S A FEARFUL
NIGHT--HIS ENCAMPMENT ATTACKED BY WOLVES--JOURNEY OVER THE SNOW--FALLS
INTO A SNOW-DRIFT.

Laurence was once more with his Indian friends. They were delighted
with the presents they had received, and he found himself treated with
respect and attention by all the tribe. A horse and arms were provided
for him; he was clothed in a dress of skins, ornamented with feathers
and beads, and was looked upon as the son of their chief. Still he
could not forget the kindness he had received at the fort, and he very
often regretted that he had been persuaded by the Sioux to abandon his
white friends. Mr Ramsay would, he knew, inform his father where he
had gone, should he return to the fort. He sometimes hoped that the old
trapper would come and claim him, although the life he was compelled to
lead with him was even harder and more full of danger than his present
existence with the Sioux.

The tribe had moved to a considerable distance from the fort, where they
again took up their winter quarters. Hence they sent out parties of
hunters to capture buffalo, which, in small herds, pasture, even while
the snow lies on the ground, by digging beneath it to reach the dry
grass. Laurence, whose mind was ill at ease, endeavoured to banish
thought by joining on every opportunity these expeditions. They were,
he knew, full of danger. Sometimes the powerful buffalo would turn on
their assailants, and broken limbs and wounds, and not unfrequently
death, was the consequence. Snow storms might come on, and before the
shelter of a wood could be gained horses and men might be overwhelmed.
They were also on the borders of the country of the Crees, the deadly
enemies of the Sioux, who would without fail put to death any who might
fall into their hands. In the summer, when large herds of buffaloes
appear, the hunters, on swift horses, and armed with rifle, or bows and
sharp arrows, gallop fearlessly in among them, shooting them down, again
managing dexterously to extricate themselves from amid the concourse of
animals. Sometimes also a large enclosure is formed with a narrow
entrance, and having a road lined with trees leading to it, broad at the
outer end, and gradually decreasing in width towards the mouth of the
pound. The hunters, forming a wide semicircle in the distance, drive
the animals towards it, while people with flags stationed on either side
of the road prevent the buffalo breaking through, which are thus induced