114 pioneek life; or, 



•concurred in our own minds, especially as the prin- 

 cipal part of the difficulty consisted in killing them. 

 They sat in silence until we told them that the elk 

 we left at the Big Marsh were still alive and at 

 liberty, which piece of intelligence raised their 

 spirits greatly. When I informed them of Knapp's 

 adventure, they nearly went wild with merriment, 

 lying on the floor and rolling in an ecstacy of mirth. 

 When their merriment had subsided, it was judged 

 that Knapp should be randeled, inasmuch as he had 

 transgressed an important rule of the chase. The 

 rule was that when a gun was discharged it should 

 instantly be reloaded, so that the hunter would be 

 prepared for any exigency ; but Knapp had lain down 

 his gun empty, instead of reloading it, and thus lost 

 the game. The operation of randeling was the usual 

 punishment among hunters for any neglect of duty, 

 and consisted in seating the offender upon a stool^ 

 while others, in turn went up and pulled his hair, 

 sometimes plucking out a few. The odor of this 

 adventure never left Knapp. 



The following morning we took the canoe and all 

 our tools, and ascended to the Lick, where we in- 

 tended to make another canoe. Ko elk had been 

 there since Jacob and Wilson had made such havoc 

 among them. The next day we concluded to start 

 out, each one in a different direction, and to meet 

 again at night. Jacob tossed up with Wilson, and 

 Knapp with me, to decide which should take the 

 west side of the creek, that side being preferable. 

 It fell on Wilson and me to take the west side. I 



