had reference to the
grasshopper soup or the sentiment we cannot tell.

"Well," continued Joe, commencing to devour a large buffalo steak with
a hunter's appetite, "ye'll please yourselves, lads, as to that; but
as I wos sayin', we've got a powerful lot o' furs, an' a big pack o'
odds and ends for the Injuns we chance to meet with by the way, an'
powder and lead to last us a twelvemonth, besides five good horses to
carry us an' our packs over the plains; so if it's agreeable to you, I
mean to make a bee-line for the Mustang Valley. We're pretty sure to
meet with Blackfeet on the way, and if we do we'll try to make peace
between them an' the Snakes. I 'xpect it'll be pretty well on for six
weeks afore we git to home, so we'll start to-morrow."

"Dat is fat vill do ver' vell," said Henri; "vill you please donnez me
one petit morsel of steak."

"I'm ready for anything, Joe," cried Dick; "you are leader. Just point
the way, and I'll answer for two o' us followin' ye--eh! won't we,
Crusoe?"

"We will," remarked the dog quietly.

"How comes it," inquired Dick, "that these Indians don't care for our
tobacco?"

"They like their own better, I s'pose," answered Joe; "most all the
western Injuns do. They make it o' the dried leaves o' the shumack
and the inner bark o' the red-willow, chopped very small an' mixed
together. They call this stuff _kinnekinnik_; but they like to mix
about a fourth o' our tobacco with it, so Pee-eye-em tells me, an'
he's a good judge. The amount that red-skinned mortal smokes _is_
oncommon."

"What are they doin' yonder?" inquired Dick, pointing to a group of
men who had been feasting for some time past in front of a tent within
sight of our trio.

"Goin' to sing, I think," replied Joe.

As he spoke six young warriors were seen to work their bodies about
in a very remarkable way, and give utterance to still more remarkable
sounds, which gradually increased until the singers burst out into
that terrific yell, or war-whoop, for which American savages have long
been famous. Its effect would have been appalling to unaccustomed
ears. Then they allowed their voices to die away in soft, plaintive
tones, while their action corresponded thereto. Suddenly the furious
style was revived, and the men wrought themselves into a condition
little short of madness, while their yells rang wildly through the
camp. This was too much for ordinary canine nature to withstand, so
all the dogs in the neighbourhood