y down.

They, of course, might have deprived us of our guns by force, but from a
sense of honour as we were their guests, though they carried us off
against our will, they would not do this. We had therefore been allowed
to retain them, and took good care not to let them out of our hands
either night or day. Our packs had been left in the chief's tent, and
we used them as pillows.

In a few minutes the whole of the community were fast asleep; even the
dogs, the watchful guardians of a Cree encampment, had so gorged
themselves that they were unwilling to get up. Had a party of Blackfeet
made a sudden onslaught, the whole of the inhabitants might have been
slaughtered before they could have arisen to defend themselves.

CHAPTER EIGHT.

OUR ABRUPT DEPARTURE--QUICK TRAVELLING--THE FORTUNATE DISCOVERY OF THE
CANOE--OUR PROVISIONS RUN SHORT--THE CHASE AFTER THE SWANS--BOUNCER IN
TROUBLE--OUR CANOE IS DAMAGED--ROASTED SWAN RATHER STRONG--OUR WIGWAM--A
MIDNIGHT VISITOR--THE MORNING START--DUCKS--FISH-SPEARS--OUR CANOE
WRECKED--OUR DANGEROUS SITUATION--A ROPE MANUFACTURED--DRY LAND REACHED
BY ITS MEANS--SWAN MEAT AGAIN.

As soon as Alick was satisfied that the people were sound asleep, he sat
up and made a sign to Martin, Robin, and me to follow him. We found
Bouncer at the door. When I patted him on the head he opened his eyes,
and seeing us got on his legs ready for a start.

We waited for a few seconds to be certain that we were not observed.
Had we been questioned, we had agreed to answer that we preferred the
open air to the hot tent.

To our great satisfaction, finding that no one had noticed us, we moved
on, stepping as noiselessly as possible, till we were free of the tents.
The night was starry, and we had noted well the way we had to go. Of
course we might have stolen some of the Cree horses, and very little
blame would have been attached to us for so doing even had we been
overtaken; but some time would have been lost in catching them, and we
hoped to get to a considerable distance from the camp before the Indians
recovered from their debauch.

As soon as we had got so far that there was no chance of our footsteps
being heard, we began to run, keeping close together. The Crees, who
always move about on horseback, were less likely than most of the
Indians to discover our trail, and we felt sure that they would not
follow us on foot. We were all in good wind, and might be twenty or
even thirty mil