436 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. 



a small piece of meadow ground which was covered with 

 musquit grass, and well protected from view by the great 

 clusters of cactus which surrounded it on three sides. Here 

 he stripped his faithful horse and turned him loose to graze, 

 and then taking for supper a hearty draught of water, threw 

 himself upon his blanket to sleep. 



He had lost his provision wallet in the chase, and it was 

 more than he dare venture upon to shoot game, for fear of 

 betraying his hiding-place ; and though hungry enough, he 

 was fain this time " to go to bed supperless." He thought 

 of home before sleep came, of course, and wished himself 

 there most heartily, that he might attack the well-stocked 

 pantry, the contents of which danced in most tantalizing 

 visions before him during the whole night. This was too 

 much a common predicament, however, to make any very 

 strong impression upon him otherwise. 



He was mounted and off very early the next morning, and 

 was by no means delighted to perceive that his horse was 

 considerably gaunted by the yesterday's hard work and the 

 somewhat narrow commons of the night. However, he moved 

 on now with something less of a hurry, as there w r ere no 

 indications of pursuit apparent. Following the rivulet, he 

 soon reached the west branch, and turned up this with a 

 brisker movement, spurred by the cheerful hope of soon 

 rejoining his companions and finding them safe. In an hour 

 he was in sight of the ground, and put his horse into a swift 

 gallop in his eagerness to pass over the interval quickly. On 

 coming up, he saw, instead of his comrades, the dead body 

 of an Indian warrior lying across the very ashes of their 

 camp fire, all gashed and hewn with bowie-knife cuts. All 

 around the earth was deeply broken up, with the evidences 

 of a desperate hand to hand struggle. The breech of a 

 rifle, which he recognized, and a number of arrows, with a 

 broken lance and shield, were scattered around. He felt a 

 choking sensation and his blood ran cold at this sight. 



