he luxuriant grasses.
This hobbling is merely the tying of the forefeet loosely together with
soft leather thongs so that the animal in moving has to lift up both
forefeet at once. Its movements being thus necessarily slow, there is
no roaming very far from the camp. Having had no fear of danger, we had
been very careless, leaving everything unguarded.

The terrible Sioux massacres a few years before in these very regions,
were now being forgotten. It is true that as we journeyed, the ruins of
the destroyed, and in many places, not yet rebuilt homesteads of the
settlers, were vivid reminders of those dreadful frontier wars, when
over nine hundred white people lost their lives. The Indians were now
however far to the north and west of us, so that we had no fears as we
leisurely moved along. Hence, it was somewhat startling when these
picturesquely garbed scouts halted in our midst, and warned us to have a
guard over our horses; telling us, that, the most notorious band of
horse thieves was in the neighbourhood, and was rumoured to have heard
that there was a party with some magnificent horses in the prairie
country, and that doubtless, even now, they were on the lookout for us
upon some of the trails.

After a short halt for a hurried meal, our bronzed well-armed visitors
left us. The last we saw of them was as they galloped away southward on
the trail.

Immediately a council was called, when it was decided to move on to the
vicinity of Clearwater, and there remain until all the final
preparations for our long trip were completed. Our horses were turned
loose and hobbled during the day, but were not allowed to stray very far
from the camp. Watchful eyes were ever upon them, and also scanning the
prairies for suspicious intruders. Before sundown they were all
gathered in and securely fastened in a large barn that stood out upon
the prairie, the sole building left of a large farmstead: all the other
buildings, including the dwelling house, had been burned during the
Indian wars. No survivors or relatives had as yet come to claim the
deserted place, and so the rich prairie grasses had almost covered with
their green verdure the spot where the destroyed buildings once stood;
and now all that remained to tell of former prosperity was this solitary
old barn.

The men of our party were appointed to watch the barn during the night
and protect the horses against all intruders. Two well armed persons
were thought a