ere sleeping and grazing; but as we had walked more
than thirty miles, we determined to take repose before we should renew
our journey.

I had scarcely slept an hour when I was roused by a touch on my
shoulder. At first, I fancied it was a dream, but as I opened my eyes,
I saw one of my Indians with his fingers upon his lips to enjoin me to
silence, while his eyes were turned towards the open prairie. I
immediately looked in that direction, and there was a sight that acted
as a prompt anti-soporific. About half a mile from us stood a band of
twenty Indians, with their war-paint and accoutrements, silently and
quietly occupied in tying the horses. Of course they were not of our
tribe, but belonged to the Umbiquas, a nation of thieves on our northern
boundary, much given to horse-stealing, especially when it was not
accompanied by any danger. In the present instance they thought
themselves safe, as the Shoshones had gone out against the Crows, and
they were selecting at their leisure our best animals. Happily for us,
we had encamped amidst thick bushes upon a spot broken and difficult of
access to quadrupeds, otherwise we should have been discovered, and
there would have been an end to my adventures.

We awoke our companions, losing no time in forming a council of war.
Fight them we could not; let them depart with the horses was out of the
question. The only thing to be done was to follow them, and wait an
opportunity to strike a decisive blow. At mid-day, the thieves having
secured as many of the animals as they could well manage, turned their
backs to us, and went on westward, in the direction of the fishing
station where we had erected our boat-house; the place where we had
first landed on coming from Europe.

We followed them the whole day, eating nothing but the wild plums of the
prairies. At evening one of my Indians, an experienced warrior, started
alone to spy into their camp, which he was successful enough to
penetrate, and learn the plan of their expedition, by certain tokens
which could not deceive his cunning and penetration. The boat-house
contained a large sailing boat, besides seven or eight skiffs. There
also we had in store our stock of dried fish and fishing apparatus, such
as nets, etcetera. As we had been at peace for several years, the
house, or post, had no garrison, except that ten or twelve families of
Indians were settled around it.

Now, the original intention of the Umbiquas had