In the Heart of the Rockies: A Story of Adventure in Colorado

by G. A. Henty

  CHAPTER XI

  WINTER

  The erection of Tom's shed for the horses did not take long. The wholeparty, with the exception of the two Indians,--who, as usual, wenthunting,--proceeded to the pine-wood above the beaver meadow. After alittle search six trees were found conveniently situated with regard toeach other. The axemen cut down three young firs. One was lashed by theothers between the two central trees, to form a ridge-pole eight feetfrom the ground; the others against the other trees, at a height ofthree feet, to support the lower ends of the roof. They were but tenfeet apart, so that the roof might have a considerable pitch. Numbers ofother young trees were felled and fixed, six inches apart, from theridge down to the eaves. On these the branches of the young fir-treeswere thickly laid, and light poles were lashed lengthways over them tokeep them in their places.

  As the poles of the roof had been cut long enough to extend down to theground, no side walls were necessary. The ends were formed of poleslashed across to the side trees, but extending down only to within fourfeet six of the ground, so as to allow the horses to pass under, andwere, like the roof, thickly covered with boughs. The lower ends wereleft open for a width of four feet in the middle, uprights being driveninto the ground and the sides completed as before.

  "What do you want a doorway at both ends for?" Tom asked. "It would havebeen easier and quicker to have shut one end up altogether, and it wouldbe a good deal warmer."

  "So it would, Tom; but if a grizzly were to appear at the door, whatwould the horses do? They would be caught in a trap."

  "Do you think they are likely to come, uncle?"

  "The likeliest thing in the world, Tom. Horses can smell bear a gooddistance off, and if they heard one either coming down or going up thevalley, they would bolt through the opposite door. They will dofirst-rate here; they will stand pretty close together, and the warmthof their bodies will heat the place up. They won't know themselves, theywill be so comfortable. It has only taken us a day's work to make theshed; and though we laughed at your idea at first, I think now that theday has been well spent in getting them up such a good shelter. Jerryhas got the big pail boiling over his fire, and we will put in a fewhandfuls of the flour we brought down. Bring the horses in from themeadow, and we will give them each a drink of gruel in the shed. Theywill soon learn that it is to be their home."

  For two more days the open weather continued, and the horses took upthree loads of wood each afternoon, as they had done the previous week.Then, as there were signs of change, they were given a good feed attheir shed; the saddles were taken off and hung up on some cross-polesover their heads.

  The party had scarcely returned to the hut when the snow began to fall.They were, however, weather-proof, and felt the immense additionalcomfort of the changes they had made. Their stock of firewood was now avery large one. At each journey the horses had brought up about fifteenhundredweight; and as the work had gone on for nine days, they had, theycalculated, something like fourteen tons of firewood neatly stacked.They had also a stock of poles in case the roof should requirestrengthening. A certain amount of light found its way in at the edgesof the curtain across the entrance, but they depended principally uponthe fire-light. The smoke, however, was a serious grievance, and eventhe men were forced occasionally to go outside into the open air toallay the smarting of their eyes.

  "Don't you think, uncle, we might do something to dry the wood?"

  "I can't see that we can do more than we are doing, Tom. We always keepa dozen logs lying round the fire to dry a bit before they are put on."

  "I should think we might make a sort of stage about four feet above thefire and keep some logs up there. We might pile them so that the hot airand smoke could go up through them. They would dry a great deal fasterthere than merely lying down on the ground."

  "I think the idea is a very good one, Tom; but we shall have to make theframe pretty strong, for if it happened to come down it might break someof our legs."

  The men all agreed that the idea was a capital one, and after someconsultation they set to to carry it out. Two strong poles were firstchosen. These were cut carefully to the right length, and were jambedbetween the rocks at a height of seven feet above the floor and fivefeet apart. They were driven in and wedged so tightly that they couldeach bear the weight of two men swinging upon them without moving. Thenfour upright poles were lashed to them, five feet apart, and these wereconnected with cross-poles.

  "That is strong enough for anything," Jerry said when the structure hadbeen so far completed. "If a horse were to run against one of the poleshe would hardly bring the thing down."

  Four other short poles were now lashed to the uprights three feet belowthe upper framework, and were crossed by others so as to form agridiron. On this, the logs were laid in tiers crossing each other,sufficient space being left between them to allow for the passage of thehot air.

