AN INDIAN ADVENTURE. 243 



resolved to pass the night there. We hobbled the fore- 

 legs of the horses with some bark of the papao tree, 

 and hung a bell round the neck of my uncle's mare. 

 Yet, not being sure of escaping the vigilance of the 

 Indians, we kept watch by turns. Nothing suspicious 

 occurred till about midnight, when the sound of the 

 bell ceased, which I, having the watch at the time, 

 thought rather extraordinary, as the horses were not 

 in the habit of lying down till morning. The dogs also 

 were restless, particularly a greyheaded bear-hound, 

 who gave a howl when the wind came from the quarter 

 where the horses had been left. I did not wake the 

 two seniors, but I passed an anxious night. Towards 

 morning I heard the bell again, but further off, and 

 more to the right. My father woke about daybreak, and 

 I told him what had disquieted me. It seemed rather 

 suspicious to him also, but he thought the horses might 

 perhaps have strayed a little in search of fresh reeds. As 

 soon as it was broad daylight, he took his bridle and 

 rifle, and went with * "Watch,' the old dog, towards the 

 sound of the bell, to bring back the horses. My uncle 

 woke in the mean time. We had set a delicate morsel 

 to broil. I was catching the dripping from some roast- 

 ing bear's meat, in a piece of hollow bark, to baste the 

 turkey, when my father came back without the horses, 

 and said he had found infallible traces of Indians near 

 our camp. My uncle wished to examine the marks ; so 

 we shouldered our rifles, and proceeded to the place 

 where the horses had been feeding the evening before. 

 In one rather moist place there was a very clear im- 

 pression of a moccasin, and one of the ravages had 

 inconsiderately stepped on the trunk of a fallen tree, 



