before nor since, have I seen human
man in such a state of mortal despair as that very savage; and yet he
scorned to speak, or to cry out, or to own his forlorn condition! It is
their gift, and nobly did he maintain it!"

"Harkee, old trapper," interrupted Paul, who, content with the knowledge
that his waist was grasped by one of the arms of Ellen, had hitherto
ridden in unusual silence; "my eyes are as true and as delicate as a
humming-bird's in the day; but they are nothing worth boasting of by
starlight. Is that a sick buffaloe, crawling along in the bottom, there,
or is it one of the stray cattle of the savages?"

The whole party drew up, in order to examine the object, which Paul
had pointed out. During most of the time, they had ridden in the little
vales in order to seek the protection of the shadows, but just at that
moment, they had ascended a roll of the prairie in order to cross into
the very bottom where this unknown animal was now seen.

"Let us descend," said Middleton; "be it beast or man, we are too strong
to have any cause of fear."

"Now, if the thing was not morally impossible," cried the trapper, who
the reader must have already discovered was not always exact in the use
of qualifying words, "if the thing was not morally impossible, I should
say, that was the man, who journeys in search of reptiles and insects:
our fellow-traveller the Doctor."

"Why impossible? did you not direct him to pursue this course, in order
to rejoin us?"

"Ay, but I did not tell him to make an ass outdo the speed of a
horse:--you are right--you are right," said the trapper, interrupting
himself, as by gradually lessening the distance between them, his eyes
assured him it was Obed and Asinus, whom he saw; "you are right, as
certainly as the thing is a miracle. Lord, what a thing is fear! How
now, friend; you have been industrious to have got so far ahead in so
short a time. I marvel at the speed of the ass!"

"Asinus is overcome," returned the naturalist, mournfully. "The animal
has certainly not been idle since we separated, but he declines all my
admonitions and invitations to proceed. I hope there is no instant fear
from the savages?"

"I cannot say that; I cannot say that; matters are not as they should
be, atween the squatter and the Tetons, nor will I answer as yet for the
safety of any scalp among us. The beast is broken down! you have urged
him beyond his natural gifts, and he is like a worried hound. There