gain the first shot at
any sort of game. There must be some secret about this performance which
I don't understand, though Deerfoot, with his bow and arrow, never
failed to meet with the same success."

The American Indian is by no means fastidious in his tastes, and the
manner in which they handled the game would hardly have satisfied a
party of modern hunters. Sometimes the red man half cooks his bird
without bothering himself with plucking out the feathers, and again he
doesn't take the trouble even to scorch his food. In the present
instance, they ripped off the principal part of the feathers, removed
the interior, and cutting the framework into several sections, laid them
directly on the coals that were spread out to receive them.

They began the broiling or scorching operation at once, and the smell of
the burning meat was of the most appetizing nature. Jack caught a sniff
and it literally made his "mouth water," for despite his unpleasant
situation, his appetite was such as every person in vigorous health is
certain to feel at regular intervals.

"I wonder whether they mean to slight me," he suddenly asked himself
with a feeling of dismay; "if they do, I don't know what will become of
me, for I'm sure I never was so a-hungered in all my life."

But I hasten to say that the disaster which the prisoner feared did not
come to him. Although the bird was unusually large, two or three of the
warriors could have devoured it with ease. As it was, therefore, it
afforded rather scant rations to the company, but Jack Carleton was
remembered and received a juicy slice of the game, which could not have
tasted better had it been hung up in the cold for a week and then cooked
by his mother. Ah, what art shall ever furnish a sauce like that of
hunger itself! The meal finished, the party disposed of themselves for
the night. Their red clay pipes, with the long reeds for stems, were
produced, filled with tobacco and lit from the fire in front of them.
The blankets--which were anything but clean--were spread out on the
ground and their owners assumed all sorts of lazy attitudes, puffed
their pipes, and occasionally grunted a few words to each other.

As Jack had no blanket of his own he reclined on the leaves, which were
comfortable as he could wish. He took pains to place himself as near the
camp fire as he could bear, so as to show his captors he did not mean to
attempt to get away.

Several times during the march and whil