to a halt, except that of warming ourselves at a
bright fire that was burning in the clay chimney. A man in Quaker
costume stepped forward to answer our inquiries, and offered to become
our escort to Chicago, to which place he was bound--so we dismissed our
Indian friend, with a satisfactory remuneration for all the trouble he
had so kindly taken for us.

A long reach of prairie extended from Piche's to the Du Page, between
the two forks of which, Mr. Dogherty, our new acquaintance, told us, we
should find the dwelling of a Mr. Hawley, who would give us a
comfortable dinner.

The weather was intensely cold; the wind, sweeping over the wide prairie
with nothing to break its force, chilled our very hearts. I beat my feet
against the saddle to restore the circulation, when they became benumbed
with the cold, until they were so bruised I could beat them no longer.
Not a house or wigwam, not even a clump of trees as a shelter, offered
itself for many a weary mile. At length we reached the west fork of the
Du Page. It was frozen, but not sufficiently so to bear the horses. Our
only resource was to cut a way for them through the ice. It was a work
of time, for the ice had frozen to several inches in thickness during
the last bitter night. Plante went first with an axe, and cut as far as
he could reach, then mounted one of the hardy little ponies, and With
some difficulty broke the ice before him, until he had opened a passage
to the opposite shore.

How the poor animals shivered as they were reined in among the floating
ice! And we, who sat waiting in the piercing wind, were not much better
off. Probably Brunet was of the same opinion; for, with his usual
perversity, he plunged in immediately after Plante, and stood shaking
and quaking behind him, every now and then looking around him, as much
as to say, "I've got ahead of you, this time!" We were all across at
last, and spurred on our horses, until we reached Hawley's[19]--a
large, commodious dwelling, near the east fork of the river.

The good woman welcomed us kindly, and soon made us warm and
comfortable. We felt as if we were in a civilized land once more. She
proceeded immediately to prepare dinner for us; and we watched her with
eager eyes, as she took down a huge ham from the rafters, out of which
she cut innumerable slices, then broke a dozen or more of fine fresh
eggs into a pan, in readiness for frying--then mixed a _johnny-cake_,
and placed it against a board i