ey have no occasion to quarrel. They are, for the most
part, a quiet and harmless race of savages, and being very dependent on
the fur-traders for the necessaries of life, they are on their good
behaviour, and seldom do much mischief.

It is very different with the plain Indians. These savages have numbers
of fine horses, and live in a splendid open country, which is
well-stocked with deer and buffaloes, besides other game. They are bold
riders, and scour over the country in all directions, consequently the
different tribes often come across each other when out hunting.
Quarrels and fights are the results, so that these savages are naturally
a fierce and warlike race. They are independent too; for although they
get their guns and ammunition and other necessaries from the traders,
they can manage to live without these things if need be. They can
clothe themselves in the skins of wild animals, and when they lose their
guns, or wet their powder, they can kill game easily with their own bows
and arrows.

It was a band of these fellows that now went galloping towards Fort
Erie, with the long manes and tails of the half-wild horses and the
scalp-locks on their dresses and their own long black hair streaming in
the wind.

Pemberton and his party soon came up with the young Indians who had
remained to chase the buffaloes. He found them sheltered behind a
little mound, making preparations for an immediate attack on the
animals, which, however, were not yet visible to the men from the fort.

"I do believe they've seen buffaloes on the other side of that mound,"
said Pemberton, as he rode forward.

He was right. The Indians, of whom there were six, well mounted and
armed with strong short bows, pointed to the mound, and said that on the
other side of it there were hundreds of buffaloes.

As the animals were so numerous, no objection was made to the
fur-traders joining in the hunt, so in another moment the united party
leaped from their horses and prepared for action. Some wiped out and
carefully loaded their guns, others examined the priming of their
pieces, and chipped the edges off the flints to make sure of their not
missing fire. All looked to the girths of their saddles, and a few
threw off their coats and rolled their shirt-sleeves up to their
shoulders, as if they were going to undertake hard and bloody work.

Mr Pemberton took in hand to look after our friend Heywood; the rest
were well qualified to look a