nguish ten or fifteen of the sleeping forms of our
enemies, among which the trapper was conspicuous, from his superior
bulk, and the reckless way in which his brawny arms were flung on the
turf, while his right hand clutched his rifle. I could not but smile as
I thought of the proud boldness of the paleface--lying all exposed to
view in the grey light of dawn while an Indian's rifle was so close at
hand. One Indian kept watch, but he seemed more than half asleep. I
had not sat more than a minute when my observations were interrupted by
the cracking of a branch in the bushes near me. Starting up, I was
about to bound into the underwood, when a figure sprang down the bank
and rapidly approached me. My first impulse was to throw forward my
gun, but a glance sufficed to show me that it was a woman.

"`Wah!' I exclaimed, in surprise, as she hurried forward and laid her
hand on my shoulder. She was dressed partly in the costume of the
Indians, but wore a shawl on her shoulders and a handkerchief on her
head that showed she had been in the settlements; and from the lightness
of her skin and hair, I judged at once that she was the trapper's wife,
of whom I had heard the scout speak.

"`Has the light-hair got a medicine-bag, or does she speak with spirits,
that she has found me so easily?'

"The girl looked anxiously up in my face as if to read my thoughts, and
then said, in a low voice,--`No, I neither carry the medicine-bag nor
hold palaver with spirits; but I do think the good Manito must have led
me here. I wandered into the woods because I could not sleep, and I saw
you pass. But tell me,' she added, with still deeper anxiety, `does the
white-feather come alone? Does he approach _friends_ during the dark
hours with a soft step like a fox?'

"Feeling the necessity of detaining her until my comrades should have
time to surround the camp, I said: `The white-feather hunts far from his
lands. He sees Indians whom he does not know, and must approach with a
light step. Perhaps they are enemies.'

"`Do Knisteneux hunt at night, prowling in the bed of a stream?' said
the girl, still regarding me with a keen glance. `Speak truth,
stranger,' (and she started suddenly back); `in a moment I can alarm the
camp with a cry, and if your tongue is forked.--But I do not wish to
bring enemies upon you, if they are indeed such. I am not one of them.
My husband and I travel with them for a time. We do not desire to see
blood.