. Medical assistance of course there was none; neither had I
+      the means of pursuing a system of diet; and sleeping on a damp ground,
+      with an occasional drenching from a shower, would hardly be recommended as
+      beneficial. I sometimes suffered the extremity of languor and exhaustion,
+      and though at the time I felt no apprehensions of the final result, I have
+      since learned that my situation was a critical one.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Besides other formidable inconveniences I owe it in a great measure to the
+      remote effects of that unlucky disorder that from deficient eyesight I am
+      compelled to employ the pen of another in taking down this narrative from
+      my lips; and I have learned very effectually that a violent attack of
+      dysentery on the prairie is a thing too serious for a joke. I tried repose
+      and a very sparing diet. For a long time, with exemplary patience, I
+      lounged about the camp, or at the utmost staggered over to the Indian
+      village, and walked faint and dizzy among the lodges. It would not do, and
+      I bethought me of starvation. During five days I sustained life on one
+      small biscuit a day. At the end of that time I was weaker than before, but
+      the disorder seemed shaken in its stronghold and very gradually I began to
+      resume a less rigid diet. No sooner had I done so than the same detested
+      symptoms revisited me; my old enemy resumed his pertinacious assaults, yet
+      not with his former violence or constancy, and though before I regained
+      any fair portion of my ordinary strength weeks had elapsed, and months
+      passed before the disorder left me, yet thanks to old habits of activity,
+      and a merciful Providence, I was able to sustain myself against it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I used to lie languid and dreamy before our tent and muse on the past and
+      the future, and when most overcome with lassitude, my eyes turned always
+      toward the distant Black Hills. There is a spirit of energy and vigor in
+      mountains, and they impart it to all who approach their presence. At that
+      time I did not know how many dark superstitions and gloomy legends are
+      associated with those mountains in the minds of the Indians, but I felt an
+      eager desire to penetrate their hidden recesses, to explore the awful
+      chasms and precipices, the black torrents, the silent forests, that I
+      fancied were concealed there.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0012" id="link2HCH0012">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XII
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      ILL LUCK
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      A Canadian came from Fort Laramie, and brought a curious piece of
+      intelligence. A trapper, fresh from the mountains, had become enamored of
+      a Missouri damsel belonging to a family who with other emigrants had been
+      for some days encamped in the neighborhood of the fort. If bravery be the
+      most potent charm to win the favor of the fair, then no wooer could be
+      more irresistible than a Rocky Mountain trapper. In the present instance,
+      the suit was not urged in vain. The lovers concerted a scheme, which they
+      proceeded to carry into effect with all possible dispatch. The emigrant
+      party left the fort, and on the next succeeding night but one encamped as
+      usual, and placed a guard. A little after midnight the enamored trapper
+      drew near, mounted on a strong horse and leading another by the bridle.
+      Fastening both animals to a tree, he stealthily moved toward the wagons,
+      as if he were approaching a band of buffalo. Eluding the vigilance of the
+      guard, who was probably half asleep, he met his mistress by appointment at
+      the outskirts of the camp, mounted her on his spare horse, and made off
+      with her through the darkness. The sequel of the adventure did not reach
+      our ears, and we never learned how the imprudent fair one liked an Indian
+      lodge for a dwelling, and a reckless trapper for a bridegroom.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At length The Whirlwind and his warriors determined to move. They had
+      resolved after all their preparations not to go to the rendezvous at La
+      Bonte&rsquo;s Camp, but to pass through the Black Hills and spend a few weeks in
+      hunting the buffalo on the other side, until they had killed enough to
+      furnish them with a stock of provisions and with hides to make their
+      lodges for the next season. This done, they were to send out a small
+      independent war party against the enemy. Their final determination left us
+      in some embarrassment. Should we go to La Bonte&rsquo;s Camp, it was not
+      impossible that the other villages would prove as vacillating and
+      indecisive as The Whirlwinds, and that no assembly whatever would take
+      place. Our old companion Reynal had conceived a liking for us, or rather
+      for our biscuit and coffee, and for the occasional small presents which we
+      made him. He was very anxious that we should go with the village which he
+      himself intended to accompany. He declared he was certain that no Indians
+      would meet at the rendezvous, and said moreover that it would be easy to
+      convey our cart and baggage through the Black Hills. In saying this, he
+      told as usual an egregious falsehood. Neither he nor any white man with us
+      had ever seen the difficult and obscure defiles through which the Indians
+      intended to make their way. I passed them afterward, and had much ado to
+      force my distressed horse along the narrow ravines, and through chasms
+      where daylight could scarcely penetrate. Our cart might as easily have
+      been conveyed over the summit of Pike&rsquo;s Peak. Anticipating the
+      difficulties and uncertainties of an attempt to visit the rendezvous, we
+      recalled the old proverb about &ldquo;A bird in the hand,&rdquo; and decided to follow
+      the village.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Both camps, the Indians&rsquo; and our own, broke up on the morning of the 1st
+      of July. I was so weak that the aid of a potent auxiliary, a spoonful of
+      whisky swallowed at short intervals, alone enabled me to sit on my hardy
+      little mare Pauline through the short journey of that day. For half a mile
+      before us and half a mile behind, the prairie was covered far and wide
+      with the moving throng of savages. The barren, broken plain stretched away
+      to the right and left, and far in front rose the gloomy precipitous ridge
+      of the Black Hills. We pushed forward to the head of the scattered column,
+      passing the burdened travaux, the heavily laden pack horses, the gaunt old
+      women on foot, the gay young squaws on horseback, the restless children
+      running among the crowd, old men striding along in their white buffalo
+      robes, and groups of young warriors mounted on their best horses. Henry
+      Chatillon, looking backward over the distant prairie, exclaimed suddenly
+      that a horseman was approaching, and in truth we could just discern a
+      small black speck slowly moving over the face of a distant swell, like a
+      fly creeping on a wall. It rapidly grew larger as it approached.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;White man, I b&rsquo;lieve,&rdquo; said Henry; &ldquo;look how he ride! Indian never ride
+      that way. Yes; he got rifle on the saddle before him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The horseman disappeared in a hollow of the prairie, but we soon saw him
+      again, and as he came riding at a gallop toward us through the crowd of
+      Indians, his long hair streaming in the wind behind him, we recognized the
+      ruddy face and old buckskin frock of Jean Gras the trapper. He was just
+      arrived from Fort Laramie, where he had been on a visit, and said he had a
+      message for us. A trader named Bisonette, one of Henry&rsquo;s friends, was
+      lately come from the settlements, and intended to go with a party of men
+      to La Bonte&rsquo;s Camp, where, as Jean Gras assured us, ten or twelve villages
+      of Indians would certainly assemble. Bisonette desired that we would cross
+      over and meet him there, and promised that his men should protect our
+      horses and baggage while we went among the Indians. Shaw and I stopped our
+      horses and held a council, and in an evil hour resolved to go.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For the rest of that day&rsquo;s journey our course and that of the Indians was
+      the same. In less than an hour we came to where the high barren prairie
+      terminated, sinking down abruptly in steep descent; and standing on these
+      heights, we saw below us a great level meadow. Laramie Creek bounded it on
+      the left, sweeping along in the shadow of the declivities, and passing
+      with its shallow and rapid current just below us. We sat on horseback,
+      waiting and looking on, while the whole savage array went pouring past us,
+      hurrying down the descent and spreading themselves over the meadow below.
+      In a few moments the plain was swarming with the moving multitude, some
+      just visible, like specks in the distance, others still passing on,
+      pressing down, and fording the stream with bustle and confusion. On the
+      edge of the heights sat half a dozen of the elder warriors, gravely
+      smoking and looking down with unmoved faces on the wild and striking
+      spectacle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Up went the lodges in a circle on the margin of the stream. For the sake
+      of quiet we pitched our tent among some trees at half a mile&rsquo;s distance.
+      In the afternoon we were in the village. The day was a glorious one, and
+      the whole camp seemed lively and animated in sympathy. Groups of children
+      and young girls were laughing gayly on the outside of the lodges. The
+      shields, the lances, and the bows were removed from the tall tripods on
+      which they usually hung before the dwellings of their owners. The warriors
+      were mounting their horses, and one by one riding away over the prairie
+      toward the neighboring hills.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shaw and I sat on the grass near the lodge of Reynal. An old woman, with
+      true Indian hospitality, brought a bowl of boiled venison and placed it
+      before us. We amused ourselves with watching half a dozen young squaws who
+      were playing together and chasing each other in and out of one of the
+      lodges. Suddenly the wild yell of the war-whoop came pealing from the
+      hills. A crowd of horsemen appeared, rushing down their sides and riding
+      at full speed toward the village, each warrior&rsquo;s long hair flying behind
+      him in the wind like a ship&rsquo;s streamer. As they approached, the confused
+      throng assumed a regular order, and entering two by two, they circled
+      round the area at full gallop, each warrior singing his war song as he
+      rode. Some of their dresses were splendid. They wore superb crests of
+      feathers and close tunics of antelope skins, fringed with the scalp-locks
+      of their enemies; their shields too were often fluttering with the war
+      eagle&rsquo;s feathers. All had bows and arrows at their back; some carried long
+      lances, and a few were armed with guns. The White Shield, their partisan,
+      rode in gorgeous attire at their head, mounted on a black-and-white horse.
+      Mahto-Tatonka and his brothers took no part in this parade, for they were
+      in mourning for their sister, and were all sitting in their lodges, their
+      bodies bedaubed from head to foot with white clay, and a lock of hair cut
+      from each of their foreheads.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The warriors circled three times round the village; and as each
+      distinguished champion passed, the old women would scream out his name in
+      honor of his bravery, and to incite the emulation of the younger warriors.
+      Little urchins, not two years old, followed the warlike pageant with
+      glittering eyes, and looked with eager wonder and admiration at those
+      whose honors were proclaimed by the public voice of the village. Thus
+      early is the lesson of war instilled into the mind of an Indian, and such
+      are the stimulants which incite his thirst for martial renown.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The procession rode out of the village as it had entered it, and in half
+      an hour all the warriors had returned again, dropping quietly in, singly
+      or in parties of two or three.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As the sun rose next morning we looked across the meadow, and could see
+      the lodges leveled and the Indians gathering together in preparation to
+      leave the camp. Their course lay to the westward. We turned toward the
+      north with our men, the four trappers following us, with the Indian family
+      of Moran. We traveled until night. I suffered not a little from pain and
+      weakness. We encamped among some trees by the side of a little brook, and
+      here during the whole of the next day we lay waiting for Bisonette, but no
+      Bisonette appeared. Here also two of our trapper friends left us, and set
+      out for the Rocky Mountains. On the second morning, despairing of
+      Bisonette&rsquo;s arrival we resumed our journey, traversing a forlorn and
+      dreary monotony of sun-scorched plains, where no living thing appeared
+      save here and there an antelope flying before us like the wind. When noon
+      came we saw an unwonted and most welcome sight; a rich and luxuriant
+      growth of trees, marking the course of a little stream called Horseshoe
+      Creek. We turned gladly toward it. There were lofty and spreading trees,
+      standing widely asunder, and supporting a thick canopy of leaves, above a
+      surface of rich, tall grass. The stream ran swiftly, as clear as crystal,
+      through the bosom of the wood, sparkling over its bed of white sand and
+      darkening again as it entered a deep cavern of leaves and boughs. I was
+      thoroughly exhausted, and flung myself on the ground, scarcely able to
+      move. All that afternoon I lay in the shade by the side of the stream, and
+      those bright woods and sparkling waters are associated in my mind with
+      recollections of lassitude and utter prostration. When night came I sat
+      down by the fire, longing, with an intensity of which at this moment I can
+      hardly conceive, for some powerful stimulant.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the morning as glorious a sun rose upon us as ever animated that
+      desolate wilderness. We advanced and soon were surrounded by tall bare
+      hills, overspread from top to bottom with prickly-pears and other cacti,
+      that seemed like clinging reptiles. A plain, flat and hard, and with
+      scarcely the vestige of grass, lay before us, and a line of tall misshapen
+      trees bounded the onward view. There was no sight or sound of man or
+      beast, or any living thing, although behind those trees was the
+      long-looked-for place of rendezvous, where we fondly hoped to have found
+      the Indians congregated by thousands. We looked and listened anxiously. We
+      pushed forward with our best speed, and forced our horses through the
+      trees. There were copses of some extent beyond, with a scanty stream
+      creeping through their midst; and as we pressed through the yielding
+      branches, deer sprang up to the right and left. At length we caught a
+      glimpse of the prairie beyond. Soon we emerged upon it, and saw, not a
+      plain covered with encampments and swarming with life, but a vast unbroken
+      desert stretching away before us league upon league, without a bush or a
+      tree or anything that had life. We drew rein and gave to the winds our
+      sentiments concerning the whole aboriginal race of America. Our journey
+      was in vain and much worse than in vain. For myself, I was vexed and
+      disappointed beyond measure; as I well knew that a slight aggravation of
+      my disorder would render this false step irrevocable, and make it quite
+      impossible to accomplish effectively the design which had led me an
+      arduous journey of between three and four thousand miles. To fortify
+      myself as well as I could against such a contingency, I resolved that I
+      would not under any circumstances attempt to leave the country until my
+      object was completely gained.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And where were the Indians? They were assembled in great numbers at a spot
+      about twenty miles distant, and there at that very moment they were
+      engaged in their warlike ceremonies. The scarcity of buffalo in the
+      vicinity of La Bonte&rsquo;s Camp, which would render their supply of provisions
+      scanty and precarious, had probably prevented them from assembling there;
+      but of all this we knew nothing until some weeks after.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shaw lashed his horse and galloped forward, I, though much more vexed than
+      he, was not strong enough to adopt this convenient vent to my feelings; so
+      I followed at a quiet pace, but in no quiet mood. We rode up to a solitary
+      old tree, which seemed the only place fit for encampment. Half its
+      branches were dead, and the rest were so scantily furnished with leaves
+      that they cast but a meager and wretched shade, and the old twisted trunk
+      alone furnished sufficient protection from the sun. We threw down our
+      saddles in the strip of shadow that it cast, and sat down upon them. In
+      silent indignation we remained smoking for an hour or more, shifting our
+      saddles with the shifting shadow, for the sun was intolerably hot.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0013" id="link2HCH0013">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XIII
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      HUNTING INDIANS
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      At last we had reached La Bonte&rsquo;s Camp, toward which our eyes had turned
+      so long. Of all weary hours, those that passed between noon and sunset of
+      the day when we arrived there may bear away the palm of exquisite
+      discomfort. I lay under the tree reflecting on what course to pursue,
+      watching the shadows which seemed never to move, and the sun which
+      remained fixed in the sky, and hoping every moment to see the men and
+      horses of Bisonette emerging from the woods. Shaw and Henry had ridden out
+      on a scouting expedition, and did not return until the sun was setting.
+      There was nothing very cheering in their faces nor in the news they
+      brought.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We have been ten miles from here,&rdquo; said Shaw. &ldquo;We climbed the highest
+      butte we could find, and could not see a buffalo or Indian; nothing but
+      prairie for twenty miles around us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry&rsquo;s horse was quite disabled by clambering up and down the sides of
+      ravines, and Shaw&rsquo;s was severely fatigued.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After supper that evening, as we sat around the fire, I proposed to Shaw
+      to wait one day longer in hopes of Bisonette&rsquo;s arrival, and if he should
+      not come to send Delorier with the cart and baggage back to Fort Laramie,
+      while we ourselves followed The Whirlwind&rsquo;s village and attempted to
+      overtake it as it passed the mountains. Shaw, not having the same motive
+      for hunting Indians that I had, was averse to the plan; I therefore
+      resolved to go alone. This design I adopted very unwillingly, for I knew
+      that in the present state of my health the attempt would be extremely
+      unpleasant, and, as I considered, hazardous. I hoped that Bisonette would
+      appear in the course of the following day, and bring us some information
+      by which to direct our course, and enable me to accomplish my purpose by
+      means less objectionable.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The rifle of Henry Chatillon was necessary for the subsistence of the
+      party in my absence; so I called Raymond, and ordered him to prepare to
+      set out with me. Raymond rolled his eyes vacantly about, but at length,
+      having succeeded in grappling with the idea, he withdrew to his bed under
+      the cart. He was a heavy-molded fellow, with a broad face exactly like an
+      owl&rsquo;s, expressing the most impenetrable stupidity and entire
+      self-confidence. As for his good qualities, he had a sort of stubborn
+      fidelity, an insensibility to danger, and a kind of instinct or sagacity,
+      which sometimes led him right, where better heads than his were at a loss.
+      Besides this, he knew very well how to handle a rifle and picket a horse.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Through the following day the sun glared down upon us with a pitiless,
+      penetrating heat. The distant blue prairie seemed quivering under it. The
+      lodge of our Indian associates was baking in the rays, and our rifles, as
+      they leaned against the tree, were too hot for the touch. There was a dead
+      silence through our camp and all around it, unbroken except by the hum of
+      gnats and mosquitoes. The men, resting their foreheads on their arms, were
+      sleeping under the cart. The Indians kept close within their lodge except
+      the newly married pair, who were seated together under an awning of
+      buffalo robes, and the old conjurer, who, with his hard, emaciated face
+      and gaunt ribs, was perched aloft like a turkey-buzzard among the dead
+      branches of an old tree, constantly on the lookout for enemies. He would
+      have made a capital shot. A rifle bullet, skillfully planted, would have
+      brought him tumbling to the ground. Surely, I thought, there could be no
+      more harm in shooting such a hideous old villain, to see how ugly he would
+      look when he was dead, than in shooting the detestable vulture which he
+      resembled. We dined, and then Shaw saddled his horse.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will ride back,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;to Horseshoe Creek, and see if Bisonette is
+      there.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I would go with you,&rdquo; I answered, &ldquo;but I must reserve all the strength I
+      have.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The afternoon dragged away at last. I occupied myself in cleaning my rifle
+      and pistols, and making other preparations for the journey. After supper,
+      Henry Chatillon and I lay by the fire, discussing the properties of that
+      admirable weapon, the rifle, in the use of which he could fairly outrival
+      Leatherstocking himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was late before I wrapped myself in my blanket and lay down for the
+      night, with my head on my saddle. Shaw had not returned, but this gave no
+      uneasiness, for we presumed that he had fallen in with Bisonette, and was
+      spending the night with him. For a day or two past I had gained in
+      strength and health, but about midnight an attack of pain awoke me, and
+      for some hours I felt no inclination to sleep. The moon was quivering on
+      the broad breast of the Platte; nothing could be heard except those low
+      inexplicable sounds, like whisperings and footsteps, which no one who has
+      spent the night alone amid deserts and forests will be at a loss to
+      understand. As I was falling asleep, a familiar voice, shouting from the
+      distance, awoke me again. A rapid step approached the camp, and Shaw on
+      foot, with his gun in his hand, hastily entered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where&rsquo;s your horse?&rdquo; said I, raising myself on my elbow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Lost!&rdquo; said Shaw. &ldquo;Where&rsquo;s Delorier?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There,&rdquo; I replied, pointing to a confused mass of blankets and buffalo
+      robes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shaw touched them with the butt of his gun, and up sprang our faithful
+      Canadian.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come, Delorier; stir up the fire, and get me something to eat.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where&rsquo;s Bisonette?&rdquo; asked I.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Lord knows; there&rsquo;s nobody at Horseshoe Creek.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Shaw had gone back to the spot where we had encamped two days before, and
+      finding nothing there but the ashes of our fires, he had tied his horse to
+      the tree while he bathed in the stream. Something startled his horse, who
+      broke loose, and for two hours Shaw tried in vain to catch him. Sunset
+      approached, and it was twelve miles to camp. So he abandoned the attempt,
+      and set out on foot to join us. The greater part of his perilous and
+      solitary work was performed in darkness. His moccasins were worn to
+      tatters and his feet severely lacerated. He sat down to eat, however, with
+      the usual equanimity of his temper not at all disturbed by his misfortune,
+      and my last recollection before falling asleep was of Shaw, seated
+      cross-legged before the fire, smoking his pipe. The horse, I may as well
+      mention here, was found the next morning by Henry Chatillon.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When I awoke again there was a fresh damp smell in the air, a gray
+      twilight involved the prairie, and above its eastern verge was a streak of
+      cold red sky. I called to the men, and in a moment a fire was blazing
+      brightly in the dim morning light, and breakfast was getting ready. We sat
+      down together on the grass, to the last civilized meal which Raymond and I
+      were destined to enjoy for some time.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now, bring in the horses.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      My little mare Pauline was soon standing by the fire. She was a fleet,
+      hardy, and gentle animal, christened after Paul Dorion, from whom I had
+      procured her in exchange for Pontiac. She did not look as if equipped for
+      a morning pleasure ride. In front of the black, high-bowed mountain
+      saddle, holsters, with heavy pistols, were fastened. A pair of saddle
+      bags, a blanket tightly rolled, a small parcel of Indian presents tied up
+      in a buffalo skin, a leather bag of flour, and a smaller one of tea were
+      all secured behind, and a long trail-rope was wound round her neck.
+      Raymond had a strong black mule, equipped in a similar manner. We crammed
+      our powder-horns to the throat, and mounted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will meet you at Fort Laramie on the 1st of August,&rdquo; said I to Shaw.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is,&rdquo; replied he, &ldquo;if we don&rsquo;t meet before that. I think I shall
+      follow after you in a day or two.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This in fact he attempted, and he would have succeeded if he had not
+      encountered obstacles against which his resolute spirit was of no avail.
+      Two days after I left him he sent Delorier to the fort with the cart and
+      baggage, and set out for the mountains with Henry Chatillon; but a
+      tremendous thunderstorm had deluged the prairie, and nearly obliterated
+      not only our trail but that of the Indians themselves. They followed along
+      the base of the mountains, at a loss in which direction to go. They
+      encamped there, and in the morning Shaw found himself poisoned by ivy in
+      such a manner that it was impossible for him to travel. So they turned
+      back reluctantly toward Fort Laramie. Shaw&rsquo;s limbs were swollen to double
+      their usual size, and he rode in great pain. They encamped again within
+      twenty miles of the fort, and reached it early on the following morning.
+      Shaw lay seriously ill for a week, and remained at the fort till I
+      rejoined him some time after.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To return to my own story. We shook hands with our friends, rode out upon
+      the prairie, and clambering the sandy hollows that were channeled in the
+      sides of the hills gained the high plains above. If a curse had been
+      pronounced upon the land it could not have worn an aspect of more dreary
+      and forlorn barrenness. There were abrupt broken hills, deep hollows, and
+      wide plains; but all alike glared with an insupportable whiteness under
+      the burning sun. The country, as if parched by the heat, had cracked into
+      innumerable fissures and ravines, that not a little impeded our progress.
+      Their steep sides were white and raw, and along the bottom we several
+      times discovered the broad tracks of the terrific grizzly bear, nowhere
+      more abundant than in this region. The ridges of the hills were hard as
+      rock, and strewn with pebbles of flint and coarse red jasper; looking from
+      them, there was nothing to relieve the desert uniformity of the prospect,
+      save here and there a pine-tree clinging at the edge of a ravine, and
+      stretching out its rough, shaggy arms. Under the scorching heat these
+      melancholy trees diffused their peculiar resinous odor through the sultry
+      air. There was something in it, as I approached them, that recalled old
+      associations; the pine-clad mountains of New England, traversed in days of
+      health and buoyancy, rose like a reality before my fancy. In passing that
+      arid waste I was goaded with a morbid thirst produced by my disorder, and
+      I thought with a longing desire on the crystal treasure poured in such
+      wasteful profusion from our thousand hills. Shutting my eyes, I more than
+      half believed that I heard the deep plunging and gurgling of waters in the
+      bowels of the shaded rocks. I could see their dark ice glittering far down
+      amid the crevices, and the cold drops trickling from the long green
+      mosses.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When noon came, we found a little stream, with a few trees and bushes; and
+      here we rested for an hour. Then we traveled on, guided by the sun, until,
+      just before sunset, we reached another stream, called Bitter Cotton-wood
+      Creek. A thick growth of bushes and old storm-beaten trees grew at
+      intervals along its bank. Near the foot of one of the trees we flung down
+      our saddles, and hobbling our horses turned them loose to feed. The little
+      stream was clear and swift, and ran musically on its white sands. Small
+      water birds were splashing in the shallows, and filling the air with their
+      cries and flutterings. The sun was just sinking among gold and crimson
+      clouds behind Mount Laramie. I well remember how I lay upon a log by the
+      margin of the water, and watched the restless motions of the little fish
+      in a deep still nook below. Strange to say, I seemed to have gained
+      strength since the morning, and almost felt a sense of returning health.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We built our fire. Night came, and the wolves began to howl. One deep
+      voice commenced, and it was answered in awful responses from the hills,
+      the plains, and the woods along the stream above and below us. Such sounds
+      need not and do not disturb one&rsquo;s sleep upon the prairie. We picketed the
+      mare and the mule close at our feet, and did not wake until daylight. Then
+      we turned them loose, still hobbled, to feed for an hour before starting.
+      We were getting ready our morning&rsquo;s meal, when Raymond saw an antelope at
+      half a mile&rsquo;s distance, and said he would go and shoot it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your business,&rdquo; said. I, &ldquo;is to look after the animals. I am too weak to
+      do much, if anything happens to them, and you must keep within sight of
+      the camp.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Raymond promised, and set out with his rifle in his hand. The animals had
+      passed across the stream, and were feeding among the long grass on the
+      other side, much tormented by the attacks of the numerous large
+      green-headed flies. As I watched them, I saw them go down into a hollow,
+      and as several minutes elapsed without their reappearing, I waded through
+      the stream to look after them. To my vexation and alarm I discovered them
+      at a great distance, galloping away at full speed, Pauline in advance,
+      with her hobbles broken, and the mule, still fettered, following with
+      awkward leaps. I fired my rifle and shouted to recall Raymond. In a moment
+      he came running through the stream, with a red handkerchief bound round
+      his head. I pointed to the fugitives, and ordered him to pursue them.
+      Muttering a &ldquo;Sacre!&rdquo; between his teeth, he set out at full speed, still
+      swinging his rifle in his hand. I walked up to the top of a hill, and
+      looking away over the prairie, could just distinguish the runaways, still
+      at full gallop. Returning to the fire, I sat down at the foot of a tree.
+      Wearily and anxiously hour after hour passed away. The old loose bark
+      dangling from the trunk behind me flapped to and fro in the wind, and the
+      mosquitoes kept up their incessant drowsy humming; but other than this,
+      there was no sight nor sound of life throughout the burning landscape. The
+      sun rose higher and higher, until the shadows fell almost perpendicularly,
+      and I knew that it must be noon. It seemed scarcely possible that the
+      animals could be recovered. If they were not, my situation was one of
+      serious difficulty. Shaw, when I left him had decided to move that
+      morning, but whither he had not determined. To look for him would be a
+      vain attempt. Fort Laramie was forty miles distant, and I could not walk a
+      mile without great effort. Not then having learned the sound philosophy of
+      yielding to disproportionate obstacles, I resolved to continue in any
+      event the pursuit of the Indians. Only one plan occurred to me; this was
+      to send Raymond to the fort with an order for more horses, while I
+      remained on the spot, awaiting his return, which might take place within
+      three days. But the adoption of this resolution did not wholly allay my
+      anxiety, for it involved both uncertainty and danger. To remain stationary
+      and alone for three days, in a country full of dangerous Indians, was not
+      the most flattering of prospects; and protracted as my Indian hunt must be
+      by such delay, it was not easy to foretell its ultimate result. Revolving
+      these matters, I grew hungry; and as our stock of provisions, except four
+      or five pounds of flour, was by this time exhausted, I left the camp to
+      see what game I could find. Nothing could be seen except four or five
+      large curlew, which, with their loud screaming, were wheeling over my
+      head, and now and then alighting upon the prairie. I shot two of them, and
+      was about returning, when a startling sight caught my eye. A small, dark
+      object, like a human head, suddenly appeared, and vanished among the thick
+      hushes along the stream below. In that country every stranger is a
+      suspected enemy. Instinctively I threw forward the muzzle of my rifle. In
+      a moment the bushes were violently shaken, two heads, but not human heads,
+      protruded, and to my great joy I recognized the downcast, disconsolate
+      countenance of the black mule and the yellow visage of Pauline. Raymond
+      came upon the mule, pale and haggard, complaining of a fiery pain in his
+      chest. I took charge of the animals while he kneeled down by the side of
+      the stream to drink. He had kept the runaways in sight as far as the Side
+      Fork of Laramie Creek, a distance of more than ten miles; and here with
+      great difficulty he had succeeded in catching them. I saw that he was
+      unarmed, and asked him what he had done with his rifle. It had encumbered
+      him in his pursuit, and he had dropped it on the prairie, thinking that he
+      could find it on his return; but in this he had failed. The loss might
+      prove a very formidable one. I was too much rejoiced however at the
+      recovery of the animals to think much about it; and having made some tea
+      for Raymond in a tin vessel which we had brought with us, I told him that
+      I would give him two hours for resting before we set out again. He had
+      eaten nothing that day; but having no appetite, he lay down immediately to
+      sleep. I picketed the animals among the richest grass that I could find,
+      and made fires of green wood to protect them from the flies; then sitting
+      down again by the tree, I watched the slow movements of the sun,
+      begrudging every moment that passed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The time I had mentioned expired, and I awoke Raymond. We saddled and set
+      out again, but first we went in search of the lost rifle, and in the
+      course of an hour Raymond was fortunate enough to find it. Then we turned
+      westward, and moved over the hills and hollows at a slow pace toward the
+      Black Hills. The heat no longer tormented us, for a cloud was before the
+      sun. Yet that day shall never be marked with white in my calendar. The air
+      began to grow fresh and cool, the distant mountains frowned more gloomily,
+      there was a low muttering of thunder, and dense black masses of cloud rose
+      heavily behind the broken peaks. At first they were gayly fringed with
+      silver by the afternoon sun, but soon the thick blackness overspread the
+      whole sky, and the desert around us was wrapped in deep gloom. I scarcely
+      heeded it at the time, but now I cannot but feel that there was an awful
+      sublimity in the hoarse murmuring of the thunder, in the somber shadows
+      that involved the mountains and the plain. The storm broke. It came upon
+      us with a zigzag blinding flash, with a terrific crash of thunder, and
+      with a hurricane that howled over the prairie, dashing floods of water
+      against us. Raymond looked round, and cursed the merciless elements. There
+      seemed no shelter near, but we discerned at length a deep ravine gashed in
+      the level prairie, and saw half way down its side an old pine tree, whose
+      rough horizontal boughs formed a sort of penthouse against the tempest. We
+      found a practicable passage, and hastily descending, fastened our animals
+      to some large loose stones at the bottom; then climbing up, we drew our
+      blankets over our heads, and seated ourselves close beneath the old tree.
+      Perhaps I was no competent judge of time, but it seemed to me that we were
+      sitting there a full hour, while around us poured a deluge of rain,
+      through which the rocks on the opposite side of the gulf were barely
+      visible. The first burst of the tempest soon subsided, but the rain poured
+      steadily. At length Raymond grew impatient, and scrambling out of the
+      ravine, he gained the level prairie above.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What does the weather look like?&rdquo; asked I, from my seat under the tree.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It looks bad,&rdquo; he answered; &ldquo;dark all around,&rdquo; and again he descended and
+      sat down by my side. Some ten minutes elapsed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Go up again,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;and take another look;&rdquo; and he clambered up the
+      precipice. &ldquo;Well, how is it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Just the same, only I see one little bright spot over the top of the
+      mountain.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The rain by this time had begun to abate; and going down to the bottom of
+      the ravine, we loosened the animals, who were standing up to their knees
+      in water. Leading them up the rocky throat of the ravine, we reached the
+      plain above. &ldquo;Am I,&rdquo; I thought to myself, &ldquo;the same man who a few months
+      since, was seated, a quiet student of BELLES-LETTRES, in a cushioned
+      arm-chair by a sea-coal fire?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      All around us was obscurity; but the bright spot above the mountaintops
+      grew wider and ruddier, until at length the clouds drew apart, and a flood
+      of sunbeams poured down from heaven, streaming along the precipices, and
+      involving them in a thin blue haze, as soft and lovely as that which wraps
+      the Apennines on an evening in spring. Rapidly the clouds were broken and
+      scattered, like routed legions of evil spirits. The plain lay basking in
+      sunbeams around us; a rainbow arched the desert from north to south, and
+      far in front a line of woods seemed inviting us to refreshment and repose.
+      When we reached them, they were glistening with prismatic dewdrops, and
+      enlivened by the song and flutterings of a hundred birds. Strange winged
+      insects, benumbed by the rain, were clinging to the leaves and the bark of
+      the trees.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Raymond kindled a fire with great difficulty. The animals turned eagerly
+      to feed on the soft rich grass, while I, wrapping myself in my blanket,
+      lay down and gazed on the evening landscape. The mountains, whose stern
+      features had lowered upon us with so gloomy and awful a frown, now seemed
+      lighted up with a serene, benignant smile, and the green waving
+      undulations of the plain were gladdened with the rich sunshine. Wet, ill,
+      and wearied as I was, my spirit grew lighter at the view, and I drew from
+      it an augury of good for my future prospects.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When morning came, Raymond awoke, coughing violently, though I had
+      apparently received no injury. We mounted, crossed the little stream,
+      pushed through the trees, and began our journey over the plain beyond. And
+      now, as we rode slowly along, we looked anxiously on every hand for traces
+      of the Indians, not doubting that the village had passed somewhere in that
+      vicinity; but the scanty shriveled grass was not more than three or four
+      inches high, and the ground was of such unyielding hardness that a host
+      might have marched over it and left scarcely a trace of its passage. Up
+      hill and down hill, and clambering through ravines, we continued our
+      journey. As we were skirting the foot of a hill I saw Raymond, who was
+      some rods in advance, suddenly jerking the reins of his mule. Sliding from
+      his seat, and running in a crouching posture up a hollow, he disappeared;
+      and then in an instant I heard the sharp quick crack of his rifle. A
+      wounded antelope came running on three legs over the hill. I lashed
+      Pauline and made after him. My fleet little mare soon brought me by his
+      side, and after leaping and bounding for a few moments in vain, he stood
+      still, as if despairing of escape. His glistening eyes turned up toward my
+      face with so piteous a look that it was with feelings of infinite
+      compunction that I shot him through the head with a pistol. Raymond
+      skinned and cut him up, and we hung the forequarters to our saddles, much
+      rejoiced that our exhausted stock of provisions was renewed in such good
+      time.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Gaining the top of a hill, we could see along the cloudy verge of the
+      prairie before us lines of trees and shadowy groves that marked the course
+      of Laramie Creek. Some time before noon we reached its banks and began
+      anxiously to search them for footprints of the Indians. We followed the
+      stream for several miles, now on the shore and now wading in the water,
+      scrutinizing every sand-bar and every muddy bank. So long was the search
+      that we began to fear that we had left the trail undiscovered behind us.
+      At length I heard Raymond shouting, and saw him jump from his mule to
+      examine some object under the shelving bank. I rode up to his side. It was
+      the clear and palpable impression of an Indian moccasin. Encouraged by
+      this we continued our search, and at last some appearances on a soft
+      surface of earth not far from the shore attracted my eye; and going to
+      examine them I found half a dozen tracks, some made by men and some by
+      children. Just then Raymond observed across the stream the mouth of a
+      small branch entering it from the south. He forded the water, rode in at
+      the opening, and in a moment I heard him shouting again, so I passed over
+      and joined him. The little branch had a broad sandy bed, along which the
+      water trickled in a scanty stream; and on either bank the bushes were so
+      close that the view was completely intercepted. I found Raymond stooping
+      over the footprints of three or four horses. Proceeding we found those of
+      a man, then those of a child, then those of more horses; and at last the
+      bushes on each bank were beaten down and broken, and the sand plowed up
+      with a multitude of footsteps, and scored across with the furrows made by
+      the lodge-poles that had been dragged through. It was now certain that we
+      had found the trail. I pushed through the bushes, and at a little distance
+      on the prairie beyond found the ashes of a hundred and fifty lodge fires,
+      with bones and pieces of buffalo robes scattered around them, and in some
+      instances the pickets to which horses had been secured still standing in
+      the ground. Elated by our success we selected a convenient tree, and
+      turning the animals loose, prepared to make a meal from the fat haunch of
+      our victim.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Hardship and exposure had thriven with me wonderfully. I had gained both
+      health and strength since leaving La Bonte&rsquo;s Camp. Raymond and I made a
+      hearty meal together in high spirits, for we rashly presumed that having
+      found one end of the trail we should have little difficulty in reaching
+      the other. But when the animals were led in we found that our old ill luck
+      had not ceased to follow us close. As I was saddling Pauline I saw that
+      her eye was as dull as lead, and the hue of her yellow coat visibly
+      darkened. I placed my foot in the stirrup to mount, when instantly she
+      staggered and fell flat on her side. Gaining her feet with an effort she
+      stood by the fire with a drooping head. Whether she had been bitten by a
+      snake or poisoned by some noxious plant or attacked by a sudden disorder,
+      it was hard to say; but at all events her sickness was sufficiently
+      ill-timed and unfortunate. I succeeded in a second attempt to mount her,
+      and with a slow pace we moved forward on the trail of the Indians. It led
+      us up a hill and over a dreary plain; and here, to our great
+      mortification, the traces almost disappeared, for the ground was hard as
+      adamant; and if its flinty surface had ever retained the print of a hoof,
+      the marks had been washed away by the deluge of yesterday. An Indian
+      village, in its disorderly march, is scattered over the prairie, often to
+      the width of full half a mile; so that its trail is nowhere clearly
+      marked, and the task of following it is made doubly wearisome and
+      difficult. By good fortune plenty of large ant-hills, a yard or more in
+      diameter, were scattered over the plain, and these were frequently broken
+      by the footprints of men and horses, and marked by traces of the
+      lodge-poles. The succulent leaves of the prickly-pear, also bruised from
+      the same causes, helped a little to guide us; so inch by inch we moved
+      along. Often we lost the trail altogether, and then would recover it
+      again, but late in the afternoon we found ourselves totally at fault. We
+      stood alone without clew to guide us. The broken plain expanded for league
+      after league around us, and in front the long dark ridge of mountains was
+      stretching from north to south. Mount Laramie, a little on our right,
+      towered high above the rest and from a dark valley just beyond one of its
+      lower declivities, we discerned volumes of white smoke slowly rolling up
+      into the clear air.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think,&rdquo; said Raymond, &ldquo;some Indians must be there. Perhaps we had
+      better go.&rdquo; But this plan was not rashly to be adopted, and we determined
+      still to continue our search after the lost trail. Our good stars prompted
+      us to this decision, for we afterward had reason to believe, from
+      information given us by the Indians, that the smoke was raised as a decoy
+      by a Crow war party.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Evening was coming on, and there was no wood or water nearer than the foot
+      of the mountains. So thither we turned, directing our course toward the
+      point where Laramie Creek issues forth upon the prairie. When we reached
+      it the bare tops of the mountains were still brightened with sunshine. The
+      little river was breaking with a vehement and angry current from its dark
+      prison. There was something in the near vicinity of the mountains, in the
+      loud surging of the rapids, wonderfully cheering and exhilarating; for
+      although once as familiar as home itself, they had been for months
+      strangers to my experience. There was a rich grass-plot by the river&rsquo;s
+      bank, surrounded by low ridges, which would effectually screen ourselves
+      and our fire from the sight of wandering Indians. Here among the grass I
+      observed numerous circles of large stones, which, as Raymond said, were
+      traces of a Dakota winter encampment. We lay down and did not awake till
+      the sun was up. A large rock projected from the shore, and behind it the
+      deep water was slowly eddying round and round. The temptation was
+      irresistible. I threw off my clothes, leaped in, suffered myself to be
+      borne once round with the current, and then, seizing the strong root of a
+      water plant, drew myself to the shore. The effect was so invigorating and
+      refreshing that I mistook it for returning health. &ldquo;Pauline,&rdquo; thought I,
+      as I led the little mare up to be saddled, &ldquo;only thrive as I do, and you
+      and I will have sport yet among the buffalo beyond these mountains.&rdquo; But
+      scarcely were we mounted and on our way before the momentary glow passed.
+      Again I hung as usual in my seat, scarcely able to hold myself erect.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Look yonder,&rdquo; said Raymond; &ldquo;you see that big hollow there; the Indians
+      must have gone that way, if they went anywhere about here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      We reached the gap, which was like a deep notch cut into the mountain
+      ridge, and here we soon discerned an ant-hill furrowed with the mark of a
+      lodge-pole. This was quite enough; there could be no doubt now. As we rode
+      on, the opening growing narrower, the Indians had been compelled to march
+      in closer order, and the traces became numerous and distinct. The gap
+      terminated in a rocky gateway, leading into a rough passage upward,
+      between two precipitous mountains. Here grass and weeds were bruised to
+      fragments by the throng that had passed through. We moved slowly over the
+      rocks, up the passage; and in this toilsome manner we advanced for an hour
+      or two, bare precipices, hundreds of feet high, shooting up on either
+      hand. Raymond, with his hardy mule, was a few rods before me, when we came
+      to the foot of an ascent steeper than the rest, and which I trusted might
+      prove the highest point of the defile. Pauline strained upward for a few
+      yards, moaning and stumbling, and then came to a dead stop, unable to
+      proceed further. I dismounted, and attempted to lead her; but my own
+      exhausted strength soon gave out; so I loosened the trail-rope from her
+      neck, and tying it round my arm, crawled up on my hands and knees. I
+      gained the top, totally exhausted, the sweat drops trickling from my
+      forehead. Pauline stood like a statue by my side, her shadow falling upon
+      the scorching rock; and in this shade, for there was no other, I lay for
+      some time, scarcely able to move a limb. All around the black crags, sharp
+      as needles at the top, stood glowing in the sun, without a tree, or a
+      bush, or a blade of grass, to cover their precipitous sides. The whole
+      scene seemed parched with a pitiless, insufferable heat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After a while I could mount again, and we moved on, descending the rocky
+      defile on its western side. Thinking of that morning&rsquo;s journey, it has
+      sometimes seemed to me that there was something ridiculous in my position;
+      a man, armed to the teeth, but wholly unable to fight, and equally so to
+      run away, traversing a dangerous wilderness, on a sick horse. But these
+      thoughts were retrospective, for at the time I was in too grave a mood to
+      entertain a very lively sense of the ludicrous.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Raymond&rsquo;s saddle-girth slipped; and while I proceeded he was stopping
+      behind to repair the mischief. I came to the top of a little declivity,
+      where a most welcome sight greeted my eye; a nook of fresh green grass
+      nestled among the cliffs, sunny clumps of bushes on one side, and shaggy
+      old pine trees leaning forward from the rocks on the other. A shrill,
+      familiar voice saluted me, and recalled me to days of boyhood; that of the
+      insect called the &ldquo;locust&rdquo; by New England schoolboys, which was fast
+      clinging among the heated boughs of the old pine trees. Then, too, as I
+      passed the bushes, the low sound of falling water reached my ear. Pauline
+      turned of her own accord, and pushing through the boughs we found a black
+      rock, over-arched by the cool green canopy. An icy stream was pouring from
+      its side into a wide basin of white sand, from whence it had no visible
+      outlet, but filtered through into the soil below. While I filled a tin cup
+      at the spring, Pauline was eagerly plunging her head deep in the pool.
+      Other visitors had been there before us. All around in the soft soil were
+      the footprints of elk, deer, and the Rocky Mountain sheep; and the grizzly
+      bear too had left the recent prints of his broad foot, with its frightful
+      array of claws. Among these mountains was his home.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Soon after leaving the spring we found a little grassy plain, encircled by
+      the mountains, and marked, to our great joy, with all the traces of an
+      Indian camp. Raymond&rsquo;s practiced eye detected certain signs by which he
+      recognized the spot where Reynal&rsquo;s lodge had been pitched and his horses
+      picketed. I approached, and stood looking at the place. Reynal and I had,
+      I believe, hardly a feeling in common. I disliked the fellow, and it
+      perplexed me a good deal to understand why I should look with so much
+      interest on the ashes of his fire, when between him and me there seemed no
+      other bond of sympathy than the slender and precarious one of a kindred
+      race.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In half an hour from this we were clear of the mountains. There was a
+      plain before us, totally barren and thickly peopled in many parts with the
+      little prairie dogs, who sat at the mouths of their burrows and yelped at
+      us as we passed. The plain, as we thought, was about six miles wide; but
+      it cost us two hours to cross it. Then another mountain range rose before
+      us, grander and more wild than the last had been. Far out of the dense
+      shrubbery that clothed the steeps for a thousand feet shot up black crags,
+      all leaning one way, and shattered by storms and thunder into grim and
+      threatening shapes. As we entered a narrow passage on the trail of the
+      Indians, they impended frightfully on one side, above our heads.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Our course was through dense woods, in the shade and twinkling sunlight of
+      overhanging boughs. I would I could recall to mind all the startling
+      combinations that presented themselves, as winding from side to side of
+      the passage, to avoid its obstructions, we could see, glancing at
+      intervals through the foliage, the awful forms of the gigantic cliffs,
+      that seemed at times to hem us in on the right and on the left, before us
+      and behind! Another scene in a few moments greeted us; a tract of gray and
+      sunny woods, broken into knolls and hollows, enlivened by birds and
+      interspersed with flowers. Among the rest I recognized the mellow whistle
+      of the robin, an old familiar friend whom I had scarce expected to meet in
+      such a place. Humble-bees too were buzzing heavily about the flowers; and
+      of these a species of larkspur caught my eye, more appropriate, it should
+      seem, to cultivated gardens than to a remote wilderness. Instantly it
+      recalled a multitude of dormant and delightful recollections.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Leaving behind us this spot and its associations, a sight soon presented
+      itself, characteristic of that warlike region. In an open space, fenced in
+      by high rocks, stood two Indian forts, of a square form, rudely built of
+      sticks and logs. They were somewhat ruinous, having probably been
+      constructed the year before. Each might have contained about twenty men.
+      Perhaps in this gloomy spot some party had been beset by their enemies,
+      and those scowling rocks and blasted trees might not long since have
+      looked down on a conflict unchronicled and unknown. Yet if any traces of
+      bloodshed remained they were completely hidden by the bushes and tall rank
+      weeds.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Gradually the mountains drew apart, and the passage expanded into a plain,
+      where again we found traces of an Indian encampment. There were trees and
+      bushes just before us, and we stopped here for an hour&rsquo;s rest and
+      refreshment. When we had finished our meal Raymond struck fire, and
+      lighting his pipe, sat down at the foot of a tree to smoke. For some time
+      I observed him puffing away with a face of unusual solemnity. Then slowly
+      taking the pipe from his lips, he looked up and remarked that we had
+      better not go any farther.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why not?&rdquo; asked I.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He said that the country was becoming very dangerous, that we were
+      entering the range of the Snakes, Arapahoes and Grosventre Blackfeet, and
+      that if any of their wandering parties should meet us, it would cost us
+      our lives; but he added, with a blunt fidelity that nearly reconciled me
+      to his stupidity, that he would go anywhere I wished. I told him to bring
+      up the animals, and mounting them we proceeded again. I confess that, as
+      we moved forward, the prospect seemed but a dreary and doubtful one. I
+      would have given the world for my ordinary elasticity of body and mind,
+      and for a horse of such strength and spirit as the journey required.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Closer and closer the rocks gathered round us, growing taller and steeper,
+      and pressing more and more upon our path. We entered at length a defile
+      which I never had seen rivaled. The mountain was cracked from top to
+      bottom, and we were creeping along the bottom of the fissure, in dampness
+      and gloom, with the clink of hoofs on the loose shingly rocks, and the
+      hoarse murmuring of a petulant brook which kept us company. Sometimes the
+      water, foaming among the stones, overspread the whole narrow passage;
+      sometimes, withdrawing to one side, it gave us room to pass dry-shod.
+      Looking up, we could see a narrow ribbon of bright blue sky between the
+      dark edges of the opposing cliffs. This did not last long. The passage
+      soon widened, and sunbeams found their way down, flashing upon the black
+      waters. The defile would spread out to many rods in width; bushes, trees,
+      and flowers would spring by the side of the brook; the cliffs would be
+      feathered with shrubbery, that clung in every crevice, and fringed with
+      trees, that grew along their sunny edges. Then we would be moving again in
+      the darkness. The passage seemed about four miles long, and before we
+      reached the end of it, the unshod hoofs of our animals were lamentably
+      broken, and their legs cut by the sharp stones. Issuing from the mountain
+      we found another plain. All around it stood a circle of lofty precipices,
+      that seemed the impersonation of silence and solitude. Here again the
+      Indians had encamped, as well they might, after passing with their women,
+      children and horses through the gulf behind us. In one day we had made a
+      journey which had cost them three to accomplish.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The only outlet to this amphitheater lay over a hill some two hundred feet
+      high, up which we moved with difficulty. Looking from the top, we saw that
+      at last we were free of the mountains. The prairie spread before us, but
+      so wild and broken that the view was everywhere obstructed. Far on our
+      left one tall hill swelled up against the sky, on the smooth, pale green
+      surface of which four slowly moving black specks were discernible. They
+      were evidently buffalo, and we hailed the sight as a good augury; for
+      where the buffalo were, there too the Indians would probably be found. We
+      hoped on that very night to reach the village. We were anxious to do so
+      for a double reason, wishing to bring our wearisome journey to an end, and
+      knowing, moreover, that though to enter the village in broad daylight
+      would be a perfectly safe experiment, yet to encamp in its vicinity would
+      be dangerous. But as we rode on, the sun was sinking, and soon was within
+      half an hour of the horizon. We ascended a hill and looked round us for a
+      spot for our encampment. The prairie was like a turbulent ocean, suddenly
+      congealed when its waves were at the highest, and it lay half in light and
+      half in shadow, as the rich sunshine, yellow as gold, was pouring over it.
+      The rough bushes of the wild sage were growing everywhere, its dull pale
+      green overspreading hill and hollow. Yet a little way before us, a bright
+      verdant line of grass was winding along the plain, and here and there
+      throughout its course water was glistening darkly. We went down to it,
+      kindled a fire, and turned our horses loose to feed. It was a little
+      trickling brook, that for some yards on either bank turned the barren
+      prairie into fertility, and here and there it spread into deep pools,
+      where the beaver had dammed it up.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We placed our last remaining piece of the antelope before a scanty fire,
+      mournfully reflecting on our exhausted stock of provisions. Just then an
+      enormous gray hare, peculiar to these prairies, came jumping along, and
+      seated himself within fifty yards to look at us. I thoughtlessly raised my
+      rifle to shoot him, but Raymond called out to me not to fire for fear the
+      report should reach the ears of the Indians. That night for the first time
+      we considered that the danger to which we were exposed was of a somewhat
+      serious character; and to those who are unacquainted with Indians, it may
+      seem strange that our chief apprehensions arose from the supposed
+      proximity of the people whom we intended to visit. Had any straggling
+      party of these faithful friends caught sight of us from the hill-top, they
+      would probably have returned in the night to plunder us of our horses and
+      perhaps of our scalps. But we were on the prairie, where the GENIUS LOCI
+      is at war with all nervous apprehensions; and I presume that neither
+      Raymond nor I thought twice of the matter that evening.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      While he was looking after the animals, I sat by the fire engaged in the
+      novel task of baking bread. The utensils were of the most simple and
+      primitive kind, consisting of two sticks inclining over the bed of coals,
+      one end thrust into the ground while the dough was twisted in a spiral
+      form round the other. Under such circumstances all the epicurean in a
+      man&rsquo;s nature is apt to awaken within him. I revisited in fancy the far
+      distant abodes of good fare, not indeed Frascati&rsquo;s, or the Trois Freres
+      Provencaux, for that were too extreme a flight; but no other than the
+      homely table of my old friend and host, Tom Crawford, of the White
+      Mountains. By a singular revulsion, Tom himself, whom I well remember to
+      have looked upon as the impersonation of all that is wild and
+      backwoodsman-like, now appeared before me as the ministering angel of
+      comfort and good living. Being fatigued and drowsy I began to doze, and my
+      thoughts, following the same train of association, assumed another form.
+      Half-dreaming, I saw myself surrounded with the mountains of New England,
+      alive with water-falls, their black crags tinctured with milk-white mists.
+      For this reverie I paid a speedy penalty; for the bread was black on one
+      side and soft on the other.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For eight hours Raymond and I, pillowed on our saddles, lay insensible as
+      logs. Pauline&rsquo;s yellow head was stretched over me when I awoke. I got up
+      and examined her. Her feet indeed were bruised and swollen by the
+      accidents of yesterday, but her eye was brighter, her motions livelier,
+      and her mysterious malady had visibly abated. We moved on, hoping within
+      an hour to come in sight of the Indian village; but again disappointment
+      awaited us. The trail disappeared, melting away upon a hard and stony
+      plain. Raymond and I separating, rode from side to side, scrutinizing
+      every yard of ground, until at length I discerned traces of the
+      lodge-poles passing by the side of a ridge of rocks. We began again to
+      follow them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is that black spot out there on the prairie?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It looks like a dead buffalo,&rdquo; answered Raymond.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We rode out to it, and found it to be the huge carcass of a bull killed by
+      the Indians as they had passed. Tangled hair and scraps of hide were
+      scattered all around, for the wolves had been making merry over it, and
+      had hollowed out the entire carcass. It was covered with myriads of large
+      black crickets, and from its appearance must certainly have lain there for
+      four or five days. The sight was a most disheartening one, and I observed
+      to Raymond that the Indians might still be fifty or sixty miles before us.
+      But he shook his head, and replied that they dared not go so far for fear
+      of their enemies, the Snakes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Soon after this we lost the trail again, and ascended a neighboring ridge,
+      totally at a loss. Before us lay a plain perfectly flat, spreading on the
+      right and left, without apparent limit, and bounded in front by a long
+      broken line of hills, ten or twelve miles distant. All was open and
+      exposed to view, yet not a buffalo nor an Indian was visible.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you see that?&rdquo; said Raymond; &ldquo;Now we had better turn round.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But as Raymond&rsquo;s bourgeois thought otherwise, we descended the hill and
+      began to cross the plain. We had come so far that I knew perfectly well
+      neither Pauline&rsquo;s limbs nor my own could carry me back to Fort Laramie. I
+      considered that the lines of expediency and inclination tallied exactly,
+      and that the most prudent course was to keep forward. The ground
+      immediately around us was thickly strewn with the skulls and bones of
+      buffalo, for here a year or two before the Indians had made a &ldquo;surround&rdquo;;
+      yet no living game presented itself. At length, however, an antelope
+      sprang up and gazed at us. We fired together, and by a singular fatality
+      we both missed, although the animal stood, a fair mark, within eighty
+      yards. This ill success might perhaps be charged to our own eagerness, for
+      by this time we had no provision left except a little flour. We could
+      discern several small lakes, or rather extensive pools of water,
+      glistening in the distance. As we approached them, wolves and antelopes
+      bounded away through the tall grass that grew in their vicinity, and
+      flocks of large white plover flew screaming over their surface. Having
+      failed of the antelope, Raymond tried his hand at the birds with the same
+      ill success. The water also disappointed us. Its muddy margin was so
+      beaten up by the crowd of buffalo that our timorous animals were afraid to
+      approach. So we turned away and moved toward the hills. The rank grass,
+      where it was not trampled down by the buffalo, fairly swept our horses&rsquo;
+      necks.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Again we found the same execrable barren prairie offering no clew by which
+      to guide our way. As we drew near the hills an opening appeared, through
+      which the Indians must have gone if they had passed that way at all.
+      Slowly we began to ascend it. I felt the most dreary forebodings of ill
+      success, when on looking round I could discover neither dent of hoof, nor
+      footprint, nor trace of lodge-pole, though the passage was encumbered by
+      the ghastly skulls of buffalo. We heard thunder muttering; a storm was
+      coming on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As we gained the top of the gap, the prospect beyond began to disclose
+      itself. First, we saw a long dark line of ragged clouds upon the horizon,
+      while above them rose the peak of the Medicine-Bow, the vanguard of the
+      Rocky Mountains; then little by little the plain came into view, a vast
+      green uniformity, forlorn and tenantless, though Laramie Creek glistened
+      in a waving line over its surface, without a bush or a tree upon its
+      banks. As yet, the round projecting shoulder of a hill intercepted a part
+      of the view. I rode in advance, when suddenly I could distinguish a few
+      dark spots on the prairie, along the bank of the stream.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Buffalo!&rdquo; said I. Then a sudden hope flashed upon me, and eagerly and
+      anxiously I looked again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Horses!&rdquo; exclaimed Raymond, with a tremendous oath, lashing his mule
+      forward as he spoke. More and more of the plain disclosed itself, and in
+      rapid succession more and more horses appeared, scattered along the river
+      bank, or feeding in bands over the prairie. Then, suddenly, standing in a
+      circle by the stream, swarming with their savage inhabitants, we saw
+      rising before us the tall lodges of the Ogallalla. Never did the heart of
+      wanderer more gladden at the sight of home than did mine at the sight of
+      those wild habitations!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0014" id="link2HCH0014">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XIV
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      THE OGALLALLA VILLAGE
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Such a narrative as this is hardly the place for portraying the mental
+      features of the Indians. The same picture, slightly changed in shade and
+      coloring, would serve with very few exceptions for all the tribes that lie
+      north of the Mexican territories. But with this striking similarity in
+      their modes of thought, the tribes of the lake and ocean shores, of the
+      forests and of the plains, differ greatly in their manner of life. Having
+      been domesticated for several weeks among one of the wildest of the wild
+      hordes that roam over the remote prairies, I had extraordinary
+      opportunities of observing them, and I flatter myself that a faithful
+      picture of the scenes that passed daily before my eyes may not be devoid
+      of interest and value. These men were thorough savages. Neither their
+      manners nor their ideas were in the slightest degree modified by contact
+      with civilization. They knew nothing of the power and real character of
+      the white men, and their children would scream in terror at the sight of
+      me. Their religion, their superstitions, and their prejudices were the
+      same that had been handed down to them from immemorial time. They fought
+      with the same weapons that their fathers fought with and wore the same
+      rude garments of skins.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Great changes are at hand in that region. With the stream of emigration to
+      Oregon and California, the buffalo will dwindle away, and the large
+      wandering communities who depend on them for support must be broken and
+      scattered. The Indians will soon be corrupted by the example of the
+      whites, abased by whisky, and overawed by military posts; so that within a
+      few years the traveler may pass in tolerable security through their
+      country. Its danger and its charm will have disappeared together.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As soon as Raymond and I discovered the village from the gap in the hills,
+      we were seen in our turn; keen eyes were constantly on the watch. As we
+      rode down upon the plain the side of the village nearest us was darkened
+      with a crowd of naked figures gathering around the lodges. Several men
+      came forward to meet us. I could distinguish among them the green blanket
+      of the Frenchman Reynal. When we came up the ceremony of shaking hands had
+      to be gone through with in due form, and then all were eager to know what
+      had become of the rest of my party. I satisfied them on this point, and we
+      all moved forward together toward the village.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You&rsquo;ve missed it,&rdquo; said Reynal; &ldquo;if you&rsquo;d been here day before yesterday,
+      you&rsquo;d have found the whole prairie over yonder black with buffalo as far
+      as you could see. There were no cows, though; nothing but bulls. We made a
+      &lsquo;surround&rsquo; every day till yesterday. See the village there; don&rsquo;t that
+      look like good living?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      In fact I could see, even at that distance, that long cords were stretched
+      from lodge to lodge, over which the meat, cut by the squaws into thin
+      sheets, was hanging to dry in the sun. I noticed too that the village was
+      somewhat smaller than when I had last seen it, and I asked Reynal the
+      cause. He said that the old Le Borgne had felt too weak to pass over the
+      mountains, and so had remained behind with all his relations, including
+      Mahto-Tatonka and his brothers. The Whirlwind too had been unwilling to
+      come so far, because, as Reynal said, he was afraid. Only half a dozen
+      lodges had adhered to him, the main body of the village setting their
+      chief&rsquo;s authority at naught, and taking the course most agreeable to their
+      inclinations.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What chiefs are there in the village now?&rdquo; said I.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said Reynal, &ldquo;there&rsquo;s old Red-Water, and the Eagle-Feather, and
+      the Big Crow, and the Mad Wolf and the Panther, and the White Shield, and&mdash;what&rsquo;s
+      his name?&mdash;the half-breed Cheyenne.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      By this time we were close to the village, and I observed that while the
+      greater part of the lodges were very large and neat in their appearance,
+      there was at one side a cluster of squalid, miserable huts. I looked
+      toward them, and made some remark about their wretched appearance. But I
+      was touching upon delicate ground.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My squaw&rsquo;s relations live in those lodges,&rdquo; said Reynal very warmly, &ldquo;and
+      there isn&rsquo;t a better set in the whole village.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Are there any chiefs among them?&rdquo; asked I.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Chiefs?&rdquo; said Reynal; &ldquo;yes, plenty!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What are their names?&rdquo; I inquired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Their names? Why, there&rsquo;s the Arrow-Head. If he isn&rsquo;t a chief he ought to
+      be one. And there&rsquo;s the Hail-Storm. He&rsquo;s nothing but a boy, to be sure;
+      but he&rsquo;s bound to be a chief one of these days!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Just then we passed between two of the lodges, and entered the great area
+      of the village. Superb naked figures stood silently gazing on us.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where&rsquo;s the Bad Wound&rsquo;s lodge?&rdquo; said I to Reynal.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There, you&rsquo;ve missed it again! The Bad Wound is away with The Whirlwind.
+      If you could have found him here, and gone to live in his lodge, he would
+      have treated you better than any man in the village. But there&rsquo;s the Big
+      Crow&rsquo;s lodge yonder, next to old Red-Water&rsquo;s. He&rsquo;s a good Indian for the
+      whites, and I advise you to go and live with him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Are there many squaws and children in his lodge?&rdquo; said I.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No; only one squaw and two or three children. He keeps the rest in a
+      separate lodge by themselves.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So, still followed by a crowd of Indians, Raymond and I rode up to the
+      entrance of the Big Crow&rsquo;s lodge. A squaw came out immediately and took
+      our horses. I put aside the leather nap that covered the low opening, and
+      stooping, entered the Big Crow&rsquo;s dwelling. There I could see the chief in
+      the dim light, seated at one side, on a pile of buffalo robes. He greeted
+      me with a guttural &ldquo;How, cola!&rdquo; I requested Reynal to tell him that
+      Raymond and I were come to live with him. The Big Crow gave another low
+      exclamation. If the reader thinks that we were intruding somewhat
+      cavalierly, I beg him to observe that every Indian in the village would
+      have deemed himself honored that white men should give such preference to
+      his hospitality.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The squaw spread a buffalo robe for us in the guest&rsquo;s place at the head of
+      the lodge. Our saddles were brought in, and scarcely were we seated upon
+      them before the place was thronged with Indians, who came crowding in to
+      see us. The Big Crow produced his pipe and filled it with the mixture of
+      tobacco and shongsasha, or red willow bark. Round and round it passed, and
+      a lively conversation went forward. Meanwhile a squaw placed before the
+      two guests a wooden bowl of boiled buffalo meat, but unhappily this was
+      not the only banquet destined to be inflicted on us. Rapidly, one after
+      another, boys and young squaws thrust their heads in at the opening, to
+      invite us to various feasts in different parts of the village. For half an
+      hour or more we were actively engaged in passing from lodge to lodge,
+      tasting in each of the bowl of meat set before us, and inhaling a whiff or
+      two from our entertainer&rsquo;s pipe. A thunderstorm that had been threatening
+      for some time now began in good earnest. We crossed over to Reynal&rsquo;s
+      lodge, though it hardly deserved this name, for it consisted only of a few
+      old buffalo robes, supported on poles, and was quite open on one side.
+      Here we sat down, and the Indians gathered round us.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is it,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;that makes the thunder?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It&rsquo;s my belief,&rdquo; said Reynal, &ldquo;that it is a big stone rolling over the
+      sky.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very likely,&rdquo; I replied; &ldquo;but I want to know what the Indians think about
+      it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So he interpreted my question, which seemed to produce some doubt and
+      debate. There was evidently a difference of opinion. At last old
+      Mene-Seela, or Red-Water, who sat by himself at one side, looked up with
+      his withered face, and said he had always known what the thunder was. It
+      was a great black bird; and once he had seen it, in a dream, swooping down
+      from the Black Hills, with its loud roaring wings; and when it flapped
+      them over a lake, they struck lightning from the water.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The thunder is bad,&rdquo; said another old man, who sat muffled in his buffalo
+      robe; &ldquo;he killed my brother last summer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Reynal, at my request, asked for an explanation; but the old man remained
+      doggedly silent, and would not look up. Some time after I learned how the
+      accident occurred. The man who was killed belonged to an association
+      which, among other mystic functions, claimed the exclusive power and
+      privilege of fighting the thunder. Whenever a storm which they wished to
+      avert was threatening, the thunder-fighters would take their bows and
+      arrows, their guns, their magic drum, and a sort of whistle, made out of
+      the wingbone of the war eagle. Thus equipped, they would run out and fire
+      at the rising cloud, whooping, yelling, whistling, and beating their drum,
+      to frighten it down again. One afternoon a heavy black cloud was coming
+      up, and they repaired to the top of a hill, where they brought all their
+      magic artillery into play against it. But the undaunted thunder, refusing
+      to be terrified, kept moving straight onward, and darted out a bright
+      flash which struck one of the party dead, as he was in the very act of
+      shaking his long iron-pointed lance against it. The rest scattered and ran
+      yelling in an ecstasy of superstitious terror back to their lodges.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The lodge of my host Kongra-Tonga, or the Big Crow, presented a
+      picturesque spectacle that evening. A score or more of Indians were seated
+      around in a circle, their dark naked forms just visible by the dull light
+      of the smoldering fire in the center, the pipe glowing brightly in the
+      gloom as it passed from hand to hand round the lodge. Then a squaw would
+      drop a piece of buffalo-fat on the dull embers. Instantly a bright
+      glancing flame would leap up, darting its clear light to the very apex of
+      the tall conical structure, where the tops of the slender poles that
+      supported its covering of leather were gathered together. It gilded the
+      features of the Indians, as with animated gestures they sat around it,
+      telling their endless stories of war and hunting. It displayed rude
+      garments of skins that hung around the lodge; the bow, quiver, and lance
+      suspended over the resting-place of the chief, and the rifles and
+      powder-horns of the two white guests. For a moment all would be bright as
+      day; then the flames would die away, and fitful flashes from the embers
+      would illumine the lodge, and then leave it in darkness. Then all the
+      light would wholly fade, and the lodge and all within it be involved again
+      in obscurity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As I left the lodge next morning, I was saluted by howling and yelling
+      from all around the village, and half its canine population rushed forth
+      to the attack. Being as cowardly as they were clamorous, they kept jumping
+      around me at the distance of a few yards, only one little cur, about ten
+      inches long, having spirit enough to make a direct assault. He dashed
+      valiantly at the leather tassel which in the Dakota fashion was trailing
+      behind the heel of my moccasin, and kept his hold, growling and snarling
+      all the while, though every step I made almost jerked him over on his
+      back. As I knew that the eyes of the whole village were on the watch to
+      see if I showed any sign of apprehension, I walked forward without looking
+      to the right or left, surrounded wherever I went by this magic circle of
+      dogs. When I came to Reynal&rsquo;s lodge I sat down by it, on which the dogs
+      dispersed growling to their respective quarters. Only one large white one
+      remained, who kept running about before me and showing his teeth. I called
+      him, but he only growled the more. I looked at him well. He was fat and
+      sleek; just such a dog as I wanted. &ldquo;My friend,&rdquo; thought I, &ldquo;you shall pay
+      for this! I will have you eaten this very morning!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I intended that day to give the Indians a feast, by way of conveying a
+      favorable impression of my character and dignity; and a white dog is the
+      dish which the customs of the Dakota prescribe for all occasions of
+      formality and importance. I consulted Reynal; he soon discovered that an
+      old woman in the next lodge was owner of the white dog. I took a gaudy
+      cotton handkerchief, and laying it on the ground, arranged some vermilion,
+      beads, and other trinkets upon it. Then the old squaw was summoned. I
+      pointed to the dog and to the handkerchief. She gave a scream of delight,
+      snatched up the prize, and vanished with it into her lodge. For a few more
+      trifles I engaged the services of two other squaws, each of whom took the
+      white dog by one of his paws, and led him away behind the lodges, while he
+      kept looking up at them with a face of innocent surprise. Having killed
+      him they threw him into a fire to singe; then chopped him up and put him
+      into two large kettles to boil. Meanwhile I told Raymond to fry in
+      buffalo-fat what little flour we had left, and also to make a kettle of
+      tea as an additional item of the repast.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Big Crow&rsquo;s squaw was set briskly at work sweeping out the lodge for
+      the approaching festivity. I confided to my host himself the task of
+      inviting the guests, thinking that I might thereby shift from my own
+      shoulders the odium of fancied neglect and oversight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When feasting is in question, one hour of the day serves an Indian as well
+      as another. My entertainment came off about eleven o&rsquo;clock. At that hour,
+      Reynal and Raymond walked across the area of the village, to the
+      admiration of the inhabitants, carrying the two kettles of dog-meat slung
+      on a pole between them. These they placed in the center of the lodge, and
+      then went back for the bread and the tea. Meanwhile I had put on a pair of
+      brilliant moccasins, and substituted for my old buckskin frock a coat
+      which I had brought with me in view of such public occasions. I also made
+      careful use of the razor, an operation which no man will neglect who
+      desires to gain the good opinion of Indians. Thus attired, I seated myself
+      between Reynal and Raymond at the head of the lodge. Only a few minutes
+      elapsed before all the guests had come in and were seated on the ground,
+      wedged together in a close circle around the lodge. Each brought with him
+      a wooden bowl to hold his share of the repast. When all were assembled,
+      two of the officials called &ldquo;soldiers&rdquo; by the white men, came forward with
+      ladles made of the horn of the Rocky Mountain sheep, and began to
+      distribute the feast, always assigning a double share to the old men and
+      chiefs. The dog vanished with astonishing celerity, and each guest turned
+      his dish bottom upward to show that all was gone. Then the bread was
+      distributed in its turn, and finally the tea. As the soldiers poured it
+      out into the same wooden bowls that had served for the substantial part of
+      the meal, I thought it had a particularly curious and uninviting color.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh!&rdquo; said Reynal, &ldquo;there was not tea enough, so I stirred some soot in
+      the kettle, to make it look strong.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Fortunately an Indian&rsquo;s palate is not very discriminating. The tea was
+      well sweetened, and that was all they cared for.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now the former part of the entertainment being concluded, the time for
+      speech-making was come. The Big Crow produced a flat piece of wood on
+      which he cut up tobacco and shongsasha, and mixed them in due proportions.
+      The pipes were filled and passed from hand to hand around the company.
+      Then I began my speech, each sentence being interpreted by Reynal as I
+      went on, and echoed by the whole audience with the usual exclamations of
+      assent and approval. As nearly as I can recollect, it was as follows:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I had come, I told them, from a country so far distant, that at the rate
+      they travel, they could not reach it in a year.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Howo how!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There the Meneaska were more numerous than the blades of grass on the
+      prairie. The squaws were far more beautiful than any they had ever seen,
+      and all the men were brave warriors.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How! how! how!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Here I was assailed by sharp twinges of conscience, for I fancied I could
+      perceive a fragrance of perfumery in the air, and a vision rose before me
+      of white kid gloves and silken mustaches with the mild and gentle
+      countenances of numerous fair-haired young men. But I recovered myself and
+      began again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;While I was living in the Meneaska lodges, I had heard of the Ogallalla,
+      how great and brave a nation they were, how they loved the whites, and how
+      well they could hunt the buffalo and strike their enemies. I resolved to
+      come and see if all that I heard was true.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How! how! how! how!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As I had come on horseback through the mountains, I had been able to
+      bring them only a very few presents.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But I had enough tobacco to give them all a small piece. They might smoke
+      it, and see how much better it was than the tobacco which they got from
+      the traders.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How! how! how!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I had plenty of powder, lead, knives, and tobacco at Fort Laramie. These
+      I was anxious to give them, and if any of them should come to the fort
+      before I went away, I would make them handsome presents.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How! howo how! how!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Raymond then cut up and distributed among them two or three pounds of
+      tobacco, and old Mene-Seela began to make a reply. It was quite long, but
+      the following was the pith of it:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He had always loved the whites. They were the wisest people on earth. He
+      believed they could do everything, and he was always glad when any of them
+      came to live in the Ogallalla lodges. It was true I had not made them many
+      presents, but the reason of it was plain. It was clear that I liked them,
+      or I never should have come so far to find their village.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Several other speeches of similar import followed, and then this more
+      serious matter being disposed of, there was an interval of smoking,
+      laughing, and conversation; but old Mene-Seela suddenly interrupted it
+      with a loud voice:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now is a good time,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;when all the old men and chiefs are here
+      together, to decide what the people shall do. We came over the mountain to
+      make our lodges for next year. Our old ones are good for nothing; they are
+      rotten and worn out. But we have been disappointed. We have killed buffalo
+      bulls enough, but we have found no herds of cows, and the skins of bulls
+      are too thick and heavy for our squaws to make lodges of. There must be
+      plenty of cows about the Medicine-Bow Mountain. We ought to go there. To
+      be sure it is farther westward than we have ever been before, and perhaps
+      the Snakes will attack us, for those hunting-grounds belong to them. But
+      we must have new lodges at any rate; our old ones will not serve for
+      another year. We ought not to be afraid of the Snakes. Our warriors are
+      brave, and they are all ready for war. Besides, we have three white men
+      with their rifles to help us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I could not help thinking that the old man relied a little too much on the
+      aid of allies, one of whom was a coward, another a blockhead, and the
+      third an invalid. This speech produced a good deal of debate. As Reynal
+      did not interpret what was said, I could only judge of the meaning by the
+      features and gestures of the speakers. At the end of it, however, the
+      greater number seemed to have fallen in with Mene-Seela&rsquo;s opinion. A short
+      silence followed, and then the old man struck up a discordant chant, which
+      I was told was a song of thanks for the entertainment I had given them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;let us go and give the white men a chance to breathe.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So the company all dispersed into the open air, and for some time the old
+      chief was walking round the village, singing his song in praise of the
+      feast, after the usual custom of the nation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At last the day drew to a close, and as the sun went down the horses came
+      trooping from the surrounding plains to be picketed before the dwellings
+      of their respective masters. Soon within the great circle of lodges
+      appeared another concentric circle of restless horses; and here and there
+      fires were glowing and flickering amid the gloom of the dusky figures
+      around them. I went over and sat by the lodge of Reynal. The
+      Eagle-Feather, who was a son of Mene-Seela, and brother of my host the Big
+      Crow, was seated there already, and I asked him if the village would move
+      in the morning. He shook his head, and said that nobody could tell, for
+      since old Mahto-Tatonka had died, the people had been like children that
+      did not know their own minds. They were no better than a body without a
+      head. So I, as well as the Indians themselves, fell asleep that night
+      without knowing whether we should set out in the morning toward the
+      country of the Snakes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At daybreak, however, as I was coming up from the river after my morning&rsquo;s
+      ablutions, I saw that a movement was contemplated. Some of the lodges were
+      reduced to nothing but bare skeletons of poles; the leather covering of
+      others was flapping in the wind as the squaws were pulling it off. One or
+      two chiefs of note had resolved, it seemed, on moving; and so having set
+      their squaws at work, the example was tacitly followed by the rest of the
+      village. One by one the lodges were sinking down in rapid succession, and
+      where the great circle of the village had been only a moment before,
+      nothing now remained but a ring of horses and Indians, crowded in
+      confusion together. The ruins of the lodges were spread over the ground,
+      together with kettles, stone mallets, great ladles of horn, buffalo robes,
+      and cases of painted hide, filled with dried meat. Squaws bustled about in
+      their busy preparations, the old hags screaming to one another at the
+      stretch of their leathern lungs. The shaggy horses were patiently standing
+      while the lodge-poles were lashed to their sides, and the baggage piled
+      upon their backs. The dogs, with their tongues lolling out, lay lazily
+      panting, and waiting for the time of departure. Each warrior sat on the
+      ground by the decaying embers of his fire, unmoved amid all the confusion,
+      while he held in his hand the long trail-rope of his horse.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As their preparations were completed, each family moved off the ground.
+      The crowd was rapidly melting away. I could see them crossing the river,
+      and passing in quick succession along the profile of the hill on the
+      farther bank. When all were gone, I mounted and set out after them,
+      followed by Raymond, and as we gained the summit, the whole village came
+      in view at once, straggling away for a mile or more over the barren plains
+      before us. Everywhere the iron points of lances were glittering. The sun
+      never shone upon a more strange array. Here were the heavy-laden pack
+      horses, some wretched old women leading them, and two or three children
+      clinging to their backs. Here were mules or ponies covered from head to
+      tail with gaudy trappings, and mounted by some gay young squaw, grinning
+      bashfulness and pleasure as the Meneaska looked at her. Boys with
+      miniature bows and arrows were wandering over the plains, little naked
+      children were running along on foot, and numberless dogs were scampering
+      among the feet of the horses. The young braves, gaudy with paint and
+      feathers, were riding in groups among the crowd, and often galloping, two
+      or three at once along the line, to try the speed of their horses. Here
+      and there you might see a rank of sturdy pedestrians stalking along in
+      their white buffalo robes. These were the dignitaries of the village, the
+      old men and warriors, to whose age and experience that wandering democracy
+      yielded a silent deference. With the rough prairie and the broken hills
+      for its background, the restless scene was striking and picturesque beyond
+      description. Days and weeks made me familiar with it, but never impaired
+      its effect upon my fancy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As we moved on the broken column grew yet more scattered and disorderly,
+      until, as we approached the foot of a hill, I saw the old men before
+      mentioned seating themselves in a line upon the ground, in advance of the
+      whole. They lighted a pipe and sat smoking, laughing, and telling stories,
+      while the people, stopping as they successively came up, were soon
+      gathered in a crowd behind them. Then the old men rose, drew their buffalo
+      robes over their shoulders, and strode on as before. Gaining the top of
+      the hill, we found a very steep declivity before us. There was not a
+      minute&rsquo;s pause. The whole descended in a mass, amid dust and confusion.
+      The horses braced their feet as they slid down, women and children were
+      screaming, dogs yelping as they were trodden upon, while stones and earth
+      went rolling to the bottom. In a few moments I could see the village from
+      the summit, spreading again far and wide over the plain below.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At our encampment that afternoon I was attacked anew by my old disorder.
+      In half an hour the strength that I had been gaining for a week past had
+      vanished again, and I became like a man in a dream. But at sunset I lay
+      down in the Big Crow&rsquo;s lodge and slept, totally unconscious till the
+      morning. The first thing that awakened me was a hoarse flapping over my
+      head, and a sudden light that poured in upon me. The camp was breaking up,
+      and the squaws were moving the covering from the lodge. I arose and shook
+      off my blanket with the feeling of perfect health; but scarcely had I
+      gained my feet when a sense of my helpless condition was once more forced
+      upon me, and I found myself scarcely able to stand. Raymond had brought up
+      Pauline and the mule, and I stooped to raise my saddle from the ground. My
+      strength was quite inadequate to the task. &ldquo;You must saddle her,&rdquo; said I
+      to Raymond, as I sat down again on a pile of buffalo robes:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Et hoec etiam fortasse meminisse juvabit.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I thought, while with a painful effort I raised myself into the saddle.
+      Half an hour after, even the expectation that Virgil&rsquo;s line expressed
+      seemed destined to disappointment. As we were passing over a great plain,
+      surrounded by long broken ridges, I rode slowly in advance of the Indians,
+      with thoughts that wandered far from the time and from the place. Suddenly
+      the sky darkened, and thunder began to mutter. Clouds were rising over the
+      hills, as dreary and dull as the first forebodings of an approaching
+      calamity; and in a moment all around was wrapped in shadow. I looked
+      behind. The Indians had stopped to prepare for the approaching storm, and
+      the dark, dense mass of savages stretched far to the right and left. Since
+      the first attack of my disorder the effects of rain upon me had usually
+      been injurious in the extreme. I had no strength to spare, having at that
+      moment scarcely enough to keep my seat on horseback. Then, for the first
+      time, it pressed upon me as a strong probability that I might never leave
+      those deserts. &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; thought I to myself, &ldquo;a prairie makes quick and
+      sharp work. Better to die here, in the saddle to the last, than to stifle
+      in the hot air of a sick chamber, and a thousand times better than to drag
+      out life, as many have done, in the helpless inaction of lingering
+      disease.&rdquo; So, drawing the buffalo robe on which I sat over my head, I
+      waited till the storm should come. It broke at last with a sudden burst of
+      fury, and passing away as rapidly as it came, left the sky clear again. My
+      reflections served me no other purpose than to look back upon as a piece
+      of curious experience; for the rain did not produce the ill effects that I
+      had expected. We encamped within an hour. Having no change of clothes, I
+      contrived to borrow a curious kind of substitute from Reynal: and this
+      done, I went home, that is, to the Big Crow&rsquo;s lodge to make the entire
+      transfer that was necessary. Half a dozen squaws were in the lodge, and
+      one of them taking my arm held it against her own, while a general laugh
+      and scream of admiration were raised at the contrast in the color of the
+      skin.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Our encampment that afternoon was not far distant from a spur of the Black
+      Hills, whose ridges, bristling with fir trees, rose from the plains a mile
+      or two on our right. That they might move more rapidly toward their
+      proposed hunting-grounds, the Indians determined to leave at this place
+      their stock of dried meat and other superfluous articles. Some left even
+      their lodges, and contented themselves with carrying a few hides to make a
+      shelter from the sun and rain. Half the inhabitants set out in the
+      afternoon, with loaded pack horses, toward the mountains. Here they
+      suspended the dried meat upon trees, where the wolves and grizzly bears
+      could not get at it. All returned at evening. Some of the young men
+      declared that they had heard the reports of guns among the mountains to
+      the eastward, and many surmises were thrown out as to the origin of these
+      sounds. For my part, I was in hopes that Shaw and Henry Chatillon were
+      coming to join us. I would have welcomed them cordially, for I had no
+      other companions than two brutish white men and five hundred savages. I
+      little suspected that at that very moment my unlucky comrade was lying on
+      a buffalo robe at Fort Laramie, fevered with ivy poison, and solacing his
+      woes with tobacco and Shakespeare.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As we moved over the plains on the next morning, several young men were
+      riding about the country as scouts; and at length we began to see them
+      occasionally on the tops of the hills, shaking their robes as a signal
+      that they saw buffalo. Soon after, some bulls came in sight. Horsemen
+      darted away in pursuit, and we could see from the distance that one or two
+      of the buffalo were killed. Raymond suddenly became inspired. I looked at
+      him as he rode by my side; his face had actually grown intelligent!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This is the country for me!&rdquo; he said; &ldquo;if I could only carry the buffalo
+      that are killed here every month down to St. Louis I&rsquo;d make my fortune in
+      one winter. I&rsquo;d grow as rich as old Papin, or Mackenzie either. I call
+      this the poor man&rsquo;s market. When I&rsquo;m hungry I have only got to take my
+      rifle and go out and get better meat than the rich folks down below can
+      get with all their money. You won&rsquo;t catch me living in St. Louis another
+      winter.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; said Reynal, &ldquo;you had better say that after you and your Spanish
+      woman almost starved to death there. What a fool you were ever to take her
+      to the settlements.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your Spanish woman?&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;I never heard of her before. Are you
+      married to her?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; answered Raymond, again looking intelligent; &ldquo;the priests don&rsquo;t
+      marry their women, and why should I marry mine?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This honorable mention of the Mexican clergy introduced the subject of
+      religion, and I found that my two associates, in common with other white
+      men in the country, were as indifferent to their future welfare as men
+      whose lives are in constant peril are apt to be. Raymond had never heard
+      of the Pope. A certain bishop, who lived at Taos or at Santa Fe, embodied
+      his loftiest idea of an ecclesiastical dignitary. Reynal observed that a
+      priest had been at Fort Laramie two years ago, on his way to the Nez Perce
+      mission, and that he had confessed all the men there and given them
+      absolution. &ldquo;I got a good clearing out myself that time,&rdquo; said Reynal,
+      &ldquo;and I reckon that will do for me till I go down to the settlements
+      again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Here he interrupted himself with an oath and exclaimed: &ldquo;Look! look! The
+      Panther is running an antelope!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Panther, on his black and white horse, one of the best in the village,
+      came at full speed over the hill in hot pursuit of an antelope that darted
+      away like lightning before him. The attempt was made in mere sport and
+      bravado, for very few are the horses that can for a moment compete in
+      swiftness with this little animal. The antelope ran down the hill toward
+      the main body of the Indians who were moving over the plain below. Sharp
+      yells were given and horsemen galloped out to intercept his flight. At
+      this he turned sharply to the left and scoured away with such incredible
+      speed that he distanced all his pursuers and even the vaunted horse of the
+      Panther himself. A few moments after we witnessed a more serious sport. A
+      shaggy buffalo bull bounded out from a neighboring hollow, and close
+      behind him came a slender Indian boy, riding without stirrups or saddle
+      and lashing his eager little horse to full speed. Yard after yard he drew
+      closer to his gigantic victim, though the bull, with his short tail erect
+      and his tongue lolling out a foot from his foaming jaws, was straining his
+      unwieldy strength to the utmost. A moment more and the boy was close
+      alongside of him. It was our friend the Hail-Storm. He dropped the rein on
+      his horse&rsquo;s neck and jerked an arrow like lightning from the quiver at his
+      shoulder.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I tell you,&rdquo; said Reynal, &ldquo;that in a year&rsquo;s time that boy will match the
+      best hunter in the village. There he has given it to him! and there goes
+      another! You feel well, now, old bull, don&rsquo;t you, with two arrows stuck in
+      your lights? There, he has given him another! Hear how the Hail-Storm
+      yells when he shoots! Yes, jump at him; try it again, old fellow! You may
+      jump all day before you get your horns into that pony!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The bull sprang again and again at his assailant, but the horse kept
+      dodging with wonderful celerity. At length the bull followed up his attack
+      with a furious rush, and the Hail-Storm was put to flight, the shaggy
+      monster following close behind. The boy clung in his seat like a leech,
+      and secure in the speed of his little pony, looked round toward us and
+      laughed. In a moment he was again alongside of the bull, who was now
+      driven to complete desperation. His eyeballs glared through his tangled
+      mane, and the blood flew from his mouth and nostrils. Thus, still battling
+      with each other, the two enemies disappeared over the hill.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Many of the Indians rode at full gallop toward the spot. We followed at a
+      more moderate pace, and soon saw the bull lying dead on the side of the
+      hill. The Indians were gathered around him, and several knives were
+      already at work. These little instruments were plied with such wonderful
+      address that the twisted sinews were cut apart, the ponderous bones fell
+      asunder as if by magic, and in a moment the vast carcass was reduced to a
+      heap of bloody ruins. The surrounding group of savages offered no very
+      attractive spectacle to a civilized eye. Some were cracking the huge
+      thigh-bones and devouring the marrow within; others were cutting away
+      pieces of the liver and other approved morsels, and swallowing them on the
+      spot with the appetite of wolves. The faces of most of them, besmeared
+      with blood from ear to ear, looked grim and horrible enough. My friend the
+      White Shield proffered me a marrowbone, so skillfully laid open that all
+      the rich substance within was exposed to view at once. Another Indian held
+      out a large piece of the delicate lining of the paunch; but these
+      courteous offerings I begged leave to decline. I noticed one little boy
+      who was very busy with his knife about the jaws and throat of the buffalo,
+      from which he extracted some morsel of peculiar delicacy. It is but fair
+      to say that only certain parts of the animal are considered eligible in
+      these extempore banquets. The Indians would look with abhorrence on anyone
+      who should partake indiscriminately of the newly killed carcass.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We encamped that night, and marched westward through the greater part of
+      the following day. On the next morning we again resumed our journey. It
+      was the 17th of July, unless my notebook misleads me. At noon we stopped
+      by some pools of rain-water, and in the afternoon again set forward. This
+      double movement was contrary to the usual practice of the Indians, but all
+      were very anxious to reach the hunting ground, kill the necessary number
+      of buffalo, and retreat as soon as possible from the dangerous
+      neighborhood. I pass by for the present some curious incidents that
+      occurred during these marches and encampments. Late in the afternoon of
+      the last-mentioned day we came upon the banks of a little sandy stream, of
+      which the Indians could not tell the name; for they were very ill
+      acquainted with that part of the country. So parched and arid were the
+      prairies around that they could not supply grass enough for the horses to
+      feed upon, and we were compelled to move farther and farther up the stream
+      in search of ground for encampment. The country was much wilder than
+      before. The plains were gashed with ravines and broken into hollows and
+      steep declivities, which flanked our course, as, in long-scattered array,
+      the Indians advanced up the side of the stream. Mene-Seela consulted an
+      extraordinary oracle to instruct him where the buffalo were to be found.
+      When he with the other chiefs sat down on the grass to smoke and converse,
+      as they often did during the march, the old man picked up one of those
+      enormous black-and-green crickets, which the Dakota call by a name that
+      signifies &ldquo;They who point out the buffalo.&rdquo; The Root-Diggers, a wretched
+      tribe beyond the mountains, turn them to good account by making them into
+      a sort of soup, pronounced by certain unscrupulous trappers to be
+      extremely rich. Holding the bloated insect respectfully between his
+      fingers and thumb, the old Indian looked attentively at him and inquired,
+      &ldquo;Tell me, my father, where must we go to-morrow to find the buffalo?&rdquo; The
+      cricket twisted about his long horns in evident embarrassment. At last he
+      pointed, or seemed to point, them westward. Mene-Seela, dropping him
+      gently on the grass, laughed with great glee, and said that if we went
+      that way in the morning we should be sure to kill plenty of game.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Toward evening we came upon a fresh green meadow, traversed by the stream,
+      and deep-set among tall sterile bluffs. The Indians descended its steep
+      bank; and as I was at the rear, I was one of the last to reach this point.
+      Lances were glittering, feathers fluttering, and the water below me was
+      crowded with men and horses passing through, while the meadow beyond was
+      swarming with the restless crowd of Indians. The sun was just setting, and
+      poured its softened light upon them through an opening in the hills.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I remarked to Reynal that at last we had found a good camping-ground.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, it is very good,&rdquo; replied he ironically; &ldquo;especially if there is a
+      Snake war party about, and they take it into their heads to shoot down at
+      us from the top of these hills. It is no plan of mine, camping in such a
+      hole as this!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Indians also seemed apprehensive. High up on the top of the tallest
+      bluff, conspicuous in the bright evening sunlight, sat a naked warrior on
+      horseback, looking around, as it seemed, over the neighboring country; and
+      Raymond told me that many of the young men had gone out in different
+      directions as scouts.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The shadows had reached to the very summit of the bluffs before the lodges
+      were erected and the village reduced again to quiet and order. A cry was
+      suddenly raised, and men, women, and children came running out with
+      animated faces, and looked eagerly through the opening on the hills by
+      which the stream entered from the westward. I could discern afar off some
+      dark, heavy masses, passing over the sides of a low hill. They
+      disappeared, and then others followed. These were bands of buffalo cows.
+      The hunting-ground was reached at last, and everything promised well for
+      the morrow&rsquo;s sport. Being fatigued and exhausted, I went and lay down in
+      Kongra-Tonga&rsquo;s lodge, when Raymond thrust in his head, and called upon me
+      to come and see some sport. A number of Indians were gathered, laughing,
+      along the line of lodges on the western side of the village, and at some
+      distance, I could plainly see in the twilight two huge black monsters
+      stalking, heavily and solemnly, directly toward us. They were buffalo
+      bulls. The wind blew from them to the village, and such was their
+      blindness and stupidity that they were advancing upon the enemy without
+      the least consciousness of his presence. Raymond told me that two men had
+      hidden themselves with guns in a ravine about twenty yards in front of us.
+      The two bulls walked slowly on, heavily swinging from side to side in
+      their peculiar gait of stupid dignity. They approached within four or five
+      rods of the ravine where the Indians lay in ambush. Here at last they
+      seemed conscious that something was wrong, for they both stopped and stood
+      perfectly still, without looking either to the right or to the left.
+      Nothing of them was to be seen but two huge black masses of shaggy mane,
+      with horns, eyes, and nose in the center, and a pair of hoofs visible at
+      the bottom. At last the more intelligent of them seemed to have concluded
+      that it was time to retire. Very slowly, and with an air of the gravest
+      and most majestic deliberation, he began to turn round, as if he were
+      revolving on a pivot. Little by little his ugly brown side was exposed to
+      view. A white smoke sprang out, as it were from the ground; a sharp report
+      came with it. The old bull gave a very undignified jump and galloped off.
+      At this his comrade wheeled about with considerable expedition. The other
+      Indian shot at him from the ravine, and then both the bulls were running
+      away at full speed, while half the juvenile population of the village
+      raised a yell and ran after them. The first bull was soon stopped, and
+      while the crowd stood looking at him at a respectable distance, he reeled
+      and rolled over on his side. The other, wounded in a less vital part,
+      galloped away to the hills and escaped.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In half an hour it was totally dark. I lay down to sleep, and ill as I
+      was, there was something very animating in the prospect of the general
+      hunt that was to take place on the morrow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0015" id="link2HCH0015">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XV
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      THE HUNTING CAMP
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Long before daybreak the Indians broke up their camp. The women of
+      Mene-Seela&rsquo;s lodge were as usual among the first that were ready for
+      departure, and I found the old man himself sitting by the embers of the
+      decayed fire, over which he was warming his withered fingers, as the
+      morning was very chilly and damp. The preparations for moving were even
+      more confused and disorderly than usual. While some families were leaving
+      the ground the lodges of others were still standing untouched. At this old
+      Mene-Seela grew impatient, and walking out to the middle of the village
+      stood with his robe wrapped close around him, and harangued the people in
+      a loud, sharp voice. Now, he said, when they were on an enemy&rsquo;s
+      hunting-grounds, was not the time to behave like children; they ought to
+      be more active and united than ever. His speech had some effect. The
+      delinquents took down their lodges and loaded their pack horses; and when
+      the sun rose, the last of the men, women, and children had left the
+      deserted camp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This movement was made merely for the purpose of finding a better and
+      safer position. So we advanced only three or four miles up the little
+      stream, before each family assumed its relative place in the great ring of
+      the village, and all around the squaws were actively at work in preparing
+      the camp. But not a single warrior dismounted from his horse. All the men
+      that morning were mounted on inferior animals, leading their best horses
+      by a cord, or confiding them to the care of boys. In small parties they
+      began to leave the ground and ride rapidly away over the plains to the
+      westward. I had taken no food that morning, and not being at all ambitious
+      of further abstinence, I went into my host&rsquo;s lodge, which his squaws had
+      erected with wonderful celerity, and sat down in the center, as a gentle
+      hint that I was hungry. A wooden bowl was soon set before me, filled with
+      the nutritious preparation of dried meat called pemmican by the northern
+      voyagers and wasna by the Dakota. Taking a handful to break my fast upon,
+      I left the lodge just in time to see the last band of hunters disappear
+      over the ridge of the neighboring hill. I mounted Pauline and galloped in
+      pursuit, riding rather by the balance than by any muscular strength that
+      remained to me. From the top of the hill I could overlook a wide extent of
+      desolate and unbroken prairie, over which, far and near, little parties of
+      naked horsemen were rapidly passing. I soon came up to the nearest, and we
+      had not ridden a mile before all were united into one large and compact
+      body. All was haste and eagerness. Each hunter was whipping on his horse,
+      as if anxious to be the first to reach the game. In such movements among
+      the Indians this is always more or less the case; but it was especially so
+      in the present instance, because the head chief of the village was absent,
+      and there were but few &ldquo;soldiers,&rdquo; a sort of Indian police, who among
+      their other functions usually assumed the direction of a buffalo hunt. No
+      man turned to the right hand or to the left. We rode at a swift canter
+      straight forward, uphill and downhill, and through the stiff, obstinate
+      growth of the endless wild-sage bushes. For an hour and a half the same
+      red shoulders, the same long black hair rose and fell with the motion of
+      the horses before me. Very little was said, though once I observed an old
+      man severely reproving Raymond for having left his rifle behind him, when
+      there was some probability of encountering an enemy before the day was
+      over. As we galloped across a plain thickly set with sagebushes, the
+      foremost riders vanished suddenly from sight, as if diving into the earth.
+      The arid soil was cracked into a deep ravine. Down we all went in
+      succession and galloped in a line along the bottom, until we found a point
+      where, one by one, the horses could scramble out. Soon after we came upon
+      a wide shallow stream, and as we rode swiftly over the hard sand-beds and
+      through the thin sheets of rippling water, many of the savage horsemen
+      threw themselves to the ground, knelt on the sand, snatched a hasty
+      draught, and leaping back again to their seats, galloped on again as
+      before.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Meanwhile scouts kept in advance of the party; and now we began to see
+      them on the ridge of the hills, waving their robes in token that buffalo
+      were visible. These however proved to be nothing more than old straggling
+      bulls, feeding upon the neighboring plains, who would stare for a moment
+      at the hostile array and then gallop clumsily off. At length we could
+      discern several of these scouts making their signals to us at once; no
+      longer waving their robes boldly from the top of the hill, but standing
+      lower down, so that they could not be seen from the plains beyond. Game
+      worth pursuing had evidently been discovered. The excited Indians now
+      urged forward their tired horses even more rapidly than before. Pauline,
+      who was still sick and jaded, began to groan heavily; and her yellow sides
+      were darkened with sweat. As we were crowding together over a lower
+      intervening hill, I heard Reynal and Raymond shouting to me from the left;
+      and looking in that direction, I saw them riding away behind a party of
+      about twenty mean-looking Indians. These were the relatives of Reynal&rsquo;s
+      squaw Margot, who, not wishing to take part in the general hunt, were
+      riding toward a distant hollow, where they could discern a small band of
+      buffalo which they meant to appropriate to themselves. I answered to the
+      call by ordering Raymond to turn back and follow me. He reluctantly
+      obeyed, though Reynal, who had relied on his assistance in skinning,
+      cutting up, and carrying to camp the buffalo that he and his party should
+      kill, loudly protested and declared that we should see no sport if we went
+      with the rest of the Indians. Followed by Raymond I pursued the main body
+      of hunters, while Reynal in a great rage whipped his horse over the hill
+      after his ragamuffin relatives. The Indians, still about a hundred in
+      number, rode in a dense body at some distance in advance. They galloped
+      forward, and a cloud of dust was flying in the wind behind them. I could
+      not overtake them until they had stopped on the side of the hill where the
+      scouts were standing. Here, each hunter sprang in haste from the tired
+      animal which he had ridden, and leaped upon the fresh horse that he had
+      brought with him. There was not a saddle or a bridle in the whole party. A
+      piece of buffalo robe girthed over the horse&rsquo;s back served in the place of
+      the one, and a cord of twisted hair lashed firmly round his lower jaw
+      answered for the other. Eagle feathers were dangling from every mane and
+      tail, as insignia of courage and speed. As for the rider, he wore no other
+      clothing than a light cincture at his waist, and a pair of moccasins. He
+      had a heavy whip, with a handle of solid elk-horn, and a lash of knotted
+      bull-hide, fastened to his wrist by an ornamental band. His bow was in his
+      hand, and his quiver of otter or panther skin hung at his shoulder. Thus
+      equipped, some thirty of the hunters galloped away toward the left, in
+      order to make a circuit under cover of the hills, that the buffalo might
+      be assailed on both sides at once. The rest impatiently waited until time
+      enough had elapsed for their companions to reach the required position.
+      Then riding upward in a body, we gained the ridge of the hill, and for the
+      first time came in sight of the buffalo on the plain beyond.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They were a band of cows, four or five hundred in number, who were crowded
+      together near the bank of a wide stream that was soaking across the
+      sand-beds of the valley. This was a large circular basin, sun-scorched and
+      broken, scantily covered with herbage and encompassed with high barren
+      hills, from an opening in which we could see our allies galloping out upon
+      the plain. The wind blew from that direction. The buffalo were aware of
+      their approach, and had begun to move, though very slowly and in a compact
+      mass. I have no further recollection of seeing the game until we were in
+      the midst of them, for as we descended the hill other objects engrossed my
+      attention. Numerous old bulls were scattered over the plain, and
+      ungallantly deserting their charge at our approach, began to wade and
+      plunge through the treacherous quick-sands or the stream, and gallop away
+      toward the hills. One old veteran was struggling behind all the rest with
+      one of his forelegs, which had been broken by some accident, dangling
+      about uselessly at his side. His appearance, as he went shambling along on
+      three legs, was so ludicrous that I could not help pausing for a moment to
+      look at him. As I came near, he would try to rush upon me, nearly throwing
+      himself down at every awkward attempt. Looking up, I saw the whole body of
+      Indians full a hundred yards in advance. I lashed Pauline in pursuit and
+      reached them just in time, for as we mingled among them, each hunter, as
+      if by a common impulse, violently struck his horse, each horse sprang
+      forward convulsively, and scattering in the charge in order to assail the
+      entire herd at once, we all rushed headlong upon the buffalo. We were
+      among them in an instant. Amid the trampling and the yells I could see
+      their dark figures running hither and thither through clouds of dust, and
+      the horsemen darting in pursuit. While we were charging on one side, our
+      companions had attacked the bewildered and panic-stricken herd on the
+      other. The uproar and confusion lasted but for a moment. The dust cleared
+      away, and the buffalo could be seen scattering as from a common center,
+      flying over the plain singly, or in long files and small compact bodies,
+      while behind each followed the Indians, lashing their horses to furious
+      speed, forcing them close upon their prey, and yelling as they launched
+      arrow after arrow into their sides. The large black carcasses were strewn
+      thickly over the ground. Here and there wounded buffalo were standing,
+      their bleeding sides feathered with arrows; and as I rode past them their
+      eyes would glare, they would bristle like gigantic cats, and feebly
+      attempt to rush up and gore my horse.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I left camp that morning with a philosophic resolution. Neither I nor my
+      horse were at that time fit for such sport, and I had determined to remain
+      a quiet spectator; but amid the rush of horses and buffalo, the uproar and
+      the dust, I found it impossible to sit still; and as four or five buffalo
+      ran past me in a line, I drove Pauline in pursuit. We went plunging close
+      at their heels through the water and the quick-sands, and clambering the
+      bank, chased them through the wild-sage bushes that covered the rising
+      ground beyond. But neither her native spirit nor the blows of the knotted
+      bull-hide could supply the place of poor Pauline&rsquo;s exhausted strength. We
+      could not gain an inch upon the poor fugitives. At last, however, they
+      came full upon a ravine too wide to leap over; and as this compelled them
+      to turn abruptly to the left, I contrived to get within ten or twelve
+      yards of the hindmost. At this she faced about, bristled angrily, and made
+      a show of charging. I shot at her with a large holster pistol, and hit her
+      somewhere in the neck. Down she tumbled into the ravine, whither her
+      companions had descended before her. I saw their dark backs appearing and
+      disappearing as they galloped along the bottom; then, one by one, they
+      came scrambling out on the other side and ran off as before, the wounded
+      animal following with unabated speed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Turning back, I saw Raymond coming on his black mule to meet me; and as we
+      rode over the field together, we counted dozens of carcasses lying on the
+      plain, in the ravines and on the sandy bed of the stream. Far away in the
+      distance, horses and buffalo were still scouring along, with little clouds
+      of dust rising behind them; and over the sides of the hills we could see
+      long files of the frightened animals rapidly ascending. The hunters began
+      to return. The boys, who had held the horses behind the hill, made their
+      appearance, and the work of flaying and cutting up began in earnest all
+      over the field. I noticed my host Kongra-Tonga beyond the stream, just
+      alighting by the side of a cow which he had killed. Riding up to him I
+      found him in the act of drawing out an arrow, which, with the exception of
+      the notch at the end, had entirely disappeared in the animal. I asked him
+      to give it to me, and I still retain it as a proof, though by no means the
+      most striking one that could be offered, of the force and dexterity with
+      which the Indians discharge their arrows.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The hides and meat were piled upon the horses, and the hunters began to
+      leave the ground. Raymond and I, too, getting tired of the scene, set out
+      for the village, riding straight across the intervening desert. There was
+      no path, and as far as I could see, no landmarks sufficient to guide us;
+      but Raymond seemed to have an instinctive perception of the point on the
+      horizon toward which we ought to direct our course. Antelope were bounding
+      on all sides, and as is always the case in the presence of buffalo, they
+      seemed to have lost their natural shyness and timidity. Bands of them
+      would run lightly up the rocky declivities, and stand gazing down upon us
+      from the summit. At length we could distinguish the tall white rocks and
+      the old pine trees that, as we well remembered, were just above the site
+      of the encampment. Still, we could see nothing of the village itself
+      until, ascending a grassy hill, we found the circle of lodges, dingy with
+      storms and smoke, standing on the plain at our very feet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I entered the lodge of my host. His squaw instantly brought me food and
+      water, and spread a buffalo robe for me to lie upon; and being much
+      fatigued, I lay down and fell asleep. In about an hour the entrance of
+      Kongra-Tonga, with his arms smeared with blood to the elbows, awoke me. He
+      sat down in his usual seat on the left side of the lodge. His squaw gave
+      him a vessel of water for washing, set before him a bowl of boiled meat,
+      and as he was eating pulled off his bloody moccasins and placed fresh ones
+      on his feet; then outstretching his limbs, my host composed himself to
+      sleep.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And now the hunters, two or three at a time, began to come rapidly in, and
+      each, consigning his horses to the squaws, entered his lodge with the air
+      of a man whose day&rsquo;s work was done. The squaws flung down the load from
+      the burdened horses, and vast piles of meat and hides were soon
+      accumulated before every lodge. By this time it was darkening fast, and
+      the whole village was illumined by the glare of fires blazing all around.
+      All the squaws and children were gathered about the piles of meat,
+      exploring them in search of the daintiest portions. Some of these they
+      roasted on sticks before the fires, but often they dispensed with this
+      superfluous operation. Late into the night the fires were still glowing
+      upon the groups of feasters engaged in this savage banquet around them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Several hunters sat down by the fire in Kongra-Tonga&rsquo;s lodge to talk over
+      the day&rsquo;s exploits. Among the rest, Mene-Seela came in. Though he must
+      have seen full eighty winters, he had taken an active share in the day&rsquo;s
+      sport. He boasted that he had killed two cows that morning, and would have
+      killed a third if the dust had not blinded him so that he had to drop his
+      bow and arrows and press both hands against his eyes to stop the pain. The
+      firelight fell upon his wrinkled face and shriveled figure as he sat
+      telling his story with such inimitable gesticulation that every man in the
+      lodge broke into a laugh.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Old Mene-Seela was one of the few Indians in the village with whom I would
+      have trusted myself alone without suspicion, and the only one from whom I
+      would have received a gift or a service without the certainty that it
+      proceeded from an interested motive. He was a great friend to the whites.
+      He liked to be in their society, and was very vain of the favors he had
+      received from them. He told me one afternoon, as we were sitting together
+      in his son&rsquo;s lodge, that he considered the beaver and the whites the
+      wisest people on earth; indeed, he was convinced they were the same; and
+      an incident which had happened to him long before had assured him of this.
+      So he began the following story, and as the pipe passed in turn to him,
+      Reynal availed himself of these interruptions to translate what had
+      preceded. But the old man accompanied his words with such admirable
+      pantomime that translation was hardly necessary.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He said that when he was very young, and had never yet seen a white man,
+      he and three or four of his companions were out on a beaver hunt, and he
+      crawled into a large beaver lodge, to examine what was there. Sometimes he
+      was creeping on his hands and knees, sometimes he was obliged to swim, and
+      sometimes to lie flat on his face and drag himself along. In this way he
+      crawled a great distance underground. It was very dark, cold and close, so
+      that at last he was almost suffocated, and fell into a swoon. When he
+      began to recover, he could just distinguish the voices of his companions
+      outside, who had given him up for lost, and were singing his death song.
+      At first he could see nothing, but soon he discerned something white
+      before him, and at length plainly distinguished three people, entirely
+      white; one man and two women, sitting at the edge of a black pool of
+      water. He became alarmed and thought it high time to retreat. Having
+      succeeded, after great trouble, in reaching daylight again, he went
+      straight to the spot directly above the pool of water where he had seen
+      the three mysterious beings. Here he beat a hole with his war club in the
+      ground, and sat down to watch. In a moment the nose of an old male beaver
+      appeared at the opening. Mene-Seela instantly seized him and dragged him
+      up, when two other beavers, both females, thrust out their heads, and
+      these he served in the same way. &ldquo;These,&rdquo; continued the old man, &ldquo;must
+      have been the three white people whom I saw sitting at the edge of the
+      water.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mene-Seela was the grand depository of the legends and traditions of the
+      village. I succeeded, however, in getting from him only a few fragments.
+      Like all Indians, he was excessively superstitious, and continually saw
+      some reason for withholding his stories. &ldquo;It is a bad thing,&rdquo; he would
+      say, &ldquo;to tell the tales in summer. Stay with us till next winter, and I
+      will tell you everything I know; but now our war parties are going out,
+      and our young men will be killed if I sit down to tell stories before the
+      frost begins.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But to leave this digression. We remained encamped on this spot five days,
+      during three of which the hunters were at work incessantly, and immense
+      quantities of meat and hides were brought in. Great alarm, however,
+      prevailed in the village. All were on the alert. The young men were
+      ranging through the country as scouts, and the old men paid careful
+      attention to omens and prodigies, and especially to their dreams. In order
+      to convey to the enemy (who, if they were in the neighborhood, must
+      inevitably have known of our presence) the impression that we were
+      constantly on the watch, piles of sticks and stones were erected on all
+      the surrounding hills, in such a manner as to appear at a distance like
+      sentinels. Often, even to this hour, that scene will rise before my mind
+      like a visible reality: the tall white rocks; the old pine trees on their
+      summits; the sandy stream that ran along their bases and half encircled
+      the village; and the wild-sage bushes, with their dull green hue and their
+      medicinal odor, that covered all the neighboring declivities. Hour after
+      hour the squaws would pass and repass with their vessels of water between
+      the stream and the lodges. For the most part no one was to be seen in the
+      camp but women and children, two or three super-annuated old men, and a
+      few lazy and worthless young ones. These, together with the dogs, now
+      grown fat and good-natured with the abundance in the camp, were its only
+      tenants. Still it presented a busy and bustling scene. In all quarters the
+      meat, hung on cords of hide, was drying in the sun, and around the lodges
+      the squaws, young and old, were laboring on the fresh hides that were
+      stretched upon the ground, scraping the hair from one side and the still
+      adhering flesh from the other, and rubbing into them the brains of the
+      buffalo, in order to render them soft and pliant.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In mercy to myself and my horse, I never went out with the hunters after
+      the first day. Of late, however, I had been gaining strength rapidly, as
+      was always the case upon every respite of my disorder. I was soon able to
+      walk with ease. Raymond and I would go out upon the neighboring prairies
+      to shoot antelope, or sometimes to assail straggling buffalo, on foot, an
+      attempt in which we met with rather indifferent success. To kill a bull
+      with a rifle-ball is a difficult art, in the secret of which I was as yet
+      very imperfectly initiated. As I came out of Kongra-Tonga&rsquo;s lodge one
+      morning, Reynal called to me from the opposite side of the village, and
+      asked me over to breakfast. The breakfast was a substantial one. It
+      consisted of the rich, juicy hump-ribs of a fat cow; a repast absolutely
+      unrivaled. It was roasting before the fire, impaled upon a stout stick,
+      which Reynal took up and planted in the ground before his lodge; when he,
+      with Raymond and myself, taking our seats around it, unsheathed our knives
+      and assailed it with good will. It spite of all medical experience, this
+      solid fare, without bread or salt, seemed to agree with me admirably.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We shall have strangers here before night,&rdquo; said Reynal.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How do you know that?&rdquo; I asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I dreamed so. I am as good at dreaming as an Indian. There is the
+      Hail-Storm; he dreamed the same thing, and he and his crony, the Rabbit,
+      have gone out on discovery.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I laughed at Reynal for his credulity, went over to my host&rsquo;s lodge, took
+      down my rifle, walked out a mile or two on the prairie, saw an old bull
+      standing alone, crawled up a ravine, shot him and saw him escape. Then,
+      quite exhausted and rather ill-humored, I walked back to the village. By a
+      strange coincidence, Reynal&rsquo;s prediction had been verified; for the first
+      persons whom I saw were the two trappers, Rouleau and Saraphin, coming to
+      meet me. These men, as the reader may possibly recollect, had left our
+      party about a fortnight before. They had been trapping for a while among
+      the Black Hills, and were now on their way to the Rocky Mountains,
+      intending in a day or two to set out for the neighboring Medicine Bow.
+      They were not the most elegant or refined of companions, yet they made a
+      very welcome addition to the limited society of the village. For the rest
+      of that day we lay smoking and talking in Reynal&rsquo;s lodge. This indeed was
+      no better than a little hut, made of hides stretched on poles, and
+      entirely open in front. It was well carpeted with soft buffalo robes, and
+      here we remained, sheltered from the sun, surrounded by various domestic
+      utensils of Madame Margot&rsquo;s household. All was quiet in the village.
+      Though the hunters had not gone out that day, they lay sleeping in their
+      lodges, and most of the women were silently engaged in their heavy tasks.
+      A few young men were playing a lazy game of ball in the center of the
+      village; and when they became tired, some girls supplied their place with
+      a more boisterous sport. At a little distance, among the lodges, some
+      children and half-grown squaws were playfully tossing up one of their
+      number in a buffalo robe, an exact counterpart of the ancient pastime from
+      which Sancho Panza suffered so much. Farther out on the prairie, a host of
+      little naked boys were roaming about, engaged in various rough games, or
+      pursuing birds and ground-squirrels with their bows and arrows; and woe to
+      the unhappy little animals that fell into their merciless, torture-loving
+      hands! A squaw from the next lodge, a notable active housewife named Weah
+      Washtay, or the Good Woman, brought us a large bowl of wasna, and went
+      into an ecstasy of delight when I presented her with a green glass ring,
+      such as I usually wore with a view to similar occasions.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The sun went down and half the sky was growing fiery red, reflected on the
+      little stream as it wound away among the sagebushes. Some young men left
+      the village, and soon returned, driving in before them all the horses,
+      hundreds in number, and of every size, age, and color. The hunters came
+      out, and each securing those that belonged to him, examined their
+      condition, and tied them fast by long cords to stakes driven in front of
+      his lodge. It was half an hour before the bustle subsided and tranquillity
+      was restored again. By this time it was nearly dark. Kettles were hung
+      over the blazing fires, around which the squaws were gathered with their
+      children, laughing and talking merrily. A circle of a different kind was
+      formed in the center of the village. This was composed of the old men and
+      warriors of repute, who with their white buffalo robes drawn close around
+      their shoulders, sat together, and as the pipe passed from hand to hand,
+      their conversation had not a particle of the gravity and reserve usually
+      ascribed to Indians. I sat down with them as usual. I had in my hand half
+      a dozen squibs and serpents, which I had made one day when encamped upon
+      Laramie Creek, out of gunpowder and charcoal, and the leaves of &ldquo;Fremont&rsquo;s
+      Expedition,&rdquo; rolled round a stout lead pencil. I waited till I contrived
+      to get hold of the large piece of burning BOIS DE VACHE which the Indians
+      kept by them on the ground for lighting their pipes. With this I lighted
+      all the fireworks at once, and tossed them whizzing and sputtering into
+      the air, over the heads of the company. They all jumped up and ran off
+      with yelps of astonishment and consternation. After a moment or two, they
+      ventured to come back one by one, and some of the boldest, picking up the
+      cases of burnt paper that were scattered about, examined them with eager
+      curiosity to discover their mysterious secret. From that time forward I
+      enjoyed great repute as a &ldquo;fire-medicine.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The camp was filled with the low hum of cheerful voices. There were other
+      sounds, however, of a very different kind, for from a large lodge, lighted
+      up like a gigantic lantern by the blazing fire within, came a chorus of
+      dismal cries and wailings, long drawn out, like the howling of wolves, and
+      a woman, almost naked, was crouching close outside, crying violently, and
+      gashing her legs with a knife till they were covered with blood. Just a
+      year before, a young man belonging to this family had gone out with a war
+      party and had been slain by the enemy, and his relatives were thus
+      lamenting his loss. Still other sounds might be heard; loud earnest cries
+      often repeated from amid the gloom, at a distance beyond the village. They
+      proceeded from some young men who, being about to set out in a few days on
+      a warlike expedition, were standing at the top of a hill, calling on the
+      Great Spirit to aid them in their enterprise. While I was listening,
+      Rouleau, with a laugh on his careless face, called to me and directed my
+      attention to another quarter. In front of the lodge where Weah Washtay
+      lived another squaw was standing, angrily scolding an old yellow dog, who
+      lay on the ground with his nose resting between his paws, and his eyes
+      turned sleepily up to her face, as if he were pretending to give
+      respectful attention, but resolved to fall asleep as soon as it was all
+      over.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You ought to be ashamed of yourself!&rdquo; said the old woman. &ldquo;I have fed you
+      well, and taken care of you ever since you were small and blind, and could
+      only crawl about and squeal a little, instead of howling as you do now.
+      When you grew old, I said you were a good dog. You were strong and gentle
+      when the load was put on your back, and you never ran among the feet of
+      the horses when we were all traveling together over the prairie. But you
+      had a bad heart! Whenever a rabbit jumped out of the bushes, you were
+      always the first to run after him and lead away all the other dogs behind
+      you. You ought to have known that it was very dangerous to act so. When
+      you had got far out on the prairie, and no one was near to help you,
+      perhaps a wolf would jump out of the ravine; and then what could you do?
+      You would certainly have been killed, for no dog can fight well with a
+      load on his back. Only three days ago you ran off in that way, and turned
+      over the bag of wooden pins with which I used to fasten up the front of
+      the lodge. Look up there, and you will see that it is all flapping open.
+      And now to-night you have stolen a great piece of fat meat which was
+      roasting before the fire for my children. I tell you, you have a bad
+      heart, and you must die!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So saying, the squaw went into the lodge, and coming out with a large
+      stone mallet, killed the unfortunate dog at one blow. This speech is
+      worthy of notice as illustrating a curious characteristic of the Indians:
+      the ascribing intelligence and a power of understanding speech to the
+      inferior animals, to whom, indeed, according to many of their traditions,
+      they are linked in close affinity, and they even claim the honor of a
+      lineal descent from bears, wolves, deer, or tortoises.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As it grew late, and the crowded population began to disappear, I too
+      walked across the village to the lodge of my host, Kongra-Tonga. As I
+      entered I saw him, by the flickering blaze of the fire in the center,
+      reclining half asleep in his usual place. His couch was by no means an
+      uncomfortable one. It consisted of soft buffalo robes laid together on the
+      ground, and a pillow made of whitened deerskin stuffed with feathers and
+      ornamented with beads. At his back was a light framework of poles and
+      slender reeds, against which he could lean with ease when in a sitting
+      posture; and at the top of it, just above his head, his bow and quiver
+      were hanging. His squaw, a laughing, broad-faced woman, apparently had not
+      yet completed her domestic arrangements, for she was bustling about the
+      lodge, pulling over the utensils and the bales of dried meats that were
+      ranged carefully round it. Unhappily, she and her partner were not the
+      only tenants of the dwelling, for half a dozen children were scattered
+      about, sleeping in every imaginable posture. My saddle was in its place at
+      the head of the lodge and a buffalo robe was spread on the ground before
+      it. Wrapping myself in my blanket I lay down, but had I not been extremely
+      fatigued the noise in the next lodge would have prevented my sleeping.
+      There was the monotonous thumping of the Indian drum, mixed with
+      occasional sharp yells, and a chorus chanted by twenty voices. A grand
+      scene of gambling was going forward with all the appropriate formalities.
+      The players were staking on the chance issue of the game their ornaments,
+      their horses, and as the excitement rose, their garments, and even their
+      weapons, for desperate gambling is not confined to the hells of Paris. The
+      men of the plains and the forests no less resort to it as a violent but
+      grateful relief to the tedious monotony of their lives, which alternate
+      between fierce excitement and listless inaction. I fell asleep with the
+      dull notes of the drum still sounding on my ear, but these furious orgies
+      lasted without intermission till daylight. I was soon awakened by one of
+      the children crawling over me, while another larger one was tugging at my
+      blanket and nestling himself in a very disagreeable proximity. I
+      immediately repelled these advances by punching the heads of these
+      miniature savages with a short stick which I always kept by me for the
+      purpose; and as sleeping half the day and eating much more than is good
+      for them makes them extremely restless, this operation usually had to be
+      repeated four or five times in the course of the night. My host himself
+      was the author of another most formidable annoyance. All these Indians,
+      and he among the rest, think themselves bound to the constant performance
+      of certain acts as the condition on which their success in life depends,
+      whether in war, love, hunting, or any other employment. These &ldquo;medicines,&rdquo;
+       as they are called in that country, which are usually communicated in
+      dreams, are often absurd enough. Some Indians will strike the butt of the
+      pipe against the ground every time they smoke; others will insist that
+      everything they say shall be interpreted by contraries; and Shaw once met
+      an old man who conceived that all would be lost unless he compelled every
+      white man he met to drink a bowl of cold water. My host was particularly
+      unfortunate in his allotment. The Great Spirit had told him in a dream
+      that he must sing a certain song in the middle of every night; and
+      regularly at about twelve o&rsquo;clock his dismal monotonous chanting would
+      awaken me, and I would see him seated bolt upright on his couch, going
+      through his dolorous performances with a most business-like air. There
+      were other voices of the night still more inharmonious. Twice or thrice,
+      between sunset and dawn, all the dogs in the village, and there were
+      hundreds of them, would bay and yelp in chorus; a most horrible clamor,
+      resembling no sound that I have ever heard, except perhaps the frightful
+      howling of wolves that we used sometimes to hear long afterward when
+      descending the Arkansas on the trail of General Kearny&rsquo;s army. The canine
+      uproar is, if possible, more discordant than that of the wolves. Heard at
+      a distance, slowly rising on the night, it has a strange unearthly effect,
+      and would fearfully haunt the dreams of a nervous man; but when you are
+      sleeping in the midst of it the din is outrageous. One long loud howl from
+      the next lodge perhaps begins it, and voice after voice takes up the sound
+      till it passes around the whole circumference of the village, and the air
+      is filled with confused and discordant cries, at once fierce and mournful.
+      It lasts but for a moment and then dies away into silence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Morning came, and Kongra-Tonga, mounting his horse, rode out with the
+      hunters. It may not be amiss to glance at him for an instant in his
+      domestic character of husband and father. Both he and his squaw, like most
+      other Indians, were very fond of their children, whom they indulged to
+      excess, and never punished, except in extreme cases when they would throw
+      a bowl of cold water over them. Their offspring became sufficiently
+      undutiful and disobedient under this system of education, which tends not
+      a little to foster that wild idea of liberty and utter intolerance of
+      restraint which lie at the very foundation of the Indian character. It
+      would be hard to find a fonder father than Kongra-Tonga. There was one
+      urchin in particular, rather less than two feet high, to whom he was
+      exceedingly attached; and sometimes spreading a buffalo robe in the lodge,
+      he would seat himself upon it, place his small favorite upright before
+      him, and chant in a low tone some of the words used as an accompaniment to
+      the war dance. The little fellow, who could just manage to balance himself
+      by stretching out both arms, would lift his feet and turn slowly round and
+      round in time to his father&rsquo;s music, while my host would laugh with
+      delight, and look smiling up into my face to see if I were admiring this
+      precocious performance of his offspring. In his capacity of husband he was
+      somewhat less exemplary. The squaw who lived in the lodge with him had
+      been his partner for many years. She took good care of his children and
+      his household concerns. He liked her well enough, and as far as I could
+      see they never quarreled; but all his warmer affections were reserved for
+      younger and more recent favorites. Of these he had at present only one,
+      who lived in a lodge apart from his own. One day while in his camp he
+      became displeased with her, pushed her out, threw after her her ornaments,
+      dresses, and everything she had, and told her to go home to her father.
+      Having consummated this summary divorce, for which he could show good
+      reasons, he came back, seated himself in his usual place, and began to
+      smoke with an air of utmost tranquillity and self-satisfaction.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I was sitting in the lodge with him on that very afternoon, when I felt
+      some curiosity to learn the history of the numerous scars that appeared on
+      his naked body. Of some of them, however, I did not venture to inquire,
+      for I already understood their origin. Each of his arms was marked as if
+      deeply gashed with a knife at regular intervals, and there were other
+      scars also, of a different character, on his back and on either breast.
+      They were the traces of those formidable tortures which these Indians, in
+      common with a few other tribes, inflict upon themselves at certain
+      seasons; in part, it may be, to gain the glory of courage and endurance,
+      but chiefly as an act of self-sacrifice to secure the favor of the Great
+      Spirit. The scars upon the breast and back were produced by running
+      through the flesh strong splints of wood, to which ponderous
+      buffalo-skulls are fastened by cords of hide, and the wretch runs forward
+      with all his strength, assisted by two companions, who take hold of each
+      arm, until the flesh tears apart and the heavy loads are left behind.
