with him about his person.

The horn in which western hunters carry their powder is usually that
of an ox. It is closed up at the large end with a piece of hard wood
fitted tightly into it, and the small end is closed with a wooden peg
or stopper. It is therefore completely water-tight, and may be for
hours immersed without the powder getting wet, unless the stopper
should chance to be knocked out. Dick found, to his great
satisfaction, that the stopper was fast and the powder perfectly dry.
Moreover, he had by good fortune filled it full two days before from
the package that contained the general stock of ammunition, so that
there were only two or three charges out of it. His percussion caps,
however, were completely destroyed; and even though they had not
been, it would have mattered little, for he did not possess more than
half-a-dozen. But this was not so great a misfortune as at first
it might seem, for he had the spare flint locks and the little
screw-driver necessary for fixing and unfixing them stowed away in his
shot pouch.

To examine his supply of bullets was his next care, and slowly he
counted them out, one by one, to the number of thirty. This was a
pretty fair supply, and with careful economy would last him many days.
Having relieved his mind on these all-important points, he carefully
examined every pouch and corner of his dress to ascertain the exact
amount and value of his wealth.

Besides the leather leggings, moccasins, deerskin hunting-shirt,
cap, and belt which composed his costume, he had a short heavy
hunting-knife, a piece of tinder, a little tin pannikin, which he had
been in the habit of carrying at his belt, and a large cake of maple
sugar. This last is a species of sugar which is procured by the
Indians from the maple-tree. Several cakes of it had been carried off
from the Pawnee village, and Dick usually carried one in the breast of
his coat. Besides these things, he found that the little Bible, for
which his mother had made a small inside breast-pocket, was safe.
Dick's heart smote him when he took it out and undid the clasp, for he
had not looked at it until that day. It was firmly bound with a brass
clasp, so that, although the binding and the edges of the leaves were
soaked, the inside was quite dry. On opening the book to see if it
had been damaged, a small paper fell out. Picking it up quickly, he
unfolded it, and read, in his mother's handwriting: "_Call upon me in
the time of tr