224 WILD SPORTS IX THE FAR WEST. 



would change again. This, indeed, was the case. 

 Some changed their dresses five times between noon 

 and the following morning. It would be as incorrect 

 to dance for a whole night in the same dress as in 

 Europe to aj^pear without gloves, which latter articles 

 were thought quite unnecessary here. 



A farmer, who lived about eight miles lower down 

 the Fourche le Fave, promised me an old canoe to 

 cany K.'s things to Little Rock, and said, that when I 

 got there I might set it adrift, as it was not worth 

 cutting up ; so I settled to go home with him next 

 morning to bring the canoe back. 



A little after twelve the old American's proj^hecy 

 came to pass, and the second fiddler Avas carried out 

 and laid on the grass, while a third was soon found to 

 taj^his place. By this time I was tired and sleepy, 

 so"^ stretched myself under a tree, with my head on 

 an old grindstone, and, in spite of the hard pillow and 

 squeaking fiddle, I slept soundly till morning. 



When the sun sent his hot rays over the trees into 

 the clearing, dancing was still going on, and the 

 ground was covered with sleeping figures. Prepara- 

 tions were soon made for departure. The horses, 

 which had been tied to the bushes or fence, or driven 

 into an enclosure, and had been well supplied with 

 maize, were quickly saddled, and troop after troop of 

 men and women disappeared in the thick green forest. 

 I started with the farmer and his wife, the indefatigable 

 fiddlestick working away as long as we w^ere within 

 hearing. 



I found the canoe ; and the good man was quite right 

 when he said that it was not worth cutting up. 



