INDIAN STRATAGEM. 295 



stolen from us a few nights before, and we had looked 

 everywhere for traces of them, without success; of 

 course, no one thought of looking on the edge of the 

 cliif. 



"My previous astonishment was nothing to what I 

 experienced, when I came to the place, where, after 

 heavy rain, the brook falls over the cliff, but which in 

 dry weather does not contain a drop of water, and 

 found, where the depth might be about twenty feet, two 

 fir-trees, rounded, and placed standing against the rock, 

 just so far apart that a horse might slide down them, but 

 could not fall through ; that this was the use they had 

 been put to was evident from the marks of the struggles 

 of the horses, before they were launched, and from 

 patches of horsehair sticking to the poles. That the 

 bear had descended by these means was clear from the 

 marks of his claws in the wood. 



" It would not have done for the dog ; — besides the 

 discovery was too important for delay, and I hastened 

 home to give information. We had not long to wait 

 to turn it to account. The Indians, who had stolen a 

 couple of horses a few nights before, returned for some 

 more the same evening. Luckily, our watchmen gave 

 the alarm in time, and they had hardly made off with 

 their booty, when we started by a nearer road, as they 

 were obliged to choose the most stony paths, in order 

 to leave as few traces as possible, and thus made a long 

 circuit. 



" About nine in the morning we arrived opposite the 

 fir-trees, and hid ourselves in the trees and behind 

 rocks to await the redskins. About noon we began to 

 think that they must have discovered our trail, and 



