130 THE SETTLERS DEMORALIZED. 



that you went up very rapidly at first, and just as you were 

 getting near the buffalo, up would go their tails and they 

 stopped, urging them after that meaning the breaking of a 

 blood-vessel and bleeding at the nose. I crept up a ravine one 

 day, at the head of which three old bulls lay asleep, and 

 watched them for some time, lying not more than nine feet 

 from the nearest, every now and then throwing a small piece 

 of mud at his nose, making him bellow with rage, thinking, I 

 suppose, it was the flies that worried him. After I had 

 examined them sufficiently, I jumped up and gave a yell, on 

 which they sprang to their feet, tumbling over each other in 

 their haste, and made off. 



One night we were awoke by an unearthly scream, coming 

 from the other side of the creek, and on going in the morning 

 to see what it had been made by, we found it was a puma, 

 which had scented us, and expressed in this way his displeasure 

 at finding us in his hunting-grounds. 



After about three weeks on White Rock, F and I 



determined to go into Sibley to get some butter, eggs, &c., 

 taking a straight cut across country, as being nearer than 

 going by the mouth of the creek. We remained one day, 

 finding some letters for us, so we stopped to answer them, and 

 then returned to camp by our old road, and on reaching the 

 block-house we found the whole party living in it and in a 

 great state of excitement. The Indians had paid them a 

 visit within a few days of our leaving them, just as they were 

 getting ready to go up the creek, and had speared a man 

 within a hundred yards of the block-house ; and although there 

 were more than a dozen men in it at the time, there had not 

 been a single shot fired at the Indians to try and save him, 

 though there were only seven of them. 