+      Others of Kongra-Tonga&rsquo;s scars were the result of accidents; but he had
+      many which he received in war. He was one of the most noted warriors in
+      the village. In the course of his life he had slain as he boasted to me,
+      fourteen men, and though, like other Indians, he was a great braggart and
+      utterly regardless of truth, yet in this statement common report bore him
+      out. Being much flattered by my inquiries he told me tale after tale, true
+      or false, of his warlike exploits; and there was one among the rest
+      illustrating the worst features of the Indian character too well for me to
+      omit. Pointing out of the opening of the lodge toward the Medicine-Bow
+      Mountain, not many miles distant he said that he was there a few summers
+      ago with a war party of his young men. Here they found two Snake Indians,
+      hunting. They shot one of them with arrows and chased the other up the
+      side of the mountain till they surrounded him on a level place, and
+      Kongra-Tonga himself, jumping forward among the trees, seized him by the
+      arm. Two of his young men then ran up and held him fast while he scalped
+      him alive. Then they built a great fire, and cutting the tendons of their
+      captive&rsquo;s wrists and feet, threw him in, and held him down with long poles
+      until he was burnt to death. He garnished his story with a great many
+      descriptive particulars much too revolting to mention. His features were
+      remarkably mild and open, without the fierceness of expression common
+      among these Indians; and as he detailed these devilish cruelties, he
+      looked up into my face with the same air of earnest simplicity which a
+      little child would wear in relating to its mother some anecdote of its
+      youthful experience.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Old Mene-Seela&rsquo;s lodge could offer another illustration of the ferocity of
+      Indian warfare. A bright-eyed, active little boy was living there. He had
+      belonged to a village of the Gros-Ventre Blackfeet, a small but bloody and
+      treacherous band, in close alliance with the Arapahoes. About a year
+      before, Kongra-Tonga and a party of warriors had found about twenty lodges
+      of these Indians upon the plains a little to the eastward of our present
+      camp; and surrounding them in the night, they butchered men, women, and
+      children without mercy, preserving only this little boy alive. He was
+      adopted into the old man&rsquo;s family, and was now fast becoming identified
+      with the Ogallalla children, among whom he mingled on equal terms. There
+      was also a Crow warrior in the village, a man of gigantic stature and most
+      symmetrical proportions. Having been taken prisoner many years before and
+      adopted by a squaw in place of a son whom she had lost, he had forgotten
+      his old national antipathies, and was now both in act and inclination an
+      Ogallalla.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It will be remembered that the scheme of the grand warlike combination
+      against the Snake and Crow Indians originated in this village; and though
+      this plan had fallen to the ground, the embers of the martial ardor
+      continued to glow brightly. Eleven young men had prepared themselves to go
+      out against the enemy. The fourth day of our stay in this camp was fixed
+      upon for their departure. At the head of this party was a well-built
+      active little Indian, called the White Shield, whom I had always noticed
+      for the great neatness of his dress and appearance. His lodge too, though
+      not a large one, was the best in the village, his squaw was one of the
+      prettiest girls, and altogether his dwelling presented a complete model of
+      an Ogallalla domestic establishment. I was often a visitor there, for the
+      White Shield being rather partial to white men, used to invite me to
+      continual feasts at all hours of the day. Once when the substantial part
+      of the entertainment was concluded, and he and I were seated cross-legged
+      on a buffalo robe smoking together very amicably, he took down his warlike
+      equipments, which were hanging around the lodge, and displayed them with
+      great pride and self-importance. Among the rest was a most superb
+      headdress of feathers. Taking this from its case, he put it on and stood
+      before me, as if conscious of the gallant air which it gave to his dark
+      face and his vigorous, graceful figure. He told me that upon it were the
+      feathers of three war-eagles, equal in value to the same number of good
+      horses. He took up also a shield gayly painted and hung with feathers. The
+      effect of these barbaric ornaments was admirable, for they were arranged
+      with no little skill and taste. His quiver was made of the spotted skin of
+      a small panther, such as are common among the Black Hills, from which the
+      tail and distended claws were still allowed to hang. The White Shield
+      concluded his entertainment in a manner characteristic of an Indian. He
+      begged of me a little powder and ball, for he had a gun as well as bow and
+      arrows; but this I was obliged to refuse, because I had scarcely enough
+      for my own use. Making him, however, a parting present of a paper of
+      vermilion, I left him apparently quite contented.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Unhappily on the next morning the White Shield took cold and was attacked
+      with a violent inflammation of the throat. Immediately he seemed to lose
+      all spirit, and though before no warrior in the village had borne himself
+      more proudly, he now moped about from lodge to lodge with a forlorn and
+      dejected air. At length he came and sat down, close wrapped in his robe,
+      before the lodge of Reynal, but when he found that neither he nor I knew
+      how to relieve him, he arose and stalked over to one of the medicine-men
+      of the village. This old imposter thumped him for some time with both
+      fists, howled and yelped over him, and beat a drum close to his ear to
+      expel the evil spirit that had taken possession of him. This vigorous
+      treatment failing of the desired effect, the White Shield withdrew to his
+      own lodge, where he lay disconsolate for some hours. Making his appearance
+      once more in the afternoon, he again took his seat on the ground before
+      Reynal&rsquo;s lodge, holding his throat with his hand. For some time he sat
+      perfectly silent with his eyes fixed mournfully on the ground. At last he
+      began to speak in a low tone:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am a brave man,&rdquo; he said; &ldquo;all the young men think me a great warrior,
+      and ten of them are ready to go with me to the war. I will go and show
+      them the enemy. Last summer the Snakes killed my brother. I cannot live
+      unless I revenge his death. To-morrow we will set out and I will take
+      their scalps.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The White Shield, as he expressed this resolution, seemed to have lost all
+      the accustomed fire and spirit of his look, and hung his head as if in a
+      fit of despondency.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As I was sitting that evening at one of the fires, I saw him arrayed in
+      his splendid war dress, his cheeks painted with vermilion, leading his
+      favorite war horse to the front of his lodge. He mounted and rode round
+      the village, singing his war song in a loud hoarse voice amid the shrill
+      acclamations of the women. Then dismounting, he remained for some minutes
+      prostrate upon the ground, as if in an act of supplication. On the
+      following morning I looked in vain for the departure of the warriors. All
+      was quiet in the village until late in the forenoon, when the White
+      Shield, issuing from his lodge, came and seated himself in his old place
+      before us. Reynal asked him why he had not gone out to find the enemy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I cannot go,&rdquo; answered the White Shield in a dejected voice. &ldquo;I have
+      given my war arrows to the Meneaska.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have only given him two of your arrows,&rdquo; said Reynal. &ldquo;If you ask
+      him, he will give them back again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      For some time the White Shield said nothing. At last he spoke in a gloomy
+      tone:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;One of my young men has had bad dreams. The spirits of the dead came and
+      threw stones at him in his sleep.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      If such a dream had actually taken place it might have broken up this or
+      any other war party, but both Reynal and I were convinced at the time that
+      it was a mere fabrication to excuse his remaining at home.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The White Shield was a warrior of noted prowess. Very probably, he would
+      have received a mortal wound without a show of pain, and endured without
+      flinching the worst tortures that an enemy could inflict upon him. The
+      whole power of an Indian&rsquo;s nature would be summoned to encounter such a
+      trial; every influence of his education from childhood would have prepared
+      him for it; the cause of his suffering would have been visibly and
+      palpably before him, and his spirit would rise to set his enemy at
+      defiance, and gain the highest glory of a warrior by meeting death with
+      fortitude. But when he feels himself attacked by a mysterious evil, before
+      whose insidious assaults his manhood is wasted, and his strength drained
+      away, when he can see no enemy to resist and defy, the boldest warrior
+      falls prostrate at once. He believes that a bad spirit has taken
+      possession of him, or that he is the victim of some charm. When suffering
+      from a protracted disorder, an Indian will often abandon himself to his
+      supposed destiny, pine away and die, the victim of his own imagination.
+      The same effect will often follow from a series of calamities, or a long
+      run of ill success, and the sufferer has been known to ride into the midst
+      of an enemy&rsquo;s camp, or attack a grizzly bear single-handed, to get rid of
+      a life which he supposed to lie under the doom of misfortune.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Thus after all his fasting, dreaming, and calling upon the Great Spirit,
+      the White Shield&rsquo;s war party was pitifully broken up.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0016" id="link2HCH0016">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XVI
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      THE TRAPPERS
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      In speaking of the Indians, I have almost forgotten two bold adventurers
+      of another race, the trappers Rouleau and Saraphin. These men were bent on
+      a most hazardous enterprise. A day&rsquo;s journey to the westward was the
+      country over which the Arapahoes are accustomed to range, and for which
+      the two trappers were on the point of setting out. These Arapahoes, of
+      whom Shaw and I afterward fell in with a large village, are ferocious
+      barbarians, of a most brutal and wolfish aspect, and of late they had
+      declared themselves enemies to the whites, and threatened death to the
+      first who should venture within their territory. The occasion of the
+      declaration was as follows:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the previous spring, 1845, Colonel Kearny left Fort Leavenworth with
+      several companies of dragoons, and marching with extraordinary celerity
+      reached Fort Laramie, whence he passed along the foot of the mountains to
+      Bent&rsquo;s Fort and then, turning eastward again, returned to the point from
+      whence he set out. While at Fort Larantie, he sent a part of his command
+      as far westward as Sweetwater, while he himself remained at the fort, and
+      dispatched messages to the surrounding Indians to meet him there in
+      council. Then for the first time the tribes of that vicinity saw the white
+      warriors, and, as might have been expected, they were lost in astonishment
+      at their regular order, their gay attire, the completeness of their
+      martial equipment, and the great size and power of their horses. Among the
+      rest, the Arapahoes came in considerable numbers to the fort. They had
+      lately committed numerous acts of outrage, and Colonel Kearny threatened
+      that if they killed any more white men he would turn loose his dragoons
+      upon them, and annihilate their whole nation. In the evening, to add
+      effect to his speech, he ordered a howitzer to be fired and a rocket to be
+      thrown up. Many of the Arapahoes fell prostrate on the ground, while
+      others ran screaming with amazement and terror. On the following day they
+      withdrew to their mountains, confounded with awe at the appearance of the
+      dragoons, at their big gun which went off twice at one shot, and the fiery
+      messenger which they had sent up to the Great Spirit. For many months they
+      remained quiet, and did no further mischief. At length, just before we
+      came into the country, one of them, by an act of the basest treachery,
+      killed two white men, Boot and May, who were trapping among the mountains.
+      For this act it was impossible to discover a motive. It seemed to spring
+      from one of those inexplicable impulses which often actuate Indians and
+      appear no better than the mere outbreaks of native ferocity. No sooner was
+      the murder committed than the whole tribe were in extreme consternation.
+      They expected every day that the avenging dragoons would arrive, little
+      thinking that a desert of nine hundred miles in extent lay between the
+      latter and their mountain fastnesses. A large deputation of them came to
+      Fort Laramie, bringing a valuable present of horses, in compensation for
+      the lives of the murdered men. These Bordeaux refused to accept. They then
+      asked him if he would be satisfied with their delivering up the murderer
+      himself; but he declined this offer also. The Arapahoes went back more
+      terrified than ever. Weeks passed away, and still no dragoons appeared. A
+      result followed which all those best acquainted with Indians had
+      predicted. They conceived that fear had prevented Bordeaux from accepting
+      their gifts, and that they had nothing to apprehend from the vengeance of
+      the whites. From terror they rose to the height of insolence and
+      presumption. They called the white men cowards and old women; and a
+      friendly Dakota came to Fort Laramie and reported that they were
+      determined to kill the first of the white dogs whom they could lay hands
+      on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Had a military officer, intrusted with suitable powers, been stationed at
+      Fort Laramie, and having accepted the offer of the Arapahoes to deliver up
+      the murderer, had ordered him to be immediately led out and shot, in
+      presence of his tribe, they would have been awed into tranquillity, and
+      much danger and calamity averted; but now the neighborhood of the
+      Medicine-Bow Mountain and the region beyond it was a scene of extreme
+      peril. Old Mene-Seela, a true friend of the whites, and many other of the
+      Indians gathered about the two trappers, and vainly endeavored to turn
+      them from their purpose; but Rouleau and Saraphin only laughed at the
+      danger. On the morning preceding that on which they were to leave the
+      camp, we could all discern faint white columns of smoke rising against the
+      dark base of the Medicine-Bow. Scouts were out immediately, and reported
+      that these proceeded from an Arapahoe camp, abandoned only a few hours
+      before. Still the two trappers continued their preparations for departure.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Saraphin was a tall, powerful fellow, with a sullen and sinister
+      countenance. His rifle had very probably drawn other blood than that of
+      buffalo or even Indians. Rouleau had a broad ruddy face marked with as few
+      traces of thought or care as a child&rsquo;s. His figure was remarkably square
+      and strong, but the first joints of both his feet were frozen off, and his
+      horse had lately thrown and trampled upon him, by which he had been
+      severely injured in the chest. But nothing could check his inveterate
+      propensity for laughter and gayety. He went all day rolling about the camp
+      on his stumps of feet, talking and singing and frolicking with the Indian
+      women, as they were engaged at their work. In fact Rouleau had an unlucky
+      partiality for squaws. He always had one whom he must needs bedizen with
+      beads, ribbons, and all the finery of an Indian wardrobe; and though he
+      was of course obliged to leave her behind him during his expeditions, yet
+      this hazardous necessity did not at all trouble him, for his disposition
+      was the very reverse of jealous. If at any time he had not lavished the
+      whole of the precarious profits of his vocation upon his dark favorite, he
+      always devoted the rest to feasting his comrades. If liquor was not to be
+      had&mdash;and this was usually the case&mdash;strong coffee was
+      substituted. As the men of that region are by no means remarkable for
+      providence or self-restraint, whatever was set before them on these
+      occasions, however extravagant in price, or enormous in quantity, was sure
+      to be disposed of at one sitting. Like other trappers, Rouleau&rsquo;s life was
+      one of contrast and variety. It was only at certain seasons, and for a
+      limited time, that he was absent on his expeditions. For the rest of the
+      year he would be lounging about the fort, or encamped with his friends in
+      its vicinity, lazily hunting or enjoying all the luxury of inaction; but
+      when once in pursuit of beaver, he was involved in extreme privations and
+      desperate perils. When in the midst of his game and his enemies, hand and
+      foot, eye and ear, are incessantly active. Frequently he must content
+      himself with devouring his evening meal uncooked, lest the light of his
+      fire should attract the eyes of some wandering Indian; and sometimes
+      having made his rude repast, he must leave his fire still blazing, and
+      withdraw to a distance under cover of the darkness, that his disappointed
+      enemy, drawn thither by the light, may find his victim gone, and be unable
+      to trace his footsteps in the gloom. This is the life led by scores of men
+      in the Rocky Mountains and their vicinity. I once met a trapper whose
+      breast was marked with the scars of six bullets and arrows, one of his
+      arms broken by a shot and one of his knees shattered; yet still, with the
+      undaunted mettle of New England, from which part of the country he had
+      come, he continued to follow his perilous occupation. To some of the
+      children of cities it may seem strange that men with no object in view
+      should continue to follow a life of such hardship and desperate adventure;
+      yet there is a mysterious, restless charm in the basilisk eye of danger,
+      and few men perhaps remain long in that wild region without learning to
+      love peril for its own sake, and to laugh carelessly in the face of death.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the last day of our stay in this camp, the trappers were ready for
+      departure. When in the Black Hills they had caught seven beaver, and they
+      now left their skins in charge of Reynal, to be kept until their return.
+      Their strong, gaunt horses were equipped with rusty Spanish bits and rude
+      Mexican saddles, to which wooden stirrups were attached, while a buffalo
+      robe was rolled up behind them, and a bundle of beaver traps slung at the
+      pommel. These, together with their rifles, their knives, their
+      powder-horns and bullet-pouches, flint and steel and a tincup, composed
+      their whole traveling equipment. They shook hands with us and rode away;
+      Saraphin with his grim countenance, like a surly bulldog&rsquo;s, was in
+      advance; but Rouleau, clambering gayly into his seat, kicked his horse&rsquo;s
+      sides, flourished his whip in the air, and trotted briskly over the
+      prairie, trolling forth a Canadian song at the top of his lungs. Reynal
+      looked after them with his face of brutal selfishness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;if they are killed, I shall have the beaver. They&rsquo;ll
+      fetch me fifty dollars at the fort, anyhow.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This was the last I saw of them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We had been for five days in the hunting camp, and the meat, which all
+      this time had hung drying in the sun, was now fit for transportation.
+      Buffalo hides also had been procured in sufficient quantities for making
+      the next season&rsquo;s lodges; but it remained to provide the long slender
+      poles on which they were to be supported. These were only to be had among
+      the tall pine woods of the Black Hills, and in that direction therefore
+      our next move was to be made. It is worthy of notice that amid the general
+      abundance which during this time had prevailed in the camp there were no
+      instances of individual privation; for although the hide and the tongue of
+      the buffalo belong by exclusive right to the hunter who has killed it, yet
+      anyone else is equally entitled to help himself from the rest of the
+      carcass. Thus, the weak, the aged, and even the indolent come in for a
+      share of the spoils, and many a helpless old woman, who would otherwise
+      perish from starvation, is sustained in profuse abundance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the 25th of July, late in the afternoon, the camp broke up, with the
+      usual tumult and confusion, and we were all moving once more, on horseback
+      and on foot, over the plains. We advanced, however, but a few miles. The
+      old men, who during the whole march had been stoutly striding along on
+      foot in front of the people, now seated themselves in a circle on the
+      ground, while all the families, erecting their lodges in the prescribed
+      order around them, formed the usual great circle of the camp; meanwhile
+      these village patriarchs sat smoking and talking. I threw my bridle to
+      Raymond, and sat down as usual along with them. There was none of that
+      reserve and apparent dignity which an Indian always assumes when in
+      council, or in the presence of white men whom he distrusts. The party, on
+      the contrary, was an extremely merry one; and as in a social circle of a
+      quite different character, &ldquo;if there was not much wit, there was at least
+      a great deal of laughter.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      When the first pipe was smoked out, I rose and withdrew to the lodge of my
+      host. Here I was stooping, in the act of taking off my powder-horn and
+      bullet-pouch, when suddenly, and close at hand, pealing loud and shrill,
+      and in right good earnest, came the terrific yell of the war-whoop.
+      Kongra-Tonga&rsquo;s squaw snatched up her youngest child, and ran out of the
+      lodge. I followed, and found the whole village in confusion, resounding
+      with cries and yells. The circle of old men in the center had vanished.
+      The warriors with glittering eyes came darting, their weapons in their
+      hands, out of the low opening of the lodges, and running with wild yells
+      toward the farther end of the village. Advancing a few rods in that
+      direction, I saw a crowd in furious agitation, while others ran up on
+      every side to add to the confusion. Just then I distinguished the voices
+      of Raymond and Reynal, shouting to me from a distance, and looking back, I
+      saw the latter with his rifle in his hand, standing on the farther bank of
+      a little stream that ran along the outskirts of the camp. He was calling
+      to Raymond and myself to come over and join him, and Raymond, with his
+      usual deliberate gait and stolid countenance, was already moving in that
+      direction.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This was clearly the wisest course, unless we wished to involve ourselves
+      in the fray; so I turned to go, but just then a pair of eyes, gleaming
+      like a snake&rsquo;s, and an aged familiar countenance was thrust from the
+      opening of a neighboring lodge, and out bolted old Mene-Seela, full of
+      fight, clutching his bow and arrows in one hand and his knife in the
+      other. At that instant he tripped and fell sprawling on his face, while
+      his weapons flew scattering away in every direction. The women with loud
+      screams were hurrying with their children in their arms to place them out
+      of danger, and I observed some hastening to prevent mischief, by carrying
+      away all the weapons they could lay hands on. On a rising ground close to
+      the camp stood a line of old women singing a medicine song to allay the
+      tumult. As I approached the side of the brook I heard gun-shots behind me,
+      and turning back, I saw that the crowd had separated into two lines of
+      naked warriors confronting each other at a respectful distance, and
+      yelling and jumping about to dodge the shot of their adversaries, while
+      they discharged bullets and arrows against each other. At the same time
+      certain sharp, humming sounds in the air over my head, like the flight of
+      beetles on a summer evening, warned me that the danger was not wholly
+      confined to the immediate scene of the fray. So wading through the brook,
+      I joined Reynal and Raymond, and we sat down on the grass, in the posture
+      of an armed neutrality, to watch the result.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Happily it may be for ourselves, though quite contrary to our expectation,
+      the disturbance was quelled almost as soon as it had commenced. When I
+      looked again, the combatants were once more mingled together in a mass.
+      Though yells sounded, occasionally from the throng, the firing had
+      entirely ceased, and I observed five or six persons moving busily about,
+      as if acting the part of peacemakers. One of the village heralds or criers
+      proclaimed in a loud voice something which my two companions were too much
+      engrossed in their own observations to translate for me. The crowd began
+      to disperse, though many a deep-set black eye still glittered with an
+      unnatural luster, as the warriors slowly withdrew to their lodges. This
+      fortunate suppression of the disturbance was owing to a few of the old
+      men, less pugnacious than Mene-Seela, who boldly ran in between the
+      combatants and aided by some of the &ldquo;soldiers,&rdquo; or Indian police,
+      succeeded in effecting their object.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It seemed very strange to me that although many arrows and bullets were
+      discharged, no one was mortally hurt, and I could only account for this by
+      the fact that both the marksman and the object of his aim were leaping
+      about incessantly during the whole time. By far the greater part of the
+      villagers had joined in the fray, for although there were not more than a
+      dozen guns in the whole camp, I heard at least eight or ten shots fired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In a quarter of an hour all was comparatively quiet. A large circle of
+      warriors were again seated in the center of the village, but this time I
+      did not venture to join them, because I could see that the pipe, contrary
+      to the usual order, was passing from the left hand to the right around the
+      circle, a sure sign that a &ldquo;medicine-smoke&rdquo; of reconciliation was going
+      forward, and that a white man would be an unwelcome intruder. When I again
+      entered the still agitated camp it was nearly dark, and mournful cries,
+      howls and wailings resounded from many female voices. Whether these had
+      any connection with the late disturbance, or were merely lamentations for
+      relatives slain in some former war expeditions, I could not distinctly
+      ascertain.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To inquire too closely into the cause of the quarrel was by no means
+      prudent, and it was not until some time after that I discovered what had
+      given rise to it. Among the Dakota there are many associations, or
+      fraternities, connected with the purposes of their superstitions, their
+      warfare, or their social life. There was one called &ldquo;The Arrow-Breakers,&rdquo;
+       now in a great measure disbanded and dispersed. In the village there were,
+      however, four men belonging to it, distinguished by the peculiar
+      arrangement of their hair, which rose in a high bristling mass above their
+      foreheads, adding greatly to their apparent height, and giving them a most
+      ferocious appearance. The principal among them was the Mad Wolf, a warrior
+      of remarkable size and strength, great courage, and the fierceness of a
+      demon. I had always looked upon him as the most dangerous man in the
+      village; and though he often invited me to feasts, I never entered his
+      lodge unarmed. The Mad Wolf had taken a fancy to a fine horse belonging to
+      another Indian, who was called the Tall Bear; and anxious to get the
+      animal into his possession, he made the owner a present of another horse
+      nearly equal in value. According to the customs of the Dakota, the
+      acceptance of this gift involved a sort of obligation to make an equitable
+      return; and the Tall Bear well understood that the other had in view the
+      obtaining of his favorite buffalo horse. He however accepted the present
+      without a word of thanks, and having picketed the horse before his lodge,
+      he suffered day after day to pass without making the expected return. The
+      Mad Wolf grew impatient and angry; and at last, seeing that his bounty was
+      not likely to produce the desired return, he resolved to reclaim it. So
+      this evening, as soon as the village was encamped, he went to the lodge of
+      the Tall Bear, seized upon the horse that he had given him, and led him
+      away. At this the Tall Bear broke into one of those fits of sullen rage
+      not uncommon among the Indians. He ran up to the unfortunate horse, and
+      gave him three mortals stabs with his knife. Quick as lightning the Mad
+      Wolf drew his bow to its utmost tension, and held the arrow quivering
+      close to the breast of his adversary. The Tall Bear, as the Indians who
+      were near him said, stood with his bloody knife in his hand, facing the
+      assailant with the utmost calmness. Some of his friends and relatives,
+      seeing his danger, ran hastily to his assistance. The remaining three
+      Arrow-Breakers, on the other hand, came to the aid of their associate.
+      Many of their friends joined them, the war-cry was raised on a sudden, and
+      the tumult became general.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The &ldquo;soldiers,&rdquo; who lent their timely aid in putting it down, are by far
+      the most important executive functionaries in an Indian village. The
+      office is one of considerable honor, being confided only to men of courage
+      and repute. They derive their authority from the old men and chief
+      warriors of the village, who elect them in councils occasionally convened
+      for the purpose, and thus can exercise a degree of authority which no one
+      else in the village would dare to assume. While very few Ogallalla chiefs
+      could venture without instant jeopardy of their lives to strike or lay
+      hands upon the meanest of their people, the &ldquo;soldiers&rdquo; in the discharge of
+      their appropriate functions, have full license to make use of these and
+      similar acts of coercion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0017" id="link2HCH0017">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XVII
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      THE BLACK HILLS
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      We traveled eastward for two days, and then the gloomy ridges of the Black
+      Hills rose up before us. The village passed along for some miles beneath
+      their declivities, trailing out to a great length over the arid prairie,
+      or winding at times among small detached hills or distorted shapes.
+      Turning sharply to the left, we entered a wide defile of the mountains,
+      down the bottom of which a brook came winding, lined with tall grass and
+      dense copses, amid which were hidden many beaver dams and lodges. We
+      passed along between two lines of high precipices and rocks, piled in
+      utter disorder one upon another, and with scarcely a tree, a bush, or a
+      clump of grass to veil their nakedness. The restless Indian boys were
+      wandering along their edges and clambering up and down their rugged sides,
+      and sometimes a group of them would stand on the verge of a cliff and look
+      down on the array as it passed in review beneath them. As we advanced, the
+      passage grew more narrow; then it suddenly expanded into a round grassy
+      meadow, completely encompassed by mountains; and here the families stopped
+      as they came up in turn, and the camp rose like magic.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The lodges were hardly erected when, with their usual precipitation, the
+      Indians set about accomplishing the object that had brought them there;
+      that is, the obtaining poles for supporting their new lodges. Half the
+      population, men, women and boys, mounted their horses and set out for the
+      interior of the mountains. As they rode at full gallop over the shingly
+      rocks and into the dark opening of the defile beyond, I thought I had
+      never read or dreamed of a more strange or picturesque cavalcade. We
+      passed between precipices more than a thousand feet high, sharp and
+      splintering at the tops, their sides beetling over the defile or
+      descending in abrupt declivities, bristling with black fir trees. On our
+      left they rose close to us like a wall, but on the right a winding brook
+      with a narrow strip of marshy soil intervened. The stream was clogged with
+      old beaver dams, and spread frequently into wide pools. There were thick
+      bushes and many dead and blasted trees along its course, though frequently
+      nothing remained but stumps cut close to the ground by the beaver, and
+      marked with the sharp chisel-like teeth of those indefatigable laborers.
+      Sometimes we were driving among trees, and then emerging upon open spots,
+      over which, Indian-like, all galloped at full speed. As Pauline bounded
+      over the rocks I felt her saddle-girth slipping, and alighted to draw it
+      tighter; when the whole array swept past me in a moment, the women with
+      their gaudy ornaments tinkling as they rode, the men whooping, and
+      laughing, and lashing forward their horses. Two black-tailed deer bounded
+      away among the rocks; Raymond shot at them from horseback; the sharp
+      report of his rifle was answered by another equally sharp from the
+      opposing cliffs, and then the echoes, leaping in rapid succession from
+      side to side, died away rattling far amid the mountains.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After having ridden in this manner for six or eight miles, the appearance
+      of the scene began to change, and all the declivities around us were
+      covered with forests of tall, slender pine trees. The Indians began to
+      fall off to the right and left, and dispersed with their hatchets and
+      knives among these woods, to cut the poles which they had come to seek.
+      Soon I was left almost alone; but in the deep stillness of those lonely
+      mountains, the stroke of hatchets and the sound of voices might be heard
+      from far and near.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Reynal, who imitated the Indians in their habits as well as the worst
+      features of their character, had killed buffalo enough to make a lodge for
+      himself and his squaw, and now he was eager to get the poles necessary to
+      complete it. He asked me to let Raymond go with him and assist in the
+      work. I assented, and the two men immediately entered the thickest part of
+      the wood. Having left my horse in Raymond&rsquo;s keeping, I began to climb the
+      mountain. I was weak and weary and made slow progress, often pausing to
+      rest, but after an hour had elapsed, I gained a height, whence the little
+      valley out of which I had climbed seemed like a deep, dark gulf, though
+      the inaccessible peak of the mountain was still towering to a much greater
+      distance above. Objects familiar from childhood surrounded me; crags and
+      rocks, a black and sullen brook that gurgled with a hollow voice deep
+      among the crevices, a wood of mossy distorted trees and prostrate trunks
+      flung down by age and storms, scattered among the rocks, or damming the
+      foaming waters of the little brook. The objects were the same, yet they
+      were thrown into a wilder and more startling scene, for the black crags
+      and the savage trees assumed a grim and threatening aspect, and close
+      across the valley the opposing mountain confronted me, rising from the
+      gulf for thousands of feet, with its bare pinnacles and its ragged
+      covering of pines. Yet the scene was not without its milder features. As I
+      ascended, I found frequent little grassy terraces, and there was one of
+      these close at hand, across which the brook was stealing, beneath the
+      shade of scattered trees that seemed artificially planted. Here I made a
+      welcome discovery, no other than a bed of strawberries, with their white
+      flowers and their red fruit, close nestled among the grass by the side of
+      the brook, and I sat down by them, hailing them as old acquaintances; for
+      among those lonely and perilous mountains they awakened delicious
+      associations of the gardens and peaceful homes of far-distant New England.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Yet wild as they were, these mountains were thickly peopled. As I climbed
+      farther, I found the broad dusty paths made by the elk, as they filed
+      across the mountainside. The grass on all the terraces was trampled down
+      by deer; there were numerous tracks of wolves, and in some of the rougher
+      and more precipitous parts of the ascent, I found foot-prints different
+      from any that I had ever seen, and which I took to be those of the Rocky
+      Mountain sheep. I sat down upon a rock; there was a perfect stillness. No
+      wind was stirring, and not even an insect could be heard. I recollected
+      the danger of becoming lost in such a place, and therefore I fixed my eye
+      upon one of the tallest pinnacles of the opposite mountain. It rose sheer
+      upright from the woods below, and by an extraordinary freak of nature
+      sustained aloft on its very summit a large loose rock. Such a landmark
+      could never be mistaken, and feeling once more secure, I began again to
+      move forward. A white wolf jumped up from among some bushes, and leaped
+      clumsily away; but he stopped for a moment, and turned back his keen eye
+      and his grim bristling muzzle. I longed to take his scalp and carry it
+      back with me, as an appropriate trophy of the Black Hills, but before I
+      could fire, he was gone among the rocks. Soon I heard a rustling sound,
+      with a cracking of twigs at a little distance, and saw moving above the
+      tall bushes the branching antlers of an elk. I was in the midst of a
+      hunter&rsquo;s paradise.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Such are the Black Hills, as I found them in July; but they wear a
+      different garb when winter sets in, when the broad boughs of the fir tree
+      are bent to the ground by the load of snow, and the dark mountains are
+      whitened with it. At that season the mountain-trappers, returned from
+      their autumn expeditions, often build their rude cabins in the midst of
+      these solitudes, and live in abundance and luxury on the game that harbors
+      there. I have heard them relate, how with their tawny mistresses, and
+      perhaps a few young Indian companions, they have spent months in total
+      seclusion. They would dig pitfalls, and set traps for the white wolves,
+      the sables, and the martens, and though through the whole night the awful
+      chorus of the wolves would resound from the frozen mountains around them,
+      yet within their massive walls of logs they would lie in careless ease and
+      comfort before the blazing fire, and in the morning shoot the elk and the
+      deer from their very door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0018" id="link2HCH0018">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XVIII
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      A MOUNTAIN HUNT
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      The camp was full of the newly-cut lodge-poles; some, already prepared,
+      were stacked together, white and glistening, to dry and harden in the sun;
+      others were lying on the ground, and the squaws, the boys, and even some
+      of the warriors were busily at work peeling off the bark and paring them
+      with their knives to the proper dimensions. Most of the hides obtained at
+      the last camp were dressed and scraped thin enough for use, and many of
+      the squaws were engaged in fitting them together and sewing them with
+      sinews, to form the coverings for the lodges. Men were wandering among the
+      bushes that lined the brook along the margin of the camp, cutting sticks
+      of red willow, or shongsasha, the bark of which, mixed with tobacco, they
+      use for smoking. Reynal&rsquo;s squaw was hard at work with her awl and buffalo
+      sinews upon her lodge, while her proprietor, having just finished an
+      enormous breakfast of meat, was smoking a social pipe along with Raymond
+      and myself. He proposed at length that we should go out on a hunt. &ldquo;Go to
+      the Big Crow&rsquo;s lodge,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;and get your rifle. I&rsquo;ll bet the gray
+      Wyandotte pony against your mare that we start an elk or a black-tailed
+      deer, or likely as not, a bighorn, before we are two miles out of camp.
+      I&rsquo;ll take my squaw&rsquo;s old yellow horse; you can&rsquo;t whip her more than four
+      miles an hour, but she is as good for the mountains as a mule.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I mounted the black mule which Raymond usually rode. She was a very fine
+      and powerful animal, gentle and manageable enough by nature; but of late
+      her temper had been soured by misfortune. About a week before I had
+      chanced to offend some one of the Indians, who out of revenge went
+      secretly into the meadow and gave her a severe stab in the haunch with his
+      knife. The wound, though partially healed, still galled her extremely, and
+      made her even more perverse and obstinate than the rest of her species.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The morning was a glorious one, and I was in better health than I had been
+      at any time for the last two months. Though a strong frame and well
+      compacted sinews had borne me through hitherto, it was long since I had
+      been in a condition to feel the exhilaration of the fresh mountain wind
+      and the gay sunshine that brightened the crags and trees. We left the
+      little valley and ascended a rocky hollow in the mountain. Very soon we
+      were out of sight of the camp, and of every living thing, man, beast,
+      bird, or insect. I had never before, except on foot, passed over such
+      execrable ground, and I desire never to repeat the experiment. The black
+      mule grew indignant, and even the redoubtable yellow horse stumbled every
+      moment, and kept groaning to himself as he cut his feet and legs among the
+      sharp rocks.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was a scene of silence and desolation. Little was visible except
+      beetling crags and the bare shingly sides of the mountains, relieved by
+      scarcely a trace of vegetation. At length, however, we came upon a forest
+      tract, and had no sooner done so than we heartily wished ourselves back
+      among the rocks again; for we were on a steep descent, among trees so
+      thick that we could see scarcely a rod in any direction.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If one is anxious to place himself in a situation where the hazardous and
+      the ludicrous are combined in about equal proportions, let him get upon a
+      vicious mule, with a snaffle bit, and try to drive her through the woods
+      down a slope of 45 degrees. Let him have on a long rifle, a buckskin frock
+      with long fringes, and a head of long hair. These latter appendages will
+      be caught every moment and twitched away in small portions by the twigs,
+      which will also whip him smartly across the face, while the large branches
+      above thump him on the head. His mule, if she be a true one, will
+      alternately stop short and dive violently forward, and his position upon
+      her back will be somewhat diversified and extraordinary. At one time he
+      will clasp her affectionately, to avoid the blow of a bough overhead; at
+      another, he will throw himself back and fling his knee forward against the
+      side of her neck, to keep it from being crushed between the rough bark of
+      a tree and the equally unyielding ribs of the animal herself. Reynal was
+      cursing incessantly during the whole way down. Neither of us had the
+      remotest idea where we were going; and though I have seen rough riding, I
+      shall always retain an evil recollection of that five minutes&rsquo; scramble.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At last we left our troubles behind us, emerging into the channel of a
+      brook that circled along the foot of the descent; and here, turning
+      joyfully to the left, we rode in luxury and ease over the white pebbles
+      and the rippling water, shaded from the glaring sun by an overarching
+      green transparency. These halcyon moments were of short duration. The
+      friendly brook, turning sharply to one side, went brawling and foaming
+      down the rocky hill into an abyss, which, as far as we could discern, had
+      no bottom; so once more we betook ourselves to the detested woods. When
+      next we came forth from their dancing shadow and sunlight, we found
+      ourselves standing in the broad glare of day, on a high jutting point of
+      the mountain. Before us stretched a long, wide, desert valley, winding
+      away far amid the mountains. No civilized eye but mine had ever looked
+      upon that virgin waste. Reynal was gazing intently; he began to speak at
+      last:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Many a time, when I was with the Indians, I have been hunting for gold
+      all through the Black Hills. There&rsquo;s plenty of it here; you may be certain
+      of that. I have dreamed about it fifty times, and I never dreamed yet but
+      what it came true. Look over yonder at those black rocks piled up against
+      that other big rock. Don&rsquo;t it look as if there might be something there?
+      It won&rsquo;t do for a white man to be rummaging too much about these
+      mountains; the Indians say they are full of bad spirits; and I believe
+      myself that it&rsquo;s no good luck to be hunting about here after gold. Well,
+      for all that, I would like to have one of these fellows up here, from down
+      below, to go about with his witch-hazel rod, and I&rsquo;ll guarantee that it
+      would not be long before he would light on a gold mine. Never mind; we&rsquo;ll
+      let the gold alone for to-day. Look at those trees down below us in the
+      hollow; we&rsquo;ll go down there, and I reckon we&rsquo;ll get a black-tailed deer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But Reynal&rsquo;s predictions were not verified. We passed mountain after
+      mountain, and valley after valley; we explored deep ravines; yet still to
+      my companion&rsquo;s vexation and evident surprise, no game could be found. So,
+      in the absence of better, we resolved to go out on the plains and look for
+      an antelope. With this view we began to pass down a narrow valley, the
+      bottom of which was covered with the stiff wild-sage bushes and marked
+      with deep paths, made by the buffalo, who, for some inexplicable reason,
+      are accustomed to penetrate, in their long grave processions, deep among
+      the gorges of these sterile mountains.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Reynal&rsquo;s eye was ranging incessantly among the rocks and along the edges
+      of the black precipices, in hopes of discovering the mountain sheep
+      peering down upon us in fancied security from that giddy elevation.
+      Nothing was visible for some time. At length we both detected something in
+      motion near the foot of one of the mountains, and in a moment afterward a
+      black-tailed deer, with his spreading antlers, stood gazing at us from the
+      top of a rock, and then, slowly turning away, disappeared behind it. In an
+      instant Reynal was out of his saddle, and running toward the spot. I,
+      being too weak to follow, sat holding his horse and waiting the result. I
+      lost sight of him, then heard the report of his rifle, deadened among the
+      rocks, and finally saw him reappear, with a surly look that plainly
+      betrayed his ill success. Again we moved forward down the long valley,
+      when soon after we came full upon what seemed a wide and very shallow
+      ditch, incrusted at the bottom with white clay, dried and cracked in the
+      sun. Under this fair outside, Reynal&rsquo;s eye detected the signs of lurking
+      mischief. He called me to stop, and then alighting, picked up a stone and
+      threw it into the ditch. To my utter amazement it fell with a dull splash,
+      breaking at once through the thin crust, and spattering round the hole a
+      yellowish creamy fluid, into which it sank and disappeared. A stick, five
+      or six feet long lay on the ground, and with this we sounded the insidious
+      abyss close to its edge. It was just possible to touch the bottom. Places
+      like this are numerous among the Rocky Mountains. The buffalo, in his
+      blind and heedless walk, often plunges into them unawares. Down he sinks;
+      one snort of terror, one convulsive struggle, and the slime calmly flows
+      above his shaggy head, the languid undulations of its sleek and placid
+      surface alone betraying how the powerful monster writhes in his
+      death-throes below.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We found after some trouble a point where we could pass the abyss, and now
+      the valley began to open upon the plains which spread to the horizon
+      before us. On one of their distant swells we discerned three or four black
+      specks, which Reynal pronounced to be buffalo.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;we must get one of them. My squaw wants more sinews to
+      finish her lodge with, and I want some glue myself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He immediately put the yellow horse at such a gallop as he was capable of
+      executing, while I set spurs to the mule, who soon far outran her plebeian
+      rival. When we had galloped a mile or more, a large rabbit, by ill luck,
+      sprang up just under the feet of the mule, who bounded violently aside in
+      full career. Weakened as I was, I was flung forcibly to the ground, and my
+      rifle, falling close to my head, went off with a shock. Its sharp spiteful
+      report rang for some moments in my ear. Being slightly stunned, I lay for
+      an instant motionless, and Reynal, supposing me to be shot, rode up and
+      began to curse the mule. Soon recovering myself, I rose, picked up the
+      rifle and anxiously examined it. It was badly injured. The stock was
+      cracked, and the main screw broken, so that the lock had to be tied in its
+      place with a string; yet happily it was not rendered totally
+      unserviceable. I wiped it out, reloaded it, and handing it to Reynal, who
+      meanwhile had caught the mule and led her up to me, I mounted again. No
+      sooner had I done so, than the brute began to rear and plunge with extreme
+      violence; but being now well prepared for her, and free from incumbrance,
+      I soon reduced her to submission. Then taking the rifle again from Reynal,
+      we galloped forward as before.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We were now free of the mountain and riding far out on the broad prairie.
+      The buffalo were still some two miles in advance of us. When we came near
+      them, we stopped where a gentle swell of the plain concealed us from their
+      view, and while I held his horse Reynal ran forward with his rifle, till I
+      lost sight of him beyond the rising ground. A few minutes elapsed; I heard
+      the report of his piece, and saw the buffalo running away at full speed on
+      the right, and immediately after, the hunter himself unsuccessful as
+      before, came up and mounted his horse in excessive ill-humor. He cursed
+      the Black Hills and the buffalo, swore that he was a good hunter, which
+      indeed was true, and that he had never been out before among those
+      mountains without killing two or three deer at least.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We now turned toward the distant encampment. As we rode along, antelope in
+      considerable numbers were flying lightly in all directions over the plain,
+      but not one of them would stand and be shot at. When we reached the foot
+      of the mountain ridge that lay between us and the village, we were too
+      impatient to take the smooth and circuitous route; so turning short to the
+      left, we drove our wearied animals directly upward among the rocks. Still
+      more antelope were leaping about among these flinty hillsides. Each of us
+      shot at one, though from a great distance, and each missed his mark. At
+      length we reached the summit of the last ridge. Looking down, we saw the
+      bustling camp in the valley at our feet, and ingloriously descended to it.
+      As we rode among the lodges, the Indians looked in vain for the fresh meat
+      that should have hung behind our saddles, and the squaws uttered various
+      suppressed ejaculations, to the great indignation of Reynal. Our
+      mortification was increased when we rode up to his lodge. Here we saw his
+      young Indian relative, the Hail-Storm, his light graceful figure on the
+      ground in an easy attitude, while with his friend the Rabbit, who sat by
+      his side, he was making an abundant meal from a wooden bowl of wasna,
+      which the squaw had placed between them. Near him lay the fresh skin of a
+      female elk, which he had just killed among the mountains, only a mile or
+      two from the camp. No doubt the boy&rsquo;s heart was elated with triumph, but
+      he betrayed no sign of it. He even seemed totally unconscious of our
+      approach, and his handsome face had all the tranquillity of Indian
+      self-control; a self-control which prevents the exhibition of emotion,
+      without restraining the emotion itself. It was about two months since I
+      had known the Hail-Storm, and within that time his character had
+      remarkably developed. When I first saw him, he was just emerging from the
+      habits and feelings of the boy into the ambition of the hunter and
+      warrior. He had lately killed his first deer, and this had excited his
+      aspirations after distinction. Since that time he had been continually in
+      search of game, and no young hunter in the village had been so active or
+      so fortunate as he. It will perhaps be remembered how fearlessly he
+      attacked the buffalo bull, as we were moving toward our camp at the
+      Medicine-Bow Mountain. All this success had produced a marked change in
+      his character. As I first remembered him he always shunned the society of
+      the young squaws, and was extremely bashful and sheepish in their
+      presence; but now, in the confidence of his own reputation, he began to
+      assume the airs and the arts of a man of gallantry. He wore his red
+      blanket dashingly over his left shoulder, painted his cheeks every day
+      with vermilion, and hung pendants of shells in his ears. If I observed
+      aright, he met with very good success in his new pursuits; still the
+      Hail-Storm had much to accomplish before he attained the full standing of
+      a warrior. Gallantly as he began to bear himself among the women and
+      girls, he still was timid and abashed in the presence of the chiefs and
+      old men; for he had never yet killed a man, or stricken the dead body of
+      an enemy in battle. I have no doubt that the handsome smooth-faced boy
+      burned with keen desire to flash his maiden scalping-knife, and I would
+      not have encamped alone with him without watching his movements with a
+      distrustful eye.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His elder brother, the Horse, was of a different character. He was nothing
+      but a lazy dandy. He knew very well how to hunt, but preferred to live by
+      the hunting of others. He had no appetite for distinction, and the
+      Hail-Storm, though a few years younger than he, already surpassed him in
+      reputation. He had a dark and ugly face, and he passed a great part of his
+      time in adorning it with vermilion, and contemplating it by means of a
+      little pocket looking-glass which I gave him. As for the rest of the day,
+      he divided it between eating and sleeping, and sitting in the sun on the
+      outside of a lodge. Here he would remain for hour after hour, arrayed in
+      all his finery, with an old dragoon&rsquo;s sword in his hand, and evidently
+      flattering himself that he was the center of attraction to the eyes of the
+      surrounding squaws. Yet he sat looking straight forward with a face of the
+      utmost gravity, as if wrapped in profound meditation, and it was only by
+      the occasional sidelong glances which he shot at his supposed admirers
+      that one could detect the true course of his thoughts.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Both he and his brother may represent a class in the Indian community;
+      neither should the Hail-Storm&rsquo;s friend, the Rabbit, be passed by without
+      notice. The Hail-Storm and he were inseparable; they ate, slept, and
+      hunted together, and shared with one another almost all that they
+      possessed. If there be anything that deserves to be called romantic in the
+      Indian character, it is to be sought for in friendships such as this,
+      which are quite common among many of the prairie tribes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Slowly, hour after hour, that weary afternoon dragged away. I lay in
+      Reynal&rsquo;s lodge, overcome by the listless torpor that pervaded the whole
+      encampment. The day&rsquo;s work was finished, or if it were not, the
+      inhabitants had resolved not to finish it at all, and all were dozing
+      quietly within the shelter of the lodges. A profound lethargy, the very
+      spirit of indolence, seemed to have sunk upon the village. Now and then I
+      could hear the low laughter of some girl from within a neighboring lodge,
+      or the small shrill voices of a few restless children, who alone were
+      moving in the deserted area. The spirit of the place infected me; I could
+      not even think consecutively; I was fit only for musing and reverie, when
+      at last, like the rest, I fell asleep.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When evening came and the fires were lighted round the lodges, a select
+      family circle convened in the neighborhood of Reynal&rsquo;s domicile. It was
+      composed entirely of his squaw&rsquo;s relatives, a mean and ignoble clan, among
+      whom none but the Hail-Storm held forth any promise of future distinction.
+      Even his protests were rendered not a little dubious by the character of
+      the family, less however from any principle of aristocratic distinction
+      than from the want of powerful supporters to assist him in his
+      undertakings, and help to avenge his quarrels. Raymond and I sat down
+      along with them. There were eight or ten men gathered around the fire,
+      together with about as many women, old and young, some of whom were
+      tolerably good-looking. As the pipe passed round among the men, a lively
+      conversation went forward, more merry than delicate, and at length two or
+      three of the elder women (for the girls were somewhat diffident and
+      bashful) began to assail Raymond with various pungent witticisms. Some of
+      the men took part and an old squaw concluded by bestowing on him a
+      ludicrous nick name, at which a general laugh followed at his expense.
+      Raymond grinned and giggled, and made several futile attempts at repartee.
+      Knowing the impolicy and even danger of suffering myself to be placed in a
+      ludicrous light among the Indians, I maintained a rigid inflexible
+      countenance, and wholly escaped their sallies.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the morning I found, to my great disgust, that the camp was to retain
+      its position for another day. I dreaded its languor and monotony, and to
+      escape it, I set out to explore the surrounding mountains. I was
+      accompanied by a faithful friend, my rifle, the only friend indeed on
+      whose prompt assistance in time of trouble I could implicitly rely. Most
+      of the Indians in the village, it is true, professed good-will toward the
+      whites, but the experience of others and my own observation had taught me
+      the extreme folly of confidence, and the utter impossibility of foreseeing
+      to what sudden acts the strange unbridled impulses of an Indian may urge
+      him. When among this people danger is never so near as when you are
+      unprepared for it, never so remote as when you are armed and on the alert
+      to meet it any moment. Nothing offers so strong a temptation to their
+      ferocious instincts as the appearance of timidity, weakness, or security.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Many deep and gloomy gorges, choked with trees and bushes, opened from the
+      sides of the hills, which were shaggy with forests wherever the rocks
+      permitted vegetation to spring. A great number of Indians were stalking
+      along the edges of the woods, and boys were whooping and laughing on the
+      mountain-sides, practicing eye and hand, and indulging their destructive
+      propensities by following birds and small animals and killing them with
+      their little bows and arrows. There was one glen, stretching up between
+      steep cliffs far into the bosom of the mountain. I began to ascend along
+      its bottom, pushing my way onward among the rocks, trees, and bushes that
+      obstructed it. A slender thread of water trickled along its center, which
+      since issuing from the heart of its native rock could scarcely have been
+      warmed or gladdened by a ray of sunshine. After advancing for some time, I
+      conceived myself to be entirely alone; but coming to a part of the glen in
+      a great measure free of trees and undergrowth, I saw at some distance the
+      black head and red shoulders of an Indian among the bushes above. The
+      reader need not prepare himself for a startling adventure, for I have none
+      to relate. The head and shoulders belonged to Mene-Seela, my best friend
+      in the village. As I had approached noiselessly with my moccasined feet,
+      the old man was quite unconscious of my presence; and turning to a point
+      where I could gain an unobstructed view of him, I saw him seated alone,
+      immovable as a statue, among the rocks and trees. His face was turned
+      upward, and his eyes seemed riveted on a pine tree springing from a cleft
+      in the precipice above. The crest of the pine was swaying to and fro in
+      the wind, and its long limbs waved slowly up and down, as if the tree had
+      life. Looking for a while at the old man, I was satisfied that he was
+      engaged in an act of worship or prayer, or communion of some kind with a
+      supernatural being. I longed to penetrate his thoughts, but I could do
+      nothing more than conjecture and speculate. I knew that though the
+      intellect of an Indian can embrace the idea of an all-wise, all-powerful
+      Spirit, the supreme Ruler of the universe, yet his mind will not always
+      ascend into communion with a being that seems to him so vast, remote, and
+      incomprehensible; and when danger threatens, when his hopes are broken,
+      when the black wing of sorrow overshadows him, he is prone to turn for
+      relief to some inferior agency, less removed from the ordinary scope of
+      his faculties. He has a guardian spirit, on whom he relies for succor and
+      guidance. To him all nature is instinct with mystic influence. Among those
+      mountains not a wild beast was prowling, a bird singing, or a leaf
+      fluttering, that might not tend to direct his destiny or give warning of
+      what was in store for him; and he watches the world of nature around him
+      as the astrologer watches the stars. So closely is he linked with it that
+      his guardian spirit, no unsubstantial creation of the fancy, is usually
+      embodied in the form of some living thing&mdash;a bear, a wolf, an eagle,
+      or a serpent; and Mene-Seela, as he gazed intently on the old pine tree,
+      might believe it to inshrine the fancied guide and protector of his life.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Whatever was passing in the mind of the old man, it was no part of sense
+      or of delicacy to disturb him. Silently retracing my footsteps, I
+      descended the glen until I came to a point where I could climb the steep
+      precipices that shut it in, and gain the side of the mountain. Looking up,
+      I saw a tall peak rising among the woods. Something impelled me to climb;
+      I had not felt for many a day such strength and elasticity of limb. An
+      hour and a half of slow and often intermittent labor brought me to the
+      very summit; and emerging from the dark shadows of the rocks and pines, I
+      stepped forth into the light, and walking along the sunny verge of a
+      precipice, seated myself on its extreme point. Looking between the
+      mountain peaks to the westward, the pale blue prairie was stretching to
+      the farthest horizon like a serene and tranquil ocean. The surrounding
+      mountains were in themselves sufficiently striking and impressive, but
+      this contrast gave redoubled effect to their stern features.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0019" id="link2HCH0019">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XIX
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      PASSAGE OF THE MOUNTAINS
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      When I took leave of Shaw at La Bonte&rsquo;s Camp, I promised that I would meet
+      him at Fort Laramie on the 1st of August. That day, according to my
+      reckoning, was now close at hand. It was impossible, at best, to fulfill
+      my engagement exactly, and my meeting with him must have been postponed
+      until many days after the appointed time, had not the plans of the Indians
+      very well coincided with my own. They too, intended to pass the mountains
+      and move toward the fort. To do so at this point was impossible, because
+      there was no opening; and in order to find a passage we were obliged to go
+      twelve or fourteen miles southward. Late in the afternoon the camp got in
+      motion, defiling back through the mountains along the same narrow passage
+      by which they had entered. I rode in company with three or four young
+      Indians at the rear, and the moving swarm stretched before me, in the
+      ruddy light of sunset, or in the deep shadow of the mountains far beyond
+      my sight. It was an ill-omened spot they chose to encamp upon. When they
+      were there just a year before, a war party of ten men, led by The
+      Whirlwind&rsquo;s son, had gone out against the enemy, and not one had ever
+      returned. This was the immediate cause of this season&rsquo;s warlike
+      preparations. I was not a little astonished when I came to the camp, at
+      the confusion of horrible sounds with which it was filled; howls, shrieks,
+      and wailings were heard from all the women present, many of whom not
+      content with this exhibition of grief for the loss of their friends and
+      relatives, were gashing their legs deeply with knives. A warrior in the
+      village, who had lost a brother in the expedition; chose another mode of
+      displaying his sorrow. The Indians, who, though often rapacious, are
+      utterly devoid of avarice, are accustomed in times of mourning, or on
+      other solemn occasions, to give away the whole of their possessions, and
+      reduce themselves to nakedness and want. The warrior in question led his
+      two best horses into the center of the village, and gave them away to his
+      friends; upon which songs and acclamations in praise of his generosity
+      mingled with the cries of the women.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the next morning we entered once more among the mountains. There was
+      nothing in their appearance either grand or picturesque, though they were
+      desolate to the last degree, being mere piles of black and broken rocks,
+      without trees or vegetation of any kind. As we passed among them along a
+      wide valley, I noticed Raymond riding by the side of a younger squaw, to
+      whom he was addressing various insinuating compliments. All the old squaws
+      in the neighborhood watched his proceedings in great admiration, and the
+      girl herself would turn aside her head and laugh. Just then the old mule
+      thought proper to display her vicious pranks; she began to rear and plunge
+      most furiously. Raymond was an excellent rider, and at first he stuck fast
+      in his seat; but the moment after, I saw the mule&rsquo;s hind-legs flourishing
+      in the air, and my unlucky follower pitching head foremost over her ears.
+      There was a burst of screams and laughter from all the women, in which his
+      mistress herself took part, and Raymond was instantly assailed by such a
+      shower of witticisms, that he was glad to ride forward out of hearing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Not long after, as I rode near him, I heard him shouting to me. He was
+      pointing toward a detached rocky hill that stood in the middle of the
+      valley before us, and from behind it a long file of elk came out at full
+      speed and entered an opening in the side of the mountain. They had
+      scarcely disappeared when whoops and exclamations came from fifty voices
+      around me. The young men leaped from their horses, flung down their heavy
+      buffalo robes, and ran at full speed toward the foot of the nearest
+      mountain. Reynal also broke away at a gallop in the same direction, &ldquo;Come
+      on! come on!&rdquo; he called to us. &ldquo;Do you see that band of bighorn up yonder?
+      If there&rsquo;s one of them, there&rsquo;s a hundred!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      In fact, near the summit of the mountain, I could see a large number of
+      small white objects, moving rapidly upward among the precipices, while
+      others were filing along its rocky profile. Anxious to see the sport, I
+      galloped forward, and entering a passage in the side of the mountain,
+      ascended the loose rocks as far as my horse could carry me. Here I
+      fastened her to an old pine tree that stood alone, scorching in the sun.
+      At that moment Raymond called to me from the right that another band of
+      sheep was close at hand in that direction. I ran up to the top of the
+      opening, which gave me a full view into the rocky gorge beyond; and here I
+      plainly saw some fifty or sixty sheep, almost within rifle-shot,
+      clattering upward among the rocks, and endeavoring, after their usual
+      custom, to reach the highest point. The naked Indians bounded up lightly
+      in pursuit. In a moment the game and hunters disappeared. Nothing could be
+      seen or heard but the occasional report of a gun, more and more distant,
+      reverberating among the rocks.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I turned to descend, and as I did so I could see the valley below alive
+      with Indians passing rapidly through it, on horseback and on foot. A
+      little farther on, all were stopping as they came up; the camp was
+      preparing, and the lodges rising. I descended to this spot, and soon after
+      Reynal and Raymond returned. They bore between them a sheep which they had
+      pelted to death with stones from the edge of a ravine, along the bottom of
+      which it was attempting to escape. One by one the hunters came dropping
+      in; yet such is the activity of the Rocky Mountain sheep that, although
+      sixty or seventy men were out in pursuit, not more than half a dozen
+      animals were killed. Of these only one was a full-grown male. He had a
+      pair of horns twisted like a ram&rsquo;s, the dimensions of which were almost
+      beyond belief. I have seen among the Indians ladles with long handles,
+      capable of containing more than a quart, cut from such horns.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There is something peculiarly interesting in the character and habits of
+      the mountain sheep, whose chosen retreats are above the region of
+      vegetation and storms, and who leap among the giddy precipices of their
+      aerial home as actively as the antelope skims over the prairies below.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Through the whole of the next morning we were moving forward, among the
+      hills. On the following day the heights gathered around us, and the
+      passage of the mountains began in earnest. Before the village left its
+      camping ground, I set forward in company with the Eagle-Feather, a man of
+      powerful frame, but of bad and sinister face. His son, a light-limbed boy,
+      rode with us, and another Indian, named the Panther, was also of the
+      party. Leaving the village out of sight behind us, we rode together up a
+      rocky defile. After a while, however, the Eagle-Feather discovered in the
+      distance some appearance of game, and set off with his son in pursuit of
+      it, while I went forward with the Panther. This was a mere NOM DE GUERRE;
+      for, like many Indians, he concealed his real name out of some
+      superstitious notion. He was a very noble looking fellow. As he suffered
+      his ornamented buffalo robe to fall into folds about his loins, his
+      stately and graceful figure was fully displayed; and while he sat his
+      horse in an easy attitude, the long feathers of the prairie cock
+      fluttering from the crown of his head, he seemed the very model of a wild
+      prairie-rider. He had not the same features as those of other Indians.
+      Unless his handsome face greatly belied him, he was free from the
+      jealousy, suspicion, and malignant cunning of his people. For the most
+      part, a civilized white man can discover but very few points of sympathy
+      between his own nature and that of an Indian. With every disposition to do
+      justice to their good qualities, he must be conscious that an impassable
+      gulf lies between him and his red brethren of the prairie. Nay, so alien
+      to himself do they appear that, having breathed for a few months or a few
+      weeks the air of this region, he begins to look upon them as a troublesome
+      and dangerous species of wild beast, and, if expedient, he could shoot
+      them with as little compunction as they themselves would experience after
+      performing the same office upon him. Yet, in the countenance of the
+      Panther, I gladly read that there were at least some points of sympathy
+      between him and me. We were excellent friends, and as we rode forward
+      together through rocky passages, deep dells, and little barren plains, he
+      occupied himself very zealously in teaching me the Dakota language. After
+      a while, we came to a little grassy recess, where some gooseberry bushes
+      were growing at the foot of a rock; and these offered such temptation to
+      my companion, that he gave over his instruction, and stopped so long to
+      gather the fruit that before we were in motion again the van of the
+      village came in view. An old woman appeared, leading down her pack horse
+      among the rocks above. Savage after savage followed, and the little dell
+      was soon crowded with the throng.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That morning&rsquo;s march was one not easily to be forgotten. It led us through
+      a sublime waste, a wilderness of mountains and pine forests, over which
+      the spirit of loneliness and silence seemed brooding. Above and below
+      little could be seen but the same dark green foliage. It overspread the
+      valleys, and the mountains were clothed with it from the black rocks that
+      crowned their summits to the impetuous streams that circled round their
+      base. Scenery like this, it might seem, could have no very cheering effect
+      on the mind of a sick man (for to-day my disease had again assailed me) in
+      the midst of a horde of savages; but if the reader has ever wandered, with
+      a true hunter&rsquo;s spirit, among the forests of Maine, or the more
+      picturesque solitudes of the Adirondack Mountains, he will understand how
+      the somber woods and mountains around me might have awakened any other
+      feelings than those of gloom. In truth they recalled gladdening
+      recollections of similar scenes in a distant and far different land. After
+      we had been advancing for several hours through passages always narrow,
+      often obstructed and difficult, I saw at a little distance on our right a
+      narrow opening between two high wooded precipices. All within seemed
+      darkness and mystery. In the mood in which I found myself something
+      strongly impelled me to enter. Passing over the intervening space I guided
+      my horse through the rocky portal, and as I did so instinctively drew the
+      covering from my rifle, half expecting that some unknown evil lay in
+      ambush within those dreary recesses. The place was shut in among tall
+      cliffs, and so deeply shadowed by a host of old pine trees that, though
+      the sun shone bright on the side of the mountain, nothing but a dim
+      twilight could penetrate within. As far as I could see it had no tenants
+      except a few hawks and owls, who, dismayed at my intrusion, flapped
+      hoarsely away among the shaggy branches. I moved forward, determined to
+      explore the mystery to the bottom, and soon became involved among the
+      pines. The genius of the place exercised a strange influence upon my mind.
+      Its faculties were stimulated into extraordinary activity, and as I passed
+      along many half-forgotten incidents, and the images of persons and things
+      far distant, rose rapidly before me with surprising distinctness. In that
+      perilous wilderness, eight hundred miles removed beyond the faintest
+      vestige of civilization, the scenes of another hemisphere, the seat of
+      ancient refinement, passed before me more like a succession of vivid
+      paintings than any mere dreams of the fancy. I saw the church of St.
+      Peter&rsquo;s illumined on the evening of Easter Day, the whole majestic pile,
+      from the cross to the foundation stone, penciled in fire and shedding a
+      radiance, like the serene light of the moon, on the sea of upturned faces
+      below. I saw the peak of Mount Etna towering above its inky mantle of
+      clouds and lightly curling its wreaths of milk-white smoke against the
+      soft sky flushed with the Sicilian sunset. I saw also the gloomy vaulted
+      passages and the narrow cells of the Passionist convent where I once had
+      sojourned for a few days with the fanatical monks, its pale, stern inmates
+      in their robes of black, and the grated window from whence I could look
+      out, a forbidden indulgence, upon the melancholy Coliseum and the
+      crumbling ruins of the Eternal City. The mighty glaciers of the Splugen
+      too rose before me, gleaming in the sun like polished silver, and those
+      terrible solitudes, the birthplace of the Rhine, where bursting from the
+      bowels of its native mountains, it lashes and foams down the rocky abyss
+      into the little valley of Andeer. These recollections, and many more,
+      crowded upon me, until remembering that it was hardly wise to remain long
+      in such a place, I mounted again and retraced my steps. Issuing from
+      between the rocks I saw a few rods before me the men, women, and children,
+      dogs and horses, still filing slowly across the little glen. A bare round
+      hill rose directly above them. I rode to the top, and from this point I
+      could look down on the savage procession as it passed just beneath my
+      feet, and far on the left I could see its thin and broken line, visible
+      only at intervals, stretching away for miles among the mountains. On the
+      farthest ridge horsemen were still descending like mere specks in the
+      distance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I remained on the hill until all had passed, and then, descending,
+      followed after them. A little farther on I found a very small meadow, set
+      deeply among steep mountains; and here the whole village had encamped. The
+      little spot was crowded with the confused and disorderly host. Some of the
+      lodges were already completely prepared, or the squaws perhaps were busy
+      in drawing the heavy coverings of skin over the bare poles. Others were as
+      yet mere skeletons, while others still&mdash;poles, covering, and all&mdash;lay
+      scattered in complete disorder on the ground among buffalo robes, bales of
+      meat, domestic utensils, harness, and weapons. Squaws were screaming to
+      one another, horses rearing and plunging dogs yelping, eager to be
+      disburdened of their loads, while the fluttering of feathers and the gleam
+      of barbaric ornaments added liveliness to the scene. The small children
+      ran about amid the crowd, while many of the boys were scrambling among the
+      overhanging rocks, and standing, with their little bows in their hands,
+      looking down upon a restless throng. In contrast with the general
+      confusion, a circle of old men and warriors sat in the midst, smoking in
+      profound indifference and tranquillity. The disorder at length subsided.
+      The horses were driven away to feed along the adjacent valley, and the
+      camp assumed an air of listless repose. It was scarcely past noon; a vast
+      white canopy of smoke from a burning forest to the eastward overhung the
+      place, and partially obscured the sun; yet the heat was almost
+      insupportable. The lodges stood crowded together without order in the
+      narrow space. Each was a perfect hothouse, within which the lazy
+      proprietor lay sleeping. The camp was silent as death. Nothing stirred
+      except now and then an old woman passing from lodge to lodge. The girls
+      and young men sat together in groups under the pine trees upon the
+      surrounding heights. The dogs lay panting on the ground, too lazy even to
+      growl at the white man. At the entrance of the meadow there was a cold
+      spring among the rocks, completely overshadowed by tall trees and dense
+      undergrowth. In this cold and shady retreat a number of girls were
+      assembled, sitting together on rocks and fallen logs, discussing the
+      latest gossip of the village, or laughing and throwing water with their
+      hands at the intruding Meneaska. The minutes seemed lengthened into hours.
+      I lay for a long time under a tree, studying the Ogallalla tongue, with
+      the zealous instructions of my friend the Panther. When we were both tired
+      of this I went and lay down by the side of a deep, clear pool formed by
+      the water of the spring. A shoal of little fishes of about a pin&rsquo;s length
+      were playing in it, sporting together, as it seemed, very amicably; but on
+      closer observation, I saw that they were engaged in a cannibal warfare
+      among themselves. Now and then a small one would fall a victim, and
+      immediately disappear down the maw of his voracious conqueror. Every
+      moment, however, the tyrant of the pool, a monster about three inches
+      long, with staring goggle eyes, would slowly issue forth with quivering
+      fins and tail from under the shelving bank. The small fry at this would
+      suspend their hostilities, and scatter in a panic at the appearance of
+      overwhelming force.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Soft-hearted philanthropists,&rdquo; thought I, &ldquo;may sigh long for their
+      peaceful millennium; for from minnows up to men, life is an incessant
+      battle.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Evening approached at last, the tall mountain-tops around were still gay
+      and bright in sunshine, while our deep glen was completely shadowed. I
+      left the camp and ascended a neighboring hill, whose rocky summit
+      commanded a wide view over the surrounding wilderness. The sun was still
+      glaring through the stiff pines on the ridge of the western mountain. In a
+      moment he was gone, and as the landscape rapidly darkened, I turned again
+      toward the village. As I descended the hill, the howling of wolves and the
+      barking of foxes came up out of the dim woods from far and near. The camp
+      was glowing with a multitude of fires, and alive with dusky naked figures,
+      whose tall shadows flitted among the surroundings crags.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I found a circle of smokers seated in their usual place; that is, on the
+      ground before the lodge of a certain warrior, who seemed to be generally
+      known for his social qualities. I sat down to smoke a parting pipe with my
+      savage friends. That day was the 1st of August, on which I had promised to
+      meet Shaw at Fort Laramie. The Fort was less than two days&rsquo; journey
+      distant, and that my friend need not suffer anxiety on my account, I
+      resolved to push forward as rapidly as possible to the place of meeting. I
+      went to look after the Hail-Storm, and having found him, I offered him a
+      handful of hawks&rsquo;-bells and a paper of vermilion, on condition that he
+      would guide me in the morning through the mountains within sight of
+      Laramie Creek.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Hail-Storm ejaculated &ldquo;How!&rdquo; and accepted the gift. Nothing more was
+      said on either side; the matter was settled, and I lay down to sleep in
+      Kongra-Tonga&rsquo;s lodge.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Long before daylight Raymond shook me by the shoulder.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Everything is ready,&rdquo; he said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I went out. The morning was chill, damp, and dark; and the whole camp
+      seemed asleep. The Hail-Storm sat on horseback before the lodge, and my
+      mare Pauline and the mule which Raymond rode were picketed near it. We
+      saddled and made our other arrangements for the journey, but before these
+      were completed the camp began to stir, and the lodge-coverings fluttered
+      and rustled as the squaws pulled them down in preparation for departure.
+      Just as the light began to appear we left the ground, passing up through a
+      narrow opening among the rocks which led eastward out of the meadow.
+      Gaining the top of this passage, I turned round and sat looking back upon
+      the camp, dimly visible in the gray light of the morning. All was alive
+      with the bustle of preparation. I turned away, half unwilling to take a
+      final leave of my savage associates. We turned to the right, passing among
+      the rocks and pine trees so dark that for a while we could scarcely see
+      our way. The country in front was wild and broken, half hill, half plain,
+      partly open and partly covered with woods of pine and oak. Barriers of
+      lofty mountains encompassed it; the woods were fresh and cool in the early
+      morning; the peaks of the mountains were wreathed with mist, and sluggish
+      vapors were entangled among the forests upon their sides. At length the
+      black pinnacle of the tallest mountain was tipped with gold by the rising
+      sun. About that time the Hail-Storm, who rode in front gave a low
+      exclamation. Some large animal leaped up from among the bushes, and an
+      elk, as I thought, his horns thrown back over his neck, darted past us
+      across the open space, and bounded like a mad thing away among the
+      adjoining pines. Raymond was soon out of his saddle, but before he could
+      fire, the animal was full two hundred yards distant. The ball struck its
+      mark, though much too low for mortal effect. The elk, however, wheeled in
+      its flight, and ran at full speed among the trees, nearly at right angles
+      to his former course. I fired and broke his shoulder; still he moved on,
+      limping down into the neighboring woody hollow, whither the young Indian
+      followed and killed him. When we reached the spot we discovered him to be
+      no elk, but a black-tailed deer, an animal nearly twice the size of the
+      common deer, and quite unknown to the East. We began to cut him up; the
+      reports of the rifles had reached the ears of the Indians, and before our
+      task was finished several of them came to the spot. Leaving the hide of
+      the deer to the Hail-Storm, we hung as much of the meat as we wanted
+      behind our saddles, left the rest to the Indians, and resumed our journey.
+      Meanwhile the village was on its way, and had gone so far that to get in
+      advance of it was impossible. Therefore we directed our course so as to
+      strike its line of march at the nearest point. In a short time, through
+      the dark trunks of the pines, we could see the figures of the Indians as
+      they passed. Once more we were among them. They were moving with even more
+      than their usual precipitation, crowded close together in a narrow pass
+      between rocks and old pine trees. We were on the eastern descent of the
+      mountain, and soon came to a rough and difficult defile, leading down a
+      very steep declivity. The whole swarm poured down together, filling the
+      rocky passageway like some turbulent mountain stream. The mountains before
+      us were on fire, and had been so for weeks. The view in front was obscured
+      by a vast dim sea of smoke and vapor, while on either hand the tall
+      cliffs, bearing aloft their crest of pines, thrust their heads boldly
+      through it, and the sharp pinnacles and broken ridges of the mountains
+      beyond them were faintly traceable as through a veil. The scene in itself
+      was most grand and imposing, but with the savage multitude, the armed
+      warriors, the naked children, the gayly appareled girls, pouring
+      impetuously down the heights, it would have formed a noble subject for a
+      painter, and only the pen of a Scott could have done it justice in
+      description.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We passed over a burnt tract where the ground was hot beneath the horses&rsquo;
+      feet, and between the blazing sides of two mountains. Before long we had
+      descended to a softer region, where we found a succession of little
+      valleys watered by a stream, along the borders of which grew abundance of
+      wild gooseberries and currants, and the children and many of the men
+      straggled from the line of march to gather them as we passed along.
+      Descending still farther, the view changed rapidly. The burning mountains
+      were behind us, and through the open valleys in front we could see the
+      ocean-like prairie, stretching beyond the sight. After passing through a
+      line of trees that skirted the brook, the Indians filed out upon the
+      plains. I was thirsty and knelt down by the little stream to drink. As I
+      mounted again I very carelessly left my rifle among the grass, and my
+      thoughts being otherwise absorbed, I rode for some distance before
+      discovering its absence. As the reader may conceive, I lost no time in
+      turning about and galloping back in search of it. Passing the line of
+      Indians, I watched every warrior as he rode by me at a canter, and at
+      length discovered my rifle in the hands of one of them, who, on my
+      approaching to claim it, immediately gave it up. Having no other means of
+      acknowledging the obligation, I took off one of my spurs and gave it to
+      him. He was greatly delighted, looking upon it as a distinguished mark of
+      favor, and immediately held out his foot for me to buckle it on. As soon
+      as I had done so, he struck it with force into the side of his horse, who
+      gave a violent leap. The Indian laughed and spurred harder than before. At
+      this the horse shot away like an arrow, amid the screams and laughter of
+      the squaws, and the ejaculations of the men, who exclaimed: &ldquo;Washtay!&mdash;Good!&rdquo;
+       at the potent effect of my gift. The Indian had no saddle, and nothing in
+      place of a bridle except a leather string tied round the horse&rsquo;s jaw. The
+      animal was of course wholly uncontrollable, and stretched away at full
+      speed over the prairie, till he and his rider vanished behind a distant
+      swell. I never saw the man again, but I presume no harm came to him. An
+      Indian on horseback has more lives than a cat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The village encamped on a scorching prairie, close to the foot of the
+      mountains. The beat was most intense and penetrating. The coverings of the
+      lodges were raised a foot or more from the ground, in order to procure
+      some circulation of air; and Reynal thought proper to lay aside his
+      trapper&rsquo;s dress of buckskin and assume the very scanty costume of an
+      Indian. Thus elegantly attired, he stretched himself in his lodge on a
+      buffalo robe, alternately cursing the heat and puffing at the pipe which
+      he and I passed between us. There was present also a select circle of
+      Indian friends and relatives. A small boiled puppy was served up as a
+      parting feast, to which was added, by way of dessert, a wooden bowl of
+      gooseberries, from the mountains.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Look there,&rdquo; said Reynal, pointing out of the opening of his lodge; &ldquo;do
+      you see that line of buttes about fifteen miles off? Well, now, do you see
+      that farthest one, with the white speck on the face of it? Do you think
+      you ever saw it before?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It looks to me,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;like the hill that we were camped under when we
+      were on Laramie Creek, six or eight weeks ago.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You&rsquo;ve hit it,&rdquo; answered Reynal.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Go and bring in the animals, Raymond,&rdquo; said I: &ldquo;we&rsquo;ll camp there
+      to-night, and start for the Fort in the morning.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The mare and the mule were soon before the lodge. We saddled them, and in
+      the meantime a number of Indians collected about us. The virtues of
+      Pauline, my strong, fleet, and hardy little mare, were well known in camp,
+      and several of the visitors were mounted upon good horses which they had
+      brought me as presents. I promptly declined their offers, since accepting
+      them would have involved the necessity of transferring poor Pauline into
+      their barbarous hands. We took leave of Reynal, but not of the Indians,
+      who are accustomed to dispense with such superfluous ceremonies. Leaving
+      the camp we rode straight over the prairie toward the white-faced bluff,
+      whose pale ridges swelled gently against the horizon, like a cloud. An
+      Indian went with us, whose name I forget, though the ugliness of his face
+      and the ghastly width of his mouth dwell vividly in my recollection. The
+      antelope were numerous, but we did not heed them. We rode directly toward
+      our destination, over the arid plains and barren hills, until, late in the
+      afternoon, half spent with heat, thirst, and fatigue, we saw a gladdening
+      sight; the long line of trees and the deep gulf that mark the course of
+      Laramie Creek. Passing through the growth of huge dilapidated old
+      cottonwood trees that bordered the creek, we rode across to the other
+      side.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The rapid and foaming waters were filled with fish playing and splashing
+      in the shallows. As we gained the farther bank, our horses turned eagerly
+      to drink, and we, kneeling on the sand, followed their example. We had not
+      gone far before the scene began to grow familiar.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We are getting near home, Raymond,&rdquo; said I.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There stood the Big Tree under which we had encamped so long; there were
+      the white cliffs that used to look down upon our tent when it stood at the
+      bend of the creek; there was the meadow in which our horses had grazed for
+      weeks, and a little farther on, the prairie-dog village where I had
+      beguiled many a languid hour in persecuting the unfortunate inhabitants.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We are going to catch it now,&rdquo; said Raymond, turning his broad, vacant
+      face up toward the sky.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In truth, the landscape, the cliffs and the meadow, the stream and the
+      groves were darkening fast. Black masses of cloud were swelling up in the
+      south, and the thunder was growling ominously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We will camp here,&rdquo; I said, pointing to a dense grove of trees lower down
+      the stream. Raymond and I turned toward it, but the Indian stopped and
+      called earnestly after us. When we demanded what was the matter, he said
+      that the ghosts of two warriors were always among those trees, and that if
+      we slept there, they would scream and throw stones at us all night, and
+      perhaps steal our horses before morning. Thinking it as well to humor him,
+      we left behind us the haunt of these extraordinary ghosts, and passed on
+      toward Chugwater, riding at full gallop, for the big drops began to patter
+      down. Soon we came in sight of the poplar saplings that grew about the
+      mouth of the little stream. We leaped to the ground, threw off our
+      saddles, turned our horses loose, and drawing our knives, began to slash
+      among the bushes to cut twigs and branches for making a shelter against
+      the rain. Bending down the taller saplings as they grew, we piled the
+      young shoots upon them; and thus made a convenient penthouse, but all our
+      labor was useless. The storm scarcely touched us. Half a mile on our right
+      the rain was pouring down like a cataract, and the thunder roared over the
+      prairie like a battery of cannon; while we by good fortune received only a
+      few heavy drops from the skirt of the passing cloud. The weather cleared
+      and the sun set gloriously. Sitting close under our leafy canopy, we
+      proceeded to discuss a substantial meal of wasna which Weah-Washtay had
+      given me. The Indian had brought with him his pipe and a bag of
+      shongsasha; so before lying down to sleep, we sat for some time smoking
+      together. Previously, however, our wide-mouthed friend had taken the
+      precaution of carefully examining the neighborhood. He reported that eight
+      men, counting them on his fingers, had been encamped there not long
+      before. Bisonette, Paul Dorion, Antoine Le Rouge, Richardson, and four
+      others, whose names he could not tell. All this proved strictly correct.
+      By what instinct he had arrived at such accurate conclusions, I am utterly
+      at a loss to divine.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was still quite dark when I awoke and called Raymond. The Indian was
+      already gone, having chosen to go on before us to the Fort. Setting out
+      after him, we rode for some time in complete darkness, and when the sun at
+      length rose, glowing like a fiery ball of copper, we were ten miles
+      distant from the Fort. At length, from the broken summit of a tall sandy
+      bluff we could see Fort Laramie, miles before us, standing by the side of
+      the stream like a little gray speck in the midst of the bounding
+      desolation. I stopped my horse, and sat for a moment looking down upon it.
+      It seemed to me the very center of comfort and civilization. We were not
+      long in approaching it, for we rode at speed the greater part of the way.
+      Laramie Creek still intervened between us and the friendly walls. Entering
+      the water at the point where we had struck upon the bank, we raised our
+      feet to the saddle behind us, and thus, kneeling as it were on horseback,
+      passed dry-shod through the swift current. As we rode up the bank, a
+      number of men appeared in the gateway. Three of them came forward to meet
+      us. In a moment I distinguished Shaw; Henry Chatillon followed with his
+      face of manly simplicity and frankness, and Delorier came last, with a
+      broad grin of welcome. The meeting was not on either side one of mere
+      ceremony. For my own part, the change was a most agreeable one from the
+      society of savages and men little better than savages, to that of my
+      gallant and high-minded companion and our noble-hearted guide. My
+      appearance was equally gratifying to Shaw, who was beginning to entertain
+      some very uncomfortable surmises concerning me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Bordeaux greeted me very cordially, and shouted to the cook. This
+      functionary was a new acquisition, having lately come from Fort Pierre
+      with the trading wagons. Whatever skill he might have boasted, he had not
+      the most promising materials to exercise it upon. He set before me,
+      however, a breakfast of biscuit, coffee, and salt pork. It seemed like a
+      new phase of existence, to be seated once more on a bench, with a knife
+      and fork, a plate and teacup, and something resembling a table before me.
+      The coffee seemed delicious, and the bread was a most welcome novelty,
+      since for three weeks I had eaten scarcely anything but meat, and that for
+      the most part without salt. The meal also had the relish of good company,
+      for opposite to me sat Shaw in elegant dishabille. If one is anxious
+      thoroughly to appreciate the value of a congenial companion, he has only
+      to spend a few weeks by himself in an Ogallalla village. And if he can
+      contrive to add to his seclusion a debilitating and somewhat critical
+      illness, his perceptions upon this subject will be rendered considerably
+      more vivid.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shaw had been upward of two weeks at the Fort. I found him established in
+      his old quarters, a large apartment usually occupied by the absent
+      bourgeois. In one corner was a soft and luxuriant pile of excellent
+      buffalo robes, and here I lay down. Shaw brought me three books.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Here,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;is your Shakespeare and Byron, and here is the Old
+      Testament, which has as much poetry in it as the other two put together.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I chose the worst of the three, and for the greater part of that day lay
+      on the buffalo robes, fairly reveling in the creations of that resplendent
+      genius which has achieved no more signal triumph than that of half
+      beguiling us to forget the pitiful and unmanly character of its possessor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0020" id="link2HCH0020">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XX
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      THE LONELY JOURNEY
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      On the day of my arrival at Fort Laramie, Shaw and I were lounging on two
+      buffalo robes in the large apartment hospitably assigned to us; Henry
+      Chatillon also was present, busy about the harness and weapons, which had
+      been brought into the room, and two or three Indians were crouching on the
+      floor, eyeing us with their fixed, unwavering gaze.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have been well off here,&rdquo; said Shaw, &ldquo;in all respects but one; there is
+      no good shongsasha to be had for love or money.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I gave him a small leather bag containing some of excellent quality, which
+      I had brought from the Black Hills.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now, Henry,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;hand me Papin&rsquo;s chopping-board, or give it to that
+      Indian, and let him cut the mixture; they understand it better than any
+      white man.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Indian, without saying a word, mixed the bark and the tobacco in due
+      proportions, filled the pipe and lighted it. This done, my companion and I
+      proceeded to deliberate on our future course of proceeding; first,
+      however, Shaw acquainted me with some incidents which had occurred at the
+      fort during my absence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      About a week previous four men had arrived from beyond the mountains;
+      Sublette, Reddick, and two others. Just before reaching the Fort they had
+      met a large party of Indians, chiefly young men. All of them belonged to
+      the village of our old friend Smoke, who, with his whole band of
+      adherents, professed the greatest friendship for the whites. The travelers
+      therefore approached, and began to converse without the least suspicion.
+      Suddenly, however, their bridles were violently seized and they were
+      ordered to dismount. Instead of complying, they struck their horses with
+      full force, and broke away from the Indians. As they galloped off they
+      heard a yell behind them, mixed with a burst of derisive laughter, and the
+      reports of several guns. None of them were hurt though Reddick&rsquo;s bridle
+      rein was cut by a bullet within an inch of his hand. After this taste of
+      Indian hostility they felt for the moment no disposition to encounter
+      further risks. They intended to pursue the route southward along the foot
+      of the mountains to Bent&rsquo;s Fort; and as our plans coincided with theirs,
+      they proposed to join forces. Finding, however, that I did not return,
+      they grew impatient of inaction, forgot their late escape, and set out
+      without us, promising to wait our arrival at Bent&rsquo;s Fort. From thence we
+      were to make the long journey to the settlements in company, as the path
+      was not a little dangerous, being infested by hostile Pawnees and
+      Comanches.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We expected, on reaching Bent&rsquo;s Fort, to find there still another
+      re-enforcement. A young Kentuckian of the true Kentucky blood, generous,
+      impetuous, and a gentleman withal, had come out to the mountains with
+      Russel&rsquo;s party of California emigrants. One of his chief objects, as he
+      gave out, was to kill an Indian; an exploit which he afterwards succeeded
+      in achieving, much to the jeopardy of ourselves and others who had to pass
+      through the country of the dead Pawnee&rsquo;s enraged relatives. Having become
+      disgusted with his emigrant associates he left them, and had some time
+      before set out with a party of companions for the head of the Arkansas. He
+      sent us previously a letter, intimating that he would wait until we
+      arrived at Bent&rsquo;s Fort, and accompany us thence to the settlements. When,
+      however, he came to the Fort, he found there a party of forty men about to
+      make the homeward journey. He wisely preferred to avail himself of so
+      strong an escort. Mr. Sublette and his companions also set out, in order
+      to overtake this company; so that on reaching Bent&rsquo;s Fort, some six weeks
+      after, we found ourselves deserted by our allies and thrown once more upon
+      our own resources.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But I am anticipating. When, before leaving the settlement we had made
+      inquiries concerning this part of the country of General Kearny, Mr.
+      Mackenzie, Captain Wyeth, and others well acquainted with it, they had all
+      advised us by no means to attempt this southward journey with fewer than
+      fifteen or twenty men. The danger consists in the chance of encountering
+      Indian war parties. Sometimes throughout the whole length of the journey
+      (a distance of 350 miles) one does not meet a single human being;
+      frequently, however, the route is beset by Arapahoes and other unfriendly
+      tribes; in which case the scalp of the adventurer is in imminent peril. As
+      to the escort of fifteen or twenty men, such a force of whites could at
+      that time scarcely be collected by the whole country; and had the case
+      been otherwise, the expense of securing them, together with the necessary
+      number of horses, would have been extremely heavy. We had resolved,
+      however, upon pursuing this southward course. There were, indeed, two
+      other routes from Fort Laramie; but both of these were less interesting,
+      and neither was free from danger. Being unable therefore to procure the
+      fifteen or twenty men recommended, we determined to set out with those we
+      had already in our employ, Henry Chatillon, Delorier, and Raymond. The men
+      themselves made no objection, nor would they have made any had the journey
+      been more dangerous; for Henry was without fear, and the other two without
+      thought.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shaw and I were much better fitted for this mode of traveling than we had
+      been on betaking ourselves to the prairies for the first time a few months
+      before. The daily routine had ceased to be a novelty. All the details of
+      the journey and the camp had become familiar to us. We had seen life under
+      a new aspect; the human biped had been reduced to his primitive condition.
+      We had lived without law to protect, a roof to shelter, or garment of
+      cloth to cover us. One of us at least had been without bread, and without
+      salt to season his food. Our idea of what is indispensable to human
+      existence and enjoyment had been wonderfully curtailed, and a horse, a
+      rifle, and a knife seemed to make up the whole of life&rsquo;s necessaries. For
+      these once obtained, together with the skill to use them, all else that is
+      essential would follow in their train, and a host of luxuries besides. One
+      other lesson our short prairie experience had taught us; that of profound
+      contentment in the present, and utter contempt for what the future might
+      bring forth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These principles established, we prepared to leave Fort Laramie. On the
+      fourth day of August, early in the afternoon, we bade a final adieu to its
+      hospitable gateway. Again Shaw and I were riding side by side on the
+      prairie. For the first fifty miles we had companions with us; Troche, a
+      little trapper, and Rouville, a nondescript in the employ of the Fur
+      Company, who were going to join the trader Bisonette at his encampment
+      near the head of Horse Creek. We rode only six or eight miles that
+      afternoon before we came to a little brook traversing the barren prairie.
+      All along its course grew copses of young wild-cherry trees, loaded with
+      ripe fruit, and almost concealing the gliding thread of water with their
+      dense growth, while on each side rose swells of rich green grass. Here we
+      encamped; and being much too indolent to pitch our tent, we flung our
+      saddles on the ground, spread a pair of buffalo robes, lay down upon them,
+      and began to smoke. Meanwhile, Delorier busied himself with his hissing
+      frying-pan, and Raymond stood guard over the band of grazing horses.
+      Delorier had an active assistant in Rouville, who professed great skill in
+      the culinary art, and seizing upon a fork, began to lend his zealous aid
+      in making ready supper. Indeed, according to his own belief, Rouville was
+      a man of universal knowledge, and he lost no opportunity to display his
+      manifold accomplishments. He had been a circus-rider at St. Louis, and
+      once he rode round Fort Laramie on his head, to the utter bewilderment of
+      all the Indians. He was also noted as the wit of the Fort; and as he had
+      considerable humor and abundant vivacity, he contributed more that night
+      to the liveliness of the camp than all the rest of the party put together.
+      At one instant he would be kneeling by Delorier, instructing him in the
+      true method of frying antelope steaks, then he would come and seat himself
+      at our side, dilating upon the orthodox fashion of braiding up a horse&rsquo;s
+      tail, telling apocryphal stories how he had killed a buffalo bull with a
+      knife, having first cut off his tail when at full speed, or relating
+      whimsical anecdotes of the bourgeois Papin. At last he snatched up a
+      volume of Shakespeare that was lying on the grass, and halted and stumbled
+      through a line or two to prove that he could read. He went gamboling about
+      the camp, chattering like some frolicsome ape; and whatever he was doing
+      at one moment, the presumption was a sure one that he would not be doing
+      it the next. His companion Troche sat silently on the grass, not speaking
+      a word, but keeping a vigilant eye on a very ugly little Utah squaw, of
+      whom he was extremely jealous.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the next day we traveled farther, crossing the wide sterile basin
+      called Goche&rsquo;s Hole. Toward night we became involved among deep ravines;
+      and being also unable to find water, our journey was protracted to a very
+      late hour. On the next morning we had to pass a long line of bluffs, whose
+      raw sides, wrought upon by rains and storms, were of a ghastly whiteness
+      most oppressive to the sight. As we ascended a gap in these hills, the way
+      was marked by huge foot-prints, like those of a human giant. They were the
+      track of the grizzly bear; and on the previous day also we had seen
+      abundance of them along the dry channels of the streams we had passed.
+      Immediately after this we were crossing a barren plain, spreading in long
+      and gentle undulations to the horizon. Though the sun was bright, there
+      was a light haze in the atmosphere. The distant hills assumed strange,
+      distorted forms, and the edge of the horizon was continually changing its
+      aspect. Shaw and I were riding together, and Henry Chatillon was alone, a
+      few rods before us; he stopped his horse suddenly, and turning round with
+      the peculiar eager and earnest expression which he always wore when
+      excited, he called to us to come forward. We galloped to his side. Henry
+      pointed toward a black speck on the gray swell of the prairie, apparently
+      about a mile off. &ldquo;It must be a bear,&rdquo; said he; &ldquo;come, now, we shall all
+      have some sport. Better fun to fight him than to fight an old buffalo
+      bull; grizzly bear so strong and smart.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So we all galloped forward together, prepared for a hard fight; for these
+      bears, though clumsy in appearance and extremely large, are incredibly
+      fierce and active. The swell of the prairie concealed the black object
+      from our view. Immediately after it appeared again. But now it seemed
+      quite near to us; and as we looked at it in astonishment, it suddenly
+      separated into two parts, each of which took wing and flew away. We
+      stopped our horses and looked round at Henry, whose face exhibited a
+      curious mixture of mirth and mortification. His hawk&rsquo;s eye had been so
+      completely deceived by the peculiar atmosphere that he had mistaken two
+      large crows at the distance of fifty rods for a grizzly bear a mile off.
+      To the journey&rsquo;s end Henry never heard the last of the grizzly bear with
+      wings.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the afternoon we came to the foot of a considerable hill. As we
+      ascended it Rouville began to ask questions concerning our conditions and
+      prospects at home, and Shaw was edifying him with a minute account of an
+      imaginary wife and child, to which he listened with implicit faith.
+      Reaching the top of the hill we saw the windings of Horse Creek on the
+      plains below us, and a little on the left we could distinguish the camp of
+      Bisonette among the trees and copses along the course of the stream.
+      Rouville&rsquo;s face assumed just then a most ludicrously blank expression. We
+      inquired what was the matter, when it appeared that Bisonette had sent him
+      from this place to Fort Laramie with the sole object of bringing back a
+      supply of tobacco. Our rattle-brain friend, from the time of his reaching
+      the Fort up to the present moment, had entirely forgotten the object of
+      his journey, and had ridden a dangerous hundred miles for nothing.
+      Descending to Horse Creek we forded it, and on the opposite bank a
+      solitary Indian sat on horseback under a tree. He said nothing, but turned
+      and led the way toward the camp. Bisonette had made choice of an admirable
+      position. The stream, with its thick growth of trees, inclosed on three
+      sides a wide green meadow, where about forty Dakota lodges were pitched in
+      a circle, and beyond them half a dozen lodges of the friendly Cheyenne.
+      Bisonette himself lived in the Indian manner. Riding up to his lodge, we
+      found him seated at the head of it, surrounded by various appliances of
+      comfort not common on the prairie. His squaw was near him, and rosy
+      children were scrambling about in printed-calico gowns; Paul Dorion also,
+      with his leathery face and old white capote, was seated in the lodge,
+      together with Antoine Le Rouge, a half-breed Pawnee, Sibille, a trader,
+      and several other white men.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It will do you no harm,&rdquo; said Bisonette, &ldquo;to stay here with us for a day
+      or two, before you start for the Pueblo.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      We accepted the invitation, and pitched our tent on a rising ground above
+      the camp and close to the edge of the trees. Bisonette soon invited us to
+      a feast, and we suffered abundance of the same sort of attention from his
+      Indian associates. The reader may possibly recollect that when I joined
+      the Indian village, beyond the Black Hills, I found that a few families
+      were absent, having declined to pass the mountains along with the rest.
+      The Indians in Bisonette&rsquo;s camp consisted of these very families, and many
+      of them came to me that evening to inquire after their relatives and
+      friends. They were not a little mortified to learn that while they, from
+      their own timidity and indolence, were almost in a starving condition, the
+      rest of the village had provided their lodges for the next season, laid in
+      a great stock of provisions, and were living in abundance and luxury.
+      Bisonette&rsquo;s companions had been sustaining themselves for some time on
+      wild cherries, which the squaws pounded up, stones and all, and spread on
+      buffalo robes, to dry in the sun; they were then eaten without further
+      preparation, or used as an ingredient in various delectable compounds.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the next day the camp was in commotion with a new arrival. A single
+      Indian had come with his family the whole way from the Arkansas. As he
+      passed among the lodges he put on an expression of unusual dignity and
+      importance, and gave out that he had brought great news to tell the
+      whites. Soon after the squaws had erected his lodge, he sent his little
+      son to invite all the white men, and all the most distinguished Indians,
+      to a feast. The guests arrived and sat wedged together, shoulder to
+      shoulder, within the hot and suffocating lodge. The Stabber, for that was
+      our entertainer&rsquo;s name, had killed an old buffalo bull on his way. This
+      veteran&rsquo;s boiled tripe, tougher than leather, formed the main item of the
+      repast. For the rest, it consisted of wild cherries and grease boiled
+      together in a large copper kettle. The feast was distributed, and for a
+      moment all was silent, strenuous exertion; then each guest, with one or
+      two exceptions, however, turned his wooden dish bottom upward to prove
+      that he had done full justice to his entertainer&rsquo;s hospitality. The
+      Stabber next produced his chopping board, on which he prepared the mixture
+      for smoking, and filled several pipes, which circulated among the company.
+      This done, he seated himself upright on his couch, and began with much
+      gesticulation to tell his story. I will not repeat his childish jargon. It
+      was so entangled, like the greater part of an Indian&rsquo;s stories, with
+      absurd and contradictory details, that it was almost impossible to
+      disengage from it a single particle of truth. All that we could gather was
+      the following:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He had been on the Arkansas, and there he had seen six great war parties
+      of whites. He had never believed before that the whole world contained
+      half so many white men. They all had large horses, long knives, and short
+      rifles, and some of them were attired alike in the most splendid war
+      dresses he had ever seen. From this account it was clear that bodies of
+      dragoons and perhaps also of volunteer cavalry had been passing up the
+      Arkansas. The Stabber had also seen a great many of the white lodges of
+      the Meneaska, drawn by their long-horned buffalo. These could be nothing
+      else than covered ox-wagons used no doubt in transporting stores for the
+      troops. Soon after seeing this, our host had met an Indian who had lately
+      come from among the Comanches. The latter had told him that all the
+      Mexicans had gone out to a great buffalo hunt. That the Americans had hid
+      themselves in a ravine. When the Mexicans had shot away all their arrows,
+      the Americans had fired their guns, raised their war-whoop, rushed out,
+      and killed them all. We could only infer from this that war had been
+      declared with Mexico, and a battle fought in which the Americans were
+      victorious. When, some weeks after, we arrived at the Pueblo, we heard of
+      General Kearny&rsquo;s march up the Arkansas and of General Taylor&rsquo;s victories
+      at Matamoras.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As the sun was setting that evening a great crowd gathered on the plain by
+      the side of our tent, to try the speed of their horses. These were of
+      every shape, size, and color. Some came from California, some from the
+      States, some from among the mountains, and some from the wild bands of the
+      prairie. They were of every hue&mdash;white, black, red, and gray, or
+      mottled and clouded with a strange variety of colors. They all had a wild
+      and startled look, very different from the staid and sober aspect of a
+      well-bred city steed. Those most noted for swiftness and spirit were
+      decorated with eagle-feathers dangling from their manes and tails. Fifty
+      or sixty Dakotas were present, wrapped from head to foot in their heavy
+      robes of whitened hide. There were also a considerable number of the
+      Cheyenne, many of whom wore gaudy Mexican ponchos swathed around their
+      shoulders, but leaving the right arm bare. Mingled among the crowd of
+      Indians were a number of Canadians, chiefly in the employ of Bisonette;
+      men, whose home is in the wilderness, and who love the camp fire better
+      than the domestic hearth. They are contented and happy in the midst of
+      hardship, privation, and danger. Their cheerfulness and gayety is
+      irrepressible, and no people on earth understand better how &ldquo;to daff the
+      world aside and bid it pass.&rdquo; Besides these, were two or three
+      half-breeds, a race of rather extraordinary composition, being according
+      to the common saying half Indian, half white man, and half devil. Antoine
+      Le Rouge was the most conspicuous among them, with his loose pantaloons
+      and his fluttering calico skirt. A handkerchief was bound round his head
+      to confine his black snaky hair, and his small eyes twinkled beneath it,
+      with a mischievous luster. He had a fine cream-colored horse whose speed
+      he must needs try along with the rest. So he threw off the rude
+      high-peaked saddle, and substituting a piece of buffalo robe, leaped
+      lightly into his seat. The space was cleared, the word was given, and he
+      and his Indian rival darted out like lightning from among the crowd, each
+      stretching forward over his horse&rsquo;s neck and plying his heavy Indian whip
+      with might and main. A moment, and both were lost in the gloom; but
+      Antoine soon came riding back victorious, exultingly patting the neck of
+      his quivering and panting horse.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      About midnight, as I lay asleep, wrapped in a buffalo robe on the ground
+      by the side of our cart, Raymond came up and woke me. Something he said,
+      was going forward which I would like to see. Looking down into camp I saw,
+      on the farther side of it, a great number of Indians gathered around a
+      fire, the bright glare of which made them visible through the thick
+      darkness; while from the midst of them proceeded a loud, measured chant
+      which would have killed Paganini outright, broken occasionally by a burst
+      of sharp yells. I gathered the robe around me, for the night was cold, and
+      walked down to the spot. The dark throng of Indians was so dense that they
+      almost intercepted the light of the flame. As I was pushing among them
+      with but little ceremony, a chief interposed himself, and I was given to
+      understand that a white man must not approach the scene of their
+      solemnities too closely. By passing round to the other side, where there
+      was a little opening in the crowd, I could see clearly what was going
+      forward, without intruding my unhallowed presence into the inner circle.
+      The society of the &ldquo;Strong Hearts&rdquo; were engaged in one of their dances.
+      The Strong Hearts are a warlike association, comprising men of both the
+      Dakota and Cheyenne nations, and entirely composed, or supposed to be so,
+      of young braves of the highest mettle. Its fundamental principle is the
+      admirable one of never retreating from any enterprise once commenced. All
+      these Indian associations have a tutelary spirit. That of the Strong
+      Hearts is embodied in the fox, an animal which a white man would hardly
+      have selected for a similar purpose, though his subtle and cautious
+      character agrees well enough with an Indian&rsquo;s notions of what is honorable
+      in warfare. The dancers were circling round and round the fire, each
+      figure brightly illumined at one moment by the yellow light, and at the
+      next drawn in blackest shadow as it passed between the flame and the
+      spectator. They would imitate with the most ludicrous exactness the
+      motions and the voice of their sly patron the fox. Then a startling yell
+      would be given. Many other warriors would leap into the ring, and with
+      faces upturned toward the starless sky, they would all stamp, and whoop,
+      and brandish their weapons like so many frantic devils.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Until the next afternoon we were still remaining with Bisonette. My
+      companion and I with our three attendants then left his camp for the
+      Pueblo, a distance of three hundred miles, and we supposed the journey
+      would occupy about a fortnight. During this time we all earnestly hoped
+      that we might not meet a single human being, for should we encounter any,
+      they would in all probability be enemies, ferocious robbers and murderers,
+      in whose eyes our rifles would be our only passports. For the first two
+      days nothing worth mentioning took place. On the third morning, however,
+      an untoward incident occurred. We were encamped by the side of a little
+      brook in an extensive hollow of the plain. Delorier was up long before
+      daylight, and before he began to prepare breakfast he turned loose all the
+      horses, as in duty bound. There was a cold mist clinging close to the
+      ground, and by the time the rest of us were awake the animals were
+      invisible. It was only after a long and anxious search that we could
+      discover by their tracks the direction they had taken. They had all set
+      off for Fort Laramie, following the guidance of a mutinous old mule, and
+      though many of them were hobbled they had driven three miles before they
+      could be overtaken and driven back.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For the following two or three days we were passing over an arid desert.
+      The only vegetation was a few tufts of short grass, dried and shriveled by
+      the heat. There was an abundance of strange insects and reptiles. Huge
+      crickets, black and bottle green, and wingless grasshoppers of the most
+      extravagant dimensions, were tumbling about our horses&rsquo; feet, and lizards
+      without numbers were darting like lightning among the tufts of grass. The
+      most curious animal, however, was that commonly called the horned frog. I
+      caught one of them and consigned him to the care of Delorier, who tied him
+      up in a moccasin. About a month after this I examined the prisoner&rsquo;s
+      condition, and finding him still lively and active, I provided him with a
+      cage of buffalo hide, which was hung up in the cart. In this manner he
+      arrived safely at the settlements. From thence he traveled the whole way
+      to Boston packed closely in a trunk, being regaled with fresh air
+      regularly every night. When he reached his destination he was deposited
+      under a glass case, where he sat for some months in great tranquillity and
+      composure, alternately dilating and contracting his white throat to the
+      admiration of his visitors. At length, one morning, about the middle of
+      winter, he gave up the ghost. His death was attributed to starvation, a
+      very probable conclusion, since for six months he had taken no food
+      whatever, though the sympathy of his juvenile admirers had tempted his
+      palate with a great variety of delicacies. We found also animals of a
+      somewhat larger growth. The number of prairie dogs was absolutely
+      astounding. Frequently the hard and dry prairie would be thickly covered,
+      for many miles together, with the little mounds which they make around the
+      mouth of their burrows, and small squeaking voices yelping at us as we
+      passed along. The noses of the inhabitants would be just visible at the
+      mouth of their holes, but no sooner was their curiosity satisfied than
+      they would instantly vanish. Some of the bolder dogs&mdash;though in fact
+      they are no dogs at all, but little marmots rather smaller than a rabbit&mdash;would
+      sit yelping at us on the top of their mounds, jerking their tails
+      emphatically with every shrill cry they uttered. As the danger grew nearer
+      they would wheel about, toss their heels into the air, and dive in a
+      twinkling down into their burrows. Toward sunset, and especially if rain
+      were threatening, the whole community would make their appearance above
+      ground. We would see them gathered in large knots around the burrow of
+      some favorite citizen. There they would all sit erect, their tails spread
+      out on the ground, and their paws hanging down before their white breasts,
+      chattering and squeaking with the utmost vivacity upon some topic of
+      common interest, while the proprietor of the burrow, with his head just
+      visible on the top of his mound, would sit looking down with a complacent
+      countenance on the enjoyment of his guests. Meanwhile, others would be
+      running about from burrow to burrow, as if on some errand of the last
+      importance to their subterranean commonwealth. The snakes were apparently
+      the prairie dog&rsquo;s worst enemies, at least I think too well of the latter
+      to suppose that they associate on friendly terms with these slimy
+      intruders, who may be seen at all times basking among their holes, into
+      which they always retreat when disturbed. Small owls, with wise and grave
+      countenances, also make their abode with the prairie dogs, though on what
+      terms they live together I could never ascertain. The manners and customs,
+      the political and domestic economy of these little marmots is worthy of
+      closer attention than one is able to give when pushing by forced marches
+      through their country, with his thoughts engrossed by objects of greater
+      moment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the fifth day after leaving Bisonette&rsquo;s camp we saw late in the
+      afternoon what we supposed to be a considerable stream, but on our
+      approaching it we found to our mortification nothing but a dry bed of sand
+      into which all the water had sunk and disappeared. We separated, some
+      riding in one direction and some in another along its course. Still we
+      found no traces of water, not even so much as a wet spot in the sand. The
+      old cotton-wood trees that grew along the bank, lamentably abused by
+      lightning and tempest, were withering with the drought, and on the dead
+      limbs, at the summit of the tallest, half a dozen crows were hoarsely
+      cawing like birds of evil omen as they were. We had no alternative but to
+      keep on. There was no water nearer than the South Fork of the Platte,
+      about ten miles distant. We moved forward, angry and silent, over a desert
+      as flat as the outspread ocean.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The sky had been obscured since the morning by thin mists and vapors, but
+      now vast piles of clouds were gathered together in the west. They rose to
+      a great height above the horizon, and looking up toward them I
+      distinguished one mass darker than the rest and of a peculiar conical
+      form. I happened to look again and still could see it as before. At some
+      moments it was dimly seen, at others its outline was sharp and distinct;
+      but while the clouds around it were shifting, changing, and dissolving
+      away, it still towered aloft in the midst of them, fixed and immovable. It
+      must, thought I, be the summit of a mountain, and yet its heights
+      staggered me. My conclusion was right, however. It was Long&rsquo;s Peak, once
+      believed to be one of the highest of the Rocky Mountain chain, though more
+      recent discoveries have proved the contrary. The thickening gloom soon hid
+      it from view and we never saw it again, for on the following day and for
+      some time after, the air was so full of mist that the view of distant
+      objects was entirely intercepted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It grew very late. Turning from our direct course we made for the river at
+      its nearest point, though in the utter darkness it was not easy to direct
+      our way with much precision. Raymond rode on one side and Henry on the
+      other. We could hear each of them shouting that he had come upon a deep
+      ravine. We steered at random between Scylla and Charybdis, and soon after
+      became, as it seemed, inextricably involved with deep chasms all around
+      us, while the darkness was such that we could not see a rod in any
+      direction. We partially extricated ourselves by scrambling, cart and all,
+      through a shallow ravine. We came next to a steep descent down which we
+      plunged without well knowing what was at the bottom. There was a great
+      crackling of sticks and dry twigs. Over our heads were certain large
+      shadowy objects, and in front something like the faint gleaming of a dark
+      sheet of water. Raymond ran his horse against a tree; Henry alighted, and
+      feeling on the ground declared that there was grass enough for the horses.
+      Before taking off his saddle each man led his own horses down to the water
+      in the best way he could. Then picketing two or three of the evil-disposed
+      we turned the rest loose and lay down among the dry sticks to sleep. In
+      the morning we found ourselves close to the South Fork of the Platte on a
+      spot surrounded by bushes and rank grass. Compensating ourselves with a
+      hearty breakfast for the ill fare of the previous night, we set forward
+      again on our journey. When only two or three rods from the camp I saw Shaw
+      stop his mule, level his gun, and after a long aim fire at some object in
+      the grass. Delorier next jumped forward and began to dance about,
+      belaboring the unseen enemy with a whip. Then he stooped down and drew out
+      of the grass by the neck an enormous rattlesnake, with his head completely
+      shattered by Shaw&rsquo;s bullet. As Delorier held him out at arm&rsquo;s length with
+      an exulting grin his tail, which still kept slowly writhing about, almost
+      touched the ground, and the body in the largest part was as thick as a
+      stout man&rsquo;s arm. He had fourteen rattles, but the end of his tail was
+      blunted, as if he could once have boasted of many more. From this time
+      till we reached the Pueblo we killed at least four or five of these snakes
+      every day as they lay coiled and rattling on the hot sand. Shaw was the
+      St. Patrick of the party, and whenever he or any one else killed a snake
+      he always pulled off his tail and stored it away in his bullet-pouch,
+      which was soon crammed with an edifying collection of rattles, great and
+      small. Delorier, with his whip, also came in for a share of the praise. A
+      day or two after this he triumphantly produced a small snake about a span
+      and a half long, with one infant rattle at the end of his tail.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We forded the South Fork of the Platte. On its farther bank were the
+      traces of a very large camp of Arapahoes. The ashes of some three hundred
+      fires were visible among the scattered trees, together with the remains of
+      sweating lodges, and all the other appurtenances of a permanent camp. The
+      place however had been for some months deserted. A few miles farther on we
+      found more recent signs of Indians; the trail of two or three lodges,
+      which had evidently passed the day before, where every foot-print was
+      perfectly distinct in the dry, dusty soil. We noticed in particular the
+      track of one moccasin, upon the sole of which its economical proprietor
+      had placed a large patch. These signs gave us but little uneasiness, as
+      the number of the warriors scarcely exceeded that of our own party. At
+      noon we rested under the walls of a large fort, built in these solitudes
+      some years since by M. St. Vrain. It was now abandoned and fast falling
+      into ruin. The walls of unbaked bricks were cracked from top to bottom.
+      Our horses recoiled in terror from the neglected entrance, where the heavy
+      gates were torn from their hinges and flung down. The area within was
+      overgrown with weeds, and the long ranges of apartments, once occupied by
+      the motley concourse of traders, Canadians, and squaws, were now miserably
+      dilapidated. Twelve miles further on, near the spot where we encamped,
+      were the remains of still another fort, standing in melancholy desertion
+      and neglect.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Early on the following morning we made a startling discovery. We passed
+      close by a large deserted encampment of Arapahoes. There were about fifty
+      fires still smouldering on the ground, and it was evident from numerous
+      signs that the Indians must have left the place within two hours of our
+      reaching it. Their trail crossed our own at right angles, and led in the
+      direction of a line of hills half a mile on our left. There were women and
+      children in the party, which would have greatly diminished the danger of
+      encountering them. Henry Chatillon examined the encampment and the trail
+      with a very professional and businesslike air.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Supposing we had met them, Henry?&rdquo; said I.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;we hold out our hands to them, and give them all we&rsquo;ve
+      got; they take away everything, and then I believe they no kill us.
+      Perhaps,&rdquo; added he, looking up with a quiet, unchanged face, &ldquo;perhaps we
+      no let them rob us. Maybe before they come near, we have a chance to get
+      into a ravine, or under the bank of the river; then, you know, we fight
+      them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      About noon on that day we reached Cherry Creek. Here was a great abundance
+      of wild cherries, plums, gooseberries, and currants. The stream, however,
+      like most of the others which we passed, was dried up with the heat, and
+      we had to dig holes in the sand to find water for ourselves and our
+      horses. Two days after, we left the banks of the creek which we had been
+      following for some time, and began to cross the high dividing ridge which
+      separates the waters of the Platte from those of the Arkansas. The scenery
+      was altogether changed. In place of the burning plains we were passing now
+      through rough and savage glens and among hills crowned with a dreary
+      growth of pines. We encamped among these solitudes on the night of the
+      16th of August. A tempest was threatening. The sun went down among volumes
+      of jet-black cloud, edged with a bloody red. But in spite of these
+      portentous signs, we neglected to put up the tent, and being extremely
+      fatigued, lay down on the ground and fell asleep. The storm broke about
+      midnight, and we erected the tent amid darkness and confusion. In the
+      morning all was fair again, and Pike&rsquo;s Peak, white with snow, was towering
+      above the wilderness afar off.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We pushed through an extensive tract of pine woods. Large black squirrels
+      were leaping among the branches. From the farther edge of this forest we
+      saw the prairie again, hollowed out before us into a vast basin, and about
+      a mile in front we could discern a little black speck moving upon its
+      surface. It could be nothing but a buffalo. Henry primed his rifle afresh
+      and galloped forward. To the left of the animal was a low rocky mound, of
+      which Henry availed himself in making his approach. After a short time we
+      heard the faint report of the rifle. The bull, mortally wounded from a
+      distance of nearly three hundred yards, ran wildly round and round in a
+      circle. Shaw and I then galloped forward, and passing him as he ran,
+      foaming with rage and pain, we discharged our pistols into his side. Once
+      or twice he rushed furiously upon us, but his strength was rapidly
+      exhausted. Down he fell on his knees. For one instant he glared up at his
+      enemies with burning eyes through his black tangled mane, and then rolled
+      over on his side. Though gaunt and thin, he was larger and heavier than
+      the largest ox. Foam and blood flew together from his nostrils as he lay
+      bellowing and pawing the ground, tearing up grass and earth with his
+      hoofs. His sides rose and fell like a vast pair of bellows, the blood
+      spouting up in jets from the bullet-holes. Suddenly his glaring eyes
+      became like a lifeless jelly. He lay motionless on the ground. Henry
+      stooped over him, and making an incision with his knife, pronounced the
+      meat too rank and tough for use; so, disappointed in our hopes of an
+      addition to our stock of provisions, we rode away and left the carcass to
+      the wolves.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the afternoon we saw the mountains rising like a gigantic wall at no
+      great distance on our right. &ldquo;Des sauvages! des sauvages!&rdquo; exclaimed
+      Delorier, looking round with a frightened face, and pointing with his whip
+      toward the foot of the mountains. In fact, we could see at a distance a
+      number of little black specks, like horsemen in rapid motion. Henry
+      Chatillon, with Shaw and myself, galloped toward them to reconnoiter, when
+      to our amusement we saw the supposed Arapahoes resolved into the black
+      tops of some pine trees which grew along a ravine. The summits of these
+      pines, just visible above the verge of the prairie, and seeming to move as
+      we ourselves were advancing, looked exactly like a line of horsemen.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We encamped among ravines and hollows, through which a little brook was
+      foaming angrily. Before sunrise in the morning the snow-covered mountains
+      were beautifully tinged with a delicate rose color. A noble spectacle
+      awaited us as we moved forward. Six or eight miles on our right, Pike&rsquo;s
+      Peak and his giant brethren rose out of the level prairie, as if springing
+      from the bed of the ocean. From their summits down to the plain below they
+      were involved in a mantle of clouds, in restless motion, as if urged by
+      strong winds. For one instant some snowy peak, towering in awful solitude,
+      would be disclosed to view. As the clouds broke along the mountain, we
+      could see the dreary forests, the tremendous precipices, the white patches
+      of snow, the gulfs and chasms as black as night, all revealed for an
+      instant, and then disappearing from the view. One could not but recall the
+      stanza of &ldquo;Childe Harold&rdquo;:
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     Morn dawns, and with it stern Albania&rsquo;s hills,
+     Dark Suli&rsquo;s rocks, and Pindus&rsquo; inland peak,
+     Robed half in mist, bedewed with snowy rills,
+     Array&rsquo;d in many a dun and purple streak,
+     Arise; and, as the clouds along them break,
+     Disclose the dwelling of the mountaineer:
+     Here roams the wolf, the eagle whets his beak,
+     Birds, beasts of prey, and wilder men appear,
+     And gathering storms around convulse the closing year.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Every line save one of this description was more than verified here. There
+      were no &ldquo;dwellings of the mountaineer&rdquo; among these heights. Fierce
+      savages, restlessly wandering through summer and winter, alone invade
+      them. &ldquo;Their hand is against every man, and every man&rsquo;s hand against
+      them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      On the day after, we had left the mountains at some distance. A black
+      cloud descended upon them, and a tremendous explosion of thunder followed,
+      reverberating among the precipices. In a few moments everything grew black
+      and the rain poured down like a cataract. We got under an old cotton-wood
+      tree which stood by the side of a stream, and waited there till the rage
+      of the torrent had passed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The clouds opened at the point where they first had gathered, and the
+      whole sublime congregation of mountains was bathed at once in warm
+      sunshine. They seemed more like some luxurious vision of Eastern romance
+      than like a reality of that wilderness; all were melted together into a
+      soft delicious blue, as voluptuous as the sky of Naples or the transparent
+      sea that washes the sunny cliffs of Capri. On the left the whole sky was
+      still of an inky blackness; but two concentric rainbows stood in brilliant
+      relief against it, while far in front the ragged cloud still streamed
+      before the wind, and the retreating thunder muttered angrily.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Through that afternoon and the next morning we were passing down the banks
+      of the stream called La Fontaine qui Bouille, from the boiling spring
+      whose waters flow into it. When we stopped at noon, we were within six or
+      eight miles of the Pueblo. Setting out again, we found by the fresh tracks
+      that a horseman had just been out to reconnoiter us; he had circled half
+      round the camp, and then galloped back full speed for the Pueblo. What
+      made him so shy of us we could not conceive. After an hour&rsquo;s ride we
+      reached the edge of a hill, from which a welcome sight greeted us. The
+      Arkansas ran along the valley below, among woods and groves, and closely
+      nestled in the midst of wide cornfields and green meadows where cattle
+      were grazing rose the low mud walls of the Pueblo.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0021" id="link2HCH0021">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXI
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      THE PUEBLO AND BENT&rsquo;S FORT
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      We approached the gate of the Pueblo. It was a wretched species of fort of
+      most primitive construction, being nothing more than a large square
+      inclosure, surrounded by a wall of mud, miserably cracked and dilapidated.
+      The slender pickets that surmounted it were half broken down, and the gate
+      dangled on its wooden hinges so loosely, that to open or shut it seemed
+      likely to fling it down altogether. Two or three squalid Mexicans, with
+      their broad hats, and their vile faces overgrown with hair, were lounging
+      about the bank of the river in front of it. They disappeared as they saw
+      us approach; and as we rode up to the gate a light active little figure
+      came out to meet us. It was our old friend Richard. He had come from Fort
+      Laramie on a trading expedition to Taos; but finding, when he reached the
+      Pueblo, that the war would prevent his going farther, he was quietly
+      waiting till the conquest of the country should allow him to proceed. He
+      seemed to consider himself bound to do the honors of the place. Shaking us
+      warmly by the hands, he led the way into the area.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Here we saw his large Santa Fe wagons standing together. A few squaws and
+      Spanish women, and a few Mexicans, as mean and miserable as the place
+      itself, were lazily sauntering about. Richard conducted us to the state
+      apartment of the Pueblo, a small mud room, very neatly finished,
+      considering the material, and garnished with a crucifix, a looking-glass,
+      a picture of the Virgin, and a rusty horse pistol. There were no chairs,
+      but instead of them a number of chests and boxes ranged about the room.
+      There was another room beyond, less sumptuously decorated, and here three
+      or four Spanish girls, one of them very pretty, were baking cakes at a mud
+      fireplace in the corner. They brought out a poncho, which they spread upon
+      the floor by way of table-cloth. A supper, which seemed to us luxurious,
+      was soon laid out upon it, and folded buffalo robes were placed around it
+      to receive the guests. Two or three Americans, besides ourselves, were
+      present. We sat down Turkish fashion, and began to inquire the news.
+      Richard told us that, about three weeks before, General Kearny&rsquo;s army had
+      left Bent&rsquo;s Fort to march against Santa Fe; that when last heard from they
+      were approaching the mountainous defiles that led to the city. One of the
+      Americans produced a dingy newspaper, containing an account of the battles
+      of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma. While we were discussing these
+      matters, the doorway was darkened by a tall, shambling fellow, who stood
+      with his hands in his pockets taking a leisurely survey of the premises
+      before he entered. He wore brown homespun pantaloons, much too short for
+      his legs, and a pistol and bowie knife stuck in his belt. His head and one
+      eye were enveloped in a huge bandage of white linen. Having completed his
+      observations, he came slouching in and sat down on a chest. Eight or ten
+      more of the same stamp followed, and very coolly arranging themselves
+      about the room, began to stare at the company. Shaw and I looked at each
+      other. We were forcibly reminded of the Oregon emigrants, though these
+      unwelcome visitors had a certain glitter of the eye, and a compression of
+      the lips, which distinguished them from our old acquaintances of the
+      prairie. They began to catechise us at once, inquiring whence we had come,
+      what we meant to do next, and what were our future prospects in life.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The man with the bandaged head had met with an untoward accident a few
+      days before. He was going down to the river to bring water, and was
+      pushing through the young willows which covered the low ground, when he
+      came unawares upon a grizzly bear, which, having just eaten a buffalo
+      bull, had lain down to sleep off the meal. The bear rose on his hind legs,
+      and gave the intruder such a blow with his paw that he laid his forehead
+      entirely bare, clawed off the front of his scalp, and narrowly missed one
+      of his eyes. Fortunately he was not in a very pugnacious mood, being
+      surfeited with his late meal. The man&rsquo;s companions, who were close behind,
+      raised a shout and the bear walked away, crushing down the willows in his
+      leisurely retreat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These men belonged to a party of Mormons, who, out of a well-grounded fear
+      of the other emigrants, had postponed leaving the settlements until all
+      the rest were gone. On account of this delay they did not reach Fort
+      Laramie until it was too late to continue their journey to California.
+      Hearing that there was good land at the head of the Arkansas, they crossed
+      over under the guidance of Richard, and were now preparing to spend the
+      winter at a spot about half a mile from the Pueblo.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When we took leave of Richard, it was near sunset. Passing out of the
+      gate, we could look down the little valley of the Arkansas; a beautiful
+      scene, and doubly so to our eyes, so long accustomed to deserts and
+      mountains. Tall woods lined the river, with green meadows on either hand;
+      and high bluffs, quietly basking in the sunlight, flanked the narrow
+      valley. A Mexican on horseback was driving a herd of cattle toward the
+      gate, and our little white tent, which the men had pitched under a large
+      tree in the meadow, made a very pleasing feature in the scene. When we
+      reached it, we found that Richard had sent a Mexican to bring us an
+      abundant supply of green corn and vegetables, and invite us to help
+      ourselves to whatever we wished from the fields around the Pueblo.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The inhabitants were in daily apprehensions of an inroad from more
+      formidable consumers than ourselves. Every year at the time when the corn
+      begins to ripen, the Arapahoes, to the number of several thousands, come
+      and encamp around the Pueblo. The handful of white men, who are entirely
+      at the mercy of this swarm of barbarians, choose to make a merit of
+      necessity; they come forward very cordially, shake them by the hand, and
+      intimate that the harvest is entirely at their disposal. The Arapahoes
+      take them at their word, help themselves most liberally, and usually turn
+      their horses into the cornfields afterward. They have the foresight,
+      however, to leave enough of the crops untouched to serve as an inducement
+      for planting the fields again for their benefit in the next spring.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The human race in this part of the world is separated into three
+      divisions, arranged in the order of their merits; white men, Indians, and
+      Mexicans; to the latter of whom the honorable title of &ldquo;whites&rdquo; is by no
+      means conceded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In spite of the warm sunset of that evening the next morning was a dreary
+      and cheerless one. It rained steadily, clouds resting upon the very
+      treetops. We crossed the river to visit the Mormon settlement. As we
+      passed through the water, several trappers on horseback entered it from
+      the other side. Their buckskin frocks were soaked through by the rain, and
+      clung fast to their limbs with a most clammy and uncomfortable look. The
+      water was trickling down their faces, and dropping from the ends of their
+      rifles, and from the traps which each carried at the pommel of his saddle.
+      Horses and all, they had a most disconsolate and woebegone appearance,
+      which we could not help laughing at, forgetting how often we ourselves had
+      been in a similar plight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After half an hour&rsquo;s riding we saw the white wagons of the Mormons drawn
+      up among the trees. Axes were sounding, trees were falling, and log-huts
+      going up along the edge of the woods and upon the adjoining meadow. As we
+      came up the Mormons left their work and seated themselves on the timber
+      around us, when they began earnestly to discuss points of theology,
+      complain of the ill-usage they had received from the &ldquo;Gentiles,&rdquo; and sound
+      a lamentation over the loss of their great temple at Nauvoo. After
+      remaining with them an hour we rode back to our camp, happy that the
+      settlements had been delivered from the presence of such blind and
+      desperate fanatics.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the morning after this we left the Pueblo for Bent&rsquo;s Fort. The conduct
+      of Raymond had lately been less satisfactory than before, and we had
+      discharged him as soon as we arrived at the former place; so that the
+      party, ourselves included, was now reduced to four. There was some
+      uncertainty as to our future course. The trail between Bent&rsquo;s Fort and the
+      settlements, a distance computed at six hundred miles, was at this time in
+      a dangerous state; for since the passage of General Kearny&rsquo;s army, great
+      numbers of hostile Indians, chiefly Pawnees and Comanches, had gathered
+      about some parts of it. A little after this time they became so numerous
+      and audacious, that scarcely a single party, however large, passed between
+      the fort and the frontier without some token of their hostility. The
+      newspapers of the time sufficiently display this state of things. Many men
+      were killed, and great numbers of horses and mules carried off. Not long
+      since I met with the gentleman, who, during the autumn, came from Santa Fe
+      to Bent&rsquo;s Fort, when he found a party of seventy men, who thought
+      themselves too weak to go down to the settlements alone, and were waiting
+      there for a re-enforcement. Though this excessive timidity fully proves
+      the ignorance and credulity of the men, it may also evince the state of
+      alarm which prevailed in the country. When we were there in the month of
+      August, the danger had not become so great. There was nothing very
+      attractive in the neighborhood. We supposed, moreover, that we might wait
+      there half the winter without finding any party to go down with us; for
+      Mr. Sublette and the others whom we had relied upon had, as Richard told
+      us, already left Bent&rsquo;s Fort. Thus far on our journey Fortune had kindly
+      befriended us. We resolved therefore to take advantage of her gracious
+      mood and trusting for a continuance of her favors, to set out with Henry
+      and Delorier, and run the gauntlet of the Indians in the best way we
+      could.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Bent&rsquo;s Fort stands on the river, about seventy-five miles below the
+      Pueblo. At noon of the third day we arrived within three or four miles of
+      it, pitched our tent under a tree, hung our looking-glasses against its
+      trunk and having made our primitive toilet, rode toward the fort. We soon
+      came in sight of it, for it is visible from a considerable distance,
+      standing with its high clay walls in the midst of the scorching plains. It
+      seemed as if a swarm of locusts had invaded the country. The grass for
+      miles around was cropped close by the horses of General Kearny&rsquo;s soldiery.
+      When we came to the fort, we found that not only had the horses eaten up
+      the grass, but their owners had made away with the stores of the little
+      trading post; so that we had great difficulty in procuring the few
+      articles which we required for our homeward journey. The army was gone,
+      the life and bustle passed away, and the fort was a scene of dull and lazy
+      tranquillity. A few invalid officers and soldiers sauntered about the
+      area, which was oppressively hot; for the glaring sun was reflected down
+      upon it from the high white walls around. The proprietors were absent, and
+      we were received by Mr. Holt, who had been left in charge of the fort. He
+      invited us to dinner, where, to our admiration, we found a table laid with
+      a white cloth, with castors in the center and chairs placed around it.
+      This unwonted repast concluded, we rode back to our camp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Here, as we lay smoking round the fire after supper, we saw through the
+      dusk three men approaching from the direction of the fort. They rode up
+      and seated themselves near us on the ground. The foremost was a tall,
+      well-formed man, with a face and manner such as inspire confidence at
+      once. He wore a broad hat of felt, slouching and tattered, and the rest of
+      his attire consisted of a frock and leggings of buckskin, rubbed with the
+      yellow clay found among the mountains. At the heel of one of his moccasins
+      was buckled a huge iron spur, with a rowel five or six inches in diameter.
+      His horse, who stood quietly looking over his head, had a rude Mexican
+      saddle, covered with a shaggy bearskin, and furnished with a pair of
+      wooden stirrups of most preposterous size. The next man was a sprightly,
+      active little fellow, about five feet and a quarter high, but very strong
+      and compact. His face was swarthy as a Mexican&rsquo;s and covered with a close,
+      curly black beard. An old greasy calico handkerchief was tied round his
+      head, and his close buckskin dress was blackened and polished by grease
+      and hard service. The last who came up was a large strong man, dressed in
+      the coarse homespun of the frontiers, who dragged his long limbs over the
+      ground as if he were too lazy for the effort. He had a sleepy gray eye, a
+      retreating chin, an open mouth and a protruding upper lip, which gave him
+      an air of exquisite indolence and helplessness. He was armed with an old
+      United States yager, which redoubtable weapon, though he could never hit
+      his mark with it, he was accustomed to cherish as the very sovereign of
+      firearms.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The first two men belonged to a party who had just come from California
+      with a large band of horses, which they had disposed of at Bent&rsquo;s Fort.
+      Munroe, the taller of the two, was from Iowa. He was an excellent fellow,
+      open, warm-hearted and intelligent. Jim Gurney, the short man, was a
+      Boston sailor, who had come in a trading vessel to California, and taken
+      the fancy to return across the continent. The journey had already made him
+      an expert &ldquo;mountain man,&rdquo; and he presented the extraordinary phenomenon of
+      a sailor who understood how to manage a horse. The third of our visitors
+      named Ellis, was a Missourian, who had come out with a party of Oregon
+      emigrants, but having got as far as Bridge&rsquo;s Fort, he had fallen
+      home-sick, or as Jim averred, love-sick&mdash;and Ellis was just the man
+      to be balked in a love adventure. He thought proper to join the California
+      men and return homeward in their company.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They now requested that they might unite with our party, and make the
+      journey to the settlements in company with us. We readily assented, for we
+      liked the appearance of the first two men, and were very glad to gain so
+      efficient a re-enforcement. We told them to meet us on the next evening at
+      a spot on the river side, about six miles below the fort. Having smoked a
+      pipe together, our new allies left us, and we lay down to sleep.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0022" id="link2HCH0022">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXII
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      TETE ROUGE, THE VOLUNTEER
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      The next morning, having directed Delorier to repair with his cart to the
+      place of meeting, we came again to the fort to make some arrangements for
+      the journey. After completing these we sat down under a sort of perch, to
+      smoke with some Cheyenne Indians whom we found there. In a few minutes we
+      saw an extraordinary little figure approach us in a military dress. He had
+      a small, round countenance, garnished about the eyes with the kind of
+      wrinkles commonly known as crow&rsquo;s feet and surrounded by an abundant crop
+      of red curls, with a little cap resting on the top of them. Altogether, he
+      had the look of a man more conversant with mint juleps and oyster suppers
+      than with the hardships of prairie service. He came up to us and entreated
+      that we would take him home to the settlements, saying that unless he went
+      with us he should have to stay all winter at the fort. We liked our
+      petitioner&rsquo;s appearance so little that we excused ourselves from complying
+      with his request. At this he begged us so hard to take pity on him, looked
+      so disconsolate, and told so lamentable a story that at last we consented,
+      though not without many misgivings.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The rugged Anglo-Saxon of our new recruit&rsquo;s real name proved utterly
+      unmanageable on the lips of our French attendants, and Henry Chatillon,
+      after various abortive attempts to pronounce it, one day coolly christened
+      him Tete Rouge, in honor of his red curls. He had at different times been
+      clerk of a Mississippi steamboat, and agent in a trading establishment at
+      Nauvoo, besides filling various other capacities, in all of which he had
+      seen much more of &ldquo;life&rdquo; than was good for him. In the spring, thinking
+      that a summer&rsquo;s campaign would be an agreeable recreation, he had joined a
+      company of St. Louis volunteers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There were three of us,&rdquo; said Tete Rouge, &ldquo;me and Bill Stevens and John
+      Hopkins. We thought we would just go out with the army, and when we had
+      conquered the country, we would get discharged and take our pay, you know,
+      and go down to Mexico. They say there is plenty of fun going on there.
