As the brigade vanished down the river, and the song of the _voyageurs_ grew fainter and fainter, until it died away in the distant windings of the Yellowstone, I awoke from the mournful reverie into which I had fallen, and turned to the work before me. There was a dozen Indians around, all busy with their new possessions. Some were parading pompously in their new blankets, some examining their glitterng knives, and others wrenching off great mouthfuls from huge twists of tobacco, and all evidently in the highest spirits. The chief had been presented with a fine, polished rifle, and he was standing apart, trying its lock, and “drawing bead” on different objects in the distance. I waited till he appeared satisfied, and then approached and made a complimentary remark; I saw at once it was not comprehended, and there was not probably a savage who could speak a word of English in the tribe. However, as they spoke the same tongue as the tribe in which I spent my captivity, my situation in this respect was not as bad as it might have been. In the course of half an hour, the chief started toward his village, the others sauntering along behind him, and myself at his side. His rifle was now thrown over his shoulder, and he seemed to have lost all interest in it as he walked thoughtfully forward, his dark eyes bent upon the ground. A few minutes’ walk through the forest brought us to the Indian village. It was so similar to the one before described, that it needs no mention here. The Blackfeet-Sioux are one of the many divisions of the Dacotah or Sioux tribe, whose hunting-grounds include the greater part of the vast territory of Nebraska. These subdivisions of this numerous people are tribes within themselves. Although speaking the same tongue, they are separate and literally independent of each other. Each has its village and chief, whose authority is absolute. Like all North American Indians, their life is a migratory one; and the traveler who to-day finds them located on the Yellowstone or Little Missouri, may, a year after, find them as far westward as the Great Falls of the Missouri. My advent among these savages excited no unusual attention, as they are often visited by traders and hunters. The chief took me to his own lodge, where all the attention I could wish was given. I was gladly surprised to find upon the next day, that there was a half-breed among them who could speak the English tongue. His acquaintance I soon made. He was a middle-aged man, who had spent most of his life in trapping, sometimes as far northward as the Saskatchewan, and who often acted as interpreter for his tribe. He possessed the daring hardihood of the French trapper, and the low, ferocious cunning of the savage. He had ever considered this tribe as his people, having a squaw and several children.