254 SPORTING ADVENTURES 



haps, when I was awakened l>y the loud wailing 1 of a woman, 

 and this sounded so strange in that wild region that I jumped 

 to my feet at once, and listened attentively for a few moments 

 in order to find out the direction whence the crying emanated. 

 I supposed at first that the moaning was that of somebody in 

 distress, but before I had decided what to do, my comrade, 

 whom I supposed to be asleep, said, " That's nothing ; only a 

 squaw crying about some of her dead relations." 



" How came the squaw here?" said I. 



" I don't know," was the laconic reply, " unless there's a 

 camp somewhere near us." 



As I was rather anxious to know positively the cause of the 

 wailing, he arose, and both of us having armed ourselves, we 

 started in the direction whence we heard it, I, for one, feeling- 

 somewhat alarmed, as I feared something was amiss. A walk 

 of five minutes in the dense forest, through which the moon- 

 beams could scarcely penetrate, led us into a small glade in 

 which several trees grew in a clump ; and on reaching this 

 place we halted, as the wailing seemed to issue from that thicket. 



As I could see no camp there, nor any signs of one, I was 

 rather dubious about the correctness of my friend's surmises, 

 and told him so ; but he cleared my doubts in a moment by 

 saying that the coppice was a burial-ground of a band or tribe 

 of Indians, who often camped there during the summer when 

 they were out gathering roots and berries, or on the march for 

 the buffalo grounds of Montana or British America. 



As the moon was then shining brightly, I expressed a strong 

 desire to visit the cemetery, to see what it looked like ; he 

 objected at first, saying that Indians did not like to have white 

 men intrude on such sacred ground ; yet when he saw how 

 anxious I was about the matter, he complied with my wishes, 

 and we entered the copse together. We had scarcely done so, 

 however, when the crying ceased, and a moment later we saw a 

 squaw gliding through the trees like a shadow, and before we 

 could assure her of our friendly character she disappeared as 

 suddenly as if the ground had swallowed her up. 



When he beheld this, he said in the most laconic manner 

 possible, "That means trouble for us I fear." 



