which was stout enough,--the man asked us if we were going to fish
for sharks, and didn't seem to believe us when we said no,--and we took
it to our room, and made knots in it about a foot apart. The fort walls
are about twenty feet high, and we made the rope plenty long enough,
with something to spare. We didn't have much trouble to find a grapnel.
We bought a small one, but it was strong enough. We talked the matter
over a great deal, and went to the fort several times, making
examinations, and measuring the height of the wall, from the top, with a
spool of cotton.

It was two or three days before we got everything ready, and in our
trips to the fort we saw a good deal of the Indians. We often met them
in the town, too, for they were frequently allowed to go out and walk
about by themselves. There was no danger, I suppose, of their trying to
run away, for they were several thousand miles from their homes, and
they probably would not care to run to any other place with no larger
stock of the English language than one word, "How?" Some of them,
however, could talk a little English. There was one big fellow--he was
probably the largest of them all--who was called "Maiden's Heart." I
couldn't see how his name fitted, for he looked like an out-and-out
savage, and generally wore a grin that seemed wicked enough to frighten
settlers out of his part of the country. But he may have had a tender
spot, somewhere, which entitled him to his name, and he was certainly
very willing to talk to us, to the extent of his ability, which was not
very great. We managed, however, to have some interesting, though rather
choppy, conversations.

There was another fellow, a young chief, called Crowded Owl, that we
liked better than any of the others, although we couldn't talk to him at
all. He was not much older than I was, and so seemed to take to us. He
would walk all around with us, and point out things. We had bought some
sea-beans of him, and it may be that he hoped to sell us some more. At
any rate, he was very friendly.

We met Mr. Cholott several times, and he told us of some good places to
go to, and said he'd take us out fishing before long. But we were in no
hurry for any expedition until we had carried out our little plan of
surprising the fort. I gave the greater part of our money, however, to
Mr. Cholott to lock up in his safe. I didn't like old Mr. Colbert's plan
of going about with your capital pinned to your pockets. It might