  "That is a splendid contrivance," Harry said when they took their seatson the buffalo robes round the fire and looked up admiringly at theirwork. "The logs will get as dry as chips, and in future we sha'n't bebothered with the smoke. Besides, it will do to stand the pail and potsfull of snow there, and keep a supply of water, without putting themdown into the fire and running the risk of an upset."

  They had occupation now in manufacturing a suit of clothes a-piece fromthe deer-skins. As the work required to be neater than that whichsufficed for the making of the curtain, pointed sticks hardened in thefire were used for making the holes, and the thongs that served asthread were cut as finely as possible; this being done by the Indians,who turned them out no thicker than pack-thread.

  There was no occasion for hurry, and there was much laughing and jokingover the work. Their hunting-shirts and breeches served as patterns fromwhich to cut out the skins; and as each strove to outvie the others, thegarments when completed were very fair specimens of work. Thehunting-shirts were made with hoods that, when pulled over the head,covered the whole face except the eyes, nose, and mouth. As they hadplenty of skin, the hoods and shirts were made double, so that there washair both inside and out. They were made to come down half-way to theknee, being kept close at the waists by their belts. The leggings weremade of single thickness only, as they would be worn over theirbreeches; they were long and reached down below the ankle. The Indiansmade fresh moccasins for the whole party; they were made higher thanusual, so as to come up over the bottom of the leggings. In additioneach was provided with long strips of hide, which were to be wound roundand round the leggings, from the knee to below the ankle, coveringtightly the tops of the moccasins, and so preventing the snow fromfinding its way in there. Gloves were then manufactured, the fingersbeing in one and the thumb only being free.

  The work occupied them a fortnight, broken only by one day's spell offine weather, which they utilized by going down into the valley, takingwith them their kettles and pail, together with a few pounds of flour.They found the horses out in the meadow, and these, as soon as they sawthem, came trotting to meet them with loud whinnies of pleasure. A firewas lit near the shed, the snow melted, and an allowance of warm gruelgiven to each horse. At Tom's suggestion a few fir-boughs were hung fromthe bar over each entrance. These would swing aside as the horsesentered, and would keep out a good deal of wind. When at the end of afortnight the sky cleared, the chief said that he thought that therewould be but little more snow.

  "If storm come, sure to bring snow, but not last long. Winter now setin; soon snow harden. Now make snowshoes."

  The hunters had all been accustomed to use these in winter. They hadfound the last expedition through the deep snow a very toilsome one, andthey embraced the idea eagerly. Some of the poles were split into eightfeet lengths. These were wetted and hung over the fire, the processbeing repeated until the wood was sufficiently softened to be bent intothe required shape. This was done by the chief. Two cross-pieces wereadded, to stiffen them and keep them in the right shape when they dried;and the wood was then trimmed up and scraped by the men. When it had
dried and hardened, the work of filling up the frame with aclosely-stretched network of leather was undertaken. This part of thework occupied three or four days. The straps were attached to go acrossthe toe and round the heel, and they were then ready to set off.

  The weather was now intensely cold, but as there was but little wind itwas not greatly felt; at the same time they were glad of their furs whenthey ventured outside the hut. On the first day after their snow-shoeswere finished, the rest of the party started off to visit the horses,Hunting Dog remaining behind to give Tom instructions in the use of thesnow-shoes, and to help him when he fell down.

  Tom found it difficult work at first, the toe of the shoe frequentlycatching in the snow, and pitching him head foremost into it, and hewould have had great difficulty in extricating himself, had not theyoung Indian been at hand. Before the day was over, however, he couldget on fairly well; and after two or three more days' practice had madesuch progress that he was considered capable of accompanying the rest.

  The wood-drying apparatus had succeeded excellently. The wood was nowdried so thoroughly before being put on to the fire that there was noannoyance from the smoke inside the hut, and scarce any could beperceived coming from the chimney. Upon Harry's remarking upon this withsatisfaction the first time they went out after using the dry wood, Tomsaid:

  "What does it matter? There are no Indians in the valley."

  "That is so, Tom; but as soon as the weather sets in clear, thered-skins will be hunting again. Winter is their best time for laying intheir stock of pelts for trading. At other times the game is all high upin the mountains, and it is very difficult to get within range of it. Inthe winter the animals come down to the shelter of the forests andvalleys, and they can be shot in numbers; especially as the Indians intheir snow-shoes can get along almost as quickly as the wapiti canplough through the snow. At present the red-skins think that we musthave been overtaken by that first storm and have all gone under; but assoon as they begin to venture out of their lodges to hunt, a column ofsmoke here would be sure to catch their eyes, and then we should behaving them up the valley to a certainty. The first thing they would dowould be to find our horses and drive them off, and the next thing wouldbe to set themselves to work to catch us."

