were engaged in one
of their dances. The Strong Hearts are a warlike association, comprising
men of both the Dakota and Cheyenne nations, and entirely composed,
or supposed to be so, of young braves of the highest mettle. Its
fundamental principle is the admirable one of never retreating from any
enterprise once commenced. All these Indian associations have a tutelary
spirit. That of the Strong Hearts is embodied in the fox, an animal
which a white man would hardly have selected for a similar purpose,
though his subtle and cautious character agrees well enough with an
Indian's notions of what is honorable in warfare. The dancers were
circling round and round the fire, each figure brightly illumined at one
moment by the yellow light, and at the next drawn in blackest shadow as
it passed between the flame and the spectator. They would imitate with
the most ludicrous exactness the motions and the voice of their sly
patron the fox. Then a startling yell would be given. Many other
warriors would leap into the ring, and with faces upturned toward
the starless sky, they would all stamp, and whoop, and brandish their
weapons like so many frantic devils.

Until the next afternoon we were still remaining with Bisonette. My
companion and I with our three attendants then left his camp for the
Pueblo, a distance of three hundred miles, and we supposed the journey
would occupy about a fortnight. During this time we all earnestly hoped
that we might not meet a single human being, for should we encounter
any, they would in all probability be enemies, ferocious robbers and
murderers, in whose eyes our rifles would be our only passports. For
the first two days nothing worth mentioning took place. On the third
morning, however, an untoward incident occurred. We were encamped by the
side of a little brook in an extensive hollow of the plain. Delorier
was up long before daylight, and before he began to prepare breakfast
he turned loose all the horses, as in duty bound. There was a cold mist
clinging close to the ground, and by the time the rest of us were awake
the animals were invisible. It was only after a long and anxious search
that we could discover by their tracks the direction they had taken.
They had all set off for Fort Laramie, following the guidance of a
mutinous old mule, and though many of them were hobbled they had driven
three miles before they could be overtaken and driven back.

For the following two or three days we were