AN INDIAN ADVENTURE. 87 



there. We hobbled the forelegs of the horses with some 

 bark of the papao tree, and hung a bell round the neck of 

 my uncle's mare. Yet, not being sure of escaping the 

 vigilance of the Indians, we kept watch by turns. Noth- 

 ing suspicious occurred till about midnight, when the 

 sound of the bell ceased, which I, having the watch at 

 the time, thought rather extraordinary, as the horses 

 were not in the habit of lying down till morning. The 

 dogs also were restless, particularly a greyheaded bear- 

 hound, who gave a howl when the wind came from the 

 quarter where the horses had been left. I did not awake 

 the two seniors, but I passed an anxious night. Towards 

 morning I heard the bell again, but further off, and more 

 to the right. My father woke about daybreak, and I 

 told him what had disquieted me. It seemed rather sus- 

 picious to him also, but he thought the horses might per- 

 haps have strayed a little in search of fresh reeds. As 

 soon as it was broad daylight, he took his bridle and rifle, 

 and went with < Watch,' the old dog, towards the sound 

 of the bell, to bring back the horses. My uncle woke in 

 the mean time. We had set a delicate morsel to broil. 

 I was catching the dripping from some roasting bear's 

 meat, in a piece of hollow bark, to baste the turkey, when 

 my father came back without the horses, and said he had 

 found infallible traces of Indians near our camp. My 

 uncle wished to examine the marks ; so we shouldered 

 our rifles, and proceeded to the place where the horses 

 had been feeding the evening before. In one rather 

 moist place there was a very clear impression of a moc- 

 casin, and one of the savages had inconsiderately stepped 

 on the trunk of a fallen tree, which being rotten, had 



