90 PARLEY WITH THE CHIEF. 



the other, so I took mine, and put my foot in the stirrup to 

 mount, when the saddle which was only an Indian one, and 

 fastened on with a surcingle turned partially round, and I 

 had to undo it and put it straight, and this I was proceeding 

 to do when the chief and his two friends came out, and at 

 the same time the other Indians who Badger said had been 

 watching him from the doors of their tents also appeared. 

 The chief came up to me and, pushing me on one side, asked, 

 in very bad Cree, how I dared to come hunting on his terri- 

 tory. He then said he was a big chief, and owned all the 

 country round, and that he hated the white men, who had 

 never done him anything but harm. I answered through 

 Badger, who had translated most of this, that he was not a 

 Cree at all (for we had found out from his dress, and especially 

 from his moccasins, that he was a Sioux) and had no right to 

 be where we found him ; that I had seen one man of his tribe 

 tortured by the Crees for being where he then was, and that a 

 similar fate awaited him if he did not at once leave and go 

 south ; but that, so far as I was concerned, I was an English- 

 man and friendly with all Indians. He answered that he could 

 not be my friend, but that if I would give him my horses and 

 rifles, I was free to go where I wished. I of course said that 

 this was impossible, as I was a long way from home, and in a 

 country where game was very scarce and hard to get even when 

 one was armed, but that if I gave up my rifle I must die ; I 

 was willing, I said, to exchange horses with him, he giving me 

 two for one, as mine were so much better than his. On this 

 he took my horse by the bridle and was leading him away, and 

 when I stopped him he opened his blanket and hit at my head 

 with a long club which he had concealed under it. I had 