  "But we could hold the path against them, uncle."

  "Yes; but we should have to keep watch every day, which would be aserious trouble. Besides, there must be other places they could get up.No doubt their regular trail comes up here, because it is thestraightest way to the pass, and possibly there may be no other point atwhich loaded animals could mount anywhere about here. But there must beplenty of places where Indians could climb, and even if it took them adetour of fifty miles they would manage it. As long as there is no smokewe may hope they will not discover us here, though any hunting partymight come upon the horses. That is what has bothered me all along; butthe chief and I have talked it over a dozen times, and can see no way ofavoiding the risk.

  "We can't keep the horses up here because we can't feed them; and evenif we were to bring ourselves to leave this comfortable place and tobuild a hut down in the valley, we might be surprised and rubbed out bythe red-skins. Of course we might bring them up here every night andtake them down again in the morning, but it would be a troublesomebusiness. We have agreed that we won't do much more shooting down in thevalley, and that in coming and going to the horses we will keep alongclose to the foot of the cliffs this side, so that if two or threeIndians do come up they won't see any tracks on the snow, unless theyhappen to come close up to the cliff. Of course if they go up as far asthe beaver flat they will light upon the horses. There is no help forthat; but the chief and I agreed last night that in future two of usshall always stay up here, and shall take it by turns to keep watch. Itwon't be necessary to stand outside. If the curtain is pulled asidethree or four inches one can see right down the valley, and any Indianscoming up could be made out. If the party is a strong one a gun would befired as a signal to those away hunting, and some damp wood thrown onthe fire. They might possibly push on up the valley to have a look atthe place, but the two up here with their rifles would soon stop them.After that, of course, the horses would have to be brought up here atnight, and a watch kept by night as well as by day."

  Two or three mornings later they found on going out that two joints ofvenison had been carried off, and footprints in the snow showed that ithad been done by a grizzly bear. This turned their attention again tothe construction of a trap, which had not been thought of since the dayit was first mentioned. A young tree of four or five inches in diameterwas cut below and brought up. The butt was cut in the shape of a wedge,and this was driven strongly into a fissure in the rock. A rope with arunning noose had been fastened to the tree, and this was bent down bythe united strength of four men, and fixed to a catch fastened in theground, the noose being kept open by two sticks placed across it.

  A foot beyond the noose a joint of venison was hung, the rope passingover a pole and then down to the catch, so that upon the joint beingpulled the catch would be loosened, when the tree would fly up and thenoose catch anything that might be through it.

  A week later they were disturbed by an outburst of violent growling.Seizing their rifles they rushed out. A huge bear was caught by one ofhis paws. The animal's weight was too great for it to be lifted from theground, but it was standing upright with its paw above its head, makingfurious efforts to free itself. A volley of bullets at once put an endto its life. The tree was bent down again and the noose loosed, and theyat once returned to their rugs, leaving the bear where it fell. Fourtimes during the winter did they thus capture intruders, providingthemselves with an ample supply of bear's flesh, while the skins wouldsell well down at the settlements.

  Otherwise sport was not very good. No more wapiti came up, but black andwhite tail deer were occasionally shot, and five or six big-horn sheepalso fell to their rifles. One day on approaching the beaver meadow thechief pointed to some deep footprints. No explanation was needed. Allknew that they were made by a big grizzly, and that the animal was goingup the valley. No horses were in view on the flat, and grasping theirrifles they hurried towards the wood. Just as they reached it the horsescame galloping to meet them, whinnying and snorting.

  "They have been scared by the critter," Jerry said. "Do you see theircoats are staring. Gosh, look at this pack-pony--the bear has had hispaw on him!"

  The animal's hind-quarters were indeed badly torn.

  "I wonder how it got away," Harry said. "When a grizzly once gets hold,it don't often leave go."

  "There is something in front of the hut," Tom exclaimed.

  "It's the grizzly, sure enough," Harry said. "It is a rum place for itto go to sleep."

  They advanced, holding their rifles in readiness to fire, when LeapingHorse said:

  "Bear dead."

