e was too glad to agree to this proposal, but he now
deemed it politic to display a little firmness.

"We cannot go till our rifle is restored. It will not do to go back
and tell the great chief of the Pale-faces that the Pawnees are
thieves."

The chief frowned angrily.

"The Pawnees are true; they are not thieves. They choose to _look_ at
the rifle of the Pale-face. It shall be returned."

The rifle was instantly restored, and then our hunters rode off with
the Indians towards their camp. On the way they met hundreds of women
and children going to the scene of the great hunt, for it was their
special duty to cut up the meat and carry it into camp. The men,
considering that they had done quite enough in killing it, returned to
smoke and eat away the fatigues of the chase.

As they rode along, Dick Varley observed that some of the "braves," as
Indian warriors are styled, were eating pieces of the bloody livers
of the buffaloes in a raw state, at which he expressed not a little
disgust.

"Ah, boy! you're green yet," remarked Joe Blunt in an undertone.
"Mayhap ye'll be thankful to do that same yerself some day."

"Well, I'll not refuse to try when it is needful," said Dick with a
laugh; "meanwhile I'm content to see the Redskins do it, Joe Blunt."

CHAPTER VIII.

_Dick and his friends visit the Indians and see many wonders--Crusoe,
too, experiences a few surprises, and teaches Indian dogs a lesson--An
Indian dandy--A foot-race._

The Pawnee village, at which they soon arrived, was situated in the
midst of a most interesting and picturesque scene.

It occupied an extensive plain which sloped gently down to a creek[*],
whose winding course was marked by a broken line of wood, here and
there interspersed with a fine clump of trees, between the trunks of
which the blue waters of a lake sparkled in the distance. Hundreds of
tents or "lodges" of buffalo-skins covered the ground, and thousands
of Indians--men, women, and children--moved about the busy scene. Some
were sitting in their lodges, lazily smoking their pipes. But these
were chiefly old and infirm veterans, for all the young men had gone
to the hunt which we have just described. The women were stooping over
their fires, busily preparing maize and meat for their husbands and
brothers; while myriads of little brown and naked children romped
about everywhere, filling the air with their yells and screams, which
were only equalled, if not surpassed, by t