52 PRAIRIE AND FOREST. 
grants or traders who had taken the southern route but 
had lost members of their party; in several instances nei- 
ther sex nor age had been spared by these blood-thirsty 
marauders; so what could I expect if alone I fell into the 
hands of a party of braves on the war-path? True, my 
scalp—for it has long been ignorant of a scalpy lock— 
would scarcely be worth lifting; but then I did not want 
to knock under yet; and, if so, I preferred making a fight 
for it, as, I think, under the excitement, the process of be- 
ing wiped out is less painful. 
By this time my stalwart apparition had approached 
within eighty yards: he was a noble-looking figure, with- 
out the slouch of the red man when hunting, with a step as 
free and independent as if he had been shooting over a pri- 
vate manor. <A big bug*he evidently was, conscious of his 
own divinity ; still, no eagle’s feather or characteristic mark 
-of a chief distinguished him. Presently he halted, and 
threw his large gun across his arm; from this movement 
I perceived at once that he was a white man. Great was 
his surprise when he saw me leave my ambush; quick as 
thought his rifle was cocked and brought to the port, but 
I prevented him from further hostile demonstrations by a 
salute in mother-tongue. Our meeting was strange; both 
took a pretty good stare, and then mutually mentioned each 
other’s name, for we had met before, and where? In no 
less distant a portion of the earth than in the realms of the 
Tycoon. A restless spirit, a crack shot, and passionately 
fond of field sports, the world was his demesne; and where 
game was abundant, there he would be found, whatever 
were the dangers that surrounded it, laughing at hardship 
and privation—the bitters that make the sweets of life the 
more enjoyable by contrast. Securing my animals, I ac- 
companied him to the party to which he had attached him- 
self. They had only lately left civilization, and, through 