  "What can have killed him?" Harry asked doubtfully.

  "Horses kill him," the chief replied. They hurried up to the spot. Thebear was indeed dead, and there were signs of a desperate struggle.There was blood on the snow from a point near the door of the hut towhere the animal was lying ten yards away. Round it the snow was alltrampled deeply. The bear's head was battered out of all shape; its jawwas broken, and one of its eyes driven out. The Indians examined theground closely.

  "Well, what do you make of it, chief?" Harry asked.

  "Bear walk round hut, come in other end. Horses not able to get out intime. Pack-horse last, bear catch him by hind-quarters. Horse drag him alittle way and then fall. Then other horses come back, form ring roundbear and kick him. Look at prints of fore-feet deep in snow. That iswhere they kick; they break bear's jaw, break his ribs, keep on kicktill he dead."

  "I suppose that is how it came about, chief. I should not have thoughtthey would have done it."

  The Seneca nodded. "When wild horses with young foals attacked by bearor mountain-lion, they form circle with colts in the middle, stand headsin and kick. Bears and mountain-lion afraid to attack them."


  "Waal, I should hardly have believed if I had not seen it," Sam Hickssaid, "that horses would come back to attack a grizzly."

  "Not come back," the chief said, "if not for friend. Friend cry outloud, then horses come back, fight bear and kill him."

  "Well, it was mighty plucky of them," Harry said. "I am afraid this ponywon't get over it; he is terribly torn."

  The chief examined the horse's wounds again. "Get over it," he said."Cold stop wounds bleeding, get some fat and put in."

  "I reckon you will find plenty inside the grizzly," Jerry said. Thechief shook his head.

  "Bear's fat bad; other horses smell him, perhaps keep away from him,perhaps kick him. Leaping Horse will bring fat from the big-horn he shotyesterday."

  The animal lay where it had fallen, a mile up the valley. They went upand tied the great sheep's feet together, and putting a pole throughthem brought it down to the hut. Partly skinning it, they obtained somefat and melted this in a kettle over the fire. Sam Hicks had remainedbehind at the fire, the horses all standing near him, excited at theprospect of their usual meal. As soon as the fat was melted it waspoured into the horse's wounds. The mess of gruel was then prepared andgiven to the animals. The bear was skinned and the hams cut off, then bya united effort it was dragged some distance from the hut, and thecarcass of the big-horn, the bear's flesh and hide, were afterwardscarried up to the hut.

  Early in February the cold reached its extreme point, and in spite ofkeeping up a good fire they had long before this been compelled to buildup the entrance with a wall of firewood, the interstices being stuffedwith moss; the hut was lighted by lamps of bear and deer fat melted downand poured into tin drinking-cups, the wicks being composed of strips ofbirch bark. A watch was regularly kept all day, two always remaining inthe hut, one keeping watch through a small slip cut in the curtainbefore the narrow orifice in the log wall, that served as a door, theother looking after the fire, keeping up a good supply of melted snow,and preparing dinner ready for the return of the hunters at sunset. Ofan evening they told stories, and their stock of yarns of their ownadventures and of those they had heard from others, seemed to Tominexhaustible.

  Hunting Dog had made rapid advances with his English, and he and Tom hadbecome great friends, always hunting together, or when their turn came,remaining together on guard. The cold was now so intense that thehunting party was seldom out for more than two or three hours. Regularlytwice a week the horses were given their ration of hot gruel, andalthough they had fallen away greatly in flesh they maintained theirhealth, and were capable of work if called upon to do it. It was one dayin the middle of February, that Hunting Dog, who was standing at thepeep-hole, exclaimed:

  "'Rappahoes!"

  Tom sprang up from the side of the fire, and running to the entrancepulled aside the curtain and looked out. Six Indians on snow-shoes werecoming up the valley. He ran out on to the platform and fired his ride.As the sound of the report reached the Indians' ears they stoppedsuddenly.

  "Shall I throw some green wood on the fire, Hunting Dog?"

  "No need," the Indian replied. "The others only gone an hour, notfarther than horses' hut; hear gun plain enough. Perhaps 'Rappahoes goback."

  The Indians remained for some time in consultation.

  "Not know where gun fired," Hunting Dog said. "Soon see hut, then know."

  After a time the red-skins continued their way up the valley, butinstead of coming on carelessly in the centre they separated, and goingto the other side crept along among the fallen boulders there, wherethey would have escaped observation had it not been for their figuresshowing against the white snow.

