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Show 214 TltE CALIFORNIA AND OREGON TRAIL. dozen tracks, some made by men and some by children. Just then Raymond observed across the stream the mouth of a small branch, entering it from the south. l-Ie forded the water, rode in at the opening, and in a moment I heard him shouting ao-ain · so I passed over and joined him. The little branch b ' had a broad sandy bed, along which the water trickled in a scanty stream ; and on either bank the bushes were so close that the view was completely intercepted. I found Raymond stooping over the footprints of three or four horses. Proceed. ing, we found those of a man, then those of a child, then those of more horses ; and at last the bushes on each bank were beaten down and broken, and the sand ploughed up with a multitude of footsteps, and scored across with the furrows made by the lodge-poles that had been dragged through. It was now certain that we had found the trail. I pushed through the bushes, and at a little distance on the prairie beyond found the ashes of an hundred and fifty lodge-fires, with bones and pieces of buffalo-robes scattered around them, and in some instances the pickets to which horses had been secured still standing in the ground. Elated by our success, we selected a convenient tree, and turning the animals loose, prepared to make a meal from the fat haunch of our victim. Hardship and exposure had thriven with me wonderfully. I had gained both health and strength since leaving La Bonte's camp. Raymond and 1 made a hearty meal together, in high spirits; for we rashly presumed that having found one end of the trail we should have little difficulty in reaching the other. But when the animals were led in we found that our old ill- . ' I uck had not ceased . to follow us close. As I was saddling Pauline, I saw that her eye was as dull as lead, and the hue of HUNTING INDIANS. 215 her yellow coat visibly darkened. I placed my foot in the stirrup to mount, when instantly she staggered und fell fiat on her side. Gaining her feet with an effort, she stood by the fire with a drooping head. Whether she had been bitten by a snake, or poisoned by some noxious plant, or attacked by a sudden disorder, it was hard to say ; but at all events, her sickness was sufficiently ill-timed and unfortunate. I succeeded in a second attempt to mount her, and with a slow pace we moved forward on the trail of the Indians. It led us up a hill and over a dreary plain; and here, to our great mortification, the traces almost disappeared, for the ground was hard as adamant; and if its flinty surface had ever retained the dint of a hoof, the marks had been washed away by the deluge of yesterday. An Indian village, in its disorderly march, is scattered over the prairie, often to the width of full half a mile ; so that its trail is nowhere clearly marked, and the task of following it is made doubly wearisome and difficult. By good fortune, plenty of large ant-hills, a yard or more in diameter, were scattered over the plain, and these were frequently broken by the footprints of men and horses, and marked by traces of the lodge-poles. The succulent leaves of the prickly pear, also, bruised from the same causes, helped a little to guide us; so, inch by inch, we moved along. Often we lost the trail altogether, and then would recover it again ; but late in the afternoon we found ourselves totally at fault. We stood alone, without a clue to guide us. The broken plain expanded for league after league around us, and in front the long dark ridge of mountains was stretching from north to south. Mount Laramie, a little on our right, towered high above the rest, and from a dark valley just |