Reynal looked after them with his face of brutal selfishness.

"Well," he said, "if they are killed, I shall have the beaver. They'll
fetch me fifty dollars at the fort, anyhow."

This was the last I saw of them.

We had been for five days in the hunting camp, and the meat, which all
this time had hung drying in the sun, was now fit for transportation.
Buffalo hides also had been procured in sufficient quantities for making
the next season's lodges; but it remained to provide the long slender
poles on which they were to be supported. These were only to be had
among the tall pine woods of the Black Hills, and in that direction
therefore our next move was to be made. It is worthy of notice that amid
the general abundance which during this time had prevailed in the camp
there were no instances of individual privation; for although the hide
and the tongue of the buffalo belong by exclusive right to the hunter
who has killed it, yet anyone else is equally entitled to help himself
from the rest of the carcass. Thus, the weak, the aged, and even the
indolent come in for a share of the spoils, and many a helpless old
woman, who would otherwise perish from starvation, is sustained in
profuse abundance.

On the 25th of July, late in the afternoon, the camp broke up, with
the usual tumult and confusion, and we were all moving once more, on
horseback and on foot, over the plains. We advanced, however, but a few
miles. The old men, who during the whole march had been stoutly striding
along on foot in front of the people, now seated themselves in a circle
on the ground, while all the families, erecting their lodges in the
prescribed order around them, formed the usual great circle of the camp;
meanwhile these village patriarchs sat smoking and talking. I threw my
bridle to Raymond, and sat down as usual along with them. There was none
of that reserve and apparent dignity which an Indian always assumes
when in council, or in the presence of white men whom he distrusts. The
party, on the contrary, was an extremely merry one; and as in a social
circle of a quite different character, "if there was not much wit, there
was at least a great deal of laughter."

When the first pipe was smoked out, I rose and withdrew to the lodge of
my host. Here I was stooping, in the act of taking off my powder-horn
and bullet-pouch, when suddenly, and close at hand, pealing loud
and shrill, and in right good earnest, came the terrific yell of the
war-