at they seem.

Pursuit was immediately set on foot, and the entire body of truant
warriors were brought back without bloodshed. One of them, a young
warrior, came to Will's tent to beg for tobacco. The Indian--as all know
who have made his acquaintance--has no difficulty in reconciling
begging with his native dignity. To work may be beneath him, to beg is a
different matter, and there is frequently a delightful hauteur about his
mendicancy. In this respect he is not unlike some of his white brothers.
Will gave the young chief the desired tobacco, and then questioned him
closely concerning the attempted escape.

"Surely," said he, "you cannot find a more beautiful spot than this. The
streams are full of fish, the grazing is good, the game is plentiful,
and the weather is fine. What more could you desire?"

The Indian drew himself up. His face grew eager, and his eyes were full
of longing as he answered, by the interpreter:

"The land to the north and west is the land of plenty. There the buffalo
grows larger; and his coat is darker. There the bu-yu (antelope) comes
in droves, while here there are but few. There the whole region is
covered with the short, curly grass our ponies like. There grow the wild
plums that are good for my people in summer and winter. There are the
springs of the Great Medicine Man, Tel-ya-ki-y. To bathe in them gives
new life; to drink them cures every bodily ill.

"In the mountains beyond the river of the blue water there is gold and
silver, the metals that the white man loves. There lives the eagle,
whose feathers the Indian must have to make his war-bonnet. There, too,
the sun shines always.

"It is the Ijis (heaven) of the red man. My heart cries for it. The
hearts of my people are not happy when away from the Eithity Tugala."

The Indian folded his arms across his breast, and his eyes looked
yearningly toward the country whose delights he had so vividly pictured;
then he turned and walked sorrowfully away. The white man's government
shut him out from the possession of his earthly paradise. Will learned
upon further inquiry that Eithity Tugala was the Indian name of the Big
Horn Basin.

In the summer of 1882 Will's party of exploration left the cars at
Cheyenne, and struck out from this point with horses and pack-mules.
Will's eyes becoming inflamed, he was obliged to bandage them, and turn
the guidance of the party over to a man known as "Ready." For days he
traveled in a blinded sta