more trouble. Recently captured, they did not dare
to turn it loose to seek food as they did the goat; and the only way
left for them, was to tether it in the thickets of maple and
basswood--the young tender growth of which the wild prairie horses are
very fond of. These thickets were usually studded with a luxuriant
undergrowth of small shrubs and evergreens that were very nutritious,
and of which the fat condition of the wild horses, buffaloes, deer,
antelope, mountain sheep, and goats that feed thereon, is sufficient
proof. Often in the winter, plats of grass may be found in patches
sheltered from the storms; but the chief dependences for food of the
multitudes of cattle that roam through the western wilds, is the
luxuriant growth of shrubs that spring up uncropped in the summer, as
the cattle then prefer the tender grass on the prairies.

Sidney, to his great satisfaction, now began to use his arm without the
slightest difficulty, and with his strength his spirits resumed their
wonted healthful vigor, greatly to the relief of the trapper and Jane,
who had been under the necessity of keeping a watch over him to prevent
his coming to a rupture with the chief. He was now active, and only
laughed heartily at what had annoyed him before, and tormented Jane
unmercifully on the conquest she had made.

They were all in excellent health, and only waited with impatience for
the winter to break up, so that they could resume their journey in
safety in search of home. One thing alone grieved them--the evident
increasing terror with which Mahnewe, the Indian mother, regarded the
chief. In order to free her as much from his presence as possible, Howe
had proposed long hunts, by going to the forest at early dawn, and not
returning until evening. They enjoyed the sport, as it not only placed
Mahnewe at ease, but they gained a perfect knowledge of the surrounding
country, which was of much importance to them, as well as kept their
larder supplied with abundance of game.

They had lost the day and month; and now their only guide was the
fluctuations of the weather, of which, fortunately for themselves, they
were good observers, and could calculate within half a month of the
time at any season of the year. About the middle of February, as they
calculated time, Howe and the chief went out one morning for a hunt,
and following the valley down a mile or two, crossed the stream, and
ascending a knoll, stood on its summit, surveying the c