artily recommended. Dick never heard of the lines,
but he knew the principle well, so he began to "never mind it" by
sitting down beside his companions and whistling vociferously. As the
wind rendered this a difficult feat, he took to singing instead. After
that he said, "Let's eat a bite, Joe, and then go to bed."

"Be all means," said Joe, who produced a mass of dried deer's meat
from a wallet.

"It's cold grub," said Dick, "and tough."

But the hunters' teeth were sharp and strong, so they ate a hearty
supper and washed it down with a drink of rain water collected from a
pool on the top of their hut. They now tried to sleep, for the night
was advancing, and it was so dark that they could scarce see their
hands when held up before their faces. They sat back to back, and
thus, in the form of a tripod, began to snooze. Joe's and Henri's
seasoned frames would have remained stiff as posts till morning; but
Dick's body was young and pliant, so he hadn't been asleep a few
seconds when he fell forward into the mud and effectually awakened the
others. Joe gave a grunt, and Henri exclaimed, "Hah!" but Dick was too
sleepy and miserable to say anything. Crusoe, however, rose up to show
his sympathy, and laid his wet head on his master's knee as he resumed
his place. This catastrophe happened three times in the space of an
hour, and by the third time they were all awakened up so thoroughly
that they gave up the attempt to sleep, and amused each other by
recounting their hunting experiences and telling stories. So engrossed
did they become that day broke sooner than they had expected, and just
in proportion as the gray light of dawn rose higher into the eastern
sky did the spirits of these weary men rise within their soaking
bodies.

CHAPTER VII.

_The "wallering" peculiarities of buffalo bulls--The first buffalo
hunt and its consequences--Crusoe comes to the rescue--Pawnees
discovered--A monster buffalo hunt--Joe acts the part of ambassador_.

Fortunately the day that succeeded the dreary night described in the
last chapter was warm and magnificent. The sun rose in a blaze of
splendour, and filled the atmosphere with steam from the moist earth.

The unfortunates in the wet camp were not slow to avail themselves of
his cheering rays. They hung up everything on the bushes to dry, and
by dint of extreme patience and cutting out the comparatively dry
hearts of several pieces of wood, they lighted a fire and boiled some