194 ADVENTURES OF DR. ALLEN. 



the crystal waters of the Litttle Horn, attended by the 

 '"Hows" and good wishes of the chiefs. I was starting for 

 my home, a journey of about twelve hundred miles, and 

 must travel a good part of the way, alone in my little boat, 

 through an Indian country. With one oar I pushed the craft 

 from the bank and was soon floating down with the current. 



The news had gone through the camp that the big 

 medicine-man was going to the rising sun in the little mar- 

 shey (boat) , and as I guided slowly away, the bank was alive 

 with reds of all sexes, sizes, and ages. Old Raw Hide was 

 the last person my eyes rested upon, as my skiff rounded 

 the bend in the river, and he shouted after me, that I would 

 get through all right if I would remember to be very quiet 

 and careful while passing through the Sioux, who were 

 camped somewhere on the river. 



At this season of the year the waters of the Little Horn 

 are very low, so in some places it was hard pulling, but 

 when I reached the Big Horn I had fair sailing, for its 

 waters were swift and deep. When once fairly afloat, my 

 light skiff whirled like a cork, but, with a few strokes, 1 

 set it straight in the current and dashed along at the will 01 

 the restless tide. White gulls floated through the air and 

 skimmed the surface of the waves with their downy breasts, 

 while their chattering notes continually reminded me of 

 their presence. My thoughts were far away. My mind 

 wandered back to the old home, where relatives and friends 

 were still plodding along in the same old way, the same old 

 round of duty stretching from day to day, leading them 

 onward through the year. 



I took a brief retrospective view of the hardships and 

 dangers through which I had passed many hunts,, many 

 camp-scenes, and, more than all, I thought of the brave boys 

 who had given up their lives on the plains. So vividly did 