+      Then we could go back to New Orleans by way of Vera Cruz.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But Tete Rouge, like many a stouter volunteer, had reckoned without his
+      host. Fighting Mexicans was a less amusing occupation than he had
+      supposed, and his pleasure trip was disagreeably interrupted by brain
+      fever, which attacked him when about halfway to Bent&rsquo;s Fort. He jolted
+      along through the rest of the journey in a baggage wagon. When they came
+      to the fort he was taken out and left there, together with the rest of the
+      sick. Bent&rsquo;s Fort does not supply the best accommodations for an invalid.
+      Tete Rouge&rsquo;s sick chamber was a little mud room, where he and a companion
+      attacked by the same disease were laid together, with nothing but a
+      buffalo robe between them and the ground. The assistant surgeon&rsquo;s deputy
+      visited them once a day and brought them each a huge dose of calomel, the
+      only medicine, according to his surviving victim, which he was acquainted
+      with.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Tete Rouge woke one morning, and turning to his companion, saw his eyes
+      fixed upon the beams above with the glassy stare of a dead man. At this
+      the unfortunate volunteer lost his senses outright. In spite of the
+      doctor, however, he eventually recovered; though between the brain fever
+      and the calomel, his mind, originally none of the strongest, was so much
+      shaken that it had not quite recovered its balance when we came to the
+      fort. In spite of the poor fellow&rsquo;s tragic story, there was something so
+      ludicrous in his appearance, and the whimsical contrast between his
+      military dress and his most unmilitary demeanor, that we could not help
+      smiling at them. We asked him if he had a gun. He said they had taken it
+      from him during his illness, and he had not seen it since; &ldquo;but perhaps,&rdquo;
+       he observed, looking at me with a beseeching air, &ldquo;you will lend me one of
+      your big pistols if we should meet with any Indians.&rdquo; I next inquired if
+      he had a horse; he declared he had a magnificent one, and at Shaw&rsquo;s
+      request a Mexican led him in for inspection. He exhibited the outline of a
+      good horse, but his eyes were sunk in the sockets, and every one of his
+      ribs could be counted. There were certain marks too about his shoulders,
+      which could be accounted for by the circumstance, that during Tete Rouge&rsquo;s
+      illness, his companions had seized upon the insulted charger, and
+      harnessed him to a cannon along with the draft horses. To Tete Rouge&rsquo;s
+      astonishment we recommended him by all means to exchange the horse, if he
+      could, for a mule. Fortunately the people at the fort were so anxious to
+      get rid of him that they were willing to make some sacrifice to effect the
+      object, and he succeeded in getting a tolerable mule in exchange for the
+      broken-down steed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A man soon appeared at the gate, leading in the mule by a cord which he
+      placed in the hands of Tete Rouge, who, being somewhat afraid of his new
+      acquisition, tried various flatteries and blandishments to induce her to
+      come forward. The mule, knowing that she was expected to advance, stopped
+      short in consequence, and stood fast as a rock, looking straight forward
+      with immovable composure. Being stimulated by a blow from behind she
+      consented to move, and walked nearly to the other side of the fort before
+      she stopped again. Hearing the by-standers laugh, Tete Rouge plucked up
+      spirit and tugged hard at the rope. The mule jerked backward, spun herself
+      round, and made a dash for the gate. Tete Rouge, who clung manfully to the
+      rope, went whisking through the air for a few rods, when he let go and
+      stood with his mouth open, staring after the mule, who galloped away over
+      the prairie. She was soon caught and brought back by a Mexican, who
+      mounted a horse and went in pursuit of her with his lasso.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Having thus displayed his capacity for prairie travel, Tete Rouge
+      proceeded to supply himself with provisions for the journey, and with this
+      view he applied to a quartermaster&rsquo;s assistant who was in the fort. This
+      official had a face as sour as vinegar, being in a state of chronic
+      indignation because he had been left behind the army. He was as anxious as
+      the rest to get rid of Tete Rouge. So, producing a rusty key, he opened a
+      low door which led to a half-subterranean apartment, into which the two
+      disappeared together. After some time they came out again, Tete Rouge
+      greatly embarrassed by a multiplicity of paper parcels containing the
+      different articles of his forty days&rsquo; rations. They were consigned to the
+      care of Delorier, who about that time passed by with the cart on his way
+      to the appointed place of meeting with Munroe and his companions.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We next urged Tete Rouge to provide himself, if he could, with a gun. He
+      accordingly made earnest appeals to the charity of various persons in the
+      fort, but totally without success, a circumstance which did not greatly
+      disturb us, since in the event of a skirmish he would be much more apt to
+      do mischief to himself or his friends than to the enemy. When all these
+      arrangements were completed we saddled our horses and were preparing to
+      leave the fort, when looking round we discovered that our new associate
+      was in fresh trouble. A man was holding the mule for him in the middle of
+      the fort, while he tried to put the saddle on her back, but she kept
+      stepping sideways and moving round and round in a circle until he was
+      almost in despair. It required some assistance before all his difficulties
+      could be overcome. At length he clambered into the black war saddle on
+      which he was to have carried terror into the ranks of the Mexicans.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Get up,&rdquo; said Tete Rouge, &ldquo;come now, go along, will you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The mule walked deliberately forward out of the gate. Her recent conduct
+      had inspired him with so much awe that he never dared to touch her with
+      his whip. We trotted forward toward the place of meeting, but before he
+      had gone far we saw that Tete Rouge&rsquo;s mule, who perfectly understood her
+      rider, had stopped and was quietly grazing, in spite of his protestations,
+      at some distance behind. So getting behind him, we drove him and the
+      contumacious mule before us, until we could see through the twilight the
+      gleaming of a distant fire. Munroe, Jim, and Ellis were lying around it;
+      their saddles, packs, and weapons were scattered about and their horses
+      picketed near them. Delorier was there too with our little cart. Another
+      fire was soon blazing high. We invited our new allies to take a cup of
+      coffee with us. When both the others had gone over to their side of the
+      camp, Jim Gurney still stood by the blaze, puffing hard at his little
+      black pipe, as short and weather-beaten as himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well!&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;here are eight of us; we&rsquo;ll call it six&mdash;for them
+      two boobies, Ellis over yonder, and that new man of yours, won&rsquo;t count for
+      anything. We&rsquo;ll get through well enough, never fear for that, unless the
+      Comanches happen to get foul of us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0023" id="link2HCH0023">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXIII
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      INDIAN ALARMS
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      We began our journey for the frontier settlements on the 27th of August,
+      and certainly a more ragamuffin cavalcade never was seen on the banks of
+      the Upper Arkansas. Of the large and fine horses with which we had left
+      the frontier in the spring, not one remained; we had supplied their place
+      with the rough breed of the prairie, as hardy as mules and almost as ugly;
+      we had also with us a number of the latter detestable animals. In spite of
+      their strength and hardihood, several of the band were already worn down
+      by hard service and hard fare, and as none of them were shod, they were
+      fast becoming foot-sore. Every horse and mule had a cord of twisted
+      bull-hide coiled around his neck, which by no means added to the beauty of
+      his appearance. Our saddles and all our equipments were by this time
+      lamentably worn and battered, and our weapons had become dull and rusty.
+      The dress of the riders fully corresponded with the dilapidated furniture
+      of our horses, and of the whole party none made a more disreputable
+      appearance than my friend and I. Shaw had for an upper garment an old red
+      flannel shirt, flying open in front and belted around him like a frock;
+      while I, in absence of other clothing, was attired in a time-worn suit of
+      leather.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Thus, happy and careless as so many beggars, we crept slowly from day to
+      day along the monotonous banks of the Arkansas. Tete Rouge gave constant
+      trouble, for he could never catch his mule, saddle her, or indeed do
+      anything else without assistance. Every day he had some new ailment, real
+      or imaginary, to complain of. At one moment he would be woebegone and
+      disconsolate, and the next he would be visited with a violent flow of
+      spirits, to which he could only give vent by incessant laughing,
+      whistling, and telling stories. When other resources failed, we used to
+      amuse ourselves by tormenting him; a fair compensation for the trouble he
+      cost us. Tete Rouge rather enjoyed being laughed at, for he was an odd
+      compound of weakness, eccentricity, and good-nature. He made a figure
+      worthy of a painter as he paced along before us, perched on the back of
+      his mule, and enveloped in a huge buffalo-robe coat, which some charitable
+      person had given him at the fort. This extraordinary garment, which would
+      have contained two men of his size, he chose, for some reason best known
+      to himself, to wear inside out, and he never took it off, even in the
+      hottest weather. It was fluttering all over with seams and tatters, and
+      the hide was so old and rotten that it broke out every day in a new place.
+      Just at the top of it a large pile of red curls was visible, with his
+      little cap set jauntily upon one side, to give him a military air. His
+      seat in the saddle was no less remarkable than his person and equipment.
+      He pressed one leg close against his mule&rsquo;s side, and thrust the other out
+      at an angle of 45 degrees. His pantaloons were decorated with a military
+      red stripe, of which he was extremely vain; but being much too short, the
+      whole length of his boots was usually visible below them. His blanket,
+      loosely rolled up into a large bundle, dangled at the back of his saddle,
+      where he carried it tied with a string. Four or five times a day it would
+      fall to the ground. Every few minutes he would drop his pipe, his knife,
+      his flint and steel, or a piece of tobacco, and have to scramble down to
+      pick them up. In doing this he would contrive to get in everybody&rsquo;s way;
+      and as the most of the party were by no means remarkable for a fastidious
+      choice of language, a storm of anathemas would be showered upon him, half
+      in earnest and half in jest, until Tete Rouge would declare that there was
+      no comfort in life, and that he never saw such fellows before.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Only a day or two after leaving Bent&rsquo;s Fort Henry Chatillon rode forward
+      to hunt, and took Ellis along with him. After they had been some time
+      absent we saw them coming down the hill, driving three dragoon-horses,
+      which had escaped from their owners on the march, or perhaps had given out
+      and been abandoned. One of them was in tolerable condition, but the others
+      were much emaciated and severely bitten by the wolves. Reduced as they
+      were we carried two of them to the settlements, and Henry exchanged the
+      third with the Arapahoes for an excellent mule.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the day after, when we had stopped to rest at noon, a long train of
+      Santa Fe wagons came up and trailed slowly past us in their picturesque
+      procession. They belonged to a trader named Magoffin, whose brother, with
+      a number of other men, came over and sat down around us on the grass. The
+      news they brought was not of the most pleasing complexion. According to
+      their accounts, the trail below was in a very dangerous state. They had
+      repeatedly detected Indians prowling at night around their camps; and the
+      large party which had left Bent&rsquo;s Fort a few weeks previous to our own
+      departure had been attacked, and a man named Swan, from Massachusetts, had
+      been killed. His companions had buried the body; but when Magoffin found
+      his grave, which was near a place called the Caches, the Indians had dug
+      up and scalped him, and the wolves had shockingly mangled his remains. As
+      an offset to this intelligence, they gave us the welcome information that
+      the buffalo were numerous at a few days&rsquo; journey below.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the next afternoon, as we moved along the bank of the river, we saw the
+      white tops of wagons on the horizon. It was some hours before we met them,
+      when they proved to be a train of clumsy ox-wagons, quite different from
+      the rakish vehicles of the Santa Fe traders, and loaded with government
+      stores for the troops. They all stopped, and the drivers gathered around
+      us in a crowd. I thought that the whole frontier might have been ransacked
+      in vain to furnish men worse fitted to meet the dangers of the prairie.
+      Many of them were mere boys, fresh from the plow, and devoid of knowledge
+      and experience. In respect to the state of the trail, they confirmed all
+      that the Santa Fe men had told us. In passing between the Pawnee Fork and
+      the Caches, their sentinels had fired every night at real or imaginary
+      Indians. They said also that Ewing, a young Kentuckian in the party that
+      had gone down before us, had shot an Indian who was prowling at evening
+      about the camp. Some of them advised us to turn back, and others to hasten
+      forward as fast as we could; but they all seemed in such a state of
+      feverish anxiety, and so little capable of cool judgment, that we attached
+      slight weight to what they said. They next gave us a more definite piece
+      of intelligence; a large village of Arapahoes was encamped on the river
+      below. They represented them to be quite friendly; but some distinction
+      was to be made between a party of thirty men, traveling with oxen, which
+      are of no value in an Indian&rsquo;s eyes and a mere handful like ourselves,
+      with a tempting band of mules and horses. This story of the Arapahoes
+      therefore caused us some anxiety.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Just after leaving the government wagons, as Shaw and I were riding along
+      a narrow passage between the river bank and a rough hill that pressed
+      close upon it, we heard Tete Rouge&rsquo;s voice behind us. &ldquo;Hallo!&rdquo; he called
+      out; &ldquo;I say, stop the cart just for a minute, will you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What&rsquo;s the matter, Tete?&rdquo; asked Shaw, as he came riding up to us with a
+      grin of exultation. He had a bottle of molasses in one hand, and a large
+      bundle of hides on the saddle before him, containing, as he triumphantly
+      informed us, sugar, biscuits, coffee, and rice. These supplies he had
+      obtained by a stratagem on which he greatly plumed himself, and he was
+      extremely vexed and astonished that we did not fall in with his views of
+      the matter. He had told Coates, the master-wagoner, that the commissary at
+      the fort had given him an order for sick-rations, directed to the master
+      of any government train which he might meet upon the road. This order he
+      had unfortunately lost, but he hoped that the rations would not be refused
+      on that account, as he was suffering from coarse fare and needed them very
+      much. As soon as he came to camp that night Tete Rouge repaired to the box
+      at the back of the cart, where Delorier used to keep his culinary
+      apparatus, took possession of a saucepan, and after building a little fire
+      of his own, set to work preparing a meal out of his ill-gotten booty. This
+      done, he seized on a tin plate and spoon, and sat down under the cart to
+      regale himself. His preliminary repast did not at all prejudice his
+      subsequent exertions at supper; where, in spite of his miniature
+      dimensions, he made a better figure than any of us. Indeed, about this
+      time his appetite grew quite voracious. He began to thrive wonderfully.
+      His small body visibly expanded, and his cheeks, which when we first took
+      him were rather yellow and cadaverous, now dilated in a wonderful manner,
+      and became ruddy in proportion. Tete Rouge, in short, began to appear like
+      another man.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Early in the afternoon of the next day, looking along the edge of the
+      horizon in front, we saw that at one point it was faintly marked with pale
+      indentations, like the teeth of a saw. The lodges of the Arapahoes, rising
+      between us and the sky, caused this singular appearance. It wanted still
+      two or three hours of sunset when we came opposite their camp. There were
+      full two hundred lodges standing in the midst of a grassy meadow at some
+      distance beyond the river, while for a mile around and on either bank of
+      the Arkansas were scattered some fifteen hundred horses and mules grazing
+      together in bands, or wandering singly about the prairie. The whole were
+      visible at once, for the vast expanse was unbroken by hills, and there was
+      not a tree or a bush to intercept the view.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Here and there walked an Indian, engaged in watching the horses. No sooner
+      did we see them than Tete Rouge begged Delorier to stop the cart and hand
+      him his little military jacket, which was stowed away there. In this he
+      instantly invested himself, having for once laid the old buffalo coat
+      aside, assumed a most martial posture in the saddle, set his cap over his
+      left eye with an air of defiance, and earnestly entreated that somebody
+      would lend him a gun or a pistol only for half an hour. Being called upon
+      to explain these remarkable proceedings, Tete Rouge observed that he knew
+      from experience what effect the presence of a military man in his uniform
+      always had upon the mind of an Indian, and he thought the Arapahoes ought
+      to know that there was a soldier in the party.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Meeting Arapahoes here on the Arkansas was a very different thing from
+      meeting the same Indians among their native mountains. There was another
+      circumstance in our favor. General Kearny had seen them a few weeks
+      before, as he came up the river with his army, and renewing his threats of
+      the previous year, he told them that if they ever again touched the hair
+      of a white man&rsquo;s head he would exterminate their nation. This placed them
+      for the time in an admirable frame of mind, and the effect of his menaces
+      had not yet disappeared. I was anxious to see the village and its
+      inhabitants. We thought it also our best policy to visit them openly, as
+      if unsuspicious of any hostile design; and Shaw and I, with Henry
+      Chatillon, prepared to cross the river. The rest of the party meanwhile
+      moved forward as fast as they could, in order to get as far as possible
+      from our suspicious neighbors before night came on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Arkansas at this point, and for several hundred miles below, is
+      nothing but a broad sand-bed, over which a few scanty threads of water are
+      swiftly gliding, now and then expanding into wide shallows. At several
+      places, during the autumn, the water sinks into the sand and disappears
+      altogether. At this season, were it not for the numerous quicksands, the
+      river might be forded almost anywhere without difficulty, though its
+      channel is often a quarter of a mile wide. Our horses jumped down the
+      bank, and wading through the water, or galloping freely over the hard
+      sand-beds, soon reached the other side. Here, as we were pushing through
+      the tall grass, we saw several Indians not far off; one of them waited
+      until we came up, and stood for some moments in perfect silence before us,
+      looking at us askance with his little snakelike eyes. Henry explained by
+      signs what we wanted, and the Indian, gathering his buffalo robe about his
+      shoulders, led the way toward the village without speaking a word.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The language of the Arapahoes is so difficult, and its pronunciations so
+      harsh and guttural, that no white man, it is said, has ever been able to
+      master it. Even Maxwell the trader, who has been most among them, is
+      compelled to resort to the curious sign language common to most of the
+      prairie tribes. With this Henry Chatillon was perfectly acquainted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Approaching the village, we found the ground all around it strewn with
+      great piles of waste buffalo meat in incredible quantities. The lodges
+      were pitched in a very wide circle. They resembled those of the Dakota in
+      everything but cleanliness and neatness. Passing between two of them, we
+      entered the great circular area of the camp, and instantly hundreds of
+      Indians, men, women and children, came flocking out of their habitations
+      to look at us; at the same time, the dogs all around the village set up a
+      fearful baying. Our Indian guide walked toward the lodge of the chief.
+      Here we dismounted; and loosening the trail-ropes from our horses&rsquo; necks,
+      held them securely, and sat down before the entrance, with our rifles laid
+      across our laps. The chief came out and shook us by the hand. He was a
+      mean-looking fellow, very tall, thin-visaged, and sinewy, like the rest of
+      the nation, and with scarcely a vestige of clothing. We had not been
+      seated half a minute before a multitude of Indians came crowding around us
+      from every part of the village, and we were shut in by a dense wall of
+      savage faces. Some of the Indians crouched around us on the ground; others
+      again sat behind them; others, stooping, looked over their heads; while
+      many more stood crowded behind, stretching themselves upward, and peering
+      over each other&rsquo;s shoulders, to get a view of us. I looked in vain among
+      this multitude of faces to discover one manly or generous expression; all
+      were wolfish, sinister, and malignant, and their complexions, as well as
+      their features, unlike those of the Dakota, were exceedingly bad. The
+      chief, who sat close to the entrance, called to a squaw within the lodge,
+      who soon came out and placed a wooden bowl of meat before us. To our
+      surprise, however, no pipe was offered. Having tasted of the meat as a
+      matter of form, I began to open a bundle of presents&mdash;tobacco,
+      knives, vermilion, and other articles which I had brought with me. At this
+      there was a grin on every countenance in the rapacious crowd; their eyes
+      began to glitter, and long thin arms were eagerly stretched toward us on
+      all sides to receive the gifts.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Arapahoes set great value upon their shields, which they transmit
+      carefully from father to son. I wished to get one of them; and displaying
+      a large piece of scarlet cloth, together with some tobacco and a knife, I
+      offered them to any one who would bring me what I wanted. After some delay
+      a tolerable shield was produced. They were very anxious to know what we
+      meant to do with it, and Henry told them that we were going to fight their
+      enemies, the Pawnees. This instantly produced a visible impression in our
+      favor, which was increased by the distribution of the presents. Among
+      these was a large paper of awls, a gift appropriate to the women; and as
+      we were anxious to see the beauties of the Arapahoe village Henry
+      requested that they might be called to receive them. A warrior gave a
+      shout as if he were calling a pack of dogs together. The squaws, young and
+      old, hags of eighty and girls of sixteen, came running with screams and
+      laughter out of the lodges; and as the men gave way for them they gathered
+      round us and stretched out their arms, grinning with delight, their native
+      ugliness considerably enhanced by the excitement of the moment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mounting our horses, which during the whole interview we had held close to
+      us, we prepared to leave the Arapahoes. The crowd fell back on each side
+      and stood looking on. When we were half across the camp an idea occurred
+      to us. The Pawnees were probably in the neighborhood of the Caches; we
+      might tell the Arapahoes of this and instigate them to send down a war
+      party and cut them off, while we ourselves could remain behind for a while
+      and hunt the buffalo. At first thought this plan of setting our enemies to
+      destroy one another seemed to us a masterpiece of policy; but we
+      immediately recollected that should we meet the Arapahoe warriors on the
+      river below they might prove quite as dangerous as the Pawnees themselves.
+      So rejecting our plan as soon as it presented itself, we passed out of the
+      village on the farther side. We urged our horses rapidly through the tall
+      grass which rose to their necks. Several Indians were walking through it
+      at a distance, their heads just visible above its waving surface. It bore
+      a kind of seed as sweet and nutritious as oats; and our hungry horses, in
+      spite of whip and rein, could not resist the temptation of snatching at
+      this unwonted luxury as we passed along. When about a mile from the
+      village I turned and looked back over the undulating ocean of grass. The
+      sun was just set; the western sky was all in a glow, and sharply defined
+      against it, on the extreme verge of the plain, stood the numerous lodges
+      of the Arapahoe camp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Reaching the bank of the river, we followed it for some distance farther,
+      until we discerned through the twilight the white covering of our little
+      cart on the opposite bank. When we reached it we found a considerable
+      number of Indians there before us. Four or five of them were seated in a
+      row upon the ground, looking like so many half-starved vultures. Tete
+      Rouge, in his uniform, was holding a close colloquy with another by the
+      side of the cart. His gesticulations, his attempts at sign-making, and the
+      contortions of his countenance, were most ludicrous; and finding all these
+      of no avail, he tried to make the Indian understand him by repeating
+      English words very loudly and distinctly again and again. The Indian sat
+      with his eye fixed steadily upon him, and in spite of the rigid immobility
+      of his features, it was clear at a glance that he perfectly understood his
+      military companion&rsquo;s character and thoroughly despised him. The exhibition
+      was more amusing than politic, and Tete Rouge was directed to finish what
+      he had to say as soon as possible. Thus rebuked, he crept under the cart
+      and sat down there; Henry Chatillon stopped to look at him in his
+      retirement, and remarked in his quiet manner that an Indian would kill ten
+      such men and laugh all the time.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One by one our visitors rose and stalked away. As the darkness thickened
+      we were saluted by dismal sounds. The wolves are incredibly numerous in
+      this part of the country, and the offal around the Arapahoe camp had drawn
+      such multitudes of them together that several hundred were howling in
+      concert in our immediate neighborhood. There was an island in the river,
+      or rather an oasis in the midst of the sands at about the distance of a
+      gunshot, and here they seemed gathered in the greatest numbers. A horrible
+      discord of low mournful wailings, mingled with ferocious howls, arose from
+      it incessantly for several hours after sunset. We could distinctly see the
+      wolves running about the prairie within a few rods of our fire, or
+      bounding over the sand-beds of the river and splashing through the water.
+      There was not the slightest danger to be feared from them, for they are
+      the greatest cowards on the prairie.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In respect to the human wolves in our neighborhood, we felt much less at
+      our ease. We seldom erected our tent except in bad weather, and that night
+      each man spread his buffalo robe upon the ground with his loaded rifle
+      laid at his side or clasped in his arms. Our horses were picketed so close
+      around us that one of them repeatedly stepped over me as I lay. We were
+      not in the habit of placing a guard, but every man that night was anxious
+      and watchful; there was little sound sleeping in camp, and some one of the
+      party was on his feet during the greater part of the time. For myself, I
+      lay alternately waking and dozing until midnight. Tete Rouge was reposing
+      close to the river bank, and about this time, when half asleep and half
+      awake, I was conscious that he shifted his position and crept on all-fours
+      under the cart. Soon after I fell into a sound sleep from which I was
+      aroused by a hand shaking me by the shoulder. Looking up, I saw Tete Rouge
+      stooping over me with his face quite pale and his eyes dilated to their
+      utmost expansion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What&rsquo;s the matter?&rdquo; said I.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Tete Rouge declared that as he lay on the river bank, something caught his
+      eye which excited his suspicions. So creeping under the cart for safety&rsquo;s
+      sake he sat there and watched, when he saw two Indians, wrapped in white
+      robes, creep up the bank, seize upon two horses and lead them off. He
+      looked so frightened, and told his story in such a disconnected manner,
+      that I did not believe him, and was unwilling to alarm the party. Still it
+      might be true, and in that case the matter required instant attention.
+      There would be no time for examination, and so directing Tete Rouge to
+      show me which way the Indians had gone, I took my rifle, in obedience to a
+      thoughtless impulse, and left the camp. I followed the river back for two
+      or three hundred yards, listening and looking anxiously on every side. In
+      the dark prairie on the right I could discern nothing to excite alarm; and
+      in the dusky bed of the river, a wolf was bounding along in a manner which
+      no Indian could imitate. I returned to the camp, and when within sight of
+      it, saw that the whole party was aroused. Shaw called out to me that he
+      had counted the horses, and that every one of them was in his place. Tete
+      Rouge, being examined as to what he had seen, only repeated his former
+      story with many asseverations, and insisted that two horses were certainly
+      carried off. At this Jim Gurney declared that he was crazy; Tete Rouge
+      indignantly denied the charge, on which Jim appealed to us. As we declined
+      to give our judgment on so delicate a matter, the dispute grew hot between
+      Tete Rouge and his accuser, until he was directed to go to bed and not
+      alarm the camp again if he saw the whole Arapahoe village coming.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0024" id="link2HCH0024">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXIV
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      THE CHASE
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      The country before us was now thronged with buffalo, and a sketch of the
+      manner of hunting them will not be out of place. There are two methods
+      commonly practiced, &ldquo;running&rdquo; and &ldquo;approaching.&rdquo; The chase on horseback,
+      which goes by the name of &ldquo;running,&rdquo; is the more violent and dashing mode
+      of the two. Indeed, of all American wild sports, this is the wildest. Once
+      among the buffalo, the hunter, unless long use has made him familiar with
+      the situation, dashes forward in utter recklessness and self-abandonment.
+      He thinks of nothing, cares for nothing but the game; his mind is
+      stimulated to the highest pitch, yet intensely concentrated on one object.
+      In the midst of the flying herd, where the uproar and the dust are
+      thickest, it never wavers for a moment; he drops the rein and abandons his
+      horse to his furious career; he levels his gun, the report sounds faint
+      amid the thunder of the buffalo; and when his wounded enemy leaps in vain
+      fury upon him, his heart thrills with a feeling like the fierce delight of
+      the battlefield. A practiced and skillful hunter, well mounted, will
+      sometimes kill five or six cows in a single chase, loading his gun again
+      and again as his horse rushes through the tumult. An exploit like this is
+      quite beyond the capacities of a novice. In attacking a small band of
+      buffalo, or in separating a single animal from the herd and assailing it
+      apart from the rest, there is less excitement and less danger. With a bold
+      and well trained horse the hunter may ride so close to the buffalo that as
+      they gallop side by side he may reach over and touch him with his hand;
+      nor is there much danger in this as long as the buffalo&rsquo;s strength and
+      breath continue unabated; but when he becomes tired and can no longer run
+      at ease, when his tongue lolls out and foam flies from his jaws, then the
+      hunter had better keep at a more respectful distance; the distressed brute
+      may turn upon him at any instant; and especially at the moment when he
+      fires his gun. The wounded buffalo springs at his enemy; the horse leaps
+      violently aside; and then the hunter has need of a tenacious seat in the
+      saddle, for if he is thrown to the ground there is no hope for him. When
+      he sees his attack defeated the buffalo resumes his flight, but if the
+      shot be well directed he soon stops; for a few moments he stands still,
+      then totters and falls heavily upon the prairie.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The chief difficulty in running buffalo, as it seems to me, is that of
+      loading the gun or pistol at full gallop. Many hunters for convenience&rsquo;
+      sake carry three or four bullets in the mouth; the powder is poured down
+      the muzzle of the piece, the bullet dropped in after it, the stock struck
+      hard upon the pommel of the saddle, and the work is done. The danger of
+      this method is obvious. Should the blow on the pommel fail to send the
+      bullet home, or should the latter, in the act of aiming, start from its
+      place and roll toward the muzzle, the gun would probably burst in
+      discharging. Many a shattered hand and worse casualties besides have been
+      the result of such an accident. To obviate it, some hunters make use of a
+      ramrod, usually hung by a string from the neck, but this materially
+      increases the difficulty of loading. The bows and arrows which the Indians
+      use in running buffalo have many advantages over fire arms, and even white
+      men occasionally employ them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The danger of the chase arises not so much from the onset of the wounded
+      animal as from the nature of the ground which the hunter must ride over.
+      The prairie does not always present a smooth, level, and uniform surface;
+      very often it is broken with hills and hollows, intersected by ravines,
+      and in the remoter parts studded by the stiff wild-sage bushes. The most
+      formidable obstructions, however, are the burrows of wild animals, wolves,
+      badgers, and particularly prairie dogs, with whose holes the ground for a
+      very great extent is frequently honeycombed. In the blindness of the chase
+      the hunter rushes over it unconscious of danger; his horse, at full
+      career, thrusts his leg deep into one of the burrows; the bone snaps, the
+      rider is hurled forward to the ground and probably killed. Yet accidents
+      in buffalo running happen less frequently than one would suppose; in the
+      recklessness of the chase, the hunter enjoys all the impunity of a drunken
+      man, and may ride in safety over the gullies and declivities where, should
+      he attempt to pass in his sober senses, he would infallibly break his
+      neck.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The method of &ldquo;approaching,&rdquo; being practiced on foot, has many advantages
+      over that of &ldquo;running&rdquo;; in the former, one neither breaks down his horse
+      nor endangers his own life; instead of yielding to excitement he must be
+      cool, collected, and watchful; he must understand the buffalo, observe the
+      features of the country and the course of the wind, and be well skilled,
+      moreover, in using the rifle. The buffalo are strange animals; sometimes
+      they are so stupid and infatuated that a man may walk up to them in full
+      sight on the open prairie, and even shoot several of their number before
+      the rest will think it necessary to retreat. Again at another moment they
+      will be so shy and wary, that in order to approach them the utmost skill,
+      experience, and judgment are necessary. Kit Carson, I believe, stands
+      pre-eminent in running buffalo; in approaching, no man living can bear
+      away the palm from Henry Chatillon.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To resume the story: After Tete Rouge had alarmed the camp, no further
+      disturbance occurred during the night. The Arapahoes did not attempt
+      mischief, or if they did the wakefulness of the party deterred them from
+      effecting their purpose. The next day was one of activity and excitement,
+      for about ten o&rsquo;clock the men in advance shouted the gladdening cry of
+      &ldquo;Buffalo, buffalo!&rdquo; and in the hollow of the prairie just below us, a band
+      of bulls were grazing. The temptation was irresistible, and Shaw and I
+      rode down upon them. We were badly mounted on our traveling horses, but by
+      hard lashing we overtook them, and Shaw, running alongside of a bull, shot
+      into him both balls of his double-barreled gun. Looking round as I
+      galloped past, I saw the bull in his mortal fury rushing again and again
+      upon his antagonist, whose horse constantly leaped aside, and avoided the
+      onset. My chase was more protracted, but at length I ran close to the bull
+      and killed him with my pistols. Cutting off the tails of our victims by
+      way of trophy, we rejoined the party in about a quarter of an hour after
+      we left it. Again and again that morning rang out the same welcome cry of
+      &ldquo;Buffalo, buffalo!&rdquo; Every few moments in the broad meadows along the
+      river, we would see bands of bulls, who, raising their shaggy heads, would
+      gaze in stupid amazement at the approaching horsemen, and then breaking
+      into a clumsy gallop, would file off in a long line across the trail in
+      front, toward the rising prairie on the left. At noon, the whole plain
+      before us was alive with thousands of buffalo&mdash;bulls, cows, and
+      calves&mdash;all moving rapidly as we drew near; and far-off beyond the
+      river the swelling prairie was darkened with them to the very horizon. The
+      party was in gayer spirits than ever. We stopped for a nooning near a
+      grove of trees by the river side.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Tongues and hump ribs to-morrow,&rdquo; said Shaw, looking with contempt at the
+      venison steaks which Delorier placed before us. Our meal finished, we lay
+      down under a temporary awning to sleep. A shout from Henry Chatillon
+      aroused us, and we saw him standing on the cartwheel stretching his tall
+      figure to its full height while he looked toward the prairie beyond the
+      river. Following the direction of his eyes we could clearly distinguish a
+      large dark object, like the black shadow of a cloud, passing rapidly over
+      swell after swell of the distant plain; behind it followed another of
+      similar appearance though smaller. Its motion was more rapid, and it drew
+      closer and closer to the first. It was the hunters of the Arapahoe camp
+      pursuing a band of buffalo. Shaw and I hastily sought and saddled our best
+      horses, and went plunging through sand and water to the farther bank. We
+      were too late. The hunters had already mingled with the herd, and the work
+      of slaughter was nearly over. When we reached the ground we found it
+      strewn far and near with numberless black carcasses, while the remnants of
+      the herd, scattered in all directions, were flying away in terror, and the
+      Indians still rushing in pursuit. Many of the hunters, however, remained
+      upon the spot, and among the rest was our yesterday&rsquo;s acquaintance, the
+      chief of the village. He had alighted by the side of a cow, into which he
+      had shot five or six arrows, and his squaw, who had followed him on
+      horseback to the hunt, was giving him a draught of water out of a canteen,
+      purchased or plundered from some volunteer soldier. Recrossing the river
+      we overtook the party, who were already on their way.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We had scarcely gone a mile when an imposing spectacle presented itself.
+      From the river bank on the right, away over the swelling prairie on the
+      left, and in front as far as we could see, extended one vast host of
+      buffalo. The outskirts of the herd were within a quarter of a mile. In
+      many parts they were crowded so densely together that in the distance
+      their rounded backs presented a surface of uniform blackness; but
+      elsewhere they were more scattered, and from amid the multitude rose
+      little columns of dust where the buffalo were rolling on the ground. Here
+      and there a great confusion was perceptible, where a battle was going
+      forward among the bulls. We could distinctly see them rushing against each
+      other, and hear the clattering of their horns and their hoarse bellowing.
+      Shaw was riding at some distance in advance, with Henry Chatillon; I saw
+      him stop and draw the leather covering from his gun. Indeed, with such a
+      sight before us, but one thing could be thought of. That morning I had
+      used pistols in the chase. I had now a mind to try the virtue of a gun.
+      Delorier had one, and I rode up to the side of the cart; there he sat
+      under the white covering, biting his pipe between his teeth and grinning
+      with excitement.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Lend me your gun, Delorier,&rdquo; said I.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oui, monsieur, oui,&rdquo; said Delorier, tugging with might and main to stop
+      the mule, which seemed obstinately bent on going forward. Then everything
+      but his moccasins disappeared as he crawled into the cart and pulled at
+      the gun to extricate it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is it loaded?&rdquo; I asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oui, bien charge; you&rsquo;ll kill, mon bourgeois; yes, you&rsquo;ll kill&mdash;c&rsquo;est
+      un bon fusil.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      I handed him my rifle and rode forward to Shaw.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Are you ready?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come on,&rdquo; said I.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Keep down that hollow,&rdquo; said Henry, &ldquo;and then they won&rsquo;t see you till you
+      get close to them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The hollow was a kind of ravine very wide and shallow; it ran obliquely
+      toward the buffalo, and we rode at a canter along the bottom until it
+      became too shallow, when we bent close to our horses&rsquo; necks, and then
+      finding that it could no longer conceal us, came out of it and rode
+      directly toward the herd. It was within gunshot; before its outskirts,
+      numerous grizzly old bulls were scattered, holding guard over their
+      females. They glared at us in anger and astonishment, walked toward us a
+      few yards, and then turning slowly round retreated at a trot which
+      afterward broke into a clumsy gallop. In an instant the main body caught
+      the alarm. The buffalo began to crowd away from the point toward which we
+      were approaching, and a gap was opened in the side of the herd. We entered
+      it, still restraining our excited horses. Every instant the tumult was
+      thickening. The buffalo, pressing together in large bodies, crowded away
+      from us on every hand. In front and on either side we could see dark
+      columns and masses, half hidden by clouds of dust, rushing along in terror
+      and confusion, and hear the tramp and clattering of ten thousand hoofs.
+      That countless multitude of powerful brutes, ignorant of their own
+      strength, were flying in a panic from the approach of two feeble horsemen.
+      To remain quiet longer was impossible.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Take that band on the left,&rdquo; said Shaw; &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll take these in front.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He sprang off, and I saw no more of him. A heavy Indian whip was fastened
+      by a band to my wrist; I swung it into the air and lashed my horse&rsquo;s flank
+      with all the strength of my arm. Away she darted, stretching close to the
+      ground. I could see nothing but a cloud of dust before me, but I knew that
+      it concealed a band of many hundreds of buffalo. In a moment I was in the
+      midst of the cloud, half suffocated by the dust and stunned by the
+      trampling of the flying herd; but I was drunk with the chase and cared for
+      nothing but the buffalo. Very soon a long dark mass became visible,
+      looming through the dust; then I could distinguish each bulky carcass, the
+      hoofs flying out beneath, the short tails held rigidly erect. In a moment
+      I was so close that I could have touched them with my gun. Suddenly, to my
+      utter amazement, the hoofs were jerked upward, the tails flourished in the
+      air, and amid a cloud of dust the buffalo seemed to sink into the earth
+      before me. One vivid impression of that instant remains upon my mind. I
+      remember looking down upon the backs of several buffalo dimly visible
+      through the dust. We had run unawares upon a ravine. At that moment I was
+      not the most accurate judge of depth and width, but when I passed it on my
+      return, I found it about twelve feet deep and not quite twice as wide at
+      the bottom. It was impossible to stop; I would have done so gladly if I
+      could; so, half sliding, half plunging, down went the little mare. I
+      believe she came down on her knees in the loose sand at the bottom; I was
+      pitched forward violently against her neck and nearly thrown over her head
+      among the buffalo, who amid dust and confusion came tumbling in all
+      around. The mare was on her feet in an instant and scrambling like a cat
+      up the opposite side. I thought for a moment that she would have fallen
+      back and crushed me, but with a violent effort she clambered out and
+      gained the hard prairie above. Glancing back I saw the huge head of a bull
+      clinging as it were by the forefeet at the edge of the dusty gulf. At
+      length I was fairly among the buffalo. They were less densely crowded than
+      before, and I could see nothing but bulls, who always run at the rear of
+      the herd. As I passed amid them they would lower their heads, and turning
+      as they ran, attempt to gore my horse; but as they were already at full
+      speed there was no force in their onset, and as Pauline ran faster than
+      they, they were always thrown behind her in the effort. I soon began to
+      distinguish cows amid the throng. One just in front of me seemed to my
+      liking, and I pushed close to her side. Dropping the reins I fired,
+      holding the muzzle of the gun within a foot of her shoulder. Quick as
+      lightning she sprang at Pauline; the little mare dodged the attack, and I
+      lost sight of the wounded animal amid the tumultuous crowd. Immediately
+      after I selected another, and urging forward Pauline, shot into her both
+      pistols in succession. For a while I kept her in view, but in attempting
+      to load my gun, lost sight of her also in the confusion. Believing her to
+      be mortally wounded and unable to keep up with the herd, I checked my
+      horse. The crowd rushed onward. The dust and tumult passed away, and on
+      the prairie, far behind the rest, I saw a solitary buffalo galloping
+      heavily. In a moment I and my victim were running side by side. My
+      firearms were all empty, and I had in my pouch nothing but rifle bullets,
+      too large for the pistols and too small for the gun. I loaded the latter,
+      however, but as often as I leveled it to fire, the little bullets would
+      roll out of the muzzle and the gun returned only a faint report like a
+      squib, as the powder harmlessly exploded. I galloped in front of the
+      buffalo and attempted to turn her back; but her eyes glared, her mane
+      bristled, and lowering her head, she rushed at me with astonishing
+      fierceness and activity. Again and again I rode before her, and again and
+      again she repeated her furious charge. But little Pauline was in her
+      element. She dodged her enemy at every rush, until at length the buffalo
+      stood still, exhausted with her own efforts; she panted, and her tongue
+      hung lolling from her jaws.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Riding to a little distance I alighted, thinking to gather a handful of
+      dry grass to serve the purpose of wadding, and load the gun at my leisure.
+      No sooner were my feet on the ground than the buffalo came bounding in
+      such a rage toward me that I jumped back again into the saddle with all
+      possible dispatch. After waiting a few minutes more, I made an attempt to
+      ride up and stab her with my knife; but the experiment proved such as no
+      wise man would repeat. At length, bethinking me of the fringes at the
+      seams of my buckskin pantaloons, I jerked off a few of them, and reloading
+      my gun, forced them down the barrel to keep the bullet in its place; then
+      approaching, I shot the wounded buffalo through the heart. Sinking to her
+      knees, she rolled over lifeless on the prairie. To my astonishment, I
+      found that instead of a fat cow I had been slaughtering a stout yearling
+      bull. No longer wondering at the fierceness he had shown, I opened his
+      throat and cutting out his tongue, tied it at the back of my saddle. My
+      mistake was one which a more experienced eye than mine might easily make
+      in the dust and confusion of such a chase.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then for the first time I had leisure to look at the scene around me. The
+      prairie in front was darkened with the retreating multitude, and on the
+      other hand the buffalo came filing up in endless unbroken columns from the
+      low plains upon the river. The Arkansas was three or four miles distant. I
+      turned and moved slowly toward it. A long time passed before, far down in
+      the distance, I distinguished the white covering of the cart and the
+      little black specks of horsemen before and behind it. Drawing near, I
+      recognized Shaw&rsquo;s elegant tunic, the red flannel shirt, conspicuous far
+      off. I overtook the party, and asked him what success he had met with. He
+      had assailed a fat cow, shot her with two bullets, and mortally wounded
+      her. But neither of us were prepared for the chase that afternoon, and
+      Shaw, like myself, had no spare bullets in his pouch; so he abandoned the
+      disabled animal to Henry Chatillon, who followed, dispatched her with his
+      rifle, and loaded his horse with her meat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We encamped close to the river. The night was dark, and as we lay down we
+      could hear mingled with the howling of wolves the hoarse bellowing of the
+      buffalo, like the ocean beating upon a distant coast.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0025" id="link2HCH0025">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXV
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      THE BUFFALO CAMP
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      No one in the camp was more active than Jim Gurney, and no one half so
+      lazy as Ellis. Between these two there was a great antipathy. Ellis never
+      stirred in the morning until he was compelled to, but Jim was always on
+      his feet before daybreak; and this morning as usual the sound of his voice
+      awakened the party.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Get up, you booby! up with you now, you&rsquo;re fit for nothing but eating and
+      sleeping. Stop your grumbling and come out of that buffalo robe or I&rsquo;ll
+      pull it off for you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Jim&rsquo;s words were interspersed with numerous expletives, which gave them
+      great additional effect. Ellis drawled out something in a nasal tone from
+      among the folds of his buffalo robe; then slowly disengaged himself, rose
+      into sitting posture, stretched his long arms, yawned hideously, and
+      finally, raising his tall person erect, stood staring round him to all the
+      four quarters of the horizon. Delorier&rsquo;s fire was soon blazing, and the
+      horses and mules, loosened from their pickets, were feeding in the
+      neighboring meadow. When we sat down to breakfast the prairie was still in
+      the dusky light of morning; and as the sun rose we were mounted and on our
+      way again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A white buffalo!&rdquo; exclaimed Munroe.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll have that fellow,&rdquo; said Shaw, &ldquo;if I run my horse to death after
+      him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He threw the cover of his gun to Delorier and galloped out upon the
+      prairie.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Stop, Mr. Shaw, stop!&rdquo; called out Henry Chatillon, &ldquo;you&rsquo;ll run down your
+      horse for nothing; it&rsquo;s only a white ox.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But Shaw was already out of hearing. The ox, who had no doubt strayed away
+      from some of the government wagon trains, was standing beneath some low
+      hills which bounded the plain in the distance. Not far from him a band of
+      veritable buffalo bulls were grazing; and startled at Shaw&rsquo;s approach,
+      they all broke into a run, and went scrambling up the hillsides to gain
+      the high prairie above. One of them in his haste and terror involved
+      himself in a fatal catastrophe. Along the foot of the hills was a narrow
+      strip of deep marshy soil, into which the bull plunged and hopelessly
+      entangled himself. We all rode up to the spot. The huge carcass was half
+      sunk in the mud, which flowed to his very chin, and his shaggy mane was
+      outspread upon the surface. As we came near the bull began to struggle
+      with convulsive strength; he writhed to and fro, and in the energy of his
+      fright and desperation would lift himself for a moment half out of the
+      slough, while the reluctant mire returned a sucking sound as he strained
+      to drag his limbs from its tenacious depths. We stimulated his exertions
+      by getting behind him and twisting his tail; nothing would do. There was
+      clearly no hope for him. After every effort his heaving sides were more
+      deeply imbedded and the mire almost overflowed his nostrils; he lay still
+      at length, and looking round at us with a furious eye, seemed to resign
+      himself to his fate. Ellis slowly dismounted, and deliberately leveling
+      his boasted yager, shot the old bull through the heart; then he lazily
+      climbed back again to his seat, pluming himself no doubt on having
+      actually killed a buffalo. That day the invincible yager drew blood for
+      the first and last time during the whole journey.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The morning was a bright and gay one, and the air so clear that on the
+      farthest horizon the outline of the pale blue prairie was sharply drawn
+      against the sky. Shaw felt in the mood for hunting; he rode in advance of
+      the party, and before long we saw a file of bulls galloping at full speed
+      upon a vast green swell of the prairie at some distance in front. Shaw
+      came scouring along behind them, arrayed in his red shirt, which looked
+      very well in the distance; he gained fast on the fugitives, and as the
+      foremost bull was disappearing behind the summit of the swell, we saw him
+      in the act of assailing the hindmost; a smoke sprang from the muzzle of
+      his gun, and floated away before the wind like a little white cloud; the
+      bull turned upon him, and just then the rising ground concealed them both
+      from view.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We were moving forward until about noon, when we stopped by the side of
+      the Arkansas. At that moment Shaw appeared riding slowly down the side of
+      a distant hill; his horse was tired and jaded, and when he threw his
+      saddle upon the ground, I observed that the tails of two bulls were
+      dangling behind it. No sooner were the horses turned loose to feed than
+      Henry, asking Munroe to go with him, took his rifle and walked quietly
+      away. Shaw, Tete Rouge, and I sat down by the side of the cart to discuss
+      the dinner which Delorier placed before us; we had scarcely finished when
+      we saw Munroe walking toward us along the river bank. Henry, he said, had
+      killed four fat cows, and had sent him back for horses to bring in the
+      meat. Shaw took a horse for himself and another for Henry, and he and
+      Munroe left the camp together. After a short absence all three of them
+      came back, their horses loaded with the choicest parts of the meat; we
+      kept two of the cows for ourselves and gave the others to Munroe and his
+      companions. Delorier seated himself on the grass before the pile of meat,
+      and worked industriously for some time to cut it into thin broad sheets
+      for drying. This is no easy matter, but Delorier had all the skill of an
+      Indian squaw. Long before night cords of raw hide were stretched around
+      the camp, and the meat was hung upon them to dry in the sunshine and pure
+      air of the prairie. Our California companions were less successful at the
+      work; but they accomplished it after their own fashion, and their side of
+      the camp was soon garnished in the same manner as our own.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We meant to remain at this place long enough to prepare provisions for our
+      journey to the frontier, which as we supposed might occupy about a month.
+      Had the distance been twice as great and the party ten times as large, the
+      unerring rifle of Henry Chatillon would have supplied meat enough for the
+      whole within two days; we were obliged to remain, however, until it should
+      be dry enough for transportation; so we erected our tent and made the
+      other arrangements for a permanent camp. The California men, who had no
+      such shelter, contented themselves with arranging their packs on the grass
+      around their fire. In the meantime we had nothing to do but amuse
+      ourselves. Our tent was within a rod of the river, if the broad sand-beds,
+      with a scanty stream of water coursing here and there along their surface,
+      deserve to be dignified with the name of river. The vast flat plains on
+      either side were almost on a level with the sand-beds, and they were
+      bounded in the distance by low, monotonous hills, parallel to the course
+      of the Arkansas. All was one expanse of grass; there was no wood in view,
+      except some trees and stunted bushes upon two islands which rose from amid
+      the wet sands of the river. Yet far from being dull and tame this
+      boundless scene was often a wild and animated one; for twice a day, at
+      sunrise and at noon, the buffalo came issuing from the hills, slowly
+      advancing in their grave processions to drink at the river. All our
+      amusements were too at their expense. Except an elephant, I have seen no
+      animal that can surpass a buffalo bull in size and strength, and the world
+      may be searched in vain to find anything of a more ugly and ferocious
+      aspect. At first sight of him every feeling of sympathy vanishes; no man
+      who has not experienced it can understand with what keen relish one
+      inflicts his death wound, with what profound contentment of mind he
+      beholds him fall. The cows are much smaller and of a gentler appearance,
+      as becomes their sex. While in this camp we forebore to attack them,
+      leaving to Henry Chatillon, who could better judge their fatness and good
+      quality, the task of killing such as we wanted for use; but against the
+      bulls we waged an unrelenting war. Thousands of them might be slaughtered
+      without causing any detriment to the species, for their numbers greatly
+      exceed those of the cows; it is the hides of the latter alone which are
+      used for purpose of commerce and for making the lodges of the Indians; and
+      the destruction among them is therefore altogether disproportioned.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Our horses were tired, and we now usually hunted on foot. The wide, flat
+      sand-beds of the Arkansas, as the reader will remember, lay close by the
+      side of our camp. While we were lying on the grass after dinner, smoking,
+      conversing, or laughing at Tete Rouge, one of us would look up and
+      observe, far out on the plains beyond the river, certain black objects
+      slowly approaching. He would inhale a parting whiff from the pipe, then
+      rising lazily, take his rifle, which leaned against the cart, throw over
+      his shoulder the strap of his pouch and powder-horn, and with his
+      moccasins in his hand walk quietly across the sand toward the opposite
+      side of the river. This was very easy; for though the sands were about a
+      quarter of a mile wide, the water was nowhere more than two feet deep. The
+      farther bank was about four or five feet high, and quite perpendicular,
+      being cut away by the water in spring. Tall grass grew along its edge.
+      Putting it aside with his hand, and cautiously looking through it, the
+      hunter can discern the huge shaggy back of the buffalo slowly swaying to
+      and fro, as with his clumsy swinging gait he advances toward the water.
+      The buffalo have regular paths by which they come down to drink. Seeing at
+      a glance along which of these his intended victim is moving, the hunter
+      crouches under the bank within fifteen or twenty yards, it may be, of the
+      point where the path enters the river. Here he sits down quietly on the
+      sand. Listening intently, he hears the heavy monotonous tread of the
+      approaching bull. The moment after he sees a motion among the long weeds
+      and grass just at the spot where the path is channeled through the bank.
+      An enormous black head is thrust out, the horns just visible amid the mass
+      of tangled mane. Half sliding, half plunging, down comes the buffalo upon
+      the river-bed below. He steps out in full sight upon the sands. Just
+      before him a runnel of water is gliding, and he bends his head to drink.
+      You may hear the water as it gurgles down his capacious throat. He raises
+      his head, and the drops trickle from his wet beard. He stands with an air
+      of stupid abstraction, unconscious of the lurking danger. Noiselessly the
+      hunter cocks his rifle. As he sits upon the sand, his knee is raised, and
+      his elbow rests upon it, that he may level his heavy weapon with a
+      steadier aim. The stock is at his shoulder; his eye ranges along the
+      barrel. Still he is in no haste to fire. The bull, with slow deliberation,
+      begins his march over the sands to the other side. He advances his
+      foreleg, and exposes to view a small spot, denuded of hair, just behind
+      the point of his shoulder; upon this the hunter brings the sight of his
+      rifle to bear; lightly and delicately his finger presses upon the
+      hair-trigger. Quick as thought the spiteful crack of the rifle responds to
+      his slight touch, and instantly in the middle of the bare spot appears a
+      small red dot. The buffalo shivers; death has overtaken him, he cannot
+      tell from whence; still he does not fall, but walks heavily forward, as if
+      nothing had happened. Yet before he has advanced far out upon the sand,
+      you see him stop; he totters; his knees bend under him, and his head sinks
+      forward to the ground. Then his whole vast bulk sways to one side; he
+      rolls over on the sand, and dies with a scarcely perceptible struggle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Waylaying the buffalo in this manner, and shooting them as they come to
+      water, is the easiest and laziest method of hunting them. They may also be
+      approached by crawling up ravines, or behind hills, or even over the open
+      prairie. This is often surprisingly easy; but at other times it requires
+      the utmost skill of the most experienced hunter. Henry Chatillon was a man
+      of extraordinary strength and hardihood; but I have seen him return to
+      camp quite exhausted with his efforts, his limbs scratched and wounded,
+      and his buckskin dress stuck full of the thorns of the prickly-pear among
+      which he had been crawling. Sometimes he would lay flat upon his face, and
+      drag himself along in this position for many rods together.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the second day of our stay at this place, Henry went out for an
+      afternoon hunt. Shaw and I remained in camp until, observing some bulls
+      approaching the water upon the other side of the river, we crossed over to
+      attack them. They were so near, however, that before we could get under
+      cover of the bank our appearance as we walked over the sands alarmed them.
+      Turning round before coming within gunshot, they began to move off to the
+      right in a direction parallel to the river. I climbed up the bank and ran
+      after them. They were walking swiftly, and before I could come within
+      gunshot distance they slowly wheeled about and faced toward me. Before
+      they had turned far enough to see me I had fallen flat on my face. For a
+      moment they stood and stared at the strange object upon the grass; then
+      turning away, again they walked on as before; and I, rising immediately,
+      ran once more in pursuit. Again they wheeled about, and again I fell
+      prostrate. Repeating this three or four times, I came at length within a
+      hundred yards of the fugitives, and as I saw them turning again I sat down
+      and leveled my rifle. The one in the center was the largest I had ever
+      seen. I shot him behind the shoulder. His two companions ran off. He
+      attempted to follow, but soon came to a stand, and at length lay down as
+      quietly as an ox chewing the cud. Cautiously approaching him, I saw by his
+      dull and jellylike eye that he was dead.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When I began the chase, the prairie was almost tenantless; but a great
+      multitude of buffalo had suddenly thronged upon it, and looking up, I saw
+      within fifty rods a heavy, dark column stretching to the right and left as
+      far as I could see. I walked toward them. My approach did not alarm them
+      in the least. The column itself consisted entirely of cows and calves, but
+      a great many old bulls were ranging about the prairie on its flank, and as
+      I drew near they faced toward me with such a shaggy and ferocious look
+      that I thought it best to proceed no farther. Indeed I was already within
+      close rifle-shot of the column, and I sat down on the ground to watch
+      their movements. Sometimes the whole would stand still, their heads all
+      facing one way; then they would trot forward, as if by a common impulse,
+      their hoofs and horns clattering together as they moved. I soon began to
+      hear at a distance on the left the sharp reports of a rifle, again and
+      again repeated; and not long after, dull and heavy sounds succeeded, which
+      I recognized as the familiar voice of Shaw&rsquo;s double-barreled gun. When
+      Henry&rsquo;s rifle was at work there was always meat to be brought in. I went
+      back across the river for a horse, and returning, reached the spot where
+      the hunters were standing. The buffalo were visible on the distant
+      prairie. The living had retreated from the ground, but ten or twelve
+      carcasses were scattered in various directions. Henry, knife in hand, was
+      stooping over a dead cow, cutting away the best and fattest of the meat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When Shaw left me he had walked down for some distance under the river
+      bank to find another bull. At length he saw the plains covered with the
+      host of buffalo, and soon after heard the crack of Henry&rsquo;s rifle.
+      Ascending the bank, he crawled through the grass, which for a rod or two
+      from the river was very high and rank. He had not crawled far before to
+      his astonishment he saw Henry standing erect upon the prairie, almost
+      surrounded by the buffalo. Henry was in his appropriate element. Nelson,
+      on the deck of the Victory, hardly felt a prouder sense of mastery than
+      he. Quite unconscious that any one was looking at him, he stood at the
+      full height of his tall, strong figure, one hand resting upon his side,
+      and the other arm leaning carelessly on the muzzle of his rifle. His eyes
+      were ranging over the singular assemblage around him. Now and then he
+      would select such a cow as suited him, level his rifle, and shoot her
+      dead; then quietly reloading, he would resume his former position. The
+      buffalo seemed no more to regard his presence than if he were one of
+      themselves; the bulls were bellowing and butting at each other, or else
+      rolling about in the dust. A group of buffalo would gather about the
+      carcass of a dead cow, snuffing at her wounds; and sometimes they would
+      come behind those that had not yet fallen, and endeavor to push them from
+      the spot. Now and then some old bull would face toward Henry with an air
+      of stupid amazement, but none seemed inclined to attack or fly from him.
+      For some time Shaw lay among the grass, looking in surprise at this
+      extraordinary sight; at length he crawled cautiously forward, and spoke in
+      a low voice to Henry, who told him to rise and come on. Still the buffalo
+      showed no sign of fear; they remained gathered about their dead
+      companions. Henry had already killed as many cows as we wanted for use,
+      and Shaw, kneeling behind one of the carcasses, shot five bulls before the
+      rest thought it necessary to disperse.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The frequent stupidity and infatuation of the buffalo seems the more
+      remarkable from the contrast it offers to their wildness and wariness at
+      other times. Henry knew all their peculiarities; he had studied them as a
+      scholar studies his books, and he derived quite as much pleasure from the
+      occupation. The buffalo were a kind of companions to him, and, as he said,
+      he never felt alone when they were about him. He took great pride in his
+      skill in hunting. Henry was one of the most modest of men; yet, in the
+      simplicity and frankness of his character, it was quite clear that he
+      looked upon his pre-eminence in this respect as a thing too palpable and
+      well established ever to be disputed. But whatever may have been his
+      estimate of his own skill, it was rather below than above that which
+      others placed upon it. The only time that I ever saw a shade of scorn
+      darken his face was when two volunteer soldiers, who had just killed a
+      buffalo for the first time, undertook to instruct him as to the best
+      method of &ldquo;approaching.&rdquo; To borrow an illustration from an opposite side
+      of life, an Eton boy might as well have sought to enlighten Porson on the
+      formation of a Greek verb, or a Fleet Street shopkeeper to instruct
+      Chesterfield concerning a point of etiquette. Henry always seemed to think
+      that he had a sort of prescriptive right to the buffalo, and to look upon
+      them as something belonging peculiarly to himself. Nothing excited his
+      indignation so much as any wanton destruction committed among the cows,
+      and in his view shooting a calf was a cardinal sin.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henry Chatillon and Tete Rouge were of the same age; that is, about
+      thirty. Henry was twice as large, and fully six times as strong as Tete
+      Rouge. Henry&rsquo;s face was roughened by winds and storms; Tete Rouge&rsquo;s was
+      bloated by sherry cobblers and brandy toddy. Henry talked of Indians and
+      buffalo; Tete Rouge of theaters and oyster cellars. Henry had led a life
+      of hardship and privation; Tete Rouge never had a whim which he would not
+      gratify at the first moment he was able. Henry moreover was the most
+      disinterested man I ever saw; while Tete Rouge, though equally
+      good-natured in his way, cared for nobody but himself. Yet we would not
+      have lost him on any account; he admirably served the purpose of a jester
+      in a feudal castle; our camp would have been lifeless without him. For the
+      past week he had fattened in a most amazing manner; and indeed this was
+      not at all surprising, since his appetite was most inordinate. He was
+      eating from morning till night; half the time he would be at work cooking
+      some private repast for himself, and he paid a visit to the coffee-pot
+      eight or ten times a day. His rueful and disconsolate face became jovial
+      and rubicund, his eyes stood out like a lobster&rsquo;s, and his spirits, which
+      before were sunk to the depths of despondency, were now elated in
+      proportion; all day he was singing, whistling, laughing, and telling
+      stories. Being mortally afraid of Jim Gurney, he kept close in the
+      neighborhood of our tent. As he had seen an abundance of low dissipated
+      life, and had a considerable fund of humor, his anecdotes were extremely
+      amusing, especially since he never hesitated to place himself in a
+      ludicrous point of view, provided he could raise a laugh by doing so. Tete
+      Rouge, however, was sometimes rather troublesome; he had an inveterate
+      habit of pilfering provisions at all times of the day. He set ridicule at
+      utter defiance; and being without a particle of self-respect, he would
+      never have given over his tricks, even if they had drawn upon him the
+      scorn of the whole party. Now and then, indeed, something worse than
+      laughter fell to his share; on these occasions he would exhibit much
+      contrition, but half an hour after we would generally observe him stealing
+      round to the box at the back of the cart and slyly making off with the
+      provisions which Delorier had laid by for supper. He was very fond of
+      smoking; but having no tobacco of his own, we used to provide him with as
+      much as he wanted, a small piece at a time. At first we gave him half a
+      pound together, but this experiment proved an entire failure, for he
+      invariably lost not only the tobacco, but the knife intrusted to him for
+      cutting it, and a few minutes after he would come to us with many
+      apologies and beg for more.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We had been two days at this camp, and some of the meat was nearly fit for
+      transportation, when a storm came suddenly upon us. About sunset the whole
+      sky grew as black as ink, and the long grass at the river&rsquo;s edge bent and
+      rose mournfully with the first gusts of the approaching hurricane. Munroe
+      and his two companions brought their guns and placed them under cover of
+      our tent. Having no shelter for themselves, they built a fire of driftwood
+      that might have defied a cataract, and wrapped in their buffalo robes, sat
+      on the ground around it to bide the fury of the storm. Delorier ensconced
+      himself under the cover of the cart. Shaw and I, together with Henry and
+      Tete Rouge, crowded into the little tent; but first of all the dried meat
+      was piled together, and well protected by buffalo robes pinned firmly to
+      the ground. About nine o&rsquo;clock the storm broke, amid absolute darkness; it
+      blew a gale, and torrents of rain roared over the boundless expanse of
+      open prairie. Our tent was filled with mist and spray beating through the
+      canvas, and saturating everything within. We could only distinguish each
+      other at short intervals by the dazzling flash of lightning, which
+      displayed the whole waste around us with its momentary glare. We had our
+      fears for the tent; but for an hour or two it stood fast, until at length
+      the cap gave way before a furious blast; the pole tore through the top,
+      and in an instant we were half suffocated by the cold and dripping folds
+      of the canvas, which fell down upon us. Seizing upon our guns, we placed
+      them erect, in order to lift the saturated cloth above our heads. In this
+      disagreeable situation, involved among wet blankets and buffalo robes, we
+      spent several hours of the night during which the storm would not abate
+      for a moment, but pelted down above our heads with merciless fury. Before
+      long the ground beneath us became soaked with moisture, and the water
+      gathered there in a pool two or three inches deep; so that for a
+      considerable part of the night we were partially immersed in a cold bath.
+      In spite of all this, Tete Rouge&rsquo;s flow of spirits did not desert him for
+      an instant, he laughed, whistled, and sung in defiance of the storm, and
+      that night he paid off the long arrears of ridicule which he owed us.
+      While we lay in silence, enduring the infliction with what philosophy we
+      could muster, Tete Rouge, who was intoxicated with animal spirits, was
+      cracking jokes at our expense by the hour together. At about three o&rsquo;clock
+      in the morning, &ldquo;preferring the tyranny of the open night&rdquo; to such a
+      wretched shelter, we crawled out from beneath the fallen canvas. The wind
+      had abated, but the rain fell steadily. The fire of the California men
+      still blazed amid the darkness, and we joined them as they sat around it.
+      We made ready some hot coffee by way of refreshment; but when some of the
+      party sought to replenish their cups, it was found that Tete Rouge, having
+      disposed of his own share, had privately abstracted the coffee-pot and
+      drank up the rest of the contents out of the spout.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the morning, to our great joy, an unclouded sun rose upon the prairie.
+      We presented rather a laughable appearance, for the cold and clammy
+      buckskin, saturated with water, clung fast to our limbs; the light wind
+      and warm sunshine soon dried them again, and then we were all incased in
+      armor of intolerable rigidity. Roaming all day over the prairie and
+      shooting two or three bulls, were scarcely enough to restore the stiffened
+      leather to its usual pliancy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Besides Henry Chatillon, Shaw and I were the only hunters in the party.
+      Munroe this morning made an attempt to run a buffalo, but his horse could
+      not come up to the game. Shaw went out with him, and being better mounted
+      soon found himself in the midst of the herd. Seeing nothing but cows and
+      calves around him, he checked his horse. An old bull came galloping on the
+      open prairie at some distance behind, and turning, Shaw rode across his
+      path, leveling his gun as he passed, and shooting him through the shoulder
+      into the heart. The heavy bullets of Shaw&rsquo;s double-barreled gun made wild
+      work wherever they struck.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A great flock of buzzards were usually soaring about a few trees that
+      stood on the island just below our camp. Throughout the whole of yesterday
+      we had noticed an eagle among them; to-day he was still there; and Tete
+      Rouge, declaring that he would kill the bird of America, borrowed
+      Delorier&rsquo;s gun and set out on his unpatriotic mission. As might have been
+      expected, the eagle suffered no great harm at his hands. He soon returned,
+      saying that he could not find him, but had shot a buzzard instead. Being
+      required to produce the bird in proof of his assertion he said he believed
+      he was not quite dead, but he must be hurt, from the swiftness with which
+      he flew off.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you want,&rdquo; said Tete Rouge, &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll go and get one of his feathers; I
+      knocked off plenty of them when I shot him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Just opposite our camp was another island covered with bushes, and behind
+      it was a deep pool of water, while two or three considerable streams
+      course&rsquo;d over the sand not far off. I was bathing at this place in the
+      afternoon when a white wolf, larger than the largest Newfoundland dog, ran
+      out from behind the point of the island, and galloped leisurely over the
+      sand not half a stone&rsquo;s throw distant. I could plainly see his red eyes
+      and the bristles about his snout; he was an ugly scoundrel, with a bushy
+      tail, large head, and a most repulsive countenance. Having neither rifle
+      to shoot nor stone to pelt him with, I was looking eagerly after some
+      missile for his benefit, when the report of a gun came from the camp, and
+      the ball threw up the sand just beyond him; at this he gave a slight jump,
+      and stretched away so swiftly that he soon dwindled into a mere speck on
+      the distant sand-beds. The number of carcasses that by this time were
+      lying about the prairie all around us summoned the wolves from every
+      quarter; the spot where Shaw and Henry had hunted together soon became
+      their favorite resort, for here about a dozen dead buffalo were fermenting
+      under the hot sun. I used often to go over the river and watch them at
+      their meal; by lying under the bank it was easy to get a full view of
+      them. Three different kinds were present; there were the white wolves and
+      the gray wolves, both extremely large, and besides these the small prairie
+      wolves, not much bigger than spaniels. They would howl and fight in a
+      crowd around a single carcass, yet they were so watchful, and their senses
+      so acute, that I never was able to crawl within a fair shooting distance;
+      whenever I attempted it, they would all scatter at once and glide silently
+      away through the tall grass. The air above this spot was always full of
+      buzzards or black vultures; whenever the wolves left a carcass they would
+      descend upon it, and cover it so densely that a rifle-bullet shot at
+      random among the gormandizing crowd would generally strike down two or
+      three of them. These birds would now be sailing by scores just about our
+      camp, their broad black wings seeming half transparent as they expanded
+      them against the bright sky. The wolves and the buzzards thickened about
+      us with every hour, and two or three eagles also came into the feast. I
+      killed a bull within rifle-shot of the camp; that night the wolves made a
+      fearful howling close at hand, and in the morning the carcass was
+      completely hollowed out by these voracious feeders.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After we had remained four days at this camp we prepared to leave it. We
+      had for our own part about five hundred pounds of dried meat, and the
+      California men had prepared some three hundred more; this consisted of the
+      fattest and choicest parts of eight or nine cows, a very small quantity
+      only being taken from each, and the rest abandoned to the wolves. The pack
+      animals were laden, the horses were saddled, and the mules harnessed to
+      the cart. Even Tete Rouge was ready at last, and slowly moving from the
+      ground, we resumed our journey eastward. When we had advanced about a
+      mile, Shaw missed a valuable hunting knife and turned back in search of
+      it, thinking that he had left it at the camp. He approached the place
+      cautiously, fearful that Indians might be lurking about, for a deserted
+      camp is dangerous to return to. He saw no enemy, but the scene was a wild
+      and dreary one; the prairie was overshadowed by dull, leaden clouds, for
+      the day was dark and gloomy. The ashes of the fires were still smoking by
+      the river side; the grass around them was trampled down by men and horses,
+      and strewn with all the litter of a camp. Our departure had been a
+      gathering signal to the birds and beasts of prey; Shaw assured me that
+      literally dozens of wolves were prowling about the smoldering fires, while
+      multitudes were roaming over the prairie around; they all fled as he
+      approached, some running over the sand-beds and some over the grassy
+      plains. The vultures in great clouds were soaring overhead, and the dead
+      bull near the camp was completely blackened by the flock that had alighted
+      upon it; they flapped their broad wings, and stretched upward their
+      crested heads and long skinny necks, fearing to remain, yet reluctant to
+      leave their disgusting feast. As he searched about the fires he saw the
+      wolves seated on the distant hills waiting for his departure. Having
+      looked in vain for his knife, he mounted again, and left the wolves and
+      the vultures to banquet freely upon the carrion of the camp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0026" id="link2HCH0026">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXVI
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      DOWN THE ARKANSAS
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      In the summer of 1846 the wild and lonely banks of the Upper Arkansas
+      beheld for the first time the passage of an army. General Kearny, on his
+      march to Santa Fe, adopted this route in preference to the old trail of
+      the Cimarron. When we came down the main body of the troops had already
+      passed on; Price&rsquo;s Missouri regiment, however, was still on the way,
+      having left the frontier much later than the rest; and about this time we
+      began to meet them moving along the trail, one or two companies at a time.
+      No men ever embarked upon a military expedition with a greater love for
+      the work before them than the Missourians; but if discipline and
+      subordination be the criterion of merit, these soldiers were worthless
+      indeed. Yet when their exploits have rung through all America, it would be
+      absurd to deny that they were excellent irregular troops. Their victories
+      were gained in the teeth of every established precedent of warfare; they
+      were owing to a singular combination of military qualities in the men
+      themselves. Without discipline or a spirit of subordination, they knew how
+      to keep their ranks and act as one man. Doniphan&rsquo;s regiment marched
+      through New Mexico more like a band of free companions than like the paid
+      soldiers of a modern government. When General Taylor complimented Doniphan
+      on his success at Sacramento and elsewhere, the colonel&rsquo;s reply very well
+      illustrates the relations which subsisted between the officers and men of
+      his command:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know anything of the maneuvers. The boys kept coming to me, to
+      let them charge; and when I saw a good opportunity, I told them they might
+      go. They were off like a shot, and that&rsquo;s all I know about it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The backwoods lawyer was better fitted to conciliate the good-will than to
+      command the obedience of his men. There were many serving under him, who
+      both from character and education could better have held command than he.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the battle of Sacramento his frontiersmen fought under every possible
+      disadvantage. The Mexicans had chosen their own position; they were drawn
+      up across the valley that led to their native city of Chihuahua; their
+      whole front was covered by intrenchments and defended by batteries of
+      heavy cannon; they outnumbered the invaders five to one. An eagle flew
+      over the Americans, and a deep murmur rose along their lines. The enemy&rsquo;s
+      batteries opened; long they remained under fire, but when at length the
+      word was given, they shouted and ran forward. In one of the divisions,
+      when midway to the enemy, a drunken officer ordered a halt; the
+      exasperated men hesitated to obey.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Forward, boys!&rdquo; cried a private from the ranks; and the Americans,
+      rushing like tigers upon the enemy, bounded over the breastwork. Four
+      hundred Mexicans were slain upon the spot and the rest fled, scattering
+      over the plain like sheep. The standards, cannon, and baggage were taken,
+      and among the rest a wagon laden with cords, which the Mexicans, in the
+      fullness of their confidence, had made ready for tying the American
+      prisoners.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Doniphan&rsquo;s volunteers, who gained this victory, passed up with the main
+      army; but Price&rsquo;s soldiers, whom we now met, were men from the same
+      neighborhood, precisely similar in character, manner, and appearance. One
+      forenoon, as we were descending upon a very wide meadow, where we meant to
+      rest for an hour or two, we saw a dark body of horsemen approaching at a
+      distance. In order to find water, we were obliged to turn aside to the
+      river bank, a full half mile from the trail. Here we put up a kind of
+      awning, and spreading buffalo robes on the ground, Shaw and I sat down to
+      smoke beneath it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We are going to catch it now,&rdquo; said Shaw; &ldquo;look at those fellows,
+      there&rsquo;ll be no peace for us here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      And in good truth about half the volunteers had straggled away from the
+      line of march, and were riding over the meadow toward us.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How are you?&rdquo; said the first who came up, alighting from his horse and
+      throwing himself upon the ground. The rest followed close, and a score of
+      them soon gathered about us, some lying at full length and some sitting on
+      horseback. They all belonged to a company raised in St. Louis. There were
+      some ruffian faces among them, and some haggard with debauchery; but on
+      the whole they were extremely good-looking men, superior beyond measure to
+      the ordinary rank and file of an army. Except that they were booted to the
+      knees, they wore their belts and military trappings over the ordinary
+      dress of citizens. Besides their swords and holster pistols, they carried
+      slung from their saddles the excellent Springfield carbines, loaded at the
+      breech. They inquired the character of our party, and were anxious to know
+      the prospect of killing buffalo, and the chance that their horses would
+      stand the journey to Santa Fe. All this was well enough, but a moment
+      after a worse visitation came upon us.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How are you, strangers? whar are you going and whar are you from?&rdquo; said a
+      fellow, who came trotting up with an old straw hat on his head. He was
+      dressed in the coarsest brown homespun cloth. His face was rather sallow
+      from fever-and-ague, and his tall figure, though strong and sinewy was
+      quite thin, and had besides an angular look, which, together with his
+      boorish seat on horseback, gave him an appearance anything but graceful.
+      Plenty more of the same stamp were close behind him. Their company was
+      raised in one of the frontier counties, and we soon had abundant evidence
+      of their rustic breeding; dozens of them came crowding round, pushing
+      between our first visitors and staring at us with unabashed faces.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Are you the captain?&rdquo; asked one fellow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What&rsquo;s your business out here?&rdquo; asked another.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Whar do you live when you&rsquo;re at home?&rdquo; said a third.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I reckon you&rsquo;re traders,&rdquo; surmised a fourth; and to crown the whole, one
+      of them came confidentially to my side and inquired in a low voice,
+      &ldquo;What&rsquo;s your partner&rsquo;s name?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      As each newcomer repeated the same questions, the nuisance became
+      intolerable. Our military visitors were soon disgusted at the concise
+      nature of our replies, and we could overhear them muttering curses against
+      us. While we sat smoking, not in the best imaginable humor, Tete Rouge&rsquo;s
+      tongue was never idle. He never forgot his military character, and during
+      the whole interview he was incessantly busy among his fellow-soldiers. At
+      length we placed him on the ground before us, and told him that he might
+      play the part of spokesman for the whole. Tete Rouge was delighted, and we
+      soon had the satisfaction of seeing him talk and gabble at such a rate
+      that the torrent of questions was in a great measure diverted from us. A
+      little while after, to our amazement, we saw a large cannon with four
+      horses come lumbering up behind the crowd; and the driver, who was perched
+      on one of the animals, stretching his neck so as to look over the rest of
+      the men, called out:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Whar are you from, and what&rsquo;s your business?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The captain of one of the companies was among our visitors, drawn by the
+      same curiosity that had attracted his men. Unless their faces belied them,
+      not a few in the crowd might with great advantage have changed places with
+      their commander.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, men,&rdquo; said he, lazily rising from the ground where he had been
+      lounging, &ldquo;it&rsquo;s getting late, I reckon we had better be moving.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I shan&rsquo;t start yet anyhow,&rdquo; said one fellow, who was lying half asleep
+      with his head resting on his arm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t be in a hurry, captain,&rdquo; added the lieutenant.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, have it your own way, we&rsquo;ll wait a while longer,&rdquo; replied the
+      obsequious commander.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At length however our visitors went straggling away as they had come, and
+      we, to our great relief, were left alone again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      No one can deny the intrepid bravery of these men, their intelligence and
+      the bold frankness of their character, free from all that is mean and
+      sordid. Yet for the moment the extreme roughness of their manners half
+      inclines one to forget their heroic qualities. Most of them seem without
+      the least perception of delicacy or propriety, though among them
+      individuals may be found in whose manners there is a plain courtesy, while
+      their features bespeak a gallant spirit equal to any enterprise.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      No one was more relieved than Delorier by the departure of the volunteers;
+      for dinner was getting colder every moment. He spread a well-whitened
+      buffalo hide upon the grass, placed in the middle the juicy hump of a fat
+      cow, ranged around it the tin plates and cups, and then acquainted us that
+      all was ready. Tete Rouge, with his usual alacrity on such occasions, was
+      the first to take his seat. In his former capacity of steamboat clerk, he
+      had learned to prefix the honorary MISTER to everybody&rsquo;s name, whether of
+      high or low degree; so Jim Gurney was Mr. Gurney, Henry was Mr. Henry, and
+      even Delorier, for the first time in his life, heard himself addressed as
+      Mr. Delorier. This did not prevent his conceiving a violent enmity against
+      Tete Rouge, who, in his futile though praiseworthy attempts to make
+      himself useful used always to intermeddle with cooking the dinners.
+      Delorier&rsquo;s disposition knew no medium between smiles and sunshine and a
+      downright tornado of wrath; he said nothing to Tete Rouge, but his wrongs
+      rankled in his breast. Tete Rouge had taken his place at dinner; it was
+      his happiest moment; he sat enveloped in the old buffalo coat, sleeves
+      turned up in preparation for the work, and his short legs crossed on the
+      grass before him; he had a cup of coffee by his side and his knife ready
+      in his hand and while he looked upon the fat hump ribs, his eyes dilated
+      with anticipation. Delorier sat just opposite to him, and the rest of us
+      by this time had taken our seats.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How is this, Delorier? You haven&rsquo;t given us bread enough.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      At this Delorier&rsquo;s placid face flew instantly into a paroxysm of
+      contortions. He grinned with wrath, chattered, gesticulated, and hurled
+      forth a volley of incoherent words in broken English at the astonished
+      Tete Rouge. It was just possible to make out that he was accusing him of
+      having stolen and eaten four large cakes which had been laid by for
+      dinner. Tete Rouge, utterly confounded at this sudden attack, stared at
+      Delorier for a moment in dumb amazement, with mouth and eyes wide open. At
+      last he found speech, and protested that the accusation was false; and
+      that he could not conceive how he had offended Mr. Delorier, or provoked
+      him to use such ungentlemanly expressions. The tempest of words raged with
+      such fury that nothing else could be heard. But Tete Rouge, from his
+      greater command of English, had a manifest advantage over Delorier, who
+      after sputtering and grimacing for a while, found his words quite
+      inadequate to the expression of his wrath. He jumped up and vanished,
+      jerking out between his teeth one furious sacre enfant de grace, a
+      Canadian title of honor, made doubly emphatic by being usually applied
+      together with a cut of the whip to refractory mules and horses.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The next morning we saw an old buffalo escorting his cow with two small
+      calves over the prairie. Close behind came four or five large white
+      wolves, sneaking stealthily through the long meadow-grass, and watching
+      for the moment when one of the children should chance to lag behind his
+      parents. The old bull kept well on his guard, and faced about now and then
+      to keep the prowling ruffians at a distance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As we approached our nooning place, we saw five or six buffalo standing at
+      the very summit of a tall bluff. Trotting forward to the spot where we
+      meant to stop, I flung off my saddle and turned my horse loose. By making
+      a circuit under cover of some rising ground, I reached the foot of the
+      bluff unnoticed, and climbed up its steep side. Lying under the brow of
+      the declivity, I prepared to fire at the buffalo, who stood on the flat
+      surface about not five yards distant. Perhaps I was too hasty, for the
+      gleaming rifle-barrel leveled over the edge caught their notice; they
+      turned and ran. Close as they were, it was impossible to kill them when in
+      that position, and stepping upon the summit I pursued them over the high
+      arid tableland. It was extremely rugged and broken; a great sandy ravine
+      was channeled through it, with smaller ravines entering on each side like
+      tributary streams. The buffalo scattered, and I soon lost sight of most of
+      them as they scuttled away through the sandy chasms; a bull and a cow
+      alone kept in view. For a while they ran along the edge of the great
+      ravine, appearing and disappearing as they dived into some chasm and again
+      emerged from it. At last they stretched out upon the broad prairie, a
+      plain nearly flat and almost devoid of verdure, for every short
+      grass-blade was dried and shriveled by the glaring sun. Now and then the
+      old bull would face toward me; whenever he did so I fell to the ground and
+      lay motionless. In this manner I chased them for about two miles, until at
+      length I heard in front a deep hoarse bellowing. A moment after a band of
+      about a hundred bulls, before hidden by a slight swell of the plain, came
+      at once into view. The fugitives ran toward them. Instead of mingling with
+      the band, as I expected, they passed directly through, and continued their
+      flight. At this I gave up the chase, and kneeling down, crawled to within
+      gunshot of the bulls, and with panting breath and trickling brow sat down
+      on the ground to watch them; my presence did not disturb them in the
+      least. They were not feeding, for, indeed, there was nothing to eat; but
+      they seemed to have chosen the parched and scorching desert as the scene
+      of their amusements. Some were rolling on the ground amid a cloud of dust;
+      others, with a hoarse rumbling bellow, were butting their large heads
+      together, while many stood motionless, as if quite inanimate. Except their
+      monstrous growth of tangled grizzly mane, they had no hair; for their old
+      coat had fallen off in the spring, and their new one had not as yet
+      appeared. Sometimes an old bull would step forward, and gaze at me with a
+      grim and stupid countenance; then he would turn and butt his next
+      neighbor; then he would lie down and roll over in the dirt, kicking his
+      hoofs in the air. When satisfied with this amusement he would jerk his
+      head and shoulders upward, and resting on his forelegs stare at me in this
+      position, half blinded by his mane, and his face covered with dirt; then
+      up he would spring upon all-fours, and shake his dusty sides; turning half
+      round, he would stand with his beard touching the ground, in an attitude
+      of profound abstraction, as if reflecting on his puerile conduct. &ldquo;You are
+      too ugly to live,&rdquo; thought I; and aiming at the ugliest, I shot three of
+      them in succession. The rest were not at all discomposed at this; they
+      kept on bellowing and butting and rolling on the ground as before. Henry
+      Chatillon always cautioned us to keep perfectly quiet in the presence of a
+      wounded buffalo, for any movement is apt to excite him to make an attack;
+      so I sat still upon the ground, loading and firing with as little motion
+      as possible. While I was thus employed, a spectator made his appearance; a
+      little antelope came running up with remarkable gentleness to within fifty
+      yards; and there it stood, its slender neck arched, its small horns thrown
+      back, and its large dark eyes gazing on me with a look of eager curiosity.
+      By the side of the shaggy and brutish monsters before me, it seemed like
+      some lovely young girl wandering near a den of robbers or a nest of
+      bearded pirates. The buffalo looked uglier than ever. &ldquo;Here goes for
+      another of you,&rdquo; thought I, feeling in my pouch for a percussion cap. Not
+      a percussion cap was there. My good rifle was useless as an old iron bar.
+      One of the wounded bulls had not yet fallen, and I waited for some time,
+      hoping every moment that his strength would fail him. He still stood firm,
+      looking grimly at me, and disregarding Henry&rsquo;s advice I rose and walked
+      away. Many of the bulls turned and looked at me, but the wounded brute
+      made no attack. I soon came upon a deep ravine which would give me shelter
+      in case of emergency; so I turned round and threw a stone at the bulls.
+      They received it with the utmost indifference. Feeling myself insulted at
+      their refusal to be frightened, I swung my hat, shouted, and made a show
+      of running toward them; at this they crowded together and galloped off,
+      leaving their dead and wounded upon the field. As I moved toward the camp
+      I saw the last survivor totter and fall dead. My speed in returning was
+      wonderfully quickened by the reflection that the Pawnees were abroad, and
+      that I was defenseless in case of meeting with an enemy. I saw no living
+      thing, however, except two or three squalid old bulls scrambling among the
+      sand-hills that flanked the great ravine. When I reached camp the party
+      was nearly ready for the afternoon move.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We encamped that evening at a short distance from the river bank. About
+      midnight, as we all lay asleep on the ground, the man nearest to me gently
+      reaching out his hand, touched my shoulder, and cautioned me at the same
+      time not to move. It was bright starlight. Opening my eyes and slightly
+      turning I saw a large white wolf moving stealthily around the embers of
+      our fire, with his nose close to the ground. Disengaging my hand from the
+      blanket, I drew the cover from my rifle, which lay close at my side; the
+      motion alarmed the wolf, and with long leaps he bounded out of the camp.
+      Jumping up, I fired after him when he was about thirty yards distant; the
+      melancholy hum of the bullet sounded far away through the night. At the
+      sharp report, so suddenly breaking upon the stillness, all the men sprang
+      up.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You&rsquo;ve killed him,&rdquo; said one of them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, I haven&rsquo;t,&rdquo; said I; &ldquo;there he goes, running along the river.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then there&rsquo;s two of them. Don&rsquo;t you see that one lying out yonder?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      We went to it, and instead of a dead white wolf found the bleached skull
+      of a buffalo. I had missed my mark, and what was worse, had grossly
+      violated a standing law of the prairie. When in a dangerous part of the
+      country, it is considered highly imprudent to fire a gun after encamping,
+      lest the report should reach the ears of the Indians.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The horses were saddled in the morning, and the last man had lighted his
+      pipe at the dying ashes of the fire. The beauty of the day enlivened us
+      all. Even Ellis felt its influence, and occasionally made a remark as we
+      rode along, and Jim Gurney told endless stories of his cruisings in the
+      United States service. The buffalo were abundant, and at length a large
+      band of them went running up the hills on the left.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you see them buffalo?&rdquo; said Ellis, &ldquo;now I&rsquo;ll bet any man I&rsquo;ll go and
+      kill one with my yager.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      And leaving his horse to follow on with the party, he strode up the hill
+      after them. Henry looked at us with his peculiar humorous expression, and
+      proposed that we should follow Ellis to see how he would kill a fat cow.
+      As soon as he was out of sight we rode up the hill after him, and waited
+      behind a little ridge till we heard the report of the unfailing yager.
+      Mounting to the top, we saw Ellis clutching his favorite weapon with both
+      hands, and staring after the buffalo, who one and all were galloping off
+      at full speed. As we descended the hill we saw the party straggling along
+      the trail below. When we joined them, another scene of amateur hunting
+      awaited us. I forgot to say that when we met the volunteers Tete Rouge had
+      obtained a horse from one of them, in exchange for his mule, whom he
+      feared and detested. The horse he christened James. James, though not
+      worth so much as the mule, was a large and strong animal. Tete Rouge was
+      very proud of his new acquisition, and suddenly became ambitious to run a
+      buffalo with him. At his request, I lent him my pistols, though not
+      without great misgivings, since when Tete Rouge hunted buffalo the pursuer
+      was in more danger than the pursued. He hung the holsters at his saddle
+      bow; and now, as we passed along, a band of bulls left their grazing in
+      the meadow and galloped in a long file across the trail in front.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now&rsquo;s your chance, Tete; come, let&rsquo;s see you kill a bull.&rdquo; Thus urged,
+      the hunter cried, &ldquo;Get up!&rdquo; and James, obedient to the signal, cantered
+      deliberately forward at an abominably uneasy gait. Tete Rouge, as we
+      contemplated him from behind; made a most remarkable figure. He still wore
+      the old buffalo coat; his blanket, which was tied in a loose bundle behind
+      his saddle, went jolting from one side to the other, and a large tin
+      canteen half full of water, which hung from his pommel, was jerked about
+      his leg in a manner which greatly embarrassed him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let out your horse, man; lay on your whip!&rdquo; we called out to him. The
+      buffalo were getting farther off at every instant. James, being ambitious
+      to mend his pace, tugged hard at the rein, and one of his rider&rsquo;s boots
+      escaped from the stirrup.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Woa! I say, woa!&rdquo; cried Tete Rouge, in great perturbation, and after much
+      effort James&rsquo; progress was arrested. The hunter came trotting back to the
+      party, disgusted with buffalo running, and he was received with
+      overwhelming congratulations.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Too good a chance to lose,&rdquo; said Shaw, pointing to another band of bulls
+      on the left. We lashed our horses and galloped upon them. Shaw killed one
+      with each barrel of his gun. I separated another from the herd and shot
+      him. The small bullet of the rifled pistol, striking too far back, did not
+      immediately take effect, and the bull ran on with unabated speed. Again
+      and again I snapped the remaining pistol at him. I primed it afresh three
+      or four times, and each time it missed fire, for the touch-hole was
+      clogged up. Returning it to the holster, I began to load the empty pistol,
+      still galloping by the side of the bull. By this time he was grown
+      desperate. The foam flew from his jaws and his tongue lolled out. Before
+      the pistol was loaded he sprang upon me, and followed up his attack with a
+      furious rush. The only alternative was to run away or be killed. I took to
+      flight, and the bull, bristling with fury, pursued me closely. The pistol
+      was soon ready, and then looking back, I saw his head five or six yards
+      behind my horse&rsquo;s tail. To fire at it would be useless, for a bullet
+      flattens against the adamantine skull of a buffalo bull. Inclining my body
+      to the left, I turned my horse in that direction as sharply as his speed
+      would permit. The bull, rushing blindly on with great force and weight,
+      did not turn so quickly. As I looked back, his neck and shoulders were
+      exposed to view; turning in the saddle, I shot a bullet through them
+      obliquely into his vitals. He gave over the chase and soon fell to the
+      ground. An English tourist represents a situation like this as one of
+      imminent danger; this is a great mistake; the bull never pursues long, and
+      the horse must be wretched indeed that cannot keep out of his way for two
+      or three minutes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We were now come to a part of the country where we were bound in common
+      prudence to use every possible precaution. We mounted guard at night, each
+      man standing in his turn; and no one ever slept without drawing his rifle
+      close to his side or folding it with him in his blanket. One morning our
+      vigilance was stimulated by our finding traces of a large Comanche
+      encampment. Fortunately for us, however, it had been abandoned nearly a
+      week. On the next evening we found the ashes of a recent fire, which gave
+      us at the time some uneasiness. At length we reached the Caches, a place
+      of dangerous repute; and it had a most dangerous appearance, consisting of
+      sand-hills everywhere broken by ravines and deep chasms. Here we found the
+      grave of Swan, killed at this place, probably by the Pawnees, two or three
+      weeks before. His remains, more than once violated by the Indians and the
+      wolves, were suffered at length to remain undisturbed in their wild burial
+      place.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For several days we met detached companies of Price&rsquo;s regiment. Horses
+      would often break loose at night from their camps. One afternoon we picked
+      up three of these stragglers quietly grazing along the river. After we
+      came to camp that evening, Jim Gurney brought news that more of them were
+      in sight. It was nearly dark, and a cold, drizzling rain had set in; but
+      we all turned out, and after an hour&rsquo;s chase nine horses were caught and
+      brought in. One of them was equipped with saddle and bridle; pistols were
+      hanging at the pommel of the saddle, a carbine was slung at its side, and
+      a blanket rolled up behind it. In the morning, glorying in our valuable
+      prize, we resumed our journey, and our cavalcade presented a much more
+      imposing appearance than ever before. We kept on till the afternoon, when,
+      far behind, three horsemen appeared on the horizon. Coming on at a
+      hand-gallop, they soon overtook us, and claimed all the horses as
+      belonging to themselves and others of their company. They were of course
+      given up, very much to the mortification of Ellis and Jim Gurney.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Our own horses now showed signs of fatigue, and we resolved to give them
+      half a day&rsquo;s rest. We stopped at noon at a grassy spot by the river. After
+      dinner Shaw and Henry went out to hunt; and while the men lounged about
+      the camp, I lay down to read in the shadow of the cart. Looking up, I saw
+      a bull grazing alone on the prairie more than a mile distant. I was tired
+      of reading, and taking my rifle I walked toward him. As I came near, I
+      crawled upon the ground until I approached to within a hundred yards; here
+      I sat down upon the grass and waited till he should turn himself into a
+      proper position to receive his death-wound. He was a grim old veteran. His
+      loves and his battles were over for that season, and now, gaunt and
+      war-worn, he had withdrawn from the herd to graze by himself and recruit
+      his exhausted strength. He was miserably emaciated; his mane was all in
+      tatters; his hide was bare and rough as an elephant&rsquo;s, and covered with
+      dried patches of the mud in which he had been wallowing. He showed all his
+      ribs whenever he moved. He looked like some grizzly old ruffian grown gray
+      in blood and violence, and scowling on all the world from his misanthropic
+      seclusion. The old savage looked up when I first approached, and gave me a
+      fierce stare; then he fell to grazing again with an air of contemptuous
+      indifference. The moment after, as if suddenly recollecting himself, he
+      threw up his head, faced quickly about, and to my amazement came at a
+      rapid trot directly toward me. I was strongly impelled to get up and run,
+      but this would have been very dangerous. Sitting quite still I aimed, as
+      he came on, at the thin part of the skull above the nose. After he had
+      passed over about three-quarters of the distance between us, I was on the
+      point of firing, when, to my great satisfaction, he stopped short. I had
+      full opportunity of studying his countenance; his whole front was covered
+      with a huge mass of coarse matted hair, which hung so low that nothing but
+      his two forefeet were visible beneath it; his short thick horns were
+      blunted and split to the very roots in his various battles, and across his
+      nose and forehead were two or three large white scars, which gave him a
+      grim and at the same time a whimsical appearance. It seemed to me that he
+      stood there motionless for a full quarter of an hour, looking at me
+      through the tangled locks of his mane. For my part, I remained as quiet as
+      he, and looked quite as hard; I felt greatly inclined to come to term with
+      him. &ldquo;My friend,&rdquo; thought I, &ldquo;if you&rsquo;ll let me off, I&rsquo;ll let you off.&rdquo; At
+      length he seemed to have abandoned any hostile design. Very slowly and
+      deliberately he began to turn about; little by little his side came into
+      view, all be-plastered with mud. It was a tempting sight. I forgot my
+      prudent intentions, and fired my rifle; a pistol would have served at that
+      distance. Round spun old bull like a top, and away he galloped over the
+      prairie. He ran some distance, and even ascended a considerable hill,
+      before he lay down and died. After shooting another bull among the hills,
+      I went back to camp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At noon, on the 14th of September, a very large Santa Fe caravan came up.
+      The plain was covered with the long files of their white-topped wagons,
+      the close black carriages in which the traders travel and sleep, large
+      droves of animals, and men on horseback and on foot. They all stopped on
+      the meadow near us. Our diminutive cart and handful of men made but an
+      insignificant figure by the side of their wide and bustling camp. Tete
+      Rouge went over to visit them, and soon came back with half a dozen
+      biscuits in one hand and a bottle of brandy in the other. I inquired where
+      he got them. &ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; said Tete Rouge, &ldquo;I know some of the traders. Dr. Dobbs
+      is there besides.&rdquo; I asked who Dr. Dobbs might be. &ldquo;One of our St. Louis
+      doctors,&rdquo; replied Tete Rouge. For two days past I had been severely
+      attacked by the same disorder which had so greatly reduced my strength
+      when at the mountains; at this time I was suffering not a little from the
+      sudden pain and weakness which it occasioned. Tete Rouge, in answer to my
+      inquiries, declared that Dr. Dobbs was a physician of the first standing.
+      Without at all believing him, I resolved to consult this eminent
+      practitioner. Walking over to the camp, I found him lying sound asleep
+      under one of the wagons. He offered in his own person but an indifferent
+      specimen of his skill, for it was five months since I had seen so
+      cadaverous a face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His hat had fallen off, and his yellow hair was all in disorder; one of
+      his arms supplied the place of a pillow; his pantaloons were wrinkled
+      halfway up to his knees, and he was covered with little bits of grass and
+      straw, upon which he had rolled in his uneasy slumber. A Mexican stood
+      near, and I made him a sign that he should touch the doctor. Up sprang the
+      learned Dobbs, and, sitting upright, rubbed his eyes and looked about him
+      in great bewilderment. I regretted the necessity of disturbing him, and
+      said I had come to ask professional advice. &ldquo;Your system, sir, is in a
+      disordered state,&rdquo; said he solemnly, after a short examination.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I inquired what might be the particular species of disorder.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Evidently a morbid action of the liver,&rdquo; replied the medical man; &ldquo;I will
+      give you a prescription.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Repairing to the back of one of the covered wagons, he scrambled in; for a
+      moment I could see nothing of him but his boots. At length he produced a
+      box which he had extracted from some dark recess within, and opening it,
+      he presented me with a folded paper of some size. &ldquo;What is it?&rdquo; said I.
+      &ldquo;Calomel,&rdquo; said the doctor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Under the circumstances I would have taken almost anything. There was not
+      enough to do me much harm, and it might possibly do good; so at camp that
+      night I took the poison instead of supper.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That camp is worthy of notice. The traders warned us not to follow the
+      main trail along the river, &ldquo;unless,&rdquo; as one of them observed, &ldquo;you want
+      to have your throats cut!&rdquo; The river at this place makes a bend; and a
+      smaller trail, known as the Ridge-path, leads directly across the prairie
+      from point to point, a distance of sixty or seventy miles.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We followed this trail, and after traveling seven or eight miles, we came
+      to a small stream, where we encamped. Our position was not chosen with
+      much forethought or military skill. The water was in a deep hollow, with
+      steep, high banks; on the grassy bottom of this hollow we picketed our
+      horses, while we ourselves encamped upon the barren prairie just above.
+      The opportunity was admirable either for driving off our horses or
+      attacking us. After dark, as Tete Rouge was sitting at supper, we observed
+      him pointing with a face of speechless horror over the shoulder of Henry,
+      who was opposite to him. Aloof amid the darkness appeared a gigantic black
+      apparition; solemnly swaying to and fro, it advanced steadily upon us.
+      Henry, half vexed and half amused, jumped up, spread out his arms, and
+      shouted. The invader was an old buffalo bull, who with characteristic
+      stupidity, was walking directly into camp. It cost some shouting and
+      swinging of hats before we could bring him first to a halt and then to a
+      rapid retreat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That night the moon was full and bright; but as the black clouds chased
+      rapidly over it, we were at one moment in light and at the next in
+      darkness. As the evening advanced, a thunderstorm came up; it struck us
+      with such violence that the tent would have been blown over if we had not
+      interposed the cart to break the force of the wind. At length it subsided
+      to a steady rain. I lay awake through nearly the whole night, listening to
+      its dull patter upon the canvas above. The moisture, which filled the tent
+      and trickled from everything in it, did not add to the comfort of the
+      situation. About twelve o&rsquo;clock Shaw went out to stand guard amid the rain
+      and pitch darkness. Munroe, the most vigilant as well as one of the
+      bravest among us, was also on the alert. When about two hours had passed,
+      Shaw came silently in, and touching Henry, called him in a low quick voice
+      to come out. &ldquo;What is it?&rdquo; I asked. &ldquo;Indians, I believe,&rdquo; whispered Shaw;
+      &ldquo;but lie still; I&rsquo;ll call you if there&rsquo;s a fight.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He and Henry went out together. I took the cover from my rifle, put a
+      fresh percussion cap upon it, and then, being in much pain, lay down
+      again. In about five minutes Shaw came in again. &ldquo;All right,&rdquo; he said, as
+      he lay down to sleep. Henry was now standing guard in his place. He told
+      me in the morning the particulars of the alarm. Munroe&rsquo; s watchful eye
+      discovered some dark objects down in the hollow, among the horses, like
+      men creeping on all fours. Lying flat on their faces, he and Shaw crawled
+      to the edge of the bank, and were soon convinced that what they saw were
+      Indians. Shaw silently withdrew to call Henry, and they all lay watching
+      in the same position. Henry&rsquo;s eye is of the best on the prairie. He
+      detected after a while the true nature of the moving objects; they were
+      nothing but wolves creeping among the horses.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It is very singular that when picketed near a camp horses seldom show any
+      fear of such an intrusion. The wolves appear to have no other object than
+      that of gnawing the trail-ropes of raw hide by which the animals are
+      secured. Several times in the course of the journey my horse&rsquo;s trail-rope
+      was bitten in two by these nocturnal visitors.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0027" id="link2HCH0027">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXVII
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      THE SETTLEMENTS
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      The next day was extremely hot, and we rode from morning till night
+      without seeing a tree or a bush or a drop of water. Our horses and mules
+      suffered much more than we, but as sunset approached they pricked up their
+      ears and mended their pace. Water was not far off. When we came to the
+      descent of the broad shallowy valley where it lay, an unlooked-for sight
+      awaited us. The stream glistened at the bottom, and along its banks were
+      pitched a multitude of tents, while hundreds of cattle were feeding over
+      the meadows. Bodies of troops, both horse and foot, and long trains of
+      wagons with men, women, and children, were moving over the opposite ridge
+      and descending the broad declivity in front. These were the Mormon
+      battalion in the service of government, together with a considerable
+      number of Missouri volunteers. The Mormons were to be paid off in
+      California, and they were allowed to bring with them their families and
+      property. There was something very striking in the half-military,
+      half-patriarchal appearance of these armed fanatics, thus on their way
+      with their wives and children, to found, if might be, a Mormon empire in
+      California. We were much more astonished than pleased at the sight before
+      us. In order to find an unoccupied camping ground, we were obliged to pass
+      a quarter of a mile up the stream, and here we were soon beset by a swarm
+      of Mormons and Missourians. The United States officer in command of the
+      whole came also to visit us, and remained some time at our camp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the morning the country was covered with mist. We were always early
+      risers, but before we were ready the voices of men driving in the cattle
+      sounded all around us. As we passed above their camp, we saw through the
+      obscurity that the tents were falling and the ranks rapidly forming; and
+      mingled with the cries of women and children, the rolling of the Mormon
+      drums and the clear blast of their trumpets sounded through the mist.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      From that time to the journey&rsquo;s end, we met almost every day long trains
+      of government wagons, laden with stores for the troops and crawling at a
+      snail&rsquo;s pace toward Santa Fe.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Tete Rouge had a mortal antipathy to danger, but on a foraging expedition
+      one evening, he achieved an adventure more perilous than had yet befallen
+      any man in the party. The night after we left the Ridge-path we encamped
+      close to the river. At sunset we saw a train of wagons encamping on the
+      trail about three miles off; and though we saw them distinctly, our little
+      cart, as it afterward proved, entirely escaped their view. For some days
+      Tete Rouge had been longing eagerly after a dram of whisky. So, resolving
+      to improve the present opportunity, he mounted his horse James, slung his
+      canteen over his shoulder, and set forth in search of his favorite liquor.
+      Some hours passed without his returning. We thought that he was lost, or
+      perhaps that some stray Indian had snapped him up. While the rest fell
+      asleep I remained on guard. Late at night a tremulous voice saluted me
+      from the darkness, and Tete Rouge and James soon became visible, advancing
+      toward the camp. Tete Rouge was in much agitation and big with some
+      important tidings. Sitting down on the shaft of the cart, he told the
+      following story:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When he left the camp he had no idea, he said, how late it was. By the
+      time he approached the wagoners it was perfectly dark; and as he saw them
+      all sitting around their fires within the circle of wagons, their guns
+      laid by their sides, he thought he might as well give warning of his
+      approach, in order to prevent a disagreeable mistake. Raising his voice to
+      the highest pitch, he screamed out in prolonged accents, &ldquo;Camp, ahoy!&rdquo;
+       This eccentric salutation produced anything but the desired result.
+      Hearing such hideous sounds proceeding from the outer darkness, the
+      wagoners thought that the whole Pawnee nation were about to break in and
+      take their scalps. Up they sprang staring with terror. Each man snatched
+      his gun; some stood behind the wagons; some threw themselves flat on the
+      ground, and in an instant twenty cocked muskets were leveled full at the
+      horrified Tete Rouge, who just then began to be visible through the
+      darkness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thar they come,&rdquo; cried the master wagoner, &ldquo;fire, fire! shoot that
+      feller.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no!&rdquo; screamed Tete Rouge, in an ecstasy of fright; &ldquo;don&rsquo;t fire,
+      don&rsquo;t! I&rsquo;m a friend, I&rsquo;m an American citizen!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You&rsquo;re a friend, be you?&rdquo; cried a gruff voice from the wagons; &ldquo;then what
+      are you yelling out thar for, like a wild Injun. Come along up here if
+      you&rsquo;re a man.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Keep your guns p&rsquo;inted at him,&rdquo; added the master wagoner, &ldquo;maybe he&rsquo;s a
+      decoy, like.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Tete Rouge in utter bewilderment made his approach, with the gaping
+      muzzles of the muskets still before his eyes. He succeeded at last in
+      explaining his character and situation, and the Missourians admitted him
+      into camp. He got no whisky; but as he represented himself as a great
+      invalid, and suffering much from coarse fare, they made up a contribution
+      for him of rice, biscuit, and sugar from their own rations.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the morning at breakfast, Tete Rouge once more related this story. We
+      hardly knew how much of it to believe, though after some cross-questioning
+      we failed to discover any flaw in the narrative. Passing by the wagoner&rsquo;s
+      camp, they confirmed Tete Rouge&rsquo;s account in every particular.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wouldn&rsquo;t have been in that feller&rsquo;s place,&rdquo; said one of them, &ldquo;for the
+      biggest heap of money in Missouri.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      To Tete Rouge&rsquo;s great wrath they expressed a firm conviction that he was
+      crazy. We left them after giving them the advice not to trouble themselves
+      about war-whoops in future, since they would be apt to feel an Indian&rsquo;s
+      arrow before they heard his voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A day or two after, we had an adventure of another sort with a party of
+      wagoners. Henry and I rode forward to hunt. After that day there was no
+      probability that we should meet with buffalo, and we were anxious to kill
+      one for the sake of fresh meat. They were so wild that we hunted all the
+      morning in vain, but at noon as we approached Cow Creek we saw a large
+      band feeding near its margin. Cow Creek is densely lined with trees which
+      intercept the view beyond, and it runs, as we afterward found, at the
+      bottom of a deep trench. We approached by riding along the bottom of a
+      ravine. When we were near enough, I held the horses while Henry crept
+      toward the buffalo. I saw him take his seat within shooting distance,
+      prepare his rifle, and look about to select his victim. The death of a fat
+      cow was certain, when suddenly a great smoke arose from the bed of the
+      Creek with a rattling volley of musketry. A score of long-legged
+      Missourians leaped out from among the trees and ran after the buffalo, who
+      one and all took to their heels and vanished. These fellows had crawled up
+      the bed of the Creek to within a hundred yards of the buffalo. Never was
+      there a fairer chance for a shot. They were good marksmen; all cracked
+      away at once, and yet not a buffalo fell. In fact, the animal is so
+      tenacious of life that it requires no little knowledge of anatomy to kill
+      it, and it is very seldom that a novice succeeds in his first attempt at
+      approaching. The balked Missourians were excessively mortified, especially
+      when Henry told them if they had kept quiet he would have killed meat
+      enough in ten minutes to feed their whole party. Our friends, who were at
+      no great distance, hearing such a formidable fusillade, thought the
+      Indians had fired the volley for our benefit. Shaw came galloping on to
+      reconnoiter and learn if we were yet in the land of the living.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At Cow Creek we found the very welcome novelty of ripe grapes and plums,
+      which grew there in abundance. At the Little Arkansas, not much farther
+      on, we saw the last buffalo, a miserable old bull, roaming over the
+      prairie alone and melancholy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      From this time forward the character of the country was changing every
+      day. We had left behind us the great arid deserts, meagerly covered by the
+      tufted buffalo grass, with its pale green hue, and its short shriveled
+      blades. The plains before us were carpeted with rich and verdant herbage
+      sprinkled with flowers. In place of buffalo we found plenty of prairie
+      hens, and we bagged them by dozens without leaving the trail. In three or
+      four days we saw before us the broad woods and the emerald meadows of
+      Council Grove, a scene of striking luxuriance and beauty. It seemed like a
+      new sensation as we rode beneath the resounding archs of these noble
+      woods. The trees were ash, oak, elm, maple, and hickory, their mighty
+      limbs deeply overshadowing the path, while enormous grape vines were
+      entwined among them, purple with fruit. The shouts of our scattered party,
+      and now and then a report of a rifle, rang amid the breathing stillness of
+      the forest. We rode forth again with regret into the broad light of the
+      open prairie. Little more than a hundred miles now separated us from the
+      frontier settlements. The whole intervening country was a succession of
+      verdant prairies, rising in broad swells and relieved by trees clustering
+      like an oasis around some spring, or following the course of a stream
+      along some fertile hollow. These are the prairies of the poet and the
+      novelist. We had left danger behind us. Nothing was to be feared from the
+      Indians of this region, the Sacs and Foxes, the Kansas and the Osages. We
+      had met with signal good fortune. Although for five months we had been
+      traveling with an insufficient force through a country where we were at
+      any moment liable to depredation, not a single animal had been stolen from
+      us, and our only loss had been one old mule bitten to death by a
+      rattlesnake. Three weeks after we reached the frontier the Pawnees and the
+      Comanches began a regular series of hostilities on the Arkansas trail,
+      killing men and driving off horses. They attacked, without exception,
+      every party, large or small, that passed during the next six months.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Diamond Spring, Rock Creek, Elder Grove, and other camping places besides,
+      were passed all in quick succession. At Rock Creek we found a train of
+      government provision wagons, under the charge of an emaciated old man in
+      his seventy-first year. Some restless American devil had driven him into
+      the wilderness at a time when he should have been seated at his fireside
+      with his grandchildren on his knees. I am convinced that he never
+      returned; he was complaining that night of a disease, the wasting effects
+      of which upon a younger and stronger man, I myself had proved from severe
+      experience. Long ere this no doubt the wolves have howled their moonlight
+      carnival over the old man&rsquo;s attenuated remains.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Not long after we came to a small trail leading to Fort Leavenworth,
+      distant but one day&rsquo;s journey. Tete Rouge here took leave of us. He was
+      anxious to go to the fort in order to receive payment for his valuable
+      military services. So he and his horse James, after bidding an
+      affectionate farewell, set out together, taking with them as much
+      provision as they could conveniently carry, including a large quantity of
+      brown sugar. On a cheerless rainy evening we came to our last encamping
+      ground. Some pigs belonging to a Shawnee farmer were grunting and rooting
+      at the edge of the grove.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wonder how fresh pork tastes,&rdquo; murmured one of the party, and more than
+      one voice murmured in response. The fiat went forth, &ldquo;That pig must die,&rdquo;
+       and a rifle was leveled forthwith at the countenance of the plumpest
+      porker. Just then a wagon train, with some twenty Missourians, came out
+      from among the trees. The marksman suspended his aim, deeming it
+      inexpedient under the circumstances to consummate the deed of blood.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the morning we made our toilet as well as circumstances would permit,
+      and that is saying but very little. In spite of the dreary rain of
+      yesterday, there never was a brighter and gayer autumnal morning than that
+      on which we returned to the settlements. We were passing through the
+      country of the half-civilized Shawanoes. It was a beautiful alternation of
+      fertile plains and groves, whose foliage was just tinged with the hues of
+      autumn, while close beneath them rested the neat log-houses of the Indian
+      farmers. Every field and meadow bespoke the exuberant fertility of the
+      soil. The maize stood rustling in the wind, matured and dry, its shining
+      yellow ears thrust out between the gaping husks. Squashes and enormous
+      yellow pumpkins lay basking in the sun in the midst of their brown and
+      shriveled leaves. Robins and blackbirds flew about the fences; and
+      everything in short betokened our near approach to home and civilization.
+      The forests that border on the Missouri soon rose before us, and we
+      entered the wide tract of shrubbery which forms their outskirts. We had
+      passed the same road on our outward journey in the spring, but its aspect
+      was totally changed. The young wild apple trees, then flushed with their
+      fragrant blossoms, were now hung thickly with ruddy fruit. Tall grass
+      flourished by the roadside in place of the tender shoots just peeping from
+      the warm and oozy soil. The vines were laden with dark purple grapes, and
+      the slender twigs of the maple, then tasseled with their clusters of small
+      red flowers, now hung out a gorgeous display of leaves stained by the
+      frost with burning crimson. On every side we saw the tokens of maturity
+      and decay where all had before been fresh and beautiful. We entered the
+      forest, and ourselves and our horses were checkered, as we passed along,
+      by the bright spots of sunlight that fell between the opening boughs. On
+      either side the dark rich masses of foliage almost excluded the sun,
+      though here and there its rays could find their way down, striking through
+      the broad leaves and lighting them with a pure transparent green.
+      Squirrels barked at us from the trees; coveys of young partridges ran
+      rustling over the leaves below, and the golden oriole, the blue jay, and
+      the flaming red-bird darted among the shadowy branches. We hailed these
+      sights and sounds of beauty by no means with an unmingled pleasure. Many
+      and powerful as were the attractions which drew us toward the settlements,
+      we looked back even at that moment with an eager longing toward the
+      wilderness of prairies and mountains behind us. For myself I had suffered
+      more that summer from illness than ever before in my life, and yet to this
+      hour I cannot recall those savage scenes and savage men without a strong
+      desire again to visit them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At length, for the first time during about half a year, we saw the roof of
+      a white man&rsquo;s dwelling between the opening trees. A few moments after we
+      were riding over the miserable log bridge that leads into the center of
+      Westport. Westport had beheld strange scenes, but a rougher looking troop
+      than ours, with our worn equipments and broken-down horses, was never seen
+      even there. We passed the well-remembered tavern, Boone&rsquo;s grocery and old
+      Vogel&rsquo;s dram shop, and encamped on a meadow beyond. Here we were soon
+      visited by a number of people who came to purchase our horses and
+      equipage. This matter disposed of, we hired a wagon and drove on to Kansas
+      Landing. Here we were again received under the hospitable roof of our old
+      friend Colonel Chick, and seated on his porch we looked down once more on
+      the eddies of the Missouri.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Delorier made his appearance in the morning, strangely transformed by the
+      assistance of a hat, a coat, and a razor. His little log-house was among
+      the woods not far off. It seemed he had meditated giving a ball on the
+      occasion of his return, and had consulted Henry Chatillon as to whether it
+      would do to invite his bourgeois. Henry expressed his entire conviction
+      that we would not take it amiss, and the invitation was now proffered,
+      accordingly, Delorier adding as a special inducement that Antoine
+      Lejeunesse was to play the fiddle. We told him we would certainly come,
+      but before the evening arrived a steamboat, which came down from Fort
+      Leavenworth, prevented our being present at the expected festivities.
+      Delorier was on the rock at the landing place, waiting to take leave of
+      us.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Adieu! mes bourgeois; adieu! adieu!&rdquo; he cried out as the boat pulled off;
+      &ldquo;when you go another time to de Rocky Montagnes I will go with you; yes, I
+      will go!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He accompanied this patronizing assurance by jumping about swinging his
+      hat, and grinning from ear to ear. As the boat rounded a distant point,
+      the last object that met our eyes was Delorier still lifting his hat and
+      skipping about the rock. We had taken leave of Munroe and Jim Gurney at
+      Westport, and Henry Chatillon went down in the boat with us.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The passage to St. Louis occupied eight days, during about a third of
+      which we were fast aground on sand-bars. We passed the steamer Amelia
+      crowded with a roaring crew of disbanded volunteers, swearing, drinking,
+      gambling, and fighting. At length one evening we reached the crowded levee
+      of St. Louis. Repairing to the Planters&rsquo; House, we caused diligent search
+      to be made for our trunks, which after some time were discovered stowed
+      away in the farthest corner of the storeroom. In the morning we hardly
+      recognized each other; a frock of broadcloth had supplanted the frock of
+      buckskin; well-fitted pantaloons took the place of the Indian leggings,
+      and polished boots were substituted for the gaudy moccasins.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After we had been several days at St. Louis we heard news of Tete Rouge.
+      He had contrived to reach Fort Leavenworth, where he had found the
+      paymaster and received his money. As a boat was just ready to start for
+      St. Louis, he went on board and engaged his passage. This done, he
+      immediately got drunk on shore, and the boat went off without him. It was
+      some days before another opportunity occurred, and meanwhile the sutler&rsquo;s
+      stores furnished him with abundant means of keeping up his spirits.
+      Another steamboat came at last, the clerk of which happened to be a friend
+      of his, and by the advice of some charitable person on shore he persuaded
+      Tete Rouge to remain on board, intending to detain him there until the
+      boat should leave the fort. At first Tete Rouge was well contented with
+      this arrangement, but on applying for a dram, the barkeeper, at the
+      clerk&rsquo;s instigation, refused to let him have it. Finding them both
+      inflexible in spite of his entreaties, he became desperate and made his
+      escape from the boat. The clerk found him after a long search in one of
+      the barracks; a circle of dragoons stood contemplating him as he lay on
+      the floor, maudlin drunk and crying dismally. With the help of one of them
+      the clerk pushed him on board, and our informant, who came down in the
+      same boat, declares that he remained in great despondency during the whole
+      passage. As we left St. Louis soon after his arrival, we did not see the
+      worthless, good-natured little vagabond again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the evening before our departure Henry Chatillon came to our rooms at
+      the Planters&rsquo; House to take leave of us. No one who met him in the streets
+      of St. Louis would have taken him for a hunter fresh from the Rocky
+      Mountains. He was very neatly and simply dressed in a suit of dark cloth;
+      for although, since his sixteenth year, he had scarcely been for a month
+      together among the abodes of men, he had a native good taste and a sense
+      of propriety which always led him to pay great attention to his personal
+      appearance. His tall athletic figure, with its easy flexible motions,
+      appeared to advantage in his present dress; and his fine face, though
+      roughened by a thousand storms, was not at all out of keeping with it. We
+      took leave of him with much regret; and unless his changing features, as
+      he shook us by the hand, belied him, the feeling on his part was no less
+      than on ours. Shaw had given him a horse at Westport. My rifle, which he
+      had always been fond of using, as it was an excellent piece, much better
+      than his own, is now in his hands, and perhaps at this moment its sharp
+      voice is startling the echoes of the Rocky Mountains. On the next morning
+      we left town, and after a fortnight of railroads and steamboat we saw once
+      more the familiar features of home.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg&rsquo;s The Oregon Trail, by Francis Parkman, Jr.
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+Project Gutenberg Etext of The Oregon Trail by Francis Parkman, Jr.
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+The Oregon Trail
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+by Francis Parkman, Jr.
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+August, 1997  [Etext #1015]
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+This etext was prepared by Donald Lainson, Toronto, Canada.
+
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+
+
+THE OREGON TRAIL
+
+by Francis Parkman, Jr.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+I  THE FRONTIER
+
+II  BREAKING THE ICE
+
+III  FORT LEAVENWORTH
+
+IV  "JUMPING OFF"
+
+V  "THE BIG BLUE"
+
+VI  THE PLATTE AND THE DESERT
+
+VII  THE BUFFALO
+
+VIII  TAKING FRENCH LEAVE
+
+IX  SCENES AT FORT LARAMIE
+
+X  THE WAR PARTIES
+
+XI  SCENES AT THE CAMP
+
+XII  ILL LUCK
+
+XIII  HUNTING INDIANS
+
+XIV  THE OGALLALLA VILLAGR
+
+XV  THE HUNTING CAMP
+
+XVI  THE TRAPPERS
+
+XVII  THE BLACK HILLS
+
+XVIII  A MOUNTAIN HUNT
+
+XIX  PASSAGE OF THE MOUNTAINS
+
+XX  THE LONELY JOURNEY
+
+XXI  THE PUEBLO AND BENT'S FORT
+
+XXII  TETE ROUGE, THE VOLUNTEER
+
+XXIII  INDIAN ALARMS
+
+XXIV  THE CHASE
+
+XXV  THE BUFFALO CAMP
+
+XXVI  DOWN THE ARKANSAS
+
+XXVII  THE SETTLEMENTS
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE FRONTIER
+
+
+Last spring, 1846, was a busy season in the City of St. Louis.  Not 
+only were emigrants from every part of the country preparing for the 
+journey to Oregon and California, but an unusual number of traders 
+were making ready their wagons and outfits for Santa Fe.  Many of the 
+emigrants, especially of those bound for California, were persons of 
+wealth and standing.  The hotels were crowded, and the gunsmiths and 
+saddlers were kept constantly at work in providing arms and 
+equipments for the different parties of travelers.  Almost every day 
+steamboats were leaving the levee and passing up the Missouri, 
+crowded with passengers on their way to the frontier.
+
+In one of these, the Radnor, since snagged and lost, my friend and 
+relative, Quincy A. Shaw, and myself, left St. Louis on the 28th of 
+April, on a tour of curiosity and amusement to the Rocky Mountains.  
+The boat was loaded until the water broke alternately over her 
+guards.  Her upper deck was covered with large weapons of a peculiar 
+form, for the Santa Fe trade, and her hold was crammed with goods for 
+the same destination.  There were also the equipments and provisions 
+of a party of Oregon emigrants, a band of mules and horses, piles of 
+saddles and harness, and a multitude of nondescript articles, 
+indispensable on the prairies.  Almost hidden in this medley one 
+might have seen a small French cart, of the sort very appropriately 
+called a "mule-killer" beyond the frontiers, and not far distant a 
+tent, together with a miscellaneous assortment of boxes and barrels.  
+The whole equipage was far from prepossessing in its appearance; yet, 
+such as it was, it was destined to a long and arduous journey, on 
+which the persevering reader will accompany it.
+
+The passengers on board the Radnor corresponded with her freight.  In 
+her cabin were Santa Fe traders, gamblers, speculators, and 
+adventurers of various descriptions, and her steerage was crowded 
+with Oregon emigrants, "mountain men," negroes, and a party of Kansas 
+Indians, who had been on a visit to St. Louis.
+
+Thus laden, the boat struggled upward for seven or eight days against 
+the rapid current of the Missouri, grating upon snags, and hanging 
+for two or three hours at a time upon sand-bars.  We entered the 
+mouth of the Missouri in a drizzling rain, but the weather soon 
+became clear, and showed distinctly the broad and turbid river, with 
+its eddies, its sand-bars, its ragged islands, and forest-covered 
+shores.  The Missouri is constantly changing its course; wearing away 
+its banks on one side, while it forms new ones on the other.  Its 
+channel is shifting continually.  Islands are formed, and then washed 
+away; and while the old forests on one side are undermined and swept 
+off, a young growth springs up from the new soil upon the other.  
+With all these changes, the water is so charged with mud and sand 
+that it is perfectly opaque, and in a few minutes deposits a sediment 
+an inch thick in the bottom of a tumbler.  The river was now high; 
+but when we descended in the autumn it was fallen very low, and all 
+the secrets of its treacherous shallows were exposed to view.  It was 
+frightful to see the dead and broken trees, thick-set as a military 
+abatis, firmly imbedded in the sand, and all pointing down stream, 
+ready to impale any unhappy steamboat that at high water should pass 
+over that dangerous ground.
+
+In five or six days we began to see signs of the great western 
+movement that was then taking place.  Parties of emigrants, with 
+their tents and wagons, would be encamped on open spots near the 
+bank, on their way to the common rendezvous at Independence.  On a 
+rainy day, near sunset, we reached the landing of this place, which 
+is situated some miles from the river, on the extreme frontier of 
+Missouri.  The scene was characteristic, for here were represented at 
+one view the most remarkable features of this wild and enterprising 
+region.  On the muddy shore stood some thirty or forty dark slavish-
+looking Spaniards, gazing stupidly out from beneath their broad hats.  
+They were attached to one of the Santa Fe companies, whose wagons 
+were crowded together on the banks above.  In the midst of these, 
+crouching over a smoldering fire, was a group of Indians, belonging 
+to a remote Mexican tribe.  One or two French hunters from the 
+mountains with their long hair and buckskin dresses, were looking at 
+the boat; and seated on a log close at hand were three men, with 
+rifles lying across their knees.  The foremost of these, a tall, 
+strong figure, with a clear blue eye and an open, intelligent face, 
+might very well represent that race of restless and intrepid pioneers 
+whose axes and rifles have opened a path from the Alleghenies to the 
+western prairies.  He was on his way to Oregon, probably a more 
+congenial field to him than any that now remained on this side the 
+great plains.
+
+Early on the next morning we reached Kansas, about five hundred miles 
+from the mouth of the Missouri.  Here we landed and leaving our 
+equipments in charge of my good friend Colonel Chick, whose log-house 
+was the substitute for a tavern, we set out in a wagon for Westport, 
+where we hoped to procure mules and horses for the journey.
+
+It was a remarkably fresh and beautiful May morning.  The rich and 
+luxuriant woods through which the miserable road conducted us were 
+lighted by the bright sunshine and enlivened by a multitude of birds.  
+We overtook on the way our late fellow-travelers, the Kansas Indians, 
+who, adorned with all their finery, were proceeding homeward at a 
+round pace; and whatever they might have seemed on board the boat, 
+they made a very striking and picturesque feature in the forest 
+landscape.
+
+Westport was full of Indians, whose little shaggy ponies were tied by 
+dozens along the houses and fences.  Sacs and Foxes, with shaved 
+heads and painted faces, Shawanoes and Delawares, fluttering in 
+calico frocks, and turbans, Wyandottes dressed like white men, and a 
+few wretched Kansas wrapped in old blankets, were strolling about the 
+streets, or lounging in and out of the shops and houses.
+
+As I stood at the door of the tavern, I saw a remarkable looking 
+person coming up the street.  He had a ruddy face, garnished with the 
+stumps of a bristly red beard and mustache; on one side of his head 
+was a round cap with a knob at the top, such as Scottish laborers 
+sometimes wear; his coat was of a nondescript form, and made of a 
+gray Scotch plaid, with the fringes hanging all about it; he wore 
+pantaloons of coarse homespun, and hob-nailed shoes; and to complete 
+his equipment, a little black pipe was stuck in one corner of his 
+mouth.  In this curious attire, I recognized Captain C. of the 
+British army, who, with his brother, and Mr. R., an English 
+gentleman, was bound on a hunting expedition across the continent.  I 
+had seen the captain and his companions at St. Louis.  They had now 
+been for some time at Westport, making preparations for their 
+departure, and waiting for a re-enforcement, since they were too few 
+in number to attempt it alone.  They might, it is true, have joined 
+some of the parties of emigrants who were on the point of setting out 
+for Oregon and California; but they professed great disinclination to 
+have any connection with the "Kentucky fellows."
+
+The captain now urged it upon us, that we should join forces and 
+proceed to the mountains in company.  Feeling no greater partiality 
+for the society of the emigrants than they did, we thought the 
+arrangement an advantageous one, and consented to it.  Our future 
+fellow-travelers had installed themselves in a little log-house, 
+where we found them all surrounded by saddles, harness, guns, 
+pistols, telescopes, knives, and in short their complete appointments 
+for the prairie.  R., who professed a taste for natural history, sat 
+at a table stuffing a woodpecker; the brother of the captain, who was 
+an Irishman, was splicing a trail-rope on the floor, as he had been 
+an amateur sailor.  The captain pointed out, with much complacency, 
+the different articles of their outfit.  "You see," said he, "that we 
+are all old travelers.  I am convinced that no party ever went upon 
+the prairie better provided."  The hunter whom they had employed, a 
+surly looking Canadian, named Sorel, and their muleteer, an American 
+from St. Louis, were lounging about the building.  In a little log 
+stable close at hand were their horses and mules, selected by the 
+captain, who was an excellent judge.
