s if to preserve the contents. Others had huge
pieces cut from their sides, these pieces evidently being
carried away to furnish temporary shelter for the fugitives.
In most of the lodges the fires were still burning. I had
entered several without discovering anything important.
Finally, in company with the doctor, I arrived at one the
interior of which was quite dark, the fire having almost
died out. Procuring a lighted fagot, I prepared to explore it,
as I had done the others; but no sooner had I entered the
lodge than my fagot failed me, leaving me in total darkness.
Handing it to the doctor to be relighted, I began to feel
my way about the interior of the lodge. I had almost made
the circuit when my hand came in contact with a human foot;
at the same time a voice unmistakably Indian, and which
evidently came from the owner of the foot, convinced me that
I was not alone. My first impressions were that in their
hasty flight the Indians had gone off, leaving this one
asleep. My next, very naturally, related to myself.
I would gladly have placed myself on the outside of the
lodge, and there matured plans for interviewing its occupant;
but unfortunately to reach the entrance of the lodge, I must
either pass over or around the owner of the before-mentioned
foot and voice. Could I have been convinced that among
its other possessions there was neither tomahawk nor
scalping-knife, pistol nor war-club, or any similar article
of the noble red-man's toilet, I would have risked an attempt
to escape through the low narrow opening of the lodge;
but who ever saw an Indian without one or all of these
interesting trinkets? Had I made the attempt, I should
have expected to encounter either the keen edge of the
scalping-knife or the blow of the tomahawk, and to have
engaged in a questionable struggle for life. This would
not do. I crouched in silence for a few moments, hoping
the doctor would return with the lighted fagot. I need not
say that each succeeding moment spent in the darkness of
that lodge seemed an age. I could hear a slight movement
on the part of my unknown