DEPABTUEE. 335 



whose arrival we told him might be expected in a day or 

 two. 



Then mounting our steeds, and accompanied by the three 

 chiefs on foot, our little expeditionary party of five struck 

 out into the wilderness. 



As my companion and I rode quietly along, we tried to 

 come to some conclusion why Pah-Squal had objected to our 

 taking an escort with us, to, in fact, figure out his little game. 

 In the first place, was such a request consistent with good 

 faith on his part ? There was only one light in which we 

 could consider it so. His objection might arise from a feeling 

 of Indian pride. Had there been soldiers with us it would 

 have looked as if he was going on compulsion, was more 

 or less a prisoner ; whereas, as it was, his party was so nearly 

 of equal strength to ours that their continuing with us had 

 the appearance of being voluntary. On the other hand, 

 his compliance with the request to go with us to the fort, 

 and his objection to an escort, was quite a masterstroke 

 of Indian policy ; it had extricated him and his people from 

 danger, from a position in which we had completely the ad- 

 vantage, and had placed us in peril. How could we know 

 what orders he had given to the hundred and thirty odd 

 picked warriors we had just left behind us ? We were only 

 five, separated from our supports, with no assistance within 

 striking distance. The Indians knew our destination ; even 

 as we spoke, a party of them might be pushing along 

 parallel with us, could easily pass us, and we might go head- 

 long into an ambuscade ; or the intention might be to attack 

 us in the night. It would be so easy for the Indians with us 

 to make sign enough on the trail to run it up on ; but these 



