their loads on the snow, and each man cut off meat for his lodge. Then they
cut it into pieces and it was set up on green willow twigs, stuck in the
ground near the fire, to roast. One of the men in our lodge said, "Let our
young friend here be the first one to eat," and someone cut a piece of the
short ribs of an antelope, and gave it to me. So we all ate, and were warm
and comfortable. That night we slept well, lying with our feet to the fire,
as people always lie in a war lodge.

The next day we traveled on. Just before we camped at night I heard the
sound of guns, and someone told me that the young men were killing buffalo.
Soon after we had made camp, they began to come in, some carrying loads of
meat on their backs, and others dragging over the snow a big piece of
buffalo hide, sewed up into a sack, and full of meat. Everyone was
good-natured, and each young man was laughing and joking with his fellows,
and sometimes playing tricks on them. That night a friend took a piece of
buffalo hide and sewed it up, and partly dried it over the fire, and then
turned it inside out, and stuffed it full of meat, and gave it to me,
saying, "Here is a pack for you to carry."

We traveled on for several days; but it was not long after this that the
scouts came in, and told us that they had seen signs of people, a trail
where a large camp had passed along only a few days before. When I heard
this I was a little frightened, for I thought to myself, "Suppose we were
to be attacked, how could I run away with this big pack on my back?" But I
said nothing, and no one else seemed to be afraid; all were happy because
there was a chance that we might meet enemies. They laughed and talked with
one another, and said what a good time we should have if there should be a
fight. Nevertheless, that night the leader told the young men to bring logs
out of the timber, and pile them up around the war lodges, so that if we
should be attacked we might fight behind breast works. Also, he told them