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Show 342 THE CALIFORNIA AND OREGON TRAIL. with Mexico, and a battle fought in which the Americans were victorious. When some weeks after, we arrived at the Pueblo we heard of General Kearney's march up the Arkansas, and' of General Taylor's victories at :Matamoras. As the sun was setting that evening a great crowd gathered on the plain by the side of our tent, to try the speed of their horses. These were of every shape, size, and color. Some came from California, some from the States, some from among the mountains, and some from the wild bands of the prairie. They were of every hue, white, black, red and gray, or mot. tied and clouded with a strange variety of colors. They all had a wild and startled look, very different from the staid and sober aspect of a well-bred city steed. Those most noted for swiftness and spirit were decorated with eagle feathers dangling from their manes and tails. Fifty or sixty Dahcotah were present, wrapped from head to foot in their heavy robes of whit. ened hide. There were also a considerable number of the Shienne, many of whom wore gaudy Mexican ponchos, swathed around their shoulders, but leaving the right arm bare. Mingled among the crowd of Indians were a number of Canadians, chiefly in the employ of Bisonette. Men, whose home is the wilderness, and who love the camp-fire better than the domestic hearth. They are contented and happy in the midst of hard. ship, 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 THE LONELY JOURNEY. 343 ca lw. o sh 1' r t · A handkerchief was bound round his head to con fmi e h1. s black snaky hair' and his small eyes twinkled be-neat h I· 1' Wl't h a mischievous lustre. I--Ie had a fine cream-, col-ored 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 sea:. T~e sp.ace was cleared, the word was given, and he and h1s Ind1an nval 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 the 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 out-right, 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 for- · ' . Ward, without intruding my unhallowed presence into the Inner |