100 OUR JOURNEY. 



On the 2nd of May we said good-bye to everyone, and got 

 off about five o'clock in the afternoon, a good many settlers 

 coming a short distance with us, and bidding us adieu as if 

 they never expected to see us again. Our idea was to ride at 

 night, hiding away in the daytime, and this we did throughout 

 the journey. 



The whereabouts of "Little Crow" and his band was known, 

 so that we could avoid him, but there were small parties of his 

 warriors wandering about all over northern Minnesota and 

 southern Dacotah, through which territories our road lay, and 

 we had to be constantly on the watch. Maronde used to ride 

 ahead at a canter, and I followed, leading the pack-horse, which 

 was fastened to my sound arm. Now and then we saw fires, 

 and had to make a detour to avoid them, and several times we 

 heard shots fired, but this was during the day, when we were 

 well hidden in some thicket or under the bank of a river. Our 

 horses, though not so good as those I had ridden from Carl ton, 

 were very fair and in capital condition, and we frequently 

 went at a canter for hours. We passed several burnt farm- 

 houses, and in front of some of these there was a row of graves, 

 showing where the soldiers had buried the dead. 



The first inhabited house which we reached was near a small 

 settlement called St. Cloud, and here we had our first good 

 sleep, for it takes a long time to get used to turning day into 

 night. There were only two small rooms and a " lean-to " 

 used as a kitchen, one of the two rooms being a bedroom and 

 the other the living-room. I found a number of lumberers 

 staying there, and as I said I had not slept in a bed for ten 

 nights I was given the only bed, and thought I was most lucky, 

 though I had afterwards reason to change my mind. 



