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Show 286 THE CALIFORNIA AND OREGON TRAIL. fore 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 any one else is equally entitled to help himself from the rest of the carcass. Thus the weak, the aged, and even the indo. lent 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 twenty-fifth 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 whoQ1 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, THE TRAPPERS. 287 and close at hand, pealing loud and shril1, and in right good earnest, came the terrific yell of the war-whoop. KongraTonga's squaw snatched up her youngest child, and ran out of the lodge. I followed, and found the whole village in confusion, resounding with cries and yells. The circle of old men in'the centre had vanished. The warriors with glittering eyes came darting, their weapons in t~eit hands, out of the low openings of the lodges, and running with wild yells toward the farther end of the village. Advancing a few rods in that direction, I saw a crowd in furious agitation, while others ran up on every side to add to the confusion. Just then I distinguished the voices of Raymond and Reynal, shouting to me from a distance, and looking back, I saw the latter with his rifle in his hand, standing on the farther bank of a little stream that ran along the out.s kirts of the camp. He was calling to Ray-mond and myself to come over and join him, and Raymond, with' his usual deliberate gait and stolid countenance, was already moving in that direction. This was clearly the wisest course, unless we wished to involve ourselves in the fray ; so I turned to go, but just then a pair of eyes, gleaming like a snake's, and an aged familiar countenance was thrust from the opening of a neighboring lodge, and out bolted old Mene-Seela, full of fight, clutching his bow and arrows in one hand and his knife in the other. At that intsant he tripped and fell sprawling on his face, while his Weapons flew scattering a way in every direction. The women with loud screams were hurrying with their children in their arms to place them out of danger, and I observed some hastening to prevent mischief, by carrying away all the weapons they could lay hands on. On a rising ground close to |
