nuteness as to their number, the kinds of arms they had, and stated
the tribes they belonged to. In these strange revelations that he made
there was neither imposition nor supposition, for he gave satisfactory
reasons for every assertion he made.

"I have rode several hundred miles with an experienced guide and
trailer, Hack, whom I interrogated upon many points in the practice of
this art. Nearly all tracks I saw, either old or new, as a novice in the
art, I questioned him about. In going to the Niobrara River crossed the
track of an Indian pony. My guide followed the track a few miles and
then said, 'It is a stray, black horse, with a long, bushy tail, nearly
starved to death, has a split hoof of the left fore foot, and goes
very lame, and he passed here early this morning.' Astonished and
incredulous, I asked him the reasons for knowing these particulars by
the tracks of the animal, when he replied:

"'It was a stray horse, because it did not go in a direct line; his tail
was long, for he dragged it over the snow; in brushing against a bush he
left some of his hair which shows its color. He was very hungry, for, in
going along, he has nipped at those high, dry weeds, which horses seldom
eat. The fissure of the left fore foot left also its track, and the
depth of the indentation shows the degree of his lameness; and his
tracks show he was here this morning, when the snow was hard with
frost.'

"At another place we came across an Indian track, and he said, 'It is
an old Yankton who came across the Missouri last evening to look at his
traps. In coming over he carried in his right hand a trap, and in his
left a lasso to catch a pony which he had lost. He returned without
finding the horse, but had caught in the trap he had out a prairie wolf,
which he carried home on his back and a bundle of kinikinic wood in
his right hand.' Then, he gave his reasons: 'I know he is old, by the
impression his gait has made and a Yankton by that of his moccasin. He
is from the other side of the river, as there are no Yanktons on this
side. The trap he carried struck the snow now and then, and in same
manner as when he came, shows that he did not find his pony. A drop of
blood in the centre of his tracks shows that he carried the wolf on his
back, and the bundle of kinikinic wood he used for a staff for support,
and catching a wolf, shows that he had traps out.' But I asked, 'how do
you know it is wolf; why not a fox, or a coyote, or eve