rather troublesome; he had an
inveterate habit of pilfering provisions at all times of the day. He set
ridicule at utter defiance; and being without a particle of
self-respect, he would never have given over his tricks, even if they
had drawn upon him the scorn of the whole party. Now and then, indeed,
something worse than laughter fell to his share; on these occasions he
would exhibit much contrition, but half an hour after we would generally
observe him stealing round to the box at the back of the cart and slyly
making off with the provisions which Delorier had laid by for supper. He
was very fond of smoking; but having no tobacco of his own, we used to
provide him with as much as he wanted, a small piece at a time. At first
we gave him half a pound together, but this experiment proved an entire
failure, for he invariably lost not only the tobacco, but the knife
intrusted to him for cutting it, and a few minutes after he would come
to us with many apologies and beg for more.

We had been two days at this camp, and some of the meat was nearly fit
for transportation, when a storm came suddenly upon us. About sunset
the whole sky grew as black as ink, and the long grass at the river's
edge bent and rose mournfully with the first gusts of the approaching
hurricane. Delorier ensconced himself under the cover of the cart. Shaw
and I, together with Henry and Tete Rouge, crowded into the little tent;
but first of all the dried meat was piled together, and well protected
by buffalo robes pinned firmly to the ground.

About nine o'clock the storm broke, amid absolute darkness; it blew a
gale, and torrents of rain roared over the boundless expanse of open
prairie. Our tent was filled with mist and spray beating through the
canvas, and saturating everything within. We could only distinguish each
other at short intervals by the dazzling flash of lightning, which
displayed the whole waste around us with its momentary glare. We had our
fears for the tent; but for an hour or two it stood fast, until at
length the cap gave way before a furious blast; the pole tore through
the top, and in an instant we were half suffocated by the cold and
dripping folds of the canvas, which fell down upon us. Seizing upon our
guns, we placed them erect, in order to lift the saturated cloth above
our heads. In this agreeable situation, involved among wet blankets and
buffalo robes, we spent several hours of the night during which the
storm would not ab