hen made me very uncomfortable. Here was an
opportunity of supplying myself with food for a week to come. A fat
buck stood in the centre; I fired. The whole herd were in full flight,
but the buck was wounded, I saw by the drops of blood which marked his
track; I hurried after him. What was my delight to see him stop, then
stagger and fall! I ran on. He rose and sprang forward, but it was a
last effort, and the next moment he rolled over on the ground. I could
have shouted for joy. I had now got food in abundance, and what was of
great consequence to my ultimate preservation, the means of covering my
feet. I finished the poor animal with a blow of my hatchet, and then
set to work to skin him and cut him up.

I had one drawback to my satisfaction. There was no wood or water near.
I therefore cut off as much of the hide as would serve me for moccasins
and leggings, loaded myself with all the flesh I could carry, and struck
away towards the west. I had been unable to follow up the tracks which
led from my last sleeping-place, and this convinced me that the camp had
been formed by Indians. Whether they would prove friends or foes,
should I fall in with them, was a question. At all events, I felt
rather an inclination to avoid than to find them out.

At length I came to a wood, through which ran a stream of pure water.
Sticks were quickly collected, a fire was lit, and some of my deer was
roasting away. While it was cooking, I ran down to the stream to take a
draught of water and to wash my feet, and then hurried back to enjoy my
repast. I did enjoy it; and as there were still two hours more of
daylight, and I felt my strength increased, I hurried onward.

Scarcely had I got again into the open country than I came on some
recent tracks of horses. Could my friends be ahead? There were no
wheel tracks, though. A beaten track appeared. It must lead somewhere.
I had not gone half a mile when I fancied that I heard the neighing of
a horse. My heart thumped away in my breast. I listened with
breathless attention. Again a horse neighed loudly. I could not be
mistaken, and hurrying on I saw across a rapid stream, which passed at
the base of the hill on which I found myself, a whole herd of those
noble animals frisking about in a wide rich meadow spread out before me.
I hurried down the hill, and by the aid of my pole, though not without
difficulty, hurried across the stream. One of the horses as soon as I
la