ich,
as it was then new to us, amused us not a little.

Our travelling companions started early in the morning for the Fort,
which was but twelve miles distant, and they were so kind as to take
charge of a note to our friends at home, requesting them to send Plante
with the carriage to take us the rest of the distance.

We reached the Portage in safety; and thus ended the first journey by
land that any white woman had made from Green Bay to Fort Winnebago. I
felt not a little raised in my own esteem when my husband informed me
that the distance I had the previous day travelled, from Knaggs's to
Bellefontaine, was sixty-two miles!

CHAPTER XXXII.

COMMENCEMENT OF THE SAUK WAR.

A few weeks after our return, my husband took his mother to Prairie du
Chien for the benefit of medical advice from Dr. Beaumont, of the U.S.
Army. The journey was made in a large open boat down the Wisconsin
River, and it was proposed to take this opportunity to bring back a good
supply of corn for the winter's use of both men and cattle.

The ice formed in the river, however, so early, that after starting
with his load he was obliged to return with it to the Prairie, and wait
until the thick winter's ice enabled him to make a second journey and
bring it up in sleighs--with so great an expense of time, labor, and
exposure were the necessaries of life conveyed from one point to another
through that wild and desolate region!

* * * * *

The arrival of my brother Arthur from Kentucky, by way of the
Mississippi, in the latter part of April, brought us the uncomfortable
intelligence of new troubles with the Sauks and Foxes. Black Hawk had,
with the flower of his nation, recrossed the Mississippi, once more to
take possession of their old homes and corn-fields.[52]

It was not long before our own Indians came flocking in, to confirm the
tidings, and to assure us of their intention to remain faithful friends
to the Americans. We soon heard of the arrival of the Illinois Rangers
in the Rock River country, also of the progress of the regular force
under General Atkinson, in pursuit of the hostile Indians, who, by the
reports, were always able to elude their vigilance. It not being their
custom to stop and give battle, the Sauks soon scattered themselves
through the country, trusting to some lucky accident (and such arrived,
alas! only too often) to enable them to fall upon their enemies
unexpectedly.

Th