chose a good horse, and mounting it drove off the herd. I had only one
horse, yet my heart was glad, for it was the first I had ever taken.

For a time we rode slowly, but presently, faster; and when day had come we
had gone a long way. The horses were still being driven in separate
bunches, so that each man should know which were his--the ones he had
taken; but soon after day broke, and there had been time for each to look
over his animals, they were bunched together, and we went faster.
Nevertheless, the leader said to us: "Friends, do not hurry the horses too
much; they are poor, and we must not run them too hard. The horses on which
the Crows will follow us are poor also, and they cannot overtake us."

We rode fast until afternoon, when we came down into the valley of a river,
and there stopped to let our horses feed. Two young men with fresh horses
were left behind, on top of the highest hills, to watch the trail, to see
whether the enemy were following us. After we had been there for a time,
and the horses had eaten, the leader called out, "Friends, the enemy are
pursuing; we must hurry on the horses." In a moment we had caught our
animals, and mounted, and were driving on the herd; for, far back, we could
see the scouts who had been left behind coming toward us, riding fast, and
making signs that people had been seen. After we had left the valley, and
were among the hills, the leader left two other young men, on fresh horses,
behind, to see whether the enemy crossed the river, and followed; while we
went on with the horses. We rode all that night and part of the next day,
and then stopped again; and that night, in the middle of the night, the
scouts overtook us, and told us that the enemy had not crossed the river,
where we had first slept, but had turned about there, and had gone back.
"There were only a few of them," they said. "We two were almost tempted to
attack them, but we had been told only to watch them, and we thought it
better to do that." Four days afterward we reached our village.

I had no saddle, and when I reached the camp I was very sore and stiff from
riding so long without a saddle. Nevertheless, I was pleased, for I had
taken a horse that was fast, long-winded and tough; and I had taken also a
fine bow and arrows, with an otter-skin case. The leader spoke to me, and
told me that I had done well to go into this lodge. He said to me, "Friend,
you have made a good beginning; I think that you wil