114 PRAIRIE AND FOREST. 



disagreeable way of telling the most doleful stories, 

 and keeping the listeners in a constant state of excite- 

 ment, for in every shadow, every movement of the 

 horses, every unusual sound, he professed to see an in- 

 dication that a whole tribe of Indians, fully decked with 

 war-paint, and thirsting for scalps, were about to make 

 an onslaught on our defenceless bivouac. Further, I 

 must inform my readers that Cap. is an abbrevia- 

 tion of captain, used over the western portion of the 

 United States, for every man who has borne arms, 

 whether in the militia or regulars ; whether he has 

 been a full private or only a camp follower. 



Yes, I was awake, as wide awake as a pool of water 

 under each arm, each knee, and every protuberant por- 

 tion of the figure, could make me. With an anathema 

 against weather, country, and out-door life, I sprang 

 up, and willingly busied myself in raking together the 

 fragments of what had been a fire ; long and tedious 

 were the eiforts to coax a blaze, but at length the 

 reward of patience was vouchsafed, and in spite of the 

 almost insurmountable obstacles a sufficient heat was 

 obtained, by which to cook the debris of last night's 

 supper, the sole remnants of provisions the larder 

 could boast of. 



At the time to which I allude we were on a branch or 

 small fork that flowed from the south into the Pawnee 

 Kiver. I and my companions had come from the 

 westward, and had experienced as hard a time as it is 

 possible to conceive; we had been about two weeks 

 together, and although I am doubtful of the propriety 

 of picking up strange acquaintances when beyond 

 civilisation, those squeamish ideas never enter the 

 heads of western habitues ; a white man is always a 



