med scarcely possible that the animals could be
recovered. If they were not, my situation was one of serious difficulty.
Shaw, when I left him had decided to move that morning, but whither
he had not determined. To look for him would be a vain attempt. Fort
Laramie was forty miles distant, and I could not walk a mile without
great effort. Not then having learned the sound philosophy of yielding
to disproportionate obstacles, I resolved to continue in any event the
pursuit of the Indians. Only one plan occurred to me; this was to send
Raymond to the fort with an order for more horses, while I remained on
the spot, awaiting his return, which might take place within three days.
But the adoption of this resolution did not wholly allay my anxiety, for
it involved both uncertainty and danger. To remain stationary and alone
for three days, in a country full of dangerous Indians, was not the most
flattering of prospects; and protracted as my Indian hunt must be by
such delay, it was not easy to foretell its ultimate result. Revolving
these matters, I grew hungry; and as our stock of provisions, except
four or five pounds of flour, was by this time exhausted, I left the
camp to see what game I could find. Nothing could be seen except four or
five large curlew, which, with their loud screaming, were wheeling over
my head, and now and then alighting upon the prairie. I shot two of
them, and was about returning, when a startling sight caught my eye. A
small, dark object, like a human head, suddenly appeared, and vanished
among the thick hushes along the stream below. In that country every
stranger is a suspected enemy. Instinctively I threw forward the muzzle
of my rifle. In a moment the bushes were violently shaken, two heads,
but not human heads, protruded, and to my great joy I recognized the
downcast, disconsolate countenance of the black mule and the yellow
visage of Pauline. Raymond came upon the mule, pale and haggard,
complaining of a fiery pain in his chest. I took charge of the animals
while he kneeled down by the side of the stream to drink. He had kept
the runaways in sight as far as the Side Fork of Laramie Creek, a
distance of more than ten miles; and here with great difficulty he had
succeeded in catching them. I saw that he was unarmed, and asked him
what he had done with his rifle. It had encumbered him in his pursuit,
and he had dropped it on the prairie, thinking that he could find it
on his return; but in this he