THE WHITE WORLD 



for night to come that they might make a combined attack. 

 The night was uneventful, however, other than being a 

 sleepless one, and the following morning, while I was mak- 

 ing my breakfast, I saw this fellow with his family and 

 dogs moving down river. Pretty soon there passed an- 

 other, and then another, and all day long they kept mov- 

 ing by. What a relief, and how proud I was, for I knew 

 I had defeated their purpose. In twenty-four hours the 

 only Indians remaining in my neighborhood were the one 

 family with the consumptive son. I then, of my own ac- 

 cord, carried them rice and dried fruit, and such other 

 things as I could spare. 



The story of my experiences at Hell Gate would fill a 

 volume and I cannot begin to relate them in this article, 

 but there is one incident that occurred during the time 

 I was surrounded by the Indians that I cannot omit. As 

 I have already mentioned, the snow had disappeared in 

 the clearing, but in the timber encircling the clearing in 

 the rear, the snow was yet of considerable depth and 

 crusted on the top. I was awakened one night by the 

 growling of Zilla, and the character of his growl told me 

 at once that something was wrong. I sat up in my blankets 

 and put my hand on his head to calm him. At the same 

 time I heard footsteps breaking through the crust on the 

 snow in the edge of the woods back of the clearing, only 

 about fifty yards away. Tramp, tramp, tramp ! There they 

 were at last, the suspense would soon be ended, and I 

 drew up one of my rifles and cocked it carefully, that I 

 might not make anv noise. I was not excited, I was not 

 even nervous, for I had thought of and expected this thing 

 too long to feel anv new fear of trouble now. Rather the 

 reverse, I was glad; I felt the long strain I had been under 

 was to be ended, and anything, even death, was preferable 

 to such suspense. The one thing I thought of was killing 

 Indians, and I sat revolving over and over in my mind 

 the possibilities of satisfying this desire. I could have 

 taken a position behind the trees, but I feared to move 

 lest I might be seen. 



Tramp, tramp, tramp! The footsteps continued to en- 

 circle my position, keeping in the edge of the timber, a 

 regular, even, cautious step, but always breaking through 



3i8 



