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. 