+
+The alliance entered into, we left them to complete their 
+arrangements, while we pushed our own to all convenient speed.  The 
+emigrants for whom our friends professed such contempt were encamped 
+on the prairie about eight or ten miles distant, to the number of a 
+thousand or more, and new parties were constantly passing out from 
+Independence to join them.  They were in great confusion, holding 
+meetings, passing resolutions, and drawing up regulations, but unable 
+to unite in the choice of leaders to conduct them across the prairie.  
+Being at leisure one day, I rode over to Independence.  The town was 
+crowded.  A multitude of shops had sprung up to furnish the emigrants 
+and Santa Fe traders with necessaries for their journey; and there 
+was an incessant hammering and banging from a dozen blacksmiths' 
+sheds, where the heavy wagons were being repaired, and the horses and 
+oxen shod.  The streets were thronged with men, horses, and mules.  
+While I was in the town, a train of emigrant wagons from Illinois 
+passed through, to join the camp on the prairie, and stopped in the 
+principal street.  A multitude of healthy children's faces were 
+peeping out from under the covers of the wagons.  Here and there a 
+buxom damsel was seated on horseback, holding over her sunburnt face 
+an old umbrella or a parasol, once gaudy enough but now miserably 
+faded.  The men, very sober-looking countrymen, stood about their 
+oxen; and as I passed I noticed three old fellows, who, with their 
+long whips in their hands, were zealously discussing the doctrine of 
+regeneration.  The emigrants, however, are not all of this stamp.  
+Among them are some of the vilest outcasts in the country.  I have 
+often perplexed myself to divine the various motives that give 
+impulse to this strange migration; but whatever they may be, whether 
+an insane hope of a better condition in life, or a desire of shaking 
+off restraints of law and society, or mere restlessness, certain it 
+is that multitudes bitterly repent the journey, and after they have 
+reached the land of promise are happy enough to escape from it.
+
+In the course of seven or eight days we had brought our preparations 
+near to a close.  Meanwhile our friends had completed theirs, and 
+becoming tired of Westport, they told us that they would set out in 
+advance and wait at the crossing of the Kansas till we should come 
+up.  Accordingly R. and the muleteers went forward with the wagon and 
+tent, while the captain and his brother, together with Sorel, and a 
+trapper named Boisverd, who had joined them, followed with the band 
+of horses.  The commencement of the journey was ominous, for the 
+captain was scarcely a mile from Westport, riding along in state at 
+the head of his party, leading his intended buffalo horse by a rope, 
+when a tremendous thunderstorm came on, and drenched them all to the 
+skin.  They hurried on to reach the place, about seven miles off, 
+where R. was to have had the camp in readiness to receive them.  But 
+this prudent person, when he saw the storm approaching, had selected 
+a sheltered glade in the woods, where he pitched his tent, and was 
+sipping a comfortable cup of coffee, while the captain galloped for 
+miles beyond through the rain to look for him.  At length the storm 
+cleared away, and the sharp-eyed trapper succeeded in discovering his 
+tent: R. had by this time finished his coffee, and was seated on a 
+buffalo robe smoking his pipe.  The captain was one of the most easy-
+tempered men in existence, so he bore his ill-luck with great 
+composure, shared the dregs of the coffee with his brother, and lay 
+down to sleep in his wet clothes.
+
+We ourselves had our share of the deluge.  We were leading a pair of 
+mules to Kansas when the storm broke.  Such sharp and incessant 
+flashes of lightning, such stunning and continuous thunder, I have 
+never known before.  The woods were completely obscured by the 
+diagonal sheets of rain that fell with a heavy roar, and rose in 
+spray from the ground; and the streams rose so rapidly that we could 
+hardly ford them.  At length, looming through the rain, we saw the 
+log-house of Colonel Chick, who received us with his usual bland 
+hospitality; while his wife, who, though a little soured and 
+stiffened by too frequent attendance on camp-meetings, was not behind 
+him in hospitable feeling, supplied us with the means of repairing 
+our drenched and bedraggled condition.  The storm, clearing away at 
+about sunset, opened a noble prospect from the porch of the colonel's 
+house, which stands upon a high hill.  The sun streamed from the 
+breaking clouds upon the swift and angry Missouri, and on the immense 
+expanse of luxuriant forest that stretched from its banks back to the 
+distant bluffs.
+
+Returning on the next day to Westport, we received a message from the 
+captain, who had ridden back to deliver it in person, but finding 
+that we were in Kansas, had intrusted it with an acquaintance of his 
+named Vogel, who kept a small grocery and liquor shop.  Whisky by the 
+way circulates more freely in Westport than is altogether safe in a 
+place where every man carries a loaded pistol in his pocket.  As we 
+passed this establishment, we saw Vogel's broad German face and 
+knavish-looking eyes thrust from his door.  He said he had something 
+to tell us, and invited us to take a dram.  Neither his liquor nor 
+his message was very palatable.  The captain had returned to give us 
+notice that R., who assumed the direction of his party, had 
+determined upon another route from that agreed upon between us; and 
+instead of taking the course of the traders, to pass northward by 
+Fort Leavenworth, and follow the path marked out by the dragoons in 
+their expedition of last summer.  To adopt such a plan without 
+consulting us, we looked upon as a very high-handed proceeding; but 
+suppressing our dissatisfaction as well as we could, we made up our 
+minds to join them at Fort Leavenworth, where they were to wait for 
+us.
+
+Accordingly, our preparation being now complete, we attempted one 
+fine morning to commence our journey.  The first step was an 
+unfortunate one.  No sooner were our animals put in harness, than the 
+shaft mule reared and plunged, burst ropes and straps, and nearly 
+flung the cart into the Missouri.  Finding her wholly uncontrollable, 
+we exchanged her for another, with which we were furnished by our 
+friend Mr. Boone of Westport, a grandson of Daniel Boone, the 
+pioneer.  This foretaste of prairie experience was very soon followed 
+by another.  Westport was scarcely out of sight, when we encountered 
+a deep muddy gully, of a species that afterward became but too 
+familiar to us; and here for the space of an hour or more the car 
+stuck fast.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+BREAKING THE ICE
+
+
+Both Shaw and myself were tolerably inured to the vicissitudes of 
+traveling.  We had experienced them under various forms, and a birch 
+canoe was as familiar to us as a steamboat.  The restlessness, the 
+love of wilds and hatred of cities, natural perhaps in early years to 
+every unperverted son of Adam, was not our only motive for 
+undertaking the present journey.  My companion hoped to shake off the 
+effects of a disorder that had impaired a constitution originally 
+hardy and robust; and I was anxious to pursue some inquiries relative 
+to the character and usages of the remote Indian nations, being 
+already familiar with many of the border tribes.
+
+Emerging from the mud-hole where we last took leave of the reader, we 
+pursued our way for some time along the narrow track, in the 
+checkered sunshine and shadow of the woods, till at length, issuing 
+forth into the broad light, we left behind us the farthest outskirts 
+of that great forest, that once spread unbroken from the western 
+plains to the shore of the Atlantic.  Looking over an intervening 
+belt of shrubbery, we saw the green, oceanlike expanse of prairie, 
+stretching swell over swell to the horizon.
+
+It was a mild, calm spring day; a day when one is more disposed to 
+musing and reverie than to action, and the softest part of his nature 
+is apt to gain the ascendency.  I rode in advance of the party, as we 
+passed through the shrubbery, and as a nook of green grass offered a 
+strong temptation, I dismounted and lay down there.  All the trees 
+and saplings were in flower, or budding into fresh leaf; the red 
+clusters of the maple-blossoms and the rich flowers of the Indian 
+apple were there in profusion; and I was half inclined to regret 
+leaving behind the land of gardens for the rude and stern scenes of 
+the prairie and the mountains.
+
+Meanwhile the party came in sight from out of the bushes.  Foremost 
+rode Henry Chatillon, our guide and hunter, a fine athletic figure, 
+mounted on a hardy gray Wyandotte pony.  He wore a white blanket-
+coat, a broad hat of felt, moccasins, and pantaloons of deerskin, 
+ornamented along the seams with rows of long fringes.  His knife was 
+stuck in his belt; his bullet-pouch and powder-horn hung at his side, 
+and his rifle lay before him, resting against the high pommel of his 
+saddle, which, like all his equipments, had seen hard service, and 
+was much the worse for wear.  Shaw followed close, mounted on a 
+little sorrel horse, and leading a larger animal by a rope.  His 
+outfit, which resembled mine, had been provided with a view to use 
+rather than ornament.  It consisted of a plain, black Spanish saddle, 
+with holsters of heavy pistols, a blanket rolled up behind it, and 
+the trail-rope attached to his horse's neck hanging coiled in front.  
+He carried a double-barreled smooth-bore, while I boasted a rifle of 
+some fifteen pounds' weight.  At that time our attire, though far 
+from elegant, bore some marks of civilization, and offered a very 
+favorable contrast to the inimitable shabbiness of our appearance on 
+the return journey.  A red flannel shirt, belted around the waist 
+like a frock, then constituted our upper garment; moccasins had 
+supplanted our failing boots; and the remaining essential portion of 
+our attire consisted of an extraordinary article, manufactured by a 
+squaw out of smoked buckskin.  Our muleteer, Delorier, brought up the 
+rear with his cart, waddling ankle-deep in the mud, alternately 
+puffing at his pipe, and ejaculating in his prairie patois: 'Sacre 
+enfant de garce!" as one of the mules would seem to recoil before 
+some abyss of unusual profundity.  The cart was of the kind that one 
+may see by scores around the market-place in Montreal, and had a 
+white covering to protect the articles within.  These were our 
+provisions and a tent, with ammunition, blankets, and presents for 
+the Indians.
+
+We were in all four men with eight animals; for besides the spare 
+horses led by Shaw and myself, an additional mule was driven along 
+with us as a reserve in case of accident.
+
+After this summing up of our forces, it may not be amiss to glance at 
+the characters of the two men who accompanied us.
+
+Delorier was a Canadian, with all the characteristics of the true 
+Jean Baptiste.  Neither fatigue, exposure, nor hard labor could ever 
+impair his cheerfulness and gayety, or his obsequious politeness to 
+his bourgeois; and when night came he would sit down by the fire, 
+smoke his pipe, and tell stories with the utmost contentment.  In 
+fact, the prairie was his congenial element.  Henry Chatillon was of 
+a different stamp.  When we were at St. Louis, several gentlemen of 
+the Fur Company had kindly offered to procure for us a hunter and 
+guide suited for our purposes, and on coming one afternoon to the 
+office, we found there a tall and exceedingly well-dressed man with a 
+face so open and frank that it attracted our notice at once.  We were 
+surprised at being told that it was he who wished to guide us to the 
+mountains.  He was born in a little French town near St. Louis, and 
+from the age of fifteen years had been constantly in the neighborhood 
+of the Rocky Mountains, employed for the most part by the Company to 
+supply their forts with buffalo meat.  As a hunter he had but one 
+rival in the whole region, a man named Cimoneau, with whom, to the 
+honor of both of them, he was on terms of the closest friendship.  He 
+had arrived at St. Louis the day before, from the mountains, where he 
+had remained for four years; and he now only asked to go and spend a 
+day with his mother before setting out on another expedition.  His 
+age was about thirty; he was six feet high, and very powerfully and 
+gracefully molded.  The prairies had been his school; he could 
+neither read nor write, but he had a natural refinement and delicacy 
+of mind such as is rarely found, even in women.  His manly face was a 
+perfect mirror of uprightness, simplicity, and kindness of heart; he 
+had, moreover, a keen perception of character and a tact that would 
+preserve him from flagrant error in any society.  Henry had not the 
+restless energy of an Anglo-American.  He was content to take things 
+as he found them; and his chief fault arose from an excess of easy 
+generosity, impelling him to give away too profusely ever to thrive 
+in the world.  Yet it was commonly remarked of him, that whatever he 
+might choose to do with what belonged to himself, the property of 
+others was always safe in his hands.  His bravery was as much 
+celebrated in the mountains as his skill in hunting; but it is 
+characteristic of him that in a country where the rifle is the chief 
+arbiter between man and man, Henry was very seldom involved in 
+quarrels.  Once or twice, indeed, his quiet good-nature had been 
+mistaken and presumed upon, but the consequences of the error were so 
+formidable that no one was ever known to repeat it.  No better 
+evidence of the intrepidity of his temper could be wished than the 
+common report that he had killed more than thirty grizzly bears.  He 
+was a proof of what unaided nature will sometimes do.  I have never, 
+in the city or in the wilderness, met a better man than my noble and 
+true-hearted friend, Henry Chatillon.
+
+We were soon free of the woods and bushes, and fairly upon the broad 
+prairie.  Now and then a Shawanoe passed us, riding his little shaggy 
+pony at a "lope"; his calico shirt, his gaudy sash, and the gay 
+handkerchief bound around his snaky hair fluttering in the wind.  At 
+noon we stopped to rest not far from a little creek replete with 
+frogs and young turtles.  There had been an Indian encampment at the 
+place, and the framework of their lodges still remained, enabling us 
+very easily to gain a shelter from the sun, by merely spreading one 
+or two blankets over them.  Thus shaded, we sat upon our saddles, and 
+Shaw for the first time lighted his favorite Indian pipe; while 
+Delorier was squatted over a hot bed of coals, shading his eyes with 
+one hand, and holding a little stick in the other, with which he 
+regulated the hissing contents of the frying-pan.  The horses were 
+turned to feed among the scattered bushes of a low oozy meadow.  A 
+drowzy springlike sultriness pervaded the air, and the voices of ten 
+thousand young frogs and insects, just awakened into life, rose in 
+varied chorus from the creek and the meadows.
+
+Scarcely were we seated when a visitor approached.  This was an old 
+Kansas Indian; a man of distinction, if one might judge from his 
+dress.  His head was shaved and painted red, and from the tuft of 
+hair remaining on the crown dangled several eagles' feathers, and the 
+tails of two or three rattlesnakes.  His cheeks, too, were daubed 
+with vermilion; his ears were adorned with green glass pendants; a 
+collar of grizzly bears' claws surrounded his neck, and several large 
+necklaces of wampum hung on his breast.  Having shaken us by the hand 
+with a cordial grunt of salutation, the old man, dropping his red 
+blanket from his shoulders, sat down cross-legged on the ground.  In 
+the absence of liquor we offered him a cup of sweetened water, at 
+which he ejaculated "Good!" and was beginning to tell us how great a 
+man he was, and how many Pawnees he had killed, when suddenly a 
+motley concourse appeared wading across the creek toward us.  They 
+filed past in rapid succession, men, women, and children; some were 
+on horseback, some on foot, but all were alike squalid and wretched.  
+Old squaws, mounted astride of shaggy, meager little ponies, with 
+perhaps one or two snake-eyed children seated behind them, clinging 
+to their tattered blankets; tall lank young men on foot, with bows 
+and arrows in their hands; and girls whose native ugliness not all 
+the charms of glass beads and scarlet cloth could disguise, made up 
+the procession; although here and there was a man who, like our 
+visitor, seemed to hold some rank in this respectable community.  
+They were the dregs of the Kansas nation, who, while their betters 
+were gone to hunt buffalo, had left the village on a begging 
+expedition to Westport.
+
+When this ragamuffin horde had passed, we caught our horses, saddled, 
+harnessed, and resumed our journey.  Fording the creek, the low roofs 
+of a number of rude buildings appeared, rising from a cluster of 
+groves and woods on the left; and riding up through a long lane, amid 
+a profusion of wild roses and early spring flowers, we found the log-
+church and school-houses belonging to the Methodist Shawanoe Mission.  
+The Indians were on the point of gathering to a religious meeting.  
+Some scores of them, tall men in half-civilized dress, were seated on 
+wooden benches under the trees; while their horses were tied to the 
+sheds and fences.  Their chief, Parks, a remarkably large and 
+athletic man, was just arrived from Westport, where he owns a trading 
+establishment.  Beside this, he has a fine farm and a considerable 
+number of slaves.  Indeed the Shawanoes have made greater progress in 
+agriculture than any other tribe on the Missouri frontier; and both 
+in appearance and in character form a marked contrast to our late 
+acquaintance, the Kansas.
+
+A few hours' ride brought us to the banks of the river Kansas.  
+Traversing the woods that lined it, and plowing through the deep 
+sand, we encamped not far from the bank, at the Lower Delaware 
+crossing.  Our tent was erected for the first time on a meadow close 
+to the woods, and the camp preparations being complete we began to 
+think of supper.  An old Delaware woman, of some three hundred 
+pounds' weight, sat in the porch of a little log-house close to the 
+water, and a very pretty half-breed girl was engaged, under her 
+superintendence, in feeding a large flock of turkeys that were 
+fluttering and gobbling about the door.  But no offers of money, or 
+even of tobacco, could induce her to part with one of her favorites; 
+so I took my rifle, to see if the woods or the river could furnish us 
+anything.  A multitude of quails were plaintively whistling in the 
+woods and meadows; but nothing appropriate to the rifle was to be 
+seen, except three buzzards, seated on the spectral limbs of an old 
+dead sycamore, that thrust itself out over the river from the dense 
+sunny wall of fresh foliage.  Their ugly heads were drawn down 
+between their shoulders, and they seemed to luxuriate in the soft 
+sunshine that was pouring from the west.  As they offered no 
+epicurean temptations, I refrained from disturbing their enjoyment; 
+but contented myself with admiring the calm beauty of the sunset, for 
+the river, eddying swiftly in deep purple shadows between the 
+impending woods, formed a wild but tranquillizing scene.
+
+When I returned to the camp I found Shaw and an old Indian seated on 
+the ground in close conference, passing the pipe between them.  The 
+old man was explaining that he loved the whites, and had an especial 
+partiality for tobacco.  Delorier was arranging upon the ground our 
+service of tin cups and plates; and as other viands were not to be 
+had, he set before us a repast of biscuit and bacon, and a large pot 
+of coffee.  Unsheathing our knives, we attacked it, disposed of the 
+greater part, and tossed the residue to the Indian.  Meanwhile our 
+horses, now hobbled for the first time, stood among the trees, with 
+their fore-legs tied together, in great disgust and astonishment.  
+They seemed by no means to relish this foretaste of what was before 
+them.  Mine, in particular, had conceived a moral aversion to the 
+prairie life.  One of them, christened Hendrick, an animal whose 
+strength and hardihood were his only merits, and who yielded to 
+nothing but the cogent arguments of the whip, looked toward us with 
+an indignant countenance, as if he meditated avenging his wrongs with 
+a kick.  The other, Pontiac, a good horse, though of plebeian 
+lineage, stood with his head drooping and his mane hanging about his 
+eyes, with the grieved and sulky air of a lubberly boy sent off to 
+school.  Poor Pontiac! his forebodings were but too just; for when I 
+last heard from him, he was under the lash of an Ogallalla brave, on 
+a war party against the Crows.
+
+As it grew dark, and the voices of the whip-poor-wills succeeded the 
+whistle of the quails, we removed our saddles to the tent, to serve 
+as pillows, spread our blankets upon the ground, and prepared to 
+bivouac for the first time that season.  Each man selected the place 
+in the tent which he was to occupy for the journey.  To Delorier, 
+however, was assigned the cart, into which he could creep in wet 
+weather, and find a much better shelter than his bourgeois enjoyed in 
+the tent.
+
+The river Kansas at this point forms the boundary line between the 
+country of the Shawanoes and that of the Delawares.  We crossed it on 
+the following day, rafting over our horses and equipage with much 
+difficulty, and unloading our cart in order to make our way up the 
+steep ascent on the farther bank.  It was a Sunday moming; warm, 
+tranquil and bright; and a perfect stillness reigned over the rough 
+inclosures and neglected fields of the Delawares, except the 
+ceaseless hum and chirruping of myriads of insects.  Now and then, an 
+Indian rode past on his way to the meeting-house, or through the 
+dilapidated entrance of some shattered log-house an old woman might 
+be discerned, enjoying all the luxury of idleness.  There was no 
+village bell, for the Delawares have none; and yet upon that forlorn 
+and rude settlement was the same spirit of Sabbath repose and 
+tranquillity as in some little New England village among the 
+mountains of New Hampshire or the Vermont woods.
+
+Having at present no leisure for such reflections, we pursued our 
+journey.  A military road led from this point to Fort Leavenworth, 
+and for many miles the farms and cabins of the Delawares were 
+scattered at short intervals on either hand.  The little rude 
+structures of logs, erected usually on the borders of a tract of 
+woods, made a picturesque feature in the landscape.  But the scenery 
+needed no foreign aid.  Nature had done enough for it; and the 
+alteration of rich green prairies and groves that stood in clusters 
+or lined the banks of the numerous little streams, had all the 
+softened and polished beauty of a region that has been for centuries 
+under the hand of man.  At that early season, too, it was in the 
+height of its freshness and luxuriance.  The woods were flushed with 
+the red buds of the maple; there were frequent flowering shrubs 
+unknown in the east; and the green swells of the prairies were 
+thickly studded with blossoms.
+
+Encamping near a spring by the side of a hill, we resumed our journey 
+in the morning, and early in the afternoon had arrived within a few 
+miles of Fort Leavenworth.  The road crossed a stream densely 
+bordered with trees, and running in the bottom of a deep woody 
+hollow.  We were about to descend into it, when a wild and confused 
+procession appeared, passing through the water below, and coming up 
+the steep ascent toward us.  We stopped to let them pass.  They were 
+Delawares, just returned from a hunting expedition.  All, both men 
+and women, were mounted on horseback, and drove along with them a 
+considerable number of pack mules, laden with the furs they had 
+taken, together with the buffalo robes, kettles, and other articles 
+of their traveling equipment, which as well as their clothing and 
+their weapons, had a worn and dingy aspect, as if they had seen hard 
+service of late.  At the rear of the party was an old man, who, as he 
+came up, stopped his horse to speak to us.  He rode a little tough 
+shaggy pony, with mane and tail well knotted with burrs, and a rusty 
+Spanish bit in its mouth, to which, by way of reins, was attached a 
+string of raw hide.  His saddle, robbed probably from a Mexican, had 
+no covering, being merely a tree of the Spanish form, with a piece of 
+grizzly bear's skin laid over it, a pair of rude wooden stirrups 
+attached, and in the absence of girth, a thong of hide passing around 
+the horse's belly.  The rider's dark features and keen snaky eyes 
+were unequivocally Indian.  He wore a buckskin frock, which, like his 
+fringed leggings, was well polished and blackened by grease and long 
+service; and an old handkerchief was tied around his head.  Resting 
+on the saddle before him lay his rifle; a weapon in the use of which 
+the Delawares are skillful; though from its weight, the distant 
+prairie Indians are too lazy to carry it.
+
+"Who's your chief?" he immediately inquired.
+
+Henry Chatillon pointed to us.  The old Delaware fixed his eyes 
+intently upon us for a moment, and then sententiously remarked:
+
+"No good!  Too young!"  With this flattering comment he left us, and 
+rode after his people.
+
+This tribe, the Delawares, once the peaceful allies of William Penn, 
+the tributaries of the conquering Iroquois, are now the most 
+adventurous and dreaded warriors upon the prairies.  They make war 
+upon remote tribes the very names of which were unknown to their 
+fathers in their ancient seats in Pennsylvania; and they push these 
+new quarrels with true Indian rancor, sending out their little war 
+parties as far as the Rocky Mountains, and into the Mexican 
+territories.  Their neighbors and former confederates, the Shawanoes, 
+who are tolerable farmers, are in a prosperous condition; but the 
+Delawares dwindle every year, from the number of men lost in their 
+warlike expeditions.
+
+Soon after leaving this party, we saw, stretching on the right, the 
+forests that follow the course of the Missouri, and the deep woody 
+channel through which at this point it runs.  At a distance in front 
+were the white barracks of Fort Leavenworth, just visible through the 
+trees upon an eminence above a bend of the river.  A wide green 
+meadow, as level as a lake, lay between us and the Missouri, and upon 
+this, close to a line of trees that bordered a little brook, stood 
+the tent of the captain and his companions, with their horses feeding 
+around it, but they themselves were invisible.  Wright, their 
+muleteer, was there, seated on the tongue of the wagon, repairing his 
+harness.  Boisverd stood cleaning his rifle at the door of the tent, 
+and Sorel lounged idly about.  On closer examination, however, we 
+discovered the captain's brother, Jack, sitting in the tent, at his 
+old occupation of splicing trail-ropes.  He welcomed us in his broad 
+Irish brogue, and said that his brother was fishing in the river, and 
+R. gone to the garrison.  They returned before sunset.  Meanwhile we 
+erected our own tent not far off, and after supper a council was 
+held, in which it was resolved to remain one day at Fort Leavenworth, 
+and on the next to bid a final adieu to the frontier: or in the 
+phraseology of the region, to "jump off."  Our deliberations were 
+conducted by the ruddy light from a distant swell of the prairie, 
+where the long dry grass of last summer was on fire.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+FORT LEAVENWORTH
+
+
+On the next morning we rode to Fort Leavenworth.  Colonel, now 
+General, Kearny, to whom I had had the honor of an introduction when 
+at St. Louis, was just arrived, and received us at his headquarters 
+with the high-bred courtesy habitual to him.  Fort Leavenworth is in 
+fact no fort, being without defensive works, except two block-houses.  
+No rumors of war had as yet disturbed its tranquillity.  In the 
+square grassy area, surrounded by barracks and the quarters of the 
+officers, the men were passing and repassing, or lounging among the 
+trees; although not many weeks afterward it presented a different 
+scene; for here the very off-scourings of the frontier were 
+congregated, to be marshaled for the expedition against Santa Fe.
+
+Passing through the garrison, we rode toward the Kickapoo village, 
+five or six miles beyond.  The path, a rather dubious and uncertain 
+one, led us along the ridge of high bluffs that bordered the 
+Missouri; and by looking to the right or to the left, we could enjoy 
+a strange contrast of opposite scenery.  On the left stretched the 
+prairie, rising into swells and undulations, thickly sprinkled with 
+groves, or gracefully expanding into wide grassy basins of miles in 
+extent; while its curvatures, swelling against the horizon, were 
+often surmounted by lines of sunny woods; a scene to which the 
+freshness of the season and the peculiar mellowness of the atmosphere 
+gave additional softness.  Below us, on the right, was a tract of 
+ragged and broken woods.  We could look down on the summits of the 
+trees, some living and some dead; some erect, others leaning at every 
+angle, and others still piled in masses together by the passage of a 
+hurricane.  Beyond their extreme verge, the turbid waters of the 
+Missouri were discernible through the boughs, rolling powerfully 
+along at the foot of the woody declivities of its farther bank.
+
+The path soon after led inland; and as we crossed an open meadow we 
+saw a cluster of buildings on a rising ground before us, with a crowd 
+of people surrounding them.  They were the storehouse, cottage, and 
+stables of the Kickapoo trader's establishment.  Just at that moment, 
+as it chanced, he was beset with half the Indians of the settlement.  
+They had tied their wretched, neglected little ponies by dozens along 
+the fences and outhouses, and were either lounging about the place, 
+or crowding into the trading house.  Here were faces of various 
+colors; red, green, white, and black, curiously intermingled and 
+disposed over the visage in a variety of patterns.  Calico shirts, 
+red and blue blankets, brass ear-rings, wampum necklaces, appeared in 
+profusion.  The trader was a blue-eyed open-faced man who neither in 
+his manners nor his appearance betrayed any of the roughness of the 
+frontier; though just at present he was obliged to keep a lynx eye on 
+his suspicious customers, who, men and women, were climbing on his 
+counter and seating themselves among his boxes and bales.
+
+The village itself was not far off, and sufficiently illustrated the 
+condition of its unfortunate and self-abandoned occupants.  Fancy to 
+yourself a little swift stream, working its devious way down a woody 
+valley; sometimes wholly hidden under logs and fallen trees, 
+sometimes issuing forth and spreading into a broad, clear pool; and 
+on its banks in little nooks cleared away among the trees, miniature 
+log-houses in utter ruin and neglect.  A labyrinth of narrow, 
+obstructed paths connected these habitations one with another.  
+Sometimes we met a stray calf, a pig or a pony, belonging to some of 
+the villagers, who usually lay in the sun in front of their 
+dwellings, and looked on us with cold, suspicious eyes as we 
+approached.  Farther on, in place of the log-huts of the Kickapoos, 
+we found the pukwi lodges of their neighbors, the Pottawattamies, 
+whose condition seemed no better than theirs.
+
+Growing tired at last, and exhausted by the excessive heat and 
+sultriness of the day, we returned to our friend, the trader.  By 
+this time the crowd around him had dispersed, and left him at 
+leisure.  He invited us to his cottage, a little white-and-green 
+building, in the style of the old French settlements; and ushered us 
+into a neat, well-furnished room.  The blinds were closed, and the 
+heat and glare of the sun excluded; the room was as cool as a cavern.  
+It was neatly carpeted too and furnished in a manner that we hardly 
+expected on the frontier.  The sofas, chairs, tables, and a well-
+filled bookcase would not have disgraced an Eastern city; though 
+there were one or two little tokens that indicated the rather 
+questionable civilization of the region.  A pistol, loaded and 
+capped, lay on the mantelpiece; and through the glass of the 
+bookcase, peeping above the works of John Milton glittered the handle 
+of a very mischievous-looking knife.
+
+Our host went out, and returned with iced water, glasses, and a 
+bottle of excellent claret; a refreshment most welcome in the extreme 
+heat of the day; and soon after appeared a merry, laughing woman, who 
+must have been, a year of two before, a very rich and luxuriant 
+specimen of Creole beauty.  She came to say that lunch was ready in 
+the next room.  Our hostess evidently lived on the sunny side of 
+life, and troubled herself with none of its cares.  She sat down and 
+entertained us while we were at table with anecdotes of fishing 
+parties, frolics, and the officers at the fort.  Taking leave at 
+length of the hospitable trader and his friend, we rode back to the 
+garrison.
+
+Shaw passed on to the camp, while I remained to call upon Colonel 
+Kearny.  I found him still at table.  There sat our friend the 
+captain, in the same remarkable habiliments in which we saw him at 
+Westport; the black pipe, however, being for the present laid aside.  
+He dangled his little cap in his hand and talked of steeple-chases, 
+touching occasionally upon his anticipated exploits in buffalo-
+hunting.  There, too, was R., somewhat more elegantly attired.  For 
+the last time we tasted the luxuries of civilization, and drank 
+adieus to it in wine good enough to make us almost regret the leave-
+taking.  Then, mounting, we rode together to the camp, where 
+everything was in readiness for departure on the morrow.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+"JUMPING OFF"
+
+
+The reader need not be told that John Bull never leaves home without 
+encumbering himself with the greatest possible load of luggage.  Our 
+companions were no exception to the rule.  They had a wagon drawn by 
+six mules and crammed with provisions for six months, besides 
+ammunition enough for a regiment; spare rifles and fowling-pieces, 
+ropes and harness; personal baggage, and a miscellaneous assortment 
+of articles, which produced infinite embarrassment on the journey.  
+They had also decorated their persons with telescopes and portable 
+compasses, and carried English double-barreled rifles of sixteen to 
+the pound caliber, slung to their saddles in dragoon fashion.
+
+By sunrise on the 23d of May we had breakfasted; the tents were 
+leveled, the animals saddled and harnessed, and all was prepared.  
+"Avance donc! get up!" cried Delorier from his seat in front of the 
+cart.  Wright, our friend's muleteer, after some swearing and 
+lashing, got his insubordinate train in motion, and then the whole 
+party filed from the ground.  Thus we bade a long adieu to bed and 
+board, and the principles of Blackstone's Commentaries.  The day was 
+a most auspicious one; and yet Shaw and I felt certain misgivings, 
+which in the sequel proved but too well founded.  We had just learned 
+that though R. had taken it upon him to adopt this course without 
+consulting us, not a single man in the party was acquainted with it; 
+and the absurdity of our friend's high-handed measure very soon 
+became manifest.  His plan was to strike the trail of several 
+companies of dragoons, who last summer had made an expedition under 
+Colonel Kearny to Fort Laramie, and by this means to reach the grand 
+trail of the Oregon emigrants up the Platte.
+
+We rode for an hour or two when a familiar cluster of buildings 
+appeared on a little hill.  "Hallo!" shouted the Kickapoo trader from 
+over his fence.  "Where are you going?"  A few rather emphatic 
+exclamations might have been heard among us, when we found that we 
+had gone miles out of our way, and were not advanced an inch toward 
+the Rocky Mountains.  So we turned in the direction the trader 
+indicated, and with the sun for a guide, began to trace a "bee line" 
+across the prairies.  We struggled through copses and lines of wood; 
+we waded brooks and pools of water; we traversed prairies as green as 
+an emerald, expanding before us for mile after mile; wider and more 
+wild than the wastes Mazeppa rode over:
+
+
+    "Man nor brute,
+     Nor dint of hoof, nor print of foot,
+     Lay in the wild luxuriant soil;
+     No sign of travel; none of toil;
+     The very air was mute."
+
+
+Riding in advance, we passed over one of these great plains; we 
+looked back and saw the line of scattered horsemen stretching for a 
+mile or more; and far in the rear against the horizon, the white 
+wagons creeping slowly along.  "Here we are at last!" shouted the 
+captain.  And in truth we had struck upon the traces of a large body 
+of horse.  We turned joyfully and followed this new course, with 
+tempers somewhat improved; and toward sunset encamped on a high swell 
+of the prairie, at the foot of which a lazy stream soaked along 
+through clumps of rank grass.  It was getting dark.  We turned the 
+horses loose to feed.  "Drive down the tent-pickets hard," said Henry 
+Chatillon, "it is going to blow."  We did so, and secured the tent as 
+well as we could; for the sky had changed totally, and a fresh damp 
+smell in the wind warned us that a stormy night was likely to succeed 
+the hot clear day.  The prairie also wore a new aspect, and its vast 
+swells had grown black and somber under the shadow of the clouds.  
+The thunder soon began to growl at a distance.  Picketing and 
+hobbling the horses among the rich grass at the foot of the slope, 
+where we encamped, we gained a shelter just as the rain began to 
+fall; and sat at the opening of the tent, watching the proceedings of 
+the captain.  In defiance of the rain he was stalking among the 
+horses, wrapped in an old Scotch plaid.  An extreme solicitude 
+tormented him, lest some of his favorites should escape, or some 
+accident should befall them; and he cast an anxious eye toward three 
+wolves who were sneaking along over the dreary surface of the plain, 
+as if he dreaded some hostile demonstration on their part.
+
+On the next morning we had gone but a mile or two, when we came to an 
+extensive belt of woods, through the midst of which ran a stream, 
+wide, deep, and of an appearance particularly muddy and treacherous.  
+Delorier was in advance with his cart; he jerked his pipe from his 
+mouth, lashed his mules, and poured forth a volley of Canadian 
+ejaculations.  In plunged the cart, but midway it stuck fast.  
+Delorier leaped out knee-deep in water, and by dint of sacres and a 
+vigorous application of the whip, he urged the mules out of the 
+slough.  Then approached the long team and heavy wagon of our 
+friends; but it paused on the brink.
+
+"Now my advice is--" began the captain, who had been anxiously 
+contemplating the muddy gulf.
+
+"Drive on!" cried R.
+
+But Wright, the muleteer, apparently had not as yet decided the point 
+in his own mind; and he sat still in his seat on one of the shaft-
+mules, whistling in a low contemplative strain to himself.
+
+"My advice is," resumed the captain, "that we unload; for I'll bet 
+any man five pounds that if we try to go through, we shall stick 
+fast."
+
+"By the powers, we shall stick fast!" echoed Jack, the captain's 
+brother, shaking his large head with an air of firm conviction.
+
+"Drive on! drive on!" cried R. petulantly.
+
+"Well," observed the captain, turning to us as we sat looking on, 
+much edified by this by-play among our confederates, "I can only give 
+my advice and if people won't be reasonable, why, they won't; that's 
+all!"
+
+Meanwhile Wright had apparently made up his mind; for he suddenly 
+began to shout forth a volley of oaths and curses, that, compared 
+with the French imprecations of Delorier, sounded like the roaring of 
+heavy cannon after the popping and sputtering of a bunch of Chinese 
+crackers.  At the same time he discharged a shower of blows upon his 
+mules, who hastily dived into the mud and drew the wagon lumbering 
+after them.  For a moment the issue was dubious.  Wright writhed 
+about in his saddle, and swore and lashed like a madman; but who can 
+count on a team of half-broken mules?  At the most critical point, 
+when all should have been harmony and combined effort, the perverse 
+brutes fell into lamentable disorder, and huddled together in 
+confusion on the farther bank.  There was the wagon up to the hub in 
+mud, and visibly settling every instant.  There was nothing for it 
+but to unload; then to dig away the mud from before the wheels with a 
+spade, and lay a causeway of bushes and branches.  This agreeable 
+labor accomplished, the wagon at last emerged; but if I mention that 
+some interruption of this sort occurred at least four or five times a 
+day for a fortnight, the reader will understand that our progress 
+toward the Platte was not without its obstacles.
+
+We traveled six or seven miles farther, and "nooned" near a brook.  
+On the point of resuming our journey, when the horses were all driven 
+down to water, my homesick charger, Pontiac, made a sudden leap 
+across, and set off at a round trot for the settlements.  I mounted 
+my remaining horse, and started in pursuit.  Making a circuit, I 
+headed the runaway, hoping to drive him back to camp; but he 
+instantly broke into a gallop, made a wide tour on the prairie, and 
+got past me again.  I tried this plan repeatedly, with the same 
+result; Pontiac was evidently disgusted with the prairie; so I 
+abandoned it, and tried another, trotting along gently behind him, in 
+hopes that I might quietly get near enough to seize the trail-rope 
+which was fastened to his neck, and dragged about a dozen feet behind 
+him.  The chase grew interesting.  For mile after mile I followed the 
+rascal, with the utmost care not to alarm him, and gradually got 
+nearer, until at length old Hendrick's nose was fairly brushed by the 
+whisking tail of the unsuspecting Pontiac.  Without drawing rein, I 
+slid softly to the ground; but my long heavy rifle encumbered me, and 
+the low sound it made in striking the horn of the saddle startled 
+him; he pricked up his ears, and sprang off at a run.  "My friend," 
+thought I, remounting, "do that again, and I will shoot you!"
+
+Fort Leavenworth was about forty miles distant, and thither I 
+determined to follow him.  I made up my mind to spend a solitary and 
+supperless night, and then set out again in the morning.  One hope, 
+however, remained.  The creek where the wagon had stuck was just 
+before us; Pontiac might be thirsty with his run, and stop there to 
+drink.  I kept as near to him as possible, taking every precaution 
+not to alarm him again; and the result proved as I had hoped: for he 
+walked deliberately among the trees, and stooped down to the water.  
+I alighted, dragged old Hendrick through the mud, and with a feeling 
+of infinite satisfaction picked up the slimy trail-rope and twisted 
+it three times round my hand.  "Now let me see you get away again!" I 
+thought, as I remounted.  But Pontiac was exceedingly reluctant to 
+turn back; Hendrick, too, who had evidently flattered himself with 
+vain hopes, showed the utmost repugnance, and grumbled in a manner 
+peculiar to himself at being compelled to face about.  A smart cut of 
+the whip restored his cheerfulness; and dragging the recovered truant 
+behind, I set out in search of the camp.  An hour or two elapsed, 
+when, near sunset, I saw the tents, standing on a rich swell of the 
+prairie, beyond a line of woods, while the bands of horses were 
+feeding in a low meadow close at hand.  There sat Jack C., cross-
+legged, in the sun, splicing a trail-rope, and the rest were lying on 
+the grass, smoking and telling stories.  That night we enjoyed a 
+serenade from the wolves, more lively than any with which they had 
+yet favored us; and in the morning one of the musicians appeared, not 
+many rods from the tents, quietly seated among the horses, looking at 
+us with a pair of large gray eyes; but perceiving a rifle leveled at 
+him, he leaped up and made off in hot haste.
+
+I pass by the following day or two of our journey, for nothing 
+occurred worthy of record.  Should any one of my readers ever be 
+impelled to visit the prairies, and should he choose the route of the 
+Platte (the best, perhaps, that can be adopted), I can assure him 
+that he need not think to enter at once upon the paradise of his 
+imagination.  A dreary preliminary, protracted crossing of the 
+threshold awaits him before he finds himself fairly upon the verge of 
+the "great American desert," those barren wastes, the haunts of the 
+buffalo and the Indian, where the very shadow of civilization lies a 
+hundred leagues behind him.  The intervening country, the wide and 
+fertile belt that extends for several hundred miles beyond the 
+extreme frontier, will probably answer tolerably well to his 
+preconceived ideas of the prairie; for this it is from which 
+picturesque tourists, painters, poets, and novelists, who have seldom 
+penetrated farther, have derived their conceptions of the whole 
+region.  If he has a painter's eye, he may find his period of 
+probation not wholly void of interest.  The scenery, though tame, is 
+graceful and pleasing.  Here are level plains, too wide for the eye 
+to measure green undulations, like motionless swells of the ocean; 
+abundance of streams, followed through all their windings by lines of 
+woods and scattered groves.  But let him be as enthusiastic as he 
+may, he will find enough to damp his ardor.  His wagons will stick in 
+the mud; his horses will break loose; harness will give way, and 
+axle-trees prove unsound.  His bed will be a soft one, consisting 
+often of black mud, of the richest consistency.  As for food, he must 
+content himself with biscuit and salt provisions; for strange as it 
+may seem, this tract of country produces very little game.  As he 
+advances, indeed, he will see, moldering in the grass by his path, 
+the vast antlers of the elk, and farther on, the whitened skulls of 
+the buffalo, once swarming over this now deserted region.  Perhaps, 
+like us, he may journey for a fortnight, and see not so much as the 
+hoof-print of a deer; in the spring, not even a prairie hen is to be 
+had.
+
+Yet, to compensate him for this unlooked-for deficiency of game, he 
+will find himself beset with "varmints" innumerable.  The wolves will 
+entertain him with a concerto at night, and skulk around him by day, 
+just beyond rifle shot; his horse will step into badger-holes; from 
+every marsh and mud puddle will arise the bellowing, croaking, and 
+trilling of legions of frogs, infinitely various in color, shape and 
+dimensions.  A profusion of snakes will glide away from under his 
+horse's feet, or quietly visit him in his tent at night; while the 
+pertinacious humming of unnumbered mosquitoes will banish sleep from 
+his eyelids.  When thirsty with a long ride in the scorching sun over 
+some boundless reach of prairie, he comes at length to a pool of 
+water, and alights to drink, he discovers a troop of young tadpoles 
+sporting in the bottom of his cup.  Add to this, that all the morning 
+the hot sun beats upon him with sultry, penetrating heat, and that, 
+with provoking regularity, at about four o'clock in the afternoon, a 
+thunderstorm rises and drenches him to the skin.  Such being the 
+charms of this favored region, the reader will easily conceive the 
+extent of our gratification at learning that for a week we had been 
+journeying on the wrong track!  How this agreeable discovery was made 
+I will presently explain.
+
+One day, after a protracted morning's ride, we stopped to rest at 
+noon upon the open prairie.  No trees were in sight; but close at 
+hand, a little dribbling brook was twisting from side to side through 
+a hollow; now forming holes of stagnant water, and now gliding over 
+the mud in a scarcely perceptible current, among a growth of sickly 
+bushes, and great clumps of tall rank grass.  The day was excessively 
+hot and oppressive.  The horses and mules were rolling on the prairie 
+to refresh themselves, or feeding among the bushes in the hollow.  We 
+had dined; and Delorier, puffing at his pipe, knelt on the grass, 
+scrubbing our service of tin plate.  Shaw lay in the shade, under the 
+cart, to rest for a while, before the word should be given to "catch 
+up."  Henry Chatillon, before lying down, was looking about for signs 
+of snakes, the only living things that he feared, and uttering 
+various ejaculations of disgust, at finding several suspicious-
+looking holes close to the cart.  I sat leaning against the wheel in 
+a scanty strip of shade, making a pair of hobbles to replace those 
+which my contumacious steed Pontiac had broken the night before.  The 
+camp of our friends, a rod or two distant, presented the same scene 
+of lazy tranquillity.
+
+"Hallo!" cried Henry, looking up from his inspection of the snake-
+holes, "here comes the old captain!"
+
+The captain approached, and stood for a moment contemplating us in 
+silence.
+
+"I say, Parkman," he began, "look at Shaw there, asleep under the 
+cart, with the tar dripping off the hub of the wheel on his 
+shoulder!"
+
+At this Shaw got up, with his eyes half opened, and feeling the part 
+indicated, he found his hand glued fast to his red flannel shirt.
+
+"He'll look well when he gets among the squaws, won't he?" observed 
+the captain, with a grin.
+
+He then crawled under the cart, and began to tell stories of which 
+his stock was inexhaustible.  Yet every moment he would glance 
+nervously at the horses.  At last he jumped up in great excitement.  
+"See that horse!  There--that fellow just walking over the hill!  By 
+Jove; he's off.  It's your big horse, Shaw; no it isn't, it's Jack's!  
+Jack!  Jack! hallo, Jack!"  Jack thus invoked, jumped up and stared 
+vacantly at us.
+
+"Go and catch your horse, if you don't want to lose him!" roared the 
+captain.
+
+Jack instantly set off at a run through the grass, his broad 
+pantaloons flapping about his feet.  The captain gazed anxiously till 
+he saw that the horse was caught; then he sat down, with a 
+countenance of thoughtfulness and care.
+
+"I tell you what it is," he said, "this will never do at all.  We 
+shall lose every horse in the band someday or other, and then a 
+pretty plight we should be in!  Now I am convinced that the only way 
+for us is to have every man in the camp stand horse-guard in rotation 
+whenever we stop.  Supposing a hundred Pawnees should jump up out of 
+that ravine, all yelling and flapping their buffalo robes, in the way 
+they do?  Why, in two minutes not a hoof would be in sight."  We 
+reminded the captain that a hundred Pawnees would probably demolish 
+the horse-guard, if he were to resist their depredations.
+
+"At any rate," pursued the captain, evading the point, "our whole 
+system is wrong; I'm convinced of it; it is totally unmilitary.  Why, 
+the way we travel, strung out over the prairie for a mile, an enemy 
+might attack the foremost men, and cut them off before the rest could 
+come up."
+
+"We are not in an enemy's country, yet," said Shaw; "when we are, 
+we'll travel together."
+
+"Then," said the captain, "we might be attacked in camp.  We've no 
+sentinels; we camp in disorder; no precautions at all to guard 
+against surprise.  My own convictions are that we ought to camp in a 
+hollow square, with the fires in the center; and have sentinels, and 
+a regular password appointed for every night.  Besides, there should 
+be vedettes, riding in advance, to find a place for the camp and give 
+warning of an enemy.  These are my convictions.  I don't want to 
+dictate to any man.  I give advice to the best of my judgment, that's 
+all; and then let people do as they please."
+
+We intimated that perhaps it would be as well to postpone such 
+burdensome precautions until there should be some actual need of 
+them; but he shook his head dubiously.  The captain's sense of 
+military propriety had been severely shocked by what he considered 
+the irregular proceedings of the party; and this was not the first 
+time he had expressed himself upon the subject.  But his convictions 
+seldom produced any practical results.  In the present case, he 
+contented himself, as usual, with enlarging on the importance of his 
+suggestions, and wondering that they were not adopted.  But his plan 
+of sending out vedettes seemed particularly dear to him; and as no 
+one else was disposed to second his views on this point, he took it 
+into his head to ride forward that afternoon, himself.
+
+"Come, Parkman," said he, "will you go with me?"
+
+We set out together, and rode a mile or two in advance.  The captain, 
+in the course of twenty years' service in the British army, had seen 
+something of life; one extensive side of it, at least, he had enjoyed 
+the best opportunities for studying; and being naturally a pleasant 
+fellow, he was a very entertaining companion.  He cracked jokes and 
+told stories for an hour or two; until, looking back, we saw the 
+prairie behind us stretching away to the horizon, without a horseman 
+or a wagon in sight.
+
+"Now," said the captain, "I think the vedettes had better stop till 
+the main body comes up."
+
+I was of the same opinion.  There was a thick growth of woods just 
+before us, with a stream running through them.  Having crossed this, 
+we found on the other side a fine level meadow, half encircled by the 
+trees; and fastening our horses to some bushes, we sat down on the 
+grass; while, with an old stump of a tree for a target, I began to 
+display the superiority of the renowned rifle of the back woods over 
+the foreign innovation borne by the captain.  At length voices could 
+be heard in the distance behind the trees.
+
+"There they come!" said the captain: "let's go and see how they get 
+through the creek."
+
+We mounted and rode to the bank of the stream, where the trail 
+crossed it.  It ran in a deep hollow, full of trees; as we looked 
+down, we saw a confused crowd of horsemen riding through the water; 
+and among the dingy habiliment of our party glittered the uniforms of 
+four dragoons.
+
+Shaw came whipping his horse up the back, in advance of the rest, 
+with a somewhat indignant countenance.  The first word he spoke was a 
+blessing fervently invoked on the head of R., who was riding, with a 
+crest-fallen air, in the rear.  Thanks to the ingenious devices of 
+the gentleman, we had missed the track entirely, and wandered, not 
+toward the Platte, but to the village of the Iowa Indians.  This we 
+learned from the dragoons, who had lately deserted from Fort 
+Leavenworth.  They told us that our best plan now was to keep to the 
+northward until we should strike the trail formed by several parties 
+of Oregon emigrants, who had that season set out from St. Joseph's in 
+Missouri.
+
+In extremely bad temper, we encamped on this ill-starred spot; while 
+the deserters, whose case admitted of no delay rode rapidly forward.  
+On the day following, striking the St. Joseph's trail, we turned our 
+horses' heads toward Fort Laramie, then about seven hundred miles to 
+the westward.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+"THE BIG BLUE"
+
+
+The great medley of Oregon and California emigrants, at their camps 
+around Independence, had heard reports that several additional 
+parties were on the point of setting out from St. Joseph's farther to 
+the northward.  The prevailing impression was that these were 
+Mormons, twenty-three hundred in number; and a great alarm was 
+excited in consequence.  The people of Illinois and Missouri, who 
+composed by far the greater part of the emigrants, have never been on 
+the best terms with the "Latter Day Saints"; and it is notorious 
+throughout the country how much blood has been spilt in their feuds, 
+even far within the limits of the settlements.  No one could predict 
+what would be the result, when large armed bodies of these fanatics 
+should encounter the most impetuous and reckless of their old enemies 
+on the broad prairie, far beyond the reach of law or military force.  
+The women and children at Independence raised a great outcry; the men 
+themselves were seriously alarmed; and, as I learned, they sent to 
+Colonel Kearny, requesting an escort of dragoons as far as the 
+Platte.  This was refused; and as the sequel proved, there was no 
+occasion for it.  The St. Joseph's emigrants were as good Christians 
+and as zealous Mormon-haters as the rest; and the very few families 
+of the "Saints" who passed out this season by the route of the Platte 
+remained behind until the great tide of emigration had gone by; 
+standing in quite as much awe of the "gentiles" as the latter did of 
+them.
+
+We were now, as I before mentioned, upon this St. Joseph's trail.  It 
+was evident, by the traces, that large parties were a few days in 
+advance of us; and as we too supposed them to be Mormons, we had some 
+apprehension of interruption.
+
+The journey was somewhat monotonous.  One day we rode on for hours, 
+without seeing a tree or a bush; before, behind, and on either side, 
+stretched the vast expanse, rolling in a succession of graceful 
+swells, covered with the unbroken carpet of fresh green grass.  Here 
+and there a crow, or a raven, or a turkey-buzzard, relieved the 
+uniformity.
+
+"What shall we do to-night for wood and water?" we began to ask of 
+each other; for the sun was within an hour of setting.  At length a 
+dark green speck appeared, far off on the right; it was the top of a 
+tree, peering over a swell of the prairie; and leaving the trail, we 
+made all haste toward it.  It proved to be the vanguard of a cluster 
+of bushes and low trees, that surrounded some pools of water in an 
+extensive hollow; so we encamped on the rising ground near it.
+
+Shaw and I were sitting in the tent, when Delorier thrust his brown 
+face and old felt hat into the opening, and dilating his eyes to 
+their utmost extent, announced supper.  There were the tin cups and 
+the iron spoons, arranged in military order on the grass, and the 
+coffee-pot predominant in the midst.  The meal was soon dispatched; 
+but Henry Chatillon still sat cross-legged, dallying with the remnant 
+of his coffee, the beverage in universal use upon the prairie, and an 
+especial favorite with him.  He preferred it in its virgin flavor, 
+unimpaired by sugar or cream; and on the present occasion it met his 
+entire approval, being exceedingly strong, or, as he expressed it, 
+"right black."
+
+It was a rich and gorgeous sunset--an American sunset; and the ruddy 
+glow of the sky was reflected from some extensive pools of water 
+among the shadowy copses in the meadow below.
+
+"I must have a bath to-night," said Shaw.  "How is it, Delorier?  Any 
+chance for a swim down here?"
+
+"Ah! I cannot tell; just as you please, monsieur," replied Delorier, 
+shrugging his shoulders, perplexed by his ignorance of English, and 
+extremely anxious to conform in all respects to the opinion and 
+wishes of his bourgeois.
+
+"Look at his moccasion," said I.  "It has evidently been lately 
+immersed in a profound abyss of black mud."
+
+"Come," said Shaw; "at any rate we can see for ourselves."
+
+We set out together; and as we approached the bushes, which were at 
+some distance, we found the ground becoming rather treacherous.  We 
+could only get along by stepping upon large clumps of tall rank 
+grass, with fathomless gulfs between, like innumerable little quaking 
+islands in an ocean of mud, where a false step would have involved 
+our boots in a catastrophe like that which had befallen Delorier's 
+moccasins.  The thing looked desperate; we separated, so as to search 
+in different directions, Shaw going off to the right, while I kept 
+straight forward.  At last I came to the edge of the bushes: they 
+were young waterwillows, covered with their caterpillar-like 
+blossoms, but intervening between them and the last grass clump was a 
+black and deep slough, over which, by a vigorous exertion, I 
+contrived to jump.  Then I shouldered my way through the willows, 
+tramping them down by main force, till I came to a wide stream of 
+water, three inches deep, languidly creeping along over a bottom of 
+sleek mud.  My arrival produced a great commotion.  A huge green 
+bull-frog uttered an indignant croak, and jumped off the bank with a 
+loud splash: his webbed feet twinkled above the surface, as he jerked 
+them energetically upward, and I could see him ensconcing himself in 
+the unresisting slime at the bottom, whence several large air bubbles 
+struggled lazily to the top.  Some little spotted frogs instantly 
+followed the patriarch's example; and then three turtles, not larger 
+than a dollar, tumbled themselves off a broad "lily pad," where they 
+had been reposing.  At the same time a snake, gayly striped with 
+black and yellow, glided out from the bank, and writhed across to the 
+other side; and a small stagnant pool into which my foot had 
+inadvertently pushed a stone was instantly alive with a congregation 
+of black tadpoles.
+
+"Any chance for a bath, where you are?" called out Shaw, from a 
+distance.
+
+The answer was not encouraging.  I retreated through the willows, and 
+rejoining my companion, we proceeded to push our researches in 
+company.  Not far on the right, a rising ground, covered with trees 
+and bushes, seemed to sink down abruptly to the water, and give hope 
+of better success; so toward this we directed our steps.  When we 
+reached the place we found it no easy matter to get along between the 
+hill and the water, impeded as we were by a growth of stiff, 
+obstinate young birch-trees, laced together by grapevines.  In the 
+twilight, we now and then, to support ourselves, snatched at the 
+touch-me-not stem of some ancient sweet-brier.  Shaw, who was in 
+advance, suddenly uttered a somewhat emphatic monosyllable; and 
+looking up I saw him with one hand grasping a sapling, and one foot 
+immersed in the water, from which he had forgotten to withdraw it, 
+his whole attention being engaged in contemplating the movements of a 
+water-snake, about five feet long, curiously checkered with black and 
+green, who was deliberately swimming across the pool.  There being no 
+stick or stone at hand to pelt him with, we looked at him for a time 
+in silent disgust; and then pushed forward.  Our perseverence was at 
+last rewarded; for several rods farther on, we emerged upon a little 
+level grassy nook among the brushwood, and by an extraordinary 
+dispensation of fortune, the weeds and floating sticks, which 
+elsewhere covered the pool, seemed to have drawn apart, and left a 
+few yards of clear water just in front of this favored spot.  We 
+sounded it with a stick; it was four feet deep; we lifted a specimen 
+in our cupped hands; it seemed reasonably transparent, so we decided 
+that the time for action was arrived.  But our ablutions were 
+suddenly interrupted by ten thousand punctures, like poisoned 
+needles, and the humming of myriads of over-grown mosquitoes, rising 
+in all directions from their native mud and slime and swarming to the 
+feast.  We were fain to beat a retreat with all possible speed.
+
+We made toward the tents, much refreshed by the bath which the heat 
+of the weather, joined to our prejudices, had rendered very 
+desirable.
+
+"What's the matter with the captain? look at him!" said Shaw.  The 
+captain stood alone on the prairie, swinging his hat violently around 
+his head, and lifting first one foot and then the other, without 
+moving from the spot.  First he looked down to the ground with an air 
+of supreme abhorrence; then he gazed upward with a perplexed and 
+indignant countenance, as if trying to trace the flight of an unseen 
+enemy.  We called to know what was the matter; but he replied only by 
+execrations directed against some unknown object.  We approached, 
+when our ears were saluted by a droning sound, as if twenty bee-hives 
+had been overturned at once.  The air above was full of large black 
+insects, in a state of great commotion, and multitudes were flying 
+about just above the tops of the grass blades.
+
+"Don't be afraid," called the captain, observing us recoil.  "The 
+brutes won't sting."
+
+At this I knocked one down with my hat, and discovered him to be no 
+other than a "dorbug"; and looking closer, we found the ground 
+thickly perforated with their holes.
+
+We took a hasty leave of this flourishing colony, and walking up the 
+rising ground to the tents, found Delorier's fire still glowing 
+brightly.  We sat down around it, and Shaw began to expatiate on the 
+admirable facilities for bathing that we had discovered, and 
+recommended the captain by all means to go down there before 
+breakfast in the morning.  The captain was in the act of remarking 
+that he couldn't have believed it possible, when he suddenly 
+interrupted himself, and clapped his hand to his cheek, exclaiming 
+that "those infernal humbugs were at him again."  In fact, we began 
+to hear sounds as if bullets were humming over our heads.  In a 
+moment something rapped me sharply on the forehead, then upon the 
+neck, and immediately I felt an indefinite number of sharp wiry claws 
+in active motion, as if their owner were bent on pushing his 
+explorations farther.  I seized him, and dropped him into the fire.  
+Our party speedily broke up, and we adjourned to our respective 
+tents, where, closing the opening fast, we hoped to be exempt from 
+invasion.  But all precaution was fruitless.  The dorbugs hummed 
+through the tent, and marched over our faces until day-light; when, 
+opening our blankets, we found several dozen clinging there with the 
+utmost tenacity.  The first object that met our eyes in the morning 
+was Delorier, who seemed to be apostrophizing his frying-pan, which 
+he held by the handle at arm's length.  It appeared that he had left 
+it at night by the fire; and the bottom was now covered with dorbugs, 
+firmly imbedded.  Multitudes beside, curiously parched and shriveled, 
+lay scattered among the ashes.
+
+The horses and mules were turned loose to feed.  We had just taken 
+our seats at breakfast, or rather reclined in the classic mode, when 
+an exclamation from Henry Chatillon, and a shout of alarm from the 
+captain, gave warning of some casualty, and looking up, we saw the 
+whole band of animals, twenty-three in number, filing off for the 
+settlements, the incorrigible Pontiac at their head, jumping along 
+with hobbled feet, at a gait much more rapid than graceful.  Three or 
+four of us ran to cut them off, dashing as best we might through the 
+tall grass, which was glittering with myriads of dewdrops.  After a 
+race of a mile or more, Shaw caught a horse.  Tying the trail-rope by 
+way of bridle round the animal's jaw, and leaping upon his back, he 
+got in advance of the remaining fugitives, while we, soon bringing 
+them together, drove them in a crowd up to the tents, where each man 
+caught and saddled his own.  Then we heard lamentations and curses; 
+for half the horses had broke their hobbles, and many were seriously 
+galled by attempting to run in fetters.
+
+It was late that morning before we were on the march; and early in 
+the afternoon we were compelled to encamp, for a thunder-gust came up 
+and suddenly enveloped us in whirling sheets of rain.  With much ado, 
+we pitched our tents amid the tempest, and all night long the thunder 
+bellowed and growled over our heads.  In the morning, light peaceful 
+showers succeeded the cataracts of rain, that had been drenching us 
+through the canvas of our tents.  About noon, when there were some 
+treacherous indications of fair weather, we got in motion again.
+
+Not a breath of air stirred over the free and open prairie; the 
+clouds were like light piles of cotton; and where the blue sky was 
+visible, it wore a hazy and languid aspect.  The sun beat down upon 
+us with a sultry penetrating heat almost insupportable, and as our 
+party crept slowly along over the interminable level, the horses hung 
+their heads as they waded fetlock deep through the mud, and the men 
+slouched into the easiest position upon the saddle.  At last, toward 
+evening, the old familiar black heads of thunderclouds rose fast 
+above the horizon, and the same deep muttering of distant thunder 
+that had become the ordinary accompaniment of our afternoon's journey 
+began to roll hoarsely over the prairie.  Only a few minutes elapsed 
+before the whole sky was densely shrouded, and the prairie and some 
+clusters of woods in front assumed a purple hue beneath the inky 
+shadows.  Suddenly from the densest fold of the cloud the flash 
+leaped out, quivering again and again down to the edge of the 
+prairie; and at the same instant came the sharp burst and the long 
+rolling peal of the thunder.  A cool wind, filled with the smell of 
+rain, just then overtook us, leveling the tall grass by the side of 
+the path.
+
+"Come on; we must ride for it!" shouted Shaw, rushing past at full 
+speed, his led horse snorting at his side.  The whole party broke 
+into full gallop, and made for the trees in front.  Passing these, we 
+found beyond them a meadow which they half inclosed.  We rode pell-
+mell upon the ground, leaped from horseback, tore off our saddles; 
+and in a moment each man was kneeling at his horse's feet.  The 
+hobbles were adjusted, and the animals turned loose; then, as the 
+wagons came wheeling rapidly to the spot, we seized upon the tent-
+poles, and just as the storm broke, we were prepared to receive it.  
+It came upon us almost with the darkness of night; the trees, which 
+were close at hand, were completely shrouded by the roaring torrents 
+of rain.
+
+We were sitting in the tent, when Delorier, with his broad felt hat 
+hanging about his ears, and his shoulders glistening with rain, 
+thrust in his head.
+
+"Voulez-vous du souper, tout de suite?  I can make a fire, sous la 
+charette--I b'lieve so--I try."
+
+"Never mind supper, man; come in out of the rain."
+
+Delorier accordingly crouched in the entrance, for modesty would not 
+permit him to intrude farther.
+
+Our tent was none of the best defense against such a cataract.  The 
+rain could not enter bodily, but it beat through the canvas in a fine 
+drizzle, that wetted us just as effectively.  We sat upon our saddles 
+with faces of the utmost surliness, while the water dropped from the 
+vizors of our caps, and trickled down our cheeks.  My india-rubber 
+cloak conducted twenty little rapid streamlets to the ground; and 
+Shaw's blanket-coat was saturated like a sponge.  But what most 
+concerned us was the sight of several puddles of water rapidly 
+accumulating; one in particular, that was gathering around the tent-
+pole, threatened to overspread the whole area within the tent, 
+holding forth but an indifferent promise of a comfortable night's 
+rest.  Toward sunset, however, the storm ceased as suddenly as it 
+began.  A bright streak of clear red sky appeared above the western 
+verge of the prairie, the horizontal rays of the sinking sun streamed 
+through it and glittered in a thousand prismatic colors upon the 
+dripping groves and the prostrate grass.  The pools in the tent 
+dwindled and sunk into the saturated soil.
+
+But all our hopes were delusive.  Scarcely had night set in, when the 
+tumult broke forth anew.  The thunder here is not like the tame 
+thunder of the Atlantic coast.  Bursting with a terrific crash 
+directly above our heads, it roared over the boundless waste of 
+prairie, seeming to roll around the whole circle of the firmament 
+with a peculiar and awful reverberation.  The lightning flashed all 
+night, playing with its livid glare upon the neighboring trees, 
+revealing the vast expanse of the plain, and then leaving us shut in 
+as by a palpable wall of darkness.
+
+It did not disturb us much.  Now and then a peal awakened us, and 
+made us conscious of the electric battle that was raging, and of the 
+floods that dashed upon the stanch canvas over our heads.  We lay 
+upon india-rubber cloths, placed between our blankets and the soil.  
+For a while they excluded the water to admiration; but when at length 
+it accumulated and began to run over the edges, they served equally 
+well to retain it, so that toward the end of the night we were 
+unconsciously reposing in small pools of rain.
+
+On finally awaking in the morning the prospect was not a cheerful 
+one.  The rain no longer poured in torrents; but it pattered with a 
+quiet pertinacity upon the strained and saturated canvas.  We 
+disengaged ourselves from our blankets, every fiber of which 
+glistened with little beadlike drops of water, and looked out in vain 
+hope of discovering some token of fair weather.  The clouds, in lead-
+colored volumes, rested upon the dismal verge of the prairie, or hung 
+sluggishly overhead, while the earth wore an aspect no more 
+attractive than the heavens, exhibiting nothing but pools of water, 
+grass beaten down, and mud well trampled by our mules and horses.  
+Our companions' tent, with an air of forlorn and passive misery, and 
+their wagons in like manner, drenched and woe-begone, stood not far 
+off.  The captain was just returning from his morning's inspection of 
+the horses.  He stalked through the mist and rain, with his plaid 
+around his shoulders; his little pipe, dingy as an antiquarian relic, 
+projecting from beneath his mustache, and his brother Jack at his 
+heels.
+
+"Good-morning, captain."
+
+"Good-morning to your honors," said the captain, affecting the 
+Hibernian accent; but at that instant, as he stooped to enter the 
+tent, he tripped upon the cords at the entrance, and pitched forward 
+against the guns which were strapped around the pole in the center.
+
+"You are nice men, you are!" said he, after an ejaculation not 
+necessary to be recorded, "to set a man-trap before your door every 
+morning to catch your visitors."
+
+Then he sat down upon Henry Chatillon's saddle.  We tossed a piece of 
+buffalo robe to Jack, who was looking about in some embarrassment.  
+He spread it on the ground, and took his seat, with a stolid 
+countenance, at his brother's side.
+
+"Exhilarating weather, captain!"
+
+"Oh, delightful, delightful!" replied the captain.  "I knew it would 
+be so; so much for starting yesterday at noon!  I knew how it would 
+turn out; and I said so at the time."
+
+"You said just the contrary to us.  We were in no hurry, and only 
+moved because you insisted on it."
+
+"Gentlemen," said the captain, taking his pipe from his mouth with an 
+air of extreme gravity, "it was no plan of mine.  There is a man 
+among us who is determined to have everything his own way.  You may 
+express your opinion; but don't expect him to listen.  You may be as 
+reasonable as you like: oh, it all goes for nothing!  That man is 
+resolved to rule the roost and he'll set his face against any plan 
+that he didn't think of himself."
+
+The captain puffed for a while at his pipe, as if meditating upon his 
+grievances; then he began again:
+
+"For twenty years I have been in the British army; and in all that 
+time I never had half so much dissension, and quarreling, and 
+nonsense, as since I have been on this cursed prairie.  He's the most 
+uncomfortable man I ever met."
+
+"Yes," said Jack; "and don't you know, Bill, how he drank up all the 
+coffee last night, and put the rest by for himself till the morning!"
+
+"He pretends to know everything," resumed the captain; "nobody must 
+give orders but he!  It's, oh! we must do this; and, oh! we must do 
+that; and the tent must be pitched here, and the horses must be 
+picketed there; for nobody knows as well as he does."
+
+We were a little surprised at this disclosure of domestic dissensions 
+among our allies, for though we knew of their existence, we were not 
+aware of their extent.  The persecuted captain seeming wholly at a 
+loss as to the course of conduct that he should pursue, we 
+recommended him to adopt prompt and energetic measures; but all his 
+military experience had failed to teach him the indispensable lesson 
+to be "hard," when the emergency requires it.
+
+"For twenty years," he repeated, "I have been in the British army, 
+and in that time I have been intimately acquainted with some two 
+hundred officers, young and old, and I never yet quarreled with any 
+man.  Oh, 'anything for a quiet life!' that's my maxim."
+
+We intimated that the prairie was hardly the place to enjoy a quiet 
+life, but that, in the present circumstances, the best thing he could 
+do toward securing his wished-for tranquillity, was immediately to 
+put a period to the nuisance that disturbed it.  But again the 
+captain's easy good-nature recoiled from the task.  The somewhat 
+vigorous measures necessary to gain the desired result were utterly 
+repugnant to him; he preferred to pocket his grievances, still 
+retaining the privilege of grumbling about them.  "Oh, anything for a 
+quiet life!" he said again, circling back to his favorite maxim.
+
+But to glance at the previous history of our transatlantic 
+confederates.  The captain had sold his commission, and was living in 
+bachelor ease and dignity in his paternal halls, near Dublin.  He 
+hunted, fished, rode steeple-chases, ran races, and talked of his 
+former exploits.  He was surrounded with the trophies of his rod and 
+gun; the walls were plentifully garnished, he told us, with moose-
+horns and deer-horns, bear-skins, and fox-tails; for the captain's 
+double-barreled rifle had seen service in Canada and Jamaica; he had 
+killed salmon in Nova Scotia, and trout, by his own account, in all 
+the streams of the three kingdoms.  But in an evil hour a seductive 
+stranger came from London; no less a person than R., who, among other 
+multitudinous wanderings, had once been upon the western prairies, 
+and naturally enough was anxious to visit them again.  The captain's 
+imagination was inflamed by the pictures of a hunter's paradise that 
+his guest held forth; he conceived an ambition to add to his other 
+trophies the horns of a buffalo, and the claws of a grizzly bear; so 
+he and R. struck a league to travel in company.  Jack followed his 
+brother, as a matter of course.  Two weeks on board the Atlantic 
+steamer brought them to Boston; in two weeks more of hard traveling 
+they reached St. Louis, from which a ride of six days carried them to 
+the frontier; and here we found them, in full tide of preparation for 
+their journey.
+
+We had been throughout on terms of intimacy with the captain, but R., 
+the motive power of our companions' branch of the expedition, was 
+scarcely known to us.  His voice, indeed, might be heard incessantly; 
+but at camp he remained chiefly within the tent, and on the road he 
+either rode by himself, or else remained in close conversation with 
+his friend Wright, the muleteer.  As the captain left the tent that 
+morning, I observed R. standing by the fire, and having nothing else 
+to do, I determined to ascertain, if possible, what manner of man he 
+was.  He had a book under his arm, but just at present he was 
+engrossed in actively superintending the operations of Sorel, the 
+hunter, who was cooking some corn-bread over the coals for breakfast.  
+R. was a well-formed and rather good-looking man, some thirty years 
+old; considerably younger than the captain.  He wore a beard and 
+mustache of the oakum complexion, and his attire was altogether more 
+elegant than one ordinarily sees on the prairie.  He wore his cap on 
+one side of his head; his checked shirt, open in front, was in very 
+neat order, considering the circumstances, and his blue pantaloons, 
+of the John Bull cut, might once have figured in Bond Street.
+
+"Turn over that cake, man! turn it over, quick!  Don't you see it 
+burning?"
+
+"It ain't half done," growled Sorel, in the amiable tone of a whipped 
+bull-dog.
+
+"It is.  Turn it over, I tell you!"
+
+Sorel, a strong, sullen-looking Canadian, who from having spent his 
+life among the wildest and most remote of the Indian tribes, had 
+imbibed much of their dark, vindictive spirit, looked ferociously up, 
+as if he longed to leap upon his bourgeois and throttle him; but he 
+obeyed the order, coming from so experienced an artist.
+
+"It was a good idea of yours," said I, seating myself on the tongue 
+of a wagon, "to bring Indian meal with you."
+
+"Yes, yes" said R. "It's good bread for the prairie--good bread for 
+the prairie.  I tell you that's burning again."
+
+Here he stooped down, and unsheathing the silver-mounted hunting-
+knife in his belt, began to perform the part of cook himself; at the 
+same time requesting me to hold for a moment the book under his arm, 
+which interfered with the exercise of these important functions.  I 
+opened it; it was "Macaulay's Lays"; and I made some remark, 
+expressing my admiration of the work.
+
+"Yes, yes; a pretty good thing.  Macaulay can do better than that 
+though.  I know him very well.  I have traveled with him.  Where was 
+it we first met--at Damascus?  No, no; it was in Italy."
+
+"So," said I, "you have been over the same ground with your 
+countryman, the author of 'Eothen'?  There has been some discussion 
+in America as to who he is.  I have heard Milne's name mentioned."
+
+"Milne's?  Oh, no, no, no; not at all.  It was Kinglake; Kinglake's 
+the man.  I know him very well; that is, I have seen him."
+
+Here Jack C., who stood by, interposed a remark (a thing not common 
+with him), observing that he thought the weather would become fair 
+before twelve o'clock.
+
+"It's going to rain all day," said R., "and clear up in the middle of 
+the night."
+
+Just then the clouds began to dissipate in a very unequivocal manner; 
+but Jack, not caring to defend his point against so authoritative a 
+declaration, walked away whistling, and we resumed our conversation.
+
+"Borrow, the author of 'The Bible in Spain,' I presume you know him 
+too?"
+
+"Oh, certainly; I know all those men.  By the way, they told me that 
+one of your American writers, Judge Story, had died lately.  I edited 
+some of his works in London; not without faults, though."
+
+Here followed an erudite commentary on certain points of law, in 
+which he particularly animadverted on the errors into which he 
+considered that the judge had been betrayed.  At length, having 
+touched successively on an infinite variety of topics, I found that I 
+had the happiness of discovering a man equally competent to enlighten 
+me upon them all, equally an authority on matters of science or 
+literature, philosphy or fashion.  The part I bore in the 
+conversation was by no means a prominent one; it was only necessary 
+to set him going, and when he had run long enough upon one topic, to 
+divert him to another and lead him on to pour out his heaps of 
+treasure in succession.
+
+"What has that fellow been saying to you?" said Shaw, as I returned 
+to the tent.  "I have heard nothing but his talking for the last 
+half-hour."
+
+R. had none of the peculiar traits of the ordinary "British snob"; 
+his absurdities were all his own, belonging to no particular nation 
+or clime.  He was possessed with an active devil that had driven him 
+over land and sea, to no great purpose, as it seemed; for although he 
+had the usual complement of eyes and ears, the avenues between these 
+organs and his brain appeared remarkably narrow and untrodden.  His 
+energy was much more conspicuous than his wisdom; but his predominant 
+characteristic was a magnanimous ambition to exercise on all 
+occasions an awful rule and supremacy, and this propensity equally 
+displayed itself, as the reader will have observed, whether the 
+matter in question was the baking of a hoe-cake or a point of 
+international law.  When such diverse elements as he and the easy-
+tempered captain came in contact, no wonder some commotion ensued; R. 
+rode roughshod, from morning till night, over his military ally.
+
+At noon the sky was clear and we set out, trailing through mud and 
+slime six inches deep.  That night we were spared the customary 
+infliction of the shower bath.
+
+On the next afternoon we were moving slowly along, not far from a 
+patch of woods which lay on the right.  Jack C. rode a little in 
+advance;
+
+
+     The livelong day he had not spoke;
+
+
+when suddenly he faced about, pointed to the woods, and roared out to 
+his brother:
+
+"O Bill! here's a cow!"
+
+The captain instantly galloped forward, and he and Jack made a vain 
+attempt to capture the prize; but the cow, with a well-grounded 
+distrust of their intentions, took refuge among the trees.  R. joined 
+them, and they soon drove her out.  We watched their evolutions as 
+they galloped around here, trying in vain to noose her with their 
+trail-ropes, which they had converted into lariettes for the 
+occasion.  At length they resorted to milder measures, and the cow 
+was driven along with the party.  Soon after the usual thunderstorm 
+came up, the wind blowing with such fury that the streams of rain 
+flew almost horizontally along the prairie, roaring like a cataract.  
+The horses turned tail to the storm, and stood hanging their heads, 
+bearing the infliction with an air of meekness and resignation; while 
+we drew our heads between our shoulders, and crouched forward, so as 
+to make our backs serve as a pent-house for the rest of our persons.  
+Meanwhile the cow, taking advantage of the tumult, ran off, to the 
+great discomfiture of the captain, who seemed to consider her as his 
+own especial prize, since she had been discovered by Jack.  In 
+defiance of the storm, he pulled his cap tight over his brows, jerked 
+a huge buffalo pistol from his holster, and set out at full speed 
+after her.  This was the last we saw of them for some time, the mist 
+and rain making an impenetrable veil; but at length we heard the 
+captain's shout, and saw him looming through the tempest, the picture 
+of a Hibernian cavalier, with his cocked pistol held aloft for 
+safety's sake, and a countenance of anxiety and excitement.  The cow 
+trotted before him, but exhibited evident signs of an intention to 
+run off again, and the captain was roaring to us to head her.  But 
+the rain had got in behind our coat collars, and was traveling over 
+our necks in numerous little streamlets, and being afraid to move our 
+heads, for fear of admitting more, we sat stiff and immovable, 
+looking at the captain askance, and laughing at his frantic 
+movements.  At last the cow made a sudden plunge and ran off; the 
+captain grasped his pistol firmly, spurred his horse, and galloped 
+after, with evident designs of mischief.  In a moment we heard the 
+faint report, deadened by the rain, and then the conqueror and his 
+victim reappeared, the latter shot through the body, and quite 
+helpless.  Not long after the storm moderated and we advanced again.  
+The cow walked painfully along under the charge of Jack, to whom the 
+captain had committed her, while he himself rode forward in his old 
+capacity of vedette.  We were approaching a long line of trees, that 
+followed a stream stretching across our path, far in front, when we 
+beheld the vedette galloping toward us, apparently much excited, but 
+with a broad grin on his face.
+
+"Let that cow drop behind!" he shouted to us; "here's her owners!"  
+And in fact, as we approached the line of trees, a large white 
+object, like a tent, was visible behind them.  On approaching, 
+however, we found, instead of the expected Mormon camp, nothing but 
+the lonely prairie, and a large white rock standing by the path.  The 
+cow therefore resumed her place in our procession.  She walked on 
+until we encamped, when R. firmly approaching with his enormous 
+English double-barreled rifle, calmly and deliberately took aim at 
+her heart, and discharged into it first one bullet and then the 
+other.  She was then butchered on the most approved principles of 
+woodcraft, and furnished a very welcome item to our somewhat limited 
+bill of fare.
+
+In a day or two more we reached the river called the "Big Blue."  By 
+titles equally elegant, almost all the streams of this region are 
+designated.  We had struggled through ditches and little brooks all 
+that morning; but on traversing the dense woods that lined the banks 
+of the Blue, we found more formidable difficulties awaited us, for 
+the stream, swollen by the rains, was wide, deep, and rapid.
+
+No sooner were we on the spot than R. had flung off his clothes, and 
+was swimming across, or splashing through the shallows, with the end 
+of a rope between his teeth.  We all looked on in admiration, 
+wondering what might be the design of this energetic preparation; but 
+soon we heard him shouting: "Give that rope a turn round that stump!  
+You, Sorel: do you hear?  Look sharp now, Boisverd!  Come over to 
+this side, some of you, and help me!"  The men to whom these orders 
+were directed paid not the least attention to them, though they were 
+poured out without pause or intermission.  Henry Chatillon directed 
+the work, and it proceeded quietly and rapidly.  R.'s sharp brattling 
+voice might have been heard incessantly; and he was leaping about 
+with the utmost activity, multiplying himself, after the manner of 
+great commanders, as if his universal presence and supervision were 
+of the last necessity.  His commands were rather amusingly 
+inconsistent; for when he saw that the men would not do as he told 
+them, he wisely accommodated himself to circumstances, and with the 
+utmost vehemence ordered them to do precisely that which they were at 
+the time engaged upon, no doubt recollecting the story of Mahomet and 
+the refractory mountain.  Shaw smiled significantly; R. observed it, 
+and, approaching with a countenance of lofty indignation, began to 
+vapor a little, but was instantly reduced to silence.
+
+The raft was at length complete.  We piled our goods upon it, with 
+the exception of our guns, which each man chose to retain in his own 
+keeping.  Sorel, Boisverd, Wright and Delorier took their stations at 
+the four corners, to hold it together, and swim across with it; and 
+in a moment more, all our earthly possessions were floating on the 
+turbid waters of the Big Blue.  We sat on the bank, anxiously 
+watching the result, until we saw the raft safe landed in a little 
+cove far down on the opposite bank.  The empty wagons were easily 
+passed across; and then each man mounting a horse, we rode through 
+the stream, the stray animals following of their own accord.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE PLATTE AND THE DESERT
+
+
+We were now arrived at the close of our solitary journeyings along 
+the St. Joseph's trail.  On the evening of the 23d of May we encamped 
+near its junction with the old legitimate trail of the Oregon 
+emigrants.  We had ridden long that afternoon, trying in vain to find 
+wood and water, until at length we saw the sunset sky reflected from 
+a pool encircled by bushes and a rock or two.  The water lay in the 
+bottom of a hollow, the smooth prairie gracefully rising in oceanlike 
+swells on every side.  We pitched our tents by it; not however before 
+the keen eye of Henry Chatillon had discerned some unusual object 
+upon the faintly-defined outline of the distant swell.  But in the 
+moist, hazy atmosphere of the evening, nothing could be clearly 
+distinguished.  As we lay around the fire after supper, a low and 
+distant sound, strange enough amid the loneliness of the prairie, 
+reached our ears--peals of laughter, and the faint voices of men and 
+women.  For eight days we had not encountered a human being, and this 
+singular warning of their vicinity had an effect extremely wild and 
+impressive.
+
+About dark a sallow-faced fellow descended the hill on horseback, and 
+splashing through the pool rode up to the tents.  He was enveloped in 
+a huge cloak, and his broad felt hat was weeping about his ears with 
+the drizzling moisture of the evening.  Another followed, a stout, 
+square-built, intelligent-looking man, who announced himself as 
+leader of an emigrant party encamped a mile in advance of us.  About 
+twenty wagons, he said, were with him; the rest of his party were on 
+the other side of the Big Blue, waiting for a woman who was in the 
+pains of child-birth, and quarreling meanwhile among themselves.
+
+These were the first emigrants that we had overtaken, although we had 
+found abundant and melancholy traces of their progress throughout the 
+whole course of the journey.  Sometimes we passed the grave of one 
+who had sickened and died on the way.  The earth was usually torn up, 
+and covered thickly with wolf-tracks.  Some had escaped this 
+violation.  One morning a piece of plank, standing upright on the 
+summit of a grassy hill, attracted our notice, and riding up to it we 
+found the following words very roughly traced upon it, apparently by 
+a red-hot piece of iron:
+
+
+         MARY ELLIS
+
+     DIED MAY 7TH, 1845.
+
+       Aged two months.
+
+
+Such tokens were of common occurrence, nothing could speak more for 
+the hardihood, or rather infatuation, of the adventurers, or the 
+sufferings that await them upon the journey.
+
+We were late in breaking up our camp on the following morning, and 
+scarcely had we ridden a mile when we saw, far in advance of us, 
+drawn against the horizon, a line of objects stretching at regular 
+intervals along the level edge of the prairie.  An intervening swell 
+soon hid them from sight, until, ascending it a quarter of an hour 
+after, we saw close before us the emigrant caravan, with its heavy 
+white wagons creeping on in their slow procession, and a large drove 
+of cattle following behind.  Half a dozen yellow-visaged Missourians, 
+mounted on horseback, were cursing and shouting among them; their 
+lank angular proportions enveloped in brown homespun, evidently cut 
+and adjusted by the hands of a domestic female tailor.  As we 
+approached, they greeted us with the polished salutation: "How are 
+ye, boys?  Are ye for Oregon or California?"
+
+As we pushed rapidly past the wagons, children's faces were thrust 
+out from the white coverings to look at us; while the care-worn, 
+thin-featured matron, or the buxom girl, seated in front, suspended 
+the knitting on which most of them were engaged to stare at us with 
+wondering curiosity.  By the side of each wagon stalked the 
+proprietor, urging on his patient oxen, who shouldered heavily along, 
+inch by inch, on their interminable journey.  It was easy to see that 
+fear and dissension prevailed among them; some of the men--but these, 
+with one exception, were bachelors--looked wistfully upon us as we 
+rode lightly and swiftly past, and then impatiently at their own 
+lumbering wagons and heavy-gaited oxen.  Others were unwilling to 
+advance at all until the party they had left behind should have 
+rejoined them.  Many were murmuring against the leader they had 
+chosen, and wished to depose him; and this discontent was fermented 
+by some ambitious spirits, who had hopes of succeeding in his place.  
+The women were divided between regrets for the homes they had left 
+and apprehension of the deserts and the savages before them.
+
+We soon left them far behind, and fondly hoped that we had taken a 
+final leave; but unluckily our companions' wagon stuck so long in a 
+deep muddy ditch that, before it was extricated, the van of the 
+emigrant caravan appeared again, descending a ridge close at hand.  
+Wagon after wagon plunged through the mud; and as it was nearly noon, 
+and the place promised shade and water, we saw with much 
+gratification that they were resolved to encamp.  Soon the wagons 
+were wheeled into a circle; the cattle were grazing over the meadow, 
+and the men with sour, sullen faces, were looking about for wood and 
+water.  They seemed to meet with but indifferent success.  As we left 
+the ground, I saw a tall slouching fellow with the nasal accent of 
+"down east," contemplating the contents of his tin cup, which he had 
+just filled with water.
+
+"Look here, you," he said; "it's chock full of animals!"
+
+The cup, as he held it out, exhibited in fact an extraordinary 
+variety and profusion of animal and vegetable life.
+
+Riding up the little hill and looking back on the meadow, we could 
+easily see that all was not right in the camp of the emigrants.  The 
+men were crowded together, and an angry discussion seemed to be going 
+forward.  R. was missing from his wonted place in the line, and the 
+captain told us that he had remained behind to get his horse shod by 
+a blacksmith who was attached to the emigrant party.  Something 
+whispered in our ears that mischief was on foot; we kept on, however, 
+and coming soon to a stream of tolerable water, we stopped to rest 
+and dine.  Still the absentee lingered behind.  At last, at the 
+distance of a mile, he and his horse suddenly appeared, sharply 
+defined against the sky on the summit of a hill; and close behind, a 
+huge white object rose slowly into view.
+
+"What is that blockhead bringing with him now?"
+
+A moment dispelled the mystery.  Slowly and solemnly one behind the 
+other, four long trains of oxen and four emigrant wagons rolled over 
+the crest of the declivity and gravely descended, while R. rode in 
+state in the van.  It seems that, during the process of shoeing the 
+horse, the smothered dissensions among the emigrants suddenly broke 
+into open rupture.  Some insisted on pushing forward, some on 
+remaining where they were, and some on going back.  Kearsley, their 
+captain, threw up his command in disgust.  "And now, boys," said he, 
+"if any of you are for going ahead, just you come along with me."
+
+Four wagons, with ten men, one woman, and one small child, made up 
+the force of the "go-ahead" faction, and R., with his usual 
+proclivity toward mischief, invited them to join our party.  Fear of 
+the Indians--for I can conceive of no other motive--must have induced 
+him to court so burdensome an alliance.  As may well be conceived, 
+these repeated instances of high-handed dealing sufficiently 
+exasperated us.  In this case, indeed, the men who joined us were all 
+that could be desired; rude indeed in manner, but frank, manly, and 
+intelligent.  To tell them we could not travel with them was of 
+course out of the question.  I merely reminded Kearsley that if his 
+oxen could not keep up with our mules he must expect to be left 
+behind, as we could not consent to be further delayed on the journey; 
+but he immediately replied, that his oxen "SHOULD keep up; and if 
+they couldn't, why he allowed that he'd find out how to make 'em!"  
+Having availed myself of what satisfaction could be derived from 
+giving R. to understand my opinion of his conduct, I returned to our 
+side of the camp.
+
+On the next day, as it chanced, our English companions broke the 
+axle-tree of their wagon, and down came the whole cumbrous machine 
+lumbering into the bed of a brook!  Here was a day's work cut out for 
+us.  Meanwhile, our emigrant associates kept on their way, and so 
+vigorously did they urge forward their powerful oxen that, with the 
+broken axle-tree and other calamities, it was full a week before we 
+overtook them; when at length we discovered them, one afternoon, 
+crawling quietly along the sandy brink of the Platte.  But meanwhile 
+various incidents occurred to ourselves.
+
+It was probable that at this stage of our journey the Pawnees would 
+attempt to rob us.  We began therefore to stand guard in turn, 
+dividing the night into three watches, and appointing two men for 
+each.  Delorier and I held guard together.  We did not march with 
+military precision to and fro before the tents; our discipline was by 
+no means so stringent and rigid.  We wrapped ourselves in our 
+blankets, and sat down by the fire; and Delorier, combining his 
+culinary functions with his duties as sentinel, employed himself in 
+boiling the head of an antelope for our morning's repast.  Yet we 
+were models of vigilance in comparison with some of the party; for 
+the ordinary practice of the guard was to establish himself in the 
+most comfortable posture he could; lay his rifle on the ground, and 
+enveloping his nose in the blanket, meditate on his mistress, or 
+whatever subject best pleased him.  This is all well enough when 
+among Indians who do not habitually proceed further in their 
+hostility than robbing travelers of their horses and mules, though, 
+indeed, a Pawnee's forebearance is not always to be trusted; but in 
+certain regions farther to the west, the guard must beware how he 
+exposes his person to the light of the fire, lest perchance some 
+keen-eyed skulking marksman should let fly a bullet or an arrow from 
+amid the darkness.
+
+Among various tales that circulated around our camp fire was a rather 
+curious one, told by Boisverd, and not inappropriate here.  Boisverd 
+was trapping with several companions on the skirts of the Blackfoot 
+country.  The man on guard, well knowing that it behooved him to put 
+forth his utmost precaution, kept aloof from the firelight, and sat 
+watching intently on all sides.  At length he was aware of a dark, 
+crouching figure, stealing noiselessly into the circle of the light.  
+He hastily cocked his rifle, but the sharp click of the lock caught 
+the ear of Blackfoot, whose senses were all on the alert.  Raising 
+his arrow, already fitted to the string, he shot in the direction of 
+the sound.  So sure was his aim that he drove it through the throat 
+of the unfortunate guard, and then, with a loud yell, bounded from 
+the camp.
+
+As I looked at the partner of my watch, puffing and blowing over his 
+fire, it occurred to me that he might not prove the most efficient 
+auxiliary in time of trouble.
+
+"Delorier," said I, "would you run away if the Pawnees should fire at 
+us?"
+
+"Ah! oui, oui, monsieur!" he replied very decisively.
+
+I did not doubt the fact, but was a little surprised at the frankness 
+of the confession.
+
+At this instant a most whimsical variety of voices--barks, howls, 
+yelps, and whines--all mingled as it were together, sounded from the 
+prairie, not far off, as if a whole conclave of wolves of every age 
+and sex were assembled there.  Delorier looked up from his work with 
+a laugh, and began to imitate this curious medley of sounds with a 
+most ludicrous accuracy.  At this they were repeated with redoubled 
+emphasis, the musician being apparently indignant at the successful 
+efforts of a rival.  They all proceeded from the throat of one little 
+wolf, not larger than a spaniel, seated by himself at some distance.  
+He was of the species called the prairie wolf; a grim-visaged, but 
+harmless little brute, whose worst propensity is creeping among 
+horses and gnawing the ropes of raw hide by which they are picketed 
+around the camp.  But other beasts roam the prairies, far more 
+formidable in aspect and in character.  These are the large white and 
+gray wolves, whose deep howl we heard at intervals from far and near.
+
+At last I fell into a doze, and, awakening from it, found Delorier 
+fast asleep.  Scandalized by this breach of discipline, I was about 
+to stimulate his vigilance by stirring him with the stock of my 
+rifle; but compassion prevailing, I determined to let him sleep 
+awhile, and then to arouse him, and administer a suitable reproof for 
+such a forgetfulness of duty.  Now and then I walked the rounds among 
+the silent horses, to see that all was right.  The night was chill, 
+damp, and dark, the dank grass bending under the icy dewdrops.  At 
+the distance of a rod or two the tents were invisible, and nothing 
+could be seen but the obscure figures of the horses, deeply 
+breathing, and restlessly starting as they slept, or still slowly 
+champing the grass.  Far off, beyond the black outline of the 
+prairie, there was a ruddy light, gradually increasing, like the glow 
+of a conflagration; until at length the broad disk of the moon, 
+blood-red, and vastly magnified by the vapors, rose slowly upon the 
+darkness, flecked by one or two little clouds, and as the light 
+poured over the gloomy plain, a fierce and stern howl, close at hand, 
+seemed to greet it as an unwelcome intruder.  There was something 
+impressive and awful in the place and the hour; for I and the beasts 
+were all that had consciousness for many a league around.
+
+Some days elapsed, and brought us near the Platte.  Two men on 
+horseback approached us one morning, and we watched them with the 
+curiosity and interest that, upon the solitude of the plains, such an 
+encounter always excites.  They were evidently whites, from their 
+mode of riding, though, contrary to the usage of that region, neither 
+of them carried a rifle.
+
+"Fools!" remarked Henry Chatillon, "to ride that way on the prairie; 
+Pawnee find them--then they catch it!"
+
+Pawnee HAD found them, and they had come very near "catching it"; 
+indeed, nothing saved them from trouble but the approach of our 
+party.  Shaw and I knew one of them; a man named Turner, whom we had 
+seen at Westport.  He and his companion belonged to an emigrant party 
+encamped a few miles in advance, and had returned to look for some 
+stray oxen, leaving their rifles, with characteristic rashness or 
+ignorance behind them.  Their neglect had nearly cost them dear; for 
+just before we came up, half a dozen Indians approached, and seeing 
+them apparently defenseless, one of the rascals seized the bridle of 
+Turner's fine horse, and ordered him to dismount.  Turner was wholly 
+unarmed; but the other jerked a little revolving pistol out of his 
+pocket, at which the Pawnee recoiled; and just then some of our men 
+appearing in the distance, the whole party whipped their rugged 
+little horses, and made off.  In no way daunted, Turner foolishly 
+persisted in going forward.
+
+Long after leaving him, and late this afternoon, in the midst of a 
+gloomy and barren prairie, we came suddenly upon the great Pawnee 
+trail, leading from their villages on the Platte to their war and 
+hunting grounds to the southward.  Here every summer pass the motley 
+concourse; thousands of savages, men, women, and children, horses and 
+mules, laden with their weapons and implements, and an innumerable 
+multitude of unruly wolfish dogs, who have not acquired the civilized 
+accomplishment of barking, but howl like their wild cousins of the 
+prairie.
+
+The permanent winter villages of the Pawnees stand on the lower 
+Platte, but throughout the summer the greater part of the inhabitants 
+are wandering over the plains, a treacherous cowardly banditti, who 
+by a thousand acts of pillage and murder have deserved summary 
+chastisement at the hands of government.  Last year a Dakota warrior 
+performed a signal exploit at one of these villages.  He approached 
+it alone in the middle of a dark night, and clambering up the outside 
+of one of the lodges which are in the form of a half-sphere, he 
+looked in at the round hole made at the top for the escape of smoke.  
+The dusky light from the smoldering embers showed him the forms of 
+the sleeping inmates; and dropping lightly through the opening, he 
+unsheathed his knife, and stirring the fire coolly selected his 
+victims.  One by one he stabbed and scalped them, when a child 
+suddenly awoke and screamed.  He rushed from the lodge, yelled a 
+Sioux war-cry, shouted his name in triumph and defiance, and in a 
+moment had darted out upon the dark prairie, leaving the whole 
+village behind him in a tumult, with the howling and baying of dogs, 
+the screams of women and the yells of the enraged warriors.
+
+Our friend Kearsley, as we learned on rejoining him, signalized 
+himself by a less bloody achievement.  He and his men were good 
+woodsmen, and well skilled in the use of the rifle, but found 
+themselves wholly out of their element on the prairie.  None of them 
+had ever seen a buffalo and they had very vague conceptions of his 
+nature and appearance.  On the day after they reached the Platte, 
+looking toward a distant swell, they beheld a multitude of little 
+black specks in motion upon its surface.
+
+"Take your rifles, boys," said Kearslcy, "and we'll have fresh meat 
+for supper."  This inducement was quite sufficient.  The ten men left 
+their wagons and set out in hot haste, some on horseback and some on 
+foot, in pursuit of the supposed buffalo.  Meanwhile a high grassy 
+ridge shut the game from view; but mounting it after half an hour's 
+running and riding, they found themselves suddenly confronted by 
+about thirty mounted Pawnees!  The amazement and consternation were 
+mutual.  Having nothing but their bows and arrows, the Indians 
+thought their hour was come, and the fate that they were no doubt 
+conscious of richly deserving about to overtake them.  So they began, 
+one and all, to shout forth the most cordial salutations of 
+friendship, running up with extreme earnestness to shake hands with 
+the Missourians, who were as much rejoiced as they were to escape the 
+expected conflict.
+
+A low undulating line of sand-hills bounded the horizon before us.  
+That day we rode ten consecutive hours, and it was dusk before we 
+entered the hollows and gorges of these gloomy little hills.  At 
+length we gained the summit, and the long expected valley of the 
+Platte lay before us.  We all drew rein, and, gathering in a knot on 
+the crest of the hill, sat joyfully looking down upon the prospect.  
+It was right welcome; strange too, and striking to the imagination, 
+and yet it had not one picturesque or beautiful feature; nor had it 
+any of the features of grandeur, other than its vast extent, its 
+solitude, and its wilderness.  For league after league a plain as 
+level as a frozen lake was outspread beneath us; here and there the 
+Platte, divided into a dozen threadlike sluices, was traversing it, 
+and an occasional clump of wood, rising in the midst like a shadowy 
+island, relieved the monotony of the waste.  No living thing was 
+moving throughout the vast landscape, except the lizards that darted 
+over the sand and through the rank grass and prickly-pear just at our 
+feet.  And yet stern and wild associations gave a singular interest 
+to the view; for here each man lives by the strength of his arm and 
+the valor of his heart.  Here society is reduced to its original 
+elements, the whole fabric of art and conventionality is struck 
+rudely to pieces, and men find themselves suddenly brought back to 
+the wants and resources of their original natures.
+
+We had passed the more toilsome and monotonous part of the journey; 
+but four hundred miles still intervened between us and Fort Laramie; 
+and to reach that point cost us the travel of three additional weeks.  
+During the whole of this time we were passing up the center of a long 
+narrow sandy plain, reaching like an outstretched belt nearly to the 
+Rocky Mountains.  Two lines of sand-hills, broken often into the 
+wildest and most fantastic forms, flanked the valley at the distance 
+of a mile or two on the right and left; while beyond them lay a 
+barren, trackless waste--The Great American Desert--extending for 
+hundreds of miles to the Arkansas on the one side, and the Missouri 
+on the other.  Before us and behind us, the level monotony of the 
+plain was unbroken as far as the eye could reach.  Sometimes it 
+glared in the sun, an expanse of hot, bare sand; sometimes it was 
+veiled by long coarse grass.  Huge skulls and whitening bones of 
+buffalo were scattered everywhere; the ground was tracked by myriads 
+of them, and often covered with the circular indentations where the 
+bulls had wallowed in the hot weather.  From every gorge and ravine, 
+opening from the hills, descended deep, well-worn paths, where the 
+buffalo issue twice a day in regular procession down to drink in the 
+Platte.  The river itself runs through the midst, a thin sheet of 
+rapid, turbid water, half a mile wide, and scarce two feet deep.  Its 
+low banks for the most part without a bush or a tree, are of loose 
+sand, with which the stream is so charged that it grates on the teeth 
+in drinking.  The naked landscape is, of itself, dreary and 
+monotonous enough, and yet the wild beasts and wild men that frequent 
+the valley of the Platte make it a scene of interest and excitement 
+to the traveler.  Of those who have journeyed there, scarce one, 
+perhaps, fails to look back with fond regret to his horse and his 
+rifle.
+
+Early in the morning after we reached the Platte, a long procession 
+of squalid savages approached our camp.  Each was on foot, leading 
+his horse by a rope of bull-hide.  His attire consisted merely of a 
+scanty cincture and an old buffalo robe, tattered and begrimed by 
+use, which hung over his shoulders.  His head was close shaven, 
+except a ridge of hair reaching over the crown from the center of the 
+forehead, very much like the long bristles on the back of a hyena, 
+and he carried his bow and arrows in his hand, while his meager 
+little horse was laden with dried buffalo meat, the produce of his 
+hunting.  Such were the first specimens that we met--and very 
+indifferent ones they were--of the genuine savages of the prairie.
+
+They were the Pawnees whom Kearsley had encountered the day before, 
+and belonged to a large hunting party known to be ranging the prairie 
+in the vicinity.  They strode rapidly past, within a furlong of our 
+tents, not pausing or looking toward us, after the manner of Indians 
+when meditating mischief or conscious of ill-desert.  I went out and 
+met them; and had an amicable conference with the chief, presenting 
+him with half a pound of tobacco, at which unmerited bounty he 
+expressed much gratification.  These fellows, or some of their 
+companions had committed a dastardly outrage upon an emigrant party 
+in advance of us.  Two men, out on horseback at a distance, were 
+seized by them, but lashing their horses, they broke loose and fled.  
+At this the Pawnees raised the yell and shot at them, transfixing the 
+hindermost through the back with several arrows, while his companion 
+galloped away and brought in the news to his party.  The panic-
+stricken emigrants remained for several days in camp, not daring even 
+to send out in quest of the dead body.
+
+The reader will recollect Turner, the man whose narrow escape was 
+mentioned not long since.  We heard that the men, whom the entreaties 
+of his wife induced to go in search of him, found him leisurely 
+driving along his recovered oxen, and whistling in utter contempt of 
+the Pawnee nation.  His party was encamped within two miles of us; 
+but we passed them that morning, while the men were driving in the 
+oxen, and the women packing their domestic utensils and their 
+numerous offspring in the spacious patriarchal wagons.  As we looked 
+back we saw their caravan dragging its slow length along the plain; 
+wearily toiling on its way, to found new empires in the West.
+
+Our New England climate is mild and equable compared with that of the 
+Platte.  This very morning, for instance, was close and sultry, the 
+sun rising with a faint oppressive heat; when suddenly darkness 
+gathered in the west, and a furious blast of sleet and hail drove 
+full in our faces, icy cold, and urged with such demoniac vehemence 
+that it felt like a storm of needles.  It was curious to see the 
+horses; they faced about in extreme displeasure, holding their tails 
+like whipped dogs, and shivering as the angry gusts, howling louder 
+than a concert of wolves, swept over us.  Wright's long train of 
+mules came sweeping round before the storm like a flight of brown 
+snowbirds driven by a winter tempest.  Thus we all remained 
+stationary for some minutes, crouching close to our horses' necks, 
+much too surly to speak, though once the captain looked up from 
+between the collars of his coat, his face blood-red, and the muscles 
+of his mouth contracted by the cold into a most ludicrous grin of 
+agony.  He grumbled something that sounded like a curse, directed as 
+we believed, against the unhappy hour when he had first thought of 
+leaving home.  The thing was too good to last long; and the instant 
+the puffs of wind subsided we erected our tents, and remained in camp 
+for the rest of a gloomy and lowering day.  The emigrants also 
+encamped near at hand.  We, being first on the ground, had 
+appropriated all the wood within reach; so that our fire alone blazed 
+cheerfully.  Around it soon gathered a group of uncouth figures, 
+shivering in the drizzling rain.  Conspicuous among them were two or 
+three of the half-savage men who spend their reckless lives in 
+trapping among the Rocky Mountains, or in trading for the Fur Company 
+in the Indian villages.  They were all of Canadian extraction; their 
+hard, weather-beaten faces and bushy mustaches looked out from 
+beneath the hoods of their white capotes with a bad and brutish 
+expression, as if their owner might be the willing agent of any 
+villainy.  And such in fact is the character of many of these men.
+
+On the day following we overtook Kearsley's wagons, and 
+thenceforward, for a week or two, we were fellow-travelers.  One good 
+effect, at least, resulted from the alliance; it materially 
+diminished the serious fatigue of standing guard; for the party being 
+now more numerous, there were longer intervals between each man's 
+turns of duty.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+THE BUFFALO
+
+
+Four days on the Platte, and yet no buffalo!  Last year's signs of 
+them were provokingly abundant; and wood being extremely scarce, we 
+found an admirable substitute in bois de vache, which burns exactly 
+like peat, producing no unpleasant effects.  The wagons one morning 
+had left the camp; Shaw and I were already on horseback, but Henry 
+Chatillon still sat cross-legged by the dead embers of the fire, 
+playing pensively with the lock of his rifle, while his sturdy 
+Wyandotte pony stood quietly behind him, looking over his head.  At 
+last he got up, patted the neck of the pony (whom, from an 
+exaggerated appreciation of his merits, he had christened "Five 
+Hundred Dollar"), and then mounted with a melancholy air.
+
+"What is it, Henry?"
+
+"Ah, I feel lonesome; I never been here before; but I see away yonder 
+over the buttes, and down there on the prairie, black--all black with 
+buffalo!"
+
+In the afternoon he and I left the party in search of an antelope; 
+until at the distance of a mile or two on the right, the tall white 
+wagons and the little black specks of horsemen were just visible, so 
+slowly advancing that they seemed motionless; and far on the left 
+rose the broken line of scorched, desolate sand-hills.  The vast 
+plain waved with tall rank grass that swept our horses' bellies; it 
+swayed to and fro in billows with the light breeze, and far and near 
+antelope and wolves were moving through it, the hairy backs of the 
+latter alternately appearing and disappearing as they bounded 
+awkwardly along; while the antelope, with the simple curiosity 
+peculiar to them, would often approach as closely, their little horns 
+and white throats just visible above the grass tops, as they gazed 
+eagerly at us with their round black eyes.
+
+I dismounted, and amused myself with firing at the wolves.  Henry 
+attentively scrutinized the surrounding landscape; at length he gave 
+a shout, and called on me to mount again, pointing in the direction 
+of the sand-hills.  A mile and a half from us, two minute black 
+specks slowly traversed the face of one of the bare glaring 
+declivities, and disappeared behind the summit.  "Let us go!" cried 
+Henry, belaboring the sides of Five Hundred Dollar; and I following 
+in his wake, we galloped rapidly through the rank grass toward the 
+base of the hills.
+
+From one of their openings descended a deep ravine, widening as it 
+issued on the prairie.  We entered it, and galloping up, in a moment 
+were surrounded by the bleak sand-hills.  Half of their steep sides 
+were bare; the rest were scantily clothed with clumps of grass, and 
+various uncouth plants, conspicuous among which appeared the reptile-
+like prickly-pear.  They were gashed with numberless ravines; and as 
+the sky had suddenly darkened, and a cold gusty wind arisen, the 
+strange shrubs and the dreary hills looked doubly wild and desolate.  
+But Henry's face was all eagerness.  He tore off a little hair from 
+the piece of buffalo robe under his saddle, and threw it up, to show 
+the course of the wind.  It blew directly before us.  The game were 
+therefore to windward, and it was necessary to make our best speed to 
+get around them.
+
+We scrambled from this ravine, and galloping away through the 
+hollows, soon found another, winding like a snake among the hills, 
+and so deep that it completely concealed us.  We rode up the bottom 
+of it, glancing through the shrubbery at its edge, till Henry 
+abruptly jerked his rein, and slid out of his saddle.  Full a quarter 
+of a mile distant, on the outline of the farthest hill, a long 
+procession of buffalo were walking, in Indian file, with the utmost 
+gravity and deliberation; then more appeared, clambering from a 
+hollow not far off, and ascending, one behind the other, the grassy 
+slope of another hill; then a shaggy head and a pair of short broken 
+horns appeared issuing out of a ravine close at hand, and with a 
+slow, stately step, one by one, the enormous brutes came into view, 
+taking their way across the valley, wholly unconscious of an enemy.  
+In a moment Henry was worming his way, lying flat on the ground, 
+through grass and prickly-pears, toward his unsuspecting victims.  He 
+had with him both my rifle and his own.  He was soon out of sight, 
+and still the buffalo kept issuing into the valley.  For a long time 
+all was silent.  I sat holding his horse, and wondering what he was 
+about, when suddenly, in rapid succession, came the sharp reports of 
+the two rifles, and the whole line of buffalo, quickening their pace 
+into a clumsy trot, gradually disappeared over the ridge of the hill.  
+Henry rose to his feet, and stood looking after them.
+
+"You have missed them," said I.
+
+"Yes," said Henry; "let us go."  He descended into the ravine, loaded 
+the rifles, and mounted his horse.
+
+We rode up the hill after the buffalo.  The herd was out of sight 
+when we reached the top, but lying on the grass not far off, was one 
+quite lifeless, and another violently struggling in the death agony.
+
+"You see I miss him!" remarked Henry.  He had fired from a distance 
+of more than a hundred and fifty yards, and both balls had passed 
+through the lungs--the true mark in shooting buffalo.
+
+The darkness increased, and a driving storm came on.  Tying our 
+horses to the horns of the victims, Henry began the bloody work of 
+dissection, slashing away with the science of a connoisseur, while I 
+vainly endeavored to imitate him.  Old Hendrick recoiled with horror 
+and indignation when I endeavored to tie the meat to the strings of 
+raw hide, always carried for this purpose, dangling at the back of 
+the saddle.  After some difficulty we overcame his scruples; and 
+heavily burdened with the more eligible portions of the buffalo, we 
+set out on our return.  Scarcely had we emerged from the labyrinth of 
+gorges and ravines, and issued upon the open prairie, when the 
+pricking sleet came driving, gust upon gust, directly in our faces.  
+It was strangely dark, though wanting still an hour of sunset.  The 
+freezing storm soon penetrated to the skin, but the uneasy trot of 
+our heavy-gaited horses kept us warm enough, as we forced them 
+unwillingly in the teeth of the sleet and rain, by the powerful 
+suasion of our Indian whips.  The prairie in this place was hard and 
+level.  A flourishing colony of prairie dogs had burrowed into it in 
+every direction, and the little mounds of fresh earth around their 
+holes were about as numerous as the hills in a cornfield; but not a 
+yelp was to be heard; not the nose of a single citizen was visible; 
+all had retired to the depths of their burrows, and we envied them 
+their dry and comfortable habitations.  An hour's hard riding showed 
+us our tent dimly looming through the storm, one side puffed out by 
+the force of the wind, and the other collapsed in proportion, while 
+the disconsolate horses stood shivering close around, and the wind 
+kept up a dismal whistling in the boughs of three old half-dead trees 
+above.  Shaw, like a patriarch, sat on his saddle in the entrance, 
+with a pipe in his mouth, and his arms folded, contemplating, with 
+cool satisfaction, the piles of meat that we flung on the ground 
+before him.  A dark and dreary night succeeded; but the sun rose with 
+heat so sultry and languid that the captain excused himself on that 
+account from waylaying an old buffalo bull, who with stupid gravity 
+was walking over the prairie to drink at the river.  So much for the 
+climate of the Platte!
+
+But it was not the weather alone that had produced this sudden 
+abatement of the sportsmanlike zeal which the captain had always 
+professed.  He had been out on the afternoon before, together with 
+several members of his party; but their hunting was attended with no 
+other result than the loss of one of their best horses, severely 
+injured by Sorel, in vainly chasing a wounded bull.  The captain, 
+whose ideas of hard riding were all derived from transatlantic 
+sources, expressed the utmost amazement at the feats of Sorel, who 
+went leaping ravines, and dashing at full speed up and down the sides 
+of precipitous hills, lashing his horse with the recklessness of a 
+Rocky Mountain rider.  Unfortunately for the poor animal he was the 
+property of R., against whom Sorel entertained an unbounded aversion.  
+The captain himself, it seemed, had also attempted to "run" a 
+buffalo, but though a good and practiced horseman, he had soon given 
+over the attempt, being astonished and utterly disgusted at the 
+nature of the ground he was required to ride over.
+
+Nothing unusual occurred on that day; but on the following morning 
+Henry Chatillon, looking over the oceanlike expanse, saw near the 
+foot of the distant hills something that looked like a band of 
+buffalo.  He was not sure, he said, but at all events, if they were 
+buffalo, there was a fine chance for a race.  Shaw and I at once 
+determined to try the speed of our horses.
+
+"Come, captain; we'll see which can ride hardest, a Yankee or an 
+Irishman."
+
+But the captain maintained a grave and austere countenance.  He 
+mounted his led horse, however, though very slowly; and we set out at 
+a trot.  The game appeared about three miles distant.  As we 
+proceeded the captain made various remarks of doubt and indecision; 
+and at length declared he would have nothing to do with such a 
+breakneck business; protesting that he had ridden plenty of steeple-
+chases in his day, but he never knew what riding was till he found 
+himself behind a band of buffalo day before yesterday.  "I am 
+convinced," said the captain, "that, 'running' is out of the 
+question.*  Take my advice now and don't attempt it.  It's dangerous, 
+and of no use at all."
+
+
+*The method of hunting called "running" consists in attacking the 
+buffalo on horseback and shooting him with bullets or arrows when at 
+full-speed.  In "approaching," the hunter conceals himself and crawls 
+on the ground toward the game, or lies in wait to kill them.
+
+
+"Then why did you come out with us?  What do you mean to do?"
+
+"I shall 'approach,'" replied the captain.
+
+"You don't mean to 'approach' with your pistols, do you?  We have all 
+of us left our rifles in the wagons."
+
+The captain seemed staggered at the suggestion.  In his 
+characteristic indecision, at setting out, pistols, rifles, "running" 
+and "approaching" were mingled in an inextricable medley in his 
+brain.  He trotted on in silence between us for a while; but at 
+length he dropped behind and slowly walked his horse back to rejoin 
+the party.  Shaw and I kept on; when lo! as we advanced, the band of 
+buffalo were transformed into certain clumps of tall bushes, dotting 
+the prairie for a considerable distance.  At this ludicrous 
+termination of our chase, we followed the example of our late ally, 
+and turned back toward the party.  We were skirting the brink of a 
+deep ravine, when we saw Henry and the broad-chested pony coming 
+toward us at a gallop.
+
+"Here's old Papin and Frederic, down from Fort Laramie!" shouted 
+Henry, long before he came up.  We had for some days expected this 
+encounter.  Papin was the bourgeois of Fort Laramie.  He had come 
+down the river with the buffalo robes and the beaver, the produce of 
+the last winter's trading.  I had among our baggage a letter which I 
+wished to commit to their hands; so requesting Henry to detain the 
+boats if he could until my return, I set out after the wagons.  They 
+were about four miles in advance.  In half an hour I overtook them, 
+got the letter, trotted back upon the trail, and looking carefully, 
+as I rode, saw a patch of broken, storm-blasted trees, and moving 
+near them some little black specks like men and horses.  Arriving at 
+the place, I found a strange assembly.  The boats, eleven in number, 
+deep-laden with the skins, hugged close to the shore, to escape being 
+borne down by the swift current.  The rowers, swarthy ignoble 
+Mexicans, turned their brutish faces upward to look, as I reached the 
+bank.  Papin sat in the middle of one of the boats upon the canvas 
+covering that protected the robes.  He was a stout, robust fellow, 
+with a little gray eye, that had a peculiarly sly twinkle.  
+"Frederic" also stretched his tall rawboned proportions close by the 
+bourgeois, and "mountain-men" completed the group; some lounging in 
+the boats, some strolling on shore; some attired in gayly painted 
+buffalo robes, like Indian dandies; some with hair saturated with red 
+paint, and beplastered with glue to their temples; and one bedaubed 
+with vermilion upon his forehead and each cheek.  They were a mongrel 
+race; yet the French blood seemed to predominate; in a few, indeed, 
+might be seen the black snaky eye of the Indian half-breed, and one 
+and all, they seemed to aim at assimilating themselves to their 
+savage associates.
+
+I shook hands with the bourgeois, and delivered the letter; then the 
+boats swung round into the stream and floated away.  They had reason 
+for haste, for already the voyage from Fort Laramie had occupied a 
+full month, and the river was growing daily more shallow.  Fifty 
+times a day the boats had been aground, indeed; those who navigate 
+the Platte invariably spend half their time upon sand-bars.  Two of 
+these boats, the property of private traders, afterward separating 
+from the rest, got hopelessly involved in the shallows, not very far 
+from the Pawnee villages, and were soon surrounded by a swarm of the 
+inhabitants.  They carried off everything that they considered 
+valuable, including most of the robes; and amused themselves by tying 
+up the men left on guard and soundly whipping them with sticks.
+
+We encamped that night upon the bank of the river.  Among the 
+emigrants there was an overgrown boy, some eighteen years old, with a 
+head as round and about as large as a pumpkin, and fever-and-ague 
+fits had dyed his face of a corresponding color.  He wore an old 
+white hat, tied under his chin with a handkerchief; his body was 
+short and stout, but his legs of disproportioned and appalling 
+length.  I observed him at sunset, breasting the hill with gigantic 
+strides, and standing against the sky on the summit, like a colossal 
+pair of tongs.  In a moment after we heard him screaming frantically 
+behind the ridge, and nothing doubting that he was in the clutches of 
+Indians or grizzly bears, some of the party caught up their rifles 
+and ran to the rescue.  His outcries, however, proved but an 
+ebullition of joyous excitement; he had chased two little wolf pups 
+to their burrow, and he was on his knees, grubbing away like a dog at 
+the mouth of the hole, to get at them.
+
+Before morning he caused more serious disquiet in the camp.  It was 
+his turn to hold the middle guard; but no sooner was he called up, 
+than he coolly arranged a pair of saddle-bags under a wagon, laid his 
+head upon them, closed his eyes, opened his mouth and fell asleep.  
+The guard on our side of the camp, thinking it no part of his duty to 
+look after the cattle of the emigrants, contented himself with 
+watching our own horses and mules; the wolves, he said, were 
+unusually noisy; but still no mischief was anticipated until the sun 
+rose, and not a hoof or horn was in sight!  The cattle were gone!  
+While Tom was quietly slumbering, the wolves had driven them away.
+
+Then we reaped the fruits of R.'s precious plan of traveling in 
+company with emigrants.  To leave them in their distress was not to 
+be thought of, and we felt bound to wait until the cattle could be 
+searched for, and, if possible, recovered.  But the reader may be 
+curious to know what punishment awaited the faithless Tom.  By the 
+wholesome law of the prairie, he who falls asleep on guard is 
+condemned to walk all day leading his horse by the bridle, and we 
+found much fault with our companions for not enforcing such a 
+sentence on the offender.  Nevertheless had he been of our party, I 
+have no doubt he would in like manner have escaped scot-free.  But 
+the emigrants went farther than mere forebearance; they decreed that 
+since Tom couldn't stand guard without falling asleep, he shouldn't 
+stand guard at all, and henceforward his slumbers were unbroken.  
+Establishing such a premium on drowsiness could have no very 
+beneficial effect upon the vigilance of our sentinels; for it is far 
+from agreeable, after riding from sunrise to sunset, to feel your 
+slumbers interrupted by the butt of a rifle nudging your side, and a 
+sleepy voice growling in your ear that you must get up, to shiver and 
+freeze for three weary hours at midnight.
+
+"Buffalo! buffalo!"  It was but a grim old bull, roaming the prairie 
+by himself in misanthropic seclusion; but there might be more behind 
+the hills.  Dreading the monotony and languor of the camp, Shaw and I 
+saddled our horses, buckled our holsters in their places, and set out 
+with Henry Chatillon in search of the game.  Henry, not intending to 
+take part in the chase, but merely conducting us, carried his rifle 
+with him, while we left ours behind as incumbrances.  We rode for 
+some five or six miles, and saw no living thing but wolves, snakes, 
+and prairie dogs.
+
+"This won't do at all," said Shaw.
+
+"What won't do?"
+
+"There's no wood about here to make a litter for the wounded man; I 
+have an idea that one of us will need something of the sort before 
+the day is over."
+
+There was some foundation for such an apprehension, for the ground 
+was none of the best for a race, and grew worse continually as we 
+proceeded; indeed it soon became desperately bad, consisting of 
+abrupt hills and deep hollows, cut by frequent ravines not easy to 
+pass.  At length, a mile in advance, we saw a band of bulls.  Some 
+were scattered grazing over a green declivity, while the rest were 
+crowded more densely together in the wide hollow below.  Making a 
+circuit to keep out of sight, we rode toward them until we ascended a 
+hill within a furlong of them, beyond which nothing intervened that 
+could possibly screen us from their view.  We dismounted behind the 
+ridge just out of sight, drew our saddle-girths, examined our 
+pistols, and mounting again rode over the hill, and descended at a 
+canter toward them, bending close to our horses' necks.  Instantly 
+they took the alarm; those on the hill descended; those below 
+gathered into a mass, and the whole got in motion, shouldering each 
+other along at a clumsy gallop.  We followed, spurring our horses to 
+full speed; and as the herd rushed, crowding and trampling in terror 
+through an opening in the hills, we were close at their heels, half 
+suffocated by the clouds of dust.  But as we drew near, their alarm 
+and speed increased; our horses showed signs of the utmost fear, 
+bounding violently aside as we approached, and refusing to enter 
+among the herd.  The buffalo now broke into several small bodies, 
+scampering over the hills in different directions, and I lost sight 
+of Shaw; neither of us knew where the other had gone.  Old Pontiac 
+ran like a frantic elephant up hill and down hill, his ponderous 
+hoofs striking the prairie like sledge-hammers.  He showed a curious 
+mixture of eagerness and terror, straining to overtake the panic-
+stricken herd, but constantly recoiling in dismay as we drew near.  
+The fugitives, indeed, offered no very attractive spectacle, with 
+their enormous size and weight, their shaggy manes and the tattered 
+remnants of their last winter's hair covering their backs in 
+irregular shreds and patches, and flying off in the wind as they ran.  
+At length I urged my horse close behind a bull, and after trying in 
+vain, by blows and spurring, to bring him alongside, I shot a bullet 
+into the buffalo from this disadvantageous position.  At the report, 
+Pontiac swerved so much that I was again thrown a little behind the 
+game.  The bullet, entering too much in the rear, failed to disable 
+the bull, for a buffalo requires to be shot at particular points, or 
+he will certainly escape.  The herd ran up a hill, and I followed in 
+pursuit.  As Pontiac rushed headlong down on the other side, I saw 
+Shaw and Henry descending the hollow on the right, at a leisurely 
+gallop; and in front, the buffalo were just disappearing behind the 
+crest of the next hill, their short tails erect, and their hoofs 
+twinkling through a cloud of dust.
+
+At that moment, I heard Shaw and Henry shouting to me; but the 
+muscles of a stronger arm than mine could not have checked at once 
+the furious course of Pontiac, whose mouth was as insensible as 
+leather.  Added to this, I rode him that morning with a common 
+snaffle, having the day before, for the benefit of my other horse, 
+unbuckled from my bridle the curb which I ordinarily used.  A 
+stronger and hardier brute never trod the prairie; but the novel 
+sight of the buffalo filled him with terror, and when at full speed 
+he was almost incontrollable.  Gaining the top of the ridge, I saw 
+nothing of the buffalo; they had all vanished amid the intricacies of 
+the hills and hollows.  Reloading my pistols, in the best way I 
+could, I galloped on until I saw them again scuttling along at the 
+base of the hill, their panic somewhat abated.  Down went old Pontiac 
+among them, scattering them to the right and left, and then we had 
+another long chase.  About a dozen bulls were before us, scouring 
+over the hills, rushing down the declivities with tremendous weight 
+and impetuosity, and then laboring with a weary gallop upward.  Still 
+Pontiac, in spite of spurring and beating, would not close with them.  
+One bull at length fell a little behind the rest, and by dint of much 
+effort I urged my horse within six or eight yards of his side.  His 
+back was darkened with sweat; he was panting heavily, while his 
+tongue lolled out a foot from his jaws.  Gradually I came up abreast 
+of him, urging Pontiac with leg and rein nearer to his side, then 
+suddenly he did what buffalo in such circumstances will always do; he 
+slackened his gallop, and turning toward us, with an aspect of 
+mingled rage and distress, lowered his huge shaggy head for a charge.  
+Pontiac with a snort, leaped aside in terror, nearly throwing me to 
+the ground, as I was wholly unprepared for such an evolution.  I 
+raised my pistol in a passion to strike him on the head, but thinking 
+better of it fired the bullet after the bull, who had resumed his 
+flight, then drew rein and determined to rejoin my companions.  It 
+was high time.  The breath blew hard from Pontiac's nostrils, and the 
+sweat rolled in big drops down his sides; I myself felt as if 
+drenched in warm water.  Pledging myself (and I redeemed the pledge) 
+to take my revenge at a future opportunity, I looked round for some 
+indications to show me where I was, and what course I ought to 
+pursue; I might as well have looked for landmarks in the midst of the 
+ocean.  How many miles I had run or in what direction, I had no idea; 
+and around me the prairie was rolling in steep swells and pitches, 
+without a single distinctive feature to guide me.  I had a little 
+compass hung at my neck; and ignorant that the Platte at this point 
+diverged considerably from its easterly course, I thought that by 
+keeping to the northward I should certainly reach it.  So I turned 
+and rode about two hours in that direction.  The prairie changed as I 
+advanced, softening away into easier undulations, but nothing like 
+the Platte appeared, nor any sign of a human being; the same wild 
+endless expanse lay around me still; and to all appearance I was as 
+far from my object as ever.  I began now to consider myself in danger 
+of being lost; and therefore, reining in my horse, summoned the 
+scanty share of woodcraft that I possessed (if that term he 
+applicable upon the prairie) to extricate me.  Looking round, it 
+occurred to me that the buffalo might prove my best guides.  I soon 
+found one of the paths made by them in their passage to the river; it 
+ran nearly at right angles to my course; but turning my horse's head 
+in the direction it indicated, his freer gait and erected ears 
+assured me that I was right.
+
+But in the meantime my ride had been by no means a solitary one.  The 
+whole face of the country was dotted far and wide with countless 
+hundreds of buffalo.  They trooped along in files and columns, bulls 
+cows, and calves, on the green faces of the declivities in front.  
+They scrambled away over the hills to the right and left; and far 
+off, the pale blue swells in the extreme distance were dotted with 
+innumerable specks.  Sometimes I surprised shaggy old bulls grazing 
+alone, or sleeping behind the ridges I ascended.  They would leap up 
+at my approach, stare stupidly at me through their tangled manes, and 
+then gallop heavily away.  The antelope were very numerous; and as 
+they are always bold when in the neighborhood of buffalo, they would 
+approach quite near to look at me, gazing intently with their great 
+round eyes, then suddenly leap aside, and stretch lightly away over 
+the prairie, as swiftly as a racehorse.  Squalid, ruffianlike wolves 
+sneaked through the hollows and sandy ravines.  Several times I 
+passed through villages of prairie dogs, who sat, each at the mouth 
+of his burrow, holding his paws before him in a supplicating 
+attitude, and yelping away most vehemently, energetically whisking 
+his little tail with every squeaking cry he uttered.  Prairie dogs 
+are not fastidious in their choice of companions; various long, 
+checkered snakes were sunning themselves in the midst of the village, 
+and demure little gray owls, with a large white ring around each eye, 
+were perched side by side with the rightful inhabitants.  The prairie 
+teemed with life.  Again and again I looked toward the crowded 
+hillsides, and was sure I saw horsemen; and riding near, with a 
+mixture of hope and dread, for Indians were abroad, I found them 
+transformed into a group of buffalo.  There was nothing in human 
+shape amid all this vast congregation of brute forms.
+
+When I turned down the buffalo path, the prairie seemed changed; only 
+a wolf or two glided past at intervals, like conscious felons, never 
+looking to the right or left.  Being now free from anxiety, I was at 
+leisure to observe minutely the objects around me; and here, for the 
+first time, I noticed insects wholly different from any of the 
+varieties found farther to the eastward.  Gaudy butterflies fluttered 
+about my horse's head; strangely formed beetles, glittering with 
+metallic luster, were crawling upon plants that I had never seen 
+before; multitudes of lizards, too, were darting like lightning over 
+the sand.