  "Must fire now," the young Indian said, "then Leaping Horse know'Rappahoes coming up."

  They went out on to the platform and opened fire. They knew that theirchance of hitting one of the Indians was small indeed; the other side ofthe valley was a quarter of a mile away, and the height at which theywere standing rendered it difficult to judge the elevation necessary fortheir rifles. However, they fired as fast as they could load.

  The Indians made no reply, for their guns would not carry anything likethe distance. They occasionally gathered when they came upon a boulderof rock sufficiently large to give shelter to them all, and then movedon again one at a time. When opposite the lower end of the pathway theyagain held a consultation.

  "No go further," Hunting Dog said. "Afraid we come down path and stopthem. See, Leaping Horse among rocks."

  It was some time before Tom could detect the Indian, so stealthily didhe move from rock to rock.

  "Where are the others?"

  "No see, somewhere in bushes. Leaping Horse go on to scout; not know howmany 'Rappahoes."

  Presently they saw the chief raise his head behind a rock within ahundred yards of that behind which the 'Rappahoes were sheltering.

  "He see them now," Hunting Dog said. "See, he going to fire." There wasa puff of smoke and a sharp report, and almost simultaneously rose anIndian yell, and the war-cry of the Seneca. Then five Indians leapt outfrom behind the rock and made down the valley at full speed, while froma clump of trees two hundred yards above the spot from which the chiefhad fired the four white men hurried out rifle in hand. The chief waiteduntil they joined him, for the bend in the valley prevented him fromseeing that the 'Rappahoes were making straight down it, and it wouldhave been imprudent to have ventured out until his white allies came up.

  "They have gone right down," Tom shouted at the top of his voice. Harrywaved his arm to show that he heard the words, and then the five men ranto the corner. The Indians were already a quarter of a mile away, andwere just entering the wood below. The whites were about to fire, whenthe chief stopped them. "No use fire," he said. "Stand back behindrocks; no good let 'Rappahoes count our rifles."

  "That is true enough, chief," Harry said, as they all sprang among therocks. "All they know at present is, that there are two up on the topthere and one down here. If we were sure that we could wipe them all outit would be worth following and making a running fight of it, but therewould be no chance of that, and it is better to let them go withoutlearning more about us. Well, I should say the first thing is to get upthe horses."

  The chief nodded.

  "Get up," he said, "but no fear 'Rappahoes come back to-night. Manyhours' journey down to villages, then great council. Next night scoutscome up valley, look all about for sign, and then go back and tellfriends."

  "I dare say you are right, chief. Anyhow, I shall feel a great deal morecomfortable when we have got the critters up."

  It was late in the afternoon before they reached the hut. Some hourswere spent in collecting tufts of grass in places sheltered from thesnow, and in cutting off great bundles of young fir-branches and theheads of evergreen bushes, and the horses arrived almost hidden underthe load of grass and foliage they carried. Little was said until somehot tea had been drunk and the bear steaks in readiness were disposedof, for although they had worked hard and kept themselves comparativelywarm down in the valley, they had as they moved slowly up the path withthe horses become chilled to the bone.

  "Now then, chief," Harry said, when they had lighted their pipes withthe mixture of tobacco and willow bark that they had taken to, as soonas they found that they were likely to be imprisoned all the winter, "wemust hold a council. We have been longer than I expected withoutdisturbance by these varmint, but it has come now, and the question iswhat are we to do? We have agreed all along that there is no gettingover the pass till the spring comes."

  "Too cold," the chief said, "deep drift snow. Indians all say no canpass over hills in winter."

  "That air a fact," Jerry said. "Down in the valley there it is allright, but up here the cold pretty near takes one's breath away. Weain't sure about the way. We couldn't get over the pass in one day'stramp, and we should be all stiff before morning. There would be notaking the horses, and there is a hundred miles to be done over the snowbefore we reach the fort. It ain't to be thought of. I would a sightrather go d
own the valley and fight the hull tribe."

  "I agree with you, Jerry. We might, with luck, get down the valley, butI don't think there is a possibility of our crossing the pass till thewinter breaks."

  "No can go down valley," Leaping Horse said; "they find trail on snow,sure."

  "That is so, chief, and in that case it is evident that we have got tofight it out here."

  "Good place to stop," the Seneca said; "no good place to fight."

  This was self-evident. An enemy on the rock above would be able to firedown through the roof, without their having a chance of making aneffectual reply.

  "The only way I can see," Harry said after a long pause, "is to build asort of fort up above. If we put it just at the top of this pathway, weshould have them whether they came up by the trail from below or climbedup anywhere else and came along above. It need not be a very big place,only just big enough for us all to fire over. We might make a sort ofshelter in it with a fire, and keep guard there by turns." The chiefnodded, and there was a general exclamation of assent from the others.

  "The worst of it is," Jerry said, "the ground is so 'tarnal hard thatthere will be no driving posts into it. We have cut down all the treesnear the bottom of the pass, and it would be a risky thing to go uphigher, when we might have the red-skins come whooping up the valley atany time."

  "Why not make a snow fort?" Tom suggested. "There is four feet of snowup there, and with the shovels we could make a wall ten feet high in avery short time."

  "So we might, Tom; that is a capital idea. The difficulty is, the snowdoes not bind in this bitter cold as it does in England."

  "If it was hammered down it would, I should think, uncle. You know theEsquimaux make snow houses, and it is as cold there as it is here. Thesnow at the top is light enough, but I should think as it gets down itwould be hard enough to cut out in blocks. We have plenty of water, andif we pour it over each layer of blocks it would freeze into solid icedirectly. When we finish it we might pour more water down over theoutside, and it would make a regular wall of ice that no one could climbup."

  "Hooray! Bully for you, Tom!" Jerry shouted, while similar exclamationsof approval broke from all the others, while the chief said gravely, "Myyoung brother has the head of a man; he is able to teach warriors."

  "You shall be engineer-in-chief, Tom," Harry said. "It is certain we maysleep quietly to-night; at daybreak to-morrow we will begin the job."

  The first thing in the morning a semicircular line was traced out at thetop of their pathway. It was thirty feet across, for, as Tom said, thewalls ought to be at least four feet thick; and six feet would bebetter, as they would want a parapet at least two feet thick to fireover. It was agreed that the whites should use the two shovels by turns.The Indians were unaccustomed to the work, and were to undertake that ofscouting along the hillside, and of watching by turns at night. Thefrying-pan was brought into requisition, a wooden handle being made forit. The hard upper crust was removed with the shovels, and the layerbeneath this was sufficiently soft for the instrument to be used as ashovel. Below that it hardened, and could be cut out in great blocks.The loose snow was thrown inside of the line traced out.

  As fast as the blocks were cut out they were carried and piled regularlyto form the face. Tom's share of the work was to keep on melting snow,and to bring it up and pour between and over the blocks. As fast as aline of these were made the loose snow was thrown in behind it andtrampled down hard. Except for meals there was no rest. The chief saidthat as there was little chance of the 'Rappahoes coming up so soon,Hunting Dog had better stay behind and help, and he lent his aid incarrying the blocks of snow on a rough stretcher they made for thepurpose. By the time it became dark the wall had risen to a height ofthree feet above the general level of the snow, and was alreadysufficient to form an excellent breastwork.

  At the end farthest from the side from which the Indians were likely tocome, a gap was left between it and the edge of the ravine three feetwide, in order that if necessary the horses could pass out. When itbecame dark the chief returned. He had gone many miles along towards themain valley, but had seen no sign of any Indians. After supper was overhe took one of the wapiti skins and his buffalo robe, went up to the"fort," as they had already called it, and laid the deer-skin down onthe slope of snow behind the wall, wrapped the buffalo robe round him,and lay down upon it. Hunting Dog then threw another robe over him,projecting a foot beyond his head, so that he could from time to timeraise it and look out over the snow. The night was a dark one, but anyobject moving across the unbroken white surface could be seen at aconsiderable distance.

  "I feel sure I should go to sleep," Tom said, "if I were to lie downlike that."

  "I have no doubt you would, Tom, but there is no fear with the chief. AnIndian never sleeps on the watch, or if he does sleep, it is like a dog:he seems to hear as well as if he were awake, and every minute or twohis eyes open and he takes a look round. I would rather have an Indiansentry than half a dozen white ones, unless it is in the open, wherethere is no tree to lean against, and a man must keep moving."

  Hunting Dog threw himself down as soon as he returned to the hut, andwas almost instantly asleep. Three hours later he rose and went out, andLeaping Horse a minute or two later returned.

  "All quiet," he said; and then after smoking for a short time also laydown.