ON THE PRAIRIE 143 



each eating a biscuit ; there was not a twig 

 with which to make a fire, nor any thing to 

 which we might fasten the horses. Spread- 

 ing the saddle-blankets under us, and our 

 own over us, we lay down, with the saddles 

 as pillows, to which we had been obliged 

 to lariat our steeds. 



The ponies stood about almost too tired 

 to eat; but in spite of their fatigue they 

 were very watchful and restless, continually 

 snorting or standing with their ears for- 

 ward, peering out into the night; wild 

 beasts, or some such things, were about. 

 The day before we had had a false alarm 

 from supposed hostile Indians, who turned 

 out to be merely half-breed Crees; and, as 

 we were in a perfectly lonely part of the 

 wilderness, we knew we were in the domain 

 of both white and red horse-thieves, and 

 that the latter might in addition to our 

 horses try to take our scalps. It was some 

 time before we dozed off, waking up with 

 a start whenever we heard the horses stop 

 grazing and stand motionless with heads 



