her back, and a child clinging round her neck
while a dog was too busy gnawing a bone to turn round and bark at us.

On drawing near, our leader got off his horse, and ordered us also to
dismount. We then approached the chief, to whom he described, as I
concluded, the mode in which I had been taken prisoner. The clever way
in which I had hidden myself, and the efforts I had made to escape,
elicited no small amount of admiration from the chief. I could, of
course, only guess at what he said, but I caught a word here and there;
and he looked down on me and smiled with such benignity as his stern
features were capable of assuming. At all events, I thought that these
people, whatever they might do, would not torture me or put me to death.

My captors having unsaddled their horses, turned them adrift to pick up
food on the surrounding prairie, where the grass grew with unusual
luxuriance. The men then went to their lodges, leaving me with the
chief. He seemed to have taken a fancy to me from the first, and now
invited me into his lodge, where his wife brought me a mess of broth,
which, hungry as I was, I found very palatable.

The floor of the greater part of the lodge was covered with
buffalo-skins, and a sort of divan, composed of stuffed cushions, was
arranged round the walls; while in the centre burned a large fire, from
which ascended volumes of smoke through the aperture at the top, though
no small quantity pervaded the wigwam. Though disagreeable, it had the
effect of driving away mosquitoes and other flying things.

I had not expected to be so well treated; still, I could not tell how
long the chief might remain in his present good-humour.

The chief's name was, I found, Aguskogaut. The tribe into whose hands I
had fallen were Sioux, who live entirely on the prairies, and subsist by
hunting the buffalo. They had come further east than they generally
venture, in order that their warriors might make predatory excursions
against the more pacific and civilised Indians living near the white
men. They seemed to have no fear of being attacked by the latter, as,
being well supplied with horses, they could beat a rapid retreat to the
westward; and I discovered that they had scouts out in all directions to
give notice of the approach of a foe.

Not knowing how long I might be kept a prisoner, I set to work at once
to try and learn the language of my captors. The women, especially,
were very ready to teach me;