“The hunters are coming”; and when I looked I saw three or four men coming, each with an antelope on his back.  When these men had come near to the camp, everyone rushed for them, and they threw 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 that if we should be attacked we must not run out of the lodges, but must stay in them, where we could fight well, and be protected and safe.  Also, he said, “Everyone must be watchful; it may be that enemies are near; therefore, act accordingly.”

The next morning the leader sent out two parties of scouts, to go in two directions to look for enemies.  He told them where they should go, and where they should meet the main party, which was to keep on its way, traveling carefully, and out of sight.