picture of the scenes that passed daily before my eyes may not be devoid of interest and value.  These men were thorough savages.  Neither their manners nor their ideas were in the slightest degree modified by contact with civilization.  They knew nothing of the power and real character of the white men, and their children would scream in terror at the sight of me.  Their religion, their superstitions, and their prejudices were the same that had been handed down to them from immemorial time.  They fought with the same weapons that their fathers fought with and wore the same rude garments of skins.

Great changes are at hand in that region.  With the stream of emigration to Oregon and California, the buffalo will dwindle away, and the large wandering communities who depend on them for support must be broken and scattered.  The Indians will soon be corrupted by the example of the whites, abased by whisky, and overawed by military posts; so that within a few years the traveler may pass in tolerable security through their country.  Its danger and its charm will have disappeared together.

As soon as Raymond and I discovered the village from the gap in the hills, we were seen in our turn; keen eyes were constantly on the watch.  As we rode down upon the plain the side of the village nearest us was darkened with a crowd of naked figures gathering around the lodges.  Several men came forward to meet us.  I could distinguish among them the green blanket of the Frenchman Reynal.  When we came up the ceremony of shaking hands had to be gone through with in due form, and then all were eager to know what had become of the rest of my party.  I satisfied them on this point, and we all moved forward together toward the village.

“You’ve missed it,” said Reynal; “if you’d been here day before yesterday, you’d have found the whole prairie over yonder black with buffalo as far as you could see.  There were no cows, though; nothing but bulls.  We made a ‘surround’ every day till yesterday.  See the village there; don’t that look like good living?”

In fact I could see, even at that distance, that long cords were stretched from lodge to lodge, over which the meat, cut by the squaws into thin sheets, was hanging to dry in the sun.  I noticed too that the village was somewhat smaller than when I had last seen it, and I asked Reynal the cause.  He said that the old Le Borgne had felt too weak to pass over the mountains, and so had remained behind with all his relations, including Mahto-Tatonka and his brothers.  The Whirlwind too had been unwilling to come so far, because, as Reynal said, he was afraid.  Only half a dozen lodges had adhered to him, the main body of the village setting their chief’s authority at naught, and taking the course most agreeable to their inclinations.

“What chiefs are there in the village now?” said I.

“Well,” said Reynal, “there’s old Red-Water, and the Eagle-Feather, and the Big Crow, and the Mad Wolf and the Panther, and the White Shield, and—­what’s his name?—­the half-breed Cheyenne.”