, and promised that his men
should protect our horses and baggage while we went among the Indians.
Shaw and I stopped our horses and held a council, and in an evil hour
resolved to go.

For the rest of that day's journey our course and that of the Indians
was the same. In less than an hour we came to where the high barren
prairie terminated, sinking down abruptly in steep descent; and standing
on these heights, we saw below us a great level meadow. Laramie Creek
bounded it on the left, sweeping along in the shadow of the declivities,
and passing with its shallow and rapid current just below us. We sat
on horseback, waiting and looking on, while the whole savage array went
pouring past us, hurrying down the descent and spreading themselves
over the meadow below. In a few moments the plain was swarming with the
moving multitude, some just visible, like specks in the distance, others
still passing on, pressing down, and fording the stream with bustle
and confusion. On the edge of the heights sat half a dozen of the elder
warriors, gravely smoking and looking down with unmoved faces on the
wild and striking spectacle.

Up went the lodges in a circle on the margin of the stream. For the sake
of quiet we pitched our tent among some trees at half a mile's distance.
In the afternoon we were in the village. The day was a glorious one,
and the whole camp seemed lively and animated in sympathy. Groups of
children and young girls were laughing gayly on the outside of the
lodges. The shields, the lances, and the bows were removed from the tall
tripods on which they usually hung before the dwellings of their owners.
The warriors were mounting their horses, and one by one riding away over
the prairie toward the neighboring hills.

Shaw and I sat on the grass near the lodge of Reynal. An old woman, with
true Indian hospitality, brought a bowl of boiled venison and placed it
before us. We amused ourselves with watching half a dozen young squaws
who were playing together and chasing each other in and out of one of
the lodges. Suddenly the wild yell of the war-whoop came pealing from
the hills. A crowd of horsemen appeared, rushing down their sides and
riding at full speed toward the village, each warrior's long hair flying
behind him in the wind like a ship's streamer. As they approached, the
confused throng assumed a regular order, and entering two by two, they
circled round the area at full gallop, each warrior singing his war song