Gaining the top of a hill, we could see along the cloudy verge of the prairie before us lines of trees and shadowy groves that marked the course of Laramie Creek.  Some time before noon we reached its banks and began anxiously to search them for footprints of the Indians.  We followed the stream for several miles, now on the shore and now wading in the water, scrutinizing every sand-bar and every muddy bank.  So long was the search that we began to fear that we had left the trail undiscovered behind us.  At length I heard Raymond shouting, and saw him jump from his mule to examine some object under the shelving bank.  I rode up to his side.  It was the clear and palpable impression of an Indian moccasin.  Encouraged by this we continued our search, and at last some appearances on a soft surface of earth not far from the shore attracted my eye; and going to examine them I found half a dozen tracks, some made by men and some by children.  Just then Raymond observed across the stream the mouth of a small branch entering it from the south.  He forded the water, rode in at the opening, and in a moment I heard him shouting again, so I passed over and joined him.  The little branch had a broad sandy bed, along which the water trickled in a scanty stream; and on either bank the bushes were so close that the view was completely intercepted.  I found Raymond stooping over the footprints of three or four horses.  Proceeding we found those of a man, then those of a child, then those of more horses; and at last the bushes on each bank were beaten down and broken, and the sand plowed up with a multitude of footsteps, and scored across with the furrows made by the lodge-poles that had been dragged through.  It was now certain that we had found the trail.  I pushed through the bushes, and at a little distance on the prairie beyond found the ashes of a hundred and fifty lodge fires, with bones and pieces of buffalo robes scattered around them, and in some instances the pickets to which horses had been secured still standing in the ground.  Elated by our success we selected a convenient tree, and turning the animals loose, prepared to make a meal from the fat haunch of our victim.

Hardship and exposure had thriven with me wonderfully.  I had gained both health and strength since leaving La Bonte’s Camp.  Raymond and I made a hearty meal together in high spirits, for we rashly presumed that having found one end of the trail we should have little difficulty in reaching the other.  But when the animals were led in we found that our old ill luck had not ceased to follow us close.  As I was saddling Pauline I saw that her eye was as dull as lead, and the hue of her yellow coat visibly darkened.  I placed my foot in the stirrup to mount, when instantly she staggered and fell flat on her side.  Gaining her feet with an effort she stood by the fire with a drooping head.  Whether she had been bitten by a snake or poisoned by some noxious plant or attacked by a sudden disorder, it was hard to say; but at all