ssured him that they never had, and he continued: "This yere
trail has been here for years and years, long and long before any
white folks came into the country. Up north and east of yer, on the
head-waters of the Big Blue, the Cheyennes used to live,"--Younkins
pronounced it Shyans,--"and as soon as the grass began to start in the
spring, so as to give feed to their ponies and to the buffalo, they
would come down this yere way for game. They crossed the Fork just
above yere-like, and then they struck down to the head-waters of the
Smoky Hill and so off to the westwards. Big game was plenty in those
days, and now the Injuns off to the north of yere come down in just
the same way--hunting for game."

The boys got down on their knees and scanned the trail with new
interest. It was not more than nine or ten inches across, and was so
worn down that it made a narrow trench, as it were, in the deep sod,
its lower surface being as smooth as a rolled wagon-track. Over this
well-worn track, for ages past, the hurrying feet of wild tribes had
passed so many times that even the wiry grass-roots had been killed
down.

"Did war parties ever go out on this trail, do you suppose?" asked
Sandy, sitting up in the grass.

"Sakes alive, yes!" replied Younkins. "Why, the Cheyennes and the
Comanches used to roam over all these plains, in the old times, and
they were mostly at war."

"Where are the Cheyennes and the Comanches now, Mr. Younkins?" asked
Uncle Aleck.

"I reckon the Comanches are off to the south-like somewhere. It
appears to me that I heard they were down off the Texas border,
somewheres; the Cheyennes are to the westwards, somewhere near Fort
Laramie."

"And what Indians are there who use this trail now?" inquired Oscar,
whose eyes were sparkling with excitement as he studied the well-worn
path of the Indian tribes.

Younkins explained that the Pottawottomies and the Pawnees, now
located to the north, were the only ones who used the trail. "Blanket
Indians," he said they were, peaceable creatures enough, but not good
neighbors; he did not want any Indians of any sort near him. When one
of the boys asked what blanket Indians were, Younkins explained,--

"There's three kinds of Injuns, none on 'em good,--town Injuns,
blanket Injuns, and wild Injuns. You saw some of the town Injuns when
you came up through the Delaware reserve--great lazy fellows, lyin'
round the house all day and lettin' the squaws do all the work. Th