ere Hugot was at home, for he could compound an omelette,
fricassee a chicken, or dress a _canard aux olives_, with Monsieur Soyer
himself. But Hugot--although for many years he had accompanied his old
and young masters in the chase--had no taste whatever for hunting. He
had a wholesome dread of bears and panthers, and as to Indians ... Ha!
_Indians_!

Now you will wonder, my young friend, when you come to think of these
Indians--when you come to consider that fifty warlike nations of them
live and roam over the prairies--many of them sworn foes to white men,
killing the latter wherever they may meet them, as you would a mad dog
or a poisonous spider,--I say, when you consider these things, you will
wonder that this old French or Corsican father should consent to let his
sons go upon so dangerous an expedition. It seems unnatural, does it
not? In fact, quite improbable, when we come to reflect that the
Colonel dearly loved his three sons, almost as dearly as his own life.
And yet one would say, he could hardly have found a readier plan to get
rid of them, than thus to send them forth among savages. Upon what,
then, did he rely for their safety? On their age? No. He knew the
Indians better than that. He knew very well that their age would not be
cared for, should they chance to fall in with any of the tribes hostile
to the whites. It is true, that the savages might not scalp them on
this account--being boys,--but they would be very certain to carry them
into a captivity from which they might never return. Or did their
father anticipate that the excursion should extend no farther than the
country of some friendly tribe? He entertained no such idea. Had this
been their plan, their errand would have been likely to prove fruitless.
In a country of that sort they would have seen but little of the
buffalo; for it is well-known that the buffaloes are only found in
plenty upon those parts of the prairies termed "war grounds"--that is,
where several tribes go to hunt, who are at war with each other. In
fact, that is the reason why these animals are more numerous there than
elsewhere, as the hunters are fewer, on account of the danger they incur
of coming into collision with each other. In a territory which is
exclusively in possession of any particular tribe, the buffaloes are
soon killed or run off by incessant hunting. It is a fact, therefore,
well-known among prairie-hunters, that wherever buffaloes are plenty