AX OLD ACQUAINTANCE RE-APPEARS. 267 



party, having provided themselves, poured into the 

 other pocket of the grieved naturalist a further sup- 

 ply of cartridges, thereby utterly annihilating the re- 

 mainder of his collection. 



Our preparations being concluded, and still no 

 signs of the Indians, we sat down to dinner. Sha- 

 mus was terribly agitated, and the shades of dyspep- 

 sia hovered over his cooking ; but, although the coffee 

 was muddy and the meat burned, we were in no 

 mood to take exceptions. There was considerable 

 determination visible on the faces of all our party. 

 The red man was getting to be as sore a trouble to us 

 as the black man had been to politicians, and hav- 

 ing already lost a day on his account, we were now 

 fully resolved to hold our ground. We had seen the 

 savage in all the terrors of his war-paint, and felt a 

 very comforting degree of assurance that a dozen cool- 

 headed hunters, mostly armed with breech-loaders, 

 possessed the odds. 



At length, along the edge of the breaks beyond the 

 Saline, a dark object appeared, followed by another 

 and then another in rapid succession, until forty un- 

 mistakable Indians came in sight, and were bearing 

 directly toward us, following the tracks of our wagons. 

 Half a mile off they halted, and then we saw one big 

 fellow ride forward alone. His form seemed a fami- 

 liar one, and soon it revealed itself as that of our late 

 friend, White Wolf. Now we had, but a few days 

 before, in the space of four brief hours, concluded at 

 least forty treaties of peace with this chief and his 

 drunken braves ; yet, remembering past history, we 

 should have wanted at least as many more treaties, 



