her parents, with
an indifferent, superb sort of air, as much as to say, "Here is some
meat--it is a mere trifle, but it will show you what you might expect
with me for a son-in-law." I could not doubt that the damsel had stepped
forward and gathered it up, in token that she accepted the offering, and
the donor along with it. There was nothing in the appearance or manner
of any of the maidens by whom we were surrounded, to denote which was
the happy fair, neither, although I peered anxiously into all their
countenances, could I there detect any blush of consciousness; so I was
obliged to content myself with selecting the youngest and prettiest of
the group, and go on weaving my romance to my own satisfaction.

The village stood encircled by an amphitheatre of hills, so precipitous,
and with gorges so steep and narrow, that it seemed almost impossible to
scale them, even on horseback; how, then, could we hope to accomplish
the ascent of the four-wheeled carriage? This was the point now under
discussion between my husband and the Pottowattamies. There was no
alternative but to make the effort, selecting the pass that the
inhabitants pointed out as the most practicable. Petaille went first,
and I followed on my favorite Jerry. It was such a scramble as is not
often taken,--almost perpendicularly, through what seemed the dry bed of
a torrent, now filled with loose stones, and scarcely affording one
secure foothold from the bottom to the summit! I clang fast to the
mane, literally at times clasping Jerry around his neck, and, amid the
encouraging shouts and cheers of those below, we at length arrived
safely, though nearly breathless, on the pinnacle, and sat looking down,
to view the success of the next party.

The horses had been taken from the carriage, the luggage it contained
being placed upon the shoulders of some of the young Indians, to be
_toted_ up the steep. Ropes were now attached to its sides, and a
regular bevy of our red friends, headed by our two Frenchmen, placed to
man them. Two or three more took their places in the rear, to hold the
vehicle and keep it from slipping backwards--then the labor commenced.
Such a pulling! such a shouting! such a clapping of hands by the
spectators of both sexes! such a stentorian word of command or
encouragement from the bourgeois! Now and then there would be a slight
halt, a wavering, as if carriage and men were about to tumble backwards
into the plain below; but no--they w