142 PRAIRIE AND FOREST. 



The greatest disaster a man can suffer in such a situation 

 is the loss of either his ammunition or of his horses. If 

 there were any hostile redskins in the neighborhood, by the 

 step I had taken a stampede of my animals was now im- 

 possible. A few of the longest hours I thus sat, my pres- 

 ence re-assuring the beasts; and when day broke, so still had 

 all become, that I doubt not I should have been asleep, only 

 that the hour preceding day is well known to be invariably 

 the time selected by Indians to carry out their machina- 

 tions. In the morning, quietly moving about camp, as if 

 pursuing unsuspiciously my usual avocations, I particularly 

 examined the locality, when, among the remaining scatter- 

 ed patches of snow, the easily-distinguished moccasin track 

 of an Indian was discovered, doubtless made by a brave, 

 who in search for game had got benighted, and chance had 

 caused to stumble across my hiding-place. My camp was, 

 therefore, no longer safe ; the coming night he, with his 

 companions, would be back, when woe betide the solitary 

 white man ! My horses in the morning I accompanied to 

 their feeding-ground, not permitting them to get beyond 

 control, and as soon as their appetites were sufficiently sat- 

 isfied, I returned to my little home for the last time. The 

 few trifles I possessed were soon packed, and nothing re- 

 mained further to cause delay. Still I waited a quarter of 

 an hour longer, for the purpose of building a pile of wood, 

 in which I placed some smouldering embers, in the hope 

 that it would not blaze up till several hours after dark an 

 indication that I doubted not the redskins would construe 

 into a certain evidence that I was still ignorant of being 

 discovered. On arrival, my mare had been a little tender 

 in front, from her hoofs having been worn very close ; the 

 period of rest had rectified this, and, full of hope and an- 

 ticipation, I pushed my way eastward, the only regret that 

 passed, like a cloud over my mind, occurring as I took the 

 last, ay, and long look, at my wilderness home. 



