to little "hoorays" and "whoops", and other inhuman cries,
indicative of his delight; while no sooner did the Beaver realise that
Joses and Bart would be of the party than he began to talk quickly to
the interpreter, then to his followers, and at last sat there
motionless, in dignified silence, waiting for what was to come.

Stolid Indian as he was, though, he could not keep it up, but dashed his
heels into his pony's ribs after a few moments, and cantered to where
Joses and Bart were making their preparations, and, leaping to the
ground, he eagerly proffered his services.

They were not needed, and he stood looking on, talking eagerly in his
own language, putting in an English word wherever he could think of one,
or fancied that it would fit, till all seemed ready, and Bart stood
patting his little arch-necked black cob, after slinging his rifle over
his shoulder.

Just then the Doctor waved his hand as a signal to him of farewell, and
reading it also as a sign that they might set off, Bart leaped into his
saddle, Joses followed suit, and saying something to his pony which
started it off, the Beaver seemed to swing himself out into a horizontal
position over his steed's back, and then dropped into his place, and
they all then cantered up to where the rest of the Indians were
impatiently waiting.

"All ready?" cried Bart.

"Ready we are, Master Bart," growled Joses.

"Off, then," cried Bart, waving his hand, when, amidst a ringing cheer
from the little crowd of lookers-on, the bison-hunters went off at full
speed over the sandy plain, making for the left of the lake; and as Bart
turned in his saddle to gaze back, the camp, with its round-topped
waggons, the flat mountain, and the faintly shown track up to its
summit, looked like some beautiful panorama, above which the great flag
blew out in the brisk breeze, and flapped and waved its folds merrily as
if flaunting defiance to every Indian on the plain. But as Bart gazed
up at the flag, he could not help thinking what a mere scrap of coloured
cloth it was, and what a very little the Indians would think of it if
they determined to come down and attack the camp in their might.

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR.

HINTS ON BISON-HUNTING.

"Ease off a bit, Master Bart," cried Joses, after they had all been
riding at full gallop for a couple of miles over the plains. "Whoo--
hoop, my Injun friends! Whoo--hoop!"

"Whoo-hoop! whoo-hoop! whoo-hoop!" yelled back the Indians