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Show 1 86 FORTY YEARS AMONG THE INDIANS. coffee. We drank of it and ate a few bites of the meat. The coffee seemed to almost intoxicate us, giving us strength. We pitched in like strong men and cut down trees and made up a roaring fire, got well warmed up and went to bed and slept soundly. Next morning we were quite feeble, but felt safe as the traveling was now of a different kind from this point, for forty- five miles to the agency. The road was open for teams ; in fact, in many places, the snow was clear from the road which was now muddy and heavy ; so we stored our sled in the old house, left our snow- shoes, strapped a pair of blankets on the dog and started on. We had nothing for breakfast, and a march of two days was before us. We were so determined to keep our pledge not to complain, that we never spoke a word re-garding our situation, simply doing what we had to and moving on just as though all was right. We had our guns but no game came in our way, and we were too weak to risk a step out of our direction on an uncertain hunt. We never spoke of the thought until afterwards, but our last hope was to kill our dog, which would have seemed almost like killing a human being, for he carried a heavy pair of blankets on his back when we were too weak to carry them ourselves. Again, our condition would not be materially helped by unpala-table dog meat. We were more sick from bad food than starved. Our condition grew worse and worse. Each of us was attacked with flux in a most violent manner. I remember well of looking ahead several times a few rods and picking out some object by the side of the road and thinking t looked a more comfortable place to die in than where I was. Sessions told me afterwards his thoughts were the same. First one and then the other would pass on a little way and stop ; not a word was |