+
+I had run to a great distance from the river.  It cost me a long ride 
+on the buffalo path before I saw from the ridge of a sand-hill the 
+pale surface of the Platte glistening in the midst of its desert 
+valleys, and the faint outline of the hills beyond waving along the 
+sky.  From where I stood, not a tree nor a bush nor a living thing 
+was visible throughout the whole extent of the sun-scorched 
+landscape.  In half an hour I came upon the trail, not far from the 
+river; and seeing that the party had not yet passed, I turned 
+eastward to meet them, old Pontiac's long swinging trot again 
+assuring me that I was right in doing so.  Having been slightly ill 
+on leaving camp in the morning six or seven hours of rough riding had 
+fatigued me extremely.  I soon stopped, therefore; flung my saddle on 
+the ground, and with my head resting on it, and my horse's trail-rope 
+tied loosely to my arm, lay waiting the arrival of the party, 
+speculating meanwhile on the extent of the injuries Pontiac had 
+received.  At length the white wagon coverings rose from the verge of 
+the plain.  By a singular coincidence, almost at the same moment two 
+horsemen appeared coming down from the hills.  They were Shaw and 
+Henry, who had searched for me a while in the morning, but well 
+knowing the futility of the attempt in such a broken country, had 
+placed themselves on the top of the highest hill they could find, and 
+picketing their horses near them, as a signal to me, had laid down 
+and fallen asleep.  The stray cattle had been recovered, as the 
+emigrants told us, about noon.  Before sunset, we pushed forward 
+eight miles farther.
+
+
+JUNE 7, 1846.--Four men are missing; R., Sorel and two emigrants.  
+They set out this morning after buffalo, and have not yet made their 
+appearance; whether killed or lost, we cannot tell.
+
+
+I find the above in my notebook, and well remember the council held 
+on the occasion.  Our fire was the scene of it; or the palpable 
+superiority of Henry Chatillon's experience and skill made him the 
+resort of the whole camp upon every question of difficulty.  He was 
+molding bullets at the fire, when the captain drew near, with a 
+perturbed and care-worn expression of countenance, faithfully 
+reflected on the heavy features of Jack, who followed close behind.  
+Then emigrants came straggling from their wagons toward the common 
+center; various suggestions were made to account for the absence of 
+the four men, and one or two of the emigrants declared that when out 
+after the cattle they had seen Indians dogging them, and crawling 
+like wolves along the ridges of the hills.  At this time the captain 
+slowly shook his head with double gravity, and solemnly remarked:
+
+"It's a serious thing to be traveling through this cursed 
+wilderness"; an opinion in which Jack immediately expressed a 
+thorough coincidence.  Henry would not commit himself by declaring 
+any positive opinion.
+
+"Maybe he only follow the buffalo too far; maybe Indian kill him; 
+maybe he got lost; I cannot tell!"
+
+With this the auditors were obliged to rest content; the emigrants, 
+not in the least alarmed, though curious to know what had become of 
+their comrades, walked back to their wagons and the captain betook 
+himself pensively to his tent.  Shaw and I followed his example.
+
+"It will be a bad thing for our plans," said he as we entered, "if 
+these fellows don't get back safe.  The captain is as helpless on the 
+prairie as a child.  We shall have to take him and his brother in 
+tow; they will hang on us like lead."
+
+"The prairie is a strange place," said I.  "A month ago I should have 
+thought it rather a startling affair to have an acquaintance ride out 
+in the morning and lose his scalp before night, but here it seems the 
+most natural thing in the world; not that I believe that R. has lost 
+his yet."
+
+If a man is constitutionally liable to nervous apprehensions, a tour 
+on the distant prairies would prove the best prescription; for though 
+when in the neighborhood of the Rocky Mountains he may at times find 
+himself placed in circumstances of some danger, I believe that few 
+ever breathe that reckless atmosphere without becoming almost 
+indifferent to any evil chance that may befall themselves or their 
+friends.
+
+Shaw had a propensity for luxurious indulgence.  He spread his 
+blanket with the utmost accuracy on the ground, picked up the sticks 
+and stones that he thought might interfere with his comfort, adjusted 
+his saddle to serve as a pillow, and composed himself for his night's 
+rest.  I had the first guard that evening; so, taking my rifle, I 
+went out of the tent.  It was perfectly dark.  A brisk wind blew down 
+from the hills, and the sparks from the fire were streaming over the 
+prairie.  One of the emigrants, named Morton, was my companion; and 
+laying our rifles on the grass, we sat down together by the fire.  
+Morton was a Kentuckian, an athletic fellow, with a fine intelligent 
+face, and in his manners and conversation he showed the essential 
+characteristics of a gentleman.  Our conversation turned on the 
+pioneers of his gallant native State.  The three hours of our watch 
+dragged away at last, and we went to call up the relief.
+
+R.'s guard succeeded mine.  He was absent; but the captain, anxious 
+lest the camp should be left defenseless, had volunteered to stand in 
+his place; so I went to wake him up.  There was no occasion for it, 
+for the captain had been awake since nightfall.  A fire was blazing 
+outside of the tent, and by the light which struck through the 
+canvas, I saw him and Jack lying on their backs, with their eyes wide 
+open.  The captain responded instantly to my call; he jumped up, 
+seized the double-barreled rifle, and came out of the tent with an 
+air of solemn determination, as if about to devote himself to the 
+safety of the party.  I went and lay down, not doubting that for the 
+next three hours our slumbers would be guarded with sufficient 
+vigilance.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+TAKING FRENCH LEAVE
+
+
+On the 8th of June, at eleven o'clock, we reached the South Fork of 
+the Platte, at the usual fording place.  For league upon league the 
+desert uniformity of the prospect was almost unbroken; the hills were 
+dotted with little tufts of shriveled grass, but betwixt these the 
+white sand was glaring in the sun; and the channel of the river, 
+almost on a level with the plain, was but one great sand-bed, about 
+half a mile wide.  It was covered with water, but so scantily that 
+the bottom was scarcely hidden; for, wide as it is, the average depth 
+of the Platte does not at this point exceed a foot and a half.  
+Stopping near its bank, we gathered bois de vache, and made a meal of 
+buffalo meat.  Far off, on the other side, was a green meadow, where 
+we could see the white tents and wagons of an emigrant camp; and just 
+opposite to us we could discern a group of men and animals at the 
+water's edge.  Four or five horsemen soon entered the river, and in 
+ten minutes had waded across and clambered up the loose sand-bank.  
+They were ill-looking fellows, thin and swarthy, with care-worn, 
+anxious faces and lips rigidly compressed.  They had good cause for 
+anxiety; it was three days since they first encamped here, and on the 
+night of their arrival they had lost 123 of their best cattle, driven 
+off by the wolves, through the neglect of the man on guard.  This 
+discouraging and alarming calamity was not the first that had 
+overtaken them.  Since leaving the settlements, they had met with 
+nothing but misfortune.  Some of their party had died; one man had 
+been killed by the Pawnees; and about a week before, they had been 
+plundered by the Dakotas of all their best horses, the wretched 
+animals on which our visitors were mounted being the only ones that 
+were left.  They had encamped, they told us, near sunset, by the side 
+of the Platte, and their oxen were scattered over the meadow, while 
+the band of horses were feeding a little farther off.  Suddenly the 
+ridges of the hills were alive with a swarm of mounted Indians, at 
+least six hundred in number, who, with a tremendous yell, came 
+pouring down toward the camp, rushing up within a few rods, to the 
+great terror of the emigrants; but suddenly wheeling, they swept 
+around the band of horses, and in five minutes had disappeared with 
+their prey through the openings of the hills.
+
+As these emigrants were telling their story, we saw four other men 
+approaching.  They proved to be R. and his companions, who had 
+encountered no mischance of any kind, but had only wandered too far 
+in pursuit of the game.  They said they had seen no Indians, but only 
+"millions of buffalo"; and both R. and Sorel had meat dangling behind 
+their saddles.
+
+The emigrants re-crossed the river, and we prepared to follow.  First 
+the heavy ox-wagons plunged down the bank, and dragged slowly over 
+the sand-beds; sometimes the hoofs of the oxen were scarcely wetted 
+by the thin sheet of water; and the next moment the river would be 
+boiling against their sides, and eddying fiercely around the wheels.  
+Inch by inch they receded from the shore, dwindling every moment, 
+until at length they seemed to be floating far in the very middle of 
+the river.  A more critical experiment awaited us; for our little 
+mule-cart was but ill-fitted for the passage of so swift a stream.  
+We watched it with anxiety till it seemed to be a little motionless 
+white speck in the midst of the waters; and it WAS motionless, for it 
+had stuck fast in a quicksand.  The little mules were losing their 
+footing, the wheels were sinking deeper and deeper, and the water 
+began to rise through the bottom and drench the goods within.  All of 
+us who had remained on the hither bank galloped to the rescue; the 
+men jumped into the water, adding their strength to that of the 
+mules, until by much effort the cart was extricated, and conveyed in 
+safety across.
+
+As we gained the other bank, a rough group of men surrounded us.  
+They were not robust, nor large of frame, yet they had an aspect of 
+hardy endurance.  Finding at home no scope for their fiery energies, 
+they had betaken themselves to the prairie; and in them seemed to be 
+revived, with redoubled force, that fierce spirit which impelled 
+their ancestors, scarce more lawless than themselves, from the German 
+forests, to inundate Europe and break to pieces the Roman empire.  A 
+fortnight afterward this unfortunate party passed Fort Laramie, while 
+we were there.  Not one of their missing oxen had been recovered, 
+though they had remained encamped a week in search of them; and they 
+had been compelled to abandon a great part of their baggage and 
+provisions, and yoke cows and heifers to their wagons to carry them 
+forward upon their journey, the most toilsome and hazardous part of 
+which lay still before them.
+
+It is worth noticing that on the Platte one may sometimes see the 
+shattered wrecks of ancient claw-footed tables, well waxed and 
+rubbed, or massive bureaus of carved oak.  These, many of them no 
+doubt the relics of ancestral prosperity in the colonial time, must 
+have encountered strange vicissitudes.  Imported, perhaps, originally 
+from England; then, with the declining fortunes of their owners, 
+borne across the Alleghenies to the remote wilderness of Ohio or 
+Kentucky; then to Illinois or Missouri; and now at last fondly stowed 
+away in the family wagon for the interminable journey to Oregon.  But 
+the stern privations of the way are little anticipated.  The 
+cherished relic is soon flung out to scorch and crack upon the hot 
+prairie.
+
+We resumed our journey; but we had gone scarcely a mile, when R. 
+called out from the rear:
+
+"We'll camp here."
+
+"Why do you want to camp?  Look at the sun.  It is not three o'clock 
+yet."
+
+"We'll camp here!"
+
+This was the only reply vouchsafed.  Delorier was in advance with his 
+cart.  Seeing the mule-wagon wheeling from the track, he began to 
+turn his own team in the same direction.
+
+"Go on, Delorier," and the little cart advanced again.  As we rode 
+on, we soon heard the wagon of our confederates creaking and jolting 
+on behind us, and the driver, Wright, discharging a furious volley of 
+oaths against his mules; no doubt venting upon them the wrath which 
+he dared not direct against a more appropriate object.
+
+Something of this sort had frequently occurred.  Our English friend 
+was by no means partial to us, and we thought we discovered in his 
+conduct a deliberate intention to thwart and annoy us, especially by 
+retarding the movements of the party, which he knew that we, being 
+Yankees, were anxious to quicken.  Therefore, he would insist on 
+encamping at all unseasonable hours, saying that fifteen miles was a 
+sufficient day's journey.  Finding our wishes systematically 
+disregarded, we took the direction of affairs into our own hands.  
+Keeping always in advance, to the inexpressible indignation of R., we 
+encamped at what time and place we thought proper, not much caring 
+whether the rest chose to follow or not.  They always did so, 
+however, pitching their tents near ours, with sullen and wrathful 
+countenances.
+
+Traveling together on these agreeable terms did not suit our tastes; 
+for some time we had meditated a separation.  The connection with 
+this party had cost us various delays and inconveniences; and the 
+glaring want of courtesy and good sense displayed by their virtual 
+leader did not dispose us to bear these annoyances with much 
+patience.  We resolved to leave camp early in the morning, and push 
+forward as rapidly as possible for Fort Laramie, which we hoped to 
+reach, by hard traveling, in four or five days.  The captain soon 
+trotted up between us, and we explained our intentions.
+
+"A very extraordinary proceeding, upon my word!" he remarked.  Then 
+he began to enlarge upon the enormity of the design.  The most 
+prominent impression in his mind evidently was that we were acting a 
+base and treacherous part in deserting his party, in what he 
+considered a very dangerous stage of the journey.  To palliate the 
+atrocity of our conduct, we ventured to suggest that we were only 
+four in number while his party still included sixteen men; and as, 
+moreover, we were to go forward and they were to follow, at least a 
+full proportion of the perils he apprehended would fall upon us.  But 
+the austerity of the captain's features would not relax.  "A very 
+extraordinary proceeding, gentlemen!" and repeating this, he rode off 
+to confer with his principal.
+
+By good luck, we found a meadow of fresh grass, and a large pool of 
+rain-water in the midst of it.  We encamped here at sunset.  Plenty 
+of buffalo skulls were lying around, bleaching in the sun; and 
+sprinkled thickly among the grass was a great variety of strange 
+flowers.  I had nothing else to do, and so gathering a handful, I sat 
+down on a buffalo skull to study them.  Although the offspring of a 
+wilderness, their texture was frail and delicate, and their colors 
+extremely rich; pure white, dark blue, and a transparent crimson.  
+One traveling in this country seldom has leisure to think of anything 
+but the stern features of the scenery and its accompaniments, or the 
+practical details of each day's journey.  Like them, he and his 
+thoughts grow hard and rough.  But now these flowers suddenly 
+awakened a train of associations as alien to the rude scene around me 
+as they were themselves; and for the moment my thoughts went back to 
+New England.  A throng of fair and well-remembered faces rose, 
+vividly as life, before me.  "There are good things," thought I, "in 
+the savage life, but what can it offer to replace those powerful and 
+ennobling influences that can reach unimpaired over more than three 
+thousand miles of mountains, forests and deserts?"
+
+Before sunrise on the next morning our tent was down; we harnessed 
+our best horses to the cart and left the camp.  But first we shook 
+hands with our friends the emigrants, who sincerely wished us a safe 
+journey, though some others of the party might easily have been 
+consoled had we encountered an Indian war party on the way.  The 
+captain and his brother were standing on the top of a hill, wrapped 
+in their plaids, like spirits of the mist, keeping an anxious eye on 
+the band of horses below.  We waved adieu to them as we rode off the 
+ground.  The captain replied with a salutation of the utmost dignity, 
+which Jack tried to imitate; but being little practiced in the 
+gestures of polite society, his effort was not a very successful one.
+
+In five minutes we had gained the foot of the hills, but here we came 
+to a stop.  Old Hendrick was in the shafts, and being the very 
+incarnation of perverse and brutish obstinacy, he utterly refused to 
+move.  Delorier lashed and swore till he was tired, but Hendrick 
+stood like a rock, grumbling to himself and looking askance at his 
+enemy, until he saw a favorable opportunity to take his revenge, when 
+he struck out under the shaft with such cool malignity of intention 
+that Delorier only escaped the blow by a sudden skip into the air, 
+such as no one but a Frenchman could achieve.  Shaw and he then 
+joined forces, and lashed on both sides at once.  The brute stood 
+still for a while till he could bear it no longer, when all at once 
+he began to kick and plunge till he threatened the utter demolition 
+of the cart and harness.  We glanced back at the camp, which was in 
+full sight.  Our companions, inspired by emulation, were leveling 
+their tents and driving in their cattle and horses.
+
+"Take the horse out," said I.
+
+I took the saddle from Pontiac and put it upon Hendrick; the former 
+was harnessed to the cart in an instant.  "Avance donc!" cried 
+Delorier.  Pontiac strode up the hill, twitching the little cart 
+after him as if it were a feather's weight; and though, as we gained 
+the top, we saw the wagons of our deserted comrades just getting into 
+motion, we had little fear that they could overtake us.  Leaving the 
+trail, we struck directly across the country, and took the shortest 
+cut to reach the main stream of the Platte.  A deep ravine suddenly 
+intercepted us.  We skirted its sides until we found them less 
+abrupt, and then plunged through the best way we could.  Passing 
+behind the sandy ravines called "Ash Hollow," we stopped for a short 
+nooning at the side of a pool of rain-water; but soon resumed our 
+journey, and some hours before sunset were descending the ravines and 
+gorges opening downward upon the Platte to the west of Ash Hollow.  
+Our horses waded to the fetlock in sand; the sun scorched like fire, 
+and the air swarmed with sand-flies and mosquitoes.
+
+At last we gained the Platte.  Following it for about five miles, we 
+saw, just as the sun was sinking, a great meadow, dotted with 
+hundreds of cattle, and beyond them an emigrant encampment.  A party 
+of about a dozen came out to meet us, looking upon us at first with 
+cold and suspicious faces.  Seeing four men, different in appearance 
+and equipment from themselves, emerging from the hills, they had 
+taken us for the van of the much-dreaded Mormons, whom they were very 
+apprehensive of encountering.  We made known our true character, and 
+then they greeted us cordially.  They expressed much surprise that so 
+small a party should venture to traverse that region, though in fact 
+such attempts are not unfrequently made by trappers and Indian 
+traders.  We rode with them to their camp.  The wagons, some fifty in 
+number, with here and there a tent intervening, were arranged as 
+usual in a circle; in the area within the best horses were picketed, 
+and the whole circumference was glowing with the dusky light of the 
+fires, displaying the forms of the women and children who were 
+crowded around them.  This patriarchal scene was curious and striking 
+enough; but we made our escape from the place with all possible 
+dispatch, being tormented by the intrusive curiosity of the men who 
+crowded around us.  Yankee curiosity was nothing to theirs.  They 
+demanded our names, where we came from, where we were going, and what 
+was our business.  The last query was particularly embarrassing; 
+since traveling in that country, or indeed anywhere, from any other 
+motive than gain, was an idea of which they took no cognizance.  Yet 
+they were fine-looking fellows, with an air of frankness, generosity, 
+and even courtesy, having come from one of the least barbarous of the 
+frontier counties.
+
+We passed about a mile beyond them, and encamped.  Being too few in 
+number to stand guard without excessive fatigue, we extinguished our 
+fire, lest it should attract the notice of wandering Indians; and 
+picketing our horses close around us, slept undisturbed till morning.  
+For three days we traveled without interruption, and on the evening 
+of the third encamped by the well-known spring on Scott's Bluff.
+
+Henry Chatillon and I rode out in the morning, and descending the 
+western side of the Bluff, were crossing the plain beyond.  Something 
+that seemed to me a file of buffalo came into view, descending the 
+hills several miles before us.  But Henry reined in his horse, and 
+keenly peering across the prairie with a better and more practiced 
+eye, soon discovered its real nature.  "Indians!" he said.  "Old 
+Smoke's lodges, I b'lieve.  Come! let us go!  Wah! get up, now, Five 
+Hundred Dollar!"  And laying on the lash with good will, he galloped 
+forward, and I rode by his side.  Not long after, a black speck 
+became visible on the prairie, full two miles off.  It grew larger 
+and larger; it assumed the form of a man and horse; and soon we could 
+discern a naked Indian, careering at full gallop toward us.  When 
+within a furlong he wheeled his horse in a wide circle, and made him 
+describe various mystic figures upon the prairie; and Henry 
+immediately compelled Five Hundred Dollar to execute similar 
+evolutions.  "It IS Old Smoke's village," said he, interpreting these 
+signals; "didn't I say so?"
+
+As the Indian approached we stopped to wait for him, when suddenly he 
+vanished, sinking, as it were, into the earth.  He had come upon one 
+of the deep ravines that everywhere intersect these prairies.  In an 
+instant the rough head of his horse stretched upward from the edge 
+and the rider and steed came scrambling out, and hounded up to us; a 
+sudden jerk of the rein brought the wild panting horse to a full 
+stop.  Then followed the needful formality of shaking hands.  I 
+forget our visitor's name.  He was a young fellow, of no note in his 
+nation; yet in his person and equipments he was a good specimen of a 
+Dakota warrior in his ordinary traveling dress.  Like most of his 
+people, he was nearly six feet high; lithely and gracefully, yet 
+strongly proportioned; and with a skin singularly clear and delicate.  
+He wore no paint; his head was bare; and his long hair was gathered 
+in a clump behind, to the top of which was attached transversely, 
+both by way of ornament and of talisman, the mystic whistle, made of 
+the wingbone of the war eagle, and endowed with various magic 
+virtues.  From the back of his head descended a line of glittering 
+brass plates, tapering from the size of a doubloon to that of a half-
+dime, a cumbrous ornament, in high vogue among the Dakotas, and for 
+which they pay the traders a most extravagant price; his chest and 
+arms were naked, the buffalo robe, worn over them when at rest, had 
+fallen about his waist, and was confined there by a belt.  This, with 
+the gay moccasins on his feet, completed his attire.  For arms he 
+carried a quiver of dogskin at his back, and a rude but powerful bow 
+in his hand.  His horse had no bridle; a cord of hair, lashed around 
+his jaw, served in place of one.  The saddle was of most singular 
+construction; it was made of wood covered with raw hide, and both 
+pommel and cantle rose perpendicularly full eighteen inches, so that 
+the warrior was wedged firmly in his seat, whence nothing could 
+dislodge him but the bursting of the girths.
+
+Advancing with our new companion, we found more of his people seated 
+in a circle on the top of a hill; while a rude procession came 
+straggling down the neighboring hollow, men, women, and children, 
+with horses dragging the lodge-poles behind them.  All that morning, 
+as we moved forward, tall savages were stalking silently about us.  
+At noon we reached Horse Creek; and as we waded through the shallow 
+water, we saw a wild and striking scene.  The main body of the 
+Indians had arrived before us.  On the farther bank stood a large and 
+strong man, nearly naked, holding a white horse by a long cord, and 
+eyeing us as we approached.  This was the chief, whom Henry called 
+"Old Smoke."  Just behind him his youngest and favorite squaw sat 
+astride of a fine mule; it was covered with caparisons of whitened 
+skins, garnished with blue and white beads, and fringed with little 
+ornaments of metal that tinkled with every movement of the animal.  
+The girl had a light clear complexion, enlivened by a spot of 
+vermilion on each cheek; she smiled, not to say grinned, upon us, 
+showing two gleaming rows of white teeth.  In her hand, she carried 
+the tall lance of her unchivalrous lord, fluttering with feathers; 
+his round white shield hung at the side of her mule; and his pipe was 
+slung at her back.  Her dress was a tunic of deerskin, made 
+beautifully white by means of a species of clay found on the prairie, 
+and ornamented with beads, arrayed in figures more gay than tasteful, 
+and with long fringes at all the seams.  Not far from the chief stood 
+a group of stately figures, their white buffalo robes thrown over 
+their shoulders, gazing coldly upon us; and in the rear, for several 
+acres, the ground was covered with a temporary encampment; men, 
+women, and children swarmed like bees; hundreds of dogs, of all sizes 
+and colors, ran restlessly about; and, close at hand, the wide 
+shallow stream was alive with boys, girls, and young squaws, 
+splashing, screaming, and laughing in the water.  At the same time a 
+long train of emigrant wagons were crossing the creek, and dragging 
+on in their slow, heavy procession, passed the encampment of the 
+people whom they and their descendants, in the space of a century, 
+are to sweep from the face of the earth.
+
+The encampment itself was merely a temporary one during the heat of 
+the day.  None of the lodges were erected; but their heavy leather 
+coverings, and the long poles used to support them, were scattered 
+everywhere around, among weapons, domestic utensils, and the rude 
+harness of mules and horses.  The squaws of each lazy warrior had 
+made him a shelter from the sun, by stretching a few buffalo robes, 
+or the corner of a lodge-covering upon poles; and here he sat in the 
+shade, with a favorite young squaw, perhaps, at his side, glittering 
+with all imaginable trinkets.  Before him stood the insignia of his 
+rank as a warrior, his white shield of bull-hide, his medicine bag, 
+his bow and quiver, his lance and his pipe, raised aloft on a tripod 
+of three poles.  Except the dogs, the most active and noisy tenants 
+of the camp were the old women, ugly as Macbeth's witches, with their 
+hair streaming loose in the wind, and nothing but the tattered 
+fragment of an old buffalo robe to hide their shriveled wiry limbs.  
+The day of their favoritism passed two generations ago; now the 
+heaviest labors of the camp devolved upon them; they were to harness 
+the horses, pitch the lodges, dress the buffalo robes, and bring in 
+meat for the hunters.  With the cracked voices of these hags, the 
+clamor of dogs, the shouting and laughing of children and girls, and 
+the listless tranquillity of the warriors, the whole scene had an 
+effect too lively and picturesque ever to be forgotten.
+
+We stopped not far from the Indian camp, and having invited some of 
+the chiefs and warriors to dinner, placed before them a sumptuous 
+repast of biscuit and coffee.  Squatted in a half circle on the 
+ground, they soon disposed of it.  As we rode forward on the 
+afternoon journey, several of our late guests accompanied us.  Among 
+the rest was a huge bloated savage of more than three hundred pounds' 
+weight, christened La Cochon, in consideration of his preposterous 
+dimensions and certain corresponding traits of his character.  "The 
+Hog" bestrode a little white pony, scarce able to bear up under the 
+enormous burden, though, by way of keeping up the necessary stimulus, 
+the rider kept both feet in constant motion, playing alternately 
+against his ribs.  The old man was not a chief; he never had ambition 
+enough to become one; he was not a warrior nor a hunter, for he was 
+too fat and lazy: but he was the richest man in the whole village.  
+Riches among the Dakotas consist in horses, and of these The Hog had 
+accumulated more than thirty.  He had already ten times as many as he 
+wanted, yet still his appetite for horses was insatiable.  Trotting 
+up to me he shook me by the hand, and gave me to understand that he 
+was a very devoted friend; and then he began a series of most earnest 
+signs and gesticulations, his oily countenance radiant with smiles, 
+and his little eyes peeping out with a cunning twinkle from between 
+the masses of flesh that almost obscured them.  Knowing nothing at 
+that time of the sign language of the Indians, I could only guess at 
+his meaning.  So I called on Henry to explain it.
+
+The Hog, it seems, was anxious to conclude a matrimonial bargain.  He 
+said he had a very pretty daughter in his lodge, whom he would give 
+me, if I would give him my horse.  These flattering overtures I chose 
+to reject; at which The Hog, still laughing with undiminished good 
+humor, gathered his robe about his shoulders, and rode away.
+
+Where we encamped that night, an arm of the Platte ran between high 
+bluffs; it was turbid and swift as heretofore, but trees were growing 
+on its crumbling banks, and there was a nook of grass between the 
+water and the hill.  Just before entering this place, we saw the 
+emigrants encamping at two or three miles' distance on the right; 
+while the whole Indian rabble were pouring down the neighboring hill 
+in hope of the same sort of entertainment which they had experienced 
+from us.  In the savage landscape before our camp, nothing but the 
+rushing of the Platte broke the silence.  Through the ragged boughs 
+of the trees, dilapidated and half dead, we saw the sun setting in 
+crimson behind the peaks of the Black Hills; the restless bosom of 
+the river was suffused with red; our white tent was tinged with it, 
+and the sterile bluffs, up to the rocks that crowned them, partook of 
+the same fiery hue.  It soon passed away; no light remained, but that 
+from our fire, blazing high among the dusky trees and bushes.  We lay 
+around it wrapped in our blankets, smoking and conversing until a 
+late hour, and then withdrew to our tent.
+
+We crossed a sun-scorched plain on the next morning; the line of old 
+cotton-wood trees that fringed the bank of the Platte forming its 
+extreme verge.  Nestled apparently close beneath them, we could 
+discern in the distance something like a building.  As we came 
+nearer, it assumed form and dimensions, and proved to be a rough 
+structure of logs.  It was a little trading fort, belonging to two 
+private traders; and originally intended, like all the forts of the 
+country, to form a hollow square, with rooms for lodging and storage 
+opening upon the area within.  Only two sides of it had been 
+completed; the place was now as ill-fitted for the purposes of 
+defense as any of those little log-houses, which upon our constantly 
+shifting frontier have been so often successfully maintained against 
+overwhelming odds of Indians.  Two lodges were pitched close to the 
+fort; the sun beat scorching upon the logs; no living thing was 
+stirring except one old squaw, who thrust her round head from the 
+opening of the nearest lodge, and three or four stout young pups, who 
+were peeping with looks of eager inquiry from under the covering.  In 
+a moment a door opened, and a little, swarthy black-eyed Frenchman 
+came out.  His dress was rather singular; his black curling hair was 
+parted in the middle of his head, and fell below his shoulders; he 
+wore a tight frock of smoked deerskin, very gayly ornamented with 
+figures worked in dyed porcupine quills.  His moccasins and leggings 
+were also gaudily adorned in the same manner; and the latter had in 
+addition a line of long fringes, reaching down the seams.  The small 
+frame of Richard, for by this name Henry made him known to us, was in 
+the highest degree athletic and vigorous.  There was no superfluity, 
+and indeed there seldom is among the active white men of this 
+country, but every limb was compact and hard; every sinew had its 
+full tone and elasticity, and the whole man wore an air of mingled 
+hardihood and buoyancy.
+
+Richard committed our horses to a Navahoe slave, a mean looking 
+fellow taken prisoner on the Mexican frontier; and, relieving us of 
+our rifles with ready politeness, led the way into the principal 
+apartment of his establishment.  This was a room ten feet square.  
+The walls and floor were of black mud, and the roof of rough timber; 
+there was a huge fireplace made of four flat rocks, picked up on the 
+prairie.  An Indian bow and otter-skin quiver, several gaudy articles 
+of Rocky Mountain finery, an Indian medicine bag, and a pipe and 
+tobacco pouch, garnished the walls, and rifles rested in a corner.  
+There was no furniture except a sort of rough settle covered with 
+buffalo robes, upon which lolled a tall half-breed, with his hair 
+glued in masses upon each temple, and saturated with vermilion.  Two 
+or three more "mountain men" sat cross-legged on the floor.  Their 
+attire was not unlike that of Richard himself; but the most striking 
+figure of the group was a naked Indian boy of sixteen, with a 
+handsome face, and light, active proportions, who sat in an easy 
+posture in the corner near the door.  Not one of his limbs moved the 
+breadth of a hair; his eye was fixed immovably, not on any person 
+present, but, as it appeared, on the projecting corner of the 
+fireplace opposite to him.
+
+On these prairies the custom of smoking with friends is seldom 
+omitted, whether among Indians or whites.  The pipe, therefore, was 
+taken from the wall, and its great red bowl crammed with the tobacco 
+and shongsasha, mixed in suitable proportions.  Then it passed round 
+the circle, each man inhaling a few whiffs and handing it to his 
+neighbor.  Having spent half an hour here, we took our leave; first 
+inviting our new friends to drink a cup of coffee with us at our 
+camp, a mile farther up the river.  By this time, as the reader may 
+conceive, we had grown rather shabby; our clothes had burst into rags 
+and tatters; and what was worse, we had very little means of 
+renovation.  Fort Laramie was but seven miles before us.  Being 
+totally averse to appearing in such plight among any society that 
+could boast an approximation to the civilized, we soon stopped by the 
+river to make our toilet in the best way we could.  We hung up small 
+looking-glasses against the trees and shaved, an operation neglected 
+for six weeks; we performed our ablutions in the Platte, though the 
+utility of such a proceeding was questionable, the water looking 
+exactly like a cup of chocolate, and the banks consisting of the 
+softest and richest yellow mud, so that we were obliged, as a 
+preliminary, to build a cause-way of stout branches and twigs.  
+Having also put on radiant moccasins, procured from a squaw of 
+Richard's establishment, and made what other improvements our narrow 
+circumstances allowed, we took our seats on the grass with a feeling 
+of greatly increased respectability, to wait the arrival of our 
+guests.  They came; the banquet was concluded, and the pipe smoked.  
+Bidding them adieu, we turned our horses' heads toward the fort.
+
+An hour elapsed.  The barren hills closed across our front, and we 
+could see no farther; until having surmounted them, a rapid stream 
+appeared at the foot of the descent, running into the Platte; beyond 
+was a green meadow, dotted with bushes, and in the midst of these, at 
+the point where the two rivers joined, were the low clay walls of a 
+fort.  This was not Fort Laramie, but another post of less recent 
+date, which having sunk before its successful competitor was now 
+deserted and ruinous.  A moment after the hills, seeming to draw 
+apart as we advanced, disclosed Fort Laramie itself, its high 
+bastions and perpendicular walls of clay crowning an eminence on the 
+left beyond the stream, while behind stretched a line of arid and 
+desolate ridges, and behind these again, towering aloft seven 
+thousand feet, arose the grim Black Hills.
+
+We tried to ford Laramie Creek at a point nearly opposite the fort, 
+but the stream, swollen with the rains in the mountains, was too 
+rapid.  We passed up along its bank to find a better crossing place.  
+Men gathered on the wall to look at us.  "There's Bordeaux!" called 
+Henry, his face brightening as he recognized his acquaintance; "him 
+there with the spyglass; and there's old Vaskiss, and Tucker, and 
+May; and, by George! there's Cimoneau!"  This Cimoneau was Henry's 
+fast friend, and the only man in the country who could rival him in 
+hunting.
+
+We soon found a ford.  Henry led the way, the pony approaching the 
+bank with a countenance of cool indifference, bracing his feet and 
+sliding into the stream with the most unmoved composure.
+
+
+     At the first plunge the horse sunk low,
+     And the water broke o'er the saddle-bow
+
+
+We followed; the water boiled against our saddles, but our horses 
+bore us easily through.  The unfortunate little mules came near going 
+down with the current, cart and all; and we watched them with some 
+solicitude scrambling over the loose round stones at the bottom, and 
+bracing stoutly against the stream.  All landed safely at last; we 
+crossed a little plain, descended a hollow, and riding up a steep 
+bank found ourselves before the gateway of Fort Laramie, under the 
+impending blockhouse erected above it to defend the entrance.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+SCENES AT FORT LARAMIE
+
+
+Looking back, after the expiration of a year, upon Fort Laramie and 
+its inmates, they seem less like a reality than like some fanciful 
+picture of the olden time; so different was the scene from any which 
+this tamer side of the world can present.  Tall Indians, enveloped in 
+their white buffalo robes, were striding across the area or reclining 
+at full length on the low roofs of the buildings which inclosed it.  
+Numerous squaws, gayly bedizened, sat grouped in front of the 
+apartments they occupied; their mongrel offspring, restless and 
+vociferous, rambled in every direction through the fort; and the 
+trappers, traders, and ENGAGES of the establishment were busy at 
+their labor or their amusements.
+
+We were met at the gate, but by no means cordially welcomed.  Indeed, 
+we seemed objects of some distrust and suspicion until Henry 
+Chatillon explained that we were not traders, and we, in 
+confirmation, handed to the bourgeois a letter of introduction from 
+his principals.  He took it, turned it upside down, and tried hard to 
+read it; but his literary attainments not being adequate to the task, 
+he applied for relief to the clerk, a sleek, smiling Frenchman, named 
+Montalon.  The letter read, Bordeaux (the bourgeois) seemed gradually 
+to awaken to a sense of what was expected of him.  Though not 
+deficient in hospitable intentions, he was wholly unaccustomed to act 
+as master of ceremonies.  Discarding all formalities of reception, he 
+did not honor us with a single word, but walked swiftly across the 
+area, while we followed in some admiration to a railing and a flight 
+of steps opposite the entrance.  He signed to us that we had better 
+fasten our horses to the railing; then he walked up the steps, 
+tramped along a rude balcony, and kicking open a door displayed a 
+large room, rather more elaborately finished than a barn.  For 
+furniture it had a rough bedstead, but no bed; two chairs, a chest of 
+drawers, a tin pail to hold water, and a board to cut tobacco upon.  
+A brass crucifix hung on the wall, and close at hand a recent scalp, 
+with hair full a yard long, was suspended from a nail.  I shall again 
+have occasion to mention this dismal trophy, its history being 
+connected with that of our subsequent proceedings.
+
+This apartment, the best in Fort Laramie, was that usually occupied 
+by the legitimate bourgeois, Papin; in whose absence the command 
+devolved upon Bordeaux.  The latter, a stout, bluff little fellow, 
+much inflated by a sense of his new authority, began to roar for 
+buffalo robes.  These being brought and spread upon the floor formed 
+our beds; much better ones than we had of late been accustomed to.  
+Our arrangements made, we stepped out to the balcony to take a more 
+leisurely survey of the long looked-for haven at which we had arrived 
+at last.  Beneath us was the square area surrounded by little rooms, 
+or rather cells, which opened upon it.  These were devoted to various 
+purposes, but served chiefly for the accommodation of the men 
+employed at the fort, or of the equally numerous squaws, whom they 
+were allowed to maintain in it.  Opposite to us rose the blockhouse 
+above the gateway; it was adorned with a figure which even now haunts 
+my memory; a horse at full speed, daubed upon the boards with red 
+paint, and exhibiting a degree of skill which might rival that 
+displayed by the Indians in executing similar designs upon their 
+robes and lodges.  A busy scene was enacting in the area.  The wagons 
+of Vaskiss, an old trader, were about to set out for a remote post in 
+the mountains, and the Canadians were going through their 
+preparations with all possible bustle, while here and there an Indian 
+stood looking on with imperturbable gravity.
+
+Fort Laramie is one of the posts established by the American Fur 
+Company, who well-nigh monopolize the Indian trade of this whole 
+region.  Here their officials rule with an absolute sway; the arm of 
+the United States has little force; for when we were there, the 
+extreme outposts of her troops were about seven hundred miles to the 
+eastward.  The little fort is built of bricks dried in the sun, and 
+externally is of an oblong form, with bastions of clay, in the form 
+of ordinary blockhouses, at two of the corners.  The walls are about 
+fifteen feet high, and surmounted by a slender palisade.  The roofs 
+of the apartments within, which are built close against the walls, 
+serve the purpose of a banquette.  Within, the fort is divided by a 
+partition; on one side is the square area surrounded by the 
+storerooms, offices, and apartments of the inmates; on the other is 
+the corral, a narrow place, encompassed by the high clay walls, where 
+at night, or in presence of dangerous Indians, the horses and mules 
+of the fort are crowded for safe-keeping.  The main entrance has two 
+gates, with an arched passage intervening.  A little square window, 
+quite high above the ground, opens laterally from an adjoining 
+chamber into this passage; so that when the inner gate is closed and 
+barred, a person without may still hold communication with those 
+within through this narrow aperture.  This obviates the necessity of 
+admitting suspicious Indians, for purposes of trading, into the body 
+of the fort; for when danger is apprehended, the inner gate is shut 
+fast, and all traffic is carried on by means of the little window.  
+This precaution, though highly necessary at some of the company's 
+posts, is now seldom resorted to at Fort Laramie; where, though men 
+are frequently killed in its neighborhood, no apprehensions are now 
+entertained of any general designs of hostility from the Indians.
+
+We did not long enjoy our new quarters undisturbed.  The door was 
+silently pushed open, and two eyeballs and a visage as black as night 
+looked in upon us; then a red arm and shoulder intruded themselves, 
+and a tall Indian, gliding in, shook us by the hand, grunted his 
+salutation, and sat down on the floor.  Others followed, with faces 
+of the natural hue; and letting fall their heavy robes from their 
+shoulders, they took their seats, quite at ease, in a semicircle 
+before us.  The pipe was now to be lighted and passed round from one 
+to another; and this was the only entertainment that at present they 
+expected from us.  These visitors were fathers, brothers, or other 
+relatives of the squaws in the fort, where they were permitted to 
+remain, loitering about in perfect idleness.  All those who smoked 
+with us were men of standing and repute.  Two or three others dropped 
+in also; young fellows who neither by their years nor their exploits 
+were entitled to rank with the old men and warriors, and who, abashed 
+in the presence of their superiors, stood aloof, never withdrawing 
+their eyes from us.  Their cheeks were adorned with vermilion, their 
+ears with pendants of shell, and their necks with beads.  Never yet 
+having signalized themselves as hunters, or performed the honorable 
+exploit of killing a man, they were held in slight esteem, and were 
+diffident and bashful in proportion.  Certain formidable 
+inconveniences attended this influx of visitors.  They were bent on 
+inspecting everything in the room; our equipments and our dress alike 
+underwent their scrutiny; for though the contrary has been carelessly 
+asserted, few beings have more curiosity than Indians in regard to 
+subjects within their ordinary range of thought.  As to other 
+matters, indeed, they seemed utterly indifferent.  They will not 
+trouble themselves to inquire into what they cannot comprehend, but 
+are quite contented to place their hands over their mouths in token 
+of wonder, and exclaim that it is "great medicine."  With this 
+comprehensive solution, an Indian never is at a loss.  He never 
+launches forth into speculation and conjecture; his reason moves in 
+its beaten track.  His soul is dormant; and no exertions of the 
+missionaries, Jesuit or Puritan, of the Old World or of the New, have 
+as yet availed to rouse it.
+
+As we were looking, at sunset, from the wall, upon the wild and 
+desolate plains that surround the fort, we observed a cluster of 
+strange objects like scaffolds rising in the distance against the red 
+western sky.  They bore aloft some singular looking burdens; and at 
+their foot glimmered something white like bones.  This was the place 
+of sepulture of some Dakota chiefs, whose remains their people are 
+fond of placing in the vicinity of the fort, in the hope that they 
+may thus be protected from violation at the hands of their enemies.  
+Yet it has happened more than once, and quite recently, that war 
+parties of the Crow Indians, ranging through the country, have thrown 
+the bodies from the scaffolds, and broken them to pieces amid the 
+yells of the Dakotas, who remained pent up in the fort, too few to 
+defend the honored relics from insult.  The white objects upon the 
+ground were buffalo skulls, arranged in the mystic circle commonly 
+seen at Indian places of sepulture upon the prairie.
+
+We soon discovered, in the twilight, a band of fifty or sixty horses 
+approaching the fort.  These were the animals belonging to the 
+establishment; who having been sent out to feed, under the care of 
+armed guards, in the meadows below, were now being driven into the 
+corral for the night.  A little gate opened into this inclosure; by 
+the side of it stood one of the guards, an old Canadian, with gray 
+bushy eyebrows, and a dragoon pistol stuck into his belt; while his 
+comrade, mounted on horseback, his rifle laid across the saddle in 
+front of him, and his long hair blowing before his swarthy face, rode 
+at the rear of the disorderly troop, urging them up the ascent.  In a 
+moment the narrow corral was thronged with the half-wild horses, 
+kicking, biting, and crowding restlessly together.
+
+The discordant jingling of a bell, rung by a Canadian in the area, 
+summoned us to supper.  This sumptuous repast was served on a rough 
+table in one of the lower apartments of the fort, and consisted of 
+cakes of bread and dried buffalo meat--an excellent thing for 
+strengthening the teeth.  At this meal were seated the bourgeois and 
+superior dignitaries of the establishment, among whom Henry Chatillon 
+was worthily included.  No sooner was it finished, than the table was 
+spread a second time (the luxury of bread being now, however, 
+omitted), for the benefit of certain hunters and trappers of an 
+inferior standing; while the ordinary Canadian ENGAGES were regaled 
+on dried meat in one of their lodging rooms.  By way of illustrating 
+the domestic economy of Fort Laramie, it may not be amiss to 
+introduce in this place a story current among the men when we were 
+there.
+
+There was an old man named Pierre, whose duty it was to bring the 
+meat from the storeroom for the men.  Old Pierre, in the kindness of 
+his heart, used to select the fattest and the best pieces for his 
+companions.  This did not long escape the keen-eyed bourgeois, who 
+was greatly disturbed at such improvidence, and cast about for some 
+means to stop it.  At last he hit on a plan that exactly suited him.  
+At the side of the meat-room, and separated from it by a clay 
+partition, was another compartment, used for the storage of furs.  It 
+had no other communication with the fort, except through a square 
+hole in the partition; and of course it was perfectly dark.  One 
+evening the bourgeois, watching for a moment when no one observed 
+him, dodged into the meat-room, clambered through the hole, and 
+ensconced himself among the furs and buffalo robes.  Soon after, old 
+Pierre came in with his lantern; and, muttering to himself, began to 
+pull over the bales of meat, and select the best pieces, as usual.  
+But suddenly a hollow and sepulchral voice proceeded from the inner 
+apartment: "Pierre!  Pierre!  Let that fat meat alone!  Take nothing 
+but lean!"  Pierre dropped his lantern, and bolted out into the fort, 
+screaming, in an agony of terror, that the devil was in the 
+storeroom; but tripping on the threshold, he pitched over upon the 
+gravel, and lay senseless, stunned by the fall.  The Canadians ran 
+out to the rescue.  Some lifted the unlucky Pierre; and others, 
+making an extempore crucifix out of two sticks, were proceeding to 
+attack the devil in his stronghold, when the bourgeois, with a crest-
+fallen countenance, appeared at the door.  To add to the bourgeois' 
+mortification, he was obliged to explain the whole stratagem to 
+Pierre, in order to bring the latter to his senses.
+
+We were sitting, on the following morning, in the passage-way between 
+the gates, conversing with the traders Vaskiss and May.  These two 
+men, together with our sleek friend, the clerk Montalon, were, I 
+believe, the only persons then in the fort who could read and write.  
+May was telling a curious story about the traveler Catlin, when an 
+ugly, diminutive Indian, wretchedly mounted, came up at a gallop, and 
+rode past us into the fort.  On being questioned, he said that 
+Smoke's village was close at hand.  Accordingly only a few minutes 
+elapsed before the hills beyond the river were covered with a 
+disorderly swarm of savages, on horseback and on foot.  May finished 
+his story; and by that time the whole array had descended to Laramie 
+Creek, and commenced crossing it in a mass.  I walked down to the 
+bank.  The stream is wide, and was then between three and four feet 
+deep, with a very swift current.  For several rods the water was 
+alive with dogs, horses, and Indians.  The long poles used in 
+erecting the lodges are carried by the horses, being fastened by the 
+heavier end, two or three on each side, to a rude sort of pack 
+saddle, while the other end drags on the ground.  About a foot behind 
+the horse, a kind of large basket or pannier is suspended between the 
+poles, and firmly lashed in its place on the back of the horse are 
+piled various articles of luggage; the basket also is well filled 
+with domestic utensils, or, quite as often, with a litter of puppies, 
+a brood of small children, or a superannuated old man.  Numbers of 
+these curious vehicles, called, in the bastard language of the 
+country travaux were now splashing together through the stream.  
+Among them swam countless dogs, often burdened with miniature 
+travaux; and dashing forward on horseback through the throng came the 
+superbly formed warriors, the slender figure of some lynx-eyed boy, 
+clinging fast behind them.  The women sat perched on the pack 
+saddles, adding not a little to the load of the already overburdened 
+horses.  The confusion was prodigious.  The dogs yelled and howled in 
+chorus; the puppies in the travaux set up a dismal whine as the water 
+invaded their comfortable retreat; the little black-eyed children, 
+from one year of age upward, clung fast with both hands to the edge 
+of their basket, and looked over in alarm at the water rushing so 
+near them, sputtering and making wry mouths as it splashed against 
+their faces.  Some of the dogs, encumbered by their loads, were 
+carried down by the current, yelping piteously; and the old squaws 
+would rush into the water, seize their favorites by the neck, and 
+drag them out.  As each horse gained the bank, he scrambled up as he 
+could.  Stray horses and colts came among the rest, often breaking 
+away at full speed through the crowd, followed by the old hags, 
+screaming after their fashion on all occasions of excitement.  Buxom 
+young squaws, blooming in all the charms of vermilion, stood here and 
+there on the bank, holding aloft their master's lance, as a signal to 
+collect the scattered portions of his household.  In a few moments 
+the crowd melted away; each family, with its horses and equipage, 
+filing off to the plain at the rear of the fort; and here, in the 
+space of half an hour, arose sixty or seventy of their tapering 
+lodges.  Their horses were feeding by hundreds over the surrounding 
+prairie, and their dogs were roaming everywhere.  The fort was full 
+of men, and the children were whooping and yelling incessantly under 
+the walls.
+
+These newcomers were scarcely arrived, when Bordeaux was running 
+across the fort, shouting to his squaw to bring him his spyglass.  
+The obedient Marie, the very model of a squaw, produced the 
+instrument, and Bordeaux hurried with it up to the wall.  Pointing it 
+to the eastward, he exclaimed, with an oath, that the families were 
+coming.  But a few moments elapsed before the heavy caravan of the 
+emigrant wagons could be seen, steadily advancing from the hills.  
+They gained the river, and without turning or pausing plunged in; 
+they passed through, and slowly ascending the opposing bank, kept 
+directly on their way past the fort and the Indian village, until, 
+gaining a spot a quarter of a mile distant, they wheeled into a 
+circle.  For some time our tranquillity was undisturbed.  The 
+emigrants were preparing their encampment; but no sooner was this 
+accomplished than Fort Laramie was fairly taken by storm.  A crowd of 
+broad-brimmed hats, thin visages, and staring eyes appeared suddenly 
+at the gate.  Tall awkward men, in brown homespun; women with 
+cadaverous faces and long lank figures came thronging in together, 
+and, as if inspired by the very demon of curiosity, ransacked every 
+nook and corner of the fort.  Dismayed at this invasion, we withdrew 
+in all speed to our chamber, vainly hoping that it might prove an 
+inviolable sanctuary.  The emigrants prosecuted their investigations 
+with untiring vigor.  They penetrated the rooms or rather dens, 
+inhabited by the astonished squaws.  They explored the apartments of 
+the men, and even that of Marie and the bourgeois.  At last a 
+numerous deputation appeared at our door, but were immediately 
+expelled.  Being totally devoid of any sense of delicacy or 
+propriety, they seemed resolved to search every mystery to the 
+bottom.
+
+Having at length satisfied their curiosity, they next proceeded to 
+business.  The men occupied themselves in procuring supplies for 
+their onward journey; either buying them with money or giving in 
+exchange superfluous articles of their own.
+
+The emigrants felt a violent prejudice against the French Indians, as 
+they called the trappers and traders.  They thought, and with some 
+justice, that these men bore them no good will.  Many of them were 
+firmly persuaded that the French were instigating the Indians to 
+attack and cut them off.  On visiting the encampment we were at once 
+struck with the extraordinary perplexity and indecision that 
+prevailed among the emigrants.  They seemed like men totally out of 
+their elements; bewildered and amazed, like a troop of school-boys 
+lost in the woods.  It was impossible to be long among them without 
+being conscious of the high and bold spirit with which most of them 
+were animated.  But the FOREST is the home of the backwoodsman.  On 
+the remote prairie he is totally at a loss.  He differs much from the 
+genuine "mountain man," the wild prairie hunter, as a Canadian 
+voyageur, paddling his canoe on the rapids of the Ottawa, differs 
+from an American sailor among the storms of Cape Horn.  Still my 
+companion and I were somewhat at a loss to account for this perturbed 
+state of mind.  It could not be cowardice; these men were of the same 
+stock with the volunteers of Monterey and Buena Vista.  Yet, for the 
+most part, they were the rudest and most ignorant of the frontier 
+population; they knew absolutely nothing of the country and its 
+inhabitants; they had already experienced much misfortune, and 
+apprehended more; they had seen nothing of mankind, and had never put 
+their own resources to the test.
+
+A full proportion of suspicion fell upon us.  Being strangers we were 
+looked upon as enemies.  Having occasion for a supply of lead and a 
+few other necessary articles, we used to go over to the emigrant 
+camps to obtain them.  After some hesitation, some dubious glances, 
+and fumbling of the hands in the pockets, the terms would be agreed 
+upon, the price tendered, and the emigrant would go off to bring the 
+article in question.  After waiting until our patience gave out, we 
+would go in search of him, and find him seated on the tongue of his 
+wagon.
+
+"Well, stranger," he would observe, as he saw us approach, "I reckon 
+I won't trade!"
+
+Some friend of his followed him from the scene of the bargain and 
+suggested in his ear, that clearly we meant to cheat him, and he had 
+better have nothing to do with us.
+
+This timorous mood of the emigrants was doubly unfortunate, as it 
+exposed them to real danger.  Assume, in the presence of Indians a 
+bold bearing, self-confident yet vigilant, and you will find them 
+tolerably safe neighbors.  But your safety depends on the respect and 
+fear you are able to inspire.  If you betray timidity or indecision, 
+you convert them from that moment into insidious and dangerous 
+enemies.  The Dakotas saw clearly enough the perturbation of the 
+emigrants and instantly availed themselves of it.  They became 
+extremely insolent and exacting in their demands.  It has become an 
+established custom with them to go to the camp of every party, at it 
+arrives in succession at the fort, and demand a feast.  Smoke's 
+village had come with the express design, having made several days' 
+journey with no other object than that of enjoying a cup of coffee 
+and two or three biscuits.  So the "feast" was demanded, and the 
+emigrants dared not refuse it.
+
+One evening, about sunset, the village was deserted.  We met old men, 
+warriors, squaws, and children in gay attire, trooping off to the 
+encampment, with faces of anticipation; and, arriving here, they 
+seated themselves in a semicircle.  Smoke occupied the center, with 
+his warriors on either hand; the young men and boys next succeeded, 
+and the squaws and children formed the horns of the crescent.  The 
+biscuit and coffee were most promptly dispatched, the emigrants 
+staring open-mouthed at their savage guests.  With each new emigrant 
+party that arrived at Fort Laramie this scene was renewed; and every 
+day the Indians grew more rapacious and presumptuous.  One evening 
+they broke to pieces, out of mere wantonness, the cups from which 
+they had been feasted; and this so exasperated the emigrants that 
+many of them seized their rifles and could scarcely be restrained 
+from firing on the insolent mob of Indians.  Before we left the 
+country this dangerous spirit on the part of the Dakota had mounted 
+to a yet higher pitch.  They began openly to threaten the emigrants 
+with destruction, and actually fired upon one or two parties of 
+whites.  A military force and military law are urgently called for in 
+that perilous region; and unless troops are speedily stationed at 
+Fort Laramie, or elsewhere in the neighborhood, both the emigrants 
+and other travelers will be exposed to most imminent risks.
+
+The Ogallalla, the Brules, and other western bands of the Dakota, are 
+thorough savages, unchanged by any contact with civilization.  Not 
+one of them can speak a European tongue, or has ever visited an 
+American settlement.  Until within a year or two, when the emigrants 
+began to pass through their country on the way to Oregon, they had 
+seen no whites except the handful employed about the Fur Company's 
+posts.  They esteemed them a wise people, inferior only to 
+themselves, living in leather lodges, like their own, and subsisting 
+on buffalo.  But when the swarm of MENEASKA, with their oxen and 
+wagons, began to invade them, their astonishment was unbounded.  They 
+could scarcely believe that the earth contained such a multitude of 
+white men.  Their wonder is now giving way to indignation; and the 
+result, unless vigilantly guarded against, may be lamentable in the 
+extreme.
+
+But to glance at the interior of a lodge.  Shaw and I used often to 
+visit them.  Indeed, we spent most of our evenings in the Indian 
+village; Shaw's assumption of the medical character giving us a fair 
+pretext.  As a sample of the rest I will describe one of these 
+visits.  The sun had just set, and the horses were driven into the 
+corral.  The Prairie Cock, a noted beau, came in at the gate with a 
+bevy of young girls, with whom he began to dance in the area, leading 
+them round and round in a circle, while he jerked up from his chest a 
+succession of monotonous sounds, to which they kept time in a rueful 
+chant.  Outside the gate boys and young men were idly frolicking; and 
+close by, looking grimly upon them, stood a warrior in his robe, with 
+his face painted jet-black, in token that he had lately taken a 
+Pawnee scalp.  Passing these, the tall dark lodges rose between us 
+and the red western sky.  We repaired at once to the lodge of Old 
+Smoke himself.  It was by no means better than the others; indeed, it 
+was rather shabby; for in this democratic community, the chief never 
+assumes superior state.  Smoke sat cross-legged on a buffalo robe, 
+and his grunt of salutation as we entered was unusually cordial, out 
+of respect no doubt to Shaw's medical character.  Seated around the 
+lodge were several squaws, and an abundance of children.  The 
+complaint of Shaw's patients was, for the most part, a severe 
+inflammation of the eyes, occasioned by exposure to the sun, a 
+species of disorder which he treated with some success.  He had 
+brought with him a homeopathic medicine chest, and was, I presume, 
+the first who introduced that harmless system of treatment among the 
+Ogallalla.  No sooner had a robe been spread at the head of the lodge 
+for our accommodation, and we had seated ourselves upon it, than a 
+patient made her appearance; the chief's daughter herself, who, to do 
+her justice, was the best-looking girl in the village.  Being on 
+excellent terms with the physician, she placed herself readily under 
+his hands, and submitted with a good grace to his applications, 
+laughing in his face during the whole process, for a squaw hardly 
+knows how to smile.  This case dispatched, another of a different 
+kind succeeded.  A hideous, emaciated old woman sat in the darkest 
+corner of the lodge rocking to and fro with pain and hiding her eyes 
+from the light by pressing the palms of both hands against her face.  
+At Smoke's command, she came forward, very unwillingly, and exhibited 
+a pair of eyes that had nearly disappeared from excess of 
+inflammation.  No sooner had the doctor fastened his grips upon her 
+than she set up a dismal moaning, and writhed so in his grasp that he 
+lost all patience, but being resolved to carry his point, he 
+succeeded at last in applying his favorite remedies.
+
+"It is strange," he said, when the operation was finished, "that I 
+forgot to bring any Spanish flies with me; we must have something 
+here to answer for a counter-irritant!"
+
+So, in the absence of better, he seized upon a red-hot brand from the 
+fire, and clapped it against the temple of the old squaw, who set up 
+an unearthly howl, at which the rest of the family broke out into a 
+laugh.
+
+During these medical operations Smoke's eldest squaw entered the 
+lodge, with a sort of stone mallet in her hand.  I had observed some 
+time before a litter of well-grown black puppies, comfortably nestled 
+among some buffalo robes at one side; but this newcomer speedily 
+disturbed their enjoyment; for seizing one of them by the hind paw, 
+she dragged him out, and carrying him to the entrance of the lodge, 
+hammered him on the head till she killed him.  Being quite conscious 
+to what this preparation tended, I looked through a hole in the back 
+of the lodge to see the next steps of the process.  The squaw, 
+holding the puppy by the legs, was swinging him to and fro through 
+the blaze of a fire, until the hair was singed off.  This done, she 
+unsheathed her knife and cut him into small pieces, which she dropped 
+into a kettle to boil.  In a few moments a large wooden dish was set 
+before us, filled with this delicate preparation.  We felt conscious 
+of the honor.  A dog-feast is the greatest compliment a Dakota can 
+offer to his guest; and knowing that to refuse eating would be an 
+affront, we attacked the little dog and devoured him before the eyes 
+of his unconscious parent.  Smoke in the meantime was preparing his 
+great pipe.  It was lighted when we had finished our repast, and we 
+passed it from one to another till the bowl was empty.  This done, we 
+took our leave without further ceremony, knocked at the gate of the 
+fort, and after making ourselves known were admitted.
+
+One morning, about a week after reaching Fort Laramie, we were 
+holding our customary Indian levee, when a bustle in the area below 
+announced a new arrival; and looking down from our balcony, I saw a 
+familiar red beard and mustache in the gateway.  They belonged to the 
+captain, who with his party had just crossed the stream.  We met him 
+on the stairs as he came up, and congratulated him on the safe 
+arrival of himself and his devoted companions.  But he remembered our 
+treachery, and was grave and dignified accordingly; a tendency which 
+increased as he observed on our part a disposition to laugh at him.  
+After remaining an hour or two at the fort he rode away with his 
+friends, and we have heard nothing of him since.  As for R., he kept 
+carefully aloof.  It was but too evident that we had the unhappiness 
+to have forfeited the kind regards of our London fellow-traveler.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE WAR PARTIES
+
+
+The summer of 1846 was a season of much warlike excitement among all 
+the western bands of the Dakota.  In 1845 they encountered great 
+reverses.  Many war parties had been sent out; some of them had been 
+totally cut off, and others had returned broken and disheartened, so 
+that the whole nation was in mourning.  Among the rest, ten warriors 
+had gone to the Snake country, led by the son of a prominent 
+Ogallalla chief, called The Whirlwind.  In passing over Laramie 
+Plains they encountered a superior number of their enemies, were 
+surrounded, and killed to a man.  Having performed this exploit the 
+Snakes became alarmed, dreading the resentment of the Dakota, and 
+they hastened therefore to signify their wish for peace by sending 
+the scalp of the slain partisan, together with a small parcel of 
+tobacco attached, to his tribesmen and relations.  They had employed 
+old Vaskiss, the trader, as their messenger, and the scalp was the 
+same that hung in our room at the fort.  But The Whirlwind proved 
+inexorable.  Though his character hardly corresponds with his name, 
+he is nevertheless an Indian, and hates the Snakes with his whole 
+soul.  Long before the scalp arrived he had made his preparations for 
+revenge.  He sent messengers with presents and tobacco to all the 
+Dakota within three hundred miles, proposing a grand combination to 
+chastise the Snakes, and naming a place and time of rendezvous.  The 
+plan was readily adopted and at this moment many villages, probably 
+embracing in the whole five or six thousand souls, were slowly 
+creeping over the prairies and tending towards the common center at 
+La Bonte's Camp, on the Platte.  Here their war-like rites were to be 
+celebrated with more than ordinary solemnity, and a thousand 
+warriors, as it was said, were to set out for the enemy country.  The 
+characteristic result of this preparation will appear in the sequel.
+
+I was greatly rejoiced to hear of it.  I had come into the country 
+almost exclusively with a view of observing the Indian character.  
+Having from childhood felt a curiosity on this subject, and having 
+failed completely to gratify it by reading, I resolved to have 
+recourse to observation.  I wished to satisfy myself with regard to 
+the position of the Indians among the races of men; the vices and the 
+virtues that have sprung from their innate character and from their 
+modes of life, their government, their superstitions, and their 
+domestic situation.  To accomplish my purpose it was necessary to 
+live in the midst of them, and become, as it were, one of them.  I 
+proposed to join a village and make myself an inmate of one of their 
+lodges; and henceforward this narrative, so far as I am concerned, 
+will be chiefly a record of the progress of this design apparently so 
+easy of accomplishment, and the unexpected impediments that opposed 
+it.
+
+We resolved on no account to miss the rendezvous at La Bonte's Camp.  
+Our plan was to leave Delorier at the fort, in charge of our equipage 
+and the better part of our horses, while we took with us nothing but 
+our weapons and the worst animals we had.  In all probability 
+jealousies and quarrels would arise among so many hordes of fierce 
+impulsive savages, congregated together under no common head, and 
+many of them strangers, from remote prairies and mountains.  We were 
+bound in common prudence to be cautious how we excited any feeling of 
+cupidity.  This was our plan, but unhappily we were not destined to 
+visit La Bonte's Camp in this manner; for one morning a young Indian 
+came to the fort and brought us evil tidings.  The newcomer was a 
+dandy of the first water.  His ugly face was painted with vermilion; 
+on his head fluttered the tail of a prairie cock (a large species of 
+pheasant, not found, as I have heard, eastward of the Rocky 
+Mountains); in his ears were hung pendants of shell, and a flaming 
+red blanket was wrapped around him.  He carried a dragoon sword in 
+his hand, solely for display, since the knife, the arrow, and the 
+rifle are the arbiters of every prairie fight; but no one in this 
+country goes abroad unarmed, the dandy carried a bow and arrows in an 
+otter-skin quiver at his back.  In this guise, and bestriding his 
+yellow horse with an air of extreme dignity, The Horse, for that was 
+his name, rode in at the gate, turning neither to the right nor the 
+left, but casting glances askance at the groups of squaws who, with 
+their mongrel progeny, were sitting in the sun before their doors.  
+The evil tidings brought by The Horse were of the following import: 
+The squaw of Henry Chatillon, a woman with whom he had been connected 
+for years by the strongest ties which in that country exist between 
+the sexes, was dangerously ill.  She and her children were in the 
+village of The Whirlwind, at the distance of a few days' journey.  
+Henry was anxious to see the woman before she died, and provide for 
+the safety and support of his children, of whom he was extremely 
+fond.  To have refused him this would have been gross inhumanity.  We 
+abandoned our plan of joining Smoke's village, and of proceeding with 
+it to the rendezvous, and determined to meet The Whirlwind, and go in 
+his company.
+
+I had been slightly ill for several weeks, but on the third night 
+after reaching Fort Laramie a violent pain awoke me, and I found 
+myself attacked by the same disorder that occasioned such heavy 
+losses to the army on the Rio Grande.  In a day and a half I was 
+reduced to extreme weakness, so that I could not walk without pain 
+and effort.  Having within that time taken six grains of opium, 
+without the least beneficial effect, and having no medical adviser, 
+nor any choice of diet, I resolved to throw myself upon Providence 
+for recovery, using, without regard to the disorder, any portion of 
+strength that might remain to me.  So on the 20th of June we set out 
+from Fort Laramie to meet The Whirlwind's village.  Though aided by 
+the high-bowed "mountain saddle," I could scarcely keep my seat on 
+horseback.  Before we left the fort we hired another man, a long-
+haired Canadian, with a face like an owl's, contrasting oddly enough 
+with Delorier's mercurial countenance.  This was not the only re-
+enforcement to our party.  A vagrant Indian trader, named Reynal, 
+joined us, together with his squaw Margot, and her two nephews, our 
+dandy friend, The Horse, and his younger brother, The Hail Storm.  
+Thus accompanied, we betook ourselves to the prairie, leaving the 
+beaten trail, and passing over the desolate hills that flank the 
+bottoms of Laramie Creek.  In all, Indians and whites, we counted 
+eight men and one woman.
+
+Reynal, the trader, the image of sleek and selfish complacency, 
+carried The Horse's dragoon sword in his hand, delighting apparently 
+in this useless parade; for, from spending half his life among 
+Indians, he had caught not only their habits but their ideas.  
+Margot, a female animal of more than two hundred pounds' weight, was 
+couched in the basket of a travail, such as I have before described; 
+besides her ponderous bulk, various domestic utensils were attached 
+to the vehicle, and she was leading by a trail-rope a packhorse, who 
+carried the covering of Reynal's lodge.  Delorier walked briskly by 
+the side of the cart, and Raymond came behind, swearing at the spare 
+horses, which it was his business to drive.  The restless young 
+Indians, their quivers at their backs, and their bows in their hand, 
+galloped over the hills, often starting a wolf or an antelope from 
+the thick growth of wild-sage bushes.  Shaw and I were in keeping 
+with the rest of the rude cavalcade, having in the absence of other 
+clothing adopted the buckskin attire of the trappers.  Henry 
+Chatillon rode in advance of the whole.  Thus we passed hill after 
+hill and hollow after hollow, a country arid, broken and so parched 
+by the sun that none of the plants familiar to our more favored soil 
+would flourish upon it, though there were multitudes of strange 
+medicinal herbs, more especially the absanth, which covered every 
+declivity, and cacti were hanging like reptiles at the edges of every 
+ravine.  At length we ascended a high hill, our horses treading upon 
+pebbles of flint, agate, and rough jasper, until, gaining the top, we 
+looked down on the wild bottoms of Laramie Creek, which far below us 
+wound like a writhing snake from side to side of the narrow interval, 
+amid a growth of shattered cotton-wood and ash trees.  Lines of tall 
+cliffs, white as chalk, shut in this green strip of woods and meadow 
+land, into which we descended and encamped for the night.  In the 
+morning we passed a wide grassy plain by the river; there was a grove 
+in front, and beneath its shadows the ruins of an old trading fort of 
+logs.  The grove bloomed with myriads of wild roses, with their sweet 
+perfume fraught with recollections of home.  As we emerged from the 
+trees, a rattlesnake, as large as a man's arm, and more than four 
+feet long, lay coiled on a rock, fiercely rattling and hissing at us; 
+a gray hare, double the size of those in New England, leaped up from 
+the tall ferns; curlew were screaming over our heads, and a whole 
+host of little prairie dogs sat yelping at us at the mouths of their 
+burrows on the dry plain beyond.  Suddenly an antelope leaped up from 
+the wild-sage bushes, gazed eagerly at us, and then, erecting his 
+white tail, stretched away like a greyhound.  The two Indian boys 
+found a white wolf, as large as a calf in a hollow, and giving a 
+sharp yell, they galloped after him; but the wolf leaped into the 
+stream and swam across.  Then came the crack of a rifle, the bullet 
+whistling harmlessly over his head, as he scrambled up the steep 
+declivity, rattling down stones and earth into the water below.  
+Advancing a little, we beheld on the farther bank of the stream, a 
+spectacle not common even in that region; for, emerging from among 
+the trees, a herd of some two hundred elk came out upon the meadow, 
+their antlers clattering as they walked forward in dense throng.  
+Seeing us, they broke into a run, rushing across the opening and 
+disappearing among the trees and scattered groves.  On our left was a 
+barren prairie, stretching to the horizon; on our right, a deep gulf, 
+with Laramie Creek at the bottom.  We found ourselves at length at 
+the edge of a steep descent; a narrow valley, with long rank grass 
+and scattered trees stretching before us for a mile or more along the 
+course of the stream.  Reaching the farther end, we stopped and 
+encamped.  An old huge cotton-wood tree spread its branches 
+horizontally over our tent.  Laramie Creek, circling before our camp, 
+half inclosed us; it swept along the bottom of a line of tall white 
+cliffs that looked down on us from the farther bank.  There were 
+dense copses on our right; the cliffs, too, were half hidden by 
+shrubbery, though behind us a few cotton-wood trees, dotting the 
+green prairie, alone impeded the view, and friend or enemy could be 
+discerned in that direction at a mile's distance.  Here we resolved 
+to remain and await the arrival of The Whirlwind, who would certainly 
+pass this way in his progress toward La Bonte's Camp.  To go in 
+search of him was not expedient, both on account of the broken and 
+impracticable nature of the country and the uncertainty of his 
+position and movements; besides, our horses were almost worn out, and 
+I was in no condition to travel.  We had good grass, good water, 
+tolerable fish from the stream, and plenty of smaller game, such as 
+antelope and deer, though no buffalo.  There was one little drawback 
+to our satisfaction--a certain extensive tract of bushes and dried 
+grass, just behind us, which it was by no means advisable to enter, 
+since it sheltered a numerous brood of rattlesnakes.  Henry Chatillon 
+again dispatched The Horse to the village, with a message to his 
+squaw that she and her relatives should leave the rest and push on as 
+rapidly as possible to our camp.
+
+Our daily routine soon became as regular as that of a well-ordered 
+household.  The weather-beaten old tree was in the center; our rifles 
+generally rested against its vast trunk, and our saddles were flung 
+on the ground around it; its distorted roots were so twisted as to 
+form one or two convenient arm-chairs, where we could sit in the 
+shade and read or smoke; but meal-times became, on the whole, the 
+most interesting hours of the day, and a bountiful provision was made 
+for them.  An antelope or a deer usually swung from a stout bough, 
+and haunches were suspended against the trunk.  That camp is 
+daguerreotyped on my memory; the old tree, the white tent, with Shaw 
+sleeping in the shadow of it, and Reynal's miserable lodge close by 
+the bank of the stream.  It was a wretched oven-shaped structure, 
+made of begrimed and tattered buffalo hides stretched over a frame of 
+poles; one side was open, and at the side of the opening hung the 
+powder horn and bullet pouch of the owner, together with his long red 
+pipe, and a rich quiver of otterskin, with a bow and arrows; for 
+Reynal, an Indian in most things but color, chose to hunt buffalo 
+with these primitive weapons.  In the darkness of this cavern-like 
+habitation, might be discerned Madame Margot, her overgrown bulk 
+stowed away among her domestic implements, furs, robes, blankets, and 
+painted cases of PAR' FLECHE, in which dried meat is kept.  Here she 
+sat from sunrise to sunset, a bloated impersonation of gluttony and 
+laziness, while her affectionate proprietor was smoking, or begging 
+petty gifts from us, or telling lies concerning his own achievements, 
+or perchance engaged in the more profitable occupation of cooking 
+some preparation of prairie delicacies.  Reynal was an adept at this 
+work; he and Delorier have joined forces and are hard at work 
+together over the fire, while Raymond spreads, by way of tablecloth, 
+a buffalo hide, carefully whitened with pipeclay, on the grass before 
+the tent.  Here, with ostentatious display, he arranges the teacups 
+and plates; and then, creeping on all fours like a dog, he thrusts 
+his head in at the opening of the tent.  For a moment we see his 
+round owlish eyes rolling wildly, as if the idea he came to 
+communicate had suddenly escaped him; then collecting his scattered 
+thoughts, as if by an effort, he informs us that supper is ready, and 
+instantly withdraws.
+
+When sunset came, and at that hour the wild and desolate scene would 
+assume a new aspect, the horses were driven in.  They had been 
+grazing all day in the neighboring meadow, but now they were picketed 
+close about the camp.  As the prairie darkened we sat and conversed 
+around the fire, until becoming drowsy we spread our saddles on the 
+ground, wrapped our blankets around us and lay down.  We never placed 
+a guard, having by this time become too indolent; but Henry Chatillon 
+folded his loaded rifle in the same blanket with himself, observing 
+that he always took it to bed with him when he camped in that place.  
+Henry was too bold a man to use such a precaution without good cause.  
+We had a hint now and then that our situation was none of the safest; 
+several Crow war parties were known to be in the vicinity, and one of 
+them, that passed here some time before, had peeled the bark from a 
+neighboring tree, and engraved upon the white wood certain 
+hieroglyphics, to signify that they had invaded the territories of 
+their enemies, the Dakota, and set them at defiance.  One morning a 
+thick mist covered the whole country.  Shaw and Henry went out to 
+ride, and soon came back with a startling piece of intelligence; they 
+had found within rifle-shot of our camp the recent trail of about 
+thirty horsemen.  They could not be whites, and they could not be 
+Dakota, since we knew no such parties to be in the neighborhood; 
+therefore they must be Crows.  Thanks to that friendly mist, we had 
+escaped a hard battle; they would inevitably have attacked us and our 
+Indian companions had they seen our camp.  Whatever doubts we might 
+have entertained, were quite removed a day or two after, by two or 
+three Dakota, who came to us with an account of having hidden in a 
+ravine on that very morning, from whence they saw and counted the 
+Crows; they said that they followed them, carefully keeping out of 
+sight, as they passed up Chugwater; that here the Crows discovered 
+five dead bodies of Dakota, placed according to the national custom 
+in trees, and flinging them to the ground, they held their guns 
+against them and blew them to atoms.
+
+If our camp were not altogether safe, still it was comfortable 
+enough; at least it was so to Shaw, for I was tormented with illness 
+and vexed by the delay in the accomplishment of my designs.  When a 
+respite in my disorder gave me some returning strength, I rode out 
+well-armed upon the prairie, or bathed with Shaw in the stream, or 
+waged a petty warfare with the inhabitants of a neighborhood prairie-
+dog village.  Around our fire at night we employed ourselves in 
+inveighing against the fickleness and inconstancy of Indians, and 
+execrating The Whirlwind and all his village.  At last the thing grew 
+insufferable.
+
+"To-morrow morning," said I, "I will start for the fort, and see if I 
+can hear any news there."  Late that evening, when the fire had sunk 
+low, and all the camp were asleep, a loud cry sounded from the 
+darkness.  Henry started up, recognized the voice, replied to it, and 
+our dandy friend, The Horse, rode in among us, just returned from his 
+mission to the village.  He coolly picketed his mare, without saying 
+a word, sat down by the fire and began to eat, but his imperturbable 
+philosophy was too much for our patience.  Where was the village? 
+about fifty miles south of us; it was moving slowly and would not 
+arrive in less than a week; and where was Henry's squaw? coming as 
+fast as she could with Mahto-Tatonka, and the rest of her brothers, 
+but she would never reach us, for she was dying, and asking every 
+moment for Henry.  Henry's manly face became clouded and downcast; he 
+said that if we were willing he would go in the morning to find her, 
+at which Shaw offered to accompany him.
+
+We saddled our horses at sunrise.  Reynal protested vehemently 
+against being left alone, with nobody but the two Canadians and the 
+young Indians, when enemies were in the neighborhood.  Disregarding 
+his complaints, we left him, and coming to the mouth of Chugwater, 
+separated, Shaw and Henry turning to the right, up the bank of the 
+stream, while I made for the fort.
+
+Taking leave for a while of my friend and the unfortunate squaw, I 
+will relate by way of episode what I saw and did at Fort Laramie.  It 
+was not more than eighteen miles distant, and I reached it in three 
+hours; a shriveled little figure, wrapped from head to foot in a 
+dingy white Canadian capote, stood in the gateway, holding by a cord 
+of bull's hide a shaggy wild horse, which he had lately caught.  His 
+sharp prominent features, and his little keen snakelike eyes, looked 
+out from beneath the shadowy hood of the capote, which was drawn over 
+his head exactly like the cowl of a Capuchin friar.  His face was 
+extremely thin and like an old piece of leather, and his mouth spread 
+from ear to ear.  Extending his long wiry hand, he welcomed me with 
+something more cordial than the ordinary cold salute of an Indian, 
+for we were excellent friends.  He had made an exchange of horses to 
+our mutual advantage; and Paul, thinking himself well-treated, had 
+declared everywhere that the white man had a good heart.  He was a 
+Dakota from the Missouri, a reputed son of the half-breed 
+interpreter, Pierre Dorion, so often mentioned in Irving's "Astoria."  
+He said that he was going to Richard's trading house to sell his 
+horse to some emigrants who were encamped there, and asked me to go 
+with him.  We forded the stream together, Paul dragging his wild 
+charge behind him.  As we passed over the sandy plains beyond, he 
+grew quite communicative.  Paul was a cosmopolitan in his way; he had 
+been to the settlements of the whites, and visited in peace and war 
+most of the tribes within the range of a thousand miles.  He spoke a 
+jargon of French and another of English, yet nevertheless he was a 
+thorough Indian; and as he told of the bloody deeds of his own people 
+against their enemies, his little eye would glitter with a fierce 
+luster.  He told how the Dakota exterminated a village of the Hohays 
+on the Upper Missouri, slaughtering men, women, and children; and how 
+an overwhelming force of them cut off sixteen of the brave Delawares, 
+who fought like wolves to the last, amid the throng of their enemies.  
+He told me also another story, which I did not believe until I had it 
+confirmed from so many independent sources that no room was left for 
+doubt.  I am tempted to introduce it here.
+
+Six years ago a fellow named Jim Beckwith, a mongrel of French, 
+American, and negro blood, was trading for the Fur Company, in a very 
+large village of the Crows.  Jim Beckwith was last summer at St. 
+Louis.  He is a ruffian of the first stamp; bloody and treacherous, 
+without honor or honesty; such at least is the character he bears 
+upon the prairie.  Yet in his case all the standard rules of 
+character fail, for though he will stab a man in his sleep, he will 
+also perform most desperate acts of daring; such, for instance, as 
+the following: While he was in the Crow village, a Blackfoot war 
+party, between thirty and forty in number came stealing through the 
+country, killing stragglers and carrying off horses.  The Crow 
+warriors got upon their trail and pressed them so closely that they 
+could not escape, at which the Blackfeet, throwing up a semicircular 
+breastwork of logs at the foot of a precipice, coolly awaited their 
+approach.  The logs and sticks, piled four or five high, protected 
+them in front.  The Crows might have swept over the breastwork and 
+exterminated their enemies; but though out-numbering them tenfold, 
+they did not dream of storming the little fortification.  Such a 
+proceeding would be altogether repugnant to their notions of warfare.  
+Whooping and yelling, and jumping from side to side like devils 
+incarnate, they showered bullets and arrows upon the logs; not a 
+Blackfoot was hurt, but several Crows, in spite of their leaping and 
+dodging, were shot down.  In this childish manner the fight went on 
+for an hour or two.  Now and then a Crow warrior in an ecstasy of 
+valor and vainglory would scream forth his war song, boasting himself 
+the bravest and greatest of mankind, and grasping his hatchet, would 
+rush up and strike it upon the breastwork, and then as he retreated 
+to his companions, fall dead under a shower of arrows; yet no 
+combined attack seemed to be dreamed of.  The Blackfeet remained 
+secure in their intrenchment.  At last Jim Beckwith lost patience.
+
+"You are all fools and old women," he said to the Crows; "come with 
+me, if any of you are brave enough, and I will show you how to 
+fight."
+
+He threw off his trapper's frock of buckskin and stripped himself 
+naked like the Indians themselves.  He left his rifle on the ground, 
+and taking in his hand a small light hatchet, he ran over the prairie 
+to the right, concealed by a hollow from the eyes of the Blackfeet.  
+Then climbing up the rocks, he gained the top of the precipice behind 
+them.  Forty or fifty young Crow warriors followed him.  By the cries 
+and whoops that rose from below he knew that the Blackfeet were just 
+beneath him; and running forward, he leaped down the rock into the 
+midst of them.  As he fell he caught one by the long loose hair and 
+dragging him down tomahawked him; then grasping another by the belt 
+at his waist, he struck him also a stunning blow, and gaining his 
+feet, shouted the Crow war-cry.  He swung his hatchet so fiercely 
+around him that the astonished Blackfeet bore back and gave him room.  
+He might, had he chosen, have leaped over the breastwork and escaped; 
+but this was not necessary, for with devilish yells the Crow warriors 
+came dropping in quick succession over the rock among their enemies.  
+The main body of the Crows, too, answered the cry from the front and 
+rushed up simultaneously.  The convulsive struggle within the 
+breastwork was frightful; for an instant the Blackfeet fought and 
+yelled like pent-up tigers; but the butchery was soon complete, and 
+the mangled bodies lay piled up together under the precipice.  Not a 
+Blackfoot made his escape.
+
+As Paul finished his story we came in sight of Richard's Fort.  It 
+stood in the middle of the plain; a disorderly crowd of men around 
+it, and an emigrant camp a little in front.
+
+"Now, Paul," said I, "where are your Winnicongew lodges?"
+
+"Not come yet," said Paul, "maybe come to-morrow."
+
+Two large villages of a band of Dakota had come three hundred miles 
+from the Missouri, to join in the war, and they were expected to 
+reach Richard's that morning.  There was as yet no sign of their 
+approach; so pushing through a noisy, drunken crowd, I entered an 
+apartment of logs and mud, the largest in the fort; it was full of 
+men of various races and complexions, all more or less drunk.  A 
+company of California emigrants, it seemed, had made the discovery at 
+this late day that they had encumbered themselves with too many 
+supplies for their journey.  A part, therefore, they had thrown away 
+or sold at great loss to the traders, but had determined to get rid 
+of their copious stock of Missouri whisky, by drinking it on the 
+spot.  Here were maudlin squaws stretched on piles of buffalo robes; 
+squalid Mexicans, armed with bows and arrows; Indians sedately drunk; 
+long-haired Canadians and trappers, and American backwoodsmen in 
+brown homespun, the well-beloved pistol and bowie knife displayed 
+openly at their sides.  In the middle of the room a tall, lank man, 
+with a dingy broadcloth coat, was haranguing the company in the style 
+of the stump orator.  With one hand he sawed the air, and with the 
+other clutched firmly a brown jug of whisky, which he applied every 
+moment to his lips, forgetting that he had drained the contents long 
+ago.  Richard formally introduced me to this personage, who was no 
+less a man than Colonel R., once the leader of the party.  Instantly 
+the colonel seizing me, in the absence of buttons by the leather 
+fringes of my frock, began to define his position.  His men, he said, 
+had mutinied and deposed him; but still he exercised over them the 
+influence of a superior mind; in all but the name he was yet their 
+chief.  As the colonel spoke, I looked round on the wild assemblage, 
+and could not help thinking that he was but ill qualified to conduct 
+such men across the desert to California.  Conspicuous among the rest 
+stood three tail young men, grandsons of Daniel Boone.  They had 
+clearly inherited the adventurous character of that prince of 
+pioneers; but I saw no signs of the quiet and tranquil spirit that so 
+remarkably distinguished him.
+
+Fearful was the fate that months after overtook some of the members 
+of that party.  General Kearny, on his late return from California, 
+brought in the account how they were interrupted by the deep snows 
+among the mountains, and maddened by cold and hunger fed upon each 
+other's flesh.
+
+I got tired of the confusion.  "Come, Paul," said I, "we will be 
+off."  Paul sat in the sun, under the wall of the fort.  He jumped 
+up, mounted, and we rode toward Fort Laramie.  When we reached it, a 
+man came out of the gate with a pack at his back and a rifle on his 
+shoulder; others were gathering about him, shaking him by the hand, as 
+if taking leave.  I thought it a strange thing that a man should set 
+out alone and on foot for the prairie.  I soon got an explanation.  
+Perrault--this, if I recollect right was the Canadian's name--had 
+quarreled with the bourgeois, and the fort was too hot to hold him.  
+Bordeaux, inflated with his transient authority, had abused him, and 
+received a blow in return.  The men then sprang at each other, and 
+grappled in the middle of the fort.  Bordeaux was down in an instant, 
+at the mercy of the incensed Canadian; had not an old Indian, the 
+brother of his squaw, seized hold of his antagonist, he would have 
+fared ill.  Perrault broke loose from the old Indian, and both the 
+white men ran to their rooms for their guns; but when Bordeaux, 
+looking from his door, saw the Canadian, gun in hand, standing in the 
+area and calling on him to come out and fight, his heart failed him; 
+he chose to remain where he was.  In vain the old Indian, scandalized 
+by his brother-in-law's cowardice, called upon him to go upon the 
+prairie and fight it out in the white man's manner; and Bordeaux's 
+own squaw, equally incensed, screamed to her lord and master that he 
+was a dog and an old woman.  It all availed nothing.  Bordeaux's 
+prudence got the better of his valor, and he would not stir.  
+Perrault stood showering approbrious epithets at the recent 
+bourgeois.  Growing tired of this, he made up a pack of dried meat, 
+and slinging it at his back, set out alone for Fort Pierre on the 
+Missouri, a distance of three hundred miles, over a desert country 
+full of hostile Indians.
+
+I remained in the fort that night.  In the morning, as I was coming 
+out from breakfast, conversing with a trader named McCluskey, I saw a 
+strange Indian leaning against the side of the gate.  He was a tall, 
+strong man, with heavy features.
+
+"Who is he?" I asked.  "That's The Whirlwind," said McCluskey.  "He 
+is the fellow that made all this stir about the war.  It's always the 
+way with the Sioux; they never stop cutting each other's throats; 
+it's all they are fit for; instead of sitting in their lodges, and 
+getting robes to trade with us in the winter.  If this war goes on, 
+we'll make a poor trade of it next season, I reckon."
+
+And this was the opinion of all the traders, who were vehemently 
+opposed to the war, from the serious injury that it must occasion to 
+their interests.  The Whirlwind left his village the day before to 
+make a visit to the fort.  His warlike ardor had abated not a little 
+since he first conceived the design of avenging his son's death.  The 
+long and complicated preparations for the expedition were too much 
+for his fickle, inconstant disposition.  That morning Bordeaux 
+fastened upon him, made him presents and told him that if he went to 
+war he would destroy his horses and kill no buffalo to trade with the 
+white men; in short, that he was a fool to think of such a thing, and 
+had better make up his mind to sit quietly in his lodge and smoke his 
+pipe, like a wise man.  The Whirlwind's purpose was evidently shaken; 
+he had become tired, like a child, of his favorite plan.  Bordeaux 
+exultingly predicted that he would not go to war.  My philanthropy at 
+that time was no match for my curiosity, and I was vexed at the 
+possibility that after all I might lose the rare opportunity of 
+seeing the formidable ceremonies of war.  The Whirlwind, however, had 
+merely thrown the firebrand; the conflagration was become general.  
+All the western bands of the Dakota were bent on war; and as I heard 
+from McCluskey, six large villages already gathered on a little 
+stream, forty miles distant, were daily calling to the Great Spirit 
+to aid them in their enterprise.  McCluskey had just left and 
+represented them as on their way to La Bonte's Camp, which they would 
+reach in a week, UNLESS THEY SHOULD LEARN THAT THERE WERE NO BUFFALO 
+THERE.  I did not like this condition, for buffalo this season were 
+rare in the neighborhood.  There were also the two Minnicongew 
+villages that I mentioned before; but about noon, an Indian came from 
+Richard's Fort with the news that they were quarreling, breaking up, 
+and dispersing.  So much for the whisky of the emigrants!  Finding 
+themselves unable to drink the whole, they had sold the residue to 
+these Indians, and it needed no prophet to foretell the results; a 
+spark dropped into a powder magazine would not have produced a 
+quicker effect.  Instantly the old jealousies and rivalries and 
+smothered feuds that exist in an Indian village broke out into 
+furious quarrels.  They forgot the warlike enterprise that had 
+already brought them three hundred miles.  They seemed like 
+ungoverned children inflamed with the fiercest passions of men.  
+Several of them were stabbed in the drunken tumult; and in the 
+morning they scattered and moved back toward the Missouri in small 
+parties.  I feared that, after all, the long-projected meeting and 
+the ceremonies that were to attend it might never take place, and I 
+should lose so admirable an opportunity of seeing the Indian under 
+his most fearful and characteristic aspect; however, in foregoing 
+this, I should avoid a very fair probability of being plundered and 
+stripped, and, it might be, stabbed or shot into the bargain.  
+Consoling myself with this reflection, I prepared to carry the news, 
+such as it was, to the camp.
+
+I caught my horse, and to my vexation found he had lost a shoe and 
+broken his tender white hoof against the rocks.  Horses are shod at 
+Fort Laramie at the moderate rate of three dollars a foot; so I tied 
+Hendrick to a beam in the corral, and summoned Roubidou, the 
+blacksmith.  Roubidou, with the hoof between his knees, was at work 
+with hammer and file, and I was inspecting the process, when a 
+strange voice addressed me.
+
+Two more gone under!  Well, there is more of us left yet.  Here's 
+Jean Gars and me off to the mountains to-morrow.  Our turn will come 
+next, I suppose.  It's a hard life, anyhow!"
+
+I looked up and saw a little man, not much more than five feet high, 
+but of very square and strong proportions.  In appearance he was 
+particularly dingy; for his old buckskin frock was black and polished 
+with time and grease, and his belt, knife, pouch, and powder-horn 
+appeared to have seen the roughest service.  The first joint of each 
+foot was entirely gone, having been frozen off several winters 
+before, and his moccasins were curtailed in proportion.  His whole 
+appearance and equipment bespoke the "free trapper."  He had a round 
+ruddy face, animated with a spirit of carelessness and gayety not at 
+all in accordance with the words he had just spoken.
+
+"Two more gone," said I; "what do you mean by that?"
+
+"Oh," said he, "the Arapahoes have just killed two of us in the 
+mountains.  Old Bull-Tail has come to tell us.  They stabbed one 
+behind his back, and shot the other with his own rifle.  That's the 
+way we live here!  I mean to give up trapping after this year.  My 
+squaw says she wants a pacing horse and some red ribbons; I'll make 
+enough beaver to get them for her, and then I'm done!  I'll go below 
+and live on a farm."
+
+"Your bones will dry on the prairie, Rouleau!" said another trapper, 
+who was standing by; a strong, brutal-looking fellow, with a face as 
+surly as a bull-dog's.
+
+Rouleau only laughed, and began to hum a tune and shuffle a dance on 
+his stumps of feet.
+
+"You'll see us, before long, passing up our way," said the other man.  
+"Well," said I, "stop and take a cup of coffee with us"; and as it 
+was quite late in the afternoon, I prepared to leave the fort at 
+once.
+
+As I rode out, a train of emigrant wagons was passing across the 
+stream.  "Whar are ye goin' stranger?"  Thus I was saluted by two or 
+three voices at once.
+
+"About eighteen miles up the creek."
+
+"It's mighty late to be going that far!  Make haste, ye'd better, and 
+keep a bright lookout for Indians!"
+
+I thought the advice too good to be neglected.  Fording the stream, I 
+passed at a round trot over the plains beyond.  But "the more haste, 
+the worse speed."  I proved the truth in the proverb by the time I 
+reached the hills three miles from the fort.  The trail was faintly 
+marked, and riding forward with more rapidity than caution, I lost 
+sight of it.  I kept on in a direct line, guided by Laramie Creek, 
+which I could see at intervals darkly glistening in the evening sun, 
+at the bottom of the woody gulf on my right.  Half an hour before 
+sunset I came upon its banks.  There was something exciting in the 
+wild solitude of the place.  An antelope sprang suddenly from the 
+sagebushes before me.  As he leaped gracefully not thirty yards 
+before my horse, I fired, and instantly he spun round and fell.  
+Quite sure of him, I walked my horse toward him, leisurely reloading 
+my rifle, when to my surprise he sprang up and trotted rapidly away 
+on three legs into the dark recesses of the hills, whither I had no 
+time to follow.  Ten minutes after, I was passing along the bottom of 
+a deep valley, and chancing to look behind me, I saw in the dim light 
+that something was following.  Supposing it to be wolf, I slid from 
+my seat and sat down behind my horse to shoot it; but as it came up, 
+I saw by its motions that it was another antelope.  It approached 
+within a hundred yards, arched its graceful neck, and gazed intently.  
+I leveled at the white spot on its chest, and was about to fire when 
+it started off, ran first to one side and then to the other, like a 
+vessel tacking against a wind, and at last stretched away at full 
+speed.  Then it stopped again, looked curiously behind it, and 
+trotted up as before; but not so boldly, for it soon paused and stood 
+gazing at me.  I fired; it leaped upward and fell upon its tracks.  
+Measuring the distance, I found it 204 paces.  When I stood by his 
+side, the antelope turned his expiring eye upward.  It was like a 
+beautiful woman's, dark and rich.  "Fortunate that I am in a hurry," 
+thought I; "I might be troubled with remorse, if I had time for it."
+
+Cutting the animal up, not in the most skilled manner, I hung the 
+meat at the back of my saddle, and rode on again.  The hills (I could 
+not remember one of them) closed around me.  "It is too late," 
+thought I, "to go forward.  I will stay here to-night, and look for 
+the path in the morning."  As a last effort, however, I ascended a 
+high hill, from which, to my great satisfaction, I could see Laramie 
+Creek stretching before me, twisting from side to side amid ragged 
+patches of timber; and far off, close beneath the shadows of the 
+trees, the ruins of the old trading fort were visible.  I reached 
+them at twilight.  It was far from pleasant, in that uncertain light, 
+to be pushing through the dense trees and shrubbery of the grove 
+beyond.  I listened anxiously for the footfall of man or beast.  
+Nothing was stirring but one harmless brown bird, chirping among the 
+branches.  I was glad when I gained the open prairie once more, where 
+I could see if anything approached.  When I came to the mouth of 
+Chugwater, it was totally dark.  Slackening the reins, I let my horse 
+take his own course.  He trotted on with unerring instinct, and by 
+nine o'clock was scrambling down the steep ascent into the meadows 
+where we were encamped.  While I was looking in vain for the light of 
+the fire, Hendrick, with keener perceptions, gave a loud neigh, which 
+was immediately answered in a shrill note from the distance.  In a 
+moment I was hailed from the darkness by the voice of Reynal, who had 
+come out, rifle in hand, to see who was approaching.
+
+He, with his squaw, the two Canadians and the Indian boys, were the 
+sole inmates of the camp, Shaw and Henry Chatillon being still 
+absent.  At noon of the following day they came back, their horses 
+looking none the better for the journey.  Henry seemed dejected.  The 
+woman was dead, and his children must henceforward be exposed, 
+without a protector, to the hardships and vicissitudes of Indian 
+life.  Even in the midst of his grief he had not forgotten his 
+attachment to his bourgeois, for he had procured among his Indian 
+relatives two beautifully ornamented buffalo robes, which he spread 
+on the ground as a present to us.
+
+Shaw lighted his pipe, and told me in a few words the history of his 
+journey.  When I went to the fort they left me, as I mentioned, at 
+the mouth of Chugwater.  They followed the course of the little 
+stream all day, traversing a desolate and barren country.  Several 
+times they came upon the fresh traces of a large war party--the same, 
+no doubt, from whom we had so narrowly escaped an attack.  At an hour 
+before sunset, without encountering a human being by the way, they 
+came upon the lodges of the squaw and her brothers, who, in 
+compliance with Henry's message, had left the Indian village in order 
+to join us at our camp.  The lodges were already pitched, five in 
+number, by the side of the stream.  The woman lay in one of them, 
+reduced to a mere skeleton.  For some time she had been unable to 
+move or speak.  Indeed, nothing had kept her alive but the hope of 
+seeing Henry, to whom she was strongly and faithfully attached.  No 
+sooner did he enter the lodge than she revived, and conversed with 
+him the greater part of the night.  Early in the morning she was 
+lifted into a travail, and the whole party set out toward our camp.  
+There were but five warriors; the rest were women and children.  The 
+whole were in great alarm at the proximity of the Crow war party, who 
+would certainly have destroyed them without mercy had they met.  They 
+had advanced only a mile or two, when they discerned a horseman, far 
+off, on the edge of the horizon.  They all stopped, gathering 
+together in the greatest anxiety, from which they did not recover 
+until long after the horseman disappeared; then they set out again.  
+Henry was riding with Shaw a few rods in advance of the Indians, when 
+Mahto-Tatonka, a younger brother of the woman, hastily called after 
+them.  Turning back, they found all the Indians crowded around the 
+travail in which the woman was lying.  They reached her just in time 
+to hear the death-rattle in her throat.  In a moment she lay dead in 
+the basket of the vehicle.  A complete stillness succeeded; then the 
+Indians raised in concert their cries of lamentation over the corpse, 
+and among them Shaw clearly distinguished those strange sounds 
+resembling the word "Halleluyah," which together with some other 
+accidental coincidences has given rise to the absurd theory that the 
+Indians are descended from the ten lost tribes of Israel.
+
+The Indian usage required that Henry, as well as the other relatives 
+of the woman, should make valuable presents, to be placed by the side 
+of the body at its last resting place.  Leaving the Indians, he and 
+Shaw set out for the camp and reached it, as we have seen, by hard 
+pushing, at about noon.  Having obtained the necessary articles, they 
+immediately returned.  It was very late and quite dark when they 
+again reached the lodges.  They were all placed in a deep hollow 
+among the dreary hills.  Four of them were just visible through the 
+gloom, but the fifth and largest was illuminated by the ruddy blaze 
+of a fire within, glowing through the half-transparent covering of 
+raw hides.  There was a perfect stillness as they approached.  The 
+lodges seemed without a tenant.  Not a living thing was stirring--
+there was something awful in the scene.  They rode up to the entrance 
+of the lodge, and there was no sound but the tramp of their horses.  
+A squaw came out and took charge of the animals, without speaking a 
+word.  Entering, they found the lodge crowded with Indians; a fire 
+was burning in the midst, and the mourners encircled it in a triple 
+row.  Room was made for the newcomers at the head of the lodge, a 
+robe spread for them to sit upon, and a pipe lighted and handed to 
+them in perfect silence.  Thus they passed the greater part of the 
+night.  At times the fire would subside into a heap of embers, until 
+the dark figures seated around it were scarcely visible; then a squaw 
+would drop upon it a piece of buffalo-fat, and a bright flame, 
+instantly springing up, would reveal of a sudden the crowd of wild 
+faces, motionless as bronze.  The silence continued unbroken.  It was 
+a relief to Shaw when daylight returned and he could escape from this 
+house of mourning.  He and Henry prepared to return homeward; first, 
+however, they placed the presents they had brought near the body of 
+the squaw, which, most gaudily attired, remained in a sitting posture 
+in one of the lodges.  A fine horse was picketed not far off, 
+destined to be killed that morning for the service of her spirit, for 
+the woman was lame, and could not travel on foot over the dismal 
+prairies to the villages of the dead.  Food, too, was provided, and 
+household implements, for her use upon this last journey.
+
+Henry left her to the care of her relatives, and came immediately 
+with Shaw to the camp.  It was some time before he entirely recovered 
+from his dejection.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+SCENES AT THE CAMP
+
+
+Reynal heard guns fired one day, at the distance of a mile or two 
+from the camp.  He grew nervous instantly.  Visions of Crow war 
+parties began to haunt his imagination; and when we returned (for we 
+were all absent), he renewed his complaints about being left alone 
+with the Canadians and the squaw.  The day after, the cause of the 
+alarm appeared.  Four trappers, one called Moran, another Saraphin, 
+and the others nicknamed "Rouleau" and "Jean Gras," came to our camp 
+and joined us.  They it was who fired the guns and disturbed the 
+dreams of our confederate Reynal.  They soon encamped by our side.  
+Their rifles, dingy and battered with hard service, rested with ours 
+against the old tree; their strong rude saddles, their buffalo robes, 
+their traps, and the few rough and simple articles of their traveling 
+equipment, were piled near our tent.  Their mountain horses were 
+turned to graze in the meadow among our own; and the men themselves, 
+no less rough and hardy, used to lie half the day in the shade of our 
+tree lolling on the grass, lazily smoking, and telling stories of 
+their adventures; and I defy the annals of chivalry to furnish the 
+record of a life more wild and perilous than that of a Rocky Mountain 
+trapper.
+
+With this efficient re-enforcement the agitation of Reynal's nerves 
+subsided.  He began to conceive a sort of attachment to our old 
+camping ground; yet it was time to change our quarters, since 
+remaining too long on one spot must lead to certain unpleasant 
+results not to be borne with unless in a case of dire necessity.  The 
+grass no longer presented a smooth surface of turf; it was trampled 
+into mud and clay.  So we removed to another old tree, larger yet, 
+that grew by the river side at a furlong's distance.  Its trunk was 
+full six feet in diameter; on one side it was marked by a party of 
+Indians with various inexplicable hieroglyphics, commemorating some 
+warlike enterprise, and aloft among the branches were the remains of 
+a scaffolding, where dead bodies had once been deposited, after the 
+Indian manner.
+
+"There comes Bull-Bear," said Henry Chatillon, as we sat on the grass 
+at dinner.  Looking up, we saw several horsemen coming over the 
+neighboring hill, and in a moment four stately young men rode up and 
+dismounted.  One of them was Bull-Bear, or Mahto-Tatonka, a compound 
+name which he inherited from his father, the most powerful chief in 
+the Ogallalla band.  One of his brothers and two other young men 
+accompanied him.  We shook hands with the visitors, and when we had 
+finished our meal--for this is the orthodox manner of entertaining 
+Indians, even the best of them--we handed to each a tin cup of coffee 
+and a biscuit, at which they ejaculated from the bottom of their 
+throats, 'How! how!" a monosyllable by which an Indian contrives to 
+express half the emotions that he is susceptible of.  Then we lighted 
+the pipe, and passed it to them as they squatted on the ground.
+
+"Where is the village?"
+
+"There," said Mahto-Tatonka, pointing southward; "it will come in two 
+days."
+
+"Will they go to the war?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+No man is a philanthropist on the prairie.  We welcomed this news 
+most cordially, and congratulated ourselves that Bordeaux's 
+interested efforts to divert The Whirlwind from his congenial 
+vocation of bloodshed had failed of success, and that no additional 
+obstacles would interpose between us and our plan of repairing to the 
+rendezvous at La Bonte's Camp.
+
+For that and several succeeding days, Mahto-Tatonka and his friends 
+remained our guests.  They devoured the relics of our meals; they 
+filled the pipe for us and also helped us to smoke it.  Sometimes 
+they stretched themselves side by side in the shade, indulging in 
+raillery and practical jokes ill becoming the dignity of brave and 
+aspiring warriors, such as two of them in reality were.
+
+Two days dragged away, and on the morning of the third we hoped 
+confidently to see the Indian village.  It did not come; so we rode 
+out to look for it.  In place of the eight hundred Indians we 
+expected, we met one solitary savage riding toward us over the 
+prairie, who told us that the Indians had changed their plans, and 
+would not come within three days; still he persisted that they were 
+going to the war.  Taking along with us this messenger of evil 
+tidings, we retraced our footsteps to the camp, amusing ourselves by 
+the way with execrating Indian inconstancy.  When we came in sight of 
+our little white tent under the big tree, we saw that it no longer 
+stood alone.  A huge old lodge was erected close by its side, 
+discolored by rain and storms, rotted with age, with the uncouth 
+figures of horses and men, and outstretched hands that were painted 
+upon it, well-nigh obliterated.  The long poles which supported this 
+squalid habitation thrust themselves rakishly out from its pointed 
+top, and over its entrance were suspended a "medicine-pipe" and 
+various other implements of the magic art.  While we were yet at a 
+distance, we observed a greatly increased population of various 
+colors and dimensions, swarming around our quiet encampment.  Moran, 
+the trapper, having been absent for a day or two, had returned, it 
+seemed, bringing all his family with him.  He had taken to himself a 
+wife for whom he had paid the established price of one horse.  This 
+looks cheap at first sight, but in truth the purchase of a squaw is a 
+transaction which no man should enter into without mature 
+deliberation, since it involves not only the payment of the first 
+price, but the formidable burden of feeding and supporting a 
+rapacious horde of the bride's relatives, who hold themselves 
+entitled to feed upon the indiscreet white man.  They gather round 
+like leeches, and drain him of all he has.
+
+Moran, like Reynal, had not allied himself to an aristocratic circle.  
+His relatives occupied but a contemptible position in Ogallalla 
+society; for among those wild democrats of the prairie, as among us, 
+there are virtual distinctions of rank and place; though this great 
+advantage they have over us, that wealth has no part in determining 
+such distinctions.  Moran's partner was not the most beautiful of her 
+sex, and he had the exceedingly bad taste to array her in an old 
+calico gown bought from an emigrant woman, instead of the neat and 
+graceful tunic of whitened deerskin worn ordinarily by the squaws.  
+The moving spirit of the establishment, in more senses than one, was 
+a hideous old hag of eighty.  Human imagination never conceived 
+hobgoblin or witch more ugly than she.  You could count all her ribs 
+through the wrinkles of the leathery skin that covered them.  Her 
+withered face more resembled an old skull than the countenance of a 
+living being, even to the hollow, darkened sockets, at the bottom of 
+which glittered her little black eyes.  Her arms had dwindled away 
+into nothing but whipcord and wire.  Her hair, half black, half gray, 
+hung in total neglect nearly to the ground, and her sole garment 
+consisted of the remnant of a discarded buffalo robe tied round her 
+waist with a string of hide.  Yet the old squaw's meager anatomy was 
+wonderfully strong.  She pitched the lodge, packed the horses, and 
+did the hardest labor of the camp.  From morning till night she 
+bustled about the lodge, screaming like a screech-owl when anything 
+displeased her.  Then there was her brother, a "medicine-man," or 
+magician, equally gaunt and sinewy with herself.  His mouth spread 
+from ear to ear, and his appetite, as we had full occasion to learn, 
+was ravenous in proportion.  The other inmates of the lodge were a 
+young bride and bridegroom; the latter one of those idle, good-for 
+nothing fellows who infest an Indian village as well as more 
+civilized communities.  He was fit neither for hunting nor for war; 
+and one might infer as much from the stolid unmeaning expression of 
+his face.  The happy pair had just entered upon the honeymoon.  They 
+would stretch a buffalo robe upon poles, so as to protect them from 
+the fierce rays of the sun, and spreading beneath this rough canopy a 
+luxuriant couch of furs, would sit affectionately side by side for 
+half the day, though I could not discover that much conversation 
+passed between them.  Probably they had nothing to say; for an 
+Indian's supply of topics for conversation is far from being copious.  
+There were half a dozen children, too, playing and whooping about the 
+camp, shooting birds with little bows and arrows, or making miniature 
+lodges of sticks, as children of a different complexion build houses 
+of blocks.
+
+A day passed, and Indians began rapidly to come in.  Parties of two 
+or three or more would ride up and silently seat themselves on the 
+grass.  The fourth day came at last, when about noon horsemen 
+suddenly appeared into view on the summit of the neighboring ridge.  
+They descended, and behind them followed a wild procession, hurrying 
+in haste and disorder down the hill and over the plain below; horses, 
+mules, and dogs, heavily burdened travaux, mounted warriors, squaws 
+walking amid the throng, and a host of children.  For a full half-
+hour they continued to pour down; and keeping directly to the bend of 
+the stream, within a furlong of us, they soon assembled there, a dark 
+and confused throng, until, as if by magic, 150 tall lodges sprung 
+up.  On a sudden the lonely plain was transformed into the site of a 
+miniature city.  Countless horses were soon grazing over the meadows 
+around us, and the whole prairie was animated by restless figures 
+careening on horseback, or sedately stalking in their long white 
+robes.  The Whirlwind was come at last!  One question yet remained to 
+be answered: "Will he go to the war, in order that we, with so 
+respectable an escort, may pass over to the somewhat perilous 
+rendezvous at La Bonte's Camp?"
+
+Still this remained in doubt.  Characteristic indecision perplexed 
+their councils.  Indians cannot act in large bodies.  Though their 
+object be of the highest importance, they cannot combine to attain it 
+by a series of connected efforts.  King Philip, Pontiac, and Tecumseh 
+all felt this to their cost.  The Ogallalla once had a war chief who 
+could control them; but he was dead, and now they were left to the 
+sway of their own unsteady impulses.
+
+This Indian village and its inhabitants will hold a prominent place 
+in the rest of the narrative, and perhaps it may not be amiss to 
+glance for an instant at the savage people of which they form a part.  
+The Dakota (I prefer this national designation to the unmeaning 
+French name, Sioux) range over a vast territory, from the river St. 
+Peter's to the Rocky Mountains themselves.  They are divided into 
+several independent bands, united under no central government, and 
+acknowledge no common head.  The same language, usages, and 
+superstitions form the sole bond between them.  They do not unite 
+even in their wars.  The bands of the east fight the Ojibwas on the 
+Upper Lakes; those of the west make incessant war upon the Snake 
+Indians in the Rocky Mountains.  As the whole people is divided into 
+bands, so each band is divided into villages.  Each village has a 
+chief, who is honored and obeyed only so far as his personal 
+qualities may command respect and fear.  Sometimes he is a mere 
+nominal chief; sometimes his authority is little short of absolute, 
+and his fame and influence reach even beyond his own village; so that 
+the whole band to which he belongs is ready to acknowledge him as 
+their head.  This was, a few years since, the case with the 
+Ogallalla.  Courage, address, and enterprise may raise any warrior to 
+the highest honor, especially if he be the son of a former chief, or 
+a member of a numerous family, to support him and avenge his 
+quarrels; but when he has reached the dignity of chief, and the old 
+men and warriors, by a peculiar ceremony, have formally installed 
+him, let it not be imagined that he assumes any of the outward 
+semblances of rank and honor.  He knows too well on how frail a 
+tenure he holds his station.  He must conciliate his uncertain 
+subjects.  Many a man in the village lives better, owns more squaws 
+and more horses, and goes better clad than he.  Like the Teutonic 
+chiefs of old, he ingratiates himself with his young men by making 
+them presents, thereby often impoverishing himself.  Does he fail in 
+gaining their favor, they will set his authority at naught, and may 
+desert him at any moment; for the usages of his people have provided 
+no sanctions by which he may enforce his authority.  Very seldom does 
+it happen, at least among these western bands, that a chief attains 
+to much power, unless he is the head of a numerous family.  
+Frequently the village is principally made up of his relatives and 
+descendants, and the wandering community assumes much of the 
+patriarchal character.  A people so loosely united, torn, too, with 
+ranking feuds and jealousies, can have little power or efficiency.
+
+The western Dakota have no fixed habitations.  Hunting and fighting, 
+they wander incessantly through summer and winter.  Some are 
+following the herds of buffalo over the waste of prairie; others are 
+traversing the Black Hills, thronging on horseback and on foot 
+through the dark gulfs and somber gorges beneath the vast splintering 
+precipices, and emerging at last upon the "Parks," those beautiful 
+but most perilous hunting grounds.  The buffalo supplies them with 
+almost all the necessaries of life; with habitations, food, clothing, 
+and fuel; with strings for their bows, with thread, cordage, and 
+trail-ropes for their horses, with coverings for their saddles, with 
+vessels to hold water, with boats to cross streams, with glue, and 
+with the means of purchasing all that they desire from the traders.  
+When the buffalo are extinct, they too must dwindle away.
+
+War is the breath of their nostrils.  Against most of the neighboring 
+tribes they cherish a deadly, rancorous hatred, transmitted from 
+father to son, and inflamed by constant aggression and retaliation.  
+Many times a year, in every village, the Great Spirit is called upon, 
+fasts are made, the war parade is celebrated, and the warriors go out 
+by handfuls at a time against the enemy.  This fierce and evil spirit 
+awakens their most eager aspirations, and calls forth their greatest 
+energies.  It is chiefly this that saves them from lethargy and utter 
+abasement.  Without its powerful stimulus they would be like the 
+unwarlike tribes beyond the mountains, who are scattered among the 
+caves and rocks like beasts, living on roots and reptiles.  These 
+latter have little of humanity except the form; but the proud and 
+ambitious Dakota warrior can sometimes boast of heroic virtues.  It 
+is very seldom that distinction and influence are attained among them 
+by any other course than that of arms.  Their superstition, however, 
+sometimes gives great power, to those among them who pretend to the 
+character of magicians.  Their wild hearts, too, can feel the power 
+of oratory, and yield deference to the masters of it.
+
+But to return.  Look into our tent, or enter, if you can bear the 
+stifling smoke and the close atmosphere.  There, wedged close 
+together, you will see a circle of stout warriors, passing the pipe 
+around, joking, telling stories, and making themselves merry, after 
+their fashion.  We were also infested by little copper-colored naked 
+boys and snake-eyed girls.  They would come up to us, muttering 
+certain words, which being interpreted conveyed the concise 
+invitation, "Come and eat."  Then we would rise, cursing the 
+pertinacity of Dakota hospitality, which allowed scarcely an hour of 
+rest between sun and sun, and to which we were bound to do honor, 
+unless we would offend our entertainers.  This necessity was 
+particularly burdensome to me, as I was scarcely able to walk, from 
+the effects of illness, and was of course poorly qualified to dispose 
+of twenty meals a day.  Of these sumptuous banquets I gave a specimen 
+in a former chapter, where the tragical fate of the little dog was 
+chronicled.  So bounteous an entertainment looks like an outgushing 
+of good will; but doubtless one-half at least of our kind hosts, had 
+they met us alone and unarmed on the prairie, would have robbed us of 
+our horses, and perchance have bestowed an arrow upon us beside.  
+Trust not an Indian.  Let your rifle be ever in your hand.  Wear next 
+your heart the old chivalric motto SEMPER PARATUS.
+
+One morning we were summoned to the lodge of an old man, in good 
+truth the Nestor of his tribe.  We found him half sitting, half 
+reclining on a pile of buffalo robes; his long hair, jet-black even 
+now, though he had seen some eighty winters, hung on either side of 
+his thin features.  Those most conversant with Indians in their homes 
+will scarcely believe me when I affirm that there was dignity in his 
+countenance and mien.  His gaunt but symmetrical frame, did not more 
+clearly exhibit the wreck of bygone strength, than did his dark, 
+wasted features, still prominent and commanding, bear the stamp of 
+mental energies.  I recalled, as I saw him, the eloquent metaphor of 
+the Iroquois sachem: "I am an aged hemlock; the winds of a hundred 
+winters have whistled through my branches, and I am dead at the top!"  
+Opposite the patriarch was his nephew, the young aspirant Mahto-
+Tatonka; and besides these, there were one or two women in the lodge.
+
+The old man's story is peculiar, and singularly illustrative of a 
+superstitious custom that prevails in full force among many of the 
+Indian tribes.  He was one of a powerful family, renowned for their 
+warlike exploits.  When a very young man, he submitted to the 
+singular rite to which most of the tribe subject themselves before 
+entering upon life.  He painted his face black; then seeking out a 
+cavern in a sequestered part of the Black Hills, he lay for several 
+days, fasting and praying to the Great Spirit.  In the dreams and 
+visions produced by his weakened and excited state, he fancied like 
+all Indians, that he saw supernatural revelations.  Again and again 
+the form of an antelope appeared before him.  The antelope is the 
+graceful peace spirit of the Ogallalla; but seldom is it that such a 
+gentle visitor presents itself during the initiatory fasts of their 
+young men.  The terrible grizzly bear, the divinity of war, usually 
+appears to fire them with martial ardor and thirst for renown.  At 
+length the antelope spoke.  He told the young dreamer that he was not 
+to follow the path of war; that a life of peace and tranquillity was 
+marked out for him; that henceforward he was to guide the people by 
+his counsels and protect them from the evils of their own feuds and 
+dissensions.  Others were to gain renown by fighting the enemy; but 
+greatness of a different kind was in store for him.
+
+The visions beheld during the period of this fast usually determine 
+the whole course of the dreamer's life, for an Indian is bound by 
+iron superstitions.  From that time, Le Borgne, which was the only 
+name by which we knew him, abandoned all thoughts of war and devoted 
+himself to the labors of peace.  He told his vision to the people.  
+They honored his commission and respected him in his novel capacity.
+
+A far different man was his brother, Mahto-Tatonka, who had 
+transmitted his names, his features, and many of his characteristic 
+qualities to his son.  He was the father of Henry Chatillon's squaw, 
+a circumstance which proved of some advantage to us, as securing for 
+us the friendship of a family perhaps the most distinguished and 
+powerful in the whole Ogallalla band.  Mahto-Tatonka, in his rude 
+way, was a hero.  No chief could vie with him in warlike renown, or 
+in power over his people.  He had a fearless spirit, and a most 
+impetuous and inflexible resolution.  His will was law.  He was 
+politic and sagacious, and with true Indian craft he always 
+befriended the whites, well knowing that he might thus reap great 
+advantages for himself and his adherents.  When he had resolved on 
+any course of conduct, he would pay to the warriors the empty 
+compliment of calling them together to deliberate upon it, and when 
+their debates were over, he would quietly state his own opinion, 
+which no one ever disputed.  The consequences of thwarting his 
+imperious will were too formidable to be encountered.  Woe to those 
+who incurred his displeasure!  He would strike them or stab them on 
+the spot; and this act, which, if attempted by any other chief, would 
+instantly have cost him his life, the awe inspired by his name 
+enabled him to repeat again and again with impunity.  In a community 
+where, from immemorial time, no man has acknowledged any law but his 
+own will, Mahto-Tatonka, by the force of his dauntless resolution, 
+raised himself to power little short of despotic.  His haughty career 
+came at last to an end.  He had a host of enemies only waiting for 
+their opportunity of revenge, and our old friend Smoke, in 
+particular, together with all his kinsmen, hated him most cordially.  
+Smoke sat one day in his lodge in the midst of his own village, when 
+Mahto-Tatonka entered it alone, and approaching the dwelling of his 
+enemy, called on him in a loud voice to come out, if he were a man, 
+and fight.  Smoke would not move.  At this, Mahto-Tatonka proclaimed 
+him a coward and an old woman, and striding close to the entrance of 
+the lodge, stabbed the chief's best horse, which was picketed there.  
+Smoke was daunted, and even this insult failed to call him forth.  
+Mahto-Tatonka moved haughtily away; all made way for him, but his 
+hour of reckoning was near.
+
+One hot day, five or six years ago, numerous lodges of Smoke's 
+kinsmen were gathered around some of the Fur Company's men, who were 
+trading in various articles with them, whisky among the rest.  Mahto-
+Tatonka was also there with a few of his people.  As he lay in his 
+own lodge, a fray arose between his adherents and the kinsmen of his 
+enemy.  The war-whoop was raised, bullets and arrows began to fly, 
+and the camp was in confusion.  The chief sprang up, and rushing in a 
+fury from the lodge shouted to the combatants on both sides to cease.  
+Instantly--for the attack was preconcerted--came the reports of two 
+or three guns, and the twanging of a dozen bows, and the savage hero, 
+mortally wounded, pitched forward headlong to the ground.  Rouleau 
+was present, and told me the particulars.  The tumult became general, 
+and was not quelled until several had fallen on both sides.  When we 
+were in the country the feud between the two families was still 
+rankling, and not likely soon to cease.
+
+Thus died Mahto-Tatonka, but he left behind him a goodly army of 
+descendants, to perpetuate his renown and avenge his fate.  Besides 
+daughters he had thirty sons, a number which need not stagger the 
+credulity of those who are best acquainted with Indian usages and 
+practices.  We saw many of them, all marked by the same dark 
+complexion and the same peculiar cast of features.  Of these our 
+visitor, young Mahto-Tatonka, was the eldest, and some reported him 
+as likely to succeed to his father's honors.  Though he appeared not 
+more than twenty-one years old, he had oftener struck the enemy, and 
+stolen more horses and more squaws than any young man in the village.  
+We of the civilized world are not apt to attach much credit to the 
+latter species of exploits; but horse-stealing is well known as an 
+avenue to distinction on the prairies, and the other kind of 
+depredation is esteemed equally meritorious.  Not that the act can 
+confer fame from its own intrinsic merits.  Any one can steal a 
+squaw, and if he chooses afterward to make an adequate present to her 
+rightful proprietor, the easy husband for the most part rests 
+content, his vengeance falls asleep, and all danger from that quarter 
+is averted.  Yet this is esteemed but a pitiful and mean-spirited 
+transaction.  The danger is averted, but the glory of the achievement 
+also is lost.  Mahto-Tatonka proceeded after a more gallant and 
+dashing fashion.  Out of several dozen squaws whom he had stolen, he 
+could boast that he had never paid for one, but snapping his fingers 
+in the face of the injured husband, had defied the extremity of his 
+indignation, and no one yet had dared to lay the finger of violence 
+upon him.  He was following close in the footsteps of his father.  
+The young men and the young squaws, each in their way, admired him.  
+The one would always follow him to war, and he was esteemed to have 
+unrivaled charm in the eyes of the other.  Perhaps his impunity may 
+excite some wonder.  An arrow shot from a ravine, a stab given in the 
+dark, require no great valor, and are especially suited to the Indian 
+genius; but Mahto-Tatonka had a strong protection.  It was not alone 
+his courage and audacious will that enabled him to career so 
+dashingly among his compeers.  His enemies did not forget that he was 
+one of thirty warlike brethren, all growing up to manhood.  Should 
+they wreak their anger upon him, many keen eyes would be ever upon 
+them, many fierce hearts would thirst for their blood.  The avenger 
+would dog their footsteps everywhere.  To kill Mahto-Tatonka would be 
+no better than an act of suicide.
+
+Though he found such favor in the eyes of the fair, he was no dandy.  
+As among us those of highest worth and breeding are most simple in 
+manner and attire, so our aspiring young friend was indifferent to 
+the gaudy trappings and ornaments of his companions.  He was content 
+to rest his chances of success upon his own warlike merits.  He never 
+arrayed himself in gaudy blanket and glittering necklaces, but left 
+his statue-like form, limbed like an Apollo of bronze, to win its way 
+to favor.  His voice was singularly deep and strong.  It sounded from 
+his chest like the deep notes of an organ.  Yet after all, he was but 
+an Indian.  See him as he lies there in the sun before our tent, 
+kicking his heels in the air and cracking jokes with his brother.  
+Does he look like a hero?  See him now in the hour of his glory, when 
+at sunset the whole village empties itself to behold him, for to-
+morrow their favorite young partisan goes out against the enemy.  His 
+superb headdress is adorned with a crest of the war eagle's feathers, 
+rising in a waving ridge above his brow, and sweeping far behind him.  
+His round white shield hangs at his breast, with feathers radiating 
+from the center like a star.  His quiver is at his back; his tall 
+lance in his hand, the iron point flashing against the declining sun, 
+while the long scalp-locks of his enemies flutter from the shaft.  
+Thus, gorgeous as a champion in his panoply, he rides round and round 
+within the great circle of lodges, balancing with a graceful buoyancy 
+to the free movements of his war horse, while with a sedate brow he 
+sings his song to the Great Spirit.  Young rival warriors look 
+askance at him; vermilion-cheeked girls gaze in admiration, boys 
+whoop and scream in a thrill of delight, and old women yell forth his 
+name and proclaim his praises from lodge to lodge.
+
+Mahto-Tatonka, to come back to him, was the best of all our Indian 
+friends.  Hour after hour and day after day, when swarms of savages 
+of every age, sex, and degree beset our camp, he would lie in our 
+tent, his lynx eye ever open to guard our property from pillage.
+
+The Whirlwind invited us one day to his lodge.  The feast was 
+finished, and the pipe began to circulate.  It was a remarkably large 
+and fine one, and I expressed my admiration of its form and 
+dimensions.
+
+"If the Meneaska likes the pipe," asked The Whirlwind, "why does he 
+not keep it?"
+
+Such a pipe among the Ogallalla is valued at the price of a horse.  A 
+princely gift, thinks the reader, and worthy of a chieftain and a 
+warrior.  The Whirlwind's generosity rose to no such pitch.  He gave 
+me the pipe, confidently expecting that I in return should make him a 
+present of equal or superior value.  This is the implied condition of 
+every gift among the Indians as among the Orientals, and should it 
+not be complied with the present is usually reclaimed by the giver.  
+So I arranged upon a gaudy calico handkerchief, an assortment of 
+vermilion, tobacco, knives, and gunpowder, and summoning the chief to 
+camp, assured him of my friendship and begged his acceptance of a 
+slight token of it.  Ejaculating HOW! HOW! he folded up the offerings 
+and withdrew to his lodge.
+
+Several days passed and we and the Indians remained encamped side by 
+side.  They could not decide whether or not to go to war.  Toward 
+evening, scores of them would surround our tent, a picturesque group.  
+Late one afternoon a party of them mounted on horseback came suddenly 
+in sight from behind some clumps of bushes that lined the bank of the 
+stream, leading with them a mule, on whose back was a wretched negro, 
+only sustained in his seat by the high pommel and cantle of the 
+Indian saddle.  His cheeks were withered and shrunken in the hollow 
+of his jaws; his eyes were unnaturally dilated, and his lips seemed 
+shriveled and drawn back from his teeth like those of a corpse.  When 
+they brought him up before our tent, and lifted him from the saddle, 
+he could not walk or stand, but he crawled a short distance, and with 
+a look of utter misery sat down on the grass.  All the children and 
+women came pouring out of the lodges round us, and with screams and 
+cries made a close circle about him, while he sat supporting himself 
+with his hands, and looking from side to side with a vacant stare.  
+The wretch was starving to death!  For thirty-three days he had 
+wandered alone on the prairie, without weapon of any kind; without 
+shoes, moccasins, or any other clothing than an old jacket and 
+pantaloons; without intelligence and skill to guide his course, or 
+any knowledge of the productions of the prairie.  All this time he 
+had subsisted on crickets and lizards, wild onions, and three eggs 
+which he found in the nest of a prairie dove.  He had not seen a 
+human being.  Utterly bewildered in the boundless, hopeless desert 
+that stretched around him, offering to his inexperienced eye no mark 
+by which to direct his course, he had walked on in despair till he 
+could walk no longer, and then crawled on his knees until the bone 
+was laid bare.  He chose the night for his traveling, lying down by 
+day to sleep in the glaring sun, always dreaming, as he said, of the 
+broth and corn cake he used to eat under his old master's shed in 
+Missouri.  Every man in the camp, both white and red, was astonished 
+at his wonderful escape not only from starvation but from the grizzly 
+bears which abound in that neighborhood, and the wolves which howled 
+around him every night.
+
+Reynal recognized him the moment the Indians brought him in.  He had 
+run away from his master about a year before and joined the party of 
+M. Richard, who was then leaving the frontier for the mountains.  He 
+had lived with Richard ever since, until in the end of May he with 
+Reynal and several other men went out in search of some stray horses, 
+when he got separated from the rest in a storm, and had never been 
+heard of up to this time.  Knowing his inexperience and helplessness, 
+no one dreamed that he could still be living.  The Indians had found 
+him lying exhausted on the ground.
+
+As he sat there with the Indians gazing silently on him, his haggard 
+face and glazed eye were disgusting to look upon.  Delorier made him 
+a bowl of gruel, but he suffered it to remain untasted before him.  
+At length he languidly raised the spoon to his lips; again he did so, 
+and again; and then his appetite seemed suddenly inflamed into 
+madness, for he seized the bowl, swallowed all its contents in a few 
+seconds, and eagerly demanded meat.  This we refused, telling him to 
+wait until morning, but he begged so eagerly that we gave him a small 
+piece, which he devoured, tearing it like a dog.  He said he must 
+have more.  We told him that his life was in danger if he ate so 
+immoderately at first.  He assented, and said he knew he was a fool 
+to do so, but he must have meat.  This we absolutely refused, to the 
+great indignation of the senseless squaws, who, when we were not 
+watching him, would slyly bring dried meat and POMMES BLANCHES, and 
+place them on the ground by his side.  Still this was not enough for 
+him.  When it grew dark he contrived to creep away between the legs 
+of the horses and crawl over to the Indian village, about a furlong 
+down the stream.  Here he fed to his heart's content, and was brought 
+back again in the morning, when Jean Gras, the trapper, put him on 
+horseback and carried him to the fort.  He managed to survive the 
+effects of his insane greediness, and though slightly deranged when 
+we left this part of the country, he was otherwise in tolerable 
+health, and expressed his firm conviction that nothing could ever 
+kill him.
+
+When the sun was yet an hour high, it was a gay scene in the village.  
+The warriors stalked sedately among the lodges, or along the margin 
+of the streams, or walked out to visit the bands of horses that were 
+feeding over the prairie.  Half the village population deserted the 
+close and heated lodges and betook themselves to the water; and here 
+you might see boys and girls and young squaws splashing, swimming, 
+and diving beneath the afternoon sun, with merry laughter and 
+screaming.  But when the sun was just resting above the broken peaks, 
+and the purple mountains threw their prolonged shadows for miles over 
+the prairie; when our grim old tree, lighted by the horizontal rays, 
+assumed an aspect of peaceful repose, such as one loves after scenes 
+of tumult and excitement; and when the whole landscape of swelling 
+plains and scattered groves was softened into a tranquil beauty, then 
+our encampment presented a striking spectacle.  Could Salvator Rosa 
+have transferred it to his canvas, it would have added new renown to 
+his pencil.  Savage figures surrounded our tent, with quivers at 
+their backs, and guns, lances, or tomahawks in their hands.  Some sat 
+on horseback, motionless as equestrian statues, their arms crossed on 
+their breasts, their eyes fixed in a steady unwavering gaze upon us.  
+Some stood erect, wrapped from head to foot in their long white robes 
+of buffalo hide.  Some sat together on the grass, holding their 
+shaggy horses by a rope, with their broad dark busts exposed to view 
+as they suffered their robes to fall from their shoulders.  Others 
+again stood carelessly among the throng, with nothing to conceal the 
+matchless symmetry of their forms; and I do not exaggerate when I say 
+that only on the prairie and in the Vatican have I seen such 
+faultless models of the human figure.  See that warrior standing by 
+the tree, towering six feet and a half in stature.  Your eyes may 
+trace the whole of his graceful and majestic height, and discover no 
+defect or blemish.  With his free and noble attitude, with the bow in 
+his hand, and the quiver at his back, he might seem, but for his 
+face, the Pythian Apollo himself.  Such a figure rose before the 
+imagination of West, when on first seeing the Belvidere in the 
+Vatican, he exclaimed, "By God, a Mohawk!"
+
+When the sky darkened and the stars began to appear; when the prairie 
+was involved in gloom and the horses were driven in and secured 
+around the camp, the crowd began to melt away.  Fires gleamed around, 
+duskily revealing the rough trappers and the graceful Indians.  One 
+of the families near us would always be gathered about a bright 
+blaze, that displayed the shadowy dimensions of their lodge, and sent 
+its lights far up among the masses of foliage above, gilding the dead 
+and ragged branches.  Withered witchlike hags flitted around the 
+blaze, and here for hour after hour sat a circle of children and 
+young girls, laughing and talking, their round merry faces glowing in 
+the ruddy light.  We could hear the monotonous notes of the drum from 
+the Indian village, with the chant of the war song, deadened in the 
+distance, and the long chorus of quavering yells, where the war dance 
+was going on in the largest lodge.  For several nights, too, we could 
+hear wild and mournful cries, rising and dying away like the 
+melancholy voice of a wolf.  They came from the sisters and female 
+relatives of Mahto-Tatonka, who were gashing their limbs with knives, 
+and bewailing the death of Henry Chatillon's squaw.  The hour would 
+grow late before all retired to rest in the camp.  Then the embers of 
+the fires would be glowing dimly, the men would be stretched in their 
+blankets on the ground, and nothing could be heard but the restless 
+motions of the crowded horses.
+
+I recall these scenes with a mixed feeling of pleasure and pain.  At 
+this time I was so reduced by illness that I could seldom walk 
+without reeling like a drunken man, and when I rose from my seat upon 
+the ground the landscape suddenly grew dim before my eyes, the trees 
+and lodges seemed to sway to and fro, and the prairie to rise and 
+fall like the swells of the ocean.  Such a state of things is by no 
+means enviable anywhere.  In a country where a man's life may at any 
+moment depend on the strength of his arm, or it may be on the 
+activity of his legs, it is more particularly inconvenient.  Medical 
+assistance of course there was none; neither had I the means of 
+pursuing a system of diet; and sleeping on a damp ground, with an 
+occasional drenching from a shower, would hardly be recommended as 
+beneficial.  I sometimes suffered the extremity of languor and 
+exhaustion, and though at the time I felt no apprehensions of the 
+final result, I have since learned that my situation was a critical 
+one.
+
+Besides other formidable inconveniences I owe it in a great measure 
+to the remote effects of that unlucky disorder that from deficient 
+eyesight I am compelled to employ the pen of another in taking down 
+this narrative from my lips; and I have learned very effectually that 
+a violent attack of dysentery on the prairie is a thing too serious 
+for a joke.  I tried repose and a very sparing diet.  For a long 
+time, with exemplary patience, I lounged about the camp, or at the 
+utmost staggered over to the Indian village, and walked faint and 
+dizzy among the lodges.  It would not do, and I bethought me of 
+starvation.  During five days I sustained life on one small biscuit a 
+day.  At the end of that time I was weaker than before, but the 
+disorder seemed shaken in its stronghold and very gradually I began 
+to resume a less rigid diet.  No sooner had I done so than the same 
+detested symptoms revisited me; my old enemy resumed his pertinacious 
+assaults, yet not with his former violence or constancy, and though 
+before I regained any fair portion of my ordinary strength weeks had 
+elapsed, and months passed before the disorder left me, yet thanks to 
+old habits of activity, and a merciful Providence, I was able to 
+sustain myself against it.
+
+I used to lie languid and dreamy before our tent and muse on the past 
+and the future, and when most overcome with lassitude, my eyes turned 
+always toward the distant Black Hills.  There is a spirit of energy 
+and vigor in mountains, and they impart it to all who approach their 
+presence.  At that time I did not know how many dark superstitions 
+and gloomy legends are associated with those mountains in the minds 
+of the Indians, but I felt an eager desire to penetrate their hidden 
+recesses, to explore the awful chasms and precipices, the black 
+torrents, the silent forests, that I fancied were concealed there.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+ILL LUCK
+
+
+A Canadian came from Fort Laramie, and brought a curious piece of 
+intelligence.  A trapper, fresh from the mountains, had become 
+enamored of a Missouri damsel belonging to a family who with other 
+emigrants had been for some days encamped in the neighborhood of the 
+fort.  If bravery be the most potent charm to win the favor of the 
+fair, then no wooer could be more irresistible than a Rocky Mountain 
+trapper.  In the present instance, the suit was not urged in vain.  
+The lovers concerted a scheme, which they proceeded to carry into 
+effect with all possible dispatch.  The emigrant party left the fort, 
+and on the next succeeding night but one encamped as usual, and 
+placed a guard.  A little after midnight the enamored trapper drew 
+near, mounted on a strong horse and leading another by the bridle.  
+Fastening both animals to a tree, he stealthily moved toward the 
+wagons, as if he were approaching a band of buffalo.  Eluding the 
+vigilance of the guard, who was probably half asleep, he met his 
+mistress by appointment at the outskirts of the camp, mounted her on 
+his spare horse, and made off with her through the darkness.  The 
+sequel of the adventure did not reach our ears, and we never learned 
+how the imprudent fair one liked an Indian lodge for a dwelling, and 
+a reckless trapper for a bridegroom.
+
+At length The Whirlwind and his warriors determined to move.  They 
+had resolved after all their preparations not to go to the rendezvous 
+at La Bonte's Camp, but to pass through the Black Hills and spend a 
+few weeks in hunting the buffalo on the other side, until they had 
+killed enough to furnish them with a stock of provisions and with 
+hides to make their lodges for the next season.  This done, they were 
+to send out a small independent war party against the enemy.  Their 
+final determination left us in some embarrassment.  Should we go to 
+La Bonte's Camp, it was not impossible that the other villages would 
+prove as vacillating and indecisive as The Whirlwinds, and that no 
+assembly whatever would take place.  Our old companion Reynal had 
+conceived a liking for us, or rather for our biscuit and coffee, and 
+for the occasional small presents which we made him.  He was very 
+anxious that we should go with the village which he himself intended 
+to accompany.  He declared he was certain that no Indians would meet 
+at the rendezvous, and said moreover that it would be easy to convey 
+our cart and baggage through the Black Hills.  In saying this, he 
+told as usual an egregious falsehood.  Neither he nor any white man 
+with us had ever seen the difficult and obscure defiles through which 
+the Indians intended to make their way.  I passed them afterward, and 
+had much ado to force my distressed horse along the narrow ravines, 
+and through chasms where daylight could scarcely penetrate.  Our cart 
+might as easily have been conveyed over the summit of Pike's Peak.  
+Anticipating the difficulties and uncertainties of an attempt to 
+visit the rendezvous, we recalled the old proverb about "A bird in 
+the hand," and decided to follow the village.
+
+Both camps, the Indians' and our own, broke up on the morning of the 
+1st of July.  I was so weak that the aid of a potent auxiliary, a 
+spoonful of whisky swallowed at short intervals, alone enabled me to 
+sit on my hardy little mare Pauline through the short journey of that 
+day.  For half a mile before us and half a mile behind, the prairie 
+was covered far and wide with the moving throng of savages.  The 
+barren, broken plain stretched away to the right and left, and far in 
+front rose the gloomy precipitous ridge of the Black Hills.  We 
+pushed forward to the head of the scattered column, passing the 
+burdened travaux, the heavily laden pack horses, the gaunt old women 
+on foot, the gay young squaws on horseback, the restless children 
+running among the crowd, old men striding along in their white 
+buffalo robes, and groups of young warriors mounted on their best 
+horses.  Henry Chatillon, looking backward over the distant prairie, 
+exclaimed suddenly that a horseman was approaching, and in truth we 
+could just discern a small black speck slowly moving over the face of 
+a distant swell, like a fly creeping on a wall.  It rapidly grew 
+larger as it approached.
+
+"White man, I b'lieve," said Henry; "look how he ride!  Indian never 
+ride that way.  Yes; he got rifle on the saddle before him."
+
+The horseman disappeared in a hollow of the prairie, but we soon saw 
+him again, and as he came riding at a gallop toward us through the 
+crowd of Indians, his long hair streaming in the wind behind him, we 
+recognized the ruddy face and old buckskin frock of Jean Gras the 
+trapper.  He was just arrived from Fort Laramie, where he had been on 
+a visit, and said he had a message for us.  A trader named Bisonette, 
+one of Henry's friends, was lately come from the settlements, and 
+intended to go with a party of men to La Bonte's Camp, where, as Jean 
+Gras assured us, ten or twelve villages of Indians would certainly 
+assemble.  Bisonette desired that we would cross over and meet him 
+there, and promised that his men should protect our horses and 
+baggage while we went among the Indians.  Shaw and I stopped our 
+horses and held a council, and in an evil hour resolved to go.
+
+For the rest of that day's journey our course and that of the Indians 
+was the same.  In less than an hour we came to where the high barren 
+prairie terminated, sinking down abruptly in steep descent; and 
+standing on these heights, we saw below us a great level meadow.  
+Laramie Creek bounded it on the left, sweeping along in the shadow of 
+the declivities, and passing with its shallow and rapid current just 
+below us.  We sat on horseback, waiting and looking on, while the 
+whole savage array went pouring past us, hurrying down the descent 
+and spreading themselves over the meadow below.  In a few moments the 
+plain was swarming with the moving multitude, some just visible, like 
+specks in the distance, others still passing on, pressing down, and 
+fording the stream with bustle and confusion.  On the edge of the 
+heights sat half a dozen of the elder warriors, gravely smoking and 
+looking down with unmoved faces on the wild and striking spectacle.
+
+Up went the lodges in a circle on the margin of the stream.  For the 
+sake of quiet we pitched our tent among some trees at half a mile's 
+distance.  In the afternoon we were in the village.  The day was a 
+glorious one, and the whole camp seemed lively and animated in 
+sympathy.  Groups of children and young girls were laughing gayly on 
+the outside of the lodges.  The shields, the lances, and the bows 
+were removed from the tall tripods on which they usually hung before 
+the dwellings of their owners.  The warriors were mounting their 
+horses, and one by one riding away over the prairie toward the 
+neighboring hills.
+
+Shaw and I sat on the grass near the lodge of Reynal.  An old woman, 
+with true Indian hospitality, brought a bowl of boiled venison and 
+placed it before us.  We amused ourselves with watching half a dozen 
+young squaws who were playing together and chasing each other in and 
+out of one of the lodges.  Suddenly the wild yell of the war-whoop 
+came pealing from the hills.  A crowd of horsemen appeared, rushing 
+down their sides and riding at full speed toward the village, each 
+warrior's long hair flying behind him in the wind like a ship's 
+streamer.  As they approached, the confused throng assumed a regular 
+order, and entering two by two, they circled round the area at full 
+gallop, each warrior singing his war song as he rode.  Some of their 
+dresses were splendid.  They wore superb crests of feathers and close 
+tunics of antelope skins, fringed with the scalp-locks of their 
+enemies; their shields too were often fluttering with the war eagle's 
+feathers.  All had bows and arrows at their back; some carried long 
+lances, and a few were armed with guns.  The White Shield, their 
+partisan, rode in gorgeous attire at their head, mounted on a black-
+and-white horse.  Mahto-Tatonka and his brothers took no part in this 
+parade, for they were in mourning for their sister, and were all 
+sitting in their lodges, their bodies bedaubed from head to foot with 
+white clay, and a lock of hair cut from each of their foreheads.
+
+The warriors circled three times round the village; and as each 
+distinguished champion passed, the old women would scream out his 
+name in honor of his bravery, and to incite the emulation of the 
+younger warriors.  Little urchins, not two years old, followed the 
+warlike pageant with glittering eyes, and looked with eager wonder 
+and admiration at those whose honors were proclaimed by the public 
+voice of the village.  Thus early is the lesson of war instilled into 
+the mind of an Indian, and such are the stimulants which incite his 
+thirst for martial renown.
+
+The procession rode out of the village as it had entered it, and in 
+half an hour all the warriors had returned again, dropping quietly 
+in, singly or in parties of two or three.
+
+As the sun rose next morning we looked across the meadow, and could 
+see the lodges leveled and the Indians gathering together in 
+preparation to leave the camp.  Their course lay to the westward.  We 
+turned toward the north with our men, the four trappers following us, 
+with the Indian family of Moran.  We traveled until night.  I 
+suffered not a little from pain and weakness.  We encamped among some 
+trees by the side of a little brook, and here during the whole of the 
+next day we lay waiting for Bisonette, but no Bisonette appeared.  
+Here also two of our trapper friends left us, and set out for the 
+Rocky Mountains.  On the second morning, despairing of Bisonette's 
+arrival we resumed our journey, traversing a forlorn and dreary 
+monotony of sun-scorched plains, where no living thing appeared save 
+here and there an antelope flying before us like the wind.  When noon 
+came we saw an unwonted and most welcome sight; a rich and luxuriant 
+growth of trees, marking the course of a little stream called 
+Horseshoe Creek.  We turned gladly toward it.  There were lofty and 
+spreading trees, standing widely asunder, and supporting a thick 
+canopy of leaves, above a surface of rich, tall grass.  The stream 
+ran swiftly, as clear as crystal, through the bosom of the wood, 
+sparkling over its bed of white sand and darkening again as it 
+entered a deep cavern of leaves and boughs.  I was thoroughly 
+exhausted, and flung myself on the ground, scarcely able to move.  
+All that afternoon I lay in the shade by the side of the stream, and 
+those bright woods and sparkling waters are associated in my mind 
+with recollections of lassitude and utter prostration.  When night 
+came I sat down by the fire, longing, with an intensity of which at 
+this moment I can hardly conceive, for some powerful stimulant.
+
+In the morning as glorious a sun rose upon us as ever animated that 
+desolate wilderness.  We advanced and soon were surrounded by tall 
+bare hills, overspread from top to bottom with prickly-pears and 
+other cacti, that seemed like clinging reptiles.  A plain, flat and 
+hard, and with scarcely the vestige of grass, lay before us, and a 
+line of tall misshapen trees bounded the onward view.  There was no 
+sight or sound of man or beast, or any living thing, although behind 
+those trees was the long-looked-for place of rendezvous, where we 
+fondly hoped to have found the Indians congregated by thousands.  We 
+looked and listened anxiously.  We pushed forward with our best 
+speed, and forced our horses through the trees.  There were copses of 
+some extent beyond, with a scanty stream creeping through their 
+midst; and as we pressed through the yielding branches, deer sprang 
+up to the right and left.  At length we caught a glimpse of the 
+prairie beyond.  Soon we emerged upon it, and saw, not a plain 
+covered with encampments and swarming with life, but a vast unbroken 
+desert stretching away before us league upon league, without a bush 
+or a tree or anything that had life.  We drew rein and gave to the 
+winds our sentiments concerning the whole aboriginal race of America.  
+Our journey was in vain and much worse than in vain.  For myself, I 
+was vexed and disappointed beyond measure; as I well knew that a 
+slight aggravation of my disorder would render this false step 
+irrevocable, and make it quite impossible to accomplish effectively 
+the design which had led me an arduous journey of between three and 
+four thousand miles.  To fortify myself as well as I could against 
+such a contingency, I resolved that I would not under any 
+circumstances attempt to leave the country until my object was 
+completely gained.
+
+And where were the Indians?  They were assembled in great numbers at 
+a spot about twenty miles distant, and there at that very moment they 
+were engaged in their warlike ceremonies.  The scarcity of buffalo in 
+the vicinity of La Bonte's Camp, which would render their supply of 
+provisions scanty and precarious, had probably prevented them from 
+assembling there; but of all this we knew nothing until some weeks 
+after.
+
+Shaw lashed his horse and galloped forward, I, though much more vexed 
+than he, was not strong enough to adopt this convenient vent to my 
+feelings; so I followed at a quiet pace, but in no quiet mood.  We 
+rode up to a solitary old tree, which seemed the only place fit for 
+encampment.  Half its branches were dead, and the rest were so 
+scantily furnished with leaves that they cast but a meager and 
+wretched shade, and the old twisted trunk alone furnished sufficient 
+protection from the sun.  We threw down our saddles in the strip of 
+shadow that it cast, and sat down upon them.  In silent indignation 
+we remained smoking for an hour or more, shifting our saddles with 
+the shifting shadow, for the sun was intolerably hot.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+HUNTING INDIANS
+
+
+At last we had reached La Bonte's Camp, toward which our eyes had 
+turned so long.  Of all weary hours, those that passed between noon 
+and sunset of the day when we arrived there may bear away the palm of 
+exquisite discomfort.  I lay under the tree reflecting on what course 
+to pursue, watching the shadows which seemed never to move, and the 
+sun which remained fixed in the sky, and hoping every moment to see 
+the men and horses of Bisonette emerging from the woods.  Shaw and 
+Henry had ridden out on a scouting expedition, and did not return 
+until the sun was setting.  There was nothing very cheering in their 
+faces nor in the news they brought.
+
+"We have been ten miles from here," said Shaw.  "We climbed the 
+highest butte we could find, and could not see a buffalo or Indian; 
+nothing but prairie for twenty miles around us."
+
+Henry's horse was quite disabled by clambering up and down the sides 
+of ravines, and Shaw's was severely fatigued.
+
+After supper that evening, as we sat around the fire, I proposed to 
+Shaw to wait one day longer in hopes of Bisonette's arrival, and if 
+he should not come to send Delorier with the cart and baggage back to 
+Fort Laramie, while we ourselves followed The Whirlwind's village and 
+attempted to overtake it as it passed the mountains.  Shaw, not 
+having the same motive for hunting Indians that I had, was averse to 
+the plan; I therefore resolved to go alone.  This design I adopted 
+very unwillingly, for I knew that in the present state of my health 
+the attempt would be extremely unpleasant, and, as I considered, 
+hazardous.  I hoped that Bisonette would appear in the course of the 
+following day, and bring us some information by which to direct our 
+course, and enable me to accomplish my purpose by means less 
+objectionable.
+
+The rifle of Henry Chatillon was necessary for the subsistence of the 
+party in my absence; so I called Raymond, and ordered him to prepare 
+to set out with me.  Raymond rolled his eyes vacantly about, but at 
+length, having succeeded in grappling with the idea, he withdrew to 
+his bed under the cart.  He was a heavy-molded fellow, with a broad 
+face exactly like an owl's, expressing the most impenetrable 
+stupidity and entire self-confidence.  As for his good qualities, he 
+had a sort of stubborn fidelity, an insensibility to danger, and a 
+kind of instinct or sagacity, which sometimes led him right, where 
+better heads than his were at a loss.  Besides this, he knew very 
+well how to handle a rifle and picket a horse.
+
+Through the following day the sun glared down upon us with a 
+pitiless, penetrating heat.  The distant blue prairie seemed 
+quivering under it.  The lodge of our Indian associates was baking in 
+the rays, and our rifles, as they leaned against the tree, were too 
+hot for the touch.  There was a dead silence through our camp and all 
+around it, unbroken except by the hum of gnats and mosquitoes.  The 
+men, resting their foreheads on their arms, were sleeping under the 
+cart.  The Indians kept close within their lodge except the newly 
+married pair, who were seated together under an awning of buffalo 
+robes, and the old conjurer, who, with his hard, emaciated face and 
+gaunt ribs, was perched aloft like a turkey-buzzard among the dead 
+branches of an old tree, constantly on the lookout for enemies.  He 
+would have made a capital shot.  A rifle bullet, skillfully planted, 
+would have brought him tumbling to the ground.  Surely, I thought, 
+there could be no more harm in shooting such a hideous old villain, 
+to see how ugly he would look when he was dead, than in shooting the 
+detestable vulture which he resembled.  We dined, and then Shaw 
+saddled his horse.
+
+"I will ride back," said he, "to Horseshoe Creek, and see if 
+Bisonette is there."
+
+"I would go with you," I answered, "but I must reserve all the 
+strength I have."
+
+The afternoon dragged away at last.  I occupied myself in cleaning my 
+rifle and pistols, and making other preparations for the journey.  
+After supper, Henry Chatillon and I lay by the fire, discussing the 
+properties of that admirable weapon, the rifle, in the use of which 
+he could fairly outrival Leatherstocking himself.
+
+It was late before I wrapped myself in my blanket and lay down for 
+the night, with my head on my saddle.  Shaw had not returned, but 
+this gave no uneasiness, for we presumed that he had fallen in with 
+Bisonette, and was spending the night with him.  For a day or two 
+past I had gained in strength and health, but about midnight an 
+attack of pain awoke me, and for some hours I felt no inclination to 
+sleep.  The moon was quivering on the broad breast of the Platte; 
+nothing could be heard except those low inexplicable sounds, like 
+whisperings and footsteps, which no one who has spent the night alone 
+amid deserts and forests will be at a loss to understand.  As I was 
+falling asleep, a familiar voice, shouting from the distance, awoke 
+me again.  A rapid step approached the camp, and Shaw on foot, with 
+his gun in his hand, hastily entered.
+
+"Where's your horse?" said I, raising myself on my elbow.
+
+"Lost!" said Shaw.  "Where's Delorier?"
+
+"There," I replied, pointing to a confused mass of blankets and 
+buffalo robes.
+
+Shaw touched them with the butt of his gun, and up sprang our 
+faithful Canadian.
+
+"Come, Delorier; stir up the fire, and get me something to eat."
+
+"Where's Bisonette?" asked I.
+
+"The Lord knows; there's nobody at Horseshoe Creek."
+
+Shaw had gone back to the spot where we had encamped two days before, 
+and finding nothing there but the ashes of our fires, he had tied his 
+horse to the tree while he bathed in the stream.  Something startled 
+his horse, who broke loose, and for two hours Shaw tried in vain to 
+catch him.  Sunset approached, and it was twelve miles to camp.  So 
+he abandoned the attempt, and set out on foot to join us.  The 
+greater part of his perilous and solitary work was performed in 
+darkness.  His moccasins were worn to tatters and his feet severely 
+lacerated.  He sat down to eat, however, with the usual equanimity of 
+his temper not at all disturbed by his misfortune, and my last 
+recollection before falling asleep was of Shaw, seated cross-legged 
+before the fire, smoking his pipe.  The horse, I may as well mention 
+here, was found the next morning by Henry Chatillon.
+
+When I awoke again there was a fresh damp smell in the air, a gray 
+twilight involved the prairie, and above its eastern verge was a 
+streak of cold red sky.  I called to the men, and in a moment a fire 
+was blazing brightly in the dim morning light, and breakfast was 
+getting ready.  We sat down together on the grass, to the last 
+civilized meal which Raymond and I were destined to enjoy for some 
+time.
+
+"Now, bring in the horses."
+
+My little mare Pauline was soon standing by the fire.  She was a 
+fleet, hardy, and gentle animal, christened after Paul Dorion, from 
+whom I had procured her in exchange for Pontiac.  She did not look as 
+if equipped for a morning pleasure ride.  In front of the black, 
+high-bowed mountain saddle, holsters, with heavy pistols, were 
+fastened.  A pair of saddle bags, a blanket tightly rolled, a small 
+parcel of Indian presents tied up in a buffalo skin, a leather bag of 
+flour, and a smaller one of tea were all secured behind, and a long 
+trail-rope was wound round her neck.  Raymond had a strong black 
+mule, equipped in a similar manner.  We crammed our powder-horns to 
+the throat, and mounted.
+
+"I will meet you at Fort Laramie on the 1st of August," said I to 
+Shaw.
+
+"That is," replied he, "if we don't meet before that.  I think I 
+shall follow after you in a day or two."
+
+This in fact he attempted, and he would have succeeded if he had not 
+encountered obstacles against which his resolute spirit was of no 
+avail.  Two days after I left him he sent Delorier to the fort with 
+the cart and baggage, and set out for the mountains with Henry 
+Chatillon; but a tremendons thunderstorm had deluged the prairie, and 
+nearly obliterated not only our trail but that of the Indians 
+themselves.  They followed along the base of the mountains, at a loss 
+in which direction to go.  They encamped there, and in the morning 
+Shaw found himself poisoned by ivy in such a manner that it was 
+impossible for him to travel.  So they turned back reluctantly toward 
+Fort Laramie.  Shaw's limbs were swollen to double their usual size, 
+and he rode in great pain.  They encamped again within twenty miles 
+of the fort, and reached it early on the following morning.  Shaw lay 
+serionsly ill for a week, and remained at the fort till I rejoined 
+him some time after.
+
+To return to my own story.  We shook hands with our friends, rode out 
+upon the prairie, and clambering the sandy hollows that were 
+channeled in the sides of the hills gained the high plains above.  If 
+a curse had been pronounced upon the land it could not have worn an 
+aspect of more dreary and forlorn barrenness.  There were abrupt 
+broken hills, deep hollows, and wide plains; but all alike glared 
+with an insupportable whiteness under the burning sun.  The country, 
+as if parched by the heat, had cracked into innumerable fissures and 
+ravines, that not a little impeded our progress.  Their steep sides 
+were white and raw, and along the bottom we several times discovered 
+the broad tracks of the terrific grizzly bear, nowhere more abundant 
+than in this region.  The ridges of the hills were hard as rock, and 
+strewn with pebbles of flint and coarse red jasper; looking from 
+them, there was nothing to relieve the desert uniformity of the 
+prospect, save here and there a pine-tree clinging at the edge of a 
+ravine, and stretching out its rough, shaggy arms.  Under the 
+scorching heat these melancholy trees diffused their peculiar 
+resinous odor through the sultry air.  There was something in it, as 
+I approached them, that recalled old associations; the pine-clad 
+mountains of New England, traversed in days of health and buoyancy, 
+rose like a reality before my fancy.  In passing that arid waste I 
+was goaded with a morbid thirst produced by my disorder, and I 
+thought with a longing desire on the crystal treasure poured in such 
+wasteful profusion from our thousand hills.  Shutting my eyes, I more 
+than half believed that I heard the deep plunging and gurgling of 
+waters in the bowels of the shaded rocks.  I could see their dark ice 
+glittering far down amid the crevices, and the cold drops trickling 
+from the long green mosses.
+
+When noon came, we found a little stream, with a few trees and 
+bushes; and here we rested for an hour.  Then we traveled on, guided 
+by the sun, until, just before sunset, we reached another stream, 
+called Bitter Cotton-wood Creek.  A thick growth of bushes and old 
+storm-beaten trees grew at intervals along its bank.  Near the foot 
+of one of the trees we flung down our saddles, and hobbling our 
+horses turned them loose to feed.  The little stream was clear and 
+swift, and ran musically on its white sands.  Small water birds were 
+splashing in the shallows, and filling the air with their cries and 
+flutterings.  The sun was just sinking among gold and crimson clouds 
+behind Mount Laramie.  I well remember how I lay upon a log by the 
+margin of the water, and watched the restless motions of the little 
+fish in a deep still nook below.  Strange to say, I seemed to have 
+gained strength since the morning, and almost felt a sense of 
+returning health.
+
+We built our fire.  Night came, and the wolves began to howl.  One 
+deep voice commenced, and it was answered in awful responses from the 
+hills, the plains, and the woods along the stream above and below us.  
+Such sounds need not and do not disturb one's sleep upon the prairie.  
+We picketed the mare and the mule close at our feet, and did not wake 
+until daylight.  Then we turned them loose, still hobbled, to feed 
+for an hour before starting.  We were getting ready our morning's 
+meal, when Raymond saw an antelope at half a mile's distance, and 
+said he would go and shoot it.
+
+"Your business," said.  I, "is to look after the animals.  I am too 
+weak to do much, if anything happens to them, and you must keep 
+within sight of the camp."
+
+Raymond promised, and set out with his rifle in his hand.  The 
+animals had passed across the stream, and were feeding among the long 
+grass on the other side, much tormented by the attacks of the 
+numerous large green-headed flies.  As I watched them, I saw them go 
+down into a hollow, and as several minutes elapsed without their 
+reappearing, I waded through the stream to look after them.  To my 
+vexation and alarm I discovered them at a great distance, galloping 
+away at full speed, Pauline in advance, with her hobbles broken, and 
+the mule, still fettered, following with awkward leaps.  I fired my 
+rifle and shouted to recall Raymond.  In a moment he came running 
+through the stream, with a red handkerchief bound round his head.  I 
+pointed to the fugitives, and ordered him to pursue them.  Muttering 
+a "Sacre!" between his teeth, he set out at full speed, still 
+swinging his rifle in his hand.  I walked up to the top of a hill, 
+and looking away over the prairie, could just distinguish the 
+runaways, still at full gallop.  Returning to the fire, I sat down at 
+the foot of a tree.  Wearily and anxiously hour after hour passed 
+away.  The old loose bark dangling from the trunk behind me flapped 
+to and fro in the wind, and the mosquitoes kept up their incessant 
+drowsy humming; but other than this, there was no sight nor sound of 
+life throughout the burning landscape.  The sun rose higher and 
+higher, until the shadows fell almost perpendicularly, and I knew 
+that it must be noon.  It seemed scarcely possible that the animals 
+could be recovered.  If they were not, my situation was one of 
+serious difficulty.  Shaw, when I left him had decided to move that 
+morning, but whither he had not determined.  To look for him would be 
+a vain attempt.  Fort Laramie was forty miles distant, and I could 
+not walk a mile without great effort.  Not then having learned the 
+sound philosophy of yielding to disproportionate obstacles, I 
+resolved to continue in any event the pursuit of the Indians.  Only 
+one plan occurred to me; this was to send Raymond to the fort with an 
+order for more horses, while I remained on the spot, awaiting his 
+return, which might take place within three days.  But the adoption 
+of this resolution did not wholly allay my anxiety, for it involved 
+both uncertainty and danger.  To remain stationary and alone for 
+three days, in a country full of dangerous Indians, was not the most 
+flattering of prospects; and protracted as my Indian hunt must be by 
+such delay, it was not easy to foretell its ultimate result.  
+Revolving these matters, I grew hungry; and as our stock of 
+provisions, except four or five pounds of flour, was by this time 
+exhausted, I left the camp to see what game I could find.  Nothing 
+could be seen except four or five large curlew, which, with their 
+loud screaming, were wheeling over my head, and now and then 
+alighting upon the prairie.  I shot two of them, and was about 
+returning, when a startling sight caught my eye.  A small, dark 
+object, like a human head, suddenly appeared, and vanished among the 
+thick hushes along the stream below.  In that country every stranger 
+is a suspected enemy.  Instinctively I threw forward the muzzle of my 
+rifle.  In a moment the bushes were violently shaken, two heads, but 
+not human heads, protruded, and to my great joy I recognized the 
+downcast, disconsolate countenance of the black mule and the yellow 
+visage of Pauline.  Raymond came upon the mule, pale and haggard, 
+complaining of a fiery pain in his chest.  I took charge of the 
+animals while he kneeled down by the side of the stream to drink.  He 
+had kept the runaways in sight as far as the Side Fork of Laramie 
+Creek, a distance of more than ten miles; and here with great 
+difficulty he had succeeded in catching them.  I saw that he was 
+unarmed, and asked him what he had done with his rifle.  It had 
+encumbered him in his pursuit, and he had dropped it on the prairie, 
+thinking that he could find it on his return; but in this he had 
+failed.  The loss might prove a very formidable one.  I was too much 
+rejoiced however at the recovery of the animals to think much about 
+it; and having made some tea for Raymond in a tin vessel which we had 
+brought with us, I told him that I would give him two hours for 
+resting before we set out again.  He had eaten nothing that day; but 
+having no appetite, he lay down immediately to sleep.  I picketed the 
+animals among the richest grass that I could find, and made fires of 
+green wood to protect them from the flies; then sitting down again by 
+the tree, I watched the slow movements of the sun, begrudging every 
+moment that passed.
+
+The time I had mentioned expired, and I awoke Raymond.  We saddled 
+and set out again, but first we went in search of the lost rifle, and 
+in the course of an hour Raymond was fortunate enough to find it.  
+Then we turned westward, and moved over the hills and hollows at a 
+slow pace toward the Black Hills.  The heat no longer tormented us, 
+for a cloud was before the sun.  Yet that day shall never be marked 
+with white in my calendar.  The air began to grow fresh and cool, the 
+distant mountains frowned more gloomily, there was a low muttering of 
+thunder, and dense black masses of cloud rose heavily behind the 
+broken peaks.  At first they were gayly fringed with silver by the 
+afternoon sun, but soon the thick blackness overspread the whole sky, 
+and the desert around us was wrapped in deep gloom.  I scarcely 
+heeded it at the time, but now I cannot but feel that there was an 
+awful sublimity in the hoarse murmuring of the thunder, in the somber 
+shadows that involved the mountains and the plain.  The storm broke.  
+It came upon us with a zigzag blinding flash, with a terrific crash 
+of thunder, and with a hurricane that howled over the prairie, 
+dashing floods of water against us.  Raymond looked round, and cursed 
+the merciless elements.  There seemed no shelter near, but we 
+discerned at length a deep ravine gashed in the level prairie, and 
+saw half way down its side an old pine tree, whose rough horizontal 
+boughs formed a sort of penthouse against the tempest.  We found a 
+practicable passage, and hastily descending, fastened our animals to 
+some large loose stones at the bottom; then climbing up, we drew our 
+blankets over our heads, and seated ourselves close beneath the old 
+tree.  Perhaps I was no competent judge of time, but it seemed to me 
+that we were sitting there a full hour, while around us poured a 
+deluge of rain, through which the rocks on the opposite side of the 
+gulf were barely visible.  The first burst of the tempest soon 
+subsided, but the rain poured steadily.  At length Raymond grew 
+impatient, and scrambling out of the ravine, he gained the level 
+prairie above.
+
+"What does the weather look like?" asked I, from my seat under the 
+tree.
+
+"It looks bad," he answered; "dark all around," and again he 
+descended and sat down by my side.  Some ten minutes elapsed.
+
+"Go up again," said I, "and take another look;" and he clambered up 
+the precipice.  "Well, how is it?"
+
+"Just the same, only I see one little bright spot over the top of the 
+mountain.
+
+The rain by this time had begun to abate; and going down to the 
+bottom of the ravine, we loosened the animals, who were standing up 
+to their knees in water.  Leading them up the rocky throat of the 
+ravine, we reached the plain above.  "Am I," I thought to myself, 
+"the same man who a few months since, was seated, a quiet student of 
+BELLES-LETTRES, in a cushioned arm-chair by a sea-coal fire?"
+
+All around us was obscurity; but the bright spot above the 
+mountaintops grew wider and ruddier, until at length the clouds drew 
+apart, and a flood of sunbeams poured down from heaven, streaming 
+along the precipices, and involving them in a thin blue haze, as soft 
+and lovely as that which wraps the Apennines on an evening in spring.  
+Rapidly the clouds were broken and scattered, like routed legions of 
+evil spirits.  The plain lay basking in sunbeams around us; a rainbow 
+arched the desert from north to south, and far in front a line of 
+woods seemed inviting us to refreshment and repose.  When we reached 
+them, they were glistening with prismatic dewdrops, and enlivened by 
+the song and flutterings of a hundred birds.  Strange winged insects, 
+benumbed by the rain, were clinging to the leaves and the bark of the 
+trees.
+
+Raymond kindled a fire with great difficulty.  The animals turned 
+eagerly to feed on the soft rich grass, while I, wrapping myself in 
+my blanket, lay down and gazed on the evening landscape.  The 
+mountains, whose stern features had lowered upon us with so gloomy 
+and awful a frown, now seemed lighted up with a serene, benignant 
+smile, and the green waving undulations of the plain were gladdened 
+with the rich sunshine.  Wet, ill, and wearied as I was, my spirit 
+grew lighter at the view, and I drew from it an augury of good for my 
+future prospects.
+
+When morning came, Raymond awoke, coughing violently, though I had 
+apparently received no injury.  We mounted, crossed the little 
+stream, pushed through the trees, and began our journey over the 
+plain beyond.  And now, as we rode slowly along, we looked anxiously 
+on every hand for traces of the Indians, not doubting that the 
+village had passed somewhere in that vicinity; but the scanty 
+shriveled grass was not more than three or four inches high, and the 
+ground was of such unyielding hardness that a host might have marched 
+over it and left scarcely a trace of its passage.  Up hill and down 
+hill, and clambering through ravines, we continued our journey.  As 
+we were skirting the foot of a hill I saw Raymond, who was some rods 
+in advance, suddenly jerking the reins of his mule.  Sliding from his 
+seat, and running in a crouching posture up a hollow, he disappeared; 
+and then in an instant I heard the sharp quick crack of his rifle.  A 
+wounded antelope came running on three legs over the hill.  I lashed 
+Pauline and made after him.  My fleet little mare soon brought me by 
+his side, and after leaping and bounding for a few moments in vain, 
+he stood still, as if despairing of escape.  His glistening eyes 
+turned up toward my face with so piteous a look that it was with 
+feelings of infinite compunction that I shot him through the head 
+with a pistol.  Raymond skinned and cut him up, and we hung the 
+forequarters to our saddles, much rejoiced that our exhausted stock 
+of provisions was renewed in such good time.
+
+Gaining the top of a hill, we could see along the cloudy verge of the 
+prairie before us lines of trees and shadowy groves that marked the 
+course of Laramie Creek.  Some time before noon we reached its banks 
+and began anxiously to search them for footprints of the Indians.  We 
+followed the stream for several miles, now on the shore and now 
+wading in the water, scrutinizing every sand-bar and every muddy 
+bank.  So long was the search that we began to fear that we had left 
+the trail undiscovered behind us.  At length I heard Raymond 
+shouting, and saw him jump from his mule to examine some object under 
+the shelving bank.  I rode up to his side.  It was the clear and 
+palpable impression of an Indian moccasin.  Encouraged by this we 
+continued our search, and at last some appearances on a soft surface 
+of earth not far from the shore attracted my eye; and going to 
+examine them I found half a dozen tracks, some made by men and some 
+by children.  Just then Raymond observed across the stream the mouth 
+of a small branch entering it from the south.  He forded the water, 
+rode in at the opening, and in a moment I heard him shouting again, 
+so I passed over and joined him.  The little branch had a broad sandy 
+bed, along which the water trickled in a scanty stream; and on either 
+bank the bushes were so close that the view was completely 
+intercepted.  I found Raymond stooping over the footprints of three 
+or four horses.  Proceeding we found those of a man, then those of a 
+child, then those of more horses; and at last the bushes on each bank 
+were beaten down and broken, and the sand plowed up with a multitude 
+of footsteps, and scored across with the furrows made by the lodge-
+poles that had been dragged through.  It was now certain that we had 
+found the trail.  I pushed through the bushes, and at a little 
+distance on the prairie beyond found the ashes of a hundred and fifty 
+lodge fires, with bones and pieces of buffalo robes scattered around 
+them, and in some instances the pickets to which horses had been 
+secured still standing in the ground.  Elated by our success we 
+selected a convenient tree, and turning the animals loose, prepared 
+to make a meal from the fat haunch of our victim.
+
+Hardship and exposure had thriven with me wonderfully.  I had gained 
+both health and strength since leaving La Bonte's Camp.  Raymond and 
+I made a hearty meal together in high spirits, for we rashly presumed 
+that having found one end of the trail we should have little 
+difficulty in reaching the other.  But when the animals were led in 
+we found that our old ill luck had not ceased to follow us close.  As 
+I was saddling Pauline I saw that her eye was as dull as lead, and 
+the hue of her yellow coat visibly darkened.  I placed my foot in the 
+stirrup to mount, when instantly she staggered and fell flat on her 
+side.  Gaining her feet with an effort she stood by the fire with a 
+drooping head.  Whether she had been bitten by a snake or poisoned by 
+some noxious plant or attacked by a sudden disorder, it was hard to 
+say; but at all events her sickness was sufficiently ill-timed and 
+unfortunate.  I succeeded in a second attempt to mount her, and with 
+a slow pace we moved forward on the trail of the Indians.  It led us 
+up a hill and over a dreary plain; and here, to our great 
+mortification, the traces almost disappeared, for the ground was hard 
+as adamant; and if its flinty surface had ever retained the print of 
+a hoof, the marks had been washed away by the deluge of yesterday.  
+An Indian village, in its disorderly march, is scattered over the 
+prairie, often to the width of full half a mile; so that its trail is 
+nowhere clearly marked, and the task of following it is made doubly 
+wearisome and difficult.  By good fortune plenty of large ant-hills, 
+a yard or more in diameter, were scattered over the plain, and these 
+were frequently broken by the footprints of men and horses, and 
+marked by traces of the lodge-poles.  The succulent leaves of the 
+prickly-pear, also bruised from the same causes, helped a little to 
+guide us; so inch by inch we moved along.  Often we lost the trail 
+altogether, and then would recover it again, but late in the 
+afternoon we found ourselves totally at fault.  We stood alone 
+without clew to guide us.  The broken plain expanded for league after 
+league around us, and in front the long dark ridge of mountains was 
+stretching from north to south.  Mount Laramie, a little on our 
+right, towered high above the rest and from a dark valley just beyond 
+one of its lower declivities, we discerned volumes of white smoke 
+slowly rolling up into the clear air.
+
+"I think," said Raymond, "some Indians must be there.  Perhaps we had 
+better go."  But this plan was not rashly to be adopted, and we 
+determined still to continue our search after the lost trail.  Our 
+good stars prompted us to this decision, for we afterward had reason 
+to believe, from information given us by the Indians, that the smoke 
+was raised as a decoy by a Crow war party.
+
+Evening was coming on, and there was no wood or water nearer than the 
+foot of the mountains.  So thither we turned, directing our course 
+toward the point where Laramie Creek issues forth upon the prairie.  
+When we reached it the bare tops of the mountains were still 
+brightened with sunshine.  The little river was breaking with a 
+vehement and angry current from its dark prison.  There was something 
+in the near vicinity of the mountains, in the loud surging of the 
+rapids, wonderfully cheering and exhilarating; for although once as 
+familiar as home itself, they had been for months strangers to my 
+experience.  There was a rich grass-plot by the river's bank, 
+surrounded by low ridges, which would effectually screen ourselves 
+and our fire from the sight of wandering Indians.  Here among the 
+grass I observed numerous circles of large stones, which, as Raymond 
+said, were traces of a Dakota winter encampment.  We lay down and did 
+not awake till the sun was up.  A large rock projected from the 
+shore, and behind it the deep water was slowly eddying round and 
+round.  The temptation was irresistible.  I threw off my clothes, 
+leaped in, suffered myself to be borne once round with the current, 
+and then, seizing the strong root of a water plant, drew myself to 
+the shore.  The effect was so invigorating and refreshing that I 
+mistook it for returning health.  "Pauline," thought I, as I led the 
+little mare up to be saddled, "only thrive as I do, and you and I 
+will have sport yet among the buffalo beyond these mountains."  But 
+scarcely were we mounted and on our way before the momentary glow 
+passed.  Again I hung as usual in my seat, scarcely able to hold 
+myself erect.
+
+"Look yonder," said Raymond; "you see that big hollow there; the 
+Indians must have gone that way, if they went anywhere about here."
+
+We reached the gap, which was like a deep notch cut into the mountain 
+ridge, and here we soon discerned an ant-hill furrowed with the mark 
+of a lodge-pole.  This was quite enough; there could be no doubt now.  
+As we rode on, the opening growing narrower, the Indians had been 
+compelled to march in closer order, and the traces became numerous 
+and distinct.  The gap terminated in a rocky gateway, leading into a 
+rough passage upward, between two precipitous mountains.  Here grass 
+and weeds were bruised to fragments by the throng that had passed 
+through.  We moved slowly over the rocks, up the passage; and in this 
+toilsome manner we advanced for an hour or two, bare precipices, 
+hundreds of feet high, shooting up on either hand.  Raymond, with his 
+hardy mule, was a few rods before me, when we came to the foot of an 
+ascent steeper than the rest, and which I trusted might prove the 
+highest point of the defile.  Pauline strained upward for a few 
+yards, moaning and stumbling, and then came to a dead stop, unable to 
+proceed further.  I dismounted, and attempted to lead her; but my own 
+exhausted strength soon gave out; so I loosened the trail-rope from 
+her neck, and tying it round my arm, crawled up on my hands and 
+knees.  I gained the top, totally exhausted, the sweat drops 
+trickling from my forehead.  Pauline stood like a statue by my side, 
+her shadow falling upon the scorching rock; and in this shade, for 
+there was no other, I lay for some time, scarcely able to move a 
+limb.  All around the black crags, sharp as needles at the top, stood 
+glowing in the sun, without a tree, or a bush, or a blade of grass, 
+to cover their precipitous sides.  The whole scene seemed parched 
+with a pitiless, insufferable heat.
+
+After a while I could mount again, and we moved on, descending the 
+rocky defile on its western side.  Thinking of that morning's 
+journey, it has sometimes seemed to me that there was something 
+ridiculous in my position; a man, armed to the teeth, but wholly 
+unable to fight, and equally so to run away, traversing a dangerous 
+wilderness, on a sick horse.  But these thoughts were retrospective, 
+for at the time I was in too grave a mood to entertain a very lively 
+sense of the ludicrous.
+
+Raymond's saddle-girth slipped; and while I proceeded he was stopping 
+behind to repair the mischief.  I came to the top of a little 
+declivity, where a most welcome sight greeted my eye; a nook of fresh 
+green grass nestled among the cliffs, sunny clumps of bushes on one 
+side, and shaggy old pine trees leaning forward from the rocks on the 
+other.  A shrill, familiar voice saluted me, and recalled me to days 
+of boyhood; that of the insect called the "locust" by New England 
+schoolboys, which was fast clinging among the heated boughs of the 
+old pine trees.  Then, too, as I passed the bushes, the low sound of 
+falling water reached my ear.  Pauline turned of her own accord, and 
+pushing through the boughs we found a black rock, over-arched by the 
+cool green canopy.  An icy stream was pouring from its side into a 
+wide basin of white sand, from whence it had no visible outlet, but 
+filtered through into the soil below.  While I filled a tin cup at 
+the spring, Pauline was eagerly plunging her head deep in the pool.  
+Other visitors had been there before us.  All around in the soft soil 
+were the footprints of elk, deer, and the Rocky Mountain sheep; and 
+the grizzly bear too had left the recent prints of his broad foot, 
+with its frightful array of claws.  Among these mountains was his 
+home.
+
+Soon after leaving the spring we found a little grassy plain, 
+encircled by the mountains, and marked, to our great joy, with all 
+the traces of an Indian camp.  Raymond's practiced eye detected 
+certain signs by which he recognized the spot where Reynal's lodge 
+had been pitched and his horses picketed.  I approached, and stood 
+looking at the place.  Reynal and I had, I believe, hardly a feeling 
+in common.  I disliked the fellow, and it perplexed me a good deal to 
+understand why I should look with so much interest on the ashes of 
+his fire, when between him and me there seemed no other bond of 
+sympathy than the slender and precarious one of a kindred race.
+
+In half an hour from this we were clear of the mountains.  There was 
+a plain before us, totally barren and thickly peopled in many parts 
+with the little prairie dogs, who sat at the mouths of their burrows 
+and yelped at us as we passed.  The plain, as we thought, was about 
+six miles wide; but it cost us two hours to cross it.  Then another 
+mountain range rose before us, grander and more wild than the last 
+had been.  Far out of the dense shrubbery that clothed the steeps for 
+a thousand feet shot up black crags, all leaning one way, and 
+shattered by storms and thunder into grim and threatening shapes.  As 
+we entered a narrow passage on the trail of the Indians, they 
+impended frightfully on one side, above our heads.
+
+Our course was through dense woods, in the shade and twinkling 
+sunlight of overhanging boughs.  I would I could recall to mind all 
+the startling combinations that presented themselves, as winding from 
+side to side of the passage, to avoid its obstructions, we could see, 
+glancing at intervals through the foliage, the awful forms of the 
+gigantic cliffs, that seemed at times to hem us in on the right and 
+on the left, before us and behind!  Another scene in a few moments 
+greeted us; a tract of gray and sunny woods, broken into knolls and 
+hollows, enlivened by birds and interspersed with flowers.  Among the 
+rest I recognized the mellow whistle of the robin, an old familiar 
+friend whom I had scarce expected to meet in such a place.  Humble-
+bees too were buzzing heavily about the flowers; and of these a 
+species of larkspur caught my eye, more appropriate, it should seem, 
+to cultivated gardens than to a remote wilderness.  Instantly it 
+recalled a multitude of dormant and delightful recollections.
+
+Leaving behind us this spot and its associations, a sight soon 
+presented itself, characteristic of that warlike region.  In an open 
+space, fenced in by high rocks, stood two Indian forts, of a square 
+form, rudely built of sticks and logs.  They were somewhat ruinous, 
+having probably been constructed the year before.  Each might have 
+contained about twenty men.  Perhaps in this gloomy spot some party 
+had been beset by their enemies, and those scowling rocks and blasted 
+trees might not long since have looked down on a conflict 
+unchronicled and unknown.  Yet if any traces of bloodshed remained 
+they were completely hidden by the bushes and tall rank weeds.
+
+Gradually the mountains drew apart, and the passage expanded into a 
+plain, where again we found traces of an Indian encampment.  There 
+were trees and bushes just before us, and we stopped here for an 
+hour's rest and refreshment.  When we had finished our meal Raymond 
+struck fire, and lighting his pipe, sat down at the foot of a tree to 
+smoke.  For some time I observed him puffing away with a face of 
+unusual solemnity.  Then slowly taking the pipe from his lips, he 
+looked up and remarked that we had better not go any farther.
+
+"Why not?" asked I.
+
+He said that the country was becoming very dangerous, that we were 
+entering the range of the Snakes, Arapahoes and Grosventre Blackfeet, 
+and that if any of their wandering parties should meet us, it would 
+cost us our lives; but he added, with a blunt fidelity that nearly 
+reconciled me to his stupidity, that he would go anywhere I wished.  
+I told him to bring up the animals, and mounting them we proceeded 
+again.  I confess that, as we moved forward, the prospect seemed but 
+a dreary and doubtful one.  I would have given the world for my 
+ordinary elasticity of body and mind, and for a horse of such 
+strength and spirit as the journey required.
+
+Closer and closer the rocks gathered round us, growing taller and 
+steeper, and pressing more and more upon our path.  We entered at 
+length a defile which I never had seen rivaled.  The mountain was 
+cracked from top to bottom, and we were creeping along the bottom of 
+the fissure, in dampness and gloom, with the clink of hoofs on the 
+loose shingly rocks, and the hoarse murmuring of a petulant brook 
+which kept us company.  Sometimes the water, foaming among the 
+stones, overspread the whole narrow passage; sometimes, withdrawing 
+to one side, it gave us room to pass dry-shod.  Looking up, we could 
+see a narrow ribbon of bright blue sky between the dark edges of the 
+opposing cliffs.  This did not last long.  The passage soon widened, 
+and sunbeams found their way down, flashing upon the black waters.  
+The defile would spread out to many rods in width; bushes, trees, and 
+flowers would spring by the side of the brook; the cliffs would be 
+feathered with shrubbery, that clung in every crevice, and fringed 
+with trees, that grew along their sunny edges.  Then we would be 
+moving again in the darkness.  The passage seemed about four miles 
+long, and before we reached the end of it, the unshod hoofs of our 
+animals were lamentably broken, and their legs cut by the sharp 
+stones.  Issuing from the mountain we found another plain.  All 
+around it stood a circle of lofty precipices, that seemed the 
+impersonation of silence and solitude.  Here again the Indians had 
+encamped, as well they might, after passing with their women, 
+children and horses through the gulf behind us.  In one day we had 
+made a journey which had cost them three to accomplish.
+
+The only outlet to this amphitheater lay over a hill some two hundred 
+feet high, up which we moved with difficulty.  Looking from the top, 
+we saw that at last we were free of the mountains.  The prairie 
+spread before us, but so wild and broken that the view was everywhere 
+obstructed.  Far on our left one tall hill swelled up against the 
+sky, on the smooth, pale green surface of which four slowly moving 
+black specks were discernible.  They were evidently buffalo, and we 
+hailed the sight as a good augury; for where the buffalo were, there 
+too the Indians would probably be found.  We hoped on that very night 
+to reach the village.  We were anxious to do so for a double reason, 
+wishing to bring our wearisome journey to an end, and knowing, 
+moreover, that though to enter the village in broad daylight would be 
+a perfectly safe experiment, yet to encamp in its vicinity would be 
+dangerous.  But as we rode on, the sun was sinking, and soon was 
+within half an hour of the horizon.  We ascended a hill and looked 
+round us for a spot for our encampment.  The prairie was like a 
+turbulent ocean, suddenly congealed when its waves were at the 
+highest, and it lay half in light and half in shadow, as the rich 
+sunshine, yellow as gold, was pouring over it.  The rough bushes of 
+the wild sage were growing everywhere, its dull pale green 
+overspreading hill and hollow.  Yet a little way before us, a bright 
+verdant line of grass was winding along the plain, and here and there 
+throughout its course water was glistening darkly.  We went down to 
+it, kindled a fire, and turned our horses loose to feed.  It was a 
+little trickling brook, that for some yards on either bank turned the 
+barren prairie into fertility, and here and there it spread into deep 
+pools, where the beaver had dammed it up.
+
+We placed our last remaining piece of the antelope before a scanty 
+fire, mournfully reflecting on our exhausted stock of provisions.  
+Just then an enormous gray hare, peculiar to these prairies, came 
+jumping along, and seated himself within fifty yards to look at us.  
+I thoughtlessly raised my rifle to shoot him, but Raymond called out 
+to me not to fire for fear the report should reach the ears of the 
+Indians.  That night for the first time we considered that the danger 
+to which we were exposed was of a somewhat serious character; and to 
+those who are unacquainted with Indians, it may seem strange that our 
+chief apprehensions arose from the supposed proximity of the people 
+whom we intended to visit.  Had any straggling party of these 
+faithful friends caught sight of us from the hill-top, they would 
+probably have returned in the night to plunder us of our horses and 
+perhaps of our scalps.  But we were on the prairie, where the GENIUS 
+LOCI is at war with all nervous apprehensions; and I presume that 
+neither Raymond nor I thought twice of the matter that evening.
+
+While he was looking after the animals, I sat by the fire engaged in 
+the novel task of baking bread.  The utensils were of the most simple 
+and primitive kind, consisting of two sticks inclining over the bed 
+of coals, one end thrust into the ground while the dough was twisted 
+in a spiral form round the other.  Under such circumstances all the 
+epicurean in a man's nature is apt to awaken within him.  I revisited 
+in fancy the far distant abodes of good fare, not indeed Frascati's, 
+or the Trois Freres Provencaux, for that were too extreme a flight; 
+but no other than the homely table of my old friend and host, Tom 
+Crawford, of the White Mountains.  By a singular revulsion, Tom 
+himself, whom I well remember to have looked upon as the 
+impersonation of all that is wild and backwoodsman-like, now appeared 
+before me as the ministering angel of comfort and good living.  Being 
+fatigued and drowsy I began to doze, and my thoughts, following the 
+same train of association, assumed another form.  Half-dreaming, I 
+saw myself surrounded with the mountains of New England, alive with 
+water-falls, their black crags tinctured with milk-white mists.  For 
+this reverie I paid a speedy penalty; for the bread was black on one 
+side and soft on the other.
+
+For eight hours Raymond and I, pillowed on our saddles, lay 
+insensible as logs.  Pauline's yellow head was stretched over me when 
+I awoke.  I got up and examined her.  Her feet indeed were bruised 
+and swollen by the accidents of yesterday, but her eye was brighter, 
+her motions livelier, and her mysterious malady had visibly abated.  
+We moved on, hoping within an hour to come in sight of the Indian 
+village; but again disappointment awaited us.  The trail disappeared, 
+melting away upon a hard and stony plain.  Raymond and I separating, 
+rode from side to side, scrutinizing every yard of ground, until at 
+length I discerned traces of the lodge-poles passing by the side of a 
+ridge of rocks.  We began again to follow them.
+
+"What is that black spot out there on the prairie?"
+
+"It looks like a dead buffalo," answered Raymond.
+
+We rode out to it, and found it to be the huge carcass of a bull 
+killed by the Indians as they had passed.  Tangled hair and scraps of 
+hide were scattered all around, for the wolves had been making merry 
+over it, and had hollowed out the entire carcass.  It was covered 
+with myriads of large black crickets, and from its appearance must 
+certainly have lain there for four or five days.  The sight was a 
+most disheartening one, and I observed to Raymond that the Indians 
+might still be fifty or sixty miles before us.  But he shook his 
+head, and replied that they dared not go so far for fear of their 
+enemies, the Snakes.
+
+Soon after this we lost the trail again, and ascended a neighboring 
+ridge, totally at a loss.  Before us lay a plain perfectly flat, 
+spreading on the right and left, without apparent limit, and bounded 
+in front by a long broken line of hills, ten or twelve miles distant.  
+All was open and exposed to view, yet not a buffalo nor an Indian was 
+visible.
+
+"Do you see that?" said Raymond; "Now we had better turn round."
+
+But as Raymond's bourgeois thought otherwise, we descended the hill 
+and began to cross the plain.  We had come so far that I knew 
+perfectly well neither Pauline's limbs nor my own could carry me back 
+to Fort Laramie.  I considered that the lines of expediency and 
+inclination tallied exactly, and that the most prudent course was to 
+keep forward.  The ground immediately around us was thickly strewn 
+with the skulls and bones of buffalo, for here a year or two before 
+the Indians had made a "surround"; yet no living game presented 
+itself.  At length, however, an antelope sprang up and gazed at us.  
+We fired together, and by a singular fatality we both missed, 
+although the animal stood, a fair mark, within eighty yards.  This 
+ill success might perhaps be charged to our own eagerness, for by 
+this time we had no provision left except a little flour.  We could 
+discern several small lakes, or rather extensive pools of water, 
+glistening in the distance.  As we approached them, wolves and 
+antelopes bounded away through the tall grass that grew in their 
+vicinity, and flocks of large white plover flew screaming over their 
+surface.  Having failed of the antelope, Raymond tried his hand at 
+the birds with the same ill success.  The water also disappointed us.  
+Its muddy margin was so beaten up by the crowd of buffalo that our 
+timorous animals were afraid to approach.  So we turned away and 
+moved toward the hills.  The rank grass, where it was not trampled 
+down by the buffalo, fairly swept our horses' necks.
+
+Again we found the same execrable barren prairie offering no clew by 
+which to guide our way.  As we drew near the hills an opening 
+appeared, through which the Indians must have gone if they had passed 
+that way at all.  Slowly we began to ascend it.  I felt the most 
+dreary forebodings of ill success, when on looking round I could 
+discover neither dent of hoof, nor footprint, nor trace of lodge-
+pole, though the passage was encumbered by the ghastly skulls of 
+buffalo.  We heard thunder muttering; a storm was coming on.
+
+As we gained the top of the gap, the prospect beyond began to 
+disclose itself.  First, we saw a long dark line of ragged clouds 
+upon the horizon, while above them rose the peak of the Medicine-Bow, 
+the vanguard of the Rocky Mountains; then little by little the plain 
+came into view, a vast green uniformity, forlorn and tenantless, 
+though Laramie Creek glistened in a waving line over its surface, 
+without a bush or a tree upon its banks.  As yet, the round 
+projecting shoulder of a hill intercepted a part of the view.  I rode 
+in advance, when suddenly I could distinguish a few dark spots on the 
+prairie, along the bank of the stream.
+
+"Buffalo!" said I.  Then a sudden hope flashed upon me, and eagerly 
+and anxiously I looked again.
+
+"Horses!" exclaimed Raymond, with a tremendous oath, lashing his mule 
+forward as he spoke.  More and more of the plain disclosed itself, 
+and in rapid succession more and more horses appeared, scattered 
+along the river bank, or feeding in bands over the prairie.  Then, 
+suddenly, standing in a circle by the stream, swarming with their 
+savage inhabitants, we saw rising before us the tall lodges of the 
+Ogallalla.  Never did the heart of wanderer more gladden at the sight 
+of home than did mine at the sight of those wild habitations!
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+THE OGALLALLA VILLAGE
+
+
+Such a narrative as this is hardly the place for portraying the 
+mental features of the Indians.  The same picture, slightly changed 
+in shade and coloring, would serve with very few exceptions for all 
+the tribes that lie north of the Mexican territories.  But with this 
+striking similarity in their modes of thought, the tribes of the lake 
+and ocean shores, of the forests and of the plains, differ greatly in 
+their manner of life.  Having been domesticated for several weeks 
+among one of the wildest of the wild hordes that roam over the remote 
+prairies, I had extraordinary opportunities of observing them, and I 
+flatter myself that a faithful picture of the scenes that passed 
+daily before my eyes may not be devoid of interest and value.  These 
+men were thorough savages.  Neither their manners nor their ideas 
+were in the slightest degree modified by contact with civilization.  
+They knew nothing of the power and real character of the white men, 
+and their children would scream in terror at the sight of me.  Their 
+religion, their superstitions, and their prejudices were the same 
+that had been handed down to them from immemorial time.  They fought 
+with the same weapons that their fathers fought with and wore the 
+same rude garments of skins.
+
+Great changes are at hand in that region.  With the stream of 
+emigration to Oregon and California, the buffalo will dwindle away, 
+and the large wandering communities who depend on them for support 
+must be broken and scattered.  The Indians will soon be corrupted by 
+the example of the whites, abased by whisky, and overawed by military 
+posts; so that within a few years the traveler may pass in tolerable 
+security through their country.  Its danger and its charm will have 
+disappeared together.
+
+As soon as Raymond and I discovered the village from the gap in the 
+hills, we were seen in our turn; keen eyes were constantly on the 
+watch.  As we rode down upon the plain the side of the village 
+nearest us was darkened with a crowd of naked figures gathering 
+around the lodges.  Several men came forward to meet us.  I could 
+distinguish among them the green blanket of the Frenchman Reynal.  
+When we came up the ceremony of shaking hands had to be gone through 
+with in due form, and then all were eager to know what had become of 
+the rest of my party.  I satisfied them on this point, and we all 
+moved forward together toward the village.
+
+"You've missed it," said Reynal; "if you'd been here day before 
+yesterday, you'd have found the whole prairie over yonder black with 
+buffalo as far as you could see.  There were no cows, though; nothing 
+but bulls.  We made a 'surround' every day till yesterday.  See the 
+village there; don't that look like good living?"
+
+In fact I could see, even at that distance, that long cords were 
+stretched from lodge to lodge, over which the meat, cut by the squaws 
+into thin sheets, was hanging to dry in the sun.  I noticed too that 
+the village was somewhat smaller than when I had last seen it, and I 
+asked Reynal the cause.  He said that the old Le Borgne had felt too 
+weak to pass over the mountains, and so had remained behind with all 
+his relations, including Mahto-Tatonka and his brothers.  The 
+Whirlwind too had been unwilling to come so far, because, as Reynal 
+said, he was afraid.  Only half a dozen lodges had adhered to him, 
+the main body of the village setting their chief's authority at 
+naught, and taking the course most agreeable to their inclinations.
+
+"What chiefs are there in the village now?" said I.
+
+"Well," said Reynal, "there's old Red-Water, and the Eagle-Feather, 
+and the Big Crow, and the Mad Wolf and the Panther, and the White 
+Shield, and--what's his name?--the half-breed Cheyenne."
+
+By this time we were close to the village, and I observed that while 
+the greater part of the lodges were very large and neat in their 
+appearance, there was at one side a cluster of squalid, miserable 
+huts.  I looked toward them, and made some remark about their 
+wretched appearance.  But I was touching upon delicate ground.
+
+"My squaw's relations live in those lodges," said Reynal very warmly, 
+"and there isn't a better set in the whole village."
+
+"Are there any chiefs among them?" asked I.
+
+"Chiefs?" said Reynal; "yes, plenty!"
+
+"What are their names?" I inquired.
+
+"Their names?  Why, there's the Arrow-Head.  If he isn't a chief he 
+ought to be one.  And there's the Hail-Storm.  He's nothing but a 
+boy, to be sure; but he's bound to be a chief one of these days!"
+
+Just then we passed between two of the lodges, and entered the great 
+area of the village.  Superb naked figures stood silently gazing on 
+us.
+
+"Where's the Bad Wound's lodge?" said I to Reynal.
+
+"There, you've missed it again!  The Bad Wound is away with The 
+Whirlwind.  If you could have found him here, and gone to live in his 
+lodge, he would have treated you better than any man in the village.  
+But there's the Big Crow's lodge yonder, next to old Red-Water's.  
+He's a good Indian for the whites, and I advise you to go and live 
+with him."
+
+"Are there many squaws and children in his lodge?" said I.
+
+"No; only one squaw and two or three children.  He keeps the rest in 
+a separate lodge by themselves."
+
+So, still followed by a crowd of Indians, Raymond and I rode up to 
+the entrance of the Big Crow's lodge.  A squaw came out immediately 
+and took our horses.  I put aside the leather nap that covered the 
+low opening, and stooping, entered the Big Crow's dwelling.  There I 
+could see the chief in the dim light, seated at one side, on a pile 
+of buffalo robes.  He greeted me with a guttural "How, cola!"  I 
+requested Reynal to tell him that Raymond and I were come to live 
+with him.  The Big Crow gave another low exclamation.  If the reader 
+thinks that we were intruding somewhat cavalierly, I beg him to 
+observe that every Indian in the village would have deemed himself 
+honored that white men should give such preference to his 
+hospitality.
+
+The squaw spread a buffalo robe for us in the guest's place at the 
+head of the lodge.  Our saddles were brought in, and scarcely were we 
+seated upon them before the place was thronged with Indians, who came 
+crowding in to see us.  The Big Crow produced his pipe and filled it 
+with the mixture of tobacco and shongsasha, or red willow bark.  
+Round and round it passed, and a lively conversation went forward.  
+Meanwhile a squaw placed before the two guests a wooden bowl of 
+boiled buffalo meat, but unhappily this was not the only banquet 
+destined to be inflicted on us.  Rapidly, one after another, boys and 
+young squaws thrust their heads in at the opening, to invite us to 
+various feasts in different parts of the village.  For half an hour 
+or more we were actively engaged in passing from lodge to lodge, 
+tasting in each of the bowl of meat set before us, and inhaling a 
+whiff or two from our entertainer's pipe.  A thunderstorm that had 
+been threatening for some time now began in good earnest.  We crossed 
+over to Reynal's lodge, though it hardly deserved this name, for it 
+consisted only of a few old buffalo robes, supported on poles, and 
+was quite open on one side.  Here we sat down, and the Indians 
+gathered round us.
+
+"What is it," said I, "that makes the thunder?"
+
+"It's my belief," said Reynal, "that it is a big stone rolling over 
+the sky."
+
+"Very likely," I replied; "but I want to know what the Indians think 
+about it."
+
+So he interpreted my question, which seemed to produce some doubt and 
+debate.  There was evidently a difference of opinion.  At last old 
+Mene-Seela, or Red-Water, who sat by himself at one side, looked up 
+with his withered face, and said he had always known what the thunder 
+was.  It was a great black bird; and once he had seen it, in a dream, 
+swooping down from the Black Hills, with its loud roaring wings; and 
+when it flapped them over a lake, they struck lightning from the 
+water.
+
+"The thunder is bad," said another old man, who sat muffled in his 
+buffalo robe; "he killed my brother last summer."
+
+Reynal, at my request, asked for an explanation; but the old man 
+remained doggedly silent, and would not look up.  Some time after I 
+learned how the accident occurred.  The man who was killed belonged 
+to an association which, among other mystic functions, claimed the 
+exclusive power and privilege of fighting the thunder.  Whenever a 
+storm which they wished to avert was threatening, the thunder-
+fighters would take their bows and arrows, their guns, their magic 
+drum, and a sort of whistle, made out of the wingbone of the war 
+eagle.  Thus equipped, they would run out and fire at the rising 
+cloud, whooping, yelling, whistling, and beating their drum, to 
+frighten it down again.  One afternoon a heavy black cloud was coming 
+up, and they repaired to the top of a hill, where they brought all 
+their magic artillery into play against it.  But the undaunted 
+thunder, refusing to be terrified, kept moving straight onward, and 
+darted out a bright flash which struck one of the party dead, as he 
+was in the very act of shaking his long iron-pointed lance against 
+it.  The rest scattered and ran yelling in an ecstasy of 
+superstitious terror back to their lodges.
+
+The lodge of my host Kongra-Tonga, or the Big Crow, presented a 
+picturesque spectacle that evening.  A score or more of Indians were 
+seated around in a circle, their dark naked forms just visible by the 
+dull light of the smoldering fire in the center, the pipe glowing 
+brightly in the gloom as it passed from hand to hand round the lodge.  
+Then a squaw would drop a piece of buffalo-fat on the dull embers.  
+Instantly a bright glancing flame would leap up, darting its clear 
+light to the very apex of the tall conical structure, where the tops 
+of the slender poles that supported its covering of leather were 
+gathered together.  It gilded the features of the Indians, as with 
+animated gestures they sat around it, telling their endless stories 
+of war and hunting.  It displayed rude garments of skins that hung 
+around the lodge; the bow, quiver, and lance suspended over the 
+resting-place of the chief, and the rifles and powder-horns of the 
+two white guests.  For a moment all would be bright as day; then the 
+flames would die away, and fitful flashes from the embers would 
+illumine the lodge, and then leave it in darkness.  Then all the 
+light would wholly fade, and the lodge and all within it be involved 
+again in obscurity.
+
+As I left the lodge next morning, I was saluted by howling and 
+yelling from all around the village, and half its canine population 
+rushed forth to the attack.  Being as cowardly as they were 
+clamorous, they kept jumping around me at the distance of a few 
+yards, only one little cur, about ten inches long, having spirit 
+enough to make a direct assault.  He dashed valiantly at the leather 
+tassel which in the Dakota fashion was trailing behind the heel of my 
+moccasin, and kept his hold, growling and snarling all the while, 
+though every step I made almost jerked him over on his back.  As I 
+knew that the eyes of the whole village were on the watch to see if I 
+showed any sign of apprehension, I walked forward without looking to 
+the right or left, surrounded wherever I went by this magic circle of 
+dogs.  When I came to Reynal's lodge I sat down by it, on which the 
+dogs dispersed growling to their respective quarters.  Only one large 
+white one remained, who kept running about before me and showing his 
+teeth.  I called him, but he only growled the more.  I looked at him 
+well.  He was fat and sleek; just such a dog as I wanted.  "My 
+friend," thought I, "you shall pay for this!  I will have you eaten 
+this very morning!"
+
+I intended that day to give the Indians a feast, by way of conveying 
+a favorable impression of my character and dignity; and a white dog 
+is the dish which the customs of the Dakota prescribe for all 
+occasions of formality and importance.  I consulted Reynal; he soon 
+discovered that an old woman in the next lodge was owner of the white 
+dog.  I took a gaudy cotton handkerchief, and laying it on the 
+ground, arranged some vermilion, beads, and other trinkets upon it.  
+Then the old squaw was summoned.  I pointed to the dog and to the 
+handkerchief.  She gave a scream of delight, snatched up the prize, 
+and vanished with it into her lodge.  For a few more trifles I 
+engaged the services of two other squaws, each of whom took the white 
+dog by one of his paws, and led him away behind the lodges, while he 
+kept looking up at them with a face of innocent surprise.  Having 
+killed him they threw him into a fire to singe; then chopped him up 
+and put him into two large kettles to boil.  Meanwhile I told Raymond 
+to fry in buffalo-fat what little flour we had left, and also to make 
+a kettle of tea as an additional item of the repast.
+
+The Big Crow's squaw was set briskly at work sweeping out the lodge 
+for the approaching festivity.  I confided to my host himself the 
+task of inviting the guests, thinking that I might thereby shift from 
+my own shoulders the odium of fancied neglect and oversight.
+
+When feasting is in question, one hour of the day serves an Indian as 
+well as another.  My entertainment came off about eleven o'clock.  At 
+that hour, Reynal and Raymond walked across the area of the village, 
+to the admiration of the inhabitants, carrying the two kettles of 
+dog-meat slung on a pole between them.  These they placed in the 
+center of the lodge, and then went back for the bread and the tea.  
+Meanwhile I had put on a pair of brilliant moccasins, and substituted 
+for my old buckskin frock a coat which I had brought with me in view 
+of such public occasions.  I also made careful use of the razor, an 
+operation which no man will neglect who desires to gain the good 
+opinion of Indians.  Thus attired, I seated myself between Reynal and 
+Raymond at the head of the lodge.  Only a few minutes elapsed before 
+all the guests had come in and were seated on the ground, wedged 
+together in a close circle around the lodge.  Each brought with him a 
+wooden bowl to hold his share of the repast.  When all were 
+assembled, two of the officials called "soldiers" by the white men, 
+came forward with ladles made of the horn of the Rocky Mountain 
+sheep, and began to distribute the feast, always assigning a double 
+share to the old men and chiefs.  The dog vanished with astonishing 
+celerity, and each guest turned his dish bottom upward to show that 
+all was gone.  Then the bread was distributed in its turn, and 
+finally the tea.  As the soldiers poured it out into the same wooden 
+bowls that had served for the substantial part of the meal, I thought 
+it had a particularly curious and uninviting color.
+
+"Oh!" said Reynal, "there was not tea enough, so I stirred some soot 
+in the kettle, to make it look strong."
+
+Fortunately an Indian's palate is not very discriminating.  The tea 
+was well sweetened, and that was all they cared for.
+
+Now the former part of the entertainment being concluded, the time 
+for speech-making was come.  The Big Crow produced a flat piece of 
+wood on which he cut up tobacco and shongsasha, and mixed them in due 
+proportions.  The pipes were filled and passed from hand to hand 
+around the company.  Then I began my speech, each sentence being 
+interpreted by Reynal as I went on, and echoed by the whole audience 
+with the usual exclamations of assent and approval.  As nearly as I 
+can recollect, it was as follows:
+
+I had come, I told them, from a country so far distant, that at the 
+rate they travel, they could not reach it in a year.
+
+"Howo how!"
+
+"There the Meneaska were more numerous than the blades of grass on 
+the prairie.  The squaws were far more beautiful than any they had 
+ever seen, and all the men were brave warriors."
+
+"How! how! how!"
+
+Here I was assailed by sharp twinges of conscience, for I fancied I 
+could perceive a fragrance of perfumery in the air, and a vision rose 
+before me of white kid gloves and silken mustaches with the mild and 
+gentle countenances of numerous fair-haired young men.  But I 
+recovered myself and began again.
+
+"While I was living in the Meneaska lodges, I had heard of the 
+Ogallalla, how great and brave a nation they were, how they loved the 
+whites, and how well they could hunt the buffalo and strike their 
+enemies.  I resolved to come and see if all that I heard was true."
+
+"How! how! how! how!"
+
+"As I had come on horseback through the mountains, I had been able to 
+bring them only a very few presents."
+
+"How!"
+
+"But I had enough tobacco to give them all a small piece.  They might 
+smoke it, and see how much better it was than the tobacco which they 
+got from the traders."
+
+"How! how! how!"
+
+"I had plenty of powder, lead, knives, and tobacco at Fort Laramie.  
+These I was anxious to give them, and if any of them should come to 
+the fort before I went away, I would make them handsome presents."
+
+"How! howo how! how!"
+
+Raymond then cut up and distributed among them two or three pounds of 
+tobacco, and old Mene-Seela began to make a reply.  It was quite 
+long, but the following was the pith of it:
+
+"He had always loved the whites.  They were the wisest people on 
+earth.  He believed they could do everything, and he was always glad 
+when any of them came to live in the Ogallalla lodges.  It was true I 
+had not made them many presents, but the reason of it was plain.  It 
+was clear that I liked them, or I never should have come so far to 
+find their village."
+
+Several other speeches of similar import followed, and then this more 
+serious matter being disposed of, there was an interval of smoking, 
+laughing, and conversation; but old Mene-Seela suddenly interrupted 
+it with a loud voice:
+
+"Now is a good time," he said, "when all the old men and chiefs are 
+here together, to decide what the people shall do.  We came over the 
+mountain to make our lodges for next year.  Our old ones are good for 
+nothing; they are rotten and worn out.  But we have been 
+disappointed.  We have killed buffalo bulls enough, but we have found 
+no herds of cows, and the skins of bulls are too thick and heavy for 
+our squaws to make lodges of.  There must be plenty of cows about the 
+Medicine-Bow Mountain.  We ought to go there.  To be sure it is 
+farther westward than we have ever been before, and perhaps the 
+Snakes will attack us, for those hunting-grounds belong to them.  But 
+we must have new lodges at any rate; our old ones will not serve for 
+another year.  We ought not to be afraid of the Snakes.  Our warriors 
+are brave, and they are all ready for war.  Besides, we have three 
+white men with their rifles to help us."
+
+I could not help thinking that the old man relied a little too much 
+on the aid of allies, one of whom was a coward, another a blockhead, 
+and the third an invalid.  This speech produced a good deal of 
+debate.  As Reynal did not interpret what was said, I could only 
+judge of the meaning by the features and gestures of the speakers.  
+At the end of it, however, the greater number seemed to have fallen 
+in with Mene-Seela's opinion.  A short silence followed, and then the 
+old man struck up a discordant chant, which I was told was a song of 
+thanks for the entertainment I had given them.
+
+"Now," said he, "let us go and give the white men a chance to 
+breathe."
+
+So the company all dispersed into the open air, and for some time the 
+old chief was walking round the village, singing his song in praise 
+of the feast, after the usual custom of the nation.
+
+At last the day drew to a close, and as the sun went down the horses 
+came trooping from the surrounding plains to be picketed before the 
+dwellings of their respective masters.  Soon within the great circle 
+of lodges appeared another concentric circle of restless horses; and 
+here and there fires were glowing and flickering amid the gloom of 
+the dusky figures around them.  I went over and sat by the lodge of 
+Reynal.  The Eagle-Feather, who was a son of Mene-Seela, and brother 
+of my host the Big Crow, was seated there already, and I asked him if 
+the village would move in the morning.  He shook his head, and said 
+that nobody could tell, for since old Mahto-Tatonka had died, the 
+people had been like children that did not know their own minds.  
+They were no better than a body without a head.  So I, as well as the 
+Indians themselves, fell asleep that night without knowing whether we 
+should set out in the morning toward the country of the Snakes.
+
+At daybreak, however, as I was coming up from the river after my 
+morning's ablutions, I saw that a movement was contemplated.  Some of 
+the lodges were reduced to nothing but bare skeletons of poles; the 
+leather covering of others was flapping in the wind as the squaws 
+were pulling it off.  One or two chiefs of note had resolved, it 
+seemed, on moving; and so having set their squaws at work, the 
+example was tacitly followed by the rest of the village.  One by one 
+the lodges were sinking down in rapid succession, and where the great 
+circle of the village had been only a moment before, nothing now 
+remained but a ring of horses and Indians, crowded in confusion 
+together.  The ruins of the lodges were spread over the ground, 
+together with kettles, stone mallets, great ladles of horn, buffalo 
+robes, and cases of painted hide, filled with dried meat.  Squaws 
+bustled about in their busy preparations, the old hags screaming to 
+one another at the stretch of their leathern lungs.  The shaggy 
+horses were patiently standing while the lodge-poles were lashed to 
+their sides, and the baggage piled upon their backs.  The dogs, with 
+their tongues lolling out, lay lazily panting, and waiting for the 
+time of departure.  Each warrior sat on the ground by the decaying 
+embers of his fire, unmoved amid all the confusion, while he held in 
+his hand the long trail-rope of his horse.
+
+As their preparations were completed, each family moved off the 
+ground.  The crowd was rapidly melting away.  I could see them 
+crossing the river, and passing in quick succession along the profile 
+of the hill on the farther bank.  When all were gone, I mounted and 
+set out after them, followed by Raymond, and as we gained the summit, 
+the whole village came in view at once, straggling away for a mile or 
+more over the barren plains before us.  Everywhere the iron points of 
+lances were glittering.  The sun never shone upon a more strange 
+array.  Here were the heavy-laden pack horses, some wretched old 
+women leading them, and two or three children clinging to their 
+backs.  Here were mules or ponies covered from head to tail with 
+gaudy trappings, and mounted by some gay young squaw, grinning 
+bashfulness and pleasure as the Meneaska looked at her.  Boys with 
+miniature bows and arrows were wandering over the plains, little 
+naked children were running along on foot, and numberless dogs were 
+scampering among the feet of the horses.  The young braves, gaudy 
+with paint and feathers, were riding in groups among the crowd, and 
+often galloping, two or three at once along the line, to try the 
+speed of their horses.  Here and there you might see a rank of sturdy 
+pedestrians stalking along in their white buffalo robes.  These were 
+the dignitaries of the village, the old men and warriors, to whose 
+age and experience that wandering democracy yielded a silent 
+deference.  With the rough prairie and the broken hills for its 
+background, the restless scene was striking and picturesque beyond 
+description.  Days and weeks made me familiar with it, but never 
+impaired its effect upon my fancy.
+
+As we moved on the broken column grew yet more scattered and 
+disorderly, until, as we approached the foot of a hill, I saw the old 
+men before mentioned seating themselves in a line upon the ground, in 
+advance of the whole.  They lighted a pipe and sat smoking, laughing, 
+and telling stories, while the people, stopping as they successively 
+came up, were soon gathered in a crowd behind them.  Then the old men 
+rose, drew their buffalo robes over their shoulders, and strode on as 
+before.  Gaining the top of the hill, we found a very steep declivity 
+before us.  There was not a minute's pause.  The whole descended in a 
+mass, amid dust and confusion.  The horses braced their feet as they 
+slid down, women and children were screaming, dogs yelping as they 
+were trodden upon, while stones and earth went rolling to the bottom.  
+In a few moments I could see the village from the summit, spreading 
+again far and wide over the plain below.
+
+At our encampment that afternoon I was attacked anew by my old 
+disorder.  In half an hour the strength that I had been gaining for a 
+week past had vanished again, and I became like a man in a dream.  
+But at sunset I lay down in the Big Crow's lodge and slept, totally 
+unconscious till the morning.  The first thing that awakened me was a 
+hoarse flapping over my head, and a sudden light that poured in upon 
+me.  The camp was breaking up, and the squaws were moving the 
+covering from the lodge.  I arose and shook off my blanket with the 
+feeling of perfect health; but scarcely had I gained my feet when a 
+sense of my helpless condition was once more forced upon me, and I 
+found myself scarcely able to stand.  Raymond had brought up Pauline 
+and the mule, and I stooped to raise my saddle from the ground.  My 
+strength was quite inadequate to the task.  "You must saddle her," 
+said I to Raymond, as I sat down again on a pile of buffalo robes:
+
+
+     "Et hoec etiam fortasse meminisse juvabit."
+
+
+I thought, while with a painful effort I raised myself into the 
+saddle.  Half an hour after, even the expectation that Virgil's line 
+expressed seemed destined to disappointment.  As we were passing over 
+a great plain, surrounded by long broken ridges, I rode slowly in 
+advance of the Indians, with thoughts that wandered far from the time 
+and from the place.  Suddenly the sky darkened, and thunder began to 
+mutter.  Clouds were rising over the hills, as dreary and dull as the 
+first forebodings of an approaching calamity; and in a moment all 
+around was wrapped in shadow.  I looked behind.  The Indians had 
+stopped to prepare for the approaching storm, and the dark, dense 
+mass of savages stretched far to the right and left.  Since the first 
+attack of my disorder the effects of rain upon me had usually been 
+injurious in the extreme.  I had no strength to spare, having at that 
+moment scarcely enough to keep my seat on horseback.  Then, for the 
+first time, it pressed upon me as a strong probability that I might 
+never leave those deserts.  "Well," thought I to myself, "a prairie 
+makes quick and sharp work.  Better to die here, in the saddle to the 
+last, than to stifle in the hot air of a sick chamber, and a thousand 
+times better than to drag out life, as many have done, in the 
+helpless inaction of lingering disease."  So, drawing the buffalo 
+robe on which I sat over my head, I waited till the storm should 
+come.  It broke at last with a sudden burst of fury, and passing away 
+as rapidly as it came, left the sky clear again.  My reflections 
+served me no other purpose than to look back upon as a piece of 
+curious experience; for the rain did not produce the ill effects that 
+I had expected.  We encamped within an hour.  Having no change of 
+clothes, I contrived to borrow a curious kind of substitute from 
+Reynal: and this done, I went home, that is, to the Big Crow's lodge 
+to make the entire transfer that was necessary.  Half a dozen squaws 
+were in the lodge, and one of them taking my arm held it against her 
+own, while a general laugh and scream of admiration were raised at 
+the contrast in the color of the skin.
+
+Our encampment that afternoon was not far distant from a spur of the 
+Black Hills, whose ridges, bristling with fir trees, rose from the 
+plains a mile or two on our right.  That they might move more rapidly 
+toward their proposed hunting-grounds, the Indians determined to 
+leave at this place their stock of dried meat and other superfluous 
+articles.  Some left even their lodges, and contented themselves with 
+carrying a few hides to make a shelter from the sun and rain.  Half 
+the inhabitants set out in the afternoon, with loaded pack horses, 
+toward the mountains.  Here they suspended the dried meat upon trees, 
+where the wolves and grizzly bears could not get at it.  All returned 
+at evening.  Some of the young men declared that they had heard the 
+reports of guns among the mountains to the eastward, and many 
+surmises were thrown out as to the origin of these sounds.  For my 
+part, I was in hopes that Shaw and Henry Chatillon were coming to 
+join us.  I would have welcomed them cordially, for I had no other 
+companions than two brutish white men and five hundred savages.  I 
+little suspected that at that very moment my unlucky comrade was 
+lying on a buffalo robe at Fort Laramie, fevered with ivy poison, and 
+solacing his woes with tobacco and Shakespeare.
+
+As we moved over the plains on the next morning, several young men 
+were riding about the country as scouts; and at length we began to 
+see them occasionally on the tops of the hills, shaking their robes 
+as a signal that they saw buffalo.  Soon after, some bulls came in 
+sight.  Horsemen darted away in pursuit, and we could see from the 
+distance that one or two of the buffalo were killed.  Raymond 
+suddenly became inspired.  I looked at him as he rode by my side; his 
+face had actually grown intelligent!
+
+"This is the country for me!" he said; "if I could only carry the 
+buffalo that are killed here every month down to St. Louis I'd make 
+my fortune in one winter.  I'd grow as rich as old Papin, or 
+Mackenzie either.  I call this the poor man's market.  When I'm 
+hungry I have only got to take my rifle and go out and get better 
+meat than the rich folks down below can get with all their money.  
+You won't catch me living in St. Louis another winter."
+
+"No," said Reynal, "you had better say that after you and your 
+Spanish woman almost starved to death there.  What a fool you were 
+ever to take her to the settlements."
+
+"Your Spanish woman?" said I; "I never heard of her before.  Are you 
+married to her?"
+
+"No," answered Raymond, again looking intelligent; "the priests don't 
+marry their women, and why should I marry mine?"
+
+This honorable mention of the Mexican clergy introduced the subject 
+of religion, and I found that my two associates, in common with other 
+white men in the country, were as indifferent to their future welfare 
+as men whose lives are in constant peril are apt to be.  Raymond had 
+never heard of the Pope.  A certain bishop, who lived at Taos or at 
+Santa Fe, embodied his loftiest idea of an ecclesiastical dignitary.  
+Reynal observed that a priest had been at Fort Laramie two years ago, 
+on his way to the Nez Perce mission, and that he had confessed all 
+the men there and given them absolution.  "I got a good clearing out 
+myself that time," said Reynal, "and I reckon that will do for me 
+till I go down to the settlements again."
+
+Here he interrupted himself with an oath and exclaimed: "Look! look!  
+The Panther is running an antelope!"
+
+The Panther, on his black and white horse, one of the best in the 
+village, came at full speed over the hill in hot pursuit of an 
+antelope that darted away like lightning before him.  The attempt was 
+made in mere sport and bravado, for very few are the horses that can 
+for a moment compete in swiftness with this little animal.  The 
+antelope ran down the hill toward the main body of the Indians who 
+were moving over the plain below.  Sharp yells were given and 
+horsemen galloped out to intercept his flight.  At this he turned 
+sharply to the left and scoured away with such incredible speed that 
+he distanced all his pursuers and even the vaunted horse of the 
+Panther himself.  A few moments after we witnessed a more serious 
+sport.  A shaggy buffalo bull bounded out from a neighboring hollow, 
+and close behind him came a slender Indian boy, riding without 
+stirrups or saddle and lashing his eager little horse to full speed.  
+Yard after yard he drew closer to his gigantic victim, though the 
+bull, with his short tail erect and his tongue lolling out a foot 
+from his foaming jaws, was straining his unwieldy strength to the 
+utmost.  A moment more and the boy was close alongside of him.  It 
+was our friend the Hail-Storm.  He dropped the rein on his horse's 
+neck and jerked an arrow like lightning from the quiver at his 
+shoulder.
+
+"I tell you," said Reynal, "that in a year's time that boy will match 
+the best hunter in the village.  There he has given it to him! and 
+there goes another!  You feel well, now, old bull, don't you, with 
+two arrows stuck in your lights?  There, he has given him another!  
+Hear how the Hail-Storm yells when he shoots!  Yes, jump at him; try 
+it again, old fellow!  You may jump all day before you get your horns 
+into that pony!"
+
+The bull sprang again and again at his assailant, but the horse kept 
+dodging with wonderful celerity.  At length the bull followed up his 
+attack with a furious rush, and the Hail-Storm was put to flight, the 
+shaggy monster following close behind.  The boy clung in his seat 
+like a leech, and secure in the speed of his little pony, looked 
+round toward us and laughed.  In a moment he was again alongside of 
+the bull, who was now driven to complete desperation.  His eyeballs 
+glared through his tangled mane, and the blood flew from his mouth 
+and nostrils.  Thus, still battling with each other, the two enemies 
+disappeared over the hill.
+
+Many of the Indians rode at full gallop toward the spot.  We followed 
+at a more moderate pace, and soon saw the bull lying dead on the side 
+of the hill.  The Indians were gathered around him, and several 
+knives were already at work.  These little instruments were plied 
+with such wonderful address that the twisted sinews were cut apart, 
+the ponderous bones fell asunder as if by magic, and in a moment the 
+vast carcass was reduced to a heap of bloody ruins.  The surrounding 
+group of savages offered no very attractive spectacle to a civilized 
+eye.  Some were cracking the huge thigh-bones and devouring the 
+marrow within; others were cutting away pieces of the liver and other 
+approved morsels, and swallowing them on the spot with the appetite 
+of wolves.  The faces of most of them, besmeared with blood from ear 
+to ear, looked grim and horrible enough.  My friend the White Shield 
+proffered me a marrowbone, so skillfully laid open that all the rich 
+substance within was exposed to view at once.  Another Indian held 
+out a large piece of the delicate lining of the paunch; but these 
+courteous offerings I begged leave to decline.  I noticed one little 
+boy who was very busy with his knife about the jaws and throat of the 
+buffalo, from which he extracted some morsel of peculiar delicacy.  
+It is but fair to say that only certain parts of the animal are 
+considered eligible in these extempore banquets.  The Indians would 
+look with abhorrence on anyone who should partake indiscriminately of 
+the newly killed carcass.
+
+We encamped that night, and marched westward through the greater part 
+of the following day.  On the next morning we again resumed our 
+journey.  It was the 17th of July, unless my notebook misleads me.  
+At noon we stopped by some pools of rain-water, and in the afternoon 
+again set forward.  This double movement was contrary to the usual 
+practice of the Indians, but all were very anxious to reach the 
+hunting ground, kill the necessary number of buffalo, and retreat as 
+soon as possible from the dangerous neighborhood.  I pass by for the 
+present some curious incidents that occurred during these marches and 
+encampments.  Late in the afternoon of the last-mentioned day we came 
+upon the banks of a little sandy stream, of which the Indians could 
+not tell the name; for they were very ill acquainted with that part 
+of the country.  So parched and arid were the prairies around that 
+they could not supply grass enough for the horses to feed upon, and 
+we were compelled to move farther and farther up the stream in search 
+of ground for encampment.  The country was much wilder than before.  
+The plains were gashed with ravines and broken into hollows and steep 
+declivities, which flanked our course, as, in long-scattered array, 
+the Indians advanced up the side of the stream.  Mene-Seela consulted 
+an extraordinary oracle to instruct him where the buffalo were to be 
+found.  When he with the other chiefs sat down on the grass to smoke 
+and converse, as they often did during the march, the old man picked 
+up one of those enormous black-and-green crickets, which the Dakota 
+call by a name that signifies "They who point out the buffalo."  The 
+Root-Diggers, a wretched tribe beyond the mountains, turn them to 
+good account by making them into a sort of soup, pronounced by 
+certain unscrupulous trappers to be extremely rich.  Holding the 
+bloated insect respectfully between his fingers and thumb, the old 
+Indian looked attentively at him and inquired, "Tell me, my father, 
+where must we go to-morrow to find the buffalo?"  The cricket twisted 
+about his long horns in evident embarrassment.  At last he pointed, 
+or seemed to point, them westward.  Mene-Seela, dropping him gently 
+on the grass, laughed with great glee, and said that if we went that 
+way in the morning we should be sure to kill plenty of game.
+
+Toward evening we came upon a fresh green meadow, traversed by the 
+stream, and deep-set among tall sterile bluffs.  The Indians 
+descended its steep bank; and as I was at the rear, I was one of the 
+last to reach this point.  Lances were glittering, feathers 
+fluttering, and the water below me was crowded with men and horses 
+passing through, while the meadow beyond was swarming with the 
+restless crowd of Indians.  The sun was just setting, and poured its 
+softened light upon them through an opening in the hills.
+
+I remarked to Reynal that at last we had found a good camping-ground.
+
+"Oh, it is very good," replied he ironically; "especially if there is 
+a Snake war party about, and they take it into their heads to shoot 
+down at us from the top of these hills.  It is no plan of mine, 
+camping in such a hole as this!"
+
+The Indians also seemed apprehensive.  High up on the top of the 
+tallest bluff, conspicuous in the bright evening sunlight, sat a 
+naked warrior on horseback, looking around, as it seemed, over the 
+neighboring country; and Raymond told me that many of the young men 
+had gone out in different directions as scouts.
+
+The shadows had reached to the very summit of the bluffs before the 
+lodges were erected and the village reduced again to quiet and order.  
+A cry was suddenly raised, and men, women, and children came running 
+out with animated faces, and looked eagerly through the opening on 
+the hills by which the stream entered from the westward.  I could 
+discern afar off some dark, heavy masses, passing over the sides of a 
+low hill.  They disappeared, and then others followed.  These were 
+bands of buffalo cows.  The hunting-ground was reached at last, and 
+everything promised well for the morrow's sport.  Being fatigued and 
+exhausted, I went and lay down in Kongra-Tonga's lodge, when Raymond 
+thrust in his head, and called upon me to come and see some sport.  A 
+number of Indians were gathered, laughing, along the line of lodges 
+on the western side of the village, and at some distance, I could 
+plainly see in the twilight two huge black monsters stalking, heavily 
+and solemnly, directly toward us.  They were buffalo bulls.  The wind 
+blew from them to the village, and such was their blindness and 
+stupidity that they were advancing upon the enemy without the least 
+consciousness of his presence.  Raymond told me that two men had 
+hidden themselves with guns in a ravine about twenty yards in front 
+of us.  The two bulls walked slowly on, heavily swinging from side to 
+side in their peculiar gait of stupid dignity.  They approached 
+within four or five rods of the ravine where the Indians lay in 
+ambush.  Here at last they seemed conscious that something was wrong, 
+for they both stopped and stood perfectly still, without looking 
+either to the right or to the left.  Nothing of them was to be seen 
+but two huge black masses of shaggy mane, with horns, eyes, and nose 
+in the center, and a pair of hoofs visible at the bottom.  At last 
+the more intelligent of them seemed to have concluded that it was 
+time to retire.  Very slowly, and with an air of the gravest and most 
+majestic deliberation, he began to turn round, as if he were 
+revolving on a pivot.  Little by little his ugly brown side was 
+exposed to view.  A white smoke sprang out, as it were from the 
+ground; a sharp report came with it.  The old bull gave a very 
+undignified jump and galloped off.  At this his comrade wheeled about 
+with considerable expedition.  The other Indian shot at him from the 
+ravine, and then both the bulls were running away at full speed, 
+while half the juvenile population of the village raised a yell and 
+ran after them.  The first bull was soon stopped, and while the crowd 
+stood looking at him at a respectable distance, he reeled and rolled 
+over on his side.  The other, wounded in a less vital part, galloped 
+away to the hills and escaped.
+
+In half an hour it was totally dark.  I lay down to sleep, and ill as 
+I was, there was something very animating in the prospect of the 
+general hunt that was to take place on the morrow.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+THE HUNTING CAMP
+
+
+Long before daybreak the Indians broke up their camp.  The women of 
+Mene-Seela's lodge were as usual among the first that were ready for 
+departure, and I found the old man himself sitting by the embers of 
+the decayed fire, over which he was warming his withered fingers, as 
+the morning was very chilly and damp.  The preparations for moving 
+were even more confused and disorderly than usual.  While some 
+families were leaving the ground the lodges of others were still 
+standing untouched.  At this old Mene-Seela grew impatient, and 
+walking out to the middle of the village stood with his robe wrapped 
+close around him, and harangued the people in a loud, sharp voice.  
+Now, he said, when they were on an enemy's hunting-grounds, was not 
+the time to behave like children; they ought to be more active and 
+united than ever.  His speech had some effect.  The delinquents took 
+down their lodges and loaded their pack horses; and when the sun 
+rose, the last of the men, women, and children had left the deserted 
+camp.
+
+This movement was made merely for the purpose of finding a better and 
+safer position.  So we advanced only three or four miles up the 
+little stream, before each family assumed its relative place in the 
+great ring of the village, and all around the squaws were actively at 
+work in preparing the camp.  But not a single warrior dismounted from 
+his horse.  All the men that morning were mounted on inferior 
+animals, leading their best horses by a cord, or confiding them to 
+the care of boys.  In small parties they began to leave the ground 
+and ride rapidly away over the plains to the westward.  I had taken 
+no food that morning, and not being at all ambitious of further 
+abstinence, I went into my host's lodge, which his squaws had erected 
+with wonderful celerity, and sat down in the center, as a gentle hint 
+that I was hungry.  A wooden bowl was soon set before me, filled with 
+the nutritious preparation of dried meat called pemmican by the 
+northern voyagers and wasna by the Dakota.  Taking a handful to break 
+my fast upon, I left the lodge just in time to see the last band of 
+hunters disappear over the ridge of the neighboring hill.  I mounted 
+Pauline and galloped in pursuit, riding rather by the balance than by 
+any muscular strength that remained to me.  From the top of the hill 
+I could overlook a wide extent of desolate and unbroken prairie, over 
+which, far and near, little parties of naked horsemen were rapidly 
+passing.  I soon came up to the nearest, and we had not ridden a mile 
+before all were united into one large and compact body.  All was 
+haste and eagerness.  Each hunter was whipping on his horse, as if 
+anxious to be the first to reach the game.  In such movements among 
+the Indians this is always more or less the case; but it was 
+especially so in the present instance, because the head chief of the 
+village was absent, and there were but few "soldiers," a sort of 
+Indian police, who among their other functions usually assumed the 
+direction of a buffalo hunt.  No man turned to the right hand or to 
+the left.  We rode at a swift canter straight forward, uphill and 
+downhill, and through the stiff, obstinate growth of the endless 
+wild-sage bushes.  For an hour and a half the same red shoulders, the 
+same long black hair rose and fell with the motion of the horses 
+before me.  Very little was said, though once I observed an old man 
+severely reproving Raymond for having left his rifle behind him, when 
+there was some probability of encountering an enemy before the day 
+was over.  As we galloped across a plain thickly set with sagebushes, 
+the foremost riders vanished suddenly from sight, as if diving into 
+the earth.  The arid soil was cracked into a deep ravine.  Down we 
+all went in succession and galloped in a line along the bottom, until 
+we found a point where, one by one, the horses could scramble out.  
+Soon after we came upon a wide shallow stream, and as we rode swiftly 
+over the hard sand-beds and through the thin sheets of rippling 
+water, many of the savage horsemen threw themselves to the ground, 
+knelt on the sand, snatched a hasty draught, and leaping back again 
+to their seats, galloped on again as before.
+
+Meanwhile scouts kept in advance of the party; and now we began to 
+see them on the ridge of the hills, waving their robes in token that 
+buffalo were visible.  These however proved to be nothing more than 
+old straggling bulls, feeding upon the neighboring plains, who would 
+stare for a moment at the hostile array and then gallop clumsily off.  
+At length we could discern several of these scouts making their 
+signals to us at once; no longer waving their robes boldly from the 
+top of the hill, but standing lower down, so that they could not be 
+seen from the plains beyond.  Game worth pursuing had evidently been 
+discovered.  The excited Indians now urged forward their tired horses 
+even more rapidly than before.  Pauline, who was still sick and 
+jaded, began to groan heavily; and her yellow sides were darkened 
+with sweat.  As we were crowding together over a lower intervening 
+hill, I heard Reynal and Raymond shouting to me from the left; and 
+looking in that direction, I saw them riding away behind a party of 
+about twenty mean-looking Indians.  These were the relatives of 
+Reynal's squaw Margot, who, not wishing to take part in the general 
+hunt, were riding toward a distant hollow, where they could discern a 
+small band of buffalo which they meant to appropriate to themselves.  
+I answered to the call by ordering Raymond to turn back and follow 
+me.  He reluctantly obeyed, though Reynal, who had relied on his 
+assistance in skinning, cutting up, and carrying to camp the buffalo 
+that he and his party should kill, loudly protested and declared that 
+we should see no sport if we went with the rest of the Indians.  
+Followed by Raymond I pursued the main body of hunters, while Reynal 
+in a great rage whipped his horse over the hill after his ragamuffin 
+relatives.  The Indians, still about a hundred in number, rode in a 
+dense body at some distance in advance.  They galloped forward, and a 
+cloud of dust was flying in the wind behind them.  I could not 
+overtake them until they had stopped on the side of the hill where 
+the scouts were standing.  Here, each hunter sprang in haste from the 
+tired animal which he had ridden, and leaped upon the fresh horse 
+that he had brought with him.  There was not a saddle or a bridle in 
+the whole party.  A piece of buffalo robe girthed over the horse's 
+back served in the place of the one, and a cord of twisted hair 
+lashed firmly round his lower jaw answered for the other.  Eagle 
+feathers were dangling from every mane and tail, as insignia of 
+courage and speed.  As for the rider, he wore no other clothing than 
+a light cincture at his waist, and a pair of moccasins.  He had a 
+heavy whip, with a handle of solid elk-horn, and a lash of knotted 
+bull-hide, fastened to his wrist by an ornamental band.  His bow was 
+in his hand, and his quiver of otter or panther skin hung at his 
+shoulder.  Thus equipped, some thirty of the hunters galloped away 
+toward the left, in order to make a circuit under cover of the hills, 
+that the buffalo might be assailed on both sides at once.  The rest 
+impatiently waited until time enough had elapsed for their companions 
+to reach the required position.  Then riding upward in a body, we 
+gained the ridge of the hill, and for the first time came in sight of 
+the buffalo on the plain beyond.
+
+They were a band of cows, four or five hundred in number, who were 
+crowded together near the bank of a wide stream that was soaking 
+across the sand-beds of the valley.  This was a large circular basin, 
+sun-scorched and broken, scantily covered with herbage and 
+encompassed with high barren hills, from an opening in which we could 
+see our allies galloping out upon the plain.  The wind blew from that 
+direction.  The buffalo were aware of their approach, and had begun 
+to move, though very slowly and in a compact mass.  I have no further 
+recollection of seeing the game until we were in the midst of them, 
+for as we descended the hill other objects engrossed my attention.  
+Numerous old bulls were scattered over the plain, and ungallantly 
+deserting their charge at our approach, began to wade and plunge 
+through the treacherous quick-sands or the stream, and gallop away 
+toward the hills.  One old veteran was struggling behind all the rest 
+with one of his forelegs, which had been broken by some accident, 
+dangling about uselessly at his side.  His appearance, as he went 
+shambling along on three legs, was so ludicrous that I could not help 
+pausing for a moment to look at him.  As I came near, he would try to 
+rush upon me, nearly throwing himself down at every awkward attempt.  
+Looking up, I saw the whole body of Indians full a hundred yards in 
+advance.  I lashed Pauline in pursuit and reached them just in time, 
+for as we mingled among them, each hunter, as if by a common impulse, 
+violently struck his horse, each horse sprang forward convulsively, 
+and scattering in the charge in order to assail the entire herd at 
+once, we all rushed headlong upon the buffalo.  We were among them in 
+an instant.  Amid the trampling and the yells I could see their dark 
+figures running hither and thither through clouds of dust, and the 
+horsemen darting in pursuit.  While we were charging on one side, our 
+companions had attacked the bewildered and panic-stricken herd on the 
+other.  The uproar and confusion lasted but for a moment.  The dust 
+cleared away, and the buffalo could be seen scattering as from a 
+common center, flying over the plain singly, or in long files and 
+small compact bodies, while behind each followed the Indians, lashing 
+their horses to furious speed, forcing them close upon their prey, 
+and yelling as they launched arrow after arrow into their sides.  The 
+large black carcasses were strewn thickly over the ground.  Here and 
+there wounded buffalo were standing, their bleeding sides feathered 
+with arrows; and as I rode past them their eyes would glare, they 
+would bristle like gigantic cats, and feebly attempt to rush up and 
+gore my horse.
+
+I left camp that morning with a philosophic resolution.  Neither I 
+nor my horse were at that time fit for such sport, and I had 
+determined to remain a quiet spectator; but amid the rush of horses 
+and buffalo, the uproar and the dust, I found it impossible to sit 
+still; and as four or five buffalo ran past me in a line, I drove 
+Pauline in pursuit.  We went plunging close at their heels through 
+the water and the quick-sands, and clambering the bank, chased them 
+through the wild-sage bushes that covered the rising ground beyond.  
+But neither her native spirit nor the blows of the knotted bull-hide 
+could supply the place of poor Pauline's exhausted strength.  We 
+could not gain an inch upon the poor fugitives.  At last, however, 
+they came full upon a ravine too wide to leap over; and as this 
+compelled them to turn abruptly to the left, I contrived to get 
+within ten or twelve yards of the hindmost.  At this she faced about, 
+bristled angrily, and made a show of charging.  I shot at her with a 
+large holster pistol, and hit her somewhere in the neck.  Down she 
+tumbled into the ravine, whither her companions had descended before 
+her.  I saw their dark backs appearing and disappearing as they 
+galloped along the bottom; then, one by one, they came scrambling out 
+on the other side and ran off as before, the wounded animal following 
+with unabated speed.
+
+Turning back, I saw Raymond coming on his black mule to meet me; and 
+as we rode over the field together, we counted dozens of carcasses 
+lying on the plain, in the ravines and on the sandy bed of the 
+stream.  Far away in the distance, horses and buffalo were still 
+scouring along, with little clouds of dust rising behind them; and 
+over the sides of the hills we could see long files of the frightened 
+animals rapidly ascending.  The hunters began to return.  The boys, 
+who had held the horses behind the hill, made their appearance, and 
+the work of flaying and cutting up began in earnest all over the 
+field.  I noticed my host Kongra-Tonga beyond the stream, just 
+alighting by the side of a cow which he had killed.  Riding up to him 
+I found him in the act of drawing out an arrow, which, with the 
+exception of the notch at the end, had entirely disappeared in the 
+animal.  I asked him to give it to me, and I still retain it as a 
+proof, though by no means the most striking one that could be 
+offered, of the force and dexterity with which the Indians discharge 
+their arrows.
+
+The hides and meat were piled upon the horses, and the hunters began 
+to leave the ground.  Raymond and I, too, getting tired of the scene, 
+set out for the village, riding straight across the intervening 
+desert.  There was no path, and as far as I could see, no landmarks 
+sufficient to guide us; but Raymond seemed to have an instinctive 
+perception of the point on the horizon toward which we ought to 
+direct our course.  Antelope were bounding on all sides, and as is 
+always the case in the presence of buffalo, they seemed to have lost 
+their natural shyness and timidity.  Bands of them would run lightly 
+up the rocky declivities, and stand gazing down upon us from the 
+summit.  At length we could distinguish the tall white rocks and the 
+old pine trees that, as we well remembered, were just above the site 
+of the encampment.  Still, we could see nothing of the village itself 
+until, ascending a grassy hill, we found the circle of lodges, dingy 
+with storms and smoke, standing on the plain at our very feet.
+
+I entered the lodge of my host.  His squaw instantly brought me food 
+and water, and spread a buffalo robe for me to lie upon; and being 
+much fatigued, I lay down and fell asleep.  In about an hour the 
+entrance of Kongra-Tonga, with his arms smeared with blood to the 
+elbows, awoke me.  He sat down in his usual seat on the left side of 
+the lodge.  His squaw gave him a vessel of water for washing, set 
+before him a bowl of boiled meat, and as he was eating pulled off his 
+bloody moccasins and placed fresh ones on his feet; then 
+outstretching his limbs, my host composed himself to sleep.
+
+And now the hunters, two or three at a time, began to come rapidly 
+in, and each, consigning his horses to the squaws, entered his lodge 
+with the air of a man whose day's work was done.  The squaws flung 
+down the load from the burdened horses, and vast piles of meat and 
+hides were soon accumulated before every lodge.  By this time it was 
+darkening fast, and the whole village was illumined by the glare of 
+fires blazing all around.  All the squaws and children were gathered 
+about the piles of meat, exploring them in search of the daintiest 
+portions.  Some of these they roasted on sticks before the fires, but 
+often they dispensed with this superfluous operation.  Late into the 
+night the fires were still glowing upon the groups of feasters 
+engaged in this savage banquet around them.
+
+Several hunters sat down by the fire in Kongra-Tonga's lodge to talk 
+over the day's exploits.  Among the rest, Mene-Seela came in.  Though 
+he must have seen full eighty winters, he had taken an active share 
+in the day's sport.  He boasted that he had killed two cows that 
+morning, and would have killed a third if the dust had not blinded 
+him so that he had to drop his bow and arrows and press both hands 
+against his eyes to stop the pain.  The firelight fell upon his 
+wrinkled face and shriveled figure as he sat telling his story with 
+such inimitable gesticulation that every man in the lodge broke into 
+a laugh.
+
+Old Mene-Seela was one of the few Indians in the village with whom I 
+would have trusted myself alone without suspicion, and the only one 
+from whom I would have received a gift or a service without the 
+certainty that it proceeded from an interested motive.  He was a 
+great friend to the whites.  He liked to be in their society, and was 
+very vain of the favors he had received from them.  He told me one 
+afternoon, as we were sitting together in his son's lodge, that he 
+considered the beaver and the whites the wisest people on earth; 
+indeed, he was convinced they were the same; and an incident which 
+had happened to him long before had assured him of this.  So he began 
+the following story, and as the pipe passed in turn to him, Reynal 
+availed himself of these interruptions to translate what had 
+preceded.  But the old man accompanied his words with such admirable 
+pantomime that translation was hardly necessary.
+
+He said that when he was very young, and had never yet seen a white 
+man, he and three or four of his companions were out on a beaver 
+hunt, and he crawled into a large beaver lodge, to examine what was 
+there.  Sometimes he was creeping on his hands and knees, sometimes 
+he was obliged to swim, and sometimes to lie flat on his face and 
+drag himself along.  In this way he crawled a great distance 
+underground.  It was very dark, cold and close, so that at last he 
+was almost suffocated, and fell into a swoon.  When he began to 
+recover, he could just distinguish the voices of his companions 
+outside, who had given him up for lost, and were singing his death 
+song.  At first he could see nothing, but soon he discerned something 
+white before him, and at length plainly distinguished three people, 
+entirely white; one man and two women, sitting at the edge of a black 
+pool of water.  He became alarmed and thought it high time to 
+retreat.  Having succeeded, after great trouble, in reaching daylight 
+again, he went straight to the spot directly above the pool of water 
+where he had seen the three mysterious beings.  Here he beat a hole 
+with his war club in the ground, and sat down to watch.  In a moment 
+the nose of an old male beaver appeared at the opening.  Mene-Seela 
+instantly seized him and dragged him up, when two other beavers, both 
+females, thrust out their heads, and these he served in the same way.  
+"These," continued the old man, "must have been the three white 
+people whom I saw sitting at the edge of the water."
+
+Mene-Seela was the grand depository of the legends and traditions of 
+the village.  I succeeded, however, in getting from him only a few 
+fragments.  Like all Indians, he was excessively superstitious, and 
+continually saw some reason for withholding his stories.  "It is a 
+bad thing," he would say, "to tell the tales in summer.  Stay with us 
+till next winter, and I will tell you everything I know; but now our 
+war parties are going out, and our young men will be killed if I sit 
+down to tell stories before the frost begins."
+
+But to leave this digression.  We remained encamped on this spot five 
+days, during three of which the hunters were at work incessantly, and 
+immense quantities of meat and hides were brought in.  Great alarm, 
+however, prevailed in the village.  All were on the alert.  The young 
+men were ranging through the country as scouts, and the old men paid 
+careful attention to omens and prodigies, and especially to their 
+dreams.  In order to convey to the enemy (who, if they were in the 
+neighborhood, must inevitably have known of our presence) the 
+impression that we were constantly on the watch, piles of sticks and 
+stones were erected on all the surrounding hills, in such a manner as 
+to appear at a distance like sentinels.  Often, even to this hour, 
+that scene will rise before my mind like a visible reality: the tall 
+white rocks; the old pine trees on their summits; the sandy stream 
+that ran along their bases and half encircled the village; and the 
+wild-sage bushes, with their dull green hue and their medicinal odor, 
+that covered all the neighboring declivities.  Hour after hour the 
+squaws would pass and repass with their vessels of water between the 
+stream and the lodges.  For the most part no one was to be seen in 
+the camp but women and children, two or three super-annuated old men, 
+and a few lazy and worthless young ones.  These, together with the 
+dogs, now grown fat and good-natured with the abundance in the camp, 
+were its only tenants.  Still it presented a busy and bustling scene.  
+In all quarters the meat, hung on cords of hide, was drying in the 
+sun, and around the lodges the squaws, young and old, were laboring 
+on the fresh hides that were stretched upon the ground, scraping the 
+hair from one side and the still adhering flesh from the other, and 
+rubbing into them the brains of the buffalo, in order to render them 
+soft and pliant.
+
+In mercy to myself and my horse, I never went out with the hunters 
+after the first day.  Of late, however, I had been gaining strength 
+rapidly, as was always the case upon every respite of my disorder.  I 
+was soon able to walk with ease.  Raymond and I would go out upon the 
+neighboring prairies to shoot antelope, or sometimes to assail 
+straggling buffalo, on foot, an attempt in which we met with rather 
+indifferent success.  To kill a bull with a rifle-ball is a difficult 
+art, in the secret of which I was as yet very imperfectly initiated.  
+As I came out of Kongra-Tonga's lodge one morning, Reynal called to 
+me from the opposite side of the village, and asked me over to 
+breakfast.  The breakfast was a substantial one.  It consisted of the 
+rich, juicy hump-ribs of a fat cow; a repast absolutely unrivaled.  
+It was roasting before the fire, impaled upon a stout stick, which 
+Reynal took up and planted in the ground before his lodge; when he, 
+with Raymond and myself, taking our seats around it, unsheathed our 
+knives and assailed it with good will.  It spite of all medical 
+experience, this solid fare, without bread or salt, seemed to agree 
+with me admirably.
+
+"We shall have strangers here before night," said Reynal.
+
+"How do you know that?" I asked.
+
+"I dreamed so.  I am as good at dreaming as an Indian.  There is the 
+Hail-Storm; he dreamed the same thing, and he and his crony, the 
+Rabbit, have gone out on discovery."
+
+I laughed at Reynal for his credulity, went over to my host's lodge, 
+took down my rifle, walked out a mile or two on the prairie, saw an 
+old bull standing alone, crawled up a ravine, shot him and saw him 
+escape.  Then, quite exhausted and rather ill-humored, I walked back 
+to the village.  By a strange coincidence, Reynal's prediction had 
+been verified; for the first persons whom I saw were the two 
+trappers, Rouleau and Saraphin, coming to meet me.  These men, as the 
+reader may possibly recollect, had left our party about a fortnight 
+before.  They had been trapping for a while among the Black Hills, 
+and were now on their way to the Rocky Mountains, intending in a day 
+or two to set out for the neighboring Medicine Bow.  They were not 
+the most elegant or refined of companions, yet they made a very 
+welcome addition to the limited society of the village.  For the rest 
+of that day we lay smoking and talking in Reynal's lodge.  This 
+indeed was no better than a little hut, made of hides stretched on 
+poles, and entirely open in front.  It was well carpeted with soft 
+buffalo robes, and here we remained, sheltered from the sun, 
+surrounded by various domestic utensils of Madame Margot's household.  
+All was quiet in the village.  Though the hunters had not gone out 
+that day, they lay sleeping in their lodges, and most of the women 
+were silently engaged in their heavy tasks.  A few young men were 
+playing a lazy game of ball in the center of the village; and when 
+they became tired, some girls supplied their place with a more 
+boisterous sport.  At a little distance, among the lodges, some 
+children and half-grown squaws were playfully tossing up one of their 
+number in a buffalo robe, an exact counterpart of the ancient pastime 
+from which Sancho Panza suffered so much.  Farther out on the 
+prairie, a host of little naked boys were roaming about, engaged in 
+various rough games, or pursuing birds and ground-squirrels with 
+their bows and arrows; and woe to the unhappy little animals that 
+fell into their merciless, torture-loving hands!  A squaw from the 
+next lodge, a notable active housewife named Weah Washtay, or the 
+Good Woman, brought us a large bowl of wasna, and went into an 
+ecstasy of delight when I presented her with a green glass ring, such 
+as I usually wore with a view to similar occasions.
+
+The sun went down and half the sky was growing fiery red, reflected 
+on the little stream as it wound away among the sagebushes.  Some 
+young men left the village, and soon returned, driving in before them 
+all the horses, hundreds in number, and of every size, age, and 
+color.  The hunters came out, and each securing those that belonged 
+to him, examined their condition, and tied them fast by long cords to 
+stakes driven in front of his lodge.  It was half an hour before the 
+bustle subsided and tranquillity was restored again.  By this time it 
+was nearly dark.  Kettles were hung over the blazing fires, around 
+which the squaws were gathered with their children, laughing and 
+talking merrily.  A circle of a different kind was formed in the 
+center of the village.  This was composed of the old men and warriors 
+of repute, who with their white buffalo robes drawn close around 
+their shoulders, sat together, and as the pipe passed from hand to 
+hand, their conversation had not a particle of the gravity and 
+reserve usually ascribed to Indians.  I sat down with them as usual.  
+I had in my hand half a dozen squibs and serpents, which I had made 
+one day when encamped upon Laramie Creek, out of gunpowder and 
+charcoal, and the leaves of "Fremont's Expedition," rolled round a 
+stout lead pencil.  I waited till I contrived to get hold of the 
+large piece of burning BOIS DE VACHE which the Indians kept by them 
+on the ground for lighting their pipes.  With this I lighted all the 
+fireworks at once, and tossed them whizzing and sputtering into the 
+air, over the heads of the company.  They all jumped up and ran off 
+with yelps of astonishment and consternation.  After a moment or two, 
+they ventured to come back one by one, and some of the boldest, 
+picking up the cases of burnt paper that were scattered about, 
+examined them with eager curiosity to discover their mysterious 
+secret.  From that time forward I enjoyed great repute as a "fire-
+medicine."
+
+The camp was filled with the low hum of cheerful voices.  There were 
+other sounds, however, of a very different kind, for from a large 
+lodge, lighted up like a gigantic lantern by the blazing fire within, 
+came a chorus of dismal cries and wailings, long drawn out, like the 
+howling of wolves, and a woman, almost naked, was crouching close 
+outside, crying violently, and gashing her legs with a knife till 
+they were covered with blood.  Just a year before, a young man 
+belonging to this family had gone out with a war party and had been 
+slain by the enemy, and his relatives were thus lamenting his loss.  
+Still other sounds might be heard; loud earnest cries often repeated 
+from amid the gloom, at a distance beyond the village.  They 
+proceeded from some young men who, being about to set out in a few 
+days on a warlike expedition, were standing at the top of a hill, 
+calling on the Great Spirit to aid them in their enterprise.  While I 
+was listening, Rouleau, with a laugh on his careless face, called to 
+me and directed my attention to another quarter.  In front of the 
+lodge where Weah Washtay lived another squaw was standing, angrily 
+scolding an old yellow dog, who lay on the ground with his nose 
+resting between his paws, and his eyes turned sleepily up to her 
+face, as if he were pretending to give respectful attention, but 
+resolved to fall asleep as soon as it was all over.
+
+"You ought to be ashamed of yourself!" said the old woman.  "I have 
+fed you well, and taken care of you ever since you were small and 
+blind, and could only crawl about and squeal a little, instead of 
+howling as you do now.  When you grew old, I said you were a good 
+dog.  You were strong and gentle when the load was put on your back, 
+and you never ran among the feet of the horses when we were all 
+traveling together over the prairie.  But you had a bad heart!  
+Whenever a rabbit jumped out of the bushes, you were always the first 
+to run after him and lead away all the other dogs behind you.  You 
+ought to have known that it was very dangerous to act so.  When you 
+had got far out on the prairie, and no one was near to help you, 
+perhaps a wolf would jump out of the ravine; and then what could you 
+do?  You would certainly have been killed, for no dog can fight well 
+with a load on his back.  Only three days ago you ran off in that 
+way, and turned over the bag of wooden pins with which I used to 
+fasten up the front of the lodge.  Look up there, and you will see 
+that it is all flapping open.  And now to-night you have stolen a 
+great piece of fat meat which was roasting before the fire for my 
+children.  I tell you, you have a bad heart, and you must die!"
+
+So saying, the squaw went into the lodge, and coming out with a large 
+stone mallet, killed the unfortunate dog at one blow.  This speech is 
+worthy of notice as illustrating a curious characteristic of the 
+Indians: the ascribing intelligence and a power of understanding 
+speech to the inferior animals, to whom, indeed, according to many of 
+their traditions, they are linked in close affinity, and they even 
+claim the honor of a lineal descent from bears, wolves, deer, or 
+tortoises.
+
+As it grew late, and the crowded population began to disappear, I too 
+walked across the village to the lodge of my host, Kongra-Tonga.  As 
+I entered I saw him, by the flickering blaze of the fire in the 
+center, reclining half asleep in his usual place.  His couch was by 
+no means an uncomfortable one.  It consisted of soft buffalo robes 
+laid together on the ground, and a pillow made of whitened deerskin 
+stuffed with feathers and ornamented with beads.  At his back was a 
+light framework of poles and slender reeds, against which he could 
+lean with ease when in a sitting posture; and at the top of it, just 
+above his head, his bow and quiver were hanging.  His squaw, a 
+laughing, broad-faced woman, apparently had not yet completed her 
+domestic arrangements, for she was bustling about the lodge, pulling 
+over the utensils and the bales of dried meats that were ranged 
+carefully round it.  Unhappily, she and her partner were not the only 
+tenants of the dwelling, for half a dozen children were scattered 
+about, sleeping in every imaginable posture.  My saddle was in its 
+place at the head of the lodge and a buffalo robe was spread on the 
+ground before it.  Wrapping myself in my blanket I lay down, but had 
+I not been extremely fatigued the noise in the next lodge would have 
+prevented my sleeping.  There was the monotonous thumping of the 
+Indian drum, mixed with occasional sharp yells, and a chorus chanted 
+by twenty voices.  A grand scene of gambling was going forward with 
+all the appropriate formalities.  The players were staking on the 
+chance issue of the game their ornaments, their horses, and as the 
+excitement rose, their garments, and even their weapons, for 
+desperate gambling is not confined to the hells of Paris.  The men of 
+the plains and the forests no less resort to it as a violent but 
+grateful relief to the tedious monotony of their lives, which 
+alternate between fierce excitement and listless inaction.  I fell 
+asleep with the dull notes of the drum still sounding on my ear, but 
+these furious orgies lasted without intermission till daylight.  I 
+was soon awakened by one of the children crawling over me, while 
+another larger one was tugging at my blanket and nestling himself in 
+a very disagreeable proximity.  I immediately repelled these advances 
+by punching the heads of these miniature savages with a short stick 
+which I always kept by me for the purpose; and as sleeping half the 
+day and eating much more than is good for them makes them extremely 
+restless, this operation usually had to be repeated four or five 
+times in the course of the night.  My host himself was the author of 
+another most formidable annoyance.  All these Indians, and he among 
+the rest, think themselves bound to the constant performance of 
+certain acts as the condition on which their success in life depends, 
+whether in war, love, hunting, or any other employment.  These 
+"medicines," as they are called in that country, which are usually 
+communicated in dreams, are often absurd enough.  Some Indians will 
+strike the butt of the pipe against the ground every time they smoke; 
+others will insist that everything they say shall be interpreted by 
+contraries; and Shaw once met an old man who conceived that all would 
+be lost unless he compelled every white man he met to drink a bowl of 
+cold water.  My host was particularly unfortunate in his allotment.  
+The Great Spirit had told him in a dream that he must sing a certain 
+song in the middle of every night; and regularly at about twelve 
+o'clock his dismal monotonous chanting would awaken me, and I would 
+see him seated bolt upright on his couch, going through his dolorous 
+performances with a most business-like air.  There were other voices 
+of the night still more inharmonious.  Twice or thrice, between 
+sunset and dawn, all the dogs in the village, and there were hundreds 
+of them, would bay and yelp in chorus; a most horrible clamor, 
+resembling no sound that I have ever heard, except perhaps the 
+frightful howling of wolves that we used sometimes to hear long 
+afterward when descending the Arkansas on the trail of General 
+Kearny's army.  The canine uproar is, if possible, more discordant 
+than that of the wolves.  Heard at a distance, slowly rising on the 
+night, it has a strange unearthly effect, and would fearfully haunt 
+the dreams of a nervous man; but when you are sleeping in the midst 
+of it the din is outrageous.  One long loud howl from the next lodge 
+perhaps begins it, and voice after voice takes up the sound till it 
+passes around the whole circumference of the village, and the air is 
+filled with confused and discordant cries, at once fierce and 
+mournful.  It lasts but for a moment and then dies away into silence.
+
+Morning came, and Kongra-Tonga, mounting his horse, rode out with the 
+hunters.  It may not be amiss to glance at him for an instant in his 
+domestic character of husband and father.  Both he and his squaw, 
+like most other Indians, were very fond of their children, whom they 
+indulged to excess, and never punished, except in extreme cases when 
+they would throw a bowl of cold water over them.  Their offspring 
+became sufficiently undutiful and disobedient under this system of 
+education, which tends not a little to foster that wild idea of 
+liberty and utter intolerance of restraint which lie at the very 
+foundation of the Indian character.  It would be hard to find a 
+fonder father than Kongra-Tonga.  There was one urchin in particular, 
+rather less than two feet high, to whom he was exceedingly attached; 
+and sometimes spreading a buffalo robe in the lodge, he would seat 
+himself upon it, place his small favorite upright before him, and 
+chant in a low tone some of the words used as an accompaniment to the 
+war dance.  The little fellow, who could just manage to balance 
+himself by stretching out both arms, would lift his feet and turn 
+slowly round and round in time to his father's music, while my host 
+would laugh with delight, and look smiling up into my face to see if 
+I were admiring this precocious performance of his offspring.  In his 
+capacity of husband he was somewhat less exemplary.  The squaw who 
+lived in the lodge with him had been his partner for many years.  She 
+took good care of his children and his household concerns.  He liked 
+her well enough, and as far as I could see they never quarreled; but 
+all his warmer affections were reserved for younger and more recent 
+favorites.  Of these he had at present only one, who lived in a lodge 
+apart from his own.  One day while in his camp he became displeased 
+with her, pushed her out, threw after her her ornaments, dresses, and 
+everything she had, and told her to go home to her father.  Having 
+consummated this summary divorce, for which he could show good 
+reasons, he came back, seated himself in his usual place, and began 
+to smoke with an air of utmost tranquillity and self-satisfaction.
+
+I was sitting in the lodge with him on that very afternoon, when I 
+felt some curiosity to learn the history of the numerous scars that 
+appeared on his naked body.  Of some of them, however, I did not 
+venture to inquire, for I already understood their origin.  Each of 
+his arms was marked as if deeply gashed with a knife at regular 
+intervals, and there were other scars also, of a different character, 
+on his back and on either breast.  They were the traces of those 
+formidable tortures which these Indians, in common with a few other 
+tribes, inflict upon themselves at certain seasons; in part, it may 
+be, to gain the glory of courage and endurance, but chiefly as an act 
+of self-sacrifice to secure the favor of the Great Spirit.  The scars 
+upon the breast and back were produced by running through the flesh 
+strong splints of wood, to which ponderous buffalo-skulls are 
+fastened by cords of hide, and the wretch runs forward with all his 
+strength, assisted by two companions, who take hold of each arm, 
+until the flesh tears apart and the heavy loads are left behind.  
+Others of Kongra-Tonga's scars were the result of accidents;  but he 
+had many which he received in war.  He was one of the most noted 
+warriors in the village.  In the course of his life he had slain as 
+he boasted to me, fourteen men, and though, like other Indians, he 
+was a great braggart and utterly regardless of truth, yet in this 
+statement common report bore him out.  Being much flattered by my 
+inquiries he told me tale after tale, true or false, of his warlike 
+exploits; and there was one among the rest illustrating the worst 
+features of the Indian character too well for me to omit.  Pointing 
+out of the opening of the lodge toward the Medicine-Bow Mountain, not 
+manv miles distant he said that he was there a few summers ago with a 
+war party of his young men.  Here they found two Snake Indians, 
+hunting.  They shot one of them with arrows and chased the other up 
+the side of the mountain till they surrounded him on a level place, 
+and Kongra-Tonga himself, jumping forward among the trees, seized him 
+by the arm.  Two of his young men then ran up and held him fast while 
+he scalped him alive.  Then they built a great fire, and cutting the 
+tendons of their captive's wrists and feet, threw him in, and held 
+him down with long poles until he was burnt to death.  He garnished 
+his story with a great many descriptive particulars much too 
+revolting to mention.  His features were remarkably mild and open, 
+without the fierceness of expression common among these Indians; and 
+as he detailed these devilish cruelties, he looked up into my face 
+with the same air of earnest simplicity which a little child would 
+wear in relating to its mother some anecdote of its youthful 
+experience.
+
+Old Mene-Seela's lodge could offer another illustration of the 
+ferocity of Indian warfare.  A bright-eyed, active little boy was 
+living there.  He had belonged to a village of the Gros-Ventre 
+Blackfeet, a small but bloody and treacherous band, in close alliance 
+with the Arapahoes.  About a year before, Kongra-Tonga and a party of 
+warriors had found about twenty lodges of these Indians upon the 
+plains a little to the eastward of our present camp; and surrounding 
+them in the night, they butchered men, women, and children without 
+mercy, preserving only this little boy alive.  He was adopted into 
+the old man's family, and was now fast becoming identified with the 
+Ogallalla children, among whom he mingled on equal terms.  There was 
+also a Crow warrior in the village, a man of gigantic stature and 
+most symmetrical proportions.  Having been taken prisoner many years 
+before and adopted by a squaw in place of a son whom she had lost, he 
+had forgotten his old national antipathies, and was now both in act 
+and inclination an Ogallalla.
+
+It will be remembered that the scheme of the grand warlike 
+combination against the Snake and Crow Indians originated in this 
+village; and though this plan had fallen to the ground, the embers of 
+the martial ardor continued to glow brightly.  Eleven young men had 
+prepared themselves to go out against the enemy.  The fourth day of 
+our stay in this camp was fixed upon for their departure.  At the 
+head of this party was a well-built active little Indian, called the 
+White Shield, whom I had always noticed for the great neatness of his 
+dress and appearance.  His lodge too, though not a large one, was the 
+best in the village, his squaw was one of the prettiest girls, and 
+altogether his dwelling presented a complete model of an Ogallalla 
+domestic establishment.  I was often a visitor there, for the White 
+Shield being rather partial to white men, used to invite me to 
+continual feasts at all hours of the day.  Once when the substantial 
+part of the entertainment was concluded, and he and I were seated 
+cross-legged on a buffalo robe smoking together very amicably, he 
+took down his warlike equipments, which were hanging around the 
+lodge, and displayed them with great pride and self-importance.  
+Among the rest was a most superb headdress of feathers.  Taking this 
+from its case, he put it on and stood before me, as if conscious of 
+the gallant air which it gave to his dark face and his vigorous, 
+graceful figure.  He told me that upon it were the feathers of three 
+war-eagles, equal in value to the same number of good horses.  He 
+took up also a shield gayly painted and hung with feathers.  The 
+effect of these barbaric ornaments was admirable, for they were 
+arranged with no little skill and taste.  His quiver was made of the 
+spotted skin of a small panther, such as are common among the Black 
+Hills, from which the tail and distended claws were still allowed to 
+hang.  The White Shield concluded his entertainment in a manner 
+characteristic of an Indian.  He begged of me a little powder and 
+ball, for he had a gun as well as bow and arrows; but this I was 
+obliged to refuse, because I had scarcely enough for my own use.  
+Making him, however, a parting present of a paper of vermilion, I 
+left him apparently quite contented.
+
+Unhappily on the next morning the White Shield took cold and was 
+attacked with a violent inflammation of the throat.  Immediately he 
+seemed to lose all spirit, and though before no warrior in the 
+village had borne himself more proudly, he now moped about from lodge 
+to lodge with a forlorn and dejected air.  At length he came and sat 
+down, close wrapped in his robe, before the lodge of Reynal, but when 
+he found that neither he nor I knew how to relieve him, he arose and 
+stalked over to one of the medicine-men of the village.  This old 
+imposter thumped him for some time with both fists, howled and yelped 
+over him, and beat a drum close to his ear to expel the evil spirit 
+that had taken possession of him.  This vigorous treatment failing of 
+the desired effect, the White Shield withdrew to his own lodge, where 
+he lay disconsolate for some hours.  Making his appearance once more 
+in the afternoon, he again took his seat on the ground before 
+Reynal's lodge, holding his throat with his hand.  For some time he 
+sat perfectly silent with his eyes fixed mournfully on the ground.  
+At last he began to speak in a low tone:
+
+"I am a brave man," he said; "all the young men think me a great 
+warrior, and ten of them are ready to go with me to the war.  I will 
+go and show them the enemy.  Last summer the Snakes killed my 
+brother.  I cannot live unless I revenge his death.  To-morrow we 
+will set out and I will take their scalps."
+
+The White Shield, as he expressed this resolution, seemed to have 
+lost all the accustomed fire and spirit of his look, and hung his 
+head as if in a fit of despondency.
+
+As I was sitting that evening at one of the fires, I saw him arrayed 
+in his splendid war dress, his cheeks painted with vermilion, leading 
+his favorite war horse to the front of his lodge.  He mounted and 
+rode round the village, singing his war song in a loud hoarse voice 
+amid the shrill acclamations of the women.  Then dismounting, he 
+remained for some minutes prostrate upon the ground, as if in an act 
+of supplication.  On the following morning I looked in vain for the 
+departure of the warriors.  All was quiet in the village until late 
+in the forenoon, when the White Shield, issuing from his lodge, came 
+and seated himself in his old place before us.  Reynal asked him why 
+he had not gone out to find the enemy.
+
+"I cannot go," answered the White Shield in a dejected voice.  "I 
+have given my war arrows to the Meneaska."
+
+"You have only given him two of your arrows," said Reynal.  "If you 
+ask him, he will give them back again."
+
+For some time the White Shield said nothing.  At last he spoke in a 
+gloomy tone:
+
+"One of my young men has had bad dreams.  The spirits of the dead 
+came and threw stones at him in his sleep."
+
+If such a dream had actually taken place it might have broken up this 
+or any other war party, but both Reynal and I were convinced at the 
+time that it was a mere fabrication to excuse his remaining at home.
+
+The White Shield was a warrior of noted prowess.  Very probably, he 
+would have received a mortal wound without a show of pain, and 
+endured without flinching the worst tortures that an enemy could 
+inflict upon him.  The whole power of an Indian's nature would be 
+summoned to encounter such a trial; every influence of his education 
+from childhood would have prepared him for it; the cause of his 
+suffering would have been visibly and palpably before him, and his 
+spirit would rise to set his enemy at defiance, and gain the highest 
+glory of a warrior by meeting death with fortitude.  But when he 
+feels himself attacked by a mysterious evil, before whose insidious 
+assaults his manhood is wasted, and his strength drained away, when 
+he can see no enemy to resist and defy, the boldest warrior falls 
+prostrate at once.  He believes that a bad spirit has taken 
+possession of him, or that he is the victim of some charm.  When 
+suffering from a protracted disorder, an Indian will often abandon 
+himself to his supposed destiny, pine away and die, the victim of his 
+own imagination.  The same effect will often follow from a series of 
+calamities, or a long run of ill success, and the sufferer has been 
+known to ride into the midst of an enemy's camp, or attack a grizzly 
+bear single-handed, to get rid of a life which he supposed to lie 
+under the doom of misfortune.
+
+Thus after all his fasting, dreaming, and calling upon the Great 
+Spirit, the White Shield's war party was pitifully broken up.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+THE TRAPPERS
+
+
+In speaking of the Indians, I have almost forgotten two bold 
+adventurers of another race, the trappers Rouleau and Saraphin.  
+These men were bent on a most hazardous enterprise.  A day's journey 
+to the westward was the country over which the Arapahoes are 
+accustomed to range, and for which the two trappers were on the point 
+of setting out.  These Arapahoes, of whom Shaw and I afterward fell 
+in with a large village, are ferocious barbarians, of a most brutal 
+and wolfish aspect, and of late they had declared themselves enemies 
+to the whites, and threatened death to the first who should venture 
+within their territory.  The occasion of the declaration was as 
+follows:
+
+In the previous spring, 1845, Colonel Kearny left Fort Leavenworth 
+with several companies of dragoons, and marching with extraordinary 
+celerity reached Fort Laramie, whence he passed along the foot of the 
+mountains to Bent's Fort and then, turning eastward again, returned 
+to the point from whence he set out.  While at Fort Larantie, he sent 
+a part of his command as far westward as Sweetwater, while he himself 
+remained at the fort, and dispatched messages to the surrounding 
+Indians to meet him there in council.  Then for the first time the 
+tribes of that vicinity saw the white warriors, and, as might have 
+been expected, they were lost in astonishment at their regular order, 
+their gay attire, the completeness of their martial equipment, and 
+the great size and power of their horses.  Among the rest, the 
+Arapahoes came in considerable numbers to the fort.  They had lately 
+committed numerous acts of outrage, and Colonel Kearny threatened 
+that if they killed any more white men he would turn loose his 
+dragoons upon them, and annihilate their whole nation.  In the 
+evening, to add effect to his speech, he ordered a howitzer to be 
+fired and a rocket to be thrown up.  Many of the Arapahoes fell 
+prostrate on the ground, while others ran screaming with amazement 
+and terror.  On the following day they withdrew to their mountains, 
+confounded with awe at the appearance of the dragoons, at their big 
+gun which went off twice at one shot, and the fiery messenger which 
+they had sent up to the Great Spirit.  For many months they remained 
+quiet, and did no further mischief.  At length, just before we came 
+into the country, one of them, by an act of the basest treachery, 
+killed two white men, Boot and May, who were trapping among the 
+mountains.  For this act it was impossible to discover a motive.  It 
+seemed to spring from one of those inexplicable impulses which often 
+actuate Indians and appear no better than the mere outbreaks of 
+native ferocity.  No sooner was the murder committed than the whole 
+tribe were in extreme consternation.  They expected every day that 
+the avenging dragoons would arrive, little thinking that a desert of 
+nine hundred miles in extent lay between the latter and their 
+mountain fastnesses.  A large deputation of them came to Fort 
+Laramie, bringing a valuable present of horses, in compensation for 
+the lives of the murdered men.  These Bordeaux refused to accept.  
+They then asked him if he would be satisfied with their delivering up 
+the murderer himself; but he declined this offer also.  The Arapahoes 
+went back more terrified than ever.  Weeks passed away, and still no 
+dragoons appeared.  A result followed which all those best acquainted 
+with Indians had predicted.  They conceived that fear had prevented 
+Bordeaux from accepting their gifts, and that they had nothing to 
+apprehend from the vengeance of the whites.  From terror they rose to 
+the height of insolence and presumption.  They called the white men 
+cowards and old women; and a friendly Dakota came to Fort Laramie and 
+reported that they were determined to kill the first of the white 
+dogs whom they could lay hands on.
+
+Had a military officer, intrusted with suitable powers, been 
+stationed at Fort Laramie, and having accepted the offer of the 
+Arapahoes to deliver up the murderer, had ordered him to be 
+immediately led out and shot, in presence of his tribe, they would 
+have been awed into tranquillity, and much danger and calamity 
+averted; but now the neighborhood of the Medicine-Bow Mountain and 
+the region beyond it was a scene of extreme peril.  Old Mene-Seela, a 
+true friend of the whites, and many other of the Indians gathered 
+about the two trappers, and vainly endeavored to turn them from their 
+purpose; but Rouleau and Saraphin only laughed at the danger.  On the 
+morning preceding that on which they were to leave the camp, we could 
+all discern faint white columns of smoke rising against the dark base 
+of the Medicine-Bow.  Scouts were out immediately, and reported that 
+these proceeded from an Arapahoe camp, abandoned only a few hours 
+before.  Still the two trappers continued their preparations for 
+departure.
+
+Saraphin was a tall, powerful fellow, with a sullen and sinister 
+countenance.  His rifle had very probably drawn other blood than that 
+of buffalo or even Indians.  Rouleau had a broad ruddy face marked 
+with as few traces of thought or care as a child's.  His figure was 
+remarkably square and strong, but the first joints of both his feet 
+were frozen off, and his horse had lately thrown and trampled upon 
+him, by which he had been severely injured in the chest.  But nothing 
+could check his inveterate propensity for laughter and gayety.  He 
+went all day rolling about the camp on his stumps of feet, talking 
+and singing and frolicking with the Indian women, as they were 
+engaged at their work.  In fact Rouleau had an unlucky partiality for 
+squaws.  He always had one whom he must needs bedizen with beads, 
+ribbons, and all the finery of an Indian wardrobe; and though he was 
+of course obliged to leave her behind him during his expeditions, yet 
+this hazardous necessity did not at all trouble him, for his 
+disposition was the very reverse of jealous.  If at any time he had 
+not lavished the whole of the precarious profits of his vocation upon 
+his dark favorite, he always devoted the rest to feasting his 
+comrades.  If liquor was not to be had--and this was usually the 
+case--strong coffee was substituted.  As the men of that region are 
+by no means remarkable for providence or self-restraint, whatever was 
+set before them on these occasions, however extravagant in price, or 
+enormous in quantity, was sure to be disposed of at one sitting.  
+Like other trappers, Rouleau's life was one of contrast and variety.  
+It was only at certain seasons, and for a limited time, that he was 
+absent on his expeditions.  For the rest of the year he would be 
+lounging about the fort, or encamped with his friends in its 
+vicinity, lazily hunting or enjoying all the luxury of inaction; but 
+when once in pursnit of beaver, he was involved in extreme privations 
+and desperate perils.  When in the midst of his game and his enemies, 
+hand and foot, eye and ear, are incessantly active.  Frequently he 
+must content himself with devouring his evening meal uncooked, lest 
+the light of his fire should attract the eyes of some wandering 
+Indian; and sometimes having made his rude repast, he must leave his 
+fire still blazing, and withdraw to a distance under cover of the 
+darkness, that his disappointed enemy, drawn thither by the light, 
+may find his victim gone, and be unable to trace his footsteps in the 
+gloom.  This is the life led by scores of men in the Rocky Mountains 
+and their vicinity.  I once met a trapper whose breast was marked 
+with the scars of six bullets and arrows, one of his arms broken by a 
+shot and one of his knees shattered; yet still, with the undaunted 
+mettle of New England, from which part of the country he had come, he 
+continued to follow his perilous occupation.  To some of the children 
+of cities it may seem strange that men with no object in view should 
+continue to follow a life of such hardship and desperate adventure; 
+yet there is a mysterious, restless charm in the basilisk eye of 
+danger, and few men perhaps remain long in that wild region without 
+learning to love peril for its own sake, and to laugh carelessly in 
+the face of death.
+
+On the last day of our stay in this camp, the trappers were ready for 
+departure.  When in the Black Hills they had caught seven beaver, and 
+they now left their skins in charge of Reynal, to be kept until their 
+return.  Their strong, gaunt horses were equipped with rusty Spanish 
+bits and rude Mexican saddles, to which wooden stirrups were 
+attached, while a buffalo robe was rolled up behind them, and a 
+bundle of beaver traps slung at the pommel.  These, together with 
+their rifles, their knives, their powder-horns and bullet-pouches, 
+flint and steel and a tincup, composed their whole traveling 
+equipment.  They shook hands with us and rode away; Saraphin with his 
+grim countenance, like a surly bulldog's, was in advance; but 
+Rouleau, clambering gayly into his seat, kicked his horse's sides, 
+flourished his whip in the air, and trotted briskly over the prairie, 
+trolling forth a Canadian song at the top of his lungs.  Reynal 
+looked after them with his face of brutal selfishness.
+
+"Well," he said, "if they are killed, I shall have the beaver.  
+They'll fetch me fifty dollars at the fort, anyhow."
+
+This was the last I saw of them.
+
+We had been for five days in the hunting camp, and the meat, which 
+all this time had hung drying in the sun, was now fit for 
+transportation.  Buffalo hides also had been procured in sufficient 
+quantities for making the next season's lodges; but it remained to 
+provide the long slender poles on which they were to be supported.  
+These were only to be had among the tall pine woods of the Black 
+Hills, and in that direction therefore our next move was to be made.  
+It is worthy of notice that amid the general abundance which during 
+this time had prevailed in the camp there were no instances of 
+individual privation; for although the hide and the tongue of the 
+buffalo belong by exclusive right to the hunter who has killed it, 
+yet anyone else is equally entitled to help himself from the rest of 
+the carcass.  Thus, the weak, the aged, and even the indolent come in 
+for a share of the spoils, and many a helpless old woman, who would 
+otherwise perish from starvation, is sustained in profuse abundance.
+
+On the 25th of July, late in the afternoon, the camp broke up, with 
+the usual tumult and confusion, and we were all moving once more, on 
+horseback and on foot, over the plains.  We advanced, however, but a 
+few miles.  The old men, who during the whole march had been stoutly 
+striding along on foot in front of the people, now seated themselves 
+in a circle on the ground, while all the families, erecting their 
+lodges in the prescribed order around them, formed the usual great 
+circle of the camp; meanwhile these village patriarchs sat smoking 
+and talking.  I threw my bridle to Raymond, and sat down as usual 
+along with them.  There was none of that reserve and apparent dignity 
+which an Indian always assumes when in council, or in the presence of 
+white men whom he distrusts.  The party, on the contrary, was an 
+extremely merry one; and as in a social circle of a quite different 
+character, "if there was not much wit, there was at least a great 
+deal of laughter."
+
+When the first pipe was smoked out, I rose and withdrew to the lodge 
+of my host.  Here I was stooping, in the act of taking off my powder-
+horn and bullet-pouch, when suddenly, and close at hand, pealing loud 
+and shrill, and in right good earnest, came the terrific yell of the 
+war-whoop.  Kongra-Tonga's squaw snatched up her youngest child, and 
+ran out of the lodge.  I followed, and found the whole village in 
+confusion, resounding with cries and yells.  The circle of old men in 
+the center had vanished.  The warriors with glittering eyes came 
+darting, their weapons in their hands, out of the low opening of the 
+lodges, and running with wild yells toward the farther end of the 
+village.  Advancing a few rods in that direction, I saw a crowd in 
+furious agitation, while others ran up on every side to add to the 
+confusion.  Just then I distinguished the voices of Raymond and 
+Reynal, shouting to me from a distance, and looking back, I saw the 
+latter with his rifle in his hand, standing on the farther bank of a 
+little stream that ran along the outskirts of the camp.  He was 
+calling to Raymond and myself to come over and join him, and Raymond, 
+with his usual deliberate gait and stolid countenance, was already 
+moving in that direction.
+
+This was clearly the wisest course, unless we wished to involve 
+ourselves in the fray; so I turned to go, but just then a pair of 
+eyes, gleaming like a snake's, and an aged familiar countenance was 
+thrust from the opening of a neighboring lodge, and out bolted old 
+Mene-Seela, full of fight, clutching his bow and arrows in one hand 
+and his knife in the other.  At that instant he tripped and fell 
+sprawling on his face, while his weapons flew scattering away in 
+every direction.  The women with loud screams were hurrying with 
+their children in their arms to place them out of danger, and I 
+observed some hastening to prevent mischief, by carrying away all the 
+weapons they could lay hands on.  On a rising ground close to the 
+camp stood a line of old women singing a medicine song to allay the 
+tumult.  As I approached the side of the brook I heard gun-shots 
+behind me, and turning back, I saw that the crowd had separated into 
+two lines of naked warriors confronting each other at a respectful 
+distance, and yelling and jumping about to dodge the shot of their 
+adversaries, while they discharged bullets and arrows against each 
+other.  At the same time certain sharp, humming sounds in the air 
+over my head, like the flight of beetles on a summer evening, warned 
+me that the danger was not wholly confined to the immediate scene of 
+the fray.  So wading through the brook, I joined Reynal and Raymond, 
+and we sat down on the grass, in the posture of an armed neutrality, 
+to watch the result.
+
+Happily it may be for ourselves, though quite contrary to our 
+expectation, the disturbance was quelled almost as soon as it had 
+commenced.  When I looked again, the combatants were once more 
+mingled together in a mass.  Though yells sounded, occasionally from 
+the throng, the firing had entirely ceased, and I observed five or 
+six persons moving busily about, as if acting the part of 
+peacemakers.  One of the village heralds or criers proclaimed in a 
+loud voice something which my two companions were too much engrossed 
+in their own observations to translate for me.  The crowd began to 
+disperse, though many a deep-set black eye still glittered with an 
+unnatural luster, as the warriors slowly withdrew to their lodges.  
+This fortunate suppression of the disturbance was owing to a few of 
+the old men, less pugnacious than Mene-Seela, who boldly ran in 
+between the combatants and aided by some of the "soldiers," or Indian 
+police, succeeded in effecting their object.
+
+It seemed very strange to me that although many arrows and bullets 
+were discharged, no one was mortally hurt, and I could only account 
+for this by the fact that both the marksman and the object of his aim 
+were leaping about incessantly during the whole time.  By far the 
+greater part of the villagers had joined in the fray, for although 
+there were not more than a dozen guns in the whole camp, I heard at 
+least eight or ten shots fired.
+
+In a quarter of an hour all was comparatively quiet.  A large circle 
+of warriors were again seated in the center of the village, but this 
+time I did not venture to join them, because I could see that the 
+pipe, contrary to the usual order, was passing from the left hand to 
+the right around the circle, a sure sign that a "medicine-smoke" of 
+reconciliation was going forward, and that a white man would be an 
+unwelcome intruder.  When I again entered the still agitated camp it 
+was nearly dark, and mournful cries, howls and wailings resounded 
+from many female voices.  Whether these had any connection with the 
+late disturbance, or were merely lamentations for relatives slain in 
+some former war expeditions, I could not distinctly ascertain.
+
+To inquire too closely into the cause of the quarrel was by no means 
+prudent, and it was not until some time after that I discovered what 
+had given rise to it.  Among the Dakota there are many associations, 
+or fraternities, connected with the purposes of their superstitions, 
+their warfare, or their social life.  There was one called "The 
+Arrow-Breakers," now in a great measure disbanded and dispersed.  In 
+the village there were, however, four men belonging to it, 
+distinguished by the peculiar arrangement of their hair, which rose 
+in a high bristling mass above their foreheads, adding greatly to 
+their apparent height, and giving them a most ferocious appearance.  
+The principal among them was the Mad Wolf, a warrior of remarkable 
+size and strength, great courage, and the fierceness of a demon.  I 
+had always looked upon him as the most dangerous man in the village; 
+and though he often invited me to feasts, I never entered his lodge 
+unarmed.  The Mad Wolf had taken a fancy to a fine horse belonging to 
+another Indian, who was called the Tall Bear; and anxious to get the 
+animal into his possession, he made the owner a present of another 
+horse nearly equal in value.  According to the customs of the Dakota, 
+the acceptance of this gift involved a sort of obligation to make an 
+equitable return; and the Tall Bear well understood that the other 
+had in view the obtaining of his favorite buffalo horse.  He however 
+accepted the present without a word of thanks, and having picketed 
+the horse before his lodge, he suffered day after day to pass without 
+making the expected return.  The Mad Wolf grew impatient and angry; 
+and at last, seeing that his bounty was not likely to produce the 
+desired return, he resolved to reclaim it.  So this evening, as soon 
+as the village was encamped, he went to the lodge of the Tall Bear, 
+seized upon the horse that he had given him, and led him away.  At 
+this the Tall Bear broke into one of those fits of sullen rage not 
+uncommon among the Indians.  He ran up to the unfortunate horse, and 
+gave him three mortals stabs with his knife.  Quick as lightning the 
+Mad Wolf drew his bow to its utmost tension, and held the arrow 
+quivering close to the breast of his adversary.  The Tall Bear, as 
+the Indians who were near him said, stood with his bloody knife in 
+his hand, facing the assailant with the utmost calmness.  Some of his 
+friends and relatives, seeing his danger, ran hastily to his 
+assistance.  The remaining three Arrow-Breakers, on the other hand, 
+came to the aid of their associate.  Many of their friends joined 
+them, the war-cry was raised on a sudden, and the tumult became 
+general.
+
+The "soldiers," who lent their timely aid in putting it down, are by 
+far the most important executive functionaries in an Indian village.  
+The office is one of considerable honor, being confided only to men 
+of courage and repute.  They derive their authority from the old men 
+and chief warriors of the village, who elect them in councils 
+occasionally convened for the purpose, and thus can exercise a degree 
+of authority which no one else in the village would dare to assume.  
+While very few Ogallalla chiefs could venture without instant 
+jeopardy of their lives to strike or lay hands upon the meanest of 
+their people, the "soldiers" in the discharge of their appropriate 
+functions, have full license to make use of these and similar acts of 
+coercion.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+THE BLACK HILLS
+
+
+We traveled eastward for two days, and then the gloomy ridges of the 
+Black Hills rose up before us.  The village passed along for some 
+miles beneath their declivities, trailing out to a great length over 
+the arid prairie, or winding at times among small detached hills or 
+distorted shapes.  Turning sharply to the left, we entered a wide 
+defile of the mountains, down the bottom of which a brook came 
+winding, lined with tall grass and dense copses, amid which were 
+hidden many beaver dams and lodges.  We passed along between two 
+lines of high precipices and rocks, piled in utter disorder one upon 
+another, and with scarcely a tree, a bush, or a clump of grass to 
+veil their nakedness.  The restless Indian boys were wandering along 
+their edges and clambering up and down their rugged sides, and 
+sometimes a group of them would stand on the verge of a cliff and 
+look down on the array as it passed in review beneath them.  As we 
+advanced, the passage grew more narrow; then it suddenly expanded 
+into a round grassy meadow, completely encompassed by mountains; and 
+here the families stopped as they came up in turn, and the camp rose 
+like magic.
+
+The lodges were hardly erected when, with their usual precipitation, 
+the Indians set about accomplishing the object that had brought them 
+there; that is, the obtaining poles for supporting their new lodges.  
+Half the population, men, women and boys, mounted their horses and 
+set out for the interior of the mountains.  As they rode at full 
+gallop over the shingly rocks and into the dark opening of the defile 
+beyond, I thought I had never read or dreamed of a more strange or 
+picturesque cavalcade.  We passed between precipices more than a 
+thousand feet high, sharp and splintering at the tops, their sides 
+beetling over the defile or descending in abrupt declivities, 
+bristling with black fir trees.  On our left they rose close to us 
+like a wall, but on the right a winding brook with a narrow strip of 
+marshy soil intervened.  The stream was clogged with old beaver dams, 
+and spread frequently into wide pools.  There were thick bushes and 
+many dead and blasted trees along its course, though frequently 
+nothing remained but stumps cut close to the ground by the beaver, 
+and marked with the sharp chisel-like teeth of those indefatigable 
+laborers.  Sometimes we were driving among trees, and then emerging 
+upon open spots, over which, Indian-like, all galloped at full speed.  
+As Pauline bounded over the rocks I felt her saddle-girth slipping, 
+and alighted to draw it tighter; when the whole array swept past me 
+in a moment, the women with their gaudy ornaments tinkling as they 
+rode, the men whooping, and laughing, and lashing forward their 
+horses.  Two black-tailed deer bounded away among the rocks; Raymond 
+shot at them from horseback; the sharp report of his rifle was 
+answered by another equally sharp from the opposing cliffs, and then 
+the echoes, leaping in rapid succession from side to side, died away 
+rattling far amid the mountains.
+
+After having ridden in this manner for six or eight miles, the 
+appearance of the scene began to change, and all the declivities 
+around us were covered with forests of tall, slender pine trees.  The 
+Indians began to fall off to the right and left, and dispersed with 
+their hatchets and knives among these woods, to cut the poles which 
+they had come to seek.  Soon I was left almost alone; but in the deep 
+stillness of those lonely mountains, the stroke of hatchets and the 
+sound of voices might be heard from far and near.
+
+Reynal, who imitated the Indians in their habits as well as the worst 
+features of their character, had killed buffalo enough to make a 
+lodge for himself and his squaw, and now he was eager to get the 
+poles necessary to complete it.  He asked me to let Raymond go with 
+him and assist in the work.  I assented, and the two men immediately 
+entered the thickest part of the wood.  Having left my horse in 
+Raymond's keeping, I began to climb the mountain.  I was weak and 
+weary and made slow progress, often pausing to rest, but after an 
+hour had elapsed, I gained a height, whence the little valley out of 
+which I had climbed seemed like a deep, dark gulf, though the 
+inaccessible peak of the mountain was still towering to a much 
+greater distance above.  Objects familiar from childhood surrounded 
+me; crags and rocks, a black and sullen brook that gurgled with a 
+hollow voice deep among the crevices, a wood of mossy distorted trees 
+and prostrate trunks flung down by age and storms, scattered among 
+the rocks, or damming the foaming waters of the little brook.  The 
+objects were the same, yet they were thrown into a wilder and more 
+startling scene, for the black crags and the savage trees assumed a 
+grim and threatening aspect, and close across the valley the opposing 
+mountain confronted me, rising from the gulf for thousands of feet, 
+with its bare pinnacles and its ragged covering of pines.  Yet the 
+scene was not without its milder features.  As I ascended, I found 
+frequent little grassy terraces, and there was one of these close at 
+hand, across which the brook was stealing, beneath the shade of 
+scattered trees that seemed artificially planted.  Here I made a 
+welcome discovery, no other than a bed of strawberries, with their 
+white flowers and their red fruit, close nestled among the grass by 
+the side of the brook, and I sat down by them, hailing them as old 
+acquaintances; for among those lonely and perilous mountains they 
+awakened delicious associations of the gardens and peaceful homes of 
+far-distant New England.
+
+Yet wild as they were, these mountains were thickly peopled.  As I 
+climbed farther, I found the broad dusty paths made by the elk, as 
+they filed across the mountainside.  The grass on all the terraces 
+was trampled down by deer; there were numerous tracks of wolves, and 
+in some of the rougher and more precipitous parts of the ascent, I 
+found foot-prints different from any that I had ever seen, and which 
+I took to be those of the Rocky Mountain sheep.  I sat down upon a 
+rock; there was a perfect stillness.  No wind was stirring, and not 
+even an insect could be heard.  I recollected the danger of becoming 
+lost in such a place, and therefore I fixed my eye upon one of the 
+tallest pinnacles of the opposite mountain.  It rose sheer upright 
+from the woods below, and by an extraordinary freak of nature 
+sustained aloft on its very summit a large loose rock.  Such a 
+landmark could never be mistaken, and feeling once more secure, I 
+began again to move forward.  A white wolf jumped up from among some 
+bushes, and leaped clumsily away; but he stopped for a moment, and 
+turned back his keen eye and his grim bristling muzzle.  I longed to 
+take his scalp and carry it back with me, as an appropriate trophy of 
+the Black Hills, but before I could fire, he was gone among the 
+rocks.  Soon I heard a rustling sound, with a cracking of twigs at a 
+little distance, and saw moving above the tall bushes the branching 
+antlers of an elk.  I was in the midst of a hunter's paradise.
+
+Such are the Black Hills, as I found them in July; but they wear a 
+different garb when winter sets in, when the broad boughs of the fir 
+tree are bent to the ground by the load of snow, and the dark 
+mountains are whitened with it.  At that season the mountain-
+trappers, returned from their autumn expeditions, often build their 
+rude cabins in the midst of these solitudes, and live in abundance 
+and luxury on the game that harbors there.  I have heard them relate, 
+how with their tawny mistresses, and perhaps a few young Indian 
+companions, they have spent months in total seclusion.  They would 
+dig pitfalls, and set traps for the white wolves, the sables, and the 
+martens, and though through the whole night the awful chorus of the 
+wolves would resound from the frozen mountains around them, yet 
+within their massive walls of logs they would lie in careless ease 
+and comfort before the blazing fire, and in the morning shoot the elk 
+and the deer from their very door.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+A MOUNTAIN HUNT
+
+
+The camp was full of the newly-cut lodge-poles; some, already 
+prepared, were stacked together, white and glistening, to dry and 
+harden in the sun; others were lying on the ground, and the squaws, 
+the boys, and even some of the warriors were busily at work peeling 
+off the bark and paring them with their knives to the proper 
+dimensions.  Most of the hides obtained at the last camp were dressed 
+and scraped thin enough for use, and many of the squaws were engaged 
+in fitting them together and sewing them with sinews, to form the 
+coverings for the lodges.  Men were wandering among the bushes that 
+lined the brook along the margin of the camp, cutting sticks of red 
+willow, or shongsasha, the bark of which, mixed with tobacco, they 
+use for smoking.  Reynal's squaw was hard at work with her awl and 
+buffalo sinews upon her lodge, while her proprietor, having just 
+finished an enormous breakfast of meat, was smoking a social pipe 
+along with Raymond and myself.  He proposed at length that we should 
+go out on a hunt.  "Go to the Big Crow's lodge," said he, "and get 
+your rifle.  I'll bet the gray Wyandotte pony against your mare that 
+we start an elk or a black-tailed deer, or likely as not, a bighorn, 
+before we are two miles out of camp.  I'll take my squaw's old yellow 
+horse; you can't whip her more than four miles an hour, but she is as 
+good for the mountains as a mule."
+
+I mounted the black mule which Raymond usually rode.  She was a very 
+fine and powerful animal, gentle and manageable enough by nature; but 
+of late her temper had been soured by misfortune.  About a week 
+before I had chanced to offend some one of the Indians, who out of 
+revenge went secretly into the meadow and gave her a severe stab in 
+the haunch with his knife.  The wound, though partially healed, still 
+galled her extremely, and made her even more perverse and obstinate 
+than the rest of her species.
+
+The morning was a glorious one, and I was in better health than I had 
+been at any time for the last two months.  Though a strong frame and 
+well compacted sinews had borne me through hitherto, it was long 
+since I had been in a condition to feel the exhilaration of the fresh 
+mountain wind and the gay sunshine that brightened the crags and 
+trees.  We left the little valley and ascended a rocky hollow in the 
+mountain.  Very soon we were out of sight of the camp, and of every 
+living thing, man, beast, bird, or insect.  I had never before, 
+except on foot, passed over such execrable ground, and I desire never 
+to repeat the experiment.  The black mule grew indignant, and even 
+the redoubtable yellow horse stumbled every moment, and kept groaning 
+to himself as he cut his feet and legs among the sharp rocks.
+
+It was a scene of silence and desolation.  Little was visible except 
+beetling crags and the bare shingly sides of the mountains, relieved 
+by scarcely a trace of vegetation.  At length, however, we came upon 
+a forest tract, and had no sooner done so than we heartily wished 
+ourselves back among the rocks again; for we were on a steep descent, 
+among trees so thick that we could see scarcely a rod in any 
+direction.
+
+If one is anxious to place himself in a situation where the hazardous 
+and the ludicrous are combined in about equal proportions, let him 
+get upon a vicious mule, with a snaffle bit, and try to drive her 
+through the woods down a slope of 45 degrees.  Let him have on a long 
+rifle, a buckskin frock with long fringes, and a head of long hair.  
+These latter appendages will be caught every moment and twitched away 
+in small portions by the twigs, which will also whip him smartly 
+across the face, while the large branches above thump him on the 
+head.  His mule, if she be a true one, will alternately stop short 
+and dive violently forward, and his position upon her back will be 
+somewhat diversified and extraordinary.  At one time he will clasp 
+her affectionately, to avoid the blow of a bough overhead; at 
+another, he will throw himself back and fling his knee forward 
+against the side of her neck, to keep it from being crushed between 
+the rough bark of a tree and the equally unyielding ribs of the 
+animal herself.  Reynal was cursing incessantly during the whole way 
+down.  Neither of us had the remotest idea where we were going; and 
+though I have seen rough riding, I shall always retain an evil 
+recollection of that five minutes' scramble.
+
+At last we left our troubles behind us, emerging into the channel of 
+a brook that circled along the foot of the descent; and here, turning 
+joyfully to the left, we rode in luxury and ease over the white 
+pebbles and the rippling water, shaded from the glaring sun by an 
+overarching green transparency.  These halcyon moments were of short 
+duration.  The friendly brook, turning sharply to one side, went 
+brawling and foaming down the rocky hill into an abyss, which, as far 
+as we could discern, had no bottom; so once more we betook ourselves 
+to the detested woods.  When next we came forth from their dancing 
+shadow and sunlight, we found ourselves standing in the broad glare 
+of day, on a high jutting point of the mountain.  Before us stretched 
+a long, wide, desert valley, winding away far amid the mountains.  No 
+civilized eye but mine had ever looked upon that virgin waste.  
+Reynal was gazing intently; he began to speak at last:
+
+"Many a time, when I was with the Indians, I have been hunting for 
+gold all through the Black Hills.  There's plenty of it here; you may 
+be certain of that.  I have dreamed about it fifty times, and I never 
+dreamed yet but what it came true.  Look over yonder at those black 
+rocks piled up against that other big rock.  Don't it look as if 
+there might be something there?  It won't do for a white man to be 
+rummagmg too much about these mountains; the Indians say they are 
+full of bad spirits; and I believe myself that it's no good luck to 
+be hunting about here after gold.  Well, for all that, I would like 
+to have one of these fellows up here, from down below, to go about 
+with his witch-hazel rod, and I'll guarantee that it would not be 
+long before he would light on a gold mine.  Never mind; we'll let the 
+gold alone for to-day.  Look at those trees down below us in the 
+hollow; we'll go down there, and I reckon we'll get a black-tailed 
+deer."
+
+But Reynal's predictions were not verified.  We passed mountain after 
+mountain, and valley after valley; we explored deep ravines; yet 
+still to my companion's vexation and evident surprise, no game could 
+be found.  So, in the absence of better, we resolved to go out on the 
+plains and look for an antelope.  With this view we began to pass 
+down a narrow valley, the bottom of which was covered with the stiff 
+wild-sage bushes and marked with deep paths, made by the buffalo, 
+who, for some inexplicable reason, are accustomed to penetrate, in 
+their long grave processions, deep among the gorges of these sterile 
+mountains.
+
+Reynal's eye was ranging incessantly among the rocks and along the 
+edges of the black precipices, in hopes of discovering the mountain 
+sheep peering down upon us in fancied security from that giddy 
+elevation.  Nothing was visible for some time.  At length we both 
+detected something in motion near the foot of one of the mountains, 
+and in a moment afterward a black-tailed deer, with his spreading 
+antlers, stood gazing at us from the top of a rock, and then, slowly 
+turning away, disappeared behind it.  In an instant Reynal was out of 
+his saddle, and running toward the spot.  I, being too weak to 
+follow, sat holding his horse and waiting the result.  I lost sight 
+of him, then heard the report of his rifle, deadened among the rocks, 
+and finally saw him reappear, with a surly look that plainly betrayed 
+his ill success.  Again we moved forward down the long valley, when 
+soon after we came full upon what seemed a wide and very shallow 
+ditch, incrusted at the bottom with white clay, dried and cracked in 
+the sun.  Under this fair outside, Reynal's eye detected the signs of 
+lurking mischief.  He called me to stop, and then alighting, picked 
+up a stone and threw it into the ditch.  To my utter amazement it 
+fell with a dull splash, breaking at once through the thin crust, and 
+spattering round the hole a yellowish creamy fluid, into which it 
+sank and disappeared.  A stick, five or six feet long lay on the 
+ground, and with this we sounded the insidious abyss close to its 
+edge.  It was just possible to touch the bottom.  Places like this 
+are numerous among the Rocky Mountains.  The buffalo, in his blind 
+and heedless walk, often plunges into them unawares.  Down he sinks; 
+one snort of terror, one convulsive struggle, and the slime calmly 
+flows above his shaggy head, the languid undulations of its sleek and 
+placid surface alone betraying how the powerful monster writhes in 
+his death-throes below.
+
+We found after some trouble a point where we could pass the abyss, 
+and now the valley began to open upon the plains which spread to the 
+horizon before us.  On one of their distant swells we discerned three 
+or four black specks, which Reynal pronounced to be buffalo.
+
+"Come," said he, "we must get one of them.  My squaw wants more 
+sinews to finish her lodge with, and I want some glue myself."
+
+He immediately put the yellow horse at such a gallop as he was 
+capable of executing, while I set spurs to the mule, who soon far 
+outran her plebeian rival.  When we had galloped a mile or more, a 
+large rabbit, by ill luck, sprang up just under the feet of the mule, 
+who bounded violently aside in full career.  Weakened as I was, I was 
+flung forcibly to the ground, and my rifle, falling close to my head, 
+went off with a shock.  Its sharp spiteful report rang for some 
+moments in my ear.  Being slightly stunned, I lay for an instant 
+motionless, and Reynal, supposing me to be shot, rode up and began to 
+curse the mule.  Soon recovering myself, I rose, picked up the rifle 
+and anxiously examined it.  It was badly injured.  The stock was 
+cracked, and the main screw broken, so that the lock had to be tied 
+in its place with a string; yet happily it was not rendered totally 
+unserviceable.  I wiped it out, reloaded it, and handing it to 
+Reynal, who meanwhile had caught the mule and led her up to me, I 
+mounted again.  No sooner had I done so, than the brute began to rear 
+and plunge with extreme violence; but being now well prepared for 
+her, and free from incumbrance, I soon reduced her to submission.  
+Then taking the rifle again from Reynal, we galloped forward as 
+before.
+
+We were now free of the mountain and riding far out on the broad 
+prairie.  The buffalo were still some two miles in advance of us.  
+When we came near them, we stopped where a gentle swell of the plain 
+concealed us from their view, and while I held his horse Reynal ran 
+forward with his rifle, till I lost sight of him beyond the rising 
+ground.  A few minutes elapsed; I heard the report of his piece, and 
+saw the buffalo running away at full speed on the right, and 
+immediately after, the hunter himself unsuccessful as before, came up 
+and mounted his horse in excessive ill-humor.  He cursed the Black 
+Hills and the buffalo, swore that he was a good hunter, which indeed 
+was true, and that he had never been out before among those mountains 
+without killing two or three deer at least.
+
+We now turned toward the distant encampment.  As we rode along, 
+antelope in considerable numbers were flying lightly in all 
+directions over the plain, but not one of them would stand and be 
+shot at.  When we reached the foot of the mountain ridge that lay 
+between us and the village, we were too impatient to take the smooth 
+and circuitous route; so turning short to the left, we drove our 
+wearied animals directly upward among the rocks.  Still more antelope 
+were leaping about among these flinty hillsides.  Each of us shot at 
+one, though from a great distance, and each missed his mark.  At 
+length we reached the summit of the last ridge.  Looking down, we saw 
+the bustling camp in the valley at our feet, and ingloriously 
+descended to it.  As we rode among the lodges, the Indians looked in 
+vain for the fresh meat that should have hung behind our saddles, and 
+the squaws uttered various suppressed ejaculations, to the great 
+indignation of Reynal.  Our mortification was increased when we rode 
+up to his lodge.  Here we saw his young Indian relative, the Hail-
+Storm, his light graceful figure on the ground in an easy attitude, 
+while with his friend the Rabbit, who sat by his side, he was making 
+an abundant meal from a wooden bowl of wasna, which the squaw had 
+placed between them.  Near him lay the fresh skin of a female elk, 
+which he had just killed among the mountains, only a mile or two from 
+the camp.  No doubt the boy's heart was elated with triumph, but he 
+betrayed no sign of it.  He even seemed totally unconscious of our 
+approach, and his handsome face had all the tranquillity of Indian 
+self-control; a self-control which prevents the exhibition of 
+emotion, without restraining the emotion itself.  It was about two 
+months since I had known the Hail-Storm, and within that time his 
+character had remarkably developed.  When I first saw him, he was 
+just emerging from the habits and feelings of the boy into the 
+ambition of the hunter and warrior.  He had lately killed his first 
+deer, and this had excited his aspirations after distinction.  Since 
+that time he had been continually in search of game, and no young 
+hunter in the village had been so active or so fortunate as he.  It 
+will perhaps be remembered how fearlessly he attacked the buffalo 
+bull, as we were moving toward our camp at the Medicine-Bow Mountain.  
+All this success had produced a marked change in his character.  As I 
+first remembered him he always shunned the society of the young 
+squaws, and was extremely bashful and sheepish in their presence; but 
+now, in the confidence of his own reputation, he began to assume the 
+airs and the arts of a man of gallantry.  He wore his red blanket 
+dashingly over his left shoulder, painted his cheeks every day with 
+vermilion, and hung pendants of shells in his ears.  If I observed 
+aright, he met with very good success in his new pursuits; still the 
+Hail-Storm had much to accomplish before he attained the full 
+standing of a warrior.  Gallantly as he began to bear himself among 
+the women and girls, he still was timid and abashed in the presence 
+of the chiefs and old men; for he had never yet killed a man, or 
+stricken the dead body of an enemy in battle.  I have no doubt that 
+the handsome smooth-faced boy burned with keen desire to flash his 
+maiden scalping-knife, and I would not have encamped alone with him 
+without watching his movements with a distrustful eye.
+
+His elder brother, the Horse, was of a different character.  He was 
+nothing but a lazy dandy.  He knew very well how to hunt, but 
+preferred to live by the hunting of others.  He had no appetite for 
+distinction, and the Hail-Storm, though a few years younger than he, 
+already surpassed him in reputation.  He had a dark and ugly face, 
+and he passed a great part of his time in adorning it with vermilion, 
+and contemplating it by means of a little pocket looking-glass which 
+I gave him.  As for the rest of the day, he divided it between eating 
+and sleeping, and sitting in the sun on the outside of a lodge.  Here 
+he would remain for hour after hour, arrayed in all his finery, with 
+an old dragoon's sword in his hand, and evidently flattering himself 
+that he was the center of attraction to the eyes of the surrounding 
+squaws.  Yet he sat looking straight forward with a face of the 
+utmost gravity, as if wrapped in profound meditation, and it was only 
+by the occasional sidelong glances which he shot at his supposed 
+admirers that one could detect the true course of his thoughts.
+
+Both he and his brother may represent a class in the Indian 
+community; neither should the Hail-Storm's friend, the Rabbit, be 
+passed by without notice.  The Hail-Storm and he were inseparable; 
+they ate, slept, and hunted together, and shared with one another 
+almost all that they possessed.  If there be anything that deserves 
+to be called romantic in the Indian character, it is to be sought for 
+in friendships such as this, which are quite common among many of the 
+prairie tribes.
+
+Slowly, hour after hour, that weary afternoon dragged away.  I lay in 
+Reynal's lodge, overcome by the listless torpor that pervaded the 
+whole encampment.  The day's work was finished, or if it were not, 
+the inhabitants had resolved not to finish it at all, and all were 
+dozing quietly within the shelter of the lodges.  A profound 
+lethargy, the very spirit of indolence, seemed to have sunk upon the 
+village.  Now and then I could hear the low laughter of some girl 
+from within a neighboring lodge, or the small shrill voices of a few 
+restless children, who alone were moving in the deserted area.  The 
+spirit of the place infected me; I could not even think 
+consecutively; I was fit only for musing and reverie, when at last, 
+like the rest, I fell asleep.
+
+When evening came and the fires were lighted round the lodges, a 
+select family circle convened in the neighborhood of Reynal's 
+domicile.  It was composed entirely of his squaw's relatives, a mean 
+and ignoble clan, among whom none but the Hail-Storm held forth any 
+promise of future distinction.  Even his protests were rendered not a 
+little dubious by the character of the family, less however from any 
+principle of aristocratic distinction than from the want of powerful 
+supporters to assist him in his undertakings, and help to avenge his 
+quarrels.  Raymond and I sat down along with them.  There were eight 
+or ten men gathered around the fire, together with about as many 
+women, old and young, some of whom were tolerably good-looking.  As 
+the pipe passed round among the men, a lively conversation went 
+forward, more merry than delicate, and at length two or three of the 
+elder women (for the girls were somewhat diffident and bashful) began 
+to assail Raymond with various pungent witticisms.  Some of the men 
+took part and an old squaw concluded by bestowing on him a ludicrous 
+nick name, at which a general laugh followed at his expense.  Raymond 
+grinned and giggled, and made several futile attempts at repartee.  
+Knowing the impolicy and even danger of suffering myself to be placed 
+in a ludicrous light among the Indians, I maintained a rigid 
+inflexible countenance, and wholly escaped their sallies.
+
+In the morning I found, to my great disgust, that the camp was to 
+retain its position for another day.  I dreaded its languor and 
+monotony, and to escape it, I set out to explore the surrounding 
+mountains.  I was accompanied by a faithful friend, my rifle, the 
+only friend indeed on whose prompt assistance in time of trouble I 
+could implicitly rely.  Most of the Indians in the village, it is 
+true, professed good-will toward the whites, but the experience of 
+others and my own observation had taught me the extreme folly of 
+confidence, and the utter impossibility of foreseeing to what sudden 
+acts the strange unbridled impulses of an Indian may urge him.  When 
+among this people danger is never so near as when you are unprepared 
+for it, never so remote as when you are armed and on the alert to 
+meet it any moment.  Nothing offers so strong a temptation to their 
+ferocious instincts as the appearance of timidity, weakness, or 
+security.
+
+Many deep and gloomy gorges, choked with trees and bushes, opened 
+from the sides of the hills, which were shaggy with forests wherever 
+the rocks permitted vegetation to spring.  A great number of Indians 
+were stalking along the edges of the woods, and boys were whooping 
+and laughing on the mountain-sides, practicing eye and hand, and 
+indulging their destructive propensities by following birds and small 
+animals and killing them with their little bows and arrows.  There 
+was one glen, stretching up between steep cliffs far into the bosom 
+of the mountain.  I began to ascend along its bottom, pushing my way 
+onward among the rocks, trees, and bushes that obstructed it.  A 
+slender thread of water trickled along its center, which since 
+issuing from the heart of its native rock could scarcely have been 
+warmed or gladdened by a ray of sunshine.  After advancing for some 
+time, I conceived myself to be entirely alone; but coming to a part 
+of the glen in a great measure free of trees and undergrowth, I saw 
+at some distance the black head and red shoulders of an Indian among 
+the bushes above.  The reader need not prepare himself for a 
+startling adventure, for I have none to relate.  The head and 
+shoulders belonged to Mene-Seela, my best friend in the village.  As 
+I had approached noiselessly with my moccasined feet, the old man was 
+quite unconscious of my presence; and turning to a point where I 
+could gain an unobstructed view of him, I saw him seated alone, 
+immovable as a statue, among the rocks and trees.  His face was 
+turned upward, and his eyes seemed riveted on a pine tree springing 
+from a cleft in the precipice above.  The crest of the pine was 
+swaying to and fro in the wind, and its long limbs waved slowly up 
+and down, as if the tree had life.  Looking for a while at the old 
+man, I was satisfied that he was engaged in an act of worship or 
+prayer, or communion of some kind with a supernatural being.  I 
+longed to penetrate his thoughts, but I could do nothing more than 
+conjecture and speculate.  I knew that though the intellect of an 
+Indian can embrace the idea of an all-wise, all-powerful Spirit, the 
+supreme Ruler of the universe, yet his mind will not always ascend 
+into communion with a being that seems to him so vast, remote, and 
+incomprehensible; and when danger threatens, when his hopes are 
+broken, when the black wing of sorrow overshadows him, he is prone to 
+turn for relief to some inferior agency, less removed from the 
+ordinary scope of his faculties.  He has a guardian spirit, on whom 
+he relies for succor and guidance.  To him all nature is instinct 
+with mystic influence.  Among those mountains not a wild beast was 
+prowling, a bird singing, or a leaf fluttering, that might not tend 
+to direct his destiny or give warning of what was in store for him; 
+and he watches the world of nature around him as the astrologer 
+watches the stars.  So closely is he linked with it that his guardian 
+spirit, no unsubstantial creation of the fancy, is usually embodied 
+in the form of some living thing--a bear, a wolf, an eagle, or a 
+serpent; and Mene-Seela, as he gazed intently on the old pine tree, 
+might believe it to inshrine the fancied guide and protector of his 
+life.
+
+Whatever was passing in the mind of the old man, it was no part of 
+sense or of delicacy to disturb him.  Silently retracing my 
+footsteps, I descended the glen until I came to a point where I could 
+climb the steep precipices that shut it in, and gain the side of the 
+mountain.  Looking up, I saw a tall peak rising among the woods.  
+Something impelled me to climb; I had not felt for many a day such 
+strength and elasticity of limb.  An hour and a half of slow and 
+often intermittent labor brought me to the very summit; and emerging 
+from the dark shadows of the rocks and pines, I stepped forth into 
+the light, and walking along the sunny verge of a precipice, seated 
+myself on its extreme point.  Looking between the mountain peaks to 
+the westward, the pale blue prairie was stretching to the farthest 
+horizon like a serene and tranquil ocean.  The surrounding mountains 
+were in themselves sufficiently striking and impressive, but this 
+contrast gave redoubled effect to their stern features.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+PASSAGE OF THE MOUNTAINS
+
+
+When I took leave of Shaw at La Bonte's Camp, I promised that I would 
+meet him at Fort Laramie on the 1st of August.  That day, according 
+to my reckoning, was now close at hand.  It was impossible, at best, 
+to fulfill my engagement exactly, and my meeting with him must have 
+been postponed until many days after the appointed time, had not the 
+plans of the Indians very well coincided with my own.  They too, 
+intended to pass the mountains and move toward the fort.  To do so at 
+this point was impossible, because there was no opening; and in order 
+to find a passage we were obliged to go twelve or fourteen miles 
+southward.  Late in the afternoon the camp got in motion, defiling 
+back through the mountains along the same narrow passage by which 
+they had entered.  I rode in company with three or four young Indians 
+at the rear, and the moving swarm stretched before me, in the ruddy 
+light of sunset, or in the deep shadow of the mountains far beyond my 
+sight.  It was an ill-omened spot they chose to encamp upon.  When 
+they were there just a year before, a war party of ten men, led by 
+The Whirlwind's son, had gone out against the enemy, and not one had 
+ever returned.  This was the immediate cause of this season's warlike 
+preparations.  I was not a little astonished when I came to the camp, 
+at the confusion of horrible sounds with which it was filled; howls, 
+shrieks, and wailings were heard from all the women present, many of 
+whom not content with this exhibition of grief for the loss of their 
+friends and relatives, were gashing their legs deeply with knives.  A 
+warrior in the village, who had lost a brother in the expedition; 
+chose another mode of displaying his sorrow.  The Indians, who, 
+though often rapacious, are utterly devoid of avarice, are accustomed 
+in times of mourning, or on other solemn occasions, to give away the 
+whole of their possessions, and reduce themselves to nakedness and 
+want.  The warrior in question led his two best horses into the 
+center of the village, and gave them away to his friends; upon which 
+songs and acclamations in praise of his generosity mingled with the 
+cries of the women.
+
+On the next morning we entered once more among the mountains.  There 
+was nothing in their appearance either grand or picturesque, though 
+they were desolate to the last degree, being mere piles of black and 
+broken rocks, without trees or vegetation of any kind.  As we passed 
+among them along a wide valley, I noticed Raymond riding by the side 
+of a younger squaw, to whom he was addressing various insinuating 
+compliments.  All the old squaws in the neighborhood watched his 
+proceedings in great admiration, and the girl herself would turn 
+aside her head and laugh.  Just then the old mule thought proper to 
+display her vicious pranks; she began to rear and plunge most 
+furiously.  Raymond was an excellent rider, and at first he stuck 
+fast in his seat; but the moment after, I saw the mule's hind-legs 
+flourishing in the air, and my unlucky follower pitching head 
+foremost over her ears.  There was a burst of screams and laughter 
+from all the women, in which his mistress herself took part, and 
+Raymond was instantly assailed by such a shower of witticisms, that 
+he was glad to ride forward out of hearing.
+
+Not long after, as I rode near him, I heard him shouting to me.  He 
+was pointing toward a detached rocky hill that stood in the middle of 
+the valley before us, and from behind it a long file of elk came out 
+at full speed and entered an opening in the side of the mountain.  
+They had scarcely disappeared when whoops and exclamations came from 
+fifty voices around me.  The young men leaped from their horses, 
+flung down their heavy buffalo robes, and ran at full speed toward 
+the foot of the nearest mountain.  Reynal also broke away at a gallop 
+in the same direction, "Come on! come on!" he called to us.  "Do you 
+see that band of bighorn up yonder?  If there's one of them, there's 
+a hundred!"
+
+In fact, near the summit of the mountain, I could see a large number 
+of small white objects, moving rapidly upward among the precipices, 
+while others were filing along its rocky profile.  Anxious to see the 
+sport, I galloped forward, and entering a passage in the side of the 
+mountain, ascended the loose rocks as far as my horse could carry me.  
+Here I fastened her to an old pine tree that stood alone, scorching 
+in the sun.  At that moment Raymond called to me from the right that 
+another band of sheep was close at hand in that direction.  I ran up 
+to the top of the opening, which gave me a full view into the rocky 
+gorge beyond; and here I plainly saw some fifty or sixty sheep, 
+almost within rifle-shot, clattering upward among the rocks, and 
+endeavoring, after their usual custom, to reach the highest point.  
+The naked Indians bounded up lightly in pursuit.  In a moment the 
+game and hunters disappeared.  Nothing could be seen or heard but the 
+occasional report of a gun, more and more distant, reverberating 
+among the rocks.
+
+I turned to descend, and as I did so I could see the valley below 
+alive with Indians passing rapidly through it, on horseback and on 
+foot.  A little farther on, all were stopping as they came up; the 
+camp was preparing, and the lodges rising.  I descended to this spot, 
+and soon after Reynal and Raymond returned.  They bore between them a 
+sheep which they had pelted to death with stones from the edge of a 
+ravine, along the bottom of which it was attempting to escape.  One 
+by one the hunters came dropping in; yet such is the activity of the 
+Rocky Mountain sheep that, although sixty or seventy men were out in 
+pursuit, not more than half a dozen animals were killed.  Of these 
+only one was a full-grown male.  He had a pair of horns twisted like 
+a ram's, the dimensions of which were almost beyond belief.  I have 
+seen among the Indians ladles with long handles, capable of 
+containing more than a quart, cut from such horns.
+
+There is something peculiarly interesting in the character and habits 
+of the mountain sheep, whose chosen retreats are above the region of 
+vegetation and storms, and who leap among the giddy precipices of 
+their aerial home as actively as the antelope skims over the prairies 
+below.
+
+Through the whole of the next morning we were moving forward, among 
+the hills.  On the following day the heights gathered around us, and 
+the passage of the mountains began in earnest.  Before the village 
+left its camping ground, I set forward in company with the Eagle-
+Feather, a man of powerful frame, but of bad and sinister face.  His 
+son, a light-limbed boy, rode with us, and another Indian, named the 
+Panther, was also of the party.  Leaving the village out of sight 
+behind us, we rode together up a rocky defile.  After a while, 
+however, the Eagle-Feather discovered in the distance some appearance 
+of game, and set off with his son in pursuit of it, while I went 
+forward with the Panther.  This was a mere NOM DE GUERRE; for, like 
+many Indians, he concealed his real name out of some superstitious 
+notion.  He was a very noble looking fellow.  As he suffered his 
+ornamented buffalo robe to fall into folds about his loins, his 
+stately and graceful figure was fully displayed; and while he sat his 
+horse in an easy attitude, the long feathers of the prairie cock 
+fluttering from the crown of his head, he seemed the very model of a 
+wild prairie-rider.  He had not the same features as those of other 
+Indians.  Unless his handsome face greatly belied him, he was free 
+from the jealousy, suspicion, and malignant cunning of his people.  
+For the most part, a civilized white man can discover but very few 
+points of sympathy between his own nature and that of an Indian.  
+With every disposition to do justice to their good qualities, he must 
+be conscious that an impassable gulf lies between him and his red 
+brethren of the prairie.  Nay, so alien to himself do they appear 
+that, having breathed for a few months or a few weeks the air of this 
+region, he begins to look upon them as a troublesome and dangerous 
+species of wild beast, and, if expedient, he could shoot them with as 
+little compunction as they themselves would experience after 
+performing the same office upon him.  Yet, in the countenance of the 
+Panther, I gladly read that there were at least some points of 
+sympathy between him and me.  We were excellent friends, and as we 
+rode forward together through rocky passages, deep dells, and little 
+barren plains, he occupied himself very zealously in teaching me the 
+Dakota language.  After a while, we came to a little grassy recess, 
+where some gooseberry bushes were growing at the foot of a rock; and 
+these offered such temptation to my companion, that he gave over his 
+instruction, and stopped so long to gather the fruit that before we 
+were in motion again the van of the village came in view.  An old 
+woman appeared, leading down her pack horse among the rocks above.  
+Savage after savage followed, and the little dell was soon crowded 
+with the throng.
+
+That morning's march was one not easily to be forgotten.  It led us 
+through a sublime waste, a wilderness of mountains and pine forests, 
+over which the spirit of loneliness and silence seemed brooding.  
+Above and below little could be seen but the same dark green foliage.  
+It overspread the valleys, and the mountains were clothed with it 
+from the black rocks that crowned their summits to the impetuous 
+streams that circled round their base.  Scenery like this, it might 
+seem, could have no very cheering effect on the mind of a sick man 
+(for to-day my disease had again assailed me) in the midst of a horde 
+of savages; but if the reader has ever wandered, with a true hunter's 
+spirit, among the forests of Maine, or the more picturesque solitudes 
+of the Adirondack Mountains, he will understand how the somber woods 
+and mountains around me might have awakened any other feelings than 
+those of gloom.  In truth they recalled gladdening recollections of 
+similar scenes in a distant and far different land.  After we had 
+been advancing for several hours through passages always narrow, 
+often obstructed and difficult, I saw at a little distance on our 
+right a narrow opening between two high wooded precipices.  All 
+within seemed darkness and mystery.  In the mood in which I found 
+myself something strongly impelled me to enter.  Passing over the 
+intervening space I guided my horse through the rocky portal, and as 
+I did so instinctively drew the covering from my rifle, half 
+expecting that some unknown evil lay in ambush within those dreary 
+recesses.  The place was shut in among tall cliffs, and so deeply 
+shadowed by a host of old pine trees that, though the sun shone 
+bright on the side of the mountain, nothing but a dim twilight could 
+penetrate within.  As far as I could see it had no tenants except a 
+few hawks and owls, who, dismayed at my intrusion, flapped hoarsely 
+away among the shaggy branches.  I moved forward, determined to 
+explore the mystery to the bottom, and soon became involved among the 
+pines.  The genius of the place exercised a strange influence upon my 
+mind.  Its faculties were stimulated into extraordinary activity, and 
+as I passed along many half-forgotten incidents, and the images of 
+persons and things far distant, rose rapidly before me with 
+surprising distinctness.  In that perilous wilderness, eight hundred 
+miles removed beyond the faintest vestige of civilization, the scenes 
+of another hemisphere, the seat of ancient refinement, passed before 
+me more like a succession of vivid paintings than any mere dreams of 
+the fancy.  I saw the church of St. Peter's illumined on the evening 
+of Easter Day, the whole majestic pile, from the cross to the 
+foundation stone, penciled in fire and shedding a radiance, like the 
+serene light of the moon, on the sea of upturned faces below.  I saw 
+the peak of Mount Etna towering above its inky mantle of clouds and 
+lightly curling its wreaths of milk-white smoke against the soft sky 
+flushed with the Sicilian sunset.  I saw also the gloomy vaulted 
+passages and the narrow cells of the Passionist convent where I once 
+had sojourned for a few days with the fanatical monks, its pale, 
+stern inmates in their robes of black, and the grated window from 
+whence I could look out, a forbidden indulgence, upon the melancholy 
+Coliseum and the crumbling ruins of the Etennal City.  The mighty 
+glaciers of the Splugen too rose before me, gleaming in the sun like 
+polished silver, and those terrible solitudes, the birthplace of the 
+Rhine, where bursting from the bowels of its native mountains, it 
+lashes and foams down the rocky abyss into the little valley of 
+Andeer.  These recollections, and many more, crowded upon me, until 
+remembering that it was hardly wise to remain long in such a place, I 
+mounted again and retraced my steps.  Issuing from between the rocks 
+I saw a few rods before me the men, women, and children, dogs and 
+horses, still filing slowly across the little glen.  A bare round 
+hill rose directly above them.  I rode to the top, and from this 
+point I could look down on the savage procession as it passed just 
+beneath my feet, and far on the left I could see its thin and broken 
+line, visible only at intervals, stretching away for miles among the 
+mountains.  On the farthest ridge horsemen were still descending like 
+mere specks in the distance.
+
+I remained on the hill until all had passed, and then, descending, 
+followed after them.  A little farther on I found a very small 
+meadow, set deeply among steep mountains; and here the whole village 
+had encamped.  The little spot was crowded with the confused and 
+disorderly host.  Some of the lodges were already completely 
+prepared, or the squaws perhaps were busy in drawing the heavy 
+coverings of skin over the bare poles.  Others were as yet mere 
+skeletons, while others still--poles, covering, and all--lay 
+scattered in complete disorder on the ground among buffalo robes, 
+bales of meat, domestic utensils, harness, and weapons.  Squaws were 
+screaming to one another, horses rearing and plunging dogs yelping, 
+eager to be disburdened of their loads, while the fluttering of 
+feathers and the gleam of barbaric ornaments added liveliness to the 
+scene.  The small children ran about amid the crowd, while many of 
+the boys were scrambling among the overhanging rocks, and standing, 
+with their little bows in their hands, looking down upon a restless 
+throng.  In contrast with the general confusion, a circle of old men 
+and warriors sat in the midst, smoking in profound indifference and 
+tranquillity.  The disorder at length subsided.  The horses were 
+driven away to feed along the adjacent valley, and the camp assumed 
+an air of listless repose.  It was scarcely past noon; a vast white 
+canopy of smoke from a burning forest to the eastward overhung the 
+place, and partially obscured the sun; yet the heat was almost 
+insupportable.  The lodges stood crowded together without order in 
+the narrow space.  Each was a perfect hothouse, within which the lazy 
+proprietor lay sleeping.  The camp was silent as death.  Nothing 
+stirred except now and then an old woman passing from lodge to lodge.  
+The girls and young men sat together in groups under the pine trees 
+upon the surrounding heights.  The dogs lay panting on the ground, 
+too lazy even to growl at the white man.  At the entrance of the 
+meadow there was a cold spring among the rocks, completely 
+overshadowed by tall trees and dense undergrowth.  In this cold and 
+shady retreat a number of girls were assembled, sitting together on 
+rocks and fallen logs, discussing the latest gossip of the village, 
+or laughing and throwing water with their hands at the intruding 
+Meneaska.  The minutes seemed lengthened into hours.  I lay for a 
+long time under a tree, studying the Ogallalla tongue, with the 
+zealous instructions of my friend the Panther.  When we were both 
+tired of this I went and lay down by the side of a deep, clear pool 
+formed by the water of the spring.  A shoal of little fishes of about 
+a pin's length were playing in it, sporting together, as it seemed, 
+very amicably; but on closer observation, I saw that they were 
+engaged in a cannibal warfare among themselves.  Now and then a small 
+one would fall a victim, and immediately disappear down the maw of 
+his voracious conqueror.  Every moment, however, the tyrant of the 
+pool, a monster about three inches long, with staring goggle eyes, 
+would slowly issue forth with quivering fins and tail from under the 
+shelving bank.  The small fry at this would suspend their 
+hostilities, and scatter in a panic at the appearance of overwhelming 
+force.
+
+"Soft-hearted philanthropists," thought I, "may sigh long for their 
+peaceful millennium; for from minnows up to men, life is an incessant 
+battle."
+
+Evening approached at last, the tall mountain-tops around were still 
+gay and bright in sunshine, while our deep glen was completely 
+shadowed.  I left the camp and ascended a neighboring hill, whose 
+rocky summit commanded a wide view over the surrounding wilderness.  
+The sun was still glaring through the stiff pines on the ridge of the 
+western mountain.  In a moment he was gone, and as the landscape 
+rapidly darkened, I turned again toward the village.  As I descended 
+the hill, the howling of wolves and the barking of foxes came up out 
+of the dim woods from far and near.  The camp was glowing with a 
+multitude of fires, and alive with dusky naked figures, whose tall 
+shadows flitted among the surroundings crags.
+
+I found a circle of smokers seated in their usual place; that is, on 
+the ground before the lodge of a certain warrior, who seemed to be 
+generally known for his social qualities.  I sat down to smoke a 
+parting pipe with my savage friends.  That day was the 1st of August, 
+on which I had promised to meet Shaw at Fort Laramie.  The Fort was 
+less than two days' journey distant, and that my friend need not 
+suffer anxiety on my account, I resolved to push forward as rapidly 
+as possible to the place of meeting.  I went to look after the Hail-
+Storm, and having found him, I offered him a handful of hawks'-bells 
+and a paper of vermilion, on condition that he would guide me in the 
+morning through the mountains within sight of Laramie Creek.
+
+The Hail-Storm ejaculated "How!" and accepted the gift.  Nothing more 
+was said on either side; the matter was settled, and I lay down to 
+sleep in Kongra-Tonga's lodge.
+
+Long before daylight Raymond shook me by the shoulder.
+
+"Everything is ready," he said.
+
+I went out.  The morning was chill, damp, and dark; and the whole 
+camp seemed asleep.  The Hail-Storm sat on horseback before the 
+lodge, and my mare Pauline and the mule which Raymond rode were 
+picketed near it.  We saddled and made our other arrangements for the 
+journey, but before these were completed the camp began to stir, and 
+the lodge-coverings fluttered and rustled as the squaws pulled them 
+down in preparation for departure.  Just as the light began to appear 
+we left the ground, passing up through a narrow opening among the 
+rocks which led eastward out of the meadow.  Gaining the top of this 
+passage, I turned round and sat looking back upon the camp, dimly 
+visible in the gray light of the morning.  All was alive with the 
+bustle of preparation.  I turned away, half unwilling to take a final 
+leave of my savage associates.  We turned to the right, passing among 
+the rocks and pine trees so dark that for a while we could scarcely 
+see our way.  The country in front was wild and broken, half hill, 
+half plain, partly open and partly covered with woods of pine and 
+oak.  Barriers of lofty mountains encompassed it; the woods were 
+fresh and cool in the early morning; the peaks of the mountains were 
+wreathed with mist, and sluggish vapors were entangled among the 
+forests upon their sides.  At length the black pinnacle of the 
+tallest mountain was tipped with gold by the rising sun.  About that 
+time the Hail-Storm, who rode in front gave a low exclamation.  Some 
+large animal leaped up from among the bushes, and an elk, as I 
+thought, his horns thrown back over his neck, darted past us across 
+the open space, and bounded like a mad thing away among the adjoining 
+pines.  Raymond was soon out of his saddle, but before he could fire, 
+the animal was full two hundred yards distant.  The ball struck its 
+mark, though much too low for mortal effect.  The elk, however, 
+wheeled in its flight, and ran at full speed among the trees, nearly 
+at right angles to his former course.  I fired and broke his 
+shoulder; still he moved on, limping down into the neighboring woody 
+hollow, whither the young Indian followed and killed him.  When we 
+reached the spot we discovered him to be no elk, but a black-tailed 
+deer, an animal nearly twice the size of the common deer, and quite 
+unknown to the East.  We began to cut him up; the reports of the 
+rifles had reached the ears of the Indians, and before our task was 
+finished several of them came to the spot.  Leaving the hide of the 
+deer to the Hail-Storm, we hung as much of the meat as we wanted 
+behind our saddles, left the rest to the Indians, and resumed our 
+journey.  Meanwhile the village was on its way, and had gone so far 
+that to get in advance of it was impossible.  Therefore we directed 
+our course so as to strike its line of march at the nearest point.  
+In a short time, through the dark trunks of the pines, we could see 
+the figures of the Indians as they passed.  Once more we were among 
+them.  They were moving with even more than their usual 
+precipitation, crowded close together in a narrow pass between rocks 
+and old pine trees.  We were on the eastern descent of the mountain, 
+and soon came to a rough and difficult defile, leading down a very 
+steep declivity.  The whole swarm poured down together, filling the 
+rocky passageway like some turbulent mountain stream.  The mountains 
+before us were on fire, and had been so for weeks.  The view in front 
+was obscured by a vast dim sea of smoke and vapor, while on either 
+hand the tall cliffs, bearing aloft their crest of pines, thrust 
+their heads boldly through it, and the sharp pinnacles and broken 
+ridges of the mountains beyond them were faintly traceable as through 
+a veil.  The scene in itself was most grand and imposing, but with 
+the savage multitude, the armed warriors, the naked children, the 
+gayly appareled girls, pouring impetuously down the heights, it would 
+have formed a noble subject for a painter, and only the pen of a 
+Scott could have done it justice in description.
+
+We passed over a burnt tract where the ground was hot beneath the 
+horses' feet, and between the blazing sides of two mountains.  Before 
+long we had descended to a softer region, where we found a succession 
+of little valleys watered by a stream, along the borders of which 
+grew abundance of wild gooseberries and currants, and the children 
+and many of the men straggled from the line of march to gather them 
+as we passed along.  Descending still farther, the view changed 
+rapidly.  The burning mountains were behind us, and through the open 
+valleys in front we could see the ocean-like prairie, stretching 
+beyond the sight.  After passing through a line of trees that skirted 
+the brook, the Indians filed out upon the plains.  I was thirsty and 
+knelt down by the little stream to drink.  As I mounted again I very 
+carelessly left my rifle among the grass, and my thoughts being 
+otherwise absorbed, I rode for some distance before discovering its 
+absence.  As the reader may conceive, I lost no time in turning about 
+and galloping back in search of it.  Passing the line of Indians, I 
+watched every warrior as he rode by me at a canter, and at length 
+discovered my rifle in the hands of one of them, who, on my 
+approaching to claim it, immediately gave it up.  Having no other 
+means of acknowledging the obligation, I took off one of my spurs and 
+gave it to him.  He was greatly delighted, looking upon it as a 
+distinguished mark of favor, and immediately held out his foot for me 
+to buckle it on.  As soon as I had done so, he struck it with force 
+into the side of his horse, who gave a violent leap.  The Indian 
+laughed and spurred harder than before.  At this the horse shot away 
+like an arrow, amid the screams and laughter of the squaws, and the 
+ejaculations of the men, who exclaimed: "Washtay!--Good!" at the 
+potent effect of my gift.  The Indian had no saddle, and nothing in 
+place of a bridle except a leather string tied round the horse's jaw.  
+The animal was of course wholly uncontrollable, and stretched away at 
+full speed over the prairie, till he and his rider vanished behind a 
+distant swell.  I never saw the man again, but I presume no harm came 
+to him.  An Indian on horseback has more lives than a cat.
+
+The village encamped on a scorching prairie, close to the foot of the 
+mountains.  The beat was most intense and penetrating.  The coverings 
+of the lodges were raised a foot or more from the ground, in order to 
+procure some circulation of air; and Reynal thought proper to lay 
+aside his trapper's dress of buckskin and assume the very scanty 
+costume of an Indian.  Thus elegantly attired, he stretched himself 
+in his lodge on a buffalo robe, alternately cursing the heat and 
+puffing at the pipe which he and I passed between us.  There was 
+present also a select circle of Indian friends and relatives.  A 
+small boiled puppy was served up as a parting feast, to which was 
+added, by way of dessert, a wooden bowl of gooseberries, from the 
+mountains.
+
+"Look there," said Reynal, pointing out of the opening of his lodge; 
+"do you see that line of buttes about fifteen miles off?  Well, now, 
+do you see that farthest one, with the white speck on the face of it?  
+Do you think you ever saw it before?"
+
+"It looks to me," said I, "like the hill that we were camped under 
+when we were on Laramie Creek, six or eight weeks ago."
+
+"You've hit it," answered Reynal.
+
+"Go and bring in the animals, Raymond," said I: "we'll camp there to-
+night, and start for the Fort in the morning."
+
+The mare and the mule were soon before the lodge.  We saddled them, 
+and in the meantime a number of Indians collected about us.  The 
+virtues of Pauline, my strong, fleet, and hardy little mare, were 
+well known in camp, and several of the visitors were mounted upon 
+good horses which they had brought me as presents.  I promptly 
+declined their offers, since accepting them would have involved the 
+necessity of transferring poor Pauline into their barbarous hands.  
+We took leave of Reynal, but not of the Indians, who are accustomed 
+to dispense with such superfluous ceremonies.  Leaving the camp we 
+rode straight over the prairie toward the white-faced bluff, whose 
+pale ridges swelled gently against the horizon, like a cloud.  An 
+Indian went with us, whose name I forget, though the ugliness of his 
+face and the ghastly width of his mouth dwell vividly in my 
+recollection.  The antelope were numerous, but we did not heed them.  
+We rode directly toward our destination, over the arid plains and 
+barren hills, until, late in the afternoon, half spent with heat, 
+thirst, and fatigue, we saw a gladdening sight; the long line of 
+trees and the deep gulf that mark the course of Laramie Creek.  
+Passing through the growth of huge dilapidated old cottonwood trees 
+that bordered the creek, we rode across to the other side.
+
+The rapid and foaming waters were filled with fish playing and 
+splashing in the shallows.  As we gained the farther bank, our horses 
+turned eagerly to drink, and we, kneeling on the sand, followed their 
+example.  We had not gone far before the scene began to grow 
+familiar.
+
+"We are getting near home, Raymond," said I.
+
+There stood the Big Tree under which we had encamped so long; there 
+were the white cliffs that used to look down upon our tent when it 
+stood at the bend of the creek; there was the meadow in which our 
+horses had grazed for weeks, and a little farther on, the prairie-dog 
+village where I had beguiled many a languid hour in persecuting the 
+unfortunate inhabitants.
+
+"We are going to catch it now," said Raymond, turning his broad, 
+vacant face up toward the sky.
+
+In truth, the landscape, the cliffs and the meadow, the stream and 
+the groves were darkening fast.  Black masses of cloud were swelling 
+up in the south, and the thunder was growling ominously.
+
+"We will camp here," I said, pointing to a dense grove of trees lower 
+down the stream.  Raymond and I turned toward it, but the Indian 
+stopped and called earnestly after us.  When we demanded what was the 
+matter, he said that the ghosts of two warriors were always among 
+those trees, and that if we slept there, they would scream and throw 
+stones at us all night, and perhaps steal our horses before morning.  
+Thinking it as well to humor him, we left behind us the haunt of 
+these extraordinary ghosts, and passed on toward Chugwater, riding at 
+full gallop, for the big drops began to patter down.  Soon we came in 
+sight of the poplar saplings that grew about the mouth of the little 
+stream.  We leaped to the ground, threw off our saddles, turned our 
+horses loose, and drawing our knives, began to slash among the bushes 
+to cut twigs and branches for making a shelter against the rain.  
+Bending down the taller saplings as they grew, we piled the young 
+shoots upon them; and thus made a convenient penthouse, but all our 
+labor was useless.  The storm scarcely touched us.  Half a mile on 
+our right the rain was pouring down like a cataract, and the thunder 
+roared over the prairie like a battery of cannon; while we by good 
+fortune received only a few heavy drops from the skirt of the passing 
+cloud.  The weather cleared and the sun set gloriously.  Sitting 
+close under our leafy canopy, we proceeded to discuss a substantial 
+meal of wasna which Weah-Washtay had given me.  The Indian had 
+brought with him his pipe and a bag of shongsasha; so before lying 
+down to sleep, we sat for some time smoking together.  Previously, 
+however, our wide-mouthed friend had taken the precaution of 
+carefully examining the neighborhood.  He reported that eight men, 
+counting them on his fingers, had been encamped there not long 
+before.  Bisonette, Paul Dorion, Antoine Le Rouge, Richardson, and 
+four others, whose names he could not tell.  All this proved strictly 
+correct.  By what instinct he had arrived at such accurate 
+conclusions, I am utterly at a loss to divine.
+
+It was still quite dark when I awoke and called Raymond.  The Indian 
+was already gone, having chosen to go on before us to the Fort.  
+Setting out after him, we rode for some time in complete darkness, 
+and when the sun at length rose, glowing like a fiery ball of copper, 
+we were ten miles distant from the Fort.  At length, from the broken 
+summit of a tall sandy bluff we could see Fort Laramie, miles before 
+us, standing by the side of the stream like a little gray speck in 
+the midst of the bounding desolation.  I stopped my horse, and sat 
+for a moment looking down upon it.  It seemed to me the very center 
+of comfort and civilization.  We were not long in approaching it, for 
+we rode at speed the greater part of the way.  Laramie Creek still 
+intervened between us and the friendly walls.  Entering the water at 
+the point where we had struck upon the bank, we raised our feet to 
+the saddle behind us, and thus, kneeling as it were on horseback, 
+passed dry-shod through the swift current.  As we rode up the bank, a 
+number of men appeared in the gateway.  Three of them came forward to 
+meet us.  In a moment I distinguished Shaw; Henry Chatillon followed 
+with his face of manly simplicity and frankness, and Delorier came 
+last, with a broad grin of welcome.  The meeting was not on either 
+side one of mere ceremony.  For my own part, the change was a most 
+agreeable one from the society of savages and men little better than 
+savages, to that of my gallant and high-minded companion and our 
+noble-hearted guide.  My appearance was equally gratifying to Shaw, 
+who was beginning to entertain some very uncomfortable surmises 
+concerning me.
+
+Bordeaux greeted me very cordially, and shouted to the cook.  This 
+functionary was a new acquisition, having lately come from Fort 
+Pierre with the trading wagons.  Whatever skill he might have 
+boasted, he had not the most promising materials to exercise it upon.  
+He set before me, however, a breakfast of biscuit, coffee, and salt 
+pork.  It seemed like a new phase of existence, to be seated once 
+more on a bench, with a knife and fork, a plate and teacup, and 
+something resembling a table before me.  The coffee seemed delicious, 
+and the bread was a most welcome novelty, since for three weeks I had 
+eaten scarcely anything but meat, and that for the most part without 
+salt.  The meal also had the relish of good company, for opposite to 
+me sat Shaw in elegant dishabille.  If one is anxious thoroughly to 
+appreciate the value of a congenial companion, he has only to spend a 
+few weeks by himself in an Ogallalla village.  And if he can contrive 
+to add to his seclusion a debilitating and somewhat critical illness, 
+his perceptions upon this subject will be rendered considerably more 
+vivid.
+
+Shaw had been upward of two weeks at the Fort.  I found him 
+established in his old quarters, a large apartment usually occupied 
+by the absent bourgeois.  In one corner was a soft and luxuriant pile 
+of excellent buffalo robes, and here I lay down.  Shaw brought me 
+three books.
+
+"Here," said he, "is your Shakespeare and Byron, and here is the Old 
+Testament, which has as much poetry in it as the other two put 
+together."
+
+I chose the worst of the three, and for the greater part of that day 
+lay on the buffalo robes, fairly reveling in the creations of that 
+resplendent genius which has achieved no more signal triumph than 
+that of half beguiling us to forget the pitiful and unmanly character 
+of its possessor.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+THE LONELY JOURNEY
+
+
+On the day of my arrival at Fort Laramie, Shaw and I were lounging on 
+two buffalo robes in the large apartment hospitably assigned to us; 
+Henry Chatillon also was present, busy about the harness and weapons, 
+which had been brought into the room, and two or three Indians were 
+crouching on the floor, eyeing us with their fixed, unwavering gaze.
+
+"I have been well off here," said Shaw, "in all respects but one; 
+there is no good shongsasha to be had for love or money."
+
+I gave him a small leather bag containing some of excellent quality, 
+which I had brought from the Black Hills.
+
+"Now, Henry," said he, "hand me Papin's chopping-board, or give it to 
+that Indian, and let him cut the mixture; they understand it better 
+than any white man."
+
+The Indian, without saying a word, mixed the bark and the tobacco in 
+due proportions, filled the pipe and lighted it.  This done, my 
+companion and I proceeded to deliberate on our future course of 
+proceeding; first, however, Shaw acquainted me with some incidents 
+which had occurred at the fort during my absence.
+
+About a week previous four men had arrived from beyond the mountains; 
+Sublette, Reddick, and two others.  Just before reaching the Fort 
+they had met a large party of Indians, chiefly young men.  All of 
+them belonged to the village of our old friend Smoke, who, with his 
+whole band of adherents, professed the greatest friendship for the 
+whites.  The travelers therefore approached, and began to converse 
+without the least suspicion.  Suddenly, however, their bridles were 
+violently seized and they were ordered to dismount.  Instead of 
+complying, they struck their horses with full force, and broke away 
+from the Indians.  As they galloped off they heard a yell behind 
+them, mixed with a burst of derisive laughter, and the reports of 
+several guns.  None of them were hurt though Reddick's bridle rein 
+was cut by a bullet within an inch of his hand.  After this taste of 
+Indian hostility they felt for the moment no disposition to encounter 
+further risks.  They intended to pursue the route southward along the 
+foot of the mountains to Bent's Fort; and as our plans coincided with 
+theirs, they proposed to join forces.  Finding, however, that I did 
+not return, they grew impatient of inaction, forgot their late 
+escape, and set out without us, promising to wait our arrival at 
+Bent's Fort.  From thence we were to make the long journey to the 
+settlements in company, as the path was not a little dangerous, being 
+infested by hostile Pawnees and Comanches.
+
+We expected, on reaching Bent's Fort, to find there still another re-
+enforcement.  A young Kentuckian of the true Kentucky blood, 
+generous, impetuous, and a gentleman withal, had come out to the 
+mountains with Russel's party of California emigrants.  One of his 
+chief objects, as he gave out, was to kill an Indian; an exploit 
+which he afterwards succeeded in achieving, much to the jeopardy of 
+ourselves and others who had to pass through the country of the dead 
+Pawnee's enraged relatives.  Having become disgusted with his 
+emigrant associates he left them, and had some time before set out 
+with a party of companions for the head of the Arkansas.  He sent us 
+previously a letter, intimating that he would wait until we arrived 
+at Bent's Fort, and accompany us thence to the settlements.  When, 
+however, he came to the Fort, he found there a party of forty men 
+about to make the homeward journey.  He wisely preferred to avail 
+himself of so strong an escort.  Mr. Sublette and his companions also 
+set out, in order to overtake this company; so that on reaching 
+Bent's Fort, some six weeks after, we found ourselves deserted by our 
+allies and thrown once more upon our own resources.
+
+But I am anticipating.  When, before leaving the settlement we had 
+made inquiries concerning this part of the country of General Kearny, 
+Mr. Mackenzie, Captain Wyeth, and others well acquainted with it, 
+they had all advised us by no means to attempt this southward journey 
+with fewer than fifteen or twenty men.  The danger consists in the 
+chance of encountering Indian war parties.  Sometimes throughout the 
+whole length of the journey (a distance of 350 miles) one does not 
+meet a single human being; frequently, however, the route is beset by 
+Arapahoes and other unfriendly tribes; in which case the scalp of the 
+adventurer is in imminent peril.  As to the escort of fifteen or 
+twenty men, such a force of whites could at that time scarcely be 
+collected by the whole country; and had the case been otherwise, the 
+expense of securing them, together with the necessary number of 
+horses, would have been extremely heavy.  We had resolved, however, 
+upon pursuing this southward course.  There were, indeed, two other 
+routes from Fort Laramie; but both of these were less interesting, 
+and neither was free from danger.  Being unable therefore to procure 
+the fifteen or twenty men recommended, we determined to set out with 
+those we had already in our employ, Henry Chatillon, Delorier, and 
+Raymond.  The men themselves made no objection, nor would they have 
+made any had the journey been more dangerous; for Henry was without 
+fear, and the other two without thought.
+
+Shaw and I were much better fitted for this mode of traveling than we 
+had been on betaking ourselves to the prairies for the first time a 
+few months before.  The daily routine had ceased to be a novelty.  
+All the details of the journey and the camp had become familiar to 
+us.  We had seen life under a new aspect; the human biped had been 
+reduced to his primitive condition.  We had lived without law to 
+protect, a roof to shelter, or garment of cloth to cover us.  One of 
+us at least had been without bread, and without salt to season his 
+food.  Our idea of what is indispensable to human existence and 
+enjoyment had been wonderfully curtailed, and a horse, a rifle, and a 
+knife seemed to make up the whole of life's necessaries.  For these 
+once obtained, together with the skill to use them, all else that is 
+essential would follow in their train, and a host of luxuries 
+besides.  One other lesson our short prairie experience had taught 
+us; that of profound contentment in the present, and utter contempt 
+for what the future might bring forth.
+
+These principles established, we prepared to leave Fort Laramie.  On 
+the fourth day of August, early in the afternoon, we bade a final 
+adieu to its hospitable gateway.  Again Shaw and I were riding side 
+by side on the prairie.  For the first fifty miles we had companions 
+with us; Troche, a little trapper, and Rouville, a nondescript in the 
+employ of the Fur Company, who were going to join the trader 
+Bisonette at his encampment near the head of Horse Creek.  We rode 
+only six or eight miles that afternoon before we came to a little 
+brook traversing the barren prairie.  All along its course grew 
+copses of young wild-cherry trees, loaded with ripe fruit, and almost 
+concealing the gliding thread of water with their dense growth, while 
+on each side rose swells of rich green grass.  Here we encamped; and 
+being much too indolent to pitch our tent, we flung our saddles on 
+the ground, spread a pair of buffalo robes, lay down upon them, and 
+began to smoke.  Meanwhile, Delorier busied himself with his hissing 
+frying-pan, and Raymond stood guard over the band of grazing horses.  
+Delorier had an active assistant in Rouville, who professed great 
+skill in the culinary art, and seizing upon a fork, began to lend his 
+zealous aid in making ready supper.  Indeed, according to his own 
+belief, Rouville was a man of universal knowledge, and he lost no 
+opportunity to display his manifold accomplishments.  He had been a 
+circus-rider at St. Louis, and once he rode round Fort Laramie on his 
+head, to the utter bewilderment of all the Indians.  He was also 
+noted as the wit of the Fort; and as he had considerable humor and 
+abundant vivacity, he contributed more that night to the liveliness 
+of the camp than all the rest of the party put together.  At one 
+instant he would be kneeling by Delorier, instructing him in the true 
+method of frying antelope steaks, then he would come and seat himself 
+at our side, dilating upon the orthodox fashion of braiding up a 
+horse's tail, telling apocryphal stories how he had killed a buffalo 
+bull with a knife, having first cut off his tail when at full speed, 
+or relating whimsical anecdotes of the bourgeois Papin.  At last he 
+snatched up a volume of Shakespeare that was lying on the grass, and 
+halted and stumbled through a line or two to prove that he could 
+read.  He went gamboling about the camp, chattering like some 
+frolicsome ape; and whatever he was doing at one moment, the 
+presumption was a sure one that he would not be doing it the next.  
+His companion Troche sat silently on the grass, not speaking a word, 
+but keeping a vigilant eye on a very ugly little Utah squaw, of whom 
+he was extremely jealous.
+
+On the next day we traveled farther, crossing the wide sterile basin 
+called Goche's Hole.  Toward night we became involved among deep 
+ravines; and being also unable to find water, our journey was 
+protracted to a very late hour.  On the next morning we had to pass a 
+long line of bluffs, whose raw sides, wrought upon by rains and 
+storms, were of a ghastly whiteness most oppressive to the sight.  As 
+we ascended a gap in these hills, the way was marked by huge foot-
+prints, like those of a human giant.  They were the track of the 
+grizzly bear; and on the previous day also we had seen abundance of 
+them along the dry channels of the streams we had passed.  
+Immediately after this we were crossing a barren plain, spreading in 
+long and gentle undulations to the horizon.  Though the sun was 
+bright, there was a light haze in the atmosphere.  The distant hills 
+assumed strange, distorted forms, and the edge of the horizon was 
+continually changing its aspect.  Shaw and I were riding together, 
+and Henry Chatillon was alone, a few rods before us; he stopped his 
+horse suddenly, and turning round with the peculiar eager and earnest 
+expression which he always wore when excited, he called to us to come 
+forward.  We galloped to his side.  Henry pointed toward a black 
+speck on the gray swell of the prairie, apparently about a mile off.  
+"It must be a bear," said he; "come, now, we shall all have some 
+sport.  Better fun to fight him than to fight an old buffalo bull; 
+grizzly bear so strong and smart."
+
+So we all galloped forward together, prepared for a hard fight; for 
+these bears, though clumsy in appearance and extremely large, are 
+incredibly fierce and active.  The swell of the prairie concealed the 
+black object from our view.  Immediately after it appeared again.  
+But now it seemed quite near to us; and as we looked at it in 
+astonishment, it suddenly separated into two parts, each of which 
+took wing and flew away.  We stopped our horses and looked round at 
+Henry, whose face exhibited a curious mixture of mirth and 
+mortification.  His hawk's eye had been so completely deceived by the 
+peculiar atmosphere that he had mistaken two large crows at the 
+distance of fifty rods for a grizzly bear a mile off.  To the 
+journey's end Henry never heard the last of the grizzly bear with 
+wings.
+
+In the afternoon we came to the foot of a considerable hill.  As we 
+ascended it Rouville began to ask questions concerning our conditions 
+and prospects at home, and Shaw was edifying him with a minute 
+account of an imaginary wife and child, to which he listened with 
+implicit faith.  Reaching the top of the hill we saw the windings of 
+Horse Creek on the plains below us, and a little on the left we could 
+distinguish the camp of Bisonette among the trees and copses along 
+the course of the stream.  Rouville's face assumed just then a most 
+ludicrously blank expression.  We inquired what was the matter, when 
+it appeared that Bisonette had sent him from this place to Fort 
+Laramie with the sole object of bringing back a supply of tobacco.  
+Our rattle-brain friend, from the time of his reaching the Fort up to 
+the present moment, had entirely forgotten the object of his journey, 
+and had ridden a dangerous hundred miles for nothing.  Descending to 
+Horse Creek we forded it, and on the opposite bank a solitary Indian 
+sat on horseback under a tree.  He said nothing, but turned and led 
+the way toward the camp.  Bisonette had made choice of an admirable 
+position.  The stream, with its thick growth of trees, inclosed on 
+three sides a wide green meadow, where about forty Dakota lodges were 
+pitched in a circle, and beyond them half a dozen lodges of the 
+friendly Cheyenne.  Bisonette himself lived in the Indian manner.  
+Riding up to his lodge, we found him seated at the head of it, 
+surrounded by various appliances of comfort not common on the 
+prairie.  His squaw was near him, and rosy children were scrambling 
+about in printed-calico gowns; Paul Dorion also, with his leathery 
+face and old white capote, was seated in the lodge, together with 
+Antoine Le Rouge, a half-breed Pawnee, Sibille, a trader, and several 
+other white men.
+
+"It will do you no harm," said Bisonette, "to stay here with us for a 
+day or two, before you start for the Pueblo."
+
+We accepted the invitation, and pitched our tent on a rising ground 
+above the camp and close to the edge of the trees.  Bisonette soon 
+invited us to a feast, and we suffered abundance of the same sort of 
+attention from his Indian associates.  The reader may possibly 
+recollect that when I joined the Indian village, beyond the Black 
+Hills, I found that a few families were absent, having declined to 
+pass the mountains along with the rest.  The Indians in Bisonette's 
+camp consisted of these very families, and many of them came to me 
+that evening to inquire after their relatives and friends.  They were 
+not a little mortified to learn that while they, from their own 
+timidity and indolence, were almost in a starving condition, the rest 
+of the village had provided their lodges for the next season, laid in 
+a great stock of provisions, and were living in abundance and luxury.  
+Bisonette's companions had been sustaining themselves for some time 
+on wild cherries, which the squaws pounded up, stones and all, and 
+spread on buffalo robes, to dry in the sun; they were then eaten 
+without further preparation, or used as an ingredient in various 
+delectable compounds.
+
+On the next day the camp was in commotion with a new arrival.  A 
+single Indian had come with his family the whole way from the 
+Arkansas.  As he passed among the lodges he put on an expression of 
+unusual dignity and importance, and gave out that he had brought 
+great news to tell the whites.  Soon after the squaws had erected his 
+lodge, he sent his little son to invite all the white men, and all 
+the most distinguished Indians, to a feast.  The guests arrived and 
+sat wedged together, shoulder to shoulder, within the hot and 
+suffocating lodge.  The Stabber, for that was our entertainer's name, 
+had killed an old buffalo bull on his way.  This veteran's boiled 
+tripe, tougher than leather, formed the main item of the repast.  For 
+the rest, it consisted of wild cherries and grease boiled together in 
+a large copper kettle.  The feast was distributed, and for a moment 
+all was silent, strenuous exertion; then each guest, with one or two 
+exceptions, however, turned his wooden dish bottom upward to prove 
+that he had done full justice to his entertainer's hospitality.  The 
+Stabber next produced his chopping board, on which he prepared the 
+mixture for smoking, and filled several pipes, which circulated among 
+the company.  This done, he seated himself upright on his couch, and 
+began with much gesticulation to tell his story.  I will not repeat 
+his childish jargon.  It was so entangled, like the greater part of 
+an Indian's stories, with absurd and contradictory details, that it 
+was almost impossible to disengage from it a single particle of 
+truth.  All that we could gather was the following:
+
+He had been on the Arkansas, and there he had seen six great war 
+parties of whites.  He had never believed before that the whole world 
+contained half so many white men.  They all had large horses, long 
+knives, and short rifles, and some of them were attired alike in the 
+most splendid war dresses he had ever seen.  From this account it was 
+clear that bodies of dragoons and perhaps also of volunteer cavalry 
+had been passing up the Arkansas.  The Stabber had also seen a great 
+many of the white lodges of the Meneaska, drawn by their long-horned 
+buffalo.  These could be nothing else than covered ox-wagons used no 
+doubt in transporting stores for the troops.  Soon after seeing this, 
+our host had met an Indian who had lately come from among the 
+Comanches.  The latter had told him that all the Mexicans had gone 
+out to a great buffalo hunt.  That the Americans had hid themselves 
+in a ravine.  When the Mexicans had shot away all their arrows, the 
+Americans had fired their guns, raised their war-whoop, rushed out, 
+and killed them all.  We could only infer from this that war had been 
+declared with Mexico, and a battle fought in which the Americans were 
+victorious.  When, some weeks after, we arrived at the Pueblo, we 
+heard of General Kearny's march up the Arkansas and of General 
+Taylor's victories at Matamoras.
+
+As the sun was setting that evening a great crowd gathered on the 
+plain by the side of our tent, to try the speed of their horses.  
+These were of every shape, size, and color.  Some came from 
+California, some from the States, some from among the mountains, and 
+some from the wild bands of the prairie.  They were of every hue--
+white, black, red, and gray, or mottled and clouded with a strange 
+variety of colors.  They all had a wild and startled look, very 
+different from the staid and sober aspect of a well-bred city steed.  
+Those most noted for swiftness and spirit were decorated with eagle-
+feathers dangling from their manes and tails.  Fifty or sixty Dakotas 
+were present, wrapped from head to foot in their heavy robes of 
+whitened hide.  There were also a considerable number of the 
+Cheyenne, many of whom wore gaudy Mexican ponchos swathed around 
+their shoulders, but leaving the right arm bare.  Mingled among the 
+crowd of Indians were a number of Canadians, chiefly in the employ of 
+Bisonette; men, whose home is in the wilderness, and who love the 
+camp fire better than the domestic hearth.  They are contented and 
+happy in the midst of hardship, privation, and danger.  Their 
+cheerfulness and gayety is irrepressible, and no people on earth 
+understand better how "to daff the world aside and bid it pass."  
+Besides these, were two or three half-breeds, a race of rather 
+extraordinary composition, being according to the common saying half 
+Indian, half white man, and half devil.  Antoine Le Rouge was the 
+most conspicuous among them, with his loose pantaloons and his 
+fluttering calico skirt.  A handkerchief was bound round his head to 
+confine his black snaky hair, and his small eyes twinkled beneath it, 
+with a mischievous luster.  He had a fine cream-colored horse whose 
+speed he must needs try along with the rest.  So he threw off the 
+rude high-peaked saddle, and substituting a piece of buffalo robe, 
+leaped lightly into his seat.  The space was cleared, the word was 
+given, and he and his Indian rival darted out like lightning from 
+among the crowd, each stretching forward over his horse's neck and 
+plying his heavy Indian whip with might and main.  A moment, and both 
+were lost in the gloom; but Antoine soon came riding back victorious, 
+exultingly patting the neck of his quivering and panting horse.
+
+About midnight, as I lay asleep, wrapped in a buffalo robe on the 
+ground by the side of our cart, Raymond came up and woke me.  
+Something he said, was going forward which I would like to see.  
+Looking down into camp I saw, on the farther side of it, a great 
+number of Indians gathered around a fire, the bright glare of which 
+made them visible through the thick darkness; while from the midst of 
+them proceeded a loud, measured chant which would have killed 
+Paganini outright, broken occasionally by a burst of sharp yells.  I 
+gathered the robe around me, for the night was cold, and walked down 
+to the spot.  The dark throng of Indians was so dense that they 
+almost intercepted the light of the flame.  As I was pushing among 
+them with but little ceremony, a chief interposed himself, and I was 
+given to understand that a white man must not approach the scene of 
+their solemnities too closely.  By passing round to the other side, 
+where there was a little opening in the crowd, I could see clearly 
+what was going forward, without intruding my unhallowed presence into 
+the inner circle.  The society of the "Strong Hearts" were engaged in 
+one of their dances.  The Strong Hearts are a warlike association, 
+comprising men of both the Dakota and Cheyenne nations, and entirely 
+composed, or supposed to be so, of young braves of the highest 
+mettle.  Its fundamental principle is the admirable one of never 
+retreating from any enterprise once commenced.  All these Indian 
+associations have a tutelary spirit.  That of the Strong Hearts is 
+embodied in the fox, an animal which a white man would hardly have 
+selected for a similar purpose, though his subtle and cautious 
+character agrees well enough with an Indian's notions of what is 
+honorable in warfare.  The dancers were circling round and round the 
+fire, each figure brightly illumined at one moment by the yellow 
+light, and at the next drawn in blackest shadow as it passed between 
+the flame and the spectator.  They would imitate with the most 
+ludicrous exactness the motions and the voice of their sly patron the 
+fox.  Then a startling yell would be given.  Many other warriors 
+would leap into the ring, and with faces upturned toward the starless 
+sky, they would all stamp, and whoop, and brandish their weapons like 
+so many frantic devils.
+
+Until the next afternoon we were still remaining with Bisonette.  My 
+companion and I with our three attendants then left his camp for the 
+Pueblo, a distance of three hundred miles, and we supposed the 
+journey would occupy about a fortnight.  During this time we all 
+earnestly hoped that we might not meet a single human being, for 
+should we encounter any, they would in all probability be enemies, 
+ferocious robbers and murderers, in whose eyes our rifles would be 
+our only passports.  For the first two days nothing worth mentioning 
+took place.  On the third morning, however, an untoward incident 
+occurred.  We were encamped by the side of a little brook in an 
+extensive hollow of the plain.  Delorier was up long before daylight, 
+and before he began to prepare breakfast he turned loose all the 
+horses, as in duty bound.  There was a cold mist clinging close to 
+the ground, and by the time the rest of us were awake the animals 
+were invisible.  It was only after a long and anxious search that we 
+could discover by their tracks the direction they had taken.  They 
+had all set off for Fort Laramie, following the guidance of a 
+mutinous old mule, and though many of them were hobbled they had 
+driven three miles before they could be overtaken and driven back.
+
+For the following two or three days we were passing over an arid 
+desert.  The only vegetation was a few tufts of short grass, dried 
+and shriveled by the heat.  There was an abundance of strange insects 
+and reptiles.  Huge crickets, black and bottle green, and wingless 
+grasshoppers of the most extravagant dimensions, were tumbling about 
+our horses' feet, and lizards without numbers were darting like 
+lightning among the tufts of grass.  The most curious animal, 
+however, was that commonly called the horned frog.  I caught one of 
+them and consigned him to the care of Delorier, who tied him up in a 
+moccasin.  About a month after this I examined the prisoner's 
+condition, and finding him still lively and active, I provided him 
+with a cage of buffalo hide, which was hung up in the cart.  In this 
+manner he arrived safely at the settlements.  From thence he traveled 
+the whole way to Boston packed closely in a trunk, being regaled with 
+fresh air regularly every night.  When he reached his destination he 
+was deposited under a glass case, where he sat for some months in 
+great tranquillity and composure, alternately dilating and 
+contracting his white throat to the admiration of his visitors.  At 
+length, one morning, about the middle of winter, he gave up the 
+ghost.  His death was attributed to starvation, a very probable 
+conclusion, since for six months he had taken no food whatever, 
+though the sympathy of his juvenile admirers had tempted his palate 
+with a great variety of delicacies.  We found also animals of a 
+somewhat larger growth.  The number of prairie dogs was absolutely 
+astounding.  Frequently the hard and dry prairie would be thickly 
+covered, for many miles together, with the little mounds which they 
+make around the mouth of their burrows, and small squeaking voices 
+yelping at us as we passed along.  The noses of the inhabitants would 
+be just visible at the mouth of their holes, but no sooner was their 
+curiosity satisfied than they would instantly vanish.  Some of the 
+bolder dogs--though in fact they are no dogs at all, but little 
+marmots rather smaller than a rabbit--would sit yelping at us on the 
+top of their mounds, jerking their tails emphatically with every 
+shrill cry they uttered.  As the danger grew nearer they would wheel 
+about, toss their heels into the air, and dive in a twinkling down 
+into their burrows.  Toward sunset, and especially if rain were 
+threatening, the whole community would make their appearance above 
+ground.  We would see them gathered in large knots around the burrow 
+of some favorite citizen.  There they would all sit erect, their 
+tails spread out on the ground, and their paws hanging down before 
+their white breasts, chattering and squeaking with the utmost 
+vivacity upon some topic of common interest, while the proprietor of 
+the burrow, with his head just visible on the top of his mound, would 
+sit looking down with a complacent countenance on the enjoyment of 
+his guests.  Meanwhile, others would be running about from burrow to 
+burrow, as if on some errand of the last importance to their 
+subterranean commonwealth.  The snakes were apparently the prairie 
+dog's worst enemies, at least I think too well of the latter to 
+suppose that they associate on friendly terms with these slimy 
+intruders, who may be seen at all times basking among their holes, 
+into which they always retreat when disturbed.  Small owls, with wise 
+and grave countenances, also make their abode with the prairie dogs, 
+though on what terms they live together I could never ascertain.  The 
+manners and customs, the political and domestic economy of these 
+little marmots is worthy of closer attention than one is able to give 
+when pushing by forced marches through their country, with his 
+thoughts engrossed by objects of greater moment.
+
+On the fifth day after leaving Bisonette's camp we saw late in the 
+afternoon what we supposed to be a considerable stream, but on our 
+approaching it we found to our mortification nothing but a dry bed of 
+sand into which all the water had sunk and disappeared.  We 
+separated, some riding in one direction and some in another along its 
+course.  Still we found no traces of water, not even so much as a wet 
+spot in the sand.  The old cotton-wood trees that grew along the 
+bank, lamentably abused by lightning and tempest, were withering with 
+the drought, and on the dead limbs, at the summit of the tallest, 
+half a dozen crows were hoarsely cawing like birds of evil omen as 
+they were.  We had no alternative but to keep on.  There was no water 
+nearer than the South Fork of the Platte, about ten miles distant.  
+We moved forward, angry and silent, over a desert as flat as the 
+outspread ocean.
+
+The sky had been obscured since the morning by thin mists and vapors, 
+but now vast piles of clouds were gathered together in the west.  
+They rose to a great height above the horizon, and looking up toward 
+them I distinguished one mass darker than the rest and of a peculiar 
+conical form.  I happened to look again and still could see it as 
+before.  At some moments it was dimly seen, at others its outline was 
+sharp and distinct; but while the clouds around it were shifting, 
+changing, and dissolving away, it still towered aloft in the midst of 
+them, fixed and immovable.  It must, thought I, be the summit of a 
+mountain, and yet its heights staggered me.  My conclusion was right, 
+however.  It was Long's Peak, once believed to be one of the highest 
+of the Rocky Mountain chain, though more recent discoveries have 
+proved the contrary.  The thickening gloom soon hid it from view and 
+we never saw it again, for on the following day and for some time 
+after, the air was so full of mist that the view of distant objects 
+was entirely intercepted.
+
+It grew very late.  Turning from our direct course we made for the 
+river at its nearest point, though in the utter darkness it was not 
+easy to direct our way with much precision.  Raymond rode on one side 
+and Henry on the other.  We could hear each of them shouting that he 
+had come upon a deep ravine.  We steered at random between Scylla and 
+Charybdis, and soon after became, as it seemed, inextricably involved 
+with deep chasms all around us, while the darkness was such that we 
+could not see a rod in any direction.  We partially extricated 
+ourselves by scrambling, cart and all, through a shallow ravine.  We 
+came next to a steep descent down which we plunged without well 
+knowing what was at the bottom.  There was a great crackling of 
+sticks and dry twigs.  Over our heads were certain large shadowy 
+objects, and in front something like the faint gleaming of a dark 
+sheet of water.  Raymond ran his horse against a tree; Henry 
+alighted, and feeling on the ground declared that there was grass 
+enough for the horses.  Before taking off his saddle each man led his 
+own horses down to the water in the best way he could.  Then 
+picketing two or three of the evil-disposed we turned the rest loose 
+and lay down among the dry sticks to sleep.  In the morning we found 
+ourselves close to the South Fork of the Platte on a spot surrounded 
+by bushes and rank grass.  Compensating ourselves with a hearty 
+breakfast for the ill fare of the previous night, we set forward 
+again on our journey.  When only two or three rods from the camp I 
+saw Shaw stop his mule, level his gun, and after a long aim fire at 
+some object in the grass.  Delorier next jumped forward and began to 
+dance about, belaboring the unseen enemy with a whip.  Then he 
+stooped down and drew out of the grass by the neck an enormous 
+rattlesnake, with his head completely shattered by Shaw's bullet.  As 
+Delorier held him out at arm's length with an exulting grin his tail, 
+which still kept slowly writhing about, almost touched the ground, 
+and the body in the largest part was as thick as a stout man's arm.  
+He had fourteen rattles, but the end of his tail was blunted, as if 
+he could once have boasted of many more.  From this time till we 
+reached the Pueblo we killed at least four or five of these snakes 
+every day as they lay coiled and rattling on the hot sand.  Shaw was 
+the St. Patrick of the party, and whenever he or any one else killed 
+a snake he always pulled off his tail and stored it away in his 
+bullet-pouch, which was soon crammed with an edifying collection of 
+rattles, great and small.  Delorier, with his whip, also came in for 
+a share of the praise.  A day or two after this he triumphantly 
+produced a small snake about a span and a half long, with one infant 
+rattle at the end of his tail.
+
+We forded the South Fork of the Platte.  On its farther bank were the 
+traces of a very large camp of Arapahoes.  The ashes of some three 
+hundred fires were visible among the scattered trees, together with 
+the remains of sweating lodges, and all the other appurtenances of a 
+permanent camp.  The place however had been for some months deserted.  
+A few miles farther on we found more recent signs of Indians; the 
+trail of two or three lodges, which had evidently passed the day 
+before, where every foot-print was perfectly distinct in the dry, 
+dusty soil.  We noticed in particular the track of one moccasin, upon 
+the sole of which its economical proprietor had placed a large patch.  
+These signs gave us but little uneasiness, as the number of the 
+warriors scarcely exceeded that of our own party.  At noon we rested 
+under the walls of a large fort, built in these solitudes some years 
+since by M. St. Vrain.  It was now abandoned and fast falling into 
+ruin.  The walls of unbaked bricks were cracked from top to bottom.  
+Our horses recoiled in terror from the neglected entrance, where the 
+heavy gates were torn from their hinges and flung down.  The area 
+within was overgrown with weeds, and the long ranges of apartments, 
+once occupied by the motley concourse of traders, Canadians, and 
+squaws, were now miserably dilapidated.  Twelve miles further on, 
+near the spot where we encamped, were the remains of still another 
+fort, standing in melancholy desertion and neglect.
+
+Early on the following morning we made a startling discovery.  We 
+passed close by a large deserted encampment of Arapahoes.  There were 
+about fifty fires still smouldering on the ground, and it was evident 
+from numerous signs that the Indians must have left the place within 
+two hours of our reaching it.  Their trail crossed our own at right 
+angles, and led in the direction of a line of hills half a mile on 
+our left.  There were women and children in the party, which would 
+have greatly diminished the danger of encountering them.  Henry 
+Chatillon examined the encampment and the trail with a very 
+professional and businesslike air.
+
+"Supposing we had met them, Henry?" said I.
+
+"Why," said he, "we hold out our hands to them, and give them all 
+we've got; they take away everything, and then I believe they no kill 
+us.  Perhaps," added he, looking up with a quiet, unchanged face, 
+"perhaps we no let them rob us.  Maybe before they come near, we have 
+a chance to get into a ravine, or under the bank of the river; then, 
+you know, we fight them."
+
+About noon on that day we reached Cherry Creek.  Here was a great 
+abundance of wild cherries, plums, gooseberries, and currants.  The 
+stream, however, like most of the others which we passed, was dried 
+up with the heat, and we had to dig holes in the sand to find water 
+for ourselves and our horses.  Two days after, we left the banks of 
+the creek which we had been following for some time, and began to 
+cross the high dividing ridge which separates the waters of the 
+Platte from those of the Arkansas.  The scenery was altogether 
+changed.  In place of the burning plains we were passing now through 
+rough and savage glens and among hills crowned with a dreary growth 
+of pines.  We encamped among these solitudes on the night of the 16th 
+of August.  A tempest was threatening.  The sun went down among 
+volumes of jet-black cloud, edged with a bloody red.  But in spite of 
+these portentous signs, we neglected to put up the tent, and being 
+extremely fatigued, lay down on the ground and fell asleep.  The 
+storm broke about midnight, and we erected the tent amid darkness and 
+confusion.  In the morning all was fair again, and Pike's Peak, white 
+with snow, was towering above the wilderness afar off.
+
+We pushed through an extensive tract of pine woods.  Large black 
+squirrels were leaping among the branches.  From the farther edge of 
+this forest we saw the prairie again, hollowed out before us into a 
+vast basin, and about a mile in front we could discern a little black 
+speck moving upon its surface.  It could be nothing but a buffalo.  
+Henry primed his rifle afresh and galloped forward.  To the left of 
+the animal was a low rocky mound, of which Henry availed himself in 
+making his approach.  After a short time we heard the faint report of 
+the rifle.  The bull, mortally wounded from a distance of nearly 
+three hundred yards, ran wildly round and round in a circle.  Shaw 
+and I then galloped forward, and passing him as he ran, foaming with 
+rage and pain, we discharged our pistols into his side.  Once or 
+twice he rushed furiously upon us, but his strength was rapidly 
+exhausted.  Down he fell on his knees.  For one instant he glared up 
+at his enemies with burning eyes through his black tangled mane, and 
+then rolled over on his side.  Though gaunt and thin, he was larger 
+and heavier than the largest ox.  Foam and blood flew together from 
+his nostrils as he lay bellowing and pawing the ground, tearing up 
+grass and earth with his hoofs.  His sides rose and fell like a vast 
+pair of bellows, the blood spouting up in jets from the bullet-holes.  
+Suddenly his glaring eyes became like a lifeless jelly.  He lay 
+motionless on the ground.  Henry stooped over him, and making an 
+incision with his knife, pronounced the meat too rank and tough for 
+use; so, disappointed in our hopes of an addition to our stock of 
+provisions, we rode away and left the carcass to the wolves.
+
+In the afternoon we saw the mountains rising like a gigantic wall at 
+no great distance on our right.  "Des sauvages! des sauvages!" 
+exclaimed Delorier, looking round with a frightened face, and 
+pointing with his whip toward the foot of the mountains.  In fact, we 
+could see at a distance a number of little black specks, like 
+horsemen in rapid motion.  Henry Chatillon, with Shaw and myself, 
+galloped toward them to reconnoiter, when to our amusement we saw the 
+supposed Arapahoes resolved into the black tops of some pine trees 
+which grew along a ravine.  The summits of these pines, just visible 
+above the verge of the prairie, and seeming to move as we ourselves 
+were advancing, looked exactly like a line of horsemen.
+
+We encamped among ravines and hollows, through which a little brook 
+was foaming angrily.  Before sunrise in the morning the snow-covered 
+mountains were beautifully tinged with a delicate rose color.  A 
+noble spectacle awaited us as we moved forward.  Six or eight miles 
+on our right, Pike's Peak and his giant brethren rose out of the 
+level prairie, as if springing from the bed of the ocean.  From their 
+summits down to the plain below they were involved in a mantle of 
+clouds, in restless motion, as if urged by strong winds.  For one 
+instant some snowy peak, towering in awful solitude, would be 
+disclosed to view.  As the clouds broke along the mountain, we could 
+see the dreary forests, the tremendous precipices, the white patches 
+of snow, the gulfs and chasms as black as night, all revealed for an 
+instant, and then disappearing from the view.  One could not but 
+recall the stanza of "Childe Harold":
+
+
+     Morn dawns, and with it stern Albania's hills,
+     Dark Suli's rocks, and Pindus' inland peak,
+     Robed half in mist, bedewed with snowy rills,
+     Array'd in many a dun and purple streak,
+     Arise; and, as the clouds along them break,
+     Disclose the dwelling of the mountaineer:
+     Here roams the wolf, the eagle whets his beak,
+     Birds, beasts of prey, and wilder men appear,
+     And gathering storms around convulse the closing year.
+
+
+Every line save one of this description was more than verified here.  
+There were no "dwellings of the mountaineer" among these heights.  
+Fierce savages, restlessly wandering through summer and winter, alone 
+invade them.  "Their hand is against every man, and every man's hand 
+against them."
+
+On the day after, we had left the mountains at some distance.  A 
+black cloud descended upon them, and a tremendous explosion of 
+thunder followed, reverberating among the precipices.  In a few 
+moments everything grew black and the rain poured down like a 
+cataract.  We got under an old cotton-wood tree which stood by the 
+side of a stream, and waited there till the rage of the torrent had 
+passed.
+
+The clouds opened at the point where they first had gathered, and the 
+whole sublime congregation of mountains was bathed at once in warm 
+sunshine.  They seemed more like some luxurious vision of Eastern 
+romance than like a reality of that wilderness; all were melted 
+together into a soft delicious blue, as voluptuous as the sky of 
+Naples or the transparent sea that washes the sunny cliffs of Capri.  
+On the left the whole sky was still of an inky blackness; but two 
+concentric rainbows stood in brilliant relief against it, while far 
+in front the ragged cloud still streamed before the wind, and the 
+retreating thunder muttered angrily.
+
+Through that afternoon and the next morning we were passing down the 
+banks of the stream called La Fontaine qui Bouille, from the boiling 
+spring whose waters flow into it.  When we stopped at noon, we were 
+within six or eight miles of the Pueblo.  Setting out again, we found 
+by the fresh tracks that a horseman had just been out to reconnoiter 
+us; he had circled half round the camp, and then galloped back full 
+speed for the Pueblo.  What made him so shy of us we could not 
+conceive.  After an hour's ride we reached the edge of a hill, from 
+which a welcome sight greeted us.  The Arkansas ran along the valley 
+below, among woods and groves, and closely nestled in the midst of 
+wide cornfields and green meadows where cattle were grazing rose the 
+low mud walls of the Pueblo.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+THE PUEBLO AND BENT'S FORT
+
+
+We approached the gate of the Pueblo.  It was a wretched species of 
+fort of most primitive construction, being nothing more than a large 
+square inclosure, surrounded by a wall of mud, miserably cracked and 
+dilapidated.  The slender pickets that surmounted it were half broken 
+down, and the gate dangled on its wooden hinges so loosely, that to 
+open or shut it seemed likely to fling it down altogether.  Two or 
+three squalid Mexicans, with their broad hats, and their vile faces 
+overgrown with hair, were lounging about the bank of the river in 
+front of it.  They disappeared as they saw us approach; and as we 
+rode up to the gate a light active little figure came out to meet us.  
+It was our old friend Richard.  He had come from Fort Laramie on a 
+trading expedition to Taos; but finding, when he reached the Pueblo, 
+that the war would prevent his going farther, he was quietly waiting 
+till the conquest of the country should allow him to proceed.  He 
+seemed to consider himself bound to do the honors of the place.  
+Shaking us warmly by the hands, he led the way into the area.
+
+Here we saw his large Santa Fe wagons standing together.  A few 
+squaws and Spanish women, and a few Mexicans, as mean and miserable 
+as the place itself, were lazily sauntering about.  Richard conducted 
+us to the state apartment of the Pueblo, a small mud room, very 
+neatly finished, considering the material, and garnished with a 
+crucifix, a looking-glass, a picture of the Virgin, and a rusty horse 
+pistol.  There were no chairs, but instead of them a number of chests 
+and boxes ranged about the room.  There was another room beyond, less 
+sumptuously decorated, and here three or four Spanish girls, one of 
+them very pretty, were baking cakes at a mud fireplace in the corner.  
+They brought out a poncho, which they spread upon the floor by way of 
+table-cloth.  A supper, which seemed to us luxurious, was soon laid 
+out upon it, and folded buffalo robes were placed around it to 
+receive the guests.  Two or three Americans, besides ourselves, were 
+present.  We sat down Turkish fashion, and began to inquire the news.  
+Richard told us that, about three weeks before, General Kearny's army 
+had left Bent's Fort to march against Santa Fe; that when last heard 
+from they were approaching the mountainous defiles that led to the 
+city.  One of the Americans produced a dingy newspaper, containing an 
+account of the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma.  While we 
+were discussing these matters, the doorway was darkened by a tall, 
+shambling fellow, who stood with his hands in his pockets taking a 
+leisurely survey of the premises before he entered.  He wore brown 
+homespun pantaloons, much too short for his legs, and a pistol and 
+bowie knife stuck in his belt.  His head and one eye were enveloped 
+in a huge bandage of white linen.  Having completed his observations, 
+he came slouching in and sat down on a chest.  Eight or ten more of 
+the same stamp followed, and very coolly arranging themselves about 
+the room, began to stare at the company.  Shaw and I looked at each 
+other.  We were forcibly reminded of the Oregon emigrants, though 
+these unwelcome visitors had a certain glitter of the eye, and a 
+compression of the lips, which distinguished them from our old 
+acquaintances of the prairie.  They began to catechise us at once, 
+inquiring whence we had come, what we meant to do next, and what were 
+our future prospects in life.
+
+The man with the bandaged head had met with an untoward accident a 
+few days before.  He was going down to the river to bring water, and 
+was pushing through the young willows which covered the low ground, 
+when he came unawares upon a grizzly bear, which, having just eaten a 
+buffalo bull, had lain down to sleep off the meal.  The bear rose on 
+his hind legs, and gave the intruder such a blow with his paw that he 
+laid his forehead entirely bare, clawed off the front of his scalp, 
+and narrowly missed one of his eyes.  Fortunately he was not in a 
+very pugnacious mood, being surfeited with his late meal.  The man's 
+companions, who were close behind, raised a shout and the bear walked 
+away, crushing down the willows in his leisurely retreat.
+
+These men belonged to a party of Mormons, who, out of a well-grounded 
+fear of the other emigrants, had postponed leaving the settlements 
+until all the rest were gone.  On account of this delay they did not 
+reach Fort Laramie until it was too late to continue their journey to 
+California.  Hearing that there was good land at the head of the 
+Arkansas, they crossed over under the guidance of Richard, and were 
+now preparing to spend the winter at a spot about half a mile from 
+the Pueblo.
+
+When we took leave of Richard, it was near sunset.  Passing out of 
+the gate, we could look down the little valley of the Arkansas; a 
+beautiful scene, and doubly so to our eyes, so long accustomed to 
+deserts and mountains.  Tall woods lined the river, with green 
+meadows on either hand; and high bluffs, quietly basking in the 
+sunlight, flanked the narrow valley.  A Mexican on horseback was 
+driving a herd of cattle toward the gate, and our little white tent, 
+which the men had pitched under a large tree in the meadow, made a 
+very pleasing feature in the scene.  When we reached it, we found 
+that Richard had sent a Mexican to bring us an abundant supply of 
+green corn and vegetables, and invite us to help ourselves to 
+whatever we wished from the fields around the Pueblo.
+
+The inhabitants were in daily apprehensions of an inroad from more 
+formidable consumers than ourselves.  Every year at the time when the 
+corn begins to ripen, the Arapahoes, to the number of several 
+thousands, come and encamp around the Pueblo.  The handful of white 
+men, who are entirely at the mercy of this swarm of barbarians, 
+choose to make a merit of necessity; they come forward very 
+cordially, shake them by the hand, and intimate that the harvest is 
+entirely at their disposal.  The Arapahoes take them at their word, 
+help themselves most liberally, and usually turn their horses into 
+the cornfields afterward.  They have the foresight, however, to leave 
+enough of the crops untouched to serve as an inducement for planting 
+the fields again for their benefit in the next spring.
