as blind. On hearing footsteps and voices,
he instinctively gathered his dish of food close to him, and began some
morose grumblings; but when he was told that it was "Shaw-nee-aw-kee"
who was addressing him, his features relaxed into a more agreeable
expression, and be even held forth his dish and invited us to share its
contents.

"But are we to stay here?" I asked. "Can we not sleep out-of-doors?"

"We have no tent," replied my husband, "and the weather is too cold to
risk the exposure without one."

"I could sit in a chair all night, by the fire."

"Then you would not be able to ride to Bellefontaine to-morrow."

There was no alternative. The only thing Mr. Knaggs could furnish in the
shape of bedding was a small bear-skin. The bunk was a trifle less
filthy than the floor; so upon its boards we spread first the skin, then
our saddle-blankets, and, with a pair of saddle-bags for a bolster, I
wrapped myself in my cloak, and resigned myself to my distasteful
accommodations.

The change of position from that I had occupied through the day,
probably brought some rest, but sleep I could not. Even on a softer and
more agreeable couch, the snoring of the old Indian and two or three
companions who had joined him, and his frequent querulous exclamations
as he felt himself encroached upon in the darkness, would have
effectually banished slumber from my eyes.

It was a relief to rise with early morning and prepare for the journey
of the day. Where our fellow-travellers had bestowed themselves I knew
not, but they evidently had fared no better than we. They were in fine
spirits, however, and we cheerfully took our breakfast and were ferried
over the river to continue on the trail from that point to
Bellefontaine, twelve miles distant from Fort Winnebago.

The great "bug-bear" of this road, Ma-zhee-gaw-gaw Swamp, was the next
thing to be encountered. We reached it about nine o'clock. It spread
before us, a vast expanse of morass, about half a mile in width, and of
length interminable, partly covered with water, with black knobs rising
here and there above the surface, affording a precarious foothold for
the animals in crossing it. Where the water was not, there lay in place
of it a bed of black oozy mud, which looked as if it might give way
under the foot, and let it, at each step, sink to an unknown depth.

This we were now to traverse. All three of the gentlemen went in advance
of me, each hoping, as he said, to selec