OUR FIRST CAMP. 23 



strange sensation of freedom and independence wliicli 

 possessed us. 



Having shot as many ducks as we required, we 

 put ashore at sundown, and drawing our canoes out 

 of the water into the bushes which fringed the river- 

 bank, safe from the eye of any wandering or hostile 

 Indian, we encamped for the night on the edge of the 

 prairie. It became quite dark before we had half 

 completed our preparations, and we were dreadfully 

 bothered, in our raw inexperience, to find dry wood for 

 the fire, and do the cooking. However, we managed 

 at last to pluck and split open the ducks into " spread- 

 eagles," roasting them on sticks, Indian fashion, and 

 these, with some tea and " dampers," or cakes of 

 unleavened bread, furnished a capital meal. We then 

 turned into our blankets, suh Jove — ^for we had no 

 tent ; — but the tales we had heard of prowling Sioux 

 produced some effect, and a half- wakeful watchfulness 

 replaced our usual sound slumbers. 



We often recalled afterwards how one or other of 

 us suddenly sat up in bed and peered into the dark- 

 ness at any unusual sound, or got up to investigate 

 the cause of the creakings and rustlings frequently 

 heard in the forest at night, but which might have 

 betrayed the stealthy approach of an Indian enemy. 

 Mosquitoes swarmed and added to our restlessness. 

 In the morning we all three presented an abnormal 

 appearance, Milton's arms being tremendously blis- 

 tered, red, and swollen, from paddling with them 

 bare in the scorching sun ; and Treemiss and Cheadle 

 exhibiting faces it was impossible to recognise, so 



