en we came back. About an hour after this
we came upon a deserted camp of Indians. It was so fresh that we think
they must have passed but a few weeks ago. The whole camp was strewed
with bones of deer, as if the red varmints had been havin' a feast. An'
sure enough, a little farther on we came upon the dead carcasses of
ninety-three deer! The rascals had taken nothin' but the tongues an'
tit-bits, leavin' the rest for the wolves."

"Ay, they're a reckless, improvident set," remarked Stanley. "I've been
told that the Esquimaux are quite different in this respect. They never
kill what they don't require; but the redskins slaughter the deer by
dozens for the sake of their tongues."

"We also found the broken head of an Esquimau seal-spear, and this
little bit of sealskin." Massan handed these as he spoke to Stanley.

"I fear," said Frank, "this looks as if they had made an attack on the
Esquimaux very recently."

"I fear it much," said Stanley, examining the little shred of sealskin,
which had beautifully glossy hair on one side, and on the other, which
was dressed, there were sundry curious marks, one of which bore a rude
resemblance to an Indian wigwam, with an arrow pointing towards it.

"I found the bit o' sealskin hanging on a bush a little apart from the
place where they camped, an' from what I've seen o' the ways o'
redskins, it's my 'pinion that it was put there for some purpose or
other."

"Very likely.--Take care of it, Jessie," said Stanley, throwing it to
his wife; "it may be explained some day.--Well, Massan, did you see any
other animals?"

"Yes, sir, lots o' them. We saw deer on the hill-tops, and might ha'
shot more o' them if we could have brought them into camp. An' we saw
porcupines in all the pine bluffs. An' we saw fish in the lakes among
the mountains. There are lots o' them lakes--small things some o'
them--in all the gullies, and fish in most o' them; but we had neither
lines nor hooks, so we catched none."

"Faix, if ye catched none, yer betters catched plinty," said Bryan, who,
having concluded supper and changed his garments, was now luxuriating in
a smoke. The blacksmith pointed as he spoke to the bag of splendid
trout which lay at a short distance from the fire. "'Tis mysilf's the
boy to catch them. I would have brought ye two times as much, if it
wasn't that I lost my hook and line. I think it must have bin a
fresh-water whale, the last wan, bad luck to it! for it pul