“Tshah-ko-zhah?” (What is it?)

It was Hoo-wau-ne-kah, the Little Elk.  He spoke rapidly, and in a tone of great agitation.  I could not understand him, and I lay trembling, and dreading to hear his errand interpreted.  Now and then I could distinguish the words Sau-kee (Sauks) and Shoonk-hat-tay-rah (horse), and they were not very reassuring.

The trouble, I soon learned, was this.  A fresh trail had been observed near the Petit Rocher, on the Wisconsin, and the people at the villages on the Barribault were in a state of great alarm, fearing it might be the Sauks.  There was the appearance of a hundred or more horses having passed by this trail.  Hoo-wau-ne-kah had been dispatched at once to tell their Father, and to ask his advice.

After listening to all he had to communicate, his Father told him the trail was undoubtedly that of General Henry’s troops, who were said to have come north, looking for the enemy; that as the marks of the horses’ hoofs showed them, by this report, to have been shod, that was sufficient proof that it was not the trail of the Sauks.  He thought that the people at the villages need not feel any uneasiness.

“Very well, Father,” replied Hoo-wau-ne-kah; “I will go back and tell my people what you say.  They will believe you, for you always tell them the truth.  You are not like us Indians, who sometimes deceive each other.”  So saying, he returned to his friends, much comforted.

The completion of the picketing and other defences, together with the arrival of a detachment of troops from Fort Howard under Lieutenant Hunter, at our fort, now seemed to render the latter the place of greatest safety.  We therefore regularly, every evening immediately before dusk, took up our line of march for the opposite side of the river, and repaired to quarters that had been assigned us within the garrison, leaving our own house and chattels to the care of the Frenchmen and our friends the Winnebagoes.

It was on one of these days that we were sitting at the windows which looked out over the Portage—­indeed, we seldom sat anywhere else, our almost sole occupation being to look abroad and see what was coming next—­when a loud, long, shrill whoop from a distance gave notice of something to be heard.  “The news-halloo! what could it portend?  What were we about to hear?” By gazing intently towards the farthest extremity of the road, we could perceive a moving body of horsemen, which, as they approached, we saw to be Indians.  They were in full costume.  Scarlet streamers fluttered at the ends of their lances—­their arms glittered in the sun.  Presently, as they drew nearer, their paint and feathers and brooches became visible.  There were fifty or more warriors.  They passed the road which turns to the Fort, and rode directly up the hill leading to the Agency.  Shaw-nee-aw-kee was absent.  The Interpreter had been sent for on the first distant appearance of the strangers, but had not yet arrived.  The party, having ascended the hill, halted near the blacksmith’s shop, but did not dismount.