chiefly in the employ of
Bisonette; men, whose home is in the wilderness, and who love the camp
fire better than the domestic hearth. They are contented and happy in
the midst of hardship, privation, and danger. Their cheerfulness and
gayety is irrepressible, and no people on earth understand better how
"to daff the world aside and bid it pass." Besides these, were two or
three half-breeds, a race of rather extraordinary composition, being
according to the common saying half Indian, half white man, and half
devil. Antoine Le Rouge was the most conspicuous among them, with his
loose pantaloons and his fluttering calico skirt. A handkerchief was
bound round his head to confine his black snaky hair, and his small
eyes twinkled beneath it, with a mischievous luster. He had a fine
cream-colored horse whose speed he must needs try along with the rest.
So he threw off the rude high-peaked saddle, and substituting a piece of
buffalo robe, leaped lightly into his seat. The space was cleared, the
word was given, and he and his Indian rival darted out like lightning
from among the crowd, each stretching forward over his horse's neck and
plying his heavy Indian whip with might and main. A moment, and both
were lost in the gloom; but Antoine soon came riding back victorious,
exultingly patting the neck of his quivering and panting horse.

About midnight, as I lay asleep, wrapped in a buffalo robe on the ground
by the side of our cart, Raymond came up and woke me. Something he said,
was going forward which I would like to see. Looking down into camp
I saw, on the farther side of it, a great number of Indians gathered
around a fire, the bright glare of which made them visible through the
thick darkness; while from the midst of them proceeded a loud, measured
chant which would have killed Paganini outright, broken occasionally by
a burst of sharp yells. I gathered the robe around me, for the night
was cold, and walked down to the spot. The dark throng of Indians was
so dense that they almost intercepted the light of the flame. As I was
pushing among them with but little ceremony, a chief interposed himself,
and I was given to understand that a white man must not approach the
scene of their solemnities too closely. By passing round to the other
side, where there was a little opening in the crowd, I could see clearly
what was going forward, without intruding my unhallowed presence into
the inner circle. The society of the "Strong Hearts"