OCR Text |
Show 94 FORTY YEARS AMONG THE INDIANS. twelve miles to a gap in the mountains and camp, and if he could find any game he would let us have some dried meat he had reserved. We waited a day and then went to see if our friends were prospered. Nothing had been found. Ten of us stayed all night with the Indians and we barely got enough for supper and breakfast. The chief told us to go back home ; he would move on a little farther ; if he found anything he would send it to us. His spirit towards us was something like a mother's with a lot of hungry children. Now some might ask why we did not do our own hunting and not depend on the Indians. An Indian will manage to kill game where it is so scarce and wild that but few white men would even see it. We were much safer to depend upon the Indians as long as they were . around in the country. Again, they considered it their business to hunt, and if we had made the attempt it would have been resented by them. We went home feeling a little sad. We had our . animals, but did not wish to kill them ; still we felt safe as long as mule flesh was on hand. To our joy, next day some Indians came from their camp, bringing us some three hundred pounds of buffalo meat and inform-ing us that they had seen signs of game ; and if we would come to them the next morning, they might let us have some more. Brother Hampton and I saddled up taking our - extra animal, a large mule, and started for our friends. The weather was still cold, but the snow was mostly gone from the lowlands, it being now near the first of April. When we arrived at their camp the Indians were just starting out to move a few miles further towards where the signs of buffalo had been seen. Brother H. |