OUR MEN ARE AGUE STRICKEN. 117 



round the doors, which in most cases were open. We went 

 into some of the houses, finding, as on White Rock, that 

 everything heavy had been left behind ; and in one^-a very 

 small house, of one room only we were surprised to see short 

 red hair lying about all over the floor, the explanation of which 

 we heard some months later. It appears that a few days before 

 our arrival there had been an Indian scare, and all the settlers 

 had run away, the man who lived in this house first cutting 

 off his hair close to his head to avoid being scalped should the 

 Indians get him. On our way back, Fox had an attack of 

 ague, and, plucky man as he was in other ways, he entirely 

 broke down under it, and we had to camp where we were, 

 almost without provisions, as we had shot nothing that day. 

 For some hours he thought he was dying, and he would pray 

 one minute and use the most awful language the next. In 

 the morning he was well again, and we reached camp that 



evening, only to find M and all the men down with the 



same complaint, the camp being on very low ground. We 

 therefore determined to move, crossing the river so as to be 

 nearer the buffalo. The banks were high at this point, the 

 one on the opposite side being about eighty feet from the 

 water to where we could rest the mules, and that eighty must 

 be done with a rush. 



The proper way would have been to empty the waggon 

 and to have carried the contents over ; but everyone was so 

 miserable that we determined to chance it, as the mules, having 

 done nothing lately, were fresh and in good order. Going 

 down was comparatively easy, as we tied the wheels, Fox and 

 I managing the waggon, the others lying in it, as they felt too 

 weak to help. The water was shallow, but the bottom was 



