58 SPORTING ADVENTURES IN THE FAR WEST. 



were on their way to a pow-wow of their tribe, which was 

 called to meet a newly-appointed agent and hear his state- 

 ments. The band which I accompanied consisted of twen- 

 ty men, with their squaws and children, and many horses, 

 and that was commanded by a now famous sub-chief, who 

 was said to be equally great in the hunting -field and on 

 the war-path. Our route led over vast treeless prairies 

 and densely wooded hills, until the evening of the second 

 day, when we reached a mountain four or five thousand 

 feet high. Selecting a beautiful glade for a camp site, 

 the tepees were soon erected by the squaws, mine being 

 pitched a short distance to the right of the front line. In 

 this I placed little delicacies not used by the red men, 

 namely, condensed milk, tea, coffee, and sugar, and some 

 biscuits, and left them there confidently, while I accompa- 

 nied the braves on a hunt after deer, as we had no fresh 

 meat for dinner. When we returned late in the evening 

 we found the squaws and children in a state of commotion, 

 and, on inquiring the meaning of it, learned that a male 

 grizzly had visited the camp during their absence in search 

 of wild roots and fruits, and had destroyed several parcels 

 of dried beef, torn some of the tents, and killed two com- 

 bative curs. 



On hearing this, I rushed to my tepee to see if my little 

 stores were injured, but, on reaching it, I was disgusted 

 and enraged to find all my delicacies either eaten up or 

 trampled into an indiscriminate mess on the ground. The 

 cans of condensed milk, a bag of biscuits, and all the sugar 

 had been devoured, and the other articles were strewn 

 about in the mud, so that they were of no use to me. On 

 seeing this condition of affairs, I called on the chief, and 

 learned from him that several of his tribe had lost all their 

 pemmican, and were actually without any food, except the 

 few roots and berries gathered by the squaws, and their 

 share of the venison just brought in. All were so angry 

 at the action of the burly prowler that they decided to 

 have his head if possible ; but for fear he would visit the 

 camp during the night and inflict any more damage on the 