+
+The human race in this part of the world is separated into three 
+divisions, arranged in the order of their merits; white men, Indians, 
+and Mexicans; to the latter of whom the honorable title of "whites" 
+is by no means conceded.
+
+In spite of the warm sunset of that evening the next morning was a 
+dreary and cheerless one.  It rained steadily, clouds resting upon 
+the very treetops.  We crossed the river to visit the Mormon 
+settlement.  As we passed through the water, several trappers on 
+horseback entered it from the other side.  Their buckskin frocks were 
+soaked through by the rain, and clung fast to their limbs with a most 
+clammy and uncomfortable look.  The water was trickling down their 
+faces, and dropping from the ends of their rifles, and from the traps 
+which each carried at the pommel of his saddle.  Horses and all, they 
+had a most disconsolate and woebegone appearance, which we could not 
+help laughing at, forgetting how often we ourselves had been in a 
+similar plight.
+
+After half an hour's riding we saw the white wagons of the Mormons 
+drawn up among the trees.  Axes were sounding, trees were falling, 
+and log-huts going up along the edge of the woods and upon the 
+adjoining meadow.  As we came up the Mormons left their work and 
+seated themselves on the timber around us, when they began earnestly 
+to discuss points of theology, complain of the ill-usage they had 
+received from the "Gentiles," and sound a lamentation over the loss 
+of their great temple at Nauvoo.  After remaining with them an hour 
+we rode back to our camp, happy that the settlements had been 
+delivered from the presence of such blind and desperate fanatics.
+
+On the morning after this we left the Pueblo for Bent's Fort.  The 
+conduct of Raymond had lately been less satisfactory than before, and 
+we had discharged him as soon as we arrived at the former place; so 
+that the party, ourselves included, was now reduced to four.  There 
+was some uncertainty as to our future course.  The trail between 
+Bent's Fort and the settlements, a distance computed at six hundred 
+miles, was at this time in a dangerous state; for since the passage 
+of General Kearny's army, great numbers of hostile Indians, chiefly 
+Pawnees and Comanches, had gathered about some parts of it.  A little 
+after this time they became so numerous and audacious, that scarcely 
+a single party, however large, passed between the fort and the 
+frontier without some token of their hostility.  The newspapers of 
+the time sufficiently display this state of things.  Many men were 
+killed, and great numbers of horses and mules carried off.  Not long 
+since I met with the gentleman, who, during the autumn, came from 
+Santa Fe to Bent's Fort, when he found a party of seventy men, who 
+thought themselves too weak to go down to the settlements alone, and 
+were waiting there for a re-enforcement.  Though this excessive 
+timidity fully proves the ignorance and credulity of the men, it may 
+also evince the state of alarm which prevailed in the country.  When 
+we were there in the month of August, the danger had not become so 
+great.  There was nothing very attractive in the neighborhood.  We 
+supposed, moreover, that we might wait there half the winter without 
+finding any party to go down with us; for Mr. Sublette and the others 
+whom we had relied upon had, as Richard told us, already left Bent's 
+Fort.  Thus far on our journey Fortune had kindly befriended us.  We 
+resolved therefore to take advantage of her gracious mood and 
+trusting for a continuance of her favors, to set out with Henry and 
+Delorier, and run the gauntlet of the Indians in the best way we 
+could.
+
+Bent's Fort stands on the river, about seventy-five miles below the 
+Pueblo.  At noon of the third day we arrived within three or four 
+miles of it, pitched our tent under a tree, hung our looking-glasses 
+against its trunk and having made our primitive toilet, rode toward 
+the fort.  We soon came in sight of it, for it is visible from a 
+considerable distance, standing with its high clay walls in the midst 
+of the scorching plains.  It seemed as if a swarm of locusts had 
+invaded the country.  The grass for miles around was cropped close by 
+the horses of General Kearny's soldiery.  When we came to the fort, 
+we found that not only had the horses eaten up the grass, but their 
+owners had made away with the stores of the little trading post; so 
+that we had great difficulty in procuring the few articles which we 
+required for our homeward journey.  The army was gone, the life and 
+bustle passed away, and the fort was a scene of dull and lazy 
+tranquillity.  A few invalid officers and soldiers sauntered about 
+the area, which was oppressively hot; for the glaring sun was 
+reflected down upon it from the high white walls around.  The 
+proprietors were absent, and we were received by Mr. Holt, who had 
+been left in charge of the fort.  He invited us to dinner, where, to 
+our admiration, we found a table laid with a white cloth, with 
+castors in the center and chairs placed around it.  This unwonted 
+repast concluded, we rode back to our camp.
+
+Here, as we lay smoking round the fire after supper, we saw through 
+the dusk three men approaching from the direction of the fort.  They 
+rode up and seated themselves near us on the ground.  The foremost 
+was a tall, well-formed man, with a face and manner such as inspire 
+confidence at once.  He wore a broad hat of felt, slouching and 
+tattered, and the rest of his attire consisted of a frock and 
+leggings of buckskin, rubbed with the yellow clay found among the 
+mountains.  At the heel of one of his moccasins was buckled a huge 
+iron spur, with a rowel five or six inches in diameter.  His horse, 
+who stood quietly looking over his head, had a rude Mexican saddle, 
+covered with a shaggy bearskin, and furnished with a pair of wooden 
+stirrups of most preposterous size.  The next man was a sprightly, 
+active little fellow, about five feet and a quarter high, but very 
+strong and compact.  His face was swarthy as a Mexican's and covered 
+with a close, curly black beard.  An old greasy calico handkerchief 
+was tied round his head, and his close buckskin dress was blackened 
+and polished by grease and hard service.  The last who came up was a 
+large strong man, dressed in the coarse homespun of the frontiers, 
+who dragged his long limbs over the ground as if he were too lazy for 
+the effort.  He had a sleepy gray eye, a retreating chin, an open 
+mouth and a protruding upper lip, which gave him an air of exquisite 
+indolence and helplessness.  He was armed with an old United States 
+yager, which redoubtable weapon, though he could never hit his mark 
+with it, he was accustomed to cherish as the very sovereign of 
+firearms.
+
+The first two men belonged to a party who had just come from 
+California with a large band of horses, which they had disposed of at 
+Bent's Fort.  Munroe, the taller of the two, was from Iowa.  He was 
+an excellent fellow, open, warm-hearted and intelligent.  Jim Gurney, 
+the short man, was a Boston sailor, who had come in a trading vessel 
+to California, and taken the fancy to return across the continent.  
+The journey had already made him an expert "mountain man," and he 
+presented the extraordinary phenomenon of a sailor who understood how 
+to manage a horse.  The third of our visitors named Ellis, was a 
+Missourian, who had come out with a party of Oregon emigrants, but 
+having got as far as Bridge's Fort, he had fallen home-sick, or as 
+Jim averred, love-sick--and Ellis was just the man to be balked in a 
+love adventure.  He thought proper to join the California men and 
+return homeward in their company.
+
+They now requested that they might unite with our party, and make the 
+journey to the settlements in company with us.  We readily assented, 
+for we liked the appearance of the first two men, and were very glad 
+to gain so efficient a re-enforcement.  We told them to meet us on 
+the next evening at a spot on the river side, about six miles below 
+the fort.  Having smoked a pipe together, our new allies left us, and 
+we lay down to sleep.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+TETE ROUGE, THE VOLUNTEER
+
+
+The next morning, having directed Delorier to repair with his cart to 
+the place of meeting, we came again to the fort to make some 
+arrangements for the journey.  After completing these we sat down 
+under a sort of perch, to smoke with some Cheyenne Indians whom we 
+found there.  In a few minutes we saw an extraordinary little figure 
+approach us in a military dress.  He had a small, round countenance, 
+garnished about the eyes with the kind of wrinkles commonly known as 
+crow's feet and surrounded by an abundant crop of red curls, with a 
+little cap resting on the top of them.  Altogether, he had the look 
+of a man more conversant with mint juleps and oyster suppers than 
+with the hardships of prairie service.  He came up to us and 
+entreated that we would take him home to the settlements, saying that 
+unless he went with us he should have to stay all winter at the fort.  
+We liked our petitioner's appearance so little that we excused 
+ourselves from complying with his request.  At this he begged us so 
+hard to take pity on him, looked so disconsolate, and told so 
+lamentable a story that at last we consented, though not without many 
+misgivings.
+
+The rugged Anglo-Saxon of our new recruit's real name proved utterly 
+unmanageable on the lips of our French attendants, and Henry 
+Chatillon, after various abortive attempts to pronounce it, one day 
+coolly christened him Tete Rouge, in honor of his red curls.  He had 
+at different times been clerk of a Mississippi steamboat, and agent 
+in a trading establishment at Nauvoo, besides filling various other 
+capacities, in all of which he had seen much more of "life" than was 
+good for him.  In the spring, thinking that a summer's campaign would 
+be an agreeable recreation, he had joined a company of St. Louis 
+volunteers.
+
+"There were three of us," said Tete Rouge, "me and Bill Stevens and 
+John Hopkins.  We thought we would just go out with the army, and 
+when we had conquered the country, we would get discharged and take 
+our pay, you know, and go down to Mexico.  They say there is plenty 
+of fun going on there.  Then we could go back to New Orleans by way 
+of Vera Cruz."
+
+But Tete Rouge, like many a stouter volunteer, had reckoned without 
+his host.  Fighting Mexicans was a less amusing occupation than he 
+had supposed, and his pleasure trip was disagreeably interrupted by 
+brain fever, which attacked him when about halfway to Bent's Fort.  
+He jolted along through the rest of the journey in a baggage wagon.  
+When they came to the fort he was taken out and left there, together 
+with the rest of the sick.  Bent's Fort does not supply the best 
+accommodations for an invalid.  Tete Rouge's sick chamber was a 
+little mud room, where he and a companion attacked by the same 
+disease were laid together, with nothing but a buffalo robe between 
+them and the ground.  The assistant surgeon's deputy visited them 
+once a day and brought them each a huge dose of calomel, the only 
+medicine, according to his surviving victim, which he was acquainted 
+with.
+
+Tete Rouge woke one morning, and turning to his companion, saw his 
+eyes fixed upon the beams above with the glassy stare of a dead man.  
+At this the unfortunate volunteer lost his senses outright.  In spite 
+of the doctor, however, he eventually recovered; though between the 
+brain fever and the calomel, his mind, originally none of the 
+strongest, was so much shaken that it had not quite recovered its 
+balance when we came to the fort.  In spite of the poor fellow's 
+tragic story, there was something so ludicrous in his appearance, and 
+the whimsical contrast between his military dress and his most 
+unmilitary demeanor, that we could not help smiling at them.  We 
+asked him if he had a gun.  He said they had taken it from him during 
+his illness, and he had not seen it since; "but perhaps," he 
+observed, looking at me with a beseeching air, "you will lend me one 
+of your big pistols if we should meet with any Indians."  I next 
+inquired if he had a horse; he declared he had a magnificent one, and 
+at Shaw's request a Mexican led him in for inspection.  He exhibited 
+the outline of a good horse, but his eyes were sunk in the sockets, 
+and every one of his ribs could be counted.  There were certain marks 
+too about his shoulders, which could be accounted for by the 
+circumstance, that during Tete Rouge's illness, his companions had 
+seized upon the insulted charger, and harnessed him to a cannon along 
+with the draft horses.  To Tete Rouge's astonishment we recommended 
+him by all means to exchange the horse, if he could, for a mule.  
+Fortunately the people at the fort were so anxious to get rid of him 
+that they were willing to make some sacrifice to effect the object, 
+and he succeeded in getting a tolerable mule in exchange for the 
+broken-down steed.
+
+A man soon appeared at the gate, leading in the mule by a cord which 
+he placed in the hands of Tete Rouge, who, being somewhat afraid of 
+his new acquisition, tried various flatteries and blandishments to 
+induce her to come forward.  The mule, knowing that she was expected 
+to advance, stopped short in consequence, and stood fast as a rock, 
+looking straight forward with immovable composure.  Being stimulated 
+by a blow from behind she consented to move, and walked nearly to the 
+other side of the fort before she stopped again.  Hearing the by-
+standers laugh, Tete Rouge plucked up spirit and tugged hard at the 
+rope.  The mule jerked backward, spun herself round, and made a dash 
+for the gate.  Tete Rouge, who clung manfully to the rope, went 
+whisking through the air for a few rods, when he let go and stood 
+with his mouth open, staring after the mule, who galloped away over 
+the prairie.  She was soon caught and brought back by a Mexican, who 
+mounted a horse and went in pursuit of her with his lasso.
+
+Having thus displayed his capacity for prairie travel, Tete Rouge 
+proceeded to supply himself with provisions for the journey, and with 
+this view he applied to a quartermaster's assistant who was in the 
+fort.  This official had a face as sour as vinegar, being in a state 
+of chronic indignation because he had been left behind the army.  He 
+was as anxious as the rest to get rid of Tete Rouge.  So, producing a 
+rusty key, he opened a low door which led to a half-subterranean 
+apartment, into which the two disappeared together.  After some time 
+they came out again, Tete Rouge greatly embarrassed by a multiplicity 
+of paper parcels containing the different articles of his forty days' 
+rations.  They were consigned to the care of Delorier, who about that 
+time passed by with the cart on his way to the appointed place of 
+meeting with Munroe and his companions.
+
+We next urged Tete Rouge to provide himself, if he could, with a gun.  
+He accordingly made earnest appeals to the charity of various persons 
+in the fort, but totally without success, a circumstance which did 
+not greatly disturb us, since in the event of a skirmish he would be 
+much more apt to do mischief to himself or his friends than to the 
+enemy.  When all these arrangements were completed we saddled our 
+horses and were preparing to leave the fort, when looking round we 
+discovered that our new associate was in fresh trouble.  A man was 
+holding the mule for him in the middle of the fort, while he tried to 
+put the saddle on her back, but she kept stepping sideways and moving 
+round and round in a circle until he was almost in despair.  It 
+required some assistance before all his difficulties could be 
+overcome.  At length he clambered into the black war saddle on which 
+he was to have carried terror into the ranks of the Mexicans.
+
+"Get up," said Tete Rouge, "come now, go along, will you."
+
+The mule walked deliberately forward out of the gate.  Her recent 
+conduct had inspired him with so much awe that he never dared to 
+touch her with his whip.  We trotted forward toward the place of 
+meeting, but before he had gone far we saw that Tete Rouge's mule, 
+who perfectly understood her rider, had stopped and was quietly 
+grazing, in spite of his protestations, at some distance behind.  So 
+getting behind him, we drove him and the contumacious mule before us, 
+until we could see through the twilight the gleaming of a distant 
+fire.  Munroe, Jim, and Ellis were lying around it; their saddles, 
+packs, and weapons were scattered about and their horses picketed 
+near them.  Delorier was there too with our little cart.  Another 
+fire was soon blazing high.  We invited our new allies to take a cup 
+of coffee with us.  When both the others had gone over to their side 
+of the camp, Jim Gurney still stood by the blaze, puffing hard at his 
+little black pipe, as short and weather-beaten as himself.
+
+"Well!" he said, "here are eight of us; we'll call it six--for them 
+two boobies, Ellis over yonder, and that new man of yours, won't 
+count for anything.  We'll get through well enough, never fear for 
+that, unless the Comanches happen to get foul of us."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+INDIAN ALARMS
+
+
+We began our journey for the frontier settlements on the 27th of 
+August, and certainly a more ragamuffin cavalcade never was seen on 
+the banks of the Upper Arkansas.  Of the large and fine horses with 
+which we had left the frontier in the spring, not one remained; we 
+had supplied their place with the rough breed of the prairie, as 
+hardy as mules and almost as ugly; we had also with us a number of 
+the latter detestable animals.  In spite of their strength and 
+hardihood, several of the band were already worn down by hard service 
+and hard fare, and as none of them were shod, they were fast becoming 
+foot-sore.  Every horse and mule had a cord of twisted bull-hide 
+coiled around his neck, which by no means added to the beauty of his 
+appearance.  Our saddles and all our equipments were by this time 
+lamentably worn and battered, and our weapons had become dull and 
+rusty.  The dress of the riders fully corresponded with the 
+dilapidated furniture of our horses, and of the whole party none made 
+a more disreputable appearance than my friend and I.  Shaw had for an 
+upper garment an old red flannel shirt, flying open in front and 
+belted around him like a frock; while I, in absence of other 
+clothing, was attired in a time-worn suit of leather.
+
+Thus, happy and careless as so many beggars, we crept slowly from day 
+to day along the monotonous banks of the Arkansas.  Tete Rouge gave 
+constant trouble, for he could never catch his mule, saddle her, or 
+indeed do anything else without assistance.  Every day he had some 
+new ailment, real or imaginary, to complain of.  At one moment he 
+would be woebegone and disconsolate, and the next he would be visited 
+with a violent flow of spirits, to which he could only give vent by 
+incessant laughing, whistling, and telling stories.  When other 
+resources failed, we used to amuse ourselves by tormenting him; a 
+fair compensation for the trouble he cost us.  Tete Rouge rather 
+enjoyed being laughed at, for he was an odd compound of weakness, 
+eccentricity, and good-nature.  He made a figure worthy of a painter 
+as he paced along before us, perched on the back of his mule, and 
+enveloped in a huge buffalo-robe coat, which some charitable person 
+had given him at the fort.  This extraordinary garment, which would 
+have contained two men of his size, he chose, for some reason best 
+known to himself, to wear inside out, and he never took it off, even 
+in the hottest weather.  It was fluttering all over with seams and 
+tatters, and the hide was so old and rotten that it broke out every 
+day in a new place.  Just at the top of it a large pile of red curls 
+was visible, with his little cap set jauntily upon one side, to give 
+him a military air.  His seat in the saddle was no less remarkable 
+than his person and equipment.  He pressed one leg close against his 
+mule's side, and thrust the other out at an angle of 45 degrees.  His 
+pantaloons were decorated with a military red stripe, of which he was 
+extremely vain; but being much too short, the whole length of his 
+boots was usually visible below them.  His blanket, loosely rolled up 
+into a large bundle, dangled at the back of his saddle, where he 
+carried it tied with a string.  Four or five times a day it would 
+fall to the ground.  Every few minutes he would drop his pipe, his 
+knife, his flint and steel, or a piece of tobacco, and have to 
+scramble down to pick them up.  In doing this he would contrive to 
+get in everybody's way; and as the most of the party were by no means 
+remarkable for a fastidious choice of language, a storm of anathemas 
+would be showered upon him, half in earnest and half in jest, until 
+Tete Rouge would declare that there was no comfort in life, and that 
+he never saw such fellows before.
+
+Only a day or two after leaving Bent's Fort Henry Chatillon rode 
+forward to hunt, and took Ellis along with him.  After they had been 
+some time absent we saw them coming down the hill, driving three 
+dragoon-horses, which had escaped from their owners on the march, or 
+perhaps had given out and been abandoned.  One of them was in 
+tolerable condition, but the others were much emaciated and severely 
+bitten by the wolves.  Reduced as they were we carried two of them to 
+the settlements, and Henry exchanged the third with the Arapahoes for 
+an excellent mule.
+
+On the day after, when we had stopped to rest at noon, a long train 
+of Santa Fe wagons came up and trailed slowly past us in their 
+picturesque procession.  They belonged to a trader named Magoffin, 
+whose brother, with a number of other men, came over and sat down 
+around us on the grass.  The news they brought was not of the most 
+pleasing complexion.  According to their accounts, the trail below 
+was in a very dangerous state.  They had repeatedly detected Indians 
+prowling at night around their camps; and the large party which had 
+left Bent's Fort a few weeks previous to our own departure had been 
+attacked, and a man named Swan, from Massachusetts, had been killed.  
+His companions had buried the body; but when Magoffin found his 
+grave, which was near a place called the Caches, the Indians had dug 
+up and scalped him, and the wolves had shockingly mangled his 
+remains.  As an offset to this intelligence, they gave us the welcome 
+information that the buffalo were numerous at a few days' journey 
+below.
+
+On the next afternoon, as we moved along the bank of the river, we 
+saw the white tops of wagons on the horizon.  It was some hours 
+before we met them, when they proved to be a train of clumsy ox-
+wagons, quite different from the rakish vehicles of the Santa Fe 
+traders, and loaded with government stores for the troops.  They all 
+stopped, and the drivers gathered around us in a crowd.  I thought 
+that the whole frontier might have been ransacked in vain to furnish 
+men worse fitted to meet the dangers of the prairie.  Many of them 
+were mere boys, fresh from the plow, and devoid of knowledge and 
+experience.  In respect to the state of the trail, they confirmed all 
+that the Santa Fe men had told us.  In passing between the Pawnee 
+Fork and the Caches, their sentinels had fired every night at real or 
+imaginary Indians.  They said also that Ewing, a young Kentuckian in 
+the party that had gone down before us, had shot an Indian who was 
+prowling at evening about the camp.  Some of them advised us to turn 
+back, and others to hasten forward as fast as we could; but they all 
+seemed in such a state of feverish anxiety, and so little capable of 
+cool judgment, that we attached slight weight to what they said.  
+They next gave us a more definite piece of intelligence; a large 
+village of Arapahoes was encamped on the river below.  They 
+represented them to be quite friendly; but some distinction was to be 
+made between a party of thirty men, traveling with oxen, which are of 
+no value in an Indian's eyes and a mere handful like ourselves, with 
+a tempting band of mules and horses.  This story of the Arapahoes 
+therefore caused us some anxiety.
+
+Just after leaving the government wagons, as Shaw and I were riding 
+along a narrow passage between the river bank and a rough hill that 
+pressed close upon it, we heard Tete Rouge's voice behind us.  
+"Hallo!" he called out; "I say, stop the cart just for a minute, will 
+you?"
+
+"What's the matter, Tete?" asked Shaw, as he came riding up to us 
+with a grin of exultation.  He had a bottle of molasses in one hand, 
+and a large bundle of hides on the saddle before him, containing, as 
+he triumphantly informed us, sugar, biscuits, coffee, and rice.  
+These supplies he had obtained by a stratagem on which he greatly 
+plumed himself, and he was extremely vexed and astonished that we did 
+not fall in with his views of the matter.  He had told Coates, the 
+master-wagoner, that the commissary at the fort had given him an 
+order for sick-rations, directed to the master of any government 
+train which he might meet upon the road.  This order he had 
+unfortunately lost, but he hoped that the rations would not be 
+refused on that account, as he was suffering from coarse fare and 
+needed them very much.  As soon as he came to camp that night Tete 
+Rouge repaired to the box at the back of the cart, where Delorier 
+used to keep his culinary apparatus, took possession of a saucepan, 
+and after building a little fire of his own, set to work preparing a 
+meal out of his ill-gotten booty.  This done, he seized on a tin 
+plate and spoon, and sat down under the cart to regale himself.  His 
+preliminary repast did not at all prejudice his subsequent exertions 
+at supper; where, in spite of his miniature dimensions, he made a 
+better figure than any of us.  Indeed, about this time his appetite 
+grew quite voracious.  He began to thrive wonderfully.  His small 
+body visibly expanded, and his cheeks, which when we first took him 
+were rather yellow and cadaverous, now dilated in a wonderful manner, 
+and became ruddy in proportion.  Tete Rouge, in short, began to 
+appear like another man.
+
+Early in the afternoon of the next day, looking along the edge of the 
+horizon in front, we saw that at one point it was faintly marked with 
+pale indentations, like the teeth of a saw.  The lodges of the 
+Arapahoes, rising between us and the sky, caused this singular 
+appearance.  It wanted still two or three hours of sunset when we 
+came opposite their camp.  There were full two hundred lodges 
+standing in the midst of a grassy meadow at some distance beyond the 
+river, while for a mile around and on either bank of the Arkansas 
+were scattered some fifteen hundred horses and mules grazing together 
+in bands, or wandering singly about the prairie.  The whole were 
+visible at once, for the vast expanse was unbroken by hills, and 
+there was not a tree or a bush to intercept the view.
+
+Here and there walked an Indian, engaged in watching the horses.  No 
+sooner did we see them than Tete Rouge begged Delorier to stop the 
+cart and hand him his little military jacket, which was stowed away 
+there.  In this he instantly invested himself, having for once laid 
+the old buffalo coat aside, assumed a most martial posture in the 
+saddle, set his cap over his left eye with an air of defiance, and 
+earnestly entreated that somebody would lend him a gun or a pistol 
+only for half an hour.  Being called upon to explain these remarkable 
+proceedings, Tete Rouge observed that he knew from experience what 
+effect the presence of a military man in his uniform always had upon 
+the mind of an Indian, and he thought the Arapahoes ought to know 
+that there was a soldier in the party.
+
+Meeting Arapahoes here on the Arkansas was a very different thing 
+from meeting the same Indians among their native mountains.  There 
+was another circumstance in our favor.  General Kearny had seen them 
+a few weeks before, as he came up the river with his army, and 
+renewing his threats of the previous year, he told them that if they 
+ever again touched the hair of a white man's head he would 
+exterminate their nation.  This placed them for the time in an 
+admirable frame of mind, and the effect of his menaces had not yet 
+disappeared.  I was anxious to see the village and its inhabitants.  
+We thought it also our best policy to visit them openly, as if 
+unsuspicious of any hostile design; and Shaw and I, with Henry 
+Chatillon, prepared to cross the river.  The rest of the party 
+meanwhile moved forward as fast as they could, in order to get as far 
+as possible from our suspicious neighbors before night came on.
+
+The Arkansas at this point, and for several hundred miles below, is 
+nothing but a broad sand-bed, over which a few scanty threads of 
+water are swiftly gliding, now and then expanding into wide shallows.  
+At several places, during the autumn, the water sinks into the sand 
+and disappears altogether.  At this season, were it not for the 
+numerous quicksands, the river might be forded almost anywhere 
+without difficulty, though its channel is often a quarter of a mile 
+wide.  Our horses jumped down the bank, and wading through the water, 
+or galloping freely over the hard sand-beds, soon reached the other 
+side.  Here, as we were pushing through the tall grass, we saw 
+several Indians not far off; one of them waited until we came up, and 
+stood for some moments in perfect silence before us, looking at us 
+askance with his little snakelike eyes.  Henry explained by signs 
+what we wanted, and the Indian, gathering his buffalo robe about his 
+shoulders, led the way toward the village without speaking a word.
+
+The language of the Arapahoes is so difficult, and its pronunciations 
+so harsh and guttural, that no white man, it is said, has ever been 
+able to master it.  Even Maxwell the trader, who has been most among 
+them, is compelled to resort to the curious sign language common to 
+most of the prairie tribes.  With this Henry Chatillon was perfectly 
+acquainted.
+
+Approaching the village, we found the ground all around it strewn 
+with great piles of waste buffalo meat in incredible quantities.  The 
+lodges were pitched in a very wide circle.  They resembled those of 
+the Dakota in everything but cleanliness and neatness.  Passing 
+between two of them, we entered the great circular area of the camp, 
+and instantly hundreds of Indians, men, women and children, came 
+flocking out of their habitations to look at us; at the same time, 
+the dogs all around the village set up a fearful baying.  Our Indian 
+guide walked toward the lodge of the chief.  Here we dismounted; and 
+loosening the trail-ropes from our horses' necks, held them securely, 
+and sat down before the entrance, with our rifles laid across our 
+laps.  The chief came out and shook us by the hand.  He was a mean-
+looking fellow, very tall, thin-visaged, and sinewy, like the rest of 
+the nation, and with scarcely a vestige of clothing.  We had not been 
+seated half a minute before a multitude of Indians came crowding 
+around us from every part of the village, and we were shut in by a 
+dense wall of savage faces.  Some of the Indians crouched around us 
+on the ground; others again sat behind them; others, stooping, looked 
+over their heads; while many more stood crowded behind, stretching 
+themselves upward, and peering over each other's shoulders, to get a 
+view of us.  I looked in vain among this multitude of faces to 
+discover one manly or generous expression; all were wolfish, 
+sinister, and malignant, and their complexions, as well as their 
+features, unlike those of the Dakota, were exceedingly bad.  The 
+chief, who sat close to the entrance, called to a squaw within the 
+lodge, who soon came out and placed a wooden bowl of meat before us.  
+To our surprise, however, no pipe was offered.  Having tasted of the 
+meat as a matter of form, I began to open a bundle of presents--
+tobacco, knives, vermilion, and other articles which I had brought 
+with me.  At this there was a grin on every countenance in the 
+rapacious crowd; their eyes began to glitter, and long thin arms were 
+eagerly stretched toward us on all sides to receive the gifts.
+
+The Arapahoes set great value upon their shields, which they transmit 
+carefully from father to son.  I wished to get one of them; and 
+displaying a large piece of scarlet cloth, together with some tobacco 
+and a knife, I offered them to any one who would bring me what I 
+wanted.  After some delay a tolerable shield was produced.  They were 
+very anxious to know what we meant to do with it, and Henry told them 
+that we were going to fight their enemies, the Pawnees.  This 
+instantly produced a visible impression in our favor, which was 
+increased by the distribution of the presents.  Among these was a 
+large paper of awls, a gift appropriate to the women; and as we were 
+anxious to see the beauties of the Arapahoe village Henry requested 
+that they might be called to receive them.  A warrior gave a shout as 
+if he were calling a pack of dogs together.  The squaws, young and 
+old, hags of eighty and girls of sixteen, came running with screams 
+and laughter out of the lodges; and as the men gave way for them they 
+gathered round us and stretched out their arms, grinning with 
+delight, their native ugliness considerably enhanced by the 
+excitement of the moment.
+
+Mounting our horses, which during the whole interview we had held 
+close to us, we prepared to leave the Arapahoes.  The crowd fell back 
+on each side and stood looking on.  When we were half across the camp 
+an idea occurred to us.  The Pawnees were probably in the 
+neighborhood of the Caches; we might tell the Arapahoes of this and 
+instigate them to send down a war party and cut them off, while we 
+ourselves could remain behind for a while and hunt the buffalo.  At 
+first thought this plan of setting our enemies to destroy one another 
+seemed to us a masterpiece of policy; but we immediately recollected 
+that should we meet the Arapahoe warriors on the river below they 
+might prove quite as dangerous as the Pawnees themselves.  So 
+rejecting our plan as soon as it presented itself, we passed out of 
+the village on the farther side.  We urged our horses rapidly through 
+the tall grass which rose to their necks.  Several Indians were 
+walking through it at a distance, their heads just visible above its 
+waving surface.  It bore a kind of seed as sweet and nutritious as 
+oats; and our hungry horses, in spite of whip and rein, could not 
+resist the temptation of snatching at this unwonted luxury as we 
+passed along.  When about a mile from the village I turned and looked 
+back over the undulating ocean of grass.  The sun was just set; the 
+western sky was all in a glow, and sharply defined against it, on the 
+extreme verge of the plain, stood the numerous lodges of the Arapahoe 
+camp.
+
+Reaching the bank of the river, we followed it for some distance 
+farther, until we discerned through the twilight the white covering 
+of our little cart on the opposite bank.  When we reached it we found 
+a considerable number of Indians there before us.  Four or five of 
+them were seated in a row upon the ground, looking like so many half-
+starved vultures.  Tete Rouge, in his uniform, was holding a close 
+colloquy with another by the side of the cart.  His gesticulations, 
+his attempts at sign-making, and the contortions of his countenance, 
+were most ludicrous; and finding all these of no avail, he tried to 
+make the Indian understand him by repeating English words very loudly 
+and distinctly again and again.  The Indian sat with his eye fixed 
+steadily upon him, and in spite of the rigid immobility of his 
+features, it was clear at a glance that he perfectly understood his 
+military companion's character and thoroughly despised him.  The 
+exhibition was more amusing than politic, and Tete Rouge was directed 
+to finish what he had to say as soon as possible.  Thus rebuked, he 
+crept under the cart and sat down there; Henry Chatillon stopped to 
+look at him in his retirement, and remarked in his quiet manner that 
+an Indian would kill ten such men and laugh all the time.
+
+One by one our visitors rose and stalked away.  As the darkness 
+thickened we were saluted by dismal sounds.  The wolves are 
+incredibly numerous in this part of the country, and the offal around 
+the Arapahoe camp had drawn such multitudes of them together that 
+several hundred were howling in concert in our immediate 
+neighborhood.  There was an island in the river, or rather an oasis 
+in the midst of the sands at about the distance of a gunshot, and 
+here they seemed gathered in the greatest numbers.  A horrible 
+discord of low mournful wailings, mingled with ferocious howls, arose 
+from it incessantly for several hours after sunset.  We could 
+distinctly see the wolves running about the prairie within a few rods 
+of our fire, or bounding over the sand-beds of the river and 
+splashing through the water.  There was not the slightest danger to 
+be feared from them, for they are the greatest cowards on the 
+prairie.
+
+In respect to the human wolves in our neighborhood, we felt much less 
+at our ease.  We seldom erected our tent except in bad weather, and 
+that night each man spread his buffalo robe upon the ground with his 
+loaded rifle laid at his side or clasped in his arms.  Our horses 
+were picketed so close around us that one of them repeatedly stepped 
+over me as I lay.  We were not in the habit of placing a guard, but 
+every man that night was anxious and watchful; there was little sound 
+sleeping in camp, and some one of the party was on his feet during 
+the greater part of the time.  For myself, I lay alternately waking 
+and dozing until midnight.  Tete Rouge was reposing close to the 
+river bank, and about this time, when half asleep and half awake, I 
+was conscious that he shifted his position and crept on all-fours 
+under the cart.  Soon after I fell into a sound sleep from which I 
+was aroused by a hand shaking me by the shoulder.  Looking up, I saw 
+Tete Rouge stooping over me with his face quite pale and his eyes 
+dilated to their utmost expansion.
+
+"What's the matter?" said I.
+
+Tete Rouge declared that as he lay on the river bank, something 
+caught his eye which excited his suspicions.  So creeping under the 
+cart for safety's sake he sat there and watched, when he saw two 
+Indians, wrapped in white robes, creep up the bank, seize upon two 
+horses and lead them off.  He looked so frightened, and told his 
+story in such a disconnected manner, that I did not believe him, and 
+was unwilling to alarm the party.  Still it might be true, and in 
+that case the matter required instant attention.  There would be no 
+time for examination, and so directing Tete Rouge to show me which 
+way the Indians had gone, I took my rifle, in obedience to a 
+thoughtless impulse, and left the camp.  I followed the river back 
+for two or three hundred yards, listening and looking anxiously on 
+every side.  In the dark prairie on the right I could discern nothing 
+to excite alarm; and in the dusky bed of the river, a wolf was 
+bounding along in a manner which no Indian could imitate.  I returned 
+to the camp, and when within sight of it, saw that the whole party 
+was aroused.  Shaw called out to me that he had counted the horses, 
+and that every one of them was in his place.  Tete Rouge, being 
+examined as to what he had seen, only repeated his former story with 
+many asseverations, and insisted that two horses were certainly 
+carried off.  At this Jim Gurney declared that he was crazy; Tete 
+Rouge indignantly denied the charge, on which Jim appealed to us.  As 
+we declined to give our judgment on so delicate a matter, the dispute 
+grew hot between Tete Rouge and his accuser, until he was directed to 
+go to bed and not alarm the camp again if he saw the whole Arapahoe 
+village coming.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+THE CHASE
+
+
+The country before us was now thronged with buffalo, and a sketch of 
+the manner of hunting them will not be out of place.  There are two 
+methods commonly practiced, "running" and "approaching."  The chase 
+on horseback, which goes by the name of "running," is the more 
+violent and dashing mode of the two.  Indeed, of all American wild 
+sports, this is the wildest.  Once among the buffalo, the hunter, 
+unless long use has made him familiar with the situation, dashes 
+forward in utter recklessness and self-abandonment.  He thinks of 
+nothing, cares for nothing but the game; his mind is stimulated to 
+the highest pitch, yet intensely concentrated on one object.  In the 
+midst of the flying herd, where the uproar and the dust are thickest, 
+it never wavers for a moment; he drops the rein and abandons his 
+horse to his furious career; he levels his gun, the report sounds 
+faint amid the thunder of the buffalo; and when his wounded enemy 
+leaps in vain fury upon him, his heart thrills with a feeling like 
+the fierce delight of the battlefield.  A practiced and skillful 
+hunter, well mounted, will sometimes kill five or six cows in a 
+single chase, loading his gun again and again as his horse rushes 
+through the tumult.  An exploit like this is quite beyond the 
+capacities of a novice.  In attacking a small band of buffalo, or in 
+separating a single animal from the herd and assailing it apart from 
+the rest, there is less excitement and less danger.  With a bold and 
+well trained horse the hunter may ride so close to the buffalo that 
+as they gallop side by side he may reach over and touch him with his 
+hand; nor is there much danger in this as long as the buffalo's 
+strength and breath continue unabated; but when he becomes tired and 
+can no longer run at ease, when his tongue lolls out and foam flies 
+from his jaws, then the hunter had better keep at a more respectful 
+distance; the distressed brute may turn upon him at any instant; and 
+especially at the moment when he fires his gun.  The wounded buffalo 
+springs at his enemy; the horse leaps violently aside; and then the 
+hunter has need of a tenacious seat in the saddle, for if he is 
+thrown to the ground there is no hope for him.  When he sees his 
+attack defeated the buffalo resumes his flight, but if the shot be 
+well directed he soon stops; for a few moments he stands still, then 
+totters and falls heavily upon the prairie.
+
+The chief difficulty in running buffalo, as it seems to me, is that 
+of loading the gun or pistol at full gallop.  Many hunters for 
+convenience' sake carry three or four bullets in the mouth; the 
+powder is poured down the muzzle of the piece, the bullet dropped in 
+after it, the stock struck hard upon the pommel of the saddle, and 
+the work is done.  The danger of this method is obvious.  Should the 
+blow on the pommel fail to send the bullet home, or should the 
+latter, in the act of aiming, start from its place and roll toward 
+the muzzle, the gun would probably burst in discharging.  Many a 
+shattered hand and worse casualties besides have been the result of 
+such an accident.  To obviate it, some hunters make use of a ramrod, 
+usually hung by a string from the neck, but this materially increases 
+the difficulty of loading.  The bows and arrows which the Indians use 
+in running buffalo have many advantages over fire arms, and even 
+white men occasionally employ them.
+
+The danger of the chase arises not so much from the onset of the 
+wounded animal as from the nature of the ground which the hunter must 
+ride over.  The prairie does not always present a smooth, level, and 
+uniform surface; very often it is broken with hills and hollows, 
+intersected by ravines, and in the remoter parts studded by the stiff 
+wild-sage bushes.  The most formidable obstructions, however, are the 
+burrows of wild animals, wolves, badgers, and particularly prairie 
+dogs, with whose holes the ground for a very great extent is 
+frequently honeycombed.  In the blindness of the chase the hunter 
+rushes over it unconscious of danger; his horse, at full career, 
+thrusts his leg deep into one of the burrows; the bone snaps, the 
+rider is hurled forward to the ground and probably killed.  Yet 
+accidents in buffalo running happen less frequently than one would 
+suppose; in the recklessness of the chase, the hunter enjoys all the 
+impunity of a drunken man, and may ride in safety over the gullies 
+and declivities where, should he attempt to pass in his sober senses, 
+he would infallibly break his neck.
+
+The method of "approaching," being practiced on foot, has many 
+advantages over that of "running"; in the former, one neither breaks 
+down his horse nor endangers his own life; instead of yielding to 
+excitement he must be cool, collected, and watchful; he must 
+understand the buffalo, observe the features of the country and the 
+course of the wind, and be well skilled, moreover, in using the 
+rifle.  The buffalo are strange animals; sometimes they are so stupid 
+and infatuated that a man may walk up to them in full sight on the 
+open prairie, and even shoot several of their number before the rest 
+will think it necessary to retreat.  Again at another moment they 
+will be so shy and wary, that in order to approach them the utmost 
+skill, experience, and judgment are necessary.  Kit Carson, I 
+believe, stands pre-eminent in running buffalo; in approaching, no 
+man living can bear away the palm from Henry Chatillon.
+
+To resume the story: After Tete Rouge had alarmed the camp, no 
+further disturbance occurred during the night.  The Arapahoes did not 
+attempt mischief, or if they did the wakefulness of the party 
+deterred them from effecting their purpose.  The next day was one of 
+activity and excitement, for about ten o'clock the men in advance 
+shouted the gladdening cry of "Buffalo, buffalo!" and in the hollow 
+of the prairie just below us, a band of bulls were grazing.  The 
+temptation was irresistible, and Shaw and I rode down upon them.  We 
+were badly mounted on our traveling horses, but by hard lashing we 
+overtook them, and Shaw, running alongside of a bull, shot into him 
+both balls of his double-barreled gun.  Looking round as I galloped 
+past, I saw the bull in his mortal fury rushing again and again upon 
+his antagonist, whose horse constantly leaped aside, and avoided the 
+onset.  My chase was more protracted, but at length I ran close to 
+the bull and killed him with my pistols.  Cutting off the tails of 
+our victims by way of trophy, we rejoined the party in about a 
+quarter of an hour after we left it.  Again and again that morning 
+rang out the same welcome cry of "Buffalo, buffalo!"  Every few 
+moments in the broad meadows along the river, we would see bands of 
+bulls, who, raising their shaggy heads, would gaze in stupid 
+amazement at the approaching horsemen, and then breaking into a 
+clumsy gallop, would file off in a long line across the trail in 
+front, toward the rising prairie on the left.  At noon, the whole 
+plain before us was alive with thousands of buffalo--bulls, cows, and 
+calves--all moving rapidly as we drew near; and far-off beyond the 
+river the swelling prairie was darkened with them to the very 
+horizon.  The party was in gayer spirits than ever.  We stopped for a 
+nooning near a grove of trees by the river side.
+
+"Tongues and hump ribs to-morrow," said Shaw, looking with contempt 
+at the venison steaks which Delorier placed before us.  Our meal 
+finished, we lay down under a temporary awning to sleep.  A shout 
+from Henry Chatillon aroused us, and we saw him standing on the 
+cartwheel stretching his tall figure to its full height while he 
+looked toward the prairie beyond the river.  Following the direction 
+of his eyes we could clearly distinguish a large dark object, like 
+the black shadow of a cloud, passing rapidly over swell after swell 
+of the distant plain; behind it followed another of similar 
+appearance though smaller.  Its motion was more rapid, and it drew 
+closer and closer to the first.  It was the hunters of the Arapahoe 
+camp pursuing a band of buffalo.  Shaw and I hastily sought and 
+saddled our best horses, and went plunging through sand and water to 
+the farther bank.  We were too late.  The hunters had already mingled 
+with the herd, and the work of slaughter was nearly over.  When we 
+reached the ground we found it strewn far and near with numberless 
+black carcasses, while the remnants of the herd, scattered in all 
+directions, were flying away in terror, and the Indians still rushing 
+in pursuit.  Many of the hunters, however, remained upon the spot, 
+and among the rest was our yesterday's acquaintance, the chief of the 
+village.  He had alighted by the side of a cow, into which he had 
+shot five or six arrows, and his squaw, who had followed him on 
+horseback to the hunt, was giving him a draught of water out of a 
+canteen, purchased or plundered from some volunteer soldier.  
+Recrossing the river we overtook the party, who were already on their 
+way.
+
+We had scarcely gone a mile when an imposing spectacle presented 
+itself.  From the river bank on the right, away over the swelling 
+prairie on the left, and in front as far as we could see, extended 
+one vast host of buffalo.  The outskirts of the herd were within a 
+quarter of a mile.  In many parts they were crowded so densely 
+together that in the distance their rounded backs presented a surface 
+of uniform blackness; but elsewhere they were more scattered, and 
+from amid the multitude rose little columns of dust where the buffalo 
+were rolling on the ground.  Here and there a great confusion was 
+perceptible, where a battle was going forward among the bulls.  We 
+could distinctly see them rushing against each other, and hear the 
+clattering of their horns and their hoarse bellowing.  Shaw was 
+riding at some distance in advance, with Henry Chatillon; I saw him 
+stop and draw the leather covering from his gun.  Indeed, with such a 
+sight before us, but one thing could be thought of.  That morning I 
+had used pistols in the chase.  I had now a mind to try the virtue of 
+a gun.  Delorier had one, and I rode up to the side of the cart; 
+there he sat under the white covering, biting his pipe between his 
+teeth and grinning with excitement.
+
+"Lend me your gun, Delorier," said I.
+
+"Oui, monsieur, oui," said Delorier, tugging with might and main to 
+stop the mule, which seemed obstinately bent on going forward.  Then 
+everything but his moccasins disappeared as he crawled into the cart 
+and pulled at the gun to extricate it.
+
+"Is it loaded?" I asked.
+
+"Oui, bien charge; you'll kill, mon bourgeois; yes, you'll kill--
+c'est un bon fusil."
+
+I handed him my rifle and rode forward to Shaw.
+
+"Are you ready?" he asked.
+
+"Come on," said I.
+
+"Keep down that hollow," said Henry, "and then they won't see you 
+till you get close to them."
+
+The hollow was a kind of ravine very wide and shallow; it ran 
+obliquely toward the buffalo, and we rode at a canter along the 
+bottom until it became too shallow, when we bent close to our horses' 
+necks, and then finding that it could no longer conceal us, came out 
+of it and rode directly toward the herd.  It was within gunshot; 
+before its outskirts, numerous grizzly old bulls were scattered, 
+holding guard over their females.  They glared at us in anger and 
+astonishment, walked toward us a few yards, and then turning slowly 
+round retreated at a trot which afterward broke into a clumsy gallop.  
+In an instant the main body caught the alarm.  The buffalo began to 
+crowd away from the point toward which we were approaching, and a gap 
+was opened in the side of the herd.  We entered it, still restraining 
+our excited horses.  Every instant the tumult was thickening.  The 
+buffalo, pressing together in large bodies, crowded away from us on 
+every hand.  In front and on either side we could see dark columns 
+and masses, half hidden by clouds of dust, rushing along in terror 
+and confusion, and hear the tramp and clattering of ten thousand 
+hoofs.  That countless multitude of powerful brutes, ignorant of 
+their own strength, were flying in a panic from the approach of two 
+feeble horsemen.  To remain quiet longer was impossible.
+
+"Take that band on the left," said Shaw; "I'll take these in front."
+
+He sprang off, and I saw no more of him.  A heavy Indian whip was 
+fastened by a band to my wrist; I swung it into the air and lashed my 
+horse's flank with all the strength of my arm.  Away she darted, 
+stretching close to the ground.  I could see nothing but a cloud of 
+dust before me, but I knew that it concealed a band of many hundreds 
+of buffalo.  In a moment I was in the midst of the cloud, half 
+suffocated by the dust and stunned by the trampling of the flying 
+herd; but I was drunk with the chase and cared for nothing but the 
+buffalo.  Very soon a long dark mass became visible, looming through 
+the dust; then I could distinguish each bulky carcass, the hoofs 
+flying out beneath, the short tails held rigidly erect.  In a moment 
+I was so close that I could have touched them with my gun.  Suddenly, 
+to my utter amazement, the hoofs were jerked upward, the tails 
+flourished in the air, and amid a cloud of dust the buffalo seemed to 
+sink into the earth before me.  One vivid impression of that instant 
+remains upon my mind.  I remember looking down upon the backs of 
+several buffalo dimly visible through the dust.  We had run unawares 
+upon a ravine.  At that moment I was not the most accurate judge of 
+depth and width, but when I passed it on my return, I found it about 
+twelve feet deep and not quite twice as wide at the bottom.  It was 
+impossible to stop; I would have done so gladly if I could; so, half 
+sliding, half plunging, down went the little mare.  I believe she 
+came down on her knees in the loose sand at the bottom; I was pitched 
+forward violently against her neck and nearly thrown over her head 
+among the buffalo, who amid dust and confusion came tumbling in all 
+around.  The mare was on her feet in an instant and scrambling like a 
+cat up the opposite side.  I thought for a moment that she would have 
+fallen back and crushed me, but with a violent effort she clambered 
+out and gained the hard prairie above.  Glancing back I saw the huge 
+head of a bull clinging as it were by the forefeet at the edge of the 
+dusty gulf.  At length I was fairly among the buffalo.  They were 
+less densely crowded than before, and I could see nothing but bulls, 
+who always run at the rear of the herd.  As I passed amid them they 
+would lower their heads, and turning as they ran, attempt to gore my 
+horse; but as they were already at full speed there was no force in 
+their onset, and as Pauline ran faster than they, they were always 
+thrown behind her in the effort.  I soon began to distinguish cows 
+amid the throng.  One just in front of me seemed to my liking, and I 
+pushed close to her side.  Dropping the reins I fired, holding the 
+muzzle of the gun within a foot of her shoulder.  Quick as lightning 
+she sprang at Pauline; the little mare dodged the attack, and I lost 
+sight of the wounded animal amid the tumultuous crowd.  Immediately 
+after I selected another, and urging forward Pauline, shot into her 
+both pistols in succession.  For a while I kept her in view, but in 
+attempting to load my gun, lost sight of her also in the confusion.  
+Believing her to be mortally wounded and unable to keep up with the 
+herd, I checked my horse.  The crowd rushed onward.  The dust and 
+tumult passed away, and on the prairie, far behind the rest, I saw a 
+solitary buffalo galloping heavily.  In a moment I and my victim were 
+running side by side.  My firearms were all empty, and I had in my 
+pouch nothing but rifle bullets, too large for the pistols and too 
+small for the gun.  I loaded the latter, however, but as often as I 
+leveled it to fire, the little bullets would roll out of the muzzle 
+and the gun returned only a faint report like a squib, as the powder 
+harmlessly exploded.  I galloped in front of the buffalo and 
+attempted to turn her back; but her eyes glared, her mane bristled, 
+and lowering her head, she rushed at me with astonishing fierceness 
+and activity.  Again and again I rode before her, and again and again 
+she repeated her furious charge.  But little Pauline was in her 
+element.  She dodged her enemy at every rush, until at length the 
+buffalo stood still, exhausted with her own efforts; she panted, and 
+her tongue hung lolling from her jaws.
+
+Riding to a little distance I alighted, thinking to gather a handful 
+of dry grass to serve the purpose of wadding, and load the gun at my 
+leisure.  No sooner were my feet on the ground than the buffalo came 
+bounding in such a rage toward me that I jumped back again into the 
+saddle with all possible dispatch.  After waiting a few minutes more, 
+I made an attempt to ride up and stab her with my knife; but the 
+experiment proved such as no wise man would repeat.  At length, 
+bethinking me of the fringes at the seams of my buckskin pantaloons, 
+I jerked off a few of them, and reloading my gun, forced them down 
+the barrel to keep the bullet in its place; then approaching, I shot 
+the wounded buffalo through the heart.  Sinking to her knees, she 
+rolled over lifeless on the prairie.  To my astonishment, I found 
+that instead of a fat cow I had been slaughtering a stout yearling 
+bull.  No longer wondering at the fierceness he had shown, I opened 
+his throat and cutting out his tongue, tied it at the back of my 
+saddle.  My mistake was one which a more experienced eye than mine 
+might easily make in the dust and confusion of such a chase.
+
+Then for the first time I had leisure to look at the scene around me.  
+The prairie in front was darkened with the retreating multitude, and 
+on the other hand the buffalo came filing up in endless unbroken 
+columns from the low plains upon the river.  The Arkansas was three 
+or four miles distant.  I turned and moved slowly toward it.  A long 
+time passed before, far down in the distance, I distinguished the 
+white covering of the cart and the little black specks of horsemen 
+before and behind it.  Drawing near, I recognized Shaw's elegant 
+tunic, the red flannel shirt, conspicuous far off.  I overtook the 
+party, and asked him what success he had met with.  He had assailed a 
+fat cow, shot her with two bullets, and mortally wounded her.  But 
+neither of us were prepared for the chase that afternoon, and Shaw, 
+like myself, had no spare bullets in his pouch; so he abandoned the 
+disabled animal to Henry Chatillon, who followed, dispatched her with 
+his rifle, and loaded his horse with her meat.
+
+We encamped close to the river.  The night was dark, and as we lay 
+down we could hear mingled with the howling of wolves the hoarse 
+bellowing of the buffalo, like the ocean beating upon a distant 
+coast.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+THE BUFFALO CAMP
+
+
+No one in the camp was more active than Jim Gurney, and no one half 
+so lazy as Ellis.  Between these two there was a great antipathy.  
+Ellis never stirred in the morning until he was compelled to, but Jim 
+was always on his feet before daybreak; and this morning as usual the 
+sound of his voice awakened the party.
+
+"Get up, you booby! up with you now, you're fit for nothing but 
+eating and sleeping.  Stop your grumbling and come out of that 
+buffalo robe or I'll pull it off for you."
+
+Jim's words were interspersed with numerous expletives, which gave 
+them great additional effect.  Ellis drawled out something in a nasal 
+tone from among the folds of his buffalo robe; then slowly disengaged 
+himself, rose into sitting posture, stretched his long arms, yawned 
+hideously, and finally, raising his tall person erect, stood staring 
+round him to all the four quarters of the horizon.  Delorier's fire 
+was soon blazing, and the horses and mules, loosened from their 
+pickets, were feeding in the neighboring meadow.  When we sat down to 
+breakfast the prairie was still in the dusky light of morning; and as 
+the sun rose we were mounted and on our way again.
+
+"A white buffalo!" exclaimed Munroe.
+
+"I'll have that fellow," said Shaw, "if I run my horse to death after 
+him."
+
+He threw the cover of his gun to Delorier and galloped out upon the 
+prairie.
+
+"Stop, Mr. Shaw, stop!" called out Henry Chatillon, "you'll run down 
+your horse for nothing; it's only a white ox."
+
+But Shaw was already out of hearing.  The ox, who had no doubt 
+strayed away from some of the government wagon trains, was standing 
+beneath some low hills which bounded the plain in the distance.  Not 
+far from him a band of veritable buffalo bulls were grazing; and 
+startled at Shaw's approach, they all broke into a run, and went 
+scrambling up the hillsides to gain the high prairie above.  One of 
+them in his haste and terror involved himself in a fatal catastrophe.  
+Along the foot of the hills was a narrow strip of deep marshy soil, 
+into which the bull plunged and hopelessly entangled himself.  We all 
+rode up to the spot.  The huge carcass was half sunk in the mud, 
+which flowed to his very chin, and his shaggy mane was outspread upon 
+the surface.  As we came near the bull began to struggle with 
+convulsive strength; he writhed to and fro, and in the energy of his 
+fright and desperation would lift himself for a moment half out of 
+the slough, while the reluctant mire returned a sucking sound as he 
+strained to drag his limbs from its tenacious depths.  We stimulated 
+his exertions by getting behind him and twisting his tail; nothing 
+would do.  There was clearly no hope for him.  After every effort his 
+heaving sides were more deeply imbedded and the mire almost 
+overflowed his nostrils; he lay still at length, and looking round at 
+us with a furious eye, seemed to resign himself to his fate.  Ellis 
+slowly dismounted, and deliberately leveling his boasted yager, shot 
+the old bull through the heart; then he lazily climbed back again to 
+his seat, pluming himself no doubt on having actually killed a 
+buffalo.  That day the invincible yager drew blood for the first and 
+last time during the whole journey.
+
+The morning was a bright and gay one, and the air so clear that on 
+the farthest horizon the outline of the pale blue prairie was sharply 
+drawn against the sky.  Shaw felt in the mood for hunting; he rode in 
+advance of the party, and before long we saw a file of bulls 
+galloping at full speed upon a vast green swell of the prairie at 
+some distance in front.  Shaw came scouring along behind them, 
+arrayed in his red shirt, which looked very well in the distance; he 
+gained fast on the fugitives, and as the foremost bull was 
+disappearing behind the summit of the swell, we saw him in the act of 
+assailing the hindmost; a smoke sprang from the muzzle of his gun, 
+and floated away before the wind like a little white cloud; the bull 
+turned upon him, and just then the rising ground concealed them both 
+from view.
+
+We were moving forward until about noon, when we stopped by the side 
+of the Arkansas.  At that moment Shaw appeared riding slowly down the 
+side of a distant hill; his horse was tired and jaded, and when he 
+threw his saddle upon the ground, I observed that the tails of two 
+bulls were dangling behind it.  No sooner were the horses turned 
+loose to feed than Henry, asking Munroe to go with him, took his 
+rifle and walked quietly away.  Shaw, Tete Rouge, and I sat down by 
+the side of the cart to discuss the dinner which Delorier placed 
+before us; we had scarcely finished when we saw Munroe walking toward 
+us along the river bank.  Henry, he said, had killed four fat cows, 
+and had sent him back for horses to bring in the meat.  Shaw took a 
+horse for himself and another for Henry, and he and Munroe left the 
+camp together.  After a short absence all three of them came back, 
+their horses loaded with the choicest parts of the meat; we kept two 
+of the cows for ourselves and gave the others to Munroe and his 
+companions.  Delorier seated himself on the grass before the pile of 
+meat, and worked industriously for some time to cut it into thin 
+broad sheets for drying.  This is no easy matter, but Delorier had 
+all the skill of an Indian squaw.  Long before night cords of raw 
+hide were stretched around the camp, and the meat was hung upon them 
+to dry in the sunshine and pure air of the prairie.  Our California 
+companions were less successful at the work; but they accomplished it 
+after their own fashion, and their side of the camp was soon 
+garnished in the same manner as our own.
+
+We meant to remain at this place long enough to prepare provisions 
+for our journey to the frontier, which as we supposed might occupy 
+about a month.  Had the distance been twice as great and the party 
+ten times as large, the unerring rifle of Henry Chatillon would have 
+supplied meat enough for the whole within two days; we were obliged 
+to remain, however, until it should be dry enough for transportation; 
+so we erected our tent and made the other arrangements for a 
+permanent camp.  The California men, who had no such shelter, 
+contented themselves with arranging their packs on the grass around 
+their fire.  In the meantime we had nothing to do but amuse 
+ourselves.  Our tent was within a rod of the river, if the broad 
+sand-beds, with a scanty stream of water coursing here and there 
+along their surface, deserve to be dignified with the name of river.  
+The vast flat plains on either side were almost on a level with the 
+sand-beds, and they were bounded in the distance by low, monotonous 
+hills, parallel to the course of the Arkansas.  All was one expanse 
+of grass; there was no wood in view, except some trees and stunted 
+bushes upon two islands which rose from amid the wet sands of the 
+river.  Yet far from being dull and tame this boundless scene was 
+often a wild and animated one; for twice a day, at sunrise and at 
+noon, the buffalo came issuing from the hills, slowly advancing in 
+their grave processions to drink at the river.  All our amusements 
+were too at their expense.  Except an elephant, I have seen no animal 
+that can surpass a buffalo bull in size and strength, and the world 
+may be searched in vain to find anything of a more ugly and ferocious 
+aspect.  At first sight of him every feeling of sympathy vanishes; no 
+man who has not experienced it can understand with what keen relish 
+one inflicts his death wound, with what profound contentment of mind 
+he beholds him fall.  The cows are much smaller and of a gentler 
+appearance, as becomes their sex.  While in this camp we forebore to 
+attack them, leaving to Henry Chatillon, who could better judge their 
+fatness and good quality, the task of killing such as we wanted for 
+use; but against the bulls we waged an unrelenting war.  Thousands of 
+them might be slaughtered without causing any detriment to the 
+species, for their numbers greatly exceed those of the cows; it is 
+the hides of the latter alone which are used for purpose of commerce 
+and for making the lodges of the Indians; and the destruction among 
+them is therefore altogether disproportioned.
+
+Our horses were tired, and we now usually hunted on foot.  The wide, 
+flat sand-beds of the Arkansas, as the reader will remember, lay 
+close by the side of our camp.  While we were lying on the grass 
+after dinner, smoking, conversing, or laughing at Tete Rouge, one of 
+us would look up and observe, far out on the plains beyond the river, 
+certain black objects slowly approaching.  He would inhale a parting 
+whiff from the pipe, then rising lazily, take his rifle, which leaned 
+against the cart, throw over his shoulder the strap of his pouch and 
+powder-horn, and with his moccasins in his hand walk quietly across 
+the sand toward the opposite side of the river.  This was very easy; 
+for though the sands were about a quarter of a mile wide, the water 
+was nowhere more than two feet deep.  The farther bank was about four 
+or five feet high, and quite perpendicular, being cut away by the 
+water in spring.  Tall grass grew along its edge.  Putting it aside 
+with his hand, and cautiously looking through it, the hunter can 
+discern the huge shaggy back of the buffalo slowly swaying to and 
+fro, as with his clumsy swinging gait he advances toward the water.  
+The buffalo have regular paths by which they come down to drink.  
+Seeing at a glance along which of these his intended victim is 
+moving, the hunter crouches under the bank within fifteen or twenty 
+yards, it may be, of the point where the path enters the river.  Here 
+he sits down quietly on the sand.  Listening intently, he hears the 
+heavy monotonous tread of the approaching bull.  The moment after he 
+sees a motion among the long weeds and grass just at the spot where 
+the path is channeled through the bank.  An enormous black head is 
+thrust out, the horns just visible amid the mass of tangled mane.  
+Half sliding, half plunging, down comes the buffalo upon the river-
+bed below.  He steps out in full sight upon the sands.  Just before 
+him a runnel of water is gliding, and he bends his head to drink.  
+You may hear the water as it gurgles down his capacious throat.  He 
+raises his head, and the drops trickle from his wet beard.  He stands 
+with an air of stupid abstraction, unconscious of the lurking danger.  
+Noiselessly the hunter cocks his rifle.  As he sits upon the sand, 
+his knee is raised, and his elbow rests upon it, that he may level 
+his heavy weapon with a steadier aim.  The stock is at his shoulder; 
+his eye ranges along the barrel.  Still he is in no haste to fire.  
+The bull, with slow deliberation, begins his march over the sands to 
+the other side.  He advances his foreleg, and exposes to view a small 
+spot, denuded of hair, just behind the point of his shoulder; upon 
+this the hunter brings the sight of his rifle to bear; lightly and 
+delicately his finger presses upon the hair-trigger.  Quick as 
+thought the spiteful crack of the rifle responds to his slight touch, 
+and instantly in the middle of the bare spot appears a small red dot.  
+The buffalo shivers; death has overtaken him, he cannot tell from 
+whence; still he does not fall, but walks heavily forward, as if 
+nothing had happened.  Yet before he has advanced far out upon the 
+sand, you see him stop; he totters; his knees bend under him, and his 
+head sinks forward to the ground.  Then his whole vast bulk sways to 
+one side; he rolls over on the sand, and dies with a scarcely 
+perceptible struggle.
+
+Waylaying the buffalo in this manner, and shooting them as they come 
+to water, is the easiest and laziest method of hunting them.  They 
+may also be approached by crawling up ravines, or behind hills, or 
+even over the open prairie.  This is often surprisingly easy; but at 
+other times it requires the utmost skill of the most experienced 
+hunter.  Henry Chatillon was a man of extraordinary strength and 
+hardihood; but I have seen him return to camp quite exhausted with 
+his efforts, his limbs scratched and wounded, and his buckskin dress 
+stuck full of the thorns of the prickly-pear among which he had been 
+crawling.  Sometimes he would lay flat upon his face, and drag 
+himself along in this position for many rods together.
+
+On the second day of our stay at this place, Henry went out for an 
+afternoon hunt.  Shaw and I remained in camp until, observing some 
+bulls approaching the water upon the other side of the river, we 
+crossed over to attack them.  They were so near, however, that before 
+we could get under cover of the bank our appearance as we walked over 
+the sands alarmed them.  Turning round before coming within gunshot, 
+they began to move off to the right in a direction parallel to the 
+river.  I climbed up the bank and ran after them.  They were walking 
+swiftly, and before I could come within gunshot distance they slowly 
+wheeled about and faced toward me.  Before they had turned far enough 
+to see me I had fallen flat on my face.  For a moment they stood and 
+stared at the strange object upon the grass; then turning away, again 
+they walked on as before; and I, rising immediately, ran once more in 
+pursuit.  Again they wheeled about, and again I fell prostrate.  
+Repeating this three or four times, I came at length within a hundred 
+yards of the fugitives, and as I saw them turning again I sat down 
+and leveled my rifle.  The one in the center was the largest I had 
+ever seen.  I shot him behind the shoulder.  His two companions ran 
+off.  He attempted to follow, but soon came to a stand, and at length 
+lay down as quietly as an ox chewing the cud.  Cautiously approaching 
+him, I saw by his dull and jellylike eye that he was dead.
+
+When I began the chase, the prairie was almost tenantless; but a 
+great multitude of buffalo had suddenly thronged upon it, and looking 
+up, I saw within fifty rods a heavy, dark column stretching to the 
+right and left as far as I could see.  I walked toward them.  My 
+approach did not alarm them in the least.  The column itself 
+consisted entirely of cows and calves, but a great many old bulls 
+were ranging about the prairie on its flank, and as I drew near they 
+faced toward me with such a shaggy and ferocious look that I thought 
+it best to proceed no farther.  Indeed I was already within close 
+rifle-shot of the column, and I sat down on the ground to watch their 
+movements.  Sometimes the whole would stand still, their heads all 
+facing one way; then they would trot forward, as if by a common 
+impulse, their hoofs and horns clattering together as they moved.  I 
+soon began to hear at a distance on the left the sharp reports of a 
+rifle, again and again repeated; and not long after, dull and heavy 
+sounds succeeded, which I recognized as the familiar voice of Shaw's 
+double-barreled gun.  When Henry's rifle was at work there was always 
+meat to be brought in.  I went back across the river for a horse, and 
+returning, reached the spot where the hunters were standing.  The 
+buffalo were visible on the distant prairie.  The living had 
+retreated from the ground, but ten or twelve carcasses were scattered 
+in various directions.  Henry, knife in hand, was stooping over a 
+dead cow, cutting away the best and fattest of the meat.
+
+When Shaw left me he had walked down for some distance under the 
+river bank to find another bull.  At length he saw the plains covered 
+with the host of buffalo, and soon after heard the crack of Henry's 
+rifle.  Ascending the bank, he crawled through the grass, which for a 
+rod or two from the river was very high and rank.  He had not crawled 
+far before to his astonishment he saw Henry standing erect upon the 
+prairie, almost surrounded by the buffalo.  Henry was in his 
+appropriate element.  Nelson, on the deck of the Victory, hardly felt 
+a prouder sense of mastery than he.  Quite unconscious that any one 
+was looking at him, he stood at the full height of his tall, strong 
+figure, one hand resting upon his side, and the other arm leaning 
+carelessly on the muzzle of his rifle.  His eyes were ranging over 
+the singular assemblage around him.  Now and then he would select 
+such a cow as suited him, level his rifle, and shoot her dead; then 
+quietly reloading, he would resume his former position.  The buffalo 
+seemed no more to regard his presence than if he were one of 
+themselves; the bulls were bellowing and butting at each other, or 
+else rolling about in the dust.  A group of buffalo would gather 
+about the carcass of a dead cow, snuffing at her wounds; and 
+sometimes they would come behind those that had not yet fallen, and 
+endeavor to push them from the spot.  Now and then some old bull 
+would face toward Henry with an air of stupid amazement, but none 
+seemed inclined to attack or fly from him.  For some time Shaw lay 
+among the grass, looking in surprise at this extraordinary sight; at 
+length he crawled cautiously forward, and spoke in a low voice to 
+Henry, who told him to rise and come on.  Still the buffalo showed no 
+sign of fear; they remained gathered about their dead companions.  
+Henry had already killed as many cows as we wanted for use, and Shaw, 
+kneeling behind one of the carcasses, shot five bulls before the rest 
+thought it necessary to disperse.
+
+The frequent stupidity and infatuation of the buffalo seems the more 
+remarkable from the contrast it offers to their wildness and wariness 
+at other times.  Henry knew all their peculiarities; he had studied 
+them as a scholar studies his books, and he derived quite as much 
+pleasure from the occupation.  The buffalo were a kind of companions 
+to him, and, as he said, he never felt alone when they were about 
+him.  He took great pride in his skill in hunting.  Henry was one of 
+the most modest of men; yet, in the simplicity and frankness of his 
+character, it was quite clear that he looked upon his pre-eminence in 
+this respect as a thing too palpable and well established ever to be 
+disputed.  But whatever may have been his estimate of his own skill, 
+it was rather below than above that which others placed upon it.  The 
+only time that I ever saw a shade of scorn darken his face was when 
+two volunteer soldiers, who had just killed a buffalo for the first 
+time, undertook to instruct him as to the best method of 
+"approaching."  To borrow an illustration from an opposite side of 
+life, an Eton boy might as well have sought to enlighten Porson on 
+the formation of a Greek verb, or a Fleet Street shopkeeper to 
+instruct Chesterfield concerning a point of etiquette.  Henry always 
+seemed to think that he had a sort of prescriptive right to the 
+buffalo, and to look upon them as something belonging peculiarly to 
+himself.  Nothing excited his indignation so much as any wanton 
+destruction committed among the cows, and in his view shooting a calf 
+was a cardinal sin.
+
+Henry Chatillon and Tete Rouge were of the same age; that is, about 
+thirty.  Henry was twice as large, and fully six times as strong as 
+Tete Rouge.  Henry's face was roughened by winds and storms; Tete 
+Rouge's was bloated by sherry cobblers and brandy toddy.  Henry 
+talked of Indians and buffalo; Tete Rouge of theaters and oyster 
+cellars.  Henry had led a life of hardship and privation; Tete Rouge 
+never had a whim which he would not gratify at the first moment he 
+was able.  Henry moreover was the most disinterested man I ever saw; 
+while Tete Rouge, though equally good-natured in his way, cared for 
+nobody but himself.  Yet we would not have lost him on any account; 
+he admirably served the purpose of a jester in a feudal castle; our 
+camp would have been lifeless without him.  For the past week he had 
+fattened in a most amazing manner; and indeed this was not at all 
+surprising, since his appetite was most inordinate.  He was eating 
+from morning till night; half the time he would be at work cooking 
+some private repast for himself, and he paid a visit to the coffee-
+pot eight or ten times a day.  His rueful and disconsolate face 
+became jovial and rubicund, his eyes stood out like a lobster's, and 
+his spirits, which before were sunk to the depths of despondency, 
+were now elated in proportion; all day he was singing, whistling, 
+laughing, and telling stories.  Being mortally afraid of Jim Gurney, 
+he kept close in the neighborhood of our tent.  As he had seen an 
+abundance of low dissipated life, and had a considerable fund of 
+humor, his anecdotes were extremely amusing, especially since he 
+never hesitated to place himself in a ludicrous point of view, 
+provided he could raise a laugh by doing so.  Tete Rouge, however, 
+was sometimes rather troublesome; he had an inveterate habit of 
+pilfering provisions at all times of the day.  He set ridicule at 
+utter defiance; and being without a particle of self-respect, he 
+would never have given over his tricks, even if they had drawn upon 
+him the scorn of the whole party.  Now and then, indeed, something 
+worse than laughter fell to his share; on these occasions he would 
+exhibit much contrition, but half an hour after we would generally 
+observe him stealing round to the box at the back of the cart and 
+slyly making off with the provisions which Delorier had laid by for 
+supper.  He was very fond of smoking; but having no tobacco of his 
+own, we used to provide him with as much as he wanted, a small piece 
+at a time.  At first we gave him half a pound together, but this 
+experiment proved an entire failure, for he invariably lost not only 
+the tobacco, but the knife intrusted to him for cutting it, and a few 
+minutes after he would come to us with many apologies and beg for 
+more.
+
+We had been two days at this camp, and some of the meat was nearly 
+fit for transportation, when a storm came suddenly upon us.  About 
+sunset the whole sky grew as black as ink, and the long grass at the 
+river's edge bent and rose mournfully with the first gusts of the 
+approaching hurricane.  Munroe and his two companions brought their 
+guns and placed them under cover of our tent.  Having no shelter for 
+themselves, they built a fire of driftwood that might have defied a 
+cataract, and wrapped in their buffalo robes, sat on the ground 
+around it to bide the fury of the storm.  Delorier ensconced himself 
+under the cover of the cart.  Shaw and I, together with Henry and 
+Tete Rouge, crowded into the little tent; but first of all the dried 
+meat was piled together, and well protected by buffalo robes pinned 
+firmly to the ground.  About nine o'clock the storm broke, amid 
+absolute darkness; it blew a gale, and torrents of rain roared over 
+the boundless expanse of open prairie.  Our tent was filled with mist 
+and spray beating through the canvas, and saturating everything 
+within.  We could only distinguish each other at short intervals by 
+the dazzling flash of lightning, which displayed the whole waste 
+around us with its momentary glare.  We had our fears for the tent; 
+but for an hour or two it stood fast, until at length the cap gave 
+way before a furious blast; the pole tore through the top, and in an 
+instant we were half suffocated by the cold and dripping folds of the 
+canvas, which fell down upon us.  Seizing upon our guns, we placed 
+them erect, in order to lift the saturated cloth above our heads.  In 
+this disagreeable situation, involved among wet blankets and buffalo 
+robes, we spent several hours of the night during which the storm 
+would not abate for a moment, but pelted down above our heads with 
+merciless fury.  Before long the ground beneath us became soaked with 
+moisture, and the water gathered there in a pool two or three inches 
+deep; so that for a considerable part of the night we were partially 
+immersed in a cold bath.  In spite of all this, Tete Rouge's flow of 
+spirits did not desert him for an instant, he laughed, whistled, and 
+sung in defiance of the storm, and that night he paid off the long 
+arrears of ridicule which he owed us.  While we lay in silence, 
+enduring the infliction with what philosophy we could muster, Tete 
+Rouge, who was intoxicated with animal spirits, was cracking jokes at 
+our expense by the hour together.  At about three o'clock in the 
+morning, "preferring the tyranny of the open night" to such a 
+wretched shelter, we crawled out from beneath the fallen canvas.  The 
+wind had abated, but the rain fell steadily.  The fire of the 
+California men still blazed amid the darkness, and we joined them as 
+they sat around it.  We made ready some hot coffee by way of 
+refreshment; but when some of the party sought to replenish their 
+cups, it was found that Tete Rouge, having disposed of his own share, 
+had privately abstracted the coffee-pot and drank up the rest of the 
+contents out of the spout.
+
+In the morning, to our great joy, an unclouded sun rose upon the 
+prairie.  We presented rather a laughable appearance, for the cold 
+and clammy buckskin, saturated with water, clung fast to our limbs; 
+the light wind and warm sunshine soon dried them again, and then we 
+were all incased in armor of intolerable rigidity.  Roaming all day 
+over the prairie and shooting two or three bulls, were scarcely 
+enough to restore the stiffened leather to its usual pliancy.
+
+Besides Henry Chatillon, Shaw and I were the only hunters in the 
+party.  Munroe this morning made an attempt to run a buffalo, but his 
+horse could not come up to the game.  Shaw went out with him, and 
+being better mounted soon found himself in the midst of the herd.  
+Seeing nothing but cows and calves around him, he checked his horse.  
+An old bull came galloping on the open prairie at some distance 
+behind, and turning, Shaw rode across his path, leveling his gun as 
+he passed, and shooting him through the shoulder into the heart.  The 
+heavy bullets of Shaw's double-barreled gun made wild work wherever 
+they struck.
+
+A great flock of buzzards were usually soaring about a few trees that 
+stood on the island just below our camp.  Throughout the whole of 
+yesterday we had noticed an eagle among them; to-day he was still 
+there; and Tete Rouge, declaring that he would kill the bird of 
+America, borrowed Delorier's gun and set out on his unpatriotic 
+mission.  As might have been expected, the eagle suffered no great 
+harm at his hands.  He soon returned, saying that he could not find 
+him, but had shot a buzzard instead.  Being required to produce the 
+bird in proof of his assertion he said he believed he was not quite 
+dead, but he must be hurt, from the swiftness with which he flew off.
+
+"If you want," said Tete Rouge, "I'll go and get one of his feathers; 
+I knocked off plenty of them when I shot him."
+
+Just opposite our camp was another island covered with bushes, and 
+behind it was a deep pool of water, while two or three considerable 
+streams course'd over the sand not far off.  I was bathing at this 
+place in the afternoon when a white wolf, larger than the largest 
+Newfoundland dog, ran out from behind the point of the island, and 
+galloped leisurely over the sand not half a stone's throw distant.  I 
+could plainly see his red eyes and the bristles about his snout; he 
+was an ugly scoundrel, with a bushy tail, large head, and a most 
+repulsive countenance.  Having neither rifle to shoot nor stone to 
+pelt him with, I was looking eagerly after some missile for his 
+benefit, when the report of a gun came from the camp, and the ball 
+threw up the sand just beyond him; at this he gave a slight jump, and 
+stretched away so swiftly that he soon dwindled into a mere speck on 
+the distant sand-beds.  The number of carcasses that by this time 
+were lying about the prairie all around us summoned the wolves from 
+every quarter; the spot where Shaw and Henry had hunted together soon 
+became their favorite resort, for here about a dozen dead buffalo 
+were fermenting under the hot sun.  I used often to go over the river 
+and watch them at their meal; by lying under the bank it was easy to 
+get a full view of them.  Three different kinds were present; there 
+were the white wolves and the gray wolves, both extremely large, and 
+besides these the small prairie wolves, not much bigger than 
+spaniels.  They would howl and fight in a crowd around a single 
+carcass, yet they were so watchful, and their senses so acute, that I 
+never was able to crawl within a fair shooting distance; whenever I 
+attempted it, they would all scatter at once and glide silently away 
+through the tall grass.  The air above this spot was always full of 
+buzzards or black vultures; whenever the wolves left a carcass they 
+would descend upon it, and cover it so densely that a rifle-bullet 
+shot at random among the gormandizing crowd would generally strike 
+down two or three of them.  These birds would now be sailing by 
+scores just about our camp, their broad black wings seeming half 
+transparent as they expanded them against the bright sky.  The wolves 
+and the buzzards thickened about us with every hour, and two or three 
+eagles also came into the feast.  I killed a bull within rifle-shot 
+of the camp; that night the wolves made a fearful howling close at 
+hand, and in the morning the carcass was completely hollowed out by 
+these voracious feeders.
+
+After we had remained four days at this camp we prepared to leave it.  
+We had for our own part about five hundred pounds of dried meat, and 
+the California men had prepared some three hundred more; this 
+consisted of the fattest and choicest parts of eight or nine cows, a 
+very small quantity only being taken from each, and the rest 
+abandoned to the wolves.  The pack animals were laden, the horses 
+were saddled, and the mules harnessed to the cart.  Even Tete Rouge 
+was ready at last, and slowly moving from the ground, we resumed our 
+journey eastward.  When we had advanced about a mile, Shaw missed a 
+valuable hunting knife and turned back in search of it, thinking that 
+he had left it at the camp.  He approached the place cautiously, 
+fearful that Indians might be lurking about, for a deserted camp is 
+dangerous to return to.  He saw no enemy, but the scene was a wild 
+and dreary one; the prairie was overshadowed by dull, leaden clouds, 
+for the day was dark and gloomy.  The ashes of the fires were still 
+smoking by the river side; the grass around them was trampled down by 
+men and horses, and strewn with all the litter of a camp.  Our 
+departure had been a gathering signal to the birds and beasts of 
+prey; Shaw assured me that literally dozens of wolves were prowling 
+about the smoldering fires, while multitudes were roaming over the 
+prairie around; they all fled as he approached, some running over the 
+sand-beds and some over the grassy plains.  The vultures in great 
+clouds were soaring overhead, and the dead bull near the camp was 
+completely blackened by the flock that had alighted upon it; they 
+flapped their broad wings, and stretched upward their crested heads 
+and long skinny necks, fearing to remain, yet reluctant to leave 
+their disgusting feast.  As he searched about the fires he saw the 
+wolves seated on the distant hills waiting for his departure.  Having 
+looked in vain for his knife, he mounted again, and left the wolves 
+and the vultures to banquet freely upon the carrion of the camp.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+DOWN THE ARKANSAS
+
+
+In the summer of 1846 the wild and lonely banks of the Upper Arkansas 
+beheld for the first time the passage of an army.  General Kearny, on 
+his march to Santa Fe, adopted this route in preference to the old 
+trail of the Cimarron.  When we came down the main body of the troops 
+had already passed on; Price's Missouri regiment, however, was still 
+on the way, having left the frontier much later than the rest; and 
+about this time we began to meet them moving along the trail, one or 
+two companies at a time.  No men ever embarked upon a military 
+expedition with a greater love for the work before them than the 
+Missourians; but if discipline and subordination be the criterion of 
+merit, these soldiers were worthless indeed.  Yet when their exploits 
+have rung through all America, it would be absurd to deny that they 
+were excellent irregular troops.  Their victories were gained in the 
+teeth of every established precedent of warfare; they were owing to a 
+singular combination of military qualities in the men themselves.  
+Without discipline or a spirit of subordination, they knew how to 
+keep their ranks and act as one man.  Doniphan's regiment marched 
+through New Mexico more like a band of free companions than like the 
+paid soldiers of a modern government.  When General Taylor 
+complimented Doniphan on his success at Sacramento and elsewhere, the 
+colonel's reply very well illustrates the relations which subsisted 
+between the officers and men of his command:
+
+"I don't know anything of the maneuvers.  The boys kept coming to me, 
+to let them charge; and when I saw a good opportunity, I told them 
+they might go.  They were off like a shot, and that's all I know 
+about it."
+
+The backwoods lawyer was better fitted to conciliate the good-will 
+than to command the obedience of his men.  There were many serving 
+under him, who both from character and education could better have 
+held command than he.
+
+At the battle of Sacramento his frontiersmen fought under every 
+possible disadvantage.  The Mexicans had chosen their own position; 
+they were drawn up across the valley that led to their native city of 
+Chihuahua; their whole front was covered by intrenchments and 
+defended by batteries of heavy cannon; they outnumbered the invaders 
+five to one.  An eagle flew over the Americans, and a deep murmur 
+rose along their lines.  The enemy's batteries opened; long they 
+remained under fire, but when at length the word was given, they 
+shouted and ran forward.  In one of the divisions, when midway to the 
+enemy, a drunken officer ordered a halt; the exasperated men 
+hesitated to obey.
+
+"Forward, boys!" cried a private from the ranks; and the Americans, 
+rushing like tigers upon the enemy, bounded over the breastwork.  
+Four hundred Mexicans were slain upon the spot and the rest fled, 
+scattering over the plain like sheep.  The standards, cannon, and 
+baggage were taken, and among the rest a wagon laden with cords, 
+which the Mexicans, in the fullness of their confidence, had made 
+ready for tying the American prisoners.
+
+Doniphan's volunteers, who gained this victory, passed up with the 
+main army; but Price's soldiers, whom we now met, were men from the 
+same neighborhood, precisely similar in character, manner, and 
+appearance.  One forenoon, as we were descending upon a very wide 
+meadow, where we meant to rest for an hour or two, we saw a dark body 
+of horsemen approaching at a distance.  In order to find water, we 
+were obliged to turn aside to the river bank, a full half mile from 
+the trail.  Here we put up a kind of awning, and spreading buffalo 
+robes on the ground, Shaw and I sat down to smoke beneath it.
+
+"We are going to catch it now," said Shaw; "look at those fellows, 
+there'll be no peace for us here."
+
+And in good truth about half the volunteers had straggled away from 
+the line of march, and were riding over the meadow toward us.
+
+"How are you?" said the first who came up, alighting from his horse 
+and throwing himself upon the ground.  The rest followed close, and a 
+score of them soon gathered about us, some lying at full length and 
+some sitting on horseback.  They all belonged to a company raised in 
+St. Louis.  There were some ruffian faces among them, and some 
+haggard with debauchery; but on the whole they were extremely good-
+looking men, superior beyond measure to the ordinary rank and file of 
+an army.  Except that they were booted to the knees, they wore their 
+belts and military trappings over the ordinary dress of citizens.  
+Besides their swords and holster pistols, they carried slung from 
+their saddles the excellent Springfield carbines, loaded at the 
+breech.  They inquired the character of our party, and were anxious 
+to know the prospect of killing buffalo, and the chance that their 
+horses would stand the journey to Santa Fe.  All this was well 
+enough, but a moment after a worse visitation came upon us.
+
+"How are you, strangers? whar are you going and whar are you from?" 
+said a fellow, who came trotting up with an old straw hat on his 
+head.  He was dressed in the coarsest brown homespun cloth.  His face 
+was rather sallow from fever-and-ague, and his tall figure, though 
+strong and sinewy was quite thin, and had besides an angular look, 
+which, together with his boorish seat on horseback, gave him an 
+appearance anything but graceful.  Plenty more of the same stamp were 
+close behind him.  Their company was raised in one of the frontier 
+counties, and we soon had abundant evidence of their rustic breeding; 
+dozens of them came crowding round, pushing between our first 
+visitors and staring at us with unabashed faces.
+
+"Are you the captain?" asked one fellow.
+
+"What's your business out here?" asked another.
+
+"Whar do you live when you're at home?" said a third.
+
+"I reckon you're traders," surmised a fourth; and to crown the whole, 
+one of them came confidentially to my side and inquired in a low 
+voice, "What's your partner's name?"
+
+As each newcomer repeated the same questions, the nuisance became 
+intolerable.  Our military visitors were soon disgusted at the 
+concise nature of our replies, and we could overhear them muttering 
+curses against us.  While we sat smoking, not in the best imaginable 
+humor, Tete Rouge's tongue was never idle.  He never forgot his 
+military character, and during the whole interview he was incessantly 
+busy among his fellow-soldiers.  At length we placed him on the 
+ground before us, and told him that he might play the part of 
+spokesman for the whole.  Tete Rouge was delighted, and we soon had 
+the satisfaction of seeing him talk and gabble at such a rate that 
+the torrent of questions was in a great measure diverted from us.  A 
+little while after, to our amazement, we saw a large cannon with four 
+horses come lumbering up behind the crowd; and the driver, who was 
+perched on one of the animals, stretching his neck so as to look over 
+the rest of the men, called out:
+
+"Whar are you from, and what's your business?"
+
+The captain of one of the companies was among our visitors, drawn by 
+the same curiosity that had attracted his men.  Unless their faces 
+belied them, not a few in the crowd might with great advantage have 
+changed places with their commander.
+
+"Well, men," said he, lazily rising from the ground where he had been 
+lounging, "it's getting late, I reckon we had better be moving."
+
+"I shan't start yet anyhow," said one fellow, who was lying half 
+asleep with his head resting on his arm.
+
+"Don't be in a hurry, captain," added the lieutenant.
+
+"Well, have it your own way, we'll wait a while longer," replied the 
+obsequious commander.
+
+At length however our visitors went straggling away as they had come, 
+and we, to our great relief, were left alone again.
+
+No one can deny the intrepid bravery of these men, their intelligence 
+and the bold frankness of their character, free from all that is mean 
+and sordid.  Yet for the moment the extreme roughness of their 
+manners half inclines one to forget their heroic qualities.  Most of 
+them seem without the least perception of delicacy or propriety, 
+though among them individuals may be found in whose manners there is 
+a plain courtesy, while their features bespeak a gallant spirit equal 
+to any enterprise.
+
+No one was more relieved than Delorier by the departure of the 
+volunteers; for dinner was getting colder every moment.  He spread a 
+well-whitened buffalo hide upon the grass, placed in the middle the 
+juicy hump of a fat cow, ranged around it the tin plates and cups, 
+and then acquainted us that all was ready.  Tete Rouge, with his 
+usual alacrity on such occasions, was the first to take his seat.  In 
+his former capacity of steamboat clerk, he had learned to prefix the 
+honorary MISTER to everybody's name, whether of high or low degree; 
+so Jim Gurney was Mr. Gurney, Henry was Mr. Henry, and even Delorier, 
+for the first time in his life, heard himself addressed as Mr. 
+Delorier.  This did not prevent his conceiving a violent enmity 
+against Tete Rouge, who, in his futile though praiseworthy attempts 
+to make himself useful used always to intermeddle with cooking the 
+dinners.  Delorier's disposition knew no medium between smiles and 
+sunshine and a downright tornado of wrath; he said nothing to Tete 
+Rouge, but his wrongs rankled in his breast.  Tete Rouge had taken 
+his place at dinner; it was his happiest moment; he sat enveloped in 
+the old buffalo coat, sleeves turned up in preparation for the work, 
+and his short legs crossed on the grass before him; he had a cup of 
+coffee by his side and his knife ready in his hand and while he 
+looked upon the fat hump ribs, his eyes dilated with anticipation.  
+Delorier sat just opposite to him, and the rest of us by this time 
+had taken our seats.
+
+"How is this, Delorier?  You haven't given us bread enough."
+
+At this Delorier's placid face flew instantly into a paroxysm of 
+contortions.  He grinned with wrath, chattered, gesticulated, and 
+hurled forth a volley of incoherent words in broken English at the 
+astonished Tete Rouge.  It was just possible to make out that he was 
+accusing him of having stolen and eaten four large cakes which had 
+been laid by for dinner.  Tete Rouge, utterly confounded at this 
+sudden attack, stared at Delorier for a moment in dumb amazement, 
+with mouth and eyes wide open.  At last he found speech, and 
+protested that the accusation was false; and that he could not 
+conceive how he had offended Mr. Delorier, or provoked him to use 
+such ungentlemanly expressions.  The tempest of words raged with such 
+fury that nothing else could be heard.  But Tete Rouge, from his 
+greater command of English, had a manifest advantage over Delorier, 
+who after sputtering and grimacing for a while, found his words quite 
+inadequate to the expression of his wrath.  He jumped up and 
+vanished, jerking out between his teeth one furious sacre enfant de 
+grace, a Canadian title of honor, made doubly emphatic by being 
+usually applied together with a cut of the whip to refractory mules 
+and horses.
+
+The next morning we saw an old buffalo escorting his cow with two 
+small calves over the prairie.  Close behind came four or five large 
+white wolves, sneaking stealthily through the long meadow-grass, and 
+watching for the moment when one of the children should chance to lag 
+behind his parents.  The old bull kept well on his guard, and faced 
+about now and then to keep the prowling ruffians at a distance.
+
+As we approached our nooning place, we saw five or six buffalo 
+standing at the very summit of a tall bluff.  Trotting forward to the 
+spot where we meant to stop, I flung off my saddle and turned my 
+horse loose.  By making a circuit under cover of some rising ground, 
+I reached the foot of the bluff unnoticed, and climbed up its steep 
+side.  Lying under the brow of the declivity, I prepared to fire at 
+the buffalo, who stood on the flat surface about not five yards 
+distant.  Perhaps I was too hasty, for the gleaming rifle-barrel 
+leveled over the edge caught their notice; they turned and ran.  
+Close as they were, it was impossible to kill them when in that 
+position, and stepping upon the summit I pursued them over the high 
+arid tableland.  It was extremely rugged and broken; a great sandy 
+ravine was channeled through it, with smaller ravines entering on 
+each side like tributary streams.  The buffalo scattered, and I soon 
+lost sight of most of them as they scuttled away through the sandy 
+chasms; a bull and a cow alone kept in view.  For a while they ran 
+along the edge of the great ravine, appearing and disappearing as 
+they dived into some chasm and again emerged from it.  At last they 
+stretched out upon the broad prairie, a plain nearly flat and almost 
+devoid of verdure, for every short grass-blade was dried and 
+shriveled by the glaring sun.  Now and then the old bull would face 
+toward me; whenever he did so I fell to the ground and lay 
+motionless.  In this manner I chased them for about two miles, until 
+at length I heard in front a deep hoarse bellowing.  A moment after a 
+band of about a hundred bulls, before hidden by a slight swell of the 
+plain, came at once into view.  The fugitives ran toward them.  
+Instead of mingling with the band, as I expected, they passed 
+directly through, and continued their flight.  At this I gave up the 
+chase, and kneeling down, crawled to within gunshot of the bulls, and 
+with panting breath and trickling brow sat down on the ground to 
+watch them; my presence did not disturb them in the least.  They were 
+not feeding, for, indeed, there was nothing to eat; but they seemed 
+to have chosen the parched and scorching desert as the scene of their 
+amusements.  Some were rolling on the ground amid a cloud of dust; 
+others, with a hoarse rumbling bellow, were butting their large heads 
+together, while many stood motionless, as if quite inanimate.  Except 
+their monstrous growth of tangled grizzly mane, they had no hair; for 
+their old coat had fallen off in the spring, and their new one had 
+not as yet appeared.  Sometimes an old bull would step forward, and 
+gaze at me with a grim and stupid countenance; then he would turn and 
+butt his next neighbor; then he would lie down and roll over in the 
+dirt, kicking his hoofs in the air.  When satisfied with this 
+amusement he would jerk his head and shoulders upward, and resting on 
+his forelegs stare at me in this position, half blinded by his mane, 
+and his face covered with dirt; then up he would spring upon all-
+fours, and shake his dusty sides; turning half round, he would stand 
+with his beard touching the ground, in an attitude of profound 
+abstraction, as if reflecting on his puerile conduct.  "You are too 
+ugly to live," thought I; and aiming at the ugliest, I shot three of 
+them in succession.  The rest were not at all discomposed at this; 
+they kept on bellowing and butting and rolling on the ground as 
+before.  Henry Chatillon always cautioned us to keep perfectly quiet 
+in the presence of a wounded buffalo, for any movement is apt to 
+excite him to make an attack; so I sat still upon the ground, loading 
+and firing with as little motion as possible.  While I was thus 
+employed, a spectator made his appearance; a little antelope came 
+running up with remarkable gentleness to within fifty yards; and 
+there it stood, its slender neck arched, its small horns thrown back, 
+and its large dark eyes gazing on me with a look of eager curiosity.  
+By the side of the shaggy and brutish monsters before me, it seemed 
+like some lovely young girl wandering near a den of robbers or a nest 
+of bearded pirates.  The buffalo looked uglier than ever.  "Here goes 
+for another of you," thought I, feeling in my pouch for a percussion 
+cap.  Not a percussion cap was there.  My good rifle was useless as 
+an old iron bar.  One of the wounded bulls had not yet fallen, and I 
+waited for some time, hoping every moment that his strength would 
+fail him.  He still stood firm, looking grimly at me, and 
+disregarding Henry's advice I rose and walked away.  Many of the 
+bulls turned and looked at me, but the wounded brute made no attack.  
+I soon came upon a deep ravine which would give me shelter in case of 
+emergency; so I turned round and threw a stone at the bulls.  They 
+received it with the utmost indifference.  Feeling myself insulted at 
+their refusal to be frightened, I swung my hat, shouted, and made a 
+show of running toward them; at this they crowded together and 
+galloped off, leaving their dead and wounded upon the field.  As I 
+moved toward the camp I saw the last survivor totter and fall dead.  
+My speed in returning was wonderfully quickened by the reflection 
+that the Pawnees were abroad, and that I was defenseless in case of 
+meeting with an enemy.  I saw no living thing, however, except two or 
+three squalid old bulls scrambling among the sand-hills that flanked 
+the great ravine.  When I reached camp the party was nearly ready for 
+the afternoon move.
+
+We encamped that evening at a short distance from the river bank.  
+About midnight, as we all lay asleep on the ground, the man nearest 
+to me gently reaching out his hand, touched my shoulder, and 
+cautioned me at the same time not to move.  It was bright starlight.  
+Opening my eyes and slightly turning I saw a large white wolf moving 
+stealthily around the embers of our fire, with his nose close to the 
+ground.  Disengaging my hand from the blanket, I drew the cover from 
+my rifle, which lay close at my side; the motion alarmed the wolf, 
+and with long leaps he bounded out of the camp.  Jumping up, I fired 
+after him when he was about thirty yards distant; the melancholy hum 
+of the bullet sounded far away through the night.  At the sharp 
+report, so suddenly breaking upon the stillness, all the men sprang 
+up.
+
+"You've killed him," said one of them.
+
+"No, I haven't," said I; "there he goes, running along the river.
+
+"Then there's two of them.  Don't you see that one lying out yonder?"
+
+We went to it, and instead of a dead white wolf found the bleached 
+skull of a buffalo.  I had missed my mark, and what was worse, had 
+grossly violated a standing law of the prairie.  When in a dangerous 
+part of the country, it is considered highly imprudent to fire a gun 
+after encamping, lest the report should reach the ears of the 
+Indians.
+
+The horses were saddled in the morning, and the last man had lighted 
+his pipe at the dying ashes of the fire.  The beauty of the day 
+enlivened us all.  Even Ellis felt its influence, and occasionally 
+made a remark as we rode along, and Jim Gurney told endless stories 
+of his cruisings in the United States service.  The buffalo were 
+abundant, and at length a large band of them went running up the 
+hills on the left.
+
+"Do you see them buffalo?" said Ellis, "now I'll bet any man I'll go 
+and kill one with my yager."
+
+And leaving his horse to follow on with the party, he strode up the 
+hill after them.  Henry looked at us with his peculiar humorous 
+expression, and proposed that we should follow Ellis to see how he 
+would kill a fat cow.  As soon as he was out of sight we rode up the 
+hill after him, and waited behind a little ridge till we heard the 
+report of the unfailing yager.  Mounting to the top, we saw Ellis 
+clutching his favorite weapon with both hands, and staring after the 
+buffalo, who one and all were galloping off at full speed.  As we 
+descended the hill we saw the party straggling along the trail below.  
+When we joined them, another scene of amateur hunting awaited us.  I 
+forgot to say that when we met the volunteers Tete Rouge had obtained 
+a horse from one of them, in exchange for his mule, whom he feared 
+and detested.  The horse he christened James.  James, though not 
+worth so much as the mule, was a large and strong animal.  Tete Rouge 
+was very proud of his new acquisition, and suddenly became ambitious 
+to run a buffalo with him.  At his request, I lent him my pistols, 
+though not without great misgivings, since when Tete Rouge hunted 
+buffalo the pursuer was in more danger than the pursued.  He hung the 
+holsters at his saddle bow; and now, as we passed along, a band of 
+bulls left their grazing in the meadow and galloped in a long file 
+across the trail in front.
+
+"Now's your chance, Tete; come, let's see you kill a bull."  Thus 
+urged, the hunter cried, "Get up!" and James, obedient to the signal, 
+cantered deliberately forward at an abominably uneasy gait.  Tete 
+Rouge, as we contemplated him from behind; made a most remarkable 
+figure.  He still wore the old buffalo coat; his blanket, which was 
+tied in a loose bundle behind his saddle, went jolting from one side 
+to the other, and a large tin canteen half full of water, which hung 
+from his pommel, was jerked about his leg in a manner which greatly 
+embarrassed him.
+
+"Let out your horse, man; lay on your whip!" we called out to him.  
+The buffalo were getting farther off at every instant.  James, being 
+ambitious to mend his pace, tugged hard at the rein, and one of his 
+rider's boots escaped from the stirrup.
+
+"Woa!  I say, woa!" cried Tete Rouge, in great perturbation, and 
+after much effort James' progress was arrested.  The hunter came 
+trotting back to the party, disgusted with buffalo running, and he 
+was received with overwhelming congratulations.
+
+"Too good a chance to lose," said Shaw, pointing to another band of 
+bulls on the left.  We lashed our horses and galloped upon them.  
+Shaw killed one with each barrel of his gun.  I separated another 
+from the herd and shot him.  The small bullet of the rifled pistol, 
+striking too far back, did not immediately take effect, and the bull 
+ran on with unabated speed.  Again and again I snapped the remaining 
+pistol at him.  I primed it afresh three or four times, and each time 
+it missed fire, for the touch-hole was clogged up.  Returning it to 
+the holster, I began to load the empty pistol, still galloping by the 
+side of the bull.  By this time he was grown desperate.  The foam 
+flew from his jaws and his tongue lolled out.  Before the pistol was 
+loaded he sprang upon me, and followed up his attack with a furious 
+rush.  The only alternative was to run away or be killed.  I took to 
+flight, and the bull, bristling with fury, pursued me closely.  The 
+pistol was soon ready, and then looking back, I saw his head five or 
+six yards behind my horse's tail.  To fire at it would be useless, 
+for a bullet flattens against the adamantine skull of a buffalo bull.  
+Inclining my body to the left, I turned my horse in that direction as 
+sharply as his speed would permit.  The bull, rushing blindly on with 
+great force and weight, did not turn so quickly.  As I looked back, 
+his neck and shoulders were exposed to view; turning in the saddle, I 
+shot a bullet through them obliquely into his vitals.  He gave over 
+the chase and soon fell to the ground.  An English tourist represents 
+a situation like this as one of imminent danger; this is a great 
+mistake; the bull never pursues long, and the horse must be wretched 
+indeed that cannot keep out of his way for two or three minutes.
+
+We were now come to a part of the country where we were bound in 
+common prudence to use every possible precaution.  We mounted guard 
+at night, each man standing in his turn; and no one ever slept 
+without drawing his rifle close to his side or folding it with him in 
+his blanket.  One morning our vigilance was stimulated by our finding 
+traces of a large Comanche encampment.  Fortunately for us, however, 
+it had been abandoned nearly a week.  On the next evening we found 
+the ashes of a recent fire, which gave us at the time some 
+uneasiness.  At length we reached the Caches, a place of dangerous 
+repute; and it had a most dangerous appearance, consisting of sand-
+hills everywhere broken by ravines and deep chasms.  Here we found 
+the grave of Swan, killed at this place, probably by the Pawnees, two 
+or three weeks before.  His remains, more than once violated by the 
+Indians and the wolves, were suffered at length to remain undisturbed 
+in their wild burial place.
+
+For several days we met detached companies of Price's regiment.  
+Horses would often break loose at night from their camps.  One 
+afternoon we picked up three of these stragglers quietly grazing 
+along the river.  After we came to camp that evening, Jim Gurney 
+brought news that more of them were in sight.  It was nearly dark, 
+and a cold, drizzling rain had set in; but we all turned out, and 
+after an hour's chase nine horses were caught and brought in.  One of 
+them was equipped with saddle and bridle; pistols were hanging at the 
+pommel of the saddle, a carbine was slung at its side, and a blanket 
+rolled up behind it.  In the morning, glorying in our valuable prize, 
+we resumed our journey, and our cavalcade presented a much more 
+imposing appearance than ever before.  We kept on till the afternoon, 
+when, far behind, three horsemen appeared on the horizon.  Coming on 
+at a hand-gallop, they soon overtook us, and claimed all the horses 
+as belonging to themselves and others of their company.  They were of 
+course given up, very much to the mortification of Ellis and Jim 
+Gurney.
+
+Our own horses now showed signs of fatigue, and we resolved to give 
+them half a day's rest.  We stopped at noon at a grassy spot by the 
+river.  After dinner Shaw and Henry went out to hunt; and while the 
+men lounged about the camp, I lay down to read in the shadow of the 
+cart.  Looking up, I saw a bull grazing alone on the prairie more 
+than a mile distant.  I was tired of reading, and taking my rifle I 
+walked toward him.  As I came near, I crawled upon the ground until I 
+approached to within a hundred yards; here I sat down upon the grass 
+and waited till he should turn himself into a proper position to 
+receive his death-wound.  He was a grim old veteran.  His loves and 
+his battles were over for that season, and now, gaunt and war-worn, 
+he had withdrawn from the herd to graze by himself and recruit his 
+exhausted strength.  He was miserably emaciated; his mane was all in 
+tatters; his hide was bare and rough as an elephant's, and covered 
+with dried patches of the mud in which he had been wallowing.  He 
+showed all his ribs whenever he moved.  He looked like some grizzly 
+old ruffian grown gray in blood and violence, and scowling on all the 
+world from his misanthropic seclusion.  The old savage looked up when 
+I first approached, and gave me a fierce stare; then he fell to 
+grazing again with an air of contemptuous indifference.  The moment 
+after, as if suddenly recollecting himself, he threw up his head, 
+faced quickly about, and to my amazement came at a rapid trot 
+directly toward me.  I was strongly impelled to get up and run, but 
+this would have been very dangerous.  Sitting quite still I aimed, as 
+he came on, at the thin part of the skull above the nose.  After he 
+had passed over about three-quarters of the distance between us, I 
+was on the point of firing, when, to my great satisfaction, he 
+stopped short.  I had full opportunity of studying his countenance; 
+his whole front was covered with a huge mass of coarse matted hair, 
+which hung so low that nothing but his two forefeet were visible 
+beneath it; his short thick horns were blunted and split to the very 
+roots in his various battles, and across his nose and forehead were 
+two or three large white scars, which gave him a grim and at the same 
+time a whimsical appearance.  It seemed to me that he stood there 
+motionless for a full quarter of an hour, looking at me through the 
+tangled locks of his mane.  For my part, I remained as quiet as he, 
+and looked quite as hard; I felt greatly inclined to come to term 
+with him.  "My friend," thought I, "if you'll let me off, I'll let 
+you off."  At length he seemed to have abandoned any hostile design.  
+Very slowly and deliberately he began to turn about; little by little 
+his side came into view, all be-plastered with mud.  It was a 
+tempting sight.  I forgot my prudent intentions, and fired my rifle; 
+a pistol would have served at that distance.  Round spun old bull 
+like a top, and away he galloped over the prairie.  He ran some 
+distance, and even ascended a considerable hill, before he lay down 
+and died.  After shooting another bull among the hills, I went back 
+to camp.
+
+At noon, on the 14th of September, a very large Santa Fe caravan came 
+up.  The plain was covered with the long files of their white-topped 
+wagons, the close black carriages in which the traders travel and 
+sleep, large droves of animals, and men on horseback and on foot.  
+They all stopped on the meadow near us.  Our diminutive cart and 
+handful of men made but an insignificant figure by the side of their 
+wide and bustling camp.  Tete Rouge went over to visit them, and soon 
+came back with half a dozen biscuits in one hand and a bottle of 
+brandy in the other.  I inquired where he got them.  "Oh," said Tete 
+Rouge, "I know some of the traders.  Dr. Dobbs is there besides."  I 
+asked who Dr. Dobbs might be.  "One of our St. Louis doctors," 
+replied Tete Rouge.  For two days past I had been severely attacked 
+by the same disorder which had so greatly reduced my strength when at 
+the mountains; at this time I was suffering not a little from the 
+sudden pain and weakness which it occasioned.  Tete Rouge, in answer 
+to my inquiries, declared that Dr. Dobbs was a physician of the first 
+standing.  Without at all believing him, I resolved to consult this 
+eminent practitioner.  Walking over to the camp, I found him lying 
+sound asleep under one of the wagons.  He offered in his own person 
+but an indifferent specimen of his skill, for it was five months 
+since I had seen so cadaverous a face.
+
+His hat had fallen off, and his yellow hair was all in disorder; one 
+of his arms supplied the place of a pillow; his pantaloons were 
+wrinkled halfway up to his knees, and he was covered with little bits 
+of grass and straw, upon which he had rolled in his uneasy slumber.  
+A Mexican stood near, and I made him a sign that he should touch the 
+doctor.  Up sprang the learned Dobbs, and, sitting upright, rubbed 
+his eyes and looked about him in great bewilderment.  I regretted the 
+necessity of disturbing him, and said I had come to ask professional 
+advice.  "Your system, sir, is in a disordered state," said he 
+solemnly, after a short examination.
+
+I inquired what might be the particular species of disorder.
+
+"Evidently a morbid action of the liver," replied the medical man; "I 
+will give you a prescription."
+
+Repairing to the back of one of the covered wagons, he scrambled in; 
+for a moment I could see nothing of him but his boots.  At length he 
+produced a box which he had extracted from some dark recess within, 
+and opening it, he presented me with a folded paper of some size.  
+"What is it?" said I.  "Calomel," said the doctor.
+
+Under the circumstances I would have taken almost anything.  There 
+was not enough to do me much harm, and it might possibly do good; so 
+at camp that night I took the poison instead of supper.
+
+That camp is worthy of notice.  The traders warned us not to follow 
+the main trail along the river, "unless," as one of them observed, 
+"you want to have your throats cut!"  The river at this place makes a 
+bend; and a smaller trail, known as the Ridge-path, leads directly 
+across the prairie from point to point, a distance of sixty or 
+seventy miles.
+
+We followed this trail, and after traveling seven or eight miles, we 
+came to a small stream, where we encamped.  Our position was not 
+chosen with much forethought or military skill.  The water was in a 
+deep hollow, with steep, high banks; on the grassy bottom of this 
+hollow we picketed our horses, while we ourselves encamped upon the 
+barren prairie just above.  The opportunity was admirable either for 
+driving off our horses or attacking us.  After dark, as Tete Rouge 
+was sitting at supper, we observed him pointing with a face of 
+speechless horror over the shoulder of Henry, who was opposite to 
+him.  Aloof amid the darkness appeared a gigantic black apparition; 
+solemnly swaying to and fro, it advanced steadily upon us.  Henry, 
+half vexed and half amused, jumped up, spread out his arms, and 
+shouted.  The invader was an old buffalo bull, who with 
+characteristic stupidity, was walking directly into camp.  It cost 
+some shouting and swinging of hats before we could bring him first to 
+a halt and then to a rapid retreat.
+
+That night the moon was full and bright; but as the black clouds 
+chased rapidly over it, we were at one moment in light and at the 
+next in darkness.  As the evening advanced, a thunderstorm came up; 
+it struck us with such violence that the tent would have been blown 
+over if we had not interposed the cart to break the force of the 
+wind.  At length it subsided to a steady rain.  I lay awake through 
+nearly the whole night, listening to its dull patter upon the canvas 
+above.  The moisture, which filled the tent and trickled from 
+everything in it, did not add to the comfort of the situation.  About 
+twelve o'clock Shaw went out to stand guard amid the rain and pitch 
+darkness.  Munroe, the most vigilant as well as one of the bravest 
+among us, was also on the alert.  When about two hours had passed, 
+Shaw came silently in, and touching Henry, called him in a low quick 
+voice to come out.  "What is it?" I asked.  "Indians, I believe," 
+whispered Shaw; "but lie still; I'll call you if there's a fight."
+
+He and Henry went out together.  I took the cover from my rifle, put 
+a fresh percussion cap upon it, and then, being in much pain, lay 
+down again.  In about five minutes Shaw came in again.  "All right," 
+he said, as he lay down to sleep.  Henry was now standing guard in 
+his place.  He told me in the morning the particulars of the alarm.  
+Munroe' s watchful eye discovered some dark objects down in the 
+hollow, among the horses, like men creeping on all fours.  Lying flat 
+on their faces, he and Shaw crawled to the edge of the bank, and were 
+soon convinced that what they saw were Indians.  Shaw silently 
+withdrew to call Henry, and they all lay watching in the same 
+position.  Henry's eye is of the best on the prairie.  He detected 
+after a while the true nature of the moving objects; they were 
+nothing but wolves creeping among the horses.
+
+It is very singular that when picketed near a camp horses seldom show 
+any fear of such an intrusion.  The wolves appear to have no other 
+object than that of gnawing the trail-ropes of raw hide by which the 
+animals are secured.  Several times in the course of the journey my 
+horse's trail-rope was bitten in two by these nocturnal visitors.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII
+
+THE SETTLEMENTS
+
+
+The next day was extremely hot, and we rode from morning till night 
+without seeing a tree or a bush or a drop of water.  Our horses and 
+mules suffered much more than we, but as sunset approached they 
+pricked up their ears and mended their pace.  Water was not far off.  
+When we came to the descent of the broad shallowy valley where it 
+lay, an unlooked-for sight awaited us.  The stream glistened at the 
+bottom, and along its banks were pitched a multitude of tents, while 
+hundreds of cattle were feeding over the meadows.  Bodies of troops, 
+both horse and foot, and long trains of wagons with men, women, and 
+children, were moving over the opposite ridge and descending the 
+broad declivity in front.  These were the Mormon battalion in the 
+service of government, together with a considerable number of 
+Missouri volunteers.  The Mormons were to be paid off in California, 
+and they were allowed to bring with them their families and property.  
+There was something very striking in the half-military, half-
+patriarchal appearance of these armed fanatics, thus on their way 
+with their wives and children, to found, if might be, a Mormon empire 
+in California.  We were much more astonished than pleased at the 
+sight before us.  In order to find an unoccupied camping ground, we 
+were obliged to pass a quarter of a mile up the stream, and here we 
+were soon beset by a swarm of Mormons and Missourians.  The United 
+States officer in command of the whole came also to visit us, and 
+remained some time at our camp.
+
+In the morning the country was covered with mist.  We were always 
+early risers, but before we were ready the voices of men driving in 
+the cattle sounded all around us.  As we passed above their camp, we 
+saw through the obscurity that the tents were falling and the ranks 
+rapidly forming; and mingled with the cries of women and children, 
+the rolling of the Mormon drums and the clear blast of their trumpets 
+sounded through the mist.
+
+From that time to the journey's end, we met almost every day long 
+trains of government wagons, laden with stores for the troops and 
+crawling at a snail's pace toward Santa Fe.
+
+Tete Rouge had a mortal antipathy to danger, but on a foraging 
+expedition one evening, he achieved an adventure more perilous than 
+had yet befallen any man in the party.  The night after we left the 
+Ridge-path we encamped close to the river.  At sunset we saw a train 
+of wagons encamping on the trail about three miles off; and though we 
+saw them distinctly, our little cart, as it afterward proved, 
+entirely escaped their view.  For some days Tete Rouge had been 
+longing eagerly after a dram of whisky.  So, resolving to improve the 
+present opportunity, he mounted his horse James, slung his canteen 
+over his shoulder, and set forth in search of his favorite liquor.  
+Some hours passed without his returning.  We thought that he was 
+lost, or perhaps that some stray Indian had snapped him up.  While 
+the rest fell asleep I remained on guard.  Late at night a tremulous 
+voice saluted me from the darkness, and Tete Rouge and James soon 
+became visible, advancing toward the camp.  Tete Rouge was in much 
+agitation and big with some important tidings.  Sitting down on the 
+shaft of the cart, he told the following story:
+
+When he left the camp he had no idea, he said, how late it was.  By 
+the time he approached the wagoners it was perfectly dark; and as he 
+saw them all sitting around their fires within the circle of wagons, 
+their guns laid by their sides, he thought he might as well give 
+warning of his approach, in order to prevent a disagreeable mistake.  
+Raising his voice to the highest pitch, he screamed out in prolonged 
+accents, "Camp, ahoy!"  This eccentric salutation produced anything 
+but the desired result.  Hearing such hideous sounds proceeding from 
+the outer darkness, the wagoners thought that the whole Pawnee nation 
+were about to break in and take their scalps.  Up they sprang staring 
+with terror.  Each man snatched his gun; some stood behind the 
+wagons; some threw themselves flat on the ground, and in an instant 
+twenty cocked muskets were leveled full at the horrified Tete Rouge, 
+who just then began to be visible through the darkness.
+
+"Thar they come," cried the master wagoner, "fire, fire! shoot that 
+feller."
+
+"No, no!" screamed Tete Rouge, in an ecstasy of fright; "don't fire, 
+don't!  I'm a friend, I'm an American citizen!"
+
+"You're a friend, be you?" cried a gruff voice from the wagons; "then 
+what are you yelling out thar for, like a wild Injun.  Come along up 
+here if you're a man."
+
+"Keep your guns p'inted at him," added the master wagoner, "maybe 
+he's a decoy, like."
+
+Tete Rouge in utter bewilderment made his approach, with the gaping 
+muzzles of the muskets still before his eyes.  He succeeded at last 
+in explaining his character and situation, and the Missourians 
+admitted him into camp.  He got no whisky; but as he represented 
+himself as a great invalid, and suffering much from coarse fare, they 
+made up a contribution for him of rice, biscuit, and sugar from their 
+own rations.
+
+In the morning at breakfast, Tete Rouge once more related this story.  
+We hardly knew how much of it to believe, though after some cross-
+questioning we failed to discover any flaw in the narrative.  Passing 
+by the wagoner's camp, they confirmed Tete Rouge's account in every 
+particular.
+
+"I wouldn't have been in that feller's place," said one of them, "for 
+the biggest heap of money in Missouri."
+
+To Tete Rouge's great wrath they expressed a firm conviction that he 
+was crazy.  We left them after giving them the advice not to trouble 
+themselves about war-whoops in future, since they would be apt to 
+feel an Indian's arrow before they heard his voice.
+
+A day or two after, we had an adventure of another sort with a party 
+of wagoners.  Henry and I rode forward to hunt.  After that day there 
+was no probability that we should meet with buffalo, and we were 
+anxious to kill one for the sake of fresh meat.  They were so wild 
+that we hunted all the morning in vain, but at noon as we approached 
+Cow Creek we saw a large band feeding near its margin.  Cow Creek is 
+densely lined with trees which intercept the view beyond, and it 
+runs, as we afterward found, at the bottom of a deep trench.  We 
+approached by riding along the bottom of a ravine.  When we were near 
+enough, I held the horses while Henry crept toward the buffalo.  I 
+saw him take his seat within shooting distance, prepare his rifle, 
+and look about to select his victim.  The death of a fat cow was 
+certain, when suddenly a great smoke arose from the bed of the Creek 
+with a rattling volley of musketry.  A score of long-legged 
+Missourians leaped out from among the trees and ran after the 
+buffalo, who one and all took to their heels and vanished.  These 
+fellows had crawled up the bed of the Creek to within a hundred yards 
+of the buffalo.  Never was there a fairer chance for a shot.  They 
+were good marksmen; all cracked away at once, and yet not a buffalo 
+fell.  In fact, the animal is so tenacious of life that it requires 
+no little knowledge of anatomy to kill it, and it is very seldom that 
+a novice succeeds in his first attempt at approaching.  The balked 
+Missourians were excessively mortified, especially when Henry told 
+them if they had kept quiet he would have killed meat enough in ten 
+minutes to feed their whole party.  Our friends, who were at no great 
+distance, hearing such a formidable fusillade, thought the Indians 
+had fired the volley for our benefit.  Shaw came galloping on to 
+reconnoiter and learn if we were yet in the land of the living.
+
+At Cow Creek we found the very welcome novelty of ripe grapes and 
+plums, which grew there in abundance.  At the Little Arkansas, not 
+much farther on, we saw the last buffalo, a miserable old bull, 
+roaming over the prairie alone and melancholy.
+
+From this time forward the character of the country was changing 
+every day.  We had left behind us the great arid deserts, meagerly 
+covered by the tufted buffalo grass, with its pale green hue, and its 
+short shriveled blades.  The plains before us were carpeted with rich 
+and verdant herbage sprinkled with flowers.  In place of buffalo we 
+found plenty of prairie hens, and we bagged them by dozens without 
+leaving the trail.  In three or four days we saw before us the broad 
+woods and the emerald meadows of Council Grove, a scene of striking 
+luxuriance and beauty.  It seemed like a new sensation as we rode 
+beneath the resounding archs of these noble woods.  The trees were 
+ash, oak, elm, maple, and hickory, their mighty limbs deeply 
+overshadowing the path, while enormous grape vines were entwined 
+among them, purple with fruit.  The shouts of our scattered party, 
+and now and then a report of a rifle, rang amid the breathing 
+stillness of the forest.  We rode forth again with regret into the 
+broad light of the open prairie.  Little more than a hundred miles 
+now separated us from the frontier settlements.  The whole 
+intervening country was a succession of verdant prairies, rising in 
+broad swells and relieved by trees clustering like an oasis around 
+some spring, or following the course of a stream along some fertile 
+hollow.  These are the prairies of the poet and the novelist.  We had 
+left danger behind us.  Nothing was to be feared from the Indians of 
+this region, the Sacs and Foxes, the Kansas and the Osages.  We had 
+met with signal good fortune.  Although for five months we had been 
+traveling with an insufficient force through a country where we were 
+at any moment liable to depredation, not a single animal had been 
+stolen from us, and our only loss had been one old mule bitten to 
+death by a rattlesnake.  Three weeks after we reached the frontier 
+the Pawnees and the Comanches began a regular series of hostilities 
+on the Arkansas trail, killing men and driving off horses.  They 
+attacked, without exception, every party, large or small, that passed 
+during the next six months.
+
+Diamond Spring, Rock Creek, Elder Grove, and other camping places 
+besides, were passed all in quick succession.  At Rock Creek we found 
+a train of government provision wagons, under the charge of an 
+emaciated old man in his seventy-first year.  Some restless American 
+devil had driven him into the wilderness at a time when he should 
+have been seated at his fireside with his grandchildren on his knees.  
+I am convinced that he never returned; he was complaining that night 
+of a disease, the wasting effects of which upon a younger and 
+stronger man, I myself had proved from severe experience.  Long ere 
+this no doubt the wolves have howled their moonlight carnival over 
+the old man's attenuated remains.
+
+Not long after we came to a small trail leading to Fort Leavenworth, 
+distant but one day's journey.  Tete Rouge here took leave of us.  He 
+was anxious to go to the fort in order to receive payment for his 
+valuable military services.  So he and his horse James, after bidding 
+an affectionate farewell, set out together, taking with them as much 
+provision as they could conveniently carry, including a large 
+quantity of brown sugar.  On a cheerless rainy evening we came to our 
+last encamping ground.  Some pigs belonging to a Shawnee farmer were 
+grunting and rooting at the edge of the grove.
+
+"I wonder how fresh pork tastes," murmured one of the party, and more 
+than one voice murmured in response.  The fiat went forth, "That pig 
+must die," and a rifle was leveled forthwith at the countenance of 
+the plumpest porker.  Just then a wagon train, with some twenty 
+Missourians, came out from among the trees.  The marksman suspended 
+his aim, deeming it inexpedient under the circumstances to consummate 
+the deed of blood.
+
+In the morning we made our toilet as well as circumstances would 
+permit, and that is saying but very little.  In spite of the dreary 
+rain of yesterday, there never was a brighter and gayer autumnal 
+morning than that on which we returned to the settlements.  We were 
+passing through the country of the half-civilized Shawanoes.  It was 
+a beautiful alternation of fertile plains and groves, whose foliage 
+was just tinged with the hues of autumn, while close beneath them 
+rested the neat log-houses of the Indian farmers.  Every field and 
+meadow bespoke the exuberant fertility of the soil.  The maize stood 
+rustling in the wind, matured and dry, its shining yellow ears thrust 
+out between the gaping husks.  Squashes and enormous yellow pumpkins 
+lay basking in the sun in the midst of their brown and shriveled 
+leaves.  Robins and blackbirds flew about the fences; and everything 
+in short betokened our near approach to home and civilization.  The 
+forests that border on the Missouri soon rose before us, and we 
+entered the wide tract of shrubbery which forms their outskirts.  We 
+had passed the same road on our outward journey in the spring, but 
+its aspect was totally changed.  The young wild apple trees, then 
+flushed with their fragrant blossoms, were now hung thickly with 
+ruddy fruit.  Tall grass flourished by the roadside in place of the 
+tender shoots just peeping from the warm and oozy soil.  The vines 
+were laden with dark purple grapes, and the slender twigs of the 
+maple, then tasseled with their clusters of small red flowers, now 
+hung out a gorgeous display of leaves stained by the frost with 
+burning crimson.  On every side we saw the tokens of maturity and 
+decay where all had before been fresh and beautiful.  We entered the 
+forest, and ourselves and our horses were checkered, as we passed 
+along, by the bright spots of sunlight that fell between the opening 
+boughs.  On either side the dark rich masses of foliage almost 
+excluded the sun, though here and there its rays could find their way 
+down, striking through the broad leaves and lighting them with a pure 
+transparent green.  Squirrels barked at us from the trees; coveys of 
+young partridges ran rustling over the leaves below, and the golden 
+oriole, the blue jay, and the flaming red-bird darted among the 
+shadowy branches.  We hailed these sights and sounds of beauty by no 
+means with an unmingled pleasure.  Many and powerful as were the 
+attractions which drew us toward the settlements, we looked back even 
+at that moment with an eager longing toward the wilderness of 
+prairies and mountains behind us.  For myself I had suffered more 
+that summer from illness than ever before in my life, and yet to this 
+hour I cannot recall those savage scenes and savage men without a 
+strong desire again to visit them.
+
+At length, for the first time during about half a year, we saw the 
+roof of a white man's dwelling between the opening trees.  A few 
+moments after we were riding over the miserable log bridge that leads 
+into the center of Westport.  Westport had beheld strange scenes, but 
+a rougher looking troop than ours, with our worn equipments and 
+broken-down horses, was never seen even there.  We passed the well-
+remembered tavern, Boone's grocery and old Vogel's dram shop, and 
+encamped on a meadow beyond.  Here we were soon visited by a number 
+of people who came to purchase our horses and equipage.  This matter 
+disposed of, we hired a wagon and drove on to Kansas Landing.  Here 
+we were again received under the hospitable roof of our old friend 
+Colonel Chick, and seated on his porch we looked down once more on 
+the eddies of the Missouri.
+
+Delorier made his appearance in the morning, strangely transformed by 
+the assistance of a hat, a coat, and a razor.  His little log-house 
+was among the woods not far off.  It seemed he had meditated giving a 
+ball on the occasion of his return, and had consulted Henry Chatillon 
+as to whether it would do to invite his bourgeois.  Henry expressed 
+his entire conviction that we would not take it amiss, and the 
+invitation was now proffered, accordingly, Delorier adding as a 
+special inducement that Antoine Lejeunesse was to play the fiddle.  
+We told him we would certainly come, but before the evening arrived a 
+steamboat, which came down from Fort Leavenworth, prevented our being 
+present at the expected festivities.  Delorier was on the rock at the 
+landing place, waiting to take leave of us.
+
+"Adieu! mes bourgeois; adieu! adieu!" he cried out as the boat pulled 
+off; "when you go another time to de Rocky Montagnes I will go with 
+you; yes, I will go!"
+
+He accompanied this patronizing assurance by jumping about swinging 
+his hat, and grinning from ear to ear.  As the boat rounded a distant 
+point, the last object that met our eyes was Delorier still lifting 
+his hat and skipping about the rock.  We had taken leave of Munroe 
+and Jim Gurney at Westport, and Henry Chatillon went down in the boat 
+with us.
+
+The passage to St. Louis occupied eight days, during about a third of 
+which we were fast aground on sand-bars.  We passed the steamer 
+Amelia crowded with a roaring crew of disbanded volunteers, swearing, 
+drinking, gambling, and fighting.  At length one evening we reached 
+the crowded levee of St. Louis.  Repairing to the Planters' House, we 
+caused diligent search to be made for our trunks, which after some 
+time were discovered stowed away in the farthest corner of the 
+storeroom.  In the morning we hardly recognized each other; a frock 
+of broadcloth had supplanted the frock of buckskin; well-fitted 
+pantaloons took the place of the Indian leggings, and polished boots 
+were substituted for the gaudy moccasins.
+
+After we had been several days at St. Louis we heard news of Tete 
+Rouge.  He had contrived to reach Fort Leavenworth, where he had 
+found the paymaster and received his money.  As a boat was just ready 
+to start for St. Louis, he went on board and engaged his passage.  
+This done, he immediately got drunk on shore, and the boat went off 
+without him.  It was some days before another opportunity occurred, 
+and meanwhile the sutler's stores furnished him with abundant means 
+of keeping up his spirits.  Another steamboat came at last, the clerk 
+of which happened to be a friend of his, and by the advice of some 
+charitable person on shore he persuaded Tete Rouge to remain on 
+board, intending to detain him there until the boat should leave the 
+fort.  At first Tete Rouge was well contented with this arrangement, 
+but on applying for a dram, the barkeeper, at the clerk's 
+instigation, refused to let him have it.  Finding them both 
+inflexible in spite of his entreaties, he became desperate and made 
+his escape from the boat.  The clerk found him after a long search in 
+one of the barracks; a circle of dragoons stood contemplating him as 
+he lay on the floor, maudlin drunk and crying dismally.  With the 
+help of one of them the clerk pushed him on board, and our informant, 
+who came down in the same boat, declares that he remained in great 
+despondency during the whole passage.  As we left St. Louis soon 
+after his arrival, we did not see the worthless, good-natured little 
+vagabond again.
+
+On the evening before our departure Henry Chatillon came to our rooms 
+at the Planters' House to take leave of us.  No one who met him in 
+the streets of St. Louis would have taken him for a hunter fresh from 
+the Rocky Mountains.  He was very neatly and simply dressed in a suit 
+of dark cloth; for although, since his sixteenth year, he had 
+scarcely been for a month together among the abodes of men, he had a 
+native good taste and a sense of propriety which always led him to 
+pay great attention to his personal appearance.  His tall athletic 
+figure, with its easy flexible motions, appeared to advantage in his 
+present dress; and his fine face, though roughened by a thousand 
+storms, was not at all out of keeping with it.  We took leave of him 
+with much regret; and unless his changing features, as he shook us by 
+the hand, belied him, the feeling on his part was no less than on 
+ours.  Shaw had given him a horse at Westport.  My rifle, which he 
+had always been fond of using, as it was an excellent piece, much 
+better than his own, is now in his hands, and perhaps at this moment 
+its sharp voice is startling the echoes of the Rocky Mountains.  On 
+the next morning we left town, and after a fortnight of railroads and 
+steamboat we saw once more the familiar features of home.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg Etext of The Oregon Trail by Francis Parkman, Jr.
+
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