of
the savage being ignorant of the percussion principle!

I was now indebted to another circumstance for a supply of caps. The
locker near the heel of the stock had escaped the attention of the
Indians. Its brass cover had passed for a thing of ornament. On
springing it open the little caps of corrugated copper gleamed before my
eyes--an abundance of them. I tapped the powder into the nipple;
adjusted a cap; and, dismounting, set forth upon the stalk. The
spreading tops of the cotton-woods concealed me; and, crouching under
them, I made my approaches as rapidly as the nature of the ground would
permit. It grew damper as I advanced; and, presently, I passed pools of
water and patches of smooth mud--where water had recently lain. It was
the bed of an intermittent stream--a hydrographic phenomenon of frequent
occurrence in the central regions of North America. The presence of
water accounted for that of the cotton-wood trees--a sure indication of
moisture in the soil.

The water was a welcome sight. I was suffering from thirst even more
than from hunger; and, notwithstanding the risk of losing my chance of a
shot, I determined to stop and drink. I was creeping forward to the
edge of one of the ponds, when a sight came under my eyes that
astonished me; and to such a degree, as to drive both thirst and hunger
out of my thoughts--at least for the moment. In the margin of sandy mud
extending along the edge of the water, appeared a line of tracks--the
tracks of human feet! On crawling nearer, I perceived that they were
mocassin-tracks, but of such tiny dimensions, as to leave no doubt as to
the sex of the individual who had made them. Clearly, they were the
imprints of a woman's feet! A woman must have passed that way! An
Indian woman of course!

This was my first reflection; and almost simultaneous with it arose
another half-interrogative conjecture: was it Su-wa-nee? No. The foot
was too small for that of the forest maiden. I had a remembrance of the
dimensions of hers. The tracks before my eyes were not over eight
inches in length: and could only have been made by a foot slender, and
of elegant shape. The imprint was perfect; and its clear outline
denoted the light elastic tread of youth. It was a _young_ woman who
had made those footmarks.

At first, I saw no reason to doubt that the tracks were those of some
Indian girl. Their size would not have contradicted the supposition.
Among the aborigin