CAMPING WITH COMANCHE S 255 



After the hunt a procession of squaws with 

 ponies, papooses, and tepees, trailed across the 

 prairie and made a new camp near the carcasses, 

 the flesh of which they dried and smoked, and 

 pegging out the hides fleshed and tanned them in 

 Indian fashion to the softness and pliability of 

 a woolen blanket. 



I was watching one day the squaw of Quirtz 

 Quip as she worked over a fire or pegged out a 

 skin, while her nursing child toddled after her, 

 clutching her as opportunity offered and getting 

 his supper at intervals, a mouthful at a time, 

 from the parent who seemed neither to help nor 

 to hinder him. I made signs to the squaw to 

 give the papoose a chance, and motioned to her 

 to take him in her arms. She shook her head 

 and then picking up the infant by one arm 

 dropped him in my lap with the request, ex- 

 pressed by unmistakable signs, that I attend to 

 her duty of feeding him. As she went laughing 

 back to her work, even the petrified face of her 

 husband broke into a half-smile. 



Ward was an excellent rider, measured bv the 



