After a few minutes’ conversation, the Indians apparently came to a satisfactory conclusion; for they seated themselves around the fire, ordering me to do the same, and here they sat as grim and silent as statues, not a muscle moving, excepting an occasional wink of the eyes at long intervals. I watched them, it seemed for an hour, shivering with cold all the time, although my captors had not deprived me of my blanket. At last, as I looked up, I saw that day was breaking. There was a faint light in the east, heralding the approach of the sun. Shortly after, it burst above the forest line, lighting up the interminable prairie and wilderness with its golden glory. The savages sprang to their feet, seized their weapons and started away. “Keep close, and don’t run!” said the savage who had addressed me at first. “No danger of my attempting it,” I answered, following almost cheerfully behind them. And in truth it would have been the height of folly to make an attempt to escape. Each of the savages was a fleet runner, each possessed a loaded rifle (and one of them had another, together with my revolver, which, by the way, was a source of great wonderment and perplexity to him), and the utmost limit that I possibly could have gained, as will be evident to the reader, was perhaps ten feet. So I meditated no attempt, but followed close in the footsteps of my captors. No halt was made for breakfast, and during the whole forenoon we tramped through the wilderness in a northerly direction. As I knew I was in the extreme upper part of the great Nebraska Territory when taken captive, I felt pretty certain that I was now in the Hudson Bay Territory, within the British line. But here my companions made a turn to the eastward, and then, strangely enough, proceeded south again, so that I was uncertain whether I was now in the United States or not. The reason of this detour on the part of the savages I never knew and could only conjecture. I afterward imagined it was for the purpose of misleading and bewildering me in case I should ever attempt to leave them. When the sun was overhead, the Indians halted upon the bank of a small flashing stream, and prepared their meal. A half-hour before halting, one of the Indians had dodged off into the forest. Some time after I heard the report of a rifle, and in a few minutes he returned with a large ptarmigan in his hand. The feathers were plucked from this, and the body dressed much after the fashion of civilized communities. It was then partially cooked over the blaze, and despite the change of circumstances, I made as good and substantial a meal upon it as did any of my companions.