n a deer?' Said
he: 'If it had been a fox, or coyote or any other small game he would
have slipped the head of the animal in his waist belt, and so carried it
by his side, and not on his shoulders. Deer are not caught by traps but
if it had been a deer, he would not have crossed this high hill, but
would have gone back by way of the ravine, and the load would have made
his steps still more tottering.'

"Another Indian track which we saw twenty miles west of this he put
this serious construction upon: 'He is an upper Indian--a prowling horse
thief--carried a double shot gun, and is a rascal that killed some white
man lately, and passed here one week ago; for,' said he, 'a lone Indian
in these parts is on mischief, and generally on the lookout for horses.
He had on the shoes of a white man whom he had in all probability
killed, but his steps are those of an Indian. Going through the ravine,
the end of his gun hit into the deep snow. A week ago we had a very warm
day, and the snow being soft, he made these deep tracks; ever since it
has been intensely cold weather, which makes very shallow tracks.' I
suggested that perhaps he bought those shoes. 'Indians don't buy shoes,
and if they did they would not buy them as large as these were, for
Indians have very small feet.'

"The most noted trailer of this country was Paul Daloria, a half breed,
who died under my hands of Indian consumption last summer. I have spoken
of him in a former letter. At one time I rode with him, and trailing was
naturally the subject of our conversation. I begged to trail with him an
old track over the prairie, in order to learn its history. I had hardly
made the proposition, when he drew up his horse, which was at a ravine,
and said, 'Well, here is an old elk track. Let us get off our horses and
follow it.' We followed it but a few rods, when he said, it was exactly
a month old, and made at 2 o'clock in the afternoon. This he knew, as
then we had our last rain, and at the hour named the ground was softer
than at any other time. The track before us was then made. He broke up
here and there clusters of grass that lay in the path of the track, and
showed me the dry ends of some, the stumps of others, and by numerous
other similar items accounted for many circumstances that astonished me.
We followed the trail over a mile. Now and then we saw that a wolf, a
fox, and other animals had practised their trailing instincts on the
elk's tracks. Here and there,