ey understand
English, but I tried by signs to make them comprehend that I had parted
from my companions, and that I wished to get to them. At last they
appeared to fancy that they comprehended me, for they nodded and smiled,
and uttered the same sounds of satisfaction over and over again. They
signified, however, by their gestures, that I must sleep in the hut that
night, but that on the following morning, as soon as the sun rose, we
would set off on our journey.

I offered them the deer's flesh which I had slung about me, and which
they seemed to value. Just before dark, however, they brought me in
another salmon, which I preferred to the somewhat high flavoured meat.
I cannot describe how I enjoyed that night's rest. I had perfect
confidence in my hosts, and I had no longer the dread of being visited
by a wandering bear or prowling wolf. I felt like a new being when,
next morning, the good-natured Indian roused me from my slumbers. The
rushing sound of waters invited me to take a bath, and going down to the
river, I stretched my limbs with a pleasant swim, and then returned to
enjoy a hearty breakfast on salmon, roots, and some decoction which
served the purpose of tea. My hosts, too, had provided some new
moccasins in which to shield my feet.

It was a completely patriarchal establishment. There was an old father
and four sons, with an old mother, and another old woman and the wives
of the younger men, and eight or ten children. The skin-covered huts of
the younger couples were close at hand, under the trees. The old man
and his eldest son now brought up three horses, they mounted me on one,
and they leaped on the others. A deerskin served as a saddle, and rough
thongs of leather as a bridle.

I wished all the family a hearty good-bye, resolved in future to think
better of Indians than I had done, and off we set. How delightful it
was to move along over the prairie at the rate of eight or ten miles an
hour, instead of creeping along with suffering feet, as I had been so
long doing. I travelled on two whole days on a westerly course with my
Indian friends. I could not hold much conversation with my guides,
except by signs, but we soon appeared to understand each other perfectly
well.

I made out that we were approaching the camp of my old companions, and
as I drew nearer my eagerness increased to be once more among them.
After a time I saw wreaths of white smoke curling up from a valley below
us.