or three men were stretched out on the ground before a cheerful fire,
resting after the labors of the day, while others were coming in from
the woods--some loaded with water-fowl, some with fish, and the two who
brought up the rear were staggering under the weight of a fine deer they
had shot. Archie often wondered where that camp could have been located.
He did not believe there was a place in the United States where game of
all kinds was as abundant as the hunters in the picture found it.

Paintings of this character occupied prominent places on the walls of
the room, and between them hung numerous relics the boys had collected
during their journey across the prairie, and a few trophies of their
skill as hunters. Over the door were the antlers of the first and only
elk they had killed, and upon them hung a string of grizzly bear's
claws, which had once been worn as a necklace by an Indian chief, and
also a bow, a quiver full of arrows, a stone tomahawk, and a
scalping-knife--all of which had been presented to them by Captain
Porter. At the head of the bed were two pairs of deer's horns fastened
to the wall, and supporting their rifles, bullet-pouches, powder-horns,
and hunting-knives.

These articles were all highly prized by the boys; but, upon a nail
driven into the wall beside the book-case, hung something that, next to
his horse and dog, held the most exalted place in Frank's estimation. It
was the remnant of the first lasso he had ever owned. He thought more of
it than of any other article he possessed, and he would have surrendered
every thing, except Roderick and Marmion, before he would have parted
with that piece of a rawhide rope. It had once saved his uncle's life;
and, more than that, Frank himself had been hanged with it. Yes, as
improbable as it may seem, one end of that lasso had been placed around
his neck, the other thrown over the hook which supported one